Chapter 17

The cold helped to sober Becca up, she tried to look around Vlad to see how Gabrielle was receiving his escort but could not get a clear view.

"Where are we going? What hotel?" Vlad inquired outside the front doors.

"The Mozart," Becca replied, wishing he would go somewhere else. Her tingling was coming and going like it was shorting out. It could have been the alcohol. She'd never used her ability while under the influence before.

"That is a good hotel," he approved jovially and then proceeded to hold up some self- absorbed banter about his schooling in London and his hope to someday move to New Jersey with an uncle operating a small family business out there.

Becca answered him absently, her head busily coming up with about one hundred different excuses as to why he could not come to her room at the hotel. The simplest was probably that she had her period, otherwise she was willing to claim venereal disease if necessary.

"Why are you going this way?" Gabrielle asked him. They had turned the wrong way at the end of the block.

"There is a better view of the lights at night this way." He did his best to plead with his eyes, adding a warm smile meant to reassure them. "It is the same distance, let us make it more pleasant."

Becca leaned forward, finally able to see Gabrielle. She wore a falsely pleasant expression and gave a small shrug to let her know she was okay with it. Becca's growing headache from the alcohol didn't leave a lot of room for her sight to help her out even if it did decide to cooperate. She found herself relying heavily on Gabrielle's werewolf senses, having pretty much ruined hers for the evening. A mistake she would take care not to make again.

They walked along the sidewalk. Becca was listening to the sounds of the street fade as they entered a quieter part of town, away from the busy clubs in the district. Her arm jerked as Vlad halted suddenly. Becca's headache exploded behind her eyes at the same time Gabrielle growled.

Something moved fast from around the building, the dark form charging from the darkness to halt, panting heavily a few feet in front of them. Becca's stomach twisted, not just from warning. She was afraid.

Vlad spoke loudly in Russian, his arms twisting to wrap around their backs, pushing them together in front of him. Gabrielle was allowing it or Vlad would have been dead by now.

"He's made some sort of deal with him. The human wants him to kill Mischa and Alexi, making him head of the local thugs," she translated for Becca, whispering rapidly in her ear. "He's planning it with his cousin he mentioned before, the chief."

That was all Gabrielle needed. Grinning wickedly, she pushed herself away from their captor, breaking his hold on Becca in the process. Becca threw herself to the side to give

her partner room to maneuver. How their opponents would be divided didn't require any discussion.

With an angry roar and a shimmering of air around her like hot tar in the desert, Gabrielle's bones shifted and cracked as she transformed rapidly into a giant golden wolf. Her ears pinned back, she tossed her head, and howled.

Vlad shouted something. Becca got the gist of it; Vlad wasn't happy with Gabrielle's new body. He backed away, falling in his rush to escape. His eyes were wild as he gaped at the beasts and crab-walked backward, placing himself only a few paces from Becca. She was fascinated, fixing her eyes on the forms circling each other in front of her.

The new wolf was dark grey and a full shoulder taller than Gabrielle. He growled back at her and began to circle. Her lips pulled back to expose teeth easily as large as Becca's fingers.

The male lunged for Gabrielle but what he had in bulk she made up for in agility, easily stepping aside and avoiding his rush. Once past, she reached out and bit his flank. It was a teasing move meant to incense. It worked. He roared in anger.

Becca watched them circle and lunge, snap and feign in a dance that was successful in producing blood on both sides. A hand she had stupidly forgotten about snapped onto her arm, knocking her roughly from her feet again and taking the skin from her knees in the process. In seconds she was back up, using his momentum to regain her feet. Metal clattered on the sidewalk as a weapon fell from her sleeve.

Vlad was cursing rapidly, spittle at the corners of his mouth, eyes wide in horror as he watched the wolves tear at each other. He thought Becca was Gabrielle's master, recovering himself enough to bark orders at her.

"Make her stop. You must make her stop or I will kill you," he commanded. His mouth was close enough to her face, spit landed on her cheek.

She tried to pull away from him, aiming a sidekick at his knee meant to disable. Inconveniently, her boot slid on a loose stone and her leg dropped and her booted foot connected with his lower leg instead. Vlad spat another curse at her and punched her in the face with his free hand.

The first impact split her lip, the second cut her cheek just freshly healed from Terry. Her eyes watered making it hard to see but she was trained for this and, having plenty of experience in the field, Becca fought back. Spinning her body away, she broke his hold on her, grabbing his wrist and using his momentum from her pull to jerk him off balance. She wrenched his wrist straight and threw her weight into her elbow, striking him in the back of his. The resulting crack disabled the arm. He shrieked in pain and stumbled, breaking her hold.

He was in a panic and his adrenaline kept him functional. Vlad spun around, dropping and coming back up with a knife in his hand when he lunged for her again. Becca jumped back, very glad to be in her boots and not heels, her preference at the start of the night. She grabbed his arm when it came at her, swinging him around herself and squeezing his wrist in a death grip. Her hands were small and couldn't wrap around his thicker limb far enough to hit the pressure point that would have made him drop his weapon. Fearful that if she let go of him she might not see him through the tears somewhat blinding her, Becca held on for dear life, landing several kicks that resulted in pained cries. The knife caught her forearm once, then twice. She kept her hold.

She grappled with him, holding on to try to control him except she was overmatched, a fact that was steadily becoming apparent as they began to tire. Vlad's longer reach was getting the better of Becca as her speed flagged and she couldn't get out of the way as quickly.

Snarls and snaps were coming fast and furious beyond her but she couldn't afford a glimpse to see how Gabrielle was faring.

When he was raising his knife for a backhanded slice to her ribs, Vlad paused mid-attack and started backing away, knife held high. His skin paled in the face of something behind her. A blur of cinnamon sped past her and Becca heard Ryan's growl joining the fracas with the other furry fighters.

Cool hands touched her shoulders and Becca felt her head clear. He gave her a gentle squeeze and his hands were gone. The air moved beside her and Michael's back blocked her view of Vlad.

His voice was dark. Becca felt it pulling at her senses and knew he was using his influence on the human. Vlad responded calmly, entranced. It struck her that she hadn't succumbed to his influence yet he had definitely used them on her at least once. She wondered why that was for a fleeting moment before her attention was drawn back to the street in front of her.

There was a brief exchange and Becca heard a snap before she registered movement. Vlad's body collapsed to the ground, his head bent at an unnatural angle. Michael afforded the body no respect, turning away from it to focus on the battle still raging.

Becca turned just in time to see Gabrielle lunge low, skidding on her chest to bite down on one of the grey wolf's front limbs. He hopped back, dancing on three legs. The golden wolf rushed and the grey faltered. That was all she needed. One final lunge and she was on his throat. Ryan sat back, relegated to referee and leave Gabrielle to fight her own battle.

Becca moved to stand near Michael, his hand reached for hers and she clasped it gladly. Gabrielle and Ryan approached and sat on their haunches, Gabrielle panted heavily. She

licked the blood from a wound deep within the fur on her chest while Ryan licked a wound on her shoulder. Becca had to fight not to be ill. Michael clutched her hand more firmly and she felt her head clear; she shot him a grateful half-smile.

He asserted himself as leader. "Ryan, Gab, take our coats and meet us back at the hotel. Ryan, your key is in the pocket." Michael slid his own key out of his long wool coat, re- depositing it in his pants pocket. They had planned for this, working through details a less practiced unit might miss.

He looked over at Becca busily shrugging out of her coat and noticed a slight tremor to her movements. She was shaken from what she had seen tonight though all in all she handled it and herself impressively. The marks on her face and forearms brought on his protective rage and he fought it back, not wanting to treat her as less than either of the other two. She would resent him for it. It was difficult when his nature was demanding he scoop her up and carry her back to their room where no one else could touch her.

The air shimmered. Becca averted her eyes and Ryan laughed. "Becca, you can look. I know you want to."

She wrapped her arms around herself, her club dress nowhere near warm enough for the chilly spring air.

"Leave her alone, Ryan," Gabrielle chastised him sharply. Her arm slid around Becca's back, radiating heat she couldn't help but press into.

When she glanced up, questioning, Gabrielle closed her eyes and gave a minute head shake. Obediently, Becca was silent. She felt the blonde's body shaking from her exertions or injuries or both but she could not see any sources of blood loss anymore.

"Ryan, you and I need to clean up here and go find the chief of police. Gabrielle, Becca, why don't you two head back to the hotel and we will be along shortly." Michael nodded at Gabrielle. "Are you okay to get back?"

She snorted in response.

Michael grinned. "Tough bitch."

Becca felt Michael release his grip and her giddy feeling slipped away to be replaced by uncertainty and guilt once again. She was glad to be going back with Gabrielle and not him. Gabrielle was less complicated.

As they walked away, Becca could hear the sound of a body being dragged along the pavement. She couldn't help but smile when she heard Ryan curse Michael for giving him the heavier of the bodies.

"You're naked, it's not like you're going to mess up your clothes. Why do you think I did mine clean? No blood," Michael teased.

Ryan continued to grumble. "I didn't do it, she did." Their voices faded.

They walked a full block before Gabrielle spoke in a low voice. "Are you going to tell me what's going on and why Black is so happy you two are sleeping together?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." She knew the woman heard her pulse jump.

"Please. I heard you." She let that sink in. "I've known Michael longer than you've been alive. You two slept together, that isn't the question. What I want to know is why the first thing he did afterward was call the admiral."

That brought Becca up short. "What?" Her worry that they would upset the admiral by being together was obviously unfounded, but happy? "Did he have to tell him what we did? Is it a," she hesitated, "requirement?"

"No Bec. After you started yelling, Ryan and I paid attention. You were in the shower and he snuck out to make the call. It sounded like he'd been on a call with Black when you started making noise and was calling him back." Gabrielle's amber eyes stared intently into hers. "I heard the admiral congratulate him for bedding you and then I saw you two in the lobby. You didn't look like a woman who's just been with a man she's been licking her chops over for days. I'm trying to figure out what's going on between you."

Becca felt ill. "I'm sure you heard it wrong."

Her forehead remained smooth and unburdened by doubt. "No, Ryan heard it too."

"I'm sure you two heard him talking about something else. You were listening through a door to a phone conversation. You can't tell me you can hear that well." Becca tried to dismiss her suspicions as unfounded.

"We've gone to war on less reliable info. I'm sure of this."

Becca pulled ahead of Gabrielle. They were still about six blocks away and Becca jogged it. Gabrielle let her go.

The human hadn't known about Michael's admission; she was easy to read. That shock and hurt were genuine. But Becca had been upset in the hotel lobby about something else. Gabrielle was sure of it. What was she hiding? It wouldn't stay a secret for long. Gabrielle wouldn't let Ryan be killed like Luc in Algiers. Their unit was not going to be put in jeopardy because of some sick game being run by the admiral and his favorite captain.