Forbidden (29 page)

Claire struggled to breathe, to think while the searing that started in her chest spread to her arms, legs, and head. She screamed then, or thought she did. She wasn't sure what was real. A part of her felt, saw, tasted Alek race in from the other room, heading for the healer, who casually tossed him to the side with her magic.

He hit the wall and then was on all fours, trying to get to Claire. She was clawing at her throat, trying to breathe, but the air stayed just out of reach.

Alek screamed across the room, trying to get somewhere but being held in place. “For God's sake! She can't breathe! Stop it! Why are you doing this?”

Amber smiled …
smiled
! “I'm not doing a thing. You guys are doing all this. Want it to stop?”

If crawling, groveling, pleading with the healer would help, she'd do it, because her lungs were burning for oxygen and it felt like she was being sliced with razor wire.

Alek fought against the power that kept him motionless. “Fine. Whatever you want. Just stop it!”

Amber picked up a cup and filled it with a tiny individual bottle of wine. “Okay, if that's what you want. Reattaching.”

The pain stopped. Just stopped. Air filled her lungs so fast that she coughed. “What is
wrong
with you? Do you get a kick out of causing pain?”

“You really don't get it, do you?” She made a tsking sound with her tongue.

Claire looked over at Alek. Where she was feeling better, he seemed to be dragging tail. He'd dropped to his knees and while not in pain, he looked like he had in the basement when she'd insisted he go home and sleep.

“Are you okay?” Her words came out hoarse, choked.

He shook his head. “Just tired. I felt fine a second ago, but now I feel like I did in the basement.”

“Okay,” Amber said from her comfy seat. “You guys are being pretty clueless and she's becoming a health risk to you, Alek, so I better tell you.”

That raised her brows. “I'm
becoming
a health risk? To
who
?”

Amber pointed at Alek. “Think about it, little wolf. When I said I was untangling the mess, I meant Alek, not you. His problem is that he has too many draws on his magic. He's actually a pretty strong alpha, but you'd never know it because of the siphons that've been draining him dry. You feel good, he feels like crap. He feels good, you feel like crap.” She shrugged and raised her hands. “And let's not forget the stink of lust in this room. You do the math.”

Claire felt her eyelids open so wide her eyeballs felt cold. She risked a look at Alek but didn't dare sniff. He'd apparently already figured out what she was just coming to understand. He was mated to her. Mated. Crap. How could she not have noticed that when she noticed Paula being mated to him?
Idiot!

Alek was crouched on the balls of his feet, leaning against the wall, beating the back of his head slowly into the wood. The panic scent that rose from him was muted, as though he either wasn't thinking about it too much, or was resigned to the situation. Rather than say the word out loud that there was no choice but to say, she asked a less obvious question. “Who's the
other
draw? I only met him a couple of days ago. I mean, don't…” Nope. She couldn't say the word. Not this soon. “… Attachments like this generally require … physical contact?”

Alek sighed. “Our first meeting was me giving you mouth-to-mouth when you were nearly killed by that wreck. Then we kissed at the school.”

Amber raised one shoulder, noncommittal. “It's happened with less, and not happened with more. A kiss isn't usually enough. But him breathing for you and keeping your heart going? That isn't far-fetched.”

“But that was just a few days ago. Who else?”

“You caught that,” Amber said with a smile. “Good. That's been tricky. There seems to be more than one draw besides you. You were just the last straw on the camel's back. Totally not your fault. His old pack is one, his new pack is the other.”

Alek shook his head. “No. That's not right. My old Alpha released me when I moved to Luna Lake. Everyone said so. And our town's Alpha doesn't bind pack members.”

The strawberry-blond healer chuckled. “I am shocked,
shocked,
I say, that Nikoli lied about that. You were young when you left, but how many times did you hear him say, ‘Once my pack, always my pack'?”

Alek sighed. “Nearly every day, when someone wanted to move away or get a job somewhere other than the hotel.”

A quick nod from Amber. “His attachment has been passive—all he's done is keep tabs on you and infrequently, it seems, until recently. Have you done anything recently that might have caught his attention? Tried to contact him or anyone from the old Chicago pack?”

He dropped his head to his chest. “My sister, Sonya. I've been trying to find her and got a letter from the Siberian pack that I couldn't read. I put in a call to the last number I had for them to see if anyone back there could translate it. I thought the Duchess or Yurgi might be able to help.”

Amber stood and walked over to Claire, offering her a hand up from the floor. While the younger woman wasn't sure whether it was safe to touch the alpha, it would be rude not to accept the help. Amber said, “That would do it. You became interesting to him again. Probably he's checking on you through that old, familiar connection before deciding whether your call was a trick just to find his pack.”

Once Claire was on her feet, she released Amber's hand, but the healer didn't let go. “Now, on to you. I can peel apart your head if that's what you want, but it would be simpler, and far less painful, to just tell me who you are and why you're here.”

There were things in her head that she wouldn't want a Council member to see. “Let go of me and I'll tell you what I can.”

“Actually,” Amber replied, “you'll tell me everything I want to know.” She paused for effect. “Whether or not it's by choice.”

 

CHAPTER 21

Alek watched the interaction between the two women carefully. They were staring at each other with intensity, neither giving an inch in the battle of wills. Amber spoke first. “You know I can strip it from your mind.”

Claire didn't flinch, just raised her eyebrows slightly. “Then you also probably know that it's illegal to do that.”

He had to say something. The sting of magic and nose-twisting explosion of scents were giving him a headache. “Guys, can you ease up a bit? Claire, just tell her what you know. She's a Council member. I can vouch for her. I have literally seen her
at
a Council meeting.”

“That's the thing,” Claire said. “If she was part of the current Council, I shouldn't have to introduce myself. She should have gotten a picture of me, along with the cases I'm working on. The current Council knows that anything or anyone from before the plague is suspect.”

Cases?
“What are you talking about? Why should she have a picture of a teacher in a little town in Washington?”

Amber released Claire's hand, sighing before she stepped back a pace and regarded Claire with arms folded over her chest. There was both surprise and suspicion in her voice when she spoke. “You're absolutely right. I
should
have. Now I'm wondering why I didn't. Who's your direct?”

“Will Kerchee,” Claire responded, seeming to know what Amber was talking about.

“So you're part of the Texas pack?” When Claire nodded, the bobcat shifter pulled a cell phone out of her pocket. “That should be easy enough to check.” She pressed a single number on the keypad and hit the green call button. She put it on speaker so they could all hear it ring.

“Hello?” The man's voice was sleepy, the word a bare growl.

She didn't bother to introduce herself, so apparently the person would know her voice. “Care to tell me why I don't have the current roster of Wolven agents?”

Now there was confusion in the voice, but it sounded more awake. “You do. Or, at least, you should. Why?”

It suddenly sunk in to Alex's brain. Cases. Agent. He stared at Claire. “You're
Wolven
? But you're so young.” Or was that a lie too? “Or are you young?”

Amber spoke into the phone at the same moment that Claire seemed to freeze in place, like a statue that had moving eyes. “I have a person shopping for slippers who says she's one of yours. But I don't know her. You'll need to vouch for her to me or she won't leave here to reveal the location.”

The voice on the phone was all business now. “Name?”

Claire didn't open her mouth, just glared at Alek and Amber. Amber stared back, brows lowering. Alek knew they were running out of time. He had to speak. “Claire Sanchez.”

One word came from the phone. “No.”

“That's what I needed. Thank you, Lucas.”

Lucas? Lucas Santiago? Crap. “Claire, that's the head of Wolven. You have to talk. She'll kill you. I'm not kidding here. You need to tell them what you know.”

Claire let out an annoyed sound. “Fine. It's Clarissa Evans, not Sanchez.”

Now the voice on the phone swore. “Oh, goddamn it! I just remembered you're in Washington with Charles. Amber, this is my fault. You caught me still asleep. Claire's brand new. She was supposed to be in deep cover, even from Wolven and the Council, so it was need-to-know only.”

She really was Wolven, and high enough to be secret
from
the Council? Who or what was she investigating? Alek felt a stabbing in his chest. Who the hell was this person?

The caramel scent of burned coffee mixed with ticked-off cat made it smell like the cabin was about to burn down. “And the only healer within two hundred miles of the location of a deep-cover operative wasn't considered
need-to-know
? Are you stupid, Lucas, or just getting careless? I swear to God that I'm going to examine your brain next time I check how you're healing. This paranoia of yours is going to get us all killed!”

“It's not paranoia,” Claire said quickly. “You were right, Lucas. There's something going on here.” The whole timbre of Claire's voice had changed. She looked pleadingly at Amber. “Could you please ease up on the magic? I can't feel my fingers anymore.” Alek looked. They were clenched into tight fists, the knuckles bloodless and white.

“Oh. I suppose.” Amber made a slight gesture, and the sensation of biting insects eased on Alek's arms, but the rumble in his gut didn't stop. He was mated to a liar, and to a Wolven agent. He wasn't ready for any of this, didn't even know what to think. “So what exactly are you investigating?” the Councilwoman continued.

Lucas and Claire spoke in chorus. “Is the area clear?”

Amber rolled her eyes. “Well, at least I know who trained her. Yes. The area's clear. The only thing I left intact was the mating.”

“What?!” Lucas exclaimed. “When did
that
happen?”

“Single sided,” Claire said, a little too matter-of-factly for Alek's taste.

“So far…” Amber added, with a knowing smile. “Only a kiss so far … plus mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.”

The sharp tang of worry, not quite fear, that she gave off didn't match her words. “Shouldn't be a problem.”

“Report.” One word. Curt and commanding. That was how Alek remembered the Wolven chief.

“They hold elections for the power positions. Sort of interesting. The mayor is the Alpha, the Second is the police chief. The town doesn't hold challenges. They have some weird contest they call ‘Ascension,' that's like tracking and races. I …
lost
by default on my first day. I'm the Omega right now.” She paused for a moment.

“The
Omega
?” Lucas sounded surprised.

Claire struggled to contain the annoyance in her scent and voice. “The town operates on a caste system. The Omega is a nonperson. That explains how the corruption has worked without being noticed.”

“I knew it!” Alek didn't intend to say it out loud, but it just slipped out.

“Who else is there, Amber?” The suspicion in Lucas's voice was plain.

Amber replied. “Alek Siska. Remember him? He grew up in Nikoli's pack and lived in the hotel. He's the mate.”

The mate?
“I have unique insights into the town. I've lived there for ten years and am planning to apply to Wolven Academy as soon as I finish the police academy.”

Amber shook her head. “You're compromised, no good to us.” She spoke into the phone. “He's got a pack binding to both Chicago and Luna Lake, plus the mating binding. I've unraveled all but the mating tie, but he all but has strings above his head.”

Lucas let out a low growl. “Van Monk didn't apply for permission to do a pack binding. We've been cautious about that since the plague. Only the Council members have clearance to bind members.”

“We're not bound,” Alek protested.

Claire interrupted. “I think people don't know they're bound. Everyone has memory lapses and the Second has proven he can read my thoughts. With effort and not all the time, but it's been a struggle to keep secrets.”

“Lenny?” Lucas asked. “He's involved in this too then?”

Claire's scent turned to a pepper so strong that it burned Alek's nose. “Oh, he's involved all right. I'm pretty sure he's the real Alpha and Monk is just a puppet. I also have evidence that he's…” She paused and looked right at Alek. “I'm sorry, Alek. I didn't want this to be the way you found out. It seems like you were friends.”

He felt his brow drop until he could see the tiny hairs at the edge of his vision. “Find out what?”

She took a deep breath while Amber shifted her footing, keeping the phone held so it had the best angle for Lucas to hear Claire. “He's been using his position to abuse kids in town. Torture. Bondage with photos.”