Gabe tried not to think about the body he was transporting. He wondered if he'd better get used to hauling corpses, if it'd come with the pack territory.
At least Mystic was with him. She'd be useful if they got pulled over by a cop. One look in her eyes and they'd be on their way, the reason for their stop fogged, if the cop remembered stopping them at all.
Damn! Despite the fact he'd yet to step foot in a casino, Sin City was turning out to be a hell of a lot of fun-a life-changing experience no less, and not just for him.
Mystic was different. More assured and self-confident, more... He wanted to say Angelini, but it wasn't only that. She seemed more...wolf. He could have sworn he'd seen pure wolf in her eyes when Chelsea was hanging on Christian, then making a play for Hawk.
Gabe shook his head. Probably he was imagining the wolf, buying into the fantasy atmosphere of Vegas, where everything seemed possible and anything could be bought. Or maybe Christian and Hawk were rubbing off on her, making her more wolflike.
It didn't matter. He loved Mystic like a sister, always had. It made him happy to see her coming into her own, no longer plagued by the insecurities and old hurts heaped on her by her grandparents and aunts. And it amused the hell out of him to imagine their expression when they learned she'd not only mated with two Weres but with Roman.
If Mystic became a kick-ass hunter aligned with the Coronado Angelini instead of the Renaldis... He was going to enjoy seeing her wolf relatives and judgmental grandmother and aunts whining and groveling. They'd have better luck going through their Zevanti allies if they wanted something from Mystic, an advantage he intended to point out when he and Gabby had to face the pack elders to explain why they shouldn't be punished for sneaking away with Mystic in the first place.
Gabe's amusement gave way to a laugh when Fangs came into sight and he saw the humans. He'd known what to expect, thanks to Gabby, but seeing it- Amazing. The vampires were amazing. Even if half the fun of dinner for a wolf was in the chase, he could still appreciate what he saw. "Nothing like room service, served a la carte," he said.
"Wait'll you get closer and see the fangs some of them have," Gabby said. In the rearview mirror he saw her glance at Mystic before she added, "Though maybe after Mystic tells us what it's like with Roman, we'll play pretend and let one of the humans bite us."
Gabe snorted. "No way."
He studied the parking lot and decided it would be better to leave Hawk's car at the curb, even if it meant they had to walk a block. The humans were spread out anywhere there was open space, standing around in groups or sitting. They had blankets and beach chairs. One of them was blowing up an oversized inflatable ball like he was at a concert while his companion sucked on a bong. Amazing.
Only vampires could get away with a set up like this. Gabe doubted Skye's cop mate and Gian's co-mate, Rico, had asked the police department not swing by and raid the establishment, which meant there were probably vampires positioned around the place, watching the sheep and keeping an eye out for cops.
Music blared from car radios, knocking out any sound from the club and filling the street with noise. Gabe frowned as he took in their surroundings. Industrial buildings, warehouses mainly. Not exactly Las Vegas glitz. Not a hell of a lot better than Wolfsbane or Bangers.
He understood the reason. It was a lot easier to contain a problem if it was isolated. There'd be big trouble if drunk shifters changed into fur coats and got into a brawl that spilled out on the Strip, or vampires went on a drinking binge and left a trail of drained corpses.
Still, if they formed a pack here in Vegas, he hoped Mystic would want something more upscale. Given Falcone, Yorick and Estelle for parents, he couldn't imagine her being happy in an isolated dive, not when she'd been in more classy clubs than a four-star entertainer.
"Mission accomplished," Gabe said cutting the car's engine. "We have officially arrived at Fangs. Now for the handoff."
He climbed out of the car but hung tight, waiting to flank Mystic and Gabby as they escorted Chelsea. As happy as he was not to be chauffeuring a corpse any longer, he'd be even more thrilled when the rogue female was passed off to Gian or one of the other vampires for safekeeping.
Chelsea smelled bad to him and it wasn't just the scent of someone who'd been used for sex by a lot of different men in a lot of different places. It was deeper, more primal, a revulsion springing from the wolf more than the man.
Gabby slid from the car, followed by Chelsea. Mystic came last, all three of them using the driver-side back door.
Mystic hesitated, her hand on the door, ready to close it. She glanced down at the knife in her other hand then at the crowd of humans in the parking lot of Gian's club.
They were here. They were safe. In a few minutes they'd be inside Fangs. Despite the black leather and studs, the filed teeth and body piercings, she doubted the humans were used to seeing people enter the club carrying knives. Still, she was reluctant to leave the knife in the car. She'd promised Hawk, and beyond that, she'd been vulnerable twice now, once at Bangers and once at Wolfsbane.
She shivered as she looked down at the knife and thought about Anissa Licata. If she'd had it at Wolfsbane, could she really have driven it into the vampire's back in order to stop the attack on Gabe?
Mystic's stomach lurched as she imagined it, as she felt the phantom slide of a blade through skin and muscle. She took a deep breath, pressed her insecurities into a cage and resolutely closed the car door.
When she looked up she caught Gabe watching her and saw the approval in his eyes. "Ready?" he asked.
"Ready."
Mystic put her free hand on Chelsea's arm. On the other side of the rogue, Gabby did the same.
The attention of the humans settled on them even though they were a block away. It prickled against Mystic's skin like a warning.
She studied the parking lot, then the darkened streets. Without conscious thought her senses flared outward, felt the vampires hidden in the night, standing guard over the club.
There were humans with some of them. Dinner or a snack perhaps. But they weren't the source of her uneasiness. Their hearts beat with the calmed rhythm of willing prey.
Mystic rubbed her knuckles against her pants. Her palms were sweaty around the hilt of the knife. Almost there, she told herself, measuring the distance to Fangs.
A second bouncer stepped outside. Gorgeous, human still though there was a vampire link. Licata.
Mystic blinked in surprise. She'd definitively gained from taking Roman's blood, and with it, Syndelle's.
Gabby's small sigh escaped on the other side of Chelsea. Unbidden one of Roman's memories slid into Mystic's mind, him meeting Gabby for the first time, teasing her over the man who'd just emerged from the club, Altaer, the scion of Sabatino Licata.
"I'd jump him, too," Mystic said, "if I didn't have mates of course."
Gabby snickered. "Maybe I'll bite him instead of waiting around for him to be turned and grow fangs."
Mystic laughed. She opened her mouth to say something but the words fled when Altaer tensed and started running, his attention on something behind them.
A flash of brown at the corner of her eye. A black van coming into sight, the cargo door open. They were quick impressions before a wolf was on Gabe, taking him to the ground, its teeth buried in his forearm, ripping, shaking.
Mystic didn't think. She lunged forward and drove the knife into the beast, hard and deep.
The wolf screamed in pain and fury, released Gabe's arm and turned to savage Mystic. She wrenched the knife free but before she could strike again, Chelsea screamed, "No," and hurtled herself on Mystic, biting and clawing like a feral creature.
Magic pulsed around them, Gabe shifting form, attacking the wolf who'd suddenly appeared.
Gabby joined Mystic in trying to subdue the rogue female. There was no time for thought, only action and reaction-instinct-prey and predator changing roles between one heartbeat and the next.
Then the van was next to them. A Were in human form jumped out, swinging a heavy chain, driving Gabe away from the wolf beneath him, connecting with Mystic's head and sending her tumbling, dazed, the knife slipping from her hand as she slammed against the van.
Blood. It poured over her, blinded her, added to her confusion though she fought against the hands pulling her into the van. "Vampire whore," a female voice said, "lover boy shouldn't have wasted his blood healing you after I gutted you the first time." And then there was a sweet, sick smell, followed by nothingness.
Gabby stared at the empty road, the pain and dread so intense they almost numbed her. She was coated in blood-hers, Mystic's, Gabe's. The rogues'.
A hand touched her shoulder, drawing her attention away from nothingness. "If any one of us is to blame, we're all to blame," Altaer said.
She blinked, saw the harsh lines etched on his face, the anger at himself for not getting to them soon enough to prevent Mystic being taken. "It happened so fast," Gabrielle said.
"Tragedy often does, but in this case, there's reason to believe she'll be recovered." He cupped her face and she shivered, remembering how easily those same hands had killed.
Chelsea's body lay only a foot away, her neck twisted, her eyes blank. The male Were who'd attacked lay near her, his throat ripped open. By Gabe maybe, or one of the vampires, she'd been too busy trying to prevent Chelsea from escaping.
The vampires were out in force now, Gian with them, moving among the humans, erasing their memories, stripping away their awareness of what had happened. The attack. Gabe's changing form. The corpses waiting, needing to be disposed of along with the one in Hawk's trunk.
Gabby's attention went back to the empty street. She reached for Mystic along the bond they'd formed as children, not hoping for a location, just for reassurance Mystic was still alive.
Even in wolf form and with a mental wall separating him from Mystic so he wouldn't be distracted in the sorcerer's house, Christian knew the instant something happened to her. The link became a dark abyss offering no reassurance other than the faint promise her heart still beat.
In front of him Roman's footsteps faltered. Along the beginnings of a wolf's pack bond with Hawk, Christian felt an answering agony, a compulsion to rush to their mate's side.
"Brann says the rogue Weres arrived at Fangs just after Mystic and the others left the car," Roman whispered. "Two of the rogues are dead but Mystic was pulled into the van. Gian's there, as is Skye. They're hunting for her. Leaving this unfinished won't undo what's already happened."
Christian's lips pulled back in a silent snarl. A part of him hoped the sorcerer eluded Brann and Roman so he could savage the man responsible for creating the rogues and the fledgling vampires before them.
He and Roman met Brann and Hawk at a staircase leading to a basement. Fury glowed in Hawk's eyes, the promise of death.
Brann's fingers danced over sigils carved into the wooden doorjamb, playing them like they were an instrument whose notes were silent.
Pressure built then fell away.
There was a werewolf below. His presence rubbed across Christian's senses like fur against fur.
Roman and Brann hurried down the staircase with Hawk and Christian at their heels. The sorcerer greeted them, chanting furiously, his voice full of gleeful confidence.
Symbols were scrawled on the floor and walls in dark, aged blood. A spell snapped into place at Christian's back, closing off the stairwell until Roman and Brann could unwind the ward.
From another room a wolf growled and yipped and howled in a confusion of noise as it threw itself against the bars of a cage. Christian fought the impulse to rush forward. He and Hawk stayed back, waited for a word or a hand signal from the vampires indicating what action they were to take.
This wasn't their fight though they could feel the press and swirl of ancient magic all around them. Slowly the sorcerer retreated behind first one circle and then another as his spells and curses were deflected by Brann and Roman and his wards failed to stop the vampires from drawing closer.
Sweat beaded and dripped from Egan Walsh's face. His hands shook and his lips began to tremble. Fear found its way into his eyes and into his scent until finally he was trapped in the last circle, in the smallest one.
It smelled of werewolf and vampire blood, of human and animal sacrifices made to ancient deities. It smelled of Brallin's banished magic, tainted by the ambitions of a sorcerer who didn't understand the power he played with.
Christian's lips pulled back. His growl was a constant rumble.
With subtle gestures Brann motioned for Christian and Hawk to take up positions along the circle. Roman started the chanting this time, the words a smooth blending of sound. Brann joined in moments later, the two of them speaking in different languages though their words interlocked in a powerful cadence.
The urge to howl built up inside Christian until he couldn't contain it any longer. He lifted his muzzle and added his song to the spell being woven by Brann and Roman. When Hawk did the same, the sorcerer began screaming and clawing at the air as the circle he'd withdrawn to became a deadly trap.
The sigils along the rim of the circle in front of Brann flared and burned with blue fire. It spread along the rim, turning into red flame when it neared where Hawk stood. Beyond Hawk, red gave way to blue mixed with orange, then turned pure red again as it reached Christian. When the hot flames of Were magic touched the ice blue of a vampire's in front of Brann, and closed the circle, the sorcerer burned. His shrieks filled the room for long moments and lingered in Christian's mind even past the point when nothing remained of Egan Walsh but a pile of ashes.
Hawk shifted into human form and went to the door leading to where the wolf was being held. Stench greeted him as soon as he entered the room. The Were's cage was strewn with human bones and the tattered remains of clothing, the corners piled with feces and slick with urine.
Christian trotted over and changed next to him. "Christ," he said. "Maybe Brann can reanimate Walsh and we can burn him all over again. He got off easy."
"Way too easy," Hawk agreed, looking at the gaunt wolf in front of them. There was nothing remotely human in its gaze, but at the same time its submissive, pleading body language didn't match what he read in its eyes.
Even if they could force a change, Hawk wasn't sure they could trust the Were. They had no pack bond with him. They knew nothing about who he was, what type of man he'd been before being captured and driven to the point where humans became his diet.
"What do you want to do about him?" Christian asked. There was impatience in his voice, frustration and anguish because the link to Mystic remained quiet and their responsibilities prevented them from leaving to hunt for her.
Hawk glanced at Brann. "Are Gabe and Gabby still at Fangs?"
"Yes. Gian and Skye and a couple of others are on their way to where the rogues hunted the fledgling, but others remain with Gabe and Gabby."
"Have Gabe and Gabby sent here."
"Done," Brann said.
Hawk turned his attention to the trapped Were. This time he noticed the symbols at the corners of the cage, melted silver poured into etched grooves. He pointed toward the written spell anchors. "Are we going to have to let him out before we can try to force a change?"
"No," Brann said. "There's no lingering magic."
"Good." Hawk studied the Were. "He's not an alpha, but he's not an omega either. We may end up resorting to a tranquilizer gun." He looked at Christian. "I've never done this before, but I feel the mechanics-if that makes sense. I feel like I could reach in and pull the wolf out of a pack mate wearing skin, or push the wolf back in if the pack mate was wearing fur. What about you?"
Christian's focus shifted inward. He slowly nodded. "Yeah. I think I know what you're talking about."
Hawk knelt in front of the cage. The wolf's hungry eyes followed him. "Might as well hit him with both barrels at once. Treat him like a weak pack mate. We'll try to push his wolf back by changing from wolf to human in its presence. Doing it that way, both of us evoking the magic at the same time will give whatever's left of his humanity a fighting chance to surface."
"You think he'll be able to hold the shape?"
"I think he won't have the juice to go furry."
"Let's get this done," Christian said, the air around him shimmering as he became wolf.
Hawk followed suit. They didn't need a signal. The emerging pack bond allowed them to feel the buildup of magic preceding a shift in form.
They tried to force the change three times, but succeeded only in sending the Were into unconsciousness on the third one. He lay on his side, panting heavily and shivering.
"I believe some restraints laced in silver might be in order," Brann said. "Something along the lines of these." He stepped forward, dangling four cuffs, each linked to a circle by a short length of chain. "Apparently our sorcerer friend didn't completely trust in his own power when it came to dealing with a Were."
Primal rage surged through Hawk. A growl escaped and was echoed by Christian. Brann's eyebrow lifted. "Shall I?"
There was no choice and Hawk knew it. He and Christian were both spent and Mystic was still missing.
"Yes," he said. They couldn't afford to waste any more time here.
They unlocked the Were's cage and stepped inside. Hawk knelt beside the wolf and searched for a brand. When he found one, he cursed.
"You know him?" Christian asked.
"Not him. His pack. The Calypso alpha is at the Howl as a guest of the Zevantis."
"Then we send him there with Gabe and Gabby," Christian said. "Let his alpha take care of him. And at the same time we head off a potential bloodbath if he comes out of this and tells the wolves he was taken by vampires in the first place."
Roman knelt next to them. "Your young wolves need to answer to their pack for bringing Mystic to Vegas," he said as he used a piece of discarded material to fashion a muzzle so the Calypso Were wouldn't be able to bite when he regained consciousness. "This is a good opportunity for them to return in better standing than when they slipped away."
Brann closed the last cuff. "There are others in place if the rogues return to the area they hunted the fledgling. Gian and Skye can join Gabe and Gabby when they pass on their way home. Given that two of the vampire fledglings are still alive and they're blood is of Juric Dusan's line, it might be best to have one of mine and his Angelini mate present when the wolf is returned to his pack."
Hawk met Christian's eyes. "It's a sound plan. Agreed?"
Christian nodded. "Agreed."
They searched but didn't find anything that might lead them to Mystic. When they were done, and the Calypso wolf was handed off to Gabe and Gabby, Brann triggered a spell that burned hot and fast, leaving nothing but unidentifiable rubble in their rearview mirrors as they drove away.