“Well, anyway, the gifted wolves, they are all family, but they aren’t enough to provide everything for the Beastia familia, so they hire in other wolves from time to time.” He said. “It’s supposed to be pretty nice there, too. Nice weather, beautiful beaches, a forest to run and hunt in, good hours, horses, too…”
“Get to the point, Damien!” Paul exclaimed, losing patience.
“Yes, master.” He cowered. “The wolf said that their Beastia Master was a vampire named Thorn. A Rufus Thorn…”
“Thorn?” Foster asked. “Are you certain he said Thorn?”
“Yes, master, Thorn. Why? Do you know him?”
Foster paced back and forth a moment, contemplating his next move. He knew Thorn quite well indeed. It was a name he hadn’t heard in centuries. In fact, it was a name that had caused him to flee more than one previous country. He was, in fact, much older than Paul Foster himself. Not a vampire to be trifled with, even if he was feeding from goats. Still, he held no desire to go to war. He was looking to offer an alliance against the other Humanus clans in order to stave off Armageddon. Surely Rufus would let by-gones be by-gones after all these centuries?
“Perhaps. I believe I might know this Thorn fellow.” Foster let on. “Go on. Finish your tale.”
“The wolf claims that Thorn moved one of his family homes to an island off the coast, into the Gulf. He believes he is still there.” Damien smiled smugly.
“Excellent.” Foster turned to Damien. “Gather the troops, my boy. We head to Shit-kickerville at first dark.”
“Master, shouldn’t we send an emissary, first? Ensure that he’s still there? If we show up en masse he’s liable to…”
“Liable to what?” Paul asked. “Sic the dogs on us?” Foster laughed.
“But we aren’t even sure where this island actually is, master. Even the wolf said he didn’t know exactly where it was.” Damien explained.
“Where do they make landfall? Surely that is the closest mainland point to this island, yes?” Paul explained as he escorted Damien to the door. “We will find a place to hole up if we have to, or, if absolutely necessary, we can stay in the trucks another night or two until this island, or somebody who knows where it is located can be found.”
“Yes, master.” Damien was all but pushed out of Paul’s inner sanctum.
Foster turned to the guards and softly told them something as Damien turned to start barking orders to the enforcers. The guards nodded and spoke into their radios. Immediately, all members of Foster’s group began bugging out and packing up to move out.
*****
Nadia and her mother jogged along the roadway following the pavement toward the buildings further north. Natashia’s sharp ears picked up the sound of sirens in the distance and they made their way to a stand of storage tanks east of their position as quickly as they could. They huddled behind a storage tank and watched as two marked military police cars drove by rapidly, headed in the direction they had just come from.
After the two cars left, Nadia started to step out but her mother held her back. “One more.” She said. An SUV without the lights or siren going drove by quickly. This one was marked ‘K-9 Unit’ on the side and rear of the vehicle. They looked at each other, knowing that the dogs would scent them out and follow them wherever they went. Natashia began stripping out her clothes and pulled a light sundress from her bag. She stood between the tanks to hide from any passersby and stuffed her pants and blouse into the backpack. Handing Nadia her bag and sundress, she quickly shifted into her Halfling form. She barely fit between the standing storage tanks, but her intent was not to stay, only to mask them from the pursuing canines. She lifted her leg and sprinkled urine along the side of one tank. She clawed another tank with her long claws and rubbed her rear against another. She wanted to leave as much of her Halfling’s scent behind as she could to dissuade the dogs. She also hoped the change in scent would throw them off as well.
Once Nadia realized what her mother was doing, she stripped as well, changing rapidly and pulled out a light dress to quickly slip on once she was done. She shoved her jeans and hiking boots into her pack and put the bags off to the side and tossed the two dresses as far from where they were ‘marking’ as she dare toss them. When Nadia shifted, she again assumed the form of a very large, gray wolf with glowing amber eyes. Natashia knew, they must be close to Jack. Very close, or Nadia would be a Halfling as well. Nadia sniffed a few areas around the tanks and squatted and marked a few areas. She tried to claw the tanks as her mother did, but her paws were not equipped to do the damage that her mother’s hands could do.
Once the two felt reasonably sure that they had marked as much as they could, and their collective bladders were empty, they shifted back and quickly dressed. Without thought of safety, they slipped on the light sandals they had brought and snuck from behind the tanks, again heading in the direction that Nadia felt herself being pulled.
“We are close, little one. I am sure of it.” Natashia said. “You assumed the form of the wolf again.”
“I did?” she questioned, not sure what to make of it.
“Quite sure.” Her mother replied, her eyes misting. “Perhaps the most beautiful sight a mother could behold.”
Nadia reached for her hand and they ran as quickly as they could to the next largest buildings that could give them cover. An old aircraft hangar sitting off by itself could give them a place to hide. They knew, with a helicopter and a few trucks sitting around it, that it most likely had people inside, but were unsure just who those people might be.
As they approached the rear of the hangar, they could hear activity inside. Equipment running, people talking, laughing, unfamiliar noises, electrical devices humming, engines starting and driving away. Then a familiar smell hit Nadia’s nose and she froze, her eyes widening with joy. “Jack!” she exclaimed. “Mother, of all the luck, we’ve found Jack!”
“So soon? I think not. I think your desires are playing tricks on you, my dear.”
“No. I can smell him. The bond pulled me here, and it’s him!” she took off at a dead run, looking for a way in to the building, Natashia hot on her heels. Nadia ran across the east side of the building. She could see windows, but they were too high for her to see inside the building. She called out his name, but her voice could not penetrate the steel walls or be heard over the din of the activity. As she spun around the corner at the north end of the building, the hangar doors were open, she could see men working all through the building, a guard shack at the other side of the doors and a guard inside, but she sprinted across the pavement and through the open door before he could even leave his little building.
“Jack!” she yelled, desperate to find him. “Jack!” Men stopped what they were doing in mid action, heads turned from all over the hangar, tilting like a puppy who couldn’t quite figure out what it was they were seeing. All of them wearing uniforms, she knew, this was not the place to be wrong or she would be in a lot of trouble, but…now that she was inside, the scent of her mate was overpowering. The pull of their bond, overbearing. She sprinted to the back of the hangar, still yelling his name, “Jack!”
A really large, dark-skinned man stepped in front of her and she nearly collided with him. His hand was held out in front of her. When he spoke, she almost imagined his voice was the voice of thunder itself. “You’re not authorized to be in here.” It was truly a statement. Nadia tried to backpedal and found herself nearly falling.
“Nadia!” Jack called out. He ran to her and she skirted the large man with the voice of thunder to embrace her mate. She held him so tightly that he feared she would squeeze the life from him, and she shook as she cried.
Apollo approached them and Jack tried to explain to him, “Easy there, Apollo. This is my…um…my wife.”
Apollo was taken aback. “When did this happen, buddy? I mean, last I heard, you were…”
“It is true!” Nadia exclaimed. “We are mated. Forever!”
Apollo’s eyes ref
lected the shock he felt, and the other squad members rose a slight hubbub and mutterings that Jack didn’t care to listen for, he was more interested in not only how she found him, but what in the hell she was doing there. Before he could ask, he heard another uproar from his squad mates and looked up to see Natashia walking up to the group from the open hangar doors, the armed guard behind her. “This one followed the other one in, too.” The guard stated, obviously unhappy about the breach.
“It’s okay. She’s my mother-in-law.”
Apollo did a double take. “No fuckin’ way, man.” He exclaimed. “Hot-assed sister-in-law, I could buy. But no way in hell she’s your mother-in-law.”
That bought him a sharp elbow to the ribs from Sanchez. “Put your tongue back in your mouth before you lose it, cabron.”
“What? I’m just saying…” he tried to defend himself.
“Yeah, say it again and you’ll lose more than just your tongue.” She warned.
Jack explained, “Seriously. Nadia is my wife. Natashia is her mother.” He smiled sheepishly. “What can I say? Time has been kind to her.”
Jack heard mumblings from around him along the lines of ‘no shit’ and ‘there’s a MILF’ and a few others that he truly hoped Natashia neither heard or didn’t know what they meant. Apparently she was either used to her effect on men or she didn’t care, or, as he hoped, she didn’t know that what they were saying was as crude as he took it. Odds were, she knew, and simply chose to ignore it.
“What are you doing here, Nadia? You aren’t supposed to be here.”
“I had to come, Jack. I had a premonition that something very bad was coming for you.” She cried. “I had to be with my mate, so we left.”
“A premonition? I don’t understand.” He held her as she clung to him.
“She has a gift, dear boy. She comes by it quite honestly.” Natashia explained, indicating herself.
Jack shook his head. He still had no idea what they were getting at.
“When two wolves are mated, they share more than their life force. They share a destiny. And since you and Nadia are bound together, and she has the gift of ‘sight’, she could tell that you were in imminent danger.”
“Whoah!” Apollo interjected. “What the bloody hell do you mean, ‘wolves’?”
Jack paled. Natashia noticed it. “You have not told them?” she asked nonchalantly.
Jack’s eyes widened and he shook his head.
“Told us what, Jack?”
“Told you that…uh…well…”
“That Nadia and I are in fact, wolves.” Natashia stated, as though she was admitting to being the queen of England.
Some of the squad members were reaching for their weapons when a very authoritative voice yelled out, “Stand down!” The elite soldiers all turned to see their commanding officer standing with the XO. Both had just entered topside and nobody knew just how much they might have heard. Mitchell and Youngblood both approached the group.
Matt took in the scene and repeated his previous order, “Everybody stand down. There are no threats here.” He turned to Jack. “Is this the young lady you told us about?”
“Yes, sir, it is. Colonel Mitchell, Miss Youngblood, this is my wife, Nadia.” He pulled Nadia away from him to make the introduction. “Nadia, this is Matt Mitchell, my Commanding Officer, and Laura Youngblood, the Executive Officer.” Matt nodded his head to Nadia and Laura took her hand.
“Skipper, this is my mother-in-law, Natashia.”
Natashia practically beamed with pleasure upon meeting Matt. Some thought she was almost glowing. If Jack didn’t know her better, he might think she was flirty, but it was just Natashia’s style to ooze pure femininity everywhere she went. When she stepped forward to shake the colonel’s hand, she moved with such fluidity that she almost seemed made of satin, her curves accentuating the sundress she wore. She couldn’t have looked more radiant if she wore an evening gown and was bedazzled with jewels.
“Colonel, so good to finally meet you.” She purred as she took his hand. Jack swore he heard one of the squad members say something along the lines of, ‘does that make her a WILF?’
Matt hated to admit that he enjoyed the way she said ‘colonel’, accentuating each letter, not saying it like the Americans do, like a kernel of corn. Very European of her. “Nice to meet you as well, ma’am.”
“Please, you may call me Tasha.” She purred.
Tasha? Jack thought. That’s a little weird. “Sir, I didn’t tell them where we are.” Jack began.
“He didn’t have to, colonel.” Nadia tried to explain. “I could sense he was in danger. Our bond directed me to him.”
“Ma’am, Jack’s job always puts him in the path of danger, I don’t see why…”
“No, this is larger than that. Something dark and large looms.” She interrupted. “This is extremely dangerous.”
Mitchell sighed and shook his head. “Considering the time of the month, there are possible threats all over our sectors, there’s simply no way we can tell which one is this ‘large’ threat.”
“This isn’t tied to the moon or its pull, colonel. This is…larger. This is…’Apocalypto’!”
“Apocalypse?” he asked.
“Yes. Very much so. Or very like.” She grunted in frustration. “The correct words escape me. I have no way to put into it what I am seeing. What I feel is grander than the words I can find.”
“Understood.” Matt studied her for a moment then motioned to Apollo. “Let’s get them down below, secure the hangar and double the guards outside.”
“Yes, sir.”
Next he turned to Laura. “Notify the base commander that there may be an exterior threat, increase the guards at all the gates and let’s get security at unopened gates. Activate canine units and set perimeter patrols, just in case. We’ll want to go to the next threatcon. If he asks, the code word is Lazarus.”
“I’m on it, Colonel.”
Mitchell next addressed Jack. “Are all the teams geared up and ready for action?”
“Affirmative, Skipper.”
“Very well. Come with me. You can help fill in some gaps.” And the two men headed for the stairwell. It was time to make arrangements for two more wolves for at least one night and see just how much information he could glean from this wolf with premonitions. If a large threat was looming, especially one of Apocalyptic proportions, then he damn sure wanted to milk every drop of intel that he could from this girl. As they exited the stairwell, Matt motioned for one of his young captains. “Get Dr. Evans. Have him meet us in the interrogation room.”
“Yes, sir.” The guard turned to leave when Matt yelled a warning.
“Be careful when you wake him. He can be a little grumpy without his beauty rest.”
“Roger that, sir.” The captain said.
“Now, about your…’wife’. How do these premonitions of hers work?” Matt asked Thompson.
“Honestly, Skipper, this is the first I’ve ever heard of them.” Jack answered. “I was as shocked as anybody else when she came running up the hangar deck.”
So much for that idea. Matt hated going in cold, with nothing to work with. His head started to throb and his gut twisted a bit. The wolf juice that Evan brewed up for him wasn’t lasting as long as he’d hoped, even with the concentrated version he had been slugging back. He pulled the flask from his pocket and took a hit from it. It still tasted like a turd filtered through dirty socks, but the relief was almost immediate.
“Scotch?” Jack inquired.
“I wish. Some concoction that the doc cooked up for me to help take the edge off the full moon.”
Jack hiked an eyebrow. “Does it work?”
“For very short periods at a time, yes. It stinks to high heaven, tastes even worse, but the relief it gives me makes it worth it.” Mitchell sighed and slipped the flask back in his pocket. “Anything I need to know about these two before we go in?”
“I pretty much covered the high points in my debrief,
Skip. Natashia was the one who pulled my fat out of the fire and Nadia’s her daughter. They’re natural born wolves and can shift at will. The rest…well, pretty much doesn’t apply. I’m not sure what they can tell us that we don’t already know.”
“I may need your help to read their body language in there. You know them a lot better than I do.”
Jack turned to Mitchell. “Skipper, we wouldn’t have anything if she hadn’t risked it all to bring it to us.”
“And you don’t find that just a little bit too convenient? Just show up out of the blue with this dire warning?”
“She wouldn’t set us up, sir.” Jack started to get mad.
“Her mother was at the ambush that your squad was slaughtered at…”
“And she saved my ass!” he interjected. “I trust them with my life!”
Matt was silent for a moment and let Jack calm down then he stated simply, “Good. Because if I decide to trust them, I’ll be trusting them with everybody’s lives.”
*****
Rufus Thorn paced his study, worry creasing his long face. “Why have they not called? Surely they have made it to the military base by now?”
Georgio followed in mirror to his steps. “I do not know Señor. She should have called by now, I am sure of it.”
Scenarios played out in their minds, none of them good. Rufus hated worrying about his people. He had contacted everyone he could think of, but none had access to the base, and to be honest, none lived anywhere near where they were going. All of Thorn’s people were in the Gulf area. Vampire and wolf alike, they were willing to do whatever he wanted but none could answer his questions.
Moments later, a young maid entered the study. “Monsieur, you have a call.” For a wolf, she was timid and her face reflected concern.
“Is it Natashia?” he asked.
“Non. It is a man. He would not give his name.” she squeaked.
Rufus went to his desk and pulled out the phone. He hit the lit key and answered. “This is Thorn.”
“Ah, Rufus. You sound good after all these years.”
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