by Rider, C. P.
"The purpose of my entire existence over the last two years has been to find my brother, Luke. We made a deal. You said you'd help when I asked."
Teeth gritted, he said, "She's being hunted."
"All the more reason for Neely to come here. If Gil's on her trail, he'll follow her. We can save him and take down this Legion organization at the same time."
"No."
Shoving aside my shock at Juan's news and my intense annoyance with Lucas for thinking he could speak for me, I asked, "Is what the witches told me true? Can dire wolves make people see things? Dream things? Is there more to it than just being an ancient giant wolf?"
Not that I didn't trust my witches, but it had been a lot to take in, and I hadn't been sure what to believe.
"Yes, it's true. As your ability allows you to enter another's brain and kill them, ours allows us to enter your mind and make you see things that aren't there."
I recalled the twenty-dollar bill tucked beneath the shot glass. "He gave me money to pay for his beer. I put it under the bar, and after he left, the money was still there. How did he do that if he wasn't actually in the room?"
"Is the money still there?" he asked.
"I-I don't know." Suddenly chilled, I wrapped my arms around myself. "Chandra would have mentioned it, wouldn't she? She's meticulous when it comes to accounting." I looked at Lucas, then at the phone. "I spiked him until he ran away, and he was still able to hold that part of the illusion? How the hell strong are you guys?"
"Very," Lucas replied.
"Why didn't you tell me what Alpha Juan was back at the sanctuary?"
"I asked Luke not to. I try hard to keep what I am a secret outside of close friends and family. There was a time when Luke did the same thing for similar reasons. Surely you, of all people, can understand."
"Hold on a hot minute. If you're this all-powerful dire wolf, why didn't you use that ability when you came for me in the sanctuary? You could have put the nightmare sorcery on Garrett Harris and the rest of those bastards and taken me home."
"I would not have let you die in there, Neely. If pushed hard enough, I would have tipped my hand sooner. In fact, I thought I might have to when Harris commanded you to kill the young wolf."
"Tellis." I shuddered at the memory of being commanded to murder a young shifter I now considered a friend.
"I didn't need to, though. You killed the guard instead and saved me having to step in. That's when I knew I wasn't going to have to save you, not really, because you were going to end up saving yourself. I only had to make sure you didn't kill me before I had a chance to tell you I was on your side."
"What about when you were fighting with Lucas after he shifted into Smilodon form? He beat the hell out of you and Chandra when he slipped into his, uh, dark mode. Why not use it then?"
"Berserker mode." Lucas returned to his spot in the doorway. "You can use the term with Johnny. He has the same problem."
"If I'd changed, you'd have had two prehistoric shifters in berserker mode, one of them a dire wolf. Seemed smarter to take the beating. Smith agreed, you know. We discussed it between concussions." He ended the sentence upbeat, but his tone quickly dropped again. "I've been searching for my brother for a long time, Neely. I have to save him. And I don't think I can do that without your help."
"It's been seventeen years since I've been back home. Maybe it's time." I glared at Lucas when he shook his head. "Let me think about it."
"That's all I ask. Thank you, Neely."
We hung up.
"You are not going to Texas. It's too dangerous." The alpha growl beneath his voice was more pronounced than ever. I didn't like it.
"It's my decision," I said. "Not yours."
He crushed the cell phone in his fist. The plastic casing made a crackling sound that echoed through the empty café. "We're together, Neely."
"Regardless of our relationship status, I'm still me. I make my own decisions."
"What the hell? Do you honestly think I'm trying to control you right now? I'm trying to make you see reason. After everything you went through recently, how can you think going to Texas is a good idea?"
"I don't think it's a good idea. Neither do I think staying here and hiding is a good idea. There are no good ideas here." I lifted my chin and looked him straight in the eye. "But there's only one way to stop organizations like this, and that's to yank them out by the roots. If those roots are in Austin, then I may have to go home and do some pulling."
Another crackle. He was going to need a new phone. "So, you've decided and nothing I say can change that."
"No. Maybe. I don't know what I've decided. I need time to process this."
"Alone," he said. "You didn't say it, but that's what you meant, right?"
"Yes. Alone."
Lucas opened his hand and stared down at his broken phone. He turned to go.
"And after I'm finished thinking, I'm going to need a sounding board. Someone I can depend on. I hope you can be that board for me."
He stopped and spun slowly back around. "I might not be the best board right now. Oh sure, I may seem as cool as a cucumber in a meat locker on the outside, but on the inside, I'm freaking out at the thought of you being in danger. You probably couldn't tell." He held up the broken phone, and we both smiled.
"Not at all. You really played it cool, Blacke." I crossed the room and wrapped my arms around him. "It's okay that you're not okay. I'm not entirely okay, either."
"I'm sorry if I was being an ass about it. I'm an alpha. Everything inside me wants to hold you so close no one can ever hurt you." He brushed a hand over my hair.
"That sounds both sweet and stifling."
"Like the reaction I get when I try to give Lestat a hug?"
"Yes." My smile widened. "Go home and practice being a good sounding board. Pretend Lestat is me."
"Last time I tried, he refused to wear the sundress and sneakers. Also, his mantecadas are terrible."
I laughed and went up on my toes to kiss him. "I love you, you infuriating, wonderful man."
"I love you, too. Carter's off-duty today, so I'll keep an eye on the bakery. From afar. To let you process."
After Lucas left, I flipped the open sign on the door and went into the kitchen to start my baking. I was woefully behind schedule. I could practically feel my tío glaring disapprovingly at me from heaven. I should have been up and in the kitchen by four a.m. and had fresh conchas in the oven by five.
The rest of my day was slow and uneventful. At four o'clock, I texted Lucas to tell him that I was closed, then packed up a box of fresh polvorones and headed to the witches' tower.
Most nights Dolores and Dottie stayed up until dawn chanting magic into the tower in an attempt to awaken the sleeping building. With Fiera out of town, they were working on it double-time. Apparently, one less witch meant twice as much chanting. I hated to bother them again, but I needed to talk to someone, and Lucas wasn't yet ready to be my sounding board.
Desert grit crunched under my sneakers and a crisp wind blew my cotton sundress high on my thighs as I hurried up the walk to the tower. I hadn't bothered to change out of my work clothes, and I regretted not throwing on a sweatshirt, because it was chilly.
The wood door was massive, and scraped my knuckles when I knocked. It would have made a great drawbridge for a medieval castle.
"Is that you, Neely?" A sleepy Dolores yanked the door open, something she had to have done with the help of the tower itself. "Good gravy, what are you doing here at this ungodly hour? It's still light out, for Pete's sake."
"I need advice." I held up the cookies. "I brought snacks."
Dolores's eyes lit up. "Well, what are you waiting for? Come on in. Dot, put on the coffee. We've got cookies."
Dolores, Dottie, and I sat around their small kitchen table with our coffee and polvorones. My coffee was decaf since it was my evening. Theirs was fully caffeinated, since their day had just begun. I told them everything, concluding my story with the pho
ne call from Alpha Juan.
"Told you it was a dire wolf," Dolores said.
Dottie nibbled on a cookie. "Must you go to Texas, dear? It seems dangerous."
"Yeah. I hate to agree with the tiger, but he's got a point." Dolores dipped her cookie into her coffee. "Don't tell him I said that."
"I know he does, but I have a point, too. I can either kill the wolf here or go to Texas and see if I can help Alpha Juan save him."
"And dismantle another one of those terrible places at the same time?" Dottie looked thoughtful. "That's important to you, isn't it?"
I shrugged. "Yes and no. I want to see all sanctuaries and anything like them burned to the ground, but I don't have to be the one to do it. It's enough that I see the blackened soil where they once stood."
"Well, let's say you stay here." Her first cookie finished, Dolores leaned back in her chair and sipped her coffee. "How do you intend to protect yourself from the dire wolf?"
Dottie nodded. "Yes. What if he decides to attack you with his illusions again? What will you do if, as you say, you have difficulty spiking him?"
"I had a problem locking onto his brainwaves. I spiked him just fine. Enough, at least, for him to run away."
"And still he was able to hold onto the illusion."
"Only that twenty-dollar bill."
"Plus, he was able to make you forget him. That's impressive. Never heard of a dire wolf being able to wipe a person's memory. Do you think he might be working with another spiker, or perhaps a trancer?"
"Trancers. Yuck."
"Oh yeah. Don't suppose you've heard from that guy, have you?" Dolores eyed me over the top of her mug.
Trancers had the ability to influence others via a natural form of hypnosis. Basically, they stripped a person of their will and made them do what they wanted—within limits. I'd had a run-in with a trancer in the sanctuary. He'd turned out to be a "good guy," which I always tempered by using quotation fingers since he'd been a lot less than good to me.
"No, and I hope I never do again, because I threatened to spike him dead the last time we saw each other." The trancer, Sampson Ibarra, now worked for my dad's agency, which meant there was a chance I'd see him again, but only a small one.
Dolores chuckled. "Painted yourself into a corner, did you?"
"Well, yeah. I feel like I'd have to at least hurt him, or else what good is my word?" I sighed. "Still, I don't think the wolf is working with a trancer. The energy didn't feel the same."
"Could be something else, I guess," Dolores said. "A witch or a mage?"
"We might be reaching. I mean, maybe it had to do with me hitting my head on the bar." I didn't believe that. Lucas had healed my concussion and it didn't help my memory any. The wolf had done it somehow. Not wiped my memory, but definitely fogged his appearance in it.
"That's a possibility," Dottie said unconvincingly.
"Don't suppose either of you have any ideas. A charm, maybe?"
"Sorry. Anything like that would also block you from spiking." Dolores grabbed another cookie from the box. "Dot?"
"You're right, sister. Though, I've been thinking." Dottie picked up her mug and held it to her mouth without taking a drink. "Neely, remember when you saved Alpha Blacke's life by spiking inside his head? You traced the witch who'd cursed him and spiked her dead."
Dolores wrinkled her nose. "Yeah, and that nasty old broad was miles away."
"Exactly. When someone opens a mental connection with you, they make themselves vulnerable. The dire wolf might not have been in the bar, but he was able to connect with you and make you think he was, giving you a pathway to his consciousness. Perhaps the answer is not a traditional spike, but one more like the one you did to escape that nightmare world."
"Yeah. Jump on that pathway and use it to spike him the way you did the witch." Dolores grabbed another cookie out of the box.
"My sister is right. Most people don't have a way to fight a dire wolf. You do. Use it without hesitation."
I frowned. "When you say without hesitation…"
"Stick him on the wrong side of the grass. Sign him up for the invisible choir." Dolores rolled her eyes. "It means, first chance you get, send him down to see ol' Scratch."
"Yes, you'll want to kill the creature before he kills you, dear." Dottie's high lilting voice made her directive even creepier than it already was.
"We think it's Alpha Juan's brother. I don't want to kill him if I can avoid it."
"And if you can't avoid it?" Dolores's brow shot up.
"Then he dies." I toed a crate tucked beneath the windowsill. "Is this wine? I thought the tower turned everything alcoholic into fizzy water because it was angry about Dolores trying to open a bar in the gift shop."
If the witches thought my change of subject was abrupt, they didn't comment on it.
"Oh, it did, at first. But our resident fire witch asked it to turn the fizzy water into wine so we could put it to use instead of throwing it out, and the tower appears to have agreed. It removed the enchantment, though, so it's only regular vino." Dottie gave me a smile that creased her eyes and gave her an instant facelift. She was a joyful witch, a stark contrast to her sister, but I loved them both. They were family, as was the fire witch.
"When's Fiera coming home?" I asked.
"Soon, I hope. She called last night and said the realtor thinks he can sell Uncle Zeph's old place in under a week. I guess the haunted house market in Atlanta is pretty hot right now."
"The house is haunted?" I sipped my wine.
"Fiera thinks so," Dottie said.
"Sparky is probably right." Dolores took another cookie out of the box.
"You have to stop calling Fiera Sparky," I said.
She stuck out of her tongue and blew a raspberry. "It's a term of endearment."
"I doubt she sees it that way."
Dolores snapped her fingers and pointed at me. "Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. Dot and me aren't doing a hot spring soak tonight."
"Why not?" I finished my coffee and took my mug to the sink.
"Because Dolores has a date." Dottie giggled.
"Yep. I met someone on one of those dating apps on my phone. Name is Alvin Wallace. He looks pretty good. Bald and old, so he's got that going for him. I like my men experienced and hairless."
Yikes. That was as far as I wanted that part of the conversation to go.
"It's okay. I need to get back to Lucas, anyway. He deserves to know what I'm planning in regard to going to Texas."
"What are you planning?" Dolores asked.
"Hell if I know."
Chapter Ten
I went to bed early, but sleep wouldn't come. To combat this, I read a book on oven repair, listened to spa music, and watched a documentary on plant photosynthesis.
Nothing worked.
After an hour of tossing and turning, I threw on a pair of jeans and a sweater, shoved my feet into my cleanest sneakers, and walked the two blocks to the Dusty Cactus Saloon. Most of the tables were occupied, I was pleased to see. Chandra was doing good business.
"Hey. Fancy seeing you here at such a late hour. Aren't you an early riser?"
"Hi, Chandra." I climbed on a bar stool. "Lucas is on an all-night training run with Carter and I can't sleep, so I thought I might as well come down and bother you."
"You're no bother." She set a bottle of water on a coaster in front of me. "Frankly, I'm surprised you'd feel like coming around here after what happened last night."
I twisted the cap off the bottle. "Amir told you?"
"Yeah."
"Chandra, did you find any money under the register when you came in this morning? Tucked beneath a shot glass, or maybe on the floor?"
"No, sorry." She folded a white cloth and sprayed cleaner into it before scrubbing down the bar.
It really had all been in my head. "Did Lucas tell you that we believe the creature hunting me is a dire wolf? Alpha Juan's younger brother, no less."
"He did, so you can imagine my disma
y when you walked in here alone at nearly midnight." She frowned hard at me to drive her disapproval home.
"Feel free to not mention that to Lucas." I played with the label on my water bottle. "Have you ever dealt with a dire wolf?"
"Only Juan Martinez, and never in dire wolf form. But I know what they're capable of." She stopped scrubbing. "You're really considering going to Texas to fight this thing?"
I nodded. "Lucas thinks it's a terrible idea."
"It is. Doesn't mean it's not necessary."
I stopped playing with my water bottle and took a drink. "I'm worried about bringing danger here. Chandra, I don't want to worry Lucas, and I don't want to leave, but I can't have that on my conscience. I waited too long to help when Roso came to town and people died, my uncle died, because of it."
"Those people died because Roso killed them. Don't get it twisted."
"I didn't act. I should have. This time I will."
Chandra drummed her fingers on the bar. "Look, maybe I shouldn't tell you this, but you deserve to know. Earp had a run-in with something today and it wasn't anyone from Sundance."
"The wolf?" I asked.
"Yes, but not the dire wolf. This was a white wolf, an alpha female. She was in the canyons, near one of Earp's hideouts."
"Is he all right?"
"Yeah. She gave chase but didn't attack. Seemed more interested in scaring him than hurting him."
I looked around. "Where is he now?"
"With Dottie. I gave him the night off. Lupita came in instead." She gestured to the young woman approaching us with an empty cork-lined tray.
"Table Four wants three tap beers. Cheap stuff."
Chandra reached for three glass mugs. "Keep an eye on Table Five. One of them brought a deck of cards and we both know Larry Galvin is prone to cheating."
"Got it, boss." Lupita flicked her long black braid over her shoulder and flicked beer foam off her shirt. Like Chandra, she wore the winter Dusty Cactus uniform, jeans and a long-sleeved black T-shirt with the green Dusty Cactus Saloon logo printed on the left breast. In summer, the T-shirt was short-sleeved.
"Good to see you," I said.