Page 45 of Wild Wolf

“Or training. In that, we’re the same. I value the skills more than having to use the skills, but I will use them because I must.” Amber glanced at the side mirror. “They really are waging a little war over who is going in which vehicle, aren’t they?”

Nicolina led the general charge, and I could make a guess as to what had riled the woman up. “I bet Nicolina is upset that pretty gown has no place in my truck, and you’re in my truck, so she wants to ride in my truck.”

“That woman will drive me insane one of these days.”

“She loves you.”

“That she does, but I can handle a single ride in a truck without her supervision.”

I chuckled at the thought of Nicolina trying to protect Amber from me of all people. “Don’t you know the big bad wolf might get you, Amber?”

“But will I get more brownies?”

“Brownies are a guarantee, but I will charge one square per batch, as I like my brownies, too.”

“That seems fair. I’m high maintenance, by the way. I need to go to the range often. If I don’t go to the range, my guns get lonely, and I develop this urge to remind people I’m a good shot by drawing pictures in the walls using rubber rounds. They’re more satisfying than blanks, and the rubber rounds can be lethal for humans, but won’t take out even a young Fenerec. They’re excellent for discipline. They hurt enough the Fenerec feel it, but not so hard it does lasting harm.”

“But what if you hit them in the eye?”

“They take longer to heal, but unlike Normals, a Fenerec can heal even their eyes.”

“That’s pretty impressive.”

“It really is. But becoming a Fenerec comes with a price, too.”

“Well, when you have someone else living in your head with you, you can’t really be quite as selfish as you might like. The wolf matters, too.” I still wondered how others handled their wolves. I enjoyed the general sense of harmony I shared with my wolf. “But I’ve figured out I’m more of an exception, aren’t I? That it’s not very likely I’ll be like that wolf killing people here.”

“That’s right. That’s part of what we’ll be negotiating with the Russians here. They have a serious problem, and they need to fix it before the entire supernatural community is exposed. Richard said it best on the way here. We’re standing on the edge of midnight, and when the clock ticks over, everything will change. All because of a single wild wolf—or so the locals claim. Frankly, I don’t know if a wild wolf is the real problem here.”

“Isn’t the solution to just take care of the wild wolf if the wild wolf is the problem?”

“I don’t think it’ll be that easy. I think there are too many people here who know—and Richard’s been warned by China that the knowledge has also spread to Heihe, but the Chinese know better than to talk about it. But the Chinese are worried it’s a matter of time before the violence here spreads across the river, and if it does become commonplace in China, the world will know soon enough.”

“This is one big mess, isn’t it?”

“It really is. Don’t look so worried, Declan. It’ll be all right, no matter what happens. I don’t think it’s a bad thing we’ve come to this. We would be discovered eventually, and because we’re being forced to stand at the edge of midnight, we have a chance to reveal the truth on our terms, rather than someone else’s. We’ve been given a chance to prepare, and that’s a good thing.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“Me, too.”

Chapter Ten

Richard led the general charge, driving an SUV over the rough road connecting my cabin to Blagoveshchensk. Twenty minutes outside of town, we pulled over, and Richard stepped out of his vehicle to place a call. Everyone else took that as their cue to get out and stretch their legs.

Amber cracked open an eye and yawned, and to my relief, she didn’t look like she was ready to throw out her guts again.

From what the others had said, I’d expected her to be sick for longer, but I figured Amber’s new wolf didn’t have that much to work with, so perhaps the transition was easier for the emaciated woman. “Enlighten me. Why did he get out if everyone else followed him? Wasn’t the purpose of getting out to have privacy?”

“According to him, the reception is better outside of the SUV. If he’s not even in the vehicle, there is no way for him to crash the vehicle while on the phone. Nicolina is a crash magnet, so he now takes every precaution under the sun to keep from becoming just like her.”

“She’s a crash magnet?”

“It’s hilarious. What can go wrong will go wrong with her. Accidents just happen around her. Sometimes, she’s the driver, though when she has an accident and she’s the driver, it’s usually because she’s in a high-stress, bad situation. Have her father tell you about the van she crashed sometime. Richard still gets upset, as some stupid, ignorant puppies kidnapped her, thinking she was her twin. In a way, because of that incident, Richard and Nicolina ultimately mated, but he doesn’t like remembering it, so ask her father. Her father’s just ridiculously proud of his daughter and will tell you all about her youthful exploits—especially now that he knows she’d been doing half of them to court Richard. Sometimes, the accidents are intentional. Sanders had a truck almost as bad as yours, and she charged a baseball bat with electricity and threw it at Richard, missing him and hitting the truck. She fried every component in the truck, thus forcing Sanders to get a new truck. She then tricked him and paid the truck off in full and invested the money he’d spent on the truck.”

“Friendship with Nicolina seems to be rather perilous.”

“But fun. Sanders loves his new truck. I expect Dante will take over being her witch, especially since he’s one of the few witches who can reliably handle Richard. Richard has some serious stability problems, although his submissive nature means he can run wild for a while and recover. He’d been forced into an Alpha role to protect his little brother when he was fairly young. It put him in a unique position, but he’s naturally submissive, and he’s happiest when he doesn’t have to pretend he’s an Alpha. The packs with Omegas have started making a point of inviting Richard for visits because it helps stabilize him. Richard is submissive enough he’s usually bottom rung, and an Omega is able to cater to those tendencies.”