by Lia Violet
Mark didn’t remember ever seeing his father like this, letting a woman cling to him, a woman they barely knew.
“What’s going on?” Mark asked quietly. “I have to get back to the lab for a call with some specialists. I’ll get someone to help her move on site.”
“No need. She will stay with me.”
“Dad. I know Mom’s been gone a while,” Mark said, choosing his words carefully.
His dad sputtered and laughed. “I’m not interested in her as a date, son. But maybe you are.”
Mark growled, the sound surprising them both.
“You’re not ready to think about that yet, I suppose,” his father said. “But I signed out the jewelry for her.”
“You what?” Mark was surprised she didn’t wake up. “We are not giving tribal heirlooms to someone we just met. As it is, I’m going to have her vetted, starting now.”
“What does that mean?” she asked sleepily. “Will you need my license and credit cards? I do have some credit card debt.”
“Yes,” Mark said at the same time his father said, “Of course not.”
“I don’t mind,” she said. “But I won’t take the jewelry. Why do you think it affected me that way?”
“I want her to meet with Craig.”
Mark scowled. “What for? We can tell her anything she needs.”
“Who’s Craig?” She still sounded sleepy.
“Craig Alvarez’s mother was Dawning Sun, the last we had over here in the shifter part of the tribe.”
“Yes, but he’s not a Healer,” Mark said.
“Craig is very popular with women. Is that what you’re worried about?” his father said, grinning. “But his mother was the last to wear the jewelry in a ceremony. He may be able to tell us if it affected her.”
They rode the rest of the way in silence.
Renee looked around the comfortable cabin they’d offered her for her stay. She was happy to be alone, and this space was spacious and comfortable for her needs. She didn’t want to put that jewelry on again. She really just wanted to go back home. It wasn’t like they were keeping her against her will, she knew. She could just go home.
A big part of her wanted to stay, and see what was going on. She had a little time before she was due back at the Alpha’s offices. She was going to meet Mark then join them for the ceremony.
She went to head across the clearing to the Alpha residences, when she ran into Mark in front of your cabin. He was holding a bag that smelled wonderful.
“I brought you some food.”
Renee smiled, expecting some cultural treat. “Am I going to learn a new food?”
“No. It’s from Panera. I was getting some for me, and thought you might be hungry.”
She laughed as they headed into her cabin.
“So you can make people shift?” She asked, as they sat enjoying their meal at the cozy dining table.
“Yes. We have others who wonder about their heritage, or who have injuries that a shift may heal. We have a few doctors who specialize in shifters at the Northern Navajo Medical Center and they administer the shot if someone fits the criteria. It’s more like helping someone shift.”
“How did you develop that formula?”
As he described the hormones and adrenaline compound, she found herself wondering if he was dating anyone.
“Sorry. I tend to go into too much detail about my work.” He grinned. “My staff is the same way, which is why we are closed off together so much of the time.”
He stood, gathering his plate, and reaching for hers.
She was impressed. She assumed an Alpha’s son was like royalty, but Mark was down to earth. “What signs would I look for if I wanted to shift?”
His plate hit the sink with a clang. “Likely it would have shown by now, but sometimes it only comes out with the right combination of situation and need.”
“Like if someone’s in danger?”
“Do you want to shift?” He was standing so close behind her, she could feel his breath on her neck.
She turned, slowly and shrugged. “I want to know what to look for. I don’t want to just shift in traffic or something like that.”
His chuckled. “Usually shifters learn control before they are old enough to get their licenses. I have seen adult cases who shift later, but never in traffic.”
“I’m sure you think I’m ridiculous.”
He tucked her hair behind her ear. “I think you are beautiful.”
He leaned in, and Renee turned her head to meet his lips with hers. They both froze. It nearly hurt her to step back. She was yearning to return to his arms and wrap herself around him, to kiss him again and again.
“I didn’t mean-“ He was saying.
“I’m so sorry.” He didn’t mean to kiss her on the mouth. Oh no. She could feel her face heating. “We should probably head to your father’s now, huh?”
Mark touched her back lightly as they made their way to the Alpha’ cabin in the dusk. He didn’t know what to say. He had wanted to kiss her mouth, but he was trying to lead up to that. And now she was embarrassed. He clearly had spent too much time in his lab lately, away from people.
He couldn’t stop thinking about their brief kiss, how soft her lips were. He wanted to pull her close, slide his tongue into her mouth, and see where things lead.
He would try to talk to her again after the ceremony, see if they could go for a walk or something the next day.
“Renee.” Craig’s smile lit up his face. His eyes were a lighter shade of brown than she expected after seeing Mark and his father. It was silly that she expected them all to have similarities.
“Why don’t you wear the jewelry to the ceremony tonight,” Alpha said.
“Alpha said the necklace really affected you, putting it on. I couldn’t get a hold of my dad today. He’s working a construction site away from here. I don’t know if it affected my mom like that. She died when I was a baby.”
Renee liked Craig immediately, and wondered why this handsome, charming man didn’t affect her in the same way that Mark did.
Mark, who was leaning against the wall, glared at Craig. “Dad.” Mark straightened up. “What are you doing?”
“Craig, you don’t mind staying with her at the ceremony, do you?”
“Of course not, Alpha. I’ll stay with her.”
“I’m sure I’ll be fine.” Renee wasn’t sure she even wanted to go to the ceremony now.
Since she was expecting it, the effect of the necklace didn’t seem to be as bad. Or maybe it was because she wasn’t wearing all the pieces, Renee realized. She gripped the table where they were sitting as Mark put the necklace on her. Mark affected her at least as much as the necklace, she thought.
She stood shakily after a minute, Craig on one side of her, Mark on the other. They both looked so handsome in their dark clothes. Mark had some sort of ceremonial necklace with a wolf pendant, she realized. Her fingers had brushed it when she kissed him before, she realized.
She reached out when she wobbled, and Mark grabbed her hand, tucking it into his arm like a Regency gallant. She instantly felt better, though she also felt embarrassment.
“I’d love to take you to breakfast tomorrow, Renee,” Craig was saying as they left his home, a two-floor house set way back on the reservation property, almost into the woods.
Renee heard a noise, like fireworks. “Is that for the ceremony?” Then something hit the wood pillar next to where she was waiting for Craig to lock his door.
Mark pushed her down before covering his father’s body with his own.
“Get Alpha back in the house!” he shouted at Craig, scanning the area in front of them.
Craig was on his knees, reaching for his doorknob. He pushed his door open slowly when more shots peppered them, above where they were.
Mark grunted next to her. Renee saw him jerk.
“You’re hit,” she said. “Get inside, do it. We are safer there.”
They heard Alpha cry ou
t, and Renee took a deep breath to avoid panic.
“It’s okay — just got a piece of my arm. Didn’t go through,” the older man said.
Craig was already helping drag Renee inside. She helped him get the two men inside, and they shut the door.
“We’re still not safe,” Mark said through gritted teeth. He ripped off his shirt. “Stay low.”
“Wait!” Renee said. “You could make it worse.” She eyed the freely flowing blood on his arm, and helped him take off his chain and medallion, before moving to press his shirt into the wound. Craig tossed her some towels before moving to look at the Alpha’s graze wound.
She pressed the towel to his arm, looking at the exit wound. It was swelling, likely having broken the arm.
Mark was calling for help with his right arm while she wrapped towels around his entire arm.
“Yes. Alpha is wounded, as am I. Craig Alvarez’s cabin. Active shooter situation. Sound the alarm.” He closed his eyes for a second. “Yes. Cancel the ceremony. Close the gates. Get enforcement here.”
“You mean an ambulance?” she said.
“Not exactly. Our security. They will call an ambulance if needed.”
Craig was helping the Alpha move back away from the front of the cabin and the windows, where they could still hear popping noises.
“Mark, don’t shift when you are losing so much blood. You may have trouble coming back,” Craig was saying.
Renee’s necklace felt hot as she kept the towels to Mark’s arm.
She felt heat from Craig in the room, too. “Hold the towel to Alpha’s arm,” she said. Then, “Close your eyes. Everyone.”
Mark looked startled, as did Craig, but they did as she asked.
She blocked out the noise of shouts, and a couple more pops, breathing deeply. “Breathe with me,” she said to all of them, and could see they were trying.
“Craig, touch Alpha’s shoulder.” They both touched the men’s skin, above the wounds.
Some instinct in her put the wolf medallion in Mark’s hand again, then moved to touch her own necklace, which was still hot.
She continued to remind them to breathe with her, and she was aware of a quiet in the room. She felt peace flow from where her feet touched the ground through her body, and into Mark’s. The hand on his shoulder warmed. He jerked, opening his eyes to meet hers for a moment, before closing again.
She could feel him calming down, somehow, and relaxing. A glance at Craig and Alpha found Craig staring at her, trying to do what she was. He had a hand on his own chain and medallion, which she hadn’t noticed before. It looked a little like hers, with more rows of the U-shaped silver and a less ornate chain. She nodded and closed her eyes again.
After a moment, she was aware of pounding at the door.
“Alpha! Code seven two nine MG.”
“That’s the head of our security.” Mark slowly sat up, still holding the medallion. He stood up, letting Renee touch him, but able to do it himself.
The next few moments were a blur as several men and women escorted them out, under armed guard, and back to the Alpha’s residence, where a doctor was waiting for them with an assistant.
“Did you shift?” Renee heard the doctor say, looking at Mark’s arm.
“No. I lost a lot of blood.” Mark glanced at the towel, but returned to looking at his father.
“Well, I see blood on the towel, but this has healed a lot.”
The room went quiet.
“Alpha’s graze has also started to heal.”
“Renee,” Alpha said. “I believe she has some Healer in her.”
“Also Craig,” she said faintly, not even really believing what was happening in front of her.
“What? I’m no Healer.” Craig wouldn’t look at her. “My mother was. But my father said she helped people in our home, night and day. Not emergency things like this.”
“I felt it. You and I did this.” She knew it to be true. She could still feel traces of the warmth in the necklace.
“With the necklace, you were able to heal Alpha and Mark.” Craig said. “That’s why.”
“The necklace brings it out, but it is inside both of you. I felt it too.” Alpha looked at them, studying them.
Craig just shook his head.
“Renee, let the guard take you back to your cabin to get some fresh clothes,” Alpha said. “And Craig, get some things for yourself. You’re staying here for a few days. We don’t know who the shooter was after all.”
Renee looked up. She’d assumed the shooter was after the Alpha, or Mark. “Don’t you think he was after one of you two?” She gestured towards Mark.
She glanced over his bare chest, bare except for the medallion he’d put on again. His dark skin was covered lightly with hair over taut muscles, and defined abdominals. She wanted to hug him then maybe lick all that bare skin. She shook her head. What a time to be fantasizing about him.
A picture came to her mind of the fiance she’d broken up with before coming here. She’d agreed to meet with him again for coffee when she returned. Everyone told her she was making a mistake breaking up with him, but it had felt wrong being with him, while dreaming of other men. Not other men, she realized. Mark.
“Miss?” One of the armed men appeared next to her.
“Bring her back here,” the Alpha was saying absently. “She’ll stay here or at Mark’s, which is better enforced than hers.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Does this happen often?” she asked the large man walking with her. “I’m Renee, by the way.”
“Devon,” he said. “And I’ve only been part of the guard here for six months. We’ve had occasional threats at the Alpha, or at Mark, but no active shooting on our reservation. I suspect we will have news crews here.”
“Oh no.” Did she bring this disruption here? Maybe she should leave. “Devon, I may pack all my stuff and move to the hotel like I planned before Mark invited me to stay. I don’t want to disturb the Alpha’s household.”
He hesitated. “If the Alpha wants you to stay with him or his son, you should do it for the time being. Pack everything you can but talk to him first before going elsewhere. I’ll have to stay near you no matter what until the threat is dealt with.”
“Are you also a wolf?” she asked then realized he might not want to answer. “I only recently discovered that I’m part shifter. I’m interested in them now.”
“I have always been a wolf, and only recently discovered I’m a quarter Cherokee. All Native American shifters come here, especially the wolves. I met my mate within a week of arriving.”
“Your mate?” she asked, moving to repack the clothes she’d hung in the closet that afternoon.
Devon was walking to all her windows, checking to make sure they were still fastened, and looking out. “Werewolf mating is kind of intense. I was having reactions to the Alpha’s admin as soon as I met her then invited her out. One kiss, and I knew I’d found her.”
“Is everyone in your family mated?” She’d done a little research on mates, and found they tended to run in families especially.
“Yes, except for my younger sister.” He checked his watch, obviously receiving a message.
“What do you mean reactions? I mean, how did you know you’d found her?” she said, wondering if she was pushing her luck.
“Maybe you’ll get a chance to meet with Eliana and ask her, but I just got a message to hurry you back. They haven’t been able to find the shooter.”
The hair on the back of Renee’s neck rose as they started to walk quickly back to the main building. Fear hadn’t bothered her as much on the way over, but perhaps that was because of adrenaline, she thought.
Then she noticed Devon reach for his gun as they heard a noise as something hit the house behind her.
“Get down! Crawl back to the house!” Devon went into a crouch, a hand on her back as they backed back into the house.
“The noise is different.”
“Bastard has a silencer
,” Devon said, aiming his gun towards the direction the bullets seemed to come from. He swore, as Renee saw him jerk.
“You’re hit.”
“It’s not serious. Keep going.”
The bullets increased as they got near her porch. They would have to climb steps to get to the door.
“Around the back. Now.” Devon held his left hand against his thigh and the gun with the other.
Renee was trying to keep her breath quiet but felt as if she could hardly draw air. Devon rose for a second, aiming for a place in the trees across the clearing and fired, three times.
The bullets stopped. “Keep going around,” he said, crouching down again.
His radio sparked to life. “Active shooter outside her cabin. I may have gotten him,” he said in response. There wasn’t much behind the cabin except woods.
“We will go in there to hide if we have to,” he said, eyeing her sliding doors. “I take it those are locked?”
“Yes. First thing I checked after unpacking. Single woman alone, etc.”
“Normally I’d say good thinking.” He winced.
They heard shouts from the front of the cabin. “He’s down!”
She wrapped an arm around Devon as he seemed to have trouble standing up.
“Are you all right?” Mark raced up to them, his hand cupping Renee’s cheek.
“We’re fine. Did Devon get him?” She enjoyed being in Mark’s arms. It felt familiar, safe.
“My father will want to honor you, you know,” Mark said to Devon.
He shook his head. “It’s my job.”
“But he’s hit,” Renee said, going to look at his thigh.
“Medics!” Mark yelled. He reached for Renee’s hand. “But I think you should touch his leg, as you did my arm. I have a theory.”
“What, that I have powers?” She shook her head. “No.”
“Who is the shooter?” They were moving closer.
“Dad?” they heard Craig say.
“Get your mother’s necklace off that bitch,” they heard someone else say.
“I know him,” Renee said. “I saw him at the research library. He ripped a page out of that book.”