Under the Wolf's Shadow

by A. Katie Rose

  My own arm crept around Raine’s waist and I leaned into his strong, masculine body. He still smelled nice, despite his obvious inability to bathe much. Whoever his lady friend was, she’d best not come near him again. Not if she valued her skin.

  Idly watching Rygel and Arianne converse with Darkhan and Ghost, I caught Tashira’s sympathetic eye as he watched me closely. He stood just beyond the four beside Shardon, as though hoping I’d finally notice him. Offering me a slow wink, he then shook his ears. In his language–a very Tarbane shrug.

  Instantly, I felt better. No doubt Tashira knew who Raine’s mystery girlfriend was. Without words he told me not to worry. He clearly said I‘d no need to worry at all.

  She’s probably just a wolf. Like Ghost. A wandering female for whom he found a fleeting fancy. If Tashira says I shouldn’t worry about her, then I wouldn’t. My jealousy faded. I must have more faith in Raine and his love for me, I told myself with an inward sigh.

  “Why so serious, boys?” I asked.

  “I was just telling Kel’Ratan why we needed to stay here a bit,” Raine answered me. “Both Tashira and I need the rest.”

  I eyed Tashira. “He certainly doesn’t look as fit as he used to.” Reaching up, I tugged on Raine’s ear. “Neither do you. You look terrible.”

  “You, however–” Raine smiled down at me, “–are beautiful.”

  “So what’s wrong?” I asked. “What happened?”

  “Raine healed me yesterday,” Tashira said. “It knocked the stuffing out of both of us.”

  “He what?”

  Rygel lunged to his feet, startling Ghost, who crouched and bared her teeth in a swift snarl. Storming toward us, Rygel’s expression looked almost as much outraged as it was astonished. His finger pointed at Tashira as he stopped inches from Raine’s mildly puzzled face. “You healed him?”

  “Someone had to,” Raine replied, his tone amused though he didn’t smile. “You weren’t available.”

  “He saved my life,” Tashira said mournfully. “Again. I was really enjoying us being even. Now we’re my one to his two.”

  “What happened?” I asked at the same time Rygel demanded, “Where’d you learn to heal?”

  Now Raine offered a small, sad smile as Tashira blew down his nose in a long-suffering sigh.

  “Who goes first?” Shardon asked.

  Since Rygel looked ready to blow if he didn’t get his answer first, I relented with a light wave. “Let Rygel find satisfaction first,” I said. “I’m patient.”

  Running his hands through his wild mane, Rygel drew in a deep breath, his amber eyes ablaze. “My apologies, Princess. It’s just that–well, he just barely learned how to use his magic and suddenly he healed Tashira. I find this not just amazing, but it’s phenomenal. Not many magicians can heal, period.”

  Raine shrugged. “I share your blood, braud.”

  When his face suddenly twitched, I knew Darius added something in his head. I don’t know how I knew; I just knew.

  Raine sighed. “And Darius says it also comes from his side of the family.”

  “God-like powers, you mean?” Kel’Ratan asked with narrowed eyes.

  “Next time,” Tashira whispered, loud in the silence and his muzzle extended toward me. “Watch his eyes. They glaze over when Darius talks to him.”

  I giggled. Raine scowled.

  Rygel wasn’t satisfied. “That still doesn’t explain how he knows how to fix what’s wrong with the body. It’s like flying: if you don’t make the wings right, it ends in disaster.”

  Raine shrugged, his fingers teasing my neck, creating within me a heat the winter around us couldn’t compete with. “Darius talked me through my first healing,” he said slowly.

  Rygel’s eyes narrowed. “Your first? Who was it?”

  “Me.”

  I thought Rygel might faint. Our heated conversation had gathered the eyes and ears of my boys, all of whom with wolves at their heels, wandered in close enough to listen. Even Arianne, standing between Darkhan and Ghost with her hands on both watched with solemn eyes. While I didn’t mind them knowing or listening, if we were to stay here the night, at the very least, we’d need camp set up.

  As Rygel choked and wheezed, trying to not to strangle, I gestured to Witraz and Alun. They stepped forward, saluting.

  “Get camp set up,” I said in a low voice. “Don’t worry, I promise you all will hear everything.”

  With grins, they obeyed. Gesturing, they gathered in the others and started the orderly set up of camp. As in every day over the past week, Witraz, Alun and Rannon unpacked the mules as Tor opened the food stores. Left and Right brought in firewood, then helped Yuri and Yuras unsaddle and care for the horses. I usually pitched in and helped with tents, with Rygel and Arianne either assisting us or Tor, while Kel’Ratan lent his hand to anyone who needed it.

  I snapped my fingers, calling Silverruff. Raine eyed me askance as Silverruff danced toward me, trying not to stare openly and rudely at Ghost. “You boys should go hunt,” I said. “Take Darkhan and Ghost with you. But remember–”

  Silverruff whined, his ears flattening.

  “I know,” I replied. “But Ghost belongs to Darkhan. No trespassing. Understand?”

  Silverruff grumbled, but obeyed me with more exuberance than irritation, informing me he wholeheartedly approved of Darkhan’s match with the white wolf. ‘Twas only natural he’d feel a bit of jealousy, however.

  Catching Raine’s eye, I smiled up at him.

  “You’ve come a long way,” he said slowly.

  I knew he didn’t mean distance. Tracing my finger down the scar on his cheek, I said, “If I may suggest, my lord?”

  His upper lip twisted in a smile. “Anything, my dearest lady.”

  “If we can keep Rygel’s curiosity on a leash for the moment, what say we put this on hold until later? Around a fire we can all hear your tale. I’m thinking it’s a grand one, and I know my boys won’t want to miss it.”

  Raine glanced over his shoulder at the warriors busy at their chores and the wolves loping off to hunt. Darkhan and Ghost trailed the pack, although Digger and Black Tongue waited with wagging tails until they caught up. The horde vanished over the hilltop.

  When Rygel opened his mouth to protest, Raine forestalled him. “She’s right, Rygel. This won’t be easy for me to talk about. All of them, and the wolves, deserve to hear it, too.”

  Rygel subsided with a deep breath. “You’re right, of course. But, please.” His amber eyes turned anxious, pleading. “You really healed yourself?”

  Raine chuckled. His arm left me as he spread both hands out from his body, Tuatha still dangling in his right fist. “If I’m lying, I’m dying.”

  I laughed. Raine grinned, dropping his heavy arm over me once again. Tuatha whined, feeling left out, until Raine brought him in close to his chest and my face. He licked my nose as I giggled and rubbed his ears.

  “That’s impossible,” Rygel muttered, shaking his head. “No one can heal his own self. No one.”

  “Didn’t you once tell me never to say what is possible or impossible to you, Rygel?” I asked, glancing up.

  He suddenly grinned. “I did indeed, Princess. Thank you for that reminder.”

  Arianne tugged at his hand. “Dammit, Rygel, we aren’t doing our share.”

  I jerked my head at Kel’Ratan. With a half-salute to either me or Raine, he walked away through the snow to lend a hand to the proceedings. Tashira and Shardon also walked away in search of edibles poking through the snow, catching up in their own way after their long separation. With only Bar and Tuatha for company, I was finally alone with Raine.

  As she hauled Rygel off to help with the camp, I couldn’t help but notice Raine staring after his sister. “She’s changed,” I murmured. “She’s grown into . . . herself.”

  Raine glanced down at me, his brow furrowed. “I know. I saw it.”

  I tightened my grip on his hand. “You saw us? In your dreams?”

  His
brow quirked and his lips slanted in a half-smile, his black hair framing his face. “I did.” His fingers flicked tendrils off my brow. “I’m guessing you did, too.”

  “I dreamed of you,” I said slowly. “Trying to cross the Caravan Route. I saw those hunters–”

  “The Farouk.”

  I stared. “You know them?”

  Raine ducked his head. “Part of my tale, I reckon. Please, go on. What else did you see?”

  Walking through the snow, my hand in his pulling him with me, I said, “The last time I saw you, I was unconscious after Rygel tried to kill me.”

  Raine sucked in his breath. Yet, it wasn’t surprise that stopped him in his tracks, forcing me to stop as well. He turned his face away, shielding his eyes from me. “I saw it.”

  “Raine?”

  “I was hundreds of leagues away, napping, as my brother and best friend savagely attacked my lady. I could do nothing but watch as all those who loved her withheld their wrath and their vengeance for not just her sake, but that of me and my mine.”

  “My dream was a true one then,” I murmured, awed. “I dreamed of you sleeping under the sun, your hands behind your head. I wept, and you spoke to me. You told me they dared not help me, the royals would get suspicious. You told me you loved me.”

  He faced me with a small smile playing around his mouth. “So I did.”

  “Raine,” I asked, feeling frightened. “What did that mean? Seeing each other in our dreams? Why then and why did they stop?”

  “I’ve no answer, Ly’Tana,” he said slowly, his eyes on the distant northern peaks. “If you put a knife to my throat and forced me to guess, I’d say a god or goddess wanted us to, er, stay in touch, so to speak. For a time, anyway. Then when you found your Li and I found–”

  He choked and started again. “Then later, when he, she or it decided we mustn’t know any more, the dreams cut off short.”

  “Could Darius have sent the dreams?”

  He shook his head. “He doesn’t have the power. Not until I free him.”

  “Any number of divine provinces might have taken a hand,” Bar said. “You are rather popular with them.”

  I grimaced. “I’m certainly not going to ask each and every one.”

  At Raine’s startled expression, I waggled my fingers toward Bar. “You have Darius in your head, I have that idiot.”

  “Excuse me?”

  Raine grinned, nodding a greeting toward Bar. “How’d that happen?”

  “Rygel’s magic created a mental bond between us,” I said, walking toward the growing camp and taking him with me. “Now I can hear everything he says and I regret I ever suggested the bloody notion.”

  “Bite me,” Bar commented agreeably. “You know you love me.”

  “So what was it he said that you are not going to do?”

  I stopped walking, suddenly uncertain. While Raine had every right to know about my strangely elevated status, telling him what that status was seemed so, well . . . crazy. While I’d no doubt he’d believe me, a niggling fear that this knowledge of what I meant to the gods might give him cause to reject me. After all, who’d want the Beloved of all the Gods as a wife? His own descent from the divine was freaky enough.

  Raine waited for my answer patiently, his eerie eyes warm, kind and thoughtful, his hand in mine strong. I floundered, unable to look him in the face. I should’ve begged them to take this from me, I thought, near panic. I don’t want to lose Raine because of it. He’ll think me too high, too unapproachable, too–

  “Give him a chance, nimrod,” Bar snapped. “He’s not a fool.”

  Frightened, I pulled the pale gold talisman from under my furs, and held it up to the sunlight by its chain. Raine glanced from my eyes to the gem and back, his smile now puzzled. “It’s beautiful,” he said. “A gift from Li?”

  I shook my head. “A gift, yes, but not from Li.”

  Stepping closer, Raine cupped my chin in his firm hand, tilting my head to meet his grey eyes. “Don’t be afraid to tell me, my love,” he murmured, his nose an inch from mine. “There’s nothing you can tell that will ever turn me from you.”

  Dammit, where’d he get such insight? I gulped and nodded, dropping the gem to my breast. It lay, creating its own warmth, against my fur jacket. “The gods gave it to me. Through a Huhtamaki monk named Brother Lavi.”

  Raine raised his finger and touched it gently. “What does it do?”

  “It’s a direct line of communication from me to them,” I answered, shaking in my boots. “I’m–I’m–”

  “Spit it out,” Bar snapped.

  “Beloved of the Gods,” I gasped.

  I cringed, waiting for the denial, the assertion that if I was loved by so many how could I be loved by him? I shut my eyes when I blurted the truth. Raine’s silence forced me to open them a slit. I opened them fully when all I found was his broad smile. That damnable loving, understanding, white-toothed grin that instantly melted my heart. It dripped under my heavy winter clothing, slid under my trousers and puddled in my boots. Somehow, he already knew, and that knowledge made him . . . happy?

  His hand cupped my chin again. “So that’s what that bastard meant,” he said, his voice low, his grin widening.

  I didn’t trust my own voice, for I knew it would squeak. It didn’t disappoint me. “What bastard?”

  “Darius.” Raine chuckled. “He told me you had friends in high places.”

  “Um,” I began, taking his hand, the one that held my chin and not Tuatha. “So it, doesn’t, er, bother you?”

  Raine quirked his brows as his expression faltered. “Should it?”

  “Of course,” I snapped. “Any god anywhere will answer my prayers. I find that a bit, er, frightening. Don’t you?”

  “Of course not.”

  I gaped. “You still love me?”

  Laughing, Raine gathered me into his huge arms, cheek to cheek with Tuatha. The pup’s pink tongue warmed my nose. “I will always love you, beautiful princess, Beloved of the Gods. You’re my beloved, also. That, I think, takes precedence. Don’t you?”

  My tears wet his leather-clad chest. “I was so afraid you’d reject me,” I muttered, my chin digging in as I looked up.

  His laugh grew. “Once I free Darius, I hope I’m alive to see him at your beck and call.”

  Darius must have commented on that, for Raine’s eyes glazed over for an instant. Damn, Tashira was right. His eyes did glaze over when Darius talked.

  “What did he say?” I inquired curiously.

  “He’ll forever be your servant,” Raine answered, his smile breaking. “Did you discover who’s trying to kill you?”

  I nodded, pulling away from him to begin walking again. “Usa’a’mah.”

  “Ah,” Raine breathed. “You killed Theodoric.”

  “Yes,” I snapped. “I did what he already planned to do, and he’s irritated that I did and he didn’t.”

  Raine’s huge arm slid over my shoulder, tucking me securely beneath it. “Usa’a’mah isn’t known for his sense of justice, only his temper. He’s like a spoiled child who throws a tantrum when he isn’t given his way.”

  “Talk like that will get you in trouble, too.”

  Raine shrugged, lifting me up onto my toes for a second. “There’s not much he can do to me. I’m the descendant of a god, myself.”

  “He’ll keep trying,” I said. “I’ve been fortunate six times now. I might not be so lucky the seventh.”

  Raine quirked his brown, staring down. “Six? I know of only three.”

  I counted off my fingers. “The Wrath of Usa’a’mah. The earthquake. The lightning storm. Rygel. Illan. The avalanche.”

  “Illan? Avalanche?

  Telling him wasn’t easy. Walking out from under his arm, I studied the beehive activity surrounding the fire-building and tent-raising. “Li’s brother Illan challenged me under a false insult. Hand to hand combat, no weapons save our fists.”

  “You killed him?”

  I
shook my head. “I beat him, yes, then spared his life. But there’s no doubt Usa’a’mah put the notion in his head.”

  “And the avalanche?”

  “A blizzard hit,” I said, slowly, watching the camp grow. “We rode through a narrow canyon, a bad one, blinded by the snow. A mule panicked–we couldn’t lose him or the supplies, so I ran back.”

  “Go on.”

  I half-shrugged, not looking at him. “A lion had set the mule off.”

  “A lion.”

  I glanced up at him, smiling briefly. “Right. A starved lion in the middle of a deadly storm in a dangerous canyon. Something only an angry god could devise.”

  “That boy is determined,” Raine said, his arms crossed.

  “Wait, it gets better. I killed the damn thing when it jumped me, but that’s when Usa’a’mah set off the avalanche. Oh, Rygel said the mule’s braying vibrated the ice sheet high above, but we know better. Usa’a’mah caused it. Both of us, the lion and me, we got caught up in it. The lion’s corpse kept me alive long enough until they dug me out.”

  Raine cocked his head slightly, his weird eyes as cold as the ice we stood in. “What aren’t you telling me?”

  I curled my lip. “I almost forgot how perceptive you are. I died, Raine. According to Kel’Ratan’s count, I was dead for at least three minutes.”

  “I see.”

  “Had Bar not yammered at me, keeping me awake–“

  “I don’t yammer.”

  “–I’d not be here now. I yelled for Silverruff to search out the scent of blood, but Kip found it, me. They were almost too late. I hallucinated as I slipped into death.”

  I put my hands on my hips. “You were dead. You told me I was dead, too and that you would see me soon. I tried to go into the light. I knew you were in the light.”

  “What stopped you?”

  I shrugged. “Rygel. And the voices, of course.”

  Raine half-smiled, his fingers stroking down my cheek. “That needs a bit of explaining, love.”

  “Rather hard when I don’t understand it myself,” I replied. I swallowed hard, trying to remember exactly what they said. “I recall only bits and pieces, except for one phrase.”