Page 35 of Bonded By Blood
Matilda kept her amusement small. “Forgive my intrusion, Lady Brianna,” she said. “The Queen needs to see you immediately. I’m afraid another matter has come up.” Her focus shifted to Joe. “Your presence has been requested as well, Mr. Pearce.”
Another matter? What else could possibly have happened that was so urgent? Brianna’s stomach clenched with renewed anxiety. “Thank you, Matilda.”
Joe cast Brianna a look of concern as Matilda quietly swept from the room. The question in his eyes was obvious, so Brianna merely shook her head. They stood, she straightened her dress, and made their way toward her mother’s meeting room once again.
Joe held his place at her side for every step.
****
The anger in Joe’s system was finally fading by the time they neared their destination. Although he was sure the reprieve was temporary. He’d been too overwhelmed with everything going on around him. He should have asked the first time the thought had crossed his mind. Not that his asking a question could have prevented the extent of … this.
Tobias Wilson had dropped another body, this time outside of Sacramento. It hadn’t been discovered by law enforcement, so they hadn’t heard about it on the news. The report had come from a rattled vampire in the area, playing messenger on behalf of the victim. Because this time, the body was a wolf.
Joe’s stomach had hit the floor so fast when he’d heard those words he’d nearly toppled with it. A wolf? Tobias had actually gotten to one of the werewolves? Sure, he’d seen for himself how vicious Tobias was, but he could hardly believe the news. The details matched, though. Even the perplexing ones. The wolf’s throat had been ripped out, like all the other victims. There wasn’t nearly enough blood loss to match the scene, which was consistent in theory but made no actual sense, since wolf blood was poisonous to vampires. But the reporting vamp insisted it was true.
“Joseph,” Trista had said once she’d explained all of that. “You’re going to go with Seth to speak with Mr. Jefferies. He’s familiar with Seth, and he’ll trust you. I expect you to explain all this to him in a way that will keep him from doing anything stupid.”
That was when Joe had finally learned that Trista never authorized anyone to let Adam or the pack know about his situation. It’d been a few days, at least, so they probably knew he was missing. There was a chance they’d gone to his place looking for him, and if they had, they’d have smelled vampire all over it. Meaning in no way was Adam going to be in a state of mind to be warm and fuzzy with the vampire community, since he’d been left to jump to his own conclusions.
Trista was vastly overestimating Joe’s ability to control an Alpha. And that said nothing for whether or not Joe felt inclined to try by the time he and Seth actually reached the formal territory line.
It’d been nearly two hours since he’d heard the news and Joe’s gut was still churning. He was angry, angry that he hadn’t thought to at least ask, angry that his friends were grieving, angry that he’d lost a friend. He was scared for who that friend might be—he only actually knew it was a male and it wasn’t Adam. He was anxious in a gut-twisting combination of ways to find out how they’d react to him.
Seth settled a hand on his shoulder as the scent of werewolf began to permeate the area. “Are you ready for this?”
Joe swallowed hard. “No.” He couldn’t hold his negative emotions against Seth, since the man hadn’t been in the state when any of it had gone down. Joe was just glad Trista hadn’t sent him with Jasen.
Seth gave his shoulder a squeeze and let go. “I can’t pretend to sympathize with you,” he said, “but they’re your friends, right? Hopefully they’ll remember that.”
Yeah. Hopefully. He didn’t know how worried he was about that in particular, or just the overall pain he was about to bring to so many people he loved. But perhaps that was naïve. Perhaps he should be worried. Trista expected him to be blindly loyal to vampires as a species now—he had that impression, at least—simply because he’d been forcibly Turned. Would that expectation work in the reverse?
Seth came to a full stop and Joe followed his lead. They weren’t on the barely-discernable dirt road Joe usually took when he visited. In fact, they weren’t close enough to see the cabin at all. Joe felt confident in assuming they’d crossed the invisible boundary line, based purely on the change in animal scent, but he didn’t think they’d gone much farther. Joe watched as Seth lifted a hand to his mouth, tucked thumb and forefinger past his lips, and released one sharp whistle. A signal.
Here it comes…
The thought had barely formed before the first in a series of short, deliberate howls went up. He’d heard the pack call out to each other before, but never had their individual cries been so distinct. Joe stood still, listening to the subtle differences in pitch and tone. He couldn’t identify anyone by their howl, but he wondered suddenly if that was something he’d be able to do in the future. If they’re even willing to talk to me again after today.
Rapid footfalls, multiple sets moving quickly over the forest floor, eclipsed the fading sounds of howling and drew Joe’s focus. Every now and then the scrape of nail on rock punctuated the rhythm, never quite sharp enough to make him wince. There had to be two, maybe three, wolves racing toward them. He didn’t have the experience necessary to determine that kind of detail. But he did have a different kind of experience.
He knew the pack.
It was mid-size by the most generous accounts—and now it was down one. So who would Adam bring? Not everyone, for certain. He wouldn’t want the vampires he no longer trusted near Whitney, and he wouldn’t leave her or the heart of the territory unprotected. Whitney, Samantha, and Kyle would be back at the cabin, alongside most of the pack. The more he thought about it, the more Joe was certain Adam wouldn’t bring more than two men as backup. And once he came to that conclusion, it occurred to Joe he already knew which two Adam would probably pick. The twins, Matt and Ty.
The twins were originally from the Jefferies Pack out in Montana. They’d grown up beside Adam and, for reasons Joe wasn’t privy to, had eventually chosen to leave Adam’s father’s pack in favor of traveling out to California and joining their friend. Next to Jim, and Whitney, they were probably the wolves Adam trusted most.
Low growling reached Joe’s ears at about the time he realized he could smell what had to be werewolf blood, getting closer. It was muted, the way a sound might be muffled, and sour—very much like he’d pictured the scent of werewolf blood after it had been described to him years ago. A different rhythmic pounding assailed his senses next, off-kilter with the thudding footfalls. Heartbeats.
Joe closed his eyes and listened, trying to picture the source of the sounds and encroaching scents. It took him a few seconds, but he managed to figure out the separation in patterns. Three. Just like he’d expected. He opened his eyes again as the bushes finally rustled, a split-second warning before three angry wolves burst into view.
The most forward wolf was, of course, large, black, and familiar. Although Joe certainly wasn’t used to the sight of Adam’s bared teeth or the immediate tremor of discomfort that shot through him at the sight of his friend. He’d never been on the receiving end of an Alpha’s ire before—it wasn’t a place he wanted to linger.
Flanking him, but slightly behind, were the twins. A bit smaller in size than their Alpha, one was hunched low and snarling, ears flat on his head. His brother held a nearly identical posture, his nails digging into the dirt as if in demonstration of his rage. One’s fur was a light, mousy brown color, the other a more ashen gray. In their human forms their hair color wasn’t so obviously distinct and, for the life of him, Joe couldn’t get his brain to recall which wolf was which. The brown furred wolf wore a shoulder bag strapped to his back, undoubtedly packed with one or three pairs of pants. So at least the option of conversation wasn’t completely off the table.
Joe took a slow breath and all at once the growling ceased. The sudden silence was nearly deafening.
Seth quietly stepped sideways and glanced to Joe. As if Joe didn’t already know he needed to say something.
He cleared his throat, feeling more awkward now—somehow—than he had when that woman had walked in on him and Brianna a couple of hours earlier. His new fangs were suddenly five times as heavy, and more in the way than they’d seemed just minutes before. “Hey … guys.” He barely resisted the urge to slam the heel of his hand to his forehead. I can do better than that. “There’re some things we need to talk about.”