Darien kissed Lelandi’s lips. “I’m sorry, Lelandi. I had to be sure.”
“You’ve always done right by me. You will for Larissa as well.”
Darien took a deep breath and nodded. “It ends here and now.” He turned to face his pack. “To the field.”
The battlefield.
Chapter 26
AS SOON AS LELANDI SAW SHERIDAN IN HIS WOLF COAT, SHE knew he was the one who’d stalked her in the woods. Too bad the pickup hadn’t run him over on the road.
Nearly everyone loped out into the winter setting in their wolf forms where the upper crust of snow was crisp and giant snowflakes fluttered earthward. Wolves have the advantage over larger animals on deep-crusted snow, although Lelandi figured Sheridan wouldn’t fall through the snow like a moose or elk might, slowing him down, despite his heftier size. Though she could hope.
Carol, not ready to join the wolf pack to watch another killing fight, didn’t shapeshift. Maybe because she was afraid to turn wolf or the fear another wolf would attack her again. Lelandi’s father, who remained in his wheelchair, watched out the sunroom window with Carol at his side. Since the accident, he hadn’t been able to shapeshift, and she knew he felt like less of a lupus garou and battled depression, wishing often he had died with his people. Although she was certain he wanted desperately to be the one to avenge Larissa’s death.
Both grays and reds alike formed a circle while Darien and his uncle faced off. Sheridan was taller by four inches and stockier built, but Darien had youth and strength on his side.
Leidolf crouched, ready to pounce, but Uncle Hrothgar growled at him, and her brother bowed his head slightly and straightened. For an eternity, it seemed Darien stared Sheridan down. Their wolf coats kept the chill out, the second dense coat keeping the snowflakes from touching their skin and melting. Everyone patiently watched for the showdown to begin while neither panted, just watched each other, their tails stretched stiff behind them, their thick hair standing at attention, ears perked, waiting for the other to move.
Lelandi’s mind worked over the past events, and she realized how easy it had been for Sheridan to cover his tracks since he was always in charge of the investigations—even to confirm Larissa had committed suicide.
Darien turned and walked in a circle toward his uncle, who immediately moved away.
Sheridan continued to avoid Darien, but the pack leader was quickly closing the gap. Inwardly, Lelandi darkly smiled. The first test and Sheridan had failed. The b.a.s.t.a.r.d. Sheridan tried to turn, but he wasn’t agile enough and Darien bit him in the flank.
If Lelandi hadn’t been in her wolf form, she would have cheered Darien.
Sheridan yelped and dodged before Darien took another bite. He wouldn’t kill him quickly, she figured. Not after Sheridan had murdered her sister, two pack members, and tried to murder Lelandi.
His people and hers would want justice—lupus garou justice, but drawn out enough to make it count.
Sheridan tried to hide his limp from the wound, but he continued to circle around the inside of the group, keeping away from Darien. By the way his tail drooped slightly, Sheridan was already showing signs of defeat.
When he neared Leidolf, her brother snarled at Sheridan, his teeth bared, his tail straight—readying for the attack.
Lelandi’s fur stood on end. Let Darien take care of it, she prayed. But Sheridan snapped back at Leidolf, so close Lelandi nearly died. Leidolf’s blood was running hot, the way the anger swelled deep inside him and she, being so connected with her triplet’s emotions, felt swept into the maelstrom.
In the blink of an eye, Leidolf responded to Sheridan’s taunt and attacked, sinking his teeth into the bigger gray’s side.
Sheridan could kill her brother for being such a hotheaded fool as soon as the bigger gray shook him loose. But she didn’t expect Sheridan to free himself from Leidolf’s grip, then bite into Leidolf’s neck, since Darien was more of a threat.
Instinctively, Lelandi went for Sheridan’s throat and grabbed hold. She felt Darien brush against her side, trying to get to Sheridan, but she couldn’t let go for fear the gray would kill her next. As fast as it took a bolt of lightning to strike the ground, Sheridan released Leidolf and seized Lelandi’s throat. He would kill her like he murdered her sister, and if he did, he would destroy Darien’s reason to live.
She didn’t have time to panic, or feel Sheridan’s jaws clamping down tighter, stopping the air from flowing, before Darien grappled his uncle’s neck with his powerful jaws. Biting down hard, he crushed the bone and the life out of the gray.
Sheridan’s mouth loosened on Lelandi’s neck, and they both collapsed. When she fell on her side, she lay still, trying to catch her breath. But it was worse than that, and she couldn’t help being totally humiliated. Darien quickly changed into his human form despite the cold and held his hand over the wound on her throat. “Carol!”
His own neck bleeding, Leidolf nuzzled her face.
Darien lifted Lelandi from the snow and hurried her into the house.
“Lay her there, Darien. I… I’ve never taken care of an injured wolf,” Carol said, opening a first aid kit.
“They can be testier than in their human forms, but in Lelandi’s case, I’m not sure that’s always true,” Darien said, a slight smile curving his lips.
Lelandi growled.
Doc Mitch.e.l.l stalked into the house, zipping up his jeans and grabbed his bag. “Came prepared for any eventuality.”
“Why isn’t she changing back?” Carol asked.
Jake threw on a pair of jeans. “Too tired, loss of blood, trauma.”
Carol’s gaze strayed to Leidolf, yanking on a pair of olive drab khakis.
“I’ll take care of Lelandi,” Doc Mitch.e.l.l said. “You look after Leidolf.”
Leidolf buckled his belt. “I’m fine. I don’t need looking after.”
“Sit, son, and do it for your mother. She’s already lost one of you, and she’s looking a little pale,” his father said.
Leidolf grumbled, then sat on a chair, his face scowling while Carol wiped away the blood on his throat, and then bandaged him.
Lelandi studied the way her brother treated Carol with such annoyance and the gentle way in which she ministered to his wounds. Possibility?
“Lelandi, honey,” Darien said. “Can’t you change back?”
Mitch.e.l.l bandaged her neck. “Sheridan didn’t have a chance to dig in deep enough so the bite marks aren’t too bad. She’ll be fine in a couple of hours.” He gave her a shot for the pain, which she didn’t want, and growled again. The medication spread through her veins, heating her blood.
Her mother wiped away tears from her own cheeks, then leaned over and patted Lelandi’s head. “She’ll be all right in a little bit, won’t you, dear?”
Lelandi closed her eyes, hating that she would fall apart now. How did this look to the whole pack? She groaned.
Her mother sighed. “It’s the shock of nearly losing her brother.”
“She did not nearly lose me!” her brother snapped.
Her mother ran her hand over Lelandi’s back. “She’s been under a lot of strain. That was the last straw. Remember the time when you almost drowned?”
“Mother,” Leidolf growled.
“Well, remember? She finally managed to get you by the neck and pull you to sh.o.r.e, but she was in shock over the ordeal. Took her three days before she could turn human again.”
Leidolf gave an evil grin. “Yeah, I remember. She was awful to live with.”
Lelandi growled low. She had no control over the connection she had with her siblings and their emotions. But she had been the only one who felt her siblings’ emotions so severely she could put herself into such a state over them. She growled again.
“Fine.” Darien lifted Lelandi off the floor. “Enjoy the feast. We will return when we return.” He carried her toward the stairs.
“What about Uncle Sheridan?” Jake asked.
“Unmarked grave. The devil can take him.”
Darien carried Lelandi up the stairs to their bedroom, then laid her down on the mattress. “You need peace and quiet, love.”
She wanted to eat. To celebrate their union and the destruction of the gray who had murdered her sister. And she wanted to be human to do it! d.a.m.n it.
But because of the strain and extreme weariness creeping through her body from the pain killer, she drifted off to sleep and found her silver knight waiting for her.
“Lelandi, love.”
She reached out her arms to him, and he took her into his hard embrace and willed him to love her.
The rush of adrenaline flowed through her, filling her with o.r.g.a.s.mic pleasure, and Lelandi blinked her eyes and stared up at Darien. He smiled back at her, his c.o.c.k buried deep inside her as hot lava filled her to the core.
“Hmm,” she hummed. “When did I turn human?”
He arched a brow and slid off her, then pulled her onto his damp chest. “Before I ravished you.” He chuckled. “You don’t remember?”
“You came to me in a dream.”
“Ah. You fell asleep and shapeshifted. I replaced your bandage, but as soon as I pulled you into my arms to snuggle, you had other notions. Started kissing me and stroking me. I thought you were awake.”
She smiled and touched his taut nipple. “I am now.” Then she frowned. “He’s really dead, isn’t he?”
“Yes, Lelandi. I’m so sorry he was the one.” He stroked her hair. “My own flesh and blood.”
“How… how did you know about Ritka’s diary?”
“Carol had a vision that Ritka had hidden it in Doc’s office, where no one would suspect it—buried behind deceased patient files. We didn’t know if she had written anything incriminating, but she must have feared Sheridan might turn on her.”
“I’m sorry for interfering in the fight.”
He touched her throat below the bandage. “If you had tried to protect me and had gotten injured, I would have been perturbed. But I understand that you have this emotional tie to your siblings that can’t be walled up. Although…” He kissed her eyelid, then the other. “… you got in my way when I tried to tackle Uncle Sheridan while he still had hold of your brother. I don’t blame Leidolf for attacking him either. Both of you had every right.”