"Look, I'm sorry you're having to listen to that, but things aren't going so well on Refizan, either."
"I'm almost sorry Gavin isn't here," Tony sighed.
"Which one?" I was busy hugging myself while I worried about the old me—and the old Winkler. In fact, I worried about the old versions of almost everybody I knew.
"The new one, obviously."
"Right. He should probably stay where he is, just in case."
"In case of what?"
"In case Liron decides to attack on three fronts instead of two. He can bend time if he has to, and take a bunch of people with him if he needs to defend Le-Ath Veronis."
"Who is this Liron guy? Why didn't we know more about him?" Tony demanded.
"One of the Hidden, I believe, and he took that status to a much higher level than any of the others. Plus, he pretended he was dead for a long time, until Zaria did him in sometime in the future."
"Then how the hell does he know to give us grief now?"
"We're back to the bending time thing, Tony."
"So he notified himself, somehow, that to prevent his dying in the future, he has to change the past?"
"Got it in one," I tapped my nose.
"Damn, this is complicated."
"Welcome to the Hierarchy," I muttered sarcastically.
Refizan, Past
Breanne
"Well, we got two more," I set the spheres on the table. "That may be a drop in the proverbial bucket."
"I will transport these to Nefrigar if you wish it," Kalenegar offered. He'd arrived to help with more than a thousand Ra'Ak spawn released in Refizan's capital city. He'd bent time for us, while past Lissa and Dragon had a difficult time getting to three separate locations to destroy spawn themselves.
Kal kept the presence of the others from Dragon's Looking skills, so they wouldn't be overwhelmed. They were almost overwhelmed anyway, because the old Lissa had to mist them from place to place to kill hungry monsters.
On top of that, Solar Red had massacred sixteen in the poorest quarter of town while Lissa was engaged with the spawn.
"Assholes," I mumbled aloud. "They're trying to throw us off, and who knows what they have planned next?"
"That I cannot say; I am no better at finding Sirenali—whether living or dust," Kal said. "Call if you need me again."
"I will." He disappeared while I wanted to tug my hair out by the roots. Liron's plot was carefully crafted to keep us confused and wary. Still, we had no idea where he was ultimately headed, or whom he wanted dead or out of the way at the end of it.
If I could have gotten my hands on Liron right then, I'd strangle him myself.
"You may have my assistance in this."
Someone new had arrived without an invite.
Kifirin.
Lissa
Which Kifirin? I demanded. The one who put his teeth in my neck, or the updated version?
The updated version, thank goodness. I don't know what I'd have done with the older one, Bree responded.
He's there, too, don't ever forget that. And he really doesn't need to know about you—who you are, what you are—you know who created him.
I understand that. It could destroy the entire history of the God Wars if that information gets out now.
Wait, Zaria says she has something to help, I reported when Zaria tapped me on the shoulder before handing several small boxes to me.
Send 'em—I'll accept any kind of help, Bree said.
Sent—do you have them?
I have several boxes with our names on them—including Kifirin's.
Zaria says to put them on and don't take them off.
Tell her thanks.
I will.
"Bree says thanks," I sighed, blinking at Zaria. "You don't happen to have some of those boxes for us, do you?"
"I do. Come on, let's go to Bill's suite and we'll hand them out. The thing is, though, we'll have to take Bill's, Trajan's and Winkler's back when we leave so things will go as they should."
I knew what those boxes contained, because three of my sons wore Zaria's medallions, too.
Zaria was hiding us from anybody who thought to Look for us or do us harm. Liron hid behind Sirenali bone dust; we now had Zaria's medallions. I wasn't about to ask her what they truly were—I had my suspicions and those were better kept to myself.
"Even if you're not shielded by Lissa or me, this should protect you," Zaria handed out boxes. "Put it on, don't take it off."
"What about us?"
Trajan walked in, followed closely by Charles. Night had fallen and I'd barely noticed. "Here," Zaria handed them the last two boxes. Charles' eyebrows lifted in surprise; he didn't expect anything from her.
He should know by now that Zaria wouldn't leave anyone out—even someone she felt confused or ambivalent about. From her perspective, I was completely familiar and sympathetic with pop-up father disorder.
"What's the plan?" Charles asked while slipping his medallion over his head and settling it beneath his shirt. He wore a polo and jeans, with loafers. He'd fit in almost anywhere like that.
"We'll be traveling to London first, I think," Bill said. "We'll pull them away from here, and I'm hoping they'll worry that we're heading their way. I figure they'll know you didn't die in this latest attack—especially when their hit men don't return."
"My jet's ready," Winkler suggested. He wasn't looking forward to a long flight across the Atlantic in a military transport.
"We'll table that—I have information that somebody got hit in California," Tony read a new message on his phone. "In Sacramento."
Winkler's phone began to ring and my skin itched furiously.
"We don't have time to talk," Zaria grabbed my arm and flung us to Sacramento.
Leigh Williams almost wept with joy the moment we dropped inside her oldest brother's home. It was nestled amid farmland outside Sacramento, with enough land for Thomas Williams Jr.'s pack to hunt on a full moon.
"Teddy's been hit," she hugged me. "Please tell me you can get him to a hospital."
"We have something better," I held her away from me.
"What?"
"Zaria." I jerked my head toward Zaria, who jumped as the outside of the house was sprayed with bullets. Well, I was a member of the Sacramento Pack—the original me was, anyway.
They were attacking me, now—through my pack.
"You have medical training?" Leigh looked hopefully at Zaria.
"In a manner of speaking," Zaria said. "Take me to him. Lissa, if you need help getting rid of the bastards outside, let me know."
"Oh, we're about to handle that, all right." I let my claws slide out before turning to mist.
Zaria
Theodore Williams, Thomas' younger twin brother, was dying when Leigh, his sister, led me into a back bedroom away from the bullets flying at the front.
"He got hit in the first round they fired at us—he was standing in front of a window." Leigh knelt beside the bed, which was covered in her brother's blood.
They'd hit him, all right—and almost cut him in half. A bullet wound or two to his torso and he'd recover easily. This was so much worse than that.
"Leigh, I know you don't know me, and you're about to see things you've never seen before, I think. It's nothing bad," I held up a hand when she shrank away. "It'll just get really bright in here for a while. As long as I'm glowing, I'm healing, all right?"
"Wh-where do you want me?"
"You can take that chair over there, okay. He won't feel any pain while I'm working."
"Okay." She stood and walked to the chair, settling on it and hugging herself tightly. Time was short and I almost blinded her, I turned the healing power up so bright. Teddy, I whispered into his mind, I'm here, now. For you.
Lissa
More Bart Orford and Lester Briggs duplicates, at the head of a small army of werewolves, had attacked the Williams' sprawling farmhouse. Thomas and three of his pack were in wolf form, crawling along a large irrigation
pipe in an attempt to get to one nest of attackers.
Authorities had set up a perimeter at the fence surrounding the property, but they were in a firefight with a separate set of attackers.
This was a carefully planned assault; at least fifty had come to keep both sides busy while attempting to destroy the Sacramento Packmaster and his family.
I'd had to Look to see where Thomas' mother was; thankfully she'd gone into Sacramento with an old friend to get her hair done. She was safe somewhere on the outside, and I asked Tony, who was now at the perimeter with Bill, Winkler and the others, to make sure she was guarded and kept away from this.
Thomas, I sent as I hovered over him and the other three wolves, It's Lissa. I'm here to help. He was expecting me the moment I materialized at his side.
Ilya
"Give both a rifle," Bill told the California Bureau agent, after he and Anthony Hancock showed their credentials. He was telling them to arm Winkler and me—to help in the standoff.
Charles had stayed behind, as it was still daylight in California. The sun was dropping in the west, but almost two hours of daylight remained.
In less than two minutes, Winkler and I were armed while Tony and Bill discussed the situation with the agent in charge.
"You know how to use that thing?" I asked Winkler, who flashed a grin in reply. "I'll take that as a yes," I told him. "What do you plan to do with it now?"
"Find a place to change, what else?" His words were soft as he and I began walking toward more farmland across a narrow, paved road. Fruit trees grew in neat rows in those fields—a perfect place for a man to become wolf, I think.
Two minutes later, we were far enough into an almond grove for him to transform. This was something I'd never seen, and was fascinated when he handed his rifle to me and began to disrobe.
"I wouldn't normally do this," he said, "but Lissa would say desperate times and all that." He allowed his jeans to fall to the ground after removing his western boots.
"Do what?"
"Stick a man and two rifles on my wolf's back and haul him into a firefight," Winkler growled. "Don't even think about arguing. If you do, I'll haul you in with my teeth if I have to."
"No argument from me," I said, taking a step back. Seconds later, an enormous black wolf, whose eyes gleamed in the dim light beneath almond trees, jerked his head toward his back.
"I'll lie low," I promised, slinging both rifles across my back and stepping to his side. As if he didn't trust me to leap onto his back, he gripped my belt in his huge teeth and flung me astride. I barely had time to grip handfuls of thick fur before we were racing through the grove.
The leap over the fence on the opposite side of the road almost unseated me, but my grip tightened, my knees clamped against heaving ribs and my teeth clenched to hold back a shout of momentary terror.
Lissa
I'll drop you here, I told Thomas, as we hovered over a nest of four attackers. At least they were humanoid at the moment, and firing at the house. Four werewolves dropped into their midst could do a lot of damage in this situation; long rifles weren't so good for firing in close quarters. They'd just as likely hit one of their own rather than Thomas or one of his pack.
I lowered my mist until I was roughly two feet over the heads of the enemy. All four were on their stomachs in the sandy soil of a trench, using the raised edge as cover while firing at the house.
Dropping now, I informed my passengers, and released them.
As hoped, Thomas and his wolves went immediately into action, tearing and ripping into the four snipers. All four were so surprised by the attack from above, they didn't really have time to defend themselves before they died.
Ilya
I'd trained to fire from horseback once upon a time; I was rusty at first, until I became used to riding a wolf rather than a horse. It came back to me, however, and Winkler's wolf knew where the sniper nests were.
After we'd taken out four nests, we became a target. Winkler yelped and almost went down when a bullet struck him in the hip, but he and I righted ourselves and I fired at the ones who'd hit him, killing all four with a spray of bullets to the head.
We've hit six nests, Lissa's mindspeech reached me and the werewolf whose back I covered. I wished I could tell her we'd just finished taking down our fifth.
They'd estimated fifty attackers or so—this meant that there were likely two more nests to destroy.
"Give yourselves up," someone with a bullhorn blared across the fields as Winkler continued to run toward the next nest.
Winkler went down with a yelp as another bullet tore into his shoulder and I went flying over his head, somersaulting across dry, loose soil and kicking up dust and grit as I hit hard and rolled.
Both rifles were torn from my grip by two men who appeared from beneath a covered trench; one that blended with its surroundings to hide their presence.
"Put those down or I'll kill you and make sure you're never reborn," Zaria appeared and stood over me.
I looked from the men to her and back again; I couldn't move more than that or both of us could die.
"Huh," one of them grinned—it was more an evil smirk than anything else, as he pointed the gun at her heart. He wanted to rest the barrel between her breasts, but he couldn't get the gun closer than six inches.
That confused him; he drew it back and attempted to shove it in again, with the same results.
"I'm warning you—put it down. Now."
He should have put it down. His companion, a somewhat wiser ass, lowered his weapon, at least. The first one laughed as he pulled the trigger.
The familiar click of a gun with no bullets echoed about us, as if we were trapped in a sound chamber.
That shouldn't have been—both rifles still had ammunition in them.
"I have these," Lissa arrived, dropping three more inside our sound chamber.
"Well, do they want to shoot me, too?" Zaria asked. "Ilya, you can stand up, now, if you want. Lissa, Winkler's hurt. He took two bullets. You may want to go take care of him for a bit until I can help you."
Lissa disappeared again, leaving Zaria and me with five attackers.
"Who wants to give up and go talk to Anthony Hancock and Bill Jennings?" She asked.
Two of the three Lissa brought, and the smarter of my two raised their hands. "Awesome. Now for you two," she turned to the ones who refused her offer, "Usually I make this painless. Is that what you want?"
"Hmmph," idiot with the empty rifle tried to fire it again. This time, it did—releasing a bullet with the accompanying sound that almost deafened everyone inside Zaria's chamber.
"Now see, that's a direct attack against me. Buh-bye, asshole." She held out a hand and turned him into winking sparks.
"I'll talk to Hancock," the last holdout dropped the rifle and raised his hands in surrender.
"That's what I'm talking about," Zaria smiled as I rose stiffly to my feet and stood beside her. "Ilya, a little help?"
"No trouble." I lifted the rifle and herded our four toward the road and the waiting authorities.
Lissa
Winkler was asleep after I removed the bullets and Zaria healed his wounds. Then, she'd put her hands on Ilya, who'd fallen hard and then rolled across the dirt, gathering serious bruises and cuts along the way.
He was now feeling much better and sat, drinking a glass of Scotch in Thomas Williams' kitchen while Zaria went to check on Teddy.
"Thomas and his three did most of the heavy lifting," I told Leigh, who smiled at me and poured a margarita for both of us from a pitcher. Thomas was talking with Bill while Tony and the CBI agents questioned our captives.
I'd removed heads from three, before they managed to fire their weapons at the wolves I'd dropped on their heads. The rest had died, casualties of werewolf justice. I was still trying to get my head around Winkler hauling Ilya on his back so Ilya could take out sniper nests as he ran past them.
"Teddy's going to be fine, he just needs a day or two of r
est," Zaria informed us as she walked into the kitchen. "Have one of those for me?" She eyed the pitcher of margaritas.
"Anytime you want one," Leigh grinned and rose to grab another glass.
I figured Zaria might have a new pack membership before this was over. How bad was it? I sent to her in mindspeech.
He was nearly cut in half, and would have died without help, Zaria replied.
Then I can't say how glad I am that you're here.
That makes two of us.
We're taking the prisoners to holding cells in Sacramento, Tony sent. How are Winkler and Ilya?
Still in one piece and fixed up for the most part. Ilya's getting drunk; Winkler's asleep.
I'd be asleep too if I got shot twice. Damn, he's tough.
As tough as they come, I agreed. And the Russian's no slouch, either.
If he killed snipers while bouncing on Winkler's back, then he's damn good.
You know it.
It may be a while before we're done with these—are you comfortable where you are?
Getting that way. I poured myself another margarita.
Chapter 12
Zaria
"Have you heard anything from Breanne and the others on Refizan?" I covered a yawn as I asked Lissa the question. It was past three in the morning in D.C. when we limped back to our hotel rooms, after spending more time than anticipated in Sacramento.
"I figure she'll let me know if anything happens that shouldn't." Lissa stifled a yawn this time.
"I hope we don't have to get up again for a few hours," I said, reaching my door.
"Me, too." Lissa slid her key card into the slot next door and went inside.
"Zaria?" I heard Ilya call my name softly as he walked up.
"What, hon?" I turned toward him.
"I wish to stay with you this night."
"Honey, are you sure?"
"I am the one who should be saying that to you," he grinned and fell into his natural accent. "I do not wish to take advantage; just hold you."
"Well, that's about all I have strength for, anyway."
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