by Kit Lane
I noticed Kyle didn’t return until the bulk of the work was done. From the hard stares the smaller wolf received when he slunk in, they noticed it too. It wasn’t until he changed back into his human form that I realized the men were still unclothed. Somewhere along the line I’d stopped caring.
“Good timing,” Ronin drawled to Kyle.
“I thought so.” Evidently, Kyle didn’t care for cleaning. “There’s a deer outside the backdoor.”
“I can’t eat raw meat,” I pointed out.
Ronin’s lips twitched. “We can cook.”
“I can cook,” Kyle said. “You eat.”
“We all have our gifts. Some of us don’t run away at the sight of a cleaning cloth.”
“I can cook and I can clean,” I pointed out. “But that doesn’t mean to say I’m taking care of you boys.” I wanted to get that straight from the start.
Both of them stared at me, confused expressions on their handsome faces.
“We can look after ourselves. Why would we expect you to take care of us?”
“Women belong in the kitchen, men do the hunting?”
Ronin shook his head. “Our roles aren’t gendered like humans. There are as many women hunters as men. Most of our Cincos are mixed gender, but no sex has a defined role. There are some same-sex Cincos too. It’s down to the individual wolf.”
No sexism and no homophobia? Surely too good to be true. There was that little matter of killing innocent family members, though.
“I’m the hunter and I provide for the Cinco. I will provide for you too,” Kyle said.
I could hear the edge to his voice. I wanted to talk to him another time, ask why he was so defensive about his position, but for now I said, “I look forward to it, Kyle.”
“And I want to see if we can contact your parents,” Ronin said.
With that, I was dragged back to our situation. For a short while I’d forgotten what a precarious position I was in, miles away from home with four strange wolf-men, and a death threat on my head.
Ronin turned to Kyle. “I want the power of the Cinco to do this. Can you start the meal and come help us?”
Kyle nodded. “It won’t take long. I brought supplies in the SUV.”
He disappeared out of the door again as Matt and Lee reappeared. I didn’t know what they’d been doing, but Matt was almost black and Lee appeared to be immaculately clean.
Ronin raised one eyebrow at the alpha. I still thought of him as the alpha. This question of hierarchy was too complicated for me to get my head around. “Been rolling in the dirt?”
Matt glowered at him. “I slipped down a bank.”
Lee chuckled. “I should have filmed it. It was spectacular.”
“You are not tracking mud through my clean room,” I said, as Matt shed dirt by his feet.
“I told you to clean off in the river,” Lee said.
“It’s cold,” Matt protested.
He pleaded with me, but I shook my head. “You’re a wolf. You’ll survive.”
I had no idea where that had bossy streak come from, but Matt glowered then vanished out the door.
Ronin and Lee grinned at each other and held up their hands. “High five, Alex.”
I obliged but asked, “Why are you both so happy?”
“We’ve lived with Matt since we were pups and we have never seen him obey someone like he just did with you.”
I smiled, but inside I couldn’t help but worry. If wolves were born into the role, then I’d just challenged an alpha wolf. That couldn’t be good, could it?
Chapter 10 – Matt
I ran as fast as I could from the cabin. My wolf was seething, anger rose in me like a tidal surge, and my control was slipping the more time I spent around Alex. I needed to get away from the others before my wolf broke free and challenged her for the position of alpha.
If she were anyone other than Wulf Rieke’s daughter I’d have asked for the Elders’ help to resolve the alpha/beta dilemma. I had never heard of a Cinco alpha being challenged for his position once the Cinco was formed, not until the alpha was older and weaker. Every wolf came into his or her powers and knew their position in a Cinco or wider pack. I had been alpha from the day our Cinco formed. Now every sense I had was screaming at me that she was alpha, so what did that make me?
You are alpha! My wolf was insistent.
What if I’m not?
You. Are. Alpha.
Then who is she?
My wolf was silent. He couldn’t answer that any more than I could.
Each member of the Cinco understood their role better than the other members of the team, and the responsibilities that came with it. I’d known from the beginning there would be a point where I would be challenged for leadership. I just never expected it to come from my own team, from the unknown Quinto. And the most fucked-up thing about it? She had no clue about the chaos she was unleashing on the Cinco and on me.
I slipped and slid down the bank and plunged into the river, gasping at the icy water. It was shocking in its coldness, but I needed it. Whatever happened, I couldn’t lose my focus. I stayed in the water for a long time as my teeth chattered and my body shook. We had to find out who she was and how we could survive the Elders’ decree.
Finally, I couldn’t stand the temperature any longer. I washed off the last of the dirt and climbed onto a rock. I went wolf as soon as I was out, knowing I would heat up quicker. A small gray wolf joined me. Kyle.
“Feeling better?” His tone was neutral which put me on alert. Kyle didn’t do neutral unless he had something to say.
“Yeah. It’s freezing in there.”
“I know.”
There was a pause, but I waited for Kyle to come out with whatever he wanted to say.
“Are you all right?”
The question took me by surprise. Of all the Cinco, Kyle could be oblivious of others’ feelings.
“Not really. I’ll feel better when I know who Alex Rieke really is.”
I got the wolf equivalent of a hum.
“You are my alpha.”
So oblivious, yet Kyle got straight to the heart of the matter. He inclined his neck, a gesture of submission. I nipped at it gently.
“Thanks, Ky. I mean that.”
Whatever happened it felt good to know I had the support of my hunter.
“Matt, Kyle, you’d better get in here.”
Lee sent an urgent thought. I could feel the edge of fear, unusual from my communicator. I took off toward the cabin, Kyle hard on my heels. I bounded into the lighted room to find Lee, Ronin and Alex waiting for me.
“What’s wrong?” I demanded as I shifted into my human form.
“We haven’t got as long as I hoped,” Lee said. “Other wolves have been talking. Trying to think where we might go. The Elders are talking to our family. It won’t take them long to remember this cabin.”
I turned to Ronin. “Are you ready?”
“Yes.” He held out his hand to Alex. She smiled at him and placed her hand in his. My wolf growled in annoyance.
I don’t have time for this, I snapped. My wolf shut up with a huff.
Ronin glanced between us. “We need to get into a circle. Kyle, I need your human form. Alex, love, you’re going to have to go naked for this.”
“You’re joking.” She wrapped her arms around herself in a defensive manner.
I strode over to her and tilted her chin up. “Alex, we have very little time to find out the truth about you. You’ve gotten used to us like this. Believe me when I say your skin means nothing to us. Male or female, old or young, we don’t bother with clothes. I want to take care of you, but I don’t have time to make it gentle. So strip now or I’ll shred them off you.”
She stared at me, her eyes comically wide.
Ronin clapped his hands. “Way to go, Matt. Freak her out before we start.”
Alex shook her head. “No, it’s okay. Thanks for being honest. I can’t go precious princess now.”
I
smiled at her. She surprised me at every turn. I motioned to the guys to move away to give her some space and also question Lee.
“How long do you think we’ve got?” I asked as they huddled around me.
Lee’s brows beetled together. “Hours at the most. If they ask for help from local wolves, less than that.”
“How long will this take?” I asked Ronin.
“An hour, maybe less.”
“You’ve got half an hour. We get the information, eat, and get out of here.”
Ronin gave me a wry smile. “No pressure then.”
“I’m ready.” Alex’s hesitant voice interrupted us.
I glanced over my shoulder and my mouth went dry. She was beautiful. Our tiny, wolf/human was stunning, with pink-tipped breasts, creamy skin, and her hair sweeping down to her tiny waist. From the hisses of the men around me, they all felt the same thing.
That speech I gave? The one about her skin meaning nothing to us? I’d just been proved a liar.
Chapter 11 - Alex
Four men turned and stared at me, and their amber eyes flashed.
I took a step back. They took a step forward. Rinse, repeat. I straightened my shoulders and tried not to show how nervous I was. “Guys, we’re all naked now. Ronin, is it time to do your thing?”
For all Matt’s assurance that they weren’t bothered by nudity, it was obvious they were bothered. They couldn’t hide the fact. It was… disconcerting.
They didn’t move a muscle, they didn’t even blink. It was ridiculous. I snapped my fingers and they jumped, suddenly focusing on my face.
“Much as I appreciate the attention, dudes, we’ve got more important things to worry about.”
Matt blinked and color stained his cheeks. “Yeah, right, sorry. Ronin?”
Ronin blinked, as dazed as Matt. “Okay.” His Adam’s apple bobbed and his voice was huskier than usual. “I need you all close to me, touching me, Alex, and each other.”
Seriously? After they’d just about devoured me with their eyes? Ronin seemed to catch my thoughts, because he said, “You’re safe, Alex, I promise you. Nothing will happen. We’ve just found you. Everything we’re feeling is new.” He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “I’ll be in control the whole time.”
I had the feeling he was trying to convince himself, not me. Still, I had no choice but to go along with it if we were to get to the bottom of this whole crazy mess.
Ronin stepped up and faced me, the others gathering around. “If we knew each other better, I could do this without the touching, but for this time I need the power of the Cinco.”
I was swallowed up by men much taller than me. I hoped they left me enough room to breathe. Still, I had questions. “We have a power as a Cinco?”
It was Lee who answered. “A huge amount of untapped power I’ve never felt before today. It’s all I can do to keep you from broadcasting it to the world.”
The communicator, of course.
“I can’t feel it,” I said.
Lee hummed as if he didn’t believe me. “It’s going to be Ronin’s job to tap into the power, and my job to keep it local to us.”
I needed assurance from Matt, who was on my left. “What will you be doing?”
“Keeping us all safe,” he said, his expression grim.
“And I’ll take care of you,” Kyle said from my right. “Ronin normally does that, but it’s my job when he’s busy.”
“Thanks.” I smiled at him, but I was choked up inside. They’d known me for less than a day yet they were prepared to lay their lives on the line for me.
“That’s what being a Cinco is about,” Matt said. He drew closer, our bodies touching. His cock, still half-hard, brushed my ass, but it didn’t feel sexual.
The other men did the same, but it wasn’t claustrophobic. Each man touched me and Ronin. We were connected. I closed my eyes and then I felt it. Like an electrical charge running between all of us.
Ronin began to speak but I realized it was in my head. I didn’t recognize the language and I didn’t get the feeling he was talking to us. I could hear my name, Rieke, and I heard another voice. A softer, kinder voice. One that I would hear in my mind until my last breath.
“Mom?” I gasped.
“Alex?” Mom said, and tears pricked the back of my eyes. “My Alex? They found you? Baby, you have to run. If the wolves have found you, you’re in great danger.”
“Mom, I don’t understand. They say Dad was a traitor. The wolves say people want to kill me.” I needed her to tell me this was all a stupid mistake and I could go back to my life.
“Your dad was no traitor,” she said. “He was set up by one of the Elders. We just had no way to prove his innocence, so we ran.”
“You knew Dad was a wolf?”
She laughed, and the tears spilled onto my cheeks. I never thought I’d hear her laugh again. “Oh baby, I wish you could have seen him. A huge timber wolf with the softest fur.”
“But you’re not a wolf!”
“No, but I’m not human, and neither are you.”
“What?”
A ripple of surprise went around the circle and the connection wavered.
“Stay together,” Lee muttered, and we all shuffled closer.
I tried to focus again. “Mom?”
“Yes, baby?”
“What am I?”
“You’re a wolf/Fae hybrid.”
Fae? Faeries? Like shifters and vampires, I knew of their existence, but they stayed away from humans, and despite declaring they were happy to ‘share’ our world, humans were just as happy to be left alone.
“We don’t have long, Alex, we have to hurry this up,” Lee murmured.
I tried to concentrate on what we needed to know. “Where is Dad?”
“He’s still alive. I don’t know where he is. They found us, baby, and tried to kill us. Your Dad survived. Don’t trust them. Don’t trust the wolves.”
“Mom—”
“She’s gone, Alex.”
That was Ronin’s voice, out loud rather than in my head. I opened my eyes to see his gaze on me, his face ashen. Matt had his arm around Ronin, giving him support.
“My Dad’s not a traitor!”
I glared at all the wolves, daring them to contradict me. Not one of them did, but neither did they seem convinced.
“And he’s alive,” Kyle said.
Matt ran a hand through his hair. “Now we have three problems. Finding Rieke, proving his innocence, and keeping us alive long enough to do the first two.”
Kyle’s words hit me like a blow to the stomach. My father was alive! I wasn’t on my own any more.
“You’re not on your own,” Ronin murmured. “You have us, the Cinco.”
They all murmured their agreement, but I couldn’t help remembering my mom’s last words. Don’t trust the wolves. I only had their word for it that I was the Quinto. What if that was just an excuse to get to my dad?
I stepped back, nearly stepping on Kyle in my effort to get out of the circle I now found suffocating.
“Alex, what’s wrong?” Matt said. “Why are you so uneasy?”
“I’m fine.” I mustered a smile, hoping they didn’t probe my thoughts, and said, “I need to get dressed.”
They let me go. I felt their concern in waves but they didn’t try to stop me. I grabbed my clothes and headed toward the bathroom.
“You don’t want to go in there,” Matt said but I kept going.
The stench almost made me gag, but I clenched my jaw and refused to let my stomach get the better of me.
I didn’t need the bathroom, but I did need the window.
Chapter 12 - Kyle
Something was wrong. I could feel it. No one else seemed to be bothered by Alex’s disappearance.
“She’s been gone a long time,” I said.
Matt glanced over from his conversation with Ronin. “Different equipment, Ky. Girls take longer.”
I didn’t know Alex, but she didn’t see
m the high maintenance type. I thought that was one reason why I was attracted to her. She was more like a female wolf than the girls on my campus. I still found humans, particularly females, hard to understand. Nothing they did made sense to me.
She still hadn’t returned. No one took that long to take a leak and get dressed. Matt and Ronin were still talking, Lee seemed lost in the other world.
We needed to eat and leave. I got up and walked to the bathroom, knocking on the door. There was no answer, so I knocked again, louder this time.
“Hey, Alex? Food is almost ready. Are you okay?”
Still no answer.
I tried the door handle but it was locked. Now I was convinced something was wrong. I jogged back through the house.
“Ky? Everything okay, buddy?”
I ignored Matt’s query and loped out of the door and around the side of the building, skidding to a halt outside the wide-open bathroom window.
“Kyle, what’s wrong?” Ronin was by my side a second later.
“She’s vanished. The bathroom is empty.”
“Why the heck did she do that?”
I had a good idea, but I waited for Matt and Lee to reach us. “Alex has gone.”
Matt pressed his lips together. “We need to find her.”
“I’ll do it,” I said. “I’m the hunter.” She wouldn’t be able to get far from me in her human form.
He nodded. “If you need us we’ll join you.”
I went wolf and start sniffing the dirt-packed ground, trying to catch her scent. It was a vile cacophony of Uncle’s strong BO overlaying Alex’s lighter woodsy scent.
“She’s taken Uncle’s clothing to distract us.”
“Won’t that make it easier to find her?” Matt asked.
“Depends how far she disperses it.”
“I’ll come with you,” Matt said out loud, and went wolf.
Ronin sighed and did the same. I knew he was tired after contacting Alex’s mother, but we needed all noses and paws on the ground.