Wolf's Holiday, Page 3

  “Smell anything?” he whispered. Her eyes shifted to wolf for a split second, a beautiful, strong show of her power on display.

  “No. What are you sensing?”

  “Nothing. Just a feeling. Come on.” He took her hand and pulled her near him while they kept walking up the hill. Of all the places in the world for Stewart to pick, why the top of this mountain? He’d ask him, once they found him.

  Drew scented the bears only seconds before the roar sounded in the clearing. B gasped, her hand coming to her throat. A mother and a cub were directly in their pathos, that wasn’t good news. Even if he shifted, that bear—the mother—was going to be bigger and deadlier. She had a cub to protect.

  “Shouldn’t they be hibernating?”

  B’s question seemed so out of place, it indicated her complete and utter shock at the danger in front of them. “Betty Tao. I don’t keep track of which bears do and don’t hibernate for the winter. Snap out of your shock.”

  She blinked then blew out a low, slow breath. “Do we run or play dead?”

  “I’m mostly concerned she has a baby with her. That’s going to make her really….”

  He never finished his sentence. Mama Bear charged.

  “Run,” he shouted at Betty, and, for once, his mate listened. Both of them tore backwards, B’s pack going flying in the chaos.

  The bear couldn’t chase both of them unless the cub joined in, and so far it hadn’t. What Drew needed was to get the bear away from B and focused on him.

  “Hey.” He slid to a stop and whirled to face the animal. “You. You want me. Run, B.”

  “Are you crazy?” she snarled, halting a few steps beyond him. “Do you want to get yourself killed? Shift. We’ll both outrun her. We can’t fight her, but we can run away.”

  Fleeing irked his wolf. The need to protect his mate burned in his blood, but she made sense. If he didn’t run with her, she wouldn’t go. The potential to lose her to her own stubbornness outweighed his pride. In seconds, he’d called his shift upon him, cursing the pain lacing through his body. Before his father’s goon shot him, he could have made the transition in better time. B, in her wolf form, caught his eye, and the two of them ran together.

  The bear gave chase and she was surprisingly fast at it, too. He sniffed the air, his senses better as a wolf. Somewhere ahead, a fire burned. Great, he’d go in that direction. Looking at B, he tried to indicate she should follow. Only his mate had other ideas.

  With a growl, she shoved at him with her head before darting right. He skidded from her unexpected shove just in time to see the bear leave him and take off after his mate.

  No. No. No. No. No.

  Oh damn it, B. He pursued the bear when he heard the cub growl behind him. He rushed to a stop. The cub was young and inexperienced. He didn’t want to hurt the cub; he wanted it to go away. Drew needed to confuse him, get him to pay attention to someone other than him.

  He shifted. “That’s right. This is strange. One second I’m wolf, the next I’m human. Weird.” Drew raised his arms up, making himself bigger. He reached down and grabbed a large stick. “See the stick. You probably won’t chase it like a dog. But maybe I can get you to look at it if I throw it over there.”

  Drew sent the stick flying. As the bear cub watched the object soar through the sky, Drew shifted, pain lacing through his body at the three rapid changes in a row. He didn’t care. Using his wolf nose, he set off after the mama bear. Didn’t she care her cub was alone, or had the hunt driven her to forget why she’d gotten angry to begin with? He needed to find his mate. Nothing could happen to B.

  ***

  B ran hard, her pulse pounding. Her jaunts with the pack were clearly not getting the job done. She needed to heighten her skills. Drew was stronger, but she didn’t think there would be any doubt anymore, she was faster.

  Not that speed would do her any good if the crazed mama bear who, wouldn’t give up pursuit caught her. Too late, she missed when Mama closed the gap until she swiped with her claw, catching B across her back. The burn shocked her more than pain. She’d never really been hurt before. Pack training hadn’t prepared her for the shock of getting hit.

  She whirled, cutting to the side. If the bear caught her, even at a dead run, then enough was enough. She hadn’t really wanted to kill or injure the bear. Mama ran past her and then turned to snarl at Betty. Were its eyes…red? There was something wrong with the creature. Some kind of bear mental illness.

  B growled and ignored her aching back. The bear lunged forward, and B jumped. Sharpness dug into her shoulders and she was flung backward. Surprise caught her when she didn’t hit the ground. What the hell?

  She looked around flailing wildly. What the fuck was going on?

  The bear and the ground got farther and farther away, and B struggled to wrench her neck around to see what held her. The largest bird she’d ever seen carried her through the sky.

  Oh no. This isn’t normal. Betty didn’t dare shift, what if the bird-thing dropped her? She growled. What the fuck was the thing carrying her? Was it bringing her back to its nest to feed it to its babies?

  Ah, hell. Why hadn’t she read some sort of guidebook for the area so she could have known there was a possibility she would be assaulted by a rabid bear and carried off by giant monster birds?

  The bird descended and the Earth grew closer and closer. The bird suddenly dropped her and she landed in a soft bed of snow. Her body hurt as she tried to roll over and a wave of dizziness assaulted her.

  Monster-bird landed in front of her and seconds later shifted into a tall, dark-haired man. A bird shifter—right from the old legends. Impossible and yet, there he was. Of course, most humans probably thought that of her.

  “Wolf, you are very hurt. Shift so I can see to your wounds.”

  Betty growled. Like hell she planned to shift for the man who’d picked her up in his talons and deposited her who knew where. Sure, he’d saved her life, only the question had to be asked of why. What did he want of her?

  “Don’t be foolish. I cannot grasp the true depth of your injuries if you don’t shift back. Like this, you will die. Though I suppose that is your choice.”

  B’s mind spun. Was she truly fatally injured? Numb, she wasn’t feeling anything. Seeing no other choice, B called her shift onto herself. Pain pulsated from her scalp downward. She was hurt. Badly. Although the injury was on her back, B didn’t need a mirror to feel her skin was torn and blood had to be leaking from her wounds.

  “Hello.” The bird man nodded to her. He had a long, hooked nose and eyes that were slightly too wide for his face. In a crowd of humans, he would stick out. His kind must have to stick to themselves. “Do not be afraid. I will not hurt you. I saw the bear was going to kill you, and I knew what you were. I made a decision then to rescue you.”

  “Thank you.” Betty sank to her knees, suddenly not having the energy to stay upright any longer. Bird-man approached.

  “I can smell your mate on you. I will tend to you, and then I will find him.”

  Betty snorted, unable to control herself. Drew would really get a hoot out of being swiped off the ground by a bird shifter. He’d never want to tell anyone it happened. Something was wrong with her head. She wasn’t…clear…or focusing.

  “Thank you.” Had she already said as much? “I think there is something wrong with that bear.”

  The bird spoke in a monotone voice, as though he remembered words he’d said before. “She is possessed of evil spirits. To run into her and survive is to be given a second chance at living well, of doing things right the second time.”

  Betty lifted her eyes to look into the birds. “I love stories like that.”

  The world went black.

  ***

  Drew knelt in the snow and looked at the red mess. He sniffed the air and knew what his gut had already told him, the horrible crimson display belonged to his beloved. Drew closed his eyes. Blood, but no body. He had to h
old onto that thought.

  Otherwise, the world lost all of its color, all of its purpose, all of its meaning. Betty Holden Tao was the reason he rose every morning. Even the ten years he’d spent away from her, he’d known she was safe.

  He refused to contemplate any other outcome.

  The bear was nowhere to be seen, and he couldn’t scent her either. The whole experience was beyond odd. Why had the bear attacked them like that and where had she gone?

  He only cared as much as it would get him to his mate. Nothing else mattered.

  “Drew.”

  Pivoting, he braced for battle yet found only an older but much the same looking Stewart. Light-haired and dark-eyed, the man had always been a study in contrasts. Big nose, small mouth. Wide chin, think cheeks. Broad-shouldered, small-framed.

  “Sir.” Drew choked out his response. “Where did you come from?”

  Stewart seemed to be considering the question when his eyebrows rose slowly. “From my mother and father. The same as all of us. Not any of us can control where we start, only what we do when we finish.”

  It had been a long time since he’d heard Stewart speak in his strange, considering way. His father had called it the philosophy of the moronic. Drew had thought Stewart saw the world in rainbows and wished he had some of the same.

  “How did you know where to find me?”

  His old friend smiled and then pointed up the hill. Drew followed with his gaze where he directed and saw the small cabin a distance away on a cliff. They’d gotten very close. With his hands threatening to shake from the utter terror of not knowing where B was, he shoved them in his jacket pockets.

  “You saw what happened here? What happened to my mate?”

  “No.” Stewart shook his head slowly. “I saw you and I came down.”

  “So fast?”Had the man suddenly developed super-speed?

  “I had help.” He pointed upward, and once again Drew looked where he was all but told. A large—no, huge—bird sat in the tree looking down at him. It took him a moment to realize what he looked at. He’d never seen a Hoopoe in person. In fact, he wasn’t, until right then, exactly sure they were real. Yet, there one sat on the tree staring down on him.

  “Is that…?”

  “My mate.” Stewart nodded. “She’s watching you.”

  “You’re mated to a bird from ancient mythology?”

  He nodded. Of course Stewart was. It made some kind of sense, a fact he’d appreciate more if his heart weren’t about to explode over B.

  “Chia,” Stewart called. “This is Andrew Tao. He was born with such goodness. Can’t you see it around him?”

  The bird swooped down and shifted until she stood in front of him. Tall, dark-haired with eyes that didn’t look human stared at him for a moment. “He is a man at a crossroads. You came because of the train.”

  Stewart gasped. “Did you bring them the train?”

  “It was time. The were-bear told us of your plans for Christmas. Stewart’s toys need to be with his pack again. They bring such heart,” Chia responded. “This is a year of rebirth for the Tao pack. Drew understood. He saw the train for what it was.”

  Ryker was going to have a fit when he found out he had to monitor the sky and, even worse, it seemed Gee not only knew about the train but talked to Stewart, too. The cagey old Bear hadn’t said a word even though they all knew he’d have been able to hear their conversation outside the bar perfectly well.

  Gee was never pack. He was loyal, but he kept himself apart. As far as the Bear was concerned, he got to share what he wanted and keep the rest to himself.

  If Drew ever got to tell Ryker about any of these events—if he didn’t find B, Drew would die on the mountain; ten years without her was enough—he was sure the Enforcer would have words with Gee.

  Chia moved with a gracefulness which leant the impression she glided rather than touched the ground when she traveled over it.

  She knelt over the blood. “She fought the bear.”

  Stewart whistled through his teeth. “Who travels this path with you, young Tao?”

  “My mate.”

  “Ah yes, Elizabeth Holden.”

  Chia breathed in loudly. When she spoke her voice sounded sing-songy. “This is a great deal of blood. It would have killed her but….” She trailed off.

  “But….” Drew wanted a response and he needed it immediately. It took every ounce of his strength not to order an answer from the silence.

  “Paso.” Chia exhaled. “I can smell him. He is behaving very oddly for himself. He must have seen the fight and taken the girl.”

  “Ah yes, we will go to him.” Stewart nodded. “Come with me, young Tao. We will go to Paso’s nesting place and see if your woman is there. In the meantime, we have much to discuss among ourselves. Chia will fly ahead and let her brother know of our arrival.

  “Great.”Drew wasn’t going to feel better until he saw with his own eyes B lived and breathed. Patience had never been his forte and the walk wherever they had to go, whether it took a minute or an hour was going to feel like forever.

  Chia changed again, becoming a bird once more. “We wondered how you could have gotten in and out of our territory without any of us knowing it. Now I understand you didn’t. Your train was delivered.”

  “All things happen in the time in which they were designated. Chia sees things we can’t. Her view is from atop, ours from below. The same answer comes either way. Only she leads from her top chakra and I from my heart.”Stewart paused. “Where do you lead from, Drew?”

  “At the very moment, Stewart, sir, I lead from nowhere at all. I’m afraid I will not be able to think again until I have my mate in my arms. Then perhaps I can answer your question more fully.”

  Stewart nodded. “A true answer. And a telling one. The female has loved you since she first set eyes on you, since before perhaps. Why don’t you trust in B’s tenderness?”

  “I do.”

  His old friend shook his head. “I’m afraid you don’t, young Alpha. The good news is your doubts are fixable. And I know how.”

  Drew was glad someone knew what the hell was going on. His wolf prowled inside of him, and his chest threatened to explode. His whole world would shatter if she died. B, please be okay.

  Chapter Three

  His body buzzed when he ran up the stairs, leaving Stewart in his wake, and burst through the door of the oddly shaped oval house. Drew caught B’s scent before he saw her. She sat on the floor, sipping water from a straw and humming to herself. He dashed to her side. Drew knelt down just as she looked up and smiled at him.

  “You.” She stroked the side of her face.

  He buried his face in her hair, satisfying himself she was not an illusion. Though others surrounded them, he didn’t care. Only B mattered. “You okay?”

  “This very strange bear tried to kill me.” She pulled away, sucking from the straw again. “Weird beast.”

  She was covered in blood. He wanted to go back and find the bear and…rip it to pieces. Something was off with his mate. He sniffed her. Her scent didn’t touch him quite right. She wasn’t drunk. So what was going on? He sniffed the drink she sucked, and it made his nose burn.

  “Is she on something?” He turned his head to look back at Chia and Stewart. Next to them a third man stood, who must have been the bird shifter Paso.

  Paso nodded. “Yes.”

  Drew waited and, when no further information was offered, he spoke again. This was going to be like pulling teeth, and it made his canines want to descend. “What is it?”

  “Do you know a lot about herbs?” Chia asked. “If I assure you, she’s not in any danger but will heal further when she would not have otherwise, can that be enough? We are healers with the power of water divination. King Solomon would have died if not for intervention from our ancestors. My brother has used his powers for your mate. You will not question him.”

  Drew had studied their kind in s
chool years earlier. The tales featuring them were amazing, although he’d never believed them real. There were less happy legends about the Hoopoe. Like why they always hung out in graveyards. Drew didn’t want a debate. He needed answers.

  He wanted to wring the information out of his neck, actually. Since his mate sat on the floor alive, he decided not to take his temper out on the bird. His Wolf moved closer to Drew’s skin, threatening a shift. The canine was watching, ready. They’d had a horrible day.

  “The birds are very proud, Drew.” Stewart spoke plainly for the first time in two hours. Drew, who liked the man very much, had enough mumbo jumbo about respecting his mate and listening to the wind. As far as he was concerned, getting B the hell out of Dodge offered the best option.

  “Thank you for your help.” Politics sucked. “You know, if you ever need anything, ever, you need only come to Los Lobos and ask.”

  Chia nodded, making brief eye contact with Stewart and Paso. “We do need something.”

  Of course they did. “What service can I render for saving my mate?”

  Stewart walked forward and placed his hand on Drew’s arm. “It’s not a service. I want my toys to be in the hands of the wolf pups this year. I want to give the gift of happiness to as many as I can.”

  “I can make that happen, of course.” Easily. “We don’t, however, live in a time when I can simply invite you on pack land and offer you sanctuary. I think you know my now-free-to-act-as-he-sees-fit Enforcer, Ryker.”

  Stewart shifted the weight on his feet, the only outward indication of any discomfort with the wolf all other shifters feared. Ryker hadn’t earned his reputation lightly.

  “But….” Chia finished. “You’re Alpha. And a good wolf, according to my mate.”

  “I am those things.”Drew nodded. “You’re going to have to blood oath to me. Become pack. Then you can come and go as you see fit, Stewart. The Tao pack, my family, would gladly welcome you back.”

  “He can be Santa Paws.” B giggled. “Get it? Santa Paws?”