Invisible Recruit: Invisible Power Part 35

But I couldn't do anything right then. Too cold. Too empty. Sounds around me grew softer and softer.

A face suddenly loomed over me, blocking the sky with its shadow. A small Were by its smell, breathing heavily, and dripping moisture from his half-morphed mouth. A part-man, part something else. A meerkat?

Stubby in size, yellowish-brown fur. Sort of like an elongated rat or woodchuck. Not as dangerous as the other Weres rampaging through the park grounds.

Weren't meerkats supposed to protect villagers from the mood devil; another name for Weres? Frau Fa.s.sbinder would love the irony.

Thoughts flitted here and there. Memories. Regrets. The might-have-beens. I struggled up through the fog growing thicker around me.

The Were looked over his shoulder. "She's still alive."

Not for long, rat face. I'd show him.

"Good." Another voice rolled over me, deep timbered and unfamiliar. "He wants her in one piece.

He?

The meerkat's chuckle rasped along my nerve endings. "Not sure she'll stay in one piece with a s.h.i.+fter's bite. Probably die."

"She could turn."

"Nah, most females don't make the transition."

I wanted to shout, I'm here. I can hear everything you idiots are saying. But no words came.

Just as well. My brothers always told me my mouth was my biggest weapon, one that backfired more than helped.

Van? What happened? And Bran?

As if I'd spoken aloud the meerkat glanced to the near distance beyond where I lay. The last direction from where I'd seen Van. "You see that wolf s.h.i.+fter? Brown and black pelt?"

"Yeah." A harsh chuckled was followed by, "He ain't moving now."

They couldn't mean Van.

The meercat shook his head. "Doesn't look good."

"Dead?"

Noooooo.

"Oui. Other one's not in much better condition. What was he? Mage?"

"Warlock. He wasn't supposed to survive. Only her."

The meerkat glanced back at me. "Then we best get going with her. She dies and it'll be our heads."

Hands reached beneath me, spiking the pain till I screamed out.

Van was dead. Bran had killed him.

Nothing left.

I welcomed the darkness.

CHAPTER 71.

Where the b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l was she?

Bran glanced over to where he'd last seen Alex's body, crumpled and b.l.o.o.d.y, but she was no longer there. Had she only been slightly wounded by Van's attack and managed to get away?

Not likely. Not from what he'd seen. So where was she?

Francois was still battling Weres over by the saut-de-loup, herding them like a sheep dog until they tumbled into the drop. The trench on the other side wasn't going to hold them for long, but they'd be out of sight as soon as the human gendarmes arrived. Which they would. Any moment.

Alex's team had limped away. Humans, even with strong abilities, didn't fair well when matched against Weres and fae in their human forms.

Bran knelt beside Alex's brother, aware the only thing keeping the wolf from killing him was the most recent containment spell Bran had managed to cast. A weak one except it was tainted by the blood coating Bran's side.

If he moved the spell would break, which would unleash Van on anyone in the area. But everything inside him screamed to find Alex. She needed him. Now.

Whether she ever admitted it or not.

Out of the corner of his gaze Bran caught the flash of a cinnamon wolf with black bands racing toward him. Friend? Or enemy drawn by the scent of blood?

Didn't matter as Bran struggled to his knees, the better to brace for an attack.

Something about the black striping the wolf's tail seemed familiar. An earlier attacker? Or . . .

The wolf pulled up short about three meters out, crouched, his eyes golden bright, his lips stretched back into a growl that raised the hackles along Bran's skin.

But while it was Bran being threatened the animal's gaze kept s.h.i.+fting to Van as if trying to figure out why the other wolf wasn't moving, except for his eyes spitting fire.

"You a friend?" Bran asked, using his one free hand to point to Van. "You know Van? Know this wolf?"

Just then a gunshot sounded. A spilt second later Van yelped.

What the- Van sprang back as if propelled then folded, a puddle of blood pooling around him.

A quick glance around didn't show a threat. Must have been a sniper, targeting Van specifically. The same one who'd hit Bran no doubt.

Bran leapt forward but the other wolf was there first. The growling changed tone, not enough to have Bran trust but enough to give him hope.

The containment spell was broken. When he felt for a pulse on Van's neck, nothing.

"I need help." He nodded toward Van, willing the other wolf to understand. "Now."

The growling stopped.

Bran waited. He didn't have enough left to fight the cinnamon wolf so the ball was in his court.

In the blink of an eye the wolf s.h.i.+fted, leaving an older man, fully clothed and with the dark hair and skin tones of Alex. Bran hadn't a.s.sociated with a lot of s.h.i.+fters but knew power when he saw it. Plus the ability to transform clothes was very rare.

"What did you do to him?" the other man said, his tone hostile and brutally curt. The wolf form might be gone but not the threat.

"Nothing. Sniper." Bran glanced at Van. Having one Noziak to deal with was a full time job. Now having three was enough to fry anyone, even a warlock. "I can save him but need your help."

"Why would you help him?" the older Noziak demanded, his eyes still looking part wolf.

"For Alex," he said simply. Sometimes the truth was the best option. Then he added, "She's been doing everything in her power to find and save her brother. If I let him die she'll kill me."

The older man seemed to grapple with something.

"I have less than a few seconds to save him."

"Do what you need to do." Noziak came to a decision. "How can I help?"

"Watch for others."

"What others?"

"The gendarmes are coming."

The older wolf glanced around. "Shortest way to a safe exit."

Bran nodded toward a line of cone-shaped shrubs. "I have a car beyond there. Safest and quickest route out."

"So you know who I am?"

"A Noziak."

A curt nod. "Get started."

Bran hesitated, knowing how much energy what he was about to do would take. Alex's father might have two corpses on his hands.

Still he slowed his breath, closed his eyes and laid his hands, blood and all on Van's side. The fact he was still in his wolf form might help. If Bran could pull one part of Van back from the dead, the other would follow.

Anima. Vita. Fiducia.

He tried again, pus.h.i.+ng his energy harder.

Mortifer. Mortifer. Mortifer.

Anima. Vita. Fiducia.

Fiducia. Fiducia. Fiducia.

Beneath his fingers a faint pulse. Van was alive. For now. He'd take what he could.

"Does he live?" the older Noziak demanded.

Bran managed a weighted nod. One Noziak alive, and he'd do everything in his power to keep him that way. For Alex's sake.

"Good. We'll talk more." the other man barked his voice all business. "Where's Alex?"

"I don't know. She was here. Then . . ."

The world grayed slightly then solidified.

The senior Noziak looked like he was going to say something then lifted his head in attention. "They're coming. No time now."

Bran rallied. "Can't trust that he'll survive being moved."

Noziak bit off an oath. "I'm stronger than he is. Let him go. I'll take responsibility to keep him calm."

Bran would be glad to keep Van from killing anyone else, not that it was likely given his condition. With a reluctant nod he eased away from Van.

The older man lifted his son, still in his wolf form, and slung him over his back. "Ready," he grunted.

"Let's get out of here."

Bran took one last look for Alex but couldn't see her among the chaos and dead bodies. If she had died though he'd know. Wouldn't he? Across the field he could see the members of her team limping toward the parking lot, so at least they lived. Still no sign of Alex as he followed her father and brother to his own car.

Where the h.e.l.l was she?

One step at a time. Save her brother, or at least get him stabilized. The second that happened, Bran would turn his attention to Alex. He'd find her. No matter how many people he had to expose and destroy to do so.

CHAPTER 72.

Ling Mai picked up her phone by the second ring, recognizing the numbers she had memorized. The male voice on the other end sounded smug, which wasn't unexpected.

"We have her," he said.

Ling Mai nodded though no one could see her. "Any complications?"

"No."