by Maddie Foxx
Jerome came out of the truck he had parked in the middle of the road. “We have trouble, Sheriff. Plenty of it, and it’s headed this way.”
“Is there a reason you’re parked in the middle of the street?”
“Yes. We need to call a town meeting right here and now. They deserve to know what’s about to happen since it affects them all.”
“Who are those men with you?”
“Shifters, but I’ll explain all of that when you get the town here.”
The fire whistle went off and the emergency text message came across Jerome’s cell phone, alerting everyone to meet in the center of town.
“This won’t be easy,” Jerome said to the shifters. “Humans barely accept us as it is. If they find out some band of werewolves is intent on attacking their town, I hardly think they’ll receive it well.”
“That’s about the way it would be in any town. Even back in Africa they don’t readily accept us. If it wasn’t for those damn safaris I’d still be there, but I can’t risk my family’s lives,” Ewan stated.
Another truck raced into town, filled with four men dressed in khaki pants and safari-style vests.
“Your sons, I presume?”
“Yes. Come along, boys, and introduce yourselves.”
One of the men stepped forward. “I’m Julian, and this is Ares, Bain, and Hunter.”
“Good to see you here, boys,” Jerome greeted them. “I’m Dr. Evans or Jerome. I doctor the shifters in town. I’m also a full-blood, just so you know. I’m hoping we can work together.”
Julian sighed. “How do we know he can be trusted?”
“Brendan seems to trust him, so we must, as well. But we need to be a united front. Here come the humans of the town.”
Sheriff Barnes was speaking to the throng of humans before they approached the shifters.
Julian motioned for them to move forward.
“Hello, everyone. I’m here to give it to you straight. There are a band of full-blood werewolves heading here. Not only do they want to take down all the shifters in the Creeksboro area, they also plan to kill all the humans,” Jerome explained.
Gasps split the air like nails on glass. “I told you we should never have trusted those damn shifters,” one man said.
“Calm down and let the man finish, would you,” Sheriff Barnes demanded.
“The full-bloods are coming from Montana and they certainly haven’t been here. The half-blooded werewolves at Silver Creek drove them from Wyoming long ago. Two of the children went in search of the person responsible for attacking Carrie, but it was a full-blood, and they’ll try to capture the children and use them to bring us to our knees.”
“What do we care what happens to them?” one woman asked.
“Because Maxwell will be alpha one day and will be the peacekeeper. For full-bloods, this will be the means to their end since they don’t want peace with either other shifters or humans. They’ll make war and ruin all the good that has happened with the shifters across the country. They are not us. We’re here to protect the residents of Creeksboro, but we’ll need help. We need to band together and save our town from their invasion.”
“Damn right, I will,” an old-timer said. “Let’s get our guns.”
“Before you do, know this: I’m also a full-blood and it would be nice if nobody shot me. We have Ewan and his four sons out of Africa who are lion shifters. Behind them we have werebears, mountain lion shifters, and the werewolves will come, too.”
“We’re right here,” Palina chimed in, walking up. She then stared in a truck. “Get out of there, Katlyn dear, and bring those babies. All women and children into the church. We want you out of the battle that will come. Men, get your guns and plan your strategy with the shifters. We’ll only be able to fend them off together.”
* * *
Four women who parked their car next to Jerome helped Katlyn with lugging her diaper bags into the church. She even allowed one of them to carry Elric, Brendan’s son. Inside the church, a woman brought in blankets and cots, and a red-faced preacher began a prayer.
“I know, Lord, you didn’t explain about shifters and such, but I pray for both us humans and shifters alike that we’ll be able to work together to thwart an attack. Amen.”
“Amen!” everyone in the church shouted.
Katlyn stared at the blonde-haired beauties surrounding her. “Who are you?”
“We’re Ewan’s mates,” the eldest of the group said.
“He has four mates?”
“Yes. In a pride, there is only one male with many females. We do all the hunting while he does the protecting, just like now.”
Katlyn laughed. “I have two mates that are both mountain lion shifters and I thought that was different.”
“I wouldn’t mind two men to satisfy me,” one of the human women said. “What?” she said when she received a few stern looks. “Don’t tell me none of you have ever wondered what it would be like.”
“That’s just wrong,” another woman stated.
“Oh, Betsy, don’t be so overdramatic.”
“Two men?” yet another woman said. “What if they were both assholes? I can barely stand one husband.” She laughed. “I admire your moxie, Katlyn.”
“Well, I do have twins, and four pairs of hands come in handy.”
“You mean they change diapers?” Betsy asked.
“Yes, and take their turns walking the twins if they get too fussy, even though they work the ranch all day. I don’t let them do it too often unless both babies are being fussy.”
* * *
“We need to set up a barricade,” Ewan said.
“What should we use?” Sheriff Barnes asked.
“How about cars?” Bain suggested. “The way this town has been built, all the structures are tight together so if we put enough cars parked end to end on both sides of the street, that might slow them down.”
“But they’ll jump right over them easily enough,” Ares said.
“That’s when this will come in handy,” the old-timer said, patting his rifle.
“Whatever you do, aim for their heads,” Ewan instructed.
“Sure will,” a much younger man said. “It sure works with zombies.”
The old man shook his head. “Sorry, that grandson of mine watches too much ‘Walking Dead’.”
“Walking Dead?” Ewan asked.
For the next ten minutes, the young man named Will went on telling them about the show and how they had to fight off zombies for survival.
“And that, boy, is exactly what I loved about Africa. None of these distractions, just watching the pride from my comfort under a tree,” Ewan stated.
“Is it true you make your woman folk do all the hunting while you males do nothing?”
“Now, Alfred, that’s not nice,” Sheriff Barnes said to the old-timer.
“We have our own roles back in Africa, but if you think it’s fun having to watch over the cubs while the women are off hunting, you’re way off-base.”
The men laughed as cars were put on either end of town just like they had planned. All they had to do after that was wait it out.
* * *
When Brendan parked, Tessa raced to the clearing where the cabin once was located. Raphael was quite naked and hunkering down in the dirt, making a map of sorts.
“Raphael, what happened?” She then spotted Maxwell and raced toward him, giving him a tight hug, but he pushed her away.
“They have Melody,” he told her.
Brendan shook his head. “That won’t do. Where is Seth?”
“He’s looking where they’re keeping Melody and I hope coming back for help,” Maxwell explained. “He’s a huge and scary werewolf like one of those full-bloods he killed over there.”
Brendan and Chase went to where Maxwell pointed and shook their heads in unison. “So, that’s what we’re dealing with?”
“Yes,” Raphael said. “I was shocked when Seth shifted. From the way he was screaming, he
hasn’t been able to for all that long. It explains why he took off from Shadow Creek before night, and why there was broken glass in his room at the boarding house.”
Tessa felt bad suddenly. “I have to speak to you alone, Raphael. I have to come clean with you about something.”
“I already know you killed Jason and Earl. We found their remains.” He glowered at her. “Why didn’t you tell me before that you knew they were dead? If you had, we wouldn’t be in this situation and Melody would be safe at Silver Creek.”
“It’s all your fault Melody was taken!” Maxwell shouted, pummeling her with his fists.
“Calm down,” Brendan commanded, pulling the boy back. “How did that happen exactly, Tessa?”
Raphael wouldn’t even look at her, so she spoke to Brendan. “He doesn’t care anyway, but I came here the night of the full moon, intending to kill them. Earl caught me, chained me up, and hit me with a stun gun. He intended to rape me, but I was knocked out before it happened.”
Raphael turned. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I wasn’t sure how. When I woke up both Jason and Earl were dead, horribly mutilated. I wasn’t sure if I did it or not, although I had blood on me. I still had the chains around my wrists.”
“How did the cabin get burned down?” Raphael asked.
“I had to call Paige for help and she helped me clean it up. She had Angus burn the cabin.”
Brendan’s face reddened. “Dammit. Why didn’t anyone tell me? I could have helped. We should have all known Jason was dead. It would have made things so much easier.”
Tears trickled down her cheeks. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions, and Jason wanted no part of what Earl had planned to do to me. He even left the cabin. I just can’t remember what happened.”
“If it was a big enough jolt from a stun gun,” Chase started, “it would have made it impossible for her to get back up. She might have been out the entire time.”
“Seth could have done it,” Raphael suggested. “His werewolf form is big enough to do the damage I found to those corpses.”
“And also he might be the one who killed the sheep,” Brendan added.
“It’s not fair to put this on Seth when he’s not here,” Tessa countered. “I’m so sorry to have caused so much trouble.”
‘That wouldn’t have stopped the full-bloods from coming,” Brendan said.
“Mira was a full-blood, too,” Tessa stated.
“No, she wasn’t!” Maxwell pounded on Tessa again. “Take it back. I think she was my mother.”
“She can’t be,” Chase said. “Your mother is dead.”
“What!” Maxwell cried. “Why didn’t you tell me, Uncle Raphael?”
“I didn’t know. I knew Palina was hiding something.”
“Tell me, Chase,” Maxwell demanded. “What happened? I need to know.”
“After she gave birth to you, she had postpartum depression. Your father found her trying to drown you in a stream. They fought before she ran off into the road, where she was struck and killed.”
Maxwell fell to his knees. “Sh-She wanted me dead?”
“It wasn’t her fault,” Tessa consoled the boy. “Postpartum depression is like that. It temporarily makes a woman feel crazy and some do try to harm their babies.”
“Don’t talk to me, Tessa. I’m mad at you. What did you do to Mira?”
“She tried to kill me and I had to defend myself. I gained the upper hand, but I found out one very important thing: vampires like me and Paige are capable of killing a full-blood.”
“I hate you. She was nice to me.”
“I don’t blame you for feeling that way, but she meant to hand you over to the full-bloods. They planned to use you to get the shifters to hand the Creeksboro area over to them and kill all the humans. So hate me and be mad all you want, but I don’t regret killing Mira.”
“Why did you bring her to Silver Creek? She’s nothing but trouble,” Maxwell questioned his uncle.
He walked away from her and all Tessa could do was look over at him as Raphael followed. The truth was out for everyone to know. Her heart ached when she saw the look in Raphael’s eyes, and it killed her to know she caused Maxwell pain. Why wouldn’t Raphael let her speak to him in private?
She felt alone, utterly alone, and she’d potentially lost the one and only man she would ever love.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Melody settled down in the cage even though she was tossed around inside as the woman carried her through the forest and into a large cabin. She was finally set down at that point.
The woman stooped down. “I hope you’re okay, my baby bird.”
Melody pecked at the woman, striking the end of her nose.
“You little bitch. If we didn’t need you, I’d squeeze the life out of you.”
A man came inside. “Where is the boy?”
“How would I know? I was capturing the hawk.”
Another man came in. “Hugh, the werewolf got away and found his own kind. Gwan went after him, but he was killed.”
“How? There’s no way a werewolf could do that, not even Raphael.”
“It was another werewolf like us, but much bigger. I could hear the screams of his shift. He has to be a new-blood.”
“How? Not even we can turn a human.”
“None of us has attacked any humans as of yet. I only attacked the hawk shifter like you told me to.”
Melody fumed, staring at the dark man. He was the one she needed to kill, but she wasn’t sure how when full-bloods were much bigger. Even in human form, it wouldn’t be possible to take him down.
The man came over and poked his finger at the cage. “At least we have the baby hawk.”
Melody pecked his finger, satisfied when she drew blood.
“Dammit,” he seethed, sucking on his finger.
“She has spunk, that one. She’s just as useful as the young werewolf. She lives amongst the werewolves.”
Hugh’s face reddened. “Don’t be an imbecile. We need that werewolf. He needs to die before he grows up and ends our way of life.”
“How can he do that?” the woman asked. “He’s a cripple,” Mira said.
“Don’t be a fool, Rowanna. I’ve heard of maimed shifters that were quite capable of carrying out their destinies. We can’t allow him to live.”
“How long will it take before the other full-bloods realize we’re leading them astray? How long will they really believe the shifters of Creeksboro killed our old alpha?”
“How will they ever find out? I’ve sent a band into Creeksboro to kill the humans. It won’t be long before we’ll have the shifters at their knees. Send a messenger to them that we have their baby hawk and if they don’t stand down, we’ll kill her. They are to be at the edge of Creeksboro and give up. Tell them that’s where they need to be, or the red-tailed hawk dies. We’ll only turn her over there.”
“And you think it will be that simple?” Rowanna said.
“Of course it will, because we’ll burn down their ranches while they’re away.”
Melody hit the cage at that remark. Not for her, but for the ranches. If they lost everything, where would any of them go then?
* * *
Jerome shifted into werewolf form and the humans backed up as he passed.
“Don’t worry,” Ewan soothed the crowd. “He’s on our side. Kill any werewolf that looks like him and comes across those cars. If any of them breach that line, your doctor here will take care of them.
A hawk flew over and landed in the middle of town. When she shifted, it was Carrie.
“They’re on their way.” She shifted back to hawk form and flew away.
Growls and howls were heard and they scrambled over the cars. Rifles and shotguns were fired and many of the full-bloods were killed, leaving two more to deal with.
Jerome circled one and was tackled, but he threw it aside. Ewan and his sons were in lion form and took on the other one. Growls and snarls split
the air and Jerome fell down with a werewolf snapping near his ears, getting far too close. His ears were yanked back and Paige bit down, drawing back with blood peppering the ground. The full-blood fell to the ground and within a minute had died.
She then helped the lions out with the other full-blood; they pinned him as she was finishing him off. Two more full-bloods came over the cars, but they took one look at their dead patrons and retreated. Cheers were heard and Clayton slapped Paige on the back.
“Thanks, Paige. For a minute there I was worried the doctor would be a goner.”
That didn’t set well with Jerome. He was usually much stronger, but he had to admit it had been quite a while since he had to fight. It really wasn’t his thing. When he visited the full-bloods in Montana, most of them were of a peaceful kind except if someone invaded their territory.
* * *
A dove flew over to where Brendan and Chase were talking. They took a step backward as it took the shape of a curvy female.
“I’m here to deliver a message. Gather at the gates of Creeksboro and give up, or your little hawk will meet a most unfortunate end. She’ll be given back to you there.”
Maxwell hurled a rock, striking the woman in the head. She reeled back, flopping to the ground. She blinked several times before the light in her eyes faded.
“Maxwell!” Tessa exclaimed. “Why did you do that? You killed her.”
“I-I didn’t mean to, but they’ve taken Melody and I was so angry.”
“It’s not your destiny to kill, Maxwell,” Raphael explained. “You’re destined to be the peacekeeper.”
“Even peacekeepers have to kill sometimes, but she’s not dead. You know how birds can fly into a plate glass window and knock themselves out? This is just like that.”
Sure enough, the woman’s eyes lit up before she shifted into bird form and flew away.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Chase said. “Maxwell was right.”
“If they want us at Creeksboro, that’s where we’ll be with Maxwell. He needs to be protected at any cost,” Brendan stated.
“And?” Chase urged. “You know they’ll plan to take over our ranches while we’re there.”
