Night Haven - By Fiona Jayde Page 0,4

last night and today alternating between the punching bag and trying to center her damned body. The magic flowed in wolves whose mind and body were united, a feat achieved through meditation and pain of intense physical conditioning.

She’d badly skinned her knuckles and the magic hadn’t come. And no matter how much she scrubbed, Dina couldn’t get rid of the vampire’s scent teasing her senses.

She should have killed him when she had the chance.

Telling herself she was simply annoyed rather than scared out of her mind, her wet hair haphazardly braided to keep it out of her face, Dina pretended to focus on tonight’s patrol. If anyone knew of her loss, she would have to stay back while the strong Lycks took care of business.

No one would know, she reassured herself again and tried to pretend interest in vampire gangs in Isla Vista. The college town was heaven for vamps, with a population heavy with drunken underage dopes happily willing to be bitten.

She had no pity for the ones who let themselves be taken. She hadn’t felt pity for them in nearly ten years. Ever since she’d had to kill Darlene.

Scowling, Dina jerked her attention to the present, refusing to think back to that night, long before her father made her younger brother alpha because she didn’t have passion for their cause. That night when her best friend willingly let herself be turned into a vampire and had to fill her newfound taste for blood.

“…plenty of abandoned structures on the bluffs.”

Once more, Dina forced herself to focus. Her brother stood in front of three large monitors with a map of Isla Vista split between the screens. Off to his left, Zachariel manned the large console heaped with keyboards, monitors and books. The whole room with its shelves of tech equipment was a geek’s wet dream, including the mesh chairs Dina and the other bloodwolves leaned back on. The nerd-squad image was tarnished a bit by Earth, Wind & Fire cheerfully humming something in the background. Zach didn’t talk much but Dina couldn’t fault his taste.

Using a slim pointer, Manakell circled the area along the cliffs. “We should beef up patrol around here.” In the past four years since their father died and his mate left him, Man’s bright and yellow eyes grew darker every day.

“We look too old.” Dina hadn’t realized she’d spoken out loud until Man simply raised his eyebrows, coolly inviting her to make her point.

She wished she’d left her hair loose, so that the other bloodwolves wouldn’t see her flushing. She hadn’t challenged Manakell four years ago when they were both ravaged by grief of losing their father. Her brother was the chosen alpha and she had lost the passion for their cause.

She sure as hell wouldn’t challenge him now, with the magic leeched out from her blood.

With five other bloodwolves looking at her, Dina kept her voice steady and firm. “We’re much older than that crowd. We’ll stand out too much.”

“Unless you bust out the club wear.” This was from Sammael, a snort to lift the tension.

She simply flipped her cousin off, and the room temperature rose a notch. Zach kept on clacking at the keys.

“Point is, Isla Vista vampires are regulars. They blend. We won’t.”

“Won’t matter.” Manakell looked at her directly, his stance relaxed, his voice intense and cool.

Dina didn’t let her gaze drop when she shrugged. “Your call.” She had bigger and badder things to deal with. If Man found out what she lacked, he would be forced to tell her to stay home, then forced to do something about it after she flatly disobeyed him. A familiar pattern, because the same thing happened to his mate and didn’t that turn out peachy?

“Gonna keep shut about last night?”

She remained calm and even managed a cocky fuck-you smile when she turned towards Roguell. “Excuse me?”

He stood to tower over her, a clear challenge of a male intent on dominating. Somewhere to her left Man growled, soft, low, enough to let on he wasn’t happy. Sam shifted in his chair, enough to show support.

Dina ignored them both and hoped no one could smell her fear.

“Last night, at Kennedy’s. You had a clear shot. You didn’t take it.”

Now was the time for irony, even if her heart was loud in her throat. “No bites, no stakes.” She shot Manakell a sunny smile. “Isn’t that right, brother?”

Man didn’t look at her. “That’s right.” The soft words held an unspoken threat and even if it ruffled Dina’s fur, it