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ribs, trying to gauge whether or not he reeked of demon contagion.
"Just stop this bullshit, Hunter," Sasha finally said, rushing in and out of
nearby shadows, but nowhere near him at all. "Do you know how worried we've
all been? What possessed you to leave Silver Hawk? Okay, wrong metaphor, but
you know what I mean. I don't give a damn what you look like or that you can't
shift back at the moment what's important is that we gather our team in tight.
The old man's lying in the hospital in ICU, and we need everybody's head on
straight. Are you hearing me?"
He could see frustration had a chokehold on her and well understood why. But
he would do this his way. He'd go see the old man under the cover of darkness
... would say his good-byes and make his peace the way it had been done in the
clan, within the pack, and even within his hu-man tribe for generations. This
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was something she knew nothing of.
However, when he turned to leave, a threatening male force breached his
shadow. The presence so startled him that he came out into the dappled
sunlight snarling.
"Yo, yo, yo!" Sasha yelled. "Chill!"
"It's still in the shadows," he said in a low rumble, needing to communicate
with her more than preserve his pride. "It's male, in my shadow, but moves
like a ghost.. . it's "
"Silver Hawk, or a friend," she said, blowing a wisp of damp hair up off her
forehead as she lowered her weapon. "Shit."
"How can that be?" Hunter studied her and then trained his attention back on
the shadow he'd been ousted from.
"If you still had your amulet, you'd know," Sasha said curtly. "He led me here
in a Shadow vision ... then a friend also came out of concern."
Hunter just stared at her.
"Yeah. Remember that heroic deed that left us all standing in the safe house
with our hearts ripped out?" She walked around in a tight circle. "Why ... I
oughta shoot your mangy ass just for that!"
His gaze hardened, but he checked his coat and then lifted his chin. He was
many things, but mangy wasn't one of them.
"Oh, for the love of God..." Sasha holstered her weapon. "First order of
business, I need a blood and tissue sample."
"Why?" He began backing up, wary. "And who is this friend?"
"Because we need more infected Werewolf toxin to make more antitoxin, for
starters. Two, we're trying to isolate what it is about your system that
doesn't make you go all the way demon-infected Werewolf and simply lose it
so--"
"We don't know that yet," he countered, hating every moment that she made him
have to use his voice while in wolf form. "And who's the goddamned friend?"
"Someone smart who wants a pack alliance. We can talk about that later. For
now, let's deal with the primary problem your state of contagion isn't as bad
as it could have been. You went for the barbecue ribs on the grill, Hunter not
the fat chef. I'm no longer worried, trust me."
He looked away. A family walked by and gathered their children near. Sasha
stepped close to Hunter before he could dodge into the shadows and placed her
hand on his shoulders.
"Huge but harmless," she said, watching the young cou-ple with a stroller and
a toddler blanch. "Well trained. Po-lice canine," she said, patting her Glock.
She watched their bodies relax.
"Nice to know you're on our side, officer," the guy she assumed to be the
husband yelled. "Never saw one that big."
Sasha chuckled. "Yeah, he's a real prize." She gripped Hunter's coat when he
began a low rumbling growl. "Let these nice folks go on down the path with
their sanity, would ya? And not a word," she said in a hissing whisper.
"Besides, there's probably fifty or so odd Fae marksmen in the trees just
waiting to drop a predator that would draw attention to the Conference so
would ya chill?"
Hunter just looked at her for a moment, but when the passersby had gone, the
next volley of questions was de-livered with slow, quiet rage.
"Look at me," he said through his teeth. "I have lost complete control of my
wolf! Yes, I was able to employ the ruse to get three sides to fight each
other that we can dis-cuss later. But of what use am I to you or what is left
of my pack or even the clan at the UCE Conference if my mind is eroding to the
wolf mind... if the human is receding hour by hour, even in the daylight? Take
your blood sample to help others if you must, but leave me until this purges
from my system. And as far as any alliances go, forget it for now the politics
down here are vicious and I don't even know who you've been talking to. I
can't commit to any-thing until I am in my human self."
"Okay, we'll talk about the alliance proposal later, but I'm not leaving you
to be jumped in the swamps and made alligator food because that's where the
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infected Shadows went. But I will take you up on your grudging offer to help
us make more antitoxin, and maybe even a vaccine, from whatever elements we
can extract from your DNA."
The fact that she had bluntly stated her point without any compassion in her
voice for his dilemma grated him.
"So, to save all this Shadow hopping and energy deple-tion. I guess you just
expect to walk me on a leash to the local pharmacy and steal some hypodermics
while you leave me tied to a pole? Is that the plan? Or, I guess you'll walk
me at your heel into Tulane University Hospital as a
two-hundred-and-twenty-five-pound military guard dog?"
Sasha shrugged. "Whatever you're most comfortable with."
~
Never in his life had he been so thoroughly disgusted or humiliated as he
flanked Sasha with his head held high, but he did take slight satisfaction in
watching people clear sidewalks and pathways as she flashed a badge and
brought him into the hospital.
The guard looked like he was about to say something, and it was admittedly a
twisted pleasure to stare at the man with knowing eyes eyes that were eerily
both wolf and human, and dare him to bar them entry.
"Uh, ma'am," the security guard said as delicately as possible. "Uhmmm, I
don't think for health reasons, the doctors might not want a huge, uh "
"Sir, it's all right. Military. He's a drug sniffer. We've had an incident,
and the animal will be confined to that area rendering no health risk to
patients."
"Uh, yes, ma'am," the guard stuttered, and then released a long whistle as she
and Hunter passed.
It was reflex, he couldn't help it. The sound bristled the hair on his back
and drew a growl with a flash of canines. He watched the color drain from the
offender's face.
"Sir, please don't do that," Sasha told the guard as she smoothed down
bristled wolf coat. 'These animals are highly sensitive."
Hunter refrained from grumbling and offering any comment. Her touch did feel
good, and was oddly soothing the way she did what she did. Besides, what had
been of greatest concern was getting into the hospital to see his grandfather [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]