Daywalkers derived their energy from photosynthesizing the chlorophyll they ingested, so they always had UV lamps for times when they couldn’t access the sun.
She pulled some of the sterilized saliva mixture into a hypodermic, shooting a small stream out to remove the bubbles. When she took the boy’s arm he didn’t react, just continued to stare in a daze.
By the time she’d given him the injection, Sandy and Felipe’s parents were setting up three UV lamps all around the boy. She wasn’t sure this would work, but she hoped his daywalker self would become stronger under the light and help him fight off the werewolf transformation.
“Okay, Felipe. Let’s lie down,” she told the child, taking him by the shoulders and gently pushing him back against his pillows. “Just relax.”
His red eyes glared into her, but he didn’t object. Maria approached the bed, sitting down beside her son and brushing his hair back with the concerned expression of a mother.
“Will it work?” Sandy asked, his mouth close enough to her ear that the warmth of it sent a shiver down her spine.
She stood, and piled her things back into her satchel, then made a move for the door. “Let’s give it some time. Let Felipe and the serum do their thing. Sandy and I can keep an eye on the wolves outside. Let me know if anything changes.”
When she and Sandy were out of ear shot of the family, he repeated his earlier question.
She combed a hand through her mane of long brown hair and sighed heavily. “I don’t know if it will work, Sandy. Honestly, I hope to God it does, but the truth is this is a long shot. It’s only been tried a few times.”
Sandy straightened his back and rolled his shoulders. “I see. I’m sorry, I know you’re doing everything you can. I didn’t mean to press.”
Rhia waved a hand at him over her shoulder and headed to the kitchen. “I need food. I don’t guess daywalkers would have anything in their fridge, huh?”
“Normally, no,” he bypassed her and opened the refrigerator door, “But since I was staying the night you’re in luck.”
She watched, salivating, as he withdrew several boxes of Asian food. Taking one of them, Rhiannon popped the lid and then moaned, “Oh my word. Kung Pao Pork,” then she opened her jaws and tipped the box so that several chunks of meat dropped into her mouth.
“There is a microwave, you know.”
Chewing, she nodded her head and let him make her a healthy plate, then he heated it up. It was steaming when he handed it back to her, but she grabbed a fork and dug in. By the time he prepped a second helping for her, she slowed down to breathe a little in between bites.
“You’re a hybrid,” Sandy said, his voice low.
She shrugged then wiped her mouth on her napkin, “Yeah. I wasn’t much older then Felipe. Well, no older than he looks anyway. But what happened to me wasn’t about power so much. I had a friend. A young vampire. We thought it would be fun. You know, stupid kid stuff.”
“An accident then.”
“I tried to change her too and that didn’t go well. I have really strong werewolf lineage and her body couldn’t seem to adapt. It nearly caused a war between her nest and my pack. Eventually they just took her away. I don’t really know where they resettled. Probably better that way.”
“I’m sorry, Rhiannon.”
She forced a smile, doing everything she could to brush aside the memories.
“Couldn’t anyone try to help the two of you?”
The fork slipped from her hand and she turned towards the hallway leading to Felipe’s room. “Of course they did. My father was determined not to let it happen, to either of us. It just didn’t work out.”
A thick silence settled in the room and after a moment Sandy brought a hand to his forehead and rubbed his eyebrows. “He tried to get the chupacabra saliva didn’t he?”
“Chupacabra are tricky creatures...”
She didn’t say anything else, just scooped up the last of her fried rice to her mouth then went to the sink and cleaned her plate. Sandy was smart enough to know the end of the story. He’d seen her wrestling with the chupacabra. It had been a much bigger threat than she had been willing to admit. A twinge hit her side, reminding her of the almost healed punctures left behind by the female’s spines. Just a little closer to her heart and she would likely have ended up just as dead as her father had been the night he risked all to save her.
Chapter 8
The growl outside the cabin door was a menacing warning. Rhiannon flicked her gaze over her shoulder to Sandy but he was still peering out into nothing, lost in thought. She splayed the fingers of her hands out wide, then fisted them at her side.
“They’re here, Sandy. You wouldn’t by chance know how to fight, would you?”
He cocked his head to the side, offense showing clearly in the expression on his face. “I’m descended from the gods. Of course I can fight.”
She wasn’t sure Greek deity equaled warrior in the case of all of the gods, specifically Morpheus. But now wasn’t the time to question his lineage or his manhood.
“Let me go out there first. Don’t get into the fray unless it’s clear I need help. And for goodness sakes, Sandy, do not let them get close enough to bite you.”
He put his hand to his forehead and offered her a salute, then focused all his attention on the darkness outside the cabin door. She could see the reds of the werewolves’ eyes glowing as they approached.
By now it seemed silly to remind Sandy not to look while she undressed, so she just quickly tossed her clothes aside and shifted once again. Her bones popped and cracked in protest. She was going to need an entire day to recover... assuming she survived in the first place.
As she approached the door, Sandy stepped aside, once again staring at her with marvel in his eyes. If he liked her wolf this much, maybe she would just stay this way forever. Being the sexy man’s lapdog couldn’t be all bad.
But on to more serious things.
As expected, the center wolf was the largest, his teeth bared and his back bowed in a looming hackle. He stepped close to her, snarling. The alpha of this pack was quite the beast.
You’re wasting your time. The child isn’t one of you, she told him telepathically.
He sniffed the air, black snout raised up. His lips slid into a doggish smile, then without warning he leaped, landing with a thud in front of her. He was so close that the heat of his panting breath rustled the whiskers around her muzzle. But she didn’t flinch and didn’t move. This would be a test of wills and if she backed down he might get the upper hand.
Where is your pack? He asked.
She could feel her wolf reacting to the strength of the Alpha. His power was like a drug, intoxicating her senses. She sought out the vampire part of herself and focused on it, urging it to keep the animal part in check. The vamp side of her was unemotional, cold and stiff.
Her wolf didn’t much like that side of her and she was much stronger.
I’m my own pack. Give this up. The child won’t be changed. I found a chupacabra.
The Alpha took several steps, walking around her and still sniffing, checking her out. She didn’t move a muscle.
Fine. I’ve lost the child. It doesn’t mean I’ll give up.
Power hungry Alphas never did.
I have no mate. You have no pack. Can you imagine the alliance we might make, werevamp?
She cringed internally. It didn’t surprise her that he would detect her secret. Most lower level weres would never even get close to guessing. But an Alpha had stronger senses and it was just about impossible to subdue the signs.
I’m flattered, but I don’t think so. Not interested.
He moved in close, then hooked his head over her neck and rumbled a growl into her ear. I can be persuasive.
Rhiannon didn’t have any trouble believing that. Her wolf was whimpering inside, filled with both desire and the urge to cower to him. Somehow, she managed to remain stoic, but it wouldn’t be long until she would begin to falter
.
Thankfully, the rosy hew of the sun began to show on the horizon. It wasn’t that the sun was harmful to weres, but it was harder to maintain the shift during the daytime. The pack would want to get home as quickly as possible.
The Alpha moved back, entering the circle with his wolves. I’ll find you, you know that, don’t you?
She raised one of her lips in a snarl. It won’t change anything. I won’t be your mate.
He turned in one graceful leap and headed into the woods. As he disappeared she thought certain she heard laughter, but that didn’t really matter. He was gone and hopefully Felipe was safe.
Without even doing much to make it happen, her body shifted back into that of a woman again. Getting up off her knees, she brushed the dirt and leaves from her hands and legs then turned towards the cabin.
Sandy’s arm was hanging out of the door, her clothes in his outstretched hand. She smiled, and took them with a little chuckle. She dressed, then stepped inside, finding that he had one palm over his eyes. Feeling somewhat emboldened, she reached up and took his hand, slipping it down so that he would look at her.
“Did you see anything?”
“Not a thing.”
“Hmmm,” she considered that with a raise of one eyebrow. “I’m kind of offended, Sandy. There’s lots of guys who wouldn’t have missed the chance to look at this sexy body of mine.”
His eyes studied hers, sinking deep inside her. In the same way her wolf reacted to the Alpha a few moments ago, her human side was all twitchy under Sandy’s intense scrutiny.
“In the right situation I won’t miss the chance. I promise.”
“Sandy!” Maria called out from the bedroom and he immediately reacted and started moving in her direction.
Rhia wasn’t sure what had almost just happened with the two of them, but she knew she liked it. Maybe despite all of the danger, this would turn out to be the best Halloween ever for her. Now if only Felipe would be able to fight off the werewolf change.
When she entered the boy’s room she found him sitting up in bed again, but this time the glowing eyes were back to a more normal brown and he had a wide smile on his face. As soon as they saw her, Emilio rushed forward and clasped her hand.
“Thank you, Miss Rhiannon. You have saved him!”
What a difference a day makes, eh? Who would have thought that a day I dread each and every year could turn out to be so fortuitous. I took on a chupacabra and didn’t get killed. I saved a little daywalker from being changed into a were-hybrid. And...
Can you believe it? The daywalkers agreed to take me into town and rent me a car to get back home, but before I left Sandy asked me to have dinner with him. I almost peed my pants! Seriously. And then, he actually leaned down and gave me the sweetest, most polite, and most romantic kiss on the cheek.
I’m so excited I decided to throw all caution to the wind. I cancelled my subscription to MagicMatch. I don’t even care about the fact I’ll lose money for shutting down my account early. Right now I have to get some sleep so that tomorrow I get ready for my hot date.
I wonder what Lynlee’s been up to. I never did check on Monty and she didn’t even call to gripe me out. Must’ve been a heck of a Halloween for her too I guess...
About the Author
Olivia Hardin realized early on how strange she was to have complete movie-like character dreams as a child. Eventually she began putting those vivid dreams to paper and was rarely without her spiral notebooks full of those mental ramblings. Her forgotten vision of becoming an author was realized when she connected with a group of amazingly talented and fabulous writers who gave her lots of direction and encouragement. With a little extra push from family and friends, she hunkered down to get lost in the words. She's also an insatiable crafter who only completes about 1 out of 5 projects, a jogger who hates to run, and is sometimes accused of being artistic, though she's generally too much of a perfectionist to appreciate her own work. A native Texas girl, Olivia lives in the beautiful Lone Star state with her husband, Danny and their puppy, Bonnie.
TROUBLE doesn’t end here! Check out ALL of the Lynlee Lincoln Series in this suggested reading order:
The Trouble with Holidays (A Lynlee Lincoln Prequel) Amazon Link
Trolling for Trouble (The Lynlee Lincoln Series – 1) Amazon Link
The Werevamp Diaries: Moon Dust (A Lynlee Lincoln Bonus Short) Amazon Link
Tangled Up In Trouble (The Lynlee Lincoln Series – 2) Amazon Link
This Spells Trouble (The Lynlee Lincoln Series – 3) Amazon Link
Reaping Trouble (The Lynlee Lincoln Series – 4) Amazon Link
The Werevamp Diaries: Moon Beam Dreams (The Lynlee Lincoln Series – 5) Amazon Link
The Trouble with Vows (The Lynlee Lincoln Series – 6) Coming Soon Amazon Link
The Werevamp Diaries: Moon Dust (A Lynlee Lincoln Bonus Short) Page 3
