Winter of the Wolf (50 page)

“J-Just”—she cleared her throat—“bad news. A friend died.”

“I’m sorry, mo leannan.” He hugged her, wishing he could do more. To keep any sorrow or disappointment from ever touching her.

She clung for a minute before her spine straightened. “I’m okay. You need to get going, or you’l be late.”

“I can cancel.”

“Go. I’l see you later.”

* * *

Bree dropped onto her bed and unfolded the letter again.

At the top of the page, Eric had written, “
I love you,
Bree
.” The “B” had been erased and reprinted so many times that the underlying paper was almost gone. “I love you too, Eric,” she whispered.

Her gaze slid to the bottom, and a note from his mother.

“
I miss you, Bree, and Eric asks every day if you’ve
returned yet. But I’m glad you’re not here. Truly, you
shouldn’t come back to the complex. Something horrible
is happening. Devon, in the apartment next to yours,
disappeared the first week of March. His car was still
parked in the stall. None of his stuff was missing and
there was blood all over his place
.” Bree saw where the words, “
like yours
” had been scribbled out. The note continued.

“
Then the first week in April, Marylou in the
apartment across from yours, also disappeared. Same
thing—blood, nothing missing, no body. The cops don’t
know what to do. Jim wants to move, but we can’t afford
it yet.

I hope you’re doing well. Please write and let us know
how you are.

Love you,

Diane
”

Bree felt as if someone had punched her in the stomach.

Devon’d just started his first job after colege and had never been away from Nebraska before. He’d come over, wanting to know how to make meat loaf. After that, she and Ash had often invited him for a home-cooked meal.

Marylou was—had been—divorced. She’d cried when her new man-friend had sent roses for her birthday.

How could they be gone?

It’s because of me
. The knowledge weled up, ugly and sharp. The helhound had said it would return. Since Bree wasn’t there, it was murdering others. Guilt tightened her throat, even knowing she couldn’t have prevented the deaths.

If she’d hadn’t left, she’d have died, and the monster would stil be kiling.

Understanding didn’t lessen her shame. She’d been here, faling in love, making a new home, while her friends were faling in love, making a new home, while her friends were dying. Her hand felt heavy as she laid the letter on the nightstand. What was she going to do?

Outside the Lodge, Shay’s truck started with its distinctive roar, then the noise faded as he drove down the lane toward the highway. The lodge was empty.

I have to go back
. Bree swalowed against nausea. She was the only one who knew how to kil it.

Couldn’t she cal the police? Tel them about the helhound?
Sure, Bree. Did that work out well for you the
first time
? Even if the cops believed her about a monster—

and they wouldn’t—then once spotted, they’d try to shoot it and get slaughtered.

Shay and Zeb could kil the helhound. They’d help save her friends. They’d insist. She stood and sank back down.

The Cosantir had said no. “
Cahirs do not leave the
territory to fight. Your Gifts from Herne will not be there
for you, not in a city of metal, so far from His forests.

You are forbidden, cahirs
.” The Cosantir had executed Klaus for breaking the “Law”. She could never, never risk Zeb and Shay that way.

Only—if she lived—when she got back, they’d be furious that she didn’t tel them. They’d…

I’m forbidden to go too
. The Cosantir had looked at her, the black of the God in his eyes. “
Do not force your lovers
to kill you, Breanne
.”

to kill you, Breanne
.”

The men would never hurt her, but if they didn’t obey the Cosantir, they’d be exiled or executed as wel. Her insides chiled as her bones turned to ice. Once she left, she couldn’t return to Cold Creek. Ever.

She puled in a shuddering breath. Just a few days ago, she’d planned to leave the men and move. So why did it hurt so much more now, as if someone had opened her chest and poured acid inside?

Swalowing, she tried not cry. She’d never hear Zeb’s rough voice caling her ‘little female’. Never wake to Shay’s kisses. Never see the surprise in Zeb’s eyes when she baked something just for him. It
hurt
.

They’d hurt too. But they’d be alive.

And she had no choice. Tonight was new moon, and the helhound would be at the apartment complex. Someone would die.

She raised her chin and straightened her spine. No human would die. Just the creature.
The monster won’t get you,
Eric. Or Diane. It won’t get anyone else
.

Rubbing the ache in her chest, she dragged her suitcase from the closet. She wouldn’t be coming back. If she lived, she might as wel have her own clothes.

As she haphazardly packed, she considered. It was a few hours drive to Seattle. Better leave now and have time to coax Diane and Jim to stay elsewhere. Maybe a hotel.

coax Diane and Jim to stay elsewhere. Maybe a hotel.

After securing her suitcase, she grabbed her purse and…
My car
. She didn’t have a working car. And Cold Creek had no car rental. Stunned, she stopped in the middle of the room.

Borrow a vehicle? Hah. Neither Zeb nor Shay would offer, not to let her go to Seattle. Her eyes narrowed. Zeb had walked to town as usual. His truck was parked outside the lodge. He’d have his key, but hotwiring old Fords was as easy as boiling water.

Hey, what was one more crime in the grand scheme of things?

She picked up her suitcase. Dropped it again.
I need a
pistol
. Darn Zeb anyway, the overprotective butthead. A wave of grief thickened her throat. Blinking hard, she strode down the hal to his room. Where would he have hid her gun?

She found his pistol in his nightstand along with one of his knives. He was never without the other knife, she knew. She stared at his weapons, wanting everything she could get her hands on.

But this was new moon. What if he had to fight a helhound here?

She’d just have to search for her own pistol.

Twenty minutes later, she found her S&W inside the closet, duct-taped over the closet door. She’d never have spotted it if she hadn’t had to climb a chair to check the top spotted it if she hadn’t had to climb a chair to check the top shelf. The man could give paranoia a bad name. He’d unloaded it, but she had boxes of bulets in her dresser.

After setting his room back to rights, she paused to hug his pilow and breathe in his lingering scent. He hadn’t slept in his room for a couple of nights. No, they’d been in Shay’s giant bed. Al of them.

She wistfuly replaced the pilow. If she left now, she’d be in Seattle in good time.

* * *

Zeb returned to the Lodge in a piss-poor mood and slammed the door behind him.
Fucking pup. My fucking
bad temper
.

At the reception desk, Shay looked up from the registration book. “Problem?”

Zeb tried to nail his anger down. “Chad mouthed off and pushed that new wolf, Lacey. I shoved him face first into a wal to show him what it felt like.”

“Sounds good. So?”

“I should have talked first, disciplined later.” Zeb rubbed his face. Him and his fucking temper.

“Normaly.” Shay tapped his fingers on the desk. “But not yet. Because of Klaus, the Cosantir’s watching the pack—

and he won’t tolerate any more females getting hurt. If we don’t come down on that behavior hard and fast, that pup wil get himself banished.”

“Wel.” He hadn’t messed up?

“You know, eventualy, the cubs wil absorb your attitude.”

Zeb snorted. “My attitude?”

“Yeah, a bhràthair, that over-protective one that Breanne bitches about. And the pack wil benefit from it.” The glint of pride that edged Shay’s grin made Zeb blink.

“Go get a sugar fix. Breanne left us some pie.”

“Cherry?” Zeb’s stomach growled. He’d missed lunch, and he loved cherry pie.

“And apple too,” Shay said smugly.

Zeb was halfway to the kitchen when he stopped. There’d been only one truck in front of the lodge. He reversed directions and opened the front door. “Where the fuck is my pickup?”

“What?” Shay joined him. “Who’d steal that POS?”

“That piece-of-shit is mine, and I’l gut whoever took it,” Zeb growled. He patted his pocket. “I have my keys.

Where…where’s Bree?”

“Don’t know. I can’t feel her through the bond, so she’s not close.” Shay turned slowly. “She said once that she’d learned to hotwire cars in the city.”

“Guess she had something to do. But I didn’t see my truck in town.”

in town.”

“You think…?” Shay’s jaw tightened, then he relaxed.

“No. She wouldn’t return to the city on a new moon night.” Uneasiness twined up Zeb’s spine like a strangling vine.

“Check her room.”

Shay beat him up the stairs. “Her suitcase is gone.” Fuck. What was she doing? Zeb found his pistol stil in the nightstand. His knife too. He opened the closet and slapped his hand above the door. His palm hit the wal, and a piece of duct tape dropped to the floor.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Shay puled his truck into the Wild Hunt parking lot. Every cel in his body ordered him to head straight for Seattle. But they couldn’t.

Calum wasn’t in the bar.

Rosie jerked her thumb upward. Calum, Alec, and Vicki lived on the second floor with their daughter. The men went around to the backyard and ran up the steps. Shay pounded on the door.

Jamie opened it, took one look at their faces, and yeled,

“Daddy, I think they need you bad.”

Calum walked out of the kitchen folowed by Alec. “Come in, cahirs,” Calum said. “Sit.”

Shay stepped inside far enough to let Zeb move up beside Shay stepped inside far enough to let Zeb move up beside him. He felt urgency burning in his brother as hot as his own.

“Breanne took her pistol and headed back to Seattle to kil the helhound.”

“That’s purely suicidal.” Alec’s brow creased. “Why?”

“The helhound that attacked her is stalking her apartment complex. Probably looking for her and settling for humans.” Shay handed Calum the letter he’d found in her room.

Calum skimmed it before handing it to Alec. “I understand her concern. But new shifters are forbidden human cities. If she’s hurt or scared—”

“Can you widen the patrols to cover our area?” Shay asked Alec.

Understanding softened the sheriff’s face. “We’l handle Cold Creek.”

Darkness moved in Calum’s eyes. His voice was soft.

“You also have been forbidden, cahirs.”

Zeb spoke finaly. “Kil us later, Cosantir. After we keep our female from being slaughtered.”

They didn’t wait for his answer.

As they rounded the corner, Shay heard Alec cal, “Best hurry, cahirs. It’s not that long before sunset.” By the God, he knew that al too wel.

* * *

She might as wel have driven her own car. Criminy.

As fine mist dampened her hair and face, Bree paced outside the auto repair garage, unable to sit. She could just slap Zeb for not keeping his pickup in better shape. She should have expected this. He loved working with wood, but he absolutely hated metal and engines.

How could this happen to her? Now, of al times.

She looked inside. The hood of Zeb’s truck was open, and a mechanic worked away at its innards. Turning, she stared west. Through the gray clouds, the setting sun glowed a sulen red behind Seattle’s skyscrapers and the Space Needle.

Her hands fisted in her jacket pockets. “Can’t you hurry?

Please?”

“It’l get done when it gets done, lady.”

Chapter Thirty-six

Seattle ~ Dark of the moon

“Watch out for that red car. The driver’s drunk.” Zeb gripped the door handle. He’d thought itching was the worst part of being in a vehicle. Fuck, was he wrong.

part of being in a vehicle. Fuck, was he wrong.

“I see him.” Shay’s jaw clenched so tight that the muscles stood out. He slowed his truck. “Hope her helhound shows up,” he muttered. “I need to kil something.”

“How can there be so many people in one place?” Zeb stared through the windshield into the misty twilight. In the three lanes in front of them, tailights streamed forward in steady lines, sometimes flashing the brighter red of brake lights. On the other side of the divider, three more lines of glowing headlights zoomed past. Horns blared. The car in front had the bass turned up far enough to reverberate in his bones. Disgusting music. “You hear the words to that song?”

“Would be a pleasure to meet the singer, teach him how females should be treated and spoken of.”

“We’ve had rotten Daonain too.”

“Yeah, and look how Klaus ended up.” Shay’s face chiled as the music continued. “I could ram the asshole hard enough to crush the radio.”

“Tempting,” Zeb admitted. He checked the map. “That’s our exit.”

A few minutes later, he snarled. “How many fucking lights can one town need?”

“It’s a city.” Shay brought the truck to another halt. “You never been in one before?”

“Never even interested.”

“I tried Portland as a cub. Thought it would be exciting.”

“I tried Portland as a cub. Thought it would be exciting.” Shay absently rubbed his chest and set off Zeb’s urge to scratch.

Fucking metal. “Was it?” Zeb caught glimpses of red outlining the Olympic Mountains. The sun had set. His hands fisted. Was she even now facing a helhound?

“By the God, no. I only lasted two days. Humans are insane.” Squinting at the street sign, Shay turned right. “Some own mansions. Others live in cardboard boxes.” Zeb stared down a block filed with big square structures, al eerily identical. “And some live on top of each other.