Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Babe had found a spot to hide, pressed between a leaning tree and a rockface, closed their eyes and tried to pretend they were anywhere else. They were cold, hurt, and so fucking scared but at least, right now, it was quiet.

Logically, they knew it couldn’t have been more than a couple hours since their car went off the road, but it felt like days—it felt like this night had become a life of its own. They clutched at the side of their neck, squishing blood between their fingers but not letting go, resisting the urge to claw away the phantom feel of his breath and his tongue and his teeth still inside their skin.

Don’t think about it! their inner voice shouted. If he was going to find them, then he would have by now, right? He would have ripped the tree back like paper and dragged them out, breaking bone and sinking teeth into—

“Can you hear me?”

Babe choked on air and fear. The hand not at their neck grabbed at their own face to try to smother themself, but already one of those calmer voices in their mind recognized the voice and said it wasn’t the vampire. It wasn’t danger.

The shape of him filled the little entrance to their hiding spot. His hand touched the tree and his big body crouched down to look inside at them. Even in the night, his eyes glinted with something magic. It was still raining lightly and he was very naked.

“Can you hear me?” he asked again. They didn’t know David could sound that gentle.

Babe winced and looked away from his gaze. “Where…” they tried and had to stop, swallow and try again. “Where’s Asher?” their voice came out so small and tired. They hated it. That wasn’t what they sounded like.

“We can meet him up at the road. I can get you—”

They shook their head, closing their eyes. No. No. They couldn’t risk it. Couldn’t go. They were going to stay right fucking there until Asher showed up. He would find them. They had known that. Asher would find them. But David would be pissed. They were wasting his time. He could reach in and grab them. He could drag them out. He could—

“Okay,” he said.

Babe opened their eyes, realizing then that they’d been taking deep breaths, suffocating on nothing but panic. They risked looking up and holding his gaze again. He didn’t look angry. He nodded and settled on his knees near the entrance.

“We’ll wait here,” he said and then turned and spoke to someone else. “Tell Ash where we are. Tell the rest to give us space but circle. And bring pants, we’ll walk back.”

Babe exhaled hard, nodding and pressing their forehead against the side of the tree. Asher was coming. Asher would get them home.

David turned and sat, his shoulder to them so that they were still in the corner of his vision but he wasn’t staring, watching the woods around them instead. There were howls out there. He recognized them easily, comforted in his soul by the sounds of them even on a night like tonight. After a quiet minute he spoke, voice low and cautious. “I have to ask you some questions…”

Babe closed their eyes.

“You’re a part of my pack. I need to know what happened.”

Babe opened their eyes. “Am I?”

“What?”

“The pack…I mean…I’m not really…”

He turned his head to look at them squarely again. For a second, he just stared, surprised they didn’t know. How could they not know? “You are.” He should have said it sooner but sometimes he assumed things were just known. But humans needed words. They stared back at him, so painfully vulnerable. That was why he hadn’t argued about waiting for Asher. They were scared and uncomfortable in a way that was so foreign from who they were. Yes, they were obviously cold, wet, and hurt, but David didn’t have the heart to argue with them or boss them around like he might some of the others. So, he’d sit there and guard them until Asher got there—just like he would hope Asher would for Angel if they ever needed him to. “We found where the car went off the road. We found where you fought them off and then ran for the water. You swam across the lake, you know that? It’s cold and it’s a long way and you did that in the dark. You are strong and I am proud to have you in my pack. I was before and I am still.”

Babe stared back at him, first surprised and then slowly seeming to return to themself, swallowing hard at tears and nodding tightly. “I didn’t see him at first. I don’t know how the car went off the road. I was just driving and then…” They shook their head. “It was like something shoved the car right off the road and then I was going down the side of the mountain and then I think I hit a tree.”

David nodded. He had seen where the car ended up. There were so many ways they could have died in just that. But they hadn’t. They’d gotten out of the car.

“I heard someone…I think he was humming? I don’t know. But I knew he wasn’t there to help so… So, I tried to run. I thought maybe I could hide but he was so fast. He didn’t have a light or anything but he found me.”

David resisted the urge to cringe or swear. Quinn. It had been Quinn. They had smelled him near the road and again near the river, where Babe’s clothes were shredded and their blood spilled on grass and rocks. He listened to the steady, strong beat of their heart and consoled himself with that. They were alive. It was a miracle. His own sense of responsibility and the friendship he and Angel had built with this human aside, he couldn’t begin to imagine what would happen to Asher if they’d found Babe dead tonight.

“He…He was talking a lot. Said,” they swallowed hard and David held his breath. They were trying not to cry. “He said we were going to make a show…leave a trail for-for the pack to follow. E-Eventually they’d know I was dead but they’d have to keep looking for my body, he said.” They swayed where they sat, eyes losing focus and David’s mind raced, trying to decide if it was better to reach in and keep their head from bumping anything, or not. He didn’t want to scare them. He definitely didn’t want to force them out of their hiding spot. It wouldn’t have worked, of course. If Quinn had found them hiding in that spot, he could have ripped the trees back like a dried husk. But that didn’t matter now, because Quinn hadn’t found them first and David would not steal that last sense of safety from them.

“I think my ankle’s twisted,” they whispered, eyes still unfocused and body shaking.

David nodded slowly, watching them. “We’ll go to the hospital.”

They started a little. “I just want to go home. I just want Asher.”

Christian neared but not close enough for Babe to hear or see. He tossed David a bag and then backed away. Inside, David found a pair of soft pants and pulled them on. There were other clothes in the bag too, hoodies and sweatpants. He remembered the shredded clothing on the lake beach. They’d followed the car wreck and the running trail to the lake. The moonlight made the struggle so easy to read in the dirt and grass, the blood and torn jacket and shirt.

He pulled Asher’s hoodie out of the bag and held it out into the little hiding spot. “He’s on his way,” he promised.

Babe reached out and took the hoodie, hand dirty and shaking.

“Did he let you go?” David asked softly. It sounded like Quinn’s plans had been to torture and kill them, to torture them all by making them look for Asher’s dead mate. But that wasn’t what had happened tonight.

Babe hugged the hoodie rather than pulling it on, pressing their cheek into it and for a second looking like they might fall asleep. “No. I…” They smiled a little, more tears in their eyes. “Asher made me carry mace. I sprayed him when-when he had his teeth in me.” They hiccupped something like a laugh, losing some of those tears. “It hurt more than the fucking bite. But I got away. The only place I could think to go was into the water… So, I just swam.”

David marveled at that—at them. He nodded again. “You did really good.” He could hear Asher coming, running, closing in. Asher had given a little pocket cannister of mace to Angel too, a couple weeks back. He’d shown them how to use it and made such a joke about carrying it, about how the humans should have it in case they needed to put some of the pushier pack members in their place. He’d made Angel practice pulling it out and argued with them about carrying it in their pocket instead of their backpack. Always. Just in case. Just for fun. He made it seem like he had a joke in the works and they’d be messing it up if they didn’t have it on hand for him at some unknown point in time.

The wolf broke through the tree line and shifted into human form without losing a step. He was dragging breaths and his eyes were wide, looking everywhere, desperate to see his mate alive. David reached out and gestured him closer. He tried not to think about what this night would have looked like if Babe hadn’t been carrying that mace—but he knew he couldn’t ignore it forever. It was going to haunt him.

Asher hadn’t been able to think more than a handful of words since they found the spot where their car went off the road.

He’d known something was wrong as soon as they didn’t answer their phone or text back. Babe was nothing if not responsible. The only logical thought he could come up with was that their phone had died. But then they didn’t come home. He was out the door and calling David. A part of his brain said it was overkill, he was being paranoid or overprotective. He should calm down. But following instinct had never failed Asher before. He expected David to blow him off when he called, but he couldn’t go out looking for someone and not tell his alpha.

But David hadn’t blown him off. He’d asked a couple questions. Asked what roads Babe drove from work home and said he’d meet him coming the other direction. When they drove the whole way and found nothing, David called in more of the pack and they ran it on foot, finding the spot where the car went off the road.

Asher had refused to think beyond searching. The car was wrecked, but they had gotten out.

There had been a struggle, but they had gotten away, into the water.

All other details were for later. All he fucking needed was to find Babe.

At first, when he reached David, he was confused. They were clear on the other side of the lake. How did they swim that far? And where the hell were they? But when David gestured him closer, he noticed the shadowy spot between a large tree and some rocks. The first thing he saw was his hoodie. He crouched down to look inside at Babe. They looked so tired. They were banged up and shaky, but they were right alive. He exhaled hard. “Babe?”

They looked up like they’d been half-asleep. “Asher.”

His name came out on a whisper, like something unbelievable.

He smiled shakily and reached in slowly, not wanting to startle them. As soon as his hand touched their thigh, they latched onto his arm. The contact would have brought him to his knees in relief if he wasn’t already there. He pulled them out from their hiding spot and into his arms carefully. He wrapped the hoodie around them, clenching his jaw to keep from snarling at the teeth marks in their neck, blood still flowing from the wound. They also had a bruise on the side of their face that could have been from the car crash or from a fist.

Fuck the Department and regulations, Quinn was going to die.

Asher pressed his face against Babe’s temple and just breathed them in, resisting the urge to squeeze them tightly.

“Ash,” David spoke, his voice steady. “The road’s up this way. We need to get them to a hospital. Milo’s mom is out of town but heading back. She won’t be here until tomorrow.”

Babe sighed. “Can we just go home?” Asher realized then that Babe hadn’t tried to get up yet. His hands traced their legs, gentle but firm enough that if something was broken he would hear about it. They jerked a little when he touched their right ankle.

“Yeah. Yeah, we have to get you out of here,” he said, agreeing to both of them in a way. Babe would usually be the most logical person in the group, the one suggesting hospitals and sensible things, and the fact that they weren’t was scary. “I’m going to carry you, okay?” Asher asked.

“I can—”

“It’s either me or David, Baabe,” Asher countered.

They blushed but quieted down and then nodded once. Asher wasted no time. He pulled on a pair of pants and picking up Babe before they could change their mind and try to walk. They must be completely wiped out not to even argue with him about it. Which was fair. Car accident, assaulted by vamp, bitten, swimming across a fucking lake, and then hiding for more than an hour.

David led the way to the road, never far ahead.

Asher understood. He wanted to give them space but he couldn’t and wouldn’t risk anything else happening to someone in his pack tonight. They had to get Babe someplace safe. It was loyalty and instinct.

When they got up to the nearest road, where Milo was waiting with an SUV, Babe was asleep in his arms. Milo opened the back door and Asher put them inside, careful of their ankle. He buckled them in.

“Chris and the others are heading back to check on the others,” Milo explained. As soon as they realized something had happened, they’d alerted the whole pack—which meant the capable wolves had been split between guarding the younger and the non-empowered members. Milo’s mate had been sent to David’s house to hang out with/guard Angel. They would be shuffled around now, but no one would be left alone until they’d dealt with Quinn.

“Ash,” David said, voice careful now.

Asher tensed, staring at him, a hand still on the door between him and Babe—not realizing he was keeping that thin contact.

“Milo’s mom is out of town but heading back. She’ll be here sometime tomorrow, but we can take them to the hospital now if—”

Asher shook his head. “We’ll wait. They don’t want to go and I…I don’t want to make them if we don’t have to. I’ll clean them up and patch them up when we get home. I'll make sure there’s nothing more serious,” Asher assured, not even surprised by that careful tone David was using. He hated overstepping but he couldn’t help it either. He was alpha. It was sort of his job.

“Milo’s mate has some training in healing…”

Asher curled his lip. “No. Fuck no.” He locked eyes with Milo, who had stopped what he was doing to raise an eyebrow. “No offense. Stealth is a great stealth but I’ve been healed in a pinch by them before… I ain’t doin that to Babe.”

Milo bit back a smirk and shrugged, for once not saying anything. He must really be unnerved by what happened to Babe.

David nodded, accepting his choice and his plan and then sighed. “I know they want to go home but…We haven’t found him yet.”

Asher growled. He didn’t even say the name and he didn’t need to.

“If you two go back to your apartment alone… You’re not going to sleep.” David wrinkled his nose. “I’m not going to sleep,” he admitted. “Our house has extra rooms, you’ve slept there before. You can use the one you two always use. It has its own bathroom. We’ll leave you the fuck alone if you want but—”

Asher hugged him. How David could sound like he was pushing, like he was overstepping, when he wasn’t even close was so crazy. They had been best friends since they were kids. There was absolutely no one he trusted more with his life or with Babe’s. And David had found them too. Had come to help look the second Asher called and then fucking found them out there in the woods. And he’d sat there with them until Asher got there.

David hugged him back, relaxing a fraction. “They used the mace,” he said. “The same mace you made Angel carry… That’s how they got away from Quinn.”

Asher unraveled from him, confused for a second before realizing what he was talking about—what must have happened—and then why David was telling him. Asher almost laughed. Like Asher had done something extraordinary by pushing the humans to carry mace. They were his family.

“I’ll run back to the other cars,” Milo offered. “Ash, text me what you need from the apartment and I’ll get it and bring it to David’s.” He shifted and took off before Asher could say anything.

“Get in the back,” David said, rounding the car for the driver’s door.

Asher sighed, grateful, and got into the backseat with Babe. They were still asleep, still shaking. He scooted closer, cupping their cold cheek. Babe jerked awake, flinching back from him in their seat. His hands hovered. “It’s me. It’s just me,” he promised.

Babe’s eyes focused on him. They were still dragging deep breaths when they nodded, looking around. “Is…Is he dead?” they asked quietly.

Asher cradled the side of their face that wasn’t bruised and welted, stroking his thumb against their cheekbone. “Not yet, but he will be, Babe. I won’t let him near you again, I promise.” His voice was gravel. It shouldn’t have happened the first time.

David turned on the heat and pulled away from the woods and onto the main road.

Mace. That was what had saved them? Asher was grateful his hand didn’t shake. He wouldn’t get the full story until they were alone at David’s house.

Angel had put every first-aid kit and item they could find into the guest room and tried so hard not to flinch at the sight of Babe when he carried them in and through the house.

“Call if you need anything,” David had said. “I have to make some calls but we’ll order some food.”

Asher had nodded and carried Babe straight through the guest room and into the private bathroom. They managed to stand on their own, still wearing his hoodie. He fingered it gently. “Is it okay if I clean you up?” he asked.

Babe dragged a breath but nodded.

He hesitated. The last thing he wanted was to make them feel cornered or bullied or, fuck, exposed. But they needed to be looked at, cleaned up, and bandaged. He couldn’t leave them to do that alone when they were barely staying on their feet. “Babe…Is there anyone else you’d rather—”

“No.” They looked up at him then, surprise and panic in their eyes and that word bursting out. “No. I…” They swallowed and their gaze pushed down, fixing somewhere on his chest. “I mean. If you don’t want to see… I mean… I’m probably a fucking mess.” They huffed something like a strangled laugh, tears in their eyes. “You don’t have to stay. I can—”

Asher actually whined, stepping closer, hovering, unable to grab at them or kiss them the way he usually would. Instead, he put his hands to the wall on either side of them and just hung his head, close, as close as he could be without the chance of causing them more pain. “That’s not it. That’s nowhere close. I don’t want to be anywhere but with you. It would be torture to let someone else take care of you right now and I’d rather chew off my own arm than leave you alone. I just don’t want to make things worse…”

Babe laughed.

The sound startled him into opening his eyes, looking back at them.

Babe smiled, tired and battered. “My car got wrecked and a total asshole of a vampire tried to kill me. The only way you could make this worse would be leaving.”

Asher sighed, beyond relieved just to hear them sounding somewhat like themselves again. He chanced touching their cheek, slow. Babe leaned back against the wall. “D-Do you know who it was?” they asked, quiet again.

Asher swallowed a growl and nodded, gently tugging the zipper of their hoodie down. “It was a vamp that has a grudge against one of us… We didn’t know he was in town. I’m sorry, I should have—”

“You’re fine,” Babe said. “It’s not anyone’s fault but his.”

Asher nodded and gently pulled them away from the wall to slide the hoodie off of them. Their shirt had been ripped off and left in the grass. Was it still out there? He’d have to go out and clean up everything. He couldn’t just leave pieces of them out there like that. He let them lean back to the wall again and with their eyes closed, allowed himself to stare at the side of their neck that Quinn had sunk teeth into. He had bitten a few times, probably just to be cruel. Chewing. Asher shuddered rage but pressed it back. Not now. Not when Babe needed him.

The skin around the bites, up and down their throat, was bruised. He also noted a handprint bruise on their arm, and their side. “Tell me what happened, Babe?” he asked gently, unzipping the front of their jeans and peeling the wet and muddy material off of them, mindful of that hurt ankle. It was swollen and bruised too.

Babe sighed and told him what happened, from the car crash to Quinn, teeth in their neck and the mace burning even worse than the bite but at least it got them a few seconds to scramble away. Hitting the water and swimming. Just swimming. They were in the shower by the time they got to that part of the story, Asher was with them, holding them up and washing away the mud, trying to bring warmth into their skin. Babe sighed. “I thought I was going to drown at one point but reached land again. And then I was afraid he’d find me again. I didn’t know how far I’d gone or if he was still looking. So, I hid.”

Asher had just rinsed their hair, secretly relieved just to have that fucker’s scent off of them. He tried to be quick about all of it though. He needed to get them off their feet and he needed to bandage the wounds on their neck. But he still didn’t miss something in their tone and the tight knot of their shoulders. He turned off the water and grabbed one of the towels, wrapping it around them. “What else?” he asked softly. He needed to know and they needed to get whatever was still weighing on them out.

Babe swallowed, seeming to debate their answer. They glanced toward the door, like someone might be there. No one was. David had said he’d give them space and he would.

“I…I didn’t tell him,” they said quietly, fingers twisting against the towel.

Asher leaned in closer, fingering hair back from their face. “David?”

They nodded nervously.

“That’s okay. Tell me.”

Babe hesitated again, swallowing hard before whispering, voice cracking a little. “When he said…he was going to kill me slow and leave pieces to make you follow… So, it would take time for the pack to realize they were looking for a body…”

Asher nodded tightly. Yes, he would not be forgetting that any time soon. It would haunt him.

Tears gathered in Babe’s eyes again and they swayed like they might shift their weight from foot to foot but his hand on their waist kept them in place before they could remember why they were on one foot—the other ankle swollen. “He said he was going to put what was left of me in David’s yard, on the side that’s got the woods… Like-Like it would break something between the two of you.” Their brow pinched, eyes teary but confused and upset. “It wouldn’t, right? If he’d…If I died, you would still have David and the others. You…” They struggled to get air. “You wouldn’t be alone. And it wouldn’t have been David’s fault if some psycho…”

Asher kept one hand on their hip and the other cupping the unharmed side of their neck, keeping them up and steady and right there with him. Tears brimmed his own eyes. “You didn’t die. You aren’t going to die. I’m not going to be alone. And I’m not mad at anyone but that one fucking leech.”

Babe sobbed, surprising themself and clamping a hand over their mouth to try to smother it.

Asher shook his head. “No. Don’t do that,” he begged, gently tugging the hand away from their mouth. “You can cry. You can scream. I’ve got you.”

Sounds bubbled up in their chest, shaking them. “I was so scared,” they confessed between gasps and sobs, like it had only just now hit them.

He held them, repeating again and again the facts that mattered now. They were alive. They got away. No one died. And they were safe now. He repeated it as much for them as for himself, to chase away the mental image of what Quinn had hoped to accomplish tonight—to have the pack out there searching for his mate, finding blood splatter and pieces, eventually realizing that Babe had to be dead but they couldn’t stop looking, and then to have that trail lead them to the back of David’s house—this fucking house—and find Babe there.

Asher honestly didn’t know that all that detail would fucking matter to him. If Babe had been killed, he couldn’t imagine not losing his damn mind. The cruelty of how would have been more for the rest of the pack than for him personally. And any intended wedge between himself and David was delusional on Quinn’s part. Yes, that shit would have fucked up David and the house probably would have been sold or burned to the ground after Quinn was killed, but he couldn’t imagine an outcome where David wasn’t dragging his limping soul through the rest of their lives.

When Babe quieted, finally getting all that tension and fear out, they slumped against him. He wrapped them in the towel and picked them up again. He couldn’t remember any occasion where Babe let him pick them up this much. He carried them into the bedroom and settled them on the bed with all the first-aid junk. They talked softly while he bandaged their neck, eyelids heavy. They’d be asleep in no time. He pushed the rest of the stuff off the bed when he was done patching them up, found one of David’s old tshirts in the mostly empty dresser and put Babe in it before tucking them in.

He sat with them while they fell asleep, kissing their face and whispering reassurances. “You’re safe. I’m going to go to the living room for a second and get our stuff and some food. I’ll be right back, okay?”

Babe mumbled something about going with him and he laughed gently, kissing their temple again.

“Get the bed warm for me, okay?”

Babe made a non-committal sound and he knew they were out.

He stepped out of the room and left the door ajar when he slunk down the long narrow hall, to the living room. David’s mate and the stealth were in the kitchen with Milo talking about food in whisper shouts. The pile of bags dumped just inside the big living room suggested Milo and his mate were moving into the house for a while too.

David came up to him almost as soon as he stood in the mouth of the hallway. He’d showered and thrown on new clothes too. “The Department has teams hunting for Quinn.”

Asher looked up at him, lip curling.

David lifted a hand to cut off the words he knew was coming. “We haven’t stopped searching either.”

Asher quieted the rage that so eagerly wanted to bubble up in his chest. A part of him wanted to storm right out the front door and run the vamp to ground and tear him apart with his own teeth. But he couldn’t leave Babe right now. Not until they woke up again and really understood where they were and that they were safe. He scrubbed a hand over his face. He needed Quinn dead.

David nodded like Asher had explained all that need. “I’m taking Milo, Chris, and Darlin out soon.”

He said it and they both felt weird because Asher always went with David. Always.

David looked at him. “You need to stay with Babe and I need to know you’re here with Angel.”

Asher nodded tightly. He understood the thinking. It was the best decision. “Bring the body back? I need to see it.” He winced. “It’s not that I wouldn’t trust your word…I—”

David snorted and leaned over, tapping their heads together the way they did sometimes—in human form and in wolf form. “I know. I’d need to see it too.”

Asher sighed relief and nodded. They were about to part ways when he thought better of it, grabbing David’s arm. The alpha stopped and leaned back toward him, waiting. “He was going to put their body in your yard.” He tried to say it coldly but it was impossible not to snarl a little. David looked confused and then horrified. Asher nodded.

David growled low. “I’ll bring back enough for you to identify.”

Asher patted his back and scooped up the bags he recognized as theirs, taking them with him back to the bedroom. He’d get some sleep and if he was lucky, he’d wake up to a dead vamp in the front yard.

Chapter Text

Asher felt it. He didn’t hear it or smell it. He felt something wrong and opened his eyes, completely awake. It wasn’t dawn yet, still off by another hour or so. Babe was asleep against his side. His hands slid over them in the dark room, reassured by their nearness and the steady breaths they dragged. He kissed the top of their head and inhaled the scent of them. His. Safe. Alive.

But there was still something…

Asher unraveled from them carefully, sliding off the bed and tucking Babe in soundly.

He slipped out of the room but didn’t close the door all the way behind him, moving silently down the hall to the living room. It was dark but for the flickering glow of the TV.

He stopped at the end of the hall and let his gaze sweep over the room and the open kitchen.

Angel and Stealth were asleep on the couch and he knew no one else had come home yet. But his nerves were still prickling and his lip curled back from his teeth. He stood there, still, thinking and just listening to the quiet house. They had wards. The Stealth had put them up back when the alpha duo moved in. Nothing but pack was going to reach the doors or windows.

“Asher?” Stealth asked, voice low. They were sitting up now, watching him.

He shook his head once and they went quiet, slowly standing. He walked toward the back of the house, not the front. It was all instinct, nothing he could explain, but Asher had good instincts and second-guessing them had never turned out well. He had second-guessed them when it came to Babe tonight. He’d been worried before they were late—before they didn’t answer their phone. He could have been in the woods sooner. He still might not have been fast enough to protect Babe from teeth but he could have been fast enough to catch Quinn.

Stealth followed him down the halls to the back of the house. “The wards aren’t broken,” they assured and he heard that gentle worry that he was unsettled because of what had happened tonight. Stealth was strong. The wards were not broken and it would take more than one vamp to even try.

“Call Milo,” Asher said, not taking his eyes off the darkness at the tree line behind the house. Maybe he was wrong. Maybe he was unsettled. But he didn’t feel unsettled. He felt really fucking sure that someone was looking back at him from the deep shadows between those trees.

He unlocked the backdoor.

“Asher…” Stealth said, phone in hand but pausing when he opened the door.

He glanced back at them—at the worry on their face. “It’s okay. Call Milo and if I’m wrong I’ll be back in a minute. If I’m not, then tell them to come home.” He didn’t have to tell Stealth not to follow him out and leave the humans alone. They took protecting pack seriously and Stealth never failed.

Asher heard the ring signal on the phone before he stepped outside and the almost instant answer of, “Sweetheart?”

The door swung shut behind him. He walked barefoot onto the grass, toward the tree line behind the house. The night air was cold. He hadn’t put on more clothes. If he was right, he’d be phasing out of his sweatpants in a minute anyway.

He stopped when he saw him—a silhouette in the night stepping out from the trees. The moonlight wasn’t high anymore. It was closer to dawn than he’d thought, darkest before the rise of day.

Asher grinned. He tried not to, but he couldn’t help himself.

Quinn didn’t notice, the light of the house behind Asher turned him into a shadow on the lawn. The vampire took a dozen steps closer in a flash, hoping to make the wolf jump. “You know, you’re standing right where I was planning to put your human chew toy.”

Asher’s grin grew and so did his teeth, but Quinn didn’t see it yet. Rage warmed his skin and twitched in his muscles. He was a split-second from shifted but held it off, waiting, letting the leech get closer—get more comfortable. He had been waiting for David to bring him this man’s head and here the idiot was, right in front of him. They were strangers but Asher knew Quinn. He knew the scent of him from Babe’s skin and the shape of his bite from their neck. He would never forget it. And after tonight, he was going to know the taste of his blood, the sound of his scream, and his last words on this earth.

“What’s the plan, leech?” Asher asked, surprised the words came out as easily as they did. It was worth it when the vamp took another dozen steps closer.

“The plan is to rip you apart and use your body to get through those wards. Only pack can get in, right? I think if I drain you and carry what’s left of you, I’ll be able to slip in.”

Asher nodded. “Fox in the henhouse.”

Quinn smiled. There was dried blood smeared on his cheek. Babe’s blood. “Exactly.”

Asher wondered if Quinn really understood what Stealth could do, especially in close quarters when they’d been thinking about how to defend that space all day. Fully fed, Quinn would be real damn dangerous, but it wasn’t going to be as easy as he imagined. And it wouldn’t happen anyway.

Quinn had crossed more than half the yard. Even if he realized his mistake and tried to run, he wouldn’t make it to the trees again.

Asher finally took a step forward and the glow of the pool light to the right finally pushed back shadows just enough for Quinn to see his grin. “You’re never getting inside.” Asher shifted in a lunge, crossing the grass in leaps. Quinn ran to meet him and they collided in a blur of teeth, claws, and shadow.

The fight was dirty, blood wetting the grass and jaws snapping. Neither cried out. Neither tried to run. Both were sure they would win but only Asher had been right.

When it was done, when Quinn was broken and bleeding under him, Asher licked the other monster’s cheek. He cleaned that dried blood from his skin, taking back the last of Babe.

Quinn hissed a threat that had no weight anymore. He was tired and drained, his power a rain of red wetting the soil. Asher marched back toward the house, up that little incline of grass toward the yard where they sometimes had barbeques and went swimming in the pool. The leech grunted wetly, clawing at the grass with his one good arm but unable to slow Asher down. He stopped at the top, at that spot where Quinn had said he wanted to leave Babe’s body for them to find.

The vampire lashed out at him with his good hand but Asher caught the wrist in his teeth and jerked hard enough to rip shoulder from socket and snap a few bones. Quinn screamed. The sound meant nothing to Asher.

He shifted into human skin, stretching his back and his neck and catching his breath. The sky was lighter and lighter shades of blue now, the stars gone. Quinn struggled to heal after all the blood loss, gasping like a fish and twitching, eyes big.

Asher dragged his hair back from his face and turned, sitting next to him and facing the tree line on the horizon. “I bet you’re real fuckin, surprised,” he mused, tired of tonight. “I get it. Most people underestimate me. I’m not big or mean or violent.” He looked down at himself, smeared in blood and dirt, and quirked a smile that had nothing nice about it. “I’m not beta to the largest pack in Dahlia just because I look great naked, dumbass.”

Quinn tried to hiss, teeth bared. Asher considered knocking his teeth out but it was excessive and this was done. He looked at the tree line instead.

“If my wolf doesn’t get here before the Department,” Quinn rasped. “Tell them I did it all for them, would you? A love letter. And I will always come back for—”

“You’re not coming back for anyone,” Asher interrupted, voice even again. If anyone was listening they might think they were friends talking after a long night from his voice. “They aren’t your wolf and I’m not telling them shit from you. You came here for me and you died.”

Quinn was quiet for a second and then he spasmed, trying to get up maybe.

Asher smiled gently at the sky. “You should at least watch it.”

“W-What?”

Asher nudged his chin toward that bright stain of pink rising behind the trees. “Sunrise.”

Quinn spit and snarl, jerking his body to try to get his sockets back into place but he exhausted fast. “You’re bluffing,” he panted. “You think I’m going to grovel and beg—”

Asher grabbed him and pulled him into his lap, gripping his jaw and holding it high, clicking his teeth tight and bruising his fingers into Quinn’s face to keep his mouth shut. He struggled against his chest but it was weak now. Asher watched those first glimpses of light slipping through the branches. “I’m really glad you came to find me,” Asher admitted. “You saved me so much fuckin time, man.”

Tires rolled up on the driveway on the other side of the house. He heard the doors opening but not closing as someone ran around the side of the house. David. He knew it would be David even before he heard his name on his alpha’s lips. There was a question in it.

Quinn hissed a laugh and tried to talk but Asher still had his face clamped shut. He thought David would save him? Give him over to the Department?

Sunlight spilled into the yard. Quinn kicked and spasmed, ruined arms trying to grab at Asher’s arms.

David came closer, standing right behind him, but said nothing.

Morning slid over them and Asher wondered if he’d ever actually watched a sunrise before. Quinn heated up in Asher’s hands, until it felt like he was holding coals to his chest, but he never even considered letting go. It had to end. It had to be a new day. One where he could tell Babe it was done and that psycho would never come back to hurt them. One where Darlin wouldn’t have to torture themselves about it anymore. One where David wouldn’t have to worry about everyone every moment.

His hand closed, crushing ash that used to be Quinn’s face and the morning breeze stole through the husk of a chest to cool the burns on his own. Asher exhaled hard and dropped his arms to his sides. Quinn was gone with the dawn like an actual nightmare.

David’s hand touched Asher’s head. “How bad are you hurt?”

“I’m not.”

“Asher.”

Asher groaned and rolled to his feet. He looked awful, blood and ash sticking to his skin. “A couple bites and bunch of bruises, but nothing I can’t sleep off.” He looked up at David and there was a pause when he wondered if David would tell him he’d done the wrong thing, or if he’d just see it in his eyes—disappointment or disgust.

David exhaled relief that had to do with more than just Asher’s safety. He nodded. “You did good.”

Milo and Darlin came running around the side of the building. Milo jerked to a stop first, taking in the state of Asher and Darlin took another couple steps, eyes widening and dragging over the ashes on the ground as well. “Quinn?” they asked, voice barely above a whisper.

Asher nodded and then glanced around. They’d been out hunting for Quinn with Sam but now it was dawn. “Where’s your vamp?”

Darlin’s shoulders pressed back and eyes narrowed on him, a mix of uncertainty, guilt, and fear in their eyes when they took an almost strategic step back and to the side, between Asher and the path around the side of the house.

It took Asher a second to realize what all that was about. They really thought he’d blame Sam somehow? For what? Being a vampire? He considered the ashes sticking to him and the teeth marks in Babe’s neck. Maybe Darlin didn’t think he’d blame Sam so much as he’d lump him and all bloodsuckers in with Quinn. Asher sighed and resisted the urge to claw a hand through his hair—it would only make it dirtier now. “No. I just mean… With it being light out. Did you take him back to his clan?”

“No. He’s…He’s in the car. I can get him out of here though,” Darlin said, taking another step back.

Asher shook his head. He knew what they were doing—worried he didn’t trust Sam near Babe now. “I don’t mind if he stays. He’s pack.” He was tired but he didn’t miss the surprise and relief on their face. He turned to look at David. “I’m going inside to shower. Do we need to—”

“I’ll handle the department,” David cut in, nodding him toward the back door.

Stealth was already leaning out the door, gaze flashing between all of them before settling on Milo. Asher thought that was romantic as hell—that he could be standing here naked and covered in blood and ash and still the Stealth couldn’t look away from their mate for more than a few seconds to get the lay of the land. He passed them on his way in and nodded to a very confused looking Angel on his way through the living room.

His bedroom door was still ajar, just the way he’d left it, and he slipped inside—closing it firmly behind him.

Babe shifted in the bed only slightly. They were probably sore and foggy after the painkillers they’d taken after eating a little earlier. “Ash?” Their voice was uncharacteristically small and unsure, barely awake at all.

He curled his hands into fists to keep from touching them. He needed to wash what was left of Quinn off first. “Here, Babe. I gotta go to the bathroom. I’ll be there in a minute.”

Babe relaxed, sinking back into sleep.

“Everything’s okay,” Asher told them and meant it.