“Don’t move,”
he whispered through her mind
. “It’s not only the rogue
,
but be
ings
who smells like her with her.
I think it’s—
”
People appeared.
There were six of them, all vampires
,
and most of them as young as a year or two old.
Not their actual ages
,
but how long they’d been vamps.
She didn’t know how she knew that and looked to Phil for answers.
“It’s what I can do.
If given enough time
,
I can give them the exact date and time of their conver
s
ion.
But these people, these vamps…”
When he didn’t finish
,
she did for him.
“They’re starved. All of them but her.”
And she wasn’t either.
She stood proudly among the men and women around her and looked ridicul
o
us.
It was then that Holly saw why she stood out.
She wasn’t just healthier than the others
,
but well dressed and clean.
“Where have you taken the alpha?
I demand that you bring him to this field now.”
Phil’s voice rang over the field loudly.
“As a master over you, I demand your compliance.”
Holly saw her shift on her feet.
The young girl fought against the command and nearly gave in.
She saw the moment that she was able to throw him off.
But she knew it wouldn’t last
.
Holly knew this as well.
“You aren’t my boss. I’m my own lord and master.
I’m powerful and you, you’re nothing more than an old fart that can’t possibly see me for what I am.”
Holly raised a brow at the girl and Phil laughed.
He laughed so long and so hard that he had to grab the tree next to him to stand.
Just before Holly thought she’d have to have him committed he flashed to Theresa and held her up by her throat high off the ground.
When the others moved as if to go after him he raised his hand and they all dropped to the ground.
“You’ve no idea what power is
,
little child.”
He shook her once and Holly heard her teeth rattle.
“You’ve managed to hide for a long while
,
but now I have you.
You’ll stand before a council and you’ll be tried.
Or…”
Theresa didn’t fight against the hold
,
but did put her hands on Phil’s.
She looked…well, Holly thought she looked too relaxed, too sure of herself.
When she grinned down at Phil
,
she finally asked him
,
“O
r what
?”
“Or I get to kill you.
Tear your head from your shoulders while your black heart still beats.
It would be my pleasure to kill you
,
as a matter of fact.
So please,” he said as he shook her hard enough that Holly heard her teeth ban
g
together.
“Please make it so that I have to kill you.”
It happened quickly.
Holly was watching Phil hold the rogue and the next
,
he and the girl were gone.
Before she could see where they’d gone her brother came limping across the field, his wolf covered in mud and blood.
She was at his side in seconds.
“What happened?
Where did you…?
Are you hurt?”
She couldn’t find a place on him where the blood had come from and threw him to the earth and checked his legs both fro
nt
and behind.
His low growl had her looked at his face.
His eyes were filled with pain
,
but when she started to check him again
,
he growled.
“All right, then where?
I can’t find a frigging thing wrong with you.”
She rubbed her hands over his muzzle when he whimpered.
“It’s his…you might want to check his mouth.
I think that’s where he…where he might be hurt.”
One of the vamps that had fallen when Phil took the girl sat up. He made no move to come to her and she was glad.
He didn’t look much older than seventeen or less.
Holly opened her brother’s mouth and saw that he’d lost a tooth.
Not one in the front
,
but a
molar
in the back.
Plus
,
it looked as if he might have bitten his tongue.
She looked over at the boy again.
“How did you know?”
She watched as he looked away then he answered her.
“I was a vet.
Well, a vet’s assistant.
She…the kid, she took me one night when I was coming out of work and bit me.
Said I’d have a better life and she was lonely.”
He laughed without humor.
“Some life.
I can’t do what I’ve always dreamed of because some bloodsucking bitch decided she was lonely and thought that changing me to the monster she is would be a lark.”
She could feel his anger
,
but she could also feel his need to come to Austin’s aid.
She moved back from her brother after taking a deep breath and asked him to see where else he was hurt.
Austin looked into her eyes
,
but he didn’t growl when she moved further back from him and the young man.
“He needs fluids.
I’m guessing…I never knew there were wolves that could change.
Hell,” he laughed, “I didn’t know there were vampires either until now.
Can he…shift
,
I guess it’s called?”
“Soon.”
Austin would have to wait at least another twenty minutes before he could. She didn’t tell the man that
,
but watched as he gently looked him over.
Even when he found a blood
y
wound on his left shoulder, Austin lay very still and didn’t snarl at him at all.
“I’m Alexander Hawkings
,
by the way.
You’re Holly Force.
I met you a few years ago when your family…Dallas, is he your brother?” She nodded at his question.
“He interviewed me for a position as doctor. I didn’t understand why they needed a vet back then.”
He laughed again
. T
his time
,
she could hear the humor.
“I guess he was getting someone to care for his people.”
“Yes.
But the man you’re helping, he’s the alpha, the big cheese
,
I guess.
Austin Force is my brother
,
a
s are
Connor and Gordon.”
When he moved back
,
she could see that Austin was sleeping.
“You put him to sleep?”
“No!”
he shouted then seemed to gather himself.
“I mean no, not to sleep. I can put people in a sort of restful state
,
but I’d never…”
He laughed again and then looked at her.
“You simply meant asleep.
I’m sorry. Where I work…worked
,
putting someone to sleep had very little to do with a restful state.”
She grinned too.
She heard him before she saw him and stood up.
Phil was walking toward her and he was alone.
She stood up and noticed that other than Alexander
,
everyone else was still out.
“I’ve taken her in.
She ha
s
been put behind silver bars and will remain there.”
Phil glanced over at the young boy then back at her.
“He’s been near you.”
“Yes.
But not touching.” She knew that vampires were very territorial.
She also knew that he’d kill Alexander if he so much as moved right now.
“He is a vet and has helped me with Austin.”
Ignoring him for the moment Phil continued to talk about Theresa.
“The
T
rustees took her.
The trial will be set for the week after next.
I told them that you and I would be there. Is that all right with you?”
“I can help.” They both turned to the girl who spoke and Alexander.
“We all can.
None of us were…I’m not sure what it’s called
,
but none of us were made what we are because we wanted to be.”
“Converted.
And how many of you are there?
Surely there are others, older than you?”
Phil nodded to the others.
“None of you are much older than a year. The rogue, she’s been around for nearly seventy years.
Where are the others?”
Alexander cleared his throat.
“We’re it.
Last month, or the month before
,
there was this woman
,
but…”
H
e looked at the girl.
“Shelly, when was the last time you saw Anye?”
“Could be a couple of weeks.
Don’t know.
She hates our boss.
Man
,
you should see the two of them go at it.
Like they wanna kill each other but can’t.
Anye said there was a law about killing your own kind.
Didn’t seem to bother our boss much. She killed others like it was her job or something.”
Holly hid her laugh.
This girl was young.
She couldn’t have been much older than a teenager.
And she sounded like one too.
Holly turned to Alexander.
She smiled at him when he took a step back when Phil growled.
“Don’t mind him.
He’s my mate.”
He didn’t move
,
nor did Phil.
“How old are you both?
You can’t be very old.”
“I’m twenty
-
five,” he answered her.
“Those two there are eighteen
and
Daniel and Corey a
re
nineteen.
She took them about three weeks ago.
The girl next to them, her name is Lisa and she is twenty. She had the misfortune of wandering into the building where we were and the boss took her about a week ago.
And that young man is nineteen.
I don’t remember his name.
She picked him up last night.
Shelly here is the youngest at sixteen.”
Lisa stayed on the floor. She looked so bad that Holly wanted to offer her her wrist.
She knew that she couldn’t
,
but it didn’t make her want to do it any less.
She looked away when the girl looked up at her.
“Can you change us back?”
She scrubbed her hand over her face to wipe at the tears.
“I had a life.
A home and a boyfriend. He wasn’t the greatest boyfriend in the world
,
but he was mine.
I want to go back to my life.”
Phil kneeled down to her and Holly had the overwhelming urge to snarl.
Sheesh
,
what a mood swing.
One second she wanted to help her
,
the next she wanted to kill her.
She took several steps back when she heard Phil speak to her.
“I’m sorry
,
Lisa
,
but we cannot.
She made you into a vampire and there isn’t a way to change you back.
There is help you can—
”
“I don’t want any fucking help. I want to be human again not this…this monster.”
The girl stood up and backed away.
“Do you have any idea what
it’s
like?
What it feels like to want to grab the first thing that gets close enough to you to drain them?
Every second of every hour of every
day
,
a constant hunger burns at you?
My God, I went to see Howard and all I could think about was how much his blood was making my mouth water, how much I wanted to throw him to the floor and rip is throat out.
I want to die.”
“Stop,”
Phil shouted. “Right now.
You can control this with time and training. And as for the hunger, that too can be taken care of. There are places that will take you in and feed you.
Show you how to take care of yourself.
You can make this work for you.”