Forbidden (3 page)

“No problem.” Lenny paused. Alek started pulling on a pair of black jeans and a sweater. “We'll make sure he gets some food and a cot. And Alek … I'll do what I can to keep this low-key. The background checks they do at the police academy won't find it.”

That stopped Alek cold. He'd heard Lenny say he couldn't sweep it under the rug
this time,
but it hadn't fully sunk in. Could he be rejected at the academy because of his brother? It hadn't occurred to him that Lenny had swept other things under that same rug. But thinking about it—it should have. Damn it! “No. No, Lenny. I don't want you to hide anything or bury it. The last thing I want to do starting off a career in law enforcement is fixing crimes. The human cops would just reject me. Wolven would do worse.”

Lenny made a snorting sound loud enough that it reached Alek's ear from where the phone rested on the bed. “I
am
Wolven in this town, Alek. Wolven won't take a strip of hide for protecting your brother.”

Which is one of the things I want to change if I make the cut.
But he couldn't say that to Lenny. He put on a heavy sock and boot, his fingers almost too numb to make the motions, his eyes burning with the need for sleep. It was on the police chief's watch that the humans started sniffing around. Lenny might think the sheriff and state troopers weren't terribly bright, but Alek knew better. There was a good reason why humans were the dominant species on the planet, and why the plague had successfully killed off half the Sazi. “I appreciate your support, Lenny.” He did too. Denis would probably be in prison by now if not for the older man. But he wasn't doing anyone any favors by treating Denis like a mischievous little boy. He was nearly a grown man. Pretty soon, tagging and smoking dope would lead to meeting the wrong people. Denis claimed to love the “rush” of sneaking around. But soon small rushes wouldn't be enough.

“Why don't you just go back to sleep, Alek? I'll keep him overnight. He'll be safe here. I'll have Mary bring him some of the venison roast she made for dinner tonight.” Fatherly, kind. But far too willing to bend the rules. It made Alek crazy. He'd come from a similar environment in Chicago and it had nearly meant Denis's death when he was only six. He'd much rather have Wolven agents who led by example and made people toe the line.

“I might just do that.” Might. Not will. No, he was going to the lake to see what he could find. He wanted to get some pictures of the tagging … in case it vanished by morning. He hated to think Lenny might do that. But he wouldn't put it past the older man. “Thanks for calling, Lenny. I appreciate it. Bye.” He hung up without waiting for an answer, his usual habit with people in town who couldn't seem to stop talking, asking for one more thing, even though the call was over.

Alek's muscles protested as he filled his pockets with wallet, keys, and other sundry things. But he kept moving; if he stopped, he would probably drop to the ground and sleep where he fell. So many hours of searching for Kristy and Darrell. But he'd keep searching until he found them. They'd been his sister and brother for the past decade. They were family.

Wait.

His mind started to replay what Lenny had said. Denis was at the
lake
? And he'd been snuck up on? But there should have been a dozen people out there, just like the past two nights. Unless they'd been called off …

Why did he always have to think of things just a split second too late? If he called the chief now, it would look suspicious. It had been obvious from recent conversations that Lenny already thought that Alek was overly curious. Would he get out to the lake just to discover a dozen people there and no vandalism to be found? Maybe.

Would Denis lie about the facts to cover his own butt? Absolutely.

The only thing Alek could do was hurry.

Before he left, caution made him look out the window. Somehow he was not surprised to see a police car across the street. Parked with its lights off, it was running, the tailpipe drifting exhaust into the breeze. So, he was being watched. He pulled his keys from his pocket and regarded his motorcycle, parked in full view of the squad car.

Was Denis even
in
jail, or was this all some sort of setup? Was Alek himself under suspicion? He
had
been the only one to discover any evidence in the Williams case—adult footprints on the roadside next to tracks from a kid's bike tire. They'd found no sign of the bike itself, but Lenny had congratulated Alek and said he'd have photos taken. Had that happened? It was times like this he wished he was more powerful, that he could sit on the town Council and have access to more information.

He tossed his key ring in his hand while he thought, the jingle sounding like chimes against the wind outside. Yes, he could probably manage to sneak out. But not only would it seem really suspicious, it would also leave a deputy sitting alone in his car all night. It wouldn't solve anything and Alek had nothing to hide. No, better to let the deputy follow him and realize there was nothing to see.

Alek slipped on his leather motorcycle jacket and put on his fleece neck guard before picking up his helmet. It wasn't winter yet, but the night wind against his bare neck would give him a sore throat in the morning. He longed for the days when he could heal anything. He used to love cold weather, the wolf in him reveling in the sensation of his nostril hairs freezing with each breath. He remembered broken bones healing almost overnight when he was a kid. But no longer. Not since … that night.

Pretending not to notice the police car, Alek walked out of his apartment, straddled his bike, put on his helmet, and eased out onto the main road to the highway. As much as he wanted to hit the gas and lose the squad car on the unpaved back roads where his bike would have a definite advantage, it just wasn't worth it. Not yet. Determined not to think about it, he concentrated on carefully driving the used 750cc bike around the sharp curves of the road, watching carefully for wildlife.

He rounded the corner to the lake, where starlight twinkled, reflected in the water, and noticed the northern lights for the first time. He hadn't seen them for ages, and he always marveled at them. After a moment's pleasure, he lowered his gaze to look for flashlights of searchers. He didn't see any.

A light in the distance pulled his attention away from both the lake and the eerie green glow above. It was a spotlight, at about head height, near the highway, jumping and moving like it was on a trampoline. No, wait. There were two lights—one on top of the other, though they had to be headlights, given their location. Alek slowed the motorcycle, not caring whether the cruiser was still behind him, then turned toward the highway and sped up. That was when he heard the first scream. It wasn't a call for help—it was the sound of pain. Another followed, in a different voice.

The light bar came on behind him—the deputy must have heard the screams too. As he neared what he was certain was a wreck, Alek realized he wasn't looking at a flipped car that had hit a deer or elk. The car was being attacked.

He couldn't make out what it was, just that it was big and it kept smashing into the car. The vehicle tipped over as another scream filled the air, and the lights were suddenly side by side. The relatively small distance between the beams told him it was a small car, a compact, while the way the lights dipped up and down made him think the car was on its roof now.

Alek was puzzled. Despite his excellent night vision, he couldn't see the attacker clearly, couldn't even tell if it had skin or fur. Only a dozen feet away, he started honking his horn. The reaction wasn't what he expected. Instead of the animal turning tail and running from the attention, it turned toward the approaching vehicles and charged.

That's no human and it's too big to be a wolf.
It could be a cat shifter or even a bear, but it was so freaking
big
! Alek remembered in his youth when Sazi Council members would visit the hotel where he lived with his mother and the rest of the Chicago pack. This beast reminded him of some of the bear Council members. Was it a rogue Sazi who'd gone insane? It wouldn't be the first since the plague.

It was sure fast enough to be a Sazi. It closed the distance between the overturned car and the two oncoming vehicles in just a few lopes. One long arm reached out and Alek barely managed to leap from his bike before the motorcycle was swept from the roadway and thrown into the air with a screech of metal. The animal didn't seem to break a sweat at the effort.

The police car roared forward as Alek went flying across the road.

Alek's last thought as he impacted with the ground was,
He has to see that thing! Why isn't he stopping?
Then his arm slammed down onto the uneven, rocky ground, sending a shock of pain through him. Gravel ripped through the heavy leather to embed in his arm and neck. Bright stars exploded in his vision as his helmeted head bounced off two rocks, then three, as he rolled and slid down into the drainage ditch.

Screeching tires and the smell of burnt rubber were followed by an unearthly howl. Alek forced himself to roll hard and fast, coming back up on his feet. The black animal was gone. His motorcycle was upside down against a tree, no longer running, and missing a front wheel. The squad car had stopped at an angle across the road, the front quarter on the passenger side badly dented. The damage was bigger than could be caused by a deer … bigger even than an elk hit he'd once seen. What the hell was that thing that it could walk away from that kind of impact?

But there was no time to think. That thing could come back at any moment. He had to see if everyone was okay. He went to the squad car first and found Ray Vasquez out cold behind the wheel. The air bag had gone off; Alek pulled open the door and carefully leaned Ray back, away from the air bag. The deputy's pulse seemed steady. Alek saw some swelling around one eye—that would be a doozy of a black eye in the morning—but the air bag had done its job.

He hurried to the small car. As he drew near, he recognized the scent of the person driving, but couldn't believe it. Pulling a small flashlight from his pocket, he shone the light into the car. It was Dani! He hadn't known his sister was coming back from school. Her face was a mass of bruises and scratches, turning the chocolate skin purple and red. Whether it was from the animal or the accident or both, he didn't know. Unconscious, she was hanging upside down from her seat belt. Blood dripped slowly down her forehead to land on the tan roof liner and the remnants of her car's air bag. He checked her pulse. It was thready and she was wheezing with each breath. Alek frowned, knowing she needed medical attention. She wasn't anywhere close to an alpha, so even though the full moon had just passed, she had nearly human healing abilities. Damn.

He had to lay flat on his stomach to see the passenger. The woman was half out the passenger window, as though she'd been trying to get out of the car. He studied her back and legs but saw no movement. She didn't look like she was breathing and a gash on her scalp was oozing blood. He could smell that she was barely alive though he could feel magical energy rise from her. But it was weakening every moment.

He started around the front of the car, trying to remember his CPR training, then stopped. First he needed to get some people headed this direction. Racing back to the squad car, he reached past Ray's unconscious form to grab the radio's mic. “Dispatch, Eighteen Siska here. Come back.” He'd been given an employee number during his work on the suicide hotline. It was easier to call in emergencies to the surrounding hospitals with an official designation. But was there a signal here? It was always hit or miss the farther outside town a car traveled.

“Go ahead, Eighteen. What's up, Alek?” Good. It was Marilyn Bearbird on shift tonight. The golden eagle shifter was a former combat medic in the Army and had been acting as the town's nurse for about a year now.

“We've got a multi-car hit and run on southbound Black Creek Road, about seven miles outside of town. Vasquez is out cold but stable. Additional casualties with unknown injuries. Get an ambulance here, stat. I'm going to start CPR on the passenger now. Come back.”

“Ten-four, Eighteen.” It was Lenny's voice now. “Marilyn's getting her gear and is dispatching to your location. What in the hell happened out there?”

He told the truth, at least as much of it as he was willing to discuss over an open radio line. “Not a clue. Just get here fast. We're right on a blind curve. I don't have time to dig out and set flares if this woman's going to live. Eighteen out.”

Alek dropped the radio and checked Ray's pulse again.
He'll be okay when he wakes up
. He looked down the dark roadway. Hopefully the flashing red-and-blue bar and the squad car's headlights would be visible at the road's sharp turn. Hopefully nobody was joyriding out here tonight. Sighing, he headed back to the passenger side of the little Toyota.

The woman's hair was matted with blood from multiple scalp wounds. Thankfully, whatever that animal had been hadn't managed to crack her skull open. Despite the bleeding, the cuts seemed superficial as far as he could tell. Unfortunately, he had no idea what sort of internal injuries she might have. And she wasn't breathing. That had to be first. As carefully as he could, he removed the weeds and debris from her face.

Underneath the blood, she was stunning. She looked to be in her early twenties with wheat-blond, shoulder-length hair. Her face was pale but perfect. She was medium height and slender under black jeans and a simple red pullover sweater. The scent that rose from her was wolf but unfamiliar, a type he'd never encountered. It was intoxicating, made his head spin. He caught his breath, held the smell in his nose, let it pour over him like honey. Even the roots of his hairs prickled, like they were moving to music. Nothing like this had ever happened to him before.