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“That’s Elle.” My first burst of fear was replaced by breathless anticipation as I discerned the werewolf’s identity. Maybe my former mentor knew what had happened to Gunner. Maybe she’d come to inform me that her half-brother was safe.
But Sakurako was no longer close enough to hear my explanation. Instead, she’d pushed open the nearest window...and was now striding down a staircase of snow that I was 99% positive hadn’t existed one moment before.
Meanwhile, wind created a mini spiral of white with my grandmother at its center. Her feet slid rather than stepped forward, skimming across the tops of drifts as if she was surfing. So this is what a kitsune could do at the height of her power. The snowstorm hadn’t been a coincidence...and I hadn’t even seen my grandmother charge herself up with werewolf blood.
I shivered in place for one split second, then I pushed through heavy snow in Sakurako’s wake. Unlike my grandmother, I wasn’t able to levitate so I had no chance of closing the distance between us. Still, Sakurako was slowed by the wrought-iron fence encircling her residence, and I nearly caught up as she melted drifted snow away from the gate.
I wasn’t close enough to interrupt, however, as my grandmother spoke without a single glance in my direction. “You dare to invade my home without permission, werewolf?” Sakurako’s words didn’t soften even as Elle struggled to regain her human form.
“I...used...the pack bond...to find...Mai...so I could deliver...a message. I came...” Gunner’s half-sister looked pitiful, naked in the snow. Meanwhile, cold made her teeth chatter so rapidly she barely managed to spit out her words.
But I understood what she was saying. Understood that my connection to Elle was still strong enough to be used to locate me...which made the absence of a tether between myself and Gunner more ominous yet.
“Is...?” I started, not able to voice the possibility. In answer, Elle raised one hand to a strange, bulky choker encircling her neck.
And maybe my grandmother thought the choker was a weapon. Or maybe she was simply annoyed by the fact that Elle wasn’t lying prostrate, groveling in the snow. Whatever the reason, a flash of light leapt between them, Elle flinched, then a long line of blood rose along the outside of my friend’s arm.
“Sobo!” I yelled, as I attempted to push my way between them. “Elle is my friend! She isn’t an invader! Leave her alone!”
Rather than answering, Sakurako reached toward the naked werewolf with bony, cronish fingers. Scooping up a streak of red, she brought it to her mouth. “Now she’ll be obedient,” the old woman agreed, turning at last to face me with the tiniest smear of blood clinging to one corner of her mouth.
This was last summer all over again. A kitsune stealing werewolf power to force those I cared about to obey someone else’s will. And regardless of the fact that I was a guest in Sakurako’s mansion, that wasn’t a fate I could allow to befall someone I called my friend.
So, without another word, I pushed myself between the two females. And this time it was me who stole a long lick from Elle’s blood-streaked forearm, claiming Gunner’s half-sister as my own.
***
I EXPECTED ANGER, BUT Sakurako only smiled and turned her back on us both to lead the way toward a wide-open door on the ground-floor level. The old woman should have been angry that I’d contradicted her, but I got the distinct impression this was, instead, the first time I’d ever made her proud.
Ignoring the fleeting thought that I’d played directly into the old woman’s hands, I wrapped my arms around Elle to warm her while explaining what I’d done. “I had to break her hold over you, but I won’t coerce you,” I promised...feeling like a hypocrite as I latched onto the burst of werewolf power flooding my body in an attempt to connect with my not-quite-mate.
Gunner, where are you? I pushed outwards with all my might, attempting to rebuild the connection I’d lost yesterday. But either the few drops of blood I’d consumed were too minuscule to overcome such a vast distance or the alpha wasn’t alive to answer. Either way, no pack bond flared to life between us, and an uncontrollable shiver racked my body from head to toe.
Although she had just as much reason to lose herself to the darkness as I did, Elle was the one who brought me back to reality. She planted her bare feet and tugged at the choker rather than continuing to follow me toward the door.
Only it wasn’t a choker. It was a hollow collar that clicked open to reveal a slightly damp sheet of paper. “From Ransom,” Elle managed between chattering teeth.
Ransom, not Gunner. Shoulders slumping, I accepted the letter only because Elle was so adamant about it, then I did my best to usher the naked female a little faster through the snow. She was so cold now that her lips were blue and she’d actually stopped shivering. Even I knew that couldn’t be good.
But Sakurako’s underlings were prepared for every eventuality. Two ran out to meet us wielding a big, woolly blanket, and I wrapped Elle up even as I snapped out orders at the others waiting just inside the door.
“We need a hot bath and someone who knows how to treat hypothermia,” I demanded, ignoring the fact that my grandmother had chosen these men to be part of my honor guard. Giving them commands felt like a first step down a slippery slope that ended in me owning their bodies and souls. Like stealing blood from Elle, the notion made me subtly sick.
But my friend needed medical attention and she needed it immediately. So, ignoring the frisson of discomfort in my stomach, I accepted the bows of Sakurako’s attendants and the way they sprinted off to do as I’d asked.
Then both Elle and I were inside, walking down a hallway into a room that was blissfully warm and decked out like a small-scale clinic. “I have medic training,” Yuki offered as he sorted through a doctor’s bag on the table beside him. “If you’ll ask the patient to sit, I’ll see what I can do.”
He was clearly wary of touching a wounded, unpredictable werewolf. And, for her part, Elle was becoming more agitated rather than less so as we walked through the clinic door.
At first, I thought the issue was being surrounded by a kitsune’s loyal retainers. But then the female grabbed my arm with surprisingly strong fingers before bringing the nearly forgotten paper up from where it dangled at my side.
“Read this,” she managed between teeth chattering so badly they nicked her tongue.
“If you’ll sit down, I’ll read it,” I soothed her. And, thankfully, my friend finally accepted the chair one of Sakurako’s honor guard had pulled out for her use.
Her gaze remained focused on me, however, and she ignored Yuki’s questions and promptings to bend and wiggle various body parts. So, finally, I gave in, unfolded the paper, and began to read as a way of getting this medical exam back on track.
“I’m ready to call in my debt.”
I hunched over in surprise at the pain in my middle. Because a tether had been created just like the one I’d been trying to resurrect moments earlier. Too bad this bond led to the elder Atwood brother rather than to the one I wanted to connect with the most.
Ransom was west of me, not north on his island the way he should have been. And the rest of the message confirmed that point by listing an address only a few miles from where I’d left Gunner to be pounded up by another wolf.
The note ended with no explanation, just further orders: “Come as soon as you are able. I’ll be waiting for you.”