Chapter 26 JERICHO
JERICHO
For two days, I practice in the yard, and for two days, I get better and faster at producing fire. It’s actually fun, now that I don’t have to concentrate so hard. But it wears me out.
“Wanna go again?” Evan asks as he enjoys an early dinner with the others. Jasmine made a large pot roast to warm everyone up, and insisted I sit with them while they eat to be included. When they aren’t helping me, they’re doing patrols with nearby packs. There is very little downtime.
I hesitate. “I’ve been at it all day.”
He bumps my knee under the table. “I know, but the sun doesn’t set for another hour. Might as well make the most of it. Besides, you can sleep tonight.”
I raise a single brow at him. Can I? We haven’t been able to keep our hands off each other when we’re alone. It’s like now that Evan has realized his attraction to me, he’s diving in headfirst. And I’m all for it.
Evan turns away, the tips of his ears turning pink. “Does anyone else want to join us?”
“I need to work,” Rowen says.
“Me too,” Jasmine replies. “I have some orders due at the bakery in two days, and I’m already behind.”
“Do you need help?” Ivy asks her.
“That would be great, hon. Thanks.”
“Wait, you sell your baked goods?” Evan asks. We’ve both noticed the endless cookies, crescents, and other delicious treats rolling through the kitchen, but I didn’t realize she made them for profit.
Ivy beams at her mom. “Mom has contracts with three shifter restaurants. It’s why she gets up so early. She likes to bake while the rest of us are still sleeping.”
“It’s the only way I can guarantee you’ll stay out of them,” Jasmine teases.
“And what do you do?” I ask Rowen.
“Design websites. Nothing too exciting.”
Jasmine pipes in immediately. “Hey, don’t say it like that. You bring in a lot of money for us, and you know we appreciate it.”
“Yeah. Whatever.” He snags a biscuit from the plate and waves at us before heading upstairs. “See you later.”
I watch him go, feeling a pang of sympathy for the guy. Pack life definitely comes with a lot of sacrifice. A constant need to put the whole over your own needs. But it makes me wonder, what would Rowen do otherwise? What’s his dream?
“What does everyone else do?” Evan asks.
“Neal runs a finance company. Taren divides her time between helping me and raising Aster. Ivy is a waitress. Red, as I’m sure you can guess, is a healer. And Sage and Grant co-own a handyman business. Forest helps with that sometimes too.”
“That’s awesome, though,” Evan says. “I’ve wondered. I mean, with a place this size, you probably all pitch in to pay the bills.”
Forest takes a sip of his drink. “It’s the shifter way.”
“You haven’t been missing work because of us, have you?” I ask.
A few people look away, and Neal clears his throat. “Some of us are… choosing to stay closer to home for now.”
Forest agrees. “But don’t worry. We’re a healthy pack, Jericho. We’ve worked hard to build this place. We’ll be okay.”
Will they though? Will they truly be okay if they keep skipping work to do extra patrols?
And the only reason they have to do them is because of me.
Sure, they can say it’s because they lost Sasha, but everyone knows I’m the one Foxx wants.
And Foxx knows I’m here now, so it’s only a matter of time before he comes back.
Anger ripples through me. Foxx can’t take all this away from them. I won’t have it. He can’t ruin their lives just like he ruined mine.
I bump Evan’s leg. “I’ll meet you outside.”
On the field, I suck in a breath of the cold air, letting it clear my mind.
Looking down, I ignite a ball of fire between my fingers, rolling it as if it were a marble.
The process is almost as easy as breathing now, something I hardly need to think about.
But controlling the size is still a challenge.
Most of the time the fireballs are barely larger than this.
I’ve only been able to produce something closer to a baseball twice.
But Evan keeps reminding me, with good aim, even something as small as a marble can kill a vampire.
Reaching into the bucket of empty beer and soda cans, I grab a few and walk to the edge of the clearing to line them up. Then I return to my regular starting point and take aim. With one clear swing, I knock over the first can but miss the second. Cursing, I try again and miss that one too.
What’s blocking me? Why can’t I do better? I need to focus.
Literally everything has come to this. My gift. It’s the reason Foxx has been chasing me, why he’s been trying to get me in his coven. He wants to use me… make me kill others, just like Rip, Breck, and all the others have done.
He’s proven how far he’s willing to go for it by bringing Evelyn into it.
The front door opens and Evan walks out, followed by Grant. The older beta takes a seat on the porch swing with a mug of coffee in one hand.
Evan heads toward the van, saying in a raised voice, “I’m going to grab my coat.” He must have forgotten I can hear him.
As he walks to the van, something catches my eye in the distance. A shadow in the trees, but it’s gone just as quickly as it appeared.
My heart jumps to my throat. Is it Foxx? Is he here?
I stare at the space for several seconds, but nothing happens. No movement or wisp of current in the fog. Am I imagining it?
“Gonna freeze my nuts off out here for you,” Evan says, rubbing his hands together for warmth. He pauses when he sees me. “You okay?”
I scan the trees again, but nothing seems out of the ordinary. Maybe it was just the lighting? It is nearly twilight after all. The forest light is always weird this time of night.
“Jer?” Evan turns to see what I’m staring at. “Do you see something?”
The last thing I want to do is alarm anyone. “No, I… I don’t think so.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah. I must be tired.”
“Well, we can skip this, you know. You’ve been at it non-stop.”
“No, let’s go.”
We go through six rounds of timed sessions, but I knock less than a third of the targets over. My focus is on the trees.
After realigning the cans for another round, Evan stalks over to me. “Seriously, what’s up?”
That’s when I catch the movement again, about fifty feet into the trees and a few dozen yards from where it was before. Getting closer.
Without thinking, I ignite a ball and throw it through the trees. To my horror, the light illuminates a face as it whizzes by.
Fuck.
If they were a shifter from a surrounding pack, they would have come in wolf form, and they wouldn’t have stayed in the shadows. Which means whoever this is, they aren’t our ally.
The need to protect Evan overrides anything else. I step in front of him, a snarl tearing from my lips as I cast another ball through the trees. It evaporates with a hiss as something extinguishes it.
“What are you—” Evan says.
I hold a hand up to silence him. Evan immediately tenses, reaching for the gun that is never missing from the back of his jeans. He takes aim in the direction of where I threw the fire.
“I don’t see anything.”
“Straight ahead,” I whisper. “Near the tall spruce.”
The figure straightens, pulling away from the tree just as a gust of wind blows in our direction. Dread fills me as I take in the scent.
Vampire.
Without taking my eyes off them, I turn to shout over my shoulder toward the house. “We have company!”
“Vamp?” Evan asks.
“Yes. Stay close.”
I hoped my warning to the pack would scare off the intruder. Make them realize we aren’t alone out here. Instead, it does just the opposite. The vampire begins walking toward us, completely unrushed.
If he was here to attack, wouldn’t he be running? Especially if he was here for me. Wouldn’t he come for me before my backup arrived?
Heavy footsteps trod behind us as four wolves approach. If the stranger is surprised to see them, they aren’t showing it.
Have they been here all day then? All week? Have they been watching us? Spying on us? And if so, why haven’t I noticed? Have I been so distracted with my training that I forgot to keep an eye on my surroundings? Damn it, Jericho. Do better.
The closer the vampire gets, the more I can make out some masculine features in their face, despite it being framed by waist-length silver hair. They don’t look a day over twenty-five, with a slender frame and elegant limbs. Even the way they walk is graceful and light.
But looks are deceiving when it comes to vampires. For all I know, this guy could be a few hundred years old and wicked strong. And what about his gift?
“Speak, vamp!” I demand. “State your business. And know you’re on enemy grounds.”
“Oh, I’m no enemy,” he says in a smooth voice. “Quite the opposite, in fact. I’m here to join your little… party.”
A vampire that wasn’t an enemy? “What’s your name?” I demand.
“Kaine Esterly,” he says, stopping about twenty yards away. “And I must say, I’m a little hurt. Don’t you recognize me?”
The wolves growl and paw at the earth, but I hold my hand up to steady them. My head spins. This man knows me? I study his face, but nothing comes to mind.
“Have we met?”
He gives me a weird half-smile. “Once, but you were a little… preoccupied trying to kill my best friend.”
I stiffen.
“Not that I blame you, of course. You were a newborn vamp and all that. Less than a day old, if I had to guess. I stopped you, of course. Threw you off her, just outside the hospital. You might remember her.” He holds a hand up around shoulder-height.
“She’s about this tall with purple hair and gold eyes.
Well, her hair is blue now, but you get the idea. ”
His description triggers a memory so powerful that I stumble back.
He’s describing the third person I drank from after my turning, and the first person I didn’t kill.
But only because of him. He’d ripped me off her and thrown me across the damn parking lot with so much force that I’d dented two vehicles and set off one alarm.
I was lucky I got out of there without being seen.
“She lived, by the way,” Kaine says. “In case you care.”
I didn’t know her name. But I never forgot her face. I will never forget any of their faces.
As if sensing it, Evan takes a step closer to me, gun still set on Kaine. “Why are you here?”
Kaine looks right at him, unfazed. “Like I said, to meet my new BFFs.”
Evan cocks his gun. “Tell us the truth, vamp. Why are you here?”
Kaine’s nostrils flare, like he can’t decide if he’s amused or annoyed by the human.
After taking a breath, he says, “There were rumors in town that someone killed Alden Durrant, so I had to check it out for myself. It wasn’t hard finding the clearing where it happened.
Their stench is like a poison around here.
” His attention drifts to me. “But then I recognized another scent and followed it here. Imagine my surprise when I find you. The vamp who almost killed Willow.”
Willow. A name to put to the purple-haired beauty whose vibrant life I nearly snuffed out.
“I didn’t mean to hurt her.”
He huffs. “Oh, I know. Our kind never means to do anything when we’re turned, do we? And yet… you did. Hurt her, I mean.” He tilts his head. “But now you can pay your penance by helping me.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “What do you mean?”
“Willow got herself stuck with those monsters, and I need help getting her out. I want you to do it.”
“Monsters? Who are you talking about?” Evan asks.
Kaine rolls his eyes. “Who do you think, human? Foxx and his little… cult of psycho vampires.”
I can’t hide my surprise. Kaine knows Foxx?
“What makes you think I can help?”
“I’ve been watching you all day, so I know you’re immune to fire.” Kaine looks around the field. “I must say, though, I’m… unimpressed by what you can do with it. You haven’t learned how to control it yet, have you?”
This guy knows too much.
“What do you know about Foxx?” Evan asks.
Kaine shrugs. “Believe me, I know more about that man than almost anyone.”
“Is that because you belong to his coven? Did he turn you, too?”
Kaine scoffs. “Hell no! Foxx has no idea who I am. But that answers one of my questions.” His smile turns cold as he looks at me. “You are one of his, aren’t you?”
Evan curses, realizing his mistake.
“I thought so. I’ve been trying to figure out why Alden was here. There’s only one reason he’d leave the club. He was looking for you.”
“If Foxx didn’t turn you, what do you want with him?” I ask.
Kaine steadies himself, tossing his long hair over his shoulder. “I told you. Willow is stuck with him, and I want to get her out.
Without warning, Grant shifts to his human form, his fists clenched in restraint. “What makes you think we’ll help you? We don’t know anything about you.”
Kaine’s gaze drifts up and down the other man’s naked body before he answers. “Because I know things about the coven you might not, and because I’ve heard you spit his name with venom at least a dozen times today, so I know you hate him as much as I do.”
I exchange a look with Grant, still unsure.
Kaine sighs. “Look, I have more reason than anyone to want Foxx dead. Four years ago, he killed my mother, but not before having his way with her first. When my father found out, it destroyed him. He lost himself in liquor, became completely unrecognizable. One night while he was shit-faced, my sister fell and cut herself on some broken glass he’d left after one of his rages.
She was bleeding badly, and instead of calling for help, he thought he would drive her to the hospital himself.
” I don’t need a truth serum to know Kaine is being honest. His somber eyes are filled with loss, one that is all too familiar.
Like looking in a mirror. “He swerved, lost control, killed both himself and my sister when he drove off the road.” Bitterness creeps into his voice.
“Which means Foxx is the sole reason my family is dead.”
Can he tell that I know exactly how he feels? Is my loss, my rage, just as painted on my face as it is on his?
Still, I can’t afford to blindly trust him.
Kaine straightens his back. “So? Do we have a deal? Can I join your little… group to take them down?”