Tales Of The Sazi 05 - Moon's Fury by C.t. Adams . Cathy Clamp Read Free Book Online Page B

have remembered you get testy when I tease you. Oh, and you need to call me Will from here out, too. Sam and I switched lives a few decades back.”
    Cara's jaw dropped nearly to the table! Sam? Will and Ten Bears had switched lives? A few decades back? That would mean when she was a little girl.…Had it been Will who'd bounced her on his knee?
    Um —
    Adam laughed lightly and sat down next to Cara. He tried to make it casual, but his scent was both anticipatory and excited. He smelled of mingled pine trees and lemon-grass. Was it cologne or just his underlying scent? Either way it was a warm, soft tang she could get used to. She had to work to smell it over the peppers and cumin rising from the bubbling pot on the stove. He was also a powerful alpha—
    not in the same league as Lucas or Will, but just the amount that bled from him made her skin tingle. She forced herself not to stare at him, but she did notice the dark stubble on his strong jaw and amazingly long lashes before she pulled her gaze away. He didn't look at her at all after that first time. He kept his attention completely on Will. "So, Sam's your grandfather now? Wow! How cool is that? No wonder you're in uniform. He had quite the career behind him. I know you're really good at illusion magic and persuasion, so making people believe was probably no big deal, but was it hard to pass the Ranger test without the background?”
    Will pursed his lips and shrugged. "Nah. We switched when he was still on the Dallas force. He got pretty smashed up during a high-speed chase and decided it was time to hang up his shield. People gave me a lot of slack when I showed back up, thinking he was having post-traumatic stress—so, I had time to study and learn the ropes. And, of course, I already had my Wolven background. It wasn't that big of a deal." He turned to Cara and apparently noticed the look on her face. Or maybe it was her scent. Even she could smell her own confusion. "Hell! That's right. You didn't even know about that, huh?
    I guess I never thought to mention it. You were still a kid when it happened. Do you even know how that works? You're an alpha, so you're probably going to have to consider it one of these days yourself.”
    Cara shook her head, and Adam spoke up. "Actually, I don't know much about changing identities either, other than it happens. Feel free to enlighten me.”
    Will raised his eyebrows toward Lucas, who nodded. "Okay, so I've done the father-son, grandfather-grandson thing a bunch of times. Different people do it their own way, but I prefer to stay within my own family. I didn't really have to do as much in the past as I'm forced to now— because photographs and fingerprinting didn't used to exist. You could disappear into the landscape and become someone else just on your own word. Lots of people did that during the gold rushes or after the Civil War. Any time there's unrest, it's easier. Now, I'm sure you know the reason." He paused, apparently waiting for a nod, but Cara could only shrug and shake her head. Will sighed. "The major problem is that Sazi age a lot slower than humans. Yeah, we all tell our kids that alphas live a couple extra decades, but often that can be seven or eight decades, even for the lesser alphas! People like me and the parabio here
    —" Will jerked his thumb toward Lucas, causing Cara to raise a finger with a question.
    "What's a ‘ parabio’? You called him that before, but it's not a Spanish word.”
    Lucas quirked one corner of his mouth in a half-smile. "It's actually a Comanche term. Comanches were among the first democracies, in case you didn't know. They elected their leaders from within, and bloodline didn't matter. If a warrior was seen as being worthy—leading the charge in battle, giving good advice to others, having the respect of the tribe, and such—they became parabio, or great leader. Will knows that I was once the equivalent of a parabio for my tribe. Good leaders listen to their people