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I’d forgotten Lupe and Ryder the moment I saw Kale’s picture. But now they stood on either side of the car’s open window.
“Rune,” Lupe said, her voice loud enough to be heard down the phone line. Did she realize she’d just overheard then spoken his true name?
“Lupe,” he answered, as if he knew her. “I’m glad you’re there. With Tara’s permission, we could use assistance.”
Which is the moment I put two and two together. Addressing Lupe and Ryder equally, I observed, “You’re Samhain Shifters.”
Ryder leaned in the window, invading my personal space. “Cute and clever. Do you have a boyfriend?”
A growl from the phone reminded me of my nakedness. Snatching my bundle of clothes, I shoved the car door through a wall of shifter. Then, ignoring Ryder’s cascade of cussing and Rune’s satisfied chuckle, I disembarked, pulled on clothes, then forced myself to meet Lupe’s eyes.
The gesture was a struggle given her extreme dominance, but I managed. Only once our gazes had locked did I ask: “You can drive me to...?”
“The park off State Street,” Rune inserted, naming a spot I was very familiar with since it was back in the direction of pack central. His voice turned melodic, like baritone wind chimes as he continued. “Thank you, Tara, for letting them be involved.”
It wasn’t as if I had much choice. Piling into a vehicle with two shifters stronger than me was uncomfortable. But waiting for another mode of transportation when Kale was in trouble would have been considerably worse.
So I did it. Took shotgun when Ryder insisted, then opened the window and leaned out into the wind while wishing for Rune’s persimmon instead of Lupe’s oily dominance. Only once the latter had faded from my nostrils and city streets were beginning to give way to forest did I turn back around to assess the shifters Rune worked with.
Ryder was the easier one to understand. He crouched behind me, one hand bracing himself against the rough carpet where back seats should have been while the other stroked a gleaming motorcycle strapped into the open space. I could almost imagine the deep growl of its motor, Ryder’s face splitting into a boyish grin as he drove far too fast.
Unfortunately, the tattooed shifter noticed my attention. “Just imagine me wrapping”—his eyebrows waggled—“my legs around the barrel and....”
“Ryder,” Rune interrupted through the phone, “Tara is concerned about Kale. Now is not the time for your unique brand of bonding.”
“Not all of us,” Ryder countered, “have a stick so far up our asses that we can’t get on a bike.”
The obvious affection between two men who couldn’t have been more different was heartening. But Rune was right. I had a hard time thinking about anything other than Kale at that moment.
So I turned back to my phone and asked, “Does he look hurt?”
The answering hum warmed me, but Rune’s words didn’t. “He looks...blank.”
I agreed. In the photo, there had obviously been something wrong with my buddy. “Okay then,” I started. But Lupe finally took an interest, speaking right over my words.
“I want you to stay as far back as possible. Best not to spook whoever is influencing the child.”
The child, not Kale. When Rune had used the term, his words had seemed endearing. From Lupe, they sounded...cold.
I flared my nostrils in annoyance, but Rune was the one who answered. “Is that what you want, Tara?”
“To use Kale as bait?” My tongue felt strangely lumpy. As if Lupe was pushing an alpha command into me without even needing words to do so. It tasted like I was chewing on a mouthful of tar.
“If not,” Rune continued, “you should be aware that Lupe’s commands work across phone lines. Now might be a good time to end—”
“This call,” I finished for him at the same time I powered down my phone.
***
“GUTSY,” RYDER OBSERVED, his breath hot on my neck. It was all I could do not to turn and face the unseen danger.
“Stupid,” Lupe countered, reminding me that baiting her was far more perilous. “But,” she continued, “it doesn’t matter. We’re almost there.”
She was right. The sign for the park had just come into view through the windshield and I could now make out Rune’s vehicle, the only one in the lot. Still, it was something less tangible that had alerted me to his proximity. An odd throbbing in my throat....
My hand rose to cover the wound Rune had created, expecting blood to have burst through young scab tissue. But my fingers came away dry.
“If we skewer the fae,” Lupe continued, speaking to me this time, “your pack mate will be released. There are swords behind you. Take your pick.”
I unfastened my seat belt but didn’t go hunting for the swords she’d mentioned. I already had my own knives. Plus—“If the fae drag Kale into Faery before we stop them, he’ll be gone. First priority is getting him back.”
Lupe swung the minivan into the lot rather than answering, silence settling between us like an unwanted serving of a not-very-good dinner. And while she didn’t tell me what to do again, she didn’t have to. Without her permission, I found I couldn’t so much as wiggle my feet.
Ryder was the one who broke our impasse. “No fighting please, ladies. Unless you’re naked. I could film that and make big bucks.”
“For once,” Lupe growled, “try to take your job seriously.”
“Why,” Ryder countered, “when you have enough serious for twenty wolves?”
My body had frozen while Lupe focused on me, but Ryder’s teasing was enough to release her attention. And I took the opportunity. Opening the door before the van had stopped moving, I leapt out.
“One of us will have to shift and smell for him,” Lupe observed rather than freezing me a second time. “The lot is empty. No one will see us.”
But I knew without sniffing that Rune was off to my right. Knew from the throbbing in my throat and the urge to travel in that direction.
Without waiting for Lupe and Ryder, I broke into a run.
***
THIS WASN’T A CITY park but rather an extended acreage of unused woodland that had been set aside for hikers and mountain bikers. Branches whipped across my face as I cut across country and I couldn’t quite imagine Ryder managing to traverse the same landscape on two wheels.
But the roar of motorcycle was back there. It didn’t catch up, but it didn’t splutter to a halt either. I suspected Lupe must have stripped and shifted, trusting her nose more than whatever instinct was guiding me. Good. I needed to be the one to reach Kale first.
And I would, with the ache in my throat as a compass. Turning toward the shadow a hillside cast on the forest to one side of me, the wound from Rune’s bite panged. Turning toward the sun, it not only eased but warmed. My mouth filled with persimmon. As if Rune was once again nuzzling my throat....
Tamping down the seductive memory, I travelled in the direction of warmth. Sprinted flat out, leaping over downed tree trunks nearly as easily as if I’d been lupine. The necessity of helping Kale drove me while instinct guided me. There was a clearing up ahead and I thought I might just recognize one particular gnarled treetop from Rune’s photo....
Then an arm came out of nowhere and yanked me off my stride.
Off my stride and into the darkness of a hollowed-out tree trunk. I didn’t struggle, though. Why struggle when persimmon now filled the air as well as my mouth?
For a moment, I could see nothing. Just darkness that lent my other senses more power. I was tucked into something warm, both hard and soft like velvet over iron. For the first time in longer than I could remember, I fully relaxed.
Then my wolf rose and expanded my pupils. The velvet-covered iron was just who I thought it was. Rune.
“Lupe and Ryder?” he murmured, his breath against my ear soft as butterfly wings.
“Right behind me,” I answered just as quietly. “Kale?”
“Stopped up ahead five minutes ago. He seems to be waiting for something.”
For something or for someone?
The warmth of Rune’s arms was no longer enough to halt the chill coursing through me. Still, I needed to make this man an offer if I wanted his assistance. One that would prevent him from siding with Lupe and putting eradication of fae over Kale’s best interests.
“If you help me get Kale back to the safety of our clan,” I started, “I’ll do everything in my power to help you with the fae problem afterwards.”
I’d expected him to agree. This was what he wanted, right? It was certainly what Lupe wanted and Rune was a Samhain Shifter also.
But Rune pushed me away just far enough so our gazes could make contact. His head was shaking. “No.”
“No?” Had I misunderstood why he asked me to turn off my phone? The iron muscles of his arms abruptly felt like a trap.
“No,” Rune continued. “This isn’t a bargain. I’ll help you now because it’s the right thing to do. No strings attached.”