Those words brought the memory rushing back again—Nick’s vision of Noah being kidnapped by Jinn. Why would the creature want Noah? How would Nix’s mate fall into that horrible creature’s clutches? His gut churned at this possible future threat, but he put that aside to deal with later. Somehow, he managed to keep the vision to himself.
Kalen nodded. “Makes sense. But does he have the motivation now? Was he that attached to Ivan that he’d seek revenge for his death?”
“I don’t know,” Nick said. “But I do know he’s angry. And that makes him dangerous.”
“True.” Kalen sat back into the pillows, visibly worn-out. Just then, there was a knock at the door, and Sariel strolled in. Kalen smiled at his half brother, obviously pleased to see him. “Well, if it isn’t the hero of the month.”
“I do try.” The Fae fluffed his feathers and grinned.
“On that note, we’ll let you visit with Blue and get some rest.” Nick stood. “I’ll check on you later.”
In the hallway, Calla stood on tiptoe and kissed her mate on the lips. “I think lying down is a great idea. But how about the rest comes . . . after?”
“God, baby,” he groaned, his cock hardening between them. “I like the way you think. Just as soon as I take care of some business, like finding out what happened to Tom, our mechanic.”
Calla sobered and regarded Nick thoughtfully. “He could be anywhere.”
“Anywhere Ivan was,” Nick corrected.
Just then, a thread of an idea came to him. Something about Ivan and Carter’s joint bank accounts—
“They had an address,” he said, straightening.
“What?”
“Carter and Ivan had an address in Chattanooga listed on their joint bank accounts. What if Ivan held Tom there?”
“It’s a long shot, honey,” she cautioned him. “Isn’t it more likely he killed the poor man and dumped him in the woods somewhere?”
“Maybe. But even though Ivan was consumed by anger and revenge, he still needed to feed.” He shuddered at the thought of the friendly mechanic enduring with Ivan what Nick had at Carter’s hands. “I’ve got to check it out.”
She nodded, taking him into her arms. “I understand. Go. I’ll be waiting when you get back.”
“Thanks, baby. I need to know one way or another what happened to him.”
After giving her a lingering kiss, he left. Quickly, he rounded up a few of the team and explained where they were going and why. The guys were in full agreement—Tom hadn’t vanished into thin air, and if he was out there, they were going to do their damnedest to find him.
Nick considered taking the Huey, but that area of Tennessee was very hilly and forested. It meant hours of travel, and they’d have to set the craft down miles from their destination. Too much wasted time.
In the end, he was forced to call on Tarron for help one more time, but his new brother-in-law was happy to assist. He’d been to Chattanooga before, and a few of his guard accompanied the team and provided transport. Then they made their way across town to the correct address after they’d searched for the location on the Internet.
Once they appeared on the porch of the house, Nick quickly double-checked the address, then gestured for them to move around back where they’d be out of sight. The house was in a rural area rather than a busy neighborhood, which made sense for a couple of vampires who’d wanted to retain privacy. But they couldn’t be too careful.
The lower level of the house was built into the side of the hill, as so many were in the region. At the rear entrance, Nick stood to one side of the door and held up a hand for silence as the rest of the men gathered on either side of him. Once he was satisfied he heard no movement inside, he moved quickly.
Stepping in front of the door, he raised his foot and kicked with all his strength. The wood splintered near the doorknob, and another kick sent the door crashing inward. The lower floor had the look and feel of a basement, he noted as he stepped inside. It wasn’t finished. No carpet on the concrete floor, no paint on the walls. Just a serviceable area with a wood stove, a pile of logs beside it. A pool table.
To the right of the pool table was a long hallway. Nick nodded toward it, leading the way. Soft footsteps sounded behind him, the men at his back ready. Tense. The narrow corridor wasn’t the ideal spot for a fight, should there be one.
“Hey,” a voice called out. It was quiet, muffled. But there.
“Did you hear that?” John whispered.
“Yeah.” Nick listened, and the faint cry came again. “Careful. It could be a trap.”
Cautiously, he moved forward. He crept down the corridor until he came to the last room on the left. Taking a steadying breath, he kicked in the door. Rushed in, ready to do battle.
And stopped short at the sight of Tom, chained to a bolt in the cold concrete floor. His clothes were filthy, his face gaunt. But the younger man gave them a weak smile as he raised his head.
“What the fuck took you guys so goddamn long?”
Nick hurried over, and without Kalen there to spell the shackles, getting the man free took some doing. Finally, someone found a key on the upper floor and the mechanic was unchained. Zander checked the man from head to toe, scanning for injuries.
“You’re anemic and we need to get some food and water into you, but you’re going to be fine,” he told Tom.
The man looked relieved, though his hands shook with nerves. “I’m glad. After what that crazy fucking vampire did to me, I wasn’t so sure.”
“His name was Ivan Cardenas,” Nick told him. “How did he get you?”
“Was Ivan?” The man zeroed in on that word like a hawk.
“I killed him.”
“Good,” Tom spat. “Was on my way to work one day. My car was run off the road, and the vampire snatched me before I even knew what was going on. He brought me here and has been feeding off me ever since. Only, he hasn’t come back since last night, and now I know why.”
“Tom, this is important. Did the vampire mention how he was able to pull off putting another mechanic in his place?”
“Yeah. Asshole bragged about it. Said that Sorcerer of his spelled Grant to think I’d quit and sign off on hiring the Sorcerer in disguise as some guy named Morgan. Grant never knew, according to the vampire.”
Damn. Jarrod was going to feel terrible about this, even though it wasn’t his fault. But they’d deal with that later.
“The important thing is, you’re going to be all right,” Nick told him, giving him a reassuring smile. “We’re going to take you back to the compound where you’re going to be on strict rest for a few days, and that’s an order.”
“My job?” he asked anxiously.
“Is still yours. That wasn’t even a question.”
“Thanks, Nick.”
Tom was fading fast, and needed medical attention. They whisked him back to the compound, and Nick left him in the capable hands of his medical team. Once Tom had been taken away, Tarron turned to Nick.
“I’m going to go. Give my sister my love, and I’ll see you both soon.”
“I will. And thank you, for everything.”
The vampire smiled, showing off a hint of his fangs. “I’d say we helped each other. Besides, there’s no thank-you necessary among family.”
Family. Nick had one now. A real family. His life truly had turned into a walking miracle.
He couldn’t ask for more.
* * *
When Calla awoke, the first gray streaks of dawn were just beginning to spread across the sky, chasing the darkness back to the other side of the world. She knew exactly what had awakened her.
Nick was wrapped around her, but he wasn’t asleep. Not even close. He was nuzzling her neck, one arm draped across her, his fingers tracing the swell of her breasts.
“Baby, are you awake?” he whispered playfully.
“No, I’m not. Go back to sleep.” Of course, he’d do no such thing and she’d have been disappointed if he had.
/> “You feel so good. Come here,” he growled, rolling her onto her back.
“You’re insatiable.” She smiled up at him.
“Only when it comes to you.”
Nick captured her face with both hands and lowered his lips to hers. God, she couldn’t get enough of him. He was becoming an addiction. The more she tasted him, the more she wanted. He’d loved her for hours the night before, in every conceivable way, but it still wasn’t enough. Moving over her, he covered her body with his, enfolding her in his embrace.
He claimed her once more, this time loving her with great tenderness, as if she were a priceless treasure. In her entire life, she’d never imagined sharing this sort of intimacy in lovemaking. Nick wasn’t like anyone else, ever.
He was the man—wolf—for her.
Moving within her, he stoked the fires until the blaze consumed them both. Their passion erupted with force as they melted together, riding the pulsating waves. At last, he collapsed with a shudder, holding her tightly.
Calla ran her hands over his back, wondering how she’d ever lived without this, without him.
“Where are we going to live?” he asked. “I’ve been meaning to broach the subject, but there hasn’t been time. I’d be glad to travel back and forth between here and the stronghold.”
“But that would make your work harder for you,” she said.
“Some. But what you do with teaching the children is important, too.”
“I love you for that,” she said, stroking him. “But it’s easier for me to travel than you. I say we live here and travel to my brother’s as needed.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
He kissed her soundly. “It’s settled, then.”
He became quiet, and she asked, “Is there something else on your mind?”
“There is.” After a pause, he said, “You know how you said it’s rare for vampire females to give birth?”
“I remember.” She pulled back and looked into his earnest face, already smiling inside and out.
“Well, do you think we could try? If you want to, I mean. I know I already have a daughter, but I missed out on so much of her growing-up years, it aches,” he whispered.
“Oh, honey.”
“Please, consider it? He could be a little vampire, or a wolf. Could he be both? I wonder.”
“Well, I can’t consider it.”
His face fell. “Why not?”
“Because it’s already a done deal, my commander.”
“You mean—?” His face lit with untold joy.
“Yes. We’ll just have to find out what special gifts our baby has when he arrives.”
Laughing, her mate pulled her into his arms and made love to her again. And again.
Life was full, and happy. With Nick.
Her wolf that chased the shadows from them both, for good.
Turn the page for an exciting excerpt from
J. D. Tyler’s Alpha Pack novel
COLE’S REDEMPTION
Available now from Signet Eclipse.
The white wolf scented the air, searching for her prey.
The commander hadn’t ventured into the forest lately, but that would change. Sooner or later, the traitorous bastard would come out of his stronghold, venture beyond the protection of brick and mortar, past the magical boundary erected by the Sorcerer.
He’d put aside the shadows on his soul, even if temporarily. He’d forget that his ability as a Seer was severely hampered when it came to his own impending death. Longing for solitude, to feel the wind in his face, his toes digging into the soft earth, he’d let his wolf loose. Go for a run.
And if all went as planned, he would never return.
Settling in, she watched. Waited. She burned to see the expression on his face when he realized his past had finally come to call. That, in a great twist of irony, he had sired his own executioner, and his sins would be paid for with his blood. It was all that mattered, all she lived for.
Soon, her father would die.
* * *
“The vampire problem is becoming increasingly unstable,” Nick Westfall said, face grim as he studied each member of his Alpha Pack team of shifters. “If we don’t get a handle on the rogues, they’re going to end up exposing the entire paranormal world to the human race.”
Resting his elbows on the conference room’s table, Zander Cole struggled to understand his commander’s briefing. It wasn’t as if he was completely deaf anymore. When he was a kid, he and his friends would while away the summer at the local swimming pool. Sometimes they’d entertain themselves by yelling to one another underwater and trying to decipher the messages, to little success and a great deal of laughter. His current predicament was like that—without the amusement.
But over the past few months, he’d gotten better at reading lips. As long as he was looking directly at the speaker and concentrating hard, he could catch most of what was said.
It was a vast improvement over the total deafness he’d been left with after the Pack’s Sorcerer had created an explosion of lightning that had literally rocked the earth. Progress, yes—but a long way from being healed.
Because his brain injury had left him to contend with so much more than just his hearing being shot to hell.
Despair swelled in his chest, and he fought it down yet again. The blinding headaches were as bad as they’d been in the beginning. Maybe worse. Every day, the feelings of helplessness, uselessness, got harder to take. He feared he was no longer an asset to his team, but a burden. A waste of space.
Sort of hard to swallow, considering Zan was the Pack’s Healer. His Psy gift allowed him to heal everyone except himself, and even that was in jeopardy of failing him altogether.
For years, his Pack brothers and their mission of battling the world’s most dangerous paranormal predators had been his whole life, and now his future wasn’t looking too bright. His days on the team appeared to be numbered, and rejoining the “normal” human world wasn’t an option.
Where that left him was a very, very frightening place in his head.
Shaking himself from his misery, he forced himself to focus again on what Nick was telling them.
“. . . capture one of them alive if we can. Find out why there’s so goddamned many of them lately.” Pausing, he consulted some notes in his hand. “Our latest report cites a rogue problem on a ranch in Texas.”
“Texas?” Zan mused out loud. He glanced around and saw the same curiosity reflected in his brothers’ faces before returning his attention to Nick.
“Not their usual stomping ground, for sure. They normally keep to big cities, where it’s easier to blend in and feed and where one more dead homeless person will hardly be noted. But for whatever reason, it seems we have a group targeting a ranch in East Texas. The owners were shocked last week when a couple of hands found two cows with their throats slashed and only a minimal amount of blood around their bodies when the ground should’ve been soaked.”
There was a murmur around the room as Nick went on. “We know vampires will drink from large animals if they’re desperate for food. What’s unusual is that the animals were killed during the daytime.”
A loud exclamation came from Zan’s right, and he needed no clarification to interpret it as a curse. Glancing over, he saw Aric Savage lean forward in his chair and rest his elbows on the conference table. The redhead looked pissed as he pushed his long hair from his face.
“The bastards are walking during the day now? How the hell are they managing that?”
Nick shook his head. “No idea, which is another reason we need one of them alive.”
“I doubt this reached your desk because of a couple of dead cows,” Zan said, working to enunciate clearly. He hated how his voice must sound to everyone, strange and flat, and tried hard to ignore the gazes that swung in his direction. “There must be more.”
“You’re right. It wasn’t the cows that got our friends in Washington moving—it was the de
ad cowboy who was found this morning, throat slashed and body drained. He went out early to check the cattle, and his horse came back alone. Our contacts were already aware of the slaughtered cattle, so when this news came over the wire, Grant called me while the government sent in a couple of suits to keep local law enforcement at bay.”
General Jarrod Grant was an old friend of Nick’s and one of the only allies in Washington whom the Pack trusted. If Grant was involved, the rogue situation was serious.
Zan snorted. “I bet that went over well. When do we leave?”
Nick paused, giving Zan a searching look, and a lead ball formed in his gut. For one excruciating moment, he feared the commander would order him to remain behind at the compound, despite their previous talks. Even Packmate Micah Chase, with his nightmares and heavy meds, was now allowed to join their missions. If Zan had to stay behind, confirming his status as useless to everyone, he’d crawl under a rock and die.
Then the man nodded at him slightly and said, “Thirty minutes. We’ll take a couple of the Hueys.”
Zan fought to hide his relief. Nick had placed his trust in him, and Zan couldn’t let him or the team down. As the team stood and began to file from the room to make ready for the flight, he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see his best friend, Jaxon Law, gazing at him with a slight smile on his face, not an ounce of sympathy evident. Thank God. Jax of all people knew that pity was the one thing Zan wouldn’t be able to handle.
“You ready?” Jax asked.
“Yeah. As I’ll ever be.”
“You’ll do fine.”
“I’m not worried about doing my job,” he snapped, then immediately felt bad about it. Especially since that statement was a big lie. And because Jax was simply standing there wearing an expression of patient understanding instead of giving in to the fight Zan suddenly craved.
As though reading his mind, Jax smiled and said, “Good. Save that aggression for the enemy and we’ll both be proven right. Come on.”
He felt like an ass. His team had been nothing but supportive in the aftermath of his injury and throughout his recovery. They knew how tough these past few weeks had been for him, and nobody gave him a hard time. They didn’t dare, considering that if they were truly doing their jobs, every single one of them would end up out of commission sooner or later. The difference was that being shifters, their injuries typically healed within days.