by Terry Spear
Jake motioned to Lelandi. “She all right?”
“Yeah, she’ll be fine. Give us a moment and we’ll get dressed.”
Mason dropped a bundle next to Darien’s clothes. “Some gloves, snow shoes, and a heavy-duty parka for the little lady, more her size. The blizzard’s whipping up pretty hard out there.” He gave Jake a stern look. “Which is why it took us so long to get back to the mountain. It had nothing to do with my age.”
Tom laughed and slapped Jake on the shoulder as the men hurried out through the short tunnel. “See, what’d I tell you? Here we are slaving away to protect Darien’s ass, and he’s cozied up with his mate in a love nest of furs.”
“Yep, pack leader thinking.” Jake headed out with Tom.
“I still can’t believe you moved those boulders to clear the passageway,” Sam said, inside the tunnel.
“I didn’t want Lelandi to have to take the hard way out. Blizzard’s going to be difficult enough to get through,” Jake remarked.
“Good thing we have those ropes,” Tom said.
Jake chuckled. “Yeah, so we can all get lost together.”
Wanting to get Lelandi home safely, Darien kissed her ear to wake her. “Honey, time to get dressed.”
“Hmm, maybe everyone should stay here in the cave until the storm blows over,” Lelandi murmured.
“Not enough furs to keep everyone warm.”
“We could all turn wolf.”
“I’d rather be in the privacy of my bed with you. Come on, sleepyhead. Time to get up and get dressed.”
“It’s so warm here, and so…” She shivered. “So cold out there.” She pointed one finger outside the furs.
He kissed her finger. “I’ll help you dress faster.” Darien slipped out from under the covers, threw his clothes on, then slid his cold hands under the furs to Lelandi’s feet.
“Oh heavens, Darien. Your fingers are like ice.”
“By the way, Cody gave me back my favorite leather jacket. He warned me it had a gun in the pocket and figured you took it with you to protect yourself.” He tilted his chin down and gave her an exasperated look.
“He offered me his parka so I’d stay warmer.”
“And for that,” Darien said, helping her into her clothes, “I was grateful. But sheesh, Lelandi…”
“I didn’t remember the gun was in your jacket pocket until Joe pulled his on me.”
“Thank Odin for that. I could imagine you shooting each other and neither of you making it.”
He bundled her up to her neck in the winter parka, although he wished it was a bright color and not white where he could lose her in the blinding snow.
“We could return as wolves,” she said.
“The climb is too steep on this side of the mountain. Better suited to a mountain goat…or humans with climbing gear.”
After what she’d already been through, that didn’t bode well.
Chapter 20
THE GUYS ALL GAVE LELANDI SURREPTITIOUS SMILES WHEN she walked into the tunnel with Darien. Yeah, here they’d been busting their butts, trying to save their pack leader and his mate, and what do they find?
But heck, if any of them had been stuck in a cave with their mate, they would have done the same!
The wind whipped snow in through the opening where there had been none when Joe forced her through the tunnel before. If the snow wasn’t blowing so hard, she would be elated to see the sight of the mountains, but all she could see was a white blanket, disguising everything in its path.
Many of the men had started down the mountain, some waiting at various points along the trail, some down at the bottom wearing their wolf coats. If the climb hadn’t been so steep, she would have welcomed shapeshifting.
Jake handed Darien a rope already attached to Sam and Mason and several others who were partway down the steep incline.
“It’s gotten really icy,” Mason warned.
Darien tied the rope around Lelandi’s waist and kissed her lips hard. “Take it easy. The guys down below will stop your tumble if you slip. I’ll hold you from up above. Just concentrate on getting good toe and finger holds, and you’ll be down at the bottom before you know it.”
“Thanks, Darien.” She glanced at Jake and Tom. “And to all of you who came to my rescue.”
Jake took the rope that Darien had tied to himself. “All in a day’s work. Think nothing of it.”
Tom grinned. “Hey, we were rescuing Darien, too, but he’ll never admit it.”
Darien chuckled, his icy breath mixing with the blowing snow. “I didn’t think you’d arrive in time.”
He crouched down on the ledge and helped ease Lelandi over it. Her stomach iced with fear. Climbing up, no problem. But this side was much steeper, and the hand and foot holds were so far apart, much better suited to the grays’ long reach, that she had to slide down partway to reach the next toe or finger hold. Every time she did, Darien held tight to the cliff face to ensure she didn’t pull him and the others off the mountain. Sam and the others below waited until she caught hold of something.
“How’s it going?” Tom shouted from several feet above Jake.
“Slow,” Jake said.
“She’s getting tired.” Darien’s voice showed concern.
She wished he hadn’t said that because although every muscle ached with fatigue, she didn’t want it advertised to every gray out here. What would they think about her ability to be the female leader?
“Wait up, boss.” Sam began to climb back up. “She can’t reach a foothold.”
She wanted desperately to jump down to the bottom of the cliff, wishing the snow would cushion her fall.
“Try to grasp onto anything, Lelandi. Sam will help you.”
Everyone waited while Sam climbed below Lelandi, the wind-driven snow buffeting her, threatening to pull her from her tentative grip on the jagged rocks. But she couldn’t make a move down or to either side. She wondered if Larissa could have come this way. How could she have managed? But maybe the snow and ice made the difference.
“Put your right foot in my hand, and I’ll guide you to a shelf,” Sam coaxed.
“I’ll pull the rest of you off the mountain.” Lelandi’s voice wavered, although she was trying to keep it together for Darien.
A pack leader’s bitch was strong. Not a panicked weakling. But her arms and legs were growing wearier by the second, and her fingers and toes were already dead from the cold. If she could have had viable foot and hand holds all the way down, she’d be at the base of the mountain by now.
“Lelandi, concentrate on what Sam’s saying. As petite as you are, you weigh nothing. The rest of us are fine.”
She reached out her foot, not believing she could stretch that far, and touched Sam’s hand.
“Good. Now put your weight on my hand and lean to your right. I’ll move you to the ledge. It’ll be slow going. Easy does it. One inch at a time.”
Sam crept across the rock face while helping her. “Okay, here you go.” She grasped a rock and pulled herself to the ledge. “There’s enough room for two, Darien.”
Darien was down in seconds, standing on the ledge with Lelandi, holding her body against the rock face, warming her. Jake and Tom moved farther down. The rest who were tied to the rope waited.
“You can make it.” Darien kissed Lelandi’s cheek, heating her icy skin.
“I…I wish I were a lot taller.”
“I wouldn’t wish you any other way.” He squeezed her hand. “Let’s get you down from here. The longer we’re in this cold, the harder it will be.”
“I’m sorry I’m holding everyone up so much. They’d all be warm in their beds by now if I wasn’t so slow.”
“Lelandi, believe me when I say everyone here wants nothing more than to bring you back safely. You’re one of us. Don’t worry.”
“Okay…I’m ready.” But she wasn’t. She figured that however long she had to climb was going to be as difficult as the many feet she’d already traversed. She was wr
ong.
Darien eased her down over the ledge, and she found her first good foothold she’d managed to find in the last half hour. Sam waited before he moved back down. Probably a good thing because if she got stuck like the last time, he’d have to waste more energy climbing back up to her. Poor bartender. She hoped Silva would give him a really good backrub when he made it back to town.
She reached for another rock, but couldn’t grasp it, and made a slight jump for it, like she’d done so many times before. But the rock was icy and she lost her grip and slid.
“Hold on!” Darien shouted, and everyone braced themselves as Lelandi fell below Sam, the wind twisting her until she was dangling upside down.
She was nearly eye level with Mason, and she offered him a frozen smile. “I just found a faster way to get down.”
He grinned at her and began to climb up, tugging at her until he was able to get her feet below her body and one planted on a sturdy rock jutting out. He looked up at Darien and Sam. “She’s secure. One hell of a trooper, Darien.”
Man, the pack would be laughing about this for eons. Yet no one looked like they thought she was ready for a clown suit. Instead, everyone looked like they worried she’d never make it. But damn it, she would make it. Even if she had to go down headfirst to get there. At least she’d made some more progress!
Sam made his way past her and then men on either side of her roped together with their own lines, reached for her to move her down another few inches, and then another few, while Darien and his group hung on tight to the cliff every time she slipped.
“I’m at the bottom!” Mason shouted. “You’re almost here!”
Thank god. Lelandi was frozen to the bone, and she didn’t think she’d thaw out until summer.
Sam shouted next, “I’ve got you!”
But although he reached for her, two other men brought her down to the base of the mountain, and she sank in the deep snow.
Darien was beside her in the next instant and untied the rope from her waist. “Can you shapeshift, Lelandi?”
Peter shouted from somewhere deep in the white bleakness, “Got a sled, boss! We’ll tow her in.”
“I can shapeshift,” Lelandi objected, not wanting to show how inept she was, yet when she tried to take a step, her legs were shaky and to her mortification, she stumbled.
Darien grabbed her arm and pulled her tight. “Everyone down from the mountain?”
“All down,” Tom confirmed.
“Let’s see that everyone gets in safely.”
Peter and his sled came into sight, pulled by a dozen wolves. Lelandi smelled their lupus garou scent and gave a tired smile. Several of the men deposited their clothes on the sled and shapeshifted, then spread out on the way to Darien’s place.
“Little lady okay?” Mitchell asked from somewhere in the mist of snow.
“Yeah, Doc, cold, but we’ll have her home and warmed up in no time.”
“You shouldn’t have slipped away like you did after leaving the kids off at my ranch,” Mitchell said, his gruff voice scolding. “The kids were upset when they heard the same maniac who took you hostage murdered Doc and Ritka.”
“Are they going to be all right?” She hated how guilty her voice sounded.
“Yeah, they’ll heal in no time.”
“Caitlin…is she…”
“She’s fine. But I need to talk to her parents.”
Apparently, Darien was still in the dark about Caitlin’s pregnancy.
“I take it Joe is no longer a problem,” Mitchell said.
“Pit burial,” Tom piped up from some feet behind, sounding proud as he yanked off his gloves.
“Better than what he deserved,” Jake grumbled.
Peter said, “Several of our men wanted to know if they could pull guard duty. Despite the weather, six reds drove into town.”
All at once, Lelandi felt sick to her stomach. It had to be Bruin and his brother Crassus looking to return Larissa and her home. Darien rubbed her back.
“One of them said he was Larissa’s mate. The other was named Bruin, the guy’s brother and pack leader at Wildhaven. He says Lelandi now belongs to Crassus, and he wants both women returned to the pack at once. So our guys want to know if you need them for guard duty.”
“Yeah, I do.”
Darien shielded Lelandi from the blowing wind while she removed her clothes and shapeshifted. Stretching her arms above her head, she welcomed the painless change. Her face elongated into a nice-sized feminine snout, the red furred mask reaching the length of her nose, and the underside of her chin and chest—an elegant white. She stretched her legs out, her tail straight and proud. Her eyes looked more amber than green when she was in her wolf’s pelt, and she took a deep breath.
Darien smiled at her wolf form. “You’re beautiful, you know.”
She nudged his leg and he hurried to strip and change. Once he had, she stuck close to him, but kept examining the other wolves. Trying to learn who they all were? Eventually she’d know the whole pack, but unless she could smell them, she wouldn’t be able to recognize who they were unless she’d seen them change.
He rubbed her muzzle with his face as they trotted to his house, a couple miles away. Even so, she seemed wary, the way she pulled her ears back, her body snug against his so she’d keep her bearing as they moved, but she kept looking around at the other wolves. He wished he could ask her what was wrong. Attempting a calming signal, he turned his head and licked the back of her head. She whipped her head around, and he nuzzled her face. Her narrowed eyes softened. Several of his pack watched her behavior, knowing something was wrong. He wished she’d told him what the matter was before they’d shapeshifted.
As soon as they arrived at Darien’s house, Sam began making coffee and hot chocolate for the men, while Darien and Lelandi shapeshifted and dressed in the den, then he ushered her toward the stairs to take a hot shower. “What was the matter in the woods?”
“A gray attempted to attack me earlier.”
“Hell, Lelandi. Why didn’t you tell me? I take it you didn’t get his scent.”
“No.”
“Can you describe him?”
“Gray and big. Really big.”
Jake pulled a sweater over his head. “That describes more than half of our men.”
“I know, Jake,” she said, her voice irritated. “If I saw him in wolf form again, I’d probably know him.” She let out her breath. “What about Bruin and his men?”
Trevor sauntered into the living room and gave her a disgruntled look. “They’ve been put up at Hastings Bed and Breakfast. They didn’t like that they couldn’t see you right away, Darien, especially since she’s one of their pack. He’s a pack leader so should be treated accordingly.”
Darien’s jaw tightened. “Any pack leader who allows his males to abuse the females has my condemnation, not respect.”
“The sheriff is keeping them occupied. He’s got another four guys down there, watching to make sure no one gets out of hand. Bruin’s brother, Crassus, a subchief, demands the release of his mate from our custody.”
“Did you tell him she had a proper burial?”
Trevor skirted Darien’s comment. “He said Lelandi is his mate.”
“Guy’s a bold-faced liar,” Tom said.
“Bruin said that it’s a pack law, if a mate’s life was ended and a sibling was available, if the male wished her to replace the dead mate it was up to him, the pack leader, and her father.”
An ancient law. Great.
“Convenient since the pack leader’s his brother,” Darien said, his face tight, his eyes narrowed.
Trevor lifted a shoulder. “And her father is dead. He said he did the mating ritual with her in absentia. It’s an ancient ritual. But it’s valid.”
She’d never heard anyone actually use it in contemporary times, but Darien wouldn’t go along with it, so it was a moot case.
“Not as far as we’re concerned.” Darien gave Lelandi’s hand a squeeze.
“Is this a fight we want to get involved in?” Trevor asked.
“Have to. You say the sibling has to be available?”
Trevor’s lower lip dropped. “You’re not thinking of—”
“One way to claim a mate permanently.”
“She has to be agreeable.” Trevor glanced at Lelandi.
“I’ll have to convince her, then, won’t I?” Darien moved Lelandi toward the stairs. “I’ll start your shower.”
Trevor’s eyes couldn’t have widened any further.
“Guess you didn’t get the word. They’re already mated.” Tom gave Trevor a slap on the back. “So, where were you while the rest of us were rescuing the lady?”
“Hell, I was with the sheriff, trying to sort this red pack business out. It would have been helpful to know that Darien took her as his mate.”
“He’ll have to tell the pack leader the news,” Tom said. “He hasn’t had time to tell the rest of our pack yet. But I’m sure after the cave incident, the word will quickly spread.”
“What happened at the cave?”
Jake laughed. “You should have been with us. Much more interesting I’m sure than what you were up to.”
Darien smiled and kissed Lelandi as he walked her up the stairs. “Guess I’ve been a little remiss in letting the pack know you’re one of us.”
“You don’t have any regrets, do you? I mean, you’re not afraid I can’t deal with the fallout, are you?”
He pulled her into his bedroom and shut the door. “Like what? That you won’t be loved by my people? You will be.”
“Not by everyone.”
“The women who wanted me as a mate?” He laughed and pulled off her sweater and dropped it on a chair. “I’m sorry about Ritka. I never said so before because
I was so upset about Doc. But I really am sorry. She didn’t deserve to die either.”
“I know, Lelandi.” He took a deep breath and slipped her boots off. “This will cause us trouble.”
“Bruin will want to fight you, don’t you think?”
Darien gave her a brilliant smile. “No. Well, maybe. But the outcome won’t be what he’d expect. No. I was thinking about the staffing at the hospital. With Ritka gone, Carol Wood will insist that she’s hired on at the hospital. I’ve got a real problem with that.”
