We moved quickly through the forest, me in the front, Yuri and Scott on either side of me. Everything here smelled of death, so we relied more on our hearing to tell us when a vampire was around. We really hoped we wouldn’t meet any since we didn’t really have a plan on how to deal with them. We counted on the sun, I mean, how many Walkers could Baltazar possibly have? There was no way he could keep patrols at all times. No pack patrolled the territory daily and everywhere. Members had lives of their own and there weren’t enough warriors.

Of course the second I thought that Scott froze mid-step and perked up his ears. Yuri and I both stopped, daggers at the ready. Scott whined and backed up until he stood between the two of us. “Okay, so we try to immobilize them, somehow,” I said and tried to think of something we could tie a vampire with. Before I could figure something out I heard the snapping of twigs and then the rush of air as the vampire jumped down from the tree right in front of us. I didn’t know him, but he seemed hella pissed.

“You’re on the wrong part of the border, mutts,” he hissed out at us. His fangs were peeking out from under his upper lip and his eyes were bloody red rubies in a pool of black.

“Oh really? I haven’t noticed, wow thanks for telling us, we’ll just be on our way now,” I said mockingly. He hissed and we got ready for him to lunch but before he could move a black smudge rushed through trees and suddenly a hand pushed through the vampire's chest. When the hand retreated the body fell revealing Daniel with the vampire’s heart in his bloody fist. Goddamnit.

“Now that’s going to be hard to explain,” I said and lowered my dagger. Yuri just grew more tense.

“Like you wouldn’t be able to do that.” He scoffed and threw the heart in the air and caught it again. Yuri by my side growled and Scott pressed up against my leg for support.

“So, are you gonna stop us?” I asked and put my hand between Scott’s ears.

Daniel cocked his head to one side and thought about it. “Do you really think Baltazar would attack Bran? Bran? Really?” he answered with a question and finally let the heart fall onto the dead body that was slowly crumbling to ashes.

“Why not? Gods know Baltazar’s bat shit crazy.” I shrugged. “Now if you excuse us we’ll go find ourselves a proof,” I told him turned around, and continued walking to the mines. Yuri was a bit more reluctant, he didn’t want to turn his back on the vampire. Scott stayed plastered to my leg.

“You know Reid, I like you I do, but not enough to lose my head for you,” he said from behind me. I stopped and looked back at him with a raised eyebrow. He gave me a wicked smile. “Unless you make it worth my while…”

I sighed and crossed my arms over my chest. “What do you want?”

“Well…” He made a thoughtful face and licked the tip of his bloody fingers. “The Ghealach blood would be a pretty powerful payment.”

“No way, let’s just kill him,” Yuri growled immediately and stepped halfway in front of me. I had to smile over his protectiveness.

“It’s fine Yuri, it won’t be my first time feeding a vampire,” I said, which made Yuri stiffen even more. He turned around his face full of bewilderment. “Don’t look at me like that, werewolves hate me, I had to look for friends anywhere I could.”

“Oh so you refused to give me blood until now, but you fed some kind of a lowlife vampire in a random city?” Daniel frowned and he seemed seriously offended. I rolled my eyes. “You know me ever since you were four. How long did you know this bottom-feeder nobody?”

“Wow, you are really judgmental for not even knowing the guy’s name,” I wondered why it pissed him off so much.

“A guy really? Sucked his cock too?” He hissed his eyes going red.

“Are you done yet?” I sighed with exasperation. Daniel glared at me some more. “I’ll feed you if we get in and out of the vampire territory alive.” Yuri grabbed my arm and squeezed. Daniel gave a curt nod then he turned around and disappeared with a woosh.

“Gods do I hate him,” Yuri growled out the second he was gone. I just shrugged and kept walking. “You’re not really thinking about feeding him right?”

“It’s just blood.” I waved him off. We needed to get into the vampire territory. The promise of giving Daniel a little blood seemed much better to me than unnecessarily spilling blood while fighting the vampires.

“It is not just blood,” he argued as he followed me. Scott whined, probably agreeing with him.

“Can we not do this now?” I glared at him. Yuri frowned but didn’t say anything for the rest of the way. We didn’t meet any vampires. Maybe it was Daniel’s doing, maybe we were just lucky, who knew.

The mine was practically just a hole in the ground, the wooden doors were surrounded by a newer iron gate that a stupid teenager would have no problem with climbing over. Scott walked around the hole, his nose low to the ground.

“I don’t smell any mercenaries or humans,” I told him. He raised his head and huffed. I took it as ‘Me neither.’ I easily scaled the fence, followed by Yuri and Scott, who just jumped over it. The wooden door had chains wrapped around the handles with a huge lock in the middle. I took it in my hand and pulled, the chain groaned and then snapped. Thank all the Gods for werewolf strength. For a second we listened to see if maybe someone was waiting for us on the other side. We heard nothing but the sound of the wind. Slowly I opened it. The mines… were exactly what you would imagine. A long dark hallway made of dirt and supported by wooden columns. There were some weird old-school machines that probably didn’t work anymore. Now they served as hiding places for our enemies…

The shadows grew brighter as my eyes turned from green to grey. I took a deep breath, but all I smelled was dust and rats. We walked deeper into the mines, our steps and heartbeats drowned out by the howling of the wind through the tunnel. Did that mean there was another way out? It had to. The cobwebs on the tunnel roof made me queazy. Yes, I was a werewolf that hated the creepy crawlies… Sue me.

I could feel how nervous Scott was. He was trembling against my leg like a scared rabbit. He wasn’t that dominant, he relied on trained warriors to keep him safe, like most of the pack. I rested my hand in his fur and imagined a wave of calm going from my hand into him. It was something I’ve seen Father do many times and even watched him teach Trystan how to do it. I didn’t actually expect it to work, we weren’t pack, but he was my best friend and there was a bond between our wolves that went deeper than all the pack stuff. I felt a tingling in my fingers then Scott drew in a breath, shivered, and calmed down. He looked up at me and licked my hand appreciatively. And damn it, I kind of regretted doing it now. Because I could feel the weight of his life fall on my shoulders. I didn’t doubt my abilities. If nothing I was a powerful wolf. But knowing he was counting on me to protect him, that he trusted me fully with his life… That felt like too much responsibility and for the first time in my life I doubted my ability to survive and protect. But then I felt Yuri press against my shoulder and I knew I wasn’t alone. Yuri was powerful and loyal and smart. And while Scott trusted me to protect him he did know how to fight and he could weasel his way out of anything, he just needed my confidence to gain his own. Because what was an Alpha other than a wall to lean on?