Silver (22 page)

She sniffed and looked at me. “What?”

“
I’m seeking revenge,” I
said bluntly. “I’m going to kill Mason for what he did to my dad,
the same way that your parents went after the werewolf that killed
your brother.”

She bowed her head against my shoulder.
“Killing never fixed anything, but you're doing it to prevent him
from hurting other werewolves, too.”

I nodded, but knew that if it was just in
revenge for my dad's death, I would do the same thing. The guilt
hung heavy in my chest. I pushed the feeling down and realized that
tears soaked my shoulder. “Nikki?”

She took in a shaky breath and let it out
again. It ended in a sob. “I miss Randy.”

I smoothed her hair and put my arms around
her, pulling her against my chest. “I know.” I swallowed and forced
the words out, “I miss my dad, too.” Hot tears stung my eyes and I
looked up at the weather-damaged saint above us to keep them from
spilling over. The saint’s worn face stared down at me. The cement
under one eye had discolored gray, making it look like the statue
cried with us. I turned my face to Nikki’s head and breathed deeply
of her lavender shampoo-scented hair to regain control.

“
How do you live without
him?” Nikki asked quietly after her sobs had stopped.

I put my cheek on top of her head and closed
my eyes. “I haven’t been.”

Her arms tightened around me. I made myself
continue. “I keep telling myself when I kill Mason the pain will go
away.” I took another breath. “But I know it won’t.”

“
Then why do you do it?”
she asked softly.

I opened my eyes and looked at the saint
above us. “To protect those who can’t defend themselves, and to
keep others from going through what Mom and I have.”

Nikki fell silent for a few more minutes.
Crickets chirped in the grass around us and cicadas began to sing.
A cloud passed over the moon, throwing us in darkness. Nikki
settled closer to my side under my arm. I held her silently, taking
comfort that the one person who knew my whole soul, the dark
thoughts that drove my actions, and the shattered remnants of my
heart, accepted me for who I was. I vowed silently to protect her
from what dangers and heartaches of the world I could. The thought
helped pull together a few of the shredded pieces of my soul and I
breathed deeper.

After the constellations had shifted and a
new patch of stars winked down at us from the broken canopy, Nikki
stood and waiting for me by the path. I rose and said a silent
thank you to the saint. I wasn’t a religious person, especially
after what had happened to Dad, but I felt comfort under the gaze
of Saint Francis, and that was worth the world in that one
moment.

We made our way back to the motorcycle.
Nikki left her flashlight off and held my hand, trusting me to
guide her. We stepped through the gate and she picked up her
helmet.

“
My turn,” I
said.

She glanced at me to see if I was joking.
“You’re serious?”

I started the engine. “It’s like roller
skating, right?” I called over the rumble.

“
What?” she asked, her eyes
wide.

I laughed, “Oh, just get on.” She rolled her
eyes but stepped up.

I revved the throttle and the motorcycle
growled underneath us. I could see the road, but the visor of the
helmet cut out my sense of smell. I pushed it back and took a deep
breath of the midnight air. Nikki did the same without a word, her
mouth turned in a slight smile. She then put her arms around my
waist.

I let out the clutch and we started down the
mountain. The headlight toyed with my wolf vision, changing from
light to color to gray. I eventually turned it off, which made
Nikki’s hold tighten but I could see much better. We flew down the
road.

Nikki eventually relaxed and leaned against
my back. I smiled. The wind rushing past sang in my ears and the
myriad scents of a twilight forest filled my nose. I bent lower and
leaned with the turns, becoming one with the movement of the
motorcycle. My heart raced as though I chased a deer with the pack.
Shadows of memories ran alongside us, pack members now either
working for Mason or dead. I shook my head and let the night sweep
them away.

I took the back roads from the hills and
avoided the highway on our way home. The city’s sky scrapers loomed
to the right and I detoured toward them. We slowed as we entered
the city limits to the building-lined streets. Nikki squeezed my
arm and I stopped in an alley between a building outlined in green
lights and another with golden windows that reflected the night
sky. We left the motorcycle and walked along the sidewalk.

“
How do you find your way
so easily?” Nikki asked.

“
Scent.”

She looked at me, surprised. “You mean you
could smell where we were going?”

I nodded and searched for a way to explain
it. “Each city has a unique smell. It comes from the products made
there, the type of animals that live in the homes and on the
streets, the living conditions of the people, the quality of parks,
the garbage facilities, the air quality and level of pollution, the
sewer systems, the gardens, and the form of vehicle most frequently
driven. Within the cities, the neighborhoods have their own scents,
and then the houses within them.” I glanced at her. “That’s how the
dogs you hear about that cross the country to return to their homes
make it.”

“
They just follow the
smell?” Nikki asked, her gaze thoughtful. At my nod, she pursed her
lips. “That does make sense. But it takes away the
mystery.”

I shrugged. “Sorry.”

She laughed her light, sweet laugh and took
my arm. “You’re forgiven, Mr. Carso.”

“
Why thank you, Ms.
Valen.”

We walked between the buildings to the main
road and sat down on a bench next to a tree with a trunk enclosed
in wire. Cars rushed past even at the late hour. Light from the
moon didn’t make it to the sidewalk, but the buildings were lit
like Christmas trees and would have illuminated the roads even
without the curved streetlights that lined the sidewalks. We stared
up at the buildings and enjoyed the silence of being separate from
the hustle around us.

Nikki eventually sighed. “I’d better get
home. Mom and Dad will worry.”

Though I didn’t want it to end, I rose and
offered her my hand. We walked back to the motorcycle and I drove
us home.

Chapter 20

I had slept for almost an hour when the
sound of footsteps on the sidewalk in front of my house woke all my
senses at once. I slipped down the stairs and crouched by the
window in the front room that showed the street. I always kept the
window cracked for just this reason and the scent of Chet’s gang,
minus Chet, brought me to full alert before the first knock
sounded.

I listened at the door before opening
it.

“
How do we know we can
trust him?” a voice growled. I recognized the deep tone as Darryl.
I gritted my teeth, reminding myself that he was one of Charlie
Sathing’s boys and that I had promised to look out for
them.

“
Chet trusted him,” one of
the others I didn’t recognize replied. “That’s enough for
me.”

“
It would be,” Darryl
snapped.

“
Hey,” Max growled before a
fight could break out. “None of this is helping Chet.”

I opened the door. “Helping Chet how?” I
asked.

The eleven werewolves on the porch stared at
me; several dropped their eyes in submission. The rest bristled and
backed up as though afraid I would attack them. Given the last
couple of times we had met, I couldn’t blame them.

Max elbowed Darryl and his brother cleared
his throat. “We, um. . .” He glanced at the others, then quickly
said, “Chet’s gone to settle things with Mason.”

“
What?” I demanded, hoping
I hadn’t heard him right.

Max took over for his brother, staring at a
point several inches to the left of my head. “Chet told us what
Mason did, how he’s gaining control. He wouldn’t let us come with
him to stop Mason.”

I stared at them in disbelief. “You mean you
let him go alone?”

Several members of the pack shuffled their
feet and no one would meet my eyes. I growled in frustration.
“After he told you that Mason was responsible for the deaths of
your loved ones, your mothers and fathers, your siblings, you let
Chet go alone to face him?” I narrowed my gaze, my heart
thundering. “What kind of a pack are you?”

Max looked up. “He ordered us to stay!” he
said defensively.

I let out a breath of frustration. As an
Alpha, I never understood the follower mentality. Now I saw it as
the weakness it had been cultivated to be in the werewolf
lifestyle. “Individual wolves in a wild pack still have to think
for themselves,” I growled. “Survival of the fittest also means of
the smartest. You have to learn to think for yourselves in order to
save yourselves.” I leaned against the door as I sorted out my
options. The pack waited, all eyes now on me. I looked at Max. “Do
you know where he went?”

Max nodded and gestured to another member of
the pack, Shane, the one Meg had shot. His cast was gone but he
still favored his arm as though the silver pained him. I knew
exactly how he felt. The blond-haired boy with freckles across his
nose handed me a scrap of yellow paper. It had been carefully
shaded with pencil to bring out the outline of a message that had
been written on a paper on top of it. Max pointed at it with his
chin. “Chet wrote down the address and took it with him. It was
Shane's idea to use the impression from the page underneath.”

I glanced at the address. It wasn’t far.
“Let me get some things and we’ll go.”

“
All of us?” Darryl asked,
his voice guarded.

I nodded. “You owe it to your Alpha to save
him when he gets into sticky situations. He looks out for you, you
look out for him. That’s what a pack is for.” I turned away and
left them at the door.

It took one turn around the house for me to
realize that what I really needed was at the Valens. I walked past
the werewolves and crossed our lawn to go next door. Darryl and Max
hurried after me, the rest of the wolves trailing behind. “You’re
going to the Hunters for help?” Max asked with barely concealed
scorn.

I turned back to him and snapped, “They’ll
be more help than you were planning to be.”

He stopped and fell back a few steps, then
hurried to catch up to me. “It’s not like we haven’t done anything.
We came to you, didn’t we?”

I nodded. “Yes, you did. Now you need to
trust me and not second-guess every move I make.”

Max and Darryl both nodded and fell silent.
They waited with the rest of the pack at the end of the sidewalk
while I made my way up the steps to the Valen's porch.

Meg answered on my third knock. She looked
out past me and her eyes widened. “We knew there were werewolves
about, but we didn’t know they were with you.”

I quickly explained about Chet and she
backed up so I could talk to Roger. I noticed she left the door
open in case any of the pack wanted to come in, and was awed by her
complete change of attitude toward werewolves. I was glad, though,
that none of the pack tried to enter. It wouldn’t be the best time
to push things.

I heard footsteps in the hall as I explained
the situation to Roger. “You’ll probably want to hear this, too,
Nikki,” I said.

She stepped around the corner, her cheeks
red. Her mom gave a look of disapproval, but I filled her in on
what she missed. As soon as I finished, she grabbed her shoes from
the closet and sat down on a chair to pull them on.

“
What are you doing?” I
asked in alarm.

“
Coming with you, what do
you think?” she shot back. “You’re not tackling the biggest pack of
wolves in America by yourself.”

I caught her hand to keep her from tying the
laces. She tried to pull away, but I wouldn’t let go. “Nikki?” She
finally looked at me. “I can’t let you come with me,” I said
quietly. I glanced above her head and met Roger’s gaze. He nodded
in agreement.

Nikki tore her hand from my grasp and
continued tying the bow with quick, jerky movements. “You aren’t
going without me, Jaze Carso. I won’t have you killed if I can stop
them.”

I knelt down and grabbed both her hands in
my own. “Nikki, I need you to listen to me.”

When she finally met my gaze, her jaw was
clenched and tears brightened her eyes. I forced myself to
continue. “I can’t protect myself or Chet or any of the other
wolves if I’m worried about your safety.” I took a deep breath.
“You’re my world and I can’t lose you. I have a bigger risk of
being killed with you there because I’ll be worried about you
instead of what’s going on. I need to be focused in order to stop
Mason. I need you to stay here, for both our sakes.”

She bit her lip, her eyes searching mine as
though trying to find any hint that I was lying to her. But all she
saw was honesty and the pain that losing her would bring me. I
wouldn’t survive it if anything happened to her, not this close to
losing Dad and having my whole world crash down around me.

She finally let out a ragged breath. “Come
back to me,” she whispered. I nodded and she leaned down, kissed me
on the forehead, and left to her room. I listened for the door to
slam, but it closed softly behind her. The door creaked as she
leaned against it, and I heard her take a calming breath. I wanted
more than anything to follow her and give her the real kiss she
deserved, but knew it would be that much harder to leave her if I
did. I gritted my teeth and turned back to Roger.