Beast Within (Loup-Garou Series Book 3)

by Sheritta Bitikofer

  Her pack could be in another state by now, fleeing while they had the chance. Or they could have been wasting precious time coming up with a plan instead of charging into the compound to save her. For all she knew, they could have been trying to get in right then and were shot down by the hunters with their wolfsbane darts.

  Her inner wolf wailed for company and comfort, but Katey had no means to help her. All she could do was breathe slowly and fight back the waves of panic and hopelessness. She had to hold onto her sanity until all hope was truly lost.

  The silence of the detention room was broken as she heard the faint tap of footsteps come closer. She cracked open her eyes to watch as each of the locks snapped back, and the door opened. A team entered, two dressed in lab coats and six more armed with weapons and wearing protective gear.

  As they approached the cage, Katey refused to move. These same people had come in some time ago. All they wanted was a blood sample then. Did they need more?

  They formed a circle around the cage door, as they had before and pointed their guns at her head. If she resisted or made any sign of hostility, she would be killed. Although they weren’t packing wolfsbane, a silver bullet to her brain wouldn’t be something she could bounce back from.

  The cage door was unlocked, and a doctor entered with an empty syringe. Katey’s eyes watched him take her arm and roll up her sleeve again. She cooperated and refused to listen to her wolf who screamed out demands that Katey take the chance to run away, regardless of the consequences. The process took less than a minute and the tiny hole the syringe made healed as soon as the needle came out.

  As the team locked her cage door and prepared to leave for their second time, Katey felt something she hadn’t expected. The back of her skull tingled, and she lifted her head to stare at the open door.

  Bodies moved in and out, flowing together in such a way that she couldn’t pinpoint where the loup-garou was until he was standing in front of her locked cage. A man, tall and built from years of combat training presented himself to her. He wore the same protective body armor that the other guards wore, but he carried no gun.

  Their eyes locked and Katey felt her heart seize in her chest. Yes, he was a loup-garou, but something wasn’t right. The dark circles under his hazel eyes and scruffy face made him look like he hadn’t slept for days. Or perhaps he was ill? His posture was erect, proud. By the way the guards flanked him, Katey knew he must be an important man, like Drake.

  He flipped a gesture to the guards, and they left the room, shutting the door behind them, so he and Katey were completely alone. Whatever conversation they had would reach no human ears beyond these walls.

  “You’re a hunter,” she said with such a flat tone that she even surprised herself by how calm she remained under the circumstances.

  “I am. My name is Andrew.” He squatted down, so their eyes were even with one another. “I’m the leader of this clan.”

  Katey blinked and squared her shoulders. “You’re Drake’s dad?”

  Andrew nodded, and she could see the weariness in the movement of his head. “I bet you’re confused.”

  “You’re a hunter who is also a loup-garou. How confusing is that?” she quipped.

  Andrew chuckled and eased himself back, so they were both sitting cross-legged now. At the end of his laugh, he coughed hard into his elbow and took a deep breath to recover.

  “How can you be sick if you’re loup-garou?” she asked, letting her curiosity inch forward one question at a time.

  “Quit calling me something I’m not,” he ordered, a snap of impatience in his words.

  “But you are,” Katey insisted. “I can feel it, just like you can feel that I’m a loup-garou too.”

  Andrew looked at her with a fierceness that neither frightened her nor would subdue her questions. They were separated by silver, and neither of them could harm the other.

  “I was not born a beast,” he said. “I was born human, and that’s what I am.” With a heavy sigh, he continued. “About a year ago, I was bitten while on a solo mission in Canada. When I got back, I didn’t tell anyone. My son is the only one who knows because I needed someone to take my place in the clan. I still give the orders, but I can’t go on into the field anymore.”

  Katey laced her fingers together and squeezed. It made sense. How strange would it be if a loup-garou felt the same tingling sensation she felt now with Andrew, and realized that one of their own kind was about to kill them? And if that loup-garou escaped, what kind of mayhem would ensue from the truth? “That still doesn’t explain why you look so sick.”

  Andrew cast his eyes to the ground and pulled out a white pill bottle with no label from his pants pocket. “I’ve been taking these almost daily since I got back from that mission. A woman in New Orleans made these pills for me and said they would suppress the beast. They’ve been working.”

  With a slow motion, as if he were swimming in a deep sea of pain and mental anguish, he slid his pills back into his pocket. Katey’s mouth hung open, and she shook her head. “You can’t do that. It’ll kill you eventually.”

  “That’s better than being a monster,” he whispered.

  Keeping the beast locked away without any means of escape would only anger it and bring Andrew to a tormenting end. Even now, she could feel that rage building within him, waiting for the chance to unleash and tear his human host apart.

  Katey slipped her legs out from under her and crawled closer to the bars that separated them, being mindful not to get too close. “Listen to me,” she begged. “You’re not a monster. None of us are. You don’t have to take those. You can leave here and join a pack. I know a loup-garou who – “

  “Stop!” Andrew exploded.

  Katey shrank back and watched his face twist into something terrifying. Hateful eyes glared at her, but they did not turn gold as she had expected. The pills must have been powerful, indeed.

  “I will not join your kind,” he growled. “I am not one of you, and I will never leave my clan or my son. That’s why you’re here.”

  Katey sat back and waited for him to explain while she lowered herself ever so slightly to assume the submissive posture his wolf needed to feel comfortable again. He might have denied his wolf and kept it locked away, but it still seethed in his soul, and she could sense its dominance. He would have made an excellent alpha.

  Andrew’s expression slacked back into the haggard look he wore earlier. “I heard a rumor there would be a werewolf who was so special that he would bring peace and harmony to all things on earth. That means he would have the cure for evil. I looked all over the country, sending out operatives in all directions to find the wolf. When we found someone who knew, and we interrogated him, we knew he would be in the south. My son found your pack and through some oversight, we thought it was your mate. We weren’t expecting a female werewolf.”

  Katey heard his words, but the first part made little sense. “The prophecy said I would bring peace between loups-garous and vampires, not the whole world. At least, that’s not what I thought in the beginning.”

  Marie’s words came back to her once more and reminded her of how much stock the human race - who were aware of her presence - had put in her. Humans could feel the strain of the imbalance just as much as they did, but to cleanse the world of evil seemed way out of her pay grade.

  “What I mean is, since your kind and vampires and all other monsters in the world are evil, you’re going to cure them and make them human again.”

  Katey blinked and shook her head. “No, that doesn’t sound right. How can I cure something I already am? Besides, I’ve been told there is no cure. You’re wasting your time.”

  Andrew glowered. “You’re just saying that because you don’t want me to be cured. You want me to stay like this forever, but I won’t. We already have your blood, and our scientists are working to formulate the cure.” He gave her a sinister smile. “Once we have it, you’re going to be our first guinea pig. Once we know it works, I’ll
take the dose and be my old self again. And you’re going to stay here until we have the cure.”

  It sounded like some mad scientist scheme Katey knew would never work. She didn’t have to consult with the spirit of Tanatia or her wolf to know that there was no cure. He might as well have been searching for the holy grail, but who could convince Andrew otherwise?

  Katey sighed and swung her legs around until she was sitting as she was when he walked in. “So be it,” she relented. “I’m telling you that you won’t find anything.”

  “Our doctors have already found some interesting properties in your blood. It’s only a matter of time before they can single out that strand of DNA that will cure me.”

  Katey shrugged. “I’m half loup-garou and half vampire. That’s probably what they’re seeing. I don’t think that will cure you, but knock yourself out.” She looked to one of the larger cages tucked away in a corner. “Can I at least get a bigger cage? Or a pillow? The floor is kind of hard.”

  Andrew stood to his feet with great effort. “You won’t be here much longer.”

  “What if you don’t find what you’re looking for?” Katey asked as he walked away, each step heavy and shuffling.

  Andrew looked over his shoulder, and she saw a glint of remorse in his gaze. “Then we’ll let you go, just as Drake promised. We’ll drain you dry of all your blood before I’m willing to give up.”

  The leader of the hunters walked out of the detention room, and the three locks snapped back to trap her again in silence.

  Pity enfolded her heart as Katey remembered Andrew’s tragic story. If only he could accept what he was, if he could let go of the bitterness that etched itself in every fiber of his being, then perhaps he could have been happier and healthier. A loup-garou who denied their true self might as well have been like an animal who refused to hunt or feed itself. Death was imminent, and Katey was surprised he was still alive at all. She couldn’t imagine living one moment without her wolf, let alone nearly a year.

  Pity was replaced by disquiet at her next thought. If by some random miracle, Andrew did find the cure for being loup-garou and vampire, what could that spell for the rest of her kind all over the world? She might be the first loup-garou to take their next breath without the aid of their spiritual partner. She was sure there were plenty who would line up at the chance to be human again, but Katey was not eager for it. It made her want to try and escape all the more.

  Anton’s forces were merciless as they made their way through the guard-infested woods. Bloodless bodies littered the forest floor as the vampires closed in on the old sugarcane mill.

  Logan stayed close to Anton but kept his gun holstered. Not a shot had been fired yet, and Anton said he preferred it that way. The vamps were armed only if their stealth attacks were rendered pointless.

  Using daggers as long as their forearms, the vamps dispatched their victims with a quick slash to the throat or stab down their spinal cord that killed them instantly. By now, he had been numbed to the blood and carnage, especially now while he only had one thing on his mind.

  Not a word had to be spoken between the leader of the mission and his troops. Signals and what Logan could only assume as intuitive telepathy kept them organized as they constricted around the compound.

  The two guards at the front were easily dealt with by two vamps who swept in before the humans had a chance to fire their rifles. Two more vamps charged into the mill and scoped out the entry hall before declaring it safe for Anton, Logan, and the rest to move in.

  With tried and proven method, two vamps moved into a room to clean it out, and then ushered the others inside with sharp jerks of their heads or guns. Logan and Anton had already discussed the predicted path through the compound since the vamps had studied it well over the last few weeks. Some parts of the building remained unknown to them, but they knew exactly where they would have taken Katey.

  Anton informed Logan on the way to the complex that the night watch would be scarce and many of the lights had been cut off already, so they had plenty of cover in the darkness. The hunters weren’t aware of the vampire presence in New Orleans, and if they were, they didn’t consider the vampires to be a threat. Therefore, they neglected to build their defenses against them.

  The death count rose steadily as they made their way through the complex until they reached the heavily fortified door. Four operatives covered Anton and Logan as they inspected the keypads and dial locks that kept them out of the detention room. They had come so far already, only to be stopped by a few number combinations.

  Logan repressed the curses on his tongue and his muscles bunched under his skin, ready to charge at the door himself just to make it open. Anton held out his hand in front of the angry loup-garou to stop him from the foolish impulse and stared at the keypad as if the code would magically reveal itself.

  Voices drew closer, but Logan knew more vamps were silently guarding their exit routes. If any hunter so much as wandered too close to the detention room, the vamps would take care of them.

  Anton turned away from the locked door and bent down to one of the hunters they killed who had been standing guard over the detention room. Logan watched as the vamp pressed his fingertips against the man’s forehead for a solid minute and then came back to the keypad. With nimble fingers, he entered the correct passcodes and spun the dial in just the right combination to open the door.

  Logan ogled between the vamp and the corpse he had somehow conversed with, but there was no time to ask questions. He remembered Anton had said something about reading the memories of the hunter they captured at the mansion, but it seemed outlandish to believe he could read the mind of a corpse.

  He rushed to Katey’s cage as the two sweepers cleared the room. Logan didn’t bother waiting for their approval, and he didn’t even let Katey speak before he gripped the bars that kept them apart.

  The silver burned in his palms, but he hardly noticed as he gave a swift tug on the cage door. The hinges snapped and noisily fell to the concrete floor.

  Katey darted out, and they collided, arms enveloping one another.

  “I didn’t think you’d come so soon,” she whispered against his neck as he lifted her to her feet. Anton waited patiently at the door, but Logan knew they didn’t have much time.

  Logan kissed her hard, but when he pulled away, his eyes conveyed anything but love and admiration for her brashness. “You shouldn’t have come alone,” he scolded.

  Katey hugged him tight around the neck. “I couldn’t just stay at the mansion. I had to try.”

  Yes, he completely understood her reasons. That didn’t make it any better. Logan wanted to push aside his crossness with her and be thankful she was alive, but they weren’t out of the woods yet.

  Katey loosened her grip and met Logan’s eyes. “I know why they wanted me,” she said. “They think I have the cure.”

  Logan dipped his chin and squinted at her. “Cure? For what?”

  “For us. For loups-garous and vampires.”

  A sudden coldness hit Logan’s stomach. “That’s impossible, isn’t it?”

  “That’s what I told Andrew, but he won’t listen. He’s a loup-garou too and – “

  Anton snapped his fingers at the two of them to get their attention before nudging his head toward the door. They didn’t have the time for conversation. If any of the hunters stumbled upon their dead comrades, they would come looking for Katey first to make sure no intruders came to claim her.

  Logan guided Katey out the door, and the two sweepers followed. They closed the detention room door and retraced their steps back through the compound. Katey’s momentum slowed, and after a while, Logan had to practically drag her past the lifeless bodies that marked their path.

  Part of him wished she could become accustomed to death. After the battle at the castle, seeing what remained of the safe house in Alaska, and after the slaughter, she witnessed at the mansion, Katey shouldn’t have gone weak in the knees at the mess they had made.
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  Shouts rang through the halls and sirens blared across the compound as overhead lights flickered on and the generators whirled to make the complex come alive. The shadows wouldn’t hide them any longer. Anton and the vamps plowed ahead to investigate while a detail of four vamps kept moving with Logan and Katey toward the exit.

  Katey’s hand gripped tight around Logan’s as gunshots sounded through the systems of corridors and rooms that connected several of the buildings. Screams ripped through the once silent air as their presence was made known throughout the hunter headquarters.

  While passing through the last corridor before they could arrive at the training hall, Logan looked down a linked room and saw three hunters in full battle gear.

  With little time to react, Logan pulled Katey down to make her crouch. Two of the vamps attending them were shot with wolfsbane darts. The residual smell of the poison congested Logan’s sinuses and both he and Katey were sent into a fit of coughs and wheezes as they hurried on.

  The remaining two vamps shot the hunters and evaded the darts, and once they distanced themselves from the corpses now riddled with wolfsbane, their sinuses began to clear, and they could see straight again.

  In the training hall, they were met with a detail of hunters guarding their exit. The vamps opened fire, but the hunters outnumbered them.

  Thinking fast, Logan whisked Katey toward the sectioned-off the gun range attached to the training hall. A silver bullet nicked his side, but he kept going, remembering there was another way out on the floorplans Anton had described to him. The pain seemed like nothing in their rush to freedom.

  They ducked down, avoiding the bullets that shattered the observation window and penetrated through the walls of the short gun range. Through another door, they found themselves in an empty corridor where the battle hadn’t spilled into yet.

  “Where are we going?” Katey whispered.