by Terry Spear
Lelandi sat down hard on the vinyl chair next to the bed. “How bad is Angelina?”
“Several broken bones. Internal bleeding. Not sure of the severity of all her injuries until a doctor takes a look. Darien didn’t want to tell you until he was more certain of the women’s guilt. Let me speak to Doc Mitchell, will you?”
Lelandi’s face warmed. “He’s... well, he had to check out Mrs. Fennigans dog who was having symptoms of a stroke.”
Tom didn’t say anything for a moment. She was in trouble now. “Who’s watching you?” Tom’s voice was deep with barely repressed anger, and he sounded like Darien, except he would have sworn.
“Silva.”
“Damn it, Lelandl. The murderer is still out there and someone has to watch you at all times. Why the hell didn’t Doc Mitchell call in someone else? Forget ft. He would have. But you didn’t wait. Who’s watching Carol’s room?”
“Deputy Trevor.”
“Fine. Stay there until I can get someone else to the hospital to escort you straight home after your visit.”
Not liking that she had to be constantly watched, Lelandi clenched her teeth. ‘Will do. What about Carol’s parents?”
Tom grumbled, “Darien will go ballistic when he learns you’ve been running around without protection. I’ll make arrangements for her parents’ visit. But don’t you leave there until I have a security detail for you.”
“Yes, sir.” She smiled and hung up the phone.
“I could hear Tom’s voice all the way over here.” Silva said.
Carol was frowning so hard. Lelandi took her hand and gave her a reassuring squeeze. “Tom will make the arrangements.”
“You... you risked your life to be with me?”
“Nonsense,” Lelandl said.
But Silva disagreed. “Yes, she did. We were all set on coming here when Doc Mitchell got the emergency call. Peter was supposed to meet us at the house, but when he didn’t show on time. Lelandi insisted we get to the hospital. She worried about you and didn’t want to wait any longer, assuming Trevor would be here In case anyone threatened her.”
“You shouldn’t have risked it.” Carol scolded.
“How are you feeling?” Lelandi hated that everyone worried about her like she was a child who couldn’t deal with adversity.
“My throat still hurts. Tom gave me blood and I’m feeling a little better, but…” She laid her head back against the pillow, her eyes soggy, dark circles coloring the skin.
“Do you... want to talk about it?”
Carol inhaled deeply. “Its driving me crazy. Like Silva, I heard everything Tom said over the phone, he was so angry. I heard him say Hosstene was dead. And Angelina’s in a bad way. That Darien thinks they were in on the blackmail. That the car they were riding in was sabotaged. I can even hear your heart beating rapidly. The smell of antiseptics in the room is overwhelming and burning my eyes. Even when the lights were out last night, I could see as if it were daylight. Although it wasn’t exactly like daylight. More like a dark day when the clouds are getting ready to dump rain.”
“I’m sure it’ll take getting used to.” Lelandi wished she could give her better advice.
“Is this how it felt when you were turned?” Carol asked.
Silva shook her head. “We were born as lupus garous. In fact, you’re in the presence of a royal.” Her voice full of pride, she motioned to Lelandi with a bow of her head, and Lelandi rolled her eyes at her.
Carol’s eyes grew big. “A royal?”
“What Silva means is I’m a direct descendent of the original lupus garou. We believe he was a Norseman, although no one knows exactly how he contracted the lupus garou condition.”
“Some say a wolf bit him but instead of dying, his blood fought off the infection by mutating,” Silva suggested.
“I didn’t think Lelandi was a werewolf because she’s so small compared to the rest of you.”
“We’re gray wolves.” Silva sat taller, “Lelandi’s a red.”
“Are… are there Mexican werewolves, too? Other kinds?”
“Mexican wolves are really grays,” Silva said. “In the Southwest they call them Mexican wolves, and in the Northeast, timber wolves are also grays.”
“I don’t know about other kinds of lupus garous.” Lelandi motioned at the window. “Normally, we don’t go searching for other packs unless someone’s looking for a mate, and even then, many find rogues instead. But we don’t write down the histories about our lines either. Too dangerous. All we know is what’s passed down orally from generation to generation.”
Carol touched the bandage on her neck, “What kind am I?”
“A red bit you. So now there are two of us in the pack.” Lelandi smiled.
“The pack. I’m one of you now?” Carol seemed unsure as to whether this was good news or bad.
“Yes. As long as you wish. Some become loners, rogues. Most stay with a pack for protection.”
“What about real wolves? Do they get you mixed up with them?”
Lelandi chuckled. “One time a female wolf in heat lifted her tail and was trying to entice my brother to mate with her. My sister and I couldn’t stop laughing. Except the next day, a male loner wolf tried to mate me. Then it wasn’t so funny. Leidolf went after him and that was the last we saw of him in our territory.”
Carol laughed, then her expression turned contemplative. “I’ve read a lot about wolf behavior. How once they’ve chosen a mate, they’ll copulate with them several times over and over again, then back up to them, sometimes even putting their leg over them to protect their mate.”
“A defensive measure, sure.” Lelandi smiled. “But lupus garous are a little more civilized.”
“So reds were the first kind of werewolves?”
Silva laughed.
Lelandi looked at her, surprised at her reaction. “Yes, Carol, a red was the first Iupus garou.”
“A gray.” Silva bit her lip, suppressing another giggle.
Carol’s brows and lips raised. “The problem with oral history? I thought since Lelandi was a royal and a red, the first must have been a red.”
“She’s a royal because she has ties to the original, this is true. And she’s had very few human influences afterward, but my ancestors say the first was a gray who mated with a petite redheaded Celt. One of her sons mated with another. And so on until eventually a line of reds was born.”
Lelandi frowned. “Not true. The first was a red. One of his daughters mated a gargantuan of a berserker, a king of the Norsemen. That’s where the first gray line began.”
Carol grinned. “I can see living with a gray pack, but being a red, is going to cause me problems already.”
Lelandi patted her hand and whispered conspiratorially, “The reds came first. That’s all you have to remember. I’ll fill you in on the rest later.”
Silva gave her a devilish smirk. “I’ll bet Darien’s never heard that version before. Wonder what he’ll think.”
“He’ll agree with me.” Lelandi turned to Carol. “But I have a question for you that’s been nagging at me. Darien said you must have seen what happens when we ditch our clothes and mate in the woods. That you didn’t see humans wearing animal skins like you said.”
Carol’s cheeks blossomed with color, and she began playing with her thin blanket. “I... I did see you as werewolves. I was trying to find out if you were one of them. I... I wanted to protect you. I knew it was too late for me.”
“Too late for you?”
Carol looked steadily Into Lelandi’s eyes. “When I had the vision, the scene was set in the woods at night, but I could see as if it was a cloudy day. Just like last night in the hospital room. Which could only mean one thing.”
“When the scene you envisioned finally occurs, you would be one of us,” Lelandi said.
“Wow.” Silva said. “You really can see into the future?”
Sam burst into the room, slamming the door against the wall, his look feral. “Darien read the
riot act to the pack. You are not to go anywhere unescorted.” he directed at Lelandi.
Silva got up from her chair, sauntered over to Sam. and ran her hands over his sweater-covered chest. While Trevor was watching from the hail, she kissed Sam on the lips. “I missed you, too.”
“You know. Silva, you’d think you were afraid of letting our relationship go too far, the way you get me worked up in public, and cool it when we’re in private.” His hands cupped her face like she was a precious porcelain doll, then he kissed her lips, gently at first, then building up the momentum until her hands pressed against his back, encouraging him to go further.
Lelandi smiled. Trevor looked disgusted and closed the door.
Sam broke the kiss, his breathing labored, and so was Silva’s. “Next time, we’ll get a room,” he promised with a caddish wink.
“Who says I’d be your mate?” Silva’s lips curved up a hint, her eyes sparkling.
He chuckled darkly, released her, and motioned to the door. “I’ll be right outside while you visit Carol.” He gave Lelandi a warning look, then stiffly walked out of the room and shut the door.
“As to your question, Silva, yes, I see glimpses of the future.” Carol said, smiling. “You won’t be getting a room.”
Silva frowned. “Meaning?”
“You two were some of the... pack members I saw in the woods that night.”
Lelandi laughed. “Good, that means Trevor’s out of the picture.”
“That one’s dangerous.” Carol warned.
“What do you mean?” Lelandi asked. “Do you see his complicity in all this?”
“Can’t you hear the threat in his voice? I wouldn’t trust him one iota.” Carol sipped some water. “Has he ever been treated as a suspect?”
“No.” But Carol’s comment made Lelandi think of Chester’s words. What if it was someone Darien trusted? Someone close to him. “I doubt Darien would suspect him of wrongdoing.”
“Was he ever noticeably absent when you needed help?” Carol set the empty cup on the table.
Lelandi refilled ft. “When Darien fought Bruin’s brother. But my brother had tied him up at the jail cell to free my cousin. Ural. So Trevor was truly all tied up.”
“What about when you were shot? Was he with any of the search parties? Also, what about the shooter who killed the gunman? Was Trevor’s gun checked?”
“Trevor was taking care of mudslide victims on the highway. And... uhm, I was the shooter,” Silva explained.
Carol gave her a puzzled look.
“Long story,” Lelandi said. “Silva can tell you about it later. But Chester McKinley discovered another bullet and casing. He thought your bullet fell short, Silva.”
Silva’s jaw dropped. “You’re kidding.”
“He gave it to the sheriff to check out.”
Carol frowned. “I don’t remember reading about any mudslides on the highway in the Silver Town Express. The shooting was important and would make the headlines, but if anyone was injured in the mudslide, it would have been mentioned. What about when that maniac took you hostage? Was Trevor looking for you with the rest of the pack?” Carol asked.
“He was helping the sheriff watch my old pack at Hastings Bed and Breakfast,” Lelandi said. Although he’d had perfectly good excuses every time, the feeling there was more to the story made her skin tingle.
“I don’t know. I wouldn’t trust him.”
“Thanks for the warning, Carol. Believe me. I don’t.”
Silva didn’t say anything for several seconds, then she abruptly stood. “Will you two be all right? I’ll ask Nurse Grey when Carol can be released.”
“Sure.” Lelandi exchanged a look with Carol.
Silva gave one of her faked smiles, attempting to hide her anxiety and hurried out of the room. “Be right back, Sam.” She closed the door, and her boots clicked down the hall.
“Something’s wrong, don’t you think?” Carol asked.
“Yeah. Like Silva suddenly became suspicious of something.”
“Considering Trevor, right?”
Lelandi took a deep breath. “Since she’s had such a crush on him. I think so. She constantly kept tabs on him, until she switched her affections to the one who really counted.”
“Sam,” Carol said, dreamily. “She couldn’t do wrong by him. I have another question though.”
Lelandi figured she’d never hear the end of them, although she couldn’t blame her. She hadn’t even given Carol the spiel concerning the semi-immortal part. And she figured Carol wasn’t a virgin. But Lelandi had to warn Carol that she couldn’t have casual sexual relations with a lupus garou. That if one acted interested in her—and with shortages in most packs she’d have lots of interest—if she responded in the same way toward a male, she could be mated and it would be a done deal, for life. But this wasn’t the time or place to talk about it.
“The bullets that killed Doc Oliver and Ritka were silver, weren’t they?” Carol asked.
“Yes.”
“But how are werewolves able to work in the silver mine? I mean, they do, don’t they? Wouldn’t it kill them?”
“No. It’s only deadly if it strikes the heart or brain and isn’t removed immediately. Silver doesn’t bother us otherwise.”
“I’m sure you’re going to get tired of all my questions.”
“Carol, this is such a big change for you. Feel free to ask me anytime. Darien will want you to stay with a pack member until you adjust. The moon’s out and whenever it is, the pull to shapeshift can be strong. But since you’ve been only recently changed and are still injured, you might not experience it for a while.”
“Oh, I have to shapeshift then even if I don’t—”
“We’re here to see our daughter. Carol Wood,” a woman said beyond the hospital room door, sounding brusque and noticeably upset.
Lelandi patted Carol’s shoulder. “Will you be all right?”
Tears misting her eyes, Carol nodded. “Darien gave me a cover story.”
He would. Although Lelandi trusted Carol not to tell her parents what she’d become, she had to stay with them in the room until they left. But she was dying to see what Silva was up to. And she wanted in the worst way to question Angelina.
Sam opened the door and allowed Carol’s parents to enter. Their eyes widened when they saw Lelandi with Carol.
“Nurse Grey said you couldn’t be seen at first, and we thought you were really bad off. She told us we can’t visit for long.” Carol’s mother grasped her hand, her blonde hair as golden as her daughter’s, her eyes as blue. Her father towered over them, but didn’t say a word, his rail-thin body bent with weariness, his dark eyes worried.
“You’ll be all right, dear?” her mother asked.
Carol managed a small, tearful smile. “I’m fine. Mom. I’ll be out of here soon.” She motioned to Lelandi. “This is Lelandi. I’m sorry I don’t know your last name.”
“Silver,” Lelandi said.
Carol’s mouth gaped. “You married Darien?”
Her mother and father looked as shocked.
“When things aren’t so hectic, I’m sure he’ll make the announcement.” Lelandi hated that part of fitting in with human society. Their kind didn’t do the wedding bit. Their mating meant more than any kind of ceremony could mean. They stayed with their spouse until one died. Or at least that’s the way they normally lived their lives.
Finally finding her voice, Carol said, “Oh, sure, I knew it would happen sooner than later. I’m so very happy for you. This is my mother, Lan, and my father, Christopher Wood.”
“My pleasure,” Lelandi said,
“I don’t understand. Aren’t you the one who was shot a few days ago?” Mrs. Wood took a nagged breath. “Kidnappings, more shootings. And all of it revolves around you.” Running her hand over Carol’s hair, she said, “Nurse Grey told us a wild wolf bit Carol and it’s been destroyed. But why’s Deputy Sheriff Trevor Osgood guarding her room? And Sam? What in the world is going
on?”
Carol paled even further.
Lelandi realized living with a pack that didn’t associate with humans had Its advantages. “They’re here because of me,” she lied.
Mrs. Wood’s eyes narrowed. “Then you shouldn’t be here. If danger follows you wherever you go, I want you out of here. Now.”
Mr. Wood cleared his throat. His wife looked sharply at him. “Honey, if Carol wants Mrs. Siiver’s company, then don’t you think she should have her friendship? Mr. Silver does run the town, and Carol hasn’t made any friends since she returned home.”
Mrs. Wood looked like she could strangle him with her glare.
“Dad’s right. Lelandi made friends with me as soon as I met her.” Carol gave her a warm smile.
Lelandi wondered how Carol had ever gotten that notion, but she was glad to be her friend now.
“She’s even convinced Darien I should work at the hospital. You know how much I’ve wanted to.”
Great. Put me on the spot, why don‘t you, Carol?
“I couldn’t have asked for a better friend,” Carol said. “We’re so much alike. I can’t even say how much so.”
Nurse Grey walked into the room. “I’m sorry, but I’ll have to ask everyone to leave so I can change Miss Wood’s bandages. She’ll be released tomorrow afternoon.”
“Then... then it’s not as bad as we expected?” Mrs. Wood asked.
Nurse Grey checked Carol’s vital signs. “She’ll be fine, but she needs to rest.”
“Come back and see me soon,” Carol said to Lelandi, her expression mournful.
Lelandi gave her a cheerful smile. “I’ll be back later. Behave yourself until then.”
“As long as you take Trevor with you.”
“I will.” Lelandi left the room and snagged Sam’s arm, then walked him down to Docs office. “Tell Darien he needs to remove Trevor from guard duty for Carol.”
Sam folded his arms. “He’ll want to know a reason.”
“Carol’s a target, too. Darien knows the specifics as to why. She doesn’t feel safe around Trevor. Give her some peace of mind, okay? See if maybe Tom or Jake will watch her in the meantime. I’d do it, if Darien would let me.”
Sam gave a snort. “You are supposed to be guarded, not guarding others.”