“When you find him, you need to tan his bottom for causing so much trouble,” Larssen said teasingly, no doubt trying to lighten Lucas’s mood, which had gone from brooding agitation to near full-blown terror in the last few hours.
Lucas snorted. “If I find him, you mean.” He’d meant that to come out in the same tone as Larssen’s remark and was surprised to hear a little sound like a sob just there at the end.
Larssen gripped his knee. “We’ll find him. He’s a smart boy. He probably took shelter from the storm that came through, and he’s waiting for daylight to start back home. You know, the winds didn’t let up until midday today, and then the temperatures dropped. He’s probably staying warm and getting his bearings before he starts back.”
Lucas nodded, though his mind conjured up far more lurid scenarios. His mind kept playing images of Kai injured and bleeding somewhere, needing his help. He saw him falling from a cliff, or attacked by wild animals. His Lycan wolf had been trying to force the change on him all afternoon, so it could run howling to the woods to search for its mate. If he thought it would have done any good, he’d have already shifted, but he knew his best bet to find Kai wasn’t on foot, at least not yet.
“The forests are ahead. Pull out the map again, and let’s figure out which trails he might have taken.”
“I was thinking,” Larssen said. “The search party went along this main trail, but there’s a smaller one on the far northern side that would be worth taking a look at. Maybe we can find some tracks or pick up his scent.”
Lucas nodded, his stomach in knots. If Kai had taken the trail, he might be able to catch his scent—he’d know that sweetness anywhere—but he was afraid the rains had wiped most of it out. If he’d ever had any doubts about how he felt for Kai, they were all gone now. He was beginning to feel like someone had reached into his chest and ripped out his heart, but he was still somehow walking around. Or like he’d felt once during the cliff diving he’d done on a vacation on Milanos Minor, when the sea was rushing up to meet him, and he knew he was about to slam into it, but there was nothing he could do to stop it. If he lost Kai, it would finish him, plain and simple. He swallowed down the bile that was rising into his chest and kept driving.
* * * *
Kai gazed out toward the headlights coming toward him from the direction of Balenescu City and sighed. He knew he was in big trouble, and there was no way out of it. That was more than likely Lucas driving toward him so fast, and though he was happy to be rescued, he knew he was in for it. His stomach had been killing him all day, so he knew exactly how angry Lucas must be at him, and he dreaded facing that anger almost as much as he yearned to see Lucas. He’d spent a long, miserable night and day in the forest and he was more than ready to be back home. He was tired, hungry and terribly thirsty, and he wouldn’t even mind the tongue-lashing he was about to get, just so Lucas would take him home—not much, anyway. He just hoped Lucas wasn’t too angry at him.
He’d followed Merri into the woods and chased her into the bushes when she ran away from him. He was so intent on finding her that the storm was on top of him before he knew it, only becoming aware it was so close just minutes before it hit. The trees started whipping their branches around, trying to warn him of the storm’s stealthy approach, and he realized then how much darker it had gotten. He stepped out in a clearing to see the dark purple clouds roiling almost directly above him. Rain was so infrequent on Lycanus 3 that this was the first storm he’d experienced here, so he didn’t quite know what to expect, but he knew he had to find some kind of shelter away from the trees by the looks of the lightning lighting up the skies. This looked like a really bad one.
He doubled back to a stream he’d just crossed that was down in a gully with sheer rock sides. Thinking he might find some kind of cave or at least an overhang in the rock wall, he made his way back toward it and spotted a good sized outcropping a little way downstream. Climbing down to it proved tricky, though, when he lost his footing on the slippery walls and crashed down into the icy stream below, twisting his ankle and soaking his pants. He got himself up, hobbled down to the overhang and hunkered under it just as the storm hit in earnest. The winds were violent, but he had some shelter from the rain and the lightning under his rock outcropping. He was already pretty much soaked by that time. It passed through after an hour or so, but by that time, it was beginning to get dark and Kai’s ankle was throbbing. He decided he’d better stay where he was until morning, even though he knew Lucas would be worried about him.
As it got darker, the temperatures dropped, and he started to shiver. He had no way to start a fire, especially with everything so wet around him, so he hugged his arms around himself, curled up and tried to go to sleep, despite the shudders that wracked his body. He awoke a short time later to something hot and wet on his face, and he jumped up, startled and overjoyed to find Merri licking him with her big, black tongue. He wrapped his arms around her, alternating between scolding her and kissing her. She settled down beside him, obviously as happy to see him as he was to see her. Her thick fur and body heat helped to keep him warm until first light when he managed to climb out of the gully to find his way back down the mountain.
Fashioning a lead out of his belt, he looped one end of it around Merri’s collar so she wouldn’t run away again, but he had trouble locating the trail where he’d followed her up the mountain. After stumbling around half the day looking for it, stopping often to rest as his ankle swelled again and set up a painful throbbing, he’d finally found a clearing in the trees and located the city in the distance, so he knew what direction to go in, at least. Since then, he’d given up on trying to find the trail and made his way down through the thick trees toward the direction of Balenescu City.
It was slow going and had taken him most of the day, but he and Merri finally made it almost down the mountain. It was growing dark and he was wondering if he should try to make it across the desert in the dark, with his ankle in such bad shape, or wait until morning. It was then that he spotted the lights of a vehicle coming toward them fast. He watched the vehicle’s approach across the sand and started to limp towards it, shouting and waving his free hand in the air.
What looked like one of the all-terrain vehicles suddenly veered directly toward him and Kai stopped and stood still as it approached. As it got closer, he could see Lucas behind the wheel with his cousin, Larssen, sitting in the seat next to him. Lucas’s face was much stormier than any of the clouds he’d seen the day before, and Kai squared his shoulders, preparing himself for the tongue lashing that he knew was headed his way. He just hoped a tongue-lashing was the only kind he’d get.
* * * *
When Larssen yelled, “I’ve spotted him! He’s there, up ahead,” something icy and brittle turned loose in Lucas’s chest, and he was able to take a deep breath for the first time that whole, long day. Whipping the ATV around in the direction Larssen was pointing, Lucas raced toward Kai, relief that he was safe and fury that he had scared him so badly flooding him in almost equal measures.
He could see Kai up ahead in the headlights, just standing there, holding onto his little windiga by some kind of strap. Lucas threw the vehicle in gear and was out of it and running toward Kai almost before the wheels stopped spinning. His wolf clamored at him, and for once, Lucas unleashed him and let him have his way. Kai startled when he saw what was coming for him, his eyes round with horror. He stumbled backward a few steps, holding up his hands defensively.
Roaring at him, Lucas, who was by this time fully shifted into his Lycan wolf, swiped his hands out of the way and fell on him, taking him down to the ground on his back. He tried to keep the bulk of his weight off him, but he was pretty far gone by this point, and his wolf was almost out of control. Lucas heard Kai yelling and felt blows on the side of his head, but he sank his teeth deeply into the side of Kai’s neck to hold him still as his body rutted at Kai’s. A big hand came down on his shoulder and he lifted his head to see Larssen yelling something at him. He became aware of the little windiga going crazy next to him, too, nipping at his side and trying to protect Kai. His wolf didn’t comprehend much of anything at that point except claiming his mate, and he showed his teeth to Larssen, growling over Kai.
Larssen shifted too, and shoved him off Kai, then hunched protectively over the boy, snarling. Furious that Larssen would come between him and his mate, Lucas’s wolf leaped on him and a vicious struggle ensued. Since they were both alphas and more or less evenly matched, it could have gotten very violent, very fast. But when Lucas pinned Larssen on his back, some semblance of reason came back to him before he did him any serious injury, and he managed to push his wolf away and force the change on himself.
Lucas surged to his feet, shaking his head to clear it and saw Kai limping into the desert to get away from him. It took him only moments to overtake him, but Kai turned on him as he caught up to him, his chest heaving and blood running down his neck from the open puncture wounds on his throat. Thank the gods Larssen had interrupted him before he could do Kai any real harm. He would never have knowingly hurt Kai in either his Lycan or humanoid form, but his overreaction to finding him could have injured the boy. The sight of the blood on Kai’s neck horrified Lucas.
“Baby,” he said. “Come here.”
Kai drew back a fist and slammed it into Lucas’s nose with such force that Lucas fell backward, stunned.
“Get away from me!” Kai shouted, his voice raspy and breathless. With a jolt, Lucas realized Kai had never seen his wolf before, though surely he’d known that the Lycans were shapeshifters.
Kai stood over him in a fighting stance, his fists up to cover his face. When he saw Lucas make no effort to stand up and fight him, he backed a few steps, then turned and tried to run again, limping badly on one of his ankles.
“Kai, stop running, please!” Lucas sprang to his feet and ran after him, grabbing for Kai and wrapping his arms around him, holding Kai’s arms down by his side as he struggled violently. With his arms wrapped around Kai’s chest, Lucas could feel his heart racing wildly as Kai shouted and struggled. He bent his head to Kai’s throat, bathing it in his saliva so it would heal quickly. When Kai realized he wasn’t trying to hurt him anymore, he relaxed a little, even turning his head in what Lucas’s inner wolf recognized as submission. It helped calm Lucas, and he crooned to Kai as he tended him and held him in his lap.