by Bonnie Vanak
For a few minutes he sat there, watching the dying fire and his sleeping mate.
He sensed the great ripple of power in the air and stiffened.
Tristan appeared before him, standing by the fireplace. The Silver Wizard had black hair down to his shoulders, the ends tipped with silver. He wore his customary outfit of a black tunic, black pants and soft doeskin boots.
“Go away.” Aiden’s gaze shot to his sleeping mate and his protective instincts surged. “You’re not welcome here.”
“Relax alpha, I am not here to take her from you.”
He thought quickly. Maybe he could coax answers from the wizard. “Take who away?”
Tristan’s dark gaze gleamed. “Your mate.”
“Who is…”
Tristan’s mouth curved in a sly smile. “The one you have chosen for life.”
Aiden blew out a frustrated breath. “Her name?”
The wizard blinked. “You have taken this woman as your partner for life and you don’t know her name?”
“Damnit Tristan,” he said in a low voice. “Stop messing with me. Why are you here?”
Tristan pointed to the chair opposite Aiden. “May I?”
Aiden shrugged. The Silver Wizard could blow up the entire sofa with his powers. Aiden’s acquiescence didn’t mean squat.
The wizard sat, his manner relaxed and unthreatening. “I am here check on things. To see how you’re doing with your newly mated status.”
“I’m terrific,” he muttered.
Tristan’s gaze darkened. “Be gentle with your mate. She has reasons for what she does. Your understanding and kindness will go far. If you win her heart, you will win your heart’s desire.”
Aiden’s head began to throb. “I’m understanding as hell. You came just to give me relationship advice?”
“I also wished to check on how the one who was promised to me long ago is faring.”
His head began to ache from the non-answers. “What one? Is she here?”
Tristan nodded. “In due time you will know. I will take her with me, and she will become mine, as it was destined.”
“Why do you want her? You like abducting reluctant women?”
He stiffened, expecting Tristan to fling an energy bolt, or at the very least, a stinging zap of power. But Tristan shook his head. “When she joins with me, she will do so of her own free will.”
“What the hell is going on?” Aiden demanded. “What’s wrong with this place? It feels cursed.”
Tristan studied him with his dark gaze. “Does it?”
“Tell me.”
“Things must develop according to plan.” The wizard shook his head and regret seemed to shine in his dark eyes. “I will tell you this. Your mate’s father paid for the consequences of not allowing me to help him. I could not stop what he unleashed.”
Damn. This was worse than Aiden had thought. “But you can stop these consequences now. You’re a wizard.”
The Silver Wizard stared as if Aiden were three years old and trying to decipher quantum physics. “No. But the consequences may be reversed. It must come from within.”
Gods, he was so frigging tired. “Why is it every time I talk with you, Tristan, I feel like I’m listening to someone babble in Latin or another dead language?”
“My Latin is a little rusty. It has been many centuries since I used it.”
Aiden blinked.
“I am from the Dark Ages.” Tristan stood, and gazed at the sleeping Niki. “All will be revealed when the time is right. Know this, wolf. You must remain strong, no matter what ails you. And be weak when she needs you to be weak.”
Aiden blinked, but the wizard vanished.
“Bastard,” he muttered.
The following day, Nia managed to convince Aiden to send his males back to the Mitchell Ranch. It had been easier than she’d thought, for all she had to do was make a few suggestions to her pack. That morning, a group of twenty-five females tracked down Aiden and begged him for permission to visit his place and hunt as wolves.
There was not much large game to be found on the Blakemore Ranch lands.
Aiden not only granted permission, but he sent all his men back with the women. Only Garth insisted on remaining behind. The Lupine had grown fond of Roxanne, and was courting her to be his mate, and Roxanne refused to leave the ranch. “We’ll make lists of the needed repairs, and if necessary, hire a crew,” Aiden decided.
Now, in addition to herself and Aiden, Roxanne and Garth, the only ones remaining on her ranch were 30 older females whose children were grown. Nia felt as if someone had lifted a huge weight from her shoulders. Aiden’s guys were safe.
But she still had to convince Aiden to leave, and that would prove a challenge.
That afternoon, after she’d helped Aiden repair fences in the pasture, she took a long, leisurely shower and then dressed in jeans, a long-sleeved pink Western shirt, and boots.
As she headed outside to visit the lodge to check with Roxanne on the day’s needs, she caught a familiar scent on the porch. Sharp pine, old leather and the enticing smell of the forest.
Aiden.
Nia glanced at the shadows on the porch. One moved. Aiden stretched out a long leg.
“Hey there, pixie,” he murmured.
Grateful he wasn’t as snarly as last night, she smiled. “What are you doing out here?”
“Waiting for you. I have your mating gift ready.”
She thought about the birdhouse and sighed. “The hummingbirds…”
“No birds. Something you’ll like much better.” Aiden stood and stretched, the muscles of his wide shoulders rippling along his tight checked shirt.
She bit back a sigh of desire, mingling with sharp longing. He wasn’t truly hers, no matter what the mating ceremony had said. Or the long, passionate lovemaking sessions. And when he found out he’d formally mated the wrong twin, what then?
Maybe she should start scanning the real estate section of the local paper for places to live.
Aiden stretched out his hand. “Come on, pixie. You can take a break from being in charge for an hour.”
Deeply curious, she took his hand, allowing him to lead her down the steps, to the gravel path past the lodge, to the golf cart waiting there. The barn was a short drive away.
Aiden powered up the golf cart as she sat beside him, and they took off. A short distance from the main pasture, he parked the cart by the pathway leading to the barn.
Gravel crunched beneath their boots as they trudged along the path. It was oddly quiet.
When they reached the weathered barn near the main pasture, he put a warm, calloused palm over her eyes. “No peeking.”
Nia had no desire to peek. The empty pasture had felt like her heart; cold and bereft. The ranch once boasted the finest thoroughbred horses this side of the Mississippi. No more. All their stock had been sold to finance Nikita’s lab, and feed and keep the pack.
Her twin’s expensive lab, where Niki worked desperately to try to find a cure for the disease killing their males.
So deep was her longing, she could still scent the horses, their earthy aroma of dung and mud and flesh. Could still hear them nicker in greeting…
“Ok.” Aiden kissed her temple and removed his hand. “You can look now.
Nia opened her eyes and stared.
Two horses stood in the fenced pasture. One was pure black, with an arrogant air, trotting around the grass as if he owned the pasture. The other was a gentle chestnut mare with a star shape on her forehead, and four white socks. The mare ran over to the fence, nickering at Nia.
Tears filled her eyes. “Windstorm. But how…”
“J.J. suspected this was your personal mare, because of the way you were reluctant to say goodbye to her. I bought her back for you.”
Emotion churned in her stomach. She couldn’t find the words. Aiden Mitchell had a reputation as a tough, arrogant alpha, but this generous gesture had shown her a different side of him. Nia reached up and kiss
ed him hard and then dashed toward the fence as the mare trotted over to greet her, flicking her tail.
The mare lowered her head and Nia stroked her nose, her heart filled with joy for the first time in months. After losing so much, she could hardly believe she had her beloved friend back.
Aiden joined her, putting his hands on her shoulders. His touch was absolutely gentle and she felt the warmth of his breath as he lowered his head to whisper into her ear.
“I want you to be happy. I had Kyle bring over Chance so we could ride together. He brought tack and supplies as well.”
Nia continued to stroke her mare’s nose. “Pretty arrogant of you, Mitchell, thinking you’re a real cowboy. I thought you were a wolf.”
“Wolves can be cowboys. And cowgirls, too.” He turned her to face him and his expression made her still. No trace of the usual Mitchell arrogance. Only a flickering of wistful longing, as if he knew what it felt like to be lonely, surrounded by an entire pack who would do anything for you, yet could not do anything for you because of the secrets you hid inside.
Nia reached up and framed his stubbled face with both hands. “Thank you,” she told him.
She needed this male, needed him at her side, needed him deep inside her body in the dark of night.
She must learn to let go. I will, soon. A few more days. Niki said a few days and she’ll have the cure. She’s so close.
But for now, she would indulge in the fantasy that Aiden could be hers forever.
“Prove you are a cowboy, Mitchell. Let’s ride.”
He grinned and picked up both her hands, kissing the palms. “Thought you’d never ask, Blakemore.”
They brought the horses into the barn and saddled them quickly. The tack Kyle had left in the barn was oiled and glistening and sturdy. No more cracked leather bridles, or saddles with frayed straps.
After leading the horses out of the barn, they mounted. Nia admired the way Aiden swung a long, muscled leg over the leather saddle. He looked fine on a horse.
That is one cowboy who knows how to ride, and ride well.
The thought coaxed a fierce blush to her cheeks.
Morning dew layered the thin blades of grass in the pasture. The air was still and quiet as she and Aiden followed the trail in the pasture paralleling the mountain.
As they rode past the split-rail fence dividing the pasture from the dirt roadway, she glanced at him. In his black cowboy hat, tight jeans, and checked shirt, Aiden made a rugged and handsome cowboy, as if the ranch had always been his home.
Suddenly he stopped the stallion and shifted his weight in the saddle. With the slightest pressure on Windstorm’s flanks with her knees, Nia halted her mare.
“Do you feel it?” he asked. “Something isn’t right. The air is too…quiet.”
Nia looked around. Little hairs on her nape saluted the air. Though it was chilly, the breeze usually sweeping down from the mountains wasn’t present.
Tension knotted her stomach. Nia gazed around, looking for signs of disturbance.
“No wind. No birds, wildlife. Everything is too…still,” he mused. “And that smell…it smells like burnt rubber and acid. Something metallic.”
“Blood,” she said, stricken. “The blood of everything it scourges.”
She whipped her cell phone out from her jeans pocket and dialed the lodge. When Roxanne answered, she barked out an order, her voice crisp with fear. “Secure all quarters. Get everyone inside and bar the doors. Storm warning, level one.”
Fear tinged her beta’s voice. “I was going call you. Rickie is missing. His mother went to his room to take him with her to the Mitchell Ranch and he was gone.”
Terror snaked down Nia’s spine. Rickie. One of the two young boys who would soon experience the first shift into wolf.
Her wild gaze swept over the pasture, her wolf howling at the silent menace churning in the distance. “Since when?”
“This morning. His mama told me he’d left a note. He’s run away.” Roxanne lowered his voice. “His birthday is next week. He’s so scared he’ll die next and he didn’t want to go to a strange new home at the Mitchell Ranch.”
“I’ll find him,” Nia promised. She thumbed off the cell, her heart hammering in her chest. Damn it, she’d been too absorbed in the challenge and other affairs. She should have seen this coming. Poor Rickie, the oldest male in the pack…
“We have to get to shelter before the storm hits. But Rickie, one of our young, is missing. He could be anywhere. I have to find him,” she told Aiden.
He gave her a level look. “Storms in Montana this time of year? What the hell is going on, Niki?”
“It doesn’t matter. Rickie’s gone. He’s only 12, almost 13. If he’s caught out in this…” She drew in a trembling breath. “He’s my responsibility. I have to find him.”
Aiden slid off his horse. “I’m a damn fine tracker.”
Then he gave her another level look. “We’ll find him. But later, damn it, I want answers.”
Later, fine. She could deal with later, had been dealing with it her entire life. Nia jumped off Windstorm, tugged on the reins as Aiden shifted into wolf.
As she led the two horses, she followed the big timber wolf. His nose pressed to the ground, he sniffed the dry earth, the withering grasses, for some trace of the boy’s scent.
And then he lifted his head, his ears pointed forward. Aiden released a low howl. The eerie cry sent a shiver down her spine.
He bounded off for the forest. She tied Chance’s reins to her mare’s saddle, and then leapt back upon Windstorm and followed.
True to his word, Aiden proved to be an excellent tracker. In fact, he made her strongest trackers look as if they had the noses of Skins. After a chase of about two miles, Aiden raced over the pasture, into the woods, and began to howl, pawing at a patch of brush.
Nia recognized Rickie’s sweet vanilla scent of childhood, mingled with something sharper, and the sour stench of fear. She dismounted and let the reins drop.
Aiden lowered his head and whined, wagging his tail. She recognized the almost submissive pose of the wolf; indeed, she had done the same when dealing with terrified young who thought they were about to get punished. Silently thanking him, she called out softly.
“Rickie, honey, it’s me, and Aiden. We were looking for you. We won’t hurt you. You’re not in trouble. Come out.”
A young boy, dressed in a worn sheepskin jacket, sneakers and faded jeans, emerged from the undergrowth, straps of a bulging backpack upon his thin shoulders. Aiden loped forward and rubbed his muzzle against the boy’s thigh. With a trembling hand, Rickie touched the big wolf’s head.
“Rickie!” Nia ran forward, sweeping the boy into a tight hug. She looked down at his pale, freckled face. “What the hell were you thinking?”
His mouth wobbled. “I don’t want to die, Aunt Niki.”
“Rickie…”
“Not like Timmy did. We celebrated his birthday and six weeks later, he was dead. I don’t want to die!” He fisted his hands and his body shook.
For the first time she noticed the peach fuzz on his cheeks, and how his once-thin shoulders had taken on bulk. A rill of fear stroked her spine.
“Rickie, did you experience your first shift into wolf?”
He looked away with a guilty expression. Nia bit back a moan. Oh gods. He was now at risk of becoming infected with parvolupus.
“Why didn’t you tell me? Your mother?”
Rickie’s haunted gaze met hers. “Mom’s been so worried about me, I couldn’t tell her. I tried to stop it, I did. But I had to do it. That’s why I ran away. I didn’t want anyone else to know…I am now fully Lupine.”
She soothed him, stroking his hair, feeling guilt and regret spear her insides. My fault. I should have taken them all off the ranch, should have done something…
Aiden looked at her, and even as wolf, she could read his expression. Forget it. The kid comes first.
Then he rubbed his muzzle against the c
hild again, as if marking him. Aiden lifted his head to Rickie and licked his hand.
Rickie touched him, fear evaporating from his expression. “He’s a big guy. Alpha.”
Hearing the awe in his voice, she smiled. “Rickie Turner, meet Aiden Mitchell in wolf form.”
Rickie rubbed Aiden’s head and the alpha wagged his tail. Totally non-threatening, his manner cool and calm. Her own pulse slowed a little. Aiden was a good male. Good with children.
He’d make beautiful babies.
Nia fished out her cell phone and called the lodge, ordering her beta to tell Rickie’s mother he’d been found and he was safe.
She glanced covertly at the timber wolf and the boy rubbing his ears and lowered her voice. “I’m headed for the cabin. We’ll be safe there and spend the night. Secure the quarters and make damn sure to clean up after the storm hits. I don’t want to scare Rickie further. Poor kid’s terrified enough.”
As she hung up, Aiden loped over to a nearby tree and lifted his leg. She could almost be amused at his territorial gesture. “Please, Mitchell. Must you?”
Aiden turned with a wolfish smile. Oh yeah, she could read in that smile. Around you, I always have to mark my territory.
“I haven’t seen a real alpha male in years.” Rickie held out his hand to Aiden, who licked it again.
She smiled. But now was not the time to make friends. “We have to go, sweetie. Your mom is really worried about you.”
Then she heard a distant wailing, like a banshee.
“We have to get to shelter. Any kind of shelter.” Nia whipped her head around, gauging her bearings. “There’s a cabin nearby. It’s stocked with winter provisions. But we have to hurry.”
Aiden shifted back to Skin and conjured clothing. Well over six feet, he looked down at Rickie, who suddenly backed away, his expression filled with wonder.
The alpha ruffled the boy’s head. “Come on, Rickie. Let’s do what your Aunt Niki says.”
They ran for the horses. Rickie looked up at Aiden. “Can I ride with you?”
Without words, Aiden lifted him up into the saddle, then swung up behind him. Nia mounted Windstorm.