“Calm down, Hope. This is it. Just stay calm.” Levi reached toward her cautiously.
Adam. Adam. Levi. Adam. Levi. The thought ran on a loop in her mind as she broke into a full-on run in the direction of the smoke, in the direction of the howls. Adam. She had a feeling he was in trouble, but she would find him.
* * * *
Ulric watched the shifters scramble in search of a way to put the fire out. He grinned, pulling his lips back over his sharp teeth. The problem with shifters was that they thought like shifters. They’d set up a guard around the border of their previous territory, but they expected him to come bounding in, all of his wolves at the ready for battle. But Ulric was smarter than that. Instead, he’d had a couple of his wolves start a fire in an abandoned cabin in the woods just beyond River’s Bend. Then, all he had to do was sit back and watch.
He’d sent the rest of his group away, then inched closer until he could see them running around in circles like mad insects. He hid in some dense brush, waiting. The smell of the smoke should hide his scent, and he wasn’t there to fight, anyway. He was there to observe, to watch, to learn. His army wasn’t large enough to take on Clan Liekos with a head-on strike—not yet, but if he could pinpoint a chink in its armor, he’d have a way in, past the guards and into the heart of the clan. To Grey.
He’d heard that the clans had merged and had two alphas now, but Grey was their strength. He had to be. He’d get to him and kill him, then take control of the clan, a ready-made army to win his war against the bloodsuckers. And he’d have Luke and Mason, too. He’d have them or they’d die like their father.
Growling, Ulric watched as the wolves first approached, then shrank back from the fire, howling for help. Howling about danger, fire in the woods. Typical, Ulric thought. They didn’t run away, but they did leave their posts, and that’s how he would get in when he decided to strike.
Then, something changed. Another howl abused his ears as a large black wolf commanded them to hold the line, sending others out toward the blaze.
Who was that? Could it be Grey? Zion? He didn’t think so. Luke, then. Maybe Mason. Whoever it was commanded respect from the shifters, who clearly wanted to turn tail and run. Ulric could appreciate that. His men knew it was either follow orders or die.
He heard a wailing in the distance. A fire engine. So they’d called in the humans to fight the fire for them? Perhaps he could use that to his advantage next time, but he should leave before they arrived. Humans always spelled trouble. But he wouldn’t go. Not yet. Not until he saw Grey. He couldn’t leave without seeing Grey.
* * * *
Levi watched, stunned as his mate ran past him. Silvery-white with smoky grey patches, she almost knocked him off his feet in her haste, and shock made him stand there longer than he should. He quickly shifted himself, taking off after her into the woods. She was fast, as she should be, but he would overtake her. He just had to concentrate on following her rather than getting sidetracked by the sight of her, beautiful, strong and all wolf. He hadn’t wanted to admit it, even to himself, but he’d been worried when she hadn’t transitioned. He was fully prepared to leave the clan if he had to, to be with her. But, of course, he and Adam loved River’s Bend and would much rather keep their mate and their home.
Focus. He had to catch her before she ran straight into the trouble ahead. Fortunately, he didn’t have to guess where she was headed, as her thoughts invaded his mind. She was filled with worry for Adam and anger at the fire and whatever had put him in danger. He couldn’t track her scent, though, not with the smoke blocking him, so he had to keep sight of her as she ran, leaping and dodging her way right toward the fire.
Stop. Wait. Danger. Wait. He pushed these thoughts to her but all he got back was No. Adam. Danger.
Howls came from all angles as other clan members were alerted to the trouble. He sensed others running, but couldn’t identify them. He barked at her to wait, but she ignored him. They hit a small clearing running, then burst through more woods. Just as he started to see a few cabins here and there, he caught a flash of fur as she stopped, whimpering, and then bolted to the right.
He followed, all the while looking for a way to get ahead of her, to cut her off. He veered further to the right, crashing over logs, rocks, and wild formations of weeds, pushing himself harder and faster. As they approached the border, the smoke grew thicker and the air hotter. Hope paused just before breaking through another jumble of brush, and that cost her. He leapt over a knot of tangled bramble and caught her by the back of her neck before she could dart the final yards to Adam.
At Hope’s bark, Adam turned and ran toward them, barking fiercely. Levi understood the message, but he couldn’t let go of Hope long enough to comply. The moment he let go, she would bolt.
* * * *
Adam couldn’t believe his eyes. Levi had a jaw-grip on a beautiful silvery-white wolf. Hope. He heard her barks and her whimpers. He caught his own name from her mind as she worried for him but didn’t seem to understand that she was in danger.
Go. Go back. He pushed the thought toward her. Safety with Levi. He listened for her response, and only heard his name repeated again and again.
Closing the distance between them, he was thrilled to see she had transitioned and simultaneously exasperated that she’d disobeyed him yet again. He issued a long, loud, fierce growl, baring his teeth and warning her away from the scene. Levi growled back at him, his eyes accusing, but Adam had to do what was necessary to get her out of there immediately.
Grey and Zion had arrived. Finally. As he darted over toward them, he looked back to see Hope following Levi away as more shifters arrived to help. Even as she left with Levi, he could sense her reluctance. She wouldn’t be an easy one to control, but that was okay. Adam had never really liked easy.
Zion and Grey took control of the scene, not that there was much left to do. The main thing was keeping the guards at their posts and in human form, with the human firefighters on the way. Adam had already accomplished that. The presence of the alphas, though, was encouraging to the men, and he was glad they were there. Someday, that would be his job, but not yet. With Zion and Grey issuing the orders to those protecting River’s Bend, Adam was free to mobilize other clan members to help prevent the fire from spreading.
Someone thrust clothes at him and he shifted, hurriedly dressed and headed out toward the cabin with several others in human form. He didn’t like being so close to the fire, but the men needed someone to lead them. At Adam’s order, they grabbed shovels, spades, and any digging instruments they could find and set out to surround the fire, clearing branches and digging up dirt to create a barrier that wouldn’t burn. The firemen arrived while they were still working, and Adam nodded to a few he knew, shifters of a pack from a nearby town.
Once they were done digging the barrier, he and his men would wait in the woods until the fire was controlled and every last fireman had left. They had no reason to venture into River’s Bend since the fire had been contained, but humans didn’t always need a reason to go poking their noses where they didn’t belong. He would make sure they didn’t see anything they shouldn’t.
* * * *
When Grey arrived at River’s Bend’s edge, Ulric recognized him immediately. He’d never seen him in wolf form, but he’d heard others describe him. The dark-grey wolf had a silver streak that ran the length of his body and body language conveying power and intelligence. The wolf next to him had to be Zion, the other alpha. His body language matched Grey’s, but he lacked something Ulric could sense from Grey’s stance, even at a distance. Grey had cunning.
Ulric growled low in his throat as the two alphas shifted and began giving orders. His entire body stiffened with the desire to attack, right then, with no more waiting. It just wasn’t the right time. He needed more time to plan, and he didn’t want it to end so quickly. Grey had to suffer first. He had to see Luke and Mason kneel in submission to Ulric. And haste could mean a loss. Ulric wouldn’t risk that.<
br />
The other wolf, the one he thought might be Luke or Mason, had been involved in some sort of altercation with a female and another male. Ulric didn’t know what that was about, but he’d watched him from his hiding place. The black wolf had shifted, dressed and walked out of River’s Bend with a shovel in hand, leading a group of other men. Ulric had strained, but above all the racket the fools in River’s Bend made, he couldn’t hear his name.
The loud screeching assaulted his ears as the fire engines approached. He didn’t know how the other wolves could stand it. The sound overwhelmed his wolf, and Ulric’s fur stood on end as he fought the impulse to run. He needed to see what happened next, look for more vulnerabilities in the clan’s security.
Fighting a whimper and hating himself for the anxiety the sound produced, Ulric crouched low and rested his muzzle on his paws. He heard a low sound, the snap of a trod-upon twig, and turned quickly to see a tall, beautiful blonde wearing a ripped pair of shorts and an oversized T-shirt. He jumped to his feet, growling, but she didn’t seem afraid. In fact, she smiled broadly, winked, and then just walked away.
Ulric didn’t know what to make of her, but his hiding place was blown. Issuing a low growl of anger, he took off into the woods. He was leaving, but he’d return soon. Very soon.
* * * *
Adam yawned, tired. The firemen had worked hard to get the fire under control but then stuck around, poking their noses in where they didn’t belong, just as he’d expected. There would be an investigation, bringing more humans to the vicinity. He’d have to talk to Grey and Zion about other options for dealing with fire-related emergencies. A few humans wandering close to River’s Bend on a hike was one thing. A bunch of them investigating so close to River’s Bend was another.
And an investigation wasn’t their only problem. The entire time Adam had spent out there, he’d had the feeling someone was watching him. At first, he’d shaken it off, since there were so many others out there with him, his own clan members, and of course, the firemen. No matter how hard he tried to ignore it, though, that odd feeling returned and the hair on the back of his neck stood up time and time again, telling him someone was out there. Perhaps the someone who had set the fire. Maybe another wolf shifter.
With the firemen finally gone, Adam searched the surrounding area. He tried to pick up any strange scents, but the leftover smell of smoke prevented that. After looking around in the dark for close to an hour, he was unable to find anything that would clearly point to a stranger in the area—an enemy. He’d have to check again in the daylight. Someone had set the fire, and that someone could be a threat to the entire clan.
He turned back toward River’s Bend. The moment he crossed the border, nodding to the men patrolling there, he tossed his clothes into a nearby box. It stored clothes and blankets shifters could borrow if they shifted back to their human forms and didn’t want to walk around naked. With Hope on his mind, he shifted and broke into a run. He couldn’t wait to get home to Hope.
* * * *
“It’s so late, and the fire stopped burning hours ago. What could be keeping him so long?” She burrowed deeper under the blanket, tightening her arms around Levi.
“I don’t know. We don’t have much experience with fires here in River’s Bend. The few we’ve had have been small and easy to control without calling in outsiders.”
She’d followed Levi to what he considered a safe distance and waited while he shifted, then hunted for one of the huge boxes the clan had placed around the property. Opening it, he’d found a single ratty blanket. Then, he’d stroked her fur, talking her through shifting back. It had taken a while, but she’d eventually been able to focus on the right muscles. After several false starts, she’d managed to return to her human form.
“Do you think he’s still angry?” Adam hadn’t needed words to express his displeasure. His growl had said it all. She’d wanted to growl back at him, the edges of the anger that spurred her first shift still hanging on, but she hadn’t dared. He’d been too demanding of obedience.
“I doubt it. It wasn’t really anger that made him scold you that way. It was fear for your safety and the need to get you away from there as quickly as possible.”
“You didn’t growl at me.”
He kissed her forehead, then her lips. “When we were kids, we used to play good cop, bad cop. I was always the good cop.”
Her laughter caused her breasts to rub against his chest and she groaned, even more aware of his cock pressing up against her belly. “Does the good cop usually bite?”
“Even the good cop has to get rough sometimes, but I didn’t bite you. I grabbed you by the scruff of your neck. You didn’t leave me much choice.”
“Where’d you even come from? One minute you were behind me and the next you were landing on top of me.”
“I had to get creative. Good cop is creative, too.” He squeezed one of her butt cheeks and pulled her tighter against him. “He’d better hurry up. I’m getting blue balls.”
Hope wondered what the female equivalent of blue balls was. She definitely had it. They’d had the hardest time resisting the urge to couple, naked and pressed up against each other like they were. She wanted him fiercely, but she couldn’t make love to him, not without knowing Adam was safe first.
“I wish we could scent him.” Her nose had grown more sensitive with each day of the transition.
“You won’t be able to until the smoke smell dissipates. We were lucky the fire wasn’t worse. The smoke wasn’t as thick as it could have been, but the smell—”
He stopped at her touch on his shoulder.
“I heard something. A branch snapping, I think.” She’d heard something dozens of times as they lay there, camped out near the path they thought Adam would take back to their part of River’s Bend. And each time, Levi had dutifully gone to see if it was Adam. There were so many other wolves out at night that she knew he had to be frustrated with the constant checking. Since the smoke smell blocked scents, though, Adam would never realize they were still in the woods waiting for him. She didn’t want him going home to an empty house.
“It had better be him this time. I knew River’s Bend never really slept, but this is ridiculous.” He freed himself from the blanket and tucked it around her, then stood. “Stay here, Hope. Good cop growls, too.”
Hope nodded. He’d issued the same order each time, but he didn’t have to worry. She wasn’t going anywhere. She watched as he shifted and disappeared toward the path. They could have camped out closer to it, but Hope wasn’t comfortable with that, given her state of nudity.
Sitting up, she heard barking in the distance. Levi’s. She’d heard it each time he’d set out after one of the noises on the path or in the surrounding woods. Another bark followed, from whomever he’d pursued, but she had no idea if it was Adam or not. She only recognized Levi’s bark because she’d heard it so many times in the night.
Once again, she tried to push her thoughts toward Adam. Where are you? And once again, she was disappointed. Levi had explained that the mind link wasn’t perfect. The newly mated didn’t always find it reliable, especially across distances.
Hope stood up, drawing the blanket with her, and stretched. Waiting was the pits, especially with the little gnats and other bugs that couldn’t seem to leave her alone. With Levi off on the path, she decided to try again. Her excitement over having completed the transition was off the charts, even in the face of the fire, and the only thing she wanted more than to experience the shift again was to have both of her mates hold her in their arms. Each time Levi ran off into the woods, Hope tried again. Each time, she failed, but that didn’t stop her from trying.
Now, standing in the woods, she listened to the sounds around her. A barking in the distance, a buzzing insect in her ear, a running body of water off to the left. She inhaled deeply, smelling the undertone of damp grass, overpowered by the bitter bite of smoke, but still there. Then she focused on her muscles, willing them to elongate and co
ntract where necessary, pushing the bones to adjust, feeling a sense of hunger and heat, the same thing she’d felt before she’d changed, minus the overwhelming anger. Two barks, growing closer, distracted her and she lost her focus, cursing herself for her ineptness. Again, the barking, and her ears perked up as she recognized it as Levi’s. If he was coming back with a second wolf, that had to mean he’d found Adam.
* * * *
Adam was initially surprised when Levi caught up with him. He’d assumed he’d taken their mate home, but when he realized she was still out there in the woods, he couldn’t wait to get to her. He barked at Levi to lead the way and then to run faster. It had only been a few hours since they’d been apart, but it felt like a lifetime. It seemed like forever that they ran, though he knew it could only have been a few minutes. Finally, Levi burst through some bushes and skidded to a stop, Adam right behind him.
There she stood, wrapped in a charcoal grey blanket, grass and twigs in her hair, flushed with excitement. He trotted over to her and sniffed, then sat back on his haunches to look up at her. His eyesight was keener in his wolf form, and she was lovelier than ever. He tugged at a piece of the blanket, pulling until she let go and he could see all of her in the moonlight.
She looked down at him, meeting his eyes, and then gazed over at Levi, who hadn’t shifted back yet, either.
Claiming Hope [Wolves of River's Bend 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 25