“Recovering,” the doctor answered. “Sanders is still out, Lacrosse, is doing well and ready to rejoin the group. I’m mostly worried about Evangeline. Physically she’s recovering, but her guilt is slowing it down, and if we’re not there to ensure it, she won’t eat or take her medication.”
Lily rolled her eyes. Trust a succubus to feel guilty for a heroic werewolf streak, she thought. “I’ll talk some sense into her,” Lily offered.
The doctor looked at her as if he wasn’t sure that was such a good idea but Donovan spoke up. “She just might listen to Lily. Bill, Lord Etienne, and I have all tried to talk to her,” he said.
Nick nodded, giving the okay, not that Lily felt like she needed his permission to talk to her friend. “Alright, I was wondering if the Aequivalere could give us some insight on who might be this new boss,” he said, looking to Bill and Donovan.
Bill ran a hand over his face, looking thoughtful. “No self-respecting vampire would ever consider aiding Vincent and his fascination with Xavier’s research. Vampires see themselves superior to all other supernatural creatures, given their immortality, beauty, and habit of turning only what they consider being the best of humanity. They’d never consider mixing their bloodlines with that of the lycans .”
“Are you sure they’d never consider it or that they wouldn’t publically consider it?” Lily asked back.
“They’d never consider it. Remember, hybrids have all been actively hunted through the years. You only live because of the association with Aequivalere, Andrew, and myself,” he replied. “They consider lycans to be everything they’re not: dirty, savage, and completely uncivilized.”
Several of the werewolves, snorted, growled, and scoffed to voice what they thought about that. Lily didn’t care either way. “Alright if not another vampire, then who? Another werewolf?”
“No,” Nick said in an answer instead of Bill, but Lily could tell that Bill was going to say the same. “Vincent seems like a fairly powerful vampire. I very much doubt he’d take orders from anyone that he deemed less than an equal. I don’t see him seeing any wolf as his equal, but an alpha,” he explained.
“So maybe one of the alphas are working for him,” Lily replied.
“It’s possible, but I doubt it,” Nick replied. “Vincent and his followers have pissed off the vampires, the werewolves, and the Aequivalere, which is nothing short of a death wish. It’s an act of desperation, an alpha would never make. A good alpha wouldn’t risk his people, and a bad alpha wouldn’t risk his power for a slim chance that the vampire can figure out what Xavier had done to turn you into a hybrid.”
“So in other words, we have no clue,” Lily said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Which makes me wonder if we shouldn’t send Tristen somewhere else,” she added slowly. The idea just coming to her as she spoke.
“Why would we do that?” Nick’s brother asked, and she could tell the suggestion had offended him.
“Why wouldn’t we?” James said, finally speaking up. “What real reason would we keep her here. So easy for Vincent to come and grab? She almost got taken last night, and her wrist was crushed. If it weren’t for Xin Qian, she’d probably never use that hand again. If we took her to Tony Roberts territory, I think she’d be safer.”
Lily grinned over at James where he sat next to her. That had been exactly what she’d been thinking. Her brother’s pack would be able to keep Tristen safe. She was sure of it. They had fought off Silvano’s brood a few months ago so they knew what to look for.
“Are you suggesting I can’t keep one human safe here in my territory?” Nick’s brother asked, definitely offended by the suggestion.
“Yes I am,” Lily snapped at him. “Now deal with it.”
Nick grabbed his brother’s arm and kept him from jumping out of his seat. “Don’t let her get to you, Bro. She’s just pushing your buttons,” he told him. “Lily, that really wasn’t nice.”
Lily grinned at his brother and shrugged. “Tell him not to get offended over stupid stuff. This isn’t about him,” she told him. “In case you haven’t noticed guys, she got hurt. We all, every single one of us, failed her last night.”
“I don’t think moving her would be a good idea,” Bill said, his expression still grim. “I don’t know much about Andy’s son. He may be a good alpha.”
“And he’s had to deal with vampires before,” Lily jumped in, giving him a hard glare. She dared him to say something bad about Tony.
Bill gave her a slightly irritated glare before he continued. “Vincent has probably drunk enough from Tristan that he could track her as easily as if she had a GPS tracker on her. Here we have several packs and almost fifty vampires working together. If we’ve failed, how can one pack protect her? And he will go after her, Lily. Go after her with all he’s got. In the end, he still thinks she’s the key to figuring out what Xavier did to make you hybrid.”
Lily scowled at him. She hated that he made sense. She hated that there was nothing more she could think of to keep Tristen safe from that blood sucking leech. James laid a hand on her thigh, giving it a small squeeze as comfort. Lily just might be able to get used to this, she thought was some amusement. The hint of a grin on his weathered lips told her that he knew it too. “Alright, so what do we do? Do you think he’ll be coming tonight?”
“We’ll keep our guard up tonight,” Nick replied. “I’m more worried about what you told me of the little wolves. They were my pack’s omegas. They’re too passive to have openly challenged you so I think the vampire may have persuaded them to be a distraction.”
“Could they be spying for the vamps?” James asked.
Nick shook his head. “I don’t think so. They tend to stay away from most of the pack, and a lot of them act like they want nothing to do with us, but to be on the safe side, I have checked for scents. They’ve not been anywhere near this room,” he explained.
Frustrated, Lily sighed loudly. “So fine, we can’t move Tristen, Bonnie will survive, and those stupid wolves were just being annoying. So now what do we do?”
“He’s had his turn. Now it’s ours,” Donovan said, with a chilly grin. “I say we go in, tear apart all his little booty traps, and take him down.”