Lunar City

by Samantha Cross

  I felt warmth against my hand and realized it was the soft touch of Max. He looked down at me and mouthed the words: stay close, and then put his body in front of me as Melanie snuggled in close to my side. I could tell he didn’t have a clue why this was happening or if he could even protect me. I was thankful to have him put his body in front of mine, but terrified of what that meant. Was he going to fight Paul, who had a weapon?

  “Let her go, right now,” Lincoln roared to Paul. He looked like he was on the brink of exploding out of his skin into a werewolf form, but with that gun placed tightly against Brinly’s skull I knew that was not going to happen. He wouldn’t risk it. Even the speed of a werewolf was no match for that bullet.

  “You need to calm down,” Paul ordered, as his free hand wrapped around Brinly’s ribcage like a snake. The closer he brought her body to his, the more the tears came streaming down her cheeks. “You can calm down, too, honey,” he whispered in her ear, letting his bottom lip linger on her earlobe.

  The gesture threw Lincoln into a further fit of rage. “I’m warning you right now, Paul!”

  “Fellas,” Paul said, gesturing toward Travis and Corbin. The two instantly charged toward Lincoln like they knew what Paul was telling them to do already. “Looks like Lincoln is going to need a little help settling down.”

  Corbin whipped out a rope from his coat pocket and began tying them around Lincoln’s wrists. Lincoln struggled, but Paul viciously reminded him what he stood to lose if he fought by clutching a chunk of Brinly’s braids in his hand and tugging her head back with the gun pointed at her throat. Needless to say, Lincoln complied.

  I wanted to do something, but I was at a loss. Paul was going to kill Brinly if any of us moved an inch.

  And then Corbin did something very strange. From one of his pockets, he retrieved a small container of liquid and then slowly poured it over the rope that had Lincoln captured. As soon as this substance touched Lincoln’s skin, he began screaming in a way I never imagined Lincoln’s voice could. His skin was bubbling and turning white, and for a moment, I thought it was actual acid until Travis said, “That’s enough wolfsbane, it’s going to make me hurl.”

  It was damn wolfsbane in liquid form.

  Remnants from the spillage hit Corbin’s bare hands, and, even though his skin burned his face, remained emotionless, as though this were a familiar and accepted pain. I wondered if it were even a pain at all.

  Lincoln dropped to his knees and cried out in agony, and just as I thought his pain couldn’t get any worse, Kat appeared, holding a syringe. She injected the contents into Lincoln’s neck, causing him to growl and foam at the mouth.

  Kat smiled and said, “That ought to be enough wolfsbane to keep him down, Pauly.”

  Lincoln fell back onto the ground, writhing and gurgling like a man possessed. The sight of this was the first thing to snap Brinly out of her foggy state, as she reached out and screamed for him.

  Paul snatched her back, telling her, “Romeo won’t be saving you this time, Brin.”

  “What the fuck are you doing, Paul?” Max spoke up. He was absolutely irate.

  Paul’s red eyes shot toward Max. “This doesn’t concern you, mutt! You got what…ten….fifteen minutes before you’re back on all fours? Worry about that.”

  Not only were we being held at gunpoint, but the one form of protection we had was minutes away from becoming a threat to us as well. Things couldn’t get any worse.

  “All of this could have been avoided if your old man had just followed through with our original plan,” Paul said, intensely breathing into Brinly’s ear as she struggled in his arms. “We talked and talked and talked about it, over and over again, but I knew… I fucking knew he wouldn’t have the balls to go through with it. He didn’t have what it takes to keep this place running, to keep us from certain death. I will not be a fucking science project for the men in white coats because Aga was too soft. I won’t do it, Brinly.”

  “Go to hell,” she seethed. It was the first sentence she was able to clearly spit out. “You killed him. You killed him! He took you in and you do this!”

  “I didn’t kill him, Brinly. He did it to himself. When the family dog gets senile and becomes a burden, you take that dog to the back and you put it out of its misery. In time you’ll see how right I am.”

  “Bastard!” she yelled and tried to escape his arms, but he held her down tight.

  “There’s not going to be an in time, Paul,” Max said very calmly. “If you think you’re getting out of this, then you’re more out of touch with reality than I thought. You just murdered a man. How long you think you’re going to keep that under wraps?”

  “If it never leaves this room, then I’d say forever.”

  My heart sunk. He had every intention of adding us to his body count.

  Max whipped his head toward me, and when our eyes met, I saw an expression that put my stomach in knots—complete helplessness—and it scared the shit out of me.

  He quickly brought his attention back to Paul and pleaded. “Leave the girls out of this. You’re pissed at Lincoln, you’re pissed at me, fine, whatever, but the girls don’t have to get involved.”

  “Spare yourself the energy, Max. You know I’m not letting them go. I wouldn’t before and I certainly won’t now.”

  “What’s your goal here, huh? What is any of this doing?”

  “I’m cementing my rightful place as the new alpha.”

  “Aga didn’t become alpha by murdering anyone.”

  “You’ve been here a few months, Max, so don’t pretend you know shit about our way of life. This was always my throne to inherit and I simply grew tired of waiting in line.” He let go of Brinly and shoved her toward Corbin, who caught her out of instinct. “Don’t let her go,” he directed, and Corbin wrapped his arm around her neck, squeezing so tight, I could hear her struggling to breathe.

  Paul took slow, taunting steps toward Lincoln, who had managed to bring himself to his knees despite the agony he was obviously going through. Paul stood in front of him, peering down with a smug, hateful glare, like he was basking in the sight of a weakened, kneeling Lincoln.

  “Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?” he said to Lincoln, and then pistol whipped him directly across the face. A stream of blood flew out of his mouth and collected on the floor, and Brinly screamed. “What’s that, Brin?” Paul asked her, cupping his ear like he was hard of hearing. “Did you say stop?” He then pistol whipped Lincoln once more, knocking him off his knees. Brinly cried harder.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Max struggling with himself not to charge at Paul with everything he had, but common sense was holding him back. If anyone moved, bullets would come flying our direction like a hail storm, and Brinly’s neck would be snapped in a second.

  We were trapped into being bystanders.

  After smacking Lincoln around for a few minutes, an exhausted Paul wiped the forming perspiration from above his lips with the back of his hand that was holding the gun, and angrily spouted, “All this time, I thought you were my friend, my support, and you’re just a lying piece of shit.” He hit him with the butt of the gun again.

  Max had enough and yelled, “Jesus Christ, stop! You wanna hit someone, hit me.”

  Paul smiled at him. “Nah, nah, Lincoln and I got unfinished business.” He began polishing the small firearm with the end of his shirt and then flashed his eyes over at Brinly, who was still weeping. “I gotta know, Brin, just how long were you and Lincoln fucking behind my back?”

  Shit, he knew, which meant he had even more of a reason to kill Lincoln.

  The revelation seemed to surprise Brinly as well, and when her eyes widened just a little Paul laughed. “I mean, I know when I found out, but I’m curious to see if our timelines match up.”

  He pressed the tip of the gun to her jawline and my heart raced. It was so close to her face that if his finger slipped even slightly and it went off, she’d be dead. Brinly was defiant and stared him str
aight in the eyes as she said, “I’ll never apologize for finding someone who treated me like a human being.”

  “I treated you far better than you deserved,” he hissed. The rage in his voice was absolutely overwhelming. “For royalty, you’re a bit of a whore, aren’t you?”

  She was visibly shaking, but their eyes never broke contact. “If you’re going to kill me, don’t drag it out. I don’t want to have to listen to you anymore.”

  “You’re not getting off easy—you or your boyfriend. You’ll have a death fit only for a princess.”

  Max had had enough and spoke up. “You really thinking you’re going to kill us all and then walk out of here like there’s no problem? We could all be dead by the end of the night, but everyone is going to know what you’ve done.”

  “Without Aga’s heir, the only plausible person to step up and take the mantle is me. Once I’m in my position, they won’t be able to question anything I do.”

  “Even so, you think the cops won’t get involved?”

  “We run this city, Max. No cop will touch me.”

  Max inhaled very deeply, and I could tell he was trying his best not to lose his cool and continue attempting to talk some sense into Paul. “You’re not killing these girls,” he warned.

  “You’re right, I’m not. You are.” There was an amused, calculated expression on his face as he beckoned Kat toward him. Once she was at his side, he calmly ordered, “Throw the three in the basement, and don’t unlatch the door until the sun comes up.”

  “What?!” Max exclaimed, his face turning red and the veins in his neck pumping against his skin. He was gonna punch him, I could feel it, and if it happened he’d get a bullet in the skull.

  I was panting, freaking out, wanting my body to move to grab him and stop him from making a mistake, but I was having some kind of panic attack which was hindering me from using my legs. The walls in that building suddenly felt like they were closing in on me. I was to die that night, and by the hand of someone I loved.

  “I’m gonna fucking kill you,” Max yelled.

  “Don’t even think of touching me or I’ll off you and Brinly and then lock myself down in that basement with your girls. You want to try me? Because I really have nothing to lose here, so it makes no difference to me.”

  Max stared him down, but there was nothing he could do.

  Kat took the gun and began waving it around at us, trying to herd us together like sheep. “Shall we?” she asked, like she was inviting us out for tea, and then batted her eyelashes and scooted us forward.

  Kat led the way, walking backward in the direction of the hallway as she pointed the gun at us. She was clearly expecting Max to attack her once we were out of Paul’s sight, so Kat kept the aim honed in on just Melanie and me, ensuring Max wouldn’t make any bold moves to try to save us. After all, there was no guarantee he could push either of us out of the way before the bullet lodged its way into our heads, and that was a risk he’d never take.

  But if we were being sentenced to death, what difference did it make?

  I looked over my shoulder as we entered the hallway, trying to get a glimpse of Paul, Lincoln, Corbin, Travis, and Brinly, who were all staying behind. What was going to happen to Brinly and Lincoln? I couldn’t see. I turned back around and followed Kat, certain that I was going to hear gunfire going off behind us. I wasn’t prepared to hear the sounds of their execution.

  When we arrived to the basement, it was down a stairwell engulfed in total darkness. “Go on,” Kat ordered Melanie, since she was at the front of the line, and Melanie dreadfully led the way.

  The door was made of steel, and my only thought was that it had been installed so whoever went in wouldn’t be able to come out. Perhaps this was once used as a safe place the wolves could go and shift without hurting anyone. It was such cruel irony that it was now being used for the opposite reason.

  The room was so damn dark, yet I managed to see the outline of junk piles all around us. There were boxes and garden supplies, and I knew there must have been a source of light somewhere for me to be able to see even the tiniest of my surroundings.

  “You three make yourselves cozy in there,” Kat teased and began to shut the door.

  “Wait,” Max called out, and she halted. “Don’t be an idiot, Kat, he’s just using you. He doesn’t give a damn about you.”

  “You act like I’m losing something by helping him. I’m about to get everything I want,” she said with a head tilt and then slammed the door in our faces. There was a click and a loud bang, and we knew she had locked us in from the outside.

  The room was engulfed in darkness.

  Suddenly, a flicker of light appeared, and it was Max yanking on a chain hanging from the ceiling. It was attached to a dim lightbulb, and while the light it radiated was weak, we were, at least able to see.

  “What happens now?” Melanie spoke. I knew there wasn’t any one simple answer, and she most definitely wasn’t going to get it out of me right then and there.

  “He’s going to kill Brinly, isn’t he?” I trembled. I didn’t know why I was asking. I already saw him threaten her life, but I couldn’t wrap my mind around how he could actually go through with it.

  The room was dark, but I saw the white shine of Max’s eyes as he turned and faced me. “There’s nothing we can do for her right now. You two have to find a way out of here before something terrible happens.”

  “Before something terrible happens?” Melanie echoed. “It’s a little late for that, don’t you think?!”

  “Believe me, it’s about to get worse,” he replied, and I couldn’t help but notice he sounded the tiniest bit out of breath. Something was altering inside his body.

  Oh, God.

  “I’ve never seen anyone die before,” Melanie admitted. She sounded like she was on the brink of tears. “He just killed him… he just killed him right in front of us. How am I going to get that image out of my head?”

  “We’re still alive,” I told her as I rubbed my hand against her arm. “We have that, at least…”

  “For now.”

  “Neither of you are going to die,” Max barked at us. “It’s a basement, not a sarcophagus, meaning there’s gotta be a back exit out of here. We just gotta…” He stopped himself and swallowed hard. He looked like he was in the early stages of flu with his eyes slowly blinking, deep breaths, swallows, and the act of focusing on our conversation was suddenly a task. “We just gotta get around some of this shit down here,” he finished, looking absolutely sickly.

  I looked around at the basement that was a total mess. We could hardly move an inch without bumping into cardboard boxes and crates full of household items, and I knew it was going to be a nightmare moving this stuff around in order to find a hidden door or window.

  Suddenly, Max pressed his hand to his chest, closed his eyes, and groaned deeply. His skin had turned completely white and there were droplets of sweat forming on his brow. The moon was beginning to take over and I knew his human form wouldn’t remain for very long.

  I had been terrified of death before, but knowing it could come at the hands of someone I loved was almost too much to bear.

  “Are you…?” I said. I didn’t need to finish my sentence for him to know what I was asking.

  “Just… look for an exit and don’t worry about me,” he said as he slowly sat down on a stack of crates. He looked like he was refraining from throwing up, and kept his head bowed and his eyes staring at the floor. He was concentrating, and I could tell he was doing his best to fight the change for as long as he could.

  Thankfully, the basement wasn’t very large, but with the clutter of cardboard boxes stacked from floor to ceiling, and just the lone light bulb hanging from a cord above, we didn’t have much light to work with in our search.

  Melanie and I began tearing down boxes from the very top of the stacks, trying to dig our way to the walls in hopes of a secret door or window. We were racing against time, though, because every second that pa
ssed, I could hear Max’s breathing get heavier and heavier, and the muffled groans followed soon after.

  “Is he about to…?” Melanie’s voice trailed off.

  I kept my focus on the boxes in front of me. “Yes,” I answered honestly, and Melanie looked like she was going to pass out, but then ripped more boxes down furiously and faster than before. “We’re gonna get out of this alive, Melanie, I swear to God.”

  “You better not be lying.”

  “As soon as we get out of here, we go straight to the cops and tell them everything.”

  “Where the hell is the nearest police station?”

  “One can’t be far, we’ll find it.”

  “Light!”

  “What?”

  “Light! Look.”

  From between two boxes was a thin line of moonlight pouring through. She took one box and I took the other, and when we yanked them down we found an egress window behind it. The hinges were rusty, the glass was smudgy, and the frame itself was pretty small, but if needed, we’d be able to squeeze our asses through. We just needed something to stand on so we could crawl up there.

  “Thank Christ, let’s get out of here,” Melanie said.

  We suddenly heard a loud crash and turned to see that Max had fallen to the floor. He was in the fetal position sweating up a storm and shaking uncontrollably. I had never seen him so vulnerable. My instinct to survive was battling the one that wanted to be there for him, hold him, coach him through the agony and tell him it was going to be okay.

  Melanie, on the other hand, took one look at Max’s progressing condition and said, “Let’s get the hell out of here. Come on, come on, come on.”

  “Hold on,” I said, and steadily approached Max.

  “Are you crazy? What are you doing?”

  We had been through too much for me to leave him like this. I had to try to help him before he fully turned.

  “Max,” I said. Startled, he jumped, and he glared at me like he was shocked I hadn’t left yet…or maybe it was furious because I hadn’t left yet. “Max, can you still hear me?”

  “Cora, get away. Now!”