Page 30 of The Tracker's Revenge

Yura had even suggested that I join one of their training sessions in order to share what I knew about hybrids with them. She thought it would be beneficial. I really didn’t want to go, especially since the place where the training was conducted belonged to Travis Hillworth, but she’d asked nicely, and I was unable to sayno. I’d asked Jake and Eric to go with me, but they both refused—Jake because he had a pack meeting with his grandfather, and Eric because he was a cynical jerk.

“I’m not going anywhere near there, Toni,” he’d said. “And you shouldn’t either. They won’t make you feel welcome. Quite the contrary. You don’t have a pack. You don’t have tradition and legacy, which is all any of them care about. Take it from someone who has none of those things anymore.”

“It can’t be that bad,” I’d argued, feeling a need to belong with my kind despite my reticence to go.

Eric had shrugged. “It’s your call.”

On the way back, I’d asked Jake if his grandfather had been given the dagger, but he said Walter didn’t even mention it and that he was as clueless as me. I was just glad to be rid of it, though I leaned toward hoping Walter was not the one guarding it. He was too ambitious. If he had it, all I could hope for was that he respected his kind enough not to feed them vampire-tainted blood.

When Jake and I stopped by the front door of my condo, he grabbed my wrist as I keyed the lock. He cocked his ear as if he’d heard something inside. I did the same, my heart leaping and knocking hard against my chest. I heard nothing and gave Jake a questioning look.

“What?” I mouthed.

“Just being cautious.”

“Mom’s protection spells are still in place.” She’d come over as soon as she recovered from Blake’s attack and cast some heavy-duty spells on my place. Some of her best work, she’d said. I knew no one had broken in because the doorknob was still pewter-colored. It was magicked to turn brassy if someone forced entry, a subtle change that would go unnoticed by those who didn’t know how the spells worked.

Besides, my ears and sniffer weren’t detecting anything unusual.

Jake nodded, his clear eyes scanning the corridor. He seemed ready for vampires, hybrids, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, anything to attack.

He was still on edge and so was I. These last few days had been stressful, to say the least.

I unlocked the door and walked into my place. It was still pretty empty with barely any furniture and decorations. Jake closed the door behind him, removed his jacket, and seemed to relax, if only minimally.

He stood there, looking pensive.

I put a hand on his arm. “What is it?”

“Why did you say you’re in... Eric’s pack?”

I did a double-take. That was not what I’d expected. “I dunno.” But that wasn’t true. I did know. It was a feeling in my chest, nothing I could put into words, though it maybe meant nothing since it wasn’t official or reciprocated. Eric didn’t want a pack. “I just... felt he needed my support. They were being such assholes to him.” I narrowed my eyes. “You’re not jealous, are you?”

“No, no, nothing like that.”

“Good.”

“I just... always felt like you and I... you know...”

Butterflies did jumping jacks in my stomach. If we were able to be together, I’d figured I would join his pack, though he’d never brought it up like this.

“Of course you and I...” I let the words hand like he had, then added, “but that doesn’t mean we can’t let Eric join.”

“That would never work. He’s an alpha.”

“I’m an alpha, too.”

He looked confused as if this was too much to process and maybe it was—at least at the moment. Content with leaving it at that, I marched toward the kitchen where I kept Cupid’s fishbowl. He was probably starving.

As soon as I crossed the threshold, a slightly decaying scent entered my nose. I stopped in my tracks, my eyes homing in on the murky water that now filled his little home.

“No!” I exclaimed in a strangled cry, turned on my heel, and buried my face in Jake’s chest, who now stood right behind me.

“What is it?!” he asked in a panic.

“He’s dead,” I hiccuped, tears streaming down my eyes.

Jake rubbed my back and rested his cheek on the top of my head. “It’s not your fault.”