“Bitch.”
“Your words mean nothing to me, Jack. All of them I have heard before and from more threatening men than you. At this point you are just embarrassing yourself. Go inside and sleep. You can pretend to apologize in the morning even though we both know you won’t mean it.” Lee stomped down the small walkway to her car. For not caring about his words, she sure did have a heavy frown on her face.
She left before Jack had even made it inside. Tyson came forward out of the shadows. Jack had slid to the ground and rested with his eyes closed against his front door. He could kill him now. The act would be so simple. So deserving. The alcohol perfumed the air around him. The sweat on his brow was saturated with the evening amber liquid of choice. Tyson could do it so fast that he wouldn’t even know it happened. As pack enforcer he had to know the ways to kill a man and a wolf with as little pain as possible, and as fast as possible. Not necessarily in the same strike.
Tyson was five feet away when Jack’s eyes drug open. “You,” he stated and let his eyes close again. “Should have known you’d show up.”
He growled.
“Haven’t smelled you lately. What did you do? Get fleas and Sadie kick you out?”
He deepened his growl and stepped forward.
“Let me guess, you are here to kill me?” He rolled his head against the door and tried to open his eyes again but they seemed to be getting heavier.
Tyson snorted.
“Thought so. Owen thinks you’ve gone feral. You’re welcome for that.” He smiled. “So if you kill me, he’d know who it was and go after you. It’d be a bitch to make your best friend kill you. Kinda like having to kill your brother…or sister.”
Kill him.
He deserves it.
He’s goading you.
He dies you die.
Still be worth it.
What about Sadie?
She’d be safer with neither of them here.
Don’t want to leave her.
Need to leave her.
Kill him.
“You know, she had wanted to bring you into the operation. Had tried for weeks to convince us that you would be an asset and she could talk you into it. Kind of poetic how you ended up killing her in the end.”
Jenny.
“She was hard to break but once she did, her submission was beautiful.”
JENNY!
Tyson leapt forward and clamped his teeth around Jack’s neck. The urge to bite consumed him to the point of insanity. He could end it all right now. Jack swallowed and tried to speak causing the skin by his teeth to tear. Tyson didn’t let up even as drops of blood fell into his mouth.
“Did her blood taste like mine? Did you feel the breath leave her lungs? The last pump of her heart?”
He shook with need. A long vibrating growl had slowly been getting louder as Jack pushed him further into a frenzy.
“Go on. Do it. Be the wolf everyone thinks you are.”
Monster.
Tyson was a monster. More blood dripped into his mouth. Relaxing his jaw, he let go and stepped back. Jack laughed. Dark purple welts already began to sprout on his throat alongside the few spots where his teeth had broken the skin.
“See! I knew it,” he chuckled and coughed. “You don’t have it in you anymore. You are weak. No wonder Sadie kicked you out and Jenny turned on you. If I were them I wouldn’t be able to stand being near you either.”
Kill him.
No.
Tyson stomped the urge to kill and stepped back. Lee was right, his words meant nothing. They were a show. He talked big because he didn’t have the courage to fight. This wasn’t how this was going to end. When Tyson killed Jack, he would be sober and see it coming, feel it happen. Killing him now would be a mercy he didn’t deserve.
“Run little wolf. Run away. It’s what you do best after all,” Jack laughed from his door but Tyson was already in the shadows of the night.
Soon. He promised Jack.
Chapter Sixteen
Running.
Always running.
To, away, it didn’t matter. Because no matter how far or fast he ran, he always ended up back at the beginning. Back to the one place he shouldn’t be, couldn’t be. But Sadie’s house was a beacon to him in his darkness. It called to him…she called to him.
Tyson wanted to give in and go to her but how could he? I almost killed her. It was something he had reminded himself of hourly for the past few days. He didn’t sleep. He barely ate. All he did was run.
But no matter how far he got, his guilt clung to him. It whispered in his ear as he went. A little spider on his shoulder spinning a tale of heartache. All he wanted was this to be over, this life to be over. Tyson was willing to forfeit his life, and yet, there he was still breathing, ragged as it may be. In fact, he hadn’t felt more himself in a long while. The first day he had been lost to the remorse but as each hour past Tyson’s humanity was hauled to the surface. Now, he could feel all regret, shame and anguish even more thoroughly.
A breeze blew with the cool early morning air flowing with him through the forest. It was Gaia, pushing him on along his path. She had been there with him a lot lately. It was a comfort he had been surprised to find with him. Whenever he had gotten too far off, she was there to guide him back. But was it back to where he needed to be or where she wanted him to be?
In his wanderings he had already began to suspect Gaia’s hand in it all, even if it was an unintentional unconscious thought. Tyson hadn’t questioned her guidance beyond where it led him. But why was she leading him? It was against his nature to ignore her push. For all his life he had trusted it. Now however, it made him wonder. Gaia had pushed him into Sadie’s path. She wanted them together. In the jumble his mind had been the last few months he had thought it was to get him closer to his ultimate goal. What if she was pursing her own goal?
Sadie. A howl tore out of his throat. God dammit, he missed her. She had been the first bright spot in his obscure life in months. She was messed up on the inside and didn’t that just call to him in every way possible. Their shattered pieces fit together somehow to form something new. It wasn’t what either of them had been, but it was closer to being whole than either of them had known in a long time.
You’re dangerous.
He had to remind himself.
Yeah, and Jack isn’t?
Fuck. He left her with him. Tyson had promised protection and royally screwed up in every way possible. When…no, if he saw her again, she would probably run screaming right into Jack’s arms.
Lies and you know it.
Yeah, he did. Tyson wasn’t giving Sadie enough credit. Truth be told, he wasn’t giving himself enough credit. But the small part of him that said it was an accident and he could do better, would do better, was ignored more often than not.
The familiar curve of the trail stopped him. Once again, he was right back where he started. Gaia had steered him back to Sadie. Her little two bedroom house was just around the next bend. In less than 200 yards he could be back on her porch and in her life, even if it was just in a guard dog capacity.
Gaia had given Sadie to him as a gift. He needed to remember that. It was her breezy hand that pushed him to that part of the woods on the day they met. At one point Tyson had believed Sadie was his redemption. Could she still be?
Torn between moving forward and running far away, he sat back on his hind legs, immobilized by indecision. All in all this wasn’t even his choice. Sadie was the one who was harmed, it should be her choice to accept him or not. Her choice would determine where he went from here. Tyson stood giving his whole body a shake and began to walk again.
He had only waited a few minutes when he heard the familiar squeak of the kitchen door. She was up early. Tyson had expected to be waiting awhile. Part of him secretly hoped she would refused to come out of the house as long as he was in the yard. But no, Sadie walked towards him with the heavy scent of coffee clouding around her.
Sadie stopped when she
was close.
But not too close.
Tyson opened his eyes and got his first look at his recovery. Her gray eyes were half covered by the blonde tangles that fell limply from her ponytail. They were wary. Still, she came to him with her hand out.
His world ended and began anew with that simple gesture. Sadie was giving him a second chance, thought he deserved a second chance. Tyson licked the offering.
Thank you, Gaia.
Already his soul was feeling content. And when she sat in the dewy grass beside him, he laid his head in her lap and vowed never to leave its warmth again. Her nimble fingers scratched and pet his head as she told him about the last few days from her perspective. Stupid woman thought he was mad at her. She seemed to be as broken up without him there as he was.
She talked, he listened as was their routine. When he had run off, he left her here in the midst of a storm. Her past was coming to bite her as were the people of her present. Jack’s shiny surface was cracking and after their little talk the night before, it was getting scratched and dull too. She didn’t say as much, but Sadie was nervous about Jack. Anyone could see the parallels between him and that stalker she had had.
When she was done, she just stopped talking. Silence wasn’t awkward between them, it never had been. Then again, he had never talked either. Tyson was fine to just let her stroke his head and watch the world wake up. Every few minutes she would stop to drink her coffee. There was something beautiful about the way her hands wrapped around the curves of the mug. A simple kind of beautiful. Her eyes would take on a fuzzy contentment as she brought the mug to her soft pink lips for a sip and then haze over with pleasure. He felt he could watch he do that one act over and over for the rest of his life and never tire of it.
All too soon the mug was empty and the sun was on its continued arch in the sky. He stood needing to stretch his legs. So many days of pushing himself physically had his limps stiffening into bricks the more he stayed still. Sadie poked him playfully about teaching yoga. It wasn’t her words, or even her tone. It wasn’t the tilt of her smile or the laugh on her lips. It was the way she looked at him. Almost pleased to see him here. No, that wasn’t it, or at least all of it. She was at ease with him, safe.
It filled him with pride. If there was one thing he was going to do right in this life he was being forced to live, it was to keep her safe.
So of course he had to show her, since he couldn’t tell her, how happy that made him. Tyson jumped and pushed her flat on her back. He tasted her, everywhere. He even pushed up the hem of her shirt to lick the soft contours of her stomach. She let him. Even as she yelled for him to stop in amongst her giggling, she let him continue. Tyson tasted her neck, behind her ear, the slope of her nose, under her chin, the dip of her collarbone, her arms, and her sugar scented fingers. Then he licked her cheeks, collecting the few lone tears that had escaped under his torment. Sadie’s cheeks were pink and her eyes crinkled with laughter.
Tyson’s job was done.
“Sadie?”
Not fucking happening. He barely had enough time to turn around before Jack was coming around the corner. Surprise registered first. Then Jack slid a well placed mask over his features as he begged Sadie to come away from the big bad wolf.
In your fucking dreams.
Their eyes never left each other. Tyson stayed calm as they stared down. The raging anger he usually felt when around Jack was no longer fueling his emotions. Gone was the doubt Jack had strategically placed in him. Now he only felt a solid confirmation of what he was there to do. Protect Sadie like he hadn’t protected Jenny. He had the skill and knowhow to do that. The calm wasn’t something he had felt since his days as Enforcer. It was a nice feeling to have back.
“Get over here.”
Don’t you dare move Sadie. I’ve got this. Dammit! I said don’t move.
His stupid, foolish woman was walking toward Jack, who now decided to wave a gun about.
Pitiful. Guns were not their way. Bare hands, teeth, even knives were acceptable in a fight, but firearms were the coward’s way of fighting.
“Fred run,” Sadie told him with urgency.
Yeah, not happening.
“Fred…please.” If it were anyone else threatening them, he might have complied. Her normally brassy voice was edging toward panic.
He wanted to tell her to back away, to go inside. It was time for them to fight and blood was bound to be shed. He wanted to reassure her that it would be ok. He wanted her to trust him to handle this. But when she tried to bat the gun from Jack’s hand and the shot sounded, he knew he would never get a chance to do anything of those things.
A burning pain hit him in the leg and immediately the ground was at his side. Tyson didn’t remember losing consciousness but when he fell Jack was smiling at him with a wickedness that he had seen once before as Jenny’s life drained from her neck. When he opened his eyes again, Sadie had the gun and stood in front of him pointing the business end at Jack.
Tyson tried to stand but his back leg gave out. He’d been down a leg before but this wound seemed to take all his energy with it. Being at half strength wasn’t helping him bounce back. The small hole was actively gurgling blood. It seeped down his leg, matting in his fur, in pulses.
That’s a lot of blood. Too much blood. But he needed to get to her. Jack was already gone. Had he still been there, Tyson would have done everything in his power to be strong, even if it killed him. Jack knew he wounded him but he didn’t need to see how badly. Power was everything to his kind. Weakness would be exploited.
On three legs he hobbled over to Sadie and leaned against her for support. The blood loss was beginning to take its toll. He swayed slightly and then leaned more of his weight against her, enough for her to lose her balance.
“Shit Fred.”
*****
He had been trying to sleep when whoever Sadie had called showed up. Medaling woman should just leave him be. Tyson had been worse off during his years as enforcer and got through them ok. All he needed was some time to sleep, something to eat and somewhere warm to lay his head down.
Sadie hadn’t thought of food yet but he was sprawled out over a few quilts on the ground. The bed would have been more comfortable but seeing as he had to get himself inside after being shot because there was no way Sadie could lift him, quilts on the ground were better than nothing. His stomach grumbled weakly. She could think to get him food anytime now. He had no doubt that once she started cooking she wouldn’t stop, and he wouldn’t stand in her way if she insisted on baking him some chocolate chip cookies. And if she was off in the kitchen then she wouldn’t be fussing over him and his body could finally relax.
His hind leg ached, throbbed with a fiery heat. Anytime he tried to move it, bolts of pain shot to his spine. So he tried not to move it at all but Sadie just had to call someone and that meant he had to get his ass up and make sure they knew just because he was wounded didn’t mean he was out of the game.
The door was open before he could gain his balance. A scent so familiar and welcoming hit him that all the fight went out of him and he collapsed back on the blanket he was laying on. Of all the people she could call, she calls Owen. They hadn’t seen each other since he ran off still caked in Jenny’s blood. They had been brothers once, his best friend in the world. All this time he could have gone to Owen and he would have taken care of whatever needed done. He was Alpha after all. If anyone could have gotten Jack off his back, it would have been Owen. But he didn’t go to him. He didn’t want help. He wanted to die and seeing his best friend and the pain he felt for Tyson would have pulled him in the opposite direction he had wanted to go.
“What have you gotten yourself into now?” Owen laughed looking at him with bewilderment. Last wolf he probably thought he’d be treating today. If Tyson had a middle finger, he’d be using it right now. Instead he glared putting as much “fuck off” into the look as he could spare.
As was normal for Owen when someone—particularly
a pack member—was bleeding, he got right to the point. Strong hands, familiar hands, grazed over his ridged body assessing the damage. He tried hard not to growl when he hit the sore spots but Owen’s alpha look shut him up each time. Sadie and her sweet scent settled at his head. When she touched him, he went boneless. Happened every time.
"What?" She had stopped rubbing his ears and he remembered the pain. It came back to him like a sucker punch.
"Nothing. Just surprised is all. I've never seen him let someone touch him like that."
Fuck you. But he was right. Tyson wasn’t a touchy person and even less so as a wolf. That didn’t stop him from shooting Owen a glare and bark at Sadie to continue. She did, eventually. The calm she brought with her stroking fingers let him float for awhile.
An Alpha’s gaze is something every wolf can feel in his spine. An Alpha’s glare feels like someone is twisting your gut in a clawed hand. Owen was glaring at Tyson. He opened one eye to confirm. Yeah, that was the look of a pissed off, overly protective wolf.
“…it was an accident.”
Well fuck. He had almost forgotten about that in all the excitement. She had forgiven him but after all this? He’d be surprised if she wasn’t done with him for good. He felt her move behind him. He craned his neck to look at her. God, she looked sad. All he seemed to bring her was fear and pain.
Tyson never showed much emotion in public. Partly because of his job. If he showed affection, those who he had judged would have something to use against him. And partly because the motions felt awkward when others were watching. Tyson had no issues now. He licked Sadie’s hand and pushed it up over his head trying to get her to pet him some more. Please forgive me. Owen squeezed his good leg in a silent support and then felt a pinch.
Son of a bitch! What did he just do?
He tried to lift his head to look down his body at his betraying Alpha but his head felt heavy with a false tiredness. Owen knew he didn’t like drugs. They spent more time arguing over giving him drugs than it took to actually patch him up. Fucker used his emotions towards Sadie to drug him. His smirking bastard face came in his line of blurring vision. And then in was lights out.
Too Far Gone (Adirondack Pack Book 1) Page 11
