by TJ Klune
It was working.
Ox and Joe would be the most visible, eyes on fire, making sure the hunters could see that there were Alphas there. And if the Alpha was killed, then the pack would flounder, be easier to take out. They had the largest targets on their backs, and they would make sure the hunters saw them first. Especially Elijah. She would be leading the charge.
There was a pull in my head, and it was cleaner than it’d been in days. The witches around Green Creek had finished constructing the wards. I didn’t know how many had come with Patrice and Aileen, but they’d done what they set out to do. Nothing further would get in.
And the Omegas wouldn’t get out.
It was a prison, but one we now controlled.
The hunters just didn’t know it yet.
The halogen lights were harsh as we neared the garage. I kept out of sight, the wolves crouching low beside me. A hunter stood on the roof, firing a rifle with quick precision. Another pinprick of pain flashed in my head—silver entering an Omega wolf—but there was nothing I could do about that now. It wasn’t one of my wolves.
The garage had three work bays. One of the doors in the rear had been raised, and light spilled out from inside. I heard the chugging rumble of a generator.
Two hunters stood there, backs flat against the wall.
“There,” I whispered. “Take them. I’ve got the guy on the roof.”
Mark wasn’t happy about separating, but we didn’t have a choice. We needed to clear out as many as we could before we went inside.
Elizabeth whispered in my head, and the blue was gone. She was hunting.
Mark stared at me with Omega eyes.
“Go.”
They went, disappearing into shadow, crouched low.
A metal ladder was attached to the side of the garage. Marty had had it installed not long after I’d come to live with him. One of the guys—Jordy, dead by cancer less than a year later—had almost fallen off the old rickety wooden ladder they’d normally used, and Marty swore up and down that he sure as shit wasn’t going to see his premiums go up because of a goddamn worker’s compensation claim. He shelled out a couple hundred bucks to have the ladder installed on the side of the building.
It was this ladder I went to now. I reached to grab a rung and—
“Shit,” I muttered as my stump knocked against the metal, sending a sharp burst of pain through my arm. I gritted my teeth and grabbed the ladder with my left hand, hooking my arm into the rung above, and pulled myself up. The metal was cold and slick. My hand went numb almost immediately. Above me, the sound of gunfire continued.
I was sweating profusely by the time I neared the roof. The sweat dripped into my eye, causing it to burn. I lifted my head until I could see out onto the roof.
The hunter stood on the opposite edge, firing his rifle again and again and again. It wasn’t scoped, and I hoped that meant he was missing more than he was hitting. I pushed myself up as quietly as I could. The snow that had accumulated on the roof had turned to slush from so many people walking on it.
I breathed shallowly as I stood.
The hunter hadn’t heard me.
He fired again.
Between us was a row of skylights, long windows that led down into the garage and were used for ventilation in the hot summers. The snow had been cleared from the glass.
Below me, I heard the grunt of men surprised, but it was the only sound they made before their throats were torn out.
The hunter fired once more, and then came a dry click.
He cursed and stepped back to reload. He reached into his coat pocket and—
I was moving even before he could pull his hand back out of his pocket. He heard me in those last few feet. He started to turn, rifle swinging toward me, but I was on him before he could face me completely.
I knocked the barrel of the rifle down, not wanting to take a chance that it had misfired and could still cause damage.
He opened his mouth like he was ready to shout in warning, but it came out as a gurgle after I punched him in the throat. Something gave way with an audible crunch, and his eyes bulged as he struggled to breathe. I wrapped my hand around the back of his neck, forcing his head down as I raised my knee up into his face. Bones broke, and blood dripped into the slush.
He raised his head again, and Jesus Christ, he was just a kid, just a kid like those two in the woods. I didn’t know where Elijah had gotten them, how she had recruited them, but she’d gone young. They couldn’t be Kings. Most of them were dead.
But they were here to hurt my family.
I backhanded him across the face, and he fell onto his back, sliding near the edge of the roof. He blinked blearily up at me as I stood above him.
I said, “You shouldn’t have come here.”
He raised his leg to kick out at me, but I deflected it easily. The roses burst to life, and I swore right then and there I felt my hand again, like it was made of flowery petals and thick vines. I trusted it, my magic, and I followed it. I knelt and pressed my stump against the roof.
The slushy snow around us began to crawl over him like it was sentient. He opened his mouth again to scream, but the dirty snow went into his mouth, pouring down his throat, causing him to gurgle.
I twisted my stump against the roof, grinding my teeth.
A surge of frigid air surrounded us.
I stood back up slowly.
The man’s face was frozen solid, his mouth open, ice jutting out between his lips and teeth.
His eyes were wide and unblinking.
The raven was flapping its wings, struggling to calm. It hadn’t been like that since I was a kid, the ink still fresh on my arm.
I’d have to deal with it later before it became a problem.
I went to the rear of the building, peering down over the ledge in time to see Elizabeth and Mark dragging the bodies of two men away from the garage and into the dark, leaving behind twin streaks of blood in the snow.
I turned around to head toward the ladder and—
“Hello, Gordo,” Elijah said, standing right in front of me. “What happened to your hand?”
Before I could react, she lashed out. I saw stars as she smashed her fist into the side of my head, knocking me to the side. My vision swam as I fell to my knees. My ear went numb, a loud buzzing echoing in my head. Before I could react, she spun in a tight circle, bringing her leg up and then smashing the heel of her foot against the side my neck. My teeth snapped together, biting into my tongue. Blood flooded my mouth as I landed on my back.
I stared up at the night sky, dazed.
The moon was blurry.
She gripped my hair as she dragged me across the roof toward the skylight. I could hear the wolves screaming for me, singing in terror. Howls ripped through the night air, and the raven tried to take flight, but it was confused; it didn’t know where to go. It didn’t know what to do.
We reached the skylight, and she pressed my face flat against the glass.
“Look, Gordo,” she said, her mouth near my ear. “Look and see what happens to humans who run with wolves.”
I opened my eyes.
Twenty feet below us was the garage floor. And against the far wall were Chris and Tanner.
They’d been beaten within an inch of their lives. Their arms were chained above them, their heads bowed. Every part of them seemed to be covered with blood. Tanner’s arm looked like it’d been broken. Chris’s face was so swollen, I doubted he could see.
I waited for them to move.
To show me they were here.
That they were alive.
That they hadn’t left us.
Left me.
please please please please please
They heard me.
Tanner raised his head and looked straight up at me.
His eyes widened.
Chris coughed, blood spilling out onto the floor.
“They are strong,” Elijah said quietly. “I’ll give them that. They didn’t give you
up, even when their bones broke. Even when I made them scream. And Gordo, how they screamed for you. Begging you to come save them. They believed you would come for them. All of you. And here you are. I see their faith in you wasn’t misplaced. It’s… endearing. Misguided, but endearing. I will save them for last. After your pack is dead and the fire of God has cleansed this place from evil, I will return and absolve them of their sins. It has been made abundantly clear that nothing in Green Creek must remain as it is now. I don’t know how it was done, but Omegas have overrun this territory. It will need to be cleansed. The people here cannot be saved. My vision is clear, and I can see.”
She let me go.
Chris and Tanner screamed for me as I turned over on my back.
The moon was so bright. I didn’t think I’d ever seen anything more beautiful.
Elijah reached behind her shoulders and pulled the skin of the wolf over her head again. In my dazed mind, I thought I was safe. That the wolves had come for me, and I was safe.
Her hand went into her coat. For a moment I saw a flash of something that looked like it was attached to her chest underneath her coat, but then she pulled out a gun.
And pointed it at my face.
It was larger than anything I’d seen before.
The end of the barrel looked like a gaping tunnel.
I grinned up at her. My teeth felt slick with blood. “Would do it again.”
She cocked the gun. “I know you would. And that’s why Green Creek will be purged. I spared you once because you were just a child, and I hoped that by freeing you from the chains of the wolf, you would see the errors of your ways. I won’t make that mistake again.”
I said the only thing I could. “Nevermore.”
She blinked. “What?”
“Nevermore.”
The raven flew.
The ink in my skin felt scorched, the bonds within me burning brighter than the sun.
gordo gordo gordo
The wolves were with me.
It was all I could ever ask for. Here, at the end.
I would take her with me, and they would be safe.
I slammed my arms against the glass underneath me.
The roof rumbled as it cracked, metal and concrete and plaster shifting. Elijah took a stumbling step back, eyes going wide as the roof shook.
She was off center, which was the reason the bullet missed its target.
It didn’t hit me.
Instead it shattered the glass of the skylight I lay upon.
Weightlessness, only for a moment, as the glass gave way beneath me.
I fell through the skylight, head rapping against the metal frame, feet scraping against the cracks in the roof.
I remembered him.
Mark.
Standing in front of me, telling me I smelled like dirt and leaves and rain.
Telling me he needed to protect me.
The way he’d tasted on a summer’s day, his bare feet in the grass.
The look of betrayal on his face as he stood on my doorstep.
The way my hand had felt on his throat as I left a raven on his skin.
I wished I’d gotten to tell him I loved him. One last time.
I fell.
The glass spun around me.
And from below me came the sound of a furious wolf.
I turned my head in time to see Mark burst into the garage.
Everything felt slow.
His muscles coiled before he jumped.
And then he began to turn.
The muscles and bones shifted underneath his skin. The thick hairs on his body receded. The paws outstretched in front of him spread and became fingers, the claws black and wicked sharp. As he became human, as his violet eyes flashed, the raven on his throat ruffled its feathered wings and—
Strong arms wrapped around me as a heavy human body collided into me. The breath was knocked from my chest as he curled himself around me, taking the brunt of the impact with the ground as we rolled. I ended up tucked into his side as the glass shattered.
And then silence.
I opened my eyes.
Mark was staring down at me.
His eyes were violet, but he was here. He was human.
I reached up and touched his face.
“Gordo,” he growled through a mouthful of fangs.
“I don’t understand,” I whispered. “How are you—”
“As romantic as this is,” Tanner said hoarsely, “and it’s really very sweet, I would like it if my arms weren’t chained to the fucking ceiling anymore.”
“Yeah,” Chris said, coughing wetly. “What he said.”
Mark snapped his head up, nostrils flaring.
I pushed myself up away from him, struggling to get to my feet, body aching. I looked up at the skylight, expecting to see Elijah staring down at us, gun pointed in our direction, but all I could see was the moon.
Elizabeth ran into the rear of the garage, shifting violently. Her eyes were blazing orange as she stood.
“Hi, Mrs. Bennett,” Tanner said.
“Nice to see you, Mrs. Bennett,” Chris said.
Her eyes widened at the sight of Mark standing next to me, his hand still on my arm. “How did you—” She shook her head, moving toward the others. “Elijah escaped. I saw her jumping from the roof, but she was gone before I could get back around. She left a scent trail.” She stood in front of Chris and Tanner, reaching out her hands to cup their faces. “I’m so happy to see you again. You are safe now. I promise you. I won’t let them touch you again.”
Chris sighed and leaned into her touch. “I’m okay,” he said, words lisped through swollen and split lips. “It looks worse than it is. Get Tanner down first. They broke his arm this morning, those assholes. I’m going to fucking kill—holy shit, Gordo, where the fuck is your hand?”
“Long story,” I muttered. “Later. We need to figure out what Elijah is going to do.” I looked up at Mark. He was watching me. His eyes were still violet, but he wasn’t struggling with his shift. “How are you doing this?”
It looked like it cost him greatly to speak. His words were rough. “You. You. It was you. Pack. Strong. Helped us. Gordo safe. Keep Gordo safe.”
“Yeah. Okay. Safe. We’re safe.”
Tanner cried out as Elizabeth broke the manacles around his wrists. She held him against her as he cradled his arm, her hand on the back of his head, fingers in his hair as he sobbed. “I’ve got you,” she whispered. “I’ve got you.”
“Gordo,” Chris said, “you gotta help them. She’s going to—” He grimaced, turning his head and spitting a thick wad of blood onto the ground. “Elijah. She’s not going to let anyone go. She knows. About the Lighthouse. We saw her. Packing it. Wearing it. Gordo, she’s got a bomb strapped to her chest. And it’s filled with silver. Ball bearings. It’s—”
After your pack is dead and the fire of God has cleansed this place from evil, I will return and wash them of their sins. It has been made abundantly clear that nothing in Green Creek must remain as it is. I don’t know how it was done, but Omegas have overrun this territory. It will need to be cleansed. The people here cannot be saved. I see that now. I will deal with them myself.
“Jessie,” I breathed. “Rico.”
Elizabeth moved in front of Chris. “I will stay with them. Gordo, you need to get to the Lighthouse before it’s too late.”
I turned to Mark.
His eyes were blazing,
I leaned forward and pressed my forehead to his. “Are you with me?”
His breath was hot against my face. “Gordo.”
moon
THE STREETS of Green Creek were awash with blood.
Men and women—all hunters—stared sightlessly at the sky, eyes reflecting the full moon.
Their guns lay scattered in the snow.
There were Omegas. Full wolves. Some half-shifted. One whined at me as we passed it by, reaching its hands toward me. Its lower half had been crushed as if it’d been rolled o
ver. Nothing could be done to save it.
Mark had shifted back into a wolf.
He stood above the Omega, head cocked down at it.
It reached up and ran a single hand through the hair on his throat.
It was over quick. Mark reached his head down and snapped its neck.
It didn’t move after that.
He returned to my side.
We came to an overturned truck on fire, flames sputtering out into the snow. A pair of legs stuck out from beneath the cab. Another hunter had tried to crawl away but had been caught by a wolf. I didn’t know where his arm had ended up.
From out of the trees stepped Robbie Fontaine, shifted and tense, followed by a small group of Omegas.
He came to me and pressed his nose against my hip. He huffed out a breath, leaving his scent upon me. I ran my hand between his ears. He leaned into the touch. There was a question sent, and I said, “We have to move. She’s going to hurt everyone.”
Robbie stepped away, turning over his shoulder to growl at the Omegas behind him. They flattened their ears. One hissed back at him, jaws stretched wide, but it subsided when Robbie let out a rough bark.
He fell in step beside me, and we moved on.
Kelly and Carter were next. They came out from between two houses, their muzzles caked with blood. Carter snarled at the sight of us, his hackles raised, beginning to coil like he was going to strike. Kelly moved in front of him, throat rumbling almost like he was purring. Carter’s eyes flickered between his normal blue and violet, and he whined, sounding confused. The timber wolf came up behind him, rubbing against his side. Carter allowed it for a moment before he turned his head and snapped at the wolf. It bared its teeth back at him, not moving away.
They surrounded me. Kelly and Robbie moved side by side. Carter and the timber wolf were to my left, next to Mark. More Omegas came out from the trees. All were shifted. One looked as if its leg had been severely broken. I saw the flash of wet white bone as it held the leg up against its stomach.
