Fate Succumbs

by Tammy Blackwell

  “You didn’t tell her?” Talley appeared at my elbow. I could see why Wolf Scout didn’t immediately recognize her. She looked different. Her hair was different. The way she held herself was different. Even the way she dressed was different. “You’ve been with her for two months and didn’t tell her Jase was a mole? You let her believe her brother was actually on the same side as the Alphas?”

  She was standing up to Liam? Maybe this wasn’t the real Talley after all.

  “You thought…?” The look Liam gave me made me feel a bit like a two-headed cockroach. “He’s your brother. How could you think that?”

  Wait. I was the bad guy here? No. Nuh-uh. I don’t think so.

  “You knew?” Righteous indignation laced my words. “Let me guess, it was all part of the Liam Cole Plan. Was letting me feel betrayed and broken down part of that plan, too? Did it make me more malleable? Did I bend easier to your will since I had so little left to fight for?” I am a trained martial arts fighter. I have a black belt in four different disciplines. Yet, when my fist pounded against his stupid arrogant chest, it was the same inconsequential swat women have been giving larger, stronger men since the dawn of time. “You…. You… You ass!”

  I put both hands on his chest and shoved with all my might. He staggered back a few steps, though more out of shock than my brute strength. Liam’s jaw clenched as he shifted his weight slightly, and I could see in his eyes that the gloves were off. I put my weight on the balls of my feet and brought up my hands.

  Things were about to get interesting.

  “Jase! Do something!” Talley demanded.

  “No need,” he replied. “I’ve got a pretty good view right here.”

  “Jase!”

  “Come on, Tal. He deserves it.”

  Showing the utmost confidence in me, Talley said, “He’ll hurt her.”

  “Well, maybe she deserves it, too.”

  I weighed my options. Liam was bigger, stronger, and possibly even faster. I had to be smarter. He would expect stealth and misdirection, but if I went straight at him? Would I catch him off-guard enough to have the advantage? There was only one way to find out--

  “Are you sure there is a cave up here?” Came a giggling voice from about halfway down the mountain.

  Crap.

  “I promise. It’s called Murder Cave because --”

  “We have company,” Liam announced. I thought about adding a “No, duh,” on there, but realized he was probably saying it for Talley’s benefit.

  “Seriously?” Make that Talley and Jase’s benefit.

  Liam shot me a look and said, “We can discuss this late, but we need to move now. It’s too risky for us all to be seen together.”

  “We’re parked near Chimney Rock,” Talley said. “You?”

  “Princess Arch,” Liam answered. Jase made a valiant effort to not laugh, but was unsuccessful.

  “Okay, Jase will go with you and guide you back to the house, and Scout will come with me.”

  “You’ll never find your way down the mountain,” Jase said exactly at the same time as Liam declared, “It’s too risky for you to be seen with her.”

  The look of annoyance Talley shot the both of them was priceless. “One, I grew up hiking these trails, Jase. In case you’ve forgotten, I’m the one who guided us here.” She turned towards Liam, who had the sense not to glare back. “And two, what risk? Who is going to recognize her? I’m her best friend and it took me a while to realize the person behind the wig and color contacts was Scout.”

  “Sunglasses,” was all he said in response.

  Delighted over Talley’s ability to put the boys in their place, I slipped the sunglasses back on with a smile.

  Chapter 8

  “How are my parents? How is Angel?” The questions came spewing out the moment Talley put the key in the ignition. “Charlie?”

  “Everyone is fine.” She turned her palm up so she could squeeze my hand in hers. Through our bond she sent a shot of reassurance. “They’re fine, Scout.”

  I took a deep breath, trusting her unlike I would anyone else. She may have looked different, but she was still my Talley. I could feel her goodness in every cell of my body, and if Talley said they were okay, then they were okay. But still…

  “Details. Lots of them, please.”

  Talley backed the car out of the parking spot before fulfilling my request. “It’s been a bit tricky with your parents. Jase is playing the part of Sarvarna’s lapdog, and she’s keeping a pretty close eye on anything he does, so he can’t just out and tell them what is going on. Luckily, I have a bit more leeway. They keep me around because my skills are valuable, but they all think I’m too much of an emotional basket case and way too devoted to you to be of any real use. So, I’ve been the one to talk to your parents mainly. I keep it vague so as not to get the Alpha Pack nosing around and to keep your folks from freaking out, but they know you’re alive and in hiding. Your dad wanted to go out and find you, thinking he could protect you from whatever you need protecting from, but Jase managed to stop him.”

  She tapped her finger on the steering wheel. “And…?” I prompted, knowing there was something there she wasn’t so keen on sharing.

  “And, well, they’re currently not speaking to each other, but don’t worry. It’ll work itself out.”

  I sighed as I slid back against the seat. Dad and Jase weren’t speaking to each other? Great. Add that to the list of things I’ve royally screwed up just by being me.

  “Angel?”

  Talley smiled, which made me nervous. Things other people found amusing about my little sister usually aren’t that funny to me. “Well, of course she has no clue about what is really going on and thinks the whole car crash story is true...”

  “Oh God.” Somehow that seemed worse. “The news is implying I’m dead.” Poor Angel. My poor, sweet, innocent little--

  “…So she called CNN to set them straight. She left a message telling Nancy Grace to shut her stupid mouth and quit saying her sister is dead, because she’s not.”

  “She did not. She’s only seven, for pity’s sake. Where would she even get the phone number?”

  Talley was really going to have to stop smiling like that. My peace of mind was in serious jeopardy. “She may have been under the influence of Jase.”

  “This is the reason they really should be kept apart as much as possible.” Although, I found I was actually grinning a little bit myself. “Did Nancy Grace reply?”

  “Oh yes. She played the voicemail on air. The whole world got to hear Angel call her a lying wicked witch.”

  “Nuh-uh.”

  “She did!”

  Talley slowed down to a virtual crawl, letting a red pickup pass. I glanced in the rearview mirror and saw a familiar blue-grey car.

  “She’s sorta kinda grounded from now until she’s thirty, but that’s probably for the best. Angel isn’t exactly the kind of kid who needs access to computers and phones. There’s no limit to the amount of havoc she could cause.”

  “True,” I admitted. “And if she’s grounded, that means Mom and Dad will be keeping an extra-close eye on her. That makes me feel a little better.”

  Talley reached over and gave me another reassuring hand squeeze. “Everyone is fine.”

  “Everyone?” I bit the inside of my lip so hard I tasted blood. “The news said he was in critical condition.”

  We were at a stop light, so Talley was able to turn to look at me. After some consideration she said, “Can you promise to not make a single sound?”

  I shook my head, but was truly confused where this was heading until she punched some buttons on the console. After a few seconds the pop music, which had been pouring through the speakers, ceased and a trilling filled the car.

  He answered on the third ring.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, Chuck! How are you feeling?” To my knowledge Talley never called Charlie Chuck. In fact, as far as I knew, I was the only person given that honor.
r />   “Talley?” He sounded weak. Not zombified or sad, just not strong. Like maybe he wasn’t really used to talking and needed a nap.

  “Yep. It’s me. Jase and I decided to head into Eastern Kentucky for the weekend. He needed some air, and I wanted to look for bears.”

  Bears…?

  “Did you find one?”

  “Two actually.”

  There was a rush of air over the speakers and when Charlie spoke his voice was clenched. “And how were they?”

  “Good.” Talley spared me a glance which I really wished she wouldn't do since she was navigating an overly curvy road. “Really good. A little tired and cranky, but they’re bears. They’re supposed to be tired and cranky, right?”

  “Cranky is exactly how I like my bears.”

  With considerable effort, I swallowed my giggle.

  “Speaking of cranky bears,” Talley said, “how is your therapy going? You’re not still giving the physical therapists a hard time, are you?”

  Charlie was giving the physical therapists a hard time? That didn’t sound like Charlie. Jase? Yes. I’ve actually seen him go head-to-head with a trainer over a basketball injury, but Charlie is usually more laid back.

  “I’m not giving them a hard time. I just don’t understand why we can’t go ahead and increase what I’m doing if I’m ready. Anyway, they should want to push me harder. The sooner I can walk, the sooner I can go home and get out of their hair.”

  I gasped before I realized what I was doing, causing Talley to shoot me a shut-the-heck-up look.

  “Well, surely someone is there to keep you in line,” she said, more for my benefit I think than Charlie’s.

  “Yes, Mama Talley. Bob and Cory have been very good babysitters in your absence.” It sounded patronizing and sarcastic, but both Talley and I knew he secretly loved Talley’s overprotective, Mother Hen-like tendencies. “Actually, Cory is waving hello to you right now.”

  If Cory the Canadian, an Alpha Pack Taxiarho, was still around, either Liam was right about that whole Charlie-is-beloved-by-the-Alpha-Pack thing, or he was being treated to the same around-the-clock attention I enjoyed back in July. If it was the second, I wondered how they kept the gun trained on Charlie’s head without the nurses and doctors saying anything.

  “Hey, Tal. You remember that girl who quit high school and became a truck stop waitress? I think her name was Flo?” Talley raised her eyebrows at me, and I nodded. Leave it to Charlie to remember a random rant from a year ago. “If you see her, tell her I miss her. A lot. Is she still living with that guy?”

  “I don’t think they’re getting along too well, but yeah, they’re still together.”

  “Tell Flo to lay off him. He’s a good guy. He’ll take care of her.”

  He’ll forget to tell her that her brother didn’t really betray her and let her walk around with a shattered heart for no good reason. That’s what he will do. Not a good guy. Not someone I want to take care of me.

  Talley must have been able to see my thoughts etched across my face. “You know, I can imagine what Flo would say to that. I can’t tell you though, because I think it would involve a lot of cuss words.”

  Charlie laughed and it was one of the single most beautiful sounds in the whole world. “I’m sure it would. But she needs to believe me on this one. I know what I’m talking about, and she should trust him, one hundred percent.”

  I shook my head in denial, but Talley said, “I’ll tell her.”

  There was some commotion in the background, an IV pole beeping and a female voice.

  “I’ve got to go, but thanks, Tal. Thanks for calling me.”

  “Get some rest, Charlie.”

  “I love you.”

  Her hand reached out and grabbed mine. “Love you, too.”

  Then the connection was cut, and I burst into tears.

  Chapter 9

  “It’s not that bad,” Talley said, her fingers trying to fluff out my natural hair in vain. “It’s pixie-like.”

  “Remember Thomas Bardwell? That weird kid who was only around for the third and fourth grade?”

  “The guy who told us he had to move to Timber because a dragon ate his other house?”

  “Yeah.” He was also the kid who got a piece of corn stuck up his nose and didn’t tell anyone for three months. “I have his haircut.”

  Talley chuckled, throwing her arms around me for the tenth time in thirty minutes. “I’ve missed you so much,” she said for the twentieth time.

  “I’ve missed you, too,” I told the top of her shiny black hair. “It’s been lonely.”

  We were sitting on the porch swing of an old clapboard house watching the boys as they did something underneath the hood of our car. The place belonged to Talley’s Aunt Della, her mother’s non-Seeing sister, who was at a bluegrass festival in Virginia. Talley assured us her father’s pack wouldn’t come around due to some bad blood and hurt feelings, and Liam decided it was remote enough for us to stay the night. The house was located in a literal hole in the ground, accessible only by driving to the end of the world and hanging a right onto a single-lane serpentine road whose pavement had more cracks and chunks missing than could possibly be considered safe. The driveway was all but hidden and cut down at such an angle I may have left fingerprints in the dashboard of the CRV Talley was driving. The house itself looked like something out of a Depression era picture on the outside and a ceramic doll museum on the inside.

  That’s right. Ceramic dolls. Hundreds of them staring at you from every available surface.

  There was a reason Talley and I chose to sit on the porch instead of inside on the couch.

  “I really should do the selfless thing and leave, but I can’t seem to make myself do it,” I said. Even though the house was seriously isolated and Talley assured me no one other than her trusted Aunt Della would ever know we were there, I kept thinking about what would happen if someone found Jase and Talley with me. I was a dangerous person to be around.

  Talley patted my leg. “Stop worrying so much. Liam wouldn’t have brought you to the meet-up point if he thought there was any chance of danger. He’s had every contingency planned out for this meeting since July.”

  My teeth ground together. “Of course he has.”

  “How is life with Liam?” She asked cautiously. She was still cuddled against my chest, so there is no way she missed my growl.

  “Stubborn, self-important ass.” I was taking what Charlie said into consideration, but trusting Liam didn’t mean I had to like him.

  Talley jerked up, scandalized. “Scout! You shouldn’t say that.”

  “I’m just stating facts, Tal. Honestly, this is the watered down, if-you-can’t-say-something-nice-don’t-say-anything-at-all version. Would you like to hear what I really think of him?”

  “He’s not that bad.”

  At that moment he was telling Jase how to hold a wrench, and even more annoying than that, Jase was letting Liam tell him how to hold a wrench.

  “Oh, you’re right, Tal. He’s a peach. Always so happy and warm to be near. And the way he’s so open and honest, and how he never tries to boss anyone around. A diamond in the rough, that one.”

  “Shhh! Library voices,” Talley said, digging an elbow into my ribs.

  “Why?” I said a little too loudly. “I don’t care what he thinks.”

  “Scout, please don’t provoke the extremely Dominant Shifter who is very angry with you at the moment.”

  “The moment? Try ‘the life’.” I scowled towards where the boys were now removing some part of the car which was probably necessary for it to operate. I hoped they knew what they were doing. “And I’m the one who has a right to be angry here. How could he not tell me that Jase was only following his orders? Do you have idea what it was like for me to stand there and hear him say those things? To think that he didn’t care they were going to kill me?” I wanted to cry so I screamed instead. “And your mother. God, Talley. I mean, it was like she hated me.”

&
nbsp; Talley’s head jerked down and her fingers immediately went to her hair.

  “Talley, your mom was just putting on a show, right? Like Jase? It’s all part of Liam’s Let’s Torture Scout Plan?”

  “You have to understand,” Talley said in a small voice, “my mother was raised with some very strong beliefs. And with my dad being so close, close enough to prod and provoke…”

  “She wasn’t acting.”

  “She was doing what she thought was right--”

  Betrayal hurts just as much the second time around. “How could she? She’s your mom. She taught me how to skip and play hop-scotch…”

  Talley’s eyes were overflowing. “I know. I know. I’ve tried to talk to her, but I’ve got to play the part of a good little Alpha Potential, and…” A sniffle and lots of rubbing of the cheeks. “I’m sorry, Scout. So, so sorry.”

  I wasn’t going to cry again. I refused. Anyway, Talley was shedding enough tears for the two of us.

  “It’s not your fault,” I said, meaning it. Like we have any control over our parents. I mean, mine are pretty great most of the time, but when your dad is the superintendent for the school? There are lots of times you have to apologize to your friends for things he does. Sure, he never tried to get any of them killed, but he did make us switch to a schedule that made our summers super-short. When you’re thirteen, two weeks less summer vacation feels like someone is trying to kill you. “I don’t blame you. I would never blame you.”

  A wrench or socket or some such thing landed with a thunk on the porch. “Just me, right?” Jase said, squinting against the afternoon sun.

  “What are you talking about? I don’t blame you for Mrs. Matthews’ turning me over to the Alphas.”

  His jaw muscles twitched. “You sure? I mean, why not? You believed I would willingly stand there and let them take you.”

  Well, it looked like we were going to do this now.