Aiden joined her, putting his hands on her shoulders. His touch was absolutely gentle and she felt the warmth of his breath as he lowered his head to whisper into her ear.
“I want you to be happy. I had Kyle bring over Chance so we could ride together. He brought tack and supplies as well.”
Nia continued to stroke her mare’s nose. “Pretty arrogant of you, Mitchell, thinking you’re a real cowboy. I thought you were a wolf.”
“Wolves can be cowboys. And cowgirls, too.” He turned her to face him and his expression made her still. No trace of the usual Mitchell arrogance. Only a flickering of wistful longing, as if he knew what it felt like to be lonely, surrounded by an entire pack who would do anything for you, yet could not do anything for you because of the secrets you hid inside.
Nia reached up and framed his stubbled face with both hands. “Thank you,” she told him.
She needed this male, needed him at her side, needed him deep inside her body in the dark of night.
She must learn to let go. I will, soon. A few more days. Niki said a few days and she’ll have the cure. She’s so close.
But for now, she would indulge in the fantasy that Aiden could be hers forever.
“Prove you are a cowboy, Mitchell. Let’s ride.”
He grinned and picked up both her hands, kissing the palms. “Thought you’d never ask, Blakemore.”
They brought the horses into the barn and saddled them quickly. The tack Kyle had left in the barn was oiled and glistening and sturdy. No more cracked leather bridles, or saddles with frayed straps.
After leading the horses out of the barn, they mounted. Nia admired the way Aiden swung a long, muscled leg over the leather saddle. He looked fine on a horse.
That is one cowboy who knows how to ride, and ride well.
The thought coaxed a fierce blush to her cheeks.
Morning dew layered the thin blades of grass in the pasture. The air was still and quiet as she and Aiden followed the trail in the pasture paralleling the mountain.
As they rode past the split-rail fence dividing the pasture from the dirt roadway, she glanced at him. In his black cowboy hat, tight jeans, and checked shirt, Aiden made a rugged and handsome cowboy, as if the ranch had always been his home.
Suddenly he stopped the stallion and shifted his weight in the saddle. With the slightest pressure on Windstorm’s flanks with her knees, Nia halted her mare.
“Do you feel it?” he asked. “Something isn’t right. The air is too… quiet.”
Nia looked around. Little hairs on her nape saluted the air. Though it was chilly, the breeze usually sweeping down from the mountains wasn’t present.
Tension knotted her stomach. Nia gazed around, looking for signs of disturbance.
“No wind. No birds, wildlife. Everything is too… still,” he mused. “And that smell… it smells like burnt rubber and acid. Something metallic.”
“Blood,” she said, stricken. “The blood of everything it scourges.”
She whipped her cell phone out from her jeans pocket and dialed the lodge. When Roxanne answered, she barked out an order, her voice crisp with fear. “Secure all quarters. Get everyone inside and bar the doors. Storm warning, level one.”
Fear tinged her beta’s voice. “I was going call you. Rickie is missing. His mother went to his room to take him with her to the Mitchell Ranch and he was gone.”
Terror snaked down Nia’s spine. Rickie. One of the two young boys who would soon experience the first shift into wolf.
Her wild gaze swept over the pasture, her wolf howling at the silent menace churning in the distance. “Since when?”
“This morning. His mama told me he’d left a note. He’s run away.” Roxanne lowered his voice. “His birthday is next week. He’s so scared he’ll die next and he didn’t want to go to a strange new home at the Mitchell Ranch.”
“I’ll find him,” Nia promised. She thumbed off the cell, her heart hammering in her chest. Damn it, she’d been too absorbed in the challenge and other affairs. She should have seen this coming. Poor Rickie, the oldest male in the pack…
“We have to get to shelter before the storm hits. But Rickie, one of our young, is missing. He could be anywhere. I have to find him,” she told Aiden.
He gave her a level look. “Storms in Montana this time of year? What the hell is going on, Niki?”
“It doesn’t matter. Rickie’s gone. He’s only 12, almost 13. If he’s caught out in this…” She drew in a trembling breath. “He’s my responsibility. I have to find him.”
Aiden slid off his horse. “I’m a damn fine tracker.”
Then he gave her another level look. “We’ll find him. But later, damn it, I want answers.”
Later, fine. She could deal with later, had been dealing with it her entire life. Nia jumped off Windstorm, tugged on the reins as Aiden shifted into wolf.
As she led the two horses, she followed the big timber wolf. His nose pressed to the ground, he sniffed the dry earth, the withering grasses, for some trace of the boy’s scent.
And then he lifted his head, his ears pointed forward. Aiden released a low howl. The eerie cry sent a shiver down her spine.
He bounded off for the forest. She tied Chance’s reins to her mare’s saddle, and then leapt back upon Windstorm and followed.
True to his word, Aiden proved to be an excellent tracker. In fact, he made her strongest trackers look as if they had the noses of Skins. After a chase of about two miles, Aiden raced over the pasture, into the woods, and began to howl, pawing at a patch of brush.
Nia recognized Rickie’s sweet vanilla scent of childhood, mingled with something sharper, and the sour stench of fear. She dismounted and let the reins drop.
Aiden lowered his head and whined, wagging his tail. She recognized the almost submissive pose of the wolf; indeed, she had done the same when dealing with terrified young who thought they were about to get punished. Silently thanking him, she called out softly.
“Rickie, honey, it’s me, and Aiden. We were looking for you. We won’t hurt you. You’re not in trouble. Come out.”
A young boy, dressed in a worn sheepskin jacket, sneakers and faded jeans, emerged from the undergrowth, straps of a bulging backpack upon his thin shoulders. Aiden loped forward and rubbed his muzzle against the boy’s thigh. With a trembling hand, Rickie touched the big wolf’s head.
“Rickie!” Nia ran forward, sweeping the boy into a tight hug. She looked down at his pale, freckled face. “What the hell were you thinking?”
His mouth wobbled. “I don’t want to die, Aunt Niki.”
“Rickie…”
“Not like Timmy did. We celebrated his birthday and six weeks later, he was dead. I don’t want to die!” He fisted his hands and his body shook.
For the first time she noticed the peach fuzz on his cheeks, and how his once-thin shoulders had taken on bulk. A rill of fear stroked her spine.
“Rickie, did you experience your first shift into wolf?”
He looked away with a guilty expression. Nia bit back a moan. Oh gods. He was now at risk of becoming infected with parvolupus.
“Why didn’t you tell me? Your mother?”
Rickie’s haunted gaze met hers. “Mom’s been so worried about me, I couldn’t tell her. I tried to stop it, I did. But I had to do it. That’s why I ran away. I didn’t want anyone else to know…I am now fully Lupine.”
She soothed him, stroking his hair, feeling guilt and regret spear her insides. My fault. I should have taken them all off the ranch, should have done something…
Aiden looked at her, and even as wolf, she could read his expression. Forget it. The kid comes first.
Then he rubbed his muzzle against the child again, as if marking him. Aiden lifted his head to Rickie and licked his hand.
Rickie touched him, fear evaporating from his expression. “He’s a big guy. Alpha.”
Hearing the awe in his voice, she smiled. “Rickie Turner, meet Aiden Mitchell in wolf form.�
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Rickie rubbed Aiden’s head and the alpha wagged his tail. Totally non-threatening, his manner cool and calm. Her own pulse slowed a little. Aiden was a good male. Good with children.
He’d make beautiful babies.
Nia fished out her cell phone and called the lodge, ordering her beta to tell Rickie’s mother he’d been found and he was safe.
She glanced covertly at the timber wolf and the boy rubbing his ears and lowered her voice. “I’m headed for the cabin. We’ll be safe there and spend the night. Secure the quarters and make damn sure to clean up after the storm hits. I don’t want to scare Rickie further. Poor kid’s terrified enough.”
As she hung up, Aiden loped over to a nearby tree and lifted his leg. She could almost be amused at his territorial gesture. “Please, Mitchell. Must you?”
Aiden turned with a wolfish smile. Oh yeah, she could read in that smile. Around you, I always have to mark my territory.
“I haven’t seen a real alpha male in years.” Rickie held out his hand to Aiden, who licked it again.
She smiled. But now was not the time to make friends. “We have to go, sweetie. Your mom is really worried about you.”
Then she heard a distant wailing, like a banshee.
“We have to get to shelter. Any kind of shelter.” Nia whipped her head around, gauging her bearings. “There’s a cabin nearby. It’s stocked with winter provisions. But we have to hurry.”
Aiden shifted back to Skin and conjured clothing. Well over six feet, he looked down at Rickie, who suddenly backed away, his expression filled with wonder.
The alpha ruffled the boy’s head. “Come on, Rickie. Let’s do what your Aunt Niki says.”
They ran for the horses. Rickie looked up at Aiden. “Can I ride with you?”
Without words, Aiden lifted him up into the saddle, then swung up behind him. Nia mounted Windstorm.
“The cabin is about quarter of a mile north. Follow me!” She dug her heels into her mare’s flanks.
She took off at a gallop, hearing him close the distance behind her. Nia gulped down fear as they rode. The winds seemed far away, kicking up fallen leaves and dust on the horizon. Miniature tornadoes swirled and bounced in the distance.
Now the sounds echoed over the sweeping pasture, and she could see the wind.
Swirling colors of purple, magenta, and deep indigo smoke swept through the dry grasses. Beyond the pasture, she heard an eerie, distant cry, haunting as a train whistle echoing through the mountain. Terrifying as the approach of a tornado.
And much deadlier.
The second joy of the curse. The Banshee Winds, magick winds that carried the strains of the disease and spread it like dandelion wisps floating through the air.
Nia spotted the cabin with its adjacent stable large enough to accommodate four horses. She’d ensured it would withstand the weather when she’d had the cabin wired for electricity and built the stable.
After losing her male cousin to the Banshee Winds, she never wanted anyone to be caught out here without protection.
“Hurry,” she cried out, pulling Windstorm to a halt and jumping off.
But Rickie had already slid off Chance and grabbed the stallion’s reins. “We have to take care of the horses!” he screamed.
Aiden slid off his mount and let Rickie run toward the barn as Nia followed, her heart pounding hard. She could taste the metallic stench of blood in the air that heralded the magick winds arrival, sense the whirling, sharpened pieces of obsidian rock embedded into the winds eager to scrape and cut and hurt. If they were caught outside, she would bleed.
But Aiden would die and Rickie would sicken and eventually die as well.
Aiden opened the barn door as Rickie led his stallion inside and Nia followed. They stabled the horses and ran outside. Nia closed the door firmly. The Banshee Winds hadn’t affected the livestock, but with the new mutation affecting the wildlife, she wasn’t taking chances.
A low howl cut the air, making them both wince.
“What the hell is it?” Aiden demanded.
Nia grabbed Rickie’s hand. The boy practically tugged her toward the cabin.
“Come on, come on, let’s go!” he screamed.
Aiden didn’t ask another question. Instead, he herded them toward the cabin. The eerie howling grew closer, stabbing her sensitive Lupine eardrums like knives. Warmth trickled down her cheeks. Her ears bled from the horrible wind’s high-pitched squeals.
They reached the cabin, but she could feel the wind at her back, know it had come for her, would make her hurt.
Rickie tripped and fell. The wind was nearly upon him, and it would cut him until he died.
Terror lodged in her throat and for a moment she could not breathe. If she died, so be it, but Rickie was young and he needed to live. Deserved to live.
“Aiden,” she screamed, her voice high and reedy. “Help him!”
Aiden picked the boy up, flung open the door and threw Rickie inside. Mitchell understood. The welfare of the children always came first. Always.
Then he turned, grabbed her by the waist and pushed her inside as the wind battered him. Aiden raced into the cabin, slammed the door as the wind hit it with a furious howl. He leaned against it, struggling to keep it closed.
Nia pressed her weight against it as well, and slammed the thick oak bar down in place. Aiden straightened, narrowing his eyes as he quickly scanned the cabin, as if assessing it for danger.
“The windows,” he began. “We should shutter them.”
“We’re safe now.” She braced her hands on her knees, panting. “The winds can’t touch us here because they can’t sense us. The windows are strong.”
The cabin had a living room with a fireplace and a faded sofa set before it. Rickie perched on the sofa, shaking, his hands wrapped around his middle.
He was crying, and trying hard to hide it.
The children came first. She went over to join him as the sky darkened to indigo and the winds pushed with shrieking force at the cabin.
“You’re okay, sweetie. You’re safe.”
Rickie pulled away, his lower lip jutting out as he hung his head. She understood, could feel the shame radiating from him. Dear gods, the kid was only 12 and he was ashamed of being afraid of losing his life.
No child should have to harbor fear like that.
She pointed to Rickie. Aiden sat next to him, giving him a solemn look. “You okay, big guy?”
Rickie managed a nod.
Aiden released a deep breath. “Glad you’re holding it together, because I was damn scared.”
The boy glanced up, his dark eyes wet. “You were? But you’re alpha.”
“Being an alpha doesn’t mean I don’t get scared, especially of magick I can’t control. It means I have to work harder at overcoming my fear, and at doing the right thing.” Aiden gave him a solemn look and scrubbed a hand over the dark stubble on his face. “You’d make a good alpha.”
Rickie narrowed his eyes. “Yeah, right.”
But Aiden nodded.
“Alphas have to look after pack, and on a ranch, it means looking after the livestock. That was some quick thinking, telling us to stable the horses first. You’re a good cowhand.”
Rickie beamed at the praise. He’d stopped shaking. “Really?”
“Really. First rule of the ranch is see to the livestock. You did well.”
“You guys want to make a fire?” Nia suggested. She left them doing so and talking as she went into the tiny kitchen and opened a cupboard door. There was only canned food, but all of it safe to eat. She’d warm stew for dinner and they’d bunk down here.
They would not take chances outside, and risk exposing Aiden and Rickie to the punishing force of the winds.
She poked her head out the kitchen. “There are several cans of stew in the pantry. I’m starting dinner.”
Aiden glanced at the window. “We’ll stay here for the night. When the winds die down, I’ll call Garth and let him know we’re
safe.”
“Not necessary. I already told Roxanne we’re here for the night.”
Aiden smiled at Rickie. “Stay by the fire a minute, son. I’ll be right back. Have to have a little chat with your aunt Niki.”
Nia’s heart raced as Aiden joined her in the kitchen, his massive body taking up all the space in the tiny room. He leaned against the counter and folded his arms.
“Level with me, Niki. I want to know what the hell is going on around here. Now.”
CHAPTER 11
She had survived so much in her 25 years. Nia wondered how she would survive this interrogation by Aiden Mitchell, one of the most feared and ruthless alphas in the west.
She decided to tell a partial truth.
“The Banshee Winds are one reason this ranch has suffered financial ruin. They started about a year ago, and have grown progressively worse.”
Aiden didn’t even blink. “I’ve never heard of such winds. Not in Montana or anywhere else.”
“That’s because they’re confined to a specific geographic area.” She fished in the refrigerator for a bottle of water and uncapped it, drinking deeply. Sighing, she set down the bottle. “My ranch.”
Aiden picked up the bottle, put his lips over it. Such a firm, warm mouth. She watched as he drank, his strong throat muscles working. Aiden finished the bottle and then he wiped his mouth with the back of one hand and tossed the empty into the trash. “Go on.”
“The winds are attracted to places filled with magick and are like a weather system. In the right atmospheric conditions, in this case, the right conditions filled with magick, they converge.”
Nia bit her lip to prevent it from wobbling. “They appear when male Lupines have just experienced their first shift, for those males have the new, powerful magick of their wolves. The winds killed my cousin Ivan shortly after his first change.”
His expression softened. “I’m sorry, pixie.”
Nia stared at the darkened window, willing herself to remain strong. Gods, how many times had she refrained from grieving because she had to be strong for her people, for the pack’s children, and be the leader everyone thought she was?