Chapter 2

 

Perfume filled the air, cloying and thick. Tia’s first thought was that it was a good thing she was in the bathroom, because she really felt as if she had to throw up right now, and that sickening sweet smell wasn’t helping her roiling stomach.

She blinked and the walls so close around her spun and shifted in and out of her blurred vision. The nausea went from bad to worse, but she was on the floor beside the toilet, thank goodness, and it was fairly easy to lean over the porcelain bowl and vomit the acidic contents of her stomach.

Oh, Goddess! The pain was overwhelming. She cried out and pressed her hands to her belly. Forcing herself not to whimper, she took a few deep, calming breaths.

The nausea passed, but not the pain. Tia reached overhead, grabbed toilet tissue from the dispenser and wiped her face. Then she blinked stupidly at the sticky tissue, confused by the crimson stains on the paper. She hadn’t vomited blood. No, there’d been nothing but bile, so obviously she hadn’t eaten in a while, but there was blood everywhere.

Her hands were covered. She must have smeared it across her face. Blood was all over the toilet seat where she’d held on when she puked. Her jeans were soaked, as was the lower half of her shirt. Thank goddess the pain had receded just a bit. Now it was a manageable throb in her lower right side, the same place that seemed to be the source of the coagulating blood.

Forcing herself to think, Tia leaned her head back against the metal wall and tried to remember how she’d gotten here. Then she realized she had no idea where here actually was. She studied her surroundings and saw pale green metal walls, a white toilet. The tile floor beneath her was clean, thank goodness, since she was obviously sitting on the floor in the stall of a public restroom somewhere.

The mall. The big one in Corte Madera. She’d gone to the mall with Tala and Lisa, one last shopping trip before the babies arrived. Babies? Dear goddess, were her little ones okay?

Panic lent her strength. She reached out with her mind and tried to find Luc. Shit. Pain knifed through her head, a blinding, agonizing headache that pulsed directly behind her eyes. Had blood loss and shock screwed up her mindtalking? There was no sense of Luc at all.

No sense of anyone. Where were Lisa and Tala?

Slowly, bits and pieces of the day filtered into coherency, until the pattern of the morning began to take shape. They’d been planning this shopping trip for days. Christmas was less than a month away and Tala and Lisa were almost eight months pregnant. Tia’s twins had come early—they’d agreed they were running out of time to do any shopping.

Tala had been determined to get at least one more trip in before she had two little ones to care for. Conversation filtered through Tia’s memories—Lisa teasing Tala, something about already having two big ones who were high-maintenance.

Mik and AJ. Dear goddess . . . did they know their mates were missing? Or were they okay and was she the only one not found?

Tia’s nausea ebbed and flowed with her memories—the beautiful drive across the Golden Gate, coffee at that neat little shop in Sausalito, arriving at the mall early.

Tala’d been so thrilled to get out of the city. Lisa too. Tia and Luc had made a few trips to the mountains with the babies, so Tia hadn’t been nearly as frantic to escape, but she’d still been excited about a day with her girlfriends, especially knowing the twins were safely in Nick and Beth’s capable hands. They’d decided to shop at the big open-air mall just off the freeway, the one with the trees and fresh air between stores.

Poor Tala. She was big as a house from carrying twins fathered by Mik and AJ. This pregnancy had been a lot more difficult than she’d expected, but nothing would stop Tala.

Nothing stops Tala. Nothing. Fading in and out of reality, Tia leaned her head back against the metal wall. Should she try reaching out for Luc again? Damn. It hurts. Everything hurts.

Something terrible happened. What? She couldn’t recall much after they’d locked the car and walked to the mall. Lisa holding on to Tala’s arm, both of them cracking pregnant-lady jokes. Tia prancing ahead of them, showing off her slim, trim, eight-months-post-baby self. Laughing about whether or not Tala would ever get her tiny waist back, or if Mik and AJ were really going to change diapers.

No one doubted Tinker. Lisa sounded so smug when she talked about her mate, but she had a right to. Tink was a gem. How many guys would willingly take on a woman’s labor pains? Tinker had, when Tia had her twins. Then he’d helped care for her babies once they got home to San Francisco, and they weren’t even his.

He’d been there for every second of Lisa’s pregnancy, whether she was hanging over the toilet puking her guts out or worried about peeing her pants when Tink’s unborn daughter practiced her soccer kicks.

Of course, Mik and AJ were just as terrific. Not quite as comfortable in the caretaking role as Tinker, but still wonderful and loving. No one could be like Tink—he was a natural. Still, the guys were there for Tala, worried and afraid, yet always supportive. As Luc had been for Tia.

Luc. She really needed to reach Luc, not lie here on the floor of a public restroom with her mind wandering and her body bleeding, but she couldn’t seem to organize her thoughts. What the hell happened? She ran her fingers along her lower abdomen, gently probing for the source of the pain.

Holy shit! There. At the sharp curve of her hip bone. A tear in her jeans and a fiery wound that must have come from either a knife or a bullet.

Bullet? That’s what it was. She knew this, but when? How?

Tia closed her eyes, drifting in and out of consciousness, catching herself in memories. Walking along the open pavilions of the mall, too early, arriving before most of the stores opened for business. A few other people wandering about—not too many, considering how close they were to Christmas.

Still, the stores were quiet, the weather was cold and clear—a good day for two very pregnant ladies to shop, for one harried mother of twins to enjoy getting away.

Tia pictured the metal gates guarding the doorways into stores that hadn’t opened yet, turning the chic little shops into prison cells. That’s what they’d looked like.

Prison cells.

She pushed herself, searching for those missing moments. Lisa and Tala behind her, laughing. People beginning to fill the area, the sound of laughter, of voices.

Voices. Men’s voices. Low, threatening. Lisa’s terrified mental shout, a silent warning that spun Tia around. She remembered now. They wore dark suits, neatly trimmed hair. Two had their arms around Lisa and Tala. Tia recalled the flash of hypodermic needles, the glazed looks on the girls’ faces. A thick arm latched on, catching Tia around her waist. She’d struggled; even after the sting of a needle in her neck, she’d fought him.

His hand covering her mouth. Biting down, hard. The deadly thump of a silenced handgun, searing pain.

Then nothing. Okay. She’d been drugged and shot. Left unconscious, but for how long? Where? Why?

Lisa? Tala? Where are you?

Nothing. No sense of either of them. Head pounding, her side hurting like hell, she struggled to her feet, slapped her palms against the walls to keep from falling over. Gathered what strength she could, ignored the threat of that blinding pain through her skull and sent out a mental shout.

If she was still in the mall in Corte Madera, and Luc was miles away in San Francisco, he might not hear her.

She called him anyway. Her purse was missing. Her cell phone. She felt something warm and sticky running along her thigh. Her wound was bleeding again. Black spots danced in front of her eyes and she knew, without any doubt, she was losing consciousness once more.

Luc! Luc, help me! Please help me.

There was nothing. No response. No loving voice in her mind. Her legs quivered and refused to hold her weight. Luc? I love you, Luc. Can’t you hear me? Cami? Shay? Mommy loves you. Mommy will always love you.

She was sliding . . . slipping down smooth metal, caged in by the small bathroom stall, falling into a pool of blood on the tile floor. So much blood . . .

Slipping away from the light, away from consciousness.

Away from Luc. Darkness descended. Called to her, and pulled Tia into its welcoming arms, even as Luc’s shout echoed distantly in her pounding skull.

Tia? Where are you? Tia!

 

• • •

 

“Luc? Are you okay?” Mik grabbed his arm as Luc collapsed into the big chair behind his desk.

“Tia. I heard her voice. Faint . . . far away. She’s hurting. I felt pain. Sensed an injury, smelled blood. Blood and some kind of weird perfume.” He shook his head. “I can’t identify it, but it’s really familiar. Damn. Tia.”

“Share it.” AJ filled his vision, looming over him. “Share the smell, the perfume. Maybe one of us will recognize it.”

Luc opened his mind, remembering, pulling up the cloying scent until the smell seemed to fill his office. Perfume and blood. It made him want to retch.

Tia’s blood.

“I know what that is.” Tinker stared toward the window, frowning. “It’s that gross perfume they use in public restrooms. Sort of a combination disinfectant, hide-the-stink smell.”

“You’re right.” Luc concentrated again. Nothing. “I think she was somewhere north of us, but . . .”

“That makes sense.” Mik glanced at AJ. “Didn’t Tala say something about going to that big mall north of Sausalito? The one with Nordstrom and Macy’s. It’s got a lot of outdoor pavilions, big stores, lots of little boutiques . . .”

AJ nodded. “It doesn’t make any sense. Why would they still be there if someone’s kidnapped them?”

Tinker reached for the door. “Maybe they’re not all there. Maybe just Tia.” He stared at Luc.

“Luc? You come with me. AJ and Mik? Stay here. Keep your cell phones handy. Listen for our girls. I’ve got a link with Tia that’s almost as tight as Luc’s. If we can find her, maybe she can lead us to Lisa and Tala.”

Luc nodded. He reached inside the drawer on his desk, pulled out a dark, zippered bag and removed a small handgun. As he checked to make certain it was loaded, he glanced at AJ and Mik. “Get in touch with Jake and Bay. Baylor mentioned coming out here—he’s frantic with both his sisters missing—but I think they can do us more good if they can get to Washington. Have them go to Anton’s apartment in DC. We’ll let them know what’s going on as soon as we know anything.”

Mik glanced at the phone on the desk. “What if you get a call from the kidnappers?”

“The guy’s using my cell. He told me to keep it close. It might be the only number he’s got.” He paused a moment after slipping the pistol into his pants pocket and put out another mental call for Tia. Silence mocked him.

With one last look at Mik and AJ, Luc followed Tinker through the house to the garage.

 

• • •

 

Keisha tucked Lily into her crib and waited in the doorway until the eighteen-month-old settled back into sleep. It wouldn’t be long now before they moved her into a regular bed, but at least as long as she was still in the crib Keisha could think of her perfect daughter as a baby.

A baby with a powerful mental voice and the ability to understand well beyond her years.

“Is she asleep?”

Keisha had sensed Anton’s approach. She always knew where he was, often what he was thinking. Now, though, his thoughts were a tangled mess. So unlike him—he was generally so cool and unaffected by the emotions swirling about him. There was something especially touching about this unusual vulnerability she sensed in a man always so self-assured. She turned slowly, caught the questions in his amber eyes, and nodded. Then she took him by the hand and tugged.

Frowning, not speaking, he followed her.

“How long do we have?” she asked.

A sexy smile spread slowly across his face. “The plane won’t be ready for a couple of hours. Logan’s still gathering his medical supplies.” He stopped, draped his arms over her shoulders and pressed his forehead to hers. “We have time for whatever’s on your mind.”

Keisha sighed. Talk about your typical male one-track mind. If she weren’t thinking exactly the same thing, if the situation weren’t so dire, she might have laughed. Instead, she said, “I need to know what’s going on, but I need you even more. Lily’s asleep now. I still have to pack my own bags. I’m coming with you, you know. I’ve already asked Stefan and Xandi to watch Lily for us.”

“You’re willing to leave her?” He raised his head, his expression nothing short of incredulous.

“I am. Tia will need me. Luc needs you. We have to go. But first, we need each other.”

She crossed the hall to their larger room, walked past the big bed and stepped up to the sliding glass door. Sunlight glistened on fresh snow and the dark forest beckoned. The wind had died down to a gentle breeze. She turned and cocked an eyebrow in Anton’s direction. He frowned. Obviously he’d thought she merely wanted sex—as if making love with Anton could ever be described as merely sex.

Keisha rested a hand on her hip and smiled softly at him. “Unless you intend to shift while fully dressed, I’d suggest you lose the clothes.”

His eyes lit up. He ripped his sweater off over his head, slipped out of his jeans and kicked everything into a pile on the floor. So unlike her tidy, organized lover, but it was obvious he had too many thoughts crowding his mind, too many worries bedeviling him.

Too many to share now, as he was—as a man.

“Xandi and Stefan know we’re going to run. They’ll keep an eye on Lily for us. Come.” Keisha slipped her robe off her shoulders, opened the door and stepped out onto the icy deck, but before she’d even begun to shiver, she shifted. Anton was right behind her, following her as she leapt over the railing to the frozen snow.

They’d had heavy snow, then freezing rain. Then the temperature had dropped and left a frozen crust atop the thick snow pack. Keisha’s paws slipped on the hard surface and she almost skidded ingloriously across the ice, but she managed to catch herself and stay in motion. Anton was right behind her.

She felt his hot breath across her flank as she gathered her feet beneath her, dug her claws into the ice and raced away from the house, away from all that linked them both to their often fragile humanity—raced with all her might toward the freedom of the forest.

Much of the woods had burned during a huge fire just a few weeks ago, but the thick blanket of fresh snow hid the devastation the fire had wrought. Once they slipped between the trees and found the trail, the going was easier, the surroundings almost surreal in their monochromatic beauty. Stark, black branches encased in silvery ice, pale shoots from willows and dark fir needles and pine trapped within their glittering icy shells. The frozen snow crunched and crackled beneath their paws and puffs of steam burst from warm muzzles.

Keisha listened for the sound of life and heard only the harsh breaths of the wolf behind her. She opened her mind to his thoughts and found nothing beyond the feral processes of a wolf running through a frozen forest. He searched for game, listened for threats, followed the scent of the female ahead.

It was as she had hoped. She’d recognized the overload, knew that Anton had reached a point where processing all that he knew, all that he needed to do to save lives, had overwhelmed his brilliant mind. She’d never seen him this way, but then there’d never been so much at stake before.

Not only the lives of the missing women, but the three unborn children they carried. And, as if their desperate situation wasn’t enough, a threat against the leader of their country, the man they’d sworn to uphold and protect. Who did they save, which lives were theirs to protect?

Mere hours from now, it was all due to come together.

There wasn’t enough time to gather other Chanku from all their various homes across the country, and yet Keisha knew that Anton drew his strength from the power of the pack. Knew his abilities were limited only by his connections to the energy each of them could share.

But how, when they were scattered so far and wide? Baylor, Jake, Manda and Shannon, even now on their way to Washington, DC, where they would keep an eye on a few very questionable members of Baylor’s old secret service agency as well as their handlers.

Poor Baylor. She’d hardly given him a thought, but Lisa and Tala were his sisters! He was such a good and loving man. How was he handling this, knowing both of his sisters were the targets, that the lives of his unborn nieces and nephew were at risk?

Ulrich, Millie, Daciana, Matt and Deacon were all in Colorado, awaiting direction from Anton, information from Luc, reassurance that all would be well, that lives would be saved. Were they close enough to share their energy with the one they’d all accepted as the pack’s leader?

She and Anton would be boarding a plane in a couple of hours and flying to San Francisco. At least if he got closer to the action, he had a better chance of controlling the outcome, but Adam and Liana, Stefan, Xandi, Oliver, and Mei would remain behind, watching the babies, sharing energy, waiting to offer whatever help they could from a distance.

Logan and Jazzy . . . Keisha sighed as she thought of the young doctor and his mate. They would be flying to San Francisco, too. Adam had offered, but if Lisa and Tala ended up in a hospital, a certified physician would have a better chance of getting access to them for care.

If it came to that. Keisha’s feet pounded the frozen snow and the wolf behind her kept a steady pace just off her left flank. If only she could lose her thoughts to the feral world of the wolf! It was not to be today, not with her worries about Anton paramount in her mind, drowning out the beast. Though she would love to run forever, run fast enough and far enough to leave all their troubles behind, there was no time. Not if she wanted to make this run through the forest truly count.

She dipped and spun to the right, slipping between frozen branches, finding a trail barely wide enough for one wolf to pass, yet she hardly broke stride, turning and twisting along the narrow path with Anton following close behind.

She didn’t want to exhaust him, but she knew he needed this run, the chance to leave the world of men behind and bond more tightly with the feral instincts resting so close beneath his terribly civilized human skin.

He would need contact with his wolven self more than he’d ever needed it before. Somehow, even when he shifted, she hoped he’d hold on to the powerful instinct that allowed the wolf to kill without remorse, to use whatever tools he had to protect the pack.

There was no doubt in Keisha’s mind that they might be called on to take lives tonight. But it would not be the life of the president that was at risk, nor would it be the innocent females and their unborn young. No, the ones who had set this terrible plan in motion might need to die.

Keisha had no problem with killing to protect those she loved, those she honored and respected.

Her mate, though, often allowed his human conscience too much free rein. He’d weigh the options, consider all the possibilities, often taking the greatest risk himself in order to keep others safe. Not this time. The risk was too great.

Somehow, they had to end this constant threat to their beloved packmates, to their children, to themselves. If killing was justified, if it was the only choice he could make, Anton needed the strength to make it. The support of his pack, and most of all, the support of his mate.

Bursting into a small, frozen meadow, Keisha twisted about and planted her front feet hard against the ground. She lowered her head and snarled, challenging Anton, daring him to take her.

He skidded to a halt, teeth bared, hackles raised. Searching his mind, she found only the wolf, his thoughts as pure and basic as the frozen world around them.

Mate. Conquer. Control. Dominate.

If she’d been in her human form, Keisha would have laughed. She’d not taken him to this bestial level for far too long. They’d been so caught up in Lily’s amazing growth, in the dynamics of everyday life within the diverse personalities of their pack, that this side of their lives had often been put aside, this need to run as the wolf, to hunt, to howl at the moon, to mate beneath a frozen sky.

Anton snarled again. His amber eyes shimmered and his bared teeth glistened beneath the curl of his lips. Dark whiskers quivered along his muzzle. Tiny drops of condensation sparkled on a couple of the stiff hairs. Keisha yipped, and then she bowed her head, turning and showing her throat as she deferred to his superior size and strength.

Suddenly he lunged at her, nipping unexpectedly at the thick fur protecting her throat and rolling her over into the snow. She scrambled to her feet, shocked and surprised by his attack. What the hell was he doing? Anton was never violent with her. Shaking her head, Keisha backed away.

His behavior left her confused, even afraid. She’d not expected such overt aggression, not from her mate, but he charged again, snarling and growling now, and she yipped in surprise.

Frantically she struggled to break free of his hold.

He snarled his satisfaction. She was trapped—his teeth clamped down on the loose skin of her throat held her tightly in place.

She could pull free, but not without injury. Truly frightened now, she opened her thoughts, called out to him as he loosed his grip and lunged closer, biting hard against her neck, forcing her to her belly in the snow.

Anton? Anton, why?

There was no reply. She searched his thoughts and saw nothing beyond the feral needs of a wild wolf, a haze of lust so thick it almost blinded her. So be it. This, at least, she understood. This was what he wanted, what both of them obviously needed, or she never would have led him on this chase. She stopped her struggle, dipped her head until her muzzle scraped the frozen snow.

Her capitulation was complete. His attack ended as quickly as it had begun.

Now he licked the place where he’d bitten, and covered her with his body. She felt the heat of his belly against her back, the powerful grasp of his forelegs as he mounted her, the sharp bite of claws as he anchored himself close to her body. His breath was hot and sweet against her ears, but even though this was all familiar, all a perfect fit to her own desires, she whimpered, still a little afraid and unsure.

It felt so unusual, mating without their usual loving connection. His human mind stayed closed to her—his thoughts were tightly locked into the basic instincts of the mating wolf, a swirling maelstrom of scent and sensation, lust and need.

Keisha struggled to her feet, lifting Anton as she rose up and planted all four legs to hold his greater weight. His hips thrust hard and fast. She grunted as the hot length of his wolven cock parted her vulva and slipped inside. She felt the pressure of his knot forcing entry between her folds, locking their straining bodies together.

Then, even she was lost. Lost in a haze of passion, of lust so basic, so entirely bestial that humanity was thrust aside with each powerful drive of his hips, each harsh breath in her ear. She lowered her head, braced her legs and lost herself to the hunger, the driving need that had carried her on this fool’s mission in the first place.

And once more, sense intruded. Who the hell did she think she was, that she could influence her mate? He was stronger than she, mentally more powerful, magically more adept. He had talents even their mating bond hadn’t explained for her, abilities so far beyond human, beyond wolf, that he was something else altogether, a creature of the gods, one who had consorted with a goddess.

Anton needed her even as she needed him. And with that thought rising to the surface, Keisha opened her mind. Drew her mate in, not merely to link during the sexual act, but to bond once again, to share on that unbelievable level that connected them, tied them more closely than the physical mating itself.

She opened her thoughts, felt him enter her mind, and just as easily, Keisha entered his.

In the past, she’d been impressed by the orderliness of Anton’s mind, the memories so neatly catalogued, the knowledge so unbelievably precise. Now, though, she sensed a certain amount of chaos, as if he’d gone searching through a closet and left shirts and pants and shoes scattered about the floor.

She might have smiled to find this evidence of his humanity, but in many ways it frightened her, to see Anton as less than he was. Somehow, she’d always held him so far above the common man—above herself. It made her uneasy, to see that he had as many questions as answers, as many fears as she felt.

And his greatest fear was failure. He saw himself as the only one capable of saving Lisa and Tala and their babies, of finding Tia. He took on the responsibilities his packmates shared with him—took them and tried to shoulder them entirely on his own. He felt a sense of duty to protect them. He loved the pack, depended on their energy to power his own strength, but still he saw himself standing alone.

Idiot. She would have laughed if her climax weren’t hovering right on a knife’s edge of sensation. Completion first, then she fully intended to give him hell. When was he ever going to accept the fact that a matriarchal society was just that?

He might have powers she’d never understand, an intelligence she couldn’t hope to equal and a heart as big as the sun, but when it came right down to it, he was not the boss.

With that thought in mind and a smile in her heart, Keisha set herself free to sensation. She felt the slick heat of his shaft riding hard against her womb, tightened around the hard knot of flesh and blood stretching her vaginal muscles, and let herself fly. Her climax ripped through her even as Anton’s caught him in its powerful grasp.

Together they tumbled into freefall, locked body and mind in a mating as powerful as that very first time so long ago. Only this mating didn’t occur beneath redwood trees as old as life. She wasn’t a frightened young woman with a damaged soul.

No, Keisha soared with the knowledge she was strong now, and self-assured. An alpha bitch making love with her mate, taking from him and giving in equal shares. A woman who knew her own strengths, who finally understood the healing power of love and the beauty of finding her one true mate.

The pack was threatened once again. Tia, Tala and Lisa were missing and their mates were frantic, but the solution to their horrible situation didn’t lie with one man alone. She gave that assurance to her mate as her body pulsed and tightened around him. Shared her strength and her confidence not only in Anton but in the power of the pack.

They would bring their women home safely. They would protect their unborn young.

And the ones who threatened not only the members of the pack but the leader of the free world would never threaten anyone, ever again.