CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE || THIERRY #2
Reed and Lindsey sat side by side at the far end of the log I was perched on. Lindsey, who was closer, offered me a tentative smile. Between her and Reed was the dark-haired vampire named Aiden, his sandy-haired human mate Dante at his side. Lindsey’s friends.
Why she thought it wise to let them stay, I had no idea. Dante was probably a Sanguinato like James—a human who consumed vampire blood regularly, healed quickly, had slightly enhanced senses, and didn’t age. But none of that would help against what was out there.
I was almost certain Aiden must have agreed with my silent assessment because he kept casting wary glances at the tree line, practically vibrating with tension.
I understood completely.
There was no way in hell my wolf was going in there alone.
On other logs sat a pair of dark-haired twins, both mid-to-late twenties—or so they looked.
Wolves aged more slowly than humans. Next to them perched a blond woman who looked more like a cheerleader than a werewolf, dressed in a pink crop top and scandalously short gray sweatpants that showed off long, tanned legs.
I didn’t like the way she studied Jeremy, like she intended to help him forget everyone else—including me.
On the log furthest from the pack sat a dark-haired warlock.
That had to be Daniel, whom Jeremy had mentioned several times.
He was younger than I’d imagined—barely more than a boy.
He seemed apart from the others in ways that had nothing to do with distance.
His eyes kept drifting to the twins before sliding away. They pointedly ignored him.
Beside him sat a wizened woman with slate-gray eyes and deep red hair, despite her obvious age—Emma, the pack’s elder.
Next to her was a younger woman with the same coloring.
Her daughter, perhaps. Or granddaughter.
Both kept shooting me strange looks: Emma’s speculative, the younger woman’s openly hostile.
At the far end sat a dark-skinned werewolf with high cheekbones and haunted eyes—thirties by appearance—also casting wary glances our way.
And that was it.
The full pack. Seven wolves. Eight, if you counted Emma, the elder serving more as advisor than anything else, and one warlock who, while powerful by ordinary standards, was no Poppy. No wonder my wolf had asked Nathaniel for help.
“The threat is very bad,” Jeremy said at last, standing before us. He somehow radiated command, even just standing there. He met every gaze before adding, “We’re after the same creature that killed Ian.”
Around us, eyes widened. The wolves went pale. The twins whispered furiously to each other, but I didn’t bother to listen.
“Are you certain?” Emma rasped.
“Yes,” Jeremy said, turning to her. He looked paler himself, and through the bond I felt how close he was to unraveling. The combined weight of knowing what we were hunting and standing before his pack again after almost a full year pressed down on him. “I’ve seen a vision of what we’re facing.”
You’ve got this, I whispered.
He met my gaze for a heartbeat—his expression softening, the look in his eyes meant only for me—before turning back to Emma. In short, clipped sentences, he described the creature from our dreamscape.
“We need you and Jo to search our records,” he finished. “See if the pack has ever gone up against something like this.”
Emma nodded, exchanging a glance with the younger woman beside her—Jo, presumably.
“We need to protect the town,” Jeremy said. “We don’t know what this being wants, or why it kills. Only that it’s savage, merciless, and deadly.”
“No, we need to go after it,” the dark-skinned man said flatly. “It cannot be allowed to exist. No one will be safe until it’s gone. We cannot react to it. We must act . We have to hunt it down.”
“There aren’t enough of us,” Reed shot back. “What happens to Crescent Springs while we’re in the woods?”
“I can put a spell around the town,” Daniel offered. “I can’t stop it from getting in—I don’t have that much power—but I can set up a warning. If it crosses the threshold, we’ll know.”
Jeremy considered this.
“Dante and I can’t stay,” Aiden said firmly, giving Lindsey an apologetic look. “We’ll be leaving soon. After—”
“—after we help track where the creature came from,” Dante finished smoothly, earning a sharp look from me.
Were they blood-bonded, too? They certainly seemed in sync.
But how could they track a creature if a full pack of wolves couldn’t?
“The creature leaves no scent,” Jeremy said, echoing my thoughts. He frowned at them. “Otherwise, we’d scour the woods. We’d leave no stone unturned.”
“Dante senses things others can’t,” Aiden explained grimly.
He clearly hated the idea of his mate in harm’s way, which I empathized with wholeheartedly.
But after a hard look from Dante, he sighed and added, “We’ll go to where the hiker was slain.
We’ll determine the direction the creature came from and perhaps glean something about its intent. And then we’ll leave.”
Dante opened his mouth to protest, but Aiden gave a small shake of his head and fixed him with an imploring look. “Even being here puts you in danger. I can’t lose you. You know that.” He turned to Lindsey, his expression hard. “You can’t ask more of us than this.”
“I know,” she said softly. “I’m already asking too much. Thank you.”
“We’re family,” Dante told her, his tone warmer than Aiden’s. “It’s not too much. And if the hiker’s ghost is still there, I might be able to learn even more.”
He was a psychic, then.
“If the pack’s splitting up, I’ll protect the town,” Lindsey said, rising.
Jeremy whirled on her, eyes wide. “No! You’ll go back to Ellensburg with Aiden and Dante! This is no place for you.”
“Jeremy, I love you. But you’re my brother, not my alpha,” she countered, narrowing her eyes. “And I’ll do as I please. I grew up here, same as you. These are my people, too.”
“You can’t protect the entire town alone,” Jeremy snapped. “That’s a fantastic way to get yourself killed.”
“And if you died, who would keep our cat company while we’re away?” Aiden asked. “Creature needs you.”
“Casper would,” Dante said solemnly. He glanced at the rest of us. “Casper’s our ghost dog. We adopted him a couple of months back. Or, well, he adopted us . He loves Creature.”
“If only she loved him back,” Lindsey muttered. “Then I wouldn’t get clawed every five minutes when you two leave town.”
“I’ll stay with Lindsey,” Daniel offered. “If she can keep the monster off me long enough to cast—”
The dark-haired twins snapped their heads up, identical glares aimed at him. The one on the right said, voice hard, “We will also stay.” He met Jeremy’s eyes. “We’ll protect your sister.”
Their meaning was clear: they’d go to protect Daniel. And Lindsey, too, if she was there and needed it. Interesting. They couldn’t seem to bring themselves to look at the warlock.
“Splitting up never works in horror movies,” the blonde woman drawled, her accent vaguely Southern.
“We may not have a choice,” Jeremy said, shaking his head. “But I don’t like it.”
“I’m surprised you even care,” the dark-skinned wolf muttered. “Coming here to act like alpha after a year in the woods, like a fucking—”
“Oliver,” Emma snapped, gaze sharp and murderous. “Jeremy is back now, at the very moment we need him most.” Her voice hardened. “And he is your alpha , whether you like it or not. You will obey him.”
Oliver glared, then dropped his gaze, scowling.
“I left,” Jeremy admitted softly. Guilt rippled through the bond, heavy and raw. He looked up and met every gaze. “That’s true. There’s no way around it. Each of you has a right to your feelings about it. If we live through this, any of you are welcome to challenge me for alpha.”
His eyes lingered on mine for a beat too long before sliding away again. Look, Thierry—
Don’t ‘Thierry’ me. That’s not happening, I shot back through the bond.
Jeremy winced, then said aloud, “But that’s then. This is now.”
“I want to trust you. But you’re consorting with vampires,” the blonde wolf sneered. She cast Aiden—and then me—a wary glance, suspicion sharp in her eyes. “Are we just supposed to believe they’re somehow good guys now? And when they get hungry, what then? Do we just let them tap a vein?”
Yes, I officially disliked her.
“You’d better be very nice to me,” I said coldly, before Jeremy could reply. I let some of my power ripple outward across the ground.
Vampires carry an aura of raw power—it’s part of what lets us hypnotize others. The older we are, the stronger it gets.
The wolves felt it. The twins shuddered, their eyes widening in eerie unison. Oliver shrank back. Even Dante, not a wolf at all, flinched. But I only had eyes for the blonde, who glared back at me with murder in her gaze.
“After all,” I added, “I’m the vampire who’s going to ensure each of you lives through the night. Even you—Tracy, or Stacy, or Tiffany—whatever your name is.”
“Lacey,” she said, bewildered. Her eyebrows knit together as she studied me, a frown tugging her lips down.
“This isn’t your fight,” Jeremy said tightly, unease spilling through the bond—as though it had just struck him that I wouldn’t sit idly by while he ran off to get himself killed. “Thierry, you know I can’t let you do that.”
Ridiculous. I was the most lethal creature here by a country mile. I’d proven it often enough. And the only thing keeping me from tearing into him—for even thinking I’d let him face nightmare monsters alone—was the flood of thoughts he was trying so hard to hide.
History was repeating itself. The bleeds were happening again. The very creature that had taken Ian from him now stalked the same forest. It had already killed. And it was closing in.
The idea of losing me the same way—or at all—was something he couldn’t face, not even long enough to voice it.
“If you think for an instant I’ll allow you to die— any of you, even the most infuriating among you,” I shot Lacey a look, then met Jeremy’s gaze, “you’re sorely mistaken about the kind of vampire I am.”
And before anyone—particularly a certain love-struck alpha—could argue with me, I stood and stalked away without another word.
I didn’t look back.
I didn’t need to talk about it anymore. I already knew my role.
I was going to save them.
All of them.
I’d rip that thing apart with my bare hands if I had to. Not one of Jeremy’s wolves was dying on my watch.
And Jeremy could shove off if he thought I’d ever be able to do anything else.