by C. T. Adams
“Make it out to Adam—best wishes. Need a pen?”
His words had an accent, but she couldn’t place the location. Will suddenly smelled embarrassed and reached out and slapped the quarter back across the table so hard it went off the edge and bounced on the tile with a melodic ting. “Fuck you, Mueller.”
Tension filled the room between Adam and Will—not so much dangerous as testing. Cara was pretty sure she was wearing the same confused expression as Lucas, but he was the one who asked first.
“Is there something going on I should know about, gentlemen?” There was a warning rumble to the words, and another flow of magic, which stopped just short of touching either man.
This time, Adam flushed lightly and shook his head. “No, sir. Just a private joke.”
“That’s going to stay private. Right, Adam?” Will’s words had a hard edge, the sort that spoke of adventures better left in the past.
He nodded once and sighed. “Right. Sorry, Cloudsfall. I shouldn’t have pushed that button. How about we start over?” He held out his hand, but from his expression and scent, Cara could tell he wasn’t sure if he’d taken the joke too far.
She’d never heard Will referred to as Cloudsfall before, but being both Native American and a raptor it made sense to her. And, it was obvious the three men were comfortable with the name. But she felt a little at a disadvantage. She’d thought she knew everything about Will, only to discover a brand-new past history with strangers.
After a short hesitation, Will held out his hand and shook Adam’s, then released and closed his hand into a fist. Adam did the same and they bumped knuckles like old buddies. “Just as much my fault, man. I should have remembered you get testy when I tease you. Oh, and you need to call me Will from here out, too. Sam and I switched lives a few decades back.”
Cara’s jaw dropped nearly to the table! Sam? Will and Ten Bears had switched lives? A few decades back? That would mean when she was a little girl…. Had it been Will who’d bounced her on his knee?
Um—
Adam laughed lightly and sat down next to Cara. He tried to make it casual, but his scent was both anticipatory and excited. He smelled of mingled pine trees and lemon-grass. Was it cologne or just his underlying scent? Either way it was a warm, soft tang she could get used to. She had to work to smell it over the peppers and cumin rising from the bubbling pot on the stove. He was also a powerful alpha—not in the same league as Lucas or Will, but just the amount that bled from him made her skin tingle.
She forced herself not to stare at him, but she did notice the dark stubble on his strong jaw and amazingly long lashes before she pulled her gaze away. He didn’t look at her at all after that first time. He kept his attention completely on Will. “So, Sam’s your grandfather now? Wow! How cool is that? No wonder you’re in uniform. He had quite the career behind him. I know you’re really good at illusion magic and persuasion, so making people believe was probably no big deal, but was it hard to pass the Ranger test without the background?”
Will pursed his lips and shrugged. “Nah. We switched when he was still on the Dallas force. He got pretty smashed up during a high-speed chase and decided it was time to hang up his shield. People gave me a lot of slack when I showed back up, thinking he was having post-traumatic stress—so, I had time to study and learn the ropes. And, of course, I already had my Wolven background. It wasn’t that big of a deal.” He turned to Cara and apparently noticed the look on her face. Or maybe it was her scent. Even she could smell her own confusion. “Hell! That’s right. You didn’t even know about that, huh? I guess I never thought to mention it. You were still a kid when it happened. Do you even know how that works? You’re an alpha, so you’re probably going to have to consider it one of these days yourself.”
Cara shook her head, and Adam spoke up. “Actually, I don’t know much about changing identities either, other than it happens. Feel free to enlighten me.”
Will raised his eyebrows toward Lucas, who nodded. “Okay, so I’ve done the father-son, grandfather-grandson thing a bunch of times. Different people do it their own way, but I prefer to stay within my own family. I didn’t really have to do as much in the past as I’m forced to now—because photographs and fingerprinting didn’t used to exist. You could disappear into the landscape and become someone else just on your own word. Lots of people did that during the gold rushes or after the Civil War. Any time there’s unrest, it’s easier. Now, I’m sure you know the reason.” He paused, apparently waiting for a nod, but Cara could only shrug and shake her head. Will sighed. “The major problem is that Sazi age a lot slower than humans. Yeah, we all tell our kids that alphas live a couple extra decades, but often that can be seven or eight decades, even for the lesser alphas! People like me and the parabio here—” Will jerked his thumb toward Lucas, causing Cara to raise a finger with a question.
“What’s a parabio? You called him that before, but it’s not a Spanish word.”
Lucas quirked one corner of his mouth in a half-smile. “It’s actually a Comanche term. Comanches were among the first democracies, in case you didn’t know. They elected their leaders from within, and bloodline didn’t matter. If a warrior was seen as being worthy—leading the charge in battle, giving good advice to others, having the respect of the tribe, and such—they became parabio, or great leader. Will knows that I was once the equivalent of a parabio for my tribe. Good leaders listen to their people without prejudicing their views beforehand. But that’s beside the point here. Go on, Will.”
Will was nodding as Lucas spoke. “Yep. Anyway, me and Lucas have lived for centuries. People can’t grasp what it means to live decades or centuries longer. Mostly, our appearance is the issue. Dick Clark aside, being eighty and looking thirty sort of freaks people out. Take that a step further, and looking like thirty when you’re a hundred and eighty will earn you pitchforks and torches on your doorstep. We Sazi seem to stick at about thirty for a really long time, then stick at forty for a really long time, and so on. Now, I just keep looking like me, so I’m one of the lucky ones. It really saves on the illusion magic to just gray my hair and move a little slower, before stepping into the life of a younger descendent—because, well… all us in-juns look alike, ya know—” The wink was what got her and she finally laughed along with the others. But when he continued, she was forced to look closer at Lucas. “Now, the parabio here, he takes another route. His illusion magic is exceptional. He can even change his freaking scent. So he becomes an entirely new person.”
So did that mean the person she was looking at, smelling, sensing across the table wasn’t really Lucas Santiago? Or did it mean that Lucas Santiago wasn’t real at all? She had no doubt she suddenly reeked of sweet, thick curiosity. Who was the Wolven chief? What did he look like in his “real life”?
Adam cocked his head. “But how would that work? You can’t just magically appear as a new person in today’s world. There are birth certificates and passports, fingerprints and retinal scans, plus lots of other things that can identify us from birth. How in the world could you just up and become a new person?”
Lucas gave an enigmatic smile and raised his brows. “I’ve had lots of time to practice creating identities. There are loopholes in any system, and Wolven keeps up with all the new tricks. Real people with real lives die every day—in accidents and natural disasters, war and murder. Sometimes, miraculous recoveries aren’t as miraculous as you think, and the person the police recovers isn’t that person at all. But that’s enough of that for now. I think it’s time to get started. We’ll start with introductions since it’s fairly apparent not everybody knows everyone else—at least as well as they’d thought.” The phrasing was significant and both Will and Adam shifted uncomfortably in their chairs. “Rather than have you each introduce yourselves, I’ll tell you what I want you to know about one another. Then you can take it from there later.”
He swept his gaze around the table. “Ladies first, I suppose. This is Carlotta Salinas, acting sheri
ff of Tedford County, and the alpha female of the Texas pack. The Salinas family is Tejano, meaning they homesteaded in Texas while it was still a Mexican holding. Her family sided with the Republic of Texas and fought against Santa Ana, and she and her pack still hunt on land that is part of an original Spanish land grant. Her strong points are speed and minor healing talents, and her negatives are a quick temper and a tendency to see only the trees, but not the forest.”
Cara bit her tongue when he said that. A week ago, she probably would have objected—and strenuously, but Ten Bears had said the exact same thing last night.
Have I really been so rigid and shortsighted?
Santiago continued. “She’s a Mexican red wolf in animal form. Regular red wolves are endangered and presumed extinct in Texas, so they keep to private hunting grounds and don’t mingle much with other packs.” He seemed to be addressing the comments about her and her family’s history to Adam, but she wasn’t certain why.
“Both of you seem to know Will Kerchee, but before he was Will Kerchee, he was Sam Cloudsfall Kerchee, and before that, was… well, let’s just say one of those closest to Chief Ten Bears of the Comanche. He became a Wolven agent when I met him during the Civil War, and has been one ever since. He’s an eagle on the moon and the term terror from the sky probably isn’t a bad thing to consider him. Stay on his good side, because understand he can take either one of you in a fight and, quite possibly, both of you at once.”
Lucas paused as though he’d heard something, then stood and walked to the window to look out for a moment. He shook his head, tiny little movements that said something was bothering him and flared his nostrils next to the window opening. But she couldn’t smell a thing from him and he didn’t elaborate. No doubt he was wearing the Wolven cologne. He opened the refrigerator next to the door and pulled out a small glass bottle of Dr Pepper, then raised one inquiring eyebrow at them. “Anyone else want one? I haven’t had one of these for ages. I didn’t realize they were still making the Dublin formula.”
Adam and Will both raised their hands, so she did as well. Rosa was absolutely addicted to the sugared soda. “They still ship them locally, just not out of state.” After a questioning look from Adam, she explained, “Dr Pepper was founded in the town of Dublin, here in Texas, and made a deal with a local company for sugar for the soda. But when they started to ship nationally, the sugar plant couldn’t keep up, so they switched to corn syrup like everyone else. But they still make some of the old formula. It tastes a lot better!”
She was impressed that Lucas could palm two bottles in each hand without straining. He had bigger hands than she’d first thought. When he sat down, it was as though he were full human. He’d managed to completely mask all of his power, somehow pulling it inside himself until he was a blank slate. “All you need to know about me is that I’m presently known as Lucas Santiago. Up until a few months ago, I was the alpha male of the Boulder pack, and the council representative for the wolves. That’s all changed and, before you ask, no I won’t tell you how it all came about, other than it was a choice I made for a variety of reasons. Now, your present council rep is Nikoli Molotov, the Alpha of Chicago. But if you have any problems in the next few months, I’m the man to talk to, even though I’m presently the Wolven chief. I’ve replaced Fiona Monier for the time being. She’s my second. But I’ll be taking personal responsibility for all agents in Texas and South America until further notice. That means you’ll report to me.”
Will looked as taken aback as she felt, and there was some underlying text that Cara couldn’t just let sit. “I’m afraid I’m confused, Chief Santiago. You said all agents. But I’ve never been in Wolven. I never finished the program.”
He smiled, but it was a baring of teeth with no humor behind it. “Welcome to the future, Sheriff Salinas. Your promotion in the county hierarchy was your graduation. I’m making you a reserve agent. Your field supervisor—and yours, too, Adam—will be Will.”
Adam didn’t look nearly as confused as Cara felt. He nodded, but smelled frustrated, as though he’d suspected something and had just gotten verification.
“I wondered if that’s where you were leading with the my agents comment earlier. I have to presume there’s a reason why you’re doing this. I haven’t been in Wolven for quite a few years, but reserve agents were only activated when there were bad things—really bad things coming. You gonna tell us what’s up?”
Lucas shook his head but met Adam’s eyes calmly. “Not yet It’s a very complicated situation. I can tell you there’s a lot going on in the world right now. Individual events may or may not be connected. That’s what I’m here for—to look at the whole forest. I’ll be asking each of you to look for specific trees. And, that leads me to your introduction. Adam Mueller is a former Wolven agent. He was partnered with Will briefly when he joined the agency. Presently, he’s a fourth-grade patrol officer in the Minneapolis police out of the very rough Franklin Safety Center of Precinct 3. His good points are brute strength and the brains to back them up. Negatives are a tendency toward inflexibility and not listening to advice.” Cara watched the small muscle at the back of Adam’s jaw clench, but that was the only outward sign of any concern at the comment.
“He’s second in command of the Minnesota pack, which is unfortunately one of the largest in the world. I say unfortunately because the pack hunts in a relatively populous area, and last fall the increasing number of wolves was noticed—by the humans, during a regular pack hunt organized by Mr. Mueller. They are sending wolf biologists to Minneapolis to start a study.”
Cara felt her eyes widen. Her hand flew to her mouth as she let out a small gasp. This time, Adam clenched his fists and jaw simultaneously in the corner of her vision. But he met her gaze and the intense blue eyes were filled with both pain and pride as Lucas continued. “Naturally, what the humans notice, the council notices. We’re living in a world of less and less space, people—and unless we want to blare our existence on the front page of every newspaper in the world, the council must take action when things like this occur.” He dipped his head toward Adam with a carefully blank expression. “You understand I normally wouldn’t mention your role in this, but the circumstances demand it.” After a brief nod, Lucas looked at both her and Will in turn. “And just so you know, Adam’s been cleared of any formal responsibility for the incident by the council. It’s not to be brought up in conversation with pack members.”
Lucas tapped one finger on the wood and looked at each of them. “You realize I can’t bring any of this information to the average Sazi. It’s one of the reasons I just activated both of you—putting you in the need to know group.”
Cara nodded in full understanding. The die-off of red wolves in the region was why her own pack had become so very secretive. She tried desperately not to look at Adam. Madre de Dios! How would she feel in his place… if it had been her wolves who had been noticed by the outside world during a casual hunt? Would she have the courage to sit here, facing down potential detractors, with the same composure? “Of course. So, what happens now?”
Lucas took a sip of soda and tapped on the table again. His power began to leak out of him again, as though it was a nervous habit. The pins-and-needles sensation started again in her fingers. “What happens now is that the council has decreed that two dozen pack members, and their families, from Minnesota will be split off and transferred to other packs in less populated regions. Adam Mueller will, quite possibly, be one of the new alpha males.” He paused and locked his eyes with hers. “The Texas pack is the destination for half those families.”
Chapter 5
ADAM WATCHED AS the young Texas alpha took in the implications of what Santiago said for a long moment. He didn’t expect the sudden explosion of sound and motion as she pushed back her chair, stood, and let out a bitter laugh. Her scent was filled with too many things to sort, but anger was right up on top.
“Y’all have got to be kidding! You can’t double the size of my pack in a da
y—with complete outsiders!”
Lucas apparently expected the reaction, because he nodded once and swept his hand toward her chair, suggesting she sit back down. “We can and will, Ms. Salinas. The council has considered the situation thoroughly. We fully understand—”
Carlotta didn’t return to her seat. Instead, she stepped back and leaned against the counter, making her service revolver shift against her hip. Her arms crossed over her chest and she shook her head in annoyance. “No, I don’t think you understand at all. What you’re proposing is complete and utter horseshit. It won’t work.”
Adam’s skin began to sting from the sudden surge of power that swept past him to dance right at the edge of Salinas’s aura. She winced, but didn’t back down. “You’re treading on very thin ice, Alpha Salinas.”
Her eyes flashed and it nearly made Adam smile. “You can take a strip of hide from me with your power if you want, sir, but it won’t change the facts. You said I’m known for not seeing the forest for the trees. Well, let me tell you something—you’re so far outside the forest, there aren’t any trees. Y’all might be trying to avoid exposure of our kind with this plan, but what’s actually going to happen is an increased chance we’ll be found out. You don’t understand how this part of Texas works.”
Lucas’s eyes narrowed and the golden glow in them ratcheted up a notch. “Alpha, you really need to sit down and—”
Cloudsfall held up his hand with a thoughtful expression. His scent revealed both curiosity and concern. “No, Lucas. Wait. I think I know where she’s going with this. You really need to hear her out, because it’s something that should have occurred to the council—or at least to you.”
