by Bethany Shaw
“Stop! Could you listen to me for a second?” he asked as he deflected another blow. “If I wanted to hurt you, you’d be tied up. I just want to talk.”
She answered his question with a kick to the shin and an upper cut to his chin. He stumbled backward and then surged forward, tackling her onto the bed. She thrashed beneath him, but she was no match for his weight and height from this angle. He grasped one of her wrists and pinned it above her head. Ethney rolled her hips and tried to punch him, but he caught her fist and forced it onto the bed.
“Would you quit hitting me!”
Ethney growled at him as she continued to try to free herself. He pressed all his weight into her and waited for her to calm down. “I saved you, remember?”
She grunted and met his eyes. “Yeah. I feel so safe.”
“You attacked me. I’m only trying to defend myself.” He leaned into her a little further, pressing his arm against her throat, yet not quite to the point of pain. “I could hurt you if I wanted to, which I don’t. I need your help.”
She snorted and sighed, finally ceasing to hit him. He let out a breath and moved his mouth trying to work the kinks out of it. It had been a long time since someone clocked him so well.
“Can you let me up now?” she asked eyeing him.
He stared down at her for a moment, his body becoming very aware of the way it was pressed against hers. She was so soft and curvy beneath him. Her enchanting amber eyes blinked up at him and her mouth curved into a frown.
“Are you done trying to hit me?” he asked, easing his grip only slightly.
“I won’t hit you again unless you threaten me,” she conceded.
Noah slowly released his grasp and sat up on the edge of the bed next to her, ready to grab her again in case she changed her mind.
“But you know I’m going to have to kill you eventually, right?” she asked him.
He froze and thought about pinning her again, but she didn’t make an attempt to hurt him—yet. She stared up at him having not moved from the spot on the bed.
“You were recently turned during the full moon. Am I right?” she continued. She rubbed her wrists as she sat up and folded her legs in front of her.
“That’s right.”
“It’s not like Trent to let anyone surviving the bite to get away from him,” she said studying him with narrowed eyes.
“I escaped.” He didn’t mention the others because he still wasn’t entirely sure he could trust her and, with Claire’s life in the balance, he needed to be sure.
She lifted her brow at him, but said nothing.
Noah ground his teeth before continuing, “Trent Brockwell is a monster. I didn’t ask for this. He murdered my sister and her husband in cold blood. Somehow, I survived the attack and he abducted me and brought me here to Savannah. He thinks I’m going to turn into a monster like the ones that attacked me and hurt other people. I—”
“It’s the truth,” Ethney interrupted him. “You will turn into a monster and you will hurt people.”
“No,” he shook his head and opened his mouth, but she spoke up first.
“I’ve been a guardian for a very long time. There is no fighting it. You will become a lycanthrope on the full moon and every full moon until you die. Each time you will attack human men, women, and children in an attempt to turn them into a creature like yourself. There is no controlling the beast—it controls you. Eventually, the man you are will cease to exist, which is why Trent Brockwell is a monster—literally. The beast owns his soul now. I’d be doing you a favor by killing you now instead of becoming a crazed maniac,” Ethney said.
Noah ground his teeth again. “There isn’t a cure?” He hoped the guardians had something to help them. Trent must have been afraid of them because their only job was to kill the lycanthrope; even though the lycanthrope could live for eternity, they could still be killed with guns and other weapons.
“There is no cure,” she licked her lips and looked at her hands. “I’m sorry. You seem like a decent guy. I could make your death quick. You won’t feel a thing. I promise.”
Noah stood from the bed and took a step back, putting his hands up. “What? No. I’m not letting you kill me. I can control myself after the change. You at least owe me the chance to see.” He was stronger than most; there was no way he would convert into those crazed monsters that attacked him and his family.
She shook her head, her face falling as sadness filled her features. “Fine. I won’t kill you now, but you’re as good as dead in a few weeks.”
“There has to be another way,” he pleaded, not able to accept the finality of her answer.
“There isn’t. The Goddess who created me is different than the one who created your kind. There is nothing she or I can do for you. This...disease...will overtake you. There is no cure.”
This couldn’t be it. Her words echoed in his head—disease. There might still be a way to save everyone. “I’m not going to give up. I have two weeks to come up with something.”
“I admire your tenacity. It’s a good quality, but you’re setting yourself up for failure. Over the years, I have witnessed people try many things. None of them have worked.”
He wasn’t going to give up hope just because she said it would be a lost cause.
She pushed to her feet at the same time the door creaked open. Claire peeked her head in.
Noah rushed to put himself between Ethney and his niece. “Claire, go back to your room.”
“We heard fighting. The others wanted me to check on you,” she said, peering past him to look at Ethney.
“Everything’s fine. I’m having a chat with the guardian. She thinks she can help us. Run along now.” He nudged Claire back into the hall and closed the door again. Drawing in a deep breath, he turned back to the guardian. “She’s been infected, too.”
“I’m truly sorry.” Her face fell with her words and her voice grew thicker.
She really meant it. It did affect her on some level. “She’s my niece. I was home on leave visiting my sister and her husband when the howls started. We were drawn outside. I promised Claire I’d take care of her. I can’t just give up. If you won’t help me, I know someone who will,” he said crossing his arms over his chest.
Ethney’s eyes stared past him at the door. “I really wish I could help you. But I don’t know of anything to keep you from going mad once the full moon hits.”
“So what? We’re just supposed to sit here and wait? Or worse, kill each other? Should I go tell that little girl—that ten-year-old little girl there is no hope? Tell her she’s...she’s doomed!” The more words he spoke, the louder his voice became. He had to fight to keep it contained or Claire and the others would hear him and he didn’t want them to know the guardian wasn’t going to help. They were all so young and afraid; he didn’t want to frighten them further.
“Just a few months ago I tried to save a boy in a similar situation as yourself. We used a drug commonly used for cancer. It didn’t work for him, but maybe you could try it,” Ethney said quietly.
“I know a doctor who might be able to get us some a new drug. Will you come with me to Atlanta to meet her?” Noah asked. “Maybe she’ll know something you haven’t tried yet.”
If the guardian couldn’t help, maybe modern medicine could. His sister, a doctor, would help. He could only imagine what she was thinking after learning of their other sister’s death and his and Claire’s disappearance. Both his sister and parents must be sick with worry and grief.
“I have to stop Brockwell. You saw how big his group has become. Can you imagine what he’ll do here in Savannah if left unchecked?” Ethney went to go for the door, but he stopped her.
“I saw how the size of his group and I know you can’t take them alone. Look what happened to you when you did tonight,” he motioned to her shirt for emphasis. “But if you come with me to Atlanta, I’ll help you take them out.”
Ethney licked her lips and chuckled. “How? What can you do?”
“I’m an Army Ranger. You help me try to find a cure and I’ll see to it the right people find out where Mr. Brockwell is holed up.” His Special Forces team was home on leave for another four weeks, unless some crisis came up. The team was good and efficient and handling the lycanthrope would be another latch in their belts.
“Why haven’t you gone to them already?” she asked. She cocked her head to the side and crossed her arms over her chest.
“If it were just me I would have, but I have Claire to think about and there are a few others who escaped with us, too. They’re all kids and they’re looking to me for the answers. Our best hope is to find a cure. I can’t let them down.” The oldest one was seventeen. They were just babies, not old enough to really live in the world yet.
“How far away are we from the warehouse? Brockwell will be looking for you—all of us. Not to mention, I need to get back there and make sure the bodies are taken care of,” Ethney said. Her eyes went to the window as if looking for someone to pop up to grab them.
“I took care of the bodies. I burned them.”
She nodded her head. “Good, but that doesn’t mean you weren’t followed.”
“Relax. No one followed us.”
“How can you be sure?” Ethney asked. She walked past him to go to the window. Standing on her tiptoes, she peered out, turning her head slowly from side to side looking for any slight movement.
“I told you, I’m an Army Ranger. Trust me, I know how to lose a tail,” he said anger seeping into his voice. No one followed him and this location was secure. The others were under strict orders not to leave the house.
She moved away from the window and folded her arms over her chest glaring at him. “You’re military?” Her eyes scrutinized him, but her face remained unreadable.
“I am, or I was, until I got attacked. I can’t go back now, but I can keep this from happening to other people and I can protect my niece. More importantly, I can get the Rangers to attack Trent and his group. We are used to dealing with top secret and sensitive situations.” They’d never dealt with anything supernatural before, but they definitely saw the strange and unusual.
“Why do you need me to go to Atlanta?” Ethney asked. “Why not go yourself?”
“Because I was hoping you could tell the doctor more about my condition and help her come up with treatment plans that haven’t been tried yet. You know much more about all this than I do.”
Ethney shook her head and put up a hand to stop him. “No, you can’t tell your doctor friend about what you’re becoming. Humans cannot know about either of us.”
“I have to tell her something,” he said quietly. They couldn’t just go in there without saying anything. The more she knew the more she could help.
She took a step toward him. “You’re military, so I’m guessing you will help me regardless of whether I go to Atlanta or not. That’s a selfless career; I don’t see you letting more innocent people die, but there is no point in seeing this doctor...friend of yours.” Her eyes slid up and down him as if daring him to say she was wrong.
“Fine. You’re right. I’ll still help you destroy the group, but if you won’t help me with those kids out there,” he threw his hand over his shoulder and pointed at the door, “at least give them some sort of chance at a normal life again.”
Her gaze went to the door and sorrow washed over her face. She had a soft spot for kids. Too bad that wasn’t something he was willing to exploit.
“Give me one day and we’ll go to Atlanta. Then I’ll call in my team and we’ll make mincemeat out of our problem,” Noah said, hoping she would agree. He could go to Atlanta without her, but she was a guardian, she knew a whole lot more about the situation and his new aliment than he did. He needed her help.
“I don’t want anyone to get his or her hopes up. This plan of yours will fail and I’ll have to kill all of you on the full moon. I’m sorry, but there is no other way.” She gulped and ran a hand through her long locks. “Once the change happens, you will no longer be yourself.”
She was a solider, too; he knew—they both knew, if this went bad, she was going to have to kill them all, including the kids he was trying to save. He killed before, countless times, but thankfully never a child. In her job, he imagined it happened more often than she’d like. Grief washed over him at the thought.
He recalled what he learned of the guardians from the group. They were immortal, most of them made centuries ago by the Goddess Astraea. Questions tumbled through his mind. How much had Ethney seen? What had she done? How long had she been doing this job? How many lives had she been forced to take? He saw what the lycanthropes were and what they did; he’d gladly welcome death before becoming that. But to live the nightmare over and over again each full moon—he couldn’t imagine.
“Fine. I will go with you to Atlanta,” Ethney said drawing him from his thoughts. “But these kids can’t stay here by themselves. I need to call in reinforcements anyway. My partner will stay here while we go.”
Would her partner follow the same truce they were agreeing to?
Noah opened his mouth to protest but she spoke up first, “I am the lead on this Op. My partner won’t harm the children. He hates when children get involved in this as much as I do.”
Chapter Three
Ethney stood by the shore with a pile of clothes in her hand, watching as the waves crested and slapped the sand. The sun was starting to peek over the horizon. In the distance, she could see a ripple of movement on the water. It was moving fast, at only a speed Aric could.
The water dragon was the only one of his kind. The Greek Goddess Astraea created the twelve guardians of the zodiac centuries ago. Each guardian chose which animal form to take to help protect the people of Earth based on their astrological sign’s element. Why Aric chose a water dragon she had no idea, but it seemed to suit him.
The ripple grew larger, turning into a wave until the large blue water dragon jumped from the water and landed on the ground before her. Water slapped against his long tail and legs. He closed his cobalt blue eyes and morphed into his human form. “Hey, heard you needed help,” Aric said as he started toward her.
She handed the clothes to him and averted her eyes to the rising sun. “The group here is much bigger than we were led to believe. They didn’t split up as we were told.”
Aric frowned. “Huh. My group in the Keys was tiny. There were only five of them. I was hoping to catch a few Zs before moving on to my next assignment, but as always, I’m here to help.”
The zipper of the jeans creaked as he fastened his pants and she turned back to him with a forlorn expression. “Mine was at least a hundred.”
“One hundred?” Aric gaped at her.
She nodded. “Yeah. They took me by surprise and I only got away with some help. At least I took a few of them down.”
“We’ve never seen a group that big before. I’m sorry, hun. You okay?” Aric asked, as his worried eyes met hers.
“I’ve had worse things happen to me.” She ground her teeth at the reminder. Being a guardian put her pain threshold to the test numerous times, but nothing could compare to her torture and death as a human.
Aric huffed and shook his head. “Haven’t we all.”
“I think someone is betraying us,” Ethney blurted out. Trent’s words still rang in her ears and being betrayed in the past, she knew better than to turn her back on that kind of warning, even if it was coming from her sworn enemy.
“What? Who do you think would do that?” Aric asked, fixing his shirt that was a touch too big.
“Trent Brockwell told me he was working with one of us.” She wrapped her arms around her middle and hugged herself.
Aric put his hand on her shoulder. “You can’t believe what that asshole says, Ethney.”
“I know. It’s just...and normally I wouldn’t, but Aric, they were waiting for me. They knew I was coming and how I was coming.” She shook her head and suppressed the urge to shudder. “He was pro
ud of himself. Proud of the fact he swayed one of us to his side.”
Aric frowned. “You think he’s telling the truth?”
She nodded. “He was smug, Aric. Sure of himself—too sure. He said they already might have a few of us in captivity.”
“Have you told Astraea?”
“She said she’d look into it, but...” Ethney shrugged and looked to the stars where the goddess who created them ruled. “I can’t shake the feeling in the pit of my stomach something really bad is coming.”
“Hey,” Aric gripped both her shoulders and gave her a shake. “I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you. Understand?”
Aric was a good guy and she did believe him, but he didn’t witness Trent and his army. If he carried on his plan until the full moon, his numbers would continue to grow to a number even the guardians couldn’t contain.
“Who’s that?” Aric asked his gaze drifting to somewhere over her shoulder.
Ethney turned around to the sliding door of the beach house where Noah and the others were staying. She blew out a breath before tucking a lock of hair behind her ear and turned back to Aric while trying to get the image of Noah out of her mind. Why did the lycanthrope have to look so good? “A friend, of sorts.”
Understanding washed over Aric’s face. Ethney had no doubt he could smell what Noah was from where they stood. “So, we’re doing this again?”
Ethney licked her lips and turned back to Noah, holding his gaze. Her heart hurt; the memory of the kid she killed in January was still fresh in her mind six months later. They hadn’t been able to save him and she doubted they could save Noah and the kids here, but damn it, she was going to try.