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his head. "Only you have a vision of the safe house now. I'll bring up the
rear." He looked at the group that had carefully transferred his grandfather's
limp body to a door taken from the lodge. "Tight forma-tion, Bear Shadow on
point behind Sasha watching her back and Silver Hawk's front. I want a man
flanking him on each side. Drop him to cut and run, and you die in the Shadow
lands. I'll bring up the rear to keep anything bar-reling down on us off your
asses. Roger that?"
"Roger that," Lion Shadow said with a curt nod and then checked his artillery.
"No matter how crazy it gets," Sasha said, "no shape-shifts in the pathways.
We can't beat the enemy wolf-to-wolf. As you've noticed, they're stronger,
bigger, faster. We have to rely on human evasive maneuvers and the ar-tillery
we have on hand. That's particularly important given the precious cargo we're
carrying. We need human hands, and my guys on the other side need to see
humans coming out, not wolves unless it's the enemy because they'll wig and
fire at will. We need them to hit the right targets, not us. Understood?"
"Understood," Bob said, glancing at her and then Hunter before his gaze sought
the ground.
"Good." Hunter rounded on the four men that attended his grandfather, reached
out to touch the old man's chest, but then, as though remembering, made a fist
instead.
Sasha was at his side and covered his amulet with her palm. "You'll be able to
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let him know you were there for him," she said quietly. 'Tell him through the
light."
Hunter nodded and placed a palm over her amulet and closed his eyes. In that
moment she saw how exhausted the man was weary not just from the recent battle
but the one he'd fought all his life.
And even though watching that had broken her heart into a million pieces for
him, she was also plagued like the others with a niggling doubt. What if his
condition worsened in the demon-infested Shadow lands?
No question about it, Hunter's mild hybridization was frightening, given what
they'd seen from the more ad-vanced cases. He'd actually spoken with a human
voice while in wolf form. He'd reared up on muscular hind legs to combat a
threat and for an instant his foreleg had morphed into a fur-covered forearm,
his right front paw becoming a clawed fist to rip an axle from an overturned
truck. Everyone saw it; there was no mistaking what had been seen. That
combination wasn't normal under any circumstances and it had been an
abomination to his pack brothers to witness. She saw the humiliation in
Hunter's eyes once the threat had passed and he'd normalized to human.
Guilt stabbed her as they both stood facing each other, palms over amulets,
coaxing the radiant silver-white light of protection from the ancient wards.
They needed the light to quickly surround them and their group; it was the
process by which alpha clan leaders had moved their peo-ple to safety for
eons. Only that would keep weaker mem-bers from being picked off from the
group at entrances and exits. There were always entities that hovered at the
fragile nexus where choice could be made between taking a pathway or going
through a demon door. It might also be the only thing to hold off intrapathway
attacks in the Shadow lands by infected pack members. But the light wasn't
coming.
"Maybe he's too far gone?" Bob said. Although his tone wasn't malicious, it
grated Sasha no end.
"Maybe so," Hunter said, and began to step away from her. "Give my amulet to
Lion Shadow, then. I don't care who gets us through, as long as we hurry up.
The old man has been down for ten minutes and every minute we waste could cost
his life."
In that moment Sasha knew it wasn't Hunter that was the problem. Her doubts
and fears that put a wedge in the partnering trust had blocked it.
"No. It's me," she admitted. "I was scared try again."
He looked at her, his gaze intense but not angry. A strange combination of
hurt, but understanding and ap-preciation for the truth filled his eyes. After
a few seconds he nodded and stepped closer to her. She dropped her palm away
from his chest and hugged him, resting her head on his shoulder.
His embrace was initially tentative and then became all encompassing. Within
moments she felt the radiating heat of their amulets awakening. When they
stepped back from each other a bright, blinding swath of silver light that
stretched the length of their bodies and their standing-width apart was
between them. As they backed up, the light con-tinued to expand.
"Everyone between us for safety," Hunter said, never losing eye contact with
her. "Stand by. We're going in."
~
"It's a setup," Dexter growled, lowering his nose to the Shadow pathway.
Slowly the distinctive scent of gun-powder and explosive discharge singed his
nose from a place deeper within the Shadow lands. He looked around at the
group and then reared up on his hind legs to his full height.
"Think about it. . . . They came in here close to dawn when we'd be
transforming back. They trailed Shadow Wolf blood to draw us and then blew the
pathway." En-raged, he railed at the hazy mist that covered the ground's
surface. "Same tactic, just like back at the cemetery! They're using military
weapons retrofitted by Hunter's bitch to work against us." Dexter closed his
eyes for a mo-ment and inhaled, then slowly shook his head. "But I have to
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give credit where credit is due I'd've done no less."
"The plan?" another beast asked, gazing up at Dexter, not sure of their
leader's mood. "The moon has already dropped and we haven't shifted back." He
glanced around at the others, unnerved.
"The Vampires were supposed to meet us in the bayou with the blood they'd
promised," a voice rang out from the pack. "We did our part, as promised, and
chased all Werewolves back behind their demon doors and into hu-man habitat
hiding. We showed them what we can do there hasn't been a sighting since
we've been on the hunt."
"Yeah, we shouldn't have to lay low in the swamps," another voice called out.
'The Vamps reneged used us."
"We got played; now we're eating our own," still an-other yelped and then
released a mournful wail.
"Face it, Dexter," Barbara snarled. 'This close to dawn, the Vampires aren't
making a delivery ... unless they'd send a human emissary to do the drop-off.
But then, the likelihood that he'd be eaten might make them wary to send a
trusted servant."
"Point well taken," Dexter growled and began to walk on his unnaturally bent
hind legs. "Then I say we take us a quiet little stroll over the Lake
Pontchartrain Causeway Bridge to the ritzy district. I have a hunch that since
the flooding, the Vamps might still party in the French Quar-ter at night and
have no doubt taken up residence in St. Tammany Parish. We'll do this the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]