Heartsblood

  “But even if all this is true,” Marco said. “And that’s quite a stretch—what would Tate have to gain by giving you the heartsblood of any wolf? Why would he want you to have the bloodlust with me? He hates me and he wants you.”

  “Because it’s not his end game. Maybe this was just the first step in his plan, not the last one. If he could infect me with the bloodlust, and I form that attachment to you, then we’ll make an alpha pair, just like in the legend.”

  “Right. So?”

  “Then, just like the necromancer, all he has to do is kill you, Marco, and take your blood. He can then take the elixir and become my mate.”

  “The other alpha became his virtual love slave,” Cade said softly, repeating the words of the old legend.

  A silence fell over the group and a little shudder went through Nicky. “That’s it.” Nicky glanced over at Marco in horror and bit down on his pale bottom lip. “He wants to kill you, Marco. And drain your heart of its blood.”

  Chapter Six

  Logan Winters, once a Hunter and now Ian’s mate and the love of his life, walked slowly up the path in front of Nicky, not saying anything, just soothing Nicky with his presence. From the first time Nicky met Logan, he’d exerted this calming influence on Nicky, and Nicky had never really before realized why he loved spending time with Logan so much.

  It wasn’t just because Logan was handsome and brave and good at just about anything he set his mind to do. It wasn’t even because of the rather spectacular ass twisting in front of Nicky in those tight jeans, though all of those things, it must be said, played a role. Logan was also an extraordinarily kind person, and had stood steadfastly by Nicky’s side during one of the worst times of Nicky’s life—when he and Marco were so far apart Nicky had believed they’d never find their way back to each other again. When no matter what Nicky tried to do to win him back, it never seemed to be good enough. And Logan had been there when Marco came to his senses and brought Nicky back home, still largely broken and battered and badly in need of a friend.

  Maybe it was only natural that Nicky would turn to Logan again, despite the fact that Nicky made Ian nervous and uneasy now. Ian, Marco’s beta—Nicky’s now too, come to think of it—didn’t like his mate continuing his friendship with Nicky. It wasn’t only jealousy, though that was certainly part of it, but also Ian’s sense of propriety, of what was the seemly thing to do. An old-fashioned word, but then Ian was still one of the most old-fashioned members of the pack. Logan had brought him a long way, but he had miles to go yet.

  Nicky had sought Logan out earlier that morning, right after breakfast, because he needed someone to talk to, someone who was not a wolf. As much as he loved Marco and even Jax, he’d pretty much had his fill of the rest of them. He’d decided that morning, as he drank his first cup of coffee and looked out at the beautiful mountain vista outside his window that a walk in the woods would soothe his troubled spirit more than anything else he could think of to do.

  Marco had already left for the day. They’d spent the night mostly in each other’s arms, exhausted but still wanting to touch each other, to be in close contact, if only physically. Marco had spent hours earlier in the evening trying to convince Nicky that there was little threat to his life. That no matter how much Jeremy Tate might wish him dead, it simply wasn’t going to happen. He could take care of himself, after all, and besides, he said, it had been years since the Hunters had made their forays onto pack lands. Other than the attack on the group of pets, that is—the one that had killed one pet and wounded several others and gave Tate the chance to get to Nicky again. Yeah, other than that, things had been great.

  Marco wouldn’t listen to anything Nicky said. He told him that he and Ian had regular patrols along their borders and it would be difficult, indeed, for a group of Hunters to cross those patrol routes and ambush them on their own property.

  Nicky decided not to remind him about how close Tyler Adams, aka Tyler Timberlake, had come to Cade’s lodge only a few months ago. A rank amateur, really, according to Hunter standards, he’d been spying on Cade’s pack with high-powered binoculars for hours before Rayce, Cade’s beta, had seen a glint of sun off the lenses and gone to intercept him. Lucky for all of them that he’d turned out to be Rayce’s mate and told them how closely Tate had been monitoring the wolves and their movements.

  Nicky wished he could question Tyler again, but before Zack and Gabe came to visit, Rayce had taken his new mate on an extended honeymoon back to Louisiana to meet Rayce’s family. They’d gone by motorcycle and were apparently taking their sweet time to get there. Knowing Rayce, he was probably only making it a few miles each day before he found a motel on the side of the road. Cade had been trying to get in touch with Rayce for days, and Rayce wasn’t even answering his cell phone.

  Not that Tyler would necessarily have any useful information. He was only a pawn Tate had been amusing himself with, reminding Nicky that he was never far away. Tate was coming for him. Nicky was as aware of that as he was of the trail beneath his feet. That’s what the little incident in Highlands had been about. What was even more alarming, and what had Nicky tied up in knots, was that now he was coming for Marco too.

  “Not that I’m not enjoying this little trek in the noonday sun, but where exactly are we going?” Logan said, stopping on the trail to wipe his brow and interrupting Nicky’s morbid thoughts.

  Nicky laughed and pointed up the trail. “I thought we might go to the little stream I like so much. The one I call Flat Rock.”

  “Oh yeah, with the waterfall coming out of the rocks. I like that one too. Maybe we can take off these hot clothes and swim some when we get there. Today’s one of the hottest days I can remember in a long time.”

  “Sure, I could do that if I wanted Ian to take my balls off with one swipe of his claws. No, I believe we should both keep our clothes on. He’ll be mad enough that you went with me in the first place.”

  Logan shoved his hands in his pockets and stuck out his chin. “He needs to get over that shit. I’ve already told him that you’re my best friend and if he doesn’t like that he can…”

  “Okay, tiger, I get it. And I appreciate it, but I don’t want to come between you and Ian.”

  “Who said you were? Or could for that matter?” He lowered his eyes and looked up from beneath his lashes at Nicky with a little grin. “You’re not all that, you know. Okay, you have a gorgeous face and all that blond hair and those blue eyes. And your body is getting more muscular and bigger every day. But Ian.” Logan sighed and his grin got bigger. “He has the cutest little freckles, right on his…”

  Nicky covered his ears. “Please don’t tell me. There are some things that should be on a need-to-know basis, and this is definitely one of them.”

  Logan laughed and started back up the trail, walking by Nicky’s side. “Well, come on then. You know the old Nicky would have wanted every detail about those freckles.”

  “Yeah, well, he could be a crazy son-of-a-bitch sometimes.”

  Logan glanced over at him and smiled sadly. “I loved him, though.”

  “I’m still me, Logan. Everybody says I’m different, but I’m still here.”

  “I know. With only a few modifications. I’m getting used to them.”

  Nicky pointed out the path to the little stream just ahead, veering off to the right. “There’s the path to the stream. Looks like somebody has been through here recently.”

  “Why not? A lot of people know about the stream, after all. Probably somebody else got the same idea we did about cooling off in a cool, refreshing mountain stream.”

  “Stop it. You’re still not going to get a look at my ‘modifications.’ As I said, I value my balls too much. I have my bathing suit on under my jeans.”

  It was only a short walk from the main trail, the sound of rushing water getting louder as they came closer, and then they were climbing out onto the big rock on the edge of the stream. Logan plopped down and took off his shirt. His shoes came ne
xt and he eased his feet over the side of the rock and into the frigid stream.

  “Ah, that feels wonderful.”

  “It’ll feel numb in a few minutes,” Nicky said, pulling off his T-shirt and jeans. “This water is right out of the side of the mountain. I wouldn’t be surprised to find ice chunks floating in it.”

  “Hey, there’s my Nicky. Come on, you’ve got enough of a tan. Slip off your shoes too and dip your delicate little toes in here since you won’t skinny dip. Unless you have a heretofore unknown foot fetish, I should be safe enough from your clutches.”

  “Shut up,” Nicky said, smiling, and sat down beside Logan. “Okay, but when my toes freeze and fall off, you’ll be the one to haul me back down the mountain.”

  “Poor baby. Bitch, bitch. Yeah, my old Nicky’s definitely peeking through.”

  Nicky threw an arm around his neck in a headlock and took him to his back on the rock. They rolled around wrestling for a few minutes in imminent danger of tumbling into the stream until Nicky heard a familiar voice behind him.

  “Nicky, be careful,” Marco said from the stream bank. “You could hurt him.”

  Nicky let go of Logan so fast Logan almost rolled in the stream anyway. He caught himself on the edge and they both sat up.

  “Marco, what are you doing here?”

  “Nicky wasn’t hurting me,” Logan said quickly. “We were just playing around.”

  “I know,” Marco said, a tired smile on his lips. “I’m glad to see you both having a good time, but it’s dangerous to be out here, Nicky. I argued with you last night about that, because I didn’t want to admit that it was true, but you were right. The borders of our land are too big to be properly secured. I haven’t been able to keep you and the pack safe from that bastard Tate.”

  Nicky stood up and held out a hand to Marco, who stepped out on the rock and took him in his arms. “No, I’m fine. I’m not trying to be all guilt-ridden and dramatic. But I can’t keep denying it either. For now, the safest place for either of us to be is back home, inside the lodge.”

  A voice called out to them from the trail. “But how would that be any fun?”

  Nicky clutched Marco tightly and tried to put his own body in front of him. He’d recognized that voice instantly, and it froze the marrow in his bones. It was Tate, who stepped out and down from behind a big rhododendron bush growing on the mountainside.

  “I can’t tell you how glad I am that you didn’t decide to play it safe and stay inside the lodge, Marco. But then you never have played it smart about much of anything.” He smiled at Nicky. “Hi, baby. You’re looking even yummier than usual. Did you miss me?”

  Marco snarled and pushed Nicky behind him. Nicky knew the signs well by now. Marco was ready to shift and leap off the rock toward Tate.

  “Oh Marco, please,” Tate said, and pulled out a nickel-plated, long-barreled pistol, leveling it right at Marco’s stomach. “You really can be tiresome.”

  He fired and Marco grunted, staggering back and looking down at the rapidly spreading red stain on his shirt. Nicky and Logan both reached for him, but Marco stumbled away and turned to look at Nicky, his face already with a sickly gray cast that made Nicky’s guts clench in terror. His gaze raked over Nicky’s features, as if he were committing them to memory one last time, and then he closed his eyes with a tired sigh and crumpled down to his side on the rock.

  * * * *

  Ian stopped on the path back to the lodge and glanced up at the sun. It was probably around five o’clock, way past time for Logan and Nicky to return from their hike up to the little waterfall. Ian thought he’d seen Marco head up the trail after Nicky and Logan, well over an hour before, but of course, it was hard to say exactly where Marco had been heading.

  What if Marco had found Logan and Nicky in some kind of compromising situation? Ian’s mind refused to picture exactly what type of situation that might be, but what might Marco have done if that were the case? A little shiver of unease passed over Ian. Marco would never hurt one of the pets intentionally, Ian knew that, but what if there had been some kind of fight and Logan tried to…to…what would Logan have done?

  Defend Nicky, of course. It’s what Logan always did where Nicky was concerned. A frisson of jealousy raced through him, and he determinedly shook it off. Logan loved Ian. Ian was as sure of that as he was of the sun rising in the morning. He’d tried hard to curb his jealousy and possessiveness of Logan and had mostly succeeded. They’d come a long way since those first days when Logan was still more Hunter than Werekin, and when Ian had sometimes wondered if he’d ever fully commit to their relationship.

  Ian’s mind drifted back to the first time he’d ever seen Logan.

  Wolves mated monogamously for life, usually to a bloodmatch. For some reason, a wolf’s blood sang out when the wolf encountered his true mate. For Ian, it had happened when he was very young, with his wife, Maria. They’d known each other since childhood and mated as soon as their parents allowed. They’d had five blissful years together before Maria and their baby died in childbirth. After that, Ian had no interest in anyone for anything other than casual sex.

  Mates for a wolf could be either male or female. No stigma was attached to same sex matings, with wolves having little control over whom their blood chose for them. Once the choice was made, they were totally attracted to the other person, even their scent called to them. If the bloodmatch died, a wolf could still mate again, and the match was another lifetime bond, but it was a more natural, human-like attraction. As with humans, the attraction could be very strong and powerful, but for Ian, it had never happened. Or at least not until the moment he laid eyes on a captured young Hunter in the cells below the lodge.

  When Marco first approached him about mating with this young Hunter the wolves had captured, Ian had been resistant, but finally willing to do it for the good of the pack. As a beta, the good of the pack was always his chief concern, even though he knew he might not be able to form any attachment much stronger than the simple lust and the compulsion for dominance the mating bite created. And then Ian got his first sight of Logan.

  Marco had taken him to the cells in the basement where the captive Hunter was being kept. Ian’s memories were vivid when it came to that first sight of the young man.

  Logan was probably about twenty-five or six. His dark hair was curly, but he kept it cut short, so the curl barely showed. Ian guessed he shaved it military-style most of the time, probably because he didn’t like the curls. Logan’s eyes were blue, heavily fringed by black lashes. Blue was Ian’s favorite color for eyes. All the wolves had dark brown eyes, inherited from their Indian ancestors, so blue eyes were very exotic to him—exotic, beautiful, and damn sexy, judging by the unexpected bulge growing in his jeans.

  The boy had stared belligerently at him when he’d walked up to the cell he was in, yelling at him to leave him alone. “Get the hell out of here!” he’d said. “I’m not talking to any of you!”

  Logan had jumped to his feet and rushed up to the bars. Ian had to smile. The strongest human didn’t have a quarter of the strength of a wolf in his human form. It would be the same as an adult human fighting a five-year-old child. The hunter must know that, and still, he was defiant. Ian admired his courage.

  Logan bared his teeth at him and growled. Very nice teeth they were too, white and straight. He had licked his lips afterward, and a hint of pink tongue showed between his full, sensuous lips. Ian found himself wanting to taste that tongue. A strange thought and as unexpected as his immediate erection. He hadn’t experienced a physical desire for any one since his mate passed away years before, but this human made his cock stir.

  All in all, definitely a beautiful young man, muscular and well-built. Ian knew Logan abhorred the wolves as monstrous aberrations of nature. Of course, he only knew the lies and exaggerations he’d been fed by the fanatical Hunters. Ian liked the idea of introducing him to the true nature of the wolf clan.

  “What’s the matter with you, wolf?”
Logan had yelled at him, jerking Ian out of his considerations and the possible repercussions of taking him as a mate. Almost from the first moment he laid eyes on Logan, though, Ian had known he would make this man his mate.

  “If you’re going to kill me, go ahead and do it! Do it now! I’m ready!” Logan had banged the flat of his hand against the bars.

  Ian took a step toward him, and Logan jumped back, startled by the quick movement. He quickly recovered, though, and tensed his body, ready for a fight. Ian managed not to smile. The young man really was entertaining. Undeniably handsome too. He would probably be a handful to any wolf who took him on. To Ian. He’d be Ian’s handful from then on.

  Ian sighed at the memory. No, he trusted Logan. He just wasn’t so sure about Nicky anymore. Nicky had been somewhat out of control around the pets lately, or so the rumors went. There had been some kind of big argument the night the other alphas had visited, though Marco was keeping quiet about exactly what had occurred. Ian had even thought about forbidding Logan to go with Nicky that morning, but he knew that, A—it wouldn’t do any good, because Logan would go anyway. And B—it would piss Logan off royally, and they’d be in a shouting match in the time it took to say the words.

  Ian sat down on a little stone bench in the side yard near the woods. It was shady there under the laurel trees and a cool evening breeze had begun to stir in the branches. This was the patch of land that Nicky had claimed as his own, close to the lodge, but far enough away to feel private. Nicky used to spend a lot of time painting here, though Ian hadn’t seen him with a brush in his hand for several weeks now. Maybe Ian would sit here and rest for a few minutes before going back inside the lodge. It would give him a chance to unwind and provided him with a good view of the trail Logan and Nicky had taken that morning.