The Midwife's Moon (16 page)

“You will do so quietly, or the pain you feel now will be as a pleasant memory. Do I have your attention?”

Whimpers of pain left the wolf, and it inched forward. Interestingly, it appeared to Roxy as if the she-wolf still fought to disobey. With some disgust, she looked at Joseph and the others, like Jason. None of them had the strength of will of this
aswan.
She wanted to kick something, anything. Justin had the strength of will. Again, she pondered having him as a permanent mate instead of killing him when his usefulness ended. A howl interrupted her thoughts.

The werewolf howled again, its cry lonely and sad. Answering cries echoed back in the hills. Many more than Roxy had expected. How many were weres, and how many were wild? And Boris? Where was he? She’d be at a major tactical disadvantage without him, and she might lose some of the subservience he’d recently instilled in Heather. But maybe not, she corrected herself as she caught a look of adoration cross Heather’s face when the ex-healer gazed upon Justin.

Oh, this was rich. Heather had feelings for one of her captors. Roxy nearly laughed aloud. Life had just become a lot easier for her. Heather would work harder than ever before to do as asked. Nothing pushed a woman as hard to do her best than love—unless it was vengeance for a love scorned. Now the grin did pass over her face. Nothing could stop her now.

She’d have her serums, control all of the weres everywhere, and soon control the Western World. The day weres lived openly, enslaving humans, couldn’t come soon enough for Roxy. And with her ruling them? It promised to be a good year for her.

Chapter Fourteen

Lance heard the howl not far from him and knew it was Lisa—in pain and scared. He howled back, breaking into a run as he did so. From the sound, she had to be close. His wolf’s instincts were screaming at him.
Mate is in trouble.
And growls emanated from his throat as he ran.

He let out a quick howl for help, and found many howls responded to him. It humbled him and increased his determination. As if he needed it. Nothing would stop him from protecting his mate.

The area was one he knew well, and it only confirmed his suspicions that Roxy was involved. It was the clearing where she held the public fights for her amusement, and where she executed and ate her mate. Fury rode him as hard as a jockey would a horse at the Kentucky Derby.

He burst into the clearing and without missing a step, quickly assessed the situation. Blood—he could smell blood. Then he saw Lisa lying in abeyance before the group that circled them which sent waves of energy and pulsating—what? Something new ran through his veins that he couldn’t identify. Leaving the identification to later, he ran full out and attacked Ryan. The guns were the biggest threat.

Ryan only had time for a quick cry before Lance had his right arm clamped in his jaw. When he heard the satisfying crunch of bones breaking, he went for the neck. Ryan clawed at him with his human hand, yanking and pulling on Lance’s fur, but Lance had fury and something deeper on his side. It reminded him of the pull of the ancestors his father told him about.

Others began screaming. Moriah struggled, got free of her captor, and changed to wolf. For a moment, he swore he recognized Roxy’s voice yelling, “Don’t let them escape! There’s a bigger trap.” This had distracted him, and he turned his attention back to Ryan.

In the moonlight something glittered—a knife. Ryan had managed to pull out a knife with his uninjured arm. Lance jerked to the side, but not before the knife cut him down his right side. A loud howl followed his yelp of pain. He leapt and grabbed hold of Ryan’s neck. With a single-minded purpose, he snapped, and growled, and shook Ryan. Survival and his mate were his only concerns. This man would not be allowed to live.

In his mind, he could hear drums and voices in ancient calling. The moon radiated around him, lighting things up in an otherworldly silver glow. It surrounded some of the others with a reddish tint. Like his visions. Around him, he could hear shouts, including a stranger yelling, “Stop, you fools!”

However, the outer voices paled and dimmed as the ancient voices rolled through him and moonlight throbbed within him with every heartbeat. Ryan quit fighting back, and his head lolled off to the side. Lance dropped down on all fours, landing on Ryan’s chest.

Around him, other wolves came and joined the fight, including Moriah. Dimly, he realized Roxy had left, but he couldn’t focus. He kept hearing the drums of a far off time, of people who predated the Earth and time of the werewolves known history. He needed his mate. He turned and found her slowly standing, moving as if she were hurt.

The drums beat louder. He howled to the moon again. This time, a long howl of victory and dominance. Only Nolan, from a distance closer than he’d have expected, answered his call. Fur whispered across Lance’s face.
Lisa.

“You’re safe,” he said, the low rumble of his wolf voice startling him. He’d almost forgotten he could speak, that he was human as well as wolf.

More wolves and a couple of large cats entered the clearing. Lance stood between his mate and the new arrivals.

“Lance!”

The voice thundered in his mind, even stronger than the drumbeats.

“We are your allies. Do not attack us. That includes the cats.”

Now Lance swore he heard a tinge of laughter in the voice in his head. He looked at the newcomers and nodded. However Nolan did it, Lance couldn’t be sure, but he knew it was the ulfric. He and Lisa rubbed fur again, but he saw she moved better and had coiled her haunches ready to spring.

Before he could stop her, she’d launched onto one of the wolves attacking Moriah. The wolf went down, but from a distance Lance heard a shot.

His head automatically tuned to where it had come from. The human—a male—and Roxy were a long distance away. The human had a rifle, but the three of them turned and fled. Shortly after, Lance heard the sound of an SUV.

Lisa whined, and he turned to see what had happened. The only wolves—and cats—left standing were not enemies. Joseph’s body lay nearby, and Jason’s and Steven’s were close to where Lisa stood. She sat on her haunches and howled, and another large wolf with strong black markings came at full speed. Lance jumped to Lisa and shoved her to the side. He didn’t believe the wolf was attacking, but he wouldn’t take any chances.

The wolf stopped over Moriah and sniffed. Lance looked down and saw blood coming out. Moriah was bleeding from a small hole—the shot. The other male sat back and howled the most forlorn sound he’d ever heard.

“Moriah,” Lance said, but his voice came out thick. He changed back to human and knelt in the snow. He knew, as he still felt the bullet in him, that she had to change and now. It was her best chance.

A cat nudged him over, its green eyes glittered at him. “I can smell the silver in you and in her. Get to my hospital now, and take Lisa with you. Tell Sherona to prepare the operating room.”

“I’m not leaving. I have to go track the others that put my mate in danger.”

A wild cat yowl emanated from the large creature he presumed to be Dr. Waverly.

“They are gone by car. You will do as I say, or do you want your mate to suffer more? If you and Moriah aren’t taken care of, you will be stuck at a half-life. Your lung will not recover after a certain point.”

Astonishment ran through him.
What sort of doctor was this man?

“Not the sort to mess with. Go do as I say. Since you managed to shift the bullet to a less dangerous spot, I’ll take care of Moriah first as she has the most immediate need and is unconscious. But you both have to have that thing taken out of you tonight.”

Lance started to turn and do as asked then he heard the drums again. A breeze moved by them, but it wasn’t just a breeze. He could feel it as something more. As whispers, as language. Something deep and earthy.

Lisa had put her paws on Moriah while he and the doctor were talking. Words that sounded a lot like the language Lance heard speaking with the drums, fell from Lisa’s lips. That feeling of being with the earth increased. His body responded by trying to attune to his mate.

The clearing became silent as her words became louder and reverberated in the clearing. He looked around. The others had stopped to stare and move closer. Nolan and Alex rubbed together as they watched over one of their pack members near dying.

The large blackish wolf howled again, the pain in the voice making Lance want to weep. “Kamiakin,” Nolan said quietly.

That was Kamiakin? Lance didn’t know he and Moriah were a couple.

“No one did,” Nolan said to him as they got closer. “Either he didn’t know, or he’s kept it a secret.”

Those were the last words spoken by anyone for a long time as Lisa continued her chanting. As Lance heard them, they became familiar, and he joined in where he could. Soon, he realized it was like a chorus. After a bit, a glow, silvery and looking like it was made of pure moon beams, surrounded Moriah.

Moriah was lifted into the air, no one holding her, and more than one gasp came from the group. As she raised, her body changed to human, and a white flowing dress appeared. It poured on her like water flowed over rocks.

Her arms spread out, and more unearthly fabric fell from her arms. Lance didn’t know how long they stood there, but at some point, the white glow lessened, and Moriah’s body floated back to Earth.

Lisa collapsed as Moriah touched the ground, and Lance picked her up, much as he’d done the first time he’d seen her. He cuddled her close. “Whatever you did, it’s a miracle,” he whispered against her ear. “My miracle.”

Dr. Waverly moved closer to Moriah, but Lance glanced around, thinking of his visions. In the distance, he saw a red haze in the trees. Also, it surrounded Jason and a couple others. Ryan and Joseph were clear. No haze, red or white.

“Nolan, not all of these traitors are dead. You—” he stopped short of telling the ulfric what to do.

“Already on it, Lance. Thank you. Thank you, both. You take yourself and your mate to the Waverly Mansion. After you’ve healed, you need to take that time alone. It’s too late to confront Joseph, but it’s not too late for the both of you to get over what’s been done to you.”

Lance swallowed hard and nodded to his ulfric. Such a difference having a true leader made. “Roxy was here,” he said, “but not Boris. Thought you should know.”

Nolan didn’t look surprised. “Thanks. We had reports of Boris elsewhere deep on the reservation. Kamiakin was looking into it before he came here.”

That explained how Kamiakin had arrived so quickly. He must have been one of the wolves to answer his call for help.

“Get to the hospital, Lance. Lisa needs the rest, and you need the silver taken out and the lungs checked,” Nolan prodded.

“How in the hell does everyone know where I was hit with the bullet,” Lance grumbled, but started carrying Lisa back to their car.

He smiled, even as her unconscious state worried him. This was how they’d begun so many years ago. Maybe it was a sign of a new beginning.

One they would share. His love. His
aswan.

His mate.

Chapter Fifteen

“I have a text from Boris. He’s injured and wants to be picked up near road 100,” Roxy said to Justin.

Heather sat in the back, holding her binders and papers to her chest. Roxy hoped it had been worth it. Then she grinned. Killing that coward Joseph made all of it worth it, but she wasn’t about to let Justin know that. Besides, he needed to pay for her feral being hurt.

“We don’t have time to pick up Boris. He should have made his way to the established meeting point.”

“He can’t get there because he’s hurt,” she snapped. “I need him. You have no right to leave him. Even weres take time to heal.”

“I have every right,” he said silkily.

A shiver of apprehension ran through her. “Excuse me,” she demanded. Long ago, she’d learned not to show her fear.

“I am your ulfric. You sought sanctuary with my pack. I gave it, even though you are wanted by state and your local police for murder. Put myself in jeopardy for you. Boris didn’t seem to appreciate that fact. Do you?”

For the first time, Roxy felt actual fear of Justin. How had he hidden his true alpha from her? For in every word, she heard the power, the confidence of a leader...and more. She heard darkness, evil.

Rage at her impotence swamped her and hopefully hid her fear from him. “He’s mine,” she hissed. “You offered us sanctuary,” she said through gritted teeth. “As one of the pack, doesn’t he deserve your protection?” He wanted to play dirty politics? She’d play.

“You said it yourself. He’s feral. He has no protection.” Justin’s voice told her it was final.

She stared out the passenger window and contemplated what to do. Without Boris, she only had her own wits and power. And though better than most weres, her toughness wasn’t strong enough to fight Nolan. And now, she had serious reservations if it would be enough to fight Justin.

In the rearview mirror, she caught a glimpse of Heather George’s face. The healer was smirking, and Roxy knew it was at her expense. Fuck the healer. Roxy still had enough power to deal with her when the time came.

But that fission of fear that now rode through her wouldn’t leave. Justin was turning out to be much more than she bargained for. “What of that human you brought in? Where’d he disappear to?” she asked, clenching her fist to the side away from his sight to release some of the anger she couldn’t take out on him. Perhaps he could get Boris and bring him in.

His low laugh made her stomach tighten with foreboding. “Human? What human? There were no humans there tonight.”

Anger helped eradicate the fear. “There was a human, and he supplied us with the guns you gave Ryan and the others. What game are you playing at?”

“Describe this human?”

“Tall, white, thick shouldered, muscular, moves well, blond hair. He speaks with an accent I can’t place.”

He laughed again, sounding as if she’d given him the winning lotto numbers. “Ah yes, I know of whom you speak. My dear,” he continued, his jovial manner restored, “he is not a human anymore than we are.”