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I KNEW IT WAS GOING to be difficult to pinpoint exactly where Killion was lurking. The watch was far from precise, but at least it eventually helped us narrow down our target’s location. Freya remained distant and aloof during the next couple of nights. I tried to learn more about her background, but her answers were always curt. Maybe she would warm up to me more after we’d eradicated the leech who’d killed her nest.
Despite my mate’s coldness, I was happier than I’d ever been before. We returned to the hotel in Denver before dawn each night. I watched over her while she slept, but had to catch a few hours of sleep myself. Epsilon acted as our tiny guardian. If Alex checked on him, he kept what we were doing to himself. I’d never thought I would have a zombie mouse for a friend, but he was as loyal as any packmate.
The minute hand on the watch finally began to spin several nights after we began our search. Epsilon had brought us to Colorado, but we were a few hours away from our base. “That cocky bastard is hiding out in my home state,” I said incredulously. We’d chased him out of Denver, but he’d obviously returned. Irene Dawson must have ordered him to remain close to our base. With Franko now dead, Killion was definitely her main pawn again.
Dawn was still a few hours away, so we cautiously began closing in on him. Epsilon was able to gradually move us closer to our target’s lair by jumping to towns I’d visited in the past. We eventually ended up near a dam. The minute hand was spinning rapidly, which meant he was close. “They’re somewhere in this area,” I said in a hushed voice.
Freya instinctively crouched behind a tree and drew me down with her. We were on the side of a road near the dam. I couldn’t hear any humans in the area and there were no cars driving anywhere nearby. “I need a weapon,” Freya whispered.
“What sort of weapon do you want?”
“Preferably a sword.”
“Would a machete do?”
She thought about it, then nodded grudgingly. “I suppose it would suffice.”
“I can get you one from one of our bases, but it’s too late to face the nest now. Dawn is only an hour away.” We hadn’t found their exact location yet, so we would have to pick this up tomorrow night.
At Freya’s nod, Epsilon returned us to Denver. I’d bought her a few changes of clothes, so she didn’t have to wear the same t-shirt and jeans all the time. I’d bought her some sexy underwear as well. She’d given me a withering look, but I noticed she hadn’t thrown any of the bras or undies out.
“Why are you smirking?” my mate asked with a scowl when we were safely locked in our room.
“I was just thinking about how much I enjoy hunting with you,” I said innocently.
She gave me a skeptical look, then headed to the bathroom to take a shower. Yas was the only other vampire I’d met who cared about her appearance. That had only happened after Alex had bonded her bestie to herself. Some bloodsuckers had to make themselves presentable so they could blend in, like Killion and his people. Ms. Maxwell’s hint that there was something strange about my mate hadn’t left my mind. I knew Freya was hiding something from me, but I wasn’t sure what it was.
Freya’s hair was dripping wet when she emerged from the bathroom. She never bothered to dry it and once again lay down on the bed fully clothed. At least she trusted me enough not to compel me to watch over her anymore. When the sun came up, I toweled her hair dry and combed it so it fanned out around her. I knew she was aware that I brushed her hair while she was sleeping. I didn’t know why she hadn’t told me to stop doing it.
“What is it about you that’s so different from other vampires?” I murmured while studying her gorgeous face. Hazel had seen something shimmering around her, even if it hadn’t quite been an aura. Freya didn’t have a pulse and her skin was cold. My mate was definitely undead, yet my wolf still accepted her as our mate. “Do you have any clues, Epsilon?” I asked the mouse who was perched on my knee. His head swiveled to look at me and his whiskers didn’t twitch. “I didn’t think so,” I said with a rueful grin. “Come on, little guy, we need to make a trip to one of our bases to get some weapons.”
I tucked the zombie into my pocket and left the room. I left the do not disturb sign on the door and headed downstairs.
“Take me to our base in Texas,” I requested once we were standing on a patch of dirt. Liam would wonder what the hell I was up to if he was keeping tabs on my location. We’d kept in touch enough for me to know Alex was still shaken by her ordeal with Franko and the witch. I hoped it would ease her mind a bit once Killion was no longer a threat to her.
Although summer was almost over, heat instantly sucked the moisture out of my skin when Epsilon took us to our base in Texas. “Yas would burst into fire even with her suit on in this heat,” I muttered as I scanned my hand to enter the kitchen. I checked the fridge to see it was empty, just as I’d expected. I drank a couple of glasses of water from the faucet, waiting for my big brother to call. “Right on cue,” I said with a smirk when my phone rang.
“What the hell are you up to?” Liam asked when I answered his call.
“I told you, Epsilon and I are on an adventure,” I replied. I was glad I was too far away for him to pick up on the lie.
“When is your adventure going to end and you two idiots will be coming home?”
“Now you’ve done it,” I said when my zombie’s whiskers twitched. “Epsilon heard you call him an idiot.”
“Sorry, Epsilon,” my twin said wryly. “I don’t want a zombie for an enemy.”
I heard Alex, Yas and Crowmon snicker in the background. “Has anything happened there that I need to know about?” I asked, deflecting him from his questions.
“Nope. It’s been quiet here. If any missions have cropped up, Uncle Mark has ordered someone else to take care of them.”
“I’ll be home in a few more days,” I said, keeping the timeline vague. “I’ll tell you guys all about our epic tale when we get home.”
“You’re up to something,” Liam said in a slightly accusing tone. “Just don’t do anything stupid and make sure you come home in one piece.”
“Aye, aye, captain!” I replied. More snickers came from the background, then we ended our call. “He’s going to kill me when he finds out what I’ve been doing,” I said to Epsilon, then headed for the door to the main hallway. Liam had been notified by our computer as soon as I’d entered the base. So had Uncle Mark, probably. I knew he kept tabs on us, but he trusted us to look after ourselves most of the time.
I headed to the armory and grabbed a couple of machetes and an assault rifle. I shoved a few magazines filled with silver bullets into a duffle bag along with the weapons. Vampires couldn’t kill any living creature, but they could still wound me. They could also use humans to do their dirty work. With luck, Freya and I would find their lair and wipe them out before they even knew they were in danger.
Debating for a couple of seconds, I shoved some grenades into the bag, then left the base. Liam would know I’d entered the armory, but he wouldn’t know what I’d taken from it.
“Let’s head back to the hotel in Denver,” I said to Epsilon and he obeyed my request. I took the stairs up to our floor rather than using the elevator. People might get suspicious seeing me carrying a duffle bag that clanked with each step I took. It was best to avoid them altogether.
Freya hadn’t moved when I opened the door and no one had been in the room. I would have smelled their scent immediately if they had. “Watch over her for me,” I said to the zombie. I placed Epsilon on the bed next to her and ordered room service.
Taking a long shower after my meal, I was weary enough to sleep by the time I dried myself off. Once again, Epsilon crouched on my chest when I lay down. I took hold of my mate’s cold hand and drifted off to sleep.
