Gerri was worried as she sat on a bench outside the private airport. A guard inside had started circling her, so she’d left the interior to wait where she could see the parking lot. Once in a while she’d go inside to use the bathroom and glance at a clock on the wall. Wen and Micah should have shown up over three hours ago.
Something is really wrong. The thought kept repeating in her mind.
She’d called Micah’s number a dozen times from the payphone but it had gone straight to voicemail. He couldn’t exactly call her back since he had her cell. She regretted handing it over to him, along with her license. What if they never showed? She only had about a hundred and sixty dollars left out of the wad of money Wen had given her. She’d be stranded in Washington with no one to call for help.
A black classic muscle car pulled into the lot and parked. Gerri watched as a big man climbed out and she was on her feet in a heartbeat. It was Micah. She rushed toward him, her gaze darting from him to the passenger side. Wen didn’t get out. Micah walked to the front of the car and waited for her. She realized he was alone as she got closer to the car.
“Where is he? Is he okay?”
Micah gripped her arms, his expression grim. “Wen got hurt but he’s healing.”
“Oh God.” She’d known it in her gut. “How bad?”
“The pack tore him up quite a bit before we got there but I swear he’ll be fine.”
“Where’s your SUV? Is he driving it?” She stepped to the right, staring at the entrance to the parking lot.
Micah pulled her back and leaned down a little, holding her gaze. “He’s healing. Graves is tending to him while he’s down for the next few days.”
She closed her eyes, fighting the urge to be sick. VampLycans were fast healers, so his injuries had to have almost killed him if Micah’s brother had to take care of Wen. It meant he was in really bad shape.
“Gerri? Look at me.”
She opened her eyes.
“Wen is going to be fine. I wouldn’t lie to you.”
“Take me to him.”
His hold on her tightened. “He ordered me to fly you home and stay with you until he’s able to join us. I’m going to protect you while you’re carrying his scent.”
“No. Take me to Wen.”
“It got messy, Gerri. Do you understand? Wen wants you where you’ll be safe. That’s home and far from here. The police might be looking for you at some point if they interview any of the neighbors around the nest building. You and Wen were seen in that neighborhood.”
“What happened?”
“Wen took out Horton and his little nest but the bastard had made soldiers. They were still turning but hadn’t changed completely yet. The rogue pack was pretty pissed and decided to try to tear apart my cousin. It was a bloodbath. Do you know what it means when you kill newly made soldiers?”
She shook her head.
“Freshly made ones leave bodies behind. Plus we killed the pack, and they don’t ash either. There was no way to remove all of the dead in a populated area without someone noticing, not to mention the blood would have remained. It meant taking down the building to destroy the evidence.”
She stared up at him, stunned.
“We had to set the building on fire, then make it explode,” he explained. “That drew human attention. I’m sure by now the cops are interviewing people to try to figure out what the hell happened. You could have been seen, understand? The cops might want to talk to you.”
“Shit.” He was right.
“There was no choice. My brother is an expert at that kind of thing. Nothing will remain that the humans will be able to make sense of, if they even bother to dig out that basement. He made sure it was hot enough to obliterate anything down there. Our kind don’t burn the same as humans do. It’s something to do with our blood. We’re pretty sure it’s the same with the soldiers. They all had heartbeats by the time Graves had rigged everything.”
“Heartbeats?”
“Don’t ask.” Micah looked around. “I need to go inside, file a flight plan, and get us the hell out of Washington. Right now, the police will hopefully believe the explosion was caused by a gas leak. Graves made a 9-1-1 call from inside the building right before it blew, saying he smelled gas. The farther you are from here, the better, in case they think it was arson.”
“Do you think I’ll get blamed?”
“No. You were here before that building went. You’ve been inside, right? These places have cameras.”
“Yes, until one of the guards kept staring at me. Other people were here to meet pilots or owned planes. I just sat inside, worrying about when you and Wen would get here. I think I was making him nervous so I came outside.”
“Then you have an alibi. Now let’s make sure it’s a good one. I’m sorry I’m late. I’ll say I got a flat tire if anyone asks.” He released her. “Your bag is in the trunk. Let me grab it and mine. Travelers have luggage.”
She followed him to the back of the car, where he retrieved her backpack and his duffle. “Rental?”
“My brother’s. He kept the SUV. The backseat is soaked in Wen’s blood. I’ll report it stolen in the morning. It will be found sometime tomorrow, a burned-out shell. That will give Graves time to torch it tonight.”
Her stomach was tied up in knots. “How bad is Wen? Be honest.”
“We got there and heard the fighting in the basement. The pack was all going at him. Lots of bites, but he’s got all his fingers and toes.”
That didn’t make her feel any better.
Micah led her inside the building. “I’m your boyfriend.”
“Are you still Fred Tobis?”
“Yes. Just don’t talk unless you have to. Draw as little attention as possible. We don’t have Wen with us this time to flash his bright blues to erase memories.”
“Got it.”
Micah pointed to a set of chairs. “Take a seat. I have to go deal with the paperwork. Use the bathroom while I’m gone too. I’m hoping I get us in the air within half an hour.”
“Can I call Wen?”
He frowned. “He’s probably sleeping, Gerri. It’s the best thing for him while he’s healing.”
“I’ll feel better if I can hear his voice. Please?”
He hesitated, then fished out his phone from his back pocket. “Only use this phone, never your own. Speaking of, I put yours in your backpack. Don’t copy his number down for later. We’re using VampLycan-owned cells, and they scramble the numbers in case one is ever taken by an enemy. They show up as caller unknown with no info. You call him from your phone, and everyone who has access to your records will have his number. Not to mention, your number will show up on his phone, probably your name too, and his clan will be able to track your cell. That would be very bad, considering I know damn well Wen doesn’t want his parents to find out he’s been with you.”
“I get it.”
He looked down at his phone, using his thumb to touch the face. “Keep it short. He needs to heal.” He handed it over. “Hit connect when you’re ready. I’ll give you privacy. I should be back soon.”
She took the phone, her heart pounding, and watched Micah walk up to a counter, talking to the woman behind it. Gerri took a seat and pressed her thumb down. She lifted the phone, putting it to her ear. Seconds passed and then it rang. She closed her eyes as it rang again, then again.
“Please pick up and be okay,” she whispered.
Five rings later and it clicked. “Hello?” It was a woman’s voice.
Her eyes flew open. “I’m sorry. I must have the wrong number.”
“You don’t. This is Stellia, correct?”
Gerri was taken aback. That was the clan healer’s name.
“Trayis said you might call,” the woman rushed on. “I apologize for answering Wen’s phone but he’s in the shower. I heard his phone ringing in his pants so I answered it. He’s feeling a lot better since he drank some of my blood.”
Gerri finally managed to speak again. “Who is this?”
“Trayis didn’t tell you my name? Well, he did say you were out hunting and he’d have to send someone to get you when I spoke to him earlier. You probably didn’t get many details. I’m Sherry. I work for your clan, and I’m the one Wen bit so he could heal faster. Tell Trayis he was right. My blood worked. I ordered Wen and I room service. I admit I’m a little lightheaded, but Graves pulled him off me before he took too much blood. I figured we both could use some food.”
“I want to speak to Wen.” Sherry was with him? He’d bitten her? What the hell was going on? Anger and pure jealousy hit hard.
“Sure. Hey, babe…”
“What?” Wen’s voice could be heard faintly in the background.
“Your doctor is on the phone and she wants to speak to you.”
“Tell Stellia I’ll call her back.”
Gerri lowered the phone and disconnected it. Her chest hurt. Sherry had called him “babe” and he’d answered to it, as if it were normal. It was blatantly obvious they were sharing a room if she could talk to him while he showered. Hot tears burned her eyes but she blinked them back.
Time passed slowly, and finally Micah came back from where he’d disappeared with the airport worker.
“We’re all set. Ready to go home?”
She managed to stand. “Yes.”
Micah stopped in front of her, studying her face. “Are you okay? You look really pale.”
Wen had finished his mission and he didn’t need her anymore. He was with Sherry. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
She spun, darting toward the ladies’ room, barely making it to a stall before she threw up the breakfast burrito she’d had with Wen earlier that morning.
* * * * *
Wen felt better. Blood wasn’t stuck to his skin or matting his hair anymore. He walked out of the bathroom and flinched when he caught sight of Sherry. She sat on the edge of the bed, gripping his cell with both hands, looking ready to faint.
“I told you to stay flat.” He crossed the room, taking the phone from her with one hand, gently pushing her onto her back with his other. Guilt came next. He’d done that to her. His gaze went to her bandaged arm, glad it was covered. He couldn’t remember biting her. Everything had been a blur, from the time the fight ended to waking up in the SUV with Graves and Sherry.
“Good idea.” She chuckled. “I hope the food comes soon. I usually get a cookie and some orange juice when I donate blood at the annual hospital drive, but this is worse. I think I need a cake and an entire orange tree.”
“It’s not funny. I could have killed you. What in the fuck was Graves thinking? Why the hell are you even here?”
She cracked her eyes open, her smile fading. “You sound mad.”
“I am. I don’t even remember taking blood from you.”
“You wouldn’t because you were unconscious. Your fangs were out though. You looked like you were dying. Jesus, Wen. I was so terrified I called Trayis, and he said you needed blood. Graves was going to give you his but I volunteered. It made sense. Blood loss was the last thing he needed, since he’d just told me about all the bodies he had to burn. I sure as hell couldn’t do that job for him while he recovered. He scratched my arm and I put it in front of your mouth. You latched right onto me.”
Wen crouched next to the bed, careful to grip the towel around his waist so he didn’t lose it. “That doesn’t answer why you’re here.”
“Trayis asked me to come. We didn’t know until I got here yesterday that your cousins were around in case you needed help.”
“Why would he send you?”
“In case you got arrested or something, I guess. I don’t ask Trayis why. He says go, I go. I might handle business law, but I know how to bail someone out. You know that. Imagine my surprise, though, when I ran into Micah at the bar last night. What are the chances of us staying at the same place?”
“You always pick a five-star hotels when you travel. So does my cousin. This is the closest one to where I was undercover.”
“True.” She smiled again. “Why don’t you lie down with me? That would make me feel better.” She patted the bed. “You could distract me with amazing sex until room service comes with our order.”
Wen rose up and backed away. “I could have killed you, Sherry. Did Trayis mention that? You never bleed for an injured one of my kind. I’m half Vampire and have no control of how much I drink in that condition.”
“Graves pulled you off my arm when he said you’d taken enough. You were fucking bleeding from like thirty places. What was I supposed to do? Let you die? What’s wrong with you?” She tried to sit up but then lay back down. “Shit. The room is spinning.”
“Of course it is. I took too much blood. Goddamn it.” He reached up and shoved his wet hair back from his face. “I should take you to a hospital. You probably need blood now.”
“You could give me some of yours.”
He backed up until he hit the wall. “No!”
She flinched. “Why are you snarling at me?”
“We can’t ever exchange blood. Never, Sherry.”
“Oh, that’s right. It’s how you VampLycans mate, isn’t it? Would that really be so bad?”
“I don’t feel that way about you.”
“We’re good together, Wen. Don’t we have a lot of fun? I wouldn’t mind spending all my time with you. I can’t say I’m a big fan of Alaska; it sounds like a godforsaken kind of barbaric hell, between the winters and all those animals I’ve heard about. But I’d deal with it to be with you. That’s saying a lot.”
“It was just sex. You know that.”
“It could be a lot more.”
He shook his head. “It’s over, Sherry. I’m sorry.”
“What in the hell do you mean by that?”
The door beeped and then opened, admitting Graves. He stepped inside and smiled at Wen. “You look a lot better.”
“Thanks for your help, but why are you even here?”
“You mean because you didn’t ask for my help? You should have. Micah asked me to come.”
Wen frowned.
“It was getting boring in Colorado.” Graves crossed the room. “How you doing, legs? Feeling better?”
“Wen is being an asshole. I saved his life but he’s acting as though I cunt-punched his mother.”
Graves arched his eyebrows, glancing between them.
Wen sighed. “You shouldn’t have let me feed off her.”
“You had more blood outside your body than left inside by the time the fighting was done. I had to carry you out to the SUV—which was a bitch, by the way. Broad daylight. I wrapped you in a blanket and stuffed your body into one of those plastic garbage cans with wheels, then rolled you out of the building. You don’t fit well inside one, either.”
“Then what happened?” Wen asked, curious.
“I got you to the SUV we’d parked in the alley next to the building. Micah stayed behind to guard the building. Sherry flipped when she unwrapped you to see how bad you were, then called your clan leader. He said to give you blood. I would have done it, but we had a basement full of corpses to deal with. I shoved her arm against your fangs, you did your Vampy auto-drinking thing, and when she almost passed out, I yanked her away. At that point, you woke up enough to growl at us. I bandaged her up, and she babysat you while I went back into the building.”
“Where’s Micah?”
“You told me to tell him to leave. You were demanding he fly G.L. to Nevada immediately, so he took off to do that. Who the hell is G.L.?”
Wen softly cursed. “Fuck. You’d know her as Gerri or Geraldine. Micah didn’t tell you she was with me?”
“No.” Graves frowned. “He didn’t tell me much at all.”
In all the confusion after Wen had woken, he’d figured she was still waiting at the airport. He needed to speak to Micah. He was stunned at the amount of time that had passed when he saw the hour displayed on the phone screen. The call went to voicemail.
“Call me.” He hung up.
“Who’s woman you two are talking about?” Sherry sat up.
He ignored her, focusing on Graves. “How did I get into the hotel? I can’t remember.”
“Sherry stayed with you in the SUV. Micah had taken off to pick up my car, to do what you’d told him. I set fire to the house your Vamp had been playing in, so the humans wouldn’t find a body dump. I made it go boom.” Graves chuckled. “Big boom.”
“The hotel,” Wen prodded.
“We dumped a shitload of water on you after stripping you out of your clothes, since you’d stopped bleeding. I had grabbed your bag Micah had found inside the building before he left and took it to the SUV. We dressed you, shoved a baseball cap I found on your head to cover that mess, and you stumbled next to me. You don’t remember that?”
“No.”
“People thought you were drunk. Graves helped you walk.” Sherry was watching him with narrowed eyes. “No one gave either of you any shit. You’re both muscled as hell, so they probably thought you’d get into a brawl.”
“I laid you on the floor in the bathroom so we wouldn’t have to explain bloodstains to the maid later, and then I went to buy you some more clothes.” He wrinkled his nose. “All yours were dirty in that bag. The new stuff is in the room next door. I wasn’t sure if you were up or not yet, so I dumped the bags in there.”
Wen reached up and rubbed the back of his neck. He glanced at his phone. “How long ago did Micah leave?”
“Hours ago.”
It meant he’d had time to get to Gerri at the airport and board his plane. They were probably in the air. “Fuck.”
“Who is G.L.?” Sherry sounded more agitated.
Wen dropped his hand from his neck and glanced at Graves. “Can you get me those clothes, please?”
“Sure. I’ll be back in minute.”
“Make it five. Sherry and I need to have a talk.”
“Okay.” Graves left.
Wen waited for the door to close before he held her gaze. “Remember how I told you one day I’d find a woman and realize she was my mate?”
Sherry tensed. “Don’t say it.”
“You asked. I answered. That’s why it’s over between us.”
She licked her lips, then frowned. “Why did you send her to Nevada?”
“Because I was out of my head. I don’t even remember doing that.”
“She’s a Lycan? Isn’t Trayis going to have a problem when you bring some rogue home with you that you met during this mission?”
“She’s not a rogue.”
“Bullshit, if she was hanging out with those assholes who almost killed you.”
“She’s not one of them. I can’t mate her because she’s human. My parents would kill her.”
Sherry looked relieved.
That pissed him off. “It’s over between you and I, Sherry. She found out about you and it hurt her. I swore to her that I’d never touch you like that again.”
“And you always keep your fucking word, don’t you, babe?”
“Yes.”
“Just like that, huh? We’ve been seeing each other for years. You go home but you always come back to me.”
“You’ll travel with Graves or Micah for clan business from now on. I’ll send another VampLycan if one is needed. It just won’t be me.”
“Over a woman you say you can’t even be with?”
He hesitated. She would probably rant to Trayis, repeat what he’d said, but he and the clan leader were friends. Trayis wouldn’t tell his parents about Gerri, especially after he talked to him. And he planned to do that today. “I can’t mate her. I didn’t say I won’t see her and spend time with her every chance I get.”
“In other words, I’ve been replaced. Is she younger than me?”
“You and I weren’t committed, Sherry. It was no secret I had other lovers. So have you.”
“Fine. See both of us. I’ve shared you with other women before. We’ll just keep doing that.”
“No. There’s only one woman I want. I might not be able to make her my mate, but she owns my heart. I don’t want anyone else.”
“You son of a bitch! She is younger, isn’t she?”
“No.” He regretted hurting her. “I have to call Trayis and Stellia now. I’m sorry.”
“You’ve been through a lot and aren’t thinking clearly. It was a tough mission. You’ll change your mind and want to see me again.”
“It’s not going to happen.”