“Alevtina Petrovna Volkova, my friend offers four placements for wawkalak or bodark women and their mates for this winter. Your ved’ma and higher placed wolves will learn how to help them, but for this year, it would be safer to send the pairings to America. This is something that you can discuss with my friends upon their arrival.”
Grigorij’s eyes widened. “You can do that?”
“Me? No. My friends? Yes. They don’t make offers like that without meaning them. It can be brought up for discussion when they arrive.” Trying to hold several conversations at one time tested my patience, and I sighed. “Amber will be fine to come to Russia?”
“She’s been taking her temper out on the SEALs. If I don’t bring her, she might finish breaking them.”
“How does Lane hold up against her?”
“He’s learning to be good sport for her.”
“I don’t know how to do what you want me to do,” I warned him.
“Desmond can teach you, so can Richard or Nicolina. Hell, Amber has seen it often enough she can guide you as needed, too. I’ll make sure Amber comes along, even if I have to cheat.”
“You are in a hurry.”
“I cheated, and I’ve seen her medical report.”
Crap. “How bad is it?”
“It’s bad. It’s nothing the ritual can’t resolve given some time, but she’s running out of it, and the current rules have our hands tied. Elliot wants to authorize the ritual for her through traditional venues, but we just don’t have a rule for saving a witch from old age after a lifetime of service.”
“That’s pretty fucking stupid.”
“That’s where you come in. You’re young, you’re very methodical, and you’ve shown interest. Having her as your mate is not at all a requirement, but my brother can use a loophole; you can’t court her if she’s dead, and you’re as valuable as she is. And you two teamed up? You’d be a great pair. She doesn’t scare you. You don’t scare her. That’s important.”
No, Amber didn’t scare me at all. She made my wolf drool rather like a love-sick puppy, and I held some responsibility for our general interest in the woman. “I want to watch her in action,” I complained.
“I’m not bringing six SEALs to Russia so Amber can beat them up for you, Declan. That said, there are videos of her in action, and I’ll bring them with us. It will probably take us two days to reach you. Getting to that part of Russia can be problematic, so we’ll need some time.”
It’d taken me a lot longer than two days to make it to Blagoveshchensk. I could wait two days—and two days would give me enough time to think about the consequences of meeting back up with Desmond and his family. “Anything I should do to prepare?”
“No running.”
I snorted at that, wondering if Dante had developed the ability to read minds. “You have to give me some credit. I’m good at that.”
“Good? You’re incredible. Expect Desmond to want to leash you to him, and he’s not going to wait long before bringing you into his pack. He’s already secured Lane and Anthony, as he wanted to make sure your wolf was happy as soon as we found you. And no, we’re not angry. You did what was necessary, but Desmond figured you and your wolf needed space after what had happened. We didn’t look hard for survivors, though. We confirmed your friends had died, but we weren’t able to do anything about it.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“Well, it is. They wanted us, and we’d brought them straight to that mountain. It is our fault, however much I wish that was not the case.”
I sighed. “And ultimately, it’s my fault, because I brought you there.”
“We can wallow with some good Russian vodka soon. Is there a number I can reach you at?”
“Not really, but I guess call this phone. Grigorij Jakovlevich Maslov owns it.” I glanced at the other werewolf. “Do you speak English?” I asked in Russian.
“Some, but my English is worse than your Russian.”
It would do. “Grigorij Jakovlevich Maslov speaks some English, but you may wish to bring a translator to help.”
“I’m impressed you speak Russian at all,” Dante admitted. “We’ll make sure someone with our group can speak Russian.”
“Good idea on the translator, because while I can speak some Russian, I do so badly,” I replied in a wry tone. “Alevtina Petrovna Volkova, one of the local witches, who are called ved’ma here, wishes I would never speak Russian at all.”
The woman scowled at me but said nothing.
“Anything we should be aware of?”
“They use brands here, and the placement of the brands matter. I recommend everyone stick together when you arrive so there are no misunderstandings.”
“Understood. Will you be okay until we arrive?”
“Well, I better be, else Desmond will likely show the Russians why he is such a scary son of bitch, won’t he?”
“One of your companions speaks English, and you wanted to warn him or her. Why?”
I shrugged. “I’d rather there not be a bloodbath because Desmond was offended by the customs here.”
“Oh, I’m sure he’s going to be offended, but as long as they keep their brands to themselves and he finds no evidence of abuse, he’ll keep his offense to himself.”
“That leaves one last problem.”
“What now?” Dante demanded in an exasperated tone.
“There’s a wolf possibly killing people, and they haven’t caught or killed him yet. I’ve been working at a sawmill, and this guy used to work there. He’s already killed a bunch of people, so be careful.”
“I’ll let everyone know. Try not to get yourself kidnapped, killed, or do anything else I’ll regret, please. Also, thank you for calling me. I’m going to enjoy getting people herded to Russia. Make sure you eat enough.”
I sighed. “All right.” I spent a few minutes making sure he knew how to reach my cabin, warned him about Petra, and cautioned him to be careful. I returned the phone to Grigorij, and in Russian, I said, “Thank you, Grigorij Jakovlevich Maslov. If that cost you for the call, you’ll be repaid, just let me know how much I owe you.”
He scowled at me, but he nodded. “Who is this Desmond?”
“Charles Desmond. He is a man of influence.”
“Wawkalak?”
I turned to the ved’ma. “I don’t know how others from America would rank among you, but I will say this much. Branding any of them would be a very unwise idea. They would take offense to that in a rather extreme fashion. There is only so far they’ll respect your customs should they feel people have been branded without their consent. Consent is important to the Americans.”
“I see.” The ved’ma’s expression darkened. “The marks are how we warn others.”
“And in America, there is no need for such marks. I would think on that carefully and use it as an opportunity to learn. If there are those among you who did not wish to be branded, I would take care around Desmond and the other Americans.”
“Yet you tolerate it.”