“The avenging demon busted in there and dragged the
viceroy out.” Sasha shook her head. “Damn, that’s cold, but that’s exactly how
I’d do it to save my side from collateral damage.”
“But let’s say, for the sake of argument, that it
wasn’t Queen Cerridwen,” Doc said, his worried gaze roaming to each face in the
group. “Then what Unseelie would benefit from Vampire wars? Why would they try
to bring down the House of Hecate, because this is where all of this could have
been going, if Sir Rodney would have turned her away at the castle?”
“And an educated bet was that Sir Rodney would have turned
her away,” Sasha said flatly. “Only somebody maybe didn’t expect him to be such
a romantic.”
“Ah, the X factor,” Bradley said with a half smile.
“Quantity unknown.”
“But that leads us right back to square one. Full
circle and no cigar, folks.” Sasha began hunting along the choices of artillery
that Woods and Fisher had spread out on the table. “Maybe it’s time to have a
conversation with the queen about what her succession plan is if she were to
meet a sudden demise. That could tell us a lot.” Sasha picked up a small
handheld Uzi and fit in its magazine with a click.
“Before anything, I need to let Shogun know what’s
happening.” Hunter rubbed the nape of his neck, becoming agitated. “I have to
warn my brother, but he never told me where he was staying.”
Sasha checked both safeties on her weapon and then
looked up at Hunter. “Don’t howl. The Vamps might take that as a rallying call
to arms from the wolves and get any lone wolf out there accidentally ambushed.
But I know who might know.”
Hunter gave her a puzzled look and simply cocked his
head with a question in his eyes.
“Amy Chen’s parents have a store near Xavier. She
lives with her parents,” Sasha said calmly. “If anyone has his cell number, it
would be her.”
“Good answer,” Hunter said, moving straight toward the
door, but Sasha flat-palmed his chest with one hand and simply shook her head.
“Don’t freak the Chens out, man. You’re covered in Fae
blood splatter and gargoyle gook. Why don’t you take five and give in to a
shower—I’m just sayin’.”
A quick hot shower, a change of clothes—courtesy
Colonel Madison’s order to two MPs to get Sasha and Hunter uniforms—and she was
good to go. Sasha fingered her engagement ring that she’d threaded onto the
silver chain that held her amulet while she waited for Hunter in the Jeep. Back
in the bayou, one shape-shift and she’d almost lost it. The silver amulet
always seemed to hang right and to fall in place just so when she’d transform,
but even that was a battle hazard. Now she thoroughly understood why wolves
didn’t wear the traditional American demarcation of being unavailable. One
thing for sure, though: She was tired of living like a nomad.
Somewhere along the way from New Hampshire to the NAS
she’d lost her duffel bag. She was pretty sure that she and Hunter had dropped
their belongings at Sir Rodney’s sidhe, since that was the first stop. But
between all the shadow hopping, location changes, and then a shape-shift, she
couldn’t be a hundred percent certain where she’d left anything. And that was
the problem. They were always on the move. Nomads.
Her goldfish, Fred, had died months ago, due to either
lack of care or overfeeding by Mrs. Baker. Sasha shuddered to think about how
her brother was going to cope with a baby on the way. How did Shadow Wolves rear
children anyway, or was it just that her life as the pack’s female alpha and
enforcer mated to the pack’s supreme alpha male was the thing that made her
life so insane? Did wolves do the suburbs, soccer practice for kids, or Little
League? Sheesh.
The more she thought about it, when was the last time
she’d even been in her own apartment? It was tidy, IKEA furnished, but it
wasn’t
home.
Hunter had his bachelor’s cabin out in the Uncompahgre, and
they’d created a love nest in a cabin up in New Hampshire. But where was
base
camp
going to be? The French Quarter? It was one more thing that she and
Hunter never talked about; life would just get crazy and then they’d up and
shift and run. Then celebrate. And not a lot of talking got involved in the
celebration. Howling, yes. Talking, no. Right now, for some reason, she had
questions. About a hundred of them.
Sasha stared at the diamond-heavy ring that dangled at
the end of the silver chain looped around her neck. New dog tags for sure. Her
brother had gotten married. Hunter was talking about getting married. Shogun
was planning on getting married. Bradley and Clarissa were gonna probably cave
any day now.
“You okay?”
Sasha almost leaped out of the Jeep and then closed
her eyes and allowed her body to slump. “Don’t do that, jeez.”
“Walking light is just force of habit,” Hunter said,
looking concerned as he jumped into the driver’s seat and gunned the engine. “I
guess with gargoyles flying I should have announced myself sooner. Sorry.”
“It’s cool,” she said, glad that Hunter mistook her
jumpiness as mission related. Once he’d mentioned gargoyles, the other thoughts
that had been tugging at her faded into the background of her mind. “I think
you were right to want to take the Jeep. No sense in freaking out the Chens by
stepping out of a shadow in their store.”
“I was also hoping that it might be a good opportunity
for you to have a brief word with Amy.” Hunter glanced at Sasha from the corner
of his eye as they pulled up to a military exit checkpoint. “I sort of promised
Shogun you would, even though we have other pressing matters. This is important
to my brother.”
Sasha nodded and handed the clipboard to the guard
shack MP, saying nothing until they had clearance. “Okay,” she said, once they
were well past the barricade.
Hunter glanced at her again. “Just ‘okay’?”
Sasha shrugged. “Yeah. Like, Oooo. Kaaay. What?”
“Usually there’s much more than ‘okay.’ ” He held up a
hand and smiled when she drew a breath. “I’m okay with ‘okay’ as long as you’re
okay with ‘okay.’ I just didn’t know if it was okay—but I’m pissed or
okay—cool. Sometimes I don’t speak she-Shadow and I wanted to be sure I wasn’t
in the doghouse.”
“You’re not in the doghouse,” she said, finally
cracking a smile. “It’s just, what do you guys want me to say to this young
woman? In fact,” she said, turning around in her seat to fully face Hunter.
“What does any woman say to another woman about something like this?”
“Okay,” he said, giving her quick glimpses between
trying to keep his eyes on the road. “This is what I meant by are you okay with
this. My gut is never wrong; my wolf is always right. You’re—”
“Twisted up, Hunter.” Sasha sat back and ran her
fingers through her damp hair. “Amy loves the ground that man walks on. To her,
he’s
a freakin’ deity.
I mean, Hunter, she sees him as the knight in
shining armor, the man who saved her from demons! He was gentle, and patient,
and met her family. His ferocious nature only came out to protect and serve
her, to save her life. Then he delivered her to a magical castle and nursed her
back to health, and brought her home to her parents, who wept at her return.
Then he goes with her to China and meets all her relatives. and
sends gifts and receives her like royalty—because he is. Then you guys concoct
a plan in the woods, mind you, while I’m not there, and I have to be the one to
tell this poor girl there’s no Santa Claus?”
“Sasha, I—”
“No, let me finish,” she said, feeling her face become
warmer and warmer the more she thought about it. “This is much worse than the
whole Santa Claus analogy, which doesn’t even
begin
to do it justice.
No, Hunter, you guys owe me big-time for this because I have to tell some
virginal young bride-to-be that her fiancé gets really, really horny when
there’s a full moon out and needs to go break-your-back primal, so, sorry,
he’ll cheat.”
“Oh, man, Sasha, my brother really does love her, even
though he has a Werewolf compulsion that Shadows don’t own. You make it sound
so. ”
“Real? The word ‘real’ comes to mind, Hunter.” She
folded her arms over her chest but kept looking straight ahead as he drove
faster. “Upper and lower canines presented, eyes glowing gold, and this dude
will be howling on his wedding night and then need a half a side of raw beef to
come down or go into priapism. Or he’ll have to be in a Werewolf brothel every
twenty-eight days when the moon goes full.”
“Damn. ,” Hunter muttered. “I know, but you make
it sound so. ”
“Not one affair, not one little indiscretion that
maybe a marriage counselor can fix,” Sasha railed on without missing a beat.
“But it’s a biological issue—a. a.
disability.” Hunter glanced at Sasha and then looked straight ahead. “Baby.
he’s a Werewolf, for crying out loud.”
“I’m not arguing his pedigree; I’m just stating the
facts that I have to convey to a normal human chick who is crazy in love.”
“Well, I know Shogun loves her, too,” Hunter said with
triumph in his voice.
“Did you hear what I said?” Sasha turned in her seat
and waited until Hunter glanced at her. “The operative words are ‘crazy in love.’
It’s the kind of thing that gets a man poisoned at his own dinner table or
stabbed to death in his sleep. He may be a Werewolf, but she’s a woman, so
hey.”
“You think she’d go there?” Hunter quickly turned and
looked at Sasha, who casually shrugged and turned away to stare out of the
window.
“You never know what a person will do. I don’t think
she’ll leave him, no matter what he says. And he’s not going to be able to fix
this. We are talking about a pattern, Hunter. A lifestyle or whatever. Call it
what you want to, but it’s gonna be brutal, emotionally, on the bride. So,
unless that fragile lotus flower of a girl can land on her feet after a hard
wolf toss or take a running body slam on a hard rollover—”
“Okay, okay, we owe you,” Hunter said, gripping the
wheel.
“Oh, maaaan, what am I going to tell that poor girl?”
Sasha let her head drop into her hands. “Now that supernaturals are coming out
of the closet, there should be a new instructional-video industry that springs
up for human education.”
“Now that would beat chasing gargoyles and Vampires at
night,” Hunter said, swallowing a smile.
Sasha slapped his arm and then they both laughed.
“Be serious, Hunter.”
“I am being serious.. I’m not shy.”
“You are incorrigible.”
Hunter waggled his eyebrows as he turned into the
Chens’ block. “You don’t know the half of it. Moon’s up. I’m showered. Hungry.
The subject matter is—”
“Get out of the Jeep, man,” Sasha said, shoving
Hunter’s arm.
“It all begins with wolf play, an aggressive push, a
bite, and—”
“You are so getting on my nerves,” she said, trying
not to laugh, and then leaped out of the vehicle.
As Hunter turned off the engine, she listened, trying
not to smile at his low, subsonic chuckles. He was right on her heels.
Walking away from him quickly, she rang the bell to
the apartment that was above the now-locked storefront. This detour made no
sense. But she knew Hunter well enough to know that, he was trying to tidy up
loose ends before potentially going into battle. That whole honor and
my-pledge-is-my-bond thing sounded good on paper but was sometimes a royal pain
in the ass. Like now, when they had much more important things to deal with.
Besides, this was Hunter’s pledge, not hers, but he’d gotten her all mixed up
in the whole convoluted mess!
“Hi,” she said, waving through the window at Amy with
her best pasted-on smile. Sasha tried not to fidget as Amy managed the locks
and opened the door.
But rather than invite them in, Amy rushed out of the
house, grabbing Sasha by an arm.
“I am so glad you and Shogun’s brother are here. We
must hurry.”
Sasha stumbled forward, amazed at the strength the
petite girl suddenly wielded. “Okay, okay, but what’s going on?”
“I’ll explain as we drive,” Amy said. “Is that your
Jeep?”
“Yes,” Hunter replied, frowning, rounding the vehicle,
and opening the door.
“You have brought weapons?” Amy asked, quickly
climbing in.
Sasha slammed the door as Hunter piled in behind the
steering wheel. “Okay, now you’re scaring me. What’s going on?”
Amy held her head in her hands. “I can still see with
Lady Jung Suk’s eyes. When Shogun’s demon Were Leopard aunt possessed my body,
even though you killed her, some of her powers stayed with me. I wasn’t sure of
it until the moon rose and Shogun sensed a presence while we were out in the
park. He was trying to explain something to me about our marriage and then he
stopped speaking and stood.” Amy looked up at Hunter and Sasha with tear-filled
eyes. “I saw it, too,” she added in a quiet tone. “It was clear, like water
moving past us. He brought me home and said to stay there and be safe.
and not to tell my parents. I did as he’d asked. But then he left to draw it
away from us.”
“Do you know where my brother went?” Hunter said,
gunning the engine and careening away from the curb.