“Trust me Brianna, we’ll get to you. Let me know if anything changes. I’ll see you soon,” I close my eyes and try to imagine the scene she has painted for me.
“What’s wrong?” Parker’s voice penetrates my thoughts.
I was quiet for a moment before answering. “Why?”
“Your glowing eyes are a little creepy,” Shaynie blurts out.
“Spit it out wolf,” Arien says.
“I just heard from Brianna, Pru’s in bad shape.”
“What about Brianna? Is she hurt?” Marc demands.
I shake my head ‘no’ and lean forward with my elbows on my knees. “She’s zip-tied to a pole. It’s Pru who’s hurt. She thinks Pru’s ribs, arm, and her leg is broken. Thankfully, she’s still unconscious.”
“They’re all dead,” Parker growls.
“No doubt,” Arien responds.
****************
We land in the middle of what looks like a sheep farm pasture. Sheep are circled around us like a crazed sheep fan club awaiting their favorite werewolves. One hundred feet away is another black hawk with five men dressed in Army fatigues. I’m not sure how we scored another helicopter filled with US Army Green Berets, but I’m not going to complain. Dolly once told me that the US Military is filled with supernaturals, especially werewolves. They leave their packs to protect our secrets. With them on the inside, we find out about threats before they happen.
“She’s here,” Arien announces.
“Yes I am,” a girl no more than 18 says. Her raven black hair is slicked back into a ponytail. She has so much black make-up around her eyes it looks like she should hang out with Edward Scissorhands. But it’s her eye color that gives her the cat-like look. They are richly golden with a slit pupil. How she hangs around humans and them not notice those haunting eyes is beyond me.
“Ard, these are the wolves. Wolves, this is Ard. Don’t piss her off, and you’ll not get your ass kicked by a 110 lb cat.”
“Nice to meet you, I’m Abel.”
“Pleasure,” she replies and does a semi-curtsy.
“What can you tell us about these guys?” I watch her as she twitches like a squirrel as she talks.
Ard cocks her head to the side and studies my face before answering. “These guys are evil doers who don’t care about your friends or their own friends. I’m sure the only reason they’re still alive is someone has information that Tao wants. Tao always wants something. He’s been obsessive about you since the performance in Paris when you stopped the vampires. No offense Arien-doll, but it had to be done. Tao wants you, Abel, and he wants your power. Someone, I don’t remember who, but someone told him that he could obtain your powers since he’s a werelion. I have no idea if that’s true or not, but he thinks it is, and that’s all that matters. Everyone else here is collateral damage. Someone close to the Phelan Pack has sold out to him though. I don’t care about any of it, I’m here for the money and hopefully to get a chance to kill Tao. The Council frowns on it when we kill one another. God, I want a burger, I haven’t eaten all day.” Ard gives me a toothy smile, the kind that lets me see her canines glistening with spit.
“I’ll get you however many burgers you want after we get finished. What exactly can you help us do?” I look at my watch, time is ticking away fast.
She looks up at me as though I just called her mama a name. “What can I help you with? First off, I don’t need to be here. I know how his operation runs, you’re lucky to have me.” Her pupils narrow as she fusses at me. “If you want to live, follow me.”
“Of course, I’m sorry.” My hands go up in front of me. “You and Marc are with me. Parker and Shaynie, I want you to get Pru and get her out of there. The rest of you are to find the captures and take them into custody. Avoid killing anyone, but if there’s a threat to anyone, do what is needed. Once we get the girls out, Mark and Shaynie will go with them back to Kilkenny. The rest of us will take care of the terrorist group.” I slide on a pair of black Kevlar tactical gloves that came with my Kevlar vest and helmet. Everyone is wearing them except Arien. I guess being immortal means you don’t need to be careful.
It takes us almost ten minutes to cross the field and sneak up on the warehouse. This is almost too easy. Why doesn’t he have any charms to keep us out? Instead, it’s as though they have a big sign welcoming us in.
“Brianna….we’re here.”
“That’s the best news I’ve heard all day. Be careful.”
“I need to know what part of the building you’re in, could you make some noise?”
“Okay.”
I open my mind up to communicate with everyone.
Before we have a chance to go in, one of the army guys catches up to me. He has a Red Cross band around his arm. He’s a doctor.
“Sir, I’m Dr. Dawson, I’m here to help your injured person. I’m from the Dawson pack in North Carolina.” Dr. Dawson is one of the rugged cowboy types, he’s about my size and twice my age.
“Good, we’re going to need you.”
“Everyone - Brianna should be making noise to let us know where she’s at inside the building. Don’t assume we’re alone. Things are unusually quiet. Fight smart and trust your instincts. You’re a werewolf, don’t let a little lion get in your head.” I turn to Dr. Dawson and Ard, “are you ready?”
Both of them nod their head. Ard points up to a surveillance camera on the corner of the building. We all scamper across the empty parking lot and put our backs against the building. Arien’s swift movement from the wall to a guard by the door is almost invisible. The blood-filled sippy cup on the plane must have enhanced his vampy ways. It isn’t clear what he’s done, but the guard has collapsed to the ground. I can hear his heartbeat so he isn’t dead. Arien waves us over and we cross over to him, two by two.
In the distance, a familiar sound comes across loud and clear to my sensitive ears. Brianna is coughing to lead us to her. My wolf is uneasy, he’s coaxing me to go faster, to reach her and claim Brianna as his own.
In no more than three seconds, Brianna’s wolf has gone from excitement to whimpers of pain. A deep guttural growl comes from deep within my chest. He’s no longer worried about everyone else. He’s tuned in to one sound and one sound only, Brianna’s pain.
“Calm down wolfy,” Arien demands. “Your glowing eyes don’t intimidate me so stop with the glare.”
He’s unaware about how much I don’t care what he wants. I’m no longer in control, my wolf is mad and ready to go.
“Let’s go,” I bark.
The warehouse isn’t any warmer than being outside. The wind is whistling through the cracks of the metal building. With my wolf in charge, my body temperature rises to a comfortable 101.
“Abel, look at the wall,” Parker discreetly tilts his head to the left.
The area we’re in is lit by torch lights, casting shadows along the wall. I fully expected to see someone approaching us, instead it’s my shadow. I pause for a moment to register what I’m seeing. There, climbing the wall is my shadow. It is not of me as a man, instead, my casted shadow is of my wolf.
“Have you ever seen anything like that before?” I ask Parker.
“No.”
“Having a wolf as my shadow isn’t very inconspicuous,” I muse. It reminds me of a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson, called My Shadow. My first grade class had to memorize it and read it out loud to our parents during a morning assembly. It started out…..
I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,
And what can be the use of him is more than I can see
He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head,
And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed…
That’s all I can remember of the verse. So much for my memory, but I remember loving the poem.
“Maybe humans won’t notice,” Parker jokes. He never kids around, maybe the stress of this mission is getting to him. No, Parker is a statue, unmoved by simple things like joking around.
>
“Maybe.”
The scream comes from a room on the other side of the warehouse. It’s undeniable who it belongs to, it’s Pru. She’s awake. Brianna’s voice echoes along the walls as she pleads with her captor to stop hurting Pru.
That’s all it took to get all of us to stop going slow and to run across the room to rescue her before she dies. We’re all light on our feet as we approach the opening to the room. I catch a glimpse of Pru strung up in with her arms stretched wide. The shirt she’s wearing is ripped open with slashes running diagonal across her body. A man with a black hood on is literally whipping her with a leather bull-whip. Blood stains the material of her shirt. Her head is lopped to the side. He takes the whip and lashes against her back. Her head raises and instead of screaming, she laughs.
“You’re about to die,” Pru laughs. Blood is trickling from her mouth, and one of her eyes is swollen and black.
I can’t take it anymore, he must be stopped.
A gunshot goes off behind me and the sound of someone hitting the ground. Someone stops to help him. Another shot goes off, my brain goes into overdrive.
The man with the whip is about to hit Pru again and that’s when I hear a scream like none ever heard before. Brianna. Pru’s eyes go wide and I turn around to see Brianna on the floor, blood oozing from her abdomen.
The man pulls his arm back to crack the whip against Pru again when Parker leaps across the room at him. Both of them tumble to the ground. Parker is fighting the man and kicks the whip out of reach.
A small weak sigh penetrates my ears. Brianna’s lost consciences. I run to her crumpled up body on the floor. My heart is breaking as my anger builds to limits I’ve never encountered.
I roll her over to her back and see two stab wounds in her stomach. Everyone around me is fighting someone else and all I care about is her. Most of them are hand to hand fighting. All the wolves know martial arts and from the looks of it, they’re holding their own.
I’m on my knees as I pull Brianna closer to me, my wolf is angry but he won’t leave her side. She isn’t going to die here alone while I fight. If I lose her, I have nothing to fight for.
I slip my arms under her arms and pull her closer to me, resting her head in my lap. Her coat is next to the pole she’s been tied to; I reach over to pull it to me. I take her white coat and hold it against her wounds; applying pressure to stop the bleeding. Her arms are limp on the floor, her wrists are bleeding from the zip ties.
“You’re here,” Brianna thinks to me.
Any and all doubts escape my head, I’m sure as sure can be. “I’m here. Relax, someone will be here soon to help. I’m so sorry you got pulled into this ridiculousness. If the world would just play nice together and stop with the fighting, it would be a better place to live. I’ll always be here for you Brianna.”
“I’m sorry they hurt Pru, I wanted to help her….”
Her words trail off as she slips further away.
“Abel, I want to approach you….don’t panic. I’m Dr. Dawson, I met you right before we came into the warehouse. I want to assess her wounds. Did you see what they stabbed her with?”
Tears sting my eyes as I shake my head no. “Please help her,” is all I can say.
The doctor opens his backpack and pulls out some medicine. “I’m going to give her some morphine to help with the pain. I need to get her to the hospital or she’s going to die. Do I have your permission to take her?” He’s cautious with his movements and it occurs to me that I have my feral wolf look in my glowing eyes.
“Take her, please.” I lean over and kiss her on the forehead. “I’ll be there soon, please don’t die,” I whisper in her ear.
Dr. Dawson places his arms under her knees and her neck to carry her to the helicopter. My heart is pounding as I watch him run through the building for the flight to a hospital.
****************
I suck in my breath and exhale slowly.
“Abel,” Pru says.
I jump in a flying leap and land in front of her. “Hold on, I’ll get you down.”
I reach over my head to release the clamp only to be burned. “What the….”
“Wolfsbane,” Arien replies. “It’s an herb used to identify werewolves. Locals of Ireland and Scotland use it in their drinking water. If you’re a werewolf, you can’t ingest it without being burned. You’ve probably only been drinking bottled water. Nothing like a wolf with a blistered esophagus. I’ll get her down, you catch her.”
He unhooks her hands and she collapses in my arms. I lower her to the ground on her side. She’s been whipped a couple of times across her chest and multiple times along her back. For the first time in my life, I want to kill someone for the pure pleasure of watching them suffer. She’s beyond self healing, her body has been through too much.
“Hold on Pru, help is on the way.” Oakley is going to flip out when he sees Pru.
“As fast as you are as a wolf, I’m faster as a vampire. I’m going to carry her to the plane and take her to help. Get the bastards who did this,” Arien says demands.
“Yes, go, please be careful.”
Where’s Ard?
Shaynie has hog-tied two of the people and set them in middle of the room. She is pretty, but damn she’s a great fighter.
Parker has someone in a sleeper-hold until the guy goes limp in his arms. Shaynie runs over and hog-ties the guy for Parker.
“Here’s who you’re looking for,” Ard yells. She has a guy with a Mohawk and dressed in a strange white outfit handcuffed with his hands behind his back. He tumbles forward as she pushes him towards me.
Tao isn’t what I was expecting. I remember that weres don’t age like humans do, so he could be forty for all I know.
He raises his head and smiles at me. His teeth are pink from the bloody lip he’s sporting.
My teeth are clinched as I struggle to keep my cool. I walk over to him and pull the handcuffs up until his hands are twisted up between his shoulder blades. “Do you know who I am?” I whisper in his ear. “I’m the big bad wolf from Oklahoma, and your tin house is about to come down. You’re going to die a painful, slow, death. Before I kill you, I will consider releasing you after you answer a couple of questions. Parker, please come over and hold his arms for me.” Parker walks over and takes charge of his hands.
Without consideration, I punch Tao straight in the jaw. Parker’s watchful eye is studying my actions.
“What did you want with Pru?”
“That skank whore is worthless. She was much more valuable when her father was alive. Whoever told her she’s a shaman is crazy, that bitch can’t tell the future any more than I can. She’s a fake,” Tao says and spits blood on the floor.
He did not just call her a skank whore. “Brace yourself Parker,” I demand as I do a round kick into Tao’s ribs. The sensation of his ribs cracking brings too much joy to my heart. I’m liking his torture a little too much. Bloodlust. “What do you want from my pack?”
Tao jerks back. His eyes widen with anticipation of another punch.
I reach back and punch him in the jaw again. “I SAID - WHAT. DO. YOU. WANT. FROM. MY. PACK.”
“Your power. I want your power and it will be mine before you know what to do to protect yourself. I have a real shaman who knows all, and it has been foretold you’ll lose your power to another powerful being.” He leans his head back and cackles like a crazed and deranged lunatic.
A sharp noise echoes through the warehouse and a dart protrudes from Parker’s neck. In slow motion he crumples to the floor, his grasp on Tao loosens.
Tao looks past me and I hear the tell-tale sound of the chamber of a gun being discharged. Before my reflexes kick in, one shot filled with heat enters my back, through my bullet proof vest. The heat ricochets before exiting my abdomen.
My entire life I wondered what the flashes of my life would be if it were to flash before my eyes at the moment before death. Those are the thoughts racing through my head as searing heat passes
through my body. I have no idea how to process what’s happened but I know it’s major. Everything is black except in my minds-eye.
Voices are faintly yelling out my name as I tumble to the cold hard floor.
She’s beautiful with her long red hair. We’re in Future Business Leaders of America class. She came over and introduced herself to me. Prudence Phelan. I’d never known anyone with that name, but it fit her like a glove. I fell for those big grey eyes and her raspy voice. Every guy in school wished they were me and I wished she was mine. Now we’ll never know what it would have been like to be together. She only had eyes for him, Oakley. It didn’t take long before we all were friends. I’ve never told him how big my crush on Pru was, I never will have that chance.
Someone is yelling my name in my face. Stop yelling, I’m not deaf. Who’s crying? If it weren’t so hard to do, I’d open my eyes and tell them to stop with the tears. My head is freakin’ heavy and impossible to lift. I have a metallic taste in my mouth. Blood. Why won’t they stop touching me, poking me?
SHUT-UP! I think as loud as I can.
****************
Chapter 11 Incarceration
“Son, it’s me, Mom. Dad and I are here, you’re safe. Please wake up,” my mom whispers in my ear.
People are always talking in my ear. My head is swimming in a fog or else I’d wake up I’m sure. They use the word comfortable constantly. Voices I don’t recognize, and voices I do, but none are hers.
Why hasn’t she whispered in my ear? Why do they insist on keeping me drugged? The insanity is everywhere, even in my sleep. Quinney has been trying to get into my dreams. I know because I see him outside the bubble, he’s trying to get in but hasn’t been able to cross the invisible barrier.
****************
I’m not sure what day it is. I’m not sure what time it is. What I do know is I can’t seem to differentiate if I’m asleep or awake.
The Great Wolf: A Legacy of Kilkenny Novel Book Three (The Legacy of Kilkenny Saga) Page 9