“It’s not like I need my foot or anything,” he said facetiously, slaying the Vampire before him.
“They’re guarding the doors from the inside!” I shouted, hoping my team would hear.
“Raven!” Gem waved at me from the corner of the house.
When I caught up, she was standing in front of the first blue window. The wolves and Vampires clashed as far as we could see alongside the mansion.
Gem swept back her wavy hair, huffing and puffing as hard as I was. “I’m so tired. Since the doors are guarded, we can break out the window. Can you get the wolves to jump through?”
“Me? Are you fucking insane? I’m not the wolf whisperer. They’ll rip me apart. Look at ’em.”
She formed an orange ball in her fingertips, this one fairly small. “Youknowthem. Crush said so. They’re under orders not to attack anyone with a scent. Vampires only.”
I blinked and looked around. That was when I recognized a few wolves by their distinct markings. Some of them were loners and others belonged to Ren’s pack. I wasn’t certain about the rest.
“What about Christian?” I looked toward the front, but he was no longer in sight.
“We put cologne on him to throw them off. I hope it works.” Gem tossed the ball at the window and shattered it. “We don’t have time. Viktor wants them inside.”
I searched the pack of wild wolves for anyone who might know me. But how the hell was I supposed to talk to them when they were in wolf form?
I turned in a circle. “Ren!” I cupped my hands around my mouth. “Ren! It’s Raven! I need you!”
From the back of the property, Ren’s wolf came barreling toward us. He was solid black, but his silver tail stood out.
I fell to my knees to get down to his level so I was looking up at him. As an alpha, he could hear and understand everything. But I still had to play by the rules when approaching a dominant wolf. Especially one with blood in its mouth. “They’re guarding the doors from the inside. We killed about eight, but I wasn’t able to sweep the lower levels. I think most of them are outside, but we need to get the ones protecting Sparrow. Do you have any wolves you trust?”
He suddenly shifted to human form, and it was startling to see him stark naked. Ren had tattoos all over, and despite the few strands of grey in his black hair, there was nothing ancient about him. He drew up his knee as we faced each other. “It’s easier if we speak like this. My wolf gets confused, and I can’t focus.”
“Do you have any packmates you trust? Any that you can control? There are two Vamps by each door, and I don’t know how many are on the lower levels or underground. I was only able to clear the third floor. The thing is, if you find Sparrow or the traitors, you can’t kill them. They’re probably all together. Unless Viktor wants them dead, we have to capture them alive. Are there any wolves you trust enough to send inside?”
Ren stood and pinched his close-shaven chin.
I jumped to my feet, Gem and I keeping watch around us until he came to a decision.
Ren used his fingers to whistle a long note with a short one at the end. He did it several more times with different patterns, as if each wolf had a specific whistle assigned to them. Eight wolves appeared and obediently sat, waiting for orders from their alpha. Ren spoke plainly to them, so each one must have been a unique wolf who had full awareness during their shift. Before I knew it, he shifted back, and they jumped through the window.
Gem and I crawled in next.
She sprinted a short way to the alcove where her secret room was located. After slipping behind the wall, I followed her inside and shut the wall behind us.
Gem crawled underneath the giant desk, her dress providing sufficient light. “I always have weapons in here, just in case.”
I collapsed in a chair to catch my breath and stared at all the books surrounding us. The shelves were so tall that she used a ladder to reach the top.
“When we woke up, your dad was gone,” she said from under the desk. Then I heard a thump. “Ow. Anyhow, we thought he left us, but he went to talk to his Packmaster friend, Ren. Then Viktor spoke to Ren on the phone and worked out a plan. We didn’t expect your father to return, but he showed up with guns. Those came in handy up the road before we even got here.” Her hand appeared, and she set two stakes on the desk.
My heart was finally slowing down to an acceptable pace.
“When they ambushed us on the road, we had to get out of the car. Wyatt wasn’t fast enough. A Vampire smashed a fist into his head, and… Oh, there it is!” She crawled into sight with another stake in her hand. “Did you know we can’t die?”
“How do you know for sure?” I asked, still skeptical that what Houdini had told me was true.
She sat back on her ankles and caught her breath. “Wyatt’s head dented like a melon dropped from a countertop. Christian tried to give him his blood, but it was too late. We had to leave him. It was awful! Halfway down the road… we turned and saw him running after us. His head was healed, and he seemed fine.”
I had assumed my healing injuries were from the Vampire blood, but maybe there was something more to it after all.
“That’s why he’s acting like Mr. Badass out there.” She pulled herself to her feet and straightened her dress.
