Slade mentally berated himself for letting his emotions show so clearly on his face. Normally he was fairly good at hiding such things, but when it came to Raina it was almost impossible. She meant too much to him now to let anything happen to her.
How’s it going? Achilles interrupted his thoughts.
So far so good. Nearly there.
Were behaving himself?
Yeah. For the most part. Just found out Raina’s position is traditionally mated to the alpha—with or without their consent.
Raina isn’t going to go for that.
Neither will I.
Stay vigilant. If you sense something is going down you call in backup ASAP. Got me?
He lifted his head to smell the air. Were. Half a dozen at least. Fast approaching from the north. Yes, sir.
Approach slowly. Ty ordered the other Weres, unaware Slade could hear him too.
Hell, his brain was cluttered with unspoken conversations.
Raina caught up, then braced her hands on her knees and doubled over to catch her breath. “Thanks for waiting for me,” she panted.
“Sorry,” Slade offered, senses alert as the scent of wet fur crept closer. “You doing okay?” He kept his voice casual and his eyes moving. It took everything in him not to go for the throwing star in his front pocket. He relaxed his shoulders and spread his feet. Ready, he hoped, for anything.
Raina wiped her brow with the back of her hand. “Hey, I’m warmer now,” she said then smiled.
That was his woman.
The hair on the back of Slade’s neck lifted in warning. And seconds later out of the mists hugging the base of the trees came ten wolves. They slipped into a circle around their small group, hemming them in. Slade placed a hand over his throwing star. Just in case…
He waited for Ty to tell them that he and Raina were on a diplomatic mission. Instead, the Were looked at his brethren, connecting with them, talking to them in the same way Slade talked to his brother vampires. The Whisperer wants to see Bracken. Ty circled Raina’s legs, then used his large head to butt her forward.
She turned to glance at Slade, and he gave her a small nod. Despite her training he could see her shaking, her skin a shade paler than normal. She grasped the leather jacket he’d phased for her more tightly about herself and he had a sudden desire for his arms to be around her instead.
Don’t show any fear.
Matching her pace to Ty’s, she walked forward.
Slade made to follow, but the pack closed ranks.
Several growled a warning, black lips peeling back over bared sharp teeth. Slade took in the Were, calculating in an instant their strength by numbers. Without being able to physically touch Raina, he couldn’t transport her out of danger. All his senses were on hyperalert as he watched tails and ears for any signs of attack.
He could move lightning fast, but faster than a determined pack of Were?
He didn’t like the way the Were sniffed her. And he could see by Raina’s stiff posture that, for all her bravery, she wasn’t enjoying the experience, either. Her cheeks, already ruddy from the cold, pinked up even more. He could hear the hard pounding of her blood zinging through her veins and see the way she was holding her breath to regulate her fear. Fear heated her skin, filling his senses with the scent of strawberries.
None of his thoughts manifested on his face. He stood there. Cool, calm and in control. But inside was another matter.
“Take the Whisperer to Bracken. Kill the vampire,” Ty ordered.
His gut instinct had known this was going to happen. But Slade still clenched his teeth. Damn double-crossing bastard. Diplomatic mission his ass, this was an ambush. Slade didn’t hesitate, not when Raina’s safety was at stake. Achilles. Backup, now!
Behind Slade, the four vampires instantly materialized.
Furry heads jerked up, ears pitched, and keen, feral eyes tracked the new arrivals. Hair raised, the Weres rushed them. The pounding of large paws on the earth thundered in the cold morning air. Fast. My God, they were fast. Just a blur of fur.
And then they were on him. Before he could brace for the attack, twin paws slammed into Slade’s chest. Pain exploded across his right shoulder from behind. Knocked off balance, Slade shoved the wolf away and stumbled and fell to his knees as daggers of ice cut through his body. The battle raged about him, a chaos of flying fur and fangs. Pain radiated through his veins, chilling him to the core and immobilizing him. His throat seized up and he couldn’t even speak. He lay there, useless, helpless, keeping his eyes on Raina until his world went black.
A scream rose up in Raina’s throat as Slade fell. Blurs of fur leaped at the other vampires, forcing them to close ranks back to back.
Three of the wolves pushed her forward with their wet noses. She pushed and shoved at them, trying to kick them out of the way in an attempt to get to Slade. The Weres growled and snapped, holding her at bay. When she tried to turn back, two of them latched carefully on to her clothing with their teeth and dragged her away from the fight.
“We trusted you,” she yelled at Ty as she staggered to stay on her feet as the wolves pushed and shoved her in the direction they wanted her to go.
His ears flicked back in her direction so she knew he’d heard her, but he refused to turn around. “You asked to see Bracken, didn’t you?”
“Not like this, and you know it.”
With wolves flanking her on all four sides she had no way to break free and run back to the battle. Curses and screams, growls and yips grew fainter as they moved deeper into the trees.
“What I know, Whisperer, is that you are lucky you are not being shredded apart along with the vampires. Consider yourself fortunate to be chosen.”
Her chest felt tight with fear. Now more for Slade than herself. God. Had that Were killed him? Was it possible for him to die from a Were bite?
“I never asked to be the Whisperer,” she said, her voice grim.
A rasping chuckle, half bark but human enough, escaped from Ty’s throat. “None do.”
Bright sunlight, piercing in its intensity, filtered through the branches overhead as the sun rose above the trees. Slade and the others would be hampered in their battle by the brightness.
How badly was Slade hurt? Because he wasn’t dead. Raina knew in her aching heart that he couldn’t be dead. She’d know it, wouldn’t she?
Birdsong and the scurry of small animals halted with their passage, the quiet of the woods broken only by the soft padding of large paws on the soft, pine needle–strewn ground, and the hard clump-clump-clump of her boots. Or perhaps that was the fast beat of her heart.
As they approached the broad slabs of reddish stone spiking up from the forest floor, Ty drew up short. At the tip of Red Top Mountain sat a squat lookout tower, precariously balanced on silts, but lower down, in the rocks she could see the edge of a cave.
The other wolves followed Ty’s lead and released their hold on her clothing. Ty stepped forward. “Bracken is waiting up on the ridge.”
Raina stayed exactly where she was and crossed her arms. “Did Bracken order you to kill the vampires?”
He glanced back at her and blinked. His brown eyes were hiding something. “Bracken ordered me to protect our borders.”
Deep down, Raina knew it was more than that. “Don’t lie to your Whisperer. You and I both know we came to talk. There was no threat.”
He turned on her, pacing back and forth, his hackles raised and his fur raised into a stiff ridge along his spine. “You came to fill Bracken’s head with your lies. The moon goddess told us you would.”
Oh, no. No. No. Raina’s heart raced even faster. What was this about? Why this sudden change of heart?
“She also told us of Bracken’s mongrel among you,” volunteered the brownish wolf beside her.
Raina glanced at the wolf. Ty growled at him. “You speak out of turn.”
The brown Were tilted his head, almost rolling over, exposing his underside in a sign of submission.
&
nbsp; The breath caught in Raina’s throat and her skin grew clammy as her blood drained from her face. They knew. They knew Slade was Bracken’s son and they wanted him dead. Then another thought, even more terrifying, filled her. What would happen when Slade returned for her? She had no doubt he would.
Instead of being the bait in a plan to get the wolves to assist in trapping the goddess, she had become the bait to trap Slade.
Her stomach cramped and her aching heart thumped hard in her chest. In asking Slade to assist her with her job, she was inadvertently going to be instrumental in bringing about his death.
She took in a deep breath through her nose and lifted her chin. “What does Bracken want with me?”
“You are the chosen. The Whisperer. And like every Whisperer before you, you will be the alpha’s mate, if he will have you now that you’ve been contaminated by the vampire,” Ty said with a derisive huff.
Raina stopped her mouth from dropping open. “Mate? Nobody said anything about mating with a wolf.” If such a thing were even possible, which she doubted. She hoped, prayed, wasn’t possible. “Not that I was asked, but tell Bracken the answer is a resounding, emphatic no. That is not going to happen.”
Ty turned and stalked toward her, his movements low and threatening. “If you refuse him, Whisperer, then you will die.”
Raina swayed slightly, shocked by Ty’s words. She refused to accept that Slade being lured to his death and her acceptance of her traditional role as Whisperer or death were her only choices. “Surely Bracken wouldn’t want an unwilling mate,” she countered with more bravado than she felt.
Ty snickered, a series of small barks. “You obviously don’t know Bracken. He enjoys bending others to his will. Now, you will follow me.”
Well, Bracken hadn’t met her, Raina thought furiously. A nudge of a wolf nose at her bottom goosed her forward. Raina trudged up the hill following Ty, growing more angry with every step.
Focus. Think, she told herself. What did she have that she could use? She had her gun on her belt. Her cuffs. Some pepper spray and extra ammo. Zip ties. Her baton. The special metal chains Achilles had given her both in silver and the funny gold-looking metal he’d called orchalcium that was supposed to hold the goddess the same way the silver seemed to work on Weres and vampires.
They crested the ridge and Raina gasped. Her steps faltered. There, in the mouth of a natural cave carved into the rock, sat the largest wolf she’d ever seen. He was the size of a bull.
His pelt was thick and luxurious and a pure silver. A ragged scar ran down the right side of his muzzle, puckering his silvered fur and narrowly missing his brown eye.
He was surrounded by twelve other wolves, all of which looked expectantly at the newcomers.
She and Ty approached, and Ty bowed his muzzle between his paws.
“Excellent work, Ty. I see you have brought our Whisperer home.”
Bracken’s great canines, the size of large carving knives, were yellowed with age. Raina’s skin crawled with revulsion at the thought of them touching her.
“Come forward, Whisperer,” Bracken ordered.
Raina wanted to hold back, but something compelled her to move forward toward the old wolf. She stopped about five feet away, noting that the alpha’s paws were huge, twice the size of a normal wolf. How on earth did Slade and the others have a prayer of standing up to something like this?
Bracken took a deep inhalation, then grimaced, his black lip curling back over his massive pointed teeth. “You have been among the vampires. I can smell it on you.”
“I didn’t realize that was a problem,” she said, her voice shaky.
Bracken locked his penetrating gaze on hers. “The only reason we have spared you, Whisperer, is because you did not know any better. Had you been brought to us, then defected to the vampires, the consequences would have been far higher.”
Despite the warm sunshine heating her shoulders, Raina shivered. She’d never felt so exposed or alone in her entire life.
“Do I intimidate you, Whisperer?” Bracken’s voice was low, rumbly and tinged with pleasure.
Raina forced herself to summon up every measure of training she’d received at the academy. Just because something looked intimidating didn’t mean she didn’t have some control. They hadn’t taken her weapons. She could fight if she needed to. “I just find it kind of hard to imagine you as anything other than an animal when you’re sporting a fur coat. It might be easier if you were in your human form,” she said in her most authoritative police officer voice.
Bracken’s lips widened, a parody of a smile. “You’re strong. I like that. It will make you a good alpha female for the pack,” Bracken answered. “As a gesture of my good faith, I will change for you, Whisperer.”
The huge wolf rose up on his haunches, his massive head tucking down to his chest. This time Raina closed her eyes, not wanting to see the messy, painful-looking process involved in shifting from one form to another. Unfortunately, she couldn’t cover her ears without being completely obvious, and she could still hear the disturbing wet pop, crush and squish as his body shifted.
She peeked under her lashes and then opened her eyes wide in surprise. Before her stood a muscular mountain of a man the size of Slade, whose long, dark hair was shaded with silver at the temples. A jagged scar marred his tan right cheek below his piercing brown eyes and a set of scars, four lines parallel to one another stood out white against his chest. And he was very, very naked and big all over.
And he looked so much like Slade that Raina’s heart twisted. He was a much older, bitter-looking, harder version of his son. Had Kaycee stayed here, would Slade have become just as haughty and mean-looking? In Bracken’s eyes she glimpsed the intelligence and determination that she’d seen in Slade’s. Certainly father and son would have butted heads, since Slade chaffed under rules and an alpha demanded nothing less than total submission from his pack members. But both she and Slade weren’t part of his pack. Not yet.
At least Raina had expected nudity to accompany the shift this time and tried to keep her eyes level with the old alpha’s face, and definitely no lower than his chest. Beside her Ty chuckled in his rough wolf way. She briefly considered kicking him, then thought better of it.
“Is this more acceptable to you, Whisperer?” Bracken asked, slowly walking around her, raking her with his gaze, as if he were inspecting a side of beef.
“The name is Raina Ravenwing.”
“Raina. A queen, how fitting. You will do.”
“No,” she told him firmly. “Sorry. I won’t.”
“You—won’t?” He growled low. “You are the Whisperer. I am your alpha. There was no question involved.”
“I have come here on a diplomatic mission to save your people and protect mine. I have not come here as a Whisperer and I have no desire to mate with you.” She shuddered. Live with it.
She bit back further tart comebacks, knowing it would not improve her situation. She needed to bide her time until Slade returned and figure out a way she could warn him when he did.
Raina purposely schooled her features to feign interest and looked at Bracken through her lashes and quickly added, before he could argue. “I hear you’ve got a goddess advising you,” she murmured. “You must be powerful.” Playing to a man’s ego always worked on the force. She figured the same rules applied with these furred-up testosterone junkies, as well.
Bracken smiled, his teeth now even and normal rather than jagged, but still just as yellowed. “The moon goddess has shown us much favor. She will be leading a ceremony to cement our presence as leaders among all the people of this area.”
Raina bit her lip, stifling a wry smile. Really? He thought she was going to give him all that? Talk about delusional. If she knew one thing from observing humanity as an officer it was that people who offered up great power or rewards in exchange for cooperation usually planned to use someone and then discard those they used.
“And what will that gain you? Have you bee
n over the mountains lately? Lot of traffic.”
“No matter. The goddess will command them all to lie at our feet and we shall be their masters. We will be free of the vampires. Free to roam as we will in any form we choose.”
Hoo, yeah. He had it bad. All she had to do was keep him talking. “Tell me more,” she said sweetly.
Bracken’s gaze narrowed, his lip curling slightly. “You’ve been among the vampires long enough to tell us of their weaknesses.”
Raina gave a mirthless little laugh. “And why would I do that?”
“I am told you are a warrior of sorts among your people.” Raina remained stock-still as he reached out and touched the gear on her belt. “You’ve gone to great lengths to learn how to protect them in the human world. It’s part of the reason you were not brought before me sooner. We had hoped the training, the time out among humans, would strengthen your skills and responsibility to your people.”
“What we? As far as I can tell, you’re the only one calling the shots around here. And I’ve come to tell you that the goddess has been deceiving you. She’s not the moon goddess or even the goddess of the hunt. She’s Eris, the goddess of chaos, who feeds off pain, panic, fear and agony. She doesn’t care if the pack even survives! All she wants is war between you, the vampires and the humans.”
“You do not know our moon goddess—the vampires have fed you lies, Whisperer.”
“No, they didn’t. It’s Eris who’s been doing all the lying. She’s blinded you and your pack to the unpalatable truth. She’s using you, and you’re not thinking clearly if you believe even half the lies she’s told you!”
He chuckled, the rumbling down deep in his muscled chest. He picked up a strand of her hair and sniffed it. “Ah, my Whisperer, you still do not comprehend how closely tied you are to my pack already.”
“Well, perhaps it’s past time that the ancestors and my people went their separate ways. Things have changed. You can’t expect to have the same relationship with humans as you have had with our people for all these centuries. It won’t happen. The people in Seattle will fight you, as will the vampires.”
The Half-Breed Vampire Page 18
