“What do you need?” Jaco asked.
“We’re going to set something up that we believe will keep the Cartesians from dropping down into the compound. If it works, that’ll give me time to search for our missing Loups.”
“And if it doesn’t?” Jaco asked.
“Back to square one,” Viv said. “I wouldn’t ask you to do this if I didn’t think the plan had potential and knew you were the right Loup to help make it happen.”
Jaco squared his shoulders. “What do you want me to do?”
“See that corner fence post?” Viv pointed to the thick steel post that braced one corner of the fencing. “I need you to bend that pole to a forty-five-degree angle so it’s pointed at the center of the compound. Start about waist high.”
“Why would you have me do that?
Viv gave him a stern look.
“O-okay, no problem. That it?”
“It’s a start. Once it’s bent, we can take care of the rest. If it works, I’ll need you to find the other three poles that square off this property and bend them the same way. All of them need to be pointed to the center of the compound. We’re getting ahead of ourselves, though. Let’s start with the first. See what happens.”
Jaco nodded and scurried off for the first fence post.
Nikoli stood beside her as they watched Jaco stand at the base of the post, hitch up his denim pants, then wrap his arms around the post. He let out a loud “Huh!” and leaned over from the waist. The pole began to bend, creaking in protest. Once it leaned at a forty-five-degree angle, Jaco turned to look at Viv, and she held up a hand, signaling all was good.
She turned to Nikoli. “Do you have the bloodstones?”
“There’re in the satchel over there.” He pointed to the brown bag sitting on the ground next to the entrance of their hidey hole. “I’ll get it.”
Once Nikoli had retrieved the satchel, he pulled out one of the larger bloodstones. He held it up, examined it, then scowled.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“I can’t believe I didn’t think about how we were going to attach these to the poles. Look at that angle. The stone’s going to fall right off.”
“No, it won’t,” Viv said and held out her hands. “May I have it, please?”
Nikoli handed her the bloodstone, and Viv quickly ran her hands all the way around it over and over, all the while muttering a holding spell.
“Stone of blood, spirit anew,
Bind thyself firm like glue.
Stone of blood, binding real,
By my command ye shall meld with steel.
Donda—Lorra.”
When she was done, Viv called Jaco over to her and handed him the stone. “I want you to shimmy up the pole you just bent and place this on top of the pole.”
“But it’ll fall off,” Jaco said, giving her a puzzled look. “That pole’s at a forty-five,”
“Trust me,” Viv said. “It’ll stay in place.”
Jaco jostled the stone in his hand as if studying it, testing its weight, then shrugged and headed back to the pole.
“You sure this is going to work?” Viv asked Nikoli.
He sidled up to her. “You’ve already asked me that. Sorry I can’t give you a different answer. I really don’t know if it’s going to work until we try it. Like I said, it’s never been done before.”
She felt as if someone had just dropped a three-hundred-pound weight on her shoulders. This had to work. She couldn’t accept anything but it working because the alternative was unthinkable.
Viv watched as her Loup shimmied up and across the pole one-handed. When he got within arm’s reach of the top, he took the bloodstone, then reached under the pole and up and placed the stone directly onto the pole’s center. He held on to it, glancing down and over at Viv.
She nodded, and Jaco released the stone.
The bloodstone remained in place as if it belonged there and had always been a part of the pole. A huge smile lit up her Loup’s face as he slid down the pole and hurried over to her.
Nikoli, who’d retrieved their flashlights from the brush, aimed a light beam at the top of the pole. “Well, I’ll be damned. That’s some mojo you’ve got, lady.”
“I know,” Viv said. “And by the way, why would you do that to yourself?”
Nikoli looked down at her quizzically. “What?”
“Damn yourself.”
He grinned.
Viv returned the smile, then dug through the satchel for three more bloodstones. She’d decided to have Jaco finish the job with the other three poles while they tested the first one. She didn’t want him to be around and wind up being disappointed if something went awry.
After finding the largest of the remaining stones, she placed the satchel on the ground. One by one, she rubbed her hands over the stones she’d chosen, chanting over each one in turn.
“Stone of blood, spirit anew,
Bind thyself firm like glue.
Stone of blood, binding real,
By my command ye shall meld with steel.
Donda—Lorra.”
“What now?” Jaco said when he returned to her side. “You going to test it?”
“Soon,” Viv said. “Take these three stones and find the other three poles. Do the exact same thing you did to that one, okay?”
“Got it.”
Viv handed him the stones, wincing from the pain in her arm. “Return to me as soon as you’re done.”
Jaco nodded and took off, soon disappearing into the forest’s brush.
Once he was out of sight, she turned to Nikoli. “Show time.”
“Fingers crossed,” he said and reached for his scabior. Holding it in his right hand, he turned back to Viv. “Don’t look so worried. I have confidence this’ll work. Just because something’s never been done before, doesn’t mean it can’t or won’t work.”
“I know. You’re right.” Viv offered him a small smile. “Rock on, Magic Man. It’s your show now.”
She saw his eyes soften. He glanced at the makeshift bandage on her arm, and sorrow flitted across his face.
“Hey, it’s all good,” Viv said. “Don’t beat yourself up. It’s just a couple of scratches that’ll heal in no time. You’re forgetting the big picture. You saved my life, remember? How can you feel bad about that?”
“I don’t,” Nikoli said. “Your safety means everything to me. It simply hurts me to see you hurting.”
Viv was taken aback by the emotion in his voice, the concern in his words and the depth with which his storm cloud–gray eyes studied her.
The wind suddenly picked up and stirred the cool night air. It wafted over her, and she breathed in deeply, appreciating the coolness against her fevered arm. She smelled the air charged with electricity, smelled the rain in its belly. They were in for a gully washer.
“You may want to get started before we get doused. Rain’s coming.”
“I smell it,” Nikoli said and handed her the flashlight, then held out the scabior.
Viv watched in anticipation, but before Nikoli could twitch his wrists one way or the other, Jaco came bursting out of the brush over to her.
He was panting, out of breath. When he reached her side, he leaned over and put his hands on his knees and sucked in a breath. “They’re—all—done,” he said, each word coming out on the heels of a pant.
“You mean the poles?” Viv asked. “You’ve already finished them?”
Jaco nodded, sweat streaming down the sides of his face.
“Wow,” Nikoli said. “That was fast.”
Jaco scowled at him but smiled proudly at Viv. “You told me to return to you when I was done. Is there something else you want me to do?”
“Good job, Jaco,” she said. “We�
�re good for now. Go back to your den and get some rest. I’ll assign two other Loups to watch the compound before I leave.”
“When will you know if this plan you had will work?” he asked. “Having this compound under protection twenty-four-seven would be great.”
“We’ll know soon,” she promised. “I’ll give you an update when we find out.” Lightning crisscrossed the sky, and Viv cringed reflexively. A loud clap of thunder quickly followed. “Go now before you get stuck in this storm.”
Jaco gave her a formal bow from the waist, then hurried away.
Viv glanced over at Nikoli. He already had the scabior aimed at the pole.
A disconcerting thought suddenly struck Viv. “Wait. How are you going to get to the other three poles to charge them? At least two of them are only accessible through the compound.”
“We don’t have to physically be at those poles to charge them,” he said. “This one, like the other three, is aimed at the center of the compound. If I’m able to charge this one, the electromagnetic field will immediately strike the bloodstone directly opposite of it, causing the second one to charge. The two charged poles will form a horizontal crossbeam that will ignite the other two poles.”
Viv looked at him in amazement and for the first time since his arrival, she was grateful he was a Bender.
“Ready?” he asked.
“Past ready.”
Nikoli spread his feet apart, firming his stance. He aimed the scabior, gave two quick twists of his wrist, then whirled the scabior through his fingers and re-aimed, his brow furrowing.
A bolt of lightning shot from the bloodstone attached to the scabior and hit the bloodstone attached to the pole. The large bloodstone shimmered, and sparks flew from it. Soon the pole began to glow an odd orange color, and she saw it sway slightly.
“You’re melting it,” she said to Nikoli and bit her bottom lip.
He held up his free hand, signaling her to be silent.
Viv knew he had to concentrate. Although she feared the pole would melt into a huge puddle of molten steel, she had to trust he knew what he was doing.
In that moment, the bloodstone that sat on top of the pole shot out brilliant white light toward the center of the compound. And in a matter of seconds, like dominoes, three additional brilliant lights fell into place, all four linking as they should. Strobing, sparking, lighting up the compound like a football stadium during a game.
“It worked!” Viv shouted and had to work hard not to clap her hands and jump up and down like a five-year-old. “It worked! It worked!” Then, unable to stop herself, she clapped her hands and jumped once. Pain flashed across her arm from the gashes, quickly curbing her enthusiasm.
Nikoli stared up at the lights, his expression one of wonder and amazement. He shook his head slowly as if in disbelief. “Damn, it actually worked.” He shoved the scabior back into its sheath.
Viv couldn’t help but run to him and reached up to give his neck a hug. Her injured arm slapped her into submission. She threw her good arm around him and gave him a big wet kiss. “You did it! You made it work.”
A sharp pain jabbed her injured arm again, and Viv grimaced and drew her good arm back to her side.
They stood side by side, watching as groups of Loups darted among the trees, dodging the light.
Out of nowhere, Jaco suddenly appeared at her side again.
“Where did you come from?” she asked. “I thought you were heading back for your den.”
“I have news,” Jaco said, glancing up at the lights in the sky, seemingly unimpressed. He looked back at Viv. “When those...things lit up, I was at the north end of the compound, near the back. I found Aaron.”
Relieved, Viv looked about and asked, “Where is he? Why isn’t he with you?”
The look on Jaco’s face caused Viv’s stomach to turn sour.
“He’s dead,” Jaco said.
Viv felt her mouth drop open, and she snapped it shut. “How? Where?”
“I have no idea how,” Jaco said. “All I know is there’s not much left of him. Found him near the fence out back. I don’t know what all these lights are about, but I sure hope that whatever you’re doing with them works.”
Viv felt her brain struggle to grasp the fact that she’d lost another one of her Loups. This one a pack leader. The three-hundred-pound weight returned to her shoulders. She wanted to sit down. No, lie down. Close her eyes and sleep this nightmare away, then wake up to find things back to normal.
Unable to find any words to comfort Jaco, she watched him walk away. Her shock was too great to call him back.
Nikoli stepped up to her. “I heard,” he said. “I’m so sorry.”
She turned to him. This time she couldn’t tell herself not to cry.
He took hold of her uninjured arm and pulled her in close. He held her head against his chest. She heard the rapid beating of his heart.
Viv remained too dumbstruck to say a word.
“I can’t bring him back,” Nikoli said. “None of them. But I’ll do everything in my power to make certain nothing more happens to you or to the Originals. I’ll bring order back to your world. You’ll see.”
Viv nodded slowly against his chest, wondering which would come first. His order to her world or her own death.
Chapter 23
Assigning two different alphas, Petros and Carlton, to watch over the compound had been tough on Viv. Aaron, her West pack leader, had been with her since she was a child. She still couldn’t believe he was gone, that she’d never see him again—his soft brown eyes, his silky black fur and his signature birthmark—a pink ring of flesh around his left nostril.
Her only comfort when issuing the new assignment was knowing she was helping Jaco. He needed time to rest, to heal emotionally and physically. Something she didn’t know if she’d ever be able to do.
So much had happened over the last two or three days. Viv couldn’t even remember how or when all of this started. How long had it been since things were normal? She wondered if she would ever know times like that again.
Exhaustion beat on her, as did the pain in her arm. She and Nikoli had already crossed by ferry to city-side and were standing beside her truck. Only then did she allow herself time to feel.
“I’m going to miss that big guy,” Viv said to Nikoli, fighting off tears.
He rested a hand on her shoulder. “I know you will. You’ve done a spectacular job caring for the Loup Garou. I don’t know of anyone who cares about their charges the way you do. Who loves them the way you do. I’m sure you get frustrated at times. I know I do with my job. But you keep after it. You don’t quit.”
When she heard the word “quit,” a tear slid down Viv’s cheek. She quickly brushed it away.
“It’s okay to cry,” he said.
Viv looked away from him. “No, it’s not. There’s too much to do. We should let Gilly and Evee and your cousins know that the makeshift scabior worked at the North compound so we can start setting up their territories.”
Nikoli tucked a finger under her chin, turning her head so she faced him. “It’s a little after midnight already. We told them we’d meet them at the ferry for feeding time. That’s only three hours away. Since they’re going to meet us here anyway, why don’t we use that time to look for your missing Loups?”
Viv drew in a deep breath. She wanted to be everywhere at one time. At the compound, looking for her Loups, helping Evee and Gilly look for their lost broods and protecting her sisters.
Her injured arm gave witness to the fact that the Cartesians were out to get them. What Nikoli had said about the leader of the Cartesians probably wanting them out of the way so he could get to the Originals freely had been spot on. They were all under attack. She didn’t know where to put herself or know which direction to turn.
&nb
sp; Evidently sensing her muddled thoughts, Nikoli tapped her gently on the nose with a finger. “Tell me what it feels like whenever one of your Loups is nearby but you can’t see him. How do you sense them? By scent? By sound? By sensation?”
“Sensation,” Viv said, not understanding where he was going with the question.
“Okay,” he said. “Let’s start with that. What does that sensation feel like?”
She thought for a moment, trying to find the words to describe it. “It starts out as a tingle at the base of my spine that works its way up to my neck, then my ears begin to ring.”
“Do you feel anything like that now?”
She shook her head. “No. You think if I did that I’d be standing here right now?”
“I know, I know.”
“Where are you going with this?” she asked.
“Bear with me. When your Loups are in the compound and not ordered to work—you know, they’re simply hanging out, being Loups, going about their own business—what kind of sounds do they make?”
“I don’t understand,” she glanced over at Nikoli, and he looked deeply into her eyes. “What do you mean by sounds?”
“Think about it,” he said. “When you and your sisters are just hanging out, not into any conversation, doing your own things, does Gilly hum to herself? Does Evee whistle a tune?”
“They don’t do any of that,” she said.
“Okay, but do you get the point I’m trying to make? When your Loups are just hanging out together, what kind of sounds do they make?”
“It depends. Sometimes they growl territorially, sometimes they howl, some bark or yip. A few make a clicking sound with their tongue that I’ve never quite been able to figure out. Other than that, they’re usually quiet.”
“Okay, that’s a good start.” Nikoli released her chin and leaned against the truck, crossing his feet in front of him. He pointed to his left ear. “Whenever I want to hear something more clearly that might be a great distance away, I have this trick I use to amplify the sound of whatever I have a bead on. Maybe if I show you that trick and you try it, it might amplify your ability to feel that sensation you get when you have a Loup that’s nearby but out of sight. The reason I asked you about the sounds they make when they’re not feeding or given a chore is so I can help you listen for them while you feel. That way the two of us will be like radars, seeking a missile.”
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