Season of the Wolf

by Rachel Jonas

  Only concern.

  I braced Evie’s head to my shoulder while she caught her breath, and as if Mrs. Callahan’s actions hadn’t already stunned me enough … she reached for her daughter’s hand.

  Some might have assumed it was a knee-jerk reaction, that people in crisis situations sometimes form strange bonds, but I wasn’t that close-minded. I believed that, on some level, despite the spell that had been cast on her, Mrs. Callahan knew. She knew the brave young girl who risked her life to get her and her husband out of harm’s way was no mere stranger.

  “Thank you,” she said just above a whisper as she continued to clutch Evie’s hand. “I don’t know why you did this for us today, but … thank you.”

  Still not quite herself, Evie nodded and squeezed the hand she held. “I had to,” she rasped. “I had to make sure you were okay.”

  Not even that made her mother flinch, confirming what I suspected—that on some level she felt the connection with the only daughter she’d ever known.

  Somehow, we all made it through alive, despite the Sovereign’s best efforts. Today’s attack was a clear sign. A sign I, and the rest of the clan heard loud and clear.

  He wanted a war … and we would give him one.

  Chapter Twenty

  Evie

  Ten minutes outside the valley—the section of town most hard hit by the flood waters—we crossed paths with the first emergency vehicle we’d seen. They’d come to Seaton Falls from the neighboring city of Smithstone and were a sight for sore eyes. Both my parents needed medical attention, now I was certain they’d get it.

  The paramedics made quick work of getting my dad on a stretcher and into the ambulance. They covered my mom’s leg with a temporary bandage for now, until doctors could get a better look at it once they reached Smithstone General.

  Her eyes were locked on mine as she sat beside my father, letting the medics fuss over her. I did my best not to cry. She wouldn’t understand if I did. I didn’t want to let them go, but the most important thing was that they would be safe.

  The door on one side of the ambulance was slammed shut and I held my breath watching the medic grip the other to close it as well. I prepared myself to let them go. For good this time, because there was no telling where they’d relocate once the town was officially evacuated.

  But then, before that door closed, my mother’s hand shot out, pushing against it.

  “Wait … Evie!”

  At the sound of my name being called, a breath hitched in my throat. Her lingering stare filled with awareness, displaced emotion I wasn’t sure she understood.

  But I did.

  What she felt were lingering traces of love. Love a mother once carried for her perfectly imperfect daughter. I knew because I felt it, too.

  I stepped closer when she motioned for me to do so.

  As I approached, leaving Nick and my brothers to wait by the side of the road, she had a short conversation with the female medic. When the woman disappeared out of sight, I was confused. She came back with a pen and paper in hand, passing both to my mother.

  Closing the last few feet that separated us, I watched her scribble something on the sheet.

  “Keep this,” she insisted, pressing the paper into my palm. “It’s the number of a close friend in Chicago. Once my husband is well enough to travel, that’s most likely where we’ll settle until we sort things out.”

  My brow tensed and those tears threatened again. Especially when she gripped my hand.

  “I don’t … understand why you came into that theater to help us, but … thank you,” she breathed, emotion causing the words to leave her throat strained. “I don’t want to lose touch,” she explained, a look in her eyes that gave me hope. Hope that, maybe, somewhere deep down inside her, she knew. Or at least felt the same connection I did.

  “Me either,” I shared freely, hearing my voice break a bit.

  She smiled with a familiar kindness in her eyes. “I’ll look forward to hearing from you,” were her parting words, but not before bringing me close, embracing me the way she’d done so many times in the past.

  My eyes closed and I reveled in the feel of it.

  She couldn’t have known how important this was to me, how significant, but it was. I’d been pining for the love of my parents for so many months. And now, although they still didn’t remember, I had closure.

  Or perhaps a new beginning.

  I watched that ambulance until the taillights faded into the distance, grateful we hadn’t failed today. I needed that, to win for once.

  The guys and I continued on, the next stop in our trek home being the entrance to Nick’s neighborhood. He paused a moment before walking off, staring as though there was so much he wanted to say. However, before he had the chance, I said it all with a tight embrace.

  He and my brothers had been brave. Each blindly walked into danger, and all on a whim that they might find me.

  Might.

  I released Nick and no words were exchanged because they weren’t necessary. An understanding existed between us; one where it went without question that we were on the same side and, hopefully, always would be.

  We watched him walk away and I was reminded of how he’d gone above and beyond for me today. Especially when I glanced down toward my wrist, at the priceless bracelet he returned to me. Our less-than-traditional journey into friendship was a complicated one, but a true friendship indeed.

  The rest of us made the slow trudge home.

  Exhausted, filthy.

  We made it deep into the woods and the rough terrain tired me out even more—weathering naturally formed mounds and hollows in the soil, the undergrowth. Ethan noticed I still hadn’t returned to full-strength and offered his arm like a gentleman.

  “Thank you,” I said, accepting with a smile.

  He returned the gesture, but said nothing as we continued on. The bond between us, the one that existed between me and each of my siblings, could be felt. In fact, it grew more powerful by the minute. I hadn’t even known them for two days in this life, and already, I felt their love for me.

  Mine for them.

  “You’re all right?” he asked as the others began to converse among themselves, rough-housing a bit like they seemed to do often. It was good to hear the day’s events hadn’t made them too weary—physically, emotionally. Then again, what was a flood in their eyes compared to war, bloodshed.

  I gave a nod to Ethan’s question, thinking over how things turned out. With my parents safe and on their way to get the help they needed, I had no complaints.

  “I am,” I answered honestly. “Things could have gone much worse. Thank God they didn’t.”

  He chuffed a short laugh, agreeing.

  “So, how are you … adjusting?” was my question, followed by a laugh of my own. “Not that life has slowed down enough for you all to get settled or anything.”

  There was a smile on his face when he replied. “I’m alive, I have my family; what is there for a man to complain about?”

  That was a beautiful way to look at it.

  We walked a few more feet before I spoke again, glancing up ahead where moonlight filtered through the tall trees that created a canopy above.

  “I can imagine this world is a bit overwhelming for all of you. Cars, television … everything,” I concluded.

  Ethan nodded, chuckling. “At first, yes,” he admitted. “However, in the supernatural realm, we see many odd things that aren’t easily explained. So, television and tiny boxes that prepare food in a matter of seconds aren’t among the strangest.”

  I laughed at his description of a microwave. I’d blown their minds when I made pizza rolls to snack on before we left for training.

  “Well, good. I’m glad you’re adjusting,” I said, adding more. “And … I’m glad you guys are here.”

  I turned his way when he laughed again. “You say that as if you weren’t always sure you’d feel this way.”

  I’d accidentally told on myself,
revealed I was once apprehensive.

  “Mmm … there may have been some anxiety about your return,” I admitted, “but it was mostly because I was insecure.”

  “Insecure?”

  I inhaled, deciding how to explain. “I was afraid that me being different would … I don’t know, freak you guys out?” Realizing that probably wasn’t a term he was familiar with, I clarified. “I thought maybe you all would think there was something odd about me.”

  He let out a hearty laugh, one that lifted my spirits just at the sound of it.

  “As your brother, someone who knew you for hundreds of years before this, I can assure you, there was always something odd about you, Evangeline.”

  I smiled big, feeling more comfortable around him than I ever imagined I would. “Good to hear I haven’t changed too much.”

  “You’re more like your old self than you realize.”

  Hearing that comforted me in ways he couldn’t have understood.

  Home wasn’t too far away now. The closer we got, the more foreign the woods became. Tonight, they were full of displaced lycans and dragons—those native to Seaton Falls, those who’d only come in weeks ago to help. They had all been pushed out of their dwellings by the flood, and now here they were.

  Lost.

  Confused.

  Broken.

  We paused a moment when Josiah, literally, gave someone the shirt off his back—a woman huddled near a small fire, trying to keep herself and her toddler warm. Overwhelmed by the gesture, water glistened in her eyes as she used the mostly dry shirt as a makeshift blanket to shield her child from the chilled breeze.

  There was no telling how many had been lost tonight. Yes, our chances of surviving such a disaster were greater than had we been only human, but there was no supernatural cure for drowning.

  I’d nearly proven that myself a short time ago.

  As we passed through, angry conversations turned into fiery monologues declaring a newly deepened hatred for Sebastian. While some gathered round in solidarity, others simply cried—deep, desperate sobs for what had taken place.

  But even through fatigue and the chatter, even with half a mile still separating us from home… I heard something.

  Heard him.

  … Liam.

  I lifted my head the instant his raw, unbridled fury broke through the woods, assaulting my ears. Rage spewed from his very soul and I felt it from here. My entire body stiffened with tension.

  I took off in that direction, suddenly forgetting the recently healed injury and extreme exhaustion that plagued me just a moment ago. My brothers flanked me at either side, matching my speed. Each time Liam yelled out, I moved faster, and so did they.

  It’d been hours since anyone at home had heard from us. I was sure Elise, Dallas, and Hilda were beside themselves with worry, too, but … none as distraught as Liam.

  I needed to get to him, to let him see my face, that I was alive.

  What he must have assumed when I didn’t come back …

  “We have to hurry,” I urged, weaving between trees and the displaced.

  I tried to prepare myself for what I’d find when I made it to the house, tried to come up with something to say to justify my actions to Liam. Something to explain why I asked Dallas to do anything in his power to keep him from coming after me …

  My heart and mind both raced, wondering what it must have taken to get him—the fiercest warrior who ever lived—to meet their demands and stay put while I was out here amidst the chaos without him.

  The screams billowing through the woods like a battle cry weren’t screams of sadness … they were steeped in anger. Anger like I’d never heard before. Each one sent daggers straight through my heart. I never meant to hurt him, only to protect him from what went on out here. Tonight, difficult decisions were made, but all were made with the ones I love in mind.

  I did what needed to be done.

  The seven of us burst through the door and it didn’t surprise me to find Elise pacing the foyer—her face bright red with distress, her eyes tinted the same shade from what I guessed to be hours of crying. She rushed my brothers and I immediately, squeezing as many as she could in her arms.

  Dallas stood nearby as well, looking just as relieved as Elise, but nowhere near as emotional. She’d practically just watched her seven children return from the dead … again.

  I knew she was owed an explanation, a breakdown of the reasons I’d behaved so recklessly, but that explanation would have to wait.

  “Where’s Liam?” I blurted the instant she released me from an embrace. As if in answer to my question, a loud, roar of a scream filtered up through the floorboards, from the basement, sending a chill racing down my spine.

  I turned to rush that way, but a hand caught my wrist. I met Elise’s gaze, confused at first, but then understanding when a key was dropped into my hand.

  “You’ll need this,” she sighed, leveling a grave stare on me. “If Hilda had been here, her magic could have held him, but she’s been out trying to aid the people since the first explosion.”

  I didn’t wait for anyone to tell me how or why Liam ended up down there, I just went.

  Taking the stairs by two, I slowed when I reached the bottom, trudging across the wide-open space toward a door at the end of a corridor, one usually concealed behind a false wall. With the façade removed, and a sliver of light filtering beneath that door I focused on, I moved ahead slowly. And there, where I stood in the shadows, my vision was met by a sight I hadn’t expected.

  Drenched in sweat, bleeding at the wrists where shackles had been secured around them, Liam was beside himself with rage, grief. My guess was that this setup was all they could do to keep him inside, safe, when Dallas told him what I’d done, the decision I made to head deeper into town to save my parents.

  I was staring at a broken man, one who when treated like an animal, had begun to behave like one.

  The strands of his hair were weighted with moisture, sticking to his face, neck and where they rested on his shoulders. The braces where these chains had been linked to the wall were bent and twisted in sharp angles, fresh fragments of cement on the floor beneath them. I knew they couldn’t have been in this condition when he was first brought down here. These were signs of what lengths he was willing to go to in order to save me.

  He’d fought hard.

  Even for a human, he was unbelievably strong.

  I lifted the toe of one shoe to step forward, to step out of the shadow from where I watched, but couldn’t move.

  I was afraid. Afraid to look him in his eyes, to tell him that holding him here had all been my idea, to tell him I defied his wishes yet again. My only hope was that he’d understand, that he’d see I had no choice but to go after my parents and keep him safe. I shuddered to think what would have happened if I hadn’t, if the others hadn’t followed to come to our aid.

  His broad, glistening chest heaved as he panted like a caged beast, resting on his knees in the center of this makeshift cell I assumed had once been used to hold Maisy. With clenched fists, he punched wildly at the air again, grunting through his teeth, determined to loosen the chains from the walls to break free.

  To come for me.

  I had to say something—explain, apologize … something. I couldn’t just watch him in agony like this.

  Even if I was scared out of my mind what his reaction might be when he laid eyes on me.

  “ … Liam. I—” My voice was weak as his gaze rose to meet mine.

  That was as much as I could get out, wanting to go to him, to hold him, but I wasn’t sure he’d let me. Not with the promise I knew I’d broken tonight—the one where I vowed to put my safety first for his sake. But, in my eyes, this was different. The two I went after today weren’t just random people I put my life on the line for.

  Few things hurt me more than causing Liam pain, and I’d done that tonight. I’d sentenced him to hours of worrying, thinking the worst. Things that, when it concerned me, w
ere torture for him.

  Wetness touched my cheek and I swiped it away when I stepped further into the light, focusing on the blood he shed trying to break free, trying to do what he’d always done.

  Protect me.

  More steps to close the distance and those steps were met with mounting fear.

  If I’d been brave enough, I could’ve reached out and touched him by now, but I just stood there, squeezing my hands in tight fists at my sides.

  What was I supposed to say?

  Before I could overthink it, a clumsy, “I’m sorry,” tumbled from my lips.

  The silence was so loud my ears began to ring. Nervous breaths shuddered in my chest, puffing over my lips as I waited. For words, for an outburst, but neither came.

  Only a look.

  One that met my gaze without Liam lifting his head, only his eyes as a wild stare landed on me. It told of the night he had, the wicked thoughts that must have passed through his mind on repeat. With his heavy brow shrouding his gaze, I nearly backed away. If it had been anyone else in these chains, someone who didn’t have my complete trust like he did, I probably would have.

  I wanted to fix this, wanted to help him understand why everything that happened tonight was necessary. I somehow found the courage to kneel before him at eye-level, but when I placed a hand on his rigid shoulder, the word, “Don’t,” spoken hard and unfeeling made me recoil instantly.

  He didn’t want to be touched.

  My chest moved with each rapid breath. I wasn’t sure what to think or say next, or even if I should say anything.

  “Liam, I—”

  “Are you hurt,” his sharp tone cut in, the abrasiveness of it making my skin crawl as he surveyed me—the torn sleeve of my shirt, the remnants of blood on it and my skin.

  I shook my head and answered, “No,” but wanted to say so much more.

  However, when he shut me down the next instant, there was no chance of that.

  “Then leave,” he seethed, those shoulders heaving again as the rims of his nostrils flared with wrath.

  I stared, unable to blink, but only for a moment before gathering myself. If he wanted me gone, I’d go. He was angry and I understood that, but if we could have just talked about it, maybe he would have sympathized. Even if only a little.