by C. T. Adams
He shrugged again, still spinning the blade, flashing moonlight into their eyes like a strobe. “Call me Roberto. That will do for now. As for what I want, I’ve already got it. You eliminated Manuel and the abominations and there’s no hint I was involved. It’s unfortunate that I need to shield my cards, but I can’t afford for my partners to think me untrustworthy.”
“So you think we’re just going to let you walk away with the girls, because you happened to have killed three birds?” Cara snorted and stepped to the side, while Adam moved one step in the opposite direction.
“Again, I don’t want the girls. In fact, I want you to take them far away so nobody can ever find them again.” He tapped Ziri on the head absently with the flat of the blade and another wave of panic rose in her scent, even though she couldn’t move. “Especially this one. The council needs to hide the Mayan girl somewhere, put her and her family in the care of someone who can protect them.”
“Why? Why are you helping us, Roberto?” She might as well try to get as much information as possible. She adjusted her feet again, as though restless and stepped another pace from Adam. Maybe if they flanked him—
He chuckled. She and Adam were both just suddenly frozen… caught in a wave of magic that exploded with the same speed as the snake could move. “What is it about wolves that you feel the need to martyr yourselves to the greater good?” With an abrupt movement, he threw the machete toward her face, then stopped it, mere inches from her nose. The moon, half covered by clouds, was reflected in the polished blade. “Would you prefer to die, Alpha? That’s all attacking me would accomplish.” He released them a split second before he released the blade. She barely had time to move before it cut through the air where her head used to be. “Now, I’m helping you because you’re helping me. This operation was started—without my input, I might add—in a time when it might have done some good. But that time is gone. Those in power here couldn’t see the futility of continuing a course that had no goal.”
“And what is the goal?” Adam came to stand by her side and she could feel his frustration and rage at their inability to act.
Now Roberto went deadly serious. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at each one in turn. “A new age is coming and this pack will be on the front lines of the battle as it surges north. You need to prepare yourselves. I’d suggest learning to master sword fighting. You’ll stand a better chance.”
“What is this new age? What is coming? Can’t we stop this before it starts?” Cara felt as confused as if she were talking with Ten Bears, hearing prophecies that said everything and nothing.
He shook his head, to her immense frustration. “There’s no stopping this, any more than you can stop the movement of the stars or the shifting of the poles. She—the greatest snake of all eternity—will be born again, and the predators will become prey once more. But it’s her allies that will be in the first wave and those are what you’ll need to prepare for.” He paused and then smiled. “Think of the Two Towers for potential scope—with no annoying Elvish poetry.” He turned his back on them and started for the Hummer, releasing the girls so they dropped to the ground, coughing. The girls limped to them, and Cara could smell that her niece’s leg was probably broken. Gloria wrapped her arms around her and wept into her fur. “Remember, Alphas—protect the Mayan girl and her progeny… or the snake that is to come could wind up a goddess.” He blew away the covering on the Hummer with a flare of magic that moved like a wind and put his hand on the handle. “Sane people don’t bring something into the world that is beyond control. And I am most definitely sane.”
He picked up a duffel bag that smelled of bird, got into the Hummer, and started it, while Adam and Cara tried to figure out what to do. They couldn’t just let him leave, could they? They could still stop him. The pack had eliminated the birds and were headed this way, slowly rebuilding their strength from the whole. Roberto rolled down the window as they started toward the vehicle, apparently noticing that Adam was looking into the distance, watching for them to arrive. “Oh, and before you decide to order your pack to attack me, you should know that I’ve already bitten the wolf inside the cavern—the pretty blue-haired girl. She’ll die if you chase me. But you might be able to bring her back… completely, if you hurry. Venom can be a powerful stimulant, with the right magic to bend it Healing magic, for example.”
They looked at each other frantically and Gloria nodded, her eyes filled with hot tears. “He did! That’s why we were screaming when the other snake was dragging us out. We have to go back for Jenny! ¡Por favor… please, Tia Cara! She’s my amiga.”
Roberto turned on the headlights while they were distracted and locked both doors before rolling up the window, leaving just a crack for his voice to escape. “I’d suggest you hurry. She doesn’t have much time left.”
Chapter 33
THE LOVELY BLACK and silver timber wolf inside the cavern was barely breathing. As they heard the Hummer roar into the distance, Adam raced over to her still form and mentally ordered Will and Ume to follow Roberto-keeping a safe distance so he couldn’t hurt them. Adam knew Will could easily see for nearly a mile and he presumed Ume had excellent night vision. The girls didn’t need to see this. They’d have nightmares enough for weeks to come. “Tommy, watch the girls.”
“Call us back if you need us.” Will’s voice sounded tired, and he hated to push his old partner this hard. But they didn’t have many options. The big sable wolf, his best friend, nodded and guided Gloria and Ziri to a small room near the entrance.
Adam looked at Cara, who had turned and was running her hands over the young wolf. “What do you think? Is there any hope?”
She smiled quietly. “There’s always hope, Adam. It’s the one thing that truly separates us from the animals.”
The rest of the pack arrived and the lesser wolves fanned out to guard the entrances and search the rest of the cavern for anyone still hiding, picking their way past the headless bodies of three massive birds. That bag Roberto had put in the Hummer… did he take—
Jill turned human and hurried to Cara’s side, then looked down at her daughter and let out a little sob at the horribly swollen, bluish tongue and seeping fang holes in her shoulder. She picked up the girl’s muzzle to unstick the dry tongue from the dusty rock floor, gently closed the mouth and checked her eyes. “There’s faith, too.” She looked at Cara with tears welling and touched the other woman’s hand. “I have faith in you, my Alpha.” Then she turned her eyes up to meet his. “I have faith in you both. Bring back my little girl.”
Cara patted Jill’s hand and then turned her lightly glowing eyes to look into his. There was something deep inside that golden power that he couldn’t place, but it make him feel warm and safe. She held out her hand to him. “I’ve always been the strong one—always been the one who people could count on. But this time… I need you, Adam. Please help me bring her back.”
He went to her. How could he not? Jill backed away with head bowed. She knelt at Jenny’s feet, and put a light hand on the fevered paw—still needing to touch that small bit that was her daughter.
Adam snuggled in next to Cara’s nude body, wrapped warm fur around her shivering body. Even as hot as it was outside, the cave was cool and damp and smelled strongly of bird feces and something fainter, in the background—perhaps bats had used this cave before the others moved in.
The instant they touched, he felt a roar of power race through them both, born of both mating and binding. Cara called on the web of them all, turned the magic in on itself, until they were the power—all of them. They were a single unit of energy and she was the focus. He felt her power touch the girl, the wolf, the Sazi at their feet. She placed her hands over the sticky, oozing bite marks and pushed warm energy into them. Jenny’s body lurched, as though an electric shock ran through her. Jill began to weep when the girl’s legs started to convulse as the poison raced through her body, sped up by the magic. Her lips drew back to bare fangs and Adam had to p
ress his forehead to her temple with brute force to keep it from slamming against the stone during the spasms. There was no other way to heal her except to let the venom run its course through the rest of Jenny’s body and protect her heart and head. Cara attached her power to the heart, and Adam pushed pure energy into her mind to make a magical barrier, shielding her brain from the toxins.
The venom was the most virulent Adam had ever encountered. It chewed at his magic like acid, burning through his mind and pulling whimpers from the lesser wolves by the cave entrances.
But they were already so beaten down… so very tired. Despite Adam’s better judgment, Cara began to pull from farther away. Will’s and Ume’s wings began to slow and it became a struggle to stay in flight. Soon even Paco and Rosa and little Raul were called on in the desperate attempt to help Jenny pull through. The shield was shrinking and it was all he could do to keep the venom from reaching her mind.
“Wait!” Cara’s voice startled him out of his concentration. “We’re doing this wrong!”
“What?” His voice sounded thick, like he’d had too much to drink. “Wrong, how?”
“He said we have to use the venom. We’re forcing it out of her system.”
He struggled to sit up on his haunches, but was growing more alert as he caught the scent of excitement. He looked down at Jenny. Her tongue was back to a normal color and the wounds were nearly sealed. But she was still a wild animal. He couldn’t feel any spark of human inside. “Why should we believe him? What if he wants to kill us all by making us think there’s a chance to save her?”
Her eyes were bright and she shook her head. “It feels like acid, doesn’t it? Some acids are good things—can be bent to our will to benefit us. What if we can use the acid to cut through the scar tissue from the turning? What if we can use it to—”
“Bring her back?” Jill caught the excitement and nodded her head. “Maybe it’s like Alzheimer’s. Maybe there’s some sort of magical build-up that turns some shifters feral, while others not.” She reached forward and grasped his paw. “It’s at least worth a try, Adam.”
He let out a frustrated sound, between a growl and a bark and slapped his tail on the ground. “And if you fail, and the magic in the venom gets in the binding… then what?”
Cara looked at him with calm assurance. “It won’t. I swear I won’t risk the pack.” She smiled gently and leaned down to kiss the tip of his ear before whispering, “I won’t risk losing you, my Alpha. Not when I’ve just barely fallen in love with you.”
He let out a small growl that was mostly filled with defeat, but he knew his scent was pride and happiness and the warm scent of cookies baking that even made Jill smile. “Do what you need to do.”
With a nod, she used her fingers to reopen the fang wounds and then closed her eyes. He didn’t try to do anything, but let her draw on him as she closed her mouth over the hole and pulled some of the venom onto her tongue.
This is madness. We can’t have any idea what this will d —
FIRE ERUPTED INTO Cara’s mind as the magical venom touched the binding and began to burn through their links. More howls joined her own and soon they were all thrashing on the stone, with blood leaking from around their eyes and frothing on their tongues. Will and Ume let out terrible screeches and dropped from the air like twin stones, landing in the treetops and crashing to the ground.
¡Madre de Dios! Adam was right. She was going to kill them all! Her heart started pounding so hard she could feel it in her eardrums. Again she drew on her healing ability, felt it recoil against the powerful venom. But she surrounded it, coaxed it, and finally felt it halt in its path. But it was still in their binding and she had to move it out of their system and into Jenny’s mind. The only way to do that was to become the venom. She pulled on the bitter acid, pulled it out of bodies of the others and into herself. She heard Adam shout a warning and suddenly turn human, as he reached for her inside her mind. But she slammed the connection shut once the stinging power was inside her and then she threw herself on top of Jenny’s body and locked her arms around the warm wolf, now beginning to wake.
I can’t risk the pock, and if I fail Adam might still survive.
She reached outward and found the wolf’s mind. There was nothing human here, but her own wolf understood the mental processes. This time, her wolf didn’t fight her because the young one was sick; needed healing. She felt her body lurch as Jenny woke and tried to rise and Cara finally managed to find her voice. “Keep her still. Hold Jenny down!”
Adam raced to comply and then she felt the touch of Jill’s slender fingers and Tommy’s thicker ones. The wolf snapped and snarled and dug claws into her legs as she opened herself to the wolf, let healing magic, laden with burning venom, flow into the girl’s mind. The wolf screamed under her, then started slavering and throwing venom-laced froth to land on bare skin.
Cara ignored the pain, and the screams and swearing as she was doused with cold water to ease the searing flesh. She just kept her eyes shut and sent flooding magic into the scarred brain. She wished there was time for delicacy, but there was none. She couldn’t let the others know she was pulling from her own reserves, rather than from the pack. Little by little, her body started to shut down—her fingers and toes growing numb and cold and then her limbs, as the venom cleaned mental passages.
Finally, all that was left was her own heartbeat and even that was slowing, but she felt a spark in the wolf’s mind—a spark that was most definitely human. More power, that last little bit, even though there was no more to spare. Then a stray thought reached her and it made her smile. I wonder what froth would look like in black and white?
Just before the last stuttering thump closed her eyes, she felt Adam’s strong arms wrap around and pull upward frantically. And she heard a hoarse, muffled voice from underneath her that made it all worthwhile.
“Mom?”
Chapter 34
“I SWEAR TO God! If you ever do anything like that again, stupida —” Yolanda’s frustrated voice drowned out even the bright mariachi music from the band at the front of the room.
“It wasn’t stupid.” Cara looked at her friend, whose face moved from anger to worry. She clutched her hand and Cara winced. The acid burns were still a little sensitive. Jill said her healing would have to rebuild over time, so they’d had to concoct a story about her car battery exploding to explain the scars on her face and hands. She motioned to the dance floor with her head. “Does that look stupid to you?”
Gloria was entering the room on Paco’s arm, resplendent in her Quinceanera dress. The cast on her leg had been custom-dyed to match, but it still wasn’t quite the effect her niece had hoped for.
The band moved into a slow waltz. She couldn’t believe that Paco was going to try this, considering he’d had to fill one shoe with tissue paper to get it to even stay on. But it was his little girl’s day and how could she reach adulthood without her Papi?
Her three new amigas—Jenny, Ziri, and Ume—watched her in only slightly less elegant, matching dresses with pride in their scent and tears rolling down their faces. They held hands fiercely as their adopted papi, Paco, took a deep breath and handed his cane to Eddie. Ziri’s fingers still had a little yellow oil paint on them that even the scrubber sponge couldn’t remove. She had been trying to re-create Van Gogh’s style for the better part of a week now.
For Ume, Paco really was the only father she had left. Tony and Bobby had arrived to find their village destroyed and many of the people killed, probably by the same men who had taken the girls. Ziri’s family had been moved and Ziri would soon join them in some hidden location, but Ume would remain here so Will could train her in her new abilities. After all, she was familia now—part of the pack.
Paco held out his hand to take Gloria’s and she looked up at her father warmly. In her golden necklace, strapless gown that showed her very adult curves, and a beautiful smile under a cascade of fresh and waxed flowers, she truly did look like a princess today
. The lights in the room dimmed and the slowly spinning disco ball threw dancing lights of all colors around the room.
Cara smelled pine trees and lemongrass enter the hall and smiled. Adam had made it after all. But she didn’t search for him with her eyes. She could feel him walk across the room to talk to Will. Instead, she watched Paco and Gloria stumble through a few steps before the girl’s date stepped in to whisk her away—as much as one can be whisked in a cast Rosa looked so proud as he limped back to his chair. It had only been a week since nearly dying, and here he was, dancing! Rosa felt her smile and met her eyes happily before helping her husband into his chair. Then she sat down next to Papi who watched his granddaughter with the same pride and warmth. She knew she’d be able to convince him eventually to join in the binding. He, too, was noticing the closeness of the pack and she sensed the longing of the wolf in him for a pack to call his own.
“No, not so stupida, I suppose.” Yolanda’s voice was soft and close to her ear, so only Cara could hear, but she could make out the slight cracking in the words that matched the emotions that rolled off her.
“I’m very proud of you, Cara.” She looked up at the table’s other occupant with mixed emotions. Ten Bears had returned early from the powwow, brought back by Will from near Albuquerque. So much had changed between them in these few days. He’d moved from her most trusted confidante to… something else. But she didn’t know what. He still looked the same, yet so very different now that she knew the truth. Will was the true shaman, had always been the shaman—while Ten Bears only repeated what he was told to keep up the appearance to her pack; to protect his great-great-grandfather’s secret identity. He couldn’t offer more information because he didn’t have any to give. But did that negate all the long talks over quiet dinners where he’d given good advice? Did it take away the honest emotion that she’d smelled over the years, or the tea—however illegal—that had gotten her safely this far?
