Feral Instincts (The Feral Series) (14 page)

Ava
laughed. “Okay, I’d like that.” Ava’s smile faltered as she remembered her
training session with Joseph. Joseph must surely be mad at her. She hoped she
could make things right between the two of them. At the very least she wanted a
chance to apologize to him.

“We
also need to talk about your roll in the next part of our plan.” Victor watched
the smile fade from Ava’s face.

“I’m
ready. Just tell me what you want me to do.”

“That’s
my girl.” Victor smiled at her. He was glad to see that although she was small
he could sense her bravery and determination. “Come, we will talk while I walk with
you to the training room.”

Teagan
and a couple of the other guardians had just returned from patrol in the city.
As Teagan stepped out of the SUV he heard the rumble of a motorcycle and turned
to see Joseph rolling into the garage. Spotting Teagan, Joseph quickly shut the
motorcycle off and swung his leg over the back of it, immediately heading
straight for Teagan. Teagan calmly turned and disarmed, setting his gun and
knife on the seat beside him. Slamming the door shut Teagan waited for Joseph
to come to him.

“You
son of a bitch!” Joseph threw a punch at Teagan’s head, which he immediately
ducked and followed up with one of his own, connecting with Joseph’s jaw.

Daniel
and the other guardians immediately jumped out of the SUV to watch the show.
Daniel rubbed his hands together in glee. “This should be good.”

Joseph
slammed his shoulder into Teagan’s chest and shoved him into the side of the
SUV, creasing the door.

“Hey
now!” Colin shouted at them. “Easy on the paint!”

Teagan’s
eyes began to glow and his fangs began to lengthen.
This bastard had his
hands on Ava. His scent had been all over her when he found her in the hall
with her lips swollen.
Joseph spun Teagan away from the SUV and landed two
hard jabs to his mid-section. Teagan retaliated with another swing directed at
Joseph’s head and got another good shot in on his face, splitting the vampire’s
lip.

Daniel
and Colin stood side by side watching the fight. After several minutes went by,
with neither man showing signs of stopping, Colin tilted his head towards
Daniel. “Do you think we should break this up now?”

“Nah…
” Daniel answered him. “They need to get it all out of their systems. Besides,
your boy will be fine, Teagan hasn’t even completely shifted yet.”

“Maybe
you should worry about your cousin. Joseph can hold his own.”

Nicholas,
the other guardian that had been on patrol with them spoke up from behind them.
“Put me in for twenty on Teagan.”

“Is
this about what I think it is?” Nicholas asked over their shoulders. Watching
the two men pummel each other.

“Ya,
looks like Teagan hooked up with little Ava.” Colin answered him.

“Dam…
what an asshole… hit him again Joseph!” Nicholas shouted. Dam werewolf should
have kept his hands to himself. Ava was way too good for the likes of him.

After
a while both men stood panting, waiting for the other’s next move. They had
been going at it for a while now and both of them were beginning to tire.
Joseph rested his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. “Is that all
you got?” He taunted Teagan half-heartedly.

“Are
we done here?” Teagan panted wiping a streak of blood from the corner of his
mouth. He hadn’t wanted to actually kill the vamp. It just felt dam good to
pound on him for a while.

“Ya,
were done.” Joseph said straightening up and rolling his shoulder. He hurt but
he almost smiled to see Teagan holding his ribs. Stiffly, Teagan turned to head
back towards the SUV to retrieve his weapons.

Colin
and Daniel quietly exchanged money as he approached, earning them a scowl from
Teagan.

“Teagan!”

“Ya.”
Teagan looked back at Joseph from beneath one swollen eye.

“You
hurt her man and you won’t be walking away from me next time.”

Teagan
growled low in answer as he watched Joseph walk back into the garage headed for
the house.

“I
don’t like it. There are too many variables. There is no way to lock down the
building.” Joseph stood with his arms crossed over his chest and a deep scowl
between his dark brows.

Both
Victor and Ethan had raised an eyebrow at the bruises on his face but
fortunately neither one of them questioned him.

“I
understand your reluctance but you knew this was the plan from the beginning.
We need to see if Ava can lure Salvatore out. We could use her help.” Victor
leaned his hip against his desk prepared to argue with him.

“Salvatore’s
gang has been leaving a trail of blood in their path. From the police reports
and news stories, we have narrowed their location down to the Springdale area.
There is a bar there that is popular with the Lore. I say we take her there.
Word of her being there with us should make the rounds pretty quickly.” Ethan,
ever the strategist, was already formulating a plan.

“We
have narrowed down his location to a thirty mile radius. We can find him
without her.” Joseph argued, still unwilling to put Ava in danger.

“Yes,
but it could take a while and in the meantime more innocent lives could be
lost. Perhaps with Ava’s help we can bring Salvatore to us.” The expression on
Victor’s face showed that he had already made up his mind. Joseph let out a
sigh of frustration, he could tell Victor clearly wasn’t going to back down and
knew better than to push the master vampire too far.

“We
can send a crew inside with you and Ava and have two more in the area we can
send in incase he shows. No one wants to put Ava in danger here. We will do
everything we can to ensure that she is protected.” Ethan watched the clenching
of Joseph’s jaw with amusement. The little female was clearly getting under Joseph’s
skin. Hell she was beginning to get to all of them. He knew without a doubt
that all of the guardians would protect her with their lives.

Joseph
rubbed his forehead clearly frustrated. He knew Victor and Ethan were right and
he couldn’t let his personal feelings get in the way of their mission.

“I
want an escape plan for Ava firmly in place. I want her pulled out of there at
the first sign of trouble. Have you already talked to her about this?”

“Yes,
I spoke with her today. We spoke about a number of things.” Victor looked
pointedly at Joseph.

“Yes
well there’s the other problem with your plan. The Lykan isn’t going to like
this anymore than I do. He could be a problem.”

“It
isn’t his decision to make. He is here at my request. As much as I would like to
keep things friendly with our new allies I won’t tolerate his interference in
this. If he doesn’t like it we can take her in without him. I am Ava’s mentor
and she is under my protection. Decisions about her well-being will be made by
me.” Victor’s pointed look clearly showed that he wasn’t just talking about the
Lykan. None of them could go against their clan leader’s orders without
punishment.

“Very
well, I know the owner of the bar you are speaking of. I will talk to him and
see if he would be willing to help us.” Joseph would just have to make sure it
was a safe for Ava as it could be given the circumstances.

“I
will meet with the other men to bring them up to speed.” Ethan was tired of
talking about it and eager to get things rolling.

“I
guess I will go and find Ava. I want her to brush up on some of training before
we take her out.” Joseph heaved his large form out of the chair only to find
his path blocked by Ethan.

“No
I’ll go and track down Ava. I don’t think it would be a good idea for her to see
face right now.”

Joseph
raised his hand to the rapidly healing bruise on his chin. “Oh, ya. I had kind
of forgotten about that.” He wasn’t sure where he stood with Ava at the moment
but he was pretty sure she wouldn’t like that he and the Lykan had been fighting.
With a clenching of his fist he remembered the way she had felt in his arms. He
could feel her beginning to respond to him, could feel the tips of her fangs as
they descended during their kiss. Then in spite of her obvious hunger, she had
run. Apparently, straight into the arms of that dam werewolf.

“Fine,
you talk to Ava. We can train later.” Scowling at the knowing grin he received
from Ethan, Joseph left Victor’s office headed for his motorcycle. It was going
to be a long night and he needed to get out of Claymore for a while. What he
needed was a nice long ride to clear his head.

“Dam
Teagan, you need to get a grip before we join the others or they’re going to
make you stay behind.” Daniel and Teagan walked to the garage to meet up with
the team that was going to the bar with Ava. Teagan’s eyes glowed from his
barely controlled frustration.

“I’m
fine. Just give me a minute.” He hated the lack of control he had over the
situation. He didn’t like that Victor had the final say when it came to Ava’s
safety. Like it or not Victor was Ava’s mentor. She was part of Victor’s clan
and under his protection. If they were going to make nice with the vampire
alliance they would have to abide by Victor’s orders just like the rest of his
clan. He didn’t have to like it though.

He
had been walking the fine line of his control ever since he had been told about
the plan to go to Howler’s tonight. After the meeting with Ethan and the
guardians he had immediately tracked down Ava who had been in the training room
and drug her with him to his bedroom. Even though he could scent the fear
rolling off of her had drug her along in his wake. He knew he had scared her
but had been unable to stop. He had hoped he would scare her badly enough that
she would call this whole thing off.

He
hated that she had shrunk away from him while he had growled and argued with
her. At first she had taken it until suddenly he could see a change come over
her. She had gotten mad… and she was breath taking in her anger. Suddenly her
eyes had flashed silver and he could see her little fangs poking from behind
her full lips. Even now he could feel his claws sharpening at the thought of
her. He had had to keep a tight rein on his beast while she had shouted right
back at him. Telling him that this was something that she just needed to do and
that she was going to help draw out Salvatore with or without his help. Finally
she had stormed out in a beautiful fit of feminine temper, slamming his bedroom
door.

It
had taken everything he had to not rip the door off the hinges and drag her
back into the room. He had to constantly remind himself that she wasn’t his and
he wasn’t in pack territory. Had he been back at home with her she never would
have gotten away with it. He had to admit though, he liked that she had held
her own against him.

Resigning
himself to this mission he calmed a little as he spotted Ava standing with the
others in the garage. Gods he liked to look at her.

Teagan
clenched his teeth as he let his eyes roam over her. She was wearing a clingy
red dress and heels that made him want to toss her over his shoulder and lock
her in his room. He imagined how he would run his hands up her thighs, dragging
the silky material up over her hips. Unzipping the back of her dress and letting
it slide down her shoulders… Teagan drug his thoughts back to the moment when
he felt his body responding to his dark thoughts. Shit. He was never going to
make it through this night. What the hell was she thinking wearing something
like that? Every eye in the bar was going to be on her tonight.

 That’s
it, she wasn’t going anywhere looking like that, he was going to… dam it. That
was the whole point of going to Howler’s tonight. Making sure everyone saw her
with them. Shit.

Ava
turned as she heard Teagan and Daniel approach. She dared a peek at Teagan’s
face, wondering if he was still furious with her. Not good. He was already
scowling at her. Clearly he wasn’t happy with her but she was still glad he was
here. She could feel her stomach rolling with nerves. She was so nervous about
tonight but somehow just knowing Teagan was here she could feel herself calming
down. Whether or not he agreed, she knew he would keep her safe.

Now
that she had a chance to calm down she was shocked at the way she had stood up
to him. She had to admit she had been a little scared at first when he had
dragged her into his room earlier. Even while she had been yelling at him she
had expected him to sink his claws into her at any moment. She knew better than
to push a Lykan but she couldn’t seem to help herself. She wasn’t going to let
him talk her out of this. Helping to put a stop to Salvatore’s plans was just
too important to her. She couldn’t explain it but for some reason it just made
her feel like she was taking back part of what he had stolen from her that
horrible night. It made her feel as though she had some kind of control over
what had happened, that somehow by doing this she was no longer just one of his
victims.

“Alright,
if everyone’s ready, let’s get going. Just like we planned. Joseph, Teagan,
Colin and myself will head into Howler’s with Ava. The rest will separate into
two teams and wait for our signal. Let’s go gentleman.” Ethan had decided to
bring both Joseph and Teagan inside with Ava. Even though the men clearly hated
each other he knew that between the two of them Ava would be well protected.