by Lucy Farago
“Are you hiding something?”
“What would I be hiding?” she asked, laughing.
“You tell me.” Did he have sucker written all over his face? Did it matter?
There was no stopping him. If she were in trouble, he’d help her. It was like a weird compulsion. But unlike the others, this wasn’t about him being a do-gooder. This was even more than duty. It was his, dare he say it, destiny. Man, Loki would tear him a new one. But there was no denying it. When he thought she was inside that burning cottage, he hadn’t thought twice about running inside. She was his to protect. And if anything had happened to her.… He didn’t want to think about it. But damn it all to hell, it didn’t mean he’d bare his soul for her to rip apart.
“You know, just because you’re screwing me doesn’t mean you get to question me like I’ve done something wrong. I’ve done nothing wrong, and I don’t appreciate you interrogating me like I have.”
Why was she acting this way?
“That wasn’t what I was doing. But I can’t help you if you don’t tell me everything.” He hadn’t meant to antagonize her.
“You’re assuming I would know who it was. Maybe they just picked a cottage, any cottage, and my luck ran out. Did you think that maybe it’s someone who knows this is FUC’s academy and has a bone to pick? FUC has put away a lot of nasty shifters.”
Something wasn’t right here. “Why are you being so defensive?”
“Why are you being such an asshole?”
Then, faster than he could get over the shock of being called an asshole for simply wanting to help, she’d grabbed her coat and was out the door.
Sirius stopped pacing the moment Mia walked in the front door. “Any luck?”
“No. I searched all her favorite spots. You know if you can scent her, maybe you should be the one searching.” Mia hung her jacket in the front closet and then grabbed a spot beside Loki on the couch.
“I tried, but it’s weird. I can’t pin it down. Just when I think I have it, I detect it coming from another direction.” He rubbed his pounding temples. He’d been out in the woods for hours with only a headache to show for it.
“She doesn’t want to be found,” Loki said, stating the obvious. “It was your first fight. Give her time to cool off. She’ll be back. And the two of you can get back to humping like you’re in heat.”
“Loki,” Mia warned.
“What? Just stating the truth. Right?” he questioned Sirius. “That’s all this was?”
“Out with it.” Loki wasn’t one to hold back, but watching the eye exchange with Mia, Sirius figured these two had been talking. “Say what’s on your mind.”
“Okay. You did it again.”
Mia punched Loki’s arm.
“Ouch. I thought we agreed only in the bedroom?” he said, as if he were the offended party.
“My best friend isn’t like the other women who suckered him in. No offense,” she said to Sirius before punching Loki again.
“You just enjoy slugging me.” Loki slid to the opposite end of the sofa, rubbing his arm.
“There is that, yes, but Winter wouldn’t use him. She didn’t have an ulterior motive for hooking up with him.”
“She’s in some kind of trouble, Mia. You said it yourself she’s been acting out of character. Sirius comes to town, and she practically moves in with him.”
“She didn’t move in with me,” he said, feeling the need to defend her. “I busted her doors. I offered a place.”
“And she accepted. You knew her for what, three minutes? Trust me when I say this. Winter isn’t a fragile female. Her tough exterior isn’t an act. Whatever kind of shifter she is, I’d bet everything I had that she can take care of herself.”
“Did you think that perhaps she was attracted to him?”
“Mia, don’t be naïve.”
“Hey,” Sirius objected.
“Who are you calling naïve, dog?” Mia jumped to her feet.
Loki, soon to be a born-again virgin, remained seated instead of, wisely, dropping to his knees to beg forgiveness. This would be comical if Winter hadn’t gone AWOL.
“Can you two focus on the problem at hand?”
But they ignored him.
“He’s brought out the best in her. I’m her closest friend, and even I haven’t seen her laugh like she does when she’s with him. It’s like she’s learned to relax. She’s not the same person.”
“Let me repeat,” Loki said, foolishly arguing with his fiancée, “Winter isn’t a fragile female. She can take care of herself. Stop worrying about her.”
Now it was Sirius’s turn to get pissed. “Are you saying that because you think she’s somehow suckered me in and you’re trying to protect me? Or do you actually think she isn’t in any danger?” Either one was infuriating.
“Both.”
Having heard enough, he was leaving. When his hand was on the doorknob, he turned, needing to get this off his chest. “First off, I don’t need you taking care of me. Secondly, someone set fire to Winter’s home. If it was a shifter, then that someone is sending her a message.” When you burned a shifter out of their house, it wasn’t because you didn’t like their taste in decorating. “And maybe she needs time to herself, or maybe the arsonist has done something to her. I don’t know about you, but I’m not willing to risk her life waiting to find out which one is right.”
“I’m going with you,” Mia said, tossing Loki a look that promised pain. Then she followed Sirius outside.
“Point me in the direction of one of the trails you were following, and you take another one.”
“Are you sure?” he said. “I don’t want to come between you and Loki.” Loki was an ass, but he was still the closest family he had.
“Loki does that all by his lonesome. And don’t worry about us. Our love is stronger than his fuckups. Besides,” she said, “he’s just worried about you. Seeing as how you’re here because of him, he feels responsible. You know how it is with alphas.”
“I didn’t grow up in a pack.”
Although neither had Loki. No, Loki was a prince, heir to the western packs. He came by his oversized balls naturally. Although he expressed no interest in claiming his birthright, unlike Sirius, Loki belonged to something bigger than himself. A part of him envied his friend.
“My parents were free spirits. That got me foster care after they died,” he said, wishing he’d learn to curb his resentment. The accident wasn’t their fault.
“My entire species were free spirits, and all that got us was near extinction. There’s something to be said about belonging to something bigger than ourselves.”
Something, or someone. “We need to find Winter.” He’d never admit this to Loki. He’d only laugh, but Mia, she was Winter’s best friend, and who else would know her better? “There’s something…off.”
“I agree. She isn’t herself, but her place just burned to the ground. Cut her some slack.”
“Okay, but why is she lying? You know her better than most. Did she tell you anything? We’re assuming an enemy of FUC did this, but I don’t. She’s too…too…”
“Nonchalant. Yeah, I see it. Question is, why?”
“Good question.”
At the sound of another voice, they turned to find Loki, wearing nothing but an apologetic smile.
“And only Winter can answer it. So, let’s go find her,” Loki said.
7
Loki, the asshole that he was, had been right. In shifter form, their senses were keener. Sirius now not only knew the direction in which she’d headed but that her agitation had tainted her scent. Strong emotion did that. It was a way of warning others off or, in the case of desire, drew them to you. Winter’s was now like pungent mushrooms, and the farther he got from the academy, the more he feared she was in serious trouble.
He climbed a steep incline, the rock precipice, affording him a clear view of the green valley beneath him. This was taking too long, and every second that ticked by he grew more and m
ore fearful. He shook, discarding twigs and pine needles trapped in his fur, just as a breeze ruffled his long hairs. He inhaled, hoping, praying for a stronger trail. And as if someone was listening, he spotted her, about a thousand feet to his right, at the shoreline of the lake below. Down on one knee, she looked like she was in track mode. He relaxed a little, grateful she was okay. Regrettably, his relief was short-lived.
Sirius snarled, his hackles bristling as a man emerged from the lake, clothes dripping as he advanced on her. He wished he could scream, to tell her to run, because she only got to her feet, to stand her ground. He hurtled down the ridge, worried he wouldn’t get to her in time. Flying past trees, he caught glimpses of Winter, fists by her side, her stance postured for battle, ready for a fight. He drew on all his reserves, forced himself to run faster. At eight hundred feet away, she struck first, a roundhouse kick to the head.
“That’s for the fire,” she shouted.
The man proved more of a challenge as he shook off the blow and drew back his arm. But when Sirius reached seven hundred feet, he discovered Winter was faster. In a quick and efficient punch to the mouth, she split her attacker's lip, splattering blood into the air. With five hundred more feet between them, Sirius snarled as a meaty fist to her chest knocked Winter into a massive oak some ten feet behind. If she were human, she’d be down. But at four hundred feet, he learned Winter was no wilting flower.
“Go back to hiding in the water,” she said, recovering fast enough to plow her shoulder into his ribs.
Though they were almost equal in height, he was wider, thicker, and clearly someone trained to fight. And yet, she drove him into another tree, nearly tearing it from its roots.
Like watching a contest between two giants, Sirius was awed by her ability to maintain her own…awed and, if not for the overwhelming fear, proud. His woman was a warrior. With two hundred more feet to go, he was hoping she’d seen him, for her to know help was on the way. She was far too busy dodging another blow, anticipating the man’s next move with one of her own. The guy was fast, but she was faster, until she wasn’t. She fell on her ass, catching his foot to her midriff.
Warrior or not, at twenty feet, he leapt, punching through the air and into the fucker. The force toppled them both, and they rolled until they smashed into a boulder. Recovering quicker, head down, Sirius bared his teeth, prepared to draw blood. Let this fucker take his chances against a Siberian. If not for his shifter form, he’d have laughed when the asshole held up a hand. As if that would protect him against someone nearly a half-size bigger. When he dared to sit up, Sirius snapped, purposely missing his nose by a hair, a warning to stay put.
“Sirius, don’t,” Winter, now on her hands and knees, called out.
Seeing blood trickle from the corner of her mouth, he turned to his prey, ready to rip out his throat.
“Sirius, please. Don’t hurt him. He’s my brother.”
Her brother? What the actual fuck? He pivoted his head between Winter and the man he wanted to sink his teeth into, the man she’d accused of starting the fire. The same man she’d just claimed as her brother. He’d been too preoccupied with defending her to notice, but now he saw the similarities were unmistakable. They shared the same straight nose, the full lips, the spooky black eyes, which on Winter were sexy as hell but on him were just plain old creepy. But most of all, they shared the striking white hair. Sirius began his shift back.
“Your brother?” he asked past the fangs that had yet to fully recede.
“Twin brother,” the man corrected. “Can I stand up now? Or is the big bad wolf going to eat me?”
“Knock it off, Aubin.” Winter shot her brother a look that promised retribution if he didn’t heed her warning.
“Whatever you say.” Her brother got to his feet, and it was then Sirius realized he had a few inches on his sister.
“The days of you patronizing me are over. I’m not that little girl anymore.”
“Then stop acting like a child and come home.”
Go home? He’d torched her house because he wanted her to return home? Exactly what kind of deviant family dynamics did these two have?
“I’m not going anywhere. How many times do I have to say it? Or do you need me to break your nose again?”
“That was a lucky shot,” he argued, getting far too close to Winter for Sirius’s comfort.
“Says the man who just had his ass handed to him by his sister.” But just in case, he tugged Winter behind him. Brother or not, it would be Sirius handing him his ass if he touched her again.
“I didn’t want to hurt her. And this is a family matter. Mind your business,” he said, poking Sirius in the chest.
Winter laughed, putting herself between them. “Best wait for the fat lip to heal before you crawl back home. Wouldn’t want anyone to think I was the one who gave it to you.”
“I have no qualms about telling our people about the warrior you have become. With the tides changing, they would be glad of it.”
Sirius had seen a lot of snooty people in his life, but this guy took home the prize. “Why does he talk like he’s got a pine tree up the wazoo?”
“’Cause he does,” Winter said. “And he thinks he’s a big shot who can tell me what to do.”
“I am your brother. Who else is there to tell you when you are acting like a spoiled brat?”
Winter, a spoiled brat? “I don’t think you know your sister very well.”
“I was not talking to you, dog.”
“Who you calling a dog? I’m a Siberian.” His family might not have come from much, but his kind had been around far, far longer than any other known shifter.
“Siberian. Dog. What’s the difference? Winter”—he gave Sirius’s junk a pointed stare—“his being hung like a horse is no reason to sully yourself with the likes of him. Thank God for the thunder that night. If I’d had to listen to one more cat-like scream…. But enough is enough. You’ve had your fun. Now return home before you ruin us all. Or have you forgotten everything you were ever taught?”
Sirius didn’t understand what was going on, but one thing was clear, her brother was there the night of the storm.
“In the trees, you’re the one who growled.” He’d thought he’d imagined it. Things that night had been weird to say the least.
“I wasn’t sure you’d heard me,” he said with such smugness that if he wasn’t Winter’s brother, Sirius would prove how wrong Loki was in not thinking him alpha.
“But my sister is not a chew toy for you to play with.”
“Shut up, Aubin. My sex life is none of your business.” Winter elbowed him hard enough to make him stumble. “I should have broken more than your nose,” she said, showing him her fist.
Things were starting to make sense. “That was your blood I smelled.” He hadn’t been wrong.
“What’s he going on about?” Aubin said to Winter, ignoring Sirius.
“I don’t know how he does it.”
He would take being ignored by Aubin, he was nothing, but Winter? “I’m right here you know.”
“Sorry.” She put a hand on his forearm. “I didn’t mean anything by it. It’s just, you picked up on his blood after I broke his nose, and then you thought I was in the cottage, when it had been Aubin.”
“No one other than our bloodline can detect us. He was mistaken,” argued Aubin. “It was your cottage. He assumed you were inside.”
“No, don’t you see?” she said to her brother. “He tracked me here.”
Aubin looked at Sirius like he was something he’d scrape off the bottom of his shoe. “How is that possible?”
Winter shrugged, slipping her hand into Sirius’s. “Our kind doesn’t have a distinguishable scent,” she explained.
“Winter,” her brother warned.
“Shut up. What’s he going to do with the information?” She returned her attention to Sirius. “Earlier today, you knew I was surprised when you mentioned it. It’s just never been done.”
“Fine, he is a freak of nature, someone to be avoided. You and I both know you stayed with him that night to avoid another confrontation with me. You used him to prove a point. Point taken. You are not a little girl anymore. The age of ascension has come. Or do you wish another war upon us?”
She used him? For what? No, Aubin was saying that to provoke him. What they shared was real. Wasn’t it? You need to stop being so gullible. Was Loki right? Was she using him, to stick it to Aubin for whatever reason he had to insist she go with him? He slipped his hand free of hers and took a step back. The sun had started to set, the darkening sky mirroring his mood.
“What’s he talking about?”
“Oh for the love of…. Winter, can we go home?”
But Winter remained silent, unable to meet his eyes. Her brother huffed, his impatience clear.
“Winter,” Aubin all but growled.
“Why don’t you shut the fuck up?” It was Sirius’s turn to lose his patience.
Aubin bared his teeth. “Why don’t you—”
“There are a few, a select few, outsiders, who know of our existence,” she said. “My brother, the one you said had a pine tree up the ass, is a prince.”
“Careful what you tell him,” Aubin cautioned.
Winter backhanded Aubin in the chest. “For the umpteenth time, shut up.”
Why the secrecy? And if he was a prince and she was his twin? “You’re a princess,” he said, more of a clarification of facts than a question.
“She’s the eldest.” Her twin seemed to take great joy in announcing that. “By a whole twenty seconds.”
Sirius schooled his expression, not wanting to give the asshole the satisfaction of knowing how much her deception bothered him, even when he figured it out. “You’re heir to the throne. You’re going to be a queen?”