by May Sage
"Oh, hi! Look, my friend and I picked up a stray dog close to Lakesides and we were wondering if we could bring him in for a checkup? See if he had a microchip, maybe."
Then they'd find the owner and the mutt would be out of their hair pronto.
"I see. Can you get here tomorrow at two? I have a last-minute cancellation. If not, we can fit you in on Friday—"
"Nope." No way were they waiting for five days. "Tomorrow at two sounds great." Then she hesitated. "I have to mention that we're shifters, by the way."
On the other end of the phone, Tania stilled.
"I mean, if that's a problem, we have a witch who can come instead."
"No, no, no," said Tania. "I mean, no problem. I kinda never saw a shifter. You know. But," she cleared her throat. "That's fine. As long as I'm not supposed to treat, like, you. Not sure my license clears me for that."
"No, it's just the bulldog. We're all good here."
And shifters healed very fast, in any case, if they were ever wounded. The one type of wounds they couldn't heal from were only treatable by a witch, not a vet.
"Great. See you tomorrow."
The next day, Christine opted to sit out the trip to the vet. The prospect of spending twenty minutes in a small space with the smelly mutt wasn’t her idea of a good time. Rain, Luke, and Vi took the dog that the kids had named Cutie — why, she’d never know.
Such a big escort may not have been necessary, but the practice was out of town. Given the recent events, it made sense to only venture out in larger groups.
Christine put Lola down for her nap and let the others watch a movie, before starting a book. Niamh played with Ian's computer, headphones on her head, and Will sat at her feet, as he so often did.
One of Ace's wild cats popped his head in and headed to the kitchen.
This was her little cocoon. Her home, peaceful once again. She knew it wouldn't last. It never did for shifters of smaller packs. Which was why, after their rest, she'd take the kids to the gardens again – to spar this time. Young they may be, but they could take care of themselves. Each of them could take on a well-trained regular man already. The older ones were a match for a dozen soldiers.
Niamh and Hsu...
Those girls were more powerful than Christine would ever be. If she had anything to do with it, they all would surpass her someday.
She smiled, watching over her boys and girls. Then Christine frowned and turned to the window. Her attention was pulled away by a strange feeling, something not quite physical. She couldn't explain it; it wasn't her sense of smell or her hearing that caught anything. No, it came from something else.
She stared past the gardens, past the electrified fence, to the woods. There was nothing there. Her eyes flashed cat, focusing. Nothing. Yet the feeling wouldn't go away.
She pulled her phone out and rang Ian. "Hey, do you mind heading over to the house and checking out the woods close to us? I thought I saw something." A lie, but it was easier to explain it that way.
"You got it. Be there in ten."
Chapter 6
Promises
“I like it here,” Mike said enthusiastically.
Of course he did. Texas summers were a bitch. The temperature wasn’t much better in California but being near a lake helped. There was a fresh breeze in the air around this part of the world.
Lakesides was nice. He’d noticed the last time he’d been there, despite the fact that his visit hadn’t been under pleasant circumstances. A good, quiet part of the world. The humans around these parts seemed particularly open-minded.
He was glad Lola was raised here.
“Well, enjoy it while it lasts,” he told Mike. “We aren’t staying long.”
The boy nodded; no complaint crossed his lips. Hunter had to give him that, he hadn’t moaned much through the last three days of the road trip.
“How much longer?”
Hunter thought it out. He wanted to see Lola, if only once. Then, they were heading up to Canada, where it would be harder to track him. He had an acquaintance from school who lived in BC; another wolf, from a small pack. Maybe he could drop Mike off with them. It wasn’t in a wolf’s nature to reject a kid. Well, wolves who weren’t part of his old pack, anyway.
“I don’t know, a day, two tops. But the weather’s not bad where we’re going either, in the summer.”
Better not tell him about shoveling snow for six months of the year quite yet.
“Can I come with you next time you go out? My wolf doesn’t like to stay inside so much.”
He sighed. It wasn’t that he didn’t get it.
“No, you can’t. Look, we’re in enemy territory, here. The shifters who live in the next town over have a huge feud with the Vergas; if they see me, smell me, they’ll attack without hesitation. I don’t want you to get caught in the crossfire.”
“Why do you have to go at all, then?”
Children and their million questions.
“Because I made a promise a long time ago. I’ve kept it until now, but I’m about to break it. Before I do that, there’s something I gotta check.”
“Don’t.”
He lifted a brow.
“If you gave your word, you shouldn’t break it.”
Hunter smiled. “It’s breaking my word and getting your skin to safety, or keeping it, and getting us in a whole lot of trouble, from the home pack and from the shifters here.”
“Oh.” The child took a moment to think. “I still think you shouldn’t break your word. Isn’t there a way to do both? Keep us safe and keep your promise?”
If only life was that simple. “No, kid, there isn’t.”
All those years ago, Gwen’s every thought had been for her daughter. She’d told him, “My mate is going to take her somewhere she’ll be safe, for a while, then he’ll lead the pack away. There’s a pride of felines that takes in children in need; they’re good people, he says. He knows their Alpha. I’m sure they’ll do their best; you know how shifters get about kids. But they might not be enough; they won’t be enough against our pack, Hunter.”
He’d nodded, agreeing with that; there was literally no pack as powerful as the Vergas in the world. It wasn’t only that they were huge and mostly included fighters. They had money, connections, weapons, ways to check into people’s finances, and the best trackers.
“They’ll be my girl’s first line of defense. I need you to be her last. If Dad gets close to her, I need you there, right next to him. So you can take her away.”
He’d remained silent, understanding just what she demanded of him.
“You want me to return to the pack and take my place in the authority.”
“I know what I’m asking. I have no right to. But she’s my daughter.”
Gwen never cried, but there were tears in her eyes then.
Hunter wasn’t having that shit.
“You have every right. And I’ll do it. I’ll protect your kid. No matter what.”
Three years, he’d kept that promise. He’d slowed down his father’s trackers, messed with their hacker’s system; once he’d worked out the pride had a seer among their kids, he’d even purposefully stepped outside of the Vergas’ territory, knowing that their wards prevented psychics, seers, and other sups from interfering with their affairs, in order to ensure that the child would pick up on the Vergas’ plans in time to get away.
Last year, when they’d finally faced the pride down, he’d been ready. He had cash and fake IDs in a car on the other side of the lake; he would have grabbed her and fled if it had come to that.
It had been three long years. During that period, Hunter Force — the guy who loved studying earthquakes with his professor, and whose future included a Ph.D., a house with a plot of land and a place in the research department of his university — had been gone. He barely remembered him now.
He’d done his best. But now, he had no choice; there was no place for him back home, and there was no way he could get anywhere near Lola here,
with the Wyvern Pride around her.
The small pack had grown more powerful now. They had incredibly powerful allies, a mated pair for Alphas. Lola was probably fine.
He was going to find out, see it with his own eyes, and, if he was happy with what he saw, they were heading up to Canada. If Gwen was looking at him from the skies, she’d understand. She’d say he’d done enough. She’d tell him to take care of Mike. She’d tell him to take care of himself.
Knowing that, without a single doubt, didn’t alleviate his sense of guilt. It didn’t change the fact that for three years, he’d lived and breathed for taking care of that little girl, and, after tomorrow, he was going to abandon her to people who didn’t share a drop of blood with her.
They were her actual family. Those she knew and loved. He held on to that knowledge.
Chapter 7
Ghosts
“Nothing?” she repeated, frowning.
Ian scratched the back of his head. “Well, there’s nothing new, anyway. No smell jumped to mind.”
Christine frowned. She’d been so sure she’d… felt something. Maybe she was just being paranoid because they were down half of their adult members.
“That said, I’ll tell the others to stay on their guard. You don’t spook easily, and, frankly, there are people who can go unnoticed if they so desire.” He paused, before adding, “Dangerous people.”
“Dangerous or not, you would have smelled a foreign scent. Plus, Rain’s wards would have buzzed. It was probably nothing, honestly.”
Ian smiled awkwardly, looking like he wanted to say something. When he opened his mouth, what came out was, “Want a drink?”
The kids had gone to sleep, the now relatively bearable dog — not quite so smelly and flea-infested — was in a guest bedroom with Rain, and she could put her feet up for the rest of the evening.
“A drink sounds amazing.”
Ian was amazing at all things kitchen related; cocktails weren’t an exception.
“What can I get you tonight?”
“Your call, bartender.”
She had no clue what he’d mixed, but the pretty pink drink he handed her in a large martini glass was delectable.
“I wished I fancied you,” she said, moaning between sips.
“You fancy me,” Ian stated with a shrug. “We’re just all too smart to go there with packmates.”
She snorted at that. “All of us? Certainly didn’t stop you guys with Kim.”
“Exactly, and we know how that ended.”
With Kim getting all jealous when Rygan recognized Ace as his mate and betraying them to the Vergas pack. Yeah, no one needed a rerun of that mess.
Truth was, adult pack members very rarely ended up hooking up, unless they were fairly certain they were going to bond with their partner forever, because otherwise it always ended up in a mess. Sex was simple, but shifters were possessive of those they formed relationships with. Going down that road with a shifter from her pack wasn’t something she’d ever considered; if her clit needed tickling, she went out to pick up a stranger, like everyone else in the pack.
Still, that didn’t stop her from sighing woefully. Whoever ended up with Ian would be a lucky, lucky girl.
“Stuff this. I wasn’t going to tell you — don’t want you to worry — but hell, you can handle it; and if there is something lurking out there, you need to know. Here’s the fact. There’re some sups who can mask their scent. Even some shifters. They’re known as ghosts.”
“What, how? Magic?”
“Nah, not quite. I’m talking about one in a million, here. You know how I can consciously choose to use my dominance vibes to get someone to submit? Or how you can use your vibes to dissipate conflicts? Well, from what I understand, they also have ghosting vibes. A sort of cocoon around them that allows them to practically disappear. I don’t know why I tell you this. There’s no way you could have known if a ghost had actually been there.”
Christine went to bed with thoughts of ghosts in her mind, so it was no wonder that she should dream of a specter hiding in the woods.
What was strange, though, was the nature of the dream. Instead of being scared of the creature, she followed it, running after it until she caught it. Then, the dream took a turn for the stranger, because the ghost was hot, male, and naked. He had blue eyes, light hair, and a thick, well-muscled torso.
Come to think of it, he looked strangely familiar. She’d seen him before, somewhere; she could have sworn she had.
“Christine,” he called her, his voice a hot whisper.
She woke up hot and bothered, then annoyed at herself.
If there was some ghost-sup out there, watching them, she had no business dreaming of them, dammit.
She woke up to a nice day; it was too early, but her mind wouldn’t let her go back to sleep. She got ready as silently as she could and slipped downstairs, only to find that she hadn’t been the only one up at dawn.
“What are you doing here, little pumpkin?”
Lola, seated on the sofa, pouted. “Nightmare, Mama.”
“You should have come to wake me up. I would have chased them away for you.”
“I don’t like waking people up. You’re all grumpy when I do.”
Well, that wasn’t entirely inaccurate; they were cats, they valued their sleep.
“Well, I’m up now. Gonna make some breakfast, what do you want?”
“Can we have pancakes?”
Christine grinned. There was some mix in the cupboard; she certainly could deal with pancakes. “Sure can, if you help me. We have to make loads so there’s enough for everyone when they wake up.”
“I can help!”
“Great, come wash your hands.”
By herself, it might have taken her an hour, but with Lola’s help, it took two. Breakfast was laid out on the table under clean tea towels and cling film, Lola was playing in the gardens, and Christine cleaned up their mess.
That’s when she felt it again.
“Mama,” Lola called, coming back and pulling on her skirt.
She’d taken to calling all the females Mama since she’d started spending time with other kids in Lakesides. Because they had mothers and she didn’t understand why she didn’t have one. No one minded, least of all Christine. Beaming at her, she held her up in her arms and asked, “What is it, Lola bear?”
“There’s a doggy in the garden.”
She turned, frowning. Dogs didn’t generally get close to shifters, let alone big cat shifters.
“You mean Rain’s bulldog?”
“No, a black doggy.”
Christine stepped out.
The garden was completely empty, but she carried on watching past it, towards the trees behind their walls. Her eyes flashed and she held on to Lola a little tighter.
She wasn’t a fanciful child, which made her words all the more alarming.
There were plenty of wolves in the world and some wanted to take Lola from them.
A few minutes later, Ian came down from his room. “Pancakes, bacon, eggs! My favorite.”
“Everything is your favorite.”
“Maybe.”
She rolled her eyes, before asking, “You remember what we were talking about last night? The ghost thing.”
She made it sound as casual as she could to avoid alerting the kid shamelessly eavesdropping.
“Sure.”
“Do you, by any chance, know if some wolves can do that?”
The enforcer’s eyes snapped to hers, analyzing them. He couldn’t hear her thoughts unless they were in their animal form, but they understood each other well enough after spending decades together.
“As a matter of fact, yes. There’s talk of two wolves who can ghost. Just the two, mind. We had one of them under our roof a couple of days ago.”
Of course: the wolf, Knox, could probably do everything that was in the realm of possibility for shifters. Christine had a hard time not rolling her eyes, thinking of the charismatic and flamboy
ant ancient shifter. The man had certainly left an impression.
“And the other one?”
Ian’s expression changed, becoming cold and tense.
“The other one I’ve only heard rumors about, when I looked up whatever I could about a certain pack down south.”
The Vergas. The children knew to fear that name, so they didn’t pronounce it when they could help it.
Ian’s voice dipped low.
“They say the head enforcer is the best tracker this side of the globe. He might be the very reason they always find us. A friend of mine swears he can ghost. They were at the same party, in the same damn room, and he didn’t smell or feel him, until he introduced himself. Word is, he hung out with regulars for a few years, blending in. That might be how he learned it.”
Fuck.
A Vergas wolf who could go where he wanted unseen. Who could also go past Rain’s shields. That sounded like all their nightmares come true.
“Wait,” said Christine, frowning, “If they have a guy who can genuinely do all that, how come they haven’t sent him before? And how come Hsu isn’t seeing anything?”
Their ten-year-old seer’s visions weren’t foolproof, but when there was danger near, she normally could tell.
“Dunno. No word of this to Hsu or any of the kids. I’ll wake up Jas and Theo, get them to pick up an extra shift. Watch your six, but no need to panic, alright? I have a theory about this mess. Maybe it’s not as bad as it looks.”
She wanted to ask about that theory of his, but they’d already said too much within hearing range of a little girl who heard and understood more than she ought to.
For now, she was keeping Lola close and leaving Ian to do what he did best. In Coveney’s absence, he was their interim head enforcer. His job was taking care of them, and he took it fucking seriously.
Chapter 8
The Stranger
Hunter's wolf was a simple beast. Easier to manage than most animals of his dominance level. His brother struggled with his beast; each change back to his human shell was a battle because the animal wanted to remain in control.