Page 50 of Crave

I halted and turned to face him. “How did you know that they weren’t bonded, and that Wilkie was mistreating them? Were you stalking them?”

Jericho tensed, but he met my eyes, no matter how much Alpha dominance I sent his way. “How’d I know? You’d have to be fucking stupid to miss it, and you don’t look like a stupid person. I’d see the bruises every time one of them came to pick up the meds. I’d hide in the trees and pray to the Moon Goddess that I didn’t see a mate bite somewhere on their bodies every single time.”

“Why didn’t you tell someone? Anyone? The Alpha General. Their parents. Why didn’t you get them out of there if you knew they weren’t mated?”

His face folded into its own angry sneer. “Why didn’tyou, asshole? I couldn’t step foot onto Manix lands, but you could. You were part of the force that was meant to protect them, and what did you do? Turned a fucking blind eye, just because that asshole had some kind of claim on them. Fuck you and your righteousness. My hands were tied, but you purposefully did nothing.”

Guilt washed over me in a wave. It wasn’t new. Every time I went to sleep at night, the self-loathing that I’d left them in that situation for so long ate away at me. I was never going to forgive myself. Ever.

Jericho was still chewing me out. “Tell their parents, my ass. You know whogaveQuinn to that old fuck? How do I know more about their lives than you? And I only spent forty-eight hours with them ten years ago. You don’t deserve them.”

He was right, again. We didn’t.

He continued. “I hope those bastards are as far away from them both as possible, preferably burnt like a side of beef back on the mountain.” His tone was vicious, but I knew they weren’t. Quinn’s parents were still here, and I was going to be paying them a visit real soon.

“I’ll take care of it. Stay away from the Omegas,” I growled.

I walked away from the hybrid, leaving behind all his jabs and the guilt he was piling onto my shoulders. That guy was going to be a problem; I could feel it in my gut.

As if he knew the direction of my thoughts, he called out behind me. “Hey, Alpha!”

I forced myself to stop and turn.There was an intensity that wasn’t there a moment ago, written on every part of his body language.

“I want them too. So learn to share or get the fuck out of the way, because Quinn and Susannah belong with me. I feel it in my soul.”

“Over my dead body,” I snarled.

The hybrid’s face went flat. “So be it.”

30

TANNER

Iwas definitely getting the cold shoulder treatment. Everywhere I walked, witches would cross the street, moving out of my path as if vampirism was the plague. It was kind of annoying, but I forced myself to understand. Witches and vampires weren’t normally a good mix. Witches could control a vampire up to a point, especially if they were skilled in necromancy, and vampires didn’t enjoy that at all. Obviously. Plus, we were kind of walking magic suckers, so that didn’t endear them to us either.

But I wasn’t here for the witches. I was here for the Manix. Right now, Radic was showing me my new medical offices. Fortunately, most of the medical equipment had been removed from town by the Legion Force, so the new examination rooms were well stocked. We had told the general population that I’d been healing injured people when I’d been recalled by Raine in order to explain my absence. No one needed to know I was fucking two of their new Omegas in a three-day sexfest, which I still saw behind my eyelids every time I closed them.

“We saved what we could, but if you need anything else, we can order it in. The Moonburst Coven has quite a good supply chain out here, and since we aren’t hiding in the woods anymore, pretending we don’t exist, goods will be easier to obtain,” Radic said from the doorway.

I nodded, looking at all the boxes that I’d need to unpack. “Thanks, Rad. Did you manage to save the medical files and journals?” Most of those had been down below the Legion building. There were too many to carry out, and I’d only packed the active patient files.

Rad nodded. “The stone vaults beneath the Legion building survived pretty well. A lot of smoke damage, and a few animals took refuge down there, but otherwise, everything that was below ground is intact. I know that Legion General Joshua is going to enforce that all new houses built are to have a stone cellar installed, just in case. Both for shelter, and to save some possessions so no one has to start again. It’s not like the Manix can take out insurance.”

Sadness came off Radic in a wave so thick, I could taste it. Most of the Manix had lost almost everything. They’d have to start again from scratch, and not all of them could afford it.

“The Convocation won’t help?” That really didn’t sound like Raine, but I knew she had to pass things by all the other Convocation members too.

“Word on the street is that Raine is job-sharing now with an Incubus,” Rad whispered, like it was a big secret. “So maybe their votes will help swing things our way, so they’ll give us the funds we need to rebuild. It's so damn sad, Tanner. Breaks my heart every day. It's just all gone.”

I patted him softly on the back. “I’ll call her and see if I can’t help with persuading. I’ll call Titus too.” The Convocation Member for the Vampires actually scared the living shit out of me, but I would do it for these guys. I felt a kind of kinship with the Manix after living among them, even if it had only been for a short amount of time.

“Thanks, Tanner. All right, I’ll let you get settled in. Give me a shout if you need a hand putting all this stuff away.” At my scoff, he grinned. “Yeah, yeah. You can move at the speed of light, I get it. I pity your girlfriend one day.”

Ah, so the Alpha General hadn’t told his Packmate that I’d bumped uglies with Susannah and Quinn. I honestly didn’t know how I felt about that. I wanted the whole world to know that they wanted me, but I knew it would come with a little backlash too.

I got to work, finding a place for everything and memorizing its location. Knowing where things were could be the difference between life or death, though it was probably less drastic with the Manix. They were pretty resilient.

A knock on my door had me turning, and my breath stuck in my throat. Susannah was there, her smile hesitant. “Can I come in?”

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