Page 66 of Witchblood

I stared at the giant space for a few minutes, trying to decide what to do. The kitchen seemed to go on indefinitely in both directions. Like a long shotgun kitchen built to feed an army of a couple million. Not an oven in sight. Just tables and sinks, racks of bread on wheels and cabinets with shelves open to cooking utensils.

The room itself smelled like Liam. It was warm and made me sleepy as I stepped inside to examine the space. Plenty of room for all the racks. I shoved the first rack inside, lining it up beside the wall near the door, and breathed in the warm vanilla scent of my mate. Was he here somewhere and I just couldn’t see him? I grabbed the next rack, though it was only a partial, and began to push it into place.

A dizzying rush flowed through me, and I could see Toby sitting at the bottom of my camper stairs, guarding it, head on his paws. Somehow I could tell he was happy. Wolf and man. His thoughts were simple. Just of alpha and alpha’s mate. Home. Safety. He closed his eyes to sleep and I was dropped back into the proofer.

I blinked around me, seeing all the racks a second time. Pieces of the whole, needing a place to rest, to grow and settle. That place was Liam. I examined the room with awe. Was this some sort of dream he was leading?

I moved another rack, then another: Stacy, Leigh, even Korissa. Each one clicked into place and I could feel them. Just a glide over the top of their consciousness. I knew Korissa was worried about her dad. Most of the pack was more worried about the Volkov’s presence in their territory. I touched over Santa Claus, whose real name was Benton, and Marlow. Then there was Carl.

His rack of bread seemed a little over proofed, so I hesitated. If left in the proofer too long it would come out hard and more than a little chewy. Yet I couldn’t leave him out. Once I pushed his rack into place I could feel him too. Awake. Sitting in his truck, watching the camper and the landscape around it with a shotgun in his lap. He was not leaving his alpha to fend for himself. Not even for a few hours of much needed sleep.

Once all the racks were in the proofer I tried to shut the door, only it wouldn’t close. Which meant the racks by the door wouldn’t rise properly or might even flatten. That would leave Toby and a lot of pack vulnerable.

I huffed in frustration, trying to understand what Liam was telling me. I couldn’t feel him like I could feel the others. With each of the pack it had been a full visual roll of emotion and personality. Even members I had yet to meet. But Liam remained elusive, when all I wanted was to feel the connection he was experiencing.

I’d close the door and it would swing open. Packs didn’t work like that. Liam’s pack would have a set bond, with a full ceremony of blood and flesh for pack members to join. There was no reason for the pack bond to stay wide open. Was it because of me? I entered the proofer and tried to close the door behind me. It swung open again.

I stomped out of the room and glared at it again. It was then that I saw another rack off in the distance. In fact, it was so far away, I was shocked that I’d seen it at all. The silver metal finishes on all the shelving made it hard to distinguish that rack from the shelving around it. I raced toward it, heart pounding as I got closer. The loafs on the rack looked over kneaded, mounds of battered dough, left to flatten in the cool breeze of the kitchen.

I reached for the rack, hand grabbing the handle, and was plunged into pain, hunger, exhaustion, and hopelessness. Dylan settled around me. Battered, living, but just barely. Why were they keeping him alive? Dylan seemed to ask me the question as I asked myself.

Where?I demanded from him. But his confusion only told me he wasn’t sure. He was tired. Starving, and half mad with pain. There were horrors in his memory he tried to hide from me, only it made me search them out, pull them forward. Memories of things done to him in the past month. Similar to my own pain, I let the rage swell in me. Felix would not survive this. I’d never killed a man before, but he deserved to die. The whole mess of rogue wolves. Seven in all if Dylan’s memories were correct.

Sean?Dylan asked me through his fog of pain.

“Safe,” I told him. Not sure if he could really hear my words. “He’s ours, you know. Pack. Because he’s yours.” I knew that for a fact because I could feel Liam’s agreement. His hand over mine on the rack, like he too had been searching for his missing loaves only to find a wolf in need of help. It was his guidance I was using to link to all his wolves. His alpha power that let me into Dylan’s mind more deeply than anyone ever had a right to be.

A smile ghosted over Dylan’s face. I could almost see him in the dark. Shoved away from light, restrained with the weight of something heavy and metal. The room stank of blood, piss, and sex.

Keep him safe,Dylan requested. Like he was giving up.

No.

“Don’t you dare give up!” I shouted at him, then looked around like I could see where he was just by examining the walls. Only it was unremarkable. Just a dark room.

Not that it mattered. I couldn’t see where he was, but I couldfeelwhere he was, like a beacon pulsing on a map in tune to his fading heartbeat. We’d found him, only for him to give up as soon as he knew Sean was safe. Not on my watch.

I opened my eyes, not realizing they’d been closed, to find myself back in the camper, staring into Liam’s intense gaze. I leapt free from Liam’s arms, shifting from man to fox, pausing only long enough to shake off the pants, and bolted to the door.

Should have thought ahead. Foxes can’t open doors. Paws don’t work on handles. Dammit. I glanced back at Liam, but he was changing. His shift not as fast or delicate as mine. His was a breaking of bones and reforming of muscle. Painful.

I whined. His pain lingering on the edges of my senses. Dylan’s pulse was far off, but I could feel it and needed to follow it. Only not alone. Wait, that was Liam’s voice in my head.Do not go alone! Wait for me.

I paced. Could have shifted back to human and opened the door while I waited, if I’d thought of it. Only I was too intent on the hunt. Find Dylan, kill the wolves who’d hurt him. I knew the first part was me and Liam, but I was pretty sure the second part was Liam. I’d never killed anyone in my life. Though at that moment the blood lust raged in my gut. It wasn’t even just a wolf thing. Vampires and fey experienced blood lust too. My omega blood had always made me immune. Only now I could feel it tugging at me. An emotion that might have been mine, or might have been Liam’s. I still wasn’t sure if I was feeling him like he was feeling me.

The fire began to build around me as I watched Liam get closer and closer to completing his change from man to wolf. His sleek dark gray coat erupted from his skin, covering the terrifying muscle-coated bones just a moment before it all became too horrific. He was so dark a charcoal color I knew why he’d looked black at night. His coat blended well with shadows. If I hadn’t been filled with blood lust, I might have admired him for a minute or two.

Cold fire lapped at my feet, and I felt larger than my normal fox. Would I fit through the door? I hated the thought of breaking it since it would take longer to reseal the wards afterward.

The door opened. An unfamiliar young man opened the door, with a blanket huddled around him. His hair was a mix of sandy dark blond. He had wide blue eyes, and wore a bewildered expression. He flicked his eyes over me, beyond, until he found Liam, then he stepped back. He held the door open and out of the way.

Toby. Liam told me as his change finished. He shook out his fur, casting off the last lethargy and pain of the change. I felt the young man’s link to the pack at the same time Liam established his identity. Toby lowered his head and his eyes so he wouldn’t accidentally challenge Liam’s wolf. With the wolf at the front, there would be less of the logical and calm man I was coming to crave.

Not that it mattered. Finding Dylan was my focus. Saving him for Liam and for Sean. With Liam changed and ready, I leapt through the doorway and into the light of the morning, sprinting at a speed I’d never imagined possible before.

Chapter 29

Liam raced behind me, the sound of his breathing a warm balm on my soul. Not for one second had he thought to leave me behind, or tell me to wait out the rescue. No, he just wanted to be by my side when we ripped the rogue wolves apart and brought Dylan back into the pack where he belonged.