Midnight Wolf

by Jennifer Ashley

  Lady Aisling turned her back on them, walked to the corner of the trailer where the gloom on this rainy afternoon was deepest, and vanished.

  “Perhaps,” Ben repeated. “Perhaps what?”

  “Sounds like she’s trying to fix you up on a blind date,” Zander said in his booming voice. “Don’t go for it. Never works out.”

  “Hey, bear-man, I know how you met your mate, so you don’t qualify to comment,” Ben said. “Shall we, people?”

  Angus stepped in front of Tamsin and gave her his fierce glare. “You stay behind me, no matter what happens. Understand? Behind me. If it comes to a fight, you let Ben take you out of here.”

  Tamsin nuzzled his shoulder. “I like it when you’re all growly and my alpha mate. I have a feeling we won’t have a problem getting away though.”

  The police had their pistols trained on the trailer, but they had not commenced firing as threatened. Ben walked out first, not because Angus let him, but because he simply slipped by.

  “Evening, officers,” he said in his laid-back, friends-with-everyone voice. “What can we do for you?”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Angus felt Tamsin up against his back; for once she was using common sense and not darting directly into danger. Her breath warmed his skin, heating the blood beneath.

  She’d laid her hand over his heart, right where the mate bond throbbed, and smiled up at him. Not just a metaphor for Shifters who fall in love.

  In love. She’d fallen in love with him.

  His stupefaction at the statement hadn’t quite gone away. Watching hard metal become dust hadn’t astonished him as much as the fact that Tamsin Calloway loved him.

  Angus loved her. He loved her smiles, her sassy mouth, her fearlessness. Loved how she protected Ciaran and laughed with him, how she’d look up at Angus and include him in the laughter. Her silly singing, her red hair that flowed over his body in the night, her touch that lit fires all through him.

  Angus loved her, the love growing inside him like the blossoming of Lady Aisling’s roses, beauty coming suddenly from nothing.

  “You folks all right?” a police officer was asking Ben outside. His voice was no longer threatening but concerned, in a professional way. “Got a call about intruders in this trailer.”

  Zander jumped down from the doorway, Tiger following. “Yep,” Zander said as he landed. “Some local boys thought they’d take over and party. We chased them off, but someone must have called you.”

  Which was exactly what had happened, Angus thought. Now to see if the cops believed it.

  The policemen lowered weapons, taking their cue from their leader. But behind them were Shifter Bureau agents—Zander and Tiger weren’t wearing Collars, and Bureau agents were trained to spot Collarless Shifters. Angus held his breath, and Tamsin tensed beside him.

  Haider led the three agents as they strode forward. “See any Shifters around here?” Haider asked Zander.

  He didn’t seem to note that Zander was Shifter, though Angus wasn’t sure how he could miss the signs. Zander was huge, solidly muscled, with intense dark eyes, and did not bother to dress in a low-key way. His white-blond hair, braids, and black duster coat would make him stand out even if he were human.

  “Nope,” Zander answered Haider without unease. “This isn’t even our trailer. Belongs to a friend. We heard of trouble and came to check it out.”

  “If you see any Shifters, give us a call,” Haider said, his voice still reasonable. “We’re Shifter Bureau. Number’s on our website.”

  “Sure thing,” Zander said.

  “Seriously?” Tamsin whispered. “This is the same guy who forced you to hunt me? Who threatened to dissect me?” She let out a breath. “Wow, Lady Aisling is good.”

  “Is that what she meant about giving you a boost?” Angus whispered back.

  “I don’t know.” Tamsin leaned against him. “Maybe Lady Aisling is letting us elude notice in Haider’s brain, like Ben eludes notice by using shadows. That is power. Let’s go out and see what happens.”

  Angus gripped her shoulder to try to hold her back, even though he knew by now Tamsin couldn’t be stopped if she didn’t want to be. She slipped easily from his grasp, stepped through the door, and dropped to the muddy grass outside, landing with grace, the pattering rain glistening in her hair.

  Angus sprang down after her, putting himself in front of her again. She stuck close to him as they walked carefully around the cops and Haider.

  Haider didn’t notice Angus and Tamsin at all. He’d holstered his gun and stood with arms folded, listening to Ben and Zander explain to the human police how they’d come upon the men who’d broken into the trailer.

  A handful of cops moved away to carefully check out the scene. Two climbed inside the trailer while a few others walked around it. The two inside called back when they found the storage area, but reported there was nothing but grainy dirt inside. They emerged again, and the lead cop speculated that a local gang had possibly been looking for a cache of meth to steal.

  Throughout these undertakings, none of the police or the Bureau agents noticed Tamsin or Angus.

  Tamsin broke from Angus to walk straight to Haider and look directly at him. The man didn’t turn his head or so much as glance at her. He didn’t appear to see Angus either.

  Tamsin turned away, a dazed look on her face. She took Angus’s hand and together they walked slowly around the police and Shifter Bureau agents and to the pickup.

  Haider continued to watch Zander and the head cop. None of the humans paid attention to Angus or Tamsin in any way—the two Shifters didn’t exist for them.

  Angus and Tamsin walked hand in hand to the pickup and got in, and Angus quietly closed the door. In a moment, they were joined by Tiger.

  “We should go now,” Tiger said.

  Angus started the truck as quietly as he could, no gunning the engine. He turned and drove slowly past all the cars, down the lane toward the road.

  His heart beat swiftly and his hands sweated on the steering wheel, but no one stopped them, no one challenged them. Even Ben and Zander didn’t appear to notice them go. Only Tiger, it seemed, had seen them.

  Once on the highway heading back to town, Tamsin blew out her breath and leaned against Angus.

  “I never want to do that again,” she said. “I thought Haider would look at us any second, stop us, shoot us.” She raised her eyes to the ceiling. “Thank you, Lady Aisling.”

  “It was not Lady Aisling,” Tiger said. “It was you.”

  Tamsin jerked upright. “What?”

  “I saw,” Tiger went on. “Lady Aisling began it, but you, Tamsin, took the magic and widened it, strengthened it. I can see . . . what others can’t.” He briefly touched his eyelids.

  “How was I doing that?” she demanded. Her tension came through the mate bond, and Angus longed to gather her to him, to hold her, soothe her. “I’m a Shifter,” Tamsin declared. “I don’t know how to work magic.” Her voice rose to a frantic note.

  Angus broke in. “But you’re not a Shifter like I am, or even like Tiger is. If your ancestors were bred by the Tuil Erdannan, created differently, then your abilities will be different. Think about it—your mother was rounded up and you weren’t. Your sister, whose genetic makeup went to the Feline side of the family, was caught by hunters and you were not. You thought it was because you were fast, and good at hiding, but what if you instinctively put up this barrier—a glam, as Ben calls it?”

  Tamsin paled. “You mean I used magic to escape, when my sister couldn’t? When my mother couldn’t?”

  Angus gentled his voice. “You didn’t know you were doing it.”

  Tamsin put her face in her hands and was silent.

  Again, Angus wanted to hold her, shut out the world until her anguish went away. The best he could do while speeding down the road at sixty mil
es an hour was put his arm around her shoulder and draw her close. “It wasn’t your fault, love.”

  “No,” Tiger agreed. “The abilities we are given, whatever they are, were not chosen by us. We have to learn them, understand them, even when they hurt us.”

  Tiger wasn’t a man given to lengthy speeches—these were the most sentences Angus had ever heard him string together—but Tiger was right. All Shifters had to learn what to do with what had been bred into them.

  The only reason Haider’s men had managed to snap photos of Tamsin was because she hadn’t known they were taking them. She’d been a long way off, unaware of the photographer’s scrutiny. Angus was willing to bet that if she had known they were there, they’d never have caught her on camera. She’d slipped away from Gavan’s group and evaded being rounded up with them, knowing instinctively when to go. She’d speculated Gavan had blabbed to Haider about her—if Gavan had kept his mouth shut, Haider would probably have never realized Tamsin existed.

  Angus had spotted her right off without much trouble when Haider had sent him on her trail. Because he’s your mate, dear, Lady Aisling had said to Tamsin. Angus didn’t believe in the your-one-true-mate-is-out-there crap, but perhaps his wolf had known, even then, that Tamsin was meant to be his.

  He’d help her get through this. It’s what mates did—comforted, soothed, supported, loved. Angus would put things in motion once they reached the hotel. No more wasting time running from Shifters and Shifter Bureau.

  Lady Aisling had given them a gift indeed.

  * * *

  • • •

  Tamsin’s anguish lessened slightly on the remainder of the ride to the motel, which she put down to Angus’s touch. But she continued to mourn.

  If she had known about her abilities, if she’d been aware she could do something similar to what Ben could, she might have helped her mother, saved her sister.

  Also if Tamsin had realized she could move about unseen, she’d have tried to see her mother much more often. She’d given up sneaking into her mother’s Shiftertown or convincing her mom to meet her near it, fearing her mother would be punished if Tamsin were caught. It had been hard for Tamsin to make herself stay away.

  When they reached the motel, Tiger strode into Ben’s room, easily finding the door Ben had glammed, leaving Angus and Tamsin alone.

  Tamsin wanted to bury herself in Angus and pour out her troubles, but once he had her safely inside the room, damned if he didn’t duck back down to the truck to talk on his cell phone. She supposed he figured it was safe now that Haider seemed to have forgotten about Tamsin.

  She showered and dressed in clean clothes, her heart heavy. By the time she finished, she heard Zander and Ben return, and she went out to meet them. She found them in Ben’s room with Angus, the three Shifters and Ben gazing down at Dion, who glared back at them.

  “So what do we do with him?” Ben asked Zander and Tiger.

  “You let me go,” Dion snarled. “They were only fucking Shifter Bureau agents.”

  Zander stepped hard on Dion’s leg, and Dion howled. “Oops, must have slipped,” Zander said, but he didn’t move his foot. “I think with an attitude like that, you need a little therapy. I know just the guy you can talk to. Name of Dylan Morrissey.”

  Dion’s eyes widened. “Morrissey? He’s hand in glove with Shifter Bureau. Everyone knows it.”

  “Everyone is wrong,” Zander said. “I’ll take him off your hands, Angus. He might need a healer when Dylan is done explaining things. Or maybe a Guardian.”

  Dion began to shake.

  “Coming with you,” Ben told Zander. “Have to, if you want the binding spell to continue.”

  “What are you going to do?” Tamsin asked Ben, her curiosity working its way through her moroseness. “Have him bound to the back of your motorcycle?”

  Ben shrugged. “Should work. Take care of yourself, Tamsin.” He enfolded her in a hug. “Come to the house anytime. The door will always be open for you.”

  “Will open itself for you,” Zander corrected. “Creepy house. I like it.”

  “What about you, Tiger?” Ben asked. “Come with us?”

  Tiger shook his head. “I will see that Angus and Tamsin are safe and then return to my mate and cub.”

  “Yeah, I understand why you want to get home,” Ben said. “Give my best to Carly.”

  Tiger sent Ben a brief nod, but Tamsin saw the warmth in Tiger’s eyes when he spoke of his mate and cub. The mate bond was strong in him as well. Tamsin could no longer see hers—not the silken threads she’d observed when Lady Aisling had let her see—but the feeling had not ebbed. She was bound to Angus, and he to her, just as Tiger was bound to his mate.

  The Shifters managed to get Dion up and out the door, down the stairs, and onto Ben’s bike. Dion sat rigidly behind Ben, and Zander dropped a helmet over Dion’s head, slapping it in place.

  Zander then embraced Tamsin in a flurry of coat, braids, and hard warmth. “Give him hell, Tamsin,” he said and kissed her cheek. “And call anytime. I’m living in Montana with Rae now, but we always enjoy a road trip.”

  Zander pulled Angus into a Shifter hug as well, winking at him before he turned away. “Don’t have too much fun, Angus. I know you can really let yourself go if you want to. Later, my friends.”

  He turned away, straddled his motorcycle, started it, and rode smoothly out of the lot, Ben following with Dion.

  Tamsin was in the truck again not long later. Neither she nor Angus much wanted to stay another night in the motel, so they quietly agreed to go. Tiger joined them in silence, and they headed back west toward Albuquerque.

  * * *

  • • •

  Angus watched Tamsin grow less downcast as the trip wound on. They headed back through Dallas and north to Wichita Falls, then west again to pick up the I-40 in Amarillo, retracing the path they’d taken with the carnival. Tamsin started playing with the radio the morning after their overnight in Dallas, singing along and trying to teach Tiger the songs.

  Angus knew Tamsin was still bewildered and uncertain, the revelation about her origins coming as a shock.

  He tried to tell her, as they lay in bed together, that it didn’t matter. She was still Tamsin, and they were mated. The fact that she might have Tuil Erdannan magic in her and powers like Ben’s didn’t bother him at all. Angus would be there as she learned all about them.

  He wasn’t certain if it was his pep talk that helped her feel better or their long night of deep and silent passion and profound sleep, but as the road unrolled beneath them, Tamsin became more like herself, chattering about nothing, trying to make Tiger play road games with her—Whoever sees a VW first gets to punch the other. She stopped that game because Tiger kept winning.

  “There it is!” Tamsin sang out as the road dipped down into Albuquerque. It was twilight, and the lights of Dante’s midway flashed into the darkness. “Let’s party!”

  The first thing Angus saw when he slid out of the truck, glad the long journey was behind him, was Ciaran racing toward him like a shot. Dante was just behind the cub, waving in welcome.

  Angus swept up Ciaran, holding him close. Screw Shifter Bureau. He was never, ever leaving his cub behind again.

  Ciaran clung to Angus for a long moment, then he launched himself at Tamsin. “I missed you, Tamsin! I mean, Mom!”

  Tamsin caught him up and spun around with him. “I missed you too, sweetie.” She hugged him close. “I love you, Ciaran.”

  Ciaran latched his arms around her. “Love you too, Mom.”

  Angus watched them, his heart full. So were his eyes for some reason. He surreptitiously wiped away tears and tried to focus on what Dante was saying.

  “He was a good lad,” Dante told Angus with a grin. “Well, more or less. For a Shifter cub. Celene and I have got some pizza, plenty for everyone. Tiger, you coming?”

&
nbsp; Tiger had hung back from the greetings and now he shook his head. “I will return home now. Carly and Seth are waiting.”

  “You need a ride?” Dante asked. “I can see if one of my guys . . .”

  “I find my own way,” Tiger said. “Good-bye, Angus and Tamsin. Ciaran.”

  Ciaran squirmed down from Tamsin and raced for Tiger. “Thank you, Tiger, for taking care of my parents. I’m sure they needed it.”

  Tiger lifted Ciaran for a tight hug, then set him carefully down and bent to speak to him in confidence. “Look after them,” he instructed. “I can’t always be around to do it.”

  “Gotcha.” Ciaran nodded at him, then Tiger gave Tamsin one last, long look, turned, and faded into the darkness.

  “Will he be all right?” Dante asked, peering after him.

  “Tiger?” Angus searched the shadows for the big man, but Tiger was already gone. “He’s an expert at taking care of himself. If his mate and cub are at the end of the road, he’ll get there all the more quickly.”

  “Hmm.” Dante gave the path Tiger had taken another look and then sent a similar assessment over Angus. “Come on. Pizza’s waiting.”

  Angus couldn’t take Tamsin off to bed right away, as so many wanted to greet them, and neither of them wanted to leave Ciaran. They had their pizza, then Ciaran did his show with Celene, Angus and Tamsin watching from the audience and cheering him on.

  They’d found a home here.

  Celene, with keen perception, had Ciaran stay overnight with her family one more day. In the darkness after the close of the carnival, Angus slid himself over Tamsin in their large bed and made swift love to her. She kissed him as she came apart, her body moving with his, the mate bond warm between them.