Desert Wolf (4 page)

It flew in the face of all he was, but he
needed
her. “I will answer your questions, but not here. They need to sanitize the scene. I have a traumatized child to deal with, and a healer waiting to see to you.” Then like chewing glass, he devoured his rage and fought to project a calm he most certainly did not feel. “If it would please the lady, I would like to see to your security—physical and otherwise—before we engage in the intellectual. Then, if you disagree with my plans or feel the need to refute them—I swear on my life I will see you safely out of my territory.” Sparing a single glance to Faust, he added, “Both of you.”

She sagged, as though someone had cut her strings. Faust caught her, wrapping an arm around her, and she leaned into him. The intense dislike for the sudden weakness sweeping over her measured equal to the ease with which her Hound held her unsettled him. His black rage coiled in the pit of his stomach, a viper waiting for the right moment to strike.

“I’ve killed for you,” she murmured. Her golden eyes softened to an intense brown and, if not for his own night vision, he would have lost sight of them altogether. “Be worth it.”

Inclining his head, he stepped aside and swept his arm toward their SUV avoiding any physical contact with either of them. The last thing they needed was for the Omega to feel his flaws—they were too innumerable and she already fought him on a level he hadn’t expected.

Following them, he waited until they were inside before gripping the passenger side of the vehicle, and stepping onto the running board. His position would shield the Omega from anyone deciding they might take a shot at her. As Faust backed the vehicle away from the bodies, Cassius met Cyril’s contemplative gaze. The wolf had to have heard what he said. Leaving him alive to repeat what he knew remained a calculated risk.

Don’t disappoint me.

The weight of a stare drilled into him, and Cassius glanced into the SUV. Sovvan stared at him, a question written in the depths of her beautiful eyes. Even cut and swollen, she was lovely. Did she have the
cajones
to endure what he needed within her?

Sorry, sweetheart. I can’t think of you as a person, only as a tool. If it costs the world you, but saves my pack? That’s a price I’m willing to pay.

His wolf didn’t concur. In fact, the beast had been damn silent since they’d finished the battle. His animal never quieted, not for anyone and his senses remained on high alert. Jose stood at the side of his hummer, and Bianca sat in the backseat with the child in her lap. Their stressed expressions eased at his arrival. The healer glanced from him to the Omega and her Hound in the vehicle and the fist on his heart eased a fraction.

He scented hope for the first time in years. Hope stained by blood but hope nonetheless.

P
ain surged
behind Sovvan’s closed eyelids. The rushing in her ears had to be the sound of her blood pounding through her veins. Everything hurt, from her swollen lip to her injured eye to the slices, cuts and scrapes decorating her body. Bruising would come later, though her jaw disputed her assertion. The healer worked on Faust, though he and the healer both protested Sovvan’s order—she suffered more injuries, and it was her Hound’s right to protect her first.

Cassius settled it with a snarl. “Just fucking heal him, and stop wasting your breath on an argument. Then heal her.”

What an unruly beast of a man. Raw violence seethed in the air around him, and he’d been methodical in his attacks, no matter how wild the battle. Once he settled them with Bianca, he walked the other wolf away. Watching him from her one good eye, she scented the distress before the low sound of grief reached her. Jose—at least she thought his name was Jose—bent at the waist, shuddering from the news Cassius imparted. At total odds with the callous demeanor, the Alpha placed a hand on the other man’s shoulder. Sharing his grief? Comforting him? They said nothing, their silence more impenetrable than steel.

“He is a good man,” Bianca said as she joined her at the open hatch of the SUV’s rear. Like Cassius, she wore rough clothing—a combo of denim and leather—she didn’t look like any of their healers. Her dark hair pulled away from her face into a pony tail revealed a tattoo on her neck just behind her left ear. The dim light offered her glimpse of only black lines in swirls and loops, yet it looked like a… “It is a medicine hand. It tells everyone I am a healer and therefore untouchable. To harm a healer in Sutter Butte is to invite the wrath of every able-bodied wolf.”

To harm any healer should invite such a punishment, but Sovvan said nothing. The other woman hadn’t touched her or made any move in that direction. “I didn’t think Sutter Butte had mercy for anyone.”

“Mercy is for the weak.” To hear such words from a healer left Sovvan’s heart aching. Healers were the kind centers of any pack. Their calm enhanced the feelings of safety and nurturing… “What? You thought I’d be some gooey centered piece of cotton candy like you can afford back east? No, this is a brutal world and we are realists. Strength rules and always has. My Alpha is a
good
man and a powerful one. If he weren’t, he would not be able to enforce the law and you would be dead.”

Definitely not feeling the comfort. “So you what? Patch up those who survive battle to send them back out to fight again?” To what end? How could they really have a life that way?

“I do what I was born to do. I care for the strong.” Tilting her head, the woman studied her. Did she find fault with her? What flaws must a healer bury to have become such a hardened soul? “You are not what I expected.”

“Ditto,
cher
. Ditto.” Not for the first time, Sovvan questioned her wisdom in coming to answer the Sutter Butte’s request. Serafina hadn’t ordered her to remain home, in fact, she’d very carefully avoided giving any orders at all. Her Alpha insisted Sovvan choose. They owed nothing to Sutter Butte, coming paid no debts, settled no scores and evened no odds. How had she phrased it…?

“He is asking you for an act of altruism that he neither deserves nor has earned. He makes no promises, and offers no reparations or rewards for you risking your life to assist him.”

“But it’s not just him, is it?”
The question haunted her and ultimately motivated her choice. An Alpha was one person, the center of their pack, the head and the leader—its vital, beating heart, but still only one person. An Omega mirrored an Alpha, but it also acted as the repository for every weakness in a pack. They identified them and, in some ways, helped them to confront those weaknesses. In a strong pack, an Omega could cope with the issues one at a time.

“Don’t.” Sovvan raised her hand. The healer’s nearness alone provided her with too many issues. Touching increased the complications a hundredfold, especially with Faust’s temper riding her. The Hound’s fury had tripled, yet he appeared so placid and calm on the surface. He didn’t take his gaze off Cassius, yet she knew he remained aware of everything around them.

“I get it, you’re a tough bitch. I saw you fight—impressive and the last thing I would have expected from an Omega—but you’re injured, and you need assistance. I can do that for you.”

“Can you?” She focused her good eye on the healer. “What do you see when you look at me?”

“A violent, capable fighter. Cool-headed, and dangerous in battle, even if you’re easily distracted. If we hadn’t arrived when we did, if Cassius hadn’t reached you—you would have died. So I also see one damn lucky wolf. Stop fucking around and let me heal you, or I’ll go back to taking care of the child and those who deserve it.” Anger flickered within the depths of her eyes, then Bianca frowned. “I’m sorry—I can’t believe it came out that way.”

“You can’t touch me.” Not until Sovvan got herself under control.

“Luv, you need to let her try. If she can do it without touching, you need the healing. No doubt you’re already having trouble with your vision.” Faust interrupted his glaring to join their conversation. “You look like hell and I can’t imagine you feel much better.”

“I can do some distance healing, but you’re not being pack makes it three times as hard…” Wariness filled Bianca’s tone and Sovvan didn’t need her vision to understand she’d eased away from her or the bounce of the truck as Bianca jerked to her feet. “If you don’t want a healer, then stop wasting my time.”

“Faust, get the first aid kit. I can shift in the truck on the road and let that speed the process…” Hopefully he would get the hint, but his snort decried her attempt.

“It doesn’t work that way with you, Sovvan, and you bloody well know it.”

“What the hell is your problem, Bianca? Heal her so we can get going.” Cassius stomped into the middle of the debate with the same abrupt manner he’d ordered them into the vehicle earlier. “The cleanup crew is coming and night is wearing on. I didn’t bring you here to entertain them.”

“She doesn’t want to be healed.” Disgust curled in the healer’s voice. “And I don’t want to help her.”

Shock vibrated in the silence, then Cassius’ voice lowered to a dangerous, and barely audible tone. “What did you say?” Power radiated from the man, waves of it crashing against her and every other wolf present. Faust repositioned himself, easing between Sovvan and the irate Alpha.

Despite the clash of his energy against her own, Sovvan’s eye continued to throb and her arms hurt. Check that, everything hurt. The argument would help no one.

“I said I don’t want to heal her. She’s refused care. Let her suffer.” The open hostility didn’t surprise Sovvan, the more the situation escalated, the worse it would be.

Before he could growl, threaten—or strike since he didn’t strike her as the kind of man to make idle threats—she said, “Leave her alone.”

“Don’t give me orders.” The rumble of his temper focused on her.

“Fine, do whatever you want. Faust, I want to go home. I can’t help these people. Not now.” She pulled her legs into the back of the SUV and scooted backward.

“Good.” Faust reached for the hatch, but it didn’t close.

“Go wait with my healer over there.” The order sounded as though it exited through the grinding of his teeth.

“No.” Her Hound would take him on, no questions asked, because she’d expressed her wishes.

“It’s all right, Faust. I’ll speak to him. Presumably he wants to ask me to stay, but he’s not the type to say things in a pleasant fashion when he has an audience. He’s too busy thumping his chest and flaunting his power.” Faust’s scent altered subtly, disbelief and shock twining with worry. “It’s all right, he won’t hurt me. To hurt me, he has to touch me, and I’m the last thing he wants to touch.”

Maybe he thought she hadn’t noticed, but he’d handled everyone—even gripped Faust’s shoulder, but he’d been damn careful to not even brush her skin. The Alpha might be a prickly bastard, yet she appreciated his caution and it gave her the unenviable distinction of recognizing her superiority over him—at least for as long as it might take for him to develop the will.

“Behave as though she is right about you,” Faust warned, but he withdrew as she asked. Her face throbbed, and the movement to slide into the vehicle reopened the slashes on her shoulder.

Settling against the backseat, she let her weight rest on it. Pain radiated down her arm to her fingers. At least she didn’t have to worry about infection, but if she didn’t eat soon, she might have to worry about staying awake. If she passed out, Faust would take her last order to heart, and she’d wake at home in her beautiful house in the Garden District.

Would that be a bad thing?

“Why will you not let my healer care for you?”

“Because she’s afraid of me, but more afraid of herself and what she is becoming in your pack.” No time to sugar coat the shit. “She sees in me everything she hates in herself—strength, the ability to kill and a reason to fight. It could cause her harm to try and heal me, especially since she’ll have to touch me and none of us need a healer crippled at the moment, not until I have myself under control.”

Weight pressed on the edge of the vehicle, but he didn’t move closer. She couldn’t open her right eye at all, and what she could see from her left continued to waver violently. The watery effect gave Cassius a mystical effect to combine with his Celtic Warrior look.

“I need you here, Sovvan.” Was it her imagination or had the grumbling demon actually softened his voice? “I need your help.”

“So you said,” she coughed, and winced at the twin explosions in her brain and her chest. Her split lip stung like a bitch, but she tried not to dwell on any of her hurts. The urge to curl into a ball and whine warred with the need to maintain her detachment. “You haven’t explained why or answered any questions—and before you say you haven’t had time, I am
aware
of that fact. I am very much aware of the ambush, since I was in the middle of it when you arrived and I am also aware you saved our lives.” They had taken their pound of flesh, but neither she nor Faust could have sustained the beating they were given for much longer either. Younger wolves didn’t need skill when they came in large numbers and swarmed like a mob.

The Alpha didn’t answer her immediately. The length of his silence left her wishing her watering eye would cease so she could get a read on his expression, because his scent confused her with mixed signals—cloves, sunshine, sand, musky sweat, coppery blood with bottom notes of geranium, basil, cedar wood and flowers,
really? Flowers? He is not the floral type.
The brisk feeling of twilight air coming to life with the energy of sharp, bracing spice and a hint of sage. Maybe one of the blows had broken her nose.

Rubbing her eye, she tried to blink and make out his features. The grim expression he wore left her wishing for the softness her blurred vision bestowed upon on him.

“Then what can I say?” Though a growl rumbled within the question, it seemed edged more in frustration than anger.

“Why do you have to have an Omega?” He’d asked for her specifically. “Why
me
?”

“The longer answer is more complicated, but the short answer is I have to be able to trust my decisions. I have to know what I’m doing is right. I’ll stay the course, I’ll wage the war if it comes to it, but I need to know it’s for the right reasons.”