The Lycan Wars- Revised Edition

by Janet MacDonald

  "Here drink this.” She said, Mica held his head up slightly to give him a drink of water from a cup with a straw.

  The soft knock on the bedroom door drew her attention to it and Jake peeked inside. The tall limber man was in his mid-forties and had grey eyes and angular features. He wasn't handsome, but he wasn't ugly either. One would say he was average in looks and as he stepped in she caught the smells of hot chocolate.

  "Here I brought you something. How's your patient doing?” He asked as he passed her the steaming cup of hot coco.

  "No better, he’s still not keeping anything down.” She whispered as Scott had gone back to sleep. He’d been doing that for the past two days, never staying awake any longer than a few minutes at a time.

  "The arm?" Jake asked.

  "It's worse, the blue lines are up to his shoulder now."

  "Jolynn is on her way from Carson. I told her his symptoms and she said it might be blood poisoning. Either way she wants to take a look at him.” He explained as he stood there staring down at them.

  "I don't know what she will be able to do. If the shamans couldn't cure him I seriously doubt a veterinary assistant can.” She said, her voice echoed her worry.

  With a warm smile he patted her on the arm before he left. Mica hadn't left Scott's side in two days and when Victor had called she told him of Scott's condition. His voice was off when he said he hoped Scott got better soon and she’d a feeling they would have a big fight over her staying here with him when Victor returned.

  Jenni had set up the couch in Scott's little living room and Lea slept in there in her playpen beside it. Shea had the spare room upstairs and had been helping both her and Jenni take care of Lea. In the last two days, she’d come to really appreciate her friends for all their help and understanding. Jenni cast no judgement of her friendship with Scott, but did ask if it was more than that. Mica wasn't able to deny it so she left the question unanswered.

  Scott murmured something incoherently on the bed beside her, his hair was damp from his fever and tiny beads of sweat trickle down over his skin. Again, she wet the facecloth in the bowl of cold water and held it to his forehead. The bite she’d given him wasn't helping his condition, she was sure of that. A gnawing in her belly told her it was not blood poisoning. Her gut was telling her it was something she’d done.

  As she stared into his face, she knew he was more than just a friend even if nothing more than a kiss had happened between them. These feelings confused her. Victor was her mate and she loved him, but she loved Scott too. If Victor wasn't alive she knew in her heart that more than a kiss would have happened that night in the barn. She was thankful Victor hadn't come any later or he’d have walked in on a scene that he’d never have forgiven her for.

  The soft buzz of a cell phone brought her out of her worries. Looking at the night table, she saw Scott's phone and heard the buzz again. It came from under the bed. She moved slowly to take a look and saw his duffle bag. Mica pulled it out quietly. It felt heavy. Sitting on top of the bag was another cell and she saw a text message.

  ‘Ready for package retrieval. Urgent can no longer wait.’

  Looking from the message over to Scott, she’d an uneasy feeling come over her. She opened the bag with as much stealth as she could and saw a few t shirts had been wrapped around an object. Gingerly she lifted it out and unwrapped the clothing from it. The slightly heavy item was a metal container with a Biohazard symbol on it. The label for The Infinity Biogenetics Labs caught her eye and her hands trembled lightly. There had been more going on than him just rescuing her and she had to wonder exactly what Scott was mixed up in.

  * * * ~~~ * * *

  Greg listened on the phone to his man Max whom he’d planted within the Valtor pack. The fools had easily taken his three ex-seal friends in with very little problems. Now as Max explained that Rick, Morris and himself had been given the duty of safeguarding the Feral pack's most valuable members Greg smiled. "Be ready to take them tonight.” He told him.

  "If we make a move now, we increase the chance of tipping our hand. If we wait until during the attack we stand a better chance of getting them out without the rest of the pack hunting us down." Max explained.

  "Yes, but if you take them now then there's less of a chance they will get killed by Alaric's men." Greg told him.

  "Listen I know you don't want anything to happen to her but trust me Greg wait until tomorrow night. We have everything planned out right to the backup plan. You called us in because you trust us. Now let us do this the right way, if not you might not be able to get another chance at this!" He was trying to calm Greg's impatience.

  Greg paused for a moment, he knew Max was right. If they grabbed Mica and the baby now, all of the Feral and Valtors pack members would be hot on their heels and his three friends would definitely be killed.

  "All right, I'll be within the assault party tomorrow night. Make sure you get her out of there before the attack begins. Take Victor out, he trusts you enough now. Be careful of your timing, they're going to hit Victor’s house first.” He told him and hung up the phone.

  Greg looked over to his fireplace mantle. The picture of him and Mica at the Gathering two years ago sat there. He had stood beside her with his arm wrapped over her shoulder and she was holding the large stuffed giraffe he’d won her at the fair. The memories of that day flowed into his mind. It was her eighteenth birthday that weekend. Greg had watched her trying so hard to win the toy at the stand and he went over and in two tries had won it for her.

  It hadn't been done to impress her or to woo her. Just to help out the Alpha's daughter with something she wanted. But Mica had rewarded his kind act with a kiss on the cheek and that is when he knew. The simple kiss brought his wolf so close to breaking free that he had to struggle to keep it down. No woman had ever done that to him before and he knew she had to be the one.

  That very night he had petitioned to have her for his mate. Alaric agreed to it, but only after she turned nineteen. Greg had everything ready, had his home remodeled, had turned a room into a nursery and a room for just her if she needed a space of her own. Then just shortly after her nineteenth birthday, Alaric pulled him into his office and revoked his petition. An alliance needed to be made and Mica was the price.

  At that time Greg had already been working closely with Collin. The simple plan was to kill off Alaric in such a way as suspicion would never fall back onto himself. When Collin thought he was getting cold feet, he took Benjamin and held him captive. Made him do what he wanted with the threat to kill Greg’s only living family looming over his head. Now his baby brother was home, scarred for life from a war he should never have been in the first place and his treatment at Collin’s hands.

  The poor young man’s mind had been shattered. A shell of the brave soldier he had last seen headed off overseas. Greg knew Benjamin would never again be the same. Never be a normal Lycan. His brother had difficulty falling asleep, had constant outbursts of anger, couldn’t concentrate and was always on high alert. All of this was Collin’s fault.

  Greg would have his revenge. Would become Alpha of the pack, have Mica and her child as well as his freedom from Collin. Things were going to work out. They had too; he only had one shot at this. The other three members of his old seal unit were in place to take out the Facility and as soon as he had everything he need from there, it as well as Collin would be destroyed.

  * * * ~~~ * * *

  Victor sat in the passenger seat and listened to a love song on the radio. It reminded him of Mica and his heart ached. He knew she’d not left Scott's side and that hurt him. It shouldn't, he knew that. He’d said things in anger to her that he hadn’t meant to say; now he needed her to forgive him. Somehow he needed to make her understand that both the man and the wolf didn't like her nearness to this man. That both sides knew there were feelings between the two.

  With his thoughts so wrapped up with Mica, he’d nearly gotten himself killed. Victor had been with Frank and the two of
them were fighting nine of the enemy. By far a fair fight, but war is seldom fair. He’d been pinned to a wall outside an old warehouse after jumping in front of Frank. He was simply trying to protect the Alpha. The enemy took advantage of his distraction.

  One grabbed him by the throat as another went for the soft flesh of his belly. Three more had bitten into his limbs to hold him down. He believed himself to be a dead man, but what happened next will never leave his mind. The shaman's of the Valtors had accompanied them. Not in their human bodies, but in the form of nature spirits.

  The disembodied howls and screeches of the animal spirits as their ethereal cries echoed in the night air had more than scared the enemy, it had scared him too. But it was what they did to the other wolves that left him terrified. Slaughtered, maimed and gutted. The nine werewolves they had been desperately trying to take care of on their own had been massacred by the things tearing into their bodies. One of them had been ripped and rendered limb from limb.

  Victor laid on his as the wolf on top of him tried to kill him. The great Bear spirit claws tore into the enemy and disembowelled him. The enemy tried to attack the things and bit into thin air uselessly. They were powerless to even protect themselves from the forces of Mother Nature's spirit children. None of the nine lived to recount the tale. The animal spirits merciless in their defence of the pack they protected.

  Little wonder others feared the Valtors so much. It had nothing to do with their men. The women of their pack were the ones that held the power and that was a scary thought. If it hadn’t been for those spirits he knew he wouldn’t be alive right now. His thoughts drifted to Shea and the threat of being abducted by a rival pack. Idiots he thought to himself.

  The battle itself had been fairly quick. The Recon had taken the most time and when it was over they had lost five of the Valtor pack. The loss included Frank's Beta, Bryce and the pain showed on his blood brother's face. Now there was a vacancy that would need to be filled within the pack. Unlike all the other werewolf packs, the Valtors didn't choose their Alpha's from the strongest, toughest, nor was it passed down to the Alpha leader's oldest son. The shaman women made the choice of Alpha in a special ritual that they held in which the spirits told them who should lead.

  Chapter 26

  Frank's mind was still in a fog. He’d just lost Bryce, his cousin whom he’d adopted into the Valtor pack. Ajei had said there would be loses but she should have told him one would be his only blood relative from his old pack. Memories of the last time he saw his other family filled his mind. His mate of only a year, Cassandra and their infant son Mitch, had been killed by a flash flood that had washed through the small valley community they lived in. A hundred and two had died. Himself, Bryce and their grandparents had been the only ones left out of the original Valtor pack.

  That was twenty five years ago and the memories still hurt. Frank had left Bryce with their grandparents and found a new home for them when he met Ajei, or rather when she found him. That was nineteen years ago, a striking twenty year old girl had walked right up to him on the construction site he was working at and told him she was to be his mate. He’d been in awe of her when he first saw her, and he still was.

  The pack accepted him immediately as her mate and when the Alpha had died the spirits had chosen him as their next leader. That's when he brought Bryce to stay with them. His younger cousin had been drifting after their grandparents died and Frank was the only family he had. Now Bryce was gone too.

  "Are we going to stop to eat or head straight through?" Victor asked. The question broke Frank’s thoughts and brought him back to here and now.

  "I'm not hungry, are you?” He asked. He knew full well Victor just wanted to get home to Mica and Lea.

  "Nah, but I do need a coffee...or a cold beer.” He said.

  "A beer sounds good.” He told him and he eyed him for a second. Frank wondered if Victor would be the next beta. He was strong minded and stubborn, but he’d do whatever was necessary for the pack.

  Being his blood brother had bonded them and Victor was more than a friend now, he was a brother. A short smile played on his lips, Ajei had told him once family came in many forms. Although those lost could never be replaced, his family would continue to grow in ways he may never understand. Now he understood. Tonight Victor had thrown himself into the fray. Risked his life to save Frank’s and nearly lost his own. If the women of his pack hadn't been guiding the spirits to aid them Victor wouldn't be sitting here either. That thought hurt as much as the loss of his cousin. It was strange but it's how the bond worked. Both of them would risk their lives for one another, they were family plain and simple.

  "Yeah...let's stop for a beer!" Frank said and he drove to the nearest dive he could find. Tonight he would tell Victor some good news for a change. Ajei was pregnant again.

  * * * ~~~ * * *

  His fever had broken last night. Now he sat on the edge of his bed and fidgeted with his phone. Mica had not left his side in the last couple of days. That made him feel special and as he looked his room over, he took a deep breath. Her scent lingered in here and it caused a stirring inside him he didn't understand. He felt as if he was not alone, as if something sat just on the edge of his conscious mind waiting, but for what he wasn't sure.

  Scott knew somehow he’d changed and scared him. Everything sounded clearer, he smelt things he never could before and now his vision was more acute as well. The experiments Collin did had altered Mica and her bite may have altered him. The only way to find out was to get a hold of his twin sister. Typing into the cell phone he fired off a quick message to his sister.

  ‘Tonight at 1:30 am, meet me at the lake by the old dock.’

  He put his boots on and grabbed his jacket before he headed up the short set of private stairs to leave. The keys to the four wheeler he’d gotten from Jake earlier, asking him if he could get a loan of it. Mica had gone home a few hours ago and he needed to talk to her alone. Victor and Frank were not due back for a bit and he may only get one last chance to talk to her before he left. He didn't want to leave here without her; he loved her and Lea too. Now all he had to do was try and get Mica to confess that she felt the same way and convince her to come with him. Scott knew it would most likely be futile but he had to try.

  He walked up the steps to the small bungalow and heard her inside shuffling around in the kitchen. After he knocked on the door, he waited for her to answer it and he felt nervous. What if he was misreading her signals? The door open and he stared at her. His mouth wanted to say something, anything but nothing came out.

  "Scott, what's wrong?” She asked as she held the door open for him to go in.

  "I need to talk to you, I didn't get a chance to say thank you when you left earlier.” He said. That was not what he planned on saying. He stepped in and took his coat off and rested it on the back of one of the chairs at the kitchen table.

  Mica looked at him, a strange glint played in her eyes as her nose flared. She was scenting the air.

  "I need to talk to you too. About the package you took from Infinity, what the hell is going on? And who exactly do you work for and why didn't you tell me!” She asked her voice commanding and steady.

  Scott could tell she was mad and as she stood there glaring at him her bottom lip trembled.

  "We needed it for experiments. The people I work with are trying to alter the lycanthrope DNA code." He blurted out.

  "Oh god Scott...” Her face looked crestfallen for all but a moment. Then the fire flared in her eyes as she looked at him.

  "Mica it's not what you think.... it's for my sister."

  "Your sister. What sister?"

  "My twin sister Anna...she's like you, a she-wolf."

  "What...but .... I thought you were just a human."

  "No I'm kinfolk. Look, I wasn't trying to hide it from you. But I had to keep it secret, my mission was too important to chance anyone knowing what I am."

  "So you lied to me!"

  "No...well yes...sort
of.” He didn't like her being mad at him and could tell she was getting madder by the second.

  "So what are me and Lea. Why did you really rescue me?” Her voice cracked.

  "Mica..."

  "Were we part of this delivery also? Were you going to pass us off to your sister too?"

  "Mica it's not like that. You would only have to take part if you wanted too."

  "Scott you know what they did to me, what they put me through. How could you even begin to think I would want to be part of any more experiments? It's not going to happen."

  "Then you wouldn't have to. Mica all I am asking is for you to come with me. You and Lea. We need you...I need you. I know how you feel about me, we should be together."

  "Scott, I...” He stepped up close to her and grabbed her into his arms and silenced her with a kiss.

  The moment there lips met he felt as if he’d melted. Her lips were so soft and warm. His mind fogged a little as her tongue pushed in passed his lips and looked for his. Gently, he gripped her hair with both his hands and pulled her closer not wanting to lose this embrace with her. Fevered and passionate, their kiss became all he could sense. As she moaned lightly into his mouth he knew without a doubt she felt the same way for him.

  Scott pulled his lips from hers and stared into her heavenly eyes, wanting to get lost in them forever. "I love you! I will never let anyone hurt you again."

  "Get your paws off Mica!” The guttural roar came from the open door and both of them wheeled around.

  "Victor!" Mica exclaimed and Scott felt the thing lurking in the recesses of his mind spring forward and pain washed over him at the threat of the other male.