Fade (38 page)

“I’m fine,” I said, meaning it.

Dace and the wolf would be okay, and even if I was no longer able to shift, I still I belonged by their side. They were stronger with me than without me. They always had been, and they always would be.
We
always would be.

After being unable to save Chiran, I think I’d needed to know that.

“Are the wolves okay?” I asked Naomi, wiping tears from my face.

“They’re fine,” she said. Something flickered in her eyes.

“They’re here,” I guessed.

She bit her lip and then nodded.

“I want to see them.” I pushed to my feet, wobbling a little. What kind of sedative had they given me?

“I don’t think—”

“They can help look for Mandy,” I cut her off, not caring what she thought right then. “If they’re here, then they aren’t doing that.”

“Dace won’t like it.” She might not have been scared of that possibility, but she wasn’t looking forward to dealing with his anger either.

“He doesn’t have to like it,” I muttered. He could yell at me for it later if he felt so inclined. I didn’t think he would though. I hobbled into the kitchen and out onto the back porch with Professor Edwards and his wife trailing behind me.

Day had given way to night at some point while I’d been out. Stars shone overhead, little tufts of cloud floating through the sky.

I pushed open the back door and gritted my teeth before shuffling down the steps. My muscles screamed as I sank down on the bottom step, breathing unsteadily.

“Buka,” I called, confident she would hear me. I knew what drew them here now: Dace.

They were as bound to us as we were to one another. We’d led wolves and men into battle against Sköll and Hati for eons, and they answered that call instinctively. The pack felt their coming, even if they hadn’t known what it meant, and they came to stand against them.

I waited.

A shadow flashed at the edge of the lawn, darker than the others. It crept closer.

“Come here, Buka,” I said, peering at the shadows.

She broke through, loping toward me, graceful and on edge at once.

“Hello,” I greeted as she stopped a few feet from me.

She whined low in her throat.

“Dace is hurt.” A tear slid from the corner of my eye as I said it. Even though I knew he would be okay, knowing he’d been hurt at all killed me.

Buka flew to my side in an instant. I threw my arms around her neck, burying my face in her fur. I took a deep breath and shuddered. She laid her head on my shoulder in a timeless, human gesture of shared hurt. She loved Dace, too.

Professor and Mrs. Edwards stirred behind us. Their amazement at how easily Buka and I comforted one another was evident. We were not woman and wolf though, but friends. Naomi, at least, should have understood.

“I need your help, Buka,” I told her after a minute, removing my arms from her neck so I could look at her. She sat back on her haunches at my feet. “One of Dace’s humans has been taken. She’s in danger. You and Kalei must help find her.”

Buka laid her ears back, her lip curling.

“Yes,” I said, reaching out to scratch her head. “He will be angry if she’s hurt. And so will I,” I added, the words burning with truth. “She was very nice to me. A friend.”

Buka whined again.

“We have to find her before Dace comes back. Sköll and Hati hurt him Buka.” I narrowed my eyes, the words sending shards of anger through my mind. “They almost killed him.”

Buka growled dangerously.

I knew what she wanted.

“We will find them,” I promised her, meaning every word. We would find them, and we would kill them. If it was the last thing I did, I’d help ensure that. Not because we had to, but because I
wanted
to. For what they’d done to Dace. “But we have to find the girl first, the human.”

Buka rose from her haunches.

“Thank you, Buka.” I patted her head.

She stepped forward and touched her forehead to mine once before loping back into the trees at the edge of the lawn. Her howl rent the air.

I rose to my feet as the howl faded, then turned back to the house. Professor and Mrs. Edwards watched me, their expressions indecipherable.

“They’ll find her,” I promised. I only prayed the wolves found her in time.

“How did you … ?” Professor Edwards started and then trailed off when Naomi nudged him.

I met his gaze, feeling oddly defiant.

He gave me a weak smile, then looked away.

“I want to see him,” I said again, turning to Naomi.

“Soon,” she promised. Her expression was both apologetic and uncompromising.

I would have to settle for that answer. Dace’s wolf wouldn’t hurt me, but I didn’t want to cause them any more stress than was necessary. Until the wolf retreated and I could make Dace believe, I had to be patient.

Naomi and the Professor kept a silent vigil with me until the wee hours of the morning, on red alert for any news. I sat curled in an armchair, staring into the empty fireplace and waiting. Periodically, one of their cell phones rang, but the calls were never from my father or Gage.

By two o’clock, the calm that had settled into my mind began wearing off. I needed to see Dace with my own two eyes, touch him with my own two hands, but his wolf wouldn’t allow that any more than Dace would. Were there any male species that weren’t overprotective and stubborn?

The furtive, wary glances the Professor kept shooting me didn’t help. He looked at me as if trying to figure out if I was an alien. His wife behaved little better. She didn’t flush with guilt when I turned at the feel of her eyes on me. She only moved her gaze unhurriedly along, a thoughtful glimmer in her eyes.

More than once, I repressed the urge to tell them exactly what I was in an attempt to get them to stop staring at me. The numbing effects of the drugs had long since worn off, and I hurt. Every inch of me burned. There were no bruises, but I felt like I should have been covered in them.

At three, a howl outside split the frustrating silence wide open.

I leapt to my feet, racing to the back door before the familiar howl cut off. Naomi and the Professor were right on my heels.

I threw open the door then raced down into the yard, oblivious to the protests my body screamed at me. Buka and her cub, Fuki, waited there for me. Fuki rocked in place.

“Did you find her, Buka?” I dropped to my knees in front of her.

She howled again.

“Is she alive?” I demanded, my heart galloping in my chest.

Fuki yapped, dancing around in a childlike display of excitement.

“Oh, thank God.” I sighed.

Professor Edward’s sigh echoed.

“Can you take us to her?” I put my hands to either side of Buka’s muzzle, staring at her intently.

She made that oddly human, oddly formal nodding gesture between my hands.

I climbed to my feet in an instant, ready to follow.

“It would be faster if I went,” Naomi spoke, laying a restraining hand on my arm. “I can keep up with her.”

“Not alone,” her husband said. “Whoever took her could still be there.”

“Is she alone?” I asked Buka.

She whined.

“She’s alone,” I told Naomi, “but maybe not for long.” I made the only smart decision. “You go, and have the other shifters meet you there.” I hated making that decision, hated damning myself to stay behind, but I knew I had to do it.

The shifters would be faster than me. Even if they didn’t move like Dace did, if they didn’t have his caliber of speed, they would be faster than me. And their perfect vision would see what my eyes could not. I would be a hindrance, not a help.

Naomi nodded.

Fuki danced in place, impatient to be off.

“Take your cell phone,” the Professor reminded her. “Call when you find her so we can let the others know.”

She placed her hand upon his cheek in a silent farewell.

“Go, Buka,” I said as Naomi stepped away from her husband.

Fuki yapped, and like a flash, they raced toward the trees. Even in her slacks and pumps, Naomi easily kept pace. I wanted to run with them, to race to Mandy. I balled my hands at my sides.

I watched until I couldn’t see them anymore, and then turned back to the house.

“Does being left behind bother you?” I asked Professor Edwards as we trooped inside to take up another vigil.

“Sometimes,” he said, holding the door open for me. “I would love to run with her and experience what she experiences.”

I mulled that over for a while, brewing a pot of coffee.

“Is loving a shifter hard for you?” I glanced over my shoulder at him.

He shook his head, a soft smile on his lips. “Loving her is the easiest thing I’ve ever done. She’s made me incredibly happy for thirty years.”

I nodded, wanting nothing more than to be in his shoes in thirty years, telling the younger generation how easy it was to love Dace and his wolf, and how much they loved me in return. I wanted it more than anything.

Chapter Twenty-Six

P
rofessor Edwards and I spent the next half hour in the kitchen, as silent and expectant as before, but with less awkwardness this time. Professor Edwards didn’t shoot me furtive glances. He huddled over his coffee cup, lost in his own thoughts.

His adoration for his wife was clear. So was his worry. I could relate.

Dad and Gage still hadn’t called, but I tried not to panic. Dace would be fine. I considered trying to get back into the wolf’s mind just to reassure myself, then decided for the hundredth time not to do it.

Patience was highly overrated.

I rose from the table to refill my coffee cup instead.

I stirred sugar into my cup, watching the way the liquid spun in the glass.

A clatter sounded behind me. Professor Edwards grunted, the sound pained.

Something tingled as though I’d grown spider senses.

I turned in Professor Edwards’ direction, not sure what I felt.

I watched, surprised and vaguely horrified as he toppled from his chair, his mouth a little
o
of surprise. His eyes were glossed over.

My mind lurched in one of those sickening spins. Time seemed to slow, leap forward and then slow again, scrambling to make sense of the scene.

Ronan stepped from the shadows of the living room doorway.

I yelped, hot coffee splashing across my hand. I hissed at the burn and flung off steaming droplets.

“Arionna.” Ronan’s cold voice greeted me even though his empty eyes were on Professor Edwards.

“What did you do to him?” I demanded as he stepped around the Professor.

“He’s sleeping,” Ronan said. “He’ll be fine.”

I glared at him, edging away from the coffee pot and inching toward the back door, still calm, but preparing.

“I wouldn’t do that.” He scowled at me.

I stopped inching forward. “What do you want?”

“We need to talk.” He took a step toward me. “Did the pack find Mandy?”

“You took her.” I felt calm, unruffled.
Weird.

“I had to.” He took another step toward me. Chills raced down my spine at the simple, matter of fact way he said it, as if he viewed his actions as the most reasonable thing in the world.

“Why?”

“Taking her was the only way to ensure the pack wasn’t blamed for Dani’s murder, and I needed to get you alone. Did you kill the wolf in the woods?”

“Did I—?” I blinked, trying to grasp what he asked me. “Of course not! You did.” I glared at him, anger fighting to break through the stillness. The calm wavered, but held.

He shook his head, his greasy locks swinging across his face. “I did not.”

The way he said it left no room for doubt. Ronan had not killed Chiran.

“And Dani? Did you kill her?”

Something flickered in his eyes, the first real human emotion I’d seen from him since he’d glared so balefully at Dace at the rave. The emotion was hard, twisted, and grief-stricken.

“You loved her,” I whispered, shocked. Ronan had been in love with Dani. “What are you?”

“You mean you don’t know?” His eyes were hard and cruel, as if what he felt for Dani never reflected there. “I would have thought you had guessed by now.”

“Guessed what?”