12. Lycan
Lycan
Poe and I sat at a table in the Bastard clubhouse, talking to Bas, Thurjin, and Viggo, the Copenhagen president, about Evelyn. Kodiak, Orion, and Guin were on speaker from Montana.
“So we’ve confirmed she wants Ava,” Orion said. “And she’s got a witch who can paralyze shifters and invade their minds.”
“And we know the Montana Scorpions are in town,” Thurjin added. “We spotted them on the outskirts of Helsing?r yesterday.”
“They followed us across a fucking ocean,” I said, my wolf raising its hackles.
Viggo scratched the scruff on his jaw and stared at the security details on the television at the other end of the room.
Even though I wasn’t part of his pack, I sensed the apprehension in him, the patient calculation that made him the alpha.
They weren’t bound to the full moon like we were, but that didn’t mean they were indifferent to our plight.
They’d allowed us to come to their territory for the shift.
They’d offered to guard us, to protect us, while we saw it through.
“The Scorpions in Malmo are on the move,” Viggo said. “There’s a new leader in town, organizing the chapters in a way no one’s ever done before.”
That got Poe’s interest, and he lifted his head from his spot next to me. “Evelyn?”
“It’s a woman,” Bas said. “But our source hasn’t actually seen her yet. It would be a reasonable guess.”
“We don’t have the same problems with vampires that you do in the States,” Viggo continued. “The magic here is old, and the blood feuds are long over. The Swedish Scorpions are human, but even they know something’s wrong with those fuckers.”
“That matches what we’ve heard,” Kodiak added from the phone.
“So what does she want with my sister?” Guin asked.
“If Marx and Evelyn are related, that’s motive enough,” I said, ignoring the twinge that stabbed my rib cage at the notion that she’d been on to us the whole time.
She’d been stalking us around Europe, and it bugged me that we didn’t know why.
What was her endgame? Why did she want Ava so bad but wait to take her?
“It’s not about revenge,” Poe said. “The witch mentioned a half-formed bond.”
“A half-formed bond?” Guin asked. “With who?”
“No one,” Poe quickly answered, but I scoffed internally. “She must have sensed the pack bonds or something.”
Still a liar.
“Channing will reach out to the Harlots about the witch,” Orion added. “Mill is digging deep, trying to find whatever we can.”
“You have our protection and our support as long as you need it,” Viggo said.
“We have a run this weekend,” Bas said. “I hate to separate you at such a dangerous time, but we could use your expertise. You know these vampires. You can scent them. Protecting us on the run keeps everyone safer. Would you consider backing us up?”
A small part of me revolted at the thought of being away from Ava for any significant period of time, but Poe was here now.
We were on Bastard territory. Wards and old magic protected this land, something we’d since amplified back home.
If only we’d had that when the Scorpions attacked us twenty years ago.
If only we’d strengthened it before Marx took Maeve. In any case, Ava would be safe here.
“Of course,” I said. “Whatever you need.”
“Good,” Kodiak said. “Keep an eye on your six. Look out for each other. If you need backup, call me immediately.”
“You got it, boss,” Poe said.
“Let me know whenever you get something,” I said. “In the meantime, we’ll hold down the fort.”
Viggo ended the call and looked at us. “We’ve got a cabin squared away for you in the Gribskov. It’s on the outskirts of our territory, but you’ll be protected there. The woods are reinforced by ancient magic, thousands of years of our blood.”
“Thank you,” I said. “Your help means a lot to us. If we can ever repay you—”
“Oh, we may take you up on that,” Bas teased. “But you’re Bastards. You’re shifters. Family.”
I glanced at Poe, who focused on the floor and rubbed a hand over the back of his neck.
A wave of tension rolled off him, surging through the pack bonds to land in my stomach.
My wolf perked his ears, but I decided to wait to ask.
If Poe had concerns, he likely wouldn’t voice them in front of the Danish Bastards. He’d wait until we were alone.
“I’ll take you to your cabin,” Thurjin said, nodding toward the entrance at the back of the clubhouse. He and two others in his pack escorted us through the territory, taking us toward a cabin in the woods.
“One of our younger alphas just went off on her own,” Thurjin explained. “So we’ve set up her old cabin for you. Locust and Bow are in the dorms with the rest of the crew.”
A small push of anxiety rolled off Poe again, and I tried to ignore it as we walked toward the treeline at the edge of the property.
This close to the full moon, my wolf was loud in my mind, and he’d picked up on how restless Poe’s beast had become.
There was no mistaking that bonding scent the morning I’d caught him on top of Ava, and I still hadn’t decided how I felt about it.
My animal side knew what he wanted. He’d made it perfectly clear.
He wanted to wrestle them both into submission.
He wanted to hold Ava’s freely given control and snatch Poe’s away from him.
He wanted to devour both of them at the same time, watch them devour each other, and yet, the visual sent a hot spike of bitterness straight through me.
I wanted to be the only one for Ava and for Poe, and I was selfish enough to think that could be possible. I hadn’t lied when I told Ava I was an evil bastard. I wanted, and I claimed, and fuck the consequences.
But…
Wasn’t that what got me into this mess in the first place?
I had wanted Poe. I had taken Poe. And when he demanded more, I pushed him away because I couldn’t control the fallout.
If I mated him and he died, I wouldn’t be able to deal with it.
And now I’d gone and done the same fucking thing with Ava, except this time, I’d married her.
How could I justify having either of them?
Even if I could stomach the thought of mating, bonding magic only worked in pairs. I could choose only one of them, or let them have each other.
The human rationalized the entire walk through the woods to the cabin while the wolf growled and whined and fought my excuses.
“We sent a team to your hotel room to get your things,” Thurjin said when we climbed the wooden steps to the tiny cabin. I should have been worried about the three of us holed up in such a small space, but that self-centered prick inside only grinned with anticipation.
Oh, the things we could get up to.
“We were careful,” he continued as he opened the door. “We weren’t followed.”
“Thank you,” I said, patting him on the shoulder as I walked inside. True enough, it wasn’t much more than a kitchen, living room, and bathroom, but it would work.
“There’s a bedroom in the back,” he said, pointing down a tiny hallway to an open door at the end. “Toilet’s on the right. We figured Lycan and Ava could take the bed, and Poe could take the couch.”
Of course he would assume Ava and I were together. We’d gotten shitfaced at the pub and wandered off to get married, and both of us were still wearing our wedding bands.
“Perfect.” Poe shoved his hands in his jeans pockets. “Where is Ava?”
“She’s with Madeline,” Thurjin explained. “She wanted a tour of the den…and Madeline figured she could use some girl time.”
I pursed my lips, realizing I’d be alone with Poe for the first time since he showed up. My heart raced at the prospect, but he swallowed and quickly moved to the fireplace at the far edge of the room.
“I’ll let you two get settled,” Thurjin said, heading toward the door. “Breakfast’s at six.”
After he left, I cleared my throat and straightened my shoulders, tilting my head at Poe until I got his attention. He froze like a baby gazelle that had just spotted a big, nasty lion.
“What?” He ran his hand over his neck again and flashed me a nervous smile.
“Why are you anxious?” I took a step closer, my chest tightening with the proximity. “I sensed it rolling off you in that meeting. What are you thinking?”
He shrugged. “It’s just…something about this whole thing is rubbing me the wrong way. Aside from the whole witch mind-trick.”
“How so?” I trusted Poe’s instincts. For a wolf that had grown up alone, transitioned alone, and run alone until we found him, he had a mind for survival. His quick, strategic thinking had pulled us out of disaster more than once.
“It’s something I can’t prove,” he said. “But still, I can’t ignore it.”
“Tell me.” I stepped toward him, my gut clenching as his pine scent hit me between the eyes. It took me back to the nights I’d spent gripping his hair and marking his skin with my teeth. I quickly buried that and refocused on the conversation.
“You know…when we rescued Maeve, Marx was in the middle of doing some fucked-up ritual on her.”
That got my attention. “What kind of ritual?”
“I don’t know. We found them in a dark room with candles lit on the floor, vampires chanting, magic so thick I nearly choked on it.
She had bite marks all over her body, and all of them had clearly drunk from her.
” Poe paused to dig his palms into his eyes.
“We’d had a Harlot with us. Marta. But she didn’t recognize the spell and couldn’t find anything about it in her records when she got home.
When we got Maeve back to the medbay, she was throwing up black shit.
She and Mill were in comas for a while afterward.
It took a lot of Kodiak’s strength to pull them out of it. ”
“Did Morwyn ever figure it out?” I didn’t know a better healer than her. If there were something there, she’d find it.
Poe shook his head. “It’s only been a few weeks, and even if she did, I doubt she’d tell me.”
“I’ll talk to Mill,” I said. “Maybe Ava can ask Maeve. Do you think there’s something to this ritual?”