“No, I can’t!” she said.
“You have to. You have to help free Cassie otherwise she’ll just become a helpless hostage. After she’s free, were going to tear that place down. I’ll protect you, I promise,” Yeager assured the young shifter. Agnes looked at Edie who nodded reassuringly.
“All right but you have to promise me you’ll come. If Violet finds out I’ve betrayed her...,” Agnes replied but didn’t finish her thought.
“I swear, I’ll get you and Cassie out of there,” Yeager repeated and then stood.
“OK, but what should I do?” Agnes asked. Yeager tossed a couple of twenties on the table and gestured for the girls to follow. Yeager explained his plan as he stuffed his clothes into a trash bag and then did the same with Cassie and Edie’s clothes. Once the clothes were bagged up and he had told Agnes what he wanted her to do, he told her to go and watch over Cassie, to do whatever she had to do to keep her safe.
“I’ll do whatever I can. I swear,” Agnes told him as they stepped out of the motorhome.
“We’ll be there the day after tomorrow at dawn. You stay safe, Agnes. You’re a strong girl and I bet an even stronger wolf. Don’t be afraid of what you are. The wolf will know how to defend itself,” Yeager said. Agnes nodded and then suddenly hugged him. Yeager hugged the girl back.
“Thank you,” she told him.
“No, thank you,” he replied. Then the girls turned towards one another. Yeager wandered off to find a trash bin but he looked back and saw them kissing and both girls had tears in their eyes. Yeager knew the truth they had yet to discover, that Edie had only guessed at. Agnes had found her mate. Yeager continued on to let the girls have a moment alone. When he returned, Agnes was gone. Yeager smiled at Edie and winked.
“What?” she asked as she wiped a tear from her cheek.
“Nothing,” Yeager replied as he stepped into the motorhome. “C’mon, kiddo. Let’s go get Cassie,” he said as he disappeared inside. Edie smiled and followed him. Moments later, they were headed to get help. Yeager needed backup. He was going to war.
~~O~~
I stared out the window after a mostly sleepless night. When I wasn’t trying to figure out the source of the pheromones that prevented me from shifting, I was wondering exactly what Lady Violet had planned. As I wondered where Yeager was, I heard the lock on my door click open. I turned from the window to see Violet entering my room. “Good morning, child,” she greeted me wearing her phony smile as she closed the door behind her.
“Come to gloat some more?” I asked. I was through crying and wallowing in self-pity. I was set on making my threat of the previous day a reality, though I still had no idea how I might accomplish that.
“I’ve come to tell you that things are almost ready. Tomorrow morning will be your last. Then, I’ll get what I need,” Violet said.
“I appreciate it,” I replied sarcastically. Violet’s smile disappeared for the first time and it was replaced with a sneer that seemed to fit the woman better than that phony smile ever did.
“Confident and defiant to the end. You know, I lied. You’re not special. You’re not even the first. I find a girl like you every year or so. Like you, they are born to a human mother. Most come willingly to me, eager to be a part of something bigger than themselves and they are fooled by my promises. They want to believe they are special but not you. You required much more work and still you’ve managed to resist,” Violet explained.
“Yeah, I’m good like that,” I said not wanting her to see my shock as she revealed what I knew was the truth.
“Yes, well, I’ve come to realize you’re not like the other girls. You’re...different. Still, I like to get my way. I’ve failed every time, however, to coax from those other girls what I need. We were so close with the last one. I’m positive you will be the one with which I finally succeed,” Violet said.
“You’re pathological. Why not just kidnap me and be done with it?” I wondered.
“I was being genuine when I told you that if you cooperated you would be revered. It’s just that I don’t like you. You would challenge me and I can’t have that,” Violet told me. She was right. If I could, I’d have done it right then and there.
“So what happens now?” I wondered. I was getting sick of all the lies and the games.
“You will wait here until tomorrow morning. Then we strap you down to a table in Philip’s laboratory, cut you open and withdraw your essence. We could keep you alive during the procedure, but we won’t. I can’t have a girl like you running around causing trouble,” Violet said. My essence? Despite the fact Violet intended to kill me, I couldn’t help but wonder what she meant.
“What is my essence?” I pressed her.
“You needn’t worry about that. All you need to know is that I need it and I’m going to take it. In fact, maybe you are the one. Maybe I’ve failed because none of the other girls were as strong willed as you are. No matter. I’m close to getting what I want and whether it’s you or the next girl, I’ll get it and this world will be changed forever,” Violet said.
“You are truly insane,” I replied, taking a seat on the bed.
“I’m a visionary. Soon we will be the dominant species and the few humans we allow to live will serve us as slaves in retribution for all the sins they have visited on our kind,” Violet told me. Then she turned and went to the door. Violet knocked and as the guard opened the door for her, she turned and said, “By the way, your breakfast is here. We must keep your strength up. You’re going to need it.”
I didn’t feel like eating but I was going to anyway. Violet was right, I needed my strength. I was still bent on finding a way to get myself out of this situation. I should have never allowed myself to be influenced by Lady Violet. When she first told me I was special, one of a kind, I wanted to believe that. I was a fool, however. There were probably hundreds of female shifters here at the ranch and apparently, I wasn’t the only one born to a human mother either. It was all a lie.
Lady Violet only wanted me for my essence, whatever that was. I had no idea and it didn’t matter. She plied me with false promises and I was all too eager to believe them. I wanted to be special. I wanted to be revered. Who wouldn’t? I’d spent my whole life being just another girl working in a diner. I should have been satisfied that I’d found Yeager and that I was fortunate enough to be his mate and a shifter. But I let my feelings cloud my judgment and unless I could find a way out of this, I was going to pay the ultimate price.
Agnes brought me a tray of food, eggs, bacon, toast and juice. When she set it down, she glared at me and then once she had my attention, she glanced at the tray meaningfully. She turned and left after that, the door closing and the lock clicking closed behind her. I waited a moment and then looked the tray over. Under the plate, I found a folded slip of paper. I took it, opened it and read the note. It was short and to the point, hurriedly written:
Yeager comes
tomorrow at dawn
be ready and be naked
I read it again. I got most of it. Yeager was coming tomorrow at dawn and I should be ready. Why I needed to be naked, I wasn’t sure. But as I read it again, my heart soared. My mate was coming to my aid. I read it a fourth time trying to discern something else but I got no more out of the short note. I stood and went to the bathroom, crumpled the note up and flushed it.
Suddenly, I was hungry. I ate the meal but afterwards, I felt pensive. I needed to change and run. I needed release. There was nothing I could do, however, but sit and wait. I wondered what Yeager had in mind. Obviously, Agnes was helping him in some way but anything beyond that was pure conjecture. I judged anything Violet had told me about Yeager to be untrue so I could garner little from her story that would be of use.
I waited throughout the day, anxious and excited. Violet didn’t appear again and neither did Agnes except to deliver meals. I found no other notes and the girl made no effort to communicate with me. The hours wore on and finally after the sun was down and it h
ad been dark for several hours, I tried to sleep. I found it difficult to relax, however. My mind raced and for hours, I imagined all sorts of things, good and bad. But I was tired and I finally fell asleep.
I woke and found my room filled with a pale blue light. Dawn was coming. I climbed from bed and made ready. To kill time, I showered but I didn’t dress afterward though I still couldn’t imagine why I had to be nude. I stood by the window, ignoring the cold. I peered out and the sky to the east was painted with shades of orange, pink and purple. The minutes dragged by as I waited and I had an odd thought. What if this was another of Violet’s tricks?
Had she ordered Agnes to deliver the note to further torment me? I couldn’t believe that. I had to believe Yeager was coming but nevertheless, my confidence waned. If he didn’t come, Violet had promised this would be my last morning. She would harvest my essence, whatever that was, and leave me dead. I felt sick at the thought. My heart ached for the girls Violet had already subjected to her twisted plans and for the others that might follow if she failed today.
I wouldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t. I would take control of the situation and when she opened that door to take me away, I would escape or die trying. I felt little emotion. Instead, a stoic resolve came over me. I hoped Agnes’ note was legitimate. I hoped that Yeager was in fact coming, but if he didn’t I would not allow myself to be violated.
I looked out the window, my mind quiet now. I simply waited for one eventuality or another. In any case, I had come to terms with my fate and my time as a wolf allowed me to find some manner of peace. Then, suddenly I heard a scuffle outside of my door. I turned to face whatever was coming. A moment later, the lock clicked and the door opened slowly. I was sure Yeager had come to save me but Agnes stood there instead, naked and wiping blood from her mouth. I saw the guards lying dead at her feet. Then I heard the rumble. At first, I couldn’t tell from where it came but then it grew louder.
I turned to look out the window and a cloud of dust rose from behind the hill outside the entrance to Wolfsbane Ranch. Then, as the sun’s light spilled over the landscape, a single motorcycle came roaring down the road and crested the hill. I leaned forward and smiled. I recognized that man. I recognized my mate. Then a moment later, our motorhome crested the hill followed by more motorcycles, Jeeps, trucks and several more motorhomes.
Yeager had come and behind him was an army. An army of shifters, I assumed. I turned to Agnes and she smiled at me. “We need to go, Cassie,” Agnes urged. I looked out the window one last time as Yeager rode towards the gate of Wolfsbane Ranch. He rode under the metal wolf’s head and then I turned and followed Agnes out of the room. I might be able to make good on the promise I made to Lady Violet after all if only I could free myself from the evil bitches grasp.
~~O~~
Act III
She gripped the wheel so hard her knuckles had turned white. It wasn’t just that she was afraid of the beast that was Yeager and Cassie’s motorhome she was now in control of, it was anger and fear as well. If only Edie had listened to her instincts maybe they wouldn’t be in this mess. Then again, Lady Violet didn’t seem the type to take no for an answer. Still, Cassie and Yeager would have been better off dealing with the woman on their terms instead of Lady Violet’s. Edie just hoped they weren’t too late to make a difference.
Yeager led her down the dusty road towards Wolfsbane Ranch as the sky to the east turned from deep blue to purple and then pink. She could barely keep up with the biker as he rode before her. The old motorhome wasn’t made for speed even when it was new. Behind her, an army, there was no better description of the column, of shifters and their kin followed. Motorcycles, trucks, Jeeps and more roared down the road behind the old motorhome with the intent of rescuing Cassie.
A call to Murphy, the same biker that had come to Yeager and Cassie’s rescue back in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, was all it took. Word spread among the scattered shifters, all male shifters, and their mates and families. They came to the Utah desert one by one at first but soon they came by the dozens. Now nearly sixty people gathered to help. Single shifters, others with their human mates and still more with their family pack. Though most lived an isolated life, they shared a common bond that drew them here.
Now they rumbled towards the ranch in the Rocky Mountains as one. The sunlight was already on the mountain peaks when Edie saw the ranch. Yeager’s bike rushed ahead, speeding away from the motorhome. Edie had no chance of catching him now but she knew the way. The gates and metal wolf’s head that marked the entrance came into view just ahead. Yeager sped under the marker and came to a sliding stop in the circular drive before the lodge that was the heart of the ranch. He leapt from the bike as he pushed the kickstand down and became the grey wolf with the silvery streak down its back before he hit the ground.
A bike roared past the motorhome on the left and then a Jeep squeezed by on the right. Soon vehicles were overtaking the motorhome, coming to rest before the massive lodge that was the heart of the ranch, men turning to wolves as they abandoned their vehicles. Edie reached the circular drive and once the motorhome had cleared the road, she parked the beast and shut it off.
A moment later, she emerged from the old recreational vehicle, shot gun in hand and pumped a round into the chamber. Edie didn’t want to kill anyone but if they got in her way, if they threatened her or harmed Cassie, she was prepared to make them pay. Wolves appeared from behind the massive home and came running across the meadow above the ranch. They were met with the growing numbers of wolves that stood with Yeager. Edie couldn’t tell them apart but she knew what to do.
Edie ran towards the house as wolves joined the battle. Challenging growls and pain-filled yelps filled the air. Then Yeager, or the wolf he had become, appeared. He glared at Edie and she nodded in recognition. The wolf bound off and Edie followed. A black wolf darted from behind a Jeep but Yeager avoided its jaws. The black wolf overplayed its hand, however, and Yeager’s sharp teeth sank into its neck. The grey wolf shook the other wolf until it went limp. Edie swallowed hard, the immediacy of their situation hitting her fully as she watched Yeager dispatch the other wolf.
“Holy fuck, Yeager!” she exclaimed. The wolf turned to regard her. She could almost read its thoughts. Yeager wasn’t messing around. Then a gray wolf bound from the porch of the house beyond. Yeager turned but it was too late. The wolf leapt to attack but Edie leveled the shotgun and pulled the trigger without even thinking. The wolf yelped and fell to the ground lifeless. Yeager looked at her, his amber eyes showing his gratitude. Edie was suddenly shaking.
Then Yeager’s ears perked up and the wolf sniffed the air. He looked at Edie and she knew. He had scented Cassie. He bound away and Edie followed leaving the battle behind. Edie almost looked back but she wasn’t sure she could bear to see the carnage. They may have looked like wolves but those were men, and possibly women, fighting one another. Edie tried hard to forget the wolf she had just killed was a person but she was failing miserably. Her mission to save Cassie and Agnes, however, helped her focus and forget. There would be time for regret but that time wasn’t now.
~~O~~
Agnes led me out of my room, two naked women sneaking about the old lodge. Instead of heading towards the stairway, Agnes took me to another room. Inside that room, I could hear a battle outside. Wolves growled and whined beyond the walls of the large home but the sounds were muffled by the thick log walls. I couldn’t help but feel responsible. If only I would have made a different decision this wouldn’t be happening, I thought, but I knew that wasn’t true. If Lady Violet hadn’t lured me here, I was sure she would have come to fetch me in the desert of southern California.
“Where are we going?” I asked. There was no way out of the room that I could see.
“Shh!” Agnes warned me as she knocked softly on the wall. Then I heard the tone change and Agnes pressed the wall. It moved almost imperceptibly and I heard a sharp click. A section of wall popped outward and Agnes gr
asped the edge with her fingers. “Help me,” she whispered.
I stood next to the girl and grasped the edge as well. We pulled and the wall began to move, swinging open to reveal a passageway. “I get it now,” I told her. Agnes smiled and led me into the passage, stopping to pull the door closed behind us. As she did, we both heard Lady Violet.
“She’s gone! Find her and that foolish girl, Agnes, too,” she shouted. Agnes struggled but she couldn’t get the section of wall closed completely
“Leave it,” I urged her.
“I’ll have to. Let’s go,” she told me. We descended into the dark, feeling our way down a stairwell. I could hear the battle outside but just barely. Most of all I could hear Agnes’ heavy breathing. I could hear mine as well. My heart pounded in my chest. We managed to find our way down the narrow stairwell in the dark, a trip I was sure Agnes had made before. But as we reached yet another landing in the twisting stairwell, the door above opened though we could no longer see it two flights above.
“They’re in the passages!” a man called out.
“Stay there,” Lady Violet called to the man. “You, cover the exits. We’ll trap them inside,” she told the others that hunted us.
Wolf's Den - A BBW Shifter Romance Novel Page 17