Scent of Salvation (Chronicles of Eorthe #1) (14 page)

Sorin’s stomach growled. He hadn’t eaten since—since he couldn’t remember. “Is there more in the kitchen?”

“Plenty.” The omega sat by the bed and spooned some broth into the closest shifter’s mouth. Peder kept his chin down but tossed Susan a few curious glances.

“Susan will be staying with us. Find her a room once you’re done here. I’ll take her to have a meal in the kitchen first.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

One day he’d get Peder to use his name. His pack needed so much healing, and not just from this illness, but he could only save one shifter at a time. “You did well yesterday, Peder.”

“I left you…” He set his spoon in the pot.

“As I ordered you to do. Delivering the flowers to the pack couldn’t wait I tracked Susan through the damn forest. You did the right thing and I’m proud.”

“If I’d stayed I could have helped.”

“Ifs, ifs, ifs.” Susan rose to her feet and sighed. “If I hadn’t run I wouldn’t have met the lovely Chaska or her fists either. None of it matters now. Your alpha’s home.”

Sorin nodded his appreciation to Susan. The omega needed to hear this from someone other than him. “And you brought home medicine that saved lives.” He squeezed Peder’s shoulder. “No apologies.”

“I didn’t bring enough. We’re already out.”

Weariness weighed upon his soul. He glanced at the shroud-covered bodies in the corner. First, he’d bury their dead.

“I think I’ve seen similar flowers before.”

Sorin’s sensitive hearing caught Peder’s whispered words. “Where?”

“On the cliffs that overlook the Temple.”

Sorin gave quiet thanks to the Goddess or whoever had listened to his prayers. “You’ll go in the morning and gather what you can carry.”

“Me?” Peder’s head shot up. “Shouldn’t it be one of the hunters?”

“You’re picking flowers, not going to war.” Sorin did his best to keep his annoyance from his voice. “The few remaining hunters need to guard the den.” He tried not to sound angry. “I have faith in you, Peder.”

“Yes, Alpha.” There was no confidence in the reply though.

He glanced at pretty Peder. As an omega, the young man tended to submit to anyone’s whims, so eager to please. Sorin had explained that he wouldn’t be punished if he denied someone, but it wasn’t in Peder’s nature.

Most omegas stayed close to the den, tending the young and the household chores. Why would Peder know about the cliffs by the Temple all the way on the other side of the mountain pass?

Sorin shook the thought from his head and gestured for Susan to follow him.

Susan watched Sorin exit the pack room with an aching heart. The broad shoulders that had carried her for hours over a mountain drooped under his grief.

She’d never seen anything so sad as that little boy he’d cradled in his big, rough hands. The sorrow swept off Sorin in waves so palpable it tore down any doubts she’d had of coming here.

They needed help. She just wasn’t sure what she could offer. She hurried to catch up to him and took his hand, trying to offer some of her strength.

The wind sent a dirt devil along the center of the empty avenue of the den-canyon. It spun under a set of wooden chairs, then by a tool basket lying on its side, the contents scattered on the dirt. The devil sped past a lone spear leaning against a dusty table, until the wind sent the old weapon clattering to the ground, the sharp sound a sacrilege in the hollow silence.

A tomb gave more warmth.

One slow step at a time, Susan managed to reach the entrance of what looked like a medieval kitchen.

Lailanie, the stunning female of smoldering dark colors who seemed in charge of the sick, exited through the doorway and glared at Susan. Great—more shifter attitude. Susan wasn’t groveling to anyone again. It left a bad aftertaste on her self-respect. She glared right back.

Hesitating by the doorway, Sorin waited for Lailanie to pass. “I’m sending Peder to find more flowers in the morning.”

“Peder? Alone in the forest?” Lailanie’s hand fluttered to her throat.

“Have faith. He knows where he’s going.” Sorin vanished into the room and Susan hurried after, not wanting to spend a second alone with the female shifter.

Chapter Thirteen

A cast iron pot simmered on the hearth carved into the mountainside. The rich, heady scent of stew was thick in the air and made Sorin’s mouth water.

Dirty dishes were piled on most surfaces of the pack kitchen, and the fire had burned down to a few coals. Sorin offered Susan a stool, then tended the fire. With most so ill, routines fell apart. Everyone pitched in to fill the gaps but things got neglected.

“When you told me your pack was sick, I hadn’t imagined it would be most of them.” She leaned forward on the table. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”

Pouring two bowls of stew, he took a quick glance at his little leech. “This is the problem I need solving.”

“I’m not a doctor—healer.” She massaged her temples as if trying to relieve a terrible headache. He could sympathize.

He set a bowl in front of her, then sat across the table. “Can you help us?” Eating his meal in big spoonfuls, he watched as she picked at her food.

“I don’t know.” She took a bite and her eyes sparkled. “This is good.” She chewed with a far-off expression. “Why can’t we ask another pack for a healer? I’m sure Kele would—”

“Jump at the opportunity to help us.” He interrupted her train of thought. “Just as her father would jump at the opportunity to wipe my pack out.” He pointed outside. “My lands are desirable, not my people. Once word gets out we’re weak and vulnerable, we’re dead. If not by the Payami then some other pack will come.” If word spread of their state, one of the other packs would attack.

It was in their nature.

Susan sighed. “I might be able to help in some way. And I stress the
might
.” She scratched her head. “I’m not making any promises but I come from a place that understands the way nature works in small detail.”

“What does that mean?” He sat, his stew forgotten and cold, listening to her crazy story of machines, other worlds and branches. What trees had to do with Susan’s magical travel, he couldn’t guess. “You come from another world that is Eorthe?” He couldn’t hide the incredulity in his voice. Subterfuge was never his strongest skill.

“I know it’s difficult to believe but it is the truth.”

Slow-burning frustration filled his gut. He needed a miracle and he brought home an insane stray. “What does it matter if it’s true or not? How does that help my people? You admitted to not being a healer.”

Setting her utensil next to her bowl, she met his fury with an easy grace. Her calm made him burn hotter. “Not a healer but a scientist.”

“What, by my hairy arse, does that mean?”

“It means I’m smart, you jerk. Remember knocking Benic out and tossing me over your shoulder? That wasn’t my idea.” Her sharp tone snapped him from his angered state. No one had spoken to him like that since the night he’d killed his father.

It was both refreshing and infuriating.

She wasn’t trying to preen for him, like some females did for alphas—she only stated what she believed to be the truth. Susan’s story seemed farfetched, but he had witnessed her travel through her gateway. Her type of smart could help. How many more graves did he have to dig before they found a solution? “I will take whatever you can offer us and be grateful.” He carried his bowl to the ever-growing pile of dishes. “Once you’re done eating, you’ll find Lailanie in the cavern. Tell her I’ve given you permission to help.”

“Where are you going?”

“I have graves to dig.”

Chapter Fourteen

Kele traveled the dark tunnels that separated the Payami den from the rest of the world.

Ahote prowled next to her, his silence not a good omen. He’d been far from happy with her when she’d interrupted his play with two females last night.

But after her bath, she’d returned to an empty room. Her first thought was Ahote had stolen Susan for the night. The human had expressed her lack of attraction to the male so it seemed the right thing to barge into his quarters.

She glanced at the huge, dark male in his feral form. He’d eventually have to speak to her.

She needed his help to search for Susan. The last thing she wanted was for the human to meet her mother alone in the dark. A shiver ran down Kele’s spine. She half expected to find Susan’s corpse. In either case, Kele required some muscle to back her so she dragged the male along.

Ahote didn’t understand her struggles within the pack. As a hunter, nothing was denied him. He chased after the willing omega females, who lived with open relationships, and he never participated in challenges for the more desirable dominant females. He lived an easy life.

Nothing was easy for her. One parent riding her to be stronger, more aggressive, and forgetting she couldn’t shift to save her life. The other coddling her as if she were a pup. But if not for her father, she wouldn’t have been able to coerce Ahote for help.

A day would come when Kele would find herself either omega or stray if she didn’t discover the key to her shifting soon. Her parents wouldn’t live forever.

Ahote knelt, sniffing the ground. “Susan’s scent is growing fainter. She’s definitely in the tunnels. We should go to the exit and speak with the guards.”

They had searched the den for Susan when Ahote discovered Sorin’s escape. That’s when he finally roused the other hunters. They
 
hunted in pairs. Ahote had led Kele straight to the tunnels, stating that the alpha probably had already left the den by now.

Susan’s scent mixed with Sorin’s in the tunnels. Apparently, the Apisi alpha was determined to keep the human. Why did he have to take her? The poor female had much to adjust to if her story was true.

Chiming of light chainmail filtered into their tunnel. Ahote rose in one swift motion then shoved Kele behind him. “What is the vampire doing here?” he whispered over his shoulder.

“I don’t know.” She’d forgotten about Benic, her thoughts occupied with other things like missing humans.

Lantern in hand, Benic came around the bend and stopped as he came face to face with them. “Good morning.” He rubbed his head. His usually well-kept hair stood on end, and a deep purple bruise lined his jaw.

“What happened to you?” Kele moved around Ahote’s blocking bulk and drew closer to Benic.

“I lost my way in the tunnels.” He gave her a soft smile.

She touched his injured face. “And ran into several walls?” Not many things could bruise a vampire. They were quite resilient.

“I take it you’ve discovered Sorin has escaped?” A thin smell of anxiety whispered around the ferret. So faint she doubted Ahote could detect it. What had Benic been up to?

Nodding, she focused upon not only his words but the subtle shift of his emotions. Her father had taught her how vampires could play lies into truths. “He’s taken Susan.”

He glanced at Ahote. “I know. I found them in the tunnels. Sorin forced me to show them the way out.”

“Did Susan go with him willingly?”

“No, she voiced her desire to stay with me.” He spoke the truth. No denying her nose.

Ahote snorted. “She wasn’t given much choice between you and the Apisi dog.”

“She made it clear she didn’t want to remain with the Payami and be treated as a stray.” Benic set the lantern on the floor, the light almost too strong for Kele to see properly after traveling the dark tunnels. He confronted Ahote. “She might not have run if you’d had the balls to claim her properly.”

“A stray? Are you mad?” Ahote snarled. “She’s not even my species and probably couldn’t bear my young.”

Kele turned her back on the males. Fights like this were common among the young. Though Benic wasn’t young and didn’t usually indulge in the mindless violence. She examined the tunnel he’d exited. It wasn’t a well-traveled one. “Benic?” She spoke softly. “Were you really lost?” If he’d been lost then how had he led Sorin out?

The insults behind her quieted. “Yes.” He spoke. “Sorin hit me quite hard so my thoughts were muddled.”

She breathed a sigh of relief and clung to what little faith she still had in the vampire. “What were you doing in the tunnels?” She inhaled deeply and caught Susan’s scent. The human had gone this way. Had Benic led them astray?

“Yes, Benic.” Ahote grabbed the vampire by the shoulders and pinned him to the wall. “Why don’t you recount your tale for us?”

Kele watched as Ahote slid his claws into Benic’s flesh. The scent of old blood now masked all others in the tunnel. At this point it didn’t matter. Sorin had Susan and was probably already on Apisi land.

Benic’s green eyes glinted with the lantern light as his gaze slid from Ahote to her. “I went to Temple lands to search for evidence of Susan’s story.” He grunted as the shifter shoved him harder against the stone wall.

“You have no business on those lands, vampire.”

“I have every business. By vampire law, I own all this. It would be good of you to remember who your master is.”

Ahote’s muzzle opened wide enough for Kele to count his back molars as he dove to ingest Benic whole.