by C. T. Adams
That took not good to a whole new level. “So, our being here was a Wolven matter?”
“Is a Wolven matter,” Santiago corrected blandly, which shook Adam to the core and fluttered his chest a bit. Despite what he said to Viv, there were worse things than death in the Sazi world, and getting worked over by the head of Wolven was definitely on the list. “Let’s start with a simple question, Mr. Mueller. Why are you here? Start from when you heard the announcement from the council. What did that announcement say?”
The tone and wording was familiar. He’d been on the asking side too many times, with too many suspects. And there was no way Santiago was going to give up a bit of information about his conversation with Josef. He might as well just relax and answer the questions. He had nothing to hide.
He took a deep breath, licked his tongue across his teeth, and leaned back into the chair. “Two weeks ago, our pack leader, Josef Isaacson, called a surprise meeting of the pack—”
“Well, it really wasn’t a surprise to all of us.” Viv interrupted with her usual running commentary. “I’d heard rumors o—” A cool wind of raw power raised the hairs on Adam’s arm and he glanced at Vivian to discover she had been cut off mid-word and was now frozen in place. He fought not to chuckle at the elegant simplicity of the Wolven chief’s solution to interruptions.
“You were saying, Mr. Mueller?” Adam pulled his eyes away from his pack mate and met the eyes of the other man, who was now holding a notepad and pen, waiting patiently for a reply.
“The surprise,” he began, with a significant look at Viv’s frozen form, “was that Josef asked for a full meeting, including human family members. He doesn’t do that often. I arrived early, to help set up the chairs, and Josef called me into his office to discuss the situation, in case reactions got out of hand.”
Adam waited while Santiago finished scribbling and asked a question. “So you both expected there might be problems when people learned the council had voted to split the pack?”
He snorted and shook his head angrily, remembering his initial outrage at the sheer audacity! Leaning forward aggressively, he spit out a reply with clenched fists. “Hell yah! Wouldn’t you be concerned about problems when people discovered they were being uprooted from their homes… exiled against their will?” The moment the words left his mouth, he was sorry and embarrassed. He really didn’t expect Santiago to answer, and didn’t need to antagonize the man. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and leaned back into the lumpy cushion. It took long seconds before he could relax his fingers and respond calmly. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to imply… I mean… yes. We expected there could be negative reactions.”
If the older man was annoyed, he hid it well. His tone remained calm and measured. “And what did you… or should I say, what did the pack leadership do, to address the concerns of your people?”
He shrugged. “What could we do? The council’s word is law. Josef explained he’d done his best to change the council’s mind. He told us all how he’d had long meetings with the wolves’ representative on… the—” His brows furrowed as the realization hit him, just as the other man’s raised significantly. “Actually, what he told me was he talked to… you.”
More scribbling on the pad gave Adam a moment to watch him. He couldn’t smell anything over the secret Wol-ven cologne that masked the scent of emotions, but just watching his body language revealed a growing anger. But he didn’t know who it was directed at. “He mentioned me byname?”
“He did. Can I ask who our representative is, and how long you’ve been running Wolven?”
Santiago ignored the question. “Was anyone else in the room while you were discussing this?”
He shook his head. “No, sir. Josef doesn’t have an alpha female, at least not a permanent one.”
“Did Alpha Isaacson discuss his efforts to change the council’s mind with the pack?”
Adam thought back, trying to remember. “I don’t think so. Not unless it was after I left.”
The pen paused over the pad, and Santiago locked eyes with him. “You left the pack meeting before it was over?”
“Yes sir. I had to go on shift. I didn’t think my watch commander would find the reason acceptable if I was late.”
Santiago nodded and actually gave him a small, lopsided smile that went all the way to his eyes. “No doubt. So, who brought up the idea of you coming down here to… what did you call it—recon the area? Was it at the public meeting, or in your private discussion beforehand?”
He glanced around the room to see if there was a water pitcher. It was getting a little close in the room, both from the humidity and Santiago’s crackling power, which raised the small hairs on his neck. Even being on the other side of the room didn’t help much. He was almost afraid to stand up for fear of getting shocked.
As though reading his mind, the other man put down his pen. “There’s pop in the fridge next to the bathroom. You might as well get us each one. Hope Coke’s okay. It was all they had in the machine outside.”
Adam stood up and eased past the other man, glancing sideways at him a little nervously when he said casually, “And yes, it is humid today. It’s not just me.”
After pulling three cans from the tabletop refrigerator with a fake wood door that didn’t want to seal when closed, he tried carefully not to think about anything at all. When he handed one can to Santiago, he was surprised to discover there was no ache when their skin touched. He’d managed to swallow all that power, leaving only the light scent of ozone—the calm after a storm. There was now no sense at all that the other man was anything more than an ordinary human. That took more talent than he could even imagine.
After setting down the third can next to Vivian’s motionless arm, he popped the top on his and looked squarely at the Wolven chief. The silvered temples of his dark hair seemed out of place with the smooth, unlined face—as though the gray had been painted on a much younger man. He might as well take the bull by the horns. “If you can read minds, sir, why are you bothering to question me?”
The answer was both chilling and reassuring, leaving Adam to wonder what to do or say. “I can’t read every mind—you’re just one of the lucky ones. And I’m questioning you because not every word that appears in a person’s mind winds up on their tongue. I wanted to hear what you had to say before I decided what you had to hide. More luck for you—I don’t think you’re hiding anything. Oh, and you might as well call me Lucas. I try to stay on a first name basis with my agents. But back to the question—reconning the area. Whose idea?”
My agents. Was he being reactivated? Why? Was it a good thing or bad? Adam shook his head to get his mind back on track. “Well, it was sort of both of ours. I don’t remember who brought it up first. When he said the council had appointed me as the new alpha, I said I’d never been to Texas. He said the same, and we wondered how we’d know who to pick to go, or whether we should ask for volunteers. He said he felt like he was picking cattle to go to auction… meaning slaughter, and I think at that point, we both made some… well, some pretty… urn, disparaging remarks about the council in general and their heritages in particular.” Might as well be up-front at this point. Lying would lead to a bad place if his thoughts were an open book. He shrugged ruefully. “No offense.”
This time, Lucas actually grinned. “None taken. Especially since I wasn’t part of the vote. But I have heard the tapes of the meeting, so I do know what was and wasn’t said to your pack leader. I need to do a little thinking at this point, and I have a meeting to attend.”
Adam stood up. “Then we should be going. If we’re not supposed to be here, then we’ll just—”
But Lucas waved him back to his seat. “You stay. You’re going with me to the meeting. But, Ms. Carmichael, I’d like you to wait in your room until we return.”
Vivian let out a heaving blast of air as he released his hold on her. It was as though she’d been holding her breath for the full conversation. She started to rub her arms aga
in. “That’ll be fine. Um, don’t feel like you have to hurry on my account.” She stood and literally leaped for the door. Adam could see her hands shaking lightly as she closed it behind her, but then again, she’d never met anyone from Wolven. She probably had no idea that powers like Lucas’s even existed.
Once she was gone, Adam waited while Lucas tidied up in the bathroom, trying to imagine what sort of things were in store for him. “Is there anything I’m supposed to do at this meeting?”
“Hard to say.” Lucas’s voice was muffled from behind the door, but Adam got the impression his inclusion in the meeting was an impulse on the Wolven chief’s part. “The alpha down here hasn’t yet been informed about the council’s decision.” He stepped out of the bathroom, rubbing his damp hair with a threadbare blue towel, and met Adam’s dropped jaw with a wry smile. “We’d hoped to break it to this pack slowly—let them get used to the idea like your pack did. But two alpha wolves arriving in a town this size has probably already been reported to the alpha, and you never requested permission to enter the territory. Coming with me to meet with her might be the only thing that keeps you and Ms. Carmichael alive to see tomorrow.”
Chapter 4
EVEN THE SMELL of her sister Rosa’s award-winning green chile couldn’t get the knots out of Cara’s stomach as she stood rigidly next to the sink, watching out the window for Will and his guest to arrive. Rosa had grumbled but complied when ordered to close the restaurant for the day so there would be a place to meet with the Wolven agent. Cara just hoped her big sister wouldn’t return to find little bloody bits of her strewn across the patterned stone tiles.
God, wouldn’t that piss her off! She hates to mop the floor.
The black humor abruptly made her laugh, but it sounded hollow and stark in the empty room. Once again, she checked her watch and then reverently touched the small medalla de oro at her throat. It wasn’t quite noon. He’d said lunch, but she didn’t ask what time, so she’d arrived early, hoping to get it out of the way and done with—whatever it might be. She said a small prayer that her family wouldn’t suffer for her mistake.
The sound of a car door slamming behind the building started her nerves jangling again, so she bent over the bubbling pot on the stove and inhaled the spicy, savory scent, trying to center herself while she waited for the door to open. A sip of tea helped, too. Not only did the herbs alleviate her symptoms, but it was also wonderfully calming.
Will Kerchee walked through the back door without knocking. He’d visited often enough to be nearly family. He, too, checked his watch as he looked around the room. A variety of emotions erupted in the air around him, telegraphing his confusion.
“Afternoon, Cara. I thought I’d be the last one here.” He shrugged and closed the door. “I’m glad I’m not. This way we have a chance to chat before Lucas gets here.”
If Cara hadn’t already been holding onto the counter to breathe in the chile scent, she would have fallen over from the sudden bonelessness in her knees. There was only one Sazi by that name who Will might invite to a meeting—the head of all the wolves was going to execute her.
“So—” she said through a fuzzy brain that couldn’t seem to focus—“I am going to die today. I… I didn’t expect to be… scared.” She looked up at him with tears beginning to well and watched him wince from the ammonia panic that rushed from her pores. “Does that make me a coward, Will?”
He stepped closer and put a comforting hand on her arm, pulling her forward to help her into a chair. “No. It doesn’t. Everybody gets scared, and you earn a lot of brownie points with me for admitting it. But remember we don’t know anything for certain, Cara. I know I seemed mad last night, but the truth is I would have done the same thing in the circumstances. That’s why I let it go. But I had no choice. I had to tell Lucas. He’s the head of Wolven now—my boss—and he was already coining to town to meet with you. He’d have known something was up if I’d tried to lie to him when he cornered me and asked me about local news.”
That stemmed the tears, and curiosity began to beat at her. She’d never actually met Lucas Santiago, but he was legendary, both for his compassion and his ruthlessness. “He was coming here to see me—as the Wolven chief—before any of this happened? Why?”
Will gave another of his fluid shrugs that told more than words could that his wings weren’t far beneath his skin. “Honestly, I haven’t a clue. They only tell me what they think I need to know. But something big is happening, and it looks like you’ve fallen into the middle of it.” He reached out to ruffle her bangs like he would to a kid sister. “I promise you I’ll be here for you, though. I’ll do everything I can to reduce your sentence. Maybe you’ll just lose a strip of hide.”
She nodded shakily but actually felt some of the tension ease from her. “Yeah. I’ve had that done. It’s not pretty, and it hurts, but anything I can heal from is infinitely better than H and H.”
Will nodded and filled a water glass before sitting down across from her at the table where the staff normally ate. “I’ve known Lucas for years, and he’s not one to overreact. The parabio isn’t fond of killing alphas in the worst of circumstances—actually I like the thought of him as the chief in that regard. Fiona has a temper on her. She’ll do a head-and-heart execution without much more than the word of the field agent. But Lucas is a detail man. He’ll pore through the file and consider every alternative first.”
“Glad you approve.” Cara and Will both looked up, startled, to see a casually dressed Latino leaning in the open doorway, looking amused. She was definitely going to have to get her ears checked, but at least Will hadn’t noticed him come in, either.
Will didn’t so much redden as darken, all the way down to his collar. He stood up in a rush and stepped back, nearly at attention. “Sorry, Lucas. Didn’t mean to tell tales out of school.”
The older man waved it off and stepped in the room, his sweeping gaze taking in every corner. “No. It’s good to hear what my agents think of me from time to time. Keeps me centered.” He flicked lightly glowing golden eyes to Will as he grabbed a chair, spun it around, and straddled it. The worn, nearly white jeans stretched taut enough to reveal heavily muscled thighs. It made Cara realize he wasn’t just an administrator who’d be sitting in a chair while running the agency.
He gave a small snort and shook his head. “Jeez, would you loosen up a little, Kerchee? We’ve known each other too long for you to believe all the press about me. I mean… the bad stuff, sure—but all that good, honorable, warm and fuzzy crap?” His face remained serious, but his eyes were twinkling.
From the corner of her eye, she caught Will’s grin just as raw, powerful magic flowed in a wave from Lucas and swirled around her. It made her skin itch and her throat tighten. She rubbed her fingers together, trying to get the feeling back in them, waiting nervously for those eerily bright eyes to lock on hers again.
“Ms. Salinas, I’ve spent a good part of the morning considering what to do about your actions last night. I understand why you acted as you did, but it was still wrong. Under the circumstances, however, it would do more harm than good to inflict a suitable punishment, so I’m giving you a pass this time.” He gave her a long, dangerous look. “Don’t do it again.”
Cara let out the breath she’d been holding. She would’ve said something to reassure him that she understood, but she was interrupted by the sound of the restaurant door opening.
A delighted low tenor from the doorway made her turn her eyes away from Lucas, but she couldn’t see around his broad shoulders without tipping her chair. “Well, I’ll be damned! If it isn’t the terror from the sky himself! How you doin’, Cloudsfall? Been a long time!”
She finally half-stood so she could see the speaker and their eyes met. The word shot out of her mouth before she could stop it. “You!”
“You!” Both words hit the air at the exact same moment as the driver of the black truck from the previous night stopped mid-step and stared incredulously. He was a wolf a
nd a powerful one to boot! So why didn’t she feel like growling? Normally, other wolves felt like a threat to her.
“Glad you two have met.” Lucas nodded and flicked his finger, urging the new man to step closer. “That’ll speed this along.”
“No, we haven’t… I mean—” She fumbled her way around the thought, unable to take her eyes off the newcomer. He was taller than she’d imagined him to be, and his skin was a little darker than the truck’s dome light showed—but it appeared to be a tan, because his neck showed hints of lighter skin. Still, the unruly black hair that made her want to run her fingers through it, and the vivid blue eyes were the ones etched into her memory.
Again his words came out at nearly the same time, completing her thought. “We haven’t really met. She was just there, with the ambulance.”
She smiled and nodded, surprisingly pleased he would remember. “And you were in the black truck.”
Lucas cleared his throat, and she realized that she had been staring for long seconds, not saying anything. Just memorizing his face. She flushed guiltily and sat back down.
Will grabbed a chair and, like Lucas, turned it around and straddled it. He leaned his arms on the top ladder-back rail and grinned at the new man, while occasionally flicking his eyes to watch her. “Well, you certainly seem to have made an impression on our local alpha, Adam.”
Adam. That was a nice name. But then she realized that Will was teasing her as much as he was the new man and shot him a nasty look. Adam must have noticed her annoyance born of embarrassment because his nostrils flared. Then he stepped forward and reached into his front pocket. He pulled out some change and removed a quarter. He tossed it on the table in front of Will with an evil smile before returning the other coins to his pocket.
