Wolf Fated

by Nicole R. Taylor

  “What now?” I asked, tightening my grip on Chaser’s hand. “I don’t have a good feeling. Whatever we do, someone’s going to get hurt.”

  Chaser nodded.

  We were all in the firing line, and he would be first. And what about me? I had a strange feeling of foreboding wash over me, and I shivered. This was all because of Marini. If he was out of the picture… If we assassinated him, it would put a swift end to all our problems. Wouldn’t it?

  I glanced at Chaser, hardly daring to put the option on the table. “If I asked… Would you?”

  He narrowed his eyes. “I won’t be your soldier. I’ve done that, and it hasn’t worked out so well.”

  “So, that’s a no then.”

  “We’re equals, Sloane.” He sighed, and I sensed another of his Yoda moments was coming. “I’m on your side, but murder doesn’t fix everything. It would be easy to pull the trigger, but you have to live with that stain for the rest of your life. I have to live with the things I’ve done. I won’t do them if there is no just cause.”

  “There is just cause,” I argued.

  “It’s not that simple. Killing Marini is a temporary fix. The pack would still split in two and the talisman would be lost. We wouldn’t be able to pick an alpha, the compound would be in utter chaos, and people would die.”

  I sighed and shook my head. “No matter what we do, there’ll be war.”

  “I think it was inevitable,” he murmured, “with or without you.”

  Maybe he was right. There were two clear factions within the pack—those who leaned towards their humanity and those who bought right into the animalistic predator of their curse. I knew which I belonged to.

  “I can’t challenge for alpha,” I told him. “I don’t have the following. I have a dozen wolves I can safely say would be on board. A dozen out of how many? Eighty? We’re screwed. We can’t take on my father with those numbers, let alone the Hollow Men.”

  “We’re not entirely screwed,” Chaser said. “There are options. None of them come with glory but being alive is more important.”

  “I like being alive,” I agreed.

  “So do I. For once.”

  Chaser tugged my hand, and I melted against him. Laying my head on his shoulder, I sighed.

  “I just…” I trailed off, not sure he wanted to hear my sappy dreams for the future. A hard man like Chaser didn’t do hearts and flowers. He did bullets and blood. He was a vampire after all.

  “You just what?” he asked.

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  “Yeah, it does.”

  “I just…” I swallowed hard, glad he wasn’t looking at my face. I was sure I was flushed red, and it had nothing to do with the temperature. “I just want to be with you. That’s all.”

  “What happened to revenge?”

  I shrugged.

  “I don’t blame you for wanting this to end,” he said. “I wanted it to after Loretta died, but the talisman stopped me.”

  Lifting my head, I drew him towards me. “You tried to… You…”

  “There’s so much you don’t know,” he whispered. “How they look her. How I became a vampire. How I—” He broke off as his voice caught in his throat. “There’s something I wasn’t entirely honest about.”

  My expression faded.

  “It wasn’t an accident the Hollow Men recruited me,” he murmured. “It was King all along. He was the one who turned me and set me loose on the world. That’s the Hollow Men way.” Then he’d manipulated Chaser into joining his organisation.

  I couldn’t even imagine what it was like for him, having zero guidance and not knowing how to control his bloodlust. I hadn’t had much since I’d turned, but at least I’d had some. If I’d turned on my own—the thought of going through all that pain alone—I wouldn’t have been able to handle it.

  “It’s still raw,” I told him. “I understand why you didn’t say anything.”

  “Raw and humiliating,” he scoffed. “My whole afterlife has been one long manipulation…and I fell for it hook, line, and sinker.”

  I pressed my body against his, feeling the coolness of his vampire skin. “Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

  “I thought I knew everything, Sloane, but after a hundred years I didn’t even know how they enslaved me.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The tattoo isn’t the only thing binding me to the pack,” he revealed. “I believed it was, but it’s only the thing that anchors me to a talisman.”

  “A talisman?”

  He nodded. “A shard of bone taken from my arm, etched with runes and magic.”

  I tensed. “From your arm?”

  “Marini revealed it to me to deliver a message.” He lowered his gaze. “He will use it against me…and you if he has to. Sloane, I—” He grimaced and tightened his fists.

  “If he orders you to kill, you won’t be able to stop,” I murmured.

  “There’s not a lot we can do about it,” he said after a moment. “We have to keep moving forwards.”

  I stared at Chaser, studying his mannerisms. He’d changed so much from when I’d first met him in Fremantle. It hadn’t even been two months, but it was like night and day.

  Was this what he was like before he got mixed up with the Hollow Men and Fortitude? Was this who he was when he was human? After the dust settled, I hoped I got the chance to know either way.

  “You’re right. We have to keep moving forwards. But if I can’t take Fortitude, then it’s best it’s ended,” I murmured. “It’s not just about us anymore. There are men and women down there that I actually like, if you can believe it. I owe them. We can rebuild from the ashes…or Gasket can. The pack would be better under him and then he’d have the talisman. I’d feel better if he—”

  The squealing sound of the rooftop door opening gave us pause. When Gasket emerged, our shoulders lost some of their tension.

  He narrowed his eyes when he saw how close we were sitting, signalling his clear dislike of our relationship, but didn’t offer any commentary.

  “Marini’s starting to wonder where Rick is,” he said, sitting down.

  “Wait… What about Rick?” I asked, glancing between the two men. “What did you do to him?”

  “He went on a long ride,” Gasket said wryly.

  “We had to question him,” Chaser explained. “And we couldn’t allow him to squeal to Marini.”

  “Why?” I demanded.

  Gasket glanced at Chaser.

  “It’s time to tell her the truth,” the vampire said. “All of it. She deserves to know what Marini plans to do with her.”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked, my gaze flicking between the two men. “What plan?”

  “There was talk of a deal,” Gasket began.

  “A deal?” My blood ran cold and a chill shuddered through my nerve endings. “I knew it. He’s planning to sell me off to the vampires for their creepy blood sacrifice, isn’t he?”

  Gasket nodded. “That’s not the half if it.”

  “There’s more? Isn’t a blood sacrifice enough?”

  “He’s got a witch to cast a spell on your bloodline, Sloane,” Chaser explained. “Once King or any of the Hollow Men drink your blood, it will activate, linking every vampire he’s ever turned as one. Then all it’ll take is one dead vampire to destroy them all.”

  “I don’t get it,” I said. “Vampires aren’t born, they’re created. How can…?”

  “Every member of the Hollow Men was turned by King,” Chaser told me. “It’s how he assures loyalty. The way he turns people…he makes it painful so when he ultimately takes it away, they’re grateful. It creates a primal link, like a bond between pack and alpha.”

  I was beginning to understand why Loretta meant so much to him. Through her love, she’d broken the supernatural bond between him and King, but he was still linked through blood. Nothing could change that.

  “But if Marini links the bloodline…” I turned to Chaser. “You’ll
die, too.”

  “I’m beginning to think you have no regard for your own life,” he drawled. “You haven’t asked once about your role in all of this.”

  “Oh, I understand plenty,” I said. “I have to die in their creepy ritual for his plan to work.”

  Chaser grunted, his uncomfortableness at discussing his past showing. “Now it’s your turn, old wolf.”

  I glanced at Gasket. “Bloody hell. I think I’ve already sat through enough bombshells for one day.”

  “This one, you have to hear, girl,” the wolf grumbled. “You deserve to know.”

  “Out with it, then,” I drawled, readying myself.

  “I was the one who got you into foster care after your mother died,” Gasket said. “Marini wanted you then, Sloane, but you were just a little girl. I couldn’t let him take you.”

  I stared at him, dumbfounded.

  “I kept him off your trail for as long as I could,” he went on. “You deserved to have a normal life away from all of this.” He coughed and for the first time, he looked nervous. “Your mother…”

  “What about my mother?”

  “They thought she was the wolf, but when they found out she was human, they—”

  “Don’t,” I snapped, turning away. “Don’t say it.”

  It’d been in the back of my mind this entire time, but I hadn’t wanted to face it. My mother had died because they thought she was the wolf who could turn at will…but she was human.

  She’d died because of me.

  “Sloane, it wasn’t your fault,” Gasket said, reading my expression.

  “Of course, it was,” I snapped. “She was murdered because of what I am.”

  “You can’t control how you are born, Sloane,” Chaser said, placing his hand on my thigh. “Only what you do with it.”

  I fell silent and pushed down my anger, letting my thoughts play over what Gasket had revealed.

  That’s why he was always around when I was little. Gasket cared for my mother and loved me like a daughter. If things had gone to plan, then I would never have known I was a werewolf. I’d know nothing about this world of blood and violence, and I wouldn’t be the target of a blood sacrifice by a cult-like group of vampires.

  Finally, I took his big hand in mine. “You loved her, didn’t you?”

  “It was a long time ago, kid.” He sighed. “Let the past lie.”

  I let his hand go and turned towards the skyline. What a mess. Blood sacrifices, murder, conspiracies, talismans, magic spells…in what world? This one.

  “Marini is as brilliant as he is psychotic,” Chaser stated, voicing the truth that rested in my heart.

  “And his blood runs in my veins,” I drawled.

  “You are not him, you hear?” Gasket said, laying a big hand on my knee. “You’re more like your mother than him.”

  “He’s still going to kill us all,” I said, brushing away an image of my mum I’d rather forget. “Me in a ritual, Chaser in the aftermath, and you for betraying him. We have to do something.”

  Chaser grunted. “And we will.”

  “Who’ll follow us?” I asked, fretting.

  “The attack on the compound screwed us,” Gasket replied. “You didn’t drive that car into the garage, but it was because of you. A lot of wolves won’t follow you because of that. Then there’s Sam…”

  “What about her?” I snarled.

  “You took away what was rightfully theirs,” Chaser replied. “She was Fortitude, too.”

  “You’re defending them?” I practically shrieked.

  “No,” the vampire said. “I’m not defending them at all.”

  “But it comes into play,” Gasket explained. “There are certain things people around here expect. They see you, and they see their rights taken away, no matter how messed up they are. Pack law isn’t always the same as decent human behaviour, Sloane.”

  I knew what the first thing I’d change if I became alpha would be.

  “We have a solution,” Chaser said. “You already voiced it, Sloane.”

  I glanced at Gasket, the man I thought of as a surrogate father, the only family I had left. I had an extended family now, but that was besides the point. I looked at him long and hard, and I knew he was our best chance. This wasn’t about me anymore; it was about us.

  Gasket narrowed his eyes and nodded.

  “It’s time, old man,” I said. “Their lives, my freedom, and Chaser’s is in your hands.”

  He grunted and looked out over the city.

  “This has to happen before Marini makes the deal or this would’ve all been for nothing,” Chaser said.

  “I hadn’t exactly thought that far,” I admitted. “I’d hoped to do things peacefully.”

  “It’s an unpredictable situation,” Chaser said.

  “The minute I give the word, we’ll round up those loyal to Marini,” Gasket explained. “Once we’ve got him locked down, the others will fall back and surrender. Without an alpha, they’ll scatter.”

  “What then? Are you just going to lock them up forever?” I asked.

  “He’ll force them to choose,” Chaser replied. “Pledge allegiance to the new world order or…”

  I felt sick, and I turned my face away before I retched. I would’ve had to do the same if I was still in charge of all this. It was yet another glaring indicator I wasn’t cut out for leadership. I was Marini’s daughter, but I didn’t have the smarts to lead a pack of werewolves when I still didn’t understand what it meant to be one myself.

  “It’s the way things are done,” Gasket said. “And the only thing wolves will respond to.”

  “It’s the best way to save lives,” Chaser said. “We need to neutralise Marini as soon as possible.”

  “You’ve thought about this before,” I drawled. “Haven’t you?”

  Gasket grunted. “Let’s just say this isn’t the first seed I’ve planted.” Well, this was new.

  “Typical.”

  “Wait for my signal,” the old wolf said, climbing to his feet. “And be ready to move.”

  “Is that it? What are we supposed to do?” I asked, completely confused.

  He smiled and strode across the roof, the door screeching as he opened it.

  I looked at Chaser and he shrugged.

  “You better get some sleep,” he murmured, kissing my forehead. “I don’t know when we’ll get another chance.”

  I glanced towards the door where Gasket had disappeared.

  “He knows what he’s doing,” Chaser said. “He’ll have a plan.”

  “I hope so,” I muttered. “I really hope so.”

  Chapter 21

  Sloane

  I couldn’t sleep that night.

  I tossed and turned, my body sluggish yet wired to blow. It was a weird sensation, being on the edge of such a jagged cliff.

  Fortitude went about business as usual, yet there was something in the air that didn’t sit well with me. The garage was quieter than usual, the metallic clangs and the blaring rock music dulled as if I were swimming underwater. I knew Gasket was going to give the order soon, but not knowing was making me break out into hives.

  My head swam with what-ifs and worst-case scenarios until the night after the meeting on the roof when there was a knock at my bedroom door.

  Thump, thump, thump.

  My heart hammered in my chest, and I sat up in bed, swiping at the sweat beading on my forehead. I rubbed at the dampness under my boobs as well, cursing the heat and the nervousness-induced sweat.

  “Sloane.”

  Chaser. Sliding out of bed, I stuffed my feet into my boots and unlocked the door. He slipped through the crack and enveloped me in his muscled arms, his vampiric coolness soothing.

  “Is it time?” I asked, holding him tight.

  He buried his nose in my hair and breathed deeply.

  “Chaser?”

  “They’re already on the move,” he replied. “They’re moving the women to a secure location within the compound. Once
they’re safe, they will corral the men pledged to Marini, then take him.”

  I snorted, the notion of women being guarded like lost puppies not sitting well, but I knew it was the right thing to do. A lot of the women I’d made friends with weren’t fighters, even though they were afflicted with the werewolf curse. They didn’t even know how to fire a gun—which struck me as strange considering where they lived—but I suppose they relied heavily on their men for protection. Maybe, when this was all over, I could teach them. Give them some power of their own.

  “I need a gun,” I said, pulling away from him.

  “Sloane, you can’t go out there,” Chaser said, holding me back. “Gasket’s got this.”

  “I won’t sit back and let everyone else do the dirty work,” I argued. “I wanted this, and I will be a part of it. I’m prepared to face Marini.”

  “I can’t let you put yourself in danger. If he uses the talisman—”

  “We aren’t on the road anymore,” I said, placing my palms on his chest. “You don’t have to put yourself in front of every bullet. Not anymore.”

  “This isn’t the same,” he murmured. “This is more than that ever was. There’s more to lose than ever.”

  “I was the catalyst, Chaser,” I said. “Everything we’ve done has led to this moment. There are wolves out there I swore to protect, and I can’t do that from in here. I have to see this through.”

  “Gasket and I will go after Marini,” Chaser said. “Go with Hopper and protect the others.”

  I knew I was being kicked down a few rungs, but I’d take it. I wasn’t sure I could face my father and point a gun at his face and not falter. That was an admission I had to face now or potentially suffer the consequences for in the heat of the moment. Chaser had taught me something on the road, after all.

  “Where are they?”

  “The upstairs kitchen.”

  I made to turn, but I hesitated. He had to know how important this was to me, right? I wanted my father to know I had a hand in his downfall. I wanted to see the look on his face when I walked into the room. When I saw him, I would finally know how he truly felt about me.