by Jessica Snow
Next to Kat, Elizabeth laughed quietly. While it was true that Liam, Zack, and Carly had all been going out hunting to find food for the family, they didn’t have most of a deer left in the cabin’s small freezer. They’d been eating as they went. “Uhm,” Kevin said nervously, “I’m good. But, you guys gotta be running short on something. Toothpaste, toilet paper, I don’t know. Come on Kat, I’m really trying here. I just… there’s something that I’ve got inside me, telling me that I need to get back with you guys. Not get with you, I got it, you and I are done. But just… I want to be a good guy, I guess.”
Kat had heard enough of that line of crap. “A good guy, huh? Kevin, there are some men who are good guys, some men who are good or bad depending on the situation they’re in. You are the third type, Kevin. You are the type of guy who’s going to be a selfish prick no matter what you do. It took me a long time to figure that part out, but I’m glad I did. So, that’s strike two. What you are trying now?”
She heard him gulp on the other side of the line, and she wondered if he was being pushed into this, or if you really did feel this need to somehow be trying to be a good person. “Please, Kat. I know I’ve done a lot of bad stuff, but I’m trying to make up for it. I’m not saying I found religion or anything, but I read a book. It said if I wanted to have good things happen to me, I needed to do good things for other people. The more I think about it, the more I realize the one person I need to do good things for is you and your family. So, come on, give me a chance. Where can I see you guys?”
Kat thought for a moment. Maybe he had read one of those life changing books, it wasn’t totally out of the realm of possibility. But simply put, she did not trust him. Every time she had tried to do something for him, even when they were dating, it somehow came around to burn her ass. In fact, the best thing she had ever done was to get dumped by him. Still, Ashley said that he was a threat, and Kat agreed. On the other hand, he was at least a threat that she knew how to control. “Okay Kevin, I’ll give you one more chance. After the fires and stuff, we knew we had to get out of town. So, we rented a couple of rooms at the EZ Sleep Motel. You know it, out on Highway 75?”
Of course, Kevin would know it, Kat thought. It was the sort of no-tell-motel that guys like him would take girls to all the time. It was cheap, seedy, and if you were caught by a jealous boyfriend or husband, you could disappear very quickly along the highway. And, best of all, you could pay cash only, no credit card required. “Yeah, I’ve heard of the place. I guess that would be the sort of place that would work best for your situation,” Kevin said. “Okay, I’ll check what I can get together for you guys. Is there any sort of special treat I can bring any of you?”
Kat did her best not to laugh. “Tell you what. If you can bring a couple of triple cheeseburgers to the motel, maybe, just maybe, I’ll let you have dinner with the rest of us. Make sure that you put avocado on one of them, Ashley loves avocado. You wouldn’t want to piss her off, would you?”
Kevin audibly gulped on the other end of the line, and Kat grinned at his discomfort. She wondered if his balls still ached after nine months when he thought of Ashley. “No… no, I’ll make sure to get avocado on at least one of them. Thank you, Kat. I really appreciate it. I’ll see you later.”
Kat hung up and passed the phone to Elizabeth. “Okay, I’ll let you screen everything from now on. I think if I had to talk to that idiot again, I wouldn’t be able to control myself.”
Elizabeth took the phone and tucked it in her pocket. “Why did you tell him we are at the EZ Sleep Motel?”
Kat shrugged. “The simple truth is Liz, I know I can’t trust him. Also, I’m not saying it’s him, but somehow Violet was able to find us before. She’s the one who sicced Crystal on us, but we were always careful about nighttime security. I don’t care how powerful she is, there’s no way in hell that any vampire was getting past three werewolves and Ashley for all that time to find out where we were staying in the cave. Not without someone helping her.”
Elizabeth bit her lip, looking at her friend. “And what about me? You don’t have any reason to distrust me?”
Kat shook her head, putting an arm around her friend’s shoulders. “Liz, you’ve been one of my best friends for years. Yeah, you’re not super powered like Ashley, but I don’t care. What I’ve needed most the past nine months has been a good and honest friend, and you’re more than that. So no, there’s no way I’d not trust you. And who knows, maybe I’m just being paranoid a little, but we’ve got a lot of people jammed into a building that isn’t the most defensible. We just got used to the way we were in the cave, and now we’ve got McKenzie, my mother, and Victoria here as well. Speaking of which, we’re going to need to get some sleeping bags or something. This whole making one of the wolves change and sleep on the floor or outside just isn’t cool with me.”
Elizabeth smiled, swallowing back her emotions. “I think we can do that. Okay, well, let’s get the laundry done next. Just think, that’s one good thing about your babies being the way they are. No dirty diapers.”
“That’s what I like about you, Liz. You keep trying to find the good side in these situations,” Kat said. “Well, let’s get to work then.”
That evening, as everyone gathered around the table for a chance to share their information for the day as well as share a meal, Ashley pulled out her tablet computer. “Hey, it looks like Crystal and her buddies made another attack.”
Kat exchanged glances with Elizabeth, who went a little pale at the news. It was almost as if they both knew what was coming. Glancing at Liam, who she’d shared the story of Kevin’s call with, she could see he anticipated the same thing. Kat cleared her throat and wiped her lips with her napkin. “Where?”
Ashley tapped away at her computer for a few moments, reading the details. “It looks like they hit the EZ Sleep Motel out on Highway 75. According to what the newest story says, and I quote, a large group of giant wolves attacked the hotel. What caught the attention of the hotel employees, however, was how seemingly organized the wolves acted. ‘They searched from room to room, and after they left we had to call the fire department,’ said Fred Jackson, the hotel manager. ‘I guess they must have tipped over someone’s iron or something.’”
“Well, that settles it. The leak had to be Kevin,” Kat said. She looked over at Liam, who was currently trying to get Edward to eat some more of his dinner. “He’s the only person who I told that bullshit story about the motel to.”
Liam nodded, giving up on trying to feed his son for the moment and setting him down. Kat had to resist the urge to laugh when Reba promptly walked over, batted Edward with her paw, and led him over to the food, where Edward quickly started chowing down. Liam, however, didn’t notice, and instead thought about Kat’s words. “I guess so. So, what do we do about him? Should we cut him off, or do we finish him?”
Deep inside, Kat wanted to eliminate the threat. Regardless of the reason, and regardless of whether he had been her boyfriend long ago or not, Kat’s feelings towards Kevin were not motivated by the way he treated her, but instead by the threat he posed to her family. Before she could answer, however, Ashley raised her hand. “Not that I wouldn’t mind doing some target practice on him, but I’ve got another idea. Why don’t we use him, instead of either of those two options?”
Zack, who’d been in quiet conversation with McKenzie, looked up. “No offense Ashley, but that’s not the way we normally operate. Wolves, I mean.”
Ashley, who’d set her tablet down in order to pick up her fork to try and eat, slammed her fist down on the table in anger. “And wolves usually don’t mate with werebears, and for damn sure you don’t start relationships with witches. So, before you tell me that it goes against your instincts, look around this room. Damn near half of the things in this room go against your instincts, Zack Lilly. And if I can resist my training and my instincts to bust a cap in your ass, then you can resist the urge to want to take a chomp out of this Kevin’s ass long enough to listen
to what I have to say.”
Everyone blinked, surprised at the vehemence in Ashley’s voice. It had to be hard for her, Kat realized. She was surrounded by people who were supposed to be her enemy, and there were years of distrust built up between them. Kat thought back to their high school days, and realize that even back then, Ashley did not run in the same social circles as those that she now realized were werewolves. Even Zack stopped and nodded respectfully to the Guardian. “Okay, you’re right. So, what’s your plan?”
Ashley took a deep breath, calming herself before continuing. “Simple. If Kevin has been corrupted by the vampires, I doubt it would even take the same level that it took to get to the Wardens. Hell, I’ve seen that girl Violet a few times. She’s a knockout, she probably could have gotten him on her side for the price of a blowjob. Actually, she’s hot enough she could have just promised him a blow job and not delivered, and he’d be putty in her hands.”
Kat had to laugh at her friend’s crude comment. “Honestly you’re probably right. Either way, though, if he’s the leak, you think we can use him?”
Ashley nodded her head. “Damn right. If he’s been turned by the vampires, then he at least knows some things about them that we don’t. But he’s an idiot, Kat. Even when you were dating him I knew you could do better than his half-retarded ass. He can be played very easily. But if he knows where the vampires are…”
“Then we can follow his ass all the way to Big Mike!” Liam said, barely keeping himself from slamming his fist on the table in excitement. “So, how do we set it up?”
“Seems pretty simple to me,” Kat said. “If I give him a phone call, things should just go from there. Elizabeth, hand me my phone.”
Everyone quieted down while Kat dialed Kevin’s number, holding the phone up to her ear. She would have liked to have put it on speakerphone, but she didn’t think that the triplets could keep quiet long enough for her to pull off the deception she had to for this trick to work. “Kat?”
Kat added a little extra something to her voice, putting in not just a little bit of out of breath sounds, but a little extra breathiness, adding a little sultriness to her tones. If she had to put a name to it, it would have been ‘Marilyn Monroe after going jogging.’ “Kevin! My God, I’m so glad I could get in touch with you! It was terrible!”
“What happened?” Kevin asked, his voice concerned, but she could hear it, it was a totally false concern. “I was worried sick when I heard on the news about the attack at the motel. How’d they find you?”
Kat rolled her eyes, his lie was so transparent that unless he really was under the vampire’s influence, either mentally or through his pathetic excuse for a cock, he should have been able to see that nobody should have believed him. Then again, this was her loser ex-boyfriend. “We got lucky, we were on the end units and they were making enough noise that we were able to get out with only a little bit of our butts singed. God, it was so close, though! I was… Kevin, I was so scared.”
Her voice acting was so over the top that even Liam, who was normally a man who took things pretty seriously when it came to her relationships with other men, had to roll in eyes and try not to laugh. Kevin, though, bought it hook, line and sinker, his voice eager on the other end. “It’s okay, babe. I can help you guys out. Where are you staying now?”
Kat flashed everyone a thumb’s up, but kept her voice plaintive and breathy, like she was so relieved to have a strong man like him to turn to. “I’d like to say, but to be honest, I don’t know. We took off into the woods, and we’ve made so many twists and turns that I got lost. Kev, maybe tomorrow we can get together? I need to get a place to crash, get under cover. Liam’s being… I think he’s going off the deep end, and I’m scared. Think you can help me out?”
“Me?” McKenzie mouthed, fluttering her eyelashes, and Kat had to shush her before she lost it, and started laughing.
“Of course, of course, I can,” Kevin said, still totally buying her lie. “Just tell me when and where, and I’ll be happy to do anything I can for you.”
“Oh Kevin, thank you so much!” Kat said. “Like I said, I’m not sure just how I ended up where I am, and to be honest Liam won’t let me out of his sight after dark. So… how about tomorrow, maybe three o’clock? I know it sounds weird, but I was thinking that road, the one where I went to help you when your car broke down.”
It was a pretty big test of just how stupid Kevin was, that he would even think of agreeing to meet Kat at a place where she had kicked his ass once already. But, it was Kevin. Never had anyone mistaken him for a scholar of any sort. “Yeah, yeah. I can meet you there. What would you like me to bring?”
“Just bring you. If I can see you, I’m sure we can figure out the rest after that. Is that okay?” Kat asked, shaking her head silently. Even he couldn’t be this stupid.
He was, he sounded like someone had just handed him a medal or something, he was so over the top cocky. “That sounds great. I’ll see you then, I’ve got a pickup I can borrow so I can make sure to bring some other stuff if you’d like. Or if you need to move something or someone, I don’t know. Well, good night, Kat.”
After they had hung up, Kat passed her phone back over to Elizabeth while McKenzie finally broke down laughing at the ridiculousness of it all. “He’s either under their influence, or a total fucking idiot, or both. My vote’s on both.”
“Whatever the reason, if he passes this along to Violet, that she’ll probably pass it along to Crystal. Three in the afternoon is a good time,” Liam said. “It’ll give us time to get set up. You can be assured that if Crystal comes, she’s going to bring her full pack in force. And if she’s crazy enough to be attacking in wolf form in broad daylight…”
“Then we take her out and turn her ass into a throw rug,” Ashley said. She stood up and dusted off her pants. “If we’re going to do that, I need to get some supplies. There are a few toys that I’ve got, and some things that were left behind at the Warden’s compound. Before they were corrupted, I had pretty good relations with them. Not close, but professional. I know where all of their best tricks are kept.”
Liam nodded. “Just make sure you’re back here by eight tomorrow morning. I want to be set up and ready to rock at least a couple hours early. I don’t know if Crystal would attack in an ambush or in a moving attack, but either way, I want us to be there before she gets her forces in the neighborhood.”
Kat looked around the table. “Okay then. Either we get Kevin, and we can maybe track him back to his masters, or maybe there’s a chance we can take out Crystal. Either way, we’ve got some shit to do.”
McKenzie grinned. “Then let’s get it done.”
After the meal, Kat was cleaning up when McKenzie got in one last little jibe, pitching her voice just like Kat had while clutching at her sister’s arm with one hand and fanning her t-shirt over her chest with the other. “Oh Kat, is there any way I could ever find such a strong, manly man like Kevin somewhere to protect me from the big bad wolves in the area?”
Kat grinned and hooked a thumb over her shoulder. “You got the second manliest man I know right over there, working on calculus it looks like.”
“Trig, actually,” Zack said. “And thanks.”
“De nada.”
Chapter 49
It’s all well and good to talk about making plans, Liam thought as he looked at the overhead pictures Ashley had pulled up on her tablet, wishing that the cabin had a big TV or some other sort of display. It sucked to have everyone gathered around a table looking at a six-inch wide screen. It’s always different when things start happening, though.
“So, the basic idea I had was to sit out there and wait for him,” Kat said, “and you guys can be in the area for backup.”
“Easier said than done,” Zack interjected. “Kat, that area’s pretty densely forested on two sides, it’ll be hard to cover it all. And we’ll need to be a good distance away, even downwind from there, to make sure Crystal doesn’t sniff us out in advance.
Are you sure about this?”
Liam was grateful to Zack for voicing the concerns that he had. In looking at the overhead map, not only were there too many routes for them to cover, but there weren't enough hiding spaces for his pack if they had to be camouflaged nearby. It was turning over and over in his head as well and was starting to give him a headache. Off-the-cuff pack battles were easy, organized warfare was hard. “Kat, I gotta agree. There’s no way that we can be closer than a half mile away if something happens. I don’t really like that.”
Kat sighed, and Liam could see her working herself up for another argument, but before she could start, Ashley raised her hand. “I’ve got a way to give you a little bit of peace of mind Liam, and give you some backup, Kat.”
Ashley reached down and pulled out the flat black case that Liam had noticed her bring in that morning when she returned from her shopping trip to the former Warden compound. She laid it on the table next to her tablet, and flipped up the latches, opening it with a dramatic pause. Liam had to admit, he was impressed. “A rifle?”
“It’s more than a rifle, it’s a top of the line custom built sniper rifle,” Ashley said. “Right now it’s broken down, but when I put this thing together, I can reach out and put a silver bullet into a space the size of a can of Coke at a half mile no sweat. I did a photo reconnaissance of the area, I’ve got four different spots that I can put myself and still can cover Kat in almost any direction. So, don’t sweat that, Liam. The question is, where do you think any sort of attack would come from?”
Liam looked at the rifle in its case, and his first thought was that it was one ugly piece of machinery. The stock was some sort of synthetic, and the barrel and action looked different from any other gun he’d ever seen, not black or polished steel but instead looking grayish-silver, like antique pewter or something. Still, he could see the quality in the construction, and the large scope inside was top quality. And he trusted Ashley, if she said she could be effective with it, then she would be effective with it.