by JP Vasha
Soon enough, he'd think that you're a mental case and try to enroll you into an asylum or something, Khloe's ever-positive point of view was just the thing I didn't need to hear.
Still, Zack was the one who wanted to know. If he was really either Khloe or my mate, he needed to know all that. As much as it irked me, it was his right. So, taking a deep breath, I continued. "Khloe's family hired a resurrector. Khloe had committed suicide a week prior to the resurrection, and her family, her mother most specifically, didn't want the disgrace of having one of her daughters commit suicide, and so she told everyone Khloe was ill, on the verge of death. It bought he enough time to fine that resurrector and bring her back to life. But something was wrong."
Now Zack blanched. He knew where I was going with this, and he didn't like it. Not one bit.
"After the revival," I said softly, "Khloe and I found ourselves stuck in Khloe's body. Together. And I was – I am the one in charge. Khloe is in my mind. We speak together in my head." It sounded like I was nuts, totally. And that made me lower my gaze to the ground. "So that what happened five months ago. I pretended to be Khloe, because I'm the one in charge, and I also didn't plan to tell you all that, had it not been for what happened tonight."
Finally, Zack spoke. "And what happened tonight?" he asked, voice cool. It made me wince.
Gathering some crumbs of courage, I dared raising my head and look into his eyes. "You remember the wrong smell you scented on me? That's probably because both Khloe and I had been dead until not long ago." Something flashed in his eyes, something that made me want to curl into myself and wilt away. "And the mate thing..." my lower lip quivered at what I was about to say, and suddenly I felt like crying.
Zack understood what I was saying, however, and he looked angry. "You think I might not be your mate, Carla's mate," he said stonily. "You think Khloe might be the one for me."
Not daring to feel relief, I nodded. "Yes."
He rose to his feet at once. "I can't believe this," he snarled, emerald eyes blazing. "It's like something taken out of a very bad mental-case movie. Yet every word you spoke was the truth.
He pushed a hand through his hair in evident frustration. "Fuck," he growled. "That's fucked up. My mate is fucked up."
It was as though he delivered a forceful slap on my face. Anger rose and I was on my feet a moment later, glaring at him. "Don't dare calling either Khloe or me fucked up, Zack," I said, wishing my voice was as growly as his. Instead, it just came out thick with fury. "Yes, I know this story is weird and heck, I know it's weird. I've been living like this for five months! Yet if you refused to believe this, I'm back to square one." My anger melted away at the reminder of what I was here for. With pleading eyes, I stared at him. "Please, Zack. I need you to believe me. I need you to help me with this. That's the reason I told you. You might have the right resources to help me." And also because of the mate thingy, which he'd already figured out.
Something about my eyes was probably really fascinating because he kept on looking at them. Then, his face went slack and he strode towards me, taking me in his arms for a tight embrace. "Dammit," he murmured against my hair as he tightened me to him. "I can't... I just can't... when you look at me like this..."
It would've been so easy to fall into this embrace with all of me, but I didn't let myself. I couldn't let myself. His words were too perfect. His hold made me feel too safe. But there was still a chance he wasn't mine at all. That he was Khloe's. And I would never come between true mates. That wasn't who I am.
When he finally let go enough to look at me, I tried for a smile. "Will you help me?"
He sighed, brushing his hair again. "I can't not help my mate," he said almost softly. "And I know what I have to do to both confirm your story and get actual help."
I ignored the confirm-my-story part and focused on the help. "What do I have to do?" I asked solemnly.
Zack's eyes bore into mine as he cupped my cheeks with his warm palms. "I'm going to make some calls. In the morning, I'll have someone replacing me here and the West Coast Pack's alpha aware of what's to come."
I frowned, not following. "I don't get it. Where are you taking me?"
He gave me a half-smile. "We're going to Lumen."
As I folded another dress into the suitcase, a knock sounded on my door. "Come in," I said, and inside walked Candy, Khloe's eldest sister.
Giving one look at the suitcase, she sighed. "So Mom and Dad were right. You're leaving."
I nodded and turned to look at the suitcase. I wasn't a good liar, and I couldn't look at her when I spoke. "Zack is my mate," I said, "he takes me to Lumen to meet both his family and friends, including the Alpha of the Biwole. It's something I need to do, and if it proves to be good there, good for me, I will move in with him and stay there."
Candy's hand landed on my shoulder and I turned to look at her. She was smiling widely. "I'm happy for you," she said, tears twinkling in her eyes. "Finally another Daniels sister found her mate."
I smiled back despite myself. "Thank you, Candy."
She gave me a hug. "Just be happy, Khloe. You deserve it." She then let go of me and her smile was watery now. "After everything that happened with Roy..." She shook he head. "Well, no need to dwell on the past now, right?"
Thinking that frowning would tell the sister too much, I simply smiled gratefully at her. Inside my head, however, I asked, Who's Roy?
Khloe was silent. The last time she'd been silent was when Zack announced I was his mate. That must've meant whoever Roy was, he was not in the picture, and Khloe didn't want to think about him at all.
Weird. Usually Khloe didn't have problem telling me stuff, yet she didn't mention a Roy before. Really, really weird.
After Candy left the room, I finished packing and got the suitcase downstairs. There waited for me all the family; Noreen and Jermey, standing next to each other; Catie, her arms folded; and Candy and Borris, leaning against each other.
Noreen crushed me into a sobbing hug. "I'm going to miss you," she whimpered. "But you're going to be so much happier than you've ever been here so I'll try not to miss you that much."
Next was Jermey. He simply patted my head and said, "Good job, Khloe. I'm happy for you."
Borris gave me a short hug and Candy kissed my cheek. "We'll miss you, baby girl," Borris winked at me.
Then, finally there was Catie. She was giving me an odd look before a big smile spread on her face and she gave me a hug. Then she whispered in my ear, "I never liked you. I'm glad you're finally getting out of her. I don't give a shit about you or about anything else. Just get out of my sight for once and for all."
I froze at those words, spoken so softly yet with such animosity I felt down to my own heart. Then Catie let me go, smiled big again and said, "Have fun out there."
Ignore her, Khloe finally talked. She's always had it in for me. As long as you don't let the words get to you, it's fine.
I wanted to push her on the Roy's subject, but she sounded subdued so I decided not to bother her for some time.
Once there was a honk outside, I left the Daniels' mansion, hopefully for good, and found Zack waiting for me next to a cab. He took the suitcase away from me in silence, putting it in the trunk, then opened the door for me like the gentleman he was, and once I was in and he was in, the cab took off to the airport.
Feeling unsettled all of a sudden, I wanted to hug myself. Sensing that, Zack snatched my hand, held my eyes when I whipped my head to look at him, and said softly, "We'll fix this. Whatever this is, whatever is wrong with you, we'll fix this."
Chapter Eight
The airplane was cold as Zack and I sat in first class. Zack had one hand on is temple, massaging it, as he read a certain text in his phone. I, on the other hand, was a nervous mess.
To say it all happened really fast would be redundant. What I could say, though, was that I felt disoriented. For five months I'd built a routine and sort of life in Houston. Sure, that life wasn't extremely exciting or
anything, but it was safe, and all parties were happy. I didn't intend to keep on living like that for the rest of my life, but for the time being, it was good enough.
Then came Zack and everything became weird.
A hand grabbed mine and squeezed. Snapping out of my thoughts I turned to see Zack looking at me with concern. "We depart soon," he said, and his green eyes searched mine, asking the real question of Are you ready?
I wasn't sure I was, but what kind of options did I have? "Yeah," I said, looking down at our holding hands. I took a deep breath then, and decided to ask what I'd been so afraid of. "Do you think still I'm a mental case?"
Zack's sigh made me glance at him. He took his hand from mine and looked outside the window when he replied. "You don't smell crazy, and you sounded genuine when we talked. I'm a wolf who likes to trust my instincts, and my instincts tell me that whatever is wrong with you, it's not that you're a madwoman."
Looking away, I asked, "And what about what I told you?"
He sighed again. "Honestly? I don't know. But that's why you told me all that and I'm taking you to Lumen and giving my Texas responsibilities to one of my comrades. There's someone in Lumen who might know something about resurrection and all that stuff."
I was curious as to who that someone was, but decided to file this question for later. Instead, I inquired, "Who's going to be stationed in Houston, then?" Then another mystery made me blurt, "And why does someone of the Biwole Wolves need to be present? As far as I know, until December-January, there was no need for that."
Zack didn't answer for a few long moments, but when he did, his voice were calculated. "In the past few years, the One True Alpha's personal Spymaster has been researching everything she can about a group called Divine Hunters, also known shortly as Hunters."
Deeply intrigued by that, I asked Khloe, Does that ring any bell to you?
Nope, she said, and fell quiet, but didn't disappear. She was curious, too.
"The Hunters is a group of humans who despise werewolves," Zack continued in a grave voice. "They believe that werewolves were inhuman and dangerous, and so they hunt them down in small places, usually towns, and use guerrilla warfare to achieve victories. So far, they've been successful."
I had no idea there were humans who actually thought like that. I mean, sure, werewolves were intimidating sometimes, and did change shape into a wolf, but they were human, too. Slightly weirded out by that, I kept on listening.
"Back in December, June – the Spymaster – detected a pattern of werewolf-only massacres in the Texas Pack," Zack's voice was downright grim. "We didn't find tracks of them when we got here, and so Ralph, the Alpha of the Biwole, left me here in charge to keep an eye on the place. Ever since December, however, there'd been no killings that could be related to this murderous group."
It was almost March. "I see," I said, mulling it all over. Then, something occurred to me and I tensed. "Did this group, by any chance, have been tracked in Amarillo about three years ago?"
Zack's eyes were puzzled on me. "I can ask June, but I don't think so. She said they were messing around in the Mexico Pack until December." He paused. "Why?"
Avoiding his gaze, I stared at the floor. "Because," I said softly, "I was killed three years ago in a grand massacre back at Amarillo. In the reports I found after the revival, they said the killers escaped arrest and that their motives were unknown."
I could practically feel him thinking as he asked, "Were you a werewolf, Carla?"
My heart skipped a beat in surprise and I found myself raising my eyes so they could be locked in his. It was the first time he used my name, my true name. The first time ever since the revival that I heard the name being spoken by someone other than Khloe.
Something flickered in Zack's eyes when he saw my reaction, but then they returned to their seriousness, and I remembered what he'd just asked me. "No," I said quietly. "I'm not a werewolf. Khloe is, but I'm, well, not."
He nodded, eyes searching my face. "Did the reports you read say anything about the race of the people who were killed?"
"That's exactly the point," I shrugged. "The killers were in rampage, murdering everyone in their way with a simple bullet to their head, both werewolves and humans alike." A short memory of understanding that I was about to die invaded my mind. But then I paused. Had I ever seen the killer's eyes? The one who killed me? Or was I too much in shock back then?
Frowning, I tried to dig deeper in my memories. Of me drinking coffee on my death day, me looking around me with indifferent eyes, then me seeing the first couple falling down, because they'd been shot...
Then I'd stood up and began running with all the people who realized what was going on, but I couldn't run too far, because one of the killers, a man, I could now recollect, stepped into my way and leveled a gun on my head. He'd said something, I didn't exactly know what, and when I looked at his face, which were covered by a cloak, all I could see were his eyes.
So I did see his eyes. And I remembered their color. A shiver went through my body as the memory of those hypnotizing cobalt eyes burned itself in my mind.
Zack's voice interrupted my reminiscing and when I looked back at him, I saw that he'd been deep in thought as well. "The Divine Hunters make it a point to exclusively kill werewolves," he said, "and as I told you before, they were in Mexico before they headed to Texas. However, three years is a long time..." He sighed, exasperated. "I'll ask June to look into it."
"Thank you," I said, trying to convey how truly grateful I was.
His eyes were suddenly narrowed when he gazed at me. "It doesn't mean I believe it all. The resurrection thing, the two-souls-in-one-body theory. But if you're truly Carla and not Khloe, and if you're truly not schizophrenic, then I'm deeply sorry for your loss of life, and now loss of freedom."
A female voice filled the airplane, telling us we were departing now and to fasten the seatbelt. I, however was not finished talking to Zack. "I appreciate it," I told him gently, "but it wasn't really your fault or anything."
His responsive grin was faint. "Yeah, I guess," he muttered, and then we fell silent as the plane took off.
"Will you tell me about the people I'll meet in Lumen?" I asked Zack about halfway to our destination. We'd spent the first hours watching movies and pondering stuff, but now I wanted some info. I was about to go to an unfamiliar place and meet unfamiliar people and I wanted to be as ready as I could.
Zack's look told me he was onto me. "Sure," he said. "I'll start with Ralph."
Nodding, I said, "He's the Alpha of the Biwole."
"Yes," Zack grinned a little. "He's my boss and good friend. He's someone I respect a whole lot. Ralph had been through some deep shit in his life. Take his mate, for example."
My eyes rounded. "The One True Alpha has a mate?"
Zack nodded. "We keep it under wraps for now, because Ralph and Eve need to work out some issues before they expose themselves to the world."
The way he said "issues" made it sound like the meaning was a lot deeper than that. "So what deep shit did the Alpha and this Eve girl have?"
Zack narrowed his eyes. "Eve is immortal, like Ralph. They met a few decades ago in LA, and when their eyes connected, they realized they were mates. However," his face darkened, "Eve hated Ralph and every time she saw him she either tried to kill him or flee. There's a reason for that, too, but that's a story for another time."
I nodded, motioning to him to continue. He did. "Anyway, back in the end of August, Eve sneaked into Lumen for a certain reason, and Ralph heard about it from his relative, Gorton, who's the alpha of the West Coast Pack. He took his crew with him all the way from Shanghai to Lumen in order for him to finally capture his mate and figure everything out. One thing led to another, and long story short, they're now happily mated." A wicked glint in his eyes, he added in a murmur, "poor Ralph."
"That sound like a heavy story," I told him. "And why's Ralph poor?"
Zack chuckled. "Eve is one scary bitch, and Ralph, the
crazy motherfucker, likes to live dangerously."
Guessing I'd understand more once I met these people, I smiled. "Tell me more about the others."
He didn't have any problem to comply. He seemed to be glad about my interest in this subject. "There're Shell, Judd, June, Oliver and Dannal," he said, "they're the rest of the Biwole Wolves Crew. Shell is the Gamma, and a brooding one at that; Judd is the Delta, who, much like Ralph, likes to live extremely dangerously; June I told you about, she's the Spymaster and Judd's older twin sister; Oliver is the Warlord and the PR man of the crew, which makes him a very formal man; and Dannal is the Healer, and probably the second most gentle person I've ever met, the first being her sister, Danielle, who's the West Coast Pack healer."
They sounded like an interesting bunch. "How did Ralph choose all of you?" I asked, dying of curiosity. "And why did he choose you specifically?"
Zack didn't seem to mind answering that, for which I was grateful. "I was the first wolf he took to be part of his crew," he told me. "I've been living the good life with my parents and two siblings; my older brother Zak, who's Gorton's beta, and my nineteen-year-old sister, Sophia. But when I grew up, it appeared that I had abnormal physical strength." He grinned slightly at me, turning my legs to jelly. "I didn't carry the scent of the future alpha or beta, and so I was a threat to the Pack. Gorton's uncle had been the alpha back then, and he didn't like to feel threatened. He wanted to exile me from the hierarchy, which would make me a forced rogue. Since my options were slim, I decided to take faith in my own hands and ran away from home and the pack, seeking sanctuary in the neutral territory of Hawaii. That's where Ralph found me.
"I was only seventeen back then," Zack said, "and seeing the One True Alpha in real life was an awe-striking moment. When he told me he heard about everything that happened, he offered me a place in his own hierarchy that was separated, even above, all other werewolf hierarchies in the world. Of course I agreed, and that's how I became the Beta of the Biwole and Ralph's right hand."