“Charity?! Charity!”
When I heard Levi’s frantic voice pick up, I tossed the phone out the window and into the trees. It would take him a while to get to us, but get to us he would.
The cabin was small and somewhat old, but the first thing I noticed as I pulled up was mounds of dirt piles in various and different places around the cabin. It seemed out of place and the piles looked fresh. Several men dressed in camouflage and carrying large guns stepped out of the woods as I turned off the ignition and I exited the car.
“Hands in the air!” they ordered.
I did as they said, punching one of them in the stomach as he got a little too frisky in his frisking.
“That didn’t take too long.”
I spotted Jason Franco stepping out onto the little porch. He was also dressed in camouflage. His cocky smirk was unnerving. I would have to remember to take care of that the first chance I got.
“Where is my son, you jerk?!”
“Now, now. No need for insults. We’ve taken good care of him, despite his attempts to get away. I have to say, Charity, the kid is just like you—bad temper and all.”
I snapped sarcastically. “I hope he didn’t hurt you too badly.”
Jason Franco’s face turned red. “He’s just lucky I didn’t shoot him.”
“Where is he?!” I demanded more fiercely this time.
A big man with his red hair cut in a military style crew cut came up behind me and pushed me with his gun. He guided me up the steps of the porch and into the small cabin. There, lying on a bed in the far corner, was my Deacon.
“Deacon!”
He jumped to his feet and his purplish blue eyes grew large as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “Mommy!”
I ran to him and pulled him into my arms. “Oh, baby. Are you all right? Did these turkeys hurt you?”
He pulled back then and smiled wide. “No, Momma. But I was a pain just like I can be at home, only worse. I even escaped.”
I smiled back at him as I touched his face and searched for injuries. “Oh honey, I’m so proud of you for being a big boy. And you protected your brother too. That was so brave of you.”
He shrugged. “Dixon is the youngest. It’s my job to protect him. I was just doing my job.”
Despite my heartache at seeing him like this and chained, I smiled at his words that touched me so much.
“Mommy, I didn’t tell them anything about Daddy. He tried to get me to, but I didn’t.”
“There was no need,” Jason Franco said from behind me. “I know all I need to know about Daddy—him and his friends.”
I stood and spun to face him. “What do you mean by that?”
He turned to one of the men at the door and nodded toward me. The man approached me and pushed me onto the bed and grabbed another set of chains.
“Don’t you touch my Mommy!” Deacon yelled as he jumped on the man’s head and began beating him.
“Oww! Oww! Get him off me!” the man yelled as Deacon continued to hit and kick him.
“For Pete’s sake!” Jason Franco said as he grabbed a hold of Deacon and threw him beside me on the bed. He then grabbed my ankle and secured the chain around it. Deacon and I were now both prisoners of this maniac, and I still had no idea what he wanted.
“Did you like the dead wolf I placed in the woods?” he asked in a condescending tone. “I had to have a reason for a park ranger to show up, now didn’t I?”
“What do you want with us anyway?” I asked in as calm a voice as I could. I needed to settle Deacon down before any signs of his wolfiness came out. Sure he couldn’t shift until he turned eighteen, but if he was angry enough small signs could show, like his eyes sometimes turned yellow, or his hair would stand up which was a little creepy to be honest. This was rare, but it had happened.
“I’m a little disappointed in you, Charity. You seemed so bright when you came to see me in prison. Actually, it was that visit that gave me the idea, so thank you for that.”
I was confused by his rambling and getting more than a little frustrated on top of that. “I don’t understand what you mean.”
He paced around the room, and he was a hand talker as he waved his hands around as he spoke. “You see, Charity, I was due to be released, having served my ten years in prison, and when you came to visit me that day with your husband, well I saw a side of him that intrigued me completely. I know all about what your husband and his pack are.”
My eyes grew wide and my mouth dropped open.
He smiled a disturbing smile that sent chills down my spine and back up again. “Oh yes. I know about the secret you’ve been hiding. Your husband is a furry beast and an alpha on top of that. Almost fifteen years ago I was escaping through the forest after a home robbery when I ran into a snarling furry beast with yellow glowing eyes. He gave me this scar,” he said pointing at the hideous scar on the left side of his face. “I escaped with my life that night, and no one believed me when I tried to tell them about the beast—about the werewolf. I know what I saw, but I’ve never been able to prove it—until now.
I gasped. “What do you mean, until now?”
His hand moved around the room, and that’s when my eyes spotted them…in every corner of the cabin were mounted cameras. “When your precious husband and his little pack come for you, we’ll have a surprise for them. We have traps set all around this place with stakes in them. It might hurt them, but they will heal.”
“You’re gonna try to capture them?! Are you completely insane?! Do you know what they can do to you?! Do you want to die?! Because this will only lead to death...for you and your men! You have to stop this before it’s too late!”
“Stop? Are you kidding? This is my chance to finally prove that what I saw fifteen years ago is real—that I’m not crazy after all! And once I expose your precious werewolves I’m gonna be famous!”
“Expose them to the world?!”
“Of course. Who else would I expose them to except the world? The world has a right to know what creatures are living amongst them…bringing them harm.”
I got mad then and charged at the man, but the chain attached to my ankle stopped me as it dug into my skin, causing a sharp pain. “You have no idea what you’re talking about! The werewolves don’t harm people! They protects us, you idiot!”
His eyes grew wide. “Protect us? From what? Are you telling me there is something more terrifying out there than your furry beasts?!!”
I shut my mouth, realizing that I was actually making things worse. No surprise there. “I don’t know about that, only that they protect us, mostly from each other I suppose. But they don’t hurt us!”
He started laughing, a very unnerving sound to be sure. Deacon began growling beside me, and I grabbed his hand to silence him. “It’s okay, baby,” I whispered to him. “He can’t hurt Daddy. I won’t let him. Do you hear me?”
He slowly nodded. “Yes, Mommy.”
I sat back on the bed and thought hard about a way to warn Levi. There had to be a way to warn him. Now I was sorry that I had thrown my phone into the woods. Not that they would’ve let me keep it anyway. My mind was racing. I needed my lip balm. It always helped me think. I reached down into my bra and brought out a tube and coated my lips heavily. After so many kidnappings in my past, I learned to carry my lip balm in my bra. That way I wouldn’t lose it. Don’t judge!
I knew the humans were the werewolves’ biggest threat. If we were exposed, who knew the ramifications from such an event. It could be devastating…for all of us. I had to think of something. It was then that I peered down into my left palm and the blue vine-like symbol there. Maybe there was a way to warn him after all. I didn’t know if it would work, but I took my fingernail and dug deep as I traced the lines of my connection symbol. It was painful but not as painful as witnessing my beloved pack walking into an ambush. I bit my bottom lip as I continued to dig over my marking. I was surprised that it didn’t bleed.
Most of the men cleared
the room with the exception of the redhead with the crew cut. I lay back onto the bed and pulled my boy into my arms and cradled him as I hummed softly, in an attempt to calm our shattered nerves.
Chapter Nineteen
Levi’s POV
I stopped frozen in my tracks as a searing pain struck me that felt like a hot iron raking over my right palm. I lifted my hand into the air and watched as a trail of blood leaked from the blue line that decorated my palm. Not good. I wasn’t sure what it meant, but I knew I had to get to Charity right away. She was everything to me, and I couldn’t let anything happen to her—her or my son. Without further delay, I shifted completely, letting my full werewolf senses take over as I bolted through the forest as fast as my four legs would take me, with my loyal pack at my heels.
I knew the moment Charity’s voice didn’t answer her phone that she had dropped it—and somewhere she wanted me to find it. She could have whistled, knowing her familiar, piercing call would draw us, alerting us to her location, but in that choice any nearby packs would also be drawn to the noise. And thus, the situation could become perilous. My girl was nothing if not smart. She knew exactly what she was doing. She wanted me to find her phone—and find it I would. I would find both of them, and everything would be fine. It had to be. And whoever it was that had my family was gonna pay for it.
I didn’t stop even to take a breather, but ran straight through until I reached the West Virginia line. I knew this area well. Years ago, some of the pack and I would run here during the full moon, but that was before my family came to me. They were everything to me. My life couldn’t exist without them. And the idea of someone taking them made a new, more intense anger rise within me. This was gonna be a night unlike any other—a red night—a bloody night. And it would only end with the death of my family’s captor.
I came to a dead stop, my pack piling in behind me, and reached down and picked up Charity’s cell phone. “She’s here,” I growled angrily, anticipating the punishment I was about to deliver. With stealth and silence my pack and I made our way through the dense trees until something halted me. It was a scent—a human scent.
“Wait!” I quickly morphed back into my human form and turned toward the rest of the pack that were spread out and invisible within the thickness. “Something is off here. Who else senses it?”
The unified rumbling told me they all did.
“These are humans who’ve taken Deacon.” A low guttural snarl rumbled in my chest. “This changes things.” The anger I was feeling was even greater knowing humans had taken my son and now held him and Charity captive, and I was crippled. I couldn’t barge in there and kill any of them. We didn’t kill humans. I paced back and forth, contemplating how to proceed. Then I felt it. “It’s a trap!”
Chapter Twenty
Charity’s POV
Suddenly I gasped, knowing without doubt that Levi had arrived. I’m not sure how I knew it, but I did. And I wasn’t sure what to do, but I had to warn them, so I began thinking really hard ‘it’s a trap, it’s a trap’ over and over. I only hoped that somehow it worked and Levi felt it. His senses were very strong. I sat quietly, listening. All was dead quiet. And then my heart sank as I heard it, the rumbling as though a herd of buffalo were charging. I had heard it many times before, and it was unnerving and relieving all at the same time. Levi must not have gotten my warning. I could hear the men outside yelling to each other and scrambling to get into position. The ones in the cabin bolted out onto the porch, leaving the front door wide open. Then I heard gunfire.
“Deacon, we have to get out of these chains,” I said, kneeling to grab his ankle.
“It’s no use,” the voice behind me said.
I spun to see Jason Franco standing at the doorway holding a lit candle in his right hand and holding up a key with his left. “I told you in the prison that day that I’d kill you if I had the chance again. Well, here’s my chance. Goodbye, Mrs. Bell.” He sat the key down in the middle of the table across the room. “This time it’s for good.” He smiled wide and then dropped the candle and ran out the door, pulling it shut behind him.
It was then that I recognized the faint smell of gas coming from somewhere else in the cabin, perhaps the kitchen area even. My eyes widened in horror as the fire began to spread from the candle now lying in the middle of the cabin floor.
“Deacon, we have to hurry.” I pulled on the chain holding his ankle, but it was tight. I couldn’t get it off without hurting him.
“It’s okay, Momma, I will heal quickly. Pull it off, and then I can get the key.”
I studied him and then looked over at the fire that was now spreading quickly up the side of the wall and to the ceiling. I made a decision then that I wasn’t sure was the right one, but I’d rather have my son lame than dead. “Okay, take a deep breath. This is gonna hurt.” And I pulled off his sock and shoe and began pulling.
He held his screams, and tears rolled down my cheeks as I pulled with all my strength. His heel was sweating which made it easier until finally I was able to slip the chain over his heal, allowing it to drop to the floor. Without hesitation, he hobbled on one leg, ducking the flames, to the table and retrieved the key. But by the time he turned around, the fire had grown too big and was now engulfing the small room in smoke and flames.
“Deacon! Save yourself. Run out! Now!” I yelled to him, covering my face with my shirt and coughing. “Go! Get out of here!”
“I’m not leaving you, Momma!” Then he covered his head with his shirt and hobbled through the flames and into my arms.
“You are a stubborn boy, Deacon!” I yelled. “But a brave one!” I quickly smiled and took the key from his hand and worked at the lock. As soon as I heard the click of the lock, I heard a more terrifying sound and looked up just as the ceiling began to collapse. I grabbed Deacon and dove to the other side of the bed as a huge part of the ceiling crashed down to where we had just been. I knew we only had seconds left. Once the fire reached the other room where the gas was there would be an explosion. We had to get out—and now. I looked frantically around the room and spotted a small path that led to the front door and it was closing fast, but if I was quick we could make it. I stood and grabbed Deacon in my arms, about to make a run for it. Suddenly, out of the heavy smoke and soaring flames, as if in slow motion, stepped a massive snarling beast.
“Levi!”
In a flash of fur and fire, he scooped us both up into his arms and ran from the blazing scene. As soon as his feet hit the dirt, a huge explosion erupted that sent us flying through the air. Somehow, in that moment, I got the sense that Deacon and I were still tucked in Levi’s protective embrace. Then everything went dark.
When I opened my eyes, I couldn’t breathe. It took me a moment to realize that it was because Levi’s huge and still furry body was lying on top of me. “Levi,” I said and then coughed. “Levi.” He didn’t answer. Something was wrong. It took some effort, but I was finally able to crawl out from under him. Deacon was huddled beside us, crying with his head in his hands.
“Deacon, honey, are you okay?” I asked, taking his face in my hands.
He nodded but looked stunned. His face was coated in ash and smoke. It was then that I noticed the cabin was on fire and mostly gone. There was chaos all around us as the pack scrambled to locate everyone.
I turned to Levi. “Levi, we need to go.” But he didn’t move. Smoke was pouring from the fur on his back. “Oh my gosh!” I patted his back frantically, putting out the small flames that were hidden in his fur. “Levi!” I grabbed him and pulled until I was finally able to get him turned on his back. “Levi!” I grabbed his face roughly, even slapping him, but he didn’t even flinch.
With almost a supernatural speed, he morphed from his wolf form back into his human form. I knew this couldn’t be good. He had never changed so fast before. It was in an instant. “Oh no! Levi!” I screamed. “No, no, no!” I threw my head down on his chest and listened…nothing. There was no heartbeat. “No! Levi!”
I was barely aware that the pack had now formed a circle around me. Those who were still in their wolf forms were howling and whining. I began breathing heavily as the sobs erupted from deep inside of me in a fierce explosion. I screamed as I cradled Levi’s head against my breast and rocked as the tears soaked my cheeks and neck. “You can’t leave me, Levi.” My voice changed to a mere whisper. “You can’t leave me here without you. I need you. You can’t sacrifice yourself for us. I won’t let you. I can’t live without you.” I peered up at the broken souls before me, each one pained in a way that pierced straight through my aching, throbbing heart. I spoke to the air as if he was no longer in the body in my arms but all around us. “We can’t live without you. You keep us all together. Without you we’re lost. We need you, Levi.”
I glanced to Deacon and our eyes locked. There was a pain there that I recognized in a fourteen year-old girl ten years ago. Suddenly, I saw my father lying in a pool of his own blood with me cradling his head in my lap and begging him to come back. Somehow I knew that fate would not deal me this hand again. God loved me. He wouldn’t do this to me again. With that thought, a fervency rose in me then that blinded my vision and heated my blood to boiling. I pushed Levi to the ground and hit his chest…hard. “You are not leaving me!” I hit it again. “You are not leaving me!” I hit him again. “You are not leaving me here alone! Do you hear me?!” I hit him again. “Come back! Come back! Come back!”
I could hear the stirring of the pack around me. Someone called my name and began to approach. I spun and growled fiercely. “No! Don’t touch me! I know what I’m doing!” I turned and hit Levi again. “Wake up! Wake up! Don’t you dare leave me!” I grabbed his hand in mine and our connection symbols touched, suddenly what felt like a bolt of lightning struck my palm and shot through his. I was thrown backwards as his whole body jumped off of the ground, startling all of us. There wasn’t a sound to be heard as we all stared at his chest, almost willing it to move. Seconds ticked by until finally there was a slight movement in his fingers. I gasped, throwing my hand over my mouth to silence the squeals of surprise and joy as the hot tears poured from my eyes. His chest slowly began to rise…and fall…rise…and fall. He breathed in a deep breath and his eyes cracked open.
Charity's Storm (Charity Series Book 4) Page 8