Seeking Pack Redemption (28 page)

“Leave me
alone or I’ll shoot.”

“Do it. I
dare you,” he snarled. “Kill your lovers’ best friend.”

She
hesitated, his words a horrifying realization. Shooting the body Roderick
controlled meant hurting Marc. What would Trent and Darren think? Do?

As he
ground himself against her, his erection hard, his leer frightening, the answer
was clear.

Crack!

Trent
loped along with the others, the clear scent of wolves, strangers tinged with
the unnaturalness he’d come to recognize, reaching his nose. The battle of good
wolf against evil loomed, and he looked forward to putting the days of inaction
and waiting behind him. Through his link to
Thea
, he
felt her anxiety, but no fear, and he wondered if they’d misread Marc’s actions
and words.
Or Roderick’s interest in
Thea
.

Surely if
Roderick intended to make his move, he wouldn’t have his wolves coming to meet
them so far from the motel still.
Perhaps
we misjudged Nathan’s appeal to the creature after all.

Movement
in the trees had him tightening his grip on the gun he held. He’d opted to
remain human in the coming fight, the long knife tucked through his belt, one
of many scattered among their ranks in the hope one of them would get a chance
to take out the vampire. But while he chose to remain on two legs, most of his
companions were prepared to meet the enemy in their strongest shape, their
wolf. Furry or not, though, he was ready to fight.

About to
take aim, a grip on his arm saw him lowering his gun as he turned to see
Jaxon
wearing a grim face.

“He’s not
here.”

“What do
you mean he’s not here?” Trent asked. “I can see his fucking minions. Or are
you telling me those wolves over there belong to someone else?”

“Oh,
they’re his rogues all right, but Roderick’s not here. He’s been moving away ever
since we began our approach.”

“Away? But
Nathan’s with us and his lackeys are about to attack. Surely he wouldn’t flee
the battle?”

“Apparently
we misjudged Roderick’s interest in Nathan, and who says he’s fleeing. We’re
not the only ones who can create a diversion. The question, though, is who is
his real target?” The fear in
Jaxon’s
eyes made it
clear to Trent that he thought Bailey, not
Thea
, was
the one at risk. Another reason why they’d chosen a point more or less between
the two locations.

“So which
way is he heading? Toward the motel or the compound?”

Jaxon
wrinkled his face, his eyes shutting in concentration. All around
them the snarls of battle erupted as wolves, both sane and not, met in a furry
clash of teeth and claws. Trent itched to join them. Nathan, the biggest beast
of them all, tore a path through the attacking wolves. Lucky bastard was taking
his frustration out on anything that moved.

Jaxon
opened his eyes. “We need to go this way.”

Before
Trent could even follow his pointing finger, a chill swept
him
as his bond with
Thea
grew taut with fear.
My mate is in danger.

“
Thea
!” Without thinking or waiting, Trent shifted, dropping
clothes and his weapons in order to run. And he didn’t race alone. He
recognized Darren and
Jaxon
alongside him, but the
other three wolves who joined them were strangers, but given they didn’t
attack, he could only assume them friend rather than foe.

How could we have been so stupid?
Their plan to leave her
alone to draw Roderick out didn’t seem so brilliant now with her terror
coursing through their bond.
Dammit. This
wouldn’t have happened if Nathan hadn’t refused to take her in.

But Marc was
there to guard her.
The idea did not
reassure especially as he couldn’t help thinking of his friend’s behavior
lately. The doubt
Jaxon
planted. He’d assumed Marc’s
attitude had to do with jealousy, but what if something else ailed Marc?
Perhaps one of those ticking mental bombs
Jaxon
warned them about.
Jaxon
made no bones that he thought
Marc was a puppet and spy to the vampire, but Trent found it hard to believe
his friend would betray him. Didn’t want to believe it.

If he’s laid a hand on her, friend or not, I will
kill him.
Pregnant
and unable to defend herself,
Thea
was a sitting duck
if Marc turned on her.

Their
roundabout trail through the woods had led them closer to the motel than Trent
realized. Sprinting on four legs also made the return trip quicker so that
instead of the hour they spent trekking, it was only fifteen minutes to return.
Fifteen minutes too long in his mind. He lost the others on the mad dash,
vaguely noting them veering off in the darkness, perhaps to deal with the eerie
howls that seemed to trail them, a distraction he ignored.

Loping out
into the dark parking lot, Trent slowed. Then stopped. Utter silence reigned.
The very air stilled with anticipation. He cast an eye over the area noting
their SUV and a pair of other vehicles in the lot. The motel windows loomed
darkly, even the one he shared with
Thea
.

A shift in
the night breeze brought with it a familiar scent, the putrid stench of his
prey.
Roderick is here.
Ready for the
scrabble against the edges of his mind, he didn’t flinch at the probing presence,
but he did grimace, the second time no more pleasant than the first.

Arriving
at his side, Darren shook his head, whipping it back and forth in an attempt to
dislodge something that wasn’t actually there. Trent could have told him not to
bother. Snuffling and putting his head between his paws wouldn’t erase the
tendrils that kept grasping for a toehold into his mind.

Enough.
He wouldn’t let some undead freak control him. It
was past time someone killed the boogeyman
who
fucked
with his brother and hurt
Thea
.
I will be her hero and save her from the monster.

Or he
could just kill the fucking thing because he’d enjoy it.

Trent
padded further into the parking lot, Darren at his side.
As
for
Jaxon
?

There was
no trace of the man or wolf. No matter. If
Jaxon
betrayed them, then he’d die. But somehow Trent didn’t think he plotted against
them. More likely he hid and waited for the moment he could help the most. Or
so he hoped.

Trent,
however, couldn’t wait for an opportune moment to strike, not with
Thea
in danger. Inhaling the rancid odor of the vampire, he
headed toward his motel room, trotting then running as the monster’s smell got
stronger and stronger. It disappeared a few feet away from the door.

What the
fuck? Nose to the ground, he sniffed the pavement to the sidewalk, but each
time got the same result. Roderick had passed through here,
then
his trail ended abruptly. A new track, however, consisting of blood droplets
began. For a moment his heart stopped until a closer sniff revealed it wasn’t
Thea’s
. But he recognized it.
Marc is injured. But did his injuries result from his protection of
Thea
?
Or had his friend turned traitor?

 
Changing shapes took but a moment and
then he was able to let himself into the room. The stink of blood washed over
him, but again, it didn’t belong to her. Intermixed with the coppery scent was
that of a weapon recently fired.
Thea
defending herself against Marc if he read the clues correctly.
Jaxon
was right. His friend had betrayed them.

Despite
what his gut told him, he performed a quick search of the room, but of
Thea
there was no trace.

Racing
back outside, he noted Darren angling off to the side, following the blood
trail. Trent, though, was done chasing his fucking tail.

“
Thea
?” He called her name. Nothing answered him back. He
tried again. “
Thea
! Marc! Where the hell are you?”

“Gone.
Gone. Gone.” The words whispered around to him, mocking him and rousing his
anger.

“Come out
here and fight like a man.” Trent offered the challenge not expecting a reply.
A prickling sensation saw him whirling.

A shadow dropped
down from the roof of the motel, and a cold wave of something, not quite a
wind, more like a heavy, chilled pressure, attempted to smother him. An eerie
chuckle echoed around him. “But I am so much more than a man. Wolf. Vampire. I
am powerful beyond the imaginings of your weak mind, puppy.”

“Says a
coward who sends his minions to do the real work.” Trent taunted the shadow.

“I need no
help to subdue you,” boomed the creature. It cackled. “Oh, how you’d like for
me to dance with you. To rend each other’s flesh?
To exchange
primitive blows?
Why waste time hurting a shell when I can cause so much
more pain in other ways?”

The
tenebrous touch on his mind turned sharp, like pointy tipped blades, dozens of
them, probing for a weakness. Trent gritted his teeth. “I won’t fall victim to
your tactics.”

“That’s
what they all say just before the screaming starts.”

And for a
moment, Trent wondered if the creature spoke the truth as the pain turned excruciating.
Fuck that.
With a bellow of rage,
Trent charged, only to be met by a snarling shape.

“Marc?”
His russet-haired friend bared his teeth and took a step toward him.

Trent
didn’t retreat, not when anxiety for
Thea
remained at
the forefront. A fear for her
well-being
that made his
rage even stronger. He cuffed his friend aside and kicked him when he could
have
sprang
back at him. “Where’s
Thea
?
What have you done to her?”

“I?
Nothing. Although I’d think you’d be a little more upset that the slut shot
your poor friend here.”

Trent
didn’t even spare Marc a glance where he paced at his new master’s feet. “She
must have had good reason.”

A low
chuckle rumbled from Roderick. “It seems you and your friend wore her out
because she just wouldn’t lie down and spread her legs like a good little
bitch.”

“If you’ve
hurt her—”

“Oh, I
intend to. And I think I’ll make you watch. Won’t that be a treat, puppy?”

“I’ll kill
you first.” Trent lunged only to find himself taken down by Marc, who jumped at
him and used both his weight and momentum to his advantage. Holding the
snapping jaws at bay took up all Trent’s attention, and Roderick used his
distraction to play his mind games again.

Little wolf, little wolf,
let
me come in.
The
mocking whisper rapped at the edges of his mind, prying at it with sharp,
invisible fingers.

Things
might have turned ugly had Darren not tackled the russet wolf, tumbling him off
of Trent. Engaged in a battle of teeth and claws, they rolled away. After springing
to his feet, Trent advanced on the vampire who laughed.

And it was
then that the wolves, eyes pinpricked with red, poured from the forest.

Shit.

Trent
debated at that moment if he should run with the odds stacked so grandly against
him. But he didn’t know where
Thea
hid. He couldn’t
leave her or Darren behind. Which left him only one choice. Fight. Fight despite
the incredibly stupid odds.

The furry
wave advanced, their eyes glaring balefully, their lips peeled back to show
sharp teeth.
This is going to hurt.

An
ululation suddenly rose in the night sky, a symphony of howls that grew in
tenor. Trent grinned as
Jaxon
chose that moment to
join the battle, leading Nathan and the others into the fray. Silver bullets whizzing,
he evened the odds and drew attention away from Trent and Darren, still the
pair closest to the vampire, who insanely enough laughed.

“Enough of
the games. Time for you to die,” Trent snarled. Charging in his direction,
Trent saw the bullet that hit the creature in the back and burst through his
chest, followed by one in his neck and then his leg. The last made the vampire
stumble, and his face darkened in annoyance.

The
pressure around them increased, almost thick enough to touch. Darren shifted shapes
and knelt on the pavement, cursing. His face appeared strained.

For a
moment, Trent wondered if his friend would succumb to the vampire’s spell.
Thea
shattered the attempt. With a scream of a pissed-off
woman who’d been screwed over one too many times, she came running from behind
a vehicle, firing her little pistol at the monster until it clicked empty. It
didn’t stop her charge.

Stupid, brave, adorable
idiot.
Trent’s heart almost
stopped when the vampire batted her feeble attack aside and clasped her in his
arms.