Wolf Lover: Konochur (New Scotia Pack Book 2) (5 page)

“Yes. Thank you, Conn.”

“Ye’re an excellent cook, Lessie. I could eat yer stew every day.” And he hoped the time would come that he could prove that declaration to be true.

“Nice of you to say.”

“Speakin’ of food. How are yer stores?”

“Well, we have a small root cellar. The chickens are producing enough eggs for every family in our co-op to have two or three a day. We have meat packed in salt in the little building out back. Jimmy was a hunter, you know. So meat was never a problem.”

“And ‘twill ne’er be a problem for ye. With yer permission I’ll check on that before I go.” She nodded. “About the dragons, please stay close to shelter, where ye could duck in if they came. Whate’er ye do, do no’ go out in the open areas. No’ until the problem is resolved. And keep the wee one with ye always.”

Lessie understood the deadly seriousness of the warning. “I understand.” She looked at Lily. “I hope it isn’t this way forever. Children should be able to play.”

“Aye. They should. And they will. Just give us a little time.”

CHAPTER 5

Days turned into weeks as Stalkson Grey patiently waited for someone from Black Swan to show up, either for a visit or just to check in and see how they were. On Deliverance’s last visit, he’d been told that his son and the remains of the original Elk Mountain Tribe were close to being ready to join them. Grey had asked Deliverance to take a message to Windwalker saying that they would be ready to reunite the tribe and welcome them at any time. And that he missed seeing his grandchildren.

When Deliverance dropped by to deliver the news that Win was ready to immigrate with the Elk Mountain werewolves, the last thing he expected was to have Grey say that the wolves of unarmed Lunark Dimension, needed weapons. Heavy duty, high tech weapons and lots of them.

“Tell Win that, if they want to wait until this problem is behind us, we’ll understand. On the other hand, if they decide to come notwithstanding the dangers, we could get every one of them to carry something that could be used to obliterate that scar the dragons built on the mountaintop. We could shoot the devils from the sky and, well, that would be good.”

“No love lost with the dragons then.”

“
The fuckers are nothing but cold-blooded thugs with big wings.”

Deliverance nodded. “That’s pretty much what every culture that’s come in contact with them has to say. So you want me to go to Black Swan and beg for human weapons.”

Stalkson Grey nodded. “If you have to.”

“You know this friendship thing isn’t as easy as it sounds.”

“I’d do it for you.”

“You would?”

“Hell yeah.”

Deliverance said goodbye, but before he left he decided to pay the dragon shifters his own kind of visit. The partially finished fortress was a great room, big enough for a dragon to accidentally shift indoors without bending his wings. It had a soaring ceiling. The place looked like the aftermath of a biker party with bodies passed out wherever they fell from the party they’d had the night before. Giant tankards had rolled to a stop on the stone floor or tipped over on makeshift tables. There were females as well in various states of undress.

Deliverance climbed on top of the longest table and gave a shrill whistle. Some of the inhabitants roused to a semi-animated state. Some simply slept through. Those that were half-awake tried to pull themselves into a threatening posture.

Deliverance wasn’t impressed. While he loved real dragons, he ranked dragon shifters at the bottom of the list of creatures deserving regard.

“Here’s your warning, miscreants. Get yourselves sober and leave this dimension now, while you can. If you do, you’ll live to trash another world. If you don’t, you’re going to find that you’re responsible for destroying the very thing that attracted you to this world. Your choice. And let me make it easy because you don’t seem that bright. Leave and live. Or stay and die.”

Just as the strongest of the dragons was beginning to pull himself up, Deliverance vanished. He didn’t think his speech would have any effect on the future course of the dragons, but he could feel good about trying.

Within minutes the demon was in Loti Dimension standing at the foot of a bed where Stalkson Grey’s son, Windwalker, and his mate, Cloud, were making love. When he cleared his throat, Cloud shrieked, jerking the sheet up to cover herself while Win took Deliverance to the floor with a roar and a mid-air tackle. There was no macho satisfaction in it because the demon seemed to enjoy it. Win could tell by the laughing.

“For all that’s holy, Deliverance, don’t you have any understanding of propriety?” Win said as he shoved his legs into his jeans.

Deliverance shrugged, and ran his eyes over Cloud, who was scowling and grasping the covers under her chin. “Not really. I have news though. You want it or not?”

Win simply made a motion toward the door while he continued to scowl.

The demon followed Windwalker into the living room and watched the werewolf pour himself a drink. Begrudgingly, he offered the bottle to Deliverance. “It may be months before my dick unshrivels. And longer than that before Cloud feels like fucking again,” he said miserably.

“Well, maybe you shouldn’t be so shy.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re infuriating?”

Deliverance grinned. “Frequently. I can think of worse things.”

“Like what?”

“Like not being noticed.”

Windwalker sat on a leather ottoman by the hearth and stoked the embers into flame. “Okay. I’m awake now with blue balls. What’s the news?”

“Your pop’s got a dragon problem.” Win made a circular motion with his hand to indicate that he wanted to hear more and to cut out the dramatic pauses. “You know they have a no-tech, no-gunpowder policy on Lunark. Well the dragon shifters moved in, without permission, took up residence in the mountains and proceeded to terrorize the place.

“They’ve left your dad and his bros no choice but to revise policy.” Deliverance sat and leaned closer. “The Council sent a delegation to invite the dragons to a meet. They called werewolves food.” Windwalker recoiled at that just as the members of the delegation had. “The next day the dragons killed three hunters for no reason. Just to make a show of power. Or maybe for fun. I don’t know.

“Anyway, he asked me to tell you that, with the dragon thing going on, he’ll understand if you want to postpone plans to join them.”

Win sat in silence for a few minutes. He took a drink of Scotch and stared at the fire. “I think that, when this contingent of Elk Mountain hears that the others are in trouble, they’ll want to go sooner.”

Deliverance smiled. “Your dad said, just in case you leaned that way, to tell you to have every single person carry something that can be used to blast the fuckers out of the sky. Or something like that.”

“I’m not following.”

“He wants us to ask Black Swan for arms.”

“Like what? Heat-seeking missiles.”

“Well, sort of. I think heat-seeking missiles would work if you were trying to kill the dragons in human form, but if you were doing that you could just snap their necks with your jaws. If you want to kill dragons, heat-seeking won’t work. They’re cold blooded. Reptiles. You know?”

Win nodded. “I’m not stupid.”

“I didn’t say you were.”

“Anybody could have made that mistake.”

“Sure. None of us are arms experts.”

“Right. Who is?”

“Storm.”

“I know him. He came here once.”

“Yeah, I know him, too. He’s my son-in-law.”

“No shit? Well, call him up. Let’s get this show on the road.”

Deliverance was a little surprised by Win’s enthusiasm. “You sure you understand what I’m saying here? There’s going to be ugliness. Three werewolves have already died.”

“I get it, demon. Let’s be quick before more are added to that number.”

“Well, seems like your dick has unshriveled.”

“Funny. You gonna call Storm or do you want me to?”

“Let’s just go pay a visit. You want a shirt and footwear. Personally I’m not much of a fan, but I don’t get cold as easily as humans.”

“I’m not human.”

“No offense. You know what I meant.”

“No. I do not know what you meant.”

“Do. You. Want. To. Go. Visit. My. Daughter’s. Home. Like. That?”

Win glared at Deliverance for a few seconds, stomped toward the bedroom, and reemerged a couple of minutes later in a flannel lined denim shirt with boots on his feet.

Storm and Litha had moved back into the vineyard and were enjoying a quiet Bailey’s by the fire when they heard a commotion in the kitchen.

Storm rolled his eyes.

Litha took a sip of Bailey’s, then said, “It could be a burglar.”

“Helloooooo,” Deliverance called.

Litha looked at Storm. “Well, at least he’s become semi-housebroken.” She aimed her voice toward the kitchen. “IN HERE!!”

“You mean because he lands in the kitchen?” Storm snorted. “That’s a far cry from even
semi
-housebroken.”

It took less than ten minutes for Storm to explain that he was a
small
weapons expert and that the sort of firepower the residents of Lunark Dimension needed was a completely different proposition. He suggested that Windwalker appeal to the Jefferson Unit Director of Research and Development, Thelonius M. Monq, and said he would call ahead, even though it would be just after midnight in New Jersey where Dr. Monq was permanently assigned.

Monq took the call from Storm, then shuffled into his office to meet with Windwalker.

He hadn’t combed his hair, which made him look even more eccentric than usual. Yawning, he said, “If you’d care for coffee, I’ll get one of the aides up and have him fetch.”

“No, please don’t,” said Win. “This won’t take long.”

For the second time in a night, Windwalker Grey and the demon, Deliverance, explained what had happened on Lunark and why their appeal for large weapons was urgent.

“If I’m understanding the situation correctly,” Win glanced at Deliverance, “people can’t step farther than a few feet away from shelter during the daytime. Children can’t play. Herdsmen can’t properly care for their stock. No one can hunt or travel except at night.” Win shuffled a little, huffed out a sigh, and said. “Cowering behind closed doors is not a natural state for werewolves. It doesn’t sit right.”

“No. I don’t suppose it would. You’re used to being at the top of the food chain. That aside, assuming that The Order agrees to supply your requisition, which mind you will be extremely expensive, I can make a list that should suit your needs.” Monq directed his attention to the demon. “Would you be able to transport a few experts to conduct training? And bring them back, of course?”

Deliverance looked put out and flapped his hands to demonstrate that point, but agreed.

Monq looked at his watch. “In another hour, I can have a chat with headquarters in Edinburgh. Come back in, oh, say, five hours and I’ll have some answers for you.”

While Simon Tvelgar, Director of Black Swan Headquarters in Edinburgh, was personally sympathetic with the werewolves, he didn’t think he could make a decision to exterminate a nest of dragon shifters on his sole authority.

“Are these the last of the dragons?”

“I didn’t ask,” replied Monq.

“Well, no matter how abominable their behavior or abhorrent they are as a species, we can’t really be responsible for causing their total extinction. We would have to find a way to contain them. Perhaps lock them into a dimension from which they couldn’t pass.”

“Is that possible?”

“Frankly, I’m not sure. It was just a thought. Brainstorming, you know.”

“So what do you intend to do?”

“Contact the Council for an up or down vote. Then we’ll have to abide by whatever that is.”

“Risky. The vote could be no.”

There was a pause while Simon considered that. “If it is, then we’ll have to relocate the werewolves to another world suitable for their needs.”

“Hmmm.”

“Something else you wanted to say?”

“I’ve been told that the werewolves have put a lot of time and energy into colonizing Lunark. They like it there and it’s
their
home. Just on principle, it doesn’t seem right that they should be the ones to have to move. That’s the first consideration. The second is that, I’m not sure running from one world to another is any sort of solution. We could be right back here six months from now.”

“I’ll make a point of introducing your arguments to the discussion.”