Shadowlands (30 page)

Alejandro was off the phone. “Hawk has returned from the Lands. He has asked for the whereabouts of Stormwolf.”

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Suddenly, the idea of another Rider was more than I wanted to deal with. If my trip to the Lands had taught me anything, it was that my connections with any of them were going to be limited.

“So it’s off to Australia for Nighthawk?” I did the best I could to keep the resignation I felt out of my voice.

Alejandro nodded, but his eyes were on my mobile. I hadn’t put it away, and I could tell that since he’d told me about his call, he expected the same courtesy in return.

“Nik,” I said. “Just to say everything’s okay, I guess.”

Alejandro’s face clouded over. Here we go again. This, I thought, is really how teenagers must feel. “Just tell me what you’re thinking,” I said. “Keeping in mind that I don’t need your permission to talk to anyone.”

He waved this away. “It is only that I wish you to take care. It is one thing to know these people are no danger to you in themselves, that they mean you no harm. It is another thing entirely to put yourself in peril in order to help them. They have all been touched by the Hunt.”

“It isn’t just that they mean me no harm.” I spun my mobile on the table, stopped it, and set it spinning again in the other direction, wondering how to say what I needed to say. “These are all good people.” I remembered the look on Nik’s face as he showed us the news clips. “Aren’t these the kind of people I should want to help? The kind of people who would make good friends? You didn’t turn me away, when I needed
your
help.”

Alejandro’s smile was crooked, his old familiar grin that made me feel warm all over. “I see.” He nodded. “So this is my fault, then,
querida
?”

I grinned back. “Sure. I’m just following the example you set me.” My tone dropped into seriousness without my really intending it to. “You wouldn’t want me to do anything else.”

“I would, though I am ashamed to say so. But I am proud that you will not listen to me. Afraid, but proud.”

“Then we’re okay.”

Fox flipped the cell phone shut and sat looking at it, watching as the numbers that told the time faded.

“River on her way?” Badger sat across the table from him. Fox hadn’t noticed before that she was a Starward Rider. He couldn’t
tell whether she looked paler than usual in the dim light at the back of the Hair of the Dog.

“No reason for us to be scattered now,” he reminded her. “We’re not looking for the Exile anymore.”

Badger shook her head. “I’m sorry about Stump.” Fox lifted one shoulder and let it fall. Encouraged, Badger continued. “I don’t know what possessed him, though he was always impulsive. He just didn’t get it that it’s still dangerous here.” She looked away and when she looked back, her eyes had changed color. “It’s better now we’re all together.”

“You can have Longshadow to replace Stump.” Fox picked up the glass on the table in front of him and put it back down without drinking from it. “Once the others are here, we’ll see how many more we need.”

Now Badger was grinning, her teeth too many and too long. Fox tapped his own mouth and she quickly covered hers with her hand. When she lowered it, she looked normal again. Evidently, Stump wasn’t the only one who could get careless.

“So there’s more of them? More like Longshadow?”

“Looks like it.” Fox smiled as he picked up the cell phone. It was strange to be thinking about Riders as more than just a source of
dra’aj
.

The booth where he’d established them was tucked into the corner farthest from the bar, and secluded enough that the casual observer could easily overlook it. Even the bar staff, busy at this time of day, would approach it only if waved down. Fox was finding it difficult to judge the passage of time here in the Shadowlands. He’d been expecting daylight when he left the den in the empty sports arena, but it was evening again, twilight heading into dark. He’d thought they’d broken the whole nocturnal predator habit, but it looked now like that had just been part of the compulsion of the Horn.

“We really don’t need to be so careful, do we, Fox? Now that there’s no Horn?”

“Really?” Fox pulled back his upper lip and Badger dropped her eyes. He was Pack Leader now, not just a Five leader like her. She should remember that. “You mean like Stump could stop being careful? Just because the humans aren’t any danger to us, doesn’t mean
there’s no danger out there.” He pointed at her. “We don’t know enough. We’re still outnumbered, and we’re split. What’s happening to the ones left in the Lands? What’s happened to the Horn? Just because it isn’t compelling us right now doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. No. There are still too many questions for us to get fat and happy.” Should he tell her about his plan, or should he wait until all of them had arrived?

The door to the place opened, bringing a familiar scent with a waft of warm air. Two scents. Fox’s heart beat faster, and saliva formed in his mouth. Snowfang appeared at his elbow, but it was the Moonward Rider standing next to him who activated Fox’s thirst. He forced himself to ignore the Rider—and his
dra’aj
—and looked at Snowfang.

“You weren’t at your den, Pack Leader,” he said.

“I’m here.”

Snowfang was agitated, his eyes flicking toward the glass of water on the table and back up at Fox’s face. Fox nodded. Looked like he wasn’t the only one affected by the Rider’s
dra’aj
. The hand Snowfang put out for the glass of water on the table (flicker) became a twisted mess of claws and talons before re-forming in time to grasp the glass.

“Watch out,” Fox warned. “Don’t drop it.”

Snowfang took several deep swallows, lowering the glass with a sigh. “What do we care? These are sheep, and we’re wolves.”

Fox had the other Hound by the throat almost before the words had finished exiting from his mouth.
Another one.
He held fast, watching Showfang’s face redden. One of the wait staff, coming toward them, turned around and went back to the bar. “We care because I say we care, and I’m Pack Leader.” He waited, still holding fast, until the other lowered his eyes, turned his hands palm up, the closest he could come in this place to rolling over and showing his belly.

When Fox released him, Snowfang swallowed and rubbed at his throat before gesturing toward the Moonward Rider. “This guy came looking for you, Pack Leader.”

Now Fox turned to look the Rider up and down. He had the usual Moonward pallor, with raven-black hair and jadestone eyes. The eyes narrowed, but he didn’t look away. Something about his scent
was familiar, though not enough for Fox to be sure he’d seen the Rider before.

“So he’s found me.” Fox looked up at Snowfang. “Why are you still here?”

“Pack Leader, we’ve got a scentless one for you, like you wanted. It’s in your den.”

“Go.” He flicked a glance at where Badger still sat across the table. “Both of you. I’ve got business here.”

The Rider had stayed silent and watchful during the whole of Fox’s exchange with Snowfang; unusually patient for a follower of the Basilisk Prince.

“Who are you?” Fox indicated the now empty seat across the table.

The Rider smiled as he sat down. “I expected to see Wolf.”

A fist clenched in Fox’s chest. “You know where he is?”

The Rider shook his head, his eyes never leaving Fox’s. Brave, or foolhardy? It was difficult to know. “I last saw him with the Basilisk Prince.” He shrugged. “Haven’t seen either of them since.”

Fox nodded. “So I’m Pack Leader now.” He leaned back at the approach of the waiter. Another brave one. “Beer,” he told the human, and waited until he returned with two pint glasses.

“I hear your Pack increases.” The Rider picked up his glass of beer and took a sip, pulling a napkin out of the dispenser to wipe off his upper lip.

“And yours decreases, unless you’ve got a new Pack Leader as well? Someone who’s planning to take over for the Basilisk?”

The Rider shrugged again, this time smiling. “Things have changed. There is a real High Prince, not a pretender. A new Cycle.”

“Something tells me if you were going to join up with her, you wouldn’t be here.” Fox smiled, letting his teeth show.

The Rider wrinkled his nose, took another sip of his beer.

“Some will. Those who can, once they’ve come to their senses and stopped believing that they can continue preying—if you’ll pardon the use of the word—on the small and unimportant. Some will not. Some do not wish to serve the High Prince. Frankly, some of us would rather serve ourselves. And have others serve us.”

Fox found himself smiling. “You mean
you
would. I don’t see much ‘us’ about you, buddy. You’d like to be Pack Leader?”

Now the Rider was nodding. Short, shallow nods. “But not of your Pack, and not in the Lands. The High Prince is Riding us down, and she cannot stop. In the Shadowlands, however, that might be different.”

“So why come to me?” Though again, Fox thought he could guess the answer.

The Moonward Rider’s face hardened, and his lips thinned, but he waited to answer until the tension had left his shoulders.

“From what I understand now, we needn’t be enemies. Our needs are not in conflict. On the contrary, we may be able to help one another.”

“How so?”

“Your numbers are few. You would not need to increase them—and therefore decrease your supply—if you had allies you could count upon. And who can count upon you to leave them
dra’aj
-whole.”

Fox picked up his own glass and took a careful swallow. He’d been thinking along these same lines himself. There might be a few more Riders, maybe even some of this one’s followers, who were far enough down the path Fox had followed so long ago to become Hounds, but once the Fives were complete, were any more actually needed? Sure, there was plenty of
dra’aj
here, but why share it if it wasn’t
absolutely
necessary?

“I think we can come to terms, Rider.” Fox stood, picked up the used napkins on the table and gave them the appearance of human money. “Let’s not waste any more time.”

I
ENDED UP NOT CALLING NIK BACK. It seemed like a small enough thing to do for Alejandro, especially after he’d agreed that I could tag along to the meeting he’d already arranged.

Now that the time had come, I found the idea of speaking to Nik made me feel a bit shy. It was nice to know that he liked me, and wanted to see me,
that
made me feel warm all over—but it didn’t help me to know what I wanted to say to him, let alone what I wanted to do.

As usual, Alejandro wore one of his summer-weight suits, a beautiful deep blue with a crisp white windowpane shirt and a silk tie, but I decided to go a bit more casual—though not quite as far as the khakis and hoodie Nik had last seen me in. I decided on a taupe linen shift, square-necked, with a dull turquoise trim, along with some high-heeled espadrilles of the same blue-green shade. My shoulder bag should have been straw, or even a natural leather instead of black, but I hadn’t yet reached the point where I could have matching accessories for every outfit. A clutch that matched the shoes was tucked into my bag.

The lady I’d previously seen in a print dress met us at the top of the stairs and introduced herself as Arlene before ushering us into Elaine’s office. Elaine was sitting behind her desk, but rose as we came in. She looked spectacular, at least in comparison to the last time I’d seen her. Her makeup was impeccable and her dark blonde hair and rosy fingernails looked as though she had just come from the salon. She was wearing a sleeveless green silk-knit top with the skirt of a dark gray pin-striped suit; the jacket was hung casually over the back of her chair. The pleated detail on the skirt was repeated on the pockets of the jacket. Her open-toed, sling-back shoes were the same ruby color as her earrings and necklace. Seeing this change in her was like watching one of those makeover shows.

There was a television on a side table, tuned to a news channel, and I could also see news feeds on two of the computers on Elaine’s desk. Some of the talking heads were familiar—one of them was the spokesperson for the Ministry of Health. Elaine muted the sound on all three devices as she came out from behind her desk.