“I swear it. He’s asdangerous as a bee.” I slid my blade back in my holster and held myhands up to show them I meant no harm. “Please, let him go.”
“Not until he tells mewhere he got these clothes from.”
Nathan looked down atme. “I tried to tell him I borrowed them—”
“Liar.” The mansnarled, shoving Nathan further up the wall. The biceps in his leftarms bulged, but he didn’t even break a sweat.
“It’s the truth.” Itook a step forward, pausing when the Werewolf mimicked me.
The blond’s nostrilsflared again. “They smell like a member of our Pack.”
Despite the tensionthat embraced my spine and shoulders, a slight flutter of reliefpassed through me. “Brendan?”
His attention back onme, the colour in his eyes began to soften, flecks of bluefiltering through. “You know Brendan?”
“My cousin does.” Ilowered my arms. “Her name is Heather.”
The Werewolf whined.The male glanced over his shoulder at the creature.
“My aunt Sofia knewBrendan. She was Heather’s grandmother. She asked him to helpHeather with something.” I took another step forward. “I haven’theard from her in three weeks. That’s why I’m—I mean why we’rehere. We’re looking for her.”
“That doesn’t explainhow—”
“Brendan has left abag at Heather’s house, a travel bag,” I cut in quickly. “Nathanneeded a change of clothes after escaping a facility where he washeld captive. Brendan’s clothes were the only male clothes in thehouse.” I took another step toward the man. “The Vampires kidnappedhim and his friend while they were in London. They experimented onthem, changed them.”
The Werewolf made alow grumbling noise in its throat.
“A facility?” Themale’s eyes met mine, tired, ash-blue eyes.
“Aye, if you let himgo, we will explain.”
The Werewolf steppedtoward us. My hand automatically dropped to the hilt of my blade,but the Werewolf’s large hand landed on the male’s shoulder. Itslarge fingers flexed, claws dinting into his taut skin, but notenough to pierce it. It was then I noticed the blue flecks runningthrough its fur. It was only inches taller than the male. Bowingits head, it pressed its nose to the side of the man’s face, and Iwatched the tension ease from the male, watched as he loweredNathan to his feet. He untangled his hand from the borrowed T-shirtand backed away from us. The Werewolf let go of his shoulder andremained behind him.
With a sigh, the malefolded his arms over his chest. “Start explaining.”
“First.” I stepped infront of Nathan. “Where is Heather?”
He stared at mesilently for what seemed like an eternity before confirming, “She’salive, and with our Pack.”
Relief washed over melike a tidal wave. “Oh, thank God.”
“Now, I believe youowe us an explanation as to why I shouldn’t kill this Leech alongwith the rest of his Colony.”
“This isn’t myColony,” Nathan stated, straightening out the oversizedT-shirt.
I stepped in front ofNathan. “He isn’t a part of this Nest let alone this Colony. He andhis friend were captured in London and were held captive for sixweeks in a facility in Scotland. They sedated him—”
“Castrated me.” Nathanstepped beside me.
“The Vampiresexperimented on him.”
“And I didn’t ask forany of it. Nor did Freddie.” His voice hitched at mentioning hisfriend. “Only difference is he wasn’t lucky enough to survive thisshite.” He indicated to himself.
The Werewolf didanother whine. The male’s jaw flexed. Something flickered in hiseyes as he stared at Nathan.
“Why haven’t youkilled him?” His focus moved back to me. “Isn’t that what yourfamily does, kill Leeches?”
He made it sound sosimple, and up to a few days ago, it had been. Part of me wanted topoint out that I nearly had when I first realized what he was, butit had also been the first time I had ever been face to face with aVampire who had once been someone I knew and cared about.
“Aye, but Nathan isn’ta normal Leech.”
“You really can’t go aminute without insulting me, can you?” Nathan mumbled, folding hisarms across his chest.
“Nathan was created.Not turned. Whatever they did isn’t normal for them.”
“You expect that tomean something to us?” The blond arched his left eyebrow.
“No, but Nathan founda folder that he brought with him. It mentions the Were-gene, whichmakes me wonder” I took a step forward. “Have any of your Pack gonemissing in the last two months?”
The Werewolfheadbutted the man’s shoulder, and he sighed, suddenly lookingdefeated.
“When was allthis?”
“He was held in afacility for six weeks.”
“They were going tomove me somewhere, but I managed to escape into the forest,” Nathancontinued. “That was about ten days ago.”
“That coincides withthe fire.” An Irish lilt met my ears.
I glanced over my leftshoulder as a middle-aged male walked into the room, paying us noattention he walked straight past us, stopping when he stood infront of our interrogator. “Everything clear?”
The blond lowered hiseyes slightly. “No signs of any other Leeches.”
“Good. The others haveset off back t’Carter with the Colony Leader.”
“You haveMichael?”
The older male ignoredmy question. “Would you go and help Al and Chris withmaintenance?”
“Sure.” The blond’sfocus moved to Nathan one last time. “Shout if you need anyassistance.” He strolled out of the room, the Werewolf at hisheels.
“You’re Heather’scousin?”
The Irish man finallyturned to us. He was broad-shouldered, dressed in a black T-shirtand jogging bottoms. Blood marked his skin, but I couldn’t see thewounds it had wept from.
“Danielle, and this ismy friend Nathan.”
His gaze brieflyflicked to Nathan before returning to me. “I’m Graham. Packdoctor.”
I could see it. He hadan empathetic face, but with an edge of ‘didn’t-take-no-shite’mixed in. It had to be the warm brown eyes paired with such aserious brow and broad nose. Stubble coated his jaw, making hischeekbones sharper. His hair was a wave of dark brown that gave hima casual air, as did the fact he was currently bare-footed andclearly not bothered about the fact he had walked through charredVampire remains. The black ash coated his tanned skin.
I glanced around theroom. “What are you all doing here? What’s going on?”
He crossed his armsover his chest and took a deep, thoughtful breath. It reminded meof the doctors you saw on TV when they were about to explainsomething to the patient’s family or give them bad news.
“Your cousin andBrendan were kidnapped while they were out looking for a
