Wild Keepers

by Dee Bridgnorth

  She stepped out and was gone. He looked back down at his groceries, trying to fight the disappointment he felt the minute she had left the store. He was being stupid. He didn’t want to get involved with anyone in this town, and besides, he had a fair idea what he looked like. A girl like Keeley Walters would have all the young men of the district panting after her. She would hardly be interested in a washed out, old has-been like him. A man who was licking his wounds after his whole damn life had imploded around him.

  In fact, a girl like her would probably already have a boyfriend or be engaged. That was how it happened in these small towns. He had once come from one himself, but it had never been his destiny to stay there. The city and all its dark allure had drawn him in. He had been on a quest to do some good in this world. And the Wild Keepers had been his conduit.

  “That’ll be one hundred and forty-three.” Dot’s thready old voice interrupted his reverie.

  He pulled his credit card out of his wallet, frowning again. He couldn’t stay in Coyote River living on a mountain forever. He knew that. Money ran out eventually. And he was just a regular guy now, who would have to make a living. No longer a Wild Keeper. Although his powers as a shifter hadn’t left him, of course. But it was no longer the joy it had once been. Now when he transformed when the full moon came, it was just another thing that he had to endure.

  As he handed the card over to the old woman, he knew that this respite would have to end soon. But not yet. Not quite yet.

  ***

  He hurtled up the dirt track towards the cabin, feeling the old truck bounce over the pot holes. The suspension was going. He sighed. Another expense. Hopefully it would last a little while longer and he wouldn’t have to ponder it.

  He frowned. There was a car pulled up near the cabin. A car that he thought he recognised. But he couldn’t see anyone sitting on the porch.

  He parked next to it, getting out slowly and grabbing the shopping bags from the back. His eyes scanned the horizon. And that was when he saw the man standing on the edge of the lake, gazing out over the water.

  Evan. His former Wild Keeper brother, whose connections had got him this cabin. Thad glanced further, seeing if he had brought Maya, his wife. But he couldn’t see anyone else in the vicinity.

  He cursed under his breath. He loved Evan like a blood brother, but he knew what was coming. Evan was here for a reason. And Thad had a pretty good idea what it was.

  He took a deep breath and walked down the path towards him.

  ***

  Evan turned around to stare at him as he heard his footsteps approach.

  “Wow,” he said, gazing at him hard. “That beard is wild, man.”

  Thad grinned despite himself. “Yeah, it’s a work in progress that’s for sure.” He drew up level with his friend, gazing over the water. “You didn’t say you were coming for a visit.”

  Evan arched an eyebrow, still staring at him. “I might have if you ever looked at your phone. Every time I try to call it goes straight to message.”

  Thad took a deep breath. “Reception is patchy out here,” he said. “It’s better to keep it switched off. Uses too much battery. And I hardly need it anymore.”

  Evan didn’t reply for a minute as he gazed out over the lake. “It’s great here. I remember Mom loving it the two times we came here for a break when I was young.” He took a deep breath. “My uncle used to own it, but he’s gone now. That’s how Mom got it.”

  Thad nodded. “How is your mom?”

  “Good.” Evan kicked a pebble. “Busy. She’s loving having a daughter-in-law. She and Maya are as thick as thieves, always going on shopping trips together.”

  Thad’s smile tightened. He was happy for Evan. He really was. He was head-over-heels in love with Maya, and they had a good life in the city. He knew that Maya taught ballet now, and Evan was climbing the career ladder since he had left the Wild Keepers. But hearing of how happy he was just brought it home what a train wreck his own life was.

  “How’s things out here?” Evan kept staring at him. “It must get lonely.”

  Thad shrugged. He picked up a pebble and threw it low across the water, watching it skip across the surface until it landed and sank.

  “I like it,” he said eventually. “It has everything that I need.”

  Evan coughed slightly. “But you can’t stay here forever. You know that.”

  “Why can’t I?” Thad’s jaw tightened. “Unless your mom is wanting the cabin back. If that’s the case, I’ll pack up and get out of your hair.” He turned to Evan. “Is that why you are here? To give me my marching orders?”

  Evan stared at him, dismayed. “Thad, you can stay here as long as you want. I already told you that. That’s not what I meant. I just hope you realise that there is still a life out there for you, when you are ready to have it.”

  Thad’s face darkened. “A life doing what? I’m never going back to the city.” He took a deep breath. “Maybe I could get a job cutting firewood or something out here. That way I could pay your mom rent on the place and I wouldn’t have to feel obliged.”

  Evan gazed at him sharply. “You are under no obligation,” he said quickly. “Stop being so damn defensive, Thad. I said you can stay here as long as you want until you get your head together, but I’m not giving up on you. None of us are.”

  Thad sat down on the edge of the lake. He didn’t say anything. Evan sat down beside him.

  “I know you say you don’t want to go back to the city,” he said slowly. “But the city needs you, Thad.”

  Thad turned to stare at him. “What do you mean?”

  Evan sighed. “It’s gotten worse since it all happened,” he explained. “Much worse. Gangs are roaming the streets, causing havoc. Riots. Haven’t you seen the news?”

  Thad shook his head. “I don’t watch the news or read it. There doesn’t seem to be much point.”

  Evan sighed again. “Without the Wild Keepers keeping order, it’s degenerated badly. There’s only so much the regular police can do. The demons have come out to play in a big way.”

  Thad felt a stab of impotent anger. He should have known that this would happen. The demons had full reign of the city now. But what could he do about it? His pack was gone. His home. He was a lone wolf now, skirting the edges of life.

  “Not my problem,” he said quickly, picking up another pebble and throwing it into the water.

  Evan sighed in frustration. “Thad, you are the only one who can do anything about it,” he said, his eyes flashing. “You are the leader. The rest of us have lost our powers.”

  “I have no pack,” growled Thad, his eyes narrowing.

  “Then get a new one!” Evan’s voice was sharp. “Recruit. There’s other shifters out there, good ones, who could help you clean up the city. All you have to do is try.”

  “The warehouse is gone,” Thad flatly reminded him.

  Evan stared at him. “There are warehouses everywhere,” he replied. “Any number could be transformed into another base. The warehouse was never the heart of the Wild Keepers. It was the brothers who made it, and they can live anywhere.”

  Thad stared stubbornly ahead. He didn’t want to hear this. He had deliberately avoided news of Covenester because he didn’t want to know what was happening there. Let the city fall into the sea as far as he was concerned. He had given his whole life to trying to protect it, and he had failed. Why was Evan insisting that he should return to begin again? There was no point. No point at all.

  The demons would always win. They had already won.

  “The people know that the Wild Keepers are gone,” said Evan.

  Thad looked at him sharply. “What are you talking about? The people never even knew that we existed.”

  Evan gave him a withering look. “That’s crap, Thad, and you know it. We all heard people talking about sighting wolves in the city. There were rumours everywhere.” He took a deep breath. “They know that they are missing now. And somehow they know that the wolves w
ere protecting the city.”

  Thad gritted his teeth. “They didn’t seem to appreciate it at the time.”

  Evan stood up quickly. “Maybe they didn’t know what they had until it was gone,” he said. “But they know now. That’s why you have to get it together, Thad. You were a damn fine alpha leader, and you can do it again. I know it’s been hard for you…”

  “Do you?” hissed Thad, staring up at him. “Do you know what it’s like hearing that your brothers are dead? Burnt to death while you live?” He took a long, shuddering breath. “I sometimes wish I had have been sleeping in my bed as well when that fire started.”

  Evan suddenly hauled him up so that they were standing inches apart. His eyes were glittering.

  “Don’t ever say that,” said Evan, breathing heavily. He poked a finger viciously into Thad’s chest. “Are you listening? It wasn’t your fault! You did everything you could. You gave everything to the Wild Keepers! The others feel exactly as I do. There is no one we respect more.”

  Thad started trembling. He wanted to punch Evan in the face so badly that he could feel his right fist clenching. He couldn’t hear this. He couldn’t hear how he was respected and loved and had done such a great job. The proof was in the pudding. Three young shifters had died on his watch. If that wasn’t the mark of a poor leader, what was?

  “Let me go,” he said between clenched teeth. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I swear to God I’ll punch you so hard you won’t know what’s hit you.”

  Evan let go of him as suddenly as he had gripped him, causing Thad to stumble backwards slightly.

  “So be it,” he said slowly, shaking his head. “If you want to wallow in self-pity I can’t do a damn thing to stop you.” He started walking up the path, away from him. “I’ll leave you to it, Thad. I wanted to come here to see how you were and tell you that you can do it again. That you must do it again. The others wanted to come, too, but I told them you would feel threatened. I thought you might listen to me if I came alone. But I see I was wrong.”

  Thad turned away, staring out over the water. The trembling was starting to subside, and now he just felt sick to his stomach. He didn’t want to hurt Evan. But it seemed that whatever he did, hurt couldn’t be avoided now.

  “Go well, brother,” Evan whispered.

  Thad turned to him, feeling the tears prick behind his eyes. Evan’s face was so full of sorrow he just couldn’t stomach it. He nodded his head quickly then turned back to the lake. He heard the receding footsteps and the start of the car engine. And then the car hurtled down the driveway and was gone.

  Thad collapsed onto the ground. Loss consumed him. Once upon a time he had been closer to Evan and the other former Wild Keepers than anyone on this planet. But one by one they had peeled off and left the pack. He alone had stayed while they had all found their mates and started new lives. He had never resented it. He knew it was the way of it. The Wild Keepers had always been a shifting pack. That was how they had lasted as long as they had.

  He hadn’t been as close to the shifters who had joined over the last few years. They were younger…or maybe he had just been getting older? Losing his edge. Perhaps he should have seen the writing on the wall and bowed out gracefully before it had all gone the way it had. Perhaps the Wild Keepers would still be going if a different alpha leader had been at the helm. A leader who didn’t make stupid mistakes that had cost them everything.

  Thad stood up. He had groceries to unpack.

  He walked to the cabin, carrying in the bags. The silence was deafening. But he knew that a hundred miles away the sounds of the city would be reaching a crescendo. A city that he had once known like the back of his hand. A city full of lost dreams and hopes.

  A city that he had abandoned to its fate.

  ***

  Keeley walked into the Magnet, deep in thought. Her encounter with Thad Morgan in the general store had unsettled her, there was no denying it.

  She walked to the small kitchenette at the back, opening the bag of sugar and pouring it into the tin. As she watched the white granules fall into it, she pictured his face when he turned and recognised her. He had been surprised to see her. And the surprise hadn’t been a good one.

  What was it about him? He was gruff and tight lipped, not wanting to speak to her. She had felt the resistance in him to even acknowledge her. He was a man who obviously didn’t care about himself, either. She had experienced the same shock when she had seen him in the store as the first time—the wild unkempt beard, the straggly hair, the bulk of the man. He had seemed to fill the aisle with his presence.

  She was still pondering the puzzle of him as her cell phone started vibrating in her pocket. She reached down, looking at the screen. Mom. She frowned. Her mother usually didn’t call her at work if she could help it. And never this early in the morning.

  “Mom?” She pressed the phone against her ear, staring out of the back window of the office.

  “Keeley.” Her mother’s voice was small and tremulous. “Oh, dear God. Daddy’s had a turn.”

  Keeley felt the blood drain from her face. She clutched the phone tighter. “What?”

  “I was in the garden.” There was a sob in her mother’s voice. “He was in his armchair in the living room like normal. When I came in, he was slumped in the chair.”

  Keeley reached a hand out to steady herself against the bench. “Have you called the hospital?”

  “Yes. The ambulance just got here.” Her mother was crying now. “I have to go. They said I can travel in the back with him. I just wanted to let you know before we went.”

  Keeley felt tears fall down her face, picturing her poor father being carried into the ambulance. Then she felt a sudden surge of anger. Hadn’t he suffered enough? Wasn’t it enough that he had spent the last fourteen years of his life in an almost vegetative state? And now this. He didn’t deserve this. None of it.

  “Thanks for letting me know, Mom.” She took a deep breath, trying to centre herself. “I’ll leave work now and drive to the hospital and meet you there. Where are they taking him?”

  “St Albans, in Covenester. But you shouldn’t come. You are at work…”

  “Stuff work.” Keeley’s voice was hard. “Dean will understand. This is more important.” She took a deep breath. “Be brave, okay? He’s going to need you to be strong. I will be there as soon as I can.”

  “I love you, Keeley.” Her mother’s voice was so soft she could barely hear her.

  “I love you, too.” Keeley ended the call, placing the phone back into her pocket with a shaking hand. She took another deep breath, then walked to Dean’s office, opening the door without knocking. He was sitting in his chair, just about to make a call.

  “Keeley. What’s wrong?” Dean replaced the phone back in the cradle. “You look like a ghost.”

  “It’s Daddy.” She screwed up her face to stop herself crying afresh. “There’s something wrong. He’s being taken to hospital. I have to go.”

  “Of course,” he said, frowning. “Take the day off. Do they know what it is?”

  Keeley shook her head. “I don’t have any information, Dean. Mom just called, and they are taking him now.”

  Dean nodded. “Give my love to Claire. Tell her I’m thinking of her.”

  Keeley smiled tremulously. Dean and her mother had gone to school together and were friends. She knew that he was very fond of her. He had sometimes come around over the years to help her out with odd jobs around the house. Jobs that Daddy would have taken care of if life had have turned out the way it should have.

  At the thought of her father’s lost life she felt another spurt of pain. All those lost years, when he should have been strong and vital. Sitting at the head of the table. Coming to watch her school concerts and her grade school basketball games. The thousand lost events and moments that he should have been there for.

  “Drive carefully, Keeley.” Dean looked at her sharply. “I mean it. You need to concentrate. The last thing that your p
oor mother needs now is another one of her family in hospital.”

  Keeley nodded. “I’ll be fine. I’ll keep you posted.”

  She left the office as if in a dream, climbing into her little hatchback and hitting the road. It would take her a little over an hour to get to Covenester if she was quick. She hadn’t been to the city in a long time. Her mother had talked her out of it whenever she mentioned it might be nice to go to the big smoke for a shopping trip or to see a show. The news was full of how the city was spiralling downhill, with huge gangs roaming the streets and riots breaking out everywhere. It wasn’t safe.

  But she had no choice now. The trees on the sides of the road became a blur in her vision as she pressed her foot down on the accelerator, reaching the maximum speed limit. She bit her lip in frustration. She wanted to go faster, but Dean’s words about driving safely echoed in her head.

  The tears fell down her face silently as she navigated the familiar twists and bends in the road. Daddy had to be okay. She would make sure that he would be okay. But what was okay for him, anyway? What kind of a life was it, sitting in a chair all day and having to be spoon fed?

  Her heart filled with impotent rage again. She was going to find out what had happened to him if it was the last thing that she did.

  Chapter Five

  Keeley peered into the living room, watching her mother carefully spoon the cereal and fruit into her father’s mouth. The sound of the television droned in the background; some talk show where the host was overly enthusiastic. The audience laughed. Her father gazed at it vacantly as he slowly swallowed the mush.

  Keeley walked to the kettle, switching it on. Her mother was almost finished and would be needing a cup of coffee. Getting her father up and dressed and fed for the morning was a saga. But Claire Walters was used to it, as was she. It was just a part of their lives now.

  He had been home from the hospital for two days now. He had slowly woken in the hours after they had taken him there, doing a battery of tests on him. Once again, they couldn’t pinpoint what had happened. His brain activity was the same. He had just suddenly fallen unconscious and just as suddenly awoken. As there didn’t seem to be any further damage, they had discharged him.