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“Are you really looking to start a battle? The war has been quiet here for years. If you go in and kill a bunch of bloodsuckers without cause, we will have an army of them on our heads.” Rafael’s eyes darkened, but I couldn’t tell if it was fear or anger.
“Would you rather they pick us off one by one until they have the strength to slaughter all of us?” I stayed calm, done with his arguments and all others. I knew what it was.
“What makes you think it’s vampires?” Rafael said dismissively.
“It’s the only thing that makes sense.” I wasn’t in the mood to fight with him over it.
“We’d smell them. It has to be something else,” Raf argued.
“It’s bloodsuckers. You can chase ghosts on your time, but we will look for a nest.” My tone ended the conversation.
Raf hissed low, unhappy I wasn’t listening to him.
“I don’t know any nests in the New World old enough to know these legends,” Vin said when our exchange ended.
“Exactly,” my mind whirled. “So they should stick out like a sore thumb.”
Vin paced, so lost in thought even the bond seemed impenetrable.
Rafael nodded toward him.
I shrugged. “Best to leave him when he’s like that.”
“Walk with me?” Rafael asked.
I sized him up. “Sure.” We hadn’t spent any real time together since Vin had moved in.
“You know I support you, right?”
I nodded, hoping this wouldn’t be about the child.
“I feel like we are sinking,” Raf said carefully.
“I think we all feel like that.” I peeled off my shirt as we hit the deck.
Raf looked me over, not moving to take his shirt off. “Dominic.”
“Spit it out.”
“Have you gotten Laura involved in any of this yet?” he asked.
“No.”
“Talked to her?”
“Not in a few weeks,” I replied. She and I were close, but the type of close where we didn’t need to speak every day. We both had our own lives and responsibilities, and I didn’t micromanage hers as my second.
“I don’t think she’s happy with you.”
“That’s her prerogative. She is going to feel how she feels, especially when it comes to the pack. It’s hers, too.” I’d nearly made Raf my second, but he was so young when I’d taken over. Even though it was only a year younger than me, it felt like more. I thought it would make us weak. I needed a show of strength those first few years, and Laura was as steady as she was feared.
Gabe was too hot-headed to be a second. Better to send him when heads needed to be knocked together, whereas Laura did a good job supporting my laws but offering a different perspective. She wasn’t an ass-kisser and made it known when she disagreed with me. Az had never wanted it. He was too much a wolf to care about leadership. Those ideas came from man.
“Do you think she’s still an effective second?”
“What are you getting at?” I paused, really studying him. “What has brought all this on?”
“She is unhappy with you. That’s all I know. It’s probably to do with him.” He nodded at the house where Vin paced in the window.
