Surviving Today

by Mande Chambers

  Patrick studied the hardwood floor at his feet. “Do you want the honest to God truth?”

  D sighed. “That would be a refreshing change of pace, Patrick.”

  Patrick ran his hands through his hair. “Yes.” He held his hands up again at the look on D’s face. “Now, hold on a minute there killer. You’re the one that asked for full disclosure here. I slept with her once before you guys got together and once more recently. Anything more than that you will have to drag out of her. I’m really sorry, D.”

  “I’m sorry, too, friend,” he said as he walked into the locker room.

  Damn. Even knowing that conversation was coming, he felt like the biggest jackass on the planet.

  D walked back out of the locker room. He leaned against the wall beside the door. “You have five minutes to explain and/or defend your side of things. Go.”

  Shanna turned on the shower as the voices outside the door got louder. While the water warmed up, she stripped, wincing when she noticed a bruise forming on her ribcage. With a quick wave of her hand it disappeared.

  She stepped into the small stall, letting the water beat down on her battered body. She knew that she shouldn’t have left the two of them alone like that, but she needed a breather.

  She hurried up the rest of her shower. She pulled back the white curtain and let out a squeak.

  Holy hell.

  D was sitting on the bench beside her clothes, slouched forward, hands between his knees as he studied the tile floor. He was dressed in an olive Henley and jeans, black boots on his feet.

  “Why didn’t you just tell me it was him?” he asked quietly, keeping his gaze on the red tile at his feet.

  “Can we do this after I’ve gotten dressed?”

  “Not particularly. If I don’t like your answer, I won’t be around that long.”

  Well, then. The definitely put her in her place. They were having this out here and now whether she was ready or not, clothes or not.

  “I didn’t think it was relevant. It would have caused more problems.”

  She quickly dressed while his eyes were still adverted.

  His eyes finally met hers. “So you snuck off to meet him at night instead. Someone you’ve probably hated for longer than you did me.”

  Shanna unwrapped her hair, tossing the towel on the floor. Pulling a brush from her gym bag, she tackled the tangles. “I’m with you, aren’t I? So obviously I didn’t hate you as much as you thought I did.”

  “That was the wrong thing to say right now. And I take it something has already happened between the two of you.”

  Silence.

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

  Well, what the hell was she supposed to say? He didn’t want her to lie to him and she was too much of a coward to say it out loud.

  He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Let’s try this before you dig that hole you’ve crawled into any deeper. Is there anything else I should know before I walk out that door?”

  “That really depends on what you want to know.”

  “The truth.”

  Ah, yes. There was that dreaded five letter word again. “Sometimes it’s better not to know.”

  “Trust me when I say—when it comes to you—I know this. Unless you want to find yourself suddenly single, you need to start talking. I need to know.”

  Careful what you ask for.

  That was what everyone said right before they ran screaming for the nearest exit after hearing the exact truth they had begged for.

  Your mind tends to write checks your heart can’t cash.

  Shanna knew, that in his mind, knowing the truth was something he was convinced he needed. She also knew that just because his mind was demanding one thing, that didn’t mean his heart was demanding the same thing.

  He had said that he wanted to know. She had no reason anymore not to tell him.

  In that case, she might as well start from the beginning.

  Shanna sat down next to him on the bench. D surprised her, and himself, by wrapping his arms around her shoulders and hugging her close.

  “I know whatever you’re about to tell me is going to piss me off and is probably going to shatter my already fragile heart, but I’ve known for a while that things haven’t been right between us.”

  He held her close as he let her ponder that.

  The place she chose to begin took him by surprise.

  “A couple of months after the truth about the rape came out, when everyone was in protective mode and smothering me, I started to cut myself when the memories got to be too much.”

  D sucked in a breath when she showed him the multiple scars running up and down her arms.

  How the hell had he missed that one?

  He traced them lightly, his heart constricting in his chest. He exhaled sharply. How could she have been going through all of this, doing that, and him be so utterly clueless through it all?

  “Shanna, you should’ve—” He took a deep breath, correcting himself. “You could have come to me. You could have told me how you were feeling. What was going on. I would have helped you.” He sighed. “I’m sorry. I should have been more attentive and more hands on in helping you. I just thought that you needed your space.”

  She smiled a sad smile, patting the hand that rested on her forearm. “There’s more.”

  “I guessed as much.”

  She took a deep breath. “A couple of months ago, Patrick found out about the cutting and confronted me about it…” She let the sentence trail off.

  “And that’s when you two ended up together,” he finished for her, keeping his protective hold on her. “You were like, ‘Hey, since I completely freaked out on D last night, I’ll sneak out to meet his friend—whom I have a surprising history with that no one knows about—as previously planned. I’ll roll around on the mat with him, and, when I get busted for my idiotic way of handling my problems, I’ll distract him in a way that’s sure to be fun. I’ll roll around on the mat with him in a completely different way.’ That sound about right?”

  Her jaw dropped slightly.

  At her confused look, he added, “I’ve had suspicions for a while. When Carter told me about your nightly workout sessions and who they were with, I put my awesome skills of deduction to use and made two plus two equal Shanna and Patrick slept together.”

  He smiled a little as she closed her mouth, her eyes widening a bit. “Well, that, and Patrick sung like a cornered canary out in the gym. He wasn’t overly apologetic about it, though he did apologize. So I guess I have to give him that.”

  D pulled her into his lap. “He did add, tactfully I’ll admit, that you felt extremely guilty and were ready to spill the proverbial beans more than once. He also told me that you kept quiet because of a deal he struck with you. He took full responsibility for his part in all of this.”

  Shanna looked at him expectantly.

  “Oh, I’m beyond pissed if you haven’t picked up on that yet. I’m more hurt than anything, though.” He kissed her temple. “I need time to digest all of this. I’m not going to make promises I can’t keep or any decisions or say what I am thinking while I’m this pissed off. I may be distant for a while, but be patient with me. I deserve that a least. And, for the love of God, don’t go off and do anything even more stupid than you’ve already done.”

  She nodded, burying her face into his chest again.

  D held her tighter, placing his chin on top of her head while she continued to cry, his own tears sliding down his cheeks.

  When they were done, he drove her home in silence.

  Shanna disappeared into her basement rooms and D headed out to the deck, ignoring the light brushing of snow. He collapsed onto a random lounge chair.

  It was barely above freezing and a thin layer of snow covered the ground around him, but he was too emotionally numb to feel the cold. It actually felt good against the fierce fire of his anger that was demanding to be allowed to become a full-fledged inferno. He clamped down hard on
it, causing it to smolder slowly instead.

  He wasn’t even the slightest bit surprised about what he had found out. Hurt, yes. A bit agitated, sure. Surprised? Nah. It was just another day in the life of dating Shanna.

  Something else tied this whole thing together in a nice little bow. Something that Patrick knew.

  D stared up at the night sky, kicking his feet up on the plastic stool in front of him.

  The back door slammed open.

  D turned in his chair to see a not too happy Danick stalk over to the plastic chair across from him. Danick dropped into the plastic chair, muttering a few choice words under his breath.

  Despite the shitty turn his own Saturday night had taken, he smiled at his best friend. “Interesting night?”

  “I hate the female species.”

  “Join the club.” D laced his hands behind his head and slouched back down in the chair. “Whatever went wrong with your date tonight, I bet that I can top it. Just remember that no matter what went wrong, at least you didn’t find out that she cheated on your with one of your friends.”

  Danick snorted. “I really wouldn’t put that past Rachelle.” He leaned back in his own chair, letting it teeter on its hind legs. He handed D a bottle of beer while taking a swig off his own. He froze, looking up at D. “Wait. Did you just say that you found out Shanna was cheating on you?” He had a dubious look on his face.

  D nodded, popping the top off his beer. He took a hefty gulp. “Took you long enough. And the exact term I used was cheated—as in once.”

  “When?”

  “About two months ago.”

  “Do you know with whom?” Danick set his bottle down beside his chair on the deck.

  “Patrick Lanthani.”

  “Ouch. Though, I have to say, I have always been more concerned with her being convicted of his murder than her jumping into bed with him.” Danick let the chair land back on all fours. He leaned his elbows on his knees and placed his chin in his hands. “That had to hurt. Sounds vaguely familiar, too. Just change the names and…”

  “Not the point.”

  Danick picked up his bottle and drained it. “What’s going to happen with you guys now?”

  D tossed his bottle into the trash can. “That, my friend, is the million dollar question of the night.”

  CHAPTER 41

  August 2015

  Okay, Megan got that her father was trying to make a point. She really did. He had every right to be pissed as hell. But sending in his killer hybrids was a bit of an overkill.

  These were wolves on steroids. They were no longer sane. Hell, they were no longer human.

  While her being able to shift was one of the best kept secrets in their world, that neat little trick wasn’t going to do jack shit to keep them alive in this fight.

  And she wasn’t quite ready to reveal the ace up her sleeve at the moment.

  There was no guarantee it would work even if she used it. It had never been tested on a hybrid killer wolf before. There was no way to know if it would make a difference.

  Which, she had a strong feeling, was the exact reason for this little exercise. While her father was pissed—and she was pretty sure he was actually trying to kill Scott—he would lose more than he gained by taking her out. Her father had put her into the fight because he knew that she would have to shift at some point.

  Christoph also knew that she would hold off shifting for as long as possible. What Megan was unsure of was if Christoph knew that Scott was aware of her ability to shift.

  Yeah, that particular magic trick of a skeleton had jumped out of the closet with a neon sign that no one could have missed.

  Son of a…

  Megan tracked the two shifted wolves, pulling one of the knives she’d procured before Scott’s choke hold had slammed her against the wall out of her boot.

  Bitch.

  She threw the knife as the first wolf lunged.

  “Well, well. If it isn’t Derrick Lavi, Jr.”

  Derrick walked onto the observation deck, making sure to avoid looking at the monitors and equipment. He flinched at the reminder of his surname. He was absolutely positive that he didn’t want to know the reason he got the VIP trip to The Deck.

  And he really didn’t need to be reminded of his name. Having his father as a father was bad enough. Being named after him was just cruel and unusual punishment.

  Senior made the general look sane.

  Senior was also the general’s best friend and head scientist. He was the original creator of the Infinitus serum. And he had created every serum, toxin, and gas after it.

  Once again, Senior made the general look like the sanest person on the planet.

  The lock on the MP cuffs clicked open. Junior removed his hands from the offending metal rings, letting them drop onto the black matted floor.

  “What am I doing in The Deck, Christoph?” he asked warily, rubbing his wrists. He had given up all pretense of respecting the man years ago. Because of who his father was, the general let it ride and didn’t call him out on it.

  “Why, you’re here to witness my newest creation, son.”

  Ah, there he was. Senior was never far from the general. It was sad how much they depended on one another.

  “I stopped caring about your experiments when you turned me into a fire wielding freak,” Junior pointed out, finally looking around the near empty room. “Why should this one be any different?”

  Senior looked up from his clipboard, a confused look on his face. Junior could tell that he had been up for days on end. There were dark bags under his eyes, making him look a lot older than his sixty years. His graying brown hair was sticking up all over his head and his brown eyes were wilder than usual.

  “Because she’s involved in it,” Senior said simply, pointing at the large monitor in the center of the wall. He went back to his work like that explained everything.

  Typical.

  Junior looked at the monitor and gasped. Megan was in the weapons training room with Scott. They were receiving their instructions for the coming exercise from the speech program Christoph was so fond of.

  Listening to what was being said, his eyes widened as the voice told them who they were going up against.

  “Oh. My. God. You did it. You made your assassination squad,” Junior breathed as he watched the four guys walk into the room.

  “Of course I did. Why wouldn’t I have?” his father asked.

  “All of you defecting made the next phase necessary. If you all would have played nice and followed the rules, things would be different,” Christoph said, crossing his arms over his chest.

  “You really are a sick—”

  Junior watched as two of the men shifted into large wolves. They really were shifters on steroids. In wolf form, they were at least two feet taller than a normal shifted wolf and had a good hundred pounds on a regular wolf.

  On screen, Megan pulled a knife out of her boot as she tracked the two massive wolves. Scott edged towards the weapons wall, tracking the two still in human form.

  “Mother—”

  Megan threw the knife at the growling wolf as it lunged for her throat.

  “Fucker,” Junior finished his earlier statement. He honestly hadn’t meant to finish Scott’s curse. It just worked out the way.

  The throw wasn’t aimed to kill. The silver knife buried itself into the golden wolf’s shoulder. The wolf let out a whine, falling to the mat at her feet. Blood dripped onto the mat around the injured wolf.

  The wolf shifted into human form—naked as the day he was born, unfortunately—long enough to pull the knife out of his shoulder blade. The second the knife hit the floor, he was back in wolf form.

  Damn.

  He hated to admit it, but it really was an amazing sight to see.

  Scott caught the tip of the knife in the palm of his hands. Whew. That had been a close one. The knife was an inch from his heart.

  His eyes widened.

  Oh, shit.

  He pla
stered himself face first into the mat. Where the crap had the hybrid gotten a bow and arrows?

  Scott lifted his head to look at the wall behind him. Five arrows sat embedded in the wall, in a close knit cluster, right at chest height. Damn. These hybrids weren’t playing around. They were out to kill him.

  Whoa.

  Scott faced forward again, rolling onto his back to avoid a boot to the back of the neck. On attempt two of squash Scott like a bug, he grabbed his opponent’s foot, twisting hard.

  He heard the hybrid’s ankle snap and the resounding howl of pain that accompanied it. He flipped to his feet. He didn’t stick around to see how quickly the hybrid healed from a broken ankle or to see if that action had even kept the hybrid down.

  He got the hell out of that corner, grabbing randomly approved weapons off the wall as he went. He spun away from the wall, stashing the knives and other weapons on his body.

  He looked over the room, searching for Megan.

  He found her in the center of the room, an injured and bleeding wolf stalking wide circles around her. It was growling and dripping drool along with blood. The second transformed wolf lunged at her, growling as it went in for the kill. It made the basic animalistic decision to go for her throat.

  Scott watched in awe as Megan caught the over two hundred pound wolf by the throat, keeping its snapping jaws away from her.

  Damn. Since she was so small boned and short in stature, he kept forgetting how not fragile she was. And how much strength she had without her abilities.

  Scott barely registered the movement of her arm, but he didn’t miss the glint of light off the blade of the knife. As she held the snarling, snapping beast by the throat midjump, she proceeded to gut the animal lengthwise. She started at the base near its hind legs and ended with the knife sticking out of the wolf’s chest cavity.

  She then calmly dropped the wolf carcass, wiping the blood from her knife and hand onto her jeans.

  Scott watched, mouth slightly ajar, as she bent down and snapped the gutted wolf’s neck without a single second of hesitation.