Chapter 9
Jackson
I watch my mate and her brother walk away, and my brain seems to be unable to grasp what just happened. “When was the last time you had an ice cream cone?” Ransom asks. I ignore him.
My phone buzzes, and I glance down at it and scowl. I swipe. “Jackson.”
“Hey, Jackson, it’s Bryce. We made it. Where are you, so we can meet up?”
I resist the urge to growl at the alpha. “I’ll send a pin.”
“Thanks. Oh, and just FYI, the enforcer of the Northwoods Pack and his mate came as well and met us here.”
“Why?”
“Because both of our mates asked to be in on it when it was time to go after your mate.” He doesn’t have to say that having the females here isn't optional; I can hear the warning clearly in his voice.
“Okay.” When he doesn’t say anything else, I hang up the phone and toss it on the console. Frustration thrums through me at losing Kayla once again.
“Pretty sure you have to actually send the pin if they're going to meet us,” Ransom says dryly.
“Can you do it? I’m dripping ice cream everywhere.”
Ransom does it for me, and my phone pings seconds later.
Ransom looks at it. “He says they’re actually in this area.
He says to stay here, and they’ll meet us here.
” He puts my phone back down and goes back to licking his ice cream.
“What’s wrong? Why do you look like you want to murder someone.
” I level a look at him. “What? You look more murderous than usual.”
“I wanted to follow her, so I don’t lose her for an entire weekend again.
I need to know where she lives.” I was beyond frustrated on Friday when she somehow slipped out from right under my nose.
I lost her for the entire weekend, since she never showed up at the café.
And now, thanks to the alpha, I still don’t know where she lives.
I push the car door open and climb out, still holding the ice cream cone.
Within seconds, it’s an absolute mess, but I can’t bring myself to get rid of it.
A car pulls into the McDonalds parking lot, and I know it’s the shifters and their mates.
I’ve gotten a crash course on other packs and members over the last few months, more than I ever wanted.
But it’s been unavoidable, especially since they’ve been coordinating efforts to find my mate.
I take in the alpha of the Phoenix Pack, Bryce, as he climbs out of the car.
He’s a pretty chill guy, unless he’s pushed, or unless his mate is threatened.
I eye his mate, Ava, as she climbs out of the car and note her growing belly.
I note it because it’s going to make dealing with her mate even more difficult.
There’s no love lost between the two of us because of how we first met.
I smelled my mate on her the first time I met her, and it didn’t go very well.
The enforcer for the Northwoods Pack steps out next, Max.
I take him in. I haven't had much interaction with him, mostly because he’s quiet.
His mate? Not so much. Raechel, his mate is...
strong. I hear Ransom climb out of the car and know he’s coming to stand beside me. He’s good like that.
“Huh. Never really took you for an ice cream cone sort of guy,” Raechel says with a smirk. I don’t bother responding.
“Where is she?” Ava wastes no time asking.
“Want me to get rid of that?” Ransom asks.
“Why are you holding an ice cream cone instead of eating it?” Raechel asks.
“My mate gave it to me.” My words are mostly bite, but none of them shrink back.
Raechel looks around. “So, where is she?”
“She left,” I manage to get out.
“Well, where does she live?” Ava asks.
“Don’t know,” I grind out.
Ava frowns. “Well, where can we find her?”
My teeth grind together. I don’t want any of them finding her, let alone talking to her. “She works at a café not far from here,” Ransom says, stepping into the conversation for the first time.
Four sets of eyes study him. Well, Bryce and Max had already been studying him. Now, their mates were as well. “Who are you?” Raechel asks.
“Ransom.” He doesn’t say anything else, and I don’t bother adding anything.
“Do you have her phone number?” Raechel asks.
“Nope,” Ransom responds.
“Haven’t you been here like a week already? How is it you’ve made no headway?” Raechel asks.
“What about the café?” Bryce says, stepping in. “When does she work next?”
“Tomorrow,” I tell them, even though I don’t want to.
He nods. “Fine. We’ll start there.”
“We can’t go inside the café,” Ransom adds, and I shoot him a look. He ignores it.
“What do you mean?” Bryce asks, eyes narrowing.
“We got banned,” Ransom says. I ask myself for at least the hundredth time why I allowed him to talk me into bringing him with.
Raechel laughs. “Seriously? You guys got banned? Oh, this is rich.” She shakes her head. “This just keeps getting better.”
“What did you do to her?” Ava asks, her eyes narrowed.
I growl low in my chest and stare her down. “You suggesting I did something to hurt my mate?”
Bryce moves in front of her, but she just pushes him to the side and stands next to him. “Nobody’s suggesting anything,” Bryce says in a calm voice, but his eyes are full of warning. “We’re just trying to get the story straight.”
“Just give them the version of what we know,” Ransom says in a voice that sounds bored. I know him well enough to know that he’s anything but bored. He’s irritated and getting riled up, but he hides it by acting like he could care less.
“She’s on the run,” I grunt. “She’s got an uncle she and the kid are running from.”
“The kid?” Ava asks. It gets very quiet for a moment.
“Younger brother,” I add.
“How does that relate to you getting banned from the café she works at?” Raechel asks, staring me down. I stare right back at her until her mate steps into my line of vision.
“She thought her uncle sent us and we were there to take them back.”
They all stare at me. “Surely you told her you weren’t right?” Ava pushes, lifting an eyebrow. “Did you tell her you were there to help?”
I scowl at her, at all of them really. “I haven’t been able to talk to her at all. They all keep me away from her. She doesn’t know me from Adam and probably still thinks I’m working with her uncle.”
“But she brought you an ice cream cone,” Ava points out.
“Yeah, what’s with that if she doesn’t really know you and is scared of you?” Raechel asks. I shrug, wanting this conversation to be over.
“What’s your next move?” Bryce asks.
“The list is long. I need to get her to know me, trust me. I need to take care of the uncle that’s threatening her and her brother, find out where she lives, see if anybody here knows what she is,” I keep my voice low, so people beyond our group wouldn’t be able to hear. “Figure out who’s hurting her here.”
“What do you mean?” Max asks with a frown, breaking his silence for the first time.
“She has bruising on her arms, in the shape of a hand.” Anger burns through me. “Somebody’s had their hands on her.”
“Have the vampires made it here yet?” Raechel asks.
“No.” My answer is gruff, and I could care less. I hate the vampires; I hate everything they stand for. I hate what they’re doing to innocents—both the healers and to rogues and anybody else they can get their hands on. “Any sightings of the vampire from your pack?” I ask Bryce.
I watch as his expression changes. “No. We have no idea where she is. Alicia was smart; she got off the grid fast. Leo has been digging but nothing yet. We’ll let everyone know when we learn anything.”
“About that,” Raechel jumps in. “I’ve been wanting to ask you, but since we don’t live in the same state, I haven’t really had the chance. How does a wolf in your pack just turn into a vampire?”
Bryce keeps his face neutral, but I catch the subtle tightening of his jaw.
He doesn’t like this question one bit. “Short answer? We don’t know.
Somehow, they got to her; we haven’t figured out the connection yet.
Maybe the same way they got to a wolf in Maverick’s pack.
Jacob was a wolf in Mav’s pack, and he turned on the wolves. ”
“Did he turn vampy as well?” Raechel asks.
Bryce doesn’t stumble over vampy. “No, not that we are aware of. Who knows how and why they do what they do? We know they can infect anyone with the vampire virus, for lack of a better word. They’re evil and experimenting in ways I’m sure we can’t even imagine.
We assume somehow they got to her, promised her something, or maybe threatened someone she loved?
They gave her the vampire serum the same as they did the others.
She’s a wolf that they added vampire power to. ”
“She shouldn’t have been stable. At least, that’s what the vampires seem to portray. They seem to need healers’ blood to keep these wolf/vampire creatures alive,” Ava adds. She would know firsthand because she was in their facility for a while; her brother was as well.
“She obviously wasn’t stable when she, you know, ripped the heart out of one of your pack members,” Raechel says bluntly.
“Wow, Raechel,” Ava says.
Raechel winces. “Yeah, I could have used more tact; sorry.”
“We’re always a step or two behind the vampires,” Bryce finally says. “But there’s been no sightings here?” I shake my head.
“So, what’s the next step?” Raechel asks.
I eye the four of them plus Ransom. I really don’t want any of them here. Ransom’s the closest thing I have to family, so I’ll give on him. Everybody else? “We get that you don’t really want us here,” Bryce says, having correctly gotten a read on me. I neither negate nor affirm his words.
“Oh, I don’t know. The leader of the rogues seems to love having us here,” Raechel says.
I don’t focus on her; I’m not really interested in tangling with the enforcer right now. “I need time to get to know her, get her to trust me.” I don’t say that it’s going to be next to impossible if they all descend on her. Bryce studies me, but I have a feeling he’s communicating with his mate.
He finally nods. “We have another pack we need to check in with a few hours from here. We will do that and give you a few days.”
I’ll take it. “Thanks,” I manage to get out. The males seem more than ready to move on, but the two females continue to watch me. I’m not really sure what they’re looking for, and I'm careful to keep my gaze from being too aggressive. I have a feeling I’m failing.
“Okay, I’m just going to say it,” Raechel starts. “We don’t really like you, and by we I mean Ava, me, and Rose,” she pauses and cocks her head. “No, Rose likes everybody.”
Ava nods. “She really does. Bryce doesn’t like you, though” Ava adds, and the alpha makes no disagreement. “And Maverick doesn’t either.”
“We could go on,” Raechel continues. “But I won’t.”
“Please do,” I can’t help. “It’s so enlightening.”
She narrows her gaze at me. “The point is you’re not a likeable person.”
Has she ever heard herself speak?
I ignore Ransom’s comment in my head. “I know.” She’s not telling me anything I don’t know.
“So, you can see how we’d be worried about a gentle healer being mated to you,” Raechel adds.
Ava turns to her. “We’re not all wall flowers, you know.”
Raechel nods. “Yeah, okay. Well, you’re a little different. But Sam and Rose are gentle and—”
“Sherese isn’t,” Ava counters.
“Okay, well, you get my point,” Raechel says, exasperated.
“Not really,” I find myself saying, ignoring the dark looks from Bryce and Max.
“My point is,” Raechel pauses and looks me dead in the eye. It almost impresses me. “Can you be what she’s going to need? What if she’s soft and quiet and weak?”
A growl rises in my chest, and I don’t bother pushing it down.
I’m too angry. “My mate is neither soft nor quiet and certainly not weak. From the little I know, she’s made it when all odds said she shouldn’t have.
She got her and her brother out of what seems like a terrible situation, and she landed on her feet.
She’s already the strongest person I know, and I barely know her.
” I take a step closer. Her mate growls a warning at me, but she doesn’t back away.
“I will learn to be everything she needs me to be. But make no mistake, Kayla is mine. I will protect her and take care of her and make sure she has everything she needs and that most of all, she’s happy.
And I will kill anyone that stands in the way of that happening.
” My last few words come out in a low growl.
I don’t know what I was expecting, but it’s not for her to smile at me. She takes a step towards her mate and wraps an arm around his waist, never looking away from me as she does so. “He’ll do just fine.”
I stare at her, trying to make sense of things. “That was a test?”
She shrugs. “Just wanted to see where you’d land on things.
” She takes in my expression. “What? You’re the leader of the rogue wolves, who up until a few months ago were our second greatest enemy.
Now, suddenly you’re here, mated to one of our sisters.
We know next to nothing about you, none of our guys will let us get close to you because they don’t trust you, and you’re not exactly nice.
Somebody needed to see where you were really at on things and what kind of a person you truly are. I figured, it might as well be me.”
Bryce gives me a wry grin. “On that note, we’re going to take off. You have a few days; make them count.”
I watch them walk away and can’t help but feel like I’m in way over my head. “Well, that was fun,” Ransom says. “Reminds me why we left the pack life behind.” I ignore him and walk back to the car. “Where are you going?”
“I’ve got an Italian restaurant to find.”