Pack Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Blurb

  Dedication

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

  Twenty-One

  Twenty-Two

  Twenty-Three

  Twenty-Four

  Twenty-Five

  Twenty-Six

  Twenty-Seven

  Twenty-Eight

  Twenty-Nine

  Thirty

  About the Author

  Look for More Titles by Cassandra Chandler

  Pack

  The Blades of Janus

  Book One

  Cassandra Chandler

  Copyright Page

  You are a good person! You know that stealing is wrong. Remember, eBooks can’t be shared or given away. It’s against copyright law. So don’t download books you haven’t paid for or upload books in ways other people can access for free. That would be stealing.

  And you’re better than that.

  This book is pure fiction. All characters, places, names, and events are products of the author’s imagination or used solely in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to any people, places, things, or events that have ever existed or will ever exist is entirely coincidental.

  Pack

  The Blades of Janus, Book One

  Copyright © 2016 by Cassandra Chandler

  ISBN: 978-1-945702-00-6

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be used, transmitted, or reproduced in any manner or form without written permission from the author, except for brief quotations used in critical articles and reviews.

  First eBook edition: September 2016

  cassandra-chandler.com

  P.O. Box 91

  Mission, Kansas 66201

  The monsters of legend are not what we think—their origins much more distant. Dwellers are among us. A flitting shadow seen from the corner of your eye. An animal that’s not quite natural. Even a normal-seeming human you pass on the street. But for these alien organisms to make Earth their home, they need a host.

  The greatest danger lurks beneath their skin.

  Tessa has been as good as dead for seven years—ever since the dweller that killed her family decided to turn her into one of its kind. She’s kept the infection at bay while taking out as many dwellers as possible, but knows her time is almost up. Going out fighting was always her plan, until she meets a man with golden eyes and a touch that makes her want to change her destiny. A touch surely too gentle to belong to a werewolf…

  Marcus has dedicated his life to the Blades of Janus, hoping to build peace between humans and dwellers and find a place for himself in the process. He’s used the strength, speed, and heightened senses of his own dweller nature with that single-minded focus—but when Tessa Rhodes storms into his life, all he can focus on is her.

  Tessa’s arrival upsets the balance among all the Blades in Providence, awakening an urge Marcus has fought since he was turned—the longing for a pack. If he can convince her not to kill him, to let him fight at her side, they stand a chance against the dweller who infected her—and maybe a chance at something more.

  Dedication

  For Kayla and her love of books.

  Don’t miss out on any of the dark alien action.

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  Chapter One

  “I don’t like the interface. It’s too distracting.” Marcus blinked again, trying to adjust to the bright blue gridlines and scrolling data his glasses were projecting onto his field of vision.

  The sidewalks and edges of the buildings were mapped out like he was in some sort of 3-D video game. Worse, every person who walked by was briefly covered in a red gridline that changed to green when they were identified as human. Vital statistics flickered around their bodies, disappearing before he could read them. At least there weren’t many people walking around given the late hour.

  “It took you a while to get used to the earpiece, but now you never go anywhere without it.” Vaughn sounded as if he was standing right next to Marcus instead of being miles away—and deep underground—monitoring the night’s patrol.

  “That was different,” Marcus said. “I was already used to you talking all the time.”

  “Are you saying I’m a chatterbox, sir?”

  Marcus snorted. “I’m saying these glasses are giving me much more data to process than your voice in my ear. Everything is so bright. It’s overwhelming my natural senses.”

  “Your natural senses?”

  Marcus didn’t bother to suppress a low growl.

  Vaughn only laughed. “Hang on, let me change some settings.”

  Marcus heard the unique thumping sound of Vaughn typing on the keyboard that was embedded in his desk back at the ranch. It sounded like someone tapping their fingers on a table, except much faster and with purpose.

  The gridlines dimmed to a tolerable level.

  “Better?”

  Marcus let out a breath. “Much.”

  “The readouts were fine at the ranch,” Vaughn said. “I bet it’s because the lights are brighter here. The display matched that level of intensity. I’ll put in a lux detector to match the ambient light and be sure to update the instructions when these are distributed to the other bases.”

  “After the bosses clear them for use.”

  “Which they will—along with the earpieces. Everyone’s already using my dweller database. They’re even making mini-versions of my operations room in the other headquarters.” Vaughn let out a contented sigh. “How did the Blades of Janus ever manage to help dwellers and humans peacefully coexist without me?”

  “Your humility is inspiring,” Marcus said.

  Vaughn continued his routine, obviously trying to keep the mood light. “I get how you dealt with the ones who were dangerous. But keeping everything under wraps without my tech helping you had to be difficult.”

  “We managed.”

  Having Vaughn around did make the job easier—especially keeping their altercations off the radar of local law enforcement. Marcus had his own reasons for valuing Vaughn, though. Ones that had a lot more to do with his ability to keep Marcus calm with jokes and banter.

  A trio of laughing women walked by, slowing a bit as they passed and casting appreciative stares his way. Their scents changed—a hint of over-sweet honey cloying in his nose…and making his mouth water. It reminded him of the ham his dad used to make every year around the holidays.

  Marcus walked a little faster.

  “You need to practice subvocalizing,” Vaughn said. “The new earpiece can pick up incredibly small vibrations. And larger ones. I’m waggling my eyebrows, in case you wondered.”

  Marcus snorted. He wasn’t sure how he felt about the subvocalization function of the earpiece. It was hard enough to control himself when he was on patrol. If he had to watch out for letting the tiniest thing slip—like monitoring his penchant for growling—it would be another distraction.

  “Seriously, if people see you talking to yourself, it won’t matter how hot you look in those hipster glasses,” Vaughn said.

  “I don’t care what people think. I’m only interested in keeping them safe.”

  “All work and no play…”

  “Reduces the body count in Providence.”

  Vaughn laughed. “Point—Marcus.”

  A flashing s
entence repeated often enough that Marcus could actually read it. Coordinates and a brief warning that lightning was about to strike overhead. There was even a countdown. The heavy clouds above lit up for a moment, thunder rumbling in approval a few seconds later.

  “Your tech really is amazing,” Marcus said.

  “Well, it isn’t my tech exactly. I consider what I create adaptations on a masterwork theme. Speaking of which, I think I’ve discovered the main communications relay.”

  “You think it’s the communications relay?”

  “I’m cannibalizing parts from an alien spaceship. There’s a little guesswork involved.”

  Marcus flinched at Vaughn’s choice of words, still working through his reaction to the women who’d just passed. He tried to gloss over it and keep the focus on the alien spaceship—which wasn’t difficult at all.

  “That’s unsettling,” Marcus said. “What if it’s the weapons system? Or some kind of self-destruct?”

  As good as Vaughn was with technology, the Blades had no idea what the ship was capable of.

  Okay, they had some idea. The glasses were a product of the alien tech Vaughn was studying. As were several of their weapons, vehicles, holding cells… Any number of systems the Blades depended on. At least, in the Providence branch.

  With everything that Marcus had seen and experienced, the ship was still the hardest thing to wrap his head around—even after exploring it a few times.

  “I discovered those systems months ago,” Vaughn said. “If my dad hadn’t been such a control freak, he could have shown me around the place before…”

  His voice trailed off.

  Marcus waited a moment before saying, “You’ll figure it out.”

  Vaughn’s dad had been a world-class asshole from what Marcus had gathered. He doubted that made it any easier for Vaughn to deal with the man’s death. If anything, it probably made things harder.

  “It would’ve been so much more helpful if he’d told me about the ship while he was still alive.” Vaughn’s fingers struck his keyboard harder.

  The ship was buried on land that had been in Vaughn’s family for generations. When they discovered it a century ago, they hadn’t really been able to do anything except keep it secret.

  Vaughn’s dad had been the one to finally explore it and start bringing parts to the surface. He’d hired experts to analyze, dissect, and replicate the technology—if on a much lower level—never giving away the source of what they were studying. He’d made a fortune and founded a tech company known for innovations.

  Vaughn, though, was a tech expert. Probably the best on the planet. He’d been putting the alien technology to good use since the Blades recruited him, pooling their resources to come up with amazing inventions.

  “I thought you were supposed to be looking for anything that could have been used as a med bay,” Marcus said.

  “I’m more interested in preventing injuries than treating them. If I can get the communications system back online, I can easily link up all of the satellites orbiting Earth instead of just hacking into them whenever we need to.” Vaughn sounded as excited as ever when talking about the alien tech. “Imagine a system of satellites linked to the Blades’ dweller database and constantly scanning for malicious activity.”

  “I have seriously mixed feelings about that.”

  “I’ll make sure your entry is flagged as ‘friendly’.” There was a brief pause, then Vaughn said, “You’re glaring at me, aren’t you.”

  “These glasses really are amazing.”

  “Please leave the jokes to the professional,” Vaughn said.

  “Okay, I’ll keep it serious. You’re talking about linking the satellites that help sustain life as we know it on Earth through an alien spacecraft that you say crashed here millennia ago.”

  “Excuse me, the geological context of the site says it crashed here millennia ago.”

  Marcus kept on, ignoring Vaughn’s quip. “A ship whose origins we still have no idea about.”

  But they did know what originated from it.

  Marcus felt the hair on the back of his neck rise. For the thousandth time since the Blades had formed a base in Providence and brought Vaughn on board, Marcus asked, “Are you sure it’s safe to be messing around with this stuff when you’re not entirely sure what it does?”

  “It’s not just safe, it’s incredibly lucrative. You should see the new chip my company will be putting out when the timing is feasible. I’ll make enough to fund the Blades for the next century at least.”

  Marcus took a deep breath to let out another sigh, but froze with the air still in his lungs. Something about it was off. He slowly exhaled through his mouth, tasting it. A faint hint of death clung to his tongue. He turned and took another breath, hunting for the scent, zeroing in on it.

  Oblivious, Vaughn kept talking about his technology.

  “And I’m always careful when I explore the ship. Dexter or Porter always comes with me. Besides, the implications for this are too beneficial to ignore—not just for the Blades, but for humanity. Which, I suppose is repetitive, since we do what we do in order to help humanity. And dwellers, I guess. Anyway, when I’m done building the new communications network, we’ll be able to link our earpieces to every other Blade in the world. Our earpieces.”

  “Again, mixed feelings.” Marcus started walking toward the scent.

  Rotting meat. Human.

  “Don’t worry,” Vaughn said. “I’ve adjusted the power levels and shielding to make sure nobody gets cancer from their earpiece or has their head explode.”

  Marcus slowed briefly, their conversation distracting him from his hunt. “That…actually wasn’t what I was thinking of.” Although now that Vaughn had said it, Marcus was having trouble not thinking about it.

  Not much could kill Marcus. He was pretty sure having his head explode was on the shortlist.

  “Oh.” Vaughn was uncharacteristically quiet for a few moments.

  “We talk about things on patrol,” Marcus said. “Things I don’t want the other Blades to know about.”

  “Right.” Vaughn drew out the word, undoubtedly filling in the blanks with remembered conversations. “Like when I have to talk you down from a change.”

  Marcus sighed. That was exactly the kind of thing he didn’t want any of the other Blades to overhear.

  “Relax,” Vaughn said. “It’s just you and me now. Besides, when I have everything set up, you’ll still have to activate the communication system to talk to Blades in other cities.”

  “That’s a little reassuring.”

  “I always make sure no one listens in on our private conversations. You know I want you all to myself.” Vaughn was really laying it on thick tonight.

  Marcus snorted. “I think I can hear you waggling your eyebrows this time.”

  “Really?”

  “No, not really.” Marcus shook his head.

  “How was I supposed to know? I have my super-tech, you have your super-senses.”

  “Which isn’t always a good thing.”

  The smell was suddenly stronger. Marcus stopped and moved his head around, tasting the air. Two scents crossing paths, which meant whatever he was hunting was mobile—and there might be more than one.

  “We have a dweller,” Marcus said. “Some kind of animated corpse.”

  Vaughn groaned. “Ugh, I hate those. I’ll put fresh lemons in the infuser unit in your shower to clear the scent from your system when you get back. Make sure you keep your clothes separate from the normal laundry. Just strip in the garage and go through the decon shower. I don’t want you tracking anything into the ranch.”

  “We won’t have to worry about that if I can’t figure out where these scents are coming from.”

  “Wait, ‘these’ scents? As in plural?” Vaughn was typing again.

  “There are two scents that passed this spot recently. Could be the same thing re-crossing its path.”

  “Or it could be more than one of them,” Vaughn
said. “And in a heavily populated area. That means they can pass for human.”

  Which meant they were more of a threat.

  Marcus felt a low growl build in his chest. The feeling shifted lower. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths.

  When Vaughn spoke again, there was no trace of playfulness in his tone. “You still with me, Marcus?”

  “Yeah.” Marcus opened his eyes, scanning the people across the street. Literally, with the new glasses. “Are you getting the readings you need for the database?”

  “The sensor webbing built into the frames is feeding me all kinds of data.”

  Most of the people Marcus was staring at flickered to green. Two didn’t.

  The red gridlines flashed several times, then sentences and words started scrolling through his field of view faster than he could read. Circles appeared around various parts of the two men’s bodies, blinking and rotating as different measurements were taken.

  Marcus’s view switched to an artificial infrared that wasn’t nearly as nuanced as what he perceived while in his other form. Still, the glasses made it clear that the two subjects’ heat signatures were nothing like the people passing them.

  More words and numbers flashed in his view. He didn’t know how Vaughn managed so many data streams at once.

  “It would be helpful if you slowed down the readouts to the point where I could actually read them,” Marcus said.

  “That’s too fast for you? With how often you hang out in the library, I figured you for a speed-reader.”

  Marcus snorted. “Nobody’s that fast.”

  “Dexter and Porter are. Dexter’s helmet has a similar display. I kept yours minimal, knowing you already have enhanced senses and that it would bug you out in the field.”

  “Thanks for that.”