Amber Flame Read online

  You’re right. Again, I’m sorry. He relaxed beneath her hand.

  That’s better. She felt a powerful affection for him in that moment. She barely knew him in real-time, but it would seem some of her experience in the dreamglide had already started slipping through her blocks. Besides, it was clear he spent his life protecting his pack wolves and she admired him for it. He was a force for good in Savage.

  She added, I’m going to send your friends away. You won’t be able to unseat Sydon until you’re on your feet again and that will require an entire day of healing. Understood?

  She could feel his frustration as he battled within himself. Finally, he ground out a quiet, Understood.

  She shifted a little to face the wolves in the surgery. “Now listen up. Fergus needs time to heal, probably the entire day before he can even shift back to his man-physique. He won’t be able to do anything during these last few hours of the night except to heal himself. I’ll keep him here and I’ll tend to him through the day as well.

  “No one knows he’s in Revel and certainly not that he’s alive. Except the dispatch operator at the Savage Border Patrol, so you might want to have a word with her.”

  Warren nodded. “I’ll take care of it.”

  Mary continued, “Because you’re from a different pack, you won’t have pack-based loyalty to Sydon, so you won’t be breaking any laws by keeping silent about Fergus’s condition. Am I right?”

  “You are,” Warren responded.

  “Good. I want you to head out. But Warren, I’d like you to pull some things together for Fergus since he won’t have anything here to wear once he shifts back. Bring whatever you think he’ll need in the way of clothes. He’ll probably want shaving gear, maybe his weapons. I know that’s important to all you border patrol men.”

  She then gestured to the southern end of the house, down a hall that backed up to the garage. “There’s a side door that I’ll leave open for you, but I’ll expect you to return well before dawn with his stuff.”

  Warren inclined his head. “Yes, Ma’am.”

  Fergus’s voice intruded once more. Mary, tell Warren that if he wants to risk it, I’ve got a stash of weapons in my compound—

  Fergus, knock it off. Your only job is healing right now. And I’m not about to send Warren to your compound with a wolf like Sydon in charge. Get well, then you can go after Sydon yourself.

  Right. Okay.

  Enough talking. But she petted his head.

  She then moved to Alessandro and unhooked the line.

  “You’re sure he doesn’t need more?” Warren asked.

  “His heart is healed, and he’s on the path to recovery. But he needs to be quiet now and not stirred up about his pack. Do you understand?”

  Warren nodded slowly. “I do. I’m distressing him.”

  “Only because he’s anxious about his wolves.”

  “All right then. We’ll head out.”

  Mary watched Warren heave a deep, laden sigh. She could feel the concerned weight in him, the same one Fergus carried for his pack and for Savage. If tonight’s events hadn’t happened, she would never have believed that wolves existed who wanted good things for their territory. She’d thought them all a bunch of wild animals. Literally.

  “Come with me,” she said. “I’ll show you to the side door so that you can bring his things back there when you return.”

  She checked the garage first and was relieved to see that one of the wolves had already lowered the door. She took all three men out through the hall between the garage and her office space. She had a supply room and a small kitchenette as well as two examining rooms on this side of the house.

  As she moved down the hall, time seemed to slow. She had the oddest feeling that her life was about to change in ways she would have never believed possible.

  Warren’s voice disrupted the sensation. “You’ve got a solid set-up here. I’ll bet you see a lot of animals.”

  “I do. It was the one of the few things the alter serum didn’t take from us as humans; we can still enjoy our pets.” She waved a hand straight ahead toward the side door. “My clients and their animals come in through this entrance. I’ll leave the door unlocked for you so that when you come back with Fergus’s things, you can just set the satchel inside the door, lock it then leave.”

  Reaching the door, she pushed it wide for him.

  Warren thanked her for saving Fergus. “You’ve done a tremendous service for Savage tonight, Mary Somers.” He even smiled. “We won’t forget it.”

  With that, Warren and his men moved onto the cement walk, then rose into the air.

  She watched Warren for a long moment. Once he cleared the neighbor’s trees, he headed swiftly toward the southwest, his blond hair flowing behind him like a wave. Within seconds, all three wolves had disappeared from view.

  She closed the door but as promised, left it unlocked. She heard a yelp from the direction of the surgery and ran back to find Fergus’s entire wolf body spasming. She again put force on his neck, using a pressure point that helped him once more to calm down.

  She spoke to him telepathically. You’re okay, wolf, I’m here.

  Her words helped and his entire body relaxed.

  The return to life wouldn’t be simple for Fergus and given what he’d been through, Mary knew she had several rough hours ahead of her.

  CHAPTER TWO

  FERGUS KNEW HE was healing, but each time he rose to a minimal level of consciousness, he felt as though someone had set fire to his veins. He ached all over. His broken ribs made breathing a misery and his head felt like Sydon was still pounding on his skull.

  He remained in wolf form, knowing it wouldn’t be wise to change back to his human shape until he was almost fully healed. His wolf metabolism made healing a faster process.

  If he’d been human, and cared for in a hospital, he would have been pumped full of drugs and kept in a coma. But as an alter wolf, remaining drug-free would speed up the process. And right now he had only one goal: To retake the Gordion Pack as fast as he could.

  So pain it was.

  He tried to control himself, but when the suffering became unbearable, he thrashed and howled out a series of moans.

  Each time, Mary would reach for him and squeeze his paw or put pressure on his neck. Though she didn’t have an essential healing ability as some of the witches did, her touch as well as her presence provided a kind of comfort he doubted anything else could have. Once she made contact, he would focus on her rose-yarrow scent, which triggered a pleasure response in his brain. His nerve pain would in turn settle down enough for him to fall asleep for a brief stretch.

  He had a constant sense that Mary lay next to him, but he didn’t really know where he was. When he’d been in the dreamglide earlier so that he could learn from Warren what had happened with Sydon, the space had been full of mist. Basically, he was still in such a deeply unconscious state that he couldn’t see anything, not even in the dreamglide.

  The table on which he lay was solid and cold, but felt just right for his super-heated wolf body.

  As the hours wore on, he knew when the night passed and dawn came, but little else.

  By the time it was midday, his healing finally began to coalesce. His heart pumped as it should and his bones had straightened and mended. His ribs had been the most problematic, but now he was breathing easily.

  Toward late afternoon, he started thrashing again despite the growing wholeness of his body. This time, his distress had nothing to do with his physical state. Instead, his fears for the Gordion Pack under Sydon’s rule tormented him. He felt a profound, desperate need to return to the compound and protect those he’d cared for during the five years he’d served as alpha.

  As fears for his pack peaked again, the thrashing returned and he howled his agony. He didn’t know how, but he sensed that some of his wolves were being hurt right now, though the sensation felt more fae than wolf.

  He felt Mary’s touch as she once more took
his front paw in her firm grip. You’re safe, Fergus. I’m here.

  What was it about Mary that eased him so completely?

  He settled down quickly and his breathing evened out. He let his fears go with a determination to return to Savage as soon as he could.

  Sometime later, concern for his pack caused him to thrash all over again. Once more, he felt Mary’s touch as she held his paw. “You’re okay, Fergus. Sleep, now. That’s it.”

  He calmed at once, then for the first time finally came to full consciousness. He opened his wolf-eyes and looked at her.

  Her eyes remained closed as she sighed heavily and her hand slid away from his paw.

  He’d worn her out.

  God, she was beautiful. Her skin was like cream, her lips full and kissable, her brows arched. Her nose was straight except for a slight lovely curve near the bridge. He wanted to touch her, but he didn’t want to wake her up. She needed her sleep.

  She lay an arm’s length away from his wolf body on a similar stainless steel table. She had a pillow under her head and was covered in a gray blanket. Maybe she was warm, but she couldn’t have been comfortable.

  He took a deep breath and with a thought transformed back into his human shifter shape, though he remained on his side so he could face her.

  He stayed in the same position for a long time, his gaze fixed to this extraordinary fae woman who had been his lover for the past month and who had now saved his life.

  When he’d seen her for the first time almost five weeks ago, she’d been unconscious since Neal Roche had shot her up with dark flame to subdue her. She’d been lying on a prison cell cot where he’d held her captive.

  At the time, her flowery scent, layered with an edge of sharp yarrow, had put his feet in motion and he’d caught her up in his arms. But the moment he’d held her body against his, he’d howled long and loud. He’d sworn he’d found his mate, yet that seemed impossible. Mary was fae.

  He’d never forget how overwhelmed he’d felt with his arms holding her tight, as though he’d found a treasure he’d been searching for his entire life. But in letting loose with a howl, he’d jeopardized the rescue operation. Despite his screw-up, he’d gotten her out of there anyway and had taken her to an extremely well-guarded safe house in Revel Territory.

  Barely three days after he and Brannick had fought and killed Neal Roche, and long after the worst of the drugs had cleared Mary’s system, Fergus had awakened with his mind full of nothing but Mary. He had a hard-on like few he’d known. He lay in bed, completely naked, shaking with need. He wanted her and needed her. He’d reached the peak of his mate-hunting cycle and every ounce of his being knew she had alpha-mate potential.

  But as he’d focused on her, the strange dreamgliding phenomenon that the alter fae could create, had taken him over. He’d somehow accessed Mary’s essential fae power and all her ability suddenly became his own. Without ever having done it before, he’d given shape to his first dreamglide, something a wolf shouldn’t have been able to do. But he followed his instincts and while reclining in his Savage Territory bed, he’d closed his eyes, fallen into a deep meditation, then fabricated the fae dream-world vehicle.

  Because his thoughts were all for her, the dreamglide took him directly to her bedroom. He’d found her uncovered and sprawled on her stomach. She’d been wearing only a t-shirt. He’d had a view of her ass that still undid him, smooth skin, full shape, kissable and ready for his mouth and tongue. Even now his mouth watered.

  His alpha drive had taken over. He’d been all about the sex, his cock, and getting into her as deep as he could. The part of him that had strangely become fae knew he could make love to her in the dreamglide and that’s exactly what he’d intended. He’d lowered the bizarre dream-world vehicle over her and made a kind of contact that allowed him to enter her dreams. Once he had, he began calling to her telepathically, then slowly seduced her.

  Breaking into her dreams had been highly illegal. She could have taken him to court and had him imprisoned. Instead, she’d all but leaped into his dreamglide and the vehicle took on the exact appearance and shape of her bedroom. She was only a couple of feet away.

  He’d never forget how she stood in front of him, wide-eyed, her breathing high in her chest. She blinked several times as though confused.

  He remembered thinking he needed to introduce himself. “I’m Fergus. I got you out of Roche’s prison cell.”

  She’d nodded and glanced around. “Oh, my God, you built a dreamglide.”

  “I did. But don’t ask me how because I don’t know.”

  She got a funny look on her face and her lips parted. Her gaze moved slowly down his chest and abdomen to finally rest on his erection. Her eyes widened. “You’re a big man, aren’t you?”

  Her words had pleased the hell out of him. He’d slid his hand around his cock, thumbing the broad head for emphasis. “I am.”

  Even then, he’d sensed her openness came from being in the dreamglide and that she wouldn’t be this uninhibited in what the fae called real-time.

  She’d taken off her shirt. The rest became a whirlwind of his body covering hers, his hips moving like wildfire and her moans turning into a series of wolfish howls that had him ejaculating hard.

  Afterward, she’d been more subdued, even shaken. She’d told him she didn’t like wolves and that this could never happen again. She’d gone around the perimeter of the dreamglide and built up what looked like a steel cage, something she called blocks. She’d explained that with the blocks in place she would have no memory of what they’d done.

  She asked him politely to never visit her again in her dreams then she’d kissed him, a slow lingering kiss that told him how torn she was about what they’d just done. He could still feel her lips on his.

  Of course, the next night, he’d been unable to control his need for her and despite her request, he seduced her again in her dreams. Only this time when she’d responded, they’d spent hours together. Though she’d kept the blocks in place over the next few weeks, she’d never again asked him not to come to her.

  As he watched Mary now, exhausted and asleep, he wondered if it was possible she would be capable of bonding with him as his alpha-mate or was he wishing for the moon? After all, Mary was a fae woman. If the female wolves of his pack couldn’t do it, how could she? And would a pack ever accept a woman from another alter species as his bonded mate?

  He checked his internal clock. The hour was well into the late afternoon. Though he still ached and was as stiff as hell, he had to get moving. The safety of his pack called to him and Sydon needed to be sent to perdition.

  He slowly slid off the surgical table. He wore his gladiator briefs, which were bloodstained. He saw a tan leather satchel by the door and recognized the emerald green logo of Warren’s Caldion pack. He sensed in a manner that felt fully fae that it contained clothes for him, toiletries, and hopefully a Glock he could use until he took possession of his own.

  What he’d really like, however, was a skewer and he knew exactly where he’d put it. Damn Sydon to hell.

  Picking up the satchel, he moved into the family room. He saw the familiar three large bird cages near the windows, full of chattering birds. Because of the dreamglides he’d shared with Mary, he knew her home inside and out, though this was the first time he’d been here in real-time.

  She made a habit of rescuing both cats and birds. No dogs, though. Just one beat-up wolf.

  As he headed toward the kitchen opposite, several cats came running up to him. He was surprised given that he was a wolf. But as each meowed and rubbed around his legs, he realized he must have carried enough of Mary’s scent to set them at ease.

  Holding the leather bag away from the cats, he dipped down and petted a couple of them. When one of the cats raced in the direction of the kitchen, then paced in front of a row of five small ceramic purple bowls, he got the hint.

  “You kids hungry?”

  One of them had the intelligence to meow loudly
in response.

  “Okay, I get it. Mary was so busy taking care of me, she didn’t feed you earlier this morning.” All the cats began milling around their obvious feeding area.

  He crossed the room and set his satchel near the hallway that led to the master bedroom and a second bedroom. He’d take care of the cats first and maybe look for something to eat. He was feeling famished, but almost dying would do that to a wolf.

  He went into the kitchen and opened three cans of cat food. He had no idea about the portions, so he began slopping tablespoons into each bowl.

  Several of the cats purred as they chowed down.

  Imagine, a wolf feeding house cats.

  After rinsing the tins and putting them in the recycle bin, he went to the fridge and found a half-gallon of milk. He hunted for a glass, then poured it almost to the brim. He drank it down, then another.

  When he’d poured a third, he moved back to the family room area. He saw the photos still lying on the floor, of Mary with her family. For a moment, he was reminded of his own life with Sharon before coming to Five Bridges.

  Sharon had been happy back then. So had he. He’d built a resort in Sedona that they’d both loved, with a spectacular view of the Mogollon Rim. They’d had money and had even planned on starting a family soon. But one night, fifteen years ago, the wolf alter serum had been injected into their salad dressing, an act of treachery that had put his former business partner in prison for life.

  Once he and Sharon had transformed into alter wolves, they’d been required by law to liquidate their assets and sell off the resort. The U.S. government, by long-experience, knew it was best if alter beings severed business ties to the human community. Fergus understood the wisdom of it. Alter creatures needed to embrace their kind and their world.

  He’d saved their money for the future, however, for the day he’d become alpha. From the moment he and Sharon had been assigned to the Gordion Pack, he knew eventually he’d rise to the top.

  Sharon had wanted him to build them a large home right away, but all his human ambitions had transferred to his alpha drive. He’d told her they would have to wait. He had a goal and one day soon he’d be the alpha of the Gordion Pack then they’d build a beautiful house attached to a massive complex.