The alpha had spoken. She nodded in submission. “I’ll keep you up to date on everything.”
“Do that.” He pulled her close once more and pressed his forehead to hers. “I love you, girl. Go kick some vampire ass. Well, don’t do it. But keep thinking you could if you wanted.”
She stepped back and grinned, warm and loved. Appreciated by her alpha. And so what if she never quite felt part of the pack? She might not be best buddies with her pack members, but she knew they respected her. She passed by the remaining soldiers, nodding or waving at those she encountered blending in along the street, and outside found her cousin arguing—arguing?—with the fanger. She heard them clearly though they stood several blocks away in front of the diner.
The Diner. The Restaurant. The Bar. The Mercantile. Yeah, her clan hadn’t been too fussy about naming their businesses. But because there was so little variety close by, the town businesses prospered. And to be honest, every enterprise in the territory had fantastic wares, food, and trades to offer.
Lycans didn’t play around when it came to feeding or dressing, though most of them thrived in jeans and flannel.
Color me country, but I really don’t want to head back to Seattle.The smells drove her nuts, as did the loud noises and crowds of humans.
“I told you I didn’t have it, and I wasn’t lying,” Max said in that smug tone she’d often smacked off his face when younger. “Blame the Wildridge pack for being a bunch of selfish pricks.”
She heard the venom in his voice and almost felt bad for the Wildridge spy. But better Max or Uncle Jack deal with her than Riley. She’d happily rip the woman’s throat out for screwing with family.
She watched them disappear into the Diner before turning back toward her cabin. Once inside, she packed up a bag then returned to join them, only to find Max sitting by himself at a booth. Riley slid in beside him and plopped her bag on the seat.
“I see you’re here with all your friends.”
“Ha ha.” He lifted a beer and gave her a toast. “You got a short reprieve. The fanger had some kind of emergency come up, apparently. He said for you to arrive tomorrow at sunset.”
“Am I supposed to guess where I’m supposed to go? The only reason I found you before was using a mage location spell. It teleported me inside the house. I had to use Boyce. Ugh.” That had not been an inexpensive spell, and the mage who’d created it for her was on her last nerves. Unfortunately, he’d refused to take money in place of payment. Now she owed the guy a homecooked meal...whenever she wasn’t too busy for the alpha.
She planned to be busy for the rest of her life.
Max frowned. “You don’t know where I was held?”
“In the greater Seattle area, I know that. But getting in and out, I teleported from Noblewood.” She waved to the crabby young woman manning the counter. “Josie, can I get a soda?”
“What kind?”
“So long as it has bubbles, sugar, and caffeine, I’m not picky. Surprise me.” Riley turned back to her cousin, ignoring Josie’s loud sigh. “Do you at least have a way to contact the vampire?”
“Kraft left his number for you.” He pushed a napkin her way, his expression odd.
She glanced down to see a phone number in blocky numbers, under which a heart had been scrawled. “Really?”
“For a vampire, he’s different.”
“How so?”
“Well, for one, he feels more wolfish than vampire to me. He’s nachzehrer, and their kind turn into wolves when they transform. So maybe I’m biased, I don’t know. But the whole time I was in that crappy basement being smacked around by his buddies, he just watched and threatened while the other two tried to get me to talk.”
She put a hand over his. “I know it wasn’t easy.”
He sighed. “Truthfully? It wasn’t all that bad, but don’t tell my dad. He likes knowing I suffered for being stupid.” Max shrugged. “Oh, they beat me up, but it was nothing worse than what we do to each other during our weekly brawls. The vampires also tried a few spells that didn’t work on me. They might have worked harder to kill me, except they were ordered not to, for which I’m profoundly grateful.” He took a long swallow of beer. “One of them kept threatening to reanimate me after he killed me. And I think he was serious.”
She blinked. “They’ve got a necromancer?”
“It’s one of the vampires in Kraft’s clan. A reaper.”
“Oh boy. What the hell am I walking into?”
“I told you before, the Night Bloode clan isn’t what we’re used to. They aren’t upir, not any of them. Their leader, the patriarch, is a strigoi, one of those vicious, kill-you-first-and-ask-questions-later types. They’ve also got a vamp who swims like merfolk, a revenant, a reaper, a draugr, I think, and Kraft, who’s a nachzehrer.”
“I think I like it better when they’re all upir. I know what to expect then.” The upir tribe were your run-of-the-mill vampires. Fast, deadly, could transform into ravens at will, and fangy. But this Night Bloode clan had a whole host of weirdness going on. Changing into a wolf? Swimming? Reanimating the dead?
What the hell?
