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The grunts and yelps she heard from Alek as he tumbled along beside her told her he was in no better shape. She could smell sweet copper on the wind and not all of it was hers. She couldn't imagine the pain of being dragged with an erection.

“Tammy!” It was a scream. It was another full second before he could catch enough breath to talk again. “Tammy, you need to stop. You're hurting u—” Alek's plea was cut off by a pained sound and another spray of blood blossoming in the air.

Claire felt like she was falling down a mountainside. She had no control over how her body tumbled and skipped across the landscape, no hope of avoiding the jagged stones and fallen trees in her path. Trying to protect her battered, aching limbs and torso, she wrapped her arms around her chest, tucked in her chin, and tried to draw her legs up. She could tell from the pain that it would be days before some of the deep bruises surfaced and suspected she would need more stitches for some of the injuries to her arms.

Despite being constantly banged about, Claire fought for control of the magic that clawed at her, but it was like being wrapped in barbed wire. Every time she eased the pressure in one place, another would tighten. Normally, she could focus her mind like her Alpha had taught her, but for some reason, this power wouldn't bend to her will. Maybe that was why it was so hard to put down a rogue—the magic just kept slipping through her fingers.

She prayed that the cougar wouldn't decide to climb a tree. Hopefully, she and Alek weighed enough to limit the cat's options, but there was no way to tell.

Though the destruction their passage left behind would make them easy to track, they were moving so fast, Claire doubted the others would catch up to them unless the cat tired. The unfamiliar landscape was a blur as the cougar and her unwilling captives zigzagged through the trees, across rocks, and under bushes.

Apparently Alek had managed to keep his bearings and knew where they were. “Tammy. No! No, you need to turn around.” Somehow he managed to yell loudly enough to be heard over the snapping of branches they crashed into. “I'm not kidding, Tammy. You can't do this.”

The stink of Alek's fear filled Claire's nose and her heart pounded. She gasped until she could get enough breath to speak. “What's wrong? What's happening?”

“She's headed for the canyon. It's too wide to jump and she knows it!”

Suicide. Plus murder. Mustn't forget the two tagalongs dragging behind. “Look, Tammy, I don't know you, but you don't seem like”—she let her body roll to avoid a tree, colliding with Alek in the process—“someone who would kill her brother. You're not a murderer.”

The tortured screech from the cougar was difficult to decipher. Claire wasn't skilled at cat languages. “Not … a … murderer. Not …
anything
.” An explosion of emotional scents hit Claire like a sledgehammer: anger, pain, sorrow, love. The conflicts dissolved hot peppers in cool water, wrapped Claire's nose in cookie spices, then burned to a crisp. She began to sneeze, losing what little control she had over her movements. Her nose broke against a rock. The pain was immediate and blinding and Claire felt like she was drowning in her own blood.

“Tammy! You don't have to give in to this!” Alek's voice was growing panicked. “Let us help you. We can get through this.”

“Sorry, puppyboy—” The magical tether tying Claire and Alek to the cat released and they tumbled backward, tangling with each other, as the cougar raced up the mountainside. Had the magic been Tammy's doing all along?

“Don't!” Alek got to his feet before Claire and sprinted after the big cat. Claire followed. She was pretty sure one or two ribs were broken, and possibly her foot, but it didn't matter. They had to reach the cat, see if there was a way to save her. She counted on adrenaline getting her through, enabling her to ignore most of her injuries, and suspected Alek was doing the same.

Claire could see the drop-off ahead—the big cat was headed straight toward it. Alek poured on more speed then leaped onto the cat's back just as her front paws cleared the cliff edge, clawing at thin air.

His weight and her momentum propelled them into the canyon.

 

CHAPTER 11

Alek couldn't let Tammy do this. He just couldn't. Maybe she was nearly rogue. But
nearly
wasn't irretrievable. He was confident she could be saved if he could just get her to listen to reason. Maybe it would take drugs or a healer, but he wasn't willing to throw away yet another family member just because she had mental health problems.

When Tammy had said “Not anything,” it spoke volumes to him. She was a cougar in a family of birds, just like he was a wolf. Alone in the crowd. His family meant well, but when it came down to it, an owl had more rights in the house than other Sazi.

The cuts and scrapes from his rough ride through the woods were nothing compared to the pain in his chest. Tammy shouldn't think there were no other options available to her.

He was embarrassed and angry with himself for giving in to such a base instinct as arousal at such a critical time. There was no excuse, and no way possible to apologize enough. Touching Claire like that had been unforgivable. He'd let himself be tempted by her smooth, curved body and a rush of energy like he'd never felt before. Even now it lingered, tingling his skin and numbing him to the serious wounds he knew he had. He could see the blood drying on his skin as he ran, and didn't even want to see what parts of him were damaged.

He was close enough to Tammy now to smell her fear, pain, and determination. That she wanted to end her life would make it far harder to fix whatever was wrong. But that was for later. Now he had to keep her from jumping. His only choice was to tackle her, drag her to the ground, and take whatever punishment she gave out.

Alek leaped forward, using his strength and his magic to push her down. It should have worked, except he was a second too late. There was no ground under Tammy's feet. Fingers clutched tight in her thick coarse fur, Alek felt the rush of wind in his face as they started to fall and his heart skipped a beat. The nearest ledge had to be a hundred feet down. Even if he survived—which was not guaranteed—he knew that Tammy wouldn't. He wrapped his arms around her heaving sides, feeling her heart beating like a trip-hammer against his skin as they dropped toward the canyon floor, far below.

Her whisper confirmed his suspicion. “Help me, Alek…”

He tightened his grip. “I will. I promise.” He scanned the landscape in a moment that felt like all the time in the world. Maybe he could guide her toward one of the many pine trees beneath them—the branches might cushion her fall or even allow her to catch hold. “Hang on, sis.”

They started to tumble. Slowly at first, then faster, the rush of wind making it impossible to hear or talk. Or steer. Tammy started flailing her limbs while screaming in fear. Her razor-sharp claws slashed at his torso, trying to find purchase.

He might have made a noise when she ripped open his flesh. He couldn't recall. What he did remember was the moment they stopped. Not because of a ledge or a tree or even the ground. They just … stopped, frozen in the air, the weight of powerful magic holding both of them firm against gravity. Alek couldn't move a muscle but he could still hear the wind rushing through the canyon, feel fragrant pine needles brush across the side of his leg—they must have been closer to those trees than he'd thought.

His mind spun back to a moment, years before, when he'd stared up at the ceiling of a Chicago hotel. An intensely powerful shifter, the Councilman for the snakes, had been thrown against the ceiling by an even more powerful cat—a petite bobcat that all of the Council feared not only for her power but for her unpredictable nature.

Alek had wondered as a young boy how someone so powerful had been trapped like a fly in a web. Now he knew. He could breathe, but barely. It must be Mom. Asylin was an intensely powerful shifter. He'd never seen her do something like this, but he wouldn't put it past her.

In a moment he felt the rush of wings above them. He couldn't move his head to verify it, but he was certain that it had to be Patrick—he was closest. His brother must have woken and now was going to carry them to safety. Alek felt talons carefully close around one leg while the other set of claws encircled his bicep. Another snowy owl arrived to take hold of the large cat while a golden bird lifted Tammy from underneath. He could only see feathers. He couldn't figure out whose they were. Only then did the magic holding Alek immobile release. He began to cough from the rush of air into his lungs and forced himself to relax so Patrick wouldn't lose his grip. Tammy had wide eyes and stank with abject terror like a week-old litter box. Alek doubted she'd ever flown on the back of a bird before, judging by her stiff posture. He could hear her breath coming in tiny gasps, see her eyes flicking about. He hoped her claws, which were curved deep into downy feathers, hadn't penetrated skin.

He rose in small bursts of lift, the owl burdened with Alek's weight. “You're doing fine, Patrick. Take your time.” The owl was already tired, Alek knew, and injured. Alek closed his eyes as several fast flutters revealed quickly how his rescuer was weakening. He wished he could help but there wasn't anything he could do except wait … and closing his eyes made it worse because he kept imagining the ground getting nearer and nearer, too fast. He opened his eyes—they were still high, though low enough that he could clearly see a small herd of deer edging through the trees below on a well-worn path. He concentrated on the deer, trying not to think about the struggle Patrick was having, lifting him to safety. Hopefully the other two would get Tammy on the ground and then come help.

A flash of color behind the deer caught his eye. Red and white, moving slowly and carefully. It was smaller than the deer. Was that a child? It
was
! He strained to see, ignoring everything else. It was a young girl, with dark hair and skin. “Patrick, I think I see Kristy! Down at the bottom of the canyon. She's wearing that red-and-white-striped shirt you bought her last Christmas.”

The owl hesitated, spun in the air like a helicopter. “I don't see her. Point where you're looking.”

But she was gone. “Damn it. It was just a flash. Get me close to the ledge and drop me. I'll climb out and you can go down and look around.”

It was the push the massive owl needed. He put in extra effort, expanding his wings to grab the largest amount of air possible. Alek helped by throwing a wave of magic ahead of them to literally pull the pair back to solid earth.

As soon as he was dropped, just barely on solid dirt, landing on his palms and already battered knees, the owl was off, streaking down into the depths of the trees.

Motors sounded in the distance and some of the B-team was already there. He wasn't sure how that was possible, since it felt like he and Tammy had just barely fallen over the cliff. But here they were and the sun seemed lower than it had before.

Cindee tossed him a blanket to wrap himself in and draped another around Tammy's furred shoulders. Alek noticed Claire, in human form but still on all fours, throwing up whatever she'd eaten for possibly the last week. There wasn't anything sexy about vomit, no matter how cute she was. Plus, he was still remembering how to breathe and wanting to kiss the rocks under his feet.

His foster mother fluttered to the ground and shifted back to the smooth-skinned, statuesque woman he'd known for a decade. She ignored both Alek and Tammy, instead stalking over to Claire, who was still spitting out the last of her dinner and heaving for air.

“Fifth in line, my ass,” Asylin said sharply.

Claire looked up and their gazes locked. Alek saw something pass between them—and whatever it was didn't make Asylin happy. She bent down and whispered something in Claire's ear that made the red wolf stiffen and raise her head sharply.

Alek decided that a break in the tension was needed and expressing his genuine gratitude to his foster mother seemed just the ticket. “Mom, thanks so much for the help. Oh, and great news! While Patrick was carrying me, I thought I saw Kristy down at the bottom of the canyon. He went down to look.”

The owl shifter looked at him in confusion. “Kristy? She's with Aunt Patty in Louisiana.”

All movement stopped. Even Tammy, back in human form, in restraints, and guarded by Cindee, stared at the matriarch.

“When did that happen, Mom?” Cindee's voice was careful, edgy, her brow furrowed above tensed muscles.

“Weeks ago. Don't you remember?” She seemed honestly bewildered by the questioning, which worried Alek.

“No, Mom. Kristy's missing. She and Darrell. We've been searching for them for days. Don't
you
remember?” He watched as the words filtered past the frown and narrowed eyes that flicked back and forth while she thought. In a moment, her eyes widened and her mouth formed a perfect
O.
“Kristy!” With a flash of magic that swept across him painfully, she shifted and dove over the side, wings wide.

“Well, that was weird,” Cindee said to nobody in particular, with a small, nervous laugh.

“That's one word,” Alek agreed. “It's a weird sort of day.” He couldn't look at Claire, so he focused on Tammy, now huddled against a tree, curled in a fetal ball. “How are you doing, kittycat?”

“Been better,” she admitted. She took a breath, then lifted her chin and met his gaze. “Thank you.”

He nodded. “You're family. Of course I'm going to help you. Me, Mom … all of us. You'll get through this.”

“Doubt it.” Her small chuckle made him sad and worried. “You don't
get through
being rogue. Just because I got my sanity back right now doesn't mean I'll stay this way.”

She was right, but they had to try. “We'll call Marilyn. Maybe there's a drug or…” He let the thought drift off because there wasn't really much to be said. He'd never heard of a cure for insanity in the Sazi world. He looked over his shoulder at Claire, her enticing body now safely concealed by a blanket. He pulled his a little tighter, suddenly cold. “You said you know healers, right?”