by Odessa Lynne
“Why the fucking hell are we walking?” he demanded of Five’s back. “Where’s all that technology you guys have? What about a goddamn ATV or something? Anythi—ahhh, shit!”
Damp leaves under his boots sent him skidding on his ass for a good three feet before Five snagged the back of Mason’s t-shirt and nearly choked him with it jerking him to a stop.
Mason sat up slowly, then yanked his shirt free of Five’s tight grip and pulled it down, sitting there breathing heavily and trying not to feel embarrassed by his close call.
The ridge was steep and the footing treacherous and he had no interest in ending up in the gully twenty feet below.
A heavy hand gripped his shoulder.
Mason shrugged it off and used the bottom of his shirt to rub at the sweat on his face. “Give me a second.”
“You’re tired,” Five said.
Mason craned his neck to look up at Five. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad I’m not stuck back in that house, but…” He dragged his shirt back into place and dropped his gaze to the top of a scrubby pine tree a few feet below his position. “I shouldn’t be on this mission. I can’t keep up anymore.”
“We’re almost there.”
“I don’t care if it’s just over that ridge.” He made a vague gesture to the left where a tight growth of pine couldn’t hide the steep, rocky slope that rose from the far side of the gully.
Five dropped into a graceful crouch beside Mason and pointed to the right, where the land on the other side of the gully smoothed out into flat forest. “Then it’s a good thing the laboratory is that way.”
Mason squinted into the undergrowth. “Thought we needed to head east.”
“We did, but we also detoured far enough away from the laboratory to come in from the other side. We’ve been walking in a westward direction for a while now.”
“Shit.” Mason looked up through the trees at the sun. It was probably two or three o’clock, unless he’d completely lost track of the passage of time. He missed his phone, but he’d lost it in the accident that had sliced open his arm and it was buried in the mud somewhere underneath that damn ATV. “I hate trying to get around out here without a map or a compass.”
“I’m sure you have other strengths.”
“Shit,” Mason muttered again with a half-laugh. He swatted at a mosquito trying to land on his arm. They were probably breeding in the gully somewhere below in the leftover runoff from the seasonal storms that never seemed to end this time of year. “I can’t believe my goddamn life right now. This isn’t where I thought I’d end up. I was going to pilot cargo drones with my dad.”
“The ship I lived on was suffering catastrophic structural damage. We knew we’d found a possible home, but I wasn’t sure I would survive the last eiestialiel to Earth to see it. And yet, here I am.”
Mason wasn’t sure what the strange alien word meant, but the context was clear. He cursed softly under his breath, “Shit.”
“I’m satisfied with the gifts of the universe. I’m not sure I would like to be any place else.”
Mason shrugged. “Could be worse I guess. Of course, I could do without the goddamn bugs.” He swatted at another mosquito—or maybe the same one—trying to take a bite out of his neck, then pushed to his feet with a grunt of effort, digging in his heels to keep from losing his balance on the steep incline. “I’m ready. Let’s go.”
Five rose alongside him, looking much more at ease within the crowded scrub growing up the ridge. “Your human body doesn’t have the stamina we have. If you need more time to rest—”
“I said I was ready. I’m not letting those bastards get too far ahead of me. I’ll never catch up.”
“Our goal isn’t to catch up. Lake and the others are staying upwind of your scent because I told them to. The repression drugs aren’t infallible.”
Mason gave Five a look and shook his head. “I know that, but I wish to hell you hadn’t reminded me of it.”
He threw his arm around the trunk of a scrawny tree and started a controlled slide on his booted feet down to the next. He kept his eyes on what he was doing and ignored the rough scrape of bark on the inside of his arm.
He had his feet under him again on a much gentler grade within minutes. The next several feet of travel down the ridge only took half the effort of the last.
Near the bottom, Five said, “There is something we need to discuss before we reach the laboratory.”
Mason waited for Five to continue, but it wasn’t until Mason was picking his way carefully into the mud-slick gully that Five did.
“Your brother told us you don’t know why he was at the laboratory. You should understand, mate or not, that if your reason for being there was anything other than to help your brother stop these people, you will have to face Traesikeille and he will not judge you innocent in the events to come.”
The alien name had a familiar ring to it, and Mason thought he recognized it as belonging to the wolves’ First Alpha—their leader—and the wolf who’d taken Brendan and turned him from a leader of the renegades and into a mouthpiece for the wolves. The thought of what Five might mean sent Mason’s stomach churning.
His distraction nearly caused him to slip his foot into one of the many deep grooves that runoff from the ridge had cut into the clay soil. Only a few more feet and the gully widened out into something that looked like an old roadbed. He’d be able to think for a change instead of worrying about breaking a damn leg…
He only took a few more steps before Five’s hand came down on the back of his neck and stopped him.
“You haven’t asked for any details of our mission. Aren’t you curious? Or do you already know what we’ll find?”
Mason twisted around, careful to keep his feet placed on firm ground.
“You don’t trust me. I know that. But I don’t know what they were up to in that lab. I don’t know what this weapon is that you want to destroy. Marcus never told me what he was doing, only that he needed me. He called, I went. If the only thing you want to hear is that I was there to play hero like my brother, you’re going to be disappointed. I wasn’t there to do anything except save Marcus from whatever mess he’d gotten himself into. And I didn’t even manage that. I’m lucky—so goddamned lucky—he’s even alive.”
Five’s hand flexed at the back of Mason’s neck. “I want to trust you.”
It wasn’t what Mason was expecting to hear.
He exhaled roughly and brought his hand up, his intention to point hard at Five, but he changed his mind and scrubbed his hand down his face instead. The smooth skin at his chin and jaw was a nice change from the scruff he’d been carrying around for days. Right before they’d set out on this mission, he’d had a chance for a quick shower and shave. He only wished he had access to the wolves’ shaving tech at home. There was nothing else like the close, smooth shave it could give.
He dropped his arm to his side. “Listen, I don’t know what you think you know about me after two days, but you don’t. You don’t know me. And you shouldn’t trust me. I’ve done some really selfish shit, some of it so ugly that even I’m ashamed of it. Sometimes I’m so goddamned ashamed of myself I can’t even look in the mirror. But that doesn’t matter, because you don’t know me and you don’t know if I’m even telling you the goddamned truth. You just don’t trust somebody you don’t know after two days and half a lifetime of being on opposite sides of a conflict.”
“We’ve only been on Earth for eleven of Earth’s years. Hardly half a lifetime.”
“Don’t be a shitbrain. You know what I mean.” The words were out of his mouth before he thought to stop them. It was something he might’ve said to his brother—definitely not something he needed to be saying to the alpha wolf in charge.
But Five’s mouth turned up and the growl Mason half-expected didn’t come. Five was surprising him at every turn and he didn’t know what to make of it.
“I listened to you and your kin argue while we walked to the den. It’s interest
ing how often you called him names.”
Mason scowled. “Don’t get any ideas.”
“It’s much too late for that. I already have a great many ideas about you, Mason Waters. Now—” Five turned Mason and gave him a light push between the shoulders. “Walk. The rest of the pack is waiting impatiently for us to catch up.”
“I thought we weren’t trying to catch up.” Mason started looking for a clear path across the gully that wouldn’t end with his boots stuck in the mud.
“That was before they had reached the laboratory. I told you we were close.”
“I’ll shut up then.”
“I don’t require your silence—yet. You’ll know when I do.”
Mason glanced back. It wasn’t a smart move. His left boot slipped off the edge of a rock and only a quick catch by Five stopped him from sprawling on his ass.
“But maybe we should concentrate on the task at hand and save our talking for later,” Five said, “because traversing uneven terrain does not appear to be one of your strengths.”
Mason glowered up at Five.
Five helped Mason regain his footing, his wry look doing nothing for Mason’s sorely abused self-respect. He started to snap at Five, but one good look at him stopped Mason cold.
He took a breath, a small laugh choking its way out of him.
Five’s eyebrows rose, and Mason’s gaze drifted over him, his smile widening, his laugh mirroring the growing warmth in his belly.
Five glanced down. He hadn’t escaped Mason’s mishap unscathed. Not even the dark t-shirt he wore could hide the streak of clay-orange mud Mason had somehow managed to smear across his chest.
Mason wiped his muddy arm off with the bottom of his t-shirt. For some inexplicable reason, the sight of Five covered in mud filled him with good humor.
He gestured, his smile wider than ever. “That’s a damn good look for you.”
Five flicked carelessly at a small chunk of mud over his midsection. “It was inevitable you would eventually realize how attractive I am.”
Mason guffawed—so hard it made his ribs ache.
But it was a sweet ache, and when they restarted their walk, Mason couldn’t stop wondering what it was about that moment that had made him feel more alive than he’d felt in half a lifetime.
Chapter 19
“Is it too late to ask what the hell we’re doing here?” Mason whispered to his right where Five crouched next to him in the midst of the forest surrounding the old biolab.
Five’s forbidding stare was answer enough.
“Shit.” Mason twisted on the balls of his feet and hunkered a little closer to the ground, using his hand to keep from losing his balance.
The cloying scent of pine hung heavy over him, filling his nose with every breath he took. They’d traveled less than a mile from the gully before catching up to the other wolves, but even in that mile, the terrain had changed dramatically. The oaks had given way to more pine and thick underbrush that the changing season hadn’t killed off yet. Kudzu grew in thick patches, choking out a significant swath of the forest leading to the back side of the building. Another few years and the invasive vines would cover it, unless someone came and cut it back.
A movement to his left caught his attention.
Lake was crouched beside him, untying the laces of his boots. Lake was a tall wolf, taller than Five—taller than any of the five other wolves who’d come along on this mission. He had clear green eyes and the darkest hair Mason had ever seen on a wolf—not black, but the deepest, darkest red Mason had ever seen, highlighted by the late afternoon sun dappling through the trees.
Mason had barely gotten a glimpse of the other wolves. As soon as he and Five had arrived, the others had gone off in different directions, either to act as lookouts or to get away from Mason’s human scent.
Mason hadn’t asked which.
He should have, he saw that now. He should have asked a lot of questions.
Maybe it was because he was so used to letting Marcus lead, but he was seeing now that he was going to have to change his ways, and damn quick too.
He jerked his head toward Lake. “Why’s he taking his boots off?”
“Getting into the laboratory unseen will be easiest through the second floor.”
“Are we really worried someone’s watching?” He hadn’t seen any signs of occupation in the five minutes they’d been watching the back of the building.
“There’s enough fresh scent nearby to make it prudent to be cautious. I don’t want you hurt if we’re discovered by enemies and have to fight.”
“That’s nice of you.”
Mason focused on the corner of the old biolab that he could see through the underbrush. A mix of oak and pine crowded against the back of the building on a hilly slope, but several of the trees grew tall enough to get someone into one of the broken windows of the upper floors at the divide between the burned out half of the building and the half that still stood.
With a deft, quick motion, Lake tied the laces of his boots together, stood, and swung them over a chest-high limb. Two seconds after that, he hauled himself up the same limb with a careless strength that made Mason let out a silent whistle.
He glanced at Five, only to realize Five was staring at him instead of the building or Lake.
“What?”
“Nothing of concern.”
Mason didn’t believe that for a minute, not with that glittering gaze locked on him, but he turned his attention back to the building and ignored the quiet rustle of leaves and shaking of limbs overhead. He wasn’t going to gawk, no matter how much he wanted to see exactly what Lake was doing and how he was doing it.
Five leaned in close enough for Mason to feel his body heat at his back and pointed through the underbrush.
“He’ll enter there.” The quiet words tickled at Mason’s ear and Mason fought the shiver that wanted to slide through him. “When he’s certain no one has returned to the lab, he’ll signal that it’s safe for you and then we’ll enter with Jordan, Rain, and Cord. Francis and Gray will watch the forest.”
Mason hadn’t taken his eyes off the windows. If he had turned his head, he would have been almost mouth to mouth with Five.
“I can count the panes in those windows,” Mason said. “It’s funny how much better I’m seeing these days. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”
“A discussion for another time.”
“Of course.” Mason continued to stare at the windows he shouldn’t have been able to tell weren’t solar glass from this distance.
He’d been nearsighted since he was sixteen. He’d been scheduled to have the problem corrected the week the heat came and cracked the world.
Needless to say, he’d continued to be nearsighted in the decade since.
Except now, apparently, he wasn’t, and he hadn’t even noticed the change happening.
He hadn’t noticed a lot of stuff he was noticing now. One particularly scary thought had started teasing at the back of his brain, but he kept shoving it away; he had enough to worry about without adding that goddamn horror to the list.
The silence stretched out. Mason managed to catch sight of Lake in the trees before one jaw-dropping jump and he sucked in his breath, hand clenching into a fist as he watched, sure Lake was about to break his neck, but that wasn’t what happened. A short minute later, he was swinging out of the tree and sliding into the building and out of sight.
“Showoff,” Mason muttered, but his pulse was still fluttering wildly at his throat and the adrenaline in his body made him want to jump to his feet and stomp around just to burn it off. The muscles in his legs started to cramp and he shifted a little to the right, putting him a few inches closer to Five.
“He’s attractive when he’s showing off his strengths, isn’t he?”
“Sure,” Mason said, then, “I mean, I guess, I wasn’t really paying attention.”
“Of course you weren’t.”
Mason looked askance at Five. �
��Are you jealous?”
“You belong to me. I have no reason to be jealous.”
“Last I heard, your instincts weren’t that reasona—okay, okay, sorry.” Mason let out a quiet huff and turned away from Five’s dark expression. “Won’t mention it again.”
“Jealousy is an emotion of doubt. It’s unnatural to doubt a mate.”
Mason flicked a leaf off the toe of his boot. “Pretty normal for humans. Last girlfriend I had was fucking around and I got jealous as hell over it. But it was my own damn fault. We weren’t together that way, and she had every right to do whatever she wanted. Figured I’d better cut my losses though. She liked Marcus better anyway.”
Five slid a look in Mason’s direction. “She was fucking your kin.”
“Yeah. He didn’t know.” But Mason didn’t sound as sure about that as he should have. Time to change the goddamned subject. “How long do you think this is going to take?”
Five rose from his crouch with fluid grace. “It is safe.”
“Oh.” Mason grunted as he rose out of his own crouch, his muscles burning with the sudden flow of blood.
“This way.” Five started pushing through the underbrush, moving with a quiet efficiency that impressed Mason.
He tried to do the same, but every step he took seemed to put him on top of brittle deadfall that cracked and crunched underfoot.
Halfway to the front entrance, just past the edge of the thickest part of the forest, one of Five’s wolves met up with them. Mason had recognized him earlier, even from a distance, as the wolf who’d stayed in the hallway yesterday when Mason and Marcus had first entered the wolves’ house.
“Cord,” Five said.
Cord inclined his head toward Mason in a way that seemed more significant than a simple nod, then said, “Zaeta—sorry, Alpha—Francis tells me the trail you wanted him to pick up doubles back into the laboratory. He followed the second trail into the woods as far as he dared but the—”
Cord turned his head.
Five tensed, so suddenly and completely that it sent a surge of adrenaline through Mason.