by Erin Kelly
Sophie watched as Freki pulled a switchblade out from his pocket and carved a delicate mark at about waist high into the bark of a tree nearby, then repeated the ritual as they headed deeper into the forest. As the pair vanished, Odin sighed heavily. “I don’t like splitting up the pack, Val,” he protested.
“I don’t like it any more than you do,” Val said with a frown. “We have to strike while the iron is hot. If someone is setting up these traps and able to hide away werewolves, there’s something big and bad out here. For once it isn’t just us wolves.”
Odin nodded in agreement. “I bet the government is behind it,” he murmured as he began to carefully search the grass for any more clues. “Who else could set up such well-made traps all the way the hell out here in the wilderness? It reeks of Feds.”
To this, Val rolled her eyes and whispered to Sophie, “My husband has more conspiracy theories than the Illuminati have vowels.” They joined in his search of the area for any sort of tracks embedded in the green grass. “Still, I do wonder who made these traps all the way out here. And what purpose they serve.”
Sophie nodded in response. “I wonder who’s behind this trap as well.” It wasn’t much to go on, but at least it was a start. She sighed and said, “So I guess we start here at square one.”
“Yeah, any more evidence we find could help us. Footprints, scraps of cloth, or anything like that would be a good clue for when we finally do get our senses back,” Val said as they tread carefully around the scene. “Even something old may provide a hint that Hati or Korban were here.”
At mention of his name, Sophie’s heart seemed to clench in response. She could hear his voice as she carefully searched for clues.
I love you.
Another lump formed in her throat, this one even harder to swallow down. She hadn’t told him those three words back. And now… not now. She clenched her hand into a fist, her fingernails dug into her palm. Focus. Concentrate. She turned to Val. “I’m sorry for your missing pack member,” she paused, then asked, “If you don’t mind my asking, what brought you guys out here in the first place?”
“We came up here a couple months ago, and we were just passing through as we always do. Usually we stay the night along the lake, go through the Change, and then we go back to the open road. As we have since we were infected.” There she paused, but it wasn’t a dramatic story telling effect. It was like she was having a moment of silence for their pack mates. She continued, “When we woke up the next morning, Hati was gone. We’ve been here looking for him since, and until now haven’t had much luck finding any clues. Actually... until you told us what you saw last night, we weren’t even certain if maybe he had become Wolven and ran away or something like that.”
“No,” Odin interrupted sternly, worriedly. “It isn’t like Hati to run off. You know that.”
“I know, honey,” Valkyrie said diplomatically, “I’m just explaining to Sophie what we know.” She turned back to Sophie. “Like Odin said, it isn’t like him to run off. We’ve known each other forever, we’ve put many miles behind us together. But even before we became werewolves, we were a pack. We don’t leave anyone behind on the road, and we won’t here either. Until we ran into you this morning, we didn’t have any idea what could have happened to him. But now that we know there are traps in the forest, and he’s been missing...” She trailed off and Sophie nodded grimly, the butterflies suddenly worse in her stomach.
If she had any hope of Korban waiting for her at the trailer, it was now gone. She wouldn’t be spending tonight laughing this off with him as some silly trap gone wrong. Something was definitely going on here if two werewolves were missing, one for a couple months now. How long would it be until she was able to laugh this off with her Mate in her arms?
She resumed her careful search and tried to reign in her emotions as a more powerful question bubbled into her mind.
When would she be able to tell him those three words back?
9: INHUMAN
Hours passed, or so it seemed, and no one returned to the room. Not the two bumbling idiots in camouflage or their boss. At least he thought hours passed. With no way of telling time, it was difficult to say. After some time passed though, he settled down and sat in the center of his cage. He wasn’t going to risk burning his hands again, not with the chance they’d come back. He wanted to save his strength for when they showed themselves again.
Knowing there were others in this same situation in this very room, and yet how quiet it was, was also very unnerving. Aside from the breathing, and heavy breathing in one of the cages, they weren’t saying a word. They hadn’t even spoken up when those two idiots were there. “What is going on here? Why are you all just laying down and taking this?” Korban asked finally, and the response was pretty unanimous, hisses and shushing quietly erupted through the room.
“Keep it down, or they’ll come back!” One of the voices warned.
Korban looked in the direction of the voice and growled, “I hope they do!”
“Idiot,” one of the others said gruffly, his voice a growling whisper. “You think there is much we can do, given the situation? We’re behind bars and they have weapons. Some of us are lucky to even have a scrap of clothing on us.”
He had them talking. This was good. Maybe he could find out what was going on. And then... he wasn’t sure what after that, but he’d come up with something. There had to be a way out of here.
Unless it was like that other place...
Keep them talking. He had to keep them talking. Quieter, he asked, “What is going on? Why are they putting us in cages?”
“You heard him, didn’t you? We’re monsters to them,” the man in the cage next to him with a weary British accent said softly.
“Yeah, pretty much.” The angry, growling one said, and he could hear him shift in the darkness. “Monsters who bring them in money. Or some kind of other sick satisfaction.”
Money? A billion options suddenly struck him, everything from sort of illegal slave trade to some sort of freak show where they were the showcase. “What do you mean, ‘bring them in money?’ What is going on here?” He felt like he was repeating himself, and he couldn’t hide the panic in his voice at that moment.
“Don’t get your panties in a twist. Oh right... no underwear. Nothing for it to go under.” The growly man grumbled, and then explained. “You ever see the movie Bloodsport? Or Fight Club?”
“Yeah,” Korban said.
“Well, so has this guy. Probably seen it a bit too much, because it gave him this idea. We aren’t staying at some health club, but that much you can probably guess. They capture us and stuff us in cages, and force us to fight each other while they film it.”
“Fight... each other...?” Korban repeated softly, almost wishing he hadn’t, but he couldn’t stop himself. He was simply too in shock, the idea too horrifying to be real.
“Yes,” the man said with much impatience, growling softly. “We fight, to the death. The winners get prizes, nothing extravagant but a scrap of clothing here, a decent steak for dinner. We’re no better than dogs to them, waiting for the next match.”
The thought made him sick to his stomach. “No... I won’t do it. I won’t fight.”
“Heh. You say that now. They don’t give you an option, buddy,” any impatience was gone, replaced by sadness instead. “If you don’t fight, they shoot your opponent first, then you.”
An icy chill suddenly ran through him. He was naked, but this cold feeling went much deeper than that. It was one thing to stick his neck out and face the consequences. But to have someone else’s blood on your hands...
“We all fight come the full moon. But they want a way to make the fights more constant. They’ve been working on something. Dragged the fella who was in your cage out a couple nights ago, and he didn’t fight last night. I don’t know what they did to him.” The growling man was suddenly not so growly, in place of his anger there seemed to be a deep ache. “There were two others, too…
but… he made us fight them…” He trailed off, unable to finish the horrible revelation.
This was getting worse and worse. This was such a violation of human rights, Korban didn’t know where to begin.
“And we stay quiet for a reason. Don’t expect them to bring you food or water tonight. If we make too much noise, they weaken us so that we don’t have the strength to disobey.” It sounded like the man flopped down again, or Korban believed he did. The darkness loomed a deeper black all of a sudden around them, or maybe it was the mood. “So keep your mouth shut and just do what you’re told. Maybe if you win enough bouts you’ll get out of this place.”
Korban sank down. He’d thought there was no worse place than that laboratory, with all the poking and prodding and constant supervision and testing, being treated more like a lab rat than a human being.
He was wrong.
~*~
It was starting to get dark when they finally stopped going over and over the area, with not much success in locating clues. Odin had spotted some indentations that looked like possible tire tracks, though the trail went cold when they reached the edge of the clearing and the path had been washed away from the rain. He marked the area as a point of reference for tracking later on when they searched the nearby area with the others. As the sun began to draw closer to the mountainous horizon, however, Val looked to Odin and the two exchanged a glance, before Val turned and said, “We should start heading back to the den. You should come with us. We need to stick together, especially if someone out there seems to be hunting wolves.”
“I wouldn’t even know where to begin to head back to where we were staying, anyway,” Sophie shook her head and sighed. She didn’t want to stop searching, but in the dark it was possible they could stumble into another one of these traps accidentally. “Maybe we’ll spot something helpful on the way back, or maybe the guys had some luck finding another trap out there.” Or better yet, they found Korban or their friend, or perhaps by some miracle both.
Val nodded, a trace of a smile curving her lips as they turned and headed back into the forest together. Sophie watched as Odin took Val’s hand and couldn’t help but think of Korban. He was out there somewhere, and they would find him somehow, someway. She held onto that belief with all her heart. Hope was once again all she had left, and she clung to it.
They walked some distance from the clearing, and as they seemed to retrace their steps the path changed, and it was then she noticed the distinct markings they had carved into the trees. Like some code, though they were slightly different from the ones that Freki had demonstrated earlier that day. They followed the winding path down to another clearing, only this time it was occupied by a large RV, a small trailer attached to a pickup truck, and a half dozen motorcycles. A small bonfire crackled as Freki, Skoll, and a man who looked like an older version of Freki, the same pale green eyes as his brother and a distinctive goatee that set the pair apart, along with a few smile lines that were etched into the older brother’s face. “Geri, anything to report?” Odin asked as they approached the campsite.
The older version of Freki stood up, a frown emphasized by his dark goatee, though he did a double take when he saw Sophie. “Well, damn, I guess I owe you a drink next time we hit a bar, little brother,” he stared at her, and then gazed to Odin. “Nothing found today, but Freki told me you guys found a lot. Including our missing celebrity. I can’t believe we found Sophie Bane but haven’t a damn clue as to where Hati ended up. That’s our fucking luck.”
“Language,” Val growled. “Not in front of the kids.”
As if on cue, the side door to the RV suddenly burst open and two young children, a girl who looked to be around Daniel’s age and a smaller boy, both leapt and bound from the small set of steps and rushed toward Val and Odin. “Mommy! Daddy! You’re home!”
Sophie froze. Watched as the two young, human offspring bounced toward their parents. Watched as both Val and Odin scooped up their children and held them. Watched smiles break out and relief fill the air. No fear, no panic. She didn’t realize that she had been holding her breath until she exhaled, and then carefully inhaled, afraid of what she would do when their scent filled her nostrils again.
But nothing happened. The air here is full of the foreign wolf pack’s scent. The children were human but they smelled like pack too. It was all so strange, so wonderful. A new hope filled her in that moment. “You… you have children?”
Val turned and nodded as she hugged her daughter close. They were a perfectly matched set, the four of them standing there. Blond and happy. “We have three children. This is Haley, and Connor,” she gestured to her daughter then son respectively. “And our oldest, Evelyn, helps babysit on full moon nights. She’s probably on her phone or computer inside.”
Sophie smiled despite herself. “No Norse names for them?”
Val laughed. “We sort of adopted our biker names when we were bitten. We live off the grid and aren’t the same people we were before. So there’s no point in going by our old names anymore.”
“So no one here has a human sponsor?” Sophie inquired.
“No, not exactly,” Val kissed the top of her daughter’s head as she held her close. “You know the rules. They would have taken our kids away. I wasn’t about to let that happen, and neither was Odin. We keep them locked up in the RV during the full moon and we stay far away when we are wolves to keep them safe. Though with Hati gone missing, we have kept one of us behind to patrol and protect the den here, in case… well, we don’t really know who we are dealing with here yet, now do we?” She pat Haley and then pecked Connor on the cheek. “Why don’t you two go inside and brush your teeth, get your jammies on and get ready for bed. I’ll be in there in a moment to tuck you in and read you a story.”
They groaned and protested, but a stern look from Valkyrie and they marched back into the RV as they were told.
“You… you don’t feel any urge to attack your kids?” Sophie asked after a moment.
Val gave her an odd look, something between shock and disgust. “Of course not!” she snorted, then it seemed to dawn on her, and her expression softened. “Oh… of course. They tell everyone that, don’t they. That’s why they have those rules and laws in place, supposedly to protect the children from infection. I would never bite or hurt my kids. Neither would any of the guys here. They’re safest with family. I won’t let them fall into a system that is bullshit. They’re my kids. My wolf even knows it. They’re not prey. They’re pack.”
The words sunk in and Sophie felt a huge weight lift from her shoulders, a deep pain suddenly relieved after so long. It made sense. She wouldn’t try to attack her own son. She couldn’t wait to share the news with Korban that she would be safe around her son, that she wouldn’t try to attack him like she had with Alex… and just like that, though the spark of hope remained, the pain returned. It must have shown on her face because Valkyrie murmured something to Odin who nodded and went into the RV after their children.
“I’ll get you some clothes that may fit a bit better and we’ll get a tent set up for you tonight. Try to rest. We’ll have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. We won’t stop until we find Hati. Or Korban for that matter.” She headed up into the RV after her husband.
Sophie turned away, went over and sat on one of the gathered lawn chairs and stared into the fire. Freki came over, and she was about to give him hell, her eyes narrowed and ready to cuss him out if he so much as attempted to hit on her right now.
Her look must have been a real nasty one, as he gave a low whistle and extended his hand out carefully, offering a beer bottle to her, the cap still in place. “I come in peace,” he cracked a nervous smile. “This is me, trying to apologize for being an ass earlier.” He paused, then added, “Please don’t hurt me.”
Despite her sour mood, she forced a smile, but not before she made him squirm a little and made him wait a long, tense moment. She finally accepted the bottle, and he breathed a sigh of relief, pulled out his Swi
ss Army knife and popped the cap off her bottle. She wasn’t a fan of beer, truth be told, but it was cold and maybe the alcohol would numb the pain for a little while. Freki sat in a chair beside her, careful not to move in too close. He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry about before,” he began, and when she glanced to him without a glare he continued on. “I didn’t realize you had lost someone important, too. I shouldn’t have joked about it. My brother, hell, anyone in the pack will tell you I, uh, sometimes don’t think things through. I should have just kept my mouth shut. I-”
Sophie held up her hand and swallowed a bitter but cold mouthful of beer. “I accept your apology.” She gazed back to the fire, took another swig from the bottle. “Beer isn’t enough though. You don’t realize how important Korban is to me. He helped me when no one else could. He saved my life. He saved my humanity. You owe me more than a beer.”
Freki swore under his breath then stared at her. “More than a beer? How can I make it right then?”
She turned to him again. “You promise me, here and now, to do two things. One, please respect me. I’m okay with a flirty joke once in a while, but don’t push your luck. And two…” She trailed off to hold him in suspense again, and then raised her beer to toast him. “You promise me that you will help me find Korban, and I promise you I will help you find Hati.”
Freki clinked his bottle with hers and nodded in agreement. “Fair enough. All right then, Sophie. You got yourself a promise.”
She smiled and they downed the rest of their drinks.
~*~
There was the hum of electricity, and then the lights clicked on and blinded everyone in the room once again. Korban had dozed off in a fitful sleep, but quickly jumped, sat up and rubbed his eyes. He wasn’t sure how long he slept. The smell of charred, greasy beef wafted into the air, and a squeaky cart was pushed in by the two camouflage covered men. Korban’s stomach growled. How long had it been since he’d last eaten? Usually after the full moon he was ravenous, but given the fact that his mind had been occupied by everything else going on, he hadn’t given much thought to food until that moment.
