Marked (The Pack)

by Cox, Suzanne

  From the trees I could see the figure coming, someone in human form, a great sword at their side. My breath came in tiny gasps because of the pressure on my neck as teeth sunk deeper. At least now, with the sword, it would end quickly. I couldn’t make out the face, a man, large. The blade rose in the air, arced above me. I closed my eyes still struggling for breath, then blackness.

  “Alexis.”

  Clawing my way out of darkness, I forced my eyes to open, to see what death looked like and who would be calling my name. Maybe I was a ghost and when I opened my eyes I’d be floating above the scene seeing myself, head separated from body.

  “Wake up, Alexis.”

  I opened my eyes. Vincent crouched over me. I tried to take in the surroundings. He’d wrapped a cloth around one of my arms that must have been badly injured and covered me with a blanket. There, on the ground beside him, was the sword. It had been Vincent I’d seen approaching.

  “I’m not dead.”

  He gave a half smile. “No, lucky you.”

  “How did you find me?”

  “I heard you calling.”

  “I don’t remember calling anyone.”

  “You did though. I heard you. I wasn’t far. The field with the others is just over there.”

  He gestured with his arm and I twisted to see. I sucked in a breath and my stomach rolled, much like it had the night I’d been so sick and threw up the chicken foot. Only this was much worse. I scrambled away from Vincent on my hands and knees and threw up.

  “I’m sorry. I was going to try and prepare you,” he muttered, repositioning the blanket to keep me covered.

  “Is that possible?” I choked, wiping the back of my hand across my mouth.

  “What do you mean?”

  “To prepare someone for that.” I swung my arm wide at the scene in front of us.

  He shook his head. “I guess not.”

  Scattered along the path were the three girls with whom I’d spent most of the summer. Their bodies lay in various odd positions, unclothed, and one was headless.

  “Did you have to kill her? Couldn’t you have just given her the anti-viral?”

  “I gave them all the anti-viral. It worked on those two but not the other one. It happens that way some time. She was a genetic werewolf, Fenryrian.”

  I stared at the body of Channing and shook my head. “No, that’s not possible. I saw her arm, the mark. It was the one for the viral werewolf, the regular virus, I saw it.”

  Vincent walked to the body and twisted one of the arms. “Was it this? “

  On the skin was the mark I had seen, the one that identified the person as a werewolf carrying the original virus. “I don’t understand. Why is it there like that? Shouldn’t it have disappeared?”

  “It’s tattooed on. It’s not her natural mark. She must have kept it covered with make-up or something until she wanted to show it.” He grabbed the other wrist. “If you look closely you can see her real mark, it’s only slightly faded.”

  I didn’t bother to come closer. “Why would she do that?”

  He put the arm gently on the ground and shook his head. “I don’t know the answer to that.”

  We heard voices through the woods and Vincent called out. I tightened the blanket around me and stared at the ground. As the others appeared, Vincent gave them instructions. When I looked up, the intact bodies were gone. Only Channing’s was left, covered with a blanket. Louise squatted in front of me.

  “I’m sorry Alexis. I never would have thought they’d come to the house like that. They all came to the field and got the anti-viral the first time and changed back to human form, except for Channing. She must have gone to the other girls’ homes and re-infected them. I didn’t know until then. We all thought she was viral and not genetic. ”

  “Because of what I’d told you. She fooled me. I don’t know why she would want to do that.”

  “None of us are sure. Even when we realized she wasn’t a human infected with the virus, I never imagined she’d continue to try and attack you. But you’re safe now. She’s gone.”

  “Did she have to die… like that?” I whispered.

  Louise glanced to the body and then sighed. “Vincent wouldn’t have done it if it wasn’t absolutely the last resort. But honestly, Alexis, how else were we to know she wouldn’t keep coming back after you, again and again? She gave the virus to Jana and Celina again as soon as we took them home. Who’s to say next time she wouldn’t infect more and more people to be werewolves and come after you.”

  “All because the guy she wanted to date liked me instead of her.”

  Louise shrugged. “It seems that way. Some people, even those who aren’t werewolves, get fixated on another person and can’t let go. Everything is going to be fine now. You’ll be able to leave all this behind soon.”

  “You think I’ll leave that behind.” I nodded to Channing’s covered body.

  “No, probably not, but you’ll go on and you’ll look closer, think harder and be more prepared if anything like this ever happens again.”

  I nodded and got to my feet, gathering the blanket around me. “I’ll go home now.”

  “I’ll go with you.”

  I didn’t answer. Instead, I started walking down the path back to Louise’s house. My aunt’s footsteps crunched on the ground behind me, but neither of us spoke. I went to the bathroom and bathed, cleaning my nearly healed wounds. In the bed I closed my eyes and didn’t open them when I heard the door squeak as Louise looked in on me. For now I had no more words.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  I folded the last of the t-shirts to put in my suitcase. I looked over at the small stack of clothes I’d left on the dresser to wear home. It seemed like more than three days ago that Eric and I had wrecked on the motorcycle and Channing had been killed. My mother and Aaron had arrived yesterday. Thankfully, in a slightly nicer Explorer than the one we’d had for the trip down here. On tomorrow I was going home.

  Downstairs a door slammed, then feet pounded on the stairs along with another sound. Beowulf beat Myles into the room by at least two steps. He flew onto the bed, into the suitcase on top of my clothes, circled three times and lay down. I put my hands on my hips and looked at Myles.

  “What is he doing?”

  Myles slid the chair from its position near the wall next to the bed, then dropped into it. He grinned. “He’s helping you pack. He hasn’t gotten over the whole toenail painting thing.”

  I sat cross-legged on the bed and pulled Beowulf from on top of my clothes snuggling him against my chest. He licked my neck and when I put him in my lap, he curled up happily.

  “He didn’t mind. That was you who got so worked up over it.”

  Myles looked around the room. “So, looks like you’re all packed and ready to go.”

  “Pretty much.”

  He leaned back in the chair. “It’s been an interesting summer for you, huh?”

  I laughed. “I don’t know if interesting really covers it.”

  “Unusual?”

  “Not nearly enough.”

  “Cataclysmic?”

  “What? Now you sound like Brynna.”

  He smiled. “Whatever it was, you survived it. Now you can go home.”

  I was quiet, stroking Beowulf’s back. “It’ll be different, though. I’ll have to meet new people, werewolf people. They’re supposed to help me learn more of the things I need to know to ‘get along successfully’ as Aunt Louise put it. She’s already arranged for them to come to my house and meet me.”

  “At least you’ll be in comfortable surroundings that you’re used to and with people you know. You can get back with your friends you didn’t get to see all summer.”

  I didn’t answer.

  “Are you rethinking that whole friends thing?”

  I tucked a piece of hair that had fallen into my face behind my ear. “I guess I am. I mean, they didn’t come see me before I left and didn’t call, email or anything the whole summer. Even Brynna
came over yesterday to say goodbye before she and her folks went out of town. And we don’t really even like each other.”

  Myles laughed. “Maybe they had their own drama this summer.”

  I arched an eyebrow. “I had more than drama. I sent them e-mails and texts that they didn’t answer.”

  Myles was quiet for a moment. “I saw Eric on the way over.”

  “Really, what was he doing?”

  I was glad for the subject change, because as much as I didn’t want to come here before, I was unsure about what my life might be like when I got home.

  “Don’t know, just passed him in his truck. He was headed into town. Has he been over to say good bye?”

  I shook my head. I had called Eric but couldn’t get him at home or on his cell, so I left him a message that I’d be leaving tomorrow. I was trying not to think about the fact that I hadn’t heard a word back yet.

  Myles leaned forward in the chair. “Do you really think the reason Channing kept after you was because she wanted him and he wouldn’t have anything to do with her?’

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s the only explanation that makes any sense. He called to tell me he’d heard Channing had been killed in a car wreck.”

  “Yeah, my dad said Vincent Unger took her body home to her parents.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding. Won’t there be some kind of war? I mean, didn’t they want to kill him?”

  Shrugging, Myles leaned back in the chair again. “He explained what Channing was doing and what happened. The two packs don’t just randomly kill each other. They realized she was out of control. Will it have some kind of effect down the road…” He paused watching Beowulf re-adjust his position in my lap, then looked back at me and shrugged. “Who knows?”

  I’d heard people say “who knows” so much this summer I was beginning to wonder if they were all as clueless as I was about the whole werewolf situation.

  “I guess I better go. Dad and I are leaving in an hour to go back to my grandparents house for a few days.”

  He got to his feet and I stood too, putting Beowulf on the floor. Myles opened his arms wide. I stepped close wrapping my arms around his waist.

  “Thanks for saving my butt more times than I can count.”

  “No problem.” He gave me a squeeze and let go. “Maybe you’ll return the favor sometime.”

  “Yeah, like I could save somebody.”

  He frowned at me. “Alexis, you have no idea what all you can do. If you choose to, you could develop your talents and become a fighter, a good one. And believe me, you have talents. You may not see them yet, but I do, so do others like Louise and my dad. But you have to decide what you’re going to do. Nobody’s going to make you.”

  I nodded because for some reason my throat felt tight. Crying wasn’t a typical response for me and I knew I should be glad to go home. But leaving wasn’t as simple as I’d thought. Beowulf bumped against my leg and I grabbed him up for one more snuggle, then handed him to Myles.

  “Thanks,” I whispered.

  He nodded and touched my cheek with his forefinger. “You take care.”

  Then he turned and was gone. I didn’t move until I heard him shout goodbye to Louise and the door slammed. I dropped into the chair where he’d been sitting and curled into a tight ball. One tear leaked over the edge of my lower eyelid, then another. Inside I felt like I was being pulled in different directions, much like the wolves had been doing to my body the other night. Only this time no one was pulling me. I was doing it to myself.

  ***

  I sat up in bed with a start. What was that noise? Across the room my window made a cracking sound. My feet hit the floor and I peered through the glass. Eric stood below. I hurried downstairs. He was waiting on the porch.

  “Rocks on my window? You’ve got to be kidding.”

  “I had to get your attention, wake you up.”

  “You could have come at a normal hour and not in the middle of the night.”

  “I was afraid your aunt might not let me see you after the whole motorcycle thing. John from the ice cream shop was with me when I woke up. He said your aunt had come and taken you home, but that she wasn’t very happy with me.”

  “She wanted us home before dark.”

  “I know. I messed up. But it won’t happen again. I didn’t think she would want to hear that now. Besides, I got your message about you leaving tomorrow. I figured I’d be dealing with your mom and stepdad in the future.”

  “You’re still planning on coming to Chicago?”

  “Of course I am. Did you think I wouldn’t?”

  I walked to the edge of the porch and leaned against the railing. “After I called and didn’t hear from you for days, I wondered.”

  “My mom took me to stay at my grandmother’s right after the motorcycle wreck.” He followed me stopping only inches away from my back. “I was kind of banged up and my mom had to work, so my grandmother took care of me. Then the whole thing with Channing happened and there was the funeral.”

  The warmth of him radiated in the small space between us until I could almost feel his chest against my back. I stared at the wooden slats of the porch, not able to turn around and meet Eric’s eyes when the subject of Channing was being discussed. “Yeah, it was really bad.”

  “Why didn’t you come to the funeral services?”

  “Oh, ummm… I was still hurting from the motorcycle wreck and it was so horrible, her dying like that. It was too much. I just couldn’t do it.”

  Eric nodded. I wished I could have said the truth, which was that you didn’t really attend the funeral of the person who had died because they were trying to kill you. In the distance a dog barked and we were both quiet. The chirping of the crickets whirred loudly then faded, then returned along with the occasional croaking of a frog. I tried to concentrate on the night sounds, on going home, on Eric, anything to keep the image of Channing out of my head. If I’d ignored Eric, stayed away from him none of this would have happened. Yet how could I have even imagined such an end was possible? I couldn’t. I’d had no idea what all existed in the werewolf world. Even now I’d only scratched the surface. In the end I’d never really know why Channing behaved the way she did about Eric. I only knew that something kept pulling me to him and I think he felt drawn to me too.

  “How long before you think you’ll get to Chicago?” I asked.

  He turned me around to face him and put his arms around me pulling me close. “Not soon enough, but I’m hoping in about three weeks.”

  “Really, three weeks?’

  “Is it too soon? “

  “No, tomorrow wouldn’t be too soon, but it is earlier than I’d expected. I imagined your parents would at least make you wait until Thanksgiving or Christmas.”

  “Nope, I’m paying for the trip, so they said I could go when I wanted as long as I didn’t miss more than a few days of school.”

  I stretched upward and he bent toward me so I could kiss his lips.

  “I’m glad it won’t be long,” I whispered against his cheek.

  “Me too.”

  He kissed me again, his mouth against mine with an increasing urgency. I pressed against his muscled body.

  “I don’t want to let you go,” he said as he moved his lips along the side of my neck.

  “Then don’t.”

  “I have to for now, but later, another time.”

  “Another time,” I repeated softly. He was pulling away from me but I wanted him to stay and I held on to him.

  “I have to go.”

  “Already?”

  “It’s late and I don’t want my parents to wake up and find me gone. But I’ll see you soon.” He eased away stilling holding my hand. Lifting it to his lips he kissed the palm, then the back, then each finger before slowly releasing it. He turned and strode quickly to the porch steps.

  I watched him disappear in the dark toward the pathway that led around the lake. His departure left me feeling chilled even in the damp
heat of the night. In a few minutes I heard the sound of what must have been an ATV. Then, even that faded. Inside I locked the door behind me and climbed the steps to my room. At least now I could look forward to Eric’s visit. No matter how life went when I got home, I’d have that.

  ***

  “You’ve got everything?”

  I walked to the back of the Explorer next to my mom and looked over the pile of suitcases. “I think so.”

  “If she forgot something I’ll get it to you.” Louise stood next to us, her arms crossed in front of her, dark hair pulled back in a ponytail. Aaron slammed the tailgate as we walked away. He got behind the wheel while my mother hugged Louise. I stood with the door to the backseat open. Louise stepped in front of me.

  “I’m sorry that this ended up being so traumatic. Some of it couldn’t be helped.”

  “I know. I guess I was a pain in the butt most of the time.”

  “Not really, you kind of remind me of myself sometimes. Maybe that’s why I wanted to overprotect you. I wish it would have gone better.”

  She put her arms around me and I hugged her back.

  “Does Aaron know?” I whispered.

  “Yes,” Louise answered. “And he’ll be fine with it. I wish I could take it away from you Alexis, I’d do anything if I could.”

  My breath tightened in my chest and I wondered if I’d cry at every goodbye I made. I was supposed to be glad to be going home, glad to get away from here.

  “It’s okay, I’ll manage.”

  Louise laughed softly and let me go. “That’s a big change from that first night when you thought I should be locked up somewhere.”