Wolf Sirens Night Fall: What Rises Must Fall (Wolf Sirens #3)

by Tina Smith

  Jackson piped up. “We don’t have to fight them?”

  “No,” Reid said vehemently and huffed. Reid turned to him, so angry he could have punched his younger pack brother.

  “She isn’t good for you.” Jackson was adamant.

  “And she is?” Reid threw an angry gesture to Angele.

  Jackson persisted, “She’s not one of us, Reid.” He referred to Cres.

  Coldly he assessed his brother, “We are all human, somewhere inside. You can label yourself all you want, and say she’s your kind and we're not their kind anymore – but we are.” He stopped and ran his eyes over Angele. “No matter what the excuse is, we are all part of humanity still. No matter what the Pack says.” With that he went over to the fridge. For once he felt the adrenaline subside and he had won over his urges to transform.

  On the way back to Cres’s room to wait for Lila, Reid thought he understood for a moment what his father had always said about fighting, that it didn’t solve anything. He knew he would fight to get her out though, no matter what she said or did to hurt him. He knew he loved her and hated that he had all too much time to think while he waited outside the house. And he would do whatever he had to get her out, which was also why he didn’t hit Jackson. He couldn’t afford to sever ties.

  Reid found the charm two days later, it glinted at him from the windowsill and he was relieved to find it. Cres was right. His heart sank as he thought that they had somehow missed Lila placing it, but now he just had to wait for her to show and he knew he had to be the one to catch her, to convince her. Surely she had heard the news or seen it in the papers.

  Jackson had been helping him keep watch. After much convincing Reid allowed him to help but he still didn’t trust Angele, so she brought food and water. Cres was the prime suspect in the disappearance of her seven-year-old brother. The police had canvassed the entire valley – next were searches - land walks for their bodies. People had come out accusing her of murdering the boy and fleeing. Various towns’ people had slandered her and said they always knew there was something wrong with Cresida James and it was fast becoming international news.

  Reid tried hard to ignore the slander, even though he himself was now also a major suspect, as his disappearance from his parents’ home had coincided with Bronson’s and Cresida’s. Jackson and Angele hid in the forest now that it was a manhunt. Reporters descended on the valley from the cities. There were public announcements to heed the curfew. A couple of the clothes bins were uncovered due to land searches by the police and volunteer fire service.

  He watched Tabetha Horrel’s house in the rain until it became a distorted blur. He was on edge when Jackson touched his shoulder. Reid faced him with an animal look in his eye. A steamy breath escaped Jackson’s lips. “Reid, she’s at the cabin.” Lila was impatient.

  34. Saving Cres

  I breathed unsteadily as the door opened and Reid entered, looking worse for wear and ashen, dripping wet from head to toe. He had a hard look in his eye, a five o’clock shadow and the set of his face had fallen.

  I felt a flutter in my chest that made me forget the rigidity of the mission I had. I ran to get him a towel from the bathroom cupboard. Jackson helped him to the couch and took the towels from me, placing them over Reid.

  “He’s got exposure, I think,” Jackson offered.

  Reid was as white as a sheet and shivering.

  “Will he be okay?” I heard myself say. I knew if I had come sooner he wouldn’t be this bad, but we were all on edge. Cres missing, and for all I knew it was a trap.

  “Yeah, soon enough. Do us a favour and hit the kettle?” Jackson asked quietly, his eyes serious.

  As I nodded and went into the kitchen to switch the kettle on, the irony hadn’t been lost on me. I’d come to get information on Cres and Bronson and here I was making the wolves a hot tea. As far as I could see, Angele was nowhere to be seen, though her scent lingered over everything in the house and I noted a pair of damp bikini bottoms on the bar stool. I hoped she was out hunting and not hiding from me, though Jackson should have been keeping an eye on her. If she was on our side she needn’t fear me now. We had enough to deal with.

  A light rain was descending like a mist outside. I saw the back lawn was a marvelous lush green. They had mowed it recently. Despite everything culminating around them and the impending battle they still did some ordinary things. There was even a deck of playing cards on the coffee table and a vacuum cleaner left out in the entrance. Angele was a wolf, but I was beginning to see she was a woman too. Jackson and she had lived here for the past weeks, on and off, rather like a married couple. I noticed the fridge was empty though, they hadn’t been stupid enough to go into town shopping. This meant the other smell here was the tinny odour of raw meat. I wondered what conditions Cres was now living in as I dunked the tea bag into the water and took it to the one person who might know what had happened to my best ally.

  “They’ve got her. She’s at the compound,” he said without me asking. I figured he had waited three days to say it to me. I handed him the mug of tea and he cupped it between two large hands.

  “What happened?” I urged softly.

  “I’m sorry Lila.” He appeared devastated.

  I shook my head. “Sorry doesn’t mean anything.” She was most likely dead.

  “She wouldn’t listen to reason, I tried to stop her, but you know what she’s like. She put the gun to my head. I still followed her, but it was too late,” he admitted. “By the time I got there…” His eyes looked moist.

  I saw that Cres was right, he was smitten. “What did they do?” I urged solemnly.

  “I only saw the Jeep, there was no sign of her. She kicked me out on the road a few kays from the cabin.” He shook his head. “I begged her not to go.”

  I looked into his misty eyes. “Is she alive?”

  “I don’t know.” He swallowed. “They burnt the jeep and hid it in the bush behind the house. I ran to the compound. I stayed all night waiting, but I only saw the pack members, Sam - men and a woman with dark hair – that’s all. Then I went to find you.” He sipped the tea. “They had the boy. A car arrived with some other members and they had him.”

  I thought about this. “She went in guns blazing?”

  “I never saw, but yeah she had weapons. A Browning and a Hammerli in her pants.” He shook his head. “She wasn’t thinking straight.” He glanced away guiltily. “In the Jeep I told her I wouldn’t move unless she told me how to find you. She said she couldn’t let herself know or they’d torture it out of her.” He swallowed. “She knew they would catch her.” He reached in his damp pocket and pulled out something small and held it out to me in his large fingers. My eyes zeroed in on the little slat roof of the charm shaped like a house that I had left for her on the windowsill after I saw her on the News listed as missing.

  My muscles tensed. “We’re gonna get her out Reid,” I said, determined.

  He huffed and met my eyes. “She won’t come out without the boy.” He shook his head slowly.

  “It was suicide.” I frowned, feeling as tired as he looked.

  He sniffed. “She knew it was.”

  Even if she was alive, it seemed inevitable they’d kill her sooner or later. If she couldn’t lead them to me, then they would wait for me to come for her. But she would never leave the boy – and who knew, they had probably already turned him and perhaps it had killed him. He was still too young. Maybe she was dead already. It was inevitable they would turn him. It was the best way to hide him because he would be a man overnight – if he survived the bite.

  Reid and I exchanged a grave look.

  He sipped his tea with a drawn expression that frightened me.

  “Reid, I’ll fight to get her out,” I assured him quietly knowing as I said it that my priority was to kill them. I couldn’t help but ask, “You didn’t have to wait out in the rain?” And I meant it.

  His voice was low. “L, do you know why I waited for you?”

 
; “No,” I admitted to his serious gaze.

  “It’s because you’re the only one who will fight as hard as me to get her out.”

  I realized then how much he loved her. And yet, she had held a gun to his head and he hadn’t been willing to call her bluff, even though she was going to go and get herself killed. Obviously just the thought of that or the guilt was killing him, because in less than an hour he was fine physically and I knew with a twinge that he was suffering from being emotionally exposed.

  35. Belly of the Beast

  A light flickered inside the room, waking Cres from a deep sleep on the dark floor of the cage and it blinded her so that she could only sense her guard. The discomfort of the cement resonated through her bones. The stench made her want to puke.

  “Cresida,” a lilting female voice urged her awake. “You little bitch,” it taunted with an authoritarian tone that broke the momentary silence like a knife.

  Another female voice. “Cres, are you awake?” Cres knew it; she tried to place it, and her eyelids fluttered, adjusting to the light.

  She heard the tap of an instrument over the bars, yet another attempt to wake her.

  “We know you’re alive.”

  Cres lifted her head stiffly and blinked some more and two blurred shapes came into focus beyond the bars. One had long wavy brown hair and as the blur of her face became clear, it looked at her with such intense ferocity, she cowered slightly.

  “I know you can hear us,” Narine hissed, grinding her teeth.

  They waited for Cres to answer or to move but she did neither. Cres just lay staring at them, despondently.

  “Cres?” uttered Sam as her familiar blonde hair glistened. “Until you talk we leave you here. No food, no water, no light.” She walked over to a container and tipped it on the floor; the water ran along the cement.

  Narine scowled at her, through the bars.

  “Come on Narine,” Sam coaxed her, and with that the light was switched off and the shuffle of their feet was followed by the door squealing shut with a thump and the latch of the dead lock clicked as it was secured from the outside.

  She awoke later to a voice.

  “I offered you everything. It was a gift, to never die, to never be frail… Immortality.”

  Her blood shot eyes fluttered and the light burnt them. “No one lives forever,” she croaked realizing she had phased at some point into human skin. When the voice came out of her dry throat, it ached.

  “No, evidently not,” Sam muttered. “Look at me,” she urged, her sharp eyes burning towards Cres. “Remember I said no food or water until you tell us a few things?” she hissed with a confidence that was just the other side of fear.

  Cres closed her puffy eyes as Sam spoke.

  “I’m going to leave in five, four, three, two, one.” Sam stood up. “Fine.”

  The door closed but this time she left on the light. Eventually when Cres opened her eyes again she saw that it was to illuminate a plate of what looked to be cold leftovers on a chair in the corner, well out of reach. She closed her swollen eyes again.

  36. C.J

  C.J crouched in a peppercorn tree outside the Cabin, in the lightly falling rain, growing ever more annoyed. Lila was taking her time. C.J was soaked through as the wind whipped the light rain in her face continuously, until she lost all patience and descended the branch she had waited in for well over an hour.

  She landed with a thud. Something struck her and she was thrown to the ground in mud and leaves as a heavy creature breathed over her and shook and lurched into a human woman. C.J’s arrows had fallen out above her head on the earth and she struggled and reached for the nearest quills. The attacker grabbed her neck in a vice like grip, shockingly rigid in its strength, for a girl, and her blue eyes met C.J’s.

  She knew that she was a match for her strength, and she grabbed her wrist and they tossed about in the mud, each struggling to get on top. Her naked breast brushed C.J’s face and she wriggled and then threw the she wolf down, pulling a knife from her belt as she did and pressing the blade to her neck.

  Angeles eyes met C.J’s as she winced, frozen.

  “Angele?” C.J asked.

  The young woman looked through her and nodded slowly.

  “I’m with Lila,” She placed the knife back in her belt. “I’m going to let you up. Promise you won’t fight?”

  Angele nodded the same as before, silently, but this time she looked at Caroline unsurely. There was mud splattered across her face. She got up and wiped her brow with her sleeve, which only smeared the wet dirt across her forehead. Angele was as beautiful as Lila had said. C.J glanced at the arrows scattered and embedded in the mud but as she looked back she saw Angele take off into the bush towards the big wooden house. C.J picked up the arrows and followed her path through the rain with them bundled in her hand. Lila wasn’t going to be happy, but at least C.J was now getting out of the wet.

  37. Lila Bites

  Reid was describing the wolves to me when Angele appeared at the glass door, naked and covered in wet dirt. Jackson hurriedly grabbed a towel from Reid’s lap and met her, covering her naked skin. He guided her away from the lounge where Reid and I sat drinking tea, but Angele’s concerned eyes followed me as she passed.

  Then I saw why. I flew up. C.J was standing in the house soaked through with nearly as much mud on her as Angele, the bundle of arrows clasped in her pale hand.

  I heard a growl behind me. I glanced at Reid now in wolf form. “No,” I looked her up and down. There was an uneasy silence. “She’s with me,” I urged. He glanced at me, disgruntled.

  C.J pointed the arrow at him with her left hand and widened her stance. I couldn’t say I wasn’t proud, and then I frowned. “You were supposed to stay outside and back me up,” I said through gritted teeth with an incredulous look.

  “So you can sit here and have tea?”

  I started to say something. “I-”

  “No, I’m wet through. I need to know what’s going on and anyway, I wouldn’t have come in if your friend out there hadn’t jumped me.” She squinted petulantly. “And I lost a contact.” She glared angrily in the direction of Angele as a tear of brown water ran from her hairline down the side of her face, collecting the mud smudged on her temple.

  Reid phased back and modestly covered himself with the towel from the footrest. C.J just gazed at him.

  Noticing her lingering stare I intervened, “C.J this is Reid.”

  “Hi.” She gave an awkward wave and sideways glance.

  He looked at me and then at her and back towards me. “Did Cres know about her?”

  “Yes,” I said, annoyed, and folded my arms.

  “Come in and close the door,” I added grumpily, and gestured to C.J who remained rigid near the door, my anger tempered somewhat. “The one goddamned card I held,” I put my hand to my temple and sat down. “Reid, get dressed,” I ordered, diverting my gaze.

  C.J had only moved a few paces to close the sliding door and stopped unsurely.

  “Come in.” I gestured in frustration as Reid headed in the direction of the bedrooms.

  “Right, see you in a minute, doll face.”

  I shot Reid a look as he exited. My face was stern. I explained to an intrigued C.J that Cres had been taken by the Cult and we were going to have to go in and get her and the boy now, and somehow take out the pack.

  Jackson, Angele and Reid collectively came back into the living area. As they slowly approached, I introduced them. “J, Angele and Reid. This is Caroline, the next huntress of Shade.” I knew C.J would be flattered to have such a title, so I said it like I was bored.

  “C.J.,” she offered, confidently.

  I could tell she was surprised to have such an introduction and she sat a little

  straighter.

  They didn’t move. I glanced at her and noticed she still held the arrows. “Put down the arrows, these are our friends,” I scolded her.

  “Ha,” laughed Jackson. “She’s smaller than
you.”

  “She’s strong,” commented Angele’s meek voice from behind him. She rubbed her wrists and we all glanced at Caroline.

  “So this is what you’ve been hiding,” Reid exclaimed wide eyed, obviously feeling better. He appraised her approvingly. “Hi doll-face.”

  “Don’t call me doll-face,” she hissed.

  “What are you gonna do about it?” He leered.

  “Break off your dick.”

  He looked amused and then suddenly he laughed, but halted instantly when she took an arrow between her hands and it made a snap.

  Evidently he was feeling better. I hid a smirk and ignored their disbelief. We hadn’t time for adjustment. Cres would be counting on us if she were still alive. “Get Giny, we’re having another meeting. Reid what weapons have you got?” I involved all of them. “Angele I need your Intel, what’s the layout of the house, tell me about the pack?” We had to attack, but we had lost the element of surprise. Angele detailed what she knew. Angele agreed with Reid’s observations at the compound. Sam was there and Bianca. So was Shelly Bealy, Narine, Paws, Tyler, Genna – the rockabilly nurse and the new girls - Dahlia the dark brunette and Aylish the curly haired blonde, wolves from the city. The curly blonde sounded familiar but I didn’t mention it.

  I took the opportunity to talk more with Angele as the others busied themselves, organizing the weapons and vehicles out front. I poured a tea.

  “So who were the males, the ones Reid saw burn the jeep?”

  “I don’t know, but Sam was meant to find some other wolf pack that lives in the hills. I only heard of them the once and no one was sure they still existed.”