The only saving grace was that she was on the record as having tried to intervene. According to military code, Hunter was not her spousea"he was a civilian, a private citizen, and she"d also warned her commanding officer.. . who had pressed for the fight, even after she, Woods, Fisher, and Winters had suggested he stand down. This one wouldn"t make it to the general whom Madison reported to, and would undoubtedly be a brawl that remained under the radar ... the sort of thing this a.s.shole was clearly used to doinga"command by intimidation. So be it.
Sasha threw her shoulders back and stood taller when Hunter stopped walking. The shadows were long tonight. The trees, the parking lot trucks, all of it was beyond what Madison could comprehend. However, that also told her how foolish the man was, not realizing he"d been lured into a wolf trap. She watched the man take off his sidearm and hand it to one of his men, a smug look of confidence marring his sharp features in the moonlight. From the corner of her eye she thought she saw a fast-moving silver blur go past the tree line, but then it was gone. She couldn"t focus on that now; there was just too much else happening.
"You are so screwed," Winters muttered and shook his head.
"Check him to see if he"s armed," the Asian lieutenant said, glancing at the others quickly.
Before one of them could cross the wide circle the two teams had made, Hunter pulled up his jean legs one at a time with perfect balance on one leg, showing them there was nothing in his boots. Without a word, he then lifted his shirt and took it off, stripping it over his head. Methodically, moving like a tai chi instructor, Hunter then took off his amulet and tossed it to Sasha. She caught it with one hand, wishing she hadn"t left the mate to it on her dresser at home.
Moonlight washed over Hunter, adding definition to the tight ropes of sinew that made up his torso. Now that he"d pa.s.sed inspection and been deemed unarmed, Madison began to slowly circle Hunter. The group backed up, giving both combatants wide berth. Sasha"s grip on Hunter"s amulet tightened as she watched the contest, then Madison lunged.
It was a skilled judo move, an impressive one that combined speed and impact, if only it had landed. But what Madison obviously hadn"t gleaned from all her reports was that wolf speed and agility were unmatchable by a humana"especially when that wolf was p.i.s.sed off. The sad part was that Hunter was just toying with his prey. It was all so reckless; Madison just couldn"t seem to grasp that he was dealing with a wolf, a being stronger and faster than he"d ever be, and not a regular human. The man"s own prejudice had clearly blinded him to the facts and had left him in a state of twisted denial.
Every aggressive move Madison made, Hunter countered with an avoidance move, choosing not to land a blow. The first lesson that Madison would learn tonight was that he was expending precious energy and Hunter was just wearing him out. He"d also have his confidence shaken, as he continued to try to land blows that Hunter easily avoided. Soon frustration would make Madison sloppy and he"d know that Hunter could have put him down at will, but didn"t. . . and that would inspire fear. Sasha cringed inwardly watching it all unfold, and knowing how it would probably end.
Then Hunter did the unthinkable. On the next lunge, he spun out of Madison"s way and then b.i.t.c.h-slapped the colonel. Sasha"s mouth flew open.
"Teach me!" Hunter shouted. "We"ve been out here for ten minutes and all we"ve been doing is dancing."
Oh . . . my. . . G.o.d.
Madison ran in, fury propelling his body forward in a near-blind rage. This time Hunter allowed their bodies to connect, flipping Madison and body-slamming him to the ground. Hunter moved away with an angry smirk and allowed Madison to get up.
"If you go to New Orleans like this, you"ll die, you stupid b.a.s.t.a.r.d," Hunter said, slipping into a shadow and coming out behind Madison. "You"ll get your men killed. Not that I care, but it"s good information for you to have."
Madison spun and stepped back, giving himself safety s.p.a.ce. His men immediately drew on Hunter.
"You"re one of them!" Madison shouted, and then turned toward Sasha. "He"s a G.o.dd.a.m.ned beast like you!"
"Oh, you don"t know the half of it," Hunter said, canines ripping through his gums as his eyes changed. "Lower your weapons. Threaten my mate and instinct takes over."
Frightened men backed up, brandishing weapons, turning wildly. Sasha"s team remained still as stones, their gazes nervous as they shot glances among the jittery second squad.
"Easy, everybody ... no need for an accident," Woods said.
"Back away from the two known targets of value," Madison said to Woods and then glanced at Clarissa. "Now! Or we will have to a.s.sume that you"re all infected."
"Back up, people," Sasha said quickly, watching Madison"s men toss him his sidearm.
"Get out of here, Sasha," Hunter said in a low growl. "This insane b.a.s.t.a.r.d won"t hesitate to come up with a reason to blow you and your entire squad away."
"You"ve got that right!" Madison said, pulling back farther to stand with his men.
Sasha backed up and stood close enough to enter an SUV shadow if necessary. She watched Hunter ease back toward the long shadow of a tree.
"Put the guns down. This was supposed to be a fight, man-to-man, Colonel." Hunter"s gaze held Madison"s, the threat implicit within it.
"But that"s just it," Madison said, looking between Hunter and Sasha. "It never was man-to-man. It was man-to-wolf. f.u.c.k you!"
The second Madison"s bicep contracted. Hunter spun into a shadow. Gunshot report cut through the night. Clarissa screamed as Woods and Fisher pushed her to the ground, yelling for everyone else to get down. Sh.e.l.ls ripped though bark, chasing the direction Hunter had disappeared, and before Sasha could draw her next breath they had spun around to aim at her.
She was gone in an instant, a blur that became one with the shadow beside her. Hunter came out of his in milliseconds to land a knockout blow at the back of two of Madison"s lieutenants" skulls, dropping them on the spot before seeking cover in another car shadow. When Sasha came out, she was on the far side of the lot, but she could see what Hunter was doing. He"d gone into a wood-source shadow, come out and landed blows that would be like striking a man with a two-by-four, then eluded them again. But that was indeed showing considerable restrainta"especially since they"d threatened her. He could have come out of the SUV"s shadow and hit both men with the force of metal, rendering them brain-damaged ... or gone straight wolf and simply ripped their weapons arms out of the sockets.
Regardless, a ricocheting bullet could still hit any of her squad who couldn"t escape into a shadow. This was so irresponsible that she wanted to really show them what primal wolf was all about. Picking off the closest lieutenant, she went in for a quick arm twist, stopping just short of breaking it, and stripped him of his weapon, then was gone. Hunter popped out of the shadow by the last man standing and threw an old-fashioned haymaker, dropping the man where he stood. As Madison spun around to follow the sound, Hunter came out of the shadow behind him with a weapon at his temple.
"Drop it," Hunter said in a threatening rumble in Madison"s ear.
He waited until Madison released his weapon and then glanced at the lieutenant that Sasha had stripped.
"Tell your man not to be foolish," Hunter said, practically growling.
"Stand down!" Madison yelled.
"Good boy," Hunter said and then shoved Madison away from him. "And what have we learned tonight?" He circled Madison slowly, clearly enjoying the fear in the man"s eyes. "Maybe you learned that if you can"t run with the big dogs, you might want to stay on the porch?"
When Madison didn"t answer, Hunter gave in to a full canine presentation. "I asked you a question, soldier!"
"Sir ... yes ... sir," Madison said slowly and quietly with hatred, and then spit on the ground.
"I didn"t hear you!" Hunter shouted, flinging the weapon he held away from them both.
"That"s enough, Hunter," Sasha said, coming up beside him. She placed a palm on Hunter"s chest and then looped his amulet from around her neck. "Enough for one night. . . sirens are getting closer."
Hunter inclined his head, then finally nodded, hearing what the rest of the team wouldn"t hear for five more minutes. Her squad slowly stood, dusting themselves off, each glaring at Madison and the one lieutenant whom Hunter and Sasha hadn"t dropped.
"This isn"t over, Captain," Madison said though his teeth.
"It had better be," Hunter said, rolling his shoulders. "Next cla.s.s won"t be the remedial one like tonight"s."
"You guys okay?" Sasha said, glancing at her squad.
"Yeah ...just sucks to get shot at," Winters said, glaring at Madison. "You tell on us, and trust me, we"re gonna tell on you. We were unarmed civilians and this s.h.i.t got out of controla"you egomaniac! You drew a weapon on a fellow officer! I"ll bring charges!"
"C"mon, let"s get outta here before the local cops get here," Clarissa said. "All of this needs to be off the record."
But before anyone could react to Clarissa"s sensible observation, she doubled over and retched up horrible green slime. She shut her eyes tightly and held on to Bradley. "I"m all right.. I"m all right," she said, wheezing, and then waved Sasha and the others away. "Drinks, a case of bad nerves, and then getting shot at, all of it went down the wrong way."
Sasha looked at the ground and then at Clarissa as she turned away with her eyes closed, leaning on Bradley. She watched Madison"s men begin to stir, then glanced at Hunter and back at her team. "Get outta here, guys."
"Sir, yes, sir!" Woods said sarcastically, mocking the colonel as they pa.s.sed him.
Hunter grabbed Sasha"s hand. "You"re off duty and coming with me."
"What was that?" Sasha shouted the moment they entered the shadows.
"That was me saying enough!" Hunter shouted back. "That guy is a jerk, he wasa""
"My commanding officer until I decide differently!" She walked away from Hunter, raking her hair, trying not to grab it in bunches within her fists and begin pulling. This was insane!
"Buta""
"It"s my choice, Hunter! My career!" she said, walking in a circle with her eyes closed now. "Jesus .. . there"s no coming back from this."
"I did not injure the man," Hunter said in a low growl.
"Oh, yeah, ya did," she said, and then stopped and folded her arms over her chest. "You just fly-kicked his ego out of thea""
"Like he didn"t deserve that?" Hunter paced and spun on her. "Do not ask me to stand by and watch him breach your personal s.p.a.ce, your territory, threaten your life, and that of your teama"which is your family .. . even your familiars, Woods and Fisher, whom I have come to respect, and not react. That goes against nature, Sasha!" Hunter slapped the center of his chest, eyes glowing a rich, deep amber. "I am what I am, alpha Shadowa"do not ask me to pretend to be a beta . . . you wouldn"t like that in me, anyway."
Although it was a standoff, the man had a point.
"That"s true," she said after a bit, frowning at the concept. "I can"t see you as a beta."
"Thank you!" He walked away from her and gave her his back to consider, arms folded.
"I appreciate where you were coming from ... but it"s just that, I was sort of thinking about making the career change, haven"t completely committed to the concept, and you"re forcing my hand. That"s what I don"t like."
Hunter turned around slowly and stared at her with an unblinking gaze. "You know what / don"t like, Sasha, is how you are straddling the border between worlds in this critical time."
"Okay, now that"s not fair," she said, defensiveness weighting every word.
"It is fair!" he said, opening his arms wide, and gesturing wildly. "What"s not fair is having to live in the shadows like your pet! Like your faithful, obedient dog that you call when you want comfort or affection and then gets put in the yard to guard your housea"but who has no authority or decision-making involvement in your life! I never signed up for that lour of duty, Sasha! Never! What"s also not fair is having to always put the national interests of the Shadow Clans second to those of your human leadership, no matter how ill informed or misguideda"people who know nothing about our sovereign nations! For all intents and purposes I have been your G.o.dd.a.m.ned beta, Sashaa"but no more!"
"Whoa, whoa, you haven"t beena""
"I haven"t been what?" He glared at her and stalked away, deep into the mist. "I haven"t been honest? I haven"t been loyal? I haven"t had your back? I haven"t understood? I haven"t been invisible? I haven"t loved you more than my next breatha"and haven"t been faithful to you as my mate? I haven"t been hurt by you in ways I don"t want to revisit?" He turned away. "Tell me what I haven"t been."
She so wished she hadn"t been doing shots. This was not how the night was supposed to go. She had never seen him like this, and something very quiet within her told her this wasn"t just a fight, this was a very fragile transition that could easily snap a final branch in their relationship. Searching her mind for a response that made sense, one genuinely from her heart, she chose her words with care ... but that process apparently took too long.
Hunter shook his head and released a sad, bitter chuckle. "You can"t even answer me, can you, Captain?"
"Don"t do this," she murmured.
"Don"t do what? Tell the truth?" Hunter looked at her hard. "I told you when we met I was no liar. .. and of all men, I"m the only one you never believed."
The charge was harsh, but she couldn"t challenge it. Words were again slow to form in her embattled mind.
"I"m going to New Orleans," he said flatly. "There"s work to be done down therea"work important to the wolf Federations. Ask your brother about it, I don"t have time to debrief you. Maybe when I get back you can let me know what you want to do about us. That"s the part you"ve always needed to figure outa"you"ve always been clear about your military career. My question is, where do I stand? Then again, maybe that"s a question that I need to ask myselfa"because, right now, Sasha, h.e.l.l if I know."
CHAPTER 6.
Hunter was gone. The mist surrounded Sasha and folded in on her with an eerie silence that was all too sudden. There was nothing left to do but give in to her wolf and run. The North Country called her, summoned her, as did the moon. But there was an important stop she had to make to ensure her safety.
Bolting to freedom, she left her clothing in a pool at her feet and then ran long and hard back through the shadows toward her apartment. Her goal was singulara"to claim the sacred amulet that she"d laid on her dresser in the darkened room. Then she"d blend into the nothingness once again.
But the moment she entered her closet, she became aware that she wasn"t alone. Her s.p.a.ce had been violated; men were walking around, throwing things about. Unfortunately for them, her human was pushed way down deep inside her spirit, and her wolf was what they"d encounter for their trouble.
Ears flattened against her skull, head low, Sasha moved forward as though she were a piece of living night. The closer she got to the source of the disturbance, the more her instincts registered the threat as a familiar one. The human scent stung her nosea"it was that of the one lieutenant who hadn"t been injured.... and she smelled Madison.
Sasha remained still and took in another deep inhale. The urge to leap at the intruders and fiercely defend what was hers was so strong that it made her limbs tremble. Then the unmistakable scent of gunpowder a.s.saulted her nose and brought with it the sting of common sense that acted like smelling salts. She knew they would fire on her if they saw her. It wouldn"t matter if she were back in her human form or remained as a wolf. That was what Madison wanted: a confrontation that would give him the justification to blow her away. She swallowed down a low growl, wondering if that was also a part of his mission, or just a sick sign of his overt prejudice against anything supernatural.
Battling her kill instinct, Sasha crept to her dresser, transforming into her human just long enough to drape her amulet over her neck. She stared at herself in the mirror for a moment, seeing her eyes glow amber in the darkened room. A year ago that would have frightened her, too, but did that give someone the right to take her life just because she was different?
However, there wasn"t time for the mental philosophical debate as she heard her living room wall unit crash to the floor. Did they have any idea what it had taken to put that together? It represented the last time that she and Rod and the whole team were together, having a beer, laughing . . . eating pizza, enjoying life, before Rod turned and had to be put down. Anger collided with grief. They had no right to take that from her, to destroy it! s.h.i.t!
Her muscles tensed and she had to grip the edge of the dresser to keep from lunging at the men who were trashing her place. It was a trap; they were baiting her and Hunter. As much as it had hurt her, she was glad Hunter was p.i.s.sed off and had headed to New Orleans. There"d have been no stopping him if he"d witnessed this. And she wasn"t sure she would have wanted to this time.
Yeah .. . things were way too fragile; it was time to go and stay gone.
Sasha took one last glimpse through the partially opened bedroom door, turned away from her vandalized apartment, and then became her wolf-self again to stalk into her closet.
A cold green flame spread along the outer edge of the carpet, eating up nap with icy fire and sending the sickening stench of sulfur into the room. Gathering into itself, it coalesced into one tall glittering pillar. He sat mesmerized, staring at its beauty, drinking in its power. .. knowing its absolute commitment to wanton violence.
"You must feed me soon," the disembodied voice from within the flame murmured, causing the column to sputter and dance in an eerie throb.
"I will...just tell me what you need," he whispered. "The area is crawling with ghost hunters and paranormal seekers."
"I want one of them. Every feed now must be strategic." The green flame lapped the ceiling and then pulled itself up to crawl across it.
"Tell me what to do," he murmured, staring up at the miasma.
"Come closer for the joining," the voice murmured in a teasing coo.
A long tendril of green flame stretched down and caressed his face. He closed his eyes as pleasure from the sensual touch coated him, burning deep within his groin. It had been so long since his personal demon had come to him like this that his body involuntarily arched toward the fire. Quiet laughter filled the room and entered his bones as he leaned up and then reached toward the roiling flames on the ceiling.
It all happened so quicklya"the searing pain, the echo of his scream, and then the bliss of complete consumption.
Hunter stood next to Sir Rodney staring down at the body that was shredded on the bayou floor. Limbs had been shattered, and most of the viscera were missing. The victim"s chest was caved in, and Hunter was sure that this was the killing blow before the attacker had begun to feed. Shogun sat back on his heels and shook his head before uncoiling from the squatting position he"d been in to stand again.
"Second human tonight," Sir Rodney muttered. "Judging from what"s left, it would look like a wolf did this, but we know better."
"It was cat," Shogun said and then spit on the ground. "My aunta"Lady Jung Suk."
Hunter nodded and inhaled deeply. "It is the same scent we"ve picked up before ... but this time she fed."