by Sara Dailey
The team searched eight houses, one by one, but they all were deserted. He began to wonder if the wolves were lying in ambush somewhere. The entire complex seemed empty, and searching the remaining buildings seemed a pointless chore. Or a deadly one.
“You don’t think they all left, do you?” James finally asked.
“No, I don’t. They’re here. We just have to find them,” Peter repeated.
“What are we going to do if we can’t find anyone?” one of the others asked.
“We call the police. I want my daughter back!” James said.
They sneaked down to the lake to get a better view of the area. Everything seemed deserted, and Peter knew that a new plan would soon be in order. He just needed time to figure one out.
58.
Aiden
Marcus had chosen about twenty pack members to defend the estate. The rest of the pack, mostly mothers and their young children, were instructed to stay in the lodge until the whole mess was over. I made sure Becca was included in that bunch. I didn’t want her anywhere near Teagan. She’d already caused enough problems.
Those selected as defenders waited for Phillip and Luke to return. Marcus had sent them as wolves to scout for Teagan’s dad and the others. They had now come back, and while they changed to human form the rest of us stood gathered on my family’s back porch.
“They’re down by the lake, Marcus. It’s not much of a group—six men, five of whom I recognize from town. The other guy I don’t recall ever seeing. Young guy, stringy hair. They might be easy to run off, but they’re also heavily armed,” Phillip reported. “It’s a good thing we’ve got guns of our own. I’m assuming you want us to take care of this little problem as ‘humans.’”
“Right, Phillip,” Marcus said. “Are they close enough to see us?”
“Not in the dark.”
“Paul,” Marcus called.
“Yeah?”
Marcus scowled at my dad. “When you go back inside, I need you to turn on every light in the house. We want them to come to us here, and we’ll meet them outside. On our terms. Understand?”
“Got it,” Dad said.
“Alli.” Marcus continued to give orders. “Since you are friends with that girl—”
“Teagan,” my sister said, defiantly, which made me smile.
“Yes. Teagan. Stay inside with her and your dad. If things get bad, find a place to hide her until we can finish. If we do have to shift for any reason, we wouldn’t want her seeing us,” he added.
Alli went to Cade and buried her face in his chest. She was suddenly realizing just how bad this could get. The night was going to be hard on everyone.
Once Dad and Alli were safely inside with Teagan, Marcus gave us more instructions: “We are all to remain in our human forms. Under no circumstance is anyone allowed to change without my order. Understood? We want these men to realize that they were wrong about us. If anything should happen to go wrong, Brian will handle the cleanup, but let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”
Everyone, including myself, turned to look at Brian. The Fixer. He didn’t look all that tough, but according to Mom his special skills were feared as much as they were admired and he wasn’t someone to mess with. He’d never been needed here before. Personally, something about him gave me the creeps, and I couldn’t wait until he was gone.
It didn’t take long to draw the intruders. Within minutes of the light going on, they were completely visible walking toward us. We all moved together to meet them. I couldn’t begin to imagine what they must have thought. We didn’t have to be in wolf form to be intimidating.
As we approached, I saw Teagan’s father. He found me with his eyes, and he held a small gun in his shaking hand. It both surprised and saddened me.
“We don’t want any trouble,” one of the men shouted. “We just came to get Teagan Rhodes back.”
Liar.
Marcus answered for the pack. “That’s not what she told us. And if that were the case, there would be no reason for you to be trespassing on our property, especially not armed with semi-automatic weapons. The girl is free to leave whenever she wants.”
“What did she tell you?” her father asked. From where I stood, I could see the color drain from his face. Marcus glanced over at me, and he nodded as if giving me permission to speak.
I said, “You’re here because you and some guy named Peter think we’re a pack of killer werewolves.”
The faces of the four other men registered disbelief, and they all turned to stare at Teagan’s father. Clearly they hadn’t been aware of Peter and James’s beliefs or true intentions, and the man who’d first spoke said, “What the hell? Werewolves? Jesus Christ, James. You told us they were some kind of crazed cult out to steal and brainwash your daughter.”
Before James could reply, Marcus did. “We are not a cult, nor are we werewolves.” He chuckled, as if the very thought were preposterous. “The fact is, this is my land, and all of my extended family and friends live here. That’s it. You men have been duped, and this is private property.”
“They’re lying! They’re werewolves! I know they are! I have proof,” one of the members of the group suddenly shouted. Peter, I assumed. Wait a minute, I remembered seeing him before. He’d been at the diner that night I first talked Teagan into going out with me.
The four townies started slowly backing up, away from Peter and Teagan’s father. They looked shocked and angry, if a little unsteady on their feet. Had they been drinking?
“If you leave now, we will not involve the authorities. If you choose to stay, please be aware that we are prepared to defend ourselves,” Marcus said, pulling his jacket open so that the men could see it wasn’t an idle threat.
“Look, mister,” said the first man. “I’m sorry. We were lied to. We would never have come out here with these two crazies if we knew what they were planning. Come on, guys, let’s leave these poor people alone. Sorry to have ruined your night.”
“I appreciate that,” said Marcus, keeping his voice even. “Drop your weapons, and Phillip here will show you men back to your SUVs. Your weapons will be returned to you later. After you’ve left the property.”
The man named Peter shouted, “Wait! Don’t leave. He’s lying. I have proof! These beasts are not human! You promised to help us!” He pulled a folded-up piece of paper out of his coat pocket, but his army was already giving in to Marcus’s demands, placing their weapons on the ground and turning to walk away. Whatever the paper revealed, the men didn’t bother to look.
“Gentlemen.” Marcus raised his voice, ignoring Peter’s appeal. “I might not be as forgiving the next time. Not when my family or land is threatened by intruders carrying weapons. I hope we do not cross paths again. Do we understand each other?”
The four men looked back and slowly nodded; then they followed Phillip into the darkness. I wished Teagan’s dad would just go, too. Nothing good would come from him standing his ground with Peter. The man was obviously out of his mind.
As the others departed, Mr. Rhodes frantically looked around. “Where’s my daughter? I’m not leaving without my daughter!”
“Teagan is perfectly safe. She’s inside with my sister and my dad,” I said.
“Get her! I’m taking her home,” he yelled.
“James, I’m Aiden’s mother,” Mom said, taking a step forward.
I didn’t like it, and obviously Marcus didn’t approve either. “Lily, get back!” he ordered.
“It’s okay, Marcus,” she assured him. Then, to Mr. Rhodes: “Teagan is safe. As soon as we clear up this misunderstanding, I’ll have Aiden drive her home.”
“No. I w-want to t-take her home now,” he stammered.
“That’s not going to happen. I will not let that sweet child come out here and see her father waving a gun around ranting about werewolves. Do you really want her to witness this? You’ve already got her scared out of her mind with all your crazy nonsense. We may live out here in the woods, but we’re not da
ngerous. Nor are we mythical creatures,” Mom stated, her voice full of derision.
Teagan’s dad appeared to be thinking. The hand on his gun continued to shake, but his other hand smoothed back his unruly hair. “All right. Let’s figure this out so I can take my baby home.”
59.
Peter
The night hadn’t gone as planned, and he was close to his breaking point. Everything was falling apart. First his reinforcements surrendered and now James Rhodes was giving up, too? Peter started to scream wildly and wave his gun in the air.
“What the hell are you doing, James? Don’t you dare trust them. These aren’t normal people, you idiot, they’re werewolves!”
Everyone, including James, moved back from him.
“Get yourself together, boy,” Uncle Raymond told him sternly. “That gun could go off by accident. You don’t want this to go down like that. You want to be in control. Otherwise you’ll lose.”
Peter glanced around, hoping to see his uncle, hoping Ray would tell him what to do. “Where are you, Ray? The mission is all screwed up. I should have figured a way to do this on my own,” he complained.
Everyone looked around. After a moment they seemed to come to a decision, and they moved even farther back. They were eyeing him even more warily.
“Pete, I think we made a mistake here,” James said.
Peter’s face reddened. “I made the mistake. I should have never picked a bunch of drunken cowards to help me kill werewolves.” He continued to talk, getting more hysterical as he did. “All my time, my hard work, all ruined by a bunch of morons. Now I have to kill them all. I have to do it by myself. No one can be trusted to avenge my uncle but me. I won’t rest until every filthy, mangy, no-good, murderous wolf is dead and its body burned to ashes!”
“Peter, you need to get control of yourself, man,” James scolded, but he looked more and more nervous. He kept glancing from the group to Peter to the semiautomatic pistol Peter flailed around, back and forth, back and forth; he clearly didn’t know whom to trust.
“You don’t talk to me, you spineless pig. You deserve everything these animals are going to do to you, and so does that slut daughter of yours,” Peter yelled.
The comment seemed to cause a stir among the crowd, and Teagan’s wolfboy tried to step forward. He was restrained with difficulty. The rest of the crowd started moving forward, closing in on Peter and James. They spread out, forming a semi-circle, and that was when Peter made his decision.
“I vowed to eradicate the entire werewolf population,” he announced, “and that is what I intend to do.”
60.
Teagan
Alli and Paul had been trying their best to keep me distracted from what was taking place outside. I could hear the commotion from where I sat, and I noticed Alli glancing out the window every few minutes. They had cleverly positioned me so that my back was to the scene, and every time I moved to turn, Paul would distract me.
“Teagan, everything is going to be okay. Just let them handle it,” he reassured me for the millionth time.
Before I could respond, Alli did. “Really, it looks like they have it under control.”
Someone outside started ranting. Alli turned again to look out the window. “Don’t move,” she said after a second. “I’ll be right back.”
Her father tried to stop her, but she was out the door before he could do anything. With Paul’s attention diverted, I took the opportunity to peek. What I saw out the window was my father and Peter completely surrounded, and Peter appeared to be freaking out. He waved a longish pistol in the air.
My dad, on the other hand, was standing still as a statue. In the light spilling out of the house and from the back porch, his face seemed drained of all color. There was a gun in his hand as well, but he held it down by his side. From where I sat, I could see his hand trembling.
Paul was headed back to me, but I couldn’t let them hurt my father. No matter how much I hated him in that moment, he was still my dad, and I knew if Peter took one single shot, the group would attack. Cultists or simply angry businessmen, my dad wouldn’t stand a chance against them.
Without hesitation, I took off toward the door. I dodged Paul on my way out, and he shouted my name as I ran down the porch steps. I plowed through the mob, and to my surprise they let me pass. It was only Aiden, who stood at the far end of the crowd, who shouted, “Teagan! What are you doing? Somebody stop her!”
I took a quick look in his direction. He was trying to get to me before I made it to my father; I could tell his intent. I had no plan, myself, no idea what I was going to do when I reached my dad, but I couldn’t stop now. I needed to protect him. I’d beg the group for mercy, convince my dad to leave, something, anything to get him away from this place, these people who all looked so strange and menacing. I couldn’t just stand by and watch my father destroy himself because Peter had convinced him there was such a thing as werewolves. They might not such a thing, but this group was dangerous, and Aiden had some serious explaining to do.
Somehow I beat Aiden to my father, but before I knew what was happening Peter grabbed me, twirled me around so that my back was pressed against his body and held me in a chokehold. He held his gun in one hand, which was now pointed at the crowd, and in the other hand, the one with a forearm wrapped firmly around my neck, was a knife. He threatened, “Nobody move or I will slice her open. I mean it. Stay away from us.”
He tightened his grip, causing me to choke. In a whisper he added, “I won’t hesitate to kill you, but these people are worse. You’re my ticket out of here, so just do what I say and we might make it out alive.”
Aiden froze in his tracks. For a moment he stood stock-still, but when our eyes met he slowly began inching towards me.
Peter realized. Wrapping the arm holding the gun around my body, he positioned his knife against my neck. The blade pricked my skin as he shouted, “I mean it, dog. Stay the hell away from me or she’s dead.”
Rage flashed across Aiden’s face just before…
What? Before he shifted from the guy I’d fallen in love with to a giant, snarling, growling wolf. Holy mother of God. This couldn’t be happening. Was I hallucinating? Could it be true? He was really a wolf? A fucking wolf?
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, and apparently Peter couldn’t either. But he seemed more overjoyed than shocked. He whispered, “I knew it!” The words were more to himself than me.
Aiden’s mother darted forward. “Aiden, stop!” But Aiden wasn’t listening—or the wolf that he’d become wasn’t listening. It hunched down low to the ground and inched closer.
His gun was around my waist, so with Aiden only a few feet away, Peter screamed, “James! Shoot that piece of shit!”
I couldn’t see my father’s face, but from the corner of my eye I saw his gun rise. Immediately, all hell broke loose. Aiden’s mom, Alli, Cade, and Marcus shifted in unison. My brain could hardly register what I was seeing: four wolves where before there had been people I knew. Their clothes fell to the ground, torn and ragged. I felt my body swoon and feared I was going to pass out right then and there.
My legs gave out, causing Peter’s knife to cut my skin. Blood trickled down my neck. The wolves had formed a circle around us, and they were snarling, but my father dropped his gun and pleaded, “Peter, let Teagan go. There’s no getting out of this now. She doesn’t need to get hurt too.”
I regained my footing, and the pressure on my neck lightened. I could feel that Peter was shaking as he shouted, “James, you fucking coward, fuck you and your dog-loving whore of a daughter. I should have never trusted you!”
Peter switched his grip around my neck and raised his gun. Without a moment’s hesitation, my dad tried to take advantage of the situation. He lunged for me, but he wasn’t fast enough. Peter shot him point-blank in the head. Dad’s limp body fell to the ground.
I gave a sob of horror, but there was no time for it. Peter didn’t stop. He unloaded the rest of his clip at the wo
lves surrounding us, but they seemed to dance here and there and remain unharmed. He shrieked, “Get back! I’ll kill you too. I’ll kill you all!”
He’d loosened his chokehold a bit, just enough for me to elbow him in the stomach. He jerked and let go. I threw myself away from him and fell to the ground, and a second later Aiden attacked him from behind.
Aiden’s mother sprang into action next. Rolling out of her way, I crawled over to my dad and gathered his lifeless body in my arms, struggling to breathe as tears poured down my face. He was gone. Dead. My father was dead, and I had no one left in the world. Both my father and mother were gone. I was alone.
I heard screaming behind me, wet noises and tearing. I ignored all of it. With trembling fingers, I closed my father’s eyes. I sat there rocking and crying, not knowing what else to do.
I don’t know how long this lasted before a hand touched my shoulder. “Teagan? I’m so sorry.”
It was a familiar voice, and I turned to see Paul standing over me. Before I realized, I was standing, screaming, “Get the hell away from me! How can I…?” I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t think clearly. I only knew I needed to get the hell out of there. Peter had been a lunatic, but he was right. This was a werewolf pack, and Aiden was one of them. He was a fucking werewolf, and now both Peter and my father were dead.
Shocked, crying, and completely freaked out, I scrambled to my feet and took off for my car.
61.
Aiden
I hadn’t even felt the change this time. There was no pain, no warning; it was instant, automatic, and uncontrollable. The moment I saw the knife press down on Teagan’s delicate neck, the need to kill that son of a bitch was too strong to prevent. I thought of nothing else except stopping his pulse with my teeth.
Teagan’s scream for her father broke my heart. A second later, she flinched and tumbled out of Peter’s arms. It was my opportunity, and I took it.