Hour of the Lion (The Wild Hunt Legacy #1) (26 page)

and then he choked and groaned.

Reaching her bedroom, she shoved a chair underneath the door handle and flopped down

onto the bed. What a wussy, abandoning the field to Cleavage and Ice Queen. Very bad strategy.

* * *

As Alec watched, his brother stalked past the stunned guests and escaped outside. ―Well,

that was a surprise,‖ he murmured. Calum‘s famous control had snapped with a vengeance.

―By Herne‘s horns, he hits harder than you do,‖ Daniel wheezed, still hunched over his

stomach. ―You know, you two used to have a sense of humor. Especially about women.‖

―Not this time.‖ Spotting Aaron‘s glare— no fighting inside—Alec pushed Daniel out the

front door. The frigid air slapped against his face, restoring his equilibrium.

―Yeah, I get that.‖ Daniel waggled his eyebrows. ―She‘s incredibly appealing. Does she

even realize you‘re trying to court her?‖

―No, she doesn‘t,‖ Calum said. He was leaning against the wall. ―Forgive me, Daniel. I did

lose control.‖

Daniel laughed and slapped Calum on the shoulder. ―Good to know you‘re not perfect,

buddy. And though it‘s been thirty years or so, you still throw a wicked punch.‖

―Indeed. I see you can still provoke a fight faster than anyone in the territory.‖

Daniel gave a mock bow. ―Thank you, my son, thank you. So what‘s the story with the little

lady? She looked lost as a heifer without a mama.‖

―That‘s a disgusting analogy,‖ Alec said. ―I take it you and Tanner are still running the

Summerland in Rainier Territory?‖

―Yup. Aside from the hellhounds increasing—we lost a new shifter to them last month—

we‘re doing good.‖ Daniel brushed the snow off a wooden chair and sat down, propping his

boots up on a protruding log of the cabin wall. ―Are you going to tell me about Vicki? I‘d like —

―No you wouldn‘t,‖ Calum said flatly.

―Got it.‖ Daniel shook his head ruefully. ―I heard she joined us by way of the Death Gift.

What form is she?‖

―Lachlan was a cat,‖ Alec said, ―so she must be one too.‖

Daniel stared. ―Must be? She hasn‘t shifted yet?‖

Calum sighed. ―She was not completely certain she wanted to be a shifter.‖

―Hell, littermate, be honest. She knew she didn‘t,‖ Alec said. The thought of her leaving

chilled him faster than the air outside. ―I‘m not sure she‘s changed her mind, especially after

meeting‖—he snorted, remembering her words—‖ Cleavage and the Ice Queen.‖

Daniel‘s laugh sounded like a bull‘s bellow and echoed off the mountains. ―You should have

seen your faces, like she‘d kneed you in the balls.‖

―She was angry with us for some reason,‖ Calum agreed. ―But—‖

―Damn, you‘re blind, man. With anybody else, you‘d see it. The girl‘s jealous of you both.‖

Daniel gave a snort of disgust. ―If she hadn‘t shown me that, do you really think you could have

kept me from her?‖

Alec managed to close his mouth. Jealous? He saw the slight smile appear on his brother‘s

face. ―We‘re idiots, all right,‖ Alec said.

―I‘m gonna go get some sleep.‖ Daniel stood up and stretched, then glanced at Alec and

Calum. ―The way you both arrived within seconds of me touching her, I‘d say the jealousy goes

two ways, wouldn‘t you?‖

―Yeah, well, we knew that,‖ Alec said, then saw the blank look on Calum‘s face. ―Or not.‖

Vic escaped the house before breakfast. She needed a break from all the people and

emotions. These last few days, her emotions had turned as topsy-turvy as a B-15 with a drunken

pilot.

After hiking the village, she followed a stream into the forest. The breeze whipped around

her, blowing a fine dust of snow off the pine branches, and clearing her mind. Last night hadn‘t

been her finest moment. Then again, what the hell had the guys been growling about? All three

men stiff-legged and snarly, and that wasn‘t something she‘d expected to see from Alec and

Calum. Especially Calum.

Vic sighed and leaned her back against a tree. The mountain was so quiet she could hear

snow plopping to the ground from the branches, the wind sighing through the pines, the little

gurgle of the half-frozen stream.

Yeah, the guys had been pushy. She hadn‘t shown much better. What had possessed her to

make those waspish comments—Cleavage and Ice Queen? Alec would razz her forever, and

Calum might not say anything, but oh, he‘d know she‘d been jealous. She thumped the back of

her head against the trunk. Crap.

Jealous. The thought made her want to run away. But it was too late. She was here and

entangled. And a shifter if she wanted to be.

Do I? At first, the thought had horrified her, but now, it didn‘t sound that bad. Everyone

she‘d met seemed pretty normal. Running around as a big cat? How cool would that be?

If only being a wereanimal didn‘t have so many downsides, like not being able to return to

duty. No way could she pop into fur skin every month—not in Baghdad where people lived

cheek by jowl. Or, what if she got shot? Might she wake up in a zoo rather than the hospital?

But how would she earn a living otherwise? All her skills were for war. Give up being a spy

to work as a barmaid? Or a housewife? Did these guys even marry? She frowned. Don‟t want to

go there. She needed to keep her times with Alec and Calum light-hearted. Fun. If it got more serious, well, who would she choose? Calum with his deep, commanding voice, who stole the

control from her? Or Alec with that mouth she just wanted to bite and nibble, and who could

make her laugh. Who she understood right down to the ground as another soldier.

Damn men. Didn‘t they know that one guy was supposed to call dibs and the other back off?

No matter what Calum said, she felt guilty to have fucked him. It would be wise to just plain get

away from them.

Yet the thought of leaving was so painful, she turned around and started back to the village.

Halfway there, she met Helen hiking up with a large basket over her arm. ―Vicki, how nice

to see you this morning.‖ She raised her basket. ―I‘m hoping the squirrels left me some nuts.

There‘s one lonely walnut tree just over this rise.‖ Helen‘s face was nipped pink with the cold,

her eyes a bright blue under a furred hood. ―We‘re making cookies in an hour and expecting your

help.‖

Vic grinned. ―I‘m there.‖

―That‘s my girl.‖ Helen patted her on the shoulder. ―If you‘re a good child, I‘ll let you take

some back to your men. They both love their sweets, Alec especially.‖

Oh, yeah, she‘d seen that. But—"They aren‘t mine.‖

―Of course not. Whatever came over me to say such a thing?‖

Vic gave Helen a suspicious look.

Helen‘s eyes danced with laughter. ―You can give them cookies anyway—and Jamie also.

We‘ll bake extra. You change out of those wet clothes when you get back.‖ She patted Vic and

continued up the trail.

Vic watched for a moment, feeling unsettled. Would her mother have been like Helen if

she‘d lived? Would she have taught Vic to make cookies? And scolded her now and then?

Walking slowly, Vic had just reached the edge of the forest when she heard Helen scream.

* * *

―She a woman yet?‖ Maude and Calum stood in the doorway of her house, watching Jamie

play tag with the other teenagers.

―For about two months.‖ His baby was almost grown up. He felt a pang of mingled pride

and grief.

―So her first trawsfur will be any time now.‖ Maude pursed her lips. ―With all the problems

down in Cold Creek, you should leave her up here with us, Calum.‖

―I‘ve considered it. But I‘m the one she‘s worked with. She responds to my voice.‖ Fear

squeezed his chest as he remembered the child last year who‘d panicked and lost the ability to

return to human. ―What if something went wrong and I wasn‘t here?‖

Maude opened her mouth, and Calum cut her off. ―I can‘t stay. My responsibility lies in

Cold Creek, especially now. I need to remove that human before he draws attention to us. Or

harms another of mine.‖

―I understand, Calum. It‘s an evil time when a child has to be fearful in her own town.‖

―Aye.‖ He handed Maude his cup. ―I‘ll see you at Aaron‘s in an hour. We—‖

A woman‘s terror-filled scream ripped though the quiet village and echoed off the

mountains. Silence reigned for a few seconds before the noise began.

* * *

Helen! Vic sprinted up the trail, cursing the heavy coat that slowed her speed. Before she‘d

gone far, two mountain lions flashed past, then a bear, leaving her behind so quickly she felt as if

she wasn‘t even moving.

Vic pushed harder. With each harsh breath, the cold knifed into her lungs. She passed the

stream and followed the tracks in the snow. She fell once and scrambled back to her feet as she

heard a cougar‘s snarl.

At the base of a slope, she burst into a meadow and spotted the lonely walnut tree, then

Daniel, Calum, and Alec. Naked and in human form. Helen lay sprawled on the ground,

unconscious, and something had ripped her up bad. Red splotches marked the snow, the smell of

blood metallic and ugly in the pristine wilderness. Anger and fear tightened Vic‘s throat as she

saw bites and claw marks.

―I need something to stop the bleeding.‖ Alec pressed his hands over a long laceration. He

scowled at Helen‘s coat, the leather thick and useless for bandages.

―I‘ll go back,‖ Calum said.

―No. Here.‖ Vic shrugged out of her jacket, yanked off her flannel shirt, and tossed it at

Daniel. As he ripped off a length of material, she took off the long-sleeved Henley she‘d worn

under it. Using her boot knife, Vic cut off strips and handed them to Alec.

―She must have covered her head with her hood and arms.‖ Calum examined Helen‘s face

and neck with gentle hands. ―She didn‘t panic.‖

Helen‘s coat was sliced to ribbons, but it had mostly protected the fragile skin underneath.

Not her legs. Multiple gouges went through muscle almost to the bone, and she was bleeding

badly. The men worked quickly, tying pressure bandages over the worst of the wounds.

As Vic pulled off her coat and bent to wrap it around Helen, Alec and Calum moved aside.

Calum bent to examine the red-flecked tracks leading away. ―It‘s a feral.‖ He looked at

Alec, his voice level…and sad. ―I‘m sorry, cahir.‖

Alec bowed his head slightly. ―Your will, Cosantir.‖

―Let‘s get going.‖ Daniel lifted Helen in his arms.

―Go.‖ Alec turned to Vic. ―You‘re shivering, baby. Where‘s—‖ He glanced at Helen, saw

the coat around her. ―You‘re a treasure, Vixen. Now haul that precious ass of yours to where it‘s

warm.‖

Vic hesitated. How could she leave?

Calum put his hand against her back and gave her a nudge. ―We‘ll be taking turns carrying

her down as fast as we can. Will you go ahead and find Aaron? Tell him what has happened and

to prepare for us. Medical kit, heated blankets—he knows what to do.‖

Vic nodded with relief. ―I‘m on it.‖ And then she ran.

* * *

When Calum eventually finished his duties and returned to Aaron‘s cabin, he looked for

Victoria. She wasn‘t in the kitchen where Aaron and Maude were stitching up Helen. The living

room? There, tucked into a chair. He frowned. Although they‘d returned almost an hour ago, she

sat by the woodstove shivering, her face still pinched with cold.

Calum poured out some thick black coffee from the pot on the woodstove and held it out to

her. ―Drink. It‘s vile, but hot.‖

Giving him a pale smile, she tried to take the cup, but trembled so hard that coffee sloshed

over the side.

Calum took it back and set it on the end table. ―Stand up.‖

She gave him a confused look. Her wits were definitely chilled, or the obstinate little female

would have argued with him.

When she stood, he took her place in the chair, pulled her onto his lap, and wrapped his arms

around her. She wore a sweater, and he felt as if he held a fluffy icicle.

She relaxed against him. ―God, you feel wonderful.‖

―I believe you have said that before,‖ he murmured in her ear, ―In the cave.‖ He hardened at

the memory.

She squirmed, then stilled as she felt his erection. ―Sorry.‖

―I shall live.‖ With his free hand, he picked up the cup of coffee and held it to her lips.

―Drink, cariad.‖

She sipped, shivered, sipped. ―I feel like a baby,‖ she muttered.

He chuckled at the resentful tone. ―Ah, you begin to recover.‖

―Damned cold mountains.‖

―They are indeed.‖ He wrapped his arms tighter around her, enjoying the feel of a female‘s

softness and the surprisingly firm muscles underneath. He rubbed his cheek over her silky hair,

breathing in her scent, marking her with his.

―Sometimes people call you Calum and sometimes Cosantir. What‘s a Cosantir?‖

Calum grazed his lips over a scratch marring her high cheekbone. ―I am guardian of this

territory.‖ He knew what she‘d ask next. ―That would be the Northern Cascades.‖

―Huh. Big area. So, did you run for office or something?‖

―Ah, no. I fear this isn‘t an elected position. The God chooses.‖

Her breathing stopped for a few seconds. ―Oookay. Right.‖

When her lovely, cinnamon-colored eyes rose to his, he barely stifled a laugh. It had been a

long while since someone looked at him like he had gone stark, raving bonkers.

―God picked you out of the herd, huh. And you would know this how?‖

He nipped the back of her neck as a reprimand. ―It is risky to taunt Herne, Victoria. And I