Hereditary (A Holloway Pack Mini) (3 page)

The expression
is returned and she takes my free hand.

We already know
it could be a long night. Last time, we were here until dawn.

We don’t mind,
though. Gabe has yet to master the art of timekeeping whilst as
wolf, so he isn’t to blame.

The only one to
blame for all this is me.

***

Hey, you made
it through to the end! \o/

Hereditary
was originally written as an investigation into
characters introduced in
Resonance
of the
Holloway
Pack
series and featuring in other, following titles of the
series. To begin, I wrote this short to satisfy my own curiosity.
However, I liked it enough to story-fy (it’s a word) it, to give it
a title, and
Hereditary
went on to be featured in the online
magazine Golden Visions in the summer of 2011. Since regaining the
rights, it has taken a while for me to put it out there this way,
but it’s my responsibility to make my stories as available as I’m
able for my readers, and so here it is.

So, whether
you’re a Holloway Pack fan come to discover more about (now)
familiar (to you) characters, or you’re not a Holloway Pack fan but
figured you’d try it anyway, or if you just thought ‘Hey, it’s
free, why not!’ … however you have come to be reading this tale, I
hope you enjoyed it.

As usual, my initial
thanks goes out to my family. Mr B: You’re my rock, dude,
and
my rock dude—love ya to pieces; without your support, I
wouldn’t get to write, which means my readers wouldn’t get to spend
time with The Pack and I would probably go insane from incessant
characters yelling in my head or my brain would swell until it blew
up into a million pieces ............ To The Boy and Mini-me:
You’re both cool beans (if a little noisy at times). Stop growing
up, though—you’re both starting to take up too much room.

To my publisher
for the Holloway Pack series, for supporting me when I approached
them about wanting to do this.

To Aimee Laine,
who endured my nagging and created a cover for me that matches the
rest of the series: Thank You!

To my
fantabulous street team: Jen, Rachel, Ambur, Melanie, Sheryl,
Maghon, Keri, Sandra, Lola, Stephanie, Terri, Wendy, Denise—you all
take some of the load off, which is why I’m able to do something
like this. THANK YOU!

To the folk who
have beta read this over the years: the good folk of Scribophile
(mostly my original team Pens Sisters. Still love you girls, even
though I’m skulking in the shadows); my sister; my bestie Carla
(she has no choice—I MAKE HER read everything, heh); and more
recently, Terri, Lola, Wendy and Rachel.

And finally to
YOU. For picking this book up. For reading. For making it to the
end. Thank you for taking the time.

Best known for her
Holloway Pack Stories, J.A. Belfield lives in Solihull, England,
with her husband, two children, two cats and a dog. She writes
paranormal romance, with a second love for urban fantasy.

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“… from the
Shropshire area. Following Carly McDowd’s disappearance on the
fourth, and Andrew Doherty’s on the seventh, this is the third
incident this month …”

I turned from
the square-jawed newswoman on TV to Dad, where he sat in his corner
armchair.

His attention
remained on the screen, a frown across his brow.

“… the duo of
friends were first reported missing late last night by their
parents, after they discovered neither of the teenagers …” The
newscaster’s voice infiltrated once more.

Images of a
couple of lads flashed side by side on the screen. The one on the
left had the appearance of any late teen, with shaggy overgrown
hair and the twinkle of mischief in his expression.

From the other
image, brilliant blue eyes stared out at me from beneath a shock of
pale blond curls.

“Oh, shit!” I
pushed to my feet, took a step forward. “That’s …”

“Nineteen year
old Gabriel Lewis was believed by his mother to be staying at Colum
Delaney’s since Friday evening, whilst Colum’s parents …”

Dad stood, his
fingers retracting his mobile from his jeans pocket as I worked my
own out. He paused, nodded to me. “Go on. You make the call,
Ethan.”

Shelley Lewis’s
number had been saved in my phone book since the beginning of the
year, right after we met for the first time. I hit dial and paced
to the window. September sunshine, of the early morning variety,
blinded me as my phone rang.

It took only a
few trills for her to answer. “Ethan?” Her voice held hope, as well
as a heavy weariness and the thickness of tears.

“Is it true?”
I’d promised to support her—a lone parent, a female no less,
raising a werewolf son with no guidance. So far, I’d delivered on
that promise.

The sob hitting
my ear gave confirmation enough. “Oh, Ethan.”

“Hold tight,
Shelley. I’m on my way.”

“I’ll come with
you,” Dad said, as I hung up and spun to him. “Shout Sean, too—in
case we need to do any scouting. I think I heard him stir
upstairs.”

“What about
Connor’s lot?” The Larsen’s made up the other half of our
eight-wolf pack, but lived separately to us on the south side of
the forest.

Dad shook his
head. “I’ll update Connor whilst you deal with Sean—”

“And Jem?” I
asked with a lifted eyebrow.

Dad’s lips
twitched, but he continued as though he hadn’t noticed my reference
to his buck-passing. “Just the three of us will go. Connor and his
boys can spend the morning here and stay close to Jem and your
mother unless we need them.”

***

“Oh, come on.”
Jem waddled after us down the driveway to the truck, her
outstretched arms doing a crazy windmill dance. “Let me come.” She
turned to Sean, my brother—her mate. “Baby, let me—”

“No, Jem.” He
stepped forward, sweeping a hand across her swollen mound of a
stomach. “Gabe is the seventh werewolf to go missing since middle
July. Seven in seven weeks. You expect me to allow you out in
public whilst this is happening?”

“Jem?” Mum
called from the doorstep. “Let them go.”

The set of
Jem’s jaw clammed her lips together as she turned. “You’re not
helping, Beth.”

“That’s because
I agree with them.” Mum descended the steps. “And don’t think I
won’t be keeping a close watch on you this time.” The previous time
Jem had been left in Mum’s care, she’d snuck out to come find us;
Mum had not been amused. She linked her arm through Jem’s. “Let
them go.”

Jem’s mouth
opened and closed. She went back to Sean and tugged on his arm.
“Don’t be long, okay?” The resignation of losing the battle showed
in her tone.

“I won’t be.”
Something stirred within me as Sean squatted down and placed a kiss
against her navel. “Take care of our boy.”

“Or girl,” Jem
murmured.

Sean smiled.
“Our bambino.”

***

We arrived at
Shelley’s just before nine a.m.. Like she’d been looking out for
us, the front door to her house opened the moment the truck drew to
a stop. I didn’t have to get close to see the panic in her eyes and
the deep blush of unrelenting emotions in her face.

The slam of my
door drowned out her delicate steps along the path to greet us. Her
hands reached out, as if she considered us her lifeline, before she
pressed her fingers against her lips. “I can’t thank you enough for
coming.” A shiver jerked her tiny shoulders as she spoke; three
singular tears rolled down cheeks still red, probably from an
earlier batch.

“Come on.” I
slid my arm around her and drew her to my side. “Let’s go in.”

Her crown
barely reached my armpit as she leaned into me and allowed me to
guide her toward the house. Behind us, Sean and Dad’s feet hit the
path.

The brightness
of the day gleamed through the window, bathing Shelley’s
magnolia-coloured home in warmth and light. Four dirty mugs sat
beside her mobile and house phones on the coffee table. A burgundy
throw, which matched the deep shade of her hair, lay scrunched into
a heap on the sofa as though Shelley had spent the night there on
constant vigil.

I walked her
across the room and sat her down, but she pushed back up.

“Please don’t
make me sit.” She worried at the nail on her thumb. “I’m so sick of
sitting and waiting for everyone else to do their job.” Her gaze
met mine. “Do you think it’s like those others?”

“When did you
last see him, Shel?” I asked.

“Friday.” Her
fidgeting feet brushed over the carpet as the two armchairs creaked
beneath Sean and Dad’s weight. “Friday dinnertime. Is it like the
other disappearances?”

I frowned.
“Friday was four days ago.”

“He was staying
at his friend’s. He wants more independence—doesn’t like me
hassling him all the time. I thought he’d be okay.” Her eyes
beseeched me as she tilted up. “He promised they’d be indoors
before dark. Col’s parents were away the weekend—”

“Colum
Delaney?” The other kid from the news.

Shelley
nodded.

“Is he …”
Rubbing a hand across the crick forming in my neck, I lowered
myself onto the sofa and took Shelley’s arm to draw her down with
me. “Is Colum a wolf, too?”

Her head shook
as she balanced on the cushion’s edge.

“Human?” Brow
lifted, I angled toward Dad, who frowned, and turned back to
Shelley. “And there’s no sign of him either?”

“No. Dave and
Lisa … Col’s parents—they came back last night from their break.
That’s why Gabe stayed over—they had the house to themselves, had
plans to … I don’t … but Dave said they came home to the back door
wide open, the coffee table smashed, take out trashed on the carpet
…” She sucked in a deep shuddering breath, wringing her hands
together.

“So they rang
the police.” My jaw tightened as the scenario formed in my mind.
“Figures they would. Why didn’t you call us?”

“I hoped they’d
show up, I think. It all seemed so definite when the police knocked
on my door and made the report. I was about to call you this
morning … then … on the news …” The panic cleared from her eyes a
little as her gaze bored into me. “Is it like the others? Tell me
the truth, Ethan. Is it the same as the other disappearances you
warned me about?”

As much as I
wanted to lie and ease the blow, I couldn’t. “Except for the
missing human?” I gave a small nod. “It looks that way.”

“The others
haven’t been found, have they?” she asked. “They haven’t shown
up—”

“Yet,” Dad cut
in. “Doesn’t mean they won’t.”

Shelley turned
to each of us. “How much do you know about the disappearances?”

“Nowhere near
enough,” Dad said.

“You must know
something, or you wouldn’t have called me last week to keep a close
watch on Gabe.”

Dad’s gaze met
mine—Sean’s too. The worry over how much to tell her seemed to
cross all of our minds.

“You’re not
going to tell me, are you?” she asked.

We all faced
Shelley.

“I get it,” she
said with a small nod. “I’m not part of your pack, so why—”

“I was
contacted”—Dad leaned forward—“the evening before Ethan called you,
by Jack Brosen—he’s the Alpha of a pack who runs here, in
Shropshire—to find out if I’d followed the news, and to ask for the
favour that if I knew anything, I share it.”

Lines creased
Shelley’s brow, but she didn’t say anything.

“His son has
gone missing—just like Gabe,” Dad continued, “But he kept it off
the radar. The ones on the news are the ones officially reported.
We have no idea how many more have been taken. Just as we have no
idea where they’re going, or who’s taking them, or why. Jack’s also
worried it’s more than just werewolves that have gone missing.”

Shelley pushed
out her fringe of blonde-streaked red. “What do you mean,
Nathan?”

“Five of the
reported disappearances have been female,” Dad said. “If there were
that many female werewolves nearby?” His shoulders lifted with his
shrug. “Trust me, I’d have heard about it.”

“So … so, they
are taking humans, too?” Her brows lifted higher with each
word.

Dad shook his
head. “I don’t think they’re human either.”

Instinct

Eternal

Darkness &
Light

Blue Moon

Resonance

Caged

Unnatural

Fated
Encounter

Hereditary

Make
Believe

Into the
Unknown

Title
Page

Copyright

Dedication

Hereditary

Acknowledgements

Author

Caged Chapter
1

Other Titles by J.A.
Belfield