“What’sup?” I stood.
Thetablet flickered in her hand. Alexa had a gift of shorting out appliances andlights. She could make an EMP blast and take out entire buildings. She was inarguablyour most valuable wolf.
Itook the tablet from her and saw a news clip. “We’re live and humans havestationed themselves at the base of Mount Hood. They are requesting a meetingwith the wolves,” a newswoman said and the camera panned to a scene that showedthe humans at our farthest check point. Some militia members and Anna wereholding them back. Shit.
Kaiburst into the room then, as I continued to watch the screen. One man wheeled afrail woman with no hair forward. “Is it true that if you change a human into awerewolf, they won’t have disease or get sick? Please change my wife. Saveher!” he shouted. The other humans shoutedChange me! Change me!
“Shit,”Kai said and started running outside.
“Stayhere,” I ordered Alexa and ran after him.
Weran to the base of the mountain in human form and slowed when we saw reportersso we wouldn’t scare them with our super speed. Seriously? Could we catch abreak? It was one drama after another, but I guess that was life. The militiahad barricaded the small two-lane road with two pick-up trucks parked sideways.There were a dozen humans and a cameraman with the reporter. Kai leapt up intothe back of the pick-up truck making the humans go quiet.
“Iam going to say this one time, so listen up!” Kai said with a deep, boomingAlpha voice. “We do not change humans for fun. We have rules that our societyhas followed for thousands of years. If the rules are broken, wolves die. I canspeak for every wolf alive when I say that we will NOT be changing humans togrow our numbers. Go home!” he roared.
Afew of the younger teenagers wearing wolf t-shirts booed and walked away, but theman who stood behind his wife in the wheelchair came forward. She was in herearly thirties, a breathing skeleton. I swallowed hard and tried to control myemotions. She reminded me of our Anna before we saved her.
“Butto save a life? She’s terminal. One month to live.” The husband hunched overher wheelchair, a broken man looking for any option. He was maybe thirty-five yearsold, but this disease had aged them both beyond that. My heart hurt for them. Thiswas the kind of shit that would keep me up at night. Anna met Kai’s eyes. Oh,Anna. Our sweet Anna who was dying of cancer when I found out she was Trent’smate.
Icould feel Kai’s pity through the mate bond. “Women rarely survive the change.It’s a dangerous process. It’s painful. If it worked, your wife would live onfor a hundred years and you would grow old and die,” Kai said as the camerapanned back and forth between them.
Theman shrugged. “I would rather her die trying to be saved than waste away beforemy eyes. I would love nothing more than to watch her be a strong and powerfulwerewolf. Even if it meant I grew old and died without her. Wouldn’t you do thesame for someone you loved?”
Isaw a flash of weakness fall over my mate’s face, but then it was replaced witha cold, hard Alpha glare. Kai gritted his jaw. “No, that’s not how we work. I’msorry.”
Kaijumped off of the pick-up truck and I slipped my hand into his as we began towalk away. When we were far enough away that I knew we were alone, I turned toface him. The thick trees surrounded us as I looked up into his eyes.
“Notwhat you had in mind when you told the humans about our kind, huh?”
Hisdeep brown eyes held so much emotion.
Heshook his head. “No, it wasn’t. I forgot how weak humans were. Cancer,diabetes, mental illness. We don’t get any of it.”
Standingon my tiptoes, I kissed him lightly. “Maybe it’s something to bring up with thecouncil.” I raised an eyebrow.
“What,take in all the terminal cases and change them? Our numbers would blow up. Thehuman government would feel threatened. They only tolerate us now because theyneed us, and they out number us. You forget that many wolves die in the processof thechange. You haven’t seen that. No!” Kai said and walked off.
Iran after him. “I’m just saying a few here and there wouldn’t hurt. It’s goodPR and the decent thing to do.”
Hegave me a side glance and shook his head. “Sometimes I’m not sure if it’s yourgreatest strength or your greatest weakness.”
Istopped. “What?”
“Yourheart,” he said seriously.
Ismiled. “Probably a weakness, but I don’t care.”
Hesmiled softly and looked off to the side. “The moment the first human died duringthechangeit would ruin all we have built with them.”
Isighed, because he was right. This relationship we had with the humans wasfragile.
Kaicreased his brow. “Alexa wants us to come home. The vampire kid is up andfeeling better.”
Dutycalls. I officially decided that I needed a damn vacation.
*
Jeremy,Alek, Kai, and I sat around the kitchen table. My mom was back in the guestroom with Luna and we were waiting on Earl and Todd. Kai’s dad had gone toSeattle with Shamus to have a meeting about Sadie. Ten females had been takenby the vampires. Ten. I couldn’t shake the feeling that we needed to actquickly. Find Layla and snuff out this fire before it grew. She had an entirebag of my blood now. It only took one drink to make her fertile. I had amillion questions about how vampire fertility worked. Was she fertile forevernow? I didn’t think so because of what Jeremy said about her needing moreblood. Did the men need to drink it? Did they drink off of her? I shuddered atthe thought. A knock at the door snapped me back to reality, as Kai squeezed myhand.
