Page 8 of Revenge of the Blood Pack

Tears sting my eyes. “Yes, little Asha. You taught me my whole life. Remember how we used to laugh at my poetry?”

“A-sh-a?” she repeats again. But there’s something in the way she says it.Does she remember me?

I feel like I can’t catch my breath. “Yes, it’s me. I’m Blood Pack, just like you are. We’re family. And what those mages did to us was wrong, but you don’t have to live that way any longer. Let me help you. Let me get you out of here.”

“A-sh-a,” she says again and turns back to the witch before beginning to feed on her again, her sickening slurping sounds filling the air.

I’m trying to ignore the pressure in my chest and behind my eyes. “Abby, let her go. Come with me. Let me help you.” I reach my hand out, but she doesn’t respond, just keeps feeding. “Abby, please! They ruined our home. They hurt people. But that doesn’t need to be the end of the Blood Pack. I’m trying to find the others. I’m trying to help all of us. We can be a pack again. We can be family again.”

Finally, she drops the witch, and the old woman’s body hits the ground with a thud that makes my skin crawl. Abby turns and looks at me, and I stretch my hand out further, praying that she’ll take it.

There’s one second of warning, and I roll without thinking, just barely in time to avoid the piercing vines that slam into the place I was just a moment before.

I leap back to my feet, shocked. “Abby! Stop!”

The vines come for me again, and I keep moving, leaping, trying to avoid the bastards stabbing through me, because I just got an up close and personal view of what Abby plans for me if I’m not strong enough.

Not that this means I’m giving up on her. I can’t. No matter what. She might not remember me or care about me yet, but I have forever to save her. To remind her.

I’m springing around the darkened bowl of earth faster and faster as more vines slam toward me. But as much as I might look like I’m just jumping around, I have a plan. And when I see the opportunity, I leap and knock Abby to the ground. The vines freeze for a moment as I pin her to the ground.

“Abby! You have a daughter, Stacy. Do you remember her? Do you remember your own child?”

“S-Stacy!” Her daughter’s name is a broken sob as her gaze moves to my face, and tears fill her eyes. “Stacy died. They killed her. In front of me. Just like everyone else. She screamed for me. She begged me to save her. But I couldn’t.”

“I know,” I say, choking on my own tears.

Then, her face twists. “Because of you. You did this to us. You’re the reason she died.”

Each word is like a blow. A blow I deserve. “I know. And you never have to forgive me, but let me help you. Stacy wouldn’t have wanted you to be a murderer. She wouldn’t want you to be this person.”

Her gaze holds mine. “It’s too late. The blood calls. It calls for you too. And none of us can resist.” She smiles, blood on her teeth. “You already killed us all.”

Suddenly, a vine slams through my shoulder. I gasp in shock and taste blood, then reach behind me and yank the vine right back out, half toppling onto Abby as I try to shake off the pain. She grabs for me, revealing her fangs, trying to feed on me, but I shove back from her, rolling to my side.

And then, faster than I could’ve imagined, she’s on top of me. “You killed us all,” she whispers, and then she flashes her fangs and dives down toward me.

It’s like time pauses. I can pull away, but I don’t. She’s right: I killed her. I killedallof them. If I can’t save them now, then I shouldn’t be the only one to survive with my mind intact.

So, I just stop.

Above me, a dark shape slams into Abby, and I let my head fall to the side in shock. A wolf with dark brown fur squeezes Abby’s throat as she claws at him, and then a snap vibrates through the air, and Abby’s eyes dull. Her head falls to the side, and the dark wolf slowly pulls off of her.

The wolf turns and looks at me. Pale brown eyes are filled with anger.

Max. Of course, it’s Max. Here to save me. Even when I don’t want to be saved.

Closing my eyes, I fight tears.How many of my pack members are left? And in trying to save them, will I just end up killing the last of them?

I scream. Scream my frustrations into the sky. But it doesn’t make me feel any better.

I failed. I can’t fail again.

THREE

Asha

The road stretches out in front of us, practically glowing in the evening light, and I lean back a little more in the passenger seat with a sigh. I’m getting pretty damn tired of the road. Of exploring all these towns in the middle of bum-fuck nowhere in hopes of finding more leads. Yes, it’s what I signed on for, but I thought there would be more successes and fewer hours upon hours spent in almost near silence. In a car. With fuckingMax.

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