by Kimber White
“He could have shouted,” I said. “He could have called the guards, or even drawn the attention of the prisoner in the cell next to him. He didn’t do that. He even covered for me when his cellmate thought he heard something.”
“That means nothing,” Melanie said. “Jett, come on. I’ve seen this before. We all have. They don’t ever come at you hard at first. Well, most of them don’t. It’s more subtle.”
She rose from the log and walked toward me. I kept my position against another oak tree, pressing my back into it hard. I looked away, wishing I could transport myself anywhere but here. If only it were that easy. We’d all heard stories that things were better outside of Kentucky. The Pack’s reach extended only so far. But, every time we’d ever tried to cross the border, we lost someone. Jade had been the last. My tears started to flow, bursting out of me unbidden. This was for her. All of it was for her.
“Jett,” Melanie said, softer. She stood right in front of me. Vera kept a watchful stare, ever protective of Melanie, even from me. She put a light hand on my arm. “Jett, look at me.”
Gritting my teeth, I did. Melanie had such a kind face with big, sad, blue eyes. She wore her blonde hair long, even in the sticky heat of summer. Smiling, she gathered her hair in one hand and turned so I could see the back of her neck. Melanie had a jagged, cruel scar at the nape. The edges were puckered and purple. It was a bite mark. Three years ago, a shifter had done that to her, binding him to her for life. It was a miracle that she managed to run away. Every day, she lived with the fear that he would find her. We all did. Keeping Melanie with us was a risk we took every single day.
“He was nice to me at first too,” Melanie said, letting her hair drop. “I thought he was my friend. He wasn’t like the rest of the men in Birch Haven. Quiet, reserved. He even took a beating for me. Did I ever tell you that? A group of shifters came after me, taunting me. Powell got in their faces. They outnumbered him four to one. They beat him so badly I thought he was dead. I thanked him. I thought I owed him something. He said he was going to get me out. Because, by then, I knew what that place was. He made me trust him. Then, he did this. It made him worse than the others, Jett. Because Powell made me believe there was hope and that there were others out there that weren’t like the Birch Haven shifters. It’s a lie though. This Gunnar? He’s lying to you too.”
I had a dozen arguments inside of me. I knew what the shifters of Birch Haven were like. I’d made friendships too only to see them twist into something else. I’d been lied to. Betrayed. I’d seen everything Melanie had except I’d been lucky enough to never be bitten. Of those of us who were left, Melanie alone bore that particular burden.
“I can handle it.” I heard the words come out of my mouth and knew exactly what it sounded like to the rest of them. I’d let myself feel hope again.
Vera threw her hands up. Before this little intervention started, Caroline and Melanie had made her promise to stay silent. The good cops were going to have a crack at me first. I had to give her credit for staying out of it for this long.
“Look,” I said, pushing myself off the tree. “I get it. Believe me. He’s a shifter. That makes him no different than any of the rest of them we’ve known. Except for one thing. He’s in that place. I’m not going to go so far to say the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Guys, I’m not stupid or naive. The fact that I’m still standing here breathing tells you that. But, he’s not part of the Pack. I know that for sure. He thinks for himself. For now. As long as that’s true, he’s of use to us.”
“I’ll make this simple,” Vera said. “You’re not going back there. Not ever. None of us are. It was a decent plan at first. If there had been a way to learn something about Birch Haven, we needed to try. You did. And you gave us more information about the tunnels than we had before. It was a success, Jett. I’m grateful. You’re a badass for all of that. But, it’s done now. We’re moving on.”
“We?” I asked. When Caroline and Melanie dropped their eyes, my back went up. There was something they weren’t telling me.
Vera put a hand up when Melanie tried to go to her. Of course, they’d preplanned this before too.
“We’ve been in Carter Hollow too long,” Vera said. “It’s time to head north, or maybe south. We’ve gotten complacent. It’s only a matter of time before the Pack figures out we’re here. If Birch Haven is gone, that might make things even more complicated. At least when they had that place...they were less likely to look for people like us.”
Everything Vera said made sense. It was something we’d talked about for weeks. We’d survived on our own this long in part because we stayed moving. Still, the thought of leaving Carter Hollow left a cold space in my heart. I walked along the beach. I don’t even think I made a conscious choice to do it, but I kept on walking.
I went up the hill, down an embankment, then stopped when I got to the small clearing on the north side. Deep in the Daniel Boone Forest, apple trees grew wild here in a place they shouldn’t. Some bird or other animal had probably brought the seeds here decades ago. They’d already borne their fruit for the year and several rotted, brown apples littered the ground. This seemed odd to me. Why hadn’t a squirrel or some other critter made off with them? It was almost as if the trees themselves had left them as an offering and the animals understood why.
I stood in front of the tallest tree and slowly squatted down. I brushed the fallen leaves out of the way and pressed my palm flat to the cool ground. Vera came up behind me. I wished she’d stay away for just a few minutes. She didn’t even seem able to give me that much peace.
“I know,” Vera said, her voice taking on an uncharacteristically soft tone. She put her hand on my shoulder.
“She was the best one of us,” I said, sniffing back the tears that wanted to fall all over again.
“I know that too.”
I looked up at Vera. “She died for me. Do you know that? That wolf was coming for me. Jade threw herself in his way. If she hadn’t, I’d be dead and you could have buried me here instead of her. And you know what? It wouldn’t have changed anything. You’d still be right here. Jade would be the one making runs to that prison camp and chasing down leads about her sister. I promised her, Vera. I promised her. It was the only thing that gave her any comfort that night. She died slow. You didn’t know that. Slow and painful. She stayed sharp the entire time. I think that was the worst thing.”
“Don’t,” Vera said. “Don’t tell me any more. I know enough.”
“That’s just it. You don’t know anything. Neither do I. Jasmine was in that fucking place. I know it, you know it, Jade knew it. I will keep my promise to her. No matter what.”
“No matter what? Are you kidding me? Jett, give me a break. If Jade were here right now, you know what she’d say? She’d tell you that you don’t risk the living for the dead.”
“Jasmine’s not dead! At least, we don’t know that.”
Vera shrugged. “She’s either dead, marked, or she got away. What difference does it make? If she’s dead or marked, we can’t help her. If she got free, then we need more help than she does.”
“I need to know!” I yelled, rising. “For Jade, I need to know. Dammit, I will know. You of all people. How the hell can you say we can’t help her if she’s been marked? You ready to say that about Melanie? Come on, Vera.”
“My life, Melanie and Caro’s lives, it’s not worth the cost of that knowledge. Yours isn’t either. Shit, Jett. It’s you and me. You know that. Caroline’s leg is getting worse. A wolf did that to her.”
“She fell out of a fucking tree, Vera!”
“Running from a filthy shifter. And Melanie, every night I lie awake terrified that the one who marked her is going to come back for her. She still feels him. She’s never told you that, but she tells me. I hold her in my arms when she cries out at night. Her scar burns with fever. She says that’s him. He’s trying to pull her back, and God, Jett. She wants to go! I’m terrified that one of these nights she will. We ca
nnot stay here. The longer we do, the easier it will be for the Pack to find us. You know that. And I can’t keep Caro and Mel safe by myself. I need you. You’re the only one as strong as I am. Hell, you’re stronger. You think I don’t know that? We have to take care of them. We can’t take care of Jade anymore. She’s gone.”
I stepped back, shaking my head. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. But, I have to do this. I have to know about Birch Haven. If it’s been burned to the ground like we think, then there’s hope. I could use a little hope, couldn’t you?”
“No,” Vera said coldly. “Hope is the last thing I need.”
I crossed my arms in front of me. “Then I’m sorry for you. I really am. You’re right about something. I am stronger than you are. I also know I can do this. I’m not leaving you, Vera. I’m coming back.”
“But you’re going,” she said, defeated. “You’re going back to that camp.”
I sucked in a deep breath then slowly let it out. “I am.”
Vera dropped her shoulders in defeat. “Then you need to know, we may not be here when you get back. I won’t risk it.”
“You think I’m under his spell?” I asked. “You think I’d do anything to put you at risk?”
“You already have.”
Vera threw up her hands and started walking away. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears. In all the years since we’d been on the run together, I think it was the first time I’d ever seen her moved that way. It pulled at my heart and scared me.
When Vera disappeared through the trees, I turned back to Jade’s grave. Everything Vera said made sense. I probably would have said those same things if the roles had been reversed. But, this was my role, not hers. When I had nothing left, I knew I could at least keep my promises.
Another promise made me rise.
My heart thundered inside of me. A slow, steady pulse ran through me. It felt different, but a part of me somehow. My head swam with it. When I closed my eyes, I could feel Gunnar’s touch on my wrist, a slow, irresistible burn.
When I opened my eyes again, I could see the moon. It was time to go. I had one more promise to keep.
Eight
Gunnar
They left me alone for most of the day. That was a bad sign. Then, they took me out of my cell. That was an even worse sign.
“Come on!” It wasn’t Maestro or Legs or even Buzzy asking. Two guards, Lowell and Henny, showed up clanging a lead pipe against the rusted bars in the square cut out of my door. The sound grated, ringing through my bones. Finn groaned on his side of the cell. His fingers splayed out beneath the wall. He was having a really bad day. He hadn’t kept what passed for a meal down in over twenty-four hours. I was starting to get worried.
“Get on your feet,” Lowell said. He was the biggest guy in the camp other than me. Or at least, what I used to be. I hadn’t seen a mirror in months, but my hipbones jutted out and my skin hung slack everywhere else. I was muscle and bone, nothing more.
Lowell had a voice that didn’t match his stature. It was high-pitched with a lateral lisp. He was burly, like a lumberjack, with dark hair and yellow eyes that burned gold when he couldn’t keep his wolf under control. Not one of these men had ever shifted around me. There had to be a reason for that. My guess was that the powers that be feared it would stir the prisoners too much. We’d be harder to control. There was always the possibility that the shift itself might kill one of us. From what little I could see of Finn beneath the wall, I didn’t see how he’d physically survive it.
I thought about giving Lowell a hard time. I ached so badly from yesterday’s session with Maestro, I just didn’t have it in me. He’d flown into a rage when my blindfold slipped. I didn’t see his face, but it didn’t matter. My ribs were taking longer to heal today. Even a kick from Lowell might send me over the edge. I hauled myself up to my feet, dragging the dragonsteel chains behind me.
“Miss me already?” I asked, my voice scratchy and dry. They hadn’t brought any of us dinner today. That right there should have been another bad sign if I’d had the energy to recognize it at the moment.
“Shut the fuck up, Gunnar,” Henny said. He opened the door. Henny was tall, skinny with long, stringy hair. He almost looked like he could have been a prisoner once himself for as dirty as he was. For all I knew, maybe he was. He stank too. Even Lowell wrinkled his nose when Henny got too close.
It was in me to ask what was going on, but something made me stop. I didn’t want to know. I didn’t want to give either of these assholes the chance to goad me anymore. For as hungry as I was, I felt mentally stronger today than I had in months. Jett was the reason. She’d kindled something deep inside of me, even though I knew that was dangerous.
She might be dangerous. There was still every possibility that she was another one of Maestro’s head games despite my gut feeling.
“It’s your lucky day,” Lowell said. “You’re moving up in the world, Gunnar.”
“Gunnar?” Finn’s voice filled with panic. That was unusual for him. I wanted to chalk it up to whatever sickness seemed to grip him.
“Take it easy, Finn,” I said, trying to make a joke of it. I caught a glimpse of Finn through the square in his door while Lowell led me out. What I saw made my heart lurch. Finn was losing weight, fast. He had angry sores on his wrists, ankles and elbows from where he rested on the floor and his chains scraped. His color was all wrong, sallow and gray. But, when Finn locked eyes with me, I almost dropped. One was brown and red-rimmed. The other glinted gold. I’d never seen that before. One human eye, the other all wolf. It didn’t usually happen like that. There was something very, very wrong with Finn. This wasn’t sickness; I feared it was brain damage.
“Where are you taking him?” Finn yelled.
“Not your business,” Henny answered. “Go back to sleep while you can. You look like kooky-eyed shit.”
“It’s okay, Finn,” I said raising a hand, I put a finger to my lips. “Don’t worry about anything.”
“You don’t get it,” Finn said. He found the strength to rise. He curled his fingers around the rusted bars and pressed his forehead to them. “This is what they do, man. Are you taking him to the pit?”
Lowell looked back. He answered with a smile. Well, shit. I didn’t know what the pit was, but was pretty sure I didn’t want to go there. Ever.
“Don’t let ‘em take you there. Gunnar! They don’t come back from the pit.” Finn started to scream it. “You go in as you, you come out as Pack!”
My heart turned to stone. I’d been hearing the rumors all week. The Alpha was coming. This was it.
Henny banged his stick on Finn’s door. Finn jumped back and stumbled. He didn’t have the strength to stand anymore. Henny and Lowell led me past Finn’s cell. For the first time in all the months since they brought me here, I saw into the other cells as well.
Rackham was next. He sat in the corner of his cell, knees drawn up. When our eyes met, his were cold and dark. He had a mass of reddish hair and a long, unkempt beard. He raised his chin and gave me a slow, solemn nod. Next to him was Jones. So he was real after all. Jones stood tall and defiant in the center of his cell. His eyes flashed silver as the guards pushed me forward. Jones had blond hair slicked back with sweat. His body was covered with angry welts in a familiar pattern. They were from Maestro. Jones raised his fist, knuckles out, as I went by. I raised mine back.
“Enough,” Lowell said, pushing me forward. The fifth cell was empty. They led me away, to the other side of the camp. A single cell stood all alone. It looked no different than the others: four cement footers beneath walls that didn’t quite reach the ground. The rusted metal door had a small opening near the middle covered by bars. It was slightly bigger than the others, maybe ten by ten.
Henny opened the cell door while Lowell shoved me inside. He looped my chains through a giant metal ring bolted to the floor, all of it made of dragonsteel. I tested the strength, but it was no use.
“Relax,” Lowell said. “I promise thi
s time tomorrow things will start looking up for you. You might even say it’s your lucky day.”
I couldn’t muster a response and didn’t want to give Lowell the satisfaction of knowing I was worried. But, as the door clanged shut, my mouth felt as though I’d swallowed ash. Lowell could only mean one thing by his taunting. If he was telling the truth, he figured I’d be subjugated into the Pack sometime in the next twenty-four hours.
The thing that scared me most was that a part of me wanted it. It would be so much easier. I’d felt and fought against the pull of the pack so many times. It called to me like a siren song. There would be no more pain, no reason to fight, I could give over to it, finally. I could have peace.
The price of that peace chilled me to my core. Subjugated wolves lived and breathed for the Alpha. He could make me fight for him, kill for him. And he could make me betray the people I cared about no matter how much my soul fought against it.
Now you’re thinking clearly. They’re not friends, Gunnar. You don’t need friends.
My heart dropped. No. No. No. I wouldn’t do it. The urge to conjure my friend’s names and faces pulled at me. He wanted their location most of all. I wouldn’t do it. I would not do it.
You know me. If you just let yourself believe it. I’m not your enemy. What I do I do for the strength of all of us.
“What you do you do for you? You’re sick. You kill innocent wolves and hurt women. For what?”
You can’t see the big picture. I can. Everything I’ve done makes us stronger. We’ve been hunted and cursed for so many years. I can undo all of that. I can bring back the she-wolves.
“No one can. Anything you try isn’t natural. It’s twisted. It’s evil.”
Again, the Alpha’s soft laughter drove out all other sounds. In the back of my mind, I knew the more I engaged with him, the stronger his hold might become. I quieted my thoughts. He held strong for a few moments, then quietly faded away.