The brothers looked at her in silence as she talked. Tina wasn’t sure if they thought she was crazy or profound.
“I don’t understand, Tina,” Max said. “The way you explain all of this, it sounds incredible. Why did you tell Jericho you hated it so much and wanted to be human?”
“I don’t hate my wolf,” she sighed. “I hate what it came to represent in my pack. Not that it’s any of your concern, but it’s what my father wanted to change about it… that is, before he died. Anyway, things didn’t change and I had to get out for good. That’s why I’m here now.”
“And the enforcers you talked about?” Max asked. “You said someone wanted to kill you. Why?”
Tina dropped her gaze and looked at the floor.
“It’s a long story,” she said. “Basically, I had a disagreement with some other pack members… it turned bad. I just couldn’t take it anymore, so I left.”
“So it’s kind of a revenge thing with them?”
Tina shook her head.
“More or less… yeah.”
The brothers looked at one another during a pause in the conversation.
“Thanks… for telling us all that, Tina,” Chuck said. “I know it wasn’t easy.”
She shrugged.
“It’s okay. I never meant to keep any of it a secret, it’s just not something I can talk about around just anyone… for obvious reasons. I suppose that was dumb. Maybe it would come out sooner or later, I don’t really know. But, why do you care all of a sudden? I mean… you told me that you hated me… what I am… remember the other night?”
Chuck nodded.
“You’re right… we did feel that way,” he began. “Max and I carried around the burden, and guilt, of the slaughter for years. We talked about it and realized that we never really dealt with what happened because we felt powerless to stop it.”
“It’s true. None of it made any sense at all until the other night,” Max said.
“What do you mean?” Tina asked.
“Do you believe in fate, Tina?” Chuck asked.
She shrugged.
“I don’t know… I don’t think so.”
“Well, we do,” Max began. “And we believe that just as fate got us out of that horrible night, it brought us back full circle to prevent the same thing from happening again… to you.”
“What?” she asked. “You’re not making any sense.”
“It’s simple, Tina,” Chuck said. “In a strange way, we believe that by helping you… and Jericho… that we…”
“But you can’t,” she interrupted. “You’re not one of us.”
“No,” Max said. “Not yet.”
“What?” she said. “You can’t mean that. You… don’t know what you’re saying…”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Tina,” Chuck replied. “We do. It’s up to you now… look, if you don’t want to do it, then we will stand by your side as men. Either way, we are not going to turn our backs while this threat looms against you.”
Tina shook her head. Her mind clouded with confusion.
The brothers moved towards her. With wordless focus, they corralled her into a corner of the room.
“Isn’t this what you want?” Max said.
“I don’t know,” she said as she averted her gaze.
“Tina,” Chuck began. “We’ve talked about it. This will sound crazy. I mean, we hardly know you, but Max and I… we’re drawn to you in a way we’ve never been to anyone before. I don’t know if it has something to do with what is inside of us or not, but we can’t pretend it’s not there.”
Tina raised her hand to her forehead and closed her fingers together in a nervous pinch. She exhaled and looked up at both of them.
“I can’t even begin to tell you how those words make me feel. I won’t pretend I don’t have… urges… of my own but… this isn’t something you can just go back on if you decide it’s not for you,” she said. “It’s final.”
“We know.” Max said. “And we’re more than prepared to howl at the moon.”
Tina chuckled and shook her head.
“Really? More jokes? Even at a time like…”
As she spoke Max, lurched towards her, slipped both of his hands inside of her hair and crushed his lips against hers. Tina mumbled in a final burst of defiance. But then as his tongue slipped inside of her mouth, she felt her resistance fade. Max kissed her in that moment as if it might be his last. His mouth consumed hers and the flavor his sweet breath danced along her tongue as they intertwined.
“Hey, hey,” Chuck said. “Save a little for the rest of us.”
Max nodded and withdrew from her mouth.
Tina hardly caught her breath before Chuck’s lips collided with hers. His long hair closed around her face like a blanket as their mouths meshed together for the first time. Less forceful than his brother, Chuck’s kiss drew her towards him like a distant celestial body trapped in an orbit it cannot break. Their heads twisted, their tongues rolled as the seconds trickled by. By the time they separated a few moments later, the three of them, as well as their fate, were sealed as one.
Just then, over the inter office phone, Bianca paged Tina to come to the front desk.
“Wow, nick of time, huh?” Max said.
“Yeah,” Tina replied as she checked her ponytail in a row of frosted glass cabinets.
The brothers lifted Bosco’s kennel off the floor, gathered up the dog’s medication and prepared to leave.
“Oh… oh shit,” Max began. “What… what’s happening to me?”
Tina’s eyes widened. She felt a hot streak of panic flush towards her chest.
“What is it? Max? What’s wrong?”
“I can’t hold it,” he said to Chuck as he started to lose his grip on the kennel. The men lowered the crate right away.
Max swung his right arm over his shoulder, around to the center of his back and groaned. “Aaaahhhh… oh please… make it stop!”
Panicked, Tina’s eyes darted back and forth between a gyrating Max and a strangely stoic Chuck.
“Max, oh my God,” Tina gasped. “What is wrong? What do you want to stop?”
Just then, Max stood upright. Motionless, he returned his arm back to his side and looked at Tina with anguish in his eyes.
“I…” he stuttered. “I…”
“Max! You’re scaring me,” Tina stammered. “What is it!?”
“I’ve got this itch,” he deadpanned. “It’s right in the middle of my back. I can’t get it. Come here.”
Max turned his back to Tina and wiggled his shoulder back and forth to coax a bit of help from her.
“You jerk!” she said as she slapped him across the back.
“Higher,” he chuckled.
“Get out,” she said. “Both of you.”
“What?” Chuck said. “But I didn’t do anything!”
Tina’s hands jumped to her hips.
“Did you know he was going to do that?”
“What? Get an itch?” he replied. A smile cracked at the edge of his mouth.
“Okay… it’s time to go,” she said as she walked towards the door and pulled it open.
The men chuckled with one another as they picked up Bosco’s kennel and walked towards her.
“So, we’ll see you tonight?” Max asked.
Tina folded her arms across her chest. Mad though she was, the taste of the brothers still lingered in her mouth and made it difficult for her to stay angry for long.
“Well,” she began. “Jericho is coming up after I close tonight, to go to dinner. I’m sure he’ll be more than interested about what’s happened here.”
“Sounds good,” Chuck said. “What time?”
“I’ll be finished around eight.”
“Great,” Max replied. “So, we’ll see you then.”
Tina nodded and smiled. As they turned to leave, she fought back an urge to kiss them both.
***
That evening, Tina walked to the front door of the veterin
ary office to lock up. She took a few minutes to check up on the boarders to make sure none of them were in any dire need. From the first day she came to work at the clinic, everyone told her it wasn’t a good idea to get too attached to the animals. But, being soft-hearted, Tina found she was only about half-capable of following those guidelines. A particular favorite of hers, Reese the French bulldog, was there for a week or so.
As she checked the kennel area, she made her way to Reese’s cage and stopped for a bit of TLC. Tina rubbed the brindle-colored coat of the little dog as he rolled around on the ground. His fur was short and tight. Tiny, soft bristles tickled the inside of her palm as she petted him for several minutes.
“Okay, Reese,” she said. “In you go.”
She patted the small dog on the rear and giggled as he stumbled back into his crate.
“You be a good boy now,” she said. “I’ll see you later.”
She stood and brushed away the remnants of his hair from the front of her scrubs and then turned to head back towards the front of the clinic. As she made her way there, a loud knock rapped against the glass of the front door. Tina frowned and pulled her cell phone out of the front pocket of her uniform. With any luck, it was just someone who needed to pick up their pet.
“Hello?” a man’s voice called out from behind the glass door. “Is anyone here?”
A few moments later, Tina pulled the tugged the strings of the window’s blinds to get a better look. As the strips of wood spread apart, two men stood side-by-side in front of the door. In their arms, they cradled an unconscious dog. Even a quick glance revealed to Tina the dog suffered from a serious injury. Islands of maroon liquid spread across the animal’s fur. Tina’s eyes widened as she unlocked the door and let the men inside.
“Thank you!” one of the men said as he entered. “We found this poor little guy by the side of the road. Some assholes ran him over and didn’t stop.”
Tina glanced down towards the canine. It was difficult to see the source of the injury at first glance. Without a thorough examination, she wouldn’t be able to do anything.
“Has he been conscious at all since you picked him up?” she asked.
“No,” the second man replied. “Is there anything you can do to help him?”
Tina glanced around in the office. She chewed her lower lip as she considered the best course of action.
“I don’t know… come with me,” she said. “Let’s get him into the emergency op. We can get a better look once he’s stable.”
The first man nodded and assumed the burden of carrying the unconscious animal.
“Our friends were following us,” he said as he followed behind Tina. “They turned around to get the license plate information from the car. Do you mind if my friend here waits in the lobby until they arrive?”
Preoccupied with protocols, the man’s questions breezed right by Tina.
“What?” she said as started to walk away towards the emergency room. “Sure… I mean… whatever. Just have him keep the door closed until they get here. When they arrive, lock it up and come to the back. Give the dog to me.”
The man nodded and passed the motionless torso to Tina. Before she walked away, she turned back towards the man once more.
“Down the hall. Last door. Straight ahead. You got it?” she said.
“Yes.”
“I’m going to need help so the sooner you can get down there, the better.”
“Okay,” the man replied. “Thank you.”
Tina nodded and hurried down the hallway. As she walked, she felt the fragile expansion and contraction of the animal’s ribcage against her torso. Unconscious… but alive. Seconds later, she hurried into the operatory. Her training kicked in and within moments, she’d secured the injured dog to an array of monitoring equipment. As she finished, she paused for a moment to pet and comfort him.
“You’ll be okay,” she whispered as she stroked his head.
The sweet aroma of blood drifted up into her nostrils as she hovered over him. For the most part, her wolf ignored it in these surroundings, but for some reason, it caught her attention and distracted her… but only for a moment.
The animal remained unresponsive as she ran through her mental checklist. In the lobby, she heard the chatter of multiple male voices. With any luck, the friends of the two men arrived with details about the driver of the car. Tina began to clean the dog’s fur to isolate the source, or sources, of blood loss.
While she worked, a hoard of footsteps echoed down the tiled hallway which led to the operating room. Her tongue flicked across her upper lip and drew sweat within her mouth as she examined the dog. From behind, someone knocked at the door to the room.
“Come in,” Tina said. “Come in.”
Her eyes remained focused on the task at hand while a clamor of footsteps poured inside.
“Lock it,” an unfamiliar voice said.
Tina frowned, looked up and turned to face the collection of strange men, five in total.
“Sir,” she began. “There’s no need to lock the door. The office is closed and…”
“Shut up, bitch,” he growled. “Move.”
He gestured for Tina to put distance between herself and the dog.
“What?” she said as her eyes widened. “What’s going on?”
“I said… shut up!” the man yelled.
Tina swallowed a nervous lump as she moved her eyes from one man to the next. For an instant, the man turned his back to her.
“We’re good?” he said as he looked towards the others.
While the men chattered about locked doors and security details, Tina reached behind her and ran her hand across a table full of operating instruments. She came upon a large scalpel and once she had it in hand, she made a casual move of it towards the pockets of her scrubs.
Injured dog or not, it was plain to Tina now that these men weren’t any shade of Good Samaritan. For all she knew, they’d beaten the dog or run over it themselves. Sweaty fingertips rolled along the length of the scalpel’s steel handle in her scrub pocket as her mind raced behind the true purpose of their visit.
***
At last, the first man she encountered at the front door turned and focused his attention on her. She hadn’t really noticed any of them before this moment. The needs of the injured dog took precedence. But now that their agenda was unmasked, she swallowed hard and stared into the eyes of her would-be assailant.
“We… don’t have any money… if that’s why you’re here,” she stammered. “It gets deposited every night at closing.”
The dirty-haired, yellow-eyed man moved closer to her. His body smelled of sweat and alcohol.
“Who said we were here for money?” the man sneered as he moved in her direction.
Tina’s vision blurred for a moment as she tried to assess her situation. Just beyond the man in front of her, four men of similar build stood near the entrance to the room and blocked any chance she had at escape. Panicked, Tina produced the steel of the scalpel and threatened the man as he advanced.
The man laughed at her attempt to defend herself as she jabbed at the air in his direction.
“If not money… then what?” she said.
The man’s tiny pupils looked up and down the length of Tina’s body. His tongue slithered out of his mouth as he ogled her curves. Her eyes widened at the implication. Tina held her makeshift weapon high and slashed the air in between them. The man leaned away from her as she waved the scalpel.
“Don’t flatter yourself, honey,” he said with a sinister chuckle. “We aren’t here for that, either. Although, now that you mention it, that’s not such a bad idea.”
Tina staggered back until she could move no further. A hard, dry swallow forced its way down her throat.
“Well, then why are you here?” she said.
“You know who we are and why we’ve come,” he began. “Resisting this will only make it worse for you.”
“Listen,” she began as the awareness
of their true purpose dawned upon her. “You don’t have to do this. Whatever the pack is paying you, I can match it… double it even.”
Her body trembled with uncertainty as her words babbled out.
“Or we can kill you and take all your money as well,” he said. “I think I like the sound of that plan a lot better.”
Tina’s head dodged from one side to the other as she tried to formulate a plan of escape. The man closed to within a couple of feet and then stopped. His lips parted to reveal a menacing smile.
“Get ’er,” he said with a wave of his hand.
For an instant, she considered a shift but then realized that would make the situation far worse. Instead, she dropped the blade and threw her hands in the air in surrender. At this point, the only thing she had left was hope. But before the scalpel hit the ground, a blanket of hands groped her body and threw her to the ground.
“What are you…” she yelled before a hand closed over her mouth.
In the very next instant, she felt a violent rip at the bottoms of her scrubs. The cotton fabric tore away with ease as she screamed into the palm of the man above her. In the next instant, another set of fingers grabbed at her top and slashed it.
Horrified and now half-naked, Tina thrashed about with all her might. Almost as quickly, the man produced a gag and wrapped it tight around her head and mouth. A second pair of hands secured her hands at the wrists and her feet at the ankles.
“Lie still,” a voice said. “This will be over before you know it. Then… you will have to settle your debt with the pack.”
“Nnnnn!!!” she screamed as the flurry of rips and tears continued. Tina bucked and gyrated but with each movement, she felt her strength slip. Powerless to stop them, she still fought with everything she had. A sudden slap to her cheek sent her reeling with dizziness. Through bleary eyes, she rolled her head to see the men in various stages of undress all around her. Fear shook her as the seconds dripped by in terror. Her head fell back onto the cold tile beneath as the men readied themselves to do their worst to her.
She Howled, They Came Page 12
