Tales Of The Sazi 05 - Moon's Fury (40 page)

Finally, when the pulsing of his power against hers had lulled her into resting quietly against his body, he spoke. "You weren't
wrong,
Cara. You did what you thought was right for your people." He pulled back slightly and raised her chin to look into her eyes. His scent turned to determination, with a healthy dose of pride.
"Your
people. You can't second guess the past. You can't know you could have gotten here in time, and you did something I never could have. You
healed
them. If I'd been the pack leader instead of you, Rosa and Paco would be
dead
now.”

She snuffled as he released her chin, then she rubbed at her swollen nose with the back of one hand. "Fine. I'll be the pack's healer then. But I've never really been an Alpha—not like you have. I…

saw
things …while we were connected. I never knew what real Alphas have to go through. I've just been fucking
playacting,
pretending I'm adult enough to run a pack. And my family has suffered because of it.”

Adam snorted and pulled away from her, leaning back against the trunk of the tree and crossing his arms over his chest. "Oh yeah. I've been a
great
Alpha, a
terrific
one." He held up a finger and his scent turned fiery hot with anger. "I run the pack for one night—just
one,
and I manage to screw up all our lives forever. Those skiers saw our pack hunting because of
me,
Cara. I picked the route. I ignored everyone's advice to stay to the deep woods, because I was
tired.
I'd just come off-shift and didn't want to drive for an hour each way." He shook his head, eyes now glowing a bright blue. "I should have just let Tyr take my position when he challenged me. I deserved to move out of second position for breaking the First Rule and letting the humans live to report what they saw. But instead, I killed him.”

He must have noticed her surprise, because he nodded. "Yah, you heard right. Tyr Isaacson was the pack leader's son. He confronted me when he read the newspaper account of the massive pack of wolves the two hikers saw. I saw them in the trees, just like Tyr did. They would have been easy targets and nobody would ever know…but they were just kids. I couldn't bring myself to order the pack to hunt them down. And when he challenged me, in private—instead of blowing it off, I accepted.”

A profound sadness swept across his face and he closed his eyes. "Tyr's dead, Josef's dead, and so are Mark and Vivian's sister, Tabitha. Who knows how many girls have been enslaved and tortured on my watch. Christ, Cara! I'm a
cop.
Following the rules is all I
have
—it makes me …me." He looked at her with eyes blazing and self-loathing bleeding from every pore. "You have nothing to apologize for, and are a far better Alpha than I'll ever be. You offered your
life
for your pack.”

"So did you." She ignored his startled look and confused scent to continue. "Just now. You didn't have a clue what would happen when you broke that ritual—but y'all did it to save
me,
and
my
family. And like you said, you can't second guess the past. Not a whole lot of other people would do what you did today." She took a deep breath, letting it out slow, her thoughts flashing back to her conversation with Ten Bears. It was time for her to let go, for the good of all of them. "Maybe you
don't
deserve to lead the Minnesota pack—I don't know. I can't judge who did what for how many cookies. But you've earned your place in
this
pack. I don't think there's any question anymore that my people will accept you as their leader, especially after Eddie talks to them tonight. I didn't offer you my place for laughs, y'know. I
wouldn't
offer it unless I was willing to step down and follow you, my Alpha.”

Cara bowed her head and waited for him to respond. But instead, he rose to his feet, pausing to stare down at her briefly. She couldn't sort one scent from the next and looked up to see his face. He'd already turned, though, and she watched him walk out of the grassy, acorn strewn hideaway—leaving her to wonder what would happen to her family if he refused.

29

We found the birds, Alpha.

Adam's eyelids snapped open, the tiny bedroom filled with a young boy's toys suddenly superimposed with the image his pack was seeing miles away. Adrenaline started his heart beating faster. He shifted Cara's arm, wrapped tightly around his chest, so he could grab his watch. It was already after seven. Night was nearly here. He ruffled his fingers along the edge of Cara's aura and was relieved to find that Jill's advice had been on the money—staying in close contact, skin on skin, had allowed her to heal faster than if she'd just tried to tough it out. He just hoped she wouldn't be mad when she woke up and found him here with her.

He shifted his body on the narrow twin bed and let his vision slip inward until he could see the steep cliff face clearly. The long crack in the rock must open into a cave. He could only pray the girls were with them. Five birds, or were there six? Was that a sentry in the nearby tree?
Don't approach
them,
he whispered into the minds of his wolves.
Stay low, keep upwind and get back here.
Eddie and Tommy turned and slunk back into the trees, moving with flawless precision, born of the mind-link. Eddie knew the territory well and Tommy stayed glued to his left quarter, letting the smaller red wolf guide him safely home.

Then he focused on Jill and slipped into her mind to see the long expanse of highway and the familiar sound of a man and a woman talking animatedly. The flight from Austin had arrived right on time. They were on their way here. It hadn't been cheap for Mike and Sheila to coax that young family out of their place on the plane, switching them for their own tickets a day later, along with a fistful of cash—but it had been worth every cent. They needed every possible wolf here if they had any hope of getting the girls back. Luckily, Lucas had agreed an offensive strike was their best chance. Admittedly, he was more concerned about Ziri than the other girls, but then he apparently had gotten a report from Bobby and Tony that worried him. It was frustrating to Adam that the Wolven chief wouldn't reveal what the situation was—only that it was serious enough that every wolf in this pack was suddenly expendable. Adam didn't plan to lose anyone tonight, though.
Nobody
else was going to die on his watch, except a flock of murderous birds. For that to happen, they were going to need split-second timing, and a fully bound pack. He wished he could trust the information that had been leaked to them by an anonymous caller. Unfortunately, every cop knew that information was only as good as the source. He wasn't sure. It made him nervous. The whole thing seemed almost
too
convenient. Adam looked down at the woman in his arms again, marveling at the play of hard muscles under smooth honeyed brown skin. He let out a sigh that rumbled with a small chuckle. Yah, he was falling for her, hard and fast, and was pretty sure it wasn't just the mating talking. The scent of her turned his mind to putty, and fer sure he had to struggle nearly every minute not to rip off her clothes and take her…but there was more to it. He
respected
her— her fierce loyalty and intelligence. And she was good in a crisis. She kept her head and could analyze as well as any cop he'd ever met. But she was beaten down right now, questioning her own decisions. He understood that well— had seen it in plenty of other guys on the squad after an operation went bad.

No. He wasn't going to let her give in to it. She was a good Alpha and he'd be damned if she was going to slink off with her tail between her legs. He'd be proud to share the pack with her. Together, they could rise above this setback.

A sudden heat swept through him as the moon crept over the horizon and froze his breath in his throat. He caught a glimpse of the glowing orb through the little window half-covered by a white bookcase crammed to overflowing with Dr. Seuss books. The moon magic was unusually strong tonight…or maybe it was just because Cara was nearly naked beside him. He leaned down and kissed her hair gently, and felt her respond with a sigh and a tightening of her arm around him. She was more powerful than she knew and with the right prompting, he might be able to help her reach her potential.
If what Mom told me on the phone earlier is right, there's a chance this tiny little group
could wind up one of the strongest packs in the country.
Myrna Mueller was the pack's historian—

knew every bit of Sazi folklore that stretched back to when the world was new. If she said it was possible, then it was. It was just a matter of handling the meeting tonight properly. And if it worked, well, those birds weren't going to know what hit them.

But as much as he was enjoying the warmth of her body that made his skin tingle, it was time to get moving. There was a lot to do. He shook her shoulder lightly.

"Carita,
mi amor,
wake up. It's time to get going."

She felt the power of the moon first—a burning tingle that both pushed and pulled at her. Then scents began to penetrate her brain. Pine and cool soil, swollen with melted snow, along with rich, downy fur and clean soap made her suddenly amorous. She blinked her eyes and Adam's pale chest filled her vision. She fought off the urge to flick out her tongue and taste the dark nipple only inches away. What would she find if she glided her hand down? Would he be hard and ready under the thin sheets? Did he want her again, like she wanted him?

But beyond the broad expanse of his chest that she ached to fondle was a poster of a glacier, with a Spiderman action figure glued on so it appeared he was climbing the ice. Shit! She was in Raul's room…not the comfortable Riverwalk hotel. And the memories of the past few hours swept back through her again like a foul dark wave that churned her stomach and brought tears to her eyes. She had hoped, for a brief, shining moment, that it had all been a horrible nightmare. Adam raised to a sitting position under her, loosening her grip and forcing her to move. She couldn't remember how he came to be in bed with her, but she was definitely nude from the waist up. The murmur of voices from the next room opened her eyes wider. The pack was just on the other side of the door and here she was—half-naked with a man in her nephew's bed!
¡Dios Mio!

She rose up so suddenly she hit her head on the planet mobile that hung over the bed. Adam reached out to shift the papier-mâché Jupiter out of the way and separated a section of hair that attached to the chain holding the sun in place.

"Whoa, there! We're not in
that
much of a hurry. It's still going to be a few minutes before Jill gets back from the airport, don'tcha know. Take it easy." He let his fingers drift slowly down through her hair and the warm glow in his eyes made her breath stutter. She half-expected him to pull her closer into a long, slow kiss. She realized abruptly it was what she wanted him to do, even checking to see if he'd shaved. She liked him freshly shaved, liked the smooth, nearly rubbery texture of his skin against hers. But instead, he just eased his fingers away from her hair, then touched the tip of her nose lightly with his index finger and winked. "Feeling a little better?”

She blinked several times, trying to process the question and realized …she did. A tentative stretching of her arms and back didn't match with the reality that
should
be. She'd nearly died healing Rosa and Paco, did a frenzy of cleaning and then curled up for multiple hours on a lumpy mattress that wasn't nearly big enough for two. "You know …I do. But it feels completely
wrong
—it's not logical.”

He chuckled and sat up straighter, then wadded the pillow against the flat headboard and leaned back while smelling of light citrus amusement. "Not such a bad thing to have a mate, huh? Jill suggested it after you fell asleep earlier. She's a registered nurse and worked at the clinic with our healers. You pulled power from me to heal yourself while we slept. Now, how about you go in and take a shower and Eddie and I will take the pack over to your barn to start introductions. Don't take too long. We'll start the binding ritual as soon as the others get here." He paused and locked his eyes with hers. "Are you sure about this? You want
me
to bind the pack, rather than doing it yourself?”

She nodded, not trusting herself to speak past the lump in her throat—both for her decision and because he was willing to share his energy to heal her. He opened his mouth to say something, but then changed his mind and returned the nod. Then he swung his legs off the bed and stood up. "Your brother Jorge brought along a good set of walkie-talkies with a ten-mile range and a couple of shotguns with silver shot. He's going to stay here to guard the family and let us know if anyone shows up. The pack can be back here in less than a minute once we're bound." He put his hand on the doorknob and turned his head back. "We know where the birds are, Cara. We're going to bring the girls home tonight…and then the people who hurt this pack are going to
pay."
The set of his jaw and the fierce intensity in his eyes made her believe him.

For the first few minutes after he walked out of the room, she just stared stupidly at the closed door with the tiny multicolored handprints that crawled all the way up to the ceiling, trying to decide what to do next. They were really going to do this—against everything her papi ever taught her, she was going to allow someone to bind her pack.

But it's not anymore. It's not my pack. I won't be their Alpha.
Was that good …or bad? She wanted desperately to trust Adam as much as his own people trusted him. She could see it in their eyes

—Tommy's, Jill's, and now Eddie's, too. She touched the worn golden medallion around her neck and raised her eyes toward the ceiling.
Please, please don't let me make a mistake here
—
not with so
many lives at stake.
She blinked rapidly. She'd promised herself she wouldn't cry again, so she just wrapped her arms around her knees and rocked on the bed until the threat of tears passed and the house grew quiet.