Second Nature (68 page)

The entries stopped there, long before they reached the book's last page.
Looks like his dreams came true. The hunter became the hunted in the end.

The more Griffin read, the less she understood. She flipped open the very first page. Crooked letters formed a name: Thomas McCree.

The diary must be older than I thought.
The entries weren't dated, but she knew the name of every maharsi of her grandfather's generation, but this name was foreign to her. A lot of Puwar had adopted Scottish or Irish last names many centuries ago because it provided a ready explanation for their reddish hair.

No time for solving this mystery now. She got up and looked around the room once more. Except for the diary, there was nothing else of interest. Clutching the little book, she turned and headed for the door.

CHAPTER 28

"
T
HIS ISN'T RIGHT," Leonidas growled under his breath. "Whisking us away at the spur of the moment to hold the sleme, forcing us to burn Cedric without giving us the chance to pick a few of his cherished belongings to burn along with him... It's an affront to every Syak!"

"Are you criticizing my decision to go with them?" Paul snapped. As the new, not yet fully established alpha, he couldn't afford to let Leonidas continue his constant complaining.

Leonidas squared his shoulders. "I'm just wondering why you're so afraid of a few Kasari. We could have handled them."

"Yes, but then what?" Paul asked, staring him down. "Jeff Madsen told me he'd have our pelts if we move even one paw without his express permission. A good leader doesn't only need the courage to attack. He also needs the brains to know when it's better to wait. Cedric didn't. He acted rashly, without the council's permission, and that's why he's dead now."

Anger smoldered in Leonidas's eyes. "Cedric was a better leader than —"

"Leonidas, hush," Kelsey whispered and nudged him with an elbow as she saw the two Kasari who walked at the head of the group turn and look at them. "This discussion is getting us nowhere, and at times like this, the pack should stick together, not be at each other's throat. Maybe for now it's best to do what the Kasari want." They were in the Kasari's territory, had entered it without an invitation, and as it turned out, they hadn't even acted on council orders. Cedric had lied to them, and he'd paid the price.

The pack members morosely trotted through the forest, following the Kasari to their sleme site.

Cinnamon-colored fur brushed against Kelsey's arm, and she looked down.

Wesley.

The barely grown pup had changed into his wolf form. Not that Kelsey could blame him. Part of her longed to shift and get rid of the tumult of feelings that tumbled through her. She could live with the grief and the guilt over having rushed after the rest of the pack to hunt the human, as Jennings had ordered, instead of helping her alpha against the giant cat. The relief was the hardest to take. As long as first Cyrus, then his brother Cedric had ruled the pack, Kelsey had lived under constant pressure. The expectations of her fellow pack members about how she was supposed to act, whom she was supposed to like weighed heavily on her shoulders.

Now that Paul, a man who already had a mate, had taken over as the pack's alpha, that weight was suddenly gone.

"We should have at least brought Cedric's little book with us," Leonidas continued to complain. "It meant a lot to him, and he was always careful about not letting anyone read it, so it should be burned with him. You should send someone back for the book."

"The Kasari won't allow that. We already waited longer than allowed for the sleme," Kelsey said. She was used to being the diplomat of the pack, forever mediating and settling quarrels between the more aggressive pack members.

Leonidas turned midstep. His gaze drilled into her. "Then maybe you should go. You're so good at getting away."

The fine hairs on Kelsey's neck lifted at the blatant allusion to her continued disregard for Cedric's interest in her. Both Jennings brothers had wanted her as a mate, but Kelsey hadn't been interested in either of them.

"He's right," Paul said, surprising Kelsey. "If anyone has a chance of slipping away without the cats noticing immediately, it's you. Just make sure that you get the book before they follow you and drag you back."

Kelsey opened her mouth to protest, then closed it again. Paul's eyes were hard and unyielding. He was still establishing his rule over the pack, so he couldn't afford to let her question his authority. Discussions would be useless.

She dropped her gaze. "All right." With one glance at the two Kasari, making sure they were busy keeping an eye on the pack mates who were carrying Cedric's body, Kelsey slipped away and quickly disappeared into the forest.

The soft sound of Wesley's paws padding over leaves followed her.

*  *  *

Griffin pulled the cabin's front door shut behind her. She blinked in the grayish light of dawn and breathed in deeply, trying to get rid of the foul odor of rotting flesh. She'd stop at Nella's cabin and get her to spray an extra big dose of lavender. When she turned around, she came face-to-face with a Syak who had just stepped out of the forest.

Both of them froze.

Adrenaline rushed through Griffin's blood. Her gaze flew left and right, trying to find out whether other pack members had returned too.

The forest lay in silence. The owls had stopped hooting as if they were aware of the two predators.

Mmm. Look at that. A lone wolf.
She sucked in the air, but the stench of dead wolf still clung to her clothes, making it hard to detect if there were other Syak around.
Did she get away without the dads noticing, or does she belong to another pack?
Griffin studied the sandy-brown hair, mixed with strands of a darker, sepia color. She knew the woman. Right before she had retreated to have her wounds treated, she had studied each and every one of the Syak who had attacked Jorie in the forest. Their images were burned into her brain. This woman was one of them.

Heat shot through Griffin as her body reacted to that realization. Rage rattled at the bars of her self-control. Part of her wanted to attack and show the Syak the consequences of hurting Jorie. Only years of training kept her from shifting on the spot.

The Syak's wiry body tensed. Anger flickered in the orange-brown eyes.

Oh, yeah.
Griffin's blood sang, anticipating a fight.
Come on. Attack me. Give me a reason.

But the woman didn't attack. She took a few settling breaths, and when she looked at Griffin again, her gaze was firm, but calm.

A saru,
Griffin realized. No other Wrasa her age had that kind of self-control. She was probably one of the newer members of Jennings's unit. He had always tried to get as many of his pack members into Saru positions as possible. Since Griffin worked alone for the most part, she rarely met her colleagues.

"That book." the Syak woman pointed at the diary in Griffin's hand. "It belonged to my alpha. Hand it over."

Griffin tightened her grip on the diary and flashed a feral grin. Everything in Osgrove belonged to her fathers — and to her if she was strong and clever enough to take and defend it. A single Syak wouldn't stop her from taking the diary. "You're in no position to make demands. You're an unwelcome guest in my fathers' territory, so if you don't want to join your alpha in the sacred hunting grounds, you better get out of my way."

The Syak didn't back down. "Give me the book," she said again. Her voice trembled, but she held Griffin's gaze.

Hmm, that little wolf has a lot of guts.
She was no match for Griffin, and they both knew it.

While Griffin had made the pack members her enemies by killing their alpha, she didn't hate the Syak. She wasn't in the mood for killing more of them. "Step back," she said. "I don't want to hurt you, but I will if you try to stop me."

Again, the Syak didn't move. Her gaze flickered toward something to Griffin's left.

Griffin's instincts screamed a silent warning.

Her nostrils flared, taking in the scent of the air around her.

Another Syak!

Griffin whirled around.

A blur of reddish-brown fur hurled itself at her.

Sharp fangs gleamed only inches away from her throat.

No!

Griffin threw up her arm, even knowing it was too late.

The body of the attacking wolf hit her.

Her ribs groaned, and she stumbled back, expecting the strong canines to clamp around her throat.

The pain never came.

The wolf's body dropped to the ground in front of her.

Heaving and trembling with the effort it took not to shift, Griffin stared down at him. The first rays of the rising sun reflected off the blood that spread along the wolf's shoulder and turned his reddish-brown fur into a darker russet color.

A second body collided with Griffin's. Arms clamped around her body in a stranglehold.

Surprise shackled her limbs for a second; then anger exploded. With a roar, Griffin clenched her fist, ready to unleash the power of her muscles on the attacker.

Something made her pause in midstrike — maybe an instinct, maybe a familiar scent trailing on the breeze. She glanced down at the body that was wrapped around hers.

"Jorie?" Bewildered, she stared at the trembling woman. She turned them around so that her bigger body was between Jorie and the second Syak. Over Jorie's head, she searched for the woman.

Instead of attacking, the female Syak was bent over her fallen comrade, and Griffin allowed herself to relax and enjoy the warm embrace for a second while she kept an eye on the Syak.

Wild, damp eyes lifted to meet hers. "You died," Jorie whispered.

"No, I'm fine. Not a scratch on me, see?" Griffin tried to move back and present her unharmed body to Jorie, but the slender arms wrapped even more tightly around her and wouldn't let go.

"He killed you," Jorie whispered. Her hot breath trailed over the skin of Griffin's neck as Griffin bent down to rub her hands soothingly along Jorie's back. "I wanted to stay up and wait for you, but I was exhausted. When I sat down, I must have dozed off for a moment, and that's when I saw it... saw you being killed. You didn't see the wolf until it was too late. He crushed your windpipe." Jorie's hands fluttered up and touched Griffin's neck. "You were wheezing. It was horrible. Your lips... your skin turned blue, then gray. There was so much blood."

Jorie's body trembled against hers. A teardrop splashed onto Griffin's skin.

Shivers raced through Griffin. Had it been a vision? Had Jorie really seen her death and acted just in time to prevent it?

The female Syak got up from her crouched position.

Jorie let go of Griffin. Her hand jerked up, aiming a gun at the woman.

Jennings's gun,
Griffin realized.
She shot the wolf with Jennings's gun.

An aggressive growl came from the second cabin. Nella was striding toward them, and even Max was sticking his head out of the main cabin. The sound of the gun going off, this time without the silencer, had alerted them.

The Syak lifted her hands in a placating gesture. "Stop! I'm not going to attack. I want our alpha's book back, yes, but I won't kill or be killed for it. What Wesley did was stupid. He's just a young pup without much self-control."

The gun in Jorie's hand trembled. "Is he... dead? Did I kill him?" Shock and guilt leaked from her every pore.

Griffin crouched and slid her hands along the wolf's flanks.

He growled and whimpered, trying to twist back and bite her, but then fell back weakly.

"Looks like the bullet shattered his shoulder, and he's losing a lot of blood, but if we get him medical help fast, he should be fine," Griffin said. She fixed her gaze on the female Syak. "Go and get my fathers. They're doctors and can help him shift."

The woman hesitated. Her gaze darted back and forth between Griffin and the injured wolf.

"I'm not going to kill him." Griffin snarled at her. "Go!"

"I'll go with her and make sure she doesn't get 'lost' in the forest," Nella saod.

With one last glance back, the Syak turned and disappeared into the forest, with Nella following closely behind.

Half a dozen cars screeched to a halt behind the car Jorie had driven. Some very upset Kasari bounded over to them.

Griffin rolled her eyes.
Great bodyguards!
Somehow, Jorie had made it past the guards, and in her panic to save Griffin's life, she had reached Osgrove long before they did. She'd have a heart-to-heart with them later.

She slipped out of her sweatshirt, leaving her in a sweat-dampened tank top, and pressed the shirt against the wolf's shoulder. His heartbeat raced under her hands, but he lay quietly. He had passed out from the blood loss. Griffin looked back over her shoulder at Jorie, who stood staring and trembling, the gun still clutched in her hand. "Are you okay?" Griffin asked.

It took a moment for the dark eyes to focus on her. "Yeah. I'm fine." The tremor in Jorie's voice said otherwise.

"I told you to stay at Rhonda's," Griffin said sharper than she had wanted. The thought of Jorie putting herself in danger made her tremble inside.

"Stay at Rhonda's when I knew you were going to get killed?" A shiver shook Jorie's body, and she fell to her knees next to Griffin. "No. I couldn't do that. This dream seeing is going to take some getting used to, but I'll use it if it helps us to stay alive."

Griffin lifted one of her hands away from the wolf's shoulder and covered Jorie's hand with hers. "Thank you for saving my life," she said quietly.

Dark eyes looked at her. Griffin felt it like a touch. "You're welcome." A hint of color returned to Jorie's cheeks. Her gaze slid down to the diary that Griffin had lost during the attack. The wind played with the pages, and the dawning sunlight danced over the faded handwriting. "What's this? Did it belong to Jennings?"