The Flash of a Firefly (14 page)

I would have given just about anything to know what she was thinking. I hadn’t been that uneasy about someone’s reaction to me before. Before I left Phoenix, it hadn’t mattered at all. They were just food. After I got to New York, I started to see things differently, but if they didn’t want to accept the existence of vampires, then it was no skin off my back. This time it was personal. She knew me. I wanted her to trust me.

“Okay,” she finally said. Her brown eyes came up to meet mine.

“Okay,” I repeated.

There was another awkward silence. “Okay” could have meant so many things. Okay, we weren’t going to hurt her. Okay, she wasn’t freaked out. Okay, it was all irrelevant and she wanted to go home. She was going to make the first move this time. I didn’t want to scare her by misreading anything.

“I … um … your ring. It’s nice,” she stammered.

I instantly started twisting it around my finger again. “It was a gift from when I was still human.”

She took two careful steps toward me. She reached out and took my left hand. She glanced up at me to make sure it was all right to touch me before taking a closer look. With half a smile, she let go. “It’s really beautiful.”

My stomach flipped over, and I fought not to smile. She wasn’t running away. It was all I could ask for right now. Maybe later she would learn to be comfortable with it.

Without thinking, I reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear. She flinched, and I pulled away. “Sorry,” I mumbled. “Come on. I’ll introduce you to everyone.”

I would have waited before throwing her into that snake pit, especially with Flo there, but there wasn’t time. We were in the middle of a crisis. If Lyn was going to be here, then she was going to have to meet them sooner or later. It was better to formally meet instead of accidentally running into each other.

She followed me closely all the way to the living room. Her heart was pounding against her chest so hard I thought it was going to explode. Everyone was sitting in the living room, but no one was talking. Lyn’s fingers wove between mine, and she pressed herself against my arm.

The corner of my mouth curled upward, and I gave her hand what I hoped was a reassuring squeeze. Stu was showing Sullivan something in a magazine, while Flo sat on the floor in front of them painting her toenails. Reece was sitting across from Alex at the dining room table with a cup of coffee. They were both leaning back, faces red, and scowling.

“What happened?” I asked.

Alex turned to face us, and Lyn jumped. “I’ve seen you during the day,” she said in a shaky voice. “You can’t be a—”

He shook his head slowly and walked over to us. He pulled up his top lip to show her he didn’t have fangs and leaned in to hug her. She stiffened but put her free arm around him. When he pulled away, he was grinning at her. “Don’t worry about the bloodsuckers,” he said, laughing. “These guys are harmless.”

“Excuse you,” Flo growled.

Alex rolled his eyes. “I’m a werewolf.”

“A werewolf,” she repeated quietly. “Of course you are.”

“Reece is too,” Alex continued, pointing. “We’re the only two left in the pack at the moment, since someone decided to blow up the bus. Don’t worry,” he added when her eyes widened. “There wasn’t anyone on it. They’re just missing now.”

“Alex, shut up and sit back down,” Reece said flatly.

Alex frowned, but with Sid gone, Reece was the alpha. He couldn’t ignore him. When Alex was back at the table, Lyn clung to me even tighter than before. I should have told her about Alex before. It had to be a shock. I cleared my throat and diverted her attention. “That’s Flo, Stu, and Sullivan.”

Sullivan stood up. His hair was half pulled back with a rubber band, and his shirtsleeves were rolled up to his elbows. His face was strained. I could have sworn he wanted to cry, but we weren’t able to. “It’s a pleasure,” he said to her.

Flo popped up in front of us. She looked at me and raised one eyebrow before turning to Lyn. Her jaw clenched as she made herself smile. It was painful to look at. “Kaden needs to talk to the fur balls for a minute. I’ll give you a manicure.”

Before I could stop her, she was pulling Lyn away from me. The places she had been touching me were still warm. I took a step after them, but Flo shot me a nasty look over her shoulder. Lyn looked petrified, but she wasn’t going to get hurt. It had to be important for me to talk to Reece if she was willing to play nice with a human.

I turned my head to see Reece sipping his coffee. He simply shrugged at me, but Alex was practically bouncing out of his chair. There was something going on that Reece didn’t want me to know.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“There was no one on the bus,” Reece said flatly. “So we have no idea where everyone is.”

Alex continued to bounce around in his chair. There was something else that he wasn’t telling me. “Alex?” I asked. “What else happened?”

“Reece called Oliver,” he blurted faster that it took to blink. “He sent a bunch of wolves up to watch our backs.”

My eyes snapped back to Reece. Oliver had raised him since he was thirteen years old and had helped him through his first transformation. They were as close as any father and son could be. Of course he would send help, but it caused a huge problem for me.

Christopher was the vampire in charge of Philadelphia, and he wasn’t going to like the thought of my commandeering half of his wolf pack. We’d be attacked, and rightfully so, if he ever found out. And he would find out. We were under some sort of surveillance by Francesca, and she would use the opportunity in her master plan.

“You did what?” I growled. “How hard did you hit your head last night?”

Reece set his coffee mug down on the mahogany table. “Don’t worry.”

“Don’t worry?” I shouted. “It’s me that they want alive. They don’t give two shits if the rest of you get killed.”

“I’d rather be dealing with Christopher than Francesca,” he said.

“I’d rather not deal with either.” Alex groaned and put his head down on the table. “I told him not to do it.”

I stood at the bottom of the stairs and held my breath.
Calm down,
I told myself,
just calm down.
Ten, nine, eight … Forget it.
“We’re going to be dealing with both of them at the same time,” I screamed.

“Kaden,” Stu called from behind me.

I spun around, ready to snap at him, when I saw Lyn’s face. An instant wave of guilt flooded over me. If she hadn’t been completely terrified before, she was now. I ran my fingers through my hair and looked at the pattern in the tile floor.
Way to go,
I thought. But what had I expected? Things were going to get rough around here.

Before I could form any type of apology, a growl vibrated through the house. Reece and Alex were both on their feet instantly; chairs clattered to the floor.

“They’re here already?” I hissed.

“They got here a few hours ago,” Sullivan said, suddenly standing next to me. “They’ve been in the woods.”

I was screwed. Francesca was attacking from the front, and now Christopher was going to be attacking from the back. Add having a wolf pack totaling two and a defenseless human to the equation, and I was definitely a sinking ship.

Reece and Alex flew out the French doors into the backyard. They were bounding toward the tree line, shouting. Their arms were waving frantically in the air. A second later I saw why.

Sid was pushing his way through a dozen werewolves. He was in human form, half-naked and filthy. There were others with him. Some were limping; others were leaning on another pack member for support. The Philadelphia werewolves were dancing around them, eager to sink their giant teeth into them.

Alex fell to his knees halfway across the yard. Bones began to jut through his skin and mutate. The sickening sound of popping joints mixed in with the angry growls. He twitched from the pain for just a brief second before he was covered in fur and leaping toward his alpha.

Reece was yelling in a language I couldn’t understand when Alex crouched beside him, ready to attack. Sid walked stiffly up to Alex, standing only up to his shoulder. He reached out and patted his leg.

Ever so slowly, the wolves began to take human shape again. Reece walked up to one of them and shook his hand.
Great,
I thought. If they had just waited a few more hours, then I wouldn’t have had to worry about problems with that little upstart vampire in Pennsylvania.

Christopher was still new in charge. He had to make a name for himself. If he did nothing, then he would look weak. Any kind of peace talks or any deals were out of the question, and Oliver was a dead man walking.

I walked outside to meet Sid. His jeans were caked with dirt, and his curls were matted to his face. He pointed to the garage, so I lifted the sectional door for him. It was a mostly empty four-stall with a few boxes of who-knew-what lining the back wall. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust from lack of use, but it was big enough to fit everyone inside.

“Where have you been?” I asked.

“I knew what they were up to,” he wheezed. He leaned up against the siding and motioned his pack in before him. They were just as filthy and exhausted. “We sent the bus back without us. We were attacked by Francesca’s wolves after they realized it, and then we walked back here. This is all that’s left of us now.”

He stood outside on the gravel with me while sixteen wolves filed into the garage. Just sixteen. That was less than one third the original size of the pack. I looked at Sid and saw the raw look on his face. A pack was like a family, and he had lost so many.

“We’ll leave in the morning,” he said. “I didn’t think you’d mind having us stay here.”

I shook my head. “I’ll send out some blankets and whatever food we’ve got. I don’t think there’s much.”

“Sid.” Reece came running over.

That was my cue to leave. They needed to talk things over. I had the CliffsNotes version. Besides, I had something else to deal with when I got back inside. Hopefully, things with Lyn were salvageable, but it would have to wait. Stu was ushering her into the downstairs bedroom, and he patted her lightly on the head before he shut her inside.

“We’ve got company,” Flo told me as I crossed back into the dining room.

Francesca was here. Things were about to get interesting.

 
Chapter 13

The vampires on the other side of the front door weren’t going to like my answer tonight. I wasn’t planning to let them survive long enough to dwell on it too much though. I stormed for the door, determined to put an end to everything.

Francesca was waiting with Davis and the Marquis on the lawn. They stood as still as statues. Their silhouettes were outlined in the moonlight, showing their perfect figures.

I took a deep breath and dove off the porch. Stu and Sullivan both tackled me from behind. I landed face-first on the grass with a thud. It knocked the wind out of me, and I coughed.

The Marquis chuckled. “Smart move.”

“We’ve got more to lose right now,” Sullivan reminded me. “The werewolves are weak, and your friend is inside.”

I knew that, but I hadn’t the slightest intention of letting them beat me. I wasn’t afraid anymore. I was stronger than them. I knew I was. And I outnumbered them now.

“Let me up,” I growled.

“We’re here to ask for the last time.” Francesca sighed while they kept me pinned to the ground. “Are you coming back to Spain or not? Yes or no? I’m a little tired of asking.”

“No, I’m not going with you,” I grunted. “I don’t know why it’s not sinking in. You can keep killing people off, but you’ll eventually run out of them, and I would rather live here alone than go anywhere with you.”

“Is that so?” Francesca yelled. “I believe you borrowed yourself some daylight muscle. When I phoned the appropriate vampire, he didn’t know a thing about it. Funny, isn’t it?”

I knew it. There was no way to sneak the Philadelphia pack out of New York. It was amazing that I had lived for centuries without any problems, but the second my past reared its ugly head, conflict lined up, quite literally, at my door.

“Don’t worry,” Francesca said from her spot on the lawn. “He promised not to take any actions against you yet. I suppose if you’re reinstated to power, he wouldn’t want to be on your bad side.”

I pushed Sullivan and Stu off me. I stood up and dusted myself off. I wanted to lunge at her again, but I knew I would end up back on the ground. “And Oliver?” I asked.

Francesca shrugged. “I don’t really care.”

I wasn’t going to stand there and argue with her. If I wasn’t going to kill her, then I was done with the conversation. If it wasn’t too late when the whole ordeal was over, then I’d make some sort of deal to save Oliver’s life. He was smart. He would go into hiding as long as he could.

“Is there anything else?” I asked.

The Marquis appeared in front of me, his face an inch from mine. His perfect, smooth skin gleamed in the moonlight, and his eyes danced. “Not exactly.”