The Wolfborne Saga Box Set
Page 57
The sound of the helicopter drawing close made my heart beat quicker. I glanced from the demon’s searching eye to the dhampir.
“It’s had enough of the tranq,” she said. “Look at its pupils. Shoot it again and you’ll put it over the edge.”
Riot set a hand on my gun arm. “Breathe,” he said. “It’s under control.”
I lowered my arm slow enough to catch the human’s sigh of relief. But the second my hand was down, I spun around the man, tore the big gun from the back of his vest, and shot two more of the massive darts straight into the borgun’s forehead.
Everyone stared in disbelief as the creature sunk into the muddy ground.
Thank you, it sighed with its final breath. Its eyes closed.
Fray was the first to break the silence.
“Great!” she shouted. She threw her hands in the air. “What on earth were you thinking?”
“I was protecting your team,” I replied in a tight voice. “It wasn’t under control.”
The thick ropes, bristle of darts, and dead creature said otherwise, but I turned away from the facts.
I had just conversed with a demon, taken mercy on it, and killed it out of some sense of obligation. The creature should have been left to the whims of the Division. Why had I given it what it had begged me for?
The same question showed on Virgo’s face when he reached me. I was grateful the warlock knew better than to ask it aloud. I didn’t know the answer any better than he would. The demon’s last words chased themselves around my head. Its thanks had been heartfelt and filled with relief. As much as I had so obviously disobeyed orders and done something wrong, I couldn’t help feeling as though I had done a greater right. It was a sensation I wasn’t used to.
“The chopper’s ready,” Virgo told me quietly. “We need to get back.”
Fray shoved past us with Kai and Riot carrying Sutter close behind. She paused long enough to glare at me. “You’re going to have a lot to answer for,” she said. She turned on her heels and led the way through the swamp with the same lethal grace that seemed to define her entire existence.
“I thought this was a relocation mission,” Virgo whispered on the way to the helicopter.
“We’ll talk about it later,” I replied.
I glanced up and found Fray watching us. The disapproval on her face was easy enough to read. I looked away and offered the gun back to Riot.
Nobody spoke on the way back to the Division. Riot didn’t even twirl his knives. The only sounds were Sutter’s moans as Kai took over tending to his wounds.
“Broken ribs for sure,” the older man muttered over the headset. “A concussion probably, two spikes in his chest, and he’ll need to be checked for internal bleeding. That borgun was angry.”
“What would make a demon that big so mad?” Riot asked.
“A pack of demon hunters in his swamp?” Virgo suggested.
“He was angry to begin with,” Serian commented.
I glanced at her, surprised she had caught onto that as well.
“I could feel it from him,” she said at my look. “He was already mad when we got there.” She held my gaze for a moment. “And so were you. In fact, since I’ve met you, you’ve been angry.”
I turned away from her searching gaze and met Kai’s calm expression. “Serian’s our resident empath. It’s a bit frustrating when she knows how you feel before you can put it into words.”
“Fray’s always angry, too,” Serian noted casually.
“Hey,” the dhampir said in a warning tone.
Serian shrugged, unbothered. “It’s true. Maybe that’s why you two should get along.”
“We’d get along better if he didn’t screw up the mission,” Fray said. Her heated gaze bored into mine. “You blatantly killed that demon.”
“I have my reasons,” I shot back.
“Hopefully they’re good enough to get you kicked off crew,” Fray replied.
“One could only hope,” I growled.
Kai raised his hand. “Enough. Leave it for Captain Roarsh. We report for debriefing as soon as we get back.” He gave me a searching look. “I hope for your sake your reasons are good ones.”
I followed the others to a white-walled debriefing room with just enough chairs for the crew and an examiner. The rest of the team sat in the chairs, but I couldn’t contain the restlessness I felt and chose to stand.
At Fray’s glare, I realized I had been pacing back and forth long enough to wear a track in the floor. I forced myself to lean against the wall across from the door and used the lingering pain in my side to center myself.
Kai showed up a half hour later and announced that while Sutter was going to be alright, he would be off the team for a few weeks during his recovery.
“Great,” Serian said. “What do we do without a knowledge center?”
“You might have to learn something,” Riot replied with a grin.
Serian crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair. Her blonde hair was flattened to one side from the way she had been leaning in the helicopter. Nobody chose to comment on it.
“I might know someone who could help,” Virgo said.
A cold chill ran through me. “Don’t tell them—”
The door opened, cutting off my remark. Virgo gave me a wide-eyed look. I shook my head emphatically. He sat back and crossed his arms with a bothered expression on his face.
“I’ve been told something went wrong with the borgun mission,” the Captain said without preamble. The door shut behind him and he walked to the chair in the middle of the room. Instead of taking a seat, he stood behind it.
“You could say that,” Fray replied.
“We needed that creature to further our research,” the Captain continued. “Explain to me why we need to track down another one.”
“Zev decided—”
Fray’s statement was cut off when Serian said, “It was angry and tried to kill Sutter.”
Captain Roarsh put his hands on the back of the chair. “I’m sorry about your crewmate. Dr. Fi briefed me on his condition. Sounds like the fight was a rough one.” He turned his gaze on me. “So you killed the borgun to save Sutter?”
I opened my mouth to deny his question, but Kai beat me to it.
“Yes, he did,” the man told the Captain.
Roarsh sighed. “I can’t argue that. Try to be more careful next time.”
“Captain, I don’t think…,” Fray began.
He cleared his throat. “Get some rest, Demon Crew. Things have been busy while you were gone. You’ll be called out again shortly.”
The rest of the team rose obediently and headed for the door. I hung back, anxious to talk to the Captain and get out of there. The sooner I could leave the Division without putting the werewolves of Brickwell in danger, the better for everyone. I had hoped the crew would throw me under the bus. It would have been easy enough because I did exactly what we weren’t supposed to do. I had no idea why they had chosen to cover for me. Maybe the truth would get me kicked out. It was worth a shot.
“Captain, I need to talk to you,” Fray said without bothering to hide her angry tone. She shot me a glare. “Alone.”
The Captain made a dismissive gesture as though I was a child. “Your crew will show you where the mess hall is. Get some food, Zev. You did good today.”
I didn’t want to speak with Fray there and the Captain’s strange, condescending way of addressing me threw me off. I was used to fear, anger, or orders, not a verbal pat on the back and praise like I was a puppy who sat for the first time. I opened my mouth, but couldn’t think of what to say.
“Go on,” the Captain encouraged.
Baffled and actually embarrassed, I left the room wordlessly. The door shut and I leaned against the wall to gather my thoughts.
The Captain’s voice drifted through the door. “Sutter’s going to be fine.”
“It’s not Sutter I’m worried about,” Fray said.
“It’s not?”
“Is this because he’s a werewolf?”
“What! No!” she replied. “He killed the borgun outright. He directly disobeyed your orders.”
“He’s new and inexperienced,” the Captain replied. “Perhaps sending him out against the borgun at the get-go was a bad call. I just figured that given his track record with the khavis, he could handle it.”
“That’s still conjecture,” Fray replied. “I won’t believe it until I see the footage.”
“And that’s why I have you on this crew, Fray. I trust your gut.”
“My gut says not to trust that werewolf,” she replied tersely.
“Then don’t,” the Captain said. “But I need him on this team. Keep an eye on him. My hope is eventually he’ll be a valuable asset to the crew.”
“If I don’t shoot him first,” Fray muttered.
Her footsteps reached the door, reminding me that I was still standing outside. Sometime during their conversation, my hands had curled into fists. When they walked out, I couldn’t calm my fury enough to relax them.
“Zev,” the Captain said with a nod as though me waiting in the hallway was perfectly normal.
“Captain,” I replied, keeping all but the very faintest of sarcasm out of my tone.
“Fray,” the Captain said by way of dismissal. He turned and walked up the hall.
Fray’s gray gaze sparked when she faced me. “Did you just eavesdrop on our conversation?”
“You want me off the team,” I said levelly.
“Of course I do!” she practically shouted. “You’re unpredictable, you don’t fight like a teammate, and I can’t trust you with their lives!”
“Do I look like a teammate to you?” I growled.
I phased into wolf form, leaving my shredded clothes and boots where they dropped. My last glimpse was of her shocked face before I took off down the hall.
Chapter Four
I followed my nose to the closest exit. It turned out to be an outdoor garden with a seating area surrounded by a high stone wall. It was easy enough to shove down the door latch with my paws. I cleared the wall with ease and took off into the night.
The smell was entirely unfamiliar. I had never been in that area before. I had no idea what part of the country I was in. The shape of the trees, the scent of the dirt beneath my feet, and even the humidity of the night breeze was different.
The thrill of the unknown filled me. In wolf form, it was easier to push the frustrations of the last few days to the back of my mind and concentrate only on what was around me. The ability to be in the moment was perhaps the greatest benefit of all when it came to phasing. I didn’t have thoughts of the future or the uncertainty of the present chasing themselves around in my mind; instead, my brain worked to categorize the new smells I encountered so I would recognize them in the future.
I felt like a puppy again. I wanted to see, taste, and smell everything around me. I knew I looked foolish sniffing at trees and bushes, barking at the occasional brown-coated rabbit, and digging in the soft sand, but I didn’t care. Sage brush, small, stunted bushes, and scraggly trees filled the land around the Division compound. From the top of the first hill, I noted how carefully the entire array of buildings fit within the lower ground to be hidden from casual view. A glimpse of cameras on each of the corners as well as on towers that rose above the complex let me know that my escape would have been noted. I turned and loped away, anxious to put as many miles between myself and the humans inside as I could.
Peace settled over me the last time I looked back and couldn’t see any sign of the Division except the glow of light above the hills. I felt free, completely and utterly free from the grips of that confusing, unsettling society I had been forced to be a part of. I didn’t want them, and if they didn’t want me, that was even better. Relief filled my lungs along with the scent of jackrabbits and the occasional coyote. Horses and cows had walked where I trotted. The wedge-shaped prints of deer crisscrossed the almost-human pawprints of racoons.
The further I traveled, the more the wildness in me gave way to something else, something I hadn’t expected. Loneliness. As magnificent as it felt to explore an entirely new land, it would have been better to share it with someone, or multiple someones. Wolves were never meant to be alone.
That certainty pressed against me from every side as I imagined how it would be to run as a pack, to chase deer together, to drink from the hidden streams and snuffle along the underbrush after ground squirrels. The constellations above, while still the same, were skewed from what I was used to, reminding me that I was far from anywhere resembling home.
I eventually settled on a patch of cool sand and panted to catch my breath from the run. I stretched and let the last of the moonlight work its magic on my side. Despite all I had put myself through, the stitches had held. A warm tingling sensation ran across the torn skin as it healed. I closed my eyes and pictured it fixing the deep claw marks from the khavis. The memory of lying there exhausted and bleeding out surfaced in my mind.
If it hadn’t been for Ceren, I would have given up in that moment. Spent and entirely out of strength, I had nothing left with which to fight.
I heard the ghost ask, “Have you ever had a girlfriend?”
“No,” I had admitted. “But I have issues with falling for girls. I think it has to do with the wolf thing.”
“Wolves choose one mate for life,” Ceren said.
“In the Lair, we weren’t allowed to care about anyone.” I had replied. “That way we were focused wholly on protecting the Master. But it felt wrong.”
“What did?” Ceren had asked.
“Not caring about anyone,” I had replied. “I think it broke me.”
I opened my eyes and watched the swaying grass of the clearing. The gentle breeze pushed the tall, pale yellow and green grass back and forth as if the stalks were dancing to a song I could almost hear.
I had never been so alone. In the Lair and after, there had always been someone around. The absent sounds of heartbeats, breathing, fighting, anything to indicate other werewolves or humans were painfully missing. Wolves weren’t meant to be alone, and neither were humans.
I cared too much. That was the real problem. Even though I guarded my heart and tried not to let anyone in, I had found myself falling for first Alia, who had instead shown feelings for Mitch. Isley had broken me down with her fear and the need I felt to protect her. Then Ceren, the ghost, had won me over by her sheer stubbornness and surprisingly sweet moments.
The reminder of her kiss lingered on my lips from when she embraced me from her hospital bed. Virgo had shot me after that and my life had taken an abrupt turn. But the realization that the human was far better off without a werewolf in her life made my heart harden.
I was a werewolf. I didn’t want, need, or deserve the love of a human, an elemental, or a recently rescued human who was once a ghost. The list made me shake my head and wonder how delusional I had become since leaving the Lair. I needed to get my thoughts straight and concentrate on what mattered.
I had vowed to make amends for my days serving the Master. If I didn’t return, the pack at Brickwell would be at the Division’s mercy. I was determined to protect the human world from the paranormal dangers that were out there. And I had been given, or forced at gunpoint into, a unique opportunity to do so on a major scale. I might not be thrilled about how I ended up there, but I had never given up on those who counted on me; and whether Fray realized it or not, they needed me.
I rose from the grass, shook off the early morning dew that had settled on my fur, and followed my trail back to the compound.
It didn’t take long for the sound of sirens to reach my ears. I lowered my head and ran faster. My paws ate up the ground. I dodged scruffy trees and leape
d low shrubs until the Division came into view.
Descending the hill on my side of the wall, I couldn’t see what the problem was. From within the buildings, shouts and the pop of gunfire echoed. I charged down the hill, gathered my legs beneath me, and leaped the wall without slowing. The moment my paws met the dirt on the other side, I darted to the left in search of the door I had used.
It was open. I didn’t take the time to wonder who would get in trouble for the negligence of leaving a door to the compound unlocked. Instead, I followed my own scent back up the hall, around the next corner, and came to a screeching halt.
The hulking mass of a growling, writhing, multi-armed and heavily-spiked demon blocked my path. His back was to me, which meant that the other end of the dark green head covered in spikes thicker than my arm faced what it felt was the greatest threat. Shouting came from around the corner of the hall in front of it.
It took one sniff for me to identify my team amid the other humans of the compound. Virgo’s basil and metallic tang mixed with Fray’s black licorice and sage. I could smell the chain grease, silver, and French fry scent of Riot along with Serian’s strange mustard odor. Kai and Sutter were missing.
The black powder aroma of gunfire combined with the pepper and sulfur scent of the creature in front of me. How it had gotten free mattered far less than how I was going to protect my team and take it down.
The bullets didn’t appear to have damaged it much. A torn up human torso without a head leaned against one wall while a pair of legs were all that was left of another soldier. Blood streaked the ground, but none of it was the dark fluid demons usually bled.
The demon lunged forward and swiped with a clawed hand nearly as big as I was.
A shout I recognized sent ice through my veins. The thought of Virgo at the mercy of the demon broke the hold fear had on me. The one thing I could give them was a chance to escape.
I launched myself at the demon’s back. The spikes made excellent footholds if I was careful not to impale myself, but reaching between them to actually bite the monster was another matter. Every time I tried, the demon would shift and I had to pull my head back to avoid one of the sharp spikes tearing through my throat or eyes. I scrambled to hold on and managed to snag a bit of dark green skin. A sour taste filled my mouth and the demon shook as if I was merely a pest it needed to dislodge.