Heartsblood (Dark Hollow Wolf Pack 10)

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

“When Tucker and Gavin got married in Tennessee and Tate took me and Gavin prisoner. You remember?”

“Of course I remember, damn it. I thought I’d go out of my mind before we found the two of you.”

“Tate talked a lot to Tucker. Bragging, mostly. He thought I was too drugged out of my mind to know what he was talking about, but I wasn’t. He didn’t realize how high my tolerance for drugs was after—well, after I took off that time.”

“I remember. Go on.”

“He told Tucker that the Hunter scientists got it all wrong by experimenting on the wolves, because wolves are too difficult to manage, too strong, too arrogant.”

Cade nodded and said, “That proves they’d been experimenting on the wolves they captured.”

“What if Tate had access to the old books too? Only from the other side of the coin—from the Hunters themselves. They must have documented all of it as well. And what if he had some of the blood the scientists had taken from an alpha? Some of its heartsblood? What if he wondered what would happen if he made the necromancer’s elixir and injected some of it into a pet?” He looked up at Marco with a horrified expression on his face. “Into me?”

Zack spoke up quietly. “Some of the heartsblood they took from Tim.”

“Well, it makes sense, right? What was it you said, Cade? That the necromancer took on the characteristics of the wolf he killed? What if it wasn’t just the characteristics or the essence, but the wolf itself?”

“What do you mean, Nicky?” Jax said, looking puzzled.

“Let’s assume Tate made his elixir with a sample of the heartsblood he found that belonged to Tim. We know that Tate got away with some of their samples and equipment when the compound was destroyed. What if he made his elixir and shot it into me to give me the bloodlust? And Tim’s wolf started to grow inside me. But that wolf was defective—crazy from whatever else they might have done to him while they had him in their cages. We know they did something to him to make him so violent and murderous. Look what he did to Gabe and his mother. And that’s why my wolf is so obsessed with Gabe and hates all of you so much. You said he tried to kill you, Zack. And there’s a strong family resemblance among the three of you, Marco, Zack and Cade. Maybe it’s not Marco my wolf hates so much, but Zack. He killed Tim, after all.”

“But even if all this is true,” Marco said. “And that’s quite a stretch—what would Tate have to gain by giving you the heartsblood of any wolf? Why would he want you to have the bloodlust with me? He hates me and he wants you.”

“Because it’s not his end game. Maybe this was just the first step in his plan, not the last one. If he could infect me with the bloodlust, and I form that attachment to you, then we’ll make an alpha pair, just like in the legend.”

“Right. So?”

“Then, just like the necromancer, all he has to do is kill you, Marco, and take your blood. He can then take the elixir and become my mate.”

“The other alpha became his virtual love slave,” Cade said softly, repeating the words of the old legend.

A silence fell over the group and a little shudder went through Nicky. “That’s it.” Nicky glanced over at Marco in horror and bit down on his pale bottom lip. “He wants to kill you, Marco. And drain your heart of its blood.”

Chapter Six

Logan Winters, once a Hunter and now Ian’s mate and the love of his life, walked slowly up the path in front of Nicky, not saying anything, just soothing Nicky with his presence. From the first time Nicky met Logan, he’d exerted this calming influence on Nicky, and Nicky had never really before realized why he loved spending time with Logan so much.

It wasn’t just because Logan was handsome and brave and good at just about anything he set his mind to do. It wasn’t even because of the rather spectacular ass twisting in front of Nicky in those tight jeans, though all of those things, it must be said, played a role. Logan was also an extraordinarily kind person, and had stood steadfastly by Nicky’s side during one of the worst times of Nicky’s life—when he and Marco were so far apart Nicky had believed they’d never find their way back to each other again. When no matter what Nicky tried to do to win him back, it never seemed to be good enough. And Logan had been there when Marco came to his senses and brought Nicky back home, still largely broken and battered and badly in need of a friend.

Maybe it was only natural that Nicky would turn to Logan again, despite the fact that Nicky made Ian nervous and uneasy now. Ian, Marco’s beta—Nicky’s now too, come to think of it—didn’t like his mate continuing his friendship with Nicky. It wasn’t only jealousy, though that was certainly part of it, but also Ian’s sense of propriety, of what was the seemly thing to do. An old-fashioned word, but then Ian was still one of the most old-fashioned members of the pack. Logan had brought him a long way, but he had miles to go yet.

Nicky had sought Logan out earlier that morning, right after breakfast, because he needed someone to talk to, someone who was not a wolf. As much as he loved Marco and even Jax, he’d pretty much had his fill of the rest of them. He’d decided that morning, as he drank his first cup of coffee and looked out at the beautiful mountain vista outside his window that a walk in the woods would soothe his troubled spirit more than anything else he could think of to do.

Marco had already left for the day. They’d spent the night mostly in each other’s arms, exhausted but still wanting to touch each other, to be in close contact, if only physically. Marco had spent hours earlier in the evening trying to convince Nicky that there was little threat to his life. That no matter how much Jeremy Tate might wish him dead, it simply wasn’t going to happen. He could take care of himself, after all, and besides, he said, it had been years since the Hunters had made their forays onto pack lands. Other than the attack on the group of pets, that is—the one that had killed one pet and wounded several others and gave Tate the chance to get to Nicky again. Yeah, other than that, things had been great.

Marco wouldn’t listen to anything Nicky said. He told him that he and Ian had regular patrols along their borders and it would be difficult, indeed, for a group of Hunters to cross those patrol routes and ambush them on their own property.

Nicky decided not to remind him about how close Tyler Adams, aka Tyler Timberlake, had come to Cade’s lodge only a few months ago. A rank amateur, really, according to Hunter standards, he’d been spying on Cade’s pack with high-powered binoculars for hours before Rayce, Cade’s beta, had seen a glint of sun off the lenses and gone to intercept him. Lucky for all of them that he’d turned out to be Rayce’s mate and told them how closely Tate had been monitoring the wolves and their movements.

Nicky wished he could question Tyler again, but before Zack and Gabe came to visit, Rayce had taken his new mate on an extended honeymoon back to Louisiana to meet Rayce’s family. They’d gone by motorcycle and were apparently taking their sweet time to get there. Knowing Rayce, he was probably only making it a few miles each day before he found a motel on the side of the road. Cade had been trying to get in touch with Rayce for days, and Rayce wasn’t even answering his cell phone.

Not that Tyler would necessarily have any useful information. He was only a pawn Tate had been amusing himself with, reminding Nicky that he was never far away. Tate was coming for him. Nicky was as aware of that as he was of the trail beneath his feet. That’s what the little incident in Highlands had been about. What was even more alarming, and what had Nicky tied up in knots, was that now he was coming for Marco too.

“Not that I’m not enjoying this little trek in the noonday sun, but where exactly are we going?” Logan said, stopping on the trail to wipe his brow and interrupting Nicky’s morbid thoughts.

Nicky laughed and pointed up the trail. “I thought we might go to the little stream I like so much. The one I call Flat Rock.”