by TJ Klune
My fingers shook as I pressed down into the scar tissue.
“Welcome home, Robbie,” she said as she turned toward the door.
But she stopped with her hand on the doorknob.
Her shoulders were stiff.
She didn’t turn to look at me when she said, “And I know you won’t understand, but I’ve waited a long time to tell you this. If you ever lay your hand on my brother again, it’ll be the last thing you do.”
And then she was gone.
I paced back and forth around the room, looking for weaknesses. There were none.
The line of silver was absolute. The walls were made of thick concrete.
I listened for the sounds of anyone above me, but I heard nothing—not because no one was there, but because there was an absence of sound. The room was soundproof.
It didn’t stop me from yelling until my voice was hoarse.
I sliced the walls with my claws, causing sparks to shoot out around me.
I threw my weight against the line of silver.
I prowled the edges of the room.
“It’s a trick,” I muttered to myself, refusing to look at the mark on my shoulder. “That’s all this is. A trick. They’re trying to trick me. Trying to get in my head.”
And fuck, did it make me angry.
It was while I was making yet another path around the room that I saw it—a blinking light up in the far corner near the ceiling.
A camera.
I was being watched.
I glared up at it. “Is this what you want?” I shouted. “I don’t know who the fuck you think I am, but you’re wrong. Let me out!”
Of course, there was no response.
Which made me angrier.
I overturned the cot, throwing the thin frame against the wall, where it snapped and fell to the ground in pieces.
It wasn’t enough. I needed to break it more. Except I tripped over my backpack, which had been underneath it.
I landed on the ground, hard. I groaned as I rolled onto my back.
I hoped whoever was watching me got a good laugh out of that, and that they choked on it.
I sat up, pulling my backpack toward me. My glasses sat on top of it, thick frames with nonprescription lenses. I put them on, brushing my hair back off my face. I unzipped the main pocket of the bag, sure that most of my hastily packed belongings would be gone.
They weren’t.
Everything still seemed to be there.
In the bottom left corner was my mother’s driver’s license.
Next to it was a stone wolf.
The journal I’d found in Michelle’s office sat underneath them both.
I grimaced as the mark on my neck pulled.
I pulled the backpack into my lap, hugging it close.
And then I did the only thing I could.
I waited.
Time became elastic. I didn’t know if it was day or night. I was disoriented. The room around me was large, but it felt like the walls were inching closer and closer.
It might have been only minutes or it could have been hours and hours before the door opened again.
The Alphas walked in, followed by the witch.
I hugged my backpack closer in case they were here to take it from me. If they were, they were in for a fight.
The witch shook his head at the sight of me. “I should have broken those damn glasses while I had the chance.”
I snapped my teeth at him. “I’d like to see you try.”
Gordo rolled his eyes. “Sure, kid. I’ll get right on that.”
The Alphas didn’t speak. The bigger one stood with his hands folded behind him, a grave look on his face. The other one—Joe—was next to him, their arms brushing. It struck me then that they moved in sync with each other. Even their breathing was in unison. I didn’t know how there could be two Alphas in a pack, but here it was, right in front of me. They were a pair. Mated. It should have been impossible.
And yet here they were.
Another man came in behind them, closed the door, and leaned against it. His head was shaved to the scalp, and he had a thick beard, but it didn’t completely cover the tattoo on his neck. A raven, the wings spreading out over his throat, tail feathers disappearing into the collar of his shirt.
The same raven that was on the witch’s arm.
So that’s how it was. Witch and wolf. Alpha and Alpha.
I’d have to remember that if I got out of here. Michelle and Ezra would want to—
Grief.
A wave of blue, a riptide pulling me under.
Ezra. The way he’d smiled at me. The way he’d held my hand. Touched my hair. Cared for me. Protected me. Loved me.
But he wasn’t Ezra at all.
They’d called him Robert Livingstone.
He’d called himself that. And if Michelle didn’t know, then she was in danger.
Unless.
Unless she did know.
I’d never felt more lost.
“Where am I?” I asked miserably, not expecting an answer.
“Green Creek,” Gordo said, crouching down to inspect the line of silver.
“I don’t know where that—”
“Oregon.”
My eyes bulged. “What?”
The Alphas didn’t speak. The man against the door frowned.
The witch stood again. He glanced down at the stump of his arm, scowled at it, and then glanced back at the Alphas. “You sure about this? We don’t even know if it’s going to work. It probably won’t. Aileen and Patrice think it’s gone too far.”
That didn’t sound good. “Then maybe you shouldn’t even try.”
Gordo laughed. “Yeah, sure, kid. We’ll keep that in mind.” He shook his head. “I’ll be damned if it isn’t good to hear your voice, though.”
“He’s different,” the man against the door said. “Holds himself differently. Moves differently.”
“That’s what happens when your mind is wiped,” Gordo told him. “There’s a difference between destroying a specific memory and taking years’ worth. My father went too far. It’s like a blank slate. Or close to one. You notice the little flashes, though? The glimpses peeking through?”
The man nodded.
“He couldn’t take everything,” the witch said. “Though I’m sure he tried. I bet he even tried to put in new memories, but that’s probably beyond even him. And I don’t think it would’ve worked on Robbie.”
“Why?”
“You heard what he said at the bridge. He underestimated the bonds in the pack.” Gordo glanced at me. “He didn’t know just how strong Robbie was. He had to have fought like hell against my father. He wouldn’t have made it easy to do what he did.” His voice held a note of pride, and it took me a moment to realize it was directed toward me.
“I don’t believe you,” I told them helplessly. “Ezra wouldn’t… he’s not like that.”
Gordo snorted. “You keep telling yourself that. The stories I could tell you would make your toes curl. Let’s just say I’m not sending him a card for Father’s Day this year. And the name Ezra is fake, kid. He’s Robert Livingstone. Try to keep up, all right?”
The man against the door covered a smile like it was a secret.
The Alphas still didn’t speak.
“Okay,” Gordo said. “Let’s get this shit show on the road. Mark, the others ready?”
The man stepped away from the door, pulling it open behind him. A burst of sounds and smells and color filled the room. He raised his voice and said, “You guys good?”
“Yeah,” a male voice called from somewhere above us. “But I’d hurry up if I were you, bird neck. We’re getting antsy up here. Carter’s shadow is trying to hump his leg—”
“He is not!” another voice cried. “Rico, for fuck’s sake, would you keep your goddamn mouth shut?”
Mark’s lips twitched. “They’re ready.” He closed the door again and stepped forward until he was behind Gordo, putting a hand on his should
er.
Gordo took a deep breath and closed his eyes. The tattoos on his arms burst brightly, and the room filled with the ozone smell of magic. I hissed at it, and him, but he ignored me.
Mark’s eyes began to glow.
Violet.
And I was distracted by it, distracted by what it meant, what was happening to me here, in this place. The raven on his throat fluttered its wings, and then—
Gordo kicked his leg out, foot scraping through the line of silver, breaking the barrier. “Ox, now.”
The big Alpha was moving even as the silver parted.
He was on me before I could react.
He wrapped his hand around my throat, pushing me back. I fell to the ground as he landed on top of me. I tried to knock him off me, but he was too heavy. His face was inches from mine. I whimpered as his eyes filled with a swirling mixture of red and violet. They were endless pools of Alpha and Omega, and I couldn’t look away.
And then he roared as loud as I’d ever heard.
The call of an Alpha.
I seized underneath him, an electrical shock rolling through me. My head snapped to the right and I was
(in a clearing the moon bright and full and and and)
screaming at the force of it, screaming though no sound came out, and I couldn’t fight it, couldn’t fight the
(stars all those stars like ice like bright ice)
strength of the Alpha above me, and he was tearing me apart, shredding me into tiny pieces and there was
(a door there was a door a door a door a)
I stood in the clearing under a brilliant night sky.
I wasn’t alone.
Behind me was a door, an old metal thing that didn’t cast a shadow.
In front of me was a group of people. The Alpha called Ox. The Alpha called Joe. Gordo. Mark. Elizabeth. Jessie. Four men I didn’t recognize, though one looked like a bigger version of Joe and and and—
Kelly.
Kelly.
Kelly.
I screamed for him as my back arched off the ground, but the Alpha on top of me held me down, his hand tightening around my throat, and he roared at me again, and in my head, I heard thunderous voices, and they said BrotherSonLoveFriend hear us hear us because we are pack and pack and PACK—
The door behind me groaned in the clearing as I turned toward it.
A hand folded into mine.
I looked over. He was faint, a thin outline, faded.
He said, “I see you. I’ll never—”
He was torn away as the door behind us screamed in metal. It pulsed, the surface becoming liquid glass, and a hand shot out of the door, covering my face and pulling me toward it. I cried out as I slammed into the door and began to sink into it.
I reached for the pack, begging them to save me.
They didn’t.
None of them.
I
(would you hear me dear)
(would you hear me)
(even in this place i can find you)
(because i love you i need you i can’t live without you)
(they are trying to keep you from me)
(but they don’t know do they)
(just how strong you are)
(and you’re mine you’re mine you’re)
I gasped as the clearing disappeared. The weight holding me down shifted as the Alpha slid off me, collapsing to the floor. I blinked against the light overhead.
“Shit,” I heard Gordo mutter. “Goddammit. Goddammit!”
“Hey, hey,” Mark said, and I turned my head to see him cupping Gordo’s face. “It’s okay. We thought this would happen. At least now we know. You did what you could.”
Joe knelt beside the Alpha, the one they’d called Ox. “All right?”
“More than I expected,” he mumbled. “I can’t—” He shook his head. “It was different. The door. It wasn’t like it was before with the Omegas. I couldn’t break it. Hell, I couldn’t even touch it.”
“That’s because dear old dad learned a few tricks,” Gordo said tiredly as Mark dropped his hands. “But fortunately for us, so have I.”
Now.
Now.
Now.
I rolled back, bringing my legs up and over me, my hands flat on either side of my head. I pushed forward as I kicked my legs out, flipping up and landing on my feet.
They barely had time to react before I was through the silver line. I crashed into Gordo, shoving him into Mark before heading for the door.
I threw it open just as Joe shouted, “He’s coming up!”
A set of stairs rose before me. I climbed them as quickly as I could, muscles stiff but holding. Another door at the top was partway open. Before I reached it, a face appeared—a man with dark skin and bushy eyebrows. “Mierda,” he breathed, eyes wide. “This is gonna suck.”
He slammed the door shut.
It didn’t matter.
I threw myself against it, and it cracked in its frame before the wood splintered, exploding outward as I stumbled through it, managing to stay upright. The man at the top of the stairs was knocked off his feet, but I paid him no attention.
I was in a house.
A goddamn house. Sunlight streamed through the windows.
People were shouting all around me, but I ignored them. I charged toward one of the windows and crashed through it, the glass slicing into my skin.
I landed on the ground, curling into myself and rolling to absorb the impact. I was on my feet even as the glass continued to fall.
There was another house in front of me, a blue house next to a dirt road surrounded by an old forest. It all felt surreal, like I was caught in a dream. It smelled different, more potent, the scent in the air filled with wolves and magic, causing my chest to burn with each breath I took. I was so far from home. I looked around wildly before deciding on the road.
I made it three steps before my legs were kicked out from under me. I barely had time to make a sound before I hit the ground again, this time flat on my back.
A woman stood above me, pointing a crowbar at my face.
Jessie grinned. “Hey. This is fun.”
I snarled at her as I knocked the crowbar away, gasping as my skin began to burn. There was fucking silver in the goddamn metal. Before I could even begin to think who the fuck would do something like that, she attacked.
I jerked my head to the right and the crowbar hit the dirt. She grunted when I kicked her in the hip, but she was already moving again by the time I sat up. She raised her thigh to her chest before kicking out toward my face.
I caught her foot.
She barely looked surprised.
I twisted it, intending on breaking her fucking ankle, but she moved with it, throwing herself to the side. She landed roughly, the crowbar bouncing from her hand.
“You dick,” she groaned. “I’m going to kick your fucking—”
I was already up and moving, heading for the road.
I made it three steps before I was stopped again, a hand on my shoulder. I bared my fangs as I whirled around. The man didn’t seem scared. “Hey, Robbie. I’m Chris. Good to see you again, dude.”
I shoved him hard, sinking my claws into his chest, but he grabbed my hands as he grunted, pulling me down with him. He kept the momentum going as we fell back, his legs folding between us, feet pressed against my chest. He kicked me up and over him, and once again I landed flat on my back.
I really fucking hated this pack.
I was up on my feet again when a strangled yell came from behind me and some douchebag landed on my back, causing me to take a stuttering step forward. Legs wrapped around my waist and arms went around my neck, cutting off my airway.
“Hey,” he panted in my ear. “It’s me, Tanner. And honestly? I really didn’t think this through. So if you could not hurt me, that’d be—”
I grabbed him by the arms and yanked as I bent forward, throwing him over my back. He landed with a jarring crash on the ground in front of me. He was older but st
rong. Another fucking wolf.
I went for his throat.
Jessie was there again, silent and deadly, crowbar forgotten on the ground. She cocked her fist back, broadcasting her next move a mile away. So imagine my dismay when, instead of punching me in the face, she wrapped her other hand around the back of my neck and pulled me forward, her knee going into my stomach.
She laughed as I bent over, my breath knocked from my chest. “I’m enjoying this far more than I expected. No offense.”
I flashed my eyes at her, but she wasn’t intimidated. I didn’t know who the hell this human was, but I was pissed.
The man who called himself Tanner picked himself up off the ground, wincing as he did so. “Jesus. I thought being a werewolf meant I would be all badass at everything I did. This is frankly embarrassing.”
From behind me came the telltale click of a gun.
I turned.
Standing on the porch was the man who’d been at the door near the top of the stairs. His eyes were cold, mouth set in a thin line.
Another human.
And he was pointing the gun at me.
“Yeah,” he said. “Lobito, you don’t want to fuck with me right now. I swear to god I’ll shoot you in the fucking balls if you—”
My hand burned as I stooped down and picked up the crowbar, then hurled it at him. He barely ducked in time as the crowbar flew over his head and embedded itself in the side of the house.
He stared at me. “Oh, I am going to shoot you so fucking much—”
Ox burst through the doorway, pushing the man’s arm down as he started to raise the gun.
“Oh, come on,” the man said. “Just a little. Just a little gunshot. I won’t aim for anything important.”
“Your bullets are silver, Rico,” Ox said.
The man frowned. “I know that. Oh. Right. It’ll kill him.” He squinted at me. “Are we sure that’s not a good idea? I mean, if I hit him in the leg, we could always amputate it before—”
I snarled at him, keenly aware of the others moving slowly around me, circling.
Hunting.
Joe appeared behind him, followed by Gordo and Mark.
The odds were absolutely against me.
Good.
Fuck them.
Fuck them all.
They wanted to see what I could do?
