Lone Werewolf Duology (bxb)

7. Family Reunion

"Not yet. Just an apprentice," she replied. "But my Sight is as strong as your Memory. I foresaw that we'll meet to bring on the change. But it's a dangerous path, brother."

The river lapped the sand more judiciously than a child who licks her ice-cream, hoping to make it last as long as possible. Birds chirped and the reeds rustled. Fish broke the water surface and plopped back. Air smelled of peace, joy and abundance. But somehow, peace was always deceptive once the humans showed up. Or the werewolves. The world might have been a better place without either troublesome species.

"I've guessed it already. Someone had tried to poison me," he said.

"If you knew how hard it was to call Kramola off! I've called in every favor. Begged at every Elder's threshold. I've..." she cut herself off. "No time for this now."

He tilted his head, studying her t-shirt and jeans, her sandals. "It's so weird to have a conversation about the werewolves when you are so much like a regular teen. Every Walkwe I had seen before had been super-ancient."

"Don't put so much stock in looks," Nadezhda said. "We live by our own rules, separate from the Others. We have our haunts and lodges. The Huntresses like Kramola navigate the world to acquire everything that our communities need."

"Acquire?" Volya snorted. "A euphemism for taking whatever you want? Aka stealing?"

"It is, from the Others' point of view. And herein lies our problem. The modern world is becoming less and less convenient for living in the shadows."

"I can imagine." Volya thought about paperwork, passwords, security cameras, scrutiny on the borders. Security wasn't just the opposite of convenience any more. It was becoming suffocating. "It seems impossible to hide anything or anyone from the watchful eyes. And the underground communities of the werewolves? Get outta here!"

"We do get caught sometimes. There were even those who left the sisterhood in the past."

"And?" Volya thought of how Damir could never find a single female alpha. Something felt off about it.

Nadezhda mirrored his hesitation. "I... don't know. Like, it's been so long since Akrum's Sacrifice that I can't believe you are the first man to make his way back to us. But if it had happened before, they were struck from the chronicles. Just like those who'd left."

"I wouldn't like it very much if I were struck from the records," Volya grumbled. "Or poisoned. Or anything else."

"Neither do I. That's why I'm trying to protect you, brother."

He yearned for her to call him her brother, and he wasn't ready. Like a dumbass, he lifted his gaze from the sand he was sifting, wiped his hands on his jeans and let them hover for a second... To Hell with decorum and to Hell with how awkward it could be if she decided he was some big baby.

He hugged his sister. "Thanks, sis." He loved the sound of it, he frigging loved it!

To his relief, she laughed and cupped his cheek. "I'm warming up to this whole saving you thing. It's a long game."

Loved it? He was in heaven.

Only his mother begging his forgiveness for dumping him would have made him happier. Or falling asleep in Liam's arms without fear of night terrors. With a sigh of regret he opened his eyes that sort of closed on their own volition. "Why is this Kramola after me? Just because I remembered the past and came here?"

"You wish, Vol'."

His heart pretty much oozed out of his chest with a nostalgic pang for everything that wasn't to be between him and Toshka, because Toshka had called him that and nobody since. Toshka was getting married though, and he would be the best man at their wedding... and he wouldn't be able to bring Liam, because... yeah. Reasons.

He gave himself a shake. "Sorry. You were saying?"

"I was saying that there is a powerful faction among the Huntresses who believe that our survival has become too difficult. They want to disrupt the Others' civilization. Make it shrink like in the Middle Ages and let the wilderness take over."

Okay, this wasn't something he would put on his New Year's Resolutions list, but whatever rocked their boat... What he failed to grasp was how blowing up civilization had anything to do with him.

"How do I fit into this ah... grand design?"

"You are in the way of the woman who itches to lead them."

The guess tickled him. Or maybe it was Nadezhda's run-away cork-screw strand of hair, tossed around by the wind. It wasn't that hard anyway. After all, only one woman jumped out of her skin to cause him a near-fatal case of indigestion.

"Kramola, right?"

"Yes."

"But how I'm in her way?"

She hung her head ruefully. "I'm afraid it's my fault. Sort of... Oh no!"

Watch out! Volya's inner voice cried out at the same time as Nadezhda pushed to her feet, hastily taking a step away from him.

He'd heard the movement too and also jumped up, clenching his fists.

How could he not?

The howls and snarls filled the air. At least two dozen women slipped down the face of the cliff like effing Spetsnaz out of nowhere. They moved in and circled tighter and tighter, closing the trap. To increase the resemblance to elite forces, all of them favored black or khaki camos and heavy combat boots. Volya didn't spot guns, but their faces looked deadly serious.

Volya instinctively positioned himself back to back with Nadezhda. If they had to fight, she was as good as he would ever get for a partner.

"Stand down!" Nadezhda's voice rang.

"Not this time," came the response from atop of the cliff. "This time the male goes before the Crones."

Volya tilted his head back to see a shapely woman, mid-twenties. Reflective sunglasses hid her eyes. A braided cord across her forehead barely kept the mass of thick curls from falling into her face, but they spilled down to her waist freely. How her hairdo wasn't full of twigs and shone with the freshly-brushed luster, he didn't know.

With a machete sheathed on her hip and another one sticking out of her boot, a double-tank-top and cargo pants, she looked like a modern-day Valkyrie, except in a swarthier shade than the Nordic-style blonde.

The coloring didn't really matter for a positive ID. A tube of L'Oreal was all it took to change things up. She was the poisoner in Montana. She prowled the base camp last year. And he had chased her a few days ago across the Moscow University.

"Kramola." Volya bit the name off. Who else would she be?

Sun was half-blinding him, but Kramola's sneer was so huge, he would have seen it on a moonless night. Then her head tilted to one shoulder allowing him to catch the red flash of her eyes.

"Hello, brother," she said, just as Volya thought she had exactly the same eyes as Nadezhda. This time Volya didn't like hearing a girl call him her brother one single bit.