Wild Wolf (27 page)

“Time to go,” Graham said. “Misty, help me with Dougal.”

Dougal was still rolling in pain, his moans turning to wolf howls. He'd shifted again to human by the time Graham and Misty reached him.

“Come on.” Graham thrust his arm under Dougal, lifting his nephew to his feet.

Dougal jerked away. “No, I have to help Matt.”

“We'll both help him. But we need to move.”

Graham had struggled to learn the exact combination of compassion and command to bump Dougal out of his despair. Dougal finally nodded and let Graham help him around the writhing vines.

The plants had drawn back from the two cubs, encircling them but not touching them. Misty leaned down and picked up Matt's limp body.

“He's alive,” she said in relief. “But he's hurt.”

“I should have made them stay at Misty's,” Dougal said. He hung on to Graham, his face wet with blood and tears. “Damn it.”

Misty cuddled Matt close and lifted Kyle, who was a whimpering ball of fur. “I don't think these little guys would have listened.”

“We'll never get out.” Dougal rubbed his hand over his face, crazed with fear. “He'll trap us here.”

Before Graham could answer, Misty said, “Yes, we will. We're family. We can do anything.”

Dougal blinked at her. “What are you talking about? We're not pack.”

“Doesn't matter. Graham brought you up, and he's Matt's and Kyle's honorary father. And I'm his girlfriend. Close enough.”

“And you're going to accept his mate-claim,” Dougal said with conviction.

“Can we talk about this
outside
this cave?” Misty tucked the two cubs firmly against her, gentleness itself. “Time to run, I think.”

Graham chuckled as he helped Dougal, half supporting himself on his nephew at the same time. “Hear that? Misty, for once, doesn't want to talk.”

“Suck it up, Graham,” she said.

Graham's laughter echoed against the cave walls, which were still too damn eerie for his taste. He made himself follow Misty's cute butt through the darkness to the ley line, wherever it came out, and decided he'd follow that gorgeous ass anywhere.

 • • • 

T
hey came out in the basement of the unfinished Shifter house. The ley line, Misty surmised, must decide its own direction, or else they didn't know how to navigate it. She hoped Reid, chasing Oison, was all right.

Misty emerged into the basement, blinking at full afternoon sunlight. They must have been in the cave for hours. Kyle shivered in her arms, Matt too limp.

Graham and Dougal supported each other behind her, both of them growling in irritation. The sound gave Misty heart. When Graham and Dougal were arguing, they were fine.

But they weren't. Dougal had been cut by Oison's sword, Graham still under his spell. Matt was hurt, possibly dying.

She climbed awkwardly up the ladder first, supported by Graham. She had to hold Matt, and had Kyle clinging to her shoulder, so the going was slow.

When she reached the top, she knew there was something very wrong in Shiftertown. Shifters were everywhere, and humans milled among them, wearing black fatigues and carrying automatic weapons.

But these weren't DX Security men. She didn't recognize any of them, and behind them, in the heat, she heard sirens and saw flashing red and blue lights.

“Damn,” Graham said softly, and he disappeared back down into the dark basement. Misty started to follow, but too late. One of the humans had seen her, and they were running her way.

"W
hat the fuck?” Graham said in the darkness behind Misty.

Misty stood straight at the top of the ladder, holding on to the cubs, trying to pretend she hadn't been down in a hole under a Shifter house, a hole that wasn't supposed to be there.

The human soldiers reached her, along with Diego and Eric. “Misty,” Eric said in a loud voice. “There you are. See?” he said to the soldier in the lead. “Here she is. You all right, Misty? Where've you been?”

“Umm.” Misty looked around, trying to assess the situation before she answered. “I was looking after the cubs?” She let the statement end with a questioning note. Eric nodded once, subtly, and Misty put on a smile. “You know how they like to run off.”

Diego was looking hard at her, his eyes, so much like Xav's, holding warning. What kind of warning, Misty had no idea.

“Yeah, they do like to play,” Eric said. “And get into so much trouble. You know how kids are.” Eric gave the lead soldier his laid-back smile. “Thanks for bringing them home, Misty.”

“Not a problem.”

Eric had glanced into the basement, his eyes flickering when he saw Graham. He moved his body a little, barely changing his stance, but Misty knew enough about Shifters now to realize he must be saying something to Graham without opening his mouth. Shifters were masters of nonverbal communication. Misty wished she could read the signals, because she was swimming in the dark here.

One of the armed men turned to Eric. “What's down there?”

Eric shrugged. “Don't know. I'm not into construction. Where the plumbing and electricity will go, maybe?” He gave the perfect impression of a man who might be strong but kind of slow.

“Sir?” The man turned to Diego with a lot more deference.

Diego also shrugged. “Same answer. I really don't know. You'd have to ask the construction team.”

“We need to lock it down,” The soldier who seemed to be in charge said. “Corporal, take a team and check it out.”

One of the younger men signaled to another, shouldered his weapon, and started down the metal ladder to the basement.

Misty glanced down in alarm, but saw no sign of Graham or Dougal. They'd vanished.

“Are these the ones who've been missing?” the commander asked Diego, gesturing at Misty. Diego gave him a grim nod.

“Missing?” Misty asked as Eric reached for Kyle. Kyle clung to his arm, a wolf cub, looking fearfully back at Misty and Matt. “We're not missing.” Misty tried her smile again. “We're right here.”

The commander answered. “Your mother in L.A. called in a missing-persons report on Melissa Granger five days ago. Said she couldn't get into contact with you, and your neighbors said you left with a Shifter at that time and haven't been home since. Business owners around your store say Shifters have been at your shop, but no one has seen you.” He looked her over, from her tank top and shorts, torn and covered with dirt, to her scratched and gouged legs and arms. “So you need to tell me, ma'am, exactly where you've been and what happened to you.”

Misty listened, her lips parting. “Five days . . . ?”

More humans came hurrying to join the commander, these looking more like paramedics. One caught Misty by the arm and tried to lead her toward an open ambulance. “We need to check you out,” the paramedic said. “Make sure you're all right. Commander, interrogate her once we've taken her vitals and given her some water, all right?”

“Five days?” Misty couldn't help repeating.

“You went through an ordeal,” the paramedic suggested. “But you're fine now. We'll take care of you and get you away from these Shifters. It will be all right.”

“Wait.” Misty held Matt closer. “This one's hurt more than me. He needs help.”

Eric reached for Matt and took him out of Misty's arms. Kyle wriggled in Eric's arms, trying to lick his brother's face. “Poor little guy.”

“You need to come with us, ma'am,” the paramedic said, in his stern but friendly voice.

“I'm not hurt that much,” Misty tried. “I—”

She broke off as a familiar man with broad shoulders but not much height reached to Eric for Matt. “I'll take the cub.” Ben gave a wide smile to the commander. “I'm a vet,” he said. “I specialize in Shifters.”

Ben really did have a reassuring smile, in spite of his prison tatts and once-broken nose. Plus, he didn't wear a Collar, and obviously wasn't Shifter.

“I'll have to clear this,” the commander said, not changing expression.

“Sure you do,” Ben said. “My name's Ben Williams. Look me up. I'm ex-con but served all my time. Now I take care of animals.”

If Ben truly was a veterinarian, this was the first Misty had heard of it. Eric, however, seemed perfectly sanguine to hand Matt to him.

Ben leaned near Misty as he carefully took Matt, his movement putting him between Misty and the impatient paramedic. “Misty, you need to blow the basement.”

Misty blinked at him. “Sorry?”

“Cave it in.” Ben kept his voice quiet, his face set only in compassion for the cubs. “Bury the ley line; close the portal. Humans will be screwed if they find it, and Shifters will be screwed if these guys find the basement.”

Misty understood the why. What she didn't know was . . . “How?”

“Roots,” Ben said. “You did the mastering spell. I can see it in you.”

“But . . .” Dougal and Graham might still be down there.

“Do it,” Ben said. He straightened up, a cub on each arm. “I'll take care of these cuties.”

He walked away.

Misty stared after him, the man looking no less human than the soldiers around her. But then, Ben had written the book, more than a hundred years ago, he'd told Misty how to use it, and to trust herself. He'd been right every time.

Was Graham still down there, hiding with Dougal? Why was he? Only one way to find out.

Misty gasped and slapped at her pockets. “My cell phone. I dropped it.” She stared wildly at the hole behind her, then before the commander could reach for her, she swung around onto the ladder and descended to the basement.

She saw no sign of Graham or Dougal anywhere. They could be hiding, or they could have gone back through the ley line to the cave.

Misty darted under the darkness, but it was too intense after the first few feet out of the sunshine for her to see anything. “Graham,” she whispered.

No answer. He was gone, Dougal with him.

“Corporal, find her,” the commander snapped.

Roots.
Misty looked up. The Shifters who'd dug out this cellar had carefully left the earth around the house whole above it. The basement ran a long way underground, well past the house for which it was intended. The planted trees as well as the native brush were intact above it.

Desert shrubs might look fragile and could even appear dried out and dead, but in truth they were tough and hardy. They had to burrow deep into the earth in search of groundwater and rain runoff in order to survive, and their root systems were extensive and strong. The plants could live for years in dormancy, looking dead from above. Then, after a good rain, the plant would become green and vibrant, beautiful and blooming. It would drop its seeds, which would lie in wait in the shade of the parent plant, until that life-giving water found them.

The part of the desert plant below ground was giant and complex, never seen, but networking through the ground in a powerful mesh.

Misty studied the tendrils sticking out of the ceiling above her and the wall around her. She thought of how she'd controlled the vines in the Fae cave, but she had no idea if the book's spell would work here.

But then, this basement was on a ley line, and in Faerie, magic was real. She agreed with Ben that she needed to collapse it—this place was dangerous for humans and Shifters alike, and humans didn't need to ask questions about why the hole was here in the first place.

Misty took a breath, and took a risk. “Pull it down,” she said to the roots.

“Ma'am.” The corporal behind her was polite but firm. “You need to come with me.”

“Now,” Misty whispered.

Nothing happened. Misty clenched her jaw and turned around. She knew if she tried to evade the soldiers any longer, they might question her too closely—where she'd been, how she'd been injured, who she'd been with, what was down here . . . She'd been gone
five days
? She needed to get with Ben and interrogate
him
.

“Oh, well,” Misty said, giving the corporal a helpless little smile. “I guess I can always get a new phone.”

A root moved. Rustled. Another trembled. As Misty stopped to look up, the entire mass of roots began to vibrate, and clods of earth came down.

Misty backed up swiftly. The corporal grabbed her by the shoulders at the same time and pushed her to the ladder. As Misty climbed ahead of him, her legs shaking, the entire ceiling of the basement caved in, pulling with it a line of trees, bushes, and the foundations of the house that was being built over it.

The ladder shuddered and started to collapse. Eric reached down from the top and grabbed Misty, hauling her up just as the ladder broke into several pieces. The corporal tried to hang on and pull himself up, but falling dirt and rock carried him back down, his hands struggling for purchase.

Eric pushed Misty at Diego, flowed into his snow leopard form, clothes falling away, and went for the hole. He climbed with feline grace down into the avalanche, grabbed the corporal by the back of the shirt, and hauled him up again. Eric's claws scrabbled on the shifting dirt, his muscles straining, as the hole continued to fall in around him.

Finally, Eric leapt like the cat he was, landing on firm ground, and dragged the corporal well away from the hole before he released him.

Behind them, the basement disappeared, a rush of broken foundation, dirt, rock, and trees filling it in.

Graham.
Misty looked at the wreckage of the basement she'd stood in a few moments ago, wondering if she'd just buried alive the man she loved.

 • • • 

"F
ive days,” Misty said to Diego as he walked her across the common yards after the paramedics had checked her. Xav had arrived while the paramedics were assuring themselves she was unhurt, his handsome face showing his relief.

“Reid told me that time moves differently inside Faerie,” Diego said as they walked. “I guess we have to believe him. You've been gone five days, your mother called your brother, who is also worried sick. Since none of us knew where you were, we couldn't help.”

Xav shook his head. “I couldn't exactly explain that you disappeared from a convenience store stockroom in a whirl of flowers. And I couldn't follow. Why couldn't I? I was standing right next to you.”

Misty shook her head. “I don't know.” She broke off, feeling the press of Xavier's shoulder holster against her. “Wait, maybe because you were carrying a gun. Iron. Maybe it didn't let that through. Reid could come in with a tire iron, because he's an ironmaster.”

“Yeah, well, Reid is missing too,” Xav said. “Peigi is about to go postal. My guys practically camped out at the convenience store, but we couldn't follow you, and I couldn't find that Ben guy. Trust me, I looked. And then he turns up here today, out of the blue.”

Diego regarded Misty sharply. “What happened to Dougal and Graham?”

“I don't know.” Misty's breath hitched. She wanted to break down and sob, sink to the ground and bury her face in her hands. “He was behind me in the basement. And then I—”

“Shh.” Xav went to her and put a comforting arm around her. “Knowing Graham, he found another way out. I've learned that Shifter spaces are more complicated than just holes in the ground.”

Misty wiped her eyes. “But I don't know. What do I do?”

“It's tough being in love with a Shifter,” Diego said, his dark eyes quiet. “Trust me. They're wild and crazy, and wild and crazy things happen to them. But it's worth it. We'll find him. Shifters are hard to kill.”

“But not impossible.”

“I know.” Diego gave her a sympathetic nod. “Stick as close as you can to the truth. I'll be there, and so will Xav. We can fill in the blanks.”

“Thanks, Diego. Is my brother all right?”

“Fine. Paul's at your store, helping put it back together. Keeps saying if he doesn't, you'll come back and yell at him. It kept him from worrying. Xav has already called him and told him you're all right.”

“Now he'll yell at
me
.” Misty smiled. “I'm looking forward to it.” She took a breath as they neared the knot of soldiers waiting to question her. “When they're done with me, I'm grilling Ben. He's got Matt and Kyle, and probably some answers, which he's going to give me, whether he likes it or not.”