Page 79 of Call of the Blood

“How far are we driving?”

“I think even speeding, it’s an hour away and… it’s already been thirty minutes, forty?” I could barely think straight. “He’s in the lead.”

“We’re going to get Declan back,” Lexi said as we got to the car. She got into the passenger’s seat and started stripping to reveal the injury. “What are we doing about your uncle?”

“Killing him,” I growled as I typed in the address for his second property. I reached for my laptop and used it to try to get location data on my uncle or Declan. “Did he also break Declan’s phone?”

“I think so,” Lexi answered. She already had the first aid kit open. “I could exhaust myself to Change to heal this, but then I’d have to Change back. I’ll just… stitch it.”

“Christ. Okay.” I couldn’t believe her anymore. “Do you have any practice with that?”

“Every werewolf in the pack is required to go through what is essentially EMT training while in our teen years, and it’s reinforced when we’re in our twenties. It’s not just EMT training, there’s more to it, but you know what I mean. Werewolves get hurt a lot. It won’t be pretty, but I know some techniques. Practiced a few times with pig skin.”

I was already speeding on the road when she said pig.

“What?”

“It’s the closest equivalent to human skin, which makes it the perfect practice. It’s actually being phased out by many for artificial skins to practice on, but when I went through training, the instructors were still using pig skin.”

I was actually impressed by her knowledge. It was a momentary distraction from the frustration of not getting accurate location data on my uncle or my brother. I could only drive as fast as I could to the address that he had intentionally kept from the nest and hope it was the right guess.

Beside me, Lexi grimaced, and I saw she was biting into her own leather belt. She pushed the needle with one hand and held the wound as closed as she could with the other. I tried not to hit any bumps or swerve too much for her.

“We need to make calls,” I finally said, knowing she wasn’t in the place to. “I’ll make them if that’s okay.” I needed to call Alexius, Maria, and Callahan. Or Alexius could call Callahan. We didn’t have Lexi’s phone to call her father unless she had memorized the number. “Do you know your mom or dad’s number by heart?”

She winced, then shook her head, growling as she bit down on the leather.

“All right then,” I called Alexius.

I should have never gotten off the phone with Declan. I would have known he was taken earlier and been able to follow faster. Fuck.

“Everly, update?”

“Henry has him. Lexi was injured, but she’s currently treating her injuries in the car with me. We’re chasing, hopefully, to the right place.”

“Maria arrived at his known home and found the… shrine you described. Only a minute ago. He’s not there, and they’re now on top of it. She’s leaving a group to clean it out and look through all that you might not have had time to.”

“I’ll send his second address.”

“Is it…” Alexius said something, and it was surprisingly correct.

“How?”

“It’s where he kept the vampires he created. It’s pretty far, Everly. We’re all going to be behind.”

“I know, but if I can catch up to him, I can take him. I’m going to put Lexi in charge of just getting Declan out and to safety while I keep Henry busy… and hopefully, killing him for this.”

“Good plan. I’ll call Callahan and tell him where his wolf is. We’ll get reinforcements from the pack. They’ll only be pledged to her safety if this goes wrong, but that shouldn’t matter.”

“What does that mean?” Lexi spat, the leather falling from her mouth and pain obvious in her face.

“If Henry succeeds in what Everly and I believe he wants, the pack won’t be allowed to have that claim over him.”

“Because he’ll be Turning,” I added, the words hard to say, “into a vampire.”

He didn’t want this. I failed him. I fucked up. I can’t believe I’m so fucking stupid.

“That can’t happen,” Lexi snarled. “He would never see the sunset on the beach again. He would never smile in the surf under the sun…”