by Linda Palmer
Monday morning a sharp, “Bronte, up!” got me out of bed. The day played out much as the day before it, minus most of the Weres. By sifting through countless documents, I learned that Lake Shore Rentals belonged to Red, a very recent purchase. That explained how he’d secured the most secluded cabin for himself and why no one objected to additional random occupants.
All day I waited for the door to crash in and the cabin to swarm with Corteggio. But when that hadn’t happened by nightfall, I began to wonder if they would ever show up. Then I remembered of the videoconference and Danu’s reminding the Counselors that I wasn’t under their jurisdiction. Did that mean I’d dropped off their radar? Would they now ignore Bronte Hannigan, the sup who couldn’t seem to stay out of trouble?
After dinner that evening, I went straight to my loft and perched on the sill of my only window. I felt lonely and a little desperate. The snow-covered ground lay far below, too far to jump and survive. I could see one of the guards that was on watch. I’d named him Patch earlier that day because of his tattered jeans. With some kind of firearm in hand, he’d be there most of the night. So far, I hadn’t met a single teenage Were, but Red had told me there were no cubs in his pack.
For some reason I thought of my dad. What would he think if I didn’t show up for Megan’s birthday Saturday night? I next thought of my dead mother. Had she heard any of the prayers I’d sent up today, all of them for Erik? I tried to imagine my life without him, but not for long. The possibility was just too painful to bear. I marveled that he’d so thoroughly stolen my heart in such a short time. Our carefree days in his cabin felt like a dream to me now. A crazy, wonderful dream. Thinking about them, I finally fell asleep that night.
Tuesday was more of the same with the tedium already taking me down. By noon, I felt like biting someone’s head off, and that someone should’ve been Maverick, whose eyes seemed to follow me around the kitchen. Red, who’d taken my grocery list into town, had left him in charge, a show of faith that made me very nervous.
My fears were realized around 1:00, when Maverick came into the office where I worked entering pack bank statements into Red’s new financial software program. He stepped up close behind me and began to play with my hair. When I twisted in the seat to swat his hand away, he caught my face in a grip so tight that my eyes watered. His mouth covered mine in a crushing kiss that tasted the way beer smelled.
I jerked my head back and jumped to my feet, knocking over the typist’s chair I’d been sitting in. Maverick pinned me against the wall and cruelly kissed me again. I tried to push him away, to knee or scratch him. Nothing worked until my groping fingers found a metal three-hole punch lying on the file cabinet. I grabbed the thing and swung it at Maverick’s face.
With a howl of pain, he staggered back. I shot out the door, screaming for the nearest guard—I called this one G.I. because of his camo clothing—on the north side of the cabin. He whirled around in surprise and caught me as I slipped in the snow trying to brake.
“Maverick,” was all I could get out.
Frowning, he grabbed my arm and marched me back indoors. Maverick was sitting on the couch in front of the TV, looking innocent as anything. He coolly arched an eyebrow and then stood. “Did she try to run? Sorry, man. I was watching the game.”
G.I. didn’t answer. Instead he took stock of the situation, his gaze lingering on my pinched face and puffy lips as well as the long cut on Maverick’s face.
“Watch your step, Mav,” he said. “She ain’t worth it.”
Maverick flushed. “You’ve got this all wrong.”
“You heard me.” G.I. left without another word.
Though Maverick stayed clear of me the rest of the day, I was still shaky when I went to bed Tuesday night after serving seven Weres roast beef and chocolate cake. I made sure my knife was under my pillow and then fell asleep with my fingers wrapped around it.
A hand clamping down on my mouth woke me sometime later. Terrified, I swung the knife, just missing my assailant, who somehow dodged the gleaming blade.
“Bronte, it’s me!”
Erik was alive! Alive and with me! No whisper had ever sounded so sweet. With a gasp and a sob, I dropped my weapon and threw my arms around him as he bent over my bed. He lifted me up; I kicked off the covers and wrapped my arms and legs around him. We kissed again and again—open-mouthed, all-out, desperate kisses that tasted of my salty tears.
Behind him, a shifting shadow caught my eye. Red? I would’ve screamed if Erik hadn’t pushed my face against his neck, smothering the sound before it left my mouth.
“It’s okay. He’s with me.” Erik set me on my feet and grabbed my hand, tugging me toward my wide-open window. I saw that he had a bandage on the side of his head. I also saw that the window screen was gone. Someone—no, two someones—stepped up behind us without making a sound. That was pretty amazing, I thought, considering the size of their shadows.
It wasn’t until one of them moved into a beam of moonlight that I recognized him. “Marten?”
“Isak,” he whispered back. “Marten’s outside with Dad.”
I shifted my gaze slightly to the left. “Is that you, Bo?”
“Yeah.”
I focused on Erik again, trying to muffle the sobs that just kept coming. “I-I thought you were d-dead.”
“The bullet just grazed my head. I don’t know why it knocked me out.”
“But all that blood���”
“Scalp injuries always look worse than they are,” whispered Bo the macho football player who’d probably had his share.
“Are you okay?” Erik looked me in the eye. He kept his voice low. “Did anyone hurt you? Touch you?”
“No.”
“But that knife—”
“I had to be ready for anything.”
With a soft curse, he pulled me close again.
Isak touched Erik’s arm. “Dude, we need to get her out of here.”
“I know.” Erik grabbed me by the shoulders, once more looking me in the eye. “We’ve taken care of the guards, so we should be good outside. How many Weres are inside?”
“Four. One on the first floor; three in the bunks just below us. How many guards did you get?”
“Three.”
“There are always four.”
Erik didn’t seem to hear. “Now I’m going to lower you with a rope. Don’t worry. Martin and Greger are waiting to catch you if you fall.” He began to wind a rope around and over me, looping and knotting it.
“How’d you get up here?” I asked, moving whatever body part Erik wanted me to.
“Your man’s got skills,” said Isak.
Looking down, I realized that I now wore a makeshift climbing harness. Erik wrapped the loose end of the rope around his waist.
“Okay, that should do it.” He patted the window sill, clearly eager for me to take that leap of faith that would put me on the ground.
“You’ll be right behind me?”
He didn’t answer.
“Erik! Are you guys following?”
“Shhh. We’ll be leaving by the front door. Hurry, Bronte.”
Confused by the arrangement, I wanted details. “Then I’ll come with you.”
“No way. I want you out of this now. We’re pushing our luck as it is.”
“But—”
“Please.”
With a sigh, I gave in and sat on the sill. The crisp air cleared my head. “There really are four guards.”
“I’ve cased this joint, Bronte. There were three.”
“‘Cased this joint’?” I grabbed a double handful of his jacket and yanked him up close. “This isn’t a gangster movie, and you aren’t Elliot Ness, okay? These guys have real guns that kill, and you guys aren’t bullet-proof.”
Erik groaned. “Would you just this once trust me?”
I still hesitated before giving in. “Fine then.” I put one leg over the sill.
A stealthy sound near the loft edge made me freeze in dread. Was that someone quietly
climbing my ladder?
“Well, well, well. What have we here?”
Maverick!
Dodging Erik’s frantic attempts to get me out the window, I ducked back inside, instead.
“Wake up, Jake! Yo, Lorenzo!” yelled Maverick. “We’ve got company.”
The immediate commotion below told me he’d woken the other Weres on the second floor. As always, Erik pushed me behind him. I immediately disconnected us and then fumbled around trying to get the stupid ropes off my body. By the time I finished, Buzz Cut and Gramps had joined us, filling my loft to the brim.
“All we want is Bronte,” said Erik.
“Can’t have her,” Maverick told him.
I saw the glint of Buzz Cut’s gun, but before I could yell a warning, Erik sent it flying through the air with an upward sweep of his arm. It landed with a thud on the wooden floor far below. The men surged together. Fists flew. I dodged more than one of them, trying to stay out of the way since I couldn’t tell who was who in the dark.
I heard a roar of fury and the unmistakable sound of ripping cloth. Someone had shifted.
“Holy shit!” Marten fell back with a gasp of shock. Even in that dim light I could see that his eyes were huge with fright. Another Were shifted and then a third. I located human Erik just in time to see him toss off his jacket.
“Dude, what are you—”
Clothing ripped. Erik shifted.
“Fuuuuck!” Sputtering, Isak and his brother herded me out of harm’s way, momentarily blocking my view. But I heard the roar as four wolves collided. God, what a sound. Growls, yips, gnashing fangs. Outnumbered by seasoned Weres, Erik would surely die if I didn’t help. But if I shifted, I wouldn’t be able to shift back for hours. Erik’s family would need someone familiar with who was who and what was where to get us safely out of there.
Unseen by Isak and Bo, I grabbed my knife off the bed and squeezed myself between them. I lunged at Maverick-wolf, stabbing him in the side. The knife deflected off a rib or something, but he still howled in rage and whirled on me. Bo and Isak abruptly came to life, two giants shaken from their shock by my feeble attempts to save Erik. They charged into the fray, and though probably unable to tell one wolf from another, still managed to throw one of the bad guys over the edge of the loft. He crash landed on the second level with a howl of pain.
Leaping from the loft, Isak followed. He held up his arms. “Bo! Toss her down to me.”
What! No freakin’ way. Before I could run, Bo scooped me up. The next thing I knew, Isak was forcing me down the ladder from the second level to the first.
“B-but Erik—”
“Has Bo to help him. Erik made us swear we’d get you out of here alive no matter what, and that’s what I’m doing.” My feet had no sooner touched the ground than he rushed me toward the front door.
But there was one Were we’d forgotten: Red.
Red lunged at Isak from the shadowy hall. They crashed into the wall and then the couch. A table splintered when Isak fell across it. With a cry, I jumped on Red’s back and tried to pummel his head and face. He easily threw me off. Just then, the front door crashed back. Greger and Marten burst into the cabin, bettering the odds.
In no time it was over. Someone flicked on a light.
I saw a prostrate wolf on the second level; two more in the loft. Red lay at my feet, out to the world thanks to the sturdy metal flashlight Marten clutched. Sidestepping my captor, I charged across the living area to the ladder. I got to Erik-wolf in seconds.
His fur was wet to the touch—blood and saliva I guessed—but he seemed to be okay. Dropping to my knees, I hugged him.
“What the hell is going on here?”
I recognized Greger’s voice, but didn’t bother to answer. Bo or Isak could explain what had just gone down���or try to. They didn’t know that much, themselves. I heard the rumble of male voices and a sharp, “Cut the crap, you two! I want the truth, and I want it now.”
“Are you okay?” I softly asked my wolf.
He licked my cheek in reply.
“You’ll be stuck like this for hours.” I stroked his snout. “I’m so sorry. Wish I could do something for you.” The moment I said that, my fingertips began to tingle. I raised one hand to inspect it. They were glowing. My fingers were actually glowing.
Could this mean���?
Instinctively, I smoothed my hands over Erik-wolf, starting at his head and working my way to the tip of his tail. My hands left a sparkly green wake that reminded me of faery dust. The furry body I’d just touched began to morph. I jerked my hands back with a soft gasp, watching as Erik-wolf transformed into Erik-boy. With a cry of joy, I jumped up and threw myself at him.
His lips found mine. He hugged me so hard. “You’re incredible, you know that?”
With a weak laugh, I blew on my fingernails and buffed them against my T-shirt in reply.
Downstairs Uncle Greger apparently had his eye on us and seemed to be losing it. “What just happened up there? What the frick just happened?”
All things considered, Erik’s relatives were having one heck of a night.
Chapter Eighteen
I found clothes Erik could wear and quickly dressed in some of my own. Then I threw all my things into my trusty backpack. We’d been through a lot, Erik, that backpack, and I. Wasn’t about to leave it behind now. The six of us quickly exited the cabin, but not before the guys tied up Red and piled him and his unconscious Weres in the pantry. It was a tight fit. I hoped they were miserable.
The moment we stepped into the night I smelled them.
Werewolves. As in lots.
“That guard you didn’t miss has called in reinforcements,” I said.
“Huh?” Greger flicked on the flashlight and swept the yard. At least a dozen pairs of eyes glowed from the woods edging it. He turned it off again. “Shit.”
He had that right.
“Bronte, get in the Explorer.” Erik nodded toward a big, dark Ford in the shadows.
“Not happening.” I frantically tried to think what to do. Even if Erik and I both shifted, we’d still be badly outnumbered by vicious werewolves Greger and his sons would be no match for.
“Crap. They’re coming closer,” said Marten.
Erik shrugged out of his jacket.
“No!” Help me, Mom. Show me what to do. Closing my eyes, I waited for some kind of sign.
Deep breath, Bronte.
My familiar mantra, but this time I recognized the voice—Mom. So she’d been with me in Houston, after all. Taking her advice literally, I inhaled a lungful of crisp winter air and stepped free of the men protecting me.
Reach for the heavens.
I immediately raised my arms to the star-studded sky. Green sparks shot from my spread fingers, arching into the night. My guys gasped. The wolves cowered and fell back. I heard Greger curse a blue streak and glanced back in time to see Erik’s eyes begin glowing. I clearly had back-up, which meant Danu was right. My mate was very special, indeed.
A frigid wind kicked up from nowhere, whipping my hair around my face. Clouds began rolling in, hiding the Gibbous waning moon and every single star with supernatural speed. The dark of midnight now blanketed humans and wolves alike.
You’ve got it, my love.
I wiggled my fingers, experimenting with the power surging through them. Sleet began to pelt us. Invisible to our eyes except in the beam of the flashlight, it stung our half-frozen faces. Greger swept the light across yard again. I saw that the werewolves had huddled together.
Still experimenting, I clapped my hands. A bolt of lightning shot straight from the sky into the cluster of wolves. Their yelps of pain and shock were drowned by the immediate crash of thunder that shook the ground so badly we actually fought to keep our feet. When the last rumbled faded, I walked straight to the cowering wolf pack, which smelled of singed fur. “Your friends are in the pantry. You might want to let them out later. Tell Red that if anyone in The Arm ever bothers my family or any
one I love again, I’m coming for all of you.”
In two seconds flat, only six humans remained in that yard. Or maybe that was four humans and two ecstatic sups.
****
“I still think we should call the police,” said Greger around a bite of pecan waffle. Maple syrup dribbled onto the front of his shirt. He didn’t notice.
Isak snorted. “And tell them what, Dad? A witch just beat the crap out of a pack of werewolves?” His brothers hooted.
I raised my head from Erik’s shoulder. The five of us were crammed into a corner booth at a Branson Waffle House. “I’m not a witch.”
“She’s actually a goddess.” Erik sounded very matter-of-fact.
Marten hooted again, a sound that died to nothing when Erik stared him down. “No shit?”
“No shit,” I told him.
We’d told the guys everything we could, which was nowhere near as much as they wanted or even needed to know to make sense of things. But I’d signed a contract with the Corteggio, and I meant to honor it, even if I wasn’t really under their jurisdiction. Why push my luck?
“Are you sure you didn’t inherit that wolf thing?” asked Isak, stabbing his fork into a breakfast steak. “That was wicked sweet, man.”
“Trust me,” Erik said. “There’s no gene for it.”
“Figures,” muttered Bo into his hash browns.
As we ate our breakfasts, I caught more than one cousin’s envious stare directed my guy’s way. I smiled to myself. It was time he got a little respect from those jokers.
Erik put his mouth to my ear. “They’re all hot for you.”
Huh?
When we parted ways soon after, I thanked them all for helping Erik save me. I got four bone-crushing hugs in return, which made me wonder if Erik could actually be right.
The moment he and I hit the road in his Jeep, headed home, I began drilling him. “Who rescued you?”
“No one. I came to. You were gone. I shifted and trailed Red’s SUV all the way to Tablerock Lake.”
Since I knew wolves could travel as far as fifty miles in a day, I believed him. “What did you do then?”
“I hung around long enough to see that you were okay and then went home. By then it was Monday morning. I got dressed and loaded the rifle, intending to go right to Tablerock and rescue you.”
