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Casting Lexi a raised brow—had the principal earlier referred to him as unruly?—Tryst accepted the invitation and sat across from the principal on the easy chair covered in what may have been pony hide. The rough hide felt nasty under his palms, so he fisted his hands on his thighs.
The principal was not old, and should not appear old, for wolves lived a good three centuries, aging slowly and gracefully, as was Rhys. He looked a little pale, though his smile felt warm and Tryst’s apprehensions sluiced away.
“As much as I would love the chat, Principal Connor, I feel compelled to head outside and join the search. But if you’d allow me my curiosity, can I ask what it was I delivered to you last night?”
“Your father didn’t tell you?”
“The mission to bring it here was so urgent, he slapped the case in my hands and sent me off. I know only it was an elixir of some sort.”
“Alexis.”
The principal’s daughter stepped in and took the case from the table by the bed, gently setting it on her father’s lap.
The principal held up a vial of violet liquid in the beam of winter sunlight. “Wolfsbane.”
“Wolfsbane?” Tryst shoved backward and his boots scraped across the stone floor loudly. He ignored Lexi’s reprimanding glance. “Can I ask why you requested something from Hawkes Associates that could bring your death, Principal Connor?”
The elder wolf tilted the vial in observation. “I’ve had this stored with Hawkes Associates since the turn of the twentieth century. You just returned it to me. A gift from a warlock who warned me someday what could cause me harm may also bring me good. Wolfsbane can bring a werewolf death or, if administered in the proper dose, give life. Or so one can hope.”
He handed the vial to his daughter, who took it in her gloved hand and went to place it on the bedroom vanity.
“You have a need for either?” Tryst questioned.
“You’re very bold, boy. Always a detriment to those wolves not raised in a pack.”
“Forgive me. I’m trying. Pack life fascinates me, but there is much I have to learn.”
“It isn’t your fault you were denied the pack experience. I know your father well.” Edmonton tilted his head in that same assessing manner Lexi had when they’d first met. Tryst had been weighed and measured far too many times to even flinch. “You hold a dangerous secret, boy.”
Tryst averted his eyes from Lexi’s curiosity. Would she ever take off those sunglasses? He didn’t know if she knew the secret her father claimed to know, but he preferred she did not. He noted her fists tightened near her thighs. Of course her father would warn her against him.
Damn. So much for winning the werewolf princess. If his heritage were revealed to her, he was as good as mud beneath her kick-ass boots.
“Well, whatever it is you intend to use it for—” he gestured toward the vial of wolfsbane, diverting the conversation “—I hope you get the desired results.”
Tryst offered his hand to Edmonton, though from what his father had told him, he shouldn’t expect the gesture to be reciprocated. But the old man leaned forward, extending his hand. The handshake started Tryst’s heart beating a little faster. He felt as though he’d been bestowed a great honor.
“Thank you, Principal Connor. I’ll report to my father that you’ve received the package.”
“Do tell him thank you from me, will you?”
“I will. Uh, would it be okay with you if I remain at Wulfsiege to finish the rescue operation and help your pack dig out? I’ve nowhere else I need to be, and I do enjoy the hard work. Besides, right now, the only way out is on foot.”
The principal cast a discerning gaze over Trystan. He suspected that he didn’t quite measure up to the principal’s standards, the old man knowing what he did about Trystan’s lineage. It mattered little. And then it did, because he felt the princess’s regard so close behind him.
“You have my permission to stay until we’re dug out,” the principal offered.
Tryst nodded and backed from the room, swinging around as he entered the conference room. He had a long day ahead of him.
“I must see to finding a replacement for the scion quickly.” Edmonton tapped the vial of wolfsbane his daughter had returned to him. “Who knows how much longer I have.” He sat back and closed his eyes to the warm sun beaming across his face. The first dose had done something. He hoped. He did feel stronger, able to sit up without wanting to curl forward and close his eyes to the compelling yet often painful sleep. “Where is Sven?”
“Toddling after Lana, most likely.”
“He’s not helping with the rescue team?”
He heard his daughter’s smirk, and knew she had no respect for the alpha wolf who was engaged to his other daughter. He liked Sven. Called the Nordic Warrior for the reason he’d arrived at Wulfsiege a year ago after his pack had been annihilated by vampires, yet he had fought them boldly and still wore a scar along his torso. The young wolf was commanding, and quick to sniff out danger, though Edmonton did tend to turn an eye away from the man’s lack of work ethic. If he could delegate, he’d make a fine leader.
“Don’t tell me you would consider Sven for scion,” Alexis dared to say.
“Watch your tongue, girl.”
He didn’t like it when she was aggressive toward him. Toward others it worked well and kept them at the distance she preferred, but around him, he insisted she be more docile.
“And who would you recommend?” he asked.
“Liam.”
“His mother was an American.”
“And you only trust Europeans? Oh, Father.”
“Don’t oh, Father me, Alexis. You’ve developed a decidedly acid tongue of late. I cannot endure your rebellion when I am so weak. When’s the doctor due to arrive?”
“In a few hours. Do you want to wait for the next dose until after he arrives?”
“No. I’ll have you call in Natalie so we can administer another injection. I actually feel better after the first dose. I think it may be working.”
“I will,” she said, standing and tipping down her sunglasses to look over the rims at him. “You sure you’re feeling well this morning?”
“As well as a man who suffers a mysteriously debilitating ailment can feel.”
She snatched the vial and then gave him a hug. He didn’t squeeze back. Affection tended to spoil a well-trained child. Alana was proof of that. He couldn’t lose Lexi. Not yet.
“Lexi?”
“Yes, Father?”
“Be careful around Trystan Hawkes.”
“I am always careful around everyone, you know that. But Hawkes is not a threat to anyone.”
“He’s also not a full-blooded wolf.”
“What?”
His daughter’s gasp hurt his heart—and revealed her heart. Already she’d stepped across the invisible line she kept drawn around herself and had taken to the Hawkes man. He couldn’t allow her to fall into a ridiculous fantasy.
“His father, Rhys Hawkes, is a half-breed. Half wolf, half vampire. And his mother is full vampire.”
He waited for her reaction, but she swallowed and merely nodded, stunned at the announcement.
“I thought you should know. He’s dangerous.”
To her heart, and to his.
After excusing herself from her father’s bedside, Lexi closed the door behind her and wandered down the tower stairs, her fingers tracing the cold stone walls for support. The man she was fascinated by was a half-breed? His mother a vampire?
Her heart beating rapidly, she jammed a shoulder to the wall and shook her head.
Here she’d been close to hope that the new guy was just interesting enough to intrigue her. She’d already begun to trust him. And she’d been gazing at him like some kind of lovesick dove. But he had vampire blood running through his veins. Not potential mate material. Not for the pack princess.
At least that is what common sense boldly said. While her heart, well, it whispered something too soft for her to interpret right now.
“Once again, you get the wrong end of the stick,” she muttered.
With a sigh, she lifted her chin and marched down the hallway. Work would keep her mind away from her stupid mistake.
Chapter 4
They pulled up the female’s body to a rousing round of cheers. Her fingers twitched, and that was enough for everyone to believe she was alive and had a chance at survival.
Tryst carefully handed her off to the team who would take her inside the keep for medical care. Earlier, a helicopter had brought in a doctor, one of very few who treated wolves as a specialty, because he was a werewolf himself.
Forgoing the offer of a beer from Liam, who had dug alongside him through the morning hours, Trystan wandered off from the pack who whooped and high-fived. It was a time for celebration. All missing pack members had been accounted for. Some had passed, but he knew they would be remembered and mourned as heartily as they cheered the living.
Trystan never missed a reason to celebrate, but it didn’t feel right to join in this time. This was not his pack. Not his family. And though they encouraged him to participate, he thanked them and wandered off around the side of the castle where the avalanche had knocked out the glass wall. What had once been an outdoor stadium was now a sloping heap of snow.
Poking the ski pole here and there, he verified the tight snowpack and that it was okay to tread. Not that he’d fall far, or do much damage if the snow layers did shift. And really? It would be sweet to jump from the castle roof on a snowboard and shred this slope.
He shouldn’t think of capitalizing on the drifts after such a dire event, but his adventurous eyes were always keen for an excellent slope.
The weak sun hid behind white clouds and evening fast approached, with a noticeable drop in temperature. Tryst’s breath fogged before him. The avalanche had cleared the decorative frost from surrounding trees, yet in a wide circle where disaster had not struck, the world was still coated with white. Weird. And humbling.
He was hungry and tired, but most of all he wanted a few moments to sit quietly and close his eyes, to reconnect with the universe and ground himself in the now. It was the best way to boost his physical and mental energy.
Stuffing his gloves in a pocket, he shook his head to scatter the snow and ice that had frozen in his hair as he’d worked up a sweat. His clothing was damp from exertion, and as soon as he sat down it would begin to freeze, but he’d ignore that because right now he welcomed the silence.
Hiking down the side of the hill formed against the castle wall, he landed on the walkway to the stadium seating, which was now all under snow. The walkway hugged the back of the castle and led to a stepped area graduated to walk out across a vast courtyard. A single yard light glowed over the courtyard.
Someone was seated on the upper step, elbows back and propped behind her. He guessed female, because of the slender line of the long gray coat. A fur-lined hood crowned her head, concealing the side of her face, but he knew it was the Connor princess. The bad one, as Liam had intimated.
Naughty bad?
Tryst’s heart raced. He blew out a breath that fogged before his face. Yet suddenly his bravado fell. What did she know about him? Edmonton Connor had likely told her about his mixed-race heritage. Which meant Tryst had to play her carefully because he didn’t want to lose her respect.
Sitting down next to her, about two feet away, he scanned the horizon over the treetops. “We found the female. Was Sandra her name?”
“Yes. Rick just texted me that she is alive. That’s a miracle.”
“She’d been crushed against a stone bench, and had managed to work her way beneath it as the snow moved over her, so had the space beneath for air. So lucky. I think every bone in her body is broken, but she’ll heal. Women are so strong.”
“You say that as if it’s a fact that’s been proved to you.”
“It has been.”
He bowed his head, images of his mother coming to mind. Tall, dark, yet regal in the most macabre manner, his mother, Viviane LaMourette. The touched one, as some would whisper behind her back.
But he wasn’t about to divulge how it had been to grow up with an insane vampire mother who would have bitten him on more than one occasion had his father not been vigilant in keeping him safe. He would have given his mother blood, but it wouldn’t have rescued her from the wicked melancholy that relentlessly haunted her soul.
“It’s going to be a gorgeous night,” he offered. “In a few days the moon will be full and bright. I’ve always loved the moon for its bold white light. I bet its shine makes you look like a snow princess.”
She tilted back her head, and the hood shrugged down onto her shoulders to reveal glossy black hair, unpinned and falling straight about her narrow face. A pert nose, soft pink mouth, and porcelain skin competed against those harsh, ever-present sunglasses.
“Do you ever take those sunglasses off?”
“No.”
Too quick, that answer. Protective. And practiced. “It’s cool. You’ve got the whole Matrix thing going on.”
“Matrix?”
Tryst twisted to face her. “The greatest movie ever made? You’re kidding me, right?”
“I don’t see many movies. I’m too busy. And if I have free time, I’d rather read.”
“Seriously? That is so wrong.”
“Reading is good for a person. You learn things from books,” she said mockingly.
“I know, but reading is so … static. I’m the type of guy who has to be moving all the time.”
“Watching a movie for two hours doesn’t sound very active.”
“I agree with you there, but still, it wins hands down over books any day.”
She lifted her chin, but didn’t go so far as to sniff in disapproval. Yet Tryst felt her disdain for what she guessed must be his lacking education. Ah, well, he couldn’t win them all. The invitation to attend Oxford had been offered, but the idea of sitting in a mortal institution had been received with laughter from both him and his father.
“You don’t do anything fun, do you?” he goaded.
“Why do you care?”
“Why shouldn’t I?” he offered. “Fun is a necessity of life. And life, well, life is energy. The world responds to the energy you put out.”
“It that so? Sounds kind of New Agey to me.”
“To each his own.”
He sensed she couldn’t be that much of a stick-in-the-mud. A pretty woman like her must do things that made her happy. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be so beautiful. Tryst believed the way a person led their life was reflected upon their face. It was an unavoidable result of karma. And energy. He’d once fretted over the freckles covering his skin until his mother had said something about them being giggle marks. Every time he’d laughed as a baby a new freckle had appeared. It had changed how he viewed opposition and challenges. Mom did have her good moments, and he cherished them like diamonds.
“You don’t like me very much, do you?” he asked.
Again, the assessing head tilt. Tryst felt her gaze upon him, even though he couldn’t see it, and he liked her curious regard even if it wasn’t necessarily friendly. He loved when a woman looked him over and then decided to touch. Would she touch? Nah, she was one cool chick.
Didn’t mean he couldn’t play with her.
“Go for it, Lexi. I don’t bite.”
“What?”
“You were giving me the eye. I know.”
She scoffed. “You are conceited.”
“Yeah, but I’m also a threat to you in a way I can’t figure out. And that freaks you and surprises me.” He leaned closer and placed a hand next to her elbow on the step. Brushing his nose aside her silken hair, he smelled the faintest citrus sweetness. “You’re freaked, admit it.”
“Back off, Hawkes.”
He sat straight, propping his elbows on his knees and looking over the grounds before them. A wiser unaligned wolf wouldn’t risk sitting so close. Curiosity always trumped his wisdom. And who could refuse a challenge?
“Fine. I get it. You’re the princess. You get to be the choosy one. You always this defensive toward men?”
“Yes.”
That honest answer was refreshing, and also tossed a wrench into this challenge. Straightforward kind of chick, this princess. He’d never met one like her, and everything about her made him want to learn more, to delve beneath her monotone exterior and discover the brightness within aching for release. Lexi Connor harbored a bold and vibrant color inside her, and he would find it.
“My father told me …” she started.
Spine straightening, Tryst immediately sensed what she couldn’t quite say. Hell, the principal had told her about his mixed blood. Of course, if the man wanted to protect his daughter from a nonpack wolf he would use whatever weapon he had at hand.
“What did he tell you? About me?”
He wasn’t about to make it easy for her. For anyone. So he had a chip on his shoulder about his heritage. Anyone wanted to make a big deal about it? He knew how to throw a punch. He had a missing molar, too, because he could also take a punch.
Lexi sighed and smoothed a gloved finger along the seam of her leather pants. “He warned me to stay away from you because …”
“Because why? Because I’m a strong male who knows how to take care of a woman? Because I don’t mind getting my hands dirty to help another pack? Because I respect your father?” Feeling his ire, he flexed a fist.
“Because you’re a half-breed.”
Tryst pulled up his chin and released his fists. The principal had gotten his information messed up. “I’m full wolf,” he said, cautioning the growl on his tone.
“How is that possible? Your father is half wolf, half vampire, and your mother—”
“Is a vampiress. But I don’t have any vampire in me, trust me on that one.”
“Sounds impossible.”
“Yeah?” He couldn’t punch his way out of this one. Damn. “And are you offended by the idea I might have a touch of vampire blood running through my veins?”
“I—”
“You pack wolves are all alike.” He stood and kicked the toe of his boot against the stone step to shake off the packed snow, and to avert his growing anger. “You’re all so tightly knit and exclusive. New guy comes along and you feel threatened.”
“I didn’t say that I’m threatened by you. Nor did I say—”
“Yeah, whatever.”
He stomped up the steps, knowing if he didn’t leave her now he’d only give her a real growl. And he would never do that to a pack leader’s daughter. Any woman, for that matter.
Wow. She’d just strummed his chords and what an awful tune.
“I’m going to find something to eat, then get back to work shoveling out your pretty little castle, Miss Princess Trueblood.”
So maybe he didn’t have as good a handle on this challenge as he’d thought.
“Arrogant idiot,” Lexi muttered after the angry wolf who stomped inside. “The vampire thing definitely rubs him the wrong way.”
And rightly so, she figured. Vamps and wolves had been at odds for centuries. They honored an ineffable ceasefire at the moment, but there weren’t a lot of wolves who would embrace a vampire as friend. Her father was friends with Trystan’s father, Rhys Hawkes, but it was more a political relationship than an embraceable acceptance.
For good reason. Wolves didn’t go near vamps because if bitten by a vampire the wolf would develop an insatiable bloodlust, and werewolves did not drink blood or feed on humans. Ever. It was an abominable practice. And vampires avoided wolves because they knew the wolf was stronger and could beat the crap out of them with one fist tied behind their backs.
So a young werewolf who had been born of a vampiress and a half-breed couldn’t possibly be full-blooded wolf. Why did he believe that?
Of course, if he hadn’t a hunger for blood perhaps that led Trystan to such a belief. But the blood hunger could emerge anytime. Lexi knew well that, genetically, things didn’t always go as nature had intended in a wolf’s body.
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