Leader of the Pack (46 page)

Aislinn felt him coming. She knew he was close behind. She could feel the cat, but she couldn’t quite let it slip through. She didn’t understand what she was doing wrong.
If I didn’t want it to happen it would already have taken over by now,
she thought angrily.

Cullen could feel her frustration. If he could have smiled and laughed as a wolf, he would have. No wonder he was catching up so quickly.

Aislinn sent a mental growl at him for his amusement at her predicament.
It doesn’t matter,
she told him.
I can still out smart you.

Only if you can change your scent mo piseagan. Keep getting mouthy and I’ll come after you right now, and end the little fun I’m letting you have.

You are such a smug bastard. Just wait!
Aislinn ducked under some branches and looked around for something brilliant, but she wasn’t seeing anything. She knew that if she didn’t get her cat to help, then he was right. Even with her cat she didn’t know if she could win this. He had too many advantages, not that she didn’t want to get caught in the end. She just wanted to at least make him work for it.

Aislinn didn’t know where she was going, but Cullen did. He knew the territory too well. She was heading straight toward the stones. He wondered briefly if he should work his way around and herd her off in a different direction or not. Aislinn was so caught up in finding a way to outsmart him that she didn’t notice the stones until she had stumbled into the clearing outside the Circle. She didn’t think much about it other than the fact that it allowed her some bearings. She ran straight for the stones. As she stepped into the Circle, however, she felt like she was grabbed by the wind and wrestled to the ground.

Cullen sensed the fear the minute she was caught, and he charged headlong through the bushes toward the stones. She was confused and frightened. Then suddenly the emotion was muted. It was as if he was feeling her through a fog of some kind. That only drove him on harder. Cullen didn’t know what could possibly be attacking her, but there was no way he was going to let harm come to her again. When he barreled into the clearing she was gone. He could still feel her, barely. He knew that she had to be here somewhere. He followed her scent into the middle of the stones to the point where it stopped. Cullen whirled about trying to find whatever or whoever had taken her, but there was nothing. no scent, no footprints.

* * * *

Aislinn felt like she was in one of her visions. She was staring around at the stones, and there seemed to be a timeless sense about the place that wasn’t there before. It was as if everything had stopped. The trees were still, and there were no animal sounds as there had been before. She stood looking around and a terrible foreboding came to her. The bond she shared with Cullen felt weaker. She knew he was panicking, but there was something missing or blocking most of him from her. That terrified her.

Aislinn walked to the stone that had fallen over during the fight. Someone had stood it upright again. Suddenly there was a sound behind her. Aislinn turned hoping that it would be Cullen. When her eyes fell on her grandmother standing there and smiling gently, she burst into tears.

“What is this place,” she cried, almost hysterical. Her legs wouldn’t work. She just stared at Brinah’s ghostly figure in disbelief.

Brinah walked up to Aislinn slowly. It was obvious that she hadn’t been ready for this, but there wasn’t enough time to do it gently. “Calm down child. You’re perfectly sane. I’m here.”

“You’re dead,” Aislinn responded through the tears.

Brinah reached out to touch her and her hand passed through Aislinn’s cheek, leaving a cooling sensation, but no tangible touch. “You’re right,” she said softly. “However, the way I died bound me to this place. I didn’t know that it would happen, but here I am.”

“Grandma, I’m so sorry.” Aislinn couldn’t stop the pain. She felt as though her chest was going to explode. “I never should have involved you. I can’t believe you’re trapped here now.”

Brinah smiled at Aislinn. “You’ve a great deal to learn. That’s my fault. I never allowed you to be taught. How could I have known that the fates would draw you back into this life? Don’t cry for me child. I knew what I did each step that I took, and I would do it again to help you if need be. Besides, everyone who dies must go somewhere. The clearing is beautiful, and the ley lines allow me some small existence beyond death. That’s a great deal more than some.”

Aislinn shook her head. She didn’t know how to take all this. “Grandma--“

“Hush,” Brinah cut her off. “Your mate grows anxious and will tear about the clearing, if I don’t return you soon. I have some important things to tell you. First, when you need me you now know where to find me,” she smiled at Brinah. “I encourage you to take advantage of that in the near future. For now it will suffice that you know where to go. Second, the books that are missing hold dangerous information. You need to convince Cullen that something must be done about it. Jenna is bad enough. But, if they pass into the hands of the men Cullen has sent to deal with Jenna, that will be much worse. You need to find them and destroy them. The rest will fall into place as that goal is accomplished. I think our people were much smarter in ancient times. Never write down something you don’t want others to know.”

* * * *

Jenna stood over Jacob. He was doing a great deal of reading and rereading. She had provided him with all the books and notes that Rafe left behind and was insisting that he learn how Rafe was turning people into weres. When Jacob asked why, he was beaten. That was a quick lesson learned. Do as you’re told and ask no questions.

Then there was the fact that he was shown the other prisoners that Jenna had in the basement. She also spent some time telling him to work faster, or she’d harm them.

“As motivating as that is, Mistress,” Jacob said. “The man you’re asking me to emulate spent a lifetime learning these things. I cannot assimilate the information over night. I’m doing my best. Perhaps if I knew your goal, it would allow me to pick and choose the information that would be most helpful and gloss over the parts that I do not need. Especially if your goal is not to create a mixed were from a human base. That seems to be what all of this information pertains to.”

Jenna scowled at him. She was tempted to have him beaten again for being so insolent, except that she could see his point. “How long do you think it would take for you to be capable of doing what he did? Do you at least have an estimate on time? I can’t believe that following a recipe should be as difficult as making it.”

“Technically, I suppose you’re right there. But my predecessor,” Jacob didn’t even like thinking Rafe’s name, “didn’t trust anyone. He wrote a great deal of this in various languages, so as to confuse the reader. Gaelic I know, and English. There is also another here and I can’t quite catch what it is. I’ve been reading around those bits. I don’t know how dangerous that will end up being. I’ll need to spend some time translating it, after I figure out what language it is. Then there is the fact that these recipes are specifically for creating werecats of various types and one that appears to be elephant, boar, and bear. That one appears to have been abandoned in mid creation. The rest of these notes and information are ancient and contain the basic knowledge needed to create the recipes. The older notes will take me a great deal of time. The ancients wrote in riddles, so as to disguise their intent. I’m sorry. I don’t know how long it would take to decipher that.”

Jenna growled impatiently. “Fine, I will tell you my intent. I need you to create a formula that will allow me to mix this,” Jenna produced a large canine tooth from her pocket, “with existing lycan bloodlines.”

Jacob looked at the fossil she placed on the table in front of him. “I’m sorry. All of these notes involve blood. I don’t know what you expect me to do with a fossilized tooth. What is it?”

Jenna was getting angry. “I won’t accept excuses. I’m sure you can figure it out. That,” she said indicating the tooth, “is from canis dirus. My father has a small museum dedicated to the dire wolf. We consider the species to be an ancestor. A slightly larger, more powerful ancestor. Find a way to use it. I can get you more if need be.”

“I think you are going beyond me with this assignment, mistress,” Jacob said as he stared at the tooth, awe and concerned understanding in his voice. “You need DNA specialists or something. If you can find a way to make blood from fossilized bone, okay. Or you can find a druid with enough knowledge of ancient ritual to be capable of changing the formula provided here from blood to bone. How would you ingest bone? I suppose it could be ground down?” Jacob was torn between being frightened and refusing to help and being fascinated by the prospect and wanting to find the solution.

Jenna was a little pleased with the fact that she seemed to have caught Jacob’s attention. “I’ll see what I can do to bring you one or both of those options. For now, continue your studies,” she said. She left the tooth with him as she went to find Maon. She needed him to bring her some more people.

* * * *

Cullen was going mad. He could feel her utter despair. The fear was gone, and now something was hurting her terribly. He was pacing back and forth. It had to do with the muin stone circle. He was getting close to having the whole muin thing destroyed.

Suddenly Cullen heard howling and shortly thereafter three wolves appeared in the clearing. When Sarah, Drake, and Keith saw Cullen pacing, they knew that something was wrong. At first, they thought it was funny.

Sarah was the one to mistakenly speak first.
Did she get away from you, Cul?

Cullen growled angrily, and they all backed up.
Something here has her. She’s vanished!

No one knew what to make of that. They shifted into their human forms and walked toward the stones. Cullen was too worked up to be capable of shifting into human. They others looked around. Her trail ended at the stones. Cullen was right. She just vanished.

“Cul, there has to be some explanation. People don’t just disappear. She’s here. We’ll find her,” Keith said.

Others were starting to gather about. They were curious as to what was happening. With all the fuss Terrick had made, it was looking bad that Cullen would be so worked up that he couldn’t shift back into his human form. All they saw was Cullen pacing about the stones, ready to kill. When it hit everyone that she was gone again, there were some annoyed comments about what Cullen might do this time.

* * * *

“As much as I don’t want to send you back, you need to go now,” Brinah said softly. She kissed Aislinn’s cheek.

Aislinn could feel that cool sensation on her face as Brinah pulled away from her. “How do I go back?”

“Leave the Circle,” Brinah said.

“Will this happen every time I come here,” Aislinn asked.

“Only when you need it to.”

Aislinn could feel Cullen’s need to have her with him. She knew that he was near hurting someone. She walked through the stones and watched as her grandmother’s ghostly figure vanished from sight. Suddenly the clearing blinked into normal time again. All around her people seemed to appear out of nowhere.

When Cullen felt the fog lift from his mind it was like being slammed with a sledge hammer of hurt and despair all of a sudden. Then Aislinn walked into the Circle, as if she had never left.

Before Aislinn could get her wits about her, she felt a large furry beast barrel into her and knock her to the ground. She was just cognizant enough to know that it was Cullen, and that he was trying to see if she was alright. A cold wet nose was examining her closely, nuzzling into her neck and along her shoulders and back. Aislinn let him do as he liked. She was still trying to understand what happened.

Everyone else stood around watching. Aislinn was obviously out of it. She looked drunk or drugged or something. Her face was more pale than usual, and there were tears streaming down her cheeks. Everyone watching could almost feel the hurt radiating from her and mates drew closer together as they watched Cullen examine her to try and figure out what had happened.

As Aislinn realized where she was, she reached out and wrapped her arms around the large black wolf that was fussing about her. He let her grab onto him and sat down as she rubbed her face into his fur and started crying again. He could smell Brinah all over her.

Sarah, Keith, am I losing my mind or does she smell like Brinah,
Cullen projected ,not caring who overheard the conversation. His friends moved in and didn’t even have to get close to catch the scent. They all looked at each other in confusion.

Sarah sat down next to them and stroked Aislinn’s hair gently. “What happened?”

Aislinn took a deep breath and got a hold of herself. When she finally let Cullen go, he managed to take his human form again. Everyone in the clearing was moving in closer to try and hear what was going on. “I saw my grandmother,” she said. Cullen could feel the pain surge through her again. “She’s dead,” Aislinn said, answering the confusion on their faces before anyone could say it. “I know. Her spirit is here.”

They all looked around as if Brinah was going to magically appear out of nowhere. “Okay,” Sarah said. “What did she want?”

“To tell me that Jenna has the books Rafe stole and is doing something dangerous with them.”

Cullen growled, “We kind of already know that.”