“Okay, that gives us a few hours for her to sleep for two. It should be enough, her shift usually ends around four am.”
“So let’s say 5am, we’re out of here.”
“Okay. Five am.”
“The plan is to get you two to Hancock Place, observation deck, tallest building in New England, the main feature you need to focus on though, is there’s a skyscraper there with a helipad, which you and Tatum then fly back to New York from.”
“By Helicopter?” Wiatt asked surprised.
“Yeah, you got a better idea, let’s hear it.” Mike said crossing his arms over his chest.
“How do we get to the tower without being detected?”
“Taxi.” Mike replied simply.
“Taxi, helicopter, fly back home. Sounds simple. What are the risks?” Wiatt asked echoing Bg’s words back at Mike.
“You New York werewolves, you’re all the same huh? Bg asked me the same question.”
Wiatt smirked. “Bg’s smart like that. Good brain for strategy. I’m more about the execution of the strategy.”
“Uh, you’re the muscle for hire.”
“I’m the police.” Wiatt corrected Mike with.
“Protect and serve hey?” Mike said as they looked back at Tatum. “Okay then, we have to wait it out till Tatum shifts back. Once she does, we’re out of here.” Mike said rubbing his hands together. “Till then, I’m gonna line up the rest of the plan from my end and you and I are both going to take watch ensuring none of Harkness’s pack, target this hotel.”
“You think they’ll find us?”
“Depends on your thinking. I think it’s a starting point, if you haven’t already left the city and slipped out of their grasp, then I’d bet money on human thinking, and check all the hotels out for your where-a-bouts. Harkness’s pack, lack a fair amount of animal instinct, and have kept all their human ways of thinking and behaviors. So, yeah I think they’ll check the hotels.”
30
“Wake up,” Wiatt’s eyes snapped open and he looked straight into the face of Mike Basinger who was leaning over him. A hand on his shoulder. Wiatt looked at the hand and Mike removed it quickly. “Get up, we got company.” He said softly. Wiatt looked at Tatum sleeping next to him and back at Mike. Mike nodded his head towards the room window. Wiatt got up quickly, looking at the wolf sleeping under the covers he’d put over Tatum before falling asleep beside her. Pushing off the bed he went to the window and glanced through curtain material.
“I heard the car and came to have a look. I recognize them.” Mike said pointing out the window. “Definitely Harkness pack.”
“Can they track for shit?” Wiatt asked him. “Because that would be the fastest way to figure out where we are.”
“I don’t know about that.” Mike said. “But look which way they’re headed, back of the hotel, which is where you’re fire exit opens out onto. If they come up the fire escape level by level, they got you beat in an instant. We need to move.”
“But the helicopter’s not set up for now,” Wiatt said glancing at the beside clock, it was three am, two hours before they were due to put they’re plan into motion.
“We could fight them here, but then that kind of thin isn’t quiet and attracts a fair bit of attention that’s going to require a lot of explaining especially if the humans call the authorities on you. Or we could just leave, hide out for another tow hours, or you know, push the departure date up early, I can get my guy to do that if you two can get there to The Hancock.”
Wiatt glanced back at the sleeping wolf on the bed. “I can’t expect a pregnant wolf to run and follow my orders without freaking out and going into survival mode of her own. No. We make a stand here. Werewolves don’t run.”
“Yet you did earlier right?” Mike whispered fiercely pointing to Tatum.
“Had no choice with that. But now I do.” Wiatt said slapping Mike on the shoulder. “I have you. A shifter.” Wiatt said looking meaningfully at Mike.
“Okay, so we fight it out.” Mike muttered back at him, slipping off his jacket and rolling up his shirt sleeve cuffs. “Tell me you didn’t book under name here.”
“Of course not. Now, you’re a shifter, you can confuse their scent trail.” Wiatt said back at him.
“What?”
“Werewolves can’t properly scent shifters. Lycans can’t either, I know because Tatum couldn’t settle her nose on the shifter scent either, earlier on.”
“Alright, supposing that works. How do I confuse their scent trail?” Mike whispered at him.
“You make sure our room does not smell like wolf, the outside door, the door handle, all of the immediate doorway area.” Wiatt said back at him. “Shift or mark you’re territory or whatever it is you need to do.”
“Okay, but you need to be prepared to fight, regardless, if you’re not going to move her.” Mike said back at Wiatt as he looked around the room. “Give me those coffee packets.” Wiatt reached across form the buffet area where the tea and coffee display was and handed the sachet packets to Mike. He opened them and sprinkled them around the door entrance, crushing them into the carpet with his shoes.
“What the hell?” Wiatt whispered at him fiercely.
“You know how coffee beans confuse drug sniffer dogs?” Mike whispered, grinding coffee into the carpet. Well it will be the first thing they smell, then if they get past that,” Mike said taking off his shoes and pulling off his socks, “Then they’ll smell me and assume it’s human body order or something.” He said kneeling down on his hands and knees, and dragging his socks over the carpet behind the coffee lined area. “Hopefully.” He stood back up, opening the room door and dragging his feet over the immediate doorway area on the other side and wiped the door and door handle with his socks. Closing the door again, and dropping his socks on the carpet just as the sound of the fire escape door opening beside their room made a noise. Mike stayed still where he was, and looked back at Wiatt indicating he should be quiet and still. Holding his fist up in an army sign for hold.
They watched as the light outside their room door, flickered with the movement of people walking past. Seconds stretched on and Wiatt all but held his breath as he stood as stationery as he could. Calming his heart beat rate down. Who knew what abilities the Harkenss lycans had. Whilst Mike seemed to think not to highly of the lycan pack, didn’t mean they didn’t have the expected wolf abilities that Werewolves and even some Alpha lycans had been known to have. Like great tracking through scent skills, or the ability to hear heartbeats from short distances.
They both watched the bottom of the doorway as the footsteps walked past their room and faded away further down the outside hallway. Both men held position as they listened till the sound of the elevator ding, indicated their unexpected guests had left the ground floor level.
Wiatt let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding and Mike moved to the room door opening it. “There is two things to think about now,” He said opening the door and sticking his head out and looking left. “Whether we stay or….wolf!” Mike yelled flying backwards into the room, as he was barreled over without warning by a another wolf. Wiatt’s body tensed as his nostrils flared “Lycan.” He growled, shape shifting his hands to wolf paws and flexing the large claws that he was concentrated on extending dramatically.
Tatum awoke, springing to her feet on the bed, growling and barking as she flicked the sheet covering her off. Ripping them at it as she snarled at the intruder lycan, wrestling with Mike. “Tatum, stay back” Wiatt yelled at her over his shoulder as she barked. “Tatum!” Wiatt yelled again, ensuring he got the wolf’s attention. Waiting till her eyes landed on him. “Stay there.”
Mike was groaning and struggling with the lycan on top of him when Wiatt leapt at the beast, spearing his extended claws out in front of him piercing the animal’s side and knocking it sideways off Mike. Wiatt watched as the lycan snapped trying to bite and smack his nozzle into him. Wiatt strained his neck back, just out of the reach of the beas
ts jaws. Tatum continued to snarl and bark and as he tumbled over the lycan, loosing site of Mike.
Fur, claws, carpet, hair and blood was the scents that filled Wiatt’s nostrils as he fought with the lycan on the floor, fucker was strong and a decent fighter. But Wiatt had a lifetime of channeling anger and strength under his belt. It was how he became the enforcer in the pack. The lycan enforcer. When Wiatt applied himself to something, he did it wholly, he knew no other way. Which is what gave him his reputation, which some lycans seemed to try and want to test to see if it was real. Tatum’s barking had not stopped and Wiatt knew two things, if he didn’t get on top of this lycan soon, Tatum would wade into the fight, no matter what he did. They were making enough noise in the hotel room to attract far too much human attention. Which would just complicate matters in ways Wiatt did not need.
Wiatt looked into the eyes of the lycan and growled snapping his werewolf teeth towards the lycan, the wolf jerked back pulling Wiatt with him into a sitting position. Waitt let out a loud yell as he shoved the wolf’s neck backwards, pushing the animal’s jaws, so it fought the constraints of it’s natural flexibility. Piercing the underside of the lycan’s jaw, Wiatt slid four talon like claws into the soft underside, hooking into the struggling beast and flipping himself round, Wiatt pulled down hard. And listened to the yelp and wet snap of the lycan’s neck breaking.
“Ugh,” He panted and pulled his claws out quickly. Wiatt threw the lycan off him and looked around the room at the rest of the noise and action. His eyes widened as he took in the sight of four wolves, one of them had to be Mike but he didn’t know which one. Both fights were happening on opposite sides of the room.
The only one he recognized was the wolf trapped into a corner leaping out and backing up and barking at another lycan who kept barking and leaping back at her, terrorizing his future wife as she kept trying to get past the lycan.
Looking around the room and over at the dinner tray, Wiatt picked up the steak knife off the plate. Marching over to the taunting lycan who had Tatum cornered in one part of the room, he swung the steak knife down as the lycan who barely had time to turn his head, to recognize, what was happening to him, was pierced hard and straight into the eye socket. Leaving the knife in the eye of the wolf, Wiatt shifted his hands to claws as the lycan dropped to the ground and driving his claws into the other wolf, began to tear at him, till he was open and apart, with his insides spilling outside of his body. When he was sure the lycan was dead he looked up at Tatum’s wolf who was pacing on her feet, but quiet.
“Come on Tay, we got go.” Wiatt said looking at her, holding eye contact with the cornered wolf before him. “Trust me Tatum, you can trust me.” Wiatt said softening his voice and ignoring the sounds of continued fighting on the other side of the room. Reaching towards Tatum earned him a loud bark and bared teeth as Tatum growled at him. Wiatt backed down and lowered his body slightly, he didn’t want to appear to be a threat to her in her confused state. “Come on Tay, it’s me, Wiatt.” He said softly, lowering his chin down and looking up at her. “I love you baby, and I don’t want to fight you but we got to go.” Wiatt muttered softly as Tatum continued to pace on her feet. Wiatt reached out slowly, sliding one hand across the floor towards her. “Come on baby, come back to me, it’s Wiatt.” He said resting his bloody and cut hand under her.
Tatum looked down at the hand on the floor and lowered her nose to it, sniffing it at first and then licking at the skin. Wiatt reached up and rubbed her neck. “That’s my girl.” He said rubbing her and looking across at the other side of the room which was now silent, except for panting. Wiatt stood up and tapped his leg, indicating Tatum should follow him. He looked over at the far side wall and another crumpled and blood lycan body and Mike Basinger, sitting back against the wall, clothing torn but still covering him, bloody and scratched up.
“You alright?” Wiatt asked him. Mike gave him the thumbs up sign. “We need to move, now.”
“Agreed.” Mike panted and pushed up off the wall. “Time line just got accelerated.” Mike replied pulling his cell phone out of his jacket pocket. “I need evac in twenty minutes.” He said into the phone looking at Wiatt before clicking the phone off. “Time to hustle. It’s going to take us almost an entire twenty minutes to get to the tower from here. And we’ve already done enough to alert to many authorities to us being here.”
Wiatt nodded his head and looked down at Tatum, standing beside him. “No time for shifting?”
“None.” Mike answered him. “She needs to be flight ready in twenty minutes.” He said striding towards the door and looking out. “Come on,” He said waving his hand and disappearing out of the door frame suddenly.
31
With Tatum in front of him Wiatt hastily grabbed a bag with clothes for her and his wallet and cell phone, before bolting out of the some what massacred hotel room littered with dead wolf bodies. They ran across the parking lot and towards Mike who was leading the way back out to the road. There was no time to stop and worry about the clean up mess or how it would all be explained when the authorities eventually caught up to him. Because they would, it was after all a human world they lived in and a hotel wasn’t normally the place for a slaying of wolves. It wasn’t like that couldn’t be brushed aside.
“Across there, see those trees?” He said pointing across the four lanes of traffic before them to the other side of the road.
“Yeah.” Wiatt replied glancing down at Tatum beside him as she sniffed around them.
“That’s the start of the park, it’s a risk, but we need to hide Tatum if we’re going to make it across town to the tower. And the park, backs onto another one, we cut diagonally across here, there’s less traffic intersections and cars and people to run into and we’re half way there.” Mike explained.
“And the inhabitants of the parklands,”
“A few homeless they won’t interfere with us. But we could encounter shifters, lycans, and any other number of paranormals who take to the parks. It’s like a free zone in the parklands, Harkness’s pack stick to their areas for the most part, only come out when they have to. Having said that,” Mike said looking down at Tatum’s wolf and back up at Wiatt. “He has a reason now and we know his pack is out on patrol.”
“You’re sure it’s the quickest way to the tower?”
“Yep.”
“Alright, let’s go.” Wiatt said slinging the duffel weekender bag over his shoulder. “Tatum,” Wiatt said kneeling down beside the lycan wolf. “I want you to stay beside me, the whole time and If I tell you to run, you run out of there, away from me. You got that?” He said scratching her behind her ears.
“Nothing quite like a night run.” Mike muttered starting off as he looked up and down the road and ran across it to the median strip in the middle and looked back at Wiatt who jogged across with Tatum following beside him. “You sure you can get her flight ready when she needs to be?” Mike asked as they cut across the second half of the road together.
“You just worry about getting us to the tower, I’ll worry about my fiancé and pup.” Wiatt said as they hit the edge of the first park and began running past the park lights of the edges, into the darkness that seemed to swallow them up the further inwards they ran away from the light. Looking down he saw Tatum keeping up the sprinting pace with him, she in fact looked like she was ready to outsprint him in one big burst should it be needed.
The deeper into the parkland they ran, the darker it became, and the more Wiatt noticed movement in the shadows. That wasn’t natural or part of the landscape. The inhabitants were attracted to the action that was in their land. Wiatt didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing, as he hadn’t spotted any eyes on them, but he could make out silhouettes that seemed to blend and blur into the dark shadows and hidden spots of the unlit parts of the park.
“See the light,” Might panted pointing ahead of them. “That’s the edge of this one and the next traffic intersection.”
He refused to go o
ff mission. It was his duty to get Tatum and the pup out of Boston safely and he didn’t have time to stop and wonder what might happen. If the hidden inhabitants of the park didn’t like his little motely pack running through their hood, then they were going to have to take a damn ticket and get in line.
“Come on Tay.” Wiatt chorused at the wolf keeping stride with him as they picked up the pace. Wiatt could see from his peripheral vision that the inhabitants seemed to be moving inwards, becoming slightly more visible. But he didn’t care, the light was touching the ground under his foot and they were running through the barrier of the hidden into the world he knew again as they came to the edge of the park and to the side walk and next city road.
Wiatt pulled up sharply as did Mike and Tatum between them. They watched the traffic moving across the road and kept assessing gaps in movement for getting across.
“You got point.” Mike said at him gesturing towards the road. Wiatt frowned; sprinting through traffic with a pregnant wolf wasn’t what he wanted to do. It was way too risky, if Tatum couldn’t move quick enough or a car didn’t hit the breaks in time. The flow of traffic around them was heavy at present and Wiatt felt time ticking away.
“We wait.” Wiatt issued to Mike. “Risk of Tatum getting hit is too high.”
“Why don’t we just carry her across?” Mike said shrugging his shoulders.
Wiatt looked at him as his eyebrows shot up. “Try and go near her, just try, I dare you.” Wiatt said at him looking down at the wolf beside them. “She’ll bite your damn face off. She’s already been under attack tonight and now she’s running and she knows why. See how trying to play nice with a defensive female wolf goes for you.”
Mike put his hands up in the air. “Okay, no touching.” He looked back behind them and saw the silhouettes of curiosity moving about more freely in the still hidden shadows of the park behind them. “But we can’t stand here out in the open, we’re wasting time and vulnerable.”
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