AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She nodded. "I took your suitcases out of storage and placed them on your bed. Go ahead and pack." She sighed. "To be honest, I do not know how long we will be there. So take anything you think you may need for a while."
Avery nodded. "Okay Kari." He dropped a kiss on her cheek and immediately headed toward his room.
Kari walked over to the large window and looked down at the picturesque scene their bustling small downtown offered. It wasn't Chicago--hell, it was barely a city--but it was small and quiet, and she loved it.
When she and Avery were house hunting, they had both fallen in love with the location. So they decided to buy two condos in the old brick building in the center of town and had them completely renovated into a huge single condo just for her and Avery. The window overlooked the town square where she could watch people coming and going. It was getting dark, and the streetlights were turning on one by one.
It was still early spring, and the sun was just now starting to stay in the sky longer and longer each day. With an overcast like this, it still felt like the deepest part of winter. She reached up and rubbed her temples.
"It is just a vacation," she whispered to herself. "We will go, and I will show Avery the city. Things will calm down and we will come home. It is just a vacation."
CHAPTER TWO
Declan held out one hand to fend off the hissing male vampire; with the other, he held back a snarling wolf shifter. He wondered how his day had come to this. His morning had been great. He woke up, got in a good run, ate a huge
breakfast, teased Adriel, and was lucky enough to be assigned to Level Six patrol for the day. So how had he ended up between two angry males, looking like he was trying to referee a couple of velociraptors?
"Gerald, you need to calm down," Declan ordered, squaring off to the vampire. Gerald DuBois hissed. "I will when he gives me back my mate!" Gerald tried to reach past Declan, and Declan batted his hand away. Behind him, he heard a snarl.
"She is not your mate!"
Declan looked back at the wolf. "How do you know that?" he asked.
Yellow canine eyes met his. "Because she's mine." The wolf turned back to stare at Gerald. "I'm Peter Hernandez," he said, not taking his eyes off the angry vampire.
Fuck me, Declan thought. He turned to face Gerald. "Okay, Gerald, the wolf here says she is his mate; what do you have to say about that?"
Gerald shook his head. "I have been with her for over five hundred years. Our families arranged our mating. We have a son together; she is mine!"
Declan wished that Warrick was up here. This was his crazy ass uncle. "Gerald, you said it was an arranged mating. As far as I know, we don't have arranged matings."
Gerald looked at him, disgust in his eyes. "Of course not. Arranged matings only happen within the Founding and Noble families, to keep our lines pure."
Declan turned his attention to the small, trembling woman behind the wolf shifter. "Rachelle, honey, you know I'm not going to hurt you. You want to tell old Declan what's going on?"
Rachelle nodded. "It is true, I belong to Peter. We found each other a few days ago. Gerald normally does not let me go up to the market level, but as we were out of some things, and our normal servant has been helping the refugees get settled, I decided to come up here myself." Her face took on a dreamy expression. "And that is when I found Peter. For my entire life, I did not even know what I was missing. I did not know." Her voice broke, and she took a deep breath. Peter wrapped his arm around her. She looked up, tears in her eyes. "I did not know that matings were supposed to be like this." From the way she emphasized the word, Declan knew exactly how she'd been treated by Gerald. He turned back to the angry vampire.
"Well, Gerald, Rachelle here says that she belongs to Peter and not you. You know as well as I do that it is against our laws to interfere with matings. You will have to step aside."
Gerald's nostrils flared, and he turned to Peter. Declan had only a second to react. He jumped in front of the wolf shifter as Gerald raked his claws downward, catching Declan across the abdomen. He felt each hard nail rip his flesh open. Rachelle screamed as a crowd quickly gathered around them. Three wolves, including the Wolftown beta, Jorge, tackled Gerald to the floor. Declan blinked, staring up at the ceiling.
I don't get paid enough for this. Wait, do I get paid for this? Damn, I must be hurt worse than I thought. All I had to do was patrol. He reached down to touch his belly. His hand came away covered in blood.
"Well, that's gonna leave a mark," he said before darkness swept him away.
*****
"Look Kari! They have meat kebobs! And are those funnel cakes?" Avery asked. Kari had a new appreciation for his enthusiasm. She had dreaded coming back to the city, but his childlike excitement actually made this somewhat enjoyable. Their escort, a flirtatious witch by the name of Micah Sageson, was pointing out all of the vendors. Micah told her that their luggage had been carried to their new quarters and the only thing she should worry about was learning her new home.
"Everything smells so good!" Avery exclaimed, hopping from one foot to the other. He turned to her. "Where do we start?"
Kari waved her hand pointing to the entire cavern. "Help yourself; just do not come crying to me if you stuff yourself silly and have to be rolled to our new quarters."
Avery was just about to turn and head toward the food stalls when they heard screams. Micah was instantly on alert as wolves poured out of their homes. On the far side of the hall, a small group was forming next to the wall. Seconds later, the smell of blood reached her. She turned to Micah.
"Micah, there is blood, a lot of blood. Someone is close to dying."
His jaw clenched. "You two stay here. I need to see what's happening." He turned and ran toward the crowd.
