It was a dark figure, somewhere a little over six feet tall, walking upright and coming straight for us. It was pitch black out, so the details were blurry, but there was no denying that someone or something was coming our way.
Lyle and Ron both had their guns aimed, ready to kill, and I did my best to stay somewhere between the two for protection, but also out of the way.
But the more I watched this figure close in on us, the more I realized that this wasn’t a werewolf walking on two feet, but a human.
I had to rub my eyes to make sure I was really seeing what I saw in front of me.
Max.
What?
How?
“Son?” Lyle called out as the rifle lowered.
I couldn’t believe it, he was standing there, shaggy brown human hair framing his human face, dressed in his human flannel, buttoned-up shirt along with his human torn up jeans. He wasn’t a werewolf. He was here, in one human piece.
His face softened as though he had read every thought racing through my mind at that moment, and an almost joyous expression threatened to take over him as he walked toward me.
Once he was in front of me, I put my hands on each of his arms, checking his body to see if he were really here and I wasn’t hallucinating. After feeling the hardness of his arms and the cotton softness of his clothes beneath my touch, my eyes trailed up to his face.
“How…?” was all I could say.
Max looked exhausted, but he grinned, anyway. “I finally found something worth fighting the change for.” There was a long pause and through a heavy breath he said, “I love you.”
I didn’t know what to say or how to feel, and instead, threw myself into his chest and let him wrap his arms around my body until I was practically suffocating against his shirt.
Finally, I felt safe again.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
To this day I don’t recall the exact way I told Max about what happened to Melanie. The whole moment was a big blur, and I’m not certain how long I was blubbering to him on the streets. It could have been seconds, minutes, hours, it really didn’t make a difference. I was stuck inside a tunnel where the only thing prominent in my life at that moment was my grief and exhaustion. Someone could have run up to me and punched me in the face and I don’t think the pain would register.
Lyle and his buddy had pulled Daggett out of the wreckage, patched him up with some gauze, and then let him rest in the back of the van while Max consoled me and let me cry.
“I’m so, so sorry,” he said. The sound of his voice was like a warm hug to my soul.
“She was only in town because of me,” I told Max quietly as I leaned my entire body against the vehicle, too weak to stand on my own, but thankfully, wrapped up warm in the blanket Lyle had given me. It helped that Max’s body was pressed against mine, touching me, holding me, and letting me shiver in his arms.
“You didn’t do this to her.”
“But I put everything in motion.”
“Don’t you remember how pissed you were at me for blaming myself for almost hurting you? How you said it wasn’t something I could control?”
“I know.” Logically I knew her death wasn’t truly my fault, but emotionally it felt that way. She was introduced to this world through me, and it’s what got her killed.
I lowered my head until my face was veiled by my hair. “How am I going to tell Aunt Vicki?” I asked. “What do I tell her?”
He brushed my chestnut colored strands out of my eyes and told me, “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. We’ll figure it out, I promise.”
“It was hard enough covering up what happened to Owen, but I can’t with Melanie. I don’t have it in me to bottle this up forever.”
Max was silent, because there was nothing he could really say.
The back doors to the van shut hard and the whole vehicle bounced, throwing my balance off and forcing me to stand up straight. My blanket slipped off my shoulder and Max pulled it up tight to my neck, wrapping me up again.
Lyle appeared from around the other side of the van and said, “We got your friend’s bleeding to slow down a little, but we’re going to need to take him somewhere to treat him thoroughly.”
“Thank you,” I replied. “I’m sorry about your friend, too.”
He bowed his head for a split second and then continued on with the conversation. “Ron will take your friend to get treated.”
“What about you?” Max asked him.
“I’m staying here,” he answered.
Max groaned and then shook his head. “Dad, don’t be stupid. You’re not going to be able to take these guys down by yourself.”
“I won’t be doing it by myself. I’ll have you. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from raising you, is you hold a grudge unlike anyone. I know you’ll want to see this through.”
Max tossed his head back and sarcastically smiled. “Figures you’d disguise an insult as a compliment.”
“That’s not what I meant, but if you want to take it that way.”
“There’s no other way to take it, pops.”
“We don’t have time for this.”
“Why are you even here? If you came here to play the good guy, you’re about fifteen years too late.”
“I came here to save your life from those cretins you’ve been living with for God only knows how long.”
“Right. Because I’m incapable of existing without your guidance.”
“It sounds like it hasn’t been smooth sailing. Did you think to do any actual research about the people you were shacking up with, Max, or did you just go into it hoping for the best? Because I could see the red flags from a mile away.”
“Shut up, Dad,” Max spat, looking completely vexed. “It’s real easy for you to stand on the sidelines and pretend to know what’s good or bad for me, but you don’t know shit about what I’ve gone through this past year.”
“You’re right, I don’t,” he interrupted. “Because you cut me out of your life!”
“Is this make-believe time? Are we pretending you were father of the year and I was an ungrateful prick who threw you to the side for no reason? Fuck off.”
“Don’t talk to me like that!”
“What are you going to do, put me in time out?”
“Stop it!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. My voice was so shrill, I startled even myself. The two of them stopped their bickering and faced me, and I was ready to chew both their asses out. “They have Brinly and Lincoln, and if we don’t do something about it soon, they’re both dead. We don’t have time for a goddamn family feud right now, so please, shut up.”
Max was still fuming, but he remained quiet.
“She’s right,” Lyle said. “There’s little time to waste.” He was talking directly to Max, but Max didn’t even look him in the eye, instead choosing to take turns staring at the pavement or at me. “Ron will take Cora out of the city along with her friend while we find the wolves.”
“No!” I refused. “Those bastards killed Melanie. I want to be there when you take them down.”
I was defiant. If Paul was going to die, I needed to be there—to aid in his downfall and to bask in it. For Melanie.
Max closed in on me, so what he was about to say could only be heard between the two of us. “You know I went looking through the town thinking you were already dead. I didn’t like that feeling, and I don’t want to repeat that.”
“Then you know exactly why I won’t let you go by yourself.”
Max looked at me, defeated, knowing there was no arguing with me and that I was going to be by his side even if it meant the death of me. He cupped my cheek in his hand and said, “Are you sure?”
“I’ve never been more sure in my life.”
“Then let’s go get Brin and Lincoln.”
Lyle took that as his cue and immediately went into action. He instructed Ron to get into the car as he shut the doors to the van, locking everything up tight and making sure Daggett was se
cured in the backseat.
“What about you guys?” Ron asked. “I can’t leave you stranded.”
“Taking a vehicle wouldn’t be a good idea, anyway,” Max answered before Lyle could say a thing. “They’ll hear us coming and they could kill Lincoln or Brinly right on the spot.”
“How do you know they’re not dead already?” Lyle asked.
“I can feel them near. They’re alive, I just don’t know for how long.”
I was relieved, and even though my face was incapable of making a smile in that moment, I almost felt happy. There was a still a chance we could save them and make it through this night having accomplished something.
“We have to be on the lookout,” Lyle said to Max. “We have one hunting us.”
“That’d be Corbin.”
“You can tell?” I asked.
“His thoughts were quiet, but I could hear him close, which means him and Paul are separated and we have a better shot of taking them out.”
“I still think it’s ill-advised to let Cora get involved in this,” Lyle said. “A car crash is no joke. She could be concussed.”
“I’m fine,” I told him, trying my best not to sound irritated, even though I absolutely was. I understood his concern, but all the chit chat going on was wasting more time than necessary. “Let’s just go already.”
I was foolishly eager. I didn’t know what I was walking into, but at the same time, I didn’t want a moment to think about it.
I watched Ron start up the vehicle and drive away from us, all the while wondering if Daggett would be able to pull through. I saw the headlights get smaller and smaller the further they drove into darkness, and once they pulled out of the city, I felt a sense of relief. Daggett was going to be saved.
But what would become of us?
We were standing in the streets with one gun and nothing but the weak flickering of a street light to guide us through the night. Lyle stepped to my side and Max to my right, and the two men sandwiched me between their bodies to keep me safe. It was funny that neither had to discuss this and did it out of instinct, like their thinking was nearly identical.
“You’ll act as backup while I take Paul out,” Max said.
“We’ll take him out together,” Lyle argued. “Maybe a few bullets won’t take him down permanently, but it can weaken him. If he’s done this much damage without repercussions then we have to be smart about how we do this.” When Max didn’t respond, Lyle turned to him and commented, “No snarky response?”
“Are you trying to fight right now or what?”
“I’m just surprised you’d back down so quickly.”
“Yeah, well, this is about more than just me or you, and one of us has to be mature enough to realize that, right?”
Now, it was Lyle’s turn to go mute.
It was so quiet in the city that I could hear our shoes crunching and rolling pebbles beneath our feet. The air was still and the area abandoned, and all I could think about was where Corbin was hiding, and why he hadn’t taken us out already.
“You know I never stopped looking for you,” Lyle said softly. From the corner of my eye, I saw Max peek passed me and to his father, but then try to play it cool like he didn’t care. “Once I knew what you were, I’ve thought about you every day. I know I wasn’t the best father to you growing up, but I’m trying to make it up to you now. I’ve lost your mother for good, but there’s still time to make things right between us. The bickering needs to end, on my end as well.”
Max inhaled deeply and said, “You really want to make things right, you can start by helping me protect her. I don’t know what we’re about to face, but I need to know she’s safe, even if something happens to me.”
Lyle peered down at me and then brought his attention back to Max. “You have my word,” he said.
The two nodded at one another civilly and then we went back to silence.
Suddenly, Max stopped walking, squinted his eyes and asked, “Do you smell that?” I breathed inward, but smelled nothing beyond lake water and summer night heat. “It’s burning wood. There’s a fire.”
It had to be his werewolf senses working because I smelled nothing.
“It’s that way,” he said and pointed down the road to our left. He didn’t wait for Lyle or me to respond before he picked up speed, practically jogging in the direction of this apparent fire. Lyle and I chased after him, and Max only stopped to look back at me and take me by the hand so we weren’t separated. His pulling me was the only thing keeping my legs running.
It was a minute later when I, too, smelled the aroma of fire, and within seconds I saw the orange glow of its flames take over the streets.
Beside an apartment building complex in front of the lake was a burgeoning bonfire. Stacks of kitchen chairs, desks, and random bits of wood were piled several feet high, and although the fire seemed to be fresh, it was building at a rapid pace. This wasn’t the kind of fire you roast marshmallows over, this was the kind of fire you burned down houses with.
This was all taking place in an empty lot with parked construction trucks and cinder blocks placed on hills of dirt. They were building something here, but the workers had left everything behind.
The fire spit flakes of burning material at us and I shielded my eyes so nothing would hurt me. The fire was so massive and distracting that at first, I didn’t even realize that we weren’t alone.
I stepped back, terrified, when the silhouette of Paul appeared from behind the fire, swaggering slowly as he drew closer to us, the flames around him flickering dark shadows across his bare chest. He was shirtless and his hair soaked from sweat, which must have been a side effect of standing by the large fire for too long. His hands and arms were covered in dark charcoal smudges, and his eyes were glossy with tears. He was either an emotional wreck over what he was doing, or the fire was too intense for him. Unfortunately, I believed it to be the latter.
Paul’s steps slowed down and he came to a halt next to Brinly, who was on the ground, tipped on her side, arms tied behind her back, as her black mascara-drenched cheeks were smashed into the dirty ground. She looked to be in a lot of pain, and all I could wonder was what he had been doing to her this whole time.
Max threw his arm out in front of me, making me realize that my body had involuntarily tried to run to her to see if she was all right. My brain knew it was a ridiculous move on my part, but my heart couldn’t take seeing her sobbing and in pain while we stood around doing nothing. Yet again.
“Max,” Paul said, his voice laced with intrigue as he grazed the top row of his teeth with his tongue. He scanned Max up and down and then chuckled. “Look, the mutt can walk upright.”
“You need to stop this,” Max warned. “This has gone on far too long.”
“Finally learned how not to be the moon’s bitch and now you think you’re going to be some hero? No newbie wolf is going to take me down, even with the help of that useless thing you call a girlfriend. I am beyond any wolf you have seen before. I am evolved.”
“You’re a fucking nutjob is what you are.”
“The only person who is insane is you for thinking you have any place in trying to slow me down.”
“You don’t even know what you’re doing, Paul. What’s the endgame, huh? People are dead because of you. Has any of that even sunk in yet?”
“You’re under the impression that I care.”
“Oh, believe me, that illusion is way in the past, now.”
“Good. Now fuck off somewhere, will you?”
It then occurred to me that Lincoln was nowhere to be seen, and as though Max was reading my mind he asked, “Where’s Lincoln?”
“If I had a sense of humor, now would be the time I’d tell you he’s just hanging around, but instead, I’ll direct you to him.” He pointed up at the apartment building beside us, and several stories up, confined by thick rope wrapped tightly around his waist and chest, was Lincoln. He dangled in the air, attached to a crane from one of the constructi
on vehicles beside us, placed directly above the burgeoning fire.
“Smothered in fire and brimstone is the adequate punishment, no?” Paul rhetorically asked. “Given the impromptu nature we’ll just have to settle for fire.”
“You sick bastard!” I yelled, and Lyle held me back.
Paul chuckled. “Now is not the time to get brazen, Cora.”
“So, you’re just going to execute him?” Max asked. “Just like that? You’re going to murder the man who has been by your side for all these years because of a woman? That shit’s not worth it.”
“He thought he was better than me. He thought wrong. And you standing here right now, trying to talk to my conscience is even more irritating because you’re even lower on the totem pole and think you’re on my level, like what you’ve got to say means a thing to me. You really think I haven’t thought any of this through already?”
“You couldn’t have, because any rational human being knows this plan is doomed to fail. You can’t take over a city and kill dozens of people without any ramifications.”
“What are the cops going to do, Max? Arrest me?” he asked with a heavy scoff. “I hid in the shadows my entire life because I was afraid of being caught and experimented on, but I was wrong. I wasn’t born better so I could pretend I was beneath everyone. I’m a king, and a king rules their land, so I’m taking this city back as my own and I’m building my empire on the ashes of those too weak to take us into a new era.”
He reached into his jeans pocket and retrieved a syringe, and then quickly jammed the needle tip into his arm. His skin was so battered from multiple track marks that I knew this was a drug he had put inside his body numerous times already. Once it was empty, he dropped it in the dirt, cracked his neck and said, “By all means, try to stop me.”
Something in his expression began to shift, and within a few seconds I realized his face was morphing and his body was growing, getting taller and taller as his jeans shredded at the knees. He was turning into a werewolf, only this was quicker than any transformation I had witnessed before. Paul wasn’t even screaming or groaning in pain, like it was as natural as stretching a muscle. He had complete control over his body and the speed in which it turned into a beast.
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