A Fang in the Sass

8

“Aria, how many vampires did you tell?”

“Who said I told anyone?”

“You did, by asking me the question. Now, how many?”

“Maybe the whole South clan.”

“Aria! You did not!” Penelope didn’t sound the least bit happy.

She cringed even tighter. “Okay, I didn’t.”

Penelope groaned. “My god, child. s**t is going to hit the ceiling.”

“It’s fan, Penelope. s**t hitting the fan.”

“No, child. You done blew the fan off the wall. Anything else you care to tell me you ‘mentioned’?”

Aria glanced at her watch even though Penelope couldn’t see the movement. “Well, would you look at that. The sun should be up any second now. I gotta go, Pen.”

“Aria—”

“No, really. I’ll call you later. Sometime. Thanks so much for everything. Bye.” Her red-tipped finger slid over the red button on the phone’s screen. She was so f****d. Actually, being f****d would be a great thing right now. Her blue-eyed stud muffin came to mind.

His wide shoulders, rolling with muscles with every movement. His slick chest she wanted to lick and taste. f**k. Now she was getting all warm below the belt. Speaking of warm, the man smelled like chocolate chunk cookies fresh from the oven. Her favorite.

Marxius stood in the hall and cleared his throat. No doubt he smelled her. s**t.

“Yes?” she asked, trying to hide her burning cheeks.

“Wynther and I are ready to go down. Are you ready?”

Ready? Yes. To go downstairs? No. “Uh, I’ll be down shortly. I just want to get a bit of fresh air.”

Marxius came into the room and held out a hand to help her stand. “Do you want to go now? I’ll stay with you while you’re out.”

“Oh,” she started. Him following her defeated the whole idea of escaping to cool her embarrassment. “You don’t need to. The sun’s almost up. I’ll be fine. No one here can day walk.” Her devoted guard scowled. “Marxius,” she pointed a finger at him and feigned being boss. “Don’t give me that look. Didn’t your mama tell you your face might freeze like that?”

Marxius’s frown broke into a laugh. “She did. Your mother told you, too. Every time you didn’t get what you wanted.”

She rolled her eyes. God, she was such a petulant child, and spoiled beyond rotten. But she loved her childhood. Aria gave him a playful shove. “All right, my eternal guardian, the sun is up. Go before the rays get through the windows. I’ll be back shortly.”

He gave her a you better be look then hurried into the hall. She chugged the remaining blood in her glass and set it on the granite bar. This would be the perfect opportunity to snoop around with no one seeing her. If this clan had blood slaves, she would find them and destroy the vamps. Of course, Maree would move into the northern clan house. The woman was an angel, when she wasn’t talking.

She headed out the door, ready for whatever came next.

Or so she thought.

The drive south was longer than Trevan remembered. Though, it had been quite a while since he’d ventured anywhere close to home. The South clan was as close as they could get, seeing that part of their land was his rightful home.

He wondered if Alain and Roen were purposely not saying anything about going back, or if they didn’t think about it anymore. f**k. He wished he could stop thinking about it. It’d been the only thing on his mind for over eighty years. The images from that day were burned into his brain.

That morning long ago had started off nicely. Alain, Roen, and he had spent the past several days camping and scouting the area. Even though they weren’t true enforcers, they trained and took on enforcer duties so they’d be prepared when they graduated high school next year.

This particular assignment was to learn and memorize every inch of the land, including what lay beyond the borders. This was the mountainous side of the Stone Mountain wolf pack. Not the Stone Mountain with the theme park and rock sculptures, but a more private group farther west. Rough terrain and forested hills dominated their northern landscape. The east side faced a large city that would one day spread far enough to encompass the territory.

The west side consisted of more vacant land settlers hadn’t claimed and probably wouldn’t for a while. He knew there was a vampire clan off to the west. How did he know? Because his brother, the alpha of the pack, had more than one run-in with vamps crossing their land to drag humans to their clan.

In the 1800s, roads were muddy paths that went from city to city. Humans hadn’t the mindset yet to travel the wilderness much. But each year, that became less true as the city grew and expanded its territory.

His brother talked a lot about assimilating into human society. He said if they blended in, they wouldn’t stick out. Sticking out gets your head chopped off. Trevan had no problem with that. He actually liked most humans he’d met. They weren’t his enemy like the vampire became.

Before the three boys reached the pack settlement coming back from camping, they knew something was wrong. The air was saturated with the stench of rotting meat. Only one thing could’ve made that big of smell: a m******e.

His first thought was the natives that lived in the area had attacked the pack. Wolves could take down humans easily. Humans were fragile with nothing protecting the covering that held their blood in. Wolves’ fur was thick enough to survive winters in the mountains.

When they reached the cluster of cabins, they stopped. He couldn’t breathe, his body and mind in shock. Corpses littered the ground: men, women, and children. This wasn’t a m******e; it was pure evil. Whoever did this had no respect for life.

Bodies lay haphazardly as if thrown to the ground, discarded like trash. Cabin doors hung open. Some had people blocking the entries, several with belongings strewed across the porches.

Dead wolves scattered into the mix. Very few things could kill a wolf at that time. Most looked like their necks had been snapped. That was impossible. Indians weren’t capable of the strength required.

Each boy went his own way to find his family. Trevan’s loved ones had the same fate as all else.