Page 3 of Bound

The Tracers were the official military branch of the werewolf council. They were well-funded, ruthlessly trained in everything from black ops to SWAT and rescue operations, and most were recruited because they possessed paranormal abilities beyond that of the general werewolf population.

“I know. And I swear this will be the last time.” Lowering my voice, I jerked my chin to where Topher slouched looking bored at the end of the hall. “Look, you know this is personal. His brother is still missing.”

Phoenix pinched the bridge of his nose. “No new leads?”

“Give him five minutes. He just needs to know we’re not missing anything. You and I both get what that’s like. He won’t touch anything, I swear. And sushi night is on me.”

Phoenix lowered his voice. “While we’re talking, you should know I heard from my former Alpha. She had a message to pass on.”

I rubbed my temples, a migraine threatening to form. The North Austin pack had changed Alphas three times in the past year, a power vacuum that had resulted after pack leadership had been caught colluding with one of the vampire covens to kidnap humans off the streets of downtown Austin, change them into werewolves and sell them as blood slaves. London Blake had been Alpha at the time the betrayal was discovered. She’d sworn she had no knowledge of what had been going on, that she’d been framed by hard-liners within the pack who wanted a young progressive leader ousted. The werewolf council had been hunting for her ever since, and no one who’d risen to power in North Austin in her wake had been able to hold the territory for more than a few months.

The door to 5B swung open. Maddox Blake, Alpha of the North Austin Pack, was a barrel-chested shifter who looked to be in his mid-forties, which given our regenerative abilities, probably put his actual age somewhere closer to a century. His hair was buzzed short, showing off scarring along his scalp and a vein in his forehead that looked close to exploding every time he saw me.

“The hell? What did I tell you Caldwell boys the last time? This ain’t your pack or your jurisdiction. I don’t care if your brother is in law enforcement or who your freak of an uncle is. The Tracers want to get serious about pack security? Tell them to quit slow-walking that request for weapons and tactical gear I put in months ago.”

Because that was just what this situation needed. More firepower.

In the back of my mind, Brody’s Alpha power pressed down, the mental equivalent of a death glare. I shrugged it off. Maddox Blake was old school. The Alphas of his generation understood one code: show weakness and you were dead. I couldn’t back down now.

“Couple of problems with that. Everyone from here to Canada knows my Uncle Guillermo has you on a short leash after your pack got busted last year for… what was it?”

“Trafficking humans over to the undeads,” Phoenix said quietly. “Including that one.”

Topher bared his teeth.

I shot him a warning look. Phoenix was our only source of intel within the North Austin pack at the moment and their personal pissing match was the last thing I needed right now. “Right.”

“That was my whore of a niece,” Maddox grunted. “The one your oldest brother is screwing for information.”

Which, he wasn’t, although I was pretty sure there were doughnuts involved. The good sour cream ones from Blair’s Bakery that sold out half an hour after opening if you didn’t special order them the night before.

But way to keep it classy.

“So there is information.”

Phoenix jerked his chin at Topher. “Word on the street is the vamps are offering one hundred grand for anyone who brings him in.”

Topher flipped him off.

I raised a bored eyebrow. “That’s all?”

“Whatever.” Phoenix’s expression darkened. “But you should know we’ve intercepted three vampire patrols along our mutual border in the last week alone. Blood Moon’s been marked.”

Tell me something I didn’t know.

Our hometown of Blood Moon, Texas was located two hours outside of Austin, tucked up in the Texas Hill Country on the shores of Lake Buchanan. Our one claim to fame, other than having the best Whataburgerin the state, was the fact that we were only ten miles from the infamous exit sign where four years ago, supernaturals were outed to humans everywhere when a vampire panicked during a traffic stop, sank fangs into the neck of the closest deputy and vanished into thin air.

Naturally, this spawned an epic worldwide freak out. Think mass raids, government crackdowns, and a universal case of garlic breath which, by the way, did nothing to deter those of the fanged persuasion. So long as it was after dark, the undead could storm your local Olive Gardenand carb out on the bottomless breadsticks with the best of them. Other than severe sunlight sensitivity and the inconvenient need for O-Neg, very little fazed the undead.

You’d think werewolves having witnessed this fanged clusterfuck would have redoubled our efforts to keep things on the down low. Instead, a year after #DashCamVlad turned himself into the most sought-after vampire on the planet, a bunch of hipsters from the Portland pack, not to be outdone on the supernatural head-desk meter, let things get a little too recreational at a campsite out in Oregon and got caught on camera shifting into two-hundred-pound werewolves.

The world knew we existed. The feds were hunting us. The vamps wanted to use us as a food source. And at the moment we could count the number of packs friendly to us on one hand.

“You’ve got shifters disappearing on your watch left and right.” I stared Maddox Blake down, knowing I’d struck a nerve when his eyes flared a furious gold. “How much longer do you think the Council allows this to go on before they start looking for your replacement? Let us help you, neighbor to neighbor.”

“Neighbor to neighbor?” He bared his teeth. “You think I don’t know your brother has been working behind the scenes to have me replaced with my niece?”

I cocked my head. “London Blake believes her legacy and birthright were stolen the day you took over as Alpha. She’ll stop at nothing to regain power. You think the high-born daughter of two Alphas gives a flip about my hick sheriff brother?”