Far From Innocent (15 page)

Far From Innocent

didn’t want to ignore the growing pressure inside him. Erin’s pain was his pain. If she was hurt, it would affect him. He managed to keep possible scenarios of what she might be doing at the moment out of his head. But knowing she’d ran from her den because of him, because of what her littermates had told her, tore at him worse than claws ripping at his flesh.

They reached the stream, the loud pounding of water on rock sounding like nature roaring at them. It was a warning to pay heed. Once again, they all stopped. But this time Juan didn’t turn to Dante for guidance. He didn’t need to. Erin’s scent was all over the place.

But where the hell was she?

He moved along the bank, sniffing the air and searching the darkness for any sign of her. No matter the distance he covered, her scent didn’t fade. Then Nicolo barked excitedly, and he raced toward the werewolf.

Nicolo lifted a shirt in his mouth and Dimitri hurried over to him, sniffing the fabric. Their growls were anything but satisfied.

Erin’s clothes were here, but she wasn’t. No way in hell did she walk this far in her flesh and then change. What her clothes were doing here, without her, made no fucking sense. He glared at the darkness on the other side of the stream—
lunewulf
territory. And something inside his gut tore his insides apart.

He didn’t want to think of what might be happening if they’d stolen her.

One thing he did know—he would rip out every one of their throats until he found her. He was halfway across the fast-moving stream before the coldness of the water even registered with him. And even then, it didn’t soothe the boiling outrage that grew inside him.

His coat was like an oversized blanket, hanging heavily on him, and he shook himself, sending water flying when he climbed out on the other side. Moving slowly, his senses on overdrive, searching and listening for sign of any werewolves, he walked through tall grass. Grass that still remained flat from others who’d passed this way recently. One werewolf wouldn’t have created this defined of a path.

He didn’t like the looks of this, not one fucking bit. This wasn’t familiar territory.

He didn’t have a clue where the
lunewulf
pack lived. And walking into an ambush didn’t sit well with him. All of them stopped when they stepped onto a paved road stretching endlessly in both directions. Another mountain loomed before them.

There was nothing Juan hated more than feeling helpless. The other werewolves panted around him, standing there. Obviously none of them had a good idea of where to head next. Other than Erin’s clothes, they had nothing to go on.

Dante grabbed his attention when he slowly started to return to his human form.

Juan reluctantly followed suit, the cold air attacking his wet body with enough vengeance to make it hard to stand up straight. His clothes were wet and his mood soured quickly.

“Got a fucking plan?” he snarled when his mouth could form words.

77

Lorie O’Clare

“There’s a town that way.” Dante ignored Juan’s biting tone. “We head there in our human form. Once we’re in town, I can scan the area using the gift and we’ll know soon enough if she’s there.”

Dimitri and Nicolo dressed quickly next to him. Neither said a word, and Juan couldn’t think of anything better to do. Silently, they trudged toward town.

“Watch me,” Dante whispered after the first signs of buildings appeared on the side of the road.

“What?” Juan asked, but then understood.

It wasn’t the first time Dante’s pale blue eyes had gone lifeless. His littermate just stood there, his expression relaxed, and he didn’t move or say another word. Juan didn’t completely understand what Dante did. He guessed that somehow he left his body, soaring ahead with just his mind. Juan stared at Dante’s face, knowing talking to him would do no good. At the moment, Dante wasn’t there.

“What the hell is going on?” Dimitri demanded, his voice trembling in the cold.

“Openly using the gift he’s sworn our pack should keep a secret.” Juan hoped Dimitri saw what a leap this was for Dante.

On the other hand, he didn’t care if Dimitri got it or not. Dante did what he argued their pack shouldn’t do—use the gift openly in front of werewolves who didn’t have it—and he did it to save Erin’s ass. Juan’s stubborn littermate was coming around.

Maybe when all of this was over, he’d see why Dimitri’s argument for using the gift to their advantage was better than trying to pretend it didn’t exist at all.

“He’s just standing there.” Nicolo sniffed the air, looking around them nervously.

“He’s standing here all right.” Dimitri moved closer to Dante, narrowing his gaze on the werewolf’s face. “But I don’t think he’s here.”

“Lay one claw on him and I swear I’ll be finding Erin by myself,” Juan growled, stepping between Dante and Dimitri.

Dimitri squared his shoulders, giving him a hard look. “You got a beating to save Erin’s honor. I wouldn’t touch a werewolf who couldn’t defend himself. I have honor too.”

“And so does Erin. It won’t be tarnished with me.” Juan stared into Dimitri’s dark eyes, seeing the hatred but smelling how much he cared about his sister. It lightened the spicy smell of his rage. “She will run with me. And she’d be thrilled to know she has your blessing when she does.”

Dimitri opened his mouth, raising his finger and pointing it in Juan’s face. Dante grabbed Juan’s shoulder. He spun around, glancing for a mere second at his littermate before turning on Dimitri. If the werewolf countered what he’d just said, he’d kick his ass right here and now.

“I’ve found her. Let’s go,” Dante told them.

Juan grabbed Dante. “She’s okay. Tell me she’s fucking okay.”

“She won’t be if we don’t get our asses in gear. Come on.”

78

Far From Innocent

His aggressive scent was enough to get them all in gear. Sprinting faster than a mere human could run, Dante led the way down the dark street into town.

Juan hated not knowing all the details. His heart throbbed so hard that his head ached. It was like running blind, heading toward something that smelled worse than a rotting carcass, but not knowing what it was. And surprises really didn’t appeal to him.

He wanted to know what to expect and when.

They were forced to slow when the road turned into the main drag of the mountain community. Different-sized buildings lined either side of a blacktop road. Several businesses were open, a few cars were parked along the road and the smell of werewolves was stronger than pine and freshly cut lumber, which also lingered in the cold, damp air.

“This way,” Dante said, cutting between two buildings and heading down an alley.

“What did you see?” Juan had to know.

“Several
lunewulfs
.” Dante glanced from one of them to the other, his pale eyes glowing in the darkness.

“And?” Dimitri prodded.

“Erin was sending them all flying.” He suddenly looked impish and a hint of amusement escaped him. “I know this makes a complete hypocrite out of me, but I suspended them all in the air before returning to you. Left her looking more than shocked. It appears that isn’t part of the gift she has mastered.”

“She throws things,” Dimitri mumbled, but fell into stride next to Dante. “And thank you.”

Dante raised an eyebrow.

“For being a hypocrite,” Dimitri added.

Once he had Erin in his arms, Juan would be grateful that their dens had just said the first amiable thing to each other since meeting. He’d admit, though, it was the best thing that had happened so far tonight.

“Going somewhere?” Two
lunewulfs
stepped from around the corner.

A garbage bin alongside the building had hid their scent. Now as the two blond men, both fairly good-sized for being a smaller breed, stepped forward, their triumphant smell turned Juan’s stomach. He heard the other werewolves behind them before he smelled them. Glancing over his shoulder, three more
lunewulf
s strolled toward them.

Surrounded. And the
lunewulfs
were five to their four. Not too bad of odds except for one thing—they were in their territory.

“As a matter of fact, we were,” Dimitri said, stepping forward.

Juan had a feeling he’d be saving the werewolf’s hide before the night was over.

79

Lorie O’Clare

Someone in her pack had to be nearby. And it wasn’t Juan. An anxious feeling rushed forward inside her. Juan had to be here—somewhere nearby—even if he wasn’t the one who’d just helped her escape. Someone had stuck those three
lunewulfs
up against the ceiling. The only Malta werewolves she knew who had the gift that strong were Dante and Moira. Possibly Josie could do something like this, but she wasn’t sure.

It would take being able to use the gift from quite a distance and maintaining its strength without being there to witness its effects.

No one showed up to help her with her plight, but she wasn’t going to wait around for whoever her rescuers were either. These three werewolves were making a hell of a lot of noise.

Her teeth chattered from cold and nerves when she straightened into her human form. Hanging or not, the
lunewulfs
got an eyeful of what they were not getting tonight.

“The lot of you really suck for leaving my clothes behind,” she growled, searching the small, run-down room for something to wrap around her.

“You are not going to leave us up here, you fucking little witch!”

“Look at that hot little body. Come on, sweet bitch. We just want to have some fun.”

“Maybe she can’t handle all three of us. How about you just let me down?”

Erin cocked her head at the males, staring up at them as their legs flopped in the air while their backs appeared stuck to the ceiling. The smell of their fear and anger made her even more anxious to get out of there.

“You knocked me out and hauled me here against my will. I didn’t ask to come here. If this is the worst you get, you’re getting off easy.” If she could yank their clothes off without risking one of them grabbing her, she’d do it.

Damn them all for hauling her to this pack without her clothes. She trembled with outrage while searching the dirty den for something to put on.

“You about broke my back when you used your magic and threw trees at me.” The werewolf complaining looked absolutely ridiculous trying to cross his arms and look dignified while his legs dangled in the air.

“Was that you?” She didn’t look at them anymore, fairly sure they were up there for a while. “If you hadn’t been running in Malta territory, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”

“That American pack had no right to give you that mountain. That was supposed to be
lunewulf
territory.”

Erin shrugged. “Tell it to Werewolf Affairs.”

80

Far From Innocent

“Oh we are, little bitch. Your whole pack is evil and possessed. We won’t tolerate having you here.”

Arguing with prejudice and hatred got her nowhere. If she’d learned anything in her twenty-three years, it was that there was no use trying to change the mind of a bigot. Nonetheless, it still pierced her like a knife hearing others slam her pack like that.

She clamped her teeth together, a flush of anger overheating her flesh. At least she wasn’t freezing anymore.

“Does anyone actually live here?” she complained, glaring at the dirty kitchenette on one end of the room and two worn-out couches on the other end. The couches looked like they’d been slept on more than sat on.

“She’s insulting your den, dude. Why don’t you go down there and teach her some manners?”

“Shut the fuck up.”

The snarls above her encouraged her to search faster.

Finally, she spotted a door behind one of the couches, almost hidden by stacks of newspapers lining the back of the couch. Shoving the couch out of the way and stepping over the mess of newspapers when they tumbled off the back, she found some shelves lining the wall of a cluttered closet. There was one coat rolled into a ball and she pulled it out, sniffing it.

Knowing she had to wrap another werewolf’s scent around her didn’t sit well inside her at all. It would have to do though. And fortunately, when she shrugged into it, it was baggy enough to fall past her ass. Her bare legs would just have to suffer. She wasn’t sure if she’d make it farther in her fur or flesh, but she wasn’t going to hang out here and be insulted.

“For the record, you brought me here. I didn’t ask to come here. If you hate us so much, you should have left me in my own territory.” She hurried out the door, shutting it quickly before she started arguing with the closed-minded werewolves.

“God. Now what?” She searched up and down the quiet street.

Houses were set back from the street, all with large yards and little lighting. But then, werewolves didn’t need street lights. Their vision was better at night than humans, and artificial lighting hindered the view of what lay in the dark. At the moment, it also made it easier for her to stay in the shadows. The bulky coat she had on smelled strongly of a male werewolf. The darkness and the coat didn’t offer foolproof protection though.

“Just change and get the hell out of here.” She sniffed the air, squinting her eyes and letting her heartbeat accelerate enough to heighten her senses. “I just need to figure out which direction to run.”

If she hadn’t been knocked out cold, her sense of direction wouldn’t be so fucked up at the moment.

81

Lorie O’Clare

She reached the corner and glanced at the streets that went in either direction.

Mountains darkened the horizons in front and behind her. The quiet neighborhood continued.

“Shit.” She hated being lost. It wasn’t a sensation she had a lot of experience with, but being out of her territory and in enemy land sure as hell wasn’t making it any easier to think.

A door to one of the dens across the street opened, and several werewolves laughed easily as they walked outside and closed the door, engulfing them in darkness.

Lunewulfs
were known for their pale skin and blonde hair. It made them easier to see at night. Erin froze, hesitating. If she ran, they’d spot her in a second. But if she stood there, eventually they would smell her.