Twilight came at last. She had bathed as Kane had told her and changed her clothes. Nothing, however, could rub the smell of vampire from her jacket.
No one emerged from the bedrooms, even though she expected them, judging the light conditions by the time.
And then she heard it. Even through the walls of this bunker, she could the howls of her pack. Each wolf's song was familiar to her, tied to a name. Tried to someone she loved. That they had chosen to come in this form rather than their human form told her much.
This could be a fight she lost.
She went to stand on the porch to await them, her heart hammering, her knees weak. Behind her, she heard someone lock the door.
Closing her out of the lives. Protecting themselves against her and what she had done.
She wanted to sag but forced herself to stiffen, to stand straight, to appear sure.
The first wolf burst into the clearing from among the trees. Her father, readily recognizable by his black coat and massive size. Lycanthropes became wolves exactly the same size as the humans they were the rest of the time. Her father was a powerful man, well over six feet tall, and two hundred pounds of pure muscles.
He stopped at the clearing's edge and lifted his snout, smelling the night. Then he issued a low, long howl and others followed. Her mother, petite by comparison, yet larger than an ordinary wolf, her coat colors of silver, white and caramel. The colors of her make looked like a perpetual smile.
Then her four brothers, nearly as big as their father, in every shade from white to black. She could hear others in the woods, but only the six emerged, the rest waiting to see if they were needed.
Her father approached her first, sniffing closely about her, so big that when he lifted his head he could look her in the eyes. Twice he snorted as if displeased.
Then came the other five, first her mother and then her four brothers. They swirled around her, using their acute sense to read things she could only guess at because she wasn't really one of them.
Her mother nudged her until she stepped off the porch and into the snow, way from the cabin. She reached out to touch fur with all the love she felt for them and ached when they each dodged her touches.
She knew what they smelled on her.
Then, in a motion so smooth it almost seemed like melting, her father and mother transformed into humans. It was not, however, a full transformation. Their bodies remained covered with sleek fur since they had brought no clothes.
"I smell them all over you," her father said. "Why, daughter? Why?"
"I told Mom. One of them saved my life. I've learned, Dad. Not all vampires are what we thought. Some of them are actually fighting to save humans."
"Your mother told me. I'm not sure I believe any bloodsucker could be good."
"Luka," her mother said quietly. "I told you what she said. If she's right, we can't just take her from here. We might need to help."
"Help bloodsuckers?" Luka practically thundered the words.
"Yes," said Tessa, lifting her chin. "At first, I thought a war between vampires would be a good thing. And then I saw what the rogues are doing, and what the vampires who protect me are doing differently. I thought of what it would mean to the packs if the rogues win and take over. Father, listen to me. Imagine a world overrun by vampires who are fed by human slaves. What would that mean to the pack?"
"That's what they already do!"
"No," Tessa said firmly. "Believe me. Think about it. If it were already that way, how is it so many humans survive? And when was the last time we were ever attacked by a vampire?"
"They stay out of our way."
"They have no quarrel with us."
Her father started to speak again, but her mother touched his arm. "Wait. Think. Tessa may have a point."
She looked at Tessa. "Are any of them brave enough to come out?"
"They thought you would take me away. They weren't happy I asked for your help. They expected a reaction like Dad's."
At that, her mother smiled faintly. "I wonder why. Call one of them out."
Tessa started to turn back to the house, but just then Kane stepped out through the door and closed it behind him. He stood on the porch, surveying the visible pack members, sniffing the air.
"Eau de wolf," he said sardonically. "Everywhere." Then he stepped off the porch and approached slowly. "I am Kane Durand. I found your daughter nearly dead in the park and saved her from the vampire who came back to finish her off. I regret this does not match your beliefs about us. I must have been in an off mood that night."
Tessa sucked a sharp breath, wondering if he meant to be provoking.
Her father sniffed. "Bloodsucker. Why is your smell all over my daughter?"
Danica looked at her. "Tessa!" she said, sounding horrified.
"The cabin is small," Kane said with a nonchalant shrug. "I'm sure her odor is all over me. I took nothing from her she didn't offer. Well, perhaps a teaspoon of blood."
In an instant, Luka became a wolf again and started to spring, but Tessa stepped in front of Kane. "If you harm him, you have to harm me first."
Luka twisted in mid-flight and landed on all fours. Moments later he was an almost-man again. "What is going on here?"
"I told Mom and I'm sure she told you. We need your help. Humans need your help. These vampires need your help to prevent the ugliest of their kind from taking over. You said you'd been reading about the murders. Well, we're getting ready to fight the rogues, but they're probably busy making more vampires. Think of it, Dad. Is that really the world you want?"
He didn't answer.
"Because if that's the world you want," Tessa said firmly, "then leave now and I'll stay to fight with these people."
"You call vampires people?"
"Now I do. A handful at least."
He shook his head.
But Danica moved forward, looking past Tessa at Kane. "You saved my daughter?"
"It was my honor."
"And you killed her attacker."
"Quite delightfully. I gutted him and broke his neck."
To Tessa's amazement, her mother began to smile. "That would have please me."
"It certainly pleased me."
Tessa's brothers were swirling around all of them now, clearly uneasy, but equally uncertain. Her father growled but made no move.
Danica turned to her mate. "Will you take her from the only world where she might fit, Luka? You know how unhappy she was with us."
Tessa started to protest, even though there was a certain trust to her mother's word. Kane silenced her with a look.
"So what are you saying?" Luka asked.
"I suggest we relax and look into the matter before deciding anything."
Luka looked at Kane. "How many bloodsuckers are here?"
"Just myself and one other, plus two other humans. And we expect one more of our kind sometime tonight. So you can identify him and leave him alone, he'll be arriving with another human female."
"His slave?"
"His wife."
Luka made a rumbling sound of disbelief but then fell silent.
"A truce," Danica said finally. "For tonight. If we decided against you, we'll leave with our daughter and leave you untouched."
"Fair enough," said Kane. "I'll tell the others."
Danica returned her attention to Tessa. "I'm not sure you're being wise, but you have your chance to explain. We'll be back in a few minutes. We left out clothes in the car."
Then she and Luka melted back into wolf form and dashed into the woods, their sons following them.
"Well," said Kane almost sarcastically. "That went far better than I hoped."
Tessa dared to look at him. "Do you hate me?"
"No. But I'm not pleased. This could have turned bloody."
She knew he was right. And it might still turn bloody, but not tonight. Her mother had given her word, and Danica's word was better than gold.
Twenty minutes later a car pulled up to the cabin and disgorged Danica and Luka, a handsome couple dressed in heavy wolf skin parkas and boots. Somewhere out there her brothers and cousins still lurked watchfully, but for now, there was a truce.
Only Luka hesitated to cross the threshold of the cabin. "This place reeks of bloodsuckers."
"Hardly surprisingly," Kane said. "And now it reeks of wolves, as well."
Tessa scowled at him. Being provocative was not the best way to deal with her pack. She noted that both he and Asher stood closest, while Mackenzie and Julie remained back in the kitchen. For nearly a minute, no one moved, then Julie swept forward.
"Coffee?" she said cheerfully. "I can also make something to eat if you're hungry."
Danica studied her, then smiled. "Coffee would be nice. We feel the cold more in human form."
The room felt as electric as the air before a thunderstorm. While the coffee brewed, a lot of uneasy shifting took place, but at least the humans and the wolves settled at the table with mugs. The vampires hung back, adopting relaxed poses but not getting too close.
"All right," Danica said. "I know what Tessa told me. We've read news reports of the murders and were becoming concerned for her, but nothing made us think of vampires."
"It was vampires, all right," Tessa said. She looked at Asher. "Can you explain? You do it better than I can."
"And I'm at the heart of what's going on," he said. He came closer to the table. "When I arrived in the city I set about cleaning it out." Then, steadily, as if listing bullet points in a presentation, he laid out his philosophy of never harming humans and explained that the view was shared by most vampires, for their own safety if nothing else. "But in cleaning out the city, I evidently made some enemies. Now they've come back to inflict a reign of terror and probably to kill me and anyone else who resists them."
Kane also came closer. "They want to run the show. They don't want to resist their native impulses, not even a little bit."
"But can they succeeded?"
"Here?" Kane said. "Certainly. No others will come to our air yet, and I suspect they are making newborns. Newborns, by the way, are the embodiment of the worst you think of all my kind. If not carefully controlled by their makers, they become berserk killers."
Danica looked down for a few minutes, then turned to Tessa. "You believe this?"
"Completely."
"And you want our help against these rogues and newborns?"
Tessa bit her lip. "Mom, these three can't do it alone. Would the packs be safe it vampires rule?"
"You know we never involve ourselves in the affairs of other kinds."
"I know." She felt her heart sinking.
Danica looked at the two vampires. "We prefer to live in solitude and let others go their own ways."
"I prefer that also," Kane said. "This time, however, order must be restored before chaos consumes us all."
"How would you have us help?"
"I don't know," Kane answered. "I wasn't the one who called for you. Initially, I had no desire to get involved in this war. I simply came to warn Asher the rogues were coming after him. Then I saw what they did to Tessa. I must admit, madam, which made me angry. Angry enough that I decided to involve myself in what is surely not my problem. I could have left it to others."
It was almost a challenge, and Tessa tensed as she waited to see how her mother would react. But if ever she had doubted Kane had been a marquis, she could believe it then. There was a certain arrogant surety to what he was saying. She just hoped it didn't drive her family away.
Danica spoke quietly. "You turned your back on a problem once. You thought it didn't involve you."
Kane's face tightened. "Yes. I did."
She nodded. "It haunts you."
"In more ways than you can imagine."
Danica finished her coffee and rose from the table. "I'll call my pack together. I'll tell them we're going to help you. Part of that will require that you all the entire pack to smell you so they don't mistake you for the others."
"And then what will you do, madam?"
"Hunt vampires."
She nodded to everyone in the room and headed for the door, Luka beside her. "Tessa. I wish a private word."
Tessa followed her parents outside, feeling very small, very young and unsure of herself. But the lack of confidence was nothing new to her. She'd felt it for years and had only just started to shake it after her move to the city and living among humans. Just having her family back around her, though, was enough to remind her of all her inadequacies. She thrust her hand inside the neck of her parka to grasp her wolf's head necklace, a reminder that her mother loved her despite her decision to leave the pack.
Danica sent Luka away. "Gather the others. Send for the rest and bring them up to speed."
Luka hesitated only a moment, looking as if he had plenty he wanted to say to Tessa, but then he returned to the car and drove back into the woods, where he would no doubt strip and transform again. The pack communicated far more readily as wolves, and far more clearly.
Her mother turned to look at her. "You looked more powerful when we arrived. You smelled more powerful."
Tessa couldn't deny it. "I feel like a pup again."
Danica reached out to cup her cheek gently. "Daughter, don't do this to yourself. You're an adult, you had the courage to leave the pack and strike out to make your own life. How many of us would dare that?"
Not many, Tessa admitted to herself. When the packs grew too large, as occasionally happened, they split. But never did one wolf go off by itself. Never.
"You're not like us, but there's nothing wrong with that, Tessa. If we ever made you feel there was, I'm sorry."
"You didn't make me feel that way."
"But being unable to change and become one of us certainly did. You are who you are, and who you are is sufficient. We love you as you are."
"I know." Her throat tightened with the truth of it. "I never felt unloved."
"I should hope not. But now I'm worried."
"Why?"
"Because of that vampire. Kane. I feel something between the two of you." Danica frowned. "Tessa, if you go that way, I can't guarantee the pack won't shun you. May plead for sense, but some things are deeper than logic."
Tessa swallowed hard. She thought about Kane, about what had passed between them, and realized that all that had really happened was lust. Hormones and pheromones and not one other thing. It hurt to look at it clinically, but she had to be honest with herself.
"Nothing will come of it," she said finally. "Nothing. I don't think he likes me all that much, actually."
"Like?" Danica almost laughed. "That vampire came out here to keep an eye on you. I could smell it all over him. He thought we might attack you because you smell like them now. He was ready to take on our entire pack if anyone made a threatening gesture toward you."
"How can you tell that? I couldn't smell it."
"I could. I could also see it in the way he emerged from the cabin. His every muscle was coiled. You didn't see it because your back was turned."
"He's protective," Tessa said reluctantly.
"More than that perhaps. I don't know. I just know that if you take up his way of life, you will probably lose ours."
"Mom..."
"Not me, Tessa, never me. But there are some things not even an alpha can command. Our loathing of vampires can be restrained, but only for a while. Just keep that in mind. And don't let him drink from you again."
Tessa, who remembered those brief moments as a trip to the stars, said nothing, just nodded an acknowledgment.
"Protect him by keeping a proper distance," Danica warned her. "If the others think he's put you under his spell, they will tear him to pieces."
"He can't affect me that way."
"Are you absolutely sure of that?" Danica's smile was almost sad as she turned away.
"What are you going to do now?"
"I think we'll go to the city and check things out."
Tessa's heart squeezed with fear. What had she set in motion? "If the rogues smell you..."
"We will deal with them. That's what you wanted, isn't it?" Then she ran into the woods and disappeared from sight.
"Oh, my God." The tormented whisper squeezed out from between Tessa's lips, and her knees gave way. She sanked to the snow and started to cry.
Never, ever had she considered the possibility her pack might act alone.
Kane finally grew impatient and opened the front door. He saw Tessa huddled in the snow, heard her nearly silent sobs, smelled her distress on the clear, cold air.
He told himself to step back, give her time to deal with whatever was going on. He was still more than little annoyed that the wolves had been thrown into the equation after both he and Asher had told her to keep them out of it.
They were an unknown and might complicate an already complicated problem. They still hadn't learned what they were up again in terms of how many and what kind. Absent that knowledge, absent any other vampires arriving unless the situation worsened, they still hadn't been able to put together a plan.
Now this.
Yes, he was annoyed. But the sounds issuing from Tessa reached the heart that he had tried so hard to turn into stone, so he went to her.
He scooped her up out of the snow, sat cross-legged and out her on his lap, shielding her from the icy ground with his impervious body.
The crack in the shell around his heart grew even wider when she turned into him and wrapped an arm around him. God, he didn't want to feel again. But what he wanted didn't change what was. It never did.
Anger seeped out of that crack. "What did she say to you? Did she hurt you?"
"Not intentionally." Tessa hiccupped. "I'm scared, Kane. They're going into town to check the situation out. What if I go them all killed?"
He could have made a brittle and sharp comment about how she should have thought of that first, but he didn't. She had acted out of best intentions, and it just wasn't in him to criticize someone for that. He'd certainly made enough mistakes of his own.
"I'm sure they'll take care." It was a lame reassurance, but there was no other.
"Yes, but still...They can smell the vampires, Kane, but you certainly know that the vampires can smell them."
"True," he admitted.
"And it's my fault they're taking this risk."
"Not your fault," he said. "They chose to do this."
"For me."
"Not just for you. They knew they could have taken you home whether you liked it or not. Tell me that's not true."
She couldn't. She hiccupped again and swiped at her cheeks.
"They decided to become involved the way I did not two centuries ago. They did it to prevent the kind of chaos that would make like impossible for them. And for humans."
"I hope so."
"Of course, they did. It was your mother who instantly picked up on my regrets. She could have done that only if she saw far enough down the road to realized the regrets the pack would feel if they didn't act. She's farsighted."
"She has to be."
"I'm sure she'll take every precaution because if what you said is correct, they want to assess the situation, not start the battle tonight. And I'll tell you something else, little wolf."
"What's that?"
"In human form, they don't much smell like wolves. So the rogues shouldn't catch the scent of them unless they prowl in wolf shape. And even then they don't smell at that different from true wolves. To identify the difference, you have to have been exposed to it before, and the packs, as you say, avoid that."
"Really?"
"Really."
That eased her heart a bit.
"I doubt the rogues expect any intervention from lycanthropes. If your family if careful, they shouldn't alert the—how do you say?—the bad guys?"
"I hope not."
"Your mother is wise. She could tell we had very little intelligence about the situation. And we really don't. We know they want Asher. We had to protect three females, and so we decamped to find backup and try to gather enough information to make some kind of plan."
"How can you plan something like this?"
"Very carefully." He sighed and brushed cool fingers against her cheek. "If you want, I can go to town and keep an eye on your pack. Unfortunately, I'm fairly certain I left my scent on that rogue I killed. I may draw unwanted attention. But still, I could be a distraction if needed."
That thought terrified her as much as what her pack might face. "You can't. The rest of the pack doesn't know your smell. You could be in danger."
"I think I smell enough like you to be safe."
"No," she said again, almost desperately. She had enough to worry about without adding him to the mix. Everything she cared about out there and exposed in that city? No way. "If you go, you can't go without me. I'm all that would stand between you and my pack."
"And you can't stop me from going without you."
She lifted her face, meeting his gaze directly. "No, I can't. But you can't prevent me from following you on my own."
He sighed then, really sighed. "You are difficult."
"I know."
A smile twitched around the edges of his mouth. "I am not used to being thwarted."
"Sometimes I can see that. Get used to it."
"I'm learning."
She scrubbed at her face with her sleeve, drying the last of her tears. "They'll be ok."
"Your mother strikes me as one who will ensure they do nothing to draw attention. But I can understand why she want to evaluate the situation. We need to know what we're up again, and trying to discern that from what Julie can learn from the medical examiner's office and police reports...that's not enough."
"They can run fast," she said as her emotions settled, the storm over. "They can sample the air and be out there quickly. Do you know how many vampires are usually there?"
"Asher would know, but not I."
"Then maybe we can get a sense of how the numbers have grown."
"That would be helpful. Very helpful."
She nodded and sniffed down the last of her tears.
He shifted restlessly beneath her. Her proximity was driving him nearly mad with lust and hunger, and that, when added to his impatience, was making him acutely aware of a need for action.
He could have laughed at himself. He had thought the centuries had taught him patience. Maybe about some things. But not about what was going on now.
He wanted to take action against the threat. Being stymied because they were essentially blind and could find no help from other vampires was not at all to his taste.
He could, of course, just leave as he had initially intended to. But ignoring an ugly situation once had cost him much, and time had taught him the full toll of his mistakes. He wasn't inclined to repeat them.
"You must be freezing," Tessa said, withdrawing her arm in order to look at him.
He felt that small withdrawal in places he thought Violet's death had killed. "I could sit in the snow all night and not freeze. I really do not feel it."
"So you weren't exaggerating?"
"Why would I? I told you, I'm impervious to temperature. The only heat I can feel is the warmth of a human body."
"That seems odd."
"Every predator is drawn to particular prey. I assume there are reasons from them all."
"Oh."
Well, he thought, perhaps he had just passed the shock factor with her. Now she would realize that while he wasn't the creature of myth her family had taught her, he was still as far as possible from anything she could imagine. And it wouldn't hurt for her to remember he was indeed a predator. Her family was not wrong about that.
"Is that how you see yourself?"
"It's not a matter of how I see myself. I am a predator. The fact that I choose to limit myself to willing donors doesn't change my essential nature."
"My pack is predators, too," she said presently. "They hunt deer, elk and other game. I never hunted. I couldn't."
He wondered where she was trying to go with this, but she didn't say any more. The heavy need was growing in him, pounding relentlessly in his veins. Even as bundled up as she was, he could smell her blood, a sweet siren's call. His gaze focused on her neck, exposed just a little because she hadn't zipped her jacket all the way. It would be all too easy to give a little tug to that fabric and expose her delicious flesh. To lean forward and sip. Just a small sip. Just one.
"Kane!"
The call from the door shook him out of the intoxication that was overtaking him. In a single fast movement, he rose and set Tessa on her feet.
Asher was calling to them. "We've learned some more."
He was sure the news wasn't good.
"Soren," Asher said as they gathered around the table and the computer, "has identified at least eight adults and three newborns new to the city. Julie thinks other newborns may awake tonight in their homes or in the morgue."
"Yes," Julie said. "I've told my staff to start autopsies immediately on any new bodies brought in. That it's essential to do craniotomies first."
"Pardon?" Kane said.
"To remove the brains. I told them I suspect some infection is being passed that may show up in the brains. They're thinking rabies. I'm leaving it at that."
But even as she spoke, Kane noticed she was pilling on her outerwear.
"I've got to get back. I have to make sure we don't risk letting any newborns awake in the morgue. I can't do anything about private homes, but I can damn well sure we change the order of procedures from here on out. We'll do our part. I just don't want to risk someone overlooking or ignoring the change. That could wind up being deadly."
"And at nightfall," Asher agreed. "I'm taking her back."
"I'm going, too," Kane said.
"Me, too," Tessa announced. "My pack went into town to try to sniff out vampires."
Asher swore. "I thought we had an alliance going here, not a helter-skelter, do-as-you wish operating!"
"You don't tell an alpha what to do."
"Maybe not. But if you go into town, how in the hell are we going to get in touch with your pack and let them know where we are? How are we going to exchange information?"
"My mother has a phone," Tessa said tautly.
"Well, she better be answering."
"Asher," Julie said quietly. "Please. I know you don't want me going back to town, but surely you understand that I have to. And you shouldn't take your anger out on Tessa."
Asher turned to Mackenzie. "You," he said, "stay here. I'm going to have my hands full enough trying to keep my wife safe."
"Trust me, boss," Mackenzie said, "I don't plan on going back. I'll be here. If the pack comes here, I'll pass along the information. But exactly where are you all going to be?"
"I'll be at the morgue with Julie at least until dawn. Kane, if Tessa insists on going back, take her to Soren. At least he's not a target. Yet."
"Yet," Kane agreed. He turned to Tessa. "Try to reach your mother. When you do, tell her we're meeting at Soren's. I'll give you the address." He smiled almost sardonically. "And thus ends Soren's honeymoon. I'm sure he'll be delighted to have to share his bedroom with another vampire."
"He knows you're coming," Asher said. "He could have objected if he wanted. He wants me there, too. He doesn't think my office is safe. They've been sniffing around, according to him."
"Then we shall all meet there."
Ten minutes later all of them except Mackenzie were in the car, heading into the unknown.