Huntsmen (The Better to Kiss You With Book 2)

by Michelle Osgood

  As Ryn closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath—she always had needed a minute to center herself first—Kiara let the shift slide over her. Not the explosion of fur and fang of earlier that day, but a gentle, almost liquid transformation. Fur crawled over smooth skin, her face elongated, her ears moved from the sides to the top of her skull, and, when she dropped to all fours, padded feet and claws hit the concrete instead of hands.

  Kiara shook herself, taking the time she hadn’t been afforded in the parking garage to revel in the new shape. Her nostrils flared as she took in the scent of the city; her ears twitched with the onslaught of noise. Her limbs felt long and powerful and her muscles flexed in anticipation.

  Ryn dropped to all fours; light-colored fur rippled as she shook herself.

  It had been years since Kiara had been a wolf with anyone other than her own pack. She’d never had the experience with anyone but Ryn. Her body remembered what it was like, and her tail gave an eager wag as Kiara bumped her shoulder into Ryn’s.

  They’d done this in Edmonton: driven out of the city to some forgotten dirt road, just them and the wide open prairie, all blue sky and horizons. They’d run, flat-out, jumping fences, ditches.

  Living in Vancouver, Kiara left the city with Cole and Jamie on occasion. It was exhilarating to run in both their forms, shift back and forth, and not have to worry about prying eyes or ears. Kiara enjoyed the city, appreciated what Vancouver had to offer, but a part of her would always yearn for the wide open freedom that she’d found on the prairie.

  Well? Ryn tilted her head.

  Kiara blinked away the memory. The long day with no food was beginning to wear on her, and she couldn’t afford to keep sliding into distractions.

  Let’s go. She didn’t wait for a response from Ryn, but trusted the other werewolf to follow.

  It was just past seven, and, though the sun had set and the alleys were dark, a few people hurried through the evening. The pouring rain—would it ever let up?—kept most of them inside. The ones who were forced to venture out were huddled under umbrellas or kept their hooded heads down against the onslaught.

  Kiara’s coat protected her from most of the wet and chill. Her eyes squinted against the rain as she ran into it, but she used her other senses to help guide her. The way to the university was almost a straight line, and they could get there easily using the network of alleys.

  Ryn ran to Kiara’s left and just behind her, making it easy for the pair of them to keep to the edges of the alleys and stay in the shadows. Kiara hoped that the rain and their swiftness would be enough to convince anyone looking out that their eyes were playing tricks on them.

  The gaps between the alleyways were the tricky part; for the second or so it took them to cross the road, they were bathed in the orange glow of the streetlights.

  Despite the reason for their mad dash across the city, despite the rain, despite the words in the hotel that Kiara wished she could take back, that she wished Ryn could unhear, Kiara couldn’t deny the thrill that coursed through her as she ran as she was meant to: not hiding, not downplaying her strength or her speed or the power in her body. She was letting it out and she wasn’t doing it alone.

  Werewolves generally preferred to live in packs because it felt better, having someone running alongside. It meant belonging. It meant safety. It meant strength.

  They had moved out of the crowded main streets and into an area that was more residential. One-time single-family homes now housed two, or three, or sometimes four families crammed into converted apartments. The roads were quieter, and, as they continued, the houses got larger, the number of people inside smaller, until they wove through Point Grey and the wealth disparity became obscene.

  Close to the university the houses vanished entirely, replaced with towering trees. The woods were one of Deanna and Arthur’s favorite haunts, and where the showdown with crywolf had taken place last year.

  Kiara’s ears flicked back. There was movement to their right as Jamie and Cole snaked out of the trees to join them. Despite never having hunted together, the four wolves fanned out instinctually. Kiara remained point with Ryn on her left, Cole to her right, and Jamie taking up the rear.

  Now the concrete had vanished and the wet soil made a soothing contrast. With the woods came a different set of obstacles; their path was less straight. They wove through the trees easily; their large bodies were sleek and graceful and made for this kind of terrain.

  They matched, Kiara realized. They were gray wolves, all of them: Cole, the largest, had a coat that was thick and soft, dark slate-gray sprinkled with hints of white and tan; Jamie’s brindled gray-brown fur paled to cream down her muzzle; Kiara’s coat ran to silver, darkened at the tips and white underneath; Ryn was lightest in her pale white pelt with a gray stripe up her muzzle and forehead, which framed her ears and continued down her back to her tail.

  They burst through the forest at the university proper.

  You said Nathan is in the library. Jamie, how do we—

  Hang on, Cole. Kiara slowed their loping run to a walk, making sure to keep them to the edges of the buildings. Cole bristled at her side. We can’t get into the building as wolves, and as humans we have the slight problem of being completely naked.

  Cole bared his teeth.

  Good point, K. Jamie agreed. If someone sees a bunch of naked people running around the university, they’ll definitely call security.

  There’s gotta be a bookstore, lockers, whatever. Let’s just break in and grab what we need. Ryn kept a wary eye on Cole, who laid his ears flat against his head and growled.

  Bookstore. Follow me. Jamie headed down a lane and they fell into line behind her.

  Jamie led them around the back of the building that housed the bookstore. She ducked under the building’s overhang and shifted to human. The wolves milled in front of her with their ears pricked to hear anyone making their way toward them. With a quick jerk, Jamie broke the lock, and then they were in.

  “This way.” Familiar with the layout, Jamie took them to the clothing section and grabbed sweatpants and hoodies—the easiest items to pull on—in whatever size might fit as the other three wolves shifted back to human.

  Clothed now, and branded with the university’s colors, they went to the door.

  “We should probably grab the security tape on the way out of here, once we have Nathan,” Jamie mentioned. “Or whichever security guard watches it is going to have a fit.”

  “Right. That’s your job.” Kiara decided. “Don’t forget.”

  Jamie nodded. “And maybe leave some cash...?” She shrugged self-consciously when Ryn looked at her askance.

  “What? It’s my school. I don’t want to like, steal.”

  “Hey!” Cole snapped. “I don’t care about some overpriced sweats. We don’t even know if Nathan’s okay or if they…” He trailed off, rubbed an unsteady hand over his beard. “Can we just get him back?”

  “We’re going. I promise.” Kiara gave his arm a squeeze. “Okay, here’s what we know.” She’d already discussed the details with them on the phone, but she went over the plan again. They couldn’t afford to make mistakes, not when they weren’t sure what the Huntsmen intended to do with Nathan.

  “It’s clearly a trap, Nathan gave us the heads up on that. So we know they have him. We don’t know how many or what kind of weapons they have. Jamie, you’re the most familiar with the library…”

  “He’s probably in his office, twelfth floor.” Jamie nodded. “I can get us there. There’s an elevator up, and two staircases on either end of the hall. His office is in the middle; they’ll have to be spread out to guard each possible entrance.”

  “Okay, good.” Kiara nodded approvingly. “They want Ryn; we want Nathan. I don’t think they’ll hurt him—”

  “You don’t know that! You’re the one who said they threatened Deanna back at Kings o
f Hearts. We’re wasting time!” Cole clenched his jaw.

  “Calm down,” Kiara commanded. “We’re getting him. You hear me? We’re going to get him. He’s going to be all right.”

  “They want me.” Ryn shrugged. “You said it. I’m here.” She held out her arms. “So we’ll give them me, and you’ll get Nathan.”

  Kiara rolled her eyes in exasperation. “We’re not giving you to them.”

  “I’ll give me, then. I’m not going to be responsible for anyone getting hurt.”

  “No one is getting hurt and no one is giving themselves up. Come on.” Jamie, ever the peacemaker, broke in.

  “I’m just saying,” Ryn argued. “This isn’t your problem. I’m not your pack. You shouldn’t be risking your lives for me. I won’t let anyone else get hurt.”

  “Listen,” Kiara ordered. “We’re going to go up there. We are going to ask for Nathan. If they don’t give him back, we are going to take him back.”

  “And what if there’s more of them? What if it’s not three, or four, what if there are six? A dozen?” Cole shook his head. “We’re just going to say ‘Please hand our librarian over,’ and they’re going to do it without question?”

  “We can fight them, if we have to.” The thought of it left a bad taste in Kiara’s mouth; the memory of blood, thick and hot, coated her tongue. “But that’s our last resort. They think we’re violent—that ‘lycanthropy’ makes us that way, clouds our reason, our judgment. They’re going to expect force and violence. They want us to react that way—so they can say we’re threatening, that they acted in self-defense, that we started it. So we aren’t going to give them that—not unless we have no other choice.”

  Cole dropped his head into his hands. “Again, so what are we going to do?”

  Kiara swallowed. She’d been spinning the idea over in her mind since the call from Nathan. The idea would work, was possibly the only solution that would get them all home safe and sound, with no injuries to either side; but she wasn’t sure if Jamie, Cole—and especially Ryn—would go with it.

  “GNAAW has basically given The Huntsmen carte blanche with Ryn because she’s not in a pack, and because she’s not in a pack the Huntsmen think she’s a danger.”

  “Right,” Jamie agreed, patiently.

  Ryn blew out an impatient breath. “I’m not joining your dad’s pack.”

  “I know you’re not, I know.” Kiara took a deep breath. “But what if you joined mine?”

  Chapter Twenty-One |

  Ryn frowned. “I don’t understand.”

  Cole’s head had snapped up; his honey-gold eyes were sharp on Kiara’s.

  “Oh, that’s smart,” Jamie approved. She elbowed Cole. “We’re in. Obviously.”

  “Are you sure?” Kiara hid her nerves under a façade of calm. She was asking a lot from her cousin and her brother.

  “Yes.” Cole’s answer was immediate this time. “Yes. Of course.”

  Kiara turned to Ryn. “This doesn’t work without you. If you don’t want to do this, if you really don’t want to join a pack, we’ll figure something else out.” There was no question of leaving without Nathan. But Kiara knew in her heart that taking him back by force would mean blood spilled, and she wasn’t sure whose it would be.

  “It’s not actually that hard to form a new pack,” Jamie explained to Ryn, who continued to eye Kiara. “You need four adult wolves. One to stand as Alpha, and three who support them.” She gestured to herself and Cole. “We’re two. You’d be the third.”

  “And why do you get to be Alpha?” Ryn challenged Kiara.

  Kiara lifted an eyebrow. “Do you want to do it?”

  Ryn shook her head. “No, but what’s going to make this pack any different than your dad’s? Why should I agree?”

  Kiara was prepared for Ryn’s reluctance. “We form it, so we get to make the rules. We get to decide how it’s run. GNAAW recognizes us. And the Huntsmen won’t be able to come after you.” It wasn’t the perfect solution, but it was a solution. She hoped Ryn would see that.

  “After tonight—” Kiara licked her dry lips. “If you don’t want to stay, you don’t have to. We won’t ask anything from you. As long as I have your support, I’ll stay Alpha, we’ll have a pack that you’ll be a member of. And you can go. You’ll be under our protection, under GNAAW’s protection, but not under our thumb.”

  “That’s it?” Ryn asked suspiciously.

  Cole nodded. “Beyond the basics—protect your pack, keep the secret, and don’t hurt anyone—packs are free to have as many or as few internal rules as they’d like. Some of the larger packs pay a tithe. Some all live together. Some are scattered. It’s up to the Alpha to decide how it’s run.”

  “I won’t ask you to do anything you’re not comfortable with. I won’t ask you to do anything. Except for this,” Kiara said haltingly. “We need to get Nathan, and we need to make sure you’re protected. This—” She gestured at the four of them. “—this accomplishes both of those things.”

  Ryn closed her eyes. “Give me a minute.”

  Cole made a bitten-off noise of frustration and glanced toward the library.

  “Just—a minute. Give her a minute.” Kiara insisted.

  Ryn had stepped away from the group. She stared out into the rain with her arms wrapped around herself in the oversized hoodie.

  Impatience clawed at Kiara’s throat. Jamie took her hand. She squeezed it.

  Kiara wasn’t sure if she was doing the right thing. She didn’t know how she was going to tell her father. She didn’t know what her choice would mean for his pack—her, possibly, former pack. She closed her eyes and gripped Jamie’s hand tighter.

  Ryn turned around. “Okay. I’ll do it.”

  Relief weakened Kiara’s knees. “Thank you.”

  Cole pulled Ryn into a hug. He lifted her off her feet, and she yelped. “Welcome home,” he said.

  Ryn wriggled free, but Kiara didn’t miss the flush on her cheeks. “Whatever, man. Let’s go get Mowgli, shall we?”

  The library was one of the biggest buildings on campus. Though it wasn’t very late, the building was nearly deserted. It closed to students and the general public at six o’clock, so the only people still there would be working. Kiara glanced up, shielding her eyes from the rain. A few lights twinkled, one on the twelfth floor that she thought might be Nathan’s.

  “Right, so how are we going to do this?” Ryn asked. For the first time since they’d fled Nathan’s that morning, she looked nervous tugging on the sleeves of her sweater.

  “Quickly and quietly,” Kiara advised. “Remember what I said—we can’t give them any excuse. We’ll be calm and polite and then we’ll get the hell out of here.”

  As she had with the bookstore, Jamie led them around the back and through a fire exit.

  “Elevator, not the stairs,” Kiara decided. “We have to stay together. And look as nonthreatening as possible,” she said pointedly to Cole, whose bearded jaw was firmly set and whose hands were clenched into large fists.

  Cole scowled, but relaxed his hands as Jamie hit the button for the elevator.

  The ride to the twelfth floor was excruciating. The nervous tension the wolves felt overwhelmed the small space, and Kiara could feel it crawling over her skin. It was as if they were walking into the wolves’ den. Or did one walk into the lion’s den? Whichever. They weren’t the ones lying in wait. Lion-in-wait. Did that mean it was lions?

  “Get a grip,” she muttered to herself.

  “What?” Jamie asked, her voice shockingly loud in the small space.

  “Nothing. Just. Let me do the talking.” Kiara swallowed hard as the elevator dinged to a stop. She squared her shoulders and settled her face into her most neutral expression as the doors slid open.

  A man stood across from the elevator and he had a gun—Why did they have so many guns? Didn�
�t they know this was Canada?—leveled at them. His serious expression faltered and then broke into a laugh.

  Kiara’s neutral expression hardened as she struggled not to scowl. “Is there a problem?”

  “You just—ooh boy,” he wheezed in a southern drawl as his gun wavered. “You guys look like a weird sports team. I just mean—you’re lycans, right? Like. I expected leather jackets and maybe a biker chain. Not—” he broke down, chuckling. “You’re all in sweatpants!”

  Kiara exhaled slowly through her nose. Laughter wasn’t the welcome she’d expected, but it was better than a fight. She glanced at the rest of her pack and supposed that they did look ridiculous.

  “I mean, I get it,” the Huntsman continued as he visibly tried to pull himself together. “Your clothes don’t come along when you change, but I gotta say, you’d’ve looked more badass showing up naked.”

  “Duly noted,” Kiara said dryly. Behind her, Cole vibrated. “If we can move past our appearance, could we please speak to whomever is in charge?”

  “Right.” He straightened and leveled the gun again. “Sorry.” With his gun-free hand, he hit the comm button on his bulletproof vest.

  “Ma’am, I’ve got four lycans at the elevator bank.”

  The comm crackled with the Huntress’s voice. “Is the lone one there?”

  Ryn stepped out from behind Kiara and raised her middle finger at the comm.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Send them down, Joel.”

  The Huntsman gestured with his gun, and they headed down the hallway.

  “Remember,” Kiara warned in a low voice, “no matter what they say or do, do not do anything that can be construed as aggressive. We do not want to give them an excuse.”

  Jamie and Ryn murmured in agreement. Cole said nothing, and Kiara shot him a warning look.

  “This one is Nathan’s.” Jamie stopped them. Unlike the other offices, this one had its door wide open. Kiara’s brow furrowed. She couldn’t hear anyone in the room. Cole pushed past her and was inside before she could tell him not to go in.