Part 21 (2/2)
”Ready, Jenn?” Holgar asked, coming up behind her. He was wearing a parka with a fur-lined hood. When in human form, werewolves felt the cold. He handed her an Uzi and her Salamancan jacket.
”Your parka's by the door,” he told her. ”Let's go.”
Jenn gave her grandmother one last look, and Gramma Esther nodded.
Please, protect him, Jenn thought, slipping one arm into a sleeve.
And then she walked through a different door.
Jenn and Holgar took one of the monks' SUVs-not a snowmobile, because the weather had turned bitter. They also needed protection in case their meeting with the werewolf pack didn't go as hoped. The snow came down hard, and it was difficult for them to find the little warming hut that the monks had suggested might serve as a place to overnight.
Neither slept. Jenn tried to call the monastery to check on Antonio, but the snow impeded her cell reception. In the morning Holgar drove, and soon they had penetrated deep into a thick forest of frozen white trees, cutting the high beams of the truck. Then the howls began, and Jenn looked out the window. Flashes of light-colored shapes darted through the trees, and the howls grew louder, louder still. She glanced at Holgar.
”No, I'm not sure this is the right thing to do,” he said, as if she'd asked the question aloud. ”But it's nice to know you have faith in me. To come along for my ride.” He quirked a grin at her. ”I can tell what you're thinking. I can read your body language.”
”It must be nice to be a werewolf,” she said, smiling faintly back at him.
”The best.”
The path they carved took them up a steep mountainside, but the tires held. As they angled upward, the light-colored shapes slowed, then gathered on the rise before Jenn and Holgar. Wolves, staring down at them with golden, glowing eyes. Their howls nearly shattered the winds.h.i.+eld, and Jenn reflexively gripped the armrest.
”That's my cue,” Holgar said, setting the emergency brake but leaving the motor running.
”Our cue,” Jenn said, grabbing her Uzi.
”Nej, stay here,” Holgar protested as he looped the strap of his submachine gun over his head.
”Not a chance.”
Jenn's gloved hands were ready to fire off a barrage of ammunition; her snow boots crunched on the snow as she walked toward the wolves. Werewolves, facing her. Six crouched, showing their teeth. Behind them, sitting tall and proud, two more glared steadily at her and Holgar. One was pure black; the larger one was completely white. The alpha pair, she guessed.
Her heartbeat picked up, her body's natural reaction to danger. The first time she had seen a pack like this, the werewolves had been attacking the students and teachers at the Salamancan hunters' academy. One of them had killed Taamir, the only other survivor from Noah's combined Jewish and Muslim fighting band. And in the fracas Holgar had killed the werewolf he'd once been engaged to.
The second time she'd seen a pack, Antonio had saved his traveling companions from them. He had been good.
Or maybe he was just guarding his food supply, a little voice whispered in her head.
A gust of wind smeared ice crystals against her eyes. She raised a glove and wiped them away. Immediately the black wolf lifted its forepaw, as if in greeting.
Holgar said something that sounded Russian. The werewolves s.h.i.+fted very slightly, as if in response. Then the white wolf threw back its head and howled. All the wolves followed its example, including Holgar. Though he was still in human form, the most amazing sound burst from his mouth. It echoed off the mountains, firm and strong. It was beautiful, but it was so loud that Jenn wanted to cover her ears with her hands. Instead she let her head drop backward, and she howled too.
Holgar slid her a glance and grinned as the wolves stopped. Then he took Jenn's hand.
The white wolf whined, and then the black. The others carefully watched, like bodyguards.
”They want to talk to me alone,” Holgar said, letting go of her hand.
”I should go. I'm the alpha,” Jenn argued.
”They know you're my leader, but they also know you're not a werewolf,” Holgar told her. ”They're not used to mixing much with mundane humans. And besides, male werewolves are in charge. There's an alpha pair, but the female's the little woman.”
”Do you think you can . . . ,” she began, wanting to ask him if he would be able to morph into a wolf at will if the need arose. But she also didn't want the pack to know that so far he couldn't make it happen. So she let the question trail off.
”Wait in the truck. Behind the wheel. With your Uzi,” he added meaningfully.
She wanted to argue. Instead she nodded and walked backward, not turning away from the pack. She watched them as cautiously as they watched her.
From the safety of the cab she tracked Holgar as he walked up to the row of wolves, then stepped through a s.p.a.ce between two of them. More golden eyes glowed from the stands of frozen trees. She bit her cheek and touched her Uzi on the pa.s.senger seat as the vehicle exhaust billowed around her like clouds. How big was the pack?
Holgar reached the alpha pair. The black and white wolves turned and headed up the rise, then disappeared among trees and boulders there. Holgar lifted his arm and waved it back and forth for Jenn's benefit. Though he couldn't see her, she waved back.
Four of the remaining six wolves raised their forepaws again. Then they slowly began to advance on Jenn's vehicle.
”Nice wolfies,” she muttered.
As soon as the stately pair of alphas pa.s.sed into the ice forest, they transformed into a man and woman in fighting trim. They were clothed, which astonished Holgar. In his pack you had to dress and undress to keep from ruining your clothes.
The woman's long black hair cascaded down her shoulders, reminding Holgar of Aurora. The man's white hair cupped his jawline.
”We can speak in Russian,” the man said. ”Put down your weapon.”
Reluctantly, Holgar obeyed. Unless he could transform, he was now completely defenseless against this fighting pair.
”I am Radu. This is Viorica,” the man informed him coldly.
The woman slid Radu an irritated look, as if she didn't like him speaking for her. Then she said to Holgar, ”What do you want?”
”You know who we are,” Holgar stated boldly. ”We're the hunters from Salamanca, and-”
”And you took down some of our cousins,” Radu interrupted, narrowing his eyes, venom glowing in them. ”That pack you fought on your way here runs with us.”
”They ran with Lucifer,” Viorica said meaningfully. ”We were not close.”
”Both our packs run with Lucifer,” Radu snapped, not looking at her. Dismissing her. These two were nearly at war with each other.
Radu raised his chin in a challenge to Holgar. ”As you are a lone wolf, I invite you to apply for pack entry. I'll select a young wolf to test you in battle.”
”You know I'm on the other side,” Holgar replied. ”Against Lucifer.”
”The losing side,” Radu shot back.
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