Chapter 9

Rose

When I woke up in the morning Term wasn't in bed. I showered and clothed myself in blue jeans and a pink "Rocker Chick" tee that Term had gotten me and I lumbered down the stairs.

I knew that Term would like to see me using at least a little more of the vampire so I left it on light driving for the present, since I wasn't anticipating any danger in my near future. I had all my abilities open except for my extra hearing. He could be happy with that.

He was found in the kitchen making breakfast for what seemed to be a miniature army. I had forgotten they were coming today. Five guys and two women were standing around the large kitchen. All had lightly tanned skin and dark features. His family.

It looked like the ladies were trying to help, while the guys sat back and relaxed as though they had been here for a while. They seemed really at home here. It was comforting that someone could. The feel of it was inviting me in. It would have been something Marcus would have done.

"Hey, your awake!" Term dropped what he was doing to come over and give me a kiss on the lips. I could feel the heat rising to my face.

"Vamps can blush?" One guy spoke out. Term gave him a toxic look.

"Doll, these are my brothers." He pointed to the group, ushering me into the midst's of them. "The youngest and most obnoxious, Jody. Then there's Eaton and Daniel, the twins. Adam. Then there's Regulous my Beta. All in that order, actually." As if going through a line he named them all, they waved at the mention of their names. All of them were so similar that I had to point very slight differences in appearance.

Term was the tallest with broad shoulders. Regulous was slightly shorter, and over buffed. Adam had more of a patient, calmness about him. Daniel and Eaton were taller and extremely thin, as if they had never grown into their height. Jody was just really really tan.

"Hi." I smiled and waved back. They all looked so big.

Term moved over and put his arms on the slightly older woman's shoulders. "And this is my mom, Jean Coulter." He gave her a kiss on the cheek. She was a slender woman, about 5'6" with dark, curly hair and large dark brown eyes. I could see where they got their looks, but she just seemed too small to have all these guys.

"Nice to meet you." I put my hand out to shake, but she pulled me into a hug. Something I thought you only saw in movies.

"Hello, Rose. It's nice to finally meet you. You can call me Jean or Mom, whatever is more comfortable for you. Sorry about my boys. They know so much about you due to the telepathy thing, so they just go with it." She had such a warm smile. One only a mother could have, but I didn't even call my own mother Mom that often.

"It's okay. As long as they're comfortable."

"Don't say that. You will never get rid of them. I'm Courtney, Regulous's wife. Term was too rude and forgot to introduce us. Feel sorry for me. Very sorry." She was a tall, blonde and built like a model. She gave off the vibe that she didn't take any crap. I liked her already.

"I'll remember that. Thanks." I laughed.

"You want some breakfast, Doll?" Term asked from the stove now.

"What are we having?" The smells suddenly excited my taste buds.

"Eggs, bacon, toast-"

"-And pancakes? I smell pancakes." I smiled widely. He knew I liked his pancakes.

"Just for you."

"You put her in a good mood last night. Thanks, Bro." Jody walked over and patted Term on the back, speaking quietly. In return, Term glowered at him and started to growl. It reminded me of real wolves in the wild. Ready to tare each other's throats out.

"Corners boys." His mother spoke, oblivious to the comment. You could tell she was used to all the boys' spats. She didn't even look up.

"Telepathy." Jody looked at me, wagging his brows with a smile, he shrugged before walking away.

"You didn't tell me they knew about that stuff." I whispered to Term.

"I thought I had made it clear." He shrugged and kept going about his business.

"You didn't. I would have remembered something like that." Someone isn't getting laid for a while.

"Who wants to get out and actually do something tonight?" Regulous came in and kissed Courtney on the cheek. Grabbing some of the veggies she was chopping, before she could playfully slap his hands.

It was late Friday evening. Her and Jean had been helping me cook all week. Cooking for six guys was like cooking for an army, but it was fun to have them all there. It took our minds off of other things when they were around. I liked Courtney too, she was a lot like me, except for the fact that she shifted. She was fun to sit around the indoor pool with.

I was beginning to open up in little intervals to my 'vampire within', as Term described it. He seemed proud of me, although it wasn't at need. I kept in light vamp 90 percent of the time. The other 10 percent was when it was just him and I. I fully opened to the thoughts swirling around. His thoughts.

I even ran with them, which was fun. I had someone else to keep my pace. I had always wanted another dog after Roam, now there were 7 living with me. Eight if you counted their mom, but she didn't shift anymore. She said it was too costly at her age, which I thought was funny, but then she told me that she was 78. Apparently shifters age a little slower.

"You guys should have fun, you work too much!" I replied, trying to be happy for them. I hadn't been out since a week before we left my nice home on the beach. I was feeling the ache.

"What do you mean, Doll? We're going too." Term came up from behind encircling me in his arms.

I turned to face him to see if he was kidding. "We get to go too? Seriously?" I was ecstatic, I didn't think that we would ever go out again.

"Absolutely… Well, as long as you wear that little leather outfit." He growled quietly in my ear.

"Only the best for you, Baby." I turned and kissed him full on the lips. It had been a week since we had been intimate, I couldn't get over the fact that his brothers knew what turned me on. I was feeling the burn. I knew he was too. It wasn't like he hadn't tried.

"Barf, come on! We had to deal with Reg and Court, now it's you two?" Daniel griped as he sat in a chair on the other side of the counter.

"Seriously, will you ware it?" Term moved to the fridge to get something to drink. When I looked back at him he smiled impishly, wagging his brows.

"Wait and see." I threw a turnip at him and laughed as he ducked.

"Hey that's dinner!" Eaton snapped.

"Then go and get it!" I shot back at him, still laughing.

"We're taking the cycle, the guys are in the SUV." Term

pointed out as we moved to the motorcycle parked in the driveway.

He had his motorcycle flown here by Tate's crew during the week. He had told Bones that it was easier to maneuver for fast getaways. I guess Bones believed him, because here it was and there he was in all hotness astride it when I stepped out of the house.

"Where are we off to?"

"Some nightclub about an hour south of here. Adam looked it up. He's pretty good at picking this sort of thing."

"This should be interesting." Heavy sarcasm rimmed my voice. The first thing that came to mind unfortunately was strip club, but I was giving Adam the benefit of doubt.

"Doll, you have never partied with us. It's always interesting." He laughed then we took off down the drive.

Term

When we walked into the club several heads turned toward us. People that were sitting at the bar pivoted. Even people on the dance floor stopped and looked in our direction when we moved closer.

The guys were watching Rose. Their eyes traveled the length of her slender leather clad body. I couldn't blame them, she was hot, but I also couldn't condone it. I moved my hand from hers to her lower back. My next step was to grab her ass.

Rose started to giggle.

"What?" I bent down to ask her ear.

"You're tan." She giggled again.

"What?" Now I was just confused.

"You all have tans." She pointed at my arm. "Look around."

I did as she said and realized that due to the fact that it was November and we were standing in a bar in Canada, fully tanned, we stuck out. It hadn't even occurred to me that would be a possibility. We were from a town on the fringes of the woods in Maine, where they where all the people were shifters. We were all tan.

"Oh, yeah point made." I started to laugh with her. It was a true laugh from her, one that I hadn't heard in a week now.

Once the initial shock went away no one paid much attention to us. Unless you counted the guys that where still ogling the ladies. We danced for hours, drank, told jokes, played pool and Rose even got to hear a story or two about me when I was young. We had a great time.

Rose and I were heading back to our seats after another dance when she froze in mid stride. I felt the air, glancing at my brothers when I realized what it was. Vampire. 3 of them. I didn't recognize any of the scents. This couldn't be a coincidence.

She glanced at me with a look of fear as she turned on her vampire. The power around her was vibrating with strength. She was so small that it seemed unlikely that so much power could be compressed in her, just to come out at will.

"Is everything okay?"

"They noticed me, but none of them know what to think. They don't know what you guys are."

"Are they after you?" After one glance into her eyes I had my answer.

"Guys. Out!" They knew what was going on. They had felt it to and were ready for my call. We were getting out of there and fast.

Rose

When we moved out to the parking lot we all knew that we were being fallowed. Term rushed me to the bike that we had parked next to the SUV and tried to shove me on. With his brothers backing him up, I noticed that Regulous was trying to shove Courtney into the vehicle. She wasn't budging either. We could fight.

"No, I can handle it."

"Rose, I don't think it's a good idea." He gave me a wary glance and I could see his pain as he remembered what had happened last week.

"It's me they want, it's me they're going to get." My eyes flashed green as I glared at Term. The three vampires were now approaching.

"We have to do something." Regulous replied, full of anger, all directed to Term. "We've never waited this long for an answer from you."

"I know!" Term took his glance off of me and directed a stare at his brother. Which gave me the perfect opportunity to slip around him.

I could hear what they were thinking once I tuned out the wolves. Why here with them? What are they? Are they guarding her?

"What do you want?" I spoke quietly, as if I didn't know.

"What are they?" The leader swaggered closer to me as I did to him. He was short and lean. He wore cowboy boots and a flannel shirt. Didn't fit in to the nightclub scene at all.

"What do you think they are? I'm a normal person, enjoying a night out with my friends and your kind of bothering us." I laughed a little easy breezy.

"Not with that power. I feel it rolling off of you. I smell the vampire." She's the one Tomas is looking for.

Tomas must have been the one that Flash had been working for. He had to be the reason my brother was missing, but why.

"Really." I Nodded once smiling.

"Can you really read our minds?" He mentally asked.

I didn't respond. Giving him time.

She might not be using it. He said that she hasn't used it for 2 years. She has the creatures with her though. She smells a little similar. It has to be her, she even looks like him. I saw his memory flash to the barn where I was shot right before I saw Marc's face in a faint light. His memory of seeing and smelling my brother. Now I was pissed.

"You were at the barn? After I was shot?"

"Of course I was. Someone had to clean that idiot's mess. So, you can hear thoughts after all?" We've got her.

"Yes, but that's okay, because no one will ever know." I smiled my darkest smile, "So, tell me. Is there anything else that you want to get out there before I kill you and your scared little friends?"

I could see his mental anguish as he tried to calculate his next move. The only problem was one he knew too well. I could see what he was going to as he thought it.

"Now!" Term forced out and he and his brothers shifted, flanking behind me as they growled at the now slowly approaching vampires.

The lead vampire lunged after me fully fanged, but before anyone could react I pinned him face down on the ground with his arms twisted behind him. My vampire rejoiced as she sat there. She wanted to stretch her wings and feel the fight.

"Stay where you are Term." Term had begun to advance. I couldn't risk him attacking if I was going to get more information from this vamp. "If you go after anyone you get his goons, got it?" The silver and black wolf gave me a nod.

"You're fairly new. What, maybe 40 years? Do you know how it feels to have a limb ripped off? It takes about 10 minutes to grow back and it kind of hurts like hell." I twisted an arm for effect.

"Jesus!" He shouted out.

"Not Jesus. He's not here, I'm Rogue." I introduced myself as the vampire. "Tell me something I want to know. Who are you? Where is Marcus and don't lie to me, because I WILL know!" I slammed his head into pavement.

"I won't tell you a thing!"

"You're brave." I scoffed. "You fallowed me out here, so start talking!" He spit out some blood as his head slammed into the pavement again.

"You can't do anything to me." He spoke forcefully, but I could see the fear in his mind.

One thing that I had learned at early age is always come prepared for anything. I reached into my pant leg and pulled out my silver. As I stabbed it into his back I could see and hear the mental cringes of my audience.

"Do you like that, Honey?" I asked.

"Well you are wearing leather. I guess it goes with the bondage." His eyes raked over me.

"It's one of my boyfriend's favorites. You like?" I asked, not really caring. Term growled in the background.

"Talk!" I gave a little jerk to the blade.

Suddenly I saw images of a house, more vampires, weapons, my brother in a dark room. He doesn't want Marc, he's got him to get to you. That's why he hasn't killed him. A blonde vampire came to his vision. He had a crew cut with blonde hair and he was too muscular, like a weight lifter whose neck was thicker than their head.

"What does he want with me?"

"What Cat gave Bones." We all knew what that was. A baby.

Term growled again, this time he sounded feral. Regulous stood in front of him. Blocking his shot at the vampire on the ground.

"It doesn't even work like that!" I spat out. "Where is he?"

"Somewhere in Texas now, he won't tell us exactly. He has everyone that goes there blindfolded for those purposes. It won't help you to know anyway. He's got forces and they will come to get you." I had forces too.

The vampire under my blade moved his head to peer at his friends and they started to move out. A planned escape for them to go back and tell the boss? Or at least attempt it. Term's 5 brothers went after them, while Term and Courtney stayed.

"Not if I go after him first." Suddenly something occurred to me. "How did you know that I was here?"

"He has someone on the inside. Someone no one has ever seen. He sent me to Canada. I wasn't supposed to come back until I confirmed you."

"What happens if you don't go back at all?" I asked calmly.

"Like the other ones. He moves on."

"Other ones?" There were more?

"Your wolf there, he killed 2 in North Carolina and 1 here yesterday. Your father's people, 5 total. It's been going on for 2 years now. He's sending out more people by the day."

"Name?"

"What?"

"Name!" I knew he could comprehend, so I gave my blade another little jerk and loved the pain that echoed in his yowl.

"Johan!"

"I've heard enough." Before anyone could protest I twisted my blade and he withered underneath me.

The ride home was fast. Term had shifted back, apparently shifters always had extra clothing just in case they needed it. I had shut myself off when I knew it was over, not wanting to invade anyone's privacy. The twins stayed in wolf form at Term's orders to eliminate the evidence and were going to run home afterward.

Upon arrival we had said goodnight and thank you to his remaining siblings at the door and started bounding up stairs. I moved first, with Term close behind. I heard a sudden movement behind me and turned to see Term taking his shirt off with a look on his face that was fiercely sexy. We hadn't even made it out of view yet, but he seemed determined. We both sped up a bit. Once in the room he turned on me, slamming the door shut and me into it.

My vampire was back on.