by TJ Black
They were right in the middle of the woods, but closer to Sulwen’s place. Moving Ghost enough to tie his jacket as tight as he could around him with hopes of slowing the blood flow down, Jonah grabbed Ghost by the arms, pulled him up to a sitting positioned and then with a hard yank, had him up on his shoulder.
As fast as he could move, Jonah jogged towards the house. Each step, he still sniffed, making sure that whoever attacked Ghost, wasn’t following him.
Coming out of the woods, not slowing down, he went right up to the back door, kicking it in. “Garek!” he yelled.
“What the hell?” Garek came around the corner right as Jonah walked into the kitchen.
“I need your help,” Jonah huffed. “He’s been hurt real bad.”
Garek’s eyes widen, looked at Ghost then back up at Jonah. “Upstairs. Follow me.”
They took the stairs two at a time. On the second floor, Garek turned and went down a hall to the very last room. He stood back, letting Jonah walk in with Ghost. Right up to the bed he went, putting the male down as carefully as he could.
“Let’s have a look,” Garek said, pulling the jacket away. He whistled. “This wound is not done with a knife.”
Pounding feet had both turning, Jonah instantly ready to shift and fight. Chloe came to the door, eyes wide open. “What’s going on?”
“Chloe, get my kit,” Garek told her. “Hurry!” She looked fast at Jonah then dashed away. He could hear her feet pounding all the way to the other end of the house. “Who did this?”
“I don’t know,” Jonah answered. “I was on my way to go talk to him. Father said something about a human being attacked.”
Garek nodded his head in agreement.
“Is she still alive?”
Garek looked up, his hands still pressing on the side wound. “I don’t think so.”
“Here!” Chloe rushed back in, handing a large bag to her father.
“I need towels and water,” Garek told her.
She nodded, and once more ran out of the room.
Jonah only stood and watched. Garek had the bleeding slowed down, but not stopped. In the bag, he brought out a surgical kit as well as two needles. One he stuck Ghost with to numb the area up, before doing anything else.
Chloe came back and went right to the bed, sitting down on the other side. She instantly went to helping her father, holding the wound together as Garek started working to stitch it up.
“How’s Alesha doing?” Garek asked, not stopping or taking his eyes off what he was doing.
“Still working on her understanding of us,” Jonah asked.
Garek nodded again, “I’m sure now with this, it’s not going to be easy.”
“I’m sorry.” That statement had Garek stop and both he and Chloe looked at him. “I should’ve done things differently with her.”
“It’s our way,” Garek went back to work. “Don’t apologize for what her mother has failed to do.”
“How is Ashley handling this?”
“Jonah, you are the alpha son of the Devanta family. Worry not about anything but you and Alesha.”
“I need to call and check in,” Jonah rubbed his face and started to leave. In fact, he had turned away and started for the door but stopped when he heard one faint word.
“Rogue.”
Everyone in the room stopped. Slowly, Jonah turned back around and Ghost had his eyes open. Soft, bright blue eyes that were right on Jonah. Ghost even reached his hand out towards him, Jonah moved closer, taking the hand and going down to his knees. He leaned in.
Ghost gripped him tightly. “There’s a rogue out there,” he whispered.
“We know,” Jonah said.
Ghost shook his head, “No you don’t know shit. Bloodline to the sixth.”
Jonah frowned.
“He wants retribution. Blood for sins of the fathers.” Ghost whispered again.
“What are you talking about?”
“He’s coming for us all,” Ghost swallowed, then grimaced in pain, before the grip loosened and his eyes closed.
“What’d he say?” Chloe asked.
“I don’t know.” Jonah stood up and when he did his phone in his pocket went off. Backing up, taking it out, but not taking his eyes off of Ghost he answered: “Hello?”
“Get home right now,” his father ordered. The line went dead.
“Something’s not right,” Jonah stated, putting the phone back in his pocket.
“What?” Garek asked.
“I don’t know. Take care of him. I’ll be back when I can.”
Jonah left the house as fast as he could. When he reached the woods he ran, all the way back to his own house. Skidding to a stop right at the edge, his nose once more picked up the fresh scent of blood.
“No!” he said right before running again to the front door. “Alesha!” he yelled, busting through the door.
“Not here,” Noah stood at the very top of the stairs, alone.
Jonah walked over to a blood stained sheet spread out like a cover on the floor. He picked it up and looked at the mangled body of Jonesy. “Where is she?”
“I don’t know. Message left on the wall just says to find him.”
Jonah turned his head and there on the far wall, written in blood, find me. Dropping the sheet, he turned and headed for the door.
“Jonah wait!” his father called out, but he wasn’t listening.
* * * *
Alesha trembled. She was tied to a tree, her arms up over her head in a small clearing. Center to it, a pit with a fire burning, and hunched over staring into the flames was the one that took her and killed Jonah’s butler. He was naked and didn’t seem to care.
“Did you know that back in the day, breeding with a human was punishable by death?” he asked suddenly, causing her to tense. “My family witnessed many deaths.” Slowly he stood up, walked around the fire and up to her. When his hand came out to touch, she flinched. “And a half-breed like you would be fed to the young.”
“What’d you want?”
His eyes narrowed. Cold gold eyes that had no emotion in them. When his lips parted in a smile, it didn’t reach those cold eyes. “I want many things.” His hand closed on her throat and squeezed, cutting off some of the air. “Maybe I want your blood on my hands or maybe I want to fuck you to death.” He squeezed harder, watching as she struggled to breath. When she looked like she might pass out, he let go of his grip. His hand stayed there. “The Five, they call themselves. They make the rules, then they break them.” That hand slid down her throat to the shirt she put on after Jonah left. His shirt. Grabbing the front, he ripped it down, exposing her breasts. “Such fucking hypercritics.”
“What’d you want from me?” she yelled, desperation in her voice.
Those cold eyes of his moved down with the hand. It closed over one breast, squeezing it until it hurt. “I want the Five to pay for what they did to my family.” Another brutal squeeze and he let her go, turning his back to her and walked away, back to the fire.
“What are you talking about?”
He turned again, this time his eyes held such cruelty that she shivered.
“Number six.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Tears filled up in her eyes. “I don’t know anything about any of them.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you don’t. You’re just his bitch.”
“I swear to you, I don’t know shit about any of them. I just moved here.”
“Then I guess you had better learn fast. There were six, not five families and they destroyed mine!” he growled, his face getting red with his anger. “Now the sins of the father will be passed down. Just like they did to mine.”
Alesha was unable to hold back her fear, or her tears. She broke down, a silent cry. She was about to confront him once again, but stopped when she heard something move in the bushes behind her. He also heard it because he stiffened.
Everything around them went dead quiet and still. Nothing in the woods m
oved and Alesha became so afraid she didn’t want to breathe. He took only one step toward her and all hell broke loose.
This giant black as night jaguar leapt from the woods. The paw touched the ground only once before he leaping up in the air again, coming down on the naked man. Alesha couldn’t help herself, she screamed. Watching and struggling with the rope around her wrists as the animal attacked the guy.
The jaguar bit down on the man’s leg and he howled in pain. How in the world he managed to free his leg, she didn’t know. But when he did, he scrambled to his feet and backed away and that black beast slowly circled him, waiting to lunge again.
“Just like you fuckers,” the man snarled. “Attack when one has their back to you.”
The jaguar lunged again, only this time the man was ready for it. He did a back flip high in the air and right before her eyes shifted from a human into a jaguar. It landed with a soft thud on the ground and charged the black one.
They rolled around, biting, thrashing, and scratching each other. Blood everywhere, but Alesha couldn’t tell who was bleeding.
More rolling, more snarling with growling and hissing, then the two lunged at each other at the same time, hit the ground hard and rolled out of sight. Alesha couldn’t see anything and really started to panic.
She looked up at her wrists pulling as hard as she could to free herself. Just when she thought she might have one free a very loud yelp rang out and everything went quiet once more. Still, she held her breath waiting, not knowing what to expect.
Time seemed to stand still, seconds felt like hours. From the other side of the clearing the black jaguar prowled, walking slow, steady, yet had this power about him. Golden eyes landed right on her and her mouth went dry. First thought, it’s going to kill her for sure.
He stopped right next to the fire, a snarl came out of him, showing very large teeth, his head went down and she could hear the crunching of bones. Front legs dropped as did the top half of the body. In fact, it started to stretch outward, the legs forming into arms, paws into hands with fingers.
Another very loud growl and the back legs also started to stretch outward, the paws turning into feet. All the black hair seemed to recede into the body and flesh replaced it. Right before her eyes, the very big cat turned into a man and he now lay face down on the ground, his body glistening in the moon light.
When his head rose up, Alesha didn’t hold back her cry of relief. “Jonah!” The tears came and she didn’t have the strength to hold them back.
He pushed himself up off the ground, and rushed to her, naked. “Are you okay?” he asked as he started to work on her wrists.
“No,” she sobbed. “What’s going on? He—he killed your butler.”
“I know.” Once he had her wrists free, Jonah pulled her into his arms, and she went willingly. “It’s okay. Everything’s going to be okay.”
“No, no, it’s not.” She pulled back and looked him in the eye. “He said there was a sixth. A sixth family. What’s that mean?”
“Sixth?” Jonah frowned. “There’s no sixth, only five.”
“He said the Five destroyed his family.”
Jonah pulled her back into his arms, “Shhh. I’ll figure this out, but first let’s get you out of here. He’s hurt, not dead so he could come back if he wanted to.”
Jonah ended up carrying her all the way to her uncle’s place. Garek saw them coming from the back door. He held it open and Jonah went inside, right up the stairs to the third floor where Ashley paced anxiously.
Garek found some clothes for Jonah.
Jonah turned to Garek with conviction. “I’ll be back in a bit.”
Jonah leaned down kissing Alesha on the top of her head and left the room.
* * * *
Jonah didn’t like letting Alesha out of his arms, or his sight, but he needed to have a word with Ghost. On the second floor, Garek followed him to the room.
“Your father is on his way,” Garek said.
“I’ll be down after I talk with Ghost first. How is he?”
“Grumpy. Won’t let him leave, not until he can shift and that won’t happen until he fully heals. The shots I gave him will help him rest, speed that up.”
“Good. My gut is telling me that we’re going to need him very soon.”
Jonah walked into the room and closed the door. Ghost was sitting up in the bed, and like Garek said, he looked like he was in a pissy mood. “Okay, spill it. I know you know something.”
“Yeah, you look like shit.”
Ghost was the same age as Jonah, had the same build, but that was about it. His complexion was much darker since he spent so much time out in the woods in the sun, but when he shifted, he was a beautiful white jaguar with the faintest of black spots and bright blue eyes. An albino of sorts. In human form, he had dark golden locks that were always in his face and a two-day growth on his face. He always dressed like a mountain man. Leather pants and a fur vest with thick boots. That was it, even in the winter.
Ghost was a loner and could be one mean ass son of a bitch, which had Jonah really wondering how anyone could sneak up and slice him like that.
“Don’t give me your shit, Ghost. I just fought with a rogue that killed Jonesy and took my mate. I heard you say something about a sixth and she said the same thing to me a bit ago. What is this fucking sixth bullshit?”
Ghost turned his cool blue eyes on Jonah. “You really don’t know, do you?”
“Know what?” Jonah snapped.
“I don’t know it all, or really that much, just enough to get tossed on my own and told to keep my mouth shut.”
“What’d you mean? You were kicked out of your home for this?”
Ghost rolled his eyes and looked down. “I’m tired of keeping his secrets. Fuck him, and fuck the others too. There was a sixth family. I don’t know much about them, only that they did something to really piss our grandfathers off. I mean so bad that if you haven’t noticed there is no sixth anymore. They’re gone.”
“But they’re not, are they?” Jonah walked further into the room. “That rogue tonight, he mentioned to Alesha something about the sixth, like he was the sixth.”
“I don’t know. I’m just telling you what I do know and it was enough to get my father freaked the fuck out. I’ve never seen him panic like that before, and neither had my mother.”
“How’d you find out about them?”
“I followed him to one of those meetings. You know, the one where all the alpha’s of the families get together. I heard them talk, one saying something like not all gone. I don’t know. I just asked him and he lost it. So now, I don’t talk to him and he pretends I’m not alive.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“What would you’ve done? Your father knows why I’m on my own. They all do.”
“Is this sixth the one that got you?”
“No. It was a woman.”
“Um, excuse me?”
“You heard me,” Jonah saw Ghost’s unamused expression and in any other circumstance he might laugh, but something about the whole thing going on he didn’t find any humor in any of this.
“Garek says stay until you can shift, and I agree.”
Ghost growled.
“I mean it Ghost.”
“Not a good idea.”
“Why not?”
Ghost looked at him again, and a shiver went right down Jonah’s spin. “Trust me; it’s not a good idea for me to stay in this house.”
“Deal with it. I’m going to go down and talk with my father. Maybe get a few more answers to figure out this damn puzzle.”
“Don’t push too hard Jonah,” the look Ghost gave him once more had a shiver going down his back. “This is a well-kept and guarded secret whatever it is. I doubt any of them are willing to give it up, even for their own blood or to save their asses.”
Jonah walked out and stood in the hallway for a moment digesting all that Ghost told him. When he felt as if he had himself under control, he
headed down.
Garek and Chloe were both in the living room. Loraine came out of the kitchen with a tray in hand.
“Garek, may I please—” Jonah started to ask.
“I’ll send them upstairs,” Garek cut him off and motioned for his family to quickly leave and go up the stairs.