“That must come in real handy when you have to kill someone, huh?” Dustin quipped, bringing Katey out of her ponderings.
Michael turned to regard Dustin with a look of impatience, the first he had shown all evening. “I’ll have you know that in my eight hundred and fifty years of being on this earth, I have never killed a human being for food.”
That staggering age gave everyone pause, but if Michael were telling the truth, that was a massive accomplishment. To live so long and never kill a single human in the throes of hunger must have been difficult. Katey felt a new respect for her grandfather’s strong will.
“How did you survive then?” Katey asked.
Michael looked to her. “Animals and willing givers. I have never taken blood from anyone who did not want me to take it.”
“So, you just had volunteers line up to give you their necks?”
Katey could sense that Dustin was pushing all the wrong buttons with Michael. She wanted to throw something at him just to get the beta to shut up and let her grandfather continue about Tanatia and Katey’s role in this new scheme to save the world from war.
“Not exactly,” Michael replied. “In the early years, we kept vassals or serfs. We treated them well in return for the nourishment we needed. After such a practice had become unacceptable, lovers and traveling companions became necessary.”
“Lovers?” Ben dubiously inquired, an eyebrow raised.
“Yes. I suppose I’ve had as many lovers as any of you have had in your lives.”
No one made eye contact except for Katey. She knew all too well that every loup-garou in that room had only one mate in their life; all dead and gone except for Logan’s. Michael must have felt the subtle undercurrent of sorrow in the group and sighed at his misspoken words.
“How long will you be staying in town?” Katey asked, feeling the same thread of emotion and looking to shift attention away from disagreeable thoughts. “There’s a lot I want to talk to you about.”
Michael grinned. “I can imagine that you do. I’ll be in town for a few days. If there were no objections, I planned to stay here for most of the evening.”
“I’m afraid that won’t be possible,” the alpha said. Darren looked over his shoulder to the glass doors that led outside. Night had finally come, and Katey could see a speckling of bright stars on the horizon. He then turned back to Katey, looking worn and exhausted. “Are you packed?”
In the height of the excitement, Katey had completely forgotten about their plans to leave Crestucky. The sharp pain of separation from the only home she had ever loved returned to her chest, and she let out a long breath. “Not completely,” she replied.
“Packed?” Michael asked, his forehead creased in a frown.
Ben stood to go upstairs, and Dustin was ready to follow.
“Katey, Logan, and Ben are leaving Crestucky tonight because of the hunters,” Darren informed the vampire. He slowly rose from his recliner and scowled as if it caused him discomfort. “And tonight is my night to change. Dustin and I will be leaving for the wood soon.”
Dustin stopped at the foot of the stairs and turned to wait for instructions with his arms folded, while Logan gave Katey a squeeze and pushed himself to his feet.
“Leave?” Michael uttered the word as if he hadn’t heard it before. “Did I not tell you that my guards were patrolling the house and the city? She is safe here. There’s no need for her to evacuate.”
Katey watched the two men, waiting with anticipation to see where this conversation led.
Darren and Michael stared at one another, dominance sparking between them. “I am her alpha and the safest place for her to be is away from the hunters, guards or not.”
Michael stood. “I am her grandfather. I am concerned for her safety as well, but I can assure you that my guards are well trained.”
“I don’t know these guards and vampire hunters are much different than loup-garou hunters. I can’t be sure they are up to the job.”
“Then I will travel with Katey.”
Crestfallen, Katey slumped back into the sofa. For a moment, she wondered if Michael would have been able to convince Darren to let her stay. If he just pushed a little farther, Darren may have conceded.
“I can’t be accountable for your life as well,” Darren argued.
Michael laughed. “Sir, I am and always will be the only one responsible for my own life.”
The alpha’s face wrinkled with deep thought, and finally, he nodded. “Very well. If you want to go with her, then I suppose I can let Ben stay behind. We will need all the help we can get to look after the families that are still left.”
“Will I still go with Katey?” Logan asked for clarification.
Darren nodded and massaged his temples with his palms for a moment. “Yes. You know the way to the safe house.”
“What families do you speak of?” Michael asked, sliding his hands into his cloak pockets.
While Logan left to go upstairs to pack, Katey crossed her arms over her chest, waiting until the last possible moment to continue her own task of packing. Any extra stolen minute in Crestucky was worth being barked at by her alpha. Darren briefly filled Michael in on the Devian families that decided to stay, and Katey’s mind went to work on a plan.
With Darren and Dustin out of the house, and Michael more lenient toward the idea of staying, perhaps there was a way Katey could flip the situation so she could stay one more night. The open event at the ballroom dance studio was still niggling in the back of her mind. Despite their argument on the subject the day before, Katey still wanted to go and shake off some of the stress that had been caked on layer by layer throughout the week. Not only that, but she wanted to see Lily. She had to know if her friend was all right and to let Lily know that she was safe as well.
She looked to the two leaders and waited for a pause in the conversation before she said, “Since there’s added protection around town, could Logan and I go to the dance tonight?”
Michael and Darren looked at her in unison with questionable eyes, but each pair were inquisitive in a distinct way. Darren must have been wondering why she was still in the living room, while Michael might have wanted to know more about the dance.
“Absolutely not. We discussed this already, Katey,” Darren replied with a note of edginess.
“What dance?”
Ignoring her alpha, she responded, “It’s an event at this dance studio I used to volunteer at. They’re having a party tonight, and I want to go for a few hours so I can see my friends.”
Michael shrugged. “I don’t see why not.”
Darren snarled. “I told her she couldn’t go for a reason. Every hour we lose in getting her to safety is just giving the hunters more time to find us.”
“I could accompany her to the dance as a chaperone,” Michael offered.
“I don’t care if she had half the town serve as a chaperone.”
“What if I went too?” Dustin piped in from the stairs.
Darren turned on his beta, lips curled up. “Are you more than half the town?”
“I’m just as big of a handful.”
Katey saw Darren’s hands ball into fists. “Now is not the time to test me, Dustin.”
“That sounds like a wonderful plan,” Michael remarked, oblivious to Darren’s ire. “Katey, Logan, myself, and Dustin will go to the dance, and as soon as we return, we will leave. Can you give directions to my driver, Katey?”
Katey was about to open her mouth when Darren growled again. Dominance pulsated from him, filling the room like a thick gas. She snapped her teeth together and settled back against the couch as if her alpha would strike out against her in his fit of frustration.
“I said Katey is not going and that’s final.”
The room fell silent, and Michael looked to Darren, an island of calm while Katey and Dustin were drowning in the power their alpha exuded.
Finally, the old vampire spoke. “Darren, I would like you to give me one logical rea
son why Katey cannot go to that dance for a mere hour. My guards, as unskilled as you believe them to be, are watching this town for any suspicious activity. If they see a hunter, they will call either myself or my driver. Dustin, whom I presume is your enforcer of the pack, will look after her. Logan, her soon to be mate who loves her enough to die for her, will be there to make sure no harm comes to her either. You can be sure that her grandfather will keep her safe as well. I’ve been waiting eighteen years to meet her and centuries to see this prophecy fulfilled. I would never let a mere human take her from me.”
Darren was quiet for in indefinable amount of time and Katey could feel the anger regress with the wave of dominance. Slowly, the room regained its equilibrium, and they could breathe again.
The alpha stepped forward, becoming dangerously close to the vamp who was twice his age. “If something happens to her, I won’t hold Dustin or Logan responsible. I will blame you, and nothing in this world will stop me from taking my vengeance.”
A grin split Michael’s face. “I would expect nothing else from her alpha.”
Katey didn’t have to wait to be told. Before Darren had a chance to change his mind, she bolted upstairs to pack for her trip and to get ready for the dance.
“Ben,” Dustin spoke, “could you come down here? There’s been a change of plans.” He saw no need to shout at the omega, knowing that his ears could pick up every word they were saying in the living room from his bedroom.
Dustin looked to Darren, analyzing the way the alpha wiped his brow and swallowed hard every few seconds. The change was pressing forward, and it wouldn’t be long before he had to leave the house.
If Michael was the empath he claimed to be, the vampire must have sensed the trouble as soon as he walked into the house. As long as Katey and Logan could pack their bags quick enough, Ben could usher Darren out into the backyard where he could let the wolf out safely. If what Michael said about having guards around the house was also true, Ben would have a handful in keeping Darren’s wolf under control. The stench of vampires was no more appealing in their human forms as in their wolf forms, and their presence would not settle well with their deep-seated instinct to attack or flee from the blood suckers.
“Can I get you anything, Darren?” he asked. “Water? Meat? Draw a cold bath?”
Michael let out a short, tickled chuckle, but Darren was not amused by his beta’s humor.
“No.” Darren looked at him, brown eyes flecked with bits of gold that glittered in the living room light. “I need to speak with you… in private.”
A cold streak shot down Dustin’s spine. Whenever Darren wanted to speak in private, it never meant anything good. He nodded just as Ben came down the stairs.
“Keep an eye on him,” Darren instructed to the omega before leading Dustin into the back billiard room. It wasn’t complete privacy, that was for sure, but it was out of sight from the others.
Dustin could hear Michael and Ben make casual conversation about Switzerland and the coming gathering, so he was sure that they would not be paying attention to whatever Darren had to say.
“Am I being written up for not unloading the dishwasher. I completely meant to do that before the night was over.”
Darren growled, his eyes now fully glazed over by the wolfish gold. Dustin clamped his jaws together to keep from speaking out of turn again. His mouth had been throwing him on the bad side of two powerful men this evening, and it would only get worse unless he curtailed himself.
He had thought a little lightheartedness would help get the pack through this chaotic time. Ben and Logan seemed to appreciate his witty comebacks from earlier that day, and he knew that Katey was thrilled to hear him sing that folk ballad in the shower before Michael showed up. There was a distinct shift in the way Darren behaved. Perhaps the others couldn’t see it, but Dustin knew his alpha well enough that something was not right – change or no change night.
“You make one more wisecrack, and I swear on my mother’s grave that you will not be able to speak for a week.”
Dustin felt himself sink into a submissive stance, knees bent and shoulders hunched ever so slightly. He tilted his chin, proclaiming his obedience and waited.
Darren sighed and rubbed at his flushed cheeks. “I’m sorry,” he grumbled. “It’s been a rough day.”
Normally, Dustin would have made his agreement known. With Katey and Logan leaving, Michael’s sudden appearance, and the sudden prematurity of Darren’s change night – which was not due for another three days – everyone was wound up.
“Today, I took Katey to see Chris.” Dubose rolled his shoulders to loosen the stiffened muscles. “Something happened. I don’t know how to explain it.”
Never in their centuries of knowing one another, had Dustin ever known Darren to be speechless. He always had a plan, had an explanation for everything. Whatever happened must have been too fantastic for words or his logical mind to explain.
“We were beginning to talk about Ellie and Lucy, but I shot it down before it could go anywhere. You know I never talk about what happened, much less think about it.” Darren ran his hand through his hair. “She asked for their names. I thought it would be harmless to speak their names after so long. I told her. Then she touched me and…”
Dustin straightened and watched his alpha’s mouth hang open, the words just on the tip of his tongue.
With Darren’s golden eyes filled with sorrow and pain, he said, “I… I saw her. I saw Ellie.”
“What do you mean?” Dustin questioned, his core taut as he listened.
“I had a vision… No, I relived the moment when my wife died in my arms.”
Dustin slowly slipped his hands into his jean pockets, not sure what to say or how to elucidate Darren’s experience. His alpha had always been the scientific type, rejecting all types of spiritual or supernatural explanations for things that could be reasoned through, seen under a microscope, or touch with their own hands.
These flickers, these visions of the past, were not tangible or able to be studied. Dustin, sometimes tempted to believe in the fairy folk of his homeland, had no trouble in believing that something in Katey’s touch had sparked the memory again. The power of names was undeniable, and perhaps that was what conjured Ellie’s ghost in his mind again.
“But I remembered something that I couldn’t recall at the time,” Darren continued, his throat working. “I remembered that she muttered something just before she slipped away. At that moment, I was too distraught to understand what it was. When I relived the memory, the word was as clear as a bell.” Darren looked up, locking eyes with his beta. “She spoke your name.”
All color drained from Dustin’s face. “I can’t imagine why she would.”
“Did something happen between you two that I don’t know about?”
His eyes went wide. “Darren, I was still grieving for my own wife’s death. Do you think I would have even wanted someone else’s wife? As beautiful as Ellie was, she could never have replaced Cassandra.”
Darren seemed to accept that truth. “Then why would she speak your name just as she was about to die? What made your name so significant that she would use her last breath to say it?”
Dustin threw up his hands in a helpless gesture. “I have no idea, Darren.”
His eyes narrowed. “I saw something else that I have absolutely no memory of. Three men in the forest, searching for you.”
Dustin opened his mouth to refute it, but he found that he had no comeback. “Three men looking for me? Did you know who they were?”
“I didn’t, but I knew they were Irish by the way they talked. Were they friends of yours?”
That was even more puzzling, and Dustin shook his head. “I had friends in Ireland, but none of them would have followed me to France after what happened.”
Centuries ago, Dustin had married his first wife in a sleepy village that probably didn’t exist anymore. On his wedding night, the villagers only knew that Dustin had mysteriously vanished
and left what was left of his wife marred and savagely ripped to pieces in their marriage bed. When Dustin awoke the next morning, covered in her blood, he traveled to the nearest town and learned what happened through a conversation in a nearby pub. He fled the country and never returned until he was certain that everyone who could have sentenced him to death for the unintentional murder of Cassandra Keith was long dead and harmless to him.
To hear that someone had pursued his trail all the way across the sea to France was humbling and disturbing. He didn’t cover his tracks well enough, but who could have been determined enough to see him hang and follow him all that way?
A face and a name came to mind and with it a flash of fear that was plain to read on his face.
Darren took a step closer. “You know, don’t you?”
Dustin felt like a child, standing before an angry guardian, knowing that he was fully guilty. “My father-in-law, Samuel,” Dustin said, his voice soft as the fluttering of dove wings. “He was always superstitious. Believed in the fae, leprechauns, banshees, everything. He even believed in faoladh, the wolf people.”
“Would he have suspected you were a faoladh?” Darren probed.
Dustin shrugged. “It’s possible.”
“Would he have sent hunters after you?”
He felt his heart crumble in his chest. He didn’t want to speak it, much less believe it. It was possible that Samuel would have sent a hunter after Dustin if he knew the right men. Between the time that he left Ireland and the time that Ellie and Lucy were murdered, it was possible that a trio of hunters could have found their way to France and tracked him to Darren’s home in the country.
Dustin lowered his gaze to his shoes and felt the burden of their deaths weigh heavy on his soul. It was pure speculation, of course. If Katey could reproduce what happened millennia ago to cause a feud between the loups-garous and vampires, then she could certainly recreate the events that led to the murder of Darren’s family.
But why? Why would she want to bring up old memories to a man who had accepted their tragic deaths so long ago?
Beast Within (Loup-Garou Series Book 3) Page 16
