by Stacey Mewse
Audra caught the snarl that twitched at his lips and shrank away from him in her seat. ‘What… What’s wrong?’ She asked hesitantly, his anger bearing down heavily upon her.
Not turning his gaze from the road he spoke in a threatening grumble. ‘I know what you’re doing.’
Audra’s eyes widened slightly and she shuffled away in her seat as far as she could manage. ‘I… have my orders’ she stammered.
Hunter snapped his head to the side and glared at her, slamming on the brakes and bringing the van to a screeching halt. Dust clouds billowed around the vehicle as he unleashed his fury. ‘And I suspect they sent you because they knew you’d blindly follow them!’ His voice rose with every word. ‘Quit fucking with me and take me straight there. Now Audra. You seem to be forgetting that I don’t have to help you. If we aren’t there within ten minutes, you’re getting thrown out of this car and I’ll find her myself and deal with this how I want to. I don’t need you or your pack so quit with this shit or you’re on your fucking own!’
Audra’s mouth hung open slightly, her eyes prickling with hot tears. It had been a long time since anyone had dared to shout at her. ‘I can get you there in five’ she practically whispered, visibly wilting under his gaze ‘if you can pick up the pace a bit… And they sent me because the alpha is my father.’
Hunter sped though the gears and soon the rusted old van was running near its top speed, pushing 90 miles an hour and with the engine roaring in complaint. He did not reply to her statement or attempt to speak to her again. He just followed the directions he was given, skidding around bends in the road with a look of determination set on his face.
It took just a minute longer than Audra had said for them to reach their destination. She directed him down a hidden little dirt track that he would never have noticed had it not been pointed out to him. He sped down that little winding track without a thought for his or her safety, spraying dirt and stones behind him as they raced towards her home.
It was pitch dark under the trees, and it was nothing short of a miracle that he did not hit anything. His headlights struggled to illuminate the way as light bounced of tree trunks and threw up threatening shadows.
When all of a sudden a clearing opened up in front of them and the looming black silhouette of a house lurched into view, he slammed on the brakes. Skidding in a half circle they came to a gut lurching halt. Dust billowed up around the van as he leapt out and slammed the door. He did not wait long enough to see Audra scramble out of the passenger seat before marching up to the imposing looking house.
With every step his skin prickled more and more intensely, his muscles bunching and stretching and threatening to cramp. The urge to transform was so intense that his skin began to burn. He had to rein it in before he changed, he could feel his canines prodding at his gums and he knew his eyes were wild. They would be expecting him to be riled up, but he couldn’t afford to let his beast get the better of him before he had a chance to talk to Audra’s father.
Just as he raised his hand to rap on the door Audra managed to catch up with him and grabbed him by the wrist. The door swung inwards before them as he snapped his head to the side with a snarl. He barely noticed the woman who stood in the doorway through his rage at Audra. Why did she insist on touching him?! She shrunk under his gaze and snatched back her hand, which prompted a dry chuckle from the figure who stood in the shadows beyond the door.
‘Oh good’ the voice that echoed out of the darkness was huskily feminine, flat and devoid of empathy for her pack-mate. ‘You’re angry, that will be useful.’
Both Hunter and Audra switched their focus onto the figure before them, which raised a smile from her. The whites of her teeth and eyes were the only visible parts of her in the gloom.
‘But you’ll have to get that under control before I can let you in I’m afraid. I’ve got a duty to the alpha after all.’ She continued.
Her voice was stern without aggression and Hunter forced himself to breathe deeply, closing his eyes for a moment in a concerted effort at forced relaxation. When he opened them again Audra had left his side, and could just be seen retreating down the hallway as a slender shadow in the dark.
The woman inside the doorway opened the heavy old door further and stood aside to allow Hunter to enter the building. ‘You have to be gentle with Audra’ She said in a mocking whisper. ‘She’s a delicate little wallflower.’
Hunter stepped inside and tried to get a better look at whom he was talking to. Frustratingly he found that the light was so dim that even his keen eyes could see no more than a vague dark shape. ‘Then why was she sent to deal with me?’ He asked.
‘Follow me.’ She replied as she began to walk towards the far end of the corridor. ‘She is trying to work her way up the ranks and tasks like this are good for her. To encourage her to be braver and more conversational.’
Hunter scowled in the darkness and snorted in reply. ‘Confrontational more like.’
The new female ignored his response and introduced herself ‘I am Evelyn, but you can call me Eve.’
Suspecting underlying tension between the two women Hunter did not question her reluctance to discuss her pack mate. ‘I’m pretty sure you already know who I am, but my name is Hunter. Nice to meet you Eve.’ He was aware that he sounded tense but did not care to disguise it.
‘I know of you yes, but it’s nice to finally meet you in the flesh’ she replied; and he could have sworn he heard a smile in her voice. It was astounding how much his condition had affected his perception.
‘That’s funny’ he answered ‘that’s almost exactly what Audra said before she decided cold and clinical was the correct route to take.’
‘She’s not known for her tact’ the reply was followed by a scornful laugh.
Hunter found himself thinking that he could get to like this girl, and surprised himself at the momentary distraction this caused. Despite not knowing what she looked like, she smelled enticing and the beast in him stood firmly to attention. This response almost overrode his human self’s worries about the danger his friend was in, for a brief moment anyway. Totally without subtlety he found himself inhaling deeply and revelling in the rich, sweet and almost spicy quality of her scent. It was totally unlike anything he had ever smelled.
Eve suddenly stopped in her tracks and raised a hand to lie on his shoulder, chuckling quietly at him. ‘You’ve never crossed paths with any females of our kind before I’m guessing?’
Hunter shook his head slightly as she continued talking.
‘It may all be a bit overwhelming at first, though luckily for you none of us are in season… That would really bring out the devil in you.’
Hunter screwed up his face ‘season?’
Eve nodded in the darkness ‘yes, one of the many joys of being a female werewolf… But that is not important now. Try to keep a cool head and not get distracted by the women. We are about to enter our meeting hall and there are a lot of weres in there. You must remain calm. Are you ready’
His reply sounded sterner than he had intended it to be. ‘Whether I’m ready or not one of my oldest friends is in danger, and we don’t have time to waste.’
Eve nodded and turned to her left, pushing open a heavy set of double doors with ease. For a moment the light was blinding as he followed her into the room, and he blinked rapidly until everything swam into focus. As his vision recovered from the assault of stark light, a barrage of scents suddenly hit him like a punch in the face. There were many weres, and old smells of other creatures lingering … Things he did not recognise … It was a lot to take in.
The room itself was very large and lit by hundreds of candles. Some rested in sconces on the walls, and others set into decorative candleholders that ran in a line down the centre of the enormous table that dominated the room. Still more brightly burned in elaborate candelabras that hung from the ceiling; the result being that the room swam in a sea of flickering light. It was disorientating to his already assaulted senses.
The walls of the room were painted a deep green and dark wood doors were set in each, he counted a total of six of them. Around the doors hung dozens of large paintings in antique frames; their subjects varying from detailed surrealism to portraiture and still life pieces.
Despite all of this grandeur the focus of the room was still undoubtedly upon the gigantic wooden table, which ran from one end of the room to the other leaving only about a foot of space at each end before the walls. Around it were placed 26 heavily ornate chairs, twelve running up each side and one at each end of the table. Out of these twenty-six seats, twenty were taken and as Hunter looked from one face to the next he found himself surprised by the variety. The range of ages was vast, with four of them being between sixteen and eighteen at a guess. The remaining seventeen seemed to be anywhere between twenty and ninety. Though of course these were just estimations, as Hunter knew how difficult it was to judge a weres true age. Ten of them including Eve and Audra were female, with one of those appearing to be under eighteen. Hunter could not help the almost frantic flaring of his nostrils. Trying desperately to ignore his inner wolf screaming at him that they were all old enough to mate, he smelled that some of them were local and some not. Try as he might he could not accurately discern from where they hailed.
A light touch on his arm distracted him from his confused scenting, and he turned to look at the source of the sudden contact. Had he not already been silent he would have been stunned into it by the sight of Eve stood before him. She was even more beautiful than her voice and scent had suggested. She was not what he had expected at all. He had known from walking beside her in the hallway that she was shorter than him, but he had not realised he was nearly a full foot taller. Her personality made her seem bigger somehow…
She was slim without being skeletal, with exquisitely pale skin and strikingly bright blue eyes that shone defiantly out from between thick, long lashes. Her nose was small with a slight up-tilt and her lips large and full. Her hair was fashioned into waist length red and black dreadlocks with a short fringe cut into a point. Her makeup was heavy around the eyes and lips but with no blush upon her cheeks; even her eyebrows were drawn on and yet somehow fit her perfectly. What surprised him most of all however were the adornments on her skin. Her arms were covered in beautifully drawn purple roses, with their creeping vines wrapped about both human and canine skulls. Her body also sported a few piercings that he could see, and he suspected more that he could not. Her left eyebrow was decorated with two rings and with a third set in the centre of her bottom lip. A small spike protruded from one nostril, and two bars in her cheeks and a piercing through the bridge of her nose.
He found himself wondering what other decorations she had hidden under her tight latex look trousers and figure hugging t-shirt. Out of nowhere a rasping voice echoed from the far end of the room and snapped him out of his gawping.
‘So we meet at long last.’
Hunter looked up to see that he was being addressed by a very aged man sat at the head of the table at the far end of the room. He opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by the elderly man as he continued.
‘Please be seated’ he invited. ‘I can understand that today must have been a very stressful experience for you, and we have much to discuss… Would you like something to drink?
Taking a seat at the foot of the table Hunter watched Eve move to the old man’s side and seat herself directly to his right; waiting until she was seated before he answered. ‘I’ll be honest with you, I could do with something potent, perhaps a whisky?’
The old man nodded and gestured to the man to his left, who promptly scurried out of the room to comply with the request.
‘A man after my own heart’ the old man smiled tightly. ‘I suppose I should give you a quick introduction to the pack before we continue.’ He looked about the table before continuing. ‘You’ve met Audra, my daughter’ he pointed at her, sitting just three seats down from Hunter and furthest away from her father on the left hand side of the table. ‘Seated next to her are Lucas, Arthur, Georgia and Christina. Opposite them starting at the end of the table closest to yourself are Matthew, Finnlay Mason, Anna, Isabelle, Samantha, James and Johnathon. Opposite Samantha is Allison, Opposite James is Michael and opposite Johnathon is Lucinda. All of them are currently without rank in the pack, with Audra looking to raise ranks and become our delta female. Next to Matthew our Omega female Courtney would usually be seated, but she is currently very unwell and laid up in bed. Next to me on my right you can see Eve whom you have also already met, she is our female beta; and to my immediate left is our male beta Tobias. To his left is our male delta Jeremy. I realise this is a lot of information and a lot of names to take in, but we do not expect you to remember it all just yet so do not concern yourself with that… Do you have any questions?’
‘Yeah’ Hunter sipped the whiskey that had been placed before him a moment before by a haughty looking Tobias. ‘What the hell is a delta, and what do you mean rankless? They have no place here? None of that makes any sense to me, I thought everything below beta rank was an omega?’
The old man smiled and shook his head ‘No, it is far more complex than you would think. There is only one omega in every pack, the others are simply in a comfortable grey area where they don’t have to worry about jostling for a position. The delta’s are beta’s in training.’ As he spoke about ranks there were quiet nods from others around the table, people who were obviously happy in their stressless, rankless lives.
Hunter took this in and nodded ‘ok… I suppose it will make more sense the longer I’m around you all… But can I ask your name sir?’ He felt that respect was needed with the older man, and was correct in his assumption. Had he shown none he would have been thrown out or torn to pieces depending upon his level of complacency; though he did not know that was the case.
The old mans eyebrows raised ‘how careless of me, yes you may. My name is Alfred and this is my pack you see seated before you. I think I can comfortably state that we are all happy to see you too despite the unfavourable circumstances.’
Every head in the room with the notable exception of Audra’s bobbed up and down in agreement, and Hunter struggled to suppress the smile that threatened to break out upon his lips. That woman needed to learn some people skills!
Alfred smiled at the head of the table and clasped his hands together upon its polished wooden surface in a business-like manner. ‘Introductions aside, I think it is high time we broached what we are actually here to discuss. Time is ticking away now everyone, and this must be resolved quickly or I fear it will not be resolved at all.’
Chapter 10
The whole room fell into an abrupt silence, where before there had been murmurings there now was no sound at all. Even their breathing seemed to quieten. All present stared expectantly at their Alpha male. Hunter’s gaze trained firmly on Alfred’s wrinkled, time weathered face as well, waiting for him to begin.
The old man let the silence linger for a moment before finally speaking once more. Allowing the ominous nature of their conversation, and the severity of the situation to fully sink in for all present.
Clearing his throat dryly he began. ‘We all know why we are here; but I feel it necessary to briefly discuss the basics again so that everyone has the same information. We must all be on the same page. We all know that Varulv is back in our country, and we can trace his presence here back as far as his first victim’s disappearance late last year. We had reports from a pack in France that same month letting us know that he had definitely left their soil; and in that same week a pack on the coast let us know that he had been sighted here… Knowing obviously of Hunter’s close proximity to us. Over the course of the past six months we have been kept updated by other weres whenever he has been sighted; and it has recently been discovered that he has been using the pseudonym Mr. Arthur James. He has booked into at least two hotels that we can trace under this assumed name. The most recent being the Goldenhall hotel in town, just ni
ne miles from where we sit here. We have sent scouts to verify this, and as John and Anna can confirm his scent is all over the town and is heavily concentrated in the lobby of this particular hotel.’
Both nodded their heads in confirmation as Alfred continued to talk.
‘We know from our observations of the news that the killings are always committed in remote areas, and that his site of choice is usually a disused barn… As such we have been monitoring the countryside surrounding the town, and paying particular attention to any suitable spots that we think he would be interested in. We have discovered only one building that would suit his needs, and surveillance of this area has proved to us that he is indeed visiting this site. Samantha has on one occasion seen him carry a toolbox into the building; and on another occasion James saw him enter with a large length of rope and chains. Dragging them almost nonchalantly behind him.’