Page 33 of Revenge of the Blood Pack

I truly don’t know, but there have to be consequences for her actions.

My mind rolls through the types of discipline we received in the army, then the discipline the Enforcers believe in. For some reason, none of it seems like things that would work for Asha. But then again, there’s a reason I don’t like having a team. Managing people isn’t really my thing. I like to give a commandand simply have it obeyed. And, unfortunately, I’ve realized people aren’t like that.

Leaving the mansion, I take a deep breath of the clean air, free of the scent of vampires, and my gaze meets my brother’s. For a second, I feel panicked that Asha isn’t with him, and then I see movement behind the tinted window in the SUV and release a slow breath.

“How is she?” I ask.

Braxton gives me a knowing look. “Better. I think it’s just a lot. It’d be a lot for anyone.”

I nod. He’s probably right. He’s better with stuff like this than I am. “So, she’s… okay?”

“She’s not going crazy,” Braxton says as if he read my thoughts. “Just got a little frustrated, I think.”

I sigh.

“That girl really knows how to get under a guy’s skin, doesn’t she?” he asks with a smirk.

“That girl can probably hear us talking right now.”

We both smile. And then I remember what I have to do and feel my smile fade away.

“I need to talk to her for a second.”

He looks like he wants to say something, but then he nods. “I’ll ask one of the guards if I can see the garden. I heard him blabbering about it. Damn green thumbs.” Then he hurries off to the blond guard near the door who smiles when he sees my brother coming.

Refocusing my attention on the matter at hand, I knock lightly on her window, then gesture for her to come out. She does so, slowly, and with an instant look that tells me she’s ready for a fight. Ready for me to come down on her hard. Unfortunately for me, and her, I don’t know any other way to handle this. I have memories of my parents before they were murdered, but I was never a kid who had to be disciplined. The worst thing I ever didwas steal a candy bar when I was little, and they simply had a strong talk with me, then made me go back to the grocery store with the candy, money, and an apology.

But those days are long behind me. Asha is not a kid who stole a candy. She’s a woman who assaulted a powerful man while working for the Enforcers. Anyone else would have her carted off right now.

“What? Are you just going to stare?” she asks in a clipped tone.

I draw myself up taller. Asha has this way about her. She barely comes to my shoulders in height, and she looks like she’s missed far too many meals, and yet her presence is big. Bigger than me in a lot of ways. I think naturally I intimidate more people, but the second she opens her mouth, she’s definitely the person others nervously side-eye. And that’s not the Blood Mage in her, that’s just her.

“What you did in there… it was unacceptable.”

Her brown, almost auburn, eyes flash with rage. “You heard what he said about me.”

I shift closer to her. I don’t know why. Maybe because under all that rage, I can sense that she’s hurting. “People say a lot worse about Blood Mages. You have to have a thicker skin about it.”

She glares. “I do have a thick skin. You haven’t seen me crying like a baby, have you?”

“Sadness isn’t the only emotion Enforcers have to control. Anger is just as dangerous, even more so sometimes. And fear. And jealously. We have to be above those things as much as possible.”

To my surprise, she moves closer to me. The closest she’s ever willingly been. So close that my breath ruffles her hair. “I’m not like you, Max. I’m not a robot who can’t feel a goddamn thing.”

I want to touch her. I want to smooth that long blonde hair back from her face and tuck it behind her ear. I want to run my hand along her face, the face that was covered in bruises just a short time ago, but I don’t. “I feel things.”

“Do you?” she challenges me.

Too much. That’s the problem. Even when I was a kid, I was reserved. While Braxton would rage when angry, or shout when happy, or cry when hurt, I let all my feelings well inside until they came out when I was alone. Only my mom understood that. Even when I was a teenager, she’d tap lightly on my door when I was in a bad place. She’d lay next to me on my bed, and she’d just be there for me, so I wouldn’t be hurting alone.

And then she was gone, and I was always alone.

“Yes, I have feelings,” I repeat, and her eyes widen. I wonder what I said. I wonder what she sees because I’m trying so hard to keep it all hidden. “But feelings… they ruin things, Asha.” Those unique eyes of hers hold mine, and now I don’t know what I’m talking about, her or this situation. “We’re entrusted to protect humans and supernaturals. That means using reasonable force, when needed. That means trying to end situations as non-violently as we can. You have to see that if we don’t strive for those things, then there’s no difference between us and our enemies.”

She actually looks surprised. “I was just so damn angry.”

“I know. I get angry too.” I take a deep breath, then decide to hell with it. “It was pure luck that I was there for the first case with a Blood Mage. I haven’t been forbidden from telling you about it, but I was told it would be unwise.”

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