by C. T. Adams
That made Cara’s brow furrow. “Biding her time for what! What did they want her for?”
Tony moved his tapping fingers to the side of the silver can and let out a small snarl. “Biding her time to escape. We need to get Adam’s butt back here because things are going to start to get dicey pretty quick. Someone’s apparently started a Sazi raptor factory down here. Ziri and her friends were being saved to become attack victims.” He let them process that information for a moment, nodding his head at their shocked expressions. “See what I mean about hot? According to what Ziri overheard, after the girls were turned, they were either going to wind up murderous feral birds that would hunt meat for the flock, or—and this is my worry—they were going to be turned over to some sort of… creature the men wouldn’t even mention without crossing themselves and muttering prayers—as food?”
Chapter 24
“OFFICER MUELLER?” ADAM turned his head while struggling to pull his briefcase from the overhead compartment in the now-empty plane. He saw the slender, dark-haired flight attendant who’d waited on his section. “Don’t forget these.”
She held out a paper-wrapped bouquet, the stems dripping water on the carpeted aisle. He tugged and the compartment finally released his case, so he held out his hand for the flowers. “Thanks. I appreciate you putting them in water for me.”
Her smile and raised brows had a knowing hint that seemed right at home with the soft Southern accent. “Well, wilted flowers aren’t much of an apology and believe me when I say y’all might want to consider adding chocolates.”
“Yeah? Why’s that?” He lifted the case over the backs of the seats and edged sideways down the row.
“You said your lady friend is a sheriff down here?”
He nodded as she stepped back between the seats so he could get by. “Yeah.”
Another smile, this one with real amusement that showed in her scent briefly before disappearing into the vents overhead. “Well, there’s a very pretty, and very annoyed-looking lady with a badge pacing the concourse in front of this gate. Oh, and she’s armed.”
Adam grimaced and clutched the flowers a little tighter. “A hazard of cops dating each other. It’s occasionally surprising we survive to breed.” It had been a convenient excuse to get the flight attendant to find a vase during the flight, but he was starting to wonder if it wasn’t the truth. He certainly had the same butterflies as if he was dating her.
She chuckled and waved her hand toward the exit, obviously wanting to stay carefully behind him as he left the plane. He took a deep breath and walked down the corridor, his weight making the walkway bounce with each step. The phone call last night hadn’t gone so well. He really believed that Lucas was going to tell Cara about everything, so he hadn’t mentioned it. But when the elder wolf had told him that as of now he was the Texas alpha—he’d been expected to take the lead on getting information to Cara. So, now he was in hot water from both sides. Thankfully, though, he didn’t have a planeload of pack mates with him. The phone conference with Bobby and Tony last night had changed things. Only Tommy, Jill, and Jenny would be arriving tomorrow because Jill was very close to a breakdown. She needed a change of scenery. The rest of the people would follow in a week, after the moon—when wolves on both sides were a little… calmer and Bobby could make some formula for Cara to replace her tea that would solve her scent problem. So, he and Cara only had a week to integrate two packs and find a murderous flock of birds with some larger, more sinister motive than just abducting girls. Terrific.
He looked inside the paper tube in his hand again, still not sure about this bouquet. His first choice would have been roses, but Reggie had assured him that would only make things worse. He hadn’t told his ex-partner what he’d done, just that she was mad. “No, amigo, you need poinsettias if you’ve screwed up. A chica will throw roses right back in your face.” It’d taken hours to find a florist in the cities who had a poinsettia plant this time of year. He’d finally found one in the middle of St. Paul, with just barely enough time left to cut off the blooms and catch his flight. I hope Reggie was right.
Cool air filled with scents and sounds hit him in the face when he entered the main airport, the bouquet carefully hidden behind his back. Chief among the smells was fur and anger. It wasn’t hard to spot Cara in the crowd. With a frown under mirrored sunglasses, hands on hips, and a stance wide and solid, she could have posed for a statute of the goddess of vengeance in nearly any culture. She was bleeding enough Sazi magic that everyone on the concourse was giving her a wide berth. Probably the reason for the sunglasses. And yep, she was armed.
And even still, the sight of her—dangerous and nearly feral, sent his pulse racing and magic flaring, reaching out to her… and not in a what a great pack leader she is sort of way. Maybe Lucas had been right. Shit.
He took a deep breath and walked toward her, skirting the bank of plastic chairs secured to the floor. It wasn’t until he was standing just a few feet from her that he realized anger was only one of the emotions going on inside her. He might just have a chance to make this better, after all. He tipped his chin and crinkled the plastic behind his back. “Sheriff Salinas. Good to see you again.”
“Officer Mueller. Wish I could say the same.” The words came out sneering and sarcastic, but they didn’t match her scent at all. She looked around furtively and lowered her voice. “Who in the hell do you think you are, keeping vital information like tha—”
He pulled the bouquet from behind his back and held it out. “I’m sorry, Cara. I screwed up.”
She ignored it for a moment, her jaw clenching, but when he tipped the white paper tube so she could see inside, she faltered. He softened his voice and pushed the bouquet a little closer. “I’m really sorry.”
Her hands clenched into fists over and over until she finally reached up and snatched the bouquet out of his hand. The next words were harsh and rushed and the fiery pepper scent was taking on a thick wet quality that made him want to pull her against him and bear the pounding of her fists on his arms and back. But this wasn’t the time or the place. “The truck is parked out front. Get your baggage and meet me there.”
It took nearly a half hour for the carousel to cough up the two suitcases he’d had time to pack. He’d loaded everything he could think of, because this might be it. He might never make it back north. David and Mom had promised to pack up his house if that’s what winded up happening. While his mother had been very upset by the circumstances, she’d also apparently been briefed by David about Texas… and Cara. She’d sat him down when he stopped by. Patted the couch next to her like she always did when he was a child and she wanted to give needed advice. “Give it a chance, son,” she’d said. “Now, you’re just like your father don’tcha know… both you boys are. He was a great pack leader, but he could never let himself show anything. Typical for a Minnesotan, I suppose, but your new pack is going to be different. Remember I lived in Texas until I was ten. People are more open down there. They’re going to expect you to speak your mind, and the pack members from up here are going to look to you… are going to take their clues on how to respond by how you present yourself.” She’d smiled then, with both motherly concern and womanly amusement. “And that includes how you interact with the Alpha Female.” She’d patted his hand when he frowned. “Just give it a chance.”
Give it a chance. It sounded simple, but when he arrived at the truck to see Cara’s frowning face, it might not be so easy in practice. She opened the driver’s door as he approached. “Put ’em in back.” Then she got in and closed the door with a sharp pull.
He swung the first case over the bed wall and took a moment to glance into the cab through the back window, his eyes searching for the bouquet. Reggie had told him that how a Latina dealt with the flowers was a good indication how the apology was going. At first, he didn’t see them at all, which might mean they wound up in a trash can on the way out of the airport. But then he spotted them propped in the corner of the extende
d cab. As he arranged his two bags to protect the briefcase, and the laptop inside, he was pleased to see the stems were now safely in water again, in a tall glass vase that still bore the price tag from an airport shop.
As he got into the passenger side, he was very careful to keep his scent neutral and a smile off his face.
“I STILL DON’T think this is a good idea.” Cara stared at the card key Adam held out toward her. “We should head back tonight. I’m really worried about Ziri.”
“Just to turn around and come back before dawn?” The burnt metal of his frustration tainted the lush scent of the poinsettias curled in the crook of her arm as he reached forward and picked up her hand to press the credit-card-sized piece of plastic into it. “You said it yourself—there are at least four good reasons to stay over. Look, I’m sorry things haven’t been going your way today, but that’s the way it happens sometimes.”
She looked down at the richly colored carpet lining the hallway of the exclusive Riverwalk hotel and fought off a shudder. “But two hundred dollars a night? We could have stayed at the Motel 6 by the airport for about forty.”
Adam sighed for probably the tenth time since they’d checked in. “Yes, but the airport is the last place we need to hit in the morning. It doesn’t make much sense to fight our way back to this exact spot during rush hour in the morning, does it? At least the jeweler was embarrassed enough at not finishing the engraving on the necklace you ordered that he’s going to come in specially in the morning and bring it to you in the coffee shop next door.”
He touched her hand again for a second and a full blown shudder ran through her. No fighting this one off. His magic was teasing her arms again, and she doubted he even realized he was doing it. But it was getting more disconcerting how much it was affecting her—especially since Bobby had thrown a fit back at her house and had poured the rest of her tea down the garbage disposal. A stash, he’d called it. Well, how was she supposed to know some of the herbs Ten Bears used were narcotics! But she understood the python agent’s concern. If she ever had to do a random drug test—belladonna, peyote, and even, ¡Madre de Dios, poppy tar… opium! No wonder the old seer had taken off in such a rush, especially if he’d had a vision Bobby was coming. And he’d been a career cop! At least Bobby had let her explain and said he would see what he could come up with to replace it, using legal substances.
But here she was… at a hotel with a man who made her condition a dozen times worse with no way to stave it off. Even with separate rooms, it was going to be a long night.
“Cara… hello? Did you hear me?” She started sharply and realized she’d been staring down at the carpet again, not even listening.
“Oh. Uh… no. Sorry.”
He shook his head with a small smile, smelling slightly amused. “I asked what order you wanted to do things in the morning. I was thinking we’d have a quick breakfast downstairs and then go to the coffee shop. Meet the jeweler, then head over to the police station for the paperwork on that prisoner you transported down here yesterday.”
The snort that erupted was inevitable. “That still pisses me off. They had me drop everything to rush him here and then didn’t even bother to get a copy of the signed order from the court so I could release him. Any other day, I would have turned right around and taken him back until they could get their shit together. But they swore it would be ready at nine and at least the court clerk said the order existed. So yeah, that would probably work… and I can probably call the party company about finalizing delivery of the balloon arch on my cell at the coffee shop. We might not have to actually stop there. I shouldn’t have even promised to do that, but Rosa was really ticked off that I wouldn’t tell her what happened during Ziri’s hindsight session, and it was a way to keep the peace. But I didn’t realize your flight would be late and I’d miss them.”
Adam nodded. “And speaking of flights, we’ll finish up at the airport and pick up the Taylors. Are you sure you don’t mind? It’s going to be a pretty full truck all the way back to Santa Helena.”
“It’s silly to make them rent a car when we’re already here. Besides, there’d be no place to leave it when they got there. We don’t have a rental agency in town.” Annoyance tugged at her insides again, but there was no point in arguing any further. It was going to happen, whether now or later. She couldn’t help but blush as she glanced at his face. There was still a bit of red remaining along his jaw from where she’d hit him. But she had to give him credit. He’d seen it coming and hadn’t dodged out of the way after their screaming match in a secluded corner of the Riverwalk. But there was no way she was going to let her pack be bound. She couldn’t even imagine that the people up north would allow an Alpha to control their actions like some sort of puppetmaster!
That he backed down showed he respected her authority as Alpha… a lot more than her own pack did—not that either of them expected it would knock him back so hard he’d smack his skull against the bridge. She’d never had that kind of power before. It was a little unnerving and she was starting to wonder if the tea had been tamping down more than just her pheromones. But it had been a release she needed and he seemed to realize it. The trip back to the hotel along the meandering pathway next to the light festooned river had resulted in a much calmer talk, where she could relax and actually enjoy the sounds of laughter and water lapping against the sidewalk as boats of tourists passed. He hadn’t brought up the incident since.
“So, we should probably turn in then, huh?” His voice seemed unsure as he lifted his chin toward the adjoining doors and reached down to pick up the largest suitcase. “Tomorrow’s going to be a long day, Carita.”
Nodding while hiding a small smile at the name, she picked up the handles of the elegant bag from the gift shop downstairs. The change of clothes and toiletries she’d purchased—for an ungodly price—would at least make her presentable to her new pack members tomorrow. “Yeah. Okay, then.” She lifted the vase lightly. “Thanks again for the flowers… and the dinner—especially the sopapillas for dessert. I don’t think anyone’s ever gone to this much trouble just to apologize to me before.”
He paused and then his voice softened as he slid the card key into the door slot and turned the knob when the green light blinked. “Nobody’s ever been worth the trouble before… my Alpha.” Magic tingled her again, but this time it was intentional. With a small gasp, she looked at his face, and immediately got lost in his drowning deep blue eyes—flickering with the same ethereal power that danced over her skin like a thousand tiny fingers. Panic spread through her in a wave and she backed up a pace, bumping her back against the wall next to her door. He didn’t follow, didn’t press his advantage, even though a small part of her wanted him to. Instead, he offered a small smile, pulled back his magic, and walked through the door with his bags while she stood, frozen in place, trying to get her heart to start beating again.
Chapter 25
ADAM PRESSED THE button on the remote to change the channel again and watched ambulance doors fly open on the screen. It didn’t have as much impact with no sound, but he’d really hoped to hear a knock on the connecting doors between their rooms and didn’t want to miss it. He added another pillow to the pile behind his back, and crossed his jean-clad legs on the bed while reaching for the bottle of water on the night stand.
His tongue pressed his molar again and was glad it was starting to firm up in the gum. Maybe this sip wouldn’t hurt as much as the last one. A quick touch of his fingers against his jaw confirmed that the swelling was nearly gone. Man, could that woman punch! He hadn’t taken a shot like that since Josef pounded on him for the newspaper article about wolves last fall. Another quick glance at the door didn’t make it any more open than a second ago, but he couldn’t help himself. Was she still mad?
I would have sworn Reggie had been right on the money about how to make up to her. She’d responded like clockwork to the flowers, the dinner, and the fight. It wasn’t in his nature to argue about pack politics, but
he had to admit it was sort of cathartic—especially this close to the moon. Even though taking the punch full on and hitting his head had really rung his chimes, it had shocked Cara out of yelling enough that she raced to pick him back up and spent the next few minutes apologizing until he convinced her to stop.
And oh, baby—the sensation of healing magic after she’d helped him to a bench to shake it off—that definitely made it worthwhile. It had boiled his blood enough that he nearly threw her to the ground, right there on the cobbled path. The glittering strands of lights under the star-filled sky hadn’t had anything on those glowing golden eyes as power flared between them. But he’d been so damned dizzy for those first few minutes that he hadn’t dared any quick movements. Still, the way she reacted just now to the light touch of magic, he’d been sure—
“Damn.” He shook his head in frustration and turned off the television, and then swung his feet to the floor while muttering. “Face it, Mueller, you had your chance and screwed it up. Let it go.”
It really was going to be a busy day tomorrow, so maybe it was best to just take a shower and go to bed.
Still… just to be safe. He silently unlocked the dead-bolt on his way to the bathroom.
CARA TOOK ANOTHER sip of way too expensive bottled water and tugged at the bodice of the pale yellow nightgown she’d purchased downstairs. It pushed and pulled in all the wrong directions and was going to be miserable to sleep in. Why in the world didn’t I try this thing on before I plunked down my card?
