ARYCK steadied Rebekka as her foot caught on an exposed root. Exhaustion clung to her, and this time he didn’t fight the urge to keep his hand wrapped around her arm.
Her opposite shoulder sagged under the weight of the blanket now serving as a satchel. It was laden with what she claimed to need save for one ingredient, a root he was unfamiliar with.
“Thanks,” she mumbled, not attempting to pull away from him as she had the other times, her jerky movement accompanied by an elusive hint of sexual interest rather than distaste at being touched by a Were.
Though Levi and his brother had left them miles earlier, peeling away to go to the pride’s summer gathering place, his scent still clung to Rebekka. It mixed in with that of woman, of sweat and dirt and the plants Rebekka carried.
Aryck’s lips lifted in a silent snarl at smelling the outcast, at remembering Levi embracing Rebekka and making her renew her promise to send Canino when she was ready to go back to Oakland. Not for the first time he wondered if Levi had been made outcast by the ancestors because of her, if she was Levi’s downfall as well as Cyrin’s and Canino’s.
Their smell was nearly pure cat and neither of them had changed into human form. It made him think the ancestors had been merciful, allowing them to retain their beast form.
They could live their lives in Were lands, could even take mates and breed there as long as they didn’t go feral. And if they were willing to risk it, they could enter the bone cave in a Petitioner’s Rite and perhaps regain their human forms with an ancestor’s intercession.
Aryck took his hand from Rebekka’s arm as he considered the possibility she might carry a witch-charm that worked on male Weres, making those around her feel protective.
As they’d traveled directly through Wolf territory rather than staying to the border routes where there was some neutrality, he’d felt watched. Yet no one had emerged from hiding to challenge or attack.
Then again, it could be word had spread of what happened to the cubs, and the Wolves had decided to let a human pass through their lands without openly acknowledging it. They might be waiting on the outcome, concerned there were similar weapons buried among the ruins on their lands.
Aryck glanced at Rebekka, seeing fatigue on her face. They’d traveled with little rest and been forced to push hard to make up time when the plants she needed required detour or delay.
More than once he’d seen her touch the journal in her pocket, rubbing over it as she worried her bottom lip. Her concern for the cubs was easy to read, though he didn’t need to see it in her expression; her actions told him as much.
Despite the pace he set she hadn’t uttered a sound of complaint or protest. Each time he’d thought she would falter and demand they slow down or stop, she’d draw from a well of internal strength and find additional stamina.
Mile by mile his resistance to the Jaguar’s claim weakened, though he hadn’t fully accepted it and didn’t intend to. Nor would he allow himself to act on the desire continuing to simmer in his bloodstream.
In jaguar form Melina ranged ahead, moving farther away and faster in the relative safety of Lion territory. Canino prowled at Rebekka’s other side, streaks of tree-shadow merging with the stripes on his orange coat.
Each time he brushed against Rebekka, whether the act was unintentional or by design, the Jaguar made its presence known to Aryck. Suddenly waking like a separate entity to growl in protest.
Resisting the Jaguar set a battle for dominance into motion. After the first one, Aryck acquiesced, maneuvering Rebekka away from Canino while telling himself the sooner he got her to camp, the better.
A day to heal, perhaps another to rest and get her strength back, and then she would be gone from their lands, her safety entrusted to Levi. With her absence he would no longer have to fear the unraveling of his earthly souls into two separate entities.
Another mile passed. Twice Aryck reached out to keep Rebekka upright.
Each time it was more difficult to end the physical contact. The Jaguar grew edgy. Or he did. Aryck couldn’t discern where the emotion came from, only that thoughts of stopping so Rebekka could rest warred with the need to get to the cubs.
Close to the border of Jaguar lands he reached mentally for his father. The alpha’s relief swept into Aryck. Hurry. Three of them are close to death. The other two are not far behind. Nahuatl holds their souls to this world.
Koren didn’t ask if the healer accompanied them. To do so would be to doubt Nahuatl’s vision from the ancestors.
Aryck updated his father with a stream of images. Starting at the place where he and Melina had encountered the first of the hyenas. Ending with their current location.
Show me the root she seeks.
“Stop for a moment,” Aryck said, his hand on Rebekka’s arm halting her as he spoke. “Let me see the picture of the root you need.”
She pulled the journal from her pocket and opened it. He bent lower, and though he couldn’t read the words describing where the plant came from, they were locked in his memory from having detoured numerous times only to meet with failure.
It grows near springs where the water tastes of iron, he said, eyes traveling slowly over the drawing as he made himself look at every detail, from the shape of the leaves all the way down to the root.
Come directly to camp. I’ll describe this plant to Phaedra, then Nahuatl and the elders if she doesn’t recognize it.
What happens with the human encampment?
Quiet. There was the briefest hesitation, marking Koren’s distrust and suspicion. Tracks from one of the heavily armored vehicles went into Wolf territory near where it borders Bear.
You think the Wolves are dealing with the humans?
It was a distasteful idea to Aryck. But in the histories the elders passed down through their stories, there were tales of Wolves being rewarded for attacking other Were groups for the benefit of humans.
Aryck could follow his father’s line of thought, his suspicion that perhaps the Wolves wanted to expand their territory. Guns could be found in the rubble and salvaged. But without ammunition, they were useless, and ammunition was difficult to acquire. It required a trip into the human world and could wipe out a pack’s store of recovered coins and gems.
Coyotes preferred flight over fight. Their land was ruin-filled, more suited to hiding than hunting. They held it unchallenged because it served as a buffer of sorts between stronger, larger predatory groups.
After a long moment of silence, Koren answered, I don’t know if the Wolves are dealing with the humans. The sudden quiet bothers me as much as the gunfire did. For now, we wait. We watch. We try to make sense of what the humans are looking for on Coyote land so we can assess the danger of them moving into our territory.
The link with his father fell away. Aryck offered the book to Rebekka, unconsciously holding it in a way that forced her fingers to brush against his. Only to release it and walk away when his cock responded instantly to her touch, and his mind filled with fantasies of pulling her more firmly against him.
Rebekka placed the journal in her pocket with shaky hands. The sudden race of her heart edged out exhaustion and cleared the fuzziness from her mind.
Why now? she wondered, trying to ignore the fluttering through her chest and the lingering heat where their hands had touched. Why him?
It was obvious from the way Aryck stalked off that he wasn’t any happier about the physical attraction than she was. So why did he find excuses to touch her? In a day, maybe two, she’d be on her way to Oakland.
She closed her eyes but couldn’t escape the sight of him. He was there in a hundred images. In both of his forms.
It wasn’t just his physical beauty affecting her; it was his determination. His relentless resolve to save the cubs that caused a melting sensation in the region of her heart and a traitorous internal voice to whisper, And he doesn’t have a mate.
Despite what she’d thought when she first saw Melina crouched next to Aryck’s jaguar form, they weren’t paired. There was no bond-scent, Levi said, so they weren’t permanently mated.
She felt a blush rising to her face as she remembered the awkward conversation she’d had with Levi before he left with Cyrin. It was a talk spawned by her embarrassment at not being able to hide her physical reaction or the shame she felt at desiring someone she thought was already claimed by another.
Despite Levi’s warning her against getting involved with a pure Were, one who might play with her but who would never take her as a mate or leave his world for a human one, a fantasy crept into her thoughts. Of touching her hands to Aryck’s chest, exploring with her fingertips. Tracing the smooth flow of muscle and circling tiny nipples.
The melting heat in her chest slid downward, through her belly and into her labia. Her channel spasmed.
She opened her eyes, banishing the images. Levi was right.
Getting involved with a pure Were, especially one who lived outside the red zone, would be a mistake. It would only lead to heartbreak.
The crushing weight of exhaustion returned and Rebekka wanted to close her eyes again and sink to the ground. She doubted landing on hidden rocks would matter at this point. Sleep would claim her before she touched the bed of leaves on the forest floor.
Imagining it increased the pull of gravity. Her knees bent in preparation for yielding.
Canino rumbled and rubbed against her, jolting her to wakefulness. She placed a hand on his shoulder as ahead of her Aryck turned, his lips pulling back in an instant snarl and his eyes going fierce.
As silently as he’d stalked away, he returned, his movements holding the dangerous grace of a jaguar going after prey. His hand gripped her wrist like an iron manacle, the impact of it forcing her to take a step away from Canino.
Canino snorted before yawning widely. His emotions brushed against Rebekka’s empathetic senses, amusement coupled with satisfaction at having delivered a barbed taunt to another big cat.
“There’s no time to waste,” Aryck said, his voice gravelly, harsh. “Three of the cubs barely remain in this world. The other two are not far behind them.”
His words were a club Rebekka used to beat back exhaustion and keep it behind a barricade of determination. “Let’s hurry then.”
She refused to fail the cubs. Even without the root she needed for the wash she could use her gift to battle infection and to restore skin and muscle.
It wouldn’t be permanent, not until the nanites were destroyed. But she could stabilize the cubs, keep them alive until a true healing was possible.
A mile passed in bristling silence with Aryck shackling her to his side and ignoring her. The longer it continued, the angrier she got.
Rebekka tugged, attempting to break Aryck’s hold on her wrist. His fingers tightened in reaction. She pulled again. Harder. And when he didn’t let her wrist go, she halted, digging in her heels so there was a sharp jerk down the length of their arms.
He turned, and she felt her lips pulling back in a snarl of her own. “Release me.”
Surprise probably accounted for him doing just that. It was there in his eyes, glinting along with something else. Appreciation maybe.
Rebekka refused to contemplate it. She shook out her arm like a prisoner freed from a chain, then, without a word, continued in the direction they were headed with fast, purposeful strides.
He caught up easily, striding close enough so every other step it seemed as though his arm brushed against hers, sending a jolt of awareness through her. To take her mind off his effect on her, she asked, “Will your pack have found the root by the time we reach the cubs?”
Aryck faltered, recovering with cat quickness so there was barely a change in the smoothness of his movements. She added, “I know you were showing someone the picture of the plant.”
“How?”
Her eyebrows drew together. She wondered why he would ask such thing when the answer should be obvious. “I live and work among Weres.”
“Outcasts.”
She drew away from him then, a step, all the trail allowed but enough so there would be no casual touch of his skin against hers. “You say it as if they were all guilty of crimes.”
His nostrils flared. She braced for an argument. Instead he answered her original question. “My father is speaking with our healer, Phaedra, about the root. If she’s not familiar with it, he’ll ask others.”
“And the cubs? Can you describe their current condition?”
“No. He didn’t show me images of them.”
The tightness in Aryck’s voice revealed his fear they would be too late. Rebekka returned to his side, unable to stop herself from taking his hand in a silent offer of comfort. “I can run for a while.”
He brushed his thumb against her knuckles in a soft caress, then slipped into an easy lope. She fell behind within steps and found a pace she could sustain.
They slowed and sped up as needed. Stopped when absolutely necessary.
Rebekka drew on strength beyond any she thought to possess. She endured because she couldn’t accept the price of failure. Pushed on, fueled by optimism when she drew abreast of Aryck and he said, “The plant has been found and the roots harvested. Phaedra assumes you’ll need boiling water to create the wash. It should be ready by the time we reach camp. We’re close now, less than a mile.”
“Good,” Rebekka said, the pain in her sides making it difficult to say more.
They arrived a short time later, finally stopping in front of a house well hidden by trees. From inside the small building came the steady beat of drums and songlike chanting.
Rebekka forced herself to remain upright though she trembled with physical exhaustion. The gathered Jaguars would view it as a sign of weakness, but at least they wouldn’t scent fear on her at being in their presence. She’d come too far, endured too much, to feel anything but a driving need to get to the cubs and heal them so she could finally rest.
An old woman stepped through those gathered. She was cool-eyed and assessing. “The water boils,” she said, thrusting a wooden cup into Rebekka’s hands. “Drink this. It will revive you so we can make the wash for the cubs. They grow worse, but I believe there is still time to heal them if we hurry.”
Phaedra, the healer, Rebekka thought, drinking the bitter brew and recognizing it as a stimulant some of the brothel prostitutes used when they wanted to work longer hours to pay off their debt more quickly.
She handed the cup back to the old woman. “This way,” Phaedra said, leading Rebekka to the back of the house where other Jaguars waited.
It was easy to pick out the parents of the cubs. They stood in pairs, desperate hope shining in their eyes as well as the promise of death if a human caused further harm.
Several copper pots hung over small fires, the water in them boiling. On a nearby table lay the roots she needed, along with bowls, knives, and stone pestles.
Aryck took the blanket-made satchel from her shoulder before she could slide it off. He unknotted it, gently dumping the contents on the table. Rebekka pulled the journal from her pocket, opening it to the page describing how to make the wash.
Phaedra emitted a low, threatening growl and instantly Rebekka found herself behind Aryck. Canino crowded in, trapping her against the table and answering Phaedra with a growl of his own.
Several men shed loose clothing, shifting form. They crouched in readiness for attack.
A knife appeared in Aryck’s hand, pulled from a sheath he wore on his thigh.