“Don’t trrry eet,” he warns in the same, eerie calm of a voice that Sam used to employ when I tried to step away from his fist. “DO YOU LOVE HEEEM?”
I swallow hard and glare at him with all of the hate I feel. “No.”
His eyebrows rise. One side of his mouth pulls up in a knowing smirk. “Liarrrr.”
Just then bullets explode again, coming from outside. I hear grunts from the other rooms. There were more people in here than I even realized. How are they hitting the targets so well through the walls? How do they know where to aim, because the men are falling as though Xavier and his friends are psychic!
“Here vhee go,” the man says to the room, holding onto the railing on the second floor with both hands like he’s on a yacht watching a gorgeous sunset.
The door implodes and Xavier’s blonde friend stands there, gun aimed and ready. Joined instantly by his brown-haired friend and the young coroner, the three of them walk over the bodies picking off the last remaining Russians who come at them, as though it’s a video game and they’re the champions. Shots go both ways, but they dodge them. Xavier leaps through a window to my left, about to launch on top of us to shield us when the Russian leader booms, “EXCELLENT!”
My eyes nearly pop out as he explodes into a mass of fur, fangs and WOLF. I scream as a loud sound echoes by my ear. Looking over in shock, I see what made that sound. It’s the cracking and reshaping in an instant of Xavier into a black wolf with amber, glowing eyes.
In my shock, disbelief and horror, I cover my wide-open mouth and stand up. Michael and Sofia look up to find their bedtime story was very real. Four sharp paws land on the floor right next to us as the wolf who USED to be the man I fucked just earlier today, lands and leaps to the second floor. “WOLFMAN!!” They both yell out.
I cover their eyes. I think they only saw him. I don’t think they saw the carnage. Oh my God, what do I do with these children? The man I love with all of my heart is a werewolf. They’re going to love this. Me? I don’t know how I feel!
Dr. Peters shouts a warning to the amber-eyed wolf. “He was waiting for that!”
Wait, can the wolf understand him? Is Xavier still in there?
My heads whips over to the coroner, but he is too busy being ambushed by two men pouring out of a coat closet to give me any answers at to what the hell is happening. He’s not surprised by the transformation at all. Dr. Peters must know!
The snarling fight upstairs is horrible. Xavier seems evenly matched. Three more wolves barrel in from the backyard! Seeing them coming Dr. Peters shouts, “Mrs. Foster!” He throws me his gun and changes into a sandy-brown wolf with yellow eyes. A white and brown wolf replaces his blonde and dark-brown haired friends within seconds, shards of clothing the only evidence they used to be men.
What. The. Fuck.
Stunned, I see a break in the chaos. The closet those Russian came out of is empty. “Close your eyes tightly guys! Promise me!” I shout to my children.
“Uh huh!” There is so much snarling and horror around them that they don’t even want to look. I drop the gun, pick them both up and run for it, begging them to stay down before I close the closet door with them safely inside.
Whipping around, I blink. The room is full of wolves. There is only one man left and he’s just as freaked out as I am. I hear a yelp coming from my right but my eyes are locked on the two black beasts circling each other. I’ve never shot a gun before. I have no idea how I muster up the courage, but I pull the trigger and feel my arms kickback from the force. The Russian’s wolf yelps as his immense ribcage takes the hit.
The last human man aims at me but the white wolf leaps in front to save my life. It yelps in agony as the bullet hits him instead. I cry out and shoot the man as he aims again at me again. I nail him. Right in the face. I back against a wall.
Xavier transforms. Naked, bitten, scratched up, and human, he races to the white wolf as his friend changes back and croaks, “Xavier!”
There is snarling to my right, a loud thud, then the popping and reshaping of bones as the brown-haired one joins them, falling to his knees. Dr. Peters races forward, shouting, “Draik!” He’s on two feet again, too, and his body is badly cut up. They’re all naked and don’t seem to care.
The fallen wolves are now human again. They lay where they were defeated. I will never forget how this place looks right now, not as long as I live.
“Curragh,” Xavier mutters.
“I know. Draik’s always gotta steal all the attention.” A smirk takes me by surprise, and even though I’m shaking, I walk forward to get a better look. Xavier looks up and meets my eyes.
“Is he going to be okay?” I whisper. “He saved my life.”
Xavier nods and rises, looking gorgeous as hell even if he is sliced up in too many places. “He got one in the thigh. He’s just pissed because he’s always the one to take the worst heat.” He touches my face. “You okay?”
I nod, speechless. What do you say to a werewolf?
“Where are Sofia and Michael?” he asks.
I point to the closet. Xavier starts for it, then stops, turning to look at me. “I probably should get some pants.” He offers me a smile. One I can’t return. I’m stunned. Nothing could have prepared me for the battle I just saw. He reaches out and slowly takes the gun from me. I blink down to it, having forgotten I was still pointing it out. “It’s okay now. It’s over.”
“Motherfucker,” Draik grumbles as Dr. Peters shoves his fingers into the hole and pulls out the bullet with long, wolf nails. The one called Curragh raises his eyebrows at the young coroner, impressed.
“We need to get dressed,” Xavier tells his buddies.
“Those would fit you,” I say, tentatively pointing to one of the fallen henchman.
“Good idea,” Xavier says, glancing over his shoulder at me to see if I’m really alright with all of this. Honestly, I don’t know what I feel. It all feels unreal, frankly. I can’t believe I’m suggesting we steal a dead man’s pants, but crazier things have happened today.
Before they have a chance to clothe themselves, a strange sound echoes through the room and we all turn to look at the Russian mafia boss.
He’s laughing.
Xavier
We turn as we hear Alexander laughing. Curragh and I walk over to face him. “Watch Draik.”
War nods, pressing on the wound and glancing to Emily.
“How ya doin’ Mrs. Foster?” he smiles.
Emily stares at him, then locks eyes with me. She’s handling this surprisingly well. I had no choice but to shift. I had to protect her.
Now that we’ve taken down his makeshift army, I am dying to know what Alexander thinks is so funny. He’s probably just showing a last bit of pride. I thought I’d killed him. I guess I didn’t. Since Emily is my mate, I have every right in Wolves-law to do so. Not that anyone’s going to come checking.
As we face the naked bastard, Curragh asks him first, “What’s so funny?”
The spawn of Viktor Kruglov is lying on his side, mortally wounded. In addition to the gunshot, a deep and long gash is down his torso and I can see things I shouldn’t be able to. His eyes are bloodshot and his teeth are literally blood-covered. He spits and gives me a pointed and grotesque Joker-style grin. “You haff taken my family and now I take yourzz.”
“What are you talking about? Draik’s fine. It’s you who lost your army.”
Alexander shakes his head. “I was zinking…how to hurt you zee most and I thought your pack must die. But you arrrr strong togezher and I had to dig deeper.”
“What about Lewis,” War calls over. I hadn’t even thought about Lewis. He’s not one of the wolves we didn’t recognize.
Alexander answers, “Dead. He vas veek.”
Emily walks over like she’s a wolf, herself, that’s how straight and confident her spine is. Interesting. Maybe she was made for this life and never even knew it. Well, she has to be, if she’s meant to be mine.
“You’re n
ot exactly the epitome of strength right now,” she sneers as she stands by my side.
“Emeely Voster. But look at you. Sahprize sahprize.” She glares at him. Our fingers naturally intertwine and his bloodshot gaze falls to them. “You arrr quick to forgive the reason you are widow.”
Emily’s hand goes cold. She looks at me with dawning awareness. “Oh my God,” she whispers, yanking her hand away in an instant.
“Emily,” I say, walking to her as she backs into a wall.
“Stay away from me!”
“You don’t understand.”
“And I helped you just now!! Were they the good guys?” She motions to the dead. “Oh God!”
“No!” My voice is strong and urgent. She mustn’t think these men are good. They’re far from it. The things we’ve seen them do are inexcusable and pure evil. “They’re the Russian mafia. They’ve done horrible crimes you can’t even imagine. We are the good guys.”
But how can she believe me?
Emily is horror-struck. She glances to War and her eyes narrow. His head is low, his teeth gritted together. Her eyes are flickering as everything that’s happened between us replays itself. Everything. Her first trip to the morgue. His telling her it was a wild animal probably escaped from the zoo. My punching through the glass window and saving her with preternatural speed. Telling her she doesn’t know everything, then fucking her anyway. Telling her kids the story of my childhood, all real. Them knowing what I was, and that she hadn’t believed them.
Me being in their house, taking them to dinner, making love to her, and all the while I killed her husband.
“Emily…”
“DON’T TOUCH ME!”
Throwing up my hands, I back up. Her eyes are filled with hate as she looks at me over her shoulder, rushing to the closet for the children. War’s voice is kind and calm – two things he’s better at than I am. “Mrs. Foster, will you allow me to give you a ride home?”
She looks at him like she’s about to bite off his head, but then glances around the room as she realizes she has no other option. How could she explain all of this?
She nods curtly and waits as he steals a dead man’s unneeded pants, grabbing a jacket off another. Buttoning it up, he walks to her and blocks the room with his body. “Go ahead.”
“Sofia? Michael? It’s me, close your eyes okay? We’re safe now and we’re going home.”
“Mommy!” they cry out.
“Fuck,” I mutter under my breath so quietly only my packmates can hear me. Draik is sitting up now, his hands over his crotch, just in case. His eyes are on me like he could have told me this would happen. War glances over with a stoic look in his eyes. Curragh kicks Alexander in the head and snarls, “Keep your fucking mouth shut.” The Russian chuckles, the life leaving him with every breath.
Emily reaches in and grabs her little ones, covering their faces with her body as she ushers them out of the house. During the short minute or so this takes place, she assures them, “I’m okay. Mommy’s alright.” Now they’re begging to know about me.
“Is the Wolfman okay?”
“That wasn’t real, honey,” she lies.
War and I exchange a somber look as he escorts them out. The children never see the bloodbath. They are spared. As soon as the door closes, I walk to it and place my hand on the wood. Listening and waiting for the Camaro to leave takes an eternity. As the rumble of its engine dissipates with distance, I walk to Alexander.
His eyes are hooded. He’s got seconds to live. I kneel down and say, “You went through a lot of trouble and lost a lot of lives to do this.”
“You vill neverr haff your mate. You took my lovv and I took yourrrzz.” His eyes close and his heartbeat fades to nothing.
Rising up I stare at the door as though Emily might reappear there. Curragh, my oldest friend, puts his hand on my shoulder. “So you know.”
“I guess I always did know she was my mate,” I mutter. “That’s why I killed him.”
“I know.”
I glance over and take no solace in his sadness for me. Emily is the only female – wolf or human – I will ever want. Even sex with anyone else will disgust me from this day forward. A wolf’s mate is for life. I am destined to be alone, and it is Kruglov’s fault. And my own.
Emily
My eyes have been opened. Up until now I really believed the werewolves myths were made up to entertain children in the olden days, and then exploited by movies and television for money and entertainment. That these things are real is incredible and terrifying. I’m not afraid of Dr. Peters. I’m not. Pissed as hell? Yes. Hurt beyond belief. Um…yeah. But scared? No. One look at the guy and you know he’s good.
So why is he mixed up with those guys? Are they monsters? Are they criminals? Are they good?
Xavier…
Oh, Emily, don’t even think his name. You got caught up in a bad thing and it will take time for your heart to shut him out. A lot of time.
The children are exhausted but that doesn’t stop them from asking all kinds of questions I have no idea how to answer. I can only hope that over time they will forget what has happened tonight. And that they’ll forget Xavier.
I hope I can forget him, too.
“Dr. Peters?” Michael asks, hoping for more answers than the ones I gave. The coroner looks at me. I nod. What do I have to lose? They’ve seen so much tonight. Maybe he can help them understand.
I just don’t want them having nightmares. I’m sure it’s inevitable. But then again, the world is a different place than when I was a kid and children are exposed to all sorts of horrible things. And Sam did use to let them watch age-inappropriate things that had violence in them. Guess what happened when I objected?
Dr. Peters asks, “Yes, Michael?” his voice kind but cautious.
“Are werewolves bad?”
My hands go tense on my lap and I turn my head to see the young coroner’s reaction. His strong jaw ticks twice on three blinks. He glances to the rearview mirror to see my son in the backseat. “Sometimes. But most of the time, no. You like superheroes?”
“Yeah.” He sounds so tired.
“Well, werewolves can do things people can’t, just like superheroes. They can run and move really fast. They have the strength of five, seven, ten men, depending on the wolf. They can hear things humans can’t, so they know when danger is coming. And they can see better than people can at night.”
“Wow!” my son breathes. “Cool.”
I glance back to Sofia. She’s playing with her fingers. She’s gone into herself. I reach over and touch her foot. She doesn’t react.
Even though I’m livid and want us to be home and away from these people as quickly as possible, they’re very interesting to me, those facts. I remember the times Xavier moved really fast and I dismissed it as my imagination. I saw them all racing at an inhuman pace with the guns in their hands tonight. And of course, then there were the wolves. The whole insanity of that transformation.
“Does it hurt?” I ask, because I have to know. “To change…bodies?”
Dr. Peters looks at me, surprised. It’s the first thing I’ve said to him. “No. It’s painless when you get used to it. Fighting it is the only time it’s ever painful. Like fighting who you really are always is.”
I go back to staring at the road.
After a few minutes of silence, when we’re almost home, Dr. Peters offers with a big of urgency, “We help people.” He glances to me and then to the rearview. “Sofia?”
I look back to see if she’s acknowledged him. She’s still staring at her fingers. Dammit. My heart is breaking for her. For Michael. They’ve been through so much.
Regardless, he continues, “I know you heard some scary things tonight, and maybe saw some, too. But we help people. We make the bad people stop hurting the good ones. Sometimes it’s hard, scary, and very dangerous but we do it because we have to. You’re safe now. I want you both to go to sleep knowing that you are safe now. Those men will never try to
take you again.”
As I look at my daughter, my chest aches and a tear slips away from me. Her long eyelashes rise up and she meets his eyes in the rearview. On a whisper she says, “Promise?”
“I promise.” He offers her a kind smile.
“You’re a wolf man, too,” she whispers.
He blinks a couple times. I’m sure this isn’t something he normally discusses. “Yes. But you guys can’t tell anyone about us. It’s a secret. A very big secret and if you tell people…” he closes his lips tightly like he can’t even say it.
“They’ll want to hurt you,” Michael says. “You have to hide.”
Dr. Peters glances to him. “That’s right.”
“Wolfman told us.”
“He did?”
“He told us about what his mommy said.” Michael looks at his sister. “Right, Soph?”
She silently nods.
“Huh,” Dr. Peters mutters, turning onto our street.
Tucking them into bed, my children are very quiet. There are no requests for a story and they barely even talk. Their little minds are full and the best I can do is try.
“Guys?” I sit on Sofia’s bed where they can both see my face. “How are you?”
With their heads on their pillows and the comforters up high, they shrug their little shoulders in the really exaggerated way children do.
“I don’t want you to be frightened, but I know you’re going to process this in your own time. You’re both so smart, and I’m so proud of you. I…I want you to know that I believe Dr. Peters when he said we’re safe now. It was very scary tonight, right?” They nod a little. I have their full attention. “But they did save us from the bad guys. What he said is true. So that means we’re safe now, right?” They both nod. “I want you to dream of beautiful things tonight. I want you to know that I love you and that we are safe.” I’m all choked up so I can’t say any more. I lean down and kiss my daughter’s forehead. Then I walk over and kiss my son’s. I walk to the door and decide to leave it open, with the light on, too. Then I hear my daughter’s twinkly voice.
Werewolves of Chicago: Xavier Page 14
