Azure (The Silver Series Book 5) (4 page)

I was a good guy. I kept telling myself that
over and over. I saw in my mind’s eye the image of me pulling down
her Hunter friends one after the other. I tried to remember that
they had come to kill us first, but with her huddled beneath my arm
in pain because of their deaths, it was hard to keep things in
perspective. Guilt filled me as I watched her breathe, her face
serene in sleep. I wondered how she could trust me enough to rest
beside me after all I had done.

Her eyebrows pulled together as I watched, a
look of pain crossing her face. I hesitated, then touched her cheek
softly with the back of my fingers. Her expression relaxed and she
rolled closer against me. My heart pounded in my chest at her
nearness. Her black hair drifted across my pillow in a soft wave,
her head light on my arm. Sleep eluded me as I watched her, awed by
her trust and presence. Hours passed and emotions warred through my
mind as I held her.

The golden light of dawn filtered through
the thick glass of the ceiling by the time she stirred. I hadn’t
moved a muscle, the sound of her breathing and the beat of her
heart enough to keep me perfectly still so I wouldn’t awaken her. I
told myself I was foolish. She had fallen into a deep sleep long
ago and wouldn’t have noticed if the roof fell in on her. I
wondered if my presence had helped her sleep so well, then told
myself that it was her injury and the stress she had been
through.

I watched the way the morning light brushed
across the curve of her cheek. She was beautiful and graceful, tiny
like a dancer but strong willed and ferocious when she needed to
be. Her presence set my whole world on a tilt, but I would do it
again without hesitation. Her breathing changed and her eyes opened
slowly to stare into mine. The regret and anger I expected to see
in them never appeared; instead, she watched me in silence and her
hand rested on my arm, a simple touch that said so much more than
words ever could.

Chapter 4

My cell phone rang a few hours later while I
rested in a daze on the couch. The screen said it was my mother and
I let out a breath in a slow whoosh. I sat up slowly, closed my
eyes, and opened the phone. I pushed the speaker button and set it
on the arm of the couch by habit.

“
Vance, what on earth is
going on over there?” Mom demanded in her usual get-to-the-point
way. “Ben told us about the attack, the boys who were killed, and
you have a Hunter in your apartment? What on earth are you
thinking? You need to kill her right now.”

“
Hello to you, too, Mom,” I
replied dryly. I could practically feel her wanting to strangle me
over the phone and fought back a small, sad smile. “It's been an
eventful night.”

“
Ben said we lost
Sam.”

“
And Riff, Jason, and Sy,”
I said. My heart slowed with each name.

Mom let out small breath. “How did they find
you?”

“
By accident. No one else
knows we're here.”

“
Except the Hunter in your
apartment.” I knew by her tone that her hands were clenched into
fists and she had her jaw set in the way that always stopped me in
my tracks as a child. I was grateful I no longer spoke to her
through the computer where I could see her.

“
We can learn from her,” I
said carefully.

“
About what, how to kill
werewolves?” Mom asked.

I rolled my eyes and hunched down further on
the couch. I winced when the motion pulled at my healing shoulder
and sat back up. “I'll be careful. I need to go help Thomas and Ben
with the coffins.”

Mom’s voice came softer, “Did you perform
the Uniting Chant?”

“
For each of them,” I
replied. It felt as though a vice gripped my heart. I shut my eyes
tightly, willing the emotions to stay locked deep
inside.

Mom fell silent for a moment, then she said
with a tight voice, “I called Sam's mom.” My heart ached and I
heard the quiet sniff that said she was crying but didn't want me
to know.

I asked quietly, “How did she take it?”

Mom sniffed again. “Not well. She was mad,
then heartbroken. She's trying to gather the others to seek
revenge.”

“
We killed them.” My
stomach turned at the words, but I kept my voice
expressionless.

“
She wants to go after
their parents.” Anger laced through her tone. “I don't blame her,
Vance. I would do the same. It sounds like it was a close
thing.”

“
It was,” I admitted. “I
never thought they'd get this far.”

“
We're going to have to
make some changes at Two.”

I nodded even though she couldn't see me.
She took the silence for agreement, told me she loved me, and hung
up the phone with the promise to call tomorrow and make sure
preparations were taking place.

I closed the phone, then rested my elbows on
my knees and buried my face in my hands. The images of my dead
friends' faces danced in my mind, their wounds bleeding and eyes
lifeless. Tears rose unbidden and slid between my fingers.

“
Your mom sounds like a
piece of work,” a voice said from behind me.

My fingers found the knife hidden under the
cushion and I spun with the blade out to stop a millimeter from the
girl’s throat. My heart raced and it took a minute to slow my
breathing and force the urge to phase back down. The Hunter’s wide
eyes stared into mine, bright with fear and surprise. I lowered the
knife.

“
Don't you know better than
to startle an armed werewolf?”

“
I didn't know you were
armed,” she said in a strangled voice.

I slid the knife back under the cushion, my
eyes never leaving her face. “Always assume I'm armed.”

“
I will.”

I couldn't tell if she was serious or
mocking me, so I kept silent.

Her eyes searched my face. “Oh, you’re
crying,” she said in a tone that was surprised and tender the way
someone would talk to a lost puppy.

She put a hand on my shoulder. The gesture
was so familiar and sweet I didn’t know how to respond. No one ever
touched me, let alone in consolation. Crying and being comforted
was a weakness I couldn’t afford. I gritted my teeth and moved away
from her hand. “Your Hunters killed my friends. Now I have to send
their bodies home to their families.”

She shook her head with regret shining in
her green eyes. “They should be alive. We weren't supposed to be
here. It was a mistake.”

“
One that cost all of us
dearly,” I replied softly, thinking of the bodies I had prepared
and the quiet, mournful tones of the Uniting Chant. The thought
sent a sharp pain through my heart and I had to change the topic.
“What's your name?”

She sniffed, then turned her head to look at
me. “Nora.”

“
I don't think we've been
properly introduced,” I said, trying for humor. I held out a hand.
“I'm Vance.”

She looked at my hand until I finally
dropped it. Her gaze darkened. “I need to go home.”

I shook my head. “I can't let you do
that.”

“
So, what? You'll keep me
here forever?”

I bristled at her tone. “At least you’re
alive. I can't let you endanger the rest of the werewolves by
letting you go.”

“
My dad will come for me,”
she threatened.

“
According to you, he has
no idea you're here.” I held her eyes, my tone dangerous. “I don't
think anyone's coming.”

She glared at me for a moment, making me
realize that it had been years since anyone had met my gaze with so
much defiance. I rose and crossed to the door. “Better get some
more rest,” I said over my shoulder. “You need to give your leg a
chance to heal.”

I shut the door and stalked down the hall
angrier than the situation called for. The Hunter confused me. She
could be sweet and needy one moment, then prickly as a porcupine
the next. She kept me on my toes when all I wanted to do was figure
out how to make Two stronger against attacks. I had no doubts that
the families of the Hunters we killed would be looking for them,
and we had to be ready if they found us.

***

I hammered the last few nails on Sam’s
coffin, then could only sit back and stare at the four wooden
boxes. A void filled my chest and it was all I could do to keep
from tearing everything apart. With my friends dead, Two possibly
compromised, and an unpredictable Hunter in my rooms, there was no
peace.

I made my way through the twisted red rock
halls to the training rooms. The rooms were empty. I picked up a
pair of knives and attacked the first dummy with a smooth
efficiency and mindless effort brought by years of practice. I had
killed the ten dummies in the room so many times I was almost fond
of the wood and cloth forms. I went to the next room and reviewed
martial arts with the wooden practice posts. Sweat dripped from my
skin and my heart pounded with each hit. My muscles flowed smoothly
from one exercise to the next as I had done a million times. I lost
myself in the motion. My healing shoulder and back throbbed, but it
was a healing ache and I reveled in the pain that crowded the other
thoughts from my mind.

“
Vance?”

Traer’s voice eventually broke through the
numb fog of battle exhaustion that chased away all thoughts but my
pretend opponents. I gave him a weary smile and tossed the pair of
sticks I had been using back in a pile.

Traer’s eyes tightened with concern. “What
happened there?”

I glanced down at my chest and saw that the
strain of practice made the bullet wound start bleeding again. My
white shirt had a big red tell-tale circle along the front of my
left shoulder. I met my friend’s eyes. “Just a scratch from the
fight, that’s all.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “It should have
started healing by now.” His expression said he suspected something
different.

I held his eyes. “If I say it’s a scratch,
it’s a scratch.”

He hesitated, then lowered his eyes to the
ground and nodded. “Very well. We need to check the Hunter’s wounds
and probably change the bandages.”

“
Fine.”

He led the way from the room, my Alpha
instincts more comfortable with following instead of having someone
at my back. Even all the years we had lived together couldn't
dampen the survival instincts.

Chapter 5

“
How does this feel?” Traer
asked in an emotionless tone.

“
Could you wrap it
tighter?” Nora questioned. At Traer's look, she blushed slightly.
“It would help me get around better if I wasn't worried about
pulling the stitches.”

Traer glanced at me and at my nod unwound
the bandages and started over. His deft fingers made a mockery of
the wrapping job I was doing on her arm. When he finished, he
glanced at my work, sighed, and rewrapped that one, too.

I leaned back against the kitchen counter
and crossed my arms over my chest. The position helped ease the
healing throb from my shoulder. Nora watched Traer work, an
unreadable expression on her face. I couldn't tell if she was
afraid of the werewolf or surprised by his knowledge of medicine.
She gave a small cough and I realized I was staring.

“
I noticed the degrees in
the bedroom. Are those yours or do you add plagiarizing to your
list of werewolf activities along with slaughtering humans like
cattle?” she asked with a bite. She winced at Traer's touch that
suddenly appeared a bit rougher.

Traer looked at me with a lifted eyebrow. I
gave Nora a steady look. “We only slaughter humans like cattle if
they come to slaughter us first. Those are the first humans I’ve
ever killed.” Shock widened her eyes. I was surprised at how the
look hurt, but pushed it aside. “The degrees are mine. We are all
schooled online.”

“
I didn’t know you could
get a Masters over the Internet.”

I met her skeptical gaze directly. “When you
have unlimited funds, long-distance schooling isn’t an obstacle.
Schools will do whatever they can to receive the donations my
parents provide. I have a Masters in Ancient Philosophy and English
Literature.”

“
With a Minor in Zoology,”
she said quietly.

I nodded. “Not much else to do around here
but study and slaughter innocents.”

She looked abashed at my sarcastic tone and
I wanted to take it back, but a knock sounded at the door.

“
Vance? Search and Rescue
is on the radio. They have hikers lost up Sage Canyon and are
requesting our help.”

I rubbed the calluses on the palm of my hand
and met Traer's expectant expression. The thought of getting out of
Two for a while was a welcome distraction. I raised my voice, “Tell
Ron we'll be there.”

“
Will do,” Drake replied.
His footsteps disappeared back up the hall.

Nora looked from Traer to me. “You've got to
be kidding me,” she said, her voice thick with disbelief.

“
Which part? That hikers
are lost or they want our help in finding them?”

I fought back a laugh at Traer's droll tone
and met Nora's doubtful gaze. “Believe it or not, werewolves can
have a modicum of humanity,” I said dryly. I stood up from the
counter and went in the bedroom to change my shirt and grab hiking
boots, a compass, and a map. The last two items were purely for
show, but appearances were everything when it came to hiding what
we really were.

I went back into the living room to find
Nora and Traer arguing.

“
I just don't think it'd be
a good idea. They know us and they don't know you. We don't have
any reason for you to come along on something like this,” Traer
said. His back was to me, but I could tell by the tension in his
shoulders that he was annoyed.