Three’s a Clan (Hart Clan Hybrids) Page 5

  “Shelly, we hadn’t even had a chance to play with him yet. You better have blood in that big ass purse of yours, or go get us our toy back.” Matthew pointed toward the doorway, but didn’t bother moving from his lover’s arms.

  No one expected me to have any blood, so rather than appreciation, I got a pout when Matthew caught the bag I tossed his way.

  I shrugged. “At least it’s fresh, boys.”

  Steven started smiling. “You obviously had fun getting it. You reek of sex. It’s a shame that doesn’t come through in the blood. Does he taste good?”

  I wouldn’t know. I had only werewolf on my brain. I took from the dimple boy, but I hadn’t enjoyed any myself.

  “It’s blood. Drink it and be grateful.”

  “Well gee, that sounds enticing.”

  At least they left.

  My phone beeped. Another message from the Matheo.

  Did you acquire a new donor?

  Crap. Well, I guess I could always go back out for more, but we were reaching the end of the party night and most usable humans were either asleep or passed out by this point. Some vampires hunted this way, but it left a poor taste in my mouth. So I had some honor. Who’d have known?

  I did. But Steven and Matthew are drinking the spoils right now. I’ll procure more tomorrow.

  Office hours were great. I allowed extra credit for those who did blood donation. They thought they were helping the greater good, and I got willing, albeit slightly misled donors. I gave them cookies.

  I could feel his presence in the house. I knew he was nearby, but I was hoping we were still avoiding direct contact. The creak above me told me I was wrong. I stilled my body to prevent any reaction to him. I didn’t want him to know I wasn’t sure how this dance of ours would end.

  “I wouldn’t count on your office hours being so plentiful this time, my dear.” The Matheo descended the overly dramatic double staircase and started toward the sofa I had cleared and occupied.

  “Why is that, Father?” The term was a formality. The Matheo was a leader first. A caregiver came somewhere down the line after furniture polisher in his world of priorities. And we have a maid.

  “You are to leave your post. I have more need of you here.”

  His tone was odd. Even more so than his request. “Mid-term? Won’t that raise some eyebrows?”

  “You bedded a student tonight, did you not? Step down for that reason.” His voice was dismissive, but nothing this man did was on a whim.

  “He dropped the class. No longer an issue. I’d prefer to stay on. I am one of the last of us on campus. I don’t think we are ready for a move yet.” Not to mention getting out of the house to meet with a certain group of the furry persuasion would be much more difficult if I didn’t have access to campus.

  “We have a situation that I would like to gain control over. I have come across a group of wolves. All who have recently given birth to a hybrid, or are pregnant by vampire lineage. I want to take them in.”

  Well, knock me over with a blood bag. Maybe I had this whole thing wrong. “Didn’t you want to destroy some hybrids? Or are these the kind you want to keep? Are you bringing them here for slaughter? Because the cleaning bill alone would be more expensive than relocation.”

  “These women need guidance. They need a place to stay. And they can benefit from our…assistance.”

  His voice chewed on the last word. There was meaning there he wasn’t sharing.

  “Okay. I guess, I will have the staff clear the east wing and prepare it for a couple guests.” The miasma was organizing the logistics already. “How many women?”

  “Twenty. Plus children,” he said without hesitation.

  “What? And we are taking them all in? What about the other pair of hybrids that you ran out of town? Is the witch hunt off then?”

  Maybe we were wrong about how motivated the Matheo was to keep the harvesting ring going. Could it be that the blood and the army was just his twisted way of keeping us safe? Hell, maybe the Matheo had been softened by one of these women he was impregnating. If he took a mate, it could be enough to change his mind and just maybe I could get my brother home.

  “There is no witch hunt, as you call it.” The Matheo wanted to make damn sure I understood what he was saying. As he put some of his power behind the words, they seared to the miasma instantly. “There is a very big difference between deserting your Family and what we can accomplish with these women.”

  “Accomplish?” I should know better than to think people have good intentions. That little bubble of hope migrated to my stomach and exploded into nausea. I was grateful I hadn’t tried to consume food lately.

  “They can be compelled.” He stated without emotion. “They can be controlled. By me. There will be no more interference from you, or those I have already taken control over will get a practice run. Daughter.”

  He knew about my involvement in dissolving the harvesting ring. I still hadn’t seen Craig’s mother, but Mary told me she was here. I had a feeling she was one of the wolves under the Matheo’s control, wherever they were. I should have killed her when I had the chance.

  “I can see your disapproval. You have never been good at hiding emotions from me when they are strong, but as this Family’s Protector you are in a position to—and will—assist your Matheo.” He tilted his head to the side and looked me up and down. He searched me as if he would find fear.

  Fat chance. I had lived long enough. I was not afraid of death. But I could do without taking on my whole Family. I wasn’t afraid, but I did have some self-preservation instinct.

  “What do you hope to accomplish with these women, with their children?” If I could get information, I might be able to find them.

  The Matheo smiled. “Allies. Nothing more…at least not yet.”

  “Fine. Allies. And why can’t your son be an ally as well?”

  There was a saying about poking a cornered animal with a stick. I think poking your Matheo with questions was much more dangerous. “I have other lineage. I have people who are loyal, or controlled. Those who are neither…” The Matheo shrugged and left the room.

  Those who were neither would die. Didn’t have to be a genius to solve that equation. My eyes zeroed in on a spot the Matheo’s shoes left on the carpet. Mental note to get the cleaners through here.

  Then the scent caught me.

  Blood. Witch blood. I knelt by the speck of red. Scraping a nail against the fibers, a bit of the stain flaked off. I looked over both shoulders and behind me before popping the fleck in my mouth.

  This was some powerful stuff. Magic, struggle, pain and power. All that potency flowed in the blood that rubbed from the shiny loafers upon his feet. And this wasn’t harvested. For that much of the blood’s memory to retain it was fresh. Scraping off the last bit from the nap of the carpet, I confirmed my initial suspicion.

  It was Kari’s blood.

  Chapter Seven

  Kari

  So. Weak.

  Food was fed to me again. Water rushed over my face. Cold. I drank as much as I could swallow before it ran into my ears. I was too weak to shake it away. I knew there would be more, but I never knew when. The waterfall continued down my body and washed away the dried blood and urine. The bindings at my wrists chafed more. I didn’t cry. Strength. I could pull the strength from around me. I had escaped to the garden in the backyard. No more. I wasn’t even removed from the bleeding table to be fed.

  I let my eyes roll back. My body relaxed. I escaped in meditation. I turned up my chakras. Let them brighten and pulse above my prone body. I couldn’t use my hands, but I felt the earth beneath me. There was life nearby. The energy of the plants wasn’t in my hands any more, but my spirit held the memory and knew the way back.

  I found her dreams. The one we needed was near my sister witch. I could count on her. She would save me.
She would save us all. It was her strength that would tear everything down. Her tenacity would help create what our world needed.

  It was fitting that her name was that of crystal known for grounding. I broke through the barrier. Nighttime. She was asleep. Amber could do this. It wasn’t only her fight, but she had the ability to unite them all. The stars had chosen her long ago. I had never been more sure.

  Panting with effort, I touched the mind of my sister. Sweet Mary, who had gone through so much. I showed them. I let them see. My strength faltered. I couldn’t hold the connection much longer. When I regained my focus, I had both of them looking at my projection. I yelled it. I let it pulse from my very being. I could only hope they heard. Then the exhaustion took me and I passed out.

  The darkness was a blessing.

  Chapter Eight

  Rick

  The sun rose. Another day. My hand still went for the pouch that was no longer in my possession. Even though it was my idea to give it away, I still missed the comfort the token had given me over the years.

  I hadn’t given Lily everything she needed to fill her heart. I was going to be damned if my daughter went to her death without knowing the love she desired. Lily would help me make sure of that. If my wife was with us in any capacity, Amber needed her more than I did right now.

  My hands scrubbed my face. I let the colors of the new morning dance under my eyelids. I had hundreds of years ahead of me. I wondered if every one of those days would begin with my regrets. Things I hadn’t reached for. Things I had let pass me by. I told myself that I couldn’t give Lily all she wanted. I couldn’t let our family be outcast by our neighbors. I had to have the standing in the community to provide for us. My dear Lily. She understood, but now with the Alpha magic in my blood, I know that I had the power, even as a human to make the world bend to me. If I didn’t create the world that needed to exist for those I loved, I was damned sure going to leave it knowing I fought with everything I am for those who couldn’t.

  I was never scared of Lily not having enough love for me. I was pissed at whoever the other guy was for stepping back instead of stepping up. He didn’t allow me the option of giving my wife what she wanted. What her soul needed. She was too much woman for one man. We denied her fulfilling her ability to love. I held her many nights, knowing that she needed more than I could give her. How could a man, a true man, deny her anything?

  I don’t know if I would have fought to bring another to our bed, and to be the social pariahs that we surely would have become, but the man—the Alpha that I was—bristled at being denied the choice.

  Lily never told me who he was. But she carried the small leather pouch with her. I never knew his name, but I knew she needed it because it was her goodbye from him. I caught her holding the parcel to her lips a few times.

  Had he died? He must have after so long. Hard to hold anger for the dead.

  The sun was getting higher in the sky now. The brilliant golden light brushed my skin. I stripped and let the heat build under the surface. Slowly, my mind left the past. I should get dressed or shift. But I held off. I let the nakedness of my human skin be touched by the rays.

  When even my skin started to become uncomfortable, I realized it wasn’t what I wanted. It was the sun-blonde tresses of a certain vampire that I wanted to feel on my body. Shelly’s scent had distracted me to the point of combustion last night. I shouldn’t react to her like that. It pulled me. A mate’s pull. But I could sense that Doc felt it too. So it couldn’t be mating pheromones. It was a distinct lack of sex. Had to be.

  Beneath the morning sun, my hand found my cock. I imagined Shelly’s hand was mine. Her hair would brush against my stomach, warm as the sun’s strengthening rays. Her diamond point nipples would drag against my thighs as she sank down to lick me. I spread my thumb over the slit of my cockhead. The precome was no surprise.

  I felt the telltale tingling at the back of my spine and the tight pull of my balls against my body. Just the image of her wet and ready in my mind had me near bursting. I rubbed the liquid around the purple head. I imagined it was her little pink tongue tasting the treat I had for her. My hand pumped. I didn’t have to loosen my grip to imagine it was hers. She was older than me. She would have the strength to strangle an orgasm from my body.

  My hips thrust at the thought of her smiling smugly from between my thighs. She would too. She would smile at me. Knowing my need to send hot jets of semen down her throat. She was strong. She was beautiful, but I would take her. My hand would grip her hair. I would pull her back by that mane and she would gasp at the pain. I wouldn’t need control. I couldn’t hurt her in any lasting way. The wildness and feral power would be unleashed.

  She would swallow me whole as I pushed past her resistance and her vocal chords. She would hum around me as I grabbed her nipples and plucked them to points. She wouldn’t be able to knick me as those gorgeous fangs lengthened. She would be too distracted by Trevor pounding her sweet pussy from behind.

  The orgasm pulsed over my hand at the image of her I had created. Harder and harder I pumped as the semen shot so high it hit my stomach.

  The hair about my abs gelled together. I had to open my eyes as I acknowledged what I had dreamed of doing to push myself over the edge.

  Alphas were possessive, weren’t they? So then why was I fantasizing about having Trevor pound away on Shelly’s wet pussy while she lost herself and swallowed me whole? The thought of the push and pull of her between us had my cock springing back to life, like I hadn’t even touched it yet.

  I wiped my hands on the grass and shifted. I was going hunting. I needed a distraction. I had thought enough for the day. Instinct was going to take me away. The desire to hunt was always amplified when I couldn’t give the wolf what he wanted. This time I agreed with him. Killing something sounded great.

  Chapter Nine

  Shelly

  I was cut off.

  I almost missed the incessant meaningless problems of the humans. It broke up the monotony of life with my Family. With Jake gone, we had returned to the old ways. We got drifters occasionally who came to show respect for the Matheo and his territory. But it was all tradition and cold.

  Well, not everything was cold. The blood came in warm. I hadn’t found the entrance yet, and the Matheo gave me enough book keeping and mundane projects in the house that even leaving the front door was impossible most days.

  We did have a few donors that were kept in the house with us. Humans who had no ties to the outside world. They were well taken care of—I ensured that—but they were compelled. They didn’t have minds of their own anymore. It was like a giant Barbie doll with a straw sticking from her neck.

  As if I summoned it, Karma made my phone buzz. Well, not Karma exactly. But close enough.

  The screen read Mattell. That brainy wolf had even hacked my contacts list.

  It was my sister-in-law who first called me Barbie. I had never had a nickname beyond Shelly. Barbie started from annoyance, but grew into mutual respect. This was what I had been waiting for. If I wanted to do something, I might have backup.

  In town. It will begin soon. Hope you’re still on our side. It will be bloody. I’d hate to take your tail this time.

  I couldn’t text back. Craig, the wolf who had defected to join their little ragtag group, happened to be a bit of an electronics wiz along with his financial expertise. Every time my fingers flew across the on screen keyboard, they never got a response off fast enough before the number no longer existed.

  As far as in-laws went, I couldn’t think of a better bitch to battle with. The desire to do more than the simple recon and damage control I’d been working on was making the synapses in my brain go haywire. Acceptance and readiness bubbled up from the blood I sipped in my veins. Things had begun to change nearly a century ago. Delineations weren’t as black and white as they used to be. This would be the chance t
o annihilate the fucking lines altogether.

  “Shelly?”

  I flicked the button to put my phone to sleep. A slip to my pocket and I turned my mind toward the wonder twins as they descended the stairs. Steven and Matthew twittered at each other like birds as they flowed down the carpeted steps.

  I didn’t respond. These two talked enough for an entire conversation between five people. They would fill in the what? my glare implied eventually.

  “Well, doesn’t she seem to retain that log up her rectum?” Steven kissed Matthew on the temple and they continued through the room without bothering to stop and tell me what they’d originally wanted. I heard them snickering and cooing at each other.

  The two of them had been partners for so long you would think they’d be over the honeymoon stage. Blech. It was not all that unpleasant to hear them during a hot session of sex. Add in their fondness for each other and vampire strength and stamina and I found myself reaching for the popcorn on some nights.

  When I was sexually under-satisfied, like now, it was more frustrating than enjoyable. Hell, were I their type, I might have considered knocking on their door for a little relief.

  Alpha Paulson held too much of my mind. Well, not my mind exactly. More often the man held my libido in a vise grip that he couldn’t help but squeeze with those healthy muscles of his. Too bad my sister-in-law was his daughter.

  I shook my head and stood to trek into the lower levels to work on the blood inventory. I was damn near a whole episode of Maury with this crap.

  I went through the new numbers the Matheo had provided. I understood the blood needs of hybrids after living with Jake. The miasma attached to my brain had been inside Jake long enough that his acquisitions were imbedded there as well.

  We kept, at the Matheo’s request, extra blood for guests and for healing injuries that might occur. Even if we were in full battle and entertaining a dozen bloodthirsty guests, this new level of requirement leant to a minimum of two dozen hybrids. How large of an army had the Matheo amassed under my nose? What good was all this knowledge if I was putting the pieces together too late?