Soul of the Wolves

by Lizzie Lynn Lee

  Halfway through her cup, Sookie told him her plight. She owed him that. She wanted to clear the air between them. Surely, Ethan was waiting for her explanation as well.

  “It started because my little brother, Jesse, did something really stupid,” she began her tale. She told him about her family and the accident that tore their family apart, her struggle to stay afloat, and her parenting skills being tested by Jesse’s mischievous antics and his teenage rebellion. Then it culminated with that graveyard recovery mission, Jesse being turned into a werewolf, and her being forced to work for Cain.

  Ethan listened attentively and didn’t interrupt at all while she lay everything bare. But he held her hands when she recounted the darkest days while she was held prisoner by Cain. The verbal abuse. The physical abuse. The mental torture for her to see Jesse dehumanized in a filthy cell.

  The grip on her hands tightened when she finished her tale. She was proud of herself that she could recount without shedding a tear. She didn’t want him to see her cry. She didn’t want him to see she was weak. Ethan’s face was murky dark, his eyes murderous. For a second she had an urge to flee from him. But she knew his anger wasn’t directed at her. He was angry at his cousin.

  “I’m sorry,” he croaked, finally. “I’m sorry for what he has done to you and your brother. I’ll make sure that he repays everything. And more.”

  “I just want Jesse back safe and sound.”

  “We’ll do that also.”

  “Thank you, Ethan.” Sookie exhaled a deep breath. Now her chest became even lighter. “I have some questions about this Alpha Strain…”

  “Hmm?”

  Their conversation was interrupted by a phone call. Ethan gestured for her to wait a minute and went to answer it.

  “Who’s that?” asked Sookie curiously when he finished talking.

  “Business.” He pocketed his phone. “I’m afraid we must leave now.”

  “Leave where?”

  “We’re going hunting, baby.”

  Ethan changed his clothes and dressed in all black. Sookie rummaged through his wardrobe earlier; the guy didn’t own anything other than black, well, except his underthings. He unpacked the duffel bag that he carried from Lunar Manor. It held guns and a killing arsenal that could obliterate a small army.

  “Can you shoot with a semi-automatic?” Ethan asked.

  What? Sookie shook her head, bewildered. “I’ve never held a gun in my life.”

  “Maybe a revolver then,” Ethan muttered to himself. He took another piece and filled the chamber with bullets before handing it to her. “Take this. You might need it.”

  “I don’t know how to shoot.”

  “It’s easy. Just aim and pull the trigger.”

  “I-I don’t think this is a good idea. What if I miss and hurt a bystander?”

  Ethan was quick to grin. “Then try not to.”

  Sookie cringed. She accepted the revolver with a trembling hand. She prayed that she wouldn’t have to use the gun in any way. She stowed the piece in her sweater pocket that she borrowed from Ethan. She followed Ethan to the garage. Ethan flicked the light on. Inside, half a dozen motorcycles were parked neatly.

  “We’re going to ride these things?” she asked, more bewilderment tingeing her voice. “I thought we were going to go in the car that we left in the forest preserve parking lot.”

  Ethan chose a badass-looking black Kawasaki and mounted it. “Bikes are much faster.” He gave her a helmet after he donned one himself. The helmet was the kind racers used, the sides completely covered and with a dark-tinged face shield. Ethan helped her adjust the helmet. Suddenly, she could hear Ethan’s voice above her cheekpad. It appeared the helmet was equipped with headphone and microphone so the riders could communicate to one another while on the road.

  “Ready?” Ethan asked.

  “Define ‘ready.’ I’ll never be ready. There’s a gun in my pocket and I’m afraid—”

  “You’ll be fine. I can’t afford to leave you out of my sight right now. You must go with me at all times.”

  “Is it because of Cain or a mate thingy?”

  “Both.”

  Ethan instructed her to sit behind him and where to put her feet. Because of the slanted build of the bike, she was forced to lean forward. This wasn’t a joyride like on a Harley Davidson. This bike was intended to shred the highway at the fastest speed possible.

  He opened the garage door with the remote he had on his person and cranked the Kawasaki engine alive. Beyond them was a narrow dirt path through the woods. Ethan told her to hold on tight before he launched the bike forward. Sookie pressed her faceshield against Ethan’s broad back, thinking how uncanny the situation was. They were like Batman and Robin storming out of the batcave. It might look cool but it scared the crap out of her.

  Luckily, Ethan was an exceptional rider.

  He navigated the path easily at full speed as if they were racing in the arena. Sookie flattened herself and clung to him for dear life, shifting her weight to become one with the bike. A few times, he made some sharp turns that their knees almost grazed against the ground. She was no longer interested in watching her surroundings. It made her dizzy and scared her even more. She prayed over and over that she wouldn’t get thrown off the bike. They hit an uneven slope that caused the bike to fly in the air. She felt her heart was at the back of her throat. This was more nerve-racking than Jesse’s grave robbery stint. No matter how high they were airborne, Ethan always successfully landed without missing a beat. If it were her driving, she would have been thrown up into the tree canopy.

  The Kawasaki roared from the dirt path and skidded onto the asphalt street just as she decided to open her eyes again.

  Shiiiiit…

  “You okay there?” Ethan’s voice loomed from the headphone.

  “Peachy.”

  He replied with boisterous laughter.

  Sookie grumbled. “Well, I’m glad you find this amusing.”

  “This is nothing, beautiful. We’ve just begun.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The fun.”

  As soon as she closed her mouth, she heard the muted shrieks of motorcycle brakes behind them. She looked over her shoulder and paled. Two riders in similar motorcycles burst out from the wooded area. She tightened her grips on him. “You know we’re being followed?”

  “Graystone warned me over the phone. The war has just begun and the first thing my cousin will do is try to find and kill me. Us.”

  Crap. “Should we go to the police or something?”

  Ethan laughed again. He didn’t seem concerned that they were chased by people who were hell bent to make sure the two of them perished from their mortal existence. “Police? You’re joking, right?”

  Sookie realized how stupid her suggestion was. It wasn’t like they could go to the authorities and say, “Help us, officers. There’s some werewolves out to kill us.”

  Sookie lamented. How did things go so wrong? “What are we going to do now?”

  “We find Cain and kill him first, of course.”

  Fantastic. Besides grave robbery, fraud, blackmail, now I’m going to be an accessory to murder. Just fucking awesome. Could my life get any worse? “Where are we going to find him?”

  “He’ll move around, just like me. He’s not going to lounge like a sitting duck while his men fight his battle. If we are going to find your brother, we need to make Cain sing like a canary. It won’t be an easy feat, I must warn you.”

  Sookie quieted. Each time she was reminded of her brother, her heart sank to her guts.

  “Susan,” he called.

  “Yeah?”

  “Hang tight, baby.”

  Ethan made a sharp turn around the bend that almost scraped their knees against the hot asphalt and zipped onto a highway toward the loop. There was a couple angry honks from the cars they were illegally passing. But they left them in the wind within seconds. The two men on motorcycles tailed them not far behind.

&n
bsp; Panicked, Sookie told Ethan, “They are gaining on us.”

  “Hmm? Not for long,” he said. He didn’t seem to worry at all.

  He began weaving between cars and semis like a renegade missile. Many times she thought her heart had stopped working. Ethan had blown the speed limit for the highway and they were basically like a speeding bullet. To make matters worse, one of the riders started shooting at them. Stray bullets hit the car behind them and caused a highway pileup in a matter of seconds.

  “Ethaaaan!”

  He reached for a gun from his jacket and casually fired two rounds without even looking. There was a loud screech from the motorcycle that ended in a spectacular, booming crash.

  One down. The other gained on them.

  The bastard also started shooting.

  Bullets whizzed around them like super-charged bees on steroids. It was a miracle that any of those bullets hadn’t killed them. Sookie prayed harder to every deity she knew.

  The highway was practically empty at this point. Ethan slowed the bike unexpectedly, allowing their chaser to level with their speed. Ethan glanced at him and fired once. It hit the rider’s hand. The guy screamed as his gun fell. He lost control of his motorcycle, thrashing wildly before it hit the concrete barrier between lanes. The rider was thrown off his bike, slamming into the asphalt, and rolling a few times before he was completely still.

  Ethan made a sharp U-turn and approached the fallen rider. He put the Kawasaki stand on without turning off the engine. Sookie started to dismount but with a quick flick of his wrist, he motioned her to stay on the bike. He pulled off his helmet.

  Sookie also removed her own helmet. The fresh air was a welcome luxury. She couldn’t really breathe with the helmet on.

  Ethan circled the fallen rider like a beast cornered his prey.

  The rider on the ground was badly injured. Ethan crouched and yanked off the rider’s helmet from his head. Despite wearing his helmet, the guy’s mouth was bleeding from the impact of his fall. He spat a tooth out before cursing nastily at Ethan.

  “Hey, I know you. You’re McAllister’s little whelp. He put you up to this, huh?” asked Ethan casually as if they were two acquaintances meeting at a party.

  The rider spewed more colorful profanities that guaranteed to offend every god and deity in every religion.

  Ethan’s expression didn’t change. “Young people these days don’t have manners.” He flicked his wrist and suddenly, his fingers transformed and elongated into sharp claws. The fallen rider’s expression quickly changed. Pure terror haunted his youthful face. That rider couldn’t be more than nineteen years old. Ethan dragged his claws over the rider’s face. There were manic gleams in the alpha’s eyes.

  Ethan had proven himself as a great lover and a gentle soul to her but seeing him like this, Sookie couldn’t help being terrified. How could she have forgotten that Ethan was a dangerous man?

  “I assume you know what it means if I taint you with my blood, right? One drop of my pure direwolf blood in your mutt body will make you wish your daddy had pulled out sooner.” Ethan ended his sentence with a big smile that made even Sookie long to scramble away to safety, far, far away from the big, bad wolf named Ethan Hunter.

  Now, the young rider trembled in fear. “Please don’t…”

  “Too bad, whelp. I’m not feeling so charitable today.” With a swift, graceful swipe, Ethan slashed the rider across his chest, cutting the leather jacket like a hot knife on butter.

  The rider let out an agonizing howl. He clutched his chest as if something had burned him. Sookie could see the rising smoke from where Ethan had clawed him. The bloody gash teemed with white billowing plumes. He screamed and screamed, body contorted at weird angles because of muscle spasms, and his voice became raw before he finally quieted, shivering. Sweat plastered his hair. His skin turned waxy pale. Amid all that, Ethan stood calmly with his half-transformed hand at his side. Unusually dark-colored blood dripped from the edge of his razor-sharp claws.

  Sookie instinctively clutched the front of her jacket. Is Ethan’s blood poisonous to common werewolves? How about to humans?

  Ethan flicked his wrist again and his claws returned to normal. He pulled a black handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his bloodied hand. “You have exactly one hour to live. Enjoy.”

  The young rider howled his rage and pain but was unable to do anything. As a few cars started passing them, Ethan mounted the bike. One of the cars stopped at the shoulder, the driver stepping out and asking if the rider needed help.

  “Put your helmet on.” Ethan’s voice was gruff. “This is going to be a circus.” He then donned his own helmet.

  Sookie quickly followed suit. She barely snapped the chinstrap when Ethan revved the engine and took off. She held onto him tightly. “Where we going now?”

  Ethan’s voice seeped from the intercom. “We’ll tail the young wolf.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “A dying man that has been given limited time to live will naturally seek help. This blood poisoning isn’t something that human medicine can solve. He’d go to their den. He’ll lead us to his boss in no time. Hopefully, Cain.”

  Sookie must admit that Ethan was very resourceful. A thousand questions popped in her head but now wasn’t the right time to ask any of them. Ethan coasted to the nearest exit and blew through the toll gate. The flimsy barrier wasn’t a match for a heavy motorcycle that barreled down fast. Sookie shut her eyes as they sped through a narrow street. Great, she thought, my list of crimes keep adding up. On top of the grave robbery, fraud, blackmail, accessory to murder, now she was guilty of road rage and vandalism. When this ended, she’d have a rap sheet a mile long like career criminals. Great. Just great.

  Ethan entered a residential area, driving the few blocks then stopping. He told her to get off the bike. He then leisurely walked up to a parked car, an older model sedan, broke the window, sat behind the wheel and hotwired it. The sedan hummed to life. Ethan waved at her to get in.

  Awesome. Now I can add grand theft auto to my would-be rap sheet. Sookie looked around, half-expecting that the owner of the sedan would suddenly jump out from one of the houses and yell “thief” at them. To her surprise, no one came out.

  Ethan drove fast, ignoring all the speed limits and rules of the road. He gunned back to the highway. The traffic from the opposite direction was slowing into a halt. Sookie could already guess what caused it—the earlier accident and people’s tendency to rubberneck. But the traffic from their side was pretty fast. Before long, they passed the accident scene where Ethan knocked down the McAllister’s rider. Four police cars blocked the flow of traffic and an officer directing the incoming vehicles into one lane. There was an ambulance present and a fire truck. Sookie couldn’t see the injured rider anywhere. Ethan only glanced once and he put the pedal to the metal, speeding.

  “We’re going to exit here. I think I know where they’re taking him. The closest hospital is Northwest General. We’ll catch up to him there,” said Ethan.

  “But he’s badly injured,” said Sookie. “He couldn’t go anywhere in his condition.”

  “He’s a werewolf, Sookie, and werewolves hate hospitals.”

  “Why? Oh. I get it. Duh. Sorry.”

  “I meant to ask you if you remember the location where Cain imprisoned your brother,” said Ethan as he watched the traffic. “Do you remember anything?”

  “Cain called it the factory. It’s in a rundown warehouse complex. I wish I could tell you where. They always blindfolded me every time they took me out or to go back in. Except the first time when they took us from the cemetery. But Jesse and I were practically shoved down on the floor the entire ride there. It was also dark, I couldn’t really see well.”

  “What do you remember?”

  “It was a long ride out of town. Three hours from the cemetery. Near the shipping dock. I could hear ships blaring and the birds—seagulls.”

  Ethan furrowed his brows. “That helps. I think m
y men can narrow it down based on your information.”

  “Glad I could be of help.”

  “You did more than that, Susan. Stay by my side. Always.”

  “Even when you’re in the bathroom?” she cracked a joke to ease the tension.

  “Cute.”

  They settled into an uncomfortable silence again as Ethan focused on the road. They peeled from the highway and followed a street that took them directly to Northwestern General. Ethan coasted to the entrance of the ER and drove past it to ditch the car about a block away. They then headed to the emergency room.

  The ER was moderately packed at that hour. Patients were waiting to be seen by doctors. Unlike the ER on TV shows, there was no sense of emergency happening in this place. The nurse manning the reception desk looked terminally bored. The moment he saw a new batch of fresh people enter the door, he yawned and fled the desk as if he didn’t want to deal with them.

  Sookie frowned. So typical. She had her share of horrible experiences with long waits in the ER. Jesse, against his good and sane judgement, had gotten himself in a few scrapes over the years that required ER visits. Unless one was visibly bleeding heavily, had a heart attack, or in extreme pain, they wouldn’t let anyone see the physician right away.

  Ethan scanned the room and gave the place a once over. His presence was imposing enough that people unconsciously moved away from his direct path. He paused in front of the reception desk and peered into the glass. He snorted. He grabbed Sookie’s arm and herded her toward the exit.

  “Where are we going?” she asked.

  “To find that whelp, of course.”

  Only, they didn’t really leave the ER. Ethan steered her into a section that offered multiple vending machines. He paused to study the layout and went to one door like he knew where he was going. Of course, the door was locked, but Ethan had no difficulty in making the door submit to his wish by kicking its handle with his hard-soled boot.

  Sookie flinched. She quickly trotted behind him before people found out what they were doing. Her heart beat fast and adrenaline kicked into high alert. Barging in like this unnerved her. She guessed she wasn’t cut out for a life of crime. She was a law-abiding citizen to the core or as Jesse would call her, a “pussy.”