by Julie Wetzel
“If someone had caught that on film, it would’ve been all over the news,” Elliot pointed out.
Krissy nodded her head in agreement, but did not interrupt the conversation.
“If it hasn’t shown up by now, you probably did luck out there,” Elliot finished.
“But that’s not the worse part of it,” Rupert continued.
Elliot cocked his head in curiosity. “Oh?”
Rupert nodded. “Several of the wolves involved in those incidents had to be subdued to break up the fights. Most regained control once they settled down, but a few have not.”
“Wait,” Elliot said, sitting forwards in shock. “You have wolves that are stuck in wolf form?”
Phelan nodded. “Five.”
“That’s unheard of,” Elliot said, astounded. “But how? Once their energy burns off, shouldn’t they shift back to human?”
“They should,” Rupert added. “But they’ve shown no signs of calming down.”
“Do they sleep?” Elliot asked, trying to understand how this could be.
Rupert shook his head. “I don’t think so. It’s been two weeks since the first was caught, but every time someone checks on him, he’s ready to tear them apart.”
“How are you taking care of them?” Krissy asked, worried for the wellbeing of these poor people.
Rupert turned and looked at her. “We do the best we can, given the circumstances,” he said in a defensive tone.
“We can’t get close to them,” Phelan explained.
Krissy turned to look at him in concern.
“Claudia started using a broom to slide their meals through the bars, so they are getting the food they need,” Phelan elaborated. “But getting them fresh water is harder since they attack anything that comes near their cages.”
“You have them in cages?” Krissy asked, horrified.
“It’s the only way to keep them from hurting themselves and others,” Rupert explained.
“And what do you plan to do with these people?” Elliot asked.
“I don’t know.” Rupert rubbed his hand over his face, trying to clear his thoughts. “I was hoping to talk it out with Phelan this evening and see if we could come up with some answers, but he went nuts on our walk.”
Elliot looked at the other wolf.
“I have no explanation for that,” Phelan said. “And I still don’t have an answer to our problem.”
“But I might,” Rupert added, looking over at Krissy.
Everyone hung on Rupert’s words, waiting to see what he had to say.
“How did you stop Phelan?” he asked Krissy.
This time, everyone looked to Krissy.
She froze in her seat. Once her parents had given up on treating her, she never shared any information about her special gift with anyone. It had always been a source of pain and aggravation in her life, but here, someone honestly wanted to know about it. She considered the alpha werewolf next to her. “I could feel him,” Krissy said, thinking about what happened. Pain, anger, and fear were the emotions she dealt with the most in her job. She’d had a lot of practice soothing these feelings from the animals as she’d trained to be a vet. “I knew what he needed to calm down.”
Fear raced through Krissy as she worked over that thought. She could see the hope in Rupert’s eyes as they both came to the same conclusion. If she knew how to calm the rage from Phelan, maybe she could calm the other werewolves. “No,” she said, standing up and moving away from Rupert. There was no way she was going to throw herself on another out-of-control werewolf, not now that she knew what they were.
“But you could help them,” Rupert pleaded, desperate for an answer to his problem. He slid across the couch, following her movement.
“I am not going anywhere near another werewolf,” she cried, squeezing between Phelan and the glass table to escape.
Elliot stood up and caught her before she could get past him. “I don’t think that is a good idea, Rupert,” he said as he pulled Krissy in against him.
She didn’t struggle to get away, but she did cower into his arms, afraid of what was going to happen.
“I agree.” Vanessa stood up from where she was sitting. “You can’t ask her to go in there with out-of-control werewolves. They’ll tear her apart.”
“You know nothing of werewolves,” Rupert hollered as he stood up to face Vanessa. “I can control my people.”
Krissy rotated in Elliot’s arms so she was facing the fight. “You didn’t look like you were in control when you were punching him in the head,” she yelled, pointing at Phelan.
Phelan looked at her in shock before turning his focus to Rupert.
“That’s because you jumped in before I got serious,” Rupert snapped.
“Don’t you yell at her,” Vanessa countered. She took a step forward as if she were going to jump over the table at Rupert.
Josh leaped up from the couch and grabbed her before she could move any farther.
“Don’t speak to me like that, woman,” Rupert roared, taking a step towards the table. “You know nothing.”
“Enough,” Elliot bellowed over the growing fight. He clutched Krissy as she cowered in his grasp. “You will both settle down right now!” His glare shifted between Vanessa and Rupert in warning. “I will not have either of you breaking the truce. Not while you’re in this house. Take a seat. We will finish this discussion in peace, or you will leave.”
Vanessa glared at Rupert, but she let Josh pull her back so that she was sitting on the couch again.
Rupert stood for a second longer before easing himself back to his seat.
Watching them both, Elliot reclaimed his seat and pulled Krissy so she sat on the love seat next to him before starting again. “Are we good?” he asked, making sure the hatchets were buried before starting again.
Sniffing in disgust, Vanessa eyed Rupert but did not say anything.
“Yes,” Rupert growled. His voice was thick with annoyance, but he too had backed away from the fight that was about to break out.
“Good,” Elliot said. He sat forward in his chair and picked up the conversation at the point where it had started to get out of hand. “I’m inclined to agree with Vanessa.”
Rupert pulled his sharp glare from the tall redhead and stared at Elliot in shock.
Vanessa shot the alpha a gloating smile.
“Under normal circumstances, you do a beautiful job of keeping your people in line,” Elliot explained. “But these are not normal circumstances. If your wolves are that far out of control, how can you assure Miss Midlton’s safety if she chooses to help you?”
Anger tightened Rupert’s jaw. “She has to help us,” he demanded.
Krissy tensed up in fear, but Elliot laid his hand on her leg to calm her.
“No,” he said, his tone matter of fact. “She doesn’t have to help you do anything. It is her choice to help or not. You can’t force an empath to do something they are unwilling or afraid to do,” he explained. “Their fears or resentment will bleed over into their subject, compounding the problems you already have. But you didn’t answer the question. How do you propose to ensure Miss Midlton’s safety if she chooses to help you?”
Krissy shook her head and tried to scoot away from Elliot. “I don’t want to go near an out-of-control werewolf.”
Turning to look at her, Elliot gave her a disappointed look. “Your gift may be the only thing that can help these people.”
She gave him a look tinged with horror. “Can’t you find someone else?”
Elliot sighed. “True empathy is a very rare gift. While I can read people and sometimes feel their thoughts or emotions, I can’t influence the feelings of others. A few hundred years ago, I could have given you the names of two true empaths, but I don’t know if they are still alive, and Rupert has asked that we keep the Vampire Council out of this.”
Krissy opened her mouth to respond, but couldn’t think of anything to say. She closed it and sat back in her seat to think abou
t his words.
Turning back to Rupert, Elliot put the conversation back on track. “Well?”
Rupert drew in a long breath as he considered the problem. “Well, we’d have to subdue them somehow.”
“We could knock them out again,” Phelan offered.
“Wouldn’t work.” Elliot countered. “The subconscious mind works differently than the conscious mind does. There is no guarantee that whatever cure she came up with would stick once the subject woke up. Besides, you know as well as I do, drugs don’t work on werewolves. You would literally have to beat your wolves into unconsciousness. And that isn’t an easy task in the best conditions.”
“We could lace some sedatives with silver nitrate,” Karl offered. “It should slow their metabolism down enough for the drugs to work.”
“It could also kill them,” Phelan added.
“True,” Karl said and slouched back over to think.
“We could tie them up,” Rupert suggested.
Phelan nodded, liking that idea. “We could get a couple of the other wolves to hold them down.”
Elliot considered that idea for a moment. “These wolves went crazy while they were scrapping with other wolves, correct?”
“Yes,” Rupert answered.
“And we don’t have any clue why?” Elliot asked.
Rupert’s brow furrowed in confusion. “No.”
“Then I don’t think it’s a good idea to try to get other wolves to hold them down,” Elliot said. “What happens if whatever caused the problem could be transferred by touch?”
Rupert and Phelan exchanged a very worried look.
“It would explain why Phelan lost it,” Elliot added.
Opening his mouth to respond, Rupert paused as he tried to find the right words to voice his thoughts. “Point,” he said, settling for a short answer. “But if we can’t touch them, how are we supposed to help them?”
Elliot thought on this for a moment. His eyes roamed the room for an answer. As his gaze fell on the dark space beneath the sofa, he smiled. “I may have an answer for you. Zak,” he called.
Everyone looked down at the floor as Zak gurgled and wiggled his way out from under the couch.
Patting his leg, Elliot called out to the fay. “Come here.”
Zak came over and jumped into Elliot’s lap.
Elliot slipped his hands under the dog’s front legs and lifted him up to eye level. “Would you help us with the werewolves?”
Baring his teeth, Zak gurgled at the vampire.
“No. Not eating them,” Elliot clarified. “Just holding them down.”
Letting his lips slip over his teeth, Zak cocked his head as if he were thinking, and then started to purr.
Happy with the fay’s answer, Elliot set the small dog on his lap. Turning to Krissy, he petted Zak as he posed his question. “If I can guarantee your safety, would you consider helping the wolves?”
Krissy looked at him confused. “How?”
“We’ll have Zak hold them down,” Elliot said, voice confident.
Krissy looked down at the cute dog. “Him?” she asked not believing the tiny thing could do anything to stop a rampaging werewolf.
“Zak is more than capable of taking on a werewolf,” Elliot reassured her.
Krissy stared at the dog as he turned around in Elliot’s lap and crawled into hers. He placed his front paws on her stomach and gurgled at her. Krissy rubbed her hand over the dog, considering her choice. Elliot had made it clear that it was her decision, but she could feel the anxiety from Rupert. He truly believed she was the only hope for his people. She glanced at each of the people in the room who were waiting for her to speak. Thoughts of the poor wolves caught in that strange rage she’d calmed from Phelan circled in her mind. She looked over at the man sitting on the end of the couch. He was a very handsome man, but she could imagine what a week of uncontrolled rage with little food, water, or sleep would do to him. She drew in a long breath as she made her choice. The sound of a phone ringing stopped her before she could speak.
Scrambling for his pocket, Rupert found his phone and snapped it on. “Hello?” He held his breath as he listened. “Where?”
The entire room went tense as Rupert’s anxiety level shot up. “I’m on my way.” Cutting off the phone, he turned to look at Phelan. “Charlie Mac and Marco are about to throw down,” he said as he scooted to the edge of the seat and shoved the phone back into his pocket.
“Mac and Marco?” Phelan said in disbelief. “That can’t be. I’ve never seen those two disagree on anything, let alone fight.”
“They’re over at Alchemy, ready to take the place apart,” Rupert said as he stood up. “Mitzy’s between them right now, but that isn’t going to last for long.”
Phelan pushed up from the couch, ready to follow his alpha.
“We were just over there,” Josh said as he stood up as well. “They seemed fine when we left.”
Elliot joined the men standing. “Josh, was anyone else there?” he asked as he pulled his phone out. There were usually several of Darien’s kiss partying at Alchemy on Friday night.
“I believe Allen and Maggy were still there when we left,” Josh answered.
Rupert gave Elliot a concerned look. “I don’t want our problems getting out,” he warned.
Elliot nodded. “True, but we can’t have the wolves scrapping in public. You have my word this will stay with us.” He held the phone out, ready to make a call to his people.
Rupert considered him for a moment before nodding his head.
Pressing on his link with Darien’s people, Elliot punched in Allen’s number. The younger vampire answered on the first ring. “Are you still at Alchemy?” Elliot asked. He paused as Allen answered that he’d already left. “I need you to get back there as fast as you can. Mitzy needs help with some of the wolves. Rupert is on his way. And keep this between us.” He listened as Allen agreed before hanging up. Elliot looked up at Rupert. “Allen will do what he can until you can get there, but if those two get serious, I’m not sure anything less than a wrecking ball will help what’s left of Alchemy. You had better hurry.”
Rupert nodded his thanks. “Come on,” he called to Phelan as he turned and headed towards the door.
“Wait,” Krissy cried as she grabbed Zak and popped up from her seat.
Both Phelan and Rupert paused where they stood and turned back.
Color bloomed on Krissy’s cheeks, and she held Zak tightly against her. “I’ll do it.”
“Are you sure?” Elliot asked as he turned and looked down at her.
Krissy swallowed and looked up at the vampire. Her heart fluttered with fear, but her resolve was set. These people needed her help, and she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she didn’t at least try. “Yes.”
“Phelan,” Rupert said, cutting through the tension hanging in the air. “Take her to see the wolves. I’ll meet you there after I deal with Mac and Marco.”
Phelan nodded and turned to face Krissy as Rupert left. “Thank you,” he said, taking a step towards her.
Fear tingled up Krissy’s spine as she took a small step away from him. She might have agreed to help the wolves, but some part of her still screamed with the desire to run.
“Stop scaring her,” Vanessa snapped as she wrapped an arm around Krissy’s shoulder.
Krissy jumped at the unexpected contact. She twisted in the other woman’s grasp to find astonishment written all over Vanessa’s face. “Sorry,” Krissy stammered as she backed out of the surprised woman’s grasp. She could tell Vanessa was worried about her, but her nerves were getting the better of her. “I’m just…” She let the words hang, unsure how to explain that being in Vanessa’s hold made her feel trapped, not protected.
“Freaked out,” Elliot finished the sentence for her.
Krissy turned and gave him a nod.
“And rightly so,” Elliot added, “but I promise you’re safe.”
Feeling lost and unsure, she squeezed Zak ag
ain. The gurgle he let out drew Krissy’s attention down to him in concern. That wasn’t a sound a healthy dog should be making.
Zak stared up at her with concern in his beady, black eyes.
That added a whole new layer to the weird Krissy was trying her best to deal with. When the small dog started to wiggle in her arms, she loosened her hold and let him jump down to the couch next to her. The idea that this cute creature was something other than a dog messed with her head, but she wasn’t sure if she was more comfortable now that he was out of her arms, or if his warm presence had made her feel better. She curled her arms around her middle as she tried to come to grips with things.
“But you don’t have to do this,” Vanessa said, pulling Krissy’s attention back to the conversation at hand.
Krissy tensed up and turned back to the impressive redhead. “But I do,” she argued. “I can’t just leave them like that!” The thought of leaving anyone in such a desperate situation made Krissy’s heart ache.
“No, you don’t,” insisted Vanessa.
“Vanessa,” Phelan said in a sharp tone, cutting the rest of Vanessa’s argument off.
“Enough!” Elliot yelled over the forming argument. He turned to Vanessa. “The choice is hers to make. Not yours. And as of this point on, she is under my protection. If she chooses to help the wolves, Zak and I will go to ensure her safety.”
Vanessa’s jaw visibly clenched. “Then I’m going too.” She crossed her arms over her chest.
“This is not your concern,” Phelan snapped, ready to pick the argument up from where Elliot had tried to squash it.
Elliot raised his hand to stop Phelan from continuing. “Vanessa,” he said in a more civil tone, turning to face her fully.
“What?” Vanessa barked, cocking her chin up in defiance.
Elliot locked her angry eyes with his. “You don’t want to be involved with this,” he said. “I believe the twins have plans for you and Beth this evening. It would be a shame to miss out on that fun for such a trivial matter.”
Power tingled over Krissy’s skin, and she suddenly wanted to know what the twin vampires were going to do. Elliot’s hand touched her shoulder, and the weird desire subsided.
Vanessa, on the other hand, looked stunned. Her arms dropped to her side, the stubbornness gone from her face. She stood there, looking unsure about what she should be doing.