Page 36 of Revenge of the Blood Pack

Slipping out of the room, I travel through the chilly night, ignoring the people who approach me for money. Ignoring the women on the street corner who smile at me and offer me their bodies. I pass them all, walking for nearly an hour before I arrive at the place indicated on the map.

There, I pause. This area of town is just warehouses near a big river. I get the feeling that most of these warehouses are empty or abandoned, because they look ill-cared for. Some still have lights on inside. Even though the streetlamps are broken and forgotten frequently in all directions, and the road itself is in complete disarray. But if I was one of my people, lost, afraid, and getting money for who knows what, this would be an ideal place to hide out.

I breathe in slowly, trying to pick up the scent of any of my pack members, but I get nothing. So, I just start walking, moving down the main road, winding through alleys when my instinctstell me to explore them. Still, there’s nothing. I start to get frustrated. Somehow, I thought I’d just have a sense when I got close to my family. That I’d just know where they were. The fact that things aren’t working that way makes my confidence begin to crumble.

A little further. That’s all I can go. Then I’ll have to backtrack and make sure I’ve returned before the guys suspect a thing. No matter how much I want to fucking spend the night combing every inch of this place.

So, that’s what I do. I pick alleys at random, roads at random. I circle the warehouses. I see one on the end with the lights on inside and instinctually decide it can’t be there, because picking an occupied warehouse with all these empty ones would be stupid.

But then, I stop. Like a moth to the flames, I head toward the building and round it until the scent hits me. The scent of dark magic. It isn’t what I was hoping for. I wanted to pick up my brother’s scent, but at least this means I’m on the right track.

Moving to the door on the side of the building, I turn the handle and find it unlocked. Taking a deep breath, I slowly open it and slip inside. I’m in a cleared space but huge boxes are stacked on top of each other in every direction. They provide me with protection against being seen, but also make it harder to just quickly figure out if my pack member is here.

So, I keep exploring as the scent of dark magic grows stronger. My chest begins to ache, and I freeze, wondering what the hell is wrong. Why am I suddenly upset? Then, it hits me. This could be my brother. Any minute I could be seeing him. This could be the moment I’ve been waiting for so desperately.

I never want to get my hopes up, but they soar at that moment, and I almost feel like sobbing. Which is stupid. I haven’t even seen him. I don’t even know if he’s here, but Iwanthim to be. He’s the last of my family. The last connection I have to my mother and sister. And as of now, to my pack too.

It needs to be him. I… I need it to be him.

Emotion swells in my throat as I keep creeping around, and then I see movement and freeze. Just around the edge of a box, near the center of the room, a man is leaning over a small table with a bag filled with money. Apparently, I’d found the thief and the missing money.But who is this man?Unfortunately, he doesn’t look like my brother, but maybe he dyed his bright red hair?

And then, he turns around and my hope crumbles. It crumbles so hard that it takes everything inside of me to keep standing. But as my hope disappears, anger rises inside of me. The man in the center of the room is as familiar to me as my own brother’s face. Because I saw it so many times. Leering through the bars of my cage. Whispering about my great ass. Laughing as I fought him as he strapped me to a table.

I thought he was dead. I thoughtallour captors were dead.

But I’ll correct this mistakereallyquickly.

Stepping around the boxes, I feel my nails elongate and my heart race. “Jabez.” His name comes out a growl.

The Blood Mage spins toward me, dark eyes wide, dark hair falling slightly over his thin face. And I’m at least glad to see scars running across his face. Big claw marks that I suspect came from someone in my pack. But then, to my surprise, his body relaxes and he smiles. “Blondie.”

“Asha,” I growl, moving closer to him.

“You found us.”

“Us? I only see you. Are there more of you pricks?”

He shakes his head, and he’s just as cocky as he was before. Just as… inhuman with his alien-like smile and his big eyes focused on me like I’m an ant who amuses him. Perhaps, just as insane as he was when he was torturing me.

“Well, the Enforcers are on your case. And if they have their way, you’ll be in handcuffs tomorrow.”

That smile never leaves his lips. “Too bad for them I’ll be long gone by then, with the kind of money that will keep me hidden forever.”

I take a step forward. “Too bad for you they didn’t find you first because I have no intention of letting you walk out of here in handcuffs.”

His eyes seem to burn through me. “Blondie, you talk a big talk, but we both know you don’t have the stomach for murder.” He takes a step closer to me. “I remember you. I remember the way you would cry and beg us to leave your people alone. I remember the look on your face when we’d drag the bodies of your pack members past your cell.”

I swallow around the lump in my throat. “I’m not that person any longer. I’m what you made me now.”

He cocks his head. “And what we made you is so much better than you were. Better thanweare. Your magic can either be fueled by blood or by the darkness all around us. We don’t have that choice. It’s the dark, or nothing.”

And it’s like his words have power because in that moment I swear I can feel it. I can sense the darkness all around me. It calls to me. Always there. Always a temptation. But I don’t want to taste it. I don’t want to go near it.

But tonight, I might have to.

“If that’s true then you should be scared right now,” I tell him, “because I’m stronger than you. And because I plan to kill you.”

He doesn’t look worried. “I’m not scared. I’m excited. You have so much potential inside of you, but like the others, you don’t know how to control the darkness when you touch it. You don’t know to purge yourself of it. Instead, every time you taste it, it’ll build inside of you until you’re consumed by it. But if youjoin me, I can teach you how to ignore the whispering. I can show you how to silence it. To be free of it. And I can help keep you fueled with blood so you only need to use the darkness in desperate situations.”

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