by L. A. Banks
Hunter shrugged as he let go of his brother’s arm. “I don’t make assumptions any longer about female logic. But they do know a brand of magick that we will never own.”
Both men paused, knowing they had just unwittingly stumbled into the delicate mental territory claimed by Sasha.
“Maybe she would talk to Amy,” Shogun said quietly without directly mentioning Sasha’s name.
Hunter nodded. “She has a big heart and would help, if you thought that would be best.” It was a noncommittal response but the best one he could offer without discussing it with Sasha first.
Shogun nodded and walked more deeply into the underbrush, leaving just as oddly as he’d come. “Thank you.”
“Be careful, Brother!” Hunter called behind him, and then jogged to catch up to Shogun.
Shogun stared at Hunter for a moment, his expression unreadable except for the sadness that haunted his dark eyes.
“We got a strange missive last night from Sir Rodney’s castle. There are Vampire grave openings happening in New Orleans. The Vampires believe the Unseelie did it, and their queen is currently at Sir Rodney’s Sidhe requesting an alliance.”
“And what has this to do with the wolves?” Shogun’s question was delivered with bland detachment. “We have only committed to ally with Sir Rodney.”
“True,” Hunter said, rubbing his broad palm across the new beard stubble covering his jaw. “But if Sir Rodney gets pulled into this madness, then it could be wrongly assumed that as his allies we’re involved. Sasha and I are going to try to learn more, but in the meanwhile it would be best to stay in touch and keep a low profile. So watch your back.”
CHAPTER 4
Sasha stared out the window as she held her cell phone to her ear. It was a hard thing to do, but she tried to focus. Just before the phone rang, she’d been mentally juggling a hundred possible scenarios at once. Her thoughts ricocheted between every conceivable reason Shogun had arrived and the plausible reality that Sir Rodney was once again under attack.
Now she was attempting to sort through all that while also seeming thoroughly engrossed in the early-morning conversation that had caught her off guard. In order to give Clarissa the full attention she deserved, Sasha knew she had to push Shogun’s sudden appearance after the arrival of the strange Fae missive out of her mind. But that was only marginally possible while she listened to Clarissa’s recounting of all the equipment installation antics and general office mayhem that had taken place over the last couple of months.
Forcing a smile into her voice, Sasha told herself there was no need to worry the closest female friend she had by sounding tense or as though she hadn’t welcomed the call. Truthfully, she missed the entire team. Even without Clarissa’s call, between the arrival of the mysterious Fae missive the night before and Shogun showing up on their cabin doorstep in the morning Sasha knew the little island of peace that she and Hunter had claimed was gone. It was time to go back to work. More important, it was time to come out of the lovers’ cocoon and get back to friends and family—the real world, as she liked to call it.
It didn’t matter that they’d been hunting demons, getting shot at, or battling rogue Unseelie factions and Vampires prior to escaping to their little getaway outpost in the woods. Everything had its season, and the home team was getting antsy. Truthfully, so was she. There was only so much rest and relaxation her normally hyper system could handle. Not that Hunter was a bad distraction. On the contrary. The man had a delicious way of making days and nights run together like a river until time simply didn’t exist. But still. There was a new government contractor business, Containment Strategies, Inc., to get off the ground, now that all the equipment had come in.
The only thing keeping guilt at bay as she stared out at the beautiful fire red, gold, and neon orange foliage was the fact that she’d put in time prior to her getaway to ensure contracts got put in place, supplies were ordered, and her team had a comfy base of operation in the French Quarter. But she could tell that Clarissa missed her just by the tone of her friend’s voice. They’d all been through a lot together as a team while formally working in the Paranormal Containment Unit. It felt weird that there was no deployment schedule, no brass to formally report to. Sasha felt free for the first time in her adult life, but that was also a terrifying thing. There was no regimen, no definites.
A pang of homesickness suddenly washed over Sasha. “I’ll be home within a day or so.” Sasha gave in to Clarissa’s unspoken question as her friend finished the long litany of things that had gone wrong with the initial equipment orders.
“Good, because it’s been a real challenge trying to keep Fisher and Woods from bouncing off the walls.”
Sasha let out a sigh. “I’ve missed you guys.”
Yeah, it was time to go home right after she made a pit stop to check on Sir Rodney and his Sidhe. That was the plan, anyway. The only issue was going to be breaking it to Hunter.
“Well, we’ve missed you, too,” Clarissa said, perking up. “I know Doc and the guys are going to be so excited. You know you’re the only one who can keep crazy Woods and Fisher on a short leash.”
Sasha laughed. “Me? Are you kidding? Those guys are their own brand of special.”
“Well, maybe they’ll chill out when Hunter gives them the growl.”
“One can only hope,” Sasha said, laughing harder.
“We need you here,” Clarissa added in a dramatic rush. “It’s like having two big Labrador puppies constantly roughhousing all day long. Then when Doc pops the choker chain and lets them off the leash to run, oh. my. God. And they’ve totally corrupted Winters.”
Sasha shook her head, smiling broadly. “I can only imagine.”
“No, you can’t, boss,” Clarissa said, laughing. “But I am not going to interrupt your Zen by going into the gory details.”
“Something tells me I don’t wanna know.”
“Trust me—you don’t.”
“Well, I’m still glad you called.” Sasha’s tone became slightly wistful as the full weight of being gone so long hit her. Her team was her family. Yeah, it was definitely time to go home.
“I’m glad I called, too,” Clarissa said softly. “Really missed you, kiddo. even though I know it’s gotta be tough to drag yourself away from the big guy.”
“Uhmmm. in a word. yeah.”
Both women laughed.
“Well, we can’t compete with Hunter, but we’ve got a great comedy routine going on here when you get back.”
“Can’t wait.”
Again, laughter filled the receiver and the cabin living room. She was so glad that Clarissa had picked this day to call her; psychic timing was everything. It had helped keep her from standing on the porch waiting for Hunter to come back and clue her in to what was going on with Shogun. But as Hunter was a man of few words, and this seeming like it was some kind of male-to-male bonding moment, there was no telling if she’d ever fully understand what was really up. So gabbing away an hour with ’Rissa was just what the doctor had ordered.
“Well, in the meantime,’ ” Sasha said, not losing a beat in the conversation, “please give everyone my love. Like I said, I’ll be back in a day or so. But that also reminds me; I got strange word last night that Vampire graves were getting opened to daylight. You guys hear anything about that?”
“Whoa, Sasha. that’s not something you just drop on somebody in an ‘oh, by the way.’ If we had heard something like that, it would have been the first thing I would have called you with—given our really bad relationship with them.”
“True.” Sasha gnawed on her bottom lip for a moment. Oh yeah, she’d definitely been gone too long and was slipping. “Well, we’re going to make a few stops and do a little investigating on the way home. Something tells me that this might be our next big case—but I want you guys to keep a really low profile. Seriously. Because I don’t have to tell you how our Vampire buddies will take it if they think we had any involvement in opening their graves. No
t to mention, there may be possibly Unseelie involvement. I don’t know yet. But those guys are just as deadly when provoked.”
“You don’t have to tell us twice, Sasha.”
“Good.” Sasha paced away from the window. Man, where had her mind been? “Make sure you communicate that to the team, especially Doc. Tell Woods and Fish that playtime is over. They’ve gotta be on nighttime guard duty. If you see Bear or Crow, make sure you also give them the heads-up so they can let Silver Hawk know, too.”
“Roger that, Captain,” Clarissa said, returning Sasha to her old pre-retirement rank.
“Okay. listen. you look alive and stay alive. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Big hug. I feel better already. Bye.”
“Bye,” Sasha said quietly as the call disconnected. The more she thought about it, the more alarmed she became. If the Vamps thought the ice queen had double-crossed them and had somehow gotten Sir Rodney’s support, there’d be hell to pay—and possibly in the streets of New Orleans again. The one thing Vampires were known for was swift and decisive retaliation. And if Sir Rodney had gotten lured into the fight somehow, the vamps would no doubt assume his allies—the North American Shadow Wolf and Southeast Asian Werewolf federations—had his back.. “Shit!”
Sasha pushed the cell phone into her jeans pocket and walked out onto the porch. She needed air. More than that, she needed to talk to both Hunter and Shogun. She hoped that was what had Shogun concerned. Maybe that’s why he’d shown up on their doorstep unannounced. Then again, if that was it, then why wouldn’t he have simply spoken to both of them right on the porch?
Straining her gaze, she tried to penetrate the dense tree line more than a hundred yards away in search of Hunter and Shogun. No luck. Part of her mind said to just be cool and wait; nothing was going to happen at this very second. But the impatient wolf in her wanted immediate resolution.
By the time she saw Hunter coming toward the cabin, a full fifteen additional minutes had passed. Even though she hadn’t run outside and accosted him on the porch, the wait had stripped her resolve not to rush him the moment he walked through the door.
Gone was the plan to calmly ask him if he wanted a cup of coffee to ease into extracting information on what was wrong. She didn’t own that much self-discipline right now. The door swung open and she was right there, standing in the middle of the room hugging her waist.
“So, what happened?”
Hunter looked at her for a moment and slowly closed the door and then ran his palm over his hair. “Long story.”
This man shit was going to drive her out of her mind.
“Want a cup of coffee so we can talk?”
“Yes, and no,” he said, going around her body block to head to the bathroom.
He closed the door behind him and she stood on the other side of it pacing for a moment until she heard the shower.
“Aw, c’mon, Hunter,” she said, cracking open the door a bit. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes, and no,” he said flatly. “Give me a minute to figure out how to present all of this in a way that preserves my brother’s dignity, all right?”
She quietly banged her head against the wall. “Yeah, sure. of course. I didn’t mean to pry. I just wanted to know that everything was all right.”
“No one is in mortal danger yet, so relax.”
Sasha stared at the door. Yet? Before she could stop herself she was in the bathroom staring at the shower curtain and watching Hunter’s dark-hued limbs splash color, soap lather, and water against it.
“You said yet?”
He released a long sigh and shut off the water valves. “How about that cup of coffee?”
“And we’ll talk—not just this twenty-questions stuff?”
“Yes, Sasha,” he said in a weary tone. “We will talk.”
“You cannot be serious.” Winters rubbed his palms down his face and scratched his head while the other members of the team yawned and slurped coffee.
“Wish I was joking,” Clarissa said, scanning the group. “Look, Sasha was being low-key for my benefit, I’m sure. But the implications of what she said were really messy. If the Fae go to war with the Vamps as a united front, then that drags the wolves into it. Kinda like guilt by association.”
“If you ask me, it’s bad enough that the entire human world is constantly on the brink of the Armageddon in the frickin’ Middle East. But to know the supernaturals are now hell-bent on war just makes me wanna crawl into the nearest cave and wait it out.” Woods shook his head and sucked in a huge slurp of coffee. “I mean, seriously—WTF.”
“Dude,” Winters said, and then pounded his fist.
Bradley leaned back in his chair and allowed his head to hang back with his eyes closed. “So, what are our options? We can either lay low and hope these two very strong forces annihilate each other, somehow bypassing us in the process—which isn’t likely. Or we can do some investigating, like Sasha suggested, and to try to find out what the hell started all this hoopla.”
Doc nodded and walked to the window nursing his cup of black coffee. “I’ll get in contact with Silver Hawk and let him know what’s going on. The Shadow Wolf Clan should be able to literally put noses on the ground and can probably move faster into some of the more dangerous areas than we can.”
“Good plan,” Fisher said, glancing around the team. “Maybe ’Rissa and Bradley can make a few house calls in Dr. Buzzard country, you know. see if some root workers and local psychics heard anything. while Winters and Doc try to interpret data coming in from the wolves?”
“We can do that,” Clarissa said, glancing at Bradley.
Woods stared at Bradley as he sat up slowly. “We’ve got your back. This time we’re not gonna let ’Rissa go in too deep alone. Nobody wants to put her at risk again, man.”
Bradley reluctantly nodded but kept his troubled gaze fixed on Clarissa. “Just a simple fact-finding mission. No heroics.”
“No heroics,” she said softly. “I promise.”
Crow Shadow leaned up on one elbow and stroked Jennifer’s cheek. Her lashes fluttered for a moment and then she slowly opened her eyes.
“Good morning,” he murmured, and then kissed her gently.
A gentle smile dawned on her face. “Good morning,” she whispered, and then kissed him again. “I can’t believe you did it.”
“I told you I wasn’t gonna leave you,” he said in a quiet tone, watching tears begin to well in her eyes. He placed a warm palm against her belly bump. “We mate for life. We have a code of honor. Even though fate put us together maybe before we were ready, we have a whole lifetime to grow into whatever this is.”
She touched his cheek with trembling fingers, searching his eyes through her tears. “You speak in the strangest way sometimes. use the most unusual phrases, like you’re not from here. It’s beautiful, but I don’t understand why you would say ‘mate’ and not ‘marry’ for life as though. I don’t know.”
“We’re not like Werewolves.” He looked at her hand and clasped it within his own. “We’re different.”
“Of course I don’t think your people are animals. Oh, my God, Crow. is that what you think I was trying to say?” She sat up, distressed, allowing the tears to slide down her cheeks. “I know my family is horribly prejudiced, but I’m not like that.”
He shook his head and sat up slowly. “No, baby, you’re not. You have a good heart and such a sweet soul. I know that’s not what you meant. but it is what I meant. I am part wolf.”
She bit her lip for a moment. “So, you’re saying that, even though we’re married, you’re still gonna run around on me.” She released a sad sigh and then got out of bed in search of her robe.
“No. That’s not what I meant at all. I told you I’m not a Werewolf. But I am part wolf. Shadow Wolf, the highest totem of the tribes, next to the bear. I will protect you from all harm to the death as your mate. I will never take another as long as you’re alive. My children I will defend with all that
I am. We of the Shadow Wolf Clan define the way of the wolf.”
“Oh,” she said, slumping with relief and placing her hand over her heart. “I didn’t understand. the Native American way of speaking about being a wolf. I guess there’s so much we have to learn about each other’s cultures and I’m just—”
“Sit down,” he said quietly. “You still don’t hear me. And it’s my fault. I should have shown you this before. well, probably before everything.”
She pulled on her robe and tied it tightly, clutching the ends of the tie. “You have something. a disease. Oh, Jesus Lord, and I’m pregnant. The baby. ”
“I do not have a disease. I’m immune to everything. The child will be stronger than you can ever imagine.” He patted the side of the bed. “Come sit. There’s something I have to show you.”
He waited until she nervously complied, and when she sat he stood and crossed the hotel room.
“Take two deep breaths and remember what I told you. I will never lay a hand on you, will never harm you. But I’m different.”
“We’re all different, baby. I don’t understand?”
He put a finger to his lips and took in a deep inhalation and changed. Jennifer’s scream could have shattered glass. Crow Shadow simply looked at her as she dropped back on the bed limp. Within minutes footfalls coming down the hall forced him to shift back into his human form and then grab the sheet off the bed to wrap around his waist. The inevitable knock on the door was from hotel security: He didn’t have to be a telepath to know that; it just made sense.
Calmly opening the door, he looked at the two huge casino guards.
“Is everything all right in here, sir?” one guard asked, peering around Crow Shadow into the room.
“Yep,” he said, releasing a sigh. “My wife saw something in here that sorta freaked her out, but she’ll be all right.”
“Can we come in and ask her about that, sir?” the other burly guard said.
“Sure.” Crow Shadow walked over to the bed and gently shook Jennifer. “Baby. hotel security came when you screamed.” He turned to the guards. “Mind getting her a glass of water?”