by Jami Gray
Behind her, Warrick gave a sub-vocal growl and without thinking, Xander sent an admonishment through their shared connection. “Knock it off.” She jumped as the impression of snapping teeth came barreling back.
Raine’s gaze sharpened over the rim of her cup. Setting it down with care, she leaned back in her chair. “Feel free to have a seat, Vidis,” she invited.
Warrick pushed off the doorframe and took the other chair. “My apologies for the lateness of my call.”
Inwardly, Xander heaved a sigh. Around others, Warrick tended get all formal. It could be attributed to his status as an alpha, but she thought it had more to do with his age. Over the last year, she managed to knock some of his crustiness loose, but still…
“I’m sure you have your reasons,” Raine said.
“I’d like you to see something.” Warrick’s voice betrayed nothing. Yet, through their connection, Xander could feel his subtle rise of tension.
“Do I get any more information?”
Warrick shook his head. “I’d rather not skew your perceptions.”
If she hadn’t been watching, Xander would have missed Raine’s flash of interest that was there and gone with Warrick’s pronouncement. Leave it to Warrick to trap Raine with her own curiosity.
“Fine.” Raine sighed, pushing to her feet. “I’m assuming this means a trip?” When Warrick nodded, she pulled her jacket off the back of her chair.
As Raine prepared to leave, Xander dropped her feet and stood up. She moved out into the dimly lit hallway, Warrick behind her. As much as she wanted to know what he was up to, there was no way she was going to parade her ignorance of his objectives in front of Raine. Nope, she’d wait until they were alone, then call him on it.
“So, where are we headed?” Raine punched the call button for the elevator.
As it was Warrick’s show, Xander let him answer. “Chinese Gardens.”
The elevator arrived and as they stepped inside, Raine hit the button for the bottom floor before turning to Warrick. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t it a little past visiting hours?”
The grin Warrick sent her was more teeth than amusement.
Raine’s gaze flickered away. As realization of what her small action admitted, her lips curled back from her teeth and Xander cut in before her friend could do something truly stupid. “This is not something you want to fight the crowds to see.”
Raine’s attention shifted to her, and Xander fought the urge to squirm under that unnerving gaze. Behind those gray eyes lurked a ruthless but patient predator. Xander’s wolf padded forward and together they showed the cat in front of them that they were not prey. Not even close.
Raine gave a slow blink and the cat retreated.
Satisfied with their silent victory, Xander’s wolf receded.
A slow smile twisted Raine’s lips. “I’m not much for crowds in general.”
“Ain’t that an understatement?” Xander drawled.
In the parking lot, they parted ways, with Raine heading to her SUV while Warrick and Xander stood beside her bike. As she tightened the strap of her helmet, Xander turned to Warrick. “Do you suffer from short term memory loss?”
In the midst of unfastening the helmet from the bike, he stopped at her unexpected question. “Pardon?”
She stepped in close, took the helmet from his unresisting grip, and stretched up to place it over his head. She ignored the momentary stiffness that straightened his spine when she took the helmet. When her movement remained non-threatening, he slowly relaxed. She kept her tone even, no hint of her inner irritation leaking through. “What part of not shutting me out, did you not get?”
Genuine puzzlement painted his face. “The bond is still open.”
Helmet secure, she let her hands rest on his shoulders as she met his gaze. “There are more ways to shut me out than to lock down the bond.” The last of her irritation died a quick death at his continued confusion. Her alpha was so use to making decisions on his own that the idea of sharing was completely alien to him. “Would you like to share your plan with me?” she prodded.
Understanding chased the confusion away. “What’s the one thing your friend can do that others can’t?”
Ah, she thought as pieces began to fall into place. During their time in Arizona, Raine’s unique ability to see magical signatures helped to identify and defeat the Soul Stealer. “You’re going to see if she can identify any magical traces.”
“If we’re lucky, it may shed some light on what happened with Eilers.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to get her to Eilers’s body?” She dropped her hands.
“There’s no way Division will let us anywhere near his body. No matter how good your brother is,” he said. “So we’ll take her somewhere Division isn’t.”
“And if there’s nothing at the Gardens?”
“Then I’ll make Ethan earn every penny I’ve paid him.”
She snorted. “He’s good, but I’m not sure even he could get through Division.”
“Then we’ll go around them.” There was no give in his statement.
She opened her mouth to respond, but the lick of frustrated uncertainty that didn’t belong to her, had her closing it without saying a word. Pressing the matter would do nothing but spark an argument, and the night had been long enough already. She really wanted to find her bed before the sun rose. Or his bed, she amended, sliding a sidelong glance at the man next to her. As much as she missed their physical relationship, the thought of sleeping, just sleeping, in his arms again, left both woman and wolf yearning for a quick resolution at the Gardens.
She knew better, though.
She stepped up to the bike, threw her leg over and started the engine. Warrick waited until she was settled, before getting on behind her. As his warmth and arms wrapped around her once more, she guided the bike into the night.
Chapter Seven
After stashing her bike in an empty parking lot, Xander and Warrick dashed across the quiet street running along the Chinese Gardens. Heavier pockets of darkness pooling under trees guarding the back wall of the Gardens shrouded their movements. When they reached the agreed upon spot, a figure stepped free of the shadows.
“I really hope you have bail arrangements set,” Raine said softly. “Because I can damn well guarantee Mulcahy won’t shell out a dime.”
“My brother’s a lawyer,” Xander responded drily. “He’ll give us a family discount.”
Before Raine could answer, Xander leapt and grasped a sturdy branch extending over the wall. Pulling her body up, she didn’t bother waiting for the other two as she dropped into the Gardens. As soon as Raine, then Warrick, landed next to her, Xander made her way into the concealing foliage.
She could barely hear the stealthy movements of the two behind her as she led them to the rocky grotto where Eilers’s victim had been hidden. Knowing there wasn’t enough room for all three of them inside the small alcove, she stepped to the side.
Raine moved past her into the shallow cavern and though her voice was pitched low, Xander caught every word. “Am I looking for something in particular?”
Warrick stood outside the entrance. “Anything unusual.”
There was a faint snort. “You realize we’re dealing with magic, right?”
Xander grinned, enjoying Raine’s needling of Warrick. It would be good for him to realize, sooner rather than later, that not everyone would walk carefully around him.
Faint sounds of traffic mixed with the natural night choir as the minutes stretched. Xander started to get antsy. The longer they stayed in the Gardens, the higher the chances were that the human security patrolling the grounds would stumble across them. “Can you tell who or what attacked him?” she finally asked.
“You know, this isn’t exactly a science,” Raine muttered.
“Do your thing before we find out how much bail is required for trespassing,” Xander shot back.
“There’s no rushing perfection, my friend.”
Warrick’s low growl silenced both women until only the incongruent sound of the merrily tumbling water from the grotto’s falls remained. Magic pulsed like a low electrical current in the night air, raising the hair on the back of Xander’s neck. Once, she asked Raine what she saw when she did…whatever it was she did. Knowing how private her friend was, Xander was surprised when Raine actually answered. “It’s like looking at a living tapestry, where each person’s magic is a different colored thread.”
Tempted though it was to ask what Raine saw when she looked at Xander and Warrick, Xander never found the courage to ask. She could admit, if only to herself in the darkest night, that she was scared of what Raine would say. It would suck to have indisputable proof of Warrick’s inability to ever fully accept their bond. She wasn’t sure she could recover from such a blow.
“Vidis, I’m not sure what I’m looking at.” Raine’s voice carried a distracted note.
Warrick shifted, leaning his head into the cavern. “What do you see?”
“I’ve got some traces of a magic user. I think it’s a shifter, a really angry shifter, but I’m not sure.”
“I thought the colors were fairly distinctive,” Xander said.
The shadows thinned as Raine stepped out of the cavern and stood next to Warrick. “Generally they are, and from what little I’ve seen until now, shifters tend to stick to more natural earth tones. Something about how close you all are to the more natural world resonates in the colors your magic reflects. But this—” She frowned, obviously trying to pick the correct words. “The closest way to describe it would be a moth-eaten piece of ripped fabric.”
Xander tried to understand Raine’s explanation. “So it’s full of holes?”
Raine shrugged. “That, or whatever was holding it together, is unraveling.”
Unraveling didn’t sound good and, considering the spurt of Warrick’s worry winging through their bond, she wasn’t the only one concerned.
The sharp crack of a branch under foot had all three freezing in place. The searching beam of a flashlight swept over the heavy foliage between the grotto and the walking path. Security was making its rounds. Xander met Raine’s gaze. Using hand signals familiar to every Wraith, she outlined a quick escape. When Raine nodded, they simultaneously grabbed Warrick’s arms.
Unsure of how clear Warrick’s psychic reception was, Xander sent a quick warning down their bond. “Hold on!”
He barely tilted his chin in acknowledgement when she and Raine pulled the Northwest Alpha onto the Shadowed Paths of the volatile world existing between the magic and mortal realms.
Shadow Walking was a rare, but vital skill, one those few Wraiths with Fey blood sought to master. Unfortunately, Warrick was a pure blooded Lycan. Xander, on the other hand, carried enough Fey blood to Shadow Walk, thanks to the roving eye of some randy male, generations back. But it still ruffled her wolf’s fur every time she did it. Right now, it was going to save not just her ass, but Warrick’s as well.
Xander let her surroundings melt away. They were replaced by the icy winds and twisted terrain that made up the eerie landscape. She ignored Warrick’s rising tension under her grip as he stepped onto the warped pathways. She tightened her hold, praying he had enough discipline to keep his wolf from bolting. If she and Raine lost their hold on him, she wouldn’t have to worry about the repercussions of their bond because he would be forever lost in a world that would drive him insane.
Using a mental countdown, Xander kept a sharp eye on identifiable landmarks as she and Raine pulled Warrick along. Arctic winds lashed around her, whipping against her insubstantial form. She sensed him along their link. Like faint film images, she caught snatches of his wolf, back arched, tail and head down, trying to identify the unseen threats. In answer to his uneasiness, her wolf rose and took her place at his side, trying to ease the tension. Xander sent a fervent prayer to whoever was listening that Warrick the man could hold his wolf in check for a few more moments.
Between one breath and the next, she and Raine stepped off the Shadowed Paths and onto the cold concrete of downtown Portland. Streetlamps cast soft pools of light around the nearly empty parking lot they now stood in.
Warrick jerked away from the two women and strode over the asphalt.
Raine moved to follow, but Xander stepped in front of her with a sharp shake of her head. “Let him go. His wolf didn’t like that trip.”
“Whoever does?” Raine looked around. “At least we didn’t have an audience.”
“Even if we had,” Xander tilted her head toward their surroundings, “it wouldn’t have mattered.”
Across from them, sitting under a mural painted on the wall, the white letters, proclaiming Keep Portland Weird, seemed to glow softly against the bricks. Xander didn’t catch Raine’s answer as a sharp spike in the connection she shared with Warrick had her moving. “Stay here,” she threw over her shoulder at Raine.
She raced to the darkest corner of the parking lot, knowing she was going to be the only thing standing between an unsuspecting downtown Portland and a very unsettled wolf. She skidded to a halt at the warning growl. She lowered her head, hunched her shoulders and kept her posture as non-threatening as possible. Slowly, she approached the wolf standing among the shredded remains of jeans and a T-shirt.
Stiff legged, with his ruff standing on end, Warrick’s wolf was deadly, but beautiful. His shoulders reached Xander’s waist, his body much larger than his wild cousins. With his narrow chest and heavily muscled legs, he was a viciously quick hunter. His fur ran from white to burnished copper, covering the spectrum from blond to brown, with the darkest coloring appearing on his muzzle and spine.
Right now his lips were pulled back, revealing sharp canines as a continuous stream of growls vibrated from his chest.
Stopping a foot away, she crouched down until her head was below his. “I know you’re not happy, but this really isn’t a good time to come out and play.” Keeping her voice even wasn’t hard. She learned early on how to project the necessary calm to appease the more dominant members of the pack.
Scattershot images burst into her mind. Unseen wolves harrying the pack. Broken bodies of those he promised to protect. A flash of her wolf snapping and snarling, not allowing him to stand between her and those who threatened her. The unfamiliar feeling of being pulled into a strange world, twisted beyond comprehension, while enduring the biting stings of unseen attackers who hid behind a whirlwind of chaotic magic. Frustration in knowing that danger stalked her, again.
Understanding sparked and she sent back a wordless apology to both the man and the wolf, her heart hurting. She hadn’t considered how the culmination of the evening’s events would impact Warrick and his wolf. “Shadow Walking’s never fun.” She spoke slowly, hoping her words would pull the man back into the driver’s seat. “If we had another choice, I swear we would’ve taken it.”
After an uncomfortable couple of minutes, his growls quieted, then he came closer. When she felt the press of his warm breath as he nuzzled her hair, she knew Warrick was on his way back. The subtle tension locking her muscles began to drain away. He pressed against her, knocking her on her ass, so she crossed her legs Indian style and looked at him.
He came forward and nudged her again. She reached up to scratch behind one tufted ear. He tilted his head, encouraging her attention. Catching sight of the shredded remains of his clothes, she sighed. He rested his chin on her shoulder so it didn’t take much to turn and meet the bright slits of amber peeking beneath half-closed lids. “You realize we have a problem?”
A deep canine groan answered her as she scratched a particular-y sensitive spot. As a mental image of driving a naked Warrick on the back of her bike through the city streets burst into full technicolor life, she was tempted to echo the groan. Instead, she leaned her head against his. “You’re clothing optional, alpha mine.”
Warrick settled to his haunches, his tail brushing across the rough ground.
“There’s a missi
on a couple of blocks over.” Raine walked toward them. As she got closer, there was no missing the grin edging her mouth. She offered Xander her hand. “Want to bet that there are some donation bags left in the back?”
Taking her hand, Xander let Raine pull her to her feet. “You’re enjoying this way too much.”
“Karma’s a bitch.” Raine studied Warrick. “Damn! He’s bigger than I had imagined.”
A hundred inappropriate responses rushed to Xander’s tired mind, but she kept them under verbal lock and key. Unfortunately, one must have made its way down the connection she shared with Warrick, because his solid bump to her hip was followed by a warm tendril of very satisfied male amusement. An unfamiliar heat stained her cheeks. “Clothes would be good,” she muttered, doing her best to ignore Raine’s very knowing, full-blown grin.
They made their way out of the parking lot, Warrick walking between them. Between the late night hour—or early morning, depending on your point of view—and the dimly lit streets, Xander hoped they could pass Warrick off as a really large dog. The skim of warmth as his shoulder brushed her waist made her snort. Yeah, that was a long shot.
The trip to the mission gave Warrick a chance to settle and think. Each time a pair of headlights pierced the darkness, Xander and Raine tried to disguise Warrick’s figure in the shadows. It was laughable, but he let them try. Walking next to Xander, he let his wolf wallow in the presence of his mate.
Coming out of the Shadowed Paths, his wolf had been nearly rabid. The distorted magic had been hard to handle. Even with Xander’s wolf standing beside him, it took every thing he had to hold his wolf back until they stepped back into the real world. Her determination to protect him gave him the added edge he needed to endure.
There was a warm glow of pride for the courage of the small warrior walking next to him. A contradiction of lethal efficiency and feminine mystery, she intrigued him from the start. Her fierce independence and wicked humor had captured the man and the wolf, tempting them with glimpses of what could be. It wasn’t until he almost lost her that he recognized how far she had crept in.
