Page 21 of Fae Divided
“About the bond—”
“I won’t close it unless I have to.” If things took a turn for the worse, he’d do whatever it took to protect his mate. Whether she liked it or not.
Chapter 10
It was hotand humid—a typical summer day in Mississippi with no breeze and no expectation of one. Regardless, James made sure to stay downwind. Getting caught spying on Grayson’s private conversation wouldn’t go over well. The outcasts’ Alpha still didn’t trust him.
A month had passed since the species-relations disaster at Chess. The home-based Dádhe were lying low, few willing to risk venturing into a hostile city until things blew-over. The queen’s generous settlements to the Untouched victims mollifying all but the most vocal. Sarah mentioned at their first scheduled rendezvous that the nightclub had been operating at maximum capacity since the previous weekend.
So much for humanity’s righteous indignation.
“He’s trying again tomorrow,” Grayson said, pulling James’ attention to where it belonged: the two Ferwyn males speaking in a barren field thirty yards away.
“The hybrid has already failed once.” James couldn’t see Grayson’s second in command from his concealed position behind the concrete silo, but he recognized Cameron Nelson’s voice. “Let me take care of it.”
Hybrid?
Vampire amalgamations were extremely rare. High infant mortality rates and the strict containment measures taken during a human’s transition period to Dádhe kept the race of crossbreeds low.
“The decision has been made.”
“But—” Cameron’s interruption was met with a snarl and awhomp.
James knew Grayson had laid the other male flat and was probably keeping him restrained on the ground by the throat. A move James noted was a particular favorite of the temperamental Alpha.
A loud wheeze and a gurgled croak.
Yup. Chokehold.
“Do not question my orders, warrior.”
“But I can get the girl,” Cameron said in a series of short gasps. Another thump. Skull meeting dry, hard-packed earth.
“You will stay here while I’m gone. Keep everyone together in the farmhouse, no phones. No one talks to anyone outside the pack.”
“Where are you going?”
“I’ll contact you after the girl is secured,” he said, disregarding Cameron’s query.
The girlbeing Abigail Barnes. The girl who didn’t smell quite human.
Sarah had informed James just hours earlier the queen’s PA now carried Samuel’s second Mark. His truemate also suspected—her brother wouldn’t confirm the rampant rumors—that Abby had dodged a kidnap attempt the night of the international news conference.
The moist air was suddenly too dense to breathe, sticking in his windpipe. He pressed his spine against the empty structure and inhaled soundlessly through his nose. Sarah’s spicy sweetness curled into his nostrils, her fragrance fresh on his skin.
Grayson had allowed the biweekly assignations with his Ca’anam. His belief that James held inadequate information to betray the Athair unchanged, although he ordered Cameron to accompany him both times he’d gone to meet Sarah at the hotel. The acting beta grumbled about waiting in the parking lot and then bitched at the lingering smell of sex in his truck on the return to the farmhouse. But there wasn’t a Ferwyn alive who would respect a male who didn’t take care of his female. The continued separation from his truemate remained the most compelling evidence James’ commitment to the rebels’ cause was authentic.
Grayson’s leniency didn’t mean he entrusted his secrets, or those of the unknown leader of the Athair, to a shifter whose connections to another pack remained unbroken. James was his strategist, his sounding board, and occasional conscience. He wasn’t his confidant, although he got the impression Tucker’s twin wanted him to replace Cameron as beta in the future.
Not gonna happen.
James converted, unconcerned the powerful shifter would sense his wolf’s presence. Samuel’s stubbornness in refusing to release him from their bond was the one advantage he held as an undercover operative with no true means of proving his loyalty. The genuine inability to tie himself to Grayson enabled James to sneak under the Alpha’s magical radar.
He padded on silent paws toward the main house, careful to stay low and out of the quarreling males’ line of vision. Using the last of the night’s shadows for further concealment, he skirted the barn. Hyperaware Grayson’s illegitimate pack slept inside.
Moving quickly but quietly, he prowled unseen to the overgrown hedges fencing in the backyard and waited. His round-tipped ears twitched, listening. Snout lifted, sniffing the morning air. He hadn’t forgotten the Alpha’s unexplained ability to approach without preceding scent. Another mystery for him to uncover.
Returning to human form, James strode across the unkempt lawn. He smelled the shifter inside before hitting the porch steps. The paint was peeling on the screened door, but the hinges were well-oiled and it swung open noiselessly. He entered the kitchen and headed straight for the coffeemaker.
