Soul Bound

by Holly Hook

  Rushing forward and berating myself for not hearing them, I charge through the back door of the cabin. I enter the storage room, pass the Russells' closed bedroom door--

  “Umph.”

  A faint groan comes out from behind the closed bedroom door and all at once I get what's happened. Lawrence and Abigail have bound Leonora's parents so well I couldn't hear them until I entered the house. They're prisoners in their own home and trying to warn me.

  But I'll deal with them later. Everyone's stopped out in the living room and I step out to confront who I need to confront.

  Cayden stands at the front door, keeping just enough room to open it back up if he needs to. An exit strategy. Good, because Lawrence and Abigail turn to face me as I enter the room. My pulse roars in my ears as I face the two of them.

  “What are you doing back here?” I ask.

  “It should be obvious,” Lawrence says. “You shouldn't exist.”

  I feel no authority over the two of them. They're no longer part of the pack.

  Cayden mouths, run. His hazel eyes widen in terror for me. We expected Hunters. Edwin. Not two Guardian Wolves almost as strong as me.

  “You're an abomination. The Noble Order has decided to end your life,” Abigail says, turning away from Cayden. “It is for the best and it's the only chance the Nobles have of surviving.”

  All the wind's knocked out of me. “Without the Royals our kind will fade.”

  “Your aunt still lives. We will keep her safe.”

  “But she can't have children. You're just going to buy yourself a few decades.” I realize my mistake too late.

  “A few decades is better than nothing.” Abigail keeps one eye on Cayden, who remains by the door. I sniff them both, but they're covered in Alex's Hunter spray, so the room just smells of pine like the rest of the woods.

  My heart races. They're descendants of the first Wolves who served Remus. An ancient line. Lawrence could easily kill Cayden. He still looks like a bodybuilder. And Abigail, despite being old, is quite strong herself and a former alpha. Trying to fight them both will get us both killed, and maybe even the Russells as well.

  Mrs. Russell struggles to breathe through her gag in the other room.

  “I suppose you're going to kill the Russells, too? That's Savage,” I say.

  “We don't kill humans. We only kill Savages,” Lawrence says, whirling on me. His deep brown eyes are full of rage.

  Cayden growls, takes the chance to leap at Lawrence, and wraps his arms around the bigger man's throat. Abigail swears and swings at Cayden with her bare fists, striking him on the ribs. One cracks, but Cayden holds on.

  The only reason the curse doesn't descend on my mate is the fact that we're deep in the Russells' territory and their protective spirits are doing their job. But I rush Abigail. Cayden can't fight both of them. Wrapping my arms around her, I yank her away from Cayden and Lawrence and we both crash into the old couch. The rocking chair tilts into my vision as Abigail kicks it by mistake. A single gray hair sticks to the underside of the cushion. Rage overtakes me. Just the thought of Lawrence and Abigail breaking exile is enough to put me over the edge. I wrap my arm around Abigail's neck, squeezing, choking off her air supply. The instinct to destroy the threat sweeps over me like some ancient urge to breathe. They broke pack law. They know the punishment for coming back.

  What is wrong with me?

  “You don't hurt my mate,” I say, squeezing tighter.

  Abigail gags and thrashes in my grasp. She might be a Guardian Wolf, but she's still in her eighties and not as strong as she once was.

  And then her entire form pops and changes shape. White fur bursts from her neck and clothing rips. I lose my grip on her neck as she slides out of it, now a pure white wolf with deep brown eyes.

  I have no time to react. Abigail isn't going to wait for me to shift to fight. She lands on the floor on all fours, torn clothing falling away from her, and turns on me. I backpedal into Edwin's rocking chair. I'll take a precious few seconds to shift, which will give Abigail ample time to tear out my throat. She growls, salivating at the chance, and there's nothing but death in her eyes.

  Instinct takes over, not an animal instinct but a human drive to keep breathing. Behind Abigail, Lawrence spins, trying to throw Cayden off. The room fills with growling. I reach for the fireplace and stagger back from the rocking chair, seizing a fire poker from the container.

  Abigail leaps.

  I might still be in human form, but I'm still Royal fast, and I swing the poker to face Abigail in far less than a second. The point aims at her throat, and Abigail's brown pupils widen in terror as she leaps straight towards death. I can't look, but I have to.

  The point rams into her neck.

  The force pushes me back into the brick of the fireplace. A disgusting squishing sound follows as Abigail's paws rake against my jeans, drawing new lines of pain. A half-growl, half yelp follows and the poker bends in my hand, warped down from the force of Abigail's body. The white wolf flails as the air fills with blood. Red blossoms around her throat around the point of the poker. Abigail draws back, grimacing in agony as the point comes out of her flesh. More blood gushes out as she backpedals in a circle as if trying to escape her own crimson flow. Despite the gore, my stomach rumbles. She shouldn't have come back into our territory after being banished. This is what she gets.

  “No,” Lawrence wheezes, facing his grandmother.

  Abigail whimpers.

  Why am I even remotely happy about this?

  Cayden grunts and squeezes Lawrence's neck even harder, and Lawrence leans over, almost like he's lost hope. His chest doesn't expand. He's giving up.

  And Cayden isn't. He won't let go. He won't let Lawrence lay a hand on me.

  Lawrence slumps over, but Cayden stays on his back like a parasite. The big guy falls over, not far from where his grandmother settles and gasps for breath. Blood continues to gush from her throat and she falls over, losing her coordination. Even a Guardian Wolf won't recover from such a wound. I struck an artery. She'll bleed out and weaken before she has the chance to heal. Her flesh tries to pull together, but the sound is weak and distant. And as the seconds pass, it weakens even more and vanishes. The rug stains a permanent red, and Lawrence falls to the ground, forcing Cayden to lose his grip on the bigger man's neck. But it doesn't matter now. He's unconscious. Not breathing. And he won't be getting up again.

  Cayden stands from the floor. He's pale and looks like he might throw up. Cayden. He's killed.

  And so have I.

  Abigail takes one final, gurgling breath before she stills forever.

  The air in the room feels as if it's leaving. For the first time, I realize what I've done. I've killed two other Nobles. A bad taste rises in my mouth and I slap my hand over it. “What have we done?” I ask.

  Cayden swallows and forces himself to speak. “We did what we had to. They were banished. When banished Wolves come back into a territory, the other pack members have a right to kill them. I bet you felt it. So did I. It just felt like the right thing to do.”

  “But we--” The whole room smells of blood and death.

  Cayden holds me in a glare that shocks me. “Even Nobles follow these pack laws. It's ingrained in us and I bet it's there for a reason. These two were going to kill us both. We just defended ourselves.”

  I eye the dead white wolf on the floor. Her paw begins to shift back into that of an old woman. Even Abigail, the oldest Wolf I've ever seen, died to violence. And Lawrence...all he wanted to do was protect his pack and make his grandmother happy. He lies on his side, the life gone from his eyes.

  In the other room, Mrs. Russell makes another grunt sound, probably not even audible to Cayden. I turn away from the bodies on the living room floor and run to the bedroom, because if I let myself think about this, I know what'll happen. Cayden follows on my heels. The Russells can tell me everything else that's going on. Maybe the fate of my aunt. Noah and Olivia, too.

  I pu
ll open the bedroom door. Just as I predicted, the Russells sit against the wall, bound and gagged with yellow ropes Lawrence and Abigail must have found outside, judging from how dirty they are. Dirty cloths dig into their mouths so much they're pushing their tongues into their throats. Mr. Russell struggles to breathe, and the sight of the two makes every inch of guilt over killing the invaders vanish. They just might have hurt these two had they been sitting here much longer.

  “Shit,” Cayden says. “Get them out. I bet they can't breathe.”

  Mr. Russell is worse off, so I untie the cloth around his mouth first. His cheeks are purple as he struggles to breathe at first, and then he sucks in a gasping breath to get some oxygen in his lungs.

  “Those two,” he says. “They broke in. My wife and I didn't have time to defend ourselves. They're with Edwin. He's turned on all of us.”

  “Welcome to the club,” I say. “Why did he turn on you?”

  “Because we refused to side with him,” Mr. Russell says as I work on his wrists. “He called us. Said we had to help kill you or we'd be shamed again. He delivered an ultimatum. We tried to warn Leonora, but before we could, those two Wolves broke in. They must have been waiting just outside the door.” As he speaks, Mr. Russell turns his gaze to the floor. He fears he's making another mistake.

  “Get up,” Cayden says. “Did you two hear anything else?” He's mostly freed Mrs. Russell, who now leans over and sucks in air.

  “Edwin said something about having your aunt captive. He says he has bargaining chips and that our cooperation would help to free them,” Mr. Russell says.

  “They have my aunt?” I ask, my voice turning high and almost squeaky.

  “They?” Mrs. Russell asks. “Others are working with Edwin?”

  So we each just have part of the story. The Russells must not know about the Hunters working with Edwin. I explain that part to them, plus the part about them commandeering a bus.

  Mr. Russell shakes his head. “Then we have bigger problems than I thought. I thought Edwin and the two Wolves were the extent of the danger.”

  “Hey. You two were kept out of everything as much as we were,” Cayden says. “The Noble Order's split in two now. I don't even know what to call the splinter group.”

  “You know, I'm wondering if it was Edwin who let slip to the Savages that my family was still here all those years ago,” I say. “And he needed to blame someone else.”

  Mr. and Mrs. Russell look at each other. Then Mr. Russell shakes his head.

  “There's a reason he's the way he is. Believe me,” I say. Brett's taught me a lot about pyschology just by example.

  “I like her theory,” Mrs. Russell says. “Maybe Edwin doesn't belong in the Noble Order at all.”

  I open my mouth to say something funny, like Noah would do, but nothing comes out. Maybe the splinter group is the Noble Order more than we are. After all, they're just trying to stop Romulus from taking over the Nobles. But if they have their way, the Nobles will slowly fade away instead, since Aunt May is too old to have children of her own. I'm the last link in that department. At least our side has a chance at fixing this. Right?

  “Get up.” I help Mr. Russell to his feet. The poor man is stiff. He's been sitting on the floor for some time like this, unable to move. Joints pop as he straightens up. “We have to get the others who are out in the woods. Leonora's fine. We got the Karina girl and Cayden infected her. She's turning right now. We did it so she can't go back to the Savages. It was the only way. Brett's cooperating but he's not in a good place right now, so stay away from him. He doesn't want to drain us but he doesn't know how to stop.”

  He nods. “I understand. We'll keep distance from him.”

  “Oh, and by the way, there's a mess to clean in the living room,” I finish.

  Mrs. Russell grimaces and shakes her head at Cayden. “I was dreading that.”

  They would have heard. Of course.

  “No one will come looking for Abigail and Lawrence,” Cayden says. “You won't have any jail time if we can bury them fast enough. But we don't have time for burials right now.”

  I remember Matthew. That took two hours for a few Wolves to dig a pit for his body. Even though they were traitors, Lawrence and Abigail deserve a burial, too. It just feels right if even the worst of the Savages can get one. But Cayden's right. We don't have time. Getting to Olivia's house means everything right now.

  “We have to go,” Cayden says. “We'll tell you two what happened on the way to the place we're meeting. Come on. Can you both walk?”

  “We're not leaving until I pluck that single gray hair from Edwin's chair,” I say.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Karina is in the full throes of turning when we get back to the clearing after our two-mile hike through the woods. The Russells slow us down as they walk, and Leonora looks at them, questioning, as we approach. She, Remo, and Everly stand well away from Karina and Brett as they wait for us to reach them.

  “Olivia's house,” I say, heart pounding. “I'll explain everything on the way there.”

  Brett looks down at his sister, who rolls over. Though she's unconscious, she has the most pained grimace on her face I've ever seen. If I didn't know better, I'd say she's dying. But Brett picks her up without a word, expressionless. While Karina looks to be in pain, Brett looks dead inside. And he is. He's lost his whole reason for being.

  But he continues to walk as if an autopilot.

  Karina moves on to screaming as we keep inside the trees, well away from town, and circle around to the opposite side of Breck where Olivia's mansion is. By the time we get there and near the back of the property, which butts up against the woods, Brett has to clamp his hand over Karina's mouth to muffle the noise. That doesn't block out the sound of her muscles pulling and her bones shifting. Cayden looks at me with a grimace as we near the back wall of Olivia's property, which towers over our heads. The evening sun starts dipping under the horizon.

  “We can't climb this,” Mr. Russell says.

  “If you don't mind one of us carrying you, we can get you over,” I explain.

  Mr. Russell grimaces. “We couldn't go around the front?”

  “I'd rather not let anyone on the street see us if the Hunters and Edwin are around,” I say. “Since I haven't heard any police sirens, I'm willing to bet they're not sitting in jail for stealing the bus. You know, I'm wondering how they got away with that.”

  “Magic?” Cayden asks.

  After the knife Edwin used on me, I'm willing to believe it.

  “The more I learn about my uncle, the more I see the truth,” Mr. Russell says, shaking his head.

  In the end, I take both the Russells over the wall. As soon as I jump over and down into Olivia's expansive yard, I smell two reassuring scents: natural makeup and the storage room of the Drama club. Olivia and Noah. They're both here, somewhere inside the house, and on the next sniff, I detect a whole concert of nature scents in there with them. Many of the Colling Wolves made it back. But Aunt May isn't with them. Her meadow scent is absent.

  “We shouldn't tell them about Lawrence and Abigail yet even though we were in the right,” Cayden whispers in my ear. I hadn't noticed him coming over the wall.

  “I won't. We'll keep them away from the Russell cabin,” I say.

  Somewhat reassured about the wall around the grounds of Olivia's house, I watch as Remo jumps over it with Leonora in his arms, and Brett finishes sloppily with Karina in tow. He stumbles at the top of the wall and comes to life for a moment. “Holy shit,” he says. “An Olympian couldn't have done that.” He lands near us and a wave of weakness comes over me a second later, so Cayden and I back away to a safe distance. But we don't have as much room to work with here.

  “You still have the hair I gave you?” I ask Brett.

  “In my pouch. Are you sure it's Edwin's?”

  “It smelled all old and musty like him,” I say.

  Karina screams underneath Brett's hand. I watch all the muscle
s in her left arm seize and spasm. It's painful to watch.

  “We can't have her screaming like that,” Remo says.

  “We'll just have to deal with it,” I say. “In.” I point to the back sliding door, a door I broke through once before to get inside. “It's us,” I announce as we enter.

  Of course, Dr. Bertram is gone from the house, working one of her long shifts at the hospital. Her sterile scent is barely present in her own home, even the kitchen. Even after Olivia's injury and broken leg, she's still been pretty absent in her daughter's life. We all enter the kitchen and one of the Colling Wolves, Natalie, meets us in the doorway that leads to the spacious living room.

  “I'm glad you're back,” I say, and it's genuine.

  The middle-aged woman nods, all business. “It was an ugly fight. I fear we got too close to you, but the Savages started running back into their territory like they were retreating and we had to chase them. I thought they had detected you.”

  “It was the fault of the girl we captured. I knocked her out,” I explain. Then I step aside to let Brett come in the door, still holding his sister. She groans in pain, eyes still closed.

  Natalie nods at her. “I see she won't be going back to the Savages.”

  “She sure won't,” I say, motioning her into the living room. I have to see Noah and Olivia. “Did anyone get hurt?”

  Natalie trails me. “Don took an injury but he's healing. We all stayed close together as we fought and gave the Savages a run for their money.”

  So the attack went well. I'm glad. I enter the living room to find the Colling Wolves, all in human form and dressed, sitting in a circle under the skylight. Noah and Olivia sit together, unhurt, at the mostly unused fireplace.

  “You're okay!” I rush over to hug Noah.

  “Yeah, we're awesome,” he says. “I can only really hug you with one arm since the other one is still super sore when I move it wrong, but--”

  “It's okay,” I say. “The Hunters didn't try to attack you?”

  Noah stays true to his word and hugs me with just his one arm. Olivia gives me a fake glare. I grin at her. I'm so relieved they're okay and the Colling Wolves didn't suffer any fatalities she can glare at me all she wants.