by Bianca D'Arc
“Good man.” Jesse nodded approvingly.
“But I don’t want her in here, or I swear I’ll bite her.” The kid glared at Maria and she gasped, tears filling her eyes as she fled the room.
Damn. Rage filled Jesse as he watched Maria’s cute tail scurry out the door. He understood the guilt she was feeling. The kid’s anger didn’t help matters.
“You keep a civil tongue in your head when it comes to the doc, Zach. She didn’t know you were a shifter. Even so, she saved your life. She performed surgery on you to remove the bullet and stitched you up the best she knew how. Without her, you’d probably be dead by now, so you thank your lucky stars she was the one animal control brought you to. If you’d fallen to your attackers, you’d be in a lot worse shape by now.”
That seemed to stifle the kid for now, but he still looked rebelliously suspicious as he lay in the granny bed and glared at him. Jesse sighed heavily.
“Is there anyone I can call for you? I’ll give you my phone to make the call if that helps.”
“And then you’ll have their numbers and they’ll come under fire? No, thank you.”
Jesse shook his head. “I understand and applaud your caution, but you’re dead wrong here. Give me an hour and I’ll prove it.”
The stubborn chin nodded. “An hour. Then I’m history.”
Jesse knew it wasn’t an idle threat. Grizzly shifters were among the most magical. If Zach really wanted to try to evade him, he’d probably manage it. Werebears could hide their trail by magical means so that even other shifters couldn’t follow.
Jesse left the room and went in search of Maria. He found her not far away, sitting on the couch in the living room. Her eyes were dry, but she didn’t look happy. Still, she was bearing up under the stress better than he’d expected.
“I’ve got some calls to make. I don’t suppose you have videoconferencing capabilities?” he asked, taking a shot in the dark.
“I have a laptop with a camera. You can video chat on it, I think.”
“That’s better than nothing.” Jesse was already dialing as he spoke. Maria bounced up off the couch and left the room.
“Jason, we’ve got a complication,” Jesse said to his brother as soon as he answered the phone.
“What’s going on? I got an update from Arlo about twenty minutes ago. The prisoners are secure and on their way here. He said you were having trouble convincing the woman to leave her farm.”
Jesse took a split second to marvel again at how well the position of Alpha suited his little brother. He had grown into the responsibility that had been thrust upon him during the chaos after their parents’ deaths. Jesse, by rights, should’ve fought for the position, but after the wars he’d been through, his heart and mind weren’t fully with the Pack anymore. Jason had been the one to step up and fight for their birthright. He’d fought off all comers, avenging their parents’ deaths and restoring order to the Pack. He’d done well, and Jesse couldn’t be more proud of him.
“It’s more than that. The lady is a veterinarian. She has a number of exotic and large wild animals on her place. It’s a sanctuary.”
“Yeah, Arlo told me a bit about it. Can’t she get someone to watch over the critters for a bit?”
“It’s not that. She had a bear here with a gunshot wound. Jesse, he’s a shifter. A grizzly. Shot in the chest and knifed with a silver blade along one arm. He doesn’t trust me worth shit right now and I’ve got one hour to convince him I’m one of the good guys.”
“What do you want me to do?” Jason went from casual questioning to deadly serious from one heartbeat to the next. Damn.
Jesse really liked the fact that he could depend on his little bro as much or even more than any member of his elite team. He led the small group of ex-Special Forces shifters and he’d staked his life on their loyalty time and again. He was coming to learn that Jason was just as reliable and even more resourceful in some ways due to his position as Alpha of one of the most influential Packs in the country.
“Call the Lords. See if they’ll do a video chat with the kid. I need him to know I’m on the level, and I need him to tell me where his parents are. I have a bad feeling about the fact that he was out there on his own, shot and damaged enough to be hunted and caught by human animal control officers. He caught a break when they tranq’ed him and brought him to Maria. She performed surgery on his chest and stitched him up, but she caged him, not knowing he was a shifter, and he’s understandably pissed.” Jesse took a breath, needing to lay it on the line with his brother. “At this point, I’m not even sure if the attack on Maria’s house last night was due to her presence or that of the grizzly kid. Could be those hunters were sent to get him and she was just a bonus.” He cursed under his breath. “Or it could be the other way around. Until the kid starts talking, I just don’t know.”
“All right. Get to a computer and stand by. Sign into your account and I’ll form the link. We can probably patch the Lords through that way, if they’re around. I’ll send a priority call as soon as you hang up.”
“Then I’m gone. Clock’s ticking.” Jesse disconnected the call and turned to find Maria standing behind him with a laptop in her hands.
“So you thought those two jerks this morning were after me, but now you’re not so sure? They might’ve been after Zach?” Her hands were shaking, but her spine was firm with the inner strength she’d demonstrated up to this point.
“Sorry you heard that, but yes. That’s about the size of it.” He stepped toward her and held out his hand. She placed the laptop in his grip after a slight hesitation and he stared into her expressive eyes, caught by the worry in her gaze.
“I can’t just let him leave with you and stay behind, can I? They really will come back. Or, if not those two, more like them. Right?”
“Yes, Maria. I’m sorry. By taking Zach in, you’ve compromised your own safety. Or vice versa. I won’t know which until we figure out exactly who they were after. But now that two of their number have been captured and are missing, they’ll send more. It might take a day or two before they realize what happened here, but they’ll find out and then they’ll send a more professional team to handle you.”
She took a deep, steadying breath and looked away, thinking hard. When she turned back to him, it seemed she had come to a decision.
“All right. I’m going to call in some backup to watch over the animals. I have a contingency plan for the occasional times I’m sick or need to go someplace. There’s a couple that can come by a few times a day to feed and check on the animals. They should be all right since it sounds like the bad guys will probably leave once they realize we’re gone. I’ll go with you and Zach to Wyoming until all this is sorted out.”
Jesse felt relief in his heart unlike any he’d felt before. He’d been tied up in knots about how to get her cooperation, and now he suddenly had it. He should be happy. Instead he felt an urgency to bundle her up and get her out of here as soon as possible. He’d learned not to ignore those kinds of feelings.
“Make the arrangements and then pack a bag. We’re going to hit the road as soon as I can convince Zach.” Jesse opened the laptop and began firing it up.
“He’s not really in condition to travel.” She bit her lower lip, probably worrying about her patient.
The unconscious action made Jesse think some very inappropriate thoughts about kissing her worries away and sinking his own teeth into her flesh…in a pleasurable way. Not to hurt. Only to tantalize.
He cleared his throat and tried to focus on her words, not that little bit of pink softness begging to be kissed. He’d wanted to feel her plump, feminine lips under his since almost the first moment he’d seen her kicking ass in her kitchen. In the slinky-as-sin revealing nightie that would star in his dreams for years to come, he was sure.
“He’ll have to be ready.” Jesse tried to get his thoughts back on track. “We need to get out of here. The three of us will be no match for the next batch of assassins.”
“Him. You. Me. The Venifucus probably want all of us dead. They—or somebody—already tried to kill Zach once. Those guys in your kitchen last night had Venifucus tattoos. You saw them. They were here for either you or the kid. Maybe both. They might’ve toyed with you for a while, but you can be sure you’d die in the end. That’s what they do. They are sworn to kill all the Others on the side of Light and bring back their evil leader, Elspeth, Destroyer of Worlds.”
Jesse was punching keys on the laptop as he spoke, accessing the internet and one of his accounts where his brother could reach him. They’d used this same system to keep in touch many times while Jesse had been halfway around the world, fighting in some godforsaken hellhole. He’d always been able to count on little bro to keep in touch and ground him to his roots, his home. Jason was all about the Pack. He was a good Alpha who cared for his people and his family.
“I guess someone doesn’t get to be called the Destroyer of Worlds for no reason at all, huh?” Maria seemed both deflated and yet resolved.
“You’ve got that right, I’m sorry to say.” A window opened on the laptop and there was Jason, his baby brother. Jesse used the mic pickup on the laptop to test the connection. “Can you hear me, Jay?”
“Loud and clear, Jess.” His voice came through a little tinny on the built-in speakers. It wasn’t great, but it would do. “The Lords are rounding up someone who might be able to convince your bear shifter. One of their people thinks he knows the juvenile you’re dealing with.”
“Excellent. Do you have an ETA?”
“About ten minutes, they said.”
“Good.”
“In the meantime, Sally was wondering if Dr. Garibaldi was available.”
“Hang on a sec. I’ll check.” Jesse muted the sound and moved away from the camera. He didn’t want to put Maria on the spot. If she wasn’t ready to see and talk to her cousin, he wasn’t about to force her. “Sally wants to speak to you, but you don’t have to if you’re not ready yet. We’ll see her soon enough when we get to Wyoming.”
“No, it’s okay. I’d like to see what she looks like. Even if I’m not totally convinced we’re actually related.” Maria came over to sit in front of the coffee table where he’d set up the laptop.
Jesse set it to receive audio again and leaned into camera range beside Maria.
“Jason, this is Maria. Maria, my brother, Jason.” Jesse figured he’d keep it to first names to make things easier. Maria probably didn’t know much about the shifter world or how to properly address an Alpha. Better to treat her as they did regular humans, by the customs of the human world. He’d set them all on equal footing.
Maria was taken aback by how different the brothers were. Sure, they had very similar features, and the man on the screen looked somewhat younger than the guy in her living room, but it wasn’t so much the years as the mileage. Jesse’s eyes were…haunted was the best word she could find. He’d seen things that had left their mark on his soul.
Sensitive as she was to wounded things, she felt it and saw it every time she looked at him. Yet there was a core of strength in Jesse that refused to give up or give in.
“Pleased to meet you,” Maria said gently, trying to keep her thoughts from spilling over into her tone.
“Same here. My wife has been looking forward to talking with you. I’ll give her the chair.” Maria watched as the man stood, his jeans-clad crotch filling the screen for a moment.
She almost laughed but figured Jesse wouldn’t appreciate her humor. A second later, Jason was gone and a dark-haired woman was taking his place in the chair in front of their computer. She put on the headset Jason, now off-camera, handed her. And then she smiled.
Maria couldn’t help but answer that smile with one of her own. The woman’s face was more angular than her own, but Maria saw something in her eyes, the curve of her brows…something familiar.
“So you’re supposed to be my cousin?” Maria found herself speaking her thoughts aloud.
“I am. My name is Sally, and I’ve been asked to find you by our mutual ancestor, a woman named Leonora. She’s a dryad.”
“So I’ve heard,” Maria said dryly, shooting Jesse a glance. He seemed very interested in her first conversation with this other woman. “I just don’t really understand how it could be. My family is only a little magical. Some of my father’s relatives believe in magic, but my dad died when I was a child. So far, my only gift has been with wild animals.”
“Wait a minute,” Jesse said, drawing her attention. “Some of your relatives are magic users? What gift do you have?” His gaze condemned her for not coming clean sooner, and she bristled.
“My nona and aunt are both witches, I guess you’d call them. They do spells, dance under the full moon and things like that. My mother always thought they were crazy, but when I was little, I realized that occasionally I could feel the energy of the forest and its creatures. My nona said I had healing talent and helped set me on the path toward veterinary school. She felt so strongly about it, she even paid for my education. Mom and my stepfather wanted nothing to do with it. They wanted me to be a lawyer. My stepfather’s a very successful attorney. Mom’s a society wife with a drinking problem, if I’m being brutally honest. I think she started drinking when my father died. I always felt she married Frank on the rebound, trying to forget my real father.”
“I’m sorry,” came Sally’s understanding voice over the small speakers. “I never knew my parents. I was raised by foster families and never really thought I had any family out there until I met Leonora a few weeks ago. She showed me that the affinity I always had for growing things came from her influence in my ancestry. It seems we part-dryads are able to make our family tree visible by using our magic to call it. That’s how I know you are one of my cousins and that I have a sister I’ve never met. My line descends from Leonora’s daughter, Marisol, who married a werewolf several centuries ago, so I have a bit of werewolf in me. Not enough to shift or anything, sorry to say. In me, the dryad magic is much stronger than anything else. I can make plants grow and hear the song of the forest. Trees speak to me.”
Maria shifted on her seat, uncomfortable with the description. Part of what she heard was very familiar to her and something she’d denied for a long time because of her mother’s disapproval. Maria had consciously limited herself to healing animals. Talking to trees had been strictly forbidden by her class-conscious mother from the time she was old enough to toddle.
“I’m a vet. I heal animals, and usually only in the conventional way. Occasionally, I think magic comes into it.”
“You deal mostly with forest creatures, right? Wolves, mountain lions, bears? Jason said you run a sanctuary for wild animals,” Sally prompted.
Maria found herself nodding. “Those are the creatures I’m drawn to help the most.”
“Makes sense.” Sally shrugged. “They are part of the woodland too. They are part of what we were born to protect and nurture.”
“I still don’t know if I believe all of this. I mean, I know about shifters. I’ve dealt with one once before, and just a few minutes ago I saw a bear turn into a teenager in my guest room. I know they’re real. And I know magic is real. But I don’t know if I believe I’m part-dryad, or that I’m related to you. I think Nona or my aunt would’ve known if we had other relatives out there. They’re all about family. Especially Nona. She keeps track of everyone and holds the family together.”
“I’d love to meet them.” Sally’s voice was filled with an eager sort of longing and a tiny bit of pain. Maria remembered then that this woman—a strong, capable police woman from all accounts—had never really had a family of her own. Maria’s heart went out to her.
“I’m sure they’d love to meet you too, Sally. Once this crisis is over, why don’t we all get together and figure out where you come from and how my family fits in?”
A smile broke over the woman�
��s face on the screen. “I’d love that. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Frankly, I’m really intrigued by all of this and willing to listen—more now than when your brother-in-law broke down my kitchen door in the middle of the night.” She chuckled, shooting a mock glare at Jesse.
“Speaking of which, Maria, you need to be really careful. The guys who tried to snatch you don’t mess around. Those men were part of a group that shot a teenage girl from the Pack, trying to abduct her. Failing that, they grabbed a young boy and set up a highly explosive booby trap for anyone who tried to rescue him. These are not nice people. Terrorists with a magical agenda.”
“They want their Destroyer of Worlds back, right? Jesse was just telling me about it.”
“Jason and Jesse know more about that than I do. I’m pretty new to all this. I only found out about Others a month ago. Before that, I lived in San Francisco and didn’t really understand much about the magical world. Only that I could make things grow. But living in the city, I was limited to urban gardens and potted plants.”
“I can’t imagine living in the city. I grew up on an estate with a big manicured garden and lots of animals. My stepfather had an apartment in the city where he’d stay over if he was on a case. Otherwise, he’d commute a few days a week.”
“My, my. I’m not sure we’re socially acceptable among the country-club crowd,” Jesse joked, listening in. She made a face at him and Sally laughed on the other end of the connection, having heard Jesse’s words through the laptop speaker.
“In case you haven’t noticed, I gave all that up to live out here with the animals. I call this place a sanctuary for a reason.” Maria rolled her eyes at Jesse and then sobered. “I thought I was safe way out here in the middle of nowhere, but this morning proved me wrong in a big way.”
Sally looked grim when Maria refocused on the screen. “The hunters shot Leonora with a silver bullet. You know silver is poison to magical folk, right? The forest is keeping her alive for now, but she’s the main reason I’m so eager to find all of my relations quickly. She said we need to put our energies together to heal her. The sooner we can do that, the better.”