Left for Undead (6 page)

By the time she saw Hunter coming toward the cabin, a
full fifteen additional minutes had passed. Even though she hadn’t run outside
and accosted him on the porch, the wait had stripped her resolve not to rush
him the moment he walked through the door.

Gone was the plan to calmly ask him if he wanted a cup
of coffee to ease into extracting information on what was wrong. She didn’t own
that much self-discipline right now. The door swung open and she was right
there, standing in the middle of the room hugging her waist.

“So, what happened?”

Hunter looked at her for a moment and slowly closed
the door and then ran his palm over his hair. “Long story.”

This man shit was going to drive her out of her mind.

“Want a cup of coffee so we can talk?”

“Yes, and no,” he said, going around her body block to
head to the bathroom.

He closed the door behind him and she stood on the
other side of it pacing for a moment until she heard the shower.

“Aw, c’mon, Hunter,” she said, cracking open the door
a bit. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes, and no,” he said flatly. “Give me a minute to
figure out how to present all of this in a way that preserves my brother’s
dignity, all right?”

She quietly banged her head against the wall. “Yeah,
sure.   of course. I didn’t mean to pry. I just wanted to know that
everything was all right.”

“No one is in mortal danger yet, so relax.”

Sasha stared at the door. Yet? Before she could stop
herself she was in the bathroom staring at the shower curtain and watching
Hunter’s dark-hued limbs splash color, soap lather, and water against it.

“You said yet?”

He released a long sigh and shut off the water valves.
“How about that cup of coffee?”

“And we’ll talk—not just this twenty-questions stuff?”

“Yes, Sasha,” he said in a weary tone. “We will talk.”

“You cannot be serious.” Winters rubbed his palms down
his face and scratched his head while the other members of the team yawned and
slurped coffee.

“Wish I was joking,” Clarissa said, scanning the
group. “Look, Sasha was being low-key for my benefit, I’m sure. But the
implications of what she said were really messy. If the Fae go to war with the
Vamps as a united front, then that drags the wolves into it. Kinda like guilt
by association.”

“If you ask me, it’s bad enough that the entire human
world is constantly on the brink of the Armageddon in the frickin’ Middle East.
But to know the supernaturals are now hell-bent on war just makes me wanna
crawl into the nearest cave and wait it out.” Woods shook his head and sucked
in a huge slurp of coffee. “I mean, seriously—WTF.”

“Dude,” Winters said, and then pounded his fist.

Bradley leaned back in his chair and allowed his head
to hang back with his eyes closed. “So, what are our options? We can either lay
low and hope these two very strong forces annihilate each other, somehow
bypassing us in the process—which isn’t likely. Or we can do some
investigating, like Sasha suggested, and to try to find out what the hell
started all this hoopla.”

Doc nodded and walked to the window nursing his cup of
black coffee. “I’ll get in contact with Silver Hawk and let him know what’s
going on. The Shadow Wolf Clan should be able to literally put noses on the
ground and can probably move faster into some of the more dangerous areas than
we can.”

“Good plan,” Fisher said, glancing around the team.
“Maybe ’Rissa and Bradley can make a few house calls in Dr. Buzzard country,
you know.   see if some root workers and local psychics heard
anything.   while Winters and Doc try to interpret data coming in
from the wolves?”

“We can do that,” Clarissa said, glancing at Bradley.

Woods stared at Bradley as he sat up slowly. “We’ve
got your back. This time we’re not gonna let ’Rissa go in too deep alone.
Nobody wants to put her at risk again, man.”

Bradley reluctantly nodded but kept his troubled gaze
fixed on Clarissa. “Just a simple fact-finding mission. No heroics.”

“No heroics,” she said softly. “I promise.”

Crow Shadow leaned up on one elbow and stroked
Jennifer’s cheek. Her lashes fluttered for a moment and then she slowly opened
her eyes.

“Good morning,” he murmured, and then kissed her
gently.

A gentle smile dawned on her face. “Good morning,” she
whispered, and then kissed him again. “I can’t believe you did it.”

“I told you I wasn’t gonna leave you,” he said in a
quiet tone, watching tears begin to well in her eyes. He placed a warm palm
against her belly bump. “We mate for life. We have a code of honor. Even though
fate put us together maybe before we were ready, we have a whole lifetime to
grow into whatever this is.”

She touched his cheek with trembling fingers,
searching his eyes through her tears. “You speak in the strangest way sometimes.  
use the most unusual phrases, like you’re not from here. It’s beautiful, but I
don’t understand why you would say ‘mate’ and not ‘marry’ for life as though.  
I don’t know.”

“We’re not like Werewolves.” He looked at her hand and
clasped it within his own. “We’re different.”

“Of course I don’t think your people are animals. Oh,
my God, Crow.   is that what you think I was trying to say?” She sat
up, distressed, allowing the tears to slide down her cheeks. “I know my family
is horribly prejudiced, but I’m not like that.”

He shook his head and sat up slowly. “No, baby, you’re
not. You have a good heart and such a sweet soul. I know that’s not what you
meant.   but it is what I meant. I am part wolf.”

She bit her lip for a moment. “So, you’re saying that,
even though we’re married, you’re still gonna run around on me.” She released a
sad sigh and then got out of bed in search of her robe.

“No. That’s not what I meant at all. I told you I’m
not a Werewolf. But I am part wolf. Shadow Wolf, the highest totem of the
tribes, next to the bear. I will protect you from all harm to the death as your
mate. I will never take another as long as you’re alive. My children I will
defend with all that I am. We of the Shadow Wolf Clan define the way of the
wolf.”

“Oh,” she said, slumping with relief and placing her
hand over her heart. “I didn’t understand.   the Native American way
of speaking about being a wolf. I guess there’s so much we have to learn about
each other’s cultures and I’m just—”

“Sit down,” he said quietly. “You still don’t hear me.
And it’s my fault. I should have shown you this before.   well,
probably before everything.”

She pulled on her robe and tied it tightly, clutching
the ends of the tie. “You have something.   a disease. Oh, Jesus
Lord, and I’m pregnant. The baby.  ”

“I do not have a disease. I’m immune to everything.
The child will be stronger than you can ever imagine.” He patted the side of
the bed. “Come sit. There’s something I have to show you.”

He waited until she nervously complied, and when she
sat he stood and crossed the hotel room.

“Take two deep breaths and remember what I told you. I
will never lay a hand on you, will never harm you. But I’m different.”

“We’re all different, baby. I don’t understand?”

He put a finger to his lips and took in a deep
inhalation and changed. Jennifer’s scream could have shattered glass. Crow
Shadow simply looked at her as she dropped back on the bed limp. Within minutes
footfalls coming down the hall forced him to shift back into his human form and
then grab the sheet off the bed to wrap around his waist. The inevitable knock
on the door was from hotel security: He didn’t have to be a telepath to know
that; it just made sense.

Calmly opening the door, he looked at the two huge
casino guards.

“Is everything all right in here, sir?” one guard
asked, peering around Crow Shadow into the room.

“Yep,” he said, releasing a sigh. “My wife saw
something in here that sorta freaked her out, but she’ll be all right.”

“Can we come in and ask her about that, sir?” the
other burly guard said.

“Sure.” Crow Shadow walked over to the bed and gently
shook Jennifer. “Baby.   hotel security came when you screamed.” He
turned to the guards. “Mind getting her a glass of water?”

One guard complied while the other gently patted
Jennifer’s cheek.

“Ma’am.   ma’am, can you hear me?” The guard
looked up at his partner as she slowly stirred. “Ma’am, can you tell me what
drug you ingested?”

Jennifer groaned and then suddenly sat up, clutching
the first guard for a moment, staring past him at Crow Shadow.

“She might wanna go with you-all and get this whole
thing annulled,” Crow Shadow said, and then found the chair on the far side of
the room to plop down into. “It’s cool. Not everybody can handle this, and I
ain’t mad at her.”

“Ma’am, are you hurt in any way?” the larger guard
asked, flexing as he glanced back at Crow Shadow.

“Uh, no,” she replied, but still visibly shaken. “I
just saw a mouse, is all.”

The two guards looked at each other for a moment.

“If there’s anything harmful going on here, ma’am, you
can come with us. You don’t have to stay here.” The guard holding the glass of
water offered it to Jennifer, all the while glaring at Crow Shadow.

“If you’re scared in here,” Crow Shadow said, “you can
go with these gentlemen. All right?”

“No,” she said, shrugging away from them and sipping
the water she’d been given with a shaking hand. “It just caught me off guard.
We’re married; we’ve got a baby together. I.   I.   well, I
guess I mate for life, too.” She lifted her chin as two big tears rolled down
her cheeks. “I ain’t got no family, nowhere to go, so I’m staying.”

“Ma’am, you don’t have to stay here if he’s hitting
you, you understand. We—”

“Whoa now, just wait a minute,” she said, swinging her
legs around to get off the bed. “He ain’t never laid a hand on me that way.
Never.”

“Okay, Miss,” the guard standing closest to the door
said, eyeing his partner.

“ ‘Ma’am’ it is,” Jennifer said, crossing the room to
go stand by Crow Shadow. “I’m married.”

The other guard released a long breath of annoyance.
“If you say so.”

Thrusting out her hand, she flashed her diamond chip
at them as though it were a ten-karat stone. “I am ‘Mrs.,’ thank you very
much—and I saw a mouse.   and I want you gentlemen to leave. You
should have an exterminator come next time instead of throwing terrible
accusations against my husband.”

Again the guards gave each other suspicious glances,
but they nodded and moved toward the door, but not before one mumbled under his
breath, “I wish this trash would do their drugs at home.”

Crow Shadow just closed his eyes as the door slammed.
He knew the flurry of questions was coming and he waited, feeling them building
like the low-pressure system of a pending storm.

“Why’d you go and do something like that—show me
something like that in a damned hotel!”

“Because if you had a heart attack or a miscarriage or
wanted to leave me,” he said in a quiet tone, “I wanted you to be around other
humans who could immediately help you.”

“Or were you trying to get me to leave you? Then that
way your conscience would be clear.”

“No. My conscience would never be clear, no matter
what. Because you shoulda seen this before we slept together. It was my fault
you got pregnant..   I didn’t understand the human cycles.”

“I didn’t make you use no condom, so I can’t put it
all on you.   and I shoulda known my own cycle.”

“Water under the bridge now.”

“But you kept your word, which is more than anybody in
my own family ever did.”

For a while they said nothing and he simply sat there
with his eyes closed.

“Is our baby gonna be able to do what you did?” Her
question came out in a frightened rush.

“Hopefully, if it’s lucky.”

He opened his eyes and stared at her, watching her hug
herself and intermittently wipe away her tears.

“Okay, then I’ve got like a thousand questions more to
ask you and I’m hungry and want to eat breakfast,” she said after a moment.
“Because after you get over the shock, that wolf thing you do is really pretty
cool.”

Coffee mug pressed between her palms, Sasha closed her
eyes and lowered her forehead to the kitchen counter as she wrapped her ankles
around the legs of the stool. The situation with Shogun was so messed up.

“I know,” Hunter said, getting up to pour more joe. “I
felt the same way when he told me. This sucks.”

“I’ll talk to Amy as gently as I can, but.  ”

“Yeah, yeah, I already told him that it was better for
him to sit her down and explain the differences between Werewolf and Shadow
Wolf males. That should really come from him.”

Hunter glanced over his shoulder at Sasha as she
looked up.