Chapter Twenty-Seven
Rob had come back from the Island with a few bruises. Apparently, Flynn was causing all kinds of trouble and was now in a holding cell in downtown Crescent City, being kept under observation. He was fighting his change tooth and claw, refusing to follow Rob’s advice. Flynn was determined to remain human and was in total denial. I felt bad for the poor guy. He’d never been human—he just didn’t know it.
Farrell said goodnight after dinner, leaving through the patio doors before poofing away to Faerie. I wondered if the fae in Faerie kept poofing around every time they wanted to go somewhere, even if it was a short distance. “Oh gosh, I left my magical sword in the closet. I’m always doing that.” Poof.
Sasha had sent William out with Heinrich to feed, since he’d already gone and come back. He was busy on the computer when I walked into the living room. “Dress in sweats that you don’t care too much about. It’s muddy and you’ll be on the ground a lot.”
“Are we using staffs?”
“You’re starting at the beginning: general physical endurance training.”
“Oh, come on,” I whined. His head popped up, a stern glare directed my way. I looked down at my hands. “Sorry. I just thought I was going to get to learn to use weapons.”
“You will. After you build up some strength.”
“I’m much stronger then I look.”
“I certainly hope so.” He looked me up and down skeptically.
“Eff you, Sasha.” That was as polite as I was gonna get around this guy.
He grinned. “Hold onto that anger. It’ll get you through when you think you can’t take one more step.”
“That won’t be a problem around you.” I stormed upstairs and changed into sweats, then went into the den and put on the TV. I watched the news for a few minutes. Apparently a huge storm was moving down the coast from Canada, with heavy rain and wind. It was supposed to reach our area tomorrow morning, but Garrett and his crew would get hit with it first. I hoped they’d find some decent shelter out there.
I opened my laptop and checked out the weather site, then picked up the phone and called Garrett. It went to voicemail so I left him a message telling him exactly what the outlook was for southern Oregon. Hoping I’d helped in some way, I closed the computer and took it back to my room, sitting with it at my desk. I’d left my door open but I heard it close and glanced up.
William was standing inside my room with his back to the door, grinning at me. He’d just returned from feeding and was totally wired. He looked pretty amazing tonight, with his red hair all spiky and his shirt unbuttoned and his eyes dotted with silver. All my alarm bells went off at once. He wasn’t acting like himself. Something was up.
“Hi William. Open the door, okay?”
“Guess what I had tonight?” His voice was lower than usual and sounded kind of sexy.
“Too much alcohol?” He laughed and took a step toward me. “Just open the door, please, William.” I’d gotten up and had backed against the wall.
“I tasted a shifter. A nice little leopard volunteered, and gods, her blood was something…something amazing. Is your blood that good too?”
He took a few more swaying steps toward me and I scooted as far away from him as I could, which wasn’t far. He breathed in my scent as he walked and I could see his fangs poking out. Shit.
I forced myself to remember this was William. He wouldn’t hurt me.
His eyes had turned solid silver as he reached out for my hand and lifted it to his mouth. He sniffed and then licked it, all the time staring at me and trying to glamour me. Crap! I sent ‘Emergency’ down to Sasha and he was opening my door two seconds later, just as William was pulling me closer to him.
“William!” Sasha grabbed him away by the neck and threw him into the hallway. William hit the wall, cracking the sheetrock. He moved away from the wall and hissed, but Sasha shoved him roughly into the den then down onto the couch. Sash was strong enough to rip William’s head off, so William didn’t try to get up, although if looks could kill, Sasha would have been writhing in agony.
“Rick, get up here.” Sasha’s eyes were silver and his fangs were out as he turned toward Heinrich. “You let him drink from a shifter?”
“He’s almost thirty years old. As long as she volunteers, he can drink from whoever he wants.”
“No, he can’t. What the fuck were you thinking?” Sasha was furious, especially since Heinrich wasn’t taking this seriously.
“She was a nice girl. No drugs in her system.”
“That’s not the point. He’s just getting used to taking a full meal from a human. He’s had no experience with shifter blood. Look at her!” He pointed toward me. I was standing in the doorway, my eyes wide and my body shivering. “He would have ripped into her with his fangs and he wouldn’t have stopped there.”
Heinrich saw my frightened state and his expression changed to concern. “I am very sorry, Bridgett. I should have known the richer blood would have that effect on him. I hope you’re unharmed?” I nodded. He turned back to Sasha. “I’m sorry, Sash. I screwed up.”
“No shit! Go patrol around for awhile so I can straighten this out.” Heinrich nodded and left. Sash glanced my way and his expression softened. “Tell me exactly what happened.” Even though Will had frightened me badly, I didn’t want Sasha to hurt him, so I hesitated. “Tell me the truth.”
This was serious. If Will had come across another shifter, he might have forced her. I remembered the way he’d been trying to glamour me. As much as I hated to admit it, he may have forced me too. I told Sash everything exactly as it happened.
“Did you offer him your blood?” Sash asked.
“No, but he didn’t bite me.”
“Because you were smart enough to call me.” He turned to look at William, who’d calmed down completely and was sitting with his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. “I would have had to kill him if he’d taken your blood without permission.”
The catch in Sasha’s voice struck at my heart. “You wouldn’t have done that.”
“I would have called Garrett first, but he would have agreed.” He lifted his head to look at me. “I’m going to have to send you back to Maya’s.”
“Don’t do that. I’ll leave.” William was staring at the floor. He turned to look at me and his eyes were drowning in guilt. I felt awful for him.
Sasha shook his head. “You definitely can’t leave. You’ll be out there on your own hunting and killing, becoming exactly what Eleanor and Lily were. Garrett and Heinrich and I would have to hunt you down and kill you.”
“Maybe that’s what you should do. Just execute me. I almost hurt her.”
“No.” I started to walk toward him but Sasha stopped me by grabbing my arm. “It wasn’t his fault. It was the blood.” I jerked my arm away from him.
“He knew it was a stupid move to drink from that girl.” Sasha shook his head.
“He’s right, Bridgett,” Will said.
Sasha walked over to the couch and stood in front of Will. “So now you’ve had shifter blood, how are you going to keep your fangs off of Bridgett? Because if you don’t, you’re dust.”
“Don’t you and Heinrich drink shifter blood?” I asked.
“Yes, we’ve had it many times and it doesn’t have the same effect on us.”
“What if I just give it to him?” They both stared at me like I was an idiot. “Not everyday, and just a little tiny bit under supervision. How long would it take for him to be cool with it? So he doesn’t freak when he has it?”
“Why would you do that for me, Bridgett? I almost drank your blood without your permission. I might have… I might have raped you. Or killed you.”
His words scared the crap out of me, but if this could work, then we might still be able to hang out together. “I don’t want to be afraid of you, and I don’t want you executed. If I can help you, then I will.” I smiled at him, but he still looked worried.
Sash seemed to be mulling over the idea. “It would work, but Heinrich or I would have to be there to supervise. It would probably take around two weeks if he fed every other day and it will knock you out, so he’d have to feed from you right before you wanted to go to sleep.”
Suddenly Sasha turned toward the window. “Shit. We have a problem. Rick says we have weres on the property. Will, are you cool enough to protect her?” William nodded. “I’ll send Sinc up here.” He was a blur running down the stairs, so I raced to the window to look outside. Heinrich and Sasha were standing in front of the house and there were four weres spread out in front of them.
Wait a minute, I knew these guys. They were from my old pack. I remembered Liam saying he hadn’t killed all of them. I sped down the stairs before William had a chance to grab me. I am a cheetah and that makes me pretty damn fast.
When I came to a stop next to Sasha, he had the freakin’ nerve to hiss at me. “Go back inside. NOW!”
“This is my old pack.” I gave Sash a ‘calm down’ kind of look and spoke to Fred, the wolf in the front of the bunch. “Hey Fred, what’s up?”
“How are you Bridgett? We were very sorry to hear of the death of our alpha, your father. Please accept our condolences.”
“Thank you. Did you need something?”
“We four are the only males left of the pack.” I looked around at the others and waved. They all waved back, some saying ‘Hey’ or ‘Hi Bridge’. These were some of the more peaceful pack members, all family guys with mostly steady jobs in construction.
Fred continued. “We’d like to start over, maybe rent ‘The Wild’ from you, since it’s in your name now. That would at least give us some income to help support the families of the pack members who’ve passed.”
“I think that’s a great idea. You should start another pack, and pick your own name, don’t use my dad’s. Oh, and I’m sure you can form an alliance with my sister and her mate Garrett. They’re not here right now, but they’ll be back home in a couple of days.” I heard Sasha hiss quietly again, but I ignored it. The guy needed a chill pill. “These two vamps are from his nest and he has a great team of shifters who work with him too.”
Fred glanced at the others who just shrugged. “Garrett Cuvier works with the fae.”
“Yeah, but Liam checked you out and cleared you of blame, right? You’re cool as far as the fae are concerned.” Complete silence was my only answer so I just kept on talking. “Have you declared yourself pack leader now, Fred?” He nodded.
Sasha was fuming as he grabbed my arm and stepped in front of me. He spoke softly to Fred. “Bridgett has no authority to offer you an alliance.” He turned and glared at me then back at Fred. “If you’re interested in making an appointment to discuss one, we can speak with Garrett later. Right now we’re busy with a rather important situation.”
“Oh sure, we have to talk it over anyway. Thanks for speaking to us. Take care, Bridgett. We’ll call you about the club.”
“Sure, bye guys.” I waved and watched them leave. When I turned toward Sasha he was glowering at me with rage. It frightened me and I tried to take another step backwards. Unfortunately, his grip on my arm was painfully tight. “What the heck is wrong with you?”
Speaking through clenched teeth he said, “You will go upstairs and wait for me in your room.”
“I’m not eight years old.”
“Then stop fucking acting like it. I will be there in two minutes. Go. Now.” He released my arm, his eyes popping with silver. I caught a flash of fang.
Instead of showing him I was scared, I glared back and turned around and stomped up the stairs. Jeez, what an ass.