Chapter 29 #2
“I don’t know, but normal shifters don’t hear their mates. And the thing in the woods was not a normal shifter in any way. She is not a shifter.” His voice turns to deep growls and it’s clear he’s struggling to keep his wolf in check.
I bet it wants to break free and hunt down the beast who dares to lay claim to Samantha. I have the same urge.
“Well then… Do you remember anything from the legend that might help us to kill this beast?” San asks.
“In the story… the mates ended up killing each other.”
“Fuck no,” I roar.
“Not an option,” Santiago says, much more calmly, but the rage in his eyes is no less than mine.
“She said we won’t be able to find him. Do we take her word for it, or try to track him down?” Zack looks at me and then at Santiago. “I know his scent, but I’m in no condition to run in the forest for a couple more days. This can’t wait that long.”
“Do you trust someone from the pack?” Santiago asks.
“Cain is an excellent tracker, the best I’ve come across outside of alphas. Henry always bragged about him.”
“Do you trust him?”
“To do his best to track down the one who killed her alpha’s mate? Yes. To protect Samantha? No.”
“Well, Samantha won’t be anywhere near the action anyway,” I huff and stroke her hair. She’s resting quietly for now.
“And who is going to stay back and watch her?” Santiago asks, all reasonable. It almost makes me want to laugh. All of us want to stay with her just as badly as we want to go hunt and tear down the thing into pieces.
When my phone buzzes, I almost ignore it, but when the buzz keeps going, I reach over to silence it. What I see on the screen makes my blood freeze.
“We have a problem.”
“No shit,” Santiago replies, finally losing some of that cool collectiveness.
“No. I mean we have a problem.”
“What?” the wolf growls and Samantha winces.
“Patricia is coming to visit.” My gaze flickers between Samantha and Santiago. The curses that flow from Santiago are not in any language I know, but I don’t need to know the language to get the gist.
“I take it that the shit just hit a bigger fan.” Zack instinctively curls closer to Samantha.
“That bitch is not getting anywhere near Samantha.” Santiago snarls and kicks the floor hard enough to make the hardwood crack.
“Who is Patricia?”
“The bitch who made us both,” I reply.
“And she’s coming here?”
“Yes.”
“Why?” he demands to know.
“She has some news about missing vampires.” I never should have made that call to ask about missing women.
“And you believe her?”
“That she has information? Of course. That it’s the reason she is coming to visit? Fuck no.”
“At least we are on the same page on that,” Santiago snaps.
“Is she a danger to Samantha?” The wolf has its hackles up.
“Is water wet?” Santiago growls a reply.
“All right, here’s what we are going to do,” I begin.
“San, you are going to take Samantha and hide. I don’t think Patricia knows you are here.
” Then I face the wolf, ready to argue. “You need to get out of here and take your pack too. Patricia is… difficult to predict. Get your trackers and start looking. Just don’t cross the border to my lands while you are at it. ”
“What he’s leaving out is that Patricia is a homicidal bitch,” Santiago says coldly. “Keep your distance.”
The wolf looks like he’s about to explode, but then he looks down at Samantha and takes a couple of deep breaths. “Where are you taking her?”
“The bunker,” I decide and Santiago inhales sharply.
“No!”
“Yes,” I fire back. “It’ll keep her contained and you can defend it alone for a time if need be.”
“But—”
“We don’t have time to drag Samantha to another continent!”
That’s not an option I would allow in any case. Unless I were going with her.
“You are not leaving me out of this. She needs me,” the wolf argues.
“What is the bunker and where is it?” Samantha whispers and all our attention falls back to her. Her eyes look tired and wary.
“Little fangs, you look beat. How are you feeling?” Santiago strokes her neck.
“Just fucking dandy.” She rolls her eyes. “Don’t try to avoid the question.”
“It’s a bunker built to stand a war. Panic room—vampire style. And it’s not far from here,” San says.
I scan my phone again and a snarl escapes me. We really need to hurry this up. Samantha shudders and the tips of her fangs peek out just before she starts twisting in Santiago’s hold again.
“How are we going to feed her?” the wolf asks, eyeing Samantha worriedly.
Saying the words feels like cutting out my unbeating heart. “We aren’t. I can’t lose blood with Patricia around. San, you need to heal her bite marks on me too.”
“What? No!” Zack loses it. “We are not going to starve her. Fuck no!”
“It’s all right,” she whispers.
“Fuck no, it isn’t,” he roars and she flinches as a low rumble rises from Santiago.
“Cut it out, both of you.” I sigh.
“It really is all right, Zack,” Samantha says, gaining strength in her voice.
Her hands twitch in mine. “If Rafael says he can’t lose more blood, then he can’t.
And even if he could… are you sure you want me up and running?
It’ll be easier for you to subdue me when I’m this weak.
” Giant tears roll down her cheeks and her lower lip trembles.
I sense the outburst coming in the pit of my stomach and manage to wrap her in my arms when she lunges. Zack moves almost as fast, holding her tightly. There’s fury and pain mixed together in a volatile concoction that boils over and makes her thrash and whimper.
“You are not going anywhere, dove,” Zack says soothingly, then grunts when she manages to kick his injured leg. “Now let's get you into that bunker so we can take care of this thing.”
“You agree with this madness?” Santiago asks incredulously.
“I can feel hints of the pain she’s in, the thing is tearing at her, so yes. I agree. And if your bitch of a maker turns out to be a hindrance, I might kill her too,” he growls.
I wish he would kill Patricia. He might even manage it if San and I are out of the picture. And I wish like hell I could tell him that, but the command burned into my bones to not fight against her prevents even that.
All I can do is pray that some god somewhere hears me and keeps Samantha safe.
“I might want to kill the bitch too,” Samantha whispers. I wish she were joking, but she sounds dead serious. The bond between us feels violent, but in the same way I feel when I think about the thing attacking and hurting Samantha.
“Sweetheart, you are not going anywhere near Patricia.”