by Moira Rogers
“That bastard had better be looking for Emily too.”
He could lie, but Ethan would know. “I don’t know. But when Joe and Brynn get back here, we’ll figure out a way to fix this.”
“Sure.” Ethan leaned his head against the headboard with a rough exhalation. “Where’s the girl? The one from earlier?”
“Sasha’s making you something to eat. She’s worried that you’ll be uncomfortable around her.” And try as he might, Dylan couldn’t keep the challenge out of his voice.
A hint of humor glinted in the man’s eyes. “I only wanted to thank her.”
Dylan unbent enough to smile. “She hasn’t had the easiest time with werewolves.”
“At this point, neither have I.”
Neither had Brynn. Or Abby. Or me. Werewolves had been hurting each other and everyone around them for a long time, long enough for Dylan to wonder if maybe the wizards were right to fight against them.
A traitorous thought, perhaps. A pointless one, too. “Get some rest. Sasha and Adam and I will figure out what’s going on, and when we do, you need to be in decent enough shape to take your town back.”
He hesitated before nodding. “I hope your friends are okay.”
“They will be.” They had to be, because Dylan had no idea what sort of rescue mission he and Sasha could mount against an entire town. And Adam, of course. A vampire, a werewolf and a witch…
It sounded like the setup for a bad joke, the kind where the punch line never made anyone laugh.
Chapter Eight
Sasha jerked awake, unsure why. She sat up on the couch, barely breathing as she took stock of what her senses told her. The stew was on the stove, the rich aroma of it filling the cabin, and everything was quiet. There was nothing, no—
An enraged scream split the air outside, and Sasha’s heart pounded. “Brynn.”
She scrambled off the couch just as Dylan bolted from the kitchen and shot past her. He snatched up the shotgun and held up a hand. “Stay back.”
“What? Dylan, wait—”
He ignored her as he jerked the curtains aside and peered out, then swore and twisted the deadbolt.
The door slammed open a second later, and Adam took one step in and pointed to Sasha. “Calming spell. Do you know it?”
“Of course I do.” Fear pounded through her. “What’s happened?”
Dylan was already out the door. Adam shook his head and gestured sharply. “No time. Brynn’s losing it, and Emily can’t keep her under control for long.”
Joe. Sasha’s hands shook. “Get her in here. On the floor.” As he rushed off, she tried to clear her mind, to calm herself enough to marshal the reserves of energy inside her.
A snarl sounded from outside, one barely human. When Adam reappeared with Brynn twisting in his arms, he had four jagged scratches down the side of his face.
She looked feral. She thrashed in Adam’s grasp and planted an elbow hard enough in his side that he grunted in pain. A tall woman followed them inside and laid a hand on Brynn’s head. “Shh, honey. You’re going to be—”
“Let me go.” Brynn bared her teeth, and for one terrifying moment it looked like she was going to try to rip the woman’s hand off with her teeth.
“Brynn.” The spell coalesced, washing through Sasha and outward, but she couldn’t focus it enough to do more than take the slightest edge off her friend’s agitation.
She stepped forward and framed Brynn’s face with her hands. She heard Dylan’s noise of protest, but he was too far away to stop her, even when Brynn’s teeth snapped shut an inch away from Sasha’s hand. “Settle down.”
Brynn opened her eyes, which looked more gold than gray. Her lips curled back from her teeth. “Joe. We have to go back for Joe.”
“We will, I promise. But first I need you to stop fighting me.”
Adam winced as Brynn’s heel caught his thigh. “Emily—”
“I’m trying.” The woman’s voice shook. “We must be too far from her Guide for their bond to do her any good. She wasn’t this out of it back in town.”
“Brynn was turned during the full moon.” The spell wasn’t working. Sasha could try to ramp up the power, pour more energy into another cast, but there was no guarantee that would work either. “Dylan, we have to find another way.”
“Hold on.” He dropped the shotgun next to the door and lunged for the first aid kit they’d dragged in from the car earlier. “Cindy sent something in case Brynn lost it. Some kind of sedative…”
“A shot.” Sasha struggled to remember Cindy’s instructions. “In the shoulder, right?”
“Yeah.” Dylan pulled a syringe out of the case. “Step back, Sasha. Adam, can you and…”
“Emily.” She flashed Sasha a tight smile before returning her attention to Brynn. “Come on, honey, just a little bit…”
Adam and Emily managed to get Brynn to the floor and hold her steady long enough for Dylan to use the injectable sedative. Her struggles slowed, became sluggish and uncoordinated as her gaze fixed on Sasha. “Joe. We…we need to…”
The vise of terror tightened around Sasha’s chest again, and she turned to Adam, her fists clenched. “What happened to Joe?”
It was Emily who answered. She sat on her heels and pushed her dark, disheveled hair from her face. “The Bangor alpha and his vampire sidekick showed up right after your friends. The vampire decided she wanted Brynn, and when the alpha tried to make that happen, Joe made him dead.”
Dylan’s eyebrows drew together. “Why would she want Brynn?”
Adam shifted uncomfortably, and Sasha drew in a shaky breath. “Why did the vampire in Helena want Sam? I don’t even know what kind of power a blood bond with Brynn would yield.”
“Brynn’s not as strong as Sam.” Dylan stroked Brynn’s forehead when she whimpered, and Sasha saw his hand shake. “She’s not an alpha.”
“Doesn’t matter.” Adam’s voice sounded rough, strained. He eased away from Brynn, his gaze fixed carefully on some point past Dylan. “She’s a moon wolf. She can’t control the power, but vampires can take it from her. You need to get her the hell out of this state. Back to where there aren’t any vampires.”
Sasha gritted her teeth. “Gavin sent me and Dylan here to find you because there’s a vampire helping the new alpha in Helena. We need to learn how the power transfer works so we can stop it.”
“Fuck.” Adam glanced at Emily. “Ethan’s in my bedroom. Go check on him. It’ll make him feel better.”
When she was gone, the vampire closed his eyes. “Prudence is a vampire, and she might as well run Bangor. Francis has been under her thumb for three decades. They came to Bedagi Creek today to collect their tithe…and it happened pretty much like Emily said. Prudence wanted Brynn, Francis tried to take her…”
“And Joe lost his shit.” Dylan’s hand came to rest on Brynn’s forehead. “Is he…”
“He’s alive.” Sasha knelt and checked Brynn’s pulse. It was slow and steady. “If he was dead already, she would have been worse.”
“They’ve got him locked up. Sedated too, I think. They pulled everyone loyal to Lawrence over to guard the house where they’re keeping him. Made it easier to break Emily and your friend out.”
And it was up to them to free Joe. Sasha avoided Dylan’s gaze. “How powerful is this vampire?” she asked Adam.
He scrubbed his hand over the side of his face. “Honestly, I don’t know. She was formidable when I knew her, but not scary enough to take over the damn city. But if she’s been collecting strong wolves like Emily from nearby packs as food, she could be strong.”
“We have to assume the worst, past and present.” If they stood a chance of fighting Lawrence, his flunkies and a vampire, they’d need Ethan healthy and strong. “We can’t face them right now. We have to wait, at least a day or two.”
“No we don’t.” It was Emily, and she had Ethan braced against her. “Ethan’s going to challenge Lawrence. Tonight.”
It was foolis
h. Impossible. “You almost died a few hours ago, Ethan,” Sasha argued. “You’re not strong enough.”
Dylan wasn’t watching Emily and Ethan. He was watching Adam. “It’s not a myth, is it? The vampire from Austria in the 1600s. The one who could take power from one wolf and give it to another.”
“No. It’s not a myth.”
“And you can do it.”
Adam still had his eyes closed. “Yeah. I can.”
Having someone else around who knew how relocate power between wolves was the sort of thing that could make the difference between victory and defeat back in Red Rock. She was only one person, one witch with limited training and resources, but if she had help… “Is it hard for you? The transfer, I mean. What’s the process?”
“A blood bond.” He opened his eyes and glanced at Emily. “Take him back into my room. We’ll do it there.”
Emily nodded and turned them both around. When they were gone, Adam looked at Sasha. “Not all vampires can do it, but it’s not difficult if you’re strong enough. I drink from Emily, and I can take her power. But wolves and vampires…our magic isn’t very compatible. Life and death. Some vampires are crazy enough to take a wolf’s power and try to use it, but it eats us up inside eventually. Unless we give it to someone else.”
Sasha stepped closer and took a deep breath. “But you don’t keep the bond in place.” Having the vampire feed off them for too long had almost killed Justine and Sam.
Adam shook his head. “Can’t have more than one blood bond at the same time, so I break the first one after I have the power I need. Then I do it again. Only this time, I give the power.”
She didn’t know him well enough to ask these questions, but it didn’t matter. She had to. “Can anything go wrong?”
“Plenty, in theory.” Adam rose to his feet easily, but the look in his eyes was dark. “In practice? For me? Not much. I’m good at it.”
“That sounds ominous.”
“It should.” He moved past her toward the bedroom but paused with his hand braced on the doorframe. His fingers tightened around the wood until his knuckles turned white, and he glanced over his shoulder at her. “As a general rule, I wouldn’t trust anyone who’s good at it. You’ll live longer.”
She tried not to shiver as she turned to Dylan. “What should we do about Brynn?”
He smoothed his fingers over Brynn’s forehead. “Maybe you can take some of her power. The part that’s hurting her.”
“I’d rather ask first, but…” She covered Dylan’s free hand with hers. “You’ve known her a long time. Would she want me to?”
Dylan nodded without hesitating. “If you could figure out a way to help her get control, I can’t even tell you how much it would mean to her. It’s going to kill her if she can’t help save Joe.”
She and Brynn weren’t close, but Sasha knew his words were true. “Cindy said that sedative would last about an hour before she started to come around. If I do the spell right now, it could knock me out. Can you watch me and help?”
“Let me move Brynn.” He gathered her up into his arms and rose. “If I put her on the couch, you can kneel next to it, and I can sit behind you in case anything happens.”
He arranged Brynn on the cushions, and Sasha dropped to her knees beside her. She’d memorized the spell, but nerves still made her shake. “This will be different from when I cast it on you,” she told Dylan. “It’s not as intense, but I don’t know how the drug will affect me.”
Dylan lowered himself to the floor behind her and curled both hands around her shoulders. His hands were strong, warm even through her shirt, and he leaned down enough to whisper in her ear. “You can do it. I’m here.”
Sasha began the incantation. It was becoming familiar, this particular rush of magic, and she barely even had to think about the words as she focused on drawing close to Brynn, on adjusting her own energy to meld with the other woman’s.
It wasn’t easy like it had been with Dylan. He’d been aware of what she was doing, open and ready, but Brynn struggled instinctively.
It’s okay, Brynn. It’s me. It’s Sasha.
The thought calmed her just enough for Sasha to complete the first section of the spell, the one that would allow for transfer but only one way; giving an out-of-control wolf the ability to pull power from her would have been dangerous, maybe even suicidal.
“It’s done,” Sasha whispered. She felt drained, almost sluggish. “Dylan…”
Solid arms wrapped around her body and pulled her back against his chest. “The power’s hurting her, and you need it. Take some of it.”
It was true, but still she hesitated. Without permission… Then the decision was made for her as Brynn jerked and mumbled in her unnatural sleep, and a burst of energy barreled through Sasha, wild and untamed.
It was primal magic, the kind of frantic, edgy power that explained everything about the way Brynn looked sometimes, as if she couldn’t find humanity under the layers of savagery. Dylan’s breath caught behind her, and his fingers tightened on her shoulders. “I can…I can feel it.”
Sasha hadn’t had enough experience with that kind of wildness to control it. She closed her eyes and growled. “Help me deal with it, Dylan. Tell me how.”
He swallowed hard. “Pull in enough power to help her, first. Pull it in and give it to me. I can handle it.”
She took a shaky breath and complied, drawing energy into herself until she felt Brynn calm. The power roiled inside her almost like a living thing, looking for an outlet. Sasha shuddered and bit her lip until she tasted blood.
“Break the connection,” Dylan ordered, his voice low and rasping.
It felt like forever before she could focus enough to try to sever her bond with Brynn. Her mind skittered from one thought to the next, lighting on so many but lingering on none. Finally, she ripped free with another growl, reeling from the cacophony inside her own head and body.
“Outside.” She barely heard his low growl, but she didn’t need to do anything. His arm locked around her body and he dragged her toward the door. Cool evening air wrapped around her as he got the door open and pulled her through it.
The door slammed shut, and then her back was against it, her hands trapped under his and pinned on either side of her head. “Look at me, Sasha.”
She couldn’t, not if she wanted to keep the primitive, ferocious feelings welling inside her in check. “Dylan—”
“Give me the power,” he whispered. “Give it to me now, because you feel like a wolf to me. Like a wolf I want to claim, and if you don’t stop feeling like that soon I’m going to lose control.”
Her knees gave out, and only the weight of his body against hers kept her upright. She’d already known, on some level, what she must feel like to him now—like herself, but with a wolf’s feral energy. And she wanted that wild look in his eyes, just as much as she wanted the warmth she usually found there. “I—”
He sucked in a frantic breath and tightened his fingers around her wrists. “God damn it, Sasha. If you like the way this feels, then take some of my power just before the next moon and I’ll fuck you against a wall until you can’t walk. But not now. Not like this.”
The jittery need had completely eclipsed the reality of their responsibilities. “Christ.” She knocked her head against the door to clear it and gathered the energy inside so she could direct it at Dylan. “I’m sorry.”
“Shh.” His lips brushed her jaw, then settled just above her ear. “The wolf likes you plenty, Sasha. You don’t need the power for me to feel like this. I feel like this every time I touch you, it’s just that I can usually control it.”
“I understand.” She didn’t want him to feel her embarrassment and shame, so she distracted him with the burst of energy.
He groaned and dropped his head to her shoulder, but his magic welcomed the power she fed it. “That’s it.”
She wondered if this part of the transfer was always so intimate, or if it was only because this was Dyl
an. “Will you be okay?” she whispered.
Dylan rubbed his thumbs over her wrists gently as he took another slow breath. With his body pressed to hers there was no hiding the fact that he was aroused, but his touch was soothing. After a moment he lifted his head and let her wrists go. “I’m okay. And I’m sorry.”
“For what? I’m the one who almost forgot there are people depending on us.”
He let out a desperate sounding laugh. “Sasha, I’ve been a werewolf ten years and I can barely handle this power. It makes Brynn half-crazy. Why do you think you’d be any better?”
Because she had to be. Ever since Maritza’s death, she’d stepped into her mentor’s place. There hadn’t been time to explain that she needed another decade of training to handle everything, and it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. She was better than nothing, and all the Red Rock pack had. “I’m so tired, Dylan.”
He eased her away from the door and wrapped both arms around her. “We’re going to get Joe. And then the four of us can go AWOL for a few days. Hole up in a hotel and sleep. Red Rock can survive without us. I know it won’t fix everything…”
“We can’t. We have to get back.” If what Adam had said was true, the temptation Red Rock posed was too great. The vampire in Helena wouldn’t rest until he had Sam and Justine back.
“I know. But now we know how to fight, right?” His hand came up to cup the back of her head, and he whispered his words against her hair. “Adam might come back with us. You won’t be the only one who understands what we have to do.”
But they had to get out of Maine first. “Adam will be focused on the vampire from Bangor, and Ethan will challenge Lawrence. So Joe will be counting on us tonight.”
“If Brynn’s feeling steady when she comes out from under the spell, she can carry a gun from the truck.” Dylan’s arms dropped and he stepped back, the movement full of tense energy. When he lifted his eyes to meet hers, they’d faded to gold. “With this much power in me… Tonight, I fight as a wolf.”
She could feel it vibrating off him, the barely leashed strength that meant he could handle whatever resistance Lawrence’s men offered. “We’re still connected,” she reminded him quietly. “Do you want me to break the spell before—before we go?”
