The moon was bright, still nearly full. Asher and Kane decided they could all use some time outside while they waited to see what kind of news Julie could dig out of the medical examiner's office.
Kane slipped outside alone first, then returned to say there wasn't a whiff of vampire anywhere. "I think it's safe, but not everyone should go out at the same time."
"Tessa first," Mackenzie said. "I've never been keen on tromping through deep snow. Too bad we don't have skis."
Tessa went to get her jacket and gloves, and stepped outside with Kane, who was once again wearing the leathers she had first seen him in. no hat, no gloves. "Aren't you cold?"
"I can't feel temperature anymore. Hot or cold, it's all the same."
"But you said..." She trailed off, reluctant to recall the intimacy he'd cut to short so suddenly.
"I can feel your warmth. Human warmth. It's the only kind that reaches me any longer, and it's delightful.
"Wow." She waded through untrammeled snow beside him and looked up at the just-past-full moon. Right now it hung only a little above the trees, a huge silvery disk.
"What would you be doing it you were home tonight, little wolf?"
She kept her gaze on the moon as sorrow encompassed her. "Sitting beside the fire or maybe on the porch watching the youngsters romp."
"Why do you sound sad? You miss them?"
"Of course I miss them. What I don't miss is... Well, right now the adult pack is out running. Nights like this call to them. They'll cover fifty or sixty miles before the moon sets, howling to each other in beautiful harmony.
"And you couldn't go with them."
"No." She shook her head, trying to push away the sadness. "I never changed. Never. Most change by the time they are twelve or thirteen. I kept waiting for it to happen, but it never did. So all I could do was watch the ones who had recently changed. They weren't ready to travel such long distances with the pack. I was left to keep an eye on them because they are more adventurous than wise that age."
"And the rest of the time? Did they leave you out of everything?"
"Of course not!" Angry, she stopped and glared at him. "They included me as much as they could. In fact, I think some of the members of my pack even stopped shifting as often so they could keep me company. Do you know how that made me feel?"
"It should have made your feel loved and accepted."
She almost gasped, that stung so hard. "Who are you to talk about love and acceptance?"
"I loved once," he said simply. "For a long, long time. And then she died and I went insane. I know about love."
She felt about two inches tall then. Turning, she resumed her tromp through the snow, feeling like a bitch, feeling sorrowful because it was a moonlit night, and moonlit nights had become the gauge for how she measured her inadequacy. Snow crunched beneath her boots, her tread was heavy, and all she could hear in her mind were the calls of her parents, siblings and cousins as they joyously bounded into the woods under the brilliant silver light.
An arm closed around her shoulders. "It's all right," he said.
She jerked away, blinking back tears she couldn't quite explain. "It's not ok. Nothing's ok. I'm caught up in a war I don't understand, I was nearly killed just two nights ago, I'm living with vampires, and you keep...you keep...Damn it, Kane, don't touch me anymore if you don't mean it!"
"If I don't mean it?" He sounded astonished.
Then, much to her amazement, he seized her and the next thing she knew he was lying in the snow with her above him. Their hips met through leather and denim with excruciating intimacy. His hand held the back of her head so that their faces were separated by only inched.
"Let me tell you something, little wolf. I haven't touched a woman since my Violet died. Not in that way. I swore I would die before I ever let another woman take the liberties she took with me, or before I ever took them with another."
"Kane..." Some part of her heart shrieked that she had to stop him now, before she learned things she didn't want to know. Things that could change her in ways she didn't want to be changed.
"Yet you draw me," he said roughly. "I break my own vow every time you are near me. But you don't understand the kind of fire we're playing with. We might escape unscathed, but I'm not sure I could stand it if we didn't."
"Then stop it," she whispered.
"I can't."
He pulled her head down and thrust his tongue into her mouth. Then, without any preamble or warning, he plunged his hand between her legs, making space for it and rubbing her most sensitive parts through denim.
There was no preventing the tide of need he unleashed in her. His knowing hand, his knowing tongue, held her in thrall. Her body ached helplessly, and she groaned into his mouth as her hips helplessly answered the rhythm of his hand.
Electrified, she could only give in.
The ache grew, everything else vanished. She was riding him to the stars like Pegasus, to a paradise she had never visited. All she knew for certain was that she needed more, and more...
Dimly she felt the zipper of her jacket lower, felt the neck of her sweater aside. He dragged his mouth from hers and she tipped her head back, sucking in the frigid night air as the pressure built closer to a crescendo.
Vaguely she felt him lick the skin just below her collarbone. Another shiver of absolute delight filled her and then something beyond imaging happened.
She felt him as if he were her. She could feel his hunger, every bit as huge as her own. She felt his heart as if it were her own, and felt them fall into the exactly the same rhythm.
His desire became hers and fueled her pounding need until she thought she would shatter before it was fulfilled.
His hips thrust up against hers, crushing his hands between then, and at that moment, she exploded like a supernova, every bit of her being flying out among the stars.
Slowly she came back to herself. She was still lying on him, but now his arms were wrapped around her. She could feel cold now melting into the knees of her knees, but she didn't care. Her head rested on his shoulder, and she wanted to keep it there forever.
"Wow," she whispered.
"Yes," he agreed, but there was something in his tone that didn't sound quite as happy as she felt.
"What happened?" she asked weakly, not at all sure she wanted to know.
"I did something wrong."
"How could anything that good possibly be wrong?"
"I drank from you," he said baldly. "Without your permission."
"What?" Adrenaline flooded her, driving away the wonderful magic he had just given her. She sat up, hardly caring that she sat on him, and looked down at him. His eyes were as golden as any wolf's. "You drank from me?"
"Yes. Only a little, but yes."
Fear clutched her. "Will I change?"
"You didn't change when you were attacked. Drinking from you is nothing but drinking from you. It harms you in no way."
She felt she ought to get furious. He had taken her blood without asking. That was wrong, definitely. Somehow. But she couldn't quite figure out how considering what they had just done. Just that in some deep way, she felt it was wrong. But...
"Is that...is that why I felt as if you were part of me?"
"Yes. I felt you in the same way. It multiplies the pleasure."
"Whoa." she lifted her hand to her head, feeling as if the world were turning upside down again. She should be spewing rage, but she wasn't. How could she be when she had enjoyed every single moment? But she ought to be.
Shouldn't she?
Struggling with herself, she tried to get to her feet. At once Kane sat up and helped her. Standing facing him in the snow with the moon rising overhead, feelings ping-ponged around inside her like a mad game of table tennis.
"You shouldn't have done that," she said sharply. Except that, she was sure it had enhanced the incredible experience. Never before had she heard of two hearts beating as one except in sappy songs.
"No," he agreed.
"Promise you won't do it again without asking."
"I promise."
But she saw amusement in the curvature of his mouth and snapped, "What's so funny?"
"I won't have to ask you," he said. "Now that you know, you'll ask me."
That was just too much. "Over my dead body," she snapped, then turned to storm back to the house.
Every single step of the way she was aware of him right behind her.
And aware that he was right. She already wanted him again.
Consternation grew. There was only one murder that night.
"They're building an army," Kane said. "An army of newborns."
Julie spoke. "You can't be sure of that, Kane. Given the weather, a lot of people are staying at home. It may be that some of the killings have 't been discovered yet."
"Perhaps. But if I were them, I'd build an army of newborns if I truly wanted to unleash terror."
"How long will it take?" Tessa asked.
"There's some blessing," Asher answered. "It can take one of two nights for a newborn to fully change. But more important, no vampire can change more than one human a night."
"Why?"
Kane looked at her. "Because we must give our own blood to those we would change. No more than one night. Sometimes no more than one every two or three nights."
"So it would take time?"
"I think," he said drily, "that we can still breed faster than rabbits."
"Understatement," Mackenzie said sarcastically. "It would be a geometric progression, wouldn't it? Each new vampire makes another one each night?"
Asher shook his head. "No, because newborns drink their victims dry and almost never think to change them. They're too voracious."
"Small mercies," Mackenzie muttered.
"Even supposing the rogues can change only one a night," Kane said, "it still results in a large crop of maddened vampires rather quickly. And we don't know how many rogues we're dealing with. It could be more than three." He looked at Asher. "There must be more murders. They need to replenish after each change."
Asher frowned. "True."
"Unless they've found their way into a blood bank," Julie said, "we can expect increasing reports of victims found at home."
Silence filled the room. Apparently no one wanted to contemplate what they might learn over the coming nights.
"I need to call my family," Tessa announced, seizing the moment.
"Why?" Asher asked.
"Because they've got to be hearing about this. I need to reassure them, and it's been too long since I called. But my cell doesn't work here."
"There's a landline," Asher said, pointing. "Go ahead."
"Not before dawn. On a night like this, they're out running."
"Help yourself whenever."
So that was taken care of, she thought. After everyone went to sleep at dawn, she could make her call. She just hoped she wasn't making the biggest mistake of her life.
But one thing she knew for sure: if other vampires wouldn't come, and this thing kept snowballing, a lot of people were going to die. Regardless of the enmity between her kind and vampires, she hoped her pack wouldn't want to stand by while humans were being slaughtered and changed. Her strongest argument was that a world taken over by rogue vampires would be the worst possible outcome, even for lycanthropes.
She just hoped she could make them understand.
Kane gave her a rueful look but didn't say a word when he headed off to be and she made no move to follow. Julie and Asher went at the same time. Mackenzie spent a few minutes making sure Tessa could keep track of the news on the laptop, then wended her own way to her bedroom.
Tessa waited, on the edge of her seat, until she was sure not only had the vampires fallen asleep. Then she picked up the phone and called her mother.
"Hi, Mom."
Danica de Grey sounded drowsy, as was to be expected after a full night of running with the pack, but delighted to hear her daughter's voice. "I've been thinking about you so much, Tessa. What kind of city did you move to?"
"A really nice one until a few days ago."
"There must be some really horrible gang running around down there. Do they have any idea when they'll catch them?"
Tessa bit her lip and squeezed her eyes closed. "That's what I called about. Mom, I need your help. I need the pack's help. And you're not going to like it."
"Have you been hurt?"
"I'm fine." True, but not the whole truth. "Mom, please, you've got to listen and you've got to listen carefully before you start getting mad or yelling for Dad to talk sense to me. Please."
A silence greeted her, but finally Danica sighed. "I'm sure I'm not going to like this, but yes, I'll listen first."
"All the way through?"
"All the way through."
With her heart in her throat, Tessa explained, beginning with the fact that a vampire had saved her life and had killed the bloodsucker who had come to kill her. She could hear her mother almost spluttering with the effort of keeping quiet.
"Just listen," she begged again. "Please, just listen."
"You should have come straight home."
"I can't. And that's why you have to listen."
She had known it wouldn't be easy. Given her family's beliefs about vampires, she had to keep coming back to the fact that a vampire had saved her and that two of them were protecting her. Then she had to explain the rogues and the difference between them and Asher and Kane, and apparently many others.
Her words seemed to be falling into an abyss of silence.
She pressed on anyway, making her point as forcefully as she could: either these rogues were stopped or tens of thousands of humans would eventually die, and the world would become a much more dangerous place for the packs.
"I need your help," she finished. "We need your help."
Danica didn't answer immediately. Then, "Your father is going to be furious. I don't know if I'll be able to restrain him or the pack."
"You can. I know you can." In the pack the alpha female ruled, and her mother was the alpha.
"I don't know," Danica said. "What I can tell you is we'll be there tonight to judge the situation for ourselves."
"There's nothing to judge! I've done that already."
"You think you have, but persuading the others will take more than that. Where exactly are you?"
"At a cabin in the country north of the city. I don't know exactly." Then she had a thought. "I'm sitting at a computer. Maybe I can find out."
"Find out by the time we arrive later. I mean that, Tessa. And don't be surprised if your father calls you back. Is this a landline?"
"Yes."
"Well, I have the number. I'm sure we can find out where it's located. Just don't do another think until we get there."
Tessa disconnected. Then she put her head in her head and prayed she hadn't just made things worse.
Mackenzie's voice startled her. "I can't believe you just did that!"
She turned around to see Mackenzie looking like an angry goddess in some kind of black drape.
"Are you nuts? As if Asher and Kane don't already have their hands full enough, you called in your wolf pack?"
"They'll help," Tessa said because she had to believe it.
"Help how? They loathe vampires. What in the world do you think is going to change their minds?"
"Kane saved me."
"Right, and that's going to stop them from ripping his head off? Especially when they can probably smell him all over you."
Tessa flushed. Was it that obvious, so obvious a human could pick up on it? "They'll listen to me."
"Right. And I suppose you were going to spring this on everyone when your pack showed up howling at the door for blood?"
"Mackenzie..."
"This is stupid. Stupid! You just made the mess bigger than it already was." Mackenzie whirled and stomped down the hall, calling over her shoulder, "And if you think I'm going to let them sleep all day and wake up to this mess without warning, you're wrong."
Moments later, she heard Mackenzie hammering on doors and shouting at the top of her lungs, "Asher! Kane! Wake up. It's urgent."
Tessa had the worst urge to flee as she realized she was about to face two irate vampires. They had told her not to do this, with good reason. But she couldn't stand the thought of them, and this Soren she had never met, facing all these rogues and possibly newborns alone.
The sun was up, although none of its light was permitted to invade the cabin, and despite all stories to the contrary, two vampires emerged into the living room looking fully alert and awake. Julie trailed after then, but she looked sleepy.
"What's going on, Mackenzie?" Asher asked.
"This...this semi-wolf just called her pack down here. She thinks they'll help."
Tessa winced but forced to keep silent.
Kane came to her and knelt before her, taking her hands with surprising gentleness. 'Why, Tessa? We warned you not to."
"You need help. The other vampires won't come, and it's getting worse and worse. My pack...my pack ought to help. They're the only help we can get."
"If they help," Asher said harshly.
Kane was frowning at her, clearly trouble. "Why would you do such a think without telling us?"
"Because you kept saying no. and you kept talking about all the newborns and people dying, and what good are my pack if they won't protect people?"
"They'll protect people," he said tautly. "But they won't protect us. Pah!" He dropped her hands and rose, striding across the room, his back to her.
"I'll take to them," Tessa pleaded. "I'll go out and talk to them when they arrive. Just trust me."
"When they arrive," Kane said sternly, "they'll be maddened by the scent of vampire that clings to you. You'll be lucky if they don't attack you."
"You don't know them! They're not like that."
"No?" He faced her, and she didn't know which upset her more, the look of betrayal on his face or the bleakness of his black eyes. "When they arrive, wake us before you do anything. Wash yourself well. Then go out to meet them."
"And then?"
"And then when you discover that all they want to do is kill us, leave with them. Leave with them, go back north with then and stay away."
With that, he vanished down the hall. She heard the door close emphatically behind him.
She felt a tear roll down her cheek but didn't bother to dash it away. She tried to do something good but had alienated Kane. And maybe the rest of them, as well.
She looked from one face to another and read only dismay. Maybe even distrust. Another huge tear followed the first.
"I'm sure," said Asher finally, "that you meant well. But we may now have far more trouble than we had to begin with. Do as Kane say. Wash and meet them alone. If they can't agree to at least a truce, then leave with them. I mean it."
Then Tessa was alone again. She began to weep, wondering how it was that she had fallen into an abyss between two worlds.
Inside, she had never felt more empty or alone.