Blue Moon: Blood Moon Trilogy #3 (29 page)

“You don’t have a choice,” I interrupted. “My parents’ lives are at risk if I don’t go in there alone.”

“If you go in there alone, there could be several others in there, waiting to take you down. One tranq dart would be all it takes.”

“I’ll be able to hold them off long enough for you and the Pack to get to me.”

“I don’t like this,” Nick said. “It feels wrong. I still believe he won’t hurt your parents if he knows it would jeopardize your cooperation.”

“You can’t be sure of that, though,” I countered. “You weren’t the one who was privy to his sadistic ways while he had his team of undead freaks experiment on me…cut into me…electrocute me. You don’t know what he’s capable of, and I’m not willing to risk my parents’ lives. Or Cordelia’s. You will wait outside for some sort of sign that I’m in trouble.” I stood up taller, the wolf coming forth and claiming her authority. “That’s an order.”

Nick’s eyebrows pulled together in anger, the amber rings in his eyes expanding as waves of heat radiated off him. “An
order
? You’re ordering me around now? What happened to ‘you’re just as much in charge as I am’?”

My confidence wavered slightly, but the wolf wouldn’t back down, and I was grateful for it. “When it comes to the Pack taking orders, you are. But ultimately, I have the final say.”

The muscles in Nick’s jaw tensed, and his anger spiked as he leaned down, stopping mere inches from my face and talking through gritted teeth. “You’re being reckless, and you’re putting you and that baby at risk.”

“And you don’t trust me!” I shouted, my fear and anger finally exploding from me. “I know you worry—I get it—but you have to remember that this was basically my job back home…and I was
good
at it. I wish you could just have my back.”

“The last time I let you run off, you were taken and held hostage for weeks, so you’ll forgive me if I’m having a little trouble letting you out of my sight.”

His confession cut through me like a serrated blade, not only slicing, but ripping me apart inside, too. It wasn’t just anger that fuelled his words, but fear of repeating the past. A knot formed in my belly as I curled a hand around the back of his neck and pulled myself closer to him. I pressed my body to his, closing my eyes as his arms wrapped around my waist.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “Of course you’re right.” Pulling back slightly, I coaxed his eyes to mine. “But you can’t expect me to risk their lives. I know you won’t be far, and you’ll be ready if everything goes south. It’s daylight, and you said it yourself, they’re going to be confined to the shadows. They won’t get the upper hand.”

Even though I could still feel his hesitation, he finally agreed to let me go after my parents alone once we’d located them. He promised to stand by, but said at the very first sign of trouble, he wouldn’t hesitate to come after me. While I wanted to argue this further, I knew it would be futile. I might be Alpha now, but he would continue to defy me if my life was in danger.

Before heading to the stampede grounds, I stood up on my toes and kissed him firmly. “Be careful,” I told him.

As we walked the barren grounds, Nick explained that it was off-season, making this the perfect place for vampires to hole up. There were quite a few buildings, a racetrack, and acres beyond acres of empty space. Nick told me about the yearly fair and rodeo event that this place hosted.

This place was so huge, that we never saw or heard any of the other pack members while we made our rounds. Nick and I honed our hearing, hoping to pick up cries of help—of course, it was unlikely we’d hear anything since Bobby probably had them sedated. Realizing this, I started to rely on my sense of smell instead.

Even beneath the snow, I could pick up traces of the vampires. We later found footprints that would indicate they’d been moving about recently. There was another scent that mingled with the foul stench of death, and while it was slightly familiar, it was also foreign. My memory tracked it to something I smelled back at the compound. Something I’d come into contact with, yet held no distinct memory of. The sedation must have kept me from registering it properly, and that only added to my frustrations.

The hair on the back of my neck stood on end, awareness shooting through me like tendrils of electricity licking my skin. My body tensed, temperature rising and hands balling into fists at my sides as I searched my surroundings. There was no one on the grounds other than my packmates searching in the distance.

I stopped turning when my eyes fell on the large red, white, and brown building. I grew more alert, spine tingling as I headed for the stairs. Nick made a move to follow me as I headed toward the doors. I stopped before opening the doors, laying a hand on his chest and looking at him regretfully.

“I need you to stay here,” I told him. “Let the Pack know where we are, but only come inside if I’ve indicated that I’m in trouble.”

Naturally, he was still hesitant, but he didn’t try to fight me on this, instead reaching out and pulling me to him. He pressed his lips to mine desperately, mumbling over and over again for me to be careful, then he released me, and I made my way inside. I raced down the well-lit halls, knowing I was safe from any vampire as long as the sun was shining through the windows, until I came to a set of stairs that led to a set of double doors next to a sign that read “Hall B.” Something told me to go inside.

The door made a loud sound that echoed through the empty hall as I walked carefully, crouched into a defensive stance, one leg crossing over the other. I paid attention to the shadows, letting my eyes adjust to the darkness, using my sense of smell to guide me and listening for anything that might try to jump out at me. I was met with only silence.

I expected the air in here to smell musty from the months of not being used, but one look around told me this place was frequented regularly, likely used for events like weddings and banquets. Would I be found in here by the cleaning crew or someone looking to rent the place? Knowing that this was a real possibility, I knew I had to work fast.

A soft whimper caught my attention, and my eyes shot to the darkest corner of the room. It took a second, but my vision cleared enough to see an oversized mass there. It moved. There was a cough. A wheeze. A familiar sob.

“Mom!” I cried as I raced toward it, falling to my knees and seeing my dad there with her. Their arms were bound behind their backs, faces dirty as though they’d been kept somewhere else and were only brought here for this moment. They smelled of the earth as well as musty water.

They’d been kept in another underground dungeon, most likely.

I focused my attention on my hands, forcing my claws through the ends so I could break their plastic bindings. Once their arms were free, I pulled my mother into my arms. She was weak, but coherent as she hugged me back. Soon another set of arms enclosed around us, and my father’s familiar scent filled my head.

“Thank God you’re both okay,” I managed to say, my voice cracking with emotion. “Come on.” I pulled free and started to help them both to their feet. “We need to get out of he—”

Light flooded the room, and I whipped around, keeping my arms outstretched to shield my parents from whatever danger awaited us. The smell of death hit me before I laid eyes on my long-dead brother. The dual gasps of shock behind me told me this was the first time they’d seen their son since the night he died seven years ago.

“I told you you’d be back.”

“B-Bobby?” my mother stammered. I could smell her salty tears, and her confusion seeped into me, clouding my mind.

Feeling out of sorts, I’d barely registered her trying to push my arm out of the way. Thankfully, I was able to shake it off in time to stop her, pushing her back toward my father. He was just as confused as my mother, but his reaction was cautious, almost as though he knew this situation was dangerous. He could tell this wasn’t his son just by looking at him.

“I’m here,” I informed Bobby. “You can let them go now. It’s me you wanted.”

Bobby pressed his hands together, bringing them in front of his face and resting his fingertips against his lips. “Not
just
you, dear sister. There’s also the little one.”

I clenched my jaw, trying to stay in control as the wolf darted forward, snarling and snapping. She wanted out. She wanted to rip his head off. The only thing stopping me was knowing my parents were in the room with us.

Bobby continued toward us, his smile growing as his eyes flitted from me to our parents. “Besides, I never said I’d
trade
them for you.” His gaze landed on mine, holding it as he stopped inches from me. “I said I wanted us to be a family again.”

“Y-you’re alive,” my mother murmured behind me, drawing Bobby’s eyes to hers.

Bobby smiled, putting on a face she would recognize; he hid the demon, instead letting my brother’s face gain her trust. “Mom, I’ve missed you all so much.” He stepped to the right to get around me, but I followed him, refusing to let him anywhere near my parents.

Anger flashed in his eyes, black overtaking the green for the briefest of seconds. The whites of his eyes reddened, and I could hear the beginning of a growl forming in his chest.

Before he could make the first move, I shoved both of my hands into his sternum, sending him flying back across the room and into one of the pillars. The concrete cracked beneath the drapes that concealed them, and he slumped to the floor briefly before hopping effortlessly to his feet and shaking off my attack.

“You really shouldn’t have done that,” he warned, flashing his fangs, a feral snarl erupting from him as he sped toward me.

We fought, Bobby landing the first punch across my face. My mother screamed for us to stop, and part of me wanted to comply. It took me back to when we were younger and would squabble over something trivial. She would order us to stop, and we would without a second thought, for fear of the consequences.

It was the part of me that didn’t want to get on my mother’s bad side that wanted to stop. Thankfully, the wolf’s instinct to survive was stronger, and I was able to block her out as I avoided Bobby’s next right hook, crouching down and sweeping his legs out from under him. This pissed him off, and he managed to get back up within seconds, using the upward momentum to his advantage as he grabbed me by the neck and lifted me off the ground, and then slamming me back down onto it.

The floor gave way beneath me, cracking and denting against the curve of my spine, and it momentarily dazed me. My mother tried yelling at Bobby to stop as I gasped for air, his hands tightening while I desperately clawed at his hands and kicked my feet. My temperature started to climb, flight instincts activating as my hands started to transform, puncturing his dead flesh with my claws. He didn’t seem to even notice.

“Don’t worry,” he said through clenched teeth as my vision darkened around the edges. “I’m not going to kill you. I just need you to pass out.”

I could feel unconsciousness closing in around me as I continued to struggle. The wolf panicked before a surge of adrenaline shot through me, and I swung my legs up, managing to get one of them across Bobby’s chest and grappling him to the ground. I felt dizzy and weak. I couldn’t call out, my larynx pinched from being strangled. Instead of sticking around for a fight, I ran toward my parents, ignoring the instinct to sit and catch my breath. I grabbed my mom by the arm, leading her toward the double doors. My father followed without question, his fear more palpable than his confusion from earlier.

We raced down the stairs and into the brightly lit corridor, headed for the door I’d originally entered. We were safest bathed in sunlight, but I still needed to get outside and put as much distance between Bobby and me as possible.

Outside in the crisp winter air, I saw no sign of Nick. His scent lingered, and there was nothing off-putting about it, leading me to believe he was fine. I decided to follow his scent, but first I had to make sure my parents were all right.

“Are you guys okay?” I demanded, pulling my mom to me and moving her head from side to side. “Were you hurt? Bitten? Anything?”

My mom pulled away, big blue eyes full of fear and bewilderment. “What the hell happened back there?”

I stumbled for an explanation as I reached for my dad, checking him over as well. A hinge squeaked behind me, and I turned, expecting to find Nick. A weight formed in the pit of my stomach when, instead, I watched as Bobby stepped through the doors…

…and into the day.

It was impossible. From everything I’d read, this wasn’t something that could happen in our world. Heart hammering in my chest, I took a clumsy step backward, holding my arm out to keep my parents back. Bobby took another step, the sunlight making the blue veins stand out even more against the almost-translucent white pallor of his skin. He didn’t move fast, like a predator stalking its prey before it pounced, and the smile on his face was even more disconcerting in the light of day. Panic clawed at me, trying to latch on and pull me back, but each step I took was awkward, my ankles bending against the uneven terrain. Finally, I found my voice.