by Rachel Lee
For the first time Dani realized that the wind had picked up. Within the copse it came in gusts, but just beyond the trees she could see snow devils whirling and dancing across open fields.
“I’m going to put you in a tree,” Luc said to her. “We need to keep this fight on the ground so your pack can help, but I need for you to stay high so your scent drifts away faster.”
“What do you want me to do except hide?”
He cupped both her cheeks with chilly hands. “Do what you must. You will know. From here on, we wait. When they arrive, we fight.” He kissed her hard, as if he wanted to drink the very soul from her body, and left her feeling a bit light-headed. “I trust you to know how you can help and when. I also trust you to know when you’ll only hinder us.”
That was, she realized, more trust than she’d ever been given. The choices had been left utterly in her hands.
Jude cocked his head. “I think I hear their approach. Quickly, get her up there.”
The next thing she knew, she was sitting in a tree about ten feet above ground, in a V created by limb and trunk. Up there she really felt the wind and understood why they wanted her there. Her scent was being blown away to the east, away from the approaching vampires.
Yet she had a clear view of everything from up here. She watched as Jude and Luc stepped to the edge of the copse and waited, as if they were alone. Creating the impression that the trail the rogues followed had been the right one.
But there were just the two of them against eleven who approached. Dani wondered how far behind the pack was, but didn’t dare make a call. Pulling out her phone, she checked for messages and there was a text:
We have them in sight.
Dani replied just as briefly. We’re ready. Then she turned off the phone so it could make no revealing sound.
After charging headlong into whatever would happen, time suddenly seemed to grind to a halt. The two vampires stood just within the shadows of the trees, but she doubted they would be concealed for long from the approaching rogues.
They seemed to be carved from stone. She, on the other hand, could barely hold still. Her heart was pounding, surely audible to any vampire paying attention, she started to itch in awkward places considering she was in a tree and her mouth felt as dry as sand. Great timing.
While part of her absolutely hated this waiting, another part of her hoped the moment of conflict never came. A strange wish, considering that it clearly couldn’t be avoided, but she was experiencing a definite desire to be elsewhere and elsewhen. She closed her eyes for a moment, imagining that she and Luc lay together somewhere alone, wrapped in each other’s arms....
She jerked back to the present when a branch above her trembled enough to plop snow on her head. Luc and Jude still stood like statues, but to her it seemed they had grown somehow stiffer. The rogues must be near.
She sniffed the air and detected the faint odor of strange vampires. It was faint because she didn’t fully have her pack’s sense of smell—how could she when she was missing a few million scent receptors?—but it was better than human as she had long since discovered.
And now it told her danger was very near.
Oddly enough, as soon as she realized the moment was almost at hand, her heart slowed and steadied, and a calm came over her, leaving her feeling as clearheaded as she ever had in her life. Lycan nature arising? How could she know?
But something in her was itching and ready for this fight now that it had nearly arrived. It was certainly a feeling she’d never had before, perhaps because she’d never been able to run with her pack.
She held her breath, listening, but all she could hear was the wind. Jude and Luc shifted just a tiny bit, as if readying themselves.
And then she heard a sound that would always thrill her to her soul: a wolf’s full-throated howl. Her cousin Alis was near, which meant the pack was ready to circle in and Alis’s call was the locator.
But it was only the one howl, one signal, giving away no information as to how many lycans roamed the night.
Still, it might reveal something to the rogues. There were no wolves in this area, and if they were familiar with wolf calls as opposed to the howling of a dog, they might realize what was closing in on them.
Dani hoped they couldn’t distinguish. A lone dog that might have been disturbed by their passing wouldn’t trouble them. Apparently that’s what Lucinda was hoping when she had given Alis her orders.
The howl trailed away quickly, lasting just long enough for the rest of the pack to get the message: the rogues were near and Alis was on their heels.
At last the rogues drew close enough that even Dani could hear them swishing through the deep snow, a murmur like the wind in leaves because they moved so fast and lightly.
Jude and Luc separated, making sure they were two distinct targets and could not be attacked as one. Divide and conquer.
Glancing around, Dani saw a heavy broken branch resting just above her: thick, not too long, but of a size to use as a club or short spear. And the end was sharp. Clinging to the tree trunk, she reached for it and tested it. Despite the frigid temperatures, it was still pliable enough that it shouldn’t snap.
Good. She held it close and waited.
That was the point at which she had to admit her own disadvantage, like it or not. What happened next happened so fast she couldn’t see it.
Jude and Luc were no longer visible to her as they merged with swiftly moving shadows. Everything blurred because of the vampires’ speed.
Her calm gave way to trepidation as she realized why everyone had wanted to keep her out of this. She looked at the stick in her hand and knew it would be useless against beings who moved so fast. She couldn’t stand not being able to do anything, but she couldn’t see enough to be able to act.
Then a chorus of wolf howls rose, each voice pitched in perfect harmony to the others so that a few wolves could sound like so many more. She had no idea exactly how many of the pack had come for this fight, but from the swelling chorus of howls she knew it had to be eight or nine. And they sounded like twenty. They surrounded her.
A shiver of pure pleasure ran down her spine in response. She would never be immune to her family’s calls.
But the rising chorus of howls had an unexpected effect on the two large black shadows just beyond the trees. They froze, instantly dissolving into separate shapes. Eleven vampires plus Jude and Luc.
It seemed to be a moment of indecision on the part of the rogues. The pack howled again, the chorus rising from a single voice to many, haunting the night. Closer now, much closer.
Jude and Luc both leaped at the vampires frozen in front of them, but they were outnumbered. Something had happened, though. Awareness that wolves were closing in on them had made the rogues edgy, uncertain. They moved slower and as the battle resumed, Dani could make out individual shapes, although not clearly.
Distracted, unsure if the howls threatened them, unsure of whether these were stray wolves or dreaded lycans, the rogues had lost their edge.
Seeing it, Dani slid down out of the tree. They might move too fast for her to fight well, but she was going to Luc and Jude’s aid, anyway, especially with her pack so close now. Never having shifted, she had only a vague notion of how well her family would be able to pick out the rogues from the two who were fighting them, especially if they started moving faster. Lycans could see vampires when humans couldn’t because they were moving too fast, but what was too fast for lycan eyes?
She knew of only one thing to do: insert herself. It would slow everything down. And even in the blurs before her she recognized Luc.
A howl of a different kind rent the night. A vampire fell to the snow and didn’t move. One down, and it was neither Jude nor Luc.
She had barely taken one step forward when she felt a nudge. Looking around she saw Max.
“Can you tell which one is which?” she asked him.
His canine head bobbed a clear yes.
“Then l
et’s go. You’ll have to help me.”
Max responded with a quick wag of his tail and hurried beside her to the battling clouds. And really, that’s what they almost looked like to her, two black clouds from which emerged identifiable shapes from time to time.
“Luc,” she said to Max, hoping he would know which one she meant. Well, duh, she thought as Max led the way: he knew which vampire’s smell was all over her.
Her appearance with a large wolf beside her caused an almost freeze-frame response. Luc was undisturbed and seized the opportunity to grab a rogue by his head.
In the meantime, Max leaped, grabbing another vampire’s arm in his powerful jaws and dragging him down, holding him. Ignoring the enraged shriek, which was nearly deafening, Dani followed Max with her stick.
It was rather late to wonder if driving a stake into a vampire’s heart was myth or true, and the possibility of aiming was pretty much out of her control as the vampire whipped about, blurring before her very eyes. But then Alis jumped in and grabbed the rogue’s other arm. He still writhed, and from the corner of her eye she saw another vampire coming swiftly to his aid.
She swung around immediately, putting every bit of her body’s weight behind the stick as she bashed the second rogue on the side of his head.
“Good job,” Luc said, grabbing the stunned vampire and wrenching his head nearly off his neck.
Dani turned back to the one Alis and Max were holding in their powerful grip. He was pushing himself across the snow, trying to get away, but the two lycans dug in their paws and resisted.
Well, if a blow to the head had helped with one… Dani swung. At the instant her stick struck the downed vampire she felt something grab her by her coat and lift her off her feet.
Then she was looking into the dark eyes of a stranger, a rogue. He snarled at her and bared his fangs.
Here we go again, she thought. She still had hold of the stick, but all she could do with it was batter it against his side. He didn’t even seem to notice.
Then she heard Luc growl, “Leave my lady alone!”
She never saw what happened next. All of a sudden she was free, and another broken vampire lay in the snow.
“Through the neck,” Luc said, pointing at her stick, “or in the eye.” Then he returned to the battle.
The vampire held down by Max and Alis was struggling more sluggishly as dark blood seeped from his arms onto the snow.
“Neck,” Dani said sharply.
Max reared up on his hind paws, released the arm he had been biting and went for the rogue’s neck. He yelped as the vampire managed to get in a blow, but he didn’t stop.
Another one down as Max’s jaws clamped on vital tissue.
Dani turned, looking for another target, but found herself blocked by her mother.
Lucinda used her body to push Dani away, and as much as Dani wanted to join the fray, she realized it was pointless. Nine lycans and two vampires seemed to be dealing just fine now with fewer than six rogues.
Two of the wolves would bring a vampire down and hold him or her until someone finished the job. Sometimes it was Luc or Jude, sometimes it was another lycan. And then it was over. Impossibly, silence fell except for the huffing of the wolves. Jude and Luc sported wounds to their faces but they didn’t look serious.
Dani looked around. “Max? Max, where are you?”
Her brother trotted over and Dani dropped to her knees in the snow, grabbing him by his ruff. “Are you okay? I heard you yelp.”
There was no mistaking the grin he gave her. “Thank goodness,” she said and wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him.
The last time, she thought. This would probably be the last time she buried her face in his fur. He rested his massive head on her shoulder, hugging her back. But it was not over. She felt the tension in him suddenly and pulled back. A message had been communicated among the pack and she’d been too busy hugging Max to catch the body language of tails.
Sensing that something was about to go very wrong, she rose to her feet.
Jerrod. Her father. He had half shifted back to human form and he was moving toward Luc. “You took my daughter.”
Luc stood fast. “I think she makes her own decisions.”
“No, you damn vampires put people under a spell. That’s what you did to her. My daughter wouldn’t consort with your kind, wouldn’t let you drink from her willingly.”
“Beg to differ,” Jude drawled. “Dani can’t be vamped. Tried it, you know.”
Jerrod whirled on him. Dani ran across trampled snow, leaping over bodies to insert herself between her father, Luc and Jude.
“I did try it,” Luc admitted. “But only to find out who she was.”
“Didn’t work,” Jude said lazily. “I saw it myself.”
“It’s true,” Dani said. “They can’t control me.”
“How would you know?” Jerrod roared. “You’d be the last to know.”
Suddenly Lucinda was there, also half-transformed. She touched Jerrod’s arm but he shoved her hand away. At that the pack started growling menacingly, and Dani honestly couldn’t tell whether they blamed the vampires for this extraordinary behavior from Jerrod, or him.
“Dad, I’ve made every decision myself. By myself.”
He opened his mouth and drew a huge breath, apparently ready to start in again, but this time Lucinda would not be denied.
“Jerrod,” she said sharply, “remember yourself! You defy my authority in front of the pack and you know what that could mean.”
Jerrod clenched and unclenched his fists, clearly seething. He looked at Lucinda. “You would let our daughter go with these bloodsuckers?”
“Each member of the pack makes his or her own decision about whether to remain with the pack or go to another. You know that. We don’t have the right to approve or disapprove. Dani has made her choice.”
Dani has made her choice? Dani heard those words like stones dropping into her heart. She supposed she had made a choice of some kind, mainly in defying her mother about getting involved, but the bottom line was that the choice had been made for her, by faulty genetics and by her mother’s own words. She didn’t want to give up the pack; she just didn’t fit in. Apparently her mother didn’t see it that way.
But she hadn’t chosen a different pack. Not really. What had happened between her and Luc would probably evaporate quickly once this mess was over. And it was mostly over now. But he had made it so clear that he didn’t want to risk claiming her, and that most likely meant that whatever lay between them was short-term only.
The thought nearly broke her heart, but she didn’t have time for that now. The tension between the alphas had the pack pacing nervously, not a good thing, and she wasn’t surprised when one of them, Carty, snapped at Luc’s hand. Just a snap, but expressive nonetheless.
Luc didn’t move a muscle. He didn’t react at all. Dani, however, was not going to let that pass. She hurried to stand beside him and grabbed Carty’s ear.
“No,” she said sharply. “They aren’t responsible for any of this.”
Carty’s tail went down and he slunk over to the others.
Lucinda looked at her daughter. “You would have made a great alpha.”
“I never had that opportunity. And I really don’t want to choose sides, because the way I see it, there are no sides to choose. You are my family. These are my friends.”
“Yet you choose to go with them,” Jerrod growled.
“They befriended me. They saved me. Now we’ve made common cause against these rogues. But it was my mother who told me I was out of the hierarchy.”
Jerrod whirled toward Lucinda. “You told her that?”
“She refused to obey me. It is our way.”
“So,” Dani said, through a tightening throat, “I make my way alone now. That is your way.”
At that, some of the youngsters came over to her, whining, nudging at her legs, telling her they wanted her to rejoin them. But she couldn’t. She would fit
with them even less now. Whatever her path, it couldn’t include returning north with her pack.
Not her pack. Not anymore. She had to blink so as not to cry.
“I think,” Luc said, his voice tight, “that there would be better times to get into this matter. Times with less pressure. We still have a city to finish cleaning out and time is short. Will you join us, Madam Wolf?”
Lucinda hesitated. While awaiting her decision, her mate melted back into wolf form and went to stand with the rest of the pack.
“No,” she said. “Not unless Dani calls and says she needs us.”
Dani looked at Luc. “Do you think you can handle the rest of them?”
“I doubt there are many more, thanks to Terri’s work at the morgue. If newborns appear here and there, the two of us can take care of them.” Clearly he wanted nothing more to do with wolves.
Dani swallowed hard and looked at her mother. “Will I see you again?”
Lucinda nodded. “We still love you, even if you choose a path away from us. You know where we are.”
Then she shifted and turned, leading the silent pack away.
Before they had gone very far, however, Alis and Max came bounding back to swirl around Dani and whine sadly. She ruffled their fur lovingly then said, “Go before Lucinda gets mad.” Her eyes were still on them as they vanished into the night.
Jude looked around at the bodies. “I suppose the sun will take care of them.”
Luc agreed. “Burying them won’t conceal them from other vampires, and building a pyre would draw quite a bit of attention.”
“I should think so,” said Jude. “Back to the city, then. There’s still work to be done.”
Luc reached out and lifted Dani, this time carrying her in her arms. Not by a word or sound did he indicate that he knew she wept silently all the way back.
Chapter 14
A surprise awaited them when they returned to Jude’s office. In a shadow, beyond reach of the moon, stood another vampire. Dani stiffened as soon as the smell reached her nose. So did Luc.
“Put me down,” she whispered. “You might need to defend yourself.”