Waking Sarah (11 page)

“How did you handle the wolf’s voice?” she asked, sipping on the hot mug of roasted liquid deliciousness. 

“Oh, I’m an insomniac. I taught myself to nap and to wake up before falling deep enough to hear her. My brother and I both have terrible schedules and exist on an ungodly amount of energy drinks and coffee.”

“What about your parents?”

“Both of them died in a car accident fifteen years ago.”

“I’m so sorry.”

Leslie tucked a lock of her raven-black hair behind her ear and nodded. Her blue eyes sparkled, and she smiled. “It’s okay. They are still in our hearts. I’m actually thankful they won’t be pulled into this mess we’ve been dragged into. I’m thrilled to find a built-in family, but our parents were extremely conservative. This supernatural stuff would have made them sick.”

Conservative?
Sarah stared at the blue streaks in the woman’s black hair, the metal ring in her left eyebrow, and the tattoos playing peek-a-boo from beneath her shirtsleeves and other exposed areas of skin.

Leslie laughed. “I didn’t say I was an easy child. But tats and piercings are a far cry from trying to explain the existence of an animal soul sharing your body. We just learned to hide our supernatural problem under the guise of other louder issues.”

“True.” Sarah glanced at her mom and smiled. “It’s certainly not the easiest topic to broach.”

Bonnie shook her head. “I’m glad I can be here for you, Sarah. And so is your father.”

Sarah looked back to Leslie. “Wouldn’t your mother or father have suffered from the same thing?”

“We were too young to remember. We grew up with our godparents.”

“Oh.” Sarah turned to Margaret. “When is Kate coming back to perform the ritual for them?”

“Not sure,... but, in the meantime, Leslie has graciously offered to help us build a secure network for Woodhaven that can link to the other packs around the country. We need something strong enough to keep the Council out of it.”

“You know how to do that?”

“I was a hardware and software engineer for the Air Force. This will be a piece of cake.”

The mate bond flared, and Sarah peeked over her shoulder to catch Chris gazing at her ass. He looked up and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
Really?
He smiled and turned back to his conversation about the latest football game he’d missed. Wolves or not, men were still just men. They rarely showed anyone they worried about anything, enjoyed sports way too much, and were always in the mood for sex.

“So does the inn have any type of security system installed?” Leslie asked.

“If it did,” Nicole started, “the raccoons ate it a long time ago.”

The twins high-fived their sister and laughed.

“Scott had the inn rebuilt with a secure basement. He’s not a techie guy, so he always planned to have the pack send someone to build-out the system. We were thrilled to hear you would be joining us,” Margaret added.

“Sweet. I love getting to build something from scratch. Will I be building the hubs in the other cities as well?”

“I don’t know. We’ll check on that for you. Does it matter?”

“It will make a big difference in how I build and program,” Leslie answered. She turned and smiled. “So how is it being a wolf? Do you like it?”

Sarah’s cheeks warmed. “It is different. I do like it, though I’m sure there’s still much more for me to learn. My wolf is very understanding and tries not to burst into my thoughts too often. I know she is trying hard to make the transition easy for me.”

“That’s nice. I look forward to meeting mine. Hopefully she will forgive me for avoiding her for over two decades.”

“Mine did.”

“Good.” Leslie turned to Margaret. “I’d love to get a look at the basement space and maybe get to work. I’ve been so bored with all the traveling, and my brain needs something to focus on.”

“Of course. Let me get Scott and the boys to show you around,” Margaret answered. “I know it will be an adjustment from the life you were used to.”

“I’ll be fine. I’m adaptable.”

Sarah waved as they left and then turned to eye a stack of waffles on the counter. Her mom laughed. “Help yourself. I need to talk to your man privately for a few minutes.”

“Be nice, Mom.”

“Shhhh, I will be no such thing. If he intends to sleep with my daughter, then I have the right to treat him like my son.”

Oh, shit.
She pushed a warning through the bond to Chris, and he looked up from his conversation in time to see Bonnie making her way toward him.
Poor guy.

She snickered and grabbed a waffle before following the other group out of the kitchen and down into the basement.

***

She left me.

“Smart girl.”

Shut it!

His wolf laughed harder as Bonnie drew closer. Sarah’s red curls disappeared around the corner, and he faced her mother alone. The other men had all mysteriously excused themselves as well. Sarah’s mother wore a look that could have peeled paint from a wall. It certainly made him want to shed his skin and disappear.

“Mrs. McLain,” he started.

“I’m doing the talking first. So you just close that mouth and listen. First, I’m not pleased at all that my daughter is being pulled into the middle of your civil war. Second, she is learning to coexist for once with the voice or soul that shares her body, and now she has you on top of everything.” She poked his chest with her first finger. “She lost her fiancé only six months ago, and I was sick to death that I would lose her too. My husband and I even spoke with her about private grief therapy. Her mind is not in a good place, young man. I want your word that you’re not taking advantage of her vulnerability.”

“I understand. We had a little scare with her after the first transformation, but I promise you she will be guarded and protected by me and the pack. She is one of us. The wolf inside her is helping to heal her heart and mind. I know she was struggling with a darkness when she first arrived at Woodhaven, but I assure you our relationship is genuine. I would never take advantage her. I give you my word. I love her."

The older woman held his gaze without wavering. Then her stern face softened into a smile. “Good. I just needed to make sure she would be well-loved when I left. I’ve done nothing but worry for her well-being since she came back from Texas. Praying every night that your little girl doesn’t end her life has not been easy. She can’t handle another loss like Brad. It would destroy her.”

“I would give my life for her, Mrs. McLain. She is my mate. Our souls are bonded.”

“I’m not exactly sure what that means, but I’m glad she found someone. I can see you mean what you say, and that makes my heart happy for my child.” Bonnie leaned in and hugged him quickly. “Will you be keeping her up here in Utah?”

“Only for a while. She needs to learn how to be a wolf away from the noise and distraction of a city. But we will eventually move back to Vegas. Margaret is giving us her old house. We will probably travel back and forth a lot. As you mentioned, a war is starting.”

“Just protect my baby girl.”

“With my life.”

***

“So,” Nicole started, “you and Chris are mates?”

Sarah turned to face Nicole. The other girls were wandering through the basement while Leslie rattled off a list of items she needed to order in town. “That’s what the wolves say.” She smiled and met Nicole’s stunning blue eyes. She looked just like her older sister, Sam.

“It’s good. He needed you. He’s wanted to settle down and have a family for a long time.”

A snort of laughter escaped through Sarah’s mouth. “Yes, he does seem to be in a hurry. I hate to tell him I’ve been on birth control for a decade and I haven’t stopped taking it yet.”

“Oh, it doesn’t work on us. The magick inhibits it. So you can stop taking the pill. It’s not doing a damn thing.”

Now they tell me.
“Really? That would have been nice to know.”

“Oh, you can control and prevent pregnancy. Condoms work, though most supernaturals don’t use them. We can’t get human STDs either. You shouldn’t worry. I doubt you’ve gone into heat yet. We can only get pregnant when our bodies go into a heat cycle.”

“We go into heat...like an animal?”

"Hey! I’m right here you know."

Sorry.

“Hey! I’m not the one who made the wolves the way they are.” Nicole waved at Margaret. “When did you have your first heat?”

Margaret glanced at the ceiling for a moment. “Two months ago. Why?”

“Sarah’s freaking out about unprotected sex.”

Margaret gave her a sympathetic smile. “I didn’t have my first heat until four months after the first marking.”

“Wait, are you saying you can’t get pregnant until you mate and bite each other or mark or whatever? Then you still have to wait to go into a heat cycle?"

Nicole and Margaret nodded together.

The other girls walked up, laughing about something. The distraction pulled her out of her head. Babies were not what she needed to focus on. Thank goodness her carelessness with Chris wouldn’t lead to an immediate pregnancy.

Not that she didn’t want to have children with Chris, but she needed some time to get her head on straight and figure out all this wolf stuff.
It’s like waking up in a parallel universe and everyone jumping out and saying “boo” while you’re walking a tightrope for the first time.

“Sounds hard,”
her wolf commented. The snark in that voice made her giggle.

“You’re funny.”

“Who? Me?” Nicole asked.

Shit.
“No, sorry. I was responding to my wolf. She’s being a pain.”

“You’re the one describing yourself in a freakish circus stunt in a parallel world. I think anyone could find a little humor in that.”

“Oh my God! Shut up.”

Her wolf cackled in the back of her mind but thankfully did hold her tongue. When Sarah looked up, everyone was staring at her. Her cheeks burned. “I’m so sorry. It wasn’t you. I just. She just...” She sighed and threw up her hands. “Please tell me this gets easier.”

“Of course it does. You just have to give each other time. You got a new roommate and a mate all at the same time. There are going to be more than a few hiccups.”

CHAPTER NINE

“Mother, I just want to finish what I started, get my girls, and come home. Peter lied about everything. It was his only play to keep me from telling the Council about the rebellion. I’m perfectly fine and in control.”

Renata wiped her mouth and frowned. Her hand was smeared with blood. She held the phone to her ear with her shoulder and walked to the sink of the little apartment she’d rented in Vegas. Thank the gods she’d been smart enough to stash money away in the Caimans. Life would truly have sucked to be cut off from the pack and family and be poor.

The body of a Council agent lay cooling on her kitchen floor. The idiot thought he’d get the jump on her by waiting in her apartment. The sliced throat and stab wound to his gut said he had made a fatal error in judgment.

“Dear, we have agents with eyes on your daughters. Just come home to me. I can fix everything with the Council if you will come home.”

So. Mommy dearest knows where the girls are. That’s great. Just great. “Well, you could at least tell the Council to stop sending agents after me. Their latest is lying in a pool of blood on the floor of my kitchen. Now I have to move again.”

Her mother’s voice was steady. The death of another agent didn’t seem to faze her. “Well, I’ve done all I can, Renata. They won’t compromise unless you do. Though removing the other two Demakis royals from power probably would go a long way in gaining the Council’s trust.”

“I have something in mind for Peter’s siblings, Mother. Don’t worry. I know the meaning of leverage. I will find some, and the Council will be sorry they ever came after me.”

“Be careful, Renata. There are many more where that agent came from.”

She chewed her fingernail, debating her mother’s warning. Was she sincere? Did her mother know how Stefan had really been killed? Surely not. The pack wouldn’t have let the girls contact their grandmother... Yet, Carlotta had said they had eyes on the girls. How did she find them? That damn bear and his mate had killed both the agents who’d followed them out of town. She’d paid them to follow them and kill them. Too bad if you needed something done right you had to do it yourself. Those stupid bears from Russia had been a complete waste of money too.

Maybe her mother knew O’Hearn’s family. Hell. What did she care?

It didn’t really matter anymore. If Carlotta was working to get the girls out of the States, there was no need for her to waste time on it. Her mother would grab the girls from Maragaret and Scott on the first presented opportunity. Hopefully they would come without too much of a fuss. Didn’t really matter, they wouldn’t be given a choice.

She needed to focus on getting close to the New York Pack. Peter’s sister would be the easier of the two targets plus a little shopping was in order, and who didn’t love New York City during the holidays?

“I’ll talk to you soon, Mom.” She pressed the end button on her phone and slid it into her hip pocket. Stepping over the dead man, she grabbed her purse and walked out the front door.

“Such a shame. I really liked this apartment.”

***

“Shotgun!” Nicole shouted, running past and bumping Sarah’s shoulder. “Sorry, Sarah.”

“I’m fine. Plus, I’m driving, remember? So I don’t need to yell shotgun like a hormonal pre-teen.”

“You did not just call me a tweenie!”

“I so did. Where’s Leslie? We won’t know half the stuff on this list without her.” Sarah slid into the driver’s seat of Chris’s red dually pickup truck.

“They’re coming,” Nicole answered, sliding into the front seat next to her.

Sure enough, the other girls came flowing out the front door and piled into the backseat bench of the pickup. Tess and Hallie sandwiched Leslie in the middle.

“Girl trip!” Hallie squealed. “I can’t believe we are getting out by ourselves for a while.”

“We may be getting out by ourselves, but they are going to be pissed when they get back and find us gone,” Sarah added, A sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach said her mate was really going to be mad.

“Look. They all left, and we need stuff for Leslie, right?”

“Hey, don’t make it my fault.” The black-haired sprite giggled between the Demakis twins.

Tess shook her head. “Nothing’s going to happen. It’s freak’n Logan, Utah. Nothing happens in Logan.”

“Damn it, Tess. That’s a jinx,” Nicole hissed.

“Really? You’re going there?” Tess shot back.

The girls continued their entertaining banter for several minutes before calming down and asking Leslie if she wanted a makeover. Leslie gave a resounding no and changed the subject to places in Logan that had hot single men.

Sarah bit her lip to hold in a laugh. She pulled out of the driveway onto the main mountain road. It was a narrow two-lane lonely path down the mountain to the somewhat small city of Logan.

Scott and Margaret had gone east to Bear Claw Lake to visit his parents, something about his brother being in town on leave. Chris had taken Heath, Kyle, Griffin, and her mom and dad into town to the airport in the O’Hearns’ extra SUV, leaving Chris’s tempting pickup in the driveway as an excellent getaway vehicle.

The Demakis sisters, Paul, and Leslie had convinced her it would be fun for all the girls to go into town together and have a little free time. Plus, they could call Chris once they got there, and he could meet them at the small outdoor shopping center Logan called a mall later that afternoon.

It sounded reasonable, but worry was starting to take hold in the pit of her stomach. It was probably nothing. They were just going shopping, right? She pushed away the worried thoughts and focused on having a fun afternoon out with the girls. Life could still be a little normal.

***

They wandered through the computer parts store, grabbing things from the shelves as Leslie pointed them out. So far they had two carts full to the brim.

“So how are we paying for all of this?” Leslie asked, tossing something else into the second shopping cart.

“Scott set up accounts at most of the local stores. We just show ID, and they put it on Woodhaven’s account.”

“Cool...well, this will get me started. There’re a few more things I need to special order in, but I’ll do that once I get the main terminal set up and running. Chris said I’d be linking it to the Glass House Casino in Las Vegas first, and then they’d fly me out to other locations to link the terminals.”

“Nicole, go peel your sisters off that poor salesman.” Sarah giggled.

Nicole snorted. “You go peel them off. I say we put all of this up at the front and have them deliver it tomorrow. Then we go across the street and have a drink before your mate shows up and spoils our fun.”

“If I hadn’t called him, he was going to be pissed.”

“Whatever. He’s stuck at the airport waiting for Kate’s flight to land.”

“Exactly. Did you forget about the mate bond? He knew I was in town before I could even get the words out of my mouth. I’m not into the kind of sex where you get spanked and flogged for bad behavior.”

“Nobody forced you to drive out here,” Nicole answered, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

“He would have killed you if you’d taken his truck,” Sarah quipped.

“True. I knew he wouldn’t kill his mate. Plus, you never know. I’ve heard spankings can be fun.”

Sarah shook her head. “I’ll be sure to pass that along to your future mate.”

A grimace spread across Nicole’s face. “You wouldn’t.”

“If I get spanked for this, I most certainly will.” Sarah turned toward the twins. “Come on, girls,” she hollered. “It’s time to head out.”

She took hold of the first shopping cart and pushed it along, following directly behind Leslie. At the counter, Nicole handed the clerk her ID and told him the purchases were for Mr. O’Hearn’s Woodhaven account. Leslie asked about delivery, and he informed them they’d be happy to oblige Mr. O’Hearn in any way they could.

They walked out of the store toward the truck, leaving the other three girls to flirt with the receipt checker at the door. Sarah turned to Nicole. “Pays to have money, doesn’t it?”

“Yes, it usually does, and the Vegas Pack is very wealthy,” Nicole replied quietly. “You will never want for anything.”

“What do you mean?”

“The casino provides income for all pack members. Plenty of members work as well, but the majority of expenses are taken care of by funds from the Glass House. Most packs exist under the umbrella on one or more large companies. Life is simpler when greased with green.”

“Interesting. How do the New York and LA packs do it? They can’t have casinos.”

Nicole laughed. “My aunt owns a good five percent of the real estate in New York City. They bring in more revenue than Vegas and LA combined. Another reason the Council is desperate to see those packs bought back under control. All packs send a quarterly profit payment to the Council. A type of tax would be the best way to describe it.”

“So the Council is not only pissed that rules are being broken they are mad because they aren’t getting paid.”

“Yep.” She nodded.

“Nicole!” Tess screeched from the open doorway of the store.

Sarah whirled and saw two men advancing rapidly. One grabbed Nicole around the waist, and the other lunged toward Sarah. She ducked, but his hand clamped around her arm, twisting her off balance and into his chest.

He smelled strange. Like...

“A cat! He’s a cat!”

She watched Nicole shake her attacker. He lunged at her again, and she sent him sailing across the parking lot with a well aimed power-hit to the chest. “Jackass!” She whirled to face the store and shouted.  “Lock the doors, Tess! You hear me?”

Sarah struggled against her attacker, stomping on his feet and trying to get a good elbow into his ribs. It wasn’t working. Cold steel ran along the side of her neck, freezing her in place.

“Don’t move,” he breathed into her ear.

Nicole ran toward the man she’d thrown. He was starting to move again. She took a gun from her purse, and a shot rang out across the parking lot. The fallen man’s body jerked and was still. Several people screamed and took off, tires squealing out of the parking lot.

“Shit.” The large cat shifter hissed and pressed the knife harder into her neck.

A warm trickle of blood ran down her collarbone and between her breasts.
I’m going to die.

“You’re not going to die.”
Her wolf assured her calmly.

If he cuts my throat, I’ll bleed out before you can heal me.

“No you won’t. Keep it together, Sarah.”

Anxiety was building, and it became difficult to pull air into her lungs. She wheezed and began to struggle again. “Let me g-go. L-let me go!” The wheezing became worse. Now it felt as though she were breathing through a soda straw. Black spots danced through her vision.