Page 2 of Jake

“Hey now.” Jake held his hands up in the air defensively. “First of all, I had nothing to do with those bites. If you’re thinking I forced myself on her, you’re dead wrong. She’s the one who attacked me. You should have seen what she did to me right before you flashed in like goddamned Léopold.”

“Wolves. The lot of you are nothing more than animals.” Quintus carefully inspected her arms.

“Now just hold on a damn minute, blood sucker. I just told you I didn’t do a…ugh, Goddess…what the…” Jake cringed as the vampire dragged his tongue over her wrist. “For the love of all that is holy, would you stop with the licking?”

“Mind your own business.” Quintus glared at him.

“Look, I know you’re like how old? Thousands of years? Maybe you date back to the dinosaurs? Tell me, did you ever hear of a doctor? It’s a thing us uncivilized animals use on humans when someone gets injured in New Orleans.”

“You know nothing of this creature,” Quintus told him.

“Yeah well, I don’t need to know. Now how about you put her down?” Jake suggested. “Logan’s already on his way. I can feel him.”

“This isn’t your issue, wolf.”

“Like hell it isn’t. Some hot chick shows up on my property.” Jake gestured to his home, then focused on Quintus. “Yeah, bite boy. This is my place, not yours. Or hers. That one right there.” Jake pointed to the girl. “She shows up naked to the party and right before she freezes me into place with her death stare, which by the way, was some freaky ass shit, she glows.”

Jake noted the vampire’s impassive expression, and his curiosity peaked. “So you know, then?”

“I told you, she’s special.”

“Special, huh? More like lethal. But get this. Guess who glow girl asks for?”

“It’s none of your concern.”

“Ilsbeth.” As if he’d called on the devil himself, Jake’s stomach clenched at the sound of her name. Ilsbeth wielded dark magick and despite her weakened state, he wouldn’t put it past her to conjure a spell if she heard her name from his lips. Detecting surprise on the vampire’s smug face gave Jake a twinge of delight, and he laughed.

“Ilsbeth?” Quintus asked, an eyebrow cocked.

“The witch is an oldie but goodie, right?” Jake stepped toward Quintus, closing the distance between them. There was no way in hell he was letting him take the girl before he had a chance to question her.

“You must have heard wrong…” The vampire glared at the wolf. He moved backwards, his focus briefly drawn to the woods.

“Yeah, that would be a negative. I’ve got pretty good hearing, ya know? I’m a wolf…kind of comes with the territory.” He smirked.

“It doesn’t matter what she said. She was hurt. There’s no way she’d…” Quintus glanced down to her limp body, and back up to Jake. “She shouldn’t have come here.”

“And why is that, Quint? Enlighten me, would you?”

“Thank you for not killing her. You could have easily done so. Or let the pack have at her. I will speak to her about this,” Quintus said.

“Will you now? How about I speak to her myself? Because that’s going to happen,” Jake assured him.

“Despite our quarrel in New York, you have shown honorable qualities this evening. But you must leave this be. Forget you ever saw her.”

“I have no fight with you, Quintus. But her, well, I’m afraid you can’t take her. You see, whatever is going on with Ilsbeth, that’s always my business.”

“The witch is not here. Jax has taken care of…”

“Ah, so you know. I found Ilsbeth and gave her to Jax. Now what he did exactly, I don’t know. To be honest, I kinda washed my hands of all of it. Until now. No, that girl there,” Jake paused and nodded at the injured female, “she just became my business. She stays here until I’m satisfied she’s not wrapped up in something with the witch.”

“Sorry, mate. Say goodbye.” Quintus bared his fangs and hissed. “Don’t make me do something I’ll regret.”

“Really? Y’all think you’re badass with your sharp teeth? Ohh…scary.” Jake gave a sarcastic laugh. “And just when I thought we were becoming friends, ya gotta vamp out on me. You know, I really do owe you for the shit you put me through in New York. All right then, let’s do this. I’m ready to throw down with your ass.”

Jake shifted to wolf, and lunged for Quintus, aiming to latch onto his calf. As his jaws snapped shut, he caught nothing but air.

Fucking vampire.Jake snarled, aware it’d been a longshot. Only the oldest of vampires like Quintus had the capability to materialize to another location. Jake had no idea who the woman was but it had been obvious that Quintus knew exactly who and what she was. It also was apparent the vampire had no idea about her involvement with Ilsbeth.

Jake’s attention was drawn to rustling leaves. Logan and Dimitri barked, alerting him to their presence. Forcing his beast to the recesses of his mind, Jake shifted to his human form, and they quickly followed his lead. As he pressed onto his feet, he spied a small chain curled into the mud. Jake reached for the ground and grasped the dull metal. The tarnished necklace appeared to be nothing special; a single flattened pendant dangled from the delicate cable. He rubbed his thumb over it, cleaning off the dirt. No lettering or initials were inscribed yet he suspected it belonged to the woman.

As his thoughts raced, Jake struggled to conceal his anger. Whatever this strange woman’s connection to Ilsbeth, he needed to know. He told himself to let it go, but there was something about her that he couldn’t shake. The damn vampire knew something but hadn’t given him answers. Ablaze with curiosity, he grew determined to find out how she was tied up with Ilsbeth, why she’d come to him in New Orleans.

“I think it’s about time we had a talk,” Logan said, breaking his contemplation.

“I’m sorry, man.” A sense of loss settled in his gut. He’d thought he’d have more time…more time to accept leaving New Orleans, leaving Acadian Wolves. But as he padded toward his home, sensing Logan and Dimitri on his heels, the end drew near.