Devi: Matefinder Book 2 (13 page)

                “You okay? You’ve been quiet,” I asked.

                He nodded. “To be honest I’m a little shocked. He was so normal. If he didn’t smell like a vampire, you wouldn’t have known.”

                I agreed. “Yeah, and the drugs. Wow. Who knew?”

                Kai shook his head. “That’s the thing. I should have known! I should have been watching the vampires all these years.”

                “Kai, you can’t blame yourself.”

                “Aurora, I’m an old wolf. I’ve been around a long time. What have I been doing? Roaming packs looking to be Alpha for my own selfish gain, while vampires are drugging up humans against their will! Our job is to protect humans. We’ve grown soft!” The steering wheel creaked under his grasp.

                I tried to interject, but he continued.

                “It’s sick! It’s got to stop. This was about you before but now it’s about everyone. Layla and her human drugging clan are going to be wiped off the face of this earth.” He clenched the steering wheel, his knuckles white.

                Part of me agreed. The Devi? But part of me felt like if Alek could be helped maybe some of them could too. I kept my mouth shut. My mate needed support. I squeezed his hand.

                “I’m with you Kai. I’m with you.”

                I had fallen asleep in the car. I awoke to Kai unbuckling my seat belt and picking me up. It was dark out and we had reached home.

                “You know what I think is so cute?” Kai whispered in my ear as I clung to him.

                “Hmm?” I was awake but still sleepy.

                “That even though you’re a werewolf who’s very hard to kill, you still wear a seatbelt.”

                I laughed deeply.

                “I love you, Kai. I can’t wait to be your wife.”

                Kai’s eyes rested on my lips. “I wish you weren’t so sleepy, I wanted to take you for a run and show you someplace special.”

                I kissed him deeply and gave him a smoldering look. “I’m awake now.”

                He smirked. “There is a place I have been meaning to take you. Are you up for a half hour run to get there?”

                I leapt off of him and began undressing in response. He watched me fully undress and shift before he shifted and followed me into the forest.

                As we were running, I let him take the lead. He was taking me down a path I didn’t recognize. After about a half hour, he slowed and we came upon a series of wooden sheds.

               
‘What is this place?’
I asked him. As we padded closer, I saw large wooden tubs. Some of them were huge and others were just hollowed out tree trunks. They were filled with steaming hot water.

                ‘Welcome to Bagby Hot Springs.’
He walked inside one of the wooden sheds. Two walls were missing, making it open to the lush, green forest. The air was crisp and cold and steam rose up out of the large hot tub. I shifted into my human form, as did Kai. He leapt into the tub and I followed.

                “Whoa! It’s hot,” I exclaimed.

                Kai laughed and pulled me next to him.

                “Mother Nature’s bubble bath.”

                “This is one of your last nights as an unmarried man. Don’t you want to be at a bar or a strip club with Max and the boys?” I teased.

                He pulled me up onto his lap. “I want to be right where I am.” He kissed me.

                I knew that marrying Kai was the best decision of my life.

***

               
The next morning, I came out to the kitchen to find Kai and Sylvia talking in hushed voices.

                “Give it to me straight. I know witches have knowledge on the vampires. How many of them are there?” Kai was questioning her.

                Sylvia wrung her hands nervously.

                “Are you asking me how many vampires in their entire species or just in America?” Sylvia questioned.

                “Both.” Kai growled.

                Sylvia shrugged. “We don’t exactly keep track, but a ball park estimate, I would say two billion worldwide and about 100 million in America, most of them belonging to Layla’s clan.”

                “Shit. But there are more humans than all of the races combined?” Kai pondered aloud. I shuffled my feet quietly trying to get closer. Kai looked up. I quickly walked toward him.

                “Morning.” I gave him a soft kiss.

                He looked at me skeptically. “Eavesdropping?”

                “Is it possible to eavesdrop in your own home?” I countered.

                Kai grumbled and Sylvia smirked.

                “What are you going to do about the vampires?” I questioned him.

                Kai’s eyes glowed yellow. “Revenge.”

                Sylvia cleared her throat. “Well, I think I’ll be going now.” She paused and looked at Kai. “Good luck.”

                He nodded.

                I eyed him skeptically. “Good luck with what?”

                He sighed and put his arms around my waist resting them at the small of my back. I tucked myself into his big strong body. “I couldn’t sleep at all last night. Knowing the vampires were getting young humans hooked on drugs so they could suck them dry like a straw infuriates me.” He told me.

                He fingered my long platinum blonde hair.

                “Me too. So what’s the plan?” I prompted him. Kai was the Alpha with a plan for everything. I was hoping it wasn’t too crazy this time.

               
‘We’re going to do something to cripple the vampires’ drug supply. Ever been to Mexico?’
He told me inside my head to keep the conversation private.

                My mouth dropped open in shock. “You’re totally crazy, aren’t you? Been alive too long? Have a death wish?” I prompted him.

                He laughed. “That’s fine. If you’re scared, you can stay here with Emma and Diya and do make-up and decorating.”

                I gave him a glare. “Hell no. When do we leave?”

                He smiled. “In a few hours. I have a private plane waiting and I’m firming up some details with the council and some other packs.”

                Other packs? Whoa. Looks like we were in for some excitement.

                Seattle sent twenty of their wolves. We brought forty. We all made our way in a caravan of rented cars from the airport. We stopped at a gas station in Tucson, Arizona to meet with the local pack there. Tucson was close to Nogales, Mexico, the biggest heroin drug entry point in the US.

                A dozen bikers rolled into the parking lot just as we exited our cars. A tall, slender woman jumped off her bike and shook out her long red hair. Her arms were littered with tattoos of skulls and roses. She wore cut-off jean shorts that showcased her long, muscular legs. A few bigger boys walked behind her. She kept my gaze but smiled. She was an Alpha. I could tell.

                “You must be Aurora?” She hugged me. She smelled like motor oil and sandalwood. I returned the hug, taken aback.

                “I’m Katerina. It’s an honor to meet you. We dominant women gotta stick together.” She winked.

                I smiled, immediately liking her.

                Max huffed beside me. “You’re still a raging feminist, Kat.”

                She grinned and gave Max and big hug. “And you’re still just a piece of eye candy.”

                He shrugged. “Nothing wrong with that.”

                I laughed.

                Kat gave Shamus a big hug. “How’s Petra? Still acting like she’s been on her period for ten years?”

                My mouth dropped open, but Shamus shook his head, smiling. “It’s good to see you, Kat. And your trash-talking mouth, nothing changes.”

                She smiled and then tipped her head to Kai. “Kai.”

                Kai nodded back to her. “Kat.”

                Something passed between them. Why wasn’t she hugging him? Did they date? Ugh. I didn’t want to know. Clearly they all knew each other. How many exes did my mate have?

                “My second, Donny boy.” She gestured to the big brute beside her with black hair and neck tattoos.

                “She’s kidding. If you call me Donny boy we will have problems. I go by D.”

                Kai smirked at D and shook his hand. “I’m Kai. Aurora, my mate, is my second. This is Max, my third.”

                I heard Max growl softly behind me.

                Kat winked at me. “Takes men’s egos a little longer to recover than ours.” She gestured to Max.

                “Hah! Like that time I beat you in arm wrestling? You sulked for a week,” Max told her.

                ‘Were you guys all pack?’
I asked Kai.

                ‘Yes, in Utah. Ages ago.’

                She scanned the group of wolves behind us and lowered her voice. “Kai, since you called me, I have had some of my wolves watching the border.”

                Kai and I leaned in. Shamus, Max, and D huddled around us.

                “You won’t believe it,” she exclaimed. “The border workers are vampires.”

                The collective curse word was comedic. “Not all of them, but enough to get a shit ton of drugs through,” Kat told us.

                Kai’s eyes went yellow. “The vampires need to be crippled. It’s time we take a stand.”

                Shamus nodded. “Agreed.”

                Kai looked at Kat. “This is your territory. We won’t wage vampire war here and bring heat on your pack without your permission.”

                Kat nodded her head. “Two days ago, my biggest problem was Phoenix pack trying to inch into our territory. Now that I know about the vampires seizing the borders, bringing drugs into our country to pump it into teenagers and bleed them dry, well let’s just say, agreed.”

                Max had a gleam in his eye. “Well, that settles it. Please tell me we will be blowing something up tonight.”

                Kat winked at him. “You know me.”

                We had a plan and I was in position. The Tucson wolves knew the border better than we did. They would sniff out the vampire drug runner trucks and then radio us to take them down. Kai, Max, Shamus, and I were all crouched behind a van in the desert.

                “Tango Charlie, we have an eagle inbound. Manuel’s Taco Truck,” Kat said over the walkie talkie.

                Kai laughed. “Copy.”

                I glared at him and the smile fell from his face.

                They totally dated, I decided.

                ‘You look sexy when you’re pissed,’
he told me.

                That got me to smile. I needed to get over Kai’s past. He was my mate.

                Our ‘broken down’ van hid Max, Kai, Shamus, and I from view. The other wolves were waiting back in the bushes along the deserted dirt road. It was about ten o’clock and completely dark outside; perfect for vampires to come out of hiding.

               
‘Get in position,’
Kai told us. He tightened the string that held the nail strip along the road that would puncture their tires. I could hear an engine off in the distance. As it approached, I became nervous. The Mexican drug cartel wasn’t exactly known for being nice. We were constantly seeing them in the news.

                ‘This is about to unleash a whole new slew of hell on our door step, Kai,’
I told him.

                Kai met my eyes.
‘That’s okay. When I die one day I want to say my life mattered. That I did something good.’

                Dammit. He had a point. I clutched a silver stake with my bare hand.

                “Time to piss off some vampires,” Max said as he crouched down. The truck’s engine was close. I heard the tires roll over the nails with a loud pop and a hiss. The driver slammed on his brakes. He opened the door to get out and I smelled him. Vampire. I could also heavily smell the metallic scent associated with heroin. Kai jumped out from behind the van and rushed at the driver, slamming him onto the hood. I leapt up into the air and jammed the silver stake into his heart. Poof. Ash littered the ground. A couple months ago, I would have been grossed out by that.

                “Huh, that was easy,” I exclaimed.

                The roll-up door to the side of the taco truck flew open and a vampire leapt out spraying bullets at Kai and I. Kai ducked behind the front of the truck and yanked me by the waist, pulling me down.

                Then I heard a snapping sound and a groan.

                “All clear,” Max called. We came out from behind the car to see Max standing over a pile of ash, the vampire’s gun in his hand. A bullet wound was bleeding from his shoulder.

                Shamus and few Seattle pack members came out from behind a distant bush.

                “Push this into the desert; we will deal with the cargo later,” Shamus told his guys. They put it into neutral and pushed it easily off the road.

                “Max, that’s a silver bullet,” I told him, eyeing his arm.

                He reached inside the wound and dug into it with his fingernails. He winced, I winced and then he pulled the bullet out and threw it on the ground.

                The walkie talkie beeped. “Two yellow school busses. Two vamps in each. The cars behind them are human and taking the main road. So this must be the entire shipment for the night,” Kat told us.

                Kai grabbed the gun from Max’s hand and handed it to me. “The nails will take out the first bus’s tires, you shoot out the second.”

                I didn’t want to split up, but I nodded.

                I jogged twenty paces away from the van and took cover behind a large bush.

                The large buses’ engines were approaching. I had been practicing my shooting in pack trainings, time to see if it paid off. The first bus passed me and I heard a pop and then he slammed on his brakes. The second bus slowed and I popped the tires with the gun.

                The driver of the second bus poked his head out and inhaled. “Werewolves!” he screamed, and gassed it. He slammed into the bus in front of him, pushing him over the nail tack strip.

                Shit! I ran out from behind the bush as the two busses began to speed away. Even with flat tires and riding on rims, they were moving fast. Kai took off after the first bus in super speed. I did the same, but headed for the second bus. None of the other wolves could run as fast as Kai and me. We didn’t want the busses getting to their check point with backup.

                ‘
Be careful!
’ Kai roared as he leapt onto the driver’s door and pulled him out of the open window. The first bus rolled to a stop and the second bus crashed into the back of the first. I followed Kai’s lead and leapt onto the driver’s door. But the driver was ready for me. He had a silver harpoon gun aimed at my head, ready to take it off. The pointed tip was cutting into my chin. I didn’t breathe. Everything was in slow motion. If he pulled the trigger, I was a goner. My head would come clean off.

                He inhaled, as he was about to pull the trigger, he scrunched his eyebrows. Then he spit in my face. “We can’t kill her! She is the one Queen Layla wants!” he roared to the vampire in the back seat. I didn’t even process the information. I acted on instinct. I used the distraction and grabbed the harpoon from him and shoved it under his chin pulling the trigger and taking off his head. Ash rained down on my hand as I jumped down onto the ground and ran to the back of the bus where the other vampire was escaping out the back door.

                “Oh, no you don’t!” Kat shouted and threw a huge silver stake from ten feet away. It hit his chest with a hard thud and he was ash.

                She high-fived me. “Good job.”

                I tried to smile, but I was un-nerved by what that vampire had said about not being allowed to kill me.

                ‘You okay?’
I asked Kai.

               
‘Just a little dusty,’
he replied.

                I heard him walk up behind me. I turned and saw that he was covered in ash. I smiled. “You look hot when you’re dirty,” I said aloud. Okay, I was an insecure girl and I wanted Kat to hear it.

                He grinned and pulled me in for a kiss. “Likewise.”