Chapter 2
Two
The wolves were back.
Bel crossed his arms tightly over his chest as he stared out the window at the fluffy snowflakes that were beginning to fall. He couldn’t see the wolves, but he could feel them out there.
These were the same damn wolves from the fight with the MacPherson clan two months earlier. The same wolves that had followed another vampire’s commands and attacked Rafe.
But these were not normal wolves, though he couldn’t quite explain what made them different other than the fact that their thoughts and feelings were more complex than normal wolves. They reminded him far too much of the emotional connection he had with his twin brother.
After the battle that saw the destruction of Nolan, the leader of the MacPherson clan, and the death of the vampire who supposedly controlled these wolves, everyone dispersed.
The wolves, after more than a little coaxing, disappeared into the woods, but they’d appeared again at the edge of Bel’s property roughly a week later.
And they wouldn’t leave.
At least not for long. Sometimes, they’d disappear for a few days, but they always came back.
Bel had attempted to run them off using birds or lynx, but it wasn’t easy.
He didn’t want the wolves hurt. It wasn’t their fault they’d been forced to attack Rafe or even Bel.
He didn’t blame the poor animals. Just the vampire who’d been their master.
But since Bel had been the one to kill their master, it seemed as if the wolves were attempting to adopt him as their new master. And well, Bel was just not having that.
Bel had learned very quickly that his unique vampire gift was the ability to communicate and understand animals, but that did not mean he wanted to keep any of them as pets.
They were simply neighbors in this world.
Sometimes they did things to help him, and he did what he could to assist them.
He provided bits of food during harsh winters and always made sure his property contained pools of fresh water, particularly for those brutal summers.
His property was full of birdhouses and places with fallen brush to provide good homes for his animal neighbors.
The wolves were confusing. They should have reveled in their new freedom. They should have gone in search of a new pack or new hunting grounds away from people.
Instead, they remained close to Bel.
Snow continued to fall. It was a late start to the snowy season this year, but the temperatures had been low enough recently that the snow was sticking to the ground and bare tree limbs, gilding the world in glistening white.
With the snow came a fresh twisting of emotions from the wolves. Panic. Cold. Hunger. Doubt. Desperation. And fear. So much fear that Bel couldn’t think of anything else but the damn wolves.
Why the hell were they so afraid?
The fear was coming from both of them in sickening waves.
He should call his brothers. They were good at dealing with messy things like this. Bel preferred the neat and organized comfort of his laboratory and his books. This…this…thing with these confusing wolves was too messy.
But he didn’t want to call Marcus or Rafe.
Both brothers were currently wrapped up in their new mates.
Marcus’s lover, Ethan, was still figuring out what it meant to be a vampire, though the young man seemed to be taking to it far easier than any of them had.
Of course, it didn’t hurt that Ethan had grown up with all the vampire mythology available in books and movies.
All the same, Marcus and Ethan deserved to have time together uninterrupted.
And then his twin, Rafe, had only recently discovered his mate in Philippe Arsenault.
No, Philippe was a Varik now.
Bel rolled his eyes at himself. He really shouldn’t have trouble keeping this straight.
He did like Philippe, and he adored how happy Philippe made his twin.
They were still recovering from their fight with the MacPhersons, enjoying those early days as a couple.
Bel did not need to drag them into a mess he should be able to easily handle on his own.
Aiden and Winter were busy handling clan business, attempting to determine not only who was threatening the Ministry but also the Varik clan.
Not that Bel had any love for the Ministry since the ruling vampires seemed determined to end his life for one silly reason or another. But still, no one wanted chaos.
No sane person, at least.
He didn’t have time for this. He needed to return to his experiments. He’d failed to find a cure for their mother’s illness before she was killed. Over the years, he’d hoped to simply reverse her vampirism, allow her to finally find a natural end to her life and end her pain, but that wasn’t to be.
But Bel’s search for a cure to vampirism wasn’t over. After talking to Philippe, he’d learned there were many vampires in the world who had never wanted to be turned and would very much like to be human again. A cure could help those people.
A cure was only going to be found if he stuck with his research.
No, he wasn’t able to save Julianna Varik, but he very much wanted to save someone with his work.
With a sigh of irritation for himself and the wolves, Bel turned away from the window to find an appropriate pair of shoes for trekking through the woods.
He had to have a pair of old boots somewhere.
Not that they’d go with the dress slacks and button-down shirt he was wearing, but he didn’t want to change.
He’d been in a good mood when he woke at sunset with plans of starting a new line of experiments.
He’d even put on his favorite navy-blue bow tie with the gold swirls.
All of that would have to wait until he finally took care of the wolves.
Grabbing his long wool coat from the closet, Bel stepped outside and into the falling snow.
He loved his new house in Connecticut. Yes, it was more than a little out of the way and tucked back into a deep swath of woods, but he liked his privacy.
He liked being near the animals that chatted with him.
It made leaving to hunt a bit of a hassle, but he needed to hunt only once every two or three weeks.
Otherwise, he was only drawn from his home and research when he needed to see his family.
A loud throaty caw echoed through the silence of the woods, and Bel smiled. A couple of seconds later there was a flapping of wings, and two taloned feet landed on his shoulder. Bel looked over at Ozzie, the large black raven perched on him.
Finally.
Okay, so maybe Ozzie didn’t communicate in actual words. Like all animals, he communicated in images and emotions, but Ozzie’s emotions were very complex. He had a lot of personality, far more than any other animal Bel had spoken with over the long years.
“I know. I know. I’ve been putting this off,” Bel muttered to the bird. He reached up and stroked the front of Ozzie’s chest with the side of one bent finger. “I just don’t know what to do about them. How am I supposed to convince them to move on?”
Don’t. That feeling was immediately followed up by a vision of both wolves stretched across Bel’s living room floor as rugs.
“You’re not funny,” Bel said. Ozzie cawed loudly and to Bel, it sounded like a laugh. Yes, he was sure Ozzie thought he was quite amusing. “Behave, or I’ll send you to check on Rafe.”
Ozzie cawed again and Bel was hit with a slightly distorted image of Rafe wildly waving a sword in Ozzie’s direction while shouting nonsense sounds. The meaning was clear—Ozzie took great joy in driving Rafe crazy. Sending him back to Bel’s twin was not a threat.
“Behave all the same. I want them gone. Not hurt,” Bel grumbled.
Ozzie shared nothing more than wry amusement, as if he were humoring Bel.
That was just lovely. Bel sighed and continued to slowly pick his way through the undergrowth.
Dead and frozen leaves crunched under his feet and a bitter, cold wind swept between the trees.
The woods were silent except for him, but he could feel the other animals watching him, questioning what he was doing out there in the darkness. Crazy human.
Bel couldn’t disagree with them.
But he wasn’t stupid. Halfway to where he could sense the wolves pacing, he reached out with his powers and called over a couple of bobcats on the prowl for their dinner.
Cats were complicated for an entirely different reason, and he wasn’t a fan of using them if he had other choices. Cats were too independent.
Most of his commands were actually requests, and many animals were content to follow them. Cats, on the other hand, too often decided they didn’t care what he wanted. He had to bear down with his stronger will to make them follow, and Bel never felt good about that.
However, tonight he was willing to try it with these wolves. He needed something that could hold the large creatures at bay if he happened to be misreading them. If he were lucky, the bobcats wouldn’t be needed, and he’d be able to convince the wolves to move on peacefully.
Ozzie cried out suddenly and launched himself off Bel’s shoulder. There was a feeling of disgust around the image of a bobcat. The pair of cats had moved in closer to Bel, and Ozzie had finally noticed them. The raven flew ahead and selected a high perch from where he could safely watch the action.
Always nice to have an audience.
With his hands tucked into the deep pockets of his coat, Bel stepped cautiously into a small clearing.
The wolves were there, hidden among the trees and deeper shadows.
They were watching him. He was sure they were also aware of the cats, but Bel was keeping them back, away from the clearing.
They were not meant as a threat. Just a warning that Bel was not an easy target.