“You can hypnotize yourself?”
I waggled my hand in a ‘so-so’ gesture. “Mason taught me the basics, but I never got the hang of it until it was sort of forced on me while I was in prison.”
We were silent for a bit, trudging through the sands of the moonless desert. Resisting the urge to strip and shift and race to Logan, I put the wolf in charge of my progress and dropped into inner space. Built for four-legged travel, she had become remarkably adept at guiding my two-legged body. For a moment, it seemed as if her furry head rested on my right shoulder. Her warmth and presence was a comfort. She chuffed in thanks that I let her lead.
If she couldn’t run, at least she could enjoy the walk.
Free from the physical world, I probed the links I shared with my pack. Silver-colored threads reached from my heart to the hearts of the pack. Every member’s heartbeat pulsed their thread.
Even the link to that bitch Ariel pulsed, but it was filled with anger. She was far away and receding, following my last order. I might regret letting her live.
The threads that led to the twins pulsed once every twenty minutes, letting me know they were still safe.
Finally, I concentrated on Logan’s link. It pulsed with pain. Even under a moonless sky, I still had reserves of energy. I drew moonlight magic from my soul and pushed it to Logan, easing his pain. He tried to refuse, but I was the alpha. It wasn’t much—there were limits on my reserves during the new moon and on how much energy the link could sustain.
I blinked back to the real world and nearly stumbled as the wolf receded.
“Welcome back,” said Mike. “Is the wolf back in her cage?”
“How did you know she was out?”
“I know your moods. For meditation, you sit down. When you zen out to work on magic, you freeze up like a catatonic. When you stop talking and growl while you’re moving, it means the wolf side is in charge.”
He knows me better than Mason, came the traitorous whisper from my conscience.
I spoke sharply. “The wolf is never in charge. We’re partners, better together than apart.”
He was kind enough to read my mood again and kept quiet for the rest of our trek.
Over the dunes, a glowing light moved from south to north, accompanied by the Doppler sounds of a truck moving at about a hundred kilometers per hour.
We left the dunes behind and hit a flat area, making progress easier. We approached the highway, a ribbon of concrete that wound its way north to south under the starlit sky.
“We’ll stay out here until our ride shows up,” said Mike. “Wait here a minute.”
Mike raced down to the road and kneeled at the edge of the concrete. He pulled a white plastic bag from his pocket and stuck one edge under a handy rock. It fluttered like a flag in the intermittent wind.
In a few seconds, he was back at my side. “Let’s back away.”
We halted about fifty meters from the road and waited. Despite being a main highway between major cities, the traffic on the road was sparse. In fifteen minutes, only a few trucks and two cars had passed.
Mike exchanged texts on his satellite phone, then said, “He’ll be here in a minute.”
“Who is he? You still haven’t told me anything about this backup plan of yours.”
“When I learned about our destination, I checked with some friends to find out who was in this part of the world. One of my former instructors in BUD/S replied, and I sent him a heads-up message before we left the States to let him know I might need his help.”
“What’s his story?”
“His name’s Manny. He’s retired, but we still keep in touch.” Mike chuckled. “You’ll like him. He’s a lot like Logan. Always cracking jokes and flirting with women.”
“This guy just said ‘Okay’ and offered to help? That seems to be an amazing coincidence, you having an old Navy buddy here in Saudi Arabia.”
“It’s not a coincidence. There’s a lot of us and we keep in touch. I’ve got friends all over the world.”
“There’s a worldwide secret society of SEALs that you’re a member of?”
“A guy has to have some secrets,” Mike said, throwing my own quote back at me.
10
“You make it sound like a James Bond movie.” Mike laughed and continued, “We’re just a group with common interests and backgrounds. We know we can depend on each other.”
“And if he called you for help, you’d do the same?”
“Yes, as long as it didn’t interfere with my work for you.”
We were silent for a few minutes, while I absorbed the fact that Mike had a long history I knew nothing about. How long had it been since our first meeting? By my internal calendar it was only a year or two, but it seemed a lot more time had passed on Earth while Mason and I had traveled through Fae.
“Don’t wolf packs do something similar?” Mike asked, bringing me back to the present.
“We help each other out, if possible. But there are no packs in this part of the world to call on. Ariel’s pack is the only one I know of.”
I took out my canteen and drank the last of my water. Mike copied my gesture.
“With wolf packs, there’s usually payment involved,” I said. “Is it the same for your secret society?”
“Don’t call it that. We have a Facebook group, so it’s hardly a secret.”
“The question remains. How are we going to pay back your friends?” I mentally juggled figures; with the income from the mine and the hospital, I could probably squeeze out a few hundred thousand dollars. That would be all the cash I could produce on short notice without activating any more BITCHCoins.
“Manny’s never been greedy. We’ll cover his expenses, promise him some help in case he ever needs it. Maybe a few thousand, plus the future favor.”
I sighed in relief.
