Gage smiled slightly and turned back to the TV. Bridget opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by the arrival of a man at the door to the mudroom, looking equally flushed and maybe just a little annoyed. But that expression vanished as he caught sight of her. He strode over and placed a hand on Aster’s shoulder, meeting Bridget’s gaze over the other woman’s shoulder.
“Hello, Bridget,” he said in a deep, melodious voice. He had the same soft French accent as the Ardennes siblings, giving the words a certain gravitas. “I am Aster’s mate, and Lore Master to the Rabbit River Pack.” Then he smiled, all boyish charm, with maybe just a hint of mischief in his clear green, very nice eyes.
“If you have questions regarding our customs, I will be happy to discuss them with you.” He put out his hand, but Aster knocked it aside.
“Don’t touch her,” she said, sounding scandalized.
“I’m mated,” Dean shot back, as if this made perfect sense. “And she is human. I’m supposed to shake her hand.”
“Well, don’t do it anyway. This is hard enough.” She shot her brother a quick glance before looking back up at her mate.
How interesting. Bridget watched as they had a mini staring contest. They stood for a moment, just looking at each other, and then the intensity vibrating through Aster seemed to relax. It was as if something passed between them without words. From the way Dean was smiling down at her, it was clear he adored her.
Aster made a little capitulating gesture with her head, but what she said was, “Go downstairs, Dean. We will call you if we have questions of… Lore.” She definitely made it sound like, don’t hold your breath.
He just smiled again before flicking his gaze to Bridget. “Nice to meet you,” he said and with a little wave, he turned and crossed swiftly to the basement door. She could hear him trotting down the stairs.
There was a moment of silence.
“Okay,” Elizabeth said. “Let’s get this show on the road. Mari, will you bring the iced tea, please? Aster, can you grab some plates? Bridget, if you would bring up those glasses and some napkins?”
And with that, they trooped upstairs to the room Bridget was starting to think of as hers.
It was a really nice room, complete with a fireplace at one end with the bed and bathroom on the opposite wall. There was a large cushioned window seat with a nice little seating arrangement clustered around it, sort of in the middle. Elizabeth scanned the area and started giving orders.
“Here, Lyla, come sit here by the fireplace and put your feet up. Let’s move the coffee table over here and those chairs. We can have a fire and enjoy our lunch while we discuss the situation.”
Lyla crossed to one of the armchairs by the fireplace and sat down. “Don’t mind if I do. I always did like this room.” She glanced up at Bridget. “This used to be our room, when Aaron first brought me to the pack.” She smiled and watched Mari and Aster maneuver the coffee table over. “Seems like a long time now, but it was only April.”
Bridget wasn’t quite sure what to say. “Oh. Do you… miss it?”
“Oh, no. Aaron and I have our own little cabin now. It’s adorable. Two bedrooms, so it’s fine for now, but we will probably have to build something bigger, or add on—” She broke off with a glance at Elizabeth, who had placed the tray of sandwiches on the table in front of them and was in the process of dragging over one of the club chairs.
“But that won’t be for a while…” She trailed off, and no one said anything for a minute.
“I’ll start the fire,” Aster said, breaking the tension. She knelt by the hearth and began stacking wood within.
After that, sandwiches were passed around and the iced tea was poured out. Aster had a cheery blaze going in no time and Bridget had to admit, it was a very cozy setting. She took a bite of her sandwich, turkey and fresh mozzarella with roasted red pepper on French bread. Delicious. There might be some benefits to this whole abduction thing…
“So. Did somebody say something about a prophecy?” she asked, unable to hold back her curiosity any longer.
“We’ll get to that.” Elizabeth turned in her chair to face Bridget. “Right now I want to talk about Gage. Cray said the trouble is Lucas thinks he trapped you on purpose. Which, apparently, is against the ‘Law.” She added air-quotes to the word law. “But is that even possible?” She addressed that to Aster. “Wouldn’t that be like—I don’t know—against the bond, since it would endanger the pack?”
Aster shrugged. “I wouldn’t think so. I mean, if someone did that with the intention of…” She paused, eyeing Bridget. “If they planned on fixing the problem, so to speak… Not that I know for sure. This type of thing doesn’t come up.” She shrugged again. “Usually.
“I can ask Dean,” Aster continued. “But… I don’t see it. Gage just isn’t like that. I could see him doing something without thinking— but on purpose? No.”
“He said it was an accident,” Bridget put in, and all eyes came to her. She felt the heat rise in her cheeks. She wasn’t— defending him. But it was only right to give his side. Wasn’t it?
“Um… He said when he started running towards me, he hadn’t realized he’d only shifted partway. Is that… possible?”
All eyes turned to Aster, who frowned.
“Normally I would say no. But with Gage? He likes to half-shift. He has ever since he was a teen. It’s… not easy. Most People don’t. They are either in human form or wolf. The shift happens faster than the eye can see, generally. It takes a lot of practice and control to hold that in-between stage. Most never even bother to try.” She shrugged. “But Gage? It’s possible.”
Huh. Bridget thought about what she’d seen that morning when Gage had changed seemingly instantaneously from a grotesquely beaten human to a wolf, and then back to a much more presentable human. There was a short silence as everyone else seemed to contemplate that as well.
“What I don’t get is why he was there in the first place. I mean—there you are having a car accident and suddenly he sees you and…” Mari shrugged. “It just seems… planned, I guess.”
Bridget nodded. “He was following me. He admitted that.”
“He was following you…” Lyla trailed off, looking thoughtful. “Do you think…? Well, Aaron said the People can sense who might be a good mate. Isn’t that right, Aster? Is it possible he just had a really strong sense? I mean… this is Gage we’re talking about. I just can’t see…” She shrugged one shoulder, helplessly.
Aster nodded. “Possible,” she said slowly. “It’s true that traditionally, the People have had the ability to sense who they might make a strong bond with. But…” She made a face. “Sometimes we still miss the signs. I think with the shortage of mates—” She paused for a minute. “Well, I think that might be breaking down a little. With so few females, pretty much anyone fertile will be sought after.” She gave a slight shake of her head. “That can totally mess with a girl’s head,” she muttered.
Bridget leaned forward. Now they were getting somewhere. “Why are there so few females?”
“Well, we don’t know. For the past several generations, our population has been increasing steadily. We live in small isolated communities, in remote areas. Mostly in Canada. And Eurasia. Much easier to hide that way. But those communities have been bursting at the seams lately. The problem is, almost all the babies have been male. Maybe one in four or five are female. As you can imagine, it’s caused some friction within the packs.”
Bridget nodded to herself. “And so they are taking human mates.” It made perfect sense. Such isolated communities would be vulnerable to inbreeding. What better way to avoid that than to force the males to search outside for viable mates? An elegant solution to an evolutionary threat to survival. A bit unusual, maybe, but she’d seen stranger adaptations in nature. Nature was a very clever girl when it came to the survival game.
“What you need to know, Bridget,” Aster said, pulling her from her thoughts, “is that the People mate for
life. They bond… become connected to each other.” She shrugged. “And to the pack.” She gave Bridget a very direct stare. “But there is no going back from that. If my brother says you are his mate…” She paused, glancing thoughtfully at the fire. “Well, I’m sure he has his reasons.”
She turned back, her eyes glowing with a fierce amber light. “Gage is a very special person. I would hate to see him unhappy.” Aster leaned forward slightly. “If you decide to accept him, be sure.”
Bridget smiled. This was so interesting. “You love him very much.”
“I do.”
Bridget nodded. It was no different from the way a human would react to some unknown woman of slightly suspicious background nosing around a beloved younger brother. Not that she was the one doing the nosing, but still…
“So…” She tried to put her question into words. “It’s possible for your people to mate, or um… bond, but still not have a good—” What? “Connection? Relationship?”
“Bond,” Aster said. “It’s possible to form a weak bond. One that is not satisfying for either party. Those pairs fail to thrive. It happens usually when someone takes a human mate.”
“Really?” Bridget leaned forward eagerly. “I wonder if that’s genetic then?”
No one said anything, and Bridget became aware of a certain tension in the room.
“But—wait a minute,” Elizabeth said after a moment. “I thought that was because most humans are mated by accident.” She glanced at Lyla. “And they don’t get a good bite. Isn’t that what Aaron said?”
Lyla nodded.
“And then they don’t usually get that honeymoon period afterword, to strengthen the bond. That’s what Cray told me.”
Aster nodded reluctantly. “Yes… I guess that’s true.”
“I mean, look at us. You can’t tell me you think Cray and I don’t have a strong bond.”
Aster smirked. “No one would say such a thing, Elizabeth.”
“Or Lyla and Aaron,” she continued.
Bridget watched, fascinated, as Aster’s smile softened. “No. They have a very strong bond.”
“Or Nina and Boaz, and they got off to a very rocky start.”
Aster regarded Elizabeth with slightly narrowed eyes. “You make a good point, Elizabeth. And yet the fact remains. It is possible to have a weak bond. And usually—almost always—that happens with human mates.”
She turned her gaze to Bridget, her expression unreadable. “So if you agree, be sure.”
Bridget nodded. She could promise that. Especially since she had no intention of agreeing. Even if he did have a cute butt. And the only way she could ever imagine changing her mind— Yeah. She’d have to be very sure for that to happen.
Chapter 8
Cray looked up from the football game at the sound of footsteps on his front porch. That’s Dean. He rose and went to open the door. Elizabeth was still at the pack house welcoming the new human, but he’d just seen Dean a few hours ago at training. This did not bode well. What happened since then that was sufficient to tear Dean away from his research?
Cray swung the door wide just as Dean reached it. The Lore Master looked as grim as Cray had ever seen him. His heart sank. He’d known it would happen sooner or later, but he’d been hoping for a little more time. He wasn’t ready to leave Elizabeth, even though everything had been quiet for months. He still got the occasional flash of memory— reliving that horrible moment when he’d realized someone had taken her—
He stepped back and let Dean in. “Beer?”
“Yes. Thanks.” Dean crossed the room and settled into the chair closest to the wood-burning stove. Elizabeth had picked one with a glass front and the fire burned merrily behind its shield.
“How bad?” Cray asked as he pulled open the fridge. He glanced across the room to catch Dean’s expression, but he really didn’t need to. His scent of grim worry was enough.
“Bad. Disturbing reports down by Long Lake. Two deadly animal attacks twenty miles apart. They’re calling it a bear, but there wasn’t really enough left to tell much. The remains were scattered, and the bodies only discovered recently. The report didn’t hit the local paper, a weekly, until today. But as near as the coroner can tell, the attacks happened about three weeks ago.”
“Damn.” Right around the full moon. That did sound bad. Cray grabbed the opener and two beers. Dean had a program that sent him alerts on any animal attacks in the northeast, but this was the first to come up in their territory since the pack had taken over. Really, Cray should be monitoring those alerts, but he didn’t want Elizabeth to get wind of it. And Dean, being the good friend that he was, had quietly kept track of them for him.
“Lucas has spoken to Marten and they agree this one is under Rabbit River jurisdiction. You will need to leave tonight.”
Cray opened the Moosehead and handed one to Dean. Sinking down onto the couch, he took a long pull, letting the cool liquid slide down his throat. “Did Marten mention any other reports up in his territory?”
Not that the attacks would be in pack territory itself. That was protected. Well, traditional pack territories were protected. New territories, such as the Rabbit River? Not so much. And no one knew why. Although Cray knew Dean was searching for the answer. He felt his mouth tighten and sucked in a deep, calming breath. If anyone could find the answer, Dean would.
“Nothing in Marten’s jurisdiction, no.”
Marten and Lucas had developed a sort of detente following the trouble with Aster last spring, sharing information about the Sickness. And a disturbing pattern had developed. An increasing frequency of attacks, which was mirrored around the northern hemisphere.
“But my program picked up a couple more last moon,” Dean continued. He shared a grim look with Cray. “I’ve spoken to a number of Lore Masters across Canada and the Northwest. The attacks are continuing to escalate. Most are still not reported, but this can’t go on. The humans are bound to notice something sooner or later.”
Cray nodded, feeling morose. He’d known this was coming, but he’d avoided thinking about it as much as possible. He hated the idea of being away from Elizabeth for more than a few hours. But the time had come. First he’d take care of this incident, and then he would have to begin his rounds. He’d have to inventory the territory under the pack’s jurisdiction, which was large. It was long overdue. He needed to take care of these problems before they got out of hand and the humans got wind of them.
Dean turned from his contemplation of the fire, his face still thoughtful. “Does Elizabeth know?”
“Not yet.” Cray grimaced and took a long pull on his beer.
Dean gave him a sympathetic look. “Well… good luck.”
“Thanks.” Dean had advised him to tell her more than once, but he was too good a friend to say, ‘I told you so.’ Cray scrubbed a hand over his hair. He wasn’t looking forward to the coming conversation with his mate. She wasn’t going to be pleased.
***
Elizabeth stared down at the message on her phone, feeling her belly flutter uneasily. She’d known something was up as soon as Cray started blocking her. Something he only did when he didn’t want her to know what he was feeling. She frowned down at her phone as she typed in her reply.
I can’t leave now. We’re still talking.
I will be there in five minutes.
Determination came through the bond. Elizabeth sighed. She knew that feeling. Cray would not be swayed. She was leaving if he had to come up here and drag her out bodily. Best to avoid that. She had a feeling that whatever was going on, her already being annoyed with him wouldn’t help.
“Well, sorry ladies,” she announced. “I have to leave. Lyla, call me later and let me know if you find anything.”
She reluctantly put down the journal she had been reading. Lyla’s Grannie had been a hoot, and Elizabeth had just been reading about particularly entertaining smackdown of a rival witch. And she was going to miss the margaritas too. But there was an underlying int
ensity to what she could make out through the bond, and she couldn’t ignore it.
She had a bad feeling she wasn’t going to like what came next. But— maybe the police had finally located her ex-boss, Greg?
One can hope.
There were hugs all around, and Mari and Aster promised to look after Bridget, the two of them living the closest—Mari in the same house, and Aster just down the path in the trailer—and she left.
She smiled as she pulled on her sheepskin coat, the soft warmth enveloping her. It had been a Christmas gift from Cray. The People didn’t normally celebrate Christmas, but Elizabeth had insisted. They had put up a tree and everything. She smiled again. It had really been quite lovely, decorating the pack house and her own little cottage. She could feel Cray coming and went to meet him in the back yard.
Her heart dropped at the sight of him. He had a tight grip on his emotions, but she could tell right away something was wrong. Very wrong. Her normally wickedly handsome husband had gone from thoughtfully broody to a completely blank mask. It brought out the stark beauty of his classic Native American features, but it wasn’t a good sign.
She knew this face. It was the same one he wore when he found out he had to leave her unprotected and go deal with those illegal labs.
He took her hand and led her silently down the bank of the Rabbit River toward their cottage. Snow crunched under her boots and the stars shimmered overhead in the crisp winter air. Next to them, the Rabbit River lay quiet, a frozen sculpture of ice, beautiful waves of water flowing over rocks, still and silent until the spring thaw.
“You’re leaving,” she said finally, when she couldn’t stand the silence any longer. Her stomach tightened at the idea. Normally, she was able to put her anxiety out of her mind. No one was getting past Cray. Not after the last time. But if he was leaving—
“I have to.” His mouth was a tight line, his hard face bleached of all color, like chiseled marble in the moonlit night.
“When?” She hated the way her voice wobbled on the word. Dammit. She needed to be strong for him. This was hard enough.
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