“You’re the tour guide, tell me where we need to go.” Wiatt fired back at him.
“Come on this way,” Mike answered him with a nod of his head as he looked up the sidewalk before Wiatt and they started jogging again.
32
Wiatt trusted Mike but he was still on hyper alert, looking out for anyone and anything suspicious. Running around the streets of Boston in public with a very obvious looking, unleashed wolf could get them all kinds of attention. He was rather grateful that it was so late into the night, even if he was tiring from the running and fighting that had seemingly used up a lot of his adrenaline. The lack of sleep definitely wasn’t helping either. But still he followed Mike’s lead because he seemed to know exactly where he was going, on question was, where was it?
Just when Wiatt found himself in need of asking Mike, he saw it. The game plan. Mike half turned and looked backing him whilst pointing at the sign ahead of them. It said one word. Subway. The two males and Tatum wolf half trotted down the stairs to the underground railway station hurriedly, taking the steps a few at a time.
It was only when they got to the bottom and looked around, that Wiatt heard it. The heavy sounds of exhaustion coming from Tatum. He looked back at her and knelt down, she was panting heavily, her tongue loping at her side, and she was starting to move her legs, like she wanted to lie down. She was tired.
“I need to get Tatum water.” Wiatt said out loud as Mike looked around them. “She’s exhausted.”
“Okay well wait here and I’ll go look for something.” Mike said starting to jog off in search for them.
“Hey Tay, I need to lift you over the barrier okay?” Wiatt said looking at the panting wolf and lowering his arms out to her. Tatum moved away from him, backing up the more he reached out to her. Wiatt straightened up.
“Tay,” Wiatt said wondering how he was going to get her from the outer part onto the platform past the ticket barrier. “We need to,” He watched as she kept walking backwards and realized instantly what she meant to do. “Tay don’t, I can lift you over it.” But she wasn’t having any of it, he realized as she started to sprint towards the ticket barrier gate. Wiatt found himself holding his breath as he watcher her leap, and clear the low slung gate barrier, before hoping over it himself, onto the train platform.
“Okay,” he said softly letting out a heavy breath before looking along the highly illuminated and empty platform, walking to the side of the nearest tiled wall and slide down it to sit on the ground, watching as Tatum slowly walked over to him and sat down heavily. “I’m sorry baby. This was not how it was supposed to go down. Not at all.” Wiatt said softly looking at the lycan wolf beside him as she looked out at the platform before them, panting too much for Wiatt’s liking.
He pulled out his cell phone and dialed his brother. Paris would lecture the hell out of him if and when they got back to New York. If Wiatt thought there had been restrictions on his relationship with Tatum prior to the Boston trip, he knew it would be nothing compared to what was bound to happen to him when they got back home.
“Where are you?” Paris asked picking up the line on the second ring.
“We’re in the subway at uh, I don’t know, some station.” Wiatt said looking around for a train platform sign. “Uh Paris, I’ve left a fairly destructive trail up here. It just seems to be getting worse.”
“Isn’t Mike, Bg’s friend helping you?” Paris quizzed him.
Wiatt ran his hand through his hair and sighed heavily into the phone. “Yeah, he is. I owe him, I wouldn’t know how the fuck to get out of this city without his help. We’re running and we’re running out of time to meet our ride out of here.” Wiatt said looking down at his watch. “In fact I don’t see how we can possibly make the helicopter rendezvous in time.”
“Don’t worry about that right now.” Paris said back at him as Wiatt let out a laugh of disbelief at him.
“I have to. My finance is pregnant and under threat of death by a city full of fucking lycans.” Wiatt replied angrily back at his brother.
“Wiatt,” Paris addressed him with sharply. “Keep it together. Now is not the time to fall down on the job.”
“You’re right. It’s just it’s all gone wrong. I don’t even know if she got anything out of the whole fucking encounter before I snapped the fuckers neck. We probably could’ve got out of there without that happening.”
“Hey, what the fuck did I just say to you? Now is not the time for doubt. Now think, are you three safe? Out of sight?”
Wiatt looked around the empty platform again. “Yeah, for now. We’re safe.”
“So you dig the fuck in and you hide out until you have a window of opportunity to get out of there. Mike is going to do all he can to get you guys out. Bg tells me he’s a specialist at this kind of thing. So you divert to him and follow his fucking lead.”
“Right.” Wiatt sighed softly feeling tiredness begin to creep into his muscles. “Do you ever get tired of the fighting? I mean, seems like that’s what we do ninety percent of our time. What kind of life is that anyway?”
“It’s in our nature. Werewolves, wolves, humans. Doesn’t matter which side you’re on, just depends what you consider a fight. They’re all around us little brother. And Tatum is counting on you, to fight for her and the pup.” Paris answered him. “And if you’re not willing to do that, then you don’t deserve to marry her.” The sound of approaching footsteps, made Wiatt still and straighten up. “Wiatt? Wiatt you there?” Mike came jogging back into view and Wiatt relaxed instantly.
“Yeah, I’m here.” He said looking at Tatum’s wolf self curled up and sleeping beside him. She’d come such a long way from when he’d first met her and she’d been thrust unfairly into the world of the wolf. And she’d coped with it all and even when he hadn’t.
“Then make your choice.” Paris threw at him harshly.
“I chose her.” Wiatt said watching the rise and fall of Tatum’s body with her sleeping breath.
33
Mike walked over to Wiatt emptied handed and nodded his head at the phone.
“It’s Paris.” Wiatt answered him.
“Alright, well we need to discuss our change of plans.” Mike said at Wiatt squatting down beside him.
“So no water then?” Wiatt asked tiredly.
“No.” Mike answered him.
“Put me on speaker so I can hear everything.” Paris commented in his brother’s ear. Wiatt pressed the speaker button on his phone and held it out as Mike looked at it and back at him.
“The Harkness pack are closing in on us. And we can’t stay here much longer. If they’re smart and I believe they’re smart enough to do this, they’ll ensure they cut off all access points, airport, trains, major bus exits and keep us rounded up in the city. We’ll be easier to find if they can do that.”
Wiatt frowned at him. “Then why did you take us to a subway station? Aren’t you just bringing us to their fucking attention or making it easier for them? Who’s fucking side are you on?”
Mike put up a hand. “This isn’t a subway station. Well, I mean, it used to be. It’s closed now. But clearly the city haven’t turned the electricity off yet. Typical.” Mike said looking around the roof over them. “There’s a path we can take through that tunnel.” He said pointing down the old railway tracks. “That will lead us to a hidden, long forgotten lot of subway stations. We follow the underground railway to a point, then we need to climb back up to the surface. It’ll get us almost anywhere around the city if I can remember the correct turns and paths to take and if the signs are still readable.”
Wiatt sat up a little straighter. “But it’s a maze down there. We could get lost for days before we see light again. Plus its cold and probably wet too. And I don’t know it like the back of my hand, I just know some of it. I don’t have a magical map or anything. But parts of the subway have signs that will help us figure out where we are or need to go.”
“So you could get us to the Hancock Tower, the
helicopter could wait for us.” Wiatt said back at Mike eagerly.
“It won’t get us to the Hancock. Doesn’t quite extend that far, that way. The Tower’s far too new. But there is another possibility. The old Boston Medical Centre Hospital. It’s closed down, has been for a few years.”
“Hospital. Hospitals have heli-pads on the roof for medical emergencies.” Wiatt said thinking out loud.
“Exactly. We make our way to the hospital, and re-arrange for the helicopter to rendezvous with you two there. I’ve already spoken to my contact, she’s ready to go at a moments notice. All we have to do is get in contact with her.”
“That sounds good.” Paris commented from the phone at them. “Is Tatum in any condition to handle the trek Wiatt?” Wiatt looked over at the sleeping lycan beside him. She looked like she was truly sleeping, which had to mean, she was tired, exhausted. He didn’t know if she had it in her to walk on any further.
“I can look after Tay.” Wiatt answered his brother as Mike gave him a funny look that said, something was going on that he didn’t understand and couldn’t say out loud.
“Alright, if it’s no danger to Tatum, I think you should do it. But if it’s too much for her, then you need to just dig in and hide out till morning. Slipping out in public with the general public around, might be an easier form of cover to use.”
“Uh, you mean collateral damage,” Mike commented.
“Right now, I can’t be concerned with that.” Paris fired back at Mike. Mike sighed and wiped his hand over his mouth.
“We could sit tight, that’s a play. But I think the longer we’re still and in one place, the more likely we are to be found out. You saw how easy it was to find the entrance to this place.” Mike said holding Wiatt’s eye contact.
“We’ll go for the hospital.” Wiatt said back at him.
“Alright, how long do you estimate it’ll take you to navigate the underground railway Mike?”
“Could be an hour, could be three. Assume if we get past four hours and you haven’t heard from us, that we’re in some sort of trouble.” He replied business like back at Parish.
“Okay. Wiatt?”
“Yeah?”
“Stay safe little brother.”
“Yeah, you too.” Wiatt replied before disconnecting the call.
“Are you sure you want to do this trek? What I didn’t mention is I have no idea how safe it is in the subterranean. I’ve only done it once before and that was a long time ago. Times change, areas flood, sections collapse, you know the deal.” Mike said trailing off. “And she doesn’t look like she’s up for it.” He said nodding his head at the sleeping wolf beside Wiatt.
“I’ve got her. You just lead us through this hell hole.” Wiatt replied back at him. Mike nodded his head and stood up again.
“Alright.”
34
Wiatt began to worry when the sleeping wolf in his arms barely stirred or did so much as whine at him when he lifted her up into his arms. “I swear I’m going to get us out of her baby. Just hang in there.” Wiatt said softly to her adjusting her in his arms, as Mike took the lead and began walking in front of him, carrying the duffel bag over his shoulder.
The air in the tunnel was musty and dank and felt dense like it was waiting to lift and be released from it’s long forgotten confinement. Even though they were only a few feet under the current city of Boston. “So what’s the deal with you Basinger?” Wiatt asked walking cautiously behind Mike and shifting his eyes to his werewolf eyes, which had far better night vision than his human eyes.
“How do you mean?” Mike asked back
“How do you become a shifter with such a specialized skill set?” Wiatt answered him. Mike chuckled lightly.
“You don’t hold back huh?”
“Not exactly a habit of mine, especially when I’m tired and pissed with the world.” Wiatt said back at him, putting one foot in front of the other at a mild pace.
“Well, how’d you become a werewolf?” Mike threw at him over his shoulder.
“Born werewolf.”
“Right, born a shifter.” Mike said back at him. “I don’t know if that’s the way for all of my kind, but it is for me. When you’re kind is not top of the power pool in our world, you tend to develop a sense of self preservation and skills to get higher up, especially when you’re kind has got unlocked potential to step it up. But shifters don’t do the whole community vibe thing like the werewolves do.”
“Why not?”
Mike shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. Never bothered to ask. But I have a theory, I think we’re too singular in our being to be like the wolves. We’re different, even from one another. I can’t say I’ve met two shifters that are the same.”
“How do you mean?” Wiatt asked curiously.
“What is this an interrogation, because I should probably tell you how hard a fucking nut I am to crack on that front.”
“Common curiosity.” Wiatt answered him. “But knowing this kind of information, it helps my job in the pack. I’m the first line of weird. I’m the one who deals with the lycans, the lones, the shifters, and anything else that isn’t werewolf that comes our way. Have to admit I haven’t had really had any run ins with shifters before. They are somewhat of a mystery to me.”
“So this is to help you, an alpha werewolf, do your job of what, enforcing werewolf pack law on me and my kind and other non-wolves, better?”
“It would help, but whatever. Just passing time in this place man. Talk, don’t talk. You’re dime.”
The sounds of their footsteps echoed of the cold concrete around them as they walked forwards. “You must love her. I have to admit, I wouldn’t have thought that was possible for a werewolf and lycan from what I know of your kind.”
“Yeah, almost everyone says that.” Wiatt remarked, as he inhaled the stench of mold, mildew and concrete around them. They must be getting deeper underground.
“Do you ever get tired of hearing it?”
“You mean do I get angry that they’re constantly judging us?” Wiatt fired back.
“Yeah.”
“Anger isn’t going to keep her with me.” Wiatt said back at him. “So I try to pay no attention to anyone who isn’t into us.”
“Sounds hard.” Mike said.
“Sounds like life. Wouldn’t be that much different to hooking up with another werewolf. They’re would still be judgment on my choice of pack mate. It would just be along the lines of whether she was worthy of me, a pack hierarchy member, an alpha. If she was from another pack, the scrutiny would be even narrower. That’s all.”
“Is that how it is for Bg?” Mike asked glancing over his shoulder back towards Wiatt. “She have that kind of pressure on her and Paris all the time? She’s not from your pack right?”
Wiatt sighed and re-hoisted Tatum in his arms again. “Right. They’re like the poster children for rebellion and love. They cop everything and they take it all on. Never shy away, don’t back down. They just roll with it and attack.”
“So Bg’s got herself a good guy in Paris then, sounds like he matches her temperament.”
“They are a good match. I didn’t see the depth of them at first. How’d you know about Bg’s temperament anyway?” Wiatt asked curiously.
“Oh man, I could tell you about Bg.” Mikey chuckled. “But she’d flat out kill me.”
“That sounds like Bg.” Wiatt replied walking through a puddle of water.
“We’ve had our clashes too. Is there anything scarier than an angry female wolf?” Mike joked back at him.
“Not much.” Wiatt agreed as they come to a T-Junction in their path. Mike stopped and looked down both tunnels. “Which way?”
Mike looked around them and saw a faded green arrow on wall.
“Which?”
“This way.” Mike said heading for the right tunnel.
Wiatt wondered why Mike didn’t scent his way around. Maybe he couldn’t. “Something live down here that I need to know about
?”
“Not that I’m aware of but like I said before, I haven’t been down here in years, so who knows?” Mike said stepping over old rail tracks. The tunnel curved and they walked on. “Say goodbye to the last of our light.” Mike commented pointing out that the overhead tunnel lighting broke off suddenly the way they were going.
“Darkness suits me just fine.”
“Why? You friends with it?” Mike quipped. After an hour and a half of carrying Tatum, Wiatt’s arm muscles were beginning to feel the stiffness of being held in the same position for so long set in. And his wolf was becoming heavy in his arms.
“Ugh,” He grunted and shifted Tatum in his arms again, receiving a tap of her snout against his arm for his effort.
“You right man? You want me to take her for a bit?” Mike asked turning around to face Wiatt.
“I don’t think she’s out of it enough to let another male touch her.” Wiatt said as Tatum’s wolf eyes opened slowly and closed again.
“So, she’d still bite my face off?”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s rest then.” Mike suggested as they came across an old subway platform still in tact.
“Yeah, good idea.” Wiatt grunted slowly easing Tatum down onto the flat surface before stretching his arms out straight and gritting his teeth together. “Where are we anyway? Any idea?” Wiatt asked rubbing his arms and warming up the blood flow in them again.
“Yeah, see through that kind of looking doorway?” Mike pointed out to Wiatt across the way from them. “Walk for a bit and it’ll take you to an old theatre it’s pretty well preserved, from what I remember seeing of it. The city just built right over it. Forgot all about this part of town. Wanna see?”
Wiatt shook his head. “Sorry, I’ve seen enough of Boston for the time being. Just want to go home.”
“Fair enough.” Mike said leaning back against the flat concrete at their hip height.
“You from Boston?” Wiatt asked.
“Nah, just familiar with it. Spent time here for awhile.” They stood and stretched and looked at Tatum. She seemed to be slumbering on and off still in her wolf form. “How is she doing?”
Wolves Bloodlines Page 12
