by Stella Night
“Oh, it’s just an expression. I grew up in a really small community. Very tight knit. You know, like a wolf pack.”
“Oh,” she said. “I guess I’ve never heard that expression before. Weird. Anyway, I’m sorry things were rough for you.”
He shrugged. “It’s not the end of the world. It taught me to fend for myself.”
“You’re certainly good at that. It saved my life.”
“Well, there you go. Then it was all worth it.”
They walked through thinning underbrush, heading into a flat stretch of grassy field. A scatter of wildflowers peeked through the green in little clumps, like someone had dripped splashes of paint from up high.
Santiago tugged at her arm playfully. “So come on. What’s on the agenda for Amanda Cross after her big forest adventure?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. A few days ago, I would have said I just wanted to get back to my normal life. Reestablish my reputation at the NCC. Keep working for them, protecting things that need protecting. But now I’m not so sure.”
“You’re done protecting animals?” he asked, surprised.
“No, of course not. But I don’t want to be stuck in an office any more. I want to be out in the thick of it. Getting my hands dirty. Making a difference directly.”
“Ms. Cross? Getting your hands dirty? You really have changed out here.”
She laughed. “Come on. I wasn’t that bad.”
“Well…”
She whacked him playfully on the arm. “Watch it, you.”
He unlocked his arm from hers and bent down. When he stood up, he held a wild bunch of flowers, freshly plucked from the earth. “Here. A peace offering.”
“Fine. You’re forgiven. And what about you? What’s the next chapter in the story of Santiago Diaz?”
He looked off into the distance thoughtfully and shook his head. “I’m not sure. Probably do the same thing I’ve done my whole life.”
“What’s that? Luring innocent women into the woods so you can have your way with them?”
He smiled. “You lured me in here, if you’ll remember. But no, back when I left my, well, my small community, it was because that place never felt like home to me. So I joined up with special ops, and for a while, that kind of felt like where I was supposed to be. Beside my brothers. Making a difference. But that feeling went away after a while.”
“So what got you through all that?”
“I knew when I got out, I was going to keep searching for my place in the world. A place that felt like home. So I’m going to keep looking for that, I suppose. After this is all over.”
Amanda wanted to tell him that his place was by her side. That they could make a home together, and he could find the family he’d always been searching for. But she hesitated. It was too soon to say things like that, right? There’d be plenty of time later to discuss their future together.
Santiago held his hand out, palm up. “Good news. I think the rain is letting up a bit.”
“Thank God for small miracles,” she said, looking up at the sky. The dark gray clouds had lightened to almost white. Maybe they’d dropped the bulk of their payload already.
“I don’t want to jinx us, but it looks like it’s clearing up.”
“That would be nice. I don’t remember what it feels like to be dry.”
The rain stopped falling. Silence replaced it. The sudden switch was jarring, like someone had turned her ears off. Santiago glanced around the clearing, his brow furrowed, his body stiff.
“Something’s wrong,” he said. A shot rang out in the silence as if punctuating his statement. The sound of it echoed through the trees like thunder.
He looked down at his shirt, looking surprised at the deep crimson stain blossoming there.
Chapter 10
Santiago crumpled to his knees in front of her, clutching his chest. Time seemed to slow down. She saw everything in minute detail. The dark blood welling between his fingers, staining his skin. The confused look in his eyes. The flutter of his hair in the breeze.
Then he fell onto his side, gasping for air.
Amanda dropped to her knees beside him. “No, no, no, no,” she begged in a steady stream, praying to any god who would listen.
She laid him gently onto his back, hoping to get a better look at his injury. Amanda had no medical training, but she had to try to help him. His hand covered the bullet wound. She gently pried his hand to the side.
As soon as the pressure from Santiago’s hand left his chest, dark red blood fountained from the hole in his ribs. Amanda felt like passing out, but she shoved that feeling down. Santiago needed her to be strong right now.
She ripped his shirt from his torso and wadded it up. It wasn’t much of a bandage, but she needed to staunch the flow of blood somehow. She pressed the shirt to his wound. But his shirt was already soaked through from the rain. It did almost nothing. She held it there anyway, trying to ignore the blood seeping through her fingers.
Santiago’s face contorted with pain. At least, he was still conscious.
“Santiago, tell me what to do.”
He breathed in short, shallow breaths. His lips moved but no words came out. With great effort, he sucked in a deep breath.
“Run,” he said.
“I’m not leaving you. No way.”
He shook his head and pointed a bloody finger in the direction where the shot had come from. Amanda looked.
Men in dark fatigues were streaming from the trees like fire ants. Except these ants had assault rifles. Amanda turned back to Santiago.
“They’re coming,” she said. “We need to get you out of here.”
He grabbed her wrist in a grip like steel, surprising considering his condition. “No. Leave me. Run.”
“You’re crazy. We make it out together or not at all. Don’t argue. You’d never leave me behind. I won’t leave you.”
He struggled to sit up. “There’s nothing you can do.”
“I’m not letting you die,” she screamed, blinking the tears from your eyes. “Not now. Not like this.”
He grunted with effort. “I’m not going to die. I promise. I’ll hold them off while you get away.”
Amanda’s mouth gaped with surprise. “Santiago, honey, I love your optimism. But you’re in no condition to fight.”
“Not quite yet,” he said.
“I don’t understand.”
He raised a bloody hand to her cheek and gazed into her eyes. “I’m sorry, Amanda.”
“What? Why are you apologizing?”
He slumped back into the grass and lay still. Amanda’s heart shattered into a million pieces. She collapsed onto his chest, never wanting to let him go.
This couldn’t be happening. Santiago had been so strong, so brave. This wasn’t the end of his story. It couldn’t be. He hadn’t had a chance to find home. He hadn’t had a chance to have a life with her.
She wailed in agony. If sadness could kill, all of the soldiers in that field would have keeled over dead. Amanda sobbed against his chest, her tears mixing with the blood staining his shirt.
“Please come back,” she cried.
Electricity crackled in the air. Amanda’s hair stood on end, like lightning was about to strike. Something was happening to Santiago. She jumped back in surprise.
The air over his body shimmered like gleaming moonlight on dark water. The sight of it triggered a memory in her head. But it flitted away from her, just out of reach. She didn’t have time to chase it. Her full attention was on the transformation taking place in front of her.
Santiago disappeared into the shimmering light. In his place stood a huge, white wolf, proud and strong. Blood stained the wolf’s breast like a crimson rose, but the injury didn’t seem to faze him. The wolf threw back its head and howled.
The sound of it shattered the silence. The advancing soldiers stopped in their tracks. The white wolf ran in their direction, growling and snarling like a demon. One man broke and ran. Followed
by another. And another.
It looked like they might all retreat. But a few held their ground. They raised their rifles and fired at the charging beast. Stray bullets whizzed around the clearing like giant, angry insects. Amanda barely noticed them. Her eyes were locked on the creature.
She remembered it. It had appeared to her the night she’d almost died, incapacitating the soldier right as he was about to shoot her. Her forest guardian. Then the animal had left.
No, she thought. That wasn’t right. He hadn’t left. He’d changed. Into Santiago.
Her mind whirred with confusion. She’d thought the white wolf turning into Santiago had just been a dream or a faulty memory caused by her concussion. But she’d been wrong. Santiago had just changed again right in front of her. Except this time, he’d gone from man to wolf instead of the other way around.
She couldn’t wrap her head around it. Nothing in her life had prepared her to see something like this. What the hell was going on? Who the hell was Santiago? More importantly, what was he?
***
Santiago hadn’t wanted to shift in front of her, but he had no choice. The soldiers were approaching fast and his wounds weren’t healing fast enough in his human form.
The bullet had punched through his lung. It was a fatal wound for a regular human, and even with his faster than normal healing, Santiago hadn’t been sure he would survive. If the bullet had hit him three inches to the left, it would have ruptured his heart and killed him instantly.
As it was, Santiago had been forced to shift to save himself and to protect Amanda.
He managed to catch a glimpse of her shocked face before he ran to meet the enemy. The horror and confusion he saw there cut him deep, wounding him worse than the already-healing bullet wound. He hadn’t meant for her to find out like this.
But there was no avoiding it. He’d rather expose his secret and have her hate him than see her killed. It was the reason he said he was sorry, because she was about to see the monster lurking beneath his skin. And there was no coming back from that.
He hoped he would be able to explain it to her later. First, he had to make sure there was a later.
The soldiers fired at him, but he wove a zig-zagging path through the grass, never letting them get a bead on him. They should have retreated with their friends. Now they were going to die. Then again, Santiago was glad they’d remained. He was pretty pissed off about getting shot.
He wanted payback.
A crimson fog settled over him as the blood lust took over. Santiago was a warrior. A killer. These other soldiers were about find out they weren’t at the top of the food chain.
He collided with the first man, tumbling him over in the grass like a rag doll. Santiago clamped his jaws over the man’s neck before he had a chance to stop rolling. One down.
He caught the next man unaware from behind, severing his Achilles tendons with two quick bites. The soldier collapsed and Santiago made sure he never got up.
Another soldier managed to graze Santiago’s flank with a wild shot. Blood streaked his white fur like war paint. Santiago kind of liked the way it looked, considering he was on the war path now. He wouldn’t stop until every soldier who’d ambushed them was dead.
Santiago snapped his razor sharp fangs over the man’s forearm. His now useless hand went limp, dropping the rifle to the ground. Then Santiago shifted back to human form, picked up the gun, and shot the man. An eye for an eye.
He shifted back, using his keen senses to find the other soldiers that had fled. Odd. They weren’t in the direction in which they’d retreated. He followed their trail, which looped around the field, back to where Santiago and Amanda had first entered this clearing.
A scream cut through the fog of war. It was Amanda. She was in trouble.
He snarled. The men hadn’t retreated. They’d flanked him. Bypassing him to get to Amanda. He cursed himself for not seeing it before. It was an old trick. Not even clever. But he’d fallen for it like a fool.
In his haste to punish the men who’d hurt him, he’d missed the obvious, and now Amanda was going to pay the price.
***
Two soldiers dragged her by the arms on either side. Amanda struggled against their grip, but she barely slowed them down. They moved at a steady jog through the woods. A group of about ten other soldiers jogged around them in a loose circle.
Her very own honor guard, probably leading her to her execution.
She wasn’t going to go down without a fight. Amanda yelled at the top of her lungs, hoping that Santiago could hear her. Well, Santiago or the white wolf or whatever the hell he was. The animal had saved her once before. Maybe he could do it again.
“Somebody shut that bitch up,” one of the soldiers called out. He had a wicked scar across one cheek, giving his lips a permanent sneer.
Amanda hated being called a bitch. “Why don’t you make me shut up, bitch?”
The man who’d insulted her slowed down and forced the others to slow down too. He stalked over to her, his face a mask of rage.
“What the fuck did you say to me?” He almost spat the question at her.
The soldiers on either side of her had stopped moving, but they continued to grip her arms tightly. Amanda drew herself to her full height and stared Scar right in the eyes.
“I called you a little bitch,” she said. As much as she hated being called a bitch, she knew men really took that insult personally. “What the fuck are you going to do about it?”
There was nothing she could against this soldier. She knew that. Her arms were pinned, and she didn’t have any weapons to speak of. Still, she thought she might buy Santiago some time to find her before these men spirited her away.
The other soldiers laughed at her challenge. It was clear they weren’t laughing at her. They were laughing at Scar. And Scar seemed to know it. He sputtered with rage. His face turned an ugly shade of purple, except for the scar tissue, which streaked across his face like a pale lightning bolt.
“I’ll show you what I’m gonna do about it,” he snarled. Scar slid a blade from a sheath at his waist. It gleamed like a steel tooth in the sun. He raised it so the sharp edge was level with her face. “I’m gonna cut out that sassy tongue of yours.”
“Sassy? Who says words like sassy? You really are a little bitch.”
Amanda was banking on the fact that these men didn’t want her dead. Why would they drag her along if they were going to kill her? Why not just shoot her back in the field and be done with it?
It was a gamble, but she thought she was right. And that’s why she felt daring enough to push her luck with Scar. As confident as she was, Amanda realized she might have pushed Scar a little too far with that last statement.
He raised the knife above his head, ready to plunge it into her. Before he could strike, a large blond man with a pony tail grabbed his wrist and held it still. Scar vibrated with effort, but Pony Tail held him tight.
“Act like a goddamn professional for once,” Pony Tail said. “And stop acting like a little bitch.”
Everyone circled around them laughed. Amanda couldn’t help but join in, partly because it was funny, and partly because she was relieved she wasn’t dead right now.
“No one touches the girl,” Pony Tail said. “We have our orders.”
“I just wanted to keep her quiet,” Scar muttered. “So the wolf can’t follow us.”
Pony Tail cursed under his breath. “Were you born stupid or did you have to work at it?”
“What?” Scar asked.
“You moron, we want to girl to make noise. We want the wolf to find us.” Pony Tail turned to Amanda. “Scream all you want, girlie. It’s fine by me.”
Amanda clamped her mouth shut. She thought she was getting one over on the soldiers by getting them to stop, but all she’d done was allow Santiago to get closer to whatever trap they had in store.
***
Santiago heard Amanda’s shout loud and clear. Even if he hadn’t, her scent trail g
lowed like wildfire among all the other smells out here. He could follow her around the world and back without losing that scent.
They’d taken her in the direction of the surge of power emanating from deep within the forest. He felt it tugging at him, calling him.
Had the soldiers found the source of that power? Almost certainly. It couldn’t be a coincidence that they were heading that way. But if they’d found it, had they found a way to harness that power?
Santiago didn’t think so. He would have sensed it. No, whatever it was these soldiers were planning, they hadn’t accomplished it yet.
But he’d worry about that after he got to Amanda. Nothing else mattered to him but keeping her safe. Not the mysterious energy, not the soldiers, not even his own life.
He raced through the woods at breakneck speed. The trail got fresher the closer he got. The humans couldn’t move as fast as he could. He would catch them soon. And when he did, he would make them pay for taking the woman he loved.
The sound of voices wafted through the trees from just up ahead. He could smell her scent now. Not the trail of her scent, but the actual scent of her. She was close.
Santiago’s instinct was to rush in headlong in an all out assault. He could take them by surprise and decimate their numbers before they even knew what hit them. But acting on instinct is what had allowed them to grab Amanda in the first place.
Whatever these men were, they weren’t stupid. They had the look of mercenaries. Hired guns. Experienced, but disposable. That begged the question. Who had hired them in the first place?
Again, that was a question for another time. Right now, he had to figure out a plan.
***
The soldiers hadn’t moved since they’d stopped to argue. They were still arguing when another soldier joined them. He was tall and lanky. His features were covered by the darkened visor of his helmet. In his hands, he carried a scary looking gun, different from the rifles the other soldiers had.
New Guy tossed the rifle to Pony Tail who caught it easily. Then he leaned casually up against a tree, seemingly content to be a spectator for whatever came next.
Scar barely seemed to notice New Guy. He’d been pissing and moaning at Pony Tail ever since he’d been chastised.
