Wild Card (66 page)

Kill.

I felt the anger rising again, my vision locking down; I felt the strength of the Call flooding into me and began to creep down with more urgency. I needed to taste the intruder’s lifeblood.

Kill.

“Amber.” A high voice rang out below me. A voice I knew. I had to stop.

She broke away from the pines.

She was scrabbling on the rock, trying to climb back up to the top where she must have seen me before Gray rescued her from the cabin. Something had happened in the dark forest below and she was returning to where she knew she’d be safe. She was looking for me.

Except I wasn’t there. And what she was climbing toward wasn’t me. It was a wolf.

Stop,
I tried to yell. The wolf’s throat wasn’t made for that sound.

Change. Help, Hana.

Nothing. The wolf was ascendant. It was the utmost I could do to hold still. My body was quivering with a need to kill. I’d drunk too deeply of the Call.

Some noise must have escaped me. Emily stopped looking over her shoulder and instead she looked up the slope.

She froze.

Don’t run, Emily, please don’t run.

But she did and that broke the little control I had over the wolf.

Prey! Kill!

It was all I could manage to slow myself down. My wolf was about to launch herself forward just at the moment I was hit by a hard-centered avalanche from behind.

Everything crashed down the slope, tumbling and turning, snow exploding out in all directions until we hit the first of the trees and I bounced off the stiff branches, landing upside down.

All the snow in the tree shook loose and fell on me in one huge, freezing dump.

I thrashed around wildly, trying to get purchase.

The growl from above me stamped down on my chest with an almost physical force.

The wind scoured the snow clear and I was looking up at Alex’s bared fangs.

Fate has a way of turning around and handing you your ass when you least expect it, and always in the way you least expect it.

It didn’t matter a damn what our positions were elsewhere. As an Athanate, I was House Farrell and Alex was my kin. As a pack, on two legs, I was the alpha. That didn’t make any difference here. On four legs, Alex was my alpha. I could barely breathe, he was so dominant.

With all my attention fixed on my lord and master, I barely noticed, but my berserk wolf had evaporated. Control and sense had returned.

That’s what the right alpha does.

I peeked up at him.

Some mistake, surely?

No. No mistake. I whined in submission and dropped my eyes.

He took a step back and I rolled upright, keeping my head and tail low to the snow.

The shock of what I’d been about to do as a wolf flooded into me, and immediately, the Call seemed to press down on the feeling and rob it of its strength. There were no words in the Call, but I could sense Alex telling me that it wouldn’t happen again now.

And the whole world felt different. Instead of all my energy spilling out and fighting in different directions, I felt calm and focused.

That’s what the right alpha does.

In the cover of the trees, about forty yards away, Gray emerged, blood trailing down the side of his face and an MP5 slung around his neck.

He swooped down on a sobbing Emily and picked her up.

“Okay, my girl,” he said. “The men are gone. Time for us to go too.”

“Wolves,” she stammered tearfully, peering around him.

“Friends,” he replied.

He looked up at us, his eyes missing nothing. He nodded and then tilted his head back downhill. We understood. There were more Nagas for him to get past down below. We needed to help. Then he turned and dived into the shadows of the pine forest, Emily clinging to his back.

Alex and I wavered. As wolves, we could flank Gray like scouts, but we had no method of warning him about Nagas other than howling. Not a safe option. If we changed back and could get back to the ranch, at least we would have weapons.

Up at the cabin, there was a snowmobile.

We climbed in wolf form. It was steep, but not a technical climb, and both of us felt that four legs were better than two.

Once Gray had disappeared, the forest behind us was silent. As we approached the summit, we heard the noise of gunfire from the trail, a chopped-off scream and more gunfire.

Wrong direction for Gray, too close for Ursula. That meant Noble was alive and fighting Nagas.

As it turned out, we made the summit at the same time he did.

I was shocked all over again at how big he was. He hadn’t been badly injured in the fall, but his side was streaked with blood. A bullet wound. There was no difficulty in seeing how he’d responded. His muzzle was slick with blood.

As soon as he saw me, he attacked.

I couldn’t push him over the edge; he wouldn’t fall for the same trick twice, but we didn’t need that. Two wolves are better than one.

Alex and I split and circled, darting aside as he feinted a rush, one way then the other.

Whatever his lack of capability as a fighter, Noble was cunning. He could guess that Alex was more tired than I was. While I had walked up the trail from the ranch, Alex had been forging a path through the snow. When I had fought Noble, Alex had run to help me. However good his stamina, it would all be taking its toll. Noble was probably also thinking that with Alex out of the way, I would be an easier target.

He quit the feints and launched himself at Alex.

They vanished into a snarling, spinning ball of fur and fang. Keeping it like that was Noble’s best tactic, because I couldn’t interfere without risking getting in Alex’s way. I wasn’t sure it was down to any judgment on his part though; the slightest hesitation and Alex would be on him.

They kept rolling, each trying to find an opening for a strike against an unprotected throat.

I felt Hana’s control leaking back into my limbs. She might have the confidence to attack where I didn’t.

And at the edge of my awareness, there was someone running up the trail. I doubt that Alex or Noble heard them. It could only be a Naga.

Time to do something.

I dived forward at the twisting forms. Alex sensed me. He slowed, inviting attack. Noble took the bait. His teeth sank into Alex and for a fraction of a second his body was still and his back was to me. I lunged and closed my jaws around his neck.

It was too early for that fleeting sense of victory I felt. Noble’s neck was massively muscled and his whole body reacted to the danger, whipping me around as he tried to dislodge me or get a bite on a limb.

The good part was he had to let go of Alex to do that. Alex came straight back in, missing the throat, but getting his teeth into Noble’s face.

Noble outweighed either of us, but not both together. He had to try and end this quickly. He was still more powerful than we were, and he ignored me for a moment to concentrate on slamming Alex against the ground like a rag doll. Alex rolled away, ripping a huge section of Noble’s skin and fur off the side of his face as he did.

I just bit harder. There was blood leaking over my muzzle and into my mouth now, and nothing he could do that would make me let go. Other than die.

Noble tried to lift and twist to get his jaws on me.

And the Naga that came over the lip of the trail fired twice.

The rounds were soft-nosed. They went through Noble, deforming as they struck, spreading out and tearing an ever-increasing hole through his abdomen, breaking through his back and punching me in the belly. The metal was so spread out it didn’t pierce my skin, but it felt like a horse had just kicked me.

My jaws spasmed and my head jerked.

I heard Alex’s howl and another shot.

I felt the break. It was such a subtle thing, a click rather than a crack, as my teeth bore down on Noble’s spinal column and suddenly severed it.

The effect was immediate. He lost control of that huge body.

I sensed Noble’s mind reaching out with disbelief. The feeling of inhuman nothingness crumbled. Hate and anger poured out like a ruptured damn. Then fear; a massive tide of cold fear sweeping up through his mind as his vision darkened.

I felt the presence of many, but it was just two faces I saw: Melissa and Barbara Green. I wrenched my jaws in the opposite direction, satisfied as the flesh tore. And then I let go, scrabbling to get free from the hulk of his twitching body.

I howled.

A marker. No exultation. No triumph. A crushing sorrow, for all his victims.

It was done, he was dead, at last.

Alex’s wolf joined me, stood over the body of the Naga.

But Alex was wounded. Blood was running down his flanks, wounds from Noble’s teeth and a bullet.

Change. Damn it. Change now!

The world wobbled. I slumped forward, human again, clumsy with arms, legs going in the wrong direction.

“Alex,” I croaked as I swayed upright, “change.”

He did, and it looked worse on his human form. He knelt exhausted in the packed and bloodied snow.

I spat and wiped the gore from our faces.

“It’s all right,” he mumbled.

“I’ll tell you when it’s all right,” I replied, and gore or not, I kissed him.

The strongbox heaved, but it remained closed.

The sensations of eukori distracted me, but I concentrated on sensing his body, feeling the injuries. Nothing life-threatening, and I felt as if I was going to float away in relief. There was a lot of damage though. Ribs broken, muscles torn, bleeding inside.

I couldn’t fix it all. The bleeding I could stop. I didn’t have Bian’s abilities, but instinct guided me and veins began to close and heal. I could do nothing for the ribs; they’d have to heal by themselves and until then, they’d be painful. The muscles were somewhere in between—healing, but slowly.

After ten minutes I rocked back onto my heels. We were both shivering.

“Change back,” I suggested.

He shook his head. “Not a good idea when you’re injured. It takes a lot out of you. More chance to open something that’s partway healed.”

“Then we’re going to have to borrow clothes for you.”

Noble’s coveralls were still there and the Naga’s snow parka and boots completed a strange ensemble.

While he was dressing, I trotted the short way down the trail where my clothes and backpack had been abandoned.

By the time I got back, Alex was listening to the Naga’s comms system and frowning.

“It’s chaos,” he said. “I think they had some helicopters due in, but they’ve been grounded. They still have people on the mountain, but no command structure.”

“I’ve got to get down and help Gray and Ursula. You can’t help me there in your state.”

I pulled my gear from the backpack and continued dressing while I spoke. We moved to the back of the burning cabin, the chewed-off part of the mountain stretching down below us, full of rocks and edges.

“I’ll shift Noble’s body down on the skimobile somehow,” he said. “We can’t leave it up here.”

“The pack could always come up and get it.”

He nodded, but I could see he was going to be stubborn on this.

“We good?” he asked tentatively.

Are we good that I’m alpha on four legs, he meant. It was freaky how it flipped with our forms, but I guess normal wasn’t ever going to apply to us.

“We’re better than good.” I zipped up and hugged him close. “You saved me.”

He tried to quiet me, but I went on.

“I couldn’t have lived with myself if I’d killed Emily.”

It wasn’t just that. I couldn’t put it into words yet. It felt right. He would look after me as a wolf. With Diana’s help I’d fix my Athanate. It worked. It gave me back the hope that’d leaked out over the last few days.

I wanted nothing more than to feel his arms around me, but the sun was touching the mountaintops. What I had to do was getting more dangerous all the time.

“What we have works, Alex. I can live with weird. We all make sacrifices.”

He snorted. “As long as we don’t die by it.”

“If it’s my time, it’s still a fine day to die.”

He grabbed my face. “Don’t go fey on me. You’re going to live. We’re going to live. Promise me.”

Tears froze on my cheeks. I wouldn’t make promises I couldn’t keep. Instead, I kissed him hard.

“I love you,” I said.

Then I turned away, and telling myself this was positively the last time today, I threw myself off the cliff at the rocks below.

Chapter 72

You’re not flying, you’re falling. Never forget that.

The wind screamed my old Ops 4-10 instructor’s words as I braced the batsuit and hurtled down the mountain.

Alex had questioned my reasons for bringing the suit. My answer had been
because sometimes you need to get down a mountain quickly
. There wasn’t a quicker way. Base jumpers did it all the time. Of course, they had the advantage of studying the mountain first. I didn’t have that luxury.

My team was too spread out, too weak. Ursula was too high up; she’d have Nagas all around her in the forest. Gray was hampered by having to protect Emily. But what the Nagas wouldn’t be expecting was someone as well trained as they were coming up behind them. That was my assignment, and I was going to make it count.

If I could get down in time and in one piece.

My options were as stark and balanced as a mathematical equation. I could pop the parachute right now, or keep going, using the batsuit to angle my fall.

With the chute open, I’d still get down quickly and I’d be able to guide myself pretty much anywhere I wanted to go. I’d also be a slow-moving target silhouetted against the darkening sky for any Naga who wanted to shoot.

With the batsuit, they probably wouldn’t even notice me, and if they did, they’d never have time to shoot. I’d pop the chute only to slow down at the last possible minute—as the Ops 4-10 slang suggested, use it like a brake.

Fine. Just so long as I could clear the next ridge of pines which was rushing up toward me like a barricade of dark knives. Anything can be lethal if you hit it hard enough. My stomach knotted and I fought to keep myself spread-eagled when what I wanted to do was to tuck up in a ball.