Standoff
Page 34
“So how’s it going? How are the wolves in the Pack accepting you?” Tegan asked.
“It’s getting better slowly I think. At first no one trusted me. Now it’s just most of the Pack who don’t trust me.” It hurt but she knew why. Her brother had harmed so many.
“They suck. You want me to kill anyone for you, shortstuff?” Jack’s voice rumbled in her ear.
She laughed. “I think I’ll be all right. They just have to get to know me. I know why they feel the way they do. Warren has sent them all into upheaval. He nearly killed Tegan, he brought war to their lives.”
“You’re not him.”
She felt Jack’s fierce anger and realized they had a link too. Not as strong as what she felt with Cade, but it was there.
“I hate that you’re being punished when you’re so damned brave. You did the right thing. Hell you did something most people would never have the guts to do. How dare they judge you.”
She turned and looked at Jack. “They’re afraid.”
“Of you?”
“Of everything. My brother has turned their lives upside down. He’s taken the very thing that makes them what they are and is using that against them. I understand why they don’t like me. I understand why they don’t trust me. Obviously I hope they’ll change their minds when they get to know me. But they have a lot at risk just now.”
“You have more at risk, damn it.” Jack frowned and she reached up to smooth away the lines on his forehead, realizing now, a bit of how Nina must have felt for Cade.
“Life isn’t fair, Jack. Didn’t your mother ever tell you that?”
He laughed. “Yeah. All the time. She still tells me.”
They rolled up into the neighborhood where the old lab had been and got out. Jack growled and kept her in his shadow the whole time while Dave got her other side and Hiroshi stood just behind them. Ben had two other wolves with him as well as Tegan and Agent Benoit just stood back and let them work.
“You don’t have to stand on top of me. None of you are going to be able to scent anything with everyone so close.” Grace sighed. “And I can’t scent anything either. For that matter, I can’t see anything because as everyone loves to remind me, I’m short and you’re all huge.”
Jack and Dave still stayed close but everyone else backed off a bit as they walked through the surrounding neighborhoods. She just sort of turned off her brain and wandered. Her link to her family still existed somewhere within her. She just needed to find it and try to keep it one way. She often did mindless tasks when she worked through a problem. She’d come up with some of her best ideas when ironing and folding laundry. Just walking, letting the sounds around her lull her brain seemed to help guide her.
She turned left and walked for several blocks and turned again. On and on it went. They’d been walking for several hours and had entered residential neighborhoods and commercial zones and back again but kept going, giving Grace the lead.
Ben had long since transformed into a wolf and when he growled softly, everyone halted, noses in the air.
“I want you off the street, Grace. Now.” Jack pulled her toward the SUV that’d been following a few blocks behind.
“What? Why? I…this may be somewhere important. It feels…”
He literally picked her up and put her in the car and the breath whooshed out of her. Dave gave him a look but said nothing as he slid in beside them.
“It feels dangerous for a group of werewolves to be walking around sniffing the air. You’re royalty, Grace, don’t you forget. We can’t take a chance at being made and by having us all out there like that, we endangered everyone including you. Especially you. Your brother demanded your return. Did you know that?”
Dave put his face in his hands.
“What? No. How long ago?”
“Wait. Something is happening.” Jack looked past her.
They all looked out the windows to see the group circling back.
“Go back to the lab. Ben and Hiroshi will meet us there.” Tegan got into the car and belted in.
“Now you can tell me what the hell you meant about Warren demanding I be returned to him. Like a pair of shoes or something?”
“Cade didn’t tell you? Shit. Well, he deserves the ass kicking then. I told him to tell you. Yes. When you went to Seattle with Cade, Warren called us first. His people had gone to your condo, saw some of your things gone and scented Great Lakes wolves had been there. Maxwell told him you’d mated with Cade and had joined Cascadia. Warren flipped. Demanded your return and then threatened to send his people to grab you back, said you’d been taken illegally. Maxwell said, even if you had been, Warren was a lawbreaker and in no position to demand satisfaction because he was marked for death anyway. He said you were marked for death and Maxwell told him if he even so much as breathed in your direction every wolf in the National Pack Alliance would come down on his head and rip him to pieces.” Tegan looked out the window and Grace realized she was worried about Ben.
“I can’t believe Cade didn’t tell me that. But enough for now on that. What’s going on?”
“I think Ben smelled something. Hiroshi too. They’ll change at the lab and we’ll hear then. It felt different when we went down that last block.”
Jack looked at Tegan and nodded. “It did. We may have been watched.”
They pulled up at the lab and Hiroshi and Ben jumped in.
“It’s getting better slowly I think. At first no one trusted me. Now it’s just most of the Pack who don’t trust me.” It hurt but she knew why. Her brother had harmed so many.
“They suck. You want me to kill anyone for you, shortstuff?” Jack’s voice rumbled in her ear.
She laughed. “I think I’ll be all right. They just have to get to know me. I know why they feel the way they do. Warren has sent them all into upheaval. He nearly killed Tegan, he brought war to their lives.”
“You’re not him.”
She felt Jack’s fierce anger and realized they had a link too. Not as strong as what she felt with Cade, but it was there.
“I hate that you’re being punished when you’re so damned brave. You did the right thing. Hell you did something most people would never have the guts to do. How dare they judge you.”
She turned and looked at Jack. “They’re afraid.”
“Of you?”
“Of everything. My brother has turned their lives upside down. He’s taken the very thing that makes them what they are and is using that against them. I understand why they don’t like me. I understand why they don’t trust me. Obviously I hope they’ll change their minds when they get to know me. But they have a lot at risk just now.”
“You have more at risk, damn it.” Jack frowned and she reached up to smooth away the lines on his forehead, realizing now, a bit of how Nina must have felt for Cade.
“Life isn’t fair, Jack. Didn’t your mother ever tell you that?”
He laughed. “Yeah. All the time. She still tells me.”
They rolled up into the neighborhood where the old lab had been and got out. Jack growled and kept her in his shadow the whole time while Dave got her other side and Hiroshi stood just behind them. Ben had two other wolves with him as well as Tegan and Agent Benoit just stood back and let them work.
“You don’t have to stand on top of me. None of you are going to be able to scent anything with everyone so close.” Grace sighed. “And I can’t scent anything either. For that matter, I can’t see anything because as everyone loves to remind me, I’m short and you’re all huge.”
Jack and Dave still stayed close but everyone else backed off a bit as they walked through the surrounding neighborhoods. She just sort of turned off her brain and wandered. Her link to her family still existed somewhere within her. She just needed to find it and try to keep it one way. She often did mindless tasks when she worked through a problem. She’d come up with some of her best ideas when ironing and folding laundry. Just walking, letting the sounds around her lull her brain seemed to help guide her.
She turned left and walked for several blocks and turned again. On and on it went. They’d been walking for several hours and had entered residential neighborhoods and commercial zones and back again but kept going, giving Grace the lead.
Ben had long since transformed into a wolf and when he growled softly, everyone halted, noses in the air.
“I want you off the street, Grace. Now.” Jack pulled her toward the SUV that’d been following a few blocks behind.
“What? Why? I…this may be somewhere important. It feels…”
He literally picked her up and put her in the car and the breath whooshed out of her. Dave gave him a look but said nothing as he slid in beside them.
“It feels dangerous for a group of werewolves to be walking around sniffing the air. You’re royalty, Grace, don’t you forget. We can’t take a chance at being made and by having us all out there like that, we endangered everyone including you. Especially you. Your brother demanded your return. Did you know that?”
Dave put his face in his hands.
“What? No. How long ago?”
“Wait. Something is happening.” Jack looked past her.
They all looked out the windows to see the group circling back.
“Go back to the lab. Ben and Hiroshi will meet us there.” Tegan got into the car and belted in.
“Now you can tell me what the hell you meant about Warren demanding I be returned to him. Like a pair of shoes or something?”
“Cade didn’t tell you? Shit. Well, he deserves the ass kicking then. I told him to tell you. Yes. When you went to Seattle with Cade, Warren called us first. His people had gone to your condo, saw some of your things gone and scented Great Lakes wolves had been there. Maxwell told him you’d mated with Cade and had joined Cascadia. Warren flipped. Demanded your return and then threatened to send his people to grab you back, said you’d been taken illegally. Maxwell said, even if you had been, Warren was a lawbreaker and in no position to demand satisfaction because he was marked for death anyway. He said you were marked for death and Maxwell told him if he even so much as breathed in your direction every wolf in the National Pack Alliance would come down on his head and rip him to pieces.” Tegan looked out the window and Grace realized she was worried about Ben.
“I can’t believe Cade didn’t tell me that. But enough for now on that. What’s going on?”
“I think Ben smelled something. Hiroshi too. They’ll change at the lab and we’ll hear then. It felt different when we went down that last block.”
Jack looked at Tegan and nodded. “It did. We may have been watched.”
They pulled up at the lab and Hiroshi and Ben jumped in.
