Jaguar (The Madison Wolves Book 12)

by Robin Roseau

  Tough. Anyone who is willing to kidnap women and children deserves whatever evil comes to him.

  Carissa finished her review then pointed to that one. “Did that happen during the fighting or later?”

  “Later,” Elisabeth said. “He’s the one they call Sarge.”

  “Ah. Which ones are the pilots?”

  “Those four,” Elisabeth gestured. “We’re not entirely sure which one was in which seat.”

  “Not to worry,” Carissa replied. “Alpha, do you know what you want to do with them?”

  “No.”

  “If I offer to take them off your hands?”

  “We need answers.”

  “Oh, I’ll get answers.” She smiled again, and this time her fangs were showing. “I’m feeling peckish. I am in your territory and wouldn’t dream of eating without permission.”

  “Are you going to kill them?”

  “Not yet,” she said. “May I?”

  “Of course.”

  “Kristian,” Carissa said. “Be a dear and bring me one of the pilots. And decide if there are any you fancy as a future pet.”

  “Unless necessary, I would rather not, Carissa,” he said. He gestured. “These are not to my taste.”

  “I didn’t think so, but I would not wish to neglect you.”

  “Have no fear.”

  Excepting Kristian, we all moved away. It was only a moment before Kristian was bringing one of the pilots to us. I was impressed; the man was quiet about it while being half carried. Kristian set him on his bound feet in front of Carissa, steadying him with hands on his shoulders.

  “Alpha,” Carissa said. “We have danced around the question. If I promise what answers these men have, and that they will never bother anyone ever again, may I take them off your hands?”

  “Yes,” Lara said. “I wasn’t sure what to do with them.”

  “Very good. Thank you, Lara.” She stepped closer to the man that Kristian had selected, naked except for his bonds. He was bigger than Carissa, but not as big as the soldiers. Carissa reached up and gently removed the blindfold, stuffing it into her pocket. The man blinked for a moment and focused his attention on the vampire. Then he must have seen the fangs, as his eyes grew wide, and he would have pulled away if he could.

  “Ah,” Carissa said. “I see my fangs are a clue to you. Let me introduce myself. My name is Carissa. As you have gathered, I am a vampire.” She patted his cheek. “You aren’t having a very good night. I cannot imagine you expected to meet the Queen of New Orleans, did you?” She gave his cheek one more pat. “I am going to remove your gag. You will remain silent unless I ask a direct question. I find whimpering and begging so wearying, and if you engage in either, I will be forced to punish you. Are you going to be a good boy?”

  The man nodded frantically. A moment later, Carissa reached up and untied his gag. She held it out, and I took it from her.

  “Better?” Carissa asked. The man didn’t respond. “That was a direct question. Better?”

  “Yes,” the man said tightly. “Are you going to-“

  He didn’t get to finish the question. Moving faster than any human could see, Carissa slapped him across the cheek. She must have pulled it, as his head snapped sideways, but it was still attached to his head afterwards.

  “And here,” said Carissa, “I thought the rules were quite simple. You will remain silent except when answering a direct question. Do you understand the rules?”

  The man nodded frantically. Carissa grabbed his chin and forced his face towards her. “You will answer ‘Yes, Your Majesty’ or ‘No, Your Majesty’. Are the rules clear?”

  “Yes, Your Majesty!”

  She patted his cheek. “Very good. You were one of the helicopter pilots, yes?”

  “Co-pilot, Your Majesty.”

  “Are you rated as a pilot?”

  “Yes, Your Majesty.”

  She glanced at Michaela. “That solves one potential problem.” Michaela nodded. And then Carissa turned her gaze back to the man. “You have a choice. I am going to ask a few more questions. You will answer. Lie if you want, although understand I will be displeased if you do. Was your mission to kidnap women and children?”

  The man glanced around, his eyes settling on Michaela. Finally he said, “Yes, Your Majesty.”

  “My, my,” the said Carissa. “The answer I expected, and to discover it is a lie. Do you want to explain?”

  “They’re not exactly women and children, are they?” the man said. “They’re monsters.” Then, after a pause, he added a hasty, “Your Majesty.”

  I thought Carissa would hit him again, but she didn’t. Instead she said in a gentle tone, “They’re my friends, and if you had given them a chance, you might have found they are good people. But I suppose they are different from you, and that makes them monsters. What were you going to do with them once they were aboard your aircraft?”

  The man didn’t answer. Carissa waited, giving him a chance to decide what he was going to do. When he kept his mouth shut, she sighed. I knew it was an affectation for her, so it was for his benefit. “I suppose you believe if you do not answer, I’ll hit you again. You’re wrong. If you don’t answer me, I’m not going to hit you. Do you know what I’m going to do?”

  The man gulped. “Bite?”

  Carissa smiled. “I haven’t had a thing to eat all day. I am positively famished. Did you know? There are studies. Humans share certain common phobias. Spiders and snakes, for instance. But there’s one thought that tends to strike fear into many, many people, although it’s nothing that tends to come up very often.” She leaned closer, standing on her toes to get closer. “People tend to be afraid of being eaten alive.” She set back down to the flats of her feet. “Imagine how it must feel. My fangs would sink into your neck, puncturing you deeply. I can make it very pleasant, if I want, but you can imagine I have little incentive to do so. And so it will be every bit as unpleasant as you can imagine. My fangs would pierce your skin and then your artery. Your life’s essence would begin to spill into my mouth. I will clamp my lips around your neck and suck deeply.” She patted his cheek again. “It hurts. Oh, it doesn’t hurt as much as if Anna here were to remove your foot for you, but perhaps we can consider that option later.”

  “We were going to deliver them!” the man said. “Small women, young children, and any small dogs.”

  “Ah, an answer,” Carissa said. “And an honest one. Deliver them where?”

  “I don’t know, Your Majesty. I don’t! I don’t! Please don’t eat me! Please, I have a wife and a little girl of my own.”

  Carissa hit him, barely looking at him. “You were here to kidnap someone’s wife. You were here to kidnap someone’s children. Do you think I care about yours?” She hissed the last words. “How were you to deliver them if you didn’t know where? Did someone else know where?”

  “We would radio for coordinates, once we had the packages,” the man said quickly. “I swear. I don’t know where.”

  “Do you believe him, Alpha?”

  “No,” Lara said simply.

  “I swear!” the man said.

  Carissa hit him. “You don’t follow directions very well. I told you not to talk unless responding to a question.” She again sighed dramatically then stepped closer to the man, looking up at him. “I will give you a simple choice. Live? Or die?”

  “Live, Your Majesty. Please, let me live.”

  “Very well. Kristian, please take over from Elisabeth. I’ll need your help.”

  Kristian didn’t say a word but simply moved into place, taking control of the man from the enforcer. After that, Carissa didn’t wait. Her fangs flashed and sank deep into the man. He grunted and then began to scream.

  No one else said a word.

  Carissa wrapped her arms around him, holding herself tightly to him. And then Kristian lowered the man to the ground, Carissa cradled over him. She fed from him, and he continued to scream.

  I’d never seen anyone scream from
one of her feedings.

  Then Carissa held an arm out towards Kristian. He took it from her, bent his head, and then his own fangs lengthened, and he struck at her wrist. Instantly, Carissa shoved her wrist against the screaming man’s throat. Kristian helped, one hand on the back of the man’s head, one hand on Carissa’s wrist. Her wrist acted as a gag, muffling the screams. And then the screams grew still as Carissa’s blood flowed into his mouth.

  “What is she doing?” Elisabeth asked.

  Kristian’s eyes lifted to Michaela, and it was the fox that answered. “Blood thrall,” Michaela answered. “That seems almost like a reward.”

  “It won’t be,” Kristian replied.

  “He won’t be able to lie to her,” Michaela explained. “But I suspect she has other ways to achieve that.”

  “She does,” Kristian agreed. Then he lifted Carissa’s wrist from the man’s mouth and opened it again before shoving it back into place. “But this also solves the problem of what to do with them.”

  “Oh god. She’s going to do that to all of them,” Elisabeth said.

  “Do you have objections?” Kristian asked.

  She didn’t answer immediately, but then said, “No. We weren’t sure if we should kill them and dump them in the lake, or call the FBI.”

  “This is better,” Kristian said.

  “Yes,” Elisabeth agreed.

  Just then, Carissa pulled away from the man, taking in a great gasping breath of air. She smiled broadly, but it was the sort of smile one might expect from a vampire, not at all Carissa’s usual style. Then she leaned back over the man. “Look at me,” she commanded, and there was something in her voice that made not just him, but all of us look at her.

  The man opened his eyes, and then he stared.

  “You are now mine,” Carissa said, her voice deep and haunting. “Sleep.”

  The man immediately went limp.

  Carissa stood, and again she smiled as she looked at us. “Is anyone going to ask for mercy for him?”

  “No,” Michaela said, her voice tight.

  “I have time for one more,” she said. “Then we should see to the helicopters before I finish. Kristian, would you help the head enforcer put this one back the way he was.”

  “If he’s your blood thrall...”

  “I need to enforce it,” she said. “For now, I want him secure.”

  “Of course,” Elisabeth said.

  “Bring me one more, perhaps not one of the pilots.”

  Storage

  With Kristian and Elisabeth dragging one of the pilots between them, we moved back to the helicopters. “Michaela, are you sure you can fly one of these?”

  “I managed to set it down okay,” she replied.

  “Which one do you want?”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Michaela said. “That’s the one I flew before.” She pointed to the rightmost aircraft.

  “Then we’ll start with this one,” Carissa said with a gesture to the other one. “Just in case.” She turned to the pilot, grabbing him with one hand on the restraints and one on the back of his head. She pulled him down to look at her. “You’re going to give us a crash course in flying these things.”

  “You can’t be serious.”

  “If you do a good job, then I’ll let you live. Do you know what happens if you do a poor job.”

  “You’ll kill me.”

  “Oh, no. Not at all.” She let her fangs show. “I’ll enslave you. You will worship me and will be very, very driven to tell me anything I want to know. And then I’m going to ask about your family and your dearest friends. Maybe you have children. A wife. Parents. A sister. Everyone has someone they care about. And I will find the people you love, and I will take them and enslave them. Your sister? I’ll give her to a brothel, along with your wife. The rest? Well, I guess we’ll see what comes to me.”

  “You’re a bitch,” the man said.

  “Yes, I am,” Carissa agreed. “I was born in a time where people believed in an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. You came here to kidnap women and children. You seem to think that’s perfectly acceptable. But you don’t like it when the tables are turned?” She released him. “Now show me how to operate this machine!”

  * * * *

  It took time.

  Carissa and Michaela, along with Kristian and Elisabeth to handle the prisoner, climbed into the first helicopter. The rest of us moved back. Twenty minutes later, Carissa called out, “Clear,” and then the machine began to whirr. Two minutes later, it lifted off the ground a few feet, hovered for a minute or so, and then set back down.

  A minute after that, Michaela emerged, following Kristian and Elisabeth with their prisoner. She lead the way to the other aircraft, and it was only an additional ten minutes before she had done her own lift off and hover test.

  Kristian emerged with the prisoner, approaching Lara and me. “Elisabeth wants two more enforcers,” he yelled over the sound of the machine.

  “Serena,” Lara said. “Angel. Go.”

  The two took off for Michaela’s helicopter. A minute later, it lifted from the ground. Then Carissa lifted hers, and we watched them rise, turn south, and climb and accelerate away.

  It grew still, all of us left behind staring after the departing aircraft, long after we could no longer see them.

  Then, with no warning, Lara spun, lifted her foot, and kicked the prisoner firmly in the gut. Kristian released his hold, and the man crumpled. Then Lara was on him, hitting him over and over.

  She pulled her strikes. If she hadn’t, she would have killed him with that first kick, and she certainly would have with her fists. But then Karen was there, kneeling beside the alpha. “Lara.”

  “You fucking bastard!” Lara screamed. “We weren’t hurting anyone here. We leave humans alone. We’re not the monsters from the movies. We’re quiet and peaceful, minding our own business. My wife is a science teacher. We’re all environmentalists. We take care of the land. We help people. We run businesses, good businesses, and I insist we follow the laws and treat our customers ethically. We pay our taxes, and we never cheat on them.”

  She shook him. “How dare you invade our lands? How dare you come with your guns and explosives, intending to kill some of us and kidnap others? We’re not the monsters. You are.”

  The man coughed. “Right. That vampire told me what she was going to do.”

  “She lied,” Lara spat. “Oh, she didn’t lie about what she’ll do to you, but she wouldn’t touch an innocent.”

  Lara pushed away from him, straightening, then stepping several steps backwards. “Kristian, do you require assistance putting him back?”

  “No.” But Kristian stood and looked at Lara. “Alpha, Lima Consulting will be landing soon.”

  Lara nodded. “Does Greg Freund know you?”

  “Yes, but may I make a suggestion?”

  “Of course.”

  “It’s been a long night for you and your wolves. Your home is currently secure, and no invaders will arrive without warning. Until Carissa returns, I can pull Raphael to watch the prisoners. The others and I can hold your compound for you. This frees you to send someone to meet Lima. Perhaps you hoped to send your head enforcer, but I think you want to get Lima here quickly. Alpha, your wolves need rest. You need to order some of them to rest, and your civilians should return to their proper beds as well. It is safe. You have my assurances.”

  Lara stared at him a long time, not saying anything. Finally she nodded. “You’re right.”

  “I know you struggle to trust us,” Kristian continued. “I know you especially struggle to trust me, and that is my fault. But I have been loyal to Carissa for over a thousand years, and that is not going to change today. She wants all of you safe. I will keep you safe.”

  “Thank you, Kristian,” Lara said. “Please see to it.”

  “Very good.” He bent over, picked up the man from the ground, and turned towards the sheds, carrying him easily.

  Lara turned to Kar
en. “Until Elisabeth returns, you’re the head enforcer,” she said. “Get people on a sleep rotation. Get the kids back to the barracks. Send...” She paused. “Shit. I need to send you, don’t I?”

  “I’ll get things started, Lara. Anna, can you remain with the alpha?”

  “Of course.”

  “Monique. Nash. Head to the safe room. If everyone is sleeping, leave them there. But tell them it’s safe to go back to their beds. But everyone remains in the lodge or the barracks. No wandering.”

  “Yes, Karen,” Monique said for them. They took off for the house.

  “Lara, let’s get you settled.”

  “I won’t sleep.”

  “No, but you’re not done making decisions, and you need to close your eyes for a while.”

  * * * *

  Lara refused to go to bed. But she did lie down in the great room, for whatever good that would be.

  Karen scurried about for a few minutes, then I saw her with Zoe, Iris, and Lindsey. I was a little surprised who she was using, but if the airport were going to be dangerous, it would have been earlier. The four of them headed for the cars, and then it was quiet.

  “Anna,” Lara said a few minutes later. “Why?”

  “I don’t know, Lara,” I said. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

  “I keep having to call for help,” she said.

  “Everyone needs help sometimes, Lara,” I replied. “You’re doing things here no other werewolf pack has ever done. You’re a female alpha who rules more through wisdom than strength and fear. I don’t claim to be an expert in werewolf politics, but Carissa said you’re the only North American pack with a female alpha. She said there’s one in Europe, but she’s not sure about anywhere else. She also says this is the only pack with openly lesbian members amongst the leadership, much less the alpha. And then there’s the safe haven for all of the other weres.”

  Lara lay quietly, but her brow remained furrowed.

  “You work with Lima Consulting. I don’t know much about them, but I know a few things. Carissa has used them. And she says you’re not the only pack that relies on their services. I don’t think you should consider it shameful you have to call them.”