Wolf Tales 11 (8 page)

“It’s because I’m smarter and faster than you, my love.”

“There is that.” Adam opened the door and stood back. “Be safe, both of you. Get the women back, and make those bastards pay. If there’s anything at all we can do to help …”

Anton grasped Adam’s wrist. “There is. I need your energy—whatever you’ve got, tonight at precisely five minutes to ten.” At least he had the good sense to look embarrassed when he turned to Liana and added, “If you can time your orgasm for that precise moment, it would be most helpful.”

Liana raised both eyebrows, but at least she was smiling. “Is that all?” She swung around and gazed at Adam, then she nodded, as if in agreement. She touched Anton’s fingers, where they wrapped around her mate’s arm. “Would the power of our mating bond give you added strength?”

“Liana!” Keisha grabbed her in a big hug, but her eyes were on Adam. “Tonight? You were planning to bond tonight?”

Adam answered. “We were, but then this happened. We thought maybe we should put it off until we knew how things were going, but if the energy from our mating bond would help, I imagine we can time things about right.”

Anton looked absolutely shocked. “That’s more than generous of both of you.”

He stepped back, but Keisha could feel his roiling emotions. Not only that Adam and Liana would choose to share such a private moment, but that Adam’s emotional pain had healed enough to allow him to accept a bond with another mate. That was more than any of them could hope for. He’d been horribly grief-stricken over Eve’s death.

Adam seemed aware of their thoughts. He hugged Liana close. “I will always treasure my time with Eve, but
she’s found her place, the life she was meant for. It’s not one I can, or would even want to share. Liana has shown me a future I never imagined for myself. We have a love, already, that’s more powerful than I dreamed possible. I’m not letting her go.”

Anton gazed from Adam to Liana, then back at Adam. “I can feel it, Adam. The link you and Liana have forged is already strong. Our best wishes to both of you. You have no idea how this makes me feel. There are no words to express how very happy I am for both of you.”

Adam was the one who reached out and drew Anton into a tight hug. Adam, a man who rarely showed his emotions, who never exposed himself this openly. “Thank you,” he said. “It’s all good, Anton. Now go and do whatever it is you need to do to help bring Lisa and Tala home to their men. I don’t know that any of them would survive a loss like that.” He gazed down at Liana, tucked tightly against his side. “They wouldn’t have Liana to save them.” Then he sighed deeply and turned to Keisha. “They’re going to need both of you. Stefan asked me to give you a lift to the airport, so I’ll meet you in front of the house in fifteen minutes. Now go.”

A gust of wind caught the door and almost pulled it from Adam’s hand. He held it until Keisha and Anton were headed down the stairs. Then he shut it quietly behind them. Keisha squeezed Anton’s fingers. “I didn’t see this coming. Not this soon.”

Anton smiled and wrapped his arm around her waist as they walked across the driveway. “Neither did I, but I can’t imagine anything that could make me happier.” He stared at the winter sun, riding low above the snow-covered mountains. “Anything, except for bringing Tala and Lisa home alive and well.”

Keisha slipped out of his grasp and tugged his hand. “Let’s go check on Lily and then find Logan and Jazzy. We need to get moving.”

Anton nodded. Together they went to bid their little girl good-bye.

Keisha followed Anton down the hallway to the front door. It was a lot harder to walk away from Lily than she’d expected, and when that perfect little girl stood up in the crib, stretched her arms out, and cried, “Mama!” she’d almost changed her mind and told Anton to go without her.

Almost. Until Xandi grabbed her by the arm and turned her toward the door with a reminder that Tia needed her more than Lily did right now.

As they reached the front door, Anton turned and grabbed Keisha’s hand. She flashed him a quick smile. Thank goodness he understood how difficult this was. Clutching his fingers tightly, she walked quickly through the house beside him. He pulled the front door open and they walked down the wide stairs to the big SUV waiting in the driveway.

Adam stood in front of the vehicle, talking to Igmutaka.

The spirit guide was dressed in worn blue jeans and a flannel shirt, with his hair neatly braided in two long braids on either side of his face. He had a pair of Mik’s old hiking boots on his feet, something that caught Keisha’s eye. She didn’t think she’d ever seen him wearing shoes before. Generally he kept to his puma form when he was outdoors. As far as she knew, he only appeared as a man when he joined Adam and Liana in their bed, or showed up on occasion with the rest of the pack for breakfast.

He’d taken human form for the first time just a couple of weeks before. Keisha was still getting used to his androgynous beauty. Definitely of Native American blood, he would have been considered beautiful as either a man or a woman, but there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that Igmutaka was all male.

She’d never forget the first morning he’d appeared in the kitchen for breakfast. He’d been badly injured in his cougar form, but Liana had found and healed him. He’d hung around to thank her, but he’d done it as a man.

He’d fit right into the pack, and Keisha knew it hadn’t taken long for him to share Liana and Adam’s bed. She wondered how the spirit guide felt about the two of them bonding as mates. Would he feel left out of the relationship? Or would he continue on as their sometimes lover, spending more time in his animal form than human?

No matter. That was something for Adam, Liana, and Igmutaka to work out on their own.

Anton stopped beside the car. Keisha thought he looked as if he was trying really hard not to laugh. “Going somewhere, Igmutaka?”

The spirit guide nodded. “With you.” He held up a small travel bag.

Anton shot a quick glance at Keisha, then shook his head. “It’s a four-passenger plane. All I could get on such short notice. Room for payload, but not extra passengers. Logan and Jazzy have the other seats.”

Igmutaka bowed his head. “Then I will be payload. I will travel as the cat and shift when we arrive. I must go with you.”

Anton nodded. “Okay. We can do that. What do you know? Have you been in contact with the little one?”

Igmutaka let out a deep breath. “In a way. Not true speech as you would understand. I sense danger. I know the baby is aware her mother is frightened. Tala is a woman of honor and she carries a child I must protect. You will take me to her.”

“That’s all we need to know. You’re welcome to come with us, but you’ll need to wear a collar and a leash so you don’t scare the crap out of the pilot.” He chuckled. “A loose cougar on board might be a bit much for the poor guy. If you’re ready, let’s go. You can shift in the car.”

Anton gazed at the house, in the direction of Logan’s clinic on the second floor. After a moment, he nodded. “I’ve asked Logan to bring an extra bag for your clothes and boots, along with a leash and collar. The collar’s designed to break away should you need to shift in a hurry. It’s for looks, not restraint, the same kind the Pack Dynamics wolves wear.”

Igmutaka nodded and climbed into the seat at the very back. Anton sat beside him. Jazzy and Logan came out of the house a minute later and handed over the leash, collar, and extra travel bag. Logan rode shotgun, Jazzy sat in the middle seat beside Keisha. Once they were settled, Adam drove away from the house and headed for town.

It was a quiet ride to the airport in Kalispell. When they arrived, Anton climbed out of the back with a large puma on the end of a leash and extra bags thrown over his shoulder.

He shook Adam’s hand. Whatever passed between the men remained private. There were some things Keisha realized she really didn’t want to know.

Keisha tightened her seat belt and tried to relax in the small jet Anton had chartered for the flight. He’d never replaced the one that had crashed on the way to Tia and Luc’s wedding, and Keisha wondered if she’d ever enjoy flying again.

Anton sat across from her. Jazzy and Logan were in the seats behind them, and Igmutaka sprawled in the narrow aisle between the seats. Considering the fact he’d never been in an airplane before, he seemed terribly calm, but then he’d been alive for thousands of years. Maybe he’d just learned to accept change easier than most.

Once the pilot got past the idea of an uncaged mountain lion traveling on his jet, he’d turned his attention to the business at hand. Keisha listened as he and his co-pilot
went through their checklists, readying the plane for takeoff.

She watched the men for a moment, remembering. Wishing she could get past the memories of the flight they’d taken along this same route just eighteen short months ago.

Instead, fear tightened her lungs and had her clenching the armrests as the small jet rolled down the runway. Most of the baggage she carried with her on this journey was all in her head, and it wasn’t merely Lisa and Tala that had her worried. Tension had her strung tight as a bow, but she forced herself to lean back and close her eyes as they gained altitude.

To help herself relax, she filled her head with details. The flight to San Francisco International would last about two hours with at least half an hour travel time from the airport to Luc’s place in the Marina district. Then she remembered that with the difference between Mountain and Pacific time, they’d gain an hour, which should put them on Luc’s doorstep by three thirty. Lisa and Tala had been taken captive just before nine in the morning, and the hit was supposed to take place just before nine tonight, which meant that …

Anton turned to Keisha and raised one very expressive eyebrow. “Any reason you’re sitting there doing all the math and time zones in your head?”

Keisha laughed, covering her eyes with her hand and then peeking between her fingers. “You know me too well. I’m trying not to think of what happened when we flew to Tia’s wedding. At least I’m not pregnant this time.”

Anton reached across the aisle and clasped her hand. “You’re not in danger, either. I know the pilot and co-pilot personally. They’ve flown for Stefan and me on numerous occasions. We will not end up in a swamp this trip. I promise.”

“That’s certainly a comforting thought.”

Jazzy’s dry comment struck Keisha as absolutely hilarious. “You don’t know the half of it,” she said. “That’s where I delivered Lily—lying in a swamp somewhere in North Dakota with the aromatic scent of jet fuel perfuming the air.”

Frowning, Logan looked up from the medical journal he’d been reading. “Well, let’s just hope we don’t end up delivering Tala or Lisa’s babies on this trip. They’re pretty early yet, and the trauma they’ve got to be experiencing can’t be good. I’m worried about them. Especially Tala, with the problems she had earlier.”

Anton shot a quick glance at Keisha. “We all are, Logan. That’s why Igmutaka’s along. He’s got a mental link to Mik’s daughter. He told me he can sense her fear, so we know they’re still alive, and that means we’ll get them back. The problem is, Luc hasn’t had any word at all from either of the women yet, so we don’t know any details of their condition.”

Keisha squeezed Anton’s hand. I’m worried. Shouldn’t the kidnappers have let Lisa and Tala make contact by now, something to prove they’re alive? Tia told Luc the drug interfered with her mindtalking, so that could explain why the girls haven’t contacted their men directly, but you’d think they’d have been allowed a call by now. That’s the only way those men can possibly think Pack Dynamics would carry out their plan.

You’d think so, Anton said. I’m worried, too, but we have to trust Igmutaka. If he says they’re alive, I prefer to believe he knows what he’s talking about.

“Why the hell haven’t we heard anything?” Mik paced the small area in Luc’s office. Tinker and AJ sat on the couch near the window. Tinker stared straight ahead, but AJ was all hunched over, elbows resting on his knees, his head in his hands. Mik wanted to offer him comfort,
wanted to go to him and tell him everything would be okay, but he’d run out of lies. How could he say something like that when he didn’t believe it himself?

Luc had gone back to the bedroom to check on Tia. She’d shifted and managed to get rid of the bullet, but the shift had opened up the wound again. Damn but she was a tough little thing. Every bit as tough as Tala. Even though she’d lost a lot of blood, Tia had refused medical care. Her argument that Logan was just an hour away now wasn’t easing anyone’s mind, even though it made the most sense. She absolutely refused to go to a hospital where doctors were required to report a gunshot wound.

Involving the police could screw up any chance they had of saving Lisa and Tala. But why the fuck hadn’t they heard from the women? Unless they’d been taken entirely out of mindtalking range, they should have made contact by now. Tia’d said the drug screwed up her head, but she’d reached Luc hours ago. Where the hell were Lisa and Tala?

He was certain Tala would have called out to them by now if she could. Mik couldn’t allow himself to think of the alternative. Couldn’t even touch on that. If anything happened to Tala, if anyone harmed the babies she carried … No. He couldn’t do it. No way in hell could he let his thoughts go there.

Not if he wanted to be in any shape to help her.

Mik stared at the cell phone Luc had left sitting on his desk and willed the damned thing to ring.

It sat there like a piece of worthless shit. He wanted to pick it up and throw it through the window. Throw it so hard it splashed down in the middle of San Francisco Bay. He pictured himself reaching for it, grasping the useless piece of crap in his fist, hauling back for a long throw …

And then it rang.

Millie West stepped out on the deck and paused quietly for a moment, watching her mate. Ulrich stood at the back
railing, elbows resting on the rough-hewn wood, his gaze fastened on the snow-covered forest. After a moment, Millie crossed the short distance and stood beside him. As much as she wanted to wrap her arms around him, she held back. Instead, she wrapped them around her own waist. Held tightly to herself and prayed for calm, for an end to this horror.