Lone Wolf (6 page)

“Yeah. I agree. But once again, until I have a reason not to, I’ve got to do what Brigid asks, so we’re meeting up with them in a house in the mountains.”

“Where?”

She rattled off the address from memory. “I’ve been there once or twice over the years. The vampire who owns it is on an extended vacation in Europe.”

Beck frowned. “That address sounds familiar.” Keeping one hand on the wheel, he rummaged in his pocket, pulling out a crumpled piece of paper and squinting at it. “Yep. That’s the same place I’ve rented for the next six months.”

She stared, incredulous. “You rented a vampire’s house?”

“Give me a break. I didn’t know who owned it.”

“Doesn’t that bother you?”

“No. Should it?” Grimacing, he shot her a disgusted look. “I can’t say I really care, as long as it’s nice.”

“You don’t know?”

“No. I haven’t even been by there yet. Addie’s the one who set this up. I was going to pick up my keys from her.”

Again, he’d managed to shock her. “Addie set this up?”

“Yeah.” He shot her a glance. “I don’t understand. Why is this so weird to you?”

“Let’s see. This entire thing has been nothing but a nightmare. First, someone grabbed me and drugged me. Then you show up, captured by the same people.”

“And now they’ve got our daughter.”

“And now they’ve got my daughter. Oh, and then you tell me you’re renting a house in the middle of a vampire enclave. What’s next?” She couldn’t keep the agitation from her voice. “A vampire-shifter war? Addie knows better. She might be human, but she’s always been incredibly savvy about this kind of stuff.”

“What kind of stuff? You’re not making sense.” Beck sounded genuinely confused. “Who cares where I rent a house? A war? Why would you even say such a thing?”

“Because a shifter renting Vlad’s house would be like lighting a match to gunpowder.”

“Aren’t you being a bit dramatic? Things aren’t that fragile. The truce between vamps and shifters has been in place for at least ten years.”

“The truce has always been shaky. And ten years is nothing to a vampire. Let me give you an example. Four years ago, when Juliet and I visited here for one of Vlad’s famous parties, several of the older vamps got upset that a shifter dared to enter their territory. I had to do a lot of fancy politicking to calm them down. Vlad finally asked us to leave.”

Beck shook his head. “Are you kidding me?”

“No.”

“For God’s sake, this is the twenty-first century.”

“I know and you know that, but we’re talking about vampires that are centuries old. They barely give lip service to the truce. I’ve heard only Brigid’s power keeps them reined in.”

Rubbing the back of his neck, he swallowed hard. “This is completely unbelievable. But since you promised not to lie to me, I have to accept that it’s true. Which makes it even worse that Brigid wants you to go there. How do you think her vampire helpers are going to react to me? Won’t they have a problem with me being a shifter?”

“Probably. But then again, they’ve been handpicked by Brigid, so I don’t know. Maybe that’s why she’s gotten involved in all this. Usually, she doesn’t pay much attention to the goings-on of lesser beings.”

“I see.”

She gave him a curious look. “What will you do if they do have a problem with you?”

“I don’t want to start a war. Most importantly, I don’t want to do anything that would cause a delay in getting Dani back.”

Despite herself, his words touched her. “Thanks for that. I wonder if Brigid knows yet that I’m bringing you with me. She must know.”

“What does she have to gain by playing games?”

“And endangering the life of my child.” She finished what he did not.

“Exactly.”

She wondered how they could think so alike. After all, they came from completely different backgrounds. “I hope, once her minions get here, they’ll fill us in on what exactly is going on. This delay—any delay—is killing me. I need to find my baby and make sure she’s safe.”

Beck didn’t respond. She glanced his way to find him intent on the road ahead, the clean lines of his chiseled profile, so eerily familiar, again caught her by surprise.

Mate.
The word whispered in her soul, horrifying her. Dani resembled her father so much, looking at him made her chest hurt. Suddenly she wondered if it would be easier with him out of the picture. “You don’t have to do this, you know.”

Now he turned to look at her, his gaze blank. “What do you mean?”

“I mean you have a choice. I don’t know what Brigid has planned, who she’s sending to help us. This could be dangerous for you. You can still walk away.”

A muscle worked in his jaw. “Marika, do you honestly think I’d abandon my own child because I was worried about my safety?” His voice rose. “What kind of an ass do you take me for?”

She had to smile. Then, inexplicably, her throat closed, and her eyes filled with tears.

Beck only saw the smile. “You seriously find this amusing?” Fury simmered in his voice. He stomped hard on the accelerator, sending the truck fishtailing. Tight-lipped, he said nothing else as they barreled down the road, heading into the rising sun.

She tried to speak, but knew if she did, she’d only start weeping. Ruthlessly, she tried to get herself under control. She spent a few seconds bucking herself up before she could turn her head and face him.

Opening her mouth, she began to explain, but he cut her off before she could get out a single word.

“You know, sometimes I wonder if you knew me at all….” His voice trailed off.

This got her attention. “What do you mean?”

Glancing at her, the hard lines of his jaw seemed to soften. “My sister loved you so much.” When he swallowed, she couldn’t help but follow the line of his masculine throat. “I miss her.”

“I do, too.” She awkwardly tried to comfort him, though she couldn’t bring herself to actually touch him.

“I loved her, too.”

“After she died, every breath I took felt like it seared my lungs. The guilt was tremendous.”

This was what she’d meant when she’d asked him if he hated Dani. She felt as if she had rocks in her mouth. “How did you manage to go on?”

“I ran in place.” He gave her a quick, humorless smile. “You always hear the phrase take it day by day, you know? But there’s some truth in that, though in my case I took it minute by minute, hour by hour. I told myself, if I could just make it until noon, until one, until five, I’d be okay. Every single day, I lived like that. And somehow, the sun kept rising and setting, the world moved on. I existed and learned to bury my pain.”

While she’d had her pregnancy to distract her. “You’re brave, you know.”

“Not really.” He waved her away. “You lost your best friend, too.”

“I had my little girl. If anything happens to her…”

“Your Priestess would have told you if Dani was in immediate danger, would she not?”

“I don’t know.” She knew she sounded flat. “I don’t know what she saw or didn’t see. She wasn’t exactly forthcoming with details.”

“Something’s got to give.”

“You think?” Raw sarcasm mingled with the anger. “If Brigid has even the faintest inkling of where they’ve taken my daughter, she’d sure as hell better share it.”

“I’m sure she will. Why else would she bother sending reinforcements?”

“That’s another thing I don’t get. Why does Brigid think we
need
reinforcements? I’m a Vampire Huntress, you’re a Pack Protector. We’re two elite members of our species. Surely the two of us can handle a couple of ordinary kidnappers, even if they are shifters.”

“Maybe they’re not ordinary.”

She made a rude sound. “All I know is Brigid’s people had better be waiting when we get there. Otherwise, they can try to catch up with us.”

“We don’t know where to look.”

“True. A major sticking point. Without Brigid, we could go running off in a thousand wrong directions. Maybe you should try your Protector friends again. They have the technology to help us locate her.”

“They’ll call me when they’re ready.”

“I’ll give them another half hour, then I’ll call them myself. Look, there.” She pointed ahead, where the road undulated down a hill and across a flat expanse of land. “Turn left once we cross that valley.”

“Toward the mesa?”

“Yep. Vlad’s house is on the incline.”

She wasn’t kidding. The house, stucco and glass and weathered cedar, perched halfway up the mesa as though a hardscrabble climb had gained it a foothold there. The morning sun reflected off the wall of windows, sending bright pinpricks of light back out into the rising heat of the day.

As they pulled up in the driveway, the garage door began to rise.

Startled, Beck looked at Marika. “Do you have an opener?”

She shook her head. “No. But look, they obviously do.”

Three vampires stood in the empty garage, so still they might have been made of stone, waiting.

B
rigid’s reinforcements. Hellhounds. Beck let the truck coast to a stop and killed the ignition. The vampires hadn’t moved.

He glanced at Marika. “Do you know them?”

“One of them looks familiar. The woman, though I don’t know where I’ve seen her.” She didn’t sound happy. “The other two, I don’t recognize. But they’re old, all of them. Ancient.”

And now coming toward them. Like most of their kind, the vampires moved effortlessly, with an otherworldly sort of grace. Their perfect skin glowed pearly white in the bright sun. The two males were tall and slender, wearing dark suits that were both well-fitting and expensively made. With their well-groomed hair and chiseled features, they looked savagely elegant. In direct contrast, the female appeared exquisitely deadly in her curve-hugging, black spandex jumpsuit and five-inch stiletto heels.

Together, they looked like denizens from a chic version of hell. Dangerous messengers.

A shiver ran up the back of his spine, instinctual reaction to a centuries-old nemesis. Until the treaty, his kind had hunted them, battled them and sought their death. They’d been sworn enemies, vamps and shifters, and to this day much of the distrust remained on both sides.

The three vampires glided to a stop a short distance from the truck, waiting for them to emerge. Again, Beck felt a premonition of danger. While he’d never feared bloodsuckers before, these weren’t your everyday, run of-the-mill vampires. His first instinct—and one he trusted implicitly—was to recoil in repugnance.

A quick glance at Marika told him nothing; her nonexpression might have been chiseled from the same perfect stone as the other three vamps.

“Now what?” he asked.

Careful to avoid meeting his gaze, she shrugged and pushed open her door. “We find out what they know.”

He jumped down, too, conscious that his wolf had become completely alert. The hair on his arms rose as if from static electricity. Moving toward them, he schooled his expression to match Marika’s.

As they drew near, the two men kept their gazes riveted on Marika. The vampire woman watched Beck.

“You brought a pet with you?” she purred to Marika, the slight tilt at the corner of her eyes giving her an exotic appearance.

“Not a pet. An ally. Surely Brigid told you of him?”

“Perhaps she did. No matter.” The woman dipped her chin, slanting Beck a mocking smile. “I am Renenet. You can call me Renee.”

Marika’s eyes widened. “Goddess of Fortune?”

“So I’ve been called.” She lifted one shoulder in an elegant and disaffected shrug. “I am an old friend of Brigid, from the times before.”

Which meant that this one was very, very old. Also very powerful.

“This is Heh.” Waving her hand languidly, she indicated the tallest of the two men. “And finally, Usi.”

Beck had to ask. “What do their names mean?”

When she turned that glowing gaze on him again, this time he felt the strength of her power. More magic. How many of these vampires were witches?

“Heh is the God of Immeasurable and Usi means smoke.”

Usi’s mouth spread into a thin-lipped smile. “Smoke comes in handy sometimes.”

“You were supposed to come alone.” Renee turned her violet gaze on Marika. “Do you dare disobey Brigid?”

“I do what I have to. Enough of this. What do you know about my daughter?” Letting a rasp of anger color her voice, Marika eyed each of them in turn. “What has Brigid told you?”

Before anyone could answer, the wind began to blow, gusting in fierce spurts, as though from the dying breath of an unseen cyclone.

Beck spread his legs for balance and braced himself against the forceful air. Beside him, Marika did the same. The three others, without appearing to move, glided back into the shelter of the garage, eyes glowing in the dim space.

They did not invite Beck and Marika to join them.

And the wind continued to buffet them. Beck’s sense of unease increased. Fleetingly, he wondered if even nature was trying to warn them.

“This is ridiculous,” Marika shouted, glaring at the vamps. “Invite us in.”

Surprised, Beck glanced from her to their hosts. Was that old bit of folklore actually true? Vamps couldn’t go inside a residence unless invited? Hmm. He’d file that away for future reference and ask Marika about it.

Finally, he took Marika’s arm and led her into the garage and out of the increasingly powerful air. Once inside, she shook him off and stalked to one side, keeping a distance between her and everyone else.

No one spoke. The three vamps continued to stare, as expressionless as statues.

“A storm is coming,” Beck finally said, uncomfortable with the silence. He could swear he heard a voice shrieking unintelligible words in cadence with the wind. A child’s voice. A little girl. Dani?

Imagination. Had to be.

Usi’s lips twitched. “Somewhere, the earth Goddess is angry,” he commented, bestowing on them a faint smile. “I hear her rage in the wind’s fury.”

“Not the Goddess. Her child,” the vampire woman said, turning her unsettlingly sharp-eyed focus on Marika. “Your daughter calls out to you. Can you not hear her screaming your name on the wind?”

He’d been right. Cocking his head, Beck listened. Now he could tell for certain. The gut-wrenching sound of his daughter crying for her mother. Fury and a toddler’s anguish mingled in the air, making him want to lash out in a blind attempt to help her.

“She calls you,” he said, taking care to hide his gut reaction from the others. Hearing his child’s voice for the first time, in such a powerful way, nearly brought him to his knees. He could only imagine how this made Marika feel.

Meaning to offer comfort, however small, he touched Marika’s shoulder. She shot him a look so full of anguish, he felt it like a knife.

“I don’t…” She bit her lip.

“You cannot hear her?” Renee asked.

Slowly, Marika shook her head. Making no sound, she pushed away from the others, wrapping her arms around her middle, as though she’d been struck in the stomach. Lost in her own private grief, unable to find comfort.

Beck started for her, but the vampire called Heh materialized in front of him, blocking his path.

“Wait,” the other growled. “You cannot help her with this.”

Beck ignored him, shouldering him away. “Move.”

For the space of a second, their gazes locked. Man and vampire—no,
wolf
and vampire. Once Beck let Heh see the wolf behind his eyes, the vamp conceded.

With an elegant shrug, Heh stepped back.

Marika closed her eyes, her face contorted with her misery.

The sound of Dani’s need intensified, perhaps fueled by a connection with her mother’s obvious pain.

“Marika.” Beck wrapped her in his arms. Though her posture felt rigid and stiff, she didn’t resist. She simply allowed his embrace. It was as though she’d simply vacated her body.

Still he held her, willing her to accept what little comfort he could give. He hated to see her so silent and defeated. Even anger would be better than this.

But she didn’t move—not to sag against him, not to break her frozen despair. The silence stretched on, both awkward and painful in the face of the ever-present wind still carrying Dani’s cries. In a way, he was glad Marika couldn’t hear them because the heartbreaking sound brought a fiery need to do more.

When he finally stepped back, she gave him a broken, hard-edged look, full of grief.

“I can’t hear her,” she said, her voice echoing her agonized expression. “Yet you all can. Dani calls to me, her mother, but I don’t recognize her voice. How can that be?” Her voice broke.

She glared at Renenet, as if she believed the older vampire responsible. “Why can’t I hear my own daughter, while you—a total stranger—can?”

“I don’t know. Perhaps you are not listening hard enough.” Renee’s harsh voice didn’t soften.

“Too much worry and fear can cloud your abilities,” Heh agreed. “Clear your mind and then try again.”

“If you let her, she will reach you. Your girl is already very powerful,” Renenet said.

With a nod, Marika closed her eyes and began taking deep breaths. She missed the hard glance the two male vampires exchanged. Beck shot them the same kind of look.

“What kind of creature
is
this child?” Usi snarled. “So small, yet she can send her voice out over the wind.”

But Renenet now watched Beck. “You heard her, too, right?” she asked. “So this is not something only detected by vampires?”

“I’m her father,” he said, even though doing so felt a bit like rubbing salt in Marika’s open wound.

Now, he watched the play of emotion on Marika’s perfect face as she strained yet again to hear Dani’s plaintive cry. Meanwhile, he clung to the sound, even though doing so made his inner wolf want to howl. Keeping the beast under control proved a Herculean effort, occupying all his self-control, yet he refused to try to block out the sound of his daughter’s voice. This, his first connection, no matter how painful, brought him hope. As long as they could hear her, that meant she was still alive.

The other three vampires exchanged glances. They all waited for Marika while she cocked her head and continued to try to hear. Their faces were too beautiful and so expressionless that they might have been carved from stone.

Unlike Marika, who looked as though she might shatter into a thousand pieces.

Finally, she made a sound of defeat and opened her eyes. “Nothing,” she said, her gaze locking with Beck’s.

Aching for her, still battling his wolf, he dipped his chin in acknowledgment.

She shifted her gaze to Heh, then to Renee. “You all heard her, didn’t you? Everyone but me.” Shadows darkened her eyes.

“Yes, this is true.” Heh’s perfect expression never changed. “Your child is very powerful. What kind of magic does she wield?”

“She’s just a little girl.” Marika glared at him, wiping her streaming eyes with the back of her hand. “She has no magic.”

“Or perhaps it’s well-hidden.” Renenet moved restlessly, making a circle around the perimeter of the small garage. Beck noted that all the while, she managed not to turn her back on him.

Smart vampire.

“I want to hear her,” Marika said, her voice troubled.

The other woman shook her head. “She has gone silent. If she cries again and you don’t hear her, I will tell you to listen.”

Beck could tell from her rigid posture that Marika didn’t like this, but finally she dipped her head in acquiescence.

Once she had, Renenet stood still, as if satisfied.

Now Marika moved, watching her like a hawk. “Tell me what Brigid has told you about my daughter’s capture. Do you know where she is?”

“We have been told that we must help you find your daughter. If we do not, Brigid has seen the beginning of a terrible war. When our people battle each other on such a scale, many lives will be lost. Not just us, but precious few humans would survive such a cataclysmic conflict.”

“War?” Marika stared. “That’s insane. What has any of this to do with me and my child?”

Renee’s eyes gleamed. “Your little girl is…unique, is she not?

They all waited, the two male vamps appearing fascinated while Beck was confused. Of course Dani was unique. She was the child of a shifter and a vampire.

But for the space of a heartbeat, Marika looked…trapped. Fear, stark and vivid, filled her eyes. Then, so quickly a blink might have made him miss it, she again composed her features into that perfect mask.

“Dani is a two-year-old child who learned early to change form. There is no reason to think she would cause a war.”

The other vamps didn’t appear convinced.

“If she is harmed, you would seek to destroy those that have taken her, would you not?”

The sharp glance Marika sent his way told Beck her answer before she even spoke.

“You know what I would do. And I don’t think anyone here would dare to tell me I’d be wrong.”

“They are shifters,” Renee continued smoothly. “One vampire attack and the truce is off.”

“They have already broken the truce by snatching my daughter,” Marika responded sharply, appearing on the verge of abandoning all pretense.

“You see? Do you then advocate a war? Now, between us and all shifters?”

Again, Marika shot Beck a glance. “No. I’m not a fool. This is between me and the creeps who took Dani. Not all vampires and all shifters.”

“But there is more,” Usi put in. “Because of what your child is—”

“Enough.” Cutting him off, Renee paced restlessly. “This talk leads to nothing.”

Usi bared his fangs, his vampire mannerisms so similar to that of an angry shifter that Beck nearly spoke his thoughts out loud. Only the knowledge that the other man wouldn’t appreciate such a comparison kept him silent.

“I would not be opposed to such a war,” Heh said.

“Brigid would.” Renee’s sharp reprimand left no room for a retort. “You will do as you promised and help find this powerful child.”

“Dani.” Marika sounded weary. “Her name is Dani. Though she’s half shifter and half vampire, she’s only a little girl. If she has magic, she doesn’t know how to use it.”

“And he really is the father?” Renee asked Marika.

“Yes.”

“But only a mere shape-shifter. Interesting. The only other times a vampire has borne a child were only possible because the sire was an elf. We’ve always believed this was due to elvin magic.”

Was this a test, confirming what they already knew? Marika sighed. “I don’t know how it happened. I made love with a shifter, with him. The next thing I knew, I was pregnant.”

“Does her heart beat?” Heh’s voice was savage.

“Yes. Red blood flows through her veins, her heart beats and she breathes. She cannot go without sleeping, and she eats and drinks regular food, not blood. She’s smart and funny and beautiful.” Her voice cracked, but she continued. “And I love her.

“And though she’s only two, she already can shape-shift,” Marika said.

“Is this unusual among your kind?” Heh asked Beck.

Though he didn’t trust them, Beck saw no reason not to answer. “Yes. Even in Halflings.”