blood 03 - blood chosen Read online

  His airway began to close and his palm flew up in supplication, the bitch stole his breath... and not in a good way. “I didn't mean it as a dis....”

  It opened with a gasping release.

  “Jacqueline,” she said in way of off-handed introduction.

  Tony nodded as he made his hand stay by his sides instead of going to his throat. He wouldn't give the bitch the satisfaction.

  “I simply meant maybe you could sense something.”

  “No,” she said curtly.

  Well, damn- chop my nuts off, Tony thought.

  Jacqueline paced, a ripple of disquiet building as the scent of the pack grew stronger.

  Suddenly, Jacqueline knew what to do.

  “I'll cover our tracks while you squire us away.”

  “How?” he scoffed.

  “Is the how of it really important?” she asked, crossing her arms in impatience.

  Tony could smell the other Were. They'd take them and for some reason, the Singer bitch's skills were down for the count. Too bad she was all up his ass. Why couldn't she have a blank spot with him?

  His fucking luck.

  Jacqueline didn't ask his permission and he remained silent. Of course he wanted to know what kind of Singer mojo she had going on. But it was obvious she had the upper hand.

  For now.

  He watched Jacqueline's symmetrical features distort in concentration. When Tony's sense of smell left him, he felt blind. He was so used to the million different scents that had always been a part of his existence.

  “What have you done?” he whispered.

  “I have the ability to Negate others’... talents.”

  “I can't fucking smell my own ass. I'm nose-blind,” Tony growled, his fists bunching by his sides.

  She smiled. “Good. As I don't want to be party to you partaking in an orifice fest.”

  He scowled at her. “Good? Hell no, we're goddamned blind...”

  Jacqueline folded her arms again underneath her breasts and Tony's eyes dipped down to take in the sight. She stared at him for a pregnant moment. “You're a crude beast...,” she stated as fact.

  Because it was.

  “Tony,” he said in a delayed introduction.

  “Well, Anthony...” Jacqueline said slowly as she circled him. “I do not have a highly refined mastery as Negator so... the best I could do was blanket a five mile radius. If it were my primary skill, I could have left you in a 'scent bubble' that encapsulated you and left everyone else senseless. Alas, I cannot.” She looked into his eyes and he glowered back at her.

  Tough broad, he thought with the beginnings of grudging admiration.

  “Fine,” he said. “Get on.”

  He burst his skin and it slid off like a snake's. The gunk, blood and sloughed marrow pooled into the absorbent forest floor, dampening it with his transition.

  Jacqueline tensed at the harsh speed of the change, then went to him. She grimaced as her clothing became ruined with the residue of the change, her hem six inches deep in his human cast-offs.

  “Where?” he asked in a voice filled with gravel, pained by the rapid change he'd forced on himself.

  She bent and whispered into his ear. Tony's smile was worn strangely by the face of his wolf.

  His admiration for Jacqueline grew. She was diabolically clever.

  Tony might spare her after all... if she could be bent to his agenda.

  *

  Cyn and Adi stopped running, their hands on their knees, chests heaving. Cyn had a killer stitch in her side, putting both hands on her side, bending over at the waist as she did. This sucked.

  Adi stood first. “That blew goats.”

  Cyn laughed. “Yeah... totally.”

  “Who is that bitch?” Adi asked, her nose involuntarily moving toward where they'd just come and finding her usually deft senses dulled. She gave a frown, her dark blonde hair falling forward and hiding half her face.

  Cyn shrugged. “She's the one who hurt Jules.”

  Adi frowned. “How do ya know?” Her root beer brown eyes earnest.

  Cyn squirmed from the question. She was gonna sound like a tard. “Well... here's the thing. I just became... something. That Singer thing you were talking about? Yeah, that.” Cyn stood, her breathing still irregular. “And now... well when I healed Julia there was a...” Cyn stopped, her pale green eyeballs rolling upward, thinking. “A... taste to the poison.”

  “Poison?” Adi asked, her frown deepening to a scowl.

  Cyn nodded. “Oh yeah, it was poison and somehow, the bearer of the shit leaves their mark.”

  “Like a signature?” Adi asked.

  “Yeah. Good call, mutt.”

  “Huh,” Adi said, head bent, her face speculative. It wasn't a good look.

  “Hey, I didn't mean anything by it,” Cyn said, backtracking.

  Adi met her eyes, ignoring the dig. “I screwed up, big time. I should've...”

  “What? That whack job... she mowed you over with her head,” Cyn said, tapping her temple. “There's nothing you could have done, Adi,” she said, looking down at the much shorter girl.

  “Yeah,” Adi agreed like she didn't believe it, still looking at her feet. For all her bravado, she sure takes a lot of the responsibility on her shoulders, Cyn thought.

  The girls stood quietly for a time then Adi said, “It's time to make our way back.”

  Cyn shook her head. “No, they'll be expecting that. It's not safe.”

  “It's safe,” a voice said from out of the forest.

  “Holy shit!” Cyn yelped, stumbling backward and Adi grinned with relief.

  “What's so damn funny?” Cyn asked, insulted. “I think a drop of pee came out!”

  “They're Were... and I know them.” Adi's confidence returning in one fell swoop.

  “Friendly?” Cyn asked, putting a tree trunk in front of her like a shield. Not that it'd do a damn bit of good. She'd seen a Were throw another halfway through a tree, felling it as smoothly as an ax. Yup, things were so not okay if they weren't friends.

  Then several things happened at once.

  Two large males moved into the open patch of forest between stands of trees.

  They were in half-wolf form, which was creepy as hell, but Cyn was getting used to it. Which was its own slice of weirdness. She recognized the first one instantly and was relieved. The second one Cyn recognized seconds later.

  They were kinda naked so strong eye contact was advised. The answer to the age old question was: no, fur doesn't cover everything. Still, it was like when you knew you weren't supposed to scratch, it made ya itch with wanting to. Cyn realized it was pervy but when a bunch of half-werewolf men were walking around with their macho commando action... well...

  Then after several heartbeats of scrutiny she began to realize that the third was Karl Truman from Homer. Cyn blinked slowly.

  Truman stepped forward as she took a step back.

  “Cynthia Adams,” he growled and Adi cocked a pale brown eyebrow at Cyn in surprise.

  “Nice to meet you,” Cyn said, adding, “again.” It just couldn't get any stranger.

  He dipped his chin in a parody of a greeting and it was too much for Cyn, she simply sat down on her ass where she stood. They could figure out what to do with her but there were too many freak-outs presently.

  Her restaurant manager was a Were.

  Fucktastic.

  The cop from Homer who had been hot on her trail was now a Were.

  They were naked half-werewolves.

  Weirdness squared.

  Truman was the same as Jason, his body covered by a shadow of scarlet fur, his eyes were orbs of green in his head... spinning, always spinning.

  What did it all mean?

  For her.

  For them?

  For Julia.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Julia

  Julia couldn't get enough of Scott. She woke up in his arms, fully awakened.

  Their soul-meld complete.

 
Or nearly so.

  He gazed down at her with a similar expression. His eyes, so nearly black they swallowed his pupil, framed a face that was far too serious.

  “What?” she asked softly, smoothing the hair off his forehead.

  Scott searched her face, knowing full-well he should tell her. He wasn't sure if the knowledge would improve things between her and the people they were now in charge of leading. Probably not.

  Julia's hand dropped. “Okay, I know what that look means.”

  Scott smiled. Busted. Hard to hide things from your soulmate, though their bond was fragile, untried.

  He lay back down on the bed and Julia rolled over so she was slightly above and on top of him, pushing the fringe of short black hair off his forehead. Her own caramel-colored hair swept forward, tickling his face and he tucked it behind her ear.

  “Tell me,” Julia said.

  “Is that a command, my Queen?” Scott asked.

  Julia's soft smile melted away. “Does it need to be?” Steel taking the place of the golden warmth inside her eyes.

  He shook his head, looking into those large golden, cat-like eyes. Eyes that changed color according to her mood. “No,” he answered softly. “It's not over.” There, he'd finally said it.

  “What? Which part?” Her eyes darkened at the implied threat in his words.

  Scott closed his eyes against the raw look he saw in hers. “The Were and... your former husband... relinquished their hold on you by simultaneously giving you their essence, thereby giving yours back to you...”

  “I understood that...” Julia said slowly, a furrow formed between her eyes. “What's this about?”

  His eyes opened, piercing her. “It's been so long since we've had a Rare One that... some of the finer words have gotten lost in the bolder ones.”

  Julia huffed.

  “You have been prophesied about. And, in some of the oldest scrolls...”

  “Like... as in 'dead sea'?”

  Scott cocked a brow, nodding at her comparison. “It's not much different from the human's Bible... however, we're not ...”

  “Human,” Julia stated and Scott nodded.

  “Not entirely. We mimic them but it's not enough. Not nearly enough to claim true kinship. As long as you are truly my mate, the Combatant will be necessary.”

  “And how would they not... be necessary?” she asked. Then she clarified her question, “What would need to happen so they could just flounce around and do their thing.”

  Scott chuckled, but his laughter died, his face bleeding to a solemn expression. He paused so long Julia thought he might not answer. She opened her mouth to ask again.

  His face became pained, his voice a low growling whisper, “You would have to be mated with the vampire and Were as well.”

  Julia sat up in the bed, shoving away from him like he was a hot coal. “No!” she squeaked, flapping her arms in agitated denial.

  He gave such a slow nod it looked painful.

  “I will never do that,” she said with conviction, folding her arms across her chest. Scott watched the bright pink color spread across her cheekbones. Agitated and angry. And underneath that, embarrassed.

  Scott sat up, scooping her against himself. “It might not be a matter of want.” He paused. “It might be a matter of unifying the species. The Were and vampire will never take a Singer pair seriously as leader unless she is tied to them in more than treaty alone.”

  Julia tried to let that sink in.

  Essentially, three husbands. She shook her head, her hair flying around with her physical denial.

  She'd had a husband- Jason, and he tried to harm her. She'd had a vampire but... no. And then there was Scott... who she felt like one body with, but it was all tied to the meld.

  Scott caught her tear as it fell, with a sweep of his thumb across the soft skin of her flushed cheek. His eyes bored into hers. “You don't have to even consider this, Julia. I did need to tell you. To keep it from you,” Scott felt his eyes tighten, “would not be fair... to keep you in the dark because of my feelings.” His dark eyes captured hers in his intense gaze as he gave a small shake of his head. “The Combatant are in place so that you have that security... and choice,” Scott said.

  Julia could hear the sharp click of Scott's throat when he swallowed. Dear God, this was a mess. She searched for something, anything at all that could undo those words that Scott had uttered. But that was the thing about words, they couldn't be unsaid. “Why didn't Marcus mention this little tidbit to me?” she finally asked and realized she couldn't keep the despair out of her voice, no matter how much she wanted to. And maybe Julia didn't.

  Scott sighed. “We hoped it wouldn't come to this...”

  Julia put the falling pieces of the puzzle back together. “You mean... you thought they'd die and it would be a non-issue?”

  He nodded, not bothering to lie.

  Julia got off the bed, feeling like she'd been had, the bond tightening uncomfortably around her, responding to her emotions.

  “This is all sorts of disgusting... just sayin'.”

  Scott stood as well, hands on his hips. “You don't think I hate the idea of anyone...” He paced, tearing his hand through his hair... “God, being with you?” He turned to face her. “I do. I can't effing stand it. However, the warrior in me wants to keep you safe. You're basically immortal if you take the vampire and Were as mates,” he finished in a low, distressed voice, the words torn out from his soul, chunks of himself falling to the ground, irrevocably broken like crystal being shattered as she watched.

  Julia crossed her arms, her eyes momentarily flicking to sounds that were bursting around them in the yard, then returning to his. “I thought the Combatant was my contingency?”

  Scott hung his head, his chin nearly grazing his chest and exhaled sharply. “They are. But we are mortal. We have flaws and weaknesses. We're long-lived but not infallible.”

  Julia stared at him.

  He moved toward her and like a sunflower seeking that great ball of fire in the sky, Julia unerringly moved to meet him. She could be mad about it all, but she was tied to Scott and he to her.

  They met in the middle and Scott pressed her head against his chest. “I won't lie, I want you to be with only me. But it isn't my call. It's yours.”

  He tilted her chin so their eyes met, her cheeks wet with tears of anger... and resignation. Julia realized that she had the illusion of choice but it wasn't true choice as one thought of it.

  Actual choice meant the implication of freedom... liberty. What was being offered here were two choices, one of ultimate safety and unification as foretold in the Book of Singers, the other was a gamble about unifying the species as foretold but being with her one true soulmate and having the Combatant with no life but safeguarding hers. As Julia saw it, they were suck ass choices. Pretty consistent as her life went.

  Scott's head swiveled away from hers, his eyes scanning the yard. They widened. “What is this?” he asked in a voice laced with soft menace. Julia came to stand behind him, her hand on his back. No matter what happened in their future, she was grateful for Scott. And it was no small matter that when he took a breath, she knew it. Felt it.

  “Vampires,” Scott hissed.

  Julia peeked around his torso and saw bodies swarming with one kind of speed: vampiric.

  Julia backed away from the window that captured the scene just as Victor slammed the door open, the glass knob striking the wall and shattering like a torpedo meeting its target.

  “We have been infiltrated with Vampire... again,” Victor said, his eyes roving Julia's form, ascertaining harm meted. Finding none, his eyes sought Scott's.

  “How many?” Scott asked in a terse reply.

  Victor hesitated and Scott snorted. “Can't take back the pause, pal.”

  Right, Julia thought. Already she felt that prickling heat on her skin, adrenaline replacing her jumbled emotions from moments before. The static of the vampire's minds was a harsh white noise. Wher
ever Paul was, it was too far away; her mind buzzed with them like an angry hive of wasps.

  “Too many,” Victor answered softly as glass shattered in the lower floor. Julia jumped when she heard the falling pieces, as many feet carried themselves over the glass in a dismissive rush.

  Vampires felt pain but healed so quickly it didn't matter.

  They were coming for her.

  “Where are the others?” Scott asked, subtly moving Julia even further away from the window. She was so close behind him, her nose was practically planted in the valley between his shoulder blades.

  “They are below, fortifying the ranks of Region One.”

  Scott's eyes flew to Victor's. “It's just you and me, then?”

  “It would appear so.”

  The first vampire appeared in the open doorway and Victor's eyes swept its body as it hissed and launched itself directly at Julia.

  She pinwheeled backward from Scott and suddenly the vamp staggered in a slow-moving forward plow, batting his hands around his neck.

  Victor smiled, moving nearer as the wretched thing hit the wood floor with a commanding thunk of forehead to wood. He flipped over like a fish seizing out of water, grabbing at whatever was nearby. Finding nothing, he beat his fists on the wood.

  Julia regained her balance, stepping closer as the vampire writhed on the ground like a drowning serpent.

  “No, stay back,” he cautioned Julia, his eyes went to Victor. “Are you what I think you are?” he asked over the shrieking vampire.

  Julia watched loose tendrils of steam spiral out of every hole the vamp had.

  Yeah, even that one.

  He yelped and convulsed like the Exorcist on steroids, his butt popping off the ground.

  Victor nodded, sweat beading on his upper lip. “I am.” He put his palm out and the vampire who lay five feet underneath it arced his back, bowing it toward the hand that was causing his death.

  Julia watched the mouth open fully, fangs extended as its dying hiss sounded like escaped steam from a kettle. The male vampire collapsed in death, its body taking on a rubbery look.

  “What the hell was that?” Julia asked in a shaky voice. The whole event had taken seconds but it felt like an hour.