by Cheree Alsop
I didn't trust the emotions that ran across my face at the sound of her voice and turned slowly, hoping the darkness hid what I couldn't. “You weren't part of this. I shouldn't have let you come.”
“I wanted to,” she replied.
I tipped my head toward the light that touched the darkening horizon. “It's a full moon. I don't want to leave you alone.”
A smile touched her shadowed lips. “I haven't felt alone since I met you.” The smile fell and her lip quivered slightly before she bit it. She turned away and I could smell her regret on the evening breeze. “It’s my fault,” she said so quietly I barely heard her.
I shook my head. “You had nothing to do with it.”
She met my gaze, defiance and pain in her eyes. “You wouldn’t be hurt if it wasn’t for me. You’d still be at Two and the other werewolves would still be together.”
“Then Gem and the others in your father’s center wouldn’t have a chance of being rescued.” Saying Gem’s name sent a surge of frustration through me. I felt like I betrayed them both and couldn’t make peace with the war in my heart.
“Jaze will get them out,” she said. If she noticed the way my voice tightened when I said Gem’s name, she didn’t mention it. She waited a moment, then said softly, “I can’t live without you, Vance. Life is empty when you’re not there.”
A warm tingle ran through my skin. I smoothed a finger along the calluses of my hand, noting the ridges formed by the silver bars of Lobotraz. “I'm not the same person I was.”
“Neither of us is.” Her voice was touched with sad bitterness and for the first time I realized what seeing her father in his true light had done to her.
I crossed the space between us and set a hesitant hand on her arm. She covered my fingers with her own. “You didn't have to leave your father for me.”
“He's no longer my father,” she replied, her beautiful green eyes full of pain at the statement. “Anyone who could do that to another person is no longer human.”
“I'm not human,” I pointed out gently.
She met my eyes. “You are to me.”
My breath caught in my throat and I could barely breathe. I closed my eyes and felt her soft fingers caress the skin of my cheek. She touched me as though she knew all of my faults and weaknesses, and loved me for them. Strength and leadership had been the two traits my parents focused on at Two, the only things they seemed to care about. Weakness was attacked at Two until it was gone. The fact that she brought me to my knees with a simple glance should have brought her scorn, not her love. I didn’t feel deserving of her trust and affection with the war that raged in my heart.
“Why me?” I breathed.
“You're the one that saved me, remember?” she replied with a hint of laughter in her voice. “Now you're stuck with me.”
Want and need surged through me so strong I lowered my lips to hers and kissed her gently. I then brushed her cheek softly with my lips and whispered, “You are everything I hoped you would be and more.” I swallowed and said, “I would choose to be stuck with you any day.”
She smiled a beautiful, sweet smile and watched me walk away.
I waited until several turns of the rock walls were behind me, then pulled off my clothes and waited for the moonlight to take hold. I wanted more than anything to stay and just be in the moment with Nora, to forget Lobotraz, my torn emotions about Gem, the betrayal at Two, and the werewolves waiting in pain and discomfort for someone to free them. They, too, were phasing in the night and would have to face whatever torments Rob came up with until they were able to phase back to their human forms. The fact that tonight's phase would have meant my death by Rob's hands wasn't lost on me.
I took a deep breath and stepped into a circle of light on the path. The touch of moonlight wasn't necessary for the phase, but it felt right, more peaceful, to phase to wolf form under the gaze of the reverent moon. I glanced up and met Nora's eyes before the moon took hold. She watched me in silence as black fur grew over my body. The charred scars on my chest and back turned to white fur, making a strange pattern of light amid the black. I wanted to turn away, ashamed for some reason I couldn't explain as I phased, but her eyes held mine, nonjudgmental and loving without a trace of fear or loathing.
When I was done, Nora walked to me and knelt in the soft red sand. She put her arms around my neck and buried her face in my thick fur. She closed her eyes and breathed softly of the wolf scent that was mine. “I love you,” she whispered.
I could only listen to her heartbeat and the soft brush of her breath against my fur. She kissed me gently on the forehead, then rose. “Go run; I'll be here when you get back.”
A swell of gratitude rose in my chest. I trotted slowly down the trail and turned once to find her watching after me, a slight smile on her lips and a look of happiness in her spring green eyes. I hesitated, then went back to her and took her sleeve gently in my teeth. She followed me over the rise and I took her on a midnight tour of my favorite places in the desert.
***
We pulled back into the garage at Jaze's safe house and found Jaze and Jet waiting for us. Jaze opened the door for Nora and waited until we were inside the house to speak. I appreciated the fact that he didn’t ask where we had been. The scent of ash and desert sand that lingered on both of our skin probably brought questions to his mind, but he didn’t push into matters that didn’t involve him.
I was beginning to see how Jaze garnered the respect I saw on everyone’s faces when they looked at him. It was as though he had the ability to take a person’s strength and hone it so that they were appreciated for what they brought to the table. I didn’t feel intimidated by the Alpha, rather accepted for my size and strength and allowed to make my own decisions.
“The Hunters and werewolves are assembled and awaiting my orders to join us at Lobotraz.” He motioned for us to sit on a couch and sat in an armchair across from us. Jet stood by the open doorway, his muscles tense. His hands closed into fists and then opened again as though in anticipation of the coming fight, and his dark blue eyes glinted with thoughts he didn’t voice.
“Hunters are fighting with us?” I asked, turning my attention back to Jaze.
He nodded. “Rob and the Hunters at Lobotraz are part of what we call the extremists. They refuse to comply with the peace agreements between Hunters and werewolves, and continue their hunting and killing. The Hunters that will fight with us have been there for me many times and I can trust them. They will provide the backup we need to storm Lobotraz.”
Reluctance filling me at trusting a league of humans who had, as far as I knew, lived their whole lives with the motive of killing werewolves, but I knew we needed to get back to Lobotraz as soon as possible to save the other werewolves. I took a steeling breath. “Okay, where do we start?”
A scrawny werewolf with thin brown hair came into the room with a poster tube. The werewolf threw us a shy smile, then dropped his eyes and waited for Jaze to take the tube. Jaze dumped out the contents and unrolled a blueprint.
“This is Lobotraz.”
I stared at it, amazed. “Where did you get that?”
Jaze smiled. “Let's just say Mouse has some, well, very particular skills that come in handy in times like these.”
The thin werewolf smiled again and his cheeks turned red, but he refused to look at us.
Jaze motioned to the chart. “As you can see, Lobotraz is shaped like a wheel with spokes, the torture chambers and Rob's personal offices being at the center of that wheel and the various werewolf holding chambers branching out from it.” He glanced at me. “We'll start at the opposite spoke from yours and work our way around in case yours is being monitored now.”
“How do we get in?” I studied the blueprint intently, but the lines and panels made no sense to me besides the obvious corridors.
Jaze pointed to a small column running parallel to the spokes. “Here. The venting system runs along the top of each branch. We'll use them to get around and move as quietly as possi
ble until we're caught.”
“And then?” Nora asked.
Jaze smiled. “Then we show them what werewolves can really do.”
Relief swelled my chest at finally being able to do something to stop Rob and free the werewolves under his guard. I nodded. “That sounds good to me.”
Jaze rose and we followed. “My girlfriend, Nikki, has breakfast ready in the kitchen if Jet's left us anything. We'll leave in a half hour.”
Chapter 16
Nora and I followed him to the kitchen where a girl I was surprised to smell was human had a dish of omelets and another of hash browns. The werewolf with the red eyes, Kaynan, joined us, followed by the one named Mouse. I stopped at the smell and my stomach turned over at the sight of something other than gray gruel in a silver bowl. Nora’s fingers brushed my arm. “Are you alright?” she asked quietly.
Jaze turned back, the same question in his eyes.
I swallowed and nodded. “I can’t- I can’t remember the last time I had an omelet.”
Nikki brushed her long black hair behind her shoulder with a quick flick of her wrist and handed me a plate. “Dive in. They’re still warm and I’ve been fighting to keep them from Jet all morning.”
I glanced up and saw Jet standing next to the back door, his eyes on the unfenced yard beyond. A smile might have touched his lips, but it vanished before I was sure. I accepted the plate and sat down at the table. Nora took the seat next to me and dished us both up. I had eyes only for the long yellow egg loafs stuffed with ham, cheese, peppers, tomatoes, onions, and bits of bacon. I had to fight down the urge to shove the whole thing in my mouth and cut a corner off with my fork, then lifted it to my tongue.
Flavors I had never before appreciated filled my mouth. The cheese was seasoned with a touch of pepper and just enough salt to accentuate the flavor of the eggs. The bacon taste lingered on my tongue with the promise of more to come, and the mild bite of the onions and peppers combated with the mild eggs. For half a second, I thought I would break down and cry in front of the werewolves and humans around me. I blinked quickly, determined not to let them think of me as a baby.
No one could understand how good something so simple could taste after three weeks of barely cooked leftovers from the slaughterhouse. I glanced up and saw a look of understanding sweep over Jet’s face. He looked younger than me by about two years, but the memories of hunger and need that I saw in his eyes let me know that he had suffered far worse, and for a much longer time. His gaze met mine with the penetrating look of someone who has survived something so awful the memory lived just below the surface. He tipped his chin at my plate and indicated without saying anything that I should eat as much as I wanted without the worry of going hungry again.
I stared at him, amazed that someone could express so much without saying anything. He turned his face back toward the yard, but shadows swept through his dark blue eyes, etching his jaw as tight as granite as he looked through the memory to the sunlight that made shadows of the leaves on the grass. I took a calming breath and turned back to cut another corner off the omelet only to find two more crowding it on the plate.
“You looked hungry,” Nikki said when I glanced up. The human girl smiled at me, completely comfortable in a room full of werewolves. She was about to dish another omelet onto Jaze’s plate, but he declined and tipped his head toward me in a wolf-like gesture. Nikki smiled and scooped that omelet onto my plate as well. “It only makes sense that the biggest werewolf I’ve ever seen would have the biggest appetite,” she commented before she went back to the stove.
I fought back a chuckle that might have turned into a sob and dove into the food, suddenly completely at ease despite the fact that I was surrounded by almost total strangers. Something in the air calmed me and I realized after a moment that it was Jaze. He conversed quietly with Kaynan, and the red-eyed werewolf watched him with the look of one who accepts the leadership of another even though they were equals.
The scent I got from Kaynan was strange. He smelled like a werewolf, but there was something chemical to the scent, like the tang of werewolf had been overlaid with something else that smelled almost human. He had black hair that showed a sheen of red when it caught the light, and some of his gestures, like the way he moved without much care and the way he ate appeared more human than werewolf. Werewolves savored the smell of food as much as the taste, but he ate his omelet as though he barely tasted it. Maybe he was just hungry.
I finished the omelets and several helpings of hash browns while I watched Jaze with his team. Mouse brought a computer in and ran something by him. Jaze agreed and Mouse disappeared back into another room without making eye contact with me. I had seen other grays that were submissive, but the way he took every word from Jaze without question kept my attention. Either they had worked together for a long enough time that they trusted each others’ every move, or Jaze had more control over his team than I imagined.
“How are you holding up?” Nikki asked.
I looked up to answer, then realized she was talking to Nora.
“Alright,” Nora replied. She picked up my empty plate and hers and carried them to the sink. “You guys have been so kind.”
“I know it hasn’t been easy,” Nikki said in a soft tone of understanding. She glanced back at Jaze; when her blue eyes met his, a warm smile passed between them. “But we’re always glad to have the company, aren’t we Jaze?”
He nodded. “Most definitely. You two are welcome to stay here as long as you’d like. We’ll be returning home when things at Lobotraz are resolved, and my mother would love to have you over.”
“The more the merrier,” Nikki concluded, and the others laughed.
Jaze’s phone rang and he answered it, then stood up. “Time to go. The choppers are waiting.”
The thought that we would be taking helicopters surprised me, and I saw the same feeling cross Nora’s face. Jaze apparently had much more pull than I imagined. I tried to convince Nora to stay behind, but she refused, saying that she wanted to make sure her father was brought to justice for the crimes he had committed. I worried how she would feel when her father was truly in custody of Jaze’s team, but it was her father and I didn’t feel I had the right to argue after what we both had gone through at his hand. I gave in, but regretted the decision when we reached the location of Lobotraz.
“It's a dam?” I asked, confused.
Jaze shook his head. “It's under the dam.” At my look, he gestured to several small camouflaged lumps that looked like rocks on top of the small rise near the edge of the water. On further scrutiny, they turned out to be ventilation openings for a cooling system. “We'll start in the branch opposite from yours. I have four teams going down. They’ll signal us if they run into trouble. We’ll work both ways around until we run into opposition; our goal is to get every werewolf out of Lobotraz.”
As much as I wanted to go straight to Gem and free her immediately, his logic made sense. “Fine, but I'm going in first.”
He nodded as if he had expected as much and handed me something wrapped in a cloth. I took it and the rag fell away to reveal a small handgun. I glanced at Jaze.
His face was grim. “These men will kill any of us on sight. Be prepared to at least wound them and take their weapons, but don't be a hero. The only way to save the werewolves down there and stop Rob and the extremists is to hit hard and fast. They probably know we're coming and they'll be instructed to bring you down, so remember the lack of mercy they show and repay it in kind.”
My chest tightened at the thought of killing again, but the memory of the pain I had faced at their hands surged through my scars as though to remind me of the cruelty below. I checked the safety and made sure there was a bullet in the chamber, then nodded. “Right. Let's go.”
Twenty SUVs had been parked about a mile back, and almost a hundred Hunters and werewolves waited for Jaze's orders. They were a quiet, orderly lot, and respect and pride showed in their faces when they looked at Jaze. Ther
e was definitely more to the werewolf than I knew from our brief encounters, and I hoped there would be time later to get to know the one who got me out of Lobotraz. The thought of entering it again after all that had happened turned my stomach cold, but I forced my expression to remain calm and confident.
Two Hunters pried up one of the rock structures to reveal a pipe below. Other teams worked on the other ventilation shafts, and soon four of the structures around the dam had been moved to reveal rectangular steel piping. I glanced back at Jaze. “You sure they don't have these guarded after you guys broke me out?”
Jaze shook his head. “Not positive, but we covered our tracks well. I'm hoping it looked like you vanished into thin air.”
The thought made me smile. “That would give Rob something to think about.” I took a deep breath and lowered myself down the pipe. My werewolf eyesight made flashlights unnecessary, though the Hunters that would come down last carried them. Nora dropped down next to me and took a firm grip on my hand. “It's going to be alright,” I whispered to her.
“I know,” she replied. “I just can't wait to get the others out.”
I moved slowly forward, my soft-soled shoes quiet against the cold metal. Soft thuds announced more werewolves climbing down the pipe. Jaze would be after Nora, with Jet and Kaynan following. A group of hand-picked Hunters whom Jaze reassured me he had worked with on countless rescues would bring up the rear. The thought of Jaze’s team covering Nora's back was reassuring.
A thousand possibilities of what could go wrong flashed through my mind. If they were waiting for us, the pipes were sealed, Rob wasn’t at Lobotraz, or if the werewolves had been moved to a new location altogether taunted my thoughts. I shoved them away and followed the pipe on a steep decline below the water of the dam. Claustrophobia rose at the thought of being beneath so much water. If I had known where Lobotraz was before, it would have been that much harder to stay in the cage.