by R. J. Blain
“Understood.”
Chapter Nineteen
We reached Hellschwandbach in a little over half an hour. If Amber objected to my reckless driving, she showed no sign of it as she skidded to a halt on the fringe of the hamlet tucked deep in the heart of a valley. She was out of the SUV and on the move, her gun out and at the ready.
I didn’t blame her in the slightest for her wariness; the quiet serenity of the place set me on edge. The calm before the storm was something I’d experienced far too many times. Instead of the sense of security most enjoyed in such a sleepy little place, I expected the shadows to solidify into enemies.
Lane tensed, and his hand hovered over the grip of his gun.
She held my phone to her ear. “Wait here.”
Selective hearing was a trait that had gotten me into—and out of—more trouble than I cared to think about. Unbuckling my belt, I slid out of Desmond’s SUV, unholstering my gun and doing a sweep of the forest, although I did stay near the vehicles. Lane stayed behind, but his weapon was out and ready.
Covering Amber’s six was my first priority, and I slinked after her. The woman strolled towards the trees, her hands in her pockets and her posture relaxed.
“Amber?” Richard’s voice rumbled, and I sniffed the air. The cinnamon of werewolves filled my nose, so many mingling scents my wolf and I were challenged to identify individual signatures.
“As if I’d stay in Canada when the fun is here. Hustle it; we’re on a tight schedule.”
I watched the woods, and the shadows did converge into the figures of seven women and two men. I straightened, careful to keep my weapon ready but pointed at the ground rather than at anyone.
“Commandeered yourself a soldier, Amber?” For someone with such a deep voice, Richard was a small man. I wasn’t a big man myself, but I still had several inches on him.
The man beside him, who I assumed was Sanders, was lean but muscular and tall enough I’d probably have to lift my chin to look him in the eye. He stared at me. I stared back.
My wolf wanted me to bare my teeth and snarl, but I restrained him.
Richard smiled, gestured with his hand, and the women from Scallywag’s castle emerged from the trees. The wear and tear of long-distance travel marked their clothes, clothes they hadn’t had when they had fled Scully’s castle. Enough dirt layered them I wondered if they had found some mud to roll in during their journey.
Amber snorted. “Get your ass in the car, Richard. Go with him. Patricia, stay with Richard. Sanders, with me.” Amber pointed at several of the women. “You’re with me. Rest of you go with Richard.”
I backed towards Desmond’s SUV, ignoring my marks to watch the forest. The stillness of the forest unnerved me almost as much as the silent prowl of the werewolves following me to the vehicles.
Hopping behind the wheel, I turned to Lane. “Take the back. I want you watching our tail.”
The SEAL handed over my phone, jumped out, circled the vehicle, and crouched behind the seats.
Richard took Lane’s place. “You got here fast.”
I grunted, buckling in. Instead of holstering my gun, I offered it and my cell to the werewolf, who took it, checking over the weapon before he nodded.
Three women slid into the SUV. When I had met them, my vision had been too blurred to help me distinguish who was who except for Julie.
It was hard to forget the woman who had floored me and straddled my chest like she owned me. My wolf hadn’t forgotten her, either.
“You really didn’t die?” she blurted, taking the seat behind me.
Instead of answering, I checked my rearview mirror, confirmed everyone was in the vehicle and the doors were closed, and put the SUV into drive. I spun the vehicle, taking advantage of the snow to execute a full spin. Amber tailed me.
“Amber, take the lead. Lane’s covering our six.”
“Yes, sir,” she replied.
“Drive like you mean it. I want to be back to the cabin in under thirty.”
“Are you insane?” Amber shrieked.
“Marine,” I reminded her.
Snarled curses answered me, but the woman floored the gas right up until we reached the steep roads leading up to the cabin.
No one followed us, and I worried.
Amber made me go first over the cliff trail to the cabin, and my wolf egged me into showing off. Desmond’s SUV handled like a dream, and I enjoyed the thrill of coaxing the vehicle up and over the final stretch, guiding the vehicle so close to the cliff face I was amazed I didn’t scrape the paint.
Richard whistled the moment we were clear, and I parked in front of Desmond’s cabin. “Nicole was right. That is some of the damned sexiest driving I’ve seen in a long time.”
“You have the strangest family.”
Everyone in the vehicle burst into laughter, even Lane.
I slid out of the SUV, stifling a yawn. Amber pulled up beside me, stomped over, and shoved her gun in my face. “Are you insane?”
Blinking at her, I pressed my finger to the side of the barrel and redirected her weapon.
Patricia laughed. “Amber, are you really asking him that? He jumped off a cliff while wearing a dress.”
“I hadn’t heard that part.” Amber scowled. “You could have gotten yourself killed driving like that. That’s a cliff.”
“Amber, don’t question the man’s sexy driving. You just can’t do that,” Richard huffed, circling around the SUV and pointing at her. “Put the gun away. No murders. No murders. Why do I have to remind people not to murder anyone? I sound like Mom.”
“Richard?” Nicole slammed her way out of the doorway, and I was amazed the thing stayed on its hinges. The woman plowed through the snow and slammed into the man, tackling him to the ground. Howling curses, she pummeled him with her fists.
He laughed, wrapped his arms around her, and buried his face against her neck. “Good morning, beautiful.”
“Don’t kill him, Nicole. Please,” Sanders said, standing over the pair with a pained expression. “I know he’s a pain in the ass, but I like him. No murders. Damnit, now I sound like Wendy, too.”
“I’m going to pretend I’m not seeing this,” Desmond snarled from the cabin’s front porch. “I’m going to pretend you brought back supplies like you said you were. I’m going to keep pretending you three did not sneak out of here without telling me you were doing the extraction!”
“Oh, hey. It’s Richard.” Dante leaned against the doorway. “I want a turn with him, Nicole.”
“No, Dante. We want Richard alive. If you take a turn, Richard might not survive,” Dante’s brother said, sliding through the pair of men to approach me. “Nice work, Major McGrady. We haven’t had a chance to be properly introduced. I’m Elliot Anderson.”
I shook with him. Before I could pull free, he tightened his grip. There was something unnerving about the way he stared at me. My wolf’s wariness swept through me, and I tensed.
Lane made a strangled noise. I twisted around in time to see the SEAL snap a salute and blurt, “Sir!”
“You know him?” I tried to pull my hand free, but Elliot kept a firm hold on me.
“He’s a VIP, sir.”
VIP could mean many things, from upper government official to someone like Vice Admiral Haney. “VIP or not, I’m about five seconds from tossing him in the snow.”
Elliot didn’t let me go.
I counted to five. When he kept holding on, me and my wolf had enough. I shifted my weight, grabbed hold of the front of his pristine suit, and tossed the man directly on top of Nicole and Richard.
He released me and landed with a grunt.
Instead of the anger I expected, Elliot burst into laughter. The man bumped fists with Richard. “Glad to see you in one piece, Richard.”
“Get off me, both of you,” the werewolf replied.
Nicole pouted. “But I like you where I have you.”
I doubted I would ever understand werewolves or their human friends. “La
ne, you’re fresh. Pull an op together, set a watch, and dispose of the electronics. We’ll stick to the short-range comms from this point forward.”
“Yes, sir!”
Sleep would soothe my nerves more than anything, and I had a feeling things would be rough once I got back up—if the tail didn’t locate us first. If the tail did, Lane could handle it. If my guess was correct, so could Richard. Add in Desmond, Nicole, Amber, and eight other werewolves, and I had hope they could handle things without my intervention.
I was halfway to the larger cabin before Dante intercepted me. I tensed, but the man kept out of arm’s reach, twisting to face Richard and Nicole, who were still lying in the snow. “Don’t give Amber or Nicole any trouble, Richard. I’ll take care of Declan.”
Richard saluted from his prone position beneath Nicole.
“I wasn’t aware I needed to be taken care of,” I grumbled, narrowing my eyes. “Bob.”
Grinning, Dante slapped his hand to my back and gave me a shove forward. “Damn Desmond anyway for ruining our perfectly good arrangement. How can anyone dislike the name Bob? It worked so well for us, Declan.”
“I know, right?” I heaved a sigh. “Do you have to deal with them all the time?”
“Unfortunately.”
“I could toss you off the side now. Put you out of your misery. It’s the least I could do as your friend,” I offered.
Dante laughed. “Richard would cry.”
“Dante,” the werewolf in question growled. “Do not make me come over there.”
“You should. You can stand guard. It’s the least you can do since I had to come to Europe to pull your ass out of the fire. Let Desmond and Nicole work with Lane, Sanders, and Amber on a plan. You can come join me and Declan.”
“What about me?” Elliot demanded.
“Stand around and boss Desmond around. You know how much he likes that.”
Elliot got to his feet and dusted the snow off his suit. “Why are you being an ass today, Dante?”
“Declan brings out the best in me. Desmond doesn’t care. You know he needs supervision especially when weapons are involved. I saw the inventory they made off with. They need the supervision. Do not let them turn this into a large-scale international incident.”
Desmond laughed. “He’s probably right, Elliot. We need your unending wisdom. Otherwise, we will turn this into an international incident. Think about it. Amber has access to a lot of weaponry right now. If we leave her unsupervised, she’ll start wars because she can. Oh, send that programmer over. I bet he has good ideas. That young man has a hell of a head on his shoulders.”
“You all test my patience.” Elliot flipped a rude gesture in Dante’s direction. “Fine, run away. I see how it is. Leave me to do the heavy work as usual.”
Dante sighed. “Amber, did you really have to kidnap him, too? Dealing with Desmond and Richard together is bad enough. But Elliot, too? What did I ever do to you?”
I nudged Dante with my elbow. “Are you sure you don’t want me to toss you over the edge? It’ll only hurt for a second.”
“I’ll be all right. I’m not sure about you, though. Maybe you should run and escape while you can. I’ll slow them down for you.”
“Mine,” Desmond and Nicole yelled. Turning to each other, father and daughter glared, and with a snarl, Nicole lunged. The two rolled in the snow, leaving Richard to make a snow angel.
“What is wrong with you people?” Pinching my nose, I weighed my options, wondering if I could leave them to fend for themselves.
“I wouldn’t wish them on anyone. I’m so sorry, Declan,” Dante said, giving me a push in the direction of the cabin. “Richard, come protect us from your wife and father-in-law.”
“Why me?”
Dante sighed and shook his head. “Because if I let you and Nicole stay in the same room right now, no one will get anything done for the next week, and we don’t have a week to let her satisfy herself you’re actually in one piece. Come on, Richard.”
“I protest. You’re not stealing him. He just got here.” Nicole jammed her hand under her father’s chin and grabbed a handful of snow. “Do not make me shoot you, Dante.”
“You wouldn’t shoot me.”
“Just because I haven’t shot you yet doesn’t mean I won’t.”
Desmond took advantage of his daughter’s distraction to roll over and pin her beneath him. “Just go, Richard.”
With my chances of getting any sleep deteriorating by the second, I sighed, shook my head, and headed inside, already planning my escape. Anthony and Lane would manage without me, wouldn’t they?
I had my doubts.
Anthony seemed eager to join the planning session, hesitating long enough to scrutinize Richard and Dante. My friend, co-worker, and conspirator narrowed his eyes, dismissed both men with a huff, and headed for the other cabin.
Richard stared at Anthony’s back, his brown eyes streaked with wolf yellow. “Now that is a ballsy human. I want him, Dante.”
“No,” I snarled. “Mine.”
Great. I was going to be as bad as Nicole and Desmond at the rate I was going.
The other werewolf turned to me, bared his teeth, and growled at me. “What are you going to do about it, puppy?”
My wolf wanted me to shift and deal with the male. The urge to grip Richard’s throat in my teeth until he submitted conflicted with my habit of retreating and giving other werewolves a wide berth.
If I didn’t, he’d take Anthony away from me. The thought of losing my friend to another werewolf frightened my wolf.
My wolf’s fright infuriated me so much I lunged for Richard’s throat, embracing my wolf’s shape.
Pink paws and glowing fur or not, I wouldn’t let another werewolf steal Anthony from me. In my desperation to drive Richard out of my territory, I fought to rush the process. Pain blinded me, and the taste of my blood washed over my tongue.
I had no idea how long I hung in the space between seconds, fire burning through my body, but when I finished shifting, I slammed into the other werewolf. My teeth missed his neck, and my fangs sank into his clothes without digging into his flesh.
I was aware of the gold cuff wrapped around my foreleg, the only thing on me that hadn’t shifted and become a part of my body.
Richard wrapped his arms around my neck and pinned my head to him, one hand wrapping around my muzzle. “And Nicole says I have a temper. Jesus! A little help here, Dante.”
Snarling, I clawed at Richard and fought to free my head and neck from his grip. For his small size, he had muscles of steel, and the harder I fought, the tighter he held onto me until stabbing pain jolted through my muzzle. My growls dissolved into yips, and I thrashed.
“You pissed him off. You deal with him. I know you’re edgy, but that’s not how you thank him. Idiot. Don’t threaten his partner. In case you didn’t notice, you’re hurting him. Ease your grip. He was shot twice getting the bitches out. Desmond told me it was one round through the arm and a graze across the shoulder, and they were both healing slow.”
While Richard growled, the vice-like hold on my muzzle eased. He held my upper body off the ground, forcing me to stand on my hind paws, which limited my range of motion.
I was strong, but Richard was stronger, and he acted like he didn’t even notice me struggling in his arms. “That was a Normal. Not a witch. Not a wolf.”
“And? Give me a break, Richard. You bonded with Alex back when you didn’t have a pack. He was a Normal. He was also three. Desmond suspects he’s probably bonded with Anthony at the very least, and it wouldn’t surprise him if he’s been warming up to Lane.” Dante sighed, coming into my field of vision. The man reached out and seized the scruff of my neck. “Desmond said he refused to shift last night. Nicole calls him a stray. She likes him a lot. They’ve been fighting over who gets to keep him since she flew over.”
I kept growling, but I was too intrigued by Richard and Dante’s argument to put much effort into my attempt to sink my te
eth into the rival werewolf’s neck.
“All right.”
“Apologize.”
“He attacked me.”
I snarled at Richard’s incredulous tone of voice.
“He called himself a werewolf, Richard.”
As the silence stretched on, and my wolf’s discomfort grew until I whined, lifting my front paws in my effort to claw free of the pair’s hold.
“And?”
“Desmond said he didn’t know what a Fenerec was.”
“All right.”
“Apologize.”
Richard huffed.
“Richard.”
“He attacked me.”
“I’m about to attack you, Richard. You deserved it. Pity he didn’t get a hold on you because he rushed it. Damned good rush, too. Better than you. Stings, doesn’t it? Found a wolf who can beat you on the draw. When Nicole and Desmond find out, they’re going to brawl for the right to have him. Now apologize.”
“You’re siding with him?”
“Damned straight I’m siding with him. He found Patricia. You didn’t. He did. He found her, he busted her out, and then he found your ass and led us right to you. Apologize.”
“Fine.”
“That’s not an apology.”
“It’s close enough.”
Dante sighed. “I’m going to give you two choices. Choice one: put Declan down, lower your head, and apologize. Choice two: Get your ass kicked around this cabin by me. When I’m finished, I will march over to the other cabin, inform your father you were abusing Declan, and watch you get your ass kicked again. When he’s done, I’m going to tell Nicole you threatened Declan. When she’s done kicking your ass, I’ll let the SEAL have a turn with you. What’ll it be, punk?”
“You really are being an ass today, Dante.”
“It has been a really, really long day. My day started thirty-six hours ago. So?”
“Fine.”
