Vessa reaches for her glass of water. "I can try."
Between the shots, cocktails, and hallucinations, she isn’t able to piece together much. Mostly fragments here and there. However, one detail strikes me as imperative. One that sets my blood boiling all over again. Vessa explains that she wasn't offered the drug, rather it was blown into her face when she rejected the advances of a man with a scorpion tattoo.
Vessa frowns at her bandages. Meanwhile, I’m clenching the pillow hard enough to tear it in half. To my surprise, she changes the subject, inquiring if we had any success tracking vampires.
Qinnu’s team caught no wind of vampire scents in the fifty-mile radius beyond Bleeding Sun territory. Meanwhile Demiand her trackers pursued the slain female’s scent southwest for nearly two hundred miles, losing it at the Iskut train station, a midpoint between our two packs, where Tesni waited to intercept them yesterday. The vampire must’ve arrived in the province less than a week ago, for that is as long as the scent will typically linger. A strange coincidence, considering Vessa’s timeline.
Could she have spotted her boarding the train here in town and followed her to Pinesdale? If so, why?
Packs in the western sector of the province are on high alert. The Alpha of Raging River, our closest neighbor along the Belt, will rally more patrolmen to sift through the towns with more human foot traffic. Several other Alphas residing within our region also declared they would follow suit and report any new movements. But those further east . . . those wolves don’t pledge their allegiance as willingly. Those are the same men who have lost the most of their land to human advancement. Who advocate for attacks against humans to reclaim the Heartlands. Many still harbor resentment for my grandfather, who stuck his claim on the commandership after forcing out a sadistic tyrant.
I hope to give Vessa peace of mind as I explain to her that I have eyes and ears everywhere. Except she isn’t satisfied with the latest intelligence.
"There’s something you’re leaving out," she breathes.
My lips pull into a straight line. I pause to admire the way her eyes sparkle against the remnants of last night’s smudgy makeup. Daylight catches glints of maple and rich honey.
"If you intend to gain my trust," she continues, "then you won't omit anything. I don't care if you think it's in my best interest."
I suck in a breath and stand. Vessa cranes her neck to study me as I try to find the right words. There's no way around it.
“There's been whispers of activity in the Ugruk Circle, particularly along the old Norgsik settlements. One of Tesni’s oldest contacts worries that vampires are starting to gather there again. Someone must've summoned them.”
Vessa's face pales. "The Blood Master . . . do you suspect it could be him?"
"We can’t say for certain. But odds are, the woman we encountered at Lake Verdant could have been sent on his behalf," I reply. “I can't act without confirmation of that intel. In a few days, I'll be sending a team to assess and report what's stirring up there. If it looks like they are organizing an attack, we'll go straight to the Yinsew Council."
"Who?"
“The Yinsew Council. A panel of twelve elders from each continent who are appointed to the serve in the capital senate to preserve peace, enforce the laws of our kind, and to punish anyone who threatens to expose the existence of lycans.”
Or, by my definition, a bunch of overcontrolling elitists who couldn’t care less about the bonds of loyalty.
Smoky pheromones wrap around her as her anxiety churns. "I take it they will be less than thrilled when they find out the next Luna Superior is a human."
My wolf nudges me to reach for her hand. At last, I cave, folding my fingers over her bandaged knuckles. "That's a complication we'll sort out another day."
Dominik
When I heard Vessa had fled Tukkon, I was relieved.
But then she slipped into my club wearing that dress dripping with diamonds, those arresting eyes magnetizing me. Strobe lights rippling off her skin, hips swaying as she danced. Taunting me with that handsy prick.
I couldn’t look away. Not until my wolf was a heartbeat from lunging out of my body.
Nothing could pacify him last night. Not a cigar. Not an entire bottle of Montrose’s finest tequila. Not even my last resort—another woman’s eager mouth.
“Did you say that you got a good look at the guy?” Jabir asks.
Reaching for the lighter in my pocket, I ignite my cigarette, leading Axe and his right-hand man to the security offices. Or, should I say, myreplacement.
Axe is still pissed about last night’s confrontation. It’s written all over his glowering face. Most of the time, it’s nothing to worry about. The anger usually blows off after a week and then we’re back to avoiding each other until someone needs something. For as long as I can remember, our relationship has been transactional. Instead of leaving the pack altogether, I get by with the mandatory obligations to keep Axe appeased. Were he any other Alpha, my repeated defiance would get me exiled. But it won’t come to that. Mostly because I’m his kid brother and he’s sworn to always have my back. That, and he’s still holding out for me to have a change of heart.
Every once in a while, I enjoy ruffling his feathers. And gods, does he make it painfully easy. But today, there isn’t an ounce of leniency or amusement to be found. Not now that his mate’s been attacked on my watch. I probably should’ve considered that last night before I stooped so low as to imply that she nearly left this club with someone else.
Gods be damned, he’s right. Maybe I’ll never curb my inhibitions. Maybe I’ll always be at odds with thisthingthat Iam. If I were to even remotely consider propositioning Vessa, I would no longer be Axe Skornokovy’s brother.
I would be a dead man.
