CHAPTER 7

“That went well,” Sasha said in a sarcastic tone as they walked into a shadow on the base. “I think the man ages five to ten years every time he sees us.”

“He didn’t look well at all when we left, but there was no other way but to deliver the facts.”

“Yeah, but remember when we met him? He wasn’t gray at all. Now he’s really salt-and-pepper.”

Hunter shrugged. “It could be worse. It could have all fallen out from the shock or he could be on the verge of howling at a full moon. Remember, he was passed over and left alive by a demon-infected Were.”

Sasha just shook her head as they walked deeper into the misty shadow path. “One day I’ll have to deliver that cheerful tidbit of information to the man over a beer.”

A slow smile crept into Hunter’s expression and it lifted her spirits. It was the first time she’d seen him smile since they’d woken up and started the day.

“Okay, you’re the master tracker,” she said as they came out of a shadow cast by a huge shade tree behind the team house. “How do we find something invisible that cruised us, and more important, how do we gather new information from a Vampire crime scene that’s already been thoroughly trampled through by the Vampires?”

Hunter shrugged. “Why don’t we ask them?”

Sasha placed both hands on her hips. “Be serious.”

“I am being serious.”

She looked at Hunter hard, but then her attitude softened as he nonchalantly began walking toward the front of the house. “That is genius.”

Hunter turned and looked at her for a moment. Everything about him seemed calm, and he spoke as though his suggestion were the most rational thing in the world.

“If one has nothing to hide, Sasha, then it stands to reason that one can go in as a neutral party and simply state the facts—we heard there were crimes committed against the Vampire Cartel. That is a fact. Peace in the region is in every group’s best interest. That is also undeniable truth. We do not support any group being attacked without cause, even if they are our allies. Very simply, the way of the wolf. We also have reason to believe the Fae whether the good Seelie or the bad Unseelie were not involved, even though we cannot prove it at this time. Also a fact. We can offer to help investigate as neutral parties, especially if it can avert the unnecessary waste of resources and lives. Humans caught in the cross fire are expensive collateral damage and could bring in the human military, which is already panicked and prone to extremes. That is in no one’s best interest. The Vampires know this, even if they don’t admit it to us. They can reject the concept of us investigating, but the question will linger long enough to maybe buy us enough time to learn more.”

“And you just came up with this out of thin air?” Sasha folded her arms, amazed.

“No. I’d been thinking about it all along.   ever since whatever I’d chased eluded me back at the cabin.”

“But you never said anything.”

Again he shrugged. “I don’t speak until I’ve fully formulated my opinion or theories.”

She tried not to smile and only narrowed her gaze. For the sake of peace she’d let the quiet dig slide. “’Nuff said.”

“Okay, this is freaky,” Clarissa whispered, pressing her nose to the porch window.

Bradley rang the doorbell again. “This is the fifth psychic’s tarot house we’ve been to and nobody’s home? Is there a psychic convention in California or something that we didn’t hear about?”

“Not likely, and if there was, I would have heard about it.”

Bradley looked at her. “Yeah, but then why didn’t you pick up on this resource outage?”

“I don’t know,” Clarissa said quietly. “I should have felt it, especially if all the area psychics were panicked enough to leave town or go underground. Something is really wrong with this picture.” She turned away from the window and stared at Bradley. “Better stated, something really big and really bad is about to go down. That doesn’t require telepathy to figure out.”

“Just come home, Son,” Doc said, and then glanced around the empty lab. “We’ll figure out a way to make this all work.”

“You aren’t disappointed?” Crow Shadow’s question lingered between the two men like a third party on the cell phone with them.

“I wish we could have talked about all of this before it happened,” Doc said, carefully choosing his words. “But now that it is what it is, we have to figure out the best way to bring Jennifer and the baby into the pack.”

“I thought you’d be a little more welcoming, Dad, since you’ve been through this yourself.”

Doc released a long breath and coaxed patience into his tone. “I am, as you young people like to say, being real. If she freaks out and ultimately cannot handle what she learns, she becomes a security risk to the entire North American clan. If she stays and a war breaks out—something that could be in the offing and too sensitive to get into detail about over the telephone—your new bride could be severely injured or worse, if our location is discovered. So don’t read my hesitancy in congratulating you as some form of prejudice. Frankly, because I’ve lived through this, I’m worried. I also know that’s what’s going to be a concern for Silver Hawk and the other elders. What’s more is, I worry about the future. I worry that my grandchild may come out with the same disability I have—the inability to shape-shift into his or her wolf. Then that child will know the pain that I’ve known all my life. That, Son, will break my heart.”

“I’m sorry, Pop,” Crow Shadow said in a subdued tone. “You didn’t deserve that earlier crack..   I’ve been thinking about everything you said, too. Maybe that’s why I’m stressing.”

“Just come home,” Doc replied, and then stood to go to the door. He could feel Sasha near. “You fly your ass in well before nightfall, and if you can’t do that you and Jennifer and Bear get to hallowed ground and stay there until morning, even if you’ve gotta go find a church mission or a shelter and spend the night. You hear me?”

“Is it that bad.   what’s actually going on?”

“Yes, it’s that bad,” Doc replied, now looking out the window at Sasha and Hunter as they rounded the house. “And God only knows what’s going on. But trust me, whatever it is, it isn’t good.”

Even though she and Hunter could have easily entered the house through a shadow, Sasha rang the bell. There was no need to accidentally get shot if nerves were jumpy. But thankfully the nausea had subsided.

Doc opened the door before she could draw her hand away from the bell. “Good to see you. The world has gone crazy in the last twenty-four hours.” He pulled Sasha into a hug and reached around her back to clasp Hunter’s hand. “And I’m really glad to see you.”

“Likewise,” Hunter said, ushering the threesome into the house. “We could all use a dose of your wisdom at a time like this.”

“Fresh out,” Doc said, shaking his head. “Silver Hawk is on his way. Bear and Crow are coming in from Vegas with complications.”

“I heard,” Sasha said, jamming her hands in her back jeans pockets. “Where’s the rest of the team?”

Doc glanced between Sasha and Hunter. “Clarissa and Bradley went to try to pick up intel from any psychics in the area, and no dice. Everyone they tried and had previous contacts with was gone. It’s like all of the New Orleans tarot houses and palm readers simply skipped town. Winters went with Woods and Fisher to try to see if they could get any info from the graveyards, but based on the last call I got from them, everything was cleaned up and locked up tight as though there’d never been a grave invasion.”

“Figures,” Sasha said, beginning to pace. “The Vamps are really private and will handle it with their own brand of justice.” She stopped walking and stared at Doc. “Which is why I want you all to hunker down at NAS. I’ve already made arrangements with Colonel Madison for you guys to go there just like the old days when we were part of the Paranormal Containment Unit—and if I had enough time, I’d be sure you guys went back to NORAD.   but there’s not enough time for that today. But tomorrow, first light, you guys are—”

“Whoa, whoa,” Doc said, gesturing with his hands. “Our job is to work as a team to avert any human catastrophes as a result of paranormal activity. So how do you expect us to make that happen sitting in Denver?”

“I’m thinking selfishly,” Sasha said in a quiet tone. “I’m thinking like a civilian, and I want our families out of the hot zone. I admit it.”

“And I agree with her,” Hunter said, lifting his chin. “If I could coax Sasha to go to Denver with you and get her to stay at that huge underground human facility until all of this was sorted out, I would. But you and I both know Sasha well enough to know she won’t do that.” Hunter gave her a pointed look with a sad half smile. “So, the best I can do is support her decision to try to keep her family out of harm’s way. Her family is my family; her people are my people.”

“You’ve discussed all of this with Silver Hawk?” Doc looked between Sasha and Hunter again.

“No,” Hunter admitted. “But when he arrives, I will.”

“I see the two months away from the team did you both well.   as far as strengthening the mate bond,” Doc said, sounding slightly peeved. “You’ve clearly already made up your minds.”

“We have.” Sasha walked over to her father and hugged him. “I don’t know why, but something about this feels more.   I don’t know.   more dangerous than before, and I just want all of you away from it.”

Doc held her tightly and released a weary sigh. “And me and Silver Hawk want to make sure that the two people we love most in this world survive. We’re both old wolves. You hold the future of the pack, of the clan, of the way of the North American Shadow Wolf. Beyond all of that, you’re still my only daughter.”

Sasha and Hunter stepped out of a shadow behind the Blood Oasis club. For a moment they said nothing as they sized up the seemingly deserted building. The instant the sun went down the establishment would spring to life—or into living death, as the case may be. But they weren’t so foolish as to believe that the premier Vampire blood club in the area was vacant. There would be lower-level Vampires in the building as security forces, as well as human guards. The question was how did one leave a message for the club owners by day without breaching security and risking getting one’s head blown off?

Turning to Hunter, she searched his troubled expression for an answer. “Thanks for having my back with Doc,” she said, and then glanced at the building. “Entrance strategy?”

“I meant what I’d said. I wish you weren’t here right now, Sasha.   with all my soul I wish you weren’t.”

The tone of his voice and the level of quiet urgency it contained stunned her. They’d been through so many battles together and had experienced so many near misses, but she couldn’t recall ever hearing outright fear in Hunter’s voice until now.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” She touched his arm and was surprised that he pulled her against his stone-cut chest in a protective stance and then nuzzled her hair as his gaze swept the terrain.

“I don’t know,” he murmured. “All I am sure of is that every sense within me registers a threat to you. I want you gone, Sasha. After we go in here and speak to the Vampire Cartel’s human helpers, I don’t want you on the hunt with me when the sun goes down. Not this time. Don’t ask me why, because I haven’t one logical reason to give you. It’s just my gut. Go to NAS. Please.”

She looked up and cradled his cheek with one palm. “I’ve never, ever heard you sound like this, Hunter.   but you know that I can’t leave you and just go sit at NAS waiting for word. I’ll lose my mind.”

He briefly closed his eyes and then nodded. “I already knew the answer, but I had to at least try.” Glancing around, he motioned with his chin toward a long shadow by the door. “Take cover there. I’ll try to raise a human from the interior and hopefully we’ll get one to deliver a message.”

Grudgingly she agreed and stood near the shadow while Hunter banged on the door.

“We come in peace!” Hunter called out. “The North American Shadow Clan needs to speak to your leadership.”

Within seconds the sound of a click made her and Hunter dive for the long shadow. Just as Hunter pulled his legs into it a pump shotgun blast shattered a small side window. Moving swiftly, they came out of the shadow inside the club’s foyer. Hunter had the human shooter in a headlock as Sasha stripped him of his weapon. She spun on a rustle behind her and pointed dead aim at a shadow.

“Drop it. We came in peace,” she said, quickly cocking the pump for another blast. “We’ve got an important message for your bosses.”

“Tell the man to walk out slowly with his weapon above his head or he’ll be wolf carrion when the Vampires find his body tonight,” Hunter growled, allowing the security guard he held to see his canines beginning to extend in his peripheral vision.

“Come out, man!” the security guard finally yelled. “They said they came in peace. Just wanna deliver a message, all right.”

After a few tense minutes three guards came out. Each held his weapon at an angle away from Sasha and Hunter but had not disarmed.

“Listen,” Sasha said, training the shotgun on the guard who seemed to be their leader. “We heard through the grapevine that some Vampire graves got opened to daylight. We had nothing to do with it. We also heard that your bosses think the Fae were involved—the Unseelie, to be exact. We don’t know the full story yet, but our main concern is that war doesn’t break out in the streets of New Orleans in a way that could cause a lot of human casualties.”

“If you know who we work for, then you know that retaliation is gonna happen,” the burly lead guard said, flexing his muscles beneath his black T-shirt. “If you’re not involved, then we suggest that you lay low until it’s all over.”

“Bad move under a bad moon,” Hunter said, thrusting the guard he held away from him. He waited until the frightened guard ran over to the others and took cover. “If the Vampires attack the Fae and find out they were wrong, there will be a hundred-year war. You know that; they know it. Therefore, we need you to get a message to your bosses the moment they wake up.”

The lead guard cracked a cynical smile. “It doesn’t matter what I know or think. I just follow orders. That’s how I stay alive.”

“Tell them that the wolves are in a rare position to be neutral third parties—that we will be their noses to the ground by day and we’ll try to find whatever evidence we can, because the Fae swear they haven’t done this.” Sasha lowered her weapon and stared at the lead man. “If you don’t deliver the message and it’s later found out that the leadership from the North American Shadow Wolf Federation came to you to offer a potential negotiation, how long do you think you’ll live?”

Hunter smiled. “I may be wrong, but the way I have always heard it, Vampires hate anyone jacking with their negotiations. We are putting a firm offer on the table. We’d like to hear their counteroffer.” He backed away holding up both hands in front of his chest. “That is all we came for, no more, no less.”

A slow hiss made both Sasha and Hunter turn toward the sound. It was coming from a darkened alcove deep within the club. Two red glowing eyes blinked slowly and then were gone.

“They heard you,” the lead guard said. “Now get the fuck outta here!”