Lone Wolf (7 page)

“Halflings?” Renee asked.

“Those of our kind who are not full-blooded shifters.”

“She is not vampire.” Renee spoke decisively. “I don’t understand why Brigid believes she’s so important.”

“Obviously someone else does, too.” Heh’s dry tone matched his impassive face. “Someone kidnapped her, according to Brigid.”

“What are you going to do about it?” Beck put in. The vampires ignored him.

With a savage smile, Beck continued. “I thought you were supposed to help us. We’re running out of time. Dani’s missing.”

“And I want her back.” Marika glanced from Heh to Beck, a pain-filled look of entreaty on her face. “You’ve got to help us.”

“Do you help or hinder, Shifter?” Renee demanded, her hard-edged gaze cutting.

Beck stepped around her, moving to Marika’s side. He took her hand firmly in his. “She is my daughter. Of course I help. But even more, Dani is Pack. We Pack protect our own.”

“But according to Brigid, Pack are the ones who’ve taken her,” Usi pointed out.

“Which makes no sense.”

“Why not? Pack hate vampires. The child is half.”

“No,” Beck insisted. “We don’t look at things that way. She is a Halfling, she can change, therefore she’s Pack. There’s no reason for anyone to wish her harm.”

“Unless—” Renee dipped her head toward Marika “—there is something she’s not telling us.”

Beck fully expected Marika to deny this. After all, she’d promised to give him only the truth.

Instead, she straightened her shoulders and took a deep breath. “I can only assume Brigid already knows, right?”

“Knows what?” Beck wondered if he was the only one in the dark. “What is it you’re not telling me?”

But Renee and her two cohorts waited, too, watching Marika, who stiffened. Her very posture spoke of defiance.

“Dani can change shapes, it’s true,” she finally said. “But she can do more than the average shifter. She can become not only a wolf, but something else. Something like a…griffon. But instead of a lion’s body, she’s a wolf. A wolf with wings. She can fly, too.” She shot a glance at Beck as she spoke.

All three of the vampires made sounds of shock. Stunned, Beck scarcely heard them.

“You didn’t think this was important enough to tell me?” Anger choked him. “Your Dani is no mere Halfling. She’s the stuff of legends. A being like this comes along only once in centuries.”

“In a millennium,” Renee corrected him, her dark eyes gleaming with what looked like excitement. “Dani is more than all of us.”

“Does Brigid know this?” Usi asked.

Marika shook her head no.

“So we are searching for a god?” Usi looked unhappy with this possibility. “If she’s so all-powerful, why can she not escape herself?”

“She’s not a god. She’s a small child.” Hands clenched in fists, Marika appeared ready to fight them all.

Beck didn’t care. She’d already betrayed him. Again. “You promised me the truth,” he reminded her. “And you lied.”

“I didn’t.” Up came the chin. “I hadn’t gotten around to telling you yet.”

“Omission is a form of falsehood.”

She froze, lowering her gaze to the floor. “I thought it would be easier if you didn’t know.”

“Easier how? You say shifters took her, but you didn’t know why. For all you know, they are protecting Dani. Legend or no, she’s as much a part of the Pack as she is a vampire.”

Heh growled, again reminding Beck of a wolf. Odd that a vampire could have so many shifter traits. Glaring at him, Renenet immediately shushed him.

“Shifter, are you leaving us then?”

“I’m going nowhere.” Crossing his arms, Beck waited for them to argue. “I will find my daughter, no matter what it takes.”

As one, the three others turned their attention to Marika.

Again, thunder rumbled. Far off in the distant slate-gray horizon, lightening slashed the sky.

“A storm is coming.” Marika’s toneless voice spoke of her decision to say no more about her child’s unique abilities. “If you hear my daughter again, I want to know what she says. Maybe she can tell us how to find her. In the meantime, tell me what Brigid has asked you to do.”

“Asked
us
to do. The old ones are gathering in Greece.” Renee sounded smug. “The full council.”

Marika’s sharp intake of breath was her only reply to this. From what Beck knew of vampires, a gathering of this magnitude meant things were dire indeed, or about to become that way.

Renee’s exotic eyes found Beck’s. “Shifter, Brigid asks that you alert the leaders of your Pack.”

“Really?” Beck raised a brow. “I was supposed to be gone. When did she ask this?”

“Do you plan to quibble over small issues or find your daughter?” Her haughty voice irked him, but she was right.

“I will notify them. Dani’s birth is an event of major significance.”

Renee continued to focus on Beck. “Do you have a way to let them know?”

“I have a call in to one of my friends who’s a Protector. He has connections. I’ll let him know. He should be calling me back soon.”

“Good. I think—”

“Don’t.” Marika stepped forward, interrupting the other woman. “You were sent here to help me. So don’t act like you’re taking over. I care nothing about meetings or gatherings. All I care about is Dani. I
will
find my daughter. Are you going to help me or not?”

Mouth tightening, Renee stared. Finally she nodded, leaning close. “We will do as Brigid asks,” she said loudly, as though someone else could hear them. In a whisper, she spoke again. “We must talk in private.”

“What?” Marika looked startled. “I don’t—”

“Let’s go inside.” Renee straightened and began walking away.

Moving with the same effortless grace, the other two vampires turned and headed into the house. No one, not even Renee, watched to see if Beck or Marika followed.

They exchanged a glance. Then, with a shrug, Marika turned and headed after them.

Liking this less and less, he followed. When he’d begun this journey with Marika, he’d had no plans of being the lone representative of his entire species.

As they stepped inside the kitchen, a cell phone sitting on the counter chirped.

Renee started for it, but, moving so fast she was a blur, Marika beat her and snatched it up.

“A text message from Brigid,” she said. “It says we have to leave.”

Glancing at Renee, Beck surmised a look of pure terror on her perfect features.

“It said leave now.” Marika turned and stalked out of the room. “Come on.”

Beck debated half a second before following her.

Outside, moving fast, she made it halfway up the hillside by the time he caught her.

He opened his mouth to speak. Before he could, the house below them exploded.

The blast knocked them both to the ground.

Stunned, Beck managed to scramble to his feet. Marika had already gotten up. She appeared unhurt.

They both stared at the fire raging below.

“Did you know about this?” he demanded.

“No.” She bit her lip. “Of course not.”

“Regardless, they don’t deserve to die. They’re still inside,” he rasped, his throat hoarse. “There’s no way they got out.”

“They should be all right.” Though she sounded unconcerned, the tremor in her voice belied her calm expression. “Vampires as old as they are can survive most fire, as long as they get out in time.”

“Can you?” He rasped. “I sure as hell can’t.”

“Then whoever did this must have been targeting you.” She sounded mocking. With the same serene expression, she continued to eye the conflagration, as though she truly expected the three vampires to stroll out at any moment.

He found the fact that they didn’t telling. “They’re dead.”

“I doubt it.”

Marika’s poise irritated him. Suddenly he wanted nothing more than to see that perfect composure slip.

“Does that bother you?” he asked, his voice low. “The fact that Brigid killed them?”

“You don’t know that she’s behind this.”

He had to bite back the fury. “Then who else, Marika? Who else knew we were in there?”

“If those three were going against us, then the explosion was a good thing. And believe me, as long as they don’t burn to ash, they will survive. We continually rise from the dead, you know that.”

“I also know that fire is the only thing that will kill vampires.”

She inclined her head. “Fire is a true enemy to both of our kinds. But I don’t think anyone—Brigid in particular—was trying to kill you. Why would she?”

Beck grabbed her, spinning her around to face him. “Maybe because I’m Dani’s father.”

“Why does that matter?”

“Because whoever has her might be worried that we might create another like her. Hasn’t that thought occurred to you at all?”

She gasped. “What are you saying?”

“Think about it. If we made a child with her abilities once, who’s to say we couldn’t do it again?”

Her alabaster complexion never changed. But then, vampires couldn’t blush unless they’d recently fed.

Another explosion came from below, a smaller one, something catching inside the burning house. The flames continued to roar. There was no local fire department, not way out here. By the time one got here from the closest town, the house would have burned to the ground.

Staring at the fire, Marika appeared to be trying to will the others out. No one emerged as the fire continued to blaze. The wind carried sparks to nearby trees, lighting them like matches.

Still intent on watching for the others, Marika stood alone. Though she appeared composed, he saw how much her show of strength cost her. He sensed she barely held on to the ragged edges of her composure.

“We’d better go,” he told her.

“We’ve got to wait for the others.”

“No one, vampire or otherwise, could have survived an explosion and fire that intense. Face it, your friends are not coming out.”

“Stop calling them my friends.” One corner of her mouth twisted, though her gaze never wavered from the flames. “I told you, Renenet is over a thousand years old. Fire can’t touch her. The other two are over five hundred, which means they should be safe, too.”

“Then where are they?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know what’s taking them so long.”

In the distance, sirens sounded. Finally. The nearest fire department to the rescue. Someone must have seen the explosion and called them.

“We’ve got to go,” he urged again. “Before the humans show up.”

“I know, I know.” Agitated, she stalked back and forth, still watching the house burn. “Just give me one more minute.”

He wanted to wrap her in his arms and quiet her, to press his mouth against the perfect, slender column of her throat and whisper assurances. Instead, he honored her request and held his silence.

One more minute became two, then three. From this height, they could see the road. Lights flashing, a fire truck turned onto it.

“Come on.” Grabbing her arm, he headed down, toward the house. More specifically, toward the pickup.

“We have to get out now.”

Though she climbed into the truck with him, Marika never stopped watching the house.

Starting the engine, he shifted into Drive and pulled quickly away. “If you’re certain they can survive this fire, why are you so determined to see them leave?”

“Because I want to know. I don’t want to be responsible for their deaths.” Turning in the seat, she continued to watch over her shoulder until the house disappeared from view.

“You’re not. Brigid is.”

“Again, you don’t know that.”

“Do you have a better explanation?” he asked.

“Natural causes?” she shot back. “Maybe there was a gas leak or something. Such accidents do happen.”

“True.” He let his disbelief show in his voice. “And in a similar vein, you never know about the three vamps. Maybe they’ve already taken off.”

“We would have seen them.” She sounded exhausted.

“Not if they went out the front while we were still stunned from the explosion. You know how fast you vamps can move.”

Silent, she leaned back against the seat and closed her eyes. “That’s possible, I guess,” she finally conceded. “But why wouldn’t they regroup with us?”

“Maybe they got new instructions from Brigid.”

“Hmmph. I’m getting tired of Brigid pulling our strings like we’re all her marionettes.”

He wanted to see her smile. “May be they turned into bats and flew away.”

Instead of laughing, she shook her head. “That’s a myth. We can’t do that. I wish we could, though. Some times it would sure make things easier.”

As they rounded the first curve in the road, the fire truck passed them, lights flashing and siren wailing. Behind it came a smaller truck that served as an ambulance.

“What now?” Beck asked, once the siren had faded into the distance. “What did Brigid tell you to do?”

“She didn’t.” Her flat voice spoke of her despair. “She gave me no instructions whatsoever, other than meeting with them. In fact, the only new order I heard was for you, when Renee told you to contact your Pack leaders.”

He raised a brow. “What else are you not telling me? You’re hiding something more. I can sense it.”

“What, can you read minds now?”

Waiting patiently, he didn’t bother to reply.

“Fine. I’m a witch, too,” she snapped.

“A witch?” He shot her a look of disgust. “One more thing you neglected to tell me. If you’re a witch, then why haven’t you used your powers to help find Dani?”

“Because I have no powers.” She swallowed hard, then met his gaze, hers direct. “And that was my last secret. When I was a girl, Brigid was going to train me, until she determined my power wasn’t strong enough.”

“Still, a witch.” He gave her a half smile. “That’s something.”

“Not really. Obviously, I’m not much of one since I can’t even hear my own daughter calling me.” She shook her head, her expression bitter. “I’d give anything if I could use magic to locate Dani.”

A
fter her defiantly self-pitying pronouncement, Beck’s only reaction was a grunt. Typical male, though for some reason, this made a knot form in the pit of Marika’s stomach, which thoroughly pissed her off.

What did she care what Beck thought anyway? But, she realized, she did. He was, despite everything else, her daughter’s father. That would never change.

The tires hummed on the pavement as they drove, eating up the miles as the truck air conditioner blew lackluster air, barely cool.

Beck stared straight ahead, concentrating on the road, still silent. She wanted some kind of reaction. After all, she’d just told him one of her biggest secrets, and he’d barely raised a brow. Worse, he, who had no magic, had been able to hear Dani while she hadn’t.

“That’s it? All you have to say?”

One corner of his mouth twisted in what could have been a grin or a grimace. “So you’re a witch. I’ve known a few others, though they were human. Nice people. No big deal. But you know what? Maybe you being a vampire witch has something to do with Dani’s powers.”

“What do you mean?”

“Put a vampire witch together with a shifter and bam. You get pregnant and the child we make together is something the likes of which the world has never seen.”

The thought had occurred to her several times, but she’d always dismissed it. “Maybe, but honestly, I’m not that powerful. What little magic I have is barely a spark, not even a flame. Obviously.”

He gave her a long look. “Stop beating yourself up over not being able to hear Dani. There could have been a thousand reasons for that.”

“Let’s hear them.”

“Interference.”

“What do you mean?”

“Someone could have been trying to keep you from hearing.”

“Someone?” Intrigued despite herself, she cocked her head. “Like who?”

“Brigid comes to mind. If she’s as powerful as you say, she’d have no problem accomplishing such a thing.”

“But for what reason? She wants us to find Dani, if only so she can control her.”

“I’m not sure of that. And I think you have more magic than you realize. You can’t completely discount the possibility. Vampires just don’t get pregnant. It’s extremely likely magic played a huge part in this.”

“Maybe.” She gave him a half smile. “Vampires also don’t often mate with shifters.”

With a heavy sigh, she turned in her seat and glanced at the dashboard clock. Though the cracked plastic face was dirty, she could still make out the time. “When are you going to call your Pack leaders?”

The seat creaked as Beck shifted his weight. “I don’t know. Soon, but I want to wait until I hear back from Simon.”

“Your friend? I think you need to go higher. When a full vampire council meets, you know something serious is going on.”

“Simon’s a Protector. That’s pretty high up there.” He rolled his eyes. “Higher than that is way out of my comfort zone.”

The cell phone rang, as if on cue, making her jump.

Exchanging a quick look with Marika, Beck answered. After a moment, he covered the mouthpiece with his hand. “Senator Jacob Allen’s secretary asked me to hold for him. How’s that for high?”

“What do you mean? Is this senator part of your Pack?”

“Yes. A highly placed one.” He shrugged. “Someone—I’m guessing Brigid—has already gotten the wheels turning and started contacting the upper echelon in the Pack. Hello, yes. Senator?”

Curious, Marika listened. She couldn’t tell much from his side of the conversation, since he said little. She supposed she ought to feel honored that beings of authority were getting involved in her daughter’s capture, but she couldn’t. Years of experience with bureaucracy had taught her that.

When Beck finally completed his call, she crossed her arms. “Well? What did he want? Does he know anything about who took Dani or where we might find her?”

“No.” Beck swallowed. “He doesn’t.”

“Then what did he say?” She touched his hand, her long fingernails scarlet against the luster of his amber skin. “What did he want?”

“To tell me that there’d been another abduction. Another child was taken. Another Halfling.” He swallowed hard, his jaw clenching.

For a moment, everything froze. Hugging her arms to her, forcing herself to concentrate, she eyed the movement of his throat, the rise and fall of his muscular chest as he breathed, almost afraid to hear what he’d say next, though she suspected she already knew. She
knew.
Though she couldn’t say how, she simply knew. “When you say the child is another Halfling, you mean one like my Dani, half vampire and half shifter, isn’t she?”

“He,” he corrected. “And yes, you’re right. He’s exactly like Dani. Even to what he becomes when he changes. Another griffon. The only difference is that his mother’s the shifter and the father is the vampire. And he’s a year older than her.”

Another griffon.

Feeling as though she’d been dropped into a surreal landscape, she tried to regain her bearings. She was still sitting in the passenger seat of the truck, moving down the deserted highway. Outside, the impossibly clear landscape streaked past, road and dust and dry, yellow grass. To the left, the jagged crags and mysterious mountains. High above, bright sunlight lit the blue, blue sky. Next to her sat an impossibly handsome man, his chiseled features clouded with concern. She had the oddest sense of completion, something she didn’t want or need right now.

“Are you all right?” he asked, his voice calm, his gaze steady.

Her rock. She pushed the thought away.

“Yes. No.” Hand to her throat, she shifted in her seat. “How is this possible?”

“I don’t know, but I’m beginning to see why so many higher-ups are getting involved. The senator seemed really concerned about Dani and what she can do. He even called her a griffon.”

“So did I.” Suddenly weary, she closed her eyes. “If there are two, there might be more.”

“And no one knows why these people are kidnapping them.” He touched her shoulder, making her jump.

“That’s what I don’t understand, either.” The question had haunted her ever since they’d gotten to Addie’s, and she’d realized her daughter was missing. “Why are they doing this?”

“The senator said something about other powers. You mentioned when Dani changed, she could fly. Did she have any other powers? Any of your magic?”

“No.” Marika closed her eyes, picturing her raven-haired, chubby, laughing child. “She’s just a sweet little girl, my baby.” Her voice cracked. “We’ve got to find her.”

“The senator said that, with her abilities, they think Dani and the boy might be dangerous.” His voice was gentle, as though afraid she might break.

But this outraged her. She gave him a look of disbelief. “Dangerous? She’s not even three. I can’t believe…” Then, collecting herself, she lifted her chin and continued. “Did he know who grabbed them, or why?”

“If he did, he didn’t tell me. He mentioned something about giving us a briefing once the National Pack Council finished meeting.”

“The National Pack Council is meeting?” Even she knew how big this was. As big as the Vampire Council meeting. If both species were this worried, they had to know something she didn’t. She couldn’t shake the feeling she had missed something, some clue, some hint,
something.
But what?

“Yep. I don’t know who contacted them, but this is huge.”

“Hugely weird. Things moved fast for that level of bureaucracy,” she mused. “Maybe now that they’re involved, they can help us figure out where the children are.”

“Anything’s possible. But the only problem with that is if they figure out where, they’ll send special forces. Like Protectors.”

“And Huntresses,” she agreed. Then, studying him, she sighed. Something in his face… “That’s not a problem. Or is it? What else are you not telling me?”

“Well,” he said slowly, “whoever snatched that kid took the parents, too.”

This was a shock. But then again, they’d captured both her and Beck, too. “What? The parents?”

“That would explain why they grabbed both of us.”

“But I thought they wanted us to tell them how to find Dani.”

“They did. But they wanted us, too.”

“I don’t understand. Why?”

“Not sure.” His expression made it plain he didn’t like what he had to tell her next. “The senator seemed to think…maybe for breeding purposes.”

Breeding purposes. As if she could ever replicate Dani. Not in a thousand years. She shook her head.

“But this was a fluke, wasn’t it? A onetime thing. If you and I had stayed together and if, miraculously, we’d had more children, would they all have been little…griffons?”

This time when Beck looked at her, something intense blazed in his amber eyes. “I don’t know. It’s possible. The senator said something about your safety.”

“My safety?” She brushed off that concern. “I’m a Huntress. I can take care of myself.”

“You’ve been captured once.”

“You had to point that out, didn’t you?” She smiled wryly. “I
was
in danger. So were you. But we escaped. I don’t think they’ll bother us again.”

“They won’t, but there are others. We don’t know how many are involved.”

Again he’d managed to shock her. “You think more than one group wanted Dani?”

“I don’t know. There are shifters involved here and vampires. Normally, the two groups don’t work together.”

“Again, why? Why my little girl?”

“This griffon ability apparently changes things.”

“How?”

“You’re a witch, you tell me. Use your magic.”

Her inelegant snort showed him what she thought of that. “I already told you, my magic is limited and extremely unreliable.”

“Listen to me. They grabbed the other parents. It’s reasonable to think they want you, too, to make more little griffons.” Again he touched her arm. She bit the side of her cheek to keep from curling into his hand.

She managed a laugh, short and completely without humor. “Why just me? You’re part of this equation, too. And then, assuming they succeed and breed more little…griffons. Then what? They’d do what with them?

Seriously, so Dani becomes a flying wolf? So what? She’s different, not an ordinary shifter, but still. She has no superpowers.”

Raising a brow, he also lifted one shoulder. “I don’t know. She’s young. You have no idea what else she might be able to do when she gets older.”

“True, but neither do they. She’s two and the boy is three. Why grab them now? Why not wait until they’re older?”

“So they can train them. It’s like in the Protectors. They take us when we’re four years old. We’re raised up living with them, being fed a steady diet of doctrine.”

“You sound bitter.”

He shrugged. “Maybe a little.”

“Some of what you said makes sense. But there are only two children. Not enough to make an army, surely.”

“Unless there were others.” He cleared his throat. “Other children, older than Dani, who’d already been captured years ago and are growing up there.”

“Oh, no.” His words brought an almost physical pain. But the idea, so shocking at first, made a sort of twisted sense the more she considered it. “Their poor parents. But if that’s the case, why haven’t the children been reported missing? Surely we would have heard.”

“Unless,” he said slowly, “the parents were captured, too.”

“And what, killed?”

“Maybe.” From the grim set of his mouth, she guessed he definitely believed this possibility.

“Why would they do that? Why would anyone do that?”

He sighed. “We don’t know how they think. They might have killed the parents to keep them quiet about the kids. Or they could be using the parents for breeding purposes, as I mentioned earlier. One male could service numerous women.”

She was old enough that most things didn’t shock her. But this was personal and appalling. “Like a puppy mill, only with children?”

“Exactly.” He frowned. “Though I’d be surprised if someone hasn’t tried that already. There’d be more griffons. We’d have heard something.”

“Good luck to them with that idea.” She made her voice flat. “Of course it won’t work. There’s more involved than just breeding. Also, if they tried to use me that way, or any vampire for that matter, they’d die trying.”

The quick flash of his smile told her he could relate. “Still, they drugged you once. They could do so again. You need to be careful.”

“Me, careful?” She laughed. “Actually, I’d rather they
do
capture me. At least that way I could be with my baby girl.”

He didn’t reply, instead tightening his hands on the wheel until his knuckles showed white.

A fleeting urge, a bit of temporary insanity came over her. She wanted to lean over and touch him, to smooth the frown lines from his forehead, to use her fingertips to ease the tightness of his mouth. Crazy.

She sighed. “This senator, what did he want us to do?”

“He wanted us to wait. He said we’d receive instructions later, when we were briefed. Right now, the most powerful of both of our kinds are meeting. Your Brigid is involved again—that woman has her fingers in every piece of pie. He wants us to give them a chance to work something out.”

“Wait?” She couldn’t believe him. “Is he insane?”

He shot her a look. “I don’t know, but I’ve never been much for waiting, myself. How about you?”

“We have no information, not even a hint. What can we do?” Despite her skepticism, she couldn’t keep the hope from her voice.

“We’ll get information. Go to the source.”

“Now you’re talking.” Finally. She sat up straight, invigorated at the thought of finally doing something. “What did you have in mind?”

His savage grin made him look devilishly handsome. “I’m tired of doing nothing. They won’t come to us, so we’ll go to them.”

“Got to who?”

“Where does Brigid hang out?”

“I don’t know. I’ve only met her at school. I’ve never been to her home. If Renee and the others were still here, they might know.”

Pulling over to the side of the road, he turned in his seat to face her. As usual, his rugged, masculine beauty took her breath away. And, as usual, she had to struggle to pretend to be unaffected.