Three’s a Clan (6 page)

Chapter Eleven

Shelly

I knew these woods like I had a picture of it in front of me. A favorite hunting ground for werewolves, it wasn’t some place I was supposed to be.

A deep growl echoed around me, reminding me of exactly that. I followed the directions to where I was supposed to meet everyone. Just like the text said, I turned down the third trail to the right from the edge of campus. One hundred feet until I hit the burned tree with the sign about avoiding forest fires nailed on the stump.

With the sudden electrical malfunction in the donor’s living space, I
had
to go out to get food. I was close enough to home that a walk through the woods wasn’t unusual if anyone happened to see me. Adding in a quick text to the Matheo that I was still in search of the gluten free pasta one of our donors needed and I was on my way to the meeting.

The source of that growl broke through the trees. They really were a sight. The ground level bushes parted. They wore no shirts. Trevor had a strange looking rifle strapped to his back. The nylon cord rested between well-defined pecs, brushing just the right amount of chest hair back and forth as he moved. Richard was just as impressive. How could a man emanate that much power wearing only a pair of well-worn jeans? Their knees were dusted with dirt.

What had they been doing? Images of Rick and Trevor rolling around the forest floor were flooding my brain. The miasma gave me all kinds of rational possibilities for their strange decoration, but the woman in me fought for the images of two men rolling on the ground with one woman. Fantasy wasn’t something I’d indulged in much since becoming the Protector of my Family. It wasn’t easy to find my own thoughts among the miasma’s catalog. Was I just gaining control at last? Or was it the effect of these men?

“We’re here,” Rick said. “You told us you had important information.”

“Why are you half naked?” Superbrain and all, I couldn’t move past that topic.

“Shelly, we’re shifters. It’s not like we need clothes for protection. Unless your delicate sensibilities are offended.” Trevor was a smartass. His mouth kicked up in a half smile.

“If you aren’t affected, why wear anything at all? I promise I won’t mind.” I sucked in a breath.

I really needed to learn to think before I spoke. What was wrong with me? Sexual banter was not supposed to be on the table tonight, considering who we were meeting.

Trevor still wore a smile, but Rick’s face held no warmth. My miasma played a scene for me from nearly a year ago. I couldn’t help thinking about being with these two in the woods. My scalp tingled as I remembered them fixing my hair after I had fucked them both. I stopped my heart from beating. I didn’t need any more blood rushing anywhere.

I didn’t get scared of anyone, but I felt a little skitter of anxiety race down my spine with what might happen if I let myself feel too much with these two. I didn’t think Rick would ever hurt me, and I knew Trevor had everyone’s best interests at heart. But something about me lost control around them. I was never
not
in control.

My feet slipped back to keep under me as I straightened. What was that smell? I sniffed again. Man, that was good. The scent filled my body like the most powerful drink of blood. My insides tingled in a way that was not at all unpleasant. Why would a smell do that?

“Shelly.” Rick snapped his fingers my way. “We came because you said you had more information. We got away for now, but our guise won’t let us linger for long. Get it on.”

Trevor laughed and his Alpha coughed. “I meant, let’s get talking.” He glared at a still smiling Beta to his left.

I was opening my mouth to say something but our innuendo-heady bubble burst wide open when Rick caught movement behind me. He invaded even more of my personal space and gripped my shoulder. In a swift motion, he pulled me behind him and faced the sound coming our way. Trevor moved in close. I was surrounded by bare-chested muscles and the smell was making me dizzy. What
was
that?

“Damn, what stinks?”

My hands instinctively went to my head. I couldn’t protect my skull from what the little witch coming down the path could do, but it gave me something else to focus on.

Mary wasn’t as soft-spoken as she used to be. “I thought we were meeting your dad? We couldn’t meet at the apartments? We had to come to the woods where someone obviously left some perishable campsite food out for the sun to rot?”

“That is not what that smell is.” I recognized my little brother’s voice.

Combined with the louder footsteps, it was enough to break through to my fried brain. What could they possibly smell that stinks? The only thing I was getting was spicy woods with a hint of hot damn.

Amber’s voice barreled through to my ears, and just like every other situation, she took over the conversation. “I don’t want to know what that means, so I choose to ignore it all. Daddy?”

I couldn’t conceal my smile, but the back muscles in front of me tensed. I peeked around the wall of man to see the Hart Clan marching through the brush. All four of them. The little witch had a new hairdo, and from the change in her blood flow, she was obviously more than a witch. Craig’s hand on Mary’s back showed me their relationship had finally vacated the friend zone.

“Amber?” Rick’s voice nearly cracked.

I was left chilled when both my men rushed to greet the four people who had interrupted us. My brain started to reboot. I was experiencing a scent that had my whole being going haywire. If I was a werewolf, I would have sworn it was a mating pheromone. Vampires didn’t have the same compulsion to mate that wolves did. The fact that we didn’t have to breathe made scent markers a bit pointless.

My fog lifted and I realized Jake stood in front of me. He stared at me but didn’t embrace because he knew I wasn’t the huggy type.

“You look like you need a shower, baby brother.” I was glad to see him. Insults show my love. “Funds so tight you can’t wade through a clean river?”

Jake smiled before he was shoved aside.

Amber wasn’t the huggy type either. I think she wrapped her arms around me just to piss me off. “Fuck off, Barbie. Shit is about to hit the fan.” The gruff voice was an odd match for the hug I got. What did Amber have under that billowy shirt? Was she wearing a backpack loaded with guns? It wouldn’t surprise me.

I understood Amber. She had to be the baddest bitch around. Everyone wanted to kill her because of who she was, yet she had a sense of humor about it. I had more of an issue with everyone just wishing I wasn’t around, but we both had enough fight in us to take down an army. Good thing too. We were going to have to do just that.

“So you haven’t been killed yet.” I kicked my chin up in greeting as we stepped back. “Bonus.” That was my version of
I missed you.

“Someone has to be around to ensure you don’t live a happy existence.” That was Amber’s version of
I missed you too.

“Now that the love fest is underway, we need to talk.” Jake held everyone’s attention, like he always did. Only this time he shifted his gaze to Amber and waited for her to continue.

“Here’s the deal.” Amber sat on a stump. If she was so tired, why hadn’t she just taken off whatever she was carrying? Before I had a chance to put the pieces together, she was yakking again.

“I have a freaking witch invading my dreams. This harvester shit has to stop. I need a good night’s sleep.” Her legs spread and she rested her hands on her knees before looking up at the crowd. I had to wonder why she felt the need to sit. As Alpha female of her group, she should have been attempting to find the higher ground instinctively. My miasma cataloged this behavior. The rest of me was just confused.

Her best friend Mary stepped forward. She looked different. Mary’s eyes grazed the group and flashed gold for just a moment. So now we weren’t only dealing with vampire/werewolf hybrids, we were throwing a witch/werewolf into the mix. She also had some badass stripe of white down her hair. The miasma filed everything.

“We are here to take Kari home.” Mary looked at me. The distrust was plain in her eyes. They were still blue. The miasma filed that too.

“You know it’s been months since she was taken. If she’s not cooperating willingly, there’s a good chance she’s dead already.”

Craig held Mary back as she lunged for me with flashing gold eyes. I looked down immediately.

Mary might be fairly new to the wolf life, but I felt the tingle inside my brain that told me she’d retained a lot of her witchy side as well. If she still had all the power she’d had as a witch, distance wouldn’t keep my head from popping like an over-ripe melon filled with maggots.

The miasma filed that too.
Dammit.
I hated feeling like a never ending rolodex of facts. I wanted the new information, but I didn’t want to feel like the Family resource anymore. I walked over to stand next to Trevor. Alpha Paulson flanked my other side. The ever-present hum of my brain subsided. My libido rose, but the tradeoff was better than okay if you asked me.

Amber looked up at me. She stroked the leather satchel around her neck before returning her attention to her father. Alpha Paulson lowered his gaze to his daughter. He had given her that token of his former wife. I frowned. Memories of the dead should be buried with them.

“So.” Amber kept leaning forward. The billow of her shirt caught in strange ways. It almost looked like she was…no. It couldn’t be.

There was no way Amber would come back here…back to this fight that had to happen if she was pregnant.

Amber coughed loudly until my eyes were on her face rather than her belly.

“So we are here to plan. We aren’t here to demand anything, we are just tabulating allies.” Amber let the breath go in and out of her lungs a few times before she continued. “Dad, we didn’t bring any of the Alakin Pack with us. The ones that
would
fight could be compelled by the Matheo. I’m not strong enough to protect their minds. Some aren’t sticking around in Chicago for us to go back to either, but the ones who left did agree to go west instead of east.”

“What are you asking me? You want me to take my Pack, and you realize some of those men and women are former Alakin too…you want me to ask them to attack for you?” Alpha put his hand to the back of his neck and squeezed the skin like he was a pup being carried away by his mother.

Amber didn’t stall. “Yes.”

“I’d have a better shot of giving you a villa in France than a strong army right now, kid. Don’t you want a pony or something instead?” Rick looked to the sky and sighed.

“The only way I want a pony is if I get to eat it.” Amber stayed sitting, but her shoulders bounced a bit as she chuckled.

“So are you here to kill the Matheo or whine about your ponyless childhood?” I waited for Amber to flip me off before I continued. “I am pretty sure he wants me dead too. He’s keeping me around for something, but I haven’t figured out what yet.”

“Maybe you haven’t been taken out because you are planning on fulfilling your role as Protector. From my understanding, you have strong ties to your Matheo. It would be in your best interest if he came out on top, wouldn’t it?” Mary wasn’t the timid little witch waiting to be rescued any longer.

I felt her reach for my brain again. She was persistent. “Quit poking at my brain. If I wanted to betray you, you’d have been dead in Chicago. Let’s not forget who took out the majority of the Alakin Pack.”

“Let’s not forget who lives with the man responsible for the harvest, and hasn’t even attempted to take care of the problem.”

Mary was getting on my last nerve now. I let my eyes flash. I’d bet good money the chick could be compelled.

“I happen to like not having a target on my back any more than I already do for breaking up the harvest in the first place.” I waited until Mary stopped pressing in, but she didn’t look away. At least she wasn’t trying to get inside my brain anymore. “You realize all the hybrids he’s creating are at least in part my Family. All those hybrids are created with his blood line. And they can all be compelled. I don’t know how much of that is loyalty, and how much is his controlling magic, but I’d prefer not to find out solo.”

Jake spoke with care, but the tension in his voice revealed he wasn’t as under control of his rage as he would like to be. “Not all of his hybrid children can be compelled.”

I nodded. “I don’t think he knows why you are different either. I don’t know why you are different. But I do know that you and Amber are in danger if you show your faces to anyone outside the people here.”

No one missed Amber’s hand move from her knee to her stomach. Her very large stomach. My eyebrows hit my hairline. The hybrid had more balls than all the men in my Family put together. My ears picked up the tiny sound then. A heartbeat. A heartbeat fast as a tiny hummingbird among us. There was much more at stake here. I’d never really given much thought to the next generation before because there was a strong likelihood I would piss enough people off to assure I wouldn’t ever meet them. I felt protective over the child she was carrying, much like I had with its father. Something told me this kid would be even more important than its parents.

The Alpha of the Paulson Pack stood as still as a vampire. I watched as he began to barricade himself inside his walls. I knew the look of someone working incredibly hard to withdraw.

We weren’t a united group. That was something the miasma kept flashing against the inside of my eyeballs. A broken chain was nothing but confetti against an army. I was drawn to the heartbeat. As Protector, I was constantly curious about new facts. There was not a stitch of info in my databank about two hybrids mating. I wanted to ask a million questions, but Amber shook her head. She was right—it wasn’t the time.

I faced everyone as I spoke. I didn’t know what the fuck I was doing anymore, but I had support from everyone here who wanted to know what to do next. I had the information they needed. I could put it together, so why the hell not.

“The blood is running through the mansion. I don’t know where the captives are, but they have to be close. My only conclusion is that not all the witches are blood bag prisoners. I’m assuming the Matheo has compelled at least one or two to do spellwork like he did for the Alakin Pack.”