something I shouldn’t feel. A warmth spread through my belly. I stopped my heart from beating to keep all the blood I had consumed from moving south.
Even without the movement of red blood cells, my skin still tingled. I needed to get laid if I was getting this worked up around werewolves. I shook free from their grip and took a drink from my bottle.
“Shelly…what are you doing here?” The Alpha addressed me, as his Beta worked to clear the room.
“We need to discuss a movement on the hybrid front.”
Richard Paulson finished what his Beta had started and cleared the stragglers with a low growl. When the last of the Pack cleared out, the Beta—Doc—closed the door and flipped the lock. He leaned against the frame, and held up a finger as he cocked his head. He listened for a moment before turning back toward us. “The masses won’t stay back long. I suggest you get what you need to talk about out.”
I turned to Richard. His stare was intense. His eyes searched mine. I felt his heavy push of power, but I had plenty of my own. It was natural for an Alpha male like him to exude power and strength. But he was using a heavy hand with the mojo for someone who’d been saved by a little vampire and a witch just months ago.
His face showed me nothing as he asked, “Do you have word from them?”
“You told me not to tell you even if I did.” That had been the agreement. Along with lots of other agreements I was not thrilled about.
He growled, but the pressure around me eased because he knew I was right. Like always.
“Then why are you here?”
“Blood.”
Doc snorted from behind me. “We aren’t interested in being donors.”
I rolled my eyes. No matter the species. Men always thought it was about them. “I have a date with a donor tonight. At least, he will be one before the end of the night. What I came to share was we have a leak in our blood supply, and I don’t mean faulty storage bags. We are missing more and more pints each day. Unaccounted for. The Matheo tells me to just worry about getting more, not about the accounting errors.”
It didn’t take long for the men to get where I was going.
Doc spoke first. “It’s the harvest blood, isn’t it?”
“Some is from the very witches we rescued in Chicago. But not all of it.” I shouldn’t want to share this with the very Pack my Matheo wanted destroyed, but they had helped slaughter a significant number of wolves with me, so I figured they should know. “Some of it is hers. Kari’s. And it was fresh.”
The wolves looked at each other. Richard walked up to me and placed his hands on my shoulders. I felt the pulse of his blood moving under his skin. The tingle intensified. He was an overwhelming man. I hadn’t been overwhelmed in a while.
“He has her somewhere on your property.” That wasn’t a question.
“I believe so. And I worry that he’s been playing hybrid-maker.”
“Do you think he’s recruiting more wolves to be turned?” Doc moved from the door to close in on our conversation. The presence of one strong sweaty man in front of me and another behind me was intoxicating.
My miasma, that had been blissfully quiet, snuck up on me with the scene in the woods again. Rick had strong hands, and deliciously sharp nails. I worked my hardest to push it back. My nipples tingled and tightened before I could suppress the thoughts, and I felt my panties dampen. Both men were close enough that I knew they could smell me.
Dammit. I stepped out from between them. Focus, Shelly.
“I don’t know what he’s doing. But I do know that I have been careful to not recruit donors of the witchy variety. Yet a few of the bags that go missing mysteriously show back up. Instead of the regular old blood, we are being replenished with magical red Kari juice. Along with a few others.”
Doc put his hands on his hips. “What are you suggesting we do about it? You are living with the Harvest leader and have no idea where she is.”
“I