A Love Worth Biting For (13 page)

“Well, that brings me to my next point. I have our way out.”

His eyes met mine at that. “I’m listening.”

“We form our own Pack…er…Family…well, whatever they call a group of hybrids. Is there a word for that?”

“Not really, but how does that change my role as Protector? I am still bound by my duties. Forming a new—damn, we do need a name—forming a new group would not change my role or my need to return the miasma that my Family entrusted me with.”

“Doesn’t it? With your wolfy side out of the shifter closet, you have to acknowledge that you are damn Alpha. Do you really think your wolf will let you serve under someone else? If you truly are accepting your heritage, you have the duty as an Alpha to defect and start your own Pack. If we start a Pack-Family-combo thing, wouldn’t we get miasma, too?”

I was getting to know Jake’s quirks. Whenever I really shocked him or gave him something to process that he hadn’t considered before, he just stopped everything. His body became a statue again. I wanted to keep moving toward our compound, but I really didn’t feel like carrying my mate, and he had to let his brain wrap around that one.

“I do not know if that’s how it works. I may still be heading for a lobotomy.”

“Well, we’re also working under the assumption that I can turn and not die. If we’re both right about these transitions, we’ll be good.”

I didn’t say “If we’re wrong”. I didn’t say what we were risking, but there were more and more hybrids popping up lately. Mostly illegitimate children, come to think of it. There had been a lot of female wolves who were passing through asking for Doc’s help. They never named the fathers. Most didn’t know them.
Hmm
. Considering most she-wolves would cut off their baby-daddy’s nads rather than let him forget about his pups, to say it was unusual didn’t cut it.

What Jake and I had was a bit like interracial dating. Vamps and weres are longer-lived than humans, but they are slow to change. This cross-mating was considered an extreme taboo. For a long time, it was believed it wasn’t possible to inter-mate. Then it was proven possible. Then we were all told it wasn’t right—that our traditions would be lost. The few hybrids I knew of had all joined either vampire Families or werewolf Packs. And since my all-knowing, miasma-filled mate didn’t even know what to call us, it led me to believe that we would be the first to try this.

I was never one to face issues until I was forced to, but for the first time, I had something worth going after. I smiled at the twitch in Jake’s jaw as he chewed over what we were going through. I wanted this. Maybe it was the mating, or maybe it was the fact that something that happened so long ago was trying to take away the first man who I wanted to be with for more than a night—whatever it was, a sense of calm held me. I knew what was coming, and I was ready to deal with the consequences.

Whatever was ahead, I was where I was supposed to be. I just knew whatever happened next would be for a reason.

At least I thought I knew what was going on, until I heard “Hungry Like the Wolf” start playing from the duffle bag.

I found my phone, and Mary’s face stared back at me. I was going to miss Mary. No matter what way we looked at it, I wasn’t going to get to go back to my normal life here. I would be one of those college girls on a poster in the local police station. Daddy would have to report me missing, because if he didn’t Mary would.

“That is
not
your ring tone.”

I smiled at Jake and let my canines extend. “Fitting don’t you think?”

I let the call go to voicemail and said a silent good-bye to one of the best friends I had acquired in a long time. I like to think Mary and I would have been friends when I was a human, too.

I had the phone halfway in my pocket when Duran Duran started singing for me again. I ignored the call. Eighties music erupted ten seconds later. Ignored again. My notification tone blared, and a text popped up.

Bitch! I know you did not just ignore my call. I don’t care if you and Jake Meyers are fucking each other six ways to Sunday. Tell him to whack it and answer my call!

I really should have just tossed the phone, but I found myself sliding the tab and cutting off one of my favorite songs to let Mary screech in my ear.

“Where are you?”

“Relax, Mary, I’m fine. What did I need to tell Jake to masturbate for?” I had to smile as my mate shook his head at me. He really needed to loosen up. My choice in music and vulgar language were the least of our problems. Vampire juju would never erase who I was. He was going to have to put up with all the awesome that was me for a very long time.

“You’re leaving. And you weren’t going to tell me. And where you’re going is someplace you can’t come back from. And you are going to fucking drag me with you. I have actually been passing my classes this year. Amber, I don’t want to move to Chicago!”

My bestie was obviously high. “Put away the pot and go to bed. You are having an episode. You didn’t lick any stamps at a party did you?”

“I’m not going into how I know, but something bad is going on, and whatever it is, is going to kill you tonight.”

“Mary, sweetie, you just said I was taking you to Chicago. How am I going to do that if I’m dead?”

Jake and I were in the parking lot of my Pack’s apartments. This was not a conversation I wanted to hold inside the house with superhuman hearing.

“My dreams have never been wrong. I know it doesn’t make any sense. Hell, Amber, I never talk about this stuff, but there is some scary shit going down, and it has to do with you. I would say come stay at my house, but I know you can’t, so tell me where I need to go.”

“What do you mean dreams?”

There was a string of curses that I could tell Mary was not aiming at the phone. I could hear her feet stomping to punctuate each vulgar syllable. “Look, I know it sounds crazy, but I have weird dreams. When they have all the foggy swirls they are different. They come true.”

Jake was close enough to hear both sides of the conversation. “How do you not know a thing about other supernatural factions, but randomly end up with a witch for a friend?”

“What did he just call me?”

“Uhhh…”
Whoa
. Suddenly my brain started putting two and two together. There were a lot of things that Mary did that were a little abnormal. She could see ahead of time when people were going to get into a fight or make out. She could tell when bad things were going to happen, and either consciously or subconsciously, she always seemed to get us to leave a situation before it got hairy. We had never been to a party that was busted, and I realized she was always drawn to people who were not of the human persuasion. She had sought me out from the first day I was on campus.

“Sweetie, is there anything you want to tell me?”

Jake pulled the phone down and covered the mic. “I don’t think she knows. At least not really. She doesn’t know what you are. Is she adopted?”

She was. “Dammit. This is not what we need right now.”

“I’m on my way to your apartment, Amber. Tell your man that he will get what’s coming to him for calling me a bitch. He loses major hot points for that one. Unless he’s really masturbating. Then he has a right to call me that. Just take pictures. See you in a bit.”

“Mary, wait! You can’t come ov—” But I was talking to a dial tone.

There were always people hanging around on the ground floor of our building. We had converted apartment 1A into a lounge. Since Daddy owned the building, and we only “rented” to our Pack, it was a real communal property. I walked in without knocking. Three guys were playing darts. I found the perfect man for the job that needed done. Luckily he wasn’t working at the campus library tonight.

Chapter Seventeen

I wasn’t looking for any available wolf. I needed the best. Mary was small, but she was determined, and I needed someone just as stubborn to intercept her. The fact that the man I had in mind was also ogle-worthy as far as my bestie was concerned made him the perfect choice.

Craig Matthews was your average werewolf in many ways. He had a foul mouth, a raunchy sense of humor and liked to get into a knock-down, drag-out fight whenever possible. But he was also a bit of a genius. Most wolves were smart by default. You don’t live for centuries and not retain a little knowledge. I know some that haven’t, but they’re the exception to the rule.

Craig was a born were. He didn’t talk much about his former Pack, but he really seemed grateful to be a part of ours. He managed our stock portfolio and insurance. And he worked at the library to help us access a lot of information easily and for free. It also let him feed that crazy-big brain of his.

In any other circumstance, I would have enjoyed giving him something that would challenge him, but my friend’s safety was not one of those things that I wanted to take chances with. I knew from the goo-goo eyes I had caught between him and Mary that I could count on him more than anyone else.

“Craig! Man, I need your help.”

The guy was a house. I think he bench-pressed the bookshelves when he wasn’t stocking them. He had on an old AC/DC shirt that clung to him like a second skin, highlighting his abs and stretching over his expansive shoulders. He finished off the look with long, blond hair, dark blue jeans and cowboy boots. He told me the cowboy boots were to blend in. I tried to tell him that Indiana was corn and Texas was cattle. He always gave me that smile that let me know he wasn’t going to listen.

“You need help with a test, sister? I told you Calc is not your strong suit.” The smile in his voice died when he saw the look on my face. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s Mary.” I suddenly had his full attention.

Part of me wanted to tease him about the obvious attraction. Under the circumstances, I just laid it on the line. Mary was coming, and there was some bad shit about to go down. Mary couldn’t be here.

“I just need you to keep her out of here for a while. She’s either going to get her ass caught in the crossfire or get a horribly abrupt education about alternate beings. I don’t think I can deal with either of those right now.”

Craig was so focused on the mission and Mary that it took him awhile to listen to his nose. The two wolves he was playing darts with had started eyeballing Jake the moment he walked in the door.

“Why do you smell like that?”

“You sure know how to sweet talk a girl, Craig. Try something else when chatting up Mary. Where are Daddy and Doc?” They were all still staring.

Never one to waste time—unless it involved naked fun time with my mate—I put it out there. “Guys, this is my mate, Jake Meyers. Yes, of the Meyers vampires. He’s a hybrid. We’re kind of on the run from his Family who want to chop the miasma from his skull since he didn’t want to kill me, so can you do me a solid and let me know where Daddy and Doc are?”

“Smooth, Amber.” Jake cocked his head. He was getting more wolf mannerisms every day. I wondered if, when he got more used to his mixed heritage, he would start taking advantage of some of our fun as well. I couldn’t wait to discover him as he discovered himself. If we made it to tomorrow that is.

“They’re upstairs. Alpha’s meeting room. Guess I know why now.” Craig sounded really put out by that.
We all have problems, buddy.

“Craig—she’s on her way. I need you to keep Mary safe. Promise me that you will take care of her no matter what.”

He nodded and started for the door, but stopped in the frame and turned back to leave me with something else to think about. “I want her safe too, Amber. You’re not the only one who’s noticed how special she is. I’m on it. Just remember she needs you too. Do what you need to, but come back from it.” Then he turned to Jake.

“You’re an Alpha, Meyers. Your lack of a heartbeat isn’t the only reason these goons stood at attention. You’ll have to lead. Are you ready for that?”

Whether or not he wanted to admit it, Jake was going to lead us. I grabbed his hand. I hadn’t expected to get this part moving so soon, but when the time comes, a true Alpha just takes control. Jake had to.

Craig held no major rank in our Pack, but it still caught me a bit by surprise as he bowed his head and spoke to the floor in submission. “Call me when you know where we’re going. I’m coming, too.”

And he was gone.
Hell
. We had the first member of our Family…er…Pack. “We really need to figure out some terminology for this stuff, Jake.”

He pulled my hand up to his mouth and kissed my knuckles. “First we have to stake our claim. Where’s the meeting room?”

“2C.”

I had been surprised a lot recently. I was still shocked seeing Shelly Meyers standing in a close discussion triangle with Daddy and Doc.

“Awww…let me guess. You’re planning my bridal shower. So sweet. We’re registered at Omaha Steaks and the American Red Cross.”

Daddy looked up and rushed over. I don’t know who held the other tighter. I couldn’t stop the tear that trickled down. Sarcasm was my armor, but I had a lot hitting my shields right now. Daddy and I drew the short straw when it came to goodbye parties. This hug was probably it. I felt his grip loosen marginally when he reached around me to grip Jake’s hand.

“I’m so glad you’re both alive.”

“They won’t be for long if we don’t get this going.” Shelly’s warning was sobering. I pulled from Daddy’s strength and dipped into my own.

“Then let’s get going. Daddy, I claim Jake as my new Alpha. He is my mate and my partner, and now he will lead my Pack. Do you accept my transition?”

“I accept.”

It felt like a cord was cut as I lost a connection I had shared with my father. I felt the sting as the band snapped, but instead of holding the line on my own, it reached for Jake. He pulled at the connection, and I was whole again. Step one was done.

“Well, baby brother. You now lead a Pack and protect a Family. Are you feeling a little full right now?”

I looked at Jake, and he didn’t look good. His eyes were flashing again. He was holding it together, but he had a lot inside him right then. I felt another snap. There was another band of energy between Jake and I.