“I won’t,” she screamed as if words alone had the power to save her. “I won’t! I won’t!”
The vampire grunted as she managed to land a punch on his jaw. He whirled on her, eyes narrowed as he struggled to hold her. “You have no choice, girl. Besides, our master himself chose you. You should be honored. He has taken no woman since his rebirth, and he has decided that you will have the honor of belonging to him and him alone. Why fight your destiny? It could be worse.”
Gracie laughed in his face even as her knees gave out. She crumpled to the floor and hid her face, sobbing. The vampire grunted again and picked her up, letting her hang limp but with a firm grip around her middle. Images flashed through her mind of everything she feared, and her stomach rebelled. Nothing came up but a little flem, which she spat into the vampire’s face.
He ground his teeth and dragged her along.
They went to an elevator at the other end of the hallway and took it straight down to the parking beneath the hall. There, the vampire took her to a car and shoved her inside. Gracie’s hand whipped out and locked the doors before the vampire could get to the other side. He glowered at her as he removed the key from his pocket.
She unlocked her door and darted through the cars, away from the vampire.
“You little—” the vampire snarled as he charged after her, swooping through the air like a bat.
The thunderous noise of a motorbike made Gracie’s head whip around. She ran away from it instinctively, imagining Apep himself hurtling towards her on a Harley Davidson. The vampire chasing her let out a hiss as his hand closed around her hair jerking her to a stop. The roaring motor grew closer until she could feel the vibrations of it in her chest. The vampire released her—something huge flew over her head and there was a strangled shout.
Gracie dove toward a van, scrambling beneath it. Four huge paws clawed the ground as the vampire howled in pain. There was a tearing noise, a cracking noise, and then silence. The vampire’s body hit the cement of the garage heavily. A scent like rotten fruit filled the air as blackened blood spread out around the broken body.
The paws faced toward her. Gracie slapped both her hands over her mouth, trying to stifle her heavy breathing. The animal bent, a huge wolf’s head peering below the van to gaze at her. Green eyes seemed to pierce right through her. Then, in the blink of an eye, the wolf was replaced by a man. Big, strong, with a heavy frown on his face.
“Get out from under there,” he ordered. “We don’t have much time before more vamps arrive. Unless you’d rather I leave you here.”
A shifter. Gracie’s breath caught in her throat. Like vampires, they had emerged only three months ago. They were said to be fighting the vampires in secret, although the news was full of their wicked and murderous ways.
But anything was better than being prey to a vampire. Gracie didn’t let herself think about the tales of torture and rape, instead hoping that this time her roulette choice would be to her benefit. She scrambled out from under the van. The shifter picked her up easily and carried her to his idling motorcycle. He put her on, climbing on behind her.
It was only then that she registered that he was stark naked. And a very naked part of him pressed up against her from behind, and she became very aware of how flimsy the hospital gown actually was. Heat flared to her cheeks as she attempted to cover herself better, but then they were off, and it was all she could do to hold on and not get thrown from the bike.
There were shouts and howls from behind them as they tore out of the garage. Sunlight fell on Gracie’s face and she sucked in a deep breath, as though it was the first air she’d breathed. The shifter’s heat against her back felt solid, and she tried to thank him, but her words were snatched away by the wind.
They drove for what seemed like hours; several times they darted through alleys or down stairs unexpectedly. She was sore all over from the jostling by the time it was over. The wolf lifted her off the bike in front of a small, shabby-looking building. He picked the bike up under one arm, seized her wrist in the other, and dragged her inside.
As soon as the door slammed shut behind them, several people emerged from doorways. Roughly half of them were women, and both sexes stared at her for a moment before turning furious gazes at her rescuer.
“What the hell, Daniel?” one of the women snarled as she strode forward. “We agreed—no unnecessary risks! Apep’s going to be on our asses for this.”
Her rescuer shrugged. “You agreed, Aunt Roxy. I said I wasn’t going to let Apep get his hands on another one. He picked her for a reason. Shouldn’t we find out that reason before letting him suck her dry?”
Gracie shrank back from the glares that they were giving her. They must all be shifters. And they didn’t want her here. The horrible thought that they might send her back flooded her and her knees buckled. Daniel caught her. Gracie shook her head, whispering pleas because her throat was too dry for any sort of volume.
“Well, we can’t send her back now,” another woman said, putting her hands on her hips. “And the charms here have protected us from the vampires this long. Come here,” she held out a hand. “Let’s get you dressed.”
A couple of the men strode past her to glare at Daniel, but he met their gazes coolly. From their features, they were all brothers. Gracie shivered as she let herself be led away, her mind blank once more, though this time in relief. Daniel had saved her from the worst fate she could imagine—and he would always have her gratitude for that.
Chapter Three
Storm
The remnants of the Brotherhood’s leadership all stared at him with looks ranging from anger to resigned acceptance. He didn’t flinch from any of them, already knowing what they would say about his actions. Yes, going after Gracie was a risk, but they had figured out the secret code to find Apep’s chosen weeks ago. If he didn’t act to save this girl, she’d end up like the others. An empty shell cast into an incinerator.
Thunder, previous alpha of the Ivywood chapter, was the first to speak. “Well, now that Storm has gone against our wishes and grabbed the girl, we might as well figure out what Apep wants with her. She might be able to give us clues to his next plan.”
“Be that as it may,” Blizzard growled, leaning on the wall. “Storm needs to be punished—for going against the vote and putting us all, as well as our mates and children, at risk.”
Daniel didn’t let himself flinch. Blizzard had four children here, and his mate, Shadow, had been badly hurt at the last safehouse that fell to the vampires. She was recovered now, but it only made sense that his protective instincts were in a higher gear. Tornado, Shadow’s bother and previous alpha of the Coalfell chapter, nodded, though his face was heavy in a frown.
“We can figure that out once we’ve got our next move planned. Hurricane brought back info about the Easthallow chapter being rounded up by vampires. We need to move in and find survivors—”
This time Daniel couldn’t help but growl. He understood their views. All of them had been fighting vampires since they were teens; they had seen some terrible things in their times and were playing defensively until they could rebuild their strength to go after Apep’s forces or rally humans into a full-out revolt.
“That’s band-aids on a gut wound.” Daniel narrowed his eyes at Tornado and then Blizzard. His father and uncle were standing close by, looking unhappy, but they didn’t interrupt. “We can’t keep rounding up survivors. We’re running out of places to put them, and we’ll keep losing more numbers if all we do is run and hide. We have to go for the head. The girl was Apep’s chosen. We can use her to draw him out.”
“And then what?” Shadow spat at him, bristling like the leopard she was. “We ask him nicely to stop? He’s killed everyone who has gone after him. Some of our best alphas.”
“Because they went after him alone. If we can be unified—”
“And how do you intend to get close enough to put in a blow?” Thunder glowered at him. “Sure, maybe you can shift now and ma
ybe you have the biggest wolf I’ve seen since—”
He cut himself off, but they all knew what he was thinking. Since Typhoon. None of the others, except for Andy, had known he was a wolf-vampire hybrid. Finding out this way had shaken their trust in him as their alpha, especially now, since he was under Apep’s control. Daniel felt his hands curling to fists. Typhoon’s unwilling betrayal was another reason why Thunder and the others didn’t trust him. And he knew what Shadow was going to say before she even said it.
“How do you intend on getting close enough to him without falling under his sway?” Her eyes flashed as they pierced right through him. “He can control vampires; how do we know that you won’t suddenly find yourself unable to fight his control?”
Daniel ground his teeth together.
Andy spoke in a snarl. “If Daniel was going to be taken over by Apep, he would have already.”
Beside him, Frieda and Stewart nodded their support.
“Regardless,” Tornado broke in, stepping a little closer to his sister. “We can’t get at Apep. He always has a good three dozen protectors around him, Typhoon and your mother included,” he added, glancing at Daniel. “If we attacked him, we’d have to tear through his guard before we got to him. Do you want to have to kill your mother in order to kill Apep?”
Daniel glowered at him. Guinevere would rather be dead than serving the likes of Apep but the thought of her dying, of having to kill her to defend himself or get to Apep? It left his blood running cold.
When Daniel didn’t respond, Tornado snorted and shook his head. “I get it. If we could take out Apep, maybe we’d be able to put this all behind us. But he’s been killed before, remember? And the vampires brought him back with their rituals and sacrifices. No. We need to protect and regroup the Brotherhood. Only when we’ve bound together in strength again do we have a chance against the vampires. Especially since the humans are too cowardly to do anything against them.”
“And while we’re doing that, our numbers dwindle and his grow!”
“I don’t like all the running and hiding either,” Shadow snapped. “But I agree with Jackson. We have to rebuild our strength, or we’ll just be breaking against the shore. Apep is too powerful to take just because we’re determined. We have to play this smart. And let’s be honest, we haven’t been able to hold down a single line. How could we mount an offensive?”
“You’re only saying that because you’re Tornado’s sister and you have to agree,” Josef snapped at her.
Shadow snorted. “As though you’re not defending Storm’s idea because he’s your nephew by marriage.”
Daniel sighed, rubbing his temples. They were losing focus. Again. There were so many powerful personalities here and everyone had their own ideas on how to proceed. They weren’t fighting within their group so much as squabbling constantly. That, more than anything, was making it exceedingly difficult to get any real work done against the vampires.
“We don’t have the manpower to go on the offensive yet,” Blizzard rumbled, glaring at Josef. “You know that as well as any of us. We agreed that we need to regroup our strength. The boy’s actions today, bringing Apep’s chosen to us, is going to make that even more difficult.”
Andy, Stewart, and Frieda all bristled. Daniel leaned against the wall, folding his arms as the three of them started to growl. Family loyalty would defend him for now, but as soon as they were alone? He imagined his father at least would have quite a few things to say about his ‘heroics’ today. As though it was any different than when Tornado drove into the heart of a vampire kingdom to retrieve his mate, Ava, or when Blizzard and Shadow had done the same to rescue their daughters. Both times, it had ended with the vampires coming after the Brotherhood, but when Daniel saved an innocent girl?
“Our numbers are increasingly scattered,” Andy spat, his hands clenched. “Our leader is in the hands of Apep. My wife, my mate, is forced to serve him. How long are we going to wait? You talk about rebuilding our strength, but when was the last time any of you added to our numbers? We don’t have time to stand around and argue!”
Tornado growled as he puffed himself up, towering over Andy. “I’m sorry for your mate, Twister. I really am. But I am not risking my mate and my children on…”
“On what?” Andy went toe-to-toe with him. “On the chance to protect them forever from the vampire threat?”
None of them noticed when Daniel slipped from the room. He wanted to shout at them all to shut up and demand that they think, actually think, and understand that taking out Apep soon was the only way to go. But, of course, they wouldn’t listen. He was just the hybrid freak, the one who couldn’t be trusted because he was half vampire.
Daniel headed to the room he shared with the rest of his family. The safehouse was a tiny, cramped one that could not hold everyone who was currently living in it. They had to suffice themselves to sleep in whatever nooks they found. As for privacy or personal space? It was unheard of. Curtains strung in the center of rooms were the best they could do to give each family their own space.
Ava and Mia, Typhoon’s mate, sat watching their children play, talking in hushed voices. Mia glanced at him and turned her face away. Daniel’s stomach twisted as he hurried to his room. Roxy was there with his cousins, but Daniel went to his bed and rolled over so his back was toward her. She didn’t speak, and he was grateful for that.
Why hadn’t he succumbed to Apep’s control? Was it possible that Apep had left him free, as a secret weapon to pull out when needed to crush the rest of the Brotherhood? Could he be influenced by Apep without even realizing it? He hadn’t thought much about rescuing Gracie Underhill… he had decided to keep with the rest of them and not do anything, and then the next thing he knew, he was driving to Ivywood.
And if Apep didn’t have control or influence over him… why had he been spared and Typhoon taken? They were both hybrids, there was no reason for Typhoon to have succumbed to Apep’s control but Daniel go free.
Thinking about Typhoon only made his stomach twist tighter. He tried to turn his mind to something else, but without any luck. For the past three months, Typhoon and Guinevere had been haunting their steps. Taking out the safehouses they stayed in, attacking their warehouses. Everywhere they had supplies or could find a safe place, it wasn’t long before Typhoon led a bunch of vampires to them. Daniel had seen him a handful of times, and there was a blank, defeated look on his face every single time.
Without a leader, the Brotherhood was going to fall. It was only a matter of time before things came to a head, when there would be no more running and hiding.
And now, he wished he had gotten more life experiences before being thrust headlong into this mess. Typhoon had spent a lot of time with him over the past year, telling him about his own experiences of growing up so rapidly, of how he had carved out his place in the world. More than once, Typhoon had stared hard at him and said that he had the qualities of leadership in him.
Daniel sighed. He wished he could be the leader the Brotherhood needed right now. But he couldn’t, not when they didn’t trust him, and he had no experience in the matter.
He heard footsteps, and Blizzard’s voice greeted his nieces and sister-in-law. Daniel pulled a blanket over himself, wishing he had an answer for this situation.
“May I come in?” Blizzard asked.
Daniel rolled over to see Roxy nodding toward the former sheriff. He narrowed his eyes, rolling back to his feet. Blizzard responded with a steady look for a long moment before he looped his thumbs into his belt.
“I understand why,” he said, keeping his voice low. Not that it mattered. Everyone in the room was a shifter and would be able to hear what he was saying. “And you did a good thing, saving that girl. You shouldn’t have done it, or at least not brought her here, but it was a good thing. But going after Apep now? Suicide. We have our mates and our children to think about, we can’t leave them defenseless. Your father, as much as he would love to tear out Apep’s throat, knows tha
t, too. He won’t let you go.”
“What you are forgetting is I’m not a child,” Daniel replied bluntly. “This can’t be solved by wishing it away.”
Blizzard shook his head. “Once you have a plan to take out Apep, the rest of us will listen. But you can’t win by stating what we all know. You need more than to say he has to die, Storm. Otherwise, it’s just us that will die.”
Daniel’s wolf snarled at that, but he nodded. It was true, after all. “I have made the first step in doing just that. Why do you think I brought Gracie here? Even if we don’t know what he wants from her, we know he wants her. And we can use that. We can use her.”
Chapter Four
Gracie
How did she get into this situation?
Gracie clutched her purse tightly to her chest, trying not to fidget and look around anxiously. The bank bustled with people. If it wasn’t for the constant air of fear and people trying harder than usual to avoid one another’s gazes, she would have almost thought it was back before the vampires attacked. Life as usual. Going to the bank, people in a hurry. Everyone involved in their own lives.
Except rather than going to the bank to withdraw money from her account, she was here to rob it. Gracie’s head spun as she snuck a glance over her shoulder, to where the hard-eyed woman, only calling herself Shadow, stood with a fake baby in a stroller. Shadow wasn’t looking at her, instead fussing with the blanket around her fake baby. Her nervous, jerky movements were perfect for a mother taking her infant out when vampires were running amok, but they weren’t helpful in settling Gracie’s nerves. Though she knew Shadow was acting, seeing her nervous like that only made Gracie’s stomach turn in more knots.
I’m going to be sick.
She sucked in a deep breath to try to steady herself as she advanced in the bank lineup. She was next up for a teller. She fished about in her purse, looking for the note that Daniel had given her, to give to whoever she ended up with. She was weaponless, but many of the shifters were in the bank as well, and they were not weaponless.
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