“Deal,” she said.
Taking a deep breath, he shifted into wolf. Nia blinked hard.
Sullen, he lay on the rug before the fireplace. She headed into the bedroom. “Aren’t you coming to bed?”
Aiden put his head between his paws.
“Fine. I deserve that.”
Damn straight you do.
She bent down and her scent flooded his nostrils, all warm, soft female.
Nia kissed the top of his head. “Good night.”
***
Being a wolf usually made him feel more powerful, more in control.
Not now.
For the next two days, he sulked around the cabin, feeling helpless and angry as Nia and her aunt Mandy searched by the pond for the chest. Each afternoon, Nia returned, looking defeated. No luck.
Gods, he hated feeling this helpless. He needed to do something. But his strength had started to wane. Big, bad wolf, the alpha of the pack, now growing weaker by the day.
He needed to get out, search through the woods. He was an excellent hunter, even better than Kyle. He could find the damn chest.
Prowling through the forest, flushing out the scent, would be better than lying here like a domesticated dog.
Late that afternoon, Aiden got up from his usual spot before the fireplace, loped over to the door and scratched it. Nia set down her laptop and joined him.
“I can’t risk taking you out in the woods as wolf.” Nia rubbed behind his ears. “We’ve had threats from those Skin hunters. Montana doesn’t ban wolf hunting and what the hell would I do if some greedy Skin shot you for your fur?”
She bent her head to his neck and rubbed her cheek against him. He closed his eyes, enjoying the contact. A wolf didn’t care about lies, betrayal or anything. A wolf acted out of pure instinct, and needed his mate.
“You have such great fur, Mitchell. Wouldn’t want to see you stuffed, or made into a rug before some stupid Skin’s fireplace.”
Aiden pulled away and butted her hand. Then he pointed a paw at the door again.
“No.”
Okay then.
Aiden trotted over to the sofa and started to lift his leg.
“No, no!” She raced over to him. “Okay, okay. Fine. I guess you’re not exactly house- broken in this form.”
As soon as she opened the door, he bolted. Nia raced after him, shouting for him to stop.
He didn’t slow until he reached the pond and then gained the forest. Then he stopped, glancing over his shoulder.
Slowpoke, what took you so long?
Panting, Nia joined him. “I know you’re still furious with me, but you’re not going in there without me. And now I’m angry at you, Mitchell. You didn’t have to pee, did you?”
Aiden walked over to a tree and lifted his leg. He grinned at her exasperated look.
“I guess you’ve been cooped up long enough. But if we’re going to walk, then we need a little protection.”
Aiden opened his mouth, showing his fangs.
“Not good enough. Come on, back to the cabin. I’ll get my sidearm and backpack.”
A few minutes later, they returned to the pond and accessed the narrow pathway cutting through the thick forest. Aiden paced at her side, his paws padding silently over the dead leaves and twigs as he sniffed around the forest floor for where Pandora’s Chest might be buried.
Every once in a while, he caught an intriguing smell of magick, like old, musty socks, and stopped to sniff. But each scent proved a dead end.
After about two miles, they stopped and Nia sat on a felled log. She removed a bottle of water from her pack and poured some into a dish she’d brought. He lapped it up, keeping an eye on her as she drank from the bottle.
He wandered over to a pine tree, sniffed at a toadstool. He glanced at her, pointing to the mushroom.
“The cure isn’t in fungus, Mitchell.” Nia sighed and capped the water, replacing it in her pack. “We have to find the chest. I thought it was near the old well by the pond, but Mandy and I searched. Dad must have dug it up and buried it someplace else. Let’s walk a little ways more and then turn back.”
They walked up the mountain, near a little creek gurgling as it threaded through the forest. They caught an unfamiliar scent. Aiden froze at the same time she did.
A twig cracked.
Nia ducked behind a thick oak tree, beckoning to him. He joined her, crouched down, his senses alert.
Clad in camouflage, his round face darkened by greasepaint, a Skin hunter stepped onto the path. In his hands was a rifle.
“Poacher,” she whispered, her fingers gripping his fur tightly.
Aiden growled, and the hunter swung his rifle around.
Nia motioned for him to quiet. “Stay here.”
Aiden looked at her. Are you crazy? No fucking way.
Then she withdrew the 9 mm pistol from her waistband holster. “This is my land. And I’ll defend it, and you, to the death, Mitchell.”
He shook his head. No. It’s my job to defend you.
“Bullets out-do fangs,” she whispered. “Stay back. I’ve got this. I’m a terrific shot.”
Crouching behind the tree, she took aim and fired. Her shot hit the Skin in the hand and he dropped his rifle with a scream. Nia bolted toward the firearm, grabbed it, and flung it aside.
Aiden emerged from behind the tree and growled at the Skin hunter.
“Trespassing is a serious threat around these parts. I don’t allow hunting of deer, rabbits, or any game.” She glanced at Aiden. “Or wolves.”
Face paling, the hunter clutched his bleeding hand. “Now wait a minute. I was just--”
“Trespassing. This is my land. There are signs posted all over.”
As she pointed the pistol at the quivering Skin, the hunter held up his hands. “Please lady, don’t shoot. I just wanted a wolf-skin.”
Oh hell, the guy was going to pay now.
Then his gaze turned sly. “I’ll give you good money to let me go . . . or I can do more for you. I heard you’re alone out here, no one to run your ranch. You need a man to protect you. I’m very good. I can satisfy you in many ways.”
Oh hell, now that guy was really going to pay. No one touched his Nia. Aiden growled.
The hunter glanced at Aiden. “Call off your wolf. I can report him, you know. ”
This was rich. First you want to shoot and kill me, and now you’re going to run to the authorities and complain about me? I’ll give you something to really complain about, you bastard.
“You’re trespassing on my land. I have the right to protect myself with my weapons and my wolf.”
She glared at the Skin who dared to invade her land and try to hunt her people so he could kill them in cold blood and then stuff them. Then brag to all his he-man friends. Hey, lookie what I killed, I’m such a manly man!
“My wolf is very protective.”
Yeah, I am. You dare to threaten my mate? You’re toast. Okay let’s do this. Sic balls.
Aiden charged, his mind a red haze of fury. He reached the Skin and his mouth opened as he met his destined target.
The Skin’s screams echoed in his ears. Then Aiden released his death grip and the man screamed again, before he took off running, one hand clapped to his bleeding groin.
Aiden grinned a big wolfish smile.
The Skin would live, but he’d think about Aiden every time he went to take a piss. And he’d warn others off this land.
Aiden trotted over to the stream and drank deeply, eager to get the hot, metallic taste of the Skin’s blood and the sour taste of his balls off his tongue. Blech.
Nia joined him at the stream, rubbing behind his ears as he sat up. “We have to find a cure for you, Aiden. We have to. Because I can’t let you go.”
His heart turned over as she buried her face into his thick fur and cried. He wanted to comfort her. His mate.
Aiden felt his strength suddenly diminish. Being a wolf was supposed to slow the disease, but what if it didn’t
work anymore? He lifted his head, and began loping back to the cabin. Sunshine dappled the undergrowth and the dead leaves as he walked.
He almost made it to the pond, when the nausea overcame him. Aiden shifted back into Skin, dropped to his knees and retched.
His skin felt on fire. His guts churned like ground glass.
Nia caught up to him and put a hand on his naked back. “Sweetie, you shouldn’t have changed back! You have to slow the progression of the disease.”
Shaking off her hand, Aiden wiped his mouth with the back of one hand, knowing the grim truth. Fear and grief twined together inside him, knotting his guts. Betrayed by the one woman he wanted above all others. Well dad, you were right, you bastard. Don’t fall in love. Love makes you weak.
In this case, it made him more than weak. It crippled him with a disease that killed.
Wolf or man, it was no use. He wasn’t going to slow the progress of the disease spreading through his body like wildfire.
No matter what form he held, he was going to die.
CHAPTER 15
That night, Nikita Blakemore slipped out of her basement apartment and silently made her way down to the pond and the fire pit. This was her favorite time of night, when her twin slept soundly, exhausted by her heavy burdens of responsibility.
She’d made it a habit of coming here, not wishing to worry Nia. Gods knew Nia worried about her. Niki loved her sister, but lately she’d been so damn tired. She’d seen the joy in Nia’s eyes amid the worry, and knew Aiden Mitchell was responsible for the joy. And the worry as well.
Some days Niki wished she could run so far away that the Silver Wizard would never find her.
But the wizard held power, and he would find her. Niki had resigned herself to that fact long ago, and knew no matter how hard her family fought to keep her safe, her fate was doomed.
She would die at the hands of the Silver Wizard.
Or die before he found her.
Reaching the fire pit, she rested upon one of the rocks ringing the pit. The few times she’d celebrated pack meetings had been here, in the night, the bonfire crackling, sparks spitting upward toward the sky.
Most nights she spent locked in her apartment, feeling so lonely she’d cry herself to sleep. But she had no right to complain. Everything Nia, Mandy, Roxanne and the elders did, they did to protect her.
She shifted into wolf and paced around the pond, sniffing the ground for intruders. Niki scented a powerful alpha scent and her wolf knew it was Aiden. The male had not wasted time marking his territory.
Shifting back into Skin, Niki returned to the fire pit and sat, hugging her knees and staring at the starlit sky.
This is my favorite place. And I had to come here one last time, one last visit.
Even now she grew weaker. She knew there was little time left. But only one vial existed. Who would be cured? Aiden, the powerful alpha and her sister’s mate?
Rickie, the helpless, smiling teenager?
Or the hated Carl?
I can’t decide who lives or dies. Gods, I wish Dad had let me die all those years ago and this never would have happened! He never would have opened that chest.
She started to stand to return to her apartment, when the hairs rose on her nape and a chill raced through her body.
A white wolf, large as a small pony, emerged from the forest. A stranger. Not a member of Aiden’s pack or hers. This wolf carried the sharp scent of cold snow, and the tangy smell of cider and burning pine. Pleasing, like a cozy fire during an icy winter’s night. But fear filled her, and her heart began to pound.
The wolf approached, his head lifted. He loped over to the rock where she’d sat and lifted his leg. A male.
Arrogant, covering Aiden’s scent with his own. Then the white wolf paced toward her and a beam of moonlight caressed his thick fur.
Not white.
Silver.
Legend said only one Lupine had that color fur. The Silver Wizard.
Niki’s jaw dropped. Her pulse beat frantically and panic clogged her throat. She turned to run. But her legs weren’t working as well as they had days ago, before she’d done the one thing she knew would weaken her.
She stumbled in the dark, fear a sharp razor in her mouth, and tripped over a rock. White-hot pain shot up her leg. She bit back a terrified scream.
Wolves hunted the weak and the sick…
Unable to stand because of her sprained ankle, she tried to crawl away. He might destroy her, as the prophecy foretold, but she wouldn’t surrender without a fight. Adrenaline flooded her body, loaning her a burst of strength.
The wolf silently loped toward her. Lightning flashed, filling the glen with an eerie glow, and the wolf turned into a tall, dark-haired man clad in black.
Moonlight touched his face. He was handsome, with chiseled features and eyes dark as the night. He bent down next to her and she wanted to crawl away from him, from the smoldering sensuality whirling about him, but could not.
He placed a hand on her throbbing leg and she bit her lip from the pain. Suddenly the pain fled. Her heart resumed its normal rhythm.
Niki stared up at him wordlessly, her terror easing a little now that her leg was healed. Perhaps he’d healed her to let her run, and then he’d give chase.
Wolves loved the chase.
She had no strength to crawl, let alone run. Exhaustion claimed her. The adrenaline rush left, leaving her cold and shivering.
Tristan, the Silver Wizard. Ruler of Lupines. Judge of Others. The grim reaper of her nightmares from the time her father told her that she must remain hidden to stay safe, to never let anyone know she was alive, Nikita the eldest twin, the one destined for the wizard. For Tristan would take her away to the afterworld, and she would perish.
He didn’t look like the grim reaper her father had told her about, she thought in a drowsy haze of confusion. Niki rubbed her eyes. She could barely summon the strength to move.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he murmured. “Steady now.”
Tristan picked her up into his arms. She had no strength to fight him. If he wanted to kill her now, he could easily snap her neck.
Didn’t matter. She was dying anyhow, using her own body as a lab experiment to find a cure for the parvolupus disease. Nothing could save her.
He carried her easily, walking up the path. She felt as if she were floating, flying, and then managed the strength to look down.
They were flying. He floated through the air like a magick carpet from the fairy tales she’d adored as a child.
Tristan reached her basement apartment, nodded and the door opened. More efficient than a key.
He placed her on the bed, pulled off her shoes and jeans, and then tucked her beneath the covers. The Silver Wizard bent his head, his long, dark hair brushing her cheeks.
He kissed her forehead. “Rest now, Niki.”
Compelled by the command in his voice, she shut her eyes. As she drifted off to sleep, she heard him say, “Later, I will return to make you my own.”
CHAPTER 16
All his life, Aiden had struggled to be the perfect alpha. The perfect leader. Never letting anyone or anything get in his way. He’d fought to the death to protect his pack, waited patiently to mate with the woman he desired most, and most of all, never let the legacy of his old man ruin his future.
He would never grow weak like his father, and fall in love and allow love to ruin him.
Too late.
Now he was growing sicker by the hour, and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.
In the king-sized bed in Nia’s cabin, he lay naked upon the sheets. Sweat coated the bed, and he tossed and turned.
The pain was pincer-like, gripping his muscles with squeezing agony. He’d never been sick, and now he could barely move.
Big tough alpha, he thought with dim humor. Look at you now.
He’d been too busy trying to take care of things, too busy with his people, and with getting Nikita/Nia into his bed and
his life, to think about the impossible.
Dying. And there was nothing he could do about it.
Nia sat by his side, stroking his forehead with a cool, wet cloth. Aiden grabbed her hand.
“Promise me,” he said in a thick voice. “Promise me… you and Darius… care for my pack.”
“Our pack,” she said softly, kissing his hand. “Don’t wuss out on me, Mitchell. You’re not escaping me. Nothing will take you away from me, get it?”
Her voice quivered. “Nothing. Let’s get you well. You’re going to come out of this. You will. Fight it, Mitchell. I thought you were a big, tough alpha.”
“Not so tough.” He drew in a breath and winced at the pressure in his chest.
She leaned over him, her expression fierce. His mate. His equal. He’d loved her, but resisted it. Couldn’t tell her, give her power over him. But he had nothing to lose now. He was close to death.
“Go away,” he told her.
He didn’t want her to see him like this, didn’t want her to witness his weakness. Nia, the Lupine who had caused him to fall ill.
She blinked furiously. “I’m not letting you die. Not you.”
After flinging the damp washcloth onto the floor, she raced away. Aiden closed his eyes, his guts churning, feeling as if something ate him from the inside out.
He drifted into unconsciousness for a while, dreaming about his old man taunting him. “You’re weak, Aiden. Too weak to rule!”
Never fall in love, his father had warned. Love will make you weak.
He had fallen for Nia, and now look at him. Dying.
Hearing a drawer open and close, he struggled to open his gluey eyelids. And then he saw Nia standing by the bed.
Tears shimmered in her blue eyes. “Promise me one thing, Mitchell. If something happens to me and you live, promise me you’ll care for my sister, and my people, like I would. Protect them as I would.”
She was not dying. It made no sense. “I promise,” he said.
Then he saw what she held. The crystal containing the tears of the dragon.
“No,” he managed to say.
Nia blinked furiously. “Yes. It’s the only way.”
Aiden roused every bit of his strength and struggled to sit up. “You’ll strip…all your powers. You… can’t live as Lupine. Have to leave the pack. You…could die.”
Bad Boys of the Night: Eight Sizzling Paranormal Romances: Paranormal Romance Boxed Set Page 142