Cutting Ties

by C. M. Torrens

  Kent shook his head and climbed up onto Dante’s lap. Dante rocked him gently, and a nervous sort of excited energy drifted through the pack. It was just about waiting now.

  “I WANT to go home!” River snapped at Nicky.

  “Chill, River. Kent will be fine. No one goes through their first shift in a matter of minutes. How long did yours take?”

  They were already in the city, which meant it was probably stupid to go all the way home empty-handed, but still. Kent was going to go through his first change soon, and she had never seen what a pack did for that. Dante had been telling Kent about it for weeks because the cub kept asking. She wondered if that was a sign he was getting ready for his first shift.

  “My first shift took all day,” she admitted with a sigh. “I was terrified.”

  Nicky nodded. “I’m sure you were. I can’t imagine being without a pack during your first shift.”

  “I thought I was dying.” She shivered at the memory. Trapped in her room all alone while her body seemed like it was trying to come apart at the seams.

  “Kent knows he isn’t dying, and Dante’s right there. Good thing too. You guys could still be in France.” Nicky parked the car and led them into the grocery store. “Don’t let me forget marshmallows, and we can find something special for Kent when he finishes his shift.”

  “Is that a thing? Something special for first shift?”

  “Not really, but we can make it a thing, don’t you think?”

  River nodded her agreement, and they wandered into the store, gathering up supplies and trying to think of something Kent might like for a gift.

  “We could go to the pet store and get him a rabbit,” Nicky suggested.

  River huffed. “We have rabbit all the time. You said special.”

  “A puppy?”

  River shot him a dark look. “Faith is still trying to talk Dante into getting her a dog. Kent would have it eaten before dusk, and Faith would be mortified. How about something that shows he’s a youth now?”

  “Like what?”

  River grinned. “Tickets to go see a movie away from the pack. He couldn’t go alone, of course, but an outing. Movie tickets and a gift card for the ice cream parlor.”

  “Oh, that’s a great idea. I like that.”

  They finished the grocery shopping and headed across town to get the movie tickets and a gift card. It was growing dark, and the sky was so clear and bright the stars were already visible.

  “Hey, you never did say how France was besides the bit of chaos. Did you meet anyone?” Nicky asked.

  River thought a long moment. “Well, I spent a lot of time with Lazarus while Dante was working. He’s really very sweet and fun.”

  “Fun? Lazarus? Are we talking about the same heavy?”

  River chuckled. “Yes. I kind of like him, I think.” She smiled at the memory of him at the gathering. He was sweet and kind, and he was beautiful. She even loved the golden eyes. It made him stand out in a crowd, not that he wasn’t a male who stood out in a crowd as it was.

  Nicky hummed. “Well, you might want to reconsider that choice. You’ll never have a pack of your own with him. You’ll always be a second, and really, you deserve better than to be Angel’s backup plan. A shame you didn’t fall for his son. That would be a good choice.”

  River rolled her eyes. “Angel’s son is twelve.”

  “I just meant like pack and rank, you know. Dante and Ivory would never let you be someone’s second. That’s not for you. Dante’s been training you to be a top alpha, not like… Ivory or anything.”

  River’s anger started bubbling up again. The hurt and anger in Dante’s face had made her want to gouge Ivory’s eyes out. “Creation, sometimes I just want to hit her. She’s so fucking selfish!”

  Nicky huffed and pulled out of the parking lot and drove toward the movie theater. “And that’s news to you?”

  It wasn’t. But she’d gone too far today.

  Nicky chewed on his lip and looked her over carefully. “Well, as long as you realize she’s less than the best role model, that’s good. She kind of screwed things up when she went behind Victor’s back and caused all sorts of shit. I mean, you can like Lazarus all you want. Have a nice little fling, but know that you aren’t meant to be his. Dante wants you to have your own pack, understand? Isn’t that what you would want too? Can you stand by and let another alpha raise the cubs you sired?”

  River hadn’t thought about it like that, but she would never go behind Dante’s back and do something stupid like Ivory had done. Besides, she didn’t think she could allow someone else to raise her cubs. Ivory wouldn’t care. She left the rearing of the cubs to Dante, for the most part, which was unusual. River couldn’t see herself doing that. She was much more hands-on than Ivory. Much more like Dante than Ivory.

  Her chest ached a bit at the thought of giving up Lazarus. But Nicky was right and she wanted certain things she could never have with him. “I liked him.”

  Nicky gave shot her a sympathetic smile. “Sorry.”

  “And what about you? You don’t seem to be interested in people, none in the pack do except for Ivory and, well, Ricco once upon a time.”

  “Shifters aren’t like humans. We get what we need from our pack. Only those with alpha talent seem to draw together, no matter how little it is. Ricco isn’t alpha, really, but there’s an underlying talent there in most top heavies. Trevor might find someone eventually, but the rest of us are pretty much indifferent.”

  “But Caster—”

  “Caster isn’t a good example of anything. That was for his twisted amusement, not his people. He enjoyed causing pain. Let’s not talk about him. I still have dark nights concerning that episode,” Nicky said and parked the car in the theater lot. “Let’s grab those tickets.”

  They climbed out of the car. The lot was full of moviegoers, mostly couples and small groups of teens eager to see the newest action flick. They wandered inside to try to decide on a movie Kent might like. This week’s lineup included a romantic comedy, a kids’ movie about little furry monsters, a couple of horror movies, which usually made the cubs laugh, a drama, and a superhero movie.

  “The horror?” Nicky asked, staring up at the board.

  “I don’t know, sounds like it might be supernatural, and Dante doesn’t like the cubs watching those. Maybe the superhero one,” River suggested. “Kent likes those.”

  “Grown men in spandex, always amusing.” Nicky chuckled and headed up to the line for tickets.

  An odd flicker of movement caught her eye through the large glass windows that looked out over the parking lot. A movie was letting out and a surge of young people filed through the exit doors to her left.

  The group on the other side of the doors paused at what sounded like a distant scream. River moved slowly toward the plate glass and peered outside. Artificial lights gave the lot an odd sickly glow, and the group outside hovered, uncertain, just outside the theater doors. Cars were tightly packed, and dark shadows flickered in between the cars. There was another scream, but she couldn’t tell where it was coming from.

  She pushed open the door and peered out into the night. Something slammed a car several aisles away, and car alarms started to go off one at a time. Startled people backed up closer to the building.

  “Nicky?” she called softly.

  Nicky jogged up to her side and flashed a stack of tickets at her. “Four tickets to see men in tights,” he said with a chuckle and peered out into the parking lot. “What’s all the noise about?”

  They stepped outside as the shadows moved like liquid and the occasional scream turned into a roar of panic. Nicky grabbed her arm and jerked her back into the theater before she could see what the cause was.

  “Hybrids!” he shouted.

  He led her through the corridors toward a side door as the screams grew louder. People were jostling to get back inside as the screams continued their panicked roar. Nicky’s claws bit into her wrist as he pulled her through th
e crowd. They came to a stop in front of the exit where a hybrid was smashing a human man over and over again until the glass began to spider and blood splattered.

  Nicky turned and yanked her into the nearest theater as they raced for the back exit light. They hit the door and burst out into the back lot. The emergency exit alarm wailed behind them as the door slammed shut.

  People clustered behind the building, trying to take cover wherever they could. The screams from inside the theater took on an agony-filled tone. A few more humans burst from the door, battered and bloody. Sweet Creation, it had to be a slaughter in there.

  “Shift now!” Nicky shoved her away.

  “No!” she shouted against the shrieking sirens as they grew nearer. “If we shift now, we’ll be shot as monsters.”

  The lights in the parking lot flickered and died. Hybrids were closing in around them. Red and blue lights flashed, rushing toward the theater.

  “We can’t defend ourselves like this!” He threw out his hands, showing just claws. In true form they didn’t have the speed or stamina for a proper fight. “They’ll smell us all too soon. We need to run.”

  A police car screeched to a stop in front of a pack of hybrids as they surged around the building. The cops opened fire. Horror twisted River’s stomach. The humans were outnumbered, doomed, and only two hybrids fell to the hail of bullets. The brave, hapless pair of police officers died quickly in a fine spray of blood and agonizing screams.

  Another small gang of hybrids attacked the nearest clutch of fleeing humans who hoped the police would be their saviors. But the two groups converged and there was no helping them. Not even as beasts could they have helped under those overwhelming odds.

  The slaughter began, and River closed her eyes to the screams, trying to block out the sound. Laughter followed, and her stomach roiled. Nicky grabbed her by the arm, and they raced for shelter behind some dumpsters. They found a small group of terrified humans huddled behind the steel bins.

  River looked them over. They were pale faced and some were wounded. “Get in the dumpster! Hurry, they won’t likely smell you,” she told them, and she and Nicky helped toss the scared people into the metal bin.

  “What about us?” Nicky asked.

  “We need to get to the Jeep. We have to get home. Dante’s too vulnerable caring for Kent.”

  Nicky nodded and took her hand. They peered around the dumpster into the carnage. Dead and dying were everywhere. Blood soaked the ground, and limbs had been ripped from their victims and tossed in every direction, as if the creatures were playing.

  They waited until the chaos died down a bit before rushing around the side of the building.

  The back of the theater was bad, but the front was so much worse. Hybrids had taken time to have some “fun.” Bodies were limbless and broken. One man staggered around with his ripped-off arm in his hand in a daze; the belt around the stump was the only thing that kept him alive.

  A human woman with two teenagers huddled behind a car in the parking lot just twenty yards away. Their faces were pale and eyes wide with horror. They were so young. Just cubs. Kent’s age. They weren’t very far away, and the woman shot them a silent plea for help. Hybrids were still wandering around the parking lot, killing any survivors they found.

  River motioned them to stay and glanced at the steel door behind them. “What’s in there?”

  Nicky moved quietly to the door and tried to manhandle it, but it was locked tight. “Help me. I don’t quite have it.”

  River rushed to his side and together they jerked the door open. It was a utility room filled with pipes and not much else. Her eyes fell on a length of narrow pipe she could use as a staff, and Nicky grabbed a large pipe wrench.

  “Better than nothing,” he whispered, and they peered around the corner of the building. The silence that fell was ripe with death, and River scanned the maze of cars, trying to see if there were any more hybrids around.

  “I’m not seeing anything,” Nicky whispered. “Stay here. I’ll get the Jeep.”

  The woman and teenagers hidden behind the car suddenly screamed as a hybrid leapt at them.

  River stepped out of her hiding place before Nicky could stop her.

  “Hey!” she shouted at the hybrid. “Come play with someone who bites back!”

  The hybrid hissed, and two more hybrids lifted their heads up from behind cars, their eyes locked on her.

  “Oh shit,” she whispered.

  Nicky cursed and moved to her back. “Don’t let them bite you. And we should have shifted like I said.”

  It was too late now.

  “Ready to dance?” Nicky asked.

  “As ready as I get,” River said.

  They gave each other some space as the hybrids attacked. River poured every ounce of speed she had into her strikes, whipping the pole around with her. The hybrid hissed, and another joined the fray. She let herself feel where Nicky was as they worked together, blocking and attacking until Nicky finally dropped one. Without the numbers, she and Nicky were less on the defense, and River swung her pipe, hitting her attacker across the head and face. His face caved in, and he gave a mewling sound as he dropped and twitched on the ground. She drove the pipe through his eye to finish him off.

  “You bit?” Nicky asked.

  “No, just a few scratches. You?”

  “I’m fine. Let’s get to the Jeep.”

  River grabbed the mother and teens and raced toward the Jeep.

  “I have an SUV,” the mother volunteered.

  They veered off to her much larger vehicle and climbed inside.

  “Where to?” Nicky asked, throwing the car in drive.

  River touched the weave. Chaos was ensuing back home, but a controlled chaos. Dante shoved her sense aside with a firm command to stay away. “We can’t go home. Dante says no. Uhhh, Lloyd?”

  “That’ll work. How’s Kent?”

  River shook her head. “Dante has him in a bubble. Sleeping I think, so good, I guess. I have to pull away. He’s trying to do too much.”

  Nicky grunted in response and spun the car around the city streets, trying to get to the apartment complex where Lloyd and the other strays stayed.

  One of the children started to cry and the mother tried to calm them. “Where are we going? Will it be safe?”

  River wasn’t sure how to answer that. “We have friends who can help.”

  Nicky shot her a dark look. “River—”

  “We set them loose and they’ll die. We can’t just let them die.” River looked the three humans over, uncertain what to do with them.

  “You know the rules.”

  “Have you looked outside? I don’t think the rules apply anymore.”

  There was a long silence as Nicky drove through the clogged streets. Hybrids were everywhere, setting things on fire, smashing windows, and ripping people out of their cars.

  “Good God, what are they?” the mother asked.

  “Very bad things,” River whispered. “Nicky, be careful, they might have hit the apartments already.”

  They slowed down as they reached the apartment complex, and River scanned the dark building. The hybrids seemed to have thinned out, but there were signs they had been there. Claw marks were on the heavy steel roll shutters that protected the place, but it didn’t look like anything had gotten inside.

  River gave Nicky’s shoulder a squeeze. “Stay here and keep the car running. I’ll check it out.”

  Nicky looked like he was about to protest but held his tongue and nodded.

  River slipped from the car and picked her way across the parking lot to the main door, still shuttered tight. Scanning the grounds, she stopped in front of the door and knocked. “Lloyd? Gage?” she called as loud as she dared.

  Something jumped from the brush to her right, and she started, staggering back, only to catch the scent a second later. “Oh, for the love of life, Lloyd, what are you trying to do, scare me to death?”

  His large beast stepped in
to the light and turned to look at the car. He cocked his head at her as he sniffed the air.

  “Yes, yes, I know, but what was I supposed to do, just leave them to be killed?” River asked and waved at the car to call Nicky and the three humans forward.

  Nicky led the group to the front door and looked at Lloyd. “Don’t give me that look. It wasn’t me.”

  River knocked on the door again. Gage lifted the shutters and blinked at the three humans with them. “Oh, hell no,” he said.

  “Oh, shut up and let us in,” River snapped. “There’s hybrids everywhere.”

  They rushed inside, and River turned to face a group of small young beasts. “If you can’t stay changed, go get changed right now,” she told them and shooed them out of sight.

  The youths left the room, disappearing into various doors off the main hall. Silence fell, and the mother of the teens cleared her throat. “Uh, thank you for this. I’m Martha and these are my kids, Tiffany and Ty.”

  River forced a smile. “I’m River, that’s my brother Nicky, and this is Gage,” she introduced. “Lloyd will be down in a second.”

  “You have a lot of dogs here,” Ty said.

  “Oh hell,” Gage grumbled and threw up his hand. “This is a mess, River. You can’t do this to us.”

  “Relax,” River soothed. “It’ll be okay.”

  Lloyd appeared a few seconds later, wearing a pair of dirty sweats. “I wouldn’t be so sure, River. It looks like that was just the first wave. They’ll come back to finish us off, I’m sure of it.”

  River rubbed her head. “We have to protect the youths. Do you have the basement set up?”

  “Sure, but it won’t help if they burn us out. There are fires everywhere,” Lloyd said and peeked out of the door.

  “You know what’s happening, don’t you?” Martha asked.

  “You know when you tucked your kids in bed at night and told them there were no monsters?” Gage asked. “You lied.”

  “Creation, Gage, stop it!” River snapped.

  “Yes, Alpha,” he grumbled.

  River spun on him. “You use that tone with me again, Gage, and I will stake you out, do you understand me?”