Tainted Trail (31 page)

Blue Mountains, Eastern Oregon
Friday, September 3, 2004

Ukiah was slammed to the ground, his attacker on top of him. He felt leather, dodged a thin edge of steel, smelled wolf and man mixed together, sensed the pricking awareness of Pack.
Degas,
he thought, twisting and snarling, trying to escape the other. He had been taken too much by surprise. Faster than either of the two humans could react, he was pinned to the ground, a great weight on his chest, fingers like iron rods gripping his chin, a rumble of growl that felt like a motorcycle engine against his skin, a familiar awareness in his mind. It was Rennie, though, not Degas.

“Oh, Jesus Christ, Ukiah!” Max shouted in surprise and alarm.

Head thrust back by the hand that gripped his chin, exposing his throat, Ukiah could only see dark trees that loomed over them, a slice of moon, a scattering of stars and planets.

Submit!
Rennie Shaw growled the single word directly into Ukiah's mind. Ukiah snarled back, too angry and frightened from the sudden attack to be relieved, the wildness flaring up in him.

Ukiah heard Max draw his pistol. Light flooded down from an overhead spotlight, bathing the entire yard in sudden sharp-edged brilliance.

“Shaw!” Max breathed in, and gave a growl of his own. “Get off my boy! I know shooting you will only piss you off for a while, but I'm not in the mood for this bullshit!”

“I'm not going to hurt your boy,” Rennie growled. “I'm just making sure it's only him.”

“ ‘Please' and ‘may I' still work,” Max said.

“Please, may I cut you?” Rennie said.

Ukiah snarled and fell back to a low, unending growl as he thrashed under Rennie.

“I'll take that as a ‘yes,' since I'm not willing to take a ‘no' on this,” Rennie said.
“Degas and the Curs are close behind me. I'd rather be done with this before they arrive.”

I'm putting Max and Sam in danger by fighting,
Ukiah realized and forced himself to go limp. He couldn't stop the growling.

“Go ahead and growl all you want.”
Rennie scored a thin cut across Ukiah's cheek and then licked up the welling blood.
“You don't have to like this part any better than what the Ontongard did to you.”

The mind-to-mind touch was too open and honest. He could sense Rennie's fears of what the Ontongard could have done to Ukiah while they held him, and the Pack's reaction to any additions to his genetics, and started to tremble.
“I was so scared.”

Rennie gazed down at Ukiah with eyes so dark blue they were nearly his father's utter black. There was a momentary stab of pain as Rennie entered his memories and relived those moments before and after dying. Rennie backed up and held the focus on those brief seconds of bright pain at the hospital, the awareness of blood, bone, and brain matter painting the glass behind him.

“Did you get this back?”

“Yes. Max had it.”

“Good.”

Ukiah sensed that Rennie approved of the man as well as the act.

“I would rather not have to kill him. Remember, the more you fight, the more your partner will try to defend you. For his sake, take whatever Degas dishes out to you.”
Even as Rennie gave his silent warning, he pulled Ukiah to his feet, but kept a loose hold on him.

Max holstered his pistol, frowning. “What the hell are you doing here instead of chasing the Ontongard?”

“We found their den two hours ago, but they'd moved already. The cub's trail escaping was two days old. There's an unbreakable bond between you and him, Bennett; he would head for you, and you would search until you found him.”

“So you just looked for me.”

“The hotels are full and public.”

“I hate being obvious.”

Rennie chuckled softly. “Hex's Gets missed their chance to warp the cub. We'll have to be sure they don't get another chance.”

“We were just leaving.”

Rennie cocked his head, listening. “Too late.”

Ukiah listened with all his senses, and felt the Pack around him, familiar strangers moving through the shadows.

Rennie jerked his chin toward the cabin door. “Take her, Bennett, and get inside. You two can't get into the middle of this.”

Max clenched his jaw in anger, but he pulled a protesting Sam into the cabin.

After Ukiah's recent brush with the Ontongard, the arriving Demon Curs struck him with their feral grace. Quinn and Alicia had the same strength and agility, but they lacked style. The Ontongard moved with robotic precision, wearing clothes like ill-fitting sacks over their stolen bodies. The Demon Curs moved with the elegance of dancers.

Embracing the biker-gang image, many wore jackets with a stylized crimson dog on the back, smoke curling from the dog's nostrils. For no other reason than it pleased the Curs, they tended toward black leather, tight denim with flashes of Chinese silks, and bits of silver jewelry. Savage and beautiful, they flowed out of the darkness, surrounding Rennie and Ukiah.

Rennie's early memories of Degas had him red-haired, sparsely bearded, with a sharply pointed chin. A century of alien blood had turned the red hair to Pack black, blunted the chin, and made the beard just a Pack memory. He and Rennie could be mistaken for brothers now.

Degas stared down at Ukiah, nostrils flaring to catch Ukiah's scent. “So this is the boy?” He stalked around Ukiah, stiff-legged, a slight snarl to his lips.

Ukiah turned in Rennie's loose hold to keep facing Degas. Rennie's distrust of the man stirred in him, a secondhand fear. “Degas.” He nodded like a slight bow. Beyond Degas, he saw Degas's alpha female, Blade, and his lieutenant, Collin. He greeted them by name and nod. Rennie's hand rested on Ukiah's chest, over his thudding heart.

“The rest of the Pack has tested him, Degas,” Rennie said quietly. “They voted. He's one of us.”

Blending back into the shadows, Degas became two gleaming eyes, a growling voice, and a wolf-tainted scent. “Hex had hold of him since then.”

“I've checked him,” Rennie said. “Hex hasn't meddled with him. He's the same cub we found in Pittsburgh two months ago.”

“Cub!” Degas spat. “It degrades us to embrace the wolf in us, Shaw. Even Coyote has lived nearly two centuries as a man compared to his handful of years as a wolf.”

“All right,” Rennie murmured. “Hex hasn't tampered with our beloved son.”

Degas snarled. “He's not my son! I didn't screw his mother!”

“We are Prime!” Rennie snapped back. “Much as we beat our chests and claim that we're our own persons, we are Prime. We are Prime's genetic pattern, his memories, and his will. The boy is Prime's son, which makes him our son.”

“He's a damn breeder,” Degas said.

“He's Pack—with all that being Pack entails,” Rennie said. “He has his own heart that knows right from wrong. In nearly two hundred years, Degas, he's not spawned a single child on a woman.”

Degas considered Rennie's words for a minute, then said quietly, “On a woman. You're twisting words to serve your cause. We have to count the infant in Pennsylvania. Where there's one, there may be more.”

Rennie's eyes narrowed in annoyance. “Hex blooded our boy and made that baby.”

“And the boy should have taken it back!” Degas said. “You let sentimentality rule you, Shaw, and now we have two breeders to worry about instead of one. Face it, Shaw, every mouse the boy leaks out could become a full-blown breeder.”

“And if every one of them is identical to him in compassion and fortitude, there is no risk.”

Degas glared at Ukiah, safe in Rennie's protection. Finally, Degas growled softly, “Hex's Gets are here. A full-grown breeder shouldn't be. That's what is important.”

“Degas is right,” Rennie said. “Take your partner, cub, and get back home.”

“Run home, puppy,” Degas said with a smirk. “Let's make the Get and go back to hunting.”

Rennie tightened his hold on Ukiah, growling now at Degas.

Get?
Ukiah ignored his fear and the overwhelming Pack presence, breathing deep, nose flared to gather in the night air. A familiar scent, mixed with the faint metallic tang of human blood, tainted the night.
Jared!

“You have him?” Ukiah gasped.

“He got in the way,” Degas drawled. “Police have a way of doing that. Good thing they make good Gets.”

Rennie read Ukiah's intention and caught him as he lunged at Degas, snarling. The Pack leader had a foot in height and nearly a hundred pounds in weight over Ukiah. Rennie held him firm when no normal man could.

“We don't have many rules,” Rennie whispered into Ukiah's ear, holding him tight as iron bars. “One of them is
once a Pack dog has been tested and voted to live, you shall not kill the Pack dog except in a fair fight.”

Ukiah choked on a bitter laugh. “Fair fight? How could I fight Degas and have it be fair?”

“If Degas attacked you, alpha male against a half-grown cub, it wouldn't be fair. But if you attack him, Degas can defend himself with all force. If he tricks you into throwing the first blow, he can kill you.”

“And if I kill him in a fight?” Ukiah asked.

“Then your will holds sway.” Rennie shook him. “You're
too weak, cub. That hand of yours is barely holding together, and a good hit will put you down.”

“I can't let him have Jared!”

“Jared's guaranteed to survive the transformation, and he'll be Pack. Is that such a bad thing?”

“Do you think I don't know how much you miss being human?”

“Some, like Degas, don't mind.”

“And that is why he rails so against the wolf taint?”

“Cub, I tried to keep these cards from being played, but they're on the table now. There's nothing to do now but accept that the game is lost and weep.”

Ukiah could find not words to express the pain of giving up on Jared after losing Alicia, Kraynak, and Zoey. Robbed of language, he whimpered his distress.

“Oh, pup, I know this is bitter,” Rennie said. “but you must swallow it.”

“But—”

“Hush!” Rennie leaned close and whispered. “Do not give Degas an opening. You are not the only one at risk here. If he kills you, he'll hunt down your little one, claiming the right to kill
all
of you. For Kittanning's sake, silence.”

Ukiah froze in fear. Kittanning who could fit in his cupped hands, unable to even to roll over. Indigo who would fight to the death to protect her son. Max who loved Kittanning. A cascade of people that would throw themselves between him and sure death. Hellena. Bear. Perhaps even Rennie.

“Yes, perhaps even me.” Rennie rumpled his hair. “I caution you from putting me to any practical test, though. Depending on the conditions, I might not jump the way you hope I would.”

Ukiah trembled with fury that he couldn't expel. “Fine. But if Jared has to be Pack, then I want him to be your Get, not Degas's. I want Jared under your control, not his.”

Ukiah felt Rennie mentally flinch at his words. Rennie hated making Gets, stripping another person of their humanity and making them a pale shadow of himself. That very distaste was why Ukiah wanted Rennie to do it. Rennie would allow Jared to stay Jared as much as possible.

Rennie's eyes narrowed as something occurred to him, but he hid the thought away. He nodded slowly, as if it was a sane, everyday request. “I can only do this if you don't fight.”

“No fighting,” Ukiah promised.

Rennie released Ukiah then. Between Degas and Rennie was a silent clash of wills, and then, with a growl, Degas stalked away.

Wordlessly, Rennie skinned out of his duster, and then his long-sleeved shirt, revealing a body that normally would need hours of weight lifting to maintain. No scars blemished the skin, despite a hundred and forty years of warfare. A military tattoo bought on the eve of the Civil War had long vanished, a dim, human memory. At least Jared would receive perfect health in trade for his humanity.

Collin brought Jared out of the darkness. The sheriff sagged in Collin's hold, blood trickling from a temple wound, his eyes tracking sluggishly. In the absence of visible weapons and threatening behavior toward him, Jared seemed at a loss to understand what was going on. He recognized Ukiah, and deemed him safety, staggering into the pool of light to lean against him.

“Uncle, who are these people?”

“These are my father's people.” Ukiah hugged him, silently saying good-bye. Over Jared's shoulder, Ukiah watched Rennie take out a small leather case, the size of an eyeglasses case. Rennie cracked the case, and the hypodermic needles inside glittered like diamonds in the harsh light. “They can be very ruthless people. I'm sorry. I can't protect you.”

“Your father?” Jared slurred the words, glancing at Rennie. “This is your father?”