Following Charles's directions, Anna continued up the battered asphalt road to a pair of huge buildings surrounded by a twelve-foot-tall chain-link fence, hospitably topped by razor wire.
The whole property looked as though no one had done anything industrious there for fifty years-and none of the other warehouses in the immediate area looked any more occupied. Adding to the general disreputable air, the metal roof of one of the buildings was missing a sheet or ten of roofing material.
The people at the gate must have recognized the car because they had it opened for her to drive right on through. As she drove closer to the warehouses, the buildings looked bigger and bigger, and, as she passed between them, they shut out the night sky until it was a narrow ribbon with the Hunter's Moon, just a sliver of silver, in the sky above them.
There were thirty or forty cars in a space big enough to park a hundred. Most of them were parked next to the larger of the two warehouses, so that was where Anna parked, too.
"You're quiet tonight," said Charles.
She looked at her hands and flexed them on the steering wheel, easing her grip when the wheel creaked.
She'd meant to keep quiet about joining the hunt, but as the time approached, springing it on him in front of everyone seemed more and more stupid. "I have an idea-and you aren't going to like it."
He looked at her for a long time, long enough that she finally looked back.
"I am dominant," he told her, as if she didn't already know. "And that means I am driven to take care of those who are mine."
She met his gaze, held it, and realized slowly that it pleased him that she could do so. It pleased her, too.
"You want to go into the hunt."
"Yes."
She expected him to forbid it outright-and realized that part of her had been counting on using that as an excuse to bow out.
Instead he simply asked, "Why?"
"Because Ric thinks that it might help with this..." She dropped her eyes and then raised them again and firmed her voice. "With the baseless fear that had me shivering in my seat yesterday when the auditorium filled up with Alphas-who were ready to kill each other to protect me. It made me feel stupid and weak. I was less frightened when Chastel came into Angus's office-and I had a lot more reason then."
His eyes flared gold, and he said, in a voice that was lower and rougher than his usual tone, "It's because you fought Justin once, and your pack caught you and held you for him."
Anna nodded jerkily. It hadn't been just for Justin, and it hadn't been just once-and she wasn't about to tell him that with Brother Wolf looking out through his eyes.
"How does Ric think this will help?"
"Because I'll be focused on the hunt. He thinks that my wolf will help, that she'll keep me from panicking."
"He is a psychologist?"
She couldn't help but smile. "Almost, he says. But not to worry, his mentor thinks he's a genius."
"I cannot join the hunt," he said heavily. "If I won, it would be a political disaster. If I lost, it would be worse. If you hunt, there are those who will be hunting you rather than the prize. Because you are my mate and because you are an Omega."
"Chastel."
"Chastel is not the only enemy my father has here-and I have a few myself."
"I actually thought about that possibility. Ric is hunting tonight. He says that he will keep an eye on me, and thinks his Alpha-someone named Isaac-will agree to do so also."
Charles nodded and opened his door.
"Charles?"
He bent and looked back into the car.
"Can I join the hunt?"
His eyebrows went up. "That was never up to me. You've assessed the benefits and the possible problems. It is up to you." He closed his door.
Anna unbuckled herself and got out of the car. "So what happened to 'I am dominant and I protect those who are mine'?"
He propped a hip on the front of the car. "If it would benefit you, I would kill every wolf here. But there are things that you need to do-and interfering with that is not protecting, not in my book. The best way for me to protect you is to encourage you to be able to protect yourself."
He gave her a sudden, rueful smile. "I admit it doesn't make me happy. But with Dana and me on watch, and Ric and his Alpha on the floor, you are as safe as you are going to be in a hunt full of dominant wolves. You've killed a vampire and a witch-you are hardly helpless."
She straightened her shoulders as his confidence lent her courage. So she walked to him and put her arms around him, burying her face in the sweet-smelling warmth of his chest. He wore one of his favorite flannel shirts over a plain red T-shirt and the cotton was soft against her skin. "You are a remarkable man, Charles Cornick."
He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and put his chin on the top of her head. "I know," he confided lightly. "And often underappreciated by those who don't know any better."
She poked him with a finger and looked up at him. "And funny-though I expect that is another facet of your character that goes unappreciated even more often than your remarkableness."
"Some people don't even notice," he said in a mock-mournful voice.
THE main room in the bigger warehouse was more than twenty feet tall and large enough to swallow all the wolves who had chosen to hunt and leave room for twice as many more. The rest of the wolves-a strong majority-stood on a platform ten feet above them. Everyone was still in human form. One wall of the room was covered with flat-screen TVs, which were off.
Dana stood in the center of the raised platform and spoke. "The rule is no bloodletting-which rule I will enforce. The walls and floors of these buildings and the earth beneath will tell me if there is blood. You will start out human and change when the bell is rung. There are three leather bags, hidden several days ago, containing a handful of pig sausage each-and one of them also holds a two-carat star-ruby ring provided by the Marrok."
As she spoke, the last the monitors all turned on to show a woman's hand holding a ring in its palm. The setting was plain enough so that the ring could be either a man's or a woman's ring-it was the gem that made the ring beautiful. The ruby was a deep semitranslucent red, with a star that was almost white.
It was beautiful and doubtless valuable-and Anna was pretty sure there wasn't anyone standing on the wooden floor with her who was here for the prize. The hunt was all that was important. How often did an Alpha get a chance to pit himself against other Alphas without risk to those they must keep safe?
Angus spoke while the ring was still on display. "Our hunting grounds encompass both buildings, which interconnect via layers of underground tunnels. This building has between two and six layers of maze aboveground, the other three and four, and both have three basement floors original to the structures and two more beneath those that we have added. The three bags are hidden here, and one contains the ring."
Anna glanced at the people around her. Chastel was there, and she recognized Michel and several of the Spanish wolves she had met at the barbecue restaurant. Arthur, though, was standing just behind Dana, with the ones who had chosen not to hunt.
Angus's instructions continued. "Once you find a bag, bring it here. The rules are finder's keepers-no thieves. Any wolf carrying a bag is untouchable. We have monitors, we have people hidden, and Dana has given the bags a little extra fae magic to ensure this is the case. Anyone interfering with a wolf carrying a bag will be eliminated from the competition and the bag will be returned to the finder. You will not be able to open it-Dana has made certain of it. When all three bags are here, we will sound an alarm that you can hear from anywhere on the grounds. Return here-and when everyone is accounted for, Dana will open the bags, and the winner will be announced."
After Angus conducted a brief question-and-answer session, it was Charles's turn. He looked at her, then at Ric and his Alpha, who stood beside her.
"The hunt," he said, "is on."
There was a metallic chunk, the lights went off, and Anna had her shirt halfway off before the last of the light died. On the wall, the monitors switched their display from the ruby ring to black with small red letters on the bottom right-hand corner of each, which abruptly provided the only light in the room.
Clothing ripped and soft, pained sounds echoed as several dozen werewolves began the change from human to something more. Laughing, breathless, she stripped off her pants and shoes, socks and underwear before she began her own change.
Shards of agony spread over her, beginning at the base of her spine and spiraling out to her fingers and toes. Wet pops announced the reshaping of joints and bone as her wolf slid over her skin. Claws and fangs, muscle and fur-wet tracks slid down her face as her eyes watered. Strength surged like the tide rolling in, and she came to all fours with a grunt of effort.
The room was too full of others for her to pick up a scent, and her eyes were blind with the last wave of white-hot pain. She stood shaking, then threw her head back and sang.
Alone.
Because she was the first to change-it must have been a gift from Brother Wolf and the mate bond they shared. She'd never been able to change that fast before. She could have started her hunt, but Ric and his Alpha were still caught in the change. So she stood over them, ready to protect them if they should need it.
By ones and twos, other wolves rose. When they got too close to her, she displayed her fangs, and they let her be.
Ric's Alpha, Isaac, now a winter white wolf who was only a little larger than she, stood up, and they both waited for Ric, who was finished only a few minutes later. He wobbled like a newborn lamb when he came to his feet, not experienced enough yet to wait for brain and muscle to reconnect. She put her shoulder against him and let him lean on her.
In his human form, he was average height and build-maybe even a bit lean. His wolf was on the large side, certainly bigger than she or Isaac. In the dark her eyes gave her shapes, but not colors. He was darker than his Alpha but several shades lighter than she, but she couldn't tell if he was gray, brown, or red.