She caught his gaze. “Go get hold of them. I’ll throw together an easy breakfast so you can eat it on the bike. If it’s that bad, they’re going to need you.”
“You’re better than a wolf deserv—”
The roar of familiar engines cut him off. By the sound of it, they’d tripled the residential speed limit then added ten for good measure. Erin glanced toward the door. “Guess I’d better put on pants. We have company.”
“You and me both.” Shane lunged out of bed. After those texts, he knew the Bullies would only knock once before they tore the front door off the hinges. “This is tacky as hell, Erin, but I know you didn’t bring any spare clothes. There’s still a couple pairs of Nicole’s workout shorts and T-shirts in the bottom dresser drawer if you want them.”
Erin stood up, covers falling away to reveal her naked form. “That’d be fine. We’ll save the super awkward feeling for later, when we can really savor it.”
“Sounds good.” He wished he had more time to savor her gorgeous body. Not only because she’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. If I had the time to look at her now, it would mean I didn’t think a whole truckload of shit is about to hit us. I can look later. After we’ve solved whatever crisis has popped up now. Huh. Did she have that bandage on last night?
Another matter for later. The bikes had already pulled up in his front drive. He pulled on a pair of cutoff sweat shorts and trotted for the door.
He opened it just as Rigo was raising his hand to knock. The scowl on the scout’s face melted into relief. “Madre de Dios, you are all right. What the hell, jefe? We almost decided to break in the windows and storm the house.”
“Sorry, Rigo. I tripped over the phone cord and didn’t know I’d unplugged the landline. What’s going on?” He’s spooked. Shane looked past Rigo to see other worried faces. Travis. Holly. Chance. No Jake, though, which surprised Shane. They’re all spooked.
The scout took a deep breath. “Anita and Jake went to the shop to see if Erin wanted to go to breakfast. They found Tyler’s body nailed to the front door.”
Rigo’s words sounded like English, but for a span of heartbeats, Shane couldn’t pull any sense out of them. They didn’t belong together, didn’t create a mental image the mind should ever have to conjure. Tyler’s body nailed to the front door. Tyler’s body. Nailed. To the door. Texts from Tyler on my phone. We didn’t find Tyler’s body. Someone took it and saved it so they could throw it back at us as an insult. They killed him, and then, they desecrated his corpse to hurt us.
With understanding came a surge of raw, jagged anger. He fought down the urge to burst into sharp teeth and bristling fur as the offended alpha wolf within threatened to rip his way to the fore. Even then, fur still erupted over his lower arms and claws grew from his fingertips.
“Do I need to ask who did it?” he asked, voice too even.
Holly shook her head. “No. The entire place reeked of Ferals. Including their leader. There’s no doubt he did this himself. He took steps to make sure we knew it.”
Shane raised an eyebrow.
Holly stared back at him. “Please don’t make me spell this out, boss. It was disgusting enough to sniff the puddle in front of the door.”
The wolf threatened to overcome him again. It seethed just beneath his skin until he felt the hand on his back. An unexpected touch should have startled him. Another person’s unannounced contact would have earned a snap and a snarl, given how tense he was.
Not Erin’s. Her hand on his shoulderblade soothed the wrathful beast within. Shane turned his head to see her furrowed brow and worried eyes.
“It’s bad, isn’t it,” she said.
Four surprised pairs of werewolf eyes blinked at them. Or three surprised pairs, and one knowing pair, but Holly had the good grace not to look smug about it. “Erin. We didn’t realize you were here. That explains why Jake and Anita couldn’t find you. They tried texting, but…”
“None came through. I’m fine.” She looked between them but didn’t say more.
Shane couldn’t read the look in her eyes, but the hairs on the back of his neck prickled as though they understood what ran through her mind as she considered them all. “The Ferals stole Tyler’s phone. That’s where those texts came from. Then they nailed his body up at the shop. You can’t go back to living there.”
“I can get your clothes for you, if you want, but I think it would be a mistake for you to stay there,” Holly said, with a glance for Shane that clearly said we do not alpha wolf at the women who stay at our houses. “I don’t think they chose the shop on accident. There’s plenty of reasons why they might have chosen it, but they did choose it. That means more trouble’s likely coming.”
“You would be welcome to stay at my house,” Rigo offered. “We have a room to spare. My mother would be glad for someone else to feed.”
“She can stay with me,” Shane said. He didn’t intend for his voice to drop an octave, and he cleared his throat once he heard himself. “If she wants to. Rigo’s house includes his mother’s cooking. Definite perk.”
Erin shook her head. “No, I’ll stay here, if you’re sure you don’t mind.”
“I’m sure.”
Holly looked sideways at Rigo, who looked amused at the exchange. Hard to hide anything from the scouts. Of course I don’t mind having Erin here. Here, he could protect her from the dangers that emerged from the desert. In his home, she could be safe.
Here, he could listen to the sound of her voice, and be safe himself in the circle of her arms. They could guard each other from whatever lurked in the night. No matter the uncertainty of the future, he found he didn’t want her far away.
Holly said, “I’ll grab your bags from the shop then bring them here. Plan on taking a few days off until we can secure the place. We know they’re close, now, and a little too happy to push into our territory.”
Shane reached back for Erin’s hand to draw her even with him on the doorstep. “I don’t want to leave you at loose ends, Erin, but I have to go deal with this. Not only because the pack needs me. The town needs to see how seriously we’re taking the situation. I’d like to say they won’t know, but Coyote Trail is a small town. They always know.”
Erin squeezed his hand as she looked up at him. “Don’t worry about me. I’m a big girl who can occupy herself. The truth is, I’d be mad at you if you stayed. You’re the alpha.”
His heart squeezed. She understood. “Thank you.”
“For what? Being an adult? Huh. Guess you should thank me for that. You’ve asked me to adult before you even gave me coffee.” Her nose wrinkled with her smile. “Though, since I’m imposing on people, does anyone have a car I can borrow? I’d like to get to know the place. It’d be safe enough to drive around a little, wouldn’t it?”
“Maybe safer than staying in one place the whole time,” Shane conceded. He looked to his packmates. “We’re all light on spare vehicles, but I’ve got Tyler’s bike sitting in my garage. I meant to ask the rest of the pack, but you three will do. You think anyone would mind if I loaned it to Erin until she got her own wheels?”
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Erin perk up. It hadn’t escaped him how well she’d handled the bike when she drove Levi into town. Neither had he forgotten the way she’d bid the bike farewell with a caress of the handlebars and a longing look she tried to hide. It’s a good bike. Distinct. Solid. Bet she likes that sort of machine.
The others noticed it, too. Rigo spoke up. “I think Tyler would be upset with us if we did not let her use it. He was excited to bring her to town.”
Holly nodded. “Tyler would light us up for letting his bike sit when someone could use it. Give her the keys, boss.”
From beside him, he heard a quiet sniffle. “That’d be amazing. Thank you,” Erin said.
You aren’t used to people taking care of you. Every other time, you’re the one taking care of them. I’ll be damned if that keeps up.
Shane took her hand in his
. “We won’t leave you stranded, E. You’re one of us.”
You’re my mate. You’ll never be alone if I can help it. The quiet voice at the back of his mind still whispered. This time, he didn’t tell it to shut the hell up.
In the night, she’d slept safe in Shane’s bed, but her dreams had pulled her out of the warm security she found in his arms.
Last time her dreams had pulled her across the terrain to look through a Feral’s eyes, she had felt distant. Set apart by a critical distance that allowed her to retain a feeling of her own consciousness. That break between Feral and self blurred now, the boundary smudged so she had to search for the place where she ended and the Feral began. He felt familiar in a way that disturbed her.
I know him. I’ve met him. In the dream before? Is it the same one?
Gloom surrounded the small grocery store, isolated as it was on the edge of town. She could see the outlines of buildings on the horizon, dark but for the occasional golden rectangle of windows where someone still fought back against the shadows. Few, perhaps too few. Not many here dared to defy the edicts of the night.
Inside, the overhead lights remained off, and she was glad for it. Wait. I’m not glad for it. Turn on the lights. I don’t want to walk through the darkness here. The thoughts went unnoticed by the one whose body she dreamed in. He was glad for it, because the lights hurt his sensitive eyes. Not as badly as the light of the day, which prickled his flesh like the tips of a thousand claws and stabbed into his head every time he looked at it.
He opened the door to enter, and scents hit him with a near physical force. Smells had built up in the cramped building. Within the mind of the beast, Erin wanted to retch, but her host breathed deeper to take them in. Rotting vegetation. Ripening meat. Lingering scents of his pack. Fear, thick as old blood, undercut by the sharp scent of tears.
Even over the sounds of the machines inside the building, he could hear the weeping human pups and the urgent voices of the elders who tried to shush them. His pack had broken them, weakened their resolve to fight. Their protectors had died at the hands of his kind, and how they had sung their victory to the moon and stars. Pathetic wolves with their loud, wheeled motors. Motorcycles. The werewolves ride motorcycles.
The beast paused and cocked his head. Motorcycles. Loud motorcycles. The wolves had died, or fled, and proved his kind were superior. Now they would keep the wolves’ mates, and their pups, and the most important of the humans in this temporary den to ensure no one would attack. This place held too much of the Song to risk more wolves interfering.
The Song? What the hell is it talking about? Where is this place? Erin ignored the notion that the Feral might have picked up the word “motorcycle” from her and searched her dream for clues instead. A dropped receipt, anything. She found it as the Feral walked towards the back of the store, past a display of papers tacked to the wall. Thoughtful residents had posted a map labeled Safe Havens that showed nearby towns where travelers could find shelter. Coyote Trail didn’t sit far away from the You Are Here marker on Levalle.
Perhaps her subconscious had pulled up a map she’d seen somewhere on the way in. Or perhaps she’d gotten comfortable in a bed of denial and was trying to pull the covers over her head so she didn’t have to look at what she didn’t want to believe.
The scent of discouragement and exhausted terror grew thicker as the man-beast continued toward the cold storage cases at the rear of the grocery, and it drew out the shreds of memories that lingered in the ruins of his mind. Fear, he remembered. Fear as he stared at the wound on his arm and watched the flesh for its tell-tale colors. Fear he would never see—what? That, he could not remember. That, he would not remember.
Once he had been as the simple, fragile humans, but that time had ended. To remember it would be to remember what it felt like to hate the pack that kept him now. Now, he had the pack, and the singing in his mind that kept him company even when he ran alone. The humans had nothing but their hate. They would try to kill him if they could. Their wolves would mow him down. All of them would fill his life with suffering and pain. Because of humans.
A snarl tore out of him. Let the humans be afraid. Let them feel what those like him felt. Perhaps he should go among them and choose one to bite. They could watch as the human they once knew changed into one of the beasts. Their fear would please him. He turned from his destination towards where the weeping humans cowered.
No. Erin frantically threw the word into the Feral’s stream of thoughts. No. You’re here for a reason. Do what you came to do.
The Feral paused. No. He had come because the Leader of All Packs called for him. No one who wanted to remain among the living made the Great Alpha wait.
Others of his pack stood just inside the door to the walk-in refrigeration unit. Erin would have expected crates of milk and flats of butter here, but instead saw strange barrels lining the walls. Rounded, thick, precisely made, more protective than utilitarian. Even with the Feral’s enhanced vision, she couldn’t see the markings on them, though the classic biohazard symbol stood out fine. I don’t think those look like waste storage containers. They seem too expensive. I’d almost say they look medical, but what do I know.
In the center of the Feral gathering stood the Leader of All Packs. The one who fought for them all, who would guide them to the day when the beasts who were once men could live and rule as was right. He growled in low tones, quiet enough that Erin couldn’t make out the words. If they even were words, instead of guttural sounds that conveyed meanings only the creatures themselves could understand. He looked up as Erin’s Feral approached.
“Will it be ready?”
Erin felt her head bow, as it had in the dream before. The feel of the Great Alpha’s teeth as they brushed her neck would have sent disgusted shudders through her if she’d worn her own skin, and the heat of his breath felt all the hotter for standing in a refrigerator.
“Yes. If no more turns wrong.” The Feral’s trepidation saturated the dream. The Great Alpha wanted to hear his plans would have no delays or unexpected complications, and this plan was more important than all the rest. More than anything, Erin’s Feral wanted to tell his leader they could deliver.
Lies cost more than bad news. Erin’s Feral would rather tell the truth than pay the price for an answer that would save face now but literally bite him later.
The Great Alpha growled. “You are not certain?”
“Our fixers are slow. Hard to learn the song while they do the fix.” Erin’s Feral didn’t pick his head up. The show of respect might help. “More fixers would mean faster fix. Your pets here. Fixers in them?”
“No. None who will say so.” The Great Alpha made a gesture in the Feral’s field of view to tell him to stand. “What of your fixer?”
“Watches. Fights the song,” he answered with a mix of annoyance and amusement.
Within, Erin startled. Me. They mean me again, don’t they. I need to wake up from this dream. She fought to pull away, but this time, her fear couldn’t break the dream’s hold. It tethered her in the darkness of the creature’s perspective without any evident way out. I’m dreaming. Just dreaming. Wake up, wake the fuck up, pull yourself out of this, wake up…
“Then we send a message the fixer cannot ignore.” The Great Alpha motioned toward a lumpy shape along the nearby wall, one near the metal door that led to the freezer portion of the walk-in refrigerator. Is that leather? Why would he have leather in the fridge? “See to the fixes. I will take that. Fixer, come to us. You will live. Or will you send the wolves and humans around you to join this one?”
Erin watched in horror as the massive Feral leader leaned down to turn the inert form over. Tyler’s lifeless eyes stared back at her. She tried to scream, but her mouth refused to open, and no sound would escape her but a pathetic whimper.
WAKE UP!
Desperate, panicked, she flailed around in the strange labyrinth of dark thoughts. Foreign senses confused her, overwhelmed her until she could no
t remember what her own felt like. Here, she could hear the singing, and it sounded so different than it had as it echoed in the vaults of her mind. It called to her from every direction, offered no hope to find the direction that led away from it—
Until she heard the wolf’s howl. It clashed with the song, a discordant note that broke the unity of the song that threatened to overcome her. She fled towards it, as she would flee towards a candle in a dark room, a beacon she could never doubt.
She woke with a start in an unfamiliar bed. Yet the arms around her felt very familiar, warm and strong and safe enough to protect her from the darkness. Shane still slept, though his embrace tightened out of instinct as he felt her twitch awake. She snuggled back against his chest. Let us hold a candle to the darkness in our souls. Keep holding it for me. Please don’t let the light go out.
Surrounded in his warmth, full of questions she was too tired and too afraid to ask, she returned to sleep. Waking had been all but paradise until the texts, and the wolves at the door with their terrible news. Had they only brought word that they’d found a friend’s body nailed to a door, that would have shaken her enough, but they’d done more than that. They’d shattered the last of Erin’s denial about her dreams as mere nightmares inspired by her ordeal with the Ferals.
The moment Shane’s bike disappeared around the turn in the road, Erin dashed back to his bathroom. They’d pulled off each other’s clothes, but her adhesive bandage remained. She thought to check the wound, but the moment she glanced at her arm, she knew her answer. Redness streaked out from around the bandage, reaching up through the arteries and veins in her arm like a malignant spiderweb.
Her fingers shook as she pulled the bandage off. When she brushed it, the skin around the wound was worryingly hot, yet not painful at all. That’s good, right? Heat means my body is fighting off infection. No one fights off the Feral infection, so maybe that’s not what this is at all. It’s some other infection that makes me dream like I’m a Feral who’s plotting bad shit involving nefarious beer kegs and werewolves in walk-in freezers. Yes, Erin, that’s entirely plausible.
Brave the Night: A Bully Boys Novel Page 11