Lauren Dane: Wild Darkness

She got herself a cup of coffee and freshened his as well. Now that she could smell breakfast she was aware of how ridiculously hungry she was. “I was trying to be quiet, though I was going to have to disturb you anyway, I’m sorry to say.”

“Sit.” He indicated the table. “I only need about three hours’ sleep a night. I’ve been up about half an hour. Let’s eat and you can tell me about what I’m needed for.”

“Wow. I wish I only needed three hours. I could get so much more done.”

He pulled a chair out and waited until she sat. He befuddled her sometimes.

“You run yourself ragged. You and your sister both. Molly too. None of you are superhuman. You need rest or you’ll just fall apart. I know you need to charge your magick and you can’t if you constantly rush from one emergency to the next.”

He placed a number of platters heaping with food on the table before he sat to join her. He began to fill his plate and she followed suit, feeling better after she’d taken a few bites.

“It’s not like I plan it that way. It seems that my whole life has been reduced to running from one emergency to the next. Ugh, I’m whining. Sorry.” She sighed and ate some more.

“Anyway, thank you. For everything.” She started speaking once she’d filled up a little. They needed to get moving soon and she might as well tell him what was up. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you for more help.”

Faine put his mug down but continued to eat. “You’re not whining, so stop apologizing. I’m here to help. Tell me what you need.”

“It was Lark on the phone. I need to be at a videoconference at Gennessee in two hours. Well, an hour and forty-five minutes now. They want you to be there too.”

“Like you, this is the job I signed on for. I’m pleased to do it, especially if it aids you.”

She blew out a breath. “I don’t want you to regret that.”

He snorted, finishing his plate of food rapidly. “I was bred to do this. Much like you.” He stood. “Finish up. There’s aluminum foil in the pantry if you want to make an extra burrito or two to take with us. I’m going to change and we can get moving. The traffic should be a little better by this point.”

She watched his retreat and totally ogled his butt. Magnificent ass .

HE’Dwanted to talk with her on the drive out, but she’d taken one call after the next, working on her laptop as she did. Helena was rarely still. Most of him approved of this. She was a woman who knew her mind, who understood the severity of the situation and put all her attention on solving it. There was an intensity about her that he responded to. That her people responded to and seemed to be calmed and focused by.

But on the other hand, she’d taken one hit after the next and he wanted her to have just a brief respite from all this damned tragedy. Intensity like hers tended to take a great deal of energy and focus. Never having a break from it was hard on body and mind. He knew it was taking a toll on her. Knew the stress beat at her, splintering and drowning her. He wanted to protect her when he could. Knew on some level that the way she made him feel was different than he’d felt about anyone before. And he accepted it.

He could also admit he wanted her attention. He liked it when she focused on him. All that bright intelligence homed in on whatever he was saying.

“Why Pasadena?” he managed to ask once they’d gotten off the freeway and were headed to the Gennessee headquarters.

She looked up from her work with a smile and he was glad he asked. “Magick is good here. It’s clean, runs in strong ley lines from the mountains out to the ocean. When they first settled here—Owen witches I mean—they had their headquarters down in what’s now Long Beach. Near the port. But about fifteen years later, we settled out here. We sort of, I don’t know, dug in. The Gennessees have had houses out this way for the last three generations. My family are just over there in those hills.” She pointed. “Of course, we’ve got satellite offices all over the state. The territory is too big to manage otherwise.”

“I like the mountains. It’s nice to be able to go run.”

“It’s not as heavily forested as close to the city as Seattle is. But it’s good. The wildness of it all, city and nature, feeds my magick.”

Helena’s magick was vibrant. Golden yellows and blues. Lark’s was electric in a different way. But Helena’s had a taste his beast could identify with its eyes closed.

Driving that thought from his mind wasn’t too hard as he headed through the streets to the office. More police presence of late. And now, he noted, they were far more militarized.

He wasn’t alone. “Automatic weapons. Christ.” She blew out a breath as she noted the cop on a nearby corner.

“At least here they have some decent relations with Gennessee.”

“Decent.” She shrugged. “Getting worse though. It’s factionalizing more by the day. Out here it’s not too bad. We’ve worked with them since the Magister. But their relationship with the shifters is more tenuous.”

“The packs down here have some problems. Lazy to have let things get so bad.”

He disapproved quite deeply of how poorly and disorganized the werewolves ran themselves in Southern California. They had big problems with rogue wolves, so big they allowed the witches to cull their numbers. Lycians handled their own problems. In Faine’s opinion, to have allowed not just outsiders but another race to deal with an issue of their own making rendered them weak.

“They could take lessons from the Wardens. Undisciplined down here. Someone needs to take over and whip them into shape.”

She laughed and he turned, not very used to hearing the sound from her. He liked it. His beast liked it too. “What?”

“You and Simon are so judgy when it comes to the wolves here. It’s cute.”

“Cute?” He snorted, not sure if he should be offended or not. “I’m not cute.”

“You totally are. They are undisciplined down here. For too long they just let things happen and didn’t really care to enforce their own rules. But they’re trying now. If they don’t rise to the occasion, they’re screwed. I guess if facing obliteration can’t up your game, you’re beyond help.”

He grumbled, not entirely satisfied. “To have witches culling their rogue wolves is a disgrace. Lex Warden should take over. They’d be better off with real leadership.”

“Lex has enough on his hands right now. I think they’re scared. Which is good. They switched out their leadership. If they can use this to tighten their pack up and be better, they deserve the chance. It’s not that I enjoyed having to do their enforcement. I didn’t. I have enough to do without being their boogeyman. But these are dark times. Their new Alpha is stepping up since they pushed the old one out. We can’t all be as awesome as Lycians.”

He hmphed.

“I’m not joking. You and your brother are trained in ways I could only dream of getting my people up to. But for them it’s been a huge cultural shift. They’ve done their own thing for so long and it’s hard to get used to the new reality. I don’t like it much either, but you adapt or you die. If they don’t get their act together, it’s Cade Warden they need to worry over, not Lex.”

Cade Warden was the Supreme Alpha of the National Pack. In charge of all the Packs in the United States. Though Faine had only met him in person once or twice, he’d been impressed by Cade’s power and commitment to protect his wolves. It was an Alpha’s job after all, but one that was difficult, especially now.

“I should thank the wolves down here anyway.” Helena spoke as he turned down the street where the Gennessee offices were.