by Jade White
“You must, ‘cause I look like a walrus,” she replied with a smile. She was half starved, but the baby was doing gymnastics, every few bites she would kick and Reign had to stop eating for a moment.
“What was the Fade like for you?”
The question caught her off guard, it wasn’t that she hadn’t thought about it, or that she didn’t remember, though it was faded like an old dream, it was that she didn’t want to talk about it. It felt like she had been tortured for weeks, but instead, she woke up and only a few hours had passed.
“This food is really good. I hope TJ and Abbey open a restaurant, I would eat there every day.”
“Reign, it’s important.”
She let out a sigh, pushed her leftovers away, leaned back and fruitlessly tried to get comfortable.
“It was awful; I was in a dungeon, these men, they whipped me, every day. I didn’t get to eat or sleep. When I wasn’t being whipped, I could hear other people being whipped. I know it wasn’t real, I know the test was to make me believe it was real, but Richard, I can still feel the lash on my back,” she sobbed the last word.
Richard was there, next to her, holding her, his comforting smell and touch making the world better.
“I ask because I’ve been there. You see, when we turned, we walked the Fade, and we had the task of believing. We had to believe so thoroughly that we were wolves, that when we woke, we would be one.” He had a sad sort of smile as he spoke, it made Reign’s heartache for him.
“Is that what everyone goes through?”
“No, just us. Just the original ones. The ones that Fenrir turned so that we could protect ourselves from Charlemagne,” he said.
She remembered in her dream that it seemed like a long time ago, the castle, the guards, she’d assumed the Fade had pulled it from the memory of some movie. Were they the memories from the time that Richard was born?
“You see, he warned us that magic comes with a price. We just thought it meant we wouldn’t be human anymore, but no, it was much more. Some of us, the ones who couldn’t believe, came back from the Fade as half wolf, half man, and insane. Others never came back and died of their wounds. A few of us, like myself, we came back as wolves.” He stopped for a moment to wipe his eyes. “It took a decade before I could be a man again, and by then the war was over, and we’d lost.
“Everyone who knew us was dead, my family, my wife, everyone. Those of us that remained banded together to hunt down our insane brethren. After that we just wanted a quiet place to live out our lives.”
Reign cupped his chin and kissed his cheek; after thirteen hundred years of living with this pain, what could she say?
“I tell you this because you needed to understand.” He turned to face her, tears still in his eyes. “You’ve been to the Fade, you can never be a wolf now, we went there, we found him, convinced him we believed and he came back with us, you know it's not real, that was your test, you couldn’t pass this one. I’m sorry.”
She hadn’t made up her mind one way or the other, it’s not like she could force him to turn her, even if it was what she wanted, but it was an option, just not anymore.
“What are we going to do? That was pretty much our plan B,” she said. She couldn’t hide the disappointment she felt, but she was too practical to fret about something she couldn’t control. Richard smiled, he returned her kiss and touched his forehead to hers.
“I don’t know all the details, but this isn’t about you being human, this is about our baby. They want her, but we are not going to let that happen.”
Reign suddenly felt weak, with an overwhelming desire to use the bathroom but she couldn’t move.
“Oh god, well I hope you have a plan ready.”
He looked at her quizzically. “We’ll come up with one.”
“Better hurry, my water just broke.”
*
The next few minutes was a chaotic mess. Richard ran down stairs and yelled for Skye, who came bursting out of her bedroom in her underwear. She was ready to fight, Indigo right behind her, their eyes shared the golden flecked colors of wolves ready to come out.
“Her water broke,” Richard said by way of explanation.
There was a second, then Skye said, breaking into a big grin, “Well, okay then, shit, I thought we were under attack or something.”
She turned to Indigo. “Get the stuff ready we talked about.” She turned back to Richard. “She’s fine boss, it takes a while from here, not like in the movies.”
“Skye,” Richard put on his serious face, “have you ever done a birth for a werewolf?”
She paused. “Well no, but...”
“No buts, Skye, it’s not the same, that baby is coming and coming in a hurry and it will change within minutes of being born, so you better be ready.”
She stood up a little taller. “Yes boss, I’m on it.”
Indigo gave her a funny look as she went back into the room. He had a bucket and a vacuum sealed bag of white towels. Richard pointed up stairs.
He had children, of course, a few before he turned, and a few after. After the last one died, he’d sworn off having anymore, it wasn’t fair to them, or to him. He’d only ever had one child with a human, and he had been wonderful, but he was killed in a Nazi POW camp; the whole reason Richard had gotten involved in the war was to rescue him, and that had failed.
“Boss,” Cara came running in, dripping sweat, skin flushed pink over her whole very naked body, “they are coming back.”
“Slow down. Cara, start over.”
“I followed them out, as a wolf. They got to the base of the mountain, and all of a sudden they flipped a bitch and are on their way back.” She was out of breath and heaving huge lungfuls of air. She must have charged back up the hill at full speed then transformed back to human before her body was ready. It was dangerous to change like that, she’d taken a big risk.
“Cara,” he said, pulling her into a hug, “thank you, get some water, lie down, we need you strong.”
“What’s happening?”
“The baby is coming, and they know, which means the place is bugged, good work.”
Driving as fast as they possibly could, it would take them ten or fifteen minutes to get back up the windy road, minus the five minutes it took Cara, so they didn’t have much time. Richard took a deep breath as soon as Cara was out of sight.
You can do this.
He focused inward, searching for that connection with the pack. He found it. All of them were busy in one task or another, Skye had her scrubs on and was busy washing her hands, Indigo had a few buckets of water on the stove boiling, TJ and Abbey were out for a walk, Cara was gulping down water by the quart, all of them were there. He sent out an alert, just the feeling of alarm, to be on guard.
TJ, Abbey, shift and get to the mine, I want you out there and behind them if we have to fight.
Yes, sir.
He could feel, and sense, and see them shuck their clothes, looks of grim determination masked their faces, it only took them a moment and they were wolves. Abbey’s smaller black wolf and TJ’s massive grey leaped off into the woods towards the mine.
Richard felt everyone’s preparations, the calm that they all felt, the readiness they projected, readiness to die for him, and for Reign.
Richard checked in on her with the last few minutes they had. She was in their bed, knees up, Skye was with her, and she seemed very focused.
“Everything’s going to be okay, Reign,” he said.
She looked up to him, her eyes hard from the pain. “I know, I’ve got this, you go do what you need to do.”
Not for the last time Richard smiled at her, he couldn’t have chosen a better woman; how he’d lucked upon her was beyond him.
“I love you,” he said.
“I know, now go keep us safe,” she returned with a smile. Pain gripped her face and she started breathing hard.
“Just like we practiced sweetie,” came Skye’s voice as Richard shut the door. He went do
wn to the front porch to await his fate. He still wasn’t sure why this was so important to the Alphas, but he was going to make them pay for it. Every inch of it.
Once outside, he leaned against the post, drawing on the savage ferocity of the pack that simmered just under the surface. Though not all of them could change at will, they would all change when he willed it.
He heard the car before he saw them. How would she come at them, with guns and fire, or as a wolf? He wished Indigo was there at his side, but he left him with Skye; as combat medic he was more used to her than to him, plus he had his orders to get them all out of there if needed. He felt a presence next to him, it was Cara.
“I thought you might need some backup.”
“Thanks, I could. You feeling better?”
“Right as rain, let's kick their ass.”
Richard chuckled. “Let’s try and keep it nonviolent for as long as possible, I think they have something up their sleeves and I want to give our people as much time as we can, understood?”
“Yeah, just feeling jazzed from the feedback.”
“The what?”
“You can’t feel it? I talked to Indigo, we’re all feeling it, Reign’s birth, your love, the anger at being threatened, it's all right here,” she thumped her chest, “like we were the ones.” She shrugged. “I dunno how to explain it, but its making me want to kill someone.”
Okay, that’s weird.
He didn’t have time to question it further; they arrived. The two black town cars pulled up at the very edge of the drive. All the doors opened at once, and Heidi and her six tough looking loner wolves got out. They were armed; he swore under his breath.
Of course they're not going to fight with honor. Well fine, I have a few tricks of my own.
Big as brass they spread out in a vee and approached the lodge, Heidi at the center.
“Is talking still an option?” Cara asked from beside him.
“Let’s hope so.” Richard tried to suppress the fear in his heart, but he knew the look on that woman's face; she was here for blood.
CHAPTER TEN
“Push,” Skye said calmly from behind her surgical mask.
The pain wasn’t nearly as bad as Reign had feared it being, more weird than painful. They had practiced this, of course, several times, she wanted to be ready. But to hear people tell stories of childbirth, and to see it on TV and movies, Reign thought it would be considerably more painful. It did hurt, it just wasn't as bad as she imagined it would be.
“You think they're okay?” she grunted between her teeth. Indigo was at the door, a black pistol in hand; he had the door open just an inch to peer out.
“You just focus on you,” he said.
“I am, and it’s a little hard not to, but if you don’t tell me what’s going on, I’m going to imagine it's a lot worse than it is.” He glanced at Skye, she gave him a subtle nod.
“Okay, but it's a little weird, he’s doing something he’s never done before. It’s like,” he paused, she could tell he was looking for the words, which was unusual for him, he always knew what to say, “it’s like he’s broadcasting his emotions, almost his thoughts to us. I have to say, it’s pretty neat. It’s not just that he cares for us... as his pack, but he loves us like a family, I never knew it was that deep,” Indigo finished his voice thick with emotion.
Reign blinked the pain out of her eyes and looked to Skye. The redhead was focused on Reign’s birth canal, but she could see the tears in her eyes.
“Are you feeling what he’s feeling?” she asked.
Skye nodded. “Including how much he loves you. God, I want to love someone that much some day.”
Reign slammed herself down on the bed, the contraction practically paralyzing her with pain. “Okay, that one hurt,” she grunted as it passed.
“You’ve got to push harder, dear, the baby wants to come out, she’s almost there, just needs a little encouragement.”
“Okay, the next one should be along any second. Skye, I’m gonna give it all I got,” replied Reign.
She closed her eyes and tried to clear her mind; she wished she was linked to Richard the way his pack was. She thought back to being in the Fade, the lash marks on her back itched and tingled. The pain was always fresh in her mind, it somehow made the contraction a little less painful.
Something was there though, just at the edge of her mind, a feeling, a sensation. She remembered the electricity flowing through her hands, the smell of burnt flesh, how she could fly in the dream. Was it a dream? Was it something else? When Richard went into the Fade he came out changed, he also paid a price.
Is losing him my price?
“Cara,” Richard said, as the lone wolves approached, “go to my room and fetch me my axes, the ones in the trunk.”
“On it,” she replied, running back to the house.
Heidi stopped a dozen feet from him, holding up her hand to stop her men. They were all dressed in black, some had pistols, others shotguns.
Leave it to pack-less punks to use guns.
“Heidi, I know you have some master plan here, but you can’t win.” He tried to keep his voice even and his emotion out of it. He needed to stall her.
“My dear Richard, I’ve already won, the blight was my victory. If I have to carry out the petty wars of the council for a few years, then so be it, I’m patient. But your child, it could screw everything up, and I can’t allow that. Now, step aside, surely your pack isn’t worth one life.”
Richard could feel the pack, they all agreed that Reign was their pack, he chose her, and they chose him. Maybe they hadn’t realized that before, but they did now. An Alpha led with the permission of the pack, he led only as long as they believed him. The magic that made him a wolf, that made all of them wolves, was far stronger than anyone understood, Richard included, but they were about to find out.
“Heidi, you’ve never been a member of a pack, not really, and to be honest, I never knew this till just now, you can’t defeat us. You can’t stop us.”
“Enough! Kill who you have to, bring me the child.”
“Richard,” Cara yelled from the second floor window as she tossed out two crescent shaped hand axes. He caught them with an unexpected grace. They were finely made, carved with the language of his people, his weapons of a war long past.
He turned to face Heidi, fear flickering in her eyes. He let out a mighty roar, so loud it set the alarms off in the car. He didn’t change into a wolf, but he did change, he grew - massive. He added a full foot to his height, his arms elongated, his face turned vaguely wolf like, his eyes went bright gold, fangs grew from his mouth.
Stunned, the lone wolves froze. Heidi turned and ran through them. “Fire, fire, fire,” she screamed. Passed their initial shock, they opened fire. Richard shrugged off the rounds with a snarl, the beast in charge enough to ignore any pain. With a swing of his thick arm he decapitated the nearest man, the only sure way to kill a wolf instantly. The next one he kicked in the chest, sending him fifty feet into the tree line.
Heidi disappeared behind the second car, the trunk popped open, but Richard didn’t have time to guess what was coming. The gunfire deafened him, but did not stop him, the third one fell, his skull split by the axe in his other hand.
Roars and snarls came from behind him as Cara and half a dozen of the pack charged out of the lodge in wolf form. He felt their pain, anger, fear, and determination. He smiled inside and roared.
One of the lone wolves broke and ran, to be cut down by Cara. The others fell quickly, no match for the ferocity and coordination of the pack, and of Richards’s bizarre half form.
Heidi came back around from the car, a large backpack on, a nozzled rifle in hand; she depressed the stud and flame shot out. Richard screamed, tried to warn her, but it was too late. Liquid fire engulfed Cara and the man she had tackled. She howled in pain as the flames engulfed her, burned her skin, and her lungs. She fell limp on the ground, still on fire; Heidi turned the flamethrower to the rest of
the pack, and they broke and ran back for the lodge.
Two of Heidi’s surviving wolves rallied behind her as she advanced. Forced to retreat now, Richard backed up. He could throw his axes, but she was fast enough to dodge it, and no gun could bring her down, as none could him. He spared one glance for Cara’s burnt form. He had no time to mourn, but he would; he could feel the pack's pain at her death.
I will avenge you.
Now, though, he had to save who he could, making sure everyone was in the house. He retreated, and as he did, he reverted to human form. He could see Heidi sending her men around back, both now armed with their own flame throwers.
