Desert Wolf (25 page)

“Because that girl is an Omega, and she is Delta Crescent. She has the right to claim entry to the Reaping.”

Silence then a fist slammed into his shoulder. The bruising force rocked him a fraction and he turned, catching her second fist before it could land. The blow struck his palm. Tyler was out of the tent and halfway to them when Trask caught his arm. Her mate’s fury rippled across the breeze, but Trask murmured something.

Claire didn’t look away from him, and her wolf glared at him.

“You get one swing, pretty lady. You earned it in blood over the years. If you swing again, I’ll accept the challenge you denied me and we’ll settle this.” One warning was all he would give her.

Withdrawing her fist from his hand, she straightened and her posture relaxed. “I know you’re not senile or wasting. Explain why are you risking her?”

Though she had no right to ask, he answered anyway. “I risk nothing that I would not willingly give of myself.” His life before hers, though. No one would take Sovvan from him.

His wolf roused with possessiveness, and he returned his gaze to the distant tent where she flipped the Hound on his ass and rolled to her feet with grace and style.

“You love her.” The soft voice of the woman who should have been his second intruded on his observation.

“Go play with your mate if you need someone to whisper to you of romantic dreams and happily ever afters. I have work to do.” Turning, he forced himself to walk away and not in Sovvan’s direction. Angling away from the higher dune, he headed toward the civilian encampments. Bianca and Maddy had a camper with a small generator. The acquisition let the two rest in comfort. The other healers in the pack were arrayed in a semi-circle, because they’d share a treatment tent.

Over the next several days, they would see to the injured. The door to the little camper opened, and Maddy raced out. She ran straight to him, and he caught her as she flung herself upward. When her arms came around his neck, he hugged her. “What’s wrong, little one?”

The girl said nothing, but tucked her head to his shoulder. Bianca emerged from the trailer next, her hair disheveled and her eyes shadowed with fatigue. Rubbing a hand over her face, she grimaced. “I’m sorry, Cassius. I didn’t hear you knock.”

It had been a few days since she pulled the poison from Faust. The massive nature of the endeavor knocked her out, but she’d had time to rest. Closing the distance, he nudged the healer toward her trailer once more. “Are you all right?”

“Just tired.” She waved off his concern. “It’s the heat.” Yes, the blistering heat was uncomfortable, but she had air conditioning. She staggered, her whole body swaying.

“How long have you felt like this?” Testing her forehead, he found her skin scorching. If she’d just emerged from the air conditioning, she shouldn’t be near as warm. “Inside.”

“I’m fine.” The healer’s snarl included a swipe of her claws, and he blocked it with his forearm. His blood sprayed across the sand, but she didn’t hurt the child. Catching her wrist on the next swipe, he spun and dropped Maddy then pinned Bianca.

“Healer.” He bellowed the call across the field, his voice slice through all the conversation. Bianca didn’t stop struggling, her fierce cries turned to violence before she began to shift. “Stop.” Power threaded from him to his wolf. He refused to let her shift.

Feet pounded the sand. Constanza appeared at his elbow. A senior healer, she’d actually trained Bianca. “What is it?”

“She’s trying to shift.” He locked his arms around her, crisscrossing her wrists so her back was to his chest, and he could keep her shackled. Madness seemed to wave off her. “She’s burning up.”

Ignoring the snapping woman, Constanza touched her forehead. “She’s fevered, terribly so… We need to get her out of the heat.”

Another healer appeared then a third. Fortunately Sutter Butte had a glut of them already in attendance. One by one, the three women placed hands on Bianca and their power surged. The drag pulled from him, but Cassius didn’t fight them. He gave them everything they needed while he contained the fever-maddened healer.

Bianca collapsed, and he supported her.

“She’s asleep, so take her inside. Rita, take your mate and go round up all the ice you can. Sylvia, fetch your herbs and a chem kit. I want to do a blood test.” Crisply, Constanza turned to him. “Take her inside and isolate this trailer, I need to know what we’re dealing with.”

Carrying Bianca in, Cassius said, “She healed the visiting Hound of a poison in Summit. She mentioned it was something Gillian of Willow Bend encountered. I’ll send someone with the satellite phone. Gillian is…”

“…in Hudson River training the boy, Trent, and Brett’s new mate, Colby, as healers. I’m aware. Definitely get me the phone.”

After setting Bianca down, Cassius cleared out of her way. The cuts on his arm were already healing. “What else do you need?”

“I don’t know, I’ll tell you as soon as I know what I’m dealing with.” She paused and picked up a small juice box. “Who was staying with her?”

Maddy. Whirling, Cassius stepped outside, but the little girl was gone. Nostrils flared, he checked for her scent. “A small child we found at the ambush in New Mexico. I’ll find her.”

“Cassius,” Constanza called him before he made it three steps. “Stay away from the others, and get the child away from them. If she’s sick, and can give it to a healer…” She eyed the wounds on Cassius’ arm.

Fuck.

“I’ll take care of it.”

He glanced toward Sovvan’s tent in time to see Claire stride inside. One of the violent bands around his decaying heart eased. Trusting his one-time second to the task she was most uniquely suited for, he left Sovvan’s safety and training in her hands.

Maddy’s scent went east…away from the camp. Studying the shimmering waves rising off the sand, he couldn’t spot the girl. She was too small to have just vanished, though the rise and fall of the dunes as they rippled away might disguise her passage. Most Alphas could track their packs through bonds, but Sutter Butte guarded against those connections. The distance protected them all during the Reaping. The fragile bonds came at a cost, however, like now.

Swearing, he put two fingers to his lips and whistled. JoJo exited the Alpha tent and Cassius mimed his forefinger and pinky like a phone, then pointed to Bianca’s trailer. JoJo gave him a thumbs up. The wolf would take care of it.

With one last glance at the angry marks on his arm, Cassius set out into the desert. It was an inhospitable and dangerous place for a child.

S
ovvan’s muscles
burned by the time the sun set. The last thing she’d expected when Claire entered her tent was for the Hunter to work with her. They’d fought on and off for hours. Pinning her proved to be an impossibility. She could barely lay a finger on her, much less take her down. Thus began hours of work on how to avoid her challenger.

“Exhaust them, wear them down, and when they are so frustrated with you they can’t take it anymore, they’ll make a mistake. That’s when you can take them out.” Grim advice, but her mate and Faust both nodded in agreement.

“It is a good idea for you, luv. I should have thought of it.” Faust was a brawler though.

Tyler Buckley looked exactly like his brother Lincoln, and it still caught Sovvan off-guard. She knew he was one of triplets, but she’d yet to see all three together. “Claire’s a badass, and she knows how to survive. You couldn’t ask for a better teacher.” The pride in his statement and his naked affection had her turning away from the intimacy. It was such a private thing, yet even Claire seemed to possess the same expression when she glanced at her mate.

Cassius must have sent her. Even though he’d wanted her to fight and now he didn’t, he wanted her safe. His earlier call for a healer had stopped her heart, but Faust kept her from rushing out to see if he was okay. Revealing her affection would fly in the face of everything she was trying to do for him.

Seconds later, she watched as the healers came to help him with someone. It wasn’t him that needed the healing. Relief flooded her then Claire arrived. The Willow Bend Hunter had taken one look at her and said, “If you care about what happens to him, then you will concentrate on the fight, training, the here and the now. You will protect
you
.”

So, she’d listened. Dripping with sweat, she stepped out of her tent and into the cool breeze. The night temperatures already provided relief to the stickiness. She’d braided her hair into tight rows and pinned it rather than fight the weather with their limited supplies. Fortunately, some of the trailers had showers she could use.

Torches lit across the region, illuminating how many more vehicles had arrived throughout the day. The combination of flickering light, with the tents flapping in the breeze, made the faux buildings with their faux people even creepier. Sand crunching warned her of Claire’s approach.

“By tomorrow, we’ll have double the number here. Most of the civilians have arrived and a good chunk of the competitors, but we’re missing a couple of the families…and the senior Hunters. I haven’t seen them yet.”

“I think Cassius sent Johnny Blaze on a mission.”

“He did, but he wouldn’t cut him out of the Reaping, and Johnny really needs to win if he thinks he can replace Cassius.” The casual way she said the words sent a chill racing along her spine.

“How did you stand it? All those years here?” Sovvan hadn’t been there two full weeks and the war between the pack’s violent proclivities and Cassius passionate distraction threatened to drive her mad. She wanted to flee, but she couldn’t bear the thought of failing him. He wanted so much for his people. Could they even fathom the lengths he would go to for them?

“Needs must,” Claire said. “It wasn’t pretty and I hated it, every moment, but I learned something I needed to know. I learned who I was and who I loved.” She glanced at Tyler, who had moved to the opposite side of the tent to talk to Faust. The two seemed to have hit it off. “I also learned you’re not what happens to you. You’re what you choose to become.”

With a squeeze to her shoulder, Claire smiled. The casual touch startled her, but the Hunter’s face didn’t shift expressions. If anything she seemed completely comfortable still. “I’ll be back in the morning. We’ll train until the dance is second nature. I want you to survive. I want to see what you become.”

Before she could ask her what she meant, a scream rose from the other side of the camp. A high-pitched, terrified sound, it made all the hair on her body stand on end. Claire vaulted into action, racing away with Tyler a step behind her. Sovvan wanted to follow, but Faust caught her.

“We don’t know friend from foe here, so we stay, luv.” His order made sense, but her heart couldn’t stand the screams. More wolves were running, then another cry went up—a howl so wrenching, a sob caught in her throat.

“What the hell is happening?”

“I don’t know.” The scent of metal and sulfur irritated her nostrils. Faust held a gun in his hand and his golden eyes searched the darkness. Reaching for her wolf, she blinked until her vision shifted. Women were down sobbing, and some men tried to comfort them. Others walked around, shocked.

Trask and his men blazed through the gathering, but she couldn’t find Claire. They’d been swallowed in the multitude.

Something scuffed in the sand, and she pivoted as did Faust. Maddy stood in the center of her tent, the tiny pixie girl. Adrenaline flooding her muscles, Sovvan blew out a breath. “Maddy…what are you doing here?”

The little girl’s face was dirty, but she didn’t respond. She had the same facial blankness as the mannequins staged around Thunder Town. A second unsettling sensation crawled along Sovvan’s spine.

“Hey there, chick. You shouldn’t be out wandering by yourself.” Faust took a step toward her, but Maddy looked from him to Sovvan. Her hands were behind her back and she eased away a step.

“It’s all right, little one.” Lying to children wasn’t in her nature, but nothing about the eldritch child was all right.
Eldritch?
The old word, one she hadn’t thought of in years, seemed vastly appropriate—pale, almost ghostly, with wide eyes and an empty expression.
It’s shock. She had a trauma. Cut the child a break.
“Would you like me to take you to Bianca?”

Another howl, then another—they began to go off, ringing the area and Sovvan glanced at Faust then at the back out to the torches. Those weren’t just mourning howls, those were warning. Her wolf raked inside her skin. Something was very wrong. “Maddy, let’s get you…” She turned in time to see the delicate little girl pointing a very large gun at her.

Faust went predator still.

“Sweetheart, where did you get the gun?”

“He told me to give it to you.” Devoid of feeling or even humanity, Maddy raised the gun higher angling it to point at Sovvan’s head.

“Who told you, little bit?” Faust asked, ghosting forward a step.

A roar cut through the cacophony ringing them, and a sound cut off in a gurgle before copper floated on the breeze. Battle cries echoed. “Maddy, give me the gun so we can go.”

“Goodbye, Omega.” The salutation, as alien as the child’s voice, ignited a thread of fear within her, and the world seemed to slow to a crawl. A crack of gunfire exploded, the sound ripping through the night and piercing her ears. Pain burned along her shoulder as she danced to the right, obeying instinct and Claire’s earlier teaching.

A second explosion ripped ended in a sickening thud. Faust was in front of her and his body jerked. A third explosion and Sovvan’s heart shredded as Faust jerked again. Blood plumed, the spritz splattering crimson on the empty-eyed cherub’s devilish countenance.

A fourth bullet sent Faust to his knees and the scream ripping out of her throat carried all of her denial. The Hound collapsed and the gun swung toward her. Sovvan struck, slapping it from her hand and whirling to strike the child. The world splintered as she came into contact with the tiny wolf.

Their gazes locked and the child’s soul unfolded for her like a black, broken parchment—potholed and devastated. Emptiness, frozen in a horrid tableau. Fear spilled through the crevices—fear, pain, voices coming in the dark. The steady thump of footsteps.

A whimper clawed at her throat and the child collapsed, her hollow eyes staring into nothingness. The frantic little heartbeat threated to explode from her little chest and one word repeated in her mind, over and over and over.

Kill. Kill. Kill.

Her wolf raked at her, fear and fury vying for supremacy, but her need to protect her Hound and the child overrode both. Ripping free of the vision, she dropped the child to the earth. The little girl didn’t move, barely breathed, and her vacant expression didn’t promise she would return.

Turning, she fell to her knees at Faust’s stillness. His eyes were open, his breathing low and shallow. Too shallow. “No…”

“Pro—tected—you.” Blood bubbled from his mouth, the words gurgling.

“No!” The shout turned into a scream. She ripped off her shirt and pressed it to the violent dampness soaking his chest. The dense scent of copper and gunpowder mingled with the too familiar hint of death. “Faust…someone help me.” The shriek tore at her. “You can’t die. Don’t you dare.” If she could keep enough pressure on it…if she could funnel energy to him. An Alpha could support their wolf, but all she did was leach away the hate, the anger which fueled his fleeing.

“Shh, luv.” The whisper crackled with his harsh breathing. “Stay—alive…fight. Love.”

“Don’t you do this.” More than a decade of friendship, a life shared, and laughter. Teasing comments. Jokes. “Please don’t leave me.” Why couldn’t she give him more…? She reached within, stretching her fingers out to her Alpha. The distance was so great…where was she? “Faust…don’t.” The sob tore at her and tears splashed along her cheeks.

“Love,” he whispered once more, the rattle ending. “Don’t be afraid.”

Why wasn’t anyone coming? Where were they? Beneath her palms, his chest stilled and deflated on one final breath. He turned his face away, the sudden slow motion bursting as he slumped.

No heartbeat. No breath.

No life.

Deep inside of her the tether faded, then snapped altogether.

Throwing her head back, she howled.