Amber's Ace (12 page)

Waves of nausea steamrolled him again. Only dry heaves, though. He’d apparently brought up every remnant of his last forgotten meal and the gallons of alcohol lubricating it.

Struggling to his feet, his hands on his zipper, he froze in mid-zip when a raven circling overhead began squawking as if hawks were tearing it apart. When he looked upward, the crazy bird pelted him with a shower of acorns.

Brick opened the driver’s door and exited the vehicle. He glanced up at the sky and laughed. “I suggest you don’t take your pecker out here unless you want it pecked off.”

“Friend of yours?”

“My mate.”

Chance nearly choked. Was his brother running some kind of harem? How many fuckin’ mates did he have? “I thought your mate was a cat.”

“You thought semi-wrong. She’s half cougar, half skinwalker. The raven’s her favorite form, though. She prefers to soar and she likes to see what’s going on from the bird’s-eye view. Be glad she only hit you with a few acorns. She used to drop black walnuts on me. If you have to take a leak before we get back to Los Lobos, my advice is to book it into the woods under the tree canopy and do your business behind some thick brush.”

Chance didn’t need to be told twice. He loped off into the darkest part of the forest. So far, his return had been astonishing. Nothing the way he’d expected it to be. His baby brother, a scrawny, troubled teen who couldn’t trust the voices in his head when Chance had hightailed it out of Los Lobos, had morphed into a big, rugged, happy, and assertive dominant male, broad with the kind of rippling muscles hard work built. Contentment played in Brick’s eyes, and an air of self-assured confidence wrapped around him like a second hide, evident in everything he did. He didn’t seem plagued by his voices and visions anymore. When had he eased into his skin and accepted his worth? Chance had missed so much.

Was Brick’s demeanor and attitude due to Drew Tao, nut-job Magnum’s son, who had ascended as the new Alpha in Los Lobos after finally taking out his demented father? Or because of the damned screeching bird Brick had mated? Cat. Cat-bird. Whatever.

Zipping his junk back into his filthy jeans, he returned to the truck. One of the most stunning and alluring women he’d ever seen stood next to his brother, as if Krazy-glued to his side. Brick draped his arm around her shoulders, demonstrating his possession, as if the mate scent didn’t already hang heavy in the air around them. The raven turned out to be a lithe and willowy woman with gorgeous green eyes reminding him strongly of the forest from which he’d just emerged. Her gleaming ebony hair flowed nearly to her waist. Still slim, despite the, what was it again? Kit and pup cubs?

Well done, li’l bro. Well fuckin’ done.

A fleeting pang of envy crackled through him then vanished. Once, when he was still a kid, he’d thought he might have something as good with Julie Pembroke. One day, when they were both older, Magnum had decreed otherwise. The rest of the world had barged between them, getting in the way. He might as well flush all those might-have-been regrets down the toilet. If he had any hope of making a new go of it in Los Lobos, he needed to ditch the past and start fresh. Forget…everything. Forget Julie. As. If.

“Betty swung by to play with the kids and I left her in charge of them,” the green-eyed woman informed Brick. “I hope they don’t make her pull out all her hair by the time we get back.”

“Yeah, I doubt Drew would like that too much.” Brick grinned and puffed out his chest, his pride at his boisterous brood evident.

“Drew and Betty managed to patch up their differences?” Chance mused. “So maybe….”

Brick eyed him thoughtfully. “A lot of people seem to be finding their way back to Los Lobos and to each other now,” he said. “Isn’t always easy, though. Forgot you’d known them before you…left town. Some folks manage to forgive and forget. Others find it harder.”

“Listen, Brick….” Chance stumbled over his words. What was he supposed to say, anyway? That he’d never forgotten the family he’d left behind? Not for a single moment? That Magnum had threatened them all, including Brick, and then had focused his evil sights on Julie, making it completely untenable for Chance to stay? That every time he’d look at Julie and the male Magnum decided to mate her to, his guts would bleed?

He and Brick would have to hash out where things stood between them over a couple of shots of tequila at Gee’s bar, if he couldn’t find the right phrases before then. For the moment, he was supremely grateful his brother had done so well and had been willing enough to put bygones aside to bail him out of the Shady Heart jail.

“I’m good for it, you know,” he murmured.

“For what?”

“Whatever you paid the damn cat alpha to spring me. Soon as I get set up here and have my funds wired to Rapid City.”

Brick shrugged, and the green-eyed woman nudged him in the side, saving Chance from the awkward moment. His brother nodded and dragged her a little closer, offering her a slow wink. “If you haven’t guessed by now, babe, this is my disreputable brother, Lucky Chance.”

Lucky Chance? Really? How the hell had Brick known that?

“We may not have a bank, but we’re not exactly cut off from all media, bro.” His grin widened. “This is my glorious Summer. My mate.” He nuzzled the woman’s neck and his voice dropped an octave. “My heart, my soul, my savior.”

Good thing the contents of Chance’s belly had already emptied or he might have started retching again. Jesus. Brick was the last person he’d ever expected to hear such mushy sentiments from. Back in the day, when Magnum had torn Chance and Julie asunder, Brick had been on the light side of the sympathy scale regarding their broken romance. On the other hand, his baby brother had been battling a legion of demons of his own back then.

Chance made the appropriate, hello-how-ya-doing-welcome-to-the-family noises, nodding and smiling at Summer, without extending his hand. He didn’t need her rejecting him, and he smelled like crap. Plus, for all he knew, the half cat could bite his limb off and he needed an arm to wield a hammer. Willing as he might be to carouse in Shady Heart, the idea of Calhoun Seven’s niece mated to his brother was still a little much to swallow.

“A lot’s changed around here,” he mumbled.

“Indeed.”

“I was so glad to hear you’d returned,” Summer said sweetly. “Brick’s told me…
nothing
…about you.” She shot her mate a devilish look. “The kids can’t have too many adoring uncles looking after them. Can’t wait for you to meet them. As long as you don’t end up as smitten and spoil them as much as my Uncle Cal.”

“And everybody else,” Brick added.

“And everybody else,” she agreed.

“How about we get Chance settled at Gee’s first, babe? I’m sure he’s looking forward to a shower and a snooze.”

“Okay, but….”

He wondered if Summer had been about to argue with Brick, and invite him back to their home. Then he heard the faraway rustling, the faint cry. All thoughts vanished, except one:
Julie
.

“Everybody shut up,” he barked.

They turned to him, stunned by the abrupt command. Brick’s brow creased and the downward tilt of his hard lips showed displeasure far beyond annoyance. Clearly unused to being dictated to anymore, it seemed. He edged still closer to his mate, his brandy-colored eyes flashing wolf amber. Summer’s own eyes widened as she cocked her head to one side.

“Don’t you hear it?” Chance demanded. His wolf’s super-sensitive ears strained to catch a repeat of the low moan.

He sniffed the air. The scent of cinnamon and vanilla filled his nose and shot straight to his brain—and points south. A fragrance he knew well. Would never forget. The scent pressed all his buttons, triggered every wolfy response.
Mate.
A scent now tinged by the iron whiff of blood…and the heavy acrid sting of fear.
Find. Protect.

“Julie’s in trouble,” he growled. “She needs me.”

Pulse pounding and heart in his mouth, he shifted instantly and bounded off into the dark woods.