River Wolf (19 page)

Tipping her head to the side, the wolf ignored the order. Her teeth bared in a grim, mockery of a smile.

“I’m going to put you down, Luc, and you’re going to stay where I put you, understood?” It wasn’t about the fight with his idiot best friend anymore. Colby’s wolf didn’t want to be caged anymore, and she had no idea the girl was in there. A latent’s disconnect from their wolf, Salvatore warned, wasn’t only lack of training. In many ways, if a latent’s wolf began to express it was because the wolf wanted out and the wolf might possess all of the latent’s intelligence, but none of her experience. The animal side’s rise could completely supplant the person.

“So the wolf should never be allowed ascendancy?”

“You misunderstand,” Salvatore’s English was flawless, yet his explanation left Brett with more questions than answers. “A latent is not human. Nor are they fully Wolf. They are both, existing within one being. One is suppressed and the other in ascendance. The bonds which we share with our beasts, which bleed through and allow us to be both at the same time do not exist within a latent. It is…”

“A disconnect. They aren’t wired the way the rest of us are. So if we are the norm, they are abnormal in that sense.”

“Yes.” The Italian Alpha released a long breath. “Exactly. Within my packs, there are two latents. They are most often the product of…damaged DNA? We have little research in the area because latents are so rare.”

“All right, accepted, they’re rare. How do we help one, especially if her wolf is beginning to show?”

“Do you know what triggered the ascendance?”

“I have an idea.” Though he had no intention to share the information. The acid she’d tripped on had allowed her wolf an opening, forged a chemical connection she’d been lacking. If he were a gambling man, and he wasn’t, it was where he would place his bet.

“Then, much like the proverbial cat leaving the bag, the wolf will not retreat again. We are stubborn creatures, after all. Is there any chance the latent is submissive?”

Not a single one. “No.”

“Pity. A submissive will accept your dominance, and you can guide the wolf, help her through the transition.”

“And a dominant?”

“You will have to humble the wolf much as you would a recalcitrant youth who does not want to obey or sees no need to obey.” The advice didn’t sit well with Brett.

“Have you had any success with bringing a latent through the transition?”

“Only once,” Salvatore admitted, dashing his faith against the rocks.

“You said you have two.”

“The second’s wolf remains silent. We treat him no differently than we do our other pack mates…” A shrug echoed at the end of the statement. “For the first, however, she spent several months working on landmine removal in Bosnia and Croatia. The stress may have triggered her wolf. The danger is always that the wolf will overwrite their human half.”

“Like a total Fade?”

“For lack of a better word in your language, yes. What makes us Fade is our lost interest in humanity, in the day-to-day things that keep us grounded as human and beast. For the latent, it is the beast shucking off the cage and refusing to ever return to it—so you must teach the wolf that it is not isolated, that it can be welcomed and…that the latent must welcome it. Then it is no longer a battle between wolf and woman, but one they can wage together.”

Staring at Colby’s wolf eyes told him it sounded straightforward and simple in theory, not so much in practice. “Colby,” he called his lover, not the wolf. He wanted the woman at the forefront, the woman who had no idea what the hell was going on. Every instinct he possessed was on her side, and if he had to dominate her wolf to do it—his wolf surfaced higher and he let his eyes shift. Let her beast see his. His wolf agreed with him, they’d welcome her wolf into the world but on
Colby’s
terms.

“Brett…”
Luc
.

“Shut. Up.” He didn’t soften the words or the order within them. Luc went silent and his sister went to her knees. In the woods beyond, wolves came to the edge of the forested area the pack owned. Some had been out playing, some had simply gone to stretch their legs. But his pack answered him and they came, settling in, and their power flowed through him.

Colby shook her head and tried to look away, but her gaze tracked to him again. The complete absence of scent from a wolf that had no scent because the wolf had never been allowed to be.

“You want out, and I understand,” he told the wolf. “But not now and not at her expense. Go to sleep.”

A keening note came from her throat, a sound so low and plaintive it had never come from the tough, wise-cracking woman he’d spent the last several days learning to love. Not even when she told him about the jackass who screwed her life over. She didn’t blame him, she owned her part of the mistake and rose above it.

“Go to sleep,” he told the wolf. “Colby, you come back,
right
now.” The wolf had been running when he’d come home. He understood it. The acid might have woken the wolf, but being around the pack was lending it strength. Strength she didn’t know how to fight because she didn’t know the battle to be waged and the animal to learn.

Another head shake. Though she slid back a step or two, she didn’t run.

“Your instincts tell you to flee, but you don’t really want to. Part of the reason you’re waking is you’re here, in Hudson River. With us.”
With me.
He was as much a part of the problem as anything. Brett understood how to control the wolf, and he had strength a plenty. “We’re a pack. What makes a pack strong is their sense of community. I almost forgot that part. I let something that happened affect me and my pack. That is on me, that failure. I won’t be failing them again. Wolves need wolves.”

Her chin came up, and his wolf rubbed against the inside of his skin.
Contact
. Trusting the drive, he strode forward and Colby didn’t retreat nor did her wolf. Cupping her face, he let the electricity sizzle against his system. It had been the wolf every single time they touched. He’d shared power with it, and his wolf had understood on a most basic and primitive level. The same way Luc’s had scented the wolf, not wolf. Pack, not pack.

“Trust me,” he whispered to both woman and wolf. “Trust me. I will help you, but you need to sleep now.” She sighed, impatience flashed across her features. One blink. Then a second. Colby’s eyes softened to amber and she glared at him. The heat scorching his skin eased the fist of tension in his gut.

“What the hell is going on?” Pissed. Irked. Vexed. She embodied so many great words for furious.

“A lot,” he told her, continuing to stroke her cheek. When she didn’t flinch away, his heart squeezed. She’d told him only a few hours before she trusted him, and while wary anger inhabited her eyes, she demonstrated her trust. “I have a great many things to tell you, and I’m not sure you’ll believe all of them.”

“Like bitch kitty over there snarling and growling or men who turn into wolves?”

Not glancing in the direction of the aforementioned bitch kitty, Brett nodded. “Yes. I promise to tell you everything, explain it all, and I also swear to you…” he caught her damaged hand in his free one and lifted the torn and bloodied knuckles to his lips. Pressing a kiss to them, he continued, “No one will ever hurt you again.” It resonated. The pack standing present around them would hear and the information would spread.

Dipping her gaze to where his lips brushed her skin, she sighed. “Everything in my gut says run like hell.”

“Everything?” Teasing her worked. The corner of her mouth curved and the hints of arousal in her scent deepened.

“Eighty-twenty.” Not great odds, but he’d take them.

Ignoring their audience, he stroked his thumb against her lower lip and when her mouth opened, he swooped in and kissed her. Gentle at first, but her response ratcheted his blood to fiery. Her tongue swept out to taste his and he wrapped his arms around her. When he allowed them both to breathe, she pressed her head to his chest and he sighed. Her trembling aggravated his wolf, but only because they wanted to soothe her and the wolf within. Neither should be left behind. Stroking her back, he let his gaze roam around the gathered until he settled on Samantha.

To his credit, Luc continued to keep his mouth shut though he leaned heavily on the porch. The man should not be on his feet. Damn fool. Yet even as the thought formed, Brett recognized why Luc was there. Sam had come to see Colby.

He’d put himself on the line for her.

“Luc Danes will stand as second,” he announced and surprise rippled throughout. Not giving his best friend an option, he’d found a way to kill a wolf with two stones. As second, Luc could handle some of the bullshit and it showed his pack they were on the same side. “When he speaks, it will be with my voice…even when he talks like a smartass.”

A shout of laughter escaped one of the Hunters, and she clapped a hand over her mouth, but the humor spread.

“Our isolation is over. We’re a pack. Get used to it. If you
want
to leave, be gone by sundown. Spread the word. If you have any outstanding grievances or issues you feel need attention immediately, take them to him for the moment. Everyone’s problems will be addressed.” He spared Luc a glance, and his disgruntled expression spoke volumes.

“Gee, thanks, boss,” Luc murmured.

“You should have stayed in bed. Payback’s a bitch,” he told him, then with a glance at Colby, he added, “Thank you.”

Luc’s expression relaxed. “You’re welcome. What about Sam?”

He shook his head. “My clemency stands. She has till sundown. If she’s still here, she will be punished, but I won’t throw her out and I won’t kill her.”
This time.
He left the unspoken threat hanging in the air. If Sam went after Colby again, Brett would not be remotely forgiving. It was all he was willing to offer.

“Understood…and thank you.” He wavered on his feet.

“Luc, I don’t care what magic you have,” Colby said suddenly. “You’re an idiot.” Brett released her and caught the man before he collapsed. Three times in a week. It was getting to be a bad habit.

Next to him, Colby helped brace Luc’s arm. With a faint charming grin easing his grimace, Luc leered at her playfully. “I’m only the second idiot, the first idiot is really in charge.”

Thumping him on the back of the head, Brett earned a laugh from both. “Colby and I need some time.”

A lot of it.

Luc nodded. “Someone come give me a hand.” His voice carried, and the gathered all began to applaud.

Colby’s sudden burst of laughter was well worth Luc’s glare. Then Ravyn, the laughing Hunter, loped toward them.

“I got him, Brett.”

Releasing him to her care, Brett murmured. “If you have to tie him to that bed, do that. People can come to him.”

The Hunter’s wicked smile seemed to intrigue Luc. Rolling his eyes, Brett turned away from the laughter and the wolves around them eased away, including Sam. Luc’s sister was gone. Whether she left for good or stayed was up to her. Colby’s smile softened a notch when she glanced at him, then faded.

“I don’t suppose you do keep liquor in your house?” They hadn’t really drunk much.

“Whiskey all right?” He held out his hand.

“Oh, yeah. I think this conversation is going to need it.” She still hadn’t run. His wolf raked his claws along the inside of his skin. If she ran, they would catch her. They would always catch her.

Drinking wouldn’t really be advisable. Not until she understood. “Maybe after.”

She sighed. “I was afraid you were going to say that.” Closing her eyes, she ran a hand over her face. The bloodied knuckles drew his attention.

“Who did you hit?”

“Sam.”

Approval flooded his wolf. She’d belted Sam and was still on her feet? In so many ways she was stronger than she knew. Extending his hand to her, he said, “I know you have a thousand questions.”

For a long moment, he worried she would refuse him. When her palm glided over his, he relaxed. The surge remained, the contact heightened his awareness of her wolf. “I really only have one.”

Walking with her toward the house, he raised his brows. “Only one?”

“Is this an acid trip?”

Understanding funneled through him. “No, sweetheart. It isn’t.”

“Damn.” The vehemence in her tone begged for him to fix it.

“I’m glad it isn’t,” he told her. “No matter what happens. I’m here for you every step of the way.”

Inside, he closed the door and leaned against it, when she would have kept going he tugged her back to him. She answered his unspoken question by sliding her arms around him and hugging him. Locking her in his arms, he settled his chin against her hair.

“You’re a wolf?” Her question was muffled against his chest.

As good a place as any to start. “Yes.”

Her trembling increased, and a half-strangled note worried him. Was she sobbing? Pulling away slightly, he studied her face and her laughter caught him off guard. “It’s funny?”

Wiping away the tears at the corners of her eyes, she said, “Only if you understand that I graduated from bad boys to big bad wolf.”

He chuckled. His wolf could handle the humor better than the tears. “All the better to eat you, my dear.” It set her off all over again and she clung to him. They would be all right.
She
would be all right.

No other outcome would be acceptable.

C
olby’s ears buzzed
. They were sitting in the kitchen, a banal location for a discussion of the impossible. The brightly lit breakfast nook seemed too cheerful for tales of supernatural. “I’m sorry,” she murmured as he finished applying antibiotic ointment to her hand. “I think I blurred out what you were saying.”

“It’s a lot to absorb. As a rule, we try to avoid shock when we reveal our presence to humans who don’t know.” Which implied there were humans that did.
Fan-freaking-tastic.

“How the hell do you avoid shocking people?” She winced as he inspected the scrapes and broken skin. Fortunately, she didn’t need stitches and Band-Aids would be annoying, not to mention hard to keep in place. “Do you say, honey, I’m sorry, they just outlawed coffee, but that’s okay because I’m a wolf? Oh, wait, I know. I went to the doctor today, and he told me I only have six months to live. No wait, it’s okay I’m just a wolf!”

No matter how much she reminded herself she’d said she’d listen, she couldn’t get past the apples on the paper towel dispenser and the magnet on the fridge which read
I saw that – Karma
. The deliciously homey kitchen where he made breakfast and coffee every morning was the kitchen of a man who turned into wolf.

Though the corner of his mouth twitched, Brett didn’t laugh. “No, we generally try to explain it in a way that allows us to control the knowledge.”

“Yeah, okay, so again how does that not shock?”

Impatience flashed through his eyes, so briefly she nearly missed it. Yet the very human emotion relaxed her some. The man always seemed to carry the weight of the world, she preferred his smile and the hint of humor. Irritation was preferable to the gravity weighing in his expression. “We try to prepare you—we soften the blow. Yes, it still shocks,” he said the last with force and a look that told her to keep her smart mouth shut for a moment. “But without the raw danger of wolves just turning right in front of you or one launching into you.”

“Okay, we’ll say I accept the premise.” Especially since they weren’t getting anywhere fast. She tugged her hands from his and folded her arms. It was lonelier and she missed the contact almost immediately, but she wanted a clear head. The sex god across from her muddled her thinking, especially since they could be having the conversation naked.

“Please.” He cleaned away the first aid kit, then started the coffee pot going. “Do you want anything to eat? It’s after dinnertime.”

“Not sure I could eat,” she admitted. “Are you trying to blow off the discussion now by switching to food?”

He paused, the dark look on his face so severe and full of admonishment, she wanted to swallow the question. “Sweetheart, you’ve had a lot thrown at you at once. You’re going to hear a lot more things tonight and I don’t doubt a hell of a lot will come as a shock. Feeding you is a privilege I enjoy, and cooking grounds my temper. It gives me something to do with my hands that don’t involve stripping you naked and sating the desire I can smell on you.”

Liquid heat unfurled in her belly and her nipples tightened at the raw sensuality in his voice.

“While we’d enjoy the hell out of ourselves, it wouldn’t answer your questions or address the problems we need to address. So not remotely avoiding the discussion.”

Swallowing once, she nodded. “I’m sorry.”

Planting his hands on the counter, he bowed his head and took a deep breath. He was so much larger than life, but it was as though she could see him withdrawing and making himself—less. The pressure around and the energy dancing over her skin seemed to fade as well.

“No, I’m sorry.” The apology was low, almost guttural. “I’m pissed at the moment. Fucking furious that Sam would touch you. Annoyed with the wolves acting like idiots. Irked with myself because I let…”

When he didn’t finish the sentence, she leaned forward. The whole thing weirded her out, but Brett…he was still Brett and he didn’t smile near enough. “What?”

“A little over a year ago, someone I trusted deeply and relied upon—killed several members of the pack including my grandfather.”

Colby’s heart twisted.

“The worst of it was, I didn’t know it was him. I didn’t scent the madness in his blood or hear the lies on his tongue. He was a psychopath, pure and simple. He had no empathy, no interest beyond advancing his own position. Through murder and design, he elevated to a position of extreme trust. Then he tried to kill me and several others during a ceremony honoring the fallen. If not for Gillian and Owen, I would have lost so many more.”

“Your scars.” She whispered the words, her heart aching. The burns…

“Yeah.” He held his arm up. “The son of a bitch shoved me into a bonfire.”

Her skin crawled at the idea of flames licking over his flesh. Pushing away from the table, she was halfway across the room and reaching for his hand before the thought completed.

“I’m all right, Colby.” He stroked her cheek. “I survived.”

“But you had to have been in so much pain. If we answer nothing else, can you explain that to me? I heard Sam call Gillian a healer rather than a doctor. How do you survive being burned so badly you have scars and Luc’s bones mend in just days?”

“We’re wolves.” The simplicity in the answer wasn’t lost on her.

“That doesn’t answer every question.”

His sudden grin buoyed her heart, but she ignored the lust-filled side of her that preened every time he looked happy. Her body may have made a decision her heart was in agreement with, but her head wasn’t on board. Not yet. Not when….not when she’d been burned.

Dropping his hands to her waist, Brett lifted her and sat her on the counter, then boxed her in with a hand on either side of her. “Being a wolf explains everything. It isn’t just what we become, Colby. It’s who we are. Who
I
am.”

While she stared at him, his eyes changed. The black vanished to be replaced by the most startling gold. Her heart slammed against her ribs, not in terror but rapt fascination.

“We live in packs. We have an Alpha…me. We have Hunters, those who guard and protect. We have healers, those who mend and repair. We have Trackers, who can find anything. We have dominants who want to protect and submissives, who love to be taken care of. In some packs, we even have Omegas.”

“Who live to be kicked around?” She meant it seriously, even if she couldn’t help the smartass. It was almost too much.

“No. Omegas reflect everything negative in a pack. They show us where we are going wrong. It can be ugly place to be, but they are to be cherished for that gift. And…we are getting off the topic.”

When he would have pulled away, she set her palms on his bare arms and he stilled as though held in place. “No, we’re not. You say
we’re wolves
as if it is an answer. If you asked me why I made dumb decisions in college or lost my temper with you or got snarky whenever I feel out of my depth or isolated, and I said it’s because I’m human, would you understand?”

“No, I wouldn’t. Point taken.” After nudging her thighs apart, he stepped between them and embraced her. The action felt so natural, she hugged him tight. “It is hard to explain what you have always been and never known any different.”

“Oh yeah,
that
I do understand. Mom has asked me for years why do I do what I do or decide what I decide and sometimes, I can answer it, but most of the time…it’s because I’m me.”

“Yes, you are an exquisite you.” The compliment left her flushed with pleasure. “And you need to eat.”

“Oh my God, you and food.” Yet, she laughed and pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth. “Fine, feed me Seymour, but keep talking.”

So he did, throwing together a meal of burgers, and hand-diced french fries. The pile of food on her plate had her raising her eyebrows, but not more than watching Brett pack away easily twice as much as she’d seen him do at any meal. “Wolf thing?” She motioned toward his plate with one of the fries.

“Shifting burns calories, using power burns calories, healing burns calories…”

“So no fat wolves?” If she ate like him, maybe even her high metabolism would take a knock.

“Oh we have ‘em,” Brett shrugged. “Body type is body type. Wolves come in all shapes, sizes, colors even. Some wolves are stronger, some are faster, some have other talents.”

Made a certain amount of sense. Was she really sitting there accepting everything he said as fact? Then again, the image of the man and the wolves and the wood flitted through her mind. When the hell had she seen that?

“It’s not about looks,” he murmured. “It’s about pack. It’s about running together, hunting together—playing together.” The emphasis on play sent another wash of heat through her.

“No seduction for you, buddy. Not yet anyway.”

“I like the yet. It means there’s hope.” Light, teasing and yet a distinct undercurrent flowed through the words.

“Can humans become…like you?”

“Yes.” No hesitation.

“Do wolves have illnesses? Birth defects? I mean, you have healers, so can they fix anything?”

“First, we can get sick. We have strong immune systems, but we can get viruses just like the next person…”

“Provided that person is a wolf.” She made a face at him, and his chuckle lifted the dour seriousness of his tone. Grinning, she took an impudent bite of her burger and motioned for him to continue.

“Yes, oh wise one, but we have humans in our packs too. Well, some do. Hudson River doesn’t, Willow Bend has them by the cart load and so does Delta Crescent.” He paused and she washed down the bite with a drink of water before giving him a questioning look. “I was waiting for your smart ass remark about the pack names.”

“I don’t have one…”

“Damn. Well if you think of one be sure to share it.” So perfectly dry in his delivery, she began giggling.

“I promise.”

“Excellent. As for birth defects…it depends on what you describe as a defect. I wouldn’t have said we had many before. That said we do have stillbirths and some women have trouble carrying to full term, perhaps not in the same numbers that humans do, but it happens.”

“Can a woman, you know…become a wolf when she’s pregnant?” All at once it struck her—his parents were wolves. The sweet, funny couple with their loving manner and cheerful disposition were wolves.
Wow.

“Yes. Becoming a wolf is a part of who we are. It’s harder on turned wolves who are women…”

“As opposed to all those pregnant turned men?”

He winced at the sharp sally and she grinned. “Why yes, as opposed to them. For them it’s impossible.”

Snickering, she took another bite. Maybe she could handle the Twilight Zone after all—Twilight. Wolves. A fresh bout of laughter ripped through her and he paused as she coughed, nearly choking on the burger.

“Don’t you dare do that again,” he didn’t pretend not to snarl. “One choking incident in your life is enough.”

Swallowing hard, she took another long drink of water before covering her mouth with her hand and meeting his intent gaze. “Sorry.” It came out muffled because he looked so forbidding, she could almost not hold back another spate of giggles.

His growl rumbled the table and she covered her face with both hands, waging a losing battle against the giggles.

Finally, he said, “We have healers because people think it’s a good idea to laugh at their Alpha.”

That did it, she cracked up and leaned away in the chair, laughing. Through explosive breaths she said, “I can’t help it. You look so mafia badass when you scowl like that, then you growled. Are you a cute wolf?”

The question seemed to stymy him. “What am I going to do with you?”

“That is the ten thousand dollar question, isn’t it?” Yet the more she laughed, the more she relaxed.

“No it’s the once in a lifetime question,” he murmured the words. “Because I want to keep you, Colby Jensen. I want you to be a part of Hudson River, but more…I want you to be mine.”

Sobering, she met his serious gaze. “You mean that.” Not a question.

“I do. I will persuade and I will coax and I will tease and I will play—but make no mistake—I will never give up. I will never not want you.” The declaration shivered over her. “I will never not be here for you.”

“Okay. Intense.” But even she couldn’t make light of his humbling sentiment. Not when it seemed to twine around her heart and embed the words in her soul. “But I’m not a wolf and I …”

“Colby,” Brett put his hand over hers. “You are.”

Her mind stuttered. “What?”

“One thing at a time, but you are a wolf. A different kind of wolf, but definitely one.”

“You’re talking metaphorical not we had sex and now I’m becoming a wolf, right?”

His lips quirked at the word sex, but he shook his head. “Not metaphorical. It takes us back to your question about birth defects and wolves…you’re what we call latent. Within you is a wolf, but it’s been asleep most of your life and it’s awake now and it wants out.”

Nope. Uh uh
. “I think if I were a wolf, I would know.”

“Yes, if everything had worked out and that’s part of what we need to discuss. I need to ask you questions about your mother…”

“My mother is definitely not a wolf. Hell, she’s a Methodist…”

F
rom dinner
, they retreated to the library and finally the stone porch. Nothing he’d said so far persuaded her to believe her mother could know anything about wolves, and more stubbornly, she wouldn’t contact her to ask. Few people outright told him no, and none did it with the vehemence she displayed whether he ordered, asked or coaxed. A flash of movement in the darkness, however, had him rising.

Colby stood, following his gaze. When a wolf trotted out of the darkness, she thumped his biceps. Not that it hurt, he rubbed the spot and glanced at her. “What did I do?”

“I
did
see a wolf out here the other night.”

Mea aculpa.
“Yes, you did…”

“Oh, this is the dog.” She knelt down and Trent trotted right to her, and nuzzled her face before slurping her with a wet kiss. Her laughter amused him.

“No,
he
is not a dog.” Some part of him borrowed a page from her book, and he let the information sink in without elaborating.