Crimson Moon - Never Cry Werewolf Part 20

"You know her scent, right?"

He nodded. She patted his back.

"Then you can track her," Sasha said calmly. "We'll find her."

"What if she's mad?" Crow Shadow sat back.

Sasha smiled. "If she's female, she's gonna be mad. If she's not pregnant, she might call you out of your name and slam the door in your face. Then you're off the hook. But if she is pregnant, after you man up, fall on your sword, and treat her nice . .. she'll probably be glad you went through all the trouble to come and find her. It hasn't been that long. Not like you're looking for her after five years or something."

"You think so?"

"I know so." Sasha cuffed his neck. "All you say is: I freaked out. .. left, because I realized we didn't use anything and we just met. But it messed with my mind, because you were such a nice person, a decent person, and you didn't deserve that. But then I realized that I didn't have a number, or an address, just the memorya" and I didn't know how to find you ... so I've been riding all over New Orleans looking for you for weeks."

"d.a.m.n . .. that does sound good."

"That's 'cause it's the truth," she said, shaking her head.

His muscles ached as he stretched in the window seat. He'd kept vigil all night just as he'd promised her, watching the moon, watching her sleep, glad that Sir Rodney's baths were enchanted just like his beds. Her serene beauty was simple, completely untarnished by the outside world when she'd surrendered to obliviona" that someone had tried to take that peace from her was a travesty of the worst order.

Memorizing every feature of her, he tried to begin the mental separation that he knew had to happen. She belonged in the human world; her parents would be overwhelmed to have her back. Sir Rodney could glamour away the experience from her mind. She would go back to being a vegan; he would return to his home country and go back to being a wolf.

But then she opened her eyes and smiled at him and pushed her long, mussed spill of damp blue-black hair over a creamy shoulder. She breathed in the morning and held the covers up closely, modestly, and then shyly lowered her dark velvety lashes.

"You kept watch for me all night," she said quietly.

"I promised I would."

You have kept many promises to me, and even offered your life . . . and yet, we do not even know each other. "

"Is that important?"

"To most it is."

"You deserve to live."

"Why?" She stared at him.

"Because you do." He stood, feeling uncomfortable, and walked to the table. "You should eat."

She avidly shook her head no.

"Green tea and sweet cakes," he said into a silver dome and then uncovered it.

She laughed and craned her neck to see. "How did you do that? There is so much magic, so many things that I've heard about as stories as a child ... but you are showing me the good parts."

He stood up a little taller and brought the tray to the bed, resting it on the white, fluffy goose-down duvet. "There are good Dragons and bad, good wolves and bad," he said, pouring her tea and handing her a cup. "Good sorcerers and bad . . . good Faeries and bad . . . yin and yang, black and white, chi that runs through all, balance necessary in all."

"How did you become so wise?"

He chuckled. "I lived through good and bad. That is not wisdom, just experience." He took a sip of tea and left her bedside, not completely trusting himself.

"Then how did you become so brave?" she said, sipping her tea and peering at him over the rim of her white porcelain cup.

"I met you," he said quietly. "And I knew you deserved to live."

CHAPTER 23.

"How is he doing now?" Colonel Madison asked, his worried gaze sweeping Sasha.

"Better than last night, sir. Thank you for your concern."

Woods nodded and shifted uncomfortably where he stood. "Hunter is a good man, sir. We'll miss him in the firefight tonight."

Fisher cut him a glance and then looked at Sasha. "He means a lot to all of us, Captain . . . not just as a soldier, but as a friend."

"Yeah, I know. Thanks, Lieutenant," Sasha said quietly. But she had to shake the blues, had to focus on what had to be done. Redirecting her thoughts, she brought her attention back to the colonel. "After the press conference this morning, I'll need to go check back in with our allies."

"Do what you have to do, Captain. We know our positions and where our rendezvous point is. I just hope our plan works without any more loss of human lives."

"Roger that, sir," Sasha said and then quietly slipped past the door.

"It was the closest holy site to where the Chens were that was open for evening Bible study," an exhausted Fae archer said as he motioned toward a Methodist church. "We glamoured them past the other humans and got them hunkered down in the bas.e.m.e.nt until daybreak. . . got them a little food and some water. But Sir Rodney thinks that until this blows over, it may be best to bring the girl and her family back to the sidhe."

Shogun wiped his palms down his face and then looked at Amy.

"My parents will not leave their store," she said, looking up at Shogun.

"I know ... but maybe once they see you I can convince them to go on vacation, just for a little while. Maybe if I pay for them to return to the old country to visit relatives and visit graves there?"

She nodded and took up his hand. The Fae archer thrust his shoulders back and led the way, opening the locked church door with ease. Shogun hesitated as Mr. and Mrs. Chen stood up from a pew and faced him. Stained gla.s.s let in prisms of multihued sunlight, but nothing compared to the expression on Mrs. Chen's face when she covered her mouth and then ran headlong toward her child. Shogun stepped back as Mr. Chen then ran up behind his wife, both parents crying, encircling their daughter as she openly sobbed.

"Xie xie, xie xie!" Mrs. Chen exclaimed, thanking Shogun over and over again in Mandarin. She intermittently went from frantically kissing her daughter's face to hugging Shogun and kissing his hands, clutching them up in hers. "Bless the good police!" she said, so overcome that she had to be helped to a pew.

"My daughter. . .," Mr. Chen said, wiping his eyes. "Did they hurt you?"

Amy's lip trembled and then she sought her father's embrace hiding her face against his neck. But Shogun landed a hand on the older man's shoulder, knowing what he was delicately asking.

"No, sir . . . we got to her in time. Your daughter is frightened and shaken, but in the same condition as she was before she was abducted."

Mr. Chen began rocking with his child in his arms, exclaiming. ''Xie, xie." between sobs of relief.

The Fae archer turned and swallowed hard, and Shogun walked to the back of the church with him.

"I never really experienced humans before, you know . . .," the archer said with a quick nod toward the Chen family. "I could never understand what Sir Rodney saw in them, why he'd put the sidhe on the line for them, but. seeing this . . ."

"I know," Shogun said quietly, reverently, his gaze on Amy Chen as his heart filled with peace. "If you just save one, the ripple in the pond to all humanity is end-less. Families, friends, people that good deed touches are all connected." He chose not to say more, because it was a private knowing. Sasha had taught him that, had made him care about the human condition. And as he stood there, he became aware of a new peace that had crept up on him and entered his spirit. He still loved Sasha, but as a part of his life and family now, not as his potential mate . . . and that made everlasting peace finally possible with his half brother, Hunter.

Mr. Chen got up and came to Shogun. The Fae archer bowed deeply. "I have no way to repay this gift you have given my life," he said quietly and proudly. "You may have my store ... I realized that the money without my child is nothing."

"Sir, no, please," Shogun said, bowing to Mr. Chen. "I am honored but cannot accept... uhm, it is against the law for police to accept payment for doing their jobs."

Mr. Chen seemed confused but accepted the explanation. "Are you married?"

Shogun smiled. "No, sir, I'm a lone wolf." He suspected the man would otherwise try to seek out a wife to whom he could give a gift of appreciation; it was custom to give something to someone who'd given you so much. But he had to make Mr. Chen understand that just seeing their joy had been payment enough.

The archer chuckled and folded his arms over his chest.

"All men your age are wolves," Mr. Chen said with a smile, wiping his eyes. "But I graciously give you my daughter to marrya"you are the only truly honorable man I have seen since my wife and I have come to this country."

Elder Futhark held the iridescent Fae missive in his right hand and the dark, smoldering black envelope in the other as he slowly walked down the center aisle of the antechamber toward Queen Cerridwen's throne. She fixed her cool gaze on him; he could feel his steps slowing and his face becoming frostbitten as he approached the angry monarch and extended the missive.

She pointed with her icicle wand to his left hand. "I'll take the bad news first."

"Yes, Your Majesty," he said, bowing as he offered her the black envelope. "You know that I have been your faithful advisor for eons, and whatever is in this, please be lenient to the one who delivered this to you."

She s.n.a.t.c.hed the missive from him without answering. "A Vampire demon messenger note from Vlad ... how refreshing," she said coolly and opened the black letter with a snap.

Black and yellow sulfuric smoke billowed up the moment the blood wax seal was broken, and she blasted it with her wand, causing black hail to litter her ice-covered marble floor. However, her glib mood soon became serious as she read the letter through to the end.

"How did he find out about Ariel Beauchamp's tomb being opened by our forces?"

"Through the eyes of the young girl whom the late Lady Jung Suk took over. Our spies have confirmed that it is now a matter of record in the UCE tome." He peered up from his bent position and stared into her crystal-blue eyes. "Milady ... we are now at war with the Vampires, a formidable foe."

She tossed the letter aside and reached out to s.n.a.t.c.h the iridescent parchment from Elder Futhark's other hand. "No doubt a reprimand now from Sir Rodney," she said, unfurling it with disdain.

"Milady?" Elder Futhark said, slowly standing when she sat back in her throne.

"It's not a reprimand," she said, so shocked that she laughed.

"Then . .. ?"

"It's an invitation to war. To war alongside Rodney and the wolves as an ally against Vlad."

It had taken all morning, but his nose never failed him. Scavenging his mind for whatever bits of information he could retrieve, a first name came to hima"Jennifer. She'd talked about her job at the Donut Hole a little bit. Said she'd wanted to go back to school one day, and worried that at twenty-five it might be too late. She worried about money, but said she might take advantage of the president's new education plans. Odd things he remembered about her. Like scattered puzzle pieces that all had similar colors; some fit, some didn't. But the Donut Hole wasn't hard to find.

What was hard was going up to the large plate-gla.s.s window of the half-empty place and opening the door. She looked up and didn't smile. He almost turned around to walk away, but then remembered what his sister had told him.

Crow Shadow slipped into the store and stood at the counter. "Hey, Jennifer."

"So what'd you do, decide to come back and get take-out breakfast and coffee after you run out on another girl this morning?"

He listened to the wobble in her voice, studied the golden tresses and kind face he'd remembered. Hurt had hardened her pretty hazel eyes. "No, I came back to apologize and to show you this time that... I don't know. You didn't deserve what I did. You're a nice person. If something happened, you know . . . I'll stand by you."

She twisted the tie to the white ap.r.o.n that covered her uniform and bit her lip. "I didn't do anything wrong . . . why'd you do thata"just leave like that?"

Crow Shadow just closed his eyes. His wolf instincts had rarely failed him.

"Sir Rodney, Sir Rodney!" a garrison guard shouted. "Lower the drawbridge!"

Seelie guards worked quickly to bring the messenger in. The drawbridge hit the ground on the other side of the moat with a thud, and a Unicorn-riding guard look up the missive and swung his steed around to make haste to the castle. Faeries were already on the wind, bringing advance news to rouse the monarch and to get him ready. Rupert rushed around, hurrying behind Sir Rodney with his robe, helping him don it as the front guards opened the door.

The garrison commander dismounted and rushed up the steps, then went down on one knee to hand Sir Rodney the frost-covered missive. It burned his fingers with ice as he peeled it open, his top magic advisors scurrying to greet him in the castle's grand foyer.

"It is from Cerridwen," Garth said. "Be wary, milord."

"It is she who should be wary," Sir Rodney said firmly. "She is up for treason, collaboration with the Vampires against me by aiding in their scheme to embody a felon. This time, the law is on my side and I have invited her to war ... but in a very special way."

"Her ousting from the UCE will most a.s.suredly weaken her power," Garth said cautiously. "And you could overtake her provinces . . . but do you want to stretch your rule as far as Iceland, and to annex an entire court that will begrudge your rule?"

Sir Rodney smiled. "No. I just wanted to spank her a little, old friend."

Garth smiled. "Be careful. . . you two have always played dangerous love games."

"Well, let us see what the lady has to say," Sir Rodney quipped, shaking off the cold and unfurling Queen Cerridwen's parchment. But after a moment his smile faded and his arm slowly lowered to his side.

"Milord?" Garth said, causing the other advisors to come in closer.

"She apologized and does not want to war with me, but is agreeing to war beside me as an ally against the Vampires."

"Cerridwen apologized?" Garth said, eyes bulging. "And is agreeing to an alliance?"

"Yes," Sir Rodney said, clearly shocked. "She wants to reunite in an alliance against the Vampires, and I was only being facetious when I made the offer." He walked away a bit, running his fingers through his hair. "Then it is true . . . she was innocent and had been manipulated by the Vampires." Sir Rodney shook his head. "That old b.a.s.t.a.r.d will rue the day that he crossed Cerridwen. Even with immortality, he can not outlast her hatred of being made a fool."

Hunter opened his eyes and tried to sit up, but Silver Hawk gently touched his chest to make him lie back down.

"Easy, son," Silver Hawk said in a quiet voice. "There is a time to war and a time to heal. Now is the time to heal."

Hunter lay back with a wince, but his gaze searched the room.