Branches of the Willow 3

by Christine M. Butler

  “When we get back from taking the prisoners to the Locks, Mikael and I will be escorting Brian and Nicholi to the Daniels Clan.” I looked around the table at all the watchful eyes of my family and friends. “When all that is said and done, I am taking a damn vacation, and putting my feet up somewhere. I don’t care if it’s just on the couch at home.” Mikael’s head shot up from across the table, and he was beaming at me. That was all I wanted. He hadn’t been smiling a whole lot lately, and with everything going on, the most that we would see each other during the day was when we had these meetings and sat around the table to discuss what was happening. I missed him, and it was evident that he missed being with me just as much.

  “Make sure Avery knows that those two guys you’re taking to him served us well. Brian and Nicholi both did a fantastic job when we skirmished with John and his second. Nicholi is the one who took John down. It will go far in endearing that man to Avery, and I have a feeling he’s going to need all the help he can get.” My father chuckled. We all knew that Nicholi had an ego that was bigger than he was. He rivaled the De’Lune Brothers when I first met each of them. That was saying something.

  “What are we going to do with the Hunter?” Mikael asked, glancing back and forth between me and my father.

  “We haven’t been able to get anything out of him. Even with the witch’s help, we are sitting dead in the water, so I say we cut our losses there.” My father spoke candidly.

  “Are you talking death sentence or Locks?”

  “I’m willing to go with either, so long as he is gone.”

  “We’re already making a trip to the Locks. We might as well pack him in there too.” I suggested.

  “That might turn out to be a crueler fate than death. I’m not sure how the others inside the Locks will deal with a Hunter being tossed in among them.”

  “I don’t know. Can we put some sort of tracker on him, so we can see what happens?”

  “Jess?” Mikael sounded almost disgusted. “The chance that this guy is going to be torn apart is far greater than anything else, and you want to watch that?”

  “No. I’m betting his skills and instincts will keep him alive a lot longer than you think. I want him to have a horrible time of it though, and then I want to have a way to track and locate him, so we can haul his ass out of there if we need to.”

  “I guess we can try it.” My dad shrugged his shoulders. “It’s not something we’ve ever even thought about. Honestly, it might give us some insight into how many people we still have down in the Locks to begin with. Hell, it’s been three years since we’ve put anyone in there.”

  With that settled we got the three prisoners ready for transfer to the Locks, and took the two hour journey to get there. It wasn’t at all what you would think when imagining a prison. The Locks were built with super natural beings in mind. An old missile silo was the basis for the Locks closest to us. The Silo itself was built to a depth of 147 feet underground. The Locks were retro-fitted with a slide shoot that dropped the prisoners in at a level around 125 feet below the surface. The rest of the silo’s upper levels were closed off under poured concrete over rebar, and each level on the way up was lined with silver. The shoot itself was also lined with silver, making the 125 foot drop into the abyss below a painful one.

  The prisoners were knocked out during transport. As karma would have it, we used the same drug cocktail on them that they had dosed me with to knock me out when I was taken to Sophia and Zach. While the Hunter was still under, we tagged his clothing with several cameras, and implanted a tracking device in his right thigh. I suddenly felt like I was stuck in a spy movie where werewolves were working to save all of mankind. It was a ridiculous notion, but there you have it. It was the best idea we had, and our only chance at appeasing our curiosity about what happened once a prisoner entered the Locks.

  As each of them woke up, we put them in the shoot, and let the bottom drop out. They literally rode the tube down to the safety floor. It was the top level available to the prisoners. The food and supplies were delivered three floors below that, so whoever was still left down there, most likely hung out around that area. Prior to dropping the prisoners down, we made a supply drop. It was our way of giving the newbies a head start to find a safe place to hide. Asi brought a remote viewing unit with us, so we could watch the video feed while we were on location. As soon as we dropped the Hunter, the video showed him shooting through the tube at a rapid pace, slowing only at the end when the shoot turned and back up one floor to spit the prisoner’s out after slowing them down a bit. When I first heard about the shoot in the locks, as a little girl, I had asked my dad if I could go ride it. Of course, I didn’t realize it was lined in silver, or that there could be a mob of murderous, scary-crazy shifters down there waiting to feast on my bones. Zach had told me about that later. His uncle hadn’t spared him those horrible details, and Zach, shared them with our entire class. We were eight at the time.

  We watched the quick descent that the Hunter made. It really did look like a fun ride for him. Apparently silver had zero effect on hunters. It did spit him out quickly at the end. We watched him fly up into the air, and then land with an umph on a mattress. He shook his head to clear his brain of the drug-induced fog he was no doubt still under, and then he got up and started looking around. It didn’t take long for him to find the door that would lead him to the lower levels, but once he moved beyond the door, the level of metals in the walls started made it impossible for us to keep a signal open. The video feed cut out just as we saw him approaching two men, and then the signal on his tracker was lost as well.

  “Damn.” I shouted out my disappointment.

  “Well, it was worth the shot. At least we know that they’ve made a comfortable landing spot for those coming down, because the mattresses weren’t there before. We also know there’s at least two other men down there.”

  “Are we ready for these two? They’re waking up.” Mikael moved both women forward toward the tube.

  Clarissa started moaning as realization set in. “No, please, don’t do this to us.” Mikael didn’t waste a minute, he put her straight into the tube, closed the lid over her, and pulled the lever that dropped the bottom out, and opened the shoot up on each level for her to pass through. We could hear her screams coming echoing back up the tube as she went. The silver was burning her, and like a dumb ass, she was letting it get the best of her. It would alert the others below that a female was being sent down.

  Annabelle was next, and she pinned me with her murderous stare as Michael shut her into the tube. “No matter what we did to you, it couldn’t compare to what you do to me when you pull that lever.” She spat out.

  “Only because Sophia’s spell failed, and I escaped. You earned your place in the Locks. You had a choice.” I nodded my head, and Mikael pulled the lever. We listened as she screamed on the way down, until the depth of the building swallowed her up along with her screams. “Let’s secure the place, and get the hell out of here. We still have an hour drive to get to Avery’s lands to drop Nicholi and Brian off.”

  We had originally planned on taking them to Avery’s the following day, but the two men were excited to go take their place in a pack structure again, and Avery’s place was only an hour from the Locks, the two of them tagged along for the ride. We made them wait outside with the other guards as we took care of the prisoners.

  An hour later we were pulling up to Avery’s and I was tired of sitting in a car. My cell phone rang as we pulled up to the main road of the little town that the Daniels Clan inhabited. “Hello?” I answered.

  “Jess, how long before you’re going to be back here?” It was Ashley and she sounded a bit frantic.

  “It’s going to take us two hours by car to get back, why?”

  “You might want to get started then. We have a baby on the way over here. I figured you would want to be here for the action. It’s not every day a new pup is birthed, and well, you know this one has complications.”
>
  “Yeah, I know.” I sighed into the phone. “We’ll do what we can.”

  “Can I help you?” Avery’s tall, blond, no-nonsense daughter greeted us. When she saw it was Mikael behind the wheel of the car, she plastered on a mega-watt smile, and changed her attitude. “Oh, hi! I didn’t realize they were sending you. Did you finally get tired of the great white wolf playing damsel in distress?” Mikael quirked up his eyebrow in question, and tried miserably to contain the smirk that started at the corner of his mouth.

  “Where is your father?” I questioned without bothering to duck down so she could see who was speaking.

  “I don’t know who you think you are, but you don’t come on our lands and order our people around. And you really don’t order me…” She had squatted a bit to be able to look me in the eye as she reamed me out for my disrespect. She ended up biting her tongue and the rest of her diatribe the minute she saw who was seated next to Mikael.

  “You were saying?” I questioned.

  “Mee-oow!” Nicholi snickered from the back and extended his fingers out in front of him like claws. “Please, don’t stop. I love a good cat fight, especially between two beautiful creatures such as yourselves.”

  “Shut up!” I snapped at him.

  “Big mistake.” Tessa growled at him at the same time.

  “Well, now the world can end. The two of you found common ground. An equal loathing of Nicholi. How will we ever deal with all the peace?” Mikael teased as he slid his hand over to my leg. I attempted to glare at him, but I ended up laughing instead, because he was just too damn adorable to ignore.

  “Whatever…” I finally managed. “We really need to see your dad, now. We have a pup being born back home, and mom doesn’t want him.”

  Disgust crept into Tessa’s face. “That’s a damn shame. He’s a bit tied up with my sister’s problems at the moment. I can slide these guys over to the guards and get them settled until Avery can meet with them.”

  “I’m sure my father already sent word, but they were instrumental in helping us recently. Smart ass there even did the world a favor by ridding it of John Freedman.”

  “Oh?” Tessa bent down to look in the back of the car again, reappraising the man with the shit-eating grin. “Too bad about that ego he’s lugging around.” She commented deadpan.

  “That’s the damn truth.” I agreed.

  She opened the back door, and stood out of the way, allowing for the men to get out, and stretch. Nicholi didn’t miss a beat. He put a little extra effort into his stretching, allowing for a healthy amount of his abs to peek out from beneath his shirt as it rode up with the movement of his arms.

  If he thought Tessa Daniels was going to be an easy mark, he had another thing coming. That girl was tough as nails, and didn’t take shit from anyone. She glanced in his direction, and feigned aloofness on the spot. “Grab your bags and follow me.” She spun on her heel, and started walking off without waiting for the men. “It was good seeing you again, Mikael.” She called out over her shoulder, then added, “Jess,” at the end like it was a chore to include me.

  Mikael waved at her, and laughed. “Man, she really doesn’t like you.”

  “Whatever, let’s get back. I’m so damn tired. Is it bad that I am praying to every God ever known to man right now that Tatianna has the quickest labor in the history of labors?”

  “Funny, I was just thinking the same thing. I could use a nap.” Mikael topped that sentiment off with a yawn as we took off, heading back home.

  BIRTH

  When we got back to the pack, I was immediately swept into the makeshift birthing suite the women had made in the meeting hall. My mother and Ashley were there, coaching Tatianna on. Evan was there, because Tatianna was, unfortunately, one of the women who didn’t understand a lot of English. He was translating, but he was so out of his element that it was almost comical seeing him there. “Oh, thank God. Mikael can switch places with me.” He said to me.

  “No can do. Mikael had to go have a conversation with my father. You’re stuck.” I laughed as Evan raked his hand across his clean-shaven jaw.

  “This is not my life right now.” He mumbled, but his attitude changed a bit when Natalia came back into the room with a cool compress to put on Natalia’s head.

  She smiled slyly at him, and winked. “You can go now, big baby. I can translate fairly well.” Her accent was thick, but her words were understandable. Evan leaned over and kissed her on her cheek. “Thank you!” He managed to get out, before he accidentally caught a peek of Tatianna’s spread legs. “Oh God! I did not just see that.” He whispered. I laughed, and pushed him toward the door.

  “Men!” My mother howled in between her laughter.

  “Where is Sierra?” Ashley asked. As if on cue, Sierra burst into the room with some fresh blankets and towels.

  “Sorry, they weren’t quite dry, and I had to run them through again. I didn’t think the baby would appreciate a damp blanket.”

  Tatianna screamed out, shouting what I was sure were obscenities in another language. My thoughts were confirmed when Natalia looked at me, eyes large, “no need to translate that.” Ashley moved Sierra out of the away, and stuck her gloved hand down between the woman’s legs, and her other hand was up on the Tatianna’s belly. “Okay, we’re ready here, she’s fully dilated, and her water’s just broken. I’m going to need a little room. Natalia, tell her with the next contraction, or wave of pain, she is going to push forward with all her might.”

  Natalia repeated the instructions in Romanian, and went to Tatianna’s side to hold her hand. As another contraction hit the woman, she pushed her upper torso forward, screaming the whole time, and from the look on Natalia’s face, she had quite the grip too. From my vantage point, I could see what was going on in the woman’s nether region, and as she began to push for the fourth time, I saw the top of a hairy head peek out. “The baby’s crowning.” Ashley called out. “That’s it. Tell her to keep it up.” Ashley looked worried for a minute as Tatianna relaxed back down, and then she looked up at Natalia. “Tell her to get ready to push once more, but be prepared to stop immediately if I say so.”

  Natalia nodded her understanding, and then relayed the translation. “Okay, push.” I watched as Natalia helped the exhausted Tatatianna surge forward once more, but then there was a gush of red. The baby came forward a little more, head popping free, but something didn’t seem right. There was too much blood. “Quickly, one more time. Push.” Ashley stepped into the way, so I no longer had a view of what was happening. I don’t think I’ve ever been more thankful in my life. I’m not sure how much more time had passed, because my ears were ringing, and I felt dangerously like I was going to pass out. Odd, because a little blood had never bothered me before. Then again, I didn’t have to worry about that being me on the cot a few months from now before. Now, it was all I could think about.

  Then I heard it, that sweet, shrill cry of a baby who finally got air to its lungs. “It’s a boy!” My mother called out. Tatianna dropped her had back onto the cot, and refused to look at the squalling child.

  “Eileen, I’m going to need you and Sierra to take care of the baby, I need to help Tatianna out here for a minute.” Ashley sounded calm. I’m sure to everyone else, that was a good thing, but it alerted me that something wasn’t quite right.

  “Ash?” I called out.

  “Oh, good, you’re still here.” Ashley waved me forward. “I’m going to pop a few stitches in place real quick, but then I need you to make her shift. You can do that right?”

  I shook my head, yes. “I’ve never actually forced a shift on anyone before.”

  “Well, I need you to make this count.” She glanced up at me quickly before going back to what she was doing. Ashley, not joking around, was a force to be reckoned with. I had everyone clear the room, and get the baby out. A wounded wolf could strike out at anyone, and I didn’t want to take the chances of that happening. “Okay, now.” Ashley called out to me, as she quickly s
tepped back out of the way.

  “Shift.” I called out to her, putting power behind the word. At first nothing happened. Then I remembered, “shit, she doesn’t speak English.” Ashley ran to the door, and thankfully Natalia was still close by, and so was Evan.

  “Quick, what’s the word for shift in Romanian?”

  “Schimbare.” Evan and Natalia offered in unison. I heard them, so I didn’t have to wait for Ashley to relay the word.

  “Schimbare.” I commanded her with all the power I could possibly throw into the word, and before my eyes the woman morphed from human to wolf in a beautifully seamless display of magic. There before me was a russet color wolf with dark brown spots across half her back. She was a bit skittish, and I wish I had picked up more Romanian from being around the De’Lune brothers, but I hadn’t. “Shhh,” I began talking to her. “It’s okay.” Tatianna’s wolf bared her teeth, and looked ready to bolt or do damage. I did the only thing I knew to, and commanded her to shift back. “Schimbare.”

  With that one word and the power behind it, the wolf again shifted in a fluid transition to the form of a woman. “Okay, let me check her out now.” Ashley muscled her way by me, and put her nursing degree to good use. “Perfect, it sealed everything up nicely. She should actually be able to carry another baby down the road if she finds a mate.” Ashley called out to me over her shoulder.

  “Perfect.” I said as I took another step back. “Ash, do you need me for anything else?”

  “No, sweetie. Can you send Sierra and Natalia back in though? Maybe tell your mom to stand by with the baby too, in case she’s changed her mind.”

  “No baby.” Tatianna whispered. Apparently she understood enough.

  “I’ll let them all know.”

  ~*~

  Over the next two weeks, Mikael and I kept mostly to ourselves, trying to relax a bit, before the bottom dropped out again. Maybe, it was just me thinking like that, but I’d come to equate happiness with impending doom. This was exactly why I had wanted to get that degree in psychology. I wanted to help out all the other freaked out werewolves, who had issues like I did. Our life was one filled with amazingly magical abilities, and a lifespan most humans would kill to possess, but it wasn’t without its down sides too. Just like humans, we could be cruel to one another.