Forbidden (7 page)

He felt himself shrug. “I don't know, Ray. I just—”

“Alek! Hey, bro!”

Alek turned and saw her. He couldn't seem to tear himself away from the startling blue eyes walking toward him. He couldn't think, couldn't breathe. She smiled under her crown of bandages and his heart began to race. A surge of adrenaline that made it hard to stand still. But he didn't want to scare her, so he just smiled and said, “Hey.”

The blonde's smile broadened until little crinkles appeared at the corner of her eyes. “Hey yourself.”

“You doin' okay?” He couldn't help himself—he ran his fingers along the white gauze that wrapped her head. “Those were pretty bad punctures,” he said, frowning. “They're starting to bleed through. You need to see Marilyn.”

Was it his imagination or did she lean into his touch a little? All he knew was that her eyes were firmly on his, making his heart beat even faster. Surely she must be able to see his pulse trying to jump out of his neck.

“We were just headed there.”

His fingers lingered for a moment on the silky strands of her hair. He inhaled deeply, drawing in the scents of soft fur, musk, and flowery perfume. In the background, he heard someone speaking, as though far away. “Oh, the swelling? It should go down in a day or two. Thanks for asking. No, no. It's okay, I don't need any help. Alek? Hello!”

Oh. Good point. “That's right, we haven't officially met. I'm Alek. Alek Siska.” He lowered his hand to take hers, marveling at the coolness of her fingers. As his other senses returned, he noticed the woman was wearing just a short-sleeved T-shirt and form-fitting black jeans. And what a form they fit. Goose bumps rose on her arm, making the nearly invisible hairs stand on end. A swift glance told him she had no jacket. “Are you cold?”

She shook her head, then sent shivers through him when she twined her fingers with his. “I'm a wolf. It's a great temperature. I'm Claire Sanchez. Nice to meet you, Alek. And thank you; I probably wouldn't be alive if not for you.”

“Claire. That's a nice name.” Didn't he already know that? It felt like he'd heard it before.
Claire
. Solid and real. A blush came to her cheeks along with a small, almost shy smile.

A low chuckle sounded in the distance, followed by, “Don't bother, Dani. He can't hear you. Can't take his eyes off her. C'mon, I'll give you a lift to the station to get your purse and bags.”

The voices faded, and then there was just the sound of her breathing and the pounding of his heart. Heart. That was the shape of her face. It didn't seem like a wolf's face but her scent confirmed her nature: some sort of sweet, musky wolf. “I'm just glad I was there. You had me worried for a while. I thought you might have given up. Gray?”

She squeezed his fingers and gave a quick shake of her head. “Red, from Texas. I almost had. Given up, that is. But you were persistent.” She paused and shrugged one shoulder. “I like that. Persistence.”

“Always.” He couldn't help but smile again but at the edge of his vision, he noticed the spot of red on her head was bigger. Now he smelled the blood and urgency pushed him to look up and around for the quickest route. “We need to get you to Marilyn to take a look at that. The bleeding's getting worse.” She reached up and touched the red spot. She winced and he felt a moment of panic speed his heart as he turned her toward the medical clinic. “C'mon, it's on the other end of town, but that's only a few blocks.”

“Right. That's what Dani told me.” Claire looked around in bewilderment. “Where's Dani? She was right here.”

He shrugged and looked around. Ray was gone too. “Dunno. I didn't even notice she was with you. We'll look for her on the way. I'm sure she hasn't gone far.”

He offered his arm and she looped hers through it carefully. Realizing she was moving gingerly because of the bandage on her arm, Alek quickly shifted around to her other side. She smiled gratefully. Even though his instinct screamed for speed, his mind knew that hurrying would increase the bleeding. He forced himself to walk slowly.
It's not that far. Just keep moving.
To keep from just picking her up in his arms and starting to run, he forced himself to point out some of the local businesses. “That's Hansen's Grocery. It's not really much of a grocery. There's some canned goods and dairy. Mostly, though, we use it for meat storage for deer and elk.”

She nodded. “Yeah, we have a big building where we have our freezers. But I really do prefer meat right after a hunt. It loses something in the freezer. Y'know?”

He turned his head in surprise. “You
hunt
? Really?”

Claire gave him a very odd look and even her scent was confused. “Um, sure. Why? Don't you? How else would you get your meat? You don't
buy
deer, do you?”

He was about to respond when he heard a familiar voice behind him. “We tend to split the duties here, miss.” Alek turned as Claire did, to find the mayor and police chief standing behind them.

“Oh? How so?” Claire's voice suddenly grew tense and her scent had overtones of distrust.
Why?

Mayor Monk smiled and tipped his trademark white felt cowboy hat. “Well, we're in an area where there are a lot of natural predators. I'm sure you can see that it's important to guard the children and homes while the hunt is happening.”

“Of course,” Claire said with a slight nod. “My family assigns someone to stay behind, to watch the kids and lock all the doors. That doesn't explain why people would be surprised that I hunt.”

Lenny tried to explain. “Here, women tend to stay home with the kids while the men go hunting. There's nothing more dangerous than a mama protecting her young,” the police chief said with a smile. “It's kept our kids safe since the night of the plague.”

Claire's expression grew bemused and her scent was slightly incredulous. “You're kidding, right?” She looked from face to face but they all shrugged. “Okay.” She paused for a moment and then let out a little laugh. “Guess I'm glad I don't have any kids. 'Cause I like to hunt and plan to. That's okay, right?”

Lenny and Van looked at each other and both smiled before Van responded, “Of course. It's a free country.” He held out his hand. “By the way, we haven't met. I'm the mayor-slash-Alpha, Van Monk. I'm guessing you must be Miss Sanchez, our new guest from Texas.” He motioned to Lenny. “And this is Police Chief Lenny Gabriel, who is also our Wolven representative.”

She held out her hand and took his and shook it firmly, her eyes still slightly narrowed. “Claire Sanchez. I'm looking forward to spending some time here. I know you must think of Luna Lake as a small town, but we're pretty far out in the wilderness back home. I need to get to know how to handle myself in a bigger community of people.”

Lenny put a hand on her shoulder with a broad smile. “Speaking of that, we need to get you registered. You know how it is with Wolven—there's always paperwork to be filled out on a new pack member, and we need to get your statement about the accident. How about you come along with us over to the police station for a few minutes?”

Claire flinched at his touch, then looked at Alek with concern in her eyes and scent—as though he was her savior. He fought back the urge to growl, confused by the strength of his reaction. It made no sense. “Um, can this wait for a few minutes, guys? We were just on our way over to see Marilyn. See the blood on her bandage? She might have popped a stitch.”

Both men stared at Alek, neither looking at Claire, until Van said, “Oh, this will just take a few minutes, Alek. No need to worry. If the bleeding gets any worse, we can have Marilyn drop by my office.” He raised a finger, like something just occurred to him, but his scent didn't match. “By the way, I was heading over to see you because Fred at the post office said you got a registered letter today … from the Siberian pack leader.”

Siberia?
Siberia!
It had been nearly a year since he had written to that pack, asking them to check if his sister had been transferred there after the plague. The urgency to see what they had to say warred with his need to stay by Claire's side. He felt his muscles twitching, not sure which way to turn. “There's a letter? Really?” When Lenny nodded firmly, he had no choice. “Claire, I'm really sorry, but I've
got
to get that letter. I've been waiting for it for over a year.”

She looked a little confused, then shrugged. “Um, sure. If you need to go, that's fine. I guess I'll be at the police station, answering questions.”

He felt the tension in his shoulders ease a bit. He wasn't sure what he would have done if she said no, please don't. He wasn't sure why it mattered. “Great. I'll just pick up the letter and meet you over there.”
She'll be fine
.
She'll be fine.
Yet he found himself taking off at a dead run down Second Street toward the post office. The farther he got from Claire, the more he started thinking about the letter.
This could be it!
It was the one place where Sonya might be that nobody would have found her until now. The Siberian pack was very reclusive; they lived far from civilization, which is why they had been spared most of the effects of the snake attack and plague. He remembered that Sonya had spoken fluent Russian as a child, better than the rest of them, and she'd usually resorted to that language when she was scared. In the aftermath of the attacks, anyone finding her alone might presume she was Russian. She might have been sent to that pack.

In the years since the plague, Alek had written to every pack he'd heard of, anywhere in the world. There had been no sign of Sonya. But the Russian pack had never responded to his inquiries. How many letters had he sent? A dozen? Twenty? He'd lost count.
Please! Let them have taken her in!

The old brass bell above the post office door jingled as he entered. Fred Birch was sitting on a stool behind the counter, wearing the same red plaid shirt, with scissors tucked in the pocket, and the same tattered wool hat as always, pulled low over bushy eyebrows. No blue postal uniform for him. The pipe in his hand filled the air with cherry tobacco smoke. “Hey, Alek. You here for your letter?”

“Absolutely! I can't believe it finally got here.”

Fred started rummaging around under the counter. “The postmark on it is nearly a year old. Hard to believe it took so long to get here.” He pulled out an oversized envelope, covered in tape, stickers, and official-looking stamps. “Ah, here it is.” A few seconds was all it took to scan the bar code and enter it into the computer.

Alek's fingers were actually trembling as he signed the screen and accepted the envelope. Scents rose from the heavy dark manila covering, mostly mildew and chemicals, with lingering faint male wolf musk. It was stiff, like there was something inside other than paper, and the address was written in Yupik, the Cyrillic alphabet—and again in English, probably translated at some point in its journey. “Thanks, Fred. Really.” Smiling, Alex turned to go.

Fred called out, “Hope it's good news, kid. You've had enough of the bad stuff in your life. See you at the meeting tonight?”

The last sentence brought him up short and he turned with his hand still on the door. “Meeting?”

“Yeah, at the Community Center. The mayor said it was mandatory. Some big announcement. Maybe they found the kids.” He shook his head with a worried expression. “Hope they're safe. Cute kids, those two.”

Alek felt his brows furrow. “Really? That's weird. I just saw Van a minute ago. He didn't say anything about a meeting, or about Kristy or Darrell.”

Fred shrugged. “He's been going from store to store, telling people. Don't know why he forgot to tell you. But anyway … it's tonight at seven o'clock. I'd be there if I were you. They don't do mandatory meetings very often.”

True. Very true. The last mandatory meeting was to announce they'd caught a snake shifter in a stolen car trying to sneak into town on a back road, nearly a year ago. Good thing they'd caught him too. The car had been filled with knives and ammo made of silver. Deadly to their kind. But he'd been turned over to Wolven without violence.

“Thanks, Fred. I'll be there.” He'd tell Claire too.
Maybe that's what the meeting's for.
It would make sense to introduce a new town resident to everyone at once. Yeah, that seemed logical.

The image of the splotch of red against the white bandage flashed through his mind. What if she was seriously hurt? What if they didn't notice until it was too late and she collapsed?

Alek wrenched his mind away from thoughts of Claire. First things first: the letter. It had taken nearly a month to learn enough of the Yupik language to write the first letter to Mikhail, Siberia's pack Alpha. He'd painstakingly copied each letter onto the page, not even sure if the grammar had made sense. Then the Omega in his old pack in Chicago had read it and corrected some of his syntax. Yurgi had told Alek he hoped that Sonya wasn't there. He said that being a woman in the Siberian pack was a hard life and he would help do whatever was necessary to bring her home if she was there. Nikoli, the wolf representative on the Council, said through Yurgi that he would also help … if there was proof she was there and was being held against her will.

In other words, he wouldn't confront Mikhail unless negotiations failed. The Siberian leader must be one tough S.O.B. for the head wolf to not want to get into a fight with him.

Alek fought with the strong shipping tape for nearly two minutes, finally resorting to using his teeth before he realized he was going to destroy the contents if he ripped the package open using Sazi strength. Defeated, he returned to the post office to find a grinning Fred standing just inside the door, holding out a pair of scissors. “They use a lot of tape over there. Figured you'd need these.”