Maybe a little of both.
Lenore pulled her guns and Warner hoped that the ammo she’d made from his saliva was would protect them.
But if he was being honest, he didn’t see how Lenore was going to survive this.
He wanted her to, but the Dark Champion wouldn’t allow him to prioritize her safety over the destruction of the beasts that surrounded them.
Warner had thought his transformation complete. He didn’t realize the darkness could go deeper.
Somehow, it had.
The Dark Champion was distracted by Mari.
Her very presence agitated him in a way that Warner didn’t think he could fight. He wanted to sink his teeth deep in her throat.
Not to hurt her, but to claim her.
Change her.
But Warner knew his bite to be venomous. He’d kill her.
Only that’s what the darkness wanted. To end her so he didn’t have to fear her destruction.
She will be reborn from death.
She will rise Wendigo.
Except that was only the lie the beast told him to gain compliance.
To get him to trundle along down the primrose path without a fight.
Except Warner couldn’t fight. He’d already surrendered to this thing. Already decided there was no choice.
He couldn’t let Mari be a casualty of this war.
Of Peter Breslin and all the evil he’d loosed on the world.
“You’ve served your purpose,” the infected wolf said. “Run, run away to Woolven lands and warn the rest of them what’s coming. We’re going to take down your champion.”
Mari lifted her chin, her eyes blazing red. “No, you won’t. And we won’t run from you.”
Red.
Her eyes were red.
He’d already tainted her.
Lenore raised her gun and fired, the bullet grazing the shoulder of the wolf who stood before them.
The flesh sizzled and crackled where the projectile entered him, but he didn’t seem to feel any pain. He only smiled.
Lenore wasn’t dissuaded in the least. She emptied the clip into his chest.
“Now I know what you say about Peter is a lie. You didn’t take him down with these little pins.” He laughed.
“No. I dissolved his bones from the inside out. And these will make short work of you in a moment.”
“Not before I rend your meat from your bones.”
He leaped at her, but Lenore saw it coming and had already dropped into a roll that positioned her out of the way of his strike.
“This is going to be fun,” he said and gave the signal.
The rest of the beasts began to advance, but they avoided Warner. He knew what they were doing.
They were trying to distract him with Lenore and Mari so they could attack him as one, as if their greater numbers gave them any kind of advantage.
They’d soon learn.
He waited, watching their advance with cool indifference.
“You can’t tell me you’re going to let us have them. Your scent is all over the weak one,” one of them said with a laugh.
That was when he launched himself at the wolf and tore his head right from his body.
And he stripped the bones clean within seconds. There was no chance for him to regenerate.
The other wolves saw this but they were still coming. He didn’t understand why they’d do that.
They weren’t stupid.
But maybe he was.
He’d never stopped to think they might have a reason for luring him there. Might have some agenda. He couldn’t think what it could be and the harder he tried, the more disjointed his thoughts became.
Warner knew whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.
The Dark Champion needed Mari.
Warner looked for her, but couldn’t see her. Or Lenore.
And suddenly, the sound of helicopters roared against his ears. He looked up to see a swarm of hunters rappelling down into the battle. They were all dressed in black and carried the latest in werewolf killing technology.
Too bad it wouldn’t do shit.
At least not long term.
They slaughtered the infected pack, taking heads and hearts. He watched in horror as the pack began to devour their own. Even as they were beheaded in the process. Other wolves would come along and restart the process.
Warner’s guts twisted. An awful connection made itself known in his head, but he couldn’t quite consider it.
A giant containment unit dropped from the sky, still attached to the cables and four helicopters hovered.
Of course, they would try to take them alive. To study them.
Oh Goddess.
He watched as what was left of the pack went willingly and one particularly shitty human began to shovel the remains into the cage with them.
Warner knew that when the wolves regenerated, they’d decimate the hunters, but these dumb bastards weren’t really his concern at the moment.
His super hearing could hear what Lenore what was saying through the roar of the helicopters if he concentrated.
Strange scents drifted his way. Lies had a particular scent and he knew that they weren’t coming from Lenore.
“What are you doing, Connor? This wasn’t what we agreed on.”
“It’s what the high council wants.”
“Goddamn it. When are they going to fucking learn?” Lenore scrubbed a hand over her face.
“Well, you’d have better luck if you weren’t such a fur fucker, wouldn’t you?” Connor sneered.
“Eat the entirety of my ass, Connor.” Lenore turned to walk away from him, but he grabbed her arm.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“You want to keep that hand?” Lenore stared at him and jerked her arm away.
“I don’t give a shit if you’re Diana Breslin’s daughter.”
“The only part about who I am that matters is that since I am such a fur fucker, as you say, I’ll chew your goddamn head from your body if you touch me again.”
He laughed. “Fair enough. Where is the Champion? We need him too.”
“That wasn’t part of the deal.”
“Deal? Lenore, you’re a hunter. You know how this works. He’s a danger to humans as well. Maybe more so than this pack. The witches say he can bring them back.”
“Who?”
“The wolves we’ve killed.”
Stupid fucks. They’d regenerate on their own.
Except he thought about the first of the infected he’d consumed. He thought about the evil. He thought about the thoughts in his head.
And the devastation it would wreak if Peter Breslin were somehow reborn.
That connection in his brain, the one he couldn’t quite consider, couldn’t quite bring to the forefront of his mind… it erupted in all of its foul glory.
Warner knew with a certainty now that the strange voice in his head, the one that was not the Dark Champion, it was Peter.
The hunter turned werewolf apocalypse lived inside of him.
And soon, he would want out.
Warner knew that somehow, the answer was Mari.
The thing inside of him cringed away from even the thought of her.
When he’d been thinking about marking her, and his thoughts had turned to the darker aspects, it had all been Peter trying to trick him into devouring his would-be destructor.
Warner crept forward, trying to gain Lenore’s attention.
The helicopters dropped another cage and that’s when Warner knew.
Lenore had been betrayed.
And so had the world.
He watched as a tranq dart hit Lenore’s neck from behind, and he felt the prick in his own neck.
He went down hard, still able to see and hear, but he couldn’t move.
For all of his superpowers, he guessed that the powers that be must be fallible if they hadn’t counted on hunters with something as simple and rudimentary as a tranquilizer dart. Or maybe they t
hought he’d be better prepared.
They dragged him into the cage with Lenore.
The members of the infected pack went batshit at his nearness, trying to rip and tear into him.
Visions of them tearing his body apart to get at the one inside of him, to free him, assaulted him.
Warner knew that’s exactly what was going to happen if they could reach him.
Mari. I need you.
The one called Connor spoke. “You love them so much, see how you feel about it when this one wakes up ravenous for flesh and you’re all he’s got to eat.” He kicked at the cage.
Yeah, he supposed they would see, wouldn’t they?
He and this Connor would have a reckoning when this was over.
If Lenore didn’t get to him first.
He thought of Mari again. Of her sweet softness, of her voice, her touch.
And of the red ring around her eyes.
He called her to him with his mind, using the mating bond and all the power of the Dark Champion, all the while hoping against hope he wasn’t wrong.
That he wasn’t luring her to her death, her true death and the Wendigohe now believed was inside of her would end this nightmare.
He realized with a sudden awful clarity that he didn’t want Arianna. She was long dead and Mari was here. Mari had stood by him, she’d come when he hadn’t even know he’d needed her. She was loyal and brave, so much stronger than anyone had given her credit for.
Mari was the one.
15
Mari wasn’t a killer.
But she knew if she wanted to be on this transport, she’d have to be.
She quickly considered her options.
She was dressed like a camper and she might be able to get them to lower her guard if she approached them like another human looking for help.
They’d test her with silver eventually, but she’d have to act before it went that far.
She’d be taking a chance they wouldn’t recognize her. Hunters had to study all the major houses and learn the names and faces of the major players. Her father was a pack Alpha, but Mari hadn’t really participated in politics nor had she Changed. She kept to herself.
It was possible the hunters had considered her not really a werewolf, therefore below their notice.
Or she’d approach this hunter and get riddled with silver.
It was a chance she was willing to take.
She’d heard him. Warner, calling over their mate bond.
His voice had been faint, the signal weak, but he’d said he needed her.
And by all that was holy, unholy, and beyond, she’d answer that call.
She looked down at herself and rubbed some dirt on her face and mussed her hair. She banged around in the underbrush just enough so their dull human senses could detect her.
To her extreme luck, one hunter found her. He wasn’t too terribly huge, but his fatigues would still be kind of big on her. Luckily, they tended not to bother getting to know the newer ones until they’d survived a few missions.
An unknown face wouldn’t be cause for concern.
“Stay right there,” he commanded.
“Who are you?” she whispered, hoping she sounded like a damsel in distress.
“Who are you?” he aimed a gun at her.
Mari gasped. She found she lied easily. It was supposed to be hard for werewolves to lie, if not impossible, but the words came as if they were true. “My name is Jennifer. I was hiking with my friends and we got separated and…” she forced her eyes to well with tears. “I’m lost and I think they’re dead.”
He reached for the radio on his belt and she launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around him.
“I’m so glad to see you.”
The man was so surprised, he just held her. “It’s going to be okay.”
She knew he’d been trained for this situation, so she wondered why he didn’t just shoot her.
Then she knew why.
“How glad are you?” His hand was on her ass.
Bastard.
She didn’t feel too badly about tearing out his throat. If she’d actually been what she pretended to be, if she’d actually been in danger and afraid and he’d treated her like this, well… really, she was doing the world a service, wasn’t she?
Mari realized this was what she needed. If she could get him out of his fatigues before she tore his throat out, well, it would just be better all around.
“So glad.”
He unbuckled his belt and pushed her down.
He grabbed her hands and held them above her head and then he whispered in her ear, “I know you’re a filthy wolf bitch, but I’m going to fuck you before I rip your heart out.”
She laughed.
Mari didn’t feel a single second of fear that he’d follow through on his threat. Oh, she knew he would try, but she’d take his head first.
She found a new voice inside of her. One that belonged wholly to the wolf she’d ignored for so long.
It wanted to take his head.
It wanted him to know fear and terror before she did.
Mari found that she wanted that, too.
Mari wasn’t afraid of the new bloody thoughts, she reveled in them and this fucker deserved everything he had coming.
“I’ve always wanted to know what it was like with a human,” she murmured.
“You’re not going to trick me into letting you go.”
“I’m not trying.” That was a problem, wasn’t it? Oh well. So the shirt would be bloody. She’d just have to spread it around so it looked like it belonged to the werewolf victims instead of him.
He tried to snap silver cuffs on her wrists, but that was when she showed him exactly what she was made of.
Teeth, and fangs, and everything grand. That’s what wolf bitches were made of.
She tore him apart.
Ripped his head from his body and dropped kicked it out into the forest.
She hoped he could see her foot coming at his face in those seconds and knew his head had been removed from the rest of his meat.
Mari made quick work of stripping his clothes and squirming into them.
She experienced a level of control over her wolf that she’d never known. His boots were too big, so she transformed, just her feet to fill the boots.
The wolf part of her hated being confined inside the hot, restrictive leather of the boot, but the wolf part of her hated it more that they might get away with what they’d done to Lenore and Warner.
At least until the infected pack killed them, but then they’d have another problem that would have to be dealt with.
She approached the transport with an M16 slung over her shoulder, acting for all the world as if she belonged there.
The guy checking names off the list looked at her expectantly.
“Warner,” she said.
“Goddamn it. Another one we didn’t have listed. Home office has to do better with this shit. It’s all gone to hell since we lost Peter.” Then he looked stricken. “Fuck. You didn’t hear that.”
She nodded gravely. “Of course I didn’t. Snitches get stitches, am I right?”
“Thank fuck for that. Good on you, recruit. Good on you.” He slapped her back heartily and she climbed onto the transport and buckled in.
The roaring of more helicopters filled the air and the transport was lifted off the ground.
Mari watched as they flew ever higher and covered a considerable amount of ground.
North, they were heading farther north.
When she looked down, she saw that they’d barely made a dent in the infected population.
Swarms of them had come from miles around to converge on the spot where they’d been.
“Holy shit, look at that,” one of the other recruits pointed down to where Mari had been looking.
“This is a bigger problem than Home Office had anticipated.”
“Yeah, that’s why they had to catch the Woolven. He’s the key to defeating them,
” another said.
“That was pretty fucking stupid, don’t you think?” Mari couldn’t help but say.
At the expressions on the others’ faces, she realized she’d spoken aloud and wondered just what she’d do if they figured out who she was.
She rushed to add, “Why involve ourselves and send our guys to die when they can handle it themselves?”
They seemed to relax and the older one said, “Because we need to be able to defend ourselves. Warner Woolven is the key. Although, I’m surprised we took him so easily. We need to be on our guard and prepared for anything.”
Mari was surprised by that, too.
Not just by how easily they took Warner, but by how easily they’d captured part of the pack. These hunters would be the best resource for that kind of information, if she tread carefully.
“Hey, so I’m new,” she began. “I know we’re not really supposed to ask questions, but I saw one of the others throw the remains in with the pack. I don’t understand.”
“You think it was cruel and inhumane?” The guy next to her snorted.
“No. They eat their dead to regenerate. Or weren’t you paying attention?” Mari answered.
“That’s just fucking nasty. Also, I guess it’s going to suck to be on the ground when that starts.” He shrugged.
“Don’t you think you should tell someone?”
“They’ll figure it out.”
Mari sat back in silence for the rest of the ride.
It was hard for her to reconcile Lenore was part of this. She was nothing like any of these assholes.
Maybe that’s why she was more pack than anything. Lenore didn’t fit with these people. They were awful.
Awful humans who did awful things.
Lenore was a good person who did awful things for the right reasons.
That’s what Warner was, too.
She had to get to him.
When the transport was about to land, the guy next to her said, “This is your first time, huh?”
“That obvious? Fuck.” Mari looked down at her feet.
“You’re gonna do fine, kid.”
She nodded.
“I can tell you want to do the right thing.”
The transport landed and noise from people on the ground drowned out anything else he would’ve said.
Stealing the Heiress Page 11