by Dannika Dark
Though Lakota might be a virgin, he wasn’t a blind man. Melody wasn’t as voluptuous as some women, yet her body was undeniably feminine and graceful—a narrow waist, long legs, a round ass that could turn any wolf’s head, and delicate breasts that she didn’t seem to appreciate half as much as he did.
Tak snapped his fingers in front of Lakota’s face. “She bewitched you.”
Lakota yawned. “Not my type.”
“Sure,” Tak said, putting the truck in reverse. “Your Native heart says no, but your blue eyes are traitors.”
Just as Tak turned the truck around, Lakota glimpsed Melody heading toward the vending machines. She wasn’t going to give up and go home. That much he knew. Hope’s first meeting hadn’t gone well, and he could tell by her enthusiastic tone that she was placing all bets on Melody to secure a deal. “I would be so fortunate to work with Shikoba,” she’d said. “No one sells stones as beautiful as his.”
And she was right. Shikoba employed his packmates as traders, working with tribes around the country to acquire the finest quality gemstones. Those he purchased from were exclusively Breed, and as far as Lakota knew, he only did business with the tribes.
“You’re quiet this morning,” Tak noted.
Lakota rubbed his eye with the heel of his hand. “Where are we going?”
“I’d take you back to your place, but since I’m driving your truck, I wouldn’t have a way home. So consider this a kidnapping.”
“Maybe we should pull over and get breakfast before my abduction,” he suggested, hoping to avoid running into Melody again.
Tak jerked the wheel, gunning past a small Toyota that was sputtering down the lane. “Since when do you dine out? Or is that the white man talking?”
Lakota playfully punched him in the arm. Tak was the only one who didn’t seem bothered by Lakota being biracial. Everyone else, including Shikoba, had accepted Lakota as a friend of the tribe, but he wasn’t oblivious to their beliefs. It was one reason he hadn’t revealed the whole truth—that his mother wasn’t even full-blooded. She was half, which made him a quarter. But what little ancestral blood ran through him was enough, and aside from his eyes, no one could mistake which were the dominant genes.
Tak cleared his throat. “Did anyone see you with her? You should have stayed in your motel room and left her alone. Temptation only brings trouble.”
“She won’t be here for long.”
Glaring at him, Tak said, “You think that matters to the wolves in this town? All they see is a white woman and a brown man.”
“You think I care what those jokers think?”
Tak shrugged and began whistling a tune.
Most of Lakota’s jobs involved hunting and capturing declared outlaws, but he was on a special assignment. He’d heard rumors about murders near tribal land in Oklahoma, so when the higher authority had tapped him on the shoulder and asked him to sniff out the killer, he didn’t hesitate. They gave him an advance and agreed to pay him the remainder whether he caught the killer or not, just so long as he provided them with new information. What made the murders especially concerning was that the human police had discovered them. Since the victims had been Shifters, each discovery increased the odds of humans finding out about Breed. The higher authority continually intervened by altering files, halting autopsies, and scrubbing memories of those who were on the crime scene, but unfortunately, the media involvement made it increasingly difficult to keep it a secret. Lakota’s job was to uncover the truth, and until he found the killer, Melody was in just as much danger as any of the locals.
Lakota rolled his window down and rested his arm on the door. The wind was cooler, the sky seemed bluer, the trees greener, the air cleaner.
Tak messed around with the radio stations before putting on a pair of black shades. The drums and the electric guitar synced into a relentless pounding that filled the cab. Tak liked all that hard rock and metal, but it wasn’t to Lakota’s taste.
Lakota’s thoughts drifted to the night before. Why did I reveal such a shameful part of my life to Melody? The truth had flown out of his mouth before he knew what was happening, and in that moment, it seemed important that she know—not just the truth about his virginity but also the reason behind it. Instead of laughing, she’d listened. He’d never told anyone about how his mother’s rape had affected him, had changed the way he saw his place in the world.
Illegitimate.
A burden.
A sin.
He had always accepted his adoption and loved both families without question. Though he hadn’t always known the reason behind his unusual family situation, his birth mother had promised him that one day when he was a man, she would tell him the full story. That day marked the end of his innocence.
Lakota sighed. The shame.
That he was the result of a man assaulting his mother consumed him like nothing else. How could he ever give his heart to a woman, knowing that a rapist’s blood coursed through his veins?
That man was long gone, and Lakota had found a way to channel his rage into something positive with his job. Hunting outlaws took the edge off, but he still kept his distance from women. People often remarked on personality traits he shared with his mother. So he often wondered what he shared with his father. Deep down, Lakota never felt like he was capable of hurting a woman. But he was still afraid that if he didn’t learn to control his desires, he just might. That was what shame did to a man.
The previous night was the first time he hadn’t felt suffocated by the heavy burden of guilt and fear, and Melody had freely given him that gift. His wolf wanted nothing more than to protect her. In one night, she had shown him what no one else could.
“You’re far away,” Tak said. “Must be a nice place. But whenever you decide to come back to the land of the living, we need to talk.”
Lakota frowned. “About what?”
“Koi’s gone missing.”
“Maybe he’s still hunting.”
Tak cut him a sharp glare. “Koi never stays out overnight. When he didn’t come home yesterday morning, it had a few people talking. No one’s heard from him, and his mother’s upset. She thinks the storm bringing that woman was a bad omen.”
Lakota rolled up his window so he wouldn’t have the wind blasting in his ear. “Did they send out a search party? He probably took shelter in a cave. A few good wolves could probably sniff him out.”
“That’s what my father will decide,” Tak said flatly. “The elders are smoking their pipes and probably trying to conjure spirits or something. Thought I’d let you know before we get there. Kaota is on the warpath.”
Kaota was Koi’s older half brother—much older. Lakota didn’t know the full story, only that they shared the same father. The two couldn’t be more different. Kaota was stern with hard features, whereas Koi was a young man with an adventurous heart.
When they finally reached the property, some of the tribe had shifted. Three brown wolves darted across their path and disappeared into the trees.
“No one picked up his scent?” Lakota asked.
“Nothing for you to worry about. You can go home from here. Too much drama.” The truck shook when it hit a steep hole as they circled in front of the house. “Someone needs to fill that hole,” Tak grumbled. “That wildflower of yours tripped over it.”
Lakota scrubbed a hand over his face just remembering it. When Melody had emerged from the house, he could tell straight away that something wasn’t right. Her eyes were glazed over and skin ashen. It was pure torture having to stand there and pretend he didn’t give a shit after seeing her fall flat on her face. He’d known her forever, and his wolf thrashed within him, bringing him precariously close to shifting.
Burying his thoughts, Lakota hopped out of the truck. The minute his shoes hit the gravel, one of the little ones in the tribe came bounding toward him. She was three and fearless. Tak was one of her favorites, but she adored Lakota’s blue eyes.
He lifted her up and swung h
er in his arms. “How’s my little warrior?” he boomed.
She giggled, her dark eyes wide and full of sparkle. “Sky! Sky!” she said, touching her hand to his forehead. “Bwoo.” She meant to say blue, but she was struggling with the English language since the children learned their native tongue first.
“That’s right, kiddo,” he said. “Blue. Like the sky.” He pointed up and she gaped, mesmerized by the near-perfect match to his eyes.
Near the house, the women were speaking in a tight huddle, consoling Koi’s distraught mother. Koi might have run away or gotten into a tangle with a rogue, but something about this disappearance didn’t feel right.
Lakota set the child down and approached Tak, his voice low. “Keep me updated. I’ll see if anyone in the territory is talking about it.”
Tak flashed a smile. “Sure you aren’t sneaking back to the motel?”
Lakota’s heart rocketed in his chest when cries erupted from inside the house. Tak charged through the door, Lakota close behind. The sounds of wails and shouts came from the rec room. A cluster of men gathered around a television, their faces a combination of anger, shock, and grief. Three of them tucked the women protectively against them and led them out of the room.
“Keep her out!” someone bellowed.
Lakota steered his attention to the television. A female reporter in a silk blouse was live on the scene where a body had been found. Fragmented shots of police lights flashing on a car, crime-scene tape, and officers standing behind a barricade near a private road were spliced together. When she revealed the victim was an unidentified woman, Lakota gave Tak a puzzled look.
“Sources say the body was discovered by two hikers, but cause of death has not yet been confirmed,” the reporter went on. “Authorities haven’t released the identity of the victim, but she’s described as a young Caucasian female. No word on whether or not this is related to the string of unsolved murders occurring in the area since last November. Local residents are shaken and worried who might be next… and when.”
“Any information on the wolf?” the man in the studio asked.
Lakota held his breath.
“No, Steve. Officers aren’t commenting on the wolf found on the scene. An animal attack seems probable, but they’re not yet ruling out foul play.”
As they wrapped up the report, a live chopper view of a clearing in the woods came on the screen. Someone was dragging a wolf by the hind legs toward a truck.
More cries sounded, and shouts of outrage filled the room. One man turned away from the screen and slammed his eyes shut. It was Koi’s wolf. The markings on his tail and legs were unmistakable.
Moments later, the lament of a heartbroken mother ripped through the house and shook everyone to the core.
Tak’s eyes glittered with tears, and he turned to face Lakota. “What will they do with his body?”
“Probably animal services,” Lakota said, not mentioning that they would conduct an autopsy on the animal to find out the cause of death and whether or not it had rabies. That meant removing the head and shipping it to a laboratory for further testing. Likely, they would incinerate the remains.
The careless disregard for Koi’s body sickened Lakota, and he knew he had to get that wolf out of human hands and bring him home, not just for the sake of protecting Breed secrets but also for honor. Every wolf deserved a proper burial.
Chapter 9
As I neared the turnoff to Shikoba’s land, a black truck rocketed toward me, the engine roaring. When it flew by at an illegal speed, the rush of air whipped my hair in front of my face.
“Kill me, why don’t you!” I shouted out the window. “Idiot.”
Probably drunk too. Country people didn’t take speed limits seriously. If he had run me off the road and knocked me unconscious, I would have been in bad shape. There wasn’t exactly an alpha around to coax me awake and force me to shift. I cranked up Engelbert Humperdinck to get my mind off of hurtling into a tree at sixty miles per hour.
“What the—”
Two wolves scurried across the road. I slowed down, careful not to accidentally hit one of them. While I’d grown up on the outskirts of Austin, my pack had always preferred shifting at night. It was safer, and our wolves knew better than to go near the main road—too many opportunities for humans to spot us, and someone might have half a mind to pull out their shotgun.
I neared Shikoba’s house, but unlike the previous day, the front yard was empty. I switched off the music since my windows were down.
“Here goes nothing.” I grabbed my purse and exited the vehicle.
The sun kissed my bare shoulders and promised a warm day. A wasp buzzed past me before disappearing into the woods. Nearing the house, I noticed how eerily silent it was. In a pack that large, noise was always going on somewhere.
“Hello?” I knocked on the front door, then turned to look at the property. Wolves running loose made me especially nervous.
When the door opened, a young boy around the age of twelve or thirteen greeted me.
“Hi, I’m here to speak with Shikoba.”
He glanced over his shoulder, a look of uncertainty on his face.
“It’s business,” I continued. “I was here yesterday. Do you think you could find him for me or get your mom?”
As soon as I mentioned his mother, he stood up a little taller and lifted his chin. I’d seen that look before. Boys that age didn’t like people seeing them as little kids who couldn’t make a simple decision. Without a word, he gestured for me to follow him.
The main room was empty, and I wondered if maybe they were all out hunting or fishing. He led me to a small room devoid of windows. After switching on a floor lamp, he shut the door and left me alone.
I turned in a circle, admiring the paintings of warriors on horseback and wolves on the hunt. Two wooden chairs faced each other in front of an unlit fireplace, but I chose to stand and look at the pottery on a handcrafted shelf against the right-hand wall. Some pieces were cracked and weathered, still holding on to their charm, while others were new, celebrating a proud young generation honoring the old ways. I flipped a switch on the wall, and lights illuminated each shelf, highlighting the hundreds if not thousands of years of the tribe’s history.
When my legs grew weary of standing, I took a seat in one of the chairs and daydreamed about Moonglow. I pushed aside all the worries and imagined a successful future—finally becoming a woman my family could be proud of. That wasn’t to say they weren’t proud of me already, but I had no accomplishments beneath my belt aside from a home-based business. Maybe having a famous father had lit a fire under me to do my own thing.
I worried my lip and thought about what Lakota had said about my pushing men away and not getting serious because it might interfere with my plans. He was right, but that didn’t necessarily mean it was wrong. Most young men wanted to find a mate and start a family, and none had ever given me reassurance that they would let their mate pursue all her passions first. It always had to be a choice, a competition of which was more important—dreams or family. If I couldn’t find a man who understood that they were one and the same, then I was better off alone.
After what seemed like an hour, I finally heard some commotion in the adjacent room. Curious, I cracked open the door and peered out.
“One is enough,” a man growled, a dagger in his grip. “How many brothers are you willing to lose before you take a stand?”
The tattooed man from the day before stepped forward. “And how many of your brothers are you willing to sacrifice to make a point? That’s not our way. We don’t have all the facts—”
“To hell with the facts! Why are you so eager to sit back and do nothing, Tak?”
Maybe I need to ease on out of here. It looked like the pack was embroiled in a family dispute, and I didn’t have any desire to be around a pack of angry wolves. Shikoba could wait, and maybe Hope could call him later and smooth things over. The way the man in the next room was slicing his dagger an
d spewing curses was all I needed to make my decision.
As I slipped out the door and crept along the wall, the chatter died.
Completely.
It was so quiet that the board creaking beneath the weight of my foot sounded like falling timber. My heart galloped when every last man in that room had his eyes on me.
“Who let in the white woman?” the man with the knife spat.
The one called Tak replied, “Shikoba’s doing business with her.”
“Don’t play me for a fool. She left yesterday with her tail between her legs.” Before I knew it, the man crossed in front of me and blocked my exit. He pinned me with a hostile glare, making the hair on my arms stand up.
Tak raised his voice. “Let her go, Kaota. She’s not our concern.”
Kaota gripped my arm painfully. I tried to wrench away, but his hold was iron. “Our trouble started yesterday with her arrival. She’s a dark cloud and brought death to our people.” He nodded at two men, who then hurried out the front door. A few of the others looked torn but didn’t interfere.
We were standing halfway in the main room, a circle of about ten people around us—mostly men. No one stepped forward to help, and that sent panic racing up my spine.
“I was leaving,” I said, my voice steady and calm. “Shikoba wasn’t expecting me, and it looks like I’ve come at a bad time. I didn’t mean to interrupt, so I’ll just go and let you get back to your meeting.”
I twisted my arm, but Kaota’s large hand wrapped all the way around it, making it impossible to break free. Without the Packmaster present and not knowing who was second-in-command, I needed to remain calm and not instigate anything. If the local Council had no authority over them, then that meant they followed their own rules.