Advent: Book 3 of The Summer Omega Series (Summer Omrga)

by JK Cooper

  She slipped around the edge of a farmhouse, avoiding the traps. They had taller grass and were easy to spot, if she took her time. A wolf or a human on the run wouldn’t be so lucky. She stepped up the front stairs and connected to the pack, not in a subtle way. The reply was immediate.

  Who is this? His Alpha voice demanded an answer. How did you do this?

  A friend with a warning. We don’t have the time for me to explain it all. The Advent is coming, now.

  The Alpha growled. We sent them away, tails between their legs.

  Sadie groaned inwardly. Feculence, Alphas are stubborn. That made her miss Elias. Through the link she was more diplomatic. No, you sent away the initial offer. Mareus is sending a small army with sterner terms. Join or die, that’s what they’re saying.

  How do you know this?

  Because I’m a copulating venatrix who’s been spying on them for my pack! Open the front door and I can prove it!

  The door swung open. A man donned a robe in the backlit doorway while two large black wolves snarled at her from either side. She admired his large build, square jaw, and Ewan McGregor-esque looks. He’d slicked back his dark brown hair in a fifties style that suited him.

  Trying to explain the name, Frankie, with a front that you’re older than you look? Grant is way hotter, she mused to herself. She’d dug into his past. He was just twenty, taking control of the pack when his father died in an oil rig accident a few months back. Some things a Lycan can’t heal from. But heavenly feculence does he smell good. What is that? Like pine and sandalwood had a musky baby.

  She let her coat change colors several times, let out an array of scents, and then sent a spike through the pack link, much like radio feedback. The wolves whined and took a step back. She shifted to her human form, covering herself as best she could with her arms, but more annoyed at the necessity than embarrassed. “See, I am what I say I am.”

  Francis eyed her with suspicion. “How do I know you’re not an Advent spy?”

  Sadie groaned audibly this time. “Because, Frankie, Mareus is a giant pair of buttocks, personality-wise, but he isn’t an idiot. He would never send someone like me alone to your door where you could tear my throat out and rid him of such a tool. He would never let me reveal myself. I’m risking everything only because they’re coming tonight. You have maybe half an hour to prepare. And I can help.”

  Francis sent out a Call for the pack to come to him. Most of them were there already, but some were in the nearest town. Sadie was still connected. She wasn’t surprised when the two black wolves shifted and grabbed her wrists.

  “Huh, twins? That’s cool. Careful with the merchandise, boys.” She spoke to the Alpha as they dragged her inside and past him. “Being cautious is great and all. I applaud it most days. Not tonight.”

  The Alpha glanced at the twins who held her. They nodded.

  Two minutes later, Sadie rocked back and forth in a chair. “I can’t copulating believe you tied me up!” They had given her a robe, at least, beforehand. They’re the kinder sort of kidnappers.

  Francis growled. “Considering a gag too.”

  “Rude.”

  He set a chair in front of her and sat down. “But before I shut you up, tell me something useful.”

  Sadie smiled. “Finally, someone’s seeing the light.” She took a deep breath. “Okay, the Advent doesn’t handle rejection well, much like a friend of mine. He’s a PK. That’s a whole other story. Anyway, they sent in the next level enforcers. You’ve lost three members of your pack.”

  Francis shook his head. “No, I haven’t.”

  Sadie rolled her eyes. “They haven’t left yet, duh, but they’re sitting in a barn a few miles from here, waiting to join the Advent after whatever goes down here is done. You’ll see. Three of your pack won’t show.”

  He ran a hand over the stubble of his beard. “Is that all?”

  “Nope. Those three gave away your defenses. I didn’t catch all of it, but enough to help me slip in. The Advent will have an easier time dodging your booby traps than I did, and it was really no trouble for me at all.”

  The man swore. Obviously, he had been planning on those defenses leveling the playing field. So, he has been expecting the Advent to come back. Not as dumb as he looks.

  The man gave her an annoyed look. For a second, she thought she might have sent that through the pack link, but she was human, so she couldn’t have. Only Alphas, and for some reason, Shelby could use the pack link in human form. Totally unfair. He must have just gotten some information from one of his pack in a direct message.

  “Three of my pack are unaccounted for.”

  She nodded. “Yeah.” Sadie bit back the I told you so that wanted to bubble out of her mouth, but the way she had let her answer drawl out probably communicated that anyway. “It’s time to trust me.”

  He pulled a knife out of his boot and held out the gleaming silver blade, protected by the antler handle. “I don’t like it.” He slid the blade between her wrists, cutting away the rope. “But I don’t want to lose anyone else. What help are you offering?”

  “Somewhere to go. People who think like you do.”

  He snarled. “You want us to run? Like cowards?”

  She nodded. “Hades yes I do! Run, and run hard and fast. My pack tried the direct resistance path. We lost half, including our Alpha.”

  That made the man think. “You lost your Alpha and remained a pack? How?”

  “Our Alpha’s son stepped up. We also have the Summer Omega to hold us together.”

  He twirled the knife. “You lie.”

  “Often, but not about that. Mareus himself came for our pack, the rumored Alpha Prime, because he knew she was there.” Sadie let go of his pack link and sought out the fuzzy connection that was Athena. She reconnected. “We don’t have time to argue about it. They’re here, just outside your estate. Condemn it, I waited too long.”

  A howl came from one of the sentries. The Alpha looked up, speaking to his pack, giving commands.

  “They’ll come from the north and south, surround you. They will ask one last time for you to surrender yourself to the Advent. They plan to kill you no matter what you decide. Mareus wants your pack, but he doesn’t want someone who resists him like you have.” Sadie held up a hand. “You seem like a smart man. If we run east now, we might make it. I set up a few booby traps of my own, just in case.”

  “What types of traps?”

  She smiled coolly. “C4 strapped to a bundle of miscellaneous silverware and coins.”

  He gave her a quizzical look. “That’s what I have.”

  Her smile transformed into a grin. “I know. I may have moved half of yours over the last two nights, but I wired them to burner phones that should have enough juice left in them, if we act fast. I hid a cell phone preprogrammed with all the numbers just on the other side of your duck pond.”

  He grinned back at her. “Okay, I like you. Well, you only live once. If I’m going out tonight, let’s make it fun.”

  He shifted and raced out the back door, dark brown fur marked with streaks of black. Smaller than she expected from an Alpha, but still larger than her and commanding in his own right. Now I know what Lycan McGregor would look like. It’s not bad. She shifted and followed close behind, flanked by the twins. The rest of the pack waited just outside a granary. They ran east, skirting the pond. Sadie led the Alpha to a log where a cell phone waited in a freezer bag. She shifted and lifted the bag up. “You want to do the honors? Just hold down one first.”

  He shifted, took it, swiped the screen and held down the button. Explosions lit up the night, sending dirt, silver, and wolves flying. The man whooped in delight.

  Sadie laughed. “Wait for them to regroup and move around the pond. When they hit the midpoint, hold down two and then three right after.”

  “You, my venatrix friend, can crash my pack anytime.”

  Pain ripped through every cell of Gultor’s body as the demon passed through stone, metal,
and blacktop that bubbled at his touch. Diffusing through matter was one of the most painful things he could do, but it was also the reason his kind had been sent through the gate. Molecules pulled past one another, screaming in protest, as his will dragged them along. He flopped onto the surface, demon blood mingling with the boiling asphalt.

  Some metallic beast squealed at his arrival, slowing as it passed over him. Instinct drove Gultor up and into the creature, his intent to tear it apart from the inside and absorb any magic it might offer.

  Instead, he found himself reforming in warm darkness, surrounded by fabrics that melted against his skin and wings. He was inside a carriage of some sort, in a storage area near the tail end of it. A hint of magic drew him to one side of the compartment. He sucked up the tiny spell placed on the metal frame of the vehicle, half healing the wound in his shoulder with it, but sending the majority back to his master.

  Gultor flexed his muscles, setting the melted fabric on his skin aflame with the release of energy. He would need to find more magic to finish healing, but he could feel tiny bits of it moving around him in all directions. He also felt a huge reservoir of it in one direction, northeast. That would be his goal.

  The vehicle made a sputtering noise, like a geyser about to blow. It shuddered, slowed, and stopped.

  Gultor phased through the floor and jumped to another metal carriage. He missed the storage area, the ashen scales of his body reforming around his molten core next to the human conducting the vessel. The man screamed as flames rose from synthetic fabrics to lick bulging red muscles over onyx bones and spines. Gultor unfurled his bat-like wings and slashed at the human with claws and talons, ending the pitiful screams. The vehicle slammed into another.

  Gultor phased through metal and rolled into another vessel and then another, hiding himself within the metal without fully forming. The spell in this carriage healed his shoulder. The vehicle died shortly after.

  Three vehicles later, Gultor realized the spell in each carriage helped keep the mechanisms that drove them intact, pushing back entropy, at least for a time. Gultor waited beneath the tarry roadway for one that would take him in the right direction. He leaped into the back compartment, rolling into the melting fabric to settle in, licking at the spell in the metal, but leaving it intact.

  Greater magic awaited.

  Shelby moved to the front of the bus as they slowed. One of the Hunters that stayed behind drove this one and she could feel his tension building. “What’s happening?”

  He sucked on his teeth. “Looks like there’s a small line for gas is all.” He grinned and winked at her.

  She stared out the window at the good mile of cars in front of them that curved toward the gas station. There was a similar line coming from the other direction, half lost behind trees. “Why so many?”’

  “People fleeing the cities as the Advent takes over or the military rolls in. It ain’t pretty out there, sweetheart.”

  She bristled at the familiarity in his words and tone but calmed herself. He essentially joined our pack too, Lycan or not, Hunter or not. We’re all on the same side now. “Do you think they’ll have any left by the time we get up there?”

  He shrugged but pulled out a pair of binoculars from his vest. He peered out the window with them while continuing to suck his teeth loudly. “Hmmm, looks like the owner has bumped up the prices by a few dollars. That’ll push some people out of filling all the way up. Only accepting cash. That will make it hard on a few too.” He folded the small pair of binoculars and slipped them back into a pocket. “I’d say we have a good chance of getting what we need.”

  Shelby wanted to strangle the man ten minutes later as they limped closer to the station. He never stopped sucking his teeth. Starting to think they left him with us just for that reason.

  Patience, Thyra. He’s not the most obnoxious human I’ve encountered. Maybe top five.

  Shelby laughed out loud, which had the blessing of making the Hunter jump and stop his nervous habit for a few precious seconds. He eyed her questioningly.

  “Sorry, just thought of a joke. Looks like we’re next.”

  He shook his head. “Nah, we’re zippering it, so the other line gets to go first, then us.”

  “That’s what I meant. We’re next for our side.” But a spike in the anger and tension in the vicinity made Shelby stand up and look around the bus. It’s coming from outside. “Open the door, please.”

  The man pushed a button and the door hissed open on hydraulics. “Potty break?”

  “Something more urgent.” She jumped the stairs and half sprinted toward the pumps, where a man in a way-too-tight blue Polo shirt was arguing with the station owner about the cash rule.

  “You still have power,” blue Polo said. “You can take credit cards.”

  “But how long will that last?” the owner answered. “I gotta watch out for me and mine here.”

  “Like you aren’t doing that plenty, gouging us with these insane prices. You know that’s illegal in disaster situations?”

  “Yeah,” the owner spat in the dust, “and who’s gonna enforce it?”

  “You’re seriously going to turn us away? Our house was on fire when we left. No firefighters anywhere. We won’t make it to our cabin without this gas.”

  “Not my problem.”

  Blue Polo stepped up to the owner, his nose only a hair’s breadth apart from the owner’s. “It will be. I waited in that line for an hour. I’m getting gas.”

  “Not without cash, you ain’t.”

  The man looked to his wife and kids in the car then back at the owner. He took a step back and reached for the back of his waist. A handgun came back with his hand, shaking as he pointed it at the gas station owner. “Yes, I am! Fill er up, Ed.”

  The owner’s hand twitched. He had a bulge in his overalls that hinted at a handgun of his own.

  This is going south fast. Shelby stepped between them, pouring all the patience, compassion, and calm she could out into the two men, and everyone else in the area for good measure. “Okay, gentlemen, let’s work this out.”

  “Get out of the way!” Blue Polo shook the gun at her, his finger dangerously on the trigger while he did so. “I have no problems with you.”

  “Thomas, put it away,” the woman yelled from the car. “This isn’t the way.”

  “Listen to your wife, Tommy. She’s smarter than you.” The owner had to make a dig, his hand slipping inside his overalls.

  “Shut up, both of you.” Shelby had had enough. “You’re being children. Children with guns, which is a terrible combo. You’re really going to shoot each other in front of children over a couple gallons of gas?” She gave up on patience and compassion and went with pure compliance. “Here’s what’s going to happen. Thomas, you put down the gun. Ed, you pull your hand away from your gun. I pay for his gas. You get your money. We all live. How does that sound?”

  The gun dipped slightly, but not enough. The owner’s hand didn’t inch farther inside his overalls, but it didn’t come out either.

  Both men’s eyes widened slightly as she summoned more power and pushed again. It wasn’t enough.

  Shelby pushed with all her might, tapping into ley lines. “That’s what’s happening. Accept it.” Comply, you stupid, stubborn men!

  The gun fell to the ground, and Thomas burst into tears. “I just want to get them somewhere safe. I’m sorry.”

  The owner softened. “I’ll take the credit card, just this once, but don’t tell nobody. I can’t do it for everyone.”

  Shelby sighed in relief, but then noticed she was wearing the armor, scythe and wheat in gauntleted hand. That has to be the weirdest sight. No wonder they looked surprised earlier. But the men didn’t seem to care any longer. Her push for compliance had them accepting her as she was. That’s good. This would be very hard to explain.

  It’s going to go viral, Eira pointed out. Look at the cars.

  Sure enough, half the people had cell phones out, filming and taking
pictures of the confrontation and her resolution of it.

  How do you even know that term?

  I pay attention.

  Shelby shook her head, frustrated with her need to play peacekeeper. Just what we needed too, me broadcasting our location to the Advent. She let the armor vanish, banishing the scythe and wheat as well. She pulled out her cell phone, leaving the men to finish paying and pumping gas. No signal. That’s a blessing. It will take some time before those videos get uploaded.

  Someone clapped and cheered as she walked past their car. Her husband and kids joining in. One of the kids mouthed “Wonder Woman” at her through the glass.

  “I am not a superhero” she replied back.

  Maybe you are, Eira countered.

  Nope, just your typical werewolf with Fae armor, a Druid’s scythe, a magical being in my head, and a bad attitude. Pretty much every teenage girl ever. Now let’s pay a few hundred dollars to fill up my buses full of wolves and Wiccans.

  Shelby was grateful for the gas an hour later. They passed five stations with Sold Out signs hanging on the awnings, two that had been burned to ashes, and three that had tanks parked in front of them, men in camo sending civilians away.

  “It’s getting real bad out there, ain’t it?” Frank’s teeth sucking didn’t bother Shelby any longer. It was kind of soothing after a while. She missed Kale. He was on the bus behind them with most of the original pack. Shelby was needed on the Feral bus to keep the wolves used to the wild from going crazy in such a confined, unnatural space.

  She nodded. “And it will probably get worse before it gets better. The Advent doesn’t seem like the most benevolent of rulers.”

  The man chuckled. “Who woulda thought I’d be riding along with a wolf, talking about how much worse other wolves are? Weird world.”

  She laughed too. “Weird world indeed. Look out!”