by J C Gordon
He lashed out with his other hand, hitting the animal with the flashlight he still carried as he cried out in agony as a chunk of flesh was ripped from his arm. His eyes watered, his vision swam, and he felt his knees give way.
Self-preservation kicked in instantly. He was on his knees before the wolf, a sitting target for its next strike. He lashed out furiously, catching the animal on the side of its head as it sprang again. His blow was powerful, but nowhere near strong enough to cause any real damage to the wolf. It backed off briefly, but only so it could launch another attack from a different angle.
He screamed as powerful jaws clenched around his shoulder, biting deep into the meaty part of his flesh, effectively rendering that arm useless. Even insane, the wolf had enough intelligence to work out how to render its prey helpless, and he knew he had only moments left. Blood was pouring profusely from his wounds and he was starting to lose consciousness. The instant that happened, the wolf would go for the killing blow- his throat.
Tears ran down his face as he fought to stay awake. His sudden inexplicable need to visit his girls before his trip came to mind. Had he somehow known it would be the last time he would see them?
He was terrified of dying, not for himself, but for his Annie. She was so young, so innocent, and fragile. His death would crush her tender spirit in such a way she may never fully recover. He cursed himself for being so overprotective of her, for sheltering her so much. Maybe she wouldn’t be so shattered by his death if he’d allowed her to be more independent, less reliant on him.
Millie would be distraught but she was a fighter. Her tough childhood had hardened her to the blows that life meted out from time to time. He could only pray that Millie would be strong enough to help his baby girl through the nightmare that was coming their way.
More searing agony rocked his body as the wolf ripped into his torn flesh. “Annie,” he groaned, coughing up blood as his vision swam. “I’m so sorry.”
~~~~~
Rafe Armand opened his eyes and wondered why the pain was gone. He lay still against the warm padded floor of the very white room, his deep brown eyes trying to adjust to the brightness around him. Where was he? What had happened to him? He knew the memories were there somewhere, but he couldn’t seem to reach for them no matter how hard he tried.
He sat up gingerly, waiting for the pain to come again, but his shoulder didn’t ache the way it had the other two or three times he’d woken up. Memory returned slowly and he looked around the white padded room slowly. He had woken up in the same room before, he was sure of it. There was no furniture, just endless white padding covering the floor, the walls and even the ceiling. Hell, even the door was padded in thick whiteness, only this time there were deep gouges in it as if some wild animal had clawed madly to get out.
Once more, he was naked as he had been every time he’d awakened. How long had he spent in this padded cell? Time didn’t seem to make sense to him at the moment. He started with surprise when he heard a key in the door, and moved swiftly back into the farthest corner he could, his big body coiling protectively around him. This was new. No one had come in the door before. He was tense and alert, and extremely wary as a large man entered the room and closed the door quickly behind him.
The man was over six feet tall and very broad in the shoulders and chest. He was dressed completely in denim and had long black hair, which was tied at the nape of his neck. His deep blue eyes were sharp, and showed a keen intelligence as well as a hint of wariness as he regarded Rafe. He held his hands up in a gesture, which plainly said he meant no harm. He didn’t come any further into the room, merely rested against the door.
“My name is Jared Hanlon,” he said quietly. “Can you tell me your name?”
It seemed such a silly question to Rafe. Why would the man think he wouldn’t know his own name? “Rafe Armand,” he answered carefully, his eyes intent on the man.
“Pleased to meet you, Rafe,” Jared said with a slight curve of his lips as if he were pleased about something. “I know you’re probably feeling pretty confused right now. You must be wondering why you’re here in this room. It’s for your own protection. You’re going through some...changes at the moment. The changes can be pretty violent at times so the padding is to ensure you don’t hurt yourself too much.”
“What kind of changes?” Rafe growled. “And why am I naked? I want some clothes.” He looked up at the video camera in the corner above the door. They were watching him, and he didn’t like the fact he was naked for anyone to see.
“You’ll only destroy the clothes we give you,” Jared replied, his tone patient. He’d had this exact same conversation too often in the last six months. Finding the rogue was starting to become a real issue.
The man before him was the fifth forced turning so far and the first that looked like it might reach a suitable conclusion. The other three men and one woman had gone insane and died. Rafe must have a strong character to be able to converse intelligently with him. He must have a very strong desire to live.
“I want clothes,” Rafe persisted. “You want to spy on me with your camera? You’re not getting any sick pleasure out of my nakedness!” He could feel his temper bubbling under the surface, a need to rip out the throat of the man before him. The thought stunned him as soon as he had it and he blinked slowly.
“What have you done to me?” he whispered horrified. “There’s something inside me, something evil that wants to take over me! What have you done?” He literally screamed the last words at the man and saw him tense, his gaze becoming even more wary.
“Be calm, Rafe,” Jared said firmly, using his Command tone and hoping it would register with the furious man before him. He watched him blink again and frown slightly as the command washed over him, but he seemed to settle slightly.
“We haven’t done anything to you, Rafe,” he said calmly raising his hands again to help ease the man down a bit further. “You’re right about something being done to you, however it wasn’t us. You were bitten while you were camping. We found you and brought you here to try to help you.”
The moment Jared mentioned being bitten Rafe’s memory flooded back, and he groaned in fear and shrank further into the corner. He’d gotten up to pee. The night had been well lit due to the large full moon in the sky but he’d taken a flashlight anyway. He’d finished relieving himself and was about to go back to camp when a wild animal had flown at him, knocking him down.
The memories crashed within him, the gut wrenching fear, the excruciating pain. Knowing he was weakening and about to die. The last thing he remembered was seeing Rhianna’s face before him and whispering her name. He knew it would break her heart when he died. Then there was only blackness until he first woke up in this white room.
“Annie,” he whispered, his eyes filling with tears as he turned to look at the man called Jared. “How long have I been here? Does Annie know I’m okay?”
Jared frowned and stifled down a deep sigh. This was going to make things more difficult. Rafe obviously had someone he cared about in the outside world. “Rafe, I need you to listen very carefully to me,” he said. “The wolf that attacked you was no ordinary wolf. He was what you would most probably call a werewolf. He is part man, part wolf. When he bit you, he passed the infection onto you, changing you. You are what we call a forced turning. Someone who had been turned into a Were against their will.”
Rafe stared at him blankly, slowly shaking his head in denial. There were no such things as werewolves. They were a figment of someone’s very active imagination. Why the hell was this man standing there feeding him this garbage? He wanted clothes, and he wanted to go home to Rhianna and no one was going to stop him.
He growled low in his chest feeling something stir deep inside him. He was leaving this room even if he had to go through the man in front of the door to achieve his goal. He tried to stand up but found he couldn’t. The man was talking again, and he felt something tug in his head, but he shook it to get free of it. He mo
ved forward dropping onto his hands and knees and staring in shock as he watched his hands start to change a fraction of a second before he felt a deep pain inside him.
He threw back his head and tried to scream, but instead issued an agonised howl as his face started to ripple and change. He felt bones being pulled and tugged in every direction, loud popping noises occurring in time with the pain. He whimpered and fell to his side, letting out another long howl as his body shifted around him. Then mercifully the pain was gone, and he tried to stand up.
He fell down immediately, his mind registering complete shock as he realised his feet weren’t there anymore. In their place were paws, four big enormous paws completely covered in dark brown fur. He lifted a paw, and held it up to his face and touched a long snout. He whimpered again, threw back his head, and howled for what felt like forever.
When he finally stopped howling he turned to the man Jared, but instead of a man he found a large black wolf before him, deep blue eyes watching him intently.
“Be calm, Rafe,” he heard Jared say in his head, and he looked around for the man but only found the wolf before him.
“What?” he gasped, hearing his throat rumble but no words come from it. He couldn’t talk!
“I can hear you, Rafe,” Jared said patiently, his tone soothing as he sensed the wolf’s panic. “You can talk to me like this too. Just think what you want to say.”
“I’m a wolf,” Rafe half sobbed. “I’m not human anymore.” The full impact of the changes that had befallen him almost crushed him. He wasn’t human anymore; he was some kind of wild beast now.
The black wolf approached him carefully and lay down so as not to intimidate him.
“You are a Were now, Rafe. You are not some mindless, wild beast,” Jared said soothingly. “When you learn control, you will be able to call your wolf form at will and will no longer be subject to these uncontrolled shifts. You are doing very well. This is the third time you’ve reverted to wolf form and the first you have been coherent enough to understand what has happened to you and be able to communicate with me. The other two times you were pretty mindless and acted on instinct to get out of the room.”
“Who are you?” Rafe asked miserably, lying down across from the other wolf.
“I am Jared Hanlon as I told you, and I am the Alpha of the Hanlon Pack.”
“Alpha?” Rafe queried. “Is that like the boss or something?” He blinked when the large wolf raised his head slightly and grinned at him. A wolf could actually grin? For some reason Rafe found that even weirder than everything else that had happened so far.
“I suppose Boss is one way of terming it,” Jared answered. “I lead the pack, yes. I am the Alpha and everyone is beneath me. They do as I say when I say it. You are now part of my pack, Rafe. You cannot return to your old life, it would be too dangerous. It takes a lot of training to learn to control your wolf. Your forced turning makes you particularly volatile. If you were to return to your old life you might accidentally harm those you care about. I am sure you wouldn’t want to harm Annie in any way.”
Rafe growled loudly and jumped up, pacing away from the black wolf. The thought of even accidentally scratching Rhianna, of possibly turning her into the monster he now was, made him want to howl loudly. He could understand the wisdom in the Alpha’s words but his heart was breaking too.
“I’m all she has, Jared,” he said forlornly. “I’ve taken care of her since she was three years old and our parents died. I’ve dedicated my life to ensure she was always safe and happy. Her heart will break when she knows she will never see me again.”
Jared could feel the other man’s pain and he really felt for him. He didn’t want to add to his pain but he believed in being totally honest with his pack. “I’m sorry, Rafe, but you should know that she will already have been informed of your death. You’ve been here three weeks already. There was enough of your flesh for the police to find and perform a DNA test on. Your Annie will have most probably buried you by now.”
The shock of his words rocked Rafe to the core, and his pain washed over him at the thought of Annie and Millie arranging his funeral, crying as an empty casket was lowered beside their parents’ graves. The wolf howled within him and retreated, and he was once more a man lying balled up on the floor, weeping for the life now lost to him forever.
Jared left Rafe to his grief and shifted back to human form before knocking on the door to be let out. Aaron waited outside with a pair of jeans for him. He slipped them on silently with a wry smile. He hadn’t expected to have to shift today otherwise he’d have worn an old pair of sweats before entering the safe room. He hated ruining a perfectly good pair of jeans, but it was part and parcel of the life of a Were.
“Arrange some sweats for him,” he told Aaron, “and socialise him a bit more. Have different people entering with his food and water. A small amount of small talk is permissible, but no direct answering of any questions regarding pack life or what’s happened to him. I’ll deal with those questions. If he asks for me, let me know as soon as possible.”
Aaron nodded and gave his Alpha a tight smile. He’d been working the safe room ever since the man had been brought in, and he couldn’t help being impressed with Rafe’s progress. Being coherent during a shift so early on boded well for his chances. “He’s one big wolf, boss,” he said to Jared who nodded his agreement.
“I think he may be an Alpha,” Jared sighed. “He was able to shake off my command when he was shifting.” He met Aaron’s light blue eyes and saw a note of concern in them. He understood his friend’s concern.
There could only be one Alpha in a pack. If Rafe truly was an Alpha, then it could create major problems once he joined the pack properly. He could even challenge Jared for his role as Alpha. He turned and walked away leaving his beta to take care of Rafe.
~~~~~
Rhianna didn’t know how she’d made it through the last few weeks. Millie had been there for her constantly. She had helped her every step of the way and they had spent many a night huddled in either hers or Millie’s beds crying out their joint grief.
Letting her friend in had opened up a floodgate of emotions that threatened to cripple her, and yet she knew she had to work through her grief. Still, she felt so alone. She knew she had Millie, but Rafe was her last blood connection in the world and she couldn’t help but feel completely orphaned. She knew she had to start pulling herself together, had to start thinking about going back to work and getting on with life, but it just felt insurmountable.
She alternated between having good days and very bad days. On the bad days, she could barely drag herself out of bed and even Millie couldn’t reach her. The insistent ringing of the doorbell dragged her out of bed on one of her bad days. Millie was at work and Rhianna tried to ignore the bell, however, whoever was there wouldn’t give up. Cursing loudly, she pulled on her dressing gown and all but ran to the door. She yanked it open furiously.
“What the fuck do you want?!” she screamed at the strange man on her doorstep.
Jared Hanlon actually took a step back from the tiny red-haired woman screaming at him. He blinked in surprise as he stared down at her. She was in her nightclothes, and her long auburn curls were tumbling wildly about her pretty face.
Lavender eyes flashed at him, and he could see the deep pain within them, could see the tiny lines of grief around her eyes and mouth. He could also see the resemblance to Rafe in the woman before him, and he struggled not to show any sign of recognition. “Pardon me, Miss, but I’m looking for Rhianna Armand. Is she at home?” He kept his voice level and very neutral.
Rhianna stared at him open mouthed, and then suddenly blushed scarlet. She had just screamed at the man and yet he was so polite to her, acting as if she hadn’t just behaved like a screaming banshee. She swallowed slowly. “I’m Rhianna Armand,” she managed to get out. “What can I do for you, Mr….?”
“Hanlon, Jared Hanlon.” The gorgeous man responded. “I’m here about the estate of
your brother, Rafe Armand. Would now be a convenient time to discuss this with you or would you prefer for me to make an appointment for another time?”
The mere mention of Rafe brought tears to her eyes and she looked down to hide them from him. She stepped back and allowed the man to enter her apartment. “Have a seat,” she said quietly. “If you’ll just give me a few minutes, I’ll get dressed.”
She didn’t even stop to see his reaction, she turned and fled into her bedroom and closed her new door behind her. She doubled over and let the tears come. There was no point in fighting them, they would come whether she wanted them to or not. Smothering her sobs with her hands to muffle the sound, Rhianna headed into her bathroom and closed the door.
Jared’s enhanced hearing could pick up Rhianna’s sobs and he sighed sadly at her pain. He’d promised Rafe he would check up on his sister, make sure she was okay. He had also told him he’d provide financially for the girl until she could get back on her feet.
Rafe’s closeness towards his sister was clearly reciprocated. The girl was in immense pain at the loss of her brother, and he truly wished there was something he could do to ease both of their pain, anything other than revealing the truth that was.
He put down his briefcase and took off his jacket when he heard the sound of the shower going on. He headed across the open plan great room into the kitchen area and decided to make some coffee for both of them. The next half hour or so was going to be difficult for him, and probably excruciating for Rhianna. A coffee seemed the least he could do.
He was sitting at the breakfast table sipping his coffee when she finally left her bedroom. She stared at him for a long, silent moment, before she crossed the room and sat down in front of him.
“I didn’t know what you take so I left it black,” he said as she looked down at the cup of coffee before her.
Rhianna flushed with embarrassment and look at him. “I’m really sorry about that screaming stuff,” she said self-consciously. “I’m still trying to come to terms with…you know…and some days are more difficult than others.”