by A C Wilds
I’m a mix of emotions. Angry that I didn’t know what my powers were and how to recognize them. Confused as to what this will mean for me going forward. If my powers are so easily recognized, I’m worried about what this could mean for me. But most of all, I feel proud of my abilities. I could make a big difference, helping other wolves control themselves. I feel important for the first time.
“Thank you. I’m glad I could um … help.” My words sound unsure. My irritation and confusion starting to saturate the room. Bruno must be feeling it through the bond because he cuts off the meeting quickly.
“Now that introductions are complete, let’s get you all settled into the cabins. Sean will take you to your assigned accommodations.” He motions for the wolf standing in the doorway to come forward. I recognize who he is but haven’t spoken to him. He’s one of the wolves who ignored my existence. “If there is anything that you require, please let him know and he’ll make sure to get it for you. The other packs don’t arrive for another week, so please relax and enjoy the property while you can.”
With Bruno’s dismissal, they gather their things and turn to leave the room. Samuel gives me one more glance before he reaches the door and shakes his head. I wonder what is he thinking?
“Start talking!” My voice is raised, and I know the others can hear us, but right now I don’t give a shit. Bruno has some explaining to do.
“Clara,” he growls. Giving me a knowing look, I nod my head and lead them all into Bruno’s office.
As soon as we all file in, Nile closes the door and I spin on them.
“Did you know about my powers the whole time? Or was that tidbit of information new to you also?”
He takes an exhausted breath and moves over to his desk. He pulls out a manila envelope that looks like it contains a stack of papers from a locked drawer on the side. It looks faded with time, grime and dirt blemishing the outside. He holds it out to me.
“Take it. I wanted to give this to you months ago, but I couldn’t risk it. I was afraid you would run again. Our relationship is so fragile that it would have moved us back months.”
I snatch it from his hands and open it. I’m shaking and fuming with the deception of yet another thing they’ve kept from me. A glance around and I see that at least Nile and Ralph have the decency to look sorry.
Pulling out a small book, confusion crosses my face. It’s not in English, but for some reason, I can read the words, “Omega.”
“What is this?”
“It’s your ancestral story. It dates back to I don’t even know when. It tells of the magic of the omega and anything else you need to know about your specific genetic breeding.”
My jaw drops and then my eyes narrow. I place the book on the chair behind me and walk up to Bruno. I calmly look into his eyes, and kick out with my foot, hitting him square in the dick.
“Anything else you hiding from me, Alpha? Because I’m about three minutes from leaving and never coming back. Fuck the pack and you.”
A garbled sound comes from his mouth as he bends over in pain. Ralph and Nile stand where they are as I snatch the book and walk out.
7
Books and Blood
Clara
A book. He had a fucking book in his possession this whole time. For ten years I was trapped in this existence believing that I was the last or the worst in the pack. I never thought I was rare or treasured. After all that we went through, he still had the audacity to hide this from me.
My anger is shaking me to the core. I feel it growing like a burning thing in my middle stretching out around me. Making it larger than life. My wolf whines in my head and her complaints are feeding my need for action.
Reading through it, knowing what I truly am, is making me even more agitated. The lies and the pain build up and it’s like I’m going to explode. There is so much I need to work through, but right now my wolf needs out.
I throw the book on the nightstand and walk out of the door. I shift as soon as my feet touch the earth. Shreds of fabric litter the ground like confetti. The night air kisses my boiling skin for a moment, and a chill runs through me.
She takes over, running for the only place that we find peace. Nothing matters as the forest zooms by. Trees blow in the wind that tells of an oncoming storm. The smaller night animals run to hide as a predator takes over their land.
I’m on autopilot. How could they betray me again? Keeping secrets. Big ones that are probably going to be life changing. And all along I thought they had changed.
Nearing my garden, I shift back into my human form. I snatch the clothes I keep under a tree and dress quickly. It’s freezing without any fur.
My garden is barren. All leaves and signs of life shriveled up with the first frost. Looking for something to do with my hands, I plop down next to one of the beds and start to pull dead plant life out of the ground. I need to do something.
“Are you alright?” a voice asks from behind me.
My awareness peaks and I locate the stranger in the tree line. Slowly making my way to a standing position, I level my head and take in the man that is before me. I don’t know him, and he smells strange, not a wolf.
“Who are you?” My curiosity wins out amongst my manners.
“Cole. Cole Everett.”
“And what do you want Cole Everett?”
“I don’t want anything. I’m just checking up on you.”
Suspicion rises to the surface, and I squint my eyes. There’s something strange about this, and my gut is telling me to leave. To run and never look back. My wolf is pacing with her teeth exposed. She doesn’t like this one bit.
“Why? We don’t know each other. My well-being should be none of your concern.” I try to project confidence, even though I’m starting to get scared. My body starts to shake, and my wolf growls. This isn’t good at all.
His smile gives him away. He takes a sinister step toward me, and I take a step back. My heart rate starts to accelerate, and a chill of fear runs through me. There’s no time to shift, and I have no idea how to defend myself. I have never needed to.
“Do run, pup. It will make this all the more exciting.” His eyes flash silver for a moment, and the anxiety coursing through me goes sky high. There could only be one thing with silver eyes, and I know that I’m not a match for him.
“Who…who are you?” My voice is wobbly. I can’t seem to move my legs. It’s like I’m frozen to the ground.
“Who am I? I’m the thing that goes bump in the night, the ultimate predator, the one who’s going to drain you until your wolf submits and you become mine.” If he was sitting down, he’d steeple his fingers in an evil way.
“Vampire…” The air around me freezes and I know this is going to end in a bad way.
“A smart pup, you’ll do fine.”
With that statement, a whoosh of air blows my hair up. The scent of him wraps around me and I try not to gag. It’s a horrid smell, like sulfur and rotten fruit. He’s behind me, clenching me around the waist. My sweater crushes into my skin, and my lungs are begging for air. I try to get him off, bucking and kicking out, but he’s too strong. Stronger than any wolf I’ve ever encountered. My heart sinks knowing this might be the end for me. I’ve only started to know who I am, and what it means to be with the guys.
“Let me go. Do you know who I am? Who my mates are?” My feet are coming off the ground, as I grasp for purchase, spitting and screaming.
“Oh, I know everything about you, pup. And it makes it that much sweeter.”
He sinks his fangs into my neck and a scream is ripped from my throat. The pain sears through me, setting my whole body on fire. The vampire’s hold tightens as his sucking becomes frantic. Black dots start to form in the corner of my eyes, and I start to feel dizzy. I’m about to pass out, but before I do, I feel them — my mates. They’re coming for me.
Bruno
“No!” A roar rips from my throat and scatters in the night. Something is happening to Clara. Her life-force is
weak, and the mating bond isn’t as strong as before.
Nile bursts through my office door. His eyes wide and tension evident in his shoulders. “What the fuck was that? Where is she?”
“I don’t know. But the bond feels unstable. My wolf is going nuts. We need to find her.”
Rushing out of the room with Nile on my heels, we fly out the front door. Ralph comes running around the building looking just as frantic as we do.
“What’s happened?” Samuel’s harsh voice says from behind Ralph.
“Something has happened to Clara. We need to find her. The last time I felt the bond at its strongest was when she was by her garden. I figured she went there to cool off.”
“Let me call Ana and Stefen, and we’ll go with you for backup.”
I nod my head but don’t wait for them; I need to get to her now. Without taking off my clothes I start the shift. My wolf burst forth and we make our way to the glen. My heart is pumping, and scenarios are flying through my mind.
“She’s not dead. Stop thinking that,” Ralph says through the bond. He growls and bumps me in the hindquarters as we pick up speed. It’s hard not to think the worst.
The clearing comes into view and she’s not there. No sign of her — alive or dead. There’s a smell though. It’s like metallic and tangy. Tastes like blood, but an undercurrent of dead things.
We shift back into human form and take a look around. There’s a small pool of blood on the other side of the garden, but that’s it. It’s like she disappeared without a trace.
A rustle from the trees indicates Samuel and his team are here. They shift when they see us.
“What’s that smell?” Ana asks, holding her nose closed. It is disgusting, but if it leads us to Clara, I’d smell it for the rest of my life.
“It’s vampires,” Samuel states, turning his face to meet mine. “If they are this organized, it’s far worse than we thought.”
“Vampires? Why would they be on pack land? And what does this have to do with Clara?” Nile muses, walking over to touch the blood that’s puddled on the ground.
“We don’t know the whys, but we do know that they’re looking for something. They’ve never been loyal to one another before, so them forming ... whatever this is, is unusual and unpredictable. I don’t like it,” Samuel says.
“How does Clara play into all of this?” Ralph queries. It doesn’t make sense why they would take the weakest of us, unless…
“Omega,” we all say at once.
“They want her powers. We need more information.” Turning toward Samuel, because it seems like he knows more about this than we do. “What can you tell us?”
“There is a vampire that’s close to our pack lands. He’s old and keeps to himself. Never bothered with us before. Lives off the land, hunting animals. He may know something.”
“Let’s go. We have enough time to get back and forth before the Summit. Thank the gods you came early,” Nile states. The weight of not having Clara is already affecting us. I feel the pressure of the bond closing and I can’t imagine a life where she’s not in it. We must find her.
8
Captured
Clara
Waking up is akin to scratching nails on a chalkboard. Everything hurts. My neck is throbbing and when I try to touch it, it’s sore to the touch. My wolf healing isn’t working as well as it should.
The room I’m in is small. Three walls of concrete and one of two-way glass. I rise to a sitting position and take stock of the contents of the room. A bed, chair, table, and wash bin are on the right and on the left is a privacy partition, which I’m assuming there is a toilet behind.
My head is still spinning, but I need water and there is a canister on the table. I slowly get up from the bed and automatically fall back down. The hard-concrete floor scratches my knees on the way down, and the scent of my blood fills my nose. What the fuck did they give me?
Trying again, I manage to make it over to the chair and sit. I pour a glass of water and wince at the pain. I’ve never felt anything like this before. As wolves, we usually heal very fast. I’ve never had a common cold or the flu. Wolves don’t get hungover or suffer from any type of disorder that would make us dizzy. We’re basically immune to all illness, or so I thought.
“Hello, Clara,” a voice says over a speaker. I look up to try to locate where it’s coming from but don’t see anything. The room is sealed; I don’t even see a door.
“Who are you and what do you want with me?”
“Those are two important questions, that will eventually get answered, but for now we are going to focus on the day to day stuff. Are you hungry? Does your head hurt?”
“Are you kidding me? You can’t keep me here! My mates are going to find me, and when they do, you’re going to be annihilated. Let me go and I’ll make sure they kill you swiftly.”
A cackle comes over the speaker. “Clara, so naive. They’re not coming to get you. I suggest you start to accept that because it’s not going to change. Now, are you hungry?”
I don’t say anything, because I’m too stunned. Where the fuck am I? A chill of fear sweeps through me, and I think about the life I had before. Three mates who all cared for me. Sure, we weren’t perfect, but we had one another. I was clothed, fed, and for the first time in my life — loved. And now it’s all been taken away from me.
“Yes, I’m hungry.” The room sways and I grab the edge of the table for stability.
“Excellent, we’ll have something prepared for you. We’ll also get you some ibuprofen for that headache.”
“How do you know I have a headache?” My voice sounds a little stronger, but my body is still too weak to do anything.
He doesn’t respond, but I hear him laugh as he disconnects. Laying my head on the table, I go over all the facts. A vampire ambushed me in my garden. He seemed to know me by name, so it’s safe to say that he did some homework, which means I was targeted. But for what?
I try to get my wolf to come to the surface. Maybe she remembers something, but there’s nothing. I can’t feel her. It’s like she’s … gone. Panic overtakes me and my vision goes blurry. Half of me feels empty and hollow. The other half feels sick and lonely.
A knock on the wall makes me jump from my seat, which causes me to fall down. Where did that come from? I’m pulling myself up from the table when a man walks in through a hole in the wall that’s appeared from nowhere.
He’s tall, around 6’2”. Very good looking in a nerdy boy kind of way. His hair is as dark as night, but his eyes are the color of honey with touches of green swirling through. The black glasses he’s wearing cover some of the sadness he’s carrying. He looks broken, something I’m all too familiar with. His life here isn’t a good one. I go to sniff him, but I can’t tell what he is. My senses are dulled.
“I’m going to place this on the table. Please don’t try anything, I’d be forced to restrain you. I don’t want to hurt you when you can’t defend yourself.”
I hear the sorrow in his voice. He doesn’t want to do this, but he has to. This is his world of torture. A pang of knowing fills me, and I cringe a bit for him.
Nodding in agreement, I place my hands on the table so he can see them. He’s right, I wouldn’t be able to fight him off. I’m too weak. My wolf isn’t even responding to my call.
“Can you tell me where I am?” I whisper as he nears the table. A swift shake of his head tells me he can’t. I can feel fear coming off of him. My sense of smell might be hindered, but my empathy is still intact.
“Well, can you at least tell me what food this is? Will it make me sick? Is it drugged?”
“It’s a regular ham and cheese sandwich. I made it, so there are no poisons or sedatives. There is mayo though.”
I offer him a quiet smile in return. I don’t trust him, but my stomach growls at the sight of the food. There is a bottle of water and a cup of what looks like to be peaches. It’s better than some meals I’ve had.
He places the tray in fr
ont of me and indicates with his hand to the small paper cup on the side of the dish. “That’s your pain meds, they’ll only help some, but it’s better than nothing. I know from experience.”
This has me raising an eyebrow to his openness. Giving him a once over, I see a pack tattoo on his forearm. He’s a wolf.
“You’re Battleridge.” It’s a pack on the other side of the country, but I’ve seen the tattoo. It’s the same one Samuel had on his arm.
He ignores my question and turns to leave, a scared look on his face. He glances up at the ceiling and the camera that’s mounted there. We’re being watched.
“Wait! Is there anything you can say? I just want to know what happened? I don’t understand. Why am I here?” My voice is desperate. I am afraid that my only chance of getting answers is slipping away. He has to know something.
He doesn’t respond but walks toward the wall, as the door automatically opens for him. I try to rush over to him and make it to the door before it closes, but my knees give out and I land on my face. The concrete floor smacks me right in the cheek, adding to my already throbbing headache.
I close my eyes and imagine a world, where it didn’t constantly suck. Finally, I have three mates and now I’m all alone again. No one to answer questions or break me out. It’s just me and a ham sandwich.
9
Meet Dr. M
Three Days Later
Clara
It’s been the same routine since I’ve gotten here. The Battleridge wolf comes in three times a day with food and painkillers. My body has burned off the sedative, but the pain I’m feeling is still immense. Most of the day I lay in the bed and sleep. The meals usually wake me up. I’ve tried to talk to him a bunch of other times, but he won’t give in. I’m starting to think this is my life now. This is where I will die.
