Page 4 of Love Bites (Timber Creek #2)
CHAPTER 4
MAX
I landed on the back deck of West Larkin’s house with a thud, pulling back my shadows at the last second. Mountains framed the picturesque mountain lodge the Timber Creek wolf pack called home, a chill spring breeze blowing through the surrounding pines, filling the air with their resinous scent.
Jade, West’s mate, looked up and waved from where she sat in an Adirondack chair on the large back porch, sipping iced tea and utterly unfazed by my sudden appearance.
A startled gasp sounded from beside her, and I belatedly realized Hailey sat with her, staring wide-eyed at me. Freckles dotted her pale skin, her long brown hair tied up in a bun as she sat curled up in an oversized green pack hoodie. I hadn’t realized how young she was when I picked her up, but now that I could really take her in, there was no way this girl was more than 16.
“Shit, sorry.” I vanished my wings as I moved towards where they sat. “I didn’t mean to scare you , but this one is fair game.” I jerked my head at Jade, who threw a cashew at me.
“Overgrown crows don’t scare me.”
Hailey offered a shaky smile as she caught her breath, and I pulled up a chair to join them. Unable to stop myself, I scanned Jade quickly, a force of habit every time I saw her since I got her out of a bad spot a few years ago.
But she looked good. Great, even. Relaxed in a way I’d never seen her before, her tan skin bright and healthy with all the sun she got here, her signature green hair falling in waves around her shoulders. No longer the scrawny, scared girl from all those years ago — no, now she looked strong, confident. At peace.
“To what do we owe this visit, Dark Knight of mine?” Jade tilted her head, swiveling to Hailey. “Ours, I guess.”
“Searching for your worse half.” Jade chuckled, and the sound was so hard-earned from her, I couldn’t help but smirk in return. “Hailey, are you settling in okay?”
It had been a few days since I’d brought her into Headquarters, then made sure she was placed here, with West and Jade.
Jade made significant eye contact with Hailey. “I told you he only looks scary. Max is a big ol’ softie deep down.”
I scowled. “Careful, pup.”
“Oh, right.” Jade mimed zipping her lips shut, then whispered, “Our little secret.”
I rolled my eyes. “I see everything’s fine here.” Still, my gaze slid to Hailey, seeking confirmation.
She nodded, a slight blush creeping across her cheeks at my attention. Not an unusual reaction for me. “Jade has been helping me set up my dorm room and introduce me to the pack.”
“The dorms are open now? How old are you?”
“Sixteen,” she confirmed my earlier guess, her eyes narrowing slightly in a show of teenage rebellion I loved to see on her, because it looked so normal . “I’m fine on my own. I was going to file for emancipation before—” she stopped, swallowing. “Before.”
Jade patted her knee. “Hailey’s going to fit in just fine here. The pack opened the dorms a few weeks ago, and Atlas moved in to keep an eye on the younger ones. They have their own rooms, but he’s there to watch out for everyone and in case they need anything.”
“I didn’t even know bear shifters existed,” Hailey said, referring to Atlas, and pulled her hands up into the sleeves of her hoodie. “He’s nice though. Big.”
I held back the chuckle at her description. Atlas was former Special Ops and one of the most formidable fighters I’d ever met, and yet he truly was a teddy bear at heart. He was the perfect fit to look after young shifters ready for a taste of independence.
The screen door slid open, and West came out to join us. I stood to shake his hand, the geometric pack tattoos on his arms standing out as usual on his suntanned skin.
“Hey, man. Did we know you were visiting?” he asked, resting a hand on the back of Jade’s chair.
“Surprise visit.”
His eyes met mine, realizing I must have something to discuss for me to show up unannounced. Leaning down, he pressed a kiss to Jade’s forehead before whispering something in her ear that had her flushing from her cheeks to her chest. Then he straightened up and gestured back to the house.
“Let’s talk in my office.”
I bade Hailey goodbye and good luck settling in, gave Jade a teasing salute, then followed West inside.
A tingle, like electricity, skittered over my skin as I stepped over the threshold. I shook it off, then stopped when I noticed West studying me, head tilted in thought.
“So you don’t need an invitation? That one’s a myth?”
“For me, it is,” I answered his vague question, both of us leaving my vampire heritage unsaid. He was one of about a handful of people who knew what I truly was, not the Dark Angel story most believed.
I flexed my fingers, the last of the sting dissipating. He didn’t need to know that I did experience some discomfort without a direct invitation into someone’s home. At the end of the day, not receiving an invitation couldn't keep me out.
West nodded slowly. “And, for the others?”
The full-blooded vampires, he meant. And I got where he was coming from — with vampires now exposed to our society and almost an unknown entity, an Alpha like West would want to know everything about them. To assess how much of a threat they might be.
If only I had more to tell him.
With a shrug, I said, “Guess you’d have to ask one of them.”
His brows rose. “You don’t know?”
“Shit, am I gonna fail the class, teach?”
West grunted, then continued through the living room, heading towards his office.
I nearly tripped over a remote control car as I followed after him, swearing softly, and West’s chuckle said he heard me.
West’s house was nothing like the sterile, minimalistic one I’d grown up in. For one, it actually looked like a child lived here. There were toys, children’s art on the fridge, a well-loved rainbow blanket on the couch, all evidence of his little niece that lived upstairs with West’s brother, Terran.
But even beyond those things, it was just… warm. Comfortable. The sofa was huge and the cushions full to bursting, there were family photos on the walls — signs of life everywhere. A stray hat left on the counter, a plate of cookies wrapped by the fridge, a pitcher of iced tea steeping in the sun on the windowsill.
In his office, West shut the door behind us and took one of the leather seats in front of his desk, gesturing me to the second one. With the dark, raw edge wood furniture and even more family photos, it, too, was in stark contrast to my father’s cold, clinical office.
“So, what really brings you here? Do you have news?”
I nodded. “The night I found Hailey, I took in one of the guys that grabbed her.”
West went stock-still, that way only shifters could, his usually hazel eyes flashing gold with his wolf for a moment. “Bennett?”
“Not him.” I shook my head at the mention of his mate’s kidnapper. “But, this guy is in the same ring. We’ll have Bennett soon.”
“How soon?”
“Give us a week or two.” I eyed West. “You want him, he’s yours.”
West flexed his fingers — a common tic among shifters working to keep their claws retracted. “Just put him away. It’s what Jade wants.”
I raised a brow, not hiding my surprise that West wouldn’t want to rip out the throat of the guy who abducted and drugged his mate not too long ago.
Then again, judging by the muscle twitching in his jaw — fighting his fangs — and the flicker of his eyes between his human ones and his wolf, that likely was what he wanted to do.
“You were so much more fun before you were domesticated.” West leveled a flat glare at me, and I held up my hands. “But as you wish. The offer stands. People go missing in the system all the time.”
He gave a grim nod, but I knew he wouldn’t take me up on it, now he was house broken.
My second order of business was a bit less straightforward. I twisted in my seat, not even sure how to bring it up. Not sure why I was bringing it up.
“Is there something else?” West asked, astute as always.
I grimaced. “Yes, sort of.”
I told him about my new orders from Malachi to track down the vampire dens. West’s brow furrowed further with each sentence, until he was all but glaring at me.
“So, that’s it? I understand what a problem this is, and you know I don’t want people getting murdered, but what the fuck, Max? You’re just abandoning our whole attempt to get supes organized and find all of these kidnappers?”
“I’m not abandoning anything,” I told him. “But Malachi believes the vampires will only keep escalating things, keep pushing the boundaries, and we can’t have that, so it’s taking priority. Do you want random innocent people showing up drained of blood left and right and blamed on your puppies? Because that’s what’s happening.”
West sat forward. “What about all the other supes? Who still need help? Kids like Hailey?”
His eyes flicked to the door a second before his brother, Terran, slipped in, shutting it quietly behind him. He’d no doubt been drawn to the room by West’s agitation. Wolves were connected like that through their pack bonds, sharing emotions as well as some telepathic messages; West had probably been filling him in mind to mind as we spoke.
I tightened my jaw. “Does this reaction mean you won’t help?”
West sighed. “I’ll try to come up with a list of wolves who might be up for something like this — no, not you,” he shot at Terran, who’d just begun to open his mouth. “I need you here, and so does your daughter.”
“This will be dangerous, Terran,” I added in support of West’s command. No way in hell would I drag that little girl’s father away from her when I couldn’t guarantee he’d come back in one piece. Still, I couldn’t resist throwing in, “And you’re not exactly the wolf you used to be.”
His jaw clenched, and I smirked. But he knew I was right.
He crossed his arms, leaning back against the office door. “It has to be a wolf? I can’t send Atlas or Cooper with you?”
“My father seems to think so, but we’re working with a lot of unknowns here. All I know is they need to be a Tracker, with the keenest sense of smell.”
The brothers’ gazes met again as they held another silent conversation. Wolves were so annoying with that shit.
“Secrets, secrets are no fun,” I cut in, waggling a finger at them. “But this brings me to the other reason I’m here.” I looked to Terran. “Does Quentin still work for you?”
Terran pushed through the swinging saloon-style doors to his restaurant, Buffalo Willie’s, as the scent of salty fries and burgers hit us in a wave. With the log wood siding and whiskey barrels doubling as tables, the place looked right out of an old Western, albeit with modern lighting. One wall was even covered in old sepia-toned Wanted posters, some of which held some familiar names and seemingly displayed with pride.
“Quentin, you here?” he called out, heading for the kitchen at the back and gesturing for me to pick a booth. “Take a seat, I’ll send him out. You want something to eat?”
I smirked. “Don’t think you have what I want on your menu, man.”
Terran grunted in response before disappearing into the kitchen.
“Hey, Max!”
Leif, West’s adopted son, was setting out rolls of silverware and gave a wave. I tilted my chin up in acknowledgment and slipped into a booth, drumming my fingers on the table. He looked like he wanted to chat more, but my mind was elsewhere, small talk not on my agenda.
A moment later, Quentin emerged from the kitchen, untying his waist apron as he approached.
The young-twenties vampire looked about the same as the last I’d seen him — black hair, unnaturally pale skin with colorful tattoos covering scrawny arms. But unlike a few years ago, he’d lost that haunted, gaunt look — maybe not quite healthy , but certainly better than he’d been when I’d found him.
“Quentin.” I waved at the seat across from me. “Please, have a seat.”
He slid onto the bench, eyeing me warily. “Something wrong?”
A fair question. I’d never sought him out before, and we only had one thing connecting us — something I doubted he ever wanted to rehash.
“No — well, yes, but nothing that’s your fault. I need your help.”
He furrowed his brows.
“Your den — your old den — I need to know how you found them, and where it is.”
Quentin straightened, then his eyes darted around the mostly empty dining room. Leaning forward, he lowered his voice as he said, “I wouldn’t say I found them . It was more of a right place, right time thing. Or wrong place, wrong time, I guess. As for where , I can’t —” He shook his head. “I can’t tell you.”
“You’re not in trouble, Quentin. They’re not in trouble, as of now. I just need to find them.”
“No, that’s not what — I mean I can’t tell you. It has to do with my bond to — to him .”
I narrowed my eyes. “Grigor?”
Quentin winced, all the confirmation I needed. Grigor, the vampire who had taken a vulnerable human and turned him, then kept him as his personal snack for years. Not the greatest guy.
I lifted a hand halfway to Quentin’s forehead, ready to use my combination of angel and vampire powers to see into his memories. He might not be able to say , but I should have still been able to see it. “May I?”
“It won’t work, but you can try.”
He tilted his head towards me, and I touched my fingertips to his temple. As an angel, I could extract memories, but as a vampire, my powers were even more than that. Darker. Deadlier.
I could change them, erase them, replace them with something else entirely, leaving no trace of my presence.
Quentin grimaced as my magic invaded his mind, searching for the location, but where it should be was only a dark fog. I dropped my hand, sitting back, and Quentin shrugged.
“Well,” I mused aloud, drumming my fingers again. “They must have been close to where I found you. I can’t imagine he’d let you out of his sight for long.”
I raised an eyebrow for confirmation, and Quentin nodded.
“So the den is somewhere in Boston.” Quentin had been blood-drunk in a club in Southie when I’d found him, about to feed in the middle of a crowded dance floor before I dragged him out of there.
What a coincidence this latest attack on the news was right in Grigor’s backyard.
But this bond Quentin spoke of made me realize… “What else can you tell me about Turned vampires like yourself?”
“What do you mean?”
“I understand your blood requirements are greater than for a Natural vampire, and you have some bond to your Maker.” Another wince. “What else?”
The truth was, the vampire Conclave usually had Turned vampires put down — their need for blood made them a liability — so Quentin was the only one I knew.
“The main thing — besides the blood — is I can’t manipulate minds and memories the way Naturals can.”
An even greater problem for feeding then, since vampires typically erased their victim’s memories to hide their tracks. The photos of the vampire leaving their kills behind resurfaced in my mind, making me wonder if that was what was happening around the world. Was the Conclave now letting Turned vampires loose on society, letting them feed freely without erasing the victim’s memory after?
“As for the bond.” Quentin swallowed. “It’s hard to explain. Makers are supposed to be responsible for any vamps they turn, since we can’t alter memories. It’s not quite a parent-child relationship, or at least not a healthy one, but a guardian of sorts. In return, I’m… drawn to him. I wanted to help him.”
“Are you still?”
“It’s less now. It was hard at first, being here and so far away from him. With time, I’ve learned to ignore the pull. But I think, if I saw him again…” Quentin trailed off with a shrug.
“All right.” I set my hands flat on the table, leaning back in the booth. “What do you know about wolves being able to scent dens? Any truth to it?”
Quentin jerked back, a confused expression clouding his face. “I’m not sure about that, but most vampires hate wolves. It’s part of the reason I’ve stayed in Timber Creek so long — no one would think to look for me here among so many wolves.”
My tongue ran across the tips of my canines, deep in thought as the bells over the door jingled, followed by a wave of sweet lemon verbena I knew immediately.
I turned to see Summer Larkin enter, her long honey-brown hair tied up in a ponytail with a pink bow. She wore a rainbow tie-dye t-shirt with a Love Bites Bakery and Bookstore logo, a pair of ripped jeans, and platform pink sneakers.
I could get a sunburn just looking at her, she was so sunshiney.
“Daddy!” Terran’s daughter River called as she dropped Summer’s hand and sprinted across the restaurant through the kitchen saloon doors. Summer smiled, offering a wave to her brother through the kitchen window, then turned to chat with the people seated at the nearest table.
She flitted around the dining room with ease, smiling and laughing with everyone she greeted, which was just about everyone in here.
“— next?” Quentin finished a sentence I hadn’t heard any of.
“Next —” I started, but then Summer spotted us, and a smile broke over her face as she came over.
“Well look at this small world,” she said, looking between the two of us. “I didn’t know you two knew each other! Then again, I guess you are both vampires, maybe you go way back?” I fought not to jolt at her nonchalant statement — like it was common knowledge I was a vampire — but she barreled right on. “Hm, or maybe not, since Q is Turned and you’re” — her hazel eyes met mine, tracing over my face slowly as she sniffed the air, before she finished — “half, I’d say. Natural. Actually, how old are both of you? Quentin, I assumed you were young, but I guess looks probably don’t mean much for vampires, if Twilight is anything to go by.” She chuckled at her own joke, propping her hip against the booth. “Then again, you don’t sparkle, so maybe Twilight isn’t the most reliable source.” Her gaze slid to me, and she jabbed a thumb in my direction. “Now, this guy I’m pretty sure is ancient, if the socks he wears are any indication.”
I discreetly shifted my ankles under the table. “What’s wrong with my socks?”
Summer merely made knowing eye contact with Quentin, the two of them clearly trying not to laugh.
“Summer, stop harassing my patrons!” Terran shouted from the kitchen, and Summer shot us both a Yikes face.
“My bad! Enjoy your” — she glanced at our empty table, biting back a smile — “uh, wood varnish lickings, apparently. I’ll have to message Stephanie Meyer — that certainly wasn’t in the books.”
Another beat later, she breezed back out the front doors, and I snapped my gaping jaw shut as my gaze cut to Quentin.
The real question was, how did she know I was half? And Natural? “Did you tell her —?”
Quentin shook his head vehemently. “I did not.”
I tapped my fingers on the table and got out of the booth, clapping him on the shoulder.
“Thanks for everything, Quentin. But I’ve got a wolf to follow.”