Chapter 9

We had an advantage on the other teams because we knew the Cupid's scent, so I fully expected to be the first to find them, but two hours later and I was starting to worry. What if we didn't find the kid, and some of the monsters who came out at night found them instead? They must be scared to death after we hunted them yesterday, and guilt gnawed at my chest.

"We'll find the kid," Dean promised, noticing my melancholy. He wrapped an arm around my waist and pressed a kiss to my hair as we walked. "There's still time.

"Not much," I muttered. "I keep thinking about why a kid would be alone in the woods, and none of those reasons are good. What if it's like what happened to me and Ana?"

"Then we'll find them, and help them heal from it," he promised, nothing but unwavering confidence in his calm voice.

It was exactly what I needed to hear. I let out a long sigh, shoring up my determination. "You're right."

"I always am," he agreed.

I slanted a look at him. "Not always."

"You weren't right when you said I couldn't fly," Edison remarked, trudging through the woods ahead of us, sweat slicking his white T-shirt to his back so I could see his tattoos through it.

"You used magic; that's cheating," Dean retorted, eyes narrowing.

Hugh glanced back at us. "You say there's no chance I can eat full…" He motioned a long spread with his hand.

"Banquet," I supplied.

"Exactly!" he agreed. "But I ate it."

Dean let out a long-suffering sigh.

I leaned my head onto his shoulder as we walked, eyes and ears open for noises, nostrils flaring for scents. As much as we bickered to pass the time, we all wanted to find the Cupid. Slasher had a long stick in his hand he kept poking into the underbrush and bushes—not the best search method, but it was all we could think of without getting scratched to hell by brambles.

I straightened when a rustling met my ears, and we all froze, angled towards the sound. Dean held his finger to his lips to quiet the rest of us, and spoke in the softest voice I'd heard from him.

"It's safe to come out, we're not going to hurt you."

My heart ached as I pinpointed a tall bush as the origin of the rustling. The kid was hiding in a bush? I rubbed the hurting spot on my chest, and felt so lucky to have had Ana with me through childhood. I'd been through hell, but I'd never had to hide in a bush for safety.

I took a careful step—and jumped back when a black hare leapt out of the bush, its back legs looking inclined to kick all of us. When it bared its teeth, they were fangs.

"Vampire bunny!" Slasher cried in delight.

"Vampire bunny wants blood," Hugh pointed out, edging in front of me, hands flexing at his sides, ready to catch the hare if it leapt at us.

"No!" Slasher hissed when the hare jumped closer. "Bad bunny!"

"Hey, isn't that a guy? A rapper? I think I listen to one of his songs," I mused, keeping a close eye on the fanged hare.

"Bach?" Slasher asked, giving me a surprised glance with hearts in his eyes. "I love Bach."

I didn't have the heart to tell him, so I just nodded rapidly. "Yeah, that's what I meant. Bach."

The hare jolted towards Hugh, and I tried to push him behind me, my protective instincts surging like a tidal wave, but he was immovable. Slasher launched forward with a loud, guttural hiss and the hare froze, realising it was prey and not the predator it had assumed.

"Shoo." Slasher flapped a hand and the hare bolted, running as fast as its legs could carry it.

"False alarm then," Edison murmured, giving Dean a look I didn't like. Like they both knew this search was doomed but neither wanted to admit it. "Let's keep moving."

I chewed my bottom lip and hooked my arm around Hugh's, trudging through the woods. Again. At first, the rich, loamy scent of the earth was comforting and exciting in equal measure. Now I was sick of smelling it and just… sad. There was a vulnerable kid in these woods, a wolf like me, and we wouldn't be able to find them before one of the hungry monsters that lurked in the darkness did.

What if I'd run into woods like these after Anarchy was murdered? What if I'd been alone and easy prey for big, bad creatures like the ones I knew—

We all grounded to a halt, and a gasp shot up my throat when a snow-white shape bolted out of the trees ahead of us, four much bigger, humanoid shapes racing after it.

"What the fuck?"Dean yelled, rushing closer like an angry force of nature, a muscle in his jaw feathering.

The Cupid dashed into the trees and off the path, white wings trailing, and I froze at the size of the wolven body, at the gangly wings, the too-big paws.

"A cub," I breathed, my stomach twisting.

"She's terrified," Hugh rumbled, so much rage in his voice that I jumped.

The four members of the search team raced after the Cupid, but Dean stepped directly into their path.

"Were you just hunting a child?" he asked, lethally soft. "Remind me where in my instructions I told you to chase the kid like they're a rabbit in afucking greyhound race!"

"I don't agree with those," I remarked absently, staring at the space the Cupid had vanished into, running for their life. Her life? I glanced at Hugh in question and sucked in a breath when I found him mid-shift, those painful moments before his wolf form took dominance.

He shook out his black fur, murderous eyes pinning the three witches and one vampire of the search team with a silent death threat before he let out a low, mournful call and walked carefully, slowly, towards where the Cupid had disappeared. I followed at the same pace, not chasing like it was a goddamn hunt. We ran after her yesterday, but that was when we thought she was an adult and a serial killer.

I left Dean to deal with the search party, pricking my ears for the Cupid's panicked retreat.

"Do not," Slasher hissed menacingly at the witches, "touch the baby!"

Oh god, she really was a baby. Judging by the size of her wolf form, she was three at the very oldest. No wonder she'd killed those people; she must have been terrified.

"It's okay, little cub," I called through the woods as I followed Hugh. "We're here to rescue you. You're safe now."

She ran faster, her heart working overtime, feet crashing through the woods so fast they slipped. Hugh called to her in a soft, murmuring howl, and my chest filled with an answering sound. You're safe, you're safe, you're safe. It was instinct for a wolf to care for a cub, and my instincts were firing on all cyclones.1 I wanted to shift, but my blood wolf was huge compared to my mates' wolves, let alone a tiny cub.

"It can't be fun sleeping in the woods," I said softly, knowing my voice would reach her ears. "We've got plenty of soft beds and warm fires in our home. Lots of food, too."

Even with her racing ahead, I heard her stomach grumble. My eyes stung. Poor cub. I wanted to catch her and hug her, but I'd probably trigger all her stranger danger instincts. And she'd already killed three people; I didn't want to be the fourth.

I skidded along the ground when she twisted onto a different path, her breathing rapid with panic. A stitch pulled in my side, winding me. I grunted at the flash of pain but kept going.

"These woods aren't safe, little cub. There are things in here that'll hurt you, but I promise you're safe with us."

Hugh sped ahead of me when the path opened up, the trees pulling away and—there was a massive wall ahead of us, at least ten foot high. We had a wall? Since when was the woods encircled in a wall? And did that mean the nightmare creatures in these woods were put here on purpose by Blake Hall staff? I needed a word with Brannigan and Ivelle when we got out of here, but for now I pushed back the irritation so I could stay calm.

Speaking of calm—the Cupid was anything but. She started to fully panic at the sight of the wall and us behind her, trapping her. She spun to face us, the whites of her violet eyes showing when she watched Hugh and I pad out of the trees towards the wall.

"It's okay," I promised her, getting to my knees in the grass to show I wasn't a threat. "We're here to help you. Can you understand me?"

I wasn't sure if her lips peeling back from her teeth was a yes or no. Hugh lowered himself to the ground too, a low, sad whine leaving his nose. The Cupid snarled in response, flexing her clawed paws. The claws that had torn up three bodies. I remembered suggesting there were chunks of skin missing because the killer got snackish, and realised just how right I was. She was starving. Why did none of us think to bring food?

She pressed her furry back to the wall, her wings dragging on the floor like she was too weak to hold them up, and saliva dripped from the fangs she bared at us. But we stayed crouched in the grass, not advancing, and I hoped she realised we weren't here to grab her or hurt her. Hugh kept up a steady stream of comforting promises in wolf language, but that only made her glance between us in suspicion.

A sudden rush of air and movement behind us made me jump up, a knife in my hand in an instant. I exhaled a sigh when Slasher stopped abruptly in front of me, rage in his eyes and blood on his mouth.

"Baby!" he gasped when he saw the Cupid. "You're so small."

"No sudden movements," I warned him quietly. "She's terrified."

The Cupid's snarl rose in volume, as if she did understand me, and she jerked forward like she was trying to spook us into running. Everything in her body language was a threat, and I knew the only reason she hadn't attacked was because she was cornered and outnumbered.

"No sudden movements," Slasher repeated, and took painstakingly slow steps.

"Slasher!" I warned when he went too far. "She'll attack you."

I followed him, my heart in my throat. It would be just like my sweet, obsessive vampire mate to get himself killed trying to help a wolf cub. His heart was three sizes bigger than his brain.

"That's alright, I'm very durable," he replied, walking past Hugh with his pale arms outstretched. I didn't know what to do. We needed to reach her so we could take her back to Blake Hall and get her warm and fed, but watching my mate walk into certain injury tangled up my insides. My soul throbbed. "I don't mind if you scratch me, tiny baby. I'd scratch someone if I was as small as you, too. You must be very afraid."

She growled, the sound pouring up her small throat but loud enough to fill this part of the woods. She definitely understood us, and didn't like the assumption that she was scared.

"Not afraid then," I mused, smiling sadly at her obvious fear. "Just calculating your next move."

Her eyes flicked between Slasher, me, and Hugh. I edged closer, following Slasher, ready to jump in if her teeth went for his throat. She might be small but she'd taken down three adults, so—

Slasher closed the last bit of distance in a rush of vampire speed, and by the time my vision sorted itself out, he was sitting cross legged on the grass with the white wolf in his arms, her wings draped over his thighs as he rocked her back and forth.

"Shh," he murmured, enduring the claws scratching his arms, ripping through his trousers to gouge bleeding lines. "It's okay, we've got you now, Cupid."

"Cupid's too tame a name for this fierce girl," I decided, earning her attention and a narrowing of her eyes. Her snarl quietened though, so I took that as a positive sign. "Will you shift back and tell us your real name?"

She struggled against Slasher's embrace, her head thrashing. I took that as a no.

"Vengeance then," I said, closing the last distance between us, Hugh right behind me in his wolf form. "My name's Rebel, and my sister was Anarchy. I think the name Vengeance suits you."

"We can call her Ven for short," Dean said, making me jump. Sneaky, agile wolf had crept up on us. Her snarl rose in volume but Dean just caught her stare and held eye contact. "We're not here to hurt you. We're here to help. If you shift back to human and tell us your name, we can help you get home. Your mum and dad must be missing you."

There was no masking the flash of pain in her violet eyes.

"Oh, cub," I sighed, risking dismemberment to kneel in front of Slasher and stroke her head. Her fur was dirty after fuck knows how long living in the woods, but so soft. Baby soft. My heart hurt. "I lost my mum and dad, too. And my sister. Do you have nowhere else to go?"

I'd thought she was three or younger before, but the intelligence behind her eyes put her at double that. Old enough to feel grief carve her chest apart.

She snapped her teeth in warning, but that was all it was—a warning. So I kept stroking her head, and Slasher kept rocking her, shushing her in a gentle voice. Hugh and Dean approached with soft whines. At some point she stopped fighting. I didn't mistake her as being submissive and well-behaved, but not trying to kill us was progress.

"Can you shift back?" I asked, meeting her violet eyes.

"What if she can't?" Slasher asked, nuzzling his face against her fur. "It's okay if you can't, baby. I'm not perfect and Rebel loves me, so don't worry about not shifting. We love you no matter what."

I blinked, glancing from him to my wolves. They nodded. Not a single conversation, and we'd somehow all come to the same decision. I just hoped Edison and Brannigan were on board, too.

Speaking of… where was my witch? Just what was he doing to that search party?

I stroked her head one last time and got to my feet, stretching out my arms. "You need to meet my other mates," I told her. "Edison's kind and he loves hard, even if he looks kinda intimidating at first. Family's the most important thing to him so he'll be happy to have a new member. And there's Brannigan. He's a librarian, so he's really smart and sweet and kind." And a total psychopath, but I'd leave that discovery for later. "He's gonna love you, too."

Because one glance at my mates here with me and I knew we were taking her in. She was vulnerable and tiny and alone—and an orphan. No fucking way were we abandoning her to the woods or the shitty care system. Blake Hall wasn't exactly a paradise, but Vengeance gave us a very good reason to reform the place. Starting with Ivelle.

"Let's go home," Dean murmured, brushing a hand down my arm when he stood.

"How do you feel about a tiny coup?" I asked him, my eyes on Slasher as he got to his feet, Ven cradled carefully in his scratched, bleeding arms.

"Quite favourably," Dean replied with a smirk. "We have one of the founding members on our side."

I grinned. Time to find that founding member and tell him he'd just become a father.