by Bonnie Vanak
His mind whirled with all the information Nia had told him. Nia. The younger twin. His mate.
Her lower lip wobbled. “I’m sorry, Mitchell. So sorry. I should have told you.”
“Damn straight you should have!”
Aiden drew in a deep breath. Yelling at her wouldn’t solve anything. Priorities. He scrubbed a hand over the bristles spiking on his chin and cheeks. “Have you tried to find a cure, other than looking for Pandora’s Chest?”
Blood had drained from Nia’s face. Moisture shimmered in her deep blue eyes and she stared at him with a woebegone look.
“I’m so sorry, gods, I’m so sorry. This is all my fault, Mitchell.” She went and knelt before him. “I should have told you earlier, should have made you leave here. I never wanted this to happen. Never.”
His chest tightened. He wanted to forgive her, wanted all this to go away, but he had to face the grim reality. He’d been too lax, too forgiving. His father was right. Never fall in love, because love is a bitch.
Or it will kill you.
“Is there a cure?”
“My sister has been working on one, while my aunt Mandy, Roxanne, and I search the ranch for the chest. Niki studied biology through online college courses. She’s really smart, smarter than I am.” Nia returned to her chair. “She’s very good with research, and she’s poured over the ancient Lupine texts to find clues. It’s the reason why we went into foreclosure. Costs a lot to set up a private lab.”
Nia sighed. “The ranch was falling apart, but the cure came first. We kept losing so many males. Niki sacrificed all her time to try to find a cure. I love my sister. I’d do anything for her. I’d protect her to the last drop of my blood. She’s family.”
Deep inside, he understood her pain, and her fierce devotion to protecting her sister. Hell, he’d done the same himself for his sister, taking Kara away from their mad father to live with him when he’d started the Mitchell Ranch. But he couldn’t soften on her now. He had to remain strong, and find a way to eradicate this disease before it took down his whole pack. Aiden felt a chill race down his spine as he thought about young Rickie, and the fear in the boy’s eyes.
“First, we’re settling everyone down and checking every single adult and pre-pubescent male on this property. Are you certain the females aren’t carriers?” he asked Nia.
Nia nodded. “Niki’s research proved that.”
“Good. We’ll start with the children.”
Two hours later, after everyone in both packs had checked for symptoms of the disease, most of their combined packs left for his ranch, including his beta. Darius began shuttling them in all available vehicles.
Only Roxanne and the devoted Garth remained, and Nia’s aunt Mandy, who was nursing Carl.
And Rickie. Aiden’s throat tightened. The boy had also shown signs of the disease.
Fortunately, everyone else seemed to be okay. He couldn’t risk anyone else falling ill, not after what he’d learned.
Aiden watched the last truck filled with Nia’s people depart for the ranch. He turned to Nia.
“We’re going to visit your twin. Right now.”
He did not take her hand as they walked down to the basement below Nia’s cabin. Aiden felt like he had ground glass in his stomach. He’d trusted his mate, and she’d deceived him all this time. Needed to blow off steam.
“I’m not ready yet. I need a minute,” he muttered.
He jogged over the wood pile near the basement. Nia followed.
“We have enough firewood,” Nia said, sounding bewildered.
“Not for my purposes.” Aiden took a log and the nearby ax and began splitting it. He chopped, wood chips flying, concentrating his anger on the wood. He cut and chopped until nothing remained of the log but kindling.
He slammed the ax into the log pile. “Now I’m ready.”
She looked at the shards of wood with huge eyes. “Whoa.”
Whoa is right. But he needed that physical release.
Nia knocked on the door, three brisk raps. When the door opened, Aiden stepped back, stunned.
Seeing was believing.
Her twin was a reflection of his mate; the same long, dark blond hair, and stunning blue eyes. But while his mate’s eyes shone with passion, fire and tenderness, there was only fear in Nikita’s.
The real Nikita, he amended. How could he have been fooled all this time?
And then he glanced from one sister to another, and knew they had spent their whole lives perfecting the deception.
They walked inside and Aiden closed the door, leaning against it.
“You told him,” Nikita said to her twin, backing away from Aiden.
“I had to.” Nia explained about Carl, and then pointed to Aiden’s arm. “Show her.”
He unrolled his shirt sleeve and Nikita’s eyes widened. “Oh no! Not you!”
“I’ll say,” he said dryly, rolling back his sleeve. “In all these years this disease has plagued you, have you found a damn thing to stop it?”
Niki gave him a woebegone look. “I’m close, so close. I’m sorry, this is my fault. I should have known you’d be more susceptible than other males. You’re a blooded alpha male, like our dad was. Your magick is stronger and that makes you more vulnerable to infection.”
“It’s not your fault, Niki. It’s mine,” Nia started.
His gaze whipped back and forth between the twins. It was like watching a tennis match. He held up a hand. “Enough,” he roared.
Both sisters quieted.
“Focus on the immediate. What can I do to delay my symptoms while we search for the chest?”
Niki’s gaze flicked to the side. Odd. As if she knew something… Aiden stepped forward. “Level with me. What do you know?”
“You have to shapeshift into a wolf and stay in your wolf form. It’s the only way to delay the advancement of the disease.”
Nia’s twin kept her distance, as if she were afraid of him. He almost laughed. How the hell could he ever have thought this sister was his Nia? They were as different as the sun and the moon.
“If he shifts into wolf, then how can we communicate?” Nia went to take his hand, but he sidestepped her.
He saw the hurt in her eyes before her expression shuttered.
“You’ll have to learn,” Niki said. “I need a little more time. I need to test it out my new formula. It works, but I have to be certain.”
Aiden didn’t dare hope. Nia’s expression brightened. “You didn’t tell me the vaccine worked!”
Niki smiled sadly. “I didn’t have a chance. You’ve been too busy holding everything together, little sis.”
“What are you testing it out on?” Aiden asked.
“I found two sick rabbits in the woods.” Nikita looked defiant. “I didn’t infect them, they were already sick. All my subjects in the past were Lupines already infected.”
“And nothing worked on them.” Nia sighed. “Come on. Let’s leave her alone to work.”
They went upstairs. Inside her cabin, Aiden paced. “I have to get back to my ranch and check over my men. I don’t want this damn thing spreading to my people.”
“And if you return there infected, you’ll risk all of them.” Nia shook her head. “You have to shift and delay the disease. It’s the only way.”
“I’m not staying as wolf when my pack, and yours, is endangered. I’m the alpha!”
“And right now you’re a sick alpha,” she snapped. “Do it.”
Frustrated, he fisted his hands. “I wouldn’t be in this predicament if it weren’t for you, Nia.”
Her face fell. “I know. I would apologize a thousand times if I thought it would help, but it won’t. I’d take the disease into my own body to cure you, but I can’t. I wish I could, Mitchell. Every time I was forced to watch another male I cherished, cared about, perish from this disease, I wanted to die myself.”
Nia’s mouth trembled. “And it kills me to know you’re infected because of me. If you had never set
foot on this property, you’d be healthy. I thought you had more time. And now look what I’ve done to you. I can’t bear to watch you suffer and get ill like they did, Mitchell. Please, shift into wolf.”
Aiden’s stomach tightened. “Fine. But first, a few signals. If I give one warning growl, it means stay back. If I point to something, pay attention. And you’re not leaving my side. I don’t want you wandering around where I can’t keep an eye on you.”
“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 ba
lls 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.