The Covert Wolf (30 page)

He fired his assault weapon with deadly accuracy. Hot shell casings flew into the air from his weapon. Around him the seven other SEALs fired at the oncoming demons and Darksider Fae.

A slick, coppery scent of dark blood tinged the air. The noise was deafening. With exact precision, the SEALs took down the approaching enemy. But there were too many. And then she peered around the boulder and her blood turned to ice.

A pyro demon advanced toward Matt. The oily stench of fuel clung to its gray, stooped form. The creature spit fire from its mouth, nose and fingertips and began to glow orange-red.

The log shielding him began to burn as the demon cackled. The bullets melted as they hit the demon’s superheated skin. Matt crouched down, his gaze narrowing as he set down his weapon and reached for a knife.

Hand-to-hand combat. Sienna gasped in shock as a stream of fire singed his hand. He winced.

The smell of burned flesh, the sight of blood, jolted her into recognition. Memories suddenly assaulted her. Fire. Screams. Hiding in a rotting, hollowed log, watching in terror as the orange flames came closer, the heat incredible, trying to quiet her panting breaths.

Wolves howling in…pain? Pain. Agony. They were being slaughtered one at a time, shifting into their human form as they died in agony.

Not wolves killing Fae.

Wolves…her people!

A snarl arose in her throat, born of fury. Matt was hurt. Her Matt, her mate, her love. She smelled blood and it pissed her off.

“You bastard!”

Sienna sprang up, barely feeling the heat from the approaching demon. Power flowed through her, sure and strong. The shift came as she leaped over the log and charged, feeling the wind rush against her face, feeling her body shape-shift. Magick sparked the air, good magick, her magick. Nothing but anger fueled her, anger at these demons who dared to hurt her mate, a good, solid man who fought evil, a man who loved her as surely as she loved him.

The shifting kept happening, her body twisting and contorting. Wolf to jaguar, to human and Fae, all forms happening so fast she barely knew what she was, but it felt good and right.

“Damn, look at her go,” Sam cried out.

“Sienna! What the hell! Cease fire!” Matt yelled.

She ignored the shouts of the men, the cessation of assault weapons. She kept racing forward, shifting into various forms as she ran, searching for the right one like a woman trying on dresses. For the first time in her life, Sienna felt linked to the power, letting it flow through her. Floating, she was floating on air, and did belong, and this was her time, her magick.

Confusion twisted the demon’s ugly face. It paused, hands raised to the sky, staring at her, and then lowered its hands, fire streaming from the tips.

Sienna released a roar and flames poured from her own mouth.

Dragon flames.

* * *

Fire against fire. Stunned, Matt watched the lovely Fae turn into a beast the size of an army tank. The demon staggered back with a squeal as she advanced, giant wings beating at the flames to fan them. The dragon’s scales repelled the demon’s flames, sent them hurling back into the bastard’s face.

Jaws opened, revealing rows of stalactite teeth. The dragon hissed once, then snapped.

Matt blinked in stunned shock as the dragon—no,
his Sienna
—cut off the demon’s head with one mighty snap of her jaws. The dragon flung the head downward. Distracted by the sight, the remaining two demons paused in their assault. The minions began to fall back, slinking into the shadows.

“Now,” he yelled, pulling his fist downward.

All eight SEALs attacked. Not with ammo, but power. Magick.

Sully teleported behind the Darksider Fae, attacking from the rear and vanishing as he hit them two at a time. Jammer, the team’s PSI, used telekinesis and pelted the enemy by lifting boulders and hurling them as Matt, Renegade and Dallas shifted into wolves, leaping over the log as they changed. Flanking them to the right, Shay’s body crackled with power, glowing as he sent reserve electrical charges snaking into the army of demons.

The SEAL commander, Curt, pitched white energy balls one after another at the minions. And J.T., who commanded the power of water, stretched out his hands, calling the river to him. With a loud chant, he sent the stream crashing down upon the fire demons, splashing over them and flooding their flames.

Drenched and stripped of defenses, the demons turned to retreat. Matt cut them off, snarling.

This one’s for Adam.

He took one down, going for the throat.

Minutes later, it was over. The pyro demons were dead, vanished into ash. The ground was littered with the bodies of lesser demons and Darksider Fae. Shay wrinkled his nose.

“Blech. Never did like the smell of rotting demon in the morning.”

“Afternoon.” Curt gave Matt a significant look, tapping at his watch. “Lieutenant Parker, you are officially AWOL.”

Matt nodded. “Aye, sir.” He didn’t care. His attention focused on the dragon, still hovering above them, beating her webbed gray wings. “Sweetheart, it’s okay now. Come back, time to shift your form.”

Then Sienna slowly descended, and landed with a thud on all four legs. Light shimmered around her, and she shifted back into her human body.

Her naked human body.

“Whoa,” Dallas said. “Nice form.”

As Matt glared, all seven SEALs politely turned their heads. Matt removed his webbed vest, shrugged out of his T-shirt and settled it over her. It draped down to her thighs. She shivered, hugging herself, green eyes huge in her oval face.

“I can’t believe I did that. It was all instinct. I saw you hurt…and it just happened.”

He pressed a kiss onto her forehead, gathered her against him. She felt good in his arms, soft and warm. Safe.

Curt cleared his throat politely. “Lieutenant, did you get a bead on the missing Semtex?”

“All accounted for. You’ll find it intact in a small glen, about two klicks north of us.”

The SEALs turned to leave. Shay gave him a steady look. “You staying, Dakota?”

“Yeah,” he said, settling Sienna closer to him. “Think I’ll stay here awhile. Feels good.”

It felt very good. And very right.

* * *

The missing Semtex had been packed and removed from the Faes’ glen. With the threat of the “homegrown terrorist plot” removed, the team was taken off standby. The SEALs, with the exception of Matt, boarded the helicopter and returned to the nearby air force base.

His C.O. gave a direct order. Matt was not to return until he’d retrieved the Orb. Then Curtis had winked solemnly at Sienna. “If it takes time, say, a day or two, I’ll take the heat.”

She liked him and the other SEALs. But deep in her heart, she knew the truth even without the magick globe.

Matt belonged with his team. He could not leave them. He was needed.

For now, she had him solely to herself. They spent the rest of the day making love, talking, stroking each other. And then when the shadows lengthened, he accompanied her up the steep, winding path to the lake.

The green stone from the purse burned in her jeans pocket.

As before, the lake was quiet. No wildlife. Even the birds had deserted this area.

He gave her a steady look, squeezed her hand. “Ready?”

She nodded. It was time. Sienna took the small green stone. With reverence, she set it into the cold lake water.

Behind her, she felt Matt’s gentle, reassuring presence.

The lake began to glow an eerie green, then light filled the water. The small green stone was no longer visible. Power sang in the air, ancient, fluid magick.

Sparks shimmered on the lake’s surface. Then a round object, the size of a softball, bobbed to the surface. It floated over to the shore, directly toward her.

The Orb of Light.

Trembling, she palmed it. The Orb lit up with a brilliant light. She basked in its soft, warm glow. Peace settled over her, chasing away the confusing emotions, the terrible grief. Sienna stared into the crystalline globe, and then swept her gaze around the lake.

The scenery seemed to shift, grow wobbly, and then peel back like a strip of bark.

A tableau, like a living diorama, unfolded before her.

Wolves, dozens and dozens of wolves, roamed the lake’s shore. The trees were shorter, the grass no longer yellowed and dried, but thriving with life. Birds swept over the lake’s mirrored surface, skimming the water in graceful dips.

Then the wolves shifted, and assumed human form. On the fallen log sat a small girl about five years old. Seeing the people approaching, she giggled and climbed into a small hole in a hollowed tree.

“Sienna?” The man shaded his eyes and pretended to look around. “She’s playing games again. Vanished. Where are you?”

Squealing with delight, the little girl climbed out. “Here I am!”

She clapped her hands as the man caught her up in his arms and bounced her, his green eyes sparking with merriment.

Green eyes like her own…

“Dad,” she whispered, touching the image.

Not an evil, vile Draicon. Nothing but love shone on his face. He was joined by a woman, who snuggled against him.

Her parents. Not Fae. Draicon.

Barely had her stunned mind processed this when the scene shimmered.

It faded, shifted. Heat flooded the air, danger. She was suffocating, the smell of rotting wood surrounding her, the flare of orange flames growing closer.

She would burn alive in here.

A log. Her parents had stuffed her inside the hollowed log to hide. The images fast-forwarded like a slideshow. Two glowing demons, shooting fire from their mouths, their noses, their talons. Burning her people. Killing them.

Alone, in the hollowed log, she’d watched her parents die. Her family. Brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles. Her entire pack. Helpless to reach out and save them, too little to try, she could only watch in horror, a terrified whisper on her lips.

Please, someone help them.

She’d heard their last gasps for breath, saw her mother reach out with one hand breaking the water’s surface, a fine-boned hand that once cradled her close, soothed away hurts and touched her with pure love.

Her mother had died, calling her name. And she’d remained in the hollowed log, paralyzed by terror, silent tears tracking down her cheeks.

Then a fast, furious rain fell, extinguishing the fire. From the log crept a small girl, whose outraged wail echoed over the land. The girl’s body shimmered as the demons turned to her, their faces malevolent.

The small child shifted into a dragon, rising above the earth, showering fire over the demons, clawing them to pieces. Blood. So much blood stained the ground. Then the dragon fell to the earth, weeping.

A group of Fae appeared, including a woman with waist-length silver hair. She squatted by the dragon as it shifted into a girl, who sobbed as if her heart had broken.

“The child lives,” she said softly. “We must save her.”

The image vanished. Words hovered in her mind, words spoken long ago by a woman determined to save a terrified Draicon child, just as she would save the vanishing species of gargoyle years later.

You are the last survivor of your kind.

The only one. I’m all alone.

Grief spiraled inside her in a violent vortex. Sienna closed her eyes against the hot tears, but they spilled free, cascading down her cheeks. She glanced at the hollowed log that had kept her safe, hidden from the demons as they’d tortured and killed her entire family.

Her pack.

Now she truly belonged nowhere.

Gently, she set down the Orb. Its light faded, leaving it cold and gray.

Matt touched her shoulder. “Sweetheart, what did you see?”

“The truth.”

She stretched out her hands, their long, tapered fingers and neatly pared nails. Once she’d been proud of being Fae. Her entire life was a lie.

“They hid me. Here.” She tried to keep the quaver from her voice. “In the hollowed log. My real parents. They weren’t Fae, but Draicon. I come from a long line of Diablo wolves.”

His eyes widened. “Diablo wolves. I’ve heard the legend. Draicon with the rare power to glamour, like Fae. Known for the devilish ability to mimic other life forms, and humans, so hunters would leave them alone.”

“This was our valley. Our home. We, and the Fae, were the protectors of the Orb. We kept it hidden in the lake, and the Fae watched over us as we watched over the Orb. It was too powerful for any one group to have. So both species protected it.”

Sienna stared at the now-dull Orb. “It was forbidden for any Fae or Diablo to use the Orb for their own purpose. But it was so pretty, I came here to play with it. And one day I picked it up and it burned its light into me.”

She gently set the globe down on the earth. “It amplified my magick when I absorbed its energy and power. Instead of the ability to merely glamour, I had the ability to actually shift into whatever form I pleased.”

Gathering her hands into his, he kissed her palms. “Draicon children don’t manifest their powers until puberty.”

“The Orb changed that. I could shift into anything. My parents eventually found out and the Fae moved the Orb to the sacred glen. But it was too late. Two pyrokinetic demons who’d escaped the netherworld saw the spectral glow of powerful magick. They traced it to the lake.”

She gulped down a breath. “They tortured and killed my family. My parents hid me to keep me safe. I tried to figure out what to shift into to kill the demons…but I couldn’t! All I could do was blend into the tree by becoming as small as possible.”

Tenderly, he cupped her face with his big hands. “You were just a child, Sienna. A terrified child.”

“But I did!” Muscles tight as springs, she shook her head. “I remembered the stories of dragons, before they became extinct. I shifted into a dragon. And I killed them. But it was too late.”

He pulled her against him, holding her tight.

Sienna gathered her composure. “Chloe found me. They’d sensed the attack, sent the rain to put out the fires, but it was too late. Chloe took me in to raise as Fae to protect me. She knew if any demons or Darksider Fae found out a Diablo wolf lived, one that had the powers of the Orb of Light, they would do everything to kill me and try to absorb my magick.”