by Unknown
“It’s never been like this. Because we belong to each other—a werewolf and his life mate.”
She couldn’t stop herself from saying, “What if it all ends in a few days?”
“It won’t!”
“But what if it does?”
“Then we will have had this together.” He gave her a fierce look. “I thought I was going to lose you on the road when that thing came swooping down.”
“I thought I would lose you when you jumped in front of me. You couldn’t fight him!”
“But I had to try.”
She felt her desperation surging as she found his mouth again and began to kiss him with an urgency that shocked her. He was her mate, and she was going to lead him into danger. Perhaps fatal danger.
“No,” he answered, and she knew that the intimacy had given him access to her mind. “We’ll win.”
She let herself absorb his certainty, because maybe that would be enough for the two of them.
He bent to suck one of her taut nipples into his mouth using his lips, his tongue, and his teeth while he pulled and twisted the other with his thumb and forefinger, building the heat rushing through her veins.
As he did, he moved his hips, just a little, just enough to inflame her.
When she surged against him, he slipped one hand down her back, clasping her hips. “Stay still.”
It was difficult to obey when she wanted to push for completion. But she did as he asked, letting him build their need slowly, until it was impossible to simply stay passive.
She reached around him, stroking and kneading his ass, hearing his growl of approval.
They made the decision at the same time, both of them suddenly moving with frantic urgency. Climax rolled over them, pressing them together as it lifted them into a place high above the mountains where the air was almost too thin to breathe.
They clung to each other, finally drifting off to sleep in each other’s arms. Some time later, a ringing noise woke her, and she blinked, trying to remember where she was.
“The phone,” Talon said, getting up and answering.
He talked for a few moments, then hung up. “Ross is getting the meeting started in half an hour.”
“Then let’s hurry. I don’t want to walk in late and have everybody staring at me again, knowing I’ve been making love. They’ll think that’s all we do.”
He laughed.
“I see that doesn’t bother you at all. You’re a man.”
“Yeah. But I’ll hurry up, because that’s what you want to do.”
She grabbed her clothes and made a quick trip to the bathroom, then combed her hair, wishing she had a little of the makeup women used in this world.
Talon appeared in the mirror in back of her. “You’re beautiful.”
When she looked uncertain, he turned her toward him. “Never doubt yourself.”
She met his eyes. “I had the confidence beaten out of me by Vandar. Well, not literally. He didn’t actually hit me. But you know what I mean.”
“Yeah. And we’ll make sure he doesn’t do it to anyone else—ever again.”
They walked to Ross’s cabin, where they were the first to arrive. And that made her uncomfortable, too.
“Can I help you set up the meal?” she asked Talon’s cousin, amazed that a man was doing domestic work.
He answered easily, “Sure. I’m not that great at this kind of thing. But I knew what to buy at the grocery store down the road—from get-togethers my mate and I have had. Plastic plates and cutlery. Meat for the guys. Salads for the women.”
He began setting up. After watching for a moment, Kenna made herself busy helping put out the plates and utensils. As the other women came in, they joined her, and she felt good about the way they worked together.
When the others had all arrived and helped themselves to food and drinks, they pulled chairs and sofas into a circle where they could discuss the problem.
“Are we talking about opening a new portal?” Rinna asked.
“Is that too difficult a way to start off?” Ross asked.
“I’d prefer to use my energy to fight the adepts,” she answered.
Ross looked at Kenna. “How many does he have?”
She considered the slave population. “Maybe fifty or sixty. But only a few have great power.”
“And how many soldiers?”
“Also fifty or sixty. Swee, Barthime, and Wendor are the chief adepts. They opened the portal.” She stopped and thought. “With help, I guess, because they told me it took ten men. They also prepared me for the trip here.”
Ross nodded. “They’re not the only ones who opened a portal. There’s one near Jacob’s home in Maryland.”
Her eyes widened. “I didn’t think about there being another one.”
“That’s where Rinna first came through.” Ross paused for a moment. “But in this case, I don’t think we should use it, given the difficulty of traveling through the badlands. That would also drain too much of our energy.”
“Okay. Let’s assume we’ll use the portal that Vandar’s adepts opened.”
Ross turned to Kenna. “Do you think he’ll have adepts at the portal, or just soldiers?”
“I think he’s not expecting adepts from our world. So I’m guessing he’ll just have soldiers. But I can’t be sure,” she added quickly.
“Then let’s assume we can overpower a conventional force with wolves and our superior weapons,” Ross said.
“Then what?” Logan asked.
“Then we subdue the rest of the soldiers and the adepts.”
“How?”
“We’re going to need Sara and Olivia,” Ross answered. “Those are the wives of my brothers, Adam and Sam. Sam changed his last name to Morgan when he moved to California.”
“Will they want to risk getting into this?” Kenna asked.
“I think so, when they hear an evil monster from the other universe wants to take over this world.”
Antonia cleared her throat, and everyone turned toward her.
“There’s something we haven’t discussed,” she said. “Is this too big to handle by ourselves? I mean, have you considered telling someone in the U.S. government?”
The group was silent for several moments. Ross finally answered. “I’ve thought of it. I’d like to get help, but there are too many problems. We’d have to reveal that there is another universe parallel to this one. Who would believe that? If they did, what kind of panic would it create?” He stopped and made a rough sound. “And would the government try to exploit it?”
There were murmurs of agreement around the room.
“And then there’s the danger of revealing who we are,” Antonia’s mate, Grant, said.
The other men nodded.
“So I think we’re stuck with handling it on our own,” Ross said.
“I was just posing the question,” Antonia murmured.
“I know. And it was something we had to consider,” Ross answered. “But at the end of the day, we can’t.”
“Which means we need more concrete plans,” Logan said. “And better intelligence. We’ve worked together as a team before, but never fighting such a large force.” He glanced at Talon. “Well, the rest of us have worked together.”
“I’m with you,” Talon snapped.
“He’s the one who initially called me,” Ross reminded them.
“What about Vandar’s soldiers?” Talon asked. “Won’t they be right at the entrance to the portal?”
Kenna thought about that. “When I came through a few days ago, some of them came to guard me, but only the adepts entered the cave with me. The soldiers were outside, so they couldn’t see what I was doing.”
“Okay,” Talon answered. “So let’s get back to Vandar himself. Will he make us come into his lair to get him?”
“He’s not going to hide from you. He’ll put on a show of force,” a voice answered from the doorway.
Everybody turned to see that Ramsay Gallagher had ste
pped into the cabin.
“How did you get here?” Ross asked. “I didn’t tell you where we were.”
“I noticed that little oversight.”
Kenna knit her fingers together so hard that they ached, and her knuckles turned white. “You didn’t have to tell him,” she said in a strained voice. “He knows. Because of me.” She gulped. “Now that we’ve done that mind thing, I guess I can’t hide from him.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
MITCH SUTTON WAS about to step out of the woods when he heard the sound of a vehicle coming up the long drive that led to Talon Marshall’s house.
He’d stayed away since the big dog had chased him. Now he was back—prepared to finish what he’d started.
Before he could approach the house, a couple of SUVs pulled up in the driveway, and a whole crowd got out. Men and women.
Were they customers? People who were coming here at the start of a wilderness trip?
He peered at the men. Most of them were similar types. Tall, rangy, and dark-haired. Maybe Marshall was having a family get-together, which was bad timing for a fire. Or a robbery.
Time to get the hell out of here for a while.
AFTER unlocking the door, Talon stood on the porch, sniffing the air. Once again, he thought that it didn’t smell quite right, like there was someone lurking in the woods who shouldn’t be there.
“Smell that?” he asked his cousins.
“I’m not sure,” Ross answered. “You know this area better than we do.”
“I’m wondering if that guy who tried to burn the place down is back.”
“Mitch Sutton,” Ross said.
Talon’s head jerked toward him. “You know his name?”
“I got a police detective friend to run the plate you gave me. With everything that was going on, I forgot to tell you about it.”
“No problem.”
Talon and Grant morphed to wolf form and went out to have a look around. Twenty minutes later, when they’d changed back, Talon said, “I think he’s been here. But he’s probably left. I guess we spooked him.”
“We’ll keep up the patrols,” Ross said. “I’ll take the next one.”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
“Do you think we could focus on the Vandar problem?” Ramsay Gallagher asked in a tight voice.
Talon studied the tension around the other man’s eyes. Man? Well, he’d better not fall into the trap of seeing this guy as human. Of course, there were people who would say the same thing about the Marshalls.
“You’re anxious to tangle with your other self?”
“No. But I think we have to get it over with, before things get worse.”
Talon nodded. They’d cooked up a plan as they’d flown back from Denver. It had sounded good in theory. But how well was it going to play out?
Another car came up the driveway, and he turned to see two more of his relatives get out. From what Ross had said, it must be Adam Marshall and Sam Morgan—and their life mates Sara and Olivia.
Both wives had strong powers, and they were going to join the other life mates. He didn’t like the idea of sending the women into danger, but he couldn’t come up with another plan, not when Vandar had a bunch of adepts on the other side of the portal waiting to do battle with anyone who challenged him.
In the living room, they brought the newcomers up to speed on the plans they’d made. Logan and Rinna were missing from the group. They’d gone back to Maryland to use the other portal. Not for a direct attack on Vandar. They were going to nearby Sun Acres, where Rinna had been born and raised. Their mission was to talk with Griffin, the head of the city council. If Sun Acres could send a contingent of adepts north to the edge of Vandar’s territory, they could join up with the Marshall women and help disable the dragon-shifter’s adepts.
Rinna and Logan had elected to cross the badlands—the wild and lawless area between the cities—on dirt bikes. Although the machines were an anomaly in the other universe, Logan had insisted that riding would be safer than traveling on foot. Actually, from what Talon had seen, it looked like his cousin had been itching for an excuse to ride the bikes there.
Jacob was also missing from the group. He’d gone off to collect some of the supplies they’d need for the assault on Vandar’s stronghold.
Talon cut Ramsay Gallagher a glance. On the one hand, everybody understood that they needed him to pull off this operation. On the other hand, nobody was comfortable with his level of power. Kenna had described Vandar in vivid terms, and Gallagher was just as dangerous. There was still no guarantee that he wouldn’t turn on them, once he’d taken care of the other dragon-shifter. If he could take care of the other dragon-shifter. That was another question. Apparently, Vandar had developed the cutthroat side of his personality, while Gallagher seemed to have made himself more human. They hoped.
Talon bit back a sigh. There was nothing they could do about Gallagher until the time came. They’d just have to hope he was as tough as Vandar.
Ross looked at his watch. “I assume that Logan and Rinna have gone through the portal. As we agreed, we’ll give them six hours to collect some allies and get into position at the edge of Vandar’s territory. And we should get some rest.”
Talon watched Kenna stand, thinking that they could have a few more hours of private time together. But just as she started down the hall, Jacob came in, and he realized that he needed to stay for the men’s planning session. “You go on,” he said to his mate. “To my bedroom. I’ll be along after I see what Jacob managed to get.”
She gave him a long look, then turned, and walked slowly down the hall. As he watched, it was all he could do to keep from following her. But he knew that he couldn’t leave the pack now. Not when they were still making plans.
The pack!
When he had time, he should examine how much his perspective had changed over the past few weeks. If he lived long enough.
He cut off that thought and focused on what the other men had to say. As Logan had pointed out, they’d all worked together before, and he needed to learn some of their protocols.
Since they couldn’t speak to each other as wolves, Ross had devised a system of signals, including bird whistles. He’d also outfitted each of them with a small, flat backpack where they could carry clothing to put on after they changed back to human form.
After the other werewolves had filled him in, the meeting broke up. Wondering what Kenna was going to say, he tiptoed down the hall to the master bedroom. His mate was lying in his bed on her back, sleeping soundly. He stood for a long moment, looking down at her, longing to climb into bed with her and take her in his arms. But they’d already had a couple of difficult days, and it wasn’t going to get any easier tomorrow. Better to let her get some sleep.
So he continued down the hall to one of the empty rooms. After kicking off his shoes, he lay down with shirt and jeans. In case someone needed him, he left the door ajar.
RAMSAY Gallagher closed the door to one of the bedrooms. Crossing to the bed, he lay down, relieved to be alone. He’d let them think he’d help them kill Vandar.
Now he was wondering, was that really what he wanted to do?
What if it didn’t work out that way?
Vandar was him. Or they’d been the same being until the timelines had diverged. Could he really kill his other self? What if the “monster” wasn’t as bad as Kenna thought? Or what if he had good reasons for his current behavior?
And what about the strange reality Ramsay was facing? He was going to meet another version of himself. Suppose they liked each other? Understood each other? What if it turned out they joined against the humans?
He honestly didn’t know how this would go once the two of them met.
He had better stay open. To betraying himself? Or betraying the humans?
MAYBE Talon was the one beyond exhaustion. The next thing he knew, the sun was streaming in the window, and Kenna was standing over him, an accusing look on her face.
“You didn�
�t wake me.”
“You needed to sleep. We both did.”
When she ducked her head and started to turn away, his hand whipped out and grabbed her by the wrist. With a tug, he pulled her down so that she was lying on top of him. His arms went around her, and he held on tight.
“Never doubt how much I want you. How much I want to build a life with you.” As he spoke, his hands moved over her, caressing her, molding her body to his.
