Page 17 of Marked by the Pack (Crooked Point #2)

Monday

Zoey

I would have texted him again, but I didn’t want to seem desperate.

Although…I was a little desperate. Emma was spending the night at Callum’s. I think now that she knew that I knew he was sneaking in every night anyway…there was no reason to hide it.

But I was worried about her spending all night alone with him. At least if she started screaming here I could barge into my guest room and throw garlic powder all over Callum. If she screamed tonight….no one would be there to help her.

I shook the thought away. She’d be okay.

I wrapped my robe tighter around myself as the rain pelted my window.

I think I was just a little freaked out to be home alone.

Emma had only been living with me for a little while, but I’d already grown used to her being down the hall.

And I’d gotten used to Otto visiting me every night.

A branch hit the side of my house in the wind, scratching the siding in the way I imagined a witch’s fingers would sound .

Okay, screw this.

I’d lived alone for years. Nothing had changed.

Well…except everything. Because my bestie was dating a vampire, King had warned me more supernatural creatures were coming, and there was potentially still a serial killer loose in town.

There’d been zero progress on figuring out what had happened to those poor people in the hay maze.

And Officer Davis had pretty much told me there were no leads and therefore no investigation.

I was beginning to think that maybe the other supernatural creature was already here. And he was the murderer.

Seriously, stop thinking about this!

Emma had given me a task for tonight. King was a man with answers, and I needed answers from him.

I was already dressed and everything. I’d just been hoping that Otto would show up and distract me tonight instead.

But…he was a no show. Kind of like Elias.

I tried to shake away the thought. Elias was fine. And Otto was fine. Everything was fine.

I turned on my computer, lights, and microphones, before shimmying out of my robe. I got on all fours on my bed and arched my back before going into my livestream. I knew how to keep myself occupied.

I tried not to cringe as I heard the witch’s fingernails again. Nope. It was just a branch.

My subscriber number was higher than ever. I smiled to myself. Boys really did want what they couldn’t have. I leaned over my basket of produce and wrapped my lips around the end of an eggplant.

But I dropped it when I saw Elias’ username. Thank God. I clicked into a personal session with him .

“Elias! Where have you been? I’ve been worried sick…” my voice trailed off when I focused on my screen.

Elias was at his desk, frantically pulling papers out of the drawers.

“Elias?”

He slammed the drawer closed and pulled another all the way out. It fell off the hinges and he dumped the contents into a box.

“Elias, what’s going on?!” I climbed off my bed to get closer to my screen.

He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he stared at me. “They’re real.”

“What?”

“Vampires. They’re fucking real, Zoey!”

I’d never heard Elias curse before. “I know.”

“You know?! You’ve met one? In person?”

I nodded. Grudge and King already knew. One more person wouldn’t hurt.

“Zoey, you have to get out of town.”

Why did everyone keep saying that? Another branch hit the side of my house and I shuddered. The storm was getting worse.

“You asked me if they can control themselves. Well…they can’t.” He cursed under his breath as one of the drawers fell out onto the floor. He turned and grabbed some books off the shelves, dumping them unceremoniously into a box. He slammed the flaps down.

“How do you know?”

“Because she tried to kill me!” he yelled .

“She?” Fuck. I knew it didn’t make sense that Callum was the only vampire in existence. But I had kind of been hoping he was. How many were out there?

“I gotta go.” He closed the flaps of another box. “Leave town, Zoey. Before it’s too late.” He exed out of the private session before I had a chance to ask any more questions. Like if this female vampire claimed to drink only animal blood or not. But I guess if she’d tried to kill him...

Shit. Shit, shit, shit! What was I supposed to do with that information? Maybe she was just a bad vampire. The kind that King had warned me about. Callum wasn’t like that.

The rain pelted against my window even harder.

I needed to talk to King immediately. I went back to my livestream, even though I hadn’t composed myself. There was a 100% chance that I looked as frantic as Elias had. But KingOfTheDead was waiting for a private session. I clicked into it.

“Zoey,” he said calmly. His eyes fell to the tops of my breasts in my lingerie. “Have you reconsidered my offer of the bodyguards?”

Was it that obvious that I was freaking out?

“I need to change Callum back into a normal human so he doesn’t hurt my friend.

How can I do that?” I probably shouldn’t have said Callum’s name, but it was too late.

Besides, he was technically going by Theo Gold right now.

Who for all we knew was an old dead man.

Thunder boomed in the distance and I jumped.

“Callum? Is that the vampire’s name? If you’re worried then maybe you should…”

“Of course I’m worried!” King hated being cut off. Especially when he was in a bad mood. And he probably was, because he was currently sitting in his office. His hair was more unruly than usual and his eyes were stern behind his Anubis mask.

But of course I was worried! I was terribly worried about the fact that Elias was on the run for his life because of me.

And even more worried that his franticness had just proved that vampires were as dangerous as King claimed.

“And don’t tell me to leave town again. I’m not moving. I just need a cure for Callum.”

“Making a villain is one thing. Curing one isn’t as easy. Once a villain, always a villain, Zoey.”

“But people can be redeemed. Callum’s trying. He…”

“He’s a monster. And he’ll always be a monster.”

“That’s not really fair.” I didn’t think I’d be sitting here defending Callum. But he hadn’t hurt Emma. Yet. “You said you could cure one?”

“I didn’t really say that. I said…”

“Please just tell me about the cure!” I’d cut him off again.

“There’s a relic.” He loosened his tie.

“A relic?” I leaned closer to the screen. Otto and his friends were thieves. Specializing in antiques and relics. They had a whole vault filled with them. “What does it look like?”

“It’s an old coin from Egypt.”

I leaned forward even more. A coin? I thought about the mind control pocket watch that Bennett had. There was a coin molded onto the back of it. Could I really be so lucky?

“A little bigger than a silver dollar. And it’s made of silver, but it’s not as clean cut as a silver dollar. It was hammered out centuries ago. And carved in the middle is an Anubis head.”

I stared at him. “Like your mask?”

He nodded.

Why would the relic to cure vampirism have an Anubis head? I thought it would be like…a cross or something else holy. But Anubis was the king of the dead. Maybe he was the only one that could cure the undead. “You said it was silver?”

“Unless someone’s taken good care of it, it’ll be tarnished.”

I had a necklace from a guy I’d seen several years ago that was tarnished.

I knew exactly what to look for. I thought about the pocket watch again.

It was possible that someone had found the tarnished silver coin and dipped it in gold.

And then molded it on the back of that watch.

The watch was magical. Maybe it had a few uses.

Emma had said that Bennett was out of town. And now we both needed to talk to him.

“Zoey?” King said.

I looked back up at him.

“Take off your…”

“I’m sorry, I gotta go. Thank you for everything!” I exed out of the feed and turned my computer off.

King would be furious about me leaving our session. But I was too freaked out by the storm to properly perform for him. I pressed on Bennett’s name in my phone and pulled it to my ear.

It went straight to voicemail.

Damn it. I hung up and sent him a text instead.

Thunder boomed again .

God, why had I stopped my session with King? He was always such a good distraction. But I really only wanted one person to distract me right now.

I texted Otto. It was a desperate move, but I was desperate. I needed to ask him about the watch and I needed him to do that thing with his tongue again. And I was used to my nightly doughnut.

I sighed and stared at my phone.

And just like that…I was now worried about Otto too. I tried calling him, but his phone also went straight to voicemail.

I jumped when I heard the witch’s fingernails again. Why couldn’t I get that image out of my head?

My doorbell rang and I jumped again.

Otto never came to the front door. He always threw pebbles at my window in the most romantic way possible. And Emma and Callum were at Callum’s house. I glanced at my phone. It was after 11. Who else would possibly be ringing my bell this late?

Thunder boomed again and the lights flickered and turned off.

I gulped. For the first time ever, I wished Grudge was spying on me and interfering with my house’s smart devices. But…I wasn’t so lucky. I pulled my curtains to the side and all I saw was darkness. The whole street’s power was out.

Whoever was outside started knocking on the door now.

Fuck me. I pulled off my bunny mask and wig, pulled on my robe, and grabbed one of my hidden garlic powder containers from under my bed.

I tried not to jump at another boom of thunder as I made my way downstairs in the darkness.

I tiptoed into the living room as someone knocked even harder.

There was a small window and curtains right by the door.

But if the person outside saw them move, they’d for sure know I was in here.

And I was almost positive that whoever was outside that door wasn’t someone I wanted in my house.

I pulled the curtains in the living room to the side just a little and stared at my front stoop.

There were two tall men standing there. One of them turned his head.

I breathed a sigh of relief. I could just make out Ace’s face in the darkness.

It was the twins. I set my garlic powder down, hurried over to the front door, and opened it.

“I thought you were Callum,” I said.

“And what would a vampire be doing on your doorstep in the middle of the night?” Huxley asked.

“Why are you guys on my doorstep in the middle of the night?” They were both soaked, even though the storm had been going on for a while now. Where had they been when they’d gotten caught in it?

“We told you we’d see you later,” Ace said.

They had said that at the coffee shop. But I didn’t think they’d meant later tonight.

“Otto said you liked these.” Huxley handed me a box of doughnuts.

I smiled. It was a little soggy from the rain, but it was the sweetest gesture.

“He couldn’t make it,” Ace said. “But he said you got scared at night. And that you might need us.”

I had no idea why, but I could feel tears pooling in the corners of my eyes. These guys were sinful and domineering, but this sweet side really did something to me .

Thunder boomed louder than ever this time. I shuddered.

“Come on, let’s get a fire going for you to warm up,” Ace said. He walked into my house and Huxley followed him.

All my fears started to dissipate as I watched Ace expertly start a fire. I remembered how rough his hands had felt on my skin the other night. I’d figured he was good at stuff like starting fires. I never used my fireplace because I didn’t know how.

But there was something romantic about how the flames danced around the room. I took a deep breath. I had a feeling that these guys made fires regularly. Because the smell reminded me of Otto.

“What is Otto doing tonight?” I asked.

“Don’t worry yourself about Otto tonight,” Huxley said. The way he was staring at me made my heart start beating weirdly in my chest. “We’re here to take care of you.”

I knew he meant to make sure I was safe from Callum. But…if I didn’t know better I would have thought he meant he was about to fuck me against a wall. “But Otto’s okay?”

“He’s fine.”

Good.

They were both just staring at me. The shadows from the flames somehow making them look even more handsome. And just a tiny bit menacing. In the best way possible.

“Do you guys need towels or anything?” I asked. They were practically dripping.

Ace ran his fingers through his wet hair and smiled. “I have a better idea.” He grabbed his shirt by the nape of the neck and pulled it over his head. The material clung to his chest and biceps as he tore it off.

I swallowed hard and my throat made a weird squeaking noise.

Huxley caught me staring at his brother. “Like I said. We’re here to take care of you. To make sure you’re safe. And satisfied.” He pulled his shirt off too and stepped toward me. “Now where did we leave off the other night?”