Chapter 14
Fourteen
River ran through the woods. The cold wind buffeted against this thick fur while muscles stretched with each leap and bound. Paws dug into earth just starting to thaw at the close of winter. The air was rich with smells: rabbit, dirt, owls, and mice.
The run was made all the better because Wyatt was right by his side, barely half a step behind. He’d let River take the lead and was now following his every twist and turn through the forest surrounding Bel’s house.
Living with Bel had been absolute heaven. Sure, meeting with the Variks hadn’t been a rousing success, and the new threat from the local pack wasn’t reassuring either, but Bel was steadily regaining his confidence. He said they’d find a way through this, and River believed him.
Other than those hiccups, everyone was happy. He was spending more time in his human form again and changing only when he was in the mood. Wyatt was always close by. If River felt like it, he could reach out and touch him, hold him, kiss him, and no one threatened to kill them over it.
They were finally getting a taste of the life they’d always dreamed of.
And it was made all the sweeter because of Bel.
Their vampire might be a little buttoned-up and reserved in normal, everyday life, but the moment they pulled him off to bed, he was an open and adventurous lover.
After their first night together, Bel never returned to his bedroom; he curled up with them each night.
It was more than the fantastic sex. Bel made them feel at home in his life and house.
They’d fallen into a comfortable routine.
Wyatt and Bel would rise at the same time and retreat to the laboratory for a few hours before River stumbled out of bed.
They’d eat together and Bel would help River for a while with Winter’s guitar, then get some work done and they’d have dinner.
The day would end with them snuggled on the couch for a couple of hours, watching TV or just talking.
Bel was even encouraging them to dust off old dreams. It was more than River finally learning to play an instrument.
He was trying to convince Wyatt to return to school, and River was secretly considering it as well.
He’d always dreamed of writing music for movies or maybe even his own symphony.
They had a chance to build actual lives again.
But River had no intention of building a life that didn’t include Bel.
Wyatt yipped suddenly at River and jumped ahead of him.
River barely had enough time to dig in his back paws and turn to save himself from crashing into his lover at the last second.
He’d been lost in thought when he should have been paying attention to his surroundings.
Were they too close to the edge of Bel’s property?
The threats from the pack were all too real, but Bel and Wyatt were confident no werewolf would cross into Bel’s territory to attack them. Albert had given them a week, and it had been only four days.
Wyatt had stopped completely, his body tense. River started to nudge his companion when the wind shifted, and he caught the scent clearly. Blood. Lots of blood. And it was relatively fresh.
Very carefully, River edged around Wyatt to find him staring at the body of a naked man stretched out across the forest floor.
His vacant eyes stared up at the black sky, and his pale skin glowed in the dim moonlight.
At least, the skin that wasn’t covered in bites and blood.
His throat had been torn out, and there was evidence that he’d been mauled by more than one wolf.
The telltale brush of Wyatt’s magic indicated he was shifting to human form, and River followed.
“Who?” River whispered the second he could clearly speak.
“I don’t know,” Wyatt said with a shake of his head. He inched a little closer but was careful to keep several feet away. River had no interest in getting a closer look at the dead man. “I think he was a wolf.”
River jerked his gaze away from the corpse to look at Wyatt’s back. “From that Albert’s pack?”
“I don’t know. But those marks were created by a wolf.” He pointed to the remains of the man’s throat and across his chest.
“Why is he here? Bel’s property goes on for another quarter mile at the closest edge to here.”
Wyatt turned to look over his shoulder at River, not needing to answer. River knew why the man had been killed here. To frame them.
“Come on. We need to return to the house and tell Bel what we found.”
Part of River wanted to dig his heels in and say no.
They’d just close their eyes to it and pretend the shifter hadn’t been brutally murdered as part of some elaborate ploy orchestrated by Albert.
He didn’t want this happiness to end. Didn’t want to go back to life on the run.
To hiding. He didn’t want to give up his Bel.
But this wonderful dream was already dissolving into the nightmare that had been his life for so very long.
Bel was already grabbing his coat when Wyatt and River strode through the sliding glass door at the rear of the house. He’d been nervous about them going for a run, but Wyatt had promised they’d stay deep in his property. Nothing to worry about.
But they couldn’t have been gone for more than twenty minutes before a spike of horror and fear sliced through Wyatt, echoed just a second later by River. Something was wrong, and he needed to find his wolves.
“What happened?” Bel demanded, stopping in the middle of shoving his arm through the sleeve of the coat.
“We found a body,” River blurted out.
“What?” Bel nearly choked on the word. “A dead body? On my property?”
“Yes,” Wyatt said. “He was killed. Throat torn out.”
Bel stumbled backward a step, his hand rising to his parted lips.
He couldn’t speak. Who would do such a thing?
Was this a message from the Ministry? A vampire was excellently equipped for such a brutal form of murder, and it would certainly send a clear message to Bel that he was next in their sights.
Dragging in a gasp of air, he caught the first faint hint of blood. And it came from one of the wolves. His heart skipped a beat while his mind raced ahead. Were they somehow involved in the man’s death?
“Did it look like it was done by a vampire?”
Wyatt shook his head. “No. Definitely a wolf.”
“Did you touch the body?”
“No,” Wyatt quickly answered. Bel’s eyes darted to River, but the wolf was already shaking his head.
Fear crawled up his throat, threatening to block the words, but he forced them out. “Did you have something to do with his death?”
“No, of course not!”
Bel took another deep breath, but there was no mistaking it. He could smell blood wafting around them. “I would understand if something happened and you—”
“Bel, I swear to you, we never touched the man!” Wyatt shouted.
“I smell blood.” The words came out hard and flat. Bel knew what he smelled. There was never a doubt when it came to blood.
Wyatt dropped his head forward and looked embarrassed. “It’s from a rabbit. We were running, and I gave in to the urge to chase it down. I…I didn’t want to tell you. I was afraid you’d be upset that I was hunting on your land. Or maybe just disgust—”
Bel stopped his words with a hard kiss. When he broke off the kiss, he pulled Wyatt in for a tight hug and grabbed River as well, holding both men tight against him as a wave of relief washed over him.
“Oh, thank God,” he sighed. He rested his forehead on Wyatt’s shoulder and closed his eyes. “I was afraid something had happened to you or River. I know you’d never hurt anyone in cold blood.”
Wyatt nuzzled the top of Bel’s head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think.”
“It’s okay.” Reluctantly, Bel released them and finished pulling on his coat before smiling at Wyatt and then River. “Just remember. Vampire.” He tapped the side of his nose with one finger. “I’m basically a blood-seeking monster. I can always smell the blood.”
River surprised him by kissing the corner of his mouth. “You’re no monster.”
Bel didn’t argue, but…could he become one? When it came to protecting River and Wyatt, the answer was yes.
“Do you need to grab your clothes first?” Bel wasn’t exactly eager to go look at a dead body, but it would be best if they took care of this before they ran out of night hours.
Wyatt shook his head. “I think we should go as wolves. If there’s trouble, I want to be able to quickly shift.”
Bel nodded and locked up his house while werewolves shifted on the patio.
He followed them through the woods, inwardly grumbling once again about his lack of appropriate footwear.
When he got back to the house, he would need to put hiking boots on his shopping list. It had been years since he’d last spent this much time tromping through the woods.
As a vampire, there just wasn’t much call for it. There wasn’t a lot of prey to be had out in the middle of a forest at night. And too often, campers were armed. He didn’t want to worry about being shot if he happened upon some poor hikers huddled around a campfire.
He also didn’t offer to accompany Wyatt and River on their romps through the woods.
Not only did they need time to themselves, but Bel was sure he would only slow them down.
Their long, sleek wolf bodies allowed them to simply flow through the trees and underbrush like the wind.
On the other hand, Bel was more akin to a bumbling oaf.
It took less than twenty minutes to cut through the woods to the spot where River and Wyatt had encountered the body, but they weren’t alone. He’d sensed the intruders and gave the wolves a quiet warning that the pack had invaded his land. Not that he was surprised at all.