I recognized some of them, pictures that Tom had made copies of, that had graced the photo wall in our apartment. I felt a very real stab of pain at the realization that they were gone, along with everything else. Damn it. Tears stung my eyes, but I blinked them back as I ran a finger over the edge of plastic cover protecting a cherished school photo. An age-withered hand settled over mine. “It’s all right, dear. I understand. We can make you copies of any picture you like.”
“Would you?” I met her eyes. “I know how much those pictures meant to Tom, and they’re all ruined.”
“Of course! You’re family after all.”
After breakfast I’d shared a cab ride with Ed and Edie to their house. It was a nice white two-story with green trim and a wide front porch in a quiet neighborhood far off the beaten track. Despite their age, and the obvious effort it took, the lawn was as perfectly groomed as any golf course. Pots of bright red geraniums decorated the porch railing on either side of what had originally been a steep set of concrete stairs. As far as I could tell, the only accommodation they’d made to age and infirmity was the gently sloping ramp that had taken its place. They were tiring by the time they’d finished showing me around, taking particular care to tell me that the upstairs guest bedroom was “saved” for Tom and me any time we cared to use it. (With a broad hint that they expected it to be often.) Last, but not least, I was shown into the game room. It was a large room, dominated by a beautifully polished billiard table. But when Edie flicked the switch for the overhead lights my eyes were drawn to the far wall. There, in glass-fronted cases, was a formidable display of glittering trophies— shooting trophies. Some of them were four-foot tall monstrosities that had to have come from national titles. Beside them another case hung on the wall next to a gun safe. The case displayed a wide array of edged weapons, daggers and knives of various shapes and sizes. Despite loving care, many of them showed hints of use.
Grandmama, what big teeth you have.
The better to defend you with, my dear.
5
« ^ »
I was going to meet Tom at the airport. After three days the storm had finally cleared enough for air traffic to get into and out of DIA. We’d have a few hours together, then I was off to Tel Aviv.
If I hadn’t had my breakfast with the Thomases the other morning I would have been confused and shocked by the pack’s attitude. As it was, I put up with it by avoiding them as much as I could. It wasn’t as easy a task as it sounds, either.
The local wolves didn’t trust the vampires’ promise to me, so they had guards all over the hospital protecting Dusty. More wolves were bodyguarding Ruby. Even in human form there was no mistaking them for harmless. The Acca, head of the local pack, seemed to have an almost unlimited supply of burly, surly men and even more aggressive females, none of whom seemed to like me.
I’d expected tension. After all, it was no secret that the wolves were against my relationship with Tom. They wanted him to marry a sweet little surrogate who could breed werewolf babies. I’m sterile. It’s a by-product of having been bitten by a queen. Apparently you can still have babies without any problem after a “normal” vampire bite. But there is some sort of toxin in the queen’s saliva that makes a human woman sterile. I don’t know the details. The doctors are still studying it. But I know the results…intimately. I proposed the possibility of him being a sperm donor, but the werewolves have a real prejudice against that sort of thing.
I’d expected resentment and tension. But there was more to it than that. I felt their anger and it felt personal. I tried to fish it out with my psychic senses, but the same magic that lets Tom help me block the vampires kept me from being able to. Tom had promised to explain everything, in person. I was looking forward to hearing it. Since I didn’t need, want, or rate bodyguards I only ran into them when I was around Ruby or came to the hospital at least once a day to visit and check on Dusty and the baby.
I like Rob and Dusty and the baby, Robert Thomas, captured my heart from the moment they set him in my arms. Chubby and cute, he has a head of shaggy blond hair and the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen, He hasn’t changed yet, which has Rob a little worried. Dusty just laughs and tells him to give the boy time, but I know he won’t be happy until he knows for sure that the little one really will be a werewolf. But despite my affection for them, I could only hang out at the hospital so long before I got restless.
Also, while I would never admit it to anyone else, I got jealous as hell. Because it will never be me. I’ll never get to have or hold a baby of my own. Won’t get to name it after my best friends, do the whole new parent thing. It makes my heart ache, and that kind of sadness has no place in the nursery—especially when the mom’s a psychic. So I had time on my hands. I tried gambling, but discovered it isn’t really my thing. The noise gets on my nerves and I’m not comfortable risking money I’ve worked so hard to earn. I didn’t really want to go to the shows without Tom. So, I wound up spending most of the days back at the hotel with Ruby. She’s a nice enough girl, but her incessant chatter was hard to take.
But that was almost over. My heart sped up at the thought. I glanced down, checking my appearance. I hadn’t dressed up … exactly. I was wearing black jeans and sneakers, but the top was one of Tom’s favorites, a pale peach tee with a low scooped neck that fit just tight enough to show off my figure. The short sleeves bugged me a little. I’m used to wearing clothes that conceal my knife sheaths. But I was going into an airport. Homeland Security would frown on the armament, even if I do have a concealed carry permit. After all, I was here on a social errand, not carrying valuables. I’d left my hair down, too, with only the front sections pulled back by a pair of gold combs. Usually I keep it braided, but Tom likes it loose. Today I needed to see his smile, so loose it was. I was shocked at how much I’d missed him. It’s not like we don’t spend time apart. My job takes me all over the world for days at a time. His has shifts where he’d be gone for two and three days. Too, I’ve spent most of my life being pretty much of a loner. I don’t have a lot of friends and am not all that comfortable with most people. But Tom had wormed his way into the very core of my life. I’d come to count on him when things went wrong. And right now things were definitely not right.
Part of the problem was the Las Vegas pack. I’m not good with people, but compared with the local wolves I was a regular social butterfly. I couldn’t fault their security measures, but their hospitality left a great deal to be desired. The thought made me glance over at the woman in the passenger seat. Annie the werewolf was second in line in the Vegas pack. She was probably in her mid-forties, short, stocky, and plain as an unpainted fence post. I’d only seen her smile once, very briefly, in response to a particularly sarcastic remark I’d made to Doc vampire. The rest of the time she’d been dead serious, alert, and in full bodyguard mode. I wondered if she’d be glad to hand Ruby off to the Denver wolves. Probably. She hadn’t said so. Then again, she hadn’t said much of anything. She and Ruby had caught a ride with me because Mary and a couple of the other wolves from Denver were due to fly in as well. They’d caught a flight with a different airline. Normally, they’d be getting here an hour and a half before Tom, but their flight had been delayed. Now there was only a half hour between the two. Kind of silly to take two cars under the circumstances. Although, truthfully, I’d wanted to. But Ruby had begged; almost groveled. She didn’t want to be alone with just the Vegas wolf for company. I’d caved, but I was already regretting it. I pulled the van into the short-term parking garage and began circling, looking for a spot. The closest ones were blocked off with concrete barriers—the result of security measures put in place after 9/11. It created a wide, open area that just begged to be used and never would. I sighed as we rounded the corner and headed up the ramp to the next floor.
The silence was getting thick and tense without even music from the radio to cut it. I did my best to ignore it and pulled to a stop. An elderly gentleman in a huge old Caddy was pulling out of his parking slot. It should be just big enough to fit the van. I glanced at my watch. We were definitely cutting it close. When I’d called earlier the flight had been listed as running on time.
I threw the gearshift into park and unbuckled my seat belt. I climbed out of the van and slammed the door closed with more force than was strictly necessary.
God, how I wanted out of this airport, this city. With Tom, on our honeymoon, Vegas would’ve been wonderful. Instead, it had been a disaster.
I should’ve waited for Annie and Ruby. But I was just too damned tired of both of them to spend another second listening to a bullshit argument that didn’t really mean anything. I moved away from them, down the incline with long strides, my tennis shoes nearly silent on the smooth concrete.
“Katie, wait!” I heard the slap of Ruby’s flip-flops as she ran toward me. Pregnant as she was, she had all the grace of a lame hippo. If she fell, I’d feel responsible.
I made myself stop, but I didn’t turn around.
“I’m sorry.” She set her hand on my arm. I tensed, but didn’t shrug off the contact. “I don’t mean to be so much trouble.”
Okay, at this point I was supposed to lie and say it was no trouble at all. Unfortunately, I couldn’t do it. In fact, as I turned to look at her I had to bite my tongue not to say something regrettable. After all, the girl couldn’t help being a teenager, and she was dealing with baby hormones, and she’d lost the baby’s father under rotten circumstances that were connected enough to me to make me feel really, really guilty. So I bit the offending bit of flesh until I could practically taste blood and looked around for a change of subject.
Annie hadn’t caught up with us. I turned to find her standing near one of the long open “windows,” talking earnestly on her cell phone. She looked even surlier than usual. I pointed toward the terminal, and she waved us on with a gesture.
That was odd. Definitely odd. Still, she didn’t have to tell me twice. “Come on, let’s go. She can catch up.”
“Are you sure?”
I gave Ruby a look that held all of the frustration I’d been feeling. “Fine. Wait if you want. I’m going.”
She decided to come. We hurried to the stairs and made our way down. I didn’t hear Annie behind us, but honestly, I didn’t care. I didn’t expect any trouble, and if there was any I’d deal with it. We exited the parking garage and crossed the lanes of traffic without incident. When we made it through the front doors I hurried to the first bank of monitors and looked up the flight. It had arrived early, which meant they should be here any minute.
I heard Ruby gasp, and turned to look where she was pointing.
As I watched, the crowds parted like water. I didn’t blame them. Even from here I could feel the energy pouring off the four werewolves. Mary was in front, pulling a wheeled bag. She wore black jeans and boots under a black leather bomber jacket. It would have been intimidating enough without the hostile body language. As it was, her entire body was rigid, her face set in stony lines. My sister-in-law is not big, but she’s compact, strong, and tough as old boot leather. I’ve seen her angry plenty of times—usually at me. But I’d never seen her like this. I couldn’t imagine how she was keeping her beast in check.
The two women behind her were obviously sisters. They weren’t twins, but they’d probably only been a year or so apart. Both were tall, blonde, buxom, and had features that, while not beautiful, should have been pretty. But the taller one was flushed with anger. When she caught a glimpse of me her eyes narrowed, and I felt a psychic blast of hatred so pure and undiluted it took my breath away. I didn’t know who she was. I certainly hadn’t done anything to her. But her hatred was a living, breathing thing.
Her sister grabbed hold of her arm, whispering something urgently, but she shook off the grasp. Dropping her bag she shoved past Mary, coming straight over to where Ruby and I were waiting.
“Oh shit.” Ruby was almost whimpering. She ducked behind me. I couldn’t honestly blame her. That blonde was trouble, no doubt about it.
I held my ground, letting Ruby cower behind me. She was a kid. She was pregnant, and I don’t like bullies. The blonde stopped barely an inch in front of me, deliberately invading my personal space, trying to intimidate me. It was the wrong approach. It didn’t scare me, it just pissed me off.
“What in the hell are you doing here? And where is your bodyguard?” The words were for Ruby, but the glare and the anger were all for me. “You’re supposed to be at the hospital with Rob and Dusty. We arranged with the local pack for them to protect you. The Acca was supposed to send someone to pick us up.”
“Annie’s right behind us. She was taking an important call.” I kept the words calm, without so much as a hint of hostility.
“Then Ruby should be with her.” She growled over my shoulder. “She,” the blonde pointed a manicured finger at my chest, “isn’t pack. She isn’t a wolf.” Hatred had twisted her face into an ugly, menacing snarl. “As a surrogate your duty is to keep yourself and the baby safe—under our protection.”
The other wolves had arrived, and I saw a security officer speaking into his walkie-talkie as he hurried our way. Homeland Security plays a big part in airport security. If trouble started here it could get very ugly very fast.
“We should probably take this outside.” I kept my voice low and addressed Mary. She was the Acca for the Denver pack. That meant she was the one in charge. I’d let her deal with the crazy lady.
“This is pack business, and none of yours,” the second blonde snarled.
“Oh for God’s sake, Betty, she’s just being reasonable.” Each word Mary uttered was crisp, as if controlling the words would help her control the wolf inside her. Hell, maybe it did. I wouldn’t know. She turned to the woman in front of me, her expression grim. When she spoke it was with the tone a drill sergeant would use to a new recruit.
“Janine, back down before you get us all arrested.”