Head Above Water (Gemini: A Black Dog #2) (12 page)

“Graeson.”
I sent a thought reaching for him only to have it smash against a mental wall and rebound on me. “Where are the others?” I focused on Dell. “Why can’t I hear them?”

“We’re too far away.” She whimpered. “Without Cord to anchor the bond, it can’t stretch over such a long distance.”

“He broke the bond.” Why would he cripple himself now when he needed his strength the most?

“No.” A shudder wracked her. “His mind was ripped out of it, torn out of us.”

“Bessemer.”

A slight nod twitched her neck.

Was this what Graeson meant when he said the pack would be otherwise occupied? A second, gut-rending thought popped into my head. Had he known this was coming and planned for it?

He was Graeson. Of course he had. And, in typical Graeson fashion, he had decided my time was better spent tracking Charybdis and had faced Bessemer alone, without giving me the choice to stand by him. The damn stubborn man was going to get himself killed one of these days. If he hadn’t already.

“Is she all right?” Thierry’s voice came from over my shoulder.

“No.” Dell was a hot mess, her thoughts a frantic blur. “But she will be.”

“Tell me what I can do to help.”

“Nothing.” I straightened. “I have to get her home. She needs her pack to recover from this.”

Thierry absorbed the news with a nod. “Did you learn anything back there?”

I hesitated. “I’m not sure.”

“Think on it, and let me know. Here.” She returned the plastic bag to me. “These are Ayer’s belongings. It’s the clothes she showed up in and the contents of her purse.”

New respect zipped through me when I looked to Mai, who leaned against her door, foot tapping. She was one sly fox. “I’ll sort through this and let you know what I find.”

“Pop it in a mailer when you’re done,” Mai called. “I’ll smuggle it back in before anyone notices it’s gone.”

“Will do.” Turning to Thierry, I yanked her in for a quick hug that took us both by surprise. “Thank you. For everything.”

Magic zinged across my tongue, sealing the favor I owed her.

Her eyes widened at the knowledge I had granted her a boon. “You’re welcome.”

“Guys, we need to roll out.” Mai checked her phone’s display. “Tee and I have an appointment in a half hour. We need to be on time to maintain our cover.”

“Touch base with me when you can.” Thierry backed toward Mai. “I hope your friend recovers quickly.”

“Me too,” I said, hands shaking as I fumbled for the keys. “Me too.”

H
auling
a semiconscious warg through airport checkpoints was an exercise in frustration. The smart thing to do would have been to drive straight to Georgia, but I wasn’t sure Dell had that kind of time, and Graeson… I was trying hard not to think about what this meant for him.

Hair tangled and skin waxy, Dell resembled a flu victim in full bloom who’d been creamed by a bus on her way through the parking lot. Getting on the plane turned out to be the easy part. Keeping our seats was harder. Polite to a fault, our flight attendant suggested we might want to disembark and exchange our tickets for ones later in the day.

Teeth clamped together, I insisted Dell was fine, that nerves were to blame. I even smiled when she brought Dell a chilly mimosa, while wearing a white mask that covered the lower half of her face, and downed it once her back turned. It was early for alcohol, the sun was just thinking about rising, but I figured there was orange juice in the mix, and that counted as breakfast.

Graeson, who I suspected might fresh squeeze his own OJ, would have been properly horrified by the use of concentrate and the general lack of bacon.

Once Texas dropped beneath our feet, I shot a quick text to Isaac. It went unanswered, of course, but he was waiting in the lobby when we landed. He took one look at Dell, set his jaw and gathered her in his arms. She curled against his chest, and he opted to ride in the backseat of his crew cab truck with her tucked in his arms while I drove us back to Villanow.

The first thing I noticed when I pulled into the clearing was Aunt Dot pacing inside the wards that extended to the front yard. When she spotted us, she clasped her hands and ran for us.

“Isaac said that sweet little Dell isn’t feeling well.” She hauled me out of the cab and into her arms. “Is she okay? Are you all right? What can I do? Do you need anything?”

“I’m fine, and Dell will be too.” I gave her a squeeze. “We have to get her home. Her family will know what to do about this.”

“I’m coming with you.” Isaac joined us on the grass, leaving Dell curled on the seat. “I don’t want you out there alone.”

A second’s hesitation made me wonder if his was general paranoia or if something had happened while I was gone. There would be time for questions later. Right now I had to focus on locating Graeson’s house. A sinking feeling in my gut made me doubt it would be so easy as to find him there waiting for me. He had neighbors, though, and they would know how to get Dell to her meemaw’s house.

“I’m coming too.” Aunt Dot rolled up the sleeves of her floral-print blouse. “Something happened last night that made those wolves go nuts. They were barking and yapping and howling all night long.”

“Graeson said there was a gathering.” Implied it more like. “That must be what caused the ruckus.”

“Not another word, missy.” She pointed a finger at me. “I’m old, not senile, and I will sit you in the corner until you’re my age if you try and lie to me.”

I ducked my head. “Yes, ma’am.”

“I’ve got her.” Isaac had scooped up Dell while Aunt Dot dressed me down. “Let’s get moving.”

I set out in the general direction where Graeson had taken me, wishing I had a warg’s keen sense of smell to help me navigate the woods. Trails forked off the main one, and I had no idea if I was leading my family toward Silverback Lane or on a wild-goose chase.

Until we turned a bend and found ourselves staring at four silver bullet-shaped trailers all huddled in a tight circle.

“We don’t have time for this.” Isaac shifted Dell in his arms. “I can’t hold her forever.”

Dell was lean and muscular and leggy, which meant she was also heavy. Unconscious, she was dead weight.

“She’s a donor.” Isaac speared me with a glare. “Take her blood and tap into that bond you mentioned.”

“The bond shattered.” I glared right back. “That’s what’s causing this.”

Aunt Dot rested a hand on my shoulder. “Can you reach her through the blood connection?”

“Yes. Sort of.” I rubbed my face. “It’s confusing. It’s quieter and not as strong without Graeson.”

“Give it a try,” she urged. “Otherwise we’ll have to put her inside and wander around until we find someone willing to help.”

The idea of bumping into Imogen or Aisha curdled my gut. All I needed was another fight on my hands while Graeson was nowhere to be found.

“I’m sorry, Dell.” I took her hand and pierced her with my spur. Pelt sprouted almost the instant her taste registered in the back of my throat. The mental connection hummed between us, a familiar, unlit path I tread carefully.
“Can you hear me?”

“Cam?”
Her body jerked hard once.
“I want to go home.”

“We’re trying to get you there, but I got us lost. Can you help?”

More fevered judders as her mind rose to wakefulness.
“Follow the pictures.”

Before I could ask what she meant, a barrage of images flooded my mind. Each shot leapt several yards forward like an album being flipped. The knowledge settled, and I lined up the first shot with the trees ringing the clearing.

Facing straight ahead, I waved my family on. “I’ve got it.”

Walking while two images superimposed one another kept me stumbling. The difference in our heights meant the mental pictures taken from her perspective were off just enough to make coordinating my feet and thoughts almost impossible.

Silverback Lane came into view at long last, and I blinked away the tumble of snippets Dell had shared with me. Vision cleared, I found myself standing in front of an ancient cabin covered with moss. The structure sagged and leaned to one side, but the path was well tended and the scent of baking bread made my mouth water.

“You shouldn’t be here. The alpha has ordered everyone indoors until Cord is apprehended.”

I whirled toward the creaking voice, the sound like unoiled hinges protesting, and found myself squaring off with a woman who might have topped four feet on a good day. This was not a good day. She appeared shrunken over the shaft of her walking stick, her skin layered in heavy wrinkles, her eyes all but lost to the folds of tanned skin.

“I had to get Dell home.” Behind her, Isaac and Aunt Dot waited for my cue. “She’s not well.” I tracked the short woman’s progress as she circled me. “Is this it? Are you Meemaw?”

“Who else would I be?” She fluffed her wire-hard gray hair. “Don’t you see the family resemblance?”

“Yes,” I lied with a straight face. “I do.”

“Poor child is a fool.” She squinted up at me. “I see why she enjoys keeping your company. You’ve a like temperament.” She jabbed me with a wizened finger. “Cord has lost his mind, girl. Were I you, I wouldn’t want to be in these woods when he catches your scent.”

My pulse stuttered. “Where is he?”

“I haven’t seen him since the bonfire last night. Bessemer reached into his head and—” she mimed snapping a stick, “—broke him. He’s not himself. He’s not a man at all. He’s all wolf.” The layers of cloth in her skirt rustled when she stepped forward. “Haden had just brought his mother to visit me when the bond recoiled. He hit my floor convulsing and screaming the name
Ellis
.”

Haden. I skimmed the surface of my memory for why his name sounded familiar. Of course. He was one of Graeson’s six. I’d met him at the bait shop turned base camp. He was the warg who’d griped when I claimed a bucket of fried chicken for Dell.

Meemaw’s account of Haden’s collapse mirrored Thierry’s version of Dell’s reaction to the bond severing.

“The woman with Dell when she collapsed said she cried out for me too.” I rubbed my arms. “She doesn’t call me Ellis. Only one person does.”

“They were still acting as conduits.” Her knuckles whitened as her fingers clamped her rough-hewn walking stick. “It was Cord’s final thoughts blasting through their minds and out their mouths. It was Cord who thought of you as Bessemer ripped his mind apart. It was Cord who was desperate to get to you, to protect you. And that means it’s you the wolf is frothing at the mouth to find.” Pity touched her gaze. “All the wolf knows is the want of you. Not the why.”

“What about the others?” I rasped. “How are they?”

“They’ll recover in a few days, but they won’t open their heads for a long time yet. Minds are tender meat before the jaws of a slavering wolf.”

The slavering wolf being Bessemer.

“Your family is safe here. With me.” Meemaw at last went to her granddaughter and smoothed a gnarled hand over her hair. “My sweet child.” To me, she said, “You’ve done her a world of good. You’ve given her purpose, hope. She wouldn’t forgive me if I let you get caught.”

“Purpose?” So far it seemed all I’d done was get her into trouble.

“She has you fooled too.” A rusty chuckle moved through her. “Good.”

Pitched high and loud, a soul-rending howl rolled through the forest.

Meemaw’s amusement fled, and she paled beneath her tan. “Run,” she barked at me.
“Run.”

I stumbled back. “I can’t leave my family.”

“I can protect them.” She waved her stick at me. “You have my word, it’s not them he wants.”

Another throaty call, this one closer, the plaintive song raising chills down my arms.

She ushered an overburdened Isaac and a protesting Aunt Dot inside before pleading with me, “Go. Run.
Now
.”

My feet knew what to do without being told. I flew down the path, flipping those mental pictures in reverse to get me home again. I left Silverback Lane in the dust. The urge to glance back was a twitch in my neck, but I kept my eyes forward and my legs pumping hard.

Imogen stepped casually into my path, unconcerned to find me barreling toward her. I altered course to run past, but she flung out her arms, corralling me on the trail. I slammed into her and bounced off, hitting my shoulder on a tree trunk.

“What are you doing?” I panted, rubbing the tender spot. “Get out of my way.”

“Sorry, shug, not happening.” Her lips peeled back to reveal gleaming white teeth. “Cord’s wolf has gone haywire. No one can reach him, not even the alpha.”

“And your first thought when realizing a rabid wolf was prowling the woods was to take a walk?”

“No.” Her razor laughter sliced at me. “My first thought was how grateful I was he brought you here and how perfect life will be when you’re gone.”

Fear curdled my gut. “You’re hoping if we stand here long enough he’ll catch up and maul me.”

Didn’t she get it? If Graeson had truly lost his mind, she would be next.

“No wonder you work for the conclave with smarts like those.” She blocked my feint to the left, and I gasped as pain radiated through my shoulder. “You’re his chosen mate. This should thrill you. Your sacrifice will be the making of him.”

She was off her rocker. “If he kills me in a blind rage, he’ll never forgive himself.”

“He’ll never trust his wolf again.” Delight sparkled in her eyes. “Finally, after all these years, the pissing match with Bessemer will end. Cord will accept his position and settle down.”

“You want him broken.” A thready rumble pumped through my chest. “Why did you make that deal with him if this was what you wanted?”

“I made that deal, because having children raises my status in the pack. Having them with a beta? That puts me second only to Aisha, and she’s childless.” A curious expression twisted her features. “You really care, don’t you? I thought…” She laughed. “I don’t know what I thought. That you’re fae, and fae always have an agenda, but not you.”

“I won’t let you do this to him.” Graeson had enough demons riding him. I wasn’t letting this she-devil she-wolf climb aboard too. “He deserves better than this, better than you.”

Muscles tensed, I lunged for her, ramming my good shoulder into her chest, crying out when agony radiated across my upper back. My spur emerged, and I raked it down her jugular. She gurgled and staggered back, clutching the raw meat of her throat. Blood oozed through her fingers as I gaped at her.

This was not right. Something was wrong. A spur didn’t cause that kind of damage. Her hand slipped, and I saw them.

Claw marks.

Numb, I glanced at my hands. Silver-white fur covered my arms and tickled my nape, the magic climbing higher than ever. Crimson stained the fingers of my right hand. The taste of her blood tightened my throat a beat later.

Recalled magic, it must be. But how? One practice session did not a master make.

Another howl rent the air, this time in a different direction. Gods have mercy. He was circling us.

“Don’t…go,” Imogen wheezed, dropping to one knee. “He’ll…kill…me when he…smells your blood...”

Rubbing the heels of my palms into my eyes, I struggled to find the images Dell had loaned me. They were my memories now, but fear kept them blurry and out of focus. No use. I reached for the source and smashed into a barrier.

“Dell.”
I chanted her name over and over in my head.
“Are you there?”

A trickle of light glimmered behind my eyes, and I felt Dell’s arrival.
“I’m here.”

Relief made me giddy.
“Give me directions to Graeson’s tree house.”

Another stack of pictures cascaded through my mind, and I overlaid those where this path crossed that one.

“Get up.” I hauled Imogen to her feet. She wobbled and leaned against me. “Come on. We have to get moving.”

Hooking her arm around my shoulders, I tightened my grip around her back and hauled her down the trail ghosting my vision. Warg strength suffused my limbs, not enough to pick her up and carry her, but enough I managed to half-drag, half-hobble with her to the platform where Graeson had bared his soul to me.

At the base of the tree, I gripped the first wooden slat and groaned. “This is impossible.” Imogen was healing, but she needed to keep pressure on the wound. She couldn’t do that and climb, and neither could I. “Take off your shirt.”

Too weak to comply, she turned wide eyes on me. I sighed and cut through the fabric with a claw. Once off her body, I tore the shirt into one long strip, knocked her hand aside and bound her throat. She cried out in pain, and the noise tapered into a growl. A deep, rumbling sound that didn’t vibrate her throat.