Bonded (43 page)

Reno nodded. “Some
are the halves, but I’m not sure about the others.” He compressed
his lips and narrowed his eyes. “I don’t know. It could be Klaus’
people. The man’s not an idiot. If he’s planned this as a meeting
point, he’ll have set up guards and be prepared to defend the area.
Maybe that’s what I’m sensing.”

Brandi nodded.
“Victor’s not going to release control of the pack easily. Klaus
will be expecting some type of retribution. It’s a good thing we’re
here to help.” She moved to step forward.

Reno pulled her
back. “No. If it was Klaus’ wolves, they’d have seen us approaching
and shown themselves by now.”

“Then you think
some of Victor’s men are here?” She glanced about, an uneasy
feeling growing in her stomach. “But if they’re here, why haven’t
they entered the mine and recaptured Peter and the others?”

For a moment Reno
was silent, vertical lines showing between his brows as he thought.
“Perhaps...” he began slowly as if the puzzle pieces were just
starting to fall into place. “They’re at a stand-off and Victor’s
just trying to sit on the situation; to keep a lid on things until
after the Purists’ gathering is over. He won’t want to lose face in
front of the other leaders, yet he can’t be sure his men can deal
with Klaus in time.” Reno scanned the area again while continuing
to explain. “If the mixed families and halves are in the mine—and
we believe they are—Victor will leave them there for the time being
with guards posted so they can’t get out. The entrance under the
town hall has been sealed and quite likely he’s directed other men
to search out and guard the remaining entrances.” He flicked a
glance her way. “That might even explain why the exit we used was
partially blocked. It could have been intentional but whoever
carried out the deed didn’t check to see if it sealed
completely.”

“So...until the
meeting’s over, nothing happens?”

“That’s my best
guess. And once the Purists are gone, Victor will likely send his
men in to flush out the mines.”

“And what about
Klaus?” She furrowed her brow. “Does Victor have men hunting him
down as well? And if Victor does, he must be running short on
manpower. Our pack wasn’t that big.” She began to tick the various
groups off on her fingers. “Some of his men are here, some are out
hunting for you, and there’s probably a good sized contingent at
the meeting with him since he’d want a show of force.”

Reno pulled his
lips back in a nasty grin. “That works in our favour then. Victor’s
resources are strained. His best men are likely scattered and he’s
having to use less skilled members of his team.” He chuckled. “The
man’s likely shitting bricks hoping this doesn’t all blow up in his
face.”

“It would be a
pleasure if it did.”

They were both
silent for a moment, each considering all the possible twists and
turns the situation might take.

“So what are we
going to do now?”

Reno rubbed his
chin. “Okay, here’s the plan. We’ll assume Klaus is safe and still
at large, capable of directing his team and maintaining a standoff
for several hours. I’m sure there are guards—Victor’s
guards—watching this place. They know we’re here and are just
waiting to see what we do. I’m going to distract them, try to lead
them away from here while you sit tight. Once they start to follow
me, head for the mine. It’s a defensible location. You’ll be safe
in there with Peter and the others.” He moved to stand up and this
time she was the one grabbing an arm in restraint.

“Are you crazy?”
She shook her head. “No way. First of all, I’m not going to hide
and secondly, what good is it to Klaus and Peter and the rest if
you’re captured? Victor will just repost guards by the entrance
and, as you said, deal with us once his big meeting is over.”

Reno stared at the
ground, then glanced up at her. “I wasn’t entirely...honest...when
I told about Damien’s call. He’s coming...and so are Captain
Fielding and the ACS squad.”

“ACS? Here?” She
smiled and relaxed, releasing her grip on his arm. “That’s a good
thing. Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“I—”

The sound of
pebbles skittering down the slopes cut him off. They both turned in
the direction of the noise and swore in unison. It was Katie,
heading directly towards them.

“Hey! Hi there!”
She was calling out and waving her hands.

Brandi looked
about frantically and just as Reno had suspected, wolves began to
appear from several hiding places downwind of their present
location. Before she could even decide what to do, Reno had shifted
forms and was gone.

He darted from the
bushes, running directly between Katie and the wolves. They
faltered, then five of them veered off course and began to chase
Reno, while the remaining wolf continued towards the young
girl.

Brandi’s heart
pounded with fear for Reno, yet as much as she’d like to help him
she knew Katie had to be her priority. That’s why Reno had bolted
after all, to draw them away from the child.

Brandi shifted and
streaked out heading towards the remaining wolf. It was intent on
Katie and, using the element of surprise to her advantage, she hit
the wolf broadside. The animal went rolling several yards down the
slope before regaining its footing.

Keeping her head
low, Brandi circled around her opponent thankful she’d followed
Reno’s advice all those years ago and upgraded her combat skills.
While the course had dealt with self-defence in human form, the
instructor had thrown in a few wolf tricks as well. She hoped they
worked as efficiently in real life as they had in the
classroom.

The wolf lunged at
her and she leapt out of the way, twisting mid-air and managing to
slash his flank. Landing, she twirled and aimed low, going for his
hamstring.
Take out a leg if you can,
the teacher had told
her.
After that the underbelly and throat
.

She missed the
leg, the other wolf moving at the last second. As her teeth clicked
together, she felt a searing pain in her shoulder. His teeth ripped
into her flesh. Yelping, she jumped away, looking up to see Katie
but a few feet away with a large branch held over her head, ready
to strike!

What in heaven’s
name was the girl thinking of? Surely she knew better than to step
into the middle of a wolf fight! Even as the thought formed in her
head, Katie swung, barely missing Brandi but catching the wolf
alongside the head. The beast cried out and then slumped to the
ground. And just like that, the fight was over.

Immediately Brandi
shifted back to human form. It had been a brief scuffle but she was
still panting and keyed up from the adrenaline rush the incident
had created. She stared at the wolf on the ground then looked up at
Katie. The girl’s face showed surprise before crumpling into tears,
the branch dropping from her now limp hands.

“Is he...?”

Brandi knelt and
double checked, but the wolf’s breathing was strong. “You knocked
him out, nothing worse.” She paused for a moment, staring at the
wolf, checking his scent. As she slowly stood, her hands curled
into fists. He was one of her cousins, barely beyond a pup. The
fact that he was obviously part of Victor’s group and had no
compunction about attacking her soured her stomach.

Katie—apparently
oblivious to Brandi’s feelings—seemed to quickly recover from her
momentary shock and was now beaming. “We make a good team, don’t
we?”

“No. We do
not
make a good team!” Brandi felt her exasperation boiling
over. “What the hell did you think you were doing, running down the
mountain, and yelling at us like that? You gave away our hiding
place, put yourself in danger, and now Reno’s...” She clamped her
mouth shut, unwilling even to contemplate what was happening to
him.

“I...I was just
trying to help,” Katie looked up at her with sad, puppy dog
eyes.

“Don’t give me
that look. It might work on your grandfather but it doesn’t work on
me. And how was yelling out like that supposed to help?” She glared
at the girl before checking out the wound on her own shoulder.
Thankfully, it was a minor cut and already healing.

Katie folded her
arms and huffed obviously miffed that her favourite method of
getting out of trouble wasn’t working. “I saw you coming this way
so I was trying to distract the wolves. I knew they were there and
thought they’d chase after me so you and Reno could head into the
mines.”

“And you were
going to outrun six wolves?” Brandi stared at her incredulous. “You
aren’t even old enough to shift!”

“But I know these
mountains. There’s a crevice just behind that rock and it leads
into a cave and from there into the tunnels. I was going to slip in
there and then make my way around to where Peter and the rest are
hiding.” Katie tossed her hair over her shoulders and glared.

Brandi shook her
head, unable to believe the girl’s self-confidence. The plan had
had some merit—not that she’d admit that to Katie—but Reno’s
intervention had added an unexpected curve. “Well, your plan didn’t
work because now Reno’s trying to outrun five wolves and he doesn’t
know the territory. And he wouldn’t be in that situation except
that he thought he was saving you.”

“Reno was trying
to save me?” The girl’s eyes grew large and a look of adoration
spread over her face.

Brandi snorted in
disgust at the girl’s crush but was saved from having to comment by
the appearance of Peter and Darcy running towards them.

“We saw Victor’s
guards take off and came out to see what was going on.” They looked
down at the unconscious wolf. “I guess you didn’t need us
though.”

“Just lucky,”
Brandi answered tightly, frowning at Katie. “We took out this one
but the other five are after Reno.” She glanced in the direction
he’d gone. While her wolf was urging her to go to the aid of her
mate, she knew running all over the mountain made no sense. “What’s
going on here?”

“We’re holed up in
the mines. Our mates and pups had just arrived with their escorts
and we were heading back to where you were when there was a
cave-in. We tried to clear the rubble but it was too unstable so we
headed back this way. Unfortunately, by the time we returned to the
entrance, Victor had guards posted.” Peter shot a look at Katie.
“And this one didn’t tell us there was another way out. We didn’t
even notice that she’d left.”

“No one pays
attention to kids,” Katie shrugged. “Besides, the opening’s too
small for adults and Gramps always says to keep an ace up your
sleeve. That was mine. I slipped away and was keeping a lookout
from a higher vantage point.”

Brandi rolled her
eyes at the girl’s reasoning and then explained what had happened
since they’d last seen each other. “Reno thinks Victor’s plan is to
keep you trapped until the Purists conclude their meeting. Then
they’ll come for you.”

“It makes sense.
We’ve been wondering why they didn’t attack.” Peter furrowed his
brow and pulled on his lower lip. “Any idea where Klaus is?”

Katie piped up.
“Gramps is going to blow up the meeting room that Victor’s been
building. He has charges laid all around the opening. Once the
Purists are in there...kaboom!”

Brandi felt her
eyes widen at the news, the DC officer in her already thinking of
all the problems such an occurrence would cause. “So Klaus is
there?”

“Probably,” Katie
answered. “Once when I was spying... I mean I
accidentally
overheard him talking once and he said he’d be there for the
showdown and reclaim his pack!”

Peter backed her
story. “He mentioned having a plan to me as well, though I didn’t
know it was quite that radical. But he did say he had about a dozen
wolves he could trust and they’d all be ready to act when the time
came.”

Brandi nibbled her
lip wondering what the best course of action would be. Did she wait
here, hoping the ACS would deal with the problem? Did she go help
Klaus with his crazy plan or should she follow her heart and find
Reno?

She wished Reno
had been a bit more specific about when Damien and the ACS would
arrive; the knowledge would have helped her decide what to do. It
was strange that he’d held back on telling her.

“I think we should
find Klaus.” Peter stated firmly. “I’m tired of waiting around,
cowering in caves, and letting others ‘save’ me. We’re part of
Klaus’ pack; we’ve earned our place and we need to make a
stand.”

Darcy nodded in
agreement. “We might not have claws and teeth like the wolves, but
we have guns. We can stand up to the Purists.” He pulled a small
weapon from his pocket.

“No guns.” Aran
walked up and yanked the weapon from Darcy’s hands. “They’ll only
escalate the problem. Besides, our children are here. What example
are we setting for them?” He jerked his head back and they turned
towards the tunnel entrance to see a small group had gathered and
was watching the proceedings.

Darcy glared at
Aran and took the gun back. “Klaus gave them to us. He has no
problem with firearms.”

“To defend the
children and keep the Purists out of the tunnels. We were to use
them
only
if necessary
.” Peter clarified.

Darcy pocketed the
weapon but didn’t look happy. “What about this one?” He poked the
wolf on the ground with his foot.

“Tie him up and
put him in the mine.” Brandi said with barely a hint of regret. The
wolf was her cousin but familial loyalty played no part in this.
There was right and there was wrong and he’d chosen to back the
latter. “The ACS is on its way. You can wait here safely and let
them deal with the situation...” She held up a hand to stop their
instantaneous protests. “But if you’re determined to join Klaus,
remember it means heading right into Purist territory. And you
can’t all go. Some need to stay back with the pups just in
case.”