8. Eight
Eight
Griffin
Once I slammed the door on my visitor again, I set the bags of cookies down on a side table, Tor’s sister, Margo, had insisted I needed for my house.
When I’d asked her why, she’d said, “somewhere to put your keys.” Now she was living in another city with a bunch of kids and the table was cluttering up the entryway.
At least it was somewhere to put the cookies with their enticing scent. Rainbow’s scent. My mate’s scent.
The way he smelled up close was so intoxicating it was a struggle to keep to the doorway and not yank him inside my house so I could kiss that sweet mouth.
He was even cuter up close. Okay, he was messy from baking, but his warm hazel eyes caught my attention. His body looked fit, but softer than my own. I’d picked up his interest in me. The way his cheeks had flushed made me wonder what he’d look like under me.
His hair was a soft nutty brown, slightly overlong and tucked behind his ears. If I was right, there was flour in it. He really was a bit of a mess, but so damn adorable. He wore glasses; the lenses smudged from pushing them up his straight nose.
For the first time in a long time, I wanted to let someone in, find out all the sounds he would make.
I had to get away from that train of thought. Nothing was ever going to happen with Rainbow. The ghost would do her job, or we’d find another way to get him out of that house. Even if it meant moving him across town. He could have his damn shop and live in the Southridge territory. Let him be their problem.
Cold? Maybe. Rainbow was a complication. A cute one. Still not for me.
Once he knew what I was, he wouldn’t want anything to do with me, anyway. A Were was never as attractive as a shifter. That pesky virus I carried was catching. I was too dangerous, unpredictable, to be around.
Before I shut the door, I noticed another smell lingering around Rainbow. His almost human senses wouldn’t have picked it up, the same way he didn’t know we were mates, but I caught it.
A vampire had been in Rainbow’s house.
What I didn’t know was if the vamp was with Rainbow or if he was just another supernatural encroaching on my territory. I’d heard of vampires and witches exchanging blood for magic. Maybe Rainbow was into that.
The vampire didn’t smell like anything I’d ever scented on the undead before. There was the copper scent of blood, but no scent of decay. Like Rainbow, the vampire smelled like growing things. Also rain. Far from being off-putting, I liked it. I’d never admit that out loud.
I went to my office to check who was on the guard schedule for the day. They needed to do an extra patrol. How had they missed a vampire right in the heart of our territory?
Most of the pack lived in the same street, though there were outliers who lived closer to the center of town for their businesses.
While I owned the gym, I wasn’t there all the time. The place had managers and ran like a well-oiled machine. If anything, my grumpy ass got in the way of the smooth running of the place. The only time I went was for the self-defense classes I taught and for my own workouts, though I had enough equipment in my garage. Sometimes getting away from the house was necessary before it felt suffocating.
Cursed as I was with a longer life span, I didn’t have to worry about money. I’d had time to invest. Living frugally was second nature to me, having grown up in poverty. I had all I needed.
The schedule had two decent guards on duty. I called up the most responsible one of the two.
“Hey, Roscoe?”
“Yeah, Griff?”
Controlling a pack with both Were shifters and born shifters was a tricky balance. I liked Roscoe, a born shifter, and tolerated a more casual relationship with him than I would with some of the others. In the pack, I preferred they didn’t call me Alpha, just used my full first name. To me, Alpha was an outdated title. Being in a pack these days was more collaborative. Everyone was equal. I just got the deciding vote since they had elected me to be in charge a decade ago.
“We’ve got a vampire in the area.”
“What the fuck?!” I heard him fumbling like he’d dropped his phone in shock. I rolled my eyes. This was one of our better guards. It said a lot about our pack that this was the most shocking incident we’d had in a while.
“Yeah. I scented him off our witch friend, who came by with cookies. You can have them when you come over to give your report.” They would not tempt me. I needed to get them out of my house.
“Want me to patrol a bit closer, find out where they came from?”
Roscoe was smart when he wanted to be. “Yeah, we need to know if he’s with the witch or if the witch needs protection.”
“I’m surprised a vampire wandered into the middle of pack territory. They’re usually smarter than that.”
“Which is why I’m wary. Find out what you can.”
I ended the call and tossed my phone aside. Stripping off my clothes, I let the shift come over me. Shifting was never comfortable, but I was used to the pain by now. Bones broke and reformed as I changed form. The process took a few seconds, the stronger the shifter, Were or otherwise, the faster the shift. My massive black wolf landed on four paws and raised his nose to sniff the air.
The back door of my house had a doggy door. Not the most dignified of things, yet it was better than being caught shifting in your yard. I went outside and crossed the boundary onto Rainbow’s property, trying to pick up the vampire’s scent.
Telling myself I was worried about a potential intruder, and not Rainbow’s safety, I found the trail of the vampire. They had been careful enough to cover their scent, as some could do. Forgot their footprints, though. There in the dirt were tracks.
By the size and shape of the prints, the vampire was male and tall.
Rainbow’s voice trailed out an open window. He was speaking to his familiar about his plans for the house and his store. I tuned him out easily now I knew he was alone and safe.
It wasn’t necessary for me to track the vampire any further. I trusted my people would find out how the vampire was getting into our territory unnoticed. What I’d do after was the problem.
I didn’t want to confront Rainbow over the vampire, but we couldn’t have one in our territory, especially with the truce being so fragile. After Tor’s mating, things would be easier. Until then, I’d have to make it clear to anyone watching that Rainbow and his pet vampire were not members of our pack. They would never be.
An hour later, I was home and freshly showered.
“Griff?” Roscoe called as he entered the house. “Oh, cookies!”
He found me in my office going over gym paperwork. Rainbow was a new sign up. I’d have to cut back my gym time to avoid him until he found a routine. Roscoe took the spare seat and waited for me to speak first.
“What did you find out?”
“The vampire parked outside of our territory. They were pretty shitty about hiding their tracks on their way back to their car.”
“Yeah, I found his prints all around Rainbow—“
“That the witch? Weird name.”
I bristled automatically before shoving that response down. “Witches are weird,” I offered by way of an explanation.
“Facts.”
“Anyway, I don’t think the witch knew the vampire was there,” I said. “The way the vampire entered the house suggests he was creeping.”
“Agreed. I thought at first he was just being stealthy because of us, but I checked out the bushes around Rainbow’s house and, well, you saw it yourself.”
“I’m going to need you to get someone on his yard. Clean it up, cut everything back.” I checked the paperwork in front of me to see who was free. Having a schedule was useful so everyone could pull their weight around jobs and home life. With the truce ongoing, we didn’t need many people protecting the pack, they could be spared for the yardwork.
“Cool. What’ll I say if the witch asks?”
“Tell him we have a HOA and he’s in violation. We’re doing it as a housewarming gift or some shit.”
“Okay, yeah, that’ll work. What about this witch? What’re we doing about him?”
“Doing?” I tried not to bristle again. “Nothing. Rainbow has nothing to do with the pack. He just happens to live in the neighborhood.”
“Thought there was a ghost?”
Suspicion took root inside me. Roscoe was too curious when he was usually so laid back and uninterested. Tor needed to know about this.
“There is. Next time I can get in the house when he’s not around, I’ll speak to her.”
“Right. Well, I better get going. The yard can wait till morning.”
After Roscoe left, I sent messages to the people I wanted on Rainbow’s yard for clean up. Then I called over Tor.
“Hey, Griff, you were cryptic, or more than usual. What’s wrong?”
I outlined my worries over Roscoe’s loyalties. Tor didn’t exactly dismiss them, but sure minimized them.
“Not saying he isn’t reporting back, but are you sure he wasn’t just asking? Not like there’s anything to say. Rainbow isn’t here because you want him to be. We did our best to keep anyone out of that house. Southridge knows the lengths we went to.”
I grunted. “You sure?”
“They do. I told Nora and I know for a fact she told Ray. She tells her dad everything.”
“And you still want to mate with her?”
“Yes, I do. As much as I care about her, she only knows what information I give her. Keep your enemies close and all that.”
My respect for my best friend grew. “I get it.”
“What are you going to do about the witch?”
“I’m going to tail him next time he leaves his house. Then I’ll find out what he knows about this vampire.”