Chapter 38 Triple Threat
☽ Bastian ☽
My mate smells so distracting.
That one thought, and her scent occupied my senses so deeply I almost plowed down a group of unsuspecting people.
Then her voice bloomed in my mind through the link.
‘Turn left until the end of the path, Bastian.’
Blackbridge was decrepit. The houses getting shabbier the deeper we went. District 1 still enjoyed a measure of development and order. District 2 boasted deeper woods and the cloying scents of blood and fear.
I’d never ventured into district 3, and my beast stirred at the thought of the unchecked vampire population the reports warned about.
If only I could leave the pack long enough to wreak havoc on those numbers. But who would check Mordane’s feral bouts?
I soon reached the clearing at the end of the path. My senses strung tight instantly.
Maeve was already stretching a leg down to stand on her feet, and I mourned the loss of her warmth.
She took a single step forward. “So, here we are.”
She looked so small beside me, her tone sad. Soft wind played with her silver strands, pale skin luminous in the light of the moon.
With difficulty, I tore my gaze away, trying to separate her intoxicating scent of jasmine from the rest.
I felt her hopeful gaze on my back as I approached the house.
If it could be called that. My heart clenched as I observed the squalid conditions my mate had endured, without a wolf. Meanwhile I debauched my way through life and rejected the idea of a mate.
Slabs of degrading walls and a roof patched in several places formed the small two story structure. So small my Lycan form wouldn’t fit.
But I didn’t need to go in to perceive the riot of smells.
Her’s was the strongest since she’d lived here. Then I picked up another that smelled similar but muted with wild spice, human. Her mother.
More probing revealed the leech’s scent—eucalyptus and sparking preternatural blood. A growl rumbled in my chest.
“Anything?”
I turned to face her.
‘Plenty,’ I gritted through the link.
I grabbed her again, ready to track the leech, when the wind churned another scent toward me.
Freezing, my beast sniffed harshly, spinning in place to no avail. The scent was gone. It almost smelled like Sorin, but what were the odds?
He’d been banished from ironwolf after hounding Mordane to destroy the crimson amulet before it destroyed his mind. Only his prior relationship with the alpha and my parents had saved his head, earning him banishment instead.
Little sniffs drew my attention.
I looked down.
In my distraction, Maeve had mimicked me, sniffing in different directions with her pert nose in the air.
An amused snort escaped me. ‘Got anything?’
She turned a disappointed look my way. “Nothing. I can smell my mother and myself around the house, but the trail goes cold when I move further.”
‘You’d perceive better with your wolf at the fore.’ I advised.
Curiosity spiked as I expected her to shift, wondering what her wolf would look like. Instead, she looked even more saddened and walked over to stand in front of me.
It was a wonder she didn’t fear my beast at all.
Even now the fiend was clamoring to back her down, rut her right her in the open, and bite into her pale flesh with a mark so deep it’ll be visible even in her next life.
My shaft twitched even as a red haze overcame my vision.
I couldn’t mark her because a certain cretin had taken the honor from me first.
Kill. Secure mate.
Fangs itching for blood, I grabbed her around the waist. My claws spanned her entire rib cage, and I fought to not pierce or squeeze her too much.
Her eyes widened at the aggression, but she held on, her legs clinging around my midriff.
I groaned.
That scent again. The proximity. I had to find and erase that leech so I could mark my mate!
I took off, following the thread of the leech’s scent in the air. Houses whipped past, wolves and humans with their jaws dropped were left in the dust.
‘Do you still have her scent?’ Maeve asked, heart thudding like a drum against me.
Only then did I realize I’d lost her mother’s scent, but the vampire’s was still strong and leading into district 3.
‘Yes.’ I lied.
Why did the two scents separate?
I made a wide turn back into district 2, leaving the vampire’s scent at the displeasure of my wolf.
When I picked up the mother’s scent again, I tried to follow it closely while maintaining the vampire's scent.
I drew up short. Both went in different directions!
My wolf was growing frustrated. We itched to hunt down the vampire, but I knew the mother was equally important.
‘Are you sure the vampire has your mother?’
I might’ve imagined it, but her heart skipped.
‘Y-yes, if you follow my mother’s scent, you’ll find the vampire. Or at least his lair, then we’ll rescue my mother and you can return for an ambush if he’s not there.’
‘Why wouldn’t he be there? Did he tell you Anything about his plans?’
My chest heaved as my beast grumbled, hating the impasse.
The vampire’s scent led to district 3, her mother’s led back to district 1. Or did he imprison her in a separate keep?
‘Bastian, your claws.’
My gaze snapped down. I’d been hurting her.
I eased my grip, then made a decision that enraged my beast—I followed the mother’s scent.
Each mile away in the opposite direction incensed me. That trail had been hot, almost as if the vampire had walked the earth instead of tracing, which was rare.
Soon, I tore into the boundary of district 1. The wolves here had built several miles tall of a mystically enforced fence to keep other rogues and ferals out. But even that was failing in strategic spots from the efforts of rogues.
‘We’re close,’ I grated.
The sooner we got the mother, the sooner I could head off alone to gut the leech.
Her small palms gripped me tighter in excitement, her warm body trembling. She must miss her mother. I just hoped she was safe, so far, I hadn’t sensed human fear—
I skidded to a stop.
In the distance gathered a band of feral vampires.
Eyes blazing red, chin length fangs glistening, they stood eerily still.
I don’t have time for this!
Bristling, I eased my mate down to the ground. Her fists were clenched, eyes blazing with anger and just a hint of fear.
“Why the hell are they here?” She snapped.
She had no patience for their interruption either. Her mother’s scent had been thick, but now the rancid, dead stench of the ferals filled my head.
‘Stay back, only shift if any gets past me.’ They won’t.
She nodded, jaw clenched.
The ferals charged in a wave, the rest stayed back, observing.
I met them head on.
Swiping my claws, I plowed through them, heads flying. One particularly cunning feral kicked my shin, making me buck for half a second.
The feral howled and our gazes met. Its body began to contort into a wolf. A hybrid feral.
Snarling, I snatched the fiend by the throat, driving my claws into its chest before it could complete the turn.
A scream.
I spun to see a couple of ferals had cornered my mate.
Why wasn’t she shifting?!
She ducked under the swing of one, rolling away deeper into the woods.
With a throat ripping bellow, I charged her attackers, scattering body parts into the night. The carnage became a blur as more than thirty ferals fell under my claws.
After it all, the haze cleared, my body dripping in rancid feral blood.
‘Are you hurt?’ I demanded, inspecting her thoroughly.
“I’m fine, they didn’t touch me.”
‘I told you to shift! I hadn’t expected them to circle so fast, they had feral hybrids!’
Chin turned up, she crossed her arms. “Well I survived didn’t I? Besides, I tried, but I can’t shift. Not yet.”
My brows furrowed. She should’ve even shifted the first night she’d awakened her wolf with me.
‘You don’t know how to? Is your wolf active?’
“Yes, I have my wolf. It’s just, anytime I try, I feel disconnected from my body. Incomplete. We’ll figure that out later. You’d said we were close, let’s go…”
She grabbed my large, bloody arm, breaths shallow, eyes shining.
I’d lost the scent.
‘Something is up. We need to return and warn the pack about the growing feral threat.’
I sniffed the air in case. Nothing.
“What?!” She screeched. “But we’re so close! Please, try to catch the scent again!” Her voice cracked.
My instincts screamed to warn the pack, besides, her mother’s scent hadn’t been with the vampire’s.
The wind howled, kicking up dust and leaves. The Alphas order replayed in my mind. Graves had to be targeted, else we’d be overrun with ferals, making it harder to get to him.
That could just be his plan—overwhelm us, then strike.
‘Listen to me,’ I held her shoulders, making my tone firm. ‘Your mother is safe. Throughout the trail I sensed her state of being in the scent. If I had detected anything else, I’d insist.’
“You guys keep doing this!” Tears rolled down her cheeks. “Don’t you understand how important this is to me? You tease me with slivers of hope and then forsake me in the end.”
The sight of her tears made my gut tighten with something like anxiety.
Then I tilted my head, curious. ‘‘You guys?’ Who else are you referring to?’
She sputtered, at a loss for words.
Then she froze, her spine steeling.