They regard him as some sort of god. They say that he’s the only one that listens to their pleas and their demands. The rest of the Elders, and the rest of us, just seem to banish them without listening to their stories. They’re angry, Hann, and they’re going to attack soon. We need to be prepared. Because right now? Well, we’re not.”
Lukas listened some more, leaving Britta trying to hear what Hann was saying on the other end of the line to no avail. She was left trying to get some sort of information from the two, but was left on the outside. After what seemed like hours later, Lukas hung up the phone and finally looked at her, his eyes haunted.
“Hann wants us out of here,” he told her. “Now.”
It was like those words broke some type of spell the two were in. They jumped up from the beds they were sitting on and started throwing the few things they’d unpacked into the two bags they’d brought. They hadn’t brought a lot, so they didn’t have much to pack.
In less than two minutes, they were out the door and checking out of their room. They handed the key to the man at the front desk of the motel lobby, who asked them why they were leaving so soon and if they needed any help. He stopped asking questions when he saw the vague answers and looks that both Lukas and Britta were giving.
They wanted out of Michigan. Now. And they wouldn’t feel safe until they were back home in Maine with their loved ones.
They started walking to their car, which was parked at the back of the motel near a trail to the forest that encased their view. Britta wanted to ask Lukas more questions, like how he found out all the information so quickly, but she was too nervous to say anything. You never knew who was listening.
Britta and Lukas smelled their scents before they came into view.
Three shifters–rogues, upon closer inspection–stood around Lukas’s car. It was the only car in the parking lot, and the three rogues were almost invisible because there was no light in this parking lot. All they had was the forest beyond them and the stars and the moon for light.
It was fine, though. Britta and Lukas could deal with this. They hoped.
They stopped walking to the car a few steps away, and Britta saw Lukas clench the handle of the bag he was holding. Britta realized that she was doing the same thing to her own backpack, and she forced herself to look as calm and natural as she wished she looked.
“You’ve been sniffing around things that you shouldn’t have,” one of the rogues said as he stepped forward. The moonlight hit him as he took a step closer to them and away from Lukas’s car, and Britta saw that he wasn’t that much older than her and Lukas.
The rogue had long brown hair that was tied back in a low bun, and it took everything in Britta’s soul to not make fun of it. Now was not the time for a funny, sarcastic joke. It just wasn’t the right audience.
“We were just passing through,” Lukas told them, not wanting to give the shifters any information about who they were and what they were really doing there. “We don’t want any trouble.”
“You don’t want any trouble, eh?” The shifter laughed. Britta saw the two other rogues behind their leader, one male and one female, tense as he took another step forward. Britta and Lukas both tensed, and Britta took in her surroundings to make sure that no one else was around. It looked like these were the only rogues in the vicinity, and Britta relaxed slightly. “I know exactly who you are.”
It was Lukas’s turn to tense now, and Britta almost wanted to shake her head in defeat. This wasn’t going to turn out good, now.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lukas responded, refusing to out himself.
“You’re Lukas, the rogue that turned his back on his brothers and snitched on Kaiser,” the rogue told him, an evil look forming in his eye as he looked Lukas up and down. “Oh, we all know about you. Heard you have a pack and everything now. Oh, and you’re screwing a halfie.”
Lukas seemed to tense even more at the mention of Annie. Britta prayed he didn’t lose control and attack the rogues. They deserved it if they were planning a mass uprising, yes, but they had to be careful. They didn’t know what type of territory they were in, and there could be a number of rogues who could hear what was happening in the forest and come running out to help their friends.
And if that happened, Britta and Lukas wouldn’t make it out of Michigan alive.
“You have the wrong person,” Lukas told them, bracing himself for them to attack.
“Nah, I don’t think I do,” the rogue replied. He took another step forward, and both Britta and Lukas knew that they were going to attack the second before they did.
Their bags were on the ground, and they were in a defensive position when the rogues ran at them. Britta felt the adrenaline run through her veins as the female attacked her first, while Lukas had to defend himself against the other two male rogues.
Britta managed to block the first three blows the female rogue sent at her, and then Britta pushed the rogue so that she fell on her back from the blow. Britta finally managed to shift into her wolf form now that she wasn’t being attacked, and one glance in Lukas’s direction showed that the two rogues and Lukas had both shifted into their wolf forms.
Britta wondered why the rogues didn’t shift into their wolf forms when they first attacked. That was beyond odd.
Britta didn’t have time to dwell on it, because her own attacker was in her wolf form and ready to strike again. She was sloppy, though, and with each bite or claw she tried to hurt Britta with, Britta blocked. In a matter of a few seconds, Britta had torn out the jugular of the female rogue that was attacking her. Blood was all over Britta, and she only glanced at the limp female on the ground to make sure that she was dead before she ran over to help out Lukas, who was still defending himself from the two males.
Britta jumped on one of the males, she couldn’t tell which, that was attacking Lukas, giving him some space and room to take on the other attacker with his full strength. This rogue was much stronger than his female companion, though. And when he saw that Britta had killed her, he went at her with such rage and emotion that it became difficult to block all of the blows.
Slowly, for every blow that Britta did block, another came that she couldn’t. And after a few hits she began to feel . . . well, weird. Dizzy. Like she was under some kind of spell. Which was weird and didn’t make any sense. But she continued to fight, and she got in a few good shots of her own. She was never able to take down her attacker though, and the rogue kept coming after her with such viciousness. She couldn’t believe this rogue used to be a member of the shifter society. There was just so much hate in his soul.
And, almost as if she was watching a movie, she felt everything start to go in slow motion. Her moves began to turn to jelly, and her mind began to tell her that it was a great time to go to sleep. She blinked her eyes, trying her hardest to stay awake. When she saw that Lukas had finally taken down his own attacker, she gained a little adrenaline boost that helped her stay awake for a few seconds longer. But something was off, that much she knew.
And when she looked down at her body, she figured out what was wrong.
She wasn’t healing. Normally, shifters heal much faster than humans, and when they are in their wolf form, it takes a lot to make them go down. Their healing pace is just so much faster than any other species. But Britta was bleeding from wounds that should’ve been healing by now–or they at least should’ve stopped bleeding. But she was still gushing blood from these wounds. That made no sense. No sense at all.
And then, Britta felt the cold pavement come up to meet her face. She howled out in pain, and right before she shut her eyes, she saw Lukas run up towards her to help.
Lukas didn’t know what to do other than get the hell out of Michigan.
Britta was bleeding in the backseat of his car, still in her wolf form and unconscious. And she wasn’t healing. He didn’t know what to do, and his heartbeat hadn’t slowed down at all since the fight.
He didn’t know how t
hose shifters found him. All he knew was that he and Britta were lucky to get out of there alive. Although, he kept checking his rearview mirror to make sure that no one was following him. It could’ve been so much worse.
And it had the possibility of getting so much worse.
Lukas had just gotten off the phone with Hann, and he relayed everything that had happened as he sped away from the town, praying that nothing else horrible happened. Hann had given him an address of a safe house that they had secured just in case something like this happened. Lukas was on his way there right now, and Hann had told him that he was on his way as well. Michael should be there before everyone else because he was faster at traveling, and Lukas only hoped that he was. If anyone could heal Britta, it would be Michael.
Lukas couldn’t understand why she wasn’t healing. But one look down at his own wounds made him realize that there was something else at play here.
Because Lukas was in his human form and still bleeding from wounds he’d gained in his wolf form. And that simply didn’t happen. Whatever shifter magic there was that gave them the ability to shift into another creature also gave them the ability to heal themselves. But shifters never had the same wounds they did when they were in wolf form or human form. The process of shifting normally healed them when they shifted.
That’s why his wounds that covered his whole body were so weird. Because they were in the exact same spot where he got them when he was in wolf form. And that just couldn’t be possible. It didn’t make sense.
But one look at the moaning Britta in his backseat, who was writhing in pain and not speaking, told him that something happened that they weren’t used to. And he only hoped that Michael would be there and be able to save Britta’s life.
Chapter 22
Grant was running through the forest, leaping over fallen twigs and branches, never once stumbling though he felt like he was running blind.
The last few minutes played back to him. The call with a worried Hann on the other end, telling him that there was a problem. And it involved Britta.
Grant howled as he ran faster, his fur blowing through the wind. He could feel Annie who was close on his heels, and Hann who was just up ahead with Ethan and Kato. All of them were running as if their life depended on it.
And, in a way, it did. To Grant, at least. Because Grant didn’t know what he’d do without Britta.
He should’ve never let her go and do this. He should’ve been firm and told her that she couldn’t leave and go on this dangerous mission. He should’ve told her that he loved her more. He should’ve never been such a dick to her all those days ago, before either of them would admit their love and feelings for each other.
He should’ve; he should’ve; he should’ve.
Maybe if he did any one of those, she wouldn’t be in whatever state she was in. Hann wouldn’t tell him, just that she was hurt and it was serious. Hann also reassured him that Michael was going to be at the safe house, a place that was half way between Maine and Michigan. Grant hoped that he would get there and Britta would be all healed with just a scrape on her head and a smile for him.
He prayed.
He ran faster.
Grant started to think of the worst possible outcome, even though he forced himself to stay away from those dark thoughts. What if she was dead? Grant wanted to howl with rage and anguish. She couldn’t be dead. She simply couldn’t. He didn’t know what he would do without her–he didn’t know how he was supposed to live without her when she had become such a big and important part of his life.
Grant forced the images from his mind when they finally arrived at the safe house, somewhere in the middle of New York. Grant stopped as they neared the house, all of them slowing down as they took in the atmosphere. When Grant sensed the panic and fear in the house before them, he wanted to howl again.
He wanted to be in there with her.
They all jogged through the open back door that Michael seemed to leave open for them. Grant got the chills when he saw the blood everywhere. And then, he saw Britta and his heart stopped.
She was in her wolf form, on the kitchen table, bleeding profusely. Michael was working slowly and calmly, stitching her up towards the shoulder area. Lukas was washing away some blood that she had near her back, while also putting what looked like medicine on her wounds to help clean it.
None of this made sense. Why where they treating her as if she was a human? Michael could use whatever Elder magic he had. He had used it before when Kaiser had almost killed Annie. He had waved his hand, done his magic, and Annie had turned out just fine.
So, why was Michael not doing that now? And why was Britta in her wolf form–and not recovering?
Something was wrong, and every single shifter in the room knew it.
“Michael?” Hann asked, using the mental communication that all shifters had so that they could communicate while in their wolf forms. Lukas and Michael were the only ones not in their wolf forms, so they all communicated in this way.
Grant sidled up to where Britta lay. He didn’t know what to do other than stare at her broken, bruised, bleeding body. What had happened?
One look at Lukas, at his own bloodied human face, made him realize that something horrible had happened. And something that was unexplainable.
Grant saw Annie walk up, in her wolf form, to where Lukas was helping work on Britta. Grant could see the way Lukas eased up just by being so close and near to Annie. Grant wished he could calm down by just being near Britta, but she was in such a horrible state that all Grant felt was anger, sadness, and anxiety. And he couldn’t help in any way, which killed him inside.
“Something has happened that is most unusual,” Michael told the group using the mental communication. He didn’t look up once from where he worked on Britta’s shoulder, his pale-white hands moving as if they were choreographed. If it was under different circumstances, Grant would’ve said it was the most graceful thing he’d ever seen. Of course, all he could think about was Britta dying underneath those pale, choreographed hands. And that set him on edge once again.
“What’s happened?” Hann responded, walking around Britta and surveying her wounds as the two shifters worked hard and fast to heal her. It seemed that even Hann couldn’t help out in any way, which, obviously, made the alpha tense with anxiety.
“First of all, the rogues that attacked us have been taken care of,” Lukas said as he poured some more medicine over the gaping wound he was working on. Britta would need stitches there to patch herself up, there was no question about it. “But when we were fighting them, we both noticed that something was off. I could see the way Britta was acting, as she had the worst wounds of us both, and I knew that something was . . . weird. But I’ve never seen anything like this before. It just doesn’t make any sense. It doesn’t make any sense at all.”
“Michael, please explain to me what the hell is going on, and why my shifter is lying here on the table not recovering like she should be,” Hann said, rage and sadness in his voice.
Grant couldn’t imagine how he felt. Hann, as an alpha of so many, almost saw his pack as his children. He didn’t do well when said children died in battle, and Grant saw how devastated he’d been after Kaiser’s attack, first hand. Hann, alone, had helped Grant through his mother’s death, and seeing how bent out of shape Hann was from the shifters who died, though it was a small number, made Grant realize just how much his alpha cared about everyone–which was such a rare feat in this day and age. Grant knew stories about alphas in other places that, quite literally, didn’t care and didn’t have much to do with the pack.
Hann was completely different. And he was loved by every single shifter in the Moonlight Pack. Hell, he was loved by other shifters around the world, even ones who didn’t know him. The man was an icon. A legacy.
So, it was weird seeing how broken he acted and sounded right then and there as he took in Britta lying on the table and Lukas’s own unhealed wounds. There were so many unanswered questi
ons. And he wanted answers. Now.
“There is something else at play here,” Michael began, talking to everyone in the room using the mental communication link. It was weird, though–even in their heads, the Elder still sounded like he was whispering loudly to all. It was such a weird paradox. “Britta is not healing normally like a shifter should. And neither is Lukas. Britta, obviously, had the most wounds here, sadly.”
“But how is this possible?” Grant jumped in, still confused. This had never happened before–so why was it happening now? Things didn’t make sense, and no matter how hard Grant tried to make the situation clearer, he couldn’t.
“I think there was something in their claws and their teeth,” Lukas said after a slight pause.
Everyone looked at him in confusion, as well as surprise.
“What do you mean?” Ethan asked. Grant had almost forgotten he was in the room. He was near the back, giving the pack the space they needed to mourn and figure out what was going on.
Grant looked at Britta and hated the way she was breathing unevenly in pain.
“I mean, there had to have been some type of poison or magic or something that they coated their claws and teeth in before they attacked us,” Lukas said, and then jumped into why he thought this. “When I was surveying the area, before this all happened, I was hearing rogues say how this time they were finally ahead of the rest of the shifters. They finally had something where they could beat us. I thought they were talking about Gabriel, and how having an Elder on their side was going to change their losing streak. I think they were talking about this, instead, now that I’ve seen the consequences.”
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