The Call

by Amber Lynn

  He opened up the back door on the passenger’s side and held out his hand for the keys.

  “Are you delusional? I didn’t open up any special abilities by fighting in there.”

  “Why don’t you hand me the keys, Nikki. I can’t read your mind like he can, but I know your movements weren’t natural. How in the world did you catch that knife?”

  “What do you mean they weren’t natural? It was a normal fight, like any of the ones we used to see as kids.”

  The keys hung out of my hand, so Jack decided he was tired of waiting and took them from me before walking around to the other side of the vehicle. I moved to go after him, but I was stopped by a deluge of words flowing into my head. I heard at least thirty voices, each difficult to make out as they layered on top of each other.

  “Now will you get in the car? We need to work on helping you sort out all the thoughts, so you can focus on individual people without my help.”

  The voices had stopped and I stared at him a little wide eyed before climbing in. I wasn’t sure exactly what had happened, but I wanted answers.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “Is someone going to explain what that was all about?”

  Jack had gotten us underway, but the recap of events that had led to people screaming in my head wasn’t forthcoming. After having to listen to the insane static for ten seconds, the silence was deafening. My mate sat patiently waiting while I put on a spare pair of shorts and a black tank top.

  “Sorry, I’m trying to figure out the best way to explain without your head exploding. You haven’t believed me any of the other times I’ve tried to tell you.”

  I laughed. “You’re going to say that the voices in my head are because we’re the par lupu, and not because I’ve finally gone crazy. You’re right. I don’t believe you.”

  “Really? Even after all of that? It was like you could see into his mind and knew exactly what he was going to do.”

  Jack’s perspective was accurate, but that didn’t mean I’d suddenly gained extra abilities. It had been a while since I’d fought anyone. The time off just made me better about reading my opponent.

  I’d always had a little bit of a sixth sense when it came to fighting. After fighting to get out of the pack, I kind of had to.

  “And reading the weapon he was going to use on you? Are you going to tell me picturing the knife in his hand is something you’ve always been able to do?”

  I turned to look at my mate. We were in the backseat, with about an inch of space separating the two of us. I’d tried to make that space grow into a foot, but he’d only moved to keep us as close as possible.

  “Okay, so that was new.”

  I had to concede that I hadn’t done anything like that before. I was sure there were other knives on the tables in the club, but I hadn’t paid attention to them. I’d been too busy monitoring the people.

  “Like I tried to tell you earlier tonight, since your wolf has accepted me, things are going to change for your senses a little. Calling her forward helps move that along because she already knows and trusts the connection between us.”

  “But she didn’t even take over. She came to the surface and let me handle things.”

  He nodded, like that made sense to him. His lips didn’t immediately start working, so I poked his leg to try to get an explanation.

  “Unless you really need her for something, she’s not going to take over again. Deep down you’ve finally recognized that the monster you think you are isn’t a monster at all.” He quickly held up his hand to keep me from speaking. “I said deep down. You’re still trying to fight it, but like the connection you feel growing between us, you’re learning there is a place for people like us in the world.”

  “You’ve met my father, and you saw what was left after one of us destroyed a human earlier. You really think we aren’t monsters?”

  Normal humans didn’t do those kinds of things. I knew there were some out there who were every bit a monster as a werewolf was, but in the grand scheme of billions of people, they were very few. I wouldn’t have doubted if ninety percent of werewolves could be considered monsters.

  “No one would consider you a monster, love. You’ve fought your whole life to make that a reality. It’s only in your own eyes that anyone sees a monster.”

  “I just drove a knife through my father’s heart and broke probably six or seven of his ribs. You don’t think that makes me a monster? Humans don’t do stuff like that.”

  I skipped right over the fact that he’d used the “L” word. For some reason just hearing it from his lips made a chemical reaction go off in my head that sent warmth spreading through the rest of my body.

  I hated chemical reactions.

  “Yes, they do. You’re right that in the grand scheme of things it isn’t a large percentage of them, but the same urges we have, they have. We’re genetically equipped to take things too far, but we aren’t really that different from them. It’s our leadership that tends to be the problem.”

  “What does all of this really mean? When we have Paul and the girls back, I’m planning on going home and holding and kissing each of them until the helplessness I’ve been feeling goes away, and then I’m going back to my life until it’s time for us to move on.”

  I wasn’t sure exactly how I was going to kiss and hold Paul without someone getting jealous, but it was going to happen. The only thing I saw changing in the near future was that they weren’t going to be out of my sight again. It was going to make for some awkward trips to the bathroom, but they weren’t getting kidnapped again while I was on watch.

  “It means that together we have a chance to change things. We have to start it so the others will follow. I’m not saying it’s going to be easy, but as I’ve come to realize, your life has never been easy.”

  “You honestly think two wolves can change centuries of tradition and screwed up values?”

  There were times he really epitomized the word crazy. I imagined he did it so many times that I’d already had that thought a few times.

  “What do you mean two wolves? I’m pretty sure I’m not chopped liver, and I know you have two little girls who can warm even the hardest of hearts.”

  Jack’s words were a little surprising. It was still hard for me to believe he picked me over the rest of our family.

  “And there will be Paul. You have to know he has to be turned now. We’re going to have a lot of work to do, and someone needs to protect Selina and Sierra until they’re big enough to defend themselves. I can’t think of someone more devoted to them for the job.”

  Things were getting out of control fast. We were supposed to be having a conversation about why I heard voices in my head, and all of a sudden we were talking about taking over the world. I needed to reel things in.

  “Maybe now isn’t the best time to go over all of that. How far are we from them?”

  He didn’t look disappointed that I was thwarting his evil plots, which I supposed I really couldn’t classify as evil. I wasn’t hip on Paul turning, but he’d made a few good points.

  “We still have time to go over the changes that I’m keeping under lock and key so you aren’t overwhelmed.”

  No immediate indication that he was going to continue made me move to poke his leg again. He caught my hand with his, working my fingers open so he could interlock his with mine. An unnatural sense of feeling safe came over me.

  Those dang chemicals.

  “I’m going to let the voices back in. Thirty minutes isn’t a lot of time to try to master controlling them, but we can start. First, though, I want you to think really hard about Selina. Picture her in your mind.”

  It’s not like I hadn’t been thinking about the girls constantly since we’d found them missing. I was worried about Paul so much I was scared that thinking about him would somehow cause his death sooner, so the girls had been in my primary thoughts.

  It was easy to bring images of my strong, quiet daughter to the front of my mind. I�
��d been sure I knew everything there was to know about both girls, but Selina had turned into a mystery during the previous few days.

  I’d watched as her eyes showed the knowledge that she’d been trying to keep from me. She’d always been as smart as a tack, but she’d hidden just how smart she was.

  I visualized her coloring a picture. Sierra was the artist out of the two of them, but there was something about when they took crayon to paper. Their work seemed to come alive.

  Selina didn’t look up as she sat alone at a table with every crayon color under the rainbow laid out on the table in front of her. I couldn’t see the specific picture she was drawing, but the blue crayon in her hand was fast at work.

  I tried to picture and look around the room we were in, but there was only a haze around the edges of the table. The table wasn’t one in her room, so I didn’t know where we were.

  “We aren’t anywhere. You’re in our car on your way to get us, and I’m stuck with Sierra and Daddy in a dark place. No one has been hurt, but the crazy lady watching us has threatened Daddy. She says she’s going to rip his spine out. We’re protecting him, though, so don’t worry.”

  I stopped trying to focus on the space and looked back to Selina. She’d put the crayon down and was staring up at me.

  “What?”

  It wasn’t the most well-thought out response, but her words confused me. I was supposed to be thinking about her, not having a strange conversation.

  “Tell him I’m sorry I’ve been blocking him out. I know he’s gotten used to feeling me out there, but there are things he’s still learning too.”

  “I think I’ll let you explain that to him, because I sure don’t understand it. So we’re really talking right now? You’re sure everything is okay? I don’t get the sense that we’re exactly close to getting there.”

  I had no real sense of where we were or how far we’d gotten. I just knew we weren’t close.

  “You were closer than you thought. He lied to you about where we are, so you’re getting further away. Where you’re going is a trap.”

  “What?”

  I needed a record on repeat for my responses. There was a good chance “what” would cover over half of them.

  “You’re going in the wrong direction. You know where we are. You’ve always known; you just didn’t want to think about it.”

  “No.”

  “Yes, now hurry up and tell Uncle Jack he needs to turn around. The lady isn’t alone, so if you can find some friends, that would be a good idea. She’s good at deceiving, so figuring out her plans aren’t easy. Just remember that we’re fine and she can’t hurt us.”

  I wanted to stay and talk with Selina longer. I wanted her to tell me everything, but we didn’t have time for that. The scene with her and the table faded away and I was back in the car, staring into my mate’s eyes. I didn’t remember turning to face him.

  “We need to turn around. They aren’t there.”

  “What?” His eyes showed confusion as he asked.

  I hadn’t exactly decided what they were showing before that, but the confusion was easy to pick up.

  “He lied. They aren’t where he told you. They’re back with the pack. Not at Moonlight, but actually with the pack.”

  “She told you that? She actually talked to you?”

  I thought that was what he wanted to happen. I assumed that was the whole purpose of telling me to concentrate on her.

  Jack hadn’t stopped the vehicle, but it was slowing down as he tried to figure out what was going on. I’d already told him to turn around, I didn’t think there was a need for an engraved invitation to get us back on the road heading in the right direction.

  “Is it that hard to believe? You told me before you two talked.”

  “We usually can, but as I’ve already mentioned, she blocked me out. You closed your eyes to concentrate, but I didn’t pick up a conversation.”

  “Well, evidently she’s still listening to you, because she says we’re driving into a trap. Levi played you. Tera has them in Levi’s secret hiding spot.”

  There was half a second when I realized they were missing that I pictured the dungeon I’d spent way too many hours in as a child. Having left that life and part of my family behind me, I’d immediately decided there was no way someone would take them there.

  Jack performed a U-turn, the tires making a horrific screeching noise as he did, and stepped on the gas. I felt a little better knowing we were going the right way, and that I’d be able to see my family the next time the car stopped.

  “It’s obviously not going to be today, but I’d really like you to tell me about all the things I missed when we were kids. I remember days of us getting into all sorts of trouble, but there is obviously a few things you kept from me.”

  There were days I remembered the fun with Jack, and I tried really hard to drown all of the other stuff out. There were enough of the bad moments that more often than not I just tried to forget it all.

  “There are things better left forgotten. I never knew for sure if you were ever groomed to take over the pack, but I feel better knowing you weren’t.”

  Levi claimed all he did was to make sure I could eventually take over. On the receiving end of his lessons, I saw things a little differently.

  “After you left, things changed, not really for the better. I shouldn’t have sided with them when you left. It just hurt that you left me there with them. Originally they told me you’d run off with a wolf from another pack that Levi didn’t approve of. I found that a little odd, but when I picked up a paper one day and saw you with Paul, I knew they’d lied.

  “I went to confront them and they spun a tale about how they didn’t want me to know my sister had chosen a human over her own kind, her own family. I was still young and stupid, most people who deal with me every day would probably claim I still am.”

  I didn’t know who the “they” in his story was, but I imagined the whole pack was fed lies about me. That was the way of pack life. If something didn’t go according to plan, you explained it away.

  “I think you two have some catching up to do, but I’d like to get back to making sense of all the voices. We’ve gone back and forth, but if the whole pack is going to be there, and potentially stand against us, we’re going to need you to use any ability you can master in the next twenty minutes.”

  I’d seen a mile marker briefly out the corner of my eye. We were forty miles from the turnoff to the secluded area the pack claimed as their own. With how fast Jack was driving, I assumed we’d be there in the twenty minutes.

  “I’m guessing we don’t have time for you to explain exactly what abilities you think I have. I admit that I can apparently hear thoughts, but that’s all I know.”

  Our hands were still interlocked, something I had forgotten about until he raised them up so they were within my vision.

  “There are many things we can do. It’s going to be difficult to teach you all the masking and speed kinds of things in a moving vehicle, but we can work on mental. Are you ready for me to let the thoughts through?”

  I was terrified what would happen when he did, after almost getting a migraine the first time. There weren’t fifty wolves in the area cursing my existence, so I hoped it’d be better a second time.

  “First, I need to know how you focus on just one. You’re clearly able to do that. If you couldn’t, there’s no way you’d be sitting next to me instead of being locked up somewhere.”

  “Of course it’s possible. While you were fighting I did it for you, so you could only hear what Levi planned. It comes in handy in those kinds of situations, but at the same time, if you’re new to it, the focusing part is almost impossible.”

  “Then maybe we should wait until after we get back home to start any training. Selina said Tera wasn’t alone, so you aren’t going to be able to monitor whether I’m doing it right. Are you able to block me while focusing for yourself?”

  “I’d prefer that you were able to
listen for sneak attacks, but the more we talk, the harder it’s going to be for you to learn. We’re maybe ten minutes out now.”

  Part of me was delaying having solid proof that I was someone special. Another part was afraid to be able to hear what those around me were thinking, especially inside the SUV. And yet even another part was afraid of what listening to others would make me admit about myself.

  “How scary is it going to be?”

  “Okay, you aren’t ready for it and I understand. I’ll help you when I can, but it’s going to be hard to divide my attention, so there may be times things sneak in. As soon as Selina lets me back in, I’ll see if she can help.”

  He squeezed my hand and I exhaled a little sigh of relief. I was being a complete and utter baby.

  “How many do you think we’re going up against? What did you pick up back at the club?”

  I’d meant to ask him that as soon as we got back underway. He was supposed to be the leader of the pack, and I was curious how many of his followers actually followed him.

  “There’s a lot of people playing both sides. They’ve known Levi’s brutality for longer than my common sense, and they were raised believing brutality is the way the world works. I’ve known that from the very beginning.”

  I didn’t understand why he hadn’t fixed that problem, but I didn’t have time to ask for more information about his leadership skills. Jack had turned off the road and we were headed into the rugged terrain that hid the pack community.

  I could feel the wolves out there waiting for us, and I hoped they understood what would happen to them if they stood in our way.

  Chapter Twenty

  It didn’t take long to see the wolves I felt. They lined the path heading into town. I supposed town wasn’t the proper word, but it worked as well as anything else. Some of the wolves were still humanoid, but for the most part they’d changed into their furrier versions.