by Dannika Dark
Tak looked skyward when a host of sparrows scattered from the branches. “It took me a whole day. That was when it all began—the killings. Later that night, word spread that a girl was found murdered. What you aren’t hearing in the news is that they found arrowheads at each murder scene. That’s why everyone’s on our asses. The Council knows, but they’re keeping it quiet since they have nothing else to go on.”
“Maybe that’s just a rumor.”
“Nope. I overheard Jack and Robert talking about it one night outside the gas station when my wolf was out for a run.”
“Your town is filled with so much animosity. It’s only going to get worse.”
He caught my arm when I stumbled over a hole in the ground. “We have bigger problems to worry about than figuring out how to hold hands with our enemies.”
“Do you have a mate?”
He flashed a look at me. “Why?”
“Well, since you won’t tell anyone where you’re running off to, they’re going to assume you’re guilty. But if you’re mated or have a trustworthy girlfriend, she can give you an alibi that you were with her. Even if you decide not to tell her what you’re doing, she would know in her heart if you were capable of these murders.”
He swiped a branch out of the way. “Now I’m being punished for not having a mate.”
“I didn’t mean it like that. It was just an idea.”
“They can’t sentence me to death without catching me in the act. All they can do is lock me up for a while, and I can do my time. Do you think spending a few years in a cell is the worst thing that can happen to a man? My only concern is that no one will be here to feed that family.”
We walked quietly for a few minutes. Tak was remarkable, and I hadn’t given him enough credit. How many men would do the same? Imprisonment in a Breed jail was no joke and one of the worst punishments for a Shifter. Most would rather be dead than be caged like an animal.
“Your boyfriend thinks I’m a psychopath,” he remarked.
I snorted. “Lakota isn’t my boyfriend.”
Tak chuckled and looked back at me. “You might want to tell him that when you’re reciting your vows.”
I winced when I stepped on a sharp stick. “It’s no secret that I’m doing this to cut a deal with Shikoba. Do you think that makes me a bad person?”
“People arrange marriages of convenience all the time. There’s no disgrace if everyone’s happy. I’m just not so confident in your choice. If you asked me yesterday, I would have said Lakota was a decent man.”
“And today?”
Tak slowed to a stop, his eyebrows drawing together. “Today I don’t know what kind of man he is.”
I wanted to assure Tak that Lakota was the best kind of man, but I didn’t. Eventually Lakota would move on from this place and to his next job.
“It won’t matter anyhow,” I said. “It’s not a real mating.”
Tak leveled me with his eyes, his brutish features tight. “When the Iwa tribe performs a mating ritual, your souls are joined for eternity. Paper? That means nothing to us. This union is more real than anything you will ever know, because we will call upon the great spirits to tether your wolves together for life.”
“Come on, you don’t believe in divorce? Sometimes couples grow apart.”
He shook his head. “Mating is a permanent choice one must live with, like it or not. Be careful you’re not selling your soul for a few gemstones. If you separate after the ceremony, you will anger your wolves. A smart woman would walk away and forget the deal.”
I strode past him. “There is no other deal. My partner’s future depends on this negotiation happening as quickly as possible. You’re willing to go to jail to save a family; I’m willing to get mated to a stranger so that my best friend can succeed in life. We all make sacrifices.”
It only took Tak a few steps to catch up, and he matched my pace with a heavy-footed gait. When he spoke again, his sonorous voice was gentler. “Give it serious thought. It’s not too late to break the deal. Once your wolves are tied together in spirit, they’ll love each other even if you don’t.”
What I couldn’t tell Tak was that my wolf already loved Lakota.
Deeply.
And that alone was enough to make me want to call the whole thing off.
Chapter 17
Before we reached the house, Tak instructed me to walk ahead of him so it wouldn’t raise suspicion. The last thing I needed before my fake wedding was a bunch of strangers thinking I was tramping around with another man, so I casually strolled through the vegetable gardens and admired their crops. A moment later, a woman appeared with a wide basket and invited me to pick okra with her.
When Tak finally appeared, he swaggered past us without a word, his arms empty of the satchel he’d been carrying earlier. He chatted with a packmate, and they started throwing an axe at one of the targets on the other side of the yard.
After a short while, the afternoon sun dipped behind a wall of greenery, and sunlight glittered from behind the soft bend in the branches.
“No moon for your ceremony tonight,” the woman said. “Good omen.”
“I always thought a full moon was a good omen.”
“Not when a couple is mating.” She gave a wide smile but seemed too shy to make eye contact. I was taller than most of the women in the tribe and probably strange in her eyes. “The moon steals beauty from the woman. Better that he gaze upon all the stars and realize that his moon is lying next to him.”
“Or I could just moon him.”
She laughed brightly and hefted her basket. “You keep that sense of humor. You’re going to need it.”
“Are you mated?”
Her cheeks bloomed red. “No. I’m only thirty.”
She didn’t look a day over twenty, but that was how Shifters aged. Not everyone found a mate young. My parents had waited decades before getting together. Maybe that was one reason I’d never felt any desire to rush into a relationship.
As I followed behind her and neared the back door, I noticed Koi’s mother sitting alone. A pang of guilt swept over me. Was my mating ceremony going to make a mockery of her son’s death?
Lowering my eyes, I tried to pass her, but she captured my wrist.
“Come. Sit by me,” she said.
I backed up a few steps and knelt in the grass before her. She was an older Shifter who looked to be in her late forties, which meant she was very old.
Her eyes fixed on the trees, and she began. “I never believed I would have children. My life mate was mated once before, and his first love died unexpectedly. Kaota was theirs, but he was already a grown man by the time I fell deeply in love with his father. Sometimes all a woman wants is a child she can hold in her arms and call her own. Centuries went by and nothing. We accepted our fate until one morning, I fell sick. Who could have guessed the spirits would bless me with a child at my age? Especially after so many years of trying. Koi was such a happy baby, always smiling and making people laugh. His spirit was unique, and I knew he was going to be a great family man someday. It’s a shame his father never lived to see him grow as I did.”
I sat back on my heels, unable to do anything but listen.
“I knew Koi was seeing one of the young girls from town, and I kept quiet about it. If the fates brought him into this world, maybe it was to bring people together. Koi could see things in people that others couldn’t. ‘Let him be young and in love,’ I said to myself. When his spirit was taken, my first thought was that I had done something to anger the spirits—that I was being punished. But those were selfish thoughts. Koi was not a gift to me; he was a gift to the world.” Her voice quavered, and she wiped a falling tear. “I am sorry that I cannot come to your ceremony.”
Tears welled in my eyes. “No… it’s okay. I understand.”
She took my hand in hers. “But I have a gift, and it is my advice. You’re a young woman with your life ahead of you, and you have no idea how hard your journey will be. A widow’
s loss is inconsolable, but a mother’s loss is immeasurable. The greatest thing you can do in this life is give. Give life, give your love, your compassion, and even forgiveness. When you begin taking more than you give, your life will fall out of balance. Remember that.”
The woman could have spat in my face and cursed my presence. She could have hated my kind or blamed me for the death of her son. But instead, she offered compassion and acceptance.
Humbled, I stood up and bowed. “Thank you for your wisdom. I’ll take everything you’ve said to heart.”
She forged a smile before turning her gaze toward the trees.
I finally understood why Hope was such a levelheaded woman. You couldn’t help but absorb tribal wisdom, and her parents were very adamant about teaching her their ways. Meanwhile, my parents had taught me things like how to tune a guitar and why I should never bend over in a Shifter bar.
Koi’s mother reminded me that I needed to get ready for the mating ceremony. Since Shikoba had invited me to stay inside the main house earlier, I decided to sneak off to a bathroom and wash my feet, which were dirty after traipsing through the woods. Not to mention I’d worked up a sweat.
When I couldn’t find a bathroom downstairs, I tiptoed up a curved staircase and turned down the first hall on the right. All the doors were closed, and I wasn’t about to walk in on someone’s nooky time. A short, round woman emerged from a door on the right and waved me over, gesturing for me to go in. Once inside, she shut me in.
My jaw dropped.
This bathroom made mine look like a dump. The floors were made from small tiles of different sizes and shades of gold, and the way the candlelight reflected off them was absolutely sumptuous. Candles were everywhere. I stepped onto a small rug and admired the claw-foot tub. It had a copper-bronze finish on the outside, which soaked up more of that golden candlelight. Steam rose from the water, the intense smell of roses heavy in the air. The room didn’t have a toilet. That woman in the hall had drawn a bath especially for me.
“I’ve died and gone to heaven.”
Wasting no time, I stripped off my shirt and oversized belt. When a hinge squeaked behind me, I hopped around so nervously that I almost tumbled backward into the tub.
Lakota threw his hand over his eyes. “My bad.”
He tried to leave, but the woman outside the door scolded him and slammed the door, shutting him in.
I lifted the shirt and held it in front of me. “If you have to pee, I have some bad news for you.”
Still covering his eyes, he flattened his back against the door. “Some guy practically hauled me up here. I think they want us to bathe together.”
I barked out a laugh before I noticed how every wall had candleholders on it with lit candles. The whole thing had been an elaborate plan, all the way to the two large towels folded on a bench alongside the tub. Then I noticed two white robes on hooks beside the door. The room lacked mirrors or other fixtures that would make it feel like anything less than a retreat.
I dropped the nightshirt on the ground. It seemed silly to cover up something Lakota had touched, tasted, and worshipped the entire night before.
Still, he kept his eyes shielded. “Why don’t you get in,” he said. “We’ll talk.”
“You can open your eyes. There’s nothing here you haven’t already seen.”
“That’s not why my eyes are closed.”
I carefully stepped into the tub. “Enlighten me.”
“I’m afraid if I open them, I won’t be able to look away. You deserve modesty.”
I glanced over my shoulder at him. “Is there something wrong with the way I look?” I asked, my voice soft so no one could hear our conversation.
Lakota lowered his hand, and when his eyes opened, he gazed at me ardently. “Wait,” he said, extending his arm before I could sit. “Stand there, and I’ll wash you.”
Lakota swaggered toward me and lifted a sponge from the bench. He slowly circled the tub, dragging the sponge along the water as he moved behind me.
I sucked in a sharp breath when the sponge wetted my back, rivulets of water racing down my spine. “If this is part of their mating ritual, they’re a saucy little bunch. I guess it’s safe to assume the bride and groom don’t marry virgins.”
“Maybe, maybe not,” he said, his voice smoky. “I can see how this would keep a couple from getting cold feet.”
He squeezed the sponge across my shoulder, and I turned my head so he could see my smile.
“Kind of hard to have cold feet in a hot tub.”
He encircled my waist with his arm, then splayed his fingers across my stomach. His very touch weakened me—made all those feelings from the night before resurface. Lakota placed the sponge against my collarbone and squeezed, and the scented water cascaded down my left breast.
His lips weren’t on me, his breath didn’t heat my skin, and his hands didn’t graze my nipples. The absence of his affection made my body ache for him. Lakota gently reached around to the other side, mimicking the same action with the sponge. He caged me within his arms, and a strange, unfamiliar energy hummed between us. I sensed his wolf, but he was unlike any wolf I’d ever known.
“Did you and Tak have a fight?” I asked, hoping to reduce the tension that had me trembling in his arms.
Lakota loosened his hold and ran the sponge down my hip, then back up again. “I don’t want to hear another man’s name while you’re naked, female.” He dipped the sponge back in the water and proceeded to wash my back. “Tomorrow morning, after breakfast, you’re going home. I spoke with Shikoba about the mating ceremony and your negotiation.”
I turned around. “What did he say?”
“He won’t do a deal with you unless you’re tied to one of the tribes, so we’re not getting out of that. But he’ll accept us not living together.” Lakota chuckled as he cleaned my arm.
“What’s so funny?”
“That old man doesn’t believe we’ll stay apart. He thinks the spirits are going to bring us together.”
“Yeah, I got that same lecture earlier.”
Lakota soaked up more water and reverently washed my stomach and hips, his eyes on mine.
“Tak isn’t the killer,” I said.
He lowered his arm and stared at me, water dripping onto the tile.
“I followed him into the woods earlier, and—”
“Dammit, Mel. I warned you,” he said through clenched teeth. Lakota threw the sponge into the tub angrily and spun around.
The chill in the air was too much, so I sat down in the blissfully hot tub, my knees drawn up. “Before you punch out a wall, I thought he was off to kill someone.”
Lakota erupted with mirthless laughter and turned around. He stared at me incredulously. “And you think that makes me feel better?”
“Tak’s been sneaking out to feed a family of rogues. He’s not the killer.” I reached for the sponge and set it between my knees, giving Lakota a moment to digest the new information.
He pulled up a footstool and sat next to the tub with his arms on the edge. “You saw them?”
“The children looked malnourished. That’s where he was the other night, and that’s where he’s been each time there was a murder. Someone knows when he’s leaving the property. It’s too much of a coincidence that the crimes were committed on the days he went out. They knew he wouldn’t have an alibi. They knew someone might spot him or his wolf running between territories. He said he’s usually gone half the day or night, repairing shelters and talking with them. Sometimes the children have injuries and no access to medical care.”
Lakota rested his chin on his arm, a faraway look in his eyes. Some of his brown hair fell forward while he looked down at the water. The steam from the tub wet his face, glistening on his skin.
“He won’t tell Shikoba,” I continued. “The rogues were stealing food and supplies from nearby packs and the tribe, so that’s why Tak’s helping them. He doesn’t want them to get caught. People around here take the law
into their own hands, and besides that, the Council will split up the family since the parents can’t care for the children. He made me swear to keep his secret, and you have to swear not to make me a liar.”
Lakota’s arm dropped in the water, and he swirled it back and forth. The back of his hand lightly grazed my bare thigh.
“What’s wrong?” His silence bothered me. I wanted him to share his thoughts and never keep anything from me, though I had no right to make such a request.
Lakota’s face held a look of regret. While something had happened between him and Tak, I had a feeling that Lakota was struggling with something deeper than just a fractured relationship. Someone had seen Tak coming and going—likely another member of the tribe. Even though Lakota wasn’t in their tribe, maybe he felt like a traitor for turning in one of his own.
I reached out and caressed his cheek, and he leaned into my touch. That simple gesture gave me butterflies. “You’re just doing your job.”
Lakota cupped his hand around the nape of my neck. “Lie back, and I’ll wash your hair.”
After grabbing a short pitcher and a bottle from a small shelf at the head of the tub, he rinsed my hair and then poured a small amount of liquid from the bottle. Lakota held my head above water as he massaged my scalp. It felt both strange and wonderful to have a man be so attentive to me. I’d always seen the silly side of Lakota, the overprotective big brother, and the tough guy who’d always looked at me like his kid sister’s friend. I never realized how admirable he was—how decent and tender. Something as simple as wiping water away from my eyes spoke volumes, and I became a little regretful that one day he would lavish his affections on another woman meant to be his life mate.
It grew quiet, and when I sat up, I slicked my clean hair back. “How did they get the water in the tub? There isn’t a faucet on the end.”
“They did a rain dance.”
I splashed water at him. “You’re funny.”
“There’s a faucet on the back wall. They fill buckets and pour it in, I guess. I’ve never taken a bath over here before.”