Baby + the Late Night Howlers

by Kathryn Moon

  The door swung open as I gathered my shit together. I spun with the gun leveled and aimed, to face the goon standing in my way. He was shorter than the others, and I had the muzzle set to shoot between the eyes.

  “What the—“

  “Get the girl out of the cage!” I shouted.

  “Bitch, you are so—“

  “Do I look like I give a shit about you? Get the girl out of the cage or I will shoot my way to her!”

  Don’t shake. Breathe out slow. Through your mouth so you can’t smell Buzzard.

  The goon backed away, tan skin fading to gray and brown eyes growing huge. I followed him, pausing in the doorway, waiting to see if there were others. He edged down the hall to the room where they’d been keeping Emmy. On the stairs past him, footsteps thundered on their way up. I had seconds to get to Emmy before I was totally outnumbered.

  I chased down the man I had in my sights as he unlocked the door, ignoring his sudden scream at my approach, and then stole the gun out of his own holster. I ran into the room, pushing him toward the stairs and slamming the door shut behind me.

  Emmy was out of the cage, huddled in the corner, cheek swollen and lip bleeding. She scratched her way up the wall, right arm hanging limply from her side and face grimacing.

  “Omigod, Baby, are you… whose blood is that?” she asked, eyes growing wide.

  “Um. Buzzard’s and… and maybe Cole’s.”

  The hole in Buzzard’s chest. The slippery wetness between my toes.

  My stomach heaved and I covered my lips with the inside of my arm, trying to hold it in for the moment. Keep your shit together, Baby. Keep it together. I swallowed down sick and held in the whimper when the blood on my face and arm smeared over my lips.

  “Baby! Ba— holy fucking shit!”

  “Cole,” Emmy whispered.

  I nodded and looked her over. She couldn’t shoot with that arm but she looked like she could walk.

  “Stay behind me,” I said, and she straightened up and nodded, following me to the door.

  We both jumped as the door rattled, Cole’s fists pounding on the outside. “Baby, goddamn it! You’re gonna fuckin’ pay!!” Cole screamed from outside.

  “What do we do?” Emmy whispered at my back.

  God, I wanted to look Cole in the eyes. I wanted him to see me. Hell, I even wanted him to see me with his brother’s blood on my face.

  “Baby! Open the door,” he barked.

  Fuck! Fine! I shot the gun halfway down through the door and then twisted the knob roughly as Cole started to scream. He was falling to the ground, hand wrapped around his thigh as I stepped into the doorway, one gun pointed down at Cole, the other at the cluster of goons in the hallway.

  My heart raced so fast I thought it might burst, except I had to get Emmy out of this shit hole first. I had to see my alphas. I kept my arms stiff so that my hands wouldn’t shake and stared between Cole—ghost white with his hands wrapped around the wound on his thigh— and the goons who slowly pressed themselves to the wall opposite me, guns out but wavering uncertainly at their sides.

  “I think it’s about time we all agree that I am more fucking trouble than I’m worth,” I said. There were a lot of them. They’d take me down before I made it out, but I had a solid seven or eight bullets left and I was pretty sure that counted for something.

  “You killed my goddamn brother,” Cole hissed, spitting on my ankle.

  I looked at the strangers waiting for us on the stairs. A few of them had Hangmen cuts, but I didn’t see Indy. The whole pack wasn’t in the house or they’d have me and Emmy cornered by now.

  “We’re walking out of here. I’ll leave you to deal with this guy here,” I said, staring briefly at Cole, feeling the ice of his gaze cut into me. “Just remember that he left your club, went with his tail between his legs to your enemy. And when he came back, he brought me.”

  “She killed your Prez!” Cole bellowed.

  I ignored him, taking a step toward the lined men blocking my way to the stairs. One snarled, white teeth bared, rope around his neck. He stepped forward and raised the gun. Behind me, Emmy yelped, and I spun to find Cole with his hand wrapped around her ankle, trying to drag her down.

  I pulled both triggers, although only one gun was aimed. One of the Hangmen yelped by the stairs. Cole dropped to the ground, red spraying from his throat. I pushed Emmy forward, back to where I’d left Buzzard in his own blood. Guns fired behind me and I answered them blindly, focused entirely on getting to the room.

  “Throw the mattress out the window and jump!” I breathed to Emmy, slamming the door shut. I kept my eyes above the floor as I helped her lift and drag the mattress, squeezing it through the narrow window, shards of glass skittering down. I banged more out with the heel of one gun.

  “They’re coming!” Emmy shouted. I turned my back to the window, gun pointed at the bedroom door, waiting for the Hangmen to reach us.

  “Emmy jump!” I cried out.

  “Oh, fuck. Fuck. Okay!”

  The door slammed open as Emmy let out a small shriek. I shot in the direction of the door, backing to the window and watching the shadows of Hangmen duck out of my line of fire. From out the window, Emmy called me down.

  I ignored the last of the glass shards under my feet as I climbed onto the window ledge, ignored the sound of men shouting orders to each other at my back.

  I jumped from the edge, the best and most beautiful sight in front of me as I fell. Motorcycles on the horizon, screaming up the long drive to the model home circle, police lights flaring red and blue at their backs.

  40

  Baby

  My body was numb as I hit the mattress, just enough cushion under me to keep anything from breaking, although the impact rattled me from feet to skull. Emmy pulled me up with her good arm and together, we ran in the direction of the motorcycles. Gunfire pinged off the ground at our backs, but not close enough to strike. Bikes surrounded me, wolves howling on leather backs. I skidded to my knees as they circled into sudden stops, engines dying as the machines were carelessly dropped and their riders came running

  Asphalt dug into my hands and knees as I crumbled, halfway between vomiting and passing out. Boots stormed around me. Sirens blared, mixing with my name called from dozens of voices.

  “She’s bleeding! She was shot!”

  Fingers gently pried mine from the handle of the gun, and I released it gratefully.

  “Baby! Baby girl!”

  Arms circled my waist, hauling me up from the ground, cinnamon burning down my throat as I was pressed to a hard chest, growl thundering fiercely against my cheek. I hung dully from Jonah’s arms. The sky was spinning over my head or the police lights were warping the world, or the adrenaline that was still pumping through me was turning my head inside out.

  “Precious.” Seth crowded against Jonah’s side, hands cupping my face until I was looking at him. His thumb stroked my cheek and I winced as sticky blood pulled against my skin. “Shit. She’s in shock.”

  “Give her to me.”

  I stirred, trying to twist to the voice, an echoing tug in my chest. “Ryan?”

  Jonah growled, squeezing me closer for a half-beat and then I was gently passed from one set of arms to the next. There were shouts in the background, more guns firing, and over Ryan’s shoulders I saw black shadows running toward the house. The world kept spinning, turning things upside down until I let my eyes drift shut.

  “That’s it, Baby,” Ryan murmured. “Water.”

  Shouting and gunfire. A faint watery splash. I shivered as a cold cloth stroked my cheeks. I opened my eyes again, the scene around me blocked out by my pack in every direction. I gasped as I found Tornado and Mackenzie on either side of me. Ryan’s gaze was focused on my skin, cleaning me with soft swipes of his wet bandana. The sharp bite of a breeze on my damp skin cleared some of the fog out of my head but left me shivering in the warm circle of my pack.

  “Whose blood, love?”

  “Buz
z. Cole. I shot them,” I murmured.

  “Good girl,” Bullet growled over Ryan’s shoulder, his eyes dark.

  “You feel sick?” Mackenzie asked. I nodded and my eyes drifted shut again when the dizziness got to be too much.

  The bandana cleaned my lips last and then Ryan was nuzzling my cheeks, my forehead. I whimpered. Suddenly, my limbs were awake again. I climbed closer to him, and he slipped his fingers into my dirty hair, tilting my head back.

  The quick lick of his tongue over his mark was like a shock to my system. Desire cut through shock but was quickly replaced by new adrenaline. I shook and leaned into my alpha for a brief kiss.

  “Her feet are cut but everything else is…”

  Someone else’s blood. I ripped myself away, and as if they knew exactly what would happen, my alphas made room for me to bend over and heave, watery bile hitting the pavement and my bloodied toes.

  “She saved me, saved us both,” Emmy murmured from inside the crowd.

  “You did good, kitten,” Bullet purred.

  When I was finished, Ryan cleaned me up all over again. Sirens flared anew in the distance, echoing in unexpected quiet. No more gunfire. It felt like hours had passed since those drumming hammer shots started, and now they were over.

  “Medics are coming. Police have the Hangmen.”

  Everything was disconnected and blurry, the sharp awareness from the kiss with Ryan fading again under shock. I was scooped up, wrapped in a leather jacket, and carried to the approaching ambulance.

  “Where’s Tornado?”

  “We’re just gonna get you checked out, baby girl.”

  “Tornado! Mackenzie!”

  “They bonded her right before the attack. She needs them.”

  “I’m taking Emmy up,” Chef said in the background.

  Emmy’s arm needs looked at, I thought, but I couldn’t make the words come up. I caught a glimpse of Jonah’s face, all folded with worry and distress, and I buried the spark of guilt. Right now I needed Tornado, he was too quiet in the bond and I wanted to feel that connection again.

  Mackenzie was there first, hair crimson in the emergency lights. His hand clasped around mine, and I shivered as he cupped his bond mark on my hand. A moment later Tornado reached us, lifting me from Ryan’s arms and cradling me to his chest. The connection was still quiet.

  “Let me in,” I whispered.

  “Can’t.”

  “I can take it,” I said, pressing my face to his neck and breathing him in deeply. The cherry was too tart in his scent, but it sweetened as seconds passed.

  Gradually, Tornado opened up in the bond, the whirlwind of icy panic rushing between us until we both shook. Mackenzie framed my back, his hands on Tornado’s shoulders, bracing us with a steady reassurance. I heard the gasps and hiccuping sobs before realizing they came from me. Tornado growled against me, his cheek stroking mine in a steady rhythm as we rode the wave of relief and pain together.

  When the storm passed and we were still in Mackenzie’s embrace, my alphas took me to the ambulance.

  The gun I stole off Buzzard vanished sometime after I escaped the house. I spoke briefly with the police, but no one asked if I had shot anyone. Instead, I confirmed that I’d been held captive. That the men they had in custody had been in the house. But while Emmy and I were patched up by beta medics it became clear that we weren’t the only witnesses to the Hangmen’s crimes. Six more women were found in three of the other model homes. I was the only omega and apparently, there was some kind of protocol that meant my pack could take me home to be cared for before I had to sit in on any lengthy interview.

  I was in the back seat of an old sports car, suburbs rising up around the road as we neared the city when the fog of shock began to lift. I was bundled between Bullet and Tornado, with Mackenzie driving and Chef cradling Emmy on his lap in the front seat. There was still blood crusted under my fingernails, but I was dressed in a soft sweater that smelled of Ryan and my legs were wiped clean. My feet were bandaged, itchy and tight and numb in the wrappings.

  “Where’s Ryan?” I asked, sitting up and lifting my head from Bullet’s purring shoulder.

  “Look out the back window,” Tornado murmured.

  I twisted in the seat, my alphas’ arms acting as my belt, and sighed, watching the pack on their bikes ride after us. Ryan and Jonah were together at the front, Seth between and behind them, the rest of the pack filing along after. I turned and sagged against Bullet again, taking Tornado’s hand in mine.

  “How is she?” I asked Chef. Emmy was soft against his chest, eyes shut.

  “She’s fuckin’ with me,” Chef said in a whisper. “I owe you my life.” He turned his face, glanced at me out of the corner of his eye as he brushed his lips over Emmy’s sleeping forehead. “Takin’ everything in me not to just bite her right now. Make her mine.”

  “No fuckin’ kidding,” Bullet muttered, his arm tightening around me, body rattling. I set my hand over his, felt the muscles tighten under my touch. “When we get home, kitten…”

  I nodded. “No more waiting.”

  Bullet’s purr thundered and Tornado stroked his hand down my leg, smile faint as he stared at me.

  “I shouldn’t’ve left. Shoulda known to keep you close,” Bullet whispered. “Shoulda had someone watching the place at night and not gotten so cocky.”

  “Stop,” I whispered.

  “I should’ve kept you safe, kitten.”

  I covered Bullet’s hand with mine. “You kept me safe. You taught me how to defend myself. We don’t know what would’ve happened. Co- the Hangmen might’ve just sent more men.”

  “You got no idea how proud I am of you,” Bullet said in my ear, words growling. “So fuckin’ proud, kitten. Gonna get you home and show you.”

  “If she’s ready,” Mackenzie chimed in softly, feeling me out in the bond, cautious and caring.

  “If you’re ready,” Bullet added. Against my back I could feel his arousal, pride transforming into something else entirely. I closed my eyes and breathed in roses, cherries, coffee, even Chef’s caramel.

  Safe.

  “I’m ready,” I said, squeezing Bullet’s hand.

  The ugliness of the past two days would rise up again, I wasn’t fooling myself that it was all over. I heard Chef whisper that they hadn’t found Indy amongst the other Hangmen. In spite of all of that, nothing was going to stand in the way of me taking my place in the pack. And if anyone tried to shepherd me off to some quiet corner again, I was going to show them exactly what I was made of.

  The Plaza looked like heaven as we pulled into the parking lot and I broke out into a new bout of tears.

  “Shit. We shoulda taken her back to the estate,” Bullet muttered.

  “No!” I cried, head shaking. “God, I love it here.”

  Emmy, now awake, snorted and looked to her alpha. “She might’ve hit her head.”

  “Shut up,” I answered, and Emmy grinned at me. She had a white stitch on her lip, blue bruising around her eyes, and her arm was held to her chest in a sling, but she looked every bit as happy as I was to get back home.

  Since Chef wasn’t putting Emmy down, it was Brody and Tiny and the other girls who fired up the grill in the diner.

  “I know you wanna clean up, but I’m putting some food in your stomach first,” Brody said to me as my alphas bundled me into a booth.

  Bullet wasn’t releasing me. When Ryan tried to take me from his arms, Bullet growled. Ryan’s jaw ticked and eyebrow raised, and I reached out to soothe down his arm. Across from us in the booth, Jonah watched us with sagged shoulders and a weary expression.

  And I just… didn’t have it in me to deal with him feeling dejected. I would’ve gladly spread myself across the laps of all my alphas to make them feel secure in my return, but I was only one omega, and the things Bullet said in the car ride down… he was tearing himself up about me getting hurt and if having me close helped, then I could sit here with him.

  “It’s the fact
he hasn’t claimed her yet,” Mackenzie said to Ryan. “The intention was there but she was… he’ll settle down after they bond but he’s gonna be possessive until then.”

  Seth and I met eyes over the table and bond or not, I think we were communicating the same thing. Jonah was letting himself drown in his own emotional shit over the bond.

  “You’re going to bond her?” Jonah rasped, looking up from the surface of the table.

  Ryan and Bullet dropped their staring contest and both stiffened as they turned to their club Prez. “I am,” Bullet said, voice low in warning.

  Jonah’s gaze flicked to me, and I waited for him. If he was about to argue… he had to know by now that it was a losing battle. “Baby, I… are you alright?”

  Close but not quite, Jonah. “I will be,” I said, watching as he swallowed and nodded, eyes falling again. Seth shook his head faintly, covering his mouth as if to keep from speaking. “I know we don’t really have the space for it yet, but I’m gonna need a massive cuddle with all of you soon. Just give Bullet and I some time first.”

  “Whatever you need, precious,” Seth said, eyes softening.

  Jonah looked as though he might speak again, but then Brody and the girls were putting heaping plates of food down in front of me. At the back of the line, Lizzie stood with her head ducked, hands trembling around a plate of toast. I was staring at her when she glanced up, both of our mouths hanging open, shock widening our eyes.

  “I’m so—“ we said in unison. Lizzie dropped the plate on the table as I rose up on my knees. Her arms circled my shoulder, and I batted Bullet away as he growled.

  “I’m so sorry,” I whispered in her ear. I hated Cole. I couldn’t regret removing him from my life, not after he’d threatened to hurt my alphas, but if I’d hurt her…