Chasing a Wolf: Moonbound Series, Book Four (7 page)

C
itlani dashed
toward the street catching a signpost with her hand to yank herself to a quick stop. A large mechanic creature, a car her mom had called them, whirred past her at a breakneck pace. Dozens of them filled the streets. Their smell burned her nostrils and she dashed down the sidewalk, looking for a way across.

The tug of magick was growing with every step. Her mother was at that hotel and Tomás wasn’t going to take her. Not only could she feel his fear as he spoke with the man on the phone more, he’d forgotten he was speaking in Spanish. She’d heard everything. Her mom was at a hotel called
Puerto Villa
.

A man riding a small contraption pulling a wagon of sorts stopped just ahead of her. The passenger in the wagon got out and handed several pieces of paper to the rider who’d been pulling him around.

She swung Tomás’ bag off her shoulder and dug inside it for the wallet she knew was there. When he’d gotten dressed earlier she’d seen him put it back. She fiddled with it until she found several pieces of paper that looked similar to what the rider had been given by the other man.

“Sir?” she called out in Spanish.

The rider glanced at her and cocked his head to the side.

“Can you take me to the
Puerto Villa
?”

“Like that?” His eyes traveled from her head to her feet and back up to her head.

“Yes.”

“Do you have money?”

She waved two pieces of paper from Tomás’ wallet in front of her.

The rider shrugged. “Come on then.” He patted the wagon seat.

“Thank you.” Citlani climbed into the contraption and took a deep breath as another car whirred past, leaving a trail of burning smelly air in it’s wake.

A few seconds later, they were weaving through the traffic and Citlani breathed a little easier, though the nagging feeling that Tomás was right on her heels didn’t fade. She had to stay ahead of him, or he wouldn’t let her find her mother. Not that she could hide for long. The bond would allow him to track her. But, she still wasn’t about to go hide somewhere and let others do her fighting for her.

She could fight. She was Moonbound. She was a wolf.

The tug of her mother’s magick was growing stronger, but so was something else. Another pull Citlani had never felt before crawled through her chest and wrapped itself around her heart. It wasn’t Tomás. The bond was completely different. Still, there was a bond there. One she didn’t recognize.

The rider pulled to a stop in front of one of the largest buildings she’d ever seen. White columns taller than trees supported a roof of stone. It was whiter than the clouds in the sky and there were people everywhere. And none of them were dressed like her.

Citlani handed the paper money to the rider and climbed out of the wagon, shouldering Tomás’ bag and taking a deep breath of his scent for encouragement. It was strange that she missed him, wanted him near her, even. She’d never felt like that about anyone but her mother before.

“Good luck,” the rider called as he abandoned her on the drive of the main entrance to the hotel. A few men in dark blue shirts standing beside a counter stared at her. One gave her a leering grin and rubbed his crotch suggestively.

Animal.

She made a wide arc around the men and slipped through the self-opening, sliding doors.
How did the doors see me?
Citlani looked around for a person controlling them, but no one appeared to be paying her any attention at all.

The floor of the hotel was smooth white stone and cold. The air was freezing compared to the air outside. She rubbed her arms and padded through the large room.

“Ma’am? Can I help you?” A woman behind a counter called out.

Lani glanced toward her and shook her head. She didn’t need anyone else in her business. She’d just find her mother and get out of this place, find Tomás and figure things out after that.

He was angry and terrified at the same time and closing in quickly.

She needed to hurry.

“I’m fine.” She waved off the woman and padded down a long hallway, following some people. They pressed a small circle on the wall and it lit up like the screen on Tomás’ phone had.

Everything was so strange. She didn’t understand how anything worked. How was she ever going to find her mother?

Two large metal doors opened up and the people stepped into a small enclosed box. Her chest tightened and a chill ran down her spine. Why would they put themselves in a tiny box?

“Are you getting on?” One of the people asked.

She shook her head and dashed away, back into the larger main area of the hotel. Her mother was close. She could feel her, but that was all. Where did she need to go from here?

A tear ran down her cheek.

“Lani!” Tomás came barreling through the sliding hotel doors.

T
omás ran
across the sunny lobby, calling her name. He could feel her near, and there was the smallest rush of relief. Had she just found her mother?

He bypassed the staring woman at one of the large check-in desks. Lani wouldn’t know to stop there. She would’ve gone straight for her mother.

Zolin’s bare feet smacked on the floor behind him. Two wild-looking men—even with Tomás clothed in jeans and a t-shirt—would be just as noticeable as a half-naked woman.

His lungs ached, but he couldn’t stop running. He had to find Lani.

Tomás looked toward the elevator bank and saw her, frozen in place, staring at him, crying and shaking her head slowly from side to side. He couldn’t have cared less if she wanted him to follow her or find her. He’d found her. That was all that mattered.

“Why did you do that?” he called to her in Spanish.

Upscale tourists in their travel-best gaped at him and whispered, but he didn’t stop.

He wanted to get his hands on her.

“Don’t,” she whispered with her arms out.

Before Lani could speak another word, Tomás had grabbed her shoulders and folded her into his desperate embrace. “Don’t ever run away like that again.” His heartbeat sailed wildly, and he wasn’t sure if he was feeding off her, or still just afraid the monster would find her. “You don’t know the city, but
he
does. You aren’t safe here. I’m sorry I brought you. This is all my fault.”

“I need to find her.” Her voice cracked through her tears.

Zolin reached out from over Lani’s shoulder, but he drew his hand back and clenched his jaw. “We should not be here.”

“I can feel her near. I just need to…I don’t know how to get to where she is.” Lani looked up at the gilded ceiling and tried to pull back, but Tomás held her too tight for escape.

He wasn’t about to let that happen again.

“Is she up somewhere?” he asked, following her gaze.

“Somewhere. I don’t know where.” She extended her hand, as though something floated just beyond her eyes. “But I have to get to her.”

A small group of hissing tourists crowded toward the elevator bank, keeping fluttering eyes on them.

Tomás moved Lani toward the far elevator and met Zolin’s eyes. “We have to get her out of here.”

The big warrior nodded. “If her mother is here, and this place is owned by the monster, that means he will be here as well. It is not safe for her.”

Tomás pushed a bit of calm toward Lani, but she resisted and pushed back. The deep blackness of her terror grabbed him by the heart and practically stopped his function. He choked on thin air. “What is that?” he gasped.

Her cheeks were wet as she looked up at him. “I don’t know. I can’t control my feelings. It’s like there’s chaos inside me.”

Zolin punched at Tomás’ arm. “It’s him. The monster. He knows she’s here.”

“We don’t know that.”

“I have to find my mother.” Lani wrenched out of his grasp. “Either you’re going to help me, or you’re in my way.”

She shuddered and he felt another gust of whirling emotion inside her. This time, it didn’t quite incapacitate him, but it was a force. If this was a parent bond being used against a child, the man was an adept. Even just being connected to Lani, he could barely escape feeling crushed by the weight of oppressive magick.

“He knows you’re here, Lani. He has to.”

The elevator dinged and a crowd of people streamed around them, smelling of the beach and expensive shops. They might be able to lose themselves in a crowd somewhere. Maybe go to a mall.

He needed a plan.

“Where are the people coming from?” she asked, pointing. “Those are different people than the ones who just got in there.”

“It’s an elevator,” he said.

A woman walked past them, sliding into the little box, and casting a judgmental glance down at Lani’s bare feet.

Tomás pulled at her arm. “Come away from there.”

“What does the elevator do?”

“It takes people up and down to the different floors.” He pulled her farther into the wall, out of the traffic pattern. If they made too much more commotion, someone would report them, and who knew if Adrian Rossi had spies in the hotel who might know what Lani looked like.

Wait
.

He grabbed Zolin’s arm. “Tell me what her mother said. When she saw the man in the market. What exactly did she say? Her exact words.”

With a tiny shake of his head, the Huichol said, “It happened too fast. I can’t remember her exact words.”

“Did she say why he would capture them? What he wanted?”

“No. Only that he was dangerous and I shouldn’t ever bring Citlani here again.”

Tomás exhaled into Lani’s hair. “Why didn’t I hear that before?” He pulled out his phone and dialed Maggie. “He’s not after her mother, or why would she still be alive.”

He wanted Lani.

Maggie’s heavy breath greeted him when she answered. He could hear a crowd in the background. “We’re almost at the hotel. Where are you?”

“We’re here.”

“Who’s we?” Maggie asked. “Did Andrea get there already? Or Dani?”

“It’s a long story.”

He heard Maggie’s words echoing from the phone and from across the large space behind him. “I’m sure there’ll be time for long stories someday.”

Tomás turned and felt a small surge of relief course through him when he saw Maggie’s pixie-cut head and Alex’s wife-beater tank top. He could’ve kissed them both.

Maggie jogged toward the elevator bank, but slowed considerably when she saw what likely amounted to two barefoot, half-naked strangers. Either that, or she recognized what Tomás should have seen when he first laid eyes on Lani. Maybe she saw an echo of Marco in those eyes.

“Is this the long story?” Maggie raised an eyebrow.

He let out an edgy laugh. “You can’t even begin to imagine.”

“Shit.” Alex grabbed at his wrist and held it up for Maggie to see. “What the hell, man?”

Maggie’s eyes rounded and she stared at the green tattoos. Her eyes went immediately to Lani’s wrists, and her jaw went slack.

“I said it’s a long story.” Tomás yanked his hand away and rubbed at the new, knotty tattoos.

“Whatever you say, Rain.” The jab in her last word reminded him of the hours they’d all spent making fun of their old team leader ducking into the airplane bathroom or an abandoned alley to have hurried sex with his mate. But now that Tomás had felt the pull of the bond, he couldn’t make fun of Rain any longer.

A chuckle from Alex, a skeptical glance from Maggie, and none of it bothered him. He just wanted Lani to be safe.

“Alejandro Sureda, Maggie Gallagher.” He indicated each of his friends to Lani. “They’re from my team.”

“Nice to meet you.” Maggie extended a hand. Lani raised an eyebrow and Tomás touched Maggie’s arm.

“Hang on,” he said. “Let me translate. Lani doesn’t speak English.”

“No need,” Maggie said with a smile to Alex. “I know more than twenty words of Spanish now. Learning on the job.” She offered the same handshake and said in halting Spanish, “Good to meet you.

“Can you find my mother?” The desperation in Lani’s voice caught everyone’s attention.

Zolin grunted. “A woman? We do not need help from more women.”

Maggie’s jaw dropped open and she gave the warrior an
oh really
glare. “And who is this big hunk of asshole?”

Alex stepped out of the way when a couple of teenagers let out disgusted sighs. Another group filed past them into the elevator.

“Why are we all gathered in here staring at elevators?” Alex asked. “Isn’t this the one place he’s the most likely to see us?”

“Do we even know he’s looking?” Tomás said.

Alex indicated the front doors with his head. “Let’s at least move this to a place where we don’t have an audience.”

Maggie led them out of the alcove, but Tomás had a hard time dragging Lani away. She tried planting her feet, then clawing at his arms, but he wasn’t relenting. He wasn’t going to let her out of his sight again.

Zolin lagged behind, keeping his distance from the new people.

“Now. Are you going to tell us what’s going on?” Maggie crossed her arms. “You could have prepared me for this one.”

“Lani’s mother was one of the girls...” Tomás lowered his voice, “from the brothel, I think.”

“What the hell?” Alex rubbed his jaw. “Up in the mountain tribes?”