How powerful was the man?

  *

  Laney woke to a pounding head.

  “Here.” Someone slid a hand under her shoulders and propped her upright. A groan escaped her in protest.

  “You need to drink.”

  She was thirsty. But her head hurt so much …

  Gently, someone helped her take a few sips of room-temperature water. Nothing had ever tasted so good. Her helper lowered her back to the mattress and she shut her eyes, grateful. Hopefully they’d made it out of the compound. She’d used the limited skills she had to keep the bullets away, but it had put too much strain on her mind and it had given way. She was lucky she hadn’t done herself more harm than a pounding head; at least, that’s what she hoped.

  Then, into the quiet that had soothed her poor mind, a familiar voice spoke. “You should have said you were a Gray.”

  It took her a few moments to process what John had said. “Why?”

  “It’s something essential about you.”

  Laney somehow managed a snort. “Because we shared those kind of details in our visits. Is your name even John?” It was an odd name for a were.

  Warm fingers grabbed her chin, holding her head still. “I want to know everything about you. And my name is Wolfgang – Wolf.”

  Despite the pain in her head, warm tingles spread through her. “This isn’t going to work.”

  “What isn’t?”

  “This.” Laney waved a vague hand through the air. She wanted to shake her head, but he held it still. Wolf brushed a feather-soft kiss against her mouth, electrifying her skin and making her forget about her pounding head.

  “It seems to work well.” His words were deep, rough.

  “No, it will just end badly.” Mostly for her. She was the human.

  “Why can’t it work?”

  “I’m your food source.”

  “You aren’t food. You don’t have to go back to the settlement.” He gave her a lopsided grin. “We could do with a doctor here.”

  “I’m not about to play that kind of doctor.”

  He let go of her chin and brushed strands of her hair from her forehead. So gentle. Ever since she’d first had contact with him, he’d treated her like porcelain. And now he was acting like she was the most precious thing in his world.

  “You could become Bitten.” The comment was offhand, but she knew he meant it. He was as taut as a bowstring.

  “I might not survive.”

  “One of your eyes is Brown. You’d have a fifty percent chance of making it. Just as much as a Hazel, and they normally do.”

  But she was different. She had heterochromia, and if she was Bitten, she could end up in who knew what state. Maybe she’d only half turn, making her into a nightmare to scare children. “I don’t want to feed off humans. I don’t think I could live with needing to eat human liver.”

  His expression dulled. “You won’t even try to see if it could work?”

  “How can it?”

  Leaning down, he pressed his forehead to hers, tender. “Because it has to.”

  Chapter 21

  I have a plan. My sisters may hate me for it, but it’s the only humane way forward. We – the Graced – could end this war right now, but so many people would die. I want to save as many as I can. If I can. I just have to get the others to agree. I know Gemma Frost is on board.

  ~ Quin Kirkman, Journal

  It had been almost six months since they’d broken Laney, Jane and the nine other women out from the vampire compound. Quin had vanished once he’d been convinced his sisters were safe. Off to wherever Graceds disappeared to.

  So much for their deal.

  “Did you hear about what happened today?” Wolf asked Marcus.

  The three of them, Marcus, Trace and Wolf, were sitting in Wolf’s small office. It had never felt more spacious than it had since he returned from his concrete and steel cell. Although, the three of them certainly made the area feel cramped. Wolf kicked his feet up on his desk. His office, his rules. The other two looked at his raised legs with resentment. They did look a little restricted. Wolf grinned.

  When he’d brought the vampire back to the compound, he’d half expected to kill the leech when Laney wasn’t looking and leave it at that. But Marcus had been injured and largely feeble, and well, Wolf had felt sorry for him – aside from Laney’s mutterings about patient care and what not. Who even knew the Hippocratic Oath was still taken seriously with humans becoming a rare species? Either way, pity was a weakness in a clan leader, but he’d allowed it. And now he had a new buddy.

  It was almost galling.

  Marcus gave a depreciating smile. “That I failed yet again in my attempts to woo the lovely Jane?”

  “That’s old news.” Wolf waved a dismissive hand. “This is even better.”

  Trace folded his arms across his broad chest.

  “Trace is being courted.”

  “Fuck off.” Trace’s frown turned thunderous.

  Wolf laughed. It felt good. He hadn’t done enough of it lately. “A liver was left in a box out near the compound this morning. Trace’s name was carved into the lid.” He grinned. “It was a bit off before we got to it, though. And it was a vampire’s.”

  Marcus eyed Trace. “What did you do to make Tatiana like you? I assume it’s Tatiana. Didn’t you say you snapped her neck?”

  “Maybe she gets off on the whole ‘let’s kill each other’ thing,” Wolf suggested.

  “I am going to have to fake my death. This is the sixth present she’s sent me since we got the humans out, and she hasn’t retaliated. Normally we’d be at full-blown war.”

  “Maybe you should just put out to keep them out?” Marcus said.

  Trace growled. “That from the man who was staked over and over again because he wouldn’t fuck the crazy leech.”

  “No way was I producing offspring with that psychopath. And that’s saying a fair bit coming from me.” Marcus nodded to himself. “But it’s not like you have the risk of getting her pregnant.”

  Marcus hadn’t exactly had the cleanest of reputations. But then, you couldn’t be a clan leader and remain pristine. Wasn’t in the job description. But Tatiana did make him look like a do-gooder.

  Trace shook his head. “I don’t want anything precious of mine near her. She might rip my cock off in some convoluted revenge for me breaking her neck.”

  Someone tapped at the door. “Knock knock.”

  The three of them turned to look at the intruder and Wolf’s jaw dropped. “Odo?”

  Right there in the corridor was his brother, Odolf. The lanky were was leaning against the doorjamb as if he hadn’t a care in the world. Wolf hadn’t seen his brother in years – Odo was a lone ranger if ever there was one. Wolf sprung to his feet and leaped over the desk, coming to stand before his sibling. He slapped the other man on the back.

  “Odo!” Trace also stood.

  Odo gave a careless grin and waved at the bear, but did a double take when he spotted Marcus. A low growl emerged from his brother’s chest.

  “Why is there a leech in your office? Without chains?” Odo’s voice was rough, hackles up.

  Wolf shook his head. “Long story, but he’s safe. Anyway, what are you doing here? Staying for long?”

  The two of them had a generally uneasy relationship. Mostly because Wolf wanted Odo to stay with the clan and be safe, whereas Odo wanted to wander free and be unconstrained. Plus, Odo wasn’t as dominant as Wolf, so was lower in the pecking order. That had never sat well with the other werewolf. But Wolf still missed him.

  Looking at Odo was like looking in a mirror, although one with a different color palette. They were almost identical, except Odo had white-blond hair to Wolf’s blond-brown and white skin to Wolf’s tan. They both had the same golden-yellow eyes, though. And Odo’s were still locked suspiciously on Marcus.

  “No, I won’t be staying long. But I thought I’d drop off my son.”

  Wolf felt his jaw drop. Saw Trace’s do the same. “Son?”

  Odo turned and shouted down the corridor, “Boy!”

  Blinking, Wolf saw a lanky youth skulk toward them. Hands in his pockets, hair wild about his face, it was uncanny how much the lad looked both like Odo and himself. Although far more sullen.

  Odo stood next to the lad, awkward. “This is my son.”

  “You said the word ‘son,’ but I’m still not getting it.” Wolf ran a hand over his face.

  “What are you talking about? The boy looks just like you two,” Marcus said, ever helpful. “Maybe he’s your son, Wolf.”

  The youth’s eyes went wide at the sight of the vampire, and he cowered a little behind Odo. Although, Wolf could tell there was no real love between the father and son duo.

  “Apparently I knocked his mother up about twenty years ago. Went through the area a month or two back and spotted the kid. Most of the clan was dead. He’d been living pretty rough.”

  Twenty years old. The poor boy only looked about fifteen he was so skinny. Living in a ghost town … no wonder the lad was wary. And typical Odo would have just grabbed the kid without too much in the way of explanation and hightailed it.

  “I can’t look after a kid,” Odo continued. “So I thought I’d drop him here, let the clan raise him. How it should be.”

  No, that wasn’t how it should be. That only happened if you were an orphan. Something like anger flashed in the youth’s eyes, but his mouth remained compressed in a thin line.

  Odo looked at the three of them, standing crammed in the entrance of Wolf’s office. “I’ll let you settle him in, I’m going to get a shower. Catch you later, boy.”

  With that, Odo turned and wandered off down the hall, whistling. When he was out of earshot, Marcus scratched his head. “Is it just me, or was that whole conversation completely fucked up?”

  Wolf’s reply was automatic. “Language.”

  “Because the kid’s never heard the word ‘fuck’ before.” Trace shook his head.

  The boy remained silent.

  Wolf turned to him, tried his best ‘nice guy’ smile. Kid didn’t seem to buy it, from the stony expression on his face. Smart.

  “What’s your name?” Wolf asked into the quiet.

  “Clay. Clay Lovett.”

  Not his or his brother’s surname, interesting.

  “Well, Clay. I’m Wolfgang – Wolf for short.” Wolf extended his hand out for a shake. “That big hulking idiot is Trace, and the fanged moron is Marcus.”

  Clay took Wolf’s hand, a little tentative at first, but with strength. “Nice to meet you. I think.”

  *

  “That vampire won’t leave me alone.” Jane scrunched her face as she turned to look at Laney.

  Laney bit the inside of her cheek to prevent herself from smiling. The two of them were standing in the half-working lab that belonged to the base Wolf had appropriated. It had been wonderfully intact, even with a computer that ran off the generated power. Jane had actually laughed with glee when she’d spotted it. The rest Laney had been able to manipulate with her telekinesis to get it working.

  “The vampire is a first-generation ex-clan chief.” Who had recovered from his multiple stakings surprisingly well. He had scars, but then, so did Wolf. The were had small, puckered blue-black marks, showing the bullet wounds and the tissue that had never recovered properly.

  “He’s annoying.”

  He’s smitten, Laney wanted to say, but she kept quiet.

  It was rather amusing to watch the Marcus Kipling trip all over himself trying to impress Jane, only to fail on every level he could. The only time he could get her interested in him was when he was volunteering his blood and body for their experiments. All the suave and charm he normally exuded were useless on her sister. Suffice to say, he seemed to be very interested in their progress.

  “Are you ready to tell them?” Jane asked.

  “Guess I have to be.” Their ‘vaccine,’ as they called it, was ready. Thanks to all the mental exercises and gedanken experiments they’d run back in the settlement, they’d managed to cut years off their research. Although, they’d already been working on this particular problem for a good eight years before that. And had based their research off a hundred years of earlier experimentation.

  “Tell us what?” Wolf strode into the lab like he owned it. Then again, he did.

  “We’re ready to begin trials,” Jane announced.

  Laney hadn’t had to say anything in the end anyway.

  Marcus and Trace were right on Wolf’s heels, as was a malnourished-looking youth. Features that were scarily familiar looked at her from that thin face. Wolf stopped, shoved his hands in his pockets, and looked a little uncomfortable. “This is my long-lost nephew, Clay.”

  Marcus ignored the introduction and was eyeing Jane like a tasty treat. Jane took a couple of steps closer to Laney. “He’s staring at me again,” she whispered.

  “He can hear you,” Laney replied.

  Marcus flushed a pale pink – which was quite the blush for a vampire – and stared at his boots. Trace laughed.

  “Hey, I wouldn’t laugh if I was you,” Laney said. “I hear you’re quite popular nowadays.”

  “Would you all just shut up about that?” Trace grumbled without heat. While Laney still found the monstrous man slightly terrifying, he’d only ever been kind to her and Jane. He raised his eyes to the ceiling.

  “So who’re the guinea pigs?” Wolf asked. “Aside from my charming self.”

  That had been one of the stipulations when they first began. Wolf or Trace would have to be one of the subjects, being second generation. But only one of them. If something went wrong, they couldn’t afford to lose both alphas.

  “We have a list. You can go first, though,” Laney said. She was nervous. If this worked, then the barriers she’d managed to erect between them would fail. They joked about Tatiana and Marcus courting Trace and Jane, but Wolf had been the most relentless. While Laney refused to take their relationship further due to their species, he would constantly seek her out, kiss her when her guard was down, and go to extremes to get her to simply laugh. Sometimes, they just sat and talked. He was funny, smart, and loyal as anything. She didn’t know why he wanted her.

  Crazily, she loved him. And she wanted to be with him so badly she’d cry herself to sleep at night. But she couldn’t begin something that would just end when she began to age and he grew bored. Or, he might use her affection for him to Bite her and make her a were. She couldn’t do that, not when humans were still their only food source.

  Jane loaded a syringe full of the gene-altering virus and handed it to Laney. Wolf pulled up a chair and rolled up his sleeve, exposing a bicep. The fingers of her free hand curled, wanting nothing more than to stroke all that glorious skin and muscle.

  She quickly swabbed the area with alcohol, then injected the syringe. Once it was done, she released her breath, and realized everyone else had been holding theirs too.

  “What did you just do?” the boy asked into the quiet, as they all studied Wolf to see if anything was going to happen.

  “We injected him with a gene—” Jane began.

  Laney interrupted. “We made a drug that will hopefully mean he no longer has to rely on human liver. That his body will be able to process the nutrients from animal flesh. Any animal flesh.”

  Jane blinked. “If you don’t want to be technical about it, yes.”

  “Lack of technical mumbo jumbo is good,” Trace said.

  “You can talk technical all you want to me.” Marcus gave a megawatt grin.

  Jane glowered at him and held up another needle. “Here.”

  Marcus sidled over to her with a hopeful look. She frowned even harder at him. “You get one too.” Jane jabbed the vampire in the arm with less finesse than Laney had Wolf. And no alcohol swab. She was cranky.

  “Ow.”

  “He’s not a were,” Trace said.

  “No, but he was annoying and kept giving me blood samples.” Jane put the syringe down and turned to her computer. She began typing notes rapidly. “So I made one for vampires, too.”

  Silence.

  “Did you hear that? She just whipped up the salvation for my people?” Marcus turned to Jane, who was still typing notes. “Will you marry me?” he blurted.

  “No.”

  “Let me take you on a date?”

  Jane didn’t even look up. “A date? Where to? The cells? No.”

  “Kiss my arm better?”

  Jane sighed. “It’s already healed.”

  Laney laughed.

  A gentle hand touched her arm and she jolted. Wolf spoke quietly, “How long until we know it works?”

  “How long until you normally starve from not eating human liver?”

  “We start to feel the effects after a week or two.”

  “Give it a month with a game diet. See how we go.”

  “You are amazing, you know that?” Wolf’s eyes were serious. His whole body leaned toward her.

  She shrugged, tried to act natural. “Just doing my job.”

  He crushed her in a hug. It was so unexpected she squeaked. She felt everyone’s eyes turn to them, then heard Trace herding the others out of the lab. Jane protested, but Marcus made some sleazy comment that left her spluttering.

  Wolf loosened the hug and framed her face in his hands. “I can’t keep pretending that I don’t admire you, that I don’t love you. I know you don’t want to try, but I do. Even if this drug doesn’t work, even if you have to stay human, I still want to try.”

  Laney’s heart broke. Raising a shaking hand, she touched his mouth. “I—”

  “No, don’t say anything because you feel you have to. But know that I will wait for you forever if I have to. I love you, Laney. You’re in my soul, if I have one.”

  She burst into tears.

  Wolf made shushing sounds and gathered her in his arms. She cried for a long time, but her fear bled out as she did so. Hiccupping, she wiped the tears from her cheeks and raised puffy eyes to meet his steady and concerned gaze.

  “I love you, too. But I don’t think I can ever eat human liver. It’s why I’ve been working so hard on the vaccine.”

 

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