Books by Linda Conrad

by Conrad, Linda

“I’m thirty-three.”

  “About the same as me.” Hunter’s expression changed over to comprehension, but anger still simmered underneath.

  Cisco quickly added, “And I only figured out who my father was after my mother died last year. I had never even known his last name.”

  “Then your mother and my father weren’t married?”

  Cisco shook his head. That was a bone that had been sticking in his throat for all of his life.

  “So the bastard had bastard children.” Hunter spit the words like a curse. “It figures. I wonder how many more there might be out there.”

  Cisco fisted his hands, but Sunnie grabbed his elbow.

  “You and your father didn’t get along well?” Sunnie asked Hunter.

  “I was overjoyed when he died. It was finally the end of my mother’s pain. If I’d been a little older, I would’ve killed him myself the next time he laid a hand on her.”

  “Did Kody feel the same as you?” Sunnie asked.

  Hunter looked taken back. “Damn. I’ve forgotten about my brother. This is going to be a real shock to him. Just a moment. I’d better call him.” He pulled out his phone and spoke to Kody, but all he said was that he had something important to say in person.

  “Kody will be here in a while,” he said as he hung up. “My brother never knew about our father’s abuse of our mother. She would never allow me to tell anyone. Not even Kody. He’d been sent away to boarding school in the Navajo traditional way, while I stayed home to help out. For years he blamed himself for our father’s death, thinking if he’d been here that he could’ve stopped the murder. But I believe that would’ve been impossible.”

  Suddenly Cisco began putting things together. And he had a feeling that Hunter had been doing some thinking along the same lines.

  “Have you ever wondered if it’s possible the body they recovered wasn’t his?”

  Hunter looked surprised, but only for a split second. “It’s been in the back of my mind for a long time, yeah. But I can’t quite figure out why my father would fake his own death. What he could’ve hoped to gain?”

  “Can’t you?” Cisco was shocked by his own words, but instinct told him his half brother’s mind was squarely in the same place as his. “You’re sure you haven’t wondered about the coincidental timing of your father’s death and the appearance of the Navajo Wolf?”

  Hunter scowled. “Holy crap. Now that you mention it, I’ve had dreams of the Navajo Wolf with my father’s face. But I thought it was just my old anger coming back when I was asleep and couldn’t control it.

  “Several years ago Lucas Tso told me he had also seen my father as the Wolf in his dreams,” Hunter added. “We thought it was weird for both of us to see the same thing, but we let it slide.”

  “Then it’s possible?”

  Hunter nodded.

  “Wait,” Sunnie broke in. “You two are saying you believe your own father faked his death in order to become the Navajo Wolf? Are you serious?”

  “I wish I wasn’t,” Cisco muttered. “’Cause if I was joking, then I wouldn’t be feeling so guilty about old Shorty Tom’s death.”

  Hunter blinked, then set his jaw. “Shorty was there in the canyon that day. The first one to find the body. You think the Skinwalkers killed him because you were going to question him about the murder?” Hunter shut his mouth, then opened it again with a snarl. “Son of a gun. That’s one more reason to believe we’re guessing right about our father being the Navajo Wolf.”

  Our father. It took Cisco a minute to process the meaning of those words. He had never been a part of an our before. We and us were going to be every bit as foreign sounding. He would need time to absorb all the new emotions in suddenly finding himself a member of a family.

  “Look…” He tried to explain his sense of urgency. “This stuff between us may take a while to sort out, but Tory Wauneka doesn’t have time to wait. Even knowing our father is the Navajo Wolf doesn’t help us find her.

  “I think the Brotherhood should work first on any information that might lead to her,” Cisco added. “The name I found in that notebook was Professor Richard Yellowhorse. Ring any bells?”

  “You bet it does,” Hunter said with a groan. “He’s supposedly Michael Ayze’s friend and associate at the Dine College. But I never have trusted that sneaky bastard. It fits he would write a journal in his own code. Guy thinks he’s a genius and better at symbolism even than Michael.

  “So he’s the Skinwalker Owl, huh?” Hunter narrowed his eyes in thought. “There’s one or two members of the Brotherhood who’ll have good reason to find that a very interesting and useful piece of information.”

  The sound of a truck pulling up the grade reached their ears. Hunter turned his head, listened, then swung back to Cisco and Sunnie.

  “That’s my brother’s truck approaching. Listen, I agree that we need to concentrate our efforts on rescuing the Plant Tender before anything else. And there’s a lot of new information for Kody to accept. I’m going to suggest you let me tell him about our being half brothers in my own time. I may even decide to tell my mother first and have her help me explain. She’ll have a right to know, too. And she’s been the one who has always tried to keep Kody in the dark about his father.”

  “Okay.” Cisco nodded. “I agree you know your brother best. But I’d just as soon Kody didn’t think I was too much a coward to tell him the truth.”

  Hunter grinned. “No, Brother. Trust me on this one. I won’t let him think that.”

  Kody climbed down from his truck and joined them. Cisco decided to let Hunter take the lead and do most of the talking. Hunter explained to his brother about the notebook and the Skinwalker Owl but never mentioned anything about their relationship to Cisco.

  At last Hunter said to Kody, “Cisco and I are working on a theory about the Navajo Wolf. But we think it would be wise to rescue the Plant Tender before making any more moves in that direction. You agree?”

  Kody was a lawman, too, accustomed to listening for hidden meanings. Cisco could see the wheels turning as he studied him and Hunter. Did Kody notice the resemblance? If he did, he must’ve decided finding Tory was the more important consideration at the moment.

  He nodded, accepting everything Hunter told him without question. At least without questioning it aloud.

  The two Long brothers made a plan for notifying the Brotherhood about the notebook and for capturing the traitor Yellowhorse. Cisco stood quietly with his arm around Sunnie and waited to see what would happen next.

  Before they left, Hunter stopped and handed Cisco back the notebook. “I doubt if Michael will have time to do anything with this for a while. But it might contain more information about the Skinwalkers—or the Wolf. Keep working on decoding it, will you?”

  Cisco gave a sharp nod in reply. “And you go find the Plant Tender.”

  Sunnie took Hunter’s hand. “Yes, save Tory, cousin. And soon. I can’t stand thinking of her with them.”

  The afternoon wore thin for Sunnie and Cisco. She paced the Plant Tender’s cabin, unable to sit as she desperately tried to stem her terror and control her worsening unease about Tory. But nothing was working.

  Cisco was back at the computer, working on the coded notebook. She knew he was still having trouble with it and felt the problems had more to do with his thinking of his father and half brothers than with the translations.

  He needed a break. And she would love to help him out with that. The poor guy had been at it for nearly twenty-four hours now. But last night he’d refused to let go. She wondered how to make today any different.

  The light from outside became muted, throwing the cabin into shadows. Sunnie could smell the ozone in the air and sensed the inside plants perking up and raising their faces for moisture. Deciding that one thing she could do to help her friend would be to water her plants, Sunnie went in search of a watering can.

  But the minute the can was in her hand Sunnie could feel Tory’s presence. Her scent was stro
ng, and Sunnie’s stomach began to churn with worry again.

  She watered a few plants, then wandered into the office and pulled up a chair beside Cisco, who was dressed in comfy jeans and T-shirt. “How’s it going?”

  “Still slow.”

  “Can I see?” She slapped a hand on his arm and peeked over his shoulder, reading the pages he had already decoded.

  “That’s not a good idea. I’ve…” He tried to conceal his work, but she stood and twisted and caught the words.

  “Does that say what I think it says?” A horrible tightness clutched at her throat and squeezed her chest. “The Skinwalkers are planning on killing Tory? But…why? If Michael does what they ask, why would they do that?”

  Cisco shook his head. “The best I can make out, this Owl guy doesn’t want any witnesses left. Plus, I think he’s eager to cause the Brotherhood casualties. I get the feeling he particularly wants to hurt Michael Ayze.”

  She shifted away from Cisco and walked to the window. Outside, a soft female rain had begun to fall. Drops gently touched the windowpane and streamed downward, blurring the view. The view from her eyes had also began to blur as sheer despair left her empty and vulnerable. Her shoulders slumped and wetness leaked steadily down her cheeks.

  “Hey, cut that out.” Cisco pushed back his chair and came up beside her. “You’re feeling sorry for yourself, and I won’t have it.”

  He roughly grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around. She lowered her eyes to avoid his glare and wrapped her arms around her waist.

  “I am not,” she moaned, wishing her voice didn’t sound so full of pain. “I’m not feeling sorry for myself. I’m…I’m…” She didn’t know what she was except for frightened half out of her wits over her friend’s life.

  Lifting her chin with his fingers, Cisco forced her to look at him. “You’re tougher than this, dammit. I liked you better before, when you were raging against the injustice. When you were angry.

  “I just don’t know how to deal with you like this.” His voice cracked, as though his throat had filled with dust. “How about if you hit me? Give it your best shot.”

  At the sound of his concern, her eyes brimmed over, and she had to lean her forehead against his chest in order to continue standing.

  “Aw, hell.” He folded her into his arms and swore softly under his breath.

  Her own voice hitched on one last sob as she said, “I hate them. And I’m petrified enough for Tory that I can’t think.” She gulped a breath, slowed down. “I’m just so angry and frustrated.”

  Swinging her up in his arms, he cradled her against him like a baby. He took two slow steps away from the window, then picked up speed as he carried her down the hallway.

  Chapter 14

  C isco eased down on the bed with Sunnie still in his arms. She sat immobile and silent in his lap. The sobbing had stopped, but tears continued to leak from her eyes. It was all too quiet and too docile for the woman he’d grown to know.

  Brushing the hair back from her face, he began crooning a Mexican lullaby. A song he hadn’t thought of in years. He rocked her, singing and stroking her hair.

  In a little while, she shifted and knuckled back the last of the tears. “Thank you, Cisco.”

  He gazed down at the top of her head and that glorious ebony hair. “Thank me for what? I haven’t done anything.”

  She snuggled in closer. “You’ve done more than you’ll probably ever know.” Her breath was warm against his neck and a thrill went up his spine. “But thanks just for being here. I’m not sure what I would’ve done without you.”

  Bending, he kissed her cheek, then ran tiny kisses down the velvet skin of her neck. “You’re welcome,” he whispered. “But you would’ve done fine without me. You’re tough, sugar. Beautiful and tough.”

  His heart began pounding as he could swear he actually felt the tension and energy growing inside her. It made him wonder how much more he could do to jangle her nerves. To take her mind off her friend.

  Lifting her hand, he turned it palm up and gently placed his mouth just there in the middle. A soft little gasp escaped her lips as he ran his tongue over the tender, pale skin.

  “I…” Her voice jolted as he blew a breath over the moisture he’d created with his kiss. “I’m not so tough. Right now I’m feeling pretty weak.”

  “Yeah?” He hadn’t let go of her hand and now laid it over his heart. “You could’ve fooled me. Your pulse is racing like you’re ready to fight. It matches my heartbeat. Feel it?”

  “Uh-huh.” Her body trembled in his arms. “What are you doing?”

  “Seducing you gently. You mind?”

  “But I thought you said…”

  He brushed his lips over her mouth to shut her up. “I want to know what happens between us without the flash, míja. We’ve been all fire and thunderstorms together so far, but this time I want embers and mist first.”

  “Then kiss me.” She lifted her head and strained to reach his lips.

  “Not yet.” He captured her arms so she couldn’t wriggle away, then bent again to lick his way down her throat in drugging little circles.

  Rain splashed quietly against the window and left the room in soft afternoon shadows. With another slide of his tongue over her silky skin and another brush of her satin hair over his bare arms, Cisco felt the heat building, threatening to put a torch to his good intentions. But he doused the flame. For the moment.

  When Sunnie’s limbs finally went weak and she quit stirring and relaxed, he laid her back on the bed and covered her body with his own. It was then that he kissed her lips.

  But still he held off. He wanted to send them both over easy, with clever touches and gentle, smooth, ever-so-slow kisses. Deepening this kiss a little at a time, though, he found himself getting caught in his own trap. Desperation to take her fast instead of slow started as a niggle in his groin and grew to an impossible demand within seconds.

  He groaned out her name, heard her echo his in return. That’s when he felt her surrender. A subtle change at first, her body began yielding to his in a whole new way. It was erotic. He had to grit his teeth against the blood pulsing in his veins. But before going too far, he snatched back his control.

  “Let me take you away for once, mi amor,” he said on a breath. “Forget everything but this. Us. Right now.”

  Raising up on an elbow, he gazed down at her sensuous, languid body. She blinked and looked up at him from heavy-lidded and lust-filled eyes.

  “I want to know what gives you pleasure,” he murmured as he began to undress her. “Does my mouth here on the curve of your neck make you moan or sigh?”

  She sighed.

  He pulled off her jeans and quickly disposed of his own clothes. “How about here on the inside of your thigh,” he said as he placed a gentle kiss where he’d indicated.

  She moaned in response and he felt her body quiver.

  “Trust me, Sunnie. Let me.” He gazed at her face.

  The tenderness in her eyes nearly took away his resolve. No one had ever looked at him with that expression. Never in his memory.

  Not sure he could manage to hold off if he had to continue like this, he rolled her over on her stomach. He stroked the muscles of her back, admiring the smoothness and the strength under his fingers. Moving his hands lower, he used his touch and his tongue to run along the ridge of her spine.

  For long minutes he patiently teased and fondled and licked, smiling when she fisted her hands in the sheets and groaned helplessly. He brought her up once, heard the panting sounds she was making, then backed off. But when the rain stopped, Cisco knew it was time to meet the call. To earn her complete trust.

  Rolling her again, he advanced his demands and she responded instantly. He filled her slowly, not ready to rush now that they both teetered on the edge. She squirmed when he stopped inside her, and his brain went giddy with delight in her.

  “Easy now,” he murmured. “Not yet. I want everything this time.”

 
He threaded his fingers in her rich, silky hair and took her breast into his mouth, sucking until he heard her mewling noises become more high-pitched. The two of them were on the brink of something special. Something so wonderful he couldn’t manage to come up with a name for it.

  When she arched her hips against him, he lifted his head and stared down at the liquid black eyes swimming with urgency and…that same something wonderful.

  “Take everything, then, Cisco,” she murmured through a gasp. “Take it all. I’ll give you whatever you want—always.”

  The fire combusted, kindled and flared, surprisingly fast for such a slow burn. It took them both over in a spectacular shower of flaming sparks.

  Sunnie floated on a cottony cloud of ecstasy. Her body felt disengaged from her spirit. Somewhere in the back of her mind she struggled to find her footing. But the pleasurable tingles still resonating from deep inside made thinking impossible. So she eased up on herself and let the cloud carry her off on currents of what had to be love.

  Drifting to sleep, she suddenly found herself running out of the clouds and into the darkness. Running away from something? No, running down a path toward the light. There was something she needed to remember, something so important she knew it would mean life or death.

  In an instant, a horrific snake, at least twelve feet high standing on its tail, appeared in the path. She battled it back with her fists until a gun appeared in her hand. She shot the snake, crawled over the corpse and kept running.

  Tiring, she gulped in air but continued moving toward the light. Then she heard it. The cry in the distance. More a weeping than a wailing.

  Sunnie fought to find her way. The path narrowed, became more difficult to navigate. Where was the light now? Where was the person who’d cried? She knew the time grew shorter. If she was going to find and help someone, it would have to be now.

  Panicked, she began to call out. But the sound of her voice only echoed off unseen hills. Her calls turned to screams. Her voice grew taut and louder. Tears blinded her until she had to stop and swipe away the blurry wetness. Hysteria, quick, cold, deadly, at last took her over.