Wild Wolf (13 page)

And then she'd died bringing in Graham's cub. Just like that. One day there, full of hope; the next day, Rita and the stillborn boy cub had been taken away from him. The Guardian had thrust his sword into both Rita and the cub, and their bodies had crumpled to dust. Graham had scattered their ashes in the mourning ceremony, but he'd been numb, unable to weep.

He'd spent the next year alone out in the woods, living rough. He'd returned to find his father dying, other wolves in the pack ready to try to take over the minute he drew his last breath.

Graham had proved he was leader by preventing the takeover and punishing the instigators. He'd nursed his father through his last days, sending for the Guardian while the elderly wolf still lingered, to let him go out with dignity. Another mourning ceremony, but this time, Graham hadn't had the leisure to go grieve for a year in the wild. He'd had to kick plenty of ass to stay leader, and had earned the reputation of being a mean bastard.

Graham had survived by learning to push away his pain. Now, during this ride through the waves of heat back to the city, the pain rushed at him and washed over him.

Graham had to hold himself together—for Dougal, for the orphaned cubs, for his clan and all the Lupines—whether they liked it or not. But he was achingly lonely.

Misty was a sweet spot in every day. And damned if Graham would let any of the Shifters come for her, question her, touch her, even look at her.

Now, Graham might be dying, or worse, taken as slave by the Fae. If that happened, he hoped Eric or someone would just kill him. He'd had a full life, didn't matter.

Graham's one regret was that he'd not had any time to spend with Misty. Always something else distracted him, plus Graham had backed off her because his pack didn't want him taking a human mate. He'd always agreed with them—until Misty had smiled at him at a bar nearly a year ago.

Graham needed to talk to her. To see her. To immerse himself in her. He needed to find her, touch her, kiss her.

But when Graham stopped for gas inside the city limits, and his phone rang, it was Dougal, frantic and half crying. “Matt and Kyle are gone,” Dougal said, his voice blasting through the phone. “They disappeared, and I can't find them anywhere.

 • • • 

M
isty stared up at Ben. “I think you'd better tell me exactly what you mean.”

“Just what I said.” Ben kept his fists on her desk, his brown eyes focused on her. He didn't have the same black-hole stare of the Fae—Ben appeared to be human, but that didn't mean he was safe. “McNeil is going to die, unless you help him.”

“How the hell do you know that?” Misty demanded.

Paul stood behind Ben, his arms folded, looking ashamed but making no move to stop Ben. “Listen to him, Misty. He's a friend.”

“I'm waiting for him to say something worth listening to.” Misty kept her voice hard, as she'd learned to as a kid when other kids bullied her. She'd learned how to put on the hard shell while protecting her softer self. She'd protected Paul as well.

“I know all about the Fae's spell,” Ben said. “You cured yourself somehow, Misty. For that I say—respect.” He gave her a nod. “But that counterspell only works on humans. Shifters aren't cured by it. Helping Graham will be harder.”

Misty's worry rose, and with it anger and fear. How did Ben know about the spell and whether it had cured her or not? “What are you?” she asked.

“No Fae in me,” Ben said. “No Shifter either. But I've made it my business to know about these things.”

“Can we get back around to Graham dying? Why are you saying I can save him?”

“It will be dangerous. I can't lie to you, Melissa Granger. But I'll help you. I'll lead you on this quest and keep the path as safe as I can.”

“Quest? What quest?” Misty got to her feet. “Did I wake up in
Lord of the Rings
?”

Ben chuckled. “The journey won't be that long. You won't have to leave the city, not really.”

“Not really?” Misty glared at him. “You haven't told me anything I want to hear yet.”

“That's what happens to messengers,” Ben said. “We're hated if we bring bad news, loved if we bring good. But I'm more than a messenger. I'm a guide.”

“I learned a long time ago not to blindly follow anyone,” Misty said. “If you can't give me exact details on how I can save Graham, I'd like you to leave. The last person who coerced me into ‘helping' made me poison Graham with Fae water. Forgive me for not instantly trusting you.”

Ben lifted his fists from her desk and shrugged. “That's to be expected. Ask around about me.”

“I will.” Misty started to reach for the phone, as though ready to start making calls now.

Ben's smile vanished. “Don't wait too long to trust me, Misty. This Fae you met, Oison, he's powerful, and he's vindictive. He wants Graham because he'd a good leader. If you want to save Graham from him, you'll need help, and that help is me.”

Misty lowered her hand from the phone and sat back down in her chair, Ben's declarations spinning around her thick and fast.

“Graham saved me from Flores,” Paul broke in. “I wanted to help him. Ben said he could.”

How Ben had been so handy, Misty wasn't sure. She needed the full story before she decided anything, which meant talking to Paul alone.

If Paul had a weakness, it was in being too easily coerced. He tended to believe in people stronger than he was, and he let them talk him into things. This was why he'd been joyriding in a car with his friends when an accident had occurred that had sent Paul to prison. In prison, he'd been bullied by Sam Flores until an even bigger bully convinced Paul to trust him.

Ben could be fine, or he could be shady. Paul wasn't the best judge of character, unfortunately.

“I'll get back to you,” Misty said. “Now, I have a hugely busy afternoon ahead of me, as you can probably guess.”

“I'm sorry about what happened,” Ben said. “All of it. But I get it.” He lifted a sticky note from the top of her pad, grabbed a pen from her pen holder, and scribbled a number on it. “This is me. Call me when you decide—or about anything. Just remember, McNeil needs you. You can save him, but it has to be your choice.”

He stuck the yellow note in front of her, dropped the pen, gave Misty a nod, and left the office, touching his fist to Paul's on the way out.

Paul closed the door. He faced Misty with the defiance he'd learned as he'd changed from scared teenager to a young man who'd had to grow up overnight.

“He's legit, Misty.”

Misty spread her hands on her desk. “Where did you meet him?”

“Told you. Through my parole officer. Ben's rehabilitated. Is doing well for himself.”

“What does he do?”

“Construction work mostly. But he knows what he's talking about.” He gave her the little smile that reminded her of the young Paul who'd been taken away. “I wouldn't have believed him either if I hadn't met the Shifters and Reid. If he can help, listen to him.”

Misty lifted her hands. “How did he get in touch with you? And how did he know about what happened to me, and Graham? That's what's bugging me. What did you tell him?”

“Not much. He called me this morning, said he'd heard about Flores, and you and Graham getting stuck in the desert. That wouldn't be hard to figure out, if one of Flores's boys talked about it. Ben hears a lot about the criminal world.”

“I can see that, but what about the spells? And the Fae?”

Paul shrugged. “I have no idea, but he helps people. That I do know.”

He looked earnest, pleading. Misty let out a quiet breath. “I won't dismiss him out of hand.” Misty's instincts were telling her to, but she'd seen things in the last year to make her doubt her instincts. “But I need to talk to Graham first.”

Paul relaxed and gave her a nod. “Sure. Thanks, Misty.”

Paul really didn't need to thank Misty when he was trying to do
her
a favor, but she understood. “Now get out of my office, kid,” she said, growling the banter they'd always used to use. “You're distracting me.”

Paul gave her a grin and walked out, a swagger in his step.

As soon as he closed the door, Misty picked up her cell phone and punched Graham's number. He was near the top of her favorites, right after her mother in Los Angeles. How pathetic was that?

Graham didn't answer, and a recorded voice came on to tell Misty that the number couldn't be reached. That worried Misty enough to call Cassidy, who told her Graham and Eric had left together on Shifter business.

“Tell him to call me,” Misty said. “It's important.”

Cassidy promised to, then hesitated. “You all right?”

“Not really. Cass, can you or Diego find out all you can about a man called Ben . . .” Misty picked up the sticky note, “. . . Williams. I have his phone number if that helps.” She read it off.

“Sure. Who is he?”

“I have no idea. He might be fine. But I just want to know.”

“We'll check him out.” Another pause. “If you need to talk, Misty, you know you can always call me.”

“Thanks. I think if I talk right now though, I'll end up blithering or crying. I need to keep it together.” As she'd done her whole life.

“I get it,” Cassidy said. “Let me know.”

Misty hung up and sat a long time staring at the name and number on the sticky note. What she knew and didn't know wrapped around each other, tangling with her emotions and making her slightly sick to her stomach. Or maybe she'd had too much green sauce at lunch.

Pressing the note back to her desk, Misty left the office. “Xav,” she said, approaching him where he was helping his guys lift shelves back onto brackets. “What did you think of the guy who just left here? Ben, Paul's friend.”

Xav's dark stare fixed on her, and his end of the shelf sagged. “What guy?”

“Shorter than you, hefty, dark eyes, tatts. With my brother?”

“I saw your brother, but no one else. When was this?”

“A few minutes ago. Right before Paul came out of my office.”

Xav's focus sharpened. “I didn't see anyone. Before or after. And I've been watching.”

“Oh.”

“Damn it.” Xav handed his end of the shelf to one of the other security men and moved away, taking out his phone as he stalked through the back to the alley.

"W
ould you all calm down?” Graham roared. “I can't hear myself think.”

Dougal had been wolf by the time he got home, sitting on the floor of Graham's still-trashed kitchen, his muzzle lifted in howls. Nell, the she-bear who lived next door to Eric, was trying to get him to calm down, her voice as loud as Dougal's howling. Nell, a grizzly, was a big woman, and she could yell.

Graham had learned to outshout anyone else long ago. Nell shut up, but she scowled at him. Nell was the alpha bear in Shiftertown—not that there were many bears at all—but she was in dominance about the same as Graham and Eric.

“I haven't seen them,” Nell said. “I have Cormac and my boys out looking for them.” Nell's “boys” were full-grown grizzlies, Shane and Brody. “Most of Shiftertown is, in fact. And Misty's looking for you. Cassidy said she called.”

Graham had ditched Eric at the gas station and ridden hard and fast to reach Shiftertown. He'd found Dougal in the middle of the kitchen floor, wailing to the ceiling.

“Damn it.” Graham wanted Misty with every breath. His throat was so dry it ached, but even the thought of her brought a bit of ease. “Dougal, when did you last see them? Stop howling and tell me.”

“He was bringing them to me to babysit,” Nell said. “They ran off when Dougal wasn't looking.”

“Wasn't looking?” Graham swung on her. “What the hell was he looking
at
?”

“Lindsay in a bathing suit.” Nell said. “Well, half a bathing suit.”

“Shit.” Graham threw up his hands. “That female needs to be hosed down. Dougal, you idiot.”

“Don't be so hard on him,” Nell said. “He's just come through his Transition, and his mating instinct is high. You're the one who left two little helpless cubs with him.”

“
Helpless?
You're talking about Matt and Kyle, right? They're hiding. Playing. Must be.” Graham hoped to the Goddess they were only playing.

“We're looking,” Nell said grimly. “We'll find them.”

But with all the Fae activity, and Matt and Kyle featuring in the dreams—or entering the dreams, or whatever the hell was going on—Graham went sick with worry. The Fae Oison had enthralled Graham, a big, badass alpha Shifter. Kyle and Matt were tiny and vulnerable. If Oison had touched them, Graham was going to kill the Fae
outside
a dream and make it stick.

“Dougal will you shut up!” Graham bellowed. At the same time, his phone rang. “What?”

“Jeez, Graham,” Misty's voice came to him. “Do you ever just say hello?”

“Misty. Sweetheart.” Graham tried to pull back into a normal speaking tone. “I'm really busy right now.”

“You're always busy. So am I. We need to talk.”

“I can't talk. Matt and Kyle are missing. I find them first, talk later.”

“What?” He heard her concern escalate. “Graham . . .”

“I gotta go, Misty. I'll call you back.”

Graham closed his flip phone so he wouldn't keep talking to her. He'd stand here and pour out all his troubles and beg her to come to him. To mate with him. To be his forever. He'd do it in front of Nell and Dougal too and not care.

He would call her back, once he sorted out what happened to Matt and Kyle, and everything else. And they'd talk as much as she wanted to.

“Dougal, do you at least have an idea which direction they went?” he asked.

Dougal finally stopped howling—thank the Goddess. Graham's ears were going numb. Dougal didn't shift to human, but Graham could understand what he wanted to say.

The answer was no. Dougal had been fixed on Lindsay, walking around in a bikini with no top. When Lindsay had disappeared inside her house, Dougal had looked around, and the cubs had been gone.

Yes, he'd gone to Brenda's to see if they'd run back there, and he'd checked all over Graham's house, and he'd called Nell. Dougal knew he was a shithead. That he screwed up. That he should be punished. But why had Graham run off and left Dougal alone? He hadn't known what to do.

“Dougal, you're grown,” Graham snapped. “You don't need me around all the time.”

Dougal's muzzle was down, almost on the ground, his ears back, tail tucked underneath him. Graham balled his fists in frustration. Dougal needed reassurance, not more yelling. But damn it, the cubs, Graham's responsibility, were gone, and there was an evil Fae on the loose.

Graham laid his hand on Dougal's head. “The mating instinct is harsh. Trust me, I know this. It's going to mess you up all the time. But that doesn't matter right now. I need you. You have the cubs' scent. Help me find them.”

Dougal lifted his head, looking slightly better, but he still cringed as he slunk out of the house and started sniffing around.

“Poor kid,” Nell said.

“I don't know what I'm going to do with him.” Graham went out the door after Dougal, Nell behind him.

Outside, they met Cormac, a huge, blue-eyed bear Shifter. He'd recently mated with Nell, and the two had stuck together since then like contact cement.

“If they're in Shiftertown, we haven't found them,” Cormac said.

Graham swallowed the raging curses that wanted to come out and said, “Thanks for looking.”

“We'll look again,” Cormac said. Nell nodded, and moved off with him.

Shiftertown was abuzz. During the day, Felines usually napped, and bears did too—bears always found some excuse to sleep. But now Shifters were out, many in Shifter form, noses to the ground, helping search for the two little ones.

Graham shucked his own clothes, changed into his large black wolf, put his muzzle down, and sniffed.

What he mostly smelled was a maze of Shifter scents, going every which way. This was the problem with Shiftertowns—too many scents from different clans, packs, and species tangled together. Wolf packs needed to have their scents around them and no one else's. Other scents meant danger. But here, with everything mixed up, Shifters couldn't tell danger until it was too late. Which was probably what had happened with Kyle and Matt.

They searched. Dougal stayed close to Graham, both of them keeping to wolf form while they hunted, Dougal still needing reassurance.

A hatchback car came into Shiftertown, pulling up in front of Graham's house. The door opened, and Misty's scent came to him, even across the field where he searched. Misty didn't drive a hatchback, and the scent of it was wrong for her, but that fact was peripheral.

As soon as Misty's shapely foot touched pavement, Graham focused on her and nothing else.

It had happened. Last night had triggered it, or maybe the dreams or the spells had.

As Graham watched Misty, taking in her long legs under a loose, calf-length skirt, her shapely breasts hidden by a white tank top with a little pink bow at the neckline, he knew his mating frenzy hadn't come out of nowhere. It had started the first night he'd met her.

Graham had always told himself that he could give her up, walk away from her at any time. He needed a Shifter mate, Misty was human—and so it could never be.

Graham had reasoned that if he didn't have sex with her, didn't spend any nights with her, and kept her at a distance, he'd be fine. Then, when the time came for him to pick out a Lupine mate, he'd be able to tell Misty,
Thanks, it's been fun
. Or better still, say nothing at all. She'd get it.

Now, more than ever, Graham needed to cut her out of his life. She was free of the spell, free of the Fae, free of Graham's problems. Misty could go, and Graham would focus on his dilemmas and move on.

But Graham knew, watching as Misty walked around to the back of the car, her skirt swishing around her tanned legs, that he'd never, ever be able to send her away. She was rapidly filling every empty space inside Graham's heart, and cutting her out of it would kill him.

Graham sat down on his haunches, wanting to point his nose to the sky and howl as miserably as Dougal had. He was so, so screwed.

 • • • 

S
hiftertown was busier than Misty had ever seen it, except on ritual days. But all rituals, even mourning ceremonies, carried the element of a party. Right now, the Shifters were on alert, roving everywhere, tension high.

She had a feeling she knew why. Misty unlocked and opened the hatchback, reached in, and lifted two wolf cubs out by the scruffs of their necks.

They didn't want to come. The cubs curled in on themselves, trying to cling to Misty.

The Shifters closest to her saw. They stopped, eyes and ears fixed on Misty, the ones in human form freezing to look.

The awareness that Misty had the cubs spread like a ripple, rolling outward from her and around the giant black wolf who'd stopped and stared at her before she'd opened the hatch.

The Shifters weren't rejoicing. Not laughing in relief that Misty had brought the cubs back home. They were angry. She heard growls, rumbles, the soft snarls of animals debating whether or not to attack.

If this had been Misty's first ever encounter with Shifters, she'd be diving back into the car and racing the hell out of there. These Shifters were enraged Misty had the cubs, and they didn't look as though they cared about explanations.

Misty tried anyway. “I found them. I didn't take them. I'm bringing them back.”

She tried to gently set down the cubs so she could back away, showing she meant no harm. But as soon as she turned loose their scruffs, Matt and Kyle scrambled back into her arms, their little bodies shaking. They were terrified.

The black wolf had started forward as soon as Misty lifted the cubs from the back. Now he moved rapidly between her and the Shifters who were advancing on her.

The Shifters in front of the pack, mostly wolves, drew back a little, but their growling didn't cease. Graham turned to face them, baring his teeth, his snarl menacing. The Lupines moved backward, heads lowering, but still they growled, unhappy.

One Lupine didn't obey. He stood up, anger in his eyes, his ears flat on his head, wolf snarls matching Graham's. With a harsh sound that was almost a roar, Graham went for the wolf, his charge swift, his jaws opened for the kill.

Graham landed on the wolf and had his body flipped over in the space of a second, Graham's mouth going toward the wolf's throat. At the last moment, Graham snapped his teeth an inch from the wolf's fur, then eased his jaws around the wolf's throat. Graham held the wolf there for about thirty seconds, then released it and touched its nose with his.

Graham stepped back, then began to shift. His legs and arms became human as he rose on his hindquarters. In a short time, Graham stood over the wolf, who also had morphed to human—a dark-haired man—both of them stark naked.

The man remained on the ground, curled in on himself, his defiance gone. Graham stepped to him and laid his hand on the man's head. Graham said nothing, only kept his hand there, until the man finally looked up at him. The man's eyes, wolf gray, held contrition.

“Sorry, Graham,” he said.

Graham leaned down, putting both hands on the man's head now and ruffling his hair. “We'll both get over it. Misty!” Graham straightened up and turned away from the Lupine, finished with him.

Misty couldn't speak. She'd been staring at Graham's muscled back, which tapered to a firm mound of buttocks. Now he faced her, which meant she saw his equally firm torso, his strong arms, and the cock that hung, thick and long, between his legs.

Graham was a large man, his body sculpted for running, hunting, fighting. No polished edges on him. He was raw, rippling with strength, beautiful.

“Misty, what the hell is this?” he demanded.

Graham's voice was gravelly from all the snarling, the hint of the wolf still in it. And he sounded dry. Thirsty.

“I found the cubs,” Misty said, making herself raise her gaze from his hips. “Obviously.”

Graham's eyes narrowed. “Is that what you were trying to tell me on the phone?”

“No. I didn't find them until I went out to my parking lot. I was trying to tell you something else on the phone, but you hung up on me.”

“Because I was looking for these damned cubs!”

Graham reached for them. Kyle and Matt shrank back, whining, clinging to Misty. One of them had climbed onto her head, his claws raking through her hair.

“Who are terrified of you,” Misty said. “Look at them. What did you do to them? Ow, Matt—or Kyle—stop that. Which is which?”

“Kyle,” Graham said, pointing to the cub on her head. “Matt.” His finger moved to the other one.

“Why are they so scared of you?” Misty asked. Not that she hadn't seen Graham a few moments ago terrorize another large wolf into cringing submission.

“I don't know. Where did you find them? That's not your car.”

“Nothing gets past you, does it?” Misty tried to cuddle Matt and pet Kyle so they'd quit with the clawing. “Matt and Kyle were in the back of that car. One of the DX Security men found them in there when he was at the end of his shift. No idea how they got there—his car didn't leave the lot all day.”