The Wolfborne Saga Box Set

by Cheree Alsop

  I wasn’t used to being regarded so lightly. It ignited a rage that ran through my body like fire. I lunged upward, ignoring the snags of the needle-sharp spikes, and landed just below its neck. I drove my fangs into the exposed skin at the base of its head and bit down where I pictured the spinal column running.

  A roar erupted from the demon. It swiped at me with four massive sets of claws, but couldn’t quite reach me. The demon swung from side to side in an attempt to dislodge me.

  “Zev!” I heard Virgo shout.

  “It’s Zev,” Serian echoed.

  “Quick, aim for the castan’s eyes while it’s distracted,” Fray ordered.

  “Don’t hit Zev,” Virgo told them.

  His concern nearly made me laugh, which probably would have been fatal given that I was holding very precariously onto an enraged creature big enough to squash me like a bug. The sounds of gunfire were followed by another roar; the monster reared up high enough to crash me into the ceiling.

  A grunt escaped me as I held on for dear life. Anger wafted at me from its thoughts strong enough to send my mind reeling. It took all of my concentration to block it out. I gave a low growl.

  “Reload,” Fray shouted. “Riot, do something about those claws!”

  “Got it,” the man replied.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Riot shake something out and hold it up. As soon as a clawed hand came near, he threw the cloth into the air. It snagged around the claws like a net. Riot jerked a cord and the bag closed around the hand.

  “Good shot,” another soldier said.

  “Keep him busy for just a few more seconds, Zev,” Riot shouted up at me.

  I couldn’t have replied if I wanted to because at that moment, the creature decided to change tactics. It ducked its head, nearly dislodging my fangs. I realized what it was going to do and threw myself to the side just before it rolled forward. The sound of its spikes impaling the ground clattered like plates broken against a floor. I found myself with my team as they backed quickly away.

  “Did you know it could do that?” Riot asked Fray.

  The dhampir shook her head. “No idea. It’s too bad Sutter’s not here.”

  “Info like that comes in handy,” Serian said dryly.

  Other soldiers backed away with the team. Everyone kept their eyes on the creature as he drew back up to his full height. His strange, hedgehog-like frame looked even more ominous from this side.

  “I think we’re in trouble,” Riot said.

  The demon ducked its head again. Quills shot out from his body and embedded into the ground, the walls around us, and even the armor some of the soldiers wore. It knocked them back and, by the smell of blood that followed, penetrated to their flesh. Shouts of pain and calls for help rang out. The guards pulled their wounded companions back.

  Virgo threw up a shield to protect them.

  “This is ridiculous!” Serian said. “Where’s the big guns?”

  “Right here.”

  We turned to see Kai armed with a double set of machine guns. The soldiers fell back to the walls to clear a path. Kai’s eyes tightened at the sight of the fallen humans. He squeezed the triggers.

  The demon let out a screech when the bullets penetrated his hide. He turned so that his back faced the man. The sound of the bullets striking changed from soft thunks to pings. Bullets flew back in our direction. I ducked with my ears held flat against my skull. The other soldiers dove for cover.

  “They’re ricocheting!” Fray yelled. “Stop shooting!”

  She held an arm in front of her face. I heard the soft thwack of a bullet sink into her flesh. A grunt of pain escaped the dhampir, but she didn’t fall back.

  As soon as the gunfire stopped, the demon turned to face us once more. He let out a roar of triumph. I could feel the rage billow from him. His eyes narrowed and several scents wafted from him at once. He was hungry, he was mad, and he had vengeance to seek. He raised his four massively clawed hands and took a step forward. I saw my chance.

  I sprang with my mouth open and latched onto the soft patch of skin beneath the demon’s jaws. The bitter taste of demon blood filled my mouth, letting me know I had reached my goal.

  Claws battered into my sides. Luckily, Riot’s bags held and they only bruised instead of cutting.

  But the lower appendages hadn’t been confined. I braced myself for what was to come.

  Fray beat the demon to it. “Help him,” Fray commanded. “Cover the other claws, then lasso them!”

  I bit deeper and felt the demon stagger back. The sound of soldiers rushing to obey the dhampir’s command told me help was on the way if I could just hang on. Covered claws battered me back and forth, but I refused to let go. I closed my eyes and concentrated on biting even deeper. Claws hit me so hard I had to fight back a yelp for fear that I would let go.

  Then the battering stopped. The creature gurgled a protest as its claws were held back by thick ropes. Orders were shouted that I couldn’t make out, but they must have worked because the demon stumbled forward.

  It plummeted toward the ground. The thought that I was about to be crushed was seconded by my need to keep the creature from freeing itself. If I let it loose to breathe, it would kill everyone within its reach. I lost if I let go, and I lost if I was crushed to death. The realization that I was about to die buried beneath a thousand or more pounds of angry hedgehog demon wasn’t a pleasant one. There was no way to turn that into a heroic story no matter how the detached part of my mind spun it.

  I didn’t release my hold as I was flattened beneath the stifling weight. Letting go would mean giving up the only advantage we had found. My jaws ached and my head was wrenched at an uncomfortable angle, but I willed my fangs to sink deeper. Dark blue blood flooded across my snout in a rush. I snorted and attempted to keep breathing without letting go. Black spots danced across my vision. When I closed my eyes, white lights burst behind my eyelids. I was losing the battle.

  “Get him out of there,” someone yelled.

  “Pull him free!” a female voice rang out.

  Hands grabbed my fur. Adrenaline trickled through my veins with only a mild inkling of shock. I should have had the urge to fight them, to protect myself, and to be the winner of the battle. I should have, but I was running out of time fast enough that my own inner mocking voice had grown silent with concern. The vague thought that at least it cared enough not to make fun of me about my death was replaced by another disturbing reality. I wasn’t going to die at all.

  The hands jerked back and I was pulled free of the demon’s carcass. I was rolled roughly onto my side.

  “Is he breathing?”

  “Look at those claw marks!”

  “Those aren’t fresh.”

  “His fur is full of scars. Does he fight demons for a living?”

  A hand shook my shoulder. “Zev, are you alright?” Panic touched the words.

  I sucked in a ragged breath. Cool, welcome air filled my bruised lungs.

  “He’s breathing!” Kai announced.

  “Zev, look at me!”

  I willed my eyes to open. The spots faded to reveal Virgo leaning over me with Kai, Riot, and Serian close behind. Fray watched me from further away with her arms crossed in front of her chest and an angry expression on her face. I guess I could have called it her normal expression.

  “You’re insane, but it worked,” Kai said.

  I glanced over my shoulder. The demon’s eyes were closed. Its head was tilted to the side, and blood continued to trickle from what was once a rush in the torn neck. I might have felt bad if it wasn’t for the strips of human flesh I could see between its exposed teeth.

  I pushed shakily to my paws. Hands helped me. It was strangely comforting, which put me on edge. I didn’t need anybody’s help.

  I shook them off and willed my legs to hold. Being nearly squashed to death took a bit of a toll on the nervous system, but I was a werewolf and I refused to show weakness.

  “You tore its throa
t out,” one of the younger soldiers said. He bent down for a closer inspection of the creature’s exposed jugular. “That was awesome!”

  Another soldier let out a fairly decent imitation of the demon’s growl. The younger one shrieked and stumbled back. Everyone laughed and the tension eased from the battle-torn hallway.

  “Report to the Captain and send a crew to get this mess cleaned up,” Fray told the soldiers.

  Several of them saluted before jogging off down the hall. One was left behind. She stared down at the mess that was once a soldier’s body.

  Kai put a hand on her shoulder. “You alright?”

  The young woman shook her head. “She was my friend.” Her eyes sparked when she turned to me. “I’m glad you tore out that monster’s throat.”

  Serian bent and picked up a set of dog tags from the carnage. She held them out to the soldier. The young woman took them without a word. The quiet clack of the metal echoed in the silent hall. With the dog tags clutched in her hand, she turned and walked away after the others.

  Serian sighed. “What a mess.” Her gaze turned to me. “You as well. You’re covered in that thing’s blood. You need a shower.”

  I was happy to comply. I took a step in the direction the soldiers had gone, then realized I had no idea where the crew quarters were, or even if there was such a thing.

  “I’ll show you the way,” Virgo said.

  The fact that he had settled in enough to know that made me realize just how much time I had spent in interrogation with the Captain and on my run. I hadn’t exactly given the place a chance. To be fair though, it would be hard to consider a compound where I had already been in a showdown with demons twice, and shot with tranquilizer darts twice, as any kind of home.

  Virgo opened the door near the end of one of the building’s many wings. A simple room with couches, a television, a table, and a small kitchen branched off into two hallways.

  “Crew bedrooms are that way, and the showers are down there. There’s a change of clothes in your room. Your name’s already on the door, so it’ll be hard to miss,” Virgo said. He eyed me uncertainly. “You don’t need help, do you?”

  I snorted at the thought.

  A relieved smile spread across the warlock’s face. “Good, because Riot mentioned we’re having lasagna and I don’t want to miss it. I’ll save you some.” He paused at the door and looked back at me. “You sure you’re good?”

  I nodded and gave him a wolfish smile.

  He faked a shudder. “Terrifying. Maybe you should see a dentist.”

  I snorted and he closed the door with a chuckle.

  I shook myself. I didn’t want to admit it, but it felt good to mend things with Virgo a bit. Maybe I couldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him, but the thought of having a friend while surrounded by so many strangers was a comforting one. I snorted again. I was getting soft. I didn’t need friends.

  I phased in the shower and leaned against the tiled wall as the warm water flowed over my neck and shoulders. Blue and red tinged the water, first the demon’s blood and then mine, but the demon’s claws hadn’t cut too deep. Luckily for me, Fray had ordered for the others to be bagged before the creature could slice me to ribbons. I might not like her or trust her, but I had to admit that the dhampir was a good leader.

  “You must have been a slow learner.”

  Chapter Five

  I spun at the sound of the voice.

  Fray’s gray eyes watched me without revealing what she was thinking. I was immediately aware of the fact that I had no clothes on. At the Lair, that would have been no big deal, but I felt as unprotected as if she had a gun pointed at my head. I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around my waist.

  “You should probably turn off the water,” the dhampir said.

  I watched her for a moment, conscious of the warm water turning the towel into a sodden piece of useless cloth. Without taking my eyes from her, I turned the faucet off.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked. As much as I wanted to bark the words in an effort to hide the way she unsettled me, I kept my voice level.

  “I wanted to thank you,” she replied.

  Her gaze lowered. It was a quick flicker, but a betrayal, nonetheless. She was as completely uncomfortable as I was. Perhaps that knowledge should have made me feel better, but it didn’t.

  I stood in the shower room at the Division with a half-vampire between me and the only exit. I felt her gaze travel over the burns and scars that marred my skin. The realization of what she had said to me sunk in.

  “You know these are punishments.”

  She nodded. An emotion flitted across her gaze, but it was gone before I could identify it. “They must have hated you,” she said in a conversational tone.

  “It was the other way around,” I replied.

  Something trickled down my chest. Fray’s face paled slightly. I followed her gaze to see a fine line of blood trailing from a scratch below my shoulder.

  “Did your master ever drink werewolf blood?”

  The strain in her voice was obvious. I grabbed another towel and used it to wipe away the line of red.

  “No,” I told her. “Not until the end. We had a pact.”

  The truth that the pact between our vampire Master and the werewolves he commanded meant nothing made a bitter taste well up in my throat. I swallowed it down with an effort. “How about you. Have you ever had werewolf blood?”

  Fray looked up at my question. I held her gaze, willing her to look away and show me her lie before I smelled the wet cat scent of it.

  “No,” she said; her eyes narrowed. “Never, and I’m not about to start.”

  I waited for the smell, but it never came. She stared at me in defiance until it was my turn to look away. “That doesn’t make me any closer to trusting you,” I told her.

  “I don’t need your trust.” Silence filled the air between us until she broke it by saying, “But I need to know why you threw yourself at the demon like that.”

  I looked back at her. She watched me intently. There was a little line of frustration between her eyebrows.

  “It was the only way I could think of to kill it,” I replied honestly.

  She shook her head in denial. “You expect me to believe that you acted entirely against your instincts when you could have just as easily run away and left it to kill us all?”

  I watched her closely. “That’s what happened, isn’t it?”

  Her right hand closed into a fist. When I looked at it, she relaxed her fingers and said, “You have to have a motive.”

  Surprised, I replied, “Keeping a monster from killing my team isn’t enough?”

  Her eyebrows drew together. “You’re not a part of this team.”

  I gave a wry chuckle and said, “Like it or not, I am.” I wiped at the annoying trickle of blood again and continued with, “As fun as it is talking to you about whether or not I’m just an instinct-driven beast, I need to find some clothes before Virgo comes back with lasagna, if he doesn’t eat it all before getting here.”

  Fray watched me for another moment. When she lowered her arms from where they had been crossed in front of her chest, she nodded as though she had figured something out. “I get it.”

  “What does that mean?” I asked.

  She lifted a shoulder. “That it makes sense. Your warlock friend was in danger, so you acted without thinking. I can respect that.”

  It was my turn to cross my arms. “When did I act without thinking?”

  “When you grabbed that demon by the throat. It was going to tear you to pieces if I didn’t get those claws bound up.”

  I let out a breath before replying, “I was prepared to accept that.”

  “To accept being clawed to death? I doubt that.”

  I lowered the towel enough that she could see the rows of stitches that marred my side. “It’s not the first time.”

  Fray’s searching eyes ran across the thread-marked skin. “That was from the khavis?”<
br />
  I nodded without speaking.

  She let out a breath, then said, “I suppose you need help with those.”

  I stared at her. “What?”

  She motioned toward my side. “Removing them. I doubt you can reach them all. Who patched you up?”

  I wasn’t about to tell her about the ghost and how her strength had kept me going. The dhampir didn’t need to know about any of that. Instead, I went with, “Myself, for the most part. I had some help later with the rest.”

  She crossed closer to me than I felt comfortable with. “The pink thread is yours?”

  She shot me a look and I nodded.

  “Figured,” she replied, turning her attention back. “They’re pretty bad. You didn’t have other color choices?”

  I opened my mouth to ask what was wrong with pink, then caught myself when I realized she was actually joking. It was a flat attempt, but for some reason, she was in fact trying. Now it was my turn to question her motive.

  “Plenty,” I replied dryly. “But I had more pressing issues like not dying to worry about. If it makes you feel any better, the thread was red by the time I was done.”

  I immediately regretted making a comment even remotely related to blood. The last thing I needed was to goad her into biting me. Who knew how volatile dhampir were?

  She pulled a knife from the sheath at her waist and walked toward me in one smooth motion.

  My heart skipped a beat. I put up both hands, lowered one when my towel almost fell off, and took a step backwards. “Let’s not be hasty,” I protested.

  She motioned with the knife toward my side. “I’m not going to slit your throat,” she said with an eyeroll. “So chill, Jumpy. I’m going to help with those stitches. They’re obviously ready to come out and you can’t reach them all.”

  “I can,” I said defensively.

  She sighed as if my lack of comfort around an armed blood drinker was entirely uncalled for. “We’re on the same team, remember? You risked your life. Let me repay you.” Her gaze shifted to the stitches. “They’ve got to be itching by now.”