Hot Blooded (Jessica McClain #2) 0

Emotion rushed to the surface.

The rawness of it was new. The texture of it tugged against my skin, making me feel itchy. My wolf started to pace in my mind. This was the most honest exchange I’d ever shared with my father. For the first time, we were engaged in a conversation as two adults. He wasn’t trying to protect me. It was just the two of us here in this room, almost as if the rest of the world had ceased to exist.

My father was so sure of what he was saying. His certainty poured through our connection, but it was a lot to wrap my brain around. “The Prophecy still doesn’t make any sense to me,” I finally said, “because I still feel like… me. I don’t feel overly powerful or qualified to dole out justice to anyone, much less to the supernatural race. I feel like myself, only now with a cranky wolf in my head.” To accent my point, my wolf snapped her jaws. I know I’m physically different, but I still feel normal. I haven’t suddenly forgotten who I am or where I came from. It doesn’t work that way.

“Jessica, I know this is a shock. It’s shocking to me, and I’m an Alpha werewolf. Who and what you are is unprecedented. But before we decide how to move forward, we need to gather more information, as I’ve said before. In light of this discovery, I’m elated you’re leaving town. That’s exactly where I want you—out of sight with adequate protection.”

My mind shot to Rourke. “That’s good, because I’m ready to go. When I get back, we’ll have a chance to regroup and figure out what all this stuff means.”

“I don’t want to scare you.” His voice held a raw note that rang through the air. It held dread and anger. “But you have no idea what the impact of this news will have on the supernatural community. Each Sect is more wary and powerful than the next. There will be massive reactive fear in every race. This is not something we will be able to quell or explain away. This is something we have to fight. Fight until they fear our power, and when they stop fearing us, we fight again to prove we are the strongest. It’s the only way they will back down. The only way to lessen the attacks that will come your way.”

I knew he was right; it was just hard to hear it. I’d spent my entire life hoping and praying the wolves would never go to war because of me, that I wouldn’t be the catalyst to end our race like the Cain Myth stated. It seemed now there would be fighting, but the irony was that the wolves wouldn’t be fighting against me; they were going to be fighting to protect me. That is, if they chose to believe the Prophecy over the Myth, which wasn’t a for sure by any means. “I’m willing to do whatever’s necessary,” I said with resignation. “I have no other choice. I can’t go into hiding and I can’t become something else.” Though that sounded awfully good at the moment. “If we have to fight, I will follow your lead.”

My father nodded his head decisively, weariness lining his features. Finding out your daughter was about to become the most wanted female in existence was not on any father’s to-do list. But bemoaning things had never been my style. Nor was arguing a moot point. There was no other way out of this but to keep moving forward.

“Once you return,” he said, “we’ll formulate a plan and take our advantages wherever we can. When we’re more educated about this Prophecy, we can determine your strengths and figure out a solid defense.”

“I’m assuming you’ve come up with a short-term plan in the meantime?” I asked. My father would not have come into this meeting cold when he had information his daughter might be the Y Gwir Lycae.

“Yes.” My father strode from the windows to the table and sat. Even though his stress showed, he didn’t look a day over thirty-five. He was handsome, with a full head of jet-black hair. He leaned over and gave me a small smile. “James and I worked out some of the logistics last night. The very beginnings of a plan to ensure we have a fighting chance once this news spreads. Defeating the threats against you will take every wolf we have. As much as the other Sects will present a problem to us in the future—and the stakes will be high—they are not my first priority. The wolves who recently broke apart from both U.S. Packs have tossed us all into chaos. We don’t stand a chance of defending you from any attack until we can pull ourselves together and unite once again. Infighting will thin us out, make us weak.” He paused, looking down at his hands for a moment. He glanced back up at me. “The short-term plan involves me doing something unprecedented.”

I stared at him, assessing. Being head of Pack wasn’t easy, but I knew whatever he had in mind would be a calculated move in the right direction. “I’m sure whatever it is, it’s the right step.”

“After we finish with this meeting,” he said, “I’m heading down into the Southern Territories to meet with Redman.”

“In person?” I asked, somewhat surprised. Visiting an Alpha you were feuding with was not the norm by any means. From all the stories I’d heard in my lifetime about Red Martin, Alpha of the U.S. Southern Territories, he was a brutal sonofabitch who ruled his wolves with an iron fist. “How big is his Pack these days?”

“He leads fifty-nine wolves,” my father said, contempt lacing his voice. “Thirty-seven wolves thinner than it was twenty years ago. I don’t know where they’ve gone, since only a few have come to my Pack. They aren’t listed as rogue either. I’m assuming they have assimilated into new Packs around the world—either that, or they are the wolves who began the fracture and Red has kept it quiet on purpose. Whatever the reason, I’m about to find out.”

Two hundred years ago, Redman Martin was responsible for the breakup of the U.S. Pack, becoming Alpha of the Southern Territories. As ruling Alpha, my father could’ve easily ended his life. Instead he chose to let Red form a new Pack, because restless wolves were a hindrance to everyone. Red’s nasty influence had already rent a hole in the existing Pack, so there had been no other choice. The wolves who left to run under Red’s directive were of a particular flavor.

My father had not been sorry to see them go.

“Do you think Redman could be behind the whole fracture?” I said. “It’s something he’d be capable of doing, from what I’ve heard about him over the years.”

“I can’t rule that out, but the only reason he’s agreed to let me come down is to prove to me he’s not behind any of this,” my father answered. “He knows he has a war on his hands and once we start fighting, the north would wipe them out. His Pack has dwindled to almost nothing. He’s eager to prove he’s not harboring the traitors. But they have to be somewhere, and he has to answer for his missing wolves. The fracture group has to have a home base in the U.S. and it has to be close enough for them to act when they need to.”

“They can’t possibly be stationed in the north,” I said.

“Damn right, they’re not in the north. They wouldn’t dare settle in my territory. If there’s a brain cell between any of them, which is doubtful, they would be in the farthest reaches of the Southern Territories’ borders. My best guess would be somewhere in the swamplands of Florida or the high mountains of Mexico. If they attack, they’ll attack the south first, and try to amass wolves and move forward from there. They will need more than their ragtag group to go up against my wolves and they know it. Redman either sides with us, or he sides with them. He’s selfish to the core, but I’m guessing he will take the easy way out. Fighting me will be a fatal decision on his part.”

“He’s had a taste of power for too long,” I agreed. “He won’t fight you and risk his status and power. If Redman is not responsible for the fracture in the Packs, who is?” I’d been running it over in my mind since I’d left New Orleans and nothing made much sense. “Stuart Lauder acted like he was in charge that night in the clearing, but there was no way he could be behind the entire operation. He couldn’t have amassed such a large following on his own. He wasn’t smart enough.” My irises sparked remembering the fight. “But his father was.” Hank Lauder, one of my biggest opponents growing up, was still at large. I’d killed his only son and he would be after me to exact his retribution; it was just a matter of time.

“I have two of my best trackers on Hank. He’s still somewhere in the Ozarks, likely holed up mourning his loss. They haven’t found him yet, but he will answer for his son’s misdeeds; make no mistake. When they bring him in we will find out everything he knew, but I doubt it was much. Hank was loud and ornery, but he was loyal to this Pack. His biggest mistake was overindulgence. He gave that boy everything he ever asked for.” And it had made him nasty as hell. “Wolves get restless, which I understand,” my father continued, shaking his head, “but the fracture feels too organized. My guess is it’s coming from the outside.”

“Another Sect?”

“Yes.”

I bit my lip. It was highly unusual for any supernatural to pair with another. Each Sect was untrusting of the other, bordering on pathological mistrust. “From what the Vamp Queen indicated, the fracture wolves had already struck a deal with the vampires.” There was no way to know how binding it had been. Eudoxia, the powerful Vampire Queen—and current bane of my existence—certainly had something up her sleeve. Had she been orchestrating some kind of coup since my birth? It was a possibility. “If Eudoxia had prior knowledge of the Prophecy, she could’ve sown doubt over time, made the younger wolves wary with a few carefully placed spies. She said the wolves were willing and eager to swear fealty to her.”

“Wolves don’t swear oaths to vamps,” my father growled as he arched his eyebrow at me to punctuate the statement. “Before you, it’s never been done.”

I had indeed broken the golden rule about swearing oaths to vampires, but I’d done it to save my mate. And I’d do it again. But that little tidbit didn’t need to be announced out loud. “So where does all of this leave us?”