“It worked,” Hensen said in a reassuring tone. “Your scent is definitely lupine, and you are stronger even if you don’t realize it yet.” He seemed to search through his own memories for a moment before adding, “I can’t explain the delay in your skin changing, but I’m not complaining about the timing. Take the path that leads right. There’s a group of human homes about a half mile down the mountain. This time of year they’re liable to be mostly empty, but with a bit of luck they’ll have enough human visitors to keep other werewolves away.”
Gavin held Maggie’s hand as he followed Hensen’s instructions. They’d been walking for several hours now, their route taking them closer and closer to humans but not really in the direction of Shy River. Gavin knew it was necessary to keep moving, but he’d be grateful for a chance to give Maggie a rest. It seemed obvious that she hadn’t fully recovered from the blood loss. He and Hensen, and probably Kade as well, hated the necessity of this hike.
But Gavin could also sense the fear catching up with her. She’d managed to remain calm when they’d needed it the most. Hell, she’d even insisted that they delay for a few minutes while Hensen claimed Kade properly, but now that they seemed to be clear of immediate danger, reaction was setting in.
He’d seen it often enough on rescue missions. Their target would stay calm, follow instructions, and trust the SEAL team unquestioningly until they got to safety where they crumbled into an emotional heap. Supporting them after rescue had never been his job before. They’d handed the rescued citizens over to people more qualified and gone on to the next mission.
But this time it was Maggie. A woman he’d grown to love in only two days. He felt Hensen’s telepathic nudge as he followed the thought even further. The truth was he felt the same love and affection for Kade and Hensen, too. He knew what he and Kade had between them. It was the relationship developing with Hensen that scared him.
Maggie and Kade were the partners he’d dreamed of having since noticing his bisexual needs, but Hensen was something more. He was a connection that challenged everything Gavin thought he knew about himself. He just wasn’t sure if he wanted to know anymore.
* * * *
Kade couldn’t quite hear the conversation between Hensen and Gavin but he understood enough of it to know that they weren’t only discussing their route home. Occasionally he caught a glimpse of Hensen’s uncertainty and it made him love the man even more. True greatness wasn’t the absence of fear or self-doubt. It was the way a man handled both and still managed to get the job done that counted.
He knew that Gavin shared the same ideals, and it truly gave him hope. Even if they couldn’t stop whatever decisions others were making in regards to Maggie, he knew that the four of them were together in this. They’d do their best to find a solution, and disappear into the wilderness if they had to. And if all that failed, all of her mates would defend Maggie with their lives. He smiled as she reached for his hand, apparently sensing his emotions as clearly as he could read hers.
He smelled the humans long before they came across them.
“Oh wow,” a twentysomething male said as they met him and his companions in the middle of the walking track, “you must be totally dedicated to be hiking this early.”
“Not really,” Gavin said with a casual laugh. “It was a damn cold night. We decided to pack up camp and head for warm beds rather than freeze our balls off one more minute.”
The group of men laughed with Gavin, not seeming all that curious about his companions. Apparently even humans recognized an alpha male when they met one.
Gavin and the group swapped a little bit of information—mainly small talk about the conditions of the walking tracks after the recent rains—and then the young human men started to move away. The apparent leader of this little group turned back just before they stepped around a corner that would take them out of sight. “We’re renting number three. Drop over for drink later.”
“Thanks,” Gavin said with a friendly wave. “We’ll see you then.”
Kade must have had a strange look on his face because Gavin winked and whispered “human male bonding ritual.”
He laughed softly. “I’m not that old. I do remember what it was like.”
“Somehow I doubt it’s anything like you remember,” he said, sounding more relaxed than he had the whole trip here. “Cell phones, video games, and social media have reduced conversation to a few sentences in between interruptions.”
“That doesn’t sound like much fun.”
Gavin shrugged. “I’ve never really understood the appeal either.”
“It’s actually pretty lonely,” Maggie said softly. “When my mom was really sick, social media was my only contact outside of medical people. It was kind of depressing watching my ‘friends’ chat about normal stuff and trying to outbrag each other while my mom was dying.”
Kade used the grip on her hand to pull Maggie into his embrace. It hurt to think of her all alone as she was going through something so awful.
“I’m really glad this all happened now and not a few years ago. I would have gone insane if I’d had to deal with all of this when my mom still needed me.”
“How long was she sick?”
“Eight years,” Maggie said with a sad smile. “She didn’t say anything when I went off to college, but my first visit home I realized something was very wrong.” She shook her head as tears filled her eyes. “She fought to survive the whole time. I doubt I could be that strong.”
“Sweetheart,” Kade held her fiercely, stopping in the middle of the walking track so that Gavin could wrap them both in his embrace, “you already are.”
Chapter Eight
Hensen didn’t want to leave them alone, but he couldn’t really see any other way. They’d ditched their technology on the off chance that someone with more tech experience than Brigden Hawkes got involved in the situation. It was unlikely, but it wasn’t worth betting their lives on.
But that left him with no way to contact Shy River pack in the hopes of getting assistance. He had no doubt that Gideon would help him. They’d been best friends for decades, but he didn’t want to put the man in a situation where he had to choose between friendship and his pack. These days Gideon had his own mates to think about.
Gavin wouldn’t be very impressed either if they somehow dragged his sister into this danger as well.
“Are we passing through the streets?” Gavin asked telepathically as he reached another fork in the walking track. One leading them directly to the cluster of houses Hensen had mentioned earlier.
“It’s probably best to avoid people if we can, but I’d love a chance to find a place for Maggie to rest.”
“Same here,” Gavin said. “But I’d like to know what we’ll be dealing with before we get there.”
“Okay, take the path that leads to the houses. I’ll catch up.”
Hensen moved onto the path and ran toward his mates. He was close enough to hear Maggie’s reaction to the smell.
“What the hell is that?” she asked, wrinkling her nose and shuddering at the repulsive stench.
“That would be humans,” Kade said with a soft laugh. “I think we may have found the home where our friendly drinking buddies are staying.”
“Seriously?” Maggie asked quietly. “What are they using the backyard as a toilet?”
“That would be my guess,” Kade said as Hensen caught up with them.
“You should smell it in this form,” Hensen added as he moved past them and checked the area for other scents. “If nothing else it should mask our scents quite thoroughly.”
“Hell, I wouldn’t look for me here,” Maggie said telepathically as she lifted her shirt up to cover her nose. Hensen doubted it did any good with her heightened werewolf senses but he understood the inclination.
“Gavin, are you still not purple?” With his wolf vision it was hard to discern the glow typical to his pack. Gavin nodded. “You up for a sneak and peek?”
“Of course,�
� his mate answered with a wide grin. “Am I looking for anything in particular?”
“Somewhere safe for the three of you to hide while I check on what’s happening at Shy River.”
“You don’t want me to find a phone?”
It was a reasonable question but unfortunately would leave a trail humans could trace. The cell phones and landlines used by shifters were piggy-backed onto the main cellphone providers. The pack paid for their usage, but Brigden had designed it so that it hid the cell numbers and records from the computer systems. If Hensen called a pack number from a human phone he risked exposing the whole system to the telephone companies and, with humans concerned about terrorism these days, likely the government as well. As dire as things were, he wasn’t willing to risk the lives of every shifter on this mountain. They’d find a way to keep Maggie alive without jeopardizing everyone else’s safety.
Gavin apparently gleaned all of that from Hensen’s thoughts because he nodded in agreement and then headed further down the pathway. He disappeared from sight a few moments later.
* * * *
Less than an hour later, hidden from humans and shifters alike, Maggie followed Hensen’s progress until he moved out of telepathic range, and then turned her worried eyes to Kade. He smiled and touched her face.
“I can still sense him,” he said quietly. “The mating link seems to be stronger than the awareness you and Gavin share with him. We’ll fix that as soon as we can.”
Maggie nodded. She understood enough from Hensen’s memories about how it all worked but it didn’t make it any easier to have him so far away. She had a feeling that the recommendation to euthanize anything the strange wolf-creature had bitten would likely have been extended to include anything that had bitten her as well.
It was ludicrous to think that she could somehow protect him, but it’s what her heart wanted.
“Why don’t you two try and get some sleep,” Gavin suggested. He’d found an unlocked pool house at the back of one of the properties so they’d taken up temporary residence while they waited for Hensen to return. None of them were particularly thrilled to be using the space without the owner’s permission, but at least they hadn’t had to break any locks to get in. Just like the backyard nearby, the pool house had the overpowering stench of human urine, so they were unlikely to be found here by other werewolves.
It might be the difference between life and death, but the smell was damned unpleasant.
“I’m not sure I could sleep,” Maggie admitted. “I’m too wired.”
“Same here,” Kade admitted. “Why don’t you rest for a while instead? Maggie and I will wake you if we hear the slightest noise.”
“Thanks, but no,” Gavin said with a shake of his head. “With the new werewolf senses I’m kind of ‘wired’ myself. This type of energy would have been handy a few years ago in the SEAL teams.” He laughed softly. “It’s kind of ironic that by the time a man has enough experience to be very handy in a fight that his body is already starting to let him down.”
“Is that why they discharged you? Your body was starting to fail?”
Gavin shrugged. “I broke several bones in both my feet on a training mission. By the time they were healed it was obvious that I wasn’t going to be able to keep up with guys nearly half my age.”
“Half?” Kade asked skeptically. “You’re not that old.”
“Maybe not,” Gavin said with a wry grin, “but in my last few days in the Navy I sure felt it. When they offered me the medical discharge it was kind of a relief.”
“So what were your plans?” Maggie asked. “Find your sister and then what?”
“To be honest I hadn’t really thought past finding my siblings. Both of my brothers are still part of the SEAL teams, but with us all on different assignments, it’s been a lot of years since we crossed paths. I decided to find Suzanne first since I thought I knew where she was. She was supposed to be the easy one to catch up with.” He laughed softly. “What about you, sugar? What were your plans before life got sidetracked by a wolf bite?”
“I don’t think I really had any plans,” she said as she tried to remember something that seemed so long ago. Hell, had it truly only been three days? “I’ve got a lot of medical bills to pay off before I can even think of going back to college.” She laughed self-consciously as she glanced at the purple glow of her skin. “I guess that’s not going to happen.” She took a deep breath and moved closer to Kade, curling into his embrace as she remembered back to that night eleven years ago. “This hiking trip was supposed to be a way to clear my head, but once I got here I realized I was trying to go back to a time when anything had seemed possible. I’d just fallen halfway down a mountain and somehow survived. A supposedly wild animal had kept me toasty warm instead of eating me or letting me freeze to death.” She lifted up to press a kiss to her savior’s lips. “And my mom wasn’t sick. I came back here because I wanted to grasp that feeling again.” She could feel herself blushing. Out loud it made even less sense than it did in her head. She shrugged and finished her story quickly. “I truly have no idea what my plans were for after that. What about you, Kade?” she asked. “Did you leave anyone behind when you became a wolf?”
He nodded but blushed as deep a crimson as Maggie was certain she wore. “My sister was about twelve years older than me. I called her from a payphone a few times.” He glanced at Gavin and gave him a sheepish sort of smile. “I…um…told her I’d joined the Navy, so she would have a reason for me not visiting.” Gavin just grinned at their lover’s admission, apparently not upset that Kade had lied for his sister’s benefit. “She died from heart disease in her fifties, but as far as I know, she had a happy life.”
“I suppose I’m lucky in that way. At least I know what happened to Suzanne. With a bit more luck I might even get to see her again.” Gavin looked down at his hands that still didn’t show the purple hue. “Did Suzanne develop the purple hue everyone else got?”
“She sure did,” Kade said, getting more comfortable as he pulled Maggie closer. Hell, maybe she wasn’t as wired as she’d first thought. She was definitely getting sleepy. But it somehow seemed wrong to fall asleep. These men were willing to give their lives to protect her. The least she could do would be to not snore through it.
“Go to sleep, Maggie,” Gavin said, apparently reading her emotions correctly. “You’re still recovering from blood loss. If you don’t rest while you have the chance, you’ll slow us down when we need you to be wide awake.”
She nodded, settled against Kade, and closed her eyes. It was about the only reason that would make her change her mind, and she got the distinct impression that her mates knew it, too.
* * * *
Hensen made certain to come into Shy River pack lands as close to the back of Gideon’s home as possible. If the pack was watching for Maggie, the last thing Hensen wanted to do was telegraph his arrival. He moved back and forth several times, checking for scents that didn’t belong to the occupants of the house.
He grinned a wolfy version of a smile when he realized Gideon was sitting on his back porch very much aware of his presence. Thankfully he seemed to be alone.
“About time you got here,” Gideon said as Hensen climbed onto the veranda in human form.
“I guess that means you know what’s going on.”
“We do,” Gideon said with a nod at his mates who stood just inside the doorway of the house. “So does the alpha, but for the moment that’s as far as we’ve let the information spread.” He grimaced and ran a hand through his hair. “It’s only a matter of time though.”
“We figured as much. Is there anything we can do? Some tests we can run? Maggie isn’t showing any unusual symptoms or behavior. She seems to be just like every other newly made werewolf.”
“Brigden has called in a few favors, but we’re not so certain it’s a good idea for the four of you to come here.”
Hensen’s hopes fell at his friend’s quiet words. He knew as beta of the pack,
Gideon had to put the welfare of the pack first.
“That’s why we’re coming with you,” Suzanne said as she stepped onto the porch and offered Hensen a tall glass of water. He downed the contents gratefully, a little surprised that he’d let himself dehydrate so badly without noticing. “Is Gavin okay?”
Hensen winced as he realized there were a few details Gideon and his mates didn’t know. “Gavin is fine, but something unusual happened when I changed him.”
“Gavin let you make him a werewolf?” Suzanne asked sounding shocked. She laughed softly. “I guess Maggie really is the ‘one.’ But Gavin always was the stubborn type. Will you two be okay with sharing?”
Hensen glanced at his best friend, the understanding in his eyes giving him a measure of peace. If anyone could fathom the complicated nature of the true-mates link it would be Gideon. “Gavin is my mate as well.”
Suzanne seemed lost for words—a first since Hensen had met her. Fortunately, Gideon steered the conversation back to the matter at hand. “What was unusual with his change?”
“He doesn’t have the purple hue.” Gideon looked as surprised as Hensen had been. “It might just be some sort of delayed reaction, but he still looked human when I left him a little over three hours ago.”
Brigden nodded and stepped back into the house. He returned a few moments later with what seemed to be an old fashioned medical bag.
“Blood, hair, skin, and urine samples should be enough for Maggie,” he said as he handed the leather bag to Suzanne. “I’ll call Ryan before you’re out of range and see if he needs”—he glanced at the purple hue of his own skin—“anything else.”
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