“You wolves have a serum that will bleed out a were, and you haven’t seen fit to tell Dr. Waverly?” Nolan was as surprised at the venom in Sherona’s voice as Heather seemed.
“It wasn’t supposed to be used outside of the pack, and there’s an antidote to the bleeding to be administered immediately after the poison has left the system to prevent continued blood loss. They’re not supposed to be giving one without the other!” Heather’s desperate defensiveness was clear.
Sherona’s power shot through the room in an angry burst. Nolan’s hair stood up as if he had just been exposed to static electricity. He watched her snatch up the file and start to stomp out of the house.
“Ulfric,” Heather pleaded. “I would never hurt my daughter. If she’s been given this serum, then she needs the antidote. Let me get it. Take it to her and make sure she’s given it right away. It’s only for the one serum not the combination, but it’s still vital she gets it.” Her concern was palpable. He looked to Sherona then back to Heather and nodded.
“I’ll see that she gets it. I want to talk to you about the serums and what you intended them for and what you think Roxy is using them for, but I’m going to take this serum with the antidote to Alex first. We’ll be in touch. Don’t make it hard for me to find you.” Maybe it was not good for familial relations that he was threatening his future mother-in-law. She was lucky he believed her and that she did not know Roxy had intended to combine serums. He would have done more than threaten.
They left Heather’s fear in their wake. Nolan was pretty sure she was an alpha, capable of leadership. But the ulfric of the rival pack was no one to play games with even if he’d been alone. Having the werecats’ leader with him made them an impossible team to beat one-on-one.
Silence again pervaded the jeep, but this time it was full of raw energy and anger coming off the two alphas like heat waves off asphalt in summer. Halfway down the dirt road to the paved mountain road, she pulled over.
“I’m sorry. I should have given you more time. I could see in her head. She didn’t know their plans when they first got the serums but suspected what they were up to, just not the who. She should have come to me and warned me. I could have warned Tom. Irresponsible as hell for her to keep it to herself. What if they’d killed Heather with no one the wiser? It wouldn’t just be her daughter in danger of dying.” Her words came out in a flurry of frustration and raw fury.
“I know, I saw the same thing. We got the antidote and the papers. We’ll take those to the doctor, and we’ll sort the rest out later with cooler heads. Agreed?” He watched her fight the same battle he fought within himself.
Both wanted to seek were justice on the Lupin pack, including Heather, but the long term consequences were severe and had to be thought out carefully. “We will deal with this. I promise,” he swore to her.
Sherona looked at him for a long moment. “Agreed. If you can calm yourself this much when it’s your mate in danger, I can ease back on my own anger because of a hypothetical situation which may have put my shadow in danger. But promise you’ll tell me when you deal with Boris and Roxy. I want in on it. I want to make them pay.” Her eyes glinted with determination, and her voice held a low growl.
“I promise. You’ve been invaluable to me. In fact, there is someone you can take care of after taking me back to Alex. Joseph.” The flatness of his voice would have warned even a slow person he did not mean as a caregiver. Sherona was not slow on the up take.
“What exactly are you asking?” she replied carefully.
“Watch him. He knows my guards too well. They know him and may not completely believe him capable of the kind of betrayal I’m sure he is. Get me proof for my pack’s meeting, which will have to be soon in light of current events.”
“Consider it done, Ulfric.” She started up the jeep with renewed purpose and headed back to the clinic. He hid a shudder as the thoughts of what she wanted to do to Joseph came through loud and clear. She was still angry and not shielding her mind. She was hoping for a cutting conclusion.
Good. So am I.
***
“Hello, Joseph,” Roxy said in low tones. She had put on some of her chief regalia. It impressed Joseph. He had told her before that he wanted the packs to go back to the older ways and seeing her in the traditional dress of their people made him hot under his jeans.
She had added turquoise and silver earrings and silver bracelets coating her skin to keep it from chafing. He thought it meant she was immune to silver, further proof she should be leading. The idea that he was so easy to fool was laughable to her.
Silly man. Wait until he sees my next trick. Disdainfully, she regarded the traitor before her. When his usefulness ended, he would be killed. She hated anyone who would betray their pack. She hated more those that betrayed their true mates. He was doing both.
She sashayed toward him, laughing at the way his eyes followed the shimmering beads near her chest.
“Hello, Roxy,” he said breathlessly.
“Why did you make arrangements to see me outside of our normal place and time?” she asked. If she did not like his answer, he would be punished. Severely. She had special toys for just such an occasion.
“I’m being followed,” he started. Anger rushed through her making her see in a red haze.
“And you came here?” she roared.
“No. Yes.” He swallowed. About time he seemed to realize how much trouble he could be in. “That’s why I slipped away from them. They think I’m at home, protecting my mate from the crazed wolves killing the others.”
She looked at his simpering smile. He was trying to do the conspirator thing with her. He even winked. She cringed inwardly, allowing nothing to show on her face. He was right to tell her. They would have to be more careful of their meetings in the future.
“Anything else?”
“Yeah, the ulfric hasn’t been seen for a couple of days. My contact in his precinct says the rumor is he has a lead on the ones responsible for killing the pregnant women and is following up on it.”
She frowned. Littlebull had not been in any fights with any of her wolves since Boris’s retreat or she would know about it. What had he been doing since he had rescued Red?
“And Red? Where’s she at?”
Joseph let out a jocular laugh. “The human bitch he’s protecting? No one has seen her since we beat your boys and escaped.” She nearly killed him right then. She felt the itch in her hands to change and tear him to shreds. A good thing she had practiced her self-control in recent years.
“Your ulfric had help. Help I wasn’t aware of until later, and Boris found out too late to bring in extra help. When were you going to tell me about some of the cats joining camp with your leader? You wouldn’t happen to know which ones? The lions? Jags? Tigers?” Pleasure coursed through her as he dropped to his knees in fear and supplication.
“I did not know. I swear it,” he cried hoarsely. “They just showed up to help search for the human.”
Roxy sidled up to him, rubbing her body against his. “Are you sure you didn’t know? You know what happens when people lie to me.” She took half a step back and trailed her hand along his body. He vigorously shook his head in denial. She stepped close again, anger making her full of blood and lust.
“I swear, I didn’t.” His fear seeped into her pores like a refreshing wind. She began undressing him. “I believe you. Don’t contact me through the normal channels anymore. I’ll arrange for a new drop place.”
She pushed his shirt off and started working on his pants. He was not sure if she was going to punish him or screw him. It was more arousing for her to keep him in that state. Hard enough to fake any sort of sexual pleasure with him as it was. It helped her to know Boris watched from his customary place.
She stopped undressing him and walked away. He whimpered in fear and need. The fear she could handle. The need disgusted her. He was weak. A nobody. Did he really think that she was letting him touch her because of his sexual
prowess?
She longed for the ulfric at her side. Now he had power. She had never slept with him, but the command in his presence promised that his lovemaking would be masterful and all the more satisfying to break. She closed her eyes and let a smile play on her lips as she imagined it was the ulfric kneeling before her in need for her, his strength tethered to her will.
It was enough for her to be able to continue the charade with the bumbling idiot who was prattling nonsense at her.
“Find out where they are keeping Red. It’s imperative that we find her and bring her back to the pack. We can’t afford our healer to be gone.”
“But don’t you have her mother?”
Roxy slapped him, the sound gratifying. “Whom I wish as my pack’s healer is none of your concern other than to get her to me. Is that clear?”
He lifted a hand to the assaulted cheek, standing as he did so. Oh how she loved the anger smoldering in his eyes. Despite the slap, he spoke out again.
“How brave would you be if you didn’t have your feral man protecting your weak woman’s back?” Joseph jeered nearly eye to eye with her.
She seethed. The truth of Joseph’s loyalty was out. He only followed her orders because of Boris. Now her eyes glittered. She hated people who doubted her because of her gender. The game just got more interesting.
She backhanded him on the other cheek. Standing there with the button of his jeans undone, she eyed him from top to bottom. “Lie down and expose your belly to me,” she demanded. He balked, she saw it in his eyes. She would merely wait him out. Watching the struggle made it more fun as the man in her power decided she was worth demeaning himself for.
He dropped to his knees, giving her an insolent stare. He stopped there in defiance and refused to lie on his back. She smiled at him. He quickly moved to a prone position, exposing his belly to her.
“Always obey me. Immediately. Your little show of bravado is going to cost you,” she said, straddling him, then running a long nail down his navel. His breathing sped up as fear overpowered the lust. He made a move as if to buck her off. She leaned over him and pinned his arms. “That will cost you a scar.”
She took both sides of his shoulders and dug her claws in before scraping them to the front, slicing his skin as she moved, making sure to draw blood. She then took one of the silver bracelets and slowly moved it through each cut. It excited her, and she knew it excited Boris as well. The hissing from Joseph brought a grin to her face. She had not had this much fun in ages. She was going to push him to his pain threshold for his insolence, ensuring he would never defy her again, much less insult her to her face.
And if Joseph got out of hand or refused to perform, Boris would punish him as well. One way or the other, Joseph would regret his act of defiance. She licked the blood off her fingers, playing to the audience of one.
Tonight promised to be good.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Long before Nolan expected her, Sherona showed up at the Waverly Mansion. “Ulfric, we need to talk,” she said without preamble when she saw him. “Outside,” she added, then proceeded to go back out the way she had come in.
Nolan frowned at her retreating body, then hopped up to follow her. Whatever it was, she wasn’t happy about it; which meant he would not be either.
When they were out among a small grove of trees on the property, Sherona turned back to him and said, “Joseph disappeared last night.”
“He got away from you and some of my Elite Guard? Maybe I’m not giving him enough credit,” Nolan said studying her.
“I don’t think so. After all, you asked them to watch him. But your guards are on the way here, one of them severely burned. Joseph’s doing.”
Nolan felt rage burning through him lightning quick. “How’d he get the best of my elite guard?”
“He was at a small bar in Wapato. And before you ask, there are no security cameras. It’s too old and small. As I arrived, I noted your guards heading into the bar. I thought it strange, so I parked and started to follow them in. Before I walked through the door, the bar exploded.”
Nolan sucked in a breath. “How the hell did that happened? Where’d Joseph get something that would start an explosion? Were any others hurt besides the one headed here? Do I need to give my healer a heads up?”
“Yes, there were humans hurt, but I don’t think there were any other weres present. The bartender is dead because the fire trapped her behind the bar. The fire department is still cleaning up, making sure there are no hot spots smoldering. They are also trying to locate the store owners of the adjacent buildings.”
“Does the fire department have any idea how it started?”
“Ideas? Nothing they can prove at this point,” Sherona said slowly. “But I’m pretty sure they’re accurate in the basics. Joseph made a pile of paper napkins and spilled alcohol on them. Then, he apparently stole an opened bottle of alcohol from behind the bar. I received the information from your head guard who wasn’t as close to the explosion.”
“How’d that turn into an explosion so quickly? I know how alcohol can turn into one, but it would take a lot of time, relatively speaking, from a pile of napkins to heat up the booze, and my guards would have been able to get out of the bar if it were that simple.”
“It’s not that simple. The fire inspector said someone made a homemade cocktail with bottles of alcohol, a rag, and then lit it. My guess is that’s what Joseph stole the bottle for and that it was him. Your guard didn’t see that though. What Joseph didn’t know is the owner had purchased gasoline for the backup generators in preparation for the expected bad weather. The owner was filling the generators when the fire started. I couldn’t find out his condition. The ambulance took him to the hospital. I can’t imagine it’s good.”
“Oh hell,” he said getting a glimmer of where her story headed.
“Anyway, that’s what the fire marshal has reconstructed going by the remains and the heat of the fire. Between the alcohol and the gasoline, the fire burned hotter than normal. So far, only the one dead body. A few taken to the hospital, and your guards are coming here. I had to track them down and insist.”
“Insist? Why?” Nolan asked her.
“For one thing, they’ll be safer here. For another, you’re here. And lastly, they were both hurt, but the one who’d been nearest Joseph was hurt badly with burns all over his face and hands. I’m worried about their breathing as things swell up. He needs to be here.”
“All good reasons. Thank you for helping me and my people once again.”
“You can’t stop me from helping you now, Ulfric. A rogue like Joseph combined with a leader like Roxy is bad news for all of us,” she replied.
“Do we have any idea where he went?” he asked.
“No, none. But I can guess.”
“So can I,” Nolan replied grimly. “So can I.”
***
The next morning, Alex awoke more alert and like herself than last time she had become conscious. She looked up to see Nolan standing over her, smiling down at her in unfettered joy. She smiled back, her relief at seeing him combining with her new love.
“Nolan, you saved me. You came. And that’s enough gush from me. Let’s pretend I didn’t just do that and remember I have a medical degree. Even if it’s fresh off the printer,” she joked, making fun of her newly discovered girl gush when she was around him.
“You terrified me when you passed out and wouldn’t stop bleeding. Please don’t do that to me again,” he said fervently, even though he had to know how irrational it sounded.
Her laugh rang out, clear and pure, startling all of them. She gingerly sat up. Her head felt bad enough, and she did not want a repeat performance of the last time she woke up. “How long have I been out?”
Nolan looked behind him, so she looked up, for the first time noticing there were others in the room besides them. The doctor answered, “Three days, altogether.”
Three days? As she reached for Nolan with her mind for comfor
t, she was blocked by a wall. She frowned but continued looking for a way in. Finally, as panic started to set in, she found a chink. She swooped in with her thoughts and found his.
“What’s the darkness around your mind? Why is it so quiet in here? I can’t hear the doctor or you. Only the aide. Why? Is something wrong with me you’re all hiding?” She knew she sounded panicky.
“Nothing’s wrong with you now that you’re awake. Doctor Waverly is telepathic but has learned to control it. Sherona’s been teaching me.”
“Can you teach me?”
A soft laugh escaped him. “I’ll teach you everything I know. But it takes years to get the kind of control they have.”
“Oh. When can I leave?”
“Tomorrow. We want to watch you overnight, make sure there are no other complications.”
“Like what?” She frowned, not understanding the reluctance she felt from him.
“We don’t know. Boris and Roxy mixed together the serums, and no one’s sure of the consequences.”
“My mother,” she said flatly. Her mom was the only other person in their pack who could have come up with something of that caliber.
“Yes but not exactly. We can discuss it later,” he replied.
“Seriously? We’ll discuss it later? I’m not a child.” Resentment coursed through her. All her life, weres had treated her like she was less than them. She did not need or want that from him.
“Don’t I know it,” he replied pointedly, grazing his eyes down her chest and back up to her lips. A blush stole across her cheeks. Okay, he had made his point.
“Then why?” She could not fathom why he was not telling her now.
“It’s long, complicated, and I want you rested. As soon as I can bust you out of here, I’m taking you shopping.”
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