The Wild Rites Saga Omnibus 01 to 04

by Anna McIlwraith

  “Fucking pledge,” Emma swore as she shoved open the French doors and stalked into the sitting room and ran straight into Zach’s chest. He caught her as she rebounded and then caught her again as she threw her arms around him. “Zach! Oof.” His hug was a lot harder than hers; lucky she was a lot more solid than she’d been twenty four hours ago.

  He let her go and took a step back. There were huge dark circles under his eyes and there seemed to be more gray in his scruffy beard than ever, but he smiled at her. “Good to see you, Em.” He frowned. “You look…”

  “Don’t even go there, Zach, it’s been a long day. Night. Most of it’s actually been night. How are you?”

  “Been better.” His voice turned rough. “Where are the maidens?”

  She squared her shoulders. “For my own protection, Felani wouldn’t tell me.” Zach swayed at hearing Felani’s name in a sentence that didn’t end with dead. “She was afraid I’d try to find her and put myself in danger. Anton and Ricky are with them, and a few of the other guards as well.” Emma couldn’t bring herself to tell Zach they were safe and not to worry about them; to do that she’d have to believe it. “They’re going to lay low until this is all over.”

  Zach’s eyebrows popped up. “You believe that? Of Felani?”

  Emma hadn’t thought of it like that. “Shit.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Zach,” Red clapped him on the shoulder as he passed. “Em, c’mon, time to move our butts. We oughta be ready to go when Ivan the Terrible gets back.”

  “Go?” Zach looked from Red to Emma. “You’re not gonna take on the serpent priests, are you?”

  “Oh, no,” Red called over his shoulder. “That would be idiotic. We’re going on a completely unrelated mission to keep ourselves busy and out of harm’s way. Ain’t that right, wildfire.” With that he disappeared down the hall and Zach shot Emma a look that spoke a thousand words.

  “He was talking to you, right? Because if that man has started calling me pet names…”

  Emma put a hand on his arm. “I’m glad you’re here.” He smiled at her and she smiled back. “I know I don’t need to ask, but —”

  “Of course I’ll stay with Rain,” Zach said. “Wish there was more I could do, but he’s my main priority right now. I’ll make sure Bruce stays outta trouble, too.”

  “If we hear from Felani, we’ll let you know.”

  “If you can.” Zach nodded. “Go on. The kids are in the library, they’d want you to say goodbye.”

  Emma squeezed his arm and left, falling into step beside Fern. On the second floor landing she cast a wistful look toward the bathroom, but they’d already delayed, and she could brush her damn teeth at the hotel — besides, the taste of blood in her mouth wasn’t quite so bad as before.

  The third floor library had never been meant to accommodate so many people all at once. Nadya and Bozenka were going over maps at the desk with Shadi and Fatima, while Natalya and Ana were sorting through what looked like several medical packs with a crate full of ammunition open nearby. Another pair of wawkalak — both male and dark haired, similar enough to be brothers — were hauling heavy duty hiking packs out onto the balcony, three apiece. The packs looked not much shorter than Emma, and like they might weigh just as much as she did. She made it two steps into the room before Rain tackled her, and only Fern at her back kept her upright.

  “Shhh. Hey. It’s okay.” The boy was quaking, and his face was buried in her hair. Emma stroked the back of his head. “We’ll come back.” She lowered them both down until she was in a crouch and he was standing; he was taller, and Emma thought he might have put most of that height on since Katenka came to stay. Being around other wolves was good for him, although it scared him. Emma managed to pull back enough so she could look him in the eye, and smoothed his hair away from his face. “These wolves are good wolves,” she said, voice pitched low. “Isn’t Katenka good?”

  He nodded, but his nostrils flared and the whites of his eyes were visible. Not for the first time, Emma wished she knew what Rain’s birth pack had been like; at first she and everyone else had assumed he was traumatized by whatever happened to his pack, but then there were the scars, old scars, too many to count. Shapechangers didn’t scar easy.

  Behind Fern, Red cleared his throat and made an awkward sound, and Emma looked around to find Bozenka coming over to them, Katenka trailing behind her with Bruce at the princess’s heels. The pale, dark haired werewolf who had tried to attack Red nodded at him and then joined Emma in a crouch.

  “Forgive me, ” Bozenka said to Rain, Russian accent thick. “Yekaterina has told me something of your birth pack.” When Rain turned wild eyes to Katenka, the princess simply looked at him, stroking Bruce’s big head, radiating serenity. “Only a little,” Bozenka said. “Enough for me to tell you that Yevgeny’s pack is not like that. They do not punish those who are different.”

  Rain’s hands in Emma’s were cold. He didn’t look like a boy of almost fourteen; somehow he looked ancient yet no older than ten at the same time. “I know,” he said in his low, unused voice.

  Bozenka inclined her head. “The princess thought you might believe it better from someone who is also different.” She lifted one cupped hand to him like an offering. “Taste the truth from me.”

  Rain let go of Emma’s hands and touched his fingers to Bozenka’s wrist. With that light touch he held her hand in place. Then he tilted his head, eyes still locked to Bozenka’s, and lowered his mouth to her hand. It reminded Emma so much of when she accepted the pledge from Katenka that the back of her neck went cold. But Rain didn’t bite Bozenka; he touched his lips to her palm and breathed out through his nose.

  When he drew back and Bozenka let her hand fall, Rain’s face was clouded with curiosity and wonder. Bozenka gave him a small but brilliant smile. “I will tell you my story, but first we have to help Emmalina and her friends get out of here, yes?”

  Rain nodded, eyes still wide. Emma dearly wanted to hear that story too, but Bozenka was right, they had to go. She stood and looked at Katenka. “You aren’t going to try and stow away in our luggage?”

  Katenka gave a haughty sniff. “Not anymore.” Someone had given her their shirt to wear, and it hung to her knees, making her look as young as Rain looked. Except for her eyes. “I am needed here,” she said. She looked down at Bruce, a small smile curling her lips. She didn’t need to look at Rain for Emma to know what she was talking about.

  “We’ve never tried calling to each other via the pledge bond,” Emma said, “But it can be done. If you need me, reach out.” Then she opened her arms, and Katenka obliged her with a bruising hug while Bruce snuffled his nose in between them and managed to lick the side of Emma’s neck. When they both broke away, one of the dark haired wawkalak was standing nearby, hands clasped behind his back and gaze on his feet.

  “Princess Yekaterina, if I may.” The man’s voice made Emma put his age at ten years older than he looked — not that it meant anything, given he was a shapechanger. Emma rubbed Bruce’s shaggy shoulder while Katenka said something short in Russian. Then the man lifted his head to address Emma. “My lady Caller of the Blood, preparations for your team are complete. We’ve modified and consolidated the packs given the terrain and remote locations proposed by Nadya’s reassessment of — my lady?”

  Emma realized she looked like a deer in headlights and gave herself a mental shake. “Sorry. It’s been a long night. What’s your name?”

  He blinked. “Dimitri Molinovniyek, my lady.” His accent wasn’t as heavy as some of the others.

  Not much point trying to train this one out of calling her that, Emma thought. “Okay Dimitri, thank you so much for your work.” Emma stood and blew out a breath. “What else do we need to know about our supplies?”

  For a moment he looked like the deer in headlights, but he recovered. “There are four large hiking packs that will take a lot of strength to carry. If any of your number are weak or convalescing from injuries, they won�
��t be able to manage those loads for very long. If you have more than four capable of handling the packs, I suggest devising a shift schedule when you strike out.”

  Emma looked to Fern and then Red Sun. Red was massive — the only one present who topped his height was Shadi, and even then, only by an inch — but Red was their transport, escape hatch and contingency plan all wrapped into one package. He hadn’t slept in over forty eight hours, and Emma wasn’t sure if he could balance one of the huge packs with only one arm to anchor it. Fern looked like he’d gained about twenty pounds of muscle in the last twenty four hours, but Emma still thought of him as fragile, which was stupid but true.

  Red narrowed his eyes at her and cocked his head like he could tell what she was thinking and was sorely unimpressed, but Fern saved her from the lecture. “We’ll be fine,” Fern said. “There’s Shadi, and Horne should be recovered enough by now, and if Ivan comes with us we can rotate relief breaks every —”

  “Is there a reason for the rampant sexism here,” Leah said, stalking over. “Or were you just thinking with your ass instead of your head, Aranan?”

  “Uh…”

  “She’s got you there,” Emma said, softening it by leaning against him for a moment.

  “Guilty as charged,” he said. “Sorry Leah.”

  “Pfff.” Leah cuffed him on the shoulder. “You got nothing to worry about, you’re one of the good ones. Say the rest of your goodbyes my lady,” Leah said to Emma.

  “But Ivan —”

  “Is coming. I can hear them downstairs. I forget you aren’t one of us sometimes.” Seeing Emma’s face, she grinned. “That was a compliment.”

  Emma turned, searching, and found Nadya coming towards her. “Nadya…”

  “Do not thank me, you strange woman,” Nadya said, taking hold of Emma’s shoulders. “You have no idea how much has changed here because of what you did for Katenka.” Nadya kissed Emma soundly on one cheek and then the other. “And now Ivan,” she added under her breath as the library door opened.

  Ivan entered with a leather jacket hanging from one hand and Yevgeny on his heels, scanned the room, and stopped when he saw Emma. He looked ten years younger and his eyes were crystalline. “I am not too late?”

  Emma shook her head, suppressing a smile. “Nope.”

  Ivan swung the jacket on, completing the Billy Idol look. “Good.” He looked lost for a moment; he blinked at Emma, then turned to Yevgeny, his movements reminding Emma of a yearling wolf seeing snow for the first time. “I am going,” he said to Yevgeny, half questioning.

  “Yes,” the wolf king said, looking at Emma. “You are.”

  There were eight of them now: Emma, Fern, Red Sun, Shadi, Fatima, Ivan, Leah and Horne. Four giant hiking packs, four smaller backpacks, ten cell phones and an untold quantity of weapons and ammunition. Ana and Natalya, the redheaded twins, supplied Emma and Fern with shoulder holsters and automatic weapons — holsters somehow tailored to fit, the gun caliber one Emma had ample practice with — and then Red dematerialized them from the third floor balcony to the underground parking and valet entrance of the hotel in Moscow.

  Emma thought she must be getting used to Traveling, because she caught her feet this time and only had to swallow to ease the nausea. Even Leah had improved — she was bent double with one hand pressed to her mouth, but her most recent meal hadn’t made an appearance yet. Fatima and Horne looked disoriented but not ill, but with their similar olive complexions — Fatima darker than Horne — it was hard to tell. Ivan seemed as unaffected by the jump as Shadi, and Emma wondered if being younger meant it took longer to adjust to Red’s unique method of transportation.

  Speaking of adjusting, nobody noticed the valet attendant until he uttered a delayed shriek and ran for the glass doors that led to the elevators. The poor guy saved them the trouble of chasing after him by slamming into the door face first instead of remembering to open it and crumpling to the ground in a heap.

  “Oh my God,” Leah said, still doubled over. Fern started to laugh, and Emma hit him in the arm, biting the inside of her cheek. Red Sun and Shadi went to the attendant, who was moaning and twitching, and after a short conferment Shadi touched two fingers to the man’s forehead. The lights dimmed for a second and then returned to normal; Shadi and Red stood, the valet attendant snoring at their feet.

  After that it was a smooth trip up to the fourteenth floor, where a penthouse suite with one connecting room awaited them. Shadi and Fatima went in to scope the rooms before Emma was allowed in, and Leah addressed everyone else while they were waiting in the hall for the all clear.

  “Those of us who’ve slept most recently can take the first watch, not including you,” she looked at Emma, “or you,” she said to Horne. He raised his eyebrows. “You’re still recuperating from injuries,” Leah said. “And if you’re going to help carry those packs tomorrow, you need the rest. Fern and Red, you’ll be in with Emma. Horne and I will take the connecting room, and Ivan, Shadi, and Fatima can take the first watch.” Ivan nodded, and then Shadi and Fatima stepped out of the penthouse suite, adding their assent.

  Emma drew Leah aside as the others started hauling their compact but heavy luggage into the room. She pitched her voice barely above a whisper. “Are you comfortable bunking in with Horne? He and Red could take the other room and you could stay with Fern and me.”

  Leah’s expression turned from attentive to wry. “My lady, I’ve had just over five hours of continuous exposure to Red Sun’s curse and I am wound tighter than a bow. Believe me when I say I am very comfortable bunking in with Horne.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yes.” Leah’s gaze tracked Horne as he set one of the packs down, muscles in his arms and shoulders bunching. “Oh .” She kept her eyes on him as he straightened and noticed Leah’s attention on him. His nostrils flared, dark eyes going hooded, and Emma looked away in embarrassment.

  Leah rolled her shoulders and turned back to Emma with a distracted frown. “You must have some willpower,” she said quietly. “Hanging around Red all the time.”

  Emma shook her head. “Doesn’t affect me anymore, since the ritual was completed. What’s that look for?”

  It was Leah’s turn to shake her head. “Nothing. I just never would’ve guessed, that’s all.” Horne started over to them, and Leah flashed Emma a smile. “Sleep well, my lady.”

  Fern was crouched down examining the contents of one of the smaller packs, and when Emma padded across the big lounge area of the suite to stand beside him he said nothing of the conversation he’d just mentally overheard, because he wanted to live. “I don’t even know what this is,” he muttered, turning over a gadget with a bundle of wires attached to it and then putting it back where it came from.

  Shadi, who was doing a far less organized investigation of the packs, made a disgusted sound. “If you don’t know what that is, then I have no hope.” He sat back on his heels with a scowl. “And it is all so heavy besides. I will be content with my bow.”

  “Isn’t a bow and arrow kind of hard to wield?” Emma asked.

  Shadi gave her an incredulous stare, but before he could reply, Red came out of the bedroom and heaved himself into a nearby armchair. “If Shadi is as good with that bow as he should be, for a Saracen,” Red said, closing his eyes and letting his head tip back, “Then his accuracy is better than an expert marksman’s with a handgun.”

  Fern came to his feet. “How do you know that?” Red grunted in response.

  Tell you later, Emma told Fern. Right now, help me with something. She came up beside Red’s chair and Fern took the other side.

  “Red,” Emma said. “You look like shit. You need sleep. Come to bed.”

  One eyebrow arched even as his eyes stayed closed. “I’m taking watch.”

  “Not with your eyes closed you aren’t.” Emma took his hand in her left — her right wrist still ached coldly from Ivan’s bite, and she couldn’t make a fist without pain — and a stutter of unease ran through her at how low the
hum of Red’s power was against her palm. She started pulling him upright. She started pulling, anyway. “Red, cooperation please.”

  He opened his eyes a fraction. “I’m taking watch. I’m fine.”

  Emma gave him a warning look. When he closed his eyes again, she let the barest brush of the Call unfurl behind her breastbone, and brushed his wrist with her marked hand.

  Both eyes popped open, amber now. “Bossing me around, flower?”

  She gave a gentle tug on the psychic link to his beast and felt it rumble in response. “Only if I have to.”

  With a great groan of effort, Red levered himself up from the chair, took two steps, and listed to the side on the third. Emma wedged herself against his right side while Fern ducked under his left arm, and together they steered him into the bedroom. He didn’t even protest when they folded him onto the bed and tugged his motorcycle boots off. Emma had never seen him ride a motorcycle; he wore them because they could be pulled on and off one-handed. He was breathing deep and slow by the time Emma returned from the bathroom, teeth brushed and hair combed and face scrubbed with a hot washcloth. Fern had clicked a bedside lamp on, but the low light did nothing to soften Red’s rough-cut features; his face was slack with sleep, but marked with the exhaustion of the responsibility he now had. Not to mention the physical toll of Traveling with so many people — and objects — in tow. She and Fern exchanged worried thoughts as Fern moved to take his turn in the bathroom.

  Emma didn’t know if the wolves had packed pajamas for her, or where they might be, and in spite of how tired she was she considered going back out to look. Stupid really: she almost always slept in a tank and underwear anyway. But she’d never shared a bed with Red Sun before.

  In the bathroom, the shower went on. She was being stupid. She took her boots and socks off, then stripped off her jeans and Red’s jacket, laying them on a nearby chair. Next she shrugged out of the shoulder holster and stowed it under the bed. Finally she unhooked her bra and slipped it off without removing her tank top, tucked it under her jeans, and lay down on Red’s right.