Page 29 of Blood and Magic
“I could take you out one day,” he said. “If you want.”
“Really?” I smiled, though I knew I shouldn’t. Something about being on the back of his bike with my arms wrapped around him, all that internal combustion between my legs, seemed forbidden and salacious. I shouldn’t want it, but heaven help me, the adrenaline junkie inside ached for it.
Ava would chastise me, I was sure. But what she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her.
“Sure,” he said. “Maybe this weekend sometime.” Vermillion seemed like he’d been about to say more, but then he straightened and glanced around us like he’d heard something I hadn’t. He sniffed the air and looked at the tree line on the other side of the stream.
“What is it?” I said. “Do you see something?”
He glanced back at me and nodded. “I think it’s time we head back.”
I’d barely gotten in the riding time I wanted, but I didn’t argue. He turned Rusty around, and I followed with Molly. We took the path back home in silence, both of us perhaps having shared far too much with each other in such a short time.
CHAPTER 9
Vermillion
“They’re back,” I told Fenris when we returned to the ranchers’ quarters. Maeve had gone ahead to the mansion while I made a pit stop to let my brothers know. I pulled Fenris, Poe, Columba, Aquila, and Holden to the side, away from the human ranchers, so they didn’t overhear while they got ready for the day’s work. “I smelled them out by Lot G, near the stream.”
Columba jumped into action, grabbing his hat from the hook on his bunk before shoving his arms into his cut. “Let’s fucking go.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” I said, holding a hand out to stop him.
We were two weeks from the full moon, and the dominant beast had started rearing its territorial head. It didn’t like being told what to do. But I still outranked him, outranked them all, and both he and his wolf knew it.
“We can’t go rushing in there all hotheaded,” I said. “We have work to do, and the scent was a few hours old. They might be using it as a way in and out.”
He snarled. “So we should set up shop to catch them the next time they come through.”
“We know what they’re after,” I said, though I understood his bloodlust. I, too, wanted to tear some vampire heads from their rotten, bloodsucking bodies. But I wasn’t just responsible for Maeve. While we were here, I was responsible for them, too. “We’re protected here at the mansion.”
“Not after we leave,” Columba argued. “You still want us to move the cattle next weekend? Then we need to settle this before then.”
“He’s got a point,” Poe said, crossing his arms.
Some of the other hired hands grabbed their hats and milled around, trying not to look like they were eavesdropping, though it was obvious that was what they were doing.
“If we move the cattle, that leaves only four guys here to protect the house,” Fenris said, shooting a feeling down the pack bonds that suggested it wasn’t enough…and I knew it. “We have to hunt them down before the moon.”
I didn’t have a good argument for that. When the call of the full moon took hold of our alter egos, we were incapacitated for at least five minutes. Our bodies broke down and rebuilt themselves as our animal side, and during that process, we were almost blind and completely undefended. Marx could strike then, when we were at our weakest, as they’d done in the past.
But what the fuck else were we supposed to do? I could call in backup from Kodiak, but then the homestead would be unprotected, and I didn’t like the thought of that, either.
“Move the cattle,” I told Fenris. “Be back in three days like we planned. That’ll give us the rest of this week and two days when you get back before the shift.”
“And if we can’t find them before then?” Poe raised his eyebrows, clearly expecting a fully formed plan.
"We’ll have to go home to shift with the pack.” It would be our only option.
“And leave Maeve unprotected?” He balked and shook his head. “That’s a stupid plan, brother.”
“She’ll come with us,” I said.
Poe let out an incredulous laugh, perhaps not believing me at first. When he decided I was serious, he widened his eyes. “Wait…really? Bring Maeve Vanderbilt to the homestead on a full moon?”
“We have humans in the pack,” I said. “They’ll protect her while we shift.”
“You better run that by Kodiak first,” Fenris added. “You know he gets touchy when you start making plans without consulting him.”
