I let them go, and let my legs collapse beneath me, confident Tens could handle a couple of pretty pissed off kids, while I caught my breath and worked out how to stop shaking. In the end, it was Cascade who calmed the kids down.
Tens got hit in the side of the head by a blast from the Glazer, and I was just incredibly grateful I’d set the thing to stun and hadn’t had time to readjust it for anything more deadly. He went down like a sack of shit, and the cub backed up to a corner, tucking his human companion in behind him, and keeping the Glazer pointed out.
He took out one of the teleportation crew, next, and then walked his fire into the second.
“Cutter! Do something!”
I lifted my head, and the Glazer snapped towards me. When I didn’t move, it stayed on me, and the teleportation crew ducked below the cover of their consoles. I’ll give them this, they kept their heads, not a single one of them making a break for the door.
“I’ve got this,” Rohan said, and before either Mack or I could tell him not to, the door to the center opened.
He ducked under the first shot, and dropped to one knee just inside the door. The Glazer shook, wavering between the two of us, but I recognized the way Rohan was positioning his body, and knew what he was doing.
The boy was fucking brilliant!
“Oh, Hell, no!”
Mack wasn’t impressed, but that was nothing unusual. I shifted slightly, adopting the same posture Rohan had taken, my throat moving as I whined in duet. With any luck the kid would realize we meant him no harm. It was a long shot, and I doubted he’d believe us, but if we got a chance to explain we were sent by his father...
It was difficult to keep an eye on the Glazer without meeting the cubling’s eyes. The door slid open, again, and the weapon rose, but the cub couldn’t track quickly enough to follow the enormous black body that leapt over Rohan’s crouched form, and bounded across the room, bouncing into both youngsters hard enough to knock them from their feet.
The Glazer flew out of the cub’s hands as he went over onto his back, kicking and swearing at the big dog standing over him and remorselessly licking his face.
23—Coming Home
The kid was still pissed off when I went over to pull Cas off him. Given the stream of invective he hit me with, I decided I’d let Cas sit on him a bit longer. I waited for him to stop cussing long enough for me to get a word in edgewise.
“Your dad’s the Hunt Master in Carafakt Gorge, right?”
He’d been about to open his mouth and hit me with another tirade about uppity, useless females, but he shut his jaws with an almost audible snap, and glowered at me, instead. I didn’t wait for him to ask if I’d been sent. I told the little mongrel straight up.
“He let me live, as long as we’d came to fetch you.”
I saw his ears quirk, and he gave me a broad, wolf grin.
“He mustn’t have liked you very much.”
“And why’s that?” I asked, smirking as Cas licked his face from nose tip to eyebrow.
The cub sputtered, trying to push the dog’s face out of his own as he answered.
“Because the Rennet’s World pack will hunt you down to avenge what you have done.”
His words sent chills to my heart, but I did my best to hide them, rolling my shoulders into a shrug.
“They come for me and mine,” I said, “and I’ll just kill more of them—and then I’ll go hunt the rest down before they can shift their furry wolf asses off world.”
He laughed at that, pushing at Cas, until the dog let him slide free and get to his feet. To my surprise, his first action was to turn to the human he’d been sheltering. I watched as he helped the kid to his feet, waiting until he looked back at me.
I was about to ask him to follow me, when he spoke, cutting across me. “Where is my She?”
What the Hell?
My face must have said it all, because he asked again.
“My She. The one who took down the guard—what did you do with her?”
His ears had gone from being cocked forward to angling back, and his tail had stiffened to a straight line behind him. The boy with him reached out to touch his arm, and the cub snapped his head to meet his gaze.
His friend flinched, but didn’t back down. “They got us out; they will not have harmed her.”
The cub froze, his eyes on the boy. I froze, too, holding my breath. This kid was definitely his father’s son—save for his strange affinity with humans. In the short time I’d spent with Alpha Nine’s Hunt Master, I’d sensed nothing similar.
After a moment, the cub dipped his chin, and turned back to me. The boy released his arm, and I had two pairs of piercing eyes looking into my face.
“My She?” the cub asked, his tone more a request than a command.
I was about to answer, when I heard Tens groan.
“Oh, crap,” I said, glancing at where Tens was slowly coming round, and then back at the cub. “You’d better get behind me.”
For a moment, I thought he might insist on standing and facing Tens on his own, which would have been ballsy for anyone, let alone a cub, but, after another glance at where the technician was waking up, he came and stood by me.
“Will he be angry?”
I was about to try and reassure him, when Tens answered for me.
“Hells, yes, I’m angry!”
He finally sat himself up, and glared in the general direction of the cub, the kid, and me.
“You were told not to let the little monsters get a hold of your gun!”
I didn’t let him intimidate me. Smart ass!
“I kinda had both hands full of little monster if you recall! Some dumbass couldn’t manage to pull the three of us off a tower roof!”
“You ungrateful bi—” which was as far as he got before the cub launched himself out from behind me and rammed him in the chest, knocking him onto his back as he swung with both tiny fists.
Tens gave a yell of surprise, trying to fend the kid off with open hands, until Rohan came and lifted the cub clear. I’d been about to intervene, but the cub’s human had grabbed my arm, and pulled me to a stop.
“Let him,” he said. “He needs...”
He let the words trail off, but I nodded. This was some weird-ass wolf-honor thing, and it was better to let Tens and Rohan deal with it.
In the end, Rohan let the cub go, and it was just Tens and one very angry wolfling. I’ll give the Tens this, once the cub took him off his feet, again, he at least remembered he was dealing with a child—a very tough child, who was beating twenty kinds of crap out of his face, but one that was barely a meter tall, and who’d been through Hell.
The fight ended with Tens pinning the kid to the floor and growling into his face.
The kid snarled right back, but he stopped fighting and he wasn’t trying to get away.
“She is my pack,” the technician snarled, clearly referring to me, “and mine to command.”
I raised an eyebrow, and shifted uncomfortably, but, before I could work out a response to that, Mack walked through the door, one very worried girl child by his side. He pointed her to where Tens had the cub pinned to the floor.
“You wanna go explain to him why he can’t eat my tech?”
It wasn’t really a question but the kid nodded, and trotted right over to where Tens and the Wolf captain’s cub were locked stare for stare. I’m pretty sure Mack didn’t expect the girl to land a boot into Tens’s ribs and kick him off the cub, or to follow it by smacking the cub hard upside the head.
“You defending other fems?” she asked, snarling into his face. “Not me?”
And the cub was lost for words. He just lay there and gaped at her, and then the effect of her hit wore off.
“Uh oh,” said the kid who’d grabbed me, and he stepped behind me, like he was gonna need protecting from whatever came next.
“She earned the protection. She saved us.”
“Like that’s a good excuse!”
“I am yo
ur Alpha. I do not need to explain. Myself. To. You!”
And it was on. The two of them rolled across the floor looking like they were doing their very best to tear each other apart. From the look on Mack’s face, this was the last thing he had expected when he’d brought the girl to break up the stalemate between Tens and the cub. The look on Tens face said he was about to do something he’d regret.
“Yours to command, huh?” I challenged, and he looked away from the cubs. “You run that one by Mack?”
Tens turned towards me, and he wasn’t happy.
“You got me shot.”
“And you had me jumping off another fucking building.”
I felt the kid backing away from behind me. Guess he’d finally worked out what I was doing and that being behind me was about as safe as sticking with his friend and his mate.
“I ought to tan your hide.”
“Buddy, that privilege just ain’t yours.”
Tens stopped, and cocked an eyebrow.
“And just who does have that privilege, kiddo?”
And, just like that, it was my turn to blush.
“None of your Stars-be-damned business, Tens,” and my eyes flicked to Mack before I could stop them.
Tens, of course, caught the look, and he gave a yelp of laughter. The captain’s cub and his she froze, each turning their heads towards us. I took the opportunity to redirect the heat.
“You two!” I snapped taking both of them in. “Get your furry tails over to Mack, and take your friend with you. And you!” I added, looking right at the cub. “You can explain to Mack who’s going with you and why, and if I don’t like why you have two humans looking to you for protection, I’m going to stick you in a doggie box for the rest of the trip. You got me?”
I was shouting by the end, and the Stars knew why. It wasn’t like I’d fucked anything up, or even dropped Mack in the shite. I put it down to having had a really long, hard day, and the shock of finding weavers and vespis in the Rennet’s Wolves tower. That, and the fact I’d had to jump off another very tall building with nothing but Tens and his ability to calculate moving targets for teleportation between me and a very messy death.
I needed a drink. Or a long, hot soak in the san. Or a...a run. Or to kick the crap out of something in the gym. I needed something, and standing here with every single eye in the room staring at me was not it. I grabbed hold of what little dignity I had left and stalked towards the door—and not a single person in the room moved until I’d left.
I managed to keep walking until I heard the door slide shut behind me, and then I broke into a run, and the corridor cleared in front of me. I think I’d made an entire circuit of the deck before someone started running alongside. I ignored them, and kept running. I think I’d completed a second circuit before Mack spoke.
“You gonna have pity on an old man with a newly mended leg, or are we gonna do another lap?”
For some reason, the sound of his voice made me want to cry, and it took another half lap before I could grab hold of that. Just as I was thinking it might be a good idea to slow down, a third person joined us, and a hand curled gently around my arm.
“You don’t take a break, kid, and I’m gonna have to put you under.”
Doc.
I stopped running, noting the fatigue coursing through my veins, and feeling Mack slow down beside me.
“Thanks, girl,” he said, settling his ass against the nearest corridor wall. “Needed a break.”
“What,” I asked, and even my voice sounded tired, “two weren’t enough?”
Doc gave me a remonstrative shake, and Mack gave me a look.
“Thanks for the reminder. I’ll kick your ass for that, later.”
I shook my arm free of Doc’s grip.
“You could try kicking it, now.”
And Doc took hold of my arm, again.
“You need the san,” he said, and, when I looked at him, added, “Now!”
He let me jerk my arm out of his hand, again, but he followed as I headed for my quarters. Fortunately, he didn’t follow me into the san, and I took the time alone to try and work out what had me so touchy. It wasn’t just Mack, or Tens, or jumping off a tall building—although that last thing had me curling up in a ball on the san unit floor and letting the water wash over me while I tried to shake the memory loose.
I guess I didn’t do such a good job, because Mack ended up coming in and hauling me out.
“Easy, girl,” he said, and I didn’t have the strength to tell him off—either the strength or the inclination.
I let him towel me dry, finding comfort in the circle of his arms and the gentle touch of his large, broad hands. When I was dry, and he’d wrapped the towel around me, he pulled me tight against his chest and let me lean into him. We were standing like that, when Doc pulled the door open to see if we were all right.
I turned my head so I could see who’d opened the door, and watched the Doc’s eyebrows hit his hairline as he took us in. His face colored, and he’d taken a step back, preparing to shut the door, when Mack spoke.
“You wanta keep that open for me, Doc?”
“Sure,” Doc replied, his voice gruff with embarrassment, and Mack tried to set him at his ease.
“It’s nothing like that,” he said. “I just don’t want to run her into the door on the way out.”
He what? But before I could process that any further, Mack had scooped me up into his arms and carried me out into my sleeping quarters.
Doc let the san unit door close behind us, and then pulled back the covers so Mack could slide me in.
“Sleep,” he said. “I’ll meet you in the caf for breakfast.”
And then he pulled the blankets up around my shoulders and left with Doc, and I didn’t know whether to be relieved or really, really disappointed. Goddammit, Mack!
“I hear you, girl,” he said, his voice rumbling through my implant. “Now, go to sleep. We have a mission to run.”
24—Volunteers
The next morning, I was up and heading out to the caf before anyone thought to page me, which meant I had no warning of what was waiting for me when I walked through the door. The first thing that hit me was the cacophony of smells. The second was the noise.
Voices were raised in three different versions of Gal, and I could hear the clicks, whistles and buzzes of vespis and weaver threaded through that. Add in the happy yaps and whines from the dozen cubs and their human companions, and the caf was not the place I was used to.
A shrill cry of “Cutter!” was followed a sharp whistle that cut through the cacophony and I froze. I almost walked right back out the door when I realized all eyes were turned toward me. Instead, I masked my sudden uncertainty, and looked for Mack.
It was no surprise to find he was the source of the whistle, or that he was watching me intently from the other side of the room. Typical. I had to face all my fears in order to reach him. And Tens was standing there at his side, the captain’s cub hanging off one hand, and the cub’s human ‘she’ hanging off the other. The other boy had a hold of Mack.
It was for the children more than anything else that I moved across the room, but it wasn’t as simple as that. Of course, it wasn’t. I was stopped by every single one of the newcomers as I reached them, and my head was buzzing with thank yous and appreciation by the time I came to a halt in front of him. When Mack offered me his arm so he could escort me into the captain’s mess, a small cheer rose from the caf behind me.
I waited until the door had firmly closed behind us, before I tried to speak.
“What,” I asked, shock tremoring through my voice, “was all that about?”
“I told them you were the only reason we picked them up,” Mack said, and I looked up at him.
“Truly?”
He rolled his shoulders in a shrug.
“Well,” he said. “It wasn’t like I could lie, not with the vespis out there.”
Which was true. The wasp-like shape shifters would have dete
cted a lie straight off. It had something to do with a shift in the scent of our pheromones, which was something the damned insects were sensitive to. I drew a sharp breath as I remembered vespis were psi, and I registered what I’d thought. I hadn’t meant to offend anyone quite so soon.
Mack caught my dismay and laughed.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “After the last time, I’ve put in dampeners. You should be perfectly safe in here.”
He paused.
“But I’d watch my thoughts out there, if I were you. You’ve got two vespis, two weavers, and at least one of Odyssey’s psis, and no way to fend off any of ‘em.”
I opened the door and looked out at the creatures and other folk gathered in the small space. They turned and crowded forward, and I looked back at Mack.
“Why’d you let me anywhere near the place?” I wanted to know.
“Because you are the best P.R. the Marie could ever have. Now, every one of those psis in there knows you are the reason I pulled their fat out of the fire—and the sole reason at that. You hadn’t asked, and it wouldn’t have happened. I’d a just left them to rot.”
I stared at him, my heart sick with disbelief.
“But... why?”
“Because we don’t know what we’re heading back into. For all we know, the arach are already staging their little planetary take over, or the rebellion has started, or Odyssey have arrived and shot the shit out of the morally bankrupt assholes in charge. We really have no idea of what the state of play is down there.”
At his words, one of the vespis leant in and touched me on the shoulder. I jumped, pivoting away from him, one hand going for a blaster that wasn’t there, the other reaching for a blade I no longer carried. The vespis reared back, and then lunged forward, seizing me by both shoulders and pulling me towards its jaws, rose-colored mist wisping from its mandibles.
I’d already started to fight, drawing in a breath to start shouting for Mack, when I breathed in the mist, as well. Oh... oh! I’d forgotten they could do this. As the sweet-smelling pheromone filled my nose and mouth, I felt my body relax, and then I remembered, and registered the red-tinge to the vespis’s carapace.
Mack 'n' Me: The Wolves of Alpha 9 Page 20
