Page 20 of Healer’s Betrayal

I scowl at her, at all of them really. “I haven’t been able to talk to her at all. They all keep me away from her. She doesn’t know me from Adam and probably still thinks I’m working with her uncle.”

“But she brought you an ice cream cone,” Ava points out.

“Yeah, what’s with that if she doesn’t really know you and is scared of you?” Raechel asks. I shrug, wanting this conversation to be over.

“What’s your next move?” Bryce asks.

“The list is long. I need to get her to know me, trust me. I need to take care of the uncle that’s threatening her and her brother, find out where she lives, see if anybody here knows what she is,” I keep my voice low, so people beyond our group wouldn’t be able to hear. “Figure out who’s hurting her here.”

“What do you mean?” Max asks with a frown, breaking his silence for the first time.

“She has bruising on her arms, in the shape of a hand.” Anger burns through me. “Somebody’s had their hands on her.”

“Have the vampires made it here yet?” Raechel asks.

“No.” My answer is gruff, and I could care less. I hate the vampires; I hate everything they stand for. I hate what they’re doing to innocents—both the healers and to rogues and anybody else they can get their hands on. “Any sightings of the vampire from your pack?” I ask Bryce.

I watch as his expression changes. “No. We have no idea where she is. Alicia was smart; she got off the grid fast. Leo has been digging but nothing yet. We’ll let everyone know when we learn anything.”

“About that,” Raechel jumps in. “I’ve been wanting to ask you, but since we don’t live in the same state, I haven’t really had the chance. How does a wolf in your pack just turn into a vampire?”

Bryce keeps his face neutral, but I catch the subtle tightening of his jaw. He doesn’t like this question one bit. “Short answer? We don’t know. Somehow, they got to her; we haven’t figured out the connection yet. Maybe the same way they got to a wolf in Maverick’s pack. Jacob was a wolf in Mav’s pack, and he turned on the wolves.”

“Did he turn vampy as well?” Raechel asks.

Bryce doesn’t stumble over vampy. “No, not that we are aware of. Who knows how and why they do what they do? We know they can infect anyone with the vampire virus, for lack of a better word. They’re evil and experimenting in ways I’m sure we can’t even imagine. We assume somehow they got to her, promised her something, or maybe threatened someone she loved? They gave her the vampire serum the same as they did the others. She’s a wolf that they added vampire power to.”

“She shouldn’t have been stable. At least, that’s what the vampires seem to portray. They seem to need healers’ blood to keep these wolf/vampire creatures alive,” Ava adds. She would know firsthand because she was in their facility for a while; her brother was as well.

“She obviously wasn’t stable when she, you know, ripped the heart out of one of your pack members,” Raechel says bluntly.

“Wow, Raechel,” Ava says.

Raechel winces. “Yeah, I could have used more tact; sorry.”

“We’re always a step or two behind the vampires,” Bryce finally says. “But there’s been no sightings here?” I shake my head.

“So, what’s the next step?” Raechel asks.

I eye the four of them plus Ransom. I really don’t want any of them here. Ransom’s the closest thing I have to family, so I’ll give on him. Everybody else? “We get that you don’t really want us here,” Bryce says, having correctly gotten a read on me. I neither negate nor affirm his words.

“Oh, I don’t know. The leader of the rogues seems to love having us here,” Raechel says.

I don’t focus on her; I’m not really interested in tangling with the enforcer right now. “I need time to get to know her, get her to trust me.” I don’t say that it’s going to be next to impossible if they all descend on her. Bryce studies me, but I have a feeling he’s communicating with his mate.

He finally nods. “We have another pack we need to check in with a few hours from here. We will do that and give you a few days.”

I’ll take it. “Thanks,” I manage to get out. The males seem more than ready to move on, but the two females continue to watch me. I’m not really sure what they’re looking for, and I'm careful to keep my gaze from being too aggressive. I have a feeling I’m failing.

“Okay, I’m just going to say it,” Raechel starts. “We don’t really like you, and by we I mean Ava, me, and Rose,” she pauses and cocks her head. “No, Rose likes everybody.”

Ava nods. “She really does. Bryce doesn’t like you, though” Ava adds, and the alpha makes no disagreement. “And Maverick doesn’t either.”

“We could go on,” Raechel continues. “But I won’t.”

“Please do,” I can’t help. “It’s so enlightening.”

She narrows her gaze at me. “The point is you’re not a likeable person.”