Alphas in the Wild (38 page)

“Well, we haven’t heard anything...unusual, so maybe it’s not premature to hope for the best.”

Jake bounded out of some nearby bushes with something clamped in his jaws.

“Guess he burned up the time we were making love hunting.” Sara laughed and leaned into Jared.

He loved how she laughed, wanted her to be happy for the rest of her days. “Ready to go inside?”

She nodded. “Yeah. We should check on Christine. I really don’t feel right leaving her on that mat outside the cabin.”

He latched an arm around her waist, and they walked back to the ranger cabin together, hips bumping against one another. Jake ran ahead, and began growling and snarling at something.

“Damn! What could it possibly be now?” Sara ducked from beneath his embrace and broke into a lope.

Jared ran behind her, ready for anything, and cursed having left his weapon in the cabin. In what was left of the daylight, he saw Sara stoop over the pallet where he’d laid Christine.

“Shit, aw shit.” Sara turned to him, gesturing at Christine’s inert form behind her.

“What?” Jared hastened forward, and stopped cold.

Where Christine had lain was...something else. He knelt and folded his fingers around what might have been a wrist, hunting for a pulse, but the thing before them was clearly dead.

“What the fuck is it?” Sara’s voice took on a shrill note. “It doesn’t look anything like Lonnie or Stuart.”

“No. This looks like something out of
Close Encounters
. It’s dead. It can’t hurt us.”

“I don’t care about that. Why’d it change from Christine to this?”

“I have no idea.”

“Did you notice anything odd while you worked on her?”

“No. Mangled tissue appears pretty much the same across species, though. Radius and ulna looked close enough to human, they didn’t alert me.” He stared at the body with a clinical detachment honed by long years in the lab. The humanoid was built rather like Christine, but with elongated limbs and almost elven facial features. He tugged an eyelid open and was met with a vertical slit pupil.

In the meantime, Sara was looking closely at the ground around the body. “No one’s come or gone since we went to the river,” she noted, “but I’m guessing that entire group probably aren’t NASA scientists any more than I am.”

Jared straightened slowly. “You believe the whole mess of them are some other kind of alien?”

Sara nodded. “Yup. I think we were played. No reason two groups of those fuckers couldn’t have tag-teamed showing up on Earth. The only part that makes any kind of sense is that whoever the fake-NASA group is, they’re on our side. And they needed our help getting rid of the other ones.”

“Say more.”

“Not sure there’s more to say. I’ve read enough science fiction. If the human Christine required energy to maintain her illusory form, that energy would’ve dissipated after she died. Jesus! Can this whole mess get any more convoluted? I’m going inside.”

“Sure. I’ll be there in a few.”

Clucking to Jake, she walked up the steps and into the cabin.

Jared stood staring at the corpse for a long time, trying to make sense of any of it and not doing a very good job. Sara’s theory was logical, but there had to be more to it. Wondering if they’d ever get enough details to fill in the blank spots, he finally trudged up the steps to join Sara.

S
ara fell into an uneasy doze cradled against Jared in the narrow bunk. Not exactly asleep, she wasn’t truly awake, either. They’d tried to talk over possibilities, but ended up chasing their tails. Jake slept on the floor near the door, as if he sensed the need to keep watch.

A whine from the dog slammed her back to wakefulness. Running on instincts which rarely failed her, she bolted from the bed. Since she hadn’t bothered to undress, all she had to do was zip her parka and stuff her feet into her boots, not bothering with the laces. Sara crossed the small space and pulled the door open, grabbing her gun off the table as she passed by.

Jake bolted through the door the second it opened, and his whines turned to full-fledged barks.

Sara recognized the bark pattern. It was the one that told whoever he’d cornered to stop in their tracks. She flicked the gun’s safety off and barreled down the steps.

“Freeze,” she yelled.

“What is it?” Jared joined her. Sleep fuzzed his question, but he had his gun in hand too.

Sara rounded the corner of the cabin in time to see three of the fake NASA group with Christine’s body slung between. “Stop or I’ll shoot.”

“And what exactly would that accomplish?” The bald man turned to face her, motioning to the others to set Christine’s body down.

“We need answers,” Jared said.

“We sure as hell do,” Sara seconded. “What are you? Why are you here?”

The tall, thin woman stepped from shadows. “It doesn’t matter. You never saw us. No one would believe you anyway.”

Jared blew out a weary breath. “I understand you came to get Christine—or whatever her name really is. You fucked up, though. She died—and transformed—before you returned for her.”

“It was a miscalculation on our part,” the bald man conceded. He exchanged glances with the dark-haired woman.

She nodded and moved a little closer. “We could wipe your memories, but you helped us, so we’ll tell you a little. Probably not enough to satisfy you, but it will have to do. The deal is this. I’ll talk. You listen. No questions. Not while I’m talking, and not when I’m done.”

“Fair enough,” Sara said. Figuring she wouldn’t need her weapon, she clicked on the safety and stuffed it into a pocket. “But I do have one before you start. Were the rest of you successful at interrupting the harmonic that supported the other...” She stumbled over what word to use, but the woman saved her the trouble of questing about for something other than
aliens.

“Yes. The ones who appeared to be large reptiles won’t bother you any further. Last warning, though. One more question, and we’ll simply leave.”

“Got it,” Sara said through tight lips.

“Me too,” Jared seconded.

Jake stood between her and the group who’d come for Christine, hackles raised, still growling. Sara called him to her side.

“Do you want to take this?” the woman asked the bald man.

He shook his head. “Your idea. Your party. If it would’ve been my call, I’d just have left. I never believed they’d shoot us in the back in cold blood.”

The woman crossed her arms over her chest. “There are more varieties of intelligent life than you can imagine. The ones who wished to storm Earth for its mineral wealth were one. We’re another, but don’t make the mistake of believing what you likely learned about in school about there only being six of us.”

Questions bubbled through Sara’s mind. She wanted to ask if they really worked for NASA. If they’d infiltrated Earth so thoroughly they could blend in with humans, but she bit her tongue.

“I can read your mind,” the woman said. “It’s really quite useful. And yes, we do work for NASA, and we do live here. Have for generations. We were the ones who suggested the trade agreement, mostly because we wanted to study that particular species. We had no idea they’d would take it upon themselves to breach your boundaries, intent on establishing dominion. Once they did, we were the logical line of defense.

“If we’d established corrective measures sooner, we could’ve stopped them cold, but we argued among ourselves far too long. By the time we understood action was imperative, it was almost too late.”

“Are there more like you?” Jared asked, followed by, “Sorry. Forget I asked.”

“The less you know, the better,” the woman said. “For now, it’s enough to understand Earth is safe again. You’ll return to some fallout, some destruction, but it could’ve been so much worse.”

“Your best bet,” the bald man spoke, surprising Sara, “would be to go through whatever process you usually follow and close up the ranger cabins for winter. By the time you return to civilization, the authorities will have things well in hand.”

Sara nodded. “One thing I do need to know is if your colleagues are still at the Muir Hut. They had such a hard time getting up there, will they need assistance exiting the backcountry?”

“It’s a fair question,” the bald man said. “You don’t have to worry about them. They’re at the hut, but we’re in contact with them. Remember, they needed to transmit for twenty-four to thirty-six hours. They’ll leave once their task is done. We’ve dispatched a ship to pick them up. The atmosphere is difficult for us at altitude, but they’ll be fine.”

“A ship?” Jared said in a strangled-sounding voice. “You have spaceships too?”

The woman laughed. “Why wouldn’t we? Our technology is lightyears ahead of theirs.”

“Never mind. I really will keep my mouth shut,” Jared muttered.

“We’re leaving now,” the bald man said. “Don’t try to find us at NASA or anywhere else.”

“Why not?” Sara asked. “There’s still a whole lot I want to know.”

The woman rounded on her. “Because some things need to remain secret. What would’ve happened to your precious planet if we weren’t here, behind the scenes, ready to pick up the banner and fight for you?”

“You had a closer call than you realize,” the bald man said. “Leave it at that. I would commit you both to secrecy, though. If you can’t make a promise I trust, we’ll erase your memory of us.”

“You have my word.” Jared squared his shoulders. “Look into my mind, or however you verify things.”

“Mine too.” Sara said. Life was full of unsolved mysteries. At least this one had a few answers.

“That was why Christine wanted to be outside,” Jared blurted. “So you could retrieve her.”

“Smart man.” The woman bent and picked up one of Christine’s legs. The others gathered more of their fallen companion and faded into the still, black night with her body suspended between them.

Jake sent a parting bark after them, looking pleased with himself. And why not? In his doggy brain, he’d chased off the intruders and kept his mistress safe from harm—again.

Sara sucked in a ragged breath, followed by another. “Jesus,” she managed at length. “It’s like something out of Robert Heinlein or Frank Herbert.”

Jared tucked a hand under her elbow and guided her back toward the cabin’s front porch. She walked up the steps, but turned and sat on the last one. “I’m not quite ready to go inside yet. You?”

“I’m good wherever you are.” He sat next to her and fiddled with his gun, laying it on the porch.

The dog scrunched past both of them and curled in front of the door.

“Still trying to wrap my mind around all of this,” Sara murmured.

“Know what you mean.” Jared drew his brows together. “It’s just so fantastic, my mind keeps skittering away from all of it.”

“I suppose this means I can raise Park Headquarters from my radio at McClure.”

“Probably, but why do you need to?”

She turned to look at him. “To check in. To let them know Jake and I are still alive. To see if there’s anyone who needs help back here. To find out if anyone died beyond Lonnie and Stuart...”

He held up a hand. “Of course. I wasn’t thinking. They’re your family, and you want to find out if they’re okay.” He draped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her against him. “Once we’re high enough, I can use my phone to do the same thing. Hopefully Donovan Enterprises is still in one piece.”

“The NASA group said my dispatches were exaggerated.” Sara stopped, thinking. “I want to know by how much.” She smiled crookedly. “I may spend half my time out here, but it doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate having a world to return to.”

“How about this?” He cradled her against his body, and she snuggled close.

“How about what?” It felt really, really good to be in Jared’s arms. So good, she never wanted to leave.

“We’ll go inside and sleep until dawn. Then you can fly us back to McClure. We’ll soak in the spring to clean up, and then check in with the outside world. Once we have more information, we can plan what to do next.”

“Sounds good. We should give the Muir Hut a wide berth for the next couple days.” She glanced at her watch, clicking buttons. “October third. Normally, I’m back here until around the fifteenth—in case there are late season travelers, but I can fly you out if you need to leave.”

Something tight coiled inside her. She’d offered him an out. It was the right thing to do. They’d had a lovely time earlier in the evening, but—

“Not on your life, sweetheart. I’ll call in and make sure there’s no reason I absolutely have to leave the high country, but absent a hardcore crisis, you’re stuck with me, until we both leave for the winter.”

A wellspring of warmth grew inside her, and her heart swelled with emotion. She stroked the side of his face. “Better watch it. You sound like you really meant that.”

“Never been more serious in my life. Weren’t you listening to me down by the river when we made love?”

“Sure, but we were both overcome by one another’s charms.”

“Darling. Sweetheart.” He brushed his thumb over her mouth. “I’m still
overcome by your charms
. Probably always will be, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want all the things I talked about.”

“Really?”

“Really.” He kissed her nose. “Ready to go inside?”

“Yeah. We never did get much sleep earlier. At least I didn’t.”

“All the more reason to let Jake and me take over for a while. You won’t have to fly so low it makes me not want to look, but I still want you rested before we leave here tomorrow.” He paused a beat. “We’ve both been independent for a lot of our adult lives, so we’re bound to butt heads. Let me take care of you, Sara.”

“Only if I can take care of you back.”

“Deal.” He head out a hand. She shook it before he crushed his mouth down on hers.

Sara lost herself in that kiss. It felt like the beginning of a whole new life for her. Before she stretched out on the porch and invited him into her body, he scooped her into his arms as if she weighed nothing and carried her inside, kicking the door shut behind them.

As usual, Jake ran in ahead of them.

Jared laid her tenderly on the bed and crossed the cabin to toss wood into the dying embers in the stove. He moved back to her side and perched on the edge of the cot to lever off his boots. Next he unlaced hers and jockeyed them off.