Wild Embrace

by Nalini Singh

  “Yes.” Garnet’s shoulder brushed his arm as she paused. “You’re thinking they were trying to avoid conflict.”

  “Yeah.” Heart pounding at the physical sign that maybe she wasn’t so generally pissed at him any longer, he dared tug on a curling tendril that had escaped the hair stick, giving her the skin privileges she needed to find her center. “Doesn’t fit with Shane going after Russ.”

  “Nothing fits in this goddamn mess,” Garnet muttered before closing the final distance to the apartment door and raising her hand to knock—but not until she’d glanced over at him, said, “Thanks for putting your body in the line of fire.”

  “Anytime, Garnet.” Whatever she needed, he’d do, he’d be.

  • • •

  It was Athena’s friend Julie, black haired and with skin the shade of dark autumn leaves, her features lovely and elegant, who opened the door.

  Garnet stepped through with her head clear and her wolf’s frustrated anger focused into lieutenant composure. All thanks to a sexy, playful wolf she’d done her best to ignore for seven years. Kenji had always been good at that, at making other people feel better. She hadn’t missed the light in Eloise’s eyes, had figured out the cause pretty damn quick.

  Kenji Tanaka had always had such a generous heart.

  That appeared unchanged, and it didn’t fit at all with how he’d destroyed their friendship with a harsh coldness that bewildered her to this day. He’d hurt her and he hadn’t seemed to care. He hadn’t said sorry for standing her up, hadn’t even wished her a belated happy birthday. Instead, he’d ignored her, as if they’d never been friends.

  Back then, she’d been so angry that she’d taken his actions at face value, especially given his increasingly wild behavior in the months and years immediately following. Kenji had come very close to going totally off the rails with his partying and dangerous stunts, had been placed on probation when it came to his status in the pack. It was one hell of a serious disciplinary measure for a wolf everyone had thought would make lieutenant.

  Not seeming to care about that, either, he’d carried on with his recklessness—until the day he’d jumped off the top of the highest accessible waterfall in den territory.

  Garnet had seen the jump by sheer chance, had felt her scream lock in her throat, her entire body going ice-cold. No, she’d thought, no! She’d frantically searched the churned-up water for his body, but he hadn’t broken his neck that day, just a few ribs.

  Garnet had intended to tear him a new one for that stupid stunt, but Hawke had hauled him off into the trees while he was still wet and injured, their alpha’s grip on Kenji’s nape unforgiving. They hadn’t reappeared for hours; and whatever had happened that day, Kenji had stopped the flat-out crazy behavior. But he hadn’t picked up the violin he’d abandoned—and he hadn’t halted his odyssey through the female population of SnowDancer.

  Garnet’s wolf flexed its claws inside her, but even that wolf, primal and proud, was wondering if maybe in her anger and hurt, she’d missed something vital all those years ago. But that mystery would have to wait, no matter how it tore at her. Today, she had to focus on Russ and Shane.

  “Jem! Oh, Jem, tell me it’s not true!” Athena rushed into her arms as soon as Garnet entered the living area. Her perfume was as delicate and floral as her sundress, her hair a mass of wild mahogany curls around a striking Botticelli face.

  Beside Garnet, Kenji held Julie close, lending his strength to a packmate who needed it.

  It took several minutes for Athena to be in any condition to talk. Sitting down with her while Kenji wandered into the kitchenette to talk to Julie as she made some coffee, Garnet took the older woman’s hand. It trembled. “Why did Shane go over to Russ’s, Athena?”

  Athena’s normally creamy skin was blotchy and devoid of its usual glow when she answered, her hazel-green eyes huge in a face that seemed all jagged bone. “Russ, he called.” A hiccuping breath, her voice as soft as always. “He said he wanted to clear the air, have a quiet drink with Shane.”

  “That doesn’t sound like Russ.” He’d held on to his grudges like pups hang on to their favorite toys.

  “Actually, I could see him making that call.” A smile curved Athena’s lips but it was a terrible mockery formed of sadness. “Russ likes . . . liked, things in neat boxes. Me and Shane, we were a loose end.” She looked down at the carpet, but Garnet had the feeling she was seeing the man who’d been an integral part of her life for a decade. “So he’d shake hands with Shane and that would be it. The box would be closed and he could carry on.”

  Smile fading, Athena looked up to meet Garnet’s gaze. “I was happy for him, thought he was finally moving on from our relationship.” Her voice broke on the last word. “I d-didn’t h-hate him. I wanted g-good things for him.”

  Garnet allowed her packmate to regain her composure before saying, “He called this morning?”

  “No, last night. He wanted Shane to go over then.” The blood vessels in her swollen eyes spidery red lines against the white, Athena accepted the mug of coffee Julie handed over, giving her friend a shaky smile of thanks as the shorter woman sat down on her other side.

  Taking her own coffee from Kenji as he leaned against the side of the sofa, Garnet waited.

  “But Shane was just leaving for a night shift,” Athena continued. “So Russ suggested that maybe Shane could drop by in the morning for a few minutes instead.” She gave a tight smile. “Russ always hated having to redo his schedule—he liked things as he liked them.”

  Taking a deep breath of the coffee aroma, she swallowed, her nose stuffy when she spoke again. “Shane didn’t want to go, but I said he should, that it’d make things so much easier if we didn’t have to avoid Russ in the den.” Another breath, this one jerky. “I sent him.” Her hands tightened on the coffee mug, her voice rising in pitch.

  Athena’s pain made Garnet’s heart hurt, but she had to be a lieutenant today, not just a sympathetic packmate. “How was Shane this morning before he left?” she asked before Athena could give in to hysteria.

  Athena jerked almost to attention at Garnet’s blade of a tone, instinct trumping the dark spiral of her thoughts. “I didn’t see him,” she whispered. “I was giving an art class in the nursery and I left early to set up. But I know he wouldn’t have had a knife.” Her big, guileless eyes pleaded with Garnet. “He’s not that kind of a man.”

  Kenji stirred, his scent brushing over Garnet in a caress that felt disconcertingly intimate. “Do you know if there’s a blade missing from his collection?”

  “I haven’t looked.” Athena set down her coffee mug before her trembling spilled the hot liquid over the sides. “I didn’t want to look. I know Shane didn’t go there with the intention of hurting Russ.”

  “May we look?” Garnet put her own mug on the same low table.

  Rubbing away her tears with her knuckles, Athena hesitated, suddenly appearing far smaller than her five feet, nine inches of height. “I don’t want to do anything to hurt Shane.”

  The truth was that as head of the den, Garnet could go ahead without Athena’s permission, but the other woman was already fragile, didn’t need to be forced into a choice that made her feel as if she was betraying the man she loved. Better if Athena understood that she was helping her lover as much as she could.

  Cupping her packmate’s face in her hands, Garnet spoke to woman and wolf both. “You know I’ll be fair,” she said. “To do that, I have to know all the facts.”

  Face crumpling even as her eyes turned the yellow of her wolf, Athena gave a staccato nod. “Julie c-can show you the k-key . . .”

  Garnet glanced at Kenji. Putting his own coffee beside hers, he left with Julie while Garnet tugged Athena close and held her tight.

  “I n-n-never meant for this to happen,” Athena said, her voice muffled against Garnet’s neck. “I just . . . couldn’t live inside a
box anymore.” She drew back, raised her hand to her mouth. “I n-never th-thought—”

  “Hey.” Garnet took Athena’s hand away from her mouth, tipped up her chin. “No wolf in my den is ever going to be made to feel guilty for the actions of another.” Even as she spoke, she was telling herself to take her own damn advice. “You just remember that this entire scenario involves adults. Part of being an adult is making our own decisions. You didn’t make either Shane or Russ do anything. Understood?”

  Athena nodded jerkily just as Julie returned. Leaving the generally more pragmatic and steady woman to sit with Athena, Garnet went to join Kenji in the small room that functioned as a combined art studio and hobby area. Seeing her, Kenji opened a closet at the back to reveal a tall set of drawers with a glass display case on top. The knives within the case were obviously much older and far more ornate than the one that had been used on Russ.

  “You go through the drawers?” she asked him.

  “No, I figured you’d want to be here for that.” He pulled open the first slender drawer.

  The two of them examined the contents in silence, moved on to the next.

  “Damn.” Garnet’s breath got stuck in her chest, each inhalation as sharp as the blades in front of them—because there was a gap. Arranged smallest to largest, each knife in this set had a green jewel in the hilt, as well as distinctive scrollwork.

  Kenji took out his phone, pulled up a photograph of the murder weapon. “Perfect match.”

  Folding her arms, Garnet stared at the accusatory gap in the blue velvet of the drawer lining, but it had no more secrets to tell. “Let’s go see if Revel’s matched the fingerprints—I asked him to take care of it on my way back from the infirmary.”

  Locking the case, Kenji pocketed the key. “I think we should lock up the whole studio. Just in case.”

  “Good idea.” It turned out the door to the studio had a never-used thumb-scan lock that Garnet programmed to respond to only her or Kenji.

  The living room was empty when the two of them returned to it. She followed Athena’s scent to the bedroom, where she found the artistic woman lying down while Julie patted her back. Catching Julie’s eye, Garnet motioned that they were leaving.

  Before she could step away from the doorway, however, Athena sat up. Shoving her curls out of her face, she said, “Can I see Shane?” It was a plea.

  “No, I’m sorry, Athena. No one can speak to Shane until I’ve had a chance to interview him.” She’d swung by her quarters and picked up her phone earlier, aware Lorenzo would alert her the instant Shane began to show signs of consciousness. “I’ll tell you as soon as I’m done; you have my word.”

  Athena’s face threatened to crumple again. She was a sweet and talented wolf with a gentle heart but she wasn’t the strongest of them. So when she squared her shoulders and set her jaw, Garnet’s own wolf looked at her with new eyes.

  Love, it seemed, could make warriors out of even the most fragile.

  “I don’t believe it.” Athena’s voice was fierce. “I don’t think Shane would hurt Russ. He’s just not built that way.” Yellow wolf eyes locked with Garnet’s in a show of truly unexpected strength. “You do this right, Jem. You find the truth.”

  Chapter 5

  Kenji saw the renewed lines of strain around Garnet’s mouth as they left Athena and Shane’s quarters, and though his wolf snarled, wanting to take care of things, he knew there was nothing he could do but back her. Even had she been his, it was all he could’ve done—Garnet would allow nothing else.

  The thought had just passed through his head when a pack of pups in wolf form ran down the corridor, clearly racing. He knew without asking that they were breaking the rules, but with it being so wet outside, all the den kids were probably going stir-crazy.

  He’d certainly broken this particular rule more than once as a pup.

  Garnet didn’t stop or censure them. Laughing in open delight, she stood in place as they streamed around and through her spread legs. Looking at the pack of brown-furred bodies, Kenji noted the tiny one at the back who was determined to keep up but falling behind. The runt of the group.

  Garnet had been like that. Tiny and fierce and refusing to be left behind.

  Not stopping to question his instincts, he tugged off his necklace and dropped it on the floor. It was unlikely the shift would cause any damage to something as solid as the pendant, but he wasn’t about to take the chance.

  A second later, he shifted and raced to grab the huffing and trailing pup in his mouth, taking a firm grip halfway along the pup’s small body. Then he loped after the other little ones, racing past them to the far end of the corridor, where he put down his tiny burden. Turning, the pup bounced and yipped at Kenji excitedly, and when his friends skated to a stop in front of him, their tiny claws scratchy on the stone, Kenji’s pup made a noise that in human form would’ve been a smug raspberry.

  Chuckling inside at having given the pup one victory at least, Kenji left them to their boisterous play and padded back to Garnet. Who had her hands on her hips and was trying to look stern. “All the parents are trying to teach this lot not to shift while in their clothes, and there you go, setting a bad example.”

  He pretended to bite her leg.

  She laughed . . . and then her hand, it was in his fur, gripping lightly as she crouched down in front of him. “Your room’s on the way to my office.” Affection in her words, in her touch as she ran her free hand through his fur. “You can get fresh clothes.”

  Looking into eyes gone a wolfish gold, his own wolf’s heart beat huge and hard inside its chest. That wolf, too, loved her. And that wolf, too, knew they had to let her go. But the animal was closer to its primal self, possessiveness in its veins.

  Tugging out of her hold before that primal heart could give in, he nipped at her jaw.

  “Kenji!” She laughed again, and the sound, it was like warm rain over his senses.

  When she growled playfully and threatened to nip at his nose in vengeance, he danced out of reach and would’ve loped off toward his room. Except the pups had seen them tussling and ran excitedly back to join in the play. So of course he tumbled with them while Garnet let tiny pups climb all over her, her eyes bright and her hands gentle on their squirmy little bodies.

  He finally slipped away—his grandfather’s pendant gripped carefully in his teeth—when the now happily exhausted pups started curling up to nap right there in the corridor, piling on top of one another to snuggle in. He knew they’d be fine—during rainy days in particular, he’d often had to avoid more than one furry bundle in the corridors of his own den. Their caretakers would eventually track them down and carry them back to the nursery.

  Once in his room, he decided to leave off the pendant since he’d broken the rawhide tie when he took it off. Shifting, he ran the smoothness of it between his finger and thumb for a second, his heart clenching as he remembered the bighearted, loving man who’d given it to him. He was glad his grandfather had never known the long-term repercussions of the joyous trip on which he’d taken Kenji when Kenji was a boy. It would’ve killed the older man.

  Breathing past the ache of a grief that still caught him unawares sometimes when he thought of his grandfather, he was in a fresh pair of jeans and a white T-shirt by the time Garnet made it to outside his room. Reaching out to ruffle his hair, she said, “You lost the colors.”

  He’d bent instinctively so she could reach, had to force himself to straighten. “I feel naked. Like my butt’s showing.”

  Dimple appearing, she pulled out a glitter pen from her pocket. “Want me to go wild?”

  His shoulders shook at the gleam in her eye. “Where did you get that?”

  • • •

  “Found it in the break room before our meeting, meant to drop it off with the school supplies.” Slipping the pen back into her pocket, Garnet curled her fingers into her h
ands, the sensation of Kenji’s hair against her palm a living memory. Warm silk, heavy and glossy. “You’re still good with kids.” She’d always thought he’d make an incredible father if he’d only stop his crash-and-burn approach to relationships.

  “My mom says it’s because I’m half-pup myself.” The dangerous, heartbreaker smile that creased his cheeks made it clear he didn’t consider that an insult. “You still intending to have as many as you can?”

  She blinked at the realization that he’d remembered her dreams, but then, Kenji had a habit of remembering things she’d said to him . . . and vice versa. As a teen, he’d once found her an out-of-print comic book for her collection after she mentioned it exactly once. Not long afterward, she’d tracked down a particular candy bar he wanted to eat.

  They’d always taken care of one another in small ways, right up to the night Kenji had broken them in two. Hurting and angering her so much that she’d been blinded by it.

  “Yep,” she said, her resolve to figure out the mystery of that night set in stone—she’d know the truth before Kenji left the den. And if that truth was a painful one, if Kenji had simply changed his mind and no longer cared about her, so be it. But given his behavior today, she didn’t think the answer was so simple.

  “You always used to say ten was a good number.” His smile deepened and yes, there was no one more gorgeous than Kenji Tanaka when he smiled that way.

  “I might’ve been a little off base there.” Her dry response made him chuckle; the sound, it sank into her bones, made them ache. “But three or four, absolutely.”

  Kenji rocked back on his heels, his thumbs hooked into the back pockets of his jeans. The action pulled his T-shirt across his chest, defined the ridged planes of his body. “With your family’s track record of fertility, I figure you’re gonna hit a home run soon as you find your man”—was there a hitch there, a subtle tightening of his facial muscles?—“and start making the attempt.”

  Continuing to watch him with a care she’d avoided for years, Garnet said, “I’m hoping.” Ruby and Steele weren’t Garnet’s only siblings—she had six others, a near-impossible number in changeling terms. Four sets of twins, plus Garnet.