Devi: Matefinder Book 2 (16 page)

                A little while later, I was awoken by the smell of food. My mouth watered. We never got to eat at the diner. It was pitch black outside. I left Luna inside her room and went out into the kitchen. Kai’s mom was cooking homemade Indian food.

                “It smells amazing in here.” 

                Diya, Jai, Akash, and Raj were sitting at the kitchen table talking excitedly. Raj wore a huge grin and Akash was patting Diya’s belly.

                “My only daughter is pregnant! We are going to celebrate,” Raj told me.

                Jai rolled his eyes behind his father and I smiled weakly.

                Maya left a simmering pot on the stove and came over to me. She kept her voice low. “Kai came while you were sleeping, said to tell you he was sorry for getting upset. He went to help Shamus find Tara.”

                “What do you mean? Tara is lost? Shamus was right behind her?”

                Maya nodded. “Tara is a changed wolf. Her gift is similar to a chameleon. She can blend in with her surroundings. She can stay hidden for weeks if she wants to.”

                Oh no. “Max?” I was afraid to ask.

                Maya looked sad. “Kai and Max have been best friends a long time. I don’t think this will break that.”

                “Okay, but did Kai catch up to him? What happened? How long was I asleep?”

                Maya gave me a sad look. “Max is still rogue, he asked Kai to leave him alone. You were asleep only a half hour or so.”

                Dammit! Max was Kai’s best man. He had to be at our wedding. It wasn’t going to feel right if he wasn’t there.

                “Well, you guys enjoy your celebration dinner. I’m going to go see Sylvia about something,” I lied.

                Maya looked at me with concern. “On the night before your wedding?”

                I nodded and left before she could interrogate me or pick up on my emotions. Her gift of reading people would work against me. I grabbed my pendulum and car keys and got in my car.

                I wasn’t going to Sylvia’s. I drove my car a few minutes away from the cluster of pack houses and pulled over. I opened the glove box and pulled out a map of the state of Oregon. I positioned my pendulum over the map and took a cleansing breath. Finder spells were simple and I had already done a few with Sylvia.

                “Spirit, our friend Max has run away. Show me his location, so I may find him today.” I was impressed at how easy the rhyming thing came to me. The pendulum was swinging wildly and then quickly stilled over an area. Sandy Ridge Cemetery.

                Okay. …

                I put the car in drive and made my way there.

                I got lost twice but finally found it. Sandy Ridge Cemetery was across from a large family farm. It was a wide open flat land with clumps of trees that I could barely make out in the dark night. Being at a cemetery in the dark was totally creepy, but I could make out Max’s human form. I locked the car and approached him with caution. He was naked save for a torn pair of jean shorts that he must have swiped from the farm next door. His back was to me and he was bent over a gravestone.

                I didn’t try to sneak up on him. I walked loudly, my feet crunching on the rocks to give him warning. He would have smelled me already. It killed me that he smelled rogue. No! He was ours.

                “I would rather have lived my entire life alone than to have met her and had her taken away like she was.” His voice sounded hollow.

                I was close enough to touch him. I looked down at the stone. There was an adult wolf and a small wolf cub engraved on the head stone, a light shown on the writing. Melissa McAlister.
Mother, Mate, Best friend.
Underneath that said,
Infant, loved and lost too soon.

                Tears rolled down my cheeks. “Max, listen. I’m so sorry. Just forget about what I said. Come home. I won’t have this wedding without you there. We don’t ever have to talk about Tara again.”

                He turned to face me. His eyes were glossy and red. His expression looked lost. Max was a big, strong, guy. To see him crying was hard.

                “I can’t forget.” He stated plainly.

                I sighed. “I can’t help what I see, my visions.”

                He nodded. “I know, and you know what’s crazy?”

                “What?” I asked cautiously.

                “Tara smells like goddamn vanilla and mint,” he admitted throwing his hands up and kicking the dirt.

                My heart raced. Did that mean he believed me?

                “Well, maybe you could use that smell to find her,” I joked.

                Concern etched into his face. “Find her?”

                “Oh, yeah. She went missing after the–”

                Max ran his trembling hands through his hair. “Shamus should be able to find her.”

                “Yeah,” I agreed, “except that she has some chameleon power and can stay hidden as long as she wants.” An unmated female on the loose was not good.

                Max took one long look at the grave stone. He caressed the etched wolves.

                “Let’s go. I’ll help you find her.” He walked to my car.

                I looked at the grave stone and then to Max walking away. If the tables were turned and it was Kai … I couldn’t imagine.

                Max and I pulled up to the house ready to help the hunting party find Tara. Instead we found Raj and Alexa. Her hands were tied behind her back. She was face down on the steps of our front porch. The porch light cast eerie shadows of their figures on the house. I threw the car in park and burst out of it.

                “Cut her loose right now, Raj! She’s a friend,” I screamed.

                Raj looked at me with a dominating gaze. “She’s a human that was sneaking on to the property at ten o’clock at night. She said she is ex RAIDOS and knows of our kind. Was I supposed it invite her in for Chai?” His voice was firm. I shifted my hand into a werewolf paw and clawed her binds loose, helping her up.

                I faced my soon-to-be father-in-law. “She’s a friend of the pack and the reason your daughter now has silver immunity. I’m second in command which means I’m in charge while Kai is away.” I loved him, but he could be a pain in the ass sometimes.

                He shrugged. “I was unaware of the human friends you keep.”

                Alexa looked at me, rubbing her wrists. “They found me, I barely got away. I can’t protect myself like this. I’m sorry. I don’t see how there is any other way.” She gestured to her body. Her hands and voice shook.

                I could see her arm was bleeding at the shoulder. Bullet wound.

                “Protect yourself like what? Get the pack doctor!” I shouted at Max, who took off running. Raj backed away a few steps and watched us from across the porch. Well, I guess he was letting me handle it. Thanks for the help.

                “Like a human. I want to be a werewolf. You offered me protection, but I want to be pack.” She held her chin high even though she looked terrified.

                My mouth dropped open in shock at her request. Raj answered before I could.

                “As a member of the werewolf council, I can assure you that you will never be pack. We don’t change humans for fun, like the vampires do. We only do it to save lives. That’s how it works.” His voice could cut glass.

                It was true. It sucked for her, but it was true.

                “It’s true, I’m sorry,” I told her.

                She nodded as her lip quivered. “I thought you might say that.” With one quick move, she reached underneath her shirt and brandished a small sharp kitchen knife. What was she doing? I tried to grab her arm, but she was too quick. She slashed at her throat making a four-inch gash across her neck that oozed blood.

                “Save me,” she gurgled.

                Oh. My. God. I stood there in shock; my eyes wide, my hands frozen.

                Raj spoke rapidly in Hindi and started shifting into his werewolf form.

                “I can’t change fast enough! She will bleed out.” Raj’s bones cracked. Oh My God. There was so much blood. I shook my head. I didn’t know the first thing about how to change a human into a werewolf! I knew they needed to be near death and needed to be bit. I also knew that I could change my shape faster than Raj, faster than any wolf I knew, save for Kai. Without much thought or planning, I shifted form and lunged for Alexa’s arm, biting down hard. She wailed and the blood in her throat gurgled.

                “Again!” Raj yelled behind me.

                Alexa collapsed and I bit her leg.

                “Hold her leg in your mouth,” Raj told me. I did as he asked. My wolf had taken over.

                “Changing a human isn’t just about the bite. It’s about the bond too. You must tie her to you as an Alpha would tie a pack member. Find her essence, bind it to yours. Will her to live. Whether she lives or dies isn’t just up to her, it’s how strong you are too. Be strong.”

                I held her leg in my mouth. I tasted her coppery blood. I closed my eyes and imagined myself in the serene woods of my mind. A faint wispy light was snaking through the trees around me. Alexa. I lunged at the wispy light and clamped down on it with my jaws. I imagined my light, bright and big and thick like a rope. I imagined Alexa and my light braiding together, becoming pack. Where her light was weak, I was strong. I gave her my strength.

                “That’s it! You got it. She’s healing,” I heard Raj whisper.

                I opened my eyes and released her leg from my jaws. Her neck had sealed. She was horribly pale, white as a sheet, but she was breathing shallow, unconscious. Diya, Maya, and Jai were all in the doorway peering out.

                Raj sighed. “You could be an Alpha one day, Aurora.”

                ‘What’s wrong? What the hell is going on? I smell death.’
Kai was close.

                ‘Alexa tried to kill herself. I just
changed
her.’

                ‘You what? I’m coming.’