by Laura Hysell
CHAPTER SEVEN
Jed pulled a chair out for me, setting it in the middle of the room. I stared at the chair as Jed moved around the computer desks to grab a second chair. When he turned back around, he looked at me with raised eyebrows. I smiled timidly and quickly took my seat. He nodded and put the other chair in front of me. With both of us sitting, our knees almost touched. I’d never been alone with Jed, and I’d certainly never been this close to him. He was intimidating on the best of days, but now the air seemed to vibrate around him. Sweat trickled across my back and down my spine, sending shivers across my body, and he hadn’t even said a word.
“So, first things first,” he began, leaning back in his seat. “We found your backpack full of files.”
“Files? Oh, the things we stole from Henri.” I breathed a sigh of relief. This was a topic I felt fine talking about. “We never had a chance to look at them. I had a flash drive too,” I added, suddenly remembering that I had shoved it into my boot.
He nodded and said, “Yes, we found that too. We just started going through everything. From the looks of it, you managed to get blueprints to Henri’s hotel building. There doesn’t appear to be anything for the place you and Mark were held in up in Canada, unfortunately. There does appear to be a blueprint for another massive structure in the Rocky Mountains, though. I’m not sure yet, but we think it might be Petrivian’s hideout.”
“Really? That’s great news. We didn’t have much time, but I didn’t want to leave Henri’s compound without some good info,” I said. Relief flooded through me. My time with Henri hadn’t been a complete waste of time. I hadn’t subjected myself to months of Henri’s special brand of torture for nothing. It was small consolation, but I’d take it. “Was there anything else?”
Jed nodded and leaned forward. “Yes, there was actually quite a bit of info regarding werewolves. Particularly, how to control us.”
“You mean the stuff he used on Mark?”
“Yes, and there were some rather disturbing notes about what he planned to do with all of the wolves once he gathered them.”
“What do you mean?”
“He planned to take Alphas and use them to control the Packs, thus giving him a werewolf army. Mark was one of his test subjects. One of many.”
I nodded, thinking back to the fights Henri had orchestrated as entertainment and the sheer numbers of wolves he had there. “He had them fighting each other. I don’t know how many wolves he already has, but from what I saw, I’d guess there are a lot.”
“That’s just in Canada. He has wolves that he already sent back to their Packs. He’s trying to infiltrate our ranks from the inside.”
“I heard about that other wolf,” I replied. “The one who was killed.”
Jed shook his head, his anger peeking through. “Oh, yes, and I’m afraid he’s just one of many. Lucky for us, Henri seems to have had a hard time getting any Alphas. He settled for high ranking when he could. Although, after reading through the notes, it seems that some wolves are able to resist longer than others. Mark, for starters, was particularly tough for him. Of course, now we have the equally difficult task of ridding Mark of that vampire blood mixture. Then, we have to prove that we did it. This whole situation is a cluster fuck.”
I stared at Jed, surprised to hear him cuss. He was growing visibly angrier with each passing minute. I squirmed in my seat. “Is my brother working on a way to test it?”
He took a deep breath and nodded, but his anger didn’t diminish. If anything, I’d say Jed had grown angrier. His eyes had begun to change, but they weren’t the golden hue I was used to with other wolves. Jed’s eyes had more of a green tinge to them that I had associated solely with the Alpha. “Your brother,” he said suddenly, “is working to fix his fuck up. He was much more involved with this vaccine than he led us all to believe.”
“What do you mean? How much more involved?”
“He knew something about a werewolf version of the vaccine, but he never said anything to us. Not until we’d figured it out on our own.”
“Justin wouldn’t help the vampires,” I insisted.
“No, he wouldn’t, not willingly. And he is definitely working to make amends. The fact of the matter is that your brother has had his hands in this since the beginning, and he hasn’t told us everything. I’m afraid he was a little more wrapped up with his vampire girlfriend than he told us. No one trusts him, and that’s a serious problem.”
“What do you want me to do?” I asked, figuring he wanted me to fix the problem since he was my brother.
“Nothing,” he said, surprising me. “You have enough on your plate, but I thought you deserved to know the truth. If you can get more info out of him, then by all means, go for it. I’m not sure if he’ll share anything else, or even if there’s anything else to learn that’s worth a damn. If he hadn’t been with us for as long as he has, I’d be worried he was under vampire control. I don’t think that’s the case, but not everyone agrees. Honestly, I think your brother got mixed up in something bigger than he realized, and now the repercussions are falling back on him. He’s swimming upstream without a life vest.”
“All alone,” I added.
He nodded his head and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “There are a lot of men from different Packs here that you still haven’t met. There are also a lot of suspicions. For your safety, I want you to stay here in the main house. I think Vanessa already showed you to your new room.”
“Yeah, just down the hall,” I replied, pointing. It was one of the rooms I had never been able to access before, requiring a key. I was surprised to see it was only a bedroom.
“I hope I didn’t presume too much by putting Mark in that room as well?” he asked. I blushed and shook my head, thankful when he continued talking. “Well, I’m glad that’s settled then. It’s difficult finding enough rooms for everyone, and a few of our guests have rooms here as well. John is staying here for the time being, in the room next to yours. Beth is in the next room over. Jared is upstairs, along with our visitors.”
“Jared’s upstairs? He’s not in the cottage with Justin?”
“Like I said before, your brother has lost a lot of trust, and any friends he may have had. Jared doesn’t talk to him, unless he has to.”
I leaned back as the weight of his words hit me. Jared had always been so calm and forgiving. If he wouldn’t speak to Justin, who had been his friend for years, would he speak to me? Would he forgive me? Jed was looking at me expectantly, but I didn’t know what to say. “Oh,” I managed weakly.
He raised an eyebrow at me, but said no more on the subject. He took a deep breath and leaned further forward, his face serious. “Now, who is Aidan?”
I giggled, I couldn’t help it. It was probably not the best reaction, judging by the deepening of Jed’s frown. “He’s not a vampire,” I said immediately, holding my hands up as though to stop Jed’s train of thought.
“So what is he?”
“Um, well, that’s complicated.”
“I suggest you un-complicate it.”
“Remember the dagger? The one Declan looked at?”
“Yes, I remember.”
“Well, Aidan was the original owner. When they did their magic trick with the knife, they linked Aidan to it. Forever. He sort of bonded with it. Eventually, I bonded with the knife too. I don’t completely understand how it works, but we can speak to each other. He helped me against Henri countless times.”
“Aidan is… the dagger?” Jed asked, frowning and seemingly at a loss for words.
“Sort of. I think it’s more like his consciousness is somehow still linked to the dagger. His memories and skills are there, but he can somehow know what’s happening in the present. And he can sense vampires,” I added.
Actually, the dagger is imbued with magic that resonates when vampires are near. You and I just feel the magic, Aidan chimed in suddenly.
Jed’s eyebrows rose in surprise and he sat up straight in h
is chair. “You heard that, I take it?” I asked. Jed nodded, his eyes wide.
Aidan? Jed asked, his voice coming hesitantly to my mind.
Pleasure to meet you, Aidan replied, his humor barely contained. Don’t worry, I’m one of the good guys.
Jed’s eyes flashed a brilliant green briefly before calming back to a steady glow. He looked at me with those eerie eyes, his face serious. “How long have you been hearing Aidan?”
I frowned, trying to remember the exact moment when I heard his voice. The knife tasted your blood, Aidan supplied. That’s what sealed your fate, so to speak. It was quite the surprise for me too. You have no idea how frustrating it was feeling you, hearing you, sensing you, but unable to do a damn thing about it.
“You must be careful to keep your thoughts carefully concealed, Isabella,” Jed said seriously. “I can hear him because I am Alpha, but when your walls slip the rest of the Pack will be able to hear him as well. In fact, some already did. They will not speak of it, but the fewer people who know, the better. I need to call Declan immediately so we can remove this intrusion,” Jed said, standing up and moving toward the door.
“Wait, what?”
Intrusion? Aidan asked, his voice rising in my mind as though he were yelling. After all I’ve done, I’m just being dismissed!
Shh, I said, and Aidan quieted down to a grumble.
“Jed, Aidan has been instrumental in helping me. I think deciding to remove him is a bit rash,” I said carefully.
He stopped and turned back to look at me. “I don’t like the idea of this strange entity in your mind, and ultimately in the mind of the Pack as well. This is strange magic, and I don’t trust it.”
“I’m sure we can figure out how to keep Aidan only in my mind.” I pushed my walls up further, like Aidan had shown me before to keep Henri out.
Hey, ass wipe, can you hear me now? Aidan taunted.
Jed’s frown deepened and he said, “I can still hear him.”
Fuck me running.
Aidan! I yelled, trying to block Jed while keeping my thoughts focused on Aidan only. I was sweating profusely, and my heart was pounding loudly, echoing in my ears. “Please, Jed,” I implored.
My Alpha stared at me as though he could see through me to Aidan. “Calm yourself, before you start shifting. I’m calling Declan right away. Hopefully he has some answers for us. For now, do your best to keep him in check.”
That’s not likely to happen.
“He does know that he’s not helping his case, right?” Jed added. I sighed loudly and nodded. “I’m going to block you out for the rest of the night, okay? You and Aidan can have some privacy to talk. Keep your walls up tonight, and try to stay calm. Don’t do anything to get yourself too worked up.”
I took a deep, calming breath and felt my anxiety drain. “Sure,” I replied.
Jed stared at me, opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again. “You’re a new wolf. Mark can help you so you don’t turn when you don’t want to, but, ah, be careful. John may be in the next room, but he won’t come barging in unless he thinks it necessary.”
“Okay?”
“So, try not to get overly excited. If Mark gets too worked up, he might not be able to think clear enough to help calm you.”
“Are you that worried about Mark? He seems to be himself, and I saw him when Henri had control of him,” I replied. “He’s better.”
Jed shook his head and closed his eyes. “That’s not what I mean,” he mumbled.
“Well, what do you mean?” I asked, crossing my arms.
Really, Izzy, he’s trying to tell you to be careful if you and Mark get hot and heavy tonight. Do I have to explain everything?
My skin was on fire. I covered my face with my hands, wishing I could just disappear. Then Jed kept talking. “I just want to make sure that you understand what it’s like as a werewolf. Some people have a harder time controlling themselves, and with all our guests, I just want to make sure you are careful. Emotions can bring on the change just as easily as sights, smells, or sounds.”
“I get it!” I yelled, peeking at Jed between my fingers. “I understand.”
“Oh, good,” he said, taking a deep breath; his eyes looking everywhere but at me.
At least he seemed as embarrassed as I felt. I lowered my hands and frowned at Jed. “You didn’t hear Aidan just now?” I asked.
He shook his head. “I already blocked him out. Why?”
“Nothing, just wondering. I’ll be careful, okay.”
“Good,” he said before turning and climbing up the stairs to the exit.
I followed on his heels, restless to get out of that room. As soon as I reached the top of the stairs I turned down the hallway, anxious to get away from Jed. I sniffed the air before entering the bar further down the hall. It was thankfully empty, and I plopped down in a dark corner. I wasn’t sure how much time I’d have to myself before someone realized I was without a bodyguard.
Aidan, are you there?
Where would I go?
I rolled my eyes. Any ideas?
I didn’t need to elaborate. Aidan knew exactly what I was referring to. I don’t know much about the magic around the knife. There was a ceremony with me and maybe a dozen other people. I remember that they warned us about this, although not in so many words. They said something about the man and the weapon uniting forever, and ‘Where one remains, the other will follow.’ That’s the only line I remember.
Line? Like a poem? I asked. I pulled my knees to my chest, huddling in my chair in the corner of the room.
More like a magic spell. There were candles, weird symbols and a bunch of men in black robes all chanting the same thing. There were the same number of magicians as there were weapons and volunteers. They did their chant, lit some candles, then stabbed each of us with our chosen blade.
They stabbed you?
Right through the heart.
Shouldn’t you have died?
I should have lived forever, actually. That’s what they implied with their magic spells. When the blade pierced my heart, it should have bound me to the blade forever. As long as the blade survived, so did I. And that blade is indestructible. Then, I went out fighting a vampire and the blade just didn’t work like it should have. I don’t know what went wrong, but I ended up impaled on my own blade with a vamp laughing over my dying corpse. That’s the last thing I remember, until you killed that vampire with the knife. That’s when I woke up.
I never knew. I closed my eyes, taking in Aidan’s words. Jed was going to call Declan and most likely bring him here. We’ll get answers for you, from Declan.
The magician? How do we know he won’t do some sort of magic and kill me permanently?
I won’t let that happen.
If he’s a true magician, you won’t be able to stop him. Our only hope is to convince your Alpha to keep me around.
I smiled to myself and said, It’ll probably go easier if you didn’t swear every second.
Ha! You’re telling me not to swear?
What, I don’t… I stopped, thinking about my use of colorful language. It had definitely become more pronounced over time. There was a time I would have blushed before saying the ‘F’ word.
Where’s the fun in that? Cursing was a specialty in my day. The more creative, the better.
I chuckled and shook my head, stopping as the bar door squeaked open. John poked his head in and let out a loud sigh of relief when he spotted me. “There you are,” he said, walking toward me. “It’s getting late.”
“You want me to go to bed so you can be off guard duty?” I asked as I stood up.
“Guard duty never ends, but it can take a breather,” he replied, a small smile playing at his lips.
“No problem, boss,” I said, saluting him and marching out the door. His quiet chuckle followed me down the hallway.
CHAPTER EIGHT
I walked down the hallway to my bedroom and waved at John. He stood outside his own door until I had turn
ed the knob and moved inside. Mark was already there, sitting on the bed reading a science fiction magazine. He glanced up at me and smiled before his eyes went back to the page he was reading. I grinned and leaned back against the door until it clicked shut. Mark looked relaxed and content, wearing shorts and a t-shirt. I slipped off my shoes and climbed onto the bed, adjusting my dress so I wasn’t sitting on it. Mark reached around me and pulled me toward him, his eyes never leaving the magazine. I leaned against his shoulder, trying to relax, but not succeeding.
After a minute, Mark closed the magazine and set it on a side table. “Okay, what’s wrong?” he asked.
“What makes you think something is wrong?” I asked, immediately feeling defensive. I hadn’t sighed dramatically or pouted or done anything outwardly to indicate something was wrong.
“You’re stiff as a board and, I don’t know, I get the sense that something is wrong,” he finished with a shrug. His fingers began kneading at my shoulders, finding the knots there.
I sat up and looked back over my shoulder at him. “Well, I don’t know, Mark. There are so many things, I don’t even know where to begin.”
“Years of counseling,” he stated as he began massaging my back with his other hand.
“What?”
“If a counselor could understand being taken prisoner by a vampire, tortured, being forced to do things you didn’t want to do, and that sort of thing, then we’d probably both need years of counseling.” He smiled at me and tucked a stray strand of hair out of my face. “Good thing we have each other.”
“I don’t think I want to talk about my time under Henri’s control. I don’t even remember half of it, thankfully,” I added.
“You’re lucky,” he murmured as he pushed me away so he could massage my back without my seeing him. “I remember everything.”
