by Holly Hook
“I went missing, so they might have interrupted—no, never mind. I'm sure they're functioning just fine with the twelve members that are left.” He stalks away through the aisles of snacks, lifting his leg like he wants to kick the display of beef jerky. But he holds back and heads to the bathrooms.
Cayden leans close to me. “I guess the cult doesn't favor him much, either. He mentioned something about that. Her sister is the prodigy.”
“Brett's been hurt a lot,” I say. “Well, he has the chance to strike back at them. He has to take it. I say so.”
Once Brett returns from the bathrooms, composed, we all head outside again and gather near the picnic tables. I ask Natalie if she knows where that hiking trail is.
“I used to hike there with my husband years ago, before some Savages tried to close in on us,” she says, gray eyes clouding with the memory. She motions to Ron. “I didn't know my husband at the time was a Noble Wolf, and to keep me from getting infected by them, he shifted and bit me. And then we barely escaped.”
“It was fourteen years ago, wasn't it?” I ask.
Natalie nods sadly. “Yes. It would have been at the time your parents were killed.”
I leave it there. The new pack members don't know I'm from a Wolf and a Hunter. It's bad enough Brett's accidentally blown Callie's cover.
Instead of sitting, everyone stands in place around the tables, watching me, while Noah and Olivia hang back. “Okay. Those of you from Colling will circle around the Savage territory to a hiking trail near the back. That's on the west side. The rest of us will go after the cult and get the girl out.” I wave my hand and divide the group with a hand motion, pointing to the side. Most of the Colling Wolves step to the left as Everly, Remo, and Aunt May step to the right. Brett bites his lip and shuffles to the side, too.
“Good,” I say. “We leave now. You guys distract the Savages however you can. Without them we'll have an easier time finding the cult. Once we're done, we meet somehwere. We'll take vehicles as close as we can to the border, so we can all have quick getaways--”
“It's Edwin!”
Leonora raises her hand and points to the road.
I've been hearing cars all day and haven't paid any attention to the traffic, mainly since Edwin doesn't own a car and walks everywhere in Breck. People have even gone in and out all morning. If anything, I expected the head of the Russell Coven to arrive on a bicycle or even on foot. But as I turn, I see that Edwin has commandeered one of the buses from the bus station. He's in the drivers' seat, and seated behind him are several dark figures in brimmed leather hats. Edwin has taken time to tell the Hunters about the danger I pose. This is an assassination.
Chapter Twelve
My knees buckle and all the spit leaves my throat. Cayden reaches out and grabs my arm, pulling me close to him. He'll jump in front of me as a shield and die, even if the curse doesn't attack him.
But Aunt May bolts in front of me as Edwin seems to see me for the first time. He slams on the brakes and drives into the parking lot. “Brie! Run!”
I might be alpha, but she's still my only parent, and she's going to put herself between me and those silver weapons so I can live another day. “No!”
But I can't command her. Aunt May drops in the parking lot and kneels, removing her coat. She'll be even more vulnerable in Wolf form and I can't stop her.
“Come on!” Cayden yanks on my arm so hard it hurts.
The bus blocks off all but a small exit from the parking lot. The SUV and the van won't get out. The door swings open. Instead of Edwin a few of the Hunters from Colling get out. In the driver's seat, he reaches into his pocket.
“What's going on?” Don asks.
I stand there, shaking in indecision. “Run!” I order.
I turn and join Cayden as we bolt into the trees. We're faster than the Hunters who are bogged down in leather coats and equipment. Aunt May pops and stretches as she shifts. I try not to think about what might happen. She might--
I have to go back.
“No!” Cayden shouts. He tightens his grasp until I can't feel the blood flowing into my hand anymore.
He's still trying to protect me. He's still there, trying to do the job I took away from him. So I let him.
A bolt fires and Cayden pulls me to the side just in time for the silver tip to jam into a tree beside me. The others run beside us. We're running down the trail now, out of our official territory, and into the neutral woods where anything can happen.
“Aunt May!” I scream.
But the pack runs beside us, all in human form. There's no time for anyone to stop and shift. Cries of confusion ring out around us.
“Stop!” Noah yells at the Hunters. He's far back. Still at the picnic tables.
“Stand aside!” That's Edwin.
“What are you doing?” Olivia yells. “I'll call the cops!”
Another bolt flies through the air. This one jabs into the dirt, just inches from my feet.
Even farther back, Aunt May growls.
“This way!” Cayden pulls me down the other side of a hill as another pair of bolts whistle through the air. The bolts fly into dirt and reverberate.
“Aunt May is back there!” I shout.
“We can't go back,” Everly says, appearing at our side as we crouch in place. Around us, the rest of the pack runs ahead into the woods.
Cayden still grasps my arm and pulls his jacket off with the other. “We should do the rest of the journey as Wolves. We can't come back here.”
“Noah and Olivia are back there, too.”
Cayden looks me in the eye, widening his own. “They're not after Noah and Olivia. They're after you. They might not even hurt your Aunt May.”
“But she's going to attack them!” I listen, panic pounding in my ears, but I hear nothing. Already we've put a good half mile between us and the gas station.
And then, shouts ring out back at the station. I look around into the trees, but the rest of the pack have vanished. I smell them some distance ahead. Leonora and Remo have also disappeared. Good. Who knows what Edwin will try to do to her?
“I'm sure they won't hurt Noah and Olivia,” Cayden whispers in my ear. “You have to leave. We both do. Because I'll tear out their throats myself.”
I know what that will lead to, so I rise and swallow down the painful lump in my throat. I hear nothing and I don't like that. Aunt May is back there. But she's the only other Noble Royal besides me. They won't want to shoot the last pure one standing. Will they? But she could attack them and then the Hunters would have to defend themselves.
“Come on,” Cayden whispers.
I have to do my duty. I bolt with him and Everly into the trees, following the rest of the pack as we run further into neutral territory.
* * * * *
Cayden never shifts into Wolf form. Neither do I. We won't be able to reach our clothes again with Edwin prowling around town. It won't do us much good to change back in the middle of the woods, away from the Hunters, butt naked. Without a word, we all seem to understand this.
We join the rest of the pack, following their smell until we reach a small clearing in the woods someone's used as a party spot, judging from the beer cans and the cigarette butts on the ground. The place reeks of booze and tobacco smoke, making me wrinkle my nose as I step into it. Remo stands with Leonora, holding her in both arms.
“Don't put me down,” Leonora begs as he does so.
I look at the others, the rest of the Colling Wolves. No Noah or Olivia have followed us. How could they? No one scooped them up to carry them here. I'm sure Noah will love that we've left him.
The Hunters wouldn't hurt them, right? In fact, the Hunters probably just told them to go home and keep their mouths shut. I know Alex would have.
But Aunt May--
“Did anyone hear what happened to my aunt?” I demand. I look at Remo and Natalie. Hayley, Allen, Don, Ron, and Marleen. “Tell me, even if the news is bad.”
“Why did the Hun
ters of the Noble Order attack us?” Don asks.
I'm on the spot again. I look to Cayden, but he nods like he's out of ideas. And so am I. I'm tired of running from the truth and trying to hide it. Do I spill everything right here? The pack deserves to know how dangerous I can be before we go into the Savage territory, but if they do, we might never stay together. As I stand there, I sense my tenuous command over the Colling Wolves. It shakes like it's going to break apart at any moment. I take a breath. Winning the fight over Lawrence was legit. I earned the position of alpha and I need to hold this pack together, even if many of them don't trust me. I look at them all in turn. They're all looking at me like I should have all the answers. But without Aunt May, or knowing her fate, I'm just as lost as they are, in fact maybe more so.
Sucking in a breath, I prepare for the act of my life.
“The Hunters must think I'm trying to work with the Savages or something,” I say. “I don't know for sure what Edwin told them. If he's a spy for the cult, it must be his job to tear us apart from the inside.” That's the truth. Well, part of the truth.
“That Edwin guy gives me the creeps,” Cayden adds.
I nod and shrug. “Well, he uses dark magic.”
“He used dark magic?” The boy's mother, Marleen, steps in front of her son like she's protecting him.
“It looked like dark magic to me,” Remo says.
“Karina,” Brett says. He looks right at me, and I hate that I can't read his eyes well behind his sunglasses. But they're his only shield left and likely the reason he hasn't taken them off. “We need to get to her now. I wouldn't be surprised if that Edwin guy is secretly working with Romulus.”
He's on my side. Brett, whose father I had to kill to protect Cayden, is shifting over to my side and hiding my secret. But that thought just makes me feel slimy. Edwin is not working with the Savage King, of course, but he's made himself look that way. And I'm taking advantage of that fact.
But what else do I do?
“The plan, then,” Don says. “Is it still on?” He asks me with a mocking tone.
“Yes,” I say, injecting as much power into my voice as I can. “The plan is still on.” I gulp, thinking of Aunt May and where she could be right now. I'd feel it if she died, wouldn't I? “We need to get Karina. And if we can't deal with Edwin, we might have to leave the area.”
* * * * *
It kills me to continue walking, especially in human form, away from where Aunt May just might have attacked the Hunters for me. Even hand in hand with Cayden, I feel out of control and helpless. It's an awful feeling, like I'm insufficient to protect the ones I love. At least we walk well ahead of the others.
“Now I know how you feel,” I say, watching my breath spiral in front of me.
“You shouldn't have to feel that way. I'm sure your aunt is fine,” Cayden says.
I keep looking back, trying to see her catching up through the trees, but she's not coming. And I don't detect her spring smell anywhere. Of course, I can't smell the Hunters, either. They like the shield themselves with that spray Alex always carries.
“Once we're out of here, we need to check on Callie,” Cayden says.
“That might be dangerous,” I whisper.
The two of us walk in the lead, with Everly, Leonora, and Remo right behind us, and then the rest of the pack walking behind them. Don shuffles his feet in ways I don't like.
“I agree, but it has to be done,” Cayden says. “Maybe the Savage King and the cult wanted her away from us because she's been nothing but a help so far. Brett might not have known the real truth. And maybe he even wanted Edwin to turn on us, which is why he attacked you when you were in the cabin with him. So far, he's proving to be a lot smarter than the Wolves he spawned.”
I shush Cayden, but he grins like the rest of the pack can't hear. Maybe they can't, with as far back as they're walking. I check to see the Colling Wolves walking a good hundred feet back. No one shows signs of having heard us. Don still walks with his head down like he's stewing over my decisions. I keep forgetting that not everyone has hearing like mine.
“We have to find my aunt before Callie,” I say.
“I know we do,” Cayden says. “We're getting close to the Savage territory line.”
That snaps me back to attention. “I can smell it,” I say.
The rotten wood smell overtakes me. As if noticing it for the first time, Brett catches up with us. The whole time, he's been walking between us and the Colling Wolves. Behind Everly and Remo, but in front of the others, like he's in a class by himself. And he is.
“Is that the Savages?” he asks, wrinkling his nose.
“Yep. Don't they smell grand?” I ask.
“They smell awesome,” Brett says. “Now I see why none of the cult members ever want to be turned. If I got assaulted with this every day--”
“I doubt the Savages can smell themselves, or they'd go crazy,” I say. “I can't smell myself and you can't smell yourself.”
Brett looks at me with brief terror—do I smell bad, he's asking—before looking straight ahead again.
“You don't smell like that,” I tell him.
“I'm never going to get used to this,” Brett says. “This is screwing my mind over so bad. And now you want to do this to my sister.”
“It's better than where she is now,” I say. Having to infect another person is already filling me with chills, even if it's for Karina's own good. It's something the Nobles have tried to avoid before, and for good reason. It'll just bring us more Lawrences. Karina won't have a reason to work with us, unlike Brett, but at least she won't be able to go back to the Savage territory.
We stop in front of the giant fallen tree. Its smell mixes with that of the Savages, who have recently marked a strong line across the border. Wolf prints are everywhere. I wrinkle my nose and Brett stands there in disgust like he's seeing reality for the first time. And in a way, he is.
“Come on. Don't tell me you didn't know they were bad,” I say.
“I'm not saying that,” Brett says in defense. “I'm just trying to get used to what you inflicted on me. My hearing. I can hear things almost a mile away.”
“Hey. I've heard plenty of things I haven't wanted to hear,” I say. “Now we split up. Those of you from Colling will circle around this territory line as Wolves and draw the Savages away from this area. The rest of us will go in and grab Karina. Brett knows where she might be.”
“Where do we meet?” The boy's mother, Marleen, asks. As she speaks, she puts her hand on her son's shoulder and squeezes. Though I hadn't meant for him to come along, the Hunters changed that.
That's a good question. We can't go back to the gas station and I'm willing to bet the Hunters and Edwin will stake out the Lowe cabin and my house, preventing us from getting back to our clothes, wallets, and other important things. We have nowhere else to go. But if Noah's smart—and he is—he'll set up a place. A place with a wall around it, perferably, that the Hunters can't get into easily.
Olivia's mansion.
“Do you know that big house in town with the gates?” I ask. “We go there. The rogue Hunters won't know where to go. The girl who lives there will take us in.” She will, won't she?
The other members nod.
“I'll show you where it is after we get Karina,” Leonora chips in.
“You can't go in there,” Remo tells her.
“I'm going with you. I can hold the dark spirits off,” she says.
“I'll help with that,” Brett says. “I can keep them away from us long enough to get in and get out, but it's going to take energy and concentration I might not have for long. My sister's way better at controlling them than I am, so if she's not willing, then we're going to have a bad time. And if the rest of the cult shows up, I'll be way outnumbered.”
“But they won't know you're different yet,” I say. “Just walk at a normal pace when you go to meet them.”
Brett nods. He's our key to reaching Karina, but it all depend
s on keeping the Savages away from us. If they find us and smell Brett, the ruse is over.
“Okay,” I say to everyone. “We split here. I hope luck is with us.”
Chapter Thirteen
“Luck is with us,” Cayden repeats over and over as we watch the Colling Wolves, now shifted into their animal forms, run along the outside of the Savage border to circle around the territory. They'll take some time to get to the other side of the border, which is miles away even if they were to shoot straight across, but that's better than nothing. The Hunters prevented us from taking our vehicles, too, thanks to that stupid bus blocking most of the way.
How did the police not find him? Maybe he's going crazy and he'll attack them with magic, too.
“No kidding,” I say. I watch the last of the Wolves disappear into the trees as we stand in the small clearing beside the fallen tree. I hear no Savages over on this side of the territory. Either they're in human form, relaxing in that small town they've infected, or they're off hunting in the other side of the territory already. But they couldn't have gone far. The prints on the ground, already hardening in the mud, tell me they were out here this morning and every morning before that.
“So, you need me to walk up and get chummy with the other cult members,” Brett says. “You know, I'm not their favorite.”
“You were leading the rite to bind Romulus to me,” I spit.
Brett balks again. “What else was I supposed to do? Ask them nicely to stop? They would have thrown me and my sister to the Savages.”
“Good point.” But I won't forget the joy Brett took in trying to curse me into the ground. It was there and he can't deny it.
We wait and pretty much stare at each other while we give the other Wolves time to circle around the Savage territory. We stay quiet which allows me to listen. I hear nothing, which tells me the confrontation hasn't started yet.
“I've sent the boy,” I say.
“You weren't going to stop him,” Cayden says. “Wolves don't like to be told to stand aside.” He turns away and stalks over to the fallen tree, trying to get away from Brett.