She wanted to change back to wolf and run, far away, back to her pack, away from him and the city stretched below them, lights twinkling like stars. Boulder. The place where her torture had begun.
Only the knowledge that Theo needed help kept her from doing so. Theo was part of her pack. As Alpha, she had to make sure he was taken care of.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“Hmm.” She made a noncommittal sound, then stood frozen in place when he started moving forward, letting the sled rope slip through her gloves.
He got about forty yards away before realizing. Turning, he cocked his head. “Aren’t you coming?”
For the life of her, she didn’t know what to say. She’d given her word that she’d try, but that had been when everything was an abstract, a remote and distant concept rather than actuality. Going into town to steal and run was one thing. Staying there was another. Now, faced head-on with her worst fear, she didn’t know if she was strong enough to overcome it, even for Theo.
“I…”
Leaving the sled, he came back to her side. “Don’t be afraid.” Slipping his arm around her shoulders, he pulled her close in a quick hug. “I’ll be with you.”
Just like that, her fear vanished. Odd, that he had this effect on her. She wasn’t sure if she liked it. Matter of fact, she knew she didn’t.
Chin held high, she stepped forward, grasped the sled’s rope and headed forward, side by side with Simon.
He glanced at her as they walked. “The professor’s dead, so there’s no reason to be afraid.”
“I know.” Struggling to find the right words, she gave up and shrugged instead. “I can’t explain how I feel, or why. Boulder doesn’t hold good memories for me.”
“It can’t all have been bad. What about your life before the professor? What was that like?”
“My childhood?” Considering, she chewed her bottom lip between her teeth and trudged along beside him.
“What about your parents?”
“I only have vague memories of them. They were killed in a car crash when I was five.” She shot him a glance, her throat unaccountably tight. “I have flashes of memory. Sometimes I still remember my mother singing to me, rocking me in a giant white chair.”
“That’s good that you remember her. I was taken from my mother when I was four. I never saw her again.”
“Taken? By the Protectors?”
“Yes. Over the years, I’ve tried to locate her, but either they paid her well to stay hidden, or something happened to her. I’ve never found her. And unlike you, I don’t remember her at all.”
She winced. “I’m sorry. When I think of my mother, I feel love. Unconditional, deep love.”
“What about your father?”
“My father I remember more as a voice—deep—and big hands.”
“But they both were shifters?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t even know there was such a thing until I saw you.” Her dry tone was self-deprecating. “So no, I have no idea.”
“At least one of them was. Do you heal quickly when you’re hurt?”
She nodded. “Why?”
“Full-bloods do. Tell me more about what you remember from your past.”
The cold, thin air made it difficult to walk and talk. That, and as usual she felt the impact of his grin. She paused to get her breath.
After a moment, she continued. “Like I told you before, after my parents died, Child Protective Services took me in. I was placed in foster care. Maybe that’s why the professor knew no one would be looking for me.”
They’d come full circle. Back to the professor. She hated that everything in her life always did.
She sighed. “Anyway, I was adopted by one of my foster families when I was seven. Life was good for a while. We lived in the foothills near Thompson Canyon, in a small log cabin. They were kind of hippies.”
Again that flash of a grin. She shook her head, as if she could shake off his effect on her. “You’re a good listener.”
“Thanks.”
“You’re a captive listener, too.” She managed to smile at him, wishing her smile would knock him to his knees the way his did her.
Of course he just kept on walking, pulling the sled behind him.
After a moment, she continued. “I kept my changing secret. I’d wait until everyone was sleeping and sneak out, becoming a wolf and roaming the mountains. Those were happy times. One day, I returned home to find my new mom waiting for me. She’d discovered my empty bed when she’d heard a noise and come to check on me.”
He glanced at her, but said nothing. She guessed he was letting her tell the story at her own pace.
“I thought I might have to explain, make up some story about meeting friends to drink in a meadow or something like that, knowing she’d understand. But instead, she told me she’d followed me. She’d actually seen me change.”
“Hellhounds.” Glancing at her, he grimaced. “How did she react?”
“Actually, quite well. She was fascinated. She went to the Boulder library and checked out a bunch of books on lycanthropy and werewolves. She gave them to me to read.”
He growled low in his throat. “Most of those books are all wrong.”
“It didn’t matter.” She lifted one shoulder in a shrug, changing the sled rope from her left hand to her right. “Since werewolves weren’t real, none of what these books had to say mattered. I thought I was the only one, a freak of nature. But my adoptive mother accepted me. Loved me.” Even to this day, the knowledge awed her.
“So life was good?”
“Yep. I was happy. But then my mother, Flo, got sick,” she continued, her expression carefully blank. Coming to this part of her story, her nerves resurfaced. Suddenly, she didn’t want to look at him, so she stared at the road ahead. “Traffic’s light this time of year, isn’t it?”
Simon refused to take the bait and change the subject.
“Things got bad for you after that?”
“Mike, my adoptive dad, had always used recreational drugs. His usage escalated when his wife got sick. After Flo died, he decided I could become…” She took a deep breath. “Her substitute.”
“How old were you?” Simon sounded hoarse, as though appalled.
“Fourteen. I ran away the first time a few months later, when I turned fifteen. The police brought me back after two days.”
“You know, you make me want to try to find this Mike and rip out his throat. Why didn’t you tell the police or someone? Surely they would have helped you.”
She lifted her chin, aware her expression was a study in blankness. She’d perfected that look at a teenager. “Why? So Child Protective Services could come and get me? I didn’t want to go back into foster care. The stuff that goes on there is just as bad, sometimes worse. No, thank you.”
“So you stayed and put up with his—” Simon swallowed.
“I stayed. But I made sure Mike never touched me again.”
“How?”
Her slow smile contained no trace of humor. “I changed. I let him see my wolf, and made it quite clear if he touched me again, he’d die.”
“If I could let go of this sled, I’d applaud,” Simon said. The steepness of the incline would have made letting go of the rope dangerous. “I’d have done the same thing if it’d been me.”
“Yeah.” She didn’t know what else to say.
“So he left you alone and let you continue to live with him. Then what did you do?”
“I endured as long as I could. Planning to escape, to go live on my own as soon as possible. But what I didn’t know was that good old Mike had begun scheming of a way to use my special abilities to get money.” She couldn’t keep the bitterness from her voice.
“Get money?” He squinted at her, frowning. “You mean like a carnival show?”
“Worse.” She took a deep breath. Though she faced him, her gaze was very far away, in the past. “That’s how I came to be with the professor.”
&n
bsp; “What?” Simon sounded shocked. She supposed she couldn’t blame him. “He—”
“He sold me to the professor. And, as you know, I was kept in one of those cages in the back of the lab.”
A muscle worked in his jaw and then he looked away. Raven wondered what he was thinking, if he somehow blamed her for what had happened the way she sometimes blamed herself.
The silence was broken only by the sound of their footsteps, the sled scraping the snowy pavement and the harsh sound of their labored breathing.
Finally, she could stand it no longer. “Simon?”
When he turned to look at her, she saw the fury burning in his eyes. “If you were to tell me now that you killed that man, I honestly wouldn’t blame you.”
She took a deep breath, the ice cold that had been spreading to her heart abating. “I didn’t, but I would have liked to.”
“Me, too,” he said. “Me, too.”
More and more houses began to appear. Finally, they reached the extreme western edge of Boulder. Traffic grew heavier and when they saw an RTD bus, Raven knew they were in town.
“We’ve got to head north.” Simon pointed the way.
If anyone found two people towing an unconscious wolf on a makeshift sled strange, they didn’t stop to comment.
The vet clinic, in an unassuming cinder block building, sat in an out-of-the-way cul-de-sac off Thirtieth Street. Like so many of the buildings in this area, it had been built in the fifties and touched up with beige paint to try and make it look modern. A small sign proclaimed Dr. Zachary Archer, DVM. Since the clinic had already closed for the day, the parking lot was deserted except for a battered, dark blue Tahoe. Since the parking lot had been plowed, they kept to the still-snowy grass and headed around to the back.
As Simon lifted his hand to knock on the door, two men with black ski masks rushed around the building, rifles drawn and aimed at both Simon and Raven.
Chapter 10
S imon didn’t think. He dove at the closest man, knocking him down before he could fully bring his weapon to bear on Raven.
As the second man spun to bring his gun to bear on her, the back door of the vet’s office opened, yellow light spilling out into the rapidly darkening night.
Raven yanked off her coat and dropped to the ground. Her clothes tore, splitting along the side seams.
Wolf again, she snatched up her parka with her teeth and took off running, low to the ground and zigzagging, trying to avoid the spray of shots.
“What the…?” Then, without hesitation, Zach Archer, DVM, jumped the second man, knocking the rifle from his grip. Head-butting the guy, Zach knocked his opponent’s head into the concrete step, knocking him unconscious.
Zach then grabbed the rifle. “How come every time I run into you, Simon, there’s trouble?”
Still wrestling with the first man, Simon grinned. He got in a lucky punch just under the guy’s chin. While the man reeled from that, Zach brought the rifle down on the back of his head.
“Thanks. Nice to see you, too.” Climbing to his feet, Simon grabbed the other gun. “How the hell did they know to find us here?”
Zach shrugged. “How do they know anything? Besides, don’t you guys wear transmitters or something?”
“No. Not now. All I’ve got now is a cell phone.”
“There you go. Satellite maybe?”
Simon sure as hell hoped not. If the Society could keep that close a tab on him, he was doomed. “Where’s Raven?”
“The woman that shape-shifted in front of these goons?” Zach’s brows rose. “She took off that way.”
Since what Raven had done was technically against pack law, Simon knew he should tell his friend that Raven was Feral. But eyeing the other man, Simon honestly didn’t want her classified that way. So he said nothing, instead directing his friend’s attention to Theo.
Instantly, Zach dropped to his knees beside the wounded animal. “Christ.” He whistled. “The leg’s going to have to go.”
Rising, he dusted off his pants. “We need to get him inside. But first, what do you want to do with these two guys?”
“I don’t know. Normally, I’d call pack police. But since I’m not sure what’s going on with the Society right now, we’d better tie them up and bring them inside, too.”
“What about the woman?”
Simon had been eyeing the direction in which Raven had vanished. “I’m hoping she’ll come back as soon as she realizes it’s safe. Otherwise, I’ll go look for her.”
Zach laughed. “Now there’s a story I’m dying to hear. After we get this mess cleaned up and I get the wolf stabilized, you can start talking.”
Once the men were securely tied up, they deposited them in an old storage building in the back of the property. While they were finishing this up, Raven returned, still in her wolf shape, skulking around the snow-covered bushes until they closed the shed door.
Simon hid his relief. Until that very moment, he hadn’t known if Raven would use that opportunity to disappear into the foothills. The fact that she hadn’t made him want to hug her.
Oblivious to his inner turmoil, Raven paced the perimeter of the yard. Then, she crossed to Theo, who’d begun thrashing about. Zach ran inside and returned with a syringe. “This will knock him out for now. We need to move him into the surgery and get an IV into him.”
“We’ll have to carry him.” Worried, Simon eyed Theo’s leg. Blood had soaked the makeshift tourniquet.
“I’ve got something we can slide under him. It’s like a triage stretcher.” Zach broke off talking and whistled. “Your lady friend just changed back to human. That’s one good-looking woman.”
Before he thought better, Simon bared his teeth at his friend. He bit back a single word—Mine.
Still gazing at Raven, Zach didn’t notice. Simon turned, too, watching as she gathered up her torn clothing and tried to dress herself.
He itched to assist her, but knew she wouldn’t welcome his help. Once she’d finished dressing, she walked over to where the two men stood.
Eyeing Zach, she indicated Theo. “Will you be able to help him?”
Unaccountably flustered, Zach nodded. “Let me go get that stretcher,” he said, and disappeared inside.
“Thanks for coming back.” Simon touched her arm.
Her bright blue gaze met his. “You thought I wouldn’t?”
Staring down at her, all he could think about was how badly he wanted to kiss her. “I wasn’t sure,” he said, his voice sounding like gravel.
Zach returned before Simon could say anything else. Or, he admitted to himself, do anything utterly, completely foolish.
Once Theo had been moved inside, Zach chased them out of the operating room and closed the door.
“What now?” Raven whispered, exhaustion raw in her face.
He wished he knew. “We take things one day at a time, Raven. One day at a time.” Starting with what to do about the Society’s goons. If those two had been able to find them, that meant true Protectors weren’t far behind.
An hour later, Zach emerged from the room, wiping sweat from his forehead. “It’s gonna be touch and go,” he warned them. “I’ve pumped him full of pain meds and antibiotics. All we can do now is monitor him and wait and see.”
Raven slumped against Simon. Putting his arm around her slender shoulders, he helped her stand.
“You two look worn-out.” Zach smiled. “I’m guessing you need a place to stay?”
Simon nodded. “Just for tonight, okay?”
Glancing at his watch, Zach pulled out his cell phone. “Let me call one of my vet techs to come up here and keep an eye on the wolf. Then we’ll head out to my place. I live over by the hospital, so it’s not far.”
He made the call, talking in a low voice. Simon held on to Raven, feeling like a drowning man, but unable to keep from enjoying how good having her lean on him felt.
Closing the phone, Zach eyed the two of them and smiled again. “Are you ready? By the way, anoth
er friend of yours came by the other day.” He sounded casual, too casual.
Simon could tell from his expression that his friend was worried. “Who?”
“Anton Beckham.”
“Beck?” Shocked, Simon dragged his hand across his jaw. “I was just telling Raven I needed to talk to him. He’s supposed to be on vacation. I figured he would be in Mexico or the Caribbean.”
“Well, he’s not. And he looks like hell, almost as bad as you two do.”
“Why? What’s happened?”
“All I know is, first him, now you. Something’s seriously messed up in the Society. But I’ll let Beck tell you himself. He gave me his cell phone number. We’ll give him a call later.”
The vet tech, a sleepy-eyed college student who, with his hair standing up in tufts all over his head, appeared to have been roused from a deep sleep, showed up a few minutes later. After Zach gave him instructions, they all headed for the Tahoe.
Once outside, Zach stopped. “What do you want to do about the two goons?” he asked, indicating the storage shed. “We can’t leave them there overnight.”
“Why not?” Raven sounded savage. “They attacked us.”
“Maybe you should call the police.” Simon slipped his arm around Raven’s shoulders, pulling her close. “File a report, press charges, all that. Tell them these guys were breaking and entering, etc. Let the Boulder Police Department deal with them.”
“Boulder PD? Not pack?”
“Not pack. We can’t take a chance until we know what’s going on with the Society.”
Zach nodded. “We’d better go back inside. It’s warmer there.”
They waited in the clinic waiting area while Zach made the call. “They said they’d be here in a few minutes.” He sounded cheerful and full of energy, something Simon could only hope for. Maybe after a few hours of sleep he’d feel that way, too.
When a police car pulled up in front of the clinic a few minutes later, Simon cautioned Raven to stay inside. He and Zach went out to meet the officers.
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