Before I could ask what she meant, I felt a pain on my arm near my shoulder. I jumped at the sudden sting, looking down and then flailing right and left, searching for what had caused the pain.
But I saw nothing.
More stinging—this time sharper and deep so that I doubled over, clutching my head and shutting my eyes against the unbearable headache that came with it. And finally, an aching twist in my gut that stabbed just to the side of my ribs.
I lost my footing—and, frankly, the strength to care—and sank onto the ground, curling into a tight ball against the pain battering my body in multiple places. Aches, sharp pricks, and slashing cuts—it all coursed through me at once until I felt overloaded and woozy. Black spots encroached at the corners of my eyes so I kept them shut, moaning and rocking and breathing in the scent of the dirt just inches from my mouth where I lay.
Vaguely, above me, I heard thunder and the crack of lightning as some sort of storm raged. I didn’t feel a single rain drop, though the pain kept me from caring too deeply about what sort of storm this was.
I had no idea how long it all lasted.
When the worst of it had passed, I finally managed to shove to my feet. The woman and wolf hadn’t moved.
Rage built quickly and I didn’t bother to swallow it. “What the hell was that for?” I demanded.
“You’ve paid for your magic here both for today and yesterday,” she said, her voice booming like the thunder itself.
I hesitated, not quite ready to offer her a thank you, but I was at a loss. Was that really it? The price was a piece of the pain I had taken? It had sucked but it hadn’t killed me. And it was nowhere near what I’d imagined. “I accept the price,” I said slowly, eyeing her uncertainly in case there was a round two I hadn’t been aware of. “So, now what?”
“You either use it or it uses you,” she said matter-of-factly.
Annoyance replaced uncertainty. Apparently, the language of the gods was rooted in vagueness.
“I mean, how do I use the magic?” I asked. “How do I heal?”
The woman regarded me and then she bent low and whispered something to the wolf. Even from here, her voice rumbled with the sound of many but her words were lost over the wind.
When she was done, the wolf finally stood and I took a step back because—holy shit. It was huge. Easily twice the size of any werewolf I’d seen before now. And suddenly, it saw me. Intently.
“Take what is offered,” the woman said. Or maybe it had been the wolf this time. Suddenly, the sound seemed to belong to both of them.
And it boomed twice as loud.
I held my breath as the wolf looked right at me and split into two.
Two wolves stared back at me, although one stood on hind legs and had a chest like a man. But still—two furry beasts. One with a third eye. both of them shimmering, their conjoined bodies fluctuating between distinct and blurred together.
“The wildness inside you already Knows.” It spoke as one then quickly became two again.
In my head, the voice rose: The wolves. The wolves. The wolves.
And together, they advanced toward me.
I screamed and backed away, stumbling over the rock of the cave. The woman didn’t bother to try and comfort me or call me back. Nor did she stop my heel from wedging against a dip in the rock formations. I stumbled, my arms flailing against the air, and then I was falling back through the hole…
The redwoods disappeared along with the wolf and the woman.
I winced, shutting my eyes against the hard impact as I fell on my ass into the tunnel of the cave. A sharp sting came from my shin and when I glanced down, I saw a shallow cut, probably from the rocks as I’d fallen. My breath came in shallow gasps and I didn’t even bother climbing to my feet. On all fours, knees dragging my hands through the dirt and possibly geckos, I crawled back to where I’d left Kiwi.
The fog had already evaporated and Kiwi stood in the grotto, tears streaming down her face, her hands clasped in front of her in prayer.
“Kiwi!” I called, using the edge of the rocks to pull myself up.
She spotted me and rushed forward, pulling me into her arms and exhaling. “I thought Taotaomona had taken you,” she said, her hands tight around me as she smoothed my hair.
I didn’t know if she was shaking or if it was me. But I was glad I had someone to hold me up right now. I tried not to think about the cut on my leg or the woman and her wolf. About what might have happened if the creature had caught me.
Take what is offered? The wildness inside me? What did any of that even mean?
“What happened?” Kiwi asked, drawing back and studying me.
I felt the tears leaking out of me and didn’t bother to wipe them away. The relief and fear were both too big to possibly calm down just yet. “I…”
Kiwi reached up and brushed my hair away from my face, frowning as she leaned closer.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Your head. You have a scar,” she said suddenly breathless.
“I … what?” I reached up and felt at the place she’d touched, shocked to find a raised line underneath my hair just above my forehead. “What the hell?” I muttered.
“Sam. What happened?” she said again, this time more forcefully.
“I… I think I met Taotaomona,” I said shakily.
Kiwi’s eyes widened and genuine fear shone back at me. “Did she say anything to you?”
“She told me there was a price for the magic,” I said. “But I don’t understand. Why would I have a scar here?”
“Sam.” Kiwi looked from me to the scar. “She meant a price for healing.” Kiwi’s words were very certain and I looked back at her skeptically.
“How do you know?” I asked.
“Because.” She lifted her own hair away from her forehead, showing off a small raised scar through her hair. “The placement of your scar is exactly where I have mine.”
I could only stare at the white line on her forehead, and then, one by one, the pain all made sense. I yanked my shirt away from my shoulder, peering down the tip of my nose to the small white scar just above my arm pit.
“What is it?” Kiwi asked.
“This is where I healed that bird,” I said, still full of disbelief. But there was one more piece of proof to check. I let go of my sleeve and yanked my shirt up over my stomach, peering down at my abdomen. My breath caught. There it was. A perfect replica—and I knew. I’d seen his.
“Alex.”
I stared down at the scar, remembering the one Alex wore to match mine. He’d been stabbed that night two years ago, the same night I’d healed him in my kitchen before getting my memory wiped. The night that had changed everything.
“Taotaomona gave you these as a punishment for waking her.” Kiwi reached out and touched the scar—the largest of them all—along my ribs but I shook my head.
“No. She allowed them to finally leave their mark, but she was right. This is my price. Before I can heal I have to accept that,” I said, finally understanding at least a little of what the woman had been trying to tell me. The wolf was a different story. “For everyone I heal, the magic will give me a piece of their pain—and then some,” I added thinking of how brutal it had been getting it all at once like that. “It will leave its mark.”
Kiwi looked stricken but I smiled and squeezed her hand.
“It’s okay,” I said, grateful and disappointed at the same time. “I’m closer to understanding.”
And part of it was true. I was okay, and I understand the consequences of what I was determined to do. But I still hadn’t gotten any closer to figuring out how to help heal anyone—including myself. Then again, I’d met Taotaomona—an island spirit no one had ever actually seen. And as far as I was concerned, I’d certainly paid the price.
Chapter Eight
Alex
Ice and snow puddled at my feet. Taking my gloved wrist in my free hand, I yanked hard and, when the fabric remained stuck, I yanked aga
in. Harder. Across the cabin’s living room, already naked and hovering by the wood stove crackling with a fresh fire, Breck snickered at my predicament. I glared at him and gave up. Rather than try to pull my frozen glove off the metal handle of the spear-gun Breck had lent me, I slid the glove off and set the whole combination on the hardwood floor.
With my hands finally free, I stepped out of my boots, peeled off my socks, and stared at my purple toes.
“Holy shit, it’s cold up here,” I said, and proceeded to strip off all four layers: my jacket, sweatshirt, thermal, and vest. I left my beanie on, hoping to trap the heat and send it downward.
Breck moved over to let me have room in front of the fire he was stoking and we both huddled there, waiting, willing our bodies to absorb the heat from the flames.
“This weather sure does have shit timing,” I said, shivering more than I’d like to. The weather had made our stake-out at Abel’s that much harder. And our asses that much more frozen.
“Would have been nice to get that call about Abel’s passport popping a few hours back,” Breck said but he sounded almost cheerful. Like he wasn’t even bothered by the fact that we’d just sat in the cold for hours watching an empty house.
I stared at him and then shook my head, turning like a roasting sausage so that every side of my bare body was exposed to the heat. I was cold all the way into my bones. Even the werewolf venom—which usually left me feverish—couldn’t warm me right now. “You’re like a damned Yeti, you know that?”
Breck laughed. “What? GI Joe doesn’t like the snow?” I punched him in the arm, and he didn’t even rock backward. I tried not to think about how much strength I’d lost to this damned venom. But it was getting harder to pretend. These wintery stakeouts weren’t helping.
“You mean to tell me you’ve never had to work in weather?” Breck asked.
“Weather is one thing. That shit is an avalanche out there. It’s impossible.”
“Nah. Heat is worse. I did a stint in the Amazon last year for a private firm trying to run some werewolf activists off their land. Shit. All that sweat and grime on top of possible malaria. No, thanks. I prefer this.” Breck shuffled, bending low to aim his bare ass closer to the flame. “Besides, it’s pretty handy with the ladies. They love being warmed up.” He winked.
Which felt weird.
“Dude.” I took a step away. “We’re both naked in your living room. Don’t wink at me.”
Breck laughed harder. “This is definitely not the craziest New Year’s I’ve had.”
“I don’t think I want to know,” I said.
We took turns using his stall-sized shower and when the hot water ended too soon for me, I jumped out and dressed again in several more layers. I would not be escaping to Alaska again anytime soon, no matter how bad my problems were.
In fact, it was clear to me now how Edie had played me. When she called me back, I planned to let her know my thoughts about it too.
Breck was at the kitchen counter which was technically still in the living room of the tiny hunting cabin he was renting. He held out a steaming mug and I took it with shaky hands. “Coffee?” I asked, slightly disappointed.
“With a double-shot of whiskey,” Breck assured me. “You hear back from your team yet on that passport?”
I shook my head and followed him to the worn couch, grateful for the spot closest to the fire. The wood crackled and popped against the silence, and the coffee warmed my throat as I drank. Or maybe it was the whiskey. All in all, this moment was probably the best I’d had since leaving California. Or it would have been if I hadn’t already lost our mark.
And if I could stop worrying about whether he’d found Sam.
Or how pretty she looked first thing in the morning.
Fuck.
Breck was the first to ruin it by reminding me. “Your team leader… It’s Godfrey junior herself isn’t it?”
I cut him a look and made sure to let my annoyance show. Besides, he didn’t have to know I was technically currently not on CHAS’s payroll. “Yeah.”
Breck leaned back, one hand wrapped around his mug and the other thrown over the back of the couch between us. “I watched you talk to her earlier. Your glare melted a snowbank out there. You guys have a thing?”
I gritted my teeth but forced my temper back. It would only make me shake harder and possibly spill my whiskey-spiked mug. I wasn’t in the mood for that. Then again, I wasn’t in the mood for this either. But Breck had been cool so far. And he had sat outside with me for hours on end only to come up with a big fat goose egg on our mark. “She has a boyfriend,” I said simply.
He shrugged. “So?” And before I could answer, added, “All that is none of my business. Just curious about the politics. I’ve been offered a position with them. Not sure whether to take it.”
I let my temper fall away as I realized he was only trying to understand the inner workings of a machine. That kind of thinking made sense, so I sighed and searched for the bare bones of it. A way to give him what he wanted without this turning into teenaged-girl’s sleepover. “She and I went to school together. We were friends.” I hesitated and then added, “I had a thing for a while, maybe she did too, but in the end, it wasn’t the right move.”
“And that means?” His brow lifted.
I rolled my eyes. “I fucked it up, all right?” Breck held up his hands in defense, but I was in it now and the words came tumbling out. “Made a mistake on a mission that cost her. Chose the job over her, I guess.”
I snorted, thinking back to the first time I’d been bitten. Tara had changed into her wolf, and, new to that side of herself, she’d bitten me when I’d snuck up on her. I shook the memory away because what came after wasn’t something I cared to relive. “Cost me too, but we all recovered. When I woke up, somehow actually still alive, I realized what I’d felt for her had become something else. It settled, you know? Now, we’re friends.”
Breck took a swig of his tea. “So she’s like a sister to you?”
“I wouldn’t go that far.”
Breck snorted.
“She’s a good boss,” I added. “You wouldn’t regret it.”
“And this girl with old magic? The one who might have a cure for the werewolf virus?”
“What about her?” I asked sharply.
“You won’t give up her name,” he said with a shrug. “Means you’re putting her before the mission, that’s all.”
His voice was light, like it didn’t matter. But it did and we both knew it.
Rather than try to come up with an answer, I drank more of my coffee.
We sat in silence for a moment, and it was quiet enough that I could hear my own heart thudding in my chest. I was winded. Tired. Not quite warm, though my cheeks were flushed. I thought of the medicine Mirabelle had sent with me and scowled. I’d stopped taking it as often to preserve it—and to attempt to keep my body from growing immune—but that was costing me.
Talking about Tara hadn’t helped.
Not that I still had those kinds of feelings for her. Because I didn’t. She was a friend but she was also the only person I’d ever let myself be vulnerable with. And even though what had happened between us had been for the best—my feelings for her had evolved into a deep friendship but nothing more—it didn’t change the feeling of rejection. Every time I thought about how I’d fucked it all up, it pissed me off all over again. Reminded me why I didn’t get close anymore.
I didn’t want Tara Godfrey. And it didn’t bother me that I once had, except: Sam. If I wanted to be with her, it would mean putting her at risk in a way she hadn’t even realized. I was not going to let history repeat itself.
“What’s the job?” I asked, to change the subject and because I was genuinely curious.
“Forward recon,” Breck said. “Deep cover. Trying to get a handle on the sickness affecting our furry friends. That’s all I know so far. Until I take the job. Figured you would have heard about it since that’s your chain of command.�
�
I shook my head. “Not exactly in the loop these days.” I hesitated and then added, “Technically, I’m on an LOA. Edie let me come up here as a favor.”
“Godfrey senior, huh?” I shot him a glance and saw his brows rise. “Not sure I’d call it a favor since you ended up in the middle of Alaska in winter.”
I grinned and actually considered telling him I was dying—maybe it was going to be a teenaged sleepover after all—but my phone rang. I grimaced when I realized it was still on the counter; a distance that was going to break my lungs right about now.
Breck jumped up and grabbed it, tossing it to me. I only barely managed to catch it with my free hand, saving it from the fire at the last second.
“Channing,” I answered, breathless.
“Alex, it’s Edie.”
“You find out about that passport?” I asked, draining the rest of my coffee. I could feel Breck’s eyes on me. He wanted news just like I did.
Edie sighed, hesitating, and I tensed. An uncertain Edie Godfrey was never a good thing. “I found it, but you’re not going like it.”
“Tell me anyway,” I said.
“It flagged in Guam.” There was a beat of silence and then she added, “Sam’s in Guam.”
“I know,” I snapped. “I fucking know Sam’s in Guam.”
She didn’t ask how I knew and I didn’t bother to tell her. In fact, if she knew I’d called Mirabelle to ask about Sam, she’d probably cuss me out after our last conversation on the matter.
“Is she all right?” I asked, my voice tight.
“Yes. She’s fine,” Edie said gently, and that cut at me worse than anything. That she was being nice. Fuck.
I blew out a breath and ducked my head, running my hand over my head so Breck couldn’t see my expression.
“Abel’s been taken out, though,” she said and there was a strange note to her voice. Normally, that kind of news was business as usual.
Inheritance: (A New Adult Paranormal Romance) (Heart Lines Series Book 2) Page 7