Wolf Tales 12 (23 page)

“Nope,” Xandi said. “I think she’s good to go, though, Sunny, I can feel your muscles, and they’re very weak. You don’t want to push it right away. You’re going to need to build up strength slowly.”

“Good advice.” Laughing softly, Logan stepped into the room. “Who needs me? I’m just the doctor. Sheesh . . . I go take a nap and miss all the excitement. How’s our patient?”

“She’s good,” Adam said, still holding on to her.

Then his hands fell away so that Sunny stood on her own. Her legs wobbled, but she didn’t fall. Still, she missed Adam’s touch. Nick’s hands stroking her fur. The physical connection that was so amazing. Sunny almost asked both men to come back and touch her some more. As the thought flitted through her mind, she experienced an unfamiliar coil of heat. She shivered, curious about the sensation. What it meant. What had caused it.

She’d have to figure it out later. Instead, she plopped her butt down on the bed, panting. It was hard work, standing up, keeping her balance.
When I shift back to me, to Sunny, will I still be paralyzed?

Logan ran his hand over her forehead, down her neck. “I don’t think so. I hope not. I have a feeling—and it’s a strong feeling—that you’re going to be able to move, though you might be too weak to walk at first. You’ve never used your muscles, and your nerves are going to have to learn to get those messages moving around again. You’ll probably need physical therapy.”

Adam sat on the edge of the bed beside her. “Are you ready to give it a try? Do you want to shift back now?”

Did she? Sunny looked around at the people who waited with so much hope in their eyes. They wanted her healed every bit as much as she wanted it. She felt sensation gradually returning to her limbs and knew the women had withdrawn their link.

Her muscles twitched, but she didn’t actually hurt. It was more a sense of exhaustion, as if holding this body upright was straining muscles long unused. She could handle that.

What she didn’t think she could handle was shifting back and discovering that she couldn’t move, that she was still paralyzed.
I want to walk outside first. Before I shift back, I want to walk in the grass. I don’t know what that feels like. Can we do that?

“Damn right we can.” Adam shot Logan a quick look, and before Sunny could question how she’d get outside, he’d scooped her up in his powerful arms and held her against his chest. “We’re moving this show outside, folks.” Laughing, he carried her out the door and down the hallway.

Stefan met them by the back sliding door that led to the deck and the children’s play area beyond. He slid the heavy glass door open. Sunny looked over Adam’s shoulder and saw everyone gathering; all of the Chanku who’d been inside were following them out. The ones who’d been out here with the children waited on the small patch of lawn.

The sun was shining brightly and the day felt really warm as Adam set her down in the damp green grass at the back of the house. This was the only area she’d noticed with actual lawn—a small patch for babies to walk barefoot and the kids to roll and play. It tickled her butt and between her toes. She lifted one paw to sniff, and realized everyone was looking at her.

She suddenly felt terribly self-conscious—at least until Mei and Oliver’s little Emeline, who had yet to take her first steps, stood up on her fat little legs and chose that moment to walk. She toddled across the grass with arms outstretched, heading directly for Sunny.

Giggling, she grabbed Sunny’s ears and hung on tight, leaned forward, and planted a sloppy kiss on her nose. Sunny slowly sank to her belly and rolled over to her back. The baby rolled with her, still hanging on to her ears.

Laughing, Mei leapt to Sunny’s rescue and grabbed her daughter. “Wouldn’t you know it—the daughter of a leopard takes her first steps to catch a wolf.”

Sunny just lay there in the grass, listening to the laughter, feeling the sun on her belly. Everyone around her laughed and talked and the children chattered, and their voices flowed in and out of her mind like music on the wind.

She’d never known contentment like this. Had never experienced this sense of family, of connection with anyone, much less an entire pack. For the first time in her life, Sunny belonged. She truly belonged.

Like a warm hug, it hit her.

This is what it’s like to be loved.

It couldn’t possibly get any better.

Sunny lay in the shade beside the back deck, panting. Her muscles ached, though she’d not left the yard during the hour she’d been out here. A few steps across the grass exhausted her, and she actually envied the babies going in for their naps.

Only Adam and Logan remained. Everyone else had gone off to do whatever they all did when they gathered here at Keisha and Anton’s Montana home. Keisha had explained that when the entire pack came together like this, each person took on a chore so that no single one of them would have too much to do.

Stefan and Oliver were handling the day’s business, since Anton was holding vigil in the caverns waiting for Lily to return. The others had told her about his daughter and her travels on the astral plane, her search for knowledge of Chanku history. Sunny wondered if she’d ever get used to the way these people discussed impossible things as if they were commonplace—things Sunny had always believed were nothing more than fantasy.

Of course, now that she was a wolf, fantasy had taken on an entirely new meaning, even though the day-to-day living she’d observed was really pretty mundane. Everyone seemed to have a job—some were busy doing laundry, others working on dinner or cleaning house or watching children. Tia, Shannon, and Mei had spent the past few days putting together plans for homeschooling all the children once they got everyone moved here, to Montana.

Sunny had thought they all already lived here. It hadn’t taken her long to learn a gathering had originally been scheduled for the impending birth of Adam and Liana’s third child.

Then Lily had gone missing and everyone headed to Montana ahead of schedule. Everything had changed again after the bombing in Washington, after Nick’s heroic efforts that saved so many lives gave away the closely guarded secret of the Chanku.

Now Nick, Matt, and Deacon were monitoring news channels, watching for any mention of shapeshifters, while Beth and Tala were spending hours in Anton’s study keeping track of everything they could find on the Internet. So far, all the news they’d come across was fairly positive, though rampant curiosity and a desire for more information were growing by the day.

Nick’s shift in front of so many cameras had definitely captured the world’s interest. Sunny was just relieved they’d overlooked her entirely. No one had asked a thing about the young woman in the wheelchair.

The same young woman now lying on the cool grass, wondering if she’d be able to make the long walk up the stairs, all the way inside and down the hallway to her room.

Adam knelt beside her. “You look beat, Sunny. Ready to go back inside?”

She had to think about that for a minute. Going inside meant shifting back to a girl. If she was still paralyzed, it meant adult diapers or a catheter, replacing the tube in her belly so she could eat, living once again in a wheelchair.

Did she really want that?

Adam was shaking his head and laughing. “No, it doesn’t mean that at all, but I’ll carry you to the woods so you can pee first, if you want. If you’re hungry, you can have some meat while you’re still in this form. Sunny, no one’s going to make you stay in a wheelchair ever again. If you shift and can’t move, you can go back to being a wolf. There’s no rule that says you’ve got to be a disabled human. You’re certainly not a disabled wolf.”

I can stay a wolf?

“You can do whatever you want. It’s your life, Sunny. From here on out, you make your own decisions about how to live it. The main thing is, you have options you didn’t have before.” He ran his palm over her skull and down her neck and rested his fingers on her shoulders.

“When my first mate unexpectedly died, I didn’t deal well with my grief. I shifted and remained a wolf for weeks before I finally got past it. No one forced me to shift back. It was my choice. There’s no rule that says you have to be in your human form. None at all.”

She hadn’t thought of that. Suddenly, going back inside, shifting back to a regular girl, didn’t sound nearly as scary. Not if she didn’t have to stay that way.
I’m ready to go back,
she said.
I’m really tired. It may take me a while to get there.

“No, it won’t take long at all. Not if I carry you.”

Logan stood up and brushed the grass off his pants.

“You guys go ahead. If there’s a problem when Sunny shifts, call me immediately, but I need to get back to the clinic. I think Liana’s getting close, even though she’s not due for a couple of weeks. Just a feeling, but I want to make sure everything’s ready for her.”

“Sounds good. She’s gone up to our rooms to take a nap, but I don’t sense any contractions. Doesn’t hurt to be prepared.” Adam slipped his arms beneath Sunny’s lean wolven body and lifted her as if she weighed nothing at all. Holding her like a big, four-legged baby, he climbed the stairs to the deck.

But when he reached the door, Adam stopped dead in his tracks. Sunny tilted her head so she could see his expression. Something had him staring through the glass sliding door with a look of wide-eyed shock on his face.

The door slid open. Sunny snapped her head around and found herself looking into eyes that mesmerized her with their stunning beauty, looking at a face that belonged to an angel—a man so absolutely perfect he didn’t appear real. She blinked, but he was still there, still perfect, only now he was looking directly at her.

“Adam? Where did you find her?”

Even his voice was gorgeous.

“Shit, Ig. Where the hell have you been? It’s been . . . crap, man. It’s been years.”

Ig whoever he was dipped his chin as if acknowledging Adam’s stunned comment. “I’ve been watching over my charge. Tala and Mik’s little Star takes much of my time. It’s easier from the spirit world. Much easier than watching over her as a man.”

Sunny was still trying to figure out that enigmatic statement when Adam shook himself as if he were coming out of a trance. “Igmutaka, this is Sunny Daye. Nick and Beth found her in Washington, DC. About the same time Nick exposed—literally—the existence of Chanku to the world.”

Adam stepped through the door as Igmutaka moved aside.

“I’ve heard. Very little escapes the spirit world.”

Adam carried Sunny down the hall to her room. She watched the big man over his shoulder. He followed close behind, moving so gracefully, so sinuously, he made her think of the big lions she’d seen in the zoo.

Very good, little one. You are perceptive. I am a cougar in my other form. Welcome. I’m here to help you.

How? How can you help me?

Later. When you need me, I will be there.
He dipped his head, almost as if showing her respect. Then he turned and grinned at Adam. His entire countenance changed, from ethereal beauty to just another hot, gorgeous guy. “Adam? I hope to see you and Liana later this evening.”

Adam stood in the doorway to Sunny’s room, still holding her in his arms, but he laughed at Igmutaka’s comment. “I hope you realize Liana’s due to give birth any day now. You’ll have to keep the Louisville Slugger to yourself.”

Then the new guy surprised the hell out of Sunny. Igmutaka laughed, leaned close to Adam, and kissed him. It wasn’t just a little peck on the cheek, either. It was an open-mouth-insert-tongue kind of kiss, as if Sunny weren’t mere inches away.

She knew these guys sometimes got it on together, just from the conversations she’d heard or eavesdropped on, but this was the first time she’d actually seen anything remotely sexual between any of the people here.

The biggest surprise was what it did to her insides. She might be a wolf and they were men, but her reaction was all female. Their kiss sent a lick of heat between her legs, a coil of desire building deep in her middle, feelings so intense she almost shifted in Adam’s arms so that Igmutaka would kiss her, instead.

He broke the kiss with Adam, but both men were breathing hard. Sunny wondered if they’d forgotten she was even there. Igmutaka leaned his forehead against Adam’s.

“I know of your wife’s condition. You, my friend, may still play with my bat. Liana’s welcome to watch.” He grinned and winked at Sunny. “Invite the little one, if you wish.” Then he turned and sauntered out of the room.

Adam let out a huge whoosh of air, shook his head, and gave Sunny a dopey grin. “I’ve really missed that guy,” he said. Then he carried Sunny to her bed and gently set her on the covers.

Chapter 17

What is he? He’s not like you and the others. Not exactly.

Sunny’s soft question pulled Adam out of the amazing erotic fantasy neither his mind nor his body wanted to abandon. Damn, he’d missed Ig. He and Liana both had, but the spirit guide hadn’t made more than a half dozen brief appearances over the past five years, not since Tala and Mik’s little Mikaela Star was born—and only when they were all here in Montana.

Igmutaka had gone from being Mik’s grandfather’s spirit guide, to Mik’s, to a powerful, free-roaming cougar protecting the Montana pack. Then he’d appeared one day in his human form and become Adam and Liana’s sometime lover.

Then, when Star arrived, Ig disappeared. He’d gone back to his spirit form to better protect Star and her twin brother Jack, who was AJ’s son. Adam hadn’t expected to miss him as much as he did, though with the babies coming along, he hadn’t really had time to think about the gorgeous, androgynous male who’d somehow claimed a piece of his heart.

Seeing the man brought it all back, but how to explain that to a sexually innocent young woman? He looked into Sunny’s steady gaze and tried to organize his thoughts.

She snarled. Bared her sharp teeth and actually snarled at him. Adam involuntarily jerked his hand out of reach of her sharp teeth. The snarl turned to a low growl, and her anger came through loud and clear.