He sniffed lightly.
“Ready?”
She nodded.
He took her hand in his and led her the rest of the way in the house.
Sela and Rea stood two feet inside the door. Livie bit the inside of her cheek.
Sela started to cry. “You did think . . .” She threw herself at Livie. “I love you. You were amazing . . . I couldn’t help . . . Don’t you ever run off like that again.” She inserted the words in between sobs and a good deal of shaking.
Livie finally released Roc’s hand to put both arms around Sela. She met Rea’s gaze around Sela’s hair. Her other sister studied them, a crooked smile touched her lips. She walked over and ruffled Livie’s hair.
“Sela said her power is active too.” She shrugged. “It’s a bit of a shock.” Livie remembered watching Sela use her Element for the first time. Yeah, she got that.
Suddenly Rea laughed, a husky, throaty sound. “Damn girl, you got skills.”
The fist over her heart, stopped squeezing. Livie grinned, “thanks.”
Sela pulled away. “You should have seen her at Crowheart. She was amazing. She . . . Livie, I love your hair! It’s so cool.” Sela tugged at one of Livie’s new, shorter, spiky blades. “It looks fabulous.” She fingered her own hair contemplatively.
“Don’t even think about it, Lupa.” Mac stated.
“Really, big guy? You gonna tell her what she can do with her own hair?” Rea’s position as protector in the family hadn’t appeared to change much.
Livie sighed happily.
“I think it would look cute on me.” Sela stuck her hands on her hips and glared at her mate.
“Ah, Mac, I think we should have a little chat about the importance of a woman’s hair.” Roc said.
“Oh, you’ve got us all figured out do you?” Rea turned to arch a brow at Roc.
Roc scowled at Rea. She hadn’t made a good first impression on him. Livie didn’t worry, Rea could take of herself. She just hoped Roc didn’t dig too deep of a hole with her sister. Rea Never had a problem with payback.
Livie smiled, she’d just have to find a way to get him to like her sister. If she started at his toes, she’d probably have him convinced by the time she reached his belly button.
“Over my dead body!” Mac roared.
Livie jerked herself back to the escalating argument.
Rea yanked a machete off her back, pointing it in Mac’s direction. “I can arrange that.”
“Excuse me!” Livie waded into the middle, angling her body so that Mac or Rea would have to move her to get to each other. “I thought there was something important other than hairstyles that we need to discuss.”
Roc stared at her. Livie shrugged back. Now that she’d resolved her issues she was ready to talk.
Besides, Sela was right. Her new style did look damn good.
Mac scrubbed a hand over his face. “Lupa, you make me lose my mind.”
Sela patted his cheek, “I love you too.”
Mac wrapped his arm around her. “Let’s go into my office.”
Livie started to follow Rea. Roc stopped her. He nuzzled her neck again, “Okay?”
She knew he could smell the answer, but she replied anyways. “Perfect.” And she was.
Roc swiped a quick tongue over her tendon, grinning in delight when she shivered. She liked this new playful side of him.
He would probably be a handful now that he knew she loved him.
Hmmm. She reached out and cupped him between the legs. His eyes glazed over. She smiled. She could handle him.
Mac stuck his head out. “You two coming?”
“Soon,” she said. Roc shuddered.
Mac narrowed his eyes and Livie grabbed Roc’s hand, tugging his unresisting body with her.
Her eyes automatically went to the ceiling as they entered Mac’s office. The fresh paint and drywall looked like . . . a very nice new ceiling.
Livie caught Sela watching her and smiled. Sela grinned back.
She sat on the couch next to Rea, Roc crowding her on her other side. Rea patted her knee. Before she could pull away, Livie grabbed her hand. She threaded their fingers together. Roc immediately grabbed her other hand, intertwining his with hers, he settled back, rumbling slightly.
Livie bit her lip to stop the dopey grin.
“I’m going to put Cam on speaker phone.” Mac said. He punched a few buttons on his phone and then the loud ring of a call going through pierced the air.
“About damn time.” Cam’s voice growled as he picked up before the first ring could end.
Rea’s entire body stiffened next to her. Livie shot a questioning look at her. Rea quickly smoothed out her expression. She shook her head.
Nothing? Livie didn’t buy it for a minute. Not when Rea’s pulse thudded heavily under her grip.
Roc leaned forward to stare at Rea. He probably could hear her accelerated heartbeat. Rea scowled at him.
“Look, I don’t know how much time you have.” The urgency in Cam’s voice vibrated in the room. “The Order has been leading me on a fucking goose chase here.” Something broke in the background.
This couldn’t be good.
“You need to get ready. Call our warriors now. The Order knows all three of the sisters are there. They’re planning a full scale invasion.”
Oh, ouch. Talk about words coming back to haunt a person, hers just bit her full on the ass.
“How many and what’s their plan of attack?” Mac asked. He scanned the windows, tugging Sela behind him.
She looked at Roc, “Anything?” she asked softly, tapping her ear. His hearing would always be better than hers. She couldn’t hear anything out of place. And Mac’s reaction stood the hairs on the nape of her neck upright.
“Nothing.” He assured her.
Okay, so Mac was just being Mac and they still had some time.
“I don’t know what their plan is.” Frustration layered every word.
“So, how do you know that The Order is planning anything at all?” Rea demanded.
Silence. Roc bolted forward, tugging her with him. Even Mac leaned over his cell phone lying on the desk.
“Cam?” Mac barked.
Livie held her breath. They hadn’t heard anything to indicate a fight going on. Why wasn’t he answering?
“Who is that?” Cam sounded like he had something stuck in his throat.
“Rea,” Mac frowned at the phone then at Rea. “Sela and Livie’s sister?” He prodded.
“I know who Rea is.” Cam said impatiently. “I haven’t heard her voice before.”
Sela shifted, catching Livie’s attention. She glanced back and forth between the phone and Rea, a distinctly speculative expression on her face. When she noticed Livie staring at her, she grinned, checked to make certain Rea wasn’t watching her, then began to make kissing gestures.
Startled, Livie laughed. She couldn’t help it. Ya think? Sela nodded emphatically.
In a strange way it made sense. After all she and Sela had mated with two of the werewolves in the clan.
Roc nudged her. She patted his knee. If she looked at him, he would know immediately that something was up. She didn’t know if their suspicions were correct and if they were . . . well, Rea definitely needed some time to get used to everything.
Werewolves didn’t even begin to understand the meaning of casual. Intense and in your face they had down pat.
She sighed. Could it be possible? Roc, both her sisters, a life? They could even begin the search for their mysterious other sister, something she had deliberately pushed to the back of her mind.
I’m just so damn happy.
Suddenly, Roc and Mac both went tense.
Mac picked up his phone, staring out his window. “They’re here, Cam. I’ll call you back later.”
Chapter Thirty
Livie peeked around the trunk of the large tree only to have Roc’s hand grip her shoulder and yank her back.
“Damn it, Livie. That is not stay
ing out of sight.”
He pinned her to the tree, leaning down until his nose butted hers. “I will tie you up.”
She might have argued with his words, but the fear in his eyes stopped her. She barely remembered the pain from her injuries in the alley, she’d been too caught up in her emotions at the time.
From his expression, those images were playing in vivid detail, tormenting him over and over again.
I failed you. He was one man – part incredible werewolf – but still part human as well. He could not take on an army by himself.
Together, they could. She’d have to show him. Arguments had gotten her exactly nowhere so far.
“I can’t hear them yet,” she explained.
“You won’t be able to see them either.” Some of the stitching on his shirt ripped. “They’re still too far away and there are too many trees in this area.”
“But they are following us?”
“Yes.” Mac barked the answer this time.
“How?”
The top half of his shirt tore. Roc didn’t appear to notice. He didn’t answer her either. Livie saw him eyeing the large branches above them. Probably thinking to stuff her there.
Roc and Mac had been tracking The Order from the moment they’d left Mac’s house. Unfortunately The Order had been following them as well.
Mac thought they were using their body heat signatures to chase them. It made sense, werewolves gave off enormous amounts of heat.
However, they had headed deep into the woods. Roc wanted to draw The Order away from the town and Mac wanted them away from his house. Large animals lived in these woods. It was one of the reasons the clan had settled here.
If The Order was indeed tracking them by body heat then they should have gone off course at least once when a deer or bear crossed between them.
They hadn’t.
“I told you—” Livie cut him off. “I know what you said, Mac. I think you’re wrong.”
Sela patted Mac’s chest. “Let her finish. Livie’s good at thinking things through.”
Mac huffed, but remained quiet.
“If you’re tracking body heat, you’re tracking all body heat. Not just humans. The outline would give the species away, but we’re in the forest. There are too many trees, bushes, whatever out here that would block the complete outline of a large animal. Whether it’s a bear or us.”
“Bear?” Rea asked, turning to scan the forest.
“Plus we’re moving too fast for them to keep us in range. I think they’re using some sort of GPS signal.”
“GPS? They’d have to tag us first.” Mac said slowly. He set his hands on his hips, considering.
“What bear?” Rea had spun in a full circle.
“It’s just an example.” Livie reassured her. “Rea do you remember getting hit by something other than a dart?”
It was the only thing that made sense to her. Rea was still wearing the same clothes. If she or Sela had been tagged, the guys would have scented it right away. Anytime Mac or Roc got too close to her, Rea began fingering one of her knives.
“No.” Rea answered. “An example of what?”
Roc and Mac surrounded Rea, leaning in and sniffing. Rea pulled out the two blades on her back.
“No!” Livie held her hand out. “They’re just smelling you. They’ll be able to tell if there is some sort of GPS bug on you.”
“By smelling me?” The get real tone in her voice explained a lot. Rea had seen the fangs and claws in the alley. Nothing else. After all the shots of tranquilizers she’d taken, Livie doubted she gave any credence to her memory if she even remembered that at all.
“You haven’t explained?” She muttered the question to Sela as Rea lunged forward with both blades.
“Really?” Sela winced when the tip of one blade sliced Mac’s shoulder. “You are going to ask me that?”
Damn, she hadn’t taken the werewolf explanation all that well at first either. It was a tad tricky.
The twin swords lowered to just below waist level. Livie couldn’t help but admire Rea’s resourcefulness even as she opened her mouth to yell.
Mac and Roc quickly moved backwards. “It’s imbedded in the strap on her back.” Roc said.
He eyed Rea’s blade. “If you’ll remove your strap—”
“Bite me.”
He growled low. Livie quickly stepped forward. She planted herself in front of Roc. “Do you mind if I look?”
Rea nodded but didn’t lower her weapon. Livie eased cautiously around the lethal tip. She eyed the back of her sister’s shirt. How the hell did she access those swords so fast?
Rea shrugged one shoulder, a soft pop sounded and her shirt slid down one arm. The entire neckline gave way, revealing the straps of a stretchy hot pink tank top. A thinly padded smooth leather harness stretched across most of her back. It had been engineered to lay flat, wide openings at the top allowed the broad blades to slide in and out easily. A multitude of smaller throwing knives lined the edge of the harness.
Hot pink?
Livie tugged the shirt back and scanned the strap. Almost smack dab in the middle, a small round piece of metal flashed a subtle orange.
She would have seen the damn thing if she took off her harness to sleep.
She sighed. She couldn’t blame Rea. Livie hadn’t slept without her knife and gun when she had moved in either. Odd, she couldn’t quite remember when she had stopped sleeping with them. Setting her knife and gun under her pillow was something she’d done for years.
Until Roc.
She pulled the little traitor out. “Got it.” She handed it to Mac as she passed. She eased the tip of her sister’s blade out of the way and grabbed the ends of Roc’s long hair, tugging his head down to plant a long juicy one on him.
Roc gripped her waist, pulling her closer and higher.
When they came up for air, he asked, “What was that for? Not that I’m complaining.” He dropped little kisses at the corner of her mouth.
“Just because.”
His dark eyes sparkled down at her.
“Sorry to interrupt.” Mac grated. “But we do have a full scale invasion taking place.”
Roc kissed her again and turned Livie in his arms. Mac scowled at them. Livie blew him a kiss.
“I think we can use this little thing to our advantage.” Mac ignored her. “The Order is still only following us. They haven’t spread out or headed towards town.” He held up the GPS. “Let’s take them where we want them.”
****
It was perfect.
They’d placed the tiny tracking device near a grouping of rocks right next to the small lake. Miles and miles from town, this small clearing should work to their benefit.
Towering cliff walls surrounded almost two thirds of the area. The lake swelled out from one section of the cliffs and a narrow break displayed a canyon in another spot.
Roc stood next to Mac as he spoke on the phone with Cam. Livie headed over to where Sela stood beside the water, practicing her Element. Rea sat on a boulder nearby watching her.
“I still don’t know what happened in San Francisco.” Sela didn’t turn as Livie approached. “There was plenty of water in the air. I should have—.” A giant bubble of water burst in front of her, sending drops of water in all directions.
Livie flicked her hand out, blowing the water away. She did it automatically, without thinking.
She looked at her mark. Damn straight I have skills.
“Put it behind you, Seals.”
Sela flung out her hand. A four foot wave rose up and smashed its way across the lake. “I can’t. I think I smelled that animal and I think it startled me. That’s what caused my problem.” Her finger twitched, another wave appeared, larger than the first. “The stupid thing is I should have expected it.”
“What if he’s with these guys and I freeze up again?” She flipped her hand, indicating the direction The Order approached from.
Livie and Rea both ducked to avoid the arc
h of water that followed her gesture.
Son of a . . .
“There are more animals we have to worry about?” Rea stood up, sword in hand, searching the vicinity.
“Seals, I should have told you.” Livie grabbed Sela’s hand. “I’m positive he’ll be here. He was in the building where they held me.”
Sela paled, her blue eyes stark in her face.
“They kept an animal in the same building you were in?”
Livie firmed her shoulders. She turned towards Rea, holding tight to Sela. “Rea.” She waited until her sister looked at her. “Sela saw what happened to our mother. ”
Ice appeared in Rea’s amber eyes.
“She was beheaded by the leader of The Order.”
For a long moment Rea said nothing. Sela’s hand trembled in hers. Livie couldn’t imagine the absolute horror of watching that take place while Sela had been helpless to prevent it.
No one deserved that.
And yet she’d been willing to do that to Roc. Dear god, how could she have even thought it?
“You saw this?” Rea whispered, her voice strained.
Sela nodded. “The animal is the leader of The Order.” Rea grunted, re-sheathed her sword and settled on one of the boulders.
“What else do you know about our background?”
Livie smacked her forehead, mentally berating herself. Couldn’t they just have a few minutes to play catch up every once in a while?
“You didn’t mention Cam’s theory, did you?” She didn’t accuse Sela, she was just as guilty, but she wanted to make certain before she threw out the latest bombshell.
“Oh hell.”
Right.
“That bad?” Rea asked.
“We control the Elements.” Livie began, holding up a hand when Rea would have interrupted. “Sela can control water, I have wind. You’ll have either Earth or Fire.”
Rea froze mid-nod.
“Oh, shit.”
“Exactly.” Livie twisted her fingers. Her stomach rolled to think of it. “I don’t know why good ole mom didn’t give away all of us.”
“Uh, Liv?” She turned towards Sela.
Fur, Fangs and All (The Elementals Book 2) Page 22