Moon Over Atlanta

by Kymber Morgan

  “Confirmed.”

  “Zander?”

  “Confirmed.”

  Working as a pack, Ryan hoped they’d be fast enough to take the weapons out of play.

  Sara’s party broke through the trees into the moonlit clearing, and she spotted her sister right away. “Hailey! Are you okay?” She tried to pull away from her captors only to have them yank her back by her arms. “Ahhh!”

  Ryan’s nostrils flared, and he eased out of his crouch with a low growl in his throat, but kept a leash on his chomping wolf.

  “Easy, whelp.”

  “I’m fine.”

  The one in the vest moved in and grabbed Sara by her hair. “Keep that shit up and she won’t be. Got it?”

  Ryan recognized his voice. It was the second attacker from the hotel.

  Hailey piped up. “Alvin, you asswipe, leave her alone!”

  Her outburst earned her a backhand from behind, courtesy of skullcap, knocking her onto her side.

  Ryan’s lip curled. He was going enjoying making these pricks pay. “Right advance to within striking distance. Left shadow position.” He didn’t need a response to know the other Wulver were already moving in a pattern they’d all been imprinted with before birth.

  “Who are you people?” Sara struggled to free her arms again, succeeding with one only because the one called Alvin let it go. “Why are you doing this? What do you want?”

  He laughed. “What do we want?” He spun a slow circle as though playing to an audience in the round. “Why, to finish what we started decades ago, of course.”

  “Finish what? I don’t understand.”

  Alvin now appeared to be stalking Sara, who had nowhere to go. “Of course, you don’t. This righteous path was sanctioned long before you were spawned.”

  Fucker was certifiable, and the tighter he moved in on Sara, the higher Ryan’s hackles rose. To hell with this. Slinking low to the ground, he darted to a clump of bushes at the edge of the clearing, gaining thirty feet. He didn’t dare go any closer or they’d spot him, but if that bastard hurt her, all bets were off.

  “Whelp?”

  “I told you I’ve got this.”

  “What has any of this got to do with us?”

  That quake in Sara’s voice was another thing they’d pay for.

  “I’ll tell you what you have to do with it.” The bastard slid his finger along her jaw, and Ryan bared his teeth. “You and your sister, along with any other remnant of your kind we track down are…bait.”

  The quake was now laced with a hint of hysterics. “Bait? Bait for what?”

  “For the abominations that need your kind of abomination to breed.”

  Hailey had regained her position and spoke up again. “He’s out of his mind, Sara. He keeps going on about cutting heads off Greek letters. Don’t give him a fucking platform.”

  “She opens her mouth again, rip out her tongue.”

  Sara gasped. “No!”

  Alvin grabbed Sara’s chin this time. “Wiping out the broodmares, as entertaining as it is, hasn’t been as successful as hoped. There always seems to be another of you hiding behind a Dumpster somewhere.” He released Sara’s face with a shove, then wiped his fingers on his pants.

  Ryan’s canines dropped, and his vision shifted to the full Wulver spectrum.

  “So now you’ll be used as bait to bag the Alphas before we put you down. By wiping out the strongest of them, plus depriving them of breeders, it’s only a matter of time before the remaining abominations fade into a justifiable and highly satisfying extinction. Ta-da.”

  Sara shook her head slowly. “Do you even hear yourself? My god, Hailey’s right, you are insane. The only abomination I see in all this is you.”

  “Bitch.” The man still holding Sara let go to slam his fist into the side of her head, and she hit the ground hard.

  “No!” Ryan launched with his fangs fully extended before he realized his brain had given his body the command to do either.

  “Ryan, he’s got a gun!”

  In his peripheral vision, Ryan saw Garath mow down the third one on this side of the clearing just as his human mind registered Zander’s warning, but it was too late, the muzzle was already aimed at his chest.

  “Whelp!”

  A streak of silver and black flew in front of Ryan as the gun went off. He tried to redirect Zander’s airborne body, but wasn’t fast enough. A sharp yelp rang in Ryan’s ears and a hot splash of blood bathed his face.

  “Nooo!”

  Fueled by rage and still under the power of his initial charge, Ryan tucked and rolled into the knees of the bastard who’d shot Zander. He went down fast, and Ryan was at his throat before his head hit the ground.

  “Stop or she dies!”

  The air around them stilled as though holding its breath and the only thing Ryan moved was his eyes as he lifted them from his prey. A rumble deep in his chest clawed its way up his throat and out past his curled lips. Sara was back on her feet, only now, Alvin had a gun to her head.

  *****

  The cold metal burned Sara’s bruised temple, and the blood racing through her veins roared in her ears like a hurricane. The moment the one who’d hit her fired his gun, her world had flashed black. Now, looking at Ryan crouched over the creep’s quaking form, she no longer cared that he was something more than human. It was Ryan, the man she loved, staring back at her from within that feral face, and she’d nearly lost him.

  “Let. Her. Go.” Even the guttural sounds coming from his mouth didn’t bother her.

  “Sheridan?”

  “Stay there, Garath. Keep that one down.”

  Alvin grabbed his own crotch and fondled himself, nudging the barrel of the gun away from Sara’s skin in the process. “Maybe I’ll have a little fun with her before I blow her brains out, huh. What do think, dog face?”

  Sara heard Hailey gasp and looked up, sending her a sharp warning with her eyes. She couldn’t bear being the cause of her sister’s death any more than she could Ryan’s. But the look Hailey gave her back wasn’t what she’d expected. She too was on her feet with a creep holding her from behind, but she was glaring at Sara with her eyebrows high and her lips pursed.

  “Touch her and I’ll tear your limbs off one by one. Slowly.” Ryan’s threat was issued without emotion, sending a chill up even Sara’s spine.

  Everything around her was a lit powder keg. She had to do something. Sara stared at her sister and racked her brain to figure out what all the faces she was making meant. Then Hailey glanced up past her eyebrows as though looking behind her, and the lightbulb came on for Sara.

  Hailey had taught her some moves she’d learned on the streets, and what she wanted Sara to do now might just work. Sara blinked once slowly so Hailey would know her message was received then bided her time. She didn’t have to wait long.

  Alvin moved the gun away completely to wave it around as he taunted Ryan. “Yeah? That right? How ’bout I make you watch while I chew on your little bone here. Hey, freak?”

  Alvin was so intent on baiting Ryan he wasn’t paying any attention to her. It was now or never. Sara nodded a fraction and started to mouth a silent countdown while shooting off a fast prayer. On three, she and her sister both slammed their heads back into their captor’s faces.

  “Fuck!”

  “Bitch!”

  As Alvin’s grip loosened, Sara shot her arms above her head and let her knees buckle, sliding out of his grasp to the ground and started to roll for all she was worth.

  A second deafening blast went off above her.

  *****

  “Sara!” Ryan catapulted his body up and forward, aiming at Alvin. A close explosion assaulted his sensitive ears and fire tore through his shoulder, knocking him off his feet. Garath growled though their link and pushed half off his prisoner to drag Sara to safety.

  “Ryan, look out!”

  Alvin’s first shot had been reflex, hitting Ryan by accident. Now he was taking aim on purpose. The end of the g
un took up half Ryan’s sightline. At this range, even with a Wulver’s accelerated healing, there was little chance he’d survive. Thank gods Garath held Sara’s face to his chest, saving her from witnessing what was to come.

  Spittle flew from the Alvin’s mouth and blood ran freely from his nose where she’d struck him. Insanity blazed from his eyes and his finger slowly squeezed the trigger. “Die, you fu—” His chest blew open before Ryan’s recovering ears heard the high-powered rifle report.

  The body of his would-be killer toppled forward onto its face, and out of the silence that followed, what had to be a figment of Ryan’s imagination melted out of the foliage beyond. Either that or Ryan had died and just didn’t know it yet.

  Ryan shook his head, hoping it was just his eyes being as screwed up as his ears, but the apparition kept moving closer.

  The black-clad figure stopped before him and lowered his firearm. The face showed little of the animation he remembered, and the eyes held none of their previous warmth. But Ryan knew every inch of it. He looked at one nearly identical to it every morning in the mirror. “Ethan?”

  Some of the cold thawed from his eyes and a crooked smile steeped in sadness appeared on his face. “Hello, little brother.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Hours later, with Ethan, himself, and the mountain of unanswered questions hanging in the air between them, the normally comfortable living area of Ryan’s RV felt claustrophobic. He still hadn’t decided if he should welcome his brother’s return with open arms or tear out his entrails. “Before we get into the rest; how did you know where to find us?”

  “When Garath alerted the Council, we were already tracking a cell near New Orleans, so being the closest, my team was redeployed here.”

  “I guess I should thank you, not just for saving our asses but for taking care of everything else too. You have this clean-up-the-evidence thing down to a science. Not to mention the field hospital bit.” A chill ran over Ryan. Thank gods, Zander was going to be okay, at least physically. “Any sign of the Baneblade?”

  “No, but now that we know it exists, we’ll be prepared for it next time.”

  “What’s going to happen to the survivor?” Hailey’s jailer had met the same fate as Alvin, and the one Garath had taken down hadn’t been given the chance to implode.

  Ethan answered with a clenched jaw. “He’ll wish to hell he hadn’t in a few hours if he doesn’t start dishing on his buddies. And before you ask, don’t worry, second team did a full sweep around the hotel. Between them and Garath, no one’s getting within miles of those women tonight.”

  Once the furor at the clearing died down and the immediate tasks had been attended to, Sara and Hailey had been clinging to each other, both with silent tears streaming down their faces. Not sticking to her like a burr tonight was one of the hardest things Ryan had ever done, but Sara needed to be with her sister tonight, not him.

  Ethan’s hand appeared in front of Ryan’s face with a longneck in it. “You look like you could use one.”

  Guess it was time to eat the elephant in the room. Ryan accepted the beverage, opened it with more force than necessary, and took a strong pull. Game on. “So, you’ve been working for the Council all this time?”

  The trailer’s kitchen counter protested as Ethan slid his ass onto it and rubbed the back of his neck. “Not the whole time, but for the most part, yes.”

  At least he had the decency to look ashamed. “How the hell did that happen, and do our parents know?” Ryan threw the bottle cap he’d just twisted off at his brother’s head. Watching it bounce off his forehead was almost worth the jolt his freshly bandaged shoulder took.

  “Hey! Ease up or give me a chance to put my armor back on.”

  A beat of dead air filled the room before Ryan responded. “Mind clarifying just what kind of armor that is?”

  Ethan slid off the counter then came over and plopped his big frame down next to Ryan on the couch, looking even more sheepish. Good.

  “Yes, it’s Enforcer issue. No, they don’t know, but soon will; a Tribunal’s been called. And how did my recruitment happen?”

  “I was wondering more about your resurrection, but I suppose you can start there.” Ryan shifted to get more comfortable without success. Damn, his shoulder hurt.

  Ethan fired the big-brother glare at him.

  “Okay, shutting up.”

  Back to rubbing the back of his neck, Ethan sighed. “Toward the end of the war, the Overseers were getting desperate to replace the Alpha-line captives who’d succumbed under the constant draining needed to create Imploders, so they had been watching several of us. They learned our patterns and took advantage of that knowledge by laying traps and setting things up so no one would come looking when we disappeared. In my case, it was made to look like I’d been killed in a car bombing; conveniently burned beyond recognition.”

  Ryan stared at the floor as though it were a screen reflecting bits and pieces of memory from ten years ago. “I remember some speculation about the identity of the body they’d found inside, but when you weren’t among the prisoners after it was all over, the doubt and hope that went with it died.”

  “That’s because the Overseers had caught wind of the impending attack on their stronghold so were preparing for it, which included moving those of us strong enough to survive it to a new location. That transfer happened the same night Arlene died.” He dropped his hands to clasp them between his knees and glanced sideways at Ryan. “Which is something else that didn’t happen the way everyone thought. She didn’t jump, Ryan. Arlene was thrown off that cliff.”

  Ryan’s brain short-circuited. What? “Thrown?” He sat straighter, putting his beer down. “What are you talking about? What’s all this got to do with Arlene?”

  Ethan turned his head away and seemed to focus inward. “We were to be handed off close to where Arlene was that night. Unfortunately, the bastards waiting for us found her alone on that escarpment first.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “We heard a struggle, but by the time we got there, it was too late. I saw the terror on her face as she went over the edge. Not that there was much I could’ve done; we were shackled and frail from weeks of captivity, but I tried anyway and got a rifle butt in the back of my head for my trouble. I still see her in my dreams. I don’t remember much about what happened after that.” Ethan flexed his neck and rolled his shoulders. “Next thing I remember with any clarity was weeks later when I was found barely alive in some shit hole dugout, with no Overseers in sight and Enforcers everywhere. They took me back to base under quarantine, and ten weeks after that, they recruited me straight out of med bay. You see, after the stronghold fell, most believed the Overseer threat was gone for good, but they were wrong. That one small faction managed to crawl under a rock and fall off the radar. So, the Council sanctioned a special team of Enforcers to track down every possible lead which is why it’s taken the fuckers years instead of months to re-establish a working cabal and activate the first new cell.”

  Arlene murdered by Overseers? Ryan sat dumbfounded on multiple levels. Enforcers? His brother was part of the Wulver Council’s answer to off-books black ops? Tagged Ghosts by many, they existed separate from rest of Wulver society, beyond the Alpha imprint inherent in all of them, though how they pulled that off was a mystery and not the only one. Ryan looked closely at his brother. “So, since you’re older than me, and I don’t see a mating mark on your neck, I take it there really is a way to avoid being taken by the moon besides bonding?”

  Ethan visibly paled. “Yes, but you don’t want to go there, trust me.” He sat straighter and deliberately changed the subject. “Do the sisters know who they are and how they fit into all this?”

  Ryan nodded but stayed silent. His brain was cramping. The attack, kidnappings, shootings, his dead brother charging in leading a team of badass G.I. Joes; if he was having a hard time sorting it all out, how the hell were Sara and Hailey faring?

  He could still see their thunderstruck expressio
ns when Garath lifted an unconscious, naked, and very human figure up from where a wolf had gone down and tossed the still bleeding Zander over a shoulder.

  Ethan and Ryan weren’t sharing a link right now, but his brother still guessed his thoughts. “I talked to Zander, and he’s decided to join the Enforcers as soon as he’s fit for duty. He’s determined to take out as many cells as he can after what they did to Sofia. Claims it’ll give him a purpose beyond weening you.”

  “And Garath?”

  Ethan squinted his eyes at Ryan. “Says that depends on you.”

  Ryan shoved his hands through his hair and leaned back in a slouch. Yeah, and here comes the other shoe, big brother. “I suppose it does. I called Niola after your medic finished patching me up earlier. Thank you for that by the way.”

  “Don’t change the subject.”

  “Right.” Ryan rubbed his chin. “After a long discussion involving her extremely low assessment of my intelligence and a detailed list of my physical shortcomings, I broke the bonding contract with her.”

  Ethan just stared at him.

  “I can’t go through with it, Ethan, and not just because she hates my guts. I can’t chain either of us to a loveless existence like that. Not when I know what the real thing could be like…not when I know what loving someone is like.”

  Ethan exhaled with a hiss. “Damn, pup.”

  Ryan snorted. “Yeah, I know.” Then shrugged. “So, it all hinges on Sara. We talked before they left for the hotel. She already had parts of the puzzle, and I was worried she’d formulated a ton of misconceptions off them, so I wanted to give her at least the crib-notes version of the whole picture. Including telling her about contract bonds, and how I just broke mine.” Ryan pinched the bridge of his nose. “You know, even after all that, she still agreed to sleep on it and talk again tomorrow. Assuming she doesn’t come to her senses before then.” He retrieved his drink and took a swig. “I couldn’t push her tonight, Ethan. She’s been through so much, because of me.” Ryan absently picked at his beer’s label. “But being the selfish bastard I am, the next time I see her, I’m going to tell her exactly how I feel and do everything I can to keep her, if she’ll have me.”