BirthMark (13 page)

Tyrone returned with two beers and a bottle of water. Silas looked at the frosty bottles of beer and changed his mind. Standing abruptly, he walked to the fridge and grabbed a brown bottle, twisted the cap and took a long pull. It felt damn good going down. When he finished, the bottle was empty and he threw it in the trash. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and re-took his seat.

Tyrese and Tyrone stared wide-eyed at him.

“What?” he asked before biting into his last sandwich.

“Nothing.” Tyrone then took his beer and upturned it. Silas watched with a grin as the young pup choked and beer dribbled down his chin and neck. When he finished, the bottle was empty and the fool was grinning like a loon.

“Your turn, “Tyrone said, pushing Tyrese on the shoulder.

Tyrese shrugged and upturned his bottle, swallowing constantly. In a few moments he was done. “Ahhh,” he said, licking his lips as he chucked the bottle in the trash can.

Silas didn’t like that Tyrese finished his bottle almost as quickly as he’d finished his. “Get three more bottles,” he said while fishing in his desk for his stop watch.

Tyrone placed the ice-cold bottles on the desk and pulled off the caps. Silas brandished his stop watch. “Let’s do it again. Best time wins.”

Tyrone groaned.

Tyrese grinned and Silas picked up his bottle. “You first, Rese.”

Tyrese nodded and upturned his bottle. When he was done, he slammed the bottle on the desk. “Ta da!”

“Not bad,” Silas said, writing down the time on the pad so they could all see it. “Rone, you’re up.”

Tyrone upturned his bottle and chugged. He did better this time but lacked Tyrese’s finesse. He put the bottle on the desk, coughing. “I know I beat your time,” he said, looking at Tyrese.

Silas’ brow rose at the ridiculous comment as he wrote down Tyrone’s time and passed Tyrese the stop watch.

“Awww, that can’t be right, I drank faster the second time,” Tyrone complained.

“Which goes to show how slow you were on your first attempt,” Tyrese said smugly. “Whenever you’re ready, Sir.”

Silas nodded and upturned his bottle, and within seconds it was drained. He placed the bottle on the desk and gazed at the astonished expressions on the twins' faces. “It’s a full-blood thing, you wouldn’t understand,” he mocked as they closed their mouths.

“Again,” Tyrese said. “Let’s do it one more time.” Tyrone returned to the refrigerator to get three bottles.

Silas knew his body would treat the beer like water. It would have little to no effect on him. But the human side of the twins would definitely feel the high levels of alcohol in the locally-made beer.

He looked at the files on his monitor and thought of the strategies they needed to implement. And then he looked at the two men in front of him laughing and making off-colored jokes while holding their bottles. Tyrese had been weighed down with the guilt over Boggs, even though his clarity of thought saved many lives today. Tyrone struggled with the guilt of Thorne and the possible leaks of critical intel, and still chose to serve as the West Virginia Alpha if Silas decreed it.

These two men were his sons in all but blood; they served him with unswerving loyalty. That had been clear on Tyrese’s face when the rebels had talked about Silas and Tyrone and his young brothers and sisters. It was a good thing few knew of Jasmine, he doubted anyone would have left that meeting alive had she been threatened.

Putting business aside for a while, Silas picked up his bottle. “Okay, who’s first?”

Chapter 8

The dark brown wolf crept beneath the low rocks and tread slowly down into the ravine's dry bed. Stopping, it turned and scented the air. Certain nothing was amiss; it trotted a few feet to the low-hanging bushy limbs of the two trees that covered the mouth of the cave. The paws of the medium-sized animal pat the leaf-covered earth a few times as it inspected the opening to insure it hadn’t been tampered with or discovered. Finally the wolf ran past the entry into the forest, stopping at one of the larger trees.

Lilly Garcia searched the forest once again, and sensing no danger, she shifted. Quickly, she stuffed her long legs into the jeans and pulled on the tee shirt she had left in the plastic bag beneath the roots of the tree. Shaking her sneakers from the bag, she inspected the insides for bugs or worse, scorpions, before slipping them on and pushing the bag into her pant pocket. She took a moment to push her hair beneath the dark cap, and pulled it down over her ears. Dressed, she returned to the entrance of the cave stopping shy of the long branches and crouched to get a better view. She remained still for several minutes before inching the branch outward. The process was excruciatingly slow in case someone watched from a distance, they wouldn’t detect any movement. Once the opening was wide enough for her to slip through, she duck-walked inside and began the slow process of replacing the limbs in position.

Satisfied she had done all she could to conceal her whereabouts; she turned and took off at a run until she reached a fork and turned sharply to the left. Inhaling, she looked down, saw no movement and sent up a prayer of thanksgiving. Slowly, she climbed down to the floor of the cave and jumped the last few feet. It was cooler and darker down here. Bending forward, she felt along the wall until she was stopped by a solid boulder. Slipping sideways, she squeezed through a small space and entered a much larger cavern. She looked toward the far wall near the warm spring, and saw him.

He lay unmoving on the blankets. Inexplicably she felt relief and that pissed her off. The whole thing with wanting to leave and not being able to without mind-numbing pain made her blood boil. She ran her fingers through her hair, removing the cap as she strode toward him.

Squatting she touched his forehead. It wasn’t as warm as it had been last night. Standing, she stretched and then checked their meager supplies. The food her brother had given her was long gone except for the last bag of beef jerky. Their food supply consisted of a bag of jerky, a couple of granola bars and an apple on its way to decay. She grabbed one of two large metal cups, went to the hot springs and filled it with water. There was a small fissure in the rocks that released a constant stream of steam. Lilly placed the cup on top of the steam and added a piece of the jerky into the water. In a few minutes, she’d try and feed him some broth, although what he really needed was solid food to regain his strength. Frustrated with the situation she ran her hand through her hair, going over possible options in her mind. Nothing worked with him unable to walk on his own. Wanting to scream at the unfairness of being mated to a cripple, she directed her energies to feeding them both.

While the jerky boiled, she pulled out her knife, cut the apple in small pieces and sat beside him. “Hey.” She pushed his shoulder. His eyes opened slowly and blinked a couple of times. She wondered if he ever really saw her, so much of what he had said before was gibberish.

“I’m back. I have some broth cooking, it should be ready in a few. Try and eat some of this.” She placed a small bit of the soft apple to his lips. He licked it and then sucked the small piece in. Pleased, she fed him piece after piece until he wouldn’t open his mouth.

“Okay.” She cut off the rotten part and then ate a large piece. Standing, she moved to the steaming cup and dropped in the last bits of apple to give the broth some flavor. After wrapping her hand in her shirt, she moved the hot cup to the side and blew on it. She glanced over her shoulder, pleased he had been able to keep the apple down and had high hopes that he might be able to eat some of the softened meat.

He coughed. She picked up the other cup that she kept near a smaller rock outcropping and placed it beneath the cool trickling water. Once the cup was half full, she sipped a bit to cool her throat and walked toward him.

Holding his head up slightly, she placed the cup to his lips and tipped it up. Some of the water ran down his face, but that was okay because he was actually drinking. Her heart knocked against her chest as she removed the cup away, happy with his groan of protest.

She fed him a little more and a little more until the cup was empty. She wiped away the water from the outside of his mouth with her thumbs. “More?”

“No,” he said on a whisper.

Her breath hitched. This was the first time since she’d dragged him from the collapsed cave that he’d spoken to her. “I am going to get the broth so you can eat, and get stronger, then you can leave. I can leave.” She released an aggravated breath. “We can both leave this place.”

“Okay,” he said on the barest whisper. Still it was more than she’d gotten before. She touched the cup, realized it was cool enough for her to pick up and carried it to where he lay prostrate, one leg in a crudely made splint consisting of a small branch tied to his leg. She glanced at his leg and hoped he’d be strong enough to shift long enough for it to heal.

Biting her lip, she gazed at his blistered lips, discolored cheeks and weakened frame, and wondered for the hundredth time who was he? And more importantly why had the fates mated her with such a frail creature. She had tried to leave him numerous times, only to discover she could not. For the time being they were irrevocably bound and that angered her more than she could say.

She placed her hand beneath his head. Dark brown eyes, filled with pain and something she hadn’t seen before, determination, gazed up at her. Lilly placed the warm cup to his lips. “Drink this slowly and then I’ll give you some of the meat.”

Although he didn’t speak, she sensed his agreement. The process was slow. But if he could shift and heal, they could leave this hole. For that outcome, she’d be willing to take all day to get some food in him. He chewed the meat, rested, and then finished it. She laid him back on the blanket and watched him for a few minutes. Pulling out a piece of jerky she had stashed in her pocket, she bit off a piece and asked him a question.

“What’s your name?” She had asked him this question dozens of times, and he had never answered, maybe this time he would.

His eyes fluttered and opened. “Cameron.”

Pleased he'd responded, she rolled the name over in her mind. It had a nice old world feel to it. “You have a Patron tattoo on your shoulder, you an Alpha?” She waited, hoping against hope he wasn’t that close to the Patron. According to her brother, Lilly’s twin was mated to one of the Patron’s high ranking security people who would be the next Alpha of West Virginia. She had to smile at that. Rose mated to an Alpha. Based on what they had been told, the tattoo on Cameron’s shoulder meant he was an Alpha or close to the Patron.

“No. No Alpha.”

She released a stream of air, glad she didn’t have to deal with that. Now she felt like a fool because she had sent Thorne to find out if the breeders still planned to kill the Patron. If they were, she needed to move far away in case her mate died and drug her to an early grave with him. She looked at him again and breathed freely. Tonight was the first night since she'd rescued him that she was not afraid he would die before the sun rose. Her body slumped in relief.

“Ummm,” he grunted as his face morphed into a mask of pain. She reached out and touched him, pleasantly surprised that he was warm. Warmer than he had been for days.

“You will not die,” she murmured, willing him to live so she could survive. “You will get better and shift so you can heal.” She closed her eyes and repeated the words over and over until she felt fur beneath her hands and heard the snapping of the splint she had placed on his right leg. She jerked back once her mind caught up with her eyes and ears. “Oh my God…” she cried as he stood gingerly and hopped a bit favoring his right leg. Every once in a while, he’d attempt to walk on it and then lift again as he hobbled around the cave.

She covered her mouth at the sight of the huge beautiful black wolf with two white stockings on his front legs. Even thin, he was…gorgeous, in wolf form, she qualified. He swung his head and looked at her. They locked eyes for a moment before he walked slowly toward her. He inhaled and then sat carefully, still favoring his right leg. He placed his head in her lap and made some purring sounds. She rubbed him beneath the ear and patted him gently. Within moments he was asleep. She expected him to shift again, but he remained wolf. Instead of pushing him away, she stroked his coat and wondered what happened next. When he shifted they could leave, or they could leave with him in his present form. She missed her sister and brother, perhaps they could seek them out before leaving the area.