He was heavy as a tank and the going was slow, but we made it to the shore. We climbed through the mud and collapsed side by side on the shore. It was so damn cold a penguin would have been miserable and now I was soaked to the bone. My muscles were on strike. Beside me, Aaron’s breathing calmed. Every werewolf I’d ever met was deathly afraid of water, something about the density of their bodies making it impossible for them to swim.
Warm fingers closed around mine as Aaron rose to an elbow. “Bre, you okay?”
“Yeah, just give me a minute.”
Aaron leaned over me, brushing strands of hair out of my face. “Do you need mouth-to-mouth?”
“Don’t make me kill you after all that.”
Aaron chuckled and helped me sit up. “What happened back there? I tracked the female werewolf to the edge of the river and the next thing I know, I can’t move and I’m drowning.”
“She was a werewolf? Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
“That was Malandanti magic. They caught you in a binding spell.”
“Malandanti? Seriously? I didn’t see anybody but her.”
I banged my fist against my forehead. “We need to find that envelope she gave them. I grabbed it, but dropped it upstream a ways.”
He snorted in disgust. “Why did you drop it?”
Damn arrogant werewolf. “To save your scrawny hide.” I climbed to my feet. “Let’s go. I’m cold.”
His arms snaked around my waist. “I know how to warm you up.”
I kicked him in the groin and he crumpled.
“I guess I deserved that,” he grunted.
Thankfully I’d left the radio in my jacket pocket. “I’m getting backup.”
“Bonjour, my dear,” Simon answered. “Please tell me you have not disobeyed another order.”
“Maybe a little, but it was to save Aaron.”
“Explain.”
I filled him in on the Malandanti, Aaron’s ordeal, and the envelope.
“I’m almost there,” Simon replied, abruptly ending the conversation.
“Find it?” Aaron asked as I stomped up the muddy bank.
“No, they must have circled around and got it.” I kicked a rock and it rolled toward spit-shined black boots.
Major Ezekiel Trenton, the werewolf commander of the Combat Unit of Bravo, curled his lip in disdain as I drew closer. Aaron and I stood to full attention.
“Sergeant Welker,” the enormous man muttered as if he would vomit from saying my name.
“Major Trenton, sir. I was not aware the Combat Unit was in the area.”
He snorted. “That proves what kind of Recon Unit a vampire runs. A pathetic one.”
Simon emerged from the darkness. “Greetings, Ezekiel. Have you lost your wolves again?”
A chuckle stuck in my throat and Trenton glared at me. “Major DuChard,” the werewolf answered coolly. “It seems your recon soldiers have been playing in the water.”
“We aren’t playing,” Aaron said. “We were looking for the envelope the Malandanti dropped.”
Trenton’s eyebrows shot up. “Malandanti? There haven’t been Malandanti sightings in over two hundred years.”
“Just because nobody saw them doesn’t mean they aren’t here,” I responded before really thinking.
Trenton ignored me. Typical.
“My soldiers have seen no signs of Malandanti. Where’s your evidence?” he asked Simon.
“Bre saw them,” Aaron piped in, meaning to be helpful, but Trenton took advantage.
“You’re taking the word of a witch there are witches here?” Trenton rolled his head back and laughed. “DuChard, you have lost your mind.”
“Major Trenton, you will address all members of my unit with respect or you will answer to me,” Simon responded with no hint of emotion.
For a moment I thought–at least hoped–Trenton would make a move. Simon would wipe the floor with him. Apparently Trenton knew it because he stepped back and reined in his wolf. With one last sneer in my direction, he turned on his heel and tromped through the forest.
I never realized how much crap Simon got for having me in his unit. It was tough being the only vampire commanding officer of a primarily werewolf company, but knowing he had to deal with shit like this gave me even more respect for my commanding officer.
“Thanks.”
Simon nodded suavely. “I am sorry you had to hear that exchange, my dear.”
“I’m sorry they give you a hard time about me.” I thought back to all the things I’d done in the last ten years and clenched my fists. I’d do better from now on. No more disobeying orders.
“So, you engaged the Malandanti again?”
Damn.
Aaron bumped my shoulder. “She had to, Major DuChard. Bre pulled me out of the water.”
“Ah, that would explain the poor appearance of your uniforms.”
Aaron, Simon and I slopped along the muddy riverbank, searching for footprints or something to support our story. Simon and Aaron picked up the faint scent of a female werewolf. I got the residual black magic from the spell casting, but nothing concrete we could share with the command post.
“Thanks for looking,” I said as we made our way back toward the road. “I’m sure they were Malandanti. I think they were the same ones from last night.”
“I wish I could’ve gotten a better look at the werewolf,” Aaron muttered. “I got nothing but scent.”
“Could you identify that scent again?” Simon asked.
Aaron crinkled his nose. “Not sure. It was so faint. I know it was a woman and she wasn’t in heat.”
All righty, more info than I needed to know.
We piled into Simon’s Humvee and rode to Camp Ederle. Aaron headed to the showers and I followed Simon into his makeshift office. Celeste, his elf mate and the designated healer of the unit, was waiting. She leaped into his arms and I tried not to watch. The two were so in love they were painful to be around.
“So, Simon, got any ideas why a werewolf might be meeting with the Malandanti?”
He put his arm around Celeste. “Not really.”
The reappearance of Malandanti after so many years bothered me. All the data we had suggested the cloaked witches had been annihilated in the nineteenth century. So why were they running around Italy, and more specifically, why were they after Lucas?
“Aren’t Malandanti considered opportunistic?” I asked.
Simon nodded. “They are not known for elaborate schemes such as what was carried out the night the werewolf was injured.”
“They were there. I saw them.”
He tilted his head. “I believe you, Breanna, but once again you see the problem. No evidence.”
Sometimes it really sucked to be a witch.
Chapter 4
Lucas
My room hadn’t been mine in a very