by Dawn Kirby
“Declan, what’s wrong?” I asked.
“Even for a trap, this feels wrong. I can’t put me finger on why yet,” he said quickly. “Don’t leave ‘er side, Raine.”
I pulled out of the driveway as soon as the line went dead and drove the rest of the way with my headlights off. It scared my passengers, but I could see just fine. Besides it’d be easier to sneak by this way. Headlights would blow our cover.
Michael’s house was huge. The beautiful Victorian style manor was tucked in the back of at least fifteen acres. A pebbled, dirt road was the only visible way in. Like Declan said, two guards were stationed inside the seven-foot tall wrought iron fence that ran the perimeter of the property.
I found the maintenance road easily and followed it to the back of the property. A cluster of poplar trees and thick bushes provided a perfect place to hide my car. As my car slid beside the vegetation, it was camouflaged in a forest of green leaves. We got out cautiously, taking in our new surroundings quickly.
Raine took my keys and shoved them in his pocket. I was able to slide through the gaps in the fence. Kale and Raine easily jumped over it. Even when they hit the ground there was no sound.
Warily, we ran across the yard and started looking for a way in. So far we hadn’t seen anyone. After finding two locked doors, Kale was ready to kick one in. Luckily, I found a set of French doors that had been left unlocked before he could alert our entrance into the house with the unmistakable sound splintering wood. Raine went in first. When he signaled it was safe, we followed.
We had walked into the game room. Two ornate pool tables were set up on each end. There was a line of old video games set up along on wall. A dartboard hung on the far wall. An air hockey table sat feet from the door we’d just come through. Immediately in front of us a poker table had been set up and used. There were cards and chips scattered all over the table. I could smell the lingering scent of cigars and Dane’s cherry pipe tobacco.
“Dane’s already here. Be careful,” I whispered.
“How do you know?” Raine asked.
“Cherry tobacco.”
“Do you smell Drew?” Kale whispered.
“Not yet.”
The next room we came to was a living room. Every piece of furniture was antique. Whatever else Michael turned out to be, collector seemed to top the list. I could only imagine how much time and money had gone into the restoration. The couches and wingback chairs were probably over a hundred years old and in perfect condition. I found myself praying he wasn’t a collector of people as well.
Unfortunately for us, the wooden floors hadn’t received the same meticulous care the furniture had. Every few steps a loose board creaked, announcing our presence. Breaths held, feet rooted to the floor, we froze, waiting to be discovered. Thankfully, no one ever came.
There was a hallway off to one side of the room. Several lights were on. A television blared while the men watching grumbled angrily about the last play their team made. Knowing now that their attention was focused elsewhere, I closed my eyes to concentrate on the smells. Drew wasn’t there, but I could detect Dane’s tobacco. The steady thump of no more than six different heartbeats drummed rapidly in my sensitive ears. I pointed to a room at the far end of a long hallway, letting them know, at least for now, we hadn’t been detected.
“He’s down there, but Drew’s not,” I told the others quietly. “There are six more of them.”
We managed to get to the other side of the room before I heard the seventh heartbeat. Suddenly, Kale froze. Raine quickly pulled me around the corner, away from the distinctive sound of clothes being ripped from Kale’s body. An uneasy silence fell over the room. Angry snarls and menacing growls suddenly blasted through the tenuous calm. Chancing a peek around the corner, I saw two big wolves locked together at the jaws. One black. The other gray and white. I looked at Raine, silently asking which one Kale was.
“Kale’s the black one,” he said. “Move now. If he doesn’t end this soon, they’ll be more.”
“We can’t just leave him.” I strained my ears listening for any sign that the others were coming. So far the game seemed to be their only focus.
“We can and we will,” Raine said firmly. He nudged me from our hiding spot and deeper into the house. “Kale can take care of himself. Drew can’t.”
Anxious to find her, we hurried into a sitting room. There were muffled voices coming from behind a closed door at the back of the room. A shadow moved across the light coming from underneath the door. I quickly moved away from the distracting sounds of the fight, giving my full attention to what they were saying. Maybe it could be useful.
“That hellion is upstairs and has been restrained,” a man’s voice said. “I am positive Leah will come for her and for David. I understand she is a loyal woman.”
“Letting the girl keep her phone was a brilliant idea on his part,” Michael said.
“You’ll find he has a lot of good ideas,” the man said proudly. The identity of the other man finally came to me. The rotten egg stink gave him away. It was Raif. “Each one is as deceptive as the other.”
“You were right about his capabilities,” Michael told him approvingly. “Even I would not have thought of something so dramatic. Am I to assume the Were’s know their place?”
“Not one finger will be lifted without your permission.”
“Good,” Michael said. “I won’t have my prize harmed.”
“Soon every obstacle will be removed and the girl will be yours.” I could almost see Raif bowing down at Michael’s feet. The insipid tone in his voice told me he wanted to please. “Judith says the girl’s ugly.”
“Judith is an insufferable idiot. You’ve seen David and Mia. I am sure she is a beauty. That one will, no doubt, be a treat.”
Raine grabbed my hand possessively. He didn’t like where their conversation was going any more than I did. Michael’s usual cool tone was far too warm towards me now.
“I believe I will take her first,” Michael announced. I got the feeling he knew we were there. His voice seemed to be directed right at the door. Drew’s warning about a trap played through my mind. “When I tire of her in my bed, we will find out what she can do for us.”
Raine’s hand nearly crushed mine. His eyes turned stone cold gray. They were a shade lighter than the haze around him. I had to get him away from the door before he broke it down. The stairs a few feet away were my best bet. I left the door and dragged him towards them.
“They’re just words, Raine,” I whispered to him. His grip loosened, but he was still furious. “Let it go.”
Halfway up the stairs, I smelled Drew. There was a trace of blood mixed in with her tangy smell. Not much, but it was enough to make me move faster. I flew up the steps and past two rooms before I found hers. Of course, the door was locked. Raine gripped the handle, turning the lock past its breaking point and quietly pushed the door open. I slipped past, while Raine shut and secured the door behind us.
Drew lay on the bed with her back facing us. For some odd reason her feet were tied together at the ankles and then secured to the foot of the bed. Her breathing was as steady as her heartbeat. She was asleep.
“She must have gotten in a few good kicks,” Raine said, when he saw how her feet were tied.
Keeping that in mind, I took a safer route and walked toward her upper half in case I startled her when I woke her up and she mistook me for one of her attackers. With her hands behind her back, I felt fairly safe. Considering the circumstances, I would probably end up scaring the daylights out of her and she’d try to defend herself in any way she could.
“Drew, it’s me,” I said shaking her shoulder gently.
She woke up with a start and turned her head to look at me. A nasty cut above her left eye was crusted in dried blood. Her lip had been split open and now it was terribly swollen. I pulled the gag out of her mouth; relieved to see that was all they had done to her. I expected much worse.
“It’s about time,�
�� she said. “They knew I had my phone. I am so sorry.”
“I’m sorry we didn’t get here sooner,” I told her checking the cut above her eye. “You may need a few stitches when we get out of here.”
“A couple of steri-strips will do the trick, babe. I’m just glad you guys got here before Mark came back up,” she said softly. “He swore they’d catch you before you ever set foot inside the house.”
“Kinda hard to do when nobody’s doing his job,” Raine said under his breath.
I untied her hands while he took care of her feet. For someone that had just been kidnapped by werewolves and taken to a dangerous vampire’s house, she was in a pretty good mood.
“How’s that arm, big guy?”
“It’s fine, you did a great job.”
“Thanks. Where’s Happy?” Her eyes got as bright as Kale’s smile when she asked about him.
“He’s fighting with another wolf downstairs,” he told her quietly. Bless her heart she didn’t even flinch. “We need to go.”
“Ready when you are.”
“Raine, you get in front. I’ll stay behind Drew.” He started to say no, but I cut him off. “She can’t see in the dark as well as we can.”
Chapter Seventeen
The living room was deathly quiet. Kale was nowhere to be seen. I could smell blood, but it didn’t belong to him. Raine followed a heavy trail of blood that led us to a naked man. He was definitely dead. Judging by the awkward position of his body, it looked like his neck had been broken. Several open wounds on his stomach and legs told me the fight hadn’t been an easy one.
“Where is everybody?” Drew whispered. “There were more here earlier.”
“They’re here,” Raine said. He looked around cautiously. “Michael’s house, Michael’s rules.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“They have orders not to touch us until he says it’s okay,” I answered. “We overheard them on our way to find you.”
“So they just leave him here?”
“That’s what you get when money takes the place of pride,” Raine grumbled as he moved past her.
A few feet away from him we found smaller trail of blood. I knelt down and concentrated on whose it was. At first all I could pick up was the werewolf. Several long seconds later, the faint scent of mint came through. My eyes scanned the room, desperately searching for Kale.
“Leah?”
“It’s Kale’s, but I can barely smell him.”
“What does that mean?” he asked.
“I don’t know.”
Carefully and slowly, I followed his trail. As we went through the game room, the mint got stronger. I didn’t know if we were coming up on a lot more blood or if he was close. I hoped for the latter. When we got to the outside door, I finally heard his heartbeat. It wasn’t as quick as it usually is, but he was still with us.
I found him, as a man lying unconscious under a bush about twenty feet from the open door. Raine dragged his naked body out from under it and Drew hurried in to check him out. He had a few superficial cuts here and there and two deep bite marks wrapped around the center of his right thigh. The wound that worried Drew the most was a deep cut on the side of his head.
“He may have a concussion,” she said to herself, “And I’ll definitely have to stitch this up.”
A door opened behind me somewhere and I could hear two men talking. They hadn’t seen us, but we were totally exposed out here. If we could get to my car, at least we’d have a chance. Maybe we could beat them at their own game yet. When Raine looked over at me, I mouthed, “go”.
In one smooth motion, he threw Kale over his shoulder and took Drew’s hand. The three of us moved quickly and quietly towards the fence. So far we had managed to avoid detection. Hopefully it would stay that way. Ten more minutes and we’d be safe.
Declan was waiting on the other side of the fence as we arrived. He looked frantic. “’Ave ye seen Donovan?” he asked.
“No, we haven’t seen him or anybody else for that matter,” I whispered. “Kale got into a fight with another werewolf, but there was only one of them.”
“Leah, this was too easy. Something’s wrong,” he said. Declan’s deep blue eyes moved over the landscape quickly. I set my senses into high gear as well.
“Declan help me,” Raine said straining. His right shirtsleeve was turning bright red. Some or all the stitches in his forearm had popped under the strain of lifting Kale’s unconscious body. “I can’t lift him and me too. He’s a dead weight.”
Raine lifted Kale over his head and passed him to Declan, who was now hovering four feet off the ground. I watched in amazement as he eased back to the ground with Kale’s motionless body in hand. Declan laid him in the lush grass and came back up to take Drew’s hand as she slipped through the bars. As soon as she was on the other side, Raine reached his hand out to me.
“Get them in the car first,” I told him. “I can’t see what’s coming if I’m surrounded by trees. Declan’s right. Something is wrong.”
He wasn’t thrilled about it, but he did what asked. I was the only one that could hear, see, or smell anything that could threaten us from a distance. Declan and Drew stayed close to Kale until Raine jumped the fence. While he and Drew took Kale in the direction of my car, Declan and I kept our eyes peeled. I stood several feet away from the fence. If anyone did show up, I wanted them to think I was alone. Declan stayed close to the trees, watching Raine’s back.
When they disappeared behind the trees, I sensed I wasn’t alone. Judith was out here with us and she was close. I could smell her. I looked around frantically, but didn’t see her anywhere. There was no way I could slide through the fence without giving away their position. I knew Dane would kill Raine in a second if he found him. Kale and Drew would probably die too just for being involved. I wasn’t about to let any of that happen. Somehow, I needed to let Declan know Judith was here.
With her scent getting closer I knew whispering to him was definitely out of the question. She’d know he was there. Then I remembered what he and Donovan had said about being able to get inside a person’s head. I wouldn’t hear him, but maybe he would hear me. I looked right at him and concentrated hard.
“Declan, can you hear me?” He nodded his head. “Judith knows I’m here. I can’t get away without her finding y’all. Take them to my house and let Drew take care of them. You are welcome to sleep there. Do not let Raine change. He can’t fight all these people alone. I’ll find a way out.”
He nodded back to me just in time. In a split second Judith was on me. She punched me in the stomach as hard as she could. I doubled over, but she was ready with a fist to my face. I could taste blood filling my mouth.
“That’s for shooting me,” Judith whispered in my ear.
I saw Raine come out from behind the trees when I lifted my head to face Judith. The dark blue haze turned to black. I feared the worst when his eyes began to glow dangerously. Declan tackled him to the ground and struggled to keep him in the safety of the trees.
“She’s trying to save ye,” I heard Declan say. “She’s trying to save us all.”
A man appeared out of nowhere and struck me on the side of the head with his fist. The heavy blow effectively laid me out on the ground beneath him. He wrapped my hair around his fist and dragged me back towards the house. I clawed at his fingers, desperately trying to get loose, but it was useless.
I looked back at the fence line. Raine was on his knees trying to wrestle Declan off him. He was so enraged he even couldn’t speak. Somehow Declan was able to hold him no matter how much he struggled. Hopefully, he could keep him from changing as well.
“We can’t help her now. She knew Judith was on to her. Let the girl fix ye up an’ take care o’ Kale. We’ll get her back tonight,” Declan said quickly. He kept repeating the same thing over and over and over again.
I tried to pull my hair from the man’s hand again. He stopped walking and let Judith to take another shot. Th
is time, her foot came down hard on the left side of my torso. I heard several loud cracks and felt a warm, sharp pain radiate down the side of my body. For the first time in my life, I knew what a broken bone felt like. Unfortunately, I had more than one.
I rolled over on my side writhing in pain. The man squatted down beside me. The scent of cherry tobacco oozed off him. He gently released my hair, smiled sweetly and then hit me in the back of the head with something cold and hard. I passed out knowing I’d come face to face with Dane.
I came to in a courtyard. People were moving around but none seemed to be watching me. Four burly men carried a beautiful wooden casket to a low wooden platform in front of me. It was surrounded by more wood. I didn’t know who was in it, but I wasn’t planning on sticking around to find out.
I tried to move only to discover both my hands were tied to the chair I was sitting in. My eyes filled with water as I struggled to get them loose. I had completely forgotten about Judith’s love kick to the ribs.
“I am terribly sorry you received such a rough welcome, Dearest,” Michael said in his calm, cool tone.
My concentration shifted from the pain I felt to focus on him. If he wasn’t guarded, I could find out who he was. With my eyes closed, I inhaled as deep as my lungs would let me. What I found both surprised and scared me.
Either Michael smelled exactly like Donovan, or he was close. My full attention fell on the casket in front of me. A vision of witches burning at the stake suddenly came to mind. With that thought I prayed he wasn’t the one in it.
“Where’s Donovan?” I demanded. Pain ripped through my body as I struggled to catch my breath.
“Don’t worry, dearest. He is safely tied up as well,” he said, his voice moving closer. “It is not his time, yet.”
The smell of the ocean was Michael. Like Donovan, he was powerful. Unlike Donovan, Michael’s power tended to lean towards the destruction and wrath it could expel. He was calm for now, but that could change in an instant.
Slowly, he walked around where I could see him. Had we met under different circumstances, I would have considered him a nice, good-looking man. His appearance was not in the least bit threatening.