She glanced at the man. Somewhere in her mind, she thought he looked familiar again, but his next words pushed that thought far away.
“So…about that wolf attack.”
2
Ares looked at the woman, waiting for a response of some sort. The auburn-haired female was in some distress, and it started with an animal attack. Could he be so lucky that the Fates stuck the woman in his path and made it easy for him to find the possibly new werewolf? There was something about her and the man that was familiar to him, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.
“What about it?” She straightened her back and gave him a stubborn look as if her asshole of a boyfriend hadn’t just stormed off.
“You said you were having flashbacks to it, at a club, without any actual triggers.” He watched her confidence fade just a little, her shoulders slouched forward, and her gaze flickered to the ground. “Your asshole boyfriend left you here alone because of it. With a stranger, and drunk. The attack was obviously a big deal to you, but not him?” He probed, he needed to make sure she was the woman his wolf had actually attacked. Comfort wasn’t his style, now…pinning two people against each other, especially when there was already a conflict, was doable, and the man she was with had already set that up.
Calling the guy an asshole would trigger something, either a defense for him or agreement from her.
“He thinks I’m crazy,” she muttered. “What I remember and the injuries on my body don’t match up. But…I know what happened.” She hid her face in her hands. “I shouldn’t be talking to a stranger about this.”
Yet, a large amount of alcohol and anger mixed together could get most people to talk. “And he thought that getting you out would make you feel less crazy about it?”
She snorted. “If I’m honest, he just wanted to go out and forget it happened. Look, I should go, sorry for sitting in your way.” She started towards the line of cabs that frequented the club.
He tried to think about how to keep her talking. “You’re not crazy, you know.”
She didn’t answer him and just kept walking. He cursed and tried to follow her until he caught a certain scent. Another wolf. He’d been so distracted by the woman that he hadn’t smelt it mingled in with the normal club goers. Could it have been the man she was with? He watched her get into a cab, and it drove off. At least she’d be home safe and away from the jerk who’d brought her here. Assuming they didn’t live together. Of course, she seemed like the type of woman who would lock the guy out of the house for pissing her off. The thought gave him a smile.
He walked into the club in search of the man, but the scent became lost and mingled in the smells of the crowd, but he could sense the spirit of the wolf a mile away. He found the man grinding up against another female, another wolf at that, and one that Ares knew was working with him. Ares smiled and stepped up to them.
“Julia,” he spoke over the music. “I need to speak with him; I promise I’ll return him.” He gave her a knowing smirk. She was smart and would catch on to it. Chances were, she already knew this man was a wolf and had been working on gaining information from him.
She bowed her head. “Of course, I’ll go get us some drinks.” She kissed the man’s cheek before she swayed off toward the bar.
The man scowled at him. “What the fuck do you want?”
“Outside. Now.”
He saw the man hesitate for a moment, a tug of war between listening and defying him. Ares smiled at the internal conflict. The man may not have been part of his pack, but there was still a sense of alpha in his demand.
In the end, the man nodded and headed towards the exit. Ares followed him; it wasn’t often that he would deal with someone else’s pack member. In this one, he sensed the madness close to the surface, but no wolf should have left a potential new wolf alone or led them to believe they were crazy. Regardless of which pack they belonged to.
“Now, what could be so important that you interrupted my dance with a beautiful woman.” The man spun around the moment they were outside.
“The fact that you let a somewhat drunk, possibly new werewolf wander back home alone. After acting like a total ass.” Ares crossed his arms. “The fact that I found you basically dry humping one of my wolves on the dance floor doesn’t help your case at all.”
“Your wolf?” Anthony’s eyes widened.
Ares gave a dark laugh. “You’re looking at the alpha of the Red River Wolf Pack.”
“Well then, I’m Anthony of the Muddy Creek Wolf Pack, second-in-command.”
Ares gritted his teeth. Anthony admitting out loud what pack he belonged to was a step closer to confirming what Julia had said. “As a second-in-command, you should know to keep an eye on that woman. Who was she attacked by?” If he could get Anthony to confirm it wasn’t a Muddy Creek wolf, then that would make things easier.
“That’s none of your business. She’s mine to deal with. Not yours.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “Now, if you don’t mind, I want to get back to my night.”
Ares grabbed him and slammed him against the brick wall. The wolf inside him snarled, wanting to tear the man apart. “She’s having flashbacks to the attack. She’s going to change, and you’re leading her to believe that nothing happened. What if she changes when you’re not there?”
“Not your problem.” The man ground out. “She’s my problem. I’ll deal with her.”
He didn’t have much choice here. He could force the issue and cause more of a scene. Despite the club being mostly shifters of some sort, there was still an occasional innocent human walking around, and he didn’t want to draw attention to them. Or, he could let the man go and send his own wolves to find and help the woman. He forced his hand to loosen and let go. He stepped away from Anthony. “You’re right; she’s your loose cannon. Hopefully, she doesn’t attack or kill anyone, and if she does, it’ll be blood on your hands.”
“She won’t.” Anthony straightened his shirt with a couple jerks of the hem. “Now, I’d appreciate it if you left my pack’s concerns to me. And leave Casey be.”
Casey. A beautiful name. “As long as she’s handled.”
“You Red River wolves always think you’re the cream of the crop and can push the others around.”
“You Muddy Creek wolves, always without regards to anyone else, power and land-hungry cretins.” Ares shot back. “Enjoy your night, Anthony, and stay away from my wolves. I don’t like them to mate with filth.”
Anthony’s fists clenched, and Ares found himself wishing the wolf would strike out, it’d been too long since he had a good fight, but in the end, Anthony turned around and stormed back into the club. Ares let out a sigh and went to head home. Tomorrow he’d get his wolves to help find the woman to give her the help she needed instead of leaving her to the Muddy Creek pack. He also needed to figure out why the woman and her boyfriend were familiar to him.
When Ares got back to the pack common house, he headed to the room that Eli occupied. He wanted to talk directly to the wolf, it wasn’t that he didn’t trust Julia, but sometimes details were better straight from the source.
Eli sat up the moment Ares entered the room. “What’s up boss?”
“How are you feeling?” He grabbed a chair from the desk and sat. “Julia told me you completely succumbed to the madness.”
“Like crap.” Eli held his head down in shame, the blond hair falling over his eyes. “Apparently I tore some woman up pretty good. Julia told me she survived though.”
“Apparently?”
Eli glanced up, reminding Ares of a small child. “I only remember approaching her and the aftermath. That’s it. I was hurt; I was trying to warn her of something, and everything after that was just darkness.”
“So you don’t actually know if you bit her?”
“Well I was covered in blood, so I assumed it was me.”
Ares stood and paced the room. This was the information he needed, but until he could confirm if Eli bit the woman or not, he�
�d treat it as if he did, and she was his pack.
Casey laid back on her bed and closed her eyes as the headache took over. It blurred her vision and stole her common sense with every pulse. She’d dimmed the lights and was about to pull the pillow over her head to block out the random noises of the apartment complex. What a shitty night, and Anthony’s behavior sealed the deal. She was going to break up with the jerk. He’d never been such a total ass to her before, but she’d seen hints of his controlling tendencies and anger outbursts towards others. That wasn’t going to fly with her, but first, she needed to get rid of the headache and wait for him to get back to his apartment before she called him.
She rolled over and pulled the pillow with her. Thinking about Anthony hurt, but the stranger…he felt safe. She didn’t know him, and his questions should have bothered her, but something about him screamed comfort and safety. She’d seen him somewhere before, a couple years earlier, but the memory was escaping her. His concern about the wolf attack seemed sincere to her, the look in his eyes, the way he didn’t automatically dismiss what she’d been saying.
At the thought of it, yellow eyes flashed in her mind, and she cried out in pain as something seemed to try and fight its way out of her body. Pain tore through her back as she arched on her bed. She swore her skin stretched over her bones as she writhed on the bed in pain. Her world went black, bringing her pain to a blissful end.
Casey sat up and put her hand against her head. She needed to make another doctor’s appointment about these headaches. They were starting to get ridiculous. She opened her eyes and gasped at her room. Her bed was torn to shreds under her, springs and stuffing poking out of the remains of the mattress. It was a wonder no one called the cops. Feathers from the pillow were strewn about the room, the cases nothing but scraps. Her heart pounded as she stood and spun around to take in the rest of the damage. Splintered wood, from where her nightstand once stood, huddled in one corner. Her closet doors now sat askew as if something tried to bust through them; even her bedroom door looked as if something tried to break out of the room.
What the fuck? She clenched her hands, trying to figure out if she needed to call the police or if this was some sort of sick joke. She looked at the floor to see bloodied paw prints, with each step the blood grew fainter before the spots disappeared altogether. What the actual fuck? Anthony had to have been playing a prank on her. Right? She looked for the phone to call him but stopped herself. That’s what he would want, for her to call him in panic.
She took a deep breath and went to change clothes. A new panic came over her at the realization that she was naked and blood was dried on her shoulder from the bite mark. The scabs must have split during whatever had happened. Thinking of what was going on, she tried not to collapse in fear thinking of what was going on. Nothing felt wrong or off; she pushed the thought of anything nefarious away. She quickly got dressed and checked her window…locked. Her bedroom door…locked. She felt like she was in a riddle. If the door was locked and the window was locked, both from the inside, what happened? The answer would be she did something, but what on earth was with the bloody dog prints?
Her phone rang from the living room, and she found a small relief that it hadn’t been in the room she just tried to destroy. She ran a hand over her face. Correction, when she did destroy the room. Unlocking the door, she wondered how that was mostly intact when the night stand was completely destroyed. Must have been that cheap value store furniture.
She walked out, happy to find that the rest of the apartment was still in perfect order. She answered her phone. “Hello?”
“Casey, it’s Vanessa, your boss? Did you forget that your vacation ended today?” Her boss’s voice wasn’t as demanding as it normally was, and there was a hesitation in the tone. “I heard you had a bit of a rough camping trip, so if you need another couple days, you need to let me know so I can move the workload.”
She rubbed her temple. “I’m just still suffering from migraines, I can come in and work, or if possible, could I work from home for a couple days?”
“Let me check.”
She heard the tapping of keys. “Yeah, I’ve got a workload I can send you via e-mail, and you can complete it from home. Say a week of work from home?”
“That would be great. I plan on making a doctor’s appointment today to see what’s up. I’m sorry.”
“First offense so it’s fine. I’ll send you those files.” She hung up and Casey sighed.
She scrolled through her phone, expecting a text from Anthony with a half-hearted apology, but nothing. She shook her head and dialed the automated system for her doctor’s office and made an appointment. She went to her purse to get her migraine meds and looked at the last two pills. She had to go out and get more, she glanced back at the bedroom and added stuff to replace her furniture to her mental list. But she didn’t want to leave the apartment. What if whatever happened last night happened again this morning?
She took a deep breath and grabbed her purse. She could sleep on the couch until she could order a new bed, or sleep on the floor in the bedroom until she was sure she wouldn’t destroy the rest of her apartment. Just a quick trip out for pain meds. That’s it.
Casey waited in line, tapping her foot impatiently. Her head was starting to pound again, and she wanted to get home before it got too bad. She quickly handed the clerk her money and shoved the bottle of pills in her purse. She couldn’t shake the events from last night from her mind. The stranger, Anthony’s asinine comments, her destroyed room. She rubbed her eyes as she stepped out of the building.
“Excuse me, miss?” A woman stopped her as soon as she was out of the door
Casey stopped hesitantly. “Yes?”
“I was told by Anthony that I could find you here—”
“You can tell him to fuck off.” She growled and pushed off towards her car.
She followed, and Casey shook her head. “I don’t want anything to do with him right now.”
“With good reasons. Okay look, I’m not here because Anthony sent me here. I’m here because I know you need help with something.” Her gaze darted around the parking lot. “You’ve been suffering from headaches, blackouts, maybe doing things you can’t remember. Violent things.”
Casey paused with her hand on the car door. How did this woman know what was going on? “Maybe.”
“You’re having flashbacks to when the attack happened. Dreaming about the wolf who did it?” Her voice was soft. “We all go through that after we’re bitten.”
The phrasing of her words reminded Casey of the bartender’s odd comment. “Who are we?” She couldn’t stop the small shake in her voice.
“Come with me to find out?” she offered. “You can drive, that way you’re in control. We just want to help you, where Anthony seems to be failing.”
“Is Anthony one of you?” Her fingers curled under the handle of the car door.
The woman paused. “Yes and no. We’re the same creature, but he’s not part of our pack.”
Pack. Wolf. The pieces started to come together. “Werewolf,” she muttered and turned to the woman. “I’ve heard the whispers of different creatures coming out into the open. I always thought it was just hogwash and they weren’t real.”
“No. They’re real. We’re real, but if you continue to ignore this, then you’re going to fall into the madness and end up changing someone else or killing them. Do you want that?”
No, she didn’t. But she couldn’t really wrap her mind around being a werewolf. “If I agree to go with you, what then?”
“I show you where our pack helps newly changed werewolves, we help you gain control and make sure that you don’t fall to the madness. Then you make a choice of being a lone wolf or joining the pack.” She shrugged one shoulder. “Wolves aren’t normally solitary creatures, but since we’re human as well, we have that choice.”
Casey licked her lips and tried to think of what to do. On the one hand, she wanted answers. On the other hand, s
he was starting to believe she really was crazy. “Okay, fine.” She was hoping this wasn’t a huge joke. “If Anthony is behind this though, and it’s a joke…” she let the empty threat trail off.
“I swear, I simply told him I was a friend from work and I was trying to find you. He mentioned that you were probably out getting more headache meds because you’d been eating them like candy lately.” She motioned to Casey’s car. “Let’s get going. I’ll buy us lunch on the way.”
She climbed into the car. “So you know my name, what’s yours?”
“Julia Lavicks,” she said with a smile.
“And Julia, how did you know to come after me?”
“You met my Alpha last night, he was worried that you needed help, and when he approached Anthony about it, he became suspicious that you were on your own.”
Last night… “I had no idea that he was a werewolf…or anything but a slight ass.”
“He comes off a bit rough, but that’s because he has to worry about all of us.”
“I never caught his name.”
“Kylian.” She buckled up.
The name sent shivers down her spine, and she had a weird suspicion that Julia was lying to her. She put her seatbelt on and started the car.
“Right, take Highway 50 west.”
Casey put the car into gear. “Into the mountains?”
“Where else do you expect a bunch of werewolves to hang out? A public park?”
She had a point. Casey backed out of the parking lot before switching gears and following the directions of the strange woman. Most days she would have questioned her sanity, but today, today she wanted answers, and it seemed like this was the way to get them.
Lex crossed his arms and looked at Anthony. His second-in-command had screwed up big time, but maybe they could use it to his advantage. “Let me get this straight. You left her in the woods, and now she’s a rogue pup?”
“She’s not rogue; if she changes, I’ll bring her here.” Anthony shook his head. “She attracted the attention of Kylian—”
The Fall of War (Gods of Olympus Book 4) Page 2