by Tina Smith
“Then why do it?” She risked asking him, to hear him say it.
“Be with you?” he swallowed. “I’m damned if I do, damned if I don’t. It hurt me every day being away from you.” His deep voice vibrated through her.
“But you thought it was for the best,” she whispered dully.
“I thought it was for your life Lila, and I thought you might have a chance at something better,” he said with a defensive tone.
“I’m going to take them down.” She gritted her jaw.
“How?”
She was pleased he hadn’t scoffed. “I need information, anything you can tell me.” Her eyes searched his.
He wracked his brain. “There’s only twelve of us, including me, but only nine of us are living in the compound - and there are more coming,” he warned, with urgency.
“I worried it was more.”
“Some have died over the years or disappeared and Angele has been deposited, probably in Shade as a spy. Narine runs the show, not Paws. He’s the official head - but she is in control now, she’s vicious,” he warned. “She wants to take over the valley.”
“Is Sam there?”
“Yes, she comes in and out. For now, she’s taken off with Bianca.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know. Maybe searching out the others, but she'll be back,” he warned.
“Is Cres on my side?” Lila whispered.
“Yes, I believe she is.”
Her heart was relieved to hear him say it. “Did she think you were dead?”
“I don’t know. Look, we don’t have long, and it’s dangerous.” His blazing green blue eyes looked about in the dark, “But you have to know Blair is in the police and he protects them.”
“Blair?”
“Yes, constable Whitlock - look into it,” he urged.
“Do they have weapons?”
“Like Arms, yeah. Paws has them convinced an apocalypse is coming. They think there will be a war between hunters and werewolves and humans. Narine and he think they will rule.” He shook his head.
Lila remained steady. “Would Reid be on our side if we fought the Cult, took them down?”
“I don’t know.” The expression in his eyes hoped for the best.
There was a rustle in the trees. “You have to go, they might find us,” he begged in a hurried whisper. Any longer and they would certainly be caught. She gripped his muscular arms, felt the hot skin and veins below, running her palms down to his hands before she released them. She had heard enough to satisfy that unequal part of her heart, and despite herself, she believed him. “I’ll come back for you.”
She kissed him hurriedly and he lifted her into his arms as their warm lips locked desperately. For a moment it was if nothing else existed until his hold eased and the moment was lost. She left, only letting go of his fingers when they had extended as far as she could reach before disappearing in the forest. She ran until the warm feeling of the tips of his fingers disappeared. She bolted through the night, with tree branches whipping at her.
Lila wanted to forget the anger, she wanted to forget his excuse, even though it hadn't justified everything to her. It didn’t matter. All that remained was that he loved her more than life itself and as much as she loved him. Nothing was better, or could make her feel better than him.
Sky was vulnerable to her; she knew for sure he cared to save her life, even if it meant sorrow for him. It was her fault he was maimed, and he had fought to save her from being killed. But mostly, he had rescued her from the bite because he loved her. He didn’t want to be there either, just as she felt, but the larger part won over. Under the insane unfathomable electricity they felt for each other, they risked everything to meet there in the night. She had hoped the connection wouldn’t be there, but it was. More powerful than ever and she felt exhilarated and devastated by it all at once. The redolence of him had changed everything once again.
19. Cage
Shell even felt like she deserved it. She went quietly into the cage and wanted to escape it as soon as she did. Her wolf panted and paced inside her, continually distressed. While she was alone and trapped, she thought anxiously about what she had done. Who knew when the newly infected wolf would surface? Maybe she would hurt others.
Shelly had acted according to her nature once she had unchained her beast and it had run. Then afterwards, Shell had gone back to admire her husband, as long as she dared, in her blood smeared clothing. She watched for hours that felt like moments. She could see him walking about in the house, pouring a wine, marking papers, eating cheap canned spaghetti and burning his tongue. But the memory of love and home had been erased the second she arrived back at the compound. Ready to suffer her punishment for disappearing alone.
“Well, well, what did we ask you?” Paws cooed, placing a hot hand around the back of her neck and gently guiding her into the bedroom he shared with Narine on the bottom floor. It was the closest room to the basement, which led down to the suffocating cage. She had meticulously cleaned herself up in the river and dressed herself in clothes from the hidden bucket in the forest, but she wasn’t sure what they knew.
She didn’t move, didn’t say a word. She was kidding herself to think they wouldn’t have noticed, but she had deluded herself until this moment, because wolf Shell hadn’t cared. That was until he said one word to the otherwise empty dark house: “Cage.” And suddenly, with consuming fear, she regretted what she had done and desperately wanted to take it back.
Her alarmed eyes glanced about and behind her the door opened and in came Blair. Then, from the other side, Narine moved in with a clamped smile, which was perhaps meant to be apologetic.
Blair’s hands touched Shell’s arms from behind with a gentle grip that could become vice-like if necessary. She saw Sky wasn’t present and she knew why. He wouldn’t have allowed it, and couldn’t have done it to her. She squirmed a little, to make Blair let go, but as she feared, he only tightened his hold.
“No please!” she begged already feeling the confinement.
Paws breathed such a silent sigh that she imagined he might desist. “We have already warned you. What do you want us to do?” He frowned sorrowfully. Narine looked into his eyes, her brows mimicked his in sympathy and she touched his shoulder. He bowed his head and said with heavy regret, “Take her – put her in – lock it.”
Shell thought she saw a hug between them as she was guided down to the dungeon; a purpose built dug out room under the house, not on council plans, that contained a welded cage, strong enough to contain monsters. She had only been out under two weeks. And as the slide lock was bolted, she huddled on the cement floor and thought of her husband, in the warm house in the yellow light, knowing that she would never see him again and more tears cascaded from her eyes.
The conversation upstairs was barely a mumble to her ears. She worried they knew about the woman. She could still taste the blood on the back of her tongue. Shell knew if she went missing that she would be locked up when she returned because she had been warned. So she had decided make it count.
20. Blood in Blood Out
Reid agreed instantly to Cresida’s plan. Paying a visit to Jackson’s disgruntled family, he discovered J had been missing for a few days. His mother had been crying, her eyes were red rimmed, and he could smell the salt from her tears, though they had dried on her flushed cheeks. After he tried Jackson’s home, a check at the cabin revealed they had been there - he and a companion - but the scent was old. Reid knew the odour. He narrowed his eyes and after some thought he placed it - the girl Angele. The She Wolf Narine had offered him. Obviously Jackson was more receptive. Reid met with Cres to discuss their whereabouts.
“They could be at the compound?” he suggested.
“No.” Cres stared coldly ahead into nothingness. Her face was colourless. A light breeze rustled a thin lock of her blonde hair around her elfin face.
“What have you seen?” he asked.
“They’re in the bush.” She sighed heavily.<
br />
Reid waited for the answer as her eyes glazed over again. “They’re in wolf form, in the hills.”
“So that’s where he’s been,” Reid huffed, and inwardly chuckled under his breath.
“We could track them?” She looked at him.
“Let’s go.” He smiled, devilishly.
Cres and Reid tracked them through the retired farmland and high into the hills. When they didn’t find them on the first day, Cres returned home to appease her Aunt and Reid agreed to keep on their trail, tracking up rocky moss-covered boulders and fern rimmed rivers, deep into the wilderness.
The bitch with a limp was with J. Reid felt distain as he disrobed and left his clothes in a bag that he shoved inside a rotting moss covered log on the way into the damp subterranean wild, and morphed.
Reid picked up their scent marks more strongly at the top of the mountains, through the dark perfumed curtain of trees. He hadn’t been that far out in the mountains for quite some time. If Angele was sent to spy on them, then why take Jackson out so far? He didn’t know when Lila would be back. Maybe a week or two at most. Cres wanted to sort out who was on which side, before then. She wanted to deal with the issue of Angele before Lila would. Reid knew Cres was worried about that.
The smell of the leaves in all stages of life flooded his nostrils, and then he caught whiff of it. Wolf. J and the lame bitch, who’d obviously charmed him.
They growled when Reid approached and he snarled back. Venomous spit sprang from Angele’s mouth, J’s instincts caused him to be unusually hostile towards his friend. They had been phased for too long. The hair stood up on Angele’s back. Reid was glad Cres hadn’t come with him.
He half expected her to spring, but it was J who went for him, to protect her. The brothers tussled and backed apart with backs arched.
Angele intervened; she phased back naked and called his name. “Jackson!” and it echoed through the bush.
He backed off, moaning, and twisted back into himself. Reid panted heavily and shook back into human form.
The three of them stood there nude amongst the trees. Jackson stepped in front of Angele, protectively.
Reid grimaced. “Hi Angele.” But his face fell, replaced by annoyance.
“Hi Reid.” She smiled sheepishly as her lashes brushed her cheeks.
“What brings you out here, brother?” Jackson asked and they closed palms and embraced and patted each other on the back in a well-used one-armed hug.
“Cres,” Reid answered more seriously as he stood back.
“The huntress half-breed?” Angele’s bell voice chimed.
Reid wrinkled his nose. “Yeah,” he replied and crossed his arms, looking her up and down behind Jackson who still stood in front, covering her behind his body.
“We need to have a meeting at the cabin,” Reid said, trying not to sound as desperate as he was for them to comply.
“Why?” came the steady argument from Jackson, suspicious.
Reid looked uncomfortable. He didn’t want to speak in front of Angele.
“Do you have a problem with her?” Jackson challenged, evidently noticing.
Reid knew his glances had been too obvious. “She needs to come,” he admitted, working his jaw.
“No. She’s not going anywhere until you tell us what’s going on?” Jackson figured it was important for Reid to track them out in the middle of nowhere. And Reid looked unusually solemn. For a moment, Jackson thought it was his mother.
“Are my family okay?” he asked with a sense of urgency.
“No, this isn’t about that. It’s about us, and Lila.”
“Good. I’m not leaving Ange.” Jackson was feeling feisty, he moved about agitatedly.
“So it’s like that is it?”
“She’s my girlfriend,” Jackson retorted sharply, his jaw tense.
“She’s a spy. Narine’s bitch,” Reid spat, jutting his chin.
“Oh, you’re one to talk,” Jackson belted out, his shoulders back.
Reid’s face wrinkled. “So what’s it to you?”
“What’s it to you?” he challenged. They stood, chest to bare chest.
“Cres and I are different.” The words burnt on the way out. This was the first time Reid had admitted they were together.
“Please don’t fight,” Angele’s childlike voice rang. She looked into Jackson’s eyes. “We’ll go,” she soothed, urging Jackson with concern in her voice and a still look on her face.
But Jackson wasn’t convinced. “What's this about, Reid? What was worth so much to track me down all the way out here?”
“Why did you need to run?” Reid’s tone was defiant.
“We needed to get away from all this Cres shit.” Jackson’s eyes flared.
“And the Cult shit?” Reid remarked.
“Maybe.” They hadn’t discussed it, but Jackson’s plan was to join the Cult pack. He hadn’t thought that he had many other options, and now Sam’s pack was dispersed.
“There’s a war brewing and you need to decide whose side you’re on.”
“Neither,” answered Jackson, challenging Reid with an arched brow under his sandy fringe.
“Not an option.” Reid’s jaw tensed. Jackson was skating on thin ice.
Jackson swallowed and pursed his lips. “What war?” he asked defiantly.
Angele knew Narine had predicted a war with the humans. Why would Reid ask which side they were on? Of course they would be on the side of the wolves.
She furrowed her brow. “The apocalypse?” she inquired, in sweet chiming lilt.
“She’s been brain washed, Jackson. She’s only here to spy,” Reid protested, scathing.
“So,” J retorted petulantly.
Reid stepped closer, so his face was inches from Jackson’s. “So the Cult pack’s gone a little wacko.”
“And, what? You’re going to knock them back down – take over with your half caste bitch,” he fumed. “Exchanging one wrong thing for another,” he added bitterly.
Reid glowered. “It’s better than a brainwashed crippled bitch,” he replied harshly in Jackson’s face.
Angele looked nervously between them.
“What’s to say Cres won’t shoot us? She’s a spy herself.”
“I can’t support Narine and Paws; they’re out of hand. We need to work together to disable them. The power has gone to their heads; they’ve started to recruit humans, infecting them, so they can take over. They think they are the law,” he said low.
“What’s so bad about that? We need a law,” squeaked Angele.
Reid raised his brows at Jackson. “Do you believe this…they think they can change the whole world, but the reality is they are putting us all in danger, our existence, they will never wipe out the hunters. The more of us the more of them,” he bellowed thrusting a fist toward the earth.
“Stop,” begged Angele; she was distressed by Reid’s raised voice.
Reid leant back on his heels and rubbed his nose. “You have to come back for the meeting - after that if you want to run and hide, great for you,” Reid muttered.
“Let us talk it over.” Jackson turned and hugged Angele; Reid caught sight of him rubbing her arms as they embraced.
Reid worked his jaw and shook his head. He turned and walked off some distance, but he listened to the whispers between them.
Finally, Jackson appeared decided and he addressed Reid.
“We’ll go back to the cabin, but keep Cres unarmed. Angele is scared of her.”
“Is she on the side of Paws? Can you trust her?” Reid urged his pack brother, pointing toward Angele.
Jackson stared at his brother. “Can you trust Cres?”
Reid jutted his lip and scratched his stubble. “Fine, let’s phase.”
Angele, Jackson and Reid sat before Cres. She had agreed to go unarmed but that was only because she could phase. A full blood hunter wouldn’t have been able to do it.
Now they were here, she noted Angele’s hand cupped in Jackson�
�s; she looked at Reid. He’d gone looking for them for two days only to bring them back unwilling to fight. Angele was on the Cult side. She had spent too long there, being brainwashed. Cres could see she wouldn’t change her mindset easily.
She felt helpless to express their cause. What would she tell Lila?
Reid glanced at her. “Cres, go ahead.”
“Okay, well...Lila is alive and she plans to take out the Cult.” She held her breath, waiting for the predicable reaction from Angele, who looked horrified. “We brought you here to ask for your help.” Cresida was met with silence as she looked over Angele’s cowering body.
“What do you expect us to do now? This isn’t fair,” Jackson whined.
Reid spoke up. “If it’s an issue for you, go back with your tail between your legs and hide in the bush, J.” His deep voice was full of disgust, his teeth bared in challenge.
Angele felt cheated when she heard his nickname and felt as though for a moment she didn’t know Jackson at all. But she hid it. She wanted to know him so intimately, and she also knew that Reid said it with passion, like he was scolding a brother. She knew the sound of love because she had known all about the lack of it, but she saw it here in Reid’s eyes and could feel it now in the house and she wanted deeply to be part of its warmth.
“Reid,” Cres scolded low. “Look this isn’t an ideal situation, but Narine is out of control, all we want to do is unite for a common cause. Anything you do beyond that is your business.”
“Fine, is that it?” Jackson asked defiantly, while casting his eyes downwards.
“Yes,” Cres replied emotionlessly.
“Good then we’re going.” Jackson moved to leave.
“No.” All eyes locked on Angele. “I want to help.” Her powdery voice fell quietly.
Jackson blinked. “What?”
“How do you think I got this limp?” she stated.
Cres smirked; Artemis had smiled on them. She could tell Jackson would do what Angele did. They were in love. She could tell by the way they moved, always touching, mirroring each other. But if she was a spy, she had to rely on Jackson and that he would rat her out which wasn’t looking likely, she thought with annoyance. The way he looked at her told Cres all she needed to know.