Bad Love: An Alpha's Regret (Leah and Aaron)

Chapter 334

"Like I said," the vampire replies, crossing his arms, not realizing all of his buddies have backed all the way off now. "I have my orders."

"Suit yourself," I reply with a shrug, giving him a moment of false security before leaping forward.

Midair, I pull a wooden stake from a concealed holster beneath my jacket and plunge it down even as I land almost on top of the vampire.

Vampires might be supernaturally fast, but I'm faster.

He barely realized what's happening before he died.

I let him fall at my feet, the body quickly disintegrating to dust.

"Who else wants to hold this ground?" I ask the vampires, and all of them frantically shake their heads.

As they start to scurry away, I grab one before it can disappear with the rest.

"Tell your bosses-"

"That if you catch us hanging around, you'll send us back in a box. Got it," the vampire rushes to say.

Well, at least they're not all morons.

I turn back to Aaron's men who've been watching on silently.

"Leave a couple of guys here to watch them and make sure they actually leave, then report back," I tell William, who sends me a confident nod, a spark of respect in his gaze.

I leave them to it and steer the SUV back toward the mansion.

Now that the minor vampire issue has been dealt with, my mind immediately turns to other, more prickly issues I don't want to face.

Like Emily.

I'm starting to think if she pushes me much further, I'm going to break.

And goddess help both of us if that happens.

Back at the mansion, I go to the underground facility to talk with Aaron's other senior wolves about increasing patrols and security measures, and double check there hasn't been any breaches or unusual activity in the last day or so that otherwise might have been missed by regular security checks.

Vampires can be wily bastards, circumventing even the most sophisticated human security systems. While Aaron has left the safety of his pack to me, I'm not taking any chances, even if it means I have to do twice the work myself.

By the time I'm satisfied the Rathborn pack and territory are safe and secure, several hours have gone by and it's early afternoon.

It's long past time I check in to see how Emily's training is going, but of course when I go to the training bunker, it's to find she's scheduled an afternoon training session and hasn't arrived yet.

I then go to find Jessica.

It takes me a while, but as soon as she sees me, a hint of concern-and maybe a little anger-crosses her face, even though she tries to hide it.

Obviously, Emily has told her best friend something, and I wonder if it's everything, or just the bits where I lock her up or restrain her.

It's not like I enjoy treating Emily this way, but Aaron expects me to keep his sister safe and in line, and Emily isn't exactly helping herself. She's stubbornly ignorant of the danger vampires pose to both herself and the pack at large.

If she would only listen to reason and act accordingly, we wouldn't be in the bind we're currently in.

"Where's Emily?" I ask as Jessica continues what she's doing and studiously avoids looking directly at me.

"Oh, she's around," Jessica says vaguely.

"Where exactly?" I ask, my voice short with impatience.

"I'm not sure exactly. We both have pack duties to attend to. I surely can't be expected to babysit her every moment of the day."

I feel my frustration climbing.

I was hoping Jessica would do her part to help keep Emily constrained with a gentle voice of reason, but it seems like it isn't so.

Jessica feels too much sympathy for her childhood friend and can't see the bigger picture.

"When and where was the last place you saw her?" I ask with overstated patience.

"On the ground floor of the mansion, I'm not sure how long ago," Jessica says with a shrug, never taking her attention from whatever matter she's dealing with.

I get the feeling she's not telling me the entire truth, but I can see Jessica is loyal to Emily-usually something would admire, but not on the days when it's making my life harde sol know I'm not going to get anything more concrete out of her.

Instead, I start searching, starting with the mansion, and asking everyone I come across if they've seen Emily.

It becomes apparent very quickly that no one has seen her for hours, and there's only one likely reason why.

The damned woman has shifted and gone running.

Again.

This time when I catch up with her, I'm going to make sure she clearly understands the price of disobedience.