“What’s he doing here?” Heather asked as Nikolai approached. The scary Russian stopped and tilted his head to the side, studying her.
“He’s on our side. Marginally. I’ll explain later.”
She’d found the help she needed to get the cure. The words practically spilled out. “I tracked down our bad guy. I didn’t see him, but he’s in the Quinn facility at building six. There’s a bunch of werewolves standing guard around it. I counted at least eight or nine, but there might have been more inside. There’s multiple dead bodies there, but I smelled a couple of normal people still alive. Don’t know whose side they’re on, though. There were portable lights on upstairs, but I couldn’t see anyone through the windows.”
“You remember that much?” Nikolai asked sharply.
“I do. I was coming back to get help when I heard you coming.”
“Impossible.” Nikolai addressed Harbinger as if Heather wasn’t even present. “No one could have made it through the madness so quickly. Especially a pup. She’s lying.”
“I’m not,” she turned to Harbinger. He was studying her, but more with concern than suspicion. “Why would I lie?”
“It’s a trick of the Alpha. There is something not right about her,” Nikolai said.
“What? No, really. I’m telling the truth.”
Nikolai’s voice suddenly grew deep. “It’s a trap.” His entire manner changed. His posture slouched, his knees bent. “Kill her now.”
Harbinger tensed and put his hand back on his gun. “Steady, Nikolai,” he said with forced calm. “Don’t go getting squirrelly on me. That amulet is messing with the natural order of things. That’s all. She’s okay.”
“Hey, I agree with the bipolar guy,” the federal agent interjected. “Better safe than sorry. Shoot her.”
“Funny. I thought the same thing about you, Stark,” Aino said.
“Do it, or I’ll do it myself,” Nikolai growled with that unnaturally low voice. Heather saw the muscles tense in preparation of movement. Time seemed to slow down as Nikolai’s fingers tightened around the stock of his rifle. The barrel rose the slightest bit.
Heather just reacted. Without conscious thought, faster than any of the humans could blink, faster even than the other werewolf could register, she shrugged out from under the blanket and struck Nikolai with unexpected strength. The impact of her open palm shattered multiple ribs. Time seemed to stop as she stood there, arm extended, while Nikolai arced through the air. He landed ten feet away, sliding through the snow on his back. Instinctively, she moved in for the kill. By the time Nikolai opened his eyes, she was straddling his chest, pinning his arms with her knees, one hand locked viselike around his throat while the other was lifted overhead, fingers spread wide, ready to tear his face off.
“Heather!”
“Not now, Harbinger,” she snapped.
“I gave him my word. We deal with the Alpha first. We’re going to need Nikolai alive.”
Heather sighed. “ Fine.” Nikolai was staring up at her, shocked. She followed his eyes as they tracked up her bare arm to her outstretched hand. Her nails had already stretched into deadly claws. She studied the claws absently. “Well…huh. Where’d those come from?” Hadn’t even felt that. She turned her attention back to the stunned werewolf. “What? Didn’t expect that from a pup? You know what I can’t stand? Bullies. I’m sick and tired of bullies. I’m done screwing around. You get me, Nicky?”
The madness in his eyes seemed to subside. There was no way he could breathe, but he managed a spasmodic nod. Giving one last squeeze, as if to say Got you, fucker, she reluctantly let go and stood up. Clenching her hand into a fist, she felt the claws shrink automatically. It hurt a little bit, but in a good way.
The four other men were just watching her, mouths agape. She picked Harbinger’s jacket out of the snow and actually put it on this time. It was long enough that she was able to retain a tiny amount of dignity. She zipped it up as she walked over to Harbinger. Even he seemed surprised at how quick she’d been.
“What the hell is she?” the Fed shouted.
“She’s with us. That’s all you need to worry about.”
“But werewolves can’t do that!”
“Do what?” she asked innocently, making sure to bat her eyes at Stark. The mannerism seemed to unnerve him even more, and she got some enjoyment out of that. I told Harbinger I’d try not to eat anybody, but maybe he’d make an exception for that one. Heather banished the thought immediately. She was no murderer, and besides, Stark was probably high in cholesterol.
“He’s talking about you partially transforming some body parts at whim…and moving damn near master-vamp speed,” Harbinger said. “Impressive, even by my…or Nikolai’s standards. Those are some neat tricks, even with a lot of practice. For somebody on their first night? I would’ve said impossible.” He handed her the blanket. Heather threw it over her shoulders like a robe. It hung to her ankles. “But this night’s just full of surprises.”
The tall stranger and Aino were still gawking at her, obviously scared. Aino had been a friend of the family since before she’d been born. As her curmudgeonly grandfather’s only friend, she’d always thought of him kind of like an uncle. To see him staring, wide-eyed and fearful, broke her heart. He was probably waiting for her to just zip over and shred him. He must think she was a complete monster.
Nikolai had stood. There was a terrible crack as he jerked his arm back into the socket. Bones realigned, he could begin to heal. He was watching her carefully, but it looked like the slightly less evil side was back in control. How bad was it that even a werewolf assassin with multiple personalities didn’t trust her? If a monster like him couldn’t trust her, how could she expect relatively normal humans to? She was really scraping the bottom of the trust barrel here, but she needed all of them if she was going to break the curse.
Heather tried to sound as contrite as possible. “Listen, all of you, please. I’m not like those others. I know this is a little weird, but I’m on your side. All I want is to get that amulet back so I can be cured. Please, I’m begging you. I need your help.”
Aino surprised her then as he came over and put an unexpectedly gentle hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay, girl. You didn’t ask for this. We all know you’re doing the best you can. Besides, I didn’t shoot you when you got real ugly earlier, not gonna start now. You’re the same person as you’ve always been, and you’ve always been okay by me.”
Heather almost choked up at the unexpected display of affection. “Thanks…I…”
The old miner had exhausted his supply of empathy. “Eh…More? You need a hug or something? Come on, let’s go get you cured already. I’ve been up for like twenty hours. I’m tired.”
“My apologies, Deputy Kerkonen.” Nikolai’s words were polite, his attitude not so much. “It will not happen again.” She didn’t believe him at all. It will not happen again could just as easily be referring to her surprising him and getting the upper hand.
“Thank you,” she said. “We cool?”
Nikolai nodded curtly and climbed back on his snowmobile. The others followed suit. Stark was still scared of her. The big one, Jason, seemed ambivalent but kept a real close eye on her. The air filled with the sound of high- pitched engines. One by one, they pulled off to spoil the pristine white swath covering Cliff Road.
Only Harbinger waited. She stepped closer to him. “So, how was that?”
“Unexpected…The amulet’s magic is doing different things to you than the other recently bitten, and I don’t know why. You know, Kerkonen, there’s something really special about you.”
“Why, Mr. Harbinger, are you flirting with me?”
“Huh? No,” Harbinger answered before he realized that she was messing with him. He rolled his eyes. “ Special, as in you’re one peculiar werewolf. You’re exercising a surprising amount of control for somebody who shouldn’t have even turned yet. I just saw you do things that took me forty years to get the hang of. There’s got to be an explanation.”
Heather found herself grinning again. Why does he have that effect on me? She barely knew him, but there was something about Harbinger that just felt right. He was a gentleman, but she also liked his no-BS honesty. He was completely fearless but not a brute. This one was a keeper.
Heather had never been the social type. She’d always been the prettiest wallflower, but being a werewolf made her feel kind of fun. “Bummer…On the flirting that is. I’d gotten my hopes up.”
For the first time since she’d met him, which had only been yesterday but seemed like an eternity ago, Harbinger didn’t seem to know what to say. “Well…I’m…”
“Flattered?”
