“Your cause you mean.”
“Yours too.” He paused for a long considering moment. “You need to let the past go. Believe me. I know something about this. Trying to live in the past doesn’t work; you have to move forward. You need to do what is right for Chris the shifter, not what is right for Chris the Human. She doesn’t exist anymore. Besides, I thought you were doing this for Tina?”
She took a deep breath and nodded. “For Tina.”
“Excellent. I’ll have Marie make all the arrangements. She’ll be in touch with you.”
Just then, Marie returned with two men in tow. Chris didn’t recognise either man at first. One was wearing a pair of ragged jeans and nothing else. Not even shoes. The other was dressed like a biker in leathers. When they got close enough, she picked up their scents, and recognised Jonas as the one in the jeans. She looked him up and down and he grinned.
Jonas did a little twirl. “You like?”
She snorted, but she did like what she saw. Jonas looked to be in his late forties and had shaggy straw-coloured hair in this form. His eyes were grey-green now, not amber, and he had a strong face. His upper body was muscular, and he was just the right height—not that she wanted to kiss him or anything. Eye candy or not in Human form, and he was that despite his age, he was one of the monsters… all be it a playful one.
“Very pretty,” she said, smirking. “But I saw the real you outside.”
That wiped the smile off his face. “You think so?”
“How many more of you can there be?”
“You’d be surprised.”
She frowned and looked at the other man. “Leon, is that you?”
Jonas smirked, but his companion scowled. “Stupid bitch can’t even tell us apart.”
“She’s new.”
“Don’t make excuses for her, Jonas. She should still be able to tell I’m not one of your butt sniffing desert lovers.”
Chris realised her mistake. He was wolf not coyote. “Huh, you have got to be Pederson.”
Stephen nodded. “Indeed he is. Raymond Pederson, meet Chris Humber.”
Pederson sneered. “I know who she is, and what she wants.”
“Good for you,” Chris said sarcastically. “You have someone who belongs to me. I want her back.”
“Try to take her.”
She stepped angrily toward him. “I’ll do more than try.”
Jonas pushed between them. “No fighting.”
Pederson glared angrily. “Get out of my way, Jonas. She challenges me.”
“I heard no challenge,” Stephen said quickly and glared at Chris when she would have remedied that. “You know this place is neutral ground. Jonas will enforce our laws, won’t you Jonas?”
Jonas smiled nastily at Pederson who stepped away to give himself fighting room. “You bet I will, and with great pleasure. My pack has been bitching about the lack of action around here lately.”
Chris stepped around Jonas. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! This is my fight not yours.”
“It’s no one’s fight if I say it ain’t,” Jonas growled. “You’re on my range, girly.”
Girly? She mouthed the word silently, and anger mounted. “You listen to me you flea-bitten pain in the arse! I didn’t ask for your help, and I don’t want it. I came here to see Stephen not you. Butt out!”
Stephen shook his head. “He can’t do that. Jonas and his pack are our enforcers. Any judgements handed down here are carried out by his pack. Infractions of our laws are punished harshly… again by his pack members.”
“I don’t care. I’m not leaving without Tina.”
“She’s not here,” Pederson said, “and I wouldn’t let you near her if she was!”
She snarled wordlessly.
“You’re lying,” Jonas said.
Pederson rounded and glared at him.
Jonas shrugged. “I saw her outside with Loco.”
Pederson snarled wordlessly. “I told him to keep her away from here! I’ll gut the bastard, I’ll—”
Chris finally caught up. “She’s here, now?”
Jonas nodded.
“I’m taking her with me.”
“No!” Pederson snapped.
“No,” Jonas agreed, ignoring Chris’ splutters. “She’s an Alley Dog now. Her alpha speaks for her as he speaks for all his pack. It’s our way, Chris, he’s within his rights.”
Shock slammed through her like a physical blow. “You infected her…”
Pederson smiled nastily.
It was too much. She didn’t hear herself howl, but she did hear her passenger’s scream of fury in the back of her head. Rage flooded through her and she launched herself at Pederson. They crashed to the ground with her on top. Her passenger goaded her on, snarling in hate and fury. Heat flooded through her, but she was too busy trying to throttle Pederson to worry or even notice.
His throat, rip his throat! Quickly, before he Changes!
She went for Pederson’s throat. Howls not thoughts filled her head. There was nothing but raw fury and blood-lust; if there had been, she wouldn’t have tried it, not with her teeth. Even as she struck, a kick landed hard against her ribs and threw her clear. She felt a rib snap, but she went with the blow and rolled to her feet with no wasted time or motions. Still crouching ready to spring, she flexed her claws and screamed in fury. The pain in her hands and fingers made the sound spiral into a howl that shocked everyone into silence. Jonas stood squarely between her and Pederson. He was the one who had kicked her off him.
“Don’t let her out here, Chris, anywhere but here. Think of the ocean, the sound it makes on the shore. Take a deep breath and try to calm down. Think about how blue it is, and—”
Don’t listen. They hurt Tina.
She shook her head, listening to the soothing words and trying to think, but the pain in her hands was distracting. Knife-sharp claws slid in and out of the sheaths her fingers had become. They weren’t the blunt claws of a wolf; they looked like the claws the Tolliday girl had grown that day at Area 51. Only cats had retractable claws, what was happening?
She flexed her hands and the claws sprang out like five flick knives grafted to her fingers. The movement hurt, and she felt her eyes burning with the need to cry. She blinked, trying to focus, but there was something wrong with her eyes too. Everything was sharper and clearer, but colour was absent—replaced by shades of grey and black. She had never realised there were so many kinds of black.
There was movement behind Jonas. Pederson had regained his feet while she struggled with the changes in herself. Just the sight of him blew Jonas’ warnings out of her head. With a howl, she let the Change take her.
At last!
Chris shrieked in agony as her bones dislocated, and her body writhed into the change. She was lost in the burning agony as her muscles stretched and tore, only to re-knit themselves moments later into new patterns. She fell forward onto all fours shrieking her throat raw. She struggled out of her coat, and ripped demoniacally at her clothes with her claws. She screamed as her face erupted into a muzzle filled with sharp teeth. She screamed as her feet exploded out of her shoes. Her jeans bulged and caused her even more pain before they too succumbed to her changed body. Her stomach shifted, and her heart thundered as it moved to accommodate her new physique. Her kidneys, her liver—everything was moving and burning. Fur covered her in seconds and her ears lengthened. She howled like the animal she was, an animal in pain. Claws scrabbled desperately at concrete trying to find purchase.
“Help me!” she screamed.
She shredded what was left of her shirt with her fore claws, and snarled as she scented someone standing over her. It was Jonas. He said something, and waved everyone back.
“…first Change… going all the way… the wolves…” Jonas said, his words only dimly understood.
Chris Humber’s bright blue eyes slowly dulled. Smoke’s yellow eyes, a wolf’s eyes, blinked once up at Jonas before she scrambled to all fours. She panted away the heat of the Chang
e and looked around for her enemy, but she couldn’t see him. A solid wall of shifters surrounded her. All were wolves. They watched her silently, ready to attack or defend. She yearned to join them, but she feared them at the same time. They were not her pack; she was vulnerable and alone. She paced back and forth in agitation, not sure what to do. She wanted to hunt, needed to, but they wouldn’t let her. She was sure they wouldn’t let her have Pederson.
She looked up at Jonas where he towered over her. He made no threatening moves toward her, but he had changed into his half-coyote form. He wasn’t her kind, but he was familiar, and that felt reassuring to her among all the strangeness. She circled him snuffing at his legs, gathering his scent, and trying to think.
Smoke shook herself and tried to think like the hunter she was. There were too many to fight, so that meant she should run, but she didn’t think they would let her do that either. She looked around for Stephen, and found him after a moment of checking for his scent. He was just outside the ring of watchers looking in. She trotted toward him, but stopped when the watchers tensed. Some of them began the Change and she backed up. She looked back at Jonas and whined in frustration. What did they want her to do? They would not let her fight, and they would not let her flee. What was left?
“She ready,” Jonas said.
Smoke backed up in alarm as every single one of the watchers howled and went to all fours. She cowered back as they threw themselves eagerly into the Change. Screams of pain and howls of exultation erupted all around her. She braced herself for the attack she knew was coming, but it didn’t come. Instead of pain, they gave her hope. The ring of watchers disintegrated as she watched, and reformed into a corridor leading toward that inviting slash of night glimpsed through the partly open doors.
“Run,” Jonas hissed.
In a scrabble of claws, she launched herself into an all-out run. The watchers were a blur in the periphery of her vision as she made for the imagined safety of the night.
Just let me get outside under the stars, just let me put a little distance between us, and I’ll lose them.
Smoke almost didn’t recognise the people entering the hangar as she approached the doors. She was running so fast, so intent upon that cool and inviting darkness outside, that she was level with them before their features registered; Ronnie, and Lawrence, and… Flint! Flint was here, and entering just behind her was Barrows.
Smoke’s eyes met Lephmann’s for a timeless instant, and recognition flashed upon his face. He yelled something, but it was lost in the wind of her passage out the door.
The night enveloped her as she dashed between parked cars. Without slowing, she leapt over one and chose a westerly direction. The open desert beckoned. The night was dark, but the stars and moon gave her more than enough light. She was a wolf, not a pathetic near-blind Human. She raced across the cracked pavement of the abandoned runways and finally onto the sandy soil of scrub land.
She settled into a ground-eating lope that she could maintain all night if necessary, and turned her thoughts to what was happening behind her. Why had they let her run? She doubted they planned to let her go. She listened hard to the wind, and thought she heard the howls of pursuers. She increased her speed wishing Jonas were here. He could have told her what this was about. Was it one of their status games? If it was a game, it was one she planned to win.
She changed direction and followed a stony ridge for a few miles, before abandoning it for the scrub again. She was hoping the stone might confuse those chasing her, and keeping to the patchy scrub offered some concealment. Her tongue lolled out of her mouth, and she was panting in need of a drink, but she was far from exhausted. She was strong, much stronger than Chris was.
She yelped in surprise as someone crashed into her, bowling her head over tail off her feet. She sprang back up in time to meet another bitch running full tilt toward her. She met the charge and they slammed together chest to chest. As quick as lightning, Smoke snapped her jaws shut on her enemy’s ear. She grinned, savagely pleased to hear the yelps of pain, and taste the sweetness of her enemy’s blood.
“You rag-eared bitch, I’m going to kill you for that!”
Smoke leapt away laughing. The language of wolves was a joy to hear, even if in the mouth of an enemy. “Who do you think you’re calling rag-eared? Take a look in a mirror why don’t you?”
The bitch sprang at her again, but this time she was ready. Smoke met her enemy in mid-leap and clamped her jaws on her throat. They crashed to the ground together, the bitch frenziedly trying to break Smoke’s hold. She held on and increased the pressure. A few seconds later it was over.
“I submit,” the bitch said humbly.
“Sensible of you,” Smoke said, backing away to give her room to rise. “I am Smoke. Your name?”
“Sweetsong.” She growled when Smoke laughed. “Laugh at me again, and I’ll see the colour of your blood!”
Mindful of Sweetsong’s injured dignity, Smoke was careful with her next words. “Why? It’s the same colour as your own. What pack do you call home?”
“Not Alley Dog, if that is what you fear.”
Smoke cocked her head. “Fear?”
“I mis-spoke,” Sweetsong said quickly then added proudly, “the Rock Biters is my pack. Our range is the Apple Valley near Victorville.”
Smoke looked around suspiciously and listened for the sound of her pursuers, but there was nothing. If a youngling such as Sweetsong could find her so easily, she knew Pederson could. She should leave, but she had questions for Sweetsong. The bitch was very young, yet she had tracked her almost too easily. How?
“You are the first to find me. How?”
Sweetsong held herself proudly. “I did not chase you like the others. They’re bigger and stronger, but I’m quick and cleverer than they! I knew you would circle back, so I came here to wait.”
“How did you know?” Smoke asked, growling at the thought that she might be so easy to anticipate.
“Simple. You want the new Alley Dog and she’s at the base.”
“So,” Smoke said feeling a grudging respect for the youngling. She turned to leave, but stopped and looked back. “You will not hunt me.”
“My hunt is done,” Sweetsong agreed and Smoke trotted away into the night.
* * *
13 ~ Smoke
David hurriedly undressed while listening to Stephen’s account of what had happened. Barrows and Flint had cornered Stephen the moment David told them it was Chris they saw fleeing the hangar. They had assumed, quite rightly, that if anyone knew what was going on, Stephen would.
His thoughts turned worriedly to Chris. She must be confused about what was happening. The first Change was always hard, but this time would be much worse. It should have taken place at Sanctuary with friends around her, not in a stinking desert surrounded by vindictive females. Even now, she was out there fighting for life and position without the benefit of his instruction. He was a damn fool. He should have forced her to come with him that time in the hospital. Geoffrey was right; he was getting too soft. It was time he asserted his position again.
He handed his clothes to Ronnie.
She took the bundle unhappily. “Why me?”
“I have Geoffrey and Lawrence for muscle. I don’t need you for that. I do need you to keep an eye on Barrows and Flint. They make me uneasy; OSI is trouble, Ronnie. You know what they tried to do to Stephen that time.”
Ronnie nodded reluctantly and went to collect Geoffrey’s and Lawrence’s clothes.
Agent Barrows would need watching, David mused. As for Flint, she was a big surprise, but a heartening one. That the government had chosen to give someone like her a position in the FBI, even a clandestine one in OSI, was a big step. He wondered if there might be others. Probably there were, and he unaware of it until now. He would have to look into the matter, but first he had to deal with Chris.
Geoffrey was already making the Change. Lawrence wasn’t far behind him. David waited a little longer to he
ar the rest of Stephen’s account, but was again distracted, this time by Jonas.
“This is wrong,” Jonas said. “You have no right to interfere in the ritual.”
“Will you try to stop me?” he asked, and Jonas looked uneasy. “I didn’t think so. I’m surprised at you, Jonas. I always thought of you as an intelligent man, but this…”
“What else could I do? It’s her first Change. She shouldn’t have come out here on the full moon dammit! Our laws are clear, David, you shouldn’t interfere.”
“The first hunt is custom, not law.”
“But still important,” Jonas argued.
“Not as important as her life.”
“They won’t kill her.”
David nodded. “I’ll make certain they don’t.”
“They won’t.”
The ritual hunt was usually restricted to a few females chosen by a pack’s alphas. The whole point of the first hunt was to test a new recruit’s skills and strength, not kill her. But this time, dozens of packs were involved and all the females had gone after Chris. None would intentionally kill her, but accidents happened in the heat of battle, and Chris didn’t know they were only testing her. She would fight as if her life depended on it, which it well might considering how many would attack.
“…agreed to do the interviews,” Stephen was saying. “Raymond refused to let her see Miss Rowe, and she became angry. That’s when the Change came upon her. The rest you know.”
David joined Stephen. “Chris agreed to our plan?” He ignored the look Barrows and Flint gave him. He had gotten over the modesty thing years ago.
Stephen nodded. “For a small favour from me.”
“What favour?” Barrows asked.
Stephen ignored the interruption. “You’re going after her?”
David nodded. “This is all wrong, Stephen. Her first Change should have been handled better than this. I’m leaving Ronnie behind to discuss things with you. She knows as much as I do. I need one of your men to meet us with a car.”
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