Hot Blooded (Jessica McClain)

chapter 14

I threw the phone down in frustration right as Danny and Tyler trotted back into the area carrying more supplies. My father had known that if he’d stayed on the line he risked my complete cooperation. I’d somehow talk him out of it. So he’d left me no room for further discussion, which had been his sole intent. If I tried to call him back he wouldn’t answer.

Shit. My wolf growled and showed us as the Alpha. That’s not helping! We aren’t the Alpha. I don’t even feel like an Alpha. She flashed me the box and showed us glowing with power. I know. I get it. I felt it. She barked and showed me the picture again. I squinted in my mind’s eye, but what she showed me wasn’t the Alpha; it was something else. I could feel what she was projecting, but there were no words behind it. Before I had a chance to examine it better, Tyler rushed up to me.

He grasped me by the shoulders. “Glad to see you’re awake. That was crazy and awesome at the same time. But don’t scare me like that again. Seeing you in those situations is like watching someone murder a puppy. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it.”

I stared at him intently, unable to talk just yet. He wasn’t going to be happy and I didn’t want to ruin our relationship. I loved my brother.

“What?” He glanced at me, reading my face, and then noticed the phone lying in the dirt. “Did you talk to Dad?” He dropped his hands. When I didn’t answer, he asked in my mind. What is it? Are you hurt? Are there complications with the venom? Is it still in your body? They were all over you. I wasn’t sure you were going to make it even though you said you had it handled.

I’m fine. There’s no venom, but we have a situation. I couldn’t beat around the bush with this one. It was too big. I cleared my throat and addressed both Danny and Tyler out loud. “It seems, in order to move forward with the blessing of our father, in light of the added Underworld component, Dad has issued a new order for us.”

“What is it then?” Danny asked. “I’m all for scouting ahead without you. If we encounter any other beasts, as we surely will, we can have at them first. Even if we don’t make it, we will have cleared the road a little better for you.”

“No.” I shook my head. “That’s not it.”

“Spill it,” Tyler said, narrowing his gaze. He knew he wasn’t going to like it. “The anticipation isn’t necessary.”

“Um, apparently”—I cleared my throat again; it felt like I had a grapefruit lodged in there—“he wants you… to be able to shift and have your full powers back. He thinks it’s necessary if we’re going to try and win a combined battle with the Underworld and Selene.”

“That makes sense,” Tyler agreed. “But how do we do that? The oath we swore as Selectives is binding. We can’t shift.”

I squared my shoulders and took a deep breath. “We’re… going to break it,” I said with more confidence than I felt.

Tyler peered at me hard, his face going from animated to drawn. “How exactly did he tell you we were going to achieve that? He’s not here to break our oath.” Tyler knew Pack Law to the letter. Only an Alpha could physically release you from your vow. There was likely blood exchanged.

“He wants you to swear a vow to me instead,” I said quickly, “and by doing so, the old vows you swore become void.”

“Swear a vow to you?” Danny asked with a puzzled expression. “What vow can supplant one given directly from the Alpha? Unless… unless you’re talking about an Alpha Troth?” He read my grimace clearly. “Gods, you are! Your dad wants us to swear a pledge of fealty to you, bonded by blood, and if we do that, you become our Alpha.” He smiled like a shrew. “I’m in then.”

“Danny,” I said, exhaling on a long sigh, “you could at least let this big news marinate for a half a second before you throw all in. This is a big deal! I have no idea what will happen. You saw what my blood is capable of doing.”

“There’s no need to marinate,” he said with a surety I didn’t share. “The way I see it, above all else I want to save my arse and protect yours in the process. This is the only logical way to achieve both goals. When we get home, your dear old Dad takes our Troth again and we just had a bloody grand adventure, didn’t we? No harm, no foul.”

“The vow will work only if your wolf is superior in status to ours,” Tyler ground out, clearly warring with an order he knew came from his Alpha and how badly this news sucked. Submitting to a female was a low he’d never experienced until now. And he was trying to handle it like a champ. “Your wolf is above Danny’s, but not mine. Wolves sense power. Status swirls around us all the time. Just like what we talked about before we left—even if you were more superior in status, you still don’t smell like an Alpha. This won’t work.”

That was exactly Dad’s point, I said to him privately. He doesn’t think it’s about status. He thinks it will work because of the Prophecy, my Lycan-ness, and our sibling connection. This vow is not about “my balls are bigger than yours.” It’s purely a survival tactic to make us stronger as a unit. He said you’d feel it and know what he was talking about. He said we have a unique connection. Can you please try to feel it? Or do something so we can move this forward? We lost another day because of me.

We didn’t lose a day. The vamps had to sleep and I don’t know how to feel what you’re talking about. You feel like my inferior-status sister. Your power doesn’t threaten me. If it did, I’d feel an urge to fight you or submit. I’d feel some kind of pull, but instead I feel nothing from you.

Maybe that’s what he’s talking about! The fact you don’t feel anything. Isn’t it strange you don’t get any signals from me? Maybe our sibling bond makes the status thing between us immaterial. Which would be such a blessed-ass relief.

He studied me for a moment, clearly upset. I don’t know. It’s a possibility. I never thought of it like that before. It is kind of strange I don’t feel like fighting you.

Can you at least try to smell me again? You’ve always said I smell funny. Maybe that funny has something to do with this entire thing.

He inhaled, pulling it across his tongue and tasting. He shook his head. You smell strange, as always, but I don’t know what it is or what it means. I’ve never smelled a female like you before. Your scent has a thin layer of ozone or something attached to it.

Ozone? Not what I was expecting. I tried a new tactic. You don’t have to stay, you know. Dad can’t force you to do this if you want to leave. I know Selectives can be excused of their duties at any time. I knew this was going to be a hard journey and I never wanted to put you or Danny in any jeopardy. It makes me sick thinking you could die here because of me.

He sputtered out loud and looked horrified. “I’m not leaving you!”

“Then we don’t have another choice,” I challenged. “Dad said if we all continue on—it’s this or nothing. He won’t support it any other way, and I agree with you needing your full power if you’re going to have a chance to survive.”

Danny clapped Tyler on the back. “It’s okay, mate. It’ll be like this for only a quick bit, and when we get back things will go back to normal in no time. No one can fault you for trying to protect your sister. She’s your blood-kin after all. If the Alpha orders you to swear to her, you do it.”

Tyler stared at me, his irises churning. “Fine. I’ll do it, but I’m sticking by my original theory. I don’t think it will work. Blood binding is not something tangible—it’s full of magic. When you choose your Alpha and make that pledge, the blood you swear to has to be stronger. The magic will know. It won’t bind unless it’s true.”

“Frankly, if we try and it doesn’t work, I’ll be relieved,” I said. “At least then we can move forward in good faith.” If my father ordered it done and it didn’t take, there was no risk of breaking the rules. “Okay, how do we do this?”

Tyler dropped the pack on his back and reached for his belt. “It’s a relatively easy oath—like I said, the blood does all the work. The words are spoken and they mix with the blood and it either takes or it doesn’t. That’s why you don’t see alpha wolves rounding up followers. You have to be Alpha. There are very few who qualify in a Pack.” Naomi and Ray moved forward but kept quiet. I wondered briefly what was going through their minds. For the first time I realized Naomi had come without Eamon. Maybe he had finally abandoned us after all his threatening.

Danny and Tyler formed a loose circle around me.

Tyler brought a knife up from its sheath on his waist. “Just repeat the words I say—”

“No. Stop!” I grabbed on to his wrist as a bolt of fear shot through me. My wolf howled. Something was about to change. I didn’t know what, but it felt major. “Tyler,” I said a little desperately. “You have to promise me you’re doing this of your own free will. If it doesn’t take, fine, but none of us knows for sure what my blood will do to either of you. We all have to swear to live with the consequences. I don’t want it to tear us apart.”

Tyler’s irises shot to amber, emotion churning deeply in their depths. “I get it, Jess. You don’t have to worry. I don’t think you’re Alpha, but I can honestly say I don’t know what you are, so I’m willing to give it try. Whatever happens, happens. But I’m not leaving you, and Dad’s right—we can’t do this without changing the game. The stakes went through the roof when the Underworld joined the party. This is of my own free will and I’m willing to deal with the consequences.”

“If you’re not really Alpha,” Danny said, “I, for one, am curious to see what you are. Honestly, I haven’t had this much fun since I broke into the palace at Whitehall to give Queen Elizabeth a cheeky surprise. She’d been tied up with that Dudley sot, but as soon as he’d left she’d been putty in my hands. We had quite a romance after that. I’d like to think it’s why she never married.” He winked and inclined his head in the direction of his waist.

“Danny, you never cease to amaze me. The Queen of England?” I shook my head. Danny could diffuse a situation like no other and I was grateful. “Okay,” I said, getting back to business. “Let’s go.” I dropped my hand from Tyler’s wrist.

Tyler lifted the knife again and said, “I’ll feed you the words while I cut Danny’s palm. He can go first.”

“We don’t need to do anything more formal?” I asked. “This seems too easy.”

“Nope,” Tyler said. “It’s all about the words and the blood. Ready?”

“Yes,” I said. As ready as I could be. My wolf paced back and forth in my mind, patiently waiting. Do you know what’s going to happen? She snapped her muzzle at me and lifted her head. I took that as a maybe.

Tyler said, “Of my mind and body, I ask thee.”

He sliced Danny’s palm open and I repeated the words. “Of my mind and body, I ask thee.”

“Do you Pledge of me freely?”

“Do you Pledge of me freely?” I asked Danny, looking into his eyes.

Danny answered, “I pledge to you freely with body and soul.” His eyes flicked down in submission.

I held out my palm and Tyler sliced it cleanly. I winced a little.

“With the blood that mixes, it binds us together,” I repeated after Tyler. Then reached out to grab Danny’s palm.

Tyler finished with, “You are my Pack and I am your Alpha.”

“You are my Pack and I am your Alpha,” I intoned.

The second our palms met there was a shot of power so strong it blocked everything out of my mind. It jolted from my body into Danny’s and back again.

“Bloody hell!” Danny yelled. The force of the connection bucked us both backward, separating us very quickly. I leaned over, panting.

Danny was on the ground.

I turned my hand over. It was completely healed. I angled my head toward Tyler. “Was that normal?”

“F*ck no!” Tyler said, his voice stricken. “Danny, what happened? What does it feel like?”

Danny pulled himself up from the ground with ease, dusting the dirt from his mended hand. He looked at me and raised a brow, his mouth quirking at the sides. “That was off the charts. Like nothing I’ve ever felt. Even now your blood is singeing my insides. But it’s not like your father’s at all.” He turned toward a waiting Tyler. “You were right. The bond is different.”

“What is she?” Tyler asked.

“I dunno, mate, but I feel electrified. Like I could take on the world. If you give me a minute, I might even want to fight you.” He clenched and unclenched his fists.

Tyler looked startled. “You want to fight me? For status?”

“My wolf senses your power, and right now I’m above yours.” Danny chuckled. “There’s a first time for everything, right?”

Tyler’s expression changed as his wolf sensed Danny’s power for the first time. “Holy hell,” he breathed.

“Once you take her blood, we’ll see where we lie,” Danny ribbed. “And even if she’s not Alpha, she’s clearly my leader now. My connection to your father vanished the moment her blood seared my palm.”

I straightened and looked directly at Tyler. “We’re not doing this. You can’t take my blood.”

Tyler still seemed shell shocked.

“Tyler,” I said, waving my hand in front of his face. “We’re calling Dad back to tell him what happened. He won’t make us do it. It’s too risky.”

Tyler glanced at me, blinking a few times, and replied, “So he says no. Then what? There’s no way to break my Selective bond without doing this. I already told you I’m not leaving you.” His lips pursed together stubbornly. “We’re doing this.”

My mouth opened in surprise. “You can’t be serious. I just shot Danny to the ground with a few drops of my blood. We’re not doing it.” If I could’ve stamped my foot like a five-year-old child I would have.

“Jess,” Tyler said, his voice low. “I think I get it now. The thing Dad was talking about.”

“What do you mean ‘you get it now’? We’ve been at this for exactly three minutes,” I said. “What can you possibly have learned in that short amount of time—other than my blood is toxic and I should wear a sign around my chest telling people to back the hell away?”

“Danny’s smell just changed.” He gestured to Danny. “He’s giving off a hint of ozone now. But it’s just a fraction of yours—almost undetectable—but it’s your same signature.” I took a gratuitous sniff, but I didn’t even smell ozone on me, so there was no chance I was getting it off Danny. “When you bond with your Alpha, you don’t smell like your Alpha.”

“So?” I said. “What does that mean?”

“It means you’re different than an Alpha, just like I thought. Danny took a piece of you with him. I also think it means we don’t need to exchange the vow for this to work between us.”

“Come again?” I asked, with my hands on my hips. “How are you figuring this out? I’m still as confused as I was when this all started.”

“I know it, because I know genetics. DNA compatibility for normal siblings is fifty percent. We’re twins with an unusual connection; my guess is we share more than fifty percent. Possibly much more. Because we’re so closely bonded, your blood isn’t going to change me as much as it did Danny, and because you’re not technically an Alpha, there’s no need for the vow.”

“But once the words of the vow were spoken, Danny exploded. Nothing happened before then,” I helpfully pointed out.

“I didn’t technically ‘explode’ per se.” Danny chuckled. “It was more of a force of supreme magnitude that toppled me over for a mere second. But as you saw, I recovered fully and feel better than ever.”

“Danny is not blood-bonded to you already,” Tyler said. “What I’m saying, Jess, is we are too closely related and share too much DNA for you to be above or below me in status. You were right. The absence of any feeling was the key. Once we’re connected on this last level”—his irises sparked amber—“it will change the last of my DNA enough to sever my Alpha bond with Dad.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because you’re not tied to Dad the way I am. He can’t reach you or control you when you’re in your Lycan form.” Tyler ran a hand through his hair and exhaled a long frustrated breath. “I don’t know why I didn’t figure this out before. You must have something in your system that inhibits the Alpha bond. And when we exchange blood, you’re going to give it to me.”

“That sounds way too risky,” I said. “What if you’re never able to get the bond back with Dad?”

Tyler shrugged. “There’s a chance that could happen, but this feels right to me, something we’ve been missing all these years. I’m never going to take over Pack while Dad is alive anyway. And I’m still his son, with his DNA inside me. That will never change. Honestly, Jess, the protective instinct I have when you’re around almost paralyzes me with its intensity; it has ever since we were young. It’s made me crazy with worry all these years. If I have to choose Dad or you right now, I pick you.”

My heart thudded in my chest. “Tyler,” I stammered. I didn’t know what to say. “It feels like too much. Like you’re giving away too much. I don’t want to be responsible for your break in status.” But he was right. Something about it seemed to fit, the final connection that had been missing between us all these years.

Before I could say anything else, he sliced his palm. I extended my hand without looking down. He sliced it cleanly.

“Here we go,” he said, grasping my hand.

He closed his eyes and I followed.

The moment our blood connected, his emotions flared inside me, bright and clear. Everything we had shared as children ran through my mind at lightning speed. All the fights, the battles, the love, and the protection. He was right. This was different from Danny. Danny’s bonding felt possessive.

This felt like home.

“Jess,” Tyler said. “I feel Dad’s emotions in your blood too. He can feel this. I’m sure of it.”

My blood had just connected the three of us.

“It’s all so vivid,” I murmured. His blood seared through my veins, bringing a piece of him with it, just as mine was doing to him.

We both stumbled backward after a minute.

I panted again, bracing my hands against my thighs to catch my breath. Tyler looked up from where he stood a few feet away, his irises blazing full yellow. “The Alpha bond is severed with Dad,” Tyler said. “But I can still feel him from whatever was in your blood.”

I nodded. “When Dad and I took our Blood Oath, I connected with him on a different level. I can feel his emotions through the bond, like I’m feeling yours right now. I can feel Danny too, but it’s very faint.” I glanced at Danny and tried to speak to him inside my head. Danny, can you hear me?

No response, so I tried my brother. What happens now?

I’m not sure, but I feel stronger, just like Danny said. Everything feels a little more enhanced. I was relieved to hear him in my brain. I would’ve been sad if that connection had changed. I’m glad I can still feel Dad, even if it’s in a new way. When we get home we deal with the bond and all the complications. But now we can protect you. It feels right, Jess. I don’t regret it. He turned to Danny and grinned. “So do you want to fight me for status now?” he asked. He put up his fists in the classic fight pose.

“Nope,” Danny responded, his tone mockingly remorseful. “My station above yours, it seems, was short-lived. But no matter; it was still brilliant while it lasted. Maybe when we arrive home, you can go along back to your dad and I’ll just stick around here with Jessica. It suits me just fine.”

I walked over to pick up my pack. Naomi had moved to the edge of the tree line. We’d delayed our day too long. “Do you see any winged devils out there?” I asked her. Who knows if the Underworld would send new ones.

She turned around, looking pensive. “Non,” she said. “I believe they are gone.”

I hoisted the pack on my back and turned to Ray, who had been sitting on the cooler the entire time. Who knew what was going through this mind, and frankly, I didn’t want to know. I didn’t have the energy to answer any of his questions. Mostly because I had no answers.

He stood up. “So what other fun surprises are in store for us on this mountain, Hannon?”

“I have no idea, Ray, but we’re about to find out.”