Page 48 of Bane of Hate and Silver (Primordial Inheritance #1)

Ricky knew he had been very cryptic since he’d arrived at Tasha’s.

Probably because he knew that he shouldn’t be here.

What if he put her in danger? But in all honesty, he really hadn’t known where else to go.

Just then, his phone rang. This startled Ricky.

No one actually called anymore. He glanced down and saw that it was Kyle’s contact info staring back at him, so he answered.

“Ricky, are you alright?” It was Luca.

“Me. Yeah. Are you?”

“I’m alive.”

“Obviously,” Ricky said dryly but relief flooded through him. When Luca hadn’t come back to the Den like he’d said he was going to, Ricky had worried that Carson had done something to him.

“Does Carson know where you are?” Luca asked.

“Don’t think so,” Ricky responded with a shrug.

“Where does your girlfriend live?”

Ricky said nothing but handed the phone to Tasha so that she could relay the address. She did so and handed the phone back to him.

“Stay there. We will come to get you soon,” he heard Luca say from the other end of the line.

Ricky looked around the basement of Tasha’s family home and shrugged. “Mind if I hang here a while?” he asked Tasha, who was sitting on the couch beside him.

She nodded and flashed an adorable smile his way.

“I’m good, text when you get here,” he told Luca and ended the call.

“My family isn’t here so of course you can stay. But you should at least tell me why you’re hiding and who you’re hiding from. And who is coming to rescue you.” Her eyes were alight with curiosity.

“Why, is complicated. Who, is my mom’s boyfriend, and who, is Luca. You remember, you met him at the bonfire.” He explained the basics.

“I’m good with complicated. What happened?” Tasha said. “You know you can trust me, right?”

“I know I can… It’s just…” Ricky didn’t even know where to begin to explain what was happening in his life at the moment.

“Oh come on Ricky, I want to help. And I promise that I won’t laugh or get scared or anything. Why are you hiding from your mom’s boyfriend? He didn’t hit you, did he?”

“Not exactly,” Ricky admitted.

Tasha waited silently for him to continue. Ricky interpreted the determined and honest look on her face which made her even more endearing. He felt comfortable with Tasha. I want to trust her with all of it, even the truth of what he was.

If she freaks, what happens then? he asked himself.

He was stuck between not wanting to involve her and wanting to get her out of the dark. Deciding, he stood and took a few steps away, standing in front of Tasha.

“I really hope you’re ready for this,” he said aloud, but more to himself than her.

“Ready for what?” she asked, looking confused.

Ricky took a deep breath and then in a flash of bright light, released the black-haired, yellow-eyed, four-pawed beast within him.

Tasha shrieked but it was momentary. The expression on her face surprised, not scared.

Deliberating, she studied him closely. After a few seconds, her mouth spread into an intrigued smile.

After a fraction of a second’s more hesitation, she climbed off the couch and knelt down to look into his eyes.

Fingers caressed his face, stroking from furry ear to wet nose. Utter awe in her eyes.

Ricky stood very still, afraid that he would still frighten her. He may have hoped for this reaction but never, in his wildest dreams, would have believed he would get it.

Relieved, he took a few steps back and in another flash of light, from which Tasha shielded her eyes, he turned back into his human form.

“Wow!” Tasha exclaimed. “You’re a werewolf! Or a lu-garu or lycan or shifter… I want to know everything!” Her eyes were wild with excitement.

“Okay,” Ricky said, as they settled back onto the couch. Ricky began with his father’s murder and continued until he’d told her everything: about this pack, about Jules, about the feud between vampires and werewolves, and about the fact that Carson seemed to think he betrayed him somehow.

Carson had gathered those close to him. Kip had assured him that Luca had been dealt with.

Pictures of his Jeep upside down in a ditch confirmed it.

All Carson had to do now was wait for the body to be discovered, and it was over.

There were only two more wolves on the list that stood between him and restoring peace to his life, and safety to his subjects.

He’d sent Kip out to locate the Coopers and Max and Jed to find the boy. Neither had reported back yet.

“Are you sure he’s dead?” Ben asked, the shock of Luca Cain’s untimely demise still having an effect on him. Carson waited patiently for it to sink in.

“I’m afraid so,” Carson nodded sadly, his mind on the tasks to come.

Joe Reynolds had not assured him his daughter’s marriage would be annulled yet, as Carson had demanded.

If Carson had to widow the girl to claim her, then that’s what he would do.

He’d grown tired of Demetria’s sadness. Besides, a traitor’s mother was no choice for a queen.

He would miss Demetria’s perfect ass and glistening cunt, but the Reynolds girl could be broken and molded to fit his desires.

He was sure of it. It was an ugly business, making the tough calls.

But he was the Alpha, it was his call to make.

Ricky was sitting on Tasha's basement couch, one arm slung over her shoulder. “You know, I’m not entirely surprised,” Tasha admitted sheepishly.

“You’re not?” Ricky asked.

“Not really. I mean, I never would have voiced my observations. I never would have hoped it could be true.” She spoke with an excitement Ricky couldn’t understand.

“Hoped? You hoped I was a werewolf?”

“Well, yes, and do you know how exciting it is to be involved, even ever so slightly, in a forbidden romance between a werewolf and a vampire? It’s a nerdy girl’s ultimate fantasy!

” Tasha gushed. “Of course, I always wanted to be the vampire in that scenario but getting to be a girl who has made-out with a werewolf is pretty cool, too.”

Ricky started to laugh.

“What’s so funny? How many girls get to make-out with a werewolf?”

“More than you think…”

“Yes, but how many know that they have?”

“Less.”

“Right, and on top of that,” she said, stopping to bat her eyelashes, “how many can say they got to make out with you?”

“One.” He leaned in to kiss her.

She giggled and ran her hands through his hair.

Ricky almost jumped out of his skin when the unmistakable cry of a wolf shattered the safety of his hideout.

“What was that?” Tasha asked. He released her. The howl had come from right outside the house. Ricky wasn’t sure who it was. Hard to tell. A second howl was followed by the scraping sound of claws on glass.

“Who is that?” Tasha shouted, pointing.

Ricky followed her indication to the basement window. Through its muddy glass, he spied a standard gray wolf.

“Is it Luca?” Tasha asked.

“No,” he whispered in Tasha’s ear. He looked into her eyes a moment more and then, without warning, he grabbed her arm and flung her into the small basement bathroom. “Call Kyle,” he said, shoving his phone in her hand.

“Ricky. Don’t!” she screamed as he slammed the door shut. Ignoring her banging fists, he shoved the couch against the door so she couldn’t follow him.

Glass shattered and Ricky bolted for the stairs.

He could hear Tasha screaming in the bathroom but didn’t turn back.

The wolf who had just come through the window turned into his human self.

It was Jed. He grabbed Ricky and shoved him up against the cinderblock wall before he had a chance to escape.

Ricky cried out and felt it crack under his weight.

Tasha screamed again. Ricky growled and planted his elbow into Jed’s side.

He felt the man shudder with pain and watched as he stepped back, clutching his ribcage.

Ricky bolted up the stairs. He dodged through the open door and found himself face to face with the human form of Max.

He swore just before he was hit over the head from behind and everything went dark.

Luca , Kyle, and Hayley left the apartment almost immediately after Luca’s conversation with Ricky.

Hayley went down the stairs to see if she could get any information out of Adam.

While Kyle and Luca had taken Hayley’s beat up old Volkswagen Beetle and driven towards Monica’s house as fast as it could sputter.

As they were driving up the coastline Kyle’s phone rang.

“Ricky what’s up?” he said, answering the call.

“It’s Tasha,” said a panicked voice. “They took him. They just came, and they took him!”

“Who took who? Tasha, calm down,” Kyle ordered as they started in the direction of Jules’s house.

“Wolves,” Tasha said after a long breath. “Wolves took Ricky.”

“Where are you?” Kyle asked, immediately stopping on the sand.

“Trapped in the basement at my house.”

“Are you hurt?”

“No, but Ricky…”

“Can you hear them or are they gone?”

Tasha’s whimpering stopped after a few moments of struggling. Silence ensued while she listened. “I can’t hear anything. I think they’re gone.”

“Have her call Monica. If the wolves are gone she can take the girl home for safekeeping. It’s unlikely that the pack would attack two human girls.”

Kyle nodded and relayed the important parts of the message.

“Ricky…” Luca heard Tasha say.

“We’ll find Ricky. You just get yourself out of there. And keep your head down. Understand?”

“Yes,” Tasha said after a short pause.

“We got this.” Kyle hung up the phone and then turned to Luca. After only a second, the two men bolted back to the car and took off toward the place where Ricky was last seen. If they could pick up his scent they could track him easily enough.

Ricky woke, lying face down in the mud. He wanted to spit out a clump he could feel in his mouth but resisted. Instead, he played dead, laying completely still and listening to what the pack members around him were arguing about.

“Carson, what exactly is your plan?” asked a voice Ricky couldn’t place.

“Should I send you away, Ben? Have your loyalties shifted as well? Should I count you among the traitors?” Carson asked. A wild, accusatory tone in his voice.

“No, no, I’m not.” Ben paused, but then continued, “I only meant that even though he is a traitor, he’s just a boy.” Ben’s voice sounded shaken.

Ricky’s heart started to pound. He wouldn’t put murder past Carson, but he didn’t think he would do it in cold blood. No. First Carson would make him grovel for his life and confess. Well, I won’t do either. I’ll die first.

“I will do what I feel is necessary to protect my pack. It’s my responsibility!”

Like I care, stupid tyrant can … Whoa!

Ricky was lifted off the ground with excessive force. His eyes shot open, and his nose was now inches from Carson’s furious face.

“So, pup, finally come to, have you?” Carson sneered.

Ricky spat and mud splattered across the sneer in front of him. Carson’s fist connected with Ricky’s mouth. He felt his t-shirt rip and his lip split.

Carson stopped to listen and sniff. Humans.

Humans were headed their way through the woods.

Not only had this band of anarchists consorted with a vampire but they must have also revealed themselves to humans.

Jed had confirmed that the human girl that had been with Ricky was frightened but not surprised.

Humans could kill and destroy his charges if they had a hankering to.

Ricky had endangered the pack twice now. The treachery could not stand.

“Carson wait. Don’t!” Ben bolted toward him just as Carson brought the knife across the boy’s abdomen.

Ricky cried out and clutched the cut. Carson let the boy’s t-shirt go, sending Ricky down to the ground with a thud. He then turned and punched Ben square in the jaw.

He stumbled backward, a look of shock on his face.

“It is done,” Carson said with a tone of finality, as he placed the silver knife back in its sheath. “Bring him,” he ordered Max and Jed, gesturing toward the man he had just punched. They grabbed Ben by the arms and pulled him in the direction of the previously abandoned vehicles.

Carson didn’t look back as they left the boy gushing blood into the mud beneath him.