Chapter Fifteen

Adam and Poppy stormed through the Valentines’ manor, or at least what remained of it. William lay with Katie in his arms. Her usual pale face was covered with black soot. A large red pool of blood leaked out of her chest.

“I’m so sorry, man,” Adam grunted, holding back tears.

“She’s not dead. They promised she’d only die if I did. She’ll be back shortly.” William rubbed her cheek and continued to rock with her. Adam took hold of Poppy’s hand, moving farther into the mess.

Dawn sat on a chair, a gasp and cry coming from her every few seconds. She pulled splinters of wood out of her left arm.

“Are you all right?” Poppy asked.

Dawn nodded but didn’t look up.

“Where’s Robert?”

“He’s with Sophie. The baby… They charged so fast and Katie took the brunt of it but we couldn’t do anything. Sophie was flung over the stairwell. The doctor said she’s lucky to be alive, but the baby didn’t make it.”

Adam gulped past the lump in his throat. Poppy held his hand and together they walked through the house to where the rest of his family sat. Sophie lay on a bed with a hand over her stomach. The doctor was looking over her. Robert held her hand and together they were crying.

His mother, Don and Jason sat in morbid silence outside.

Mary was sobbing her heart out.

“What happened?” Adam asked.

No one answered as the doctor came out followed by Robert.

“How is she?” Adam saw the pain and fear in Robert and his hand tightened on Poppy.

“The doctor will need to stop by for regular visits. She wasn’t too far gone so the damage shouldn’t be so great.” Robert shut the door. “We’ll move out in a few hours. I want her to get some rest while she can.”

“I don’t understand. What has happened?”

“The wolves—they somehow found our house and knew where we’d be. A full-scale attack, not one or two, but the whole pack came. Only the women were inside.”

“Where was everyone else?” Adam asked.

“We had a bogus contact. Another fake call took all the men out of the house, leaving Katie to defend all of them. Even on this scale Katie handled herself well.”

“I take it the dead bodies are the mongrels?”

Robert nodded.

“They took her… They took her…”

Adam turned to his mother. Tears streamed from her eyes.

“Who did they take?”

Silence met his answer. Adam looked into all of their eyes and got the answer straight away.

“Rose.”

 

* * * *

 

A few hours later, in a safe house outside Beyer West, the Valentines were in the sitting room. William held Katie, who’d come around and immediately run to Sophie. Dawn had helped to pack a few items. Jason had followed everyone around, helping out where he could. Don had helped escort Mary, who was having fits of hysterics. Robert had carried Sophie all the way. The Valentines—hurt and broken on their own turf by a mongrel werewolf pretending to be an alpha.

Adam held Poppy at his side, not prepared to let her go.

“What are you thinking?” she asked.

“A year ago if you’d told me that my father would be dead, myself and two brothers mated and my sister kidnapped by a mongrel werewolf, I’d have laughed at the craziness of it.”

Poppy nodded.

“I want to take it all away, you know? The pain.”

“We can’t, though. All of these powers between us, yet it seems, for every lie we uncover, the wolves tear us apart,” Poppy said.

“We’ll need to tell them the truth. I fear we might be too late.” Adam tightened his hold around Poppy.

“Whatever happens, as long as we’re together, I don’t care.” Poppy kissed him and they left their room to find the rest of their family in the sitting room.

Dawn pressed a bag of peas to one side of her face. Katie was nursing a stiff drink and sitting on William’s lap. Don stood by the fire and Robert stared out of the window. Adam was struck by how much his brother looked like his father in that pose. “How is Sophie?” he asked.

“Sleeping and dreaming nightmares,” Robert said without turning around.

“I take it you’ve got some news,” Jason sneered from his position in the corner.

Poppy tightened her hold on his hand. Adam refused to take the bait.

“Lewis, the old alpha of the Beyer West pack, left a son. He’s the one that is allowing James the power to control the pack.”

“Great. A son no one has ever met.” Robert cursed from where he stood. “You’ve been on a fool’s errand. All of us have. The wolves are taking over and no matter what we do, they’ll win.”

“What are you saying? We should just give up?”

“No one asked you, necromancer.” Jason spat the words at her.

“Careful how you speak to my mate,” Adam said, standing in front of her.

“Mate? I don’t scent the blood bond.”

“Because Poppy and I can’t have a blood bond. But we’re bonded, make no mistake. Rose has been taken by the wolves and you want us to give up?” Adam asked, outraged.

“We’ve already lost too much.”

“Bullshit. Rose is our sister. She deserves the same amount of attention to getting her back as Katie did.”

“I’m with Robert on this one. As much as I love Rose, I think this battle is useless. We’re dropping in number and we haven’t got the power or the resources to save her,” William said.

“No. I won’t accept this. I’m with Adam,” Katie said, getting up from her seat and moving to his side. “The wolves want us to be like this. They want us to be frightened and run off. They won this round but the war isn’t over until either all of us are dead or James is, and the son.”

“Lewis told us that if we severe the connection between James and Lewis then he can see the lies he’s spun and take control of the pack. We need to get to Lewis, and then we take down James,” Adam said.

“We can’t do this!” Robert roared as he turned to the room. “I’ve already lost a baby. I’m not losing anything else.”

“I’m ashamed to call you my brother,” Adam said.

“Well, get over it. I’m not risking any more. I can’t.”

Adam paused, his anger so acute. “James was the son of the Beyer West pack. He brought great shame to his pack. Lewis, the original alpha, was a friend to our father. Don, he was friends with you. None of you can remember because his existence was wiped from our memories.”

“I agree with Adam. I can’t let Rose die at the hands of the wolf.” Don stood and accepted Adam’s hand.

Robert gazed at the room. “Are you all stupid? Our women could have died.”

“But we didn’t, Robert,” Sophie said as she walked into the room. She laid one hand on her stomach. She walked past them all to stand in front of her mate. “If you let Rose go, you’re not the leader your father thought you were. James is doing this deliberately, to tear our family apart.”

“I’ve got another question.” Cook, who’d survived the attack, walked into the room. All heads turned to the older human woman.

“What is it, Cook?” Adam asked. He knew Cook and Rose had become friends.

“I want to know why the daughter of two vampires—who has been cursed to live her life as a vegetarian never drinking blood—can drink the blood of a werewolf.”

Outrage poured through the group.

“Rose wouldn’t drink that stuff.”

“You’re lying.”

Cook held her hand up. “She came to me with blue lips and shivers gripping her body. I fed her the blood myself. For some reason, I had gone to a source and brought it here. Don’t ask me why I did it—I just did. I fed it to her two nights ago and she grew stronger. I’ve served the Valentines these past two hundred years and accepted blood to keep me alive. I want to know why the youngest daughter—whom I consider my own—can drink werewolf blood when all of you would die from a single drop.”

“Because Rose is not just a vampire.” Mary had come unnoticed into the room. Don went to her and as she opened her mouth to say more, a flash of light erupted throughout the room. A naked woman lay sprawled on the ground covered in blood. Katie ran to her.

“Tara?”

The woman looked up and whispered, “Help me.” In the next moment, she collapsed in a heap on the floor.

 

* * * *

 

Adam and Poppy settled down for the night with more questions than answers. “I don’t understand what is happening,” she said, joining him in bed.

“I think our lives are about to get even more complicated in the coming weeks.”

“You’re right.” Poppy lay against him and kissed his lips. “As long as I’m with you, I don’t care how hard things get.”

“You’ve got me, Poppy. For now, forever and for always.” He turned out the light and lay with her in his arms, thinking about what had happened. He knew hard times were to come about Rose, but for now he was happy knowing his mate and the love of his life was safe in his arms. For now, anyway.