by Jae
A shot boomed through the tunnel.
Rue froze, every muscle in her body taut.
The wolf whined outside and then fell silent.
Kelsey! Oh, God, no! Kelsey!
“Stay put,” she signed to Danny, hoping some part of him still understood. She scrambled to her feet and raced to the entrance. As she dropped to her knees, she threw a glance back over her shoulder.
Danny was still in his human form. Had the shift stopped for now?
His gaze followed her. He whimpered but made no move to get up and run after her. Maybe he couldn’t move, pain shackling him to the floor.
Gravel and garbage dug into her hands. She ignored it, crawled forward, and peeked through the hole.
“Damn, did you see those teeth?” a shaky voice said in the semi-darkness to her right. “That beast looked like a wolf.”
“Probably just a feral dog,” another man answered from right above Rue. “Did you hit it?”
Shoes crunched over the gravel. “Yeah, I’m sure I did. It crawled somewhere over there.”
No, no, no, no, no! Tears burned in Rue’s eyes.
Through a blurry vision, she tried to see if Kelsey was lying somewhere, bleeding, but the man’s legs blocked her view. No. Kelsey, please, no. She clamped her fingers around a brick, barely feeling the rough edges dig into her skin. Slowly, she pushed her arm through the hole, ready to hurl the brick at the police officer who had shot Kelsey. If he took one step closer to her and Danny...
“Police! Don’t move!” one of the officers shouted.
Rue paused. Her heart slammed against her ribs. She scrambled back.
Had they discovered her?
But the officer’s flashlight wasn’t directed her way. The beam of light danced over the tracks deeper in the tunnel.
Rue craned her neck and peeked out of the hole. Kelsey?
A shadowy figure pushed away from the wall. Gravel crunched beneath two running feet, not four. The fleeing person passed beneath a lightbulb. Artificial light flickered over red hair.
The boy who was with Danny!
Metal glinted in his hand.
“Gun!” one officer yelled. He flattened himself against the tunnel wall, only one foot away from Rue.
The flash from the officer’s gun blinded Rue for a moment. Her ears rang. Sparks flew as the bullet ricocheted through the tunnel.
Something hot stung Rue’s neck. Oh, God! I’m hit! Panic robbed her of breath. Still gripping the brick with one hand, she clutched her neck with the other. But her frantic fingertips didn’t encounter a wound. Instead, she fished the shell of the officer’s semi-automatic out of the collar of her shirt. Jesus Christ!
When the ringing in her ears stopped and her senses were working again, Rue saw the running boy disappear in the tunnel.
Pistols aimed, the two officers rushed past Rue without seeing her. Within seconds, the darkness in the tunnel swallowed them too.
The brick fell from Rue’s limp grasp.
A growl made her head jerk around.
Kelsey?
Two wolves leaped out of the darkness, but both were too large to be Kelsey.
The Saru! They followed the cops into the tunnel.
Even in the semi-darkness of the tunnel, sharp noses and glowing eyes zeroed in on Rue.
The bigger wolf hurled himself at her but couldn’t get a grip on her through the small hole. His gleaming canines snapped closed inches from Rue’s face.
Screaming, she clambered back. Bricks scraped over the back of her head. Pain flared through her scalp. On hands and knees, she scrambled back into the concrete chamber, away from the snarling wolf. She crashed into something. Numbness spread from her elbow to the rest of her arm. She collapsed onto the floor. For a moment, she couldn’t move her arm.
Get up! Spitting dust, she got to her feet. Her gaze darted through the chamber.
No sign of Danny. Was he hiding in a dark corner? Or had he passed out?
A growl made her whirl around.
The first wolf scrambled through the hole.
Rue grabbed the nearest object, a rusty chair, and lifted it over her head. “Get back!”
The wolf didn’t listen. Huge canines exposed, he lunged at Rue.
“Aaaarh!” She swung down the chair as hard as she could.
A chair leg smashed against the wolf’s flank. He fell to the ground, yelping, then jumped up, shook himself, and kept advancing.
Rue moved back, chair lifted.
Growling, the wolf followed. He limped, but that seemed to make him only angrier.
Rue’s back hit the wall.
A second wolf rushed through the hole, then a third one.
Now three wolves were hurtling toward Rue.
Her knuckles tightened around the chair. Oh, God! There’s a whole pack of them! She gritted her teeth and lifted the chair higher, ready to fight for her life and for Danny’s.
Chapter 56
“You’d think this was the city’s hippest nightclub instead of a stinky subway tunnel.” Zoe wrinkled her nose. “Why are they all heading in there?”
The GPS had guided them directly to an emergency exit leading to the subway tunnel below. When they had approached, they had seen two transit police officers and then two Saru slipping through the hatch and heading into the tunnel.
“Not for sightseeing, that’s for sure,” Tala said. Her nose was busy sorting through thousands of smells trailing in the air. The scent of candied nuts, pizza, and pastrami sandwiches mingled with the more unpleasant smells of exhaust fumes, garbage, and charred pretzels from a nearby pretzel stand. She tilted her head and zeroed in on the odors clinging to the hatch in the sidewalk—urine, stale air, and metal dust.
Beneath it all were the fading scents of more humans, the two Saru, and two other Wrasa, one of them emitting full-out panic from every pore. Has to be that pup half of the Wrasa in New York are looking for. Was the other one their target, Kelsey Yates, or was she miles away by now? Tala wasn’t a betting person, but her money was on Kelsey being down there too. “I think the boy is hiding down there, and the rest of them headed into the tunnel to look for him.”
“Boy?” Zoe asked.
Tala rolled her eyes. “Use your nose, cub. Don’t you smell him?”
Zoe moved her upper lip as if wriggling her whiskers. “Smells as if he’s in the middle of his First Change. Do you think this is the boy the other Saru are looking for?”
Tala nodded. “Two urgent Saru operations in New York City on the same day—that can’t be a coincidence. I think Kelsey is trying to find the boy.”
“Then why didn’t she call in backup? Why go rogue?”
“I don’t know. Yet. But I will as soon as I get my paws on her.”
Zoe eyed the hatch in the pavement. “Shouldn’t we head down there too?”
Tala mapped out the area with a quick glance. There was no other way out of the subway tunnel—unless Kelsey wanted to stumble through the dark, stinking tunnel until she reached the next subway station. But the stations were brightly lit and full of humans. If Kelsey was trying to find the boy, she would be careful not to attract attention. She would sneak out the same way she had entered the tunnel. “No. We’ll do this the fox way,” Tala said. “Go get the van. We’ll wait here until Kelsey comes out of her den—then we leap on her.”
Chapter 57
Kelsey barked out a warning as the two wolves closed in on her alpha.
When they didn’t stop their attack, she hurled herself at the nearest wolf, trusting her alpha to handle the bigger one.
They collided in a flurry of flashing teeth and flying fur.
As they tumbled against the wall, pain stabbed through her injured shoulder. She collapsed but dug her teeth into her enemy’s flesh and pulled him down with her.
The growling of the bigger wolf and her alpha’s shouts filtered into her consciousness, and she bit down harder, frantic to end this fight and protect her alpha.
The wolf leap
ed to his feet, dragging her with him for a few steps until she lost her grip. He whirled around and barreled into her. His canines snapped closed on her shoulder and drilled into her wound.
Yowling, she tried to jerk around and bite back, but his grip on her was too strong. With every attempt to break free, his teeth penetrated more deeply. Blood drenched her fur. Her muscles trembled and weakened.
When the wolf tore at her, her feet slid out from under her.
She fell to her side.
The wolf jumped. His paws hit her chest, pressing her down. Wild eyes flashed above her.
She bit left and right but couldn’t get a grip on him.
His canines zeroed in on the vulnerable spot on her throat.
A shadow darted across the chamber and careened into the wolf, throwing him off her.
When she glanced up, she looked into the hazel eyes of a black wolf.
His bristled fur made him seem larger, but a second glance revealed that he was just a pup, not yet fully grown.
The alpha’s pup!
He sprinted after their fallen enemy.
Canines flashed. The adult wolf jerked around and clamped his muzzle around the pup’s neck.
A shrill yelp echoed through the chamber.
Anger pounded through her. A growl, fiercer than any she had ever emitted, exploded from her chest. Protect! Protect! She barely felt the pain in her shoulder as she raced after them. Strong muscles catapulted her through the air.
She crashed into her enemy. Now no longer growling, they tumbled, rolled, and whirled, each trying to clamp sharp teeth around the other’s neck.
The wound in her shoulder and the blood loss weakened her, but she was fighting to protect her pack. When her opponent bent his head to bite at her, she ducked beneath his attack. Her canines snapped shut around his throat.
His paws drummed against her belly, and claws scratched her skin. His canines slashed across her cheek before they got tangled in the thick fur of her ruff.
Stiff-legged, she followed his every move, not easing up on her grip.
His veins pounded against her tongue. She could almost taste the blood rushing through them. Just a bit more pressure and—
“Kelsey! No!”
Still throttling her opponent, she flicked her gaze upward.
Her alpha straddled the second wolf, keeping him in check with a metal object pressed to his throat. The pup stood over him too, his canines digging into the older wolf’s shoulder muscles. He wildly shook his head back and forth as if he wanted to tear his opponent limb from limb.
“No!” The alpha gestured, palm down, firm gestures that told them to back off and let their enemies go.
The pup gave one last fierce shake, then let go but kept growling like a whole pack of Syak.
A growl rumbled up her chest too. Reluctantly, she eased her muzzle open and moved away. At the first step, pain drilled into her shoulder. Her left front paw gave out on her, and she crashed to the floor.
Chapter 58
“Kelsey!” Rue shouted.
Tongue lolling, Kelsey tried to get to her feet but was too weak to make it.
Oh, no. Hold on, Kelsey.
The wolf beneath Rue groaned.
She realized she had inadvertently leaned more of her weight onto the broken-off chair leg pressing against his throat. She eased up a bit. Her gaze slid to Danny. She still couldn’t believe that the beautiful young wolf was her son. Her head buzzed at the surreal thought. Or maybe it was the blood running down the back of her head that made her mind spin.
At least Danny seemed unhurt, but who knew what kinds of wounds hid beneath his black fur?
He needs to shift—now! Kelsey had told her not to let Danny run around and waste energy, or he would get stuck in his wolf form. Now he was panting, and a wild gleam glinted in his hazel eyes. Oh, please, don’t let it be too late!
Time was running out. The two cops could return with backup any moment, and she couldn’t hold down the wolf beneath her forever. The second wolf lay still next to Kelsey, but he was breathing and could wake up any moment. If that happened, she was done for.
Her thoughts raced, trying to remember how to get Danny to shift back. He needs to see another wolf shift. But if she walked over to Kelsey to get her to shift, the wolf she held in check would attack. She stared at the wolf groaning under the pressure of the chair leg against his throat.
The voice of Kelsey’s father echoed through her mind, “No wolf-shifter, unless he’s hurt and defeated, would ever submit and shift just because a human orders him to.”
The two Saru were hurt and defeated, and she had the bigger one pinned to the floor in a submissive position.
“Danny! Come here!”
The wolf pup didn’t move.
His wolf form is deaf too. Rue gripped the chair leg with one hand and patted her thigh.
The pup tilted his head. When she patted her leg again, he trotted over and nosed her hand.
Rue snapped her fingers at the wolf beneath her. “Watch!” She formed a V shape with two of her fingers and moved them from her eyes toward the wolf, repeating the command in sign language.
When she was sure Danny was watching, she gripped the chair leg with both hands and pressed down more firmly while staring into the wolf’s panicked eyes. “Shift!” she shouted. “Shift back!”
The wolf growled and struggled, and she increased the pressure until she was afraid she would crush his trachea. “Shift, goddammit! I don’t want to kill you.”
Finally, the wolf dropped his gaze to the floor.
She eased up the pressure as a reward. “Shift!”
Gray fur receded. Bones creaked and joints popped, almost drowned out by yelps of pain. The wolf’s tail, firmly clamped against his belly, shrank and then disappeared. His snout shortened and separated into nose and mouth.
Whines came from Kelsey’s direction.
Rue looked up.
But it wasn’t Kelsey. The second wolf lay on his side and was shifting too.
It’s working! She glanced at Danny.
The black pup stood, head tilted, and stared at the wolf beneath Rue but showed no sign of changing back too.
“Danny, come on! Shift! Shift back to human form!” When Rue gestured downward, her gaze fell onto the shape-shifter beneath her. She found herself staring at a man. A naked man. Ugh. Rue stepped back but kept the chair leg raised. “Stay back, or I swear I’ll kill you!”
Groaning, the man lay still. His chest and neck were covered in bruises, but instead of the livid red Rue had expected, they were turning a greenish color, as if they were days old already.
Rue blinked and stared. Her gaze wandered to the second, smaller man.
The blood streaming down his neck and shoulder had slowed to a trickle. Bite marks around his neck and shoulders were already starting to scab over.
Jesus! Then she remembered that Nyla had suggested Kelsey to shift so she could heal the cut on her head. I need to get Kelsey to shift too. But first she had to take care of the two Saru. Taking advantage of their moment of weakness right after shifting, she tied up their feet and hands with her belt, her shoelaces, and some cable she found on the floor. Then she whirled around and reached for Danny.
The fur in the back of his neck was wet. Blood? Or is it just wolf spit? In the dim light of the concrete chamber, she couldn’t tell. With slow but firm movements, she tried to force Danny onto his side, into a submissive position.
“Get your hands off him, human!” the taller Saru shouted, his speech garbled, sounding more like a growling wolf than a human.
“Shut up and let me focus. I need to get him to shift.”
“You can’t,” the Saru said, straining against his bonds. “You’re human. We need to call in backup.”
Rue snorted. “More Saru? No, thanks.”
“You don’t understand,” the smaller Saru said. “After fighting him, he won’t trust us enough to submit to us.” He looked at his colleague. “I just hear
d that Tala Peterson is on a mission somewhere around here. She could try.”
Tala Peterson? She’s the one who’s hunting Kelsey. “Over my dead body!”
The larger Saru growled and tried to bite at the belt tying his wrists. “Don’t tempt me, human! If I get loose, I’ll gladly kill you and finish off the traitor!”
Kelsey, still in wolf form, whined.
Okay, okay, calm down and focus on the task at hand. She was wasting too much time—time Danny didn’t have. Rue tightened her grip on Danny’s ruff and led him over to Kelsey, giving the Saru a wide berth so Danny wouldn’t panic when they got too close.
Danny sniffed Kelsey and nudged her with his black nose.
Kelsey lifted her head but didn’t get up.
Rue dropped to her knees next to Kelsey. “Kelsey,” she whispered. Her fingers trembled as she combed them through the lighter fur beneath Kelsey’s chin.
Kelsey whined and licked Rue’s hands.
The wet tongue moved across the scrapes on Rue’s palms, but she didn’t pull away. She stared into the wolf’s eyes. Christ, she looks exhausted. And she’s injured. Blood stained the darker fur on her shoulder. If I force her to shift, she could die. Still kneeling in the dust, she looked at the two bound Saru. “How do I get her to shift without endangering her?”
“You can’t,” the taller Saru said. “She’s too exhausted to risk it. She’ll just refuse.”
“I don’t know, Glenn. She managed to get us to shift back. And these two,” the other Saru pointed at Danny and Kelsey, “clearly think she’s their natak.”
Glenn hesitated.
“Come on! Tell me what to do.” Rue sent a glance toward the hole in the tunnel wall. “The police could be back any moment, and if we’re still here then, your secret existence won’t be so secret anymore.”
“Food,” the taller Saru said. “She needs food first.”
Rue jumped up and rushed across the chamber to root through the provisions the homeless men had left behind. She found a half-empty can of beans, three cans of sardines, and a package of potato chips. Do wolves eat potato chips? She poured everything into a blackened pot and placed it in front of Kelsey’s muzzle.