The Keeping (57 page)

At least the man
had proven useful for something. Snatching up the keys, Ryne gave
the lawyer one last glance, before turning away. Melody needed him.
He’d come back to deal with the bastard once she was safe.

Even in human form
he was able to move more swiftly than a
normal
person might,
cutting through the trees and attempting to avoid the low hanging
branches that clutched at his hair and ripped his skin like the
talons of some evil creature. Ignoring the pain, he was acutely
aware of Melody’s laboured breathing and the rapidly setting sun. A
wash of blood red was beginning to flood the sky by the time he
arrived at the safe house where Aldrich had left his car. Setting
Melody gently inside the vehicle, he buckled her in, jumped into
the driver’s seat, and sped away. Glancing in the rear-view mirror,
he noted the large house in the background was ablaze with lights
and there were at least two figures running in front of it. His jaw
clenched and he tightened his grip on the steering wheel. Where had
that young girl gone? Who had she told? Beside him, Melody gave
another pained cry and he refocused on driving. She needed him
right now; the rest he’d figure out later.

If he remembered
correctly from the taxi ride to the estate earlier, there was a
shopping mall with an underground parking garage just a few miles
away. The lowest level should provide a sufficient shield.

As he drove, he
glanced at the speedometer. The needle crept ever higher, trees and
sign posts flashing by as he ignored the posted speed limits. His
heart pounded heavily, while Nadia’s dreaded words played over and
over in his head; ‘lives or dies,’ ‘too risky,’ ‘how much can her
body handle.’ The phrases swirled in his mind.

Negotiating a
sharp turn, something thumped against his hip. Glancing down he
spied the cell phone that Aldrich had taken from him earlier. A
quick look at the clock on the dashboard had him swearing. Shit,
his agreed upon check-in time was past! He prayed Kane had held
off, that he hadn’t made any rash decisions!

Ryne fumbled with
the phone, speed dialling his brother’s number.

“Damn you, Ryne!
Where the hell have you been?” Kane’s voice roared in Ryne’s
ear.

A wave of relief
washed over him. If Kane was still alive and angry, then the rest
of them were safe too! “I don’t have time to explain. Just hold
off. Don’t do anything, hold off!” Melody whimpered beside him and
he looked at her, causing the car to swerve. “I’ll call you later!”
He shouted the words over his brother’s swearing and threw the
phone down, concentrating on driving.

Shooting glances
sideways, he noticed the air around Melody kept shimmering. Hell!
Her change was getting closer. Could she fight it off? “Hang on,
Melody, we’re almost there. Just a few more minutes, babe. Focus on
me, on the sound of my voice.”

Ryne babbled away.
Teasing her, apologizing for the mess she was in, for how he’d
treated her. He told her he loved her, that everything would be all
right. Bribes spilled from his lips; offerings of coffee and
chocolate, giving her free rein in decorating the house in Stump
River...

She was quieter
now, her breathing seemed shallow, and her face was pale. Beads of
sweat formed on her forehead. God, how could such a string of
unlikely circumstances ever have happened? He never had unprotected
sex, yet around Melody, he just didn’t think. And then the fight,
his broken nose, her cut arm... The chances of those events
occurring in the correct order and time frame were a million to
one, and yet they had.

What had Nadia
said? “If anyone were to ask before attempting this type of thing,
medical advice would strongly discourage any genetic changes during
a full moon. It’s way too risky.”

Yeah. Easy for her
to say. He hadn’t planned this, though. It was as if the fates had
conspired against him. His eyes stung and he dashed his hand across
them, trying to clear his vision.

‘Lives or
dies...dies...dies.’ He shook his head, trying to dislodge the
heart-stopping thought as a wave of icy fear encased him.

Chapter
40

Kane threw the
phone onto his desk in disgust.

“What’s wrong?
That was Ryne, wasn’t it?” Helen’s face was pale and there was a
noticeable tremor in her hands as she pushed her hair back from her
face. Like all the remaining pack members, her nerves were strung
as taut as a fiddle string. She sat in a wing-back chair near the
window, having chosen to spend her final hours with her Alpha.

“Yeah, that was
Ryne.”

“He didn’t say—”
She obviously couldn’t finish the question, but Kane knew exactly
what she meant. It was the question on everyone’s mind. Was today
the day they died?

“No. He said to
hold off.”

“Thank goodness.”
Her shoulders slumped and she leaned her head back, closing her
eyes.

“He didn’t say it
was over, Helen. He just said to hold off.”

“No explanation
why?” Helen straightened, her expression curious.

“No. And then he
hung up on me!” Kane stood up and began to prowl around the room.
“I don’t know what it means. Is the crisis over? Has he eliminated
the threat or is there still a chance—?” He compressed his lips and
ran his hands through his hair. “Dammit. I’m tired of sitting here
on edge waiting for news. I have men and women all over our
territory waiting for my orders. I can feel their fear, their
mental pain...and I don’t know what to say.”

“But at least it
wasn’t bad news...” Helen clasped her hands tightly. “If he said to
hold off then there’s still a chance that everything will work out.
It’s a positive thing.”

Kane growled, but
conceded the point. “You’re right. Sorry. My nerves are shot.”

“And I’m sure
Ryne’s are too. This hasn’t been easy for him, Kane, knowing that
it was his picture that caused all this. He must feel horribly
guilty. And if that girl—Melody—is possibly his mate, then he’s
been fighting every instinct he has—”

“Yeah. I know.”
Kane sighed heavily and sat down again. “Patience isn’t always my
strong suit.”

“Consider this
training for when you’re a father. Then you’ll need all the
patience in the world.”

Kane gave the
briefest of chuckles, before picking up a picture of Elise that he
had taken just days ago. She was wearing a loose white dress and
her arms cradled the slight swell of her belly. He gently ran his
finger over the picture, then set it aside. Picking up the vial of
deadly poison that all the remaining pack had been issued, he
twirled the blood coloured liquid within, watching as it flowed and
shifted. “Yeah. Someday when I’m a father...”

*****

The shopping mall
loomed ahead and Ryne forced himself to slow down, entering the
driveway at a reasonable pace. His fingers drummed on the steering
wheel as he waited in a long line of cars. Finally it was his turn
at the gate. He collected his ticket from the attendant, and headed
for the basement level. As the cool darkness of the cement
structure closed around them, he listened intently for any change
in Melody’s breathing. Was it deeper? More natural? He hoped
so.

It was a
multi-storey garage with a steep, winding ramp leading from level
to level. Ryne concentrated on manoeuvring the twisting incline
with as much speed as possible. The air grew progressively cooler
as they descended and artificial lighting glowed overhead.

Finally reaching
the lowest level, he drove to a poorly lit corner and parked behind
a pillar, thankful that Aldrich’s black car would be relatively
unnoticed in the gloom. He didn’t want anyone coming by to see what
was going on.

Turning off the
engine, he twisted in his seat and checked Melody. Her eyes were
shut, her dark lashes fanned out over the pale shadowed skin below.
She seemed more stable and when he touched her hand there was
certain solidity or constancy of form; no shimmers distorted the
air around her. Her muscles weren’t spasming. Slowly he unclenched
his jaw. His plan seemed to be working.

Brushing his hand
over her cheek, he noted that her skin was cool to the touch and
her breathing was deep and even. No doubt exhausted from the
strain, she had fallen asleep. He pressed a tender kiss on her
forehead and then took a moment to lean his head back and thank the
Lord that she’d managed to hold on.

It had been touch
and go, but tonight was probably the worst. By tomorrow the moon
would already be waning. With Melody one day farther into her
change and the lunar effects ebbing, it should be easier for her to
withstand the transformation.

Closing his eyes,
he ran through all the things he still needed to do. Calling Kane,
of course, was paramount. The whole pack was waiting his report. He
wished he could give them a definitive answer, but the truth was he
still needed to check that Melody didn’t have another copy of that
report stashed away. Then he had to retrieve her laptop from the
public locker where he’d stashed it. And of course, there was
Aldrich. The man had been near death when he’d scooped up Melody
and left. Surely no one would have arrived in time to save the
bastard.

Ryne gave a dark
laugh recalling the last time he had thought a villain was dead,
only to have her crawl away when they weren’t looking. Not this
time. No assuming. He wanted to see a dead body before he told Kane
things were one hundred percent safe.

Wearily, he picked
up a cell phone to call Kane back. He imagined the other man was
ready to rip a strip off him; after all, no one dared hang up on
Kane Sinclair! About to dial, he caught sight of himself in the
rear-view mirror and froze. His face was streaked with mud and his
hair stood up on end. And, he didn’t have any clothes on! His
frantic form-shift to save Melody had caused him to miss a step. No
wonder the parking attendant had given him a strange look! Giving a
brief chuckle, he dialled Kane’s number and braced himself for the
coming onslaught.

*****

Cassie wearily got
off the bus, dragging her small bag of possessions behind her. She
ached from the stiff uncomfortable seats and, not for the first
time, thought wishfully of the luxury vehicle she’d abandoned hours
ago. Arching her back, she forced herself to forget the car. There
was no time for regret; more pressing matters needed to be dealt
with such as—she paused and surveyed her surroundings—where she
was. It was obviously a bus station in a small town, but where
exactly? All she knew was that she wasn’t near her uncle’s estate
where he... She couldn’t bring herself to finish the thought.

It was the middle
of the night and the town was mostly in darkness. A motel across
the street had a vacancy sign, so she crossed the road and entered
the dingy front office. The clerk looked at her askance, no doubt
wondering what illegal substance she was taking, then continued on
with his phone call. As she waited for him to finish, she looked
outside, catching sight of her own reflection in the darkened
window; her eyes over-dilated and her face pale, framed by long
unkempt hair. Shivers swept over her body as if she needed the next
hit of her drug.

When the man
finished his call, she explained what she needed and handed him a
handful of bills. The clerk slid the key card over to her and she
took it, giving a brief nod of thanks.

“I don’t want no
trouble, you hear? This is a clean, family motel.” As he spoke, the
clerk spat a wad of tobacco juice into a can on the counter.

Sure. A family
motel. Cassie glanced around, noting the open can of beer on the
man’s desk, the porno flick playing on TV, and filthy, torn
linoleum floor before looking back at him. “I won’t cause any
trouble.” She exited the office and wrapped her arms around herself
in a futile attempt to still the shakes that wracked her body.

“Damned druggies.”
She heard the man mutter just before the door swung shut.

As she crossed the
parking lot and made her way to her room, she laughed darkly. It
wasn’t an illegal substance that was responsible for her present
appearance. It was the damned migraine pills. She hadn’t wanted to
take them, but as the night advanced, the strangest feelings came
over her; a tingling sensation in her arms and legs, a tension
coiling inside her that made her shift restlessly as she drove.
Fearful of being alone and sick while on the run from the terror
she’d left behind, she’d finally pulled over and taken one of the
pills. Unfortunately, a few miles later the pill had started to
take effect and she’d been forced to abandon her car, realizing she
was in no fit state to drive. Too scared to stay where she was,
she’d found a bus station and taken the first available bus
to...well...wherever she was now.

At the moment, she
was too tired to care. Fumbling with the key card, she opened the
door and went inside. A bed dominated the room and she stumbled
towards it, desperately wanting to lie down and let the pills work
their magic. For over a year, she’d hated the fuzzy, floating
numbness the pills invoked. Now she craved the numbness and the
deep dreamless sleep that followed. It would help her forget.
Dropping her small bag of possessions on the floor beside the bed,
she lay down, her eyes half shut.

The room was
rundown, but appeared clean and a faint antiseptic smell lingered
in the air. Shifting a bit, she managed to snag the blanket folded
at the foot of the bed and wrapped it around herself.

Slowly she
relaxed, her limbs feeling heavy. She’d been fighting the need to
sleep for hours, not daring to do more than rest on the bus. Fear
had forced her to keep watch, constantly checking if the bus was
being followed and examining each new passenger that boarded. Of
course the werewolf man had never appeared, but somehow she knew he
wouldn’t just forget about her. If the bus driver hadn’t finally
told her it was the end of the road, she would have stayed on;
constant movement made her feel somewhat safer.