For weeks, whenever I wasn’t hunting the rogue, I would sit on the wraparound porch outside of her cabin and sip coffee as the sun rose. No matter how chaffing she found my presence, Quinn never missed a sunrise. She’d sit in the chair next to mine and we would watch the world wake in amicable silence. Nothing but the trickle of light that grew and grew, and the waking of birds and other wildlife.
She never spoke to anyone - not since that first day when she’d told my mother what had happened to her in that prison. That made it all the more surprising when one day she finally told me her name.
“Quinn,” the words were a croak - her voice rough from disuse. “My name is Quinn.”
My coffee cup had been halfway to my lips, and I let it hang midair as I looked at her.
“Aella,” I’d rasped. “I’m Aella.”
But of course, she knew that already.
I’d held my hand out to make the introduction more formal, but she turned her face back toward the sun. I let my hand drop. No touching. Of course, after what she’d been through, she wouldn’t want to be touched. That was okay. I’d count my blessings.
Looking at Quinn now, with color back in her skin and life in her eyes, I could have cried. Maybe she would never be whole without her mate, but she had purpose. Hope.
I looked back down at little Zora as she stretched in my arms and snuggled back in for her nap. This was why I had to fight. For Zora and all the children like her. For our future.
A familiar presence waited outside of Quinn’s cabin when I left. Jamie leaned against the wooden steps with her arms crossed in front of her chest. When she saw me, she wasted no time throwing the full weight of her thunderous gaze my way.
I sighed. “Jamie…”
“You don’t want me to come?” She kicked off of the stair-rail and walked alongside me. “I can help you if you would just let me.”
“This is going to be dangerous.”
“And finding the rogue wasn’t? I’m a lycan, Aella. I can handle a little danger. I’m just like you and the others.”
Except she wasn’t. Jamie had never trained for fighting. She wanted to be a teacher. She glowed whenever she got to work around the pack kids. That was her calling – her purpose. Protecting them was mine.
I stared down at my friend. Everything about her was so soft and gentle -except for that fiery gaze and strawberry red hair. Her freckled cheeks made her look even younger than twenty.
“You know that’s not true,” I whispered.
She growled, and it sounded more like a lion cub than a wolf. I fought to keep my lips from twitching up.
“I can fight. Maybe not as well as you, but I can do it. You need the numbers. Don’t pretend you don’t.”
True. We needed numbers. But not badly enough to risk her life to a bunch of sadistic vampires.
I rolled my eyes and started to walk faster. “Not going to happen, Jamie.”
She grabbed my elbow, spinning me to face her with surprising strength. “Please. Please let me do this.”
I wasn’t sure why this meant so much to her. Why would she risk it?
As if she’d plucked the question right out of my head, she answered. “Let me prove to myself that I’m strong.”
Ugh. Damn her.
I sighed and ran a hand through my tangled hair. This was a terrible idea.
“You’ll be our lookout. Nothing more.”
She started to bounce on her toes – a huge grin eating up all that rage.
“I’m serious, Jamie. No fighting. You want to start marching into battles? You’re going to have to go about it the same way as everyone else. By surviving Tara’s training program.”
Her head bobbed up and down. “Yes, of course! Oh my gosh. Thank you so much!”
She moved to throw her arms around me, but I pushed her away, a grin on my face. “Don’t get soft on me now.”
She laughed and took off at a sprint toward Tara, who was re-loading the van.
Luke, Wilder, and a freshly cleaned and shaved Arden were on the other side, looking tense and uncomfortable as they climbed into Luke’s truck. Just as Wilder was about to step inside, Seraphim came around the bed and said something that caught his attention. I couldn’t hear what they were saying from this distance, but as the tension in each of their shoulders eased, it became clear that they were working things out. And that was a huge relief.
As Seraphim hopped into the passenger’s seat of the van, something in my gut roiled. Silently, I said a prayer to whatever god would listen, that I wasn’t leading my family straight into a trap.
30
Ryn
I thought I would be ready when the door to my cell creaked open again.
I was wrong.
Nothing could have prepared me for the transformation the rogue girl would take. Or the screams of the guard that she took down made.
"When they come for you, get as far away from me as you can." She had warned me, and she was deadly serious. "If I catch you, I'll kill you."
I shivered at the thought of what it would be like to die under those long white canines, crushed by paws and talons, completely ripped apart. I almost felt bad for anyone who met that fate. Almost.
My heart nearly jumped out of my body as footsteps pounded down the hall. With the fresh blood in my system, I had a lot of my strength back, but as I looked over at the rogue, I knew it wouldn't be enough to stop her if she turned on me.
Her eyes cut to me, a deep frown marring her lips. Her shackles hung limp at each of her wrists and ankles.
There were no words exchanged between us before her eyes started to change back to that ethereal silver lined in red. She fell to her hands and knees and pressed her lips together to suppress a scream as the change took over.
My skin turned clammy as fur sprouted across her skin. Her bones started breaking.
Open the door. Open the door.
The guard that undid the latch and came stomping in wasn't a second too soon. The room fell to complete silence as he stood in the doorway, his face turning sheet white as he and the white wolf stared each other down.
"Surprise," I managed to say.
And then all hell broke loose.
The rogue lunged, a ferocious howl ripping through her throat as she tackled the vampire. They rolled over each other as her teeth snapped, missing him by less than an inch. The sound reverberated down to my toes. That kind of bite power could crush straight through muscle and bone.
The man screamed as her claws ripped through his shirt, straight to his chest.
Voices started shouting down the hall.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
They were blocking my exit. It was only a matter of seconds before another round of guards came rushing down here, or worse, the rogue decided that I looked like a tasty snack.
Gritting my teeth, I stepped back against the far wall, pressing my heel firmly against it. Time to test that vampire super-speed once and for all.
There were only a few feet between the top of the door and the fight beneath. I would have to jump and pass them without getting caught.
Sucking in a sharp breath, I didn't allow myself enough time to second guess my plan. It was now or never. Literally, do or die.
I launched like a bullet, my muscles singing as I zipped through the room and leaped. My body sailed like an arrow as I twisted midair. I felt the brush of fur against my calf. And then I rolled onto the hard stone on the other side.
The air knocked from my lungs, making me wheeze as I smacked into another wall. Not the most graceful exit. But hey, I was out of that horrible room at least.
My head shot up, tufts of my uneven hair falling into my face. The rogue was still focused on her kill. Her teeth were now clamped around his throat, thrashing him violently.
"Help me, please!" Someone's ear-piercing scream came through one of the many doors down the hall.
My chest tightened as I looked back down the narrow hallway at the rogue. There was only one way in a
nd out, and once her attention was off the guy already losing consciousness beneath her, I was as good as dead.
Still, I couldn't leave whoever was locked up down here, could I?
"Fuck me," I mumbled as I set off down the hall, listening hard for the sound of the voice again.
Come on. Come on. Where are you?
I was almost all the way down the hall when the sound of sobbing halted me. Something banged against a door once, twice. I gripped the latch on the door.
A low growl reverberated through the cramped space, and I froze as I looked down the hall. The wolf still stood over the body. Her muzzle dripped with blood, her tongue darting out to lick her lips. Unfortunately, she was staring dead at me.
Out of time, I sprang into action. My fingers shook as I unlatched the door and pried it open. To my surprise, a small brunette girl rolled backward onto the floor at my feet as if she'd been leaning back against the door.
She gazed up at me, her tear-streaked face ghostly white. When she realized that I was a vampire, she scurried back into the room on her hands and knees.
"I'm not here to hurt you!" I cast a glimpse over my shoulder, praying for more time. "Get out of here!"
I started to turn for the exit when her voice stopped me.
"Wait! My friend is sick! Please! I have to help her!"
Shit.
I stepped into the cell, and sure enough in the far corner, a young woman lay curled in on herself. She was small, with greasy black hair that hung over her face. From here, she already looked dead.
The wolf girl crawled over to her, her arms shaking as she tried to lift her friend up by her shoulders. What struck me as odd was that the black-haired girl wasn't a lycan. I could smell from here that she was a vampire. So how was she so sick? From what I knew of my species, we fought off sickness quickly. Sure, if she'd been starved and tortured as I had, maybe she would be incapacitated, but that didn't explain this. Her skin was borderline blue, and clammy sweat covered every inch of her as she shivered. Her lips and under-eyes were a shade of sickly purple. It was all wrong.
"Please help me," the girl who I was just now realizing had to be only a teenager, sobbed. "I can't lift her up."
She was too weak. Who knew how long these girls had been trapped down here? They probably hadn't had any food or liquids in just as long, and they'd obviously been through the wringer. I couldn't leave them.
I rushed into the room and hauled the vampire girl up into my arms. She was slight, but I wasn't exactly bulky, so it was a bit awkward adjusting her in my arms.
"Go! I've got her."
The girl stumbled over her own feet as she hobbled to the door, and I tried to ignore the way she flinched when I grabbed her under her elbow and half dragged her down the hall.
Talk about awkward. I had one girl cradled in the crook of my arm like an oversized toddler and the other on hanging half-limp in my other hand. It didn’t exactly make escaping quickly very possible.
Behind us, the sounds of claws scraping stone thundered toward us, and I felt as if my heart might give out at any moment.
The rogue roared a howl loud enough to split my eardrums in half. The brunette girl glanced over her shoulder as I dragged her faster. Her eyes widened to petrified saucers, her knees finally giving out beneath her.
As her full weight fell against me, my own strength became a test of will. After everything I’d endured in the last few days, one blood-bag wasn’t quite enough to make me right as rain.
I refused to focus on the laboring of my lungs or the burning in my calves and thighs.
“Hurry!” The girl cried, her voice breaking with fear.
I was going as fast as I possibly could with their added weight. The exit door – or what I hoped was the exit anyway – loomed just a few feet away.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end just as the door was yanked open. Instinct took over as I spun, shielding both girls with my body as we huddled against the wall. Not a second too soon.
The rogue lunged past us, her jaw opened wide, paws outstretched as she slammed into the unsuspecting guards. She and two vampires somersaulted right outside and the sounds of teeth gnashing – of shredding and screaming ensued.
I jostled the brunette girl as her friend shivered in my arms. “When we get out there, you do everything you can to drag your friend away. I’ll get you as far as I can go.”
Her eyes were wide with shock. Her chin wobbled. But she nodded her head.
I wasn’t foolish enough to think that we might escape without a fight. Whether it was the rogue or a group of guards, I was sure I wasn’t going to be lucky enough to get out without being seen.
What I didn’t expect were five armed guards with their guns drawn and trained on me as soon as I stepped out into the cool, moonlit night.
I took a deep breath and set both girls down on the muddied ground slowly before rising back up. At least there were wolf tracks that led out into the woods, along with the tracks of multiple shoes. She’d been after a few of them – which was a blessing. At least she was distracted again for the time being.
Before I did the most stupid thing of my life by taking on five fully trained and fully armed vampires by myself, I nudged the brunette with my foot. She looked from the guards up to me, her skin turning ashen. Putting on my brave face, I winked at her before stepping over her friend’s limp body and toward the guards. This was their chance. If she could gather the strength to drag her friend out of here, they could make it.
Guns cocked as I rolled my shoulders back, my hands clenching at my sides.
“Get back in your cell!” One of the burly guards barked. “Now!”
I put on my most defiant smile, relishing in the flash of rage in his eyes. “I don’t think so.”
The sound of shuffling behind me was a relief as the girls started to get away.
One of the guards leveled the barrel of a shotgun at me. No... Not at me. At them.
“No!” I screamed as his finger curled around the trigger.
I jumped.
The blow knocked me back ten feet. My body skid through the mud, covering me from head to toe.
Ringing filled my ears as I opened my eyes, mesmerized by the fresh onslaught of icy rainfall.
A girl screamed.
A girl...
Pain made my head spin as I sat up. Warmth pooled down my leg, spreading over my thigh where a massive bullet hole had gone straight through.
The sight of blood and torn flesh sent bile climbing up my throat as nausea set in.
Fuck. I really hated getting shot.
The leader of the group smiled down at me tauntingly as another guard grabbed the brunette girl by the back of her hair. He dragged both of the girls back and threw them down right beside me.
“I said, get back in your cell,” he sneered.
Anger coiled under my skin as the girls cowered away from these men. Men who had no doubt hurt them. Men who had no regard for life or kindness. There was only cruelty in each of their eyes.
And maybe it was stupid as I started to climb to my feet with one working leg, but I’d come too far to give up now.
When I finally made it to my feet, the world swayed, but I gritted my teeth against it. Blood coursed down my leg, but I would not pass out.
Coming nearly eye to eye with the leader, I hissed through my teeth, “No.”
He lunged toward me but halted at the sound of a howl in the distance.
I shivered.
The rogue.
She was coming back.
When a second howl joined the first, I thought I might be hallucinating. That was impossible. The only other lycan out here was lying at my feet, shivering with cold and terror.
Unless...
The vampires scrambled to raise their guns again, their eyes darting to the trees at our backs.
A hand clasped around the collar of my shirt, yanking me forward until I was nose to nose with the leader. His pupils were blown out, his fangs
exposed.
“What did you do?” He hissed before hurling me away from him.
I slid through the mud a second time, the impact making me wheeze as all the air got knocked out of my lungs.
My vision started to narrow to a fine point as the pain in my leg screamed. I was losing too much blood. I didn’t have enough in my system anyway. My wounds couldn’t heal like this.
I shook my head, trying desperately not to blackout.
A gun cocked.
One of the girls started sobbing.
Oh god. Oh god.
Something flew over me, snarling like a creature from your worst nightmares. Except, it wasn’t the white wolf I’d been expecting. No. This one was grey.
Aella?
I rolled over in time to see the barrel of a gun pressed to the already sick vampire-girls head. Her friend tried fighting the guard. She thrashed and screamed, but he simply reared back and kicked her across the face, knocking her out on impact.
I wanted to scream as his finger wrapped around the trigger. Sure enough, a streak of grey was headed right for the guards, but she wouldn’t make it in time.
Something snarled.
My hair whipped into my face. The snap of a bone. And then an ungodly scream of agony and surprise.
Paws thundered past me as gunshots rang out and more wolves joined the fray, but my eyes were glued on the vampire girl and the gun that laid in the mud beside her.
Her eyes rolled back in her head as she passed out. She fell limp in the mud once more. Not dead. And for one good reason.
Arden Mason stood before her – the guard’s throat being crushed in his vice-like grip. The arm the guard had used to point the gun hung uselessly at his side. His humerus bone was bent at such an angle, I nearly threw up looking at it.
Marked By A Rogue: The Rogue Hybrid Book Three Page 14
