Under My Skin (29 page)

Brit shook her head, never taking her golden eyes off her father’s hard features.

So much for hoping he’d snap out of it at the last second and help us take Logan down. His half-hooded gaze skimmed over Brit like she was part of the scenery. He didn’t recognize his own daughter, even though she looked the same except for the freaky eyes and the wings.

“You can turn invisible and attack them from behind?” I guessed.

“You’ve seen it all. There’s nothing more,” Brit ground out. “My father,” she spat the word, shooting him a dark look, “is human. I’m like you, half-blooded.” Her eyes sliced over my human form. “What about
your
wolf? Why hasn’t your wolf appeared?”

What could I say?
I don’t know how to control her?
I wish my father had never tampered with my natural state
? Otherwise right about now some heads would be rolling.

As if finished with her, Logan shoved Paige backward into Officer Flutie, who made an inhuman sound low in his throat. He staggered, then gripped Paige’s arms. She struggled against his hold. Fear flashed across her pale face.

A snarl ripped from my throat, but Brit’s roar drowned it out. Energy zapped through the air like static as her fury built. Grief and rage emanated from her like waves of heat, and her golden gaze never left Logan as she lunged forward.

Logan must have felt her power too.

“Another time, my dear,” the master vampire said with a grin. With a sweeping wave of his hand, my dark sprite BFF became an instant ice sculpture, immobilized by the same freeze magic Wade had used on Travis. A fine mist of fog rose off her skin as the scent of mint struck the air. Wade’s scent. Wade’s magic.

My breath came in shallow, panicked gasps.
Whoa.
We’d known Logan must feed off Wade to gain his immunity to sunlight, but apparently Wade’s blood contained all kinds of magical goodness.

Logan’s freeze outperformed Wade’s. Brit’s eyes remained open and unblinking, her wings, so still they looked computer generated, too fantastical to be real.

Paige screamed, high and shrill. Logan cut the sound short as, with another wave of his hand, her pretty face became trapped mid-cry, her upper lip stuck on one tooth. The officer holding her solidified mid-cringe. His partner, covering his ears, stood frozen also.

Even snowflakes hung suspended in the air.

I swallowed hard. So why was I still able to move?

The master vampire glanced around at our strange group, Paige and Flutie, Brit and her father, then back at me. “I told my son curfews were a bitch to enforce.” He adjusted his suit coat. “Makes the already-borderline types, like you and your friends, rebellious.”

He glided over the snow to Brit’s immobile form, sending the white stuff into whirligigs under his black boots. He stroked a finger down the frozen, dark line of Brit’s cheek, but she stayed as stiff as a store mannequin. “There’s a plague in this town. A resistance to my will being spread by the Delacroix family and the half-breed paranorms like yourself that they recruit. But their mutiny is only busy work. A waste of their time.” He gestured to his minions. “If my friends weren’t otherwise occupied, they would reassure you that I’m a fair man. A just master.”

I so doubted that. “Did Ethan consider you a fair master? Or Blake?”

“Ah, Blake.” Holding up a hand, Logan pointed a finger to my neck. His nail lengthened, looking seriously gross and deadly sharp. “Now, he was a special case.”

I willed my heart rate to slow, struggled to pace my frantic breaths. Anything to pull Logan’s dark gaze away from the pulse hammering in my throat. Was he going to execute me vamp-style, with a single swipe across the neck and then let me bleed out? Vamps considered that the ultimate insult, to drain enemies and refuse to drink their blood, to waste their life force.

But he simply crooked his finger. Alec’s cross levitated off my coat as if magnetized and strained toward that long-nailed finger.

“Such a lovely piece, my dear,” he said drifting to me.

I took an involuntary step back.
No, I can’t run. I have to see what the bastard wants, strike him down if I can.
I lifted my chin and planted my feet in the snow to stop my knees from trembling.

In front of me now, Logan eyed the cross with something akin to fascination. “I hope you don’t mind my taking a closer look.”

“I’m sorry. I have a no-ogle policy.” I shoved his freakish finger aside. He might be about to drain me dry, but I’d be damned if I’d simper and coo at him like Paige had.

Logan yanked his hand back, held it up as if to strike me down, then laughed dryly, and relaxed his stance. “Good to know. Now for the other McCain who’s been causing me trouble.” He slipstreamed away.

Paige and Flutie, frozen together, rocked like wooden statues as Logan tugged Paige’s canvas coat down to reveal her upper arm, decorated with the temporary wolf-and-skull tattoo.

“Ah, your cousin set me on a merry chase. Resisted the call for quite some time.” His black eyes met mine. “But then, you also resisted my efforts. Must be something in the McCain blood, wolven influence or no.”

Oh, hating him was in our blood all right.

He examined Paige’s tattoo with a deep frown. He licked his finger and rubbed at the marking, then hissed in annoyance. “So that’s why the beast didn’t turn her. It’s not real.” He cocked his finger, his nail poised over her flesh. “The rules of engagement say that blood must be drawn for the mark to work. Then any of my pets can curse the victim with a single bite.”

I inched forward, grabbed my athame from its holster, and held it behind my back. I didn’t have a wooden stake handy, but beheading…

“I’m not much of an artist,” Logan said, tilting his head, “but this shouldn’t be too difficult. All I have to do is carve along the lines. Unless you’d rather do the honors?” He shot me a questioning glance. “Now don’t look like that. I know it’s not the same as tracking her down and letting her wriggle a bit before you dig in–” He paused. “But I also know how you like to cut.”

Someday I’m going to banish his ass.
I promised myself.
Someday real soon
.

“The only thing I want to carve into right now is you.” I surged at him, jammed my athame, stained black with werewolf blood, under his throat. The dagger hummed with infused magic, glowing in the night.

Logan hesitated. For a second.

Then he disintegrated in front of my eyes. Black mist, cold and suffocating, surrounded me, blinding me. I stabbed at it, but Logan had disappeared. When the mist cleared, I twisted to find him watching me, his arms folded across his black suit coat, his elegant features set in a smug smirk.

“We don’t always get what we want, now do we?” he said. “But you get an A for effort.” He eyed me approvingly. “I think the Hunter Council is right in casting you out of the way. You’re quite something when your back’s up. Strong, aggressive. I see your potential.” His smirk slid into a sneer. “But then I’ve always said a little backyard breeding improves the stock. My son is living proof. As are you, my dear.”

My head reared back.
How dare he compare my parents and their love to a clinical breeding program?
I growled against the pain as a rush of memories flooded my mind. My father teaching me to always be on guard; my mother telling me to open my heart. They’d wanted the best for me. They hadn’t wanted my life to end like this.

“Feeling a bit…wolven?” He raised a brow. “You might want to hear me out before you show your claws.”

I fought to contain the beast under my skin. My mind fogged over. The clarity I’d had minutes ago faded under a haze of wolven rage. My eyes burned with the effort to focus on his face and not see him as a delectable raw steak sandwich. The wolf brought such craving, I struggled to make sense of his words. “Talk now. Die later.”

“See, you’re already down to two-word sentences.” Logan laughed. “But you’re right, I should get to the point of tonight’s appearance.” His dark eyes gleamed. “I’m here for you, of course. The Hunter Council has placed a substantial bounty on your head.”

“A what? On my what?” Dumbfounded, I squeezed my eyes shut. Logan was right. I could barely think straight.

“Your perky wolven ears heard me.” Logan sounded bored. “The prize is too big to ignore, and I intend to collect. Of course, the Council couldn’t kill you outright. Against their code.” He laughed. “So they sent you to my town, knowing I’d finish you.”

My eyes flew open. I expected to find him at my throat again, but he hadn’t moved. He’d totally underestimated me—thought he was safe here in this clearing. But I might surprise him.

He gave me a terrible grin. “The Council gave you a fighting chance. Their first mistake. Look how long you’ve lasted. You’ve even surprised me. Then they got tired of waiting and sent their demons to do their dirty work. Lesser vampires invaded my territory, turned my chosen pets before my beasts could get to them.” He looked unimpressed. “I can hold them off, of course. I can give you the time you’ll need.”

“Time for what?” I glanced at the tree line. Why hadn’t Alec and Matt found us yet? And where was Wade? Would he risk his father’s wrath and join their attack, or had he found a way to keep Alec and Matt away until his father was finished with me? Were Wade and Logan working together after all?

“To acquire something for me. I’m prepared to spare the lives of your friends, as well as your interfering uncle and his family, as long as you do so.”

The master vamp had iced my friends. His hounds were crawling over Redgrave, and he was bargaining with me?

“What’s the
something
?” I gripped my athame as I observed his smug face.

“I’ve been tracking your father’s progress for years. His work could forever alter the paranormal world. This interests me.” His sculpted lips slanted. “Then he disappeared.” He jabbed his finger at me, his eyes darkening to black holes—his thrall, his power kicked in, but thanks to the wards I already had in place against Wade, he couldn’t touch me.

“Get me his notes, get me every last scrap of his work, and I’ll let your family live. Fail and I’ll make you watch as I turn them into my willing slaves.” He made a sweeping gesture with his arm. “Now, I have a meeting to finish.”

“Wait,” I called out, and Logan paused, raising a brow. “I get the notes, you never make another werewolf again. Not in this town. Not anywhere.”

Logan tsk-tsked. “You’re hardly in a position to make demands, my dear. Perhaps you need some clarification.” His eyes blackened. I shrank back, scrambling to fortify my mental wards. “Do as I have asked. Or you’ll all die slow, horrible, vile deaths.” His smile said he looked forward to them. “My specialty, ask around.”

As I sucked in a trembling breath, Logan released his men from the freeze hold with a wave of his hand. The officers stumbled for a moment, then righted themselves, apparently unconcerned that they’d been trapped, petrified. Too under his thrall to care. The trio, suspended in the air, glided back the same direction they had come, retreating into the woods as if on rewind. Logan’s hand waved once more before they disappeared in a puff of mist.

His suspended animation broke, and the world returned with a vengeance. I stood stunned. Life, brutal and cold, swirled around me. The smell of death seeped into the air.

Brit woke with a gasp. The energy she’d built before Logan zapped her whistled through the air, then
poof
... Gonzo.

“Where’d he go?” Her wings fanned, caught the wind, and lifted her upright.

“Vanished.” I tried not to look as freaked out as I felt. Rubber legs. My breath shallow.

“I hate it when vampires pull that crap.” Brit glared around the clearing. “Dad and Flutie too?”

I nodded.

Brit’s yellow eyes flickered with anger and pain. Seeing her father at Logan’s mercy could only have fueled her bitterness. She’d tasted defeat at her failed attempt to take Logan down. I understood because I was swallowing nasty emotions of my own. Sure, Logan had let me live, but the encounter had left me wanting a three-day-long shower under a sandblaster.

Behind us, a spine-tingling howl cut into the night, followed by a brilliant flash of light. Alec rushed into the clearing, his rifle at his shoulder. Wade followed with Matt at his side. Behind them, the stuff of nightmares. A league of werewolves snapped at their heels, their shadowy forms gaining on the guys, as relentless as a storm-blackened wave crashing toward shore.

With a shout, Brit charged into the air and crossed the clearing in a blink. Hovering over the molting, shifting mass, she swooped and dove at the beasts. The werewolves jumped and clawed at the air, too slow to catch her, but it distracted them enough for Alec to take aim and fire off rounds of silver bullets without fear of retaliation.

I had to follow my heart. No more obeying orders—things always ended badly when I followed orders. If I’d cut poor Cujo loose when I’d wanted to, the mutt might still be alive. If I’d told Sebastian to screw off and stayed in Vancouver, asked questions, tracked my parents down, I might have found them.

I tore across the clearing to intercept a werewolf eyeing Matt like a raw slab of meat in the middle of a veggie buffet. As I blindsided the werewolf, Logan’s words echoed in my head.
They sent you to my town, knowing I’d finish you.

I’d been thrown to the wolves in Redgrave. Literally. By the very council who’d promised to uncover the truth about my parents’ disappearance even as they’d betrayed me. Put a bounty on my head. Told me lies.

The werewolf tumbled across the snow, righted itself, and came back for more. The sky exploded in a white cloud as it leapt for me. Pain radiated through my chest as the beast smashed into me, pinning me to the ground. Its fevered breath roasted my neck. I opened my eyes. The werewolf’s grill-like teeth and glowing red eyes were inches from my face, its claws sinking into my ribcage.

“Eryn, don’t move.” Matt jumped to his feet and scrambled for his rifle. Fear, for me, for all of us, vibrated in his voice.

My breath left me in a rush. The beast crushed me to the ground. My bones collapsed, about to perforate my lungs. Incisors tore through my coat, ripped at my flesh. Searing pain, immediate and cruel. Tears blurred my eyes. Shock fogged my mind. The hard, slick feel of teeth scraped my fingers as I clawed at the jaws snapping at my shoulder.