He also had to be careful now. If he sent out probes to locate Bride, they could be intercepted by his mother or her people. Not that he feared them. But he didn't want to go to war without an army.
In this time period, his mother's people ruled. His grandfather was the regis of one of the most powerful wolf clans and it was said that good old Gramps had killed more Katagaria than any other Sentinel in their history.
Vane took a deep breath as he scoped out the village on the other side of the hedge where he was crouched. They would be expecting him.
Sort of.
Vane heard something rustling in the forest behind him. Spinning around, he expected it to be a wild animal or one of his mother's people.
It wasn't.
It was Fury.
Vane couldn't have been more stunned if he'd found his mother right in front of him. At least that would have made sense. Fury's presence made none whatsoever. The wolf flashed instantly to human form and gaped in all his naked horror at Vane, who quickly averted his gaze.
"What the hell are you doing here?" they asked each other simultaneously. "Put some clothes on me," Fury said, snarling the words as he cupped himself with his hands.
Rather than go blind, Vane quickly obliged and dressed the wolf in black jeans and a T-shirt. "Why are you here, Fury?"
He spoke between clenched teeth. "I'm doing what I told you I was doing.
I'm leading the tessera away from you and Bride, only here you are while they are over there." Fury pointed angrily at a hill not far away. "You're supposed to be in New Orleans, you moron, not Britain."
Suspicious of Fury, Vane frowned. "Why did you bring the tessera here?"
Fury gave him a sinister glare. "Because this was the easiest way I knew of to eliminate them all at once. I can't do it alone and I thought Bryani would get her rocks off hacking one of Markus's tesseras into pieces."
Vane was even more confused and suspicious than before. "You know about Bryani?"
Fury rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I do. She gleefully ran me through and left me for dead several centuries back. Wanna see the scars?"
Vane caught the scent of Stefan coming closer to them.
Fury grabbed him by the arm and hauled him toward a copse of trees. "Look, we're in serious danger here. The Arcadians hate us with a passion."
"I know."
"No you don't," Fury said, his tone gravely earnest. "You really don't know how much they would pay to have both of us for breakfast. We have to get you out of here."
Vane wrested his arm free. "Bride is in that village and I'm not going anywhere unless she's with me."
Fury cursed. "How long has she been there?"
"I don't know, since I just arrived. Time doesn't flow the same way in both time periods, you know that."
"All right, we have to get her immediately and pray that she hasn't been there long."
"Why do you think I'm here?"
Fury didn't seem to hear him. "Okay, think, think, think." He looked up at Vane. "Do you have any ideas?"
"I'm going in there and get my mate."
"Bryani will have a dampening spell to curtail your powers."
Vane laughed. "Let her try."
"God, you have balls," he said respectfully under his breath. "What the hell?