by Morgan Wylie
“She’s my mate.” He gulped and waited for Luc’s response.
Lucius nodded curtly at Rylen then continued forward with a greater sense of purpose than he had before. Rylen caught up to him and grabbed his arm. “That’s all? You don’t have anything to say or ask?”
“No. I suspected as much, but needed you to confirm it,” Luc replied matter of fact as they continued to walk.
“Thank you,” Rylen exhaled loudly not sure what else to say. “I thought it might be hard to accept her because of where she comes from.”
“From the others, it most likely will,” Lucius responded. “But you have my loyalty beyond question.”
Rylen placed his hand on Luc’s shoulder and squeezed it, conveying his gratitude. With greater urgency, he moved strode forward. “We’re running out of time. We have to find her!”
Side by side they ran through the warehouse district. They covered close to three-fourths of the district, passing building after building but still hadn’t found the brick one with the word Flour on the side of it. Rylen stood in the middle of a dirt alley between a couple of buildings and held his hands outstretched and turned in an almost defeated circle.
“Are we in the wrong fucking place? Why can’t we find it?” Rylen growled, beyond frustrated. He looked at Luc who was closer to the middle of the abandoned main road with his eyes closed and his head cocked to the side, listening for sounds others could not hear. Rylen stepped closer to do the same. Birds sang in a distant copse of trees, doves nested in a nearby building, and traffic buzzed from a freeway—passing by, unbeknownst to them, the possible tragedy that was about to occur not far from where they drove. The nearby doves cooed and flapped their wings in a frenzied commotion, disturbed by something or someone near their nesting area.
Rylen’s and Luc’s heads snapped up and both looked in the direction of a building just kitty corner from where they were standing, a building they had been by several times and saw nothing! But now, they could clearly see the faded white letters on the red brick side that they had been searching for: FLOUR. A whoosh of air flew through him in relief. Silently and swiftly they strode to the side of that building instead of right in front near the entrance. Rylen needed to get a better understanding of what was taking place, though what he wanted to do was storm through those front doors and demand Alana’s freedom. He had the briefest fear flash through his head What if she is still on their side and just had a terrible accident? What if they aren’t a threat to her at all? He shook his head to snap himself out of that train of thought. He knew what kind of people the Fairfax Alliance were, not to mention her father, the leader of them all. Rylen also knew Alana wanted out or she wouldn’t have sought him out before. She didn’t belong with them, especially now she knows she has dormant magic. It could come to the surface at any time, when she least expected it—who knew what they would do to her… even her own father. He could practically feel her pulling him toward her now that he was zeroed in on her presence. How he had not felt that before when they passed the building, he couldn’t begin to understand. This was something he had never felt with a female before. He wanted her and her alone.
“How do you want to proceed?” Luc whispered from behind Rylen as he scouted the surrounding area. Sparse weeds and grasses grew up at the edges of the buildings in this area, but mostly it was just dirt. The ground had glass scattered here and there from all the broken windows, but surprisingly the particular building they stood by had none. The windows were all still intact. Curious.
Rylen surveyed the top of the brick structure. The area was quiet, even for an abandoned district. He could no longer hear the birds from the not-so-far-off trees as if they had been cut off from this part of the area, and the doves inside the building had calmed once again. A slight breeze tickled the back of his neck.
“We need to get to the top, but I am trying to hear what their plan is before I go storming in.” Rylen put his hand up against the brick wall, but immediately pulled it back, shaking it out. “It’s guarded by magic,” Rylen growled in anger. “For people that are so set against killing off all the magic in the world, they seem to keep using it.”
“But how?” Luc asked equally concerned at what it could mean.
“I’m not sure, but we’re going to find out and then we’re going to take them out,” Rylen said with a bloodthirsty fierceness in his eyes. “I’m going to try again and see if I can hear anything.”
Lucius nodded. “I’m not getting much of anything. Outside my hearing is pretty good, but through walls and magic, no.”
Rylen closed his eyes and concentrated. He breathed in through his nose, holding his breath for a mere moment and then released it all at once, centering himself and his magic. He focused on listening through the barriers that were in the way and pushed his magic out from his core then through the thick brick wall. At first, the voices were far off and muffled, but with each surge of his power they began to become clear. Two voices: Alana’s and a male’s that triggered memories Rylen preferred to leave buried. He sucked in a breath.
“Not possible,” he whispered under his breath, still listening.
“Why are you doing this? I tried to free you, I wanted to save you,” Alana’s voice sounded relatively calm, but defeated. “You have magic, free yourself.”
“It’s my job,” the male voice replied without conviction.
“You could let me go.” Her voice huffed as if she was being pulled up the stairs. “Ouch,” she said after a thud.
Rylen held himself back from running in there. His breathing intensified, his beast was at the very edge of restraint about to lose control when he heard her voice once more.
“Please let me go.”
“I can’t. You don’t understand,” the male voice said, cutting into Rylen’s thoughts of Alana. There was something heartbreaking and implausibly familiar about the man’s voice. That voice had stirred his deeply buried memories from when he was young, from the time when his life was turned upside down, from the time he became an outcast on the run from his family, from his life, from himself.
“You’re his brother aren’t you?” Alana asked. Nothing but silence followed. “I’ve met him, Rylen I mean, he would take you in with his people if he knew you were here. I know he would,” Alana said with a strong certainty for not knowing Rylen that long.
“He doesn’t know I’m alive,” his voice was sad and defeated. “And I… I… prefer that,” the man, Rylen’s brother, stammered at first then grew in strength. “Now come on, your father will be waiting for us at the top.”
My brother? Simmon? He should be long dead. Why is he with them? And since when does he have magic? Rylen felt his heart drop into the pit of his stomach, the blood drain from his head down to his toes, and everything he had believed about his past suddenly became a question. He had thought he saw him that night in the warehouse district, but chalked it up to the strange magic he had been about to encounter. Gracie had been right. His brother had been with the Fairfax group, but for how long? My brother is alive.
~~~~~
Mather and Enock came out of the portal in the exact place that they had come through that night Rylen died from magic poisoning. It seemed so long ago even though it was only a couple nights. So much had happened for their team in the Pacific Northwest. Hidden by the trees of the small forest, and the fading light of day, the entire team filed behind trees and found cover immediately after stepping out of the portal. Several had binoculars, but others such as Mather and Enock didn’t need them with their sharpened eyesight. They scanned as much of the compound they could see from their vantage point. The industrial district was dark, no one moved outside the buildings. The evening was still except for a small white flag with tattered edges on one of the smaller work shacks flapped gently in the light breeze.
Enock had his eyes closed, looking like a stone statue for as little as he moved. “You picking up any heartbeats, E?” Mather asked quietly.
“Nothing yet. There doesn’
t seem to be anyone here. You?”
Mather shook his head, “No, I can’t smell anyone from this distance and I’m not hearing anything unusual…”
“There,” they both instantly responded at the same time, looking off to the right end of the clump of buildings. A small run down brown little building, probably a tool shed of some kind, seemed to be barely holding up. Windows were boarded up from the inside where glass was broken or missing. The front door was even coming off the hinge and slanted to barely shut properly. It was small and unassuming… the perfect place to hide something.
Enock gave a hand signal to the rest of the team and pointed toward the little shed. They all moved silently, predators stalking in the night, from tree to tree until they made a path to a darkened part of the district where they could sneak into the compound through a purposefully hidden break in the chain link fence that surrounded that part of the property. Once inside they shuffled forward each finding a place to hide while they snuck one by one, closer and closer to the little shed.
Clanging echoed into the silent night air coming from the poor excuse for a building that they were focused on. Mather held up his hand to halt the team moving behind him. They waited. Surprisingly silent, the door, nothing more than thin planks of wood barely held together, slowly began to open.
Without uttering a single sound, Enock and Mather waited with baited breath to see which of their enemies would show through the door. They would be ready to deal with whatever came their way. Enock gave a signal this time and those who carried weapons, raised them ready to use. One of the men closest to Mather raised a cross bow, aimed straight at the door, and notched his arrow. Mather knew those arrows were tipped with a poison able to debilitate a magic user or vampire and kill anyone else that might be on the receiving end.
The door opened further. As soon as Mather saw a wisp of a red curl fly out the door before her face did, he raised his hand once again to halt his team. “Stand down, but remain at the ready. It’s Poppy.” Poppy. Something in his chest lifted as soon as he saw her creamy white complexioned face peer around the door, seeking safe entry into the outdoors. The team was still too far away for him to call to her, and she didn’t have sensitive hearing or smelling to detect their presence.
Poppy cautiously snuck out of the shed, sticking to the edge of the building hoping to blend in with the cover of night. About ten others followed behind her by Mather’s quick estimation. The train of people went around the building in the opposite direction from where Mather and the team stood. The further away they got, the more frustrated Mather became. An edginess crept up into his spine and he shifted his feet where he stood.
“Easy,” Enock whispered. “We’ll follow them and catch up to get their attention.” Mather gritted his teeth but nodded curtly.
Enock, Mather, and half the team had to sleuth around the long way in order to not cut right across an open road that separated them from where Poppy was heading. The remaining half stayed behind to cover their backs if necessary and provide cover for their quick exit. Once Enock was close enough and about to catch up to their targets, he stopped abruptly. Mather, quick with his reflexes, stopped just before he rammed into Enock’s back. Mather raised his nose to the air and sniffed.
“How many?” he whispered to Enock. Enock took a deep breath and held it as he listened to heartbeats.
“Perhaps another ten.”
Mather turned back to the team and showed his ten fingers and gave them the signal to be ready. Just then somebody began talking with a deep masculine tone that didn’t sound surprised, but definitely not happy.
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t our new ‘trusted’ technology specialist,” the voice said accentuating the word trusted with an inflection of sarcasm.
“You don’t need these people, I’m setting them free,” Poppy spoke aloud with confidence, but Mather could hear the slight tremor of fear in her tone. He couldn’t quite see them from where they were hiding, waiting for their opportunity, but he could hear them all quite clearly.
“You’re right. They were back up and we no longer need them. They are to be destroyed, but I don’t see why we should waste an opportunity to harvest whatever magical energy we can get from them.” The voice was dark, menacing, and laced with a grave hatred. Mather could almost see the sardonic smirk he had while he watched Poppy squirm.
“No,” Poppy said firmly.
Mather felt increasingly uneasy. She was about to do something stupid, he just knew it and he needed to stop her before it was…
“Take me instead. I’ll let you have my energy if you release them to be free and return to their homes under no further threat.” Her voice didn’t even crack. Mather was both impressed by the strength in her conviction and horrified by her offer. He hung his head, attempting to control his breathing. When he raised his head the eyes of his wolf were shining through and he struggled to get the beast submitted to his will.
The man held out his hand for her to join him. He smirked and said, “Wise choice my dear.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
“Like hell,” Mather shouted as he stalked out from the shadows, leaving Enock and the team to wait it out. He couldn’t stand aside any longer and he couldn’t leave her behind again, this ended now. His eyes were calm and steady, belying a control he was about to lose at any second. His breathing intensified, but he had just jumped out and put his life on the line so that would be understandable. He barely spared a glance at Poppy to see if she was unharmed. Mather didn’t want to give the bastard any more ammunition than he had to. His goal was to distract the man away from Poppy and focus on Mather while Enock got the team ready to bail him out. Hopefully.
“There. That’s what I was hoping for. Mather is it?” The voice was attached to a tall slender, middle-aged man with a head of thick silver and gray hair and matching goatee. High cheek bones and a hooked nose accentuated his features, while his piercing pale blue eyes, the color of a newly formed storm, held secrets; they spoke one word: Danger. He wore an expensive suit like he was ready to head to a corporate meeting of some kind. He squinted his eyes for a brief moment as if trying to puzzle Mather out, then his eyes widened with a hint of satisfaction, nodding. “A shifter, indeed, and a strong one no doubt.” The man bowed slightly as if it was an honor to meet Mather, but Mather’s stare remained stoic. Unfazed, the man continued talking, “Your friends can come out from hiding as well. I can’t wait to meet the rest of them.” He looked back at the entourage that stood protectively surrounding him. “That worked out quite perfectly now, didn’t it?”
When no one else came out from the shadows, Mather spoke up. “It’s just me. I came alone.”
The man’s eyes narrowed. “Do you take me for a fool, boy? I have been around much longer than you could know.” He signaled to one of the men off to his side closest to Poppy. The man quickly grabbed Poppy’s arm and yanked her in front of him with a knife pointed right into her throat. She inhaled sharply, her eyes frantically looking around until they were ensnared by Mather’s. His eyes flared with a predatory gleam as his beast surfaced to the forefront. He clenched his fists at his sides, but remained where he was, willing Poppy to stay calm… to trust him. Somehow understanding his message she gave the briefest nod. Mather nodded back to the shadows and out stepped Enock and the rest of the team with him. They didn’t lower their weapons, but the man didn’t seem to be threatened by them. Overconfident? Or was there something else about him?
“Ah, thank you that is much better now,” the man began. “Let me see to the rest of the introductions.” He squinted at Enock. “The vampire, so you must be Enock as you seem to be the leader amongst these men.” He repeated the squinting and guessing game down the line with each of the team, not knowing all their names, but definitely guessing what their race or significant power was.
Mather watched the man intently, trying to find any weakness the man might have. Enock sidled casually up next to Mather. “So you know who we are�
� what we are. Who might you be?”
The man put his hand to his chest. “You wound me. I thought for certain you had learned who I was by this point. Perhaps you’re not as close as she suspects you are,” the last part he mumbled under his breath to himself. “Well, then no need to keep up the charade. I am Arturo Krestle, a man intent on ridding the world of evil that parades around as wolves in sheep’s clothing, preying on the innocent humans of the world.” When he finished he did a little flourish and bowed toward them.
Mather was completely confused and baffled by the strange man before them, but he didn’t let his expression show it. Enock crossed his arms over his chest, also confident and unafraid of the men with weapons pointed right at him.
“He looks like that chicken guy who is on the food commercials, what’s his name?” Enock whispered to Mather.
“Colonel Sanders?” Mather snorted.
“That’s the one. Can’t you see it? Or maybe he is the colonel. Should we ask him?” Enock inquired with quiet sarcasm to which Mather shook his head. Enock cleared his throat and stood taller than he already was, his posture and body language an unwavering image of determination and intimidation.
“So now what, Arturo? What is it you want? Because I’ll make this easy for you, we are going to take our friends home now all in one piece,” Enock kept his face calm and casual, but inside he was anything but. In fact, he was hoping Arturo would do something crazy because Enock was itching for a fight.
“Thank you for asking, Enock. What I want—as you put it—is for you all to come peacefully with me.” Arturo’s expression began to harden from the wealthy nobleman to a formidable opponent, from easy going to an embittered man crippled by control and fear. “And then I will strip you of your magical energy and put it to better use.” He let out a maniacal laugh, showing the crazy he hid well underneath the professional exterior.
“And that would be our cue to leave,” Enock said, not even caring who heard him.