by A. D. Ryan
“Calm down,” a deep voice commanded. Nick. My eyes slowly focused on the figure between us until I recognized him. “Both of you, just walk away.”
Roxanne gave one more snarl before darting off into the darkness. Once she was gone, Nick turned to face me. “What the hell was going on out here?”
I took a deep breath, trying to force the wolf into submission. When I finally stopped shaking, I looked up at him. “I only came out here to talk.”
“With your fists?”
“Originally, no,” I snapped, irritated. “But she wasn’t willing to listen.”
“So you thought the best way to accomplish that was to beat the hell out of each other?”
“She started it!” I shouted, defending myself.
Nick looked at me, his eyebrows rising into his disheveled hair. “Pretty sure that defense only works in the world of six-year-olds,” he retorted, unimpressed.
I sighed, defeated. He was right. I was acting juvenile. “You’re right. I let my emotions get the best of me.”
Nick shook his head. “No. You let the wolf get the best of you. You need to work on that. There’s a fine line between being in control and letting it control you. You’re the one who said you didn’t want to give up on your humanity completely, but what I just witnessed was the furthest thing from attaining that goal. You were completely wild. I shudder to think what might have happened had I not come out here when I heard the commotion.”
I had no excuses for what I’d just engaged in. Only guilt.
“After what Karl did, you seemed confident that you wouldn’t be giving into the wolf anymore. Yet, today, you almost lost yourself to it twice because you’ve been refusing even the slightest hint of it. I warned you what would happen if you chose that route. You’d become volatile and completely unpredictable.” He paused.
I thought about what he said and realized he was right. After Karl attacked me, I had promised myself I wouldn’t shift. Then, earlier in the pit, the wolf had emerged just enough to keep me within my comfort zone, but I sensed it would fully surface if pushed too far. And what happened with Roxanne had taken it even further. I felt myself on the brink of turning my humanity off completely and giving into every primal urge the wolf had. I might have torn her apart had it not been for Nick.
Nick wrapped his arm around me and coaxed me back toward the house. “Come on. Let’s head back inside and put some space between the two of you. You both need some time.”
Inside again, I retired to our room and pulled out my phone while Nick headed downstairs to talk to Marcus about what had happened. I hated feeling like he was tattling on me for misbehaving, but he had every right to report my aggressive behavior to our Alpha. It was in the Pack’s best interest.
Wanting to forget about my altercation with Roxanne, I dialed my parents’ house phone and waited for one of them to answer. On the third ring, my dad’s voice filled my head, taking away every awful thing I’d done earlier today.
“Brooke,” he exclaimed happily. “How’s it going, kiddo?”
It wasn’t an easy question to answer given everything that had happened the last few days, but I plastered a big grin on my face and lied through my teeth. “Great, actually.”
“Yeah? What have you been up to?”
I sat on the end of the bed and criss-crossed my legs. “Not too much, really. We just finished setting up the Christmas tree, and it got me thinking about you guys and how much I’m going to miss you on Christmas morning.”
Dad was quiet for a moment, and I thought I heard him sniffle. “Yeah, it’s going to be weird not having you around.”
“How’s Mom?”
Dad cleared his throat. “She’s doing well. She’s at a meeting with a client and won’t be home until later.”
“Will you ask her to call me when she gets home? I’d love to say hi.”
“Of course.”
Curious about work, I picked at a loose thread on the hem of my jeans and asked, “How’s the…how’s the case going?”
“Not well, I’m afraid. Nothing new has surfaced since the last time I spoke to you. It’s the strangest thing.”
I laughed humorlessly. “Yeah. Strange.” He didn’t know the half of it.
Suddenly, there was a large crash as the balcony window shattered to my right. Startled, I hopped off the bed and found a large rock lying in the middle of my floor. The smell of blood filled the room, and I noticed something was written on the rock as I took another step closer.
“What was that?” Dad demanded, clearly having heard the glass break.
“I… It, um… I dropped a glass on the floor and it broke,” I lied, my eyes locked on the red letters that defaced the huge tan-colored rock. I recognized the stone as one similar to those that were half-covered in snow surrounding the gazebo. “Dad? I have to go.”
“You’re sure?”
I nodded, even though he couldn’t see me, but my eyes never strayed from the four-letter word that felt more like a promise than a threat. “Yeah. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”
After hanging up my phone, I put it in my pocket and picked up the rock. Footsteps thundered up the stairs and down the hall before the door to my room burst open and Nick barreled in, followed by Marcus, Miranda, and Jackson.
“What was that?” Nick asked, crossing the room to me and looking down at the rock in my hand. His eyes grew wide as he read the word “SOON” that had been written in fresh blood, and I heard the rumble that was building inside him. He was on the verge of losing control of his emotions again, and I didn’t know what I could do to help him through it.
Seconds later, the scent of blood was replaced with that of fire and burning wood while the sound of crackling flames drifted in through the broken balcony door. I scanned the horizon, looking for the telltale orange and red that should have illuminated the dark sky based on the strength of the smell. I saw nothing…until my eyes drifted down toward the forest entrance. There, I saw a dark figure flee into the woods, pausing in the shadow of a tree to turn and look up at us. I squinted, hoping to identify them, but all I could make out was that it was definitely male. Whoever it was remained too hidden in the shadows for me to get a good look at their face. But their eyes…
There was a twinge in my stomach and a niggle in the back of mind that I couldn’t ignore. I tried to attribute this feeling to one of disgust for this creature, but for some weird reason, it felt like it was more than just that…like maybe I should recognize whoever it was. I didn’t know why I felt this way, but I connected it to how I felt at the mall when I swore I was being watched. There was definitely something…familiar about it.
Chapter 22 | burn
The shadowy figure bolted as the flames continued to crackle somewhere out of sight. A breeze flowed in through the broken window, forcing the scent of the blood on the rock to invade my nose again, and this time I recognized it in an instant…because I’d spilled enough of it outside just a little while ago.
“Roxanne,” I murmured, dropping the rock and bolting for the balcony door.
Nick shouted my name as I threw the doors open and launched myself over the railing like it was a hurdle on a race track. I gave no consideration to the dangers my actions could lead to and landed with as much ease as possible, stumbling slightly but pushing myself to my feet and sniffing the air to determine where the fire was. I smelled burning cedar and knew right away that it was the gazebo on fire. I heard a thud behind me, then another, and I chanced a quick look over my shoulder to see Nick and Jackson on my heels as I raced around to the back of the house.
When I reached the bridge leading to the gazebo, I slipped on a patch of ice. I quickly grabbed the wooden railing of the bridge as I swung around it and raced across the slippery planks and through the snow toward the blaze. The heat was almost too much to bear, but I could see Roxanne’s still body in the center of the fire, lying face down on the floor of the gazebo.
“Roxanne!” I cried, stopping a foot fro
m the fire and searching for a way to get through. She didn’t move.
“Shit,” Nick muttered behind me before rounding the right side of the gazebo. Jackson went left.
The sound of wood snapping made me gasp, and I watched as the roof started to give. I was just about to run through the growing flames when Nick jumped through the fire and over the low wall of the structure. He scooped Roxanne up in his arms and looked back the way he came. The fire had grown in those few seconds, and it was no longer an option.
Panicked, I started to toss snow on the fire, hoping to quell the flames just enough for them to escape. My attempts were futile, and before Nick could make his move, the roof caved in, and everything disappeared in a cloud of smoke and a flare of heat.
“Nick!” I shouted, my voice shrill and cracking with fear. I ran forward, but I barely made it a foot when strong arms grabbed me around the waist and held me back.
“Don’t be stupid, kid,” Jackson said, holding me back. He was strong, and I did my best to fight my way out of his hold on me.
Tears streamed down my face, and eventually my body stopped fighting Jackson as my legs gave out. This can’t be happening again, I thought to myself as I slumped to the ground. The melting snow seeped into my jeans and gave me a slight chill as I sobbed into Jackson’s chest.
Then I heard it: the crunch of footsteps through snow just beneath the sound of the crackling flames.
The knot in my stomach tightened and then released as my eyes drifted up. My vision was blurred from tears, and I rubbed them away roughly when I thought they were playing tricks on me. Like a scene in a movie, a dark shadow emerged from the wreckage in front of us, a body cradled in its arms. It was Nick. He’d found a way out.
I released a cry of relief as Jackson let go of me, and I ran forward. I wanted to throw myself into Nick’s arms, but couldn’t due to Roxanne’s still body. She was naked and covered in soot with patches of red, blistering flesh peeking through.
“She’s breathing,” Nick said, handing her off to Jackson. “But barely. We need to get her back to the house.”
Nick looked down at me as Jackson took off for the house. His face was also smudged with soot, skin glistening with sweat, and I could smell the singed ends of his hair from where the fire licked at him. My lip quivered as my fear expelled itself from my body, and Nick pulled me into his arms.
“It’s okay,” he mumbled into the top of my head. “I’m fine.”
The structural beams of the gazebo were the next to go. The sound frightened me and made me press closer to Nick. As it all fell to the ground, the flames appeared to wane for a moment. Vince, Layla, Corbin, and Colby all appeared and helped us contain the fire. While we worked, the memory of the shadowy figure wouldn’t leave me. It needled at me, haunting me until it was all I could think about. My focus was no longer on the dwindling flames; I swore I could still feel a pair of penetrating eyes on us all.
Was this what it wanted? To get a portion of the Pack out in the open together so it could strike? Something told me I was right.
Panic pulsed through my veins, and I slowly stood. Every hair on my body stood on end as the wind picked up and whipped through my disheveled hair. I surveyed the area, allowing my eyes time to adjust to the darker parts after staring into a blazing fire. I found nothing. My ears strained against the whistle of the wind to see if I could single out the sound of someone watching us, but it was a wasted effort. Even if he was out there, I wasn’t surprised I couldn’t hear it. It’s not like they had to breathe, and I was almost positive they could probably stand perfectly still for hours if they had to. It creeped me out to even think about it.
“Brooke?” Nick said, breathless.
I turned around to see the rest of them had stopped trying to extinguish the much smaller fire and were instead watching me intently.
“What is it?” Nick looked concerned as he stepped ahead of me, his eyes now scanning the darkness beyond the bridge ahead of us. “What did you see?”
“Nothing…I think.” A pause. “Earlier, when the rock came through the window, I saw someone…something. A man. Maybe.”
Nick turned quickly, panic in his eyes. “Did you see what he looked like?”
“No.” I shook my head. “It was too dark. But I can’t shake the feeling that he’s out there…watching us.”
This seemed to agitate Nick, who cast his eyes past me to the rest of them.
“Go,” Vince spoke up. “We’ll get this under control. Call if you need backup.”
With the fire not much more than a burning pile of embers, Nick looked back at me and nodded into the darkness. “Let’s go.”
“Go? Go where?”
The smile that spread across his face was grim, yet wicked. “We’re going to try and track it while the trail is still fresh.”
Without a second thought, I followed Nick across the bridge and through the snow. He was walking fast, his strides twice the length of mine, but I didn’t struggle to keep up. When he stopped, I stopped and looked to up to find him staring at me.
“Where did you see it?”
Taking a quick glance toward the house—to our bedroom window—I let my eyes follow the invisible trail to where I saw the shadowy figure and then pointed before walking in that direction. “Over here.” We arrived and I surveyed the area while Nick literally sniffed around. There were fresh footprints marring the freshly fallen snow, and the foul stench of death lingered in the area. It was starting to dissipate in the cool winter air, but some of it hung there like stale cigarette smoke.
“Shit,” Nick muttered under his breath. I wondered if he even meant for me to hear him, but before I could ask him what it was, he took my hand and led me deeper into the trees. “Stay close to me…no matter what.”
“What is it?” I asked, my voice trembling slightly since I had no idea who we were up against. “Do you know who it is? I mean…have you come up against it before?”
Nick was silent a moment before sighing. “I can’t be too sure. I think I recognized its scent, but they all start to smell the same over time. I can usually only decipher whether they’re male or female anymore.”
The longer we walked, the stronger the smell got—not by too much, but it was enough to prove we were on the right track. We walked for…I wasn’t sure how long, all I knew was that the sky had grown darker and the moon shone just a little bit brighter. When we hit the edge of the frozen lake, Nick turned to me.
“We need to shift,” he said, pulling his sweater over his head and tossing it to the ground.
Fear gripped my heart and forced my stomach to clench. Even though I’d confronted Karl and reasserted my strength as a human, that didn’t assuage my insecurities as a wolf. I told myself I’d never shift again—that I would find a way to avoid it and keep the wolf under wraps—and Nick wanted me to do something I wasn’t comfortable with? Why? Even though I’d almost shifted while fighting Roxanne, I still wasn’t ready to confront one of our enemies in my wolf form.
“The ice is thin,” he explained as though reading my thoughts—or maybe it was the panic on my face that spoke volumes. “If we walk across upright, we risk falling through. We can’t very well lay flat on our stomachs and crawl across—that could take precious hours we don’t have. We’ll be quicker on all fours, and the pads of our feet and our claws will give us a little more traction so we can run.”
What he said made sense, but I still hated the idea. The wolf, though? She was hopping around and just itching to be let out. I could feel its need for the hunt burning through me, and a fresh surge of adrenaline pulsed through my veins even though I didn’t want to give in to this feeling. I clenched my fists, ready to fight the beginning fever and tingling skin.
“Brooke,” Nick said softly, walking toward me, shirtless. “He can’t hurt you anymore.”
I knew he was right, but it still didn’t mean I felt strong as a wolf. It didn’t mean I thought I would be able to handle myself if we came up against a
vampire out here. I couldn’t handle Gianna as a wolf; I killed her in my human body.
“This isn’t about Karl,” I confessed, a shiver rolling up my spine and making me cringe against it. The wolf was growing stronger in its desire to be freed, and I could feel my consciousness slowly slipping. It was going to win, and I was going to be forced to make a decision: welcome it or deny it. One of these options would have me locked away and I wouldn’t be aware of tonight until I woke in my human body later.
“Breathe,” Nick said, trying to calm the beast within.
I did as he instructed, opening my eyes and getting lost in the ocean blue swirls of his irises. The amber rings around his pupils brightened and appeared to expand. “I don’t feel strong like that,” I reminded him.
“Because you’re still not used to it.” He cupped my face in his massive hands. “But if you continue to fight it, you’re never going to be. You’ll keep blacking out, and while the wolf will do its best to fight and keep you safe, it isn’t as strong on its own as it is when you’re aware of what’s going on. Your human instincts combined with your animal ones are what make you strong. You need to learn to listen to the wolf, and she needs to learn to listen to you before your true power can be harnessed. It’s a very symbiotic relationship.”
I glanced across the frozen body of water and felt my apprehension flare up again. I did what I could to tamp it down and slowly nodded, knowing what he said was true and that the more I stood here and fought him, the more likely we were to have the trail run cold.
“Okay,” I said. “What do I do?”
Nick leaned forward and kissed my forehead. “You’ve been through this a few times now.”