Quest (Shifter Island Book 4) (12 page)

Luca finally seemed to relax again as they climbed farther into the mountains—when they could see more trees than cars. At last, he settled back in his seat, his hands resting on his thighs, looking around, drinking it all in.

Allison let him absorb the view for a couple of minutes, then said quietly, “The pictures don’t do it justice, do they?”

“No,” he said. “They don’t.”

Like a child, or a dog, he seemed to want to hang out the window to get a better look. His head swiveled back and forth, back and forth, and his mouth was open a little. Smiling, Allison touched the window control and lowered the window alongside him, letting the fresh mountain air sweep through the car.

“Stop,” Luca said. “Please, can we stop?”

There was an overlook point just a short distance ahead. Allison pulled in off the road and stopped the car with its nose nearly touching the low guardrail at the edge of a graveled area. Before she could turn off the engine, Luca had shoved his door open and scrambled out. When she joined him, he was staring up at the sky, as full of wonder as the little boy she had imagined back on the road.

Then he lowered his head and looked at her, and again he seemed troubled.

“What’s the matter?” she asked.

He shook his head and turned away. She was close enough to hear him breathing in big huffs, as if he was trying to build up the strength to do something. Although she suspected it might be better to leave him alone, she rested a hand on his upper arm, and when he didn’t resist, she wrapped her arm around his waist.

“I—” he said.

He was trembling.

“Luca,” she said. “You can tell me. You can always tell me.”

He turned to her with deep shadows in his eyes. “I have always been told this place was a punishment,” he said in a voice full of grief. “The wolves have always said it’s the worst thing imaginable. That wolves who were sent here would suffer and die.” His eyes narrowed. “Wolves are sent here as punishment. The worst of all punishments.”

“You were lied to.”

He shook his head. He seemed far from willing to take her at her word. “Why would they do such a thing? Lie about the world?”

“People do it all the time.”

“We are not
people
,” he said. “We are wolves. Honorable. True to each other. We do not lie.”

Off in the distance, a hawk was coasting through the air, its wings stretched wider than seemed physically possible. After it had traveled a ways, it beat its wings a few times and climbed a little, then soared again—riding the thermals, Allison supposed.

She could hear the songs of other, smaller birds around her, and the rustle of the wind in the pines. She thought the temperature might be in the low 60s, and the sky was a bright, crisp blue. A few of the deciduous trees had already started to change color.

“Sometimes we lie to ourselves, too, Luca,” she said quietly. “It’s only one more small step to lying to someone else.”

“I don’t lie.”

“Don’t you?”

He stepped away, indignant, and folded his arms over his chest. “You insult my honor.”

“You pretended to be a man.”

His eyebrows crunched together, and she could see storm clouds in his eyes. But they didn’t last long.

“I had to conceal myself among the humans,” he muttered.

“You don’t have to conceal yourself here.”

He opened his mouth as if he intended to protest, but that didn’t last long either. Frowning, with his hands clenched tight, he looked up and down the road. Ready to fight, maybe, but there was no one here to fight.

“Go,” she said. “Do you want to run? I’ll wait for you.”

He needed no further encouragement.

There might well be other cars on the road; it was lightly traveled most of the time, but not deserted, so he wouldn’t have much time to shift. She guessed that he was aware of that, because he stripped off his clothes quickly, shirt first, then his shoes and jeans, and tossed it all aside on the gravel. When he had finished, he was standing in a pool of sunlight, his bare skin glowing with perspiration, his cock half-erect.

She thought she could see the wolf already, just underneath his skin.

“Go,” she told him again.

The transformation was much faster this time. The wolf seemed to be fighting to break free, thrusting itself through Luca’s bones and muscles and out through his skin. After only a few seconds, Luca was gone, and the wolf had taken his place.

The wolf lifted its head and peered at her.

Then it ran.

She was able to track it for a minute or two as it moved down the slope away from the overlook. Then it disappeared into the underbrush and all she could see were some bending branches and shifting leaves. Then, not even that.

She didn’t think the wolf would come back for a while, so she took a bottle of water and a power bar from the stash she’d left in the car and leaned against the warm fender while she ate and drank.

A couple of cars did pass by, but they were no threat to the wolf now that it was deep in the woods.

A thought occurred to her, so she pulled out her phone and scrolled through her contacts until she found the listing for Russell’s cell.

“You’re close,” he said when he answered.

“A few miles away.”

“We’ll be glad to have you home.”

There was a lot he wasn’t saying. She could almost see him standing in front of her: thick gray hair flowing in waves over his broad shoulders, the lines of his face forming a smile even when he wasn’t smiling, his deep brown eyes taking note of everything around him.

She had called him and Helene before she and Luca left the motel, to tell them she was driving home and that she was bringing someone with her. Someone she’d mentioned before, in passing.

Someone she now knew was a wolf.

“He’s upset,” she said quietly now.

“That’s understandable.”

“Is there anything I should do to make him more comfortable? He’s running in the woods now, but it’s hard for him in the car. And he said something about… about Colorado being some place of punishment.”

She could hear Russell wince. “Just come quickly,” he said. “No more delays.”

That was all he’d say, and he’d hung up before Allison could respond.

Almost forty minutes had passed before Luca came back. He’d shifted back into his human form somewhere in the woods, and he stepped up onto the overlook after a careful look around to make sure that Allison was still alone. Then he gathered up his clothes and pulled them back on, still looking around, still wary.

“We’re close now,” she told him. “Just a few more minutes. When we get there, you can sleep if you like. Or shift again.”

To her surprise, he pulled her into his arms and held her tightly against his body. He wasn’t aroused now; instead, he seemed ready to sleep, ready to surrender himself to oblivion for a little while. For a moment she thought he might actually lie down in a patch of sunlight on the gravel and drift off.

“I’ve put you through a lot of stress,” she admitted. “I’m sorry.”

His head was resting against hers, so she could feel him shake it. “It was my idea to come. I was aware of…”

“There’s always a bogeyman, Luca,” she said.

“I don’t understand what you mean.”

“Something they hold over your head so you’ll behave. Parents do it. Everybody in authority does it. They can threaten you with jail, or—or—I don’t know what. Concrete things. But the unknown is always worse. The things that are hiding under your bed in the dark.”

“Wolves do not lie,” he insisted.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” she groaned. “Of course you do.”

“We do not.”

She took a step back so she could look into his eyes, so he’d be sure to take in every bit of the stern look she gave him. “Everything you say, everything you do—it shows me how human you are.” She ignored his frown and went on, “That’s not a bad thing, Luca. We’re all both good and bad. Yes, some humans aren’t worth the air they breathe, but a lot more are really good. Or are you telling me that I bewitched you somehow? That you didn’t fall in love with me simply because you saw something good in me, in spite of the fact that I’m human?”

“We have a bond,” he muttered.

“And that overrides your ability to make a conscious decision?”

“I was…”

“We’ve all been lied to,” she said. “All of us.”

Before he could object to that, she tugged his head down and pressed her lips to his.

For a moment he stood as stiff and unyielding as a tree, secure in his indignation and hurt. It was a shield, she supposed, against all of the unfamiliar things he’d been battered with over the past few days. If he’d spent almost his entire life on that island, where almost nothing changed except the weather… 

She didn’t envy him that. It hadn’t taught him to adapt.

“We only have a little ways to go,” she told him. “Then you can rest. After that, we can talk.”

“I don’t think that talking is what I need.”

“Then we’ll do whatever you
do
need. Let’s get back in the car, okay? We’ll be there in a few minutes.”

He didn’t move, or respond. Instead, he stood looking out over the mountains.

“You’re not alone here,” she said.

That made him move toward the car, but he didn’t seem comforted. He got back into the passenger seat and fastened the seat belt as if he thought he was being carried to his doom.

As she had promised, when they reached Allison’s home she led Luca inside and guided him to the bed, where he curled up into a ball and dropped into a deep sleep. There, for the first time in days, he felt truly at peace… until strange sounds and images worked their way into his mind.

He knew they were nightmares, that nothing that seemed to be happening was real, but that didn’t make them any less frightening. He came close to waking several times, breathing heavily and drenched with sweat, then fell back into what seemed like an abyss.

He felt again the agony of Micah’s knife cutting deep into his body. Felt Micah’s rage coursing through him, as if the blade had been poisoned with Micah’s wrath and not the juices of a deadly plant.

Felt the despair of the wolf, that first time he had walked away from Allison.

His own fear, watching his brother battle Micah.

Each time he stirred, he realized that Allison was somewhere nearby, but not within reach. That brought its own kind of pain, as if he’d been abandoned on some spit of rock out in the middle of the ocean, left there to die of hunger and thirst. He could smell her, hear the sound of her voice…

Then he felt the touch of something cool and damp.

That made him shudder and curl up more fully, wishing the bed could swallow him whole and deliver him to some other place. His gut felt as if it had been turned inside out, and somehow the wolf wasn’t there. It too was some distance away, keening its misery—even though it ought to have been happy, because they were with Allison in a beautiful place, a place that smelled fresh and clean, where there was very little noise. They weren’t confined any longer.

“Are you sure there’s nothing more I can do?” Allison asked.

Faintly, Luca heard footsteps and the rustle of clothing. A voice that wasn’t very close said, “It’s something like withdrawal—from drugs or alcohol. He’s come a very long way from home. From his pack.”

“Willingly, though. It was his idea to come.”

“He may think it was willingly. The bond pulled him.”

“But he—” There were more footsteps, and a soft creak. Then Allison went on, “He walked away from me four years ago. He had every chance to do that again and go back home.” She groaned. “I can’t watch him like this. It’s awful.”

“He’ll recover.”

“Are you sure?”

“The fever will burn itself out eventually.”

“Eventually? How long is ‘eventually’? Is this fever going to hurt him? It can’t be doing him any good, Russell.”

“But it is.”

“Russell—”

“Sshh. Let him rest. You should get some rest too. Helene and I will watch over him.”

Then Luca could feel her moving farther away. Part of him cried out for her, but it was buried deep inside him.

What might have been a minute later, or an hour, or perhaps even a day, someone sat alongside him and held something fragrant near his nose. It was a sharp smell, one that made him inhale deeply.

“There,” a new voice said. “That’s the way.”

What…?

“Let the wolf guide you, Luca of the island pack. Give yourself over to his wisdom and strength. Let him heal you as he has done before. Then, when you’re ready to wake, you’ll find yourself reborn.”

A gentle hand caressed his cheek.

A mother, he thought. Or a healer. Perhaps both.

“Sleep,” said the voice.

So he did.

It felt like days later when he opened his eyes.

He felt weak, hungry, thirsty—but no longer in pain, either physically or emotionally. All around him, the house was silent, but he could sense that there were others nearby, Allison among them. Slowly, he sniffed the air, hoping to be able to identify who was there, but all he could smell was pine and flowers. Food, too, though most of that aroma had faded away.

The room was dim, which seemed to indicate that it was either very early in the morning or late in the evening. Morning, he decided; there was a sense of expectation in the air, and when he listened carefully he could pick up the sounds of birds trilling their morning songs.

His muscles balked at allowing him to sit up, so he rolled onto his back and examined the room that way, as best he could.

It wasn’t very large: maybe ten big steps across, and a little less than that from the head of the bed to the door. The walls were painted a soft cream color that he was sure made the room seem bright when the sun was shining. Other than the bed, there were few pieces of furniture: a dresser, a chair, a small table on each side of the bed. The curtains were cream-colored as well.

Someone had put clean sheets on the bed. It didn’t smell as if Allison had slept in it for a while.

Her bed, he thought. This was her bed.

But where was Allison?

Again he tried to sit up. By the time he managed it, his head was swimming, enough so that it made his stomach turn over.

This was worse than the healing after Micah had stabbed him.

He tried to struggle out from underneath the covers, but they held him as solidly as a trap. He reached inside himself, encouraging the wolf to surge up and help him, but the animal still seemed out of reach—something that had never happened before. That sent a bolt of fear through him.

Was the wolf dying? Could it die, if he didn’t? And would he die then, too?

Unable to pull himself free, he tipped back his head and howled his fear and dismay, as he had out in the woods. He was aware that someone might hear him—those people he’d heard talking—but he couldn’t find it in him to care. For now, he needed to break free. To let the wolf break free.

But these damned covers…

“Here, now.”

There was a woman standing in the doorway, an older female who looked somewhat like Granny Sara. Gray hair, round in the hips. A mother, one who had had several children.

A mother.

His own mother was so far away.

Quickly and efficiently, she lifted the covers away from his legs and helped him move his feet to the floor. He was no longer wearing his own clothes; someone had dressed him in a pair of soft, lightweight pants. Pajamas, he remembered. A human thing; no wolf wore them.

No wolf…

“I am afraid, Mother,” he said in a whisper. “I cannot find my wolf. I don’t know where I am.”

She sat down beside him and wrapped an arm around him. “You’ve come a long way,” she told him. “That’s difficult for someone who’s unaccustomed to roaming. It will pass. Let us be strong for you until you find your way.”

“The wolf—”

“Is finding its way too.”

“Will it die?”

“No.”

“Are you certain?”

With a hand placed on his cheek, she turned his head so that he was looking into her eyes.

Golden eyes.

“My name is Helene,” she told him softly. “My mate is Russell. Our pack came here long ago. We live nearby.”

“Your…”

He could see it in her eyes: her wolf, not far below the surface.

“You are welcome here, Luca of the island pack,” she said, as gentle as a lullaby. “If you decide to stay, you will be one of us.”

Another wolf, here in Allison’s bedroom.

A wolf Allison had said was her friend.

You will be one of us.

He struggled to his feet and stumbled to the doorway, where he had to hold on for a moment before he could go any farther. From there he could see much of the rest of Allison’s house: the comfortably furnished living room, the kitchen, the big windows that provided a wonderful view of the mountains. There was a car parked in front of the house, but it wasn’t the one he and Allison had ridden in.

“Luca.”

Allison was there, suddenly, coming out of a room he hadn’t noticed. She looked as if she’d been asleep; she was wearing pajamas too, and her hair was mussed.

“Are you all right?” she asked.

He tried to let go of the doorframe, but his head swam, and he grabbed the wood again.

She came closer. “You should go back to bed.”

Stubbornly, he tried again. This time he was able to reach her, and he tugged her with him to sit down on the sofa.

“There are more wolves here,” he said when he’d caught his breath. “You didn’t tell me all of it. You said there were two, but there’s a pack here, and they know about me. About the island, and my pack.”

“My grandsire came from your island, Luca.”

That was the gray-haired woman. Helene. The mother. Luca turned to watch her come out of the bedroom and take a seat on a big blue chair near the sofa, where she wove her fingers together in her lap.

“Long ago,” she explained. “His name was Ezekiel.”

“Was he banished here?”

Sadness crossed her face, but it passed quickly. “He offended the alpha. They… competed over a female. So he was brought here and abandoned. But they knew, Luca. They were well aware that there were other wolves in Colorado. They knew he would only suffer for a little while, until the others found him.”

She looked past Luca and smiled brightly as a gray-haired man in a plaid shirt and faded jeans came to join them. “This is Russell,” she said. “My mate. One of the elders of our pack. He’ll be alpha soon—our present alpha is very ill.”

Russell stood in front of Luca and placed his hands on Luca’s shoulders.

For a few seconds, nothing happened, although Luca could feel an intense heat in Russell’s hands. Then he felt himself growing stronger. Not amazingly so; just somewhat better than he’d felt since he woke up.

“We’re of the same blood,” Russell said.

“From… my pack?”

Russell chuckled softly. “No. From the earliest wolves. The ones who roamed these mountains—roamed all across this land, all the way to the sea. In a sense, we’re all part of the same pack. You won’t be among strangers here. The unfamiliar, yes, but we are all family. Let yourself accept that, and the transition will be easier. Easier, too, because your mate is here.”

Helene got up from her chair and went to the kitchen. She came back carrying a mug of thick, pale liquid that she pressed into Luca’s hands with the instructions, “Drink this. It will settle your stomach. Allison tells me you haven’t eaten since lunchtime yesterday. You need food and drink.”

Luca took a sip, expecting the liquid to taste bad, but it was cool and soothing. He felt like gulping it down, but he drank it slowly, trying to savor that good taste. When it was gone, Helene brought him another mugful, and he drank that too.

Then Russell crouched down in front of him and put his hands on Luca’s knees. “We’ll leave you now, so that you can rest with your mate. Later, we’ll talk more. We’ll tell you about the pack.”

“How many are there?” Luca asked.

“Many,” Russell said. “We are many. And you are welcome here, Luca.”