Last Chance Diner

by Rowan Thalia

  'Holy shit, that's neat. I can see your ghostlike asses!' Alyssa's breath is almost against my ear. 'I have an idea!'

  'Well, spit it out. Time's literally ticking,' Lewis growls.

  'Hear me out. What if Tyff and I spell the wolves? Half with a dose of lust and the other rage. They’ll be fighting and fucking ... and the witches will have no choice but come to fix the mayhem. We can run back into the woods to create a mixture to place in the drinks or to blow into the air. These weird trees have a natural cloak, I noticed that as you stepped out.'

  My lips spread as wide as they can go. 'I like that. It could just work. Let's do it! Is there some way for us to see you the way you're seeing us while we're making magic?'

  'Hmm. Yes, I think I can do that. Let's step into the forest. I'll turn visible until we find a place to congregate,' Alyssa answers.

  Following my senses, I lead my pack into the woods once more. The same silence descends as soon as we cross the border. A thought in the back of my mind keeps trying to surface, but I've no time for deep thinking now. Suffice to say, there's probably a reason the forest surrounding the pack lands is this way.

  Even as my feet fall against the leaf-strewn ground, no sound is emitted. The darkness engulfs us like a vacuum, thankfully Alyssa has turned visible and holds a tiny witch-light in her palm. I follow... the skin on the back of my neck pebbling

  "Why didn't I notice how… different this place is when we came through moments ago?" I wonder aloud.

  Alyssa only puts a finger to her lips and steps into a small clearing. Tyffani appears beside her. They bend their heads together, whispering. There's nothing for us wolves to do besides waiting now. A thought that doesn't sit well on my Alpha shoulders, but there it is.

  Ty presses his weight against me. The other two must be sitting somewhere near as I can hear them panting. Scanning the vicinity, even my wolf vision only gleams a portion of the wide trunks and full branches of the trees around us. Every minute that passed since Faith was taken has seemed like an eternity, and this one is no different. I need - we need - to get her back. I sink into the bond, trying once more to reach her.

  A fingertip touches my temple. I jerk my head around, caught off guard. Alyssa's purple eyes widen, and she takes a step back. I motion for her to continue and try to soften the rigidness of my jawline. Her hands frame my face. Her lips move, but no sound emerges. The hairs on my neck rise. I bite my lip as the magic strikes like a needle in my throat. She bows her head slightly, then moves on to Ty, who is still at my side. Her hands seem to frame the air until a minute later when I see an apparition of a wolf at my side. Happy her spell is working; I watch as she completes her task.

  Meanwhile, Tyffani is scrambling around the brush, gathering something by the looks of it. I step forward and hold my palms up in question. She eyes me and shakes her head, so I step back. Alyssa makes a satisfying chirp and then begins drawing a circle with runes in the dirt. I sit down on a nearby log, interested to see them working. It's like watching a silent theater as they move back and forth, mixing ingredients into a bowl made from an animal skull.

  'This is weird as fuck,' Ty hisses through the bond.

  'Shh, let them work. We'll have to get used to magic now that Faith and her sisters are pack,' I reprimand, although I can't say I don't agree with the Omega.

  'We're done,' Alyssa looks up. 'One of us will need to throw this into the bonfire. The only trick is ... not inhaling the smoke that rises. So, who can hold their breath the longest?'

  'Me,' Lewis stands in human form. 'I'm the only one of us that even likes swimming.'

  Both witches look to me. I nod in approval. The bowl is handed to Lewis, and the two fade until they, too, are only shimmering outlines in the forest. Lewis turns and begins the trek back to the farm. I wait until the entire pack has started walking and take up the rear.

  'Lewis, you go straight to the fire, dump the load, then rush toward the farmhouse and meet us near the porch. We should be able to use it as cover until all the powder settles since the wind is blowing this way,' I command.

  'You got it, boss,' a chorus reply.

  The cacophony of the wolves' gathering hits my eardrums like a bullet as we step out of the trees. I flinch, shake my head, and grimace. Lewis veers off toward the fire, the rest of us walk the perimeter of the field until we arrive at the two-story farmhouse. Brandon settles behind the staircase, his yellow eyes peeking over toward the parking lot. I crouch next to him, facing the opposite direction. Ty and the girls fill in space between us. Never hurts to be vigilant.

  'It's done, I'm on my way!' Lewis chimes.

  He's next to me in no time flat, I must admit I'm impressed. As soon as he leans against the porch, he draws in a deep breath, and I smirk. Before I can ask how long the spell will take, a commotion starts deep within the gathering. Now, we wait. I sink down on my haunches and try to connect with Faith once more.

  'R--r-ranger?' Her voice is weak.

  I almost fell over with relief, even though I'd love to see her instead. 'Baby. Let me see what's happening,' I soothe, wishing I had Omega powers right now. Ty perks up next to me, closing his eyes. I can tell the moment he connects with her because I'm able to see through her eyes.

  Although what I see is basically nothing, it's better than being disconnected from the other half of my heart. Faith's eyelashes flutter, and the ceiling comes into view. The room is plated in iron and dark. She leans her head to the side. I see Millie chained to the wall beside her. Fuck!

  'We've got a plan, Petite Louve, just hold on,' I assure her. Her love bleeds through the link, and I fade out, coming back to my present position.

  My spine burns with the need to rip Thane's head off. He's disrespected my mate - enslaved her, and I will not let that injustice go unpunished. I should have stood up to him from moment one, and I'm ashamed of that. Looking back, I thought to make our case without fighting was the right thing to do, but it wasn't. I should have stood shoulder to shoulder with my pack and demanded the pack law be upheld.

  'Well, I'll be damned. Look at 'em all,' Brandon peeks around the building.

  My palms are sweaty as I join him. This must work. The first thing I notice when I lean my head over is how the large group has segmented into four smaller ones. With all the bodies pressed together, it's hard to decipher exactly what's happening in the groups, but the sounds that travel from them leave no question.

  The two clusters closest to the tree line most got the lust portion of the spell, lots of moaning, grunting, as well as clothes being shed. The bodies along the border are in every manner of sexual position that I can think of. Just from my quick glance, I can see at least two threesomes with the female being spit-roasted and a cluster of females licking each other up and down. The two groups nearest to the fire are a jumble of shouts and fists waving. A few have shifted savagely gnashing at one another.

  Just as we'd hoped, Thane comes crashing out of the farmhouse with three witches at his heels. I don't even have to confirm that the trio is, in fact, magical, they come out with hands blasting. We've got a small window to sneak in and grab our girl.

  'Now or never, Not-a-Pack!' I push everyone near me toward the cellar doors that I watched Faith enter while I saw through our bond. 'In the cellar as fast as we can go! Her cell is the last one on the right. Don't stop until you get there!'

  I expected a little resistance when we opened the doors, but Tyffani lifts the door with no problem. Alyssa winks. I realize she helped, which makes me feel better. Had it been easy, I'd have worried that it was a trap. Ty's wolf props the door as everyone files in. I clap him on the back before following the rest down the dimly lit hall. The slight thump of the door closing behind me is preceded by a gust of smoke-laden air. Moments later, Ty's wolf is at my heels, and the stench of magic fills the air like a dark cloud.

  'Faith?' I send a surge of my Alpha power through the bond.

  "I'm here," her musical voice filters through the bars on her c
ell.

  Brandon reaches the door first and turns human. His hands grapple with the door but find no purchase. Frustrated, he lets out a low grumble. Alyssa steps forward crouches down and looks at the keyhole. With a scrunch of her nose, she takes Tyffani's hand and begins to chant.

  'Goddess, if you can hear me, we could really use your help about now,' I pray.

  'Link with the witch, and you shall earn your reward,' a musical voice intones.

  Both female heads snap back at me, eyes wide. Alyssa's hand flies to her mouth. She eyeballs the ceiling as if the Goddess would be floating above our heads in this dump. Of course, I'm not sure which witch I'm supposed to link with, but I figure I should do as I'm told. Closing my eyes, I push all of my Alpha powers out. A current of energy answers me. I feel as if I'm being sucked into the small hole of a vacuum hose. When I open my eyes again, I'm standing beside Faith. Even more startling - the prison door is gone … as in disappeared.

  "Holy fucking shit," Lewis gapes.

  "Faith," I lean down wrapping my arms around her.

  'Why are you … glowing?" She rasps.

  "No time to talk about it. Let's get you two out of here," I pull Fang to the surface and use his claws to slash at the rope binding her.

  The moment Ranger stepped to my side, something inside of me clicked. The haze that cloaked my vision and dampened my powers was lifted. No longer fighting for breath, my lungs fill up with the clean air wafting through the missing cell door. Ranger is fast at getting me unbound and lifting me to my feet. I'm relieved to see my sisters attending to Millie even as the rest of my pack crushes me in between them.

  "Can you walk? I don't know how long our little distraction is going to hold," Ranger's brow is furrowed. He cocks his head to the side as if he hears something, then squeezes my arms and tucks me between him and Ty. "Move out NOW!"

  "We're trying," Alyssa grunts as she pulls on the chains at Millie's wrists.

  "Can't you spell her hands smaller?" I ask. Alyssa turns her head to answer, but her mouth just hangs open when the chains fall with a clink against the floor.

  "I have so many questions, but Ranger is right. They're on their way back. We need to get out of this cellar fast!" She almost screams.

  Tension fills the air like a fine mist. The eight of us trudge through the hall like a herd of elephants on the way to the watering hole. The witch part of me has undergone some sort of change in the moments since my pack entered my prison. The only way I can describe how I feel is as if I were attached to each of them by a tight wire. Each wire is practically pulsing with energy, and my magical core is feeding on them like some sort of leech.

  The hall bends, and the cellar door comes into view. Relief floods my system when Brandon throws it open and steps into the night. It's at that moment I realize my entire crew looks like apparitions. I let out a squeak of panic. Did I just get rescued by my dead pack? My heart beats wild against my heaving chest.

  'Shh. Magic,' Snow snorts as she pushes to the surface.

  'Well, someone could have warned me,' I half growl, half pout.

  Snow doesn't answer. Instead, she guides our head over toward the gathering. Thane and his witches are on their platform, and shouting is coming from every direction of the crowd. Well, shouting and … maybe sexual grunts? I squint and look closer at the twisting of forms toward the back of the field and flush when I zero in on a female giving her best blowjob performance while another male is pounding her from behind. Shit, I need that right about now.

  'Focus please, Petite,' Ranger hisses, and I chuckle. It's always fun to get a rise out of him, even if I am still a little shell-shocked right now.

  "I say we blindside them while they aren't looking," I curl my hands into fists and push to the front of the pack. The resolve I felt when I came into my magic settles along my spine like a cape. I grit my teeth and focus my sights on Thane. Enemy number one.

  "Did you think it would be that easy?" A deep voice calls from behind me.

  I whip my head around, Snow's claws sliding out of my fingers without a thought. What my eyes settle on stuns me. I almost lose my footing. Ty rushes to my right and Brandon to my left while Ranger and Lewis create a blockade in front. While my sisters hiss from behind me.

  "Who are you?" I ask the figure that's casually leaning against the side of the house. His face bears an uncanny resemblance to the one I see in the mirror each day. My brain knows what he's going to say, but my heart won't accept it.

  "Would it be cliché to deepen my tone and say, 'Faith, I am your father?" The sneer that graces his full lips doesn't do the joke justice.

  "Uh, yes … that is way too fucking cliché. Why are you here and who's side are you on?" I growl.

  "I'm on my side. My magic called me to be here at this moment, and so here I am. Do you think you, as a fledgling, can beat someone with as much influence as Thane?" He lifts his palms up. Everything about him makes me want to lash out and bite something. From his lackadaisical demeanor to the matching pucker on his face, his very presence feels like a slap in the face from the Goddess.

  "Yeah, I do. If you don't have a dog in this fight, then step back, daddy-o. Let me handle my business."

  At that, he slaps his knee and bursts into laughter. I tighten my fists so much that blood trickles between my fingers. My wolf senses go on alert. I realize while wasting time gabbing with this fool, my position has been compromised. By the sounds of thumping against the dirt, I'd say about five wolves are pounding this way.

  "Oh, I do wish your mother had let me stick around to see you grow. Fuck the prophecy and her mate. All joking aside, I do have a wolf in this fight. One that I'd like to see survive. And for that, I shall tether my wandering nature for now. I'll align myself with you, the flesh of my flesh."

  I don't have time to answer the prick. Thane's wolves are closing in.

  'They can't see us. Only you and Millie,' Alyssa sings.

  'Ah. Which is why only wolves are headed this way. Why can't they sense you?'

  'We'll explain later. On three, we'll link and fry these bastards into a deep sleep. No use killing wolves for one leader's shoddy influence,' Tyffani inserts. 'One. Two. Three.'

  I feel more about what to do than think about it. As soon as our palms open, the troop of wolves hits the ground snoring. There's an odd feeling running along my arms, starting at my fingertips. When I look to my side, I see my semen donor cracking his knuckles. He must have joined our link somehow, his magic is … spiky. Still undecided at how I feel about him, I dust my hands together dismissively and turn away from him. With a nod, I motion for everyone to follow me. Straightening my back, I step over the fallen bodies and head toward the bonfire.

  Thane will hear me. He will pay for what's been done to my person, as well as my mother.

  "Thane!" I shout.

  "Hello, little witch-bitch," Thane raps the wooden platform with a giant cane. Boom, boom, boom! The crowd quiets, and heads turn towards me. Snow rises far enough to the surface that my flesh pebbles and the hairs on my arms rise. Not only have I gotten Thane's attention, but his witches are eyeing me with interest as well.

  "The stage is yours, sweetheart," He who hasn't been named chuckles.

  'Strike first, speak later,' Ranger growls.

  My mate is right. I've already said my peace to Thane, and he refused to adhere to pack law. The time for conversation is over. I pin him in my sights, pull on the magical threads linking me to my coven-pack, conjure up an image of bowling pins falling and push out with my palms. A bolt of light flashed before me, causing me to squint. The bodies between the Alpha and I tumble over. Shock registers on Thane's face momentarily, then it's gone. His face is a mask of serenity. Not knowing what's coming next, I whisper under my breath and disappear.

  'Everyone stays with me,' I demand as I charge down the alleyway I've created. The fur of two of my mates brushes my legs comfortingly. My pulse races and my nostrils flare as I close in on my enemy, claws extended. Blood w
ill spill tonight.

  'Do you have a plan, love?' Ranger asks.

  'I'm going to end this,' I flick my hand in Thane's direction. He flinches but doesn't change his wide-legged stance. A burning sensation lights up my palms. I look down at them in wonder, I guess I need to be careful what I say. "Millie, I want you to go find my mom and siblings,' I order as an afterthought.

  'Yes, sister.'

  Out of the corner of my eye, I see a tuft of hair that I recognize. My cheeks flame and my stomach knots as I turn and come face to face with my one-time lover and recent attacker, Jared. He's making his way toward the aisle, looking straight through me. I ball my fists, but before I can move, Ranger's howl freezes me.

  "Make me visible, NOW," he yells as he stalks toward Jared.

  A moment later, my mate shimmers into sight. He wastes no time. With a deep growl, he yanks Jared up by the scruff and throws him to the ground. The crowd parts. Shouts ring out, but no one steps into the fray.

  "I want you to look me in the eye before I end you," Ranger steps over him and picks him up by the neck. Their noses touch, and Jared's eyes harden. His mouth opens, but only gargled sounds come out as he wrenches at Ranger's grip.

  "This poor excuse for a wolf forced himself upon my mate," Ranger yells into the crowd. A collective gasp and murmurs fill the space. Thane's brow furrows, but he holds his men back, scanning those nearest to him. Ranger's eyes return to Jared's. With a sneer, he flashes his teeth. "And for that, he will DIE - painfully. Anyone who wishes to intercept my retribution will answer to the Goddess!"

  I don't want to watch what comes next. Goddess knows I should use this distraction to my benefit, but I don't. My heart hammers against my chest, and I sink my fingers into Ty's thick fur as I stand there immobile. Flashes of memory flitter through my brain and tears roll down my face. There aren't words to describe the mixed emotions running through me right now.