Werewolf Moon (The Pack Trilogy Book 1) (7 page)

Two carriages pulled up in front of the farm house. The horses were blowing hard: they must have been pressed to move fast all the way from Paris, Raya thought as four men wearing white uniforms descended from each carriage, each man carrying a gas lantern against the oncoming darkness and something long in their other hands.

They looked around, then rapidly disappeared inside the farmhouse. Raya eyed the rope, which stopped fizzling within seconds. Instantly he began to count, his eyes roaming over the front windows where figures moved back and forth.

Then he heard a small noise, an inconsequential noise, but one that drove a sudden fear deep into his heart.

It was the sound of a child singing an old French country song, and then the slight crack of the carriage door opening.

No! God no, Raya yelled silently. Go back, kid. There are monsters in there.

But it wasn’t a kid, and it couldn’t hear him.

It was a very small wolf that leaped down the carriage steps to Raya’s utter horror. This couldn’t be happening, it couldn’t be.

But the wolf ran to the front door, opened it with his nose, and trotted inside.

Raya belatedly realized he’d forgotten to count, and then it was too late. One massive explosion blew the door straight out into the yard, followed by a second and then the final explosions almost simultaneously. Fire poured out of the door and blew out most of the windows, burning a bright orange.

Even with his advanced hearing, Raya heard no other sounds from the farmhouse. Nothing. To make sure, he waited ten minutes and then tried to enter but a wall of flame pushed him back.

Desolate and sick to his stomach, Raya turned and walked down the road to meet the rest of his pack and, of course, Itchiko.

Chapter Four

My Life for Yours

The dilapidated old ship was tied up right where he’d left it, Raya saw. He stepped off the road and walked through the bushes to the river’s edge, where the old ship gently rocked back and forth.

One small leap and he was on the deck. Odd, but there were no voices talking. No laughter. The boat was completely silent, Raya realized. And that couldn’t be a good thing.

He headed down the ladder to the dining room/galley combination and there they all were, his mate and the other two pack bitches, and ... yes. Itchiko’s wife and Itchiko himself, back rigid in a chair, staring fixedly at a photograph.

Raya didn’t have to see it to realize who was in the picture. He also was suddenly aware that Itchiko knew his son was gone.

Despair washed over the Alpha, and he did a thing he’d never done nor imagined himself doing. He shifted on the spot, ripping apart his clothing but paying no attention to anything but Itchiko’s ravaged face.

Raya dropped onto his belly, let his head sink between his forelegs, and began to crawl slowly forward. Finally his nose touched Itchiko’s rigid leg, and for a moment Raya just froze, incapable of thought or action.

Then he heard a discreet small cough: Petra, God bless her. The noise freed him and he shifted back to human where he remained on his knees at Itchiko’s side.

He looked up and into the other man’s eyes before he spoke. “My life for yours.”

There were small gasps from all around the table, but neither man paid any attention to anything but each other.

“You don’t have to do this,” Itchiko said quietly, dark eyes steady on those of Raya.

“My life for yours,” Raya repeated clearly, his gaze never wavering.

Itchiko sucked in a short breath. “My heart for yours,” he said before taking a sharp knife off the galley table and making a small gash in one arm. He offered the knife by the handle to Raya, who opened a wound in his own arm.

“Thee are bound by the blood of Pack Lupeinescu and the Trans Alpha, now and until the end of time,” Petra’s voice came from behind Raya. She bound the two bleeding arms together with a large white dinner napkin which immediately stained a deep red.

“And so it is done,” both men chorused together. “Brother of my heart.”

Raya slowly stood, embraced the thin Japanese who hung on to him with desperation for several moments.

“They’ll pay,” Raya assured his new brother.

Itchiko nodded, still unable to speak, still with his arms wrapped tightly around his Alpha.

Raya gently unwrapped his arms and sat him down at the table once more, then sat right next to him. “Itchiko. Who are those bastards and why the white outfits?”

“Worst of the worst,” the Japanese said slowly. “They have broken every Were law in existence and several which aren’t. They hire out as thieves, mercenaries, assassins. Whoever has the money to pay gets their services, no matter who the client is. They don’t exactly discriminate.”

“Why- why take your son?” Raya asked in a near whisper.

“A baby to raise as their own, obedient to their every wish,” Itchiko responded, voice drenched in agony. “I have to say this but then I wish to never speak of it again. What happened tonight was a right thing, a good thing. My son would never have wanted—” he was unable to finish and dropped his black head into his hands.

“Of course he’d not have wanted anything like that!” Petra exclaimed. “He was just a pup, simple and pure.”

“And now he’ll never grow into his heritage as a full-grown wolf,” Chizuko added. She was unable to stop her tears and was making no effort to do so. Petra stood and fetched one of her own old shirts.

“Here, blow.”

Chizuko obeyed blindly and Petra sat back down next to her, then took the woman into her arms and rocked her back and forth as the anguished screams began.

Chapter Five

Who Are They?

After most of the pack was asleep, Raya eased out of bed and away from Petra, who had one leg tossed over his as always. He’d had to slide out from under her like a damn thief, he thought with a brief grin.

As he hit the deck he shifted, and with one massive leap was on shore flying toward town. No more than five minutes into the trip he noticed pounding steps behind his, mirroring his. For an instant he paused and almost lost his rhythm, but then a soothing touch ran across his mind like a gentle hand.

Itchiko.

Raya picked up speed until he hit his rhythm once more, but his mind was elsewhere. He’d intended on doing a bit of serious snooping in Paris, but those plans must change now. He had a brother who needed him, who needed him badly.

It was a brand-new sensation for Raya, who’d been an only child all those years. To have a real brother now was a pleasure beyond compare. With that pleasure came a duty. But what could he possibly do to—

And then he knew. What else did werewolves live for? The answer was quite simple, really, Raya thought as he skidded to a near halt and executed a perfect u turn, heading back the way they’d come at full speed.

Itchiko asked nothing, content just to be in Raya’s company and follow along.

No, that wasn’t right. This was a night of firsts, Raya thought as for once he deliberately slowed his pace so that Itchiko could catch up, could run next to him, shoulder to shoulder.

As if they’d somehow infused each other with energy, both wolves accelerated until they were almost at a dead run: neither was even breathing hard as the miles flew by under pounding paws.

Finally lights appeared in the distance as the wolves approached the massive Chateau de Versailles. But it wasn’t the castle that interested Raya, oh no. He had something far more interesting planned for his brother, something guaranteed to wipe his mind clean of any distress whatsoever for a few precious hours.

That what he had in mind was against the law and would put both wolves in danger didn’t slow Raya down for a second. On the contrary, it was the exact spice needed for a perfect night out with the Weres.

The two wolves, moving as one, shot past the brightly-lit castle and turned beyond it into the famous gardens which stretched for 800 hectares (3.08 square miles.) About a mile in, both wolves began sniffing madly. Oh the scents that wafted toward them on warm evening breezes!

Raya picked up several lions, he was sure. But there was something else, something absolutely foreign. How intriguing! But he had to force himself to remember that this wasn’t his treat, this outing. This was for his brother, in honor of the fact that he now was his brother.

Sporting a silly wolfen grin, Raya slowed his pace until Itchiko ever so slightly took lead. Content, Raya merely paced the jet black wolf as he raised his long snout into the air, sniffed time after time and then turned decisively north. What had Itchiko scented, Raya wondered?

He didn’t have long to think about it, as he found himself pounding up a partially paved road slightly behind Itchiko. The road wound through elaborately-shaped hedges and gardens bursting with all manner of exotic fruit, but then it ended in front of a tall iron gate. Beyond the gate, a path stretched into the distance, flanked on both sides by enclosures which sheltered the most exotic of creatures.

Jackpot! Raya was exultant. No wolf on earth could resist scents as foreign and therefore alluring as these.

In fact, Raya rather looked forward to a completely-illegal hunt in which both wolves could well be shot for their temerity. First, though, the animals had to be chosen and then, hardest yet, let run free into all that inviting open space that awaited.

What would Itchiko choose for their first official “chasse du frère” (Brother Hunt)? Raya fervently hoped that whatever it was, it wouldn’t be easily brought down.

Itchiko obviously had the same concerns as the creature he finally selected after racing back and forth between enclosures was something Raya had never seen, much less hunted. It looked somewhat like a cross between a giant bird and a llama, as absurd as that may sound. Once the two wolves had bypassed the gate into the menagerie itself, this creature was in the third enclosure on the left.

When Raya finally was close enough to really look at the thing, he discovered it was, in fact, a large bird. An “emu” according to the plaque in front of the enclosure. Whatever it was, it had one of the most inviting scents he’d ever come into contact with. Evidently it had the same effect on Itchiko, who currently was sitting on his haunches, staring and drooling. If Raya could have burst out laughing in his wolf form, he would have.

But he had work to do. Had to figure out how to get that gigantic furry bird out of its enclosure, all the way to the end of the menagerie and out into the open gardens where it could run, fly, do whatever it could to avoid being dinner for two hungry and very curious wolves.

Raya might have been laughing before, but it was Itchiko’s turn when Raya kept exiting that enclosure as rapidly as possible but not fast enough to avoid multiple bites from that sharp beak—multiple bleeding bites, thank you very much. The last time, Raya had barely escaped with his nuts intact and had landed outside the enclosure just in time to see Itchiko literally fall onto his side and lay there, chest heaving as he fought for breath through gales of howls, wolfen laughter. The bastard, Raya thought with a grin whilst trying to press on one injured nut with a paw to stop the bleeding. He must have looked yet more absurd as Itchiko had to turn his back and look away.

Finally Raya did the only thing he could: leaped into the cage, grabbed the nasty creature by its long, tough throat and hauled it back over the wall, down the road, and over that gate. The upshot was one extremely pissed off emu, until the creature figured out it was free. It then promptly took off at a speed Raya would not have believed possible had he not seen it.

And then another thing Raya could never have foreseen happened, and it happened so fast he couldn’t even yelp a warning.

As fast as that emu was, it couldn’t hope to equal the speed of a Were. Itchiko took three bounding leaps, and with the fourth the game was over as he jumped up under that hairy chin and ripped that long throat out. The creature was dead before it hit the ground, as were Raya’s plans for a long, satisfying hunt.

He promptly shifted, looked at Itchiko and drew in a deep breath to give the Were a cursing he’d never forget. But then the absurdity of the situation hit him, and he simply doubled over in howls of laughter. Itchiko shifted and stood staring down at the Alpha, covered with blood and already-healing bites, rolling on the ground in convulsive laughter.

“A fine Trans Alpha you are, right this second,” Itchiko said in his dry tone. “Oh, if I only had one of those new camera things.”

Mid roars of laughter, Raya looked up. “And you did so much better, brother? You just took down a bird using the same technique for a lion!” And off he went in gales of laughter, but this time he wasn’t alone.

The straight-laced Itchiko who rarely cracked a grin was doubled over next to him, tears of hilarity pouring down his cheeks.

For Raya, the outing had turned out to be a complete success.

The next morning, the pack held an official meeting to discuss their immediate future.

“Itchiko. This other pack, how many do they number?” Raya wondered.

“It varies. Somewhere between twenty and thirty on any given day.”