by J. C. Diem
“I’ll wait around and make sure no animals try to make off with the body,” Flynn volunteered.
“I’ll wait with you,” I said. I didn’t want to return to the compound and try to pretend that I wasn’t falling apart on the inside every time Reece avoided me.
Kala made a face and headed back to the SUV. “Count me out. I have better things to do than stand around guarding a half-eaten corpse.”
Flynn waited for the SUV to drive away before he spoke. “How badly does it hurt when you get close to the crosses?”
There was no use pretending I didn’t know what he was talking about. Clearly, I hadn’t hidden my reaction to the pain well enough. “It’s pretty bad,” I admitted. “It feels a bit like someone is burning me from the inside with a flamethrower.”
“I hope we can finish this mission quickly. We have to hunt your Mom down before you get any worse.”
“I have plenty of time yet.” I tried to sound cheerful, but it was just a façade. I didn’t know exactly how long I had left before the process of becoming the undead would be irreversible. At a guess, I’d say I had a few more weeks left to find and destroy her.
“You don’t have to act so brave around us,” he scolded me. “We’re your family now, Lexi. You can count on us.”
I smiled and nodded, but remained bleak. I’d believed that Reece had accepted our bond and that I could count on him. After his recent rejection, I wasn’t sure of anything anymore.
Bored with standing near a body that we wouldn’t allow him to investigate, Zeus trotted off and returned with a stick. Bypassing me, he headed straight for Flynn.
Looking down at him, Flynn raised a brow. “What?” Cocking his ears, Zeus dropped the stick at his feet. “I hope you’re not expecting me to touch that slimy thing.” They engaged in a long staring match and my furry companion whined softly in appeal. Rolling his eyes, Flynn capitulated and bent to pick up the stick. Zeus took off at a run even before the projectile went flying through the air.
“Sucker,” I said and sniggered nastily. “Now you’ll have to play fetch with him for the next two hours.”
His expression was alarmed. “He’ll get sick of the game eventually, won’t he?”
“Nope.” I displayed my amusement in a wide smile. While it was fun to play with Zeus, it tended to get a bit tedious after the first hour or so.
“Why did he pick me?” Flynn asked as the Rottweiler returned and dropped the stick at his feet again.
“You can throw it further than me.”
Shaking his head, he sent the stick whistling through the air again. “It freaks me out how intelligent he is sometimes.”
I wasn’t about to admit that I’d nudged Zeus towards him rather than me. I loved the big guy, but I wasn’t in the mood to play. Brooding fit me better at the moment.
“You’re good at getting inside people’s heads,” I said after Flynn had thrown the stick for the twentieth time. He flicked me a glance and raised an eyebrow for me to continue. “Can you predict what the psycho stalker is going to do next?”
He turned contemplative. “He’s been murdering people in the hope of luring Mark back here, presumably for revenge. But instead of going after our boss, he seems to be targeting you.” Zeus returned and dropped the stick, watching him with big brown eyes, urging him to toss it again. He complied and returned to his assessment of our target. “I’m not sure if he’s trying to torture Mark by going after you, or if he has a different plan in mind now.”
“What could his plan be?” I almost didn’t want to know the answer.
“He might have decided that he wants you as his mate.”
I screwed my nose up. “But I’m already bonded to Reece.”
“He might not know that. Or maybe he does know and he doesn’t care.”
“I can’t be mated to two different men at the same time. Can I?”
He turned to look at me and saw that I wasn’t going to be put off with empty platitudes. “No, but I read something once in the archives about pure born shifters and bonding.” My expression must have been as skeptical as it felt. “Hey, I have been known to read through the files occasionally, you know.”
I made a sound of exasperation when he fell silent. “Don’t keep me in suspense. Just tell me what you learned.”
“They can apparently steal the bond from a rival and take it over. Only a pure born can pull it off. It’s much easier to do if their rival is what they call a ‘lesser wolf’.”
“Meaning bitten rather than born,” I said. He nodded in clarification and gave me a sympathetic look. As far as he knew, Reece had been injected with the virus like he and Kala had been. He didn’t know that Reece was pure born. Presuming the rogue was also born rather than bitten, they’d be on equal footing.
Disturbed by this knowledge, I sensed Zeus about to return and mentally asked him to wait. He sank down onto his haunches in the long grass across the field. This conversation was too important to be interrupted. “How does it work exactly?”
“I don’t know. The file didn’t go into much detail. All I know is that he’d have to mark you to begin the process of stealing the bond.”
A chill went through me at how close the crazed shifter had come to fulfilling the first part of his plan. My hand went to my neck where his teeth had grazed my skin. If I hadn’t elbowed him in the face, I’d have his mark on me right now. God only knew what would have happened after that.
“We won’t let him get near you again, Lexi,” he vowed.
“He’s out there right now. Watching us,” I said softly. He wasn’t close enough for me to be able to sense him, but I could feel his eyes on me.
“His arrogance will work against him. Mark will think of a plan to catch him.”
I’d already thought of one. Now that I had an insight into what the rogue wolf wanted, I was more certain than ever that it would work. Unfortunately, that meant I’d have to come into close proximity with him again. That wasn’t a prospect I was looking forward to, but I would endure it if it meant we could finally put an end to our hunt.
₪₪₪
Chapter Thirty
Flynn was almost ready to throw himself in front of the Cleanup Crew’s van to put himself out of his misery when it appeared two hours later. “That animal is relentless,” he complained when Zeus dropped the stick at his feet again.
“I know,” I said fondly. Play time is over, I told my guardian and Zeus instantly forgot about the stick. He took up a protective position in front of us as we crossed the field to the road.
Two men emerged from the dark gray van and eyed the Rottweiler warily. They were both in their forties and wore dark blue work overalls. “I hear you have a body that needs disposal,” the shorter man said.
“You TAK Squad guys always have the most interesting messes for us to clean up,” the taller one remarked. I sent him a frown at being referred to as a guy. “No offense meant, ma’am,” he said to me. “I should have said you agents rather than you guys.” He smiled nervously and was relieved when I didn’t make an issue of it.
They followed us to the body, skirting around Zeus who was watching them intently. The shorter man looked down at the remains and whistled in awe. “Werewolf?” he asked and Flynn nodded. “All shifters should be hunted down and eradicated,” he said in tones of finality.
“Even the ones that haven’t harmed humans?” I asked. It was a struggle to keep my voice even. Zeus reacted to my anger by growling low in his throat.
“They’re all monsters,” he shrugged. “It’s only a matter of time before they lose control and eat someone.”
Flynn placed a soothing hand on my shoulder as the men returned to the van for the tools that they’d need to clean up the mess. “He has no idea what he’s talking about. Don’t take it to heart.”
It was too late for that. Besides, he was right. We were monsters and if we weren’t restrained, we would munch down on humans. Only my bond with Reece had enabled me to rescue rather th
an eat Mark when the bokor had sent his zombie servants after us in New Orleans. Without that link, our boss would have ended up like this poor woman, chewed up, spat out and left in pieces.
Scooping the remains into a body bag with a shovel, they sprayed a solvent on the blood. The smell was pungent enough to burn my sinuses. I took a few steps back as it dissolved the blood. It also killed the grass, leaving a bare patch of dirt where I doubted anything would be able to grow for at least a few weeks.
“Tell Agent Steel we said hi,” the shorter man said then they picked up the body bag and returned to their van.
“What do you think of the new girl?” the taller Crew member asked. He opened the backdoor and they slid the remains inside. He had no idea I could hear him clearly even from this distance.
“She’s hot, but kinda scary.”
“Yeah. She’s definitely a ‘look but don’t touch’ kind of girl.”
“I wish Agent Walker had been waiting for us,” the other man said wistfully. “You just know she’d be up for a bit of fun.” They chuckled then slammed the door shut and climbed inside.
Flynn managed to hold his laughter in until the van disappeared then doubled over and let it out. I put my hands on my hips and watched him with my lips thinned in annoyance. “Are you done?” I asked when he finally caught his breath.
“I can’t wait to tell Kala about that,” he said and bent to scoop up the stick. “She’ll get a kick out of hearing they’d prefer her to you.”
“Of course they’d prefer her to me. What guy wouldn’t?”
He looked at me to see if I was joking. “Please don’t tell me you think you’re unattractive.”
I gave a half shrug then took the slimy stick from him and threw it. “I know I’m not ugly, but Kala is much prettier than I am.” Zeus chased after the stick as we ambled back towards the gate.
“That’s subjective. Plenty of men would prefer you to Kala.”
“It really doesn’t matter since I’m bonded to Reece anyway.”
He heard the unhappiness in my tone and wisely let the subject drop. Triggering the gate when we were still fifty feet away, we waited for it to open before sprinting through. The searing pain made me gasp. He steadied me with a hand on my shoulder as he guided me safely to the other side. We had to wait for Zeus to catch up to us before closing the gate again.
“Do you want to come in or stay out?” I asked Zeus when we reached the door that opened to the kitchen. He debated about it for a second then moved to stand beside me.
“Freaky,” Flynn muttered as he placed his palm on the scanner and entered ahead of us.
Kala and Reece were sparring in the ring. I felt an instant flare of jealousy to see her hands wrapped around his waist from behind. Distracted by the feelings I couldn’t quite suppress from him, Reece glanced up and Kala pounced. She picked him up and slammed him down on his side. His head bounced off the floor and he snarled and scrambled to his feet in an instant rage.
Alarmed at the savagery in his growl, Flynn darted across the room. Kala backed away warily with her hands up in the air in the universal sign of surrender. Ignoring the gesture, Reece crouched. I felt his rage and knew he was going to do something that he’d later regret.
Flynn jumped into the ring and stood protectively in front of Kala. This enraged Reece even more. He wasn’t in the mood to be challenged. He was an alpha and their team leader. They should have been bowing to his authority rather than challenging it.
I’d never felt this kind of animosity from him before and I couldn’t understand where it was coming from. He’d been fine until I’d walked through the door and then it was like a switch had been flipped and he’d gone crazy. I felt his intention to put them in their places and knew with utter certainty that he was going to tear them both to pieces.
Sitting in the coms room above us, Mark was oblivious to the danger below. He wouldn’t be able to reach us in time to help diffuse the situation. Reece gathered himself to leap and I did the only thing I could think of. I invaded his mind and took control of his body.
Momentary surprise halted his leap. He snarled at me over his shoulder and struggled to free himself from my mental clutches. He took a step closer to his friends and sweat popped out on my forehead as I fought to keep him still. Flynn and Kala backed away then fled from the ring. Racing over to me, they stood behind me, using me as a shield.
“What’s wrong with him?” Flynn whispered. I shook my head, unable to speak for fear of losing my concentration. I couldn’t explain to them what I didn’t understand myself.
“Mark!” Kala yelled. “You need to get down here!”
From the corner of my eye, I saw him stand and approach the window. Realizing something was very wrong, he hurried downstairs.
Reece managed to turn around to face me. He was trying to pry me from his mind, pushing at me with invisible hands. His eyes were almost glowing gold as he stared at me with an emotion that was distressingly close to hatred. Something was wrong with him, but I didn’t know what it was. It didn’t feel like the darkness that had been spawned by the vampirism. Whatever it was seemed to be clouding his ability to think rationally. His wolf had been roused and his basest instincts were taking over.
Looking deeper, I sensed another presence in his mind and focused on it. Becoming aware of me, the second presence renewed its attack on him. It was forcing him to try to kill his own team and it didn’t care who he targeted.
I couldn’t focus on two tasks at once. I had to decide between controlling Reece and getting rid of the invader. It was an easy choice. “Get ready to fight,” I ground out to the others as Mark joined us. “Try not to hurt him too much.”
“You’d better stand back, Mark,” Kala said. “Something is seriously wrong with Garrett.”
Releasing my control of Reece, I turned all my will on forcing the foreign presence out of his mind. Freed at last, he sprung over the ropes and bounded towards me. Zeus barked ferociously enough to make him pause, then his hands were on my throat.
Ignoring the pain, I wrapped insubstantial hands around the invader. Reece’s fingers tightened and my air was cut off. Flynn and Kala tried to pull him off me, but he was too strong for them. No other shifter was capable of the rage that a werewolf could channel at will. If I didn’t get rid of whoever was controlling him, I wouldn’t have to worry about going to the dark side and becoming a vampire. I’d die right here and right now.
Bit by bit, I pried the presence loose then finally forced them out completely. They fled with a snarl and I slammed the door shut so they couldn’t return. The maniacal expression left Reece and he blinked in confusion. Seeing his hands wrapped around my throat, he gave a hoarse cry of horror and let go.
Mark caught me when my legs buckled. I coughed harshly, gasping for air as he helped me to stagger over to a chair. I fell rather than sat and plonked down hard. Flynn and Kala moved to stand in front of me protectively. Zeus was glued to my side, still growling menacingly. His hackles were raised and he was still on the verge of taking a chunk out of Reece’s leg. Only my intervention was stopping him from attacking.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Kala demanded.
Reece put a shaky hand to his forehead. “I don’t know. What just happened?”
“You went nuts,” Flynn told him flatly. “First you were going to attack Kala then you tried to choke Lexi to death.”
Stricken, he pushed past them and dropped to his knees in front of me. He took my hands in a tight grip and I didn’t have the strength to pull away. “I’m sorry,” he said and I knew he meant it. “I never meant to hurt you.” He might be regretting our bond, but he didn’t want me dead.
“I know,” I rasped. “It wasn’t you.”
Mark hurried to the fridge and returned with a bottle of water. He took the cap off and handed it to me. “What do you mean?”
“Someone was controlling him.”
“Who?” Flynn asked.
I shrugged and chug
ged some water down. The bruises were already fading and would soon be gone entirely. “I don’t know. I just felt someone else in there when I tried to take control of him.”
“Someone was using me as their puppet?” Reece asked. His earlier reticence about being close to me was gone, for the moment at least. Why did it always take a disaster to bring us together?
“Was it another werewolf?” Flynn asked.
“I don’t know. All I could tell was that they were strong enough to take Reece over without him even knowing it.”
“The sooner we finish this mission, the better,” Kala said darkly. “I say we round up the pack, shoot them all in the face half a dozen times then get out of West Virginia and never come back.”
“There will be no shooting of faces until after we’ve done some recon,” Mark said, giving Kala a dark frown. “The equipment I’ve asked for will be delivered tomorrow. We’ll be able to get a look at their property once night falls.”
“Why do we have to wait until then?” I asked.
“I’ll be using a drone. There’s less chance of it being spotted and shot down after dark.”
It was a good plan, but we were going to have a long, tense wait before we could finally get a closer look at the mysterious pack.
₪₪₪
Chapter Thirty-One
I heard a knock on the door shortly after I’d prepared myself for bed. Sensing Reece standing on the other side, I pulled on a thin white robe. There was no visible trace that he’d tried to kill me, but the mental scars would remain for both of us.
“We need to talk,” he said when I opened the door.
Stepping aside, I let him in then closed the door, but didn’t lock it. He was guarding himself as best he could, but if he slackened off in his vigilance, his mind might be taken over again.
