by Kit Lane
“Found me? What do you mean found me? Do you mean the job?”
“Go get dressed, pup. We’ll discuss it in a few minutes.”
The big dude hustled Ky out before he could answer me. I was left in the room with tall, naked and angry. Just great.
I attempted to sit up, although my head and stomach danced a rolling counterpoint. It was hard to explain but I felt a mixture of get me out of here and don’t let me go. What the hell was going on? “I think I’d better be going.”
A firm hand pushed me back to the sofa. “You’re not going anywhere until you explain who you are and why you want to take over my Cinco.”
I stared at him as if he’d grown another head. His amber eyes glowered back at me, and his face was set in an implacable expression. He did scowly really well.
“Your ‘Cinco’? What the hell is a ‘Cinco’?”
“Who are you?” he asked.
“My name is Alex, Alex Rieke, if it’s any of your business.”
“Rieke?” Color drained from Matt’s face and he took a step back from me.
“Yeah. I’m your caterer.” I pointed to what was undoubtedly a table of cold meat by now.
“You’re the cook?”
The dude was one punch away from a smacked nose if he carried on with that tone. “Yes. What’s it got to do with you? We can’t all go to Ivy League schools. It pays my bills.”
I had my own catering business and I’d built it up from scratch, a fact I was very proud of. No silver-spoon-in-the-mouth undergraduate was going to make me feel small.
I got to my feet and gritted my teeth when I realized I just reached the top of his chest. “I’m going now.”
“You can’t go,” he informed me, peering down his long nose.
I smiled sweetly at him, ignoring the fact he was twice my size and a freaking wolf. “Just try and stop me.”
He rolled his eyes. Okay, he had a point, but fuck him. It’d been a long day, a bizarre evening, and all I wanted was my bed. I ignored the part of my brain which suggested being pressed into the mattress by Mr. Tall, Dark and Well-hung would be a good end. My brain could take a hike. I had standards. His lips twitched, and I prayed to every God I’d ever heard of that I didn’t let slip that piece of information out loud.
He held out his hand. “Wait. I’m sorry. Let’s start again. My name is Matt, Matthew Ranulf. I’m—was—the alpha of the Cinco.”
I gave him a suspicious look, but he kept his hand extended, and finally I shook it. He didn’t try a power handshake, which surprised me.
“Good to meet you, Matt,” I said, feeling I ought to make an effort. “Goodnight.”
Matt didn’t let go of my hand despite my not-so-gentle tug. “You can’t go. The Elder’s on his way.”
Now I was getting angry. “You don’t get a choice in the matter, Matt. I’m your caterer, not your hook-up for the evening. You don’t get to keep me here. I’m going home. Eat the food, throw it out, I don’t care. I’m out of here.”
I walked out, all the while expecting a hand on my shoulder, but to my shock he let me go. I grabbed my bag, which was thankfully still by the door, and headed toward my small catering van.
It took me three tries to get the key in the lock, my hands shook that hard. I cursed under my breath all the while, sighing with relief when I managed to wrench it open and fling myself and the bag in. Of course, I dropped the key before I could put it into the ignition and I had to fumble around by my feet to find it. When I finally managed to coordinate hands, feet and brain, I slammed the car into drive and squealed down the driveway as if the hounds of hell were after me—or maybe four wolves.
Even as I drove home I couldn’t help feeling four pairs of amber eyes were boring into my back. Eyes the same color as mine.
Chapter 4 - Matt
“She’s gone?” Ronin asked from the doorway. He was dressed in sweats and a T-shirt, and he threw a similar outfit at me.
“Yeah,” I muttered as I shrugged on the clothes. “I fucked that up.”
“You did,” Ronin agreed. “Do we know her name?”
“Alex Rieke.”
“Rieke?” Ronin winced. “Does she know who you are?”
I shook my head. “She doesn’t know who she is, let alone me.”
“How is he?”
Ronin meant my wolf.
Who was furious.
I meant fangs bared, snarling and snapping furious.
“You’re going to have to tell the Elder.”
I closed my eyes. The Elders were going to lose their collective shit. We’d finally discovered our Quinto and she was a Rieke who wanted to claim my position as head of the Cinco, even if she didn’t know it yet.
We knew she was the Quinto from the moment we’d stepped into the house. No, before then. We’d all been on separate parts of the campus. I’d been in the library trying to finish an assignment and suddenly every hair on my body rose. I’d had to fight back the urge to howl. Jeez, I shuddered at the thought of how that would’ve gone down. All the vamps, weres and Fae would’ve been on high alert. I’d abandoned my books in the library, ran out as if the den mothers were nipping at my heels, found a quiet place to change into wolf and headed for the house. I could feel my Cinco doing the same. We all knew the quiet routes back to the pack house.
We’d pushed open the door to the wonderful aroma of steak, over-layered with the delicate scent of our Quinto. I’d forgotten it was the Freshmen’s dinner. Dammit, soon the place would be full of wolves, and our chance to talk to the Quinto would be gone. We’d only had one new wolf join us this year, but it was an excuse for the wolves of the house to get together and gorge ourselves without having to hunt for food.
Even as I remembered that moment, three wolves pushed through the door, changing in the blink of an eye and falling on the meat as if it was their last meal. No one stood on ceremony.
Ronin raised an eyebrow at me and I shrugged. We would have to deal with the issue of Alex Rieke later. My stomach rumbled, and my wolf pointed out with a snap to his tone if I didn’t get a move on I would miss out on steak.
Five minutes later, I discovered Alex Rieke was a damn fine cook. She’d done everything we’d asked, including not over-cooking the meat.
I refilled my plate and headed over to where Kyle sat on the sofa, one leg tucked under him. As usual, Kyle’s plate was piled high with steak, chicken and rabbit. The boy was a hunter and burned through calories in a way I envied.
I sat next to him, and Ronin and Lee joined us. Lee wore an abstracted expression and held up his hand when I went to speak to him.
“Talking to the Elders,” Ronin muttered.
Around the room, the men and women gathered in their Cincos to talk and catch up on the day. We were the only ones dressed. The lone group not in a five. Over the years, I’d gotten used to the pitying looks from the other Cincos for never finding our final member. We were strong but not complete. Only as a five could we fulfil our destiny—whatever that was.
I chowed down on a steak and waited for Lee to finish his call. My wolf rumbled, partially mollified by the meat, still angry at meeting Alex.
It took a long time before Lee focused on us. “We’ve got a problem.”
Ronin rolled his eyes. “No shit, Sherlock.”
Lee shook his head. “Bigger than you think. The Elder isn’t coming here to welcome our Quinto. He’s coming here to kill her.”
I dropped the rabbit leg I’d been about to eat.
It was as if someone had frozen our Cinco while the world went on around it. Kyle stopped mid-bite and Ronin’s mouth hung open.
“No fucking way,” Kyle exclaimed.
I blinked, not used to hearing our hunter curse. The others were equally shocked.
“Alex is our Quinto,” I said. “They can’t kill her. Kill her, they’ll kill us.”
And then we all stared at each other.
“They’ve got no choice,” Lee said in a low tone. “She’s a Rieke.�
�
“I don’t care,” Kyle snapped. “That was fifteen years ago. It’s got nothing to do with Alex or us.”
“They’ll care.” I gestured at the others in the room. “The second they find out who she is, Alex is a dead wolf walking, even if she doesn’t know it yet, and so are we. You know the rules.”
“We need to get out of here before they’re alerted,” Ronin said.
Good point. Lee wasn’t the only communicator in the room.
“Do you all have your caches?” I asked. They all nodded. All my wolves had caches of clothes around the city in case the house was compromised. “Head to your cache, pack and meet me—” I thought for a moment.
“Meet us at Brown and 5th,” Lee said. “That’s where Alex lives.”
“How do you know that?” Kyle demanded.
Lee shrugged. “I stuck a tracker on her van.”
Kyle gaped at him. “You did what?”
“I know you could track her, Ky, but I thought this would save us some time.”
I nodded at Lee, letting him know his alpha was pleased. If we were going to have to go on the run until we’d sorted this shitfest out, we needed everyone forward thinking. “Go now. Lee, get something to eat on the way. We may not have time to hunt. One hour, Brown & 5th. No phones. They can track them.”
Ronin groaned. He was attached at the hip to his iPhone. His gadgets lasted longer than his relationships. I laughed at him and he flipped me off.
We attempted to leave the room while everyone else was still talking. However freaked out the Elders were, they were trying to keep a lid on it. A couple of wolves slapped me on the back in friendly greeting. I talked to them, but excused myself as soon as possible, anxious to leave the house before the situation changed.
I was wolf before the front door opened. Ahead of me a small lightish gray wolf—Kyle—and a huge dark gray wolf—Ronin—turned a sharp left and headed into wasteland that ran parallel to the street. I had no idea where Lee was.
I took a deep breath and focused. Time to find our Quinto before her name killed us all.
Chapter 5 – Alex
Despite my fear of being abducted by naked werewolves, my hands were shaking so much I had to pull over before I reached home and take deep calming breaths.
“What the hell just happened?”
The question was loud inside the van, but no one answered, either inside or outside my head.
None of the wolves followed, and I shut the front door behind me with a relieved sigh. I tamped down the niggle of disappointment that they’d given up so easily. I kept telling myself that as I stripped off my clothes. It was barely eight o’clock, too early to go to sleep, but my body didn’t seem to have gotten the message, and I was out cold before my head hit the pillow.
The next thing I remembered was someone shaking me.
“Alex, wake up. You’ve got to wake up.”
What the hell?
I opened my eyes to find four anxious faces staring down at me.
Not again.
Yes, again!
I ignored the excitement running through me.
“You’re still naked.” I was tempted to put a pillow over my head, but at that stage what was the point? If the police questioned me I could tell them who was cut and who wasn’t, who had the birthmark and who liked a little manscaping.
“So, ma’am, could you describe the penis?”
I let out a slightly hysterical laugh as I imagined the conversation with an imaginary cop.
The black guy quirked a smile. “You do realize we can hear all this.”
I stared at him in horror. “You heard that?”
He nodded.
“She can moon over our dicks later,” Matt snapped. “We’ve got to get out of here.”
I sat up, forgetting that I’d undressed, until four pairs of eyes suddenly went farther south. “Eyes up top, dudes,” I snapped as I hauled the sheet over my breasts. “What do you mean we’ve got to get out of here?”
“An Elder is coming to kill you. If he doesn’t, other wolves will. We have to go now,” Ky, the smaller wolf, said. His expression was so earnest I bit back another laugh. What the hell was he talking about?
Matt said, “We don’t have time to explain—”, but the Chinese guy interrupted.
“Alex, I’m Lee Due. We haven’t been introduced.”
“Lee—”
Lee ignored Matt’s interruption. “Matt’s right, we don’t have time to explain, but the threat is real, and getting closer. We have to go now. I promise when we’re safe I’ll explain what’s happening. We won’t harm you.”
“You’re a bunch of naked werewolves in my bedroom telling me I’m in danger and to run away with you?”
“One, we’re a pack, not a bunch,” Matt snapped. “Two, you can either come willingly or we’ll take you, I don’t care which. It’s not just your life that is in danger. If the Elder finds you we’re dead too.”
My mouth went dry. “All of us?”
Matt gave a short nod.
I still thought they were crazy, but I’d never willingly put anyone in danger. “I need clothes.”
“Let’s get out of here so Alex can dress,” the black guy said.
“What’s your name?” I asked. I couldn’t keep thinking of him as ‘the black guy.”
He smiled at me. “Ronin Ernouf. Call me Ro.”
“If we don’t go now, we’re roadkill,” Lee said, his tone urgent.
“Oh, for Wolf’s sake.” Matt scooped me off the bed, sheet and all, ignoring my outraged squeak. “Move!”
“Put me down,” I ordered, but he paid me no attention.
“Get to the SUV. Ro, you drive. Ky, get some clothes for the Quinto. Lee, how long have we got?”
Lee’s eyes went unfocused, then he shook his head. “An hour at the most. He’s heading to the House.”
Matt gave a grim smile. “Good. By the time he realizes we’re not there, we’ll be long gone.”
“Where are we going?” I asked.
Look at me being so calm. I was in the arms of a large werewolf and not freaking the fuck out.
“Not much anyway.” Ronin chuckled.
I glared at him. He could keep his amusement out of my head.
“It’s better you don’t know,” Ky said. “The Elder could take our location from your thoughts.”
“And he can’t with you?”
“We’re better at shielding,” he assured me.
“Talk later,” Matt barked.
Then we were on the move. I wrapped my arms around Matt’s neck and hung on for dear life. The sheet proved to be more of a hindrance than a cover, and Matt cursed as I slipped in his grasp.
“Hang on,” he ordered.
Before I could point out that was what I was trying to do, he shoved me over his shoulder and I was bouncing down the stairs, holding onto his belt for dear life. Ronin and Lee smirked as they followed us.
Matt threw me into the SUV, and before I had a chance to collect myself, he climbed in after me. Ro got in the driver’s side, and Lee rode shotgun. Kyle appeared a minute later with a bag I recognized as one of mine, which he handed to me. I thanked him and he gave me a shy smile, taking a seat in the back row.
The second the door was shut, the SUV lurched into the minimal late-night traffic. I was thrown back, and banged my head against the door.
Matt growled as if he were in his wolf form, which made the hair rise on the back of my neck. “Careful. We need to get there in one piece.”
“Sorry,” Ro said cheerfully.
“Go south,” Lee said.
“I thought we were going to—?” Ro didn’t get a chance to finish.
“South,” Lee insisted. “Now we’re together, the Cinco power is telling me where we need to go.”
“Matt?” Ro asked.
I turned to find Matt scowling. He didn’t seem happy with the change of plan, but he growled, “Do it. The Cinco is intact for the first time. It’s time we sta
rted acting like one.”
Chapter 6 - Lee
The power that coursed through me was unreal. I couldn’t explain it to the others, but I was surprised they couldn’t feel it. Every hair on my body stood on end and my nerves were sensitized to the point it was almost painful, not to mention my dick. No one had commented on my permanent hard-on. It wasn’t so much sexual tension as the power from the Cinco being together as a whole.
From the second I’d abandoned my lecture to run to the house—and I was going to have to do some serious groveling to my professor to make up my grade—my whole body had been on fire. Now the whole Cinco was together in a confined space and I felt like I was going to fly apart. How did the other communicators cope with that? Of course, most found their five members as adolescents and had time to train for it.
I hadn’t touched Alex yet. Kyle had, but he was so gentle there was a chance he didn’t feel any different, and Matt had held her, too. Matt was the alpha, he always had power running through his veins. Ronin and I worked on more spiritual planes. I’d have been surprised if he was immune to the new-found power. I sent him a question, shielding it from the three in the back.
“I can feel it,” Ronin assured me. “It’s all I can do to focus on driving.”
I was relieved I wasn’t the only one having to deal with multiple sensations. Being a communicator wasn’t easy. From the second I’d received the first message, it was as if I was little more than a repository for everyone who wanted to talk, especially my Cinco and their kin. If the boys didn’t contact their parents, I was the one the families scolded. If the Elders wanted to convey something, I got the message. I had to do this while I was in lectures, making out, and asleep. No one cared about time zones when they wanted to talk to their boys.
I grimaced as I remembered something. Damn, I was supposed to be going out with my on-off girlfriend that night. Freya was more off than on. She was pack, not in a Cinco, and we were both using each other for sex, but she’d be angry if I didn’t contact her.
“No!”
Matt’s sharp order rebounded in my head.
