“Well, isn’t that ironic,” I mutter and shift into gear.
The headlights flood the driveway as we peel out. I’m forced to go east first to bypass North Road. There’s no way I’m heading that way after the semi incident. The snow continues to fall, painting the grass and trees white but melting on the blacktop.
“So, who is he, Ben?” I ask. “Who’s the black wolf?”
“I don’t know, and please don’t punch me, but I really don’t know.” He keeps his eyes trained on the gun in his hands. “I’ve only ever seen a black wolf. I swear.” He’s quiet for a long time as I hit Highway 61 and head west into town. “My mother’s out there, I think. Everyone is. We have to help them.”
“I know. You just follow my lead, okay? We’ll save them all and stop this guy.”
“Yeah. Okay.”
He doesn’t sound like he believes me one bit. I don’t know if I believe me but I’ve got to try.
“Are there any payphones around here?” I ask.
“What, here? In Moose Lake,” he scoffs. “Not a chance.”
“I need to call for backup.”
He points out the windshield. “Try there.”
It’s the gas station I was followed from. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”
We drive past to the next best thing and I scramble out. I rush into the 24-hour grocery store and slam a hand on the customer service counter to make sure I have the cashier’s full attention. “I need a phone. Life or death. Just look at me.”
He does and I realize I’m still covered in my own blood and bruises and probably a few bits of glass. He doesn’t say a word but silently passes over his cell phone. I run out the door before he can stop me.
“Hey!” he shouts at my back.
“I’ll return it later!”
The kid will probably call the police but that’s the least of my worries. I pass the phone to Ben, throw the car into gear, and race out of the city towards the interstate. I list the IMS number off to Ben while I drive. Once he dials he passes it back to me and I press it to my ear.
A woman answers. “ID number?”
“0919-32, Junior Agent Phoenix Mason. Code black.”
“Transferring you now.”
I’m put on hold for a good twenty seconds before someone answers. “Phoenix?”
“Witty? Why in the world did they direct me to you? I called in a code black.”
“I know!” He sounds affronted. “Phoenix you don’t work for the IMS anymore. Agent Smith was supposed to go out there and—”
“Agent Smith turned out to be a friggin’ shapeshifter and tried to put a bullet in my head,” I snap. “They got the wrong werewolf, Witty. It’s taken Hawk and Jefferson and tried to kill me multiple times tonight alone. You’ve got to send backup ASAP.”
“What?”
“Witty!” I shout into the phone. “Wheel your butt to Director Knox and you tell him if he doesn’t send backup we’re going to be dead before the ten o’clock news, and you’re going to have the entire population of Moose Lake eating venison raw for the rest of their lives. You tell him to call Draco. Tell him Lycaon’s here. I don’t care what it takes, Witty. They’re not going to kill my brother.”
“Okay.” This time there’s no hesitation in his voice. “Where are you now?”
“Heading to the Moose Lake State Park near the—” I look to Ben for assistance. He mouths lower lake. “—the lower lake in the park. I’ve got an informant saying that’s where Lycaon and the rest will be.”
“Are you on your own?”
“What do you think, genius? The only backup the IMS sent to us was a shapeshifter. Where do you think that leaves me? Talk to Knox, now.”
“I’m going. Don’t die Phoenix. I’m sending help.”
“Yeah, you better,” I mutter and toss the phone back to Ben for him to end the call.
The Green Monster rumbles along the dark road, past the last lights at the bridge over the interstate, and into the night on the other side at the state park. We pull into the deserted parking lot and the headlights sweep over the empty office building. I pause at the edge of the lot where three roads split off into the park.
“Where to?” I ask.
Ben points to the left. “That will take us closest to where I think he is.”
“You think? You’re not sure.”
“No, I’m not, but it feels right.”
I glare at him but take the trail on the left. “You and your feelings,” I mutter.
We trundle along the gravel path and I lean forward in my seat to watch every angle. Werewolves have excellent hearing and are sure to hear the Green Monster a mile away. I pass the top edge of the lake and the little open fields where campers can park their RVs. It’s completely deserted. I reach the last spot and park between a stand of pines. When I kill the engine the silence is palatable.
“Stick by me,” I say quietly. “You ready?”
“Um, sure?”
“Good enough for me.”
We slide out of the car and I ease the door shut. Ben does the same on his side before we head into the woods together. I flick on my flashlight and hold it up against my tranquilizer gun to clear my way forward. There’s hardly any snow here beneath the trees and I can’t hear a thing over the rustling of the dead leaves. Ben taps my shoulder and points me to our right. I follow his lead and soon enough we reach the shore of the lake again. We follow its beach until I can hear howling in the distance. I guess Ben’s feeling is right after all.
I lower the flashlight some and try to move lighter on my feet. Ben moves at a crouch beside me, the barrel of his gun trained on the ground. Suddenly he stiffens and flinches to the left. I swing about and my beam falls on an enormous gray wolf. My finger squeezes the trigger once, then again as I spot his companion. The pair of wolves fall rather noisily into the underbrush. Crap. I grab Ben by the collar of his shirt and jog him in the opposite direction before more come to check out the noise.
Ben trips in our haste to flee and crashes into a thicket. I turn back for him and find two more sets of eyes watching me in the darkness. Pop-pop. Two more wolves fall unconscious on the forest floor. Ben claws his way out of the thicket and I give him a hand up. My heart’s thrumming in my chest. I’m starting to think I should have gone in alone. Ben got me here, sure, but he’s certainly not the stealthiest partner for the job.
I keep jogging and lower my flashlight some more, covering it slightly with the palm of my hand. The next time I check over my shoulder to make sure Ben is still following, he’s gone. Crap, crap, crap. I take a knee to stop and listen. There’s shuffling to my right. I raise my gun and flick up the light to catch sight of three more wolves. I’m not fast enough on the draw this time. I manage to take down two before the third one howls. I put a dart in its neck and rush back to look for Ben.
“Phoenix.”
I skid to a stop and wheel around with the flashlight to find Jason holding Ben in a stranglehold.
Chapter 29
Ben’s eyes bulge and his face turns red in Jason’s hold. I aim my gun and am ready to put a dart in Jason’s forearm when I’m struck from the side. The ground smacks me in the face as I’m shoved down by a giant furry body. The breath is knocked out of my chest and I gasp for air as saliva drips onto my neck. The smell of the wolf’s breath is disgusting. I try to reach for the gun that’s fallen out of my grasp but the wolf snatches it with its teeth and hurls it into the darkness. I’m ready to shrug the wolf off when I realize it’s not moving to rip out my throat.
“You’re not going to kill me?” I gasp.
Two more wolves move into the beam of my flashlight that’s rolled away and I sense movement behind me too. I’m surrounded.
“Get up,” Jason orders, keeping Ben in a death grip. “He wants to see you before we kill you since you’ve made it this far.”
“Oh, how kind of him,” I wheeze out under the wolf’s weight.
He nods to the wolf trying to smother m
e into the ground and it crawls away. I suck down air with the pressure off my lungs and sit up. I massage my left aching knee and take a moment to catch my breath.
“Get up,” Jason says louder. “He’s waiting.”
“Give me a second, dog-breath,” I bite back. “He’s waited this long he can wait a couple minutes more. My leg’s killing me.”
“Get up!”
I hold up a hand and glare at him. “I have been in a car crash, been chased through the woods once tonight already, fought off a freakin’ shapeshifter and your pals so you can give me one minute to catch my breath or I’m going to feed you your teeth first.”
“One minute,” he growls. “And don’t try anything. You’re surrounded.”
“Yeah, I got that, Captain Obvious.”
I ignore him and keep massaging my knee. So my tranquilizer gun is gone. That means I either have to physically pummel my way through an entire town of werewolves or start using the real gun still stuffed in the back of my pants. At least my strength is my ace in the hole. Even though I’m fatigued, exhausted, and bloodied, I can rally more muscle power than they’ll be expecting. No one knows about it except for Hawk and Jefferson. Crap. If Hawk was left alone, could Lycaon have put him under his spell already? Would he have forced Hawk to spill all our secrets? I can only hope Hawk’s been fighting to keep control of himself.
So, save Ben, find Hawk and Jefferson, save them too, and then stop the black wolf. I’ve got goals but not a plan. Awesome.
“Time’s up,” Jason says.
“All right, all right.” I take my time getting to my feet. I’m really going to need a doctor and a nap if I survive this.
“Nice and slow,” Jason says. “This way.”
Jason tugs Ben around by his neck and pushes him ahead before picking up my flashlight to light the way. A troop of werewolves, ten by my count, surround the three of us. Ben coughs harshly and rubs his throat but he seems okay. We move noisily through the brush without the need for caution.
“So this doesn’t bug you at all?” I ask. “You follow this alpha’s orders no matter what? Ashley got hurt, you know. She really liked you.”
Hard lines form around Jason’s mouth and forehead. “She’s like us now. She’ll heal and be stronger.”
“Is that really what you want for her?” I take a wide step over a fallen log that the wolves hop over easy as you please. “So you can go howl at the moon together, drink deer blood, play fetch?”
“It’s not like that,” he snaps. His eyes catch the glare of the flashlight. The yellow in them is freakishly vivid. “You wouldn’t understand. We’ve been given a purpose. We’re connected. We’re a family.”
“Uh-huh. I’m sure, because nothing says family quite like biting a bunch of innocent people for kicks.”
At that he launches around Ben to grab the collar of my jacket and clenches it so tightly it gets a little hard to breathe.
“You know nothing,” he spits in my face.
“My brother’s a werewolf, you moron,” I wheeze. “I know more about it than you think. He’s managed his entire life without jumping on the crazy wagon. You don’t need this alpha to give you a purpose. You find your own. You don’t give in to the disease. You aren’t animals.”
He lets me go and waves us on. “Keep moving.”
I hoped I could get through to him but of course I’m wrong. I have a feeling what’s in my blood isn’t going to be a match for Lycaon, whoever he is. The howling in the distance swells and dwindles and swells again like a tide. We’re getting close to the end, and the closer we get the more twitchy Ben becomes. He’s clearly trying to fight whatever’s tugging on his werewolf instincts but when we finally clear the trees and come to a field filled with werewolves, he straightens and walks like a robot to join the others.
It’s no small gathering of wolves either. There’s got to be a hundred bunched all together and howling in waves like some sort of chant. They fill up the entire field all the way to the edge of the lake where a black wolf stands beside two Jeffersons—wait, two Jeffersons? One is on all fours, bloody and beat while the other stands perfectly straight next to him. Well, now I know where the shapeshifter ran off to.
I ignore my escort and start shoving my way through the wolves. They snarl and snap at me but none of them actually bite. My heart is hammering, my head is pounding, my arms feel like lead, and I’m so done with all of this.
“Jefferson!” I shout. I pick up my pace and step on a few tails and trip over paws. Several wolves scratch me with their nails and their teeth rip at my pants. I shrug past them and nearly reach my Jefferson. Two pairs of hands grab my arms just before I break through the edge of the crowd and bring me to a stop. For the moment I don’t throw them off, though I think I could, because I still don’t know where my brother is.
My Jefferson raises his head and blood drips out of his mouth. I stare at him and he nods once letting me know he’s okay. Fake Jefferson steps in front of him to block the real one from view. The black wolf stands calm as can be. He’s a good foot or more taller than the rest of the wolves. How did we ever think Mr. Webster’s poor substitute of a wolf was this Lycaon? His yellow eyes are nearly luminescent and a thin layer of snow outlines his head and back.
“Where’s my brother?” I demand. Fear creeps up my spine but focusing on my objectives helps me keep my head.
The wolf crouches low and his body begins to shift. The black fur recedes, his forelegs shorten and become stockier while his back legs stretch out. When he changes I can make out a navy blue button down shirt with the collar folded neatly, faded jeans, and a ruffled mess of black hair on top. He straightens to his full six feet and gives me a lopsided smile, arms stretched wide.
“Welcome!” he says like this is some kind of surprise birthday party.
No. Not him. It can’t be. “Captain Krush?”
He brushes himself off. “Good to see I can still make an unexpected entrance.” He tucks his hands into the pockets of his blue jeans and rolls up on his toes before standing still. “Color me impressed, Phoenix. You’re a lot harder to kill than I anticipated. I guess I don’t have time to make it look like an accident anymore. I didn’t want to have the IMS sniffing around after an obvious murder but I’ll have to make do.”
“But . . . no, you—”
“I was the nice guy? I couldn’t possibly be the villain?” He puts a hand over his heart. “I’m touched, but that really only proves how naïve you are. No man is wholly good or evil. The world isn’t black and white. And a man like me has more than one face. By the way, I think I’m going to have to give you a C on your mythology assignment. You picked a great story but the facts were all wrong.”
“I don’t care. Where’s my brother?”
He waves a hand to the massive force of wolves behind me. “Oh, he’s around but we’ll get to that in a minute.” He rubs his hands together. “I want to hear your questions. I may even give you some answers. You’ve earned it by escaping that car crash, getting a leg up on my shifter, and culling the boys I sent to finish the job. It’s the least I can do before I’m forced to kill you.”
This isn’t what I’m expecting, not at all. He’s smiling and energetic like he’s asking for student feedback in the classroom. I had actually liked him. He had been the funny, considerate teacher. Make that substitute teacher—that was why Jefferson and I didn’t see him in the yearbook. He wasn’t part of the permanent staff or a student.
“So you’re the real Lycaon?” I ask. “The original werewolf.”
He frowns and rolls his head side to side. “Yes and no. I’m the original werewolf, yes, but the whole story of Lycaon the Greeks concocted was mistaken. I prefer the name . . . Dasc.”
“Disk.”
“Dasc.”
“That’s what I said. Disk.”
His smile slowly returns but there’s a hard glint in his eyes. I’m sure he wants his big name reveal to come with a little more awe but there’s nothing I’d
rather do than push every single one of his buttons if I can find them.
“So, Disk—”
“Dasc.” His eyes flash yellow before returning to their usual blue. Huh. So he can hide that little telling factor at will.
“You’re going to have to write it down for me,” I say. “So, is it D-i-s-q-u—”
The muscles in his face tense and this time his eyes remain prominently yellow. I tense in response, ready for him to attack, but then he throws his head back with a booming laugh. He holds up a hand to pardon himself until his laughter dies, then clasps his hands behind his back and lowers his head to look at me through his eyebrows. Okay, so blatantly trying to be annoying isn’t going to work.
“Ask me the questions you actually want answered,” he says. “How about we start with your brother?”
My brain goes blank. “What?”
He beckons with his hand to the wolves. The enormous pack shuffles aside so one reddish wolf can walk through to stand in front of me.
“Hawk?” I gasp.
His ears lay flat and his head bends low to the ground. Dasc, or whoever he is, nods encouragingly to me.
“Go on,” he says. “Ask.”
“What did you do to him?”
“Aha! There it is.” He hoists a finger in the air and starts to pace in a circle around me and Hawk. “Let’s just say I have a talent for persuasion. The pack follows me now and me alone. I know you’ll probably try to stop it but in your current state I doubt you’d be able to dissuade even your brother. You’ve lost too much blood, and as they say—” He’s suddenly right behind me and whispers in my ear. “The power is in the blood.”
I jerk away from him and he continues to pace his wide circle.
“But I have to admit,” he says. “I was surprised by your ability. The way you stopped Matt from biting you, how you took away my influence over Ben during detention. Oh, and that was a test, in case you were wondering. After the incident with Matt, I wanted to see the extent of your abilities and you performed beautifully!”
The Curse of Moose Lake (International Monster Slayers Book 1) Page 31