Seeking Pack Redemption (4 page)

Something clutched
at him, not physically, but scrabbled against his head, trying to invade his
mind. He whipped his head from side to side in an attempt to shake the feeling.
He growled, frustrated when he still couldn’t find something to attack. The
pressure on his brain increased, and his hackles rose higher as his low rumble
deepened.

The
probing of his mind abruptly disappeared. Before he could wonder about it, he
heard the crack of a gunshot, followed by two more. Immediately, he sprang into
motion and barreled into the trees to follow the direction of the shot, which,
not surprisingly, seemed to coincide with the increasing strength of the vile
scent.

He
stumbled into a clearing and halted as a man with vivid green eyes and a tight-lipped
expression whirled and aimed his gun at him.

“I see
Roderick has new recruits,” he said with a mirthless laugh. “Not for long.”

Trent
rolled before the stranger finished pulling the trigger. The blast hit the dirt
beside him. Trent kept moving as the gunman kept firing, only his speed and
reflexes saving him from all but a light scoring along his side. A rustle in
the brush saw his assailant whirling to fire as a pair of huge shapes leapt
from the shadows, with Marc and Darren finally making an appearance. They
tackled the stranger, who seemed not at all perturbed he had to fight off
wolves. Even more fucked-up, he almost got the upper hand until Marc got his
teeth around the stranger’s neck.

Before Marc
could tear it out, Trent quickly changed shape to say, “Don’t kill him. We need
to question him.”

Pinned
under their combined weight, his neck in a deadly vise, the green-eyed shooter
laughed. “I’ve got nothing to tell you, rogue.”

“You know
what we are?” Trent sniffed but couldn’t decipher the stranger’s odor from the
heavy hunters’ perfume he wore, some kind of bottled animal piss.

“I’d say
the fact I didn’t scream like a little girl when you shifted answers that
question.”

“Why did
you try to shoot me?”

“I shoot
all rogues.” The answer emerged flat despite the green sparks of hatred in his
eyes.

“And what
makes you so sure I’m a rogue? I’m sure other wolves use these woods, and it’s
not like rogues wear a sign.”

“Are you
denying your status?”

“Nope. But
I still want to know why you’re going around shooting my kind. Whether I’ve
chosen to leave the pack or not doesn’t mean I’m going to let some fucking
human kill
Lycans
.”

“Human?”
The stranger laughed. “That’s funny. As for shooting on sight, the pack is gone
from this area. And what remains are rogues, pure and simple. I’ve made it my
mission to kill those serving Roderick. The
less
minions he has, the better. I only live to see him dead.”

As he
moved to stand closer to their captive, Trent’s lip curled, and he knelt. “I
don’t give a fuck who this Roderick is or what your beef with him is. I’m no
one’s minion. I went rogue to search for my brother, David. Looks like me but
smaller and younger. Have you seen him around?”

“I haven’t
seen him.” The vivid green eyes assessed him, and Trent returned the favor.
While not dark-skinned, the man on the ground was a mix of something with light
cocoa skin and curly hair. Unshaven and wearing clothes that had seen much
better days, he looked haggard except for the bright light in his eyes. This
was a man on a mission.

Trent leaned
lower and sniffed to confirm his suspicions. A wolf under all that strong
scent, a wolf whose demeanor indicated he had nothing left to lose. It made him
dangerous.

“He’s
wolf,” he announced. “And a rogue just like us, I’ll bet.”

“Correct.”

“Explain
again why you’re hunting our kind?” Trent asked. A niggling sense told him that
the answer to David’s disappearance lay in the strange wolf’s words.

“I exterminate
rogues. Those who’ve let themselves get taken by Roderick, although my ultimate
target is the vampire himself.”

“Vampire?”

“You heard
me. Guy who sucks blood, sleeps in the day, and can control those weaker than
him with his mind.”

Trent
snorted. “Don’t tell me you’re one of those idiots who believes those rumors.”

“Not
rumors. Truth.”

Releasing
their captive’s neck, his friends shifted back, curiosity bright in their eyes.

“How do
you know?” Darren asked. “Have you seen this supposed vampire?”

The other
man nodded. A heavy sigh left him. “Roderick used to be my alpha and Nathan’s
father. You’ve heard or met Nathan, I assume?” At their nods, he continued. “When
Roderick was sentenced to death for crimes against the pack, the council
instead brokered a deal with the vampires. And before you say anything, my
packmates
and I had a hard time believing it, too, until we
met Roderick. The vamps turned Roderick into one of them.”

Trent held
up his hand. “Wait a second, you want me to believe Nathan’s dad is some kind
of vampire? His dad is dead. Executed, from what I know, for crimes against the
pack. And when I told Nathan I was leaving, he never told me to look out for
his dad, although he did try to feed me some crazy bullshit about a bloodsucker
who
could control minds. Is his delusion contagious?”

“Roderick
didn’t die, at least not in a conventional sense. But from what you’re saying, the
pack has finally revealed the truth about Roderick and what he can do.
About time.
I know Nathan was trying to keep it quiet for
fear of causing panic or even scoffing, which would lead to people not taking
the safety advice seriously.”

“Nathan
and the council haven’t said jack shit,” Trent offered. “He told me this in
private. All the packs know is the bullshit story he and the other council
members have been feeding us about how we’re being stalked and need to stick
close together until the danger is caught.”

“Forget
catch. We need to kill the fucker. If only he’d sit still long enough for me to
kill him. I don’t know how many times I’ve shot Roderick. The bastard just
won’t fucking die.”

Trent
rose. “I’ve heard enough. He’s obviously gone mad and is of no help to us.”

“What are
we going to do about him?” Darren asked.

Trent eyed
the stranger who lay placidly on his
back,
hands laced
under his head, and wore an expression of fake calm. But he could see the nerve
ticking in his jaw.

Could he
really kill the man for believing in fairy tales, a tale even an alpha was
touting as truth. “Who are you?”

“
Jaxon
.”

Darren
frowned. “That name is familiar. I think I heard some of that new pack we were
with talking about him. Something about him betraying them.”

“Is that
true?”

Guilt and
sadness flooded
Jaxon’s
face. “Unfortunately.
Roderick caught me when we were bringing Bailey, a victim of his, back to the
pack. I didn’t know he’d left a ticking time bomb in my mind until I woke up in
his dungeon with the realization that I’d handed the woman I loved to a
monster.”

“You gave
him your mate?” Marc couldn’t stem his incredulity.

Jaxon
nodded his head. “It seemed Bailey was a dormant
Lycan
,
but she didn’t know it. Didn’t know anything about our kind. When my
packbrothers
and I met her, she immediately called to our
wolves. They marked and claimed her. But before my turn arrived, she got pregnant.
For some reason, that knowledge triggered a compulsion Roderick left in my head
and I ended up kidnapping her and bringing her to the vampire.”

“Wow,
aren’t you a fucking prize,
handing
her over to
someone else. No wonder the pack shunned you.”

“I say we
kill him,” Darren growled. “The pack doesn’t like those who betray.”

Trent
shook his head. “And what makes him any different than us? We are considered
rogue now as well.”

“But he
handed a helpless woman over to an enemy.”

Looking
the other man in the eye, where he saw the depths of his shame and misery,
Trent spoke coldly. “I’d say letting him live with that knowledge is the worst
punishment he could suffer.”

“Daily
torture,”
Jaxon
agreed quietly. “You know what’s the
most horrible part, though? She forgave me. Forgave me in that dirty fucking
cell and then marked me as her mate. I deserved to die. Wanted to kill myself.
And she told me it wasn’t my fault and that she loved m.” He ended on a broken
whisper.

“So how
did you and the girl escape? Because I am pretty sure I’ve seen that Bailey
chick you’re talking about back at the compound. Curly black hair, pregnant,
hangs around with three big dudes.”

Leaning
forward, as if eager,
Jaxon
said, “So she didn’t lose
the baby? I wondered with everything that happened. Did she seem happy?”

“How the
fuck would I know? I just said we saw her; didn’t talk to her and learn her
life fucking story.”

“As long
as she’s safe,”
Jaxon
muttered, easing back. “That’s
all that matters. I wasn’t sure what happened after I fell off the cliff. I
didn’t dare go back.”

“Rewind
there, buddy. What do you mean fell off a cliff? Are you suicidal?” Trent
wanted to stick his head in a cold bucket of water for clarity because the more
he talked to this
Jaxon
guy, the more confused he
got.

Jaxon
laughed, a rusty sound with no mirth. “Nope, not suicidal, just
determined to save the woman I love. Roderick, the vampire you don’t want to
believe in, had her prisoner. I fought his hold on my mind and did what I had
to in order to save her. Bit him, which I don’t recommend due to his foul
taste, and when the fucker looked like he was going to get the upper hand
again, I hugged him tight and threw us off a cliff.”

“But you
both survived?”

“Unfortunately.
And I’ve been hunting the fucker ever since.”

“Let’s say
for one second we believe this fellow’s a vampire capable of controlling minds,
why the hell would you chase him knowing he can take over your will again?”

A vicious
smile split the man’s lips. “It seems the taste I got of his blood snapped his
control, and he can’t regain it.
Although he’s tried.
Every time I get close, he tries to snare me—and fails. Even better,
since that putrid taste, I always have a general feel for where he is. So
despite the fact he keeps moving, I keep following, taking shots at him when I
get close enough, killing his minions when I come across them.”

“And you
thought we were his minions?”

“I’m not
convinced you’re not.”

Trent
leaned back on his heels, thoughtful. “Would his attempts at mind control feel
something like a cold pressure on your head? Like something scrabbling to get
in?”

Jaxon
nodded. “Yes. There’s pain, too. For those close enough, you can smell
him, too.”

“Like
something dead and dark. I’m not saying I believe your story, but I did come
across something like that. But he didn’t take over my mind.”

“He can’t
do it with the strong ones. And it could also be because I snuck up on him in
this clearing and went for a
head shot
, but the fucker
is fast. Before I could follow him, you came tearing through the woods with
your buddies.”

Marc
frowned. “I thought I saw something whipping by, but it was so quick I thought
I imagined it. But I’m wondering about something else you said.
That whole minion thing.
Are you implying he’s got wolves
working for him?”

“Not so
much working as slaves to his will. Roderick can control weaker minds, take
them over, and impose his will, although I’m sure some of them don’t resist too
hard. Evil is the easier path, and some I’m sure enjoy the blood and mayhem he
asks them to cause.”

“So my
brother . . .” Trent closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “My
brother could be one of those minions then.”

“I’d say
that’s likely.”

Believing his
brother might actually be a rogue meant Trent had to swallow the story about
vampires and mind control. Yeah . . . He wasn’t quite sure about that yet, no
matter how much
Jaxon
seemed to believe and despite
what he thought he’d felt. “Where are they holed up? I need to know.”

“You want
to confront Roderick and his wolves on their home turf?”
Jaxon
laughed. “I see I’m not the only one who doesn’t care if he meets the reaper.”

“If he’s
got my brother, I need to get him out.”

“And
there’s a girl,” Darren quietly added. “David took her with him when he
disappeared into these woods. We don’t know if she’s still alive, but we should
at least try and save her.”

“Fuck, fuck,
and fuck. Okay, listen here, I think I know the place they’re hiding. I’ve been
in these woods for about three days now, chasing down scent trails. There’s
only one area I haven’t really explored, and that’s up in the peaks. According
to the ranger map I stole, there’s an abandoned hunter’s camp up there, about
thirty or so miles from the closest starting point. By my research, it’s got
probably a half-dozen cabins, housing who knows how many wolves. Problem is,
getting up there without getting noticed is going to be a bitch. Not to
mention, given the distance getting there and back before nightfall is going to
be hard. I’ve been trying to draw the rogues out, wean his numbers so to speak,
but Roderick’s holding himself and his troops tight to the camp. Or was. I’m
not sure what brought him out of hiding tonight.”