Desired By The Pack: Part Three (5 page)

Mark shot another look at Anders, who had stopped eyeing the hunter like he wanted to tear him limb from limb, and headed out with a mumbled farewell.

Cleo gave her another long look, assessing. “Have you ever worked with burn trauma?”

“I’ve been in geriatric facilities since graduating. A few instances of burns but there isn’t much opportunity for more than bad food spills.”

“Most of the injuries that come back through the portal are burns. Ravager claws.” Cleo dropped onto the room’s single straight-back chair.

January knew about the fiery demons but she’d spent so little time in pack life, she didn’t have any experience with them. The education she would have received upon her first change had never manifested, just like the change. Cleo didn’t seem to care about
January’s outsider status as she drew a deck of cards from her pocket and described the treatment she’d developed over the past several months.

Cleo was beating January’s tail at a game of poker when Beck returned a couple hours later. Anders alerted them of the incoming bunch of men by stalking from the hunter’s sick room.

“I’ll be collecting on these,” Cleo said, sweeping her pile of cotton balls into a stainless steel bowl.

January pocketed a fraction of Cleo’s winnings and stood. “I didn’t expect anything else.”

Cleo grinned and winked at her before slipping from the room. The trailer’s front door banged open. Within seconds, the relaxed atmosphere was history.

Staying out of the way, January watched from the doorway as Smoke carried a black-furred burden down the hall.

A wolf.

Smoke met her gaze briefly but didn’t say anything before delivering the wolf into the other empty exam room. Cleo entered on Smoke’s heels and closed the door behind her.

Beck, Cross and Maverick remained in the front of the trailer. After a parting glance at the unconscious hunter, January joined them, wedging herself into a bit of space at Mav’s elbow.

Cross glanced at her and started edging toward the door.
“I’m going to check in with the patrolling pack.”

He left without a word for her. Frowning, she focused on Beck. “What happened? Did you go to my house?”

“I saw it, yeah.” He stroked his chin and exchanged a speaking look with Maverick, who glanced at Anders.

Her eyes narrowed. “Are you guys excluding me from pack talk or are you keeping relevant information from me?”

“Your place doesn’t look good,” Beck said after a beat. “Mav traced hunter tracks around the house but none leading away or coming in from any direction except the road and the farm behind your place.”

“I hoped to find something to indicate they wandered onto your property by tracking a wolf, but evidence doesn’t support that idea,”
Mav added.

“So they went there looking for us,” January said.

“Either because of a tip--we weren’t quiet the night we came for you--or…” Beck hesitated.

“Or what?”

“Or they were following a wolf who used the front door.”

She glanced at the mouth of the corridor, hardly believing…
“Prince?”

“We found him about fifteen miles from your place, injured and sheltering in a gully.”
Mav stroked her arm. “He was dormant, wasn’t he, Jan?”

She nodded, numb. “Like me.”

“Like you,” Beck agreed.

He and Anders studied her intently. She swore she detected a speculative look in Anders’ eyes.

“Don’t get your hopes up,” she said, their thoughts practically blinking neon letters on the wall.

“Hope’s a strong reason to keep moving forward,”
Mav said.

“Strong foundation for disappointment, too.”
She shook her head and squeezed between them to get to the door. With her hand on the knob, she glanced back at them, focusing on Beck and Anders. “You’re fools if you’re willing to bond with me just because you hope I’ll still change one day.”

Anders lowered his head and Beck clenched his fists, jaw tight, but neither made a sound. Neither denied her words.

“Thought so.” She nodded and left the trailer.

Instead of going back to her cabin, she walked until sore feet overrode any other feelings. As she settled on a fallen log to rest before heading back, something moved in the trees to her right.

She was in pack territory, but that didn’t stop a tingle of alarm running up the back of her neck. Tense, ready to bolt but unwilling to draw attention if she hadn’t been spotted, she waited.

Not for long.

A naked man emerged from the trees, filthy with mud up to his knees and elbows.

January tilted her head, watching Jared approach. “I haven’t seen you in days.”

“It’s a big tract of land. We’re assigned patrols in terms of days, not hours.” He gestured to her log. “Mind if I join you?”

“Nope.
I’d offer you my jacket but I figure a little wet bark won’t hurt you.”

He flashed a grin and settled beside her. “My hide is tough enough to handle this.”

They exchanged updates, Jared talking about some of the features of the land while January told him about meeting Mira and Cleo.

“Sounds like you’re still not ready to take out a mortgage and move in,” Jared teased.

January pursed her lips. Looking up at the cloudy sky, she said, “I don’t know if I belong in your world.”

“How could you not? You share our blood, our legends.”

“I can’t shift.” Goddess, she was getting tired of saying those words.

Jared shrugged. “The value of us is more than the shapes we can take. You’re not meant to live among them. Might be different if you were human with just the blood, but you’re not. You have the Moon in you and the Moon’s going to shine even if you can’t see it yourself.”

She inhaled and released the breath on a sigh. “Beck and Anders want me to mate the pack.”

He smiled and hooked his arm around her back.
“A fine idea. Should have thought it up a while ago.”

She made a face at him. “I’m more human than you realize. I can be insecure and jealous and if I love you, I want to be able to keep you. What will I do when the rest of you find your mates?”

“Who says we haven’t found her?”

Jared walked her back to the infirmary a while later. Her stomach was dying for a meal but she wanted to see Prince. Everybody except Cleo had cleared out.

“This is where we split up. I need a shower and a pair of dry socks.” Jared patted her hip. “Don’t leave without saying goodbye.”

His comment startled her. “You knew I was thinking about leaving?”

“Yep. Written all over your pretty face.”

“Do you blame me?”

“No. But remember this. Courage is making the choice to go after what you want despite your doubts. You’re no coward, sweetheart.”

He was wrong about that, but she’d confessed her weakness enough for one day. “I’ll think about it. Go get your socks.
And maybe a pair of pants while you’re at it.”

He backed away, grinning. “Pants will just have to come off again later if you invite me to the party.”

She shook her head but a smile fought to get out. Jared turned and stepped out of sight between two trailers. Rolling his words around in her mind, she went in to see Prince.

Cleo was curled on a battered old couch, thumbing through a dog-eared paperback. She looked up when January entered.

“See, healer. You can’t stay away.” She tipped her head at the hall. “Your friend’s good. Finally got him calmed down enough to change back so his bones wouldn’t fuse.”

January shivered. “Has that ever really happened? I thought it was just a story.”

“I don’t know. Here’s hoping we never see first-hand proof in the form of our nearest and dearest.”

“No kidding,” January murmured. Leaving Cleo to her book, January went and knocked on Prince’s closed door.

She eased the door open before he gave the go-ahead. “It’s me. Can I come in?”

“Yeah.
Shut the door behind you, though.”

“Sure.” She slipped into the room and closed them in. Prince sat on a twin bed, his back against the paneled wall.

Wary eyes tracked her as she sank up to her ears in an armchair that no longer had any springs.

“You look…feral,” she said. “It’s edgy. It’ll go with your new boots.”

Prince didn’t crack a smile. “I did something. I fucked up.”

“You acted on instinct and you were fighting for your life.”

He shook his head. “Not that. I brought…” He dropped his voice to a whisper. “Hunters came for me. I lead them home. I fucked up and that one in there is going to tell them that as soon as your mate starts asking questions.”

“Prince…” She closed her eyes. “Tell me what you did.”

“Drugs,” he said, still speaking in a whisper. “They’re designer, supposed to bring about the change. I knew I should have walked away but I never wanted a life outside pack. When Beck scented you in that bar, I knew you’d eventually go with him. When you left, I’d truly be on my own. I wasn’t built to be a loner.”

She covered her mouth, unable to debunk Prince’s fear. She was sitting right there in pack territory, wasn’t she?

“I have to go,” she said abruptly.

Prince leaned forward. “What are you going to do?”

She held out her hand. Prince grabbed her fingers and brought them to his lips, a familiar gesture that usually made her laugh but now only cemented her resolve.

“I’m going to do what it takes.”

She stood outside his room, heart racing. To her left, the hunter lay restrained in a dark room. Sedated, dying.

To her right, the hunter’s temporary guard sat gnawing on the edge of her fingernail, staring off into space.

January took mental inventory of Cleo’s supplies, picturing the organization system.

Syringes in an unlocked drawer.

She had no idea what Beck would do to Prince if his role in leading hunters to her house was revealed, but she didn’t intend to find out.

“Have you been here all day?” She asked, joining Cleo.

“The whole long day.” Cleo closed her book. “I’ve had longer days, though.”

January dropped onto the couch. “Well, nothing’s happening right now. I can hang out if you want a break.”

“I could use a meal,” Cleo said. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, go. What do I do if the hunter wakes up?”

“Just sit tight with him for a few. I’ll only be gone about ten minutes. If something goes crazy, stick your head out the door and yell for help. If I don’t hear you, somebody will.”

“My cell phone would be useless here,” January said. “I guess it doesn’t matter I left it at home.”

“Stick around and we’ll get you on the pack family plan.” Cleo left a minute later.

January closed her eyes and counted to a hundred before she went to kill a hunter.

5

As wolf, he was as silent and invisible as his namesake. Snow still lay on the ground in low-lying trenches and shaded spaces, but his nose knew the truth of the seasons. Spring
waited, fresh shoots of greenery eager to push through the topmost layer of the frost’s floor.

Fertility, rebirth.
Wolf and man both felt the urge to plant their seed.

Smoke thought of his alpha’s woman, of the way she called to his own baser instincts, and he bared his teeth at the moon just rising behind the winter-naked trees.

He wanted her, but he knew the limits of a woman’s capacity to give.

He would not go down that twisting path again. The mate bond was necessary for him to realize his full potential as one of the Moon’s warriors, but he could enjoy that benefit from afar.

Touching her was a mistake he couldn’t repeat.

As if exasperated with his dark thoughts, the wind sighed through the trees, carrying a scent that drew a growl from deep in his chest.

Trespassers.

Danger ruffling his fur, Smoke put his nose to the ground and tracked them.