by Dannika Dark
Tak stepped forward and leveled Kaota with one look. “Let the woman go,” he said slowly, dangerously.
A wave of energy rippled in the air, and in that moment, I realized Tak was an alpha wolf. Aside from children, packs didn’t have more than one alpha. Then again, it was more of a tribe than a pack. At least the alpha was on my side.
For now.
Kaota reluctantly let go, and the two men stared each other down. Before anyone changed their mind, I fled out the front door, my arm still sore from Kaota’s grip.
When I reached the bottom of the steps, I skidded to a halt. “Hey, those are mine!”
Kaota’s buddies were stalking away from my Jeep, one of them holding my quiver and bow over his head to show the others.
“You bring weapons onto our land?” Kaota bellowed. He marched down the steps behind me, anger flickering in his eyes.
For a moment, I thought about running to the car and leaving. But that quiver was sentimental—my aunt had given it to me.
Tak cut between us and faced his packmate, his arms outstretched. “Ease up, Kaota. She didn’t bring them into the house. We’re all hurting here, but she has nothing to do with this. An angry warrior never hits his intended target. What kind of man takes his anger out on a woman? That’s not our way.”
“According to the news, it is,” Kaota retorted. “How long do you think it will take for the local packs to figure out that the wolf was Koi? They know our wolves by sight. They’re going to point the finger at us for killing that woman.”
“On what proof?” Tak countered.
Teeth clenched, Kaota walked forward. “They’re looking for someone to blame for those murders.”
“What if it was Koi?” someone asked.
Kaota exploded into action, shifting into a brown wolf and lunging at the man who’d raised the question. He also shifted, and a fight ensued. They rose up on their hind legs, teeth gnashing, viciously barking and growling as blood stained their fur and the gravel below. I clenched the strap of my purse.
Tak charged into the fray and grabbed Kaota’s wolf around the neck, holding him in a viselike grip. “Enough!”
Energy crackled in the air, and I stayed catatonic. My wolf was pacing nervously beneath my skin. She had never fought another wolf, and though I knew she was a tough girl, a pack stood together.
And this wasn’t my pack.
Several wolves emerged from the woods. I counted six, including the two in the skirmish. No women were present except for one or two on the upper balcony.
My throat went dry, and I was breathing hard as if I’d run a mile. The only one who could have protected me was engaged with one of the wolves, trying to pin him down.
“Shift,” Tak demanded.
In the blink of an eye, the brown wolf shifted back to a man. Kaota, now unclothed, peeled back his lips. “I want blood. I want revenge for my brother! Koi deserved an honorable death.”
A loud motor steered everyone’s attention away as a black truck approached, Lakota behind the wheel. He glanced at me briefly, his expression tight.
The hairs on my neck stood up when a woman on the balcony wailed, and I saw the others shielding their eyes, crestfallen. What about Lakota’s appearance could have elicited such a reaction?
Confused, I watched as one of the men approached the truck and peered into the bed. Then he cried out, speaking in a language I didn’t understand.
Lakota shut off the engine as the men gathered around the bed of the truck, lowering the tailgate and speaking in low murmurs. Kaota branched away from the group, a dead wolf in his arms and tears staining his cheeks.
I felt a catch in my throat when an older woman hurried down the steps, her arms outstretched and her spirit broken. She sang, her words nothing but raw emotion, and fell to her knees. I didn’t need to speak her language to know that she was the wolf’s mother. Tak helped her up, keeping her steady as the men reverently carried their fallen brother. Everyone laid their hands on the wolf and chanted words of prayer. I watched helplessly as the mother cradled the wolf’s head and cleansed him with her tears, repeating his name mixed with what I guessed were words that only a mother could give.
They carried him inside, and some followed but not all. A few of the men were livid and beyond consolation. In a pack, it didn’t matter if you were related by blood. All were brothers.
Lakota stalked toward me, his voice low. “I told you not to come.”
“I was leaving, but—”
He spun around and punched a wolf that had lunged for me. The animal flipped over, and when he finally staggered to his feet, he trotted toward the house.
Lakota curved his arm protectively in front of me, forcing me to stand behind him. “Shikoba!” he called out. “Shikoba!”
The leader of the Iwa tribe appeared in the doorway and descended the steps. He came close enough but kept a measure of distance between us.
“I’m sorry for your loss, but you have a problem,” Lakota began. “The local packs are surrounding your land. I barely made it through the entrance to your property.”
Though I stepped aside to watch them talk, Lakota kept his eye on me.
Shikoba shook his head, his eyes woeful. “I knew one day it would come to this.”
Lakota gestured at me. “Send this woman away so we can discuss the details. There are too many angry wolves, and they can scent she’s not part of the pack. You have a son to bury, so I won’t take up much of your time.”
“Give her back her weapons,” Tak snarled.
The man tossed my quiver to the ground and then snapped my recurve bow over his knee, splitting the wood clean through.
My heart shattered.
I’d had that bow since I first learned how to shoot with it. The memories of practicing with my grandmother, the hunting trips with my uncle Reno, the words of wisdom from my father on owning a weapon responsibly, the respect from my Packmaster when he saw me as a strong warrior—gone. My lip quivered, and I fought back the hot tears as I knelt down and gathered my arrows that had fallen out of the quiver.
“How did the locals find out the wolf was Koi?” Lakota asked, his voice quieter.
“Many in the community have lived here for centuries. They do not come on tribal land, but they know our wolves.” Shikoba’s foot scraped against the gravel, and he gave me a fixed stare. “The woman cannot go.”
“She has to go,” Kaota snarled, yanking up his pants. His long hair was unbound, the wind lifting the silken mane. “She doesn’t belong here. She’s a curse on our people—on our land. You know the old stories about strangers and a storm. They are bringers of death.”
Shikoba’s voice never faltered. “What would they say if a white woman walked out of here on the same day that one of their own was murdered? They’re looking for a reason to take what’s ours. We must not give them one.”
I stood up with my broken bow and arrows. “I can’t stay here. I have to go home.”
“You will stay,” Shikoba said, inviting no argument. “Do you think those men are waiting out there to save you? This is for your protection.”
“I’m not from around here. They’re not going to stop me from leaving.”
Shikoba tapped his cane on the ground. “No matter. Too much anger is poisoning the air. They might turn on you, and I won’t have your blood on my hands.”
Lakota rubbed his whiskery chin. “I can call the police and report them.”
“It’s the Council you need to call,” Tak informed him. “Not the police. Humans aren’t welcome on our land.”
“The Council doesn’t have the manpower to haul those men away, but the cops do.”
Tak folded his arms, his eyebrows drawing together. “Oh? If they’re not standing on the property, then they’re not trespassing. Cops will wonder what we’re hiding, and who knows what an angry mob will tell them. This is a show of intimidation. They’re fencing us in so we can’t go anywhere.”
I clutched Lakota’s arm and wh
He whispered back, “If you stay, I stay.”
Shikoba noticed our whispering and drew closer.
Lakota quickly turned to the chief and closed the distance between them. “I’ll guard the woman and make sure she doesn’t run. If someone caught her escaping, it would make the situation look even worse.”
Shikoba clapped him on the shoulder. “Very well. I must make preparations for a burial. Come find me in an hour and we’ll talk.” As he walked toward the door, he raised his voice, addressing his pack. “No more fighting, and anyone who lays a hand on this woman will answer to me. You shame me with your cowardly bickering. You are all brothers.”
“You have to let me go,” I pleaded to Lakota.
He slowly shook his head and gave me a worried look. “You shouldn’t be here. It’s a witch hunt.”
“How did you recover Koi’s body?” Tak asked, closing in on our private circle.
Lakota turned to face him, still using his body to shield me from danger. “I asked the local Council of Shifters to intervene.”
Tak threw back his head. “So that’s why half the territory is at our doorstep.”
“They already knew from the footage on TV, and those who didn’t would have found out soon enough.”
Tak clapped Lakota on the shoulder. “Thank you for bringing him home, brother. I mean that.”
Lakota extended his arm to Tak’s shoulder, and they held that position for a moment before Tak turned away to rejoin his family, leaving us alone.
I strode toward my Jeep with my broken bow and tossed the mangled remains into the back seat. “What happened to the wolf?”
Lakota took my quiver and reached through the window, placing it carefully on the seat. “They found a dead girl. She belonged to a local rogue. I don’t know what her animal was, but you can bet if she had been in a pack, Shikoba’s tribe would be preparing for battle instead of a funeral.”
“What does that have to do with the wolf?”
He frowned. “Everyone liked Koi. He was twenty going on fifteen. One of Shikoba’s nephews. They found his body near the woman.”
I swallowed hard, daring to ask the question. “Did he kill her? Was it a murder-suicide?”
An eagle cried, and the wind whispered as it blew through the treetops. Lakota swept back his hair. It was deep brown with a rich luster, thicker and wilder than those in the Iwa tribe.
“I don’t know,” he said. “She might have mortally wounded him in self-defense, or maybe someone attacked them both. The tribe will inspect his wounds and try to piece together the facts, but the crime scene is the only place that will tell the whole story.” Lakota rubbed his chin and glanced back at the house. “Let’s walk.”
We sauntered toward the house, and I found myself walking closer to him than I normally would.
“It’s getting dangerous,” he continued. “From what I gather, there was always friction in the community between the tribe and everyone else. They have a history, and that’s how small Shifter towns are. But the recent crimes really set things on fire. They were inexplicable and brutal. It’s been a pain in the ass for the higher authority to keep sending out a Vampire to scrub memories and alter documents. They couldn’t erase a body, but they made them believe that some were suicide. That’s how the news was reporting some of them, but Shifters knew better.”
“How?”
He stopped and turned to face me. “Because the women belonged to them.”
“Meaning the outside packs and rogues, not the tribes.” So that was why Lakota was undercover. Too many deaths would draw attention—FBI kind of attention. And the murders were all Shifter women who lived in the community.
He scratched the side of his nose. “The locals think the tribe is responsible. Some are calling it human sacrifice, others a crime of passion.”
“Passion?”
“A few of the women were rumored to be having secret love affairs with some of the men in the tribe. Since the packs believe we’re nothing but savages who can’t control our impulses and violent tendencies, it lends belief to their theory.”
“Do you think that’s true? About the love affairs, I mean.”
He shrugged, his eyes swinging skyward. “I don’t know. Shikoba’s warned his men to stay away, but he does it for the sake of protecting his people from scandal. It’s frowned upon, but you can’t stop folks from doing what they want in secret. Most of the younger people think differently than their elders.”
“Is that why there weren’t any women at the bar?”
“I don’t know what the outside packs are doing, but you’re right. Fewer local women have been going out to the bars—especially where tribes are allowed. I suppose they’re either scared or were ordered to stay home and out of trouble.”
“But what about Koi? He was a victim. Doesn’t that prove the tribes aren’t behind these murders?”
He stopped and faced me. “Koi’s death links the tribe to the murders, and the local Shifters will draw whatever conclusion they like. You’ve heard of witch hunts. It still plays out in the media and small towns among humans. Here you’ve got a bunch of ancients who won’t let go of the past. People don’t want to accept that one of their own is capable of committing these crimes.” Lakota’s eyes skated down to my arm, and he gingerly took my elbow. When he noticed the red marks, he glowered. My pulse jumped when I saw dark fury flickering in his eyes. “Who put that mark on you?”
I glanced down at the red marks on my arm, which were threatening to bruise. Knowing Lakota might do something foolish like start a fight, I replied with humor and gently pulled away. “You did. All that spooning last night.”
But Lakota wasn’t laughing. I’d never seen him look so menacing. “Don’t play with me, female. I would never put a mark on you. Who did it?”
I centered my eyes on his. “Lakota, I need you right now. You’re the only thing standing in the way of those men shifting and tearing me apart. Don’t blow your cover because of a bruise. You’re the only one who can stop these murders.” I worried my lip before giving him what he wanted. “It was Kaota.”
He released a controlled breath and briefly touched the ends of my hair before putting distance between us. “Come on, Freckles. Let’s go inside.”
Chapter 10
While Shikoba’s family prepared for the ceremony, Lakota and I made ourselves scarce. We sat in the kitchen for a spell and talked as if we were strangers, always aware that someone might overhear us. When I noticed the signal on my phone had bars, I excused myself to the bathroom to call Hope.
“Are you surviving up there?” she asked. “I thought you’d be on your way home by now.”
“I’m still alive.” I put the toilet lid down and took a seat. “It’s just taking longer than usual. How did everything go with dealer number two?”
After a pregnant pause, she said, “It fell through. Oh, Mel. Everything’s a disaster. I had high hopes for this guy, but I found out he doesn’t deal in gemstones I like to use. He was pushing the expensive ones. I don’t have any interest in diamonds, emeralds, and rubies. That’s not the kind of jewelry I design. What are we going to do? I’ll have to cancel all these orders, and no one is going to trust me again. Once my current inventory sells out, there won’t be any more income from my end. This is a complete disaster.”
Hope was a strong woman, but she also took things to heart. Hearing her on the verge of tears was like a punch to the gut, and I decided to fight harder to fix the situation.
“Are you sure that’s all that’s bothering you?” I asked.
She sighed. “I had a dream.”
“About what?”
“That you were lost in a blizzard. Lakota was there.”
“Lakota?”
“Yes, and I don’t ever have dreams about my brother. I saw him following bloody tracks in the snow, but I couldn’t tell where they led to.”
“Well, if you find out, let me know,” I said with a laugh. “Sorry, I don’t mean to joke around. It was just a dream. You’re probably stressing yourself out.”
“I’m worried about you.”
I leaned forward. “I’m fine, your brother’s fine—”
“How would you know if Lakota’s fine?”
I bit my lip. “I’m sure your brother’s fine. I know how you and your mother are about dreams. I’ll take care of everything. You hear me? It’s going to be fine. We’re going to be fine. If you get any inquiries on your purchase orders, we won’t cancel them. We’ll just tell everyone there’s a shipping delay. But I promise I’m going to fix this, even if we have to pay someone extra for the short term. It’ll work out.”
“I hope so. What about Shikoba? You’re close to making a deal with him, right? That’s why you’re still there? Oh, Mel, you have no idea how lucky I’d be to work with him. Everyone respects him, and I’d have guaranteed sales among the tribes with his name attached to my product. My father would be so proud.”
And there it was. Hope didn’t want to disappoint customers or shine a bad light on our business, but part of it had nothing to do with either of those things. It had to do with her father—showing him that she was responsible, capable, and worthy of his respect. After all, Hope was his only child by blood.
I stood up and leaned against the sink. “Do you think you’ll be okay setting up the store by yourself? I’m going to get out of here as soon as I can, but I don’t know when that’ll be. Today, tomorrow… I’m not sure.”
“If it means closing a deal with Shikoba, you can stay for the entire month. I’ll have your brothers help me set up the store.”
I erupted with laughter and quickly covered my mouth before anyone outside heard. “Just keep them away from the mannequins. They can do a hard day’s work, but they’re also a bunch of goofballs. Have them transport the inventory out of storage and help with hanging up all the artwork.” I tapped my finger against my teeth, trying to think. “Is there anyone in your pack who can help with the displays? I’d rather you not ask my parents, or they’ll start wondering why I’m not back yet. I don’t want the pack coming up here.”
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