Healer's Choice (29 page)

A glance at Aryck and a flutter went through Rebekka’s chest. Or was she only looking for a reason to give in to the feelings she’d experienced since the first time she truly saw him as a man?

He turned his head then, meeting her eyes. Heat came. Instantly. Flushing through her with memories of waking beneath him, of the promise in his eyes when he’d pinned her against the tree.

She dropped her gaze. His hand stroked down the length of her spine in a silent message.
Later.

Prints in the mud around a spring indicated the herd had been there. No one drank.

They kept going, coming to what was little more than a watering hole. There were additional tracks, including those made by a heavy vehicle.

Aryck knelt down to study a partial human shoeprint at the edge of the water, glanced up to the spot where dirt and crushed scrub told a tale of vehicles stopping and turning around. “The humans from the encampment were here.”

“Several times,” Jael said. “They’ve explored other areas as well. This is the deepest they’ve come into our lands.”

Aryck considered his father’s suspicions when it came to the Wolves and the human interlopers. There had long been distrust between the various predatory groups. Some of it was rooted in history, and in the case of the Lions and Hyenas, by genetics, but much of the pressure came from territorial disputes.

Pure animals were held in check naturally. Their numbers rose and fell according to what the land could sustain.

They starved when there was not enough food. Females didn’t go into heat, or the offspring they gave birth to were so weak they didn’t survive into adulthood.

It was not the same for Weres, especially those belonging to the dominant groups. Having the ability to reason put them at an advantage. Being able to shift form gave them an edge. It also meant their numbers could increase radically, and often did when females got pregnant while in their animal forms.

Wolves could give birth to upward of fourteen pups. It was perhaps one reason werewolves had starred in so many human stories well before the supernaturals made their presence known.

The predatory Weres controlled the size of their packs by splitting and taking over new territory, driving away those in possession of the land they wanted or—if necessary—fighting, reducing their numbers in the way humans had always done, through warfare.

For the same reasons predatory Weres did not associate with those who became prey in their animal forms, they did not intermingle much with other predators. Doing so increased the risk of interbreeding and, with it, of family alliances being formed that would lead to divisiveness in the pack should the two groups go to war. It was easier to kill a stranger than someone you’d shared food with or seen with their children and mate. And with prey, better not to realize after the fact that you’d eaten a friend.

Aryck glanced at Rebekka. He could still feel the imprint of her body against his, could still taste the kiss they’d shared. It took only the thought of her to make his cock start to harden.

Days ago he would not have believed such a thing was possible. Days ago he’d recoiled when the Jaguar called her mate.

A question slid into his consciousness, similar to the one that had risen as he ran to intercept the trespassing Wolves. Had the ancestors revealed Rebekka’s existence and sent him to her for a greater reason than just the healing of the cubs?

The Wolves had let her pass through their lands. Such a thing would only happen if the alpha allowed it.

Their alpha might have given permission on the off chance there were old weapons on Wolf land. But considering it now, Aryck realized it was far more likely the alpha had allowed them to cross because the shaman advised it.

Without Rebekka’s presence the Wolf pack would have been eradicated. And because of her, he was here, among them, sharing a hunt with their enforcer and contemplating alliance.

Not just alliance, Aryck admitted to himself, but claiming Rebekka as his mate. He was rapidly coming to believe the ancestors favored it. Or maybe the fear of being made outcast stood no chance against his desire to couple with her.

He rose from where he was crouched at the edge of the waterhole. Coming on the heels of what had happened to the Jaguar cubs, and the way the virus acted, striking all the members of Gaetan’s family without regard to age or body mass, it was hard not to be suspicious of the humans in the encampment, who’d suddenly gone quiet after making their presence known by filling the night with the sound of gunfire.

“So far the only sick or dead have been Wolves and elk,” Aryck said. “I would have expected to find deer carcasses as well, possibly coyote and fox.”

Jael caressed the knife hilt against his thigh. “I’ve been thinking the same.”

With a minute wave of his hand, Aryck indicated the footprint at the edge of the water. “There’s no proof the humans in the encampment are behind this but it seems foolish to ignore the possibility. This incursion into Were lands might just be the beginning of their plans for our territory.

“Without knowing who is behind the foray and what kind of power they wield in the human world, all of us are at a disadvantage. Not sharing what we learn or uniting against the threat adds to our disadvantage. What we do, or don’t do, will ultimately affect all of us. One group of us attacking might well be answered by declaring open season on all of us. Yet if the humans are somehow behind this virus . . .”

“Your analysis is a good one.” Jael glanced at Rebekka. “The healer could be sent to Coyote lands. She could visit with the humans and gather information. They’d allow her into the encampment.”

Aryck bared his teeth. “No.”

Jael’s lips quirked up in a small smile but then he stilled, eyes growing distant for an instant before saying, “My brother has found a dead Wolf.”

The mental communication confirmed Aryck’s suspicions about Jael. Like him, the Wolf was an enforcer of the alpha’s line.

“A pack member?” Rebekka asked.

“Once,” Jael said, his voice not inviting further questioning, though it was unneeded between Wolf and Jaguar.

Jael pulled one of the knives from its sheath and leaned over, using the blade to sever a thin manzanita branch. He stripped it and carved something on it in several places before stepping closer to Aryck and allowing him to see the symbols. “These warn against drinking the water here.”

The gesture spoke louder than words. Rarely did different groups share what counted as their written language.

Jael tossed the marker to one of the other Wolves. “Make several more and place them around the watering hole, then catch up to us.” To Aryck he said, “Let’s continue on. After the elk herd is located and dealt with I will speak to the alpha about the possibility of a formal alliance. In the past I wouldn’t have considered approaching him with such a suggestion, but I think perhaps he will be more receptive now, especially given he has let both a human and a Jaguar come among us.”

Miles later they found the remains of two Elk. Aryck’s hand curled around Rebekka’s arm at the sight of them.

The bodies were fresh. Their tracks and faces pointed in the direction of the Wolf village, as if they were retracing their earlier route. There was no obvious cause of death, but the urine-soaked ground and scattered feces hinted at convulsions.

He’d known from the outset they were tracking a mixed herd, a small family of Were traveling with pure animals for added safety. He hadn’t wanted to upset Rebekka by talking about it, not when there was every possibility the Wolves would be forced to kill all those in the herd rather than let any of them escape to spread the virus. He’d hoped they carried the virus without being affected by it in the same way as the Wolves. The dead in front of him said otherwise.

Jael left men to burn the bodies. And though no one spoke openly about them being Were, the Wolves bristled with emotion. Fear and rage and worry.

Aryck allowed another mile of steep climb to pass before he left Rebekka’s side and moved alongside Jael’s. Keeping his voice low, he asked, “How far until we reach the Elk village?”

“Close, I think”—there was a brief hesitation—“given the smell.”

Aryck nodded. The breeze carried the scent of death.

They approached a place where the trail forked. Left went toward Bear territory. Right toward Jaguar, passing through Coyote lands to get there.

Protectiveness rose in Aryck, the desire to shield Rebekka from what most likely lay ahead of them, not just the dead but the disposal of them. The Wolves would have to burn the bodies of entire families, including children, some of them in human form, all of them infected when those traveling with the herd of animals returned home.

Steps away from the branching trail, Aryck said, “Rebekka and I will wait here.”

“I’ll send someone to tell you what we find.”

Aryck stopped as the Wolves continued on. He took Rebekka’s wrist as she reached him, forcing her to a halt. “Jael will let us know if you’re needed. We’ll wait here.”

“No,” she said, fighting his grip. Jerking and pulling. Finally trying to peel his fingers away.

He countered by wrapping his arms around her and holding her tightly against him. She stiffened, resisting still. Her heart thundering, pounding like fists against his chest.

“Let me go. Please. It could be too late by the time someone comes back to get me.”

Aryck gave her the truth with lips touched to her forehead. “It’s already too late.”

Her hands maneuvered between them, pushing against his chest in a continued effort to escape. “You don’t know that.”

He rubbed his cheek against hers. “Think how quickly the virus affected the Wolves. They succumbed at almost the same time and were all near death. If not for the shaman’s drum holding them to the living world, they would probably have crossed to the shadowlands before we got there.”

She stilled with understanding, making the very connection he’d meant to spare her from. “The last two dead Elk were Were.”

“Yes.”

A tremor went through her, a soul-deep shudder. Her hands slid down and around his waist, arms hugging him, drawing comfort as she softened against him.

Mine
, he thought, accepting it fully, completely. Determining to act on it as soon as they were back on Jaguar lands.

It didn’t take long for the smell of smoke and burning flesh to reach him. He set Rebekka away from him just before a Wolf arrived, one whose scent was close enough to Jael and his brother’s to mark him as a sibling or cousin.

“There is no need for a healer,” the Wolf said. “Fire will bring Bears, if they’re not already watching. Jael said to tell you he believes the Bear enforcer will also see the wisdom of approaching his alpha about forming an alliance.”

It’s a first step
, Aryck thought. He couldn’t ask for more or even guarantee his father would support the idea. “I’ll speak to the alpha when I return to camp.”

The Wolf focused on Rebekka. “The pack owes you a great debt. We will not forget it.”

DUTY and desire warred inside Aryck as soon as he stepped foot on Jaguar lands. He should go directly to camp to discuss the possibility of alliance with his father. Even now he should be reaching out mentally to the alpha and sharing all that had happened since going to the Wolves’ village. But rather than doing either, he detoured, taking a path leading to a dried-up spring.

Anticipation grew with each step, desire rebuilding. His heart beat fast and hard in his chest, like drums around the fire, building to a crescendo. Beside him Rebekka was quiet, somber, lost in thoughts he could easily guess at. But for the Were, life went on. There was little use in grieving over the Elk.

She’d saved seven Wolves from death. That was all time allowed.

He led her to a place where sandstone had eroded to become a soft bed, then halted, drawing her into his arms. She trembled but didn’t resist him, didn’t turn her face away when he slowly lowered his.

Brushing his mouth against hers, he said, “If not for you, the entire pack would have died.”

His words had the opposite effect of what he’d intended. She withdrew emotionally, stiffening in his arms and looking away.

Tenderness filled him. He understood. She was a healer and a human, far removed from the harsh truth of survival among pure Weres.

She couldn’t know that if other groups had learned of sickness spreading through the Wolf pack, they would have acted, slaughtering the Wolves either to stop the spread of disease or to gain control of the territory. He didn’t doubt she’d witnessed terrible things in the brothel, but nothing as horrible as genocide and war.

He pressed kisses to Rebekka’s neck, pausing to suck, to take the tender skin between his teeth. The desire to mark her strengthened as his cock hardened.