Rogue Huntress

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The building was abandoned, of course. That’s what I’d been counting on when I plotted our course eighteen hours earlier, knowing the Pinnacle was used only once a year and remained vacant in the interim. So I barely sniff-tested the entranceway before sliding with Sebastien onto a leather sofa not far inside the front door. Together, we fell soundly asleep.

Only when sunlight crept in a large bay of south-facing windows late the next morning did I stir and check the messages on my burner phone once again. Sure enough, my father had not only sent a second text, he’d also come through with information that cleared the haze of sleep away from my mind with alacrity.

“Derek’s encrypted data was a phone number,” Dad’s newest message read. After that came a string of eleven digits that my brother had taken such lengths to hide from everyone in the outside world. It was the key to his well-hidden location, and I had to force myself to take a breath.

Padding away from my still somnolent mate, I peered down at the simple string of numbers on the face of the phone. After years of precarious contact involving long chains of redirected ISPs then weeks of complete radio silence, my brother was a mere tap of a button away. And, okay, so that button might as well have been surrounded by big red caution lights and blaring sirens warning that I was about to make a stupid move. But I was seriously considering pushing it anyway.

Because this was my little brother we were talking about. He needed me. I had no choice but to follow the trail Derek had provided.

“I’ve set up an automatic cutoff if you absolutely have to make this call,” my father had added, throwing cold water on both my excitement and my relief. “Don’t tamper with the coding. Don’t bypass the program. I need you to stay safe.”

Safe. Glancing down at my mate one last time before slipping out the front door, I had to admit that Dad was right. Yes, my brother needed me...but so did my human partner. And I had a sinking suspicion I couldn’t contact one without drawing the other into danger.

“This is hazardous, Ember,” my father had warned at the bottom of the message, his understanding of my family-focused nature making it easy for him to guess where my thoughts would lead. “Let me make the call for you. Don’t risk yourself for a brother you’ve never met.”

Dad was right, as always. And yet, despite certain knowledge that waiting was the smartest course of action...I just couldn’t do it. Not when Derek lacked anyone else willing and able to watch his back. Not when my brother had been packless and alone for nearly half of his life.

I possessed a big sprawling family ready and willing to assist me in any way they possibly could while Derek had no one. Well...no one except me.

So, ignoring the shiver that raced down my spine, I clicked on Dad’s fail-safe to add a thin layer of protection to the stupid decision I was about to make. Then I pressed the button and placed the call.

***

FOR A LONG MOMENT, the screen remained blank. Then my brother’s face filled the small rectangle, and I breathed out his name in a sigh of relief. “Derek....”

Pulling the device closer to my nose, I attempted to pick out familiar details through an unfamiliar haze of tears. My brother was alive. Was walking down an open city street amidst a congested mass of humanity with no obvious chains or prison guards to pin him down. Had he really been wandering through his life without a care in the world the entire time I’d risked unfriendly alphas and scary government agents to find him? Was all of my worry and effort just a big sister’s overprotective streak?

And maybe it was the saltwater messing with my vision, but for a split second I didn’t think Derek recognized me. The younger male’s eyebrows drew together while his nostrils flared in a wolf-like show of agitation...then his mouth quirked up into that tiny hint of a smile that passed for affection in my brother’s world. “Big sister,” he responded, slipping into a vacant alley and leaving the chatter of people behind.

It was then that I noted the wolf-like alertness that sat heavily upon my brother’s shoulders. His eyes flitted from side to side, checking out the surroundings rather than focusing on my face, and his steps seemed to be chosen more carefully than was truly necessary as he padded deeper into the paved and enclosed lane.

As I took in the vein throbbing at the corner of his jaw, in fact, I realized that the ease with which Derek had slipped between the streams of innocent humans was all for show. My kid brother was in serious trouble...and I had approximately thirty seconds left to reel him in before the countdown timer Dad had set for me went off and cut through this connection I’d worked so hard to create.

“Where are you?” I asked, knowing even as I spoke that I was messing this up. At the best of times, Derek required gentle handling, like a once-feral cat that continued to startle away from sudden movements years after being installed in a loving home. I wasn’t going to win my brother over with a demand for details....but I might just manage to save his life.

I’d only be able to rescue my brother if he actually coughed up his location though. Predictably, Derek balked at the intrusive question, tossing it back at me like a hot potato. “Where are you, sis?” he countered. “I left my contact info at the college weeks ago. I’ve been worried about you alone in the big city ever since....”

“Is that where you are?” Counting up the hours my mate and I had traveled away from that very location the day before, I had to stifle a sigh. If we left now, we’d reach the college campus again a few hours after midnight...at which point we’d walk directly into the hands of angry werewolves who wanted my head. Slithering back out of that particular trap would prove difficult. But I’d willingly dive into far hotter water if that’s what it took to bring Derek in out of the cold.

Only, my frantic planning screeched to an abrupt halt as my little brother shook his head, artfully sculpted locks remaining perfectly in place despite the erratic movement of his neck. Current fashion might dictate a just-tumbled-out-of-bed approach, but Derek didn’t leave anything about his appearance to chance.

“No, I haven’t been there for weeks,” my brother answered. “I....”

Then his voice trailed off as his eyes cut back in the direction from which he’d come. A thunder of approaching footsteps, a curt shout. Even if my lupine ears hadn’t been able to pick up on the signs of imminent attack, the expression on Derek’s face would have been enough to clue me in.

We’d run out of time.