Meat

Chapter Seventeen

"Hi, it's Vince. Leave a message."

Jemima scowled, plucked the phone from her shoulder, and hung up. Dropping it onto the counter, she pulled the plug from the sink and grabbed the towel that hung over the cooker door rail. She wrung it around her hands and turned, leaning against the counter.

"No answer?"

Glaring at her husband's stupid question didn't make anything better but she felt good for it. He'd watched her make three attempts to get through to Vince and had surely heard the answering machine message every time. That wasn't even to mention that she'd hung up instead of talking to their son.

Kaleb moved close to her, settling his hands on her hips and kissing her forehead.

"He'll be alright, Jem."

"You expect me to believe that after everything you just told me?"

Grimacing, Kaleb stepped back, plucking the towel from her hands. He slung it on the counter and Jemima immediately grabbed it, straightening it out and hanging it over the rail. She picked up her phone again, scrolling through the contacts.

"I've spoken to Caine," he said, bringing her gaze up to him. "He's going to have people looking for them but obviously they can't start until sunset."

"And what if the vampire is already dead by then?"

"Then there's nothing we can do."

"You say my brother—my baby brother—is trying to start a war using a vampire and our son, and you think I'm going to accept that I can't do anything about it. You're the alpha for god's sake!"

Jemima jabbed the entry in her phone and lifted it to her ear. There was barely a pause, not even a single ring, and his voice grumbled through.

"Hi, it's Vince. Leave a message."

The phone bounced off the side of the kettle as she flung it across the counter.

"Jem—"

"Either the vampire is dead, in which case Caine is going to come at us full force, or the vampire is still with our son. Our human son, Kaleb!"

Kaleb glanced at the phone and shook his head. His broad chest heaved with his breath and he plucked her from her position easily. Leading her across to the table, he pushed her down into a chair and returned to the counter, flicking on the kettle. He collected the phone and laid it on the table beside her before gathering two mugs. His large powerful hands were delicate as he spooned sugar into the mugs and popped in tea bags. She picked up the phone and turned it in her hands, wondering whether she should try again.

"I get why you're worried," he said. "Believe me, I am too. I don't want Vince tangled up in this any more than you do, but we can't do anything until the cycle is over."

Jemima jumped to her feet sending the phone clattering across the kitchen floor. Turning to look at her, Kaleb frowned and shook his head but she moved across the gap, grasping his shirt and pulling him away from the mugs and the kettle. He sighed and glanced over his shoulder. He planned on placating her. It had been a long few days and he probably thought her reaction was through tiredness. She yanked on his shirt, bringing his attention back to her.

"Carson has gone to the city, which means there must be somewhere to transform that's safe," she said. "If we can find them before the moon rises, we can fix this."

"I don't know. One wolf is—"

"Do you think Caine will care who he pushes aside to get that boy back?" she snapped. "If he thinks the vampire is in danger, he'll kill Vince and god knows what he'll do to Carson."

"No, Caine won't—"

"He murdered his leader to advance his position. You think he wouldn't do the same to protect this boy?"

Kaleb frowned and stared down at her fingers where they tangled in his shirt. With his brow furrowed, her husband looked much older than usual. Of course, he still looked younger than he would have, had he been human. Had Kaleb been human, he would probably have had a walker or white hair. Still, she could always see the age creeping up on him when he was stressed.

"If we descend with the entire pack, Caine will consider it an attack," he murmured.

"Then don't take the whole pack. Some haven't fed yet, they'll need to be back here. You said Priya knew the vampire before he was turned, right? She knows the city. Take her, Jack and Darren. They've all fed. Just the four of you and Caine can't think that we're trying to move in."

His gaze drifted over her face as the water in the kettle bubbled. Steam rose and billowed beneath the cabinets as the switch flicked off on its own. Jemima glanced at it and back to Kaleb.

"Maybe you're right," he said. "Caine will have to see that we're doing everything we can to avoid casualties."

"Exactly."

Jemima couldn't quite believe that they were having this conversation, finding ways to placate the vampires after the threats they'd made only days before. From what Kaleb had told her upon his return from the city, he'd even threatened to take leverage in the very vampire Carson now held. Perhaps Caine wouldn't accept their platitudes, but they couldn't wait. Once the moon waned, their power would fade for another month. They would have two days, perhaps three, before their senses dulled some. The vampires would outmatch them in every way.

"Go," she said, standing on her tiptoes and kissing the corner of his lips. "Take Priya and the boys and find our family. I'll stay here with the rest of the pack."

Kaleb wrapped his arms around her and brought her in tight against his chest. He was warm and smelled of earth and fresh air. After kissing her temple, he rested his chin on the top of her head, stroking his fingers through her hair.

"You know I'm going to kill Carson for this, right?" he asked.

Jemima pulled back and looked up at him.

"No, you won't."

Snorting with disbelief, he raised an eyebrow as he met her gaze. Jemima's lips set in a hard line, her nostrils flaring.

"You won't kill him because the moment I get my hands on my dear baby brother, I'm skinning him for pelts."