Page 34

CAMDEN

I ran a vacuum over the rug again, taking out all my frustration on whatever dirt that could be found in James’s pristine home.

Before, when we’d been waiting for the Rite, all I’d wanted to do was distract myself and kill time. Video games, TV, whatever would allow me to turn my brain on autopilot just so I could get through those three days as quickly as possible.

Now, I couldn’t even sit still. Every second I was doing nothing was a second wasted. A second that could be spent searching for her, helping Archer with his research, getting my revenge on the alphas who’d tried to fight us for her. And when I wasn’t doing any of those things, I was cleaning. I couldn’t concentrate if I saw dust, dirt, clutter, crumbs, smudges…

Nolan, Archer, and Elias at least knew how to pick up after themselves, but Julian was a Moon-damned tornado, leaving work for me wherever he went.

When things were better, when Marlowe was home, safe and sound, I’d smack him upside the head and teach him how to use a broom. But until then, I’d let it slide. He’d fought like hell for Marlowe twice now, and at least his mess gave me something to do until we left tomorrow.

Tomorrow. I had no doubt tomorrow was the day we’d finally be crossing over into that stupid fae world so we could get her back from her brother and that king, whoever the hell he was.

I didn’t know how we’d beat them yet, but we had Marlowe’s magic running in our veins. It was better than nothing.

So far, Elias was the only one who’d been able to produce anything, though, and he still couldn’t really manage it. After his first outburst, he’d only been able to shoot out a small sputter of fire or two.

I assumed it was like our wolves. At first, we couldn’t really control when or where we shifted. But with time and practice, it started to become second nature. So much so that it hardly felt like my wolf was a separate entity anymore. We shared more thoughts than not, which came in handy when hunting down alphas who had fought in the Rite.

Satisfied there wasn’t a speck left, I turned off the vacuum and started wrapping the cord when my phone vibrated in my pocket.

I took it out and scowled at the number on the screen. I’d specifically told Trish to make sure no one from work contacted me until Marlowe was back, but apparently some asshole didn’t get the memo.

“This had better be real fucking important,”

I snarled.

A female coughed nervously on the other end. “Hey, Camden, this is Kate, from IT. I know you’re, uh, off the clock, but Patricia suggested I call you with this.”

That traitor. Seriously, what the hell could be so important from IT?

I racked my brain to try to drum up Kate’s image, and finally I started to recall who she was. Beta, tall, on the thin side, with glasses and comic book tattoos covering her arms. I think she’d helped me that one time my computer crashed from all the…

Whoops.

“Well, spit it out then.”

“So, I’m really sorry this ended up taking so long. We had to redistribute all of Tyler’s tickets, and this was coded somewhat low priority and…”

“Kate,”

I growled, pinching the bridge of my nose in frustration. “What the hell are you talking about? What happened to Tyler?”

“Um…”

Oh, that’s right. Tyler, the previous director of IT, and his pack had participated in the Rite. Last I’d heard he wouldn’t be able to eat solid food for a couple of months.

“Right, sorry. But what ticket are you talking about?”

“To clear James’s computer and get it updated. Patricia had put it in when Marlowe was here a couple of weeks ago and had been thinking of using his office.”

My chest constricted at the sound of my omega’s name. She’d been away from me as long as she had been with me, and sometimes I wondered if she hadn’t just been some desperate fever dream of mine.

Having her existence confirmed was a painful yet helpful reminder that she was real. She’d been mine. And I hadn’t been strong enough to protect her.

“And?”

I asked. “I’m still failing to see how this warrants a phone call when I made it perfectly clear I’m not to be disturbed right now. Besides, it’s Solstice break, what are you doing at work?”

“I really wanted to clear this backlog. Tyler, um, hadn’t been on top of things recently and I hate starting the new year behind. Don’t worry, I’m not logging hours, this…”

“Kate!”

I barked. “Log the hours, you’re not a slave. But please, for the love of everything the Moon touches, if you don’t fucking tell me…”

“There-was-only-one-file-saved-on-his-computer-and-it-was-a-letter-for-you!”

she spit out.

I blinked, letting her word vomit settle properly in my mind. “… A letter for me?”

“Yes,”

she replied, catching her breath. “I didn’t read it, but I asked Patricia what I should do and she said it was probably worth calling you about.”

I swallowed, running my hand down my face. My beard was longer than I usually kept it, but I couldn’t stand being in the bathroom longer than I had to. Even a glimpse of the shower brought a wave of memories of Marlowe’s wet, naked body sliding across mine, her panted moans echoing my name as I slipped my knot inside her…

I probably shouldn’t have been thinking of fucking James’s daughter when I’d just heard he’d left a letter for me.

“Thanks, Kate. I… I’m glad you called. Can you just send it to me?”

“Sure thing, boss.”

A click of a mouse told me she’d already had it attached to an email, ready to go. “Um, let me know if there’s anything else I can help you with.”

I was about to hang up when a thought crossed my mind. “Actually, Kate, there is. When the office opens back up next month, go see Jordan in HR. I’d like to promote you to the new director of IT.”

“Wait, really?”

she asked. “Me?”

“Yeah, really, you. You showed real initiative trying to make up for Tyler’s mistakes, and I could use someone like you in charge. But seriously, log the extra hours you’ve been working and take the rest of the break off. Got it?”

I could practically hear the smile through her voice. “Got it. I won’t let you down!”

I mean, I didn’t think she could, unless she too tried to enter an outdated contest and fight my pack for mating rights with my bonded omega.

I hung up and immediately opened my work email app, going straight to the attachment. I took a seat and a deep breath as it loaded.

Dear Camden,

If you’re reading this letter, I’m afraid it means something has happened to me. I can only hope I’ve died from natural causes, and you’re an old man yourself with a wife and pups of your own.

Otherwise, it means you’re all in grave danger.

There is a lot you don’t know about my past, and I don’t think you would even believe me if I told you I wasn’t born in this realm, but that doesn’t really matter.

All that does matter, the only thing I need you to know, is that I have a daughter, Marlowe. She’s at a terrible risk, and I’m begging you and your pack to protect her.

There is a very dangerous male who wishes to use her to commit great harm. We escaped his clutches before she was born, but I was spotted by one of his spies when she and her brother were only four years old. I left rather than lead him back to our home.

Marlowe doesn’t know she’s a shifter. She doesn’t know the shifter world exists, and her mother and I have kept it all from her as best we could, raising her as a human. We were afraid that if she knew what she was, she’d become curious, and would want to explore her roots.

But she’s also an omega, the only one in this world, and that paints a target on her back like you wouldn’t believe. You’ve never experienced it yourself, but take it from me when I say that an omega’s perfume can turn even the most upstanding alpha into a snarling beast.

I know I hinted that I’d pass my half of the company on to you. You’ve more than deserved it, and I know you’d carry your dad’s and my legacy well.

But with the recent news of my wife’s passing, I fear that the danger we’ve been running from has finally caught up to us, and Marlowe will need help. I’ve decided to give my half of the company to her so I could put her in your pack’s path, and also set her up with enough money so she’d be able to run and hide at a moment’s notice.

You’re a good male, and you’ve done well by bonding with other good males. I know you would help keep her identity a secret, because as soon as the shifter world hears about her, not only will she be hunted by that male, but I can only imagine what even our own people would do to get to her.

Last I heard, she was in San Francisco and engaged to be married. Please do what you can to make sure she lives a happy, safe life.

- James

My heart sunk, and I reread the letter over and over until every word had sunk in.

James’s last request was for us to keep Marlowe a secret. To protect her.

And we’d managed to accomplish the exact fucking opposite of that.

I just… I didn’t even know how to process this information. We had guessed that James had left Marlowe and Ezra because it was safer than staying, but reading now that he’d never even wanted her to know she was a shifter…

I tried to be logical as a storm of self-loathing, regret, and agony swirled in my gut. If we hadn’t stepped in, if we’d just dealt with her like she was an off-limits human, she would have ended up in some vamp’s servaglio, miserable and betrayed. That wasn’t a happy and safe life for her.

She’d at least been happy with us. For the two weeks we’d had her.

I stomped into the living room and tossed my phone to Archer so he could read the message and share the news, then shifted and ran outside to hunt down another alpha. Only blood and revenge could calm me down now.

We woke up early to investigate the area south of Maiingan Hollow. Nolan made a large breakfast so we wouldn’t have to worry about hunting on our trip. Julian and I had started learning how to take down and eat prey while shifted, and while as wolves it felt fine and natural to eat raw rabbit, when we transformed back into humans I would feel off and slightly sick.

Plus hunting would take time away from our mission.

We finished washing up and Elias’s phone rang. He was about to send it to voicemail when his eyebrow arched, and he answered it instead.

“Detective Oakley, what can I do for you?”

I watched his face morph from confusion to rage as she spoke.

“They’re here? And they want to talk to us?”

Julian looked to me for an explanation and I simply shrugged. Elias would just nip this in the bud so we could be on our way.

“Understood, we’ll be there soon.”

Or not.

He hung up the phone and roared in frustration, nearly throwing it against the wall.

“What’s wrong?”

Archer asked, coming downstairs with his coat in hand.

“We need to stop by the police station,”

he said, his voice tinged in anger.

My face heated a little, and I wondered if this was my fuck up. Last night, after reading that letter from James, I’d gone after a pack of alpha cops who’d entered the Rite, and I may have gone too far.

For shifters, attacking or killing others who’d hurt your pack was typically allowed, but the scale to which I was finding my revenge was a little out of the norm.

To be honest, I was almost waiting until the department had decided I’d crossed a line and would bring me in. I supposed now was that time.

“You guys go on ahead,”

I said, lacing up my boots. “They want to talk to me, right?”

Elias cocked his head. “What? No, the Vampyric Council is here and they want to talk to all of us.”

The Vampyric Council? My hands balled into fists, and a growl resonated deep within my chest. As much as I was glad the Conclave was dead, they’d left a huge power vacuum in our society and now there was no one to speak on our behalf or deal with these kinds of threats in our place. “What do those fucking bloodsuckers want?”

Although it probably didn’t matter what they wanted, anyway, because what I wanted was to shift into my wolf and tear their guts out with my teeth. And after everything they’d put Marlowe and the pack through, they certainly deserved it.

A small smirk grew on Elias’s face. “Well, first of all, it sounds like we may be the new interim Conclave. When Julian defeated Eamon in the Rite, the balance changed. We’re now the strongest pack.”

“Wait,”

Julian said. “But Ezra’s the one who actually killed them.”

“Pack,”

Elias reiterated. “Ezra’s a lone wolf. He may be the strongest alpha, but we’re the strongest pack. And the Conclave has to be a pack.

Archer’s mouth dropped open in shock, but as he considered the news, it shut and he nodded in understanding. “I hadn’t even considered that, but I suppose it makes sense. Huh.”

“Well, look at that,”

I laughed. “I’m the new leader of the shifters, then.”

All that power, but it didn’t mean a Moon-damned thing because my omega was still gone.

“So, we can tell them to fuck off, then?” I asked.

“We probably shouldn’t,”

Elias continued. “They want to talk about Ezra.”

Cops eyed me warily as Linda led us through the bullpen towards a large meeting room in the back of the police station, Julian keeping a low growl under his breath. I recognized a few from the Rite, alphas I hadn’t gotten to yet, and made sure to look directly at them so they knew they were still on my list.

I wasn’t going to let a single one of these fuckers go unpunished.

Elias and Linda whispered to each other heatedly, but she finally relented in whatever they were arguing about and opened the door for us. “We’ll let you meet alone but keep the blinds open. If things get ugly, I’m coming in, got it?”

I cracked my knuckles and smiled sweetly. “Sure thing.”

Six vampyrs sat on one side of a large table. Five were older, ages ranging from fifty to seventy if I had to guess, while a younger one closer to our age sat at the end, scrolling through his phone. He reminded me a bit of Marlowe’s ex-fiance, with his pale skin and dark hair. His vampyric violet eyes flickered briefly towards us as we entered.

Elias bared his teeth at the youngest of the elders. “You! he snarled. “How dare you think you can show your face here after what you did.”

My hackles raised, and we all squared our shoulders towards the vamp Elias was pointing at. “This the one who attacked Marlowe?” I asked.

Things were definitely going to get ugly.

I locked the door and readied myself to leap across the table when the youngest vamp yawned, finally putting his phone down and crossing his arms. “Please go ahead and kill him, you’ll be doing me a huge favor.”

The elder whipped his head towards him and hissed. “Keep your mouth shut.”

The oldest one cleared his throat, holding out his hands in what appeared to be a practiced move to keep those two separated. “We have many apologies to unfortunately give today, starting with the attack on your pack a few weeks ago. The vampyr who requested our assistance had a tenuous claim on your omega, and we should have followed our initial instinct to deny his request. He was able to sway us with proof of her scent, I’m afraid, which is, I’m sure you’re aware, deliciously potent and…”

I placed my fists on the table and leaned forward. “Say one more word about her scent, I dare you…”

The vampyr who had attacked Marlowe sighed. “Let’s speak plainly. We don’t want to be here, but you’ve ignored our calls, so we decided to get this done in person.”

He slid us a piece of paper and tapped it. “I trust you all are already familiar with this particular prophecy, are you not?”

Elias grabbed it, skimming it over quickly and then nodding. He passed it to me next.

In the age of twilight, when the veil between realms grows thin…

How the hell did these fuckers even know about this? We’d only discovered it because Archer had happened to go snooping in James’s office. It wasn’t some well-known myth or anything.

Maybe this was proof we used to work together, or at least had some shared origins. But I wasn’t looking to go rekindling any lost alliances.

“Yeah?”

I snapped, crumbling it into a ball and throwing it in his face. “What of it?”

He winced and held back his tongue, simply readjusting his tie and continuing. “Then you are probably thinking as we are that your omega and her brother are the shifters that were foretold.”

“Look,”

the young vamp interjected, thankfully getting to the point. “I did some digging around after the last fight, and the chest cam footage showed you guys being able to shift, and the twin alpha using magic. We also saw Mike going airborne before he was killed. It didn’t take me long to connect everything back to the omega. She’s special—not just because of her designation and her own ability to shift, but also in her ability to help others recover their lost abilities. You all bonded with her, Mike drank from her, and what do you know? You all can do shit we thought had gone the way of the dinosaurs. It’s in her blood.”

Before I could react another elder held out his hand. “We are not here for her blood! Please calm down.”

My heart pounded furiously, and my wolf was howling to be released, to feast on this bloodsucker’s flesh. But I kept him inside, getting up to pace beside the table instead. The cops were sneaking peeks into the room, and I snarled at them through the blinds before turning back to the vamps. “Then spill it already. We have plans today.”

The elders looked toward the younger vamp again and he pulled out a file from a bag next to his chair. “I’ve been following some threads. Some strange threads. Threads that give a different account of…”

“We didn’t fight against each other in the Great War, we fought side-by-side,”

Archer interrupted. “To close the portals between our world and the world of the fae.”

The young vamp sat back, his eyebrow raised in surprise. “You already knew?”

“I made the discovery myself only recently.”

Well damn, I guess we were rekindling lost alliances today. But we still didn’t have time for this shit.

“Have you come to the same conclusion that sealing the portals is what probably led to the disappearance of our magic?”

I looked at Archer, who just shrugged. “I had a feeling, yes.”

“Fucking news to me,”

I said under my breath. Although I supposed it made sense. Once our connection to the world where magic came from was closed, the magic in us would probably disappear, too.

“Wait,”

Nolan said. “If a portal has reopened, why hasn’t our magic returned yet?”

The young vamp scratched his eyebrow and then looked at me. “This is just a hunch, but I believe the magic has become dormant in our species because it relies on proximity to the source. Even with a reopened portal, we need something to trigger it awake—a jump start, or catalyst, if you will.”

I bared my teeth. “Marlowe is not your catalyst.”

The elder who’d attacked Marlowe shifted in his seat uncomfortably. “I’m afraid she already has been.”

Elias’s chest heaved, his eyes narrowing in anger. “You drank her blood?”

“It was only a drop, I swear. You intervened before the bloodlust could take over.”

Julian rolled his neck. “You say that like it excuses anything. I just knocked out Eamon fucking Frost, I could easily wipe the floor with your fanged ass.”

The elders stood in their seats and hissed, while we met them with growls.

“Stop!”

yelled the young vampyr. “Moon, get over yourselves. What’s done is done. My dad ingested her blood, discovered he’d regained long lost vampyric abilities, and has begun sharing his blood with us. We’re here to apologize and to help.”

I spit on the ground. “Why would we want or need your help?”

His eyes fluttered and the lights began to flicker. A long shadow grew from under the table, then wrapped itself around his father’s neck like a whip, tightening until his face tinged with purple. He reached up to grab whatever was on him, but his hand went right through the darkness.

“Point proven,”

one of the other elders yawned, like he’d seen this show before.

The vamp’s eyes returned to normal and the shadow disappeared into the air. The elder coughed, staring daggers at his son. “Was that really necessary?”

Archer eyed the young vamp suspiciously. “How did you gain that much control of your powers so quickly?”

Elias had bonded with Marlowe weeks ago and had just learned how to throw a fireball. But this vamp seemed on par with Ezra after what was probably only a few days of exposure.

“I don’t know, honestly. Even Mike regained his ability to fly almost immediately after drinking from the omega. Perhaps we just naturally metabolize the magic component faster due to our digestive systems. Our bodies are made to break down blood very quickly.”

Archer lifted his eyes in thought. “Yes, that would be a reasonable hypothesis.”

“You still haven’t answered my question—why would we need your help?”

I asked through gritted teeth. This wasn’t one of Archer’s science lectures, and every second we wasted here was one where we weren’t looking for Marlowe, rescuing her from a world with some freak fae king and her brainwashed brother.

The young vamp looked at the Council who all nodded, and then he turned towards me. “I will help you find your omega and close the portal between our worlds again.”

Bullshit. I couldn’t believe a word this bloodsucker was saying. Even if we weren’t actually enemies dating back hundreds of years, he’d been a part of the group that had tried to take Marlowe away from us. That had attacked her. With her perfume, who’s to say he wouldn’t go crazy after meeting her, and try to drain her dry just like his old man had?

“Why?”

Elias asked. “This is beyond a simple apology. What’s in it for you?”

One of the elders tapped the file the young vamp had laid on the table, looking at Archer. “You seem to be the one who would know what to do with this. There are several files in here, scans of old documents we’ve uncovered from private archives recently that describe the fae’s systemic eradication of our kind in their world. When the fae came here to find the shifter twins and discovered we had survived and were thriving here, they tried to destroy us again.”

Another elder placed his hands on the table gently. “Despite the animosity, if you think about us objectively, you know we are not the evil monsters human lore describes us as, and neither are you. Our ways are different, but we truly only want to live our lives in peace. Should this fae king succeed in coming here, we are at risk of genocide once more, no matter how quickly we pass the magic between us to prepare.”

“I’m Kian Sable,”

the young vamp said, standing and holding out his hand. “I’m offering to fight alongside you to protect our world from the fae again and get back your omega.”

The pack turned to me, waiting for my decision.

About fucking time they deferred to my authority.

My knee-jerk reaction had me wanting to say no, so we could shift and decorate the walls with their guts.

But this kid did have some powerful magic. And while we were learning how to use our own, I didn’t think we’d be good enough to fend off an army of soldiers like Ezra. And that wasn’t even counting the fact that Ezra was likely just as the prophecy said—the alpha of alphas. If we challenged him to a fight, he could always just bark and force us to obey him.

Vamps weren’t as susceptible to that power, though, and they had their own methods of compulsion we could use to our advantage in an emergency.

I ran my tongue along my teeth. “It’s easy to offer us your assistance now, but I need you to understand something—if you join us and help us rescue Marlowe, she is not for you. You will not touch her and you will not drink from her, or I will rip your Moon-damned throat out.”

Kian looked towards his dad, whose head hung sheepishly, and then back to us. “I’d be the first to call my dad a shit stain, but I’ve never known him to go into bloodlust before. So, if your omega could make him lose control with just a sniff… yes, I understand it’s an easy promise to make without having met her. But, if it helps, I will make sure I am never alone with her.”

Hmph, I supposed that would have to do. I grunted and reached out, taking his cold hand in mine. “Fine. Welcome, temporarily, to Pack Wolcott.”