“I told you,” Annie yelled through the window, wrestling with a shirt. “We’ve been on the run for a month!”
“You didn’t say you were being chased by…by that!”
He cursed as they came up too fast on the car in front of them. He braked hard and swerved around them to keep from barreling into their bumper. Annie disappeared from the window and the rear view mirror. For a few horrible seconds, he thought she had been tipped out of the bed of the truck. Then her determined face reappeared again. She looked angry and frightened.
“Don’t do that again!” she yelled. “Not when I’m not strapped in!”
For a few seconds, Huck was speechless. He truly had been worried that she had been lost. Then the weight and the shock that she had been the one who battled the wolf, she had been the one who protected them settled in. She was as wonderful as he remembered, only a little different. Suddenly, he realized that even now, she was more dear to him than he had first thought.
Twelve years had done little to change that.
He didn’t want to lose her.
“Where am I going?” he finally asked, his voice ragged.
“Keep driving,” she said, not noticing his change of tone. “I don’t care where, just keep driving.”
CHAPTER 5
After telling Huck to keep driving, Annie sat in the bed of the truck without saying another word. They had left the bigger werewolf behind a long time ago, but it wouldn’t be long before it caught up again. They always did. David and Julia were the best trackers in the pack; they had followed her and Bradley across state lines without any problem.
Her whole body ached—she was terrified of the truck hitting a bump and throwing her out, but she managed to hold on. It was a cold drive and Annie was exhausted. Luckily, the cuts had healed to scabs and the gash had knitted itself together by the time the truck pulled into a gas station somewhere before Waco. She didn’t want Huck to see the extent of her injuries because it looked far worse than it actually was. At least, she hoped it looked worse than it was. As a werewolf, she healed a lot faster than humans, but it was going to take a few good hours for her to recover from her fight with David.
Huck had tried many times on the drive to call Mark, but the pack leader wasn’t answering his phone. Annie could only guess what David was telling Mark back in Austin: Delusions of leading two packs, and all of the associated power and money.
“Damn you,” she whispered.
The tailgate lowered, revealing Huck’s hand reaching out to her. He looked concerned. Something fluttered deep inside her stomach, something akin to nerves. Or was it hope? She didn’t want to hope about anything after what had happened.
She took his hand and he helped her down, but not before giving her a quick hug.
“Are you okay?” he asked. That same look crossed his features.
“I’m fine,” she managed. “I’m fine.”
She didn’t add that her hopes for getting Mark and the Austin pack on their side had been shredded to pieces. With David now there, he was going to convince that pack to help go after Bradley, just as he had done with all of the previous packs they’d encountered.
Pack politics always got in the way of what was right.
Godammit, David, she thought angrily. She had never liked him. She just never believed that he could be such a megalomaniacal asshole.
“Annie!” Bradley cried. “I was so worried about you!”
He rushed into her arms. She stifled her own sob. She couldn’t keep protecting him like this. Eventually, she was going to run out of steam. Then she would fall, and the bad guys would get to Bradley.
“I’m all right, Bradley. I’m all right.”
Huck caught her eye and frowned. Maybe she did look as shitty as she felt.
“Did you beat him?” Bradley asked. “Did you win?”
Huck blinked in surprise at that. Annie caught his eye, trying to explain everything in her gaze.
“No,” Annie whispered. She swallowed, closing her eyes. “No, I didn’t win.” Things would have been made a hell of a lot easier if she could find a way to beat him. As it was, she had only barely escaped with her tail between her legs. That never counted as a win.
“What does he mean?” Huck asked.
“Werewolf challenges,” Annie told him softly. “That wolf you saw? That was a Beta wolf named David, but he could really be considered an Alpha if he hadn’t lost to John, Bradley’s dad, a few years back. If I could just defeat him once, we’d be in a far better position.”
“Why is that?”
“I’m a Gamma wolf,” she explained. “Through my dad. It’s one level lower than David, who’s one level lower than Alpha. If I could successfully beat him in a fight, I’d be elevated to Beta. And he’d be demoted to Gamma.”
Huck let out a choked laugh. “And that matters because?”
Of course he wouldn’t know how that would impact them. Bradley was looking at him open-mouthed in disbelief. A boy who grew up with werewolves also grew up with that culture; encountering ignorance of something he’d known since he could remember floored him.
“Being moved up or down a level,” Annie said, “it changes you. Deeply, on a molecular level. I don’t know how to explain it to you. The higher the level, the bigger, faster and stronger you are. You’re more valuable as member to the pack. If you go down a level, you become slower, weaker. If I became Beta, I could protect Bradley better.” She let out a short laugh. “And if David went down a level, maybe he’d go the fuck away.”
Whoops, she had cursed in front of her charge. Bradley looked up at her with a smirk. She allowed a small grin. “You’re not allowed to repeat that f-word.”
“But you said—”
“No buts. I’m only allowed to use it in special situations.”
Huck had a small smile watching their exchange. She cast a glance over at him and he turned away.
“I’ve got to gas up,” he explained. “And I figured you two could stretch your legs.”
Boy could she ever. And she was glad that she could move to the cab. Sitting in the back of the truck at such high speeds had been terrifying, and she’d had enough of that for a while.
“We’ll go in,” she said. “Do you want a McMuffin or something?” There was a McDonald’s attached to the convenience store.
Huck crinkled his nose, but nodded. It was sometime after six in the morning, so it was time for breakfast, and Annie knew that Bradley’s stomach worked like clockwork. Bradley followed her into the station, and she let him roam the aisles looking for some treats while she ordered their food. She kept an eye on him though. She wasn’t trying to be overprotective, but she couldn’t help worrying about him. If David or Julia or one of their cronies came through that door, she wasn’t sure she could get to him fast enough.
You’re fine, she told herself. Just tired after everything that’s happened.
Bradley picked out a few pieces of candy and some Doritos. The kid was going to have a sugar high in a bit, but she didn’t care. Let him have his fun. He’d crash later, and that was sometimes the only way she could get him to sleep.
Swiping her credit card wasn’t fun. Her heart pounded in her chest as she waited for the transaction to clear. She was running really low—so low, in fact, she was worried that she’d be declined for ten dollars. She had thought about asking Huck if he had any cash on him, but she decided that would be in poor taste. After all, he was risking his life by helping them out. She hadn’t meant for him to get caught up in this—she just wanted to get in touch with Mark in a last ditch effort to make everything all right again.
And then David had to go and ruin everything.
Hopefully he didn’t get Huck’s scent, she thought with a feeling of dread. What if his scent was a part of their chase now? Would they go after him too, even after she and Bradley left?
Fuck.
She gathered up their things and hurried out with Bradley to the truck. Huck was waiting for them, le
aning against the front bumper. He worked that whole rocker image perfectly and she felt her heart momentarily shudder to a halt as she looked at him. The tattoos, his spiked hair, the eyebrow piercing, his muscular arms stretching his rock and roll shirt over his chest—ordinarily, she wouldn’t go for a guy like him. She always was attracted to the clean-cut-shirt-tucked-in- straight-laced types.
Maybe it was just because it was Huck? That had to be it.
“Thanks,” he said, taking his bag from her and opening the door. She got a whiff of his scent, a cross between cedar, a hint of cologne, and something that was all his. She hoped, once again, that David hadn’t memorized that scent, even as she was memorizing it now. She was about to say something, when Metallica’s Nothing Else Matters ripped through their conversation. Huck visibly jumped and pulled out his phone from his pocket. He checked the screen and immediately answered it.
“Mark?! Where the FUCK have you been, I’ve been trying to call you, man!” he cried. “Hey, yeah, we’re okay.”
He stopped everything, listening to what the other man was saying on the phone. Annie strained to hear it.
“Hey, he wants me to put him on speaker phone so,” Huck told them, “I’ll do it in the truck.”
She nodded and silently directed Bradley to the small seats in the back of the cab. He didn’t look happy about being crammed in there, but there was no way Annie was going to sit in the bed of the truck again. She got in and shut the door just as Huck punched in the button for the speakerphone.
“—they’re really bad news, man.”A pleasant male voice filled the cab.
He sounded a little bit older than Annie or Huck, and concern was laced through his tone. Annie was trying to fit the voice to the image of the guitarist on the poster. Huck had a gruff voice, perfect for the kind of music his band played, but Mark’s was authoritative and nice. Mark paused as if waiting for an audience.
“She there?”
“Yeah, you’re on speaker,” Huck said. He looked up at her, expectantly.
“Hey, Annie?” Mark asked.
“I’m here,” Annie replied, finding her voice. Did she want to have this conversation?
“Hey, it’s Mark Branford. Nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too.” She sounded hoarse.
“I’m here with my sister, Gemma, and her fiancé Adam.”
“Hi there.” The woman sounded a little bit older than Annie with a deeper voice.
“Heya,” another man said, presumably Adam.
“Gemma and I,” Mark said, “are the joint leaders of the Austin pack. And Adam—well, hell, I don’t know what the heck he is.”
“The brains of the operation,” the other man said wryly. “Ow, Gemma!” he added, presumably after Gemma smacked him.
Bradley giggled at that. Annie, too, enjoyed the comic relief. Huck, however, paled as he listened. Annie wondered what it must have been like to find out that one of your bandmates was a werewolf and had been hiding it from you the entire time you knew him. It must have been a bit like finding out that you were a werewolf for the first time.
“After you guys fled,” Gemma continued, her tone all business, “we showed up at the hotel to find two Betas there waiting for us. Do you know David and Julia?”
Annie winced. “Yeah,” she answered. “They’re from our pack in New Orleans.”
“They were...furious,” Gemma said. “They seem to think that you’re keeping them from their right to challenge Bradley. Are you there, Bradley?”
“Yeah?” Bradley chimed in for the first time. He leaned forward so they could hear him better.
There was a pause on the other end. “Really?” Adam asked. “You’re Bradley? The leader of the New Orleans pack?”
“Yep,” Bradley said before Annie could stop him.
“How old are you?” Adam asked incredulously.
“Ten. And a half.”
She would have given anything to shut him up. Bradley was revealing too much about their situation to complete strangers. She could only imagine what was going through their heads right now. Something along the lines of, Mmm, fresh meat.
Instead, Gemma lowly chuckled on the line. “I can see why you’re doing what you’re doing then,” she said. “He hasn’t Turned yet, has he?”
Annie shook her head, and then realized that they couldn’t see it. “No, not yet,” she said. “His parents died a month ago, and everyone has been challenging Bradley to become the leader. I couldn’t let them hurt him.” There, the truth was out. What were they going to do about it?
Huck was watching her intently from the driver’s seat. She was trying to ignore his piercing gaze. She felt as if she would melt beneath it.
“I know it’s been hard,” Gemma said, her voice taking on a more encouraging tone. “But you’re doing the right thing, Annie.”
Annie felt the tears sting her eyes. “It has been hard,” she allowed. A single tear slid down her cheek and she wiped it away, but not before Huck saw it. She glanced up at him, almost fearfully, and met his eyes.
There was something she had never expected to see in his gaze: tenderness. And it was all for her. She suddenly didn’t feel worthy.
“I know you don’t trust us. Yet,” Mark said. “But we are here to help. We’re not interested in being the leaders of your pack. We have enough to deal with here.”
Adam’s chuckle filled the speakers at that. “I hope you made some good distance from Austin,” he said. “Because they are coming after you. We tried to talk them out of it. And if we had known more...” His voice trailed off. “They didn’t say that Bradley hadn’t Turned yet.”
“I’m sorry,” Mark added softly.
They hadn’t known how old Bradley was and, given werewolf politics, they weren’t allowed to try and stop David and Julia. By law it was their right to challenge Bradley. Mark, Gemma and Adam seemed like genuinely nice people, at least over the phone. Maybe if they had gotten all of the details earlier, David and Julia would have been delayed longer?
“It sounds like you need reinforcements,” Gemma said. “And we’re a bit too far behind to catch up to you before they do.”
I know, Annie wanted to say.
“Did you by chance travel north?”
“Yeah,” Huck answered. He wisely didn’t offer up any more information, much to Annie’s relief. While they seemed helpful, she still wanted to hold onto as many cards as possible. The plan was to take State Highway 164 to 45 and then backtrack to Houston, hopefully throwing off their pursuers. Or, so Annie hoped.
The other werewolves talked in hushed tones over the line at a volume too low for the microphone to pick it up. It sounded like Gemma and Adam were trying to convince Mark to do something. It wasn’t until they had moved the phone closer to them that Annie could hear what they were saying.
“...he helped us,” Adam said.
“I don’t like it,” Mark said. “I mean, not him necessarily, but what his pack tried to do to Gemma.”
“We stopped that from happening,” Gemma said. “And I trust him. He helped us when no one else would. Sound familiar?”
There was a long silence on the line. Annie could hear her heart beating in her ears.
“Fine,” Mark sighed dismissively. “I’ll call ahead. If nothing else, it gets them on the road again.”
“Annie? Huck?” Gemma said.
“Y-yes?” Annie stammered.
“I want you to head north to Dallas. I want you to meet up with a good friend of mine named Carmichael. He’s—”
“Carmichael Hoffman?” Annie asked, her heart stilling in her chest. Carmichael was the pack leader of the Dallas werewolves. Annie and Bradley had specifically avoided the Dallas werewolves because of some things that had happened a year ago. A werewolf named Vincent Grey had tried to overthrow the pack by mating with the female pack leader.
“We want to avoid Dallas,” she admitted. “Because they had trouble controlling a wolf named Vincent Grey. I don’t want him t
o try to take advantage of the situation with Bradley.”
“Vincent’s dead,” Adam announced, his tone flat. “And we disbanded the weres that had sided with him. It’s safe now.”
Suddenly things clicked, and Annie couldn’t believe she hadn’t made the connection before. She was familiar with Mark because he had been in the werewolf scene for a long time. Gemma had been the one on the run from Vincent, and she had been saved by an Omega wolf named...
Adam.
She was talking to people who had been in a similar situation to hers, wolves who had survived to be the leaders of their rightful pack.
“Do you think Carmichael will help us?” she asked softly.
“Yes,” Adam said without hesitation. “Carmichael’s a good man.”
Annie closed her eyes. She relaxed, feeling little pinpricks of hope shine through. “Tell me what I need to do,” she said.
***
Huck watched as Annie took down the directions to the werewolf mansion and Carmichael’s phone number. Gemma and Adam promised to take the first flight out of Austin to Dallas with their ten best wolves to help defend them from David and Julia and their cronies. Then Annie took the phone off speaker and called the Dallas pack leader. She kept her eyes cast down the entire time, speaking in hushed tones.
Huck felt too tired to really follow the conversation. He actually was surprised he was still awake, but the coffee Annie had bought was doing wonders.
Annie finally got off the phone. She seemed very pale and unsure of herself. “He wants to meet at a Hooters parking lot in Desoto,” she said. “He says that that’s about halfway between us and him. Then we’ll convoy in.”
“Hooters?” Bradley chimed in, suddenly interested. “Mom never let me go there before.”
“We’re not there for the food,” Annie said harshly. “Emily was always too protective of him,” she explained under her breath. She gave Huck a wan smile.
“Do you think you can trust him?” Huck asked.
“I kind of have to,” Annie admitted. “I don’t know what else to do now.”
Paranormal Magic (Shades of Prey Book 1) Page 80