Wolf Tracks - Bianca D'Arc Page 0,24

her raison d’etre. The reason she’d been born. If she could help this woman, and her father, in return for the help Leslie was giving them, it would go a long way toward clearing the debt.

But the feeling of owing them for their help was only a small part of it. Mostly, it was that Helen couldn’t stand to see someone in pain or ill or in denial about their health problems, if she could do something positive about it. She had an immense power inside her that could heal all sorts of things. It would be a sin not to use it.

When Helen reached the door to the office, she stood aside to let Leslie go in first. The other woman gave Helen a nervous smile and opened the door, smiling brightly at the old man sitting at an ancient computer, scowling at rows of numbers.

“Hey, Dad, I’ve brought some folks to meet you,” she said. “This is Jim Hanson, Arch’s nephew, and his friend, Helen.”

“Arch’s nephew?” The old man’s face lit with a grin as he stood from behind the desk. “You don’t say!” He came around and shook Jim’s hand eagerly as Helen watched the way he moved. There was definitely something wrong there, but it didn’t look as dire as Leslie probably feared. Helen began to feel more confident about being able to help the man and relieve his daughter’s anxiety. “I served with your uncle for a while,” the man went on, grinning widely.

“You were in the teams, sir?” Jim asked politely.

“UDT they called us, in those days. Underwater Demolition Teams. Or frogmen. I always liked that one.” He grinned. “You have the look. Are you in, now?”

“I was, sir. Retired recently. I’ve been working with Arch on special assignments since then,” Jim admitted. “In fact, we’re on one right now.” He stepped aside to let Helen move closer. “This is Helen. She’s not a shifter, but she’s got other special talents.”

Helen was surprised when Jim spoke freely about shifters, but then again, even if this older man was human, he had to have been mated to a shifter woman if his daughter was a shifter. He probably knew a lot more about the unseen world than Helen did.

“Sal Vaccaro,” the man said, introducing himself as he offered his hand to Helen.

She took his hand in hers and then, she struck. Not in a bad way. But she used her power to freeze him in place while she did her work. If all went as planned, he would never know what she’d done. Jim was at her side as she worked. She was aware of Leslie rumbling a warning, but Helen was too focused on her work. This was tricky but relatively easy for a talent like hers. Humans were somewhat trivial to fix, although sometimes they took a lot of her energy depending on what was wrong with them.

The contagion that was taking hold of Sal’s lungs was aggressive, but it was no match for Helen’s Light. She poured the Light of the Goddess into his lungs, destroying the thing that could easily have killed him if left unchecked. Even with modern medical intervention, he likely would not have survived, but she wouldn’t tell his daughter that. Leslie was clearly worried enough without thinking about what could have happened.

A moment more and Helen released Sal’s hand, letting him resume as if only a moment had passed. She had a split second of dizziness from the expenditure of her own energy, but it passed easily. It was well worth it to know that barring any other problems, Sal would live well past one hundred years of age. He had a good constitution. His good genes meant that he would live long past the age of most humans of his generation, and the magic of his daughter around him all the time would only lengthen that lifespan.

Now that was something she would be happy to tell Leslie. Helen figured it would ease Leslie’s concern a little. It was no good to live worried all the time. If Helen could help alleviate some of Leslie’s anxiety, she would do so, happily.

Chapter Six

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Vaccaro,” Helen said as the older man stepped back.

“Please, call me Sal,” he said, a twinkle in his eye.

“Sal,” she repeated dutifully. “Is this your place?” she asked, looking around the office and motioning toward the open door to the larger space of the hangar.

“Leslie runs charters and, yes,