Wild Dream (9 page)

She had to admit the colors were breathtaking. Deep red to orange to pale pink, all with a hint of gold added in. She had been so anxious about the coming night that she had forgotten to enjoy the life in front of her.

Lincoln hadn’t though. Was that because there were few nights he wasn’t out risking his life?

“I can’t remember the last sunset I saw. I’m normally so busy with work that I don’t pay attention.”

“Perhaps you work too much.”

She snorted. “That’s the understatement of the year.”

“Do you like your job?”

“I like helping people as I did Olivia. The money is a bonus.”
 

“Do you always see yourself in Dallas?”

Ava knew what he was asking. She couldn’t give him the answer he was looking for, but she wasn’t sure she could return to Dallas as if nothing had happened either. “It’s where my life is.”

“Of course.”

They watched in silence as the sun dipped below the horizon, and the vibrant colors in the sky faded to gray and then black.

Ava jumped when Kane let out a howl. The full moon shed its bright light upon the ground, and Kane was responding to it. In the distance, another howl sounded. Solomon. Ava wasn’t sure she wanted to be anywhere near two werewolves.

“Solomon will know who you are,” Lincoln said. “He won’t attack you.”

“Are you so sure of that?” Ava couldn’t shake the way he had stared at her when he discovered who she was. She didn’t know why she was more frightened than ever, she just was. “Are you so sure he wouldn’t come out here to help his brother kill me if it meant the curse would be lifted from Kane? You would do it for your brothers.”

Lincoln started to deny her claim. Then he closed his mouth and let out a long sigh. “Shit. I hadn’t thought of that. He’s family.”

“And that’s his brother,” she said and pointed to Kane. “What wouldn’t you do for your brothers?”

“There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for them.”

“And Solomon? Don’t you think he feels the same way?”

Lincoln ran a hand down his face and turned away to pace a few steps before he faced her once more. “We’re taught at an early age that family means everything. We hunt to protect the people of this parish, but family comes first. Solomon was taught the same.”

She really hated being right. “We won’t know if Solomon is helping Kane or not until I start to go for the canoe.”

“Then we don’t go. We stay right here.”

Ava took his hand. “Do you trust your brothers to help get us to the house?”

“I trust them with my life.”

“Then let’s give it a go.”

“Ava,” he began.

She held up a finger to his lips. “You know these bayous, Lincoln. I trust you with my life.”

A low growl came from the darkness opposite Kane. Ava watched as Kane’s fur stood on end again. Her head swiveled in time to see another wolf, this one silver, step from the shadows.

It had begun.

CHAPTER TEN

Lincoln wanted to call the entire thing off. He was no longer sure of Solomon’s intentions. There was a chance Ava would never make it to the house. It was a long way to Chiasson land.

Solomon walked around the oak along the barrier in werewolf form, his silver coat almost glowing in the moonlight. The closer he got, the louder Kane’s growls. Solomon’s big silver head turned to Lincoln. He met the werewolf’s yellow eyes before Solomon issued his own warning growl to Kane.

What would he do for his brothers? Everything. And Lincoln knew damn well Solomon felt the same.

Lincoln took Ava’s hand. The tension between Solomon and Kane was escalating at a rapid rate. Any minute now they would begin to fight, and holy ground or not, Lincoln wanted Ava far from them.

There was a flash of light in the darkness over the bayou. Lincoln’s gaze jerked to it and found Christian in the canoe hiding behind a crop of cypress trees. Lincoln backed Ava to the edge of the water. They had barely taken two steps when Kane launched himself at Solomon. The growls and general sounds of fighting filled the night like an explosion.

“Go,” Lincoln softly urged Ava.

Ava stepped into the water, and Christian paddled furiously to them. To their left another form came out of the shadows. Lincoln let out a sigh when he recognized Vincent. His brother moved to Ava’s other side, and the three of them walked deeper into the water.

As soon as Christian was near enough, Lincoln lifted Ava into the canoe and got in behind her at the rear. They both picked up paddles and helped Christian turn the canoe around.

“Hurry,” Vin whispered and gave them a push.

The water was like glass, and they glided over it effortlessly. As they rounded the crop of trees, Lincoln looked back to see the wolves still fighting.

“Beau is waiting up ahead,” Christian whispered over his shoulder. “Vin will also go around and set up in case Kane gives chase.”

“And Solomon.”

Christian’s silence told Lincoln they too had doubts about Solomon. Lincoln put his energy into getting home. He put his oar in the water and steered them around submerged trees and shallow water while Christian and Ava paddled.

The oars barely made a sound as they sliced through the water. None of them spoke. Until the howl of a wolf cut through the night.

Lincoln set his jaw. If he had to, he would kill both Kane and Solomon. He had vowed to keep Ava safe, and that’s what he would do.
 

A second howl, this one longer and deeper, sounded near them. Solomon and Kane were no longer fighting. The question was, who was closer to them?

“Faster,” Christian urged in a whisper.

A shrill cry of pain sounded from one of the wolves. Lincoln paid it little heed. His gaze was ahead of them, looking for the bend in the bayou that would signal Chiasson land. It wasn’t that much farther. Just another half mile or so.

The waters of the bayou were deeper in this end. Too deep for a werewolf to try and take them, but there was one place they could. It was called the Bridge, although it wasn’t man-made. The waters created it in the bayou long ago. There was a slim area of water between two outcroppings of land where only one canoe could fit.

If even one werewolf were there, it spelled doom for Ava. It was a death trap. Lincoln’s only other choice was to pull over and try their luck on land. With as fast as the wolves ran, they stood a better chance on the water.

Thanks to the light of the moon and its reflection off the water, Lincoln spotted the Bridge ahead. The crashing through the brush on either side of them said the weres had caught them. As they drifted closer to the Bridge, Lincoln pulled his oar from the water. Christian did the same and raised his crossbow.

“They’re your family,” Ava said softly to Christian.

“And they’re trying to kill you,” he replied.

Lincoln hated how torn he was. He didn’t want to kill them, but he refused to allow them to end Ava’s life.
 

Ava shifted to look at him over her shoulder. “You’ll never forgive yourself if you kill your family. I’m an outsider here, Lincoln. A nobody. That’s your family.”

Lincoln’s attention was pulled away when he saw Solomon’s silver fur out of the corner of his eye. He ground his teeth together when Solomon calmly walked out onto one side of the Bridge and looked across to the other.

“Son of a bitch,” Christian murmured angrily.

Ava shook her head at Lincoln. “No.”

To the right, Lincoln spotted a dark mass moving through the trees. Kane. He would bunch them in. Which of the LaRue brothers would attack first? Lincoln could already guess their plan. While one attacked and he and Christian fended them off, the other would claim Ava.

It was simple and flawless, especially with the power and size of the wolves.
 

There was just one tiny catch – they forgot who they were going up against.

Christian caught his gaze and gave him a small nod. Beau and Vincent were out there, waiting. Lincoln lowered his paddle back into the water to steer them directly at the narrow slit of water.

Ava gripped the oar, her eyes locked on Solomon. Fear kept her muscles tight, preventing her from moving, which was exactly what Lincoln wanted.

The distance to the Bridge grew shorter and shorter. Solomon’s large head turned in their direction. Family didn’t turn against family. If Solomon and Kane wanted to go after someone the Chiassons were protecting, then all bets were off.

Lincoln and his brothers might not be able to shift into a werewolf, but they weren’t lacking in surprises and skill. The LaRues were going to learn a thing or two about them.

They were ten feet from the Bridge when Kane burst through the trees and skidded to a stop on his outcropping. He barked and growled, his huge claws pawing the ground.

Solomon took a step closer to the edge, but paused before he set down his paw. Christian cursed when Solomon took a step back. Lincoln could guess that his brothers had set some kind of trap on either side of the Bridge. Somehow Solomon had sensed it.

Lincoln’s adrenaline spiked, his muscles tensed, and his mind focused. He was a hunter. He had saved countless people from the evil that infested the parish. He wasn’t about to let Ava down. He reached down and palmed one of his Bowie knives. There was silver in the blade, though it wasn’t pure silver. It would be enough to slow the weres down, and give Christian time to get Ava to their land.

Lincoln readied to spring as they came even with the Bridge. Solomon let out a growl right before he leapt over their trap into the air.

Ava screamed, the sound swallowed by Kane’s growling. Lincoln dove to cover Ava. Any moment he would feel claws and fangs. Except...there was nothing.

He turned his head to see Solomon had jumped over them and was fighting Kane once again. Lincoln sat back and grabbed his oar that had fallen overboard.
 
“Get moving!”

Christian didn’t hesitate. He set down his crossbow in his lap and furiously paddled past the Bridge. Lincoln placed a hand on Ava’s back. She was still bent forward, her body shaking. He couldn’t wait to hold her in his arms and taste her lips again, but that wouldn’t happen until they were on Chiasson land.
 

He sheathed his knife and joined in paddling them forward. Lincoln glanced back at the wolves just once. It was a vicious fight. He saw blood on Solomon’s fur. Whether it was Solomon’s or Kane’s, Lincoln didn’t know.

Another three hundred yards and Christian jumped out of the canoe and pulled it on shore. Lincoln tossed his oar aside and lifted Ava out of the boat. He set her on her feet and turned her to face him.

“You’re on holy ground again,” he told her.

Her eyes were wide, but she nodded. “I thought I was going to die.”

“And I told you I wasn’t going to allow that to happen.”

“Ava!” Olivia shouted as she ran from the house.

Lincoln released Ava as Olivia wrapped an arm around her and steered her to the house. He watched them go, amazed that they had made it unscathed.

“Close call,” Vin said as he and Beau walked up.

Beau glared at the wolves still fighting. “I want to know how Solomon knew we had a trap set for him.”

“It doesn’t matter now,” Lincoln said as weariness set in. “He kept his word.”

Christian nodded. “Agreed. But it isn’t over. Solomon will need to get Kane into the cage.”

“I’ll stay on lookout,” Beau said.

Vincent slapped a hand on Lincoln’s shoulder as they turned toward the stone building. The building was partially over the bayou on stilts, and was the only part of Chiasson land that wasn’t blessed, allowing them to hold supernatural creatures when needed. “Almost done, brother.”

Lincoln glanced at the house. He couldn’t leave Kane out there to hurt someone, but it was hard not to follow Ava inside the house and just hold her. Never in all his years of helping his family and friends had he ever been so afraid. Afraid that he would fail Ava, afraid that he wouldn’t get Ava to safety, but more than anything, he was afraid that she would die.

When they reached the building he walked inside and leaned against a wall before he bent over, his hands braced on his knees.

“Linc?” Christian called.

Lincoln squeezed his eyes closed. “She almost died.”

“But she didn’t,” Vincent said calmly.

Lincoln heard a chain rattle, and knew Vincent was getting the cage ready for Kane’s arrival.

“You did everything right,” Christian said.

Lincoln straightened and raked his hair out of his sweat-soaked face. “Anything could have gone wrong. I...my God, the fear won’t lessen.”

“And it never will,” Vincent stated.

Lincoln met the gaze of his older brother and realized the truth of his words. “How do you do it?”