Winter's Pack (The Cursed Book 2)

by Lou Grimes

  A half-eaten club sandwich rested on the plate before Thomas. Ordering it was almost a business move for Thomas because it put his client at ease enough to eat. There was a reason why he was as renowned as he was.

  The man’s own plate had a few crumbs decorating it, probably because he was scared his fine dining was coming to an end in his current situation.

  Thomas and his client fit right in with the atmosphere of the whole location. This meeting was strictly about keeping someone out of jail. There was no enjoying a meal. Business was the only air they breathed.

  A phone rang from where it lay on the corner of the metal table. Checking it, Thomas sighed at whoever was calling him.

  “Excuse me, I have to get this. I’ll be right back,” Thomas said before standing up and walking off to the side. His client nodded, as if he was a genie granting Thomas his final wish. The wind blew comfortably. The trees and everything else not tied down rattled audibly.

  “Hey, Thomas! How have you been?” the man’s voice asked. The voice was clear as day in contrast to the actual physical world. A person’s best friend running off was something that person would recollect in the clearest manner.

  There was no radio static. This was the conversation Thomas had recalled vividly. The guy sitting across from him was just another number.

  Thomas inhaled, enjoying the light breeze that was now enveloping him.

  “I’m doing great, Gabriel. How’s Mexico treating you?” Thomas asked.

  “Mexico is amazing, to be honest. I’m tan and in the best shape of my life. No more blood pressure problems. My wife and kids love it, too. We go do something new almost every day,” he said happily.

  “That’s great, Gabe. I’m happy for you,” Hollow replied in a genuine tone Louvette almost believed.

  “I was actually calling you for a reason.” Gabriel’s voice dropped a few octaves as if he’d be overheard.

  “I hope you haven’t fallen back into your old ways. It was hard enough getting you out of here, but Mexico is a whole other beast to slay,” Thomas cautioned,

  “No, I’m straight and narrow,” Gabriel promised. “I saw someone, or at least think I did,” he added wavering.

  “Who did you see?” Thomas asked, curiosity starting to build in him.

  “Your old pal, Declan Blackwood,” Gabriel answered.

  “What?” Thomas asked in a hollow tone.

  “Yeah, at first, I wasn’t sure, then I pulled up his business information. He’s here, seems to be enjoying himself, if you get my meaning. That’s a sorry man to run off from his old lady and his unborn child,” Gabriel said.

  Louvette’s heart was the most confused. Her head was in second place for winning the award for most disoriented. She had no idea who to believe. Either a doppelganger of Declan Blackwood was hiding in Mexico, or her father was. All she did know for sure was that she was heading to Mexico the first chance she had to find out the truth.

  “A dreadful thing indeed,” Thomas murmured, seeming to be lost in thought. “Where did you see him at?”

  “I was checking out Poza Rica when I saw him,” Gabriel said.

  “Poza Rica? I’ve never even heard of that,” Hollows said.

  “It’s the perfect place to disappear to. Not too big that someone might come visiting and not too little where he sticks out like a wolf in a herd of cattle,” Gabriel replied.

  “Must not want to be found,” Thomas said, bewildered. Louvette watched perplexity turn to resentment and hurt, emotions he hid on his phone call. “Thanks for telling me, Gabe.”

  “Any time, it was nice talking to you, Thomas. I’ll tell Judy you said hi,” Gabriel said pleasantly.

  “Bye, Gabe,” Thomas told him.

  “Goodbye, Thomas,” he replied.

  Discovering he wasn’t lying, Louvette withdrew from his mind once she had locked up everything that had happened between them in a mental Pandora’s box. If he opened that box, he would experience as much pain a Lupine mind could experience before going rogue.

  Louvette had no idea if her mind locks were working, so this was solely the way to figure out exactly what she could do. It could potentially be a complete and total fail, but it would work for the time being until she found the right method.

  “What did you do to me?” he asked sickly. His face was whiter than her wolf’s fur.

  “I made sure you weren’t lying to me,” Louvette said.

  “How long have you been able to get into minds?” Thomas demanded, a sheen of sweat breaking out across his forehead.

  “About as long as it has been none of your damn business,” she said, changing the subject. The last thing she’d do would be to grant him any more knowledge about herself. Thomas’s face contorted.

  “You might not be 100 percent guilty, but you are to some degree. You helped the Pacific Ocean Pack get my grandfather murdered. You’re one of the backstabbers,” Louvette pointed out.

  “My only crime was doing nothing. Aren’t we all guilty of something? Yours for example would be lying,” Thomas replied.

  “You got rid of my grandfather because he found out about your little uprising. Judging from the texts, he had no clue you were part of it. You let him be killed because you thought he had been informed you were involved,” she said.

  “Getting rid of me will bring out the true monsters,” Hollows said. Louvette contemplated this for a minute. Killing him might make the other snakes slither out of hiding and Louvette couldn’t have that.

  A silent battle was waging in Louvette. Her wolf desired nothing more than to break some of his bones. One at a time. Having nothing else to go on, she needed him the same as a supernatural trapper needed bait.

  “I’m going to let you leave here alive today, but don’t think for a second your day won’t come because, when the predators are gone, only parasites like you will be left,” Louvette promised him.

  “You won’t be able kill me, Louvette. One day, when you see what you’re facing, you will understand why,” Thomas claimed.

  She stared deep into his eyes to convey the truthfulness behind her words. She meant every bit of it.

  “Stay away from my mother. If you don’t break up with her, I’ll break you,” Louvette vowed before she turned and left the mechanical room. The door winged back violently from the stress brewing inside her person. Every atom in her wanted to fight Hollows for letting her grandfather get killed. Not fighting was a show of complete control.

  Once the door closed, she all but ran up the stairs to tell the others. Checking her phone for the time on the way, she grasped that her trip downstairs had been short, even. Whenever she dived into other minds, it seemed as if she could experience a lifetime in one minute. Louvette suspected it was magic that made such mental scenes barely overlap actual time. Minutes converted to seconds when she was using her Gift.

  She slid her card key into the door rapidly, as if she might forget any little amount of information in the time her return took.

  She walked into the room to find Ian’s and Arsen’s heads bowed together. She met Arsen’s eyes after he lifted them, and he knew immediately something had made her flustered.

  “What’s wrong?” Arsen asked, concern written on his face as he stood up from where he had been sitting.

  “Thomas cornered me on the way up here. The Pacific Ocean Pack knows we are here. Thomas had no hand in my father’s death. Apparently, my father just walked away,” Louvette revealed.

  The weight of that statement hit her the same as a wave of pressure caused by a magical ultrasonic blast. Louvette’s legs folded, and she landed in the empty chair.

  “I’m so sorry, Louvette,” Arsen told her, coming to her side to comfort her. He wrapped his arm around her and gave her such a squeeze. The two of them crammed into the space meant for a normal person, not one normal person and one gigantic young man.

  “That’s our cue to leave,” Ian said, standing up after giving them a few minutes. The gentleman inside Ian was show
ing.

  They pulled away enough to be able to talk and stare into each other’s eyes.

  “How do you know he isn’t lying about your father?” Arsen asked as he released her from his hug and then started gathering things, too. Louvette opened her mouth, but when Ian made a sudden movement of throwing his items into his travel bag, it stopped her short.

  “I just do. My wolf seems to be able to tell when people are lying. Maybe it has something to do with woman’s intuition,” Louvette said lamely. Arsen simply nodded. He was only trusting her word, but it made her feel more terrible about the situation.

  “Get us on the next flight out, Ian. I don’t care if we have twenty stops. We need to leave, now,” Arsen demanded, going into alpha mode instantly.

  “It’s already done,” Ian said, pointing to the phone in his hand that he was furiously typing on.

  Before Louvette realized, they were packed up. They sneaked out of their room, skipping check out. Avoiding the hotel spy at all costs, they managed to escape out the side entrance.

  On the car ride back, Louvette wasn’t about to talk about Mexico. If she did, she’d be nothing more than a blubbering mess the rest of the trip. She didn’t intend anything to stop her when she decided to go, so she settled on something else that had been on the forefront of her mind since leaving Floralen’s den.

  “Are we on the bottom of some screwed up caste system?” Louvette asked. Arsen and Ian shared a glance as if deciding how much to tell her. Judging from Ian’s look, he was on her side about informing her. Arsen’s glance warned Ian against saying too much.

  Louvette chunked a travel pillow at them, losing her patience. They were more irritating than a swarm of mosquitoes attempting to munch on anything that dared to come out during the enjoyable weather part of the year.

  “The next thing won’t be soft and fluffy if you don’t tell me. Keeping me in the dark won’t do me any favors,” Louvette demanded. Arsen’s stony face melted into putty at the comprehension that Louvette was right.

  “Fine. Not everyone considers us pond scum. The ones who have problems with us are the majority of the full spectrum magic users. We are somewhat cool with everyone else,” Arsen said, glancing back at Louvette. She met his eyes in the rearview mirror.

  “What does full spectrum mean?” Louvette wondered. It was a term she hadn’t learned yet.

  “See how we only have control of one Gift? One full spectrum magical being can use the majority of them if not all,” Arsen answered. Imagining someone who possessed all the magical abilities was overwhelming because that much power in the wrong person’s hands was a force to be wary of.

  The blood witches proved it and Cursed the world. Now, she turned into a furry animal whenever she chose because of them. Louvette didn’t feel Cursed. The Cursed seemed to be the ones who were a menace to her life, so in a roundabout way the blood witches had caused all this turmoil in her life.

  “So, what does that all include? I got the superior vibe from Floralen even though she loved us,” Louvette asked.

  “Since our cursing, the blood witches of course, but also Fae and dragons have been problems for us,” Arsen replied.

  “Dragons?” Louvette questioned.

  “Yeah, they were primordial shifters before us. We believe they tried to create an army of dragon shifter men, but they didn’t have enough power and ended up with us,” Ian explained.

  Louvette couldn’t help snicker at the irony of it all. The blood witches who Cursed them had wanted a bunch of shirtless dragon men running around doing their bidding and got a hodgepodge of wild animals who didn’t obey anyone.

  Arsen face slid into a sweet one at her snicker.

  “How many dragons are out there?” Louvette questioned.

  “Only a handful. Every generation thinks the next one will be the last for the dragons and then they pop up somewhere random and cause death, devastation, and mayhem,” Arsen answered.

  “How hard is a dragon to fight?” Louvette wondered because the image of a wolf fighting a dragon wasn’t working out well for her.

  There was silence.

  “We don’t know,” Ian said.

  “No wolf ever has,” Arsen explained.

  “How do you know that they think we are krill?” Louvette asked.

  “They enjoy killing us for sport. They consider it removing something unnatural from a natural world. They’ve attacked some substantial pack gatherings, burned down the alpha’s home, and have tried pretty much anything to exterminate us,” Arsen revealed.

  “Sick. It clearly isn’t working, though,” Louvette scoffed.

  “Yeah, if they could work together, there’s no way we’d win,” Ian said.

  “The one thing they love more than killing us is killing each other,” Arsen replied.

  “Sounds like a party,” Louvette murmured.

  “Yeah, the kind where everyone dies in the end,” Arsen said.

  “Is there anyone who isn’t actively trying to kill us?” Louvette ragged.

  “No, not really,” Arsen said in a deadpan sort of way that had Louvette believing there was more.

  “Not that I can think of,” Ian quipped.

  “Why is a gift a gift?” she asked, remember Floralen’s words.

  “Gifts hold special meanings to the Fae. If you take a gift from one, you will be tied to that Fae into servitude for the rest of the Fae’s life,” Arsen explained.

  “Faes can live forever if they aren’t killed,” Ian pointed out.

  “Note to self, don’t drink the wine,” Louvette noted. Sarcasm was her first defense.

  For a split second, Louvette’s thoughts took her for a wild ride. The world was getting larger each passing day with things that were potential threats to her person and that was a scary thought. She decided to make herself as strong as she could and fight those battles when they were at her doorstep. She’d live her life to the fullest.

  ***

  Arriving at the airport too early, they had to wait another hour in the car until their plane would leave. Arsen didn’t like them hanging out in some terminal with the members of the Pacific Ocean Pack watching them. It would be all too easy for them to stop them from getting on that plane and leaving. One word to the right person could have them grounded.

  “Time to go,” Ian said when there were only about thirty minutes left to go through security and check-in. They half ran to board the plane on time.

  Once they sat down to catch their breath, they scanned the plane. It soon became a game to them. Every stewardess walking toward them was going to tell them to get off. Every man traveling alone was an air marshal with a gun. Every person was a suspect.

  Louvette’s cortisone levels were running higher than she believed they ever had.

  “Well this trip wasn’t worth the risk,” Louvette said, gazing out the window.

  “It really just made things worse, to be honest,” Arsen agreed.

  “Now, we can’t tell or trust anyone except us, and it sucks that Hollows gets to walk away,” Ian added as the plane took off.

  “He isn’t just going to walk away.” Louvette promised herself, her mother, and her grandfather that. Arsen regarded her cautiously as if he didn’t know what to expect out of her at this point. Heck, she had no clue what to expect from herself or her wolf, for that matter.

  Everyone relaxed after that. Louvette hadn’t realized how tense everyone was up until that instant.

  The return flight was quick. They alternated between two of them napping and one watching. The combination of two plane rides, searching for the phone, and learning the truth of it all had done a number on them. They were worn out to the bone.

  The instant the plane landed back in Whitefish, Louvette was jolted from her nap. She searched the plane for the offending person who had woken her up, unaware that it was the rough landing that had done it.

  Arsen placed his hand on her knee, grounding her with one sweet touch.

  “We are just landing
,” he reassured.

  “I’m so ready for bed,” she said to him.

  “I think we all are,” Arsen said, chuckling gently. The two of them glanced over at Ian, who was still sleeping.

  Louvette shook him using a soft touch.

  “Five more minutes,” he mumbled, moving out from under Louvette’s hand. Louvette and Arsen gazed at each other for a minute before both bursting into full-out laughter.

  Their disruptive antics woke up Ian and they departed the plane.

  She had to return back to Arsen’s house to get the car, otherwise her mother might suspect she had been somewhere she wasn’t supposed to be, for instance California. She would like nothing more than to go home to the level of comfort solely her own bed could bestow upon her.

  Pulling up to Arsen’s house, Louvette noted all the lights were off except for one.

  “Dad must be working still,” Arsen said as he turned off the car, peering at the lighted room.

  “Is that unusual?” Louvette wondered because she had nothing to go off other than her own mother. Her mother checked to make sure she came home, but never stayed up this late unless she had to for work.

  “Yeah, he’s always working,” Arsen answered.

  “He sounds like someone I know,” Louvette teased.

  “Go a little easy on me, I only do it for you,” he said.

  “I can do it myself,” she pointed out. He sent her a slightly guilty glance.

  Everyone got their own bags and moved them into their vehicles, or house, in Arsen’s case.

  She got to her car and started to tell everyone goodbye, but Arsen pulled her into a sweet kiss. It was gentle and everything she didn’t understand that she needed. She kissed him back, savoring its simplicity.

  “Bye, you two love birds,” Ian called. They quit just in time to see him wave as he left.

  Louvette rolled her eyes. He had ruined their show of affection on purpose.

  “Goodbye, Winter,” Arsen said.