Page 23 of Call of the Blood

I gave up everything to protect his humanity and his choice to leave the vampire shit behind. He graciously accepted me back, but I wouldn’t let anyone else ruin what he wanted out of his life.

“I’m taking this to the pack,” she growled softly. “He works for us and, therefore, falls under our protection.”

My phone at this point had already buzzed, and I quickly looked at it to see my brother had texted like he promised.

“War it is,” I said, smiling as I had all the information I needed. “It was really nice meeting you, Alexandra.”

I went to my car as she snarled. I heard a door slam and watched her car screech out of the parking lot. I must have really thrown her off, because I knew my brother wasn’t into immature, bratty women.

“She really thinks I’ll hurt him,” I said softly, sighing as I got into my car and drove toward the safe house, my night ruined. Ruined by a girlfriend trying to be nice by bringing cookies.

“Fuck,” I groaned after I parked, leaning my head on the wheel.

She had come over to be sweet, to show initiative to meet his last family member.

Being a supernatural sucked sometimes. Instantly ruining everyone’s evening because we happened to be two different supernaturals was one of those times.

“None of this would have happened if he already knew she was a werewolf,” I said, slamming my car door, deciding to throw the blame at her feet. “He might not have dated her if he knew, but if he had gotten to this point with her, she would have already known I was a vampire and needed to be okay with it.”

9

CHAPTER NINE

Iwent into the house, steaming mad and too fast, only to run into the brick wall of a chest that was Alexius.

“Fuck! Ouch!” I yelped, throwing my hand up to my nose.

“Oh, Everly,” he said quickly, reaching out to grab my chin. “Let me see.”

“It’s already bleeding.”

“I can smell that. Let’s get you some blood and tissue.”

“I’m fine!” I roared. “Just fucking⁠—”

His hand was on my lower back and shifted to my hip, tightening. I felt his breath on my ear.

“I’m not the one you scream at like that, not when I’m trying to help you. Once we fix your nose, you can tell me what has you heated,” he said, each word careful and to the point.

I followed him into the kitchen, and we got me cleaned up. After his warning, I didn’t fight as he decided to clean up my face for me and make sure my nose wasn’t entirely broken.

“You should be fine by next sunset,” he said eventually, too close to me, one hand holding my chin, the other wiping my face with a soft cloth as he looked me over. “Now what happened? I wasn’t expecting you to be home for another couple of hours.”

“His girlfriend dropped by for a surprise visit, and that led to a very large can of worms,” I explained, wincing as he gently poked the bridge of my nose.

“Not broken. Just… watch w here you’re going, please.” He finally released me, and I found a seat, still holding a cloth to my face for the bleeding. “What can of worms did the girlfriend open?”

“She’s a werewolf and didn’t tell him.” I laughed angrily. “While on my way out, she made some comments that will have me investigating the rest of the night. They met through work, and she said that he works for the pack, so he falls under their protection. She doesn’t want me around at all. Not because I’m a threat to them, but just because I’m a vampire. She actually showed up with cookies. She was excited to meet his sister until she learned I was a blood sucker.” I threw the cloth down. “Declan gave me his work details, and I’m going to break them. I want to know everything and every werewolf in his life that he didn’t realize.”

I stormed off, leaving Alexius in silence. Finding my laptop, knowing this wouldn’t be easy since I didn’t have anything at the ready, I was about to start in the office when a masculine hand shut my laptop.

“You can’t do that,” he said simply.

“Like hell I can’t,” I hissed up at him from the little desk in the office.

“We’re in Los Angeles. He works for some company under Callahan. The L.A. pack is immense. There’s a chance Callahan doesn’t even know the company hired your brother. There’s a chance that while it’s owned by the pack, it’s run by humans, who would be even less involved in pack and supernatural knowledge. There’s a chance she was one of two werewolves working in the office or what have you.” He leaned down. “You cannot break into their records or do anything to disrupt their business. It will cause more problems than you think it will solve. You’re just being hot tempered when there’s an easier solution.”

I hissed again, no words this time.