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He looks away, his features mostly hidden as he walks toward a hillside.
“I was wrong,” he says as I follow his lead.
When I reach his side, my eyes go down, and my lungs freeze. The land in the small valley is completely dead—ashes to be more exact. Several blood-starved night stalkers seem to have been caught in the decaying trap, all of them bleeding through their eyes and noses as they lie dead or dying next to an ashy gray beast that looks to have been mutated. It also looks like it has exploded in the center.
“What the fucking hell?” I ask on a rasp.
“I thought they wanted your lycan to find your group.” He turns to face me. “She’s of alpha blood, right?”
Running a frustrated hand through my hair, I try to recount Amy’s origins. “I don’t know. Hell, she doesn’t know. Her sire was a brutal sadist that had to be killed.”
“Sounds like alpha bloodline to me. Just like your little werewitch.”
“Roslyn is alpha bloodline?”
“Her blood isn’t pure, so she couldn’t ever be used that way. But her father would be a candidate if they hadn’t found one already that took. This,” he says, gesturing toward the mutilated remains of a beast, “is what a failed project looks like. The bloodline wasn’t pure enough to withstand the change for very long. It was a lycan. Which means they needed a new lycan.”
Slowly his meaning sinks in, and I sag back, feeling a hit to my stomach.
“Amy,” I say on a pained breath.
He nods. “Once they use the blood on her to change her, she’s dead. By now, that’s already happened. The girl you used to know is gone. She can’t be returned. Only the beast exists now. It’s how the first bloods think. The master wouldn’t have wasted time changing her. It’s a brutal process that only works when the moon is full, as it is tonight.”
Swallowing down the bile in my throat, I ask, “What if it doesn’t take?” I motion toward the decimated remains. “Will she die like that thing?”
His eyes narrow to slits and the silver grows brighter. “Are you not listening? I told you she’s already dead. The first blood will use her body as a host. She’s no longer the girl you knew. There is no cure. She’s not going to magically be your friend again. It doesn’t work like that. Either they become the first bloods, or they end up like this.”
He points at the heaping pile of death to prove a point. “They left it here to ruin any trail you’d have to find her. Not that it matters. By now she’s already been injected. But they don’t want you finding them. Just like they don’t want me finding them. This thing destroys any chance at finding a trail from here on out.”
I drop to my knees, feeling a pang in my chest. I may never have been close to Amy, but she sure as hell didn’t deserve this.
“Kya believes the lover night stalker betrayed you. Think of any information you may have shared with him and how it may affect you.”
Slade doesn’t say another word before disappearing, and I stare emptily at the mess before me.
We’ve been so lax. They walked right up and took one of us, and we’ve been playing like we’re still on top of the chains. It’s always turned out good for us before.
We’ve never lost anyone...
Until now.
Chapter 15
CHAZ
“We can call Dray. He’s a dark angel. Dark angels heal. He can fix her,” Sierra sobs, rocking back and forth as Deke tries to console her.
Dray can’t rework her blood and cleanse her system of a new entity that now resides. Slade was kind enough to send over all the information he had on first bloods, just so he could ensure we wouldn’t be stupid enough to think we could save her.
He showed us documented proof—the person is killed so the first-blood virus can take root. Amy is gone. Dead. Just like that.
So he says.
I can’t stay here and continue to listen to this. It’s making the beast restless, hungry for a fight. Running a hand through my hair, I pace the floors, ignoring the escaping growls.
For the past day, I’ve been growing pale, and the cold sweats are getting fiercer. We’ve been underground or in this cabin with the windows boarded closed with warded crests and spells all over. No one is taking any chances.
But I feel caged, and the anger burning inside is growing tangible, almost as though it’s manifesting in my core.
