Half Wolf (10 page)

Damn it. Explaining these new connections to the family she already had was going to be a bitch.

Obviously, some Weres weren’t as nice as Michael’s pack. Case in point, the Were in the library that had tried to kill her.

Sirens in the distance were getting closer, the sound underscored by the ongoing shriek of the fire alarm.

After discovering this alarm was false, firemen would depart and everyone would go back to their routines. Everything would be
as usual
, with the exception of the possible broken chairs and shelves on the mezzanine, the result of Michael dealing with a beast that was like him on the outside, but seemed to be very different on the inside.

Michael hadn’t reappeared. She’d heard something break on the mezzanine when she took the stairs to the main floor. Who would explain the destruction in this building if there was any? Who was going to question it?

She couldn’t wait around to see. With the building clearing out, she had to appear to be as surprised as anyone else by the sound of the alarm. She had to go outside, but she wouldn’t go far.

The night assailed Kaitlin when she marched tentatively down the steps. Onlookers had gathered on the lawn to see what had happened. Kaitlin walked through them, catching sight of a gleam of black hair in the lights. Her heart sputtered, though she reasoned this wasn’t Michael, because she had left him behind.

It was Rena.

“Brava, Kaitlin.” Rena stepped forward to meet her. “If your hand tripped that alarm, you’re fairly wily.”

“I feel like hell,” Kaitlin confessed, looking over her shoulder for Michael.

“Welcome to the club. I feel that way half the time I’m awake,” Rena said.

“Really?”

“Nope. That’s just my first and maybe final attempt to bond with a new pack-mate.”

Kaitlin took a moment before speaking again, wanting her voice to be steady, refusing to show the extent of her frustration with tonight’s events to a wolf who possibly wouldn’t have the same take on things.

“What now? Can I go home? Is it safe?” She didn’t see anything in this crowd that resembled a raving lunatic. What she needed right then was a hot shower and her bed. She was going to cover her head with as many blankets as possible and hope the world would go away.

“If he thinks it’s safe,” Rena replied.

“And if he doesn’t?”

“Then Michael will try to pawn you off on me, me being the only other female in this pack.”

“I’d be sorry to put you out.”

Rena tilted her head. “Really?”

“No. Just trying to bond with a potential pack-mate.”

Rena’s bark of laughter ended with a smile. No blood stained the she-wolf’s clothes. There was no ash in her hair or other evidence of having fought vampires tonight. Rena looked calm on the surface, though Kaitlin doubted this female ever embodied the word
calm.

She wondered what they all did when they weren’t prowling for bad guys. Fight each other for sport?

As Rena’s eyes slid past Kaitlin, the she-wolf’s smile faded. “The king approaches,” she said. “Prepare to bow.”

Chapter 11

A
heat wave preceded Michael, the kind of warmth that combated the chills icing half of Kaitlin’s spine.

Being in close proximity to Michael meant moving toward his species one internal trick at a time. Refusing to look at him was not an option, though. The sheer magnificence of Michael striding toward them stirred up feelings that moved Kaitlin way down deep.

Even after being chased by vampires and fighting off round after round of chills caused by the threat of gaining a whole new identity, Kaitlin wanted Michael. Badly.

Michael’s eyes were on her as he came up alongside. Those eyes were like green flames. Concern for her registered within his gaze, and also something of a deeper, more personal nature. Whatever it was elicited tingling sensations on the back of her neck. Every glance, look, gaze, snapped their bond tighter.

“Good play with the alarm.” He spoke without turning his fiery gaze down a notch, and in a voice that resonated as half gravel, half growl. Kaitlin wanted to return that growl, and choked off the sound by closing a hand around her throat.

“You sent that vampire back to whatever the opposite of heaven’s pearly gates might be?” Rena asked, interrupting the shared heat of the moment.

“This wasn’t a vampire.” Michael’s tone was tentative and thoughtful.

“What?” Rena asked, as if she hadn’t heard that right.

“Wolf,” Michael said. “And he got away.”

Cade, standing quietly behind Michael, spoke. “That might explain what I wanted you to see. You do see it—the thing that I see?”

Michael said, “Yes. Beyond the trees.”

“Oh.” Kaitlin groaned, sure more bloodsuckers were showing up and that there was going to be an endless supply of them before she noticed that the Weres were purposefully avoiding staring directly at those trees. They had not locked on to that spot the way she’d seen them lock on to vampires. Their wolf radar was humming.

“Trespasser,” Rena muttered. “Is that the one that got away, Michael?”

He shook his head. “That sucker was a mindless beast.”

“This one’s Lycan,” Cade said. “I can feel the vibe from here. He feels a lot like you, Michael.”

“Friend or foe, that wolf should know better than to show up unannounced,” Rena remarked.

Wolf. They were talking about a wolf, not a vampire, and the Weres’ apprehension was contagious. It had been a rogue wolf chasing her into a corner in the library. These Weres called all unwelcome, unexpected guests rogues. Mindless beasts, Michael had said.

She was about to look for the source of their newest concern when Michael laid a hand on her arm without addressing her.

“Cade,” he said to the big Were.

“I’ll watch her,” Cade was quick to reply, possibly hearing Michael’s silent command.

“I’m going with you.” Rena took a step in the direction of the trees after Michael did.

Michael gestured for Rena to wait. “This is my job. If that wolf has bad intentions, we would have known by now. Besides, he smells good. How many bad guys can you say that about?”

Michael’s levity didn’t lighten the mood. Kaitlin got it—the fact that wolves didn’t cross another pack’s boundaries without permission, and that more than one of them had obviously done so tonight. She was learning the rules one at a time.

When Michael strode toward the trees, Cade’s hand replaced Michael’s on her arm. “Pack business,” he said.

“Really bad timing,” Rena added. “The area still reeks of vampire dust, and now this.”

“There aren’t any other packs around here?” Kaitlin looked from Cade to Rena.

“None close,” another as yet nameless Were said, coming through the crowd to stop in front of Kaitlin. “Name’s Devlin.”

He eyed her rudely. Nearly as tall as Michael, and leaner than either Michael or Cade, this Were had straight chin-length brown hair that hid half his face. He was dressed like the others in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. Unlike the others, he wasn’t tidy. His shirttail was out, and he had missed a few buttons. Bits of ash clung to his right shoulder—the remains of the vampires, singular or plural, that he had slain tonight.

“Now isn’t the time to flirt,” Rena chastised. “Get a grip on your libido, Dev. Strange shit is coming down.”

Devlin ignored her. “I’m Irish. You’re Irish,” he said to Kaitlin, leaning closer to her, invading her personal space. “Right?”

Kaitlin threw Rena another quick glance before replying. “My family was from Kerry, yes. Way back.”

“Magical place, Kerry.” When Devlin’s lips upturned at the corners, Kaitlin wasn’t sure she liked the wryness of that grin.

“What is it with the Irish?” Rena snapped without taking her eyes from Michael’s retreating backside. “You act like other Irish people are all long lost friends.”

Devlin shrugged. “Ireland is a small country.”

“You can always go back there,” Rena suggested.

“Why bother, when everyone has come here?” Devlin’s grin widened. His rapt attention made Kaitlin more nervous than she already was. Even though these wolves were protecting her, she felt caged. She felt trapped by the thought of what might happen in two days’ time when the moon was full. She now had vampires
and
rogue werewolves after her. How unlucky could a girl get?

Cade wasn’t going to let her go anywhere without a chaperone, and she knew better than to try to shake these Weres again. Doing so might prove to be a suicidal move with so many alternate species hiding in the dark. In this case, werewolves were the safer bet.

Looking at Michael left her feeling uneasy. Like the physical war going on in her body between fever and ice, she faced another kind of quandary. She wanted to stay away from Michael to avoid the emergence of her wolf, while at the same time she mourned his departure.

* * *

Lycan
was a distinct scent that most Weres recognized long before seeing the bearer of that scent. Actually, it was more like blood calling to blood, and a vibration that came off as a smell.

Michael’s awareness told him this now as he filed details about this newcomer near the trees in his data banks.

Lycan. Capable. Expensive clothes. Radiating a kind of power that depicts a position of authority.

“Hello, Michael,” the Were said when Michael got within ten feet.

This Lycan had a voice that matched his strong Were vibe.

“You know me?” Michael paused to get a look at the stranger.

“From a long time ago,” the Lycan said. “Your father told me to look you up when I got here.”

“You know my father?”

“I know Anderson Hunter well.”

“Yet you came here unannounced.”

The Were nodded. “That couldn’t be helped. We tracked our prey to this location and have just arrived in Clement. When I heard the alarm in the building over there, I came to investigate and saw you. I waited for you to approach so that I could introduce myself and apologize for intruding.”

Michael said, “And you are?”

“Dylan.”

“From?”

“Miami.”

Michael’s memory churned up a name. “Judge Landau’s son?”

“In the flesh, and sorry to have to reintroduce myself in this way.”

Michael nodded. “I remember you.”

“I was hoping you would. That makes things a whole hell of a lot easier.”

The newcomer was tall, fair-complexioned and would be considered incredibly handsome by most of the women on the face of the earth, Michael had to admit after careful scrutiny. Dylan had long blond hair, very light in color, that would have hung to his shoulders if not tied back. Dressed in jeans, a black long-sleeve shirt and black boots, Dylan Landau gave an impression of being human at first glance, while probably not so completely human after a second look from someone who knew better. A hint of wolf was there, etched on Dylan’s face, sculpting his appearance.

Michael did remember this guy. Dylan Landau was the pure-blooded offspring of the big Miami pack’s Alpha, a Were Michael’s father often associated with. Though Dylan was a few years older than Michael’s twenty-five, Michael recalled visiting the exclusive Landau compound on occasion and watching Dylan and his friends.

“You chased prey here?” Michael asked.

Dylan stepped forward. “I’ve been helping some friends track a rogue.”

Michal wondered if Dylan’s rogue might be the same rogue he’d fought in the library, and waited to ask about that.

“We’re three hours from Miami. That’s a long chase across many pack lines,” he said.

Dylan shrugged. “This is personal for my friends, and therefore personal for me. Do you give us permission to be here?”

Michael nodded. “Do you hunt a werewolf, or a vampire?”

“Wolf.”

“You know that wolf is here?” Michael asked.

“Yes. He’s a fast, slippery sucker,” Dylan said. “This is someone you wouldn’t want to meet face-to-face or have hanging around. That alone warranted trespassing in your territory without advance notice.”

Damn it
, Michael silently swore. This was more bad news on a night already full of it.

“I might have just seen that rogue. We need this right now about as much as we need a hole in the head, Dylan. We have had sudden vamp problems. They’ve appeared out of nowhere in numbers that, if tonight was an indication, are almost more than we can handle with a small pack like ours. And then a sick Were appears in a room full of people.”

Dylan said, “Sick Were, you say? Probably wouldn’t be our guy, then.”

“So we now have two strange Weres loose in Clement? Hell, what are the odds? Have you tracked your rogue to one place in particular?”

“Somewhere in there.” Dylan waved at the closest buildings.

“We just cleared out the old brick building. That rogue got away, injured.”

“It’s as we feared, then,” Dylan said. “Our prey already has made some friends.”

Michael ran a hand over his hair. “Who is this wolf you’re after?”

“Name’s Chavez. He’s been caught several times on our home turf, only to manage to get away. The last time he fled, he ate his shirt in the back of a police car to get rid of evidence. He’s so slippery, nothing sticks.”

Michael tried not to show too much concern with news that was so much worse than bad. “I’ve heard the name. Chavez makes the underground fight rings and creates his own little Were armies that kill cops.”

“That’s the guy,” Dylan said. “A bad wolf that keeps on ticking.”

“Who came with you on this hunt? Did you bring your own pack to try to catch the bastard?”

“I came with two Weres directly connected to one of those fight rings. The first goes by the name of Scott. Adam Scott. Miami cop, and pack-mate. The second is a talented she-wolf whose brother was murdered by one of Chavez’s anti-cop fight-and-bite parties.”

The news left Michael queasy.

“Old grudges run deep,” Dylan went on. “The two wolves I travel with have scores to settle, which as we both know makes them twice as dangerous to an adversary, even if it is a notorious killer like Chavez. We got word that Chavez was heading this way and decided to do something to contain the problem.”

Michael glanced around. Now that students were dispersing from the lawn by the library, he had a clear picture in his mind of the other visiting Weres in Dylan’s group. Besides Dylan, the she-wolf he’d mentioned was also a full-blooded Lycan. Adam Scott wasn’t.

He caught no hint of Chavez or the rogue that had escaped from the library. If they were hiding, it was in a safe place.

“Your friends are waiting by the side of the building,” he said.

“Yes. We’re biding time until the people clear out.”

“Just so you know, there are plenty of vampires willing to get in the way of anything you might do.”

“So we trade,” Dylan suggested. “You help us and we help you.”

Michael considered that suggestion. He wasn’t naive. His pack was comprised of a few strong Weres. Beside Dylan and his big-city friends, however, some of whom were cops and detectives in their day jobs, his own pack-mates were babes. Relative to the world of hardened supernaturally gifted criminals like this Chavez character, his pack would have to be doubly on guard and in top form.

Then there was Kaitlin, the little rebel who refused to follow directions or stay put. Who knew what kind of trouble Kaitlin would get into with the full moon only two nights away? Chances were good that she’d need help with her transformation, and he wanted to be there for her.

Luck hadn’t exactly come his way lately. He had thought about calling Miami for help with the onslaught of bloodsuckers, and now he didn’t need to. Help had just dropped into his backyard. The negative here was that the new Weres had brought a couple of bad guys with them. The worst sort of bad guys, as he’d just seen. And Chavez was rumored to be bad wolf number one for the creation of more dangerous rogue werewolves than anyone Michael had ever heard rumor of.

“Michael?”

Dylan was waiting for a reply to his question about working together and trading aid, and there was only one answer. For some reason trouble had picked quiet, rural Clement, Florida, for its next stomping ground. And that was just too damn bad for everybody.

“Deal,” Michael said, seeing no viable alternative.

* * *

“Wolves.”

Rena had said something but Kaitlin still couldn’t focus properly. The landscape around her had again fuzzed over, blurring her surroundings, needling her awareness with a message she couldn’t grasp. The moon was affecting her, too, though the rules werewolves went by told her that wasn’t possible.

At least she was no longer the center of attention.

Most of the students and library staff had gone. Only a handful of people milled around by the old building. The area wasn’t as empty as it seemed, though. Smells were magnified to form solid objects that she remembered from the dreams. The greenery of the trees. The dampness of grass. Everything the wind carried.

There were ghosts. Things she could sense without seeing. Michael had gone to meet one of these formless entities and Kaitlin restlessly watched.

The tension of the Weres beside her hadn’t eased. She wondered if they also just sensed the ghosts, or if they knew what was going on. Cade’s hand, on her arm, wasn’t motionless. Rena shifted her weight from foot to foot as if she was trying to make up her mind about what to do.