Gregory covered his eyes and let out an exasperated sigh while the others smiled at Teddy’s salutation.
Teddy turned and thumbed toward the loup-garou on his right, a slightly younger man with blonde hair and dark brows and equally dark eyes like his brother’s. “This here is Uriah, my second and my brother.”
Uriah gave a little salute and before he could give his warm hello, Logan heard more footsteps come down the foyer. Will appeared, wearing distinctively more modern clothing than his comrades. In almost a century, he hadn’t changed. He cut his black hair the same tousled way, and his mustache and goatee were exactly as he remembered, only with a little more gray than in the twenties. The bold and swashbuckling features were still there and Logan did agree with Lily that he looked to be more at home on a pirate ship than in a southern mansion.
He looked to Logan and grinned wide. “Well, I never thought I’d see you again, runt.” Will’s voice was devoid of an accent, unlike his friends. He had lived in too many places to ever retain a certain cadence in his voice.
Without a second thought, Logan stood and embraced Will as if he were a blood relative. After the way he took care of Logan while Darren and Dustin were off looking for Ben, Logan couldn’t help but think of him as an uncle just as Forrest did. Will’s brother was Forrest’s grandfather and the founder of Devia in the early colonial days.
How Will fell into the swamp wolf crowd was a little less easy to track. From what Will had divulged himself, Logan knew he had met a woman in their pack many years ago before the Civil War threatened to split the country apart. Though she was gone and they never had any children, Will still returned to the welcoming community in the bayou every now and then.
“I trust you’re staying out of trouble,” Logan said.
With Will’s firm grasp on Logan’s shoulder, he shook his head and made a disgruntled face. “Me? Trouble? Pah! Not a chance.”
Forrest folded his arms. “What about that pig you stole from the Jenson’s yesterday?” he asked.
Will shrugged. “Okay, in the last few hours I haven’t gotten into trouble.”
The swamp wolves let out a hearty laugh with him, and somehow, Logan felt at home again.
“Gentleman,” Michael began, standing to address the growing crowd of loups-garous that were standing in his parlor and foyer. Some were sniffing around at the potted plants, others ogling at the fine decorations and patterned wallpaper they must not have been accustomed to. “My associates will show you to your rooms behind the house.”
Uriah jerked a thumb toward the front door. “You mean them slave huts out back? Nuh uh. We ain’t gonna sleep in no slave’s quarters. We ain’t slaves.”
Teddy backslapped his brother’s belly. “Don’t be rude, Uriah.”
“My own guards and their families are sleeping in the same quarters,” Michael assured. “This arrangement is no reflection on you or your race.”
Uriah snorted. “Well, if that’s the case, come on y’all!” he hollered at his pack and led them out the doors, followed by some bemused vampire guards.
Only Will and Teddy stayed and took seats on the sofa with Logan to join in the discussion.
“As Anton was explaining,” Michael continued, “we know the hunters are looking for a particular werewolf, but we don’t know who or why.” He sat down heavily in his chair. “I honestly think the subordinate hunters are just as clueless as we are. A man named Andrew is making the orders, but not even his top operatives know why they’re chasing down this wolf.”
Michael looked to Teddy and Will. “With the hunters set up in the bayou, I wanted to make sure the casualty count would not soar through the roof any more than it already has. No matter how well you hide, the hunters may find your pack, and as long as there is that risk, I’d prefer if they stay close by or evacuate the area immediately.”
“Evacuate?” Teddy repeated, his lips curling up in disgust. “We’ve never run from anyone or anything. We never had a reason, and we’ve never had a problem with any hunters. They probably don’t even know we’re there!” Logan watched the swamp alpha scratch his head, and the twigs and dirt fall onto the sofa cushions.
Anton shook his head. “All the same, it is not safe in the bayou until we can determine how long they will be there or what their intention is with this werewolf.”
Will leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and lacing his fingers together. “You’re asking an entire network of families to just up and move from a place their ancestors came from. Do you understand how big of an undertaking that is?”
“Do you?” Forrest asked, pinning his great-uncle with a stony gaze.
Will turned to regard Forrest with a hard look. There had been animosity between Will and his brother back during the creation of Devia, but Logan was uncertain of the details beyond that. Though they were blood family, he was sure they had their quarrels like any other.
“No, I’ve never had to worry about it. But, I know you have.” He looked to Michael. “Is this a temporary move?” he asked.
Michael shrugged. “It all depends on how long this engagement lasts. If we can gather enough information to strike a fatal blow to the hunters’ operations, then you can be back before spring comes.”
Will was about to speak before Teddy cut him off. “We will cooperate as long as you don’t send us to no Yankee state.”
Michael smirked. “On the contrary, we were simply going to escort you farther west and north. Our connections there have confirmed there are no hunters in that area.”
“Can Lily and I come along?” Forrest asked Teddy.
Teddy slapped his knee and nodded. “Why, sure! We’d be happy to have you along.”
Logan saw Lily cringe, but she said nothing. Michael suppressed a chuckle.
“What about Katey and I?” Logan finally asked. “Are we just going to stay here? Darren and the rest of my pack are on their way. They should be here by morning at the latest.”
Michael inclined his head. “You and your pack are welcome to stay here. I would have it no other way. What happened in Crestucky will not happen here, I assure you.”
Surprising the group, Gregory lifted his chin to address the vampire. “What happens when you get enough information about the hunters? Will you need reinforcements to help attack their headquarters? My son has taken our pack into farther north, but one phone call can have them here if they are needed.”
With a pinched expression, Michael replied, “If we can help it, we will solve this matter peacefully using any means necessary. Reinforcements will not be required.”
Gregory let out a condescending snort. “Hunters will not negotiate. They find their prey, and they eliminate it. There is no reasoning with them.”
As much as Logan hated to admit it, for once, he agreed with Gregory. The hunters were ruthless, and they all knew it. A thought came to Logan’s mind that made his chest feel as if it would cave in and his stomach twisted with fear. “What if they find us? What if they find Katey?”
Anton stepped forward, the glow of the fire behind him casting light and shadows across his set jaw and furrowed brows. “You have my word that no harm will ever come to Katey McCoy. As long as I am able to protect her, she will be safe.”
The grandfather clock in the upper corridor chimed the first stroke, letting everyone in the mansion know it was midnight.
Katey’s eyes opened wide as she lay in the plush, rosewood poster bed, but it wasn’t the great gong of the clock that awoke her. It felt as if two fists had reached into her chest and squeezed the air from her lungs. She gasped, but it was no use.
On the second stroke, her lungs were released from the vice-like grip. She took the opportunity to inhale, ready to scream for the help she’d needed hours ago before she passed out.
Before the cry could spill from her mouth, it was stolen by the intense pain that constricted her organs. Contents shifted and clenched under the forces that seized her body.
Katey coiled hers
elf into a ball underneath the silky duvet. She brought her arms to her chest and squeezed her eyes shut, but it did nothing to alleviate her discomfort.
The third chime rang out. The flat, resounding tone vibrated in her bones. Katey whimpered as she felt her joints shift, pulling her legs away from her body. The covers slipped from the bed. The fibers of her bones contracted and cracked, then healed themselves and started all over again.
Her whole body battled against her, the pain too intense to bear, but she couldn’t cry out.
The fourth chime roared in her ears and pierced through her brain. She pressed the heels of her palms against her temples, willing it to stop. Blood sizzled and burned within her veins.
At the fifth chime, she opened her eyes. Her vision filled with bright and sparkling dots against blackness, like sparkler sticks on a fourth of July night. Her joints somehow managed to pop back into place, and she rolled out of bed.
Katey fell nearly three feet and crashed to the unforgiving hardwood floor, but that was nothing compared to the hell she endured on the inside.
“Katey?” a sleepy voice called through the darkness. She recognized the frilly pitch of the voice as Lily’s.
At the sixth chime, Katey managed to rise to her elbows and knees with her hands still gripped around her throbbing head. She heard movement to her left, but couldn’t see or smell them. The noise was enough to make her feel as if her skull would cleave in two.
“Are you okay?” Lily asked.
With the seventh chime, Katey briefly let go of her head to grab the edge of the bed. Her aching hands found purchase on the bed railing, and she pulled herself up as her fingers popped in and out of position.
“Logan,” she whispered, knowing he must have heard her even if they were across the house from one another. Surely, he could sense her pain through their bond somehow. Something this strong couldn’t be blocked out of their spiritual union.
The eighth chime split the air, and with halting, unsteady steps, Katey walked aimlessly. Her vision returned, but the edges of figures and furniture were fuzzy and clouded. She stumbled toward a pair of French doors that led onto the second story balcony that wrapped around the house.
She was driven that way by the blue moonlight and the promise of fresh air. Just as she reached for the door handle, her knees popped backward.
Her cry of agony was drowned out by the clock’s ninth chime. As she fell forward, her hand managed to grab the door handle, and she pushed her way onto the balcony. Katey came crumbling onto the wooden planks littered with dirt and leaves.
The cool night air met her skin but provided no comfort for her body now drenched in sweat and trembling from nose to toes.
On the balcony, the heady scent of the forest surrounded her, filling her senses. She craned her head toward the metal railing. Beyond, she could see the tops of the trees, an endless playground waiting for her and her wolf that began clawing its way to the surface.
The tenth chime sounded like a distant reminder of civilization as Katey crawled. Her body protested every movement, sending volleys of burning fire and sharp needle-like shocks through every cell.
Voices from inside the house and in the slave quarters below came to her, but they were mere nonsense. Nothing mattered except getting to the woods, to freedom. There, Katey knew there would be a release from the torturous pain.
The eleventh chime found her by the railing and Katey pulled herself up, using every ounce of willpower and strength left in her muscles that wanted to tear her body apart from the inside out.
Heavy footsteps came toward her and more shouts of meaningless words.
The iron in her fingers cracked like dried and brittle flower petals. The metal groaned against her weight and failed.
By the time the stroke of twelve summoned midnight, Katey was falling, air whizzing past her ears and blowing out her tangled hair. She closed her eyes but felt no fear.
Instead of hitting the hard earth, Katey was cradled in a pair of strong arms. Logan’s arms. She looked up into his face, the only clear and welcome thing in her moment of terror. His masculine scent seeped into her foggy mind, and through the pain, she managed to give him a shaky smile.
He did not smile, though. His eyes told her, louder than any energy or aura, that Logan was terrified, probably more than her. She knew what was happening now.
Her eyes were golden, and her wolf was ready to run.
Katey opened her mouth to tell him, but the pain came fresh and exponentially worse. Her face contorted in anguish and Logan slowly lowered her to the ground. The feel of rich, wild soil beneath her flushed skin made the change come quicker.
Her legs and fingers raked and beat at the ground until her clothes were filthy and torn. A cry erupted from her lips, and she could sense bodies around her watching helplessly. Every moment, every sense that was once deadened, now became sharp and vivid.
She could hear everything for miles around, every voice and every heartbeat crowded in her ears. Her eyes opened to a wondrous world of detail she had never seen before. Smells mingled together in a mess that made her retch.
Then came the last push. Her wolf pressed forward, claws digging into Katey’s soul. They merged, and Katey let it all go with one last breath.
Michael watched from the top porch step as Katey’s body began to morph. He had known from the moment she came onto the property that something was not right. There was a storm inside of her raging to be let loose. If he had known this would happen, he wouldn’t have let her spend one moment alone.
It if weren’t for Lily’s shouts for help, they would have never known that Katey was changing. With Gregory and Anton beside him, they witnessed the first female werewolf change for her monthly cycle. They weren’t the only ones.
Logan stood a few feet from Katey, the closest of them all, while Michael’s guards formed a circle around her, ready to step in if needed. Behind them, Teddy’s pack assembled from their designated shacks and ogled at this rare privilege. Their edgy alpha stood just behind Gregory and beside him was an equally fretful Will.
He had never seen a werewolf’s first change. Every time a werewolf permitted him to see their change, it was nothing like this. Perhaps it was Katey, or perhaps females in general, but there was something majestic in the way her body shifted into the towering beast he had seen once before in the castle. That change a month ago, however, was not nearly as painful and excruciating as this appeared to be.
Pain radiated from Katey like a beacon, and Michael felt some of her distress in his own body.
After only a few moments of held breaths, they all watched Katey rise onto her limbs, leaving her clothes in a shredded pool around her feet. A beautiful white werewolf was presented to them, her tail drooping to the ground, pointed ears rotating at every sound, and wolfish head swiveling from one side to the other. Her arms and legs resembled that of a human, except her hands were tipped with claws and the undersides covered in rough pads. Her torso remained the same, her heavy white pelt covering any immodest details of her figure.
Her golden eyes darted between the vampires and werewolves who watched and her lips curled over her muzzle in a vicious growl. Logan stepped back a few paces and Michael sensed a change in him.
He was no longer scared for Katey but scared for himself. Michael looked to Gregory and Teddy, the only alphas present who could explain Logan’s fear.
Gregory glanced his way, jaw clenched, but would not speak. Will was frozen in place as if one move would attract Katey’s wrath.
“She needs breaking,” Teddy whispered.
Michael looked back to Katey and saw the savagery in her glare, the sheer ferocity in every bristled hair across her body that stood on end.
“Breaking?” Michael questioned, watching her movements as a scientist would study a newly discovered animal in the wild.
“If this is her first change,” Gregory muttered under his breath, “then she needs to be broken, tamed, by an alpha. If she isn’t, sh
e’ll be uncontrollable.”
Michael turned to them. “Her alpha won’t arrive until the morning.”
Teddy’s eyes slid his way. “It doesn't have to be her alpha. Any alpha. Anyone more dominant than she is.”
Michael waited patiently for either of the werewolves to volunteer, but once he realized neither of them would step forward, he looked to Anton.
“Don’t harm her,” he ordered. “But keep her contained.”
Anton nodded and charged forward to stand beside Logan.
Katey spun around and arched her body in challenge. When the vampire didn’t respond, she launched herself toward him. The two men dodged in different directions. The beast turned and roared in blind rage.
That same rage snaked through Michael’s core, and he shuddered. Katey leaped into the masses of vampires and werewolves, slashing and rampaging against them. None would strike back, and they were too fast for her as they scattered in every direction.
Some of the younger bayou werewolves made a game of it and taunted her. They let out whoops and hollers, heedless of the dangers that awaited if the beast caught any one of them.
“Y’all stop that!” Teddy shouted from the porch as he bounded down the steps to confront his pack.
When she grew bored of their evasive moves, she turned toward the slave shacks.
“She’s going to look for anything to destroy,” Will told Michael. “If someone doesn’t stop her, you won’t have much of a home left.”
Teddy turned to glare at Gregory and stripped off his shirt. “If you won’t do it, then I might as well.”
Michael looked to Logan who had distanced himself from the scene. In the shadows of the mansion, Logan watched Katey spring toward the wooden shacks. His face was cold and expressionless, but Michael could feel the terrible, heart-wrenching emotions that constricted his chest. Just like the rest of them, Logan was powerless to stop Katey. He was neither a dominant wolf nor could he change to even try to control Katey’s rampage.
Beast Within (Loup-Garou Series Book 3) Page 27
