Wrath

contentedness to sour quickly. Too quickly. The moment here had been nice, but it was time to get back to business. Tristan wanted to stay longer, but I was already out of the stream and pulling my clothes back on.

“Do you know what happened with Sasha and Victor? Did Vanessa come back?” I asked as I laced up my bustier.

“Vanessa did, but not Sasha.” He made his way out of the water and began to dress.

“Hmm . . . I don’t like it when she takes off like that. What about Victor?”

“She didn’t catch him either.”

I placed my hands on my hips and scowled. “We really need a break. Some glimpse of victory for once. I mean, is that too much to ask for?”

“We do our part, ma lykita, and the rest will happen when it’s supposed to—”

A long howl cut off Tristan’s words. A wolfish sound. I held my finger in the air to keep him on pause while I reached out with my mind.

“Weres,” I confirmed in a whisper. “Lots of them.” I counted the mind signatures I was picking up. “Fifteen, I think.”

“Daemoni.”

“Yeah, but . . . they’re weird.” I skipped from mind to mind, and my brow furrowed as I picked up their random thoughts. “They’re kind of freaking out. Really confused. I think . . . this is their first time changing.”

The words were barely out of my mouth when their meaning hit me. I’d just been asking for a break, and maybe this was it, but I tried not to let my hopes rise too much.

Tristan texted Charlotte with our location, and I thought it would take them at least an hour to drive here, but apparently my team hadn’t quite left us alone like we’d thought they had. Charlotte and Vanessa had stayed out of my mind’s reach, but they’d followed us closely enough to be there if we needed them.

“The others are on their way with the safe house’s vans,” Char said when they arrived. “Let’s try to make their trip worth it.”

I didn’t have to lead the way by following the wolves’ mind signatures. Their howls and whines could be heard by all of us. We came upon a pack of fifteen scraggly looking wolves, some fighting, snarling, and biting at each other, some jumping around in circles because they didn’t know how the hell they suddenly had four legs and fur, and others howling about their new freakdoms.

Trevor had told me a few things about alpha status and how to achieve and maintain control over a pack of wolves. Using this knowledge, I barked into their heads to be still and shut up while positioning my body to show domination. Their minds were very human, yet still controlled by the animal side of them. So they understood what I said perfectly and obeyed me as though I was their alpha. In no time, I had them sitting on their haunches in a line in front of us.

Through mind-speak with them, we learned how they’d all been at the same party a few weeks ago—a rough biker party that had been loud and a lot of fun, until they woke up the next morning after blacking out with the worst hangovers ever. Except the after-effects didn’t go away for a few days, and they assumed they’d caught a flu bug. When the symptoms finally resided, they all dismissed the illness as a virus and forgot about it. Until the period of the full moon approached and their bodies ached and their skin crawled. They’d each received a text to meet at this park tonight, although it didn’t explain why or even say who sent it. They’d hoped to find answers to what ailed their bodies, but they only found each other. As soon as the sun had set and the full moon showed itself, they all exploded out of their skins—and found themselves in the bodies of wolves.

By the time we reached the point of explaining what had been done to them, the rest of my team had arrived. Jax and Sheree had to transform to prove we weren’t full of crap. Then we had to convince them that we hadn’t been the ones who’d infected them, but we could help if they wanted it. Once they understood better, two —a male and a female with darker, edgier minds than the rest of them—thought their new forms were badass, and they took off to hunt. The others, however, agreed they wanted nothing more than to remove the disgusting desire for human flesh out of their minds forever. The wolves followed me to the vans in formation and piled in.

“Finally!” I exclaimed with a small sense of joy when Tristan and I returned to the safe house. “It would have been perfect to get them all, but thirteen! Thirteen souls saved. Thirteen new recruits for us. Thirteen fewer for the Daemoni.”

A small victory, but a victory nonetheless.

We couldn’t celebrate yet—once the moon set and the wolves returned to their human forms, we had to begin our work on them. But as soon as we could a few days later, we all sat down with the rest of the safe house staff and enjoyed a luxurious meal together. We needed the camaraderie—and the win—so badly.

When Vanessa hadn’t found Victor the other day, we assumed Sasha had chased him off, but the lykora still hadn’t returned. I couldn’t help but worry about her, but Vanessa said she’d seen no silver blood when she inspected every inch of the woods. Tristan figured Sasha would chase Victor around the globe if he’d been the one to hurt her or to take Dorian, and the thought of the vamp constantly on the run from her made me smile.

My mind couldn’t stop harping on Vanessa, though . . . and Victor. And Sasha’s reaction to Victor. Was it because he had been the one to sever her wing in the safe house suite? The one to take Dorian? If so, did that mean Lucas had been behind the kidnapping all along? Had we been too focused on Kali and Owen when we should have been looking for Victor and Lucas? And had Vanessa told the truth about not finding her brother, or was there something more? Was there a reason she volunteered to go after him and shooed me home? I still didn’t know if I could trust her.

For now, however, I’d focus on our big win and celebrate with my team. My phone rang in the middle of our meal, and since it was Mom, I had to answer it.

“Hi, honey,” she said, her voice still full of happiness. “I thought I’d give you some much-needed good news. Your safe house on Captiva pulled in a whole nest of vampires in Tampa. Sixteen of them converting!”

My whole team cheered loudly.

“To hope, faith, and a little perseverance,” Charlotte said as she raised her wine glass after I hung up with Mom.

“A lot of perseverance,” I said as I lifted my own glass.

“To love conquering all,” Tristan said with a wink in my direction. I dazed out for a second, missing Jax and Blossom’s toast.

“To good always wins,” Vanessa said as her ice-blue eyes locked on mine and a small smile played on her lips. She tipped her glass of blood up and didn’t break our gaze as she drank.

The pit of my stomach tightened. Her thoughts were innocent, but I couldn’t help but wonder: What was she trying to say with her little statement?

* * *

I woke up the next morning in the closest thing I had to a good mood since the day Tristan lost his mind to Kali nearly six months ago. Happy didn’t quite describe my feelings—I wouldn’t be happy until my son was home where he belonged. But definitely more hopeful than I’d been in some time. The victory with the wolves had meant a lot more to all of us than I realized. A lighter, more playful atmosphere enveloped the whole team.

“Blossom, I think today is the day,” I said to her after lunch. “I feel it. We’ll break through today.”

“Let’s do it then,” she said, and we headed for the room where I’d given birth to Dorian. She said his presence lingered more strongly there than in the room that had been his nursery. “Can I tell you something first?”

My heart skipped. I could tell by her tone we were moving into girl talk and all I could think was what a crappy friend I’d been to her. Again.

“Of course,” I said with a little too much enthusiasm.

“Jax and I . . . well, your cake idea worked, if you hadn’t noticed, and I, uh, well, I think he might be the one,” she finally blurted as we entered the bedroom.

I stopped in my tracks and spun on her. “Blossom! Are you serious?”

She smiled shyly and gave a little shrug. “I don’t know . . . we seemed to click right away, you know? And he’s so kind but determined to protect you and me both, and well, he’s nice to look at. Even with the scar. It’s kind of sexy.”

I chuckled. “Do you know how that scar got there?”

She giggled. “Yeah. He told me Tristan gave it to him. But it sounded like he deserved it. Jax can be . . .