by Natalie Grey
“Hey. Hey, now.” A man’s voice, speaking English. Gentle hands helped her to a chair.
When her vision cleared, Yelena’s jaw dropped open.
The man in front of her was one of the most gorgeous guys she had seen. He was crouching, but when he stood up, he would be far taller than even she or Alec, and he was ripped. The guys at the boxing gym were nothing compared to him.
A moment later, a woman’s face swam into view.
“Hello.” She smiled, and switched to Romanian. “Are you a local?”
“Yeah.” Yelena nodded at her gratefully, and gave a pained look at where Petra was cleaning up the vomit from the floor. Her face flamed. She’d just thrown up in front of the most gorgeous man she’d ever seen. “I, uh….”
“Are you alright? I mean, really all right?”
No. My brother is out there alone, and someone is hurting him. But what could this woman do about that? Yelena tried to smile, for all that she felt tears in her eyes.
“I’m just … I’m really tired. I’m so sorry. Thank you for helping me. Can you thank him, too?” She nodded her head at the gorgeous man. She couldn’t bring herself to meet his eyes. “I’ll get out of your way.” She sniffed, trying to hold back a sob that was bubbling up.
The man squeezed her fingers. He looked genuinely worried.
She was going to burst into tears if she stayed here. “I have to go.” Yelena pushed her way up and fairly ran for the elevator.
“Wait!” the woman called after her. She ran, too, and laid a hand on Yelena’s shoulder as the elevator doors opened. “My name’s Ecaterina. You can ask at the front desk if you need help with anything, okay?”
“Thanks.” Yelena hunched her shoulders. She smiled as the doors closed, but just so that the woman would feel better. No one could help her with this.
She slumped back against the wall of the elevator. Bellatrix’s worry radiated in her mind.
We need to find Alec soon, Yelena thought.
Bellatrix’s instant agreement didn’t make her feel any better.
___
“I’m worried about her.” John dumped the bags on the floor by one of the beds. The team had gotten four rooms, but everyone had crowded into this one for now. “Something about her … well, she didn’t just seem sick or anything. I’m worried it’s more.”
“Maybe she has migraines,” Ecaterina suggested.
“Maybe, but she looked very upset.” John frowned. He couldn’t get the black-haired woman out of his head. It wasn’t that he was thinking of cheating on Jean. Even if he hadn’t been sure she’d kill him painfully if he did so, he had no desire to do so. The black-haired woman had just seemed like she was in over her head. It got to him that he hadn’t been able to help her. “I feel like something more was wrong.”
“I think you’re right.” Pete exchanged a look with Bethany Anne.
“How so?” John looked at them both, “Should we go make sure she’s alright, is she in danger here?”
It was Bethany Anne who answered, “I don’t think she’s in danger right now, but she might be soon. She’s a Wechselbalg.”
“What?” Ecaterina shook her head. “If she were a Wechselbalg, she would have smelled you guys, me, Pete. She would have known there was something different about everyone. She would have had some pack mannerisms.”
“She’s not full Wechselbalg.” Pete nodded his head. “Distant ancestor, I’d guess. But she’s got some of the nanocytes. At a guess?” He shrugged. “She heals fast. That’s usually the only part that sticks when the bloodline gets diluted. That, and being crazy. But she doesn’t seem crazy, though.”
“So what was wrong with her?” John asked. He sat down in one of the chairs, frowning. “She looked really upset.”
“I still think you’re all overreacting. You’ve clearly never had a migraine,” Ecaterina interjected. “They’re terrible. She might just have been tired and—”
“You’re thinking like a tour guide,” Bethany Anne told her gently. “This woman’s not a normal tourist. I didn’t want to look into her head without a reason, but it’s clear she’s not just here for a visit. And she was afraid, I could smell that. Also … there’s more to this. Pete and I talked to the receptionist. Two people went missing here today, and one of them was that girl’s brother.”
Ecaterina looked around herself. “You think she came here to find him? How would she know he was in danger?”
“It is possible that that he might also have the nanocytes? If he’s got them, too, she might know if he’s in trouble.” Pete frowned. “I hate to say this, because she seems nice, but he might also be one of the guys we’re looking for. We know they’re operating around here, and we know they’re weak Wechselbalg. He might just be stronger than she is, and she doesn’t know what he’s a part of. Some of the old packs in the underworld, they have old rules. He might be marrying her off to someone to get them to be loyal—and even if the bloodline is thin, there’s a possibility it might breed a strong child.”
“Well, then it’s our job to save her,” John argued. “The underworld should have had the decency to die out. We are not just going to let them sell people.”
Bethany Anne spoke up, “If her brother was selling her off, that still doesn’t explain why he is missing.” She walked over to the window, frowning.
She stared out at the trees and the snow, crisp under a clear sky. There were too many parts of this that didn’t quite fit together, and she didn’t like it. Gabrielle had mentioned to be wary of the people here. Was it possible that the girl was one of the people they were looking for, meant to gain their sympathy?
Bethany Anne didn’t think so.
The fear and pain she’d felt rolling off the girl had seemed sudden, beyond the girl’s control. There had been no awareness when Bethany Anne and her team walked in, as they could expect if the girl was meant to be a distraction or plant.
Something told her this girl was for real. And—
Her eyes caught on something in the woods, and she swore under her breath.
“Son of a horse-humping….” She murmured
“What is it?” The rest came to look out the window as well, and there was a collective gasp.
In the moonlight, Ashur’s fur shone, and he was nose to nose with a massive black German Shepherd. The dog looked small next to Ashur, but Bethany Anne and the rest knew just how big Ashur was. This dog, for a normal, mortal being … was big.
Bethany Anne pressed her hand against the glass, narrowing her eyes as he reached out with his mind. Her eyes still closed, she told them about the dog, “It’s hers. The girl. And it’s not a normal dog. It used to be, but she’s changed it. It’s starting to absorb … what she is.”
“On purpose?” Pete frowned.
“No.” Bethany Anne shook her head. “I don’t think she understands what she is. The dog knows, I think.” She frowned in concentration as she searched through the dog’s thoughts. “The dog trusts her. She’s not mean to it.” She smiled as he saw the black-haired woman through the dog’s eyes. The woman had named it, trained it. She could see food held in a palm, and a ready smile and a treat when the puppy sat or lay down or came to heel. “She’s a good person, this one. If her brother is part of all of this, then he’s nothing like her.”
“And if she is looking for him,” Ecaterina bit her lip. “She’s in danger, isn’t she?”
“Yep.” Bethany Anne tapped her fingers on the windowsill. “And we’re not going to let anything happen to her.” She turned away from the window, “Pete, you keep watch. She might try to leave tonight. John, please speak with the receptionist and see if she knows where the sketchy people around here hang out.” She walked to her suitcase, “I think I’m going to go pay them a visit as soon as we find out. Hopefully, we can deal with them before this girl goes out looking for her brother.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
After an hour of searching, Yelena slumped onto the bed and put her head in her hands. If
it were not for the quiet contentment she could feel coming from Bellatrix, out in nature and amongst rabbits and squirrels and snow, she would have gone mad already, and she thought she might go mad now.
There were no clues here!
Alec always traveled light: a change of clothes or two, his ski gear, maybe a book. Yelena was not even sure what she had been hoping for. Maybe a journal. Maybe if she were going to wish for things, it would be a day planner with an address list … that he had not brought with him to meet whoever had hurt him.
She pushed herself up and began to pace. It had been a long day, but she was not at all tired. She was beginning to feel the same, simmering anger that had led her to beat the shit out of Ciprian two years ago. The anger told her that this was not fair, that no one should have any reason to hurt Alec. That no one should be allowed to take her twin from her. It was wrong.
She wasn’t going to just sit here and let it happen.
That thought made everything crystal clear. Yelena grabbed a hair tie and began to tie her hair back, narrating to herself as she went.
“They said he went out to ski and never came back.”
She wrapped a wide scarf around her neck, with the cloth over her mouth.
“So the first place to look is on the slopes.”
She pulled on her boots and laced them up.
“They said they sent someone, but clearly they missed an important piece of information.”
A stab of pain caught her as she grabbed her coat, and she steadied herself against the wall. A moment later, she realized what the pain meant.
She whispered, “If Alec is still in pain, he’s still alive.”
Yelena grabbed a map in one gloved hand and set off for the back stairway out of the resort.
The thought that he was in pain brought tears to her eyes, but she wiped them away angrily. Now was no time to be weak. Alec would hang on as long as he could. He was a fighter.
And so was she. She was going to go find her brother.
___
“This is perfect.” Ecaterina tipped her head back and stared up at the sky happily. “Don’t get me wrong, I like seeing stars from space, but there’s nothing like a winter sky in Romania.”
Pete grinned and leaned back against the wall of the hotel, crossing his arms. The winter air didn’t bother him. Minor discomfort did not bother most of those who were enhanced by nanocytes, and he would not have allowed any level of discomfort to keep him from obeying Bethany Anne’s orders—and protecting an innocent woman.
He also had other obligations. Even if there had been no orders, he would have been out here with Ecaterina. Nathaniel had been very, very clear.
If anything happened to her, Pete was going to be turned completely inside out.
Pete cared too much about Ecaterina to let her go into danger—human or not, she was his pack mate.
But he also had no desire to find out whether being turned inside out was a thing Nathaniel could actually manage.
“So you used to hike up into the mountains on your own?”
“All the time.” Ecaterina shrugged her shoulders. “You must understand, right?
“The world has all of these rules and trivial concerns, and after a while, you just want to be yourself, alone. Matched against nature.” She hunched her shoulders, looking sad. “It feels ridiculous to talk about that sometimes. Almost everyone I talk to is more than human now and even I have lost some of the feeling after I changed.”
“You know none of that matters,” Pete told her. He came to stand beside her.
He could feel Ashur nearby—and the other dog. She was interested in them, but had not yet come out of the trees. Caution would serve her well, and he did not want to interfere by calling to her. He focused on Ecaterina instead. He could see the self-doubt in her face and it tore at his heart. “You are smart and strong and kind. You earned your place with Bethany Anne.”
“I guess so.” Ecaterina crossed her arms and looked away.
“You really did,” Pete assured her. He nudged her with one elbow. “Plus, you keep Nathaniel in a good mood,” he joked. “I’m sure a few of us would be dead if he didn’t have you to make him nicer.”
Ecaterina laughed at that. She opened her mouth to speak, but the sound of the door opening made them both turn.
It was the young woman from before, her grey eyes wide as she saw them there.
Clearly, she thought no one would be here. Her eyes got even wider as Ashur padded out of the forest with her dog at his side.
___
Yelena was surprised to see some of the others there. She remembered Ecaterina, and something about the man at her side made Yelena feel comfortable. She had the strange thought that they smelled familiar, and realized she was being ridiculous. Feeling Alec’s pain was enough weird, supernatural crap for one day. She was not going to start believing that she could smell whether or not someone was trustworthy.
But her jaw dropped when she saw Bellatrix with the other dog. Her dog was unusually large, large enough to make people uncomfortable even in her little town, where everyone knew her and knew that Dmitri bred giant German Shepherds. But Bellatrix looked small next to the pure white dog, and both dogs looked perfectly happy.
The white dog chuffed at her.
He’s saying hello.
“Hello,” Yelena said to the white dog, before she remembered that there were people watching her. She felt her face flush and looked over at them. “Ah, I mean….”
“Can you understand him?” the woman asked curiously.
“Of course not, I was just saying hello.” She said the words more emphatically than she needed to. “I, uh … I have to go. Sorry. Come on, Trix.”
The man and the woman exchanged a quick look. “We can’t actually … ah, you stay inside tonight.” Ecaterina looked worried. “It’s really dangerous out here.”
Something inside Yelena snapped. “Yeah. I know. My brother’s out there somewhere, hurt. I’ve got to find him.”
“Maybe we can help.” Ecaterina bit her lip.
“How can you help?”
“We can find people. And if he’s in trouble, we can make sure….” Her voice trailed off. “Well, if he got mixed up in something—actually, would you know if he was mixed up in anything bad?”
Yelena laughed shortly. “Alec? No. He only cares about skiing. I mean, he’s an accountant, too. But that’s just to pay bills.”
“He doesn’t have any friends who might be mixed up in bad things?”
“No,” Yelena said impatiently. “He came out here alone. Look, you’ve been really nice, but I have to go find him. Come on, Trix.”
Bellatrix did not move.
“Wechselbag.” He raised an eyebrow when Yelena’s head jerked around. “The word means something to you?”
Yelena tried to remember her English, and couldn’t. She wasn’t entirely sure she’d understood the second sentence, but she knew the word Wechselbalg. She looked over at Ecaterina.
“You know the word,” Ecaterina suggested.
“It’s just old stories,” Yelena said. “It doesn’t mean anything.” She muttered, “Even if Mama thinks it does.”
“Your mother told you about Wechselbalg?”
Yelena shook her head. “I need to find Alec. I don’t have time for this.”
“What did your mother say?” Ecaterina pressed.