Chapter Fifteen
Emery
I followed Esther outside and quickly helped an elderly woman.
She threw me a brilliant smile, and I wondered how it worked.
Old wolves? I assumed she was a wolf. Did she still shift?
Was she able to? Was she in her eighties as she looked, or was she like a hundred and seventy-nine?
I wasn’t trying to be funny, and I definitely didn’t say it out loud.
I was just overwhelmed. I handed her off to one of the younger men, who was older than me definitely, comparatively speaking, then went to help one with boxes of food.
There was a huge open trapdoor kind of thing and visible steps going down, and that seemed to be where everyone was heading.
Like an underground bunker, I guessed. I suppose it made sense.
Although sense was a relative term. I mean, vampires? At some point, I had to wake up. This was getting ridiculous.
“No,” a woman yelled, and she started struggling when she saw the trapdoor. “I won’t. I’m not going down there.” She wrenched her hand from the other woman’s grasp and ran back to the houses. Then, three of the women all around her suddenly shifted.
Esther beckoned me. “Quick. They’re coming.” Two of the wolves ran off to the forest, and one followed the other woman to the houses.
“I’m right behind you,” I yelled as an older man in front suddenly clutched his chest. The other man who was helping ran over and simply picked him up, running down the steps that led into the bunker.
It was chaos, and I understood everyone was frightened.
There was a mad surge for the trapdoor, but I looked behind me.
There wasn’t anything I could do about the wolves that had run off, but I wasn’t leaving the woman who’d run back out there alone.
I turned and ran back, dodging behind the cottage we’d just come out of, only to get knocked off my feet by a wolf that ran past me.
I lay stunned for a few seconds, then gingerly got to my feet.
I hadn’t recognized the wolf, so I assumed she was the woman, but then I heard a cry of fear and looked up as an older man also tried to get to his feet as a second wolf, barged into him.
This was ridiculous, and I was getting really annoyed.
My five-year-olds knew how to act in an emergency better than this.
We ran drills, everything from a fire alarm—or God help us—an active shooter situation.
“Go!” A younger man came running and scooped the old man up, tossing him over his shoulder.
I nodded and jogged to the trapdoor, glancing behind me to the small cottage as I hurried.
Then I swore to myself and stopped. The door wasn’t quite closed, and I knew I’d shut it almost on autopilot as I ran out.
It could’ve been one of the wolves, or at least the woman before she shifted, but what if there was another person panicking or hurt?
What if another older wolf had been knocked over?
I glanced back at the trapdoor. They were still going down.
I had time. I jogged back to the cottage and carefully pushed the door open wide.
“Hello?” Feeling a little ridiculous, I walked inside. I could see most of the room. I was just going to check the bedroom when the door slammed closed. I didn’t get the chance to see why because a hand came around my face and covered my mouth.
I had a brief moment to wonder if I’d gone from dreaming werewolves were real, to starring in my own B-movie slasher flick when I felt the cool breath on my neck.
Then yeah, despite my holier-than-thou attitude over the grown-ass adults making such a mess of… well, being an adult, my brain decided that now was a good time to join in.
Thanking the very few self-defense lessons I’d had that didn’t involve pepper spray, I pressed back into my attacker instead of trying to get away.
They never expected that.
The hand on my mouth didn’t catch up with me going backwards, allowing a tiny gap, and I bit. Bit hard. The resulting cry accompanied him letting go, and I charged for the door.
So—
You know all those movies where they run, look back, then trip? And the baddie catches them anyway?
Yeah, no, I didn’t do that. I ran. I didn’t trip, but because I might have been a cat in a previous life whose curiosity probably put an end to every one of its nine lives, I looked back.
And stopped.
Because my attacker, who was crying and wriggling his hurt hand, was a child.
A tall child, sure, but I’d been at this a long time—well, kids, and unless this was a wolf and—no.
This wasn’t a wolf. I knew that even if I didn’t know how I knew.
The other thing I also knew was if this child was more than thirteen years old, then stick some fangs on me and call me a vampire.
Then the boy looked up, and I wanted to slap myself. Because he happened to be sporting a nice pair of fangs, and they looked real enough to me.
He was still crying, though, and whatever he was, I’d hurt a child. Shame curled through me. “Okay, now that everyone’s calmed down, my name’s Emery, and you are?”
I waited while his eyes finished their saucer impression.
He swallowed, and I was glad to see he put his pointy teeth away.
“Rhys,” he muttered. I fancied his nearly white skin flushed a little, but I was probably imagining it.
“It means fiery warrior,” he added a little defensively, and I had to bite my lip not to smile.
“Would you like a drink?” I asked, heading to the kitchen.
I glanced back when I didn’t get a reply.
He was looking at me with such an astonished expression that I smiled.
Then I played my words back. Hell, I was thinking milk or juice.
I wasn’t offering to open a vein, even if my AB negative was supposed to be in high demand.
“Milk?” I asked, pulling open the fridge and reviewing the contents. “Orange juice, orange soda?”
He perked up a little. “Soda, please.”
He was a very polite vampire anyway.
I pulled out the can and opened a cupboard for glasses, but then, spying the straws, popped the tab and dropped a blue straw in.
I didn’t go for the red ones as I didn’t want to encourage him, and I passed it over.
He thanked me again. Then I grabbed a water bottle from the fridge before heading into the bathroom and finding a first-aid box under the sink, which did surprise me.
But I carried them both to the table, pulled out a chair, and sat down.
Unthreateningly.
As I hoped, he sat. I held my hand out for his and tapped the first-aid box. “Let me see.”
He blinked again, probably thinking I was a crazy man—not that I blamed him—but held out his hand.
I winced as I saw the marks. I hadn’t actually drawn blood, but it was red and probably hurt like hell.
“I’m sorry.” I rummaged, finding an antibacterial wipe, gently cleaned the area, then pounced on the arnica cream.
“This is really good for bruising and should numb it a little.”
I finished treating his hand, then settled back and unscrewed the cap off my water.
“Who are you?” Rhys asked.
I sighed because I really didn’t think he was asking because he’d forgotten my name.
“I mean, you didn’t try to run or kill me.”
I arched an eyebrow. “Well, that’s because I’m an adult, and you’re a child, and my gran taught me better manners.”
He didn’t seem to have a comeback or even another question after that, so I tried one. “Did you get lost?”
He glanced down, and this time, I did see a little redness climb his neck.
“I didn’t mean to come here.” I actually believed him.
“The coven elders were following me.” That didn’t sound good.
It could’ve been their presence that sounded the alarm, although I supposed the alarm would work just as well for one vampire as an army of them.
I really hoped there wasn’t an army of them on its way.
“Following you or chasing you?” I asked gently.
Tears filled his eyes. “I’m a hugger. Do—” He launched himself at me so fast we were both nearly on the floor, but I grabbed the table at the last second to stop my chair from tipping over. Then I folded my arms around him and just let him cry.
When it didn’t look like I was in any danger of drowning under his tears, I reached over and snagged some tissues hidden under a very nice, crocheted cover.
I passed them over and just managed to restrain myself from instructing him to blow, but he did anyway.
I got up and grabbed another bottle of water, by which time he looked a little calmer.
“How about you start at the beginning?”
Rhys looked at me with confusion in what were very pretty blue eyes. He would be a heartbreaker when he grew up.
Which, when I thought about it, had to top one of the most insane thoughts I’d had. “Aren’t you immortal?” I asked before my mouth filter kicked in.
His confusion deepened, and it was my turn to feel a flush in my neck. “Sorry, ignore me. I don’t expect you to be born fully grown.” Because that would just be weird.
“Oh,” he said, understanding, lighting his eyes. “Yes, but not until we reach thirty and lose our souls.”
Nope. I didn’t have a comeback to that one, either.
“Will someone be missing you?” Maybe he had a vampire mom tearing her hair out somewhere.
“My dad will be. By now, the coven elders will have told him I missed my lessons.”
“Wait, is this about skipping school?” I narrowed my eyes.
“School?” he asked. “What’s school?”
I rubbed my forehead. I didn’t know where to start. “Okay, so I bet your dad is really worried about now.”
One skeptical eyebrow raised, and he huffed. I nearly laughed. Really, teenagers were the same the world over. Humans, wolves, vampires… Not that I’d met a wolf teenager, but I had a good imagination.
He looked up and over to the window, at the same time as I registered how quiet it was. Wonderful. They’d all gone underground and left me. What happened to the omega being the center of the pack? I was clearly very forgettable.
“I have to go.”
I turned back to Rhys. It was clear he didn’t want to, but I had an awful feeling any attempt on my part to speak to his father would likely meet with severe consequences.
For me, anyway. “Do you want me to walk back with you? Maybe I could explain. Say you were a little wary of getting into trouble.”
Rhys shook his head. “We fear nothing.” I knew that was a direct quote. He stood. “You’ve been very kind, but I can’t risk the coven elders coming here.”
Because, yeah, that would be bad.
“I don’t want you to get into trouble,” I countered.
“Sometimes parents are just having a bad day.” I was about to say something equally as ridiculous, like they’re only human, but I kept my lips firmly clamped shut for a second so that little gem didn’t fight its way free.
“Can you find your way back, okay?” Hell, what if he ran into Phoenix and the pack? I stood as well. “The pack.”
“I’m very fast.” He looked at me and smiled, but his eyes were so sad. I wanted to tell him to stay, and whatever it was, we would sort it out.
“When your alpha returns, you don’t have to lie for me, Emery.” Then he turned just as we both heard a very loud wolf howl in the distance. He was so quick, all I saw was the open door he must have gone through.
You don’t have to lie for me.
I knew that meant I wasn’t supposed to keep his visit a secret, but really, what exactly was I supposed to say?