Fifth (A Cinco Series Book 1)

by Kit Lane

  “Of course not,” Lee muttered. “I don’t care if you’re our Quinto, we shouldn’t leave Matt behind.”

  I ignored Ronin’s protest. “Finally, we’re getting somewhere.”

  “These are our alpha’s orders,” Kyle said.

  “Yeah well, leaders get it wrong sometimes.”

  “Even if we do go back, there are too many wolves for us to fight. You’d be captured or worse.”

  I noticed his chiding tone. For going against the alpha. Even if it killed him. I huffed in annoyance. I didn’t have time to worry about their fur being ruffled for not following all their goddamned rules.

  “Would the Fae help us?” I asked.

  Ronin slammed on the brakes, and we all hurtled forward. “What the hell?”

  Lee, who’d almost gone through the windshield, glared at him. “Jeez, Ro. Are you trying to kill us all now?”

  Ro’s amber eyes burned darkly in their intensity. He was horrified by my suggestion, and the others frowned, but I asked it again. “Would the Fae help us?”

  “You don’t know what you’re asking,” Ronin said.

  I rolled my eyes, because of course I didn’t know, but we didn’t have time for second guessing ourselves.

  “I’m part Fae. If the wolf-half wants me dead, will the Fae-half save me?”

  “There’s no interspecies communication,” Lee said. “We don’t mix or communicate with other realms at all.”

  “My parents did,” I pointed out, “or I wouldn’t have been born.”

  “It’s frowned upon. Both species would have disapproved.”

  “Your species framed my father and sentenced him to death. I don’t give a shit about their disapproval.” I held my hand up as Lee was about to protest. “We haven’t got time to argue. How do we contact the Fae?”

  “This is a dreadful idea,” Kyle muttered.

  I ignored him and focused on Ronin. “You’re a shaman. Do you know what to do?”

  “Yes,” he admitted, as though I was pulling his molars out one by one. “But I need to focus. I can’t drive and communicate with the Fae. And I need Lee to help me.”

  “I can’t drive,” Kyle said.

  I huffed because seriously? Didn’t they have driver’s ed for wolves? “I’ll drive. All you have to do is get the Fae to Matt and I’ll do the rest.”

  “Do you drive stick?” Ronin asked.

  My father had taught me to drive stick, off-roading, and on a race-track, but the guys didn’t need to know that yet.

  Waves of disbelief rolled off the men, but we’d been talking too long already. Ronin and I swapped seats, and I adjusted it to deal with my short legs. I pushed the vehicle as fast as it could go back up the path.

  “Uh… Alex… shouldn’t you slow down?” Kyle asked. He sat beside me while the others went FaeT&T.

  “I’m not gonna lose Matt now,” I said grimly.

  “He’s going to be furious.”

  “Then he can shout at me.”

  I needed to focus on what we had to do. We’d be within range of the wolves soon. I had to focus.

  “Are they gonna help, Ro?” I asked.

  “They say it’s our problem.”

  I clutched the wheel, my knuckles white. “Do you want him back?”

  “Yes.” Every wolf spoke at the same time.

  “Then I’m going in.”

  The scene ahead of me was carnage. Wolf upon wolf tore into something and it didn’t take a rocket scientist to work out who was the focus of all their anger.

  I aimed the SUV at the wolves.

  “What are you doing?” Lee squeaked in his concern. “You’re gonna run over Matt.”

  I hoped the wolves would disperse before I got that far. “Lee, Ro, pull him in as soon as it’s clear.”

  I ignored the spluttering from Kyle. To my relief, most of the pack vanished in all directions as I hurtled toward them. All except two huge wolves standing over Matt.

  Matt! All I could see was a bloodied and broken wolf lying on the ground. From their indrawn breaths around me, the wolves were as shocked as me. For all their bravado, they were still young guys. I had the feeling they’d never faced a real-life challenge before.

  I aimed the SUV closer and closer, and finally the wolves moved away. I threw the vehicle between them and Matt and braked hard.

  “Get the door open now!”

  All three wolves were out and lifting Matt onto the back seat. As soon as the door was shut I was away. I couldn’t hear any sign of life but I didn’t stop to check. Ronin could take care of Matt. My job was to put as many miles as I could between those wolves and us.

  Behind me, Ronin said, “Lee, I need your power. Ky, I’m gonna try and heal him but I’m going to need plants and herbs when we stop.”

  “You can take my power too,” Kyle said in a low voice. “You need everything you can get.”

  I kept driving, white-knuckled around the wheel as I weaved through the trees. The hair stood on the back of my neck as Ronin tapped into his power. Light sparkled around the edge of my eyes. It was so hard to focus.

  “It’s not enough,” Ronin said, his voice strained.

  I sucked in a breath. “He’s dead?”

  “Not yet, but he’s losing too much blood and he won’t survive much longer.”

  “What about adding my power? If I’m the Quinto, surely I’ve got power too.”

  “You don’t know what it means,” Ronin said. “I’m draining power from your life force.”

  I took a chance and stopped the vehicle in a secluded glade. We were miles from the attack point. I turned around. “Do it. I’m not gonna let anyone die if I can stop it.”

  The three wolves exchanged glances, then Ronin nodded. “Get in here.”

  My first proper look at Matt was a shock. If he wasn’t dead, he was fading fast.

  “What do I do?”

  Ronin pushed the curls back from my face. “Our Quinto is a brave woman.” His voice was a low rumble. The smell of arousal rose between us. Beside him, Lee stirred uneasily. “Can we do this later?”

  Ronin shook his head as if he was trying to clear his thoughts. “Let’s save our Primero.”

  We all nodded, me in trepidation. I wasn’t as confident as I’d made out.

  “We’ll take care of you.”

  I glanced at Kyle in surprise and he gave me a shy smile.

  I slipped my hand into Lee’s and Kyle’s. We could do this.

  Chapter 20 – Lee

  I wasn’t afraid to admit Alex scared the life out of me driving straight at the wolf pack, but that girl could drive! I was going to need to take lessons. But we got Matt back, even if he wasn’t in one piece. They’d torn him to shreds, and gouged great chunks out of his shoulders and flanks. To my relief, he’d protected his throat and they hadn’t hamstrung him. How the hell had he managed to stay alive under that frenzy of teeth and claws?

  Matt was still out of it and I could barely sense him. What I could feel was Ronin’s worry. Our combined force slowed the flow of bleeding but didn’t stop it. I knuckled my eyes. Ronin squeezed my shoulder as if he knew I was on the point of losing control. I took a deep breath. I wasn’t going to fall apart now.

  Alex joined us in the back. She still hadn’t learned to shield, and her fear washed over me. She took a deep breath before she spoke. “What do I do?

  I wasn’t surprised when Ronin spoke first.

  “Our Quinto is a brave woman.”

  I had to roll my eyes at the smell of their arousal.

  “Can we do this later?” I asked, because we had more important things to worry about right then.

  Alex flushed, but she put her hands in mine and Kyle’s. It was soft and vulnerable compared to the guys’ more solid hands.

  Ronin closed his eyes and focused on Matt. I did the same and joined him on the spiritual plane with Kyle and Alex. He held Matt’s life-force in his hands; a weak, feeble flame almost out.

  “Cinco.

&nbs
p; Primero. Segundo. Tercero. Cuarto. Quinto

  As one.

  Pack.”

  I almost broke focus when I felt what it was like to have a Quinto in the pack for the first time. All of us together, even with Matt as weak as he was. Alex’s presence was a bright sun and Ronin could draw on her power. I monitored her, prepared to break the connection if it got too much for her, but she held steady and Ronin channeled our life-force into Matt.

  “Cinco.

  Primero. Segundo. Tercero. Cuarto. Quinto.

  As one.

  Pack.”

  Ronin said it steadily time and again, and I felt us grow stronger with each reiteration. The power ran through all of us with the strength of a thousand suns.

  We should have felt weaker, but instead it was as if I could climb a mountain. No wonder the Elders didn’t want us to formalize our Cinco.

  “Cinco.

  Primero. Segundo. Tercero. Cuarto. Quinto.

  As one.

  Pack.”

  Matt was stronger too, his life-force brighter in Ronin’s hands. Not quite the steady white flame I was used to, but not flickering like before.

  Ronin kept us together for as long as he could before we were all drained. One more time he said,

  “Cinco.

  Primero. Segundo. Tercero. Cuarto. Quinto.

  As one.

  Pack.”

  Then he broke the connection and I was back in the SUV, blinking as I stared at the others. Alex leaned against the door frame, her face ashen. I wasn’t surprised when Kyle produced a bag and handed out protein bars and high energy drinks. Our hunter always carried supplies in case we needed them.

  I uncapped the bottle and drained the orange liquid in a few mouthfuls. Ronin and Kyle did the same. Alex tried, but her hands shook and she couldn’t unscrew the bottle. I took it, unscrewed it for her, and placed it in her shaking hands.

  “Let me help you,” I murmured. “It’s always a shock the first time.”

  She nodded tiredly, and I helped her drink, then unwrapped a protein bar so she could eat.

  “Most of us don’t get to save someone’s life on our first try,” Ronin said. He seemed less affected than the rest of us, but then he spent more time on the spiritual plane.

  “Is Matt going to be all right?” Alex asked.

  Matt was still unconscious, and he hadn’t stirred, but his life force felt stronger.

  Ronin gave a cautious nod. “He’s not out of danger yet, but if he can wake and shift so I can tend his human wounds, I think he’ll be okay.”

  “Do shifters heal faster than humans?” Alex asked.

  “It’s not overnight, but it’s better than for humans.”

  I tapped into the network to see what the chatter was. It was busy. Too busy. A lot of the wolves were talking about us.

  “What are they saying?” Ronin asked.

  I grimaced because the news wasn’t good. “They know we’ve escaped, so they’ll all be hunting for us. We need to ditch this vehicle and get on the road.”

  “We can’t move Matt. He’s still recovering,” Alex protested.

  “We don’t have a choice.” Ronin said. “I’ll need to monitor Matt. Alex will have to drive.”

  “You’re going to steal a car?”

  She looked horrified at the thought and to be honest, it made me queasy too, but the SUV was too noticeable.

  “Got another option?” Ronin asked, and Alex shook her head.

  “It’s going to take us time to transfer Matt and our gear,” Kyle said.

  Alex pushed back her hair impatiently. She seemed to be in a never-ending war with her long curls. I wanted to shove my hand through them to see what the midnight-dark strands felt like. “Okay, we need a vehicle large enough for Matt to stretch out, and somewhere quiet enough to steal without being seen.”

  “Or we just use this to rent a vehicle?” Kyle fumbled in his bag and pulled out a credit card.

  Ronin shook his head. “We can’t use anything that can be traced to us.”

  “It’s a pre-paid card. There’s about five thousand dollars on there,” Kyle said.

  I whistled. “You sneaky wolf.”

  He gave an embarrassed grin. “I thought it might come in useful if we ever needed to run.”

  Ronin grinned, suddenly much happier, and Alex gave Kyle a sudden hug.

  “At least we’ve gotten options now,” I said. “We still have to be careful. The last thing we want to do is rent from pack.”

  “The chances of us pulling this off are still slim,” Ronin warned.

  We were fugitives with a leader at death’s door and a Quinto who was a traitor, as far as pack was concerned. What could go wrong?

  Chapter 21 – Alex

  I was exhausted after Matt’s healing. All I wanted was to sleep for hours, but I didn’t want to let the Cinco down. They needed me to drive, as Ronin needed to focus on Matt. With Lee’s help, we followed the trail back to the highway. I was hyperaware of every vehicle around us. Were they pack? Were they police? But no one seemed to pay us any attention.

  “There’s a rental place in the next town,” Lee said. “It’s got no connection to any pack.”

  Kyle leaned forward. “I’ll get us a vehicle.”

  “You’ll need to put clothes on, dude,” I pointed out. “You’ll all need to dress. The next vehicle probably won’t have tinted windows.”

  I grinned at the unimpressed grunts from the three guys. “How the hell did you cope going to school? You can’t have gone naked on the campus.”

  “Clothing was optional in the house,” Lee muttered. “No non-pack guests without warning.”

  I tried to imagine it. “But I was in your house.”

  “We were going to stay away until you’d gone,” Kyle said.

  “Until we caught your scent,” Ronin added. “Then we had to come back.”

  I remembered that moment I’d turned around and seen the wolves staring at me. They’d known who I was. I hadn’t had a clue about them until they’d talked in my head. Was I really the Quinto? What could they smell that I couldn’t?

  “A wolf’s sense of smell is very strong,” Kyle said, as if he’d been listening to my thoughts.

  I really had to learn how to shield.

  “When we stop running for five minutes,” Lee said. Of course he’d heard that. “It’s not hard.”

  A worrying thought struck me. “Aren’t I broadcasting to the network all the time?”

  Lee shook his head. “I’m shielding us all.”

  “He’s one of the most skilled wolves in the pack at shielding,” Kyle said.

  I heard the note of pride in his voice. Kyle was fiercely loyal to his Cinco.

  “You can shield me?” I wasn’t a wolf. How could he hide me?

  Lee waved a hand dismissively. “You’re like a pup, broadcasting everything but easy to hide. You have no layers.”

  “Thanks,” I said.

  “You’ll get used to Lee,” Ronin said with a chuckle at my dry tone. “He doesn’t know the art of diplomacy.”

  I decided to change the subject. “How’s Matt?”

  Ronin pressed his lips together. “He’s still with us, but we really need to stop for a few hours.”

  Despite the healing, Matt was in a precarious situation. I wondered what Ronin wasn’t telling us.

  “It’s not safe to stop,” Lee said.

  “Lee’s right,” Ronin said. “We’re too exposed here. We need to find somewhere not teeming with wolves.”

  There was silence in the car. It stretched out for a couple of miles, and then I had a sudden brainwave.

  “I know where we can go.”

  “You do?” Lee asked, his tone wary.

  “My mom had a friend not far from the lake. She’s got a boat house we could stay in. I haven’t seen her since my parents…” I took a deep breath, “my mom died.”

  “Are you sure she’s going to want a pack of strangers descending on her?” Ronin asked
.

  “Are you kidding? She’ll be ecstatic. It’ll be the most exciting thing happening to her since forever. You guys will have to be careful, though.”

  “Why?” Now it was Ronin’s turn to be cautious.

  I grinned as I thought of Aunt Ruth. “She’s not above pinching a guy’s ass.”

  I smiled even harder as they all groaned.

  “How long will it take to get there?” Lee asked.

  “About an hour.”

  “Then we need to swap vehicles. There’s a lot of wolf country between here and there.” Lee shook his head grimly. “Kyle, we’ll keep the credit card for another time. I don’t want to stop in town and risk being seen by pack.”

  I clutched the wheel for a moment. There was one thing being a fugitive from the wolves but steal a car and we were real fugitives. “Leave them this SUV and the keys.”

  “You want to give them this car?” Ronin asked, shocked.

  “We’re taking theirs. It’s only fair.”

  Kyle snorted. “I can’t wait for Matt to wake up and find out you’ve given his car away.”

  We went silent again, because what if Matt didn’t wake up?

  Finding a car to steal was remarkably prosaic. We drove down a side street and found an old Forrester parked out of sight of any houses or people. Even better, the doors were open and keys were tucked behind the visor. Aside from a muttered “Matt’s gonna kill us,” from Lee, the whole operation was completed in silence.

  Matt didn’t stir while we transferred him, and all of us could feel the concern from Ronin. I patted Matt on an uninjured part, leaving my hand on his dirty, warm fur to try to send energy to him before I climbed into the driver’s seat. Whoever the owner was, they kept a tidy car.

  We left the SUV and the keys, and prayed the new owner found it before someone else did. We were away and back on the road in ten minutes. The tank was full enough to get us to Aunt Ruth’s, and the old Forrester handled well enough.

  I felt like I’d taken my first breath when we left town without blue flashing lights behind us, and prayed our luck held out for the rest of the journey.

  Chapter 22 – Kyle