Nightshade (13 page)

He stared at me, face blank. “What’s a Keeper?”

I groaned, realizing just how dangerous this conversation could be. It was much too easy to be comfortable around Shay. I was giving things away without intending to.

He leaned forward. “What’s wrong? Are some questions still off-limits?”

“I’m not sure.” I liked it when he was closer to me. I could smell the excitement jumping from his skin, a wild scent of approaching storm clouds.

Delicious warmth swirled in my body. I dug my nails into my jeans.
It’s the coffee. It’s just the coffee.
My body curled in on itself.

He watched my taut limbs retreat from him. “Take your time. I want you to trust me.”

I didn’t want to leave, but I was starting to feel afraid. Maybe if I could control the conversation, I could keep us both safe. “For now let’s just say the Keepers are who I have to answer to. Now can I ask you questions?”

“Of course.” He looked delighted that I’d want to know anything about him.

I laughed. “Can I have some more coffee first? We’ve already finished this off.”

“Sure.” He refilled the cup I extended toward him.

“Where are you from?” I started with what I thought was an easy question.

“Everywhere,” he grumbled.

“Everywhere?” I stared into the blackness of the espresso. “I don’t think I’ve been there.”

“Sorry. I was born in Ireland. Some tiny island off the west coast.” His voice softened. “My parents died when I was an infant and Bosque took me as his own.”

“And he’s your uncle?” I watched him carefully.

Shay nodded. “My mother’s brother.”

That’s a lie, but I wonder if he knows it.
I just smiled, gesturing for him to continue.

“Bosque has some investment job. Government consulting, I don’t know exactly what. He has lots of money but has to travel all the time. I haven’t been at the same school for more than two years my entire life. We’ve lived in Europe, Asia, Mexico, and several cities in the U.S. I was in Portland for the last two years and then Bosque brought me to Colorado.”

“That sounds very lonely.”

He shrugged. “I’ve never really made friends, at least not close ones. I think that’s why I read so much. Books have been my real companions.”

He shifted onto his side, stretching out along the ground. “It’s also why I backpack so much. I prefer isolation to crowds. The wilderness appeals to me.”

Then he shuddered. “Except when I encounter a grizzly where there aren’t supposed to be any.” His eyes fell on me, sharp and interested. “Can I ask a question now? A different one?”

I took a large, final swallow of espresso. “Sure. But I still have more.”

“That’s fine. There’s just something I really want to know.” He rolled onto the balls of his feet and straightened. The sudden movement startled me. I jumped up, dropping the cup.

I stepped back when Shay shrugged off his North Face jacket and pulled his shirt over his head.

“Look.” He swept a hand along his chest.

“Yes, very nice. You must work out,” I murmured. The warm flow of blood in my veins suddenly burned.

His teeth clenched. “Come on. You know what I mean. No scars. Not here, not on my leg. That bear tore into me. Where are the scars?”

I returned his steady gaze. “Put your clothes back on. It’s too cold for sunbathing.”

I’d always thought my body was my greatest weapon, strong and unyielding as iron. Now my limbs were melting. I couldn’t look away from the curve of his shoulders, the way his hips sharply cut into a V where his jeans rested precariously across them, and the maze of lines that carved muscles from his sternum to his abdomen.

“Are you going to answer my question?” Goose bumps popped up on his arms, but he remained stone still.

I wanted to step forward and put my hands on his skin, to feel if his pulse was rising like mine, to experience the intoxicating rush of heat his closeness provoked.

“Yes.” I pointed at his discarded jacket, too afraid to move toward him. “Please get dressed.”

“Start talking.” He turned away from me, threading his arms back through his T-shirt sleeves. When he lifted his arms to pull the shirt back over his head, my eyes fixed on the dark pattern on the back of his neck. I hadn’t thought of the tattoo since the day I’d saved Shay’s life. But there it was, sharply etched in the shape of a cross.

I frowned.
We can’t be sure without getting a look at his neck.

“I’m waiting.” He picked up his jacket and slipped it back on. His words pulled my thoughts back to the present moment.

“I healed you.” I laced my fingers, hoping it would quash my desire to touch him.

“I know.”

He took a step toward me. “I could feel it happening when I—” He broke off, his wonder-filled gaze moving slowly over my face. “I drank your blood.”

My heart picked up speed and I nodded. He reached out and took my arm. My skin prickled as he pushed back the sleeve of my jacket and my sweater. His fingers ran lightly over my forearm, sending warm threads spiraling through my body.

The sensation was familiar and strange at the same time. I felt a thrill as if I were beginning a hunt. With Ren my desire came suddenly, like anger or a challenge. Shay evoked the slow burn of passion, an insistent, lingering white heat. Here there was no pack, no master or mistress. Just me and this boy, whose touch made me ache in places promised to someone else.

“Here,” he murmured as his hand traced over the spot where I’d bitten myself. “You don’t have scars either.”

He raised his eyes to mine, his fingers traveling gently over my skin. I returned his gaze for a moment, then pulled my arm away, shoving the sleeve of my sweater back down over my still-tingling skin.

You can’t do this, Calla.
I dug into the dirt with my toe.
You know you can’t. No matter what you feel up here, you are not free.

“I heal very quickly,” I murmured. “My blood has exceptional healing properties. All Guardian blood does.”

“It didn’t taste like blood.” His tongue moved over his lips as if he could still taste me.

I wrapped my arms around my waist. I wanted him to taste me again, but not my blood.

“No, because our blood is different. It’s one of our greatest assets. Guardians can instantly mend each other on the field of battle. It makes us close to unstoppable.”

“I believe that.”

“That’s its purpose, but as you’ve seen, we can heal anyone.” My toe found a stone and I kicked it across the clearing. “We’re just not supposed to.”

He watched the stone bounce along the ground. “Then why—”

“Shay, please listen to me.” My words spilled out, cutting him off. “Guardian healing is sacred to us. We are only meant to heal each other. What I did . . . when I saved your life, it was a violation of our laws. One that would make my life forfeit if any others in my world were to learn about it. Do you understand?”

“You risked
your
life to save mine?” He took a step toward me. I watched him move closer, blood roaring in my ears.

When his hands cupped my face, closing in so his lips almost touched mine, I shivered. Looking into his eyes, feeling the warmth of his breath on my skin, I knew I’d do it again, no matter the price.

“I would never want to put you in danger, Calla. Never.” He breathed the words. My hands came up to cover his.

His fingers grasped mine. “But the other wolf? Bryn. She was here. She knows.”

“She is my packmate, my second,” I said. “Her loyalty is absolute. Bryn would never betray me; she would lay down her own life first.”

“I won’t betray you either.” He smiled weakly, still shaken.

“You can’t tell anyone. Please.” I fought to keep my voice steady. “It would cost me everything.”

“I understand,” he said.

We both fell quiet. The silence of the meadow amplified our stillness. I wanted him to kiss me—wished he could smell the desire that I knew was pouring off me the way I was inhaling the heady scent of his own passion.
You can’t, Calla. This boy isn’t the one for you.
I closed my eyes, which made it a little easier to pull away from him.

“So since I drank your blood . . . am I going to turn into a were—, uh, Guardian?” he asked in a hesitant tone. “Is that why it was a violation of your laws?”

I shook my head. Was that a flash of disappointment in his eyes? “You’ve been reading too many comics, Shay.”

His lips cut into a thin smile. “So then tell me what makes a Guardian. I mean besides your origin story.”

“Well, we can be made the usual way. I have parents and a younger brother.” He looked surprised and I laughed. “But our families function differently. There isn’t a fall in love, get married, have children formula. New Guardian packs are planned well in advance. But if there is a sudden call for Guardians, they can be made. Alphas can turn humans.”

“An alpha?” He wandered back over to his pack, searching through it until he pulled out a granola bar.

“Pack leader.” I stood still, watching him.

“Are you an alpha? You act like you’re in charge. And you referred to Bryn as your ‘second.’”

“I am.” His careful observations pleased me.

“How do you turn a human?” He beckoned to me again, patting the earth next to him.

“A bite and an incantation.” I walked slowly toward Shay.

He glanced up at me, his eyes filled with a mixture of fear and interest.

“Don’t get any ideas. I only bite to kill.” I shook my head, smiling when he recoiled. “Turning a human only happens if there is a dire need for Guardians and there isn’t time to wait for a pack to raise their young. Guardians who are made, not born, don’t have innate comfort in both their forms. It takes a while for them to make the adjustment. But if they’re needed, they’re needed.”

“What do you mean ‘if they’re needed’?”

I settled on the ground near him. “We’re warriors. Wars make casualties. But there hasn’t been that desperate a situation for several centuries.”

“Who can order you to make new Guardians?” he asked.

I bit my lip. “My mistress.”

“Your mistress?” He stopped unwrapping the bar.

“Lumine Nightshade. You know her. She was with Efron on Friday night, in the office.”

Shay nodded, but his eyes were troubled.

“She has authority over my pack,” I continued. “The Nightshades.”

“Your pack?” he murmured. “Is there more than one?”

“There are two,” I said. “The other is Efron’s pack. The Banes.”

“How many Guardians are there?” he asked.

“Fifty wolves in each pack, more or less,” I replied, and he whistled, leaning back on his elbows. “The packs always start small and are allowed to grow over time if the alphas prove capable warriors and leaders.”

“Do I know any of them?” He gave up on the idea of a snack, shoving his granola bar back into his bag.

“You’ve probably seen some of the adults around, but you wouldn’t be able to recognize them unless they shifted in front of you, and that isn’t allowed,” I said. “The younger wolves all go to our school. The Nightshades are my friends, and lately we’ve been hanging out with the younger Banes.”

Pieces of knowledge locked together, transforming his expression. “Ren Laroche and his gang.”

“Gang?” I tore a fistful of grass from the earth and showered Shay in dirt and decaying greens.

“Well, you guys all kind of act like it.” He brushed debris from his sweater, shook soil from his hair.

“We’re wolves, not a gang,” I said. “Besides, Ren’s friends and mine—the Nightshades—we’re just the kids. Our parents and the other mature wolves are the true packs. They run all the weekday and night patrols of the mountain. We just take over day shifts on the weekends.”

He paled. “So that’s why if I’d been up here any other day of the week . . .”

“You’d be dead,” I finished.

“Right.” He leaned back, watching clouds move above us. “So why two packs?”

“The Banes patrol the western face and we patrol the east,” I said. “But the patterns will change soon.”

“Why is that?” He didn’t look at me.

“The Keepers are sending a third pack into the mix.”

Shay sat up. “A third pack? Where are they coming from?”

I looked away, suddenly self-conscious. “Not from anywhere else. It’s going to be a union of the young wolves from the two packs that already exist. The next generation of Banes and Nightshades. We’re the new pack. Right now it’s just the ten of us. Like I said, the packs always start out small; we’ll have to prove ourselves before new wolves are added to our ranks.”

“Calla.” The ferocity in his tone drew my gaze back to him. He’d pressed his fingers into the earth, whitening his knuckles. “Why do you keep saying ‘we’?”

“Ren and I are the alphas of our generation. We’ll lead the new pack.”

His brow furrowed. “I don’t understand.”

My cheeks grew hot. I reached for my braid, twisting it in my hand. “What do you know about wolves?”

“Bigger, stronger dogs?” He blanched at my baleful stare. “Sorry. I know nothing.”

“Okay,” I said, fumbling for the simplest explanation. “So, our social bonds are incredibly strong and revolve around loyalty to the pack alphas. Two alphas mate and rule over their pack. Each alpha has a beta, which is like our second in command. Bryn is mine. Dax is Ren’s. The rest of the pack falls in line accordingly and follows our orders. The bonds of affection within the pack make us fierce, the warriors we need to be. That’s how we move through the world and how we fulfill our duties to the Keepers.” I smiled wryly. “And probably why you think we act like a gang.”

Shay didn’t laugh. “So how did you decide to make this new pack?”

“I didn’t. The Keepers are the only ones who can order the formation of a new pack.”