Fate Succumbs

by Tammy Blackwell

  Liam was exhausted and in pain. I was certain because there was no other way he would have curled up on his good side beside me on the bed, his hand resting on my out-stretched leg. It was a pose of familiarity and submission, neither things Liam showed willingly.

  “My fault,” he said, his words muffled with weariness. “I know better than to stay so close to a Shifter when they’re Changing. I wasn’t thinking. You had been laying there so long, barely breathing. I thought you were gone once there in the night, but I could still hear your heart, and then, finally, your breaths.” His hand did this absent-minded rub/squeeze thing on my leg. “When you finally started Changing this morning I tried to help, like there was really anything I could do. I was stupid, and got these nice parting gifts to show for it.”

  “Last night…?” I looked out the window. The sun was just starting to set. I thought I had been out for an hour, maybe two max, but… “How long was I unconscious?”

  “Just a day.”

  Just a day? A whole day?

  Something else was wrong. Alex had said Liam needed me, and I knew he was right looking into Liam’s eyes. Whatever it was, I knew I would move heaven and earth - or at least leave heaven for earth - to ease whatever pain it was lurking in their depths.

  “You can’t do it,” he said. “You can’t fight her. You’ve got to keep hiding.”

  I would do anything except that.

  “Someone has to fight for all those lost little girls and the ones who haven’t been born, Liam.”

  “We’ll find another way.”

  “There isn’t another way,” I said. “At least not a better way. I’ve got to do this.”

  “No.” The rub/squeeze thing turned into a just plain old squeeze, and a somewhat painful one at that.

  “I promised Nicole. I have to do this.”

  “You can’t.” It wasn’t a command, but a plea. “I can’t lose you, too. You can’t leave me like they did.” He was shaking. Hands, arms, and lips trembled. “Please, Scout. Please don’t leave me.”

  In that moment all the confusion over what I felt melted away. Human Scout saw things with Wolf Scout’s clarity. Liam needed me. As I leaned down, he rose up to meet me. And when the sheet started to fall, neither of us reached out to stop it.

  ***

  While Liam caught up on his much needed sleep, I began to close up the cabin. I put anything we hadn’t used, which wasn’t much, in one of the cabinets, stored all our tools, and had a bonfire with all the left-over garbage. I swept out the cabin, covered the smoldering embers with snow, and rounded up all my animal traps. And then I waited. And waited. And when I got bored with that, I had nothing to do but wait some more.

  More than once I checked to make sure he was still breathing.

  “I’ve got everything ready to go,” I said once he was finally awake and dressed.

  All the tenderness and vulnerability was gone from his face when he said, “Go where?”

  “America?”

  His eyes narrowed. “This is America.”

  “This is Canada.”

  “Which is in North America.”

  Silly Canadians wanting to be part of the Cool Kids Club. “Fine. The States. The good ol’ USA. The land of the free and home of the brave.”

  “No.”

  “Excuse me?” While Prince Not-Always-So-Charming got his beauty sleep, I worried about how I would be able to face him without dying of embarrassment and shame after what transpired before he escaped to Dreamland. That worry quickly turned to anger at his superior, condescending tone.

  “We’re not going to the United States.”

  “Yes, we are. It’s time. I’m as ready as I’m ever going to be. And we’re going to do this on my terms. Not theirs. Not hers. Not yours.” I pushed into his personal space. “We’re returning to civilization so I can rebuild my strength and put on a little more muscle.” We hadn’t starved over the winter, but we hadn’t been eating well enough to keep our weight up with all the training we were doing. Both of us fought a constant battle to keep our clothes from falling off our shrinking bodies. “When I’m back to a hundred percent, I’ll make my Challenge.” I jerked my chin up, putting the force of my conviction into my words. “I’m ready.”

  A muscle jumped in Liam’s jaw. “And if I say no?”

  “You can’t stop me, so don’t even try. It’ll be a waste of breath.”

  I’ve heard people talk about the air being charged before, but I didn’t really get it until that moment. Liam and I stood face to face… or face to chest if you want to be technical. But even though I had to crane my neck to look him in the eye, I didn’t feel small or disadvantaged. In fact, I felt powerful, as if the Dominance I had seen on other Shifters, like the Stratego, was pouring off of me in waves. And that Dominance? It was colliding up against the Dominance Liam was throwing off just as strongly. If I could have broken eye contact without yielding I would’ve looked around to see if it was actually happening, but I didn’t really have to. I felt it in every cell of my body.

  Just when I thought we were going to have to solve this with a fury of fists, Liam dropped his eyes, sighed, and ran his hand over the back of his head.

  “We don’t have a canoe,” he said, all aggression bled from his voice. “There’s another path back to civilization, but it’s going to take more than a night to get there, and there won’t be anything fit for our human forms between here and there.”

  “What are our other options?”

  “There will be a boat waiting for us after June first. We wait until then and go back the way we came.”

  No way was I sitting around here and waiting until then. “I can hold my wolf form long enough to get us wherever we’re going. We’ll leave today.”

  Instead of arguing, Liam asked, “When today?”

  I looked around the cabin that had been my home for half a year and knew there was nothing left for me here. “How about right now?”

  Chapter 23

  “Everyone is staring at us.”

  Liam glanced up from his All-Star Special. “If by ‘everyone’ you mean a nearly comatose drunk man and the homeless woman having a conversation with the salt shaker, than yes. Everyone is staring at us.”

  We were in Ely, Minnesota. I think Liam may have been aiming for Fargo, but we got a little off course somewhere.

  “The waitress keeps cutting her eyes over here,” I muttered without moving my lips. I tugged on the XXL Harley Davidson hoodie engulfing me. “What if she recognizes the clothes and calls the cops?”

  Liam grabbed a piece of toast off my plate. “She doesn’t recognize your clothes,” he said, not even attempting to be discreet. “And even if she did, she’s not going to call 9-1-1 over some stolen pajama bottoms and a sweatshirt when I’m pretty sure her co-worker is cooking up a side of meth to go with everyone’s waffles.”

  I tugged on the hoodie again. It felt wrong against my skin, all scratchy and sinful as if I was having an allergic reaction to immorally obtained clothing.

  I had never stolen anything before in my life. When we were kids, Jase took a Snickers from the Five Star when Mom wouldn’t buy him one. I ate one bite, and it felt like a lump of lead sitting in my stomach. It was my last brush with thievery until Liam and I assumed human form again for the first time in several days. I hid in the bushes while he broke into the house and procured something to cover our nudity and enough money for a Waffle House smorgasbord.

  Maybe I would have felt differently if he thought to grab me something other than a pair of four inch too-short pink jogging pants and a hoodie big enough for two Scouts to fit in.

  Liam, meanwhile, was sporting a pair of snug fitting jeans and an almost-too-tight black shirt, which might have been the true reason for our waitress’s frequent glances.

  A bell jingled as a couple of men in matching work shirts came through the door.

  “We’re going to have to get out of here soon.” Liam mumbled around his coffee cup.

/>   I nodded, noticing an old SUV and beat-up station wagon pulling into the parking lot. “Yeah, it looks like the breakfast crew is arriving. Any ideas about where we should go?”

  “I can get my hands on a phone and call Miriam and have her send us some money, but it’ll take an hour or two before she can get it, and then we’ll have to find a Wal-Mart or something with a Western Union.”

  I nodded at the building that held my attention through much of the evening. “Let’s go there,” I said. “They’ll probably let you use a phone, and there are some books I want to look at again.”

  Liam turned so he could see what I was talking about. “A library? Seriously?”

  “There is nothing wrong with being smart.” I started to slide out of the booth. “Brains and the ability to Change at will. Honestly, Liam, what more could you want in a woman?” I realized what I was implying as it slipped out of my mouth. I continued on to the bathroom just as I had begun to do, not looking back so I wouldn’t see the panicked horror I knew was etched on his face.

  ***

  There weren’t any hours posted on the library’s entrance. It was too early in the morning for it to be open, but I tried the doors anyway. Amazingly, they were unlocked.

  It was a small library, probably the same size as the one I frequented in Timber. But where our library was housed in an old church and was filled with dark wood, stained glass windows, and an air of reverence, this was one of those completely modern affairs with lots of gleaming metal, taupe colored furniture, and glaring lights. I did a quick sweep of my surroundings - which were completely deserted with the exception of Liam and me - and headed off towards the stacks with purpose.

  Although I had never visited the Ely Special Collections Library in person before, I was familiar with part of its collection. When I first found out what Alex was, I requested a ton of books on werewolves through Inter-Library Loan in my uber-nerdy research attempt. The most informative books came from this library.

  I thought I would be able to walk straight to what I was looking for, but I was wrong. Unlike the Lake County Public Library, there weren’t just a handful of books on aliens, vampires, and werewolves hanging out at the beginning of the non-fiction section. No, their selection went on for aisles and aisles. I wandered the rows, my fingers trailing over the spines, most of which were simply stapled together or had one of those cheap ringed bindings. I came seeking one of the books I borrowed forever ago, but what I discovered was even more interesting. To heck with a few hours, I could spend days here.

  Unfortunately, I wasn’t going to have even a single hour, let alone the endless ones I craved.

  I sensed the buzz of power in the air at the same time Liam did. He was silently following me, but as soon as a tickle creeped across our skin letting us know another powerful Shifter or Seer was nearby, he jumped to attention, attempting to push me behind his tense body.

  It might have worked better if I hadn’t been trying to shove him behind me at the same time.

  Here’s the thing, at this point I should have known that you couldn’t predict the amount of power a Shifter or Seer yielded by their physical appearance. Toby is nowhere near the biggest or scariest looking Hagan, yet he's the Pack Leader. Talley is chubby and quiet and smiles more often than not. To the casual observer she looks as harmless as a butterfly, but she's the strongest Seer I’ve ever encountered, including Sarvarna. So, I shouldn’t have had any expectations as to who was stepping into the end of the aisle, but apparently I did, because I was completely shocked to see a wizened old lady, her white hair bundled on top of her head while she supported her weight with a walker. I took comfort in knowing I wasn’t the only one in shock. Liam froze as the little old lady came into view, and the woman herself looked as if she saw a ghost. And then a wide smile that looked vaguely familiar spread across her face.

  “Bryce Allen Burkett.” Her voice carried a faint British accent. “You finally got around to visiting your old aunt. Now, come, and give me a hug.”

  Chapter 24

  “You have an aunt?”

  “Of course he has an aunt,” the old lady said. “Did you think he was born into a pack of wolves?” She started down the aisle, and although it obviously took a great deal of effort on her part, there was no doubt of the challenge in her movement.

  “No, I don’t.” Liam took advantage of my shock and deftly maneuvered me behind him with a well placed elbow and hip. “I don’t know who you are--”

  “Rachel Frye-Bettany, sister of Judith Frye-Mitchell, the mother of Alexandria Mitchell-Burkett, the mother of Bryce, Christopher, and Nicole Burkett.” She smiled and I saw dimples hiding in the landscape of wrinkles. “I’ve looked forward to seeing you again for a very long time.”

  Liam was so tense I thought he might crumble into a million little Liam pieces. I could feel his back muscles straining beneath my hand, which is how I realized my hand was resting on his lower back in a completely unacceptable fashion. I jerked it back quickly, but then had to face the task of figuring out where to put it. I stuffed it into my pocket, propped it on my hip, and let it hang down to my side.

  Having appendages had never been so perplexing.

  “Bryce Burkett is dead,” Liam said, oblivious to my Hokey-Pokey dance.

  “Yes, my records indicate he died alongside his parents and brother in a house fire over five years ago.” Liam tensed even more at her arch tone. It didn’t show on his face, and my hands were both stuffed dutifully into the kangaroo pouch of my stolen hoodie, but still I knew. I could feel his tension and unease like a ghost with his scent residing quietly beside my own emotions.

  “Three years later the Alpha Pack made it known they were seeking two rogue Shifters. Teenagers. Grey eyes. Brown hair with a hint of ginger. Later, they identified them as Liam and Alex Cole.” The old lady’s hands clenched on the walker, her fragile skin stretched tight over misshapen knuckles, and leaned over until she was in Liam’s personal space. “Bryce Burkett was a four year old who picked me wildflowers and peppered my face with kisses. Liam Cole is a dangerous man, a threat to the very structure of our society.”

  A flash of recognition in Liam’s eyes.

  “Will you give us a head start?”

  “No.”

  Crap. I really didn’t want to have to hurt an old lady, especially one with purple tennis balls stuck on the feet of her walker.

  “You’re not leaving,” she said, and I began thinking of a way to disable her without breaking her hip. “You will stay at the Safe House for at least one week. After a week, you can run off and save the world if you must, but first you will give me a week.” When neither Liam nor I responded - me because I was still trying to figure out if punching an elderly person would cause them to have a stroke - she gave us an Alex smile. “I’m an old lady. All I have left are memories and family. Please. One week to get to know you again is all I ask. Marie and Michelle are probably prepping the Safe House as I speak.”

  I was a little misty-eyed. Liam? Not so much.

  “How do I know this isn’t a trap?”

  “Liam!” I smacked his arm with the hand which had yet again found its way to his back. “Of course it isn’t a trap. She’s your aunt!” And really, really old, I added mentally. I mean, seriously, old ladies were nice, unless, of course, they were like evil witches or whatever, but I wasn’t getting that vibe off this lady at all.

  “She’s the Bibliothecary. Her loyalty is to the Alphas.”

  “My loyalty is to my family.”

  Maybe I’m a sentimental idiot, but I believed her.

  “We’ll go,” I said. Liam started to argue, but I held up a finger. “But know this, you betray us, and we’ll react accordingly. We won’t care whose blood you share or how long you’ve been alive.”

  She flashed her dimples again. “Oh, I like her,” she said. “You picked a good mate, Bryce.”

  On that she turned herself around, which was a multi-step process. “Come on,” she said, amblin
g up the aisle. “The girls will be anxious, and it takes me a while to get moving. My legs aren’t quite what they used to be.” She chuckled, as if her inability to walk without assistance was some sort of joke.

  I looked at Liam and raised my eyebrows. He shrugged. With a deep breath, Liam started after her, me at his heels. We were both aware there was someone walking up to the library before the front door opened, but Rachel didn’t notice him until he strode up to the Circulation Desk.

  “We’re closed,” she snapped to the man who looked as ancient as she did. “Go away, Carl.”

  “It’s Friday, Rachel, and you’re open to the public on Fridays. The lights are on. The door was unlocked.” He slapped a hand down on the desk. “Now, I have a reference question.”

  Rachel huffed. “Unless that question pertains to where you can find the nearest exit, I don’t want to hear it. Go away. Shoo.”

  “Did she just ‘shoo’ that man?” I asked Liam out of the corner of my mouth.

  He nodded ever so slightly, his attention never leaving his long-lost aunt who had transformed from lonely old lady to spitfire in an instant.

  “It’s Friday.”

  “We’re closed.”

  The man leaned a little harder against the desk, though whether it was to show his resistance or because he needed the support, I couldn’t tell. “You kicking those two out, too?”

  “We’re all leaving,” she said, hobbling past him without a glance. “Gas leak. Stay if you want. I’m sure Randi will be glad to finally get her inheritance.”

  The old man muttered some choice phrases about crotchety librarians and ungrateful children, but he followed us out of the building and to Rachel’s gigantic luxury car which cost roughly the same amount as my parents’ house.

  “You open the Archives to the public?” Liam asked from the passenger’s seat once Rachel safely maneuvered us onto the road. And by “safely” I mean “I can’t believe that semi-truck didn’t hit us and send us to our graves.”