Truman enlightened Slash to some of the players’ identities. “Listen, Ford, where's the dickhead pack master that's responsible for taking things that don't belong to him?”
Like the Rare One, Slash thought. Ford, Slash guessed, came from the half-wolfen pack that faced him. He automatically drew in front of the fey warriors, the Combatant, and Jason and Truman. “Where is your pack master?” Slash said.
Ford's eyes stared back at him like bottomless pits. “Why? Want the job?”
Slash considered it for the length of a heartbeat. “Yes.” He moved deeper into the meadow to meet his adversary.
Where they were and what was about to transpire made Ford’s FBI-issue look more ridiculous.
“Slash, don't—there's too many,” Adrianna said.
He didn't turn around. “It's the only way.”
She circled around him. His guts clenched. Her nearness possessed a scent he thought he'd never smell on a female directed at him.
Desire.
Mixed with dominance lust, it was a perfume as heady as any he'd ever smelled. He had to exert an ugly self-control.
She put her forehead at his chest.
The talons at his fingertips remained extended as he wrapped her skull with a hand only half-human.
“Be with me,” Adrianna whispered against him, and Slash shut his eyes.
He let the fantasy envelope him for as long as his next breath.
“There is no being unless I fight for dominance. Right here. Right now.”
Adrianna nodded, and when she didn't move, Slash positioned her away from him.
It felt like an amputation of his soul.
Ford's smile was cold. “Just think, when I beat your ass, the bitch is mine.”
The growl erupted out of the depths of Slash's body. Uninvited, unbidden, resolute.
His talons tingled, begging to gore Ford.
“No—Slash, he's baiting you,” Adrianna said.
The other Were remained silent.
Ford turned eyes to Adrianna. “You're so going to like me, bitch.”
Adrianna flipped him off with a slender middle digit.
“That's about the size of yours, you dick weasel!”
Slash smiled. He enjoyed remaining quiet if the one who spoke for him had just the right words for the situation.
Ford moved forward. “You will submit, female.”
Adrianna made a low noise somewhere between defiance and amusement in her throat. Then she added the middle finger from her other hand.
“Not on your life.”
Slash thought he could arrange that.
Ford glared at Adrianna then turned to Slash. “It's not just me. There are others who will fight you.”
“I know.”
“Knew you were a ball-less wonder,” Truman told Ford as he and Slash circled each other.
His gaze flicked to Truman. “But I'll be a ball-less wonder that’s dominant to you.”
Slash reacted instantly, swinging his talons out and going for the jugular. Ford feinted to the left, and the body knives missed his Adam's apple by a hairsbreadth.
“Doubt it, chump.” Truman crossed his arms.
Cyn sighed. “I don't want to see him naked, and be underwhelmed and all that.”
Ford looked at her, and Slash struck again, piercing the vulnerable part of the body where thigh meets crotch in a precise strike.
Slash did not liken himself to a brutal fighter unless necessary. He would not tire himself when there were more Were to fight.
Cutting the femoral artery was effective.
Rapid.
Ford moved in for an obvious charge and stalled, a surprised look overtaking his face.
The other Reds shifted and muttered nervously.
Slash approached confidently as a river of blood shot out of Ford's body.
Ford didn't react when all four talons burst out the back of his neck. He was too busy dying from blood loss.
He careened backward, and Slash, a grim reaper without a scythe, jerked his talons. They came out of Ford's neck in a thick suctioned pop of flesh.
The talons sliced again, punching Ford with the knives that tipped his fingers.
Then nothing.
Slash stood.
He flung his right hand at the waiting Reds who would take the one hope the species had of unification.
Drops of blood and sinew from Ford's body fell like plops of gruesome rain. Some landed on the Were themselves.
They made no move to wipe away the proof of the Alpha's death.
“Any takers?” Slash asked.
Two more broke from the ring of Reds, a pureblood Red amongst the challengers.
Slash's heart ticked faster.
His eyes fixed on Adrianna.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Jacqueline stayed behind Domiatri.
She tried to imagine what she would have done before.
Now she used Domi as a shield, whereas in the past, her very evilness would have sufficed.
She held two perspectives. One from before Faerie, and she would always think of it as such. The second was after.
After Tony assaulting her every day, her muted Talents became apparent and she'd been defenseless. When her fey blood while living outside the sithen affected her, everything had been a plan of treachery. One of deception. At the time, it had seemed clever to mate with Tony and force all the other species to give them a reprieve through her matrimonial alliance with him.
Now they were mated.
And Jacqueline's self-loathing was acute but for the small glimmer of hope that her life might mean more than being an outcast, forever known as attempted murderer of Julia Caldwell, the Rare One.
The old Jacqueline, her talents those of a Deflector, a telekinetic, and a Tracker, would have slaughtered everyone in her path.
She was no longer that woman.
She lifted her chin and moved out from behind the protection of Domi's emerald body. He put an arm around her waist and snagged her against him. “Do not even think it, Singer.”
A sob caught in her throat. She had finally been brave enough in her useless life to try to help another, only to find that Domi's protection would not allow it.
It crushed her newfound soft interior.
Then Domi did something he had never done in all their couplings to get her with child.
As the Reds approached, circling them like sharks, he pressed a light kiss against her forehead.
The heat from his mouth upon her skin, the seduction of the breeze that blew between the supernaturals was tenderness on fire.
Jacqueline reveled in it.
Then he released her. “Go,” he whispered into her ear.
Their gazes locked.
His hands hovered at the top of her head, her eyes on the silver of his.
Domi's palms flowed over her, never touching. They paused at her belly then flowed to her feet. Domi grasped her ankles, his hands brands of fire. She touched hair she knew was navy but looked like oil running down his shoulders underneath the veil of night.
He leaned into her hand briefly. “They will not find you. Use your talent to Track. Locate the Blooded Queen.” He kissed her palm and stood, towering over her.
He'd cast a spell over her, a cover of glamor. She could feel it as it rode over her skin. When she shifted, a shimmer followed her.
Jacqueline took a deep breath, coming between Slash and the two new challengers for position of pack master.
They didn't look at what they could not see.
Jacqueline headed toward the girl she would have murdered.
It felt like a lifetime ago.
*
Julia gazed around. It was déjà vu. Different woods, same problem. This time she wouldn't be drinking any water out of creeks. She shivered from the possibilities.
Leaving Jason had been a bad move.
She heard a rustling and turned.
The Red Were stood before her.
Puffs of smoke f
rom his nostrils measured his breaths. They flared as the weather cooled, showing his position.
He looked all recovered from the foot-to-the-testies maneuver she'd managed.
Julia tensed, ready for a flight that would prove unsuccessful. There was no outrunning a werewolf.
The pack master of the Reds would be even more powerful.
“Wait,” Harriet growled, talons faintly glowing as he raised his palm in supplication.
Julia didn't like being the queen of anything else. She blew it off, focusing instead on the potential for violence that emanated from him like a fragrance. Always high amongst the Weres, she figured it was even more so with a Red.
“I don't know, but as off-balance as my Talents have been coming, I wouldn't risk it if I were you. And”—Julia cocked her head to the side—“you could kill me with another one of those well-placed hits.”
Harriet bled back to his human form, and Julia’s lungs deflated from the breath she'd been holding. It felt better to see a six feet tall guy in front of her, even naked, than the half-wolfen, seven feet of contained violence staring out of the gloom just a moment before.
She kept her distance anyway.
“I'm Tom Harriet.”
“I know.”
“Then you understand that I'm not actually here to harm you. I work for the FBI.”
Julia snorted in the dark. His gaze latched onto her. He didn’t fool her; he could count the hairs on her head. From his vaguely reflective gaze, she understood the wolf ran just beneath the man. She briefly touched on the memory of Slash and his big pureblood Red reveal. She'd not seen it but had heard. Tom Harriet was a Red.
He cocked one of his eyebrows.
“It's just”—she folded her arms—“what does that matter? Obviously, the feds aren't aware you're a supernatural.”
“Some are not,” he conceded.
Julia shifted uneasily. How deep did the world inside the world go?
“Whatever organization that humans are in control of, we have infiltrated.”
Julia shrugged. “You being a fed holds no weight. I've had authority figures of every flavor turn out to be not what they really were. You're no exception.”
“It doesn't matter.”
When had he come closer? Julia stepped back.
“You were never meant to leave Alaska. Lily was meant to keep you under her care until you became, then you were to assimilate into the Alaska den.”
“I love that everyone had my life planned from the beginning. I was the only one not privy to the agenda.”
“It's the way it is. Your parents made a choice.”
Julia's heartbeat raced.
“So it's true? I do have a sister....”
Harriet nodded.
“Where is she?” She relaxed her hands out of fists so tight they'd left crescent-shaped indents on her palms.
Tom's smile was immediate and brilliant. Julia kept her gaze on his face, never straying. He held up his index finger and wagged it back and forth. “The Sidhe warrior was clever to use the cloning spell to fool the Singers. But I will say nothing of her whereabouts unless you come with me.”
That awful moment in Julia's life was worse in some ways than any before it. To realize her true family still lived in this plane of existence.
She'd been an orphan so long that she had long buried the hope of any family.
The Red Were was dangling the proverbial carrot.
She hated him for it.
And at the same time, Julia passionately hoped it wasn't a lie.
She didn't have time to scream. He wrapped his hand around her throat, closing her windpipe. He'd been that fast.
She struggled.
“Shh,” Tom whispered beside her ear. “Someone else is here.”
Julia's eyes bulged. They moved in a panic to whoever had appeared.
Friend or foe? she wondered. And on the heels of that, Jason's name whispered through her mind like a reverent prayer.
Her gaze latched on to the small female figure that glided outside the border of trees.
Jacqueline.
Definitely foe.
*
Julia gave a squeak, and Tom dropped her.
She fell, hands at her throat instead of breaking her fall. The shock of the rough landing thrummed up her spine like an electric current. Julia sucked lungfuls of precious oxygen as Harriet gave her his naked ass.
Slow learner.
Testie tap time. Or double tap.
Julia staggered to a standing position. She kicked the Were in his butt with her bare foot. Her toes might have curved a little as her foot came back.
He howled, reaching between his legs, but didn't move far.
It was the distraction she meant it to be.
He whipped around, arms spread, talons sliding out and conquering the flesh of his fingertips in a brutal shift.
Julia threw up her hands to defend her face, and the splatter of his humanity rained down on her.
She dropped her arms, and a large wolf stood before her.
Trouble stared back in the form of a red fur coat and green eyes.
Julia kept the Were in sight while also trying to find Jacqueline.
Not far enough.
“Julia—wait!” Jacqueline said and the wolf turned, it's swimming green gaze swinging between the two women.
“No,” Julia said. “I don't want to hurt you. But I will, because you don't do mercy. And this guy”—Julia pointed at the now-changed Harriet—“this guy, he's certainly not my buddy.”
“I know it will be hard to convince you of my sincerity.” Jacqueline turned her palms outward in a defenseless posture, wary eyes on the Were.
“Impossible,” Julia answered.
Jacqueline dropped her hands. “I am sorry... I tried to murder you.”
Julia laughed aloud. Is she serious?
“I was not well when I... attempted that.”
“Is this where you claim temporary insanity?” Julia made no move to temper her sarcasm.
Jacqueline shook her head.
Julia’s brows cinched. This was beyond weird.
“This is where I escort you back to the group. Domiatri wished for me to Track you. It was twofold. I would be safe, and you would be found and returned.”
Julia opened her mouth to tell her to piss off when Harriet pounced on Jacqueline.
Julia should have let her die. She was a proven murderess.
But Julia's instincts said something was off.
For one, Jacqueline wasn't that good an actress.
What if she isn’t acting?
Julia steeled herself, racing toward the werewolf and her killer.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Slash faced the half-blood Red. He couldn't help his feelings of vulnerability with the two facing him.
Just a natural part of dominance struggle.
Slash had encountered Reds before, of course. During turf wars but mainly as rogues.
Not now.
That was as organized a plan as he'd ever seen. They had banded together and made themselves a force to be reckoned with.
It was up to Slash to free them of their current Alpha's position of pack master.
And put himself in it.
The Were that went by the name of Tom Harriet was missing. Slash was primed to use the volatile circumstance to his advantage.
They circled one another. The half-breed Were taunted Slash in an attempt to distract him.
“I'm going to take that Alpha bitch when I'm through with you.”
Slash duly noted he wasn't dealing with a major intellect. “That worked so well for Ford.”
The half-breed's eyes rounded when Slash attacked. He uttered the last word while Slash was already moving.
Slash did something different than he'd done against Ford. The pure-blood was watching them.
Memorizing his movements for when they fought.
The Were bled as he moved. Colored, sliding flesh blurred like a sm
eared watercolor painting. Both Were shifted from human to half-wolfen forms, their fists readying.
In Slash’s case, he drove his left fist, knuckles pointed where he wanted them, into the the opposing Were’s solar plexus. It robbed him of breath as Slash did the same with his other hand to the male's neck.
Immobilizing him, it assured that his breath would not return. Slash forgot about Cynthia and Adrianna. He ignored Truman and Jason watching what he was about to do.
While the Were's eyes stood like poached eggs in his purple face, Slash lashed a foot into the male's chest, grasping his enemy’s left arm.
He pressed with his foot and twisted the gripped arm. With a sickening pop, Slash tore it from the socket.
He used the ball joint like a bony hammer, beating his adversary as he fell.
The skull cracked first.
Blood spray, shards of bone, and gray chunks of brain matter flew in a spatter pattern ahead of where his body began to fall.
Breathing came too late as death met the second Were he'd killed in the space of hours.
Slash threw the arm with which he'd just bludgeoned the Were and turned to face the new threat.
The Reds who stood behind him backed away, casting wary glances at Slash.
His small group was quiet behind him.
“You are a pure-blood,” the Alpha stated as fact.
No use denying it. “Yes.”
“It has been years since I've seen that kind of fighting.”
Slash smiled, and the Alpha cocked his head.
“Let me get you up to speed then.”
Slash attacked.
*
Julia landed on Tom Harriet's back. Her one-hundred-fifteen pounds wasn't going to do much, but she gave it her all.
He grunted, tossing her off.
She grabbed what clothing remained on his body. A stubborn button-down shirt still held by one torn sleeve.
Julia gripped it like a rope, as though her life depended on it.
Then they were both airborne.
Julia's arms spun out at her side, trying to break yet another fall.
Miraculously, she didn't land but floated.
Julia's eyes opened, and she beheld Jacqueline. She stretched her arms out at shoulder height.
Blood Reign (#4): Alpha Warriors of the Blood (The Blood Series) Page 9
