by A. J. Downey
It was a leather vest, identical to the others but new, obviously never been worn and without the patches and decoration that the other members of the pack wore on theirs. I shrugged and pulled it on. The leather felt good against my heated skin and it settled well, molding comfortably to my upper back and shoulders. A glance in the mirror told me that I really struck quite the intimidating figure in the jeans and black vest. The cut of the vest meant that the scarred omega symbol branded into my chest was completely visible, almost like it was on display. I’d been riding bikes long enough to know that the various clubs and bike gangs called the vest a cut, and losing your cut was tantamount to a mortal insult to you and to your club. The wheels in my brain started turning but I pushed the thoughts aside, letting them percolate on their own in the back of my mind as I went back out to the front, preferring to keep my focus on Ava and our new friends.
Out front I found the rest of them waiting. Already cleaned up and changed into new clothes. Of the lot of them I was the only male to be given a cut, and I wondered briefly about that before shrugging it off and finding a seat at a long table in the center of the room where the rest were sitting. A simple spread of food was laid out on the table along with two large metal tubs filled with ice and beer. I reached out and snagged one of the beers and a roast beef sandwich as William looked up from his food.
“They’re working on her now,” he said before I’d even settled fully into my seat. “The Galen says he’s going to do his best but it’s a bad wound, Man.” His tone was somber and I nodded, appreciating the honesty as much as it seemed to twist a knife in my gut at the same time. I kept going over the events that had occurred in my mind, over and over, looking for somewhere where I had screwed up. What had I done wrong? What could I have done to stop her from getting shot in the first place?
“Worrying ain’ gonna change nothin’,” a nasally voice came from the far end of the table and I looked up at O’Toole, sitting at the head of the table directly across from me with his pack and my people between us. I hadn’t even realized he was there. He looked none the worse for wear, not surprising as a wolf-kind. He would have recovered from the bruising that I gave him in record timing but I still felt a twinge at the fact that I’d attacked him at all so I stood, keeping eye contact with him the entire time.
“I would like to apologize for attacking you. Ask anyone that knows me and that kind of behavior isn’t like me. I tend to keep a level head but that’s no excuse. I’ll take any punishment you may want to dish out but please also know, I am an Omega.” I jerked my thumb at the brand on my chest, so well displayed by the vest I’d been given. “My actions shouldn’t be held against the Washington Pack in any way as I have been banished from the pack. Any punishment should be directed to me, not to them.”
Everyone remained silent, staring at the two of us. I’m pretty sure Chloe was holding her breath. After a long minute he stood, his chair scraping unnaturally loudly across the wooden floor and leaned forward, planting his hands on the table in front of him.
“I’ve known Markus fer a long time,” he said. “And its cause o’ that familiarity that yer even here in tha first place. I want that understood before anything else.” I nodded. “Otherwise, don’ think anything of it.” That had me blinking in surprise, and a bit of confusion. “I get it. Ye were worried fer yer girl. Can’t figure out why a man such as yerself got mixed up with a Hunter of all t’ings, but I get it. I apologize fer insulting her.” He wiped his hands one over the other, like brushing dirt off his palms and spread his arms out. “Far as I’m concerned, we’re square. Deal?”
“Deal,” I blurted out, amazed that so little had come of my outburst.
“But,” he continued, a glint in his eye. There was the other shoe. “If’n ye think yer gonna come inta my place again, and talk ta me like tha’? Think again. Get me?” There was a hard edge to his voice and as he spoke his eyes grew flat and cold. The eyes of a killer that I recognized all too well.
“Understood. Thank you, again, for your understanding and I promise you, it’ll never happen again.”
He suddenly blinked and his eyes shone with mirth, a broad grin splitting his face nearly in half. “Well,” he said. “Then we ain’t gonna have any problems now.” With that he sat back down and resumed eating as if nothing at all had happened. I caught the tall blonde’s eye as I sat; noting a patch on her cut that said her name was Valkyrie. She shot a glance in O’Toole’s direction and then rolled her eyes.
Conversation flowed well enough between the rest of them while we waited, but I focused on eating. Mechanically so. I couldn’t taste the food and worry continued to gnaw at my gut as Chloe and William filled O’Toole in on what had happened at the facility. They also explained the other two facilities that we attacked.
“We’ve all heard of tha Hangman, before. Obviously, he’s like tha boogey-man for wolf-kind,” O’Toole was saying some time later after the food had all been cleared and beers had been handed out. I had two empties sitting on the table in front of me and a third in my hand as I picked at the label on the dark bottle. “Most of us have never even seen a Hunter up close, to be honest. Only Valkyrie and I have ever fought them before. But the daughter of the Hangman became an Alpha Bitch, huh?” He gave Chloe an admiring look at that and raised a hand to his brow, as if tipping a non-existent hat in her direction.
“And ye went an’ scored a blow to the Hunters tonight, eh?”
William nodded and set his beer on the table. “A pretty decent one. We’ve destroyed three labs worth of information, and samples, as well as rescued as many as forty test subjects from the other two labs. The one here in Colorado only had the two we brought in with us. I glanced around and realized that the girl and her friend weren’t at the table. The chew toy was probably still unconscious and I imagined she was sticking close to him until he woke up. That was likely to be an interesting conversation. I wonder if he even knew anything about wolf-kind, or if the hunters just snatched the poor guy off the street.
I was the first to hear it, having been waiting for something, some sign from that end of the building. The door opened leading into the medical suite where I’d left Ava and I caught the tang of blood, that coppery scent drifted down the hall and into the room and as the footsteps started, heading our way, the rest of them suddenly caught the scent and heads swiveled in unison to face the hall.
I leaped to my feet, my chair bouncing and scraping away from me before it suddenly fell over with a loud clatter. Half the occupants at the table jumped; startled by the sound, while the rest just stared at the hall with me, waiting for whoever was walking out.
“It’s Gale,” somebody muttered.
“How’s she doin’, Doc?” O’Toole asked as a young looking woman stepped into view. She was wearing hospital scrubs with a large apron over it, blood staining her sleeves and down her front. With a heavy sounding sigh she reached up and pulled the scrub cap off her head revealing that her hair was as dark as mine but shaved close to her scalp, barely a quarter of an inch long. Piercing green eyes, lidded with exhaustion regarded us all before settling on me.
“She’s asking for you,” she said to me and I blinked.
“How do you know it’s me?” I wondered aloud.
“Biggest dude in the room with an Omega branded on his chest, she said. You’re the only one here that fits the bill.” I motioned to William to follow me and started across the room in long, ground eating strides. William caught up to me just as we reached the Galen, Gale, I assumed, and she turned to accompany us down the hall.
“We’ve got to offer it,” I muttered and William nodded, his face tight, unreadable, but I had the impression he wasn’t thrilled by my suggestion.
“Did you get the bullet out completely?” William asked and Gale nodded.
“It wasn’t easy, and I flushed the wound as carefully as I could. Luckily it was silver coated and not solid silver; it didn’t break up much and didn’t hit any bones either. But she�
�s got some serious internal injuries. I really don’t think she’s got long but she’s stable right now.”
William sighed when we reached the door and he placed a hand on Gale’s arm. She glanced down at his hand, one eyebrow raised slightly, but she didn’t seem offended. “You go in,” he told me, ignoring her for the moment. “Talk to her. Tell her, Remus.” His gaze was intense, boring into mine. “Don’t leave anything unsaid, trust me… Then make the offer. We’ll be waiting here when you do.”
I nodded, but didn’t trust myself to say anything and opened the door, closing it quietly behind me.
The room was dark; lights dimmed to a low glow that gave me more than enough light to see by but didn’t cast everything in harsh detail. Ava looked small in the center of the bed, hands laying to either side at her hips with a thin sheet and a blanket pulled up to her armpits. It scared me that she looked smaller than normal. Like the life, the presence that made her so big had dimmed to a barely noticeable level.
Machines beeped and pulsed steadily, measuring her heart beat and respiration and who knew what other things doctors measured in a patient just out of surgery. Her eyes were closed so I quietly grabbed a nearby chair and pulled it forward so I could sit at the side of the bed. Her eyes opened when the leather vest I was wearing creaked as I moved and she blinked at the ceiling for a moment before turning her head to focus on me. A small smile turned up her lips and I took one of her slender hands in mine, engulfing it in my grip.
“I love you,” I blurted out before she had a chance to say anything or before I could lose my nerve. My stomach twisted and roiled, a whole flock of butterflies prancing their way about my insides and I pushed forward. “I don’t know when the hell it happened but it did. I’m in love with you and I don’t know what I’ll do if I lose you. I already lost my pack and William was right. Banishing me gave me the chance to find something new, something I could build on for myself. And that’s you. That’s us...” I trailed off, uncertain what else to say as she just stared at me, expression unreadable.
“I’m glad you said it first,” she whispered a moment later and I felt my eyes widen as the shock ran through me like a bolt of lightning, lighting up my nerve endings. “I wasn’t sure how you felt, honestly. Or how I felt. It’s been a long time thinking of your people as little more than animals, you know? And finding myself falling in love with one?” She shook her head at the very idea and I nodded, not sure I could trust my voice at that moment. “I realize, that there’s a lot I was lied to about, and a lot I just plain got wrong. I’ve seen a lot in your pack that I respect in a human family, something I haven’t had in a long time.”
“You could,” I muttered and she smiled wanly.
“Maybe. If I survive this. But I’m not sure I will. Gale wasn’t exactly optimistic about my chances.”
“Yeah, but she doesn’t know how incredibly stubborn you are.” She chuckled weakly for a second before it turned into a hacking coughing fit and the door opened behind me. The scent of pine needles and disinfectant rushed into the room accompanied by the sharp tang of burning metal as Gale and William both swept into the tiny room. William stopped at my side while Gale went and poured a small glass of water from a pitcher sitting on a table against the far wall. She helped Ava sit up slightly, adjusting the bed so she could drink and after a few minutes the coughing subsided.
“Tell her, Remus,” William whispered and Ava turned her attention back to us.
“Tell me what?” she asked. “I thought we’d already gone over the big bombshell. Your idiot brother went and fell in love with a Hunter. Isn’t that hilarious?” Her smile was small but mine damn near split my face in two. I was in love with a Hunter. I really didn’t know how or when it’d happened but it was true and I didn’t give two shits about what anyone else thought about it. I loved Ava, who she was, not what she’d been. She wasn’t a Hunter anymore, hadn’t been for a while.
“We might be able to save you,” I said, taking a deep breath before continuing. “Turning you wolf-kind. It could repair the damage done by the bullet. You’d heal like we do and...” I hesitated, “And you’d live longer. We’d have longer with each other than if you stayed human.”
“And a lot of people don’t survive being turned even when they’re in perfect health,” Gale snapped. “She’s weak and dying already, trying to turn her would just speed up the process and I’m not letting you kill the patient I just went through so much trouble trying to save.”
“But you haven’t saved her,” I shot back. “You said yourself that she might not have long as it is.”
“So you want to speed it up? Lose whatever time you do have with her on the off chance that this Hail Mary pass will work?”
“It’s worth the risk,” I growled and Ava grabbed my hand, squeezing weakly. All thoughts of the growing rage I felt for the Galen fled my mind and I focused on Ava.
“Let me see if I understand this correctly. If we do nothing, odds are good I’m going to die, right?” she asked and Gale nodded, somewhat reluctantly. “If we do this, then I’ll still die, and even faster than I already am now?” I nodded. “But I might survive, and if I do I’ll heal; I’ll be strong, and fast, like you.”
“You will,” William cut in. “Not exactly like us, each person is different, but you’ll be wolf-kind. Your life span will be measured in centuries and you’ll be able to keep up the fight against Mathias and the Hunters, if that’s what you want to do.”
She considered the situation carefully. Eyes darting from me to William to Gale and back as her mind worked over the situation.
“James would be pissed,” she whispered and I nodded.
“From what you’ve told me; I think James would understand. He went to his death, to protect you. He went to great measures to give you a fighting chance and I’m more than willing to fight beside you. We’ll help each other through this mess and we’ll take Mathias down with us for everything he’s done.”
“What do you think?” she asked me.
“I can’t tell you. You already know what I would choose, but it’s got to be your decision, Baby. I can’t have you getting pissed at me later because we made the choice for you. And besides, you’re not the type to let someone else decide your fate, are you? You never have been.”
“This is fucking stupid; you idiots are going to kill–”
“Do it.”
Even though Ava’s voice was barely a whisper, her words cut through the air like a knife and Gale fell instantly silent. She lifted her arm, holding it out to me. “Do it,” she said again. “I’ll take the chance.”
I shook my head but took her hand in mine, pressing a kiss to her palm. “I can’t do it. William will.”
“But I want you to,” she whimpered, “No offense, William.”
He smiled and waved her off. “None taken, but really, Remus can’t bite you. To wolf-kind that’d be disgusting. If you two are going to remain in a romantic relationship he would be your father, in a sense. Serious squick factor going on there.”
She still didn’t look like she liked it but she nodded her understanding and turned her attention back to William as Gale threw her hands up into the air in surrender.
“I give up. You people are fucking morons. If she dies, I won’t have you bitching to me. I’ve given you fair warning, I’m done with you.”
With that she made her way around the bed and left the room, shutting the door a touch forcefully behind her, though it wasn’t enough to crack the door itself or the frame.
“Give me a kiss goodbye?” she asked and I shook my head.
“I refuse to believe this is goodbye, you’ll just have to wait till you recover for a kiss.”
“Oh for fuck’s sake, just kiss her Remus,” William snapped at me. “If this doesn’t work, you don’t want to regret it.”
He had a point there, and I knew just how miserable that regret would make the rest of my centuries on this earth. I couldn’t even imagine trying to live through tha
t weight on my shoulders.
I leaned in and pressed my lips to hers, being gentle out of fear for her injuries but I felt the fingers of one of her hands tangle in the hair at the back of my head as she pulled me insistently down, deepening the kiss. I did my best to pour my feelings into her through the kiss. Telling her without words just how much she meant to me, how much I needed her with me.
I have no idea if it worked, but when I leaned back her eyes were closed and a gentle smile curved her lips, her entire expression peaceful and content.
William quickly shed his jeans and jacket and shifted into his full wolf form. The cracking and snapping of his bones shifting didn’t seem to register to Ava as she held my eyes with her own. Her jade green gaze still held mine as William took her arm gently between his teeth and I wondered how they’d look, spotted with the tiny flecks of amber so prevalent amongst wolf-kind.
Then he bit down, and Ava screamed.
Chapter 26
Ava
That ticking was driving me crazy.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Only marginally more than the fact that I felt like I was just, boiling to death. I mean, I was hot, and I know medical facilities, hospitals and such, had crappy pillows but Jesus, my head was on a rock and I felt clammy from sweating so hard.
I winced, and tried to move but I was stiff as a board from laying in the same position for so long…
I froze for two reasons; one, the thought struck me, just how long had I been out? And two, a gentle hand was tangled in my hair, the fingers smoothing it gently out of my face and behind my ear. I opened my eyes and looked up into the sparkling obsidian depths of Remus’. He smiled, a sublimely pleased, slow spreading of lips and I felt an answering one of my own.
“When you made it through the first night, we knew you were going to make it, but I was still worried.”