by Megan Morgan
Lorena could have vomited right then and there.
Instead, she boosted herself up and got to her feet. “No, Hazel, we’re not anything alike.”
Hazel tilted her head back to look at her.
“Because you, in addition to having no respect for others, have no respect for yourself. That’s the saddest part.” Lorena reached behind her and tightened her ponytail with a yank. “You degraded yourself to keep a lying, cheating man by your side. A man you can only keep around with the use of magic. I, on the other hand, am willing to lose a man who truly loves me if it means keeping him safe.”
Hazel opened her mouth, but said nothing.
“And that’s why we’re nothing alike, Hazel.”
A shout came from across the camp.
The Wolvite guards rushed into the trees, shifting into their animals forms as they did.
“Someone approaches!” a witch shouted.
“He’s here.” Lorena turned to Hazel. “Get inside.”
Most of the Wolvites ran off into the trees, but Kendrick remained. Lorena hurried over to him.
“We should bring Neala out,” he said. “He may only punish her.”
Lorena stopped at his side. “I’m all about her getting punished.” Muffled growls came from the darkness. Maybe that was how they greeted each other. She could hope, right? “I’m not sure she’s going to cooperate, though.”
Kendrick suddenly stiffened. He bared his teeth and growled. Lorena flinched.
Kendrick sniffed the air and narrowed his eyes. “Lycans.”
Lorena stared into the trees. “What?”
“Lycans are approaching.” He held a hand out to her. “Stay here.” He dashed into the trees.
Lorena stood frozen, breath held. She could make out vague shapes in the distance. She prayed it wasn’t Deacon, but she couldn’t imagine what other Lycans it would be.
Shortly, Kendrick strode back through the trees, followed by other Wolvites in human form. They led several humans behind them.
It was indeed Deacon—and Jack, and Zeke. They all held rifles, but they were lowered.
“Deacon.” Lorena went to him. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Deacon seemed reluctant, and cautious, eyeing Kendrick who towered before them. “We ain’t here to cause no trouble. We needed to know Lorena and Grammy was all right, that you haven’t done nothing to them.”
A shriek cut the air. Lorena looked around. Hazel toddled toward them, arms open.
“I knew you’d find us! Oh, my boys. My boys!”
“I told you they wouldn’t hurt her.” Lorena turned back to Deacon. “We’re fine. You shouldn’t have come here.”
Deacon’s clear blue eyes were clouded with worry, and beseeching, too. She wanted to smack him but she also wanted to hug him.
“We want Melanie,” Jack said. “She’s going to pay for what she’s done. And we’re taking them back.” He nodded to Hazel and Lorena. “You let us do that, won’t be no trouble. We’ll go and leave you to it.”
Lorena glared at him. “You’re not taking me anywhere. You can take Hazel back, but I’m staying.”
“She thinks she’s doing something noble.” Hazel was back to her imperious self. “I tried to tell her how foolish she is. Oh, I’m so eager to get out of here. This place is dreadful, just dreadful!”
Lorena was about to punch someone again, and it would probably be her.
“We’re doomed!” a witch cried out. “The Lycans have found us!”
A commotion rose, along with a few hysterical wails.
“We ain’t gonna hurt no one.” Deacon spoke over the noise. “We just wanna take our women and be on our way!”
“I cannot give you Neala,” Kendrick said. “We need her to speak to our leader.”
Deacon gazed at Lorena, jaw tight.
“I’m sorry,” she said softly. “This has been a bad week.”
He shook his head. “You can say that again.”
“Part of it is my fault.” She glanced at Hazel. “But I have self-respect. I know what I can and can’t live with, and I can’t live with the destruction of a species when it could have been avoided, and I can’t live with not taking a chance to make things better when the opportunity presents itself.”
Deacon nodded. “I understand that. I know why you gotta do this. It’s the scientist in you.”
She didn’t reply.
“But, it’s because of who you are, too.”
She tilted her head.
“You didn’t grow up in this. You didn’t grow up with them gnashing at you and having to shoot back all the time. You see some good, and that’s not a bad thing.”
She swallowed.
“You ain’t stupid.” His face sagged. “You’re feisty and strong, and maybe, at the end of the day, you got the right idea. I don’t want my kids growing up in this mess.” He looked at Kendrick. “I expect you’d like your families to live in peace too, without having to watch out for Lycans.”
Kendrick drew himself up. “If peace is possible, it must wait, for now. We have another issue. We need to stop Abernathy from retaliating against us.”
Lorena took a deep breath. “You should go, Deacon. Take Hazel with you and get out of here. Abernathy isn’t going to listen to reason if you’re here.”
“What if he attacks you?” Deacon held up his gun. “Maybe we can help.”
Jack stepped forward. “We ain’t helping them, Deacon. Let’s take the girls and leave them to it.”
“We got firepower.” Deacon ignored him and spoke to Kendrick still. “We can protect you.”
“Deacon,” Zeke said sharply.
Lorena shook her head. “The better face we show him, the less likely he is to hurt these people. We have to hand Neala over to him.”
“Wait,” Kendrick said. He furrowed his heavy brow. “How did you find us here?”
Deacon shrugged. “We was walking through the woods, came across some of your clan. We asked them to show us the way.”
“Didn’t even bother to disarm us,” Jack said dryly. “You bunch better get a little smarter if you want to survive.”
Kendrick’s black eyes widened. “None of our Wolvites are in the woods. We have been here, waiting for Abernathy.”
Lorena tensed. “What’s going on?”
The other Wolvites suddenly blinked to their animal forms and rushed into the camp.
“Abernathy.” Kendrick grabbed Lorena’s arm and looked into her face. “He is already here.”
Chapter 20
As if on cue, howls rose in the distance, like a chorus of eerie war cries. Lorena backed up, toward the camp where the rest of the group was now fleeing.
“He has tricked us.” Kendrick still held her arm, backing up with her.
Deacon, Jack, and Zeke turned toward the trees and raised their guns.
“We have to try to talk to him,” Lorena said. “He won’t just walk in here and slaughter everyone, will he? What kind of leader is that?”
Kendrick let go of her. “I cannot say what he will do. You should run, all of you. Get out of here.”
Deacon looked back at Lorena. “He’s right. We start now, we might get out.”
“No.” She pulled her gun from the holster on her hip. “There’s nowhere to run.”
Indeed, the howls came from all around now, interspersed with snarls that rolled low and noxious from the trees like a black fog. Hazel cowered behind Lorena. The Wolvites from the camp filled the air with their own howls.
Deacon, Jack, and Zeke didn’t seem to know where to aim. Lorena looked down at her own gun, and something occurred to her. Instead of bothering to aim, which was fruitless, she quickly tucked it into the back of her pants and jammed it in deep enough it wouldn’t be seen beneath the hem of her shirt.
Wolvites burst from the trees, all in animal form, and quickly circled the camp. Their commotion vibrated the air. They flowed out of the trees, giving way to the sole Wolvite in human form, who
strode toward them, hulking and purposeful.
“How easy this makes things.” Abernathy’s voice boomed. “All in one spot, traitors, witch, and Lycans.”
Lorena waited for a shot to be fired. Deacon and his cousins couldn’t kill all of them, they’d run out of ammo first.
Abernathy lifted his hand. “Disarm them.”
Several Wolvites transformed into humans. Lorena nearly screamed as they rushed at the Lycans. One materialized in front of Deacon, a giant man with long dark hair, and wrenched the rifle from his hands. She noted, with a twinge of relief, they didn’t pat him down for anything else.
Jack and Zeke were less willing to give up their weapons, but did after some struggle and protest. Jack seethed. Zeke looked terrified. Deacon glanced at her, his gaze furious. When the Wolvites walked over, she held her hands up.
“I don’t have any weapons. Do you think Kendrick would allow me to come here with a gun?”
They turned away.
“It is a shame,” Abernathy said. “We did not disarm you previously because I was hoping you would take care of things for me, or at least get the task started. You are not so mighty as you pretend to be, Lycan filth.”
“Be careful with them things.” Deacon nodded at the guns the Wolvites were now carelessly handling. “You’ll shoot your fool heads off.”
Indeed, the Wolvites weren’t versed in any sort of gun safety. They seemed more fascinated by them than cautious.
“Let ‘em!” Jack barked. “Save us the trouble.”
“Abernathy.” Kendrick stepped forward. “Why are you doing this?”
“You know full well.” He turned his fiery gaze on Kendrick. “You have betrayed me. You disobeyed me. I do not take such things lightly.”
Lorena spoke up. “Neala disobeyed you. She was the one who went against your wishes. We tried to stop her.”
Abernathy focused on her, and his gaze was as cold as it was burning. It bored deep into her mind, nearly forcing her to her knees. The vast, heavy touch of his power made her shudder. His gravity seemed to swallow everything around her.
“We did not act against you,” Kendrick said. “She and those like-minded did. We are sickly and weak. We would not invite further hardship on ourselves.”
“Yes, weak.” Abernathy bared his wide, blunt teeth at Kendrick. “Too long I have allowed weakness amongst our kind. It is why we continue to fight the Lycans when we should have destroyed them long ago. And here you are, keeping company with them.”
“If our kind is to ever be whole again,” Kendrick said, “things must change.”
Abernathy wouldn’t agree, Lorena knew that now. He’d used her, as Deacon said, given her the book for his own gain. Maybe she could use that to her advantage, though.
“Bring her out.” Kendrick motioned to one of his Wolvites. “Bring Neala and let her confess her crimes. We had nothing to do with her betrayal.”
Several Wolvites immediately went to Neala’s shack.
“Neala will tell you we did not conspire with her,” Kendrick said. “You may punish her as you see fit.”
“May I?” Abernathy’s voice was a growl.
Lorena took a deep breath. “I have the cure. You wanted me to find it, and I did.” She looked around. The witches had the bowl with the base for the potion. “I’ll give it to you, as a sign of good faith, if you leave these poor wounded people alone.”
Abernathy drew his lips back in a sneer. “These are not ‘people,’ these are ancient and deadly creatures, Wolvites, the most blessed ones, they who own the land and forest. And they have besmirched that title with their weakness, their indolence, their disobedience and lack of fortitude.”
“You’re the reason they’re weak.” The words spilled out of her mouth, laced with fury. “You ordered an attack on a well-equipped, armed town that was bound to kill most of them and wound the rest. You don’t understand our world and you refuse to learn.”
Abernathy advanced on her.
Deacon lurched forward. “Don’t you touch her.” His voice was low and deadly. “I ain’t people either. I’m a Lycan, and even without a gun I reckon I could get in some good licks before you took me down.”
Abernathy whipped his head toward Deacon. “Could you, Lycan? You were not so bold the last time I had my teeth at your throat.”
“This doesn’t need to happen.” Lorena held her hand out. “I’ll give you the cure and I’ll tell you how to make it. You can save your kind from the Sickness.”
“Yes, you will give me the cure.” Abernathy turned back to her. “You served your purpose, Lycan witch.”
She clenched her jaw.
The Wolvites brought Neala out of the shack. She struggled against them, but they held her fast as they dragged her over to Abernathy.
Lorena looked at Deacon. He watched them drag his sister toward her certain death. He would never build bridges with her. The past would never be healed.
“There’s one component of the potion I don’t have, though,” Lorena said. “You need a White Witch to cast a spell. Do you have one of those?”
Abernathy narrowed his inhuman eyes. “You do not have the cure then, you lie to me?”
“I know what needs to go into the potion, but you need a White Witch.” She saw a way to gain an edge here. “And if you kill me before that, you won’t have the cure.” Other witches knew it now, true, but if he killed everyone, he wouldn’t get what he wanted.
The Wolvites brought Neala before Abernathy. They released her and she crumpled to her knees. She hung her head, panting.
“Tell him we did not act with you.” Kendrick stood over her. “You disobeyed him on your own.”
Neala lifted her head. Her face was pale and dirty. Despite her position, she glared up at Abernathy, her eyes as brilliant and blazing as his, her visage almost as disturbing.
“You’re a cruel leader, and stupid.” She spat at his feet. “You’re the reason so many died, for your pride and arrogance.”
Lorena expected Abernathy to stomp her head into the dirt, but he laughed.
“Such words from a witch who aligns herself with Lycans. But we know the Lycan blood is already in you, do we not? We tried to save you from it, and yet, here you are.”
“I am no Lycan.” Neala raised her fist at him. “I am the mate of a Wolvite!”
“A Wolvite who’s going to die because of you,” Lorena said. “We could have cured him, but you took him away.”
Neala looked up at her, her blanched face glowing in the twilight. Her eyes were wide and shiny. She looked crazy. She looked like a woman with nothing left to lose.
“You killed Dr. Winston.” Lorena’s voice trembled. “You burned our house. I’ll gladly give you over to whatever he wants to do to you.”
Despite the conviction in Neala’s voice and the rage in her eyes, fear passed over her face.
“You did all that?” Abernathy sounded impressed. “Where are those who worked with you, Neala?”
“Gone.” She hung her head again. “You will never catch them. I will never name them. Do what you want to me. You don’t deserve to lead. I will never change my stance on that.”
“They killed your friend?” Abernathy asked Lorena. He didn’t sound shocked or dismayed.
“They bit him.” Lorena swallowed. “He’s going to die.”
Abernathy laughed, a cruel and humorless sound. “I forgot. You foolish humans do not know how to cure the venom.”
Lorena blinked at him.
“You mock us for not understanding.” He prowled closer to her. She stood her ground, but Deacon bristled. “For not carrying your weapons, for not including your customs in our world, but you do not know our ways either.” He towered over her now, and she had to tilt her head back to look at his face. “You do not know our medicines and potions, our magic. The things you could benefit from.”
“There’s a cure for Wolvite venom?” She thought of her mother.
He laughed again. “Any true witch
knows that. There are times that madness might take hold of a Wolvite, and a witch may be bitten. Do you think you are so superior now?”
Her heart raced. “All the things we could share.” She held her hands up. “We can give you weapons, food, supplies. You can give us knowledge. Imagine all of us living in peace, never having to die because of each other again.”
Abernathy’s expression almost seemed considering for a moment, then he growled, the sound so deep and deadly it made her skin flash hot and the back of her neck prickle. “We do not make pacts with humans and Lycans.”
“Abernathy,” Kendrick said. “It is a benefit to us all. Why can you not see that?”
Abernathy wheeled around. Fear flashed momentarily in Kendrick’s eyes, but he didn’t flinch. Abernathy was a few inches taller, and much more bulky. Kendrick gazed at him.
“This is our world,” Abernathy said. “We do not yield to human or Lycan. That is the way it has always been.”
“Times are different.” Kendrick lifted his chin. “If we do not catch up with them, time will destroy us.”
A tense silence fell. Growls came from the perimeter of the camp.
Lorena glanced at Deacon. He flicked his hand toward his hip, a quick and subtle gesture. He had another gun, tucked in his waistband, like her.
Kendrick broke the silence. “We are shattered and injured. We would not move against you. She acted on her own.” He pointed damningly at Neala. “I give her to you to punish, great leader Abernathy. We do not depose you. Please let us recover in peace. Please let us heal.”
Abernathy turned to Neala, who shuddered and whimpered. Lorena could only imagine the things he would do to her, and despite what she had done to them, Lorena wasn’t sure she could stomach it, or that it was right.
“And the cure,” Lorena said. “We’ll give it to you.” She looked around. “Where is the bowl? Bring it to me, please.”
A witch came forward. She held the bowl, her face as stark as Neala’s, her fearful gaze fixed on Abernathy. She handed the bowl to Lorena and hurried away.
Lorena thrust the bowl at Abernathy. “This is the cure, minus one ingredient. You need water from a pool, it must be enchanted by a White Witch.”
