Читать книгу Wolf Tales VII - Kate Douglas - Страница 8

Mei Chen prowled the long dark hallway in Anton’s sprawling home, her broad, padded paws soundless on the wood floors. Oliver guarded the grounds. He’d chosen his snow leopard form with its camouflaged coat of dark rosettes scattered across a pale background.

Mei rarely chose otherwise. She preferred the cat…and the company. In leopard form, her newly acquired spirit guide, Igmutaka, was a powerful presence within her. Their relationship had been more adversarial in the beginning, but over the past few weeks they’d reached an understanding, at times an almost affectionate cohabitation of the powerful snow leopard’s form.

When she ran as the wolf, Igmutaka was an unhappy cat in the wolf’s body. When she was Mei Chen, the woman, he was but a shadow of himself, present, though not overwhelmingly so.

Except when she made love. Igmutaka enjoyed sex, no matter what form Mei took.

In the snow leopard’s body, the spirit guide shared an equal part with Mei, something she’d at first questioned and resented. Now, she welcomed him. His strength had become hers, his cunning, even his ancient knowledge.

More importantly, Oliver accepted him. Accepted what was essentially a secondary male presence connected most intimately with his mate. He acknowledged Igmutaka’s right to exist within Mei without any sign of jealousy or resentment.

She’d known Oliver was special when they first met. She’d never dreamed just how special.

The babies slept, their home protected by Oliver on the outside, Mei and her guide on the inside. She’d left the ever-present baby monitors near the front door in case she went out, and found a spot in the hallway where she could see both babies’ cribs through their open doors. Silently she lowered herself into a crouching position, alert yet restful.

Minutes passed. The babies were stilll quiet. Igmutaka was a silent presence in her mind. At least until Oliver’s voice brought her head up, her tufted ears forward.

Mei?

What is it?

I think I hear a car coming up the drive. Lights must be out. The engine is fairly quiet, but they’re not all that far away.

I’m ready.

I’m shifting to wolf so I can contact Anton and let him know.

The lack of communication between the leopard and the wolf was the only drawback to this form. Mei stood and walked a few paces down the hall to a room that faced the driveway. She shifted and her human hands opened the window to the night breezes. She shifted again. The leopard’s sensitive ears caught the sound of tires on crushed rock and the low hum of an engine. Oliver was right. A vehicle moved slowly up the long, tree-shrouded driveway.

Her heart hammered in her chest. Not from fear. The adrenaline rush merely prepared her for whatever was to come. Mei’s large, sinewy body was tense. She and Igmutaka were ready for anything.

The babies would be safe in their care.

She felt Igmutaka stirring, his spirit gathering strength, his power spreading from head to heart, to lungs and limbs. She opened her mouth in a silent snarl and waited, watching for their intruders to arrive.

Frustrated anger fueled his journey through the dark forest, propelling him onward every bit as much as fear for his mate. Anton ran alone, taking the trail directly toward their quarry, his dark wolven body a quickly moving target. Ebony claws grabbed the turf. Mud and grass flew behind him. As fast as he moved, Anton knew that Stefan kept pace, racing through the thick undergrowth on hidden pathways, his silence a direct counterpart to Anton’s purposefully noisy run.

Anton reached once again for Keisha. He fought his outrage, furious with her for blocking his mental voice. He knew how she resented his attempts to control her, but he had no choice. Didn’t she realize the danger she was in?

Oliver’s voice slammed into him and Anton’s heart thudded even harder in his chest.

We have visitors. Someone’s coming up the drive. SUV. Lights out. They should be here in a few minutes. I don’t want you to worry, but you need to know this looks like something that’s fairly well planned. An assault in the woods timed with one at the house isn’t accidental.

We’ll take care of these two and get back there ASAP. Protect our young.

As if they were our own.

Oliver’s voice snapped out of his thoughts so quickly, Anton knew he must have shifted directly from wolf to leopard. Thank the Goddess he and Mei were protecting the babies.

Stefan, we have more trouble. Oliver just contacted me.

I know. I heard him. I see Xandi. She’s in position in the rocks above the two men. Keisha’s in the forest to your right. Once you round the corner ahead, the men will see you.

They’re just going to get a glimpse. Anton raced around the corner. He didn’t give himself time to locate his adversaries. Instead he immediately leapt to his right, disappearing into the thick undergrowth just ahead of a dart that whistled past his flank.

It made a loud thunk when it struck the thick trunk of a pine tree behind him.

One of the men quietly cursed.

Anton tucked low and rolled when he hit the ground. A second dart buried itself in the trunk of a fir tree just above his head. Anton raced toward Keisha’s scent. With his body stretched low to the ground he followed a narrow trail through the brambles, careful not to make a sound.

He knew immediately it was the same trail Keisha had used. Her rich scent filled his nostrils. Where are you?

Here. Behind the twisted oak. I’ve got a good view of both of them. Are you okay?

I’m fine. Other than the fact he wanted to throttle her for shutting him out earlier. He had more to worry about right now than his headstrong, independent mate.

Anton rounded the oak and found Keisha hidden in a thick patch of grass beside the twisted tree. The moment she saw him, her head pressed to the turf and her tail tucked between her legs.

Submission was not typical behavior of his alpha bitch.

Anton’s anger melted away into the night. He slipped into the brush beside her and touched his nose to her muzzle. What happened?

Xandi and I were running, sniffing for game when she heard something. I scented the men almost immediately and we split up before they saw us.

They know now that at least one wolf is nearby.

I saw him shoot. Thank the Goddess he missed. What do you think they want? Your dreams…

I wish I understood my visions better. Frustration boiled through him. There’d been ample warning of all this. He hadn’t trusted his nightmares any more than Keisha had. I don’t know what these two are after, but Oliver and Mei have unwanted visitors coming up the drive. They have to be acting together. We need to deal with these two as quickly as possible.

Lily! Keisha’s beautiful wolven head snapped around and her ears flattened to her skull.

She’ll be okay. Mei and Oliver will protect both the babies. He hated the look of fear in Keisha’s eyes, but she had to know the danger facing them.

Stefan’s voice slipped into Anton’s mind, linking both females as well. Okay. I’m in position. Xandi and I are going for the guy on the right. Can you take the one closest to you?

Yes. Give me a few seconds to get in position. Make it clean and fast and final. We don’t have time to toy with them. We’ll get our answers from the ones at the house. Go now.

The intruders hardly knew what hit them. Stefan leapt down from his place in the rocks beside Xandi. His powerful jaws locked on the back of his target’s neck, the weight of his solid wolven body snapped the man’s spine.

Anton’s kill was every bit as fast, though not as clean.

His target must have heard something just before Stefan grabbed the first man. He cried out and raised his gun, but Anton’s teeth clamped onto his throat and ripped through his carotid artery. The gun fired, but the dart flew uselessly into the forest. Blood spurted high, spraying a wide arc as the man went down with Anton’s jaws still locked around his throat.

He struggled for a moment. His mouth opened in a gurgling scream. Anton reset his jaws and choked off the sound. Finally the man’s body went still. Anton held tightly to his throat until the blood stopped pumping and slowed to a trickle, the pressure no longer governed by a beating heart.

Stefan and Xandi had already shifted. Xandi quickly looked through the supplies the two men had brought while Stefan searched the pockets of the one he’d killed. Keisha sat off to one side, ears still flat against her broad skull, and silently watched her mate.

Anton released his victim and shifted.

Only then did Keisha shift. She found the man’s wallet in his hip pocket and handed it to Anton. They’d still not exchanged a single word. Anton took the wallet and touched his mate’s hand with his.

“I’m sorry. You did the right thing. I should not have given you orders you couldn’t follow.”

Keisha’s shoulders slumped and she lowered her head. “I’m sorry I blocked you. I want you to know I absolutely hate going against your directions, but I will when I feel I have to.” She raised her head then, and looked at him directly, without any sense of her earlier submissiveness. “I’m also sorry I didn’t credit your dreams for the warnings they were.”

“I know. I wish I understood them better myself.” As far as Anton was concerned, the issue was closed. He glanced inside the wallet. Credit cards, a California driver’s license and the name of a business located somewhere south of San Francisco. It sounded like a lab of some kind. He quickly handed the wallet back to Keisha. “Stefan and I are going back to the house to help Mei and Oliver. Can you and Xandi take care of these two?”

He saw Keisha glance in Xandi’s direction. Xandi took the second man’s wallet from Stefan and nodded. “We’ll drag them into the cave.” She gestured to the rocky terrace where she’d been hiding. “Their injuries are consistent with a wild animal attack, should anyone ever find them. The odds they’ll ever be discovered are fairly slim.” She took the wallet from Keisha and stuck both of them in the low cleft of a tree to retrieve later.

Anton leaned over and kissed Keisha. “Good idea. Bring the wallets back with you. We need to figure out who the hell these two were, what’s going on, who sent them. I’ll get the info to Luc Stone. C’mon, Stef.”

Anton shifted. Stefan followed him. With a final backward glance at their women, both wolves raced back down the trail and headed toward the house.

The black SUV rolled slowly into the shadows and stopped in darkness just beyond the glow of lights ringing the driveway near the main house. Oliver waited close by. His mottled leopard coat made him nearly invisible.

Mei remained on the porch, tucked down low beside the porch swing. She’d slipped through the open window and moved closer in case Oliver needed her, but first she’d turned all the house lights off. The porch was completely dark. The lights along the drive were solar powered, so she’d not been able to extinguish them, but their light might work to her advantage.

The intruders would be going from bright light to the darkened house, should they get that far.

Igmutaka’s presence was strong within her tonight. She sensed his excitement and his coiled strength. Mei knew that, were she in human form, she might have laughed out loud. Who would have thought that Mik Fuentes’s Sioux grandfather’s spirit guide would end up inhabiting a mongrel Asian shapeshifter from Florida?

Of course, who would have thought little Mei Chen would grow up to be a Chanku shapeshifter in the first place? The many turns her life had taken since Eve Reynolds caught her shoplifting in a little mini-mart in Tampa still boggled her mind.

Mei heard the sound of car doors opening and raised her head, once again fully alert to her surroundings. There was no interior light in the vehicle, but with her powerful night vision Mei picked out at least three shadows moving near the side closest to her. She wasn’t sure if there was a fourth one.

She wished Eve and Adam were here, but they’d gone south to San Francisco to see Mik, Tala, and AJ. A few extra bodies would come in handy about now.

The soft scrape of nails on the far side of the deck caught her attention. Mei jerked her head in the direction of the sound, and recognized the dark wolf as Anton Cheval the moment he rounded the corner. Another wolf, this one with silver-tipped fur, followed close behind him. Stefan Aragat.

Mei growled quietly, alerting both wolves to her presence. They couldn’t communicate while she was in leopard form.

She closed her eyes, thought wolf, and shifted. It always took her a moment to get her bearings, going from leopard to wolf, and she felt Igmutaka’s ire. He did not like this form at all.

I’m here. Silently she spoke to the two wolves, mindtalking in the way of their kind. By the swing. Be very quiet. At least three, maybe four guys just got out of an SUV parked under the big fir tree at the end of the drive. There, just beyond the lights. Oliver’s near them, in leopard form. Are you guys okay? Where are Keisha and Xandi?

Hiding the bodies. Anton’s terse reply told her nothing, yet explained everything.

Mei shifted back to leopard before more of Anton’s thoughts slipped into her head. She’d been reading him much too clearly lately, and his anger at this moment was a living, breathing thing. Right now, she definitely didn’t need the distraction.

Igmutaka filled her with power once again as she settled back to wait, watch, and protect. Anton and Stefan slipped quietly over the wooden railing and landed without sound in the soft grass below the deck.

Oliver? Anton and Stefan are moving toward your position.

Got it. I see them. Thanks.

Mei stayed put. She would guard the babies with her life. Besides, she had a terrific view of the action from her spot here on the wide deck. If the men needed her, she was close by. She watched Stefan and Anton race across the front lawn, two silent, deadly shadows drawing closer to the three men standing beside the SUV. There was no moon, but her leopard eyes saw everything with perfect clarity.

Two of the intruders carried rifles. The third slung a large bag over his shoulder. They moved silently toward the house, walking single file, close to the dark perimeter where landscaping met forest.

There was a swirl of light and dark and the third man, the one at the rear holding the bag over his shoulder, disappeared. The two walking ahead, paused. For a brief moment it appeared they weren’t certain they’d lost their partner.

Suddenly, two dark wolves charged out of the forest, moving so quickly even Mei was startled. Each one took down his target. Mei heard a deep grunt, a sharp snap that could only have been bone, and then silence. She reached out for Oliver. Are you all right?

Yes. We got three of them. I thought I saw a fourth guy get out on the opposite side of the car, but there are just three here.

One of the baby monitors near the door crackled with static. A baby cried out. Alex! The sound ended so quickly the silence shivered. Mei whirled around and leapt through the open window. She raced down the hallway. A dark shape hovered over Alex’s crib.

Oliver! There was a fourth man. He’s here. In the house!

She caught the intruder’s scent, the acrid odor of fear and unwashed human. How had he gotten past her defenses? She was alone, the only one here now, to guard the babies.

Igmutaka roared within. Mei’s powerful haunches bunched beneath her and she covered the distance from doorway to crib in less than a heartbeat.

She locked her jaws on the intruder’s throat, heard a sharp snap. Her weight bore him to the floor. He landed in a heap. She figured he was dead by the limp sprawl of his body, the awkward twist of his head in relation to his shoulder, but she kept her jaws clamped tightly around his throat. Her breath huffed loudly through her nostrils. Saliva and blood soaked the man’s shirt.

She felt the power of the spirit guide lending her strength, giving her the knowledge she needed to kill.

She was not nearly so alone as she’d feared.

When Mei was certain the intruder was dead, she shifted and checked on Alex. He lay in his crib, silent and unmoving. His eyes were open and he was awake, though he seemed groggy. His rosy lips were tightly clenched around a strange pacifier. Mei pulled it out of his mouth. It was sticky, covered with some kind of syrup and it had a strong medicinal odor.

Alex whimpered, a small, thin wail so unlike his usual rowdy cry. Mei set the pacifier on the table beside Alex’s crib and raced across the hall to Lily’s room.

If one intruder had gotten past her, there might have been another.

Anton’s daughter slept on, unaware of the drama playing out around her. Mei ran back to Alex and carefully lifted him out of his crib. Silently she cried out again to Anton, to Stefan and Oliver, sending her mental voice in a commanding shout.

Within seconds she heard the sound of nails scrabbling on wood as three wolves raced up the stairs to the deck. The noise changed to pounding feet, and she knew they had shifted to get through the front door.

Mei held Alex’s warm little body against her shoulder with one arm and ran back into Lily’s room. Anton’s baby girl slept on, but her sleep was the typical relaxed sleep of a tired baby. Alex, though, felt limp and unresponsive.

He had to have been drugged.

Mei glanced up as Stefan raced toward Alex’s room. Anton and Oliver reached Lily’s room at the same time. Oliver followed Anton through the open doorway. Anton went directly to Lily’s crib. The light went on across the hall. Mei called out, “Stefan! Over here. I’m in Lily’s room. I’ve got Alex.”

Oliver stopped beside Mei and put his arm protectively around her waist. Before she could explain what had happened, Stefan called out her name.

“Mei?” Stefan burst through the door. He sounded frantic and she knew he’d seen the body of the dead intruder beside his son’s crib. “Where’s Alex? What the fuck happened?”

“I’ve got him.” Mei carefully handed the baby over to his father.

“Thank the Goddess.” Stefan let out a relieved sigh, cuddled Alex against his bare chest and gently rocked the sleepy infant in his arms. Tears rolled silently down Stefan’s cheeks as he murmured quiet words of encouragement, as much to himself as his son.

“I think he’s okay,” Mei said, peeking around Stefan’s shoulder, “but he’s really groggy. The guy in there stuck a pacifier in his mouth to keep him quiet. It’s sticky and smells familiar, like it had cough syrup on it. Something to keep him quiet, I guess. I don’t think it was poison, but he’s awfully sleepy.”

“I’ll go call the doctor.” Anton took one last glance at Lily and raced back out the door.

Oliver slipped away from Mei and went into Alex’s room, but returned to her within seconds. He put his arm around her waist again and held her close. She turned and wrapped both her arms around his neck and burst into tears.

Oliver held her tightly and soothed her with soft words of encouragement. “It’s okay, sweetheart. You did great. He’s dead. Neck’s broken and he won’t hurt anyone again. The babies are fine. Alex will be fine. Don’t cry.”

Oliver brushed Mei’s tangled hair back from her eyes and held her tightly against his chest. He looked over Mei’s shoulder and caught Stefan’s eyes. “How’s the baby?”

“I think he’ll be okay. He’s beginning to stir, so he’s not completely knocked out. His breathing sounds normal. I wish Xandi was here. She always knows what to do.”

“Can you reach her?” Mei raised her head from Oliver’s shoulder and sniffed. “Does she know someone tried to kidnap your son?”

Stefan nodded. “She knows. She and Keisha should be here any minute.”

Anton stepped back into the room. He’d slipped a pair of flannel pants on but his chest was still bare. “Here. Give this to him if he’ll take it. It’s Xandi’s breast milk, some she had in the freezer. I nuked it in the microwave. It should be warm enough.” He handed a small baby bottle to Stefan. “The doctor said to wake him up and watch him, make sure he’s just sleepy and not acting sluggish or getting worse. Get some fluids into him to dilute whatever he was given. This should work until Xandi gets back.”

Stefan took the bottle from Anton and placed the soft nipple against the baby’s lips. Alex opened his eyes and stared at his father. Finally he sucked on the rubber nipple. From the indignant look on his face, it was obvious he knew this was not Mom, but he was hungry enough not to fight it.

He was also completely awake now, and definitely more alert.

“He’s taking it,” Stefan said. He glanced sideways at Anton, who now held Lily in his arms. “Thank you. Mei, Oliver, I can’t thank you two enough. If anything happened to this little guy…”

“The same from me.” Anton raised his head, but his eyes were on Stefan. “I never realized…”

“How vulnerable they would make us?” Stefan smiled and shook his head. “My, how things change.”

Mei hung her head. Shame engulfed her. Tears flowed without any control. “I’m so sorry. He never should have gotten in the house. I failed you, all of you. I…”

“No you didn’t, Mei. We owe you more than we can ever repay. You did exactly as you should have.” Anton’s warm words were heartfelt. He sounded as if he meant exactly what he said.

Without meaning to, Mei searched his thoughts and found nothing but appreciation, and a sense of compassion for a young woman forced to kill. She sniffed and took the tissue Oliver offered her.

She still couldn’t meet Anton’s eyes. He had no idea she saw his thoughts so clearly.

Oliver squeezed her waist. Then he tilted his head and gazed steadily at his packmates. “Does either one of you have any idea what the hell is going on?”

Anton shook his head. When he spoke, his voice vibrated with a depth of anger Mei’d never heard from him before. He was usually so calm, so unaffected by the world around him. Unless, of course, it had something to do with his mate…or his child.

“Not yet,” he said. “But don’t worry. We will. Stefan, can you give Alex to Mei?” Anton carefully put his sleeping daughter back in her crib and led the others out into the hallway. He stood for a moment, staring at the floor as if gathering his thoughts.

When he raised his head, his amber eyes glowed. Anger created an almost palpable aura around him. “We have a busy night ahead of us. There are four more bodies to dispose of. We need to figure out who the hell these bastards are, and why they’re after us. And then we have to notify the other packs.”

He took a deep breath and let it out, as if forcing himself to remain calm. “Until we know more, we have to assume this isn’t merely an attack against our group. It might be aimed at all of us.”