“One of us will have to shift and smell for him,” Lupe observed rather than freezing me a second time. “The lot is empty. No one will see us.”
But I knew without sniffing that Rune was off to my right. Knew from the throbbing in my throat and the urge to travel in that direction.
Without waiting for Lupe and Ryder, I broke into a run.
THIS WASN’T A CITY park but rather an extended acreage of unused woodland that had been set aside for hikers and mountain bikers. Branches whipped across my face as I cut across country and I couldn’t quite imagine Ryder managing to traverse the same landscape on two wheels.
But the roar of motorcycle was back there. It didn’t catch up, but it didn’t splutter to a halt either. I suspected Lupe must have stripped and shifted, trusting her nose more than whatever instinct was guiding me. Good. I needed to be the one to reach Kale first.
And I would, with the ache in my throat as a compass. Turning toward the shadow a hillside cast on the forest to one side of me, the wound from Rune’s bite panged. Turning toward the sun, it not only eased but warmed. My mouth filled with persimmon. As if Rune was once again nuzzling my throat....
Tamping down the seductive memory, I travelled in the direction of warmth. Sprinted flat out, leaping over downed tree trunks nearly as easily as if I’d been lupine. The necessity of helping Kale drove me while instinct guided me. There was a clearing up ahead and I thought I might just recognize one particular gnarled treetop from Rune’s photo....
Then an arm came out of nowhere and yanked me off my stride.
Off my stride and into the darkness of a hollowed-out tree trunk. I didn’t struggle, though. Why struggle when persimmon now filled the air as well as my mouth?
For a moment, I could see nothing. Just darkness that lent my other senses more power. I was tucked into something warm, both hard and soft like velvet over iron. For the first time in longer than I could remember, I fully relaxed.
Then my wolf rose and expanded my pupils. The velvet-covered iron was just who I thought it was. Rune.
“Lupe and Ryder?” he murmured, his breath against my ear soft as butterfly wings.
“Right behind me,” I answered just as quietly. “Kale?”
“Stopped up ahead five minutes ago. He seems to be waiting for something.”
For something or for someone?
The warmth of Rune’s arms was no longer enough to halt the chill coursing through me. Still, I needed to make this man an offer if I wanted his assistance. One that would prevent him from siding with Lupe and putting eradication of fae over Kale’s best interests.
“If you help me get Kale back to the safety of our clan,” I started, “I’ll do everything in my power to help you with the fae problem afterwards.”
I’d expected him to agree. This was what he wanted, right? It was certainly what Lupe wanted and Rune was a Samhain Shifter also.
But Rune pushed me away just far enough so our gazes could make contact. His head was shaking. “No.”
“No?” Had I misunderstood why he asked me to turn off my phone? The iron muscles of his arms abruptly felt like a trap.
“No,” Rune continued. “This isn’t a bargain. I’ll help you now because it’s the right thing to do. No strings attached.”
Chapter 17
I blinked. No strings attached sounded too good to be true. And...I was taking it.
I nodded decisively. “Good. Great. I’m going to call Kale’s name and hope he snaps out of it. If he doesn’t, you tackle him then we’ll figure out how to get him back to your car.”
To his car. Not Lupe’s. If I could help it, I wasn’t riding with Ice Alpha ever again.
And even though she must have been his superior, Rune nodded. He didn’t argue, didn’t try to take over with his own game plan. Just slid out of the tree then curved off the path, skirting the spot where I could now see Kale hunkered down in a grassy opening up ahead.
The scene should have been pastoral. Kid in a sunbeam, light reflecting off pretty blue flowers scattered around him. But as I took the direct route to reach him as quickly as possible, Natalie’s son appeared smaller by the second. He wasn’t eying the floral bounty the way he usually would have. Instead, he’d sunk in on himself, his shoulders bowed and his chin on his chest.
Behind me, the rumble of a motorcycle stilled bird song. We wouldn’t have much time before Lupe and Ryder arrived. I needed to get Kale out of danger fast.
“Kale,” I murmured when I was still twenty feet out and Rune was an equal distance behind him. I didn’t expect a response, actually, given the fact Kale lacked wolf ears. I just needed to say his name, the relief of finding him whole coming out of me on the exhale.
But Kale did hear me and he wasn’t relieved by my presence. His head shot up, face tight with annoyance. “Go away.”
“Kale. Sweetie.” I took another step forward. “I’m really sorry about last night. I...”
My apology was cut off by two sounds. The revving of a motorcycle engine, twice as loud as previously and directly behind me. Then, from the opposite direction, the roar of wind so intense it sounded like a tornado about to touch down.
At the same time, something in my gut twinged. I swayed. Weakness flooded me.
“Tara!”
Rune’s voice broke whatever un-Alpha-like fear had gripped my muscles. He was sprinting toward Kale, wind already whipping his shirt into billows. Unsticking my feet with an effort, I raced forward, aiming for the exact same spot.
But Kale wasn’t there when we met in the middle. Instead, he’d been swept up by something invisible. Something he now rode, legs curled around wind as if it was a horse, the child’s torso tilted eerily forward.
He didn’t want our assistance. Instead, he appeared to be urging the invisible being on.
That urging was working. Kale was ten feet away by the time I realized what was happening. Ten feet then fifteen feet....
Twenty. Wind whipped against my face when I tried to follow. There was no way we’d catch up in human form.
I was lupine by the time my forepaws hit the ground. Clothes sloughed off me except for the shirt that tangled around my throat as I sprinted forward. I would have gone down if Rune’s hands hadn’t severed the fabric as easily as if it was a floral lei draped around my neck.
He didn’t shift though. Instead, he sprinted two-legged.
But two legs were no match for the speed of a wolf.
Rune falling behind was disappointing, but I had to focus forward. On the treeline the wind was rushing toward. On the way our enemy was starting to pull Kale higher off the ground....
The wind now turned into the tornado its sound originally resembled. Curving around the edge of the clearing, it spiraled upward. If I veered left immediately, I might be able to intercept during its next pass...but by that time Kale would be too high to capture. Out of my reach.
I barked, or tried to. The warning choked back down my throat until I huffed out every ounce of air I had in me. The second try, though, was loud enough to overcome the wind, and Kale knew the sound of this warning. Knew it from the days I’d let him attend pack hunts. It was a warning. A stop immediately.
Back then, Kale had obeyed without hesitation. Now, if he heard, he wasn’t interested. Instead, the child laughed, or so it seemed from his rounded cheeks and squinting eyes.
The wind appeared to be laughing also. It shimmered around the edges, whipping up fallen leaves and cracking tree limbs as it whirled past them. Each time, it travelled just a little higher....
I was losing Kale. And with Rune so distant his scent was lost to the roar of the wind, I had to admit I was in this alone.
Okay, yes, there was one other option. The motorcycle, its growl audible enough to suggest it had reached the clearing. Maybe the vehicle would be faster than I was on wolf feet....
But I couldn’t trust Lupe to put Kale’s best interests before her duties. So I stopped. Dug my claws into the soil. Called for the Gua
rdian with all of my might.
Nothing answered. Our fae ally was done with me, for today at least. Which likely meant the unicorn was also.
Only, when I squeezed my eyes shut and begged for his assistance, hot air whuffled against the back of my neck.
“Oh hell no,” Rune growled from behind me as I opened my lupine eyes.
RUNE MUST HAVE SPRINTED flat out to catch up, which was sweet. But I didn’t have time to deal with his unicorn aversion. Not when Kale was already ten feet off the ground.
So I leapt onto the unicorn’s back, shifting midair and ending up flat on my human stomach. “We have to catch Kale,” I huffed with what little breath I had left.
I was risking being bucked off for failing to compliment my steed’s appearance. Wasn’t following our usual protocol of flattery paid in advance.
But, to my relief, the unicorn’s haunches bunched beneath me. Then we were running flat out.
Or rather, the unicorn was running and I was falling. I lunged for a hank of mane, barely managing to regain my balance. Fought to keep my eyes open as we picked up speed.
I couldn’t let myself lose sight of Kale. He was a child under my protection. And, more than that, he and his mother were among my few true friends....
Now it was the time for me to return that friendship. I grabbed the unicorn’s mane as he sped up faster than I’d been able to run either as wolf or human. Then I worked my way to standing, balanced atop my magical steed’s back.
Sooner than seemed possible, we were abreast with our quarry. Kale’s knees were at my eye level. He cocked his head and peered down at me, his lips curling back as if he were a snarling wolf.
So, yeah, not entirely friendly at the moment. But we’d get back there. We had to.
Would get back there as long as I didn’t let Kale slip through my fingers. To that end, I released the unicorn’s mane and leaned in Kale’s direction. Fingers outstretched, I swiped....
The wind retaliated. Slapped at my face, buffeting the unicorn sideways. I had to drop to a crouch if I didn’t want to end up plummeting all the way to the ground.
Meanwhile—“Go away, go away! I hate you!” Kale cried, his voice rising and twirling in and out of the wind.
This wasn’t working. The unicorn—who had never seemed to strain when bringing me to meet the Guardian—was sweating so hard my knee slipped on wet hair. As I caught myself, specks of white foam spun away from his mouth and slapped against my skin.
Lungs heaved between my knees. The unicorn couldn’t continue much longer.
But we’d slowed the wind just a little. Slowed it and lowered it enough for the Samhain Shifters to catch up.
Ryder and Lupe were the first to arrive. He steered the motorcycle while she stood half over his shoulders while looking out behind him. It didn’t seem like a useful arrangement until he skidded and her sword lashed out at—
“Kale!” I screamed.
The sharpened steel sliced through nothing one millimeter away from my favorite twelve-year-old. But he didn’t flinch. Instead, he reached toward it, as if grabbing onto a sharp blade was an excellent idea.
Then Rune was there, leaping up to separate the blade and the child. Metal streaked through skin and fabric. The tang of iron filled the air.
The sword had only skimmed the surface of Rune’s skin, but my throat throbbed so hard I couldn’t speak. Not that speaking would have helped anyway. Instead, I got my feet back under me then I leapt.
Off the unicorn’s back and into Kale. We tumbled through the air together, first falling then rising. Behind me, I heard Lupe grunt and Ryder swear.
Whatever they were up to, it must have been keeping the wind busy. Because even though Kale and I didn’t strike the ground, the wind didn’t draw Kale back into its center either.
Instead, we spun together, rotating in an absent eddy that seemed just enough aware not to drop us. First we faced the trees, then we turned further to see all three of the Samhain Shifters battling nothing. Rune swiped with a sword that moved so fast I could barely make out the movement. Lupe was using what looked like a shimmery lasso. And Ryder was driving one-handed, his other hand repeatedly reaching into saddlebags then tossing glittering knives.
Neither lasso nor blades were having an effect. The wind, though, was making its displeasure known. It fixated on Lupe, first whipping her hair into a noose then, apparently, squeezing with nothing but air....
Her face mottled purple. I didn’t know how long she could continue fighting without oxygen, but the end had to come soon.
Meanwhile, I was stuck in this eddy that seemed content to turn me and Kale like chickens on a spit. I did, however, have one tool still at my disposal.
“Get over here!” I yelled at the unicorn.
The vain thing stamped his hoof in answer. He’d retreated out of the maelstrom, had found a sunbeam to preen beneath, and didn’t seem inclined to leave it.
“You’re unbelievably charming,” I called. But my words refused to sweeten.
Because the unicorn wasn’t being charming at the moment. Charming would consist of saving Kale without having to be bribed into it. Charming would be standing and fighting like the Samhain Shifters were doing.
No wonder the lie lay between us, heavy as an anchor. The unicorn turned to show me its rump.
Well, if compliments weren’t going to cut it, I’d have to dig deeper. And I knew, from lessons with my father, what it took to get the fae’s attention.
I could only hope this unicorn was fae enough to be tempted. It certainly wasn’t of this world....
Refusing to let doubts surface, I opened my mouth and made a binding vow. “I owe you a boon,” I called to the unicorn, “if you save Lupe, Ryder, and Rune and get me and Kale out of here.”
It was a tall order. One unicorn against the animated wind.
“Assuming,” I added, my voice raised to carry across the air whipping me in circles, “you’re capable.”
The dig at the unicorn’s masculine ego did it. He whinnied, a high-pitched shriek that cut through the wind for one split second. I heard the gasp of Lupe’s inhale even as hot unicorn back slid underneath me.
Then I was once again clinging to a mane, my free arm looped around a boy who had started struggling. “Hang tight,” I told him, or myself. “Just hang tight for one more second....”
Because that’s all it would take to cross over. Surely the wind wouldn’t be able to follow....
One instant before the unicorn shot us out of the human world and into another, a hand clamped down around my knee.
Chapter 18
It was Rune. Despite being unwilling to shift, he’d left Lupe and Ryder with the fae to follow me into this Between space. Even though he was a Samhain Shifter. Even though his top priority should have been back there, not here.
Something warmed deep inside me...only to chill as wind whipped against my face so hard I could no longer see where we were going. Between had already enfolded us, a passage I’d never considered making on my own two feet. If Rune’s grip faltered, he could be lost to both worlds....
“Be still!” I barked at Kale. Then, leaning down to grasp Rune’s forearm, I ordered: “Jump!”
Neither of them should have obeyed me. Not a human child, on whom alpha commands were wasted. And not a shifter who’d already proven his dominance over me.
And yet...Kale stopped struggling. My arm nearly yanked out of my socket as Rune leapt, letting me carry his weight for one split second. Then I was tumbling toward mossy ground in an abruptly windless sanctuary, heat curling around both my back and my front.
The heat at my front was Kale and Rune. Kale looked dazed, but at least he wasn’t running away from me. Rune pushed up onto his elbows, his mouth thinning as he took in our location.
We were Between, but not in the Between I was used to. The air was still here, sun blazing warmer than it had been when we left earth. Moss and flowers had crushed beneath my hip and shoulder just like during my r
ecent visit to the Guardian. But rather than trees scattered at intervals, we were encircled by a vast ring of rocks.
No, make that boulders. Huge, flat-sided stones that started in the soil and continued upwards far above our heads. Like Stonehenge if that monument had been mushed together with no openings. Or like teeth in a massive mouth.
I shivered...and the heat behind me crept forward. Hands slid across my bare skin, closer to erogenous zones than I was comfortable with.
I whirled, as best I could while splayed out across the ground, then glared at the man responsible. “Keep your hands to yourself.”
I expected mumbled apologies. Instead, he grinned. “Don’t you think they’re shiny?”
Shiny? Whoever this man was, he didn’t appear to be in full possession of his marbles. And yet...his words niggled at my memory. Even though I was positive I’d never seen his face before.
The stranger had pale skin stretched across perfectly chiseled features. Long hair so black it gleamed blue. An entirely feline grin.
“Aren’t you going to tell me I’m unbelievably handsome?” he asked. He didn’t grab me, but I found my body moving toward his anyway. It was almost like an alpha compulsion. Almost, but not quite.
Rune’s word lashed out hard as a blow. “Erskine.”
Something about the naming broke Erskine’s hold over my muscles. I was able to scuttle backwards. To stand, pulling a strangely malleable Kale up with me and putting precious air space between us and the man whose outside beauty didn’t appear to match his interior.
Pouting, Erskine unfolded himself far more elegantly than I had. “I don’t see the problem. She’s ridden me quite willingly. Bareback. Repeatedly.”
Rune growled. My brow wrinkled. Then I got it.
“You’re the unicorn.”
“And Rune’s brother.”
“Half-brother,” Rune corrected, clenching his fists.
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