Destiny Unchained (3 page)

“That’s what I said.” He grabbed a pair of boots from
his closet and slipped them on. It was so silent behind him he
thought Sorin had a stroke.

“Okay. Here’s what we say. You interrogated her
ruthlessly and found out she’d been informing other vampires about
the wolves’ blood so you killed her on the spot. Everyone would
agree it was justified. I won’t say otherwi –”

“It’s no secret, Sorin,” Cristian said. “I’m not
ashamed. She was a good fighter.” Tough as nails on the outside yet
she’d let him live when she could have killed him. In fact, she’d
promised to kill him. But words meant nothing without action to
back them up. And that vampire was a walking contradiction.

“Don’t be a fucking moron,” Sorin said bluntly.

He laughed. Cristian could always count on him for
the God-honest truth.

“Of course we can’t let the pack get word you’d been
bested by a vampire. It would ruin your credibility.”

“Why? I’m not invincible.”

“They need to think you are, man!” He gave him an
incredulous look. “Do you want every dominant male in this place
challenging you for rank?”

He opened his mouth to answer but Sorin cut him off
with a wave of his hand. “Let me handle the PR.”

Cristian nodded. He trusted his beta with his life.
And in these scenarios, he was often right.

Sorin looked him over, his lips curving into a smile.
“I can’t believe you got your ass kicked by a vampire. And a woman,
no less.”

“Being a woman had nothing to do with it. And I
didn’t get my ass kicked. I just underestimated her.” It wouldn’t
happen again.

Sorin held a hand over his mouth. His shoulders
shook.

Cristian sighed. “Go on. Might as well get it
out.”

When he removed his hand, he burst out with a deep
belly laugh. “Sorry,” he said.

He didn’t sound sorry. Cristian grumbled.

“So what did she do to you? Did she give you puppy
dog eyes and say ‘you wouldn’t hit a girl, would you?’” He roared
with laughter.

“Very funny.”

“No, I know…she distracted you by flashing her
breasts, right?”

“Enough.”

“Or maybe –”

“I said enough.” Cristian jabbed at his arm and Sorin
dodged it, shifting on the balls of his feet.

“You wanna fight?” he asked, his eyes lighting up.
“You may be alpha but I can take you.”

He ducked Sorin’s half-hearted swing. “That’s what
you said when we were kids. And how did that turn out?” They
wrestled playfully for a few minutes before Cristian trapped him in
a headlock. “Yield,” he commanded.

“You know, seeing you from this perspective, I just
noticed how fat you’ve gotten.”

Cristian tightened his arm around his throat until he
coughed and rasped, “All right, man. I yield.”

Cristian clapped him on the back when Sorin stood,
red-faced but laughing. “Come on,” he gestured to the door. “I want
to visit the other victims of the little hellion.”

Sorin tossed him a scornful look. “You almost sound
affectionate about her.”

He froze. Did he? He shook his head. “I have to call
her something.”

“I can think of a few things.”

“Eh. Her name is trivial.”
Natalia.
“I won’t hurl insults at
insignificant vampires.”

“I know.” He sighed. “You’re far too honorable to be
alpha.”

Cristian laughed. “You want the job?”

“Hell, no! I see what you have to put up with. You’ve
got to be crazy to want to be alpha.”

“Then how ‘bout you let me do my job?”

They walked most of the way to the infirmary in
silence. Just a few yards from the door, Cristian stopped Sorin
with a hand on his arm. “The answer is yes,” he said softly. “The
love was worth the loss.”

Baby blue eyes, almost too big for her head, stared
up at Natalia from the missing child poster. Light blonde hair was
swept up in messy pigtails. Pink lips formed a wide smile with two
missing teeth. Abigail Freeman had been missing for five days in
the small town of Rider’s Landing.

Five days. Natalia’s icy heart clenched. Survival
wasn’t likely for the little girl. She’d tracked the Silver Slayer
– so named for the color of his coat in wolf form – from Louisiana
to the rugged plains of Wyoming. The bastard had been taking
children from their families and –

She almost retched thinking about what he did to
them. With a deep breath she pushed back her emotions – a weakness,
as all emotions were – folded the flyer into a small square and
tucked it into her coat pocket. She scanned Main Street, almost
empty at nearly one in the morning.

Her phone vibrated.
Phone service, out here?
She sighed when
she saw the caller ID.

“Hello, Moira,” she said into the receiver.

“Where are you? It’s been over a month since we’ve
had a report,” her royal bitchiness snapped.

“In Wyoming. Service isn’t good out here.” She only
wished it were true that night.

“Well? Have you caught the Slayer?”

“You’d be the first to know.”

“This is the longest you’ve ever taken.”

Natalia let a low growl echo in the receiver. “Do you
want to trade places, witch? I’ll sit there in your nice little
cottage, all cozied up by the fire, and you can come out here and
freeze your ass hunting this sick motherfucker. I hope you like
watching bodies pile up cause that’s what you’ll be doing.”

It was silent on the other end. She looked at her
phone. She still had three bars. Pity.

“No, Natalia, I don’t want to trade places,” Moira
answered in a calmer tone. “The sorcerers are riding me hard. Our
alliance is shaky at best. It’s a difficult time for every –”

“I know what it is.” The supernatural world had been
sitting on the edge of a knife for the last few decades. The
Underworld fought with the sorcerers. The Unseelie fae fought with
the Seelie fae. Witches and werewolves made their alliances based
on money and favors. The conflicts were fueled by centuries of hate
and centered around power. It would all come to a head soon. And it
was going to get bloody.

Natalia worked for the witches, yes, who worked for
the sorcerers, but she was nobody’s errand girl. She thought she’d
made that clear already. “Tell the sorcerers they can get their
fucking asses out of Wales if they think they could do a better
job. Otherwise, leave me alone and let me do what I do best.”

“Yes, of course.” She sighed. “Call me when it’s
done.”

“I always do.”

Hesitantly, she added, “Good luck, Natalia.”

Natalia hit “end” and shoved the phone back in her
pocket. Moira Amcott confused the hell out of her. Bitchy and
demanding one moment, trusting and kind the next – like she was in
a constant fight with her witchy DNA. The Amcott’s tempers rivaled
the werewolves they assigned her to hunt. Marrying a reasonable
warlock and producing three magic-laden children softened Moira at
least. Not like her grandmother, who Natalia remembered all too
well. She had children and turned into Medusa.

“Didya’ hear?” A voice jolted her from her thoughts.
“Another grizzly attack up north,” an older man said from across
the street.

“Oh, yeah,” another voice said from behind her. She
spun around. A middle aged fellow dressed like an iconic cowboy
stared past her to the man across the street. “That’s two this
week. It’s a shame but they’ll have to put the beast down.”

“Where?” she asked. “Where was the attack?”

The wannabe Clint Eastwood looked her over, his gaze
lingering on her breasts. She rolled her eyes. If she weren’t so
eager about the lead, she would’ve had a smart-ass remark for the
dirty, old man.

“Stone Falls,” he answered. His lips curved into a
smile that may once have been handsomely seductive. “Need a
ride?”

She arched a brow then produced the keys to the
Kawasaki Ninja parked next to the sidewalk. With a satisfied smile
she hopped on her bike and took off, heading north, straight for
Stone Falls, Wyoming.

“Who told you about the wolves?” Cristian asked the
trembling vampire, catching his chin in his hand. He was young –
couldn’t have been older than twenty one in human years. A college
boy straight from suburbia. By the shaky breaths and smell of
urine, he must’ve been a young vamp as well.

Blood dripped down his arms where Sorin had pinned
him to a tree with silver daggers through his palms. Three other
members of his pack prowled the woods ten miles from camp,
searching for signs of other vampires.

“M-my friend, Alistair,” the young vamp answered. “He
s-said the wolves’ blood had magic. Made us stronger.”

“Did he also tell you it’s addictive? Or that it
makes you high as a kite?”

The vampire shook his head.

“Your friend is either very stupid or a very bad
friend. He didn’t tell you the most important part. The wolves are
protected. By us.” His voice was almost soothing. Then again, he
didn’t need to raise his voice. When he pulled his alpha stare, men
with balls way bigger than this kid, submitted. Besides, he was
already going to kill the boy. What good would lecturing or yelling
do?

“Where is your friend Alistair?”

“If I tell you, will you let me go?”

Cristian bared his teeth. “Answer the question and
death will be quick.”

Sweat beaded on the vampire’s brow. His black eyes
darted around. He could see the hope in them diminishing by the
second. He was crashing from the high of his latest kill.

Sorin had found the dying wolf only an hour ago. He’d
mercifully killed then buried it, and mourned the loss of another
of the endangered species. Of anyone in the pack, Sorin took the
deaths the hardest, which was why the vampire currently had silver
daggers in his hands. And for Sorin, that was downright nice. He
must’ve had a small amount of pity for the young vamp.

Putting more power into his words, Cristian asked
again, “Where is your friend?”

“Montana,” he answered, panting for breath. He reeked
of fear. “There’s a coven there, just outside Glacier. They feed on
the wolves but there aren’t as many.”

Cristian had wondered as much. Between illegal
hunting and the increasing flow of vampires, the wolf population
through the entire western half of the country suffered. He’d have
to place a team up north until they stabilized again. “Thanks for
the information. I’ll be paying your friend a visit.”

The vampire’s eyes widened as Cristian stood. “Are
you going to let me go? I promise I won’t do it again. I’ll leave
the state! I’ll go as far away…”

The pleas and promises continued when he walked away
and grasped the silver sword Sorin handed him. He hated this part
of the job, but it was a necessary evil. And as alpha, it was his
responsibility to mete out justice.

The vampire gulped. Cristian drew the sword back past
his shoulder then sliced it forward. Steel blurred and bit into the
vampire's neck. The head fell to the ground. With a sigh, he turned
back to his beta. “Take care of the body then assemble a team to go
north –”

A familiar scent travelled on the breeze cutting off
all train of thought. It was subtle, but there was no mistaking it.
Red wine and on a deeper level, the same scent all vampires carried
– blood. A smile touched his lips. Distractedly, he told Sorin, “A
team. North. You know what to do.”

Sorin gave him a puzzled glare then inhaled a deep
breath. “What is it?”

“Seems I have a date with a vampire.”

His beta scanned the trees, eyes narrowed with the
focus of a hunter. “She’s close?” He called out to the two men
standing guard near the vampire. “Dispose of that. Cristian and I
are –”

“Just me.”

Sorin gave him a warning look. “Cris, that’s a bad
idea. She got away from you once.”

“She won’t again.” He couldn’t wipe the smile away if
he wanted to. The prospect of besting the slippery little thing was
far too tempting to resist. What would he do when he caught her? He
wanted to question her – find out who she was, what she was doing
in his territory. Even more than that, he wanted to play with her,
spar physically and verbally. He’d never felt so alive as when
they’d had their little scuffle only days ago.

Damn
it, Cristian. What are you thinking?
This wasn’t a child’s
game he played with a friend. This was a dangerous vampire. In his
territory. Was she feeding on his wolves? He gave his head a shake.
She hadn’t looked like the type. Well, he’d find out. Then he’d get
his revenge for the other night before sending her on her way. And
God help her if she drank from his wolves. “I’m going alone.”

“I think that’s a stupid –”

“I’m going alone,” he said firmly. He hated pulling
rank with Sorin. But he knew, ultimately, he’d respect his
orders.

Sorin gave him another look that said clearly what he
thought of Cristian’s plan then nodded and stepped aside.

Without another word, Cristian slipped into the
trees, following the scent eagerly. He didn’t shift. Just in case –
though it was unlikely – she managed to evade him again, the last
thing he wanted was to wake up naked after several hours of lying
in the cold of a northern Wyoming night.

He traveled five miles, stripping any metal and
hiding it in the trees as he went. He wasn’t sure how far away her
power could reach but he wasn’t taking any chances. Phone, knives,
belt – all of it gone.

An hour later, he approached her weaponless and had
to bite back a smile. So he wasn’t the only enemy she’d made around
here?

Her head snapped up when he emerged from the trees
and into the small clearing. “Are you stalking me?”

Hanging by her wrists from a tree and still cocky?
“I think I like you this way.”

The rope had been tied tight around both wrists and
slung over a thick, overhanging tree branch on the other side of
the clearing. Damn she looked good, bound and helpless. With a
smirk that would make her hackles rise, he circled her outstretched
form. It was hard to look arrogantly disinterested with a raging
hard-on, but he sure tried. She was tall for a woman, but still
several inches shorter than a male werewolf. Contoured muscle was
visible through her tight leather pants. This was no fragile
flower. No, she was a warrior.