Page 6 of Blood Pack Beginning

“Would you like to see me gargle it?” offered the vamp with a fang-filled smile.

The petite lady canted her head. “Are you saying you’ve never encountered our kind before?”

“No, because vampires don’t exist,” Amir insisted stubbornly, doing his best to ignore the pointed teeth, their strength as they’d taken the four of them down with ease, and their speed. The woman who’d stayed out of the fray would havecaught them if they’d not entered the church and barricaded the door.

“Would you like Pierrot to give you a closer look at his fangs?”

“Big teeth don’t mean shit,” Amir argued, even as he struggled with their scent. Or should he say, lack of one. Humans oozed pheromones. Lycans also had a specific, and annoying to admit, canine scene. But the vampires literally only smelled like the soap used on their skin and clothes. The lack of anything to uniquely identify was unlike anything he’d ever encountered.

“How about I feed on you to prove it? I could use a bit of a snack,” the petite female offered, which led to snickering from her companions.

“Bite me and it will be the last thing you do,” snapped Amir.

“Ooh, I’m so scared,” she mocked while rolling her eyes.

“I don’t think these are the rogues we’ve been tracking,” the other female commented. “They don’t have that putrid stench we encountered lingering in the houses.”

“And they’re clean,” reported the dude with the sharp teeth. “Not to mention, able to hold a conversation.”

“Meaning they’re either innocent bystanders or plants. Either way, they’re coming with us,” the petite lady stated.

“Since when do vampires kidnap their dinner?” Amir couldn’t help the sarcasm.

“Since you called the cops. Given I don’t know how long it will take to break you for answers, best we relocate somewhere a little more secure.”

Amir bit his tongue lest he admit they lied. They’d not called anyone. Certainly not human authorities. “We don’t know anything.”

The woman smiled. “Guess we’ll soon see if that’s true. Let’s get them back to the SUVs.”

“I ain’t going anywhere with you.”

“Oh yes, you are,” the woman sang. And then he’d have sworn he heard her inside his head, whispering,Move your tight ass, pretty boy.Surely his imagination, but his blood chilled because he suddenly wondered if it was true that vampires could hypnotize people into doing whatever they wanted.

The dude with fangs bumped into him from behind, barking, “Let’s go, canine.”

He’d rather fight. However, he couldn’t help but recall how easily they’d been overcome in the scuffle, their opponents moving with uncanny speed. Four against four and they’d handily lost. He doubted they’d fare any better with a second attempt and an extra vamp on the opponent’s side.

With the odds stacked against them, Amir kept walking but chose to dig for information. “Did you help the pack that attacked the town?”

“We don’t align ourselves with psychos,” replied the petite woman.

“Then what makes you think we would?” he hotly retorted.

“Since there is no sanctioned pack for this town, it seems much too coincidental that you somehow escaped the purge unless you are aligned with those attacking.”

“I have no pack,” Amir muttered. He’d been outcast the moment he chose to leave his Pack to support his dormant sister. When she’d not shifted by the time she turned eighteen, she’d been banished as if she suddenly didn’t matter. His own parents hadn’t fought their alpha over it, but Amir had. Despite knowing he’d be named rogue, he’d left with Lorelei and stumbled across Moon Dew, a small town that somehow ended up with a fair number of dormants. Lycan-born folk who couldn’t call their wolf.

The town had been leery of Amir at first, given his choice to go rogue. They knew the laws didn’t favor loners. However,once they realized he wouldn’t start trouble, they accepted him. Omar, his younger brother, joined his siblings a few months later after their parents died in a car crash. As for Diego and Cyrus, they technically still belonged to their Pack, but Cyrus had family in Moon Dew—a dormant aunt, now dead. Amir winced, recalling the atrocities they’d discovered upon returning to town. He was thankful that Lorelei was out of the country on a European cruise. Otherwise…

He couldn’t think about it.

The few houses they’d checked had left them all horrified. Poor Cyrus had collapsed at the sight of his beloved aunt with her throat torn open. Amir understood, since he struggled to grasp the depravity that had decimated the small town. Their elderly neighbor, Violet, who used to make the kids Rice Krispies treats, had her throat slashed. The Johnsons, who’d just welcomed a new daughter, were killed as they tried to protect the baby in the crib. Even the super-sweet schoolteacher, Mrs. Livingston, had been murdered. Not just killed, but shredded to pieces.

It devastated Amir to know they’d not been around to fight off the attackers. Then again, how could he, his brother, and friends Cyrus and Diego, have known that their jaunt into the city to blow off some steam would leave the peaceful town vulnerable to a massacre?

When they’d emerged from Cyrus’ aunt’s home and spotted the group conversing in the middle of the road, Amir’s first instinct had been to confront, but given the violence—and the fact they were outnumbered—it seemed better to hide.

The lie about having called the cops should have sent the perps fleeing. Instead, they’d easily captured them.

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