by L. L. Raand
“Finding individuals willing to accept your scheduling requirements isn’t easy.”
“None of this is easy, but it’s necessary. By the end of the week, I’ll need at least twenty fully qualified scientists. Marshall, my head tech, will contact you and we can begin screening right away.”
“We can’t draw attention to what we’re doing here,” Nicholas said.
“I’m sure you can see to it.” Veronica tried to cloak her impatience. Really, Nicholas was rapidly approaching the end of his usefulness. “I know many of your members are scientists. That is how we met, after all.”
“I’ll need time to relocate some of them.”
“That’s excellent. I’m sure Francesca will be very pleased.”
“And what of your progress? Are we going to see some kind of biological weapon soon?”
Ordinarily she would have found his question annoying, but when she thought of the subjects and the wealth of material she would have to work with, she could only smile. “I think I can safely assure you it won’t be long before we will have the means to neutralize the Were population, if not eradicate them completely.”
“How?”
“Remember your basic biology, Nicholas,” Veronica said wearily. Why must she always go begging to the inferior for the means to do her work? “A species that cannot reproduce will very quickly disappear. Add to that a deadly contagion, or the threat they carry one, and we will have a perfect storm.”
“Fine,” Nicholas said grudgingly. “My friends will be happy to hear that.”
“Give my regards to the senators. I’ll have to go now,” Veronica said, checking the clock yet again. “I have a pressing appointment.”
She disconnected without waiting for Nicholas to reply, pushed papers into her briefcase, and hurriedly locked her office. Luce was waiting in the darkened conference room. “I was afraid you might have left.”
Luce was beside her in an instant, an arm around her waist pulling her close, her mouth pressed to Veronica’s throat. She drew in a long, slow breath as if absorbing her essence. “I told you I would wait, but I don’t want to wait much longer. Are you ready to leave?”
Veronica tilted her head to expose her throat. “Always.”
*
“Torren,” Misha cried out, dropping to her knees by Torren’s side. She ran her hands over the Hound’s heaving flanks and stared at the blood pouring from the wounds in the Hound’s neck where the spear shafts protruded like a monstrous collar. “Get them out! Alpha, can’t we get them out?”
“Daniel,” Sylvan said to the young lieutenant who’d been waiting in the grove, “guard the Gate.”
“Yes, Alpha.” Daniel quickly moved behind her, facing the dark hollow between the giant trees through which Sylvan and the others had just emerged.
“Sylvan,” Drake said urgently, “your back is burned. You need treatment too.”
“It’s not bad. Call for a Rover and a medic. We can treat Torren while we transport.” Sylvan gripped Misha’s shoulder. “I don’t know what will happen if we try to remove these spears. The bleeding might get worse.”
Misha looked up at Drake, her eyes wide and terrified. “Prima?”
“Daniel, let me have your phone.” Drake quickly called Niki but got no answer from her, Jace, or Jonathan. Finally Callan responded and she told him where they were and what they needed. She listened a moment and said, “Have Elena load up a medical pack and put it in the vehicle. Hurry.”
“Elena isn’t coming?” Sylvan asked.
“Blackpaw raiders have attacked the perimeter. We have wounded arriving soon.”
Sylvan snarled. “We need to get back there.”
Drake clasped her neck. Squeezed. When she’d landed Earthside with Sylvan still trapped in Faerie, her heart had ceased to beat. She knew she must live for their young, for the Pack, but she couldn’t imagine drawing a single breath in a world without Sylvan. Now they were together, and she could face anything. “We will. Soon.” She crouched by Torren’s head. “Torren? Torren, can you shift? If we pull out the spears, can you shift and heal the wounds?”
The Hound blinked, its deep red eyes as dull as the embers of a cooling fire. She seemed not to hear, or if she did, she couldn’t answer. Drake had no idea how much blood a creature the Hound’s size could lose, or what kind of wounds Torren could heal, especially outside of Faerie where her powers might be diminished. She’d heard that the Fae drew their power from the magic of Faerie itself. She did know with wounds like this, time was not their friend, and by the time a Rover arrived and they got back to the Compound, Torren could be dead. She glanced at Sylvan. “I think we have to try to remove them and hope she can shift. She’s losing too much blood, and who knows what else is on the weapons. There could be a poison of some kind.” She gripped one of the wooden shafts. The long silver spearhead was nearly completely buried inside Torren’s flesh. Sylvan grabbed another and nodded.
“Pull,” Drake said and yanked the weapon free. She and Sylvan methodically worked their way around Torren’s huge neck until all the spear shafts had been removed. The wounds gaped through the leathery hide, revealing shredded muscle and a steady trickle of blood. The Hound lay still, eyes closed.
Misha wrapped her arms as far as she could around the Hound’s chest and laid her head against Torren’s heart. “You have to shift. You have to heal. Please. Torren, you can do this.”
The Hound shivered, a huge groan emerging from its massive chest, but she did not shift.
“She’s too weak,” Misha cried. “Alpha, please. There must be something!”
Sylvan glanced at Drake, who slowly shook her head. “You’re injured too. You can’t risk—”
“Torren risked everything.” Sylvan gritted her teeth. “She saved your life once, and Misha’s. She just saved mine. I will not let her die.”
She took Drake’s place by Torren’s head and gripped the great Hound’s face in her hands. “Look inside me. Find my power, feel my Pack. Take our strength.”
Torren’s lids slowly closed and Misha sobbed. “Please, I love you. Please. Torren, don’t let go.”
The Hound shuddered and her eyes slowly opened. She searched Sylvan’s face and found her eyes. Sylvan jerked as if she’d been struck. Drake pressed close to her, lending her power and her strength. The muscles stood out in Sylvan’s chest and abdomen, sweat broke out over her neck and ran down her arms, and her wolf roared to life. Her face and body grew heavy with the power of the Alpha. The Hound gasped, the air crackled with power, and in a shower of light, the Hound disappeared and Torren lay naked in its place.
“Torren?” Desperately, Misha dragged Torren’s head into her lap and stroked her face. “Torren? Can you hear me?”
Torren’s eyes opened and she gazed first at Misha, then at Sylvan and Drake. “I take it we made it through.”
Sylvan grinned, feeling as weak as if she had just run all day on a hunt and had yet to feed. “Thanks to you.”
“No,” Torren said wearily. “If you had not found your way to the Gate, I would not have been able to help. I couldn’t leave Cecilia’s side until she trusted that I had nothing to do with your escape. We’d been watching you the entire time, and when she realized you were going to find your way out, she finally ordered me to bring you back.”
“All of us?” Sylvan asked.
Torren slowly shook her head. “No, it was always you she wanted. She ordered me to execute the others.”
Sylvan growled. “She wanted you to kill my mate?”
Torren reached up and grasped Misha’s hand. “And mine.”
“We need to get out of here,” Drake said. “Who knows what might come through that Gate next.”
Torren tried to sit up, but blood still ran from her wounds and she was weakening. “I will stay behind—”
“No.” Sylvan stilled at the sound of an approaching vehicle. “The Rover is here, and we are all leaving. No one stays behind.”
*
&nb
sp; “Gray, lie still,” Tamara whispered hoarsely, dropped down behind cover of the boulders.
“Tamara?” Gray muttered, struggling to focus through the fog that seemed to lie over her like a thick, wet blanket.
“Yeah, it’s me.” A hand brushed dirt and sweat from Gray’s eyes. “How bad?”
“Not…too bad.” Gray swallowed around the pain. Her vision cleared. Clint crowded in next to Tamara, and she frowned. They’d both left their posts. She would have done the same if one of them had been hit, but this was different. She was in charge, and she had to think of what mattered to the Pack. “Acer is worse. Get two of the recruits to take him back to the Compound. You both need to get back to the line.”
“We’ll take you both,” Clint said in his deep, easy baritone. He leaned down, hefted Acer over his shoulder and stood, half-crouched, keeping behind the boulders. He glanced at Tamara. “I guess you can handle her?”
Tamara didn’t bother to answer but lifted Gray easily.
“What’s the situation?” Gray clenched her jaw against the burning in her shoulder. Warmth spread across her chest. Blood.
“The Blackpaws have fallen back. We can’t tell if they’ve left the area yet.”
“Have you heard from Callan?” Gray murmured. She was cold, colder than she’d been all night, despite the sunlight that slanted across her face. She focused on Tamara’s face just above hers. Tamara’s jaw was set, her eyes glowing fiercely. Her wolf was close to the surface, and Gray took comfort in her strength.
“Not yet.”
“We can’t spare anyone else from the line,” Gray said. “I can wait until Callan sends reinforcements.”
“You two can sort this out later,” Clint said conversationally. “We’d best be getting down off this slope while it’s still quiet.”
Tamara slung her rifle over her shoulder. “Let’s move. We’ll follow you. If you see anyone, shout and I’ll cover you.”
“You can’t leave the rest of them out here without a leader,” Gray said as Tamara loped sure-footedly down the slope, “and you’ve got the most experience.”
Tamara rumbled. “I’m no leader. You know that. You know why.”
“All a leader needs is a strong, fearless heart, and you have that.” Gray wanted to sleep. She rested her head against Tamara’s shoulder. “You know I’m right.”
“I know you think you are. That’s what makes you the leader.” Tamara brushed her cheek over the top of Gray’s head. “Mira or Jazz can take our recruits into their squads until Callan gets more sentries here.”
Gray was too tired to argue. Tamara’s arm under her back held her still and secure as they moved from outcropping to outcropping down the sparsely wooded hillside into the denser forest. Her shoulder didn’t hurt so much anymore. In fact, she wasn’t as cold as she had been.
“You should stay awake,” Tamara murmured.
“Trying.”
Tamara’s hand beneath her back was warm, and after a while it was the only thing she could feel. Her hands were numb but it didn’t seem to matter.
“Gray?”
Gray jerked. “Are we home yet?”
“Not quite yet. How do you feel?”
“Pretty good. It’s nice and warm now.”
Tamara laid her cheek on Gray’s forehead. “You don’t feel warm.”
“No problem. I’m good.” She pressed her face to Tamara’s throat. “Just sleepy.”
“Gray,” Tamara said firmly. “I want you to stay awake now.”
Gray tilted her head back. Tamara’s expression was stony, as fierce as if she were in a battle. “You mad?”
Tamara’s eyes met hers. They were an amazing shade of green. “No. I’m not mad.”
Clint stopped under shelter of thick, towering pines. “What are we going to do with these two? My boy’s not looking too good.”
“We’re going to take them home.”
Chapter Twenty-two
Dasha Baran, the tall, muscular dominant who had recently been promoted to centuri, appeared in front of Niki’s cell. She saluted briskly. “Imperator, Callan sent me with a message. He is taking two squadrons of reinforcements to the perimeter and plans to pick up the wounded. He needs a medic and requests Sophia join him immediately.”
Niki paced the confines of her cell, the space growing smaller by the second. With her imprisoned and both the Alpha and Prima missing, the Pack was without its most dominant members. She was the leader of the Pack warriors, and unable to lead. Callan was experienced and steady, but he would be more valuable at the front, directing their warriors, not behind the lines planning strategy. But they could not leave the Compound without a strong presence to assure the hundreds inside they were safe. “What’s the situation?”
“Reports are scattered, but it appears only one raiding party of Blackpaws has attacked so far, though they came in significant numbers.”
“Are we sure it’s Blackpaws?”
Dasha nodded.
“How many injured?”
“We don’t have a count. Communications between the patrols are erratic.”
“What about security here?”
“We’ve doubled the guards on the nursery. The stockade is well enforced. We have plenty of arms, ammunition, and supplies. We can hold off anything except a full-out assault.”
Niki turned to Sophia. “What about our medical supplies?”
“The infirmary can handle several dozen wounded.” She looked worried. “With the Prima…away…Elena and I will have trouble managing more than a few with major injuries.”
“Let’s hope there aren’t many.” Niki stepped back until her legs touched the metal edge of her cot. “You need to go.”
“Elena could—”
“No,” Niki said gently. She grasped Sophia’s shoulders and pulled her close. “We can’t leave the Compound, and especially the young, without a medic. If we have wounded, you must go. You can heal more than just their bodies. And if you are gone, Elena must remain here.”
Sophia framed Niki’s face with both hands. “You know I would never leave you unless the need of the Pack was great.”
“I know. Just as you know that I only leave you when I must.” She started to kiss her, drew back. Sophia glared.
“Such a foolish wolf.” Sophia threaded her arms around Niki’s neck, brushed her cheek over Niki’s, and kissed her firmly. “I told you, you’re fine. Believe me.”
Niki held her tightly. “You are my truth in all things.”
“And you are my love. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Sophia looked into Niki’s heart. “And you will promise me not to make any foolish decisions about what is best for me or the Pack while I am gone. We all need you, me most of all.”
“I love you.” Niki wished as she so rarely did that Sophia could not read her mind as she seemed to. Sophia knew she would have one of the centuri shoot her down if she felt the mutation taking hold in her. Her fellow centuri would not shirk from doing what was necessary to protect the Pack, and they would be swift and merciful.
“Promise me,” Sophia demanded, “or I will not leave this cell.”
Niki couldn’t let the wounded in the field go without treatment, and she would not lie to her mate. “I promise.”
“Then I will go.”
Niki stepped back and watched Sophia leave. The thought of Sophia anywhere near the fighting when she was not there to protect her had her wolf howling in rage. She met Dasha’s eyes through the bars. “See that no harm comes to her.”
“I will guard her with my life.” Dasha had once been Niki’s relentless competitor for Sophia’s attentions, but that was natural between dominants when they both wanted the same unmated Were. Now that Sophia was mated, Dasha would respect the mate bond and protect the imperator’s mate as she would the Alpha’s.
“As soon as you can,” Niki said, “get word to me of how things stand.”
“I will.”
Dasha and Sophia left and silence fell throughout
the detention area. Niki’s cell was dim and cool and achingly lonely. She sat back down on the bare steel ledge to wait.
Outside, Sophia hurried across the crowded yard to the infirmary to gather a portable med kit and found Elena in the treatment room already packing one. “I can do that now.”
“We need more than one,” Elena said, pulling meds from a cabinet.
“Why? I thought Callan wanted me—”
Elena spun around, her dark eyes gleaming with excitement. “Callan was just here. The Prima contacted him. The Alpha and Prima are on their way back, or will be as soon as Callan gets a Rover to them.”
“Oh, thank heavens,” Sophia cried. “But is someone hurt? Why are you—”
“Callan says they have wounded and need a medic.”
“Who?” Sophia’s heart constricted. The Pack was so vulnerable right now—Niki was imprisoned, they were under attack, and now the Alpha and Prima were possibly injured as well.
“I don’t know. You need to go—the centuri will take you.”
“But I thought Callan wanted me to go with him to the perimeter.”
“I’m sending Adam with Callan.”
“Adam! He’s only an adolescent, and we’ve barely had time to instruct him—”
“He has the makings of a medic, and he’s smart and steady. He’ll be able to stabilize the wounded at least, and if Callan gets them right back here, we shouldn’t lose much time in initiating the critical treatment. The Alpha’s cadre takes priority.”
“Of course,” Sophia said, taking the med kit from Elena. “You’ll be all right?”
“I can handle things. Go. And be careful.”
Sophia glanced once toward headquarters and the detention center below, almost hoping to see Niki come charging out to take control. But the great wooden doors remained closed.
Callan waved her toward an idling Rover and she hurried in that direction. All around her, sentries and soldiers just returned from patrols and still wearing forest-green camouflage gathered arms into the backs of Rovers or hoisted packs onto their backs and formed up into squads. Jace and Jonathan were already in the front seat of the Rover. Dasha, an assault rifle over her shoulder, held the rear door for Sophia. As soon as she climbed in, Dasha jumped aboard and slammed the door.
