Rack or Ruin (The Desecrated Pack Book 3)

by Jude Marquez

  “What does the end say? Does it have instructions?” He asked.

  We had been driving close to ten hours, only stopping for gas. I had avoided that part of the book and Eli hadn’t looked at his either. I knew that we were both nervous about what it would say.

  Or wouldn’t say.

  I looked down at the book and took a deep breath. I flipped to the back, where the pages were blank. I wondered what things it would tell me later on.

  Finally, I found the last page.

  I stared at it for a moment but didn’t say anything.

  “Hey, you okay?” Eli asked and reached over. I took his hand.

  “Yeah,” I mumbled.

  “What is it?”

  “Reverie of the Enduring,” I said.

  Eli was silent and when I looked over at him, he had a frown on his face. “What the hell does that mean?” He asked.

  “I don’t know,” I muttered.

  “Well, what does it say? Does it have instructions?” He asked.

  “No. It’s just that. The title and then it says, One, and that’s it. It’s all blank after that,” I said and ran my hand down the page. It felt like all the others; old and fragile.

  We were on a dark highway and our trip had so far been uneventful.

  Eli jerked the car over to the shoulder. I looked up, surprised, but he got out of the car and dug through the backseat before he pulled his own book out. He went to the hood of the car and put the book down.

  I joined him with my own.

  I got my first clear look at his book when he opened it.

  Wolf of the Innocent, the title proclaimed.

  He opened it and when I saw words and letters and symbols dripping off the edges and sides, I glanced away. Whatever he saw was not for my eyes.

  “Okay, last page,” he muttered and let it fall open. I opened mine to the last page as well.

  Eli said nothing and for a minute, I witnessed a cold and icy rage on his face I had never seen before. I picked my book up and clutched it to my chest and took a step away from him.

  “What does it say?” I asked.

  “Life of the Exalted,” he replied through gritted teeth.

  “And it doesn’t say anything after that?” I guessed.

  He shook his head. “Let’s go.”

  I scrambled back into the car.

  I didn’t have to ask him why he was furious. We had spent all this time out here, looking for these books, and they didn’t tell us anything.

  We could have been back home, fighting for our home, instead of running after books that couldn't help us at all.

  I PICKED OFF THE GUARDS that were closest to Marcus and Dante first. I aimed for the center mass, trying to take them down as quickly as possible. They were like a horde of vermin. At first there were only a few of them, then a dozen, then dozens more, then too many to count.

  By that time, Marcus and Dante made it inside and I hurried down the ladder and met them in the hallway.

  “We should probably leave,” Dante said, panting. He jerked an arrow out of his arm. He didn’t look great and Marcus stared at his arm. It was darkening around the wound. He was pale and sweat was dotting his forehead.

  “Yeah, this party is lame anyway,” I agreed and took his arm, headed for the shop class and our vehicle.

  By the time we got there, Dante was swaying on his feet and he leaned against the back before bending over and vomiting up a mass of black goo.

  I looked over at Marcus who was closer to him and hurried for the driver’s seat.

  Marcus got Dante into the backseat and then got in the passenger seat.

  We stared at the bay door. It was still closed.

  “Fuck it,” I muttered and gunned the engine.

  The aluminum door caved easily under the Humvee and then we were bouncing out across the baseball field, headed for a road on the opposite side of the pitcher’s mound.

  I let out a breath when I felt the tires hit the asphalt.

  “Watch out!” Marcus screamed.

  Too late, I realized even as I jerked the wheel and the other Humvee came out of nowhere, with its lights off.

  I felt the horrendous jerk of the other SUV hitting us, somewhere on the driver’s side rear tire. Then we were airborne.

  I lost count of how many times we rolled before we came to a halt.

  When I looked over at Marcus he was blinking stupidly at me but when I reached out for him, he grasped my hand briefly and nodded. “Okay.”

  His teeth were painted with blood. He was not okay. He was alive, but okay was definitely out of the question.

  I looked back and saw Dante. He was groaning and on his back, on the roof of the Humvee. Anyone less than what he was capable of would have died.

  “Here,” he groaned and reached forward. He slashed through my seat belt with his claws and I collapsed with a hiss on the roof. Dante did the same thing for Marcus before finally collapsing, his eyes rolling to the back of his head.

  Marcus and I pulled ourselves from the wreckage and as one went to the side where Dante was laying. I pulled the door open and I took one of his arms, the one that was shot with that poison arrow, and Marcus took the other.

  It took both of us to get him out but we finally managed.

  “We have to get him up-” I began.

  Then strong arms were turning and throwing me into the side of the Humvee.

  “You aren’t doing anything,” a man said and pressed his gun to my chin. “Except for dying. Yeah, that’s probably all you are good for.”

  Why not? I thought. I had done it so many times before. What would make this time so different?

  I closed my eyes when I heard the safety flip off and waited for the deafening sound of the bullet.

  Instead, I heard the most beautiful sound in all the world.

  I heard Celia roar.

  Chapter 13

  They blocked the only road in and out of Glenwood Lock. I figured as much. I parked the Jeep off the road and we all climbed out.

  “Keep up,” I whispered to everyone else.

  Then I ran. I ran for the main road, the one that would take us past the high school and where the others were staying. Maybe we would study the books before we had to confront the Ascendancy.

  Instead, I watched Stephen drive by; I heard Marcus scream at him and heard another engine far too close.

  “Hands up, bitch,” a voice demanded.

  Before I could think of another move, a way out, something tore and when I turned, Savannah was standing there, an arm in her hand.

  The man who spoke to me stared at her and she stared back at him. Then she tossed his arm away, and he fell to the ground.

  “Spread out, I don’t know where they are coming from,” I said.

  “There,” Jake said, panting. He pointed at the baseball field that was torn up and the fence that was barely hanging together.

  I could see more guards, toting high-powered rifles, wearing their dark tactical clothing, heading for us.

  Rather, for the crash they had just heard.

  “We have to get him up,” Stephen said, on the other side of the road.

  “Cover me,” I muttered and glanced at the baseball field.

  “I think it’s time for me to bring the others home,” Gerri suggested, looking to me for permission.

  I hesitated. They could overwhelm Savannah and Jake without her help. But they could overwhelm all of us without the others.

  “Go,” Jake said and gave me a grim nod. He was holding the rifle the armless man had been clutching.

  “Yeah, we got this,” Savannah said.

  I nodded at Gerri and she turned and disappeared into the woods.

  Then I heard someone telling Stephen that he was only good for dying.

  I turned and I roared, calling for anything and everything within range.

  Then I ran for the man holding Stephen.

  “WE SHOULD WALK IN,” Eli said when we saw the blockades from the high
part of the road.

  “Run, we should probably run,” I said when I smelled something burning.

  Eli agreed and we put our books in a backpack and then Eli hesitated.

  I sighed. “Come on. Carry me. I know we’ll get there faster even if it bruises my ego.”

  He picked me up in a bridal hold and ran.

  The first thing we heard was the sound of a car crash, then Celia roaring.

  Neither one of us could resist that call, even if we wanted to. She was calling us home, demanding our return, telling us our pack was in danger, that our help was needed.

  Eli stopped, and we were facing the baseball field. Savannah was tearing through people, though they were large enough in number to still get shots off on her. When she slowed enough for me to see her, I saw that there was blood soaking her clothes through.

  “Go,” I told Eli, and he nodded, glanced at the man next to me that was carefully shooting guards that were coming too close to us.

  “Wait!” I said just as Eli began to head for the crowd. He looked over at me and I tapped the wolf’s head pendant.

  “Right,” he muttered and placed his hand over it.

  The man and I watched as the armor shimmered down his form and covered him, even as he shifted.

  “We didn’t get to become Power Rangers out there,” the guy muttered as he began shooting again.

  “Neither did I. That’s just for Eli,” I said.

  “You’re Lou?” He asked and took aim and fired.

  “Yep,” I said and pulled the ground up under the Ascendancy and sent them tumbling away, giving Savannah a moment of respite and letting Eli join the fight. It felt so good to be home, the magic around me singing, welcoming me home. I felt like it lifted a weight from my chest and I could breathe again. “You’re Nichols?”

  “Jake, yeah,” he said and waited for some guards to get to their feet before firing again.

  I shielded Savannah and watched as one guard tried to stab Eli, only for his knife to meet that armor and break in half.

  “Neat,” I muttered and Eli jumped on him.

  Then I saw a figure, low and fast moving, coming across the field.

  “What is that?” Jake asked, a note of panic in his voice.

  “I don’t know,” I said, trying to squint at it.

  “Do I shoot it?” He asked.

  “No,” I said.

  “Lou!” Celia screamed. She sounded panicked.

  “Got this?” I asked.

  “I don’t know,” he said.

  I looked up at the lights that surrounded the field and realized what an idiot I had been. I reached inside myself, searched for something that could turn those lights on, and found a bit of something that was unexplored. Something hot, something that sparked with power.

  Electricity.

  I took a deep breath and breathed out, tried to harness it, and pushed it towards the light.

  They flicked on.

  The quick moving figure was a brown and white wolf, headed straight for Eli’s side.

  “Don’t shoot the wolves,” I ordered Jake.

  Because there were more coming out of the forest, headed for Eli and Savannah and the group of Ascendancy that was growing like the cockroaches that had attacked us.

  “Got it,” Jake said.

  I left his side and headed for Celia.

  I wished I hadn’t.

  When I got there, she was kneeling next to Dante, his shirt torn open. His entire left arm was black, and I watched as it began to invade his left shoulder, creep up his neck and down his chest. I had never seen gangrene in my life; I knew that it had to be exactly like this or at least very close.

  I swallowed past my fear and fell next to Celia.

  Dante’s eyes opened.

  Instead of dark brown, they were a milky blue.

  “Lou?” He said. His good arm raised towards me. I grasped his hand.

  “Yeah it’s me. Can you see me?” I asked.

  “I can’t see shit,” he said.

  There was a small, broken sound above me and I looked up and realized that Marcus was standing there with Stephen by his side.

  “Go, help Nichols,” I told Stephen. I didn’t tell Marcus anything. It wasn’t my place.

  Stephen took the hint and left.

  “This is different,” I said and gave Dante’s good hand to Marcus, who also knelt by him. “This is stronger, more potent.”

  “Can you-” Celia asked and then her voice choked off.

  “Maybe you should go with the others. There are more wolves out there. I don’t know who they are,” I said and glanced up at her. For the first time, I felt unsure of what I could do. This was running through him a lost faster than the bullet in Eli had run or the poison they used on Celia.

  “I don’t want to,” Celia whispered.

  I pressed my lips together and nodded.

  I took Dante’s bad arm and tried not to gag when I felt how soft it was. It felt like fruit gone bad weeks ago.

  I raised the wound to my eyes and then pulled a small ball of light out of the air and towards the wound.

  There was something in there, something shiny and broken.

  “Do you have a knife?” I asked and looked up.

  “In the truck-” Marcus said and started to get up.

  “Here,” Celia said and leaned in close. “Yeah, I see it.”

  Her claws were already out, and she glanced down at Dante. He was out.

  “This will hurt him,” she said. “He might lash out.”

  I shook my head. “I don’t think he can feel it anymore. Quickly, get it out, I don’t have much time.”

  It took three quick slices for her to get into his flesh deep enough and pull out the broken bit still inside of him. She tossed it aside.

  Immediately, the wound began closing.

  “Okay, we don’t have time,” I whispered. I put my arms under his shoulders and tried to sit him up but he was too heavy and Celia had to help me sit him up and lean him into my chest.

  I took a deep breath and focused on Dante and how quickly his body was healing now, how fast he could always recover, even when we were human. I focused on his arm, pushing that natural healing ability to its absolute limit and then giving it a little more. I felt a pull deep inside of myself, like when I had to have my wisdom teeth pulled and I wasn’t completely out. It hurt, but losing him would hurt so much more.

  I cried out but clutched him closer, anyway.

  Because I wasn’t dying, I didn’t even feel a little sick, and what happened to one happened to the other.

  Then he was sitting up and away from me, gasping in deep breaths and standing up.

  Bare-chested, heaving in deep breaths, partially shifted, with the light of the moon reflecting down on us.

  Those dark brown eyes I knew just as well as my own stared down at me.

  “Hey, when did you get back?” Dante asked conversationally and helped me to my feet and then Celia and Marcus.

  “Not too long ago. We’ll talk later, yeah?” I said. My voice trembled, and he looked at me curiously and squeezed my shoulder. I nodded.

  He smirked and pointed at the baseball field. I stepped out of their way.

  Celia and Dante were shifting and running towards the gun shots, snarls, and other sounds that we didn’t recognize.

  I looked over at Marcus, pale and shaking, with tears on his cheeks.

  I put a hand on his shoulder and he looked over at me.

  “Would you feel better if you got to shoot something?” I asked.

  He nodded.

  We headed towards the road where Stephen and Nichols stood, shooting.

  “WE SHOULD HAVE FIGURED out how many there are,” I said as I slapped in yet another magazine.

  “Thousands, let’s just say there are thousands of them,” Lou muttered and looked down at the field.

  “Good to have you back,” I said and watched a rock sail over our heads and take out a group that was heading
towards a wolf on the field. I couldn’t tell who was who, and the wolves were still coming. I tried not to ask where Billie was, tried not to be too greedy, but the longer we waited, the more anxious I became.

  What if she didn’t come back?

  “Good to be back,” Lou said, and there was another burst of Ascendancy guards headed towards us.

  Celia and Eli pushed them back, working side by side, like a well-oiled machine.

  “Sort of,” he muttered.

  Savannah appeared at Nichols’s side and he jumped.

  “How long are they going to keep this up?” She asked.

  “As long as they can. They want to wear us down. They are trying to distract us from the real reason they are here,” a familiar voice said.

  We all turned and saw Artie there, wearing jeans and boots, a light blue flannel and a white t-shirt underneath.

  Next to him, Billie stood, casual like she wasn’t seeing us for the first time. She also wore jeans and boots and had a pale green sweater on. Her hair was pulled back in a complicated manner and she looked good, healthy, alive.

  I let out an inarticulate yell and ran for Billie. I scooped her up in my arms and held her close. I felt her arms wrap around me and it was almost as good as finding my way home in the dark.

  “We still have work to do,” she whispered in my ear.

  “You’re okay?” I asked.

  “I’m good. I’m better than good,” she promised.

  I put her down and stepped back. I opened my mouth to tell her everything that I knew because this was Billie and I didn’t keep secrets from her, not ever.

  “We could watch you. It was like television,” she said and put a hand on my cheek. Her eyes searched mine. She nodded. “I know.”

  “You do?” I whispered.

  “It’s a lot but we can figure it out. We’ll learn. We always do,” she swore.

  And that was enough for me.

  “What’s the real reason they are here?” Savannah asked, looking around.

  “They are trying to break into the spring. They want to destroy it,” Artie said. His voice was muffled by Lou hugging him.

  Then Celia and Eli were there, shifting back, and running for their brother.