She kissed him deeply, and even though it was barely noon, they both fell asleep. There in the bubble of their afterglow, everything was perfect, if only for a moment.
CHAPTER 6
“Hold her down!”
“She’s fighting me!”
“Tough little bitch, ain’t she?”
The darkness surrounded Eva, yet the voices kept coming, assaulting her with their harsh, brutality. The texture of a blindfold on her face explained why she was unable to see. But the voices and grating noise of metal clashing echoed in her mind. She felt the pummel of fists, the gnashing of teeth tearing apart her skin.
“Put her in the wedding dress,” the familiar female voice commanded. “Consider it a wedding gift for Gemma. I want her to know that she can’t have a happily ever after. Not when the rest of us are suffering.” The voice sneered.
Eva fought against the phantom shadows that held her into place. She didn’t know who her assailants were or why they were hurting her. Her throat felt like something was wrong with it, like it wasn’t whole.
One fist connected with her left eyeball, sending stars into her blackened vision. It spun her head around, and she felt the pressure of her eyeball aching and swelling immediately in the socket. She was barely keeping conscious, and that last punch pushed her past the edge.
“That’s enough,” the female voice said. “She’s done for.”
“We can’t have her live.”
“She’s already dead, Luis.”
Just as she was about to slip into oblivion, someone lifted up the blindfold, and Luis’s face swam into view. He looked sorrowful and remorseful as he regarded her.
“I’m so sorry Eva,” he whispered so that only she could hear. “But you saw too much...”
***
Nestled in Jon’s arms as the afternoon sun peeked in from the windows, Eva awoke with a gasp. “I know where they’re keeping Annie!” she gasped. “I know where...”
“Eva?” Jon asked in alarm, having woken up when she jolted.
She clung to him as she sobbed for breath trying to process it all. She couldn’t believe that Luis would do it, but she knew there was no other option. It would have been the perfect spot to hold a person captive. Far from civilization, yet close to Las Vegas. Private so that even if someone screamed, there would be no one to hear.
When Luis lifted up her blindfold, she had not only seen his face, but she had also seen the room behind him. And while there had been some other unfamiliar things inside like chains and knives, there was no mistaking it. From the wooden slats on the wall, the imperfect ceiling that let sunlight in from the gaps in the boards, to the lone light, she recognized the place immediately. She’d spent her summers there with Luis and her parents when she was young.
It was her parents’ summer house.
She remembered what had happened now. She had gone to meet Luis for a cup of coffee. When she pulled up to the Starbucks, Luis’s car was there, but he wasn’t in the coffee house. She’d gone out, searching for him, calling his phone. At first, she hadn’t heard his cell, but after trying a few times, she heard it, just faintly. She’d followed the sound and came to the edge of a little canyon where she saw something she’d only ever seen in horror movies: wolves mauling a human. She screamed in fear, and one of the wolves looked up. She couldn’t believe how startlingly similar the wolf looked to Luis, from the shape of his face to his nose. Their eyes met and she screamed in terror. Then something knocked her in the head and she passed out. She didn’t wake up until they started torturing her.
Even in Jon’s arms, she gulped down air, trying to get her bearings from the nightmare. Jon held her loosely, as if he didn’t know what to do.
“I need to call Gemma,” she rasped.
Jon immediately complied, grabbing his cell phone and scrolling through it for a few seconds before he hit send and handed it over to her.
Gemma answered on the first ring. “What happened, Jon?” she asked. She sounded worried.
“It’s Eva.” She looked up and met Jon’s eyes as he watched her protectively. “I know where they’re keeping Annie and the Great Wolf.”
***
Jon couldn’t believe that Eva had managed to dig into the murky depths of her memory and piece together the puzzle. Her story seemed like a crazy idea, but then again, their world was pretty crazy. When she showed Gemma on the map where her parents’ summer house was in Red Rock Canyon National Park, it seemed like it would be a good place to hide someone from civilization.
“My parents died a few years ago,” Eva explained when she pointed to the spot. “And the cabin was already pretty secluded. They never sold it because it wasn’t worth anything. It’s probably really run down by now. But I can’t think of anything better.”
“Thanks,” Gemma told her gratefully. Her eyes met Jon’s and she gave a smug smile. He wanted to sigh with irritation. So she had picked up that they had mated and Eva was now a Beta, although his newfound mate was oblivious to it.
Gemma made a few phone calls to gather up whatever reinforcements they could find to go to the cabin. Time was ticking. And Jon knew that Annie was waiting for them.
“Will you be okay?” he asked Eva. She seemed a little pale, but she nodded.
“I’ll be fine,” she whispered. “My back’s already healed.”
Huck was pacing the length of the room, nearly tearing out his hair. Jon now understood why he was so torn up over his missing mate. He had no idea what would happen if Eva went missing.
Gemma hung up. “All right,” she said. “I’ve got a few of the local packs to join too. They’ll meet us on the outskirts.”
“Shouldn’t we do some sort of reconnaissance first?” Mark asked.
Gemma shook her head. “We know the layout thanks to Eva. And I don’t want to wait any longer with the Great Wolf and Annie’s lives on the line.”
“We don’t want ter keep ‘em waitin’,” Carmichael agreed.
Jon wanted to disagree, but they had to have the element of surprise on their hands. The longer they waited, the more chances the enemy would have of anticipating their attack. Time was simply a luxury they could no longer afford.
“Let’s go,” Gemma commanded.
They piled up into their cars as the sun began to set. Gemma had protested Bradley joining the group, but the boy insisted that he was a pack leader himself and he wanted to find Annie more than anyone else. Huck said it was okay, so the boy joined them.
Eva stayed connected to Jon’s hip the entire time. He wanted to curse himself for allowing her to come along. This was something that she had to do, but he couldn’t promise that he’d be able to protect her the entire time. In the back of his mind, he was conflicted between her and his duties to Gemma and Mark.
The convoy met an assortment of trucks and SUVs on the outskirts of Las Vegas, just at the base as Red Rock Canyon National Park loomed over them.
“Hang on,” Gemma said. She got out of the car and went to go talk to the other leaders as they exited their cars.
“You sure you want to do this?” Jon whispered to Eva.
She nodded. “I have to face my brother,” she said. “I have to know why he did this.” She seemed so small and fragile.
Gemma came back with a grim look on her face. “We’re on,” she said. “But there hasn’t been any movement there according to the scouts.”
“I don’t like it,” Mark muttered.
“Me neither,” she agreed.
The cars made their way up the mountains, and when they came upon the cabin, Jon knew exactly why Eva had said that it was the best place for the other werewolves to stage an attack. It was a small, dilapidated cabin that listed to one side. It was pretty spacious for a cabin in the woods though; maybe over two thousand square feet. But with the state it was in, it should have been condemned decades ago.
Eva tensed up as it came into view. He wondered how she was managing to keep her composure. This was where she had been tortu
red to the brink of death, after all.
“I don’ see anyt’in’,” Carmichael growled as he slowed the car to a stop, still somewhat hidden in the trees. He was frowning unhappily.
Jon didn’t like it either. If this was the place, then there should have been more movement, more indication that there was actually someone there.
“Maybe they heard the cars come up?” he said, voicing his concern.
“Then we have to hurry,” Huck said. Without further warning, there was the click of a seat belt and Huck was already running into the house before anyone could react. “ANNIE!” he yelled as he ran, announcing their presence to everyone within five miles.
“Dammit,” Adam muttered, undoing his own seat belt.
“I guess there goes our element of surprise,” Jon surmised.
“Go,” Eva said to him.
He kissed her lips and followed after Adam into the house. Huck was already pounding on the doors, splintering the wood. He was beyond crazed with worry for his mate. Not that Jon could blame him.
Jon took off for the door at a run, connecting with the wood at the same time that Huck pounded into it and they both fell into the house. Huck recovered fast, throwing furniture around as he searched the house.
“ANNIE!” he roared. “ANNIE WHERE ARE YOU?!”
Jon scanned the room, taking it all in. Someone had definitely been here recently. The smell of many wolves lingered in the air, still fresh, maybe only a few hours old. There were even still dirty dishes on the dining room table.
Eva had been right.
“Trap door,” Adam said, pointing with his head to the ground, where the rug had been pulled up showing the outline of a door.
Huck didn’t wait for an answer. He scrambled over to the door and pulled on it, roaring with anger. The door crashed opposite the hole in the floor. Steps led into the darkness below them.
“ANNIE?!” Huck yelled.
Then, miraculously, Jon heard the muffled reply, just as her scent rose up to meet them.
Huck gave a cry and descended into the hole in the ground. “Oh my God, Annie!” he cried.
Adam nodded and Jon stood with him at the entrance, peering into the darkness. With his keen eyes, he was able to make out Huck as he cradled Annie’s head. He had pulled back the gag that had kept her from yelling, and she was crying silently into his chest.
“What did they do to you, baby?” Huck was asking her, crying himself.
She seemed so frail at that moment, weak from blood loss. Her hands were tied behind her with silver, preventing her from transforming into a wolf to escape. Jon felt ill as he noticed that her right arm ended in a bloody stump, visually confirming that it was indeed her hand that had been sent to them. Her usually vibrant red hair hung in clumps around her.
She wasn’t speaking, only sobbing into his chest.
“At least she’s alive,” Adam sighed. “Somewhat.” He cursed under his breath.
“But why?” Jon asked. “Why would they just leave her like this?”
Adam looked at him questioningly. “Fuck,” he spat, as he ran back up the stairs, with the same ferocity that Huck had.
The answer hit Jon a second later, and he ran back out to the cars.
It was a trap.
***
Trembling, Eva got out of the Suburban, watching the house. She sniffed the wind, a new trick that she had picked up from her recent transformation. There was nothing in the air except for the allied packs come to assist them.
Everyone got out of their vehicles, sniffing the air like her. She hadn’t realized that she was beginning to act more like a wolf now. The thought was sobering.
“Stay hidden,” Carmichael hissed in warning to everyone. The trees were protecting them at that point.
“Something’s not right,” Eva said. “I don’t know what it is, but something’s wrong.”
Gemma gently shut the door behind her, wincing at the sound it made. “Why do you say that?” she asked.
The wind picked up, and suddenly Eva smelled the barest hint of her brother.
Luis, she thought. Then it hit her.
“It’s a trap!” Eva yelled. “It’s a trap!”
Just then the enemy wolves, dropped from the trees. Around her, their allies were scattering, trying to run from the onslaught. She recognized Luis as he landed in front of her. He had a grim look on his face as he strode over and grabbed her by the scruff of her shirt.
“Why, Luis?” she begged.
“You already saw too much. You weren’t supposed to live,” he said as his elbow drove down into her face.
CHAPTER 7
It was fully dark when she woke up. She groaned and rolled her head to the side, trying to get her bearings. For some reason, she couldn’t move her arms and legs, and whatever it was around her wrists and ankles burned agonizingly.
Silver. So that part of the legend was true.
The world was slowly spinning as she gathered her thoughts. She recognized the area she was in, a little clearing behind the cabin. She and Luis had played here when they were kids. Now it was filled with her new allies, tied up just like her. Some of the rogue wolves stood to attention around them, keeping watch. Underneath the light of the full moon, she could see that many of them had tranquilizer guns.
“You awake, Eva?”
Bradley was at her side, tied up in the same way she was. He looked up at her with wide eyes. He was scared. Just like she was.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
He nodded. “I think so. But I...don’t think they’ll be.” He nodded with his head to his left, drawing Eva’s attention. Gemma, Adam, Mark, Huck, and Carmichael were kneeling in the dirt. A redheaded woman was slumped next to Huck. She appeared to be unconscious. Eva seriously wondered if she was dead. Even though he was tied up, Huck was trying to protect the red-haired woman with his body, crying at her to wake up, but it wasn’t going to be enough.
“That’s Annie,” Bradley whispered. Tears glistened in his eyes.
“She’s going to be all right,” Eva told him, although it sounded like a lie to herself.
Eva looked about, trying to locate Jon. He was a few yards away, but he was watching her intently from his spot.
Be safe, she pleaded with him. He gave her a slight nod, making her wonder if he had understood it.
“Why does everyone smell...weird?” Eva asked, trying to find the right words.
Bradley sniffed the wind a bit and then paled. “They’re all lone wolves. Wolves without a pack.”
“How do you become a wolf without a pack?”
“Banishment,” Bradley answered. “Or they didn’t want to be in a pack. But a lot of it is because they’re not nice people.”
Was that what her brother was? A lone wolf? He was Alpha too. Her mind reeled with the questions.
Flanked by a few men, a blond woman walked out, grappling a hooded figure in a cloak as she strode to the middle of the throng. She threw the figure onto the ground and the hood fell back revealing the Great Wolf. The old woman looked back at the woman in defiance. Eva wished she would be like that when she was that age. Whatever age it was. Interestingly enough, the Great Wolf wasn’t chained up like the rest of them, although it was clear that she was their prisoner.
Bradley sucked in a deep breath. “Julia,” he whispered in surprise. Eva looked at him.
“Do you know who she is?” she asked.
He nodded, still in shock. “She was one of the werewolves from my pack that chased me,” he said. “She and her mate wanted to challenge me so that they could be the leaders of the New Orleans Pack.”
“Why is she here?”
Bradley managed to shrug, even with the restraints. “I sent her away,” he said. “She’s a lone wolf now. So...I don’t know.” He bit his lip and glowered at the woman. “She’s mean. But,” he paused, thinking, “how is she an Alpha now?”
Eva couldn’t answer. But she knew that Luis was an Alpha too.
“I�
��m so glad everyone could join us today,” Julia said, pointedly. “You should feel honored. We’re in the presence of greatness. Gemma and Mark Branford of the Austin Pack. Carmichael Hoffman of the Dallas Pack. And...” She sneered as she addressed Annie and Huck. “...the supposed leaders of the New Orleans Pack. Who stripped me of my right to challenge my way up the ladder. Who stripped me of my place, when all I wanted was my right.”
The other wolves booed in agreement. Eva whipped her head around, trying to take it all in. What the hell was happening?
“But that’s old thinking, isn’t it?” Julia asked thoughtfully. “All this stuff with rankings and pack leaders.” She barked a laugh. “We’re in the twenty-first century after all! So, being away from my pack has given me lots to think about. Lots. Tell me, why do we need it?”
The enemy wolves yelled their assent. Eva searched the crowd for her brother. He was nowhere to be found. She wanted to cry out in frustration. She had to know. She had to know why he was doing this.
Julia continued her speech, on a roll. “I am an Alpha now, thanks to my new mate.”
It suddenly made sense to Eva. Julia was Luis’s woman. How did she not know that her brother had a girlfriend? She searched around wildly for her brother, trying to get some sort of answer.
“You yourself wanted equality, Gemma,” Julia continued. “What happened to it?”
The woman glared up at her. “We were still working on it,” she reasoned. “It’s hard to change the thoughts of thousands of wolves.”
Julia walked over and grabbed her by the chin, forcing her to her feet. Eva winced, watching the painful exchange. Gemma continued to glare defiantly at her.
“You’ve failed, Pack Leader,” Julia hissed. “You’ve failed to deliver on what you promised your wolves.”
She threw Gemma aside and strode back to the center of the ring where the Great Wolf lay on her side. The old woman’s eyes sought out Eva’s. Eva blinked, shocked by the almost physical contact of the meeting of their gazes. The Great Wolf seemed calm, resigned to her fate.
Paranormal Magic (Shades of Prey Book 1) Page 93
