Page 50 of Revenge of the Blood Pack

He’s about to answer when his phone rings again. Sliding it out of his pocket, he answers, “Hello, Max here.”

The same voice is on the other end. “There’s another sighting of a Blood Mage, and this one is bad…”

Well, fuck. If the other one wasn’t bad, then what are we about to face?

EIGHTEEN

Asha

Apparently,we’re minutes away from the town another one of my pack mates is causing trouble at. Max hasn’t told me much about what we’re expecting when we get there, but he seems to think this will be the worst thing we’ve seen so far. I’m not sure about that. Watching one of my last connections to my old life blow up in front of me is about as bad as it can get. It doesn’t feel worse than seeing my mom die, or hearing my sister’s final scream, but it feels like the fragile hope I’ve been holding onto has been crushed.

I’m trying. I’m trying so damn hard to shake it off, but now my mind is filled with that image.

He was going to try to get better. He was going to try to ignore the call of the dark magic… but they didn’t even give him a chance. They just murdered him. Right in front of me. In cold blood.

And if that’s the way the Enforcers work, how are we the bad ones? They know we can’t control ourselves. They knowwe don’t want to hurt anyone. But they still approach us with lethal intentions?

I don’t know what I’m doing anymore, but I’m not sure if I’m on the right side. Maybe I’d just be better off running away and searching for them on my own. Or maybe… I shouldn’t be searching, since I just bring death to their doorsteps.

“Asha.” Max says my name gently, like I’m an animal that might be spooked. Not sure why. I’m here, aren’t I?

I turn and look at him but don’t answer. He doesn’t need my answer, and right now it feels like everything I do costs me too much. Even though Max and Braxton’s blood is still within me, not as potent as before, but there, waiting for me to use it. To fuel the call of the dark magic. A call that has been overwhelming since I fed last.

No wonder my people are having such a hard time. It’s like the very air is whispering for me to tap into that magic. That maybe it could fix everything.

“Are you okay? Or would you rather sit this one out?” Max glances in my direction, and I see worry in his gaze. Sincere worry.

It snaps something inside of me. Him caring about me shouldn’t matter that much, but it feels like a small thread I can pull on to connect me to this world. “I’m not okay,” I admit slowly, “but I can do this.”

I hope.

He doesn’t look convinced. “You just went through something traumatic. Even Enforcers usually take some time off after something like that.”

“I can’t,” I tell him, and I mean it. I can’t take time off. I can’t sit this one out, because I ruined everything for my pack, and I’m not done until I’ve tried to save them with every ounce of my strength.

“We get it,” Braxton says from the backseat. He’s stroking Trouble’s head, looking upset. “Sometimes staying busy is better than being left alone with our thoughts. But when we get there, when the memories try to pull you under, you have to be able to focus on the present or it can get you killed.”

“You sound like you’re speaking from experience,” Max says. There’s no judgment in his voice, not even curiosity.

Braxton shifts his gaze, and I think they’re locking eyes in the mirror. “I am. I’m not here just for shits and giggles.”

Max nods and for some reason seems satisfied with that answer, but then he turns to me again. “Grim and his team might be there.”

“I want to kill him,” I tell him, and I’m already breathing hard.

“But you’re not going to because you know that will only make things worse and make it so you can’t help your pack any longer, right?” Max’s pale brown eyes are serious. Hard and unwavering.

I release a slow breath, but my heart is still racing. “Ireallywant to kill him… but I won’t.”

“Promise?” he asks.

For some reason, I flash back to the day my pack was destroyed, when my mom made me promise her that I’d be safe. My gut churns, and I’m already shaking my head. “I-I don’t make promises any longer.”

Max sighs beside me. “Alright, but don’t.”

I shiver and wrap my arms around myself, and I don’t know why, but I start talking. “He was going to turn himself in. He didn’t like what the dark magic was doing to him. He wanted peace again. He wanted our old life back, just like me. And they killed him in front of me. They murdered him. He dropped all his protection… I mean, do you think they would have done that to a shifter or a vampire? Would they have just executed themlike him?” I brush a tear angrily from my cheek. “I know what you’ll say, that they would have, that they were just doing their job, but–” I don’t know what to say, maybe that we all know that isn’t true.

“No, they executed him like a fucking animal.” Braxton sounds angry in the back seat. “It was clear to all of us that he had surrendered. And yeah, he was a murderer, but they also knew he wasn’t in his right mind.”

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