by Mandy Rosko
"Thanks." Mike walked to the driver's side.
Westley raised an eyebrow at him. "Something I can help you with?"
What the Hell? "Can I get in so I can drive it out?"
Westley stroked the wheel. "See that's the thing. Even if it is my truck and even if I do give you the keys, Gordon will still lose his top at having you leave without his say so. Plus it's my truck and no one drives my truck. I'll take you to wherever you need to go."
Unbelievable. "How is that going to be any better? He'll just think I tricked you into coming, or even kidnapped you."
"Not really. I already told him I'm leaving."
"What?"
Westley nodded and rubbed his forehead with his thumb. "It's why he went out on his run. He’s pissed. I figured it’d be better if I was gone before he came back."
Mike couldn’t believe it, not that it was any of his business whether the boy wanted to leave home or not. He was more than old enough to make that kind of decision, but it just threw another thing he thought he knew about werewolves in the ditch. "I thought packs were important to you. To all werewolves, I mean."
Westley shifted. "It is, and I'll miss everyone. But I made the decision to bond with a dragon. I didn’t do it by accident. I just did it.” He looked down at his hands. “It’s time I lived with that decision.”
Westley inserted the key and started the ignition. The engine roared to life like an excited animal loose from its leash.
Mike ran to the other side and hoisted himself into the truck, savoring the feel of the warm leather seat that greeted him.
He sighed. “Heated seats?”
“Mmhmm.”
Jealousy reared its ugly head as Mike admired the GPS in the dash. It sat under a black Sirius Satellite Radio with color screen. Mike wondered if he could get away with knocking Westley out of the truck and driving it home on his own.
He shook his head and changed his mind pretty damn fast. It wouldn’t look right if he stole a truck, being a cop and all.
Westley reached above his head and pressed a button built into the truck's ceiling. The garage door lifted, spilling bright, natural light that drowned the artificial light of the bulbs.
Chris stood waiting for them, standing casually as though his accident never occurred with a heavy bag over his shoulder. He jogged to the passenger side first, then scoffed when his eyes met Mike's. "Oh, I see how it is." He threw the bag in the back before jumping in with it. "He gets to sit up front while I'm stuck back here."
Mike stretched, making sure he looked good and comfortable. “That’s exactly how it is.”
“I was gravely injured in case you forgot. Should I really be in the back of a truck?”
"You'll live. Slide your window up, cop." Westley drove the truck out onto the property. A few people stopped at the sight of the truck but no one seemed to see Mike through the tinted windows. Realizing they were probably staring at the dragon in the back, Mike heaved a sigh as they moved towards the gate.
Chris peeked through the little window when they didn't stop. "Are we bringing Anne?"
Mike's chest constricted, like a machine had just sucked the air right out of it. He didn't want to leave her behind. She probably didn't know that he meant to leave right away when he exited the room.
Knowing her, she’d be angry when she found out. He could already picture her breaking something or picking a fight with a member of her pack. But, if Hadrian found out they were married…
Mike straightened in his seat and forced the pain under his ribs down to a dull ache. "No. It's just us."
Westley pulled a cell phone from a compartment above his head and tossed it to Mike. "Better call for your backup then, 'cause I don't think we're going to make it very far before your wizard friend finds us."
FOURTEEN
"Where's Mike?"
"Oh, he went with Westley to Gordon's cabin. Might still be there waiting for him."
Anne breathed a sigh, thankful that a nosey busybody like Fanny would pay enough attention to the lives of other people to know where her husband went.
"Thanks, I'm just going to get him." She couldn’t let him leave. They hadn’t known each other long, but she felt something for him. He must feel something for her too.
There were too many moments alone where something would’ve happened had it not been for an interruption. Too many times her body buzzed when he touched her.
He couldn’t leave her with something like that unfinished. Her grandpa’s story brought her courage and she wouldn’t go for the rest of her life regretting her lost love.
"Hope you're enjoying your honeymoon!" Fanny called, loudly enough that anyone not sitting indoors with their windows shut would hear them.
She wished she were enjoying her honeymoon. She had to find her husband and convince him not to leave before that could happen.
Anne made it to the porch steps and jogged up when Gordon slammed the door open and stormed out. His eyes found hers, his feet smashed against the wood beneath his feet as he trampled towards her. His gaze locked her in place.
"Where are they?" He roared.
"I—they ... what?" Anne said when she untangled her tongue. Never had she seen Gordon's face that shade of red before, or the veins in his neck popping out from his neck to his head.
He slammed his fist down on the wooden rail, splintering the polished beam with a crack. Anne flinched away from the flying wood chips. "You know exactly who I mean! Westley's truck is gone! He and that dragon aren't here anymore. Where are they?"
Anne stopped breathing. She forgot how to make her lungs work. Westley and Chris left? Without telling her?
Her heart accelerated and the extra blood made her head swim.
That was what Westley had been talking about back at his cabin. It wasn’t about breaking up with Chris, it was about leaving.
He actually did it. Westley did what Anne couldn’t do.
He left his pack.
Then another thought occurred to her and the blood rushed out of her face as quickly as it had rushed in. "Where's Mike?"
"I'm not asking about him!" Gordon exploded. "Where is my son?"
Just like that, she knew Mike left without saying goodbye too. Went with Westley and Chris to wherever it was they were going.
But Mike thought he was endangering the pack, he wouldn't travel with them for long. Probably enough for him to get another car so he could get back to the city.
The thought that they had the courage to leave, to get out from under Gordon's thumb sizzled her blood. It brought Anne a courage she didn't know she possessed to stand up to her pack master. "I don't know where he went. Probably to get married to Chris before you could marry him off to someone else."
Gordon’s face turned such a dark shade of red it neared purple. "If he wants to inherit any of this then he better not have," he hissed, stomping back to the house.
It was a clear dismissal. Anne ignored it and followed him, pushing past passed the door before it could slam in her face. "Did it ever occur to you that he doesn't want any of this?"
Gordon kept walking. "Get out of here, girl."
Anne fought against the instinct that commanded her to obey. "Westley doesn't want to be pack master. He was big enough to admit that he wouldn't be good at it and wanted you to hand it to someone else."
He stopped and spun. "Are you deaf? I said leave. Now!"
Anne's feet twitched. They wanted to walk out the door, but she forced herself to stay as though they had been nailed to the floor. "Who the Hell do you think you are? Telling me to get married to someone I don't love? Westley could never love me like that, and you knew it. You only wanted him to get married to keep him from leaving the pack with a dragon, and look where that got you. He left anyway."
He turned. His feet were heavy as he stomped towards her. The strike of his hand stung her cheek. Anne's head snapped to the side with the force of the blow that would’ve taken the head off a normal girl.
Go
rdon had never hit her before.
Guess that meant the whole princess thing was finally over.
She looked at him, his face still twisted with angry rage. He pointed at the door behind her. "Get out."
Her face burned. She turned and left Gordon's house without another word.
Embarrassment flooded her as she shut the door behind her. She accomplished nothing. She didn't teach him a lesson, open his eyes, or make him see the error of his ways. He was a pack master. He could do no wrong.
“Annie!”
Anne’s head shot up and her eyes widened. Bud was running towards her, a mountain bike thrown carelessly to the ground behind him.
She rushed down the porch steps to meet him. “Bud, what are you doing here?” She couldn’t stop her grin, maybe he had a message from Mike.
“Was looking for my brother. I need to talk to him. Where is he?”
Maybe not.
She hated being the bearer of bad news, could already see his disappointment in her hesitation. Anne wet her lips. “He’s—”
A rough scream halted her. She turned her head just as the humans of her pack ran in one direction while the werewolves shifted to their wolf forms and ran in the other, only to be blasted by a red light and sent flying.
Bud jumped in front of her. “What the fuck!”
Her mouth dropped as Hadrian came into view, in broad daylight, with no shadow men to guard him. His body glowed a raging red while ruby colored lightning crackled and sparked around his body.
He stood erect and proud like a king; like he owned everything he was destroying.
Where did he get all this power from?
Anne grabbed Bud’s arm. He couldn’t be here! He’d get hurt. “Bud, run away from here. As fast as you can. Don’t come back.”
The kid didn’t move. He stood transfixed as though hypnotized. “Who’s that guy?”
Hadrian licked his lips, repeatedly. He wanted blood. He wanted Mike's blood. Because he thought that Mike was his enemy and the enemy needed to be destroyed.
But he wasn’t. It was her grandpa. If he figured it out, Hadrian would go for Bill.
“He’s not a friend, Bud. He’s a bad man with power. Now run before he sees you.”
Bud tried to surge forward, towards the blasting, but her grip tightened and she yanked him back.
He looked at her as though confused at her strength. “I can help!”
Was he insane? “No you can’t!”
“I’m psychic like my brother! I can help you!”
Anne gaped. Psychic like Mike? Was Bud hit by a car too?
"Where is he?" Hadrian shrieked, another bolt of red lightning flew from his hand and clashed with the little cottage that she and Mike first shared. It exploded under the assault, a mushroom cloud rose into the air as though a miniature nuclear bomb had been set off. "Where is Edward? I want him now!"
He flung out his arm again, targeting a pickup truck. The lightning struck and the gas tank exploded. The truck hopped into the air with the force, came down and— stopped about two feet off the ground and stayed there.
What the—?
Bud’s arm was outstretched, his fingers crimped as though he held something in them.
The truck. Anne couldn’t believe it. Bud was serious. But, he wasn’t psychic, he was telekinetic.
Hadrian's eyes found Anne's, as though an invisible force pulled them there.
Anne's body tensed under the stare. She didn't know if it was his magic or her fear that kept her legs from working.
His lips moved. Not a sound came out but she could still read them.
"You."
He started his sinister march towards them.
Bud flung out his arm. The truck shot towards Hadrian as though it had been thrown by a giant with a major league pitcher’s arm.
Some kind of shield made contact with the truck before it could touch Hadrian’s body. He kept moving, undeterred and focused.
Bud had the decency to look afraid.
Her legs caught up with her brain and she grabbed Bud’s arm. “Time to go!” She launched herself away from Gordon's cabin and in the opposite direction of Hadrian. Pulling her shirt off, she threw it away with her bra, preparing to change into her wolf form.
“What are you doing?” Bud yelled. His eyes were round as they bulged down at her nipples. Anne didn’t have time to explain that mind readers and psychics like him weren’t the only things in the world. She needed to go wolf and she needed to do it now.
Hadrian teleported directly in front of her as she worked on her pants.
Too close! She couldn't stop! Anne screamed as her entire body collided with his. The weight of her impact didn't jar him. It was like crashing into a boulder.
His fingers curled around her arms in a crushing grip. Anne threw her body weight into yanking herself free. She felt like she was fighting against a cyborg with all the good it did her.
"Undressing yourself for me already?" Hadrian leered. He bent his head to stick his crooked nose in her hair, inhaling deeply before pulling away. "My love, you shouldn't have."
Jesus. He thought she was Luna!
“Let her go!” Bud threw his arm out, willing his telekinetic energy through his hand and to her attacker.
Nothing happened.
He scrunched his face and tried again.
Still nothing.
Hadrian put out his hand this time, pointing his open palm at Bud. Terror spiked in Anne’s chest.
“Child, you bore me.”
“No!”
An invisible blast flew out of Hadrian’s hand and knocked into Bud’s chest. He went into the air, soared as though he were flying, then came down hard across the compound. His body rolling and skidding, his limbs limp and lifeless as though he were a puppet with its strings cut off.
Anne sobbed at the sight of his unmoving body. With renewed effort she struggled in Hadrian’s grip. "Let go of me, you freak! I'm not Luna! I'm not Luna!"
“Oh, but you are.” He laughed, a maniacal thing. “He wed you, so you must be. I thought there was a resemblance when I first laid my eyes upon you. That you could be born into this shell to attempt to find him had never occurred to me.”
His cold, spidery hand gripped her bare breast.
Anne went nuts. She thrashed. Screamed. Forced her change. The jeans she wore might suffocate her but she would take the risk.
Her fangs came first, hair grew from her body as her fingers turned into claws. She went for his eyes.
Hadrian shook her once. The force snapped her head back and made her bite her tongue when her teeth cracked together. She tasted blood in her mouth and moaned, the change reversing without her concentration to keep it going.
Hadrian's face held no more love for her. He sneered at her as though he wished to beat her. "I'm using the last of my power to come here. Do not insult me by transforming into that disgusting creature, or I won't be so gentle with you in the future."
In the future when his power was gone and her strength would outmatch his, Anne would break him in half for what he was doing to her.
"Now," Hadrian started, taking a breath. "Where is that pathetic little peasant? Where is Edward?"
An image of her grandfather came to mind, but it replaced itself with Mike right away.
He still doesn't know that Mike isn’t the first werewolf.
She shook her head. She wanted to tell him that Mike went to Mexico to hide but her swollen tongue and blood in her mouth made her feel as though she were trying to speak under water.
"Where is he?" Hadrian shook her again. Anne clamped her teeth shut so she wouldn't bite her tongue again.
Hadrian gripped her arms so tightly they went cold before she lost all feeling in them. The spots where his nails dug into her skin drew blood, burned, and stung.
She shook her head again and opened her mouth, forcing the words passed her tongue. "Gone ... he's gone."
"Gone?" Hadrian spat the word. "Where did he go?"
/>
A strong voice answered for her. "Michael is not your cursed serf, Hadrian. And my granddaughter is not Luna."
Anne's eyes widened. Bill? No! What was he doing?
He stood there, barely five feet away, holding the glowing moonstone in both hands as though it would protect him from the crazy wizard bent on destroying anyone who so much as looked like the man he cursed a thousand years ago.
Hadrian glanced at him before turning back to Anne, deciding the older man was not worthy of his time. "You know naught of what I seek, you old fool. Place that stone on the ground and leave before I have you killed."
The shifting sound of a shotgun being cocked drew his attention two inches to the right. A long, steel barrel pointed at his eye.
Gordon held the weapon with authority, his eyes fixed unblinkingly on Hadrian.
Anne cheered inside her head. As long as Bill got out of here alive, she would never question Gordon for his worth as a pack master again.
"Nice how you stop to pay attention when there's a giant gun pointed at your head," Gordon said.
Hadrian kept his eyes on Gordon's face, his long fingernails were removed from the skin on Anne's arms as he released her.
With no one forcing her to stand, her legs gave out. She landed on her ass. A pair of hands went under her armpits, picked her up, and pulled her along. She struggled against the pulling. "No...Bill."
"I'll get him next. You're hurt."
Anne stopped struggling at the sound of Brock's deep voice. She looked at his face, one side bruised, swollen, and split open right under the eye from the attacks Hadrian launched.
"Your jaw. It’s exactly the same."
Anne stopped, refusing to be pulled along so she would see what Hadrian was talking about.
Despite the gun in his face, Hadrian advanced on Gordon. His eyes staring and unusually wide. It was creepy.
Brock growled as their master backed up a step.
"Take one more step and I'll shoot you in the face," Gordon warned, eyes flashing yellow.
Hadrian shrieked and raised his hand. "You look like him! You look like Edward!"