In the Beginning... (56 page)

“Becca, who?” Mallory wrapped her arms
around Becca when Aodhan took the other woman and lifted her
against his chest.

“The Lupoiux. You have to
take
her!
I have to
go back. To help Matt.” Becca’s words were frantic despite the fact
that she could barely stand. “He’s in trouble, and he’s
hurt!”

“Matt?” Aodhan demanded of Becca. “Do you
mean Matthuin Lycurgus?”

Becca’s body straightened, and her eyes
narrowed. “Who are you?”

“I see how it is...Little sister, I am
Matthuin’s cousin, Aodhan. We played together as boys. Tell me now,
where is he? And how can I help him? And who is this girl?”

Becca stared at him then back at
Mallory.

“Becca! You can trust him. Would he be with
me if you couldn’t?” Mallory asked, her attention turning toward
the woman Aodhan still held. “Who is she?”

“I think she’s our aunt. And
Jade’s sister. I’ll explain it later. Right now, I have to go help
him! The Lupoiux pack found me, and took me back to their camp.
Matthuin saved me, and
her.
I had to leave him in order to help her. But he
needs me!” Becca was both demanding and pleading. Mallory had never
seen her little sister so frantic. “Please!”

“We will fetch my cousin, little sister. I
promise you he has survived many such situations and shall survive
this one, as well. He is fierce, strong, and brave. Mallory, you
are to take this girl back to Barlaam. He will care for her. I
suspect she is indeed young Jade’s sister. The resemblance is too
uncanny. You will send Cormac and Rydere to meet me if I don’t
return in half an hour after you. Do you understand me? I need your
sister to guide me, as I don’t have Tajic to track Matthuin for
me.” Aodhan loaded the girl into her car next to the disgruntled
cat.

“But...what if the Lupoiux hurt you?” What
if something happened to him and she lost him just when she’d
figured out how she felt about him?

“I cannot leave my cousin any more than you
could leave one of yours. Now, go. I will keep your sister safe.
And will return to you shortly.”

“I’m trusting you to do just that.”

“Go.”

The girl moved fast through the woods at the
base of the mountains. But then again, his youngest sister-in-law
was no longer human. How long since she had been bitten? “Tell me,
girl. Did they bite you or did my cousin?”

“They did.” Her worry was strong, and even
in the rapidly darkening twilight Aodhan could see how much she
cared for Matthuin. “I met him after I was bitten.”

“And you were taken by the Lupoiux
when?”

“Yesterday, for the second time. Matthuin
and I got separated, and they found me again. I spent last night in
their camp. That’s where I found her. They had her tied up in a
damned cave.”

“Was she bitten?”

“Yes. Sometime yesterday. I don’t know how
long they’ve had her. I think she’s sick, too. Why are you with my
sister?”

“I kidnapped her. We came here today to get
her clothes.”

“You kidnapped her but you’re getting her
clothes?”

“It’s complicated. How far are we from
Matthuin?”

“Less than a mile. It took me longer to get
away. I had to drag her part of the way.”

Aodhan respected how she
downplayed what must have been a terrifying ordeal for her. She
reminded him greatly of his
Rajni
, and not just in looks. She
wasn’t as delicate as the middle sister, but she wasn’t as strong
as Mallory, either. Still, she was a good mate for his cousin.
Matthuin was a rare breed of Dardaptoan. His mother was
half-Dardaptoan, half-Druid, his father half Lupoiux and Witch. The
strange combination had given him a mess of gifts that made him
unique among their Kinds. He blended in with all Kinds, able to
appear as full-blooded in any Kind. It had served him and Aodhan
well.

Aodhan had assigned Matthuin the task of
infiltrating the Taniss Industries’ staff. He was supposed to
appear human, not get himself taken hostage by Lupoiux. “How badly
is Matthuin hurt?”

“I don’t know. He was fighting them so that
we could get away.” Her breath hitched, the only hint that she was
scared and holding back tears. What had Mallory said? This girl was
only twenty-one or two. So young. “I didn’t think I’d ever find
help.”

“Well, you have. And rest assured, I’ve
gotten Matthuin out of trouble more than a time or two.”

They said little more as
they hiked through the woods. Aodhan would have left her with her
sister, but what he’d told Mallory was true
-
-
he needed
the girl to lead him to his cousin.

She led him straight to the
edge of a camp of ragged and filthy Lupoiux. Thirty wolves in all
were visible
half women and children. The
men looked like complete degenerates. The same pack that surrounded
the Taniss vacation home? That Jambu had said were mercenaries?
They looked more like petty thieves and criminals.

Aodhan studied them
carefully. Matthuin was nowhere to be seen. A small hand wrapped
around his wrist and slid down his arm to his palm. His little
sister-in-law finger-spelled
c-a-v-e
on his hand until he nodded.

He pulled her close. “I’ll get him out. You
stay here and quiet. Wait five minutes then head back to the van.
Do you think you can find your way?”

She nodded. He handed her the keys. “Meet me
there. Have it running and in drive. When I bring him, we’ll have
to move quickly. We’re thirty minutes at the most from our home. If
we can get there in time, I can have my team take care of this
pack.”

Her whisper was low. “Most of the women are
not here by choice. They were kidnapped and raped, their boy
children killed. Don’t hurt them, please.”

Aodhan suppressed the hiss
that wanted to escape. Lupoiux females could be taken captive
and
bred
by Lupoiux
other than their mates once they’d initially been with their mates.
It was common practice among some of the more vile bands of dogs to
steal newly mated females and keep them as breeders. No doubt that
was what they’d had in mind for Mallory’s little sister. No doubt
that’s why a band of these Redd Gothan wolves had surrounded the
Taniss property, as well. They’d wanted Jierra and would have
stopped at nothing to get her. “They will hurt them no more. I can
promise you that.”

The only question Aodhan
still had was
why
Matthuin hadn’t killed the male wolves yet? Fifteen slovenly
wolves were no real threat to the other man. Aodhan thought
of
his female’s sister and it became
clearer. Matthuin was waiting, to give her time to get to freedom.
Then the other male would annihilate the dogs who’d threatened
her.

Aodhan would just have to give him a hand
with that. But it would necessitate a small change in plans. “Go
back to the van now. We can fit them all in it if we have to. Even
with your sister’s things inside. Have it ready and warm. Matthuin
and I will meet you there. Understand?”

She nodded and he felt the movement more
than saw it. “I’m going. I’m trusting you to get him out
safely.”

“I will. Now go.”

Aodhan waited until she started back up the
path they’d taken, carefully avoiding the slacking sentries. The
girl had maneuvered around them at least twice that Aodhan knew of,
once leading an injured girl, yet the two men patrolling the edge
of the camp hadn’t seen her. Was the girl just that skilled? Or
were the wolves that slovenly and complacent?

He took the cautious route and just assumed
Mallory’s sister had the training from her brother and Mallory to
know how to defend herself in whatever situation she found herself
in. He counted to two hundred slowly to give the girl several
minutes’ distance between Aodhan’s position and hers.

Seconds could mean the difference for
survival of any of them.

It took him two minutes to remove the threat
of the sentries, permanently. For wolves, they hadn’t even heard
him coming. For mercenaries, they seemed remarkably careless.

Pitiful, the lack of
training the men exhibited. Aodhan ensured his own troops were
ready to battle at a moment’s notice
and
trained them on how to recognize that a battle existed.

Why was such a pitiful,
rag-tag pack after the well-protected
Equa
lines of the Dardaptoan people?
Was someone else controlling the pack?

Aodhan slipped into the small opening just
behind the camp. It wasn’t guarded. That told him someone thought
Matthuin wasn’t much of a threat. So was his cousin still
alive?

Was Matthuin the Adrastos soul the Beansidhe
sought? Was he about to find his cousin gone, and have to tell that
newly mated female that she would have to raise their pups alone?
Mallory’s sister was so young to face that.

If that was the situation
Aodhan was about to find, he would ensure Matthuin’s pups,
his
heirs, were well cared
for. They would be Aodhan’s cousins, and Mallory’s nieces or
nephews. They would be cared for.

Aodhan ensured his footsteps were silent as
he approached the back of the lone sentry. A simple blow had the
youth of about twenty years falling to the cave floor.

The prisoner looked up. “Cousin. I thought I
recognized your scent. What brings you to this area?”

“I was out for an afternoon
drive with my
Rajni
, when we happened upon a pair of young women. Imagine my
surprise when my female identified one as her little sister. I was
then informed my flea-ridden cousin had found himself in a spot of
trouble.” Aodhan cut through the ropes binding his cousin. Matthuin
stood quickly. “Naturally, I had to come see for
myself.”

“I am grateful to you, Aodhan. For my
female’s sake. I take it she is safely out of harm’s way so that I
may do what needs to be done here?”

“She is about ten minutes away from us, I
think. I sent her back to the van. She should be waiting for us and
the women who are being kept hostage here. I take it you know what
needs to be done?”

“Yes. I’ve studied the
group
when not kept here in this den, that
is. There are sixteen women, and nineteen children. Of those, only
four of the women are here voluntarily. Their men leave them in
charge of the other women and children. Those men are currently out
sniffing around Rebecca’s home. Fourteen men are out of camp
now.”

“So which of the women need to come with us
when we leave and which will be a problem?”

“I will round those women up, personally.
They took great enjoyment in tormenting my mate and the other
girl.”

Aodhan understood. “And the children? How
many need to go with us?”

“All but seven, who belong to the women I’ve
mentioned.”

“Leave those women and their children, then.
We can tie the women and leave them amongst their dead. It will
serve as a clear message to the pack. This is the second time they
have threatened someone close to me. They were after Jierra and
Kindara just four days past.” Had the camp been exclusively filled
with adult male wolves Aodhan would just wipe them out, eliminate
the threat they presented. But with children present, that could
not be done.

“Done. Shall we?”

“Take out the males, first. Then round up
the women and children. We can sort them out and give them
options.”

Aodhan worked silently along with his
cousin. When they were finished sixteen male wolves, counting the
three guards Aodhan had already dispatched, were either dead or
unconscious on the ground. Aodhan bound the surviving males quickly
before they awoke. He’d hate to have to kill them if it was
unnecessary.

These wolves were young, either newly bitten
or under thirty. All of them. Someone was creating a pack through
unconventional and unethical means. Lupoiux did not just go around
biting others to form a pack. It was far from the Lupoiux way, and
was exceedingly dangerous as the newly turned were always harder to
control.

These wolflings presented no
challenge for the two far older warriors. Even though they were of
an age with Mallory’s twin, Rand was far more dangerous. Aodhan
wondered at the difference. One thing was easily
clear
—
Matthuin
could have escaped himself if he had not been hampered by his
female’s presence.

Many of the women and children were crying,
frightened of the two dark shadows among them. Most Lupoiux females
could not change into wolven form, but Aodhan did not assume that
none of these women could. It was entirely possible that one or two
would, if felt threatened enough. “Matthuin, if you are going to
offer protection and shelter, now is the time to do it. Your female
awaits, and there are still the fourteen wolves missing from this
pack.”

“These women here. Bind them.” Matthuin
indicated the women who were much better dressed than the rest.
“They think they are superior. Leave them lying in the dirt where
they belong.”

Aodhan did, then looked at the women huddled
together with their children. “I am Aodhan Adrastos, Warrior from
Dardanos. We would like to offer you and your children asylum
within our family walls until you can decide your futures. Whatever
you choose, you have our vow of safety.”

The women and their wide-eyed pups were
mostly silent, some nodding. One stepped forward and spoke. “We
gladly and thankfully take you up on that offer. But how? We have
small pups who cannot travel far in the dark and cold.”