Chapter 17 Rafe
“Are you sure this guy is trustworthy?” Rafe asked, knowing he’d been driving Emmy up the wall the entire drive with his questions.
It wasn’t Rafe’s fault. It had been two fucking days since his mate went missing. Two days with no sleep. Two days of his wolf howling non-stop inside him. Two days of feeling like his heart had been ripped in two and his soul was stretched tight enough to shatter.
“Seth’s young, but he’s good people. His tips have always been solid, and he hates vampires as much as we do.”
“He is a vampire,” Rafe pointed out.
“He’s a vampire who was turned against his will and pimped out to the scum of the city. He’d take down Kyan and the whole coven without batting an eye if he had the power and connections to do it.”
“How young are we talking?”
“Twenty-five. He must’ve been turned in the last three years or so because he’s still figuring out what he’s capable of. His control is shaky.”
“And why is he willing to give us the time of day? I would’ve thought he’d hate all supernaturals with a history like his.”
“He’s definitely wary of us, so don’t go all alpha-Dom on him. I helped him out with a problem he was having. We had a bonding moment.”
Rafe’s mouth twitched in as much of a smile as he could manage right then. “Why do I feel like your bonding moment involved bondage and blood?”
“Because you know me?”
“Where are we meeting this guy, anyway? Are you just cruising every spot sex workers frequent in the city?” Rafe asked as Emmy slowed down to peer at the shadowy figures leaning against the brickwork in the alley nearby.
“He didn’t answer my text. I suspect his pimp confiscated his phone. So, yeah.”
Emmy pulled the car into a park. “If he’s not here, we might be able to get one of the others to talk,” he said, gesturing toward the handful of scantily clad people nearby—a mixture of genders and mostly human, but all with an air of desperation.
This wasn’t the kind of area someone worked if they had any choice in the matter.
From far away, they looked alluring, but the closer they got, the more signs of illness and abuse Rafe could sense. It was enough to distract his wolf from pining for their mate. They wanted to heal every one of these people and take them home to feed them a hot meal.
“Vampire territory. You can’t,” Emmy reminded him, sensing the turn of his thoughts.
“I know that,” Rafe said, teeth gritted in frustration as he watched a young woman nearby hide a shiver. None of them were dressed for the winter weather.
Continuing their search of the dirty streets, they walked briskly so they wouldn’t get caught in an interaction with anyone. They’d question these people if they needed to, but it was better if they could leave as little trace as possible of the Lunetti Pack’s interest in Emmy’s informant.
“Looking for something special, gentlemen?” a soft voice called from nearby.
Emmy spun, a flash of relief crossing his features. “Thank fuck,” he murmured, before calling out louder to Seth—“What are you offering, sweet thing?”
Even Rafe’s shifter vision struggled to pierce the shadows to see the young vampire as his pupils adjusted from the sharp white glare of the streetlights to the darkened alley he was waiting in. When he finally came into focus, a growl left Rafe’s throat.
“What the fuck?”
The young vampire was wearing not much more than a head-to-toe, wide-fishnet body stocking.
A scanty metallic jockstrap was the only thing stopping him from flashing them.
That wasn’t what had caught Rafe’s eye, though.
He’d never seen a vampire so emaciated. His eyes were sunken in dark shadows like he hadn’t slept in weeks, and the lines of bruises stretched around his neck like a collar should never have remained with even a baby vamp’s healing ability.
Rafe could make out the outline of each thick finger of whoever had choked him out.
“Seth…” Emmy said, his voice trailing off into fuming concern.
The young vampire took one look at their looming worry and looked like he wanted to bolt. Rafe scanned the alleyway behind him, relieved to see it was a dead end. There was no way this guy could outrun them in his current condition.
“What do you want?” Seth hissed, his eyes darting to the street in hypervigilance.
“To get you away from your fucking asshole of a pimp,” Emmy snapped. “Get in our car and don’t come back.”
Seth scoffed. “Yeah, that’s not why you came looking for me. Everyone wants something.”
Emmy shrugged. “It can be both.”
“I can’t hide on the pack lands for the rest of my life.
I need to earn my place as a vampire with my own kind, and it’s not like shifters aren’t just as violent.
” The words sounded like something that had been beaten into him.
A refrain from whatever evil fuck had turned him that had eroded at Seth’s sense of self until he truly couldn’t see any other way out.
Rafe had seen it before. Too many times.
It also sounded like the coven had seeded some pre-emptive messages about the other supernaturals to ensure Seth didn’t go running to the other families for help. The poor guy sounded terrified.
Gripping Emmy’s shoulder before he drove Seth away with his need to protect him, Rafe reached for his power. “Let me heal you, at least.”
Seth staggered back two steps, panic in his eyes as his voice grew too loud. “No!” Swallowing hard as his eyes kept scanning their surroundings, he murmured the rest of his reply almost too softly for Rafe to make out. “It’ll be worse if the marks aren’t still there when I go back.”
Rafe dropped his arm back to his side, his hands closing into fists. “Fine, but I can at least help with your energy levels.”
Stepping forward slowly so he didn’t startle the skittish vampire, he reached out to cup his face, running a thumb under those dark bruises beneath his eyes.
His power flowed through him without thought.
It was all he could do to stop it from healing the poor guy.
Instead, he let magic take the place of nutrition and sleep, feeding Seth just enough of his own energy so he would at least be able to run if someone less well-meaning cornered him in an alley later.
“What—oh,” Seth said, eyes widening in surprise as he felt the effects of Rafe’s magic.
Rafe crossed his arms tight over his chest before he healed too much, forcing his magic back inside his skin. “My clinic is in the neutral zone on the south edge of the ring road. When you need me again, come there. Don’t wait.”
Seth seemed to shake himself out of his shock, stepping in closer and putting a delicate hand on Rafe’s chest above his crossed arms as he blinked up at him. He was so fucking small.
“How can I repay you?”
Nausea twisted in Rafe’s gut at the implication that his healing was conditional on that, but Emmy’s snort from next to him interrupted before he could figure out what to say.
“I told you, we’re not like that, Seth. No one wants in your pants, especially Rafe. Chill,” Emmy said.
Seth’s brow furrowed, like he couldn’t quite comprehend the words. “Why especially Rafe?”
“He’s a healer first. He would never. But he also has a mate who’s missing. That’s why we came.”
Seth nodded, stepping back. “So, you did need something. Did your mate run from you?”
Rafe sighed. It wasn’t Seth’s fault that he didn’t understand shifter culture and assumed the worst. The poor guy would’ve been raised human and oblivious before the coven turned him and forced him into this life.
All he knew of the supernatural community was violence, assault, and whatever lies the coven had fed him.
“No. He was taken from me. Two nights ago. By the terrorist group we’ve been hunting—the D-2S.”
Seth nodded, all focus now. “The tunnels, right? I still haven’t managed to catch anyone coming or going, but I know they’re there. Tell me about your guy.”
Rafe gave a clipped description of Adri, forcing himself to stick to physical appearance and avoid talking about the way his mate’s eyes glowed with defiance or the way his face softened when he was mentoring his crew.
His words cut off partway through describing the other young fighters who’d been taken as Seth’s eyes widened in recognition.
“You’ve seen something. Tell me,” Rafe said, urgency rushing through him.
“You said one of them has dyed green hair? When I’m struggling with my hunger, they make me run circuits in the neighbourhood I stay in to distract me.
There’s a warehouse on Albertine that’s usually vacant, but yesterday there were people there—humans.
I didn’t see your guy, but there was a flash of green from the loading bay that drew my attention, and I heard them complaining about having to move live shifters.
I figured they must’ve been associated with the coven and I needed to mind my own business, but it was weird they were human.
Master Valryn doesn’t usually use them for that kind of thing. ”
“Could you make out anything else? How many? What kind of weapons?” Emmy asked.
“I mean, yeah. It was broad daylight. There were nine of them in three SUVs carrying semiautomatics that I assume were loaded with silver of some kind.”
Rafe’s jaw dropped as Seth’s words distracted him from the vital intel temporarily.
“They make you run during the day?”
No wonder the vampire was so exhausted and his injuries weren’t healing. He was far too young to spend extended periods out in the sun like that, especially as starved as he was.
Seth shrugged, his face twisting in a subtle wince as he did, and Rafe reached out to spin him around, growling as he took in the whip marks across his shoulders.
“I can’t stand for this,” Rafe snapped as Seth pulled away, arms wrapped around himself as he dipped his head to stare at the ground.
“It’s not your fucking call. I’ve seen how shifters treat vampires. You’re enemies. I’m better off where I am,” Seth said.