by Angela Foxxe
"The only real threat is the Eastern Cascade, and they've been holed up in Spokane for the winter. I guess that's their idea of 'winter lodging'."
Richard scratched his grizzled chin. "Well, whatever, as long as they think we can beat them, they won’t attack, their alpha's a coward. How he ever survived being turned is beyond me. Is that Skye?"
The two friend turned to admire the red head as she made the climb up the hill.
The mountains agreed with the Highlander, her muscles rippled under her tank top as she made the leap from one rock to another. With an effortless grace she kicked off of a tree to clear the fifteen foot cliff that marked the top of the hill.
She landed with a thump, a worried expression clouding her blue eyes.
"You better get back to the lodge, boss, Naomi's on the phone and I think she's dying."
All thoughts of Reign disappeared as Richard leaped off the hill. Few could master their form, fewer more could change when they weren't in danger, and none could change as fast as Richard. Before he hit the base of the small cliff, the silver furred, yellow eyed wolf was in his place. He charged down the hill in leaps and bounds and disappeared into the woods in seconds.
"Oh my god," Skye muttered, "I didn't know he could do that."
Indigo let out a little laugh. “Remember that the next time you hear anyone wanting to challenge him. Richard holds a lot back."
Skye turned to her lover and smiled, "I don't," she said, as she stripped off her tank top.
CHAPTER THREE
"Cara, Cara, over here!"
Reign waved to her shopping companion from across the crowded street. Cara's six feet with heels let her easily see Reign. She smiled and returned the wave.
Reign marveled at how the crowd parted in front of Cara as she made her way to the corner, she didn't even need to ask anyone to move, they stepped aside almost as if they didn't know they were there.
At first, Reign was surprised Richard's wife stayed behind.
After all, Reign didn’t hide her feelings that well. She was sure she gushed all over him when they signed the contract, and again when the tests came back positive. She carried his baby, and now his wife looked after her, but she couldn't help the way she turned to water around him.
It would be easier if Cara was a shrew, or ugly, but she was neither. It also didn't hurt that she seemed to genuinely like Reign. I’m going to hell.
"This place is huge, I can't believe I've never been here before."
Reign handed her a cup of Seattle's Best, and sipped on her own hot chocolate, because being pregnant meant no caffeine. To a Seattle native that was almost a fate worse than death.
She gave her tall companion a sideways glance. “How do you live in Seattle and never visit Pike Place? I practically live down here."
It was true, between the thrift stores, the farmers markets, the fresh fish, and the French Delicatessen, she did all her shopping at the market.
In the two months she'd been pregnant the two of them had been too busy to see the sights. I still can’t think of it as pregnant, I’ve never had sex.
When Cara told her they could take the weekend off, Pike Place was the first place Reign wanted to go.
"Oh that, we don't live here. We live out in the Cascades.
Oh man, this coffee is good, I'm going to have to buy a few hundred bags before we go home."
"Cara, when was the last time you were here?"
Cara paused to sip from her cup, a mischievous smile on her face, "Oh, it’s been a few years."
The soft sounds of strings drifted over the market. There were many street musicians playing in the cool April air -- usually guitarists, singers, the occasional horn player, but this sound was the violin. Reign urged Cara to follow her as they made their way past the historic Public Market sign to Stewart Street. On the opposite corner, a young woman had just launched into Mazurka No. 2, a challenging but popular solo piece for the violin.
Reign didn't notice Cara's distracted look, all she could hear was the violin.
"I want to be that good someday. It's why I wanted this job, if I could just get my shot I could do it, I know,” said Reign.
Cara turned around in a full circle, her nose in the air like she just smelled something bad, eyes narrowed and the pleasant look that her face usually carried was replaced by something hard... something dangerous.
"Cara, what's wrong?"
"Reign, there are things about me and Richard you don't know, and I can't tell you. Do you trust me?"
"Yes, of course, is Richard in some kind of trouble?"
"No...we are. Listen, there are men here, men I know, and they're coming for you, we need to move and I mean right now!”
Cara dumped her coffee to the ground, grabbed Reign’s arm and plunged into the crowd. Half the market was built up on a hill, many of the shops took advantage of this by building multiple stories diagonally up and down.
"There's a staircase over there, it goes to the next level," Reign pointed out. Her stomach clenched as Cara hustled her through the store.
"Cara, what's going on?"
"I can't explain it, you just have to trust me, how do we get to the docks?"
Reign led them through the next shop, around a handicap accessible ramp that connected the buildings, then down a long flight of switchback stairs.
Once they were a few floors down from where they started, Cara flipped her phone open.
"Yeah it's Cara, get Richard."
She hung up the phone, and opened the next door.
Reign blinked and Cara went flying past her, a full fifteen feet to the wall behind them. She slammed into it hard enough to shake the whole building.
"Well aren't you a fine one, I see why he picked you."
The man who spoke was easily twice Reign’s size, and from the way his shoulders curved under his leather jacket, he was built as well as any athlete Reign had ever seen.
"Who are you?"
"Edward, at your service, and now, you're coming with me."
He didn't really ask her since he grabbed her arm with unbelievable force and dragged her through the door. A quick look back and she could see Cara's eyes flutter open.
Since the night Reign met Richard she'd feared that someone would try to grab her again. The powerlessness she felt was not something she ever wanted to feel again.
Martial arts took time to master and could often be countered, a permit to carry a gun was too hard to come by and she would have to train for a long time before she felt confident to use it, However, Tasers, were easy to buy and use.
Which she did.
Edward howled as fifty thousand volts coursed through his arm, his muscles froze and spit flew from his mouth. Reign kicked him in the crotch as hard as she could, then slapped the Taser on him again.
"Cara, help me!"
She was there, her ruined shirt covered in blood that flowed from her broken nose.
"Keep Tasing him!"
The smell of ozone and burnt hair quickly filled the hallway.
Cara found what she was looking for, decorative ropes that hung on the wall, she looped it around Edward’s neck and pulled it as tight as she could.
"Don't kill him!"
"He won’t die, but it will take him a minute. Let’s go."
Edward continued to spasm as Cara led Reign around the corner.
"Good call with the Taser, you saved our lives."
Cara put her phone to her ear. “It's East Cascade, Edward. I think three others at least."
They paused at a door while she carefully opened it, the open stairway that led to the next street was empty. She nodded to Reign, and they ran down the steps as fast as they could.
"You are here? You knew? I had my phone with me. Right, we’re almost to Alaska way, Reign is safe, and they’re right behind us."
Cara finished and tossed her phone off the stairs.
"Looks like they tapped my phone. C’mon, Richard is waiting for us at the bot..."
She pulled the Taser out and tried to hit him with it. He slapped her with an errant swing. Her vision swam and the sky darkened, she struggled to not lose consciousness. Warm coppery flavored blood filled her mouth, her teeth hurt, her eyes filled with tears, she couldn't see, and could barely hear.
The brute held Cara by one hand, her boots scraped the pavement as she struggled. His grip was like iron, she kicked and pounded, clawed and slapped, but he would not let go.
Precious seconds ticked by. Reign tried to stand up, but her legs wouldn't cooperate. Reign crawled forward, grabbed the boot of the giant and tugged. Laughter rang in her ears.
There was a growl, like an animal, Reign couldn't look up to see. Suddenly the giant screamed, and clutched his bloody face.
"Bitch," he spit out from between his fingers. Blood seeped around his hands and poured down his shirt.
Reign could see Cara's hand, it looked like she had a knife, or several knives, then they were gone, and Cara was picking her up.
They stumbled down the street half a block before tires squealed beside them. Edward got out, a large black pistol in his hand. Cara shifted so that she was between Reign and the gun.
"This isn't what you want Eddie, you're risking war, and no one wins if we fight."
"I'm betting that coward you call a leader thinks the same thing, and he's not going to go to war over a bitch like you, or a cow."
Richard barreled around the corner and slammed into the first wolf he saw. The giant of a man folded in half as Richard drove him to the ground. The man's face was ruined, four long slashes cut in deep gouges from left to right. Richard slammed the back of his head to the ground twice before rolling off of him. It wouldn't stop him, but wolf regeneration wasn't instant, and it was even slower when the damage was from claws.
Richard froze as he looked up.
Cara stood with her arms out in front of Reign, using her body to shield the human from harm. Edward's pistol pointed between her breasts. They were thirty feet away, too far to cover before Edward would see him, but he had to try. Richard pushed off and flew through the air like a sling stone.
He was too late.
Edward’s hand moved in slow motion. His finger flinched, the gun went off.
Three loud cracks echoed off the pavement.
The bullets ripped into Cara's torso spraying blood and bone on Reign.
Her scream was cut short as Richard picked her up and leaped twenty feet.
Bullets ricocheted around him as he ran.
Indigo was there behind the wheel of an SUV that screeched to a halt.
Richard threw Reign in the back, and turned to see Cara one last time. C’mon Cara, get up, get up!
She was still alive. Edward stood over her, looked up at Richard with a wicked grin before he pulled the trigger on Cara. Four rapid fire shots landed in her back.
Reign screamed, "No!”
"Go, go, go!"
Indigo pushed the accelerator down sending the SUV hurtling down the narrow street.
“Stop, stop, go back, she's still alive," Reign yelled at Indigo as tears flowed down her face, she pulled on the back of the driver's seat.
"Reign, Reign, calm down, she will be okay."
"You're her husband, how could you leave her?"
The SUV took another corner, knocking Reign into Richard, "Let go of me, call the cops, do something."
Richard couldn't afford tears now, and he knew that Cara wasn't dead, it took more than bullets to kill a wolf.
He almost wished she was, though.
"Let’s get out of town, Indigo."
"Where to boss?"
"Home."
Indigo's hands tightened on the steering wheel.
"It's gonna be real hard to maintain that, sir."
Richard noticed the shift in his beta's voice. A slight warning.
The rules of course, no human can know.
"We’re going to have to make an exception, without her we have no future."
Reign looked at the older man, fear and sadness clouded her eyes and now that the immediate danger was over, tears began to wet her cheeks and drop on her jacket.
"Richard, what's going on, why did we leave her like that?"
"I can't tell you right now, Reign, but I promise you, you will be safe."
"Safe from who? And how do I know I'm safe with you?"
Cara slipped in and out of consciousness. She tried not to move, to make a sound, in the hopes that her captors wouldn't think she was awake. She'd done this plenty of times with men in the bed with her that she was pretty sure she could fool the ones around her.
The wounds on her chest closed gradually, the pain departed, the blood remained. Well, at least Reign got away.
"Is she awake?"
She knew that voice. Edward.
Ten years before, she'd belonged to the East Cascade pack. Belonged was the exact right word. At the time they had twenty four men and four bitches. She'd been passed around so many times she'd forgotten everything else. They hadn't turned her, or at least she didn't think they did.
She'd been a college student hiking in Northern Idaho as a part of her Biology degree, when she was attacked by a wild eyed wolf. It bit her arm before running off. Worried she might have rabies she tried to make it to the nearest town. That night was her first shift. Internally, Cara cringed as the memories of being in the same truck as these four were brought back. They smelled like acrid sweat and moldy bread. Some things never change.
After she shifted, she killed at least five people, the sheriff, two deputies, and the two unfortunate drunks who were in the jail where the first aid kit was. She wandered the area of upper Idaho and western Washington for at least a year.
She couldn't bring herself to end it. She lived like an animal, more wolf than girl. It was easier to embrace it than to fight it. Then they found her. At first, she was just so excited to not be alone, then the torture began.
They had an idea of how wolves were supposed to be. They were chosen by the wolf, and if they could take something, or do something, and no one could stop them, then it was their right. That lasted for two whole years. Two years of hell.
When you can regenerate any wound, sadists can inflict a lot of pain.
All the smells, sounds, and even the touch of the two brutes she was squeezed between engulfed her in memories that she worked hard to suppress.
Richard’s pack was different, men and women had their roles, and each was free to be, and not be. With whoever they liked.
They were a family, and it pained her to think how she'd selfishly manipulated that family for her own gain. She just hadn't wanted to be hurt again, not like that, not ever.
Deco, the giant of a man whose face she ruined, held his hand over her heart, she tried not to squirm as he took liberties with her chest.
"Doesn't feel like it."
"Okay, we get her back to Spokane, she can have a little talk with the Chemist."
If she knew Richard, he would make sure Reign was safe, then he'd be coming for her. The pack was a family. And you did anything for family. She could endure till then.
It wasn't like she hadn't before. She relaxed a little. Her mind drifted, her wounds healed, and she could feel the pack, feel Richard. It gave her strength, strength these fools knew nothing of.
They would learn, though.
Reign had stayed silent for the four-hour drive up into the mountains. She was familiar enough with Washington to know right where they were, she'd even been near here a few times. The thick green forest hid anything beyond the next turn.
And other than trees, there wasn't much to see. The well-kept lodge peeked out from behind the trees. At first just a hint of it was visible. As the SUV made the last corner the entire two story building was visible.
It was a modest lodge, waist-high raili
ng circled both floors. The windows had external storm shutters, and modest drab curtains that concealed what was inside.
What was not ordinary about the lodge was the dozen or so men and women who were waiting on the steps. Each were as ripped and chiseled as Richard and Cara. They were all young, the oldest couldn't have been more than thirty. Reign’s skin crawled as they all looked at her.
