Moments later he heard a voice from the balcony of the floor above. “Somebody got careless tonight.” He recognized the voice. It was one he hadn’t heard for a very long time.
“Marcus.” It was as if a wealth of memories had been dredged up from the bottom of a lake he had scratched off the map. Anger, rage, fury, and fear throbbed in his veins, and thumped in his chest.
“Long time, Liam.”
“Never long enough,” Liam said, venom in his voice. “What are you doing here?” He gripped the handrail of the balcony, and his knuckles were white.
“You know exactly what I’m doing here,” Marcus said, clucking his tongue. The noise irritated Liam, filled him with a deep longing to hurt Marcus again, but only this time he would break him. If he got his hands on Marcus, the wolf would never dare approach him again.
“And, like I said, you got careless,” the hunter continued. “You think nobody saw you? You sure that pretty little girl of yours didn’t call any attention to her when she screamed?”
“Marcus,” Liam began, backing up against the glass window and this time turning the handle so that it shut properly. “Don’t do this. Not here. What is wrong with you?”
“What is wrong with me?” The reply came back hoarse and full of venom. “Nothing is wrong with me. But you made your choice long ago, Liam, and you knew this day would come.”
“Would you rather I had killed you?”
“I bet you’re wishing you did now.”
“How did you know where to find me?”
“It wasn’t difficult. People talk.”
“Yeah? Like who?”
Marcus laughed without any mirth. “Fishermen can be bought for currency, Liam. It didn’t take much. And don’t you think my interest was piqued when I heard about illegals crossing the Vietnam border into China? Oh, or what about the fact that a hole big enough to fit a very large animal through was found, cut into steel mesh half an inch thick? You don’t do that that with a rusty hacksaw, Liam.”
“Marcus,” Liam said, a breath quivering as it left is lungs. “You know I’ll fight you and beat you again. I’m not lying, Marcus. I will break you this time.”
“That’s why you’ve been hiding, then?” the hunter continued, as though he hadn’t heard Liam. “So don’t ask me why I’m here, or what I want. Don’t be foolish. Don’t be an idiot, Liam. You know why I’m here. Worse, you brought this on yourself.”
“There are too few left, Marcus. You really want to be responsible for ending your own kind?”
“I won’t be ending it completely by killing you. But, eventually, yes, I will end my own kind!”
“What?”
“Aren’t you forgetting someone?” Marcus asked. “Your friend in Borneo?”
“You saw him?”
“Sure I did. I met his estranged lover, too. Keegan had lots to say about you.”
“Did he?” Liam asked, feeling a surge of anger at the boy he had spoken to that smoky night in Brunei. Then it hit him. If Marcus had talked to Keegan, then he must have found Leon! “Did you hurt Leon?”
“Hurt him?” Marcus asked, amusement turning his voice shrill. “Why would I do that?”
“Do you know him?” Liam asked, feeling like he was missing something.
“Of course I know Leon,” Marcus spat. “You’re just a boy, wading in shit neck-deep. I know much more about Leon than you do.”
“I don’t care,” Liam said. “I’m done with him. And I’m done with you, too. You’d better leave, Marcus. Remember what happened the last time we met?”
“I was younger then, inexperienced. But I’m not anymore. You, on the other hand, seem soft and weary. Are you sure you’re up to this?”
“More than you know.”
“Why is that?” Marcus asked. Liam had shifted right to the edge of the balcony on the right side of the wolf. He was certain that the hunter was standing on the left side of the balcony above him. “Is it your new mate?”
Liam’s eyes widened. “Her? She’s nothing but a distraction,” he said, imbuing his voice with as much disinterest as he could.
But Marcus laughed. “Such a distraction, and yet you shifted for her?” Marcus clucked his tongue. “I don’t think so. It looks like history is about to repeat itself, Liam. And you’re going to watch this time.”
A second of silence passed by before Liam heard a growl he was once very familiar with. “Don’t do it,” he said. He fell down into a squat, his muscles obeying him without wavering, without trembling complaint. “Not here. Not her.”
He knew what he had to do. He had to lead Marcus away. They had to get out of the city, or at least as far away from other people as possible. He saw a snout poke over the edge of the balcony above him, snarling, white razor-sharp canines bared, and angry yellow eyes behind them. The blade-faced wolf, huge, hopped down onto his level, landing on the railing first before skipping to the tiled floor, all agility and grace that disguised what Liam knew to be brute and terrifying strength.
The wolf paced left and right what little it could. The balcony was narrow. Liam shifted, quickly. It was more uncomfortable when he couldn’t take his time, but there was no choice. Mid-shift, he charged at the wolf, raked it with a heavy clawed paw, before jumping over it onto the handrail and kicking off, a leap to the adjacent building. His balcony was level with its roof-top, and he landed with a hefty thump on the rough concrete surface.
The wolf yelped at the strike, but took the bait, and for that, Liam was glad. Furious, Marcus turned, shot over the gaps between the buildings, drooling saliva and snarling with hatred. Liam now fully a bear, bounded across the roof-top, leading Marcus away from Terry. He leaped to the next roof, and again the next, before looking back. Marcus was on the chase, nimble and quicker than he, and so Liam pushed harder, his paws thundering on the concrete below him. It was late enough that there would be few witnesses, but he was sure he was waking people up.
There was no time to get out of the city completely. There was too much ground to cover. The next best thing was the lake. There would be nobody there.
* * *
Terry saw Liam shift in midair as he jumped off the balcony. She got up and ran to the balcony, watching as the wolf jumped off, too.
“Oh, thank God,” she breathed, relieved to see the two animals bounding across the roofs of the low-rises in their area. As fast as she could, she put on her shoes and a light hoodie and took the steps to the ground floor two at a time, bouncing off the walls of the landing and using her palms to protect her.
She turned her gaze upward, looking for the narrow view of the sky between two buildings to be momentarily broken by gigantic, monstrous shadows. Running across the empty street, she followed dull thudding noises, hoping that she was going in the right direction.
She saw a bear jump from one building to another in the distance, and she changed directions, and sprinted after it, wishing she wasn’t just wearing flats. Her shoes slapped against the ground as she chased after the two shapeshifters. It was only a guess but she was fairly certain she knew where they were headed. Liam was leading the wolf to the lake. There would be nobody there. She hoped.
Panting, the humidity clinging close, she willed herself to keep going. She cut through a narrow backstreet that she knew would exit her right at the road opposite the lake. She beat them there, and a look over her shoulder told her that they weren’t far behind her.
She leaped over a small chain fence, a little impressed with herself, before bounding down the bank of a lake, coming to a stop by a tree, gasping for air. She hid behind it, waiting for any sign of the two beasts. She didn’t have to wait long. She saw the two huge and dark figures run across the road, briefly visible in the cones of yellow light spewed down by the nearest lamppost. Liam was in what she could only describe as a full bound, and the wolf was sprinting low to the ground behind him.
“Liam!” Terry cried. The wolf was gaining, and it jumped onto his back. The bear roared in what Terry kne
w was pain as the wolf’s claws found flesh beneath the fur. The air rumbled with the sound of the bear’s cry, but still Liam kept going, with the wolf on his back.
“Bring him to me!” Terry shouted, and she looked around, frantic, desperate. She picked up a dry branch that had died and broken off the tree beside her. It would have to do. She held it up, ready to swing it, and she shouted to Liam again. “Bring him to me!”
The bear turned and started running toward her. She could see the wolf had clamped down on the back of his neck with its jaws, and she knew that she had only one shot at this to get him off. Liam was approaching her fast, and she pulled the branch back, and as they passed she swung.
The impact rumbled in her joints, shook her shoulders, and launched her backward onto the ground. The dry branch cracked and shattered across the hunter’s wolfen face, and the creature fell off the back of Liam, yelping as it rubbed at its eyes with its paws. With dust from the dead tree branch in the wolf’s eyes, Terry turned, clambered to her feet, and raced up the bank of the lake.
Hearing a low growl, she looked behind her, and saw that the wolf was in pursuit. She felt a thump of fear in her chest, and all the sounds of the night drained away. She could only hear the gravelly growling as it closed in on her.
“Liam!” she screamed. She couldn’t run anymore, completely out of breath, and she rounded a tree, moving left and then right, always keeping the trunk in between her and the wolf. “Liam!”
A great bellow erupted in the darkness, and it shook the very air. She looked to her left, saw the hulking figure of a bear charge out of the shadows. With her back to the trunk, she looked around the other side, heard a yelp so high pitched it made her hairs stand on end, and saw Liam had bitten into the side of the wolf, and was dragging the beast across the ground toward the lake.
Liam let go of the wolf, and Terry could see the dark blood spurting from the wolf’s wound. Missing from the wolf’s side was a huge chunk of flesh. The wolf was whining, legs pawing pathetically at the ground.
“Liam, are you okay?” Terry called out, leaning against the tree trunk. She watched as he shifted back into the shape of a man, stark naked, his hard body glistening with sweat.
“Stay there.” She swallowed and nodded, even though he wasn’t looking at her.
* * *
Liam glared down at Marcus. The giant wolf whimpered as blood shot out of a severed artery, hitting bushes meters away. He’d bitten down hard, had felt his teeth grate against the wolf’s rib cage. He got to his knees, panting, sucking in air from the exertion, and wiped the blood from around his mouth with the back of his arm.
“I told you I’d break you,” he shouted, angry still. The fight had dredged up old memories, and he was struggling to control the rage he felt for his hunter.
“Liam!” He snapped up and looked at Terry, still behind the tree.
“Stay there!” he ordered.
“Don’t hurt him anymore.”
Liam looked down at the wolf, and shook his head. The snarling and high-pitched protests of the broken beast were difficult to listen to. He got to his knees, pushed one against Marcus’ neck, immobilizing the wolf’s head, and he spread the fur around the chunk of flesh that was missing. A hole the size of a tennis ball, it was filled with blood, exposed yellow tendons, and white threads that he knew were nerves. Marcus would be in considerable pain.
“I told you I’d fucking break you,” Liam hissed. “This is going to hurt.” He reached into the wound, explored with his fingers, and the wolf howled in pain. He pressed his knee harder against wolf’s neck, turning its outcries to strangled gasps.
“Where are you,” Liam whispered to himself. He didn’t know where it would be, but he knew he’d know it when he found it. “Ah,” he breathed. He’d found the artery, large, rubbery, and slippery. He pinched it shut, stemming the flow of blood, and yanked it, pulling it out from under the blood pooling in the gaping wound.
“I could kill you now,” he growled, and he put his hand around the wolf’s neck and squeezed. “I told you not to do this, Marcus.”
The wolf snarled at him, tried to snap at him, and Liam let go of the artery and hit the wolf hard in the snout. He hit it again and again. The wolf yelped and whinnied.
“Liam, no!” Terry screamed. He could hear her running toward him, but he didn’t stop hitting the wolf until he had broken one of its teeth off. The skin on his knuckles was shredded. Replacing his knee on the wolf’s neck, he picked up the dagger-like enamel, an inch long, and he focused his attention back on the wound.
“I told you to stay there,” he said. He was angry that Terry hadn’t listened. “So get back there.”
“I’m not going to let you torture him,” Terry yelled. “Look what you did to his face.” She was standing on the other side of him, trying to look into his eyes.
“Go back,” Liam said, looking into the wound. The artery had receded again into the flesh, and so he had to dig his fingers inside and find it. He took his knee a little off Marcus’ neck, and the wolf’s howl of agony echoed in the night.
“Stop moving, Marcus.” He found the artery, pinched it shut again, stretched it out, and folded the end over, like an envelope flap. He pushed the tooth through the fold, piercing, with some difficulty, the rubbery artery walls, and stopping most of the blood flow. “I don’t know which one this is,” he said. “Marcus, I don’t know which artery this is!” He was looking at the wolf, trying to place where the artery would be if he shifted back into a man. But he couldn’t. “You’re going to need a doctor.”
The wolf responded only with a growl, and this time snapped backward, going for Terry’s feet. “I told you get back!” Liam bellowed at Terry. He saw her jolt. “Get back!” She nodded, and ran back to the tree she had been hiding behind.
“Do that again and I’ll kill you, Marcus.” Liam dug is knee in harder. “Leon is on the Indonesian border. He moves along it. He’ll still be there. Go find him. Talk to him. Stop doing what you’re doing. We’re one of the few left. We’re the last, Marcus. Talk to him. He’ll take care of you. But first, get your wound looked at, or I guarantee you that you’ll bleed to death.”
But Marcus only snarled, blood and saliva dripping from his snout and nostrils. Liam stepped back and the wolf got to its feet, its legs trembling. The wound was still leaking blood at an alarming rate, and Liam knew that Marcus wouldn’t be able to fight for much longer. He also knew that Marcus wasn’t giving up.
“Don’t fight me anymore, Marcus,” Liam warned. “You’re not going to beat me.” Liam squatted, changing into his bear form, and as he did so, as his skin stretched, he felt knifing pain on the back of his neck. So Marcus had wounded him, too. The adrenaline must have been numbing him.
Liam stared at the wolf. It was pacing left and right, limping on its left side where he had bit him. The wolf looked between Liam and Terry. Liam roared, but it was too late. The wolf set off at a sprint, aimed after Terry, savagery in its snarls.
* * *
Terry couldn’t remember a time when she had ever been as scared as she was at the moment the wolf went for her. It was odd, watching the huge and ferocious beast turn to her, in its eyes the look of someone who had killed before, something that had taken lives. She stopped hearing anything. She felt like she was in a movie, and everything was slowing down. She felt like eyes were trained on her, and she didn’t know what to do.
Instinct told her to run, but she knew the wolf would catch her. She looked up the tree, but she knew she could not climb it. She thought about trying to fight, but that would be a futile effort, and would only end with her death, which was where all the options present to her converged.
And though Terry did not consider herself a coward, though she often made the tough decisions, and had been told many times that she was a brave person, she felt no courage now. The icy fingers of fear were wrapped around her heart, and she couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t move, she couldn’t make a decision. She was frozen
, rooted to the ground like the tree beside her. It was all over. The only hope she had was Liam.
Behind the wolf, charging up the bank, the large body of a bear closed in on her. She looked from the bear to the wolf, then to the tree beside her. The wolf would probably jump, and thought, and so she bent her knees, lowered her center of gravity. The paralysis had ended, and she knew she wasn’t about to go down without a fight.
Claws raking the leafy ground, the wolf’s run had a hitch on the side that it was injured, and Terry, her mind racing even though it felt like time had slowed down, decided that was where she was going to go. The wolf, meters away, lowered its body to jump, and Terry dodged sideways to the right. The wolf, half-way into its leap, tried to correct left, but couldn’t. It yelped in pain as it tried to turn, and Terry felt the damp soil of the bank on her face, and she knew she had dodged the wolf.
She scrambled backwards, getting to her feet. The wolf was facing her again, saliva dripping from its mouth, tongue hanging out, swollen and red. It was panting, exhausted, and her eyes went to the wound.
Liam roared, and the wolf’s head snapped to its left, and Terry’s to her right. A dull thud preceded a dry crack, and the wolf slammed into the tree trunk. Liam had head-butted it. Immediately the wolf began to shift back into a man. Its body receded, its hair was sucked inward, and a torso revealed itself, muscular, chunky, and pale-skinned.
Liam shifted quickly, took three strides toward her, closing the distance fast, and wrapped her up in his arms, one hand on the side of her head, and he held her tightly.
“I’m sorry,” he said into her ear.
“Are you okay?” she asked, her voice trembling. She pushed her head off his sweat-slicked chest, looked up at him, and saw a stream of blood trickling over his shoulders. “Oh, Liam,” she said, and she touched his face and turned his head. The wound on the back of his neck was leaking crimson, and she could see the jutting white of a vertebrae. “Oh, Liam, it’s not good.”
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