Page 19 of Daddy Wolf’s Secret Baby (Fated To The Wolf #10)

18

Josiah

J osiah was in Zac’s office when Laverne called. “I don’t know how accurate this is, but one of my people heard that there was a vampire nest at the old Wilson place outside of town. You know, where the group of partying kids accidentally burned down the old farmhouse last year? Apparently, they’ve taken up residence in the barn.”

“Thanks for the tip, My Friend. We’re heading out now.”

Zac called Conner and Sean and told them to meet him and Josiah at the fork in the road, just off the highway, where the pavement turns into gravel.

Josiah jumped in Zac’s truck, holding on as the Alpha sped toward the meeting spot. “Hopefully, we’ll catch them and this will be the end of the problem.”

“Do we ever get that lucky?”

Shrugging, Josiah threw up his hands. “Maybe?”

Conner and Sean were already at the spot. They undressed and shifted, then crept toward the barn. The door was slightly open and the four wolves cautiously walked inside. It was obvious that the vampires had been there. The place was disgusting.

Josiah shifted and yelled, “Over here, guys.”

The other three rushed over to see a human lying on the straw-laden ground.

“He’s got a pulse, but it’s weak.”

The man moaned and stared up at Josiah. “Are you one of them?”

“No. We were hoping to catch them and take care of the problem.”

Zac shifted and looked at Conner. “Do you think Beth and Taryn can save him and keep him from becoming a vampire?”

I don’t know. I’ll call and ask , Conner replied telepathically and took off for the truck.

The man didn’t seem shocked to see Josiah shifting. He probably wouldn’t be shocked by much in the future if he survived the vampire attack.

Conner returned with his truck and a large pack full of everyone’s clothes. “They are on their way. Savvy is on her way to the ranch to watch over the little ones.”

“What do we do with him?” Sean asked after he shifted and dressed.

“It’s not like we can take him to the clinic or anything. Let’s see if the witches can help.”

“Witches?” the man moaned. “First vampires, then shifters, and now witches? What the hell was in the coffee I drank this morning?”

“Welcome to our world.” Josiah laughed.

“If your witches can’t help me, you’ll have to kill me.”

The man was breathing heavily and he was extremely pale. Josiah wasn’t sure how he was even conscious.

Zac shook his head “Not necessarily. Many vampires simply feed off of animals or buy blood from the blood bank. They don’t attack humans.”

“The sight of blood makes me sick,” he groaned. “I’m Travis Rhodes. My wife is Shirley. Please tell her that I was in a terrible accident if I don’t make it and tell her that my last thought was of her and how much I love her.”

“You’ll be fine,” Conner said.

Josiah hoped that Conner wasn’t being overly optimistic.

“Can you tell us what happened?”

“I went for my morning jog at the park. I’ll admit, I was stupid and not paying attention to my surroundings. I had my earbuds in and the music was loud. Suddenly, three guys jumped out of the bushes and dragged me to their car. They drove me here. Two of them held me down while they took turns biting me and drinking my blood.”

“How many were there?” Sean asked.

“Six. I think the leader’s name was Christoph. They argued about whether to kill me, and Christoph said it would be fun to turn me. Another one showed up and said that he caught someone snooping around and they needed to go. Another one said that they heard the hunters had found them and they would have to move on soon. Then, they walked out the door, leaving me here.”

His voice was getting weaker and Josiah was afraid that he wasn’t going to make it. He was relieved when he heard the truck doors slam and the women’s voices.

They rushed over to Travis and knelt beside him. Beth put her hands over him, not touching him, but just feeling his energy.

“He has been poisoned by the bite and he barely has enough blood to keep his heart pumping. Taryn, can you help his body make more blood after I nullify the poison? We’ll have to do it quickly.”

“Yes, Mama.”

Beth touched Travis’ arm and chanted a spell over and over again. He let out a loud scream and fell unconscious. She looked at Taryn and nodded. “Now.”

Taryn put her hands on his chest, closed her eyes, and changed. Josiah watched in awe. He could almost see Taryn’s energy and will enter Travis’ body. She didn’t move for at least an hour. Finally, she fell back, exhausted.

Conner ran to his daughter’s side and held a bottle of water to her lips. Beth ran her hands over Travis’ body.

“He’ll be fine. I had to nullify the poison before Taryn could get his body to reproduce the blood, or the blood would have been tainted. She is more powerful than me, so she was able to help him reproduce enough to keep him going.”

“Thank you,” Zac said. “You have helped all of us so much and you have no idea how grateful we are. I wish we could honor you, Taryn, and Savvy for all you’ve done, but I know that would not be good for you.”

“We don’t do it for the recognition. I just wish your damned mama would let us help,” Beth said.

Zac laughed. “I’ve never heard you curse before, and I agree. She is one stubborn wench.”

“Now what do we do with him?” Sean asked.

“Josiah and I will take him home. We’ll tell his wife he had an accident, he’ll be fine, he just needs to sleep for a few hours. He can tell her what he wants when he wakes up.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Sean said. “I have a bar to run. See ya later.”

Travis woke up when they were halfway to his house. He put his hand to his head and asked, “Did you get the name and number of the guy who ran over me?”

Josiah turned around in his seat. “Glad to see you still have a sense of humor.”

“They didn’t suck it out of me, I guess.” He was quiet for a second. “I hate lying to my wife, but there’s no way I can tell her that I was attacked by a nasty pack of vampires, I was rescued by shifters, and healed by witches. I’d rather tell her that I was having an affair.”

Zac and Josiah burst out laughing. “What’s your story, then?”

“I went for an early morning job, tripped, and hit my head on a rock. You all were jogging and found me. I have a massive headache right now, so it feels like that’s what happened.” He panicked for a minute and asked, “I don’t still have the bite marks on my neck, do I?”

Josiah grinned. “Nope, they were nice enough to heal those, too. You won’t even have a scar.”

“You don’t have to lie with me. Just smile and nod.”

“We got your back,” Josiah said.

They helped him walk to the door. Shirley wrenched open the door and stepped onto the porch. “Where in the hell have you been? You didn’t come back from your job. Your boss said he hadn’t seen you today and you didn’t call in.”

Travis told the story just like he’d rehearsed.

Her face softened. “Do I need to take you to the doctor?”

“No. I just need to sleep for a while. Please call my boss and tell him that I had an accident and likely won’t be in tomorrow.”

She nodded, thanked Josiah and Zac, and then shut the door practically in their faces.

Josiah shook his head when they got back in the truck. “Wow.”

“At least she said ‘thanks’ before shutting the door in our face.”

Zac called Matthias and Lucious to tell them about their morning.

Matthias said, “I figured they were moving around. They’re probably watching us and as soon as we clear a place, they move in. My guys were at that barn three days ago.”

“It’s a game to them,” Lucious bellowed. “We’ll see how much of a game it is when they are nothing more than ashes.”

Josiah felt the same.

That evening, he had dinner with Jace and Zahra at her place. After they put Jace to bed, he told Zahra about his day.

“I’m glad that Travis is going to be okay, physically. It might take him a country minute to emotionally get over everything he experienced, though. For someone who hadn’t ever seen anything supernatural before, it was probably a little shocking.”

“You don’t happen to know any ghosts we can send over to his house, just to make his experience complete, do you?”

Zahra laughed and shook her head. “You have an evil sense of humor.”

“Thank you.”

They sat quietly for a few minutes and then he put his fingers under her chin and tilted her face up and pressed his lips against hers.