Shifter's Magic (The Wolvers Book 8)

by Jacqueline Rhoades

  "Looks like our ride's here," the wolver holding her said.

  Her scream was reduced to a sob.

  They were dragged, thrashing and kicking, to the truck. The driver glared at Livvy's captor.

  "Fuck. What the hell is this, Bails?" His lip curled in a snarl.

  "It's Boss, and don't get your dick in a knot, Morgan. Consider them your Christmas bonus."

  One of the others snorted. "More like bon-er," he said and when his buddy laughed, he dug his elbow into Hannah's ribs.

  She was sitting between the two in the back, and if she looked nervous before, she didn't now. She stared straight ahead, stone faced, as if her two companions didn't exist.

  The driver wasn't laughing, either. "Are you fucking crazy? They're from that pack across the road, aren't they?"

  "So what? They're all doing the holly-jolly Christmas thing. No one's going to miss these two and tomorrow we'll be gone."

  "You'd better hope they don't notice," Morgan muttered.

  "I don't give a shit about that lame-ass pack. I only want one of them to notice, and by the time he does, it'll be too fucking late. Paybacks are hell. Ain't that right, sweet meat?"

  Livvy, who was sitting uncomfortably on Bails' lap, slapped at the hand that was crawling up her leg. He only laughed at her objection. He squeezed the flesh of her thigh until she winced.

  "Better be nice to me or I'll give you to Karl as a Christmas present. He loves tearing up his chewy toys."

  The way the other two laughed, Livvy knew that wasn't good.

  "This wasn't part of the deal."

  "Fuck you, Morgan. What's with you anyway? You forget to tell the bitch to suck instead of bite?"

  Morgan's face suddenly changed and he laughed. "No point. She had no teeth."

  The four men roared with laughter.

  "This one's got 'em, though, doncha, honey." Bails squeezed Livvy's cheeks until he forced her lips apart. "And a tongue that's going to work wonders."

  Morgan looked at her a beat too long for the rough track they followed. They hit a deep hole in the track and the truck bounced dangerously onto two wheels. Morgan gripped the wheel and righted their course. For the rest of the short trip, his attention remained on the road.

  ~*~

  "If those two aren't back in the next ten minutes, I'll skin them alive and hang their hides on my front door. I've got two dozen hungry cubs here," Donna fumed, though the cubs were on the ice, enjoying the late night freedom and none of them were sniffing around the shelterhouse looking to eat. It was evident that in spite of her impatience, her growing concern was not for the cubs.

  "Now, Honey, they haven't been gone that long. No one's going to starve," Harvey assured her.

  "How long does it take to run down the damn hill and back? The moon's about to rise."

  The rising moon meant little to the cubs, but it meant everything to Brad. Livvy had promised to run with him and he didn't think that promise was an empty one. She should have been back fifteen minutes ago, and that was after allowing plenty of extra time to make the short trip down to the highway.

  "I'm done waiting," he told the others. "Something's wrong." He looked to Matt for his opinion.

  The younger wolver shrugged and agreed, though he didn't seem worried. "That's what I'm thinkin'. Could be that piece of shit she's drivin'. They're probably pulled over some place waitin' on us to come find them, and since I've got a hot date planned with one of 'em, I'm comin' with you."

  Brad had gone over the car with a fine toothed comb to make sure it was safe, but with a vehicle that age and with that many miles on it, anything was possible. He didn't want to think it was the car and that he'd missed something that needed repair, but that was better than the car accident he feared.

  "If nothing's wrong, we'll pass them on the road," he added. After all, there was only one way in or out of Gilead.

  "Could be the battery," Matt suggested once they were on their way.

  "I checked it. It's good."

  "Don't know much about women, do ya," Matt said with a laugh. "You got any idea how long two women can yack with the doors open and the radio blaring? And that's sitting in the driveway not twenty feet from the front door." He shook his head in incredulity. "Then ask 'em what the big deal was and they'll say nothin'. Seen my mama and Aunt Donna do it more than once. And then they blame it on the car when the battery goes dead. The guy that invented those automatic shut offs was probably mated to a yackity woman."

  Brad hoped Matt was right, but he didn't think so. "Livvy promised to run with me."

  "Hmph, bout time," was all Matt had to say.

  There was nothing much to say after that until they were halfway down. Then Brad broke the silence, "Your cell phone should work through here. Why don't you give her a call?"

  "Forgot to ask for her number."

  "Not Hannah, your sister."

  "Why would I have Livvy's number?"

  Brad managed to keep his next thought in his head, but he didn't bother to hide his impatience. "Just get the damn phone out," he growled.

  Brad rattled off the number while Matt dialed and hoped Livvy hadn't changed it. He waited while it rang and finally answered, but knew it was Livvy's recording for voice mail and not the real thing.

  "Where the hell are ya," Matt said and hung up.

  The moon had risen and the pull was strong, but both wolvers fought it. Both were now worried though neither voiced their concern. Matt called again and again until they hit another dead spot, and then they were turning into the main road that led to the strip mall.

  There were no sirens or flashing lights, but their relief was short lived. Livvy's car was in the parking lot. The driver's door was open, but no women were in sight. Her purse was on the front seat and her cell phone was in it.

  "They can't have been gone more than a half hour, forty-five minutes at most," Brad said when he saw the box of buns on the back seat.

  Livvy's scent was all around him, faint but distinct. There was another scent there, too. It was wolver and disturbingly familiar, but that had to be a mistake. A wolver's senses were more acute than a human's, but not nearly as sensitive as a wolf's. He needed to shift to be sure.

  "Matt, I want you to head back and find the Alpha. Tell him what's going on. I'm going to shift and see if I can track them."

  "No way. I'm going with you." Matt squared his stance as if expecting Brad to physically object. "We can call."

  "Who?" Brad asked. They were wasting time. "Do you have Opal's phone number? Because she's the only one who's at home. Everyone else has already gone over the moon."

  "Not everyone," Matt said stubbornly.

  "Harvey? Donna? Cell phones won't work up there." But as he said it, Brad thought of someone else, two someones.

  He ran back to the truck and rummaged through the console where his phone was charging. He yanked it out and hit a speed dial number.

  "Edna? Sorry. Edith. It's Brad. I know, I know. Listen Edith. I need you to do something. It's important."

  Chapter 23

  "Why won't he answer?" Hannah whispered while their guard stuffed his mouth with more chips from a box behind him.

  Livvy leaned close to her friend's ear. "He's too far away, but they're coming. I know they are. When we don't show up at the pond, someone will come looking and sound the alarm." But would they know where to find them?

  Since their capture, the two females had been calling out to their Alpha through the mental link he shared with every pack member. The telepathic link had limits, however. Distance was one of them. Every cub was instructed to remain within the Alpha's calling range when they shifted. It was a way to keep them from straying too far. Beyond a certain range, the link faded.

  "All we have to do is hold out until they do," she added in a whisper, silently praying that they could. "You can do that, can't you?"

  "I'm a Tilson. Papaw says us Tilsons can hold out against anything."

  Including all attempts at
reform. "Long history of rebellion, huh?"

  Livvy continued to tug at the rope that bound her hands. It was looser than it had been before and by increasing the tightness on one side, she hoped to ease the other enough to work her hands free.

  "Don't know about history, but we been doin' it a long time."

  "You certainly have." There were Tilson markers in the Gilead cemetery that had been there for a few hundred years. "No more doing it for me, though. I can hold out, too."

  Poor Hannah had taken most of the abuse meted out by their captors. Twice, with her hands bound, she'd thrown herself at the wolver called Bails when he'd manhandled Livvy. She'd paid for it with another set of bruises. The second time, her defense was rewarded with a shove that sent her tumbling to the ground followed by a kick to the ribs when a tall, thin red headed wolver tried kissing Livvy with his wet and slobbering mouth.

  Livvy was ashamed to admit she'd been terrified when Bails grabbed her breasts and humiliated when he laughingly told the others his plans for her. She did what she could to avoid Red, but with her hands tied, there was little to be done.

  "Sure you can. Anyone can hold out if they put their mind to it," Hannah agreed, but she looked doubtful. "Thing is, you can't show 'em how much they hurt. Papaw says if you can't hide, then you got to keep your jaws tight and look 'em in the eye. He says the eyes are what tell the tale. Don't scream, and for glory's sake, don't cry. Don't blink. Don't make a sound, just stare 'em down. Don't let 'em win, no matter what."

  "No talk," the monster grunted and the two immediately clamped their lips together. The ogre sitting across from them hadn't touched either of them yet, but looked like he wanted to. That thought alone was enough to make them obey.

  Livvy wondered if he was following orders or their chatter confused him. She bowed her head. The monster could threaten her into silence, but he couldn't stop her thoughts.

  Don't let them win. Was that why Hannah wore the baggy clothes in high school and rarely spoke? Was she trying to hide? Growing up with the Tilson's, being picked on at school for her poverty and inability to keep up with the class, Hannah had plenty of experience in fending off attackers. Livvy had never picked on the girl, but she'd done nothing to stop it, either. She saw now that Hannah's dumb stare when she was verbally attacked, wasn't dumb at all. She was following her Papaw's advice. She was a soft hearted girl, and naturally kind. It couldn't have been easy, yet she'd learned those lessons well.

  Livvy added another item to the list of times Hannah had saved her. The woman had broken her own rule back at the strip mall and it was intentional. Her scream was meant to distract attention from Livvy. It also started Bails' feud with Red that ended when they reached the camp.

  "Keep your fucking hands off her. She's mine," Bails' snarled when Red grasped at Livvy's breast again.

  "Yeah? Who died and left you boss?" Red straightened his spine and pulled his shoulders back in defiance.

  "Victor, that's who, and you watched me kill him. You dogs would still be eating out of garbage cans if it weren't for me."

  "I ain't no dog, and I never ate garbage."

  "No, you just spent your time ripping off pennies from old ladies' pocket books. And only the ones you knew couldn't fight back. Fuckin' wuss."

  A fight ensued with the others cheering the combatants on. It was frightening to watch. It was nothing like the one between Brad and Tony.

  Those two had wrestled and punched, but they didn't gouge at eyes. They didn't rip the flesh from their opponent with their teeth. They didn't draw knives, or use whatever rocks or scraps of metal they could find to use as weapons. They didn't try to burn each other in the fire that had been built in the center of the circle. They didn't try to kill each other, and when Brad had won, he'd walked away. He didn't continue to bash his opponent's head into the ground until the wolver was dead.

  Spattered with his victim's blood, Bails rose and looked around, daring anyone to contest his authority.

  Livvy was shaking with terror when a large hand descended on her shoulder. Morgan pushed her toward a nearby travel trailer that was canted so far over to one side it looked dangerously close to falling over. All the windows were cracked and the body was rusted through in places. A rotted wooden crate replaced the steps.

  He'd practically thrown Hannah through the open door and shoved Livvy in after her. Unable to keep their footing on the slanted floor, both women fell.

  Livvy was on her knees when he bent over her from behind. He fiddled with the rope that bound her hands behind her back. "If you get the chance, run. Don't stop. Don't look back."

  The floor of the trailer shifted into an even steeper incline when another rogue entered.

  "Who let you out of your cage?" Morgan asked. His body blocked their view of the newcomer.

  "Bails. Say guard," growled a voice from the door. The slur of words was barely intelligible. "What fuck you?"

  Morgan shoved Livvy aside, though his supporting hand on her hip cushioned her against landing too hard. He reached behind her to pluck a bottle from one of the cases precariously stacked in the narrow aisle. He smiled and wiggled it in front of Hannah's nose.

  "Fuck you, Karl," he said much louder than he needed to. "What does it look like? I'm keeping the meat warm. Nobody likes to eat frozen meat, right?" He shifted Hannah to a sitting position and tapped her nose with his finger. "I want you warm and toasty for our little post run party."

  Hannah choked out a frightened gasp. She'd been so silent up until then, but whatever she'd seen beyond Morgan's shoulder was enough to bring home the terror of their situation.

  Livvy understood when Morgan's body shifted enough in the confined space for her see beyond him. A hideous looking creature was crouching less than five feet away.

  His only clothing was a pair of cutoff sweatpants which clearly exposed a lopsided, but massively muscled chest covered in random patches of thick, matted hair. The rest of his huge body was a distorted combination of ropy muscle and twisted bone. It was hard to tell from his hunched position, but one leg looked longer than the other. His arms were abnormally set into the shoulders. They looked dislocated, like Tommyboy's did when he'd fallen from the tree, yet this creature moved with no obvious pain. His fingers were definitely stunted and the palms so wide, they looked more like paws. But it was his face Livvy found most frightening.

  His chinless jaw and cheeks were pushed forward from a head too large to be considered normal. His brow was flat and sloped back from a nose too dark for the rest of his coloring. Huge, malformed ears sat too high at the sides of his head, and his mouth was inordinately wide. The lips sagged, exposing jagged teeth that were crookedly set in yellowish gums. His tongue, too, was oversized which accounted for his difficulty speaking. In contrast to the rest of his features, his eyes were small and beady. They reminded Livvy of snake eyes.

  This creature was no wolver.

  "Girl mine," Karl grunted.

  His lips shifted back into what looked like a permanent snarl. He attempted to stand, but there wasn't enough headroom in the small trailer. His hunched shoulders and oversized features reminded Livvy of a storybook troll.

  "Not so fast, asshole. Just because you say it doesn't make it so."

  "I win fight, it does."

  Morgan laughed. "Oh please, fighting over fresh meat is so last year, don't you think? I mean, it's one thing for Bails to do it. He has a position to uphold, but you, me, and the rest? It's Christmas. Surely we can find something that's more festive than hanging entrails on a pine tree."

  Karl's flat brow furrowed in confusion. His upper lip curled.

  Bails, who'd obviously been listening to the exchange, laughed loudly and called out. "What the hell are you talking about, Morgan? And quit tormenting my dog."

  "It's Christmas, Bails. In the spirit of the season, I think we should play a game." Morgan left the trailer laughing.

  The monster, Karl, squatted down, taking up half the available space and overwhelm
ing the smell of must and mold with the rank smell of death and decay.

  "No talk," he grunted again.

  ~*~

  When Edith's panicked and confusing call exploded in the Alpha's mind, he couldn't get a clear picture of what she was trying to say. Wolves didn't communicate with speech as human's did. Body language played a greater role in wolf communication as well as the tonal quality of the limited sounds they made. The telepathy gifted to him as Alpha had its drawbacks, particularly if the exchange was between a wolver's two very different forms. Telepathically, wolves communicated in images, humans with words.

  Edith came across as so distraught, he doubted she could communicate clearly in either. The only thing that was clear was that someone needed help. Since the probability of anyone calling the elderly Edith with an emergency was slim, the Alpha assumed her cries were for Edna.

  Jazz felt the cry as well, though she only registered the emotional distress. She was already moving at top speed when Griz turned to signal her to follow.

  Legs, fore and aft, stretched to their full stride as the two tore through the woods and headed for town. Jazz, being the smaller of the two wolves, and therefore with less strength in her limbs, fell behind, but Griz never faltered in his pace. He called on all the power the mantle of his position afforded him.

  Skirting stumps and leaping fallen trees, they flew through the surrounding woods, past the newly christened hall. They gave no thought to the sanctity of the graves they crossed as their paws plowed through snow and dirt. Their thoughts were for the living.

  The downhill path of the circling road lent them speed. Griz skidded to a stop before the old Victorian. Both Edith and Edna stood on the porch, wrapped in shawls and stamping their tiny slippered feet against the cold.

  "Oh, goodness," Edith cried, hands aflutter. "It's been so many years since I've sent a call out to the Alpha, I wasn't sure I could do it."