Wolf Tales 11 (17 page)

Tinker’s bark of laughter caught him by surprise. Anton cocked one eyebrow and stared at him.

“You don’t think folks’ll notice a big naked black guy chasing after the president and his wife?”

AJ snorted. “Hell, this is San Francisco. Why would anyone notice something like that?”

Everyone around the table cracked up. Anton chuckled. “Note to self. Pack extra pants for Tink.” He smiled serenely at Tinker. “All taken care of.”

Tinker merely shook his head, but the laughter had eased some of the tension in the room. “Just what I’ve always dreamed of doing,” he said mournfully. “Meeting the president bare ass and buck naked with my balls hanging and prick dangling.”

Anton shot him a quick grin, but he shook his head. “Hopefully it won’t come to that. Besides, I don’t think that prick of yours knows how to dangle. I’ve only seen it at attention.”

Luc’s mumbled, “You ain’t kiddin’,” brought more laughs.

Anton continued. “If you have to shift, it means we’ve got problems, so hopefully, you won’t need those spare pants. The wolves are supposed to attack the president at exactly eight fifty-five. This is where it gets dicey. We don’t know if there’s a second plan in motion or if we’re it, but I can’t believe they’re counting entirely on us. I’ve got a feeling we’re there for our ability to distract and divert attention, not actually to complete the mission they’ve given us.”

“So what do you plan to do?” Luc sat back in his chair and gazed at the others at the table. “Other than not kill
the president when we’re supposed to, what can you do that will draw the others out?”

“There will be a complete blackout in the Civic Auditorium at precisely eight fifty-five. All lighting, all power, down to individual cell phones and radios. The generator will not work, the emergency lights will fail. It will be a complete and total power failure, at which time we will move the president to safety and hopefully snag whoever is trying to kill him. We need the ones involved, and we need them alive.”

It wasn’t quite the reaction he’d expected. The room had gone absolutely silent. Every single person stared at him as if he’d lost his mind. Anton frowned and his gaze connected with Keisha’s. She had the strangest expression on her face. Almost as if she were going to …

Keisha burst into laughter. “They’re all convinced you’re absolutely nuts, m’love.”

He shrugged and smiled at her. “I get the same feeling.” Flattening both palms on the table, he gazed at the others and said, “Any questions?”

There was no humor in AJ’s voice when he said, “Yeah. I’ve got a bunch, but the main one is, how the fuck do you intend to carry off this oh-so-critical power failure?”

“Sex.”

“What?” Tia had started clearing the table. She stopped with her hands full of plates and stared at him.

“More precisely, sex magic. The power of sex. We’ve done it before. Luc, the time we saved Ulrich, that was nothing but combining our sexual energy. When you guys got together and saved my life, it was your energy, your sexual energy, that gave you the strength to share your life force with me. I’m going to be drawing from the pack in Montana, Ulrich’s group in Colorado, and Baylor and his pack in Maine. All of them, reaching orgasm at precisely eight fifty-five Pacific time, minds open and sharing their
energy with me. I will harness that energy and use it to shut down the auditorium. Trust me. It can be done.”

Tinker glanced at AJ, then at Luc. His disbelief warred with his obvious anger, but both emotions were right there on the surface, for everyone to see.

Including Anton. He’d expected disbelief, but not this intense level of angry frustration. Tinker looked ready to take a swing at him.

“Anton, have you ever done anything like this before? How do you know you can shut down a place as big as the Civic Auditorium? How the hell do you expect to grab energy from DC, Colorado, and Montana when you’re here in San Francisco?”

Anton caught Tink’s angry glare and held it without flinching as he stood up. “Tia? Jazzy? Can you come in here please? I don’t want to leave you in the dark.”

The women stepped out of the kitchen. Anton closed his eyes, held his hands together beneath his chin, and the entire house plunged into darkness.

“Holy shit.”

Tinker’s soft exclamation brought an answering chuckle from Luc. “And to think he did that without sex. Impressive. But, can you turn them back on again?”

The lights flashed back on. The hum from the kitchen announced that the refrigerator had been off as well. Now it was back up and running.

Everyone applauded, which was a good thing. Anton really didn’t want any of them to hear his sigh of relief. He hadn’t been entirely certain he could carry this off without the added burst of energy from the others.

He took a deep breath, calming as he felt Keisha’s thoughts melding with his, soothing his nerves, reminding him of her unwavering love. He nodded in her direction and once again took his seat at the table.

“Remember, my friends. I am a wizard as well as Chanku,
and I constantly work to keep my powers strong, to improve my abilities. I have to believe that with the power our packmates will share with me tonight, and with our Goddess, a woman we all knew and loved when she was one of us, standing beside me, that I can do as I have promised. If I’m unable to darken the entire auditorium, I know that I can at least kill the area where the president will be sitting, enough that we should be able to get him to safety.”

This time Tinker’s gaze was level and filled with respect. Anton knew how worried the man was. He wanted to tell him everything was going to be fine, that they’d be entirely successful and no blood would be spilled tonight. He couldn’t promise him a thing. Not in good faith. “Tink, for what it’s worth, when I say we’ve got Eve with us, I’m not speaking in a metaphorical sense. She’s here, aware and part of everything we do. She takes her role seriously. She knows what’s going on, and I trust her, as our Goddess, and as our friend.”

Tinker nodded. “Believe me, Anton, I’ve been praying to her since the minute Lisa and Tala got nabbed. But I’m counting on you, too.” He flattened his hands on the table and shoved himself to his feet. Six feet, six inches tall, with hands that could palm a basketball and shoulders so broad he barely fit through some doors. Physically powerful with a brilliant, logical mind, and yet he was willing to put his faith in a goddess he couldn’t see and a wizard he didn’t always trust.

Humbled, Anton watched as Tinker headed into the kitchen to help Tia and Jazzy with the cleanup before they left tonight. He was like that. Martin “Tinker” McClintock. A good man who loved his mate more than life, who couldn’t wait for the daughter Lisa carried to finally make her appearance.

In a lot of ways, Anton saw Tinker as the backbone of this entire operation. If he had Tink on his side, believing
he could do what he set out to do, then Anton knew they’d succeed.

He carried his plate into the kitchen. Baylor’s mental voice touched his mind, surprisingly powerful considering the immense distance. Generally Anton had to initiate contact with the ones in Maine. He stopped, plate in hand, and listened.

We’re on the zoo grounds, ready to run. The night’s clear, the ground is frozen. We’ll do our best. I wanted you to know we can feel the link, feel your mind as if you’re much closer. For some reason, it’s clear and strong tonight. Good luck, Anton. Let us know the moment Lisa and Tala are free and all is right.

His voice faded away, but the connection remained, the sense of Bay and Manda, Shannon and Jake, as if they were only a few blocks away, not almost three thousand miles. He was still marveling at the strength of their mind-speaking when Ulrich’s voice rolled softly through his thoughts.

We had a hell of a run tonight. Millie’s eyeing Deacon and Matt with a look I would describe as dangerously speculative. Daci’s got her eye on everyone. His soft laughter sounded relaxed and so upbeat Anton felt himself relax just a bit more as Ulrich continued in a quiet, conversational manner.

Just wanted to let you know we can feel you like you’re right here with us. We’ll be ready. Good luck, Anton. Be safe. We’ll want the details when this is over.

You’ll have them.

Details. So damned many details, and each dependent upon the success of another. Anton frowned. He caught Keisha smiling at him.

“I’m going in to get my things together,” she said. “We’ll be ready to leave shortly, whenever you are.”

He nodded. Both he and AJ would be wearing dark suits—the Washington, DC, Beltway look, Baylor called it.
He’d slick his hair back, tie it neatly at his nape, but AJ insisted this was San Francisco. Short hair wasn’t necessary to create the look.

Suddenly, Adam’s voice in his mind shocked him with its clarity and stopped him in his tracks. Liana and I want to wish you well tonight. We’re all going to be ready when you need us. Just wanted to confirm that the link was strong and you should be able to grab whatever we can send.

Voices from such a distance had never been so clear, which meant that whatever energy they shared should be even stronger than he’d hoped. Anton headed down the hallway to the guestroom Luc had given to him and Keisha. He caught up to her at the doorway, grabbed her around the waist, and pulled her close.

“I love you. Be careful tonight.” He kissed her soundly, feeling almost carefree. She kissed him back, but it was obvious she wondered what had gotten into him.

“The connection.” He couldn’t have stopped grinning if he’d had to. “I’ve been worried about the distance, about taking power from such a long way away, but the connections are all strong and clear. Baylor and Jake could have been in the next room. The same with Adam and even Ulrich. Ric’s usually not that powerful—he could have been sitting beside me and speaking.”

Keisha leaned back so she could look into his eyes. He loved that little frown between her brows. It made him want to kiss her until she laughed, until she felt the same confidence that he was feeling.

And then Stefan’s voice touched him. The beloved voice of the man who was like a brother to him, one he loved above all other men—his lover, his closest friend. Keisha’s eyes danced and Anton knew she heard him as well.

We’re with you in spirit, Anton, though about now I think I’d rather be with you in person. Xandi and Mei
have Oliver and me cuffed to the bed. And you know that scary look Mei gets in her eyes?

Anton swore he heard Mei and Xandi laughing, but that was impossible, wasn’t it?

Well, she’s got it now, and so does Xandi. We’ll do our best to hold out, but if you get a blast a few minutes early, I sure hope you can use it. Oh, shit …

Anton raised his eyes and caught Keisha’s grin. Then all they could hear was Stefan’s aroused moan before the connection ended. “I’ve never had such clear mental connections when we’re this far apart.” He shook his head. “I don’t understand.”

Keisha covered his hand with hers. “I do. Accept the fact Eve’s helping. Don’t you think that’s a sign she’s with us?”

He’d hoped Eve would be able to do something, but he realized now he really hadn’t counted on it. Not on anything as visible, as real as this, but Keisha was right.

She had to be right.

He stepped into the bedroom and closed the door. The voices in the rest of the house faded as he shut the two of them inside the small room. He felt as if he should be doing something—anything more than taking a quick shower and merely dressing in his good black suit, but there was nothing else. Nothing at all.

His thoughts drifted to Bay and the others in DC. What was it like, running as wolves in the midst of the nation’s capital? Were they at risk? Able to find the privacy they needed? He thought of connecting, and just as quickly extinguished the link before it opened.

He had to trust his pack. They’d not failed him before, and he couldn’t micromanage the whole evening. He could only play the role he’d given himself. With that thought in mind, Anton stripped out of his clothes and headed for the shower.

Bare branches rattled with the stiff evening breeze. Snow lay in a few bare patches, though the ground was mostly clear. Frozen, coated with ice, but clear.

Steam billowed from their warm muzzles as Bay and the small pack raced through the parklands of the National Zoo. Their feet pounded on the hard-packed earth and paved pathways, and the sounds of the city were muted by the trees and shrubs, the buildings and pens and cages. It had only been two days since their last shift, their last run through the frozen forests of their Maine home, but Bay couldn’t get over how good this felt, how much he’d missed the connection with the natural world around him.

As natural as it could be, running through a zoo in the midst of the nation’s capital with the scent of alien animals all about. And, with his good Rolex strapped to his upper left leg. Manda had gotten a little bit hysterical, laughing so hard she could barely fasten the expensive wristwatch to a wolf, and Jake had certainly managed his share of jokes at Bay’s expense, but they had that frickin’ timetable of Anton’s to stick to.

It would definitely be a story for their children one day.

Would one of those as yet unknown children be conceived
tonight? He put the thought from his mind and tried to lose himself in the run, in the sensation of his broad paws striking the ground, in the chill air rushing past his muzzle and rippling over his dark coat. He scented the animals in the cages they passed, relieved that they didn’t seem overly stressed by their confinement. Still he sensed their curiosity, even their territorial displays as he and his small pack ran past.

And then he wondered—when had he begun to think of this as his pack? Jake was the one who owned the property in Maine, the one who had helped Bay embrace his Chanku birthright, and Shannon was definitely an alpha bitch. Manda would always defer to the others, but that was her nature. She could be tough when tough was needed, had even killed when it had been called for, but she was essentially softer, sweeter. Exactly what Baylor needed. What he wanted.