Aubert flashed back to human, while Etienne remained a bear. "He is marked for death," Aubert snarled. "We took you in, wolf, when you had nothing. Is this how you repay us?"
Vane's green eyes were blazing. "No, Aubert. I haven't forgotten my debt to you or Nicolette. But I will not stand by and see this happen to an innocent. Wren has no clan to back him. Therefore I offer him mine."
Wren was completely stunned by the offer. It was suicide to stand by him now, and he couldn't believe that Vane would even consider such an action.
Aubert was every bit as incredulous. "You would back him against the Omegrion's decree?"
Vane didn't hesitate with his answer. His face was grim and deadly. "You damn straight."
Wren saw the flash of panic on Fang's human face as he looked past Wren's shoulder.
"No!"
They all turned to see Aimee in the middle of the hallway behind them. Only Wren and Fang knew whose room she'd been inside.
She swallowed as she looked from her father to Fang. "Papa, please. Don't do this. This is wrong and you know it. Wren poses no threat to us."
"Are you insane, Daughter? He's here to kill your mother."
More doors were opening now. More animals were coming out to investigate the disturbance. Dammit, Wren would have to run through them all to reach the one animal he wanted a piece of...
Even after Vane's bold words, Wren didn't really expect anyone to side with him, so when the three wolves formed a barrier between him and the others, he was shocked.
"You'll never make it out of here alive," Aubert said in warning. "None of you."
Wren cocked his head as he saw something strange pass between Fang and Aimee. He knew they were speaking telepathically.
A heartbeat later, Fang grabbed her into his arms, manifested a knife in his hand, then held it threateningly to her throat. "Don't you dare follow us. I'll kill her if you do."
Fang turned to look at the three of them. "Fury, Vane, get Wren out of here."
Wren started to protest, but before he could, Vane grabbed him by the neck and flashed him from the hallway into a room he'd never seen before.
It was dark, with no windows anywhere. The only light came from two dim lamps on two tables at opposite ends of the room. He looked around, wondering where Vane had brought him. The modern furnishings were chic and high-tech, not to mention the walls were made of dark gray steel.
By those walls and the rolling motion of the floor, he could tell they were on a ship somewhere.
Hissing in anger, Wren flashed to human form to confront the wolf. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Saving your life."
He curled his lip at Vane. "I didn't want you to save my life, asshole."
Fury, Fang, and Aimee flashed into the room beside Vane. Aimee threw herself into Fang's arms.
"Have you two lost your friggin' minds?" Vane asked them. "Between you and the tiger, we're so screwed."
"No, you're not." Wren tried to flash himself back to Sanctuary to finish this, only to learn that he couldn't. "What the hell?"
"I've got you locked down," Vane said.
Wren knew better than to go after Vane-the wolf was too powerful to take down-but it was taking every bit of his self-restraint not to at least try to kill him. "Lift it."
"No," Vane said firmly. "I didn't just jeopardize my entire clan to see you commit suicide."
"This isn't your fight."
"Yes, it is. I'm not going to sit by and watch an innocent die because some asshole got greedy."
Wren scoffed at Vane's heroism. "Well, thank you, Mr. Altruist, but the tiger doesn't want your help. So sod off."
Someone started clapping. Wren turned his head to see the Dark-Hunter Jean-Luc entering the room from a door on his left. A pirate in his human life, the immortal vampire slayer still retained much of his old look. With a small gold hoop flashing in his left ear-lobe, he was dressed all in black in a pair of leather pants, a silk button-down shirt, and biker boots. His long, straight black hair was pulled back into a queue that emphasized the sharp angles of his face. His eyes were so dark that not even the pupils were discernible, and those eyes were dancing with amusement. "Nicely put, tiger."
"Shut up, lapdog, this isn't your fight, either."
Jean-Luc sucked his breath in sharply at the insult. "Boy, you better counsel that tongue before you find yourself without it."
Wren took a step toward him, then froze as Maggie came through the door behind the pirate. The relief on her face held Wren immobile.
She rushed to his side and threw her arms around him. "I'm so glad they got to you before it was too late. You weren't really going to do something stupid, were you?"
"Oh no, hon, we were too late," Fury said snidely. "Tiger-boy done pissed down the wrong honey tree and got all the bees, or in this case, bears, going wild."
Fury glanced to Fang. "Then again, knowing the bears, they'll be gunning for wolf before tiger. Good move, Fang. Making time with their only daughter. Real swift. You know chocolate is lethal to our kind. I'm thinking if you want to commit suicide, that's the much less painful way to go about it."
"Knock it off, Fury," Vane said, moving over to where Fang and Aimee were standing. "We have to send her back. Now."
"I know," Fang said.
Tears glistened in Aimee's eyes. "I don't want to leave."
The two of them stared pleadingly at Vane, who looked sick to his stomach. "And I thought my relationship with Bride was doomed. Dammit, people and animals, this shit sucks."
Fury snorted. "You're the leader, Vane. Lead."
Vane looked up at the ceiling and sighed. "If I had any brains at all, which obviously I don't, I would never have gotten involved in this. I would hand my brother and Wren over to the bears and just take my wife and go find a nice, quiet place to raise our children."