Then two shifters were leveraging her halfway vertical, a third was unscrewing the cap and tilting water between her barely parted lips. The liquid seemed to do the trick, too, because Kira’s breath started coming a bit easier, the sweat I wiped away from her forehead failing to immediately reform beneath my hovering hand.
“Do you guys have a granola bar? Some beef jerky? Crackers?” I couldn’t quite understand why Allen, Tank, and Crow averted their eyes at this question, so I continued listing what I considered readily available snack food. “Cereal would work also. Or a sandwich. It’s been almost a day since Kira ate last.”
“You’re starving too,” my sister murmured, her eyes squinting as if the dusky light of evening was instead the glaring sun of midday. In fact, her words weren’t even audible over the roar of the waterfall—I was forced to read the rebuttal in the motion of her lips.
“I’m fine,” I promised, placing both of my hands on my sister’s shoulders, barely finding a spot around Allen and Tank’s supporting fingers and arms. “Well?” I asked again, meeting the eyes of each male, one after the other.
They were silent for one long second. Then: “We don’t bring food to the gathering,” Allen explained. “We hunt as a pack....”
“You can’t go on a solo hunt even when there’s a sick child who recently fainted due to hunger?” I raised both eyebrows, unable to believe that we’d need Ransom’s say-so before giving my sister food.
The guys’ lack of answer served as confirmation and I wanted to shake them. But I didn’t have to kowtow to the Atwood pack leader. Better to solve my problem than to vent my spleen.
So, gently releasing Kira, I rose to my feet and turned back toward the forest. “If anyone wants to help me, I’m going to find food for my sister. If not, I hope you’ll at least keep her safe while I hunt.”
LIAM WAS THE ONLY SHIFTER who offered to join me, and even he was more trouble than he was worth. Oh, the male willingly dropped his shorts at the cliff top and shifted into fur form just as I did. But every time I thought I was close enough to pounce upon a critter, the blundering werewolf scared my prey into flight.
“What are you doing?” I demanded half an hour later, curling into my human body after a particularly plump squirrel had scrambled away up a tree trunk to escape our approach. I’d lapped up a couple of sips of water at a stream we’d run alongside a few minutes earlier, but I still felt like I could have drunken an ocean and swallowed a whale without stopping. That measly squirrel had looked pretty darn good to me.
Apparently not to my companion. “You want to eat a rodent?” Liam asked, joining me on two feet and standing just a hair too close for comfort. I’d become accustomed to the lupine disregard for personal space while spending time around Gunner and his pack mates, but I was still a little squeamish about having a near stranger—and werewolf—inches away from my unprotected neck.
And perhaps that discomfort is why my words came out sharper than I’d intended. “I want to find something edible for my sister,” I bit out, magic sparkling around my fingertips as my star ball responded to my adrenaline-fueled reaction. Then I sighed, expecting Liam to retreat at this evidence of my kitsune nature.
But, instead, he merely cocked his head and apologized. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. Which way should we go next?”
Liam sounded so much like his twin in that moment that I couldn’t hold onto my anger. Instead, I offered an apologetic smile of my own before turning away, scanning our surroundings in search of something small enough to capture with vulpine jaws.
Fresh deer scat peppered the leaf litter beside me, but I dismissed the evidence of an animal far too large for my fur form to bring down unaided. The sulfurous stink of stagnant water from the south, on the other hand, suggested a pond might be within easy walking distance. The evening was nearly dark already...surely birds would now be roosting for the night?
They must be called sitting ducks for a reason, I decided, hunger making my mouth start to fill with digestive juices. Sleepy waterfowl should be well within my abilities, even though I’d apparently wasted my childhood becoming an expert at swordplay rather than learning how to hunt.
“Let’s head....” I started, then spun as a strangled yelp emerged from the spot where I’d last seen Liam.
Where Liam still was...only in wolf form instead of on two legs. He wasn’t the sole wolf present, however. Instead, another beast had joined us while I was gazing in the opposite direction. Had joined us...and leapt upon Liam as if intent upon tearing out my companion’s throat.
Chapter 19
I recognized Gunner one moment before the magically created spear left my fingertips. So rather than skewering my protector, I let the star ball diffuse back into pure magic as it flew toward the battling wolves.
I wasn’t exactly sure what I expected to accomplish using incorporeal magic. But I have to admit, the net of blue light that landed atop the duo, yanking them out of their fur forms and back into humanity, was inspiring...and something I didn’t think I’d been capable of before licking up Ransom’s blood.
Gunner, on the other hand, was still intent upon his aggressions. “Stay away from Mai,” the alpha growled out of newly humanized vocal cords. Despite his speech, he didn’t appear to realize he was two-legged since his teeth then proceeded to clamp down upon the other male’s furless neck.
In contrast, Liam was quick to acknowledge their shared humanity. Perhaps it was the blunt human dentition that tipped him off?
“What’s wrong with you?” the slighter male countered, twisting away from his cousin and pulling himself up onto his knees in the process. “I was watching her back, you idiot. You should thank me, not jump me from behind.”
I didn’t consider myself an expert at werewolf relations, but even I could tell that “idiot” wasn’t the brightest word to use around an angry alpha. Sure enough, Gunner didn’t respond verbally, the air instead tightening with electricity. It was only a matter of time before he shifted back into lupine form and continued the fight...
...A fight that was delaying Kira’s much-needed nourishment every moment it continued. So, rather than letting the males duke it out the way I usually would have, I gave the thread of star ball attached to my fingers another yank and watched the net of blue light around the males’ shoulders snuff out the sharp bite of electricity once again.
So this is kitsune power, I thought, smugly amused by my ability to manipulate werewolves...
...then my legs collapsed out from under me as the last of my stolen energy fled in a whoosh.
That got Gunner’s attention the way Liam’s words hadn’t. Supportive hands grabbed me one millisecond before my head struck the rocky ground. And even though my eyes were squinted closed against painful dizziness, the scent of dew-soaked granite proved Gunner was once again back in his right mind.
His warm arms enfolded me, pulling me close up against him as he lowered us both onto the ground. “Mai,” he murmured, breath teasing tendrils of hair so one flirted ticklishly with my cheekbone. “We need to feed you. Kira is already enjoying roasted deer meat....”
“With Ransom’s permission?” I murmured, keeping my eyes firmly closed in an attempt to prevent the world from spinning out of control once again.
“I speak for my brother in all matters that don’t pertain to women, if you’ll recall.”
His words were amused; his smile pressed against my skin like sunshine. Why, I pondered into the darkness behind my eyelids, am I making such an effort to keep this alpha at arm’s length?
“And, on that note, I think I’ll head back to the campground,” Liam interrupted, reminding us both of his recently forgotten presence. “You can thank me later, cousin, once you’re feeling a little more sane.”
In answer, Gunner growled, the rumble vibrating through his entire body before entering mine by proxy. His lack of control, however, recalled my own abilities. Unlike prideful werewolves, I knew how to be appreciative of provided help.
So I forced myself to push out of the warm darkness, opening my eyes and turning to meet Liam’s gaze before the latter had time to depart. “I’ll thank you, Liam,” I offered. “I appreciate all you’ve done for me.”
And I got the distinct impression that no one in the Atwood pack had ever noticed Liam’s behind-the-scenes efforts previously. Because his lips quirked upward on one side and he saluted me sardonically. Then, dropping down into his lupine form, he trotted away into the trees.
“I WISH YOU HADN’T COME.”
The warmth in my belly dissipated as Gunner’s words hit me like a slap in the face, and I rocked back on my heels to escape from the unexpected reprimand. But before I could think of an audible answer, the fickle alpha had pulled me into the deepest bear hug I’d ever been a part of. And the explanation he whispered in my ear definitely softened the sting of the preceding words.
“You would have been so much safer if you’d stayed put at Wildacres. And yet, I’m selfishly glad to see your face.”
Gunner couldn’t actually see my face at the present moment, not when my cheek pressed into his naked shoulder, one large hand cupping the back of my head. All it would have taken to turn this hug of concern into an actual embrace was the slightest twist to our bodies, an alignment he and I never quite seemed to manage at the same time.
Now, for instance, there was information I needed to relay that trumped the demands of my libido. So I didn’t turn my torso toward him. Just drew my head away from Gunner’s shoulder sufficiently so I could speak.
“I wasn’t trying to come here,” I admitted. “At first, Kira and I were just fleeing the wolves who showed up on our doorstep after you left with your brother....”
“Wolves?” Whatever thread of romantic interest had previously been forming between us snapped as Gunner leaned away, his neck bending so he could peer into my face. There was only starlight above us, but I could still make out his pupils, so dilated they looked like caverns I could have plummeted into. I wasn’t so sure that, once falling, I’d ever be able to halt my descent.
So I turned away, spoke to the trees as I finished my telling. “Werewolves,” I elaborated. “I didn’t recognize any of them, and they didn’t get close enough for me to smell whether they belonged to your pack or to someone else’s. At the time, all I could think about was getting Kira to safety.”
Gunner hummed his understanding. “So you decided there was strength in numbers.”
“Actually, no.” I wished I could have said that my immediate reaction had been to track down my allies and stand united in the face of unknown dangers. But I was still far more of a lone fox than a pack wolf, regardless of my companions. So, haltingly, I admitted the truth.
I told Gunner how Kira’s tiredness had spooked me. How I’d lapped up dried werewolf blood then let the tug in my gut lead me here, where dreams of my dead mother suggested the stealer of Mama’s star ball currently resided. How I’d tried to contact Mama in the waking world, but had every attempt in that direction resoundingly rebuffed until the big fight in the amphitheater.
I didn’t tell him who I thought was the culprit, however. Couldn’t quite talk myself into hurting Gunner further until I was 100% sure.
“I need to figure out what’s going on with Kira, but then I’ll get out of your hair...” I finished, knowing the werewolf beside me had unfinished business of his own to tie up and that my presence would only get in the way.
Only, before I could complete my promise, Gunner raised his hand as if to halt the outpouring of words. He wasn’t gesturing me into silence, however. Instead, he grabbed the skin of his wrist between sharp wolf teeth, grabbed it and tore.
Then, holding the bleeding appendage out toward me, the werewolf beside me ordered, “Drink.”
Chapter 20
In the near darkness, the blood sliding across Gunner’s skin and puddling in the crook of his elbow appeared black as swamp muck. Unappetizing in color but salty sweet in scent. No wonder my stomach growled hungrily at the sight.
Still, I was more than a mere animal. So rather than licking up the blood the way I’d done atop Ransom’s shoulders, I instead peered into the eyes of the alpha who appeared to be offering his own ichor as fuel...for what exactly? Surely it would have been easier to lead me back to the waterfall and provide a chunk of well-cooked meat to satiate my hunger.
“Werewolf blood appears to be a kitsune’s turbo-pack,” Gunner rumbled by way of explanation. “If that’s what you need, I’m more than willing to provide.”
The offer appeared to be limited-time-only however. Because, before I could answer, my companion sighed and pressed his right hand atop the wound to slow the flowing blood.
Except, when my eyes managed to leave the tantalizing liquid and instead latch onto Gunner’s face, I realized that he was giving me an even greater gift—time in which to think. It was hard, though, to hash out implications when the ooze collecting beneath my companion’s fingers drew me as seductively as his kiss had stolen my breath back at Wildacres. Hard to hash out a pro-con list when I could almost feel the power surging through me, the potential so great I didn’t know where the limits of werewolf-fueled kitsune magic might end.
I only realized I’d leaned in closer when a stray droplet splashed up to land on my cheekbone. It burned colder than ice...and yet my tongue rather than my fingers licked out to lap at the blood.
What had been frozen agony on my skin melted like chocolate when worked upon by digestive juices. Tensed muscles eased, aching stomach softened. That single drop of blood was as good as chugging a gallon of energy drinks at revitalizing my flagging strength, and my head cleared even as my muscles relaxed.
Which meant I was finally able to speak, even if the words sounded stilted to my own ears. “I don’t know what will happen if I accept your offer. For all I know, this would tie us together in ways you might later regret.”
“Or it might help you speak with your mother and save your sister.” Gunner paused, the hand he had clamped upon his opposite wrist loosening, preparing to once again release the flow of blood. “The future is, by definition, unknowable. But it’s better to dive in than to give up.”
Bold wolf words, but my fox brain chose to accept them. So, reaching forward, I drew his bleeding arm toward me. Then I dipped my head and sucked his life force in.
MAMA’S FINGERS SLIPPED hair behind my ears as she tugged me away from Gunner. Or was that my own fingers slipping hair behind the ears of my oldest child?
I rose to my knees, lost in the joining. Felt ice suffuse my skin as Mama’s dead spirit merged with my living body. Love poured between us, a deluge that threatened my breathing. But why should I even need oxygen if I was a spirit and already dead?
“Mai.” I didn’t hear Gunner’s word at first. Didn’t remember it referred to me, in fact, until his bloody hand clamped down upon our—my—forearm.
He smelled strongly of fur, earth, and ozone. Meanwhile, the warmth of his body as he pulled me up against him reminded me vaguely that my heart still beat and blood continued to flow through my veins.
Words cascaded over me, harsh and guttural. At first, they were only meaningless syllables. Then they materialized into a sentence. “Is she there?” Gunner asked.
“I’m here,” my mother and I responded together. “He’s cute,” we continued—or, rather, that was Mama entirely, not me.
I caught the faintest whiff of amusement floating toward me through the darkness. “I’m glad you approve, Mrs. Fairchild,” the werewolf murmured, his voice so deep it was almost a growl. “But let’s stay focused, shall we? Who is your Master? And what does he have to do with Kira growing more and more weak?”
I whimpered, the agony of Mama wrenching herself from my body hitting me so hard that I barely managed to lunge forward and grab onto her wrist before she disappeared into thin air. “Don’t,” I croaked, understanding without having to be told that Mama’s Master wouldn’t allow this line of questioning. Then
, in her words: “I can’t speak about the Master. Please, don’t ask.”
“Not even if he’s a male or a female? Human or werewolf? Maybe even a fox?”
Shivers racked my body and the pain of losing my mother was so intense I could barely uncurl my fingers. She was almost gone and we hadn’t yet found out anything about Kira. So, reacting instinctively, I slapped one hand over Gunner’s mouth, not realizing until too late that I was entrusting my fingers to a werewolf’s fangs.
“Quiet,” I ordered. Or maybe Mama ordered? Because as Gunner’s words faded, I once again lost the distinction between spirit and self.
This time, Mama enfolded me from the outside. An icy hug that nonetheless warmed me from head to toe.
Meanwhile, huge werewolf paws rose to move my fingers so they no longer blocked Gunner’s nostrils. But my companion remained silent as Mama and I, together, spoke.
“A kitsune can only have one daughter,” we whispered. And now I saw images flickering through my mind’s eye that I’d never been privy to before. The combined joy and sorrow when Mama realized she was pregnant a second time. Her decision to sacrifice herself to allow Kira to come into existence. I felt the pain and resoluteness as a star ball was wrenched from her own body to give her second daughter a chance at life.
“I gave Kira my star ball to use when she grew older,” Mama continued, speaking through my lips. But we were separating now, my own throat aching with suppressed tears as my mother slipped out of my skin and drifted outward until only our fingers were touching.
She couldn’t tell us the next part—couldn’t mention the shadowy being who controlled my mother’s spirit and magic so completely. I struggled to think of a question that would help Kira without eradicating my mother’s presence entirely. And as I pondered, Gunner spoke.
Shadow Wolf Page 7
