“Well, see, we decided to go in fangs out. We’re scarier on four legs than two,” she said conversationally. “It turns out the Rebecs raised chickens. Some guy saw me coming and flung open the pen.” She licked her lips. “I might have chased the hens down and eaten them instead of providing backup.” She offered me a shrug. “Cord said he had it covered, and how often do you find all-you-can-eat chicken buffets?”
“Raw chicken?” Now it was my turn to wrinkle my nose. “Never, I hope.”
Her brows waggled at me. “Don’t knock it ’til you try it.”
A chorus line of salmonella danced through my head. “I’ll pen that onto my to-do list.”
She sank her elbow into my side and dug it in to the bone. “Come on. Spill. You’ve got to have some kind of super-cool talent for Cord to be so nutso about you.” She bent and snagged another rock. “You should have seen him at the Rebec place. He was all but salivating over you. I figured you must be dead.” She winced. “Not that we go around killing and eating people—it’s bad press—but accidents happen. Meat is meat. I just mean he doesn’t much care for non-wargs, but he went ballistic when that Fury came to. I thought he was going to rip her—” As though sensing my unease—maybe she smelled it?—Dell dropped that line of thought. “So…anyway…you were about to tell me all about you.”
“I’m a Gemini.”
“Like the constellation, right?” She drew squiggles in the air to represent the stars. “What makes a Gemini a Gemini?”
I stopped walking and stuck out my hand. “Want to find out?”
“I asked, didn’t I?” She clasped palms with me without hesitation. “Now what?”
The spur in my fingertip slid from its sheath, the nail falling to the ground, and I pricked the back of her hand, between the knuckles. The wild tang of her blood flooded my veins, and a buzzing noise poured into my head. I barely heard her exclamation as a thick, golden pelt sprouted from my black-clawed fingertips up to my elbow, the spur receding as a claw took the place of that missing fingernail.
“Whoa.” Dell poked her button nose under my jaw. “You even smell like a warg. Kind of like me. Like a sister or cousin or something. Is that it? Can you do more? Can you shift into a wolf? Can you shift into my wolf?” The implications caught up to her. “Wait—does this mean you can copy anything?”
I held up a hand to halt the avalanche of questions. “Yes, I can do more. No, I can’t fully shift. And yes, I can copy any supernatural talent.” I rubbed my ear with the unclawed hand. “What is that sound?”
Dell took my paw in her hand, flipping it over and stroking the tawny fur, which soothed me the way a good foot massage might. “You’ll have to be more specific.”
“Voices.” I focused on the noise. “But not voices. There are so words. There’s just…presence.”
When I closed my eyes to focus, a ribbon of shimmering pavement stretched in my mind’s eye from here past the horizon. Warmth spread through my chest, filling jagged cracks left from Lori’s loss. The void still yawned in her absence, but the flaming light penetrated the absolute darkness that had shrouded me for so long. For a second or two I felt…at peace.
The wonder in Dell’s eyes distracted her as the pelt fell out in clumps. “It’s the pack bond.” She touched my cheek. “I didn’t notice before—I was distracted—but I can feel you.” A grin blossomed. “That’s amazing.”
As though her touch amplified the connection, I rested my face in her hand, absorbing the sensation of belonging. The burn in my fingertips as my fingernails regrew made me grimace. The comfort I had so briefly tasted scattered, and I was alone in my head again. A spike of grief swelled in my chest as I mentally grasped at what I could no longer perceive. The psychic feedback slammed into the walls of my skull and throbbed.
Amazing was one word for it. To think wargs experienced that every moment of their lives filled my mouth with a bitter taste. Another time I might have called it jealousy.
I withdrew from Dell and turned my back on her while I pulled myself together. She kept pace beside me, seeming to understand I needed a moment alone. The rest of our walk passed in silence except for the chittering songs of cicada, though I caught her staring at me out of the corner of her eye more than once. When the buzz of mosquitoes became too loud to ignore and my face and neck grew lumpy and itchy, I accepted defeat and returned to the bait shack.
Graeson met us on the steps, a shoulder braced against one of the weathered two-by-fours supporting the bowed roof. If the red dots covering his arms were any indication, he had been waiting on our return for a while. “Enjoy your walk?”
My gaze slid past him to my home away from home for the next however long my kidnapping lasted. “Yes.” I smiled thinly. “The dirt road is one of the more scenic ones I’ve walked, and I’ve never seen bird-sized mosquitos before.”
A cool breeze off the water twirled loose hairs into my eyes. Graeson shot down the steps before I could pat them back into place. His hands cinched my upper arms, and he lifted my feet almost off the ground. His nose traced the length of my jaw, his breaths warm on my neck, his lips soft against my skin. Chills raced along the same path. I didn’t move. I barely breathed.
Having a carnivore pay that kind of close attention to me was enough to turn my knees to water. Good thing he was holding me upright.
“What are you doing?” That breathy voice was not mine.
“You smell female.” His words rumbled at my ear.
“I am female.” I planted my hands on his abs, which was as high as I could reach with my arms locked at my sides, and pushed him back. Or tried to. I had no leverage, and he didn’t budge an inch. “Thanks for noticing.”
“A warg female.” He examined every inch of my exposed skin as though he expected to glimpse the fur I had shed earlier. “It was you.” His grip eased. “I came outside because I sensed… But that’s not possible.”
“She partially shifted.” Dell presented her hand for his inspection, though the wound I had inflicted on her had long since healed. “It was very cool. Too bad we don’t have anything more interesting for her to shift into. We see wargs all the time. We ought to—”
Graeson tore his gaze from me. “Ellis is not a toy for you to play with.”
Dell cringed at his tone, and her chin bumped her chest.
“Don’t snap at her.” I kicked his shin. “Dell didn’t do anything wrong.”
Those fierce golden eyes settled on me, and I fought the impulse to run when he set me back on my feet. Graeson still gripped my arms, and his thumbs stroked my skin absently. “There are dynamics within a pack you don’t understand.”
Dynamics sounded like code for belittling females. In which case, I understood plenty.
“I’m ready for that trip into town.” I glared at his hands and gave a wiggle. “That means you have to let go of me.”
He released me with a shake of his head, and I left him staring at his hands as though blaming them for the red marks on my arms. “We have to wait a few more hours. Knox took the SUV on a supply run.”
“What about the vans?” There were two of them parked behind the house. I saw them when we first arrived, but I hadn’t spotted them again since.
“The vans are Chandler pack property, and the tags are registered with the conclave and several other fae organizations that get nervous around native supernats.” The gravel in his words told me exactly what he thought about that. “I don’t want our presence advertised around town.”
“Yes,” I agreed, “it would be a shame if the conclave mounted a rescue mission, wouldn’t it?”
“You’re hardly a prisoner,” he said with a sour twist of his lips, as if he didn’t quite believe what he was saying. That made two of us.
“You captured me and brought me along for the ride.” I shifted my stance. “The only thing holding me here is the possibility we might end this before another child is taken.”
Graeson looked like he wanted to argue, but he wisely kept
his mouth shut.
“I’m heading inside to see if I can find something to stop the itching.” I scratched my arms lightly with my nails. “Come get me when you’re ready to leave.”
“Ellis.”
I faced him, eyebrow arched, and waited.
“I wish that you and I…” He clamped his mouth shut, spun on his heel and strode into the cover of darkness without another word.
Despite my best efforts, I hung on his words. What sort of wishes did he harbor for us? Regret, I was learning, wasn’t a strong enough emotion to deter him from accomplishing his goals. He would use me, and he might regret it later. No. He would regret it, but he had me where he wanted me, and he wasn’t about to let a small thing like a wish he couldn’t verbalize stand in his way.
Dell followed me inside but a male caught her eye, and she crossed to him with halting steps. I waited to see what it was about, but she waved me on with a bright smile that didn’t warm her eyes, and I went because Graeson was right. There were dynamics here I didn’t understand, and the last thing I wanted was to get Dell hurt by sticking my nose where it didn’t belong.
Once in my room, I flopped onto the cot, thoughts circling back to Dell and my partial shift. I relived that sparkling moment of connectivity. The pack bond had glittered in my mind like a serpentine trail winding toward… I wasn’t sure. Contentment? Serenity? Happiness? What might have happened to me if I’d followed the path? Would I have been embraced by it? Absorbed into the collective? What shimmering promise awaited all who found their feet planted on that diamond-dust road?
All the what might have beens were as bittersweet as the memory of Graeson’s feverish caress. He shouldn’t have handled me that way. Not when he barely knew me. Not when I wasn’t pack. He was confused by that brief mental trespass across the pack collective. That was all.
I lifted my hand and turned it back and forth. The thought of shifting into a wolf who could outrun my problems was all too tempting. How lucky Graeson was to have a beast to share his burden.
The shack’s previous owner had skimped on the insulation, which meant I had no problem picking out the rhythmic crunching of gravel invading my thoughts. It sounded like more than two pairs of boots. A set of wargs? Sentries maybe? I shoved to my feet and yanked the soiled tablecloth-turned-curtain away from the cramped window.
A white horse ambled across the parking lot. Preternatural energy flowed around it, buffeting its mane and tail in an unearthly breeze. It stamped its front leg and tossed its head, beckoning me with its liquid eyes, black and gleaming. Taunting me. My fingers pressed into the cool glass. I hadn’t realized my arm lifted until my index finger traced the curve of its spine through dust caking the glass. That spike of cold shocked me aware, and I jerked my hand back.
A final snort and the apparition made a wide turn. Its movements were awkward, like its hooves were sucked into wet sand with every step. Its tail flicked and ears swiveled as its entire body shuddered. Mosquitoes. Horseflies. Something made its hide twitch.
A flash of blue. Short cotton nightgown. Tumble of wild chestnut hair. A small hand stuck to the kelpie’s flank.
It looked like we wouldn’t need Lori after all.
“Graeson.” I slapped the glass with my open palm. “Graeson.”
I hit the stairs at a run and almost tumbled the last four steps. I barreled past Dell, who straddled the male warg’s lap while he growled into her ear, and called louder for Graeson. Drawn by the commotion, the other wargs piled into the narrow hall. I waded through their bodies, avoiding their grasping hands and their questions.
The break room doors slapped the walls as Graeson shoved through them. Gold sparked in his gaze, and his lip quivered as he clamped his hands on my shoulders. “What happened? Did someone...?”
“No.” I sank my nails into his biceps. “It’s here,” I said loud enough for all to hear. “The kelpie is in the parking lot.”
“Where are Revelin and Torin?” he snapped.
“Running the perimeter last I saw,” Dell said, straightening her clothes and her spine. “I’ll find them.”
“You do that. Bring their asses to me. Secure the area,” he barked at the others. “Don’t let it escape.”
Fear curled in my gut. “It’s taken a new girl.”
Bones popped in his hands where they touched me. “Was she alive?”
“Yes.” Though she wouldn’t be for long unless we caught up to them. “She was walking under her own power.” I pushed against him, propelling us both out the door. “Be careful if you catch up to them. Like the McKenna girl, her hand is stuck to its hide.”
“Stay put.” He bolted onto the porch. “Dell will keep an eye on you.”
A silent figure slipped to my side. She still wouldn’t look him in the eye.
Graeson melted into the night, and wolves in various stages of change followed him. Soon Dell and I were the only ones left, and I was itching to join the others. Was this the end? Would this girl’s death close the circle if we failed to save her? What happened then? I couldn’t stand here twiddling my thumbs and wait for Graeson to bring me back an answer.
My stock had plummeted with the kelpie’s arrival. Lori was no longer required. I should have felt relieved to be off the hook, but guilt sat heavy in my gut that I might have spared this girl had we moved faster. “How does he expect me to play bait if he won’t let me out of his sight?”
I didn’t expect an answer—I was venting—so I was surprised when she offered one.
“He’s relieved,” she said, soft enough to evade sensitive warg ears. “He didn’t want to send you out there. This means he won’t have to.”
Dell was wrong. Her trust in Graeson blinded her to the brutal core of him. I had no such illusions.
“Just so you know,” I informed her as I took the steps, “I’m not waiting here.”
Graeson ought to know better. You’d think a dominate warg would understand how being told to sit and stay would chafe.
“Cord said—”
“This is my job. This is what I do.” The wood steps groaned under my weight. “Are you coming or staying?”
“But Cord—”
“I’m not a warg. He’s just a man in need of a mood stabilizer and a bottle of Nair as far as I’m concerned.”
“I…” She bit her lip. “I just— I don’t think...”
“I can’t wait.” My voice came out raw. “That girl needs me. She needs all the help she can get.”
Alone, I marched into the night. I had run once. I wouldn’t run again. I wouldn’t be content to sit and wait while others did the heavy lifting. I was here. The kelpie had taunted me. I was not going to cower and cost that girl another set of eyes in the search. I would not be standing on this porch, too far away to do any good, when she snapped from her fugue and cried for help.
“I’ll get in more trouble if I let you wander alone than for letting you stray in the first place.” Dell caught up to me without breaking a sweat. “I’ve got your back.” She puffed up her already impressive chest. “While you’re with us, you’re pack.” She synced her strides with mine. “Pack means no one stands alone.”
Walking next to her, knowing she meant what she said, I had never felt lonelier.
Chapter 13
Hours later the mud caking my shoes made each squelching step burn in my thighs and calves. The aroma of dead fish washed ashore to rot polluted the muggy air. I trudged on, but the night stretched for eternity out here, and I lost all sense of direction. I felt the absence of my cell phone keenly. The GPS app would have helped. So would the ability to call for backup once the kelpie made its presence known.
Calling Vause was reflex. I would have done it without thought. Cut off from that access, I had time to think about the fact the witches had been right. One scale had given them Charybdis’s location. How many scales must the conclave have in evidence by now? How much other organic detritus that could power a divination or locator spell? So why hadn’t they foun
d him? Stopped him? Why was he allowed to continue on unchecked? Why bother with the ruse of a cleanup crew at all if they had no intentions of capturing him?
The circle must be the key. If Charybdis was being allowed to hunt, then it meant one thing. The conclave wanted that circle set, but why? As a magistrate, Vause was in this plot up to her neck, she had to be. That meant I couldn’t trust her with the kelpie’s whereabouts. Not until I understood the stakes of the game we all played. For now Graeson and I would see this through, together, and we would decide how to handle the beast once we captured it.
Fae were an invasive species as far as most wargs were concerned. Even without the urge to avenge his sister riding him, Graeson didn’t strike me as the kind of man who would risk turning the kelpie over to the conclave for punishment. He was mistrustful of them and would take matters into his own claws if I didn’t stop him first. The problem being I was having trust issues myself.
A honey-colored wolf ranged in wide circles, stopping now and then to move in for a scratch between the ears before darting off in pursuit of rodents. I had left exploration of the lake to the pack and headed inland on the off chance the kelpie had decided to flee the area after its brazen display. What had been the point of revealing itself? What was it trying to tell us? Show us? Or was I being paranoid, and it simply happened to cross our path?
Yeah. Right.
I lumbered over soggy ground and prayed the snakes kept to themselves. There were water moccasins in the area. The wargs had killed one near the porch. It was a petty concern in the grand scheme of things, but fearing the burn of venom from their bite helped distract from the sound of lapping waves and the fact mud slurped at my boots because I was in spitting distance of a massive body of water.
The ocean roared. Sand caked my feet. Lori screamed.
I crammed the past down before it choked me, and carried on.
As the pink fingers of dawn striated the sky, I came across a well-worn trail and thanked my lucky stars. It was packed higher than the surrounding area and sloped to drain. I stepped onto the path and followed it out of sight of the water until I reached a campground. Already I breathed easier. I gestured for Dell to hang back while I investigated.
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