“Death. That’s what you wish you’d have chosen?”Maxim wanted to shake her as anger filled his blood.
“There wouldn’t be dangerous hybrids out there killing and changing humans if I hadn’t figured out what he wanted me to.”Disgust filled her voice in his mind. He hated that she felt such responsibility for something that she truly had no control over.
“He was successful,” Alice finally answered. “Because I figured it out.” She appeared to be waiting to see what they would say, but Maxim was sending out waves of warning through the pack bonds. If even one of them said a disrespectful thing to his female, he just might kill them there and then. He could see some of them flinch at his power.
“He forced you,” Sasha said. It wasn’t a question.
Alice sighed. “Yes, but I honestly didn’t understand the implications, at least not completely. This isn’t an excuse, but I was still new to the supernatural world.” She lifted the hand notbeing held by Maxim. “I’m a scientist. Solving problems, figuring out things that seem impossible, discovering things—it’s in my blood. So even though at first I didn’t believe what my eyes and ears were hearing and seeing when Cain explained things, the scientist in me was curious.” She dropped her hand and shook her head slowly.
Maxim’s interruption sliced through the tense silence like a knife. “She had no choice,” he asserted, his voice tinged with anger. “Cain wasn’t her only threat. Her father, the controlling and vindictive colonel, would have stopped at nothing to ruin her career if she hadn’t complied.” The room fell into a heavy, contemplative quiet as the pack members absorbed this new information, their expressions ranging from disbelief to sympathy. After a minute of uneasy stillness, one member finally spoke up, breaking the heavy atmosphere.
“So what are the hybrids capable of?” Boris asked in a gravelly tone. He was one of the older wolves in the pack, with graying hair trimmed close to his head and a matching scruff of beard. His face was weathered from years of rough, rogue living, but his amber eyes still held a keen intellect. Others nodded, agreeing with his question.
“They’re stronger than vampires,” Adam said. “All of them can walk in the daylight. They can turn those they bite immediately.” Just then, several phones went off at the same time. All the Romania pack members pulled out their devices. Adam’s eyes widened. “And apparently, they can travel through portals because the crazy-ass sprite, Celise, who has theNushtonia, has given them the ability.” He held up his phone. “That was a text from Fane. He wanted us to be aware when we travel back.”
Alexsey’s brow rose. “Travel?”
Maxim pulled Alice onto his lap as he sat. He suddenly felt exhausted. He leaned forward and rested his arms on his knees,rubbing his hands together. “The world is changing. We can either change with it or we can become obsolete.” He looked around, attempting to gauge their reaction to his words. “The Great Luna has placed Fane in his position for a reason. He’s a good leader. Fair, just, and he cares. The supernatural world is bleeding into the human one. Vampires and others who would do evil are no longer living in shadows. The only thing that stands between them and helpless humans is us. Do you really want to sit here and do nothing? Because the trouble will eventually reach us, whether we like it or not. The fight will come to our doorstep. We can either wait and fight alone, or we can join with the others under Fane’s leadership and fight with the support of all of them.”
Katya shrugged. “Do we have a choice?”
Alice spoke before he could. “There’s always a choice.” She repeated the words she’d said to Maxim. “But there’s a right choice and a wrong one. There’s the choice you can live with, and the one you will one day realize you can’t live with. So consider that when you’re thinking about which you’re going to make.”
“So if we decide to join with Fane, we have to leave?” Ivan no longer leaned against the wall.
Maxim nodded. “They need our help in taking out the hybrids.”
Katya’s eyes sharpened as she returned her gaze to Alice. “What do these hybrids smell like?”
Maxim felt something in Alice snap as she met the female wolf’s eyes. “They probably smell a little like me because I have vampire blood in me.” The words were a challenge, daring Katya to ask why. The she-wolf was not one to disappoint or back down.
“Did he force you to take his blood?”
Alice didn’t lower her eyes or her head. She sat up and held her composure, though he could feel her shame. “He saved mylife. Another vampire ripped my throat open,” she explained. “I was the secret to the formula for the hybrids. Cain couldn’t let me die. So he used his blood to heal me.”
“But you’re a gypsy healer,” Katya pointed out unnecessarily.
“And apparently, that’s the glue that holds the vampire and werewolf blood together.”
“His blood didn’t turn you?” Sasha sounded curious, not hostile, as she asked the question.
“Not exactly.”
“What Cain’s blood did to my mate is not your concern. What is your concern is the fact that there are hybrids out there who are hurting people. If you remember your history and purpose, the Great Luna created our race to help those who couldn’t help themselves.” Maxim met the eyes of every member. “Choose.” There was really nothing else to say. They’d either go rogue and take their own life in their hands or they’d go with him and Fane’s pack members.
“You know I’m with you,” Alexsey said immediately.
Sasha and Ivan both nodded.
Maxim looked at the rest, those who hadn’t said a word, and the ones who had spoken. Finally, when no one disputed him, he stood and nodded. “We travel at first light. Adam will transport us. Since there’s only one of him and many of us, we will have to travel in groups. Fane asked that we make tracks and hunt on our way to the sprite realm, which is where they’ve taken refuge when they’re not fighting.”
“I’ll text Fane and see if he knows of an area with a high concentration of hybrids,” Adam suggested. “That will be the first place I take us.”
“We’re going to the sprite realm.” Sasha perked up. “I’ve never met a sprite.”
“Don’t get too excited.” Jen held up a hand. “They have their bad apples, just like the rest of us.”
“You mentioned a Celise,” Dimitri said.
