Page 38 of Heart of a Dire Wolf
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Nic stood behind Skyla in the entryway of the storehouse, arms wrapped around her, as they watched the aftermath and cleanup operations. More returning natives made Fort LeBlanc seem alive again. And muddy, because the morning sun had also brought the promise of a pleasant fall day, and melting snow made a sloppy mess of old dirt and gravel paths.
Neither the wizards nor their mercenaries had proved to be a match for the combined might and magic of two pissed-off sanctuary towns. Nic was happy to stay in Fort LeBlanc and defend if needed, rather than take the fight to the enemy. He had nothing to prove, and every reason to stay near his beloved mate.
Tad and Verna, the snow owl shifters, had stayed in town, too, and shared more history. The three town elder elves, Dirosha, Fuldar, and Grafit, were once diplomats for their respective tribes. They had each argued for a peaceful alliance between the ancients but were ignored or exiled for their trouble. They banded together to approach the polar fairies on their own. Bald, irritable Rorabek, a high-placed fairy commander at the time, scandalously fell in love with Dirosha, and she with him. The elves might have succeeded in their self-appointed mission, but for treachery in the polar fairy leadership.
M’Tima, a mysterious, more-than-human ambassador in the fairy demesne, and a magister of great power and compassion, gave them a map and helped them flee. She arrived within days and contributed magic to create the glade and build the sanctuary. She died of injuries sustained during her own escape, which she hid from the others until it was too late to save her.
Tinsel arrived and contributed her skills and magic but didn’t stay.
At first, the elders welcomed anyone, regardless of species, as long as they held peace in their hearts and contributed to the community. Tad and Verna, whose human aspect showed their First Nations heritage, were the first shifters who stayed. They liked being in a town where they didn’t have to hide who they were, and the government authorities wouldn’t bother them.
Ortesse, the human mirror mage, came later. She’d escaped slavery in the American south and found Fort LeBlanc using her magic. Her skills were so useful, the elves made her part of the glade, which extended her life indefinitely. She’d come up with the idea to disguise the town as a French military fort.
“Why did you leave?” ask Nic.
“Politics,” said Verna. “Some of the newer residents wanted to seal the borders and turn away all comers, like elves did way back when, before human settlements overwhelmed them, or make it an invitation-only fairy demesne.”
Tad shrugged. “That wasn’t where we wanted to raise our children.”
“I don’t blame you,” said Skyla. “Kind’a ruins the whole point of sanctuary. And having friends.”
Nic agreed, especially after seeing family-friendly Kotoyeesinay.
Now he and Skyla were waiting their turn to go through the portal to Kotoyeesinay and return all their borrowed equipment, then fall into bed. They’d both had enough excitement for a while.
“You! Crows!” barked Rorabek in battlefield volume. “Get those snowmobiles in line!”
“Race ya!” shouted one of the Mackenzies to another. All five snowmobiles veered north, the opposite direction of the equipment staging area.
Nic chuckled. Rorabek’s skills had been very useful in organizing the capture of the tough-hided, tusked kreshicks, who had quickly abandoned the wizard’s lost cause and scattered, but he had a lot to learn about handling modern shifter generations.
Meanwhile, several of the elves from both towns worked with Ortesse and Moira to back-trace the wizard’s portal before destroying it. They shared the information with the Wizard Imperium’s representative, who promised to take action immediately. Nic was skeptical. The auction house had obviously operated for years with impunity.
He dropped his head to inhale a slow breath of his mate’s sweet scent, hidden under the smells of dirt, sweat, and pine resin. Her warmth and the contentment of the mate bond soothed him and his irascible tiger like nothing else. It took him a moment to figure out what was missing. “You haven’t restored your maned-wolf illusion.”
A two-meter-tall kreshick hissed and snapped her sharp teeth at the two orange-eyed, white-furred forest giants, former residents of Fort LeBlanc, who were force-walking her toward the fairy portal for the Wizard Imperium’s holding cells.
She twitched one shoulder. “I’m not scary here.”
Nic tightened his arms around her, wishing he could magically soothe all the hurts she’d absorbed for being different. “What do you want to do first?”
“Soak in that hot tub you promised me last night. Or was that in the afternoon? Dammit, I’m losing track of the days again.”
“I know what you mean. Too many events crammed into too little time.” He dropped his head to nuzzle her hair again. “I actually meant after we spend a week or two holed up at Tinsel’s, taking care of our life-threatening deficiency in Vitamin Sex.”
“If you don’t have your health...” Her bright tone made him laugh.
She leaned back into his embrace. “I don’t know. I’m not the same person who got kidnapped off the L.A. streets five weeks ago. Six weeks. Whenever. I don’t think I’ll fit into any of my old plans. I should probably defend my dissertation, because it took four years of my life, but if the committee doesn’t like it, they can kiss my ass. I’ll have to clean up after my unexpected disappearance and figure out what to do about Rayne’s estate and the family trust. After that, who knows?” She turned to put her arms around his neck. “What about you?”
“My life’s course has mostly been set by what I didn’t want.” He clasped his fingers together behind her. “I didn’t want to be the only predator in a big herbivore clan. I didn’t want to be a fighter. A team player. An office job. Being a leader, or working for one.” He shook his head. “Thinking you’re about to die every day has a way of clarifying things. During lights out, when I smelled your scent, I started thinking about what Idowant. A home with my mate. Community. Friends. Someday, children. Everything else will sort itself out. First, though, I want to check on the bobcat boys. Not that I want to be within a thousand miles of the auction house, but I promised.” He made a disgusted sound. “I don’t trust anyone else to do it. That Shifter Tribunal woman just kept saying ‘no comment’ or ‘not my department’ when she took custody of the hyenas.”
“I hope most of the shifter prisoners got far away. When I was getting ready to blow the cell doors, I told them to stick together and help each other. I hope they listened.”
“That was you, opening the doors? He smiled. He’d won the clever-mate lottery. “How did you talk to the shifters through all that suppressor magic?”
“Whoever designed the spells forgot about broader shifter hearing ranges. I created a message spell that played in sub- and ultrasonic, then sent it to random cells, so it’d look like a glitch. The earthquake moved up my timetable.”
