The same woman came back to get the plate. She was quiet and painfully thin. Dana didn’t think she could be older than twenty. Was she another one of Jimmy’s mates?
Dana didn’t think she liked this place at all.
The woman stood in the doorway, her head bowed, long strands of blond hair in her face. “I’m here to take your dishes for washing.”
Dana gathered them up and brought them to the woman. She decided to try being nice to this lady. Maybe if she made a friend, she could figure a way out of here that didn’t involve violence. Maybe the woman could help her distract the men guarding her or whatever. “Here you go. What’s your name?”
“Violet,” said the woman, taking the dishes. She started for the door.
“Wait,” said Dana. “Do you have to go so quickly? Maybe you and I could talk. I don’t really know anyone here.”
Violet shrugged. “I can’t stay too long. Nelly gets cranky if I waste time.”
“Who’s Nelly? Is she one of Jimmy’s mates?”
“Yeah,” said Violet.
“Are you all Jimmy’s mates?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean is he intimate with all of you?”
“Oh, well, that’s not really something I’m comfortable talking about. It’s our own private business, you know?”
Jimmy had these women programmed, didn’t he? Rhoda hadn’t wanted to talk about it either.
Dana pointed out the window at the men that were guarding her. “Those guys? Do they have wives? Girlfriends?”
Violet shook her head. “Oh, no. See, the thing is, lust clouds the mind. It’s really better for people to be celibate.”
What? “But Jimmy isn’t celibate.”
“Well, Jimmy has to be with the women, though,” said Violet. “It brings the Pack closer together. And besides, we have to have children.”
Really? That was twisted. Really twisted. “So, all the children born here are Jimmy’s?”
She nodded. “Jimmy’s special ones. They’re the ones who will inherit the new world.”
“The new world?”
Violet looked down at Dana’s dishes. “You know, I’ve really said too much. I should go. Nelly’s waiting.”
“No, Violet, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry. We don’t have to talk about the way things are here on the farm. We could talk about you. Your interests? Hobbies?”
But Violet was backing out of the door. “I’m sorry. I gotta go.”
“We could be friends?”
Violet chewed on her lip. She looked nervous. “You seem nice. I’d like it if you stayed. Jimmy says that he hopes you’ll become part of the Pack, but he says you’ve been corrupted, and it might be too late for you. I hope you haven’t been.” Then she slipped back out through the door and into the darkness.
Damn it. Dana watched her through the window. Violet scurried past the guards, heading toward the main house.
Dana sat down at the table in her small kitchen. This place was really strange. She didn’t like it here at all. Jimmy was some kind of sick dictator. He’d managed to convince a group of women to come here and be his own personal harem. Not only that, he’d gotten men to live here too and not even sleep with all the women. How was that possible?
Jimmy had charisma. She’d felt that when she talked to him. She’d seen firsthand that he had the ability to confuse her, to throw her off balance. But she’d still never consent to a life like this. She didn’t think anyone should.
Jimmy said that his women were here of their own free will, but Dana wasn’t sure that was exactly true. The women that she’d met didn’t seem very… willful. They seemed listless. Frightened. Cowed.
What had he done to them?
She hugged herself.
Maybe waiting it out was a bad idea. Maybe she should shift and try to take out the guards. If she was in wolf form, she’d be able to run faster. She’d be able to jump the gate at the edge of the property. Assuming she even made it that far, of course. She was on a farm full of werewolves. If Jimmy ordered them after her, then she might not even have a chance.
She wasn’t sure what to do.
She peered out the window again, trying to see how many people were out there.
It was too dark to be sure.
In the distance, Dana heard a gun shot.
That was odd. It sounded like the tranq guns that the SF used. She cupped her hands against the window and squinted.
But she couldn’t see anything out there except the darkening line of the horizon, still glowing faintly pink.
There it was again. Another gun shot.
What the hell?
Was it just nearby hunters? It wasn’t hunting season, but Dana wasn’t sure that mattered out here in Brockway. People here liked their guns.
The door to her trailer opened.
“Ma’am.” One of her guards poked his head in. “We’re going to need you to come with us.”
“Is something going on out there?”
“Just come along,” said the guard.
She didn’t move.
He stepped into the house. He was tall and hulking. He towered over her.
She backed away.
He advanced on her and grabbed her by the arm. He hauled her out of the trailer.
At first, Dana tried to struggle, but it was no use. The man was too strong. It was easier to do what he wanted.
The guard dragged Dana across the lawn to the main house, where she’d met Jimmy earlier.
Outside, women were all running across the lawn, some with small children in their arms.
They burst into the house.
It was bright inside.
Jimmy met them at the door. “Take her upstairs,” he said to the guard. To Dana, “I’m going to put you with the children, because I assume they aren’t going to hurt you. Maybe you can keep the children safe as well.”
“What’s going on?” Dana asked.
“Your friends at the SF,” said Jimmy. “They’re attacking us.”
“They wouldn’t do that,” said Dana.
Jimmy laughed. “Like I said, you’re naive.”
The guard escorted her up the steps, back a long hallway, to a room at the end of the house.
There were already five or six children in the room, ranging in age from two to ten. One of the older girls had a little boy on her lap. They were sitting on the bed. The little boy had his thumb in his mouth. He turned wide, innocent eyes on Dana. He looked afraid.
“Stay here,” said the guard. He shut the door.
Did Jimmy think she was one of his women and that she’d just do what she was told? She wasn’t going to stay here. If the SF was coming, then she was going to leave. They weren’t attacking. They were obviously coming to rescue her.
She waited a few minutes, long enough for the guard to have gone.
Then she opened the door.
A stream of ten more children were coming down the hall.
One girl of about twelve brought up the rear. She was holding hands with two tiny tots. “It’s okay, guys, we’re almost to the safe room.” The girl looked up and saw Dana. “Hi, I’m Leah. This is the last of the kids. They said you’d stay with us.”
Dana swallowed. She felt a strange tug of responsibility for these frightened children. Werewolf children were so rare. It wasn’t easy for werewolf couples to conceive, due the complicated nature of their physical bodies. That was why there were fifty or sixty adults on this farm but only about sixteen or twenty children. She tried to smile. “Oh, you’ll be all right without me.”
“You’re leaving us?” There was a note of panic in Leah’s voice.
“Just get the rest of the kids into the room,” said Dana. Damn it. She couldn’t stay here. She had to get away.
Glass shattered.
Dana whirled.
The children all screamed.
The window at the end of the hall had been broken. Something had come through it.
Ther
e was a thud.
One of the tots that had been holding onto Leah’s hand had fallen down. There was blood pouring out of her leg.
The little girl looked down at it, saw the red gush, and then promptly started to scream.
Dana dove for the kid. She could see the tranquilizer dart sticking out of the little girl’s leg. “It’s okay.” She pulled the girl into her arms. “You’re just going to go to sleep for a little bit. Take a nice nap.”
But inside she was panicking. Those darts were formulated to use on rogue werewolves. They were pretty powerful. She had no idea what one would do to a tiny, human child.
She picked the little girl up and then shoved her into Leah’s arms. “Get them into the room.”
Leah’s eyes were filling with tears.
“You have to be brave for them,” said Dana. She ran to the shattered window. She yelled into the night. “There are children up here. Don’t fire into the house!”
In answer, two more darts punched through the remains of the window.
Dana hit the floor. Shit. What the hell were they doing out there?
She crawled back to the room. All the children were inside, standing up. Half of them were crying.
“Get down,” said Dana. “All of you, on the floor. Now.”
* * *
Avery Brooks turned in a tight circle, his gun at the ready.
He’d been right. This had been a very bad idea.
The southern branch of the SF had even less staff than the northeast branch, considering that the population up north was denser. Even up north, there were only four trained trackers, plus about ten other agents who’d been trained to use the guns.
But down here, he and Isaac had gone in with only six other men. Of them, only two were regular trackers.
Avery himself was a tracker, and he was used to shooting down wolves. Thing was, it was usually him and Gray against one wolf. Two against one. And the wolves they tracked down were usually confused animals, no sense of anything other that pure, primal instinct.
At the farm that night, eight men faced down at least fifty werewolves. These wolves were aware of what was going on. They had their human smarts even after they turned. They knew the territory. It was their home.
And they were vicious. They didn’t hesitate to leap on the men.
The men were armed. The wolves weren’t. But it hardly mattered.
The SF was in over their head.
This was a massacre.
Two men were already down, their bodies ripped apart.
Avery had watched as one of the men’s intestines were torn out by two wolves. They snarled as they dragged the bloody rope over the lawn.
Now Avery was trying to find Isaac. They needed to call this shit off.
This was a bad idea.
They never should have come at night.
They never should have come so unprepared.
Avery heard a noise behind him.
He whirled, pulling the trigger on his gun at the same time. He wasn’t even sure what he was firing at, but he was terrified. At any second, one of the wolves could jump on him, appear out of the darkness, jaws gaping. Tackle him. Tear at him. Kill him.
“Harrison,” he screamed. “We gotta back off.”
“Brooks?” Another voice.
Avery moved in the direction of it. “Brooks here.”
“It’s Maxwell. Harrison’s dead.”
“Fuck,” said Avery.
“I think it’s down to four of us, man.”
Avery raised his voice as loud as he could. “SF men! Retreat and fall back! Retreat and fall back!”
Someone had to get them out of here. If Isaac was dead, well, that only left Avery to do it.
CHAPTER SIX
Dana had been lying on the ground with the children for a very long time now. The gunfire had become intermittent instead of constant, but she was still afraid to tell the kids it was okay to move. Most of the children were crying. They had huddled together in little clumps on the floor. Two very small girls were both clinging to Dana, both sniffling.
“Why did the bad men come?” said one of them in a tiny voice.
Dana didn’t know how to answer. She didn’t know how to assure the children that the men who were shooting didn’t mean to be bad. And she didn’t know how to explain that the men were there because of her. That she was the reason they and their families were being shot at.
It had been quite some time since she’d heard anyone fire a gun.
She decided maybe she could chance a look outside.
Carefully, she disentangled herself from the little girls holding onto her. “I’m going to get up for just a second, okay?”
“No,” begged one of the children. “Don’t leave us by ourselves.”
“I’m not leaving,” she said. “I’m just looking out the window.” She got to her feet and eased her way over the floor, stepping around tiny limbs and bodies, until she made it to the wall. She peered outside.
It was dark, and she couldn’t see well, but there were some lights on the porch burning out into the night.
She could see a lot of wolves. They were fanned out in a circle around the house, forming a barrier of growling fur and teeth.
She didn’t see anyone from the SF.
But there were bodies on the ground. At least three. One of them was mutilated—guts torn out. A wolf kill for sure.
For now, though, it didn’t seem like anything was happening. She wasn’t sure if it was safe for the children or not.
She knelt down. “Okay, everyone, you can sit up but do not stand up, you understand?”
None of the children moved.
“It’s okay,” said Dana. “Just stay underneath the window, out of sight, all right?”
Slowly, they began to sit up. They were still holding onto each other. They still looked frightened. Their eyes and noses were red.
“I want my mommy,” said a little boy. “Where is she?”
Everyone looked at Dana.
“I don’t know your mommy,” Dana said, feeling helpless, “but I’m sure she’s outside, and that she’ll be back to get you very soon.” Unless she was one of those bodies out there.
His lower lip trembled. “I want her now.”
Dana’s heart went out to him. “I know, sweetie, I know. If I could make her come through that door right now, I would.”
The door to the room opened, as if on cue.
But it wasn’t anyone’s mother who came in, it was Jimmy.
His face was dirt-streaked and his hair in disarray.
The children all looked happy to see him.
“Daddy,” said a little girl, who got to her feet and scampered over to him.
Jimmy knelt down to intercept her. “Hi there, sweetheart.” He kissed her on top of the head. “Is everyone in here okay?”
The oldest girl spoke up. “Daddy, Melanie got shot.”
Jimmy looked alarmed.
“It’s a tranq,” said Dana. “She’ll wake up.”
“Where is she?” He got to his feet and moved into the room.
The oldest girl was still holding Melanie’s sleeping body. She held her up for Jimmy to take the girl.
But Jimmy shook his head. “You hold onto her for me, Leah, okay?”
That was when Dana realized that Jimmy was wounded. There was blood seeping out onto his shirt.
Dana stood up. “You’re hurt.”
Jimmy turned to her. “They had knives. I was one of the lucky ones.”
Dana thought of the bodies on the ground. The SF had killed wolves? The SF was supposed to help wolves, not kill them. She’d been trained never to kill. Only in the most extreme situations of self-defense was it an option.
But Jimmy was still talking. “About that tranq. How long until Melanie wakes up?”
“Uh… I don’t know. If a werewolf that’s in wolf form gets hit with one of them, it’s usually only about a half an hour. But in human form, it can be two hours. The
thing, she’s so small. She might sleep through the night.”
“But she will wake up?”
Dana bit down on her lower lip.
Jimmy sucked in breath through his nose. “You don’t know.”
“What?” said Leah. To Dana, “You said she would be fine. You said she was just taking a nap.”
“Because she is,” said Dana. “She’s going to be fine.”
Jimmy rubbed his forehead. “Okay, guys, we’re all going to go downstairs, okay? We need to be together right now.”
The kids got to their feet obediently and began to leave the room.
Dana started to follow them.
Jimmy grabbed her by the arm. “You’re with me, Dana.”
* * *
when Cole was seventeen…
Cole rode the bus home from school every day. Julia was always there too, and he did his best to ignore her, but sometimes he couldn’t. One afternoon, she sat down next to him.
He didn’t acknowledge her, just stared out the window.
“You kissed Tasha the other night,” she said.
He whipped his head around to face her. “What?”
“I saw,” she said.
He shook his head.
“I did,” she said. “I was leaving Jimmy’s room, walking back to the brides’ quarters.”
“You didn’t see anything,” he said. The sideways tree wasn’t anywhere near the big house or the brides’ quarters. She was making it up. God damn it, had he already given it away?
“I took a detour,” she said. “I walked out near the stream. I saw the two of you in the tree.”
His heart sank into the pit of his stomach. His pulse sped up. She had seen it.
“So, don’t bother denying it, Cole. I know what I saw.”
He glared at her. “What do you want?”
“I want to know why you’re defying Jimmy in this way. It doesn’t make sense. Anyone with sense would be honored to be his son. You spit on your birthright. You don’t respect his brides. Tasha is meant to stay chaste. Her virginity is a gift to be given to the moon, and only Jimmy can help her to do that.”
Jimmy always made it about the moon. Like the moon was more than a big hunk of rock rotating around the Earth in space. Like the moon had some kind of mystical power. Cole thought it was all bullshit, some way for Jimmy to convince girls to give it up.
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