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Chapter thirty-Eight

Michaela

T he very next night, Me, Zo, Alarick, Zyion, Torak, Hans, and Titus were all seated at different places in the home I found that fit my criteria. A lovely newly married couple occupied the house. However, a little compulsion had them going to Lexington for the night.

Torak, Alarick, and Zyion were in the kitchen the last time I checked. Hans and Titus were in the living room. I’m upstairs in the bedroom. To make it believable, we needed to be spread out over the house. Last time I was downstairs, Zo was with Hans and Titus, but judging by the heavy footfalls behind me, I know he’s up here with me.

Looking over my shoulder, I smile as my mate enters the room.

“Not being able to smell you is driving my wolf crazy,” he says, running his hand over his short hair.

“I admit, it is weird. But at least I get a break from you smelly wolves,” I tease.

He charges for me. I try to run but I’m too slow. He grabs the back of my shirt and drags me back onto the bed. I’m lying under him in no time.

He nuzzles his face into my neck. His facial hair causing me to giggle.

“Zo,” I whimper when he kisses me. The knot behind his jeans pressing against my center has me melting even more. I’m going to miss the hell out of this dick when I leave.

I’ve thought it over many times, with Markis looking for me. It’s time I moved on from the wolves. Even though they are built for battle, I can’t risk any of their lives.

“Where did you go?” his deep voice says, pulling my attention back to him.

He’s staring down at me, his golden eyes narrowed with concern. Lifting my head off the pillow, I place a kiss on his lips.

“Nowhere,” I say. “I was just thinking about how happy I am right now.”

“Right now?” he tilts his head. “You mean for as long as we live? And that’s a long time. Wolves can live to up to two hundred years old.”

I grin. “Well, you’re mated to a vamp, lover boy. You’re with me until I die. Didn’t you read the vampire manual before you foolishly mated to one?” I use the words he once said to me.

I laugh at the shocked look on his face. Yes, his lifespan will now match mine. If I die tomorrow, he will go back to living his regular two hundred years. But if I lived for another three hundred, so does he.

A slow smile spreads over his face. “That’s a lot of fucking, mate.”

I laugh out loud. Once again, I’m reminded of how happy I am, and how I’ll soon have to give this up. Cupping his cheek, I stare into his eyes.

“No matter what, I want you to know that I have never been happier than I’ve been this last month being your mate. Always know that I love you, Enzo.”

He stares down into my eyes. I know he’s searching for my secrets. I know he feels my change. The pain in the decision I’ve had to make. He knows something is amiss. He turns his head and kisses my palm.

“I love you too. Now, let’s take advantage of this bed.” He eases down my body.

“Zo, no.” I give a half-ass attempt to discourage him.

“Sshh,” he says with a smile. “If you’re too loud, those wolves downstairs will hear you.”

He lifts my shirt and places a kiss on my stomach. I sink my teeth into my bottom lip to stifle the moan.

“Did I ever tell you I figured out your gift?” he says playfully as he pushes my shirt further up, exposing my black bra.

I should be alarmed, but the way his tongue feels trailing over my skin has me distracted.

“Oh?” I hum.

“At first,” he slips the cup of my bra up, exposing my pebbled nipple. “I thought you were an empath like your sister. The way you always hid your emotions behind that neutral mask was my first clue.”

He tugs my right peak into his mouth. My toes curl at the feeling.

“No,” I whine. “Wrong.”

“I know,” he goes to the other breast, giving it the same attention. “Next, I thought it was compulsion. I needed a reason as to why I’m so addicted to you.”

He slips a hand into the waist of my tights and down to my center.

“Zo,” I moan as he plays with my clit. Fuck, this man plays my body like a fiddle.

“But I’m just in love with you, so that theory doesn’t work.” At this point, I don’t even know what he’s talking about anymore. He slips one of his long digits into my soaking wet center and I nearly come on the spot.

“Now,” he says as he rolls his tongue over my peak. “I know that you’re a sifter like your ex.”

Everything comes to a screeching halt. I look down into his mischievous eyes. Before I can explain myself, the unmistakable scent of vampire wafts from the open window. The scent hits me seconds before Enzo smells it. He lifts his head and turns to the window. How did my sense of smell work faster than his? Must be a mate thing.

He looks at me before helping me fix my clothes. We both climb off the bed and head downstairs.

As soon as we step off the bottom steps, Hans and Titus stand up. They smell it too. The others appear in the living room.

“Show time,” Enzo says. “Torak and Zyion, take your spot by the front door. Hans and Titus, you two, stay in the living room. Alarick, you’re with me and Michaela in the kitchen. They usually come in through there.”

“Remember, we need at least one alive,” I remind them.

They nod. We break off into our groups. Enzo and Alarick sit down at the round kitchen table. I stand at the sink and turn on the water. The chains are already placed in a chair in the corner of the kitchen.

“Everyone, stay focused,” Enzo says through a link in our heads. Somehow, I got added to the pack group chat.

“Five of them,” Alarick says through the link. “I can smell them.”

Staring out the window, I watch the human-turned creep closer to the house. If I were a human, my eyesight wouldn’t be able to pick them up this far and in the dark.

“They’re splitting up. Two are coming around the front. The other three are going to come through the back,” I explain through the link.

Seconds later, the lock on the sliding door disengages. In the room with me, the energy changes. I know it’s because their wolves are at the surface, ready to spring out.

The door slides open, and seconds later, a raging vampire runs into the room. He goes straight for Enzo’s back, but I’m fully fed and entirely too fast for him. I spring into action. Cutting the vampire off, I snatch him by the neck and sling his body into the wall. By this time, the other two run in. Enzo and Alarick transform right before my eyes.

They are both beautiful in wolf form. Enzo pitch black and Alarick snow white. However, there is no comparison to my man’s wolf. That black fur does something to me every time.

Enzo snatches one of the vampires out of the air by the neck, tossing his body back and forth.

“Woman, pay attention. Now is not the time to be dreaming about fucking on my wolf.”

I tap down on my laughter and focus on the fight. Enzo and Alarick battle the two vampires that came in through the patio.

The first one in climbs to his feet. He shakes his head and snarls at me. I drop my arms out at my side and release my blades.

He looks down at my weapons. A second of hesitation crosses his features but is quickly overtaken by determination.

I decided this was the vampire I will keep alive for questioning. The vamp charges at me, swinging his claws rapidly. I block every blow, waiting until I get the perfect opening. I sling my blade down, cutting off his right arm. He howls in pain. With him distracted, I return my right blade back into the cuff. Flipping my arm over, I release a spike out of the cuffs, causing the sharp end to pierce his shoulder and pin him to the wall behind him. He growls out but can’t break free.

I turn my attention to the others. Enzo’s vampire is headless, lying on the ground. Alarick’s is between his teeth. I’m sure he will be headless soon as well. Suddenly, the front door splinters in. Two more vampires charge. One of them tackles Torak. I go to help him, but I’m quickly cut off by Enzo. He leaps on the vampire's back, sliding him clear across the room. When they finally come to a stop, the vampire is no longer moving. Enzo easily removes his head. Torak transforms into his black and gray wolf. He corners the vampire that Zyion’s black, brown, and white wolf was fighting.

The smell hits me first. I turn to Alarick, whose nose is up in the air.

“Ferals.” I say out loud.

“Stay in here,” Enzo growls in my head. “Everybody else, with me.”

All the wolves rush out of the house. I run to the door to see my wolves collide with the mangy-looking ferals. Figuring they have the outside covered, I go back to the kitchen with my vampire.

He’s still hanging in the location I left him. I walk over to him with a smile on my face. He snarls at me.

“Still hanging out, I see.”

“You legion bitch,” he spits out.

I shrug. I won’t argue with him for calling me out my name. Suddenly, a growl comes from behind me. Stepping into the kitchen from the open patio door are two mangy looking ferals.

“That’s right. I brought my own back up,” the vampire gloats.

I shrug my shoulders, releasing my blades from the cuffs.

“Alright, let’s do it.”

The brown feral charges at me. I spin out of the way, jamming my left blade into his side. The second one slams into me, pinning my front against the wall. He goes for my neck, but as I said, I’m properly fed. Placing my foot against the wall, I push back. The wolf and I go crashing to the ground. I roll off him and hop to my feet. Now I’m on the opposite side of the room. The feral stands. The first brown feral limps over to his side. Blood coats his dirty fur.

I snarl. They both charge me at once. I work overtime, leaping up on the table. I return my blade, flip my hand over and shoot a dart at the brown wolf. It hits him directly in the eye. The other wolf leaps, trying to take my head off. I drop onto the table. The wolf leaps over me, his belly on full display. Holding up my sword, I slice into his stomach. He howls out, but it dies quickly as he hits the ground on the other side of the table.

I groan out in pain as sharp teeth latch on to my ankle. The one-eyed wolf is not happy with me. He yanks my leg, pulling me off the table. I hit the ground hard, rattling my teeth. He lets go of my ankle and leaps at my throat. Before I can get my blade out to take off his head. A black wolf tackles the feral into the fridge, tearing the door off. Enzo sinks his fangs into the wolf’s neck with quickness. The beast dies instantly.

“I’ll help you,” Alarick offers me his hand.

I wince as I get to my feet. “Thanks,” I tell him.

“Let me go,” the vampire I still have pinned to the wall shouts.

“Tie him to the chair,” I tell the others.

Alarick goes to assist the other wolves. Enzo quickly takes his place.

“Sit,” he demands. I can tell he’s mad.

He lifts me up and places me on the table. Even though I already feel my ankle mending, I let him fuss over me. He rolls the end of my leggings back to look at my ankle. Like I knew it would, the flesh is back together. Thankfully, the wolf didn’t break my bone. Bones take longer to heal.

He rolls my pants legs back down and glares into my eyes.

“Next time, call for help,” he snarls in my head.

“You were busy, Zo.”

He shakes his head . “I don’t fucking care, Michaela. You are my responsibility. I don’t care that you can take care of yourself. Call me next time.”

It’s so strange having someone like him in my life. I’m not used to depending on anyone besides myself. Especially when it came to fighting. Asking Markis for help in a battle was a sign of weakness. And here I have Enzo basically demanding it.

“I’m sorry,” I say through our link. “I’ll call you for help next time.”

He dips his chin and then lifts me off the table. I stand up straight and make my way over to the vampire they have tied in the chair. The chains are securely wrapped around him, causing him to be immobile. He snarls when I get close.

“I’m not afraid of you,” he says.

I grab the chair close by and place it down in front of him. Taking a seat, I lean back.

“I don’t need you to be afraid of me. I just need you to answer my questions.”

He spits at me. Lucky for him, it doesn’t hit me. If it had, I’d kick his ass for real.

“I’m not telling you shit.”

I shrug. “Doesn’t matter either way to me. I’ll get my answer one way or the other. But I advise you, you’re going to want to take the easy way.”

Alarick stands to the right of the vampire while Zyion is on his left. Enzo is beside me with Torak on my other side. Hans and Titus are somewhere behind me.

“Now,” I say to the vamp. “How many more of you are there?” he spits again, and this time it lands on my chin. Enzo punches him in the face. I wipe my face with the napkin Torak hands me.

“Okay, the hard way it is.” Using the energy from the vampire, I slip into his head.

He howls in pain.

“What’s going on?” someone behind me asks.

“Now,” I ask the vampire. “How many more of you are out there?”

He groans as I pick apart his thoughts. The answer I seek pops up like a piece of toast in a toaster.

“Hmm, seventeen in total.” I say out loud so the others can hear.

“How the fuck is she doing that?” Zyion asks.

I ignore him. “Next question, where are you all hiding?”

He shakes his head and screams as I reach out and grab the next answer.

“A mansion,” I say, confused. “In the middle of the woods?”

Enzo curses. “These fuckers have been that close the entire time. They’re on the old Springhill lands.”

I knew Enzo was relaying the information back to Chayton.

“Last question, pest.”

He sobs. “Please, no more.”

I ignore his cries. He asked for this.

“Who sent you here?”

This time the answer comes so quickly I don’t have to search for it.

“What did he say?” Enzo asks impatiently.

I turn to face him. “A werewolf that says Chayton stole from him. Something about pack members.”

“Does he give you a name or any features?” Alarick asks.

I dig deeper for my answer. The vampire in front of me thrashes in his seat. Finally, something pops up. The wolf was very clever not to give his name to these pests. But this vampire caught something that maybe another one wouldn’t have. Lucky for us.

Slipping out of the vampire’s head, I turn to Enzo.

“It’s Chayton’s cousin.” I show him the same thing I got from the vampire.

It’s an image of the cousin on the phone. He was behind a half-opened door. The vampire was eavesdropping on him. The cousin was on the phone with someone else telling him that everything was going to plan and that he was using the resources he sent him well. It was then he spoke the one thing that allowed me to guess who he was. “My cousin won’t know what hit him.”

The growl from Enzo assures me he’s pissed.

I had one more question. Something that has been bothering me about this entire thing.

“What did you get out of helping him? All of you?” I toss my head in the direction of the dead wolves behind me.

Human-turned, unless bonded with their sires, don’t work well with others. And from what I’ve learned about ferals, neither do they. So what makes two well-known loner species work together? This time, I didn’t have to search his brain for an answer. He told me.

“Redemption,” he sobs. “They promised a cure for all of us.”

There is a small part of me that felt sorry for the vampire. Human-turned are the weakest members of our species. Where we are not susceptible to sunlight, they have to feed nonstop in order to remain in the sun. Their thirst makes it hard for them to continue with their normal lives. I can see why he has a desire to be redeemed or turned back. Unfortunately, he was told a lie. There is no cure for what he has. I doubt there is a cure for the ferals either.

“There is only one way to redemption,” I explain.

Standing from my chair, I release my blade from my right cuff, then quickly deliver the final blow to kill the vampire.

“Let’s clean this place up quickly. We have a wolf to deal with.” Enzo growls.

We get to work, disposing of the bodies and cleaning up the blood. Unfortunately, we can’t fix the fridge or the broken front door. Enzo told me not to worry. He was going to leave a stash of cash in their mailbox that would cover the things we destroyed.

We leave that house and head for Springhill. Chayton and a few of the other wolves were joining us for the takedown of his cousin. We were ending this tonight. Which was good. The faster I can help them solve their problem, the faster I can leave. My time with the wolves was slowly winding down.