CHAPTER SIX || JEREMY
M y eyes snapped open just before the ocean of blood crashed over me.
“Rookwood,” I said hoarsely, sitting upright.
I blinked against the harsh midday sun, trying to get my bearings.
The dream had been so vivid it felt like I was right there, in that eerily quiet town.
The blond vampire had been there too, the same way he always was now. Close enough to touch, if I wanted to.
My mate. The monster fate had chosen for me.
It made sense that he would dream of abandoned towns and oceans of blood. Probably the equivalent of Disney World for him.
That thought—armor I tried to wrap around myself—didn’t stop the keen sense of loss when I woke to find he wasn’t with me.
It had been almost a month since I met him in the forest, and every day since I’d fought the urge to go find him. I dreamed of him whenever I slept in my human form, sun high overhead, when I could no longer stay a wolf.
His face haunted my every waking moment, too.
My wolf—an impulsive creature on its best day—clamored to go after him, stirring restlessly in my chest. It was sure we could find him. The man in me was equally certain. As if I could point in his direction at any moment, the way a compass finds true north.
“So, this is what you’ve been up to. Living rough in the woods. Gotta say, I’m not exactly impressed.”
Lindsey, the half-sister I hadn’t seen in nearly two years, sat on the moss-grown steps of the ruined log cabin I sometimes slept in. Her kind face was bathed in late June sun, her expression pinched with worry.
How long had she been sitting there?
I was across the clearing, but I could smell the antiseptic tang clinging to her, like she was right beside me.
My wolf didn’t like that strange edge to her familiar scent.
Too much like bright lights, cold tables, and pain.
Which tracked, given she’d become a veterinarian after leaving the pack.
She lived across the mountains, in Ellensburg.
She hadn’t bothered with pack business since she’d left for college, practically the moment our father was safely in the ground and could no longer stop her.
The pack had wanted to drag her back, but I’d become alpha by then and forbidden it.
I loved her far more than our father ever had.
She could have the life she chose. Always.
But what was she doing here now, interrupting my peace?
“Emma sent for me,” Lindsey said, practically reading my mind. “Your pack is worried about you.”
Before I could stop myself, I let out a low growl.
They weren’t my pack.
Not anymore.
“Very mature.” Lindsey shook her head and sighed, grabbing a wad of dark clothing beside her. She balled it up and threw it with practiced aim. It landed next to me. “Put some clothes on and come talk to me.”
I stared at the bundle for a long moment.
“Look, Jer, I drove two and a half hours to get here, and I’ve spent most of my morning searching the forest for you. Would you mind at least telling me to fuck off properly, so I can go back to the pack with a clear conscience and say I tried?”
A sudden rush of fondness caught me off guard. I realized how much I’d missed her. She’d come back to the commune for nearly a month after Ian died, but I’d barely noticed. I had been too hollowed out to notice much of anything.
She hadn’t left then, and I knew she wouldn’t leave now. Not until I talked to her.
Sighing, I grabbed the clothes and dressed quickly. Loose gray sweatpants, a soft black T-shirt I hadn’t worn in years—now a little too tight. She’d probably fished them out of the dresser in my old cabin. The fabric felt strange, constricting after a year of nudity.
I joined her on the steps.
“What are you doing here?” My voice was rough. Apart from the vampire, I hadn’t spoken in a long time.
“I already told you. Emma called me.” Lindsey winced, probably at the rasp in my tone. “And hello to you, too. You look and sound like shit, Jer.”
“Whatever Emma is after, the answer is no. All I want is to be left alone.”
“Listen, I get that you’re in pain,” Lindsey said, resting her chin on folded arms, studying me sideways.
Her knees were drawn up tight, but she was still nearly as tall as me.
Anyone looking at us might not have believed we were related.
Different mothers, same asshole father. Her skin was darker than mine and perfectly smooth, her eyes so deep brown they were almost black, like twin pools of ink.
Concern shone in them, and I hated every second of it.
“I can’t imagine what you’re going through, Jer. I loved Ian too. You know I did.”
The mention of my former mate made me want to crawl back into wolf form and run until I could lose myself to instinct.
“I just want to be left alone,” I repeated, steadier. “I’ve told everyone that. They can find themselves a new alpha. Reed—”
“Is your second-in-command. And he’s been your best friend since diapers. He’s doing the best he can, but we both know how this works. He can’t really be alpha. Not until you’re dead. Or until he defeats you, which he doesn’t plan on doing anytime soon. Your pack needs you.”
“I don’t belong to a pack anymore.”
“The fuck you don’t,” Lindsey said. “Daniel and Emma think the bleeds will start again soon.”
“Bullshit.”
But a chill ripped through me at her words.
“Daniel says the magic’s been unstable for six months. It got worse with the last full moon. Another lunar cycle, maybe less, and the bleeds will start again.”
My words died in my throat. Daniel was a powerful warlock who’d joined the pack a year and a half ago.
One of his main tasks was tracking mystical forces in the area.
Emma was the elder and keeper of our lore.
She’d been ancient even before my grandfather was born.
If they believed the walls separating this reality from the strange Otherworld were weakening, they probably were.
And when those walls failed, monsters always came through.
Just like the creatures that took Ian.
I thought back to the dying deer. Meeting the vampire had wiped it from my mind, but whatever killed it hadn’t been natural. It had flayed half the skin cleanly off without touching the muscle underneath.
Lindsey nodded, reading my expression as easily as when we were kids. “You understand why they sent for me, then. It isn’t just about you running off and living rough like a crazy person. They need you. The pack is weakened.”
She was right. A year ago, there’d been fourteen of us. Now only seven wolves and one warlock remained. The rest had left around the same time I did. The smart ones. The ones who wouldn’t die senselessly in a forest, the way Ian had.
“Let me guess.” I let out a long, angry breath.
“Emma wants me to round up the others. Throw my weight around, rough up the ones who won’t fall in line.
Make them all fight again.” I laughed, bitter and sharp.
“She’s barking up the wrong tree. I’ve made some shit choices as alpha, but I’m done getting my people killed. ”
Lindsey snorted. “It’s worse than that. She wants you to make nice with the vampire king of Seattle.”
That startled me so much I forgot to be angry. “What? Why?”
“They’ve put together a joint council. Vampires, shapeshifters, old souls, witches—”
“Vampires and witches getting along? Last I heard, they were about to take each other out.”
“You’ve been gone a long time.”
“I tried to kill the king’s progeny. They’ll attack me on sight if I step into their territory.”
She shrugged, uncomfortable. “Apparently that’s forgiven. They called Emma to invite the pack.” She paused. “Rumor has it Nathaniel Bailey’s not especially bloodthirsty, for a vampire king.”
“They’re vampires. They’re all monsters.”
“That’s not true.” Lindsey scowled. “What our dad taught us was wrong. My closest friend is a vampire. And Aiden’s actually a nice guy once you get to know him. Practically a teddy bear. Especially now that he’s met his fated mate.”
I didn’t believe it. Vampires were cold predators who stole vitality from the living. They weren’t nice .
But I couldn’t help wondering if maybe the blond vampire was a teddy bear too. Somehow, I doubted it.
“And how is making nice with the vampires going to do a damn thing?”
“Emma thinks he’ll convince the council to send help. If our alpha explains there’s a place, practically in his backyard, that spews out monsters, she’s betting the king will station backup in Crescent Springs. It’ll buy us time to reassemble the pack.”
“It’s a bandage, not a solution.”
“It beats everyone—including you—dying at the hands of nightmare creatures from the void.”
“Lindsey—”
“Are you really going to fucking argue with me?”
“I’m not arguing. The answer is no.”
“Fine.” Her expression hardened. “Then I’m staying.”
My eyes widened. Fear rippled through me. “What do you mean, you’re staying?”
“If you don’t do this, the pack will need an extra wolf,” she said with a thin smile. “If Emma and Daniel are right, and the bleeds are about to start again, they’ll need me.”
“But your job—”
“I’ve got vacation time. And my job isn’t as important as a whole town. Crescent Springs is five miles from the nearest bleed. You know how fast these things move. They’ll go straight for the town and everyone in it.”
The image of the deer dying alone swam up again. I gritted my teeth and glared anyway.
She was right. And she knew it.
“I’ll come with you,” Lindsey said more gently. “Reed will too, I’m sure. No one’s saying you need to walk into the lion’s den alone.”
“When is this council meeting?”
“Tonight. In a few hours.”
Of course they’d strong-arm me without giving me time to change my mind. Oddly, the wolf in me stirred at that, clamoring to say yes.
Weird.
“Fine,” I said before I could stop myself. “Tell Emma she wins. But after this, I’m done. Reed will challenge me, and I’ll let him win.”
Lindsey didn’t flinch, but her expression darkened. “You’d be asking him to kill you.”
Generally, wolves retain most of our human intellect when we shift. But when threatened, instinct takes over. If it’s our life or theirs, the wolf will do anything—even fight dirty—to survive.
I shrugged. “He might not. I’m only asking him to defeat me.”
“ You might kill him .”
“I won’t,” I said flatly. A wolf’s survival instinct is for those who still have something to live for. I was already a ghost—my body just didn’t know it yet.
A flash of the vampire’s too-blue eyes ripped through my memory. I shoved it away. I’d be doing both of us a favor.
“Jer, this is nuts. You can’t ask Reed to—”
“I’m not asking. Those are my terms. Take them back to the pack. Reed and Emma can accept or not.”
“Listen to me, Jer,” Lindsey said thickly. “If you do this—if you make Reed do this—I won’t forgive you. You’re the only family I have left. And I can’t lose you too.”
Guilt punched me square in the chest. I almost caved. Instead, I looked away, scowling, eyes burning, so I wouldn’t have to feel like more of a monster than I already did. Fate had chosen well to pair me with a vampire—a creature as selfish and messed up as I was.
But this wasn’t selfishness. The pack was connected in ways that ran deep. They drew strength from each other and their alpha. I couldn’t be that anymore. I couldn’t be trusted to make decisions that might get them killed.
If the bleeds really were starting again, they needed a real alpha—with hope still in his heart, not crushed by despair. Without that, they wouldn’t stand a chance. And they were still my people.
Now that it came to it, I still cared whether they lived or died.
And Crescent Springs was still my town. I’d grown up there with Ian, learned how to love there.
It was where I’d opened my bar, listening to locals and ski lodge guests drown their troubles.
I knew every inch of it the way I knew this forest, the way I knew my own body.
Crescent Springs was my home.
I couldn’t allow anything to happen to it. Or to the people in it.
“You and Reed will meet me in an hour,” I said harshly, my voice thicker than it should have been. “Then we’ll go.”
“What if Reed and Emma say no?” Lindsey asked, clinging to false hope.
I felt the grim smile curve my lips. Nothing about this was funny. “They won’t.”