He saw only bright yellow eyes as something came at his face with such speed that he could barely even react to what he saw. The teeth came next, but he didn’t see them, but only felt them as they rushed to his throat. They bit down hard into his flesh, tearing his neck apart with one swift blast of heat and pain. His own blood came next, as it oozed out from his throat and went slinking down the front of his shirt to the top of his pants. It all happened so fast. It all happened too fast for him to see anything at all.
The wolf stepped out from the darkness and lifted him up off his sneakers into the air. It felt so strong. It felt so fierce. With him up, he couldn’t move. The beast held him in place as the sound of wood snapping came next to his ears. His body lost all its feeling as every part of him swayed beneath his head. His neck felt snapped. His spine felt like nothing. His body raked with complete numbness.
The wolf let go of his throat and released his shoulders. He fell like a lump to the ground and didn’t even feel the impact of all of his weight hitting the pavement of the alley. All he could hear was what sounded like a sack of potatoes smacking against asphalt. With it all, he couldn’t do anything. He couldn’t even think. He even felt marveled by the succinctness of everything he heard.
The wolf stepped over him, and turned him over so he could see it.
He watched it come over his face. His eyes already started watering, which made it hard to see it clearly, but what he did see was its bright yellow eyes. He saw its black fur. He saw its face turn into a snarl. It’s one of us. It’s black. Oh my God, it’s one of us that’s killing me. He tried to scream but couldn’t. His lungs lacked all of their strength. He instead only gurgled the blood in his throat.
The wolf tore down into his chest.
He felt none of it.
He could see its face darken with his own blood. It looked so gruesome. He couldn’t believe what he saw.
It tore him apart, ripping his chest open with each mouthful it tore. Chunks came off him with each nip.
Soon, his breathing stopped.
Soon, his mind went numb, and then went black.
The last thing he saw was what looked like one of his lungs as it was ripped from his body. He was dead before the wolf swallowed it down.
It all tasted so strong. It all tasted too wonderful. It all tasted the way that it was supposed to taste.
22
Rachel and Brandon went downtown and found a rather nice hotel that wasn‘t all that far from Collins' place. That was good for Rachel. She wanted to stay as close as she could to Jimmy. In fact, she didn’t want to leave him in the first place. If he hadn’t told her to leave and get some sleep, she wouldn’t have left. At first, she didn’t know why she even felt the way she was. She considered him as a friend, but with the way she reacted when she saw Sasha, all of that seemed to change. With it, she felt angry. She felt almost wanting. It told her that her feelings for him went far deeper than just them being friends. With it all, she became even more confused. He had always intrigued her, that much was obvious, but now, she could see more there. Even before she found out what he was, she knew that she liked him, but now that she knew what he was, everything felt stronger. She had thought that it was just because of what he could do. What he was and how he was the key to curing illness. He was the key to all of her life’s work and research. That alone intrigued her, and sent her mind racing, but now, with everything that just happened, she wasn’t all that sure of anything anymore. He was becoming very important to her. He meant more to her than only what his body could give to her research, and now knowing that, she needed time to think. So maybe leaving him was a better idea than she thought of at first.
When they arrived at the hotel and checked in, they each took separate rooms, just right next door to one another, and went to them without saying much else. As far as she was concerned, that felt more than just right. She still didn’t know Brandon all that well, and what she did know about his personality, was enough. Oh, don’t get her wrong, she did like him, he seemed like a very good friend to Jimmy, but as for his brashness, that made her quiver some. He seemed a little too out there for her taste. He seemed too different and chaotic for her very ordered way of life. Feeling this way, she just went to her room and kept quiet. She kept to herself.
She went in and took a long hot shower first. The hot water felt so good that she almost didn’t want it to stop. It seemed to wash away all of her troubles. It made her mind relax. It made all the difference in the world.
When she finished, she left the bathroom and began to get ready for bed. She did everything almost like she was someone else moving through the motions. She did it all without another thought about it. She was about to climb into the bed, when a rather determined knocking came to her door. Thinking that it was Brandon coming to see her was the only thought on her very tired mind, but when she opened the door, that tiredness disappeared all too fast. “Gary?”
He stood at her door with the mustache above his upper lip curled up and smiling.
“What the hell are you doing here?” How he was, and why he was, made her stomach clench and her mind flare to alert, as it never had before.
“Hey there gorgeous.” He smiled harder. He took a deep breath, taking her into his soul. God, did he love everything about her. Seeing her again, made him convinced that she was supposed to be with him, now more than ever. She always made him feel proud. She gave him everything he ever thought that he needed and more. He put his thumbs into the waistband of his military style fatigues and breathed all of those emotions down into his chest. “It’s been awhile now, hasn’t it?”
Rachel winced. His obnoxiousness felt stronger than ever. Being tired only made the feeling grow stronger. “Why are you here?”
“I couldn’t resist seeing you again.” His smile faded from his face. He turned slightly and looked down both hallways around him to see if they were still alone. He had to keep cautious. One never knew when another freak would be around the next corner. “Besides,” He turned back to her. “I knew that you lied about the freak. I know he’s here. I know he’s in the city.” He raised his eyebrows up, showing his disgust for her helping it like she was. She had to believe him. He had to make her believe how evil those freaking things were.
She gasped. Hearing what she did, brought the fear in her chest to press hard against her soul. She had to swallow it back down inside her throat to try to keep him from seeing it. When it came to Gary, she had to keep her composure. She couldn’t show fear. She couldn’t let him intimidate her. She couldn’t show him the truth. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She shook her head and shrugged her very tired shoulders with it. She prepared herself for the possibilities that one of them would find her there, so she already came up with a good excuse for it. “I came here to interview with some of the local colleges and universities in the area.” She swallowed some. It sounded better when she rehearsed it, and now that she heard herself say it, it sounded even worse. She tried hard to stare him in the eyes, trying to show him that what she told him was true, but it was hard to do. She had never been very good at telling lies. Besides, she hated having to look into his deep blue stare like this anyway.
He chuckled some under his breath. “Sure.” He looked again to the hallways behind him and after seeing them empty; he turned back to her again. “I knew that I would find him. I knew that you would lead me right to him.”
She winced, trying hard to keep herself calm. Any outburst and he would know the truth. She had to play along. She had to keep him from getting under her skin. It felt like a hard fight, but thankfully, he changed the subject before she tried to answer him.
“You look great. Beautiful as always.” The smile flared again across his face. His forehead went completely smooth and his mustache relaxed.
God, he looked awful to her. “Gary, I want you to leave. Go back to Redford Forge and get a clue.” She tried to shut the door, but his military style boot came to the door and blocked
it from getting to the latch.
“I still want you. I’ll still take you back. Even with everything you did.” The smile vanished, and his determination flared across his brow.
With that one, she chuckled some herself. “You are something else, you know that?” Her voice raised some, as the anger in her grew steadily stronger within it. She sounded like she was about to start shouting, but a soft male voice, coming from behind him, broke her need to do it.
“Is there a problem here?” Brandon heard her voice from the other side of the wall as he had just lain down. Hearing her voice crack some, and a male voice that he never heard before with her, made him have to get up and check on her. He would never let a girl of Jimmy’s be hurt in anyway, in anyhow.
Gary turned to the voice, and seeing the freak’s friend standing there, made his heart lighter in his chest. “This doesn’t concern you.” His voice rumbled some. God did he love the sound of it when it did just that.
“Doesn’t concern me?” Brandon stepped right up to him. He wore nothing but blue sweat pants and a white t-shirt, but kept himself strong in front of this man, whoever he was. “You bet it concerns me when you’re bothering a friend of mine.” He lowered his voice. He prepared himself for the fight that might come, so he tensed up. He firmed himself up. He wasn’t as large as this guy was, but that didn’t matter. He would do what he had to do.
She opened the door fully to the hallway, looking to Brandon. After hearing him, and thinking about what he might say about Jimmy, it convinced her that she had to end this right then, and there. “He was just leaving, weren’t you Gary?” She brought her voice low and ebbing.
Gary smiled to the freak’s friend and turned back to her. He looked behind him and could see other heads popping out from all of the other rooms that ran along the hallway. With them, he felt all too visible. He also felt surrounded. He was also causing a scene that he didn’t need to cause. “Of course I am.” He smiled back to her. “I was just leaving.” He left and said nothing else.
Rachel and Brandon both watched him move back down the hallway and disappear around its left corner. In that direction, she knew that he was heading to the elevators.
She breathed heavy and pure when he left.
Brandon took a deep breath. “What in the hell was that about?” He felt too tired to win any fight. Hell, he never won one as far as he could remember, anyway.
“Nothing. He’s an old jerk that can’t take a hint.” She turned to her new friend. “Thank you, anyway.” She gave him a full and gracious smile. She felt more than grateful that he came to her side. That alone made everything else that she felt about him slide away. She liked him for it.
With her smile flaring to him, his chest came out some just for the sake of it. “Sure. Happy to help.” He returned her smile and turned. “Don’t hesitate to give me a shout if you need me for anything else.” He left her door and headed back to his room. He walked like a peacock, strutting his shit all over the place for the entire world to watch it.
She smiled, watched him go back to his door, and disappear inside his room. She then turned back to the hallway to her right and looked one more time down it. Inside, her mind now flared with everything that happened. With it all, fear gripped her heart. I’ve got get back to Jimmy. He has to know about Gary. He knows he’s here. He’s in danger. I have to do something. She could think of only one thing to do. She had to go and find him. She had to warn him. She had to make sure that he was all right.
She walked back into her room and closed the door. She now felt rushed. She felt pressed. She felt exacerbated. She felt everything and then some. She had to get dressed, and did so quickly.
When she finished, she quietly made her way to the front door and left, closing it just as quietly. She wanted to go alone. She didn’t want Brandon to hear her leave. His room didn’t stir, so she knew that she pulled it off.
She left for the elevators, and left the hotel as quickly as she could go.
23
Sasha told Jimmy about everything that happened with the pack.
To say that he felt horrible about the situation would have been an understatement if there ever were one. He felt guilty. He felt wrong. He never intended for any of this to happen. Sasha wanted to know what he was going to do about it, but he had no idea where to start.
“I guess it doesn’t matter really,” she continued her thoughts.
They were still sitting together in the living room on the sofa. She sat there, staring at him, gauging his reactions to what she said. She could feel his anxiety about all of it. She understood it. In a way, she was still trying to understand him. He felt so different from what Collins was. In a way, he felt more human. He also felt more confused. With it all, she liked him even more than she already did. She missed being human, with all of their concerns, with all of their faults. Everything they are was nothing but simple, and she liked simple. “What’s been done is done.”
He listened, but kept his eyes focused on the floor. He couldn’t bring himself to look up. He had trouble with thinking about anything. His mind seemed to be too ragged to take in everything all at once. This shouldn’t have happened. I should have stayed away. After thinking that, he looked up. “What are you going to do now?” he had to ask. He cared about everything that she told him, and felt for her. In a way, he felt for all of them, but he had no idea of what to do about anything. In thinking about it, he didn’t even understand it. The memory of seeing Samuel, lying on that field on that hot summer day, came rushing back to him again, and again, as he listened. He saw Collins help him. He felt what he offered him. He could feel the trust that they seemed to have between each other. He could even feel their friendship. Seeing, and feeling it, it didn’t make any sense. He then saw him standing before him, feeling nothing but fear for his return to them. He felt nothing but wonder for all of it.
Sasha shook her head. “I’m not sure. Samuel has led us for almost two years now, ever since you left. He’s protected us. He’s been true to us. He’s been true to everything.”
“Why did I leave you? Why did he lie? I have no idea what to think about this.”
“Kalima does. He knows the truth. Only he knows why he left us. Other than Samuel, he’s the only one that knows the truth.” She took his left hand into hers and squeezed it softly.
He laughed some under his breath, and blinked.
“What?”
He looked up to her. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to being talked about in the third person like that. It’s like being told about a life that I’ve never lived, but did live it. It’s hard to comprehend all of this.”
Sasha laughed some at that one. She understood what he said. She could remember talking with Collins about that very same thing back after her bite. There seemed to be so much that she didn’t understand at first about it. Her life was her own. She always had trouble in understanding the older wolves in her group. How they could live, having another’s memory in their mind like that would have caused her to loose hers. She would never truly understand the feelings that that would cause someone. She would never truly understand how to live with it, herself. She let go of his hand and replaced hers to her lap.
“So Collins never told you about leaving? He never gave you the hint as to why he would do that?”
She shook her head. “I knew that some things did bother him. He refused to hunt some things.”
That brought his eyes onto hers. “Like what?”
“People mainly.”
He knew that was true. The deer carcass flashed in his head. “Do you know why he didn’t?” He took her hand and squeezed it into his.
She shook her head again. “He never really talked about it. He kept a lot of things to himself.”
His head went back down.
“Kalima was old. He lived for a very long time. He did many things that we could never possibly understand why he did them. I guess that’s what happens when one lives with so many lives. All of th
ose memories must be hard to take in.”
He turned his eyes back up to hers. “How many has he lived?” The thought alone made his heart miss a beat. He could feel for himself that he already knew the answers to his own questions, but didn’t know how to find them. It seemed like only a feeling. It felt like only an idea that he had, deep inside himself, and that’s all that it seemed to be. He began to think that someday he would be able to know everything, but that time felt too far off and too long to comprehend now. Footsteps coming up the front steps, before she could answer him, brought both of them to turn to the door at the same time. The smell of a human came just ahead of the sounds.
Sasha knew who it was just by the smell as she opened the door. “Your friend’s come back.” She turned to him and smiled.
What’s she doing here? He stood up from the sofa and made his way to the archway just as the front door opened and Rachel came inside.
“Jimmy? Thank God you’re still here.” She closed the door behind her. She was all out of breath. She had to catch it when she could. She no longer felt just rushed, but she also felt scared, and it all took her breathes a way.
He not only heard her heart racing, but he could almost smell the worry coming out of her in spades. “What’s wrong?” He could smell her fear. It made his own heart race alongside his mind.
She finally caught her breaths. “Gary’s here. He knows about you. He knows that you‘re here.” Her eyes met Sasha’s, as she stood from the sofa and walked up behind Jimmy. She didn’t expect to see her there, but in a way, she felt happy that she was. Jimmy needed her. He needed her help. Even if she still felt what she was, she still had to think about his needs, more than her own. She cared about him too much to want to be selfish. It still seemed hard to do, but she felt sure that she could win the fight for him.
A Werewolf's Saga Books 1, 2, & 3 (A Werewolf's Saga Boxed Sets) Page 42
