Stripped (Wolves of Mule Creek #2)

by Katharine Sadler

  Axel pushed back his chair and stood. He reached for the dishes and we passed them over. I helped him carry them in. I moved to the sink, ready to get down to some dish washing, but Axel stopped me with a hand on my arm.

  “Leave it,” he said. “We can get them later.”

  The others had moved to the living room, or stepped into the living room, since their place was just one big room, and Julie had plugged the USB device into the television. The couches were full so I went to sit on the floor, but Zane grabbed me and pulled me onto his lap. He wrapped his arms around me, his breath warm against my cheek, and I let myself relax into him. Let myself enjoy how good it felt to be held by him.

  Julie hit a button on the remote and the video came up. Julie and I had edited the two videos together and had decided to cut the early scenes and use the video after Mitch had left and I'd stepped in. It actually was helpful to have me there demonstrating moves for the less experienced viewers.

  I'd seen the video before, so I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open when a crash from the front porch sent Axel and Zane to their feet. I was toppled off Zane's lap, but I managed to land on my feet.

  A man rushed into the room. He was wearing a suit and his hair was slicked back. In any other situation, I would have thought he was a nerdy, accountant type, but he was growling and had huge fangs. He rushed toward Julie, his focus unbreakable, until Axel clotheslined him and brought him to the ground.

  Vampires don't need to breathe, so he was back on his feet in an instant. Axel punched him so hard he flew across the room and hit the wall. Anyone else would have slid to the floor in a life-less heap, but the vamp landed on his feet, stretched his neck and charged Axel, who was now standing shoulder to shoulder with Zane. “Get the guns,” Axel shouted at Julie.

  I moved to stand next to Julie. I doubted I could do much, but it made sense to protect the pregnant lady. Iris stood next to us, and her husband joined the boys who were now fighting the growling, scratching vamp.

  Julie sighed and marched into the kitchen, Iris and I following close. The kitchen was empty. Had the vamp been stupid enough to attack the alpha's house alone?

  Julie disappeared into the pantry and returned several minutes later with three guns. “Tranquilizer guns,” she said. “Axel's a pacifist.”

  She didn't immediately take the guns to Axel, though. She grabbed a kitchen chair and broke off the four legs, the broken ends ragged and sharp. She handed a stake to Iris and one to me. She kept the other two for herself and picked up the guns. “Keep an eye out,” she said. “In case there are more.”

  She marched back into the living room and stood to the side of the fighting men. She laid all the weapons down, except for one gun. She waited until the vamp was staggering, free of the men who were fighting him. Then she lifted the gun, pointed and shot. The vamp froze, his eyes turning an unearthly shade of white, before falling forward onto his knees and then onto his face.

  “Damn it, Julie,” Axel said, still breathing hard. He faced his wife, but anger was nowhere in his expression, only relief and worry. “You should have stayed out of it.”

  “I was never in any danger,” Julie said. “I was incredibly careful.”

  Axel swore and shook his head. “You're going to be the death of me, woman.”

  “We'll have to wait for him to wake up to find out why he was here,” Zane said.

  “Once you're dead, you won't care.” We all spun at the words to see another vampire, this one a woman in a red dress, walk into the room.

  Iris grabbed me and shoved me behind her. Julie tossed the guns to Axel, Zane, and Zeke. She lifted her stakes, one in each hand and got into a fighting stance, her pregnant belly low to the ground.

  “Why don't you humor us?” Iris said. “Tell us what the hell you're up to before you kill us.”

  “We need a leader and we need revenge on those who killed our last three leaders. Whichever vampire kills Julie and the pack alpha becomes the new coven leader.”

  “How many are gunning for the job?” Zane asked.

  The vampiress shrugged. “I didn't ask. As soon as the announcement was made, I hurried up here to be the first in line to win the game.”

  She roared and charged right for Axel. These vamps either had inflated ideas of their strength or they were desperate. Axel shot her before she got close to him. She twitched once and fell.

  “Are they trying to kill you or committing some weird ritual suicide?” I asked.

  Axel shrugged, looking a bit pale. “I don't like this. There could be vamps crawling all over this town.”

  “We will own this town before the sun has risen,” a man said. He stepped into the living room from the front entryway. “We win or we die trying.”

  “Iris,” Axel said. “Get Julie and Abby out of here. Take them to the jail, it's the most secure place in town.”

  Iris grabbed my hand and led me to the back door. Julie followed without an argument. Zane joined us as we stepped out into the dark night. “I'm going with you,” he said. “Let's move fast and silently.”

  Zane took my hand and I held on tight as he raced through the woods in the pitch-black night. I gripped my stake in the other hand and prayed I didn't impale myself on it tripping over a tree root in the dark.

  We emerged onto Main street about a block from the cinder block building with the word JAIL in block letters on its facade. Three men and a woman stalked toward us. The only light was from the stores still lit for customers and we couldn't make out if the people were friends or enemies until they stepped into the light of the grocery store and we saw their fangs glint.

  “Shit,” Zane swore. “You three stay back. Julie, text someone for help.”

  “Already on it,” Julie said, her fingers flying over her phone. Zane stepped toward the vamps, gun raised.

  “I'm going to have to ask you to get the hell out of our town, or I'm going to shoot you.”

  “We've got no beef with you,” the shortest man, who didn't look older than fourteen, said. “Give us the alpha's woman and we'll leave you be.”

  “I can't do that,” Zane said. “You need to go back to your coven and tell them we're willing to kill to protect our alpha and his wife. You will die if you don't turn around and leave.”

  “You can't kill us,” the female vampire said. “That gun’s probably not even loaded. You're some sort of hippy do-gooders up here.”

  “We prefer not to fight,” Zane said. “But we will.” He fired at the woman and she hit the ground. The other two vamps didn't run, but advanced on Zane growling.

  Zane put his finger over the trigger, ready to shoot again, but a blur zoomed out of the shadows and knocked him to the ground. A vamp bared his teeth at Zane as he sat on his chest. He grabbed the gun from Zane's fingers and tossed it at the other vamps, who broke the gun in two with their bare hands.

  My heart pounded and fear blurred my vision as the vamp bent over Zane, sharp teeth bared. He was going to bite him. I was not going to just stand there and watch that happen. I raced forward and slammed my stake into the vamp, the weight of my body following.

  Beneath me, the vamp went still. Zane smiled up at me. “Thanks,” he said.

  I couldn't help smiling back, even though there was a dead vamp between us. I got to my feet as gracefully as possible and Zane shoved the vamp corpse off him and stood next to me. He opened his mouth to say something, but a vamp came at us. Zane got in front of me and pushed the vampire away from me, before his fists started to fly in a battle that made my heart pound with fear for him.

  The adrenaline that had filled me when I staked the vamp ebbed away and I started to feel things that made me want to curl up in a ball and cry. There was no time for that, I needed to get my stake and be ready to fight. I bent to pull the stake out of the corpse, the reality that I'd killed someone making it hard to breathe. I pulled in a deep breath and shoved away my grief and disgust. I wrapped my fingers around the stake and began to pull, but something
heavy landed on me, squishing me against the dead vamp. “You'll pay for that,” a raspy voice growled near my ear. I felt hands, like iron bands, tighten around my waist and sharp nails digging in. Hot breath wafted against my neck and I knew it was going to hurt. I'd braced myself for impact when the vamp's grip on my waist loosened and I was suddenly free, nothing on my back.

  “Get up,” Julie shouted at me. “We need to get out of here.”

  I leapt to my feet. Zane was fighting two vamps now, a bloody stake in his hand. Two other wolves raced over and joined in his fight.

  “Come on,” Julie said, grabbing my hand and pulling. “He'll be fine.” Zane glanced my way, smiled, and gave me a thumbs up. His moment of distraction earned him a punch to the jaw from one of the vamps, but he swung his head around and got back to fighting. “You're a distraction for him,” Julie said.

  Since she was right, I turned and ran with her.

  Julie grabbed my hand, her phone still in her other, and we raced into the night just as more vamps charged into the scene and into us knocking the phone from Julie's grasp. It hit the pavement with a loud crack and Julie cursed. “That was my third phone this month.”

  “You won't need it where you're going,” a vamp said, sneering. It didn't sneer long. It went suddenly still and fell forward to reveal Iris, bloody stake in her hand.

  “Get to the jail,” Iris said. She spun and jabbed another vamp I hadn't even seen approach.

  More vamps appeared from seemingly nowhere and joined the fight. I grabbed Julie's hand, since she was now the one hesitating, wanting to help, and pulled her toward the jail. Getting Julie to safety was my top priority.

  Hand in hand, Julie and I raced around the crowd of fighting werewolves and vampires and down the block. We were about ten steps from the jail when two vamps, their teeth dripping red blood, stepped into the circle of light in front of the jail.

  Julie and I skidded to a halt. We spun to run back the way we'd come, but there was another vamp behind us, a woman, running a long, pink tongue over her sharp fangs and smiling. “What a pleasant surprise,” she said. “It's almost like you were coming here to offer your life to me.”

  “I think you've got it backwards,” Julie said. She got down into the fighting stance she'd shown me the other day. It was awkward with her baby belly, but the look on her face promised death and violence.

  I glanced over my shoulder to see the other two vamps moving in on us. Terror streaked through me, along with the knowledge that today would probably be the day I died. With that knowledge, came a sort of peace and acceptance. There was no way out of this situation, but I could take down as many vampires as possible before they took me out.

  I turned to the approaching vampires, putting my back to Julie's. My stake was still buried in the vampire I'd killed and there was no way I'd win bare handed against the vamps, but giving up wasn't an option. I widened my eyes in fear and I let my lower lip tremble. All the terror I felt, I let it show on my face and I kept the acceptance of my likely death for myself. “Please,” I said. “Don't hurt me.”

  One of the vamps looked me over and licked his lips, but the other focused on my eyes, as though he could read my mind. Or was attempting to compel me. I dropped my gaze to his nose and bent my knees a bit, getting ready to fight.

  “We don't want to hurt you, little stripper human,” the vamp said. “We have bigger plans for you. Just step away from the alpha's woman and we'll make sure you're taken of, just as well as you took care of Leopold.”

  “Really?” I said. “Do you promise?”

  The vamp stepped closer and I placed one foot in front of the other, getting into a modified lunge position. “I promise, sweet one. Just come to me and look into my eyes, and I swear you'll feel no pain.”

  I met his gaze and I lunged. I rammed into the vamp with my full body weight, hoping to at least throw him off balance, but he didn't move.

  Ice cold hands gripped my neck and squeezed so hard spots danced before my eyes. The vamp slammed my body against the cinder block wall of the jail so hard any breath I'd had in my lungs left. “I was going to be kind to you,” he said. “But you just had to fight.”

  I opened my mouth to tell him what I thought of his version of 'kindness' but I didn't have the breath to speak. My lungs were starting to burn and the spots in front of my eyes had gotten bigger so that I could only see the vamp through a tiny circle of vision. I kicked out weakly, trying to make contact with his shins, but he laughed and squeezed tighter.

  Julie shrieked with pain and I knew there was no one coming to help us. This was it, this was the end. I closed my eyes and I pictured Zane, his warm smile, the fondness in his eyes when he looked at me. I thought of how good it felt when he held me and pretended I was in his arms again, warm and safe.

  Suddenly, I fell to the ground, hard, my neck free. I gasped for air and the air moving through my damaged throat hurt. I opened my eyes, but I couldn't see anything.

  “You're going to have to get up,” Julie said. “I can't lift you.”

  I sucked in another lung-full of air and pushed to my feet. I leaned against the wall, my vision clearing a tiny bit. Julie grabbed my hand and yanked me forward. “Catch your breath when you're inside.”

  I stumbled forward with my hand in hers and then I heard a door slam shut and a deadbolt sliding into place. “Fuck,” Julie said. “Tatiana.”

  Julie let go of my hand. “I'll be right back,” she said.

  Since I couldn't find my way to a chair, I dropped to the floor and sat, crisscross applesauce, on the cool, concrete floor. Slowly, my vision cleared and I saw Julie walking toward me from the back of the building. “I've bolted all the doors,” she said. “There aren't any windows, so we should be safe.”

  She was holding her left arm limply in her right hand, resting it over her baby bump. “Are you okay? I heard you scream.” Every breath and every word felt like thousands of tiny pins scraping my throat. I swallowed and nearly cried out from the pain.

  Julie winced, too caught up in her own pain to notice mine. “That fucking bloodsucker broke my arm. I can heal faster as a wolf, but being a werewolf doesn't make a broken bone hurt any less. As it is, I'm probably going to have to have this in a cast until after the baby is born and I can shift.” She walked over to the right side of the room where there was a desk and a woman slumped across it.

  Julie pressed her fingers to the woman's neck. “Damn it.” She stood by the lifeless body for several long minutes, before swiping at her eyes and rejoining me. She sat on the floor across from me, wincing as she lowered herself.

  “I'm sorry,” I said.

  “Me, too. I didn't know her well, but what I did know was that she was kind and tough as hell. She was going to be married next month.”

  I sat with her in silence for the lost woman for several minutes before I asked her for something for my throat. She led me to a small refrigerator with bottled water. We returned to our seats on the floor and I sipped the water, the cold making my throat feel better and better.

  Julie stood and started pacing. “I fucking hate being in here and not out there helping them fight. Axel says I'm going to be a mother soon and the baby will need his mother.” She fisted her hands and punched the air with her good arm. “He's the fucking pacifist. He can stay home with little Axel, but I'm not going to be locked in a glass case like a china doll.”

  She paused and looked over at me. She gave me a small smile. “Sorry. Axel's a good guy. He probably will stay home with the baby. I'm just frustrated and tired of being pregnant.”

  “I don't blame you,” I said. “I can't imagine being pregnant, especially when you've always been so physical and active.”

  She nodded and continued her pacing.

  “Could we call that council you were talking about?” I asked. “Doesn't this attack break some rule?”

  She kept pacing. “Not if there aren't any humans around to see it. I wouldn't be surprised if the council put the vamps
up to this. They'd love to have me and Axel out of the picture. A way to punish us without actually punishing us.”

  “It seems so brutal. Why don't they just tell you what they want and negotiate with you?”

  “Because the council loves their secrets more than anything. Information is power and all that. Plus, if other packs or covens found out what's really going on, the council could be looking at a mutiny and they don't want that. They couldn't handle it.”

  “Maybe you should mutiny anyway,” I said. “Broadcast what's really going on to the other covens and packs and force the council to make some changes.”

  She turned to me, her eyes glinting, her smile huge. “You know, that's not a bad idea. We should have had someone filming the vampires attacking us, we should have recorded Leopold telling you what's really going on.” She started pacing again. “It's too late to do that now, of course, but going forward —Ah, ow.” She stopped pacing and bent at the waist.

  I leapt to my feet and hurried over to her. I grabbed her shoulder and supported her weight as best I could. “Are you okay?”

  She straightened and gave me a weak smile. “Just a contraction. I get them sometimes. It doesn't mean I'm going into labor right now. They call this false labor and—”

  She stopped speaking as water gushed from between her legs and puddled onto the floor. “Please tell me you just peed yourself,” I said.

  “I wish.” She gasped and bent again with another contraction. “No.” She caught her breath and straightened. “I can't be going into labor, now. Axel's not here.”

  “It's okay. Labor can take a long time with a first baby.”

  She nodded. “You're right. It's okay. I'll just sit and keep my legs pressed tight together until Axel gets here.”

  I thought that was probably the worst idea I'd ever heard, but I wasn't going to argue with a woman in labor. I led her to the most comfortable looking seat in the place, which was a large dog bed in one of the cells. I helped her to sit and she was immediately wracked with another contraction that had her hissing and cursing. “I need Doc,” she said. “Can you call her? Unless you know how to deliver a baby?” She looked so hopeful, I hated to disappoint her.