“Well,she’sinteresting,” Lorna said with wide eyes.
Peri smirked. “You say interesting, we say psycho nympho. But she’d die for those she loves, so we put up with her crazy.”
“Sounds like a fair trade,” Lorna replied.
Peri smiled. “Looks like you’re going to fit right in.”
Lucian took Peri’s hand. “I think Boain and Lorna need to explain to Fane the things they shared with us.”
“Agreed.” Peri glanced at Boain. “Are you good with that?”
Boain nodded. “Especially in light of Cain’s meeting with Thad.”
Fane listened intentlywhile Boain and Lorna detailed their efforts at hunting the vampire covens along a highway in Nevada and about their run-in with a much older vampire named Claude. The fact that the vampires appeared to take up residence in these tiny communities seemed significant to Fane. And the lack of any remaining humans was particularly troubling.
“This raises an obvious question,” Peri said. “How many more places is this happening? I’d be willing to bet it isn’t only these communities.”
Fane nodded and leaned against the table behind him. Jacquelyn climbed up on it and sat beside him.
“According to the human news, crime rates across the country have skyrocketed,” Boain pointed out.
“Which means the vamps aren’t contained to Nevada,” Jacquelyn said.
Fane folded his arms across his chest. Even though he’d agreed to a meeting with the vampire king, this wasn’t something he could allow to continue. Who knows how many humans Cain had turned? And those vampires were now feasting on humans and perhaps converting even more of them. His wolf’s thoughts kept returning to Nevada. The presence of vampires all huddled so close together in those abandoned communities bothered him.
“There’s something else weird about this whole situation,” Peri said. “Lorna and Boain told me the human news outlets were reporting on missing people one day, and then completely stopped their reports the next day. Hundreds of people going missing daily seems like pretty big news, yet the news agencies seem to be ignoring it.”
“Thatisweird,” Jacquelyn said. “Sure, one or two people go missing, and no one but their families pays too much attention. It’s tragic, but true. But this many people? A lot of people are going to be making a lot of noise. This has gotta be a deliberate cover-up.”
Peri nodded. “I think Cain has humans working with him. And by humans, I mean people of power. People who could influence the police and the news media.” She shrugged. “It’s not unheard of for human governments to work with supernaturals.”
Fane took a deep breath. And not for the first time since taking over as alpha, he wished his father was there to give him advice. Some days—okay, most days—he felt way out of his depth. But the Great Luna had calledhimto be in this place of leadership.Please give me wisdom, he prayed to the goddess.
At first, he thought they could wait to deal with the vampires until after the Alston mess was taken care of. But considering what Peri had just told him, Fane knew he couldn’t ignore the problem for that long. He needed to find out what the vampires were up to as soon as possible. He had to know just how far Cain’s reach was. How far had the vampire king penetrated the human government?
“I’m going to give Dillon a call.” He glanced at his mate.
“I think that’s a good idea.” She placed a hand on his shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. “His is the closest pack to Nevada. And if you feel like something’s not right there, then he’s probably the best one to check it out.”
Fane should have known his mate would pick up on his thoughts. “When he reports back, we can make a decision as to what to do about the vampires. I’m also going to give the Missouri and Coldspring alphas a call. They may have noticed something strange in their areas as well. I’ve heard nothing from them, but that could just mean they’re neck deep in dealing with vampires and haven’t had time to reach out.”
“Do you want Peri and I to check on the other packs before we meet tonight?”
Fane nodded. “That would be good. Thank you, Lucian.” He reached for Jacquelyn’s hand and helped her down from the table. “I think we’ve got a plan for now. Let’s just pray our mission against Alston is successful, with no casualties. That will be one enemy marked off the list.”
“I shouldn’t say it.” Peri sighed. “But it seems like every time we cut off the head of one snake, another takes its place.”
“You’re right.” Jacquelyn huffed. “Youshouldn’thave said it. I’m already exhausted, and that didn’t help.”
“As the saying goes, there’s no rest for the wicked. I think they forgot to add that means the non-wicked aren’t getting any rest either,” Peri pointed out.
“Non-wicked?” Jacquelyn laughed. “Are you sure that’s what we are?”
“If we take Adam and Jen out of the equation, then I think we come close.”
Jacque laughed, and Fane glanced at her, taking in the light that calmed his beast. It felt like the occasions for laughter were becoming few and far between. Between each crisis they faced, he sometimes forgot to treasure those moments.
“Getting all sentimental on me, wolf-man?”she asked through their bond.
