by Cheree Alsop
“We're going to need a bigger house if you keep bringing home strays,” Mrs. Carso joked.
Jaze grinned, his brown eyes bright. “Then we're gonna need a bigger house.”
She opened her mouth to reply, but Jet stood up and stared intently toward the front door, his muscles tense and body completely still. The other werewolves slowly rose. I strained my ears and heard the slight creak of a foot on wood before the doorbell rang. Jaze tipped his head toward the back door; Jet and Kaynan slipped out the sliding door into the backyard. Jaze met his mother's eyes for a brief second, then went to answer the door.
The man on the porch made no effort to be quiet. “Mr. Jaze Carso, we need all the occupants of your house to come to the porch immediately.”
“What is this about?”
“Government business.” The sound of leather followed as someone flipped open a wallet.
“I need to know details before I'll let my family come out.” Jaze's voice was firm.
The porch board squeaked as the man shifted his weight. “It's a matter of national security.” When it was obvious Jaze wasn't fazed by his stern demeanor or his badge, he sighed. “You are harboring a female by the name of Colleen Anderson and a male by the name of Kaynan Anderson. I'm here to arrest them.”
My blood ran cold and I rose slowly from the table. Nikki put a hand on my arm and gave me a reassuring look. “Jaze won't let them touch either of you, trust me,” she said softly.
“What makes you think they're here?” Jaze pressed.
“We've had your house under surveillance for the last several weeks. We know that both individuals are eating dinner in your home as we speak. At least,” he turned around, “One of them is in the home.” His voice rose. “I have a dozen armed men in strategic positions around the premises. Your occupation here isn't exactly legal, and I know you know what I mean. If the individuals inside and those sneaking around the back refuse to come to the porch for a polite discussion, we will be forced to open fire.”
Mrs. Carso's hand flew to her mouth. Meg touched her shoulder and they exchanged wide-eyed stares. Roger motioned to the rest of us to go to the porch. Taye took Grace's right hand and I moved to take her left, but Roger shook his head to indicate that I should stay at the back with him. I followed the others to the porch and hung near the door.
Kaynan and Jet were already on either side of the porch. Jet glared at the armed man next to him, and I could see him sizing the man up. Five men stood on the lawn, guns trained in our direction, two waited on the porch, and the man who had spoken to Jaze held a pistol casually in his hand.
“Now, which one of you is Colleen?”
My heart skipped a beat, but no one moved. The man cleared his throat. “You can make this easy or hard, I don't care. I'd prefer for things not to get messy, so we'll do this the easy way.”
Before anyone could move, the man grabbed Mrs. Carso and pressed the gun to her head. “Now, which one of you is Colleen?”
Movement caught my eye and I glanced over to see Jaze push a button on his phone hiding in his palm. His eyes were on the man holding his mother hostage, and his jaw was clenched so tight I could hear his teeth grind. I had to buy him some time.
I pushed through the others. “I'm here. Let her go.” My voice shook, but I gave him the meanest glare I could muster.
His voice softened. “Colleen, darling. Why don't you be a good girl and come down here.” He stepped slowly backward down the porch steps and pulled Mrs. Carso with him.
I took a deep breath and followed.
“Good. Now, where's your brother?”
“He left,” I said before Kaynan could move.
The man shook his head with another sigh. “No one left. You forget, I've got this place under surveillance. You've been staying over with that wild animal, while Kaynan stays here.” His voice turned ironic. “It's so nice that Hunters and werewolves can live right next door and take care of each other.”
He backed up to the corner of the house where the porch light ended and gestured with his gun. “Kaynan, Colleen, in the cars and no one gets hurt.”
Kaynan moved away from the others and walked slowly down the porch.
“That's right. Just do as I say and-”
“Drop the gun.”
Rafe's low growl sounded loud in the dark night and my heart leaped. The man holding Mrs. Carso froze, then lifted his hand and tossed the gun to the lawn. He let Mrs. Carso go and she hurried back up the steps to Jaze's side. Jaze put an arm around his mother and held her close, outrage coloring his face. Meg put a hand on her arm, her face tight.
“Tell your men to put down their guns and retreat to the vehicles,” Rafe continued.
The man rolled his eyes, then hissed as something was shoved into his back. “You heard him, move!” he yelled to his men.
The guards around us threw down their weapons and backed to the three cars across the street from the house.
“All of them,” Rafe growled, a tight note of warning in his voice.
The man grimaced. “Haskel, Dawn, you too.”
One man climbed down from the porch roof and another I hadn't seen extricated himself from a tree in the front yard. They both threw angry glances Rafe's way before heading to the vehicles.
“Now tell us what the government wants with Colleen and Kaynan.”
The man's jaw tightened. “I told you. It's a matter of national security.”
I glanced to the right in time to see a dark shadow melt into the trees at the corner of Jaze’s lawn. The scent of strange werewolves touched my nose the same time that a shoe scuffed quietly across the gravel near Meg and Roger’s house; Jaze’s reinforcements had arrived.
“Enlighten us,” Rafe said blandly.
The man grumbled something, then winced. “Colleen and Kaynan are the only two successful werewolf DNA fusion specimens. We cannot allow additional copies to be made, so we need to destroy them.”
His words brought my attention back. “By copies you mean clones,” I said, feeling sick.
The man nodded. “Cloning was attempted at Dr. Edward Tannin's facility, but no sustainable duplicate was achieved.” I glanced at Kaynan to see if he had known about the clones. The apologetic, nauseous look he gave me confirmed my suspicions. I swallowed the hard knot in my throat as the man continued, “My job is to make sure it never happens.”
“By killing them?” Rafe pressed.
“Do you know of a better way?” the man replied with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Rafe said something quietly and the man winced again. “I didn't want it to come to this,” he said in a tight voice. “It was supposed to be smooth; easy in, easy out. Nobody gets hurt but the anomalies.”
“My way, nobody gets hurt including Colleen and Kaynan. I want you to return to your government, tell them we feel national security should include protecting its inhabitants instead of sending teams to kill them, and let them know that we won't allow any cloning or experimenting to be done with either Colleen or Kaynan.” Rafe sounded winded and I wondered how long he could keep it up, but it was obvious by the suited man's stance that he still had strength.
“It doesn’t work like that,” the man said. “We’re on a clock. If we don’t report back that our mission is successful, attack teams will be on your house like ants at a picnic.”
Jaze stepped forward. “Give your report and call your teams back. You obviously know who I am, or you wouldn’t have reinforcements on call.” He glanced back at Jet. “Although we haven’t had a fight in a while. It might be nice.”
Jet opened and closed his hands with a dangerous smile on his face that said he would welcome a battle.
The man shook his head. “I know who you are, and I don’t want trouble. This can be a peaceful transaction between two respected members of society.”
Jaze’s gaze darkened. “As far as I’m concerned, peaceful doesn’t mean holding my mother hostage or storming my house with demands that I let you take my visitors prisoner.
You will leave now, or I’ll call in the werewolves and Hunters who are surrounding my house and your men as we speak.”
“You’re bluffing,” the man said, but there was uncertainty in his voice that let me know just how dangerous Jaze’s men could be.
“I never bluff,” Jaze replied with an edge of steel.
The man’s face paled and he tried to look around, but Rafe tightened his hold. Jaze looked to the right and roughly a dozen werewolves and Hunters stepped from the various shadows into the light of the porch. Another dozen or so surrounded the two cars the men had begrudgingly disappeared into. Footsteps and breathing marked many more spread throughout the backyard and Meg and Roger’s. I was amazed at how quickly they had gotten there.
The threat that laced through Jaze’s next voice sent a shiver up my spine. “I can have you out of a job in a few phone calls to certain senators sympathetic to werewolves for their own personal reasons. This is my house and these are my friends. If I ever see you near them again, you’ll be stationed in the North Pole searching for Santa Claus.”
The man looked like he wanted to argue for a moment, then he let out a slow breath. “We'll leave you alone for now, but you're forgetting one thing.” The man met my eyes. “You aren't the only ones who bear your DNA.”
He shrugged out of Rafe's grasp and walked slowly back to his car, Jaze’s silent guards pacing him on either side. He got into the first vehicle without a word and they drove away.
I ran down to Rafe. He leaned against the side of the house in the black shorts I had bought at the gas station, his bare stomach still loosely wound in bandages from when he was in his wolf form. Blood trickled from several stitches that had torn when he phased.
“Do you have a gun?” Jet asked cautiously from behind me.
Rafe gave a weak grin and tossed something green to the ground. “Sorry about your garden hose,” he said. “I couldn't find anything else.” He stumbled forward and Jet and I caught him before he could hit the ground.
“Bring him inside,” Mrs. Carso said; a slight tremble in her voice was the only sign of how badly the situation had shaken her.
Jaze and Kaynan helped Rafe up the stairs and to a couch in the living room. I took his hand and he kept his eyes on me, his face pale and grip weak. Meg took off the bandages and began to examine his wounds.
“Surprised?” Rafe asked softly. I followed his gaze to Roger's lifted eyebrows and half smile.
Roger nodded. “Extremely.” He peered at the werewolf as though he was a prize specimen. “Why didn't you talk at the rehabilitation center? It would have saved you a great deal of unnecessary discomfort.”
Rafe winced at Meg's prodding. “I didn't like you,” he said in a tight voice.
Jaze chuckled and Roger gave a slight frown. “How about now?”
Rafe tried to push himself up to a more comfortable position, but at Meg's look, he gave up and held still. “Not sure yet,” he forced out from between clenched teeth.
Roger nodded. “Fair enough. Serves me right for making rash judgments; won't be making that mistake again.”
Rafe gave him a small smile. “Then we might be okay.”
Roger's face lit up with relief.
“You need a couple of stitches,” Meg said in a chiding tone. “Lucky you didn't do worse given the shape you were in.”
“I heard talking and thought I'd better take my chances,” Rafe said dryly.
“We're glad you did,” Jaze replied. He exchanged a look with his mother. “We're in your debt.”
Rafe gave a true smile. “You got me out of Tannin's werewolf torment center. Let's call it even.”
Jaze nodded, but his brow was furrowed. “Mouse, sweep for bugs. This house isn’t safe until we can talk freely.”
Mouse nodded and left the room.
“They know we're here,” Jet said quietly.
“They seem to know everything about everyone,” Kaynan agreed, his red eyes deep with worry. “What did he mean by we aren't the only ones who have our DNA?”
The realization hit me. “Mom and Dad.”
Jaze tossed a phone to my brother. Kaynan dialed the number we had both memorized by the time we were old enough to speak. Mom and Dad only had a house phone. They said they were too set in their ways to learn a cell phone.
Each ring sounded loud in the still kitchen. Everyone held their breath, but after the eighth ring, Kaynan finally gave up. He tossed the phone back to Jaze, his face pale. “We've got to go.”
Jaze rose and disappeared into the kitchen. He came back a minute later with a small computer in his hands and Mouse at his side. “There's a plane in a half hour.”
“I'll be on it,” Kaynan said firmly. Grace squeezed his hand and he pulled her close. “I'll get them somewhere safe and come right back, I promise.”
“We'll get them somewhere safe.” The thought of being on a plane for hours and traveling through airport security made my skin crawl, but I wasn't going to let my parents suffer for what we had become.
Kaynan's eyebrows rose. “Are you sure?”
“Positive.” I squeezed Rafe's hand and I could see the fear in his eyes that he wouldn't voice, the fear at being left injured surrounded by strangers. “I'll hurry back,” I reassured him softly.
His jaw tightened. “They're your pack and they need you.” I nodded and he forced a casual tone. “I'll be fine.” Meg poked a particularly tender area and he clenched his teeth as though biting back a growl. “At least, I'll be fine if I'm left alone.”
Meg's eyes sparked. “You're under my care and you'll put up with whatever I need to do to keep you alive, understand?”
Rafe met her glare for a minute, then dropped his eyes and nodded. “Yes, ma'am.”
Jaze chuckled from the other side of the couch. “Good choice. You don't want to be on Meg's bad side.”
Something flashed and Jet disarmed Mouse before anyone could move. He then blinked down at the camera in his hands.
“I needed Colleen's picture for the documents,” Mouse explained, his cheeks red and eyes on the ground.
Jet handed the camera back to Mouse looking flustered. “Don't point things at people without warning them first. Bad things happen.”
Mouse stammered an apology and hurried from the room. Jaze lifted an eyebrow at Jet. “A camera, really?”
Jet shrugged, a touch of chagrin in his expression. “You never know.”
“You're just a bit jumpy,” Taye said, setting a hand on his arm.
“Everyone is,” Mrs. Carso replied. “And it's understandable. Come to the kitchen. I'll make hot cider and cinnamon rolls.”
I stayed with Rafe and Meg while the others filed after her. Before long, the scent of cinnamon, flour, and apples drifted our way.
“You going to be alright on your trip?” Meg asked as she worked a needle through Rafe's skin and pulled it out the other side to close a dripping gap.
“I'm not sure,” I said honestly.
She looked at me for a minute, then smiled. “You're stronger than you think. You'll be fine.”
Chapter 10
“I can't believe you did that.”
Rafe turned over on the cot in Meg's operating room and gave me a tired smile. “What?”
I glared at him. “You know what. You need to take better care of yourself.”
His eyebrows knit together. “Are you referring to the cougar or the government suit?”
I blushed at the thought that I was really the one who had gotten him into all of this. I dropped my gaze to my hands. “I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you.”
“Colleen.” He waited until I looked up at him again. His gaze was serious. “I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you.”
I blinked at the tears that suddenly pricked my eyes. The cot squeaked, then Rafe was crouched next to me, one hand across his stomach and the other hovering just above my shoulder as though he was afraid to touch me.
“Are you okay?”
The fact that he was
worried about me after all he had been through made me feel even worse. “You should be in bed,” I protested.
He shook his head. “I've spent too much time there already. You're leaving in a few minutes and I don't know what I'll do with myself when you're gone.” He eased himself down to the floor and leaned against the wall next to me with an outlet of breath that was the only sign of pain.
“You could actually take care of yourself,” I pointed out.
A smile played about the corners of his mouth. “Where's the fun in that?”
I rolled my eyes and leaned against him. He lifted an arm gingerly and put it around my shoulder. “I'm going to miss you,” I said. I didn't know how to tell him just how much it was going to destroy me to be apart from him. I kept telling myself that I was too young to be so in love, and that there was no way I could feel so strongly about him after such a short time, but my heart still ached when I thought of the plane ride I would take in a few minutes and the distance it would put between us.
“You remember the whole wolves mate for life thing we talked about?” Rafe asked, his tone funny.
“Yes,” I said. I held my breath for his next words.
He fell silent for a minute, then glanced at me. “Wolves don't do well separated from their chosen mate. Often, they refuse to eat until they're together again. They won't hunt or take care of themselves. I saw a wolf let himself starve to death when his mate was killed in an avalanche. He wouldn't move from the spot where she died.” He tipped his head against mine. “I'll starve without you.”
“Not with Mrs. Carso's cooking,” I said, forcing a light tone.
He gave a small smile. “There are other ways to starve. If life loses its purpose, no moment is truly lived. You have to love to live, and my love is leaving.”