Despite his resolve to stay awake, he almost missed the dark shadow of something coming over the wall of the base. He wasn’t quite sure what he saw, but his instincts screamed at him to draw his pesh-kabz. He stood up to get a better view, and as he did so, he caught sight of a shape darting to the shadows, a shape that resonated within the shkaarzan part of him.
Wargalewa!
As the creature started to run, Gorbat immediately realized that Allah must have chosen his position on the roof. The wargalewa would pass immediately below him. All Gorbat had to do was wait, then drop down with his pesh-kabz for the killing stroke.
He started toward the edge of the roof when another shape came over the base wall.
There were two of them!
That gave Gorbat pause. Taking on two of them was not a sure thing. It wasn’t that Gorbat was afraid to die. He would sacrifice himself if necessary, but he didn’t want to die, and even if he took out one of the creatures before falling, that meant the people of the village would be at risk from the second one, and there would be no shkaarzan left to protect them. Victory belonged to the bold, true, but acting rashly could have consequences. He needed a better plan if he was going to defeat two of Shatyan’s minions.
He stared down as one, then the other loped along the street leading to him. For a moment, he was reminded of two children at play, one chasing the other. He banished that thought. wargalewas did not “play.” They were devoted to their master’s plans. Whatever they were doing, it was evil, Gorbat knew. For a moment, he was tempted to initiate the attack, two of them or not. At least he could thwart some innocent paying the price tonight, even if it cost him his own life.
That impulse became moot, however, when the first creature darted into a side alley two houses down from where Gorbat was waiting. The second one followed the first, and Gorbat was left alone on the roof, watching and listening. A few moments later, there was movement in the trees at the edge of the village, then nothing. The creatures were gone.
Where are they going? he wondered. Who will they prey upon?
Gorbat knew there were numerous small villages in the mountains, villages without communications with the outside world. These would be fertile hunting grounds for the wargalewas. Gorbat said a little prayer for whatever village the things were headed to and swore to himself that he would eliminate this scourge before more innocents could suffer.
Chapter 41
Aiden got off the tram and turned left to get his luggage. Carousel 19 was quite a walk away, but he knew his mom would be waiting there for him. He had two weeks of post-deployment leave, of which he would spend the first four days in Vegas with his mom.
The team had returned to Lejeune, sure they had an immediate deployment somewhere to justify their quick departure from the ’Stan. To their happy surprise, nothing was up, and within three days, they were spread to the winds as they went on leave. Aiden was going to spend four days with his mom, then it was off to Hawaii to see Claire. She was going to try to get some time off, but even if she couldn’t, they could spend evenings and the two weekends together.
As he approached the carousel, he spotted his mom sitting on one of the seats alongside the back wall. He broke into a jog, dropping his assault pack as his mom stood up and taking her in his arms. He gave her a hug, lifting her off her feet.
“Take it easy, Aiden!” she said with a laugh. “I’m getting too old for rough stuff!”
“You’re as young as ever, Mom, and you know it!” he said, letting her back down. “It’s good to be home.”
“And I’m glad my Marine is back, safe and sound. Give your mother a kiss,” she said, offering her cheek.
“Nice to see you, Aiden,” a voice said from beside his mom as Aiden complied with the kiss.
He turned to see a young blonde woman standing up from where she had been sitting. Aiden hadn’t even noticed her.
“Chloe?” he asked, wondering why she was there at the airport.
“Oh, you remember Chloe,” his mom said. “The sister of Terri Brubaker, your date who got sick before prom?”
That wasn’t quite how it had gone down. Terri Brubaker had played a nasty prank on Aiden, inviting him to take her to prom, and then laughing when he came to pick her up. Terri’s real date and some friends had been there, as well as Chloe, but the mortified Aiden had only told his mother, who was waiting to drive them to the dance, that Terri had come down sick.
Aiden looked at Chloe, who didn’t bat an eye. She had been there and knew the truth, but she didn’t say anything to contradict his mother.
“Chloe’s been a dear to me, especially after the, you know, the assault. She’s been like a daughter to me, taking care of me. I keep telling her she’s young, and she needs to be out having fun, but she says she likes being with me.”
“Well, thank you, Chloe, for watching over my mom while I’ve been gone, but we’re going to go home now.”
Chloe had been a thorn in Aiden’s side since he’d come back on his leave after Iraq. The young, under-aged girl had taken an interest in him when he’d shown up to woo, then drop Terri in revenge for her treatment of him, going so far as to offer herself to him, then sending him naked photos of her through the email. Aiden had pointedly avoided the girl, even after she sent him a message reminding him that she was now 18 and therefore legal.
She had developed into a very attractive woman, even better looking that Terri, but she was poison. Aiden wanted nothing to do with any of the Brubaker girls.
“Oh, Chloe drove me here, Honey, so of course she is coming with us,” his mother said, missing the tension in the air.
Aiden chose to ignore Chloe as he took his mother by the hand and went to wait by the carousel. It didn’t take long before his seabag came out, and the three went up the escalator and across the walkway to the parking garage. The walkway was covered, but the late-summer Nevada sun beat relentlessly down. It was brutal, but it was home.
His mother insisted that Aiden sit in the front while Chloe drove, and then proceeded to produce a litany of gossip and family news from the back seat, forcing Aiden to turn within his shoulder belt so he could face her. He was peripherally aware of the big hotels along the strip, including the new construction of the Center City complex. They got off the 15 at downtown and took Martin Luther King up to North Vegas. Within ten minutes, they were pulling into the small rambler that was home. Aiden had sometimes been ashamed of their run-down home, but after serving in Afghanistan, it was a veritable palace.
They went inside and turned on the swamp cooler. It wasn’t air conditioning, but it could lower the inside temperature pretty significantly. Aiden dumped his seabag on his bed, then came back out to where Chloe held out a cold Sam Adams for him. Aiden didn’t trust her, but he wasn’t going to turn down a cold beer.
“I’m going to change into shorts, so take a seat, Aiden, and then I’ll be back and you can tell me all about your time out there. Chloe, you’re going to stay for dinner, right?”
“Oh, no, Mrs. K,” she protested. “This is Aiden’s first night back. I’m sure you want him for yourself.”
“Hogwash! You know you’re always welcome, and Aiden needs someone his own age here. You’re staying. I insist!”
“OK, Mrs. K, I’ll stay,” Chloe said.
“You didn’t argue very hard,” Aiden said as his mother went into her room.
“That’s because I wanted to stay. I’ve only got you for four days, and I want to make use of all of them,” she responded with a glint in her eye.
Aiden didn’t know if that was a predatory glint or not.
“You don’t have me at all. I am here for my mom. Then I am going to Hawaii to see my girlfriend. That’s girlfriend, in case you missed it.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. Look, I know I’ve been something of a bitch. And yes, I caught what you told your mom about prom. And I probably shouldn’t have sent you those photos. I know another guy would have jumped on that. Jumped on me, I guess. But, I ha
ve to give you props. You held back, and while I was pissed then, now, I know that just goes to show what a good guy you are. The thing is, ever since you came back from Iraq that first time, I just can’t get you out of my head. I even dream about you, if you can believe that. OK, I was too young then, but I’m not now. I just want you to give us a chance.”
“Chloe, you’re, well, you look great, but there is no ‘us.’ I’ve got a girlfriend, and, to be honest, I can’t get past what you guys did to me. And yes, I saw you laugh.”
“But then why did you come back and fuck Terri?” she asked, looking perplexed.
“No beating around the bush for you, I guess. I didn’t mean to sleep with her. I wanted to impress her with my medals, then dump her, like she dumped me. But one thing led to another, and well, you know . . .”
“Yeah, I know. I’ve heard all about it. Terri says you were her best ever.”
Aiden reddened at that, but part of him felt a surge of pride.
Her best ever?
“She really wants you back, you know? But she’s pregnant again, and this time she’s keeping it,” she said, a bit of the evil Chloe showing up in her voice.
“Pregnant? Again?”
“Yeah, like you know, she was preggers, but got an abortion. Now she’s seven months, fat as a pig. She doesn’t even know who’s the baby daddy.
“Terri’s fucked up her life, but that’s not me. Maybe I was going the same way, but I’m not now. I’m even going to Pima to become a dental tech, you know, a real job.”
Aiden didn’t know what “Pima” was, but he didn’t want to extend the conversation.
She reached out and put her hand on his forearm.
“Look, I know you don’t like me. But you don’t know me, either. Let me hang out with you, even here with your mom. I’m not as bad as you think, and I know I can make you happy. What do you say?”
Back in high school, Aiden couldn’t get a girl to even talk to him. He would have given his left nut to have someone like Chloe come on to him. Now, since he’d been turned, he had Chloe, Terri, Kashmala back in the Afghan village, and Claire, all A-list girls, after him. He should have been happy, but it scared him more than anything else. He was scared most of all that Claire would come to her senses and realize him for the dweeb he really was. With the others, he was scared of himself, that he would give in to temptation.
Before he could answer Chloe, his mother came back out. “What are you two doing standing in the middle of the room? You don’t need an invitation. Sit, you two,” she told them indicating the couch while she took the chair.
“Did Chloe tell you she’s in school now? She’s going to become a dentist.”
“Now Mrs. K, I told you I’ll be a dental technician, not a dentist. But Aiden didn’t come home just to hear about me,” Chloe told her.
“Oh, you’re right, what was I thinking?” she asked before turning back to Aiden. “Now, son, unless you’re going to say it was all top secret stuff, how about telling us about Afghanistan. Was it exciting?”
Aiden dearly loved his mother, but her not-so-subtle attempt at a hook-up for him was frustrating. She knew he was with Claire. He decided to ignore it, though, just happy to be with her and seeing she looked none the worse after the break-in. He was going to give her—them—a very sanitized version of his tour, ignoring the combat—and, of course, that little werewolf thing going on.
He took a quick look at Chloe, who had scooted over until their legs were almost touching. It was going to be a long, long evening.
Chapter 42
Aiden’s heart was pounding, his vision constricting as he wiped the sweat off of his palms and onto his shorts. He felt the pre-shift tremors flowing like electricity through his body, and he had to consciously keep from shifting right then and there.
He took a deep breath to calm himself, the salt air filling his senses. The sun had not set yet, and the sky was awash in color. The full moon was rising low on the horizon as if trying to drive off the sun. The evening was beautiful, he noted in the back of his mind. Surely, on such an evening, nothing could go wrong.
It was time—no more delaying it. He pulled the case out of his pocket and placed it on the sand.
“This is a volcanic beach,” he called out to Claire, who was standing in a small tidal pool, bent over, looking at the tiny creatures for whom the pool was their universe. She wore a pink, flowered sarong which she had put on to cover her deep-purple bikini.
“I know. These islands are volcanic,” she said, not looking up.
“You know what that means. There are diamonds all through this. I heard from the hotel staff that a tourist found a big one here this morning.”
“Really?” Claire asked, standing up and looking around the beach. “No, I don’t believe it.”
“It’s true. I bet you can find one if you try.”
“Nah. If there ever was anything here, it would be ground to bits by now,” she said, but she was looking interestedly at the sand beneath her feet.
“Wait a minute. Let me get my camcorder out,” Aiden told her.
Aiden had bought a new Canon camcorder at the Nellis Exchange before flying out to see Claire. It was surprisingly small, and Claire had been a willing model for him earlier in the day up at Waimea Falls.
She struck a pose for him, hand on her hip, as he brought the camera up.
“Claire, like I told you, this is a video camera. I need action. Look for a diamond in the sand!”
“Really?” she said with a laugh. “OK. Here I am in Hawaii, prospecting for diamonds on the beach. Oh, here’s one,” she said, reaching down to pick up a small pebble. “Only 20 carats. Too small,” she said, tossing the pebble over her shoulder.
“Keep looking. You’re doing great,” Aiden told her.
She played along, “finding” and then tossing various “diamonds.” She was moving away from the small case he’d put down, though, and as the sun started to sink below the horizon, it was getting darker. Aiden tried to will her to turn around, but being a werewolf evidently didn’t give him any mind control powers.
Finally, he had to break form, “How about in back of you? Turn around.”
“Aiden, OK, isn’t that enough?” she asked.
She complied, however, playing along. She took one step and bent down as if she found another one when the small case caught her eye.
“What’s this?” she asked, taking two more steps and picking it up.
The sun was almost gone and the moon taking over when she opened the small case. A final ray of the sun reached across the ocean and struck the diamond, making it seem alive.
Aiden let the camcorder drop, held around his neck by the strap as he took several steps forward and knelt in front of Claire, all his anxiety culminating in a single burst of fear.
“Claire, I know we’ve been talking about it, but nothing’s been formal-like. So, right now, here on the beach, I need to ask you. Will you marry me?”
She was quiet for a moment, turning the ring back and forth, catching the final rays of sunlight before the sun disappeared below the horizon.
Why isn’t she saying anything?
She looked at Aiden and said “Yes!”
Aiden felt a wave of relief sweep over him. They had discussed a life together, sure, but he had always feared a change of heart on Claire’s part. She was out of his class, but she didn’t seem to realize that. And now, she was going to be his wife!
She flung her arms around his neck and pulled him up for a kiss: a very strong, passionate kiss. It was Aiden who had to break it to come up for air.
“I was wondering when you’d get up the nerve to ask me,” she said, arms still around his neck, their faces just inches apart.
“I, uh, well, I was going to ask you—”
“Yes, before you deployed. But you didn’t.”
“You knew?”
“Of course I knew, Aiden. But my big hero Marine was too scared.”
“Why didn’t yo
u say something?” he asked.
“Because some things need to be traditional. I’m a modern woman and a kick-ass Marine, but for some things, a girl’s got to be asked,” she told him. “And now that you’ve asked, you’re mine, and there’s no backing out. From here on, I’m taking over. I’ve already got my bridesmaids’ outfits picked out, so until we say ‘I do,’ you’re just along for the ride.”
That was fine with Aiden. He wasn’t much into weddings, so whatever she wanted was what she was going to get. He was just so relieved that she said yes that he’d agree to anything just to get their marriage signed, sealed, and delivered.
With his arms around her, his hands were resting on her butt. He became conscious of her bikini bottom under her sarong, and without thinking, he pulled her pelvis into his. She gave a little intake of air as she pulled tighter around his neck and returned the pressure to his crotch.
She looked around the beach, then said, “I want to pull you down on the sand and take you right here, to seal the deal, but we’re not exactly alone, and it’s still pretty light. What say you drag me back to the hotel and get these clothes off of me?” she asked.
Aiden didn’t need her to say anything else. They had checked in to a small hotel on the western side of Oahu, somewhat off the beach, but a little higher in elevation so that it still had a view. It wasn’t as nice as the Hale Koa, but it had a queen size bed, and that was what mattered now. He took Claire by the hand and led her over the sand and to the beach parking. He had to concentrate to obey the speed limit as he drove Claire’s car to the hotel; something made more difficult both by his eagerness and by Claire’s groping hand.
It was only a few minutes until he turned off the main road and made it to the hotel’s gravel parking lot. It was dark already, but the full moon made up for the lack of street lights. From down the hill, a burst of laughter sounded from the local bar, but it was quiet at the hotel with only the trill of a gecko sounding out.
The Werewolf of Marines Trilogy Page 38
