She pouted. “Can I stay with you? Pretty please?” she pleaded. Her glassy eyes were almost my undoing. The last thing I wanted was for her to lose all that attitude and independence by joining the Pack. But when puberty hit and if she were alone on the streets, she could hurt someone. She needed to be taught the right way, unlike me.
“Sorry, but you can’t stay with me. I’m not an adult,” I admitted. I still had a lot of growing up to do before I could take on the responsibility of caring for a child. I squatted in front of her. “But I promise that the wolves will take you in and love you. Just don’t ever lose that spunk,” I winked.
“My mom told me I was different from the Lunas.”
I smiled. “You’re definitely something, Kid, but that’s what makes you special. You’re going to kick-ass as a Luna, you hear?”
She cracked a smile and nodded.
“Good. Now get your stuff and let’s go. It’s going to be a long drive.”
***
The drive to Mojave Desert was always a pain for me. It was too long for me to sit still, and I dreaded meeting with the Desert Wolves every time. Even though I shifted with them on full moons, I wasn’t part of their Pack, so I was considered an outsider. But with all that, I appreciated La Loba and everything she was doing for me. Because of her, I survived my Vision Quest. That day was forever ingrained into the forefront of my mind and I get chills thinking about it. I spent the day in a sweat lodge with La Loba guiding me through the ritual. When it was over, I was puking, about to pass out from heat stroke, and kept mumbling a riddle I had been gifted with—my vision. To this day, I still had no idea what it meant, and didn’t care to figure it out.
Roman pulled over on the side of the road nearest the encampment. I slid out of the Jeep and pushed the seat forward to allow Emma to get out from the back. She didn’t move.
“Come on, Emma, this isn’t the time to mess around. It’s almost morning and Roman needs to get home,” I said.
“Why?”
“Because he’s a vampire.”
“So he can’t be in the sun?”
“He can, but it just makes him tired.”
“So why didn’t he stay home?”
I sighed. “Emma, stop with the million questions. Please get out of the Jeep.”
Her small eyes widened. “Please, Ace, please don’t take me to them. I’ll be nicer to you, I promise,” she gulped.
Her little eleven-year-old hands gripped the back seat of Roman’s beat-up Jeep. Her knuckles whitened with fear of the unknown. I could relate.
“Hey, Rome?” I called out to him. “Can you go on ahead, we’ll be there in a minute.
He nodded and walked toward the fire of the Desert Wolves.
I climbed onto the Jeep again and slid next to Emma.
“I’m not scared,” she said. Her voice small.
“I know you’re not. You’re too tough to be scared,” I said. “I mean, what eleven-year-old has the balls to stand up to me?”
“Eleven and a half,” she corrected.
“My bad, I meant eleven and a half. You see? Balls of steel you got there.”
There was a pause as she looked away from me. “What are they going to do with me?”
“They’re going to give you a home, Emma. A home with your own kind.”
She gulped. “My mother said Lunas are slaves. I don’t want to be that.”
It was my turn to freeze in uncertainty. Lunas weren’t slaves, but they weren’t free to be who they wanted to be. There was a structure and they had to follow it. It was the reason I was on the run and not part of the Brooklyn Pack. I couldn’t live like that—I’d rather be dead.
“You won’t be a slave, Emma,” I lied without looking at her. “Whatever Pack you belong to, don’t let them change you—and you give them hell if they try.”
Through my peripheral vision, I saw her scoot closer and wrap her arms around me. Her little breath exhaling a sigh of relief as she rested her blonde head on my arm. “Thank you,” she muttered, still embracing me.
I wrapped my free arm over her as a single tear escaped my eye. I didn’t deserve a thank you, I was putting the last nail in her coffin.
***
Emma wouldn’t let go of my hand as we walked through the open land to the entrance of the camp. The Desert Wolves lived freely, most of the time in their wolf form. You would have thought being a wolf full-time would make them less human, but it didn’t. They were so in tune with the earth, if anything they were more human than wolf. I envied that sometimes.
La Loba and her son Emmanuel stood by the bon-fire with Roman. While she was old and weathered, Emmanuel was tall, strong, and a warrior. He was shirtless with only a pair of basketball shorts on. His long black hair was braided behind him to his mid-back. And like his mother, his eyes glowed yellow—the only inkling that his wolf was present.
Everyone knew La Loba was the Alpha of the Desert Wolves, but Emmanuel assumed the role when they meet with The Summit, since women couldn’t hold that position. Their tribe believed the oldest in their community were the wisest and only ones qualified to be Alpha. I liked their way of thinking even if they practiced their ways in secret.
“We missed you last month,” Emmanuel said as he smiled, his canines peeking over his bottom lip.
I shrugged. “Was busy with a case, but I’ll be around next time.”
He nodded. “Good. So what brings you around on a non-full moon?” his eyes glided over to Emma and back to me.
I cleared my dry throat. “Emmanuel, La Loba, I’d like to introduce you to Emma…a Luna.”
Emma’s hand tightened as it still held mine, and she stepped closer to me, hiding part of her face behind my arm.
“Hey…” she grumbled.
“Hello, little one,” La Loba smiled at her. Lines of age and wisdom, indented around her mouth. “Welcome to Mojave.”
Emma peeked between the gap in my side and arm. “Yeah…thanks.”
I had to stop myself from laughing; this little girl was going to be a tough one to crack.
“Her father was a lone-wolf and her mother was a Succubus,” Roman said by way of explanation.
“Was?” Emmanuel asked.
“Yes. They were both killed,” I said. My gaze roamed around the desert. “I-I came to you since I am unable to contact The Summit myself, but I was hoping you would be willing to uh…”
“Mackenzie,” La Loba stopped me. It was the first time I heard someone speak my given name in over a year.
“Yes?”
“I know what you want,” she said, “but unfortunately it cannot be done.”
My chest caved in on itself. I had hoped to ask her if she would take Emma instead of reporting her to The Summit. With the Desert Wolves, Emma would have a freedom unlike the other Lunas in other Packs. Their way of living in private, was different, more compassionate to Lunas.
“Why?” my voice cracked.
La Loba’s yellow eyes saddened as she walked toward me, clasping my free hand in hers. “My beautiful girl,” she smiled. “That is not my journey to take, dear.”
“What?” I hadn’t realized I was crying. I licked my salty lips as a hiccup escaped from me. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
Her hand reached to wipe away my silent tears. “You, Mackenzie Grey, must make that journey. Only you can save her.”
I shook my head, pushing away from her. Dragging Emma along with me. “I can’t do anything!” I yelled, slamming my palm on my chest. “I am stuck, powerless to help anyone.”
“That’s not true and you know it,” she paused. “You were given a year to prepare, and I kept quiet, but now it is time.”
I froze. I hadn’t shared my Vision Quest with anyone but La Loba. And I only spilled the beans because she had been there and I didn’t understand. At this moment, I regretted having confided in her.
“What are you guys talking about?” Roman interrupted.
I stared at La Loba, but all she did was q
uirk an eyebrow and waited for me to respond. I had no choice but to tell Roman.
“My Vision,” I started. “It said some stuff that I have no clue about.”
“Can you tell me about it?” he asked.
I shifted on my feet, and sighed. “Look, it’s no big deal. It’s a bunch of jumbled words that have no significance. Can we get back to the issue at hand?”
“Fine,” Emmanuel said. “We’ll take the girl to The Summit.”
I shut my eyes and squeezed Emma’s hand.
“Ace,” she mumbled. “It’s okay. I’ll be fine.” She peeled her small hand out of mine.
“I know you will be,” I said as I squatted before her. “Don’t forget what I told you. Give them hell.”
Her smile never reached her eyes. “I will. Balls of steel, remember?”
I chuckled. “Right on.” I straightened and glared at the two Desert Wolves. “What’s going to happen now?”
“We’ll take her to The Summit and they will place her with the Pack that better suits her. We have no say in where that is,” Emmanuel said. “I’ll take her personally, you don’t have to worry.”
“Okay,” I nodded. Emma wrapped her fragile arms around my waist and squeezed me tight—reminding me of Amy and her bear hugs.
“I still don’t like you,” Emma joked, “but thank you.”
“I don’t like you either, Kid, but you’re welcome.”
Chapter Five
Since wrapping up the case with the Sucubi, and transferring the rest to Homeland and the FBI to investigate the human trafficking, I was left with not much else to do. Nothing but petty thefts and complaints trolled the supernatural streets of LA. Whenever we had slumps between cases, Roman and I usually went up to Big Bear Mountain or Malibu, depending on the weather. This time around I was in a foul mood, making any vacation impossible.
I relieved some stress at the punching bag. I couldn’t sleep so I ran to the station and went straight to our third floor gym. With my hands wrapped in gauze and white tape, I hit the bag for hours until my knuckles were numb and I could barely stand. I had never been the type to go to the gym—my workout was sitting in front of the TV being lazy, but out here in LA, I found myself in there more times than I could count. The first thing Roman did when I arrived from New York was train me to fight in this very gymnasium. As a lone-wolf, self-defense was important.
“Need a partner?” Roman called from the doorway.
I shook my head. “Nah, I’m good.”
I heard the heaviness of his combat boots as they made their way towards me and stopped right behind the punching bag—holding it in place.
“You’re gonna have to talk to me, Ace. I worry for ya,” he said.
“I’m fine.” I grunted as I kept hitting the bag.
“Sure you are. That’s why you’re in here almost every day, not sleeping or eating. You look like shit.”
“Don’t sugar coat it,” I grumbled.
“This isn’t a joke, Ace. You’re not taking care of yourself. Of course I’m going to be concerned.”
“Why?” I exclaimed, raising my hands in the air. “You’re not my boyfriend. Why the fuck do you even care?”
He scoffed as if I’d kicked his puppy and ran. “Stop misplacing your anger and just tell me why you’re really pissed. It’s Emma isn’t it?”
I cracked my knuckles with impatience.
“I might not be your best friend Amy, but I’m the next best thing, Ace. Stop bottling stuff up and just tell me!” he pleaded. I’d never seen Roman like this before. He ran his hands in frustration through his dirty blond locks. His hazel eyes gleaming with concern.
“It’s what La Loba said,” I relented. “About my Vision Quest.”
“What about it?”
Contemplating whether I should tell him or not, I huffed and turned toward the boxing ring in the middle of the room. I dug through my messenger bag for my wallet. In one of the credit card slots was a folded up sheet of paper. I pulled it out and handed it to Roman.
“What is it?”
“My Vision,” I said.
His eyes widened slightly but he composed himself, unfolding the paper and flattening out the wrinkles. He cleared his throat before reading aloud:
Rights are wronged. Screams are held.
Etched scars kill hearts that dare rebel.
Victory eats in the presence of the saved.
Oppression rests in idle hands of the brave.
Lest fear ignite a silence too loud to ignore,
Untie the bonds, reclaim what’s yours.
Tides rise in the wake of the unchained moon.
Innocent howls split open the sleeping tomb.
Only one will champion and lead the enraged.
No warrior surrenders. No warrior remains caged.
“That’s what the wolf told me during my Quest. I sweated enough to hydrate a third-world country, and that was the shit it told me. It doesn’t even make sense!” I whined. “And then La Loba, after more than a year later, tells me saving Emma is the journey the Vision was talking about! What the actual fuck?”
Roman chuckled. “Calm down, Ace. Your blood pressure.”
“Fuck my blood pressure, I’m a goddamn wolf, that shit doesn’t faze me.”
“Well chill, there’s no need to get riled up. We can figure this out together,” he suggested.
I shook my head. “It’s too late, Rome. It’s been two weeks since Emma left, there’s nothing I can do now.”
My cell phone rang and I pulled it out of my bag. The last person I expected to see on the caller ID showed up.
“Holy shit,” I muttered as I looked up at Roman who was approaching.
“Who is it?”
The phone stopped ringing, but within two seconds it started again.
“It’s Lucian,” I said and swiped the button to answer the call. “Hello?” I pressed the speaker button so Roman could hear.
“My dear Pet, it’s been so long! Why didn’t you answer the phone right away? I would have thought you’d be absolutely thrilled to hear from me,” Lucian’s cheery and accented voice echoed around the gym.
“I don’t know about thrilled, Lucian. Last we spoke, you said if you ever called it was because shit hit the fan. I’m sure you can understand my hesitation.”
The only other time I had spoken to Lucian was the day after my Vision Quest to let him know I survived. He informed me of my living arrangements and about getting me a new fake ID since the one he had made for me said my new name was Hillary Clinton. I rolled my eyes just thinking of his absurdity.
“Shit has hit the fan, as you say. But first the pleasantries,” he chimed.
I stilled. “What the? What happened, Lucian?”
His sigh was exaggerated. “Oh hush, Pet, The Summit won’t arrive for another two days, you have time. Let’s chat, what have you been up to?”
“The Summit?” Roman and I both exclaimed.
“Roman? Is that you, boy?”
“Yes, Luce, it’s me.”
Lucian chuckled. “Well isn’t this a bloody treat! My two favorites together at once. I’ve heard the rumors of your lavish love story. I want all the details.”
“Uh no, there isn’t a love story,” I muttered as I peered over at Rome who was holding back a grin. “Can we please get back to The Summit?”
Lucian huffed. “Fine, don’t share. But you screwed up, Pet.”
“Excuse me? My cover hasn’t been blown.”
“Oh, yes it has,” he paused. “A child was brought to the Cadwell Estate in Little Falls a few weeks ago. Your scent was all over her and one of the wolves recognized it.”
I slapped my palm to my forehead. “Damn it, Emma!”
“She couldn’t have known,” Roman said.
I nodded. “I know. But fuck, what am I supposed to do, Lucian?” There was a pause. “Hello?”
“What do you think you have to do, Pet? You have to run.”
“What?” I shouted. �
�I can’t!”
“You can, and you will. In two days time, Los Angeles will be crawling with wolves from The Summit, hunting for you. I’ve already started preparations on your new location. How does South America sound? Colombia is beautiful this time of year.”
“Lucian, please, I can’t leave,” my eyes pleaded as if he could see me. I stared at Roman instead. I didn’t want to start over again, it wasn’t fair. He reached for my hand and gave it a squeeze.
“It’s South America, or get captured by The Summit. Your choice, Pet. Call me when you’ve figured it out,” Lucian said and disconnected the call.
I stood motionless as I let my cell phone slip from my hands and onto the ground. I had always figured Los Angeles wouldn’t be the place I’d call home, that I’d have to run someday, but it was as if I didn’t believe it, like it would never actually happen—just a possibility.
“Talk to me, you’re freakin’ me out,” Roman said as he waved his hand in front of my face. “At least blink.”
I blinked and had to swallow a few times to avoid letting my tears come down in droves. I was acting way too hormonal as of late, I needed to stop the waterworks.
“Come on, Ace, you need to pack,” he said but I still couldn’t believe it. He turned to leave but my feet were glued to the ground. “Ace?”
“I can’t go, Rome,” I choked out. “It’s only been a year and I already have to move? I can’t run forever. This is madness.”
“Hey,” he whispered as he cupped my face in his hands. “I know this is messed up and unfair. The last thing I want is to lose my partner-in-crime,” he said, “but your safety is top priority right now. I won’t let you get taken by The Summit; not if I can help it.”
Everything Roman was saying was going in one ear and out the other. I understood where he was coming from, he wanted to keep me safe, but all I could think about was how many times I would have to do this in my lifetime. The Pack recognized my scent on a little girl who shared a short encounter with me and I was already discovered. How fucked up was that? I wasn’t safe anywhere.
“La Loba,” I stammered, nearly tripping over myself. “She-she might be right.”
CAGED (Mackenzie Grey #2) Page 5