Burning Ice: 6 (Werewolf Sentinels) (6 page)

“You’re finally back,” Wren said. “Your date must have gone well if you stayed overnight.”

“I thought so,” Riya replied as she took out a frying pan from the cupboard. She placed it on top of the stovetop. “I was supposed to have lunch with Capac, but he bailed on me, through a text message, no less.”

“You’re worried he won’t see you again.” Wren said it as a statement rather than a question.

“Yeah.” Riya didn’t normally talk about men with Wren, but she didn’t have anyone else. Plus, her roommate had seemed so certain Capac would stick around.

“Don’t be.”

She whisked two eggs and a bit of milk in a bowl before she dumped the mixture into the frying pan. “I don’t know how you can be so certain when you’ve never even met Capac.”

“Call it intuition. I’m sure he’ll be calling you tomorrow. Did you meet all his friends last night?”

“Yes. They were all nice. I guess one of the couples just found out they’re expecting their first baby. Dinner was a celebration of sorts for that.”

“Are any of them single?”

Riya stirred her eggs. “Two of them were. I think Carson is in his thirties while Ryder is around your age, though when you look him in the eyes he seems older than that.”

“Can you introduce me to him?”

“Maybe. It all depends on whether or not I see Capac again, which I hope I do.”

“You could always call Capac and invite him over here. Tell him to bring Ryder with him.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Thanks. I guess I’ll let you finish making your eggs before I get something to eat as well.”

Wren left the kitchen. Riya shook her head. She still didn’t understand the change in her roommate. The other woman had spoken more words to her in the last two days than she had in a year. Not that Riya minded. She’d tried to become closer with Wren before and had always been unsuccessful.

Riya finished her eggs, then put them on a plate. She took her food to her bedroom where she turned on her laptop to check her emails while she ate. There was one from her parents again, sharing the latest attractions they’d seen on their holiday. She hit reply and wrote a message in between mouthfuls. She made no mention of Capac just in case he didn’t call her as he said he would.

The bastard was playing with them. Capac stood in the large, open space of an abandoned warehouse near the docks along with the other sentinels as well as Ryder, Brice, Tad and some handpicked members from the local werewolf pack. Once again Tanner had slipped through their fingers.

This was the fourth place Ryder had been able to pinpoint using his locator spell, but it appeared Tanner knew they were coming and was gone before they arrived. And he threw it back in their faces by leaving a note behind for them to find, taunting them. Each time they missed the new dark wolf leader Ryder would have to use his spell again, which took away precious moments.

“This is fucking ridiculous,” Tad said with a growl. “What good are these sentinels and their shaman if they can’t find my mate? It’s been hours since my asshole brother and the dark wolf took her. Who knows what they have done to her.”

“I know you’re going through hell with the separation anxiety, but you have to calm down,” Brice said to his pack member. “Without Ryder, we wouldn’t have been able to find even these places.”

Tad ran his hand roughly through his short, blond hair. “Shit, I know. This is the longest I’ve been apart from Lora since we became mated. It’s killing me to think of what she has to be enduring right now.”

Edensaw came to stand in front of Tad. “We’re doing our best to get your mate back. I know it’s hard, but we can’t rush off blindly without knowing where Tanner will be. It would be like searching for a needle in a haystack.”

“I have it,” Ryder called from where he stood off to the side, away from everyone else.

Capac hoped this next place would end up being the spot where they managed to corner Tanner. It was already late into the night and with the luck they were having they could be chasing the dark wolves into the following day.

With his mating urge riding him, and seeing what Tad was going through, Capac really missed Riya. He’d thought she would have texted him back after he’d had to break off their date, but every time he checked his phone there wasn’t one from her. He hoped she wasn’t mad at him. If she was, he’d have to make it up to her. It sucked that only he knew what she meant to him, that there was no chance of him walking out of her life.

They all piled back into their various vehicles where the mates waited and headed for the area Ryder had directed them to. This time they ended up on vacant treed land on the outskirts of Juneau.

Once again they left the mates, and this time Ryder, in the cars while the rest of them headed for the wooded area. Capac took on his dire wolf form as the others shifted as well when they were hidden from the road by the tall trees. His senses more acute in this form, he sniffed the air around him, searching for tracks.

Tad was the first one to pick up a scent trail. He let out a growl, then took off at a run. They charged after him. Capac could smell the scents of two male dark wolves and a female werewolf, and they were fresh. Maybe this time they would catch up with the ones they hunted.

They broke out into a small clearing that consisted of a hill of rock. At the top stood Tanner and Greg along with Lora, who was held firmly in Greg’s arms. She didn’t appear to be hurt, but there were tear tracks down her face. Her gaze jumped from each of them until she let out a whimper as it landed on her mate.

Tad bunched his hind legs under him as if to jump up the small hill, but Brice shifted to human form and caught him. “Don’t. This could very well be a trap. You charging up there won’t help us get Lora back.”

They all shifted and moved as a group to stand by Tad and Brice. Tanner chuckled. “Yes, Tad, better listen to what your pack leader has to say. Keep your distance.”

Edensaw stepped forward. “Let the woman go, Tanner. You’ve made your point that you’re going to be more evil than Andre. Don’t you think you’ve made the woman suffer enough?”

“Edensaw,” Tanner said with a condescending smile. “I figured this would draw you sentinels out. As for ending Lora’s suffering, I was just waiting for you to arrive to do just that.” He looked at Greg. “Hold her still.”

Tad let out a bellow as he fought loose of Brice’s hold. Tanner shifted to his wolf form, stood on his hind legs and bit Lora where her neck and shoulder met, drawing blood. She stiffened as a pained scream tore out of her. Tanner swung around and met Tad, who had once again shifted to his wolf form. Lora’s screams filled the air as the two wolves came together head-on.

Capac rushed up the hill along with the rest of the others. Before they could reach Tanner and Tad, six more dark wolves came barreling out of the trees and went on the attack.

The fight that ensued was vicious and bloody. It soon became apparent that the only ones who could hold their own against the dark wolves were Capac and his wolf brothers. They were able to beat them back enough to have their battle move farther up the hill were Tanner fought with Tad.

It wasn’t hard to see the dark wolf leader was playing with Tad. Tanner took vicious swipes at the other werewolf, raking his claws down his sides, leaving bloody furrow marks behind in Tad’s light-colored fur.

Capac temporarily took out an opponent by taking hold of him by the back of his neck and snapping it. From past experience, he knew the dark wolf would only be out of the fight for a few seconds, but it was enough to give Capac the edge to climb the rest of the way up the hill. He’d just reached the top when Tanner subdued Tad and bit him in the neck as he’d done Lora. Tad shifted to human form and bellowed in pain.

Tanner stepped back and shifted as well. He smiled at Capac. “And that makes two more dark wolves added to my pack. They’re mine now.”

Capac launched himself at Tanner and hit him square in the chest, sending him backward, not giving the dark wolf leader time to shift. He bit and scratched, using his great strength to pull Tanner down to his back. He almost had him by the throat, but Tanner punched Capac in the side of the head, making him see stars.

The dark wolf leader rose to his feet, wiping blood from the scratches Capac had made on his cheek. “Nice try, sentinel, but it’s going to take a lot more than that to take me down. I also couldn’t help noticing you have a woman’s scent on you. Could it be you at last found your mate? Since it’s not ingrained with yours, I’m going to say you haven’t claimed her yet. Maybe I should search her out and make her a dark wolf.”

A surge of rage shot through Capac over the thought of Tanner coming anywhere near Riya. With a loud growl, he jumped at Tanner, going for his throat once more. This time Tanner caught Capac by his neck and held on. The dark wolf leader murmured some words Capac didn’t understand. He whimpered as a sharp pain tore through his head. After a few seconds, he was tossed away. Tanner followed through with a sharp kick to Capac’s ribs, which knocked the breath out of him.

As Capac fought to drag air into his lungs, Tanner said, “Thanks for all that info. Tell Edensaw congrats on his baby. I now see you have a new shaman. He’s the one who caused Andre so much trouble. I’ll have to do something about that. And do you want me to tell your Riya you said hello when I pay her a little visit? I’ll have to remember her address.”

Capac rose to his paws with a snarl. Tanner swung out with his foot, catching Capac on the side of his head. He fell to the ground. The last thing he saw before his world went black was Tanner’s foot rushing toward him once again.

* * * * *

“Capac, wake up.”

The sound of his alpha’s voice brought Capac to sudden wakefulness. He blinked open his eyes to find himself surrounded by his wolf brothers. He shifted to his human form.

He sat up and looked around. “Tanner? Where did he go?”

“He managed to escape, taking Tad and Lora with him. He used some kind of spell that made him and his pack seem to disappear into the darkness.”

Capac stood. “How long was I out?”

“Only for a few seconds. Brice and his pack members have gone to see if they can pick up Tanner’s trail.”

“We have to go to the cars and check on Ryder and the girls. Tanner used another spell on me, one where he basically pulled whatever information he wanted right out of my head. He knows about Ryder now and the new baby. He also has Riya’s address. I have to go to her.”

Edensaw spun on his heel and took off at a run toward where they’d left the cars. Capac and the others followed behind him. Much to Capac’s relief they found no dark wolves trying to get at the mates and their shaman.

Once Edensaw had Cassidy out of the car and in his arms, he explained to the others what Capac had told him. He then looked at Capac. “Go to your mate. You’ll have to bring her back to our place for her protection.”

“She has a roommate. What about her?”

“You’ll have to bring her along as well. We can’t leave an innocent alone for Tanner to find.”

“Hopefully neither one of them will be difficult about it. I know Riya was supposed to go to work in a few hours.”

“Just bring them home and we’ll help explain everything to them.”

Capac nodded. “All right. I’m going to need a ride there.”

“I’ll drive you,” Ryder said. “Without Tad, everyone will fit in the other vehicles.”

“Go,” Edensaw said. “We’ll stick around to help Brice try to pick up Tanner’s trail, though I doubt we’ll find one.”

He nodded at his alpha, then got into Ryder’s black four-wheel-drive all-terrain vehicle. He gave the shaman the address to their destination. The sense of urgency he felt to get to Riya increased once they drove away. Capac had no idea what he was going to say to convince his mate and her roommate to leave their apartment in the early hours of the morning with not much of an explanation.

“It’ll be okay,” Ryder said. “I don’t think you have to worry about Tanner going to Riya’s apartment before we get there. Now that he knows about me, he’s going to try to undo the protection spells I put up to keep the dark wolves from finding out information about the sentinels. I’m a bigger threat at the moment.”

“Then until you come into your full powers we’ll have to keep you under watch.”

“That will only be for a short time.”

Once they reached the apartment building, Capac looked at Ryder. “Will you come up with me? I might need help with the roommate.”

“Sure, why not? It will get us home faster. I’m about done in.”

Capac got out of the car and walked with Ryder to the building. He walked into the vestibule and scanned the board by the intercom system until he found Riya’s name. He then typed in the numbers that would call up to her place.

It rang and rang until finally Riya answered in a sleepy voice. “Hello?”

“Riya, it’s Capac. Can you please let me come up?”

“Capac? Do you have any idea what time it is? I have to be up in a couple of hours to get ready for work. Can’t you come back later?”

“No, I can’t. If this wasn’t urgent I wouldn’t be here. Please, will you let me in?”