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.