by Bonnie Vanak
They scurried away. Aiden went to Niki and settled his hands on her shoulders, turning her to face him.
“You okay?”
His first concern was his mate. A hundred obnoxious males could have dropped dead before him and his first concern would always remain Niki.
She gave a little laugh. “That’s the first time I actually wished for something that came true. Maybe I should have wished for other things, like money to pay the damn grocery bill or for the barn to get magically fixed by itself.”
He gave her shoulders a light squeeze. “That’s my girl. Always putting up a brave front.”
Niki went to the sideboard, grabbed a tablecloth out of a drawer.
“What are you doing?” Aiden asked, glancing at Darius, who shook his head.
“Covering the body. I know that he’s probably not worth it, but—”
She gasped and dropped the cloth as the “body” began to stir.
“He’s not dead!”
Darius went over to Carl with a thoughtful look, then glanced at Aiden. “I could arrange it.”
“No.” Aiden crouched down by the “body.”
“Don’t touch him,” Niki shouted. She bolted over to them, and hunkered down. “He could be very ill. And contagious.”
She lifted the Lupine’s arm. Aiden felt his blood pressure drop.
On Carl’s arm was a large black patch of what resembled fungus.
“Damn,” Darius muttered. “The same stuff we saw on the wildlife. What is that?”
“It’s contagious. We have to get him into quarantine. But only the females can touch him.” Niki whipped out her cell, called her beta.
“Roxanne, I need you, Mandy and Carol up here, stat. Carl’s not dead. He’s got the disease.”
As she pocketed the phone, Aiden gripped her wrist. “What disease?”
She looked at Carl. “I have to take care of this.”
“Forget him for now.” He signaled to Darius. “Help the women with whatever they need, but keep it quiet! I don’t want anyone else panicking. It’s a goat-fuck already.”
Aiden guided her out of the dining room to the porch outside. She plopped into a rocking chair and gripped the armrests, her face pale, sweat beading on her forehead.
“What made him this sick?” She shook her head. “He had a compromised immune system. Carl was weak.”
“How do you know?”
“I like to check out my creditors. When I found out he’d been sick on and off, I learned to time my visits to the grocery store to avoid running into him.”
He had a bad feeling her creditors weren’t limited to Carl. And why? There was little overhead on this ranch. No stock anymore. Mouths to feed, Lupines to shelter, yes, but none of the expenses his ranch incurred.
None of that mattered now. He searched her face. “Do you know what sickened Carl?”
She said nothing for a minute, but torment flickered in her deep blue eyes. “Mitchell, you and your men need to leave here. This place isn’t safe for you. It’s filled with darkness and death.”
“Tell me what you know. Something in the water, the lodge, the air? What the hell is going on at this place?” He struggled to leash his temper.
Niki’s shoulders slumped. “It’s time you know the truth. The full truth about why I want you off my ranch.”
“Well, it’s about godsdamn time you told me the truth. After you’ve been fucking lying to me all this time. You can start by telling me who the hell you are.”
Nia paled. “What?”
He drew in a deep breath, tempted to pound his fist into the wall from sheer frustration. “I know your secret. You have a sister. A twin sister.”
Nia felt all the blood rush out from her head. She stared at Aiden, who looked like a wolf ready to tear her into pieces.
Holding her head between her hands, she moaned. “You know.”
“Damn straight I know,” he growled.
“How, how long?”
“Long enough.”
She lowered her hands and stared at him.
“I want the truth. The full truth.”
“I suppose I should start at the beginning.”
“A good place,” he said dryly.
Stricken, her heart still racing, she licked her lips. “How do you know about my twin?”
“Met her, while you were at the graveyard. Now who are you? Are you Nikita?”
“No. I’m Nia, her twin.”
Aiden rubbed a hand over his face. “Knew it. Knew that sly wizard wasn’t only messing with me.”
“What wizard?”
“Tristan. He was here the other night. Hinted that he knew what was going on, but didn’t tell me.”
Now she gripped the armrests of the chair in sheer panic. Her blood pressure plummeted. The wizard here on her property? He knew. He knew and he would take Niki away from her.
She struggled to breathe, to find her voice. Emotions in turmoil, her whole world in chaos, she reached deep inside for the control that had seen her through one tragedy after another.
And found nothing. Nia felt as if someone had turned her upside down and emptied her out. All her strength was gone.
I can’t take anymore.
You must.
Rocking back and forth, her arms wrapped around her stomach, she stared at Aiden. “Is he here to take Niki away?”
The words were a bare whisper. Aiden shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
She began to pant, desperate for air. This was insane. Her people would see her, think she was falling apart. She had to hold it together. Get a grip, get a grip.
Aiden immediately left his seat and stood. In one swoop, he lifted her into his arms and headed inside to the kitchen. He set her down upon one of the chairs at a small table where her pack’s children occasionally sat and watched the women bake cookies.
Nia felt almost childlike herself as she kept hyperventilating. Aiden sat beside her and gripped her hand. “Deep breaths. Control yourself.”
Nia took long, calming breaths as he went and fetched a glass of water. She took the glass and drank deeply. Finally she set it on the table and felt more composed.
He gave her a steady look. “Ready to level with me? Let’s start with the reason why there are no males on your land. And why Rickie is terrified to die.”
She nodded, struggling to rein in her emotions. “As you’ve seen, we don’t have a single male over the age of 12. The boys who experience their first shift into wolf die shortly after. We’ve lost two and I can’t bear to lose anymore. I don’t want anything to happen to your men, or you.”
“Shit.” Blood suffused his face. He looked ready to tear her head off. “You don’t want anything to happen to my men? Or me? What the hell’s going to happen to us?”
Nia’s temper rose. “Calm down, Mitchell. Don’t go all alpha male on me.”
“Oh yeah? I am a fucking alpha, damnit,” he said, his voice growing quieter and more deadly. “Go on. What is it that kills the males?”
“Disease. The land is riddled with it and it’s only on my pack’s land.”
Aiden went very still. He searched her face. “Why only your land?”
She struggled to find the right words. After years of being insular and protecting her pack, Nia didn’t want to share their inside information. Her father had drilled it into her that no one must know. But Aiden and his men were at risk. And he deserved to know the truth.
She slumped against the chair, unable to meet his eyes. “My father took Pandora’s Chest.”
A low curse filled the air. Aiden sagged against his chair. Now she did lift her gaze, saw the bleak despair on his face. “Fuck. That chest is cursed.”
“You know of it?”
“Every sane werewolf from here to the east coast knows of the legend, and the dangers. Only a truly mad, or greedy alpha would allow his pack to acquire such cursed treasure.”
The chest possessed the power to grant an OtherWorlder’s dearest wish, but
at a great price. Once the chest was opened, it released tendrils of magick to lure more victims into seizing the chest for themselves, igniting the hope that their wildest dreams were within reach.
“My father was neither. He was desperate.” Nia pushed a hand through her long hair. “My mom died in childbirth after having us. Niki was older. I’m the youngest. I’ve kept my sister’s existence secret since birth. There’s a prophecy spoken in our family for three generations that the eldest girl twin in our family would be claimed by the Silver Wizard. He would come to get her and spirit her away to the afterworld, where she would perish. So when we were born, Dad hid Niki and pretended there was only one girl, the younger twin.”
“I’m not truly your mate,” she said, her voice quivering. “I’ve pretended to be something I’m not my whole life. Sometimes to give Niki a break, we’d switch places and I would hide in her basement apartment and she would be Niki, the alpha.”
For a moment, silence draped between them. Aiden dragged a hand over his face then he gave her a level look. She began to quiver at the hardness of that look.
“You lied to me.”
“I did it for my twin.”
“You still lied to me. We’re supposed to be mates for life. Partners. And you couldn’t trust me with the truth?”
Nia fisted her hands. “Damnit Mitchell, I’ve spent my whole life living a lie. You forced me into hosting the Mating Challenge by waving the mortgage on my ranch over my head. You think a few vows and great sex are going to change that? My twin is in danger.”
“And if you leveled with me, I could help protect her. Instead, you deceived me. You think I wouldn’t find out? Your twin gets physically ill around me. She threw up after I kissed her.”
Jaw unhinging, she stared. “You kissed my sister?”
Nia didn’t know whether to be outraged, jealous or shocked. Or all three.
“Nothing like kissing you, sweetheart,” he drawled. “I knew right there it wasn’t you.”
“I thought we’d have a little more time. I only wanted to buy a little time,” she said, hating herself right now. “Niki has been so focused on finding a cure for the disease, and she’s so close. She’s spent the last five years dedicated to research.”
He seemed a little calmer. “She seems frailer than you. Quieter.”
“When…” Nia bit her lip, then continued. “When did you kiss her?”
“While you were still down at the graveyard. I thought you’d beaten me back to your cottage. She asked if I was happy with the mating. Seemed concerned.”
Aiden narrowed his eyes. “I was happy, until now.”
Nia blinked hard. “Technically, she should be your true mate, the one whose hand you won in the Mating Challenge. You fought for the true alpha leader.”
He grabbed her chin in a tight grip, forced her to meet his burning gaze. “You’re my mate. Wolves mate for life. I mate for life. I’m not giving you up. As pissed off as you make me, I’m not giving you up.”
Emotion closed her throat at his fierce devotion. “You got the bad end of the deal, Aiden. I lied to you.”
“You’d better tell the truth now. Tell me about the chest.”
“Dad took it about 10 years ago, when Niki fell ill. She was deathly sick, because of these berries she’d found in the forest. Dad didn’t know what to do. He summoned the finest Lupine physician, but she was dying. And then he heard there was a nearby wizard looking for subjects for a breeding program. A couple volunteered to exchange themselves for the chest to save the alpha’s beloved daughter.”
Nia sighed. “They didn’t realize what they were getting into. Dad got the chest and opened it, wishing for his eldest daughter to be returned to full health.”
“It worked.”
“Not only did it work, but suddenly everything on the ranch was prosperous. Our horse breeding program became wildly successful, and the couples who were newly mated became pregnant. And then, about five years ago, everything fell apart.”
“Your father ignored the consequences. For all the good Pandora’s Chest releases, it releases evil as well, a balance of good and bad. How could he be so fucking stupid?”
“He was desperate!” she burst out.
Aiden rubbed his cheek with one hand. “Was this when the disease started striking the males?”
Steeling her spine, she looked him straight in the eye. “It’s worse than you can imagine. It affects only the male Lupines who have come of age and shifted. It’s a magick bacteria, a plague, and there’s no cure. My people have tried everything. It’s airborne, in the trees, the dust, and the damn houses. We tried quarantining the males inside and filtering the air. But that didn’t work.
“We call the disease parvolupus. It’s a horrid, horrid way to die.” Nia struggled to speak in a normal tone as horror clogged her throat. “First the victim feels only slightly feverish and his skin itches. That’s where the scaly patches show up. That can last about a week. And then it progresses to the victim passing out. In the final stages, the victim can’t breathe, they run such a high fever it feels like their body is on fire, and they’re thirsty but nothing will quench their thirst.”
She dragged in a deep breath. “My father was so dehydrated before he died. We had to shoot a syringe down his throat filled with water and he fought us. He was delirious, called us names and said he hated us. It was h-horrible.”
And then the anger in him seemed to fade. He sighed. “It hurts like hell to lose someone you love. I can’t imagine losing someone like that.”
She blinked hard, focusing on the clinical, as her twin did. If she focused on how their father had died, she’d lose it. “Eventually the victim dies. The period from point of contact to death used to be five months to a year, but then it began to shorten.”
This was insane. They should be celebrating a mating, instead of untangling the complicated knots of disease that had held her pack in its grip for five long years.
“It starts as a black patch on the body. Symptoms include a pounding headache, neck ache, and weakness.” She hugged herself, remembering the jerky movements her father made as he died. “It’s a horrid, painful death.”
He narrowed his gaze and withdrew his hand. “You knew of the curse, and you knew what consequences it has for all males. And yet you deliberately held this competition to draw a mate, and males, to your pack? To kill us all? Was that your fucking mating gift to me?”
“No! I knew I couldn’t infect you because women are immune and we can’t spread it. And the parvolupus only infects males who live here longer than two weeks. At least, it didn’t, until now. That’s why I’ve been trying to get all your men to leave. I didn’t want anything to happen to them, or to you.”
She hung her head in misery. “I wanted to tell you. But I made a blood oath to my dad on his deathbed. I’ve already lost so much.” A vulnerability she hadn’t felt in years seized her. “I don’t want to lose you or anyone else.”
“You’re not losing me.”
“You have to leave here.” She stared into his dark eyes. “It’s for your own good, Aiden.”
“No.” He leaned forward, his body tense. “You said the disease strikes after males live here for at least two weeks.”
“I believe the incubation time is shortening, and it could be as little as a day or two. Look what happened to the male from Richard’s pack.”
Nia shuddered, thinking of how quickly the male had been stricken.
“Why didn’t you tell me about the disease? When you knew every single male in my pack was at risk?”
A steeliness shone in those dark eyes. Aiden would not compromise easily. Neither would she.
“I made a deathbed promise to my dad never to tell outsiders. A sacred vow. And as alpha of my pack, it’s my duty to safeguard my people.”
Aiden nodded. “And now as your mate, it’s my duty to safeguard you and everything important to you. That includes this ranch and your people.”
He tipped u
p her chin with one calloused finger. “I’m still really pissed off at you, Nia. But at least you finally told me the truth.”
She nodded. “And now that you know, you have to leave, Aiden. I’ll deal with Carl, and this mess. Take your pack and mine and get out of here. The parvolupus is mutating. I don’t know much longer you’ll have.”
He looked at her grimly. “I’m not leaving. I’ll send the others away, but I’m staying until we find the chest and return it to Tristan.”
“You can’t risk it.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Aiden unbuttoned his shirt sleeve and rolled it up in silence. He held out his right arm.
Acid churned in her stomach as Nia stared.
On the underside of his strong forearm was a patch of black, scaly tissue about the size of a quarter. The disease.
“It’s too late. I can’t leave here because I have the disease, too.”
Chapter 14
Aiden flexed his shoulders, feeling his muscles tense.
Congratulations. You’ve managed to win the woman of your deepest desires, get mated and contract a disease that will kill you, all in less than less than a month. The woman who didn’t tell you that you risked your life by walking onto this ranch.
Fuck.
He touched his shirt sleeve over the black fungal mark, feeling it itch. He hadn’t developed any of the symptoms she’d mentioned. Not yet.
But it was obvious he was ill.
And he didn’t know how long he had until he started exhibiting other symptoms, and became like the others. And died. Or collapsed like Carl had.
“Oh gods, oh gods.” Nia stuffed a fist into her mouth. “I can’t believe this. You’re infected. How long?”
Her panic threatened his already rattled composure. Aiden struggled to keep his voice even and not yell at her. “Noticed it this morning as I shaved.”
“Any other symptoms?”
He thought hard. Nia fisted her hands. “Symptoms, Mitchell! Tell me.”
“No.” He gave her a level look. “Other than complete and total disbelief that you’ve lied to me all this time. Any other lies you care to own up to?”