by Chanel Smith
The man stumbled toward the seats around the dining table and fell into one, panting heavily.
He caught his breath and spoke slowly, “I am Itchiko and I am Samurai.”
For a moment, the man’s head lifted proudly exposing his stick-thin neck, but without the nourishment for pride his body failed him and he slumped forward onto his elbows.
“I am of Pack Bushido. We were five wolves including my mate Chizuko and my—my son, Akiyo,” Itchiko paused and forced his spine straight, his eyes stared straight ahead. Petra caught the shimmer of tears in those dark eyes and was suddenly filled with dread over the coming story.
“Our pack, we bother nobody. We fabricate and sell swords the old way. Never had trouble, never... until Antoine shifted in the wrong place. He is young, Antoine, only lived since last century and just eighteen then. No sense,” Itchiko shook his head once, sharply.
“Toine admitted he’d shifted in a bad place, just in front of a bar, but said he was sure no one saw him and he was so frightened he came right back home.”
Raya winced; Itchiko caught his eye and nodded. “I insisted that the pack leave immediately, but the one female did not want to go. We have been here nearly forty years and for Vanessa this is home,” Itchiko said with a hint of bitterness in his tone.
Petra felt a bolt of electricity shoot up her spine, triggered by a feeling of impending doom. She didn’t like where this story was going and neither did Raya, by his narrowed eyes and lowered brows.
“You can likely guess what happened then,” Itchiko said, voice heavy. “Our place was surrounded by guys in white uniforms of some kind. They threw something in the window. Smoke spewed in all directions and we tried to exit, we couldn’t even see five palms in front of our faces. In the fray, Akiyo vanished. My mate Chizuko thought I had him: I thought he was with her. Now he’s gone because of my negligence,” Itchiko said, voice tight with tears.
“Rather because some young asshole disobeyed rules and shifted in public, in front of a damn bar no less,” Petra said, her voice dripping acid. “Kid should be punished, Seriously punished.”
Itchiko seemed to become smaller as his shoulders slumped, his head fell forward onto his chest and even his legs buckled. “We are Samurai, Pack Bushido. Antoine had been in training for ninety years, and he—he punished himself,” he said. “Toin, he committed seppuku before I could stop him. In one day we went from a strong pack of five, down to three, and my son is gone.”
Pack Lupeinescu froze, nobody daring to look at anybody else. Petra was thinking that with Charissa and Erigny, she and Raya made four members. Itchiko and the lovely Chizuko would only be two more—if they didn’t find his son.
Itchiko needed a pack and Pack Lupeinescu needed a Samurai warrior. No better protection to be had, Petra knew. Now to talk Raya into it.
“Right. We need to get the hell out of here also,” Raya said decisively. “If someone followed your pack already, who’s to say they didn’t do it again and follow you here?”
If Itchiko’s head could hang any lower, it would have. “I am aware, but I took all precautions and I had to protect my mate, my Chizuko. You must understand,” he said to Raya.
“I understand you brought danger to every single member of my pack, in an attempt to gain safety for one of yours.” Raya’s voice remained even, not a hint of rage. Yet he was pacing in short, quick steps: a sure sign of rising rage.
Petra recognized it and raised a fast brow at Charissa and Erigny, who eyed each other and then the table as if they’d never seen one before. Pack Lupeinescu knew what was coming even if the Japanese wolf didn’t.
Raya came to a halt in front of Itchiko’s table. Chizuko had probably picked up on the amount of sheer stress pouring off the Trans Alpha as he leaned over and deliberately put his face not seven inches from the Japanese were, who simply returned the Alpha’s stare without any other movement.
“In your desperation you brought danger to my table. To my mate: to my pack, Lupeinescu pack. In the old days, you’d not survive such a transgression.” Raya maintained his aggressive stance for two more beats, staring the Japanese were directly in the eyes, then stood and relaxed. “These aren’t the old days. Instead, these are days when Pack Lupeinescu requires a Samurai. You and your mate require a pack.” He smiled at the Japanese were, and it was his normal, calm smile. “Would you both care to join us?”
Chapter Two
Move This!
Itchiko started to return Raya’s smile, but it froze on his face. In the space of a heartbeat, the Were went from a relaxed Japanese human to a fully alert warrior. “We go. Now.”
Raya didn’t move, only cocked one brow.
The Japanese warrior expelled a short blast of air. “You wanted a Samurai: you now have one. Do as I say or pay the consequences, which can be quite dear.” He whipped around, addressing his mate over his shoulder as he went, “Chizuko. With me.”
The tiny Japanese woman instantly rose and followed her mate from the room. Pack Lupeinescu waited a half beat.
“You heard the man,” Raya said abruptly. “Let’s get out of here.” Suddenly the kitchen was in violent motion as pack members rose, looked for their possessions and made for the back door where Chizuko’s small back was vanishing directly into the corn field. “Pack Lupeinescu, follow Chizuko and do as Itchiko instructs. From this day he is Beta.” So saying, he turned and took the nearby stairs, two by two.
Petra stared at her pack as they half ran out the door, and then at the empty steps. Finally she sighed and raced up the stairs exactly as her mate had, to find him standing on a chair fiddling around deeply in the closet.
“What you looking for?” Petra wondered.
“Weapon,” he responded briefly.
She jumped. “Could you be a little less explicit?”
“Something I’ve kept around just in case,” Raya said as he dug through layers of winter clothing in the top of the closet. “Ah ha! Here we go.” He carefully hefted a long white box from the top of the closet to the bed, then stood for a moment staring down at it. He shook his head, opened it, and said “Voila.”
Petra stared down at—what was that? One end had a bag full of some black powdery substance. There were three objects next to the bag: to Petra’s eyes, they looked like metal tubes. Finally there was a coiled rope, of a material unfamiliar to Petra. Puzzled, she shrugged. “What do we do with this?”
“You do nothing. Me, I set up a little surprise around the house in case we do have visitors tonight. Not much liking the sound of these people.”
“Me either,” Petra said, heart-felt. “What can I do to help?”
“Thought you’d never ask,” Raya said with a grin. Soon he had her running back and forth from the kitchen while he mixed various substances together in each of the tubes. It wasn’t a fast operation. Petra figured it took almost two hours before the objects were deemed ready, although ready for what she had no idea.
“That’s it. Now I want you to go meet the rest of the pack behind that market on the Seine where we left the boat. I’ll be there within thirty minutes, and then we’re out of here.” He reached over and gave her a hard kiss, then turned and suddenly stopped. “You might hear quite a loud bang. Ignore it.” With that, he was gone.
Petra trotted down the stairs and out the door without ever looking back.
Chapter Three
Things That Go Boom
Raya walked around the back of the farmhouse, his mind calculating where best to put the small weapons he’d created. When he realized how far the sun had sunken, he knew he was out of time. He walked quickly but carefully to the front door of the old farm house and laid one of the objects under the mat in front of the door.
Now that he had each location fixed in his mind, it was just a matter of setting them up and making sure they weren’t visible. The second one went at the base of the stairs, under a lumpy old rug hand-crocheted by a drunk as Petra had said. He grinned and gave it a pat before trottin
g to the top of the stairs for the best spot of all.
Earlier, he’d taken some of Petra’s clothes including underwear out of her bag. She’d been curious, and when he’d explained her mouth had dropped. She hadn’t believed such a ruse would ever work, but Raya knew it would. The nature of the wolf would ensure that it did. Out the window, the sun was squatting on the horizon: he was out of time.
He left Petra’s old silk skirt hanging over the top step with a little surprise tucked under it. Then he dropped her shirt, an old bra and finally knickers in a line leading straight to the master bedroom. No time to admire his artistry now, so he ran lightly down the stairs and out the back door into the woods.
Once he’d made a large circle, he wound up a hundred feet from the old house’s entryway. In front of him was the end of the odd-looking rope, which led directly to the first surprise at the base of the stairs. Once again his tree-climbing skills were paying off although this time he had a brand new pair of opera glasses in his pocket. This was a sight he didn’t intend to miss, so he could describe it to Itchiko. Cold comfort considering the loss of his son, but the Japanese would be sure to feel a modicum of relief anyway.
The sound of hooves clopping along the lane alerted Raya that he was about to have company. He shinnied down the tree, lit a small fire and dropped the end of the rope in it. It caught, and began fizzling in a direct line toward the house. Satisfied, he climbed up and settled comfortably into a fork in the branches, pulled out the opera glasses and was ready. To his delight, the fizzling rope was barely visible as the sun hadn’t yet set. By the time it was dark, the part of the rope that was alight would no longer be outside the house. All he could now was pray to a higher power that the visitors would be by then inside the house.
Two carriages pulled up in front of the farm house. The horses were blowing hard: they must have been pressed to move fast all the way from Paris, Raya thought as four men wearing white uniforms descended from each carriage, each man carrying a gas lantern against the oncoming darkness and something long in their other hands.
They looked around, then rapidly disappeared inside the farmhouse. Raya eyed the rope, which stopped fizzling within seconds. Instantly he began to count, his eyes roaming over the front windows where figures moved back and forth.
Then he heard a small noise, an inconsequential noise, but one that drove a sudden fear deep into his heart.
It was the sound of a child singing an old French country song, and then the slight crack of the carriage door opening.
No! God no, Raya yelled silently. Go back, kid. There are monsters in there.
But it wasn’t a kid, and it couldn’t hear him.
It was a very small wolf that leaped down the carriage steps to Raya’s utter horror. This couldn’t be happening, it couldn’t be.
But the wolf ran to the front door, opened it with his nose, and trotted inside.
Raya belatedly realized he’d forgotten to count, and then it was too late. One massive explosion blew the door straight out into the yard, followed by a second and then the final explosions almost simultaneously. Fire poured out of the door and blew out most of the windows, burning a bright orange.
Even with his advanced hearing, Raya heard no other sounds from the farmhouse. Nothing. To make sure, he waited ten minutes and then tried to enter but a wall of flame pushed him back.
Desolate and sick to his stomach, Raya turned and walked down the road to meet the rest of his pack and, of course, Itchiko.
Chapter Four
My Life for Yours
The dilapidated old ship was tied up right where he’d left it, Raya saw. He stepped off the road and walked through the bushes to the river’s edge, where the old ship gently rocked back and forth.
One small leap and he was on the deck. Odd, but there were no voices talking. No laughter. The boat was completely silent, Raya realized. And that couldn’t be a good thing.
He headed down the ladder to the dining room/galley combination and there they all were, his mate and the other two pack bitches, and ... yes. Itchiko’s wife and Itchiko himself, back rigid in a chair, staring fixedly at a photograph.
Raya didn’t have to see it to realize who was in the picture. He also was suddenly aware that Itchiko knew his son was gone.
Despair washed over the Alpha, and he did a thing he’d never done nor imagined himself doing. He shifted on the spot, ripping apart his clothing but paying no attention to anything but Itchiko’s ravaged face.
Raya dropped onto his belly, let his head sink between his forelegs, and began to crawl slowly forward. Finally his nose touched Itchiko’s rigid leg, and for a moment Raya just froze, incapable of thought or action.
Then he heard a discreet small cough: Petra, God bless her. The noise freed him and he shifted back to human where he remained on his knees at Itchiko’s side.
He looked up and into the other man’s eyes before he spoke. “My life for yours.”
There were small gasps from all around the table, but neither man paid any attention to anything but each other.
“You don’t have to do this,” Itchiko said quietly, dark eyes steady on those of Raya.
“My life for yours,” Raya repeated clearly, his gaze never wavering.
Itchiko sucked in a short breath. “My heart for yours,” he said before taking a sharp knife off the galley table and making a small gash in one arm. He offered the knife by the handle to Raya, who opened a wound in his own arm.
“Thee are bound by the blood of Pack Lupeinescu and the Trans Alpha, now and until the end of time,” Petra’s voice came from behind Raya. She bound the two bleeding arms together with a large white dinner napkin which immediately stained a deep red.
“And so it is done,” both men chorused together. “Brother of my heart.”
Raya slowly stood, embraced the thin Japanese who hung on to him with desperation for several moments.
“They’ll pay,” Raya assured his new brother.
Itchiko nodded, still unable to speak, still with his arms wrapped tightly around his Alpha.
Raya gently unwrapped his arms and sat him down at the table once more, then sat right next to him. “Itchiko. Who are those bastards and why the white outfits?”
“Worst of the worst,” the Japanese said slowly. “They have broken every Were law in existence and several which aren’t. They hire out as thieves, mercenaries, assassins. Whoever has the money to pay gets their services, no matter who the client is. They don’t exactly discriminate.”
“Why- why take your son?” Raya asked in a near whisper.
“A baby to raise as their own, obedient to their every wish,” Itchiko responded, voice drenched in agony. “I have to say this but then I wish to never speak of it again. What happened tonight was a right thing, a good thing. My son would never have wanted—” he was unable to finish and dropped his black head into his hands.
“Of course he’d not have wanted anything like that!” Petra exclaimed. “He was just a pup, simple and pure.”
“And now he’ll never grow into his heritage as a full-grown wolf,” Chizuko added. She was unable to stop her tears and was making no effort to do so. Petra stood and fetched one of her own old shirts.
“Here, blow.”
Chizuko obeyed blindly and Petra sat back down next to her, then took the woman into her arms and rocked her back and forth as the anguished screams began.
Chapter Five
Who Are They?
After most of the pack was asleep, Raya eased out of bed and away from Petra, who had one leg tossed over his as always. He’d had to slide out from under her like a damn thief, he thought with a brief grin.
As he hit the deck he shifted, and with one massive leap was on shore flying toward town. No more than five minutes into the trip he noticed pounding steps behind his, mirroring his. For an instant he paused and almost lost his rhythm, but then a soothing touch ran across his mind like a gentle hand.
Itchiko.
Ra
ya picked up speed until he hit his rhythm once more, but his mind was elsewhere. He’d intended on doing a bit of serious snooping in Paris, but those plans must change now. He had a brother who needed him, who needed him badly.
It was a brand-new sensation for Raya, who’d been an only child all those years. To have a real brother now was a pleasure beyond compare. With that pleasure came a duty. But what could he possibly do to—
And then he knew. What else did werewolves live for? The answer was quite simple, really, Raya thought as he skidded to a near halt and executed a perfect u turn, heading back the way they’d come at full speed.
Itchiko asked nothing, content just to be in Raya’s company and follow along.
No, that wasn’t right. This was a night of firsts, Raya thought as for once he deliberately slowed his pace so that Itchiko could catch up, could run next to him, shoulder to shoulder.
As if they’d somehow infused each other with energy, both wolves accelerated until they were almost at a dead run: neither was even breathing hard as the miles flew by under pounding paws.
Finally lights appeared in the distance as the wolves approached the massive Chateau de Versailles. But it wasn’t the castle that interested Raya, oh no. He had something far more interesting planned for his brother, something guaranteed to wipe his mind clean of any distress whatsoever for a few precious hours.
That what he had in mind was against the law and would put both wolves in danger didn’t slow Raya down for a second. On the contrary, it was the exact spice needed for a perfect night out with the Weres.
The two wolves, moving as one, shot past the brightly-lit castle and turned beyond it into the famous gardens which stretched for 800 hectares (3.08 square miles.) About a mile in, both wolves began sniffing madly. Oh the scents that wafted toward them on warm evening breezes!
Raya picked up several lions, he was sure. But there was something else, something absolutely foreign. How intriguing! But he had to force himself to remember that this wasn’t his treat, this outing. This was for his brother, in honor of the fact that he now was his brother.
