Wolf Leader: A Shifter Romance (Arctic Brotherhood, Book 6) Read online

  “Why was that odd? We don’t make any secret about where we stay.”

  “But Retief was a new employee. He’d never been to Longyearbyen before, yet he spoke about the brotherhood and the compound where you were staying as if he knew all about you.” Amber felt the familiar dread tracking its way down her spine. Had Retief come here after her? She looked up at the roaring inferno that had replaced the satellite station. Sick bile rose in her gullet. “If he wanted to hurt me, why carry out this senseless attack?”

  “What makes you think this was about you?” Vigo moved closer, his presence instantly comforting her.

  “What else could it be about?” Her brow furrowed as she looked up at him.

  “That’s what we need to find out.”

  * * *

  It had been a long night. The firefighting effort was still ongoing at the satellite station and the fire chief had been unable to pause and help them any further. The focus, once they were back in the seclusion of the compound, was to try and discover more about the man named Retief. With no internet access, their efforts were frustratingly limited. Amber used the radio to contact the head office of Norway Tech in Oslo. Despite the crackling connection, it was clear from his voice that the operator to whom she spoke was in shock. His attention was limited to the explosion, and she struggled to get him to talk about anything else.

  “Retief.” She repeated the name several times. “No, I can’t remember his first name. His paperwork was checked in Oslo before he boarded the airplane. I only glanced at the list I was given.” She tried not to let her impatience show. Both with him and with herself.

  How the hell was I supposed to know I would need to memorize his details?

  “Look, it’s chaos here. The entire management team is in the building, but the whole focus is on getting news about the explosion. I’ll get back to you when I’ve got more information.”

  Removing her headphones, Amber resisted the impulse to bang her head on the desk in frustration. “If Retief planted those bombs, he is still out there somewhere.” She was unable to keep the fear out of her voice.

  Vigo, who was standing beside her in the small office that housed the radio and transmitter, shifted position so he could see her face. “It’s time to tell me what you’re scared of, Amber.” His voice was gentle but firm.

  Amber considered his words. Her options were limited. She could go on the run again. Her belongings had all been in her cabin, but she had some savings, money she had put aside for a day like this. A day when the past caught up with her. But if that was what had happened, if Retief had caused that explosion because of her, then she would never be safe, no matter how far, or how fast, she ran. And if Retief had killed all those other people because of her, was she prepared to let that happen again . . . and again?

  She looked up at Vigo. Looked into the deep gold eyes that were so like her own. For the first time, it felt like she had another option. She had never allowed herself the luxury of trust before. But she felt instinctively that she could place her safety in Vigo’s hands. And she didn’t want to run. She knew the feeling was linked to him, and that meant she was weakening . . .

  Just for once, let someone else be stronger.

  Although the words were spoken in Vigo’s voice, they were inside her head. Clear, calm, and insistent. She looked up at him with a frown. His expression was unreadable. He couldn’t be reading her mind. Could he?

  She drew a deep breath. “I was born in Norway. I grew up in the city of Tromsø. Like all werewolves, we had to hide our identity, but it was an idyllic existence. The climate was perfect and there was a thriving, secret community of Arctic werewolves.”

  Her hand shook as she reached up to push her hair out of her face. The memories crowded in and she tried to battle through them, to keep going so she could tell him the story. “The day it happened, we had gathered together at a friend’s house for a celebration. It was the werewolf equivalent of a baptism. The leader of our pack and his mate were celebrating the birth of their first child. I was eighteen in human years. You know what that’s like for a werewolf.”

  “I think I can remember that long ago.” His smile was self-mocking. Werewolves developed at a normal human rate until the age of eighteen when their immortality kicked in. “Although we are talking many centuries ago in my case.”

  “I got tired of all the cooing over the baby and decided to shift and go for a run. I lost track of time and was gone for longer than I’d planned. After about an hour, I got back to the house, but I knew as I approached that something was very wrong.” She tried to gulp in air and ended up making a sound that was somewhere between a sob and a gasp.

  “Do you want to take a break?” Vigo’s hand was warm and firm on her shoulder. “Maybe get a drink of water?”

  Amber shook her head. She’d started this now and she needed to continue, to get the nightmare images out of her head. If she took a break, she might never find the courage to start up again. But she needed him to keep his hand where it was. She signaled that by placing her own hand over his.

  “It was the screaming . . .” She pressed the fingertips of her other hand to her temple. “I can still hear it now. They were pleading with them to spare the children. But they killed them all.”

  “Did you see who it was?” She needed Vigo’s calm question. Sympathetic exclamations would have tipped her over into hysteria.

  She hung her head. “I wanted to help, but I was too scared. There was a porch at the back of the house and I hid underneath it. I couldn’t see what was happening, but I could hear some of it. That was how I knew they would come for me.”

  “What made you think that?”

  “They said it.” She lifted her head. For the first time since that day, the tears came and she welcomed them. “When everyone was dead, one of the men—it felt like he was the leader—came out onto the porch. He asked where I was.”

  Vigo frowned. “He asked for you by name?”

  Amber nodded. “I heard him clearly. He was angry. He told the others to search for the girl called Amber. The one born at the time of the fireball comet.”

  “And I take it you were born at that time?”

  She nodded. “My father used to joke that it was where I got my fiery nature.”

  “I don’t understand why they wanted you if you were one of the youngest of your pack.”

  “I didn’t understand it either. I was scared to leave my hiding place, but I knew I had to get away before they checked beneath the porch. As I started to crawl away, I heard them reporting back to him that I wasn’t in the house. That was when I knew I would have to run, and keep running. What he said stayed with me ever since. He said time didn’t matter. They would find me, and, when they did, their debt would be paid.”

  “Amber, how long ago was this in human years?”

  She gave a shaky laugh. “It feels like forever, but it wasn’t long. Only five years. I’m just a kid when it comes to the whole immortality thing.” Something in his expression made her pause. “Why? Is the timescale important?”

  “Five years ago, Fenrir was on the loose.”

  Amber wrinkled her nose in confusion. “I don’t see how that could be connected to the killing of my pack. Would Fenrir really have taken time out from his plans to destroy the world to kill one small werewolf group?”

  “Probably not. It’s more likely that my Fenrir paranoia is kicking in and making me jump at shadows.” Vigo ran a hand through his hair in a gesture of frustration. “Coming back to Retief . . . if he was one of the men who killed your pack, and he tracked you down, why would he go to the trouble of blowing up the entire satellite station? Why not just break into your cabin and kill you while you slept?”

  “I don’t know.” Amber bit her lip. “But if I go on the run again, he might do something worse. Next time, he could kill even more people.”

  Vigo’s grip on her shoulder tightened. “You are not going on the run again.”

  “I’m not?�
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  You’re in the brotherhood now. This time she knew for sure his voice was inside her head. She tried not to let her jaw drop open too wide.

  “How do you do that?”

  Vigo grinned. “You can do it, too. All of the brotherhood can communicate telepathically with each other. It comes in useful in the middle of a fight.”

  “What if I don’t want everyone to know what I’m thinking?” Because some of her thoughts about him were not for sharing . . .

  He laughed. “That’s not how it works. You decide what you do—or don’t—want the rest of us to hear.”

  Well, that’s a relief.

  His response came straight back at her. You have no idea.

  Amber tried to remember the last time she’d laughed. No, either her memory wasn’t good enough, or it had been too long. “This has been one hell of a day.”

  “It’s not over yet.” She raised her brows. “I have a feeling there will be more nose bumps coming your way when we tell the others the news that you are part of the brotherhood.”

  * * *

  Vigo wasn’t convinced that the attack on the satellite station was about Amber. He thought it was more likely that Retief was one of Fenrir’s followers. Fenrir hated the brotherhood because they had captured him during his last escape attempt and returned him to his prison. And Amber said Retief had shown an interest in the brotherhood. Vigo couldn’t think of any other reason for the guy’s attention, particularly now there had been an explosion.

  No, he was sure this was Fenrir’s way of reminding them they were still at war with the god of destruction. But he wasn’t taking any chances with Amber’s safety.

  “If there is the slightest chance Retief might come after you, I’m not letting you out of my sight,” he said, after the rest of the team had gone to their own cabins for the night.

  “There is only one bed in your cabin.” He could see the pulse beating in her throat. It seemed to match the rhythm of his heartbeat.

  “We’ll have to improvise.”

  She took a deep breath. “I’m not very experienced at this. If that’s code for saying we’re going to have sex, I’d rather you just came right out and said it.”

  The candid words jackhammered his already erect cock to epic proportions. How the hell was he supposed to keep fighting this? “You’re very blunt.”

  “I’m very nervous. It makes me say what I think.”

  “How about we continue this back at my cabin?”

  Amber regarded him speculatively for a moment, then nodded. Clearly, she had decided spending the night with him was preferable to taking her chances against Retief. The thought put another huge dent in his self-control. She was the most beautiful, desirable woman he had ever seen. He could see in her eyes that she wanted him as much as he wanted her. They were alone together, cocooned here at the top of the world. The fates had decreed that she belonged to him . . .

  Remind me again why I’m fighting this?

  Unbidden, but with perfect clarity, the images he’d seen on his laptop came into his mind. It was a reminder of why forever wasn’t for him. His damaged past was the reason why the future couldn’t be shared. No one, especially not someone as fragile as Amber, deserved to have his issues thrust upon them.

  The wind took Vigo’s breath away as he led Amber across the compound. Although it was not a night for humans, it was a perfect night for Arctic werewolves.

  “What did Retief look like?” He scanned the snowy landscape, his keen eyes seeking something—anything—that would give him a clue to what was going on.

  “Just an ordinary guy. There was nothing unusual about him.” He glanced down at Amber as she frowned in an effort to remember. “Medium height and build. Light brown hair, gray eyes, regular features. Just an average man.”

  “And the men who killed your pack?”

  “They were Arctic werewolves. I looked back at the house once just before I ran for good. They were standing on the porch, right above the place where I’d been hiding.” She shuddered at the memory. “They were gathered together in a group. I was some distance away from them, so I didn’t see any of them closely, but there was no mistaking their size and coloring. And I will never forget the voice of the leader. He sounded like he’d been gargling with broken glass.”

  What she was saying was even further confirmation that Retief was nothing to do with the men who had wiped out her pack. “He could have been working for them.” Amber appeared to read his mind. “Retief wasn’t an Arctic werewolf, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t sent by the men who killed my family and their friends.”

  “No, it doesn’t.” They had reached Vigo’s cabin and he held the door open for her.

  “But you don’t think that’s what this is about?”

  He scrubbed a weary hand over his face. “I’m too exhausted to know what the hell I think.”

  While it was true he was physically tired, her nearness was doing things to his emotions that should come with a health warning. It felt like his whole body had been doused in burning oil. Every part of him was responding to her. Weary or not, he had never felt so alive. He wanted her so bad it burned him inside and out. Wanted her in a way that made his heart sing and his mind quake. In a way that scared him senseless. Because he wanted to be her mate. Wanted to be the one to show her how good it could be between them. To be the one to make those golden eyes darken, to hear her moan with pleasure.

  Not happening.

  “You take the bed. I’ll sleep in the chair.”

  The little flare of disappointment in her eyes was no consolation for what he knew was going to be a long, sleepless night.

  Chapter Six

  After an hour or two of trying and failing, Amber gave up on making any attempt to get to sleep. She was fairly sure Vigo was awake as well, but, even when she threw the bedclothes aside and sat up, he gave no sign of noticing.

  It was hardly surprising she couldn’t sleep. There were so many momentous things going on around her and within her. Everyone she worked with had been killed in an explosion. All her belongings had been destroyed. She had agreed to become part of an ancient order, and with that agreement had come the startling news that she would now be able to shift away from the light of the midnight sun.

  Amber wasn’t sure how she felt about that sudden change in her ability. The midnight sun defined her, as it did all Arctic werewolves. She was a child of its magical light. To be told that she could shift without it was a double-edged sword. It opened up new and exciting possibilities. It meant she could travel to parts of the globe she had never seen. She could leave the world of ice and snow and see palm trees and tropical sands. She had never craved those things. Did she want them now? She wasn’t sure.

  She knew the story by heart of the Norse legend of the great god Odin created night and day by putting the sun and moon into chariots to fly back and forth across the sky. But the sun and moon were fickle and lazy, not always doing their job properly and the length of the days and nights were not uniform. To solve the problem, Odin bespelled two giant wolves—the sons of the most fearsome of all werewolves, Fenrir—Skoll and Hati. Odin gave Skoll the task of chasing the sun across the sky, while Hati was charged with chasing the moon. All other werewolves were the descendants of Skoll, while Arctics were descended from Hati. One day the other werewolves hoped their god, Skoll, would catch the sun and cause constant moonlight. Arctic werewolves, of course, wished for their own mighty god, Hati, to catch the moon and bring about perpetual day.

  Arctics succumbed to the pull of the midnight sun the way other werewolves were drawn to the full moon. Its power over them was mystical and absolute. Amber wasn’t sure she wanted to lose that. And for what? For a brotherhood she hadn’t chosen, a mission that wasn’t hers? The other members of the brotherhood were so sure about their devotion to its cause. How could she be its newest recruit when she all she could offer was a lukewarm commitment because she had nowhere else to go?

  “It doesn�
�t make us less.” Vigo, sensing her unease over the midnight sun, had taken her aside. “The ability to shift elsewhere doesn’t diminish who we are.”

  “It feels like losing something vital.” She wasn’t sure she could explain her feelings to him. “As if we are no longer unique.”

  He had gestured to the other members of the brotherhood. “Every one of us felt the same way. But we always have the midnight sun. It doesn’t go away, and its power over us is as strong as ever.” His expression became serious. “There is a down side.”

  “Another one?”

  “Other Arctic werewolves can only be killed under the light of the midnight sun. The members of the brotherhood lose that invincibility.”

  “Let me get this straight. You want me to give up the midnight sun, and my immunity to being killed away from it? At the same time, you’d like me to be part of a plan to release Fenrir from captivity and then try to kill the most powerful, destructive god of them all?”

  He had grinned. “When you put it like that . . .”

  In spite of everything that had happened, she had been unable to contain her laughter. There might have been a note of hysteria to it. “And this is all in a day’s work for you guys?”

  His expression had become serious. “That’s the way it’s been for five years. Ever since Fenrir escaped and we hunted him down. That was when it became personal.”

  She had all those things to occupy her mind. None of them were minor. Yet her restlessness had nothing to do with any of them. They all faded into insignificance compared to her longing for the man a few feet away from her. No, it was more than a longing. It was a craving that burned its way into her soul.

  Since she didn’t want to feel this way about Vigo, his decision to sleep in the chair should have been a relief. Instead, it had become a source of indignation. She knew he wanted her as much as she wanted him, so what the hell was keeping his distance all about? Was he being noble? Protecting her because he knew she was inexperienced? It wasn’t because they were going to be working together. He’d already said that Jenny and Wilder were together, so it was clear that relationships within the brotherhood were okay.