by Kimber White
“The Harlan brothers work for the Kentucky Chief Pack. Just like I said. We control Mason County and the bridge into Banchory.”
“You don’t control anything,” Derek said. “You just do what you’re told.”
Boyd tried to pull away. This time, Derek let go of him. Boyd gripped the edge of the table and tried to catch his breath. “The Chief Pack gave us this territory. The Harlans do what we tell them to if they don’t want to get their throats ripped out.”
“What is it you tell them to do?” I asked, even though I didn’t want to hear the answer.
“We’re border patrol for the Chief Pack. When Kentucky wolves get out of line, we deal with it.”
“And you can’t be seen getting your hands dirty though, can you?” Derek asked. “You’d never keep the respect of any other wolf if you did. Your Alpha doesn’t want other wolves knowing just how far he’s willing to take things.”
“Something like that,” Boyd said. He leaned over and spat on the ground. He looked like he was about to vomit. I knew Derek kept him from shifting from the sheer force of his will. That more than the shackles on his wrists seemed to keep him immobile.
“And you can’t have direct contact with anyone carrying out the hits the Chief Pack orders, can you?”
Boyd shook his head. His cold stare stayed fixed on my father. Dad backed away. Grammy got bolder. She came right up to Boyd. She shot a quick look to Derek. When he nodded, she sat down in the chair next to Boyd. “Did Charles know?” she asked. “Charles Lyle. Did he know the Chief Pack bankrolled the Harlans?”
Derek pressed his fingers into Boyd’s shoulder, forcing him to turn and face my grandmother. “Answer her,” Derek commanded. When he didn’t immediately answer, Derek used brute force. He smacked Boyd’s head against the table then held him up again.
“I don’t know!” Boyd yelled. “Christ. I don’t know! It wasn’t something the Harlans or the Chief Pack wants broadcast. Bad enough you’re making me tell you. You know what they’re going to do to me when they find out I told you?”
“You need to be more worried about what we’re going to do to you!” I got in Boyd’s face. I couldn’t help it. I didn’t like the way he was looking at Grammy. Color had flared back into her face. Two crimson dots appeared high on her cheeks. I knew that look. She wasn’t scared anymore. She was furious.
My father paced behind me, shifting his rifle from one shoulder to the other. “Stinking dogs!” he muttered. “All of you. You’re not brave enough to just handle your own kind. You’ve gotta drag me and my family down into it.”
“You wanted it,” Boyd said. “You wouldn’t know it by the looks of this place, but you’ve done all right for yourself haven’t you?”
“But why?” Grammy said. “You have to know what my Charles and Thomas were capable of. The Harlans do. Everybody in our field does. The Lyles are the only ones who figured out a way to stop werewolves. The other bounty hunters have never had the kind of success that Thomas does. Why in God’s name would the Chief Pack want to fund his research?”
Derek got to his feet. He twisted Boyd’s chains over his forearm. For a moment, I thought he might break them in two. A muscle twitched near his eye, and his thundering heartbeat made his rising anger ring like a bell inside my own head.
“It’s a win-win for the Chief Pack,” he finally said. “Isn’t it? The Kentucky Alpha gets to put down anyone he sees as a threat. Any wolf he thinks might get too powerful. Anyone who crosses him. He just has the Harlans call up Tinker Lyle and his Wolfkiller bullets, problem solved. And, when the time comes . . . if the time ever comes, Kentucky’s got a weapon to use against the Wild Lake wolves or any other foreign pack they want to go to war with.”
“I would never get involved in a pack war,” my father said. The instant he did, he understood the real gravity of what Derek said. If the packs ever went to war again, it wouldn’t matter whether my father wanted to get involved. The Chief Pack would just come in here and take what they wanted. They’d outnumber us.
“Am I missing anything, Boyd?” Derek spat out Boyd’s name as if it burned in his mouth.
Boyd buried his face in his hands. A part of me could almost feel sorry for him. His pack had to know by now that he was their weak link. It might have been better if Derek had just killed him outright. If we sent him back, they’d likely kill him themselves.
Derek’s gaze caught mine. He told me he couldn’t read my thoughts, but it didn’t mean he couldn’t guess. I swallowed hard and looked at Grammy. She trembled with rage as she sat next to Boyd.
“How long?” she asked, and her eyes shot up to Derek. He yanked Boyd’s chains again to let him know Grammy spoke for him.
“I don’t know.” Derek pulled Boyd’s head back again by his hair. “I swear to God, man. I don’t know. I’m not that high up in the organization. But I haven’t heard any rumblings that make me think there’s a pack war coming soon. We’ve got our own problems.”
“What kind of problems?” Derek asked.
“Ask Lyle,” he said. “Business has been pretty good lately, hasn’t it? That’s probably why the Cavanaughs roughed you up. Your competition is getting a little jealous. Relax, though. You weren’t in any danger of losing our business. Not while you’ve got Wolfkiller ammo and all your other gadgets.”
“Speak plain,” Derek shouted in his ear.
“All right, all right. Business has been good for the Lyles because we’ve had a rash of troublemakers lately that needed taking care of. Other wolves thinking they can outsmart the Chief Pack. Trying to stake their claims outside Kentucky. I’ve heard you’ve even had a few who made it as far as Wild Lake. So maybe you shouldn’t be so quick to bash my face in. The Lyles have probably taken out wolves who would have caused problems for you too.”
“But not all of them, right?” I asked, sinking into the chair directly opposite of Boyd. “Some of them probably never wanted to hurt anyone, did they? They just wanted to get the hell away from Kentucky and be left alone.”
Boyd shrugged. “None of my business, man. Any wolf who goes against the Chief Pack, no matter what their reason, they have to be dealt with.”
My gut clenched. I felt a similar reaction in Derek. Good wolves may have died at my father’s hands. Or mine. Derek might have died at my hands if I hadn’t recognized him for what he was.
“Enough,” Dad said. He’d taken a position against the steel wall of the hut. He smashed his fist into it, making the whole structure vibrate with thunder. “I’ve heard all I need to hear. It’s over. You feel me? You take that back to your Alpha. The Lyles are retiring. Find someone else to do your dirty work.”
“It don’t work like that, man,” Boyd said, a slow, sadistic smile spread across his face. “You don’t get to retire. Nobody does. Kentucky Alpha wants you to do something for him, you do it. Cheer up, though. You’ve got job security and maybe even a little extra protection. As long as you’re the only one who knows how to make those magic bullets, you’ll be sitting pretty. If I were you, I’d maybe want to upgrade this dump, though.”
The punch came from the side. Grammy curled her fist and crashed it against Boyd’s nose with enough power that I heard a small bone crack. “Shit!” she cried out, then cradled her hand against her chest.
“You okay?” Dad and I said it together. Blood poured out of Boyd’s broken nose. Grammy nodded.
“Yeah,” she said. “Actually, that felt better than it should have.”
Boyd called her a few choice names that earned him another quick jerk of his wrist chains and threw him off balance. He would have toppled sideways, but Derek righted him.
“That’s it man, I swear,” Boyd said, his voice muffled through his hand. “I’ve told you everything I know. Just keep that crazy old lady away from me, okay? This is getting seriously fucked up.”
Derek looped the chains around the table and let them go. He walked to the far end of the hut. He didn’t have to tell me he wanted me to follow h
im outside. He called to me on some preternatural level, even without the marking.
“Keep that rifle pointed right at his head,” Derek told my father, though he needn’t have bothered. The instant Boyd called Grammy crazy, Dad had raised it again.
I went outside with Derek. He took my hand in his. Even with the urgency of the moment and everything going on inside, that small touch made me crave something more. Derek tore his other hand through his hair and we walked a few yards away from the hut.
“You sure your father didn’t know anything about this?”
I swallowed hard. It was a legitimate question. Derek didn’t know my father, and his limited impression had admittedly not gone smoothly. But, if I could look past everything I ever thought I knew about shifters, I hoped Derek could do the same about one man.
“He didn’t know,” I said. “The Kentucky pack. What they did to Grammy. I swear to you, we would have never taken so much as a penny from them. God, Derek, my father is liable to burn this place to the ground now that he knows what paid for it.”
Derek nodded. “It might come to that. Boyd’s too stupid to put two and two together. He thinks his pack will just take him back after this. I broke him. And it was way too fucking easy.”
“What do you mean?” It sure didn’t look easy to me. Whatever Derek did to Boyd seemed like mental torture.
“His mind snapped like a twig. He barely put up a fight. That tells me a lot about where the Kentucky packs are weak. It’s too big. They’ve got too many splinter groups like Boyd’s border patrol with no Alpha directly guiding them day to day. That’s why they’re seeing so much defection. And why you’re . . . uh . . . dad’s business is booming.”
“What about Boyd?”
Derek let out a hard breath. “I’m in his head. There’s not much there, but he’s a threat now.”
“How?”
“If he makes it back to the Kentucky wolves, they’ll be able to track me easier. They’ll smell me on him. And the rest of you. I can’t take that risk. And, they’ve retreated; they haven’t given up.”
“The wolves are coming back.” My chest felt hollow with fear. I knew what Derek was going to say before he said it.
He gave me a grim nod and pulled me close. “Yeah. Soon. Boyd’s trying to cover, but they’ve tried to reach out to him a few times already while we questioned him. I’m closer to him, so it wasn’t hard to block them, but they’re on their way here.”
“And they’ll bring reinforcements.”
Derek nodded and kissed the top of my head. “They’ll bring a damn army.”
“What do we do?”
I stayed in Derek’s arms and took a step back. Sliding my hands up behind his neck I looked up at him.
“I’m not letting you out of my sight,” he said. “And the rest of your family, you’re under my protection now.”
“But, it won’t be enough, will it? Not without the rest of your pack.”
Derek shook his head. “Not even with the rest of my pack. I’m guessing within the hour this place is going to be overrun with Kentucky wolves in a bloodlust. I can’t sense the numbers, but it’s a lot. Hundreds maybe.”
My heart trilled with fear, but Derek held me close and cupped my face with his hands. “I swear I’ll find a way to keep you safe. But, Jessa, we can’t stay here. You have to leave this place behind. All of you. Boyd’s an idiot, but he’s not stupid, you know? He’s right. Your father’s important to the Kentucky packs. They probably wouldn’t outright kill him, but they’ll make him wish he was dead. Try to take you or your grandmother maybe. Anything to ensure your father does exactly what they say.”
“No,” I said, my voice trembling. “I’d rather die than let myself be used like that. And Grammy can’t go back to that. She more than anyone knows what it’s like being held by the Kentucky packs against her will. It’s over, Derek. I’ll make my father understand. But, where would we go?”
“Home,” Derek said, and his face lit with a warm smile. “I’d like to take you home to Wild Lake. I can make you safe there.”
I nodded. “No big thing. You’re just asking me to leave everything I know behind.”
He kissed my forehead. “Yes, my love. Just that. I’m asking you to trust me with your life.”
I had an answer for him in the space of a heartbeat. But, I didn’t have a chance to give voice to it. Instead, a bloodcurdling scream came from inside the hut.
Grammy.
Chapter Fourteen
Derek burst through the hut doors. When I caught up to him, his solid back felt like hitting a brick wall. He wouldn’t let me pass. Instead, he snaked an arm around me and held me close to his body as we surveyed the scene.
My father stood on one end of the structure with his rifle trained on the lifeless form of Boyd Jensen. He was half wolf, half human. His feet and hands had twisted into paws, but faced the wrong direction. His eyes glowed red, but his focus stayed fixed on the ceiling. And then there was Grammy. She stood over Boyd holding one of Dad’s AR-15s by the barrel. Blood dripped from the butt. Boyd’s forehead was caved in.
“He tried to shift,” she said. “I was afraid he’d call out to the rest of them. They’re headed this way.”
Derek growled. He nodded. “Yes. Boyd’s Alpha will send reinforcements. Killing him might buy us some time. But not much. I think we need to leave at first light.”
Grammy nodded and held the rifle out. Derek stepped forward and took it from her. I went to Grammy’s side. “You okay?” I asked her.
She smoothed a stray hair away from her face and nodded. “I’m okay, baby girl. I’m okay. It just caught me off guard a little. I just don’t know what will happen if the Kentucky Alpha gets close to me. I haven’t felt anyone from that pack in a long, long time. He’s not the one who did this to me, but he’s kin. His son. Maybe his grandson. Don’t know, don’t care. I wish I could carve this thing out.” She rubbed the back of her neck where her Alpha’s mark was. Beneath her fingers, I saw the edges had grown red.
“Can they find her?” I asked Derek. He nodded at the same time Grammy did. “Isn’t there any way to remove that?”
Derek shook his head. “Not anymore. When it was fresh, maybe. But I mean to have her and the rest of you far away from here before any other Alpha has a chance to track her. She did the right thing, though. We couldn’t leave Boyd alive. Even if he’d wanted to, he wasn’t strong enough not to answer when the rest of his pack called to him. I hate to say it, but that was probably a mercy killing anyway. They’re going to know I made him talk.”
A look passed between Grammy and Dad. I had a lot to explain to them and not much time to do it. How could I ask them to leave everything they knew behind? For Grammy, this was her home with my grandfather. For better or worse, she wouldn’t want to leave him. And my father? I’d have to ask him to come with me to what just hours ago would have seemed like the belly of the beast.
“I think we’re safe here, at least for a few more hours. You’re all on fumes. I am too,” Derek said. “Get comfortable. Get some sleep. Then we’ll move.”
I thought my father would grumble a protest. But even he could see how tired Grammy looked. He went to the back of the hut and opened a trapdoor in the floor. He disappeared into the underground bunker and came out with camping supplies. Sleeping bags, MREs, water bottles.
“Get comfortable,” he said. “We can sleep in shifts. I’ll take the first watch.”
“Ugh,” Grammy said, kicking Boyd’s foot. “What about him?”
“I’ll wrap him up in something and stick him out back.”
As Derek set himself to the task of removing Boyd’s body, Dad and Grammy found spots on the floor and began to spread their sleeping bags. Grammy smiled at me and shot me a wink. Her approval meant everything to me, and I just hoped my father would come around too.
When Derek came back, he convinced my father to let him stand guard. He needed less sleep. My father tried to protest, but he was just as
tired of the rest of us and finally settled into his sleeping bag beside Grammy. I didn’t know how I’d ever be able to close my eyes, but the instant I curled into my sleeping bag on the other side of Grammy, I was out.
Derek’s eyes flashed in my dreams. He came to me, holding me close. Kept me safe. I’d only closed my eyes for an instant, but when something shook me awake, daylight poured through the windows again.
“Time to move!” Derek’s voice boomed through the hut. Dad was on his feet and ran back to the monitors. Something flashed white on one of the screens. Dad ran around the table, side-stepping Boyd’s body. “Son of a bitch, those fuckers.”
White fire blazed, filling the screen of the cameras facing the south end of the lot.
“We have no time,” Derek said. His voice came out more growl than human. “I can get you all to safety, but we’ve got to move. Now!”
“Grammy?” I held her hands in mine. “Do you hear that? We can’t stay here. Let us take you someplace where you’ll be safe.”
She smiled and touched my face. “There’s no place safe, Jessa. Not for me. Not anymore.”
“Two vehicles,” my father barked out the order. “Derek’s truck, and the rebuilt Hummer right behind it. They’re the only things big enough to carry supplies. Mine’s got a full tank of gas. What about yours?”
Derek nodded. “Enough.”
Dad tossed a rifle to me and slung two over his shoulder. Derek still held the one my grandmother used to bash Boyd’s face in. Derek gave my father a nod filled with cold purpose. I’d expected him to protest. But, in the end, my father was practical. He couldn’t fight off that many wolves himself, and there was no way he’d stick around just to be made a pawn to the Kentucky pack.
“Fill this, Jessa,” Dad said. “Ammo and vials in the cabinet by the wall. What we can’t carry, we’ll have to torch. Unless you want this shit getting into the Kentucky pack’s hands?” He looked over my shoulder at Derek.