Night Caught

by Godiva Glenn

  “Kiss away. I’ve got nothing better to watch,” the male lupine called.

  Sky laughed under her breath. “This definitely isn’t going how I imagined.”

  NINETEEN

  Mikos Fekete was probably the most pompous-looking lupine Kalle had ever met. He looked more like a human supermodel than a wolf and preached the value of antiquated lupine rituals with every breath. Accordingly, he and Kalle were never close in their former pack. Not that Mikos was anywhere near as intolerable as their alpha, Ian, but his obsession with the old ways and tradition rubbed Kalle all the wrong ways. Having one’s head that firmly in the past could never lead to a positive end.

  Or at least that’s how it had seemed for years. After witnessing Mikos trekking across the land with his previously presumed to be cursed betrothed, Kalle had to reconsider. The Sarka pack had treated Kyra worse than they treated the Edon pack refugees. Yet Mikos, the proper law-abiding wolf, had stayed by her side.

  It’s what made Kalle hope for a good talk.

  The sun was still high in the sky when Mikos and Kyra made their way to where Kalle and Sky sat waiting. Kalle hadn’t expected them both to come, but it didn’t deter his plan. He suspected that Kyra wasn’t just a mate. Her opinion had weight, and she had a proper place in the pack. He could respect that. He hated when alphas chose females to be a silent, pretty face at their backs. It smacked of their own weakness as males to not be able to bond with a challenging female.

  “Kalle,” Mikos said by way of greeting.

  Kalle stood and helped Sky up. He extended his hand to Mikos. “Thank you for seeing us.”

  “I’m told you aren’t joining us, but hopefully you didn’t come all this way to reject me again,” Kyra said to Kalle. Her eyes, however, were solely on Sky.

  “I come bearing news of a delicate matter,” he said. “I don’t see why we can’t get straight to business.”

  Kyra ignored him and held a hand out to Sky. “And you are?”

  Mikos observed Sky as well but didn’t share his mate’s obvious enthusiasm. “You brought a human?”

  “I’m Sky.” She shook Kyra’s hand. “I’m not just a human. I’m Kalle’s mate.”

  Kalle caught the surprised looks on their faces, but oddly, there was no judgment in them. He’d expected a quip from Mikos, at the very least.

  “Formally mated?” Kyra asked with a mischievous curl to her lips.

  “Not yet,” Sky admitted.

  “We don’t need details,” Mikos said. His brown eyes seemed to measure Kalle. “You look well, though. Your wolf is healthy.”

  “I am doing well, yes.”

  “Which is a relief.” Kyra offered her hand to him. “It can’t be easy though, being alone.”

  He shook her hand. “I’m not alone. Not anymore, at least.”

  “Oh, I didn’t mean anything by it,” she said. “I just assumed your union was new since…”

  “We should probably take care of that,” Sky muttered to the wind.

  Kalle cleared his throat. “Can we speak plainly here?”

  Mikos regarded them for a moment then waved over his shoulder to the lupine who’d been keeping guard of them. “Cy, head back. We’ll return in time for dinner.”

  Once they were alone, Sky glanced nervously up at Kalle. It was the moment of truth, of sorts.

  “I can’t begin to imagine what could have happened that would bring you here,” Mikos admitted. “I didn’t think we’d ever see you again.”

  “I hoped you’d come around,” Kyra insisted. “We’re nothing like the Sarka pack. You’d be forgiven in an instant. You never did anything wrong.”

  The last time they’d spoken had also been the first for them, and nothing Kyra said then had held an ounce of meaning to Kalle. His wounds had been too fresh to give her a chance and see her as anything but a spoiled, insufferable brat. Speaking to her today and seeing her courtesy toward Sky, his human mate of all things, made it clear that his original presumption of her character seemed as equally off as his first interpretation of Mikos.

  Now that he was over his bitterness, he could sense a radiance to Kyra. A kindness he wouldn’t have expected from a wolf as herself, who’d been kicked at her weakest and suffered at the hands of others—his own sister, mainly.

  “I didn’t welcome the sympathy at the time. I’m sure I came across as ungrateful,” he admitted.

  “But the invitation still stands,” Mikos said, further surprising Kalle. “For you and your mate, though we would have to observe an adjustment period.”

  “That’s not why we’re here,” Sky said. “Thank you, but we think it’s best if we not join a pack. Any pack. Nothing at all against the Eclipse pack. Umm… sir?”

  Mikos arched a brow.

  “We don’t have titles. He’s just Mikos. Or Fekete,” Kalle assured her.

  “Only people who can’t stand me call me Fekete,” Mikos said eyeing Kalle.

  “Yeah. Only people who look down on me call me Lowe,” Kalle replied.

  Kyra rolled her eyes. “Let’s not create friction where it’s not necessary. There’s no bad blood here.”

  “I definitely have nothing against either of you,” Sky said. “Especially if you tried to help Kalle in the past.”

  “See?” Kyra glanced between the men, who were holding an easy staring contest. “What dire matter brought you here?”

  Kalle dropped his eyes to Kyra. “What do you know about hunters?”

  “Not much at all.”

  “Then we’ll start there. First of all, they call themselves Wardens.”

  * * * *

  Mikos and Kyra had listened with matching horrified expressions as Kalle detailed his past months’ experience with the Wardens. He left out Sky’s origins and didn’t confess to all of her past assignments, but told them she was an agent in training who had broken her ties.

  Then he detailed everything about the facilities and capabilities of the humans that they’d for so long brushed off with the simple “hunter” designation.

  “They’ve weaponized wolfsbane,” Kyra said, her hands over her mouth in disbelief. “What if they didn’t stop there? There’s more that can harm us. The tessera…”

  “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Mikos interrupted.

  Kalle glanced at Sky but the word Kyra had let slip didn’t seem to register as recognized. He’d ask her about it later. The lupine had a dark secret blend of poisons. In the hand of the Wardens, massacring a pack would be as easy as loading up a dart gun.

  “They don’t resort to anything besides standard bullets to kill lupine currently,” he said.

  Sky nodded. He and Sky had agreed that unless asked point-blank, Sky would let him handle the answers and majority of the discussion. She had a larger part in things, after all, and they didn’t want to lose the point if Kyra or Mikos felt threatened by the former agent in their presence.

  Mikos pinched the bridge of his nose and a low growl escaped him. “The Sarka pack only encountered two hunters of which I’m aware of, but that was before I was even a teen.”

  “That either means that area is safe, or a potential future target?” Kyra asked. “How do they select their aims? Do they operate in this region?”

  Sky shrugged and waited for Kalle’s nod to answer. “Initially they seemed to be working in stages. Vampires were perceived as the bigger threat. Most of the lupine targets were hand-selected for one reason or another, but I don’t think the organization as a whole went out of their way to track specific packs.”

  “But they could keep loose tabs on them, just by following the rumors of large gatherings in the woods,” Kalle added from his memory of what Sky had said in the past. “It’s not an exact science, but it’s a lead that they’ll sometimes follow.”

  “But to answer the second part of your question, to my knowledge, this state doesn’t have a bunker like what Kalle was kept in.” Sky spoke quickly and kept her eyes down.

  Mikos watched her, and
Kalle was aware of the guilt-laced sorrow she was broadcasting.

  “And you’re no longer our enemy?” he asked.

  Sky shook her head. “I’ve made mistakes. I don’t plan on repeating them. I’m here to help fix them.”

  Kyra pursed her lips. “I’m afraid to ask how high you were in the organization to know so many secrets.”

  “High enough that she’s risking her life to help us,” Kalle said defensively.

  The tension became a stark quiet moment. This was always a risk, but Sky had insisted she be present when Kalle met with Mikos.

  Kyra sat back on her heels and looked to her mate. They’d been sitting in a circle on the ground and talking so casually about a matter that was anything but.

  “What do you expect us to do with this information?” Mikos asked finally.

  “I can’t contact other packs and expect a warm welcome,” Kalle began. “But I think it would be best to share this information—perhaps not every detail but the general danger—with some of the packs. You would be able to do this better than we could.”

  “Some of the packs?” Kyra asked.

  Mikos nodded. “We can’t make this level of an announcement to the entire lupine community.”

  “You want to leave them in the dark?”

  “If Ian suspected that the Wardens were in town, he’d likely sanction violence against any human who mistakenly stepped into pack territory,” Mikos reasoned to Kyra.

  The truth of his words sank in and left a visible impression on her. “Then how do we decide?”

  “That, again, is something better left at your discretion.” Kalle offered an apologetic glance at Mikos. “I hate to put it on your shoulders.”

  “No, you have a valid reason to. We’re training runners. We’ll be connected to the other packs soon enough,” Mikos said.

  “Runners?” Sky asked.

  “Some lupine take up the task to travel between the packs. It helps us stay in touch. Sometimes they help solve problems, too,” Kyra explained. “Oh. And I bet then we could contact the Bronze pack.”

  Mikos nodded. “Reid is a sensible wolf. And well-respected across many packs.”

  “Is that a ‘yes’ then,” Sky asked.

  “We can warn other packs. Maybe drop subtle hints to those that are more likely to retaliate,” Kyra said, watching Mikos.

  “That’s the first part.” Kalle rubbed his knuckles on his jeans and considered the wording of his next request. “But we also need to know who is willing to face danger.”

  “What are you considering?” Mikos asked.

  “If a Warden is spotted, we need to track them. Not kill them but follow them and see about taking down the group rather than the individual.”

  “But you don’t think we should kill them?”

  “They may not give us a choice, but primarily, we can disable them by destroying their bases. They all work out of locations. The Wardens are seen as a terrorist organization to the human government, so they aren’t all just meeting up in bars or their own homes,” Kalle explained.

  “Plus, if they have a bunker and it’s put out of commission, that sets them back in terms of funds and supplies. If they can’t experiment or train, they don’t move forward,” Sky added.

  Kyra looked skeptical. “I don’t know if many lupine want to take that risk. If they fail, they could get caught and face what you did.”

  “Sky and I will always be at the front of any mission.” Kalle squeezed Sky’s hand and pulled it onto his lap. “All we ask is for extra eyes and ears whenever possible.”

  “This is all quite ambitious.” Mikos steepled his fingers and stared down at them. “I’ll need time to think about your second request.”

  “Of course.” Kalle hadn’t expected an immediate agreement to his first condition, much less the second.

  “Where are you staying?” Mikos asked. “I need to consult with the elders. That could take time.”

  Kalle gestured around them. “Here, I suppose.”

  “Sorry we can’t offer much more,” Kyra said to Sky. “We’ve relaxed a lot of our rules, but strangers in the pack center? That’s not an easy change. Especially considering the danger…”

  “We’re fine.” Sky rubbed Kalle’s knee. “The outdoors suits us both.”

  Mikos and Kyra rose first, and Sky and Kalle followed.

  “We’ll return with our decision as soon as it’s made,” Mikos said offering his hand to Kalle again. “I can’t say when that may be. Our council is a bit… rusty.”

  “He means that we haven’t mastered a balanced discourse yet.” Kyra teased. “When you take a step away from the old ways, it means you spend a lot of time examining every detail of new decisions. Lots of disagreeing. Lots of points of views to consider.”

  “Being alpha isn’t easy,” Kalle agreed and shook Mikos’s hand.

  “But we’ll try not to keep you waiting for too long.”

  Kyra and Mikos left, and once they were out of sight, Kalle turned to Sky. “Thoughts?”

  “I like them.”

  “Really?”

  “They felt sincere. Which sounds strange since sincerity isn’t tangible, but you get what I mean?” she asked.

  He did. He’d felt it too. It almost hurt to see that two of the lupine he’d judged as mostly worthless had turned out to be reasonable and reliable.

  “How long do you think they’ll be gone?”

  “I wouldn’t expect to see them until tomorrow,” Kalle surmised. “It sounds like Mikos actually listens to his elders. Fair discussions can’t be rushed, and I’m sure the opinions will be across the spectrum.”

  Sky nodded slowly and peered at the empty tree line where Mikos and Kyra had vanished. “In that case…”

  “Yeah?”

  “We’re outside. Maybe it’s time to make things official.”

  He started to question her, but the smoldering look in her eyes told him exactly what she meant. “You want to mate?”

  “I’m ready if you are.”

  “I officially am.”

  TWENTY

  Kalle had Sky pressed against a large tree, reminiscent of their first, albeit disastrous, encounter. They kissed hungrily; their passion having built up steadily throughout their time searching for the Eclipse pack. They hadn’t given in to distractions.

  Since they had nothing to do but wait now, Kalle saw no reason to put off what he’d been longing to do ever since they first set foot outside the city. He was going to claim Sky completely. His only regret—and it was a slight one—was that they still hadn’t discovered if she had claws of her own.

  She didn’t understand his persistent curiosity, but then again, he hadn’t yet detailed what an official lupine mating involved. Spoiler, it involved claws.

  He tugged down on her hair, angling her chin up and giving him more control over their kiss. It was a subtle battle, but he needed to win it tonight.

  Her throat released soft noises against his mouth, whimpers of desire he greedily swallowed and savored. The sounds she made when overcome with lust fed his ego, he wasn’t ashamed to admit.

  The sun had set shortly after Kyra and Mikos had left them alone, and now that the moon was on a slow ascent, the hum of the ancestors stretched across the land and called to Kalle. He never thought he’d feel their blessing again, yet they were with him now, even if he wasn’t a part of their pack.

  Their presence was a soothing vibration of power across his skin, urging his wolf forward and fueling the primal side of him. Perfect timing.

  Sky’s hands tugged at his shirt and he broke their kiss long enough to yank it over his head and throw it aside. He was back at her delicious lips immediately, body pressed against hers in desperation for the closeness.

  Her fingers raked through his hair, scraping his skull. Her fervor matched his. It was unlikely that she felt the ancestors, but even if she did, he wasn’t going to stop what he was doing to ask, much less explain the magic of the land they were on. />
  Instead, his hand tore at her pants until the zipper gave way. He shoved down into the tight denim and grazed at her through the thin cotton of her underwear. His fingertips met slick wetness which he rubbed into until he could feel the crease of her entrance. Her pants were a tight trap around his hand, and he needed more room, but thought twice of ripping the offending fabric away.

  “Why can’t you wear dresses?” he growled.

  She laughed and nipped at his bottom lip. He gave her one last deep kiss before pulling away. The jeans pulled down somewhat easily for appearing to have been painted onto her lean muscled legs, but he was stumped by her boots, which were laced high and tight over her ankles.

  “Are you kidding me?” He fumbled with the laces and felt a surge of triumph once he saw her socked feet.

  “I didn’t dress for mating,” she said in a sing-song way.

  Her amusement was cute, but he would make her pay for such silly taunts. Once she was bare from the waist down, he pulled off her shirt, which promptly got stuck in her long, wavy hair.

  “Well fuck,” she muttered. She slapped his hands as they went for her bra and removed it herself. “Lesson learned. I’ll get better clothing.”

  He nodded and shoved his own pants down after kicking his shoes to the side. Her dysfunctional wardrobe wasn’t killing the mood, but it certainly wasn’t helping. Once they were both naked, however, the moon shone down a spotlight on Sky’s glorious form.

  She still had her back to the tree, but now her eyes were silver and reflective, like an eerie yet sexy optical illusion. The scent of her arousal hung in the air, an enticing feast for his every breath.

  Her racing heart echoed in his ears, and he had to assume that she heard his as well. With every passing day, her senses had grown. He’d introduced her to burgers and steak before they’d left the city, and now in the woods, she was addicted to beef jerky.

  The meat jokes between them had become a constant. He loved that. He’d never been the humorous sort before her.

  He held his hand out to her and she placed her trembling fingertips into his grasp. “Nervous?”