Page 9 of Blood Pack Beginning

“That is correct,” Sasha grumbled.

“Well at least you can’t control us,” Amir muttered with relief.

“So we’ve been told, but I could give it a try if you’d like.” Pierrot flashed his teeth again as he craned to eye Amir and Omar. “Wonder if I could make your brother cluck like a chicken.”

“Stay out of our heads.” Amir had a childish urge to slap his hands over his ears as if it would stop that kind of assault.

“Oh my, the big bad wolf has spoken. I better obey,” Sasha drawled sarcastically.

“How did you know we were Lycan?” It occurred to him she’d seemingly known instantly.

“Kind of hard to mistake the doggie smell that follows you around.” Her dry reply.

“Is that how you tracked the fuckers who attacked Moon Dew?”

“No. We found a rogue in the city and caught his license plate. We hacked his onboard nav system, which led us here, albeit too late.”

Slick and, not to mention, indicated they had resources. “Why would they have targeted our town?” Amir asked.

“You said Moon Dew was a kind of sanctuary for dormants. I wonder if that was the reason it got hit,” Sasha said thoughtfully, tapping her fingers on the steering wheel. Could be these latents have something to offer that can’t be achieved with a human thrall.”

Amir opened his mouth to scoff, only to frown. The few houses they’d entered, they’d noticed some folks missing but hadn’t thought much of it. Surely some of them escaped or had been out of town, as Lorelei was. “You’re saying they took them?”

“Yes. By our estimations, based on the number of scents we assessed in each residence, they left with fourteen adults and seven children.”

“Thirteen. Our sister, Lorelei, is out of town,” Omar corrected.

“Why?” Amir blurted out. “Why would they want to take people?”

“Because a war is brewing, and the faction my boss opposes is amassing troops. Since the number of vampires is finite, Morpheus has been recruiting from other areas.”

“Wait, you’re telling me my town was slaughtered because some vampires are having a squabble and needed some extra peons to sacrifice?”

Sasha met his gaze in the rearview mirror. “Succinct, but accurate.”

“It’s fucking barbaric.”

“That’s ripe, coming from a Lycan. Last I heard, the packs still used women as breeding heifers.”

He stiffened at the statement and tried to explain the practice, even as he didn’t agree with it. “Low birth rates and an even lower number of Lycan females born would see us extinct without it.” Amir defended the policy even as he struggled with it. All his life, he’d been taught that when he mated, he would have to share his wife with a few men. Probably the reason he’d never gotten serious with anyone.

“There’s something called fertility clinics,” her dry reply.

“You know we can’t see regular medical professionals.”

“You’re telling me the Lycans haven’t yet figured out how to educate their own?” Her sharp retort.

He didn’t admit she made a valid point, nor did he mention the fact his own parents bucked the trend because their love didn’t want to share.

Omar spilled the secret. “Me and Amir only had one dad. Mom refused to take another, and before our first pack could force her, Dad took her to America.”

“I’m surprised your new pack didn’t try to enforce the same rule.”

“They would have tried,” Amir growled. “If my mother hadn’t chosen to have a hysterectomy.”

Pierrot whistled. “Drastic, but I guess it did the trick.”

It had. His mom didn’t have to take another as mate. Amir changed the subject. “Why are bloodsuckers conscripting Lycans for their war?”

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