by C. T. Adams
A leaden feeling in the pit of her stomach began to grow. She hadn’t received a Wolven punishment since… well, since she began training to become a Wolven agent. She still had to cover the scars when she wore shorts. “Are you saying I’m still going to be punished? Will I—” She coughed and took a sip of tea before continuing, her fingertips tapping on the rim. “Will it be bad?”
He shrugged. “My visions haven’t included any image of you where you didn’t look whole. They have been of larger events. But that doesn’t mean you weren’t in pain.” He picked up the silver spoon again and stirred for no apparent reason. “Pain is something we all must face—young and old, Sazi and human. There is pain that can kill, and some we only wish would kill us.”
She frowned and leaned back in her chair with her arms crossed over her chest. Another flash of lightning was followed by the dull thumping of rain on the grass roof. “You’re being unusually obtuse tonight, Ten Bears. Why don’t you just say whatever you’re going to? What are the larger events that involve me and my pack?”
He fixed her with a stare that seemed to bore through her, and his scent was the hot metal of determination, which blended with the dusty rain from outside. “I will be going away for a time, Cara. I’ve been invited to be the head dancer at the All Nations Powwow. It is a great honor… one I’m not certain I’m worthy of.” His nervousness was evident in his scent, which was unusual.
A laugh boiled up out of her, easing the creeping dread that had been threatening to overwhelm her. “So all these predictions of doom are just because you’re going away for a few days and won’t be around to tell me the future? I’m a big girl, Sam. I can run my pack until you get back. When do you leave? Do you need a ride to the airport?”
He shook his head, but his mood didn’t lighten. “As my fathers did before me, I will walk to the great gathering. It has been many years since I’ve undertaken such a journey, but my totem has made it clear that such a vision quest is necessary. I will gather more herbs for your remedy while I’m there, as well, so it will be many weeks before I return.”
“You’re walking! Where is this powwow?”
“It will be held in Albuquerque this year and it will take several weeks to make the journey each way. Will bought a map for me with the route marked. But because I will be gone for so long, I felt I should tell you—” He paused, his emotions chasing and crawling over each other for prominence in her nose. A wistful sort of sorrow finally won, which made her rear back a little in surprise. “I have come to care for you during the many meals you have shared with me, Cara. You remind me much of my daughter when she was young. I often found it difficult to bear the knowledge of her… pain in a murky, possible future—especially if I knew it would happen in any possible future. I made many journeys when I was younger.”
The lead was back in her stomach and had been joined by flutters that made bile rise in her throat. “So, you’re telling me you accepted the invitation to the powwow because something bad is going to happen here… to me? Something you don’t want to watch?”
He nodded and a buzzing filled her ears. “Something I cannot stop. Still, great pain can blossom into great joy, if you allow it.” A warm smile eased the years from his face, and he reached across the table to pat her suddenly clammy hand. “You, and your pack, will be tested in the coming days, Cara. I believe you’re strong enough to bear this challenge, or I wouldn’t leave. But true strength is sometimes marked by knowing when to let go—and that will be your greatest challenge. You live for your pack, and they for you, as it should be. But very soon, your vision will have to expand to encompass the whole of your kind, rather than just your own pack.”
Cara shook her head, trying to wrap her head around the strange, cryptic words. “I don’t understand, Ten Bears. Expand how? If not my pack, then… who?”
“That, I cannot say. But from now until I return, you must always consider the consequences to the whole of your people. You must not fail when the danger makes itself known. You must not fail, and you must not fall.”
She rested her elbows on the table and leaned forward with a strangled sound that was close to a scream of frustration and rising panic. “Please, Ten Bears. If I mean anything at all to you, please just tell me. What’s going to happen?”
He sighed. It was a rasping, tired sound that made her wonder if he would ever return from his journey. She’d never seen him look so worried, and defeated. Lightning flashed outside the window and the skies opened to flood water down on the roof so loudly it hurt her ears.
Nothing could have prepared her for what came out of his mouth next. Thunder and lightning arrived as one in a cacophony of sound and motion, but it was his words that made her heart nearly stop in her chest. “In the coming weeks, Cara, several of your pack, your family, will die in terrible, bloody agony—and you must be the one to knowingly send them to their deaths.”
Chapter 3
THE AIR RUSHING past the truck window was too laden with wetness to dry Adam’s sticky skin. But the scents of clean air, wildflowers, and trees were so intense it was worth enduring the summerlike heat—well, at least to him.
“Can we please roll up the windows and turn on the AC? This humidity is ruining my hair.” He glanced over at his passenger. As usual, Vivian looked model perfect, without a honeyed blonde hair out of place, much less ruined. But that was probably because of the copious amounts of mousse and hair spray she slathered on.
“I’m getting accustomed to the sights and scents down here, Viv. That’s sort of the purpose of this early recon, don’tcha know. I need to be able to describe it to the pack when we get back to Minneapolis. I’m not even sure why you wanted to come with. I can’t imagine you’ll be one of those volunteering to move to Texas.”
She lowered her sun visor and removed an imaginary spot of lipstick from the corner of her mouth before turning her head and replying in a sultry manner. “It seemed a good way to spend a little… alone time with our newest pack leader.”
The absurdity of the statement struck him and, despite his intended goal not to offend her on the trip, he barked out a surprised laugh. “My god, is that what all this has been about? The dozen phone calls over the last week, telling me how much you needed to get away! The barely there shirts you’re about to fall out of? You’re bucking to be the alpha female of a new pack!” He shook his head with mixed amazement and annoyance. “I’ve spent three days on the road with you, trying to figure out your angle. But this… this one didn’t occur to me.” Adam tapped one finger on the steering wheel and shook his head in tiny little movements. He had no doubt she could smell his annoyance and couldn’t help himself—he had to raise his sunglasses onto his head to see her reaction.
Although a consummate actress, he’d taken her by surprise with the blunt assessment, and she reacted with more honesty than she’d planned to in scent and body language. She wasn’t nearly as offended as embarrassed to have been found out. “Well, you certainly don’t have to make it sound so… conniving. What’s so horrible about wanting to spend time with you? We used to spend a lot of time together.”
His chuckle was bitter, and he hoped it cut her as deep as she’d cut him two years before. “Oh yah. We did. Right until the day you realized I wasn’t going to challenge Josef for his position, no matter how hard you pushed me. It grated on you every single day that I was happy to remain his second in the pack, didn’t it? So what—you think now that I’ve been told to lead a dozen families down here by the council, I’m going to be the new alpha?”
Her voice was smug, and her peppery, sickly sweet scent said conniving wasn’t too far a stretch from the truth. “You are the new alpha down here. That’s what Josef announced to the pack.”
“Well, Josef can say whatever he wants. But the reality is that there’s already an alpha in place down here. We’re joining an existing pack of red wolves, and I can’t see any reason to upset the applecart. And after what happened last fall—….Well, let’s say I�
��m in no hurry to run the show anywhere.”
For a moment, her voice took on a trace of the old warmth and she reached out to touch his hand. But the power that tingled his skin no longer stirred him. It was just ordinary Sazi magic—without the intoxicating sensuality it once held. He was almost sad about that.
“It wasn’t your fault, Adam. Tyr wasn’t right in the mind. You couldn’t have predicted he’d take such a small thing so far.”
He yanked away from her touch hard enough that he had to overcorrect to put the truck back in the lane. Right now, he didn’t want anyone to touch him, because there was no point in trying to make his life, and his choices, all better. It was hard enough for him to imagine running a pack again, after screwing up so bad. “Not so small a thing. There’s no point denying it, Viv. I’m the only reason my pack leader’s son is dead, a dozen families are being sent out of Minnesota in exile, and the humans might discover the secret of the Sazi.”
THE PUNGENT SCENT of gasoline overpowered even the fragrant bush near the pumps as Adam filled the second tank of the truck. He tried not to watch the dials spinning as another hundred dollars drained from his wallet. He’d hoped the prices would be better closer to the gulf coast, but no such luck.
Viv was still sulking with her arms crossed and her foot tapping hard enough to put a permanent dent in the floor mat. The lavender flowers highlighted by the late morning sun were a pleasant respite from her icy glare. He wasn’t sure why he expected anything different from her, and wondered what had compelled him to ignore his first instinct to travel alone. But hey—if he wanted to punish himself, he couldn’t think of a better way to do it. Her transition from whining to sullen and back again since their little conversation a few hours back was punishment enough for five men.
When the handle finally clicked, he turned off the switch and slid the nozzle back into place. Once the cap was on again, he paused to deeply inhale the sweet scent from the bush. He was just turning when a voice sounded next to his ear and he suddenly, without warning, couldn’t move a muscle.
“Smell sort of like grape Kool-Aid, don’t they? Mountain laurels are native to these parts, you know.”
He reacted instinctively, pushing back against the power that engulfed him, struggling to free himself. But the pressure on his body was incredible—as though an invisible hand was squeezing, compressing his flesh against his bones. There was no doubting there was a Sazi behind him, one powerful enough to withstand his best attempts to move. Even Josef had to struggle a little to hold him still, but this… his effort had all the effect of throwing a bucket of water against the Hoover Dam. Laughable and futile. So he stopped trying and remained still.
“What an unexpected surprise to see you here in Santa Helena, Mr. Mueller. Especially since you had strict instructions not to show up until the council gave you the go-ahead.” The words were quiet, no more than a whisper, but there was slow death in the tone. He still couldn’t see the man’s face, since he couldn’t even move his eyeballs, and there was no scent to guide him. Nothing at all, which meant his assailant was with Wolven, at a minimum.
He found himself turning, although he wasn’t the one in control. But the movements were so natural and delicate that no human, even if standing right next to his truck, would be able to tell that he wasn’t moving of his own volition. Viv had all the liveliness of a store mannequin, which shouldn’t be possible if the same person was holding them both. But she was absolutely still in the cab, except for the slow movement of her chest. The slight smile on her face was belied by the panic deep in her eyes. It was obvious she was trying to fight the hold, and was failing just as he had. But unlike him, she would wear herself out fighting, rather than conserving her strength in case she needed it later.
While the voice hadn’t brought any recognition, the man’s face certainly did. Adam’s eyes would have widened if they could have. It wasn’t often an average Sazi came in contact with the council representative for all of the werewolves in the world. No surprise he could hold them both. Hell, Lucas Santiago could probably simultaneously hold the entire Minnesota pack and make them play hockey against one another. For decades he’d been the alpha male of one of the largest wolf packs in the world, in Boulder, Colorado. Gossip claimed he was second in power to nobody but the Chief Justice.
Adam felt his body lean back against the truck and his arms cross over his chest in just the way he would do himself if chatting with a friend. With a nearly audible pop, he felt the magic loosen around his head and throat. Just his head, while the rest of his body was trapped as securely as if embedded in concrete.
“Now then, Mr. Mueller. Would you care to explain yourself?” That same light, quiet tone was combined with mild curiosity on Santiago’s permanently tanned face. He didn’t appear angry, but then—who really knew what he thought?
Adam had to cough more than once to get any moisture back to his mouth so he could speak. He lowered his voice to a hoarse whisper, knowing the other man could easily hear him, but keeping to neutral words in case any humans overheard. “My greetings to you and your family in Boulder, sir. I mean no disrespect, but I’m confused. I was instructed to come down here and recon the area for my family.”
The man’s brows raised and he pursed his lips in interest. “Really? Well, that certainly is worth discussing in more suitable surroundings.” Meaning more private surroundings. “I’m staying at the La Vista Motel at the other edge of town, Room 118. I’ll expect you and Ms. Carmichael to be checked in in half an hour. Room 117 is available.”
“But we’re already staying at the Super 8—”
Santiago turned and walked away without removing the magic on either of them, nor responding to his statement. Instead, he turned his power up a notch until Adam’s skin began to sting and burn like he was rolling on hot sand. He got the point. It wasn’t until the elder man’s rental car disappeared from the parking lot and another two minutes had passed that Adam could move again.
After he finished paying for the gas and returned to the truck, Vivian was still rubbing her arms to ease the pain. He fought the urge to do the same thing.
“Who was that?” she asked, once he was seated behind the wheel once more and had started the truck. “What did he want?”
“Lucas Santiago, the council rep for the wolves. He’s never visited our pack and damned if I know what he’s doing in Texas. I only recognized him because Josef has a picture of the two of them in his office.”
Vivian’s voice was approaching panic. She never did deal well with confrontation when the threat was real. “We need to get out of town. Right now. Go somewhere he can’t find us.”
He found himself chuckling at yet another absurd thought. “Jesus, Viv! He knew our names, for crying out loud! You saw his car leave while we were still statues. He wanted us to know that he could find us, kill us without even trying, pretty much anywhere if we tried to skip. I don’t know what the hell we did wrong, but I’m sort of fond of breathing, don’tcha know, so I’m headed to the motel like he instructed. How about you? You want me to drop you at the bus station? Think you’ll make it a dozen miles before he crushes your windpipe from the comfort of his room?”
Her voice lowered to a whisper and she started to rock slightly under her seat belt. “I don’t want to go. I don’t want to talk to him, Adam.”
Part of him felt sorry for her, but mostly he was annoyed at her cowardice. And she wanted to be a pack leader. What a laugh. “Oh, for God’s sake! Get over it. You’re an alpha werewolf. You’ll heal from anything short of death. The man can’t be a psychopath and be on the council. They don’t put up with that shit. Hey, if we screwed up, we’ll get bloodied a little. That’s part of life. Hell, there’s no saying we’re not all going to have to fight for our position in this new pack, so get used to the idea. Now borrow me a pen so I can write down the room number before I forget.”
Vivian didn’t respond, which was fine with him. She did hand him the pen so he could write down t
he motel name on the back of an old envelope, then followed him quietly to gather their things at the hotel. The new place was a few blocks over and they checked in, as instructed, next door to Santiago’s room. She twitched a little when Adam knocked at thirty minutes on the nose, and her scent was thick with ammonia. But she didn’t bolt.
Santiago answered without raising his voice, “Come in.”
They walked through the door and Adam took in the surroundings at a glance. The decor pretty much mirrored his room, with turquoise paint starting to peel on the plastered walls, and obvious wear fraying the edges of the floral print curtains and bedspread. Viv’s room was little better. She’d been assigned an adobe pink room that she’d quietly proclaimed hideous. It seemed surprising to find a council member staying in little better than a dump, considering there were better accommodations in town. Adam realized the older Latino was on the phone, and from the muffled voice on the other end of the line, he was talking with Josef.
Relief flowed through him and the air suddenly felt a little cooler. Good. That should settle the issue.
“I appreciate your time, Alpha Isaacson. I’ll let you know what I decide.” Santiago pressed the button to end the cell phone call and closed the cover with a nod of acknowledgment to them. “Please have a seat. I’d like to ask you both a few questions. I’d appreciate it if you’d wait until I’m done with one of you before the other jumps in. But first, you probably should know that I won’t be questioning you as your council representative. There’s a new person representing the wolves on the council.”
Adam glanced at Viv, but she didn’t grasp the significance of the statement. Maybe it was the cop inside him, but the question just popped out of his mouth. “Then can I ask in what capacity you’ll be questioning us?”
The older man’s mouth twitched a bit and he leaned back in his chair—obviously one borrowed from another room or the lobby, since it didn’t match the two they sat in. He crossed one ankle over the other knee and clasped his hands over his stomach. “You can. I’ve taken over as head of Wolven for the time being.” He motioned with his eyes to a file folder on the bed. Adam hadn’t looked at it until that moment, but the words, “Mueller, Adam David” on the label surprised him. “I understand you were an agent before you joined the Minneapolis police. A good one, according to your records.”
