Page 13 of Wild Wolf

“I don’t know how to do what you want me to do,” I warned him.

“Desmond can teach you, so can Richard or Nicolina. Hell, Amber has seen it often enough she can guide you as needed, too. I’ll make sure Amber comes along, even if I have to cheat.”

“You are in a hurry.”

“I cheated, and I’ve seen her medical report.”

Crap. “How bad is it?”

“It’s bad. It’s nothing the ritual can’t resolve given some time, but she’s running out of it, and the current rules have our hands tied. Elliot wants to authorize the ritual for her through traditional venues, but we just don’t have a rule for saving a witch from old age after a lifetime of service.”

“That’s pretty fucking stupid.”

“That’s where you come in. You’re young, you’re very methodical, and you’ve shown interest. Having her as your mate is not at all a requirement, but my brother can use a loophole; you can’t court her if she’s dead, and you’re as valuable as she is. And you two teamed up? You’d be a great pair. She doesn’t scare you. You don’t scare her. That’s important.”

No, Amber didn’t scare me at all. She made my wolf drool rather like a love-sick puppy, and I held some responsibility for our general interest in the woman. “I want to watch her in action,” I complained.

“I’m not bringing six SEALs to Russia so Amber can beat them up for you, Declan. That said, there are videos of her in action, and I’ll bring them with us. It will probably take us two days to reach you. Getting to that part of Russia can be problematic, so we’ll need some time.”

It’d taken me a lot longer than two days to make it to Blagoveshchensk. I could wait two days—and two days would give me enough time to think about the consequences of meeting back up with Desmond and his family. “Anything I should do to prepare?”

“No running.”

I snorted at that, wondering if Dante had developed the ability to read minds. “You have to give me some credit. I’m good at that.”

“Good? You’re incredible. Expect Desmond to want to leash you to him, and he’s not going to wait long before bringing you into his pack. He’s already secured Lane and Anthony, as he wanted to make sure your wolf was happy as soon as we found you. And no, we’re not angry. You did what was necessary, but Desmond figured you and your wolf needed space after what had happened. We didn’t look hard for survivors, though. We confirmed your friends had died, but we weren’t able to do anything about it.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“Well, it is. They wanted us, and we’d brought them straight to that mountain. It is our fault, however much I wish that was not the case.”

I sighed. “And ultimately, it’s my fault, because I brought you there.”

“We can wallow with some good Russian vodka soon. Is there a number I can reach you at?”

“Not really, but I guess call this phone. Grigorij Jakovlevich Maslov owns it.” I glanced at the other werewolf. “Do you speak English?” I asked in Russian.

“Some, but my English is worse than your Russian.”

It would do. “Grigorij Jakovlevich Maslov speaks some English, but you may wish to bring a translator to help.”

“I’m impressed you speak Russian at all,” Dante admitted. “We’ll make sure someone with our group can speak Russian.”

“Good idea on the translator, because while I can speak some Russian, I do so badly,” I replied in a wry tone. “Alevtina Petrovna Volkova, one of the local witches, who are called ved’ma here, wishes I would never speak Russian at all.”

The woman scowled at me but said nothing.

“Anything we should be aware of?”

“They use brands here, and the placement of the brands matter. I recommend everyone stick together when you arrive so there are no misunderstandings.”

“Understood. Will you be okay until we arrive?”

“Well, I better be, else Desmond will likely show the Russians why he is such a scary son of bitch, won’t he?”

“One of your companions speaks English, and you wanted to warn him or her. Why?”

I shrugged. “I’d rather there not be a bloodbath because Desmond was offended by the customs here.”