****
Keira thought she must have blacked out at some point; as she came to, aware that she was in a vehicle—with a wolf no less—and that the vehicle was moving, she felt a jolt of anger and shame: at her weakness, at the fact that she’d had to be “rescued” in the first place, that the source of her rescue was the wolf that she had been on the verge of winning her challenge against only a few hours before. She opened her eyes just a slit and saw gray, early-morning light coming in through a window. “Where the hell are you taking me?” she turned her head slightly; just the smallest movement sent a jolt of pain through Keira’s body.
“To a hiding spot,” the werewolf said brusquely. “I’m taking you somewhere you can be safe from the pack.”
“A wolf abandoning his pack?” Keira chuckled weakly. She knew that in a matter of hours, with the exposure to the copper gone, she would be halfway to healing; but that was small comfort as her body ached and throbbed and burned.
“Not abandoning my pack,” the werewolf said. “I’m just against the decision.”
“What about Gary and Lachlan?” Keira remembered the discussion between her clan-mates and closed her eyes, thinking that the two of them were idiots. Of course, you don’t know that he’s not taking you somewhere to kill you himself for almost besting him in the challenge, she thought wryly. Privately, Keira had to admit to herself that the wolf had held his own pretty well—and he wasn’t actually as hideous as she would have thought. Keira cast a quick glance over the man in the driver’s seat of the car, taking in his muscled, lean body, the rangy look to his face that most wolves seemed to have.
“They made their choice,” the wolf said. “I gave them the option and they wanted to take their chances.” Keira’s lips twisted into a grimace; she knew he was right, and there was nothing she nor the wolf could have really done—but that didn’t stop her from being saddened at the knowledge that her clan-mates would almost certainly die.
“What’s your name?” she frowned at the werewolf, realizing that she’d been rescued by someone who she didn’t even know the first thing about—other than that he was a wolf.
“Raul. You’re Keira, right?” She nodded slowly. “You weren’t half bad back there. If we’d had maybe ten more minutes though, I’d have turned it around.” Keira laughed and then cringed as the movement sent pain shooting through her body.
“Please, Fido,” she countered, once the pain began to ebb. “I would have had you on your back whining like a kicked dog.” Raul barked out a laugh.
“Which one of us is driving? Which one of us had to rescue the other?”
“I was wrapped in copper chains! Let me wrap you up in tin and injure you and see how much bounce you have in your step, asshole.” Keira sat up in her seat, looking around. She hated not knowing where she was going; she hated feeling vulnerable—especially in the presence of a wolf.
“I’ll give you a rematch once we’re both recovered,” Raul suggested. “No holds barred.”
“To the death?” Keira raised an eyebrow, feeling suspicious towards the wolf again.
“To submission,” Raul countered. “Whoever makes the other submit first.”
“Then to the death,” Keira said, shrugging. Raul glanced at her and smiled, shaking his head.
For a long time, they continued on the road, both of them silent. Keira closed her eyes, trying to call up the mental impressions of her clan-mates; at such a distance, it was difficult even to feel the members of her clan—she couldn’t reach out to any of them. They had to be out in the boonies surrounding Spring Lake, not in the town proper anymore. Keira wondered if any of the members of the clan even knew what had happened to her, Lachlan, and Gary.
“Why were you raiding werewolf businesses in the first place?” Keira opened her eyes and glanced at Raul. She shrugged.
“I’m not even sure I understand what the reasoning was,” she admitted. “But once the decision was made, we were the natural choice.” She grinned slowly. “Had to have pissed you all off not to be able to track us, huh?” Raul’s lips twitched in the beginnings of a smile.
“If we hadn’t caught you last night, it was going to be my head,” Raul told her. “Reginald—our Alpha—got particularly pissed after the fire at the last raid you and your friends pulled off.”
“That was an accident…I think.” Keira bit her bottom lip. “It wasn’t me that did that. Someone pulled a fuse or something, the sparks lit on fire.” She shrugged.
“If you don’t even know why your people wanted to raid werewolf businesses, why did you go along with it?” Keira shrugged again.
“You do stuff because your Alpha wants it, right?” Raul hesitated and then nodded slowly. “It’s not that different with panthers. The clan decides to do something, and the right people for it get it done.”
“So, if your Alpha decided that you should grab some werewolves and put them to death…” Keira considered the question and shook her head.
“I’d do the same as you,” she admitted. “We wouldn’t do that though. We’ve got rules. We’ve got standards.”
“So do we,” Raul said, glancing at her and scowling slightly. “What Reginald commanded is against our ways.”
“I saw how happy people in that shed were to hear it,” Keira said. “It doesn’t seem that against your ways.”
“They were pissed—you guys have been pissing us off for weeks. Someone could have died in that fire. We could be discovered. We had to get some other shifters on the police to get onto the investigation so that it wouldn’t lead to figuring out why certain businesses were targeted and others weren’t.” Keira frowned; she had known that the fire would intensify any investigations—would make it more official—but she hadn’t known that the wolves had done anything to slow it down.
“So, what are you going to do with me?” Keira crossed her arms over her chest.
“I’m taking you to a hiding place,” Raul said. “I’ll bring you food, keep you out of the line of fire, until things settle down. I’m going to try and get talks between your folks and my pack.”
“Good luck with that,” Keira said, trying to imagine the reception that Raul would get with her clan. “You saw how much we trust wolves.”
“I can hope that keeping you safe will win me some points,” Raul pointed out, smiling.
“I’m going to be so fucked when they find out I’m being protected by a wolf,” Keira told Raul, shaking her head and smiling to herself in spite of the knowledge of how grave her offense would be.