by Holly Hook
“Get out of here!” I shout at him, not bothering to mask my voice. The guards must think we're with the pro hunters. “Lock yourself in a room and stay safe!”
“Get away!" the guard shouts, swatting.
I dig my fingers into Tyler's fur as the wand strikes, and Tyler yelps, backpedals, and yanks the wand from the guard's hands. The man struggles to his feet and scrambles up the steps as I dig my fingers into Tyler's flesh.
“Calm down,” I order as the guard vanishes behind a wooden door just off the balcony. “He's not our enemy. Smell for our enemies. They're in here.”
Tyler looks at me with horror blooming in his eyes. I can still calm him...for now. But that'll only last for a few more hours. He knows. I know. Once I'm fully cursed, there will be no stopping him.
Slowly, Tyler turns his head and faces another set of double doors under the middle of the balcony, sniffing.
A plaque above the doors reads Rose Room.
He growls.
They're in there.
And now we're going to face our enemies head on for the first time.
“Tyler, you can't attack them,” I say, reminding him of the plan. “Gavin and I can keep them in there. You need to lure in the other wolves. The enemies.” I face the plant room and feel the cold air blowing in from the open double doors. No one's coming. No hunters, no savage wolves, nobody.
Where are they?
But Tyler's not listening. He bares his teeth at the closed door and sniffs, and I know his DNA donors are inside, hiding from the action, letting others handle this crisis for them. We can't wait much longer. The Roses could have an emergency exit from that room, and—
The door bursts open.
“Get back,” Mr. Rose shouts, raising his arms and putting his upper body out the door like a man in an action movie. His hands are clasped together, around—
An unconscious part of my brain gets it before I do. I grab Tyler by the scruff and try to pull him back, but my strength isn't close to his, and Tyler is too far gone.
He rushes Mr. Rose.
“Tyler!” I shout, raising my crossbow in the vain hope I can shoot the weapon from Mr. Rose's hands. But I'm not fast enough.
Mr. Rose fires, and smoke rises from the pistol he's holding.
Tyler jolts, yelps, and goes down, blood bubbling from his rear haunch.
And as his mother screams from within the Rose Room, Mr. Rose slams the door.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Silence falls as Tyler lies there on his side, blood leaking from the bullet wound on the upper part of his back leg. The bullet has impaled the muscular part, rendering him unable to move, but he's breathing. He's breathing.
The world stops as I run under the chandelier where Tyler lies.
“Shit,” Gavin mutters, coming up beside me. “They shot him. Those monsters!”
Maybe they were just protecting themselves. Maybe they meant to slow Tyler down. But why open the heavy Rose Room doors? They should have been protected.
I rush to Tyler, heart racing and panic blooming in my chest. The wolf lying there tries to move his legs, but yelps in pain.
He's seriously hurt.
“Tyler. Oh, shit. Hold on,” I mutter. Gavin stands over me, covering me as I fall to my knees and drop my crossbow. My quiver hangs heavy on my back as I survey his wound. It's small. Round. The bullet is still there, shining and lodged in his flesh, resting in a round pond of blood. It hasn't gone in far. I hold down my vomit. The smell of blood fills my head with that growl again, and I hold my breath to cast the horror away. “Hold on. I'll get this out.” Why isn't Tyler getting up and plucking the bullet out himself? The wound isn't that bad.
“Beckah. Your knife. I'll shoot him if he comes back out,” Gavin snarls. “Did you hear that?” he shouts at the double doors. He's losing his temper.
Tyler looks at me by turning one eye towards me, and it's still got that red ring of rage. But a trace of him remains, hurt and terrified.
And as I fish out my small knife and pluck out the bullet, I see why. It leaves a bloody trail on the floor as it rolls away, reflecting the light of the chandelier.
It's lighter than a normal bullet, the same shade as our tipped arrows.
And I understand.
Tyler's own father has used a silver bullet, one of the few things capable of killing his son.
I hold back a scream of terror and rage. “Shit. Tyler. Hold on,” I say. “The bullet is out now. Try to heal.”
The dark wolf remains in place, clawing at the marble floor, making the sound echo off the pillars and the white walls. He tries to move his leg, and growls in pain as he does. The wound. It's still open, bleeding, and painful. Tyler can't heal it.
“We've got to stop the bleeding,” I say, ripping off my scarf. “I'll tie your leg. Then we're ending this.” It wasn't supposed to be this way. Wrapping my scarf around Tyler's leg as tight as I can, I hold back tears of panic. We've gone over this. I'll have to lure the wolves, then. Calm down. But I can't.
I've seen what silver does to werewolves.
Tyler whimpers as our gazes meet, and the redness drops away, but he remains a wolf. Inside the Rose Room, silence falls.
"They must not have another exit," Gavin hisses. "Or they would have left. We need the bad wolves. Now! Drag Tyler away from the path."
I snap my gaze up to Gavin just as Tyler starts to hyperventilate. He's not healing even though we've stopped the bleeding. Throwing my coat over him, I nod. Yes. The plan.
A silver bullet even in a non-vital area will kill a werewolf...but not a human.
Tyler's only hope is to remove the curse before the silver poisoning spreads through his entire body. Before the convulsions start.
I rise and look to Gavin, who nods.
"I'll stand guard. The Roses won't want to shoot a human."
It's wishful thinking. If they can shoot their son, they'll shoot Gavin. "But they'd say it's self defense."
Gavin seizes a heavy chair from under the balcony and shoves it against the door handles. "Go!"
Another shout from inside rattles the doors and wood splinters as a bullet makes it through. Gavin jumps back as a window shatters on the other side of the entry room. They've got something stronger than a little pistol now.
I look to Tyler, and he's deep in a sea of pain. Then I shove him over to under the balcony, out of the way, as fast as I can while I'm in a crouch. Then I seize my crossbow—
—I could die any second—
And rush back down the hall to the broken window. I climb out, wanting to scream for help, but the only help for Tyler is going to come from me.
Another low growl fills my head, and I know the time is close. The afternoon light is beginning to fade.
A crowd of security guards stands at the visitor center when I exit the window, waiting, but I turn away from them, crossbow in front of me, and run towards the woods with the split stump. The snow grabs at me, slowing me. I see nothing at first. Then two dark brown forms—the evil wolves—back out of the woods, snapping at two blond wolves they've faced before. Two blonds, and a tan wolf. Valerie and Cammie are once again driving them towards us, and Alan has joined them. They've held the hunters back and survived.
"Hey!" I shout, taking aim.
I'm the only hunter here and against two wolves. I don't know if I'll survive.
They're just two hundred feet away, and both turn at the sound of my voice as the Rose Pack stops snapping at them.
I'm not supposed to be doing this.
They can't help me here.
The two dark wolves survey me, the male and the female, and peel back their lips. They've already lost control. The full moon already has them both in its grasp, and apparently I either still smell human or like a rival. Either way, I'm dead.
Both charge, and the three members of the Rose Pack stand back.
I turn and I run, climbing back through the broken window and over the shattered glass. Everything snaps into sh
arp focus. The footfalls of monsters close in behind me, kicking up snow, and I rise and bolt down the hallway that leads back to the main room. Tyler's still lying there, under my coat, easy prey, and his chest rises up and down so fast I wonder if he's already in a seizure.
Paws strike the floor behind me.
I won't make it. They're too fast.
"Gavin!"
Another shot comes from behind the Rose Room door, and Gavin backs away under the shelter of the balcony. The wolves will jump on me any second. I'm so close. But Gavin won't be able to act in time—
A hallway door bursts open in front of me, and a woman screams like a banshee as she raises something glinting over her head. One of the wolves, the female, stops as she faces the new threat. I recognize the yellow coat. The curly, light hair. The freckles.
Mom?
I run past, looking back. She throws herself out of the narrow hallway and plunges the dagger deep into the back of the smaller wolf, who yelps, falls to the ground, and thrashes in agony. I stop as the male does, whirling to face his mate, and Mom glares at me as Gia, who is also in the small service hallway with another knife, tries to pull her back.
They've both got silver daggers.
"Get...get inside!" I shout as the male curls back his lips, looking between me and Mom. Blood leaks onto the floor from the female as she falls to her side and thrashes. Is the knife embedded in her back silver?
Then a low growl comes from the male, now standing ten feet away from me, as he realizes we've led him into an apparent trap. He turns away from Mom and Gia, who are vanishing back into the hallway thanks to Gia, as the female starts to convulse. Yes. Silver. They've taken down a werewolf.
The male slowly turns his head to me and I know what the look in his red eyes mean. I'm going to kill you in front of your family, and I'm going to do it slowly even if it kills me.
"Beckah!" Gavin shouts from the main room as another gunshot splinters the Rose Room doors.
Distant shouts echo from outside. The hunters are about to arrive. Tyler still hyperventilates and his breaths whistle as he struggles.
I've got to move.
"Come on," I dare the wolf, every sense sharpening as I back towards the main room. "Come at me!"
Gavin moves behind me, ready to jump into action. His footfalls echo off the marble floor as Tyler's mother shouts something from inside the Rose Room.
This is the time.
The only chance we've got.
Slowly, the male wolf advances. He's going to relish this.
And slowly, I back away, keeping my weapon aimed. If I have to shoot, it's over. My arrow is the only thing making the wolf hesitate.
"You come at me, and you get this silver arrow between your eyes," I say. "Instant death. You fall. You convulse. That's it."
He growls, eyes red.
And behind me, Tyler whimpers. The smell of blood hangs in the air and brings that horrible growl to my head again as the curse readies itself to take hold. And back at the vacation house, I know the rose bush is sliding into death.
"Yeah. Keep coming at me. You want to rip and kill," I tell the wolf as the shouts from outside draw closer. Please, stay back just a little longer. "You want to inflict pain. Well, so do I." I back into the main room where Gavin is waiting. I glance at him to see him ducking down, in front of the Rose Room doors, ready to yank the chair out of the way. Five bullet holes have ravaged the wood. "This is my gift to you. Now!"
Gavin yanks the chair out of the way, and the doors don't even need his help to open as Tyler's DNA donors have shot out the lock by mistake. They drift open, revealing a mini theater and three rows of seats.
Mr. and Mrs. Rose stand on the red carpet. Mrs. Rose holds a shotgun. And Mr. Rose raises his pistol as his mouth drops open. Already several silver bullets litter the floor, having not gone through the wood.
He pulls the trigger at the large wolf as Mrs. Rose struggles to reload, shaking.
Click.
He's used the last of his bullets.
The wolf turns away from me and faces Mr. and Mrs. Rose, who huddle together at the sight of the new arrival they never expected.
And he peels back his lips as if smiling.
He charges at the easy targets.
Mrs. Rose screams, and her husband backs behind her as he leaps and strikes her, raking his claws and throwing them both to the ground. The back row of theater seats trembles in the struggle, and Mrs. Rose puts her arm in the way of the wolf's snapping jaws.
And he clamps down, drawing blood.
"Get off!" Mr. Rose shouts, shoving his wife out of the way as he slugs at the wolf. But the wolf, changing targets, lunges at Mr. Rose and bites down right on his shoulder.
The sickening sound of teeth going into flesh makes me recoil right into Gavin, who puts his arm around me and holds me close. I don't dare let go of my weapon. I don't dare take my stare off the wolf, the normal werewolf who has nothing to do with the curse that's befallen Tyler.
"Move!" a man shouts, bursting into the room from the hallway.
I look up as Gavin and I push to the side.
It's the professional hunters, arriving late just as we planned. Running in a line and with crossbows bared, the four of them miss Tyler completely and rush into the Rose Room. Snow falls from their black pants and the man in the front has lost his brimmed hat.
Crossbows click and the wolf's final yelps pierce the air. Gavin tightens his grasp on me as the hunters all begin shouting, the words all molding together in shock. We stand there as the moment seems to last forever, and at last the wolf's yelps and thrashing stop.
Mrs. Rose screams.
Mr. Rose, still from inside the room, snaps into rage.
"Where were you?" he shouts at the hunters. "Why did you let this creature in?"
The male hunter Gavin and I met before emerges from the Rose Room just long enough to give me and Gavin a quick once-over. In the background, the Roses continue to lose it. He ignores Tyler, who is still lying on his side under the blanket. Confusion covers his features as if he's not sure how to deal with this overwhelming situation.
"What are you—" he starts.
"We're not hurt," I tell him, desperate to get to Tyler. "But I think that wolf bit those two in there." I hold up my arms, and Gavin does the same, stripping off his coat.
Tyler—
The hunter nods. "Thank you." And then he slams the Rose Room doors and shouts, "No one leaves this room. We have a situation."
Silence falls for a moment in the Rose Room. One of the doors slides open an inch.
And then Mrs. Rose, as if grasping her situation at last, begins to cry hysterically.
The Roses are now cursed.
And since they were bitten by a wolf who wasn't in Tyler's pack, there is no out for them. Better yet, they're in a room with four professionals who, if they have the slightest compassion for others, will never let them go.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
I rush to Tyler as soon as that door closes and I know the hunters won't come out. I ignore the fact that Mom is standing there at the edge of the room with Gia, bloody dagger in her hand, and I kneel beside the dark wolf with the rusty highlights.
"Tyler," I croak as panic fills my chest. No. He's not moving. The silver—it's—is Tyler breathing at all? "We've done it. We've driven your parents out of here forever. The hunters will take them away." I shake him. "Tyler. We did it. The curse has to go away now."
He lets out a small, quiet breath, and his eyes dart to be briefly before losing focus. There is no red anymore. Just weakness. Unfocused, fading life.
"Tyler!" I throw myself over him, tears filling my eyes, and I leave my crossbow behind. "It's over. We did it. Come on, Tyler. I forgive you for everything. I love you." I let my tears flow freely, down the coat that covers him and onto his fur. "Come on, Tyler." Time seems to stretch into infinity. Gavin says something. Mom says something. "You've got to come back. What you did was brave. You did the right t
hing."
"Beckah?"
I gasp at the sound of his very human voice.
There has been no popping or cracking, but as I lift my head and blink, I find Tyler, completely human, opening his eyes and focusing them on me as if he's just been born.
"Tyler!" I shout, throwing myself back over him. Only my coat stands between us, still covering his waist and thighs, and he grunts.
"Ouch! I'm pretty sure the curse is gone, but I still have that bullet wound and I think I need a glass of H2O."
"Oh." My heart races as I straighten up but stay on my knees. Tyler lies there, human all right, without a trace of that redness in his eyes that I've gotten used to. "Are you better? Are you seriously better?"
Tyler offers me a weak grin but doesn't push himself up. "In one way. I don't want to get up in case I faint from losing blood. I don't think I've lost too much, but at least I'm not dying from silver poisoning anymore. That's a pretty good sign that I'm human again, right?"
I suck in a breath. "Gavin. Mom. Gia. Someone. We need some water. Keep my coat over you and stay warm. Gavin, call an ambulance for Tyler."
In the background, Mrs. Rose continues to sob while Mr. Rose shouts something about his rights. Then the sounds of a struggle follow as feet kick and hit something. And a second later, the Rose Room doors burst open and the four hunters quickly parade Mr. Rose and Mrs. Rose out. Tyler's DNA donors have their hands cuffed in shining silver loops, and Mrs. Rose is letting the silent tears spill while her husband has his teeth grit in a silent threat. Their wounds have been tied with white cloths, and the hunter leader, the man with the square jaw, motions to the other three hunters and points to the hallway.
"Place them both in SUV 4," the leader instructs. Then he turns to Gavin. "You. Do not call the authorities. Our guild will take care of everything. More hunters are on their way. We must keep this quiet from the outer world."
"We have a guy here with a gunshot wound," I say. "His parents mistook him for a werewolf when they opened the door and got him in the thigh." I hope my words rattle the Roses as they're led past Mom and Gia and down the hallway, but they don't even look back at Tyler.