“Yes sir, and the vampire?”
“He will be easier to find than the wolf.”
“How so?”
“Slade won’t leave us a trail of bodies to follow.”
Chapter Two
Well, That Was Unexpected
Solomon Crane leaned against the door frame of the hospital’s security viewing room. The men on duty had reported back that whoever it was that had been in that room had taken off like a rocket. Word had spread that he was a cop, and suddenly it meant he was a makeshift information centre. People couldn’t leave through the front entrance as cars had been piled in front. The elevator went from floor to floor, but every exit seemed to be automatically locked. Solomon leaned out a window and had to do a double take. The bodies that had littered the street had gone. Had emergency services come? Why weren’t there any sirens? As bemusing as that mystery was, he would have to shelve it. He had an entire ward of people that knew he was a cop coming to him for answers he couldn’t possibly give. By the time he had finished with them and briefed the appropriate staff of the little he did know, he had asked to look at security footage of the hallway from earlier.
“That’s it?” he bemoaned.
The footage he saw was shaky. Literally. There had been a mini earthquake just before this breakout by the John Doe and the force had jolted the camera in the ceiling free from its socket. All that could be seen was a pair of legs, well one leg really.
“Sorry, sir. That’s all we can get you.”
“I need you to backtrack, and have a look at the footage on the day he was brought in.” Solomon said, thumbing through the file. “Roughly seven months ago,” he said, handing the report over and pointing towards the date and time. The officer nodded and clicked away on the keyboard. When the footage came up, all that could be seen was an orderly or nurse’s back as they wheeled the bed into the room.
“Christ...” Solomon muttered. “Ok, I need the names of the nurses that work in this section and all who would’ve had interaction with him. I need the people that saw him when he first came in.”
“But he was in a coma. What good would that do? We don’t know his name or why he was brought in.”
“I want to know what he looks like. That’s a start.”
“But the people? I mean is this really a priority?”
“Not much I can do for now except sit tight. But I can find out more about this mystery guy.”
*
Nicole felt strong hands lift her neck, holding her in place as a warm, wet wrist was planted over her mouth.
“C’mon honey, drink,” Alicia whispered. “It won’t taste very good but your belly needs it.”
Nicole took a few gulps, and as she felt the warm blood descend down her throat, her vision cleared. The crippling pain subsided into nothing. Well, the physical anyway. Her baby was gone. Stolen. And by someone she thought she could trust. Thrust into the room after Tynan Ross had ordered Alan and PJ killed. Now it made sense. Why wouldn’t Tynan have just killed Anthony too? Tynan had no regard for human life yet proudly proclaimed him a stowaway as he pushed Anthony in front of her. And she felt sickened that she had felt sorry for the scum. He had obviously waited until she had given birth and then snatched her baby boy from Alicia’s arms, and Nicole could do nothing but bleed out.
“Am I a...wolf?” Nicole asked.
“No. You need to be bitten by an Alpha. And I ain’t one. C’mon we’ve got to get out of here.”
“Wait…my baby!”
Alicia took her by the hands. “I know. But we won’t be able to get to him like this. We need to find allies. Regroup. I promise you, we will get him back.”
Nicole had no time to dwell on the response. Alicia whipped her head around and pushed her towards the window. “Quick! They’re coming!”
Nicole reached the window sill and looked down. The drop had to be fifty feet towards the dark shimmering sea below. “Oh Jesus…”
Nicole looked back as the door burst open, and two men hurried in. Alicia roared and bolted towards Nicole just as the men reached for their pistols. Alicia tackled Nicole and held on to her as they both fell out the window as bullets crunched and zinged into the concrete behind them. All Nicole could do was clench her eyes tightly and hope to God Alicia knew what she was doing.
Chapter Three
It’s Useless To Hope
Talia eased her eyes open, taking a deep breath and coughing suddenly. She stood vertically. In front of her eyes was a semi-circle of horizontal bars. She was caged in an upright stretcher, an oxygen mask over her mouth.
“Darling, it’s alright,” came her mother’s voice. “Don’t be afraid.”
Talia blinked repeatedly. The situation and her memory becoming more clear. She had helped Alicia break into Tynan’s fortress and was subsequently shot by a tranquiliser.
“Alicia…?” she groaned, her voice muffled by the mask.
Radha sighed as if deeply disappointed. “Why didn’t you listen to me? I told you to kill her.”
“Where is she?” Talia sneered.
“I suspect sporting a very nasty headache, having been shot in the head.” This voice did not belong to her mother. It was deeper and dripping with arrogance. “Hello Talia. We’ve never met. My name is-”
“I know who you are,” Talia replied, trying to raise her arm slowly, straining against her cuff. If she kept him talking she could use her strength to escape. “Tynan Ross. What I don’t know is why my mother is standing next to you.”
“Ah well, you see. You’re young. Strong no doubt, being a tenth gen. But alliances and politics are…complicated.”
Talia stopped moving her arm. No, it couldn’t be. “Alliance?”
“It’s not what you think,” Radha said.
“Good,” Talia sneered. “Because it looks to me like you sold me out and ripped the rug out from under me.”
“I did it to save your life! All of us! Don’t you see? You were right. He was scouting us, testing our defences. He found them lacking. The house is in disarray. I see that now. You tried to warn me, but I didn’t listen. I didn’t try to help, and you put your trust in another. I should’ve done better. I was so focused on finding the girl who carried Alicia’s grandchild I lost sight of everything else.”
“Why?” Talia roared. “Why could you not leave that girl alone?”
“Because of what she carried! She had an eleventh-generation wolf. The last surviving member of the Slade line. A male. A competitor to your Alpha title. One that you have earned! You should be given the right to choose your successor. This child, if allowed to grow, would be able to take it from you whenever it chose. By blood right or by force. I couldn’t have that. So I set things in motion for her to never come to full term.”
“Mother…how could you?”
“But…Tynan discovered my plan. He stopped it. The child has been born. He lives. Tynan has forgiven your trespass. Even though it is an act of war, he desires no conflict. He will allow you to remain Alpha of our house. All we have to do is submit and fight for him whenever he calls. If it should ever happen.”
“And who are you to be making choices like that for me?” Talia sneered.
“I did it to save your life! There was no time! Listen and think! It’s done. The child is safe. So is the mother. You and I can live in peace. Everything you desired has come to pass. It is a small price to pay.”
A numbing fear that Alicia could’ve died spurred her on to try again for release. But she couldn’t move her hands. What the hell were these restraints made of? “And what of Alicia?”
Radha rolled her eyes and gave an exasperated laugh. “Her again...”
“While it’s true I have no desire for conflict,” Tynan said, “Alicia has proven far too meddlesome for my vision.”
“What vision?” Talia scoffed.
Tynan smiled slowly. “I’m glad you asked.”
Tynan gripped one of the bars and turned her around a full one hundred eighty degrees.
She faced three large, side by side glass panels. They showed an enormous bunker. Talia flicked her eyes around. They looked like they were deep underground. But that wasn’t what disturbed her. It was what she saw. What the bunker contained on the other side of the windows.
Weapons.
But not just guns, or bombs. Attack helicopters. Hornet jets. Gunships. All fully armed. Barrels and large containers with what looked like nuclear armament warnings. And more, so much more.
There was enough here to destroy an entire country. A new world war.
“You want to destroy the other houses…” she whispered, still trying to make the restraints budge, yet failing.
“No, not at all. I don’t want conflict as I have said. The threat of conflict, however, is a powerful ally. Oh, by the way, I’d stop trying to escape. That mask isn’t giving you oxygen. It’s fermented wolfbane. Your strength is subdued. And will be until I decide whether or not to remove it. So, do we have an accord?”
Talia relaxed her arm. He knew. He left nothing to chance. As she looked over the Amory he had built, a dreaded truth washed over her: he had become a silent world power. While the wolves, like her father and Creed, had fought amongst themselves and the other houses, Tynan had been hidden away, building up his strength, waiting for the right time.
“If I want to live, I have no choice…”
She hated the smirk he wore. “That’s true.”
A door behind her opened, and Tynan addressed the new occupant of the room. “Ah Greg. Good. Have you taken the blood sample from the baby?”
“I have.”
“And? What did you find?”
“The tests were inconclusive. I need more blood. But I will wait for a few days.”
“No. Take more. Now.”
“He’s asleep.”
“So wake him up.”
“You wished the child to live. Taking more will put him at risk.”
“Nonsense. He is an eleventh generation. He will give us all that we need and more. Was that all?”
“No my Alpha, Alicia’s escaped. Taken the girl, too.”
Tynan groaned under his breath, yet replied very calmly. “Oh well. Let them. Alert the patrols that they are to be returned unharmed if spotted.”
“My Alpha?”
“I have the thing they want. Why would I chase them when I know they’ll be back?”
*
Nicole hit the water second. Alicia had turned her body so that she absorbed the brunt of the impact. It still felt like sharp icicles had rushed over her body and clamped down her senses. She flailed her arms around but the rush was too much for her. She was dragged through the water, finally resting face down on a small strip of beach, coughing up the last remnants of fluid in her lungs.
“Rest for a sec,” Alicia said, herself breathing heavily.
“How did you find me?”
“My grandson,” Alicia replied, taking her boots off and draining them of water. “I could feel your pain and I could track it. It’s a rare thing among our kind. So, we’ve got a powerful little thing there.”
Alicia smiled, trying to comfort Nicole, but it didn’t work. The last hour replayed in Nicole’s mind like a flash. She was a mother without her child. Before she could stop them, she had succumbed to tears.
“My baby…”
Alicia lowered herself and wrapped an arm around her. Nicole buried her face into her chest and sobbed. “It’s alright…”
“No, it’s not. I’ve lost everything. Nick, Alan, PJ and now my baby. My mother wants nothing to do with me. Nothing about this is alright.”
“Hey…you listen to me.” Alicia reached under Nicole’s chin and made her look up. “You haven’t lost your son forever. We’ll get him back. I swear. He wouldn’t have been taken away if he was just going to be killed. Tynan must want him for something.”
“He does. He told me.”
“What did he say? Tell me everything.”
“Tynan said he wanted him, because he’s an eleventh generation. And because I gave birth to an eleventh, he wanted me to be a breeder for the rest of his pack.”
Alicia shook her head. “Again with this shit.”
“What?”
“First, he’s Nick’s uncle. He is one of the strangest, yet most cunning of wolves. He was obsessed with my pregnancy. But more, he has always been into science. Testing. Gene splicing. The enhancement of the species. Most thought he was crazy. I didn’t. Nor did his father. I think William saw Tynan’s obsession with meddling in bloodlines, genomes and the like as highly dangerous, so he made Wilson Alpha. What he wants with your baby, I can only shudder to guess.”
“He wants to raise him. To use him as a weapon in the years to come.”
“Not bloody likely.”
“Can you track him? Does it still happen?”
Alicia stood up and flexed her shoulders. “I haven’t got anything yet. But don’t worry, that doesn’t mean anything. We are a funny race. If we are separated from our pack, there are ways and means to find each other. With this thing I felt, things can get dangerous. For example, if an Alpha goes without its pack, it can get really sick, even die. Their powers will go haywire. Some go mad. A pack needs an Alpha much like a child needs its mother.”
“And its father.”
Alicia touched Nicole’s cheek with the palm of her hand. “I know, sweetie. I know. But I hope you realise how much he loved you.”
“That’s what makes this so hard. I did everything I could to fight my feelings for him. Pushing him away. I kept telling myself they were wrong. That it was a crush, that’s it. But,” Nicole gave a small huff. “He just didn’t give up. He broke my walls down.”
Alicia gave her a smile. “He would do that.”
“But that’s the problem. The second I was tested, I put them back up again. I chose my career over the…the best guy I have ever known.” Nicole succumbed to tears again, struggling to get the words free. “All this is my fault. If I wasn’t so stupid…”
“You’re not stupid,” Alicia replied gently.
“I am! He was right there! In front of me. In my room. God…the way he looked at me. The way he touched me. I have never felt so…I loved him so much. Why couldn’t I just tell him then? Instead I had to see the look on his face when I told him I’d be leaving for England. By choice. Leaving him behind. I told myself over and over again it was for the best. If it hadn’t been for me, he would never have come to the airport to bare his soul. He could’ve been prepared better…”
She paused as the tears flowed, and Alicia held her. “…I wouldn’t have been here. Alan and PJ would be safe…Nick would’ve been ok. Our baby would be with us right now.”
“Stop,” Alicia said gently, rubbing Nicole’s back. “Enough of all that now. None of this is your fault. We all make choices with the information we are given at that time. You couldn’t know what was going to happen anymore than I could. But I tell you, you couldn’t have kept him from going into that building. As hard as it is, he’s gone because he tried to do the right thing. As an Alpha, and as a man. I tried to instil in him a sense of justice, right and wrong and a kind heart.”
“You did a great job,” Nicole replied, wiping her nose and sniffling.
“But no one could’ve anticipated he would leap into an explosion like that. It was instinctual. He saved everyone…and I’ve never been more proud to call him my son. He loved you, that’s all you need to hold onto. Actually…this too.”
Alicia pulled out a necklace and placed it in Nicole’s hand. A giant silver wolf head pendant, in a howling position, surrounded by gleaming blue crystal.
“It’s beautiful…and huge.”
“My own design,” Alicia said. “It’s what the Slade Pack used to honour a fallen soldier. Well, truth be told, Wilson never liked the idea. He preferred a piss up. So this was the only one ever made. It was the only thing I came back for when I returned to the estate. It was my intent to find a nice, quiet place and bury it for Ni
ck. But…I just couldn’t. So I kept it with me. I mean, I know he’s gone but…he’s not gone to me.”
Nicole felt heartbroken hearing this and offered the pendant back.
“No, hun. You keep it. Really. It makes me so happy to share this with you, and one day, you’ll show it to your son. Nick is alive in your baby. That’s why it didn’t feel right to bury it. I would give anything to see my boy one last time, but this is more important. Finding his son. Your son. I need you with me and focused, ok?”
Nicole dried her cheeks one last time and stood up, placing the necklace around her head. For the father of her child. Her man. No more tears. “Right…what do I do?”
“Well, first things first. We need help.”
“Can we go to your house? I mean, the Slade Estate or whatever?”
“It’s not called that anymore. But I think we’ll have to. Thing is, I came here with someone. The new Alpha of the estate, Talia. Nick’s half-sister.”
“What? He didn’t tell me he had a sister?”
“He didn’t know. Neither did I or his father. I can’t smell her. The boat we used is gone. She’s either dead, taken hostage or back at the estate. I really hope it’s the latter…” Alicia trailed off, looking thoughtful. “I hope she’s alright.” Alicia stopped again, swallowing before giving a small shake of the head. “If we had her on our side, to storm the place, that would help. She’s another tenth generation.”
“Storm the place? You sound like you’re preparing an assault?”
“I’m considering many options. All of them to make sure we get that baby, and Talia if she’s there, out safely. An assault is the last resort.”
Nicole thought she knew exactly what that meant, so didn’t pursue it. She hoped that the last resort would never have to eventuate. But knowing the wolves that she did, she thought it wise to have that idea ready.
Alicia helped her up and together they set out along the countryside. It would be a long walk, but Nicole would do her best to keep up.
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