Hunting His Vampire Princess (Book 6 of the Avec Series)

Chapter Six

    Tracker let out a tired sigh as he entered the hotel room it was nearly five in the morning and he was exhausted. This mission gave him a bit of a challenge and he liked it. He sniffed the air, he was used to smelling the sea, but it smelled as if it were in his room. He walked in cautiously he could smell Jade and the ocean, and that was it. 

    He walked over to Jade's bed and looked her over. She was very pale and looked as if she had a bruise on her cheek. He pursed his lips together, she went out again. He usually let it go, chalking it up to being a teenage werewolf cooped up in a hotel. But today he couldn't, something was off. 

    He touched her shoulder gently, "Jade," he called softly. The girl stirred in sleep and whimpered softly. 

    "Jade," he called a little louder. He shook her shoulder gently to wake her. 

    She turned to face him, "Hmm?" she asked sleepily. She opened her eyes to see her cousin's worried face. "Tracker, what do need?" 

    "Why did you go outside the hotel room last night?" He asked her sternly. He didn't do this to keep her locked up. He did it to protect her, it's dangerous out there at night! Especially for them, they were rogues!

    She sat up in her bed, and rubbed her face, wincing slightly when she felt the bruise on her cheek. She looked up at him and debated on lying to him. She was searching his face for any sort of anger. All she saw was concern and frustration. She bit her lip as she contemplated her options. Her silence only feeding Tracker's worry for her. 

    She sighed and looked up at her cousin, "I'm sorry," she began. "I went out to meet a few friends." 

    He lifted her face gently and turned her head to the side so he could get a better look at her cheek, "And your friends did this?" he asked. 

    Her eyes filled with tears, "I'm sorry Tracker, I didn't think they would do this to me." 

    He sat on the edge of her bed and held her as she sobbed. "What did they do?"

    She spoke into his shirt, so he barely made out, "I can't tell you." 

    He pulled her away from him and looked into her eyes, "You can," he reassured her. 

    She pulled in a shaky breath and gave him an abbreviated version of what happened. Telling him that she went willingly and did 'that' with them willingly. But when she got to the part about mates, he stopped her. 

    "Wait, you thought they were your mates? Why would you think that? You don't even have your wolf yet, Jade." 

    She looked down at the blue comforter and picked at the thread, "I know, but that's what mates do. They do what we did." 

    Tracker ran a hand through his hair. What he wouldn't give for a female in his life right now! "That's not how that works, Jade. You can date and have a boyfriend. But I highly recommend you not doing the rest of that again. At least not until you're older." He looked at her, he could still see immense pain and worry in her face. "What else happened out there tonight?"

    "I don't like the beach anymore." She mumbled. 

    He was only slightly surprised by her response. If she had been hurt by those boys while on the beach. It stood to reason that she wouldn't enjoy it anymore. 

    "After they were through with me, and I had said that they were my mates now. They got angry with me and pushed me into the water. They told a mermaid that they could have me. She dragged me down under the water." She looked up at him. "I would have died if hadn't been for one of the other ones, but I would rather not go back." She hugged herself tightly, trying to erase the memory of the night from her mind. 

    Tracker understood how she felt, he patted her blanket-covered leg, "Okay. I'll see what I can do to find us a place away from the water." He did his best to comfort her, "And you can stay home today." He brushed her hair from her face tenderly. "You need the rest." 

    She nodded and laid back down, pulling the blankets up under her chin. Soon she was back to sleep, snoring softly away. 

    He walked into the bathroom and stripped down. He needed a shower, this was certainly a hard night. It was taking everything he had not to go find those boys. He was furious, but he couldn't let Jade know. He really didn't blame her for wanting her mate. But he wished she would have thought about what she did. Come on, three of them? For her first time? He shook his head sadly as entered the shower. Hell, he hasn't even gotten lucky in a hot minute, and here she was with three? He hoped this wasn't the start of something with her. He scrubbed his well-muscled body thoroughly, getting rid of the stink of the people he had been searching for. They weren't hard to find, most people weren't for him. He smirked at the memory of finding the couple. Their faces were priceless, he didn't understand how someone with a mate could cheat. That bond was amazing, and he couldn't wait until he found it himself. He imagined his she-wolf as someone with beautiful long brown hair and warm brown eyes. And when she shifted in front of him, her wolf would have the same beautiful dark brown fur. He could feel himself growing hard at the thought of a mate. He shook his head, he really did need to find her! But first, he would need to shift! His birthday was coming up and then he would meet his wolf. 

    He got out of the shower and toweled off, leaving his erection alone. He didn't even want to think about doing anything with it. Not while his cousin was sleeping soundly in the bed on the other side of the door. Simply thinking about her caused it to deflate enough to be an annoyance to him. He would deal with it later if he needed to. He threw on his clean shorts and tank and walked out of the bathroom. He checked on Jade and then walked over to his side of the room. He sat on his bed and pulled out his phone. He pulled up the real estate app he had been using to search for houses and moved the search over about ten miles. So they wouldn't be so close to the water anymore. He smiled when the results pulled up a few small houses. And their prices were much cheaper than similar ones closer to the water. He scrolled through the houses until he found one, the price was perfect! He would let Jade continue to rest and then tell her the good news. They would not only be leaving the hotel and the place near the water, but they would actually own the house. 

    He read the description and let out a wistful breath. If only they could find a pack, then everything would be so much better. 

    ************

    Mercy sat and stared at the picture she had in her hand. He had grown so handsomely! She turned to her mate with tears in her eyes, "Raf, how are we going to find him now?" she asked. They had followed their trail to the station, but it went cold after that. Tracker was smart enough to remove all the money from the atm and use cash to buy the tickets. The station teller couldn't even tell them where they went. She had taken the picture from the cottage not only to try to find them, but so she could see what he looked like. 

    Rafael smiled at his mate, he wanted nothing more than to comfort her right now. "I wish I knew, baby," he whispered. 

    "He looks almost like his father," she whispered. Even though she was gifted the second chance mate, she still missed her first love. She wanted to go back to her pack immediately after she had healed. She wanted to fight Volkan and Dolion, she wanted to send them to the deepest pits of hell for what they had done to not only her family but the packs as well. 

    Rafael wrapped his arms around Mercy, "I know, baby," he whispered soothingly. "I'm sorry we can't seem to find them." 

    She turned her face to him, "I just hope he knows how much I love him." She let the tears fall again. She loved her son so very much, she just wanted to see him once more. 

    ********

    The Fates were watching the scenes in front of them unfold. Clotho was tapping her foot angrily. She had a feeling she knew exactly who was behind all of this. 

    Lachesis was also angry, her fingers were twisting and tapping on the table. "He's late!" 

    Atropos was tapping her sheers against the table, keeping rhythm with her sister's beats. If anyone would have walked in on the women, they would have thought they were attempting to take the muses' places. 

    "Where could he be?" Atropos snapped. She was enraged, how dare he do this! He messed everything up all those years ago and they still couldn't get it fixed. No matter what they did. How could he be doing this? 

    Clotho looked to the entryway of their domain as if willing the errant god to show up. Her foot still beating out its steady pulse. She had no clue how she was going to get those two back where they belonged. Or how she would get his mother to finally see her son, it seemed as if every time they got them close to meeting, something horrible happened. 

    Dolos strolled in, his carefree attitude filling the room. He looked at the Fates and smiled. "Hello, lovely ladies." 

    Lachesis scowled, "Hello yourself, young man." 

    Dolos arched his eyebrow, he was confused. "What did I do?" He asked innocently. 

    "More like what didn't you do?" Atropos snapped. 

    He plopped himself down on a chair and looked to each of the women in turn. He honestly hasn't felt this nervous around women since that time he tried to juggle multiple females at once! Then they all found out about themselves. He shuddered mentally at the memory of them all ganging up against him. That was not a pretty day! He put his feet on the table and tucked his hands behind his head. "So are you going to tell me? Or do I have to guess?" He asked, he was genuinely curious as to what he did that was terrible. 

    Clotho walked over to him and pushed his feet roughly off the table, "How many times do we have to tell you? NO FEET ON THE TABLE!" 

    His feet fell and the chair slammed to the floor with a thud, "Oof, easy!" He cried out as his chin hit the table. He rubbed it tenderly. 

    "Why should we take it easy on you, when you destroyed not one but two packs!" Atropos snapped. 

    Dolos furrowed his brows, he couldn't recall doing any such thing. "When did I do that?" he asked. 

    Lachesis picked him up by his ear as if he were a mischievous child and not the god of deception and trickery. She mumbled something about telling his mother and he swallowed nervously. He may be a fully grown god, but he certainly didn't want to piss off his mother! 

    Lachesis touched the water and showed him what his little prank all those years ago did to the packs. She let go of his ear with a push, "Now, tell me, young man. Just how do you propose we fix this, hmm?" she asked him as she crossed her arms angrily. She had to tuck them away or she would be using them to slap some sense into this young god. 

    Dolos was watching the scenes as they unfolded, and he smiled when he saw them. "Well, this shouldn't be too difficult," he said. 

    "What?" Lachesis asked. 

    "Just bring these two back," he said pointing at the young children as they disappeared into the night with the young woman. 

    Clotho glared at him, "Oh, why didn't we think of that?" She scowled, "Keep watching." 

    Dolos's satisfied smirk changed to a confused, "OH." 

    Atropos's face was twisted with her own anger, "Yeah, oh. And because of your boredom, three more lives were lost. And those two packs are falling into despair. You will be helping us." She pointed her sheers at the god, "Because if you don't. I'm telling your mother."