by Dena Christy
The phone on Cadric’s desk rang, and he spoke quietly into the receiver and wrote something down on a piece of paper. He hung up the phone and looked at Lee.
“Do you want to get her back?” Cadric asked bluntly.
“I do, but not if it means that you will throw her into my father’s path. She’s been through enough and there must be another way to capture my father.”
“I’m afraid it’s too late for that. Your father grabbed her at the bus station thirty minutes ago,” Cadric said grimly.
“What?” Lee shouted as he stood up and towered over his boss. “What happened to the agent who was watching the house? Couldn’t he have stopped it from happening?”
“He could have if that’s what he was ordered to do, but he wasn’t. This is our only chance to get your father, and I don’t believe that he will hurt Simone. I believe your father has a bigger axe to grind than just her.”
“You let her be taken?” Lee asked, hardly believing what he was hearing. He’d always known that the Order meant everything to Cadric, but he didn’t believe that his boss would sacrifice an innocent woman in pursuit of his cause. “How could you do it? Do you not even care about innocent people any more? You son of a bitch, you better kill me if she dies because I won’t stop until I end you.”
“Calm down Lee,” Cadric said, his face unfazed by Lee’s threats. “We know where she is. I inserted a GPS tracker in her phone case, and we have the location where she’s being held.”
“Where is she,” Lee demanded, and Cadric wrote the coordinates down on a piece of paper.
“I will not bother to stop you from going out there. I’m getting a team in place to go, but it may take time to put it all together. I need you to go out there and get the lay of the land so my team knows the best way to approach. Can you do that?”
Lee nodded and grabbed the piece of paper from his boss’s hand. He didn’t bother saying anything else as he sprinted down the hall and out of the building. Once he got to the parking lot, he jumped in his car, turned on the engine and punch the coordinates into his onboard GPS. As soon as he knew where he was headed he took off out of the parking lot. Cadric could fuck himself if he thought Lee was going to wait for a team to get there. He would get her out of harm’s way himself.
* * *
Lee's car flew down the road, but it wasn’t fast enough to suit him. Why had he let her go? She was in danger, suffering God knew what because he’d been a stubborn ass. So his feelings were hurt that she wasn’t overjoyed at being a werewolf. He should have tried harder with her, should not have given up so easily. And he should have taken care of his father months ago, should have killed him when he’d captured Kate.
He drove until he was instructed to turn left down a deserted gravel road. Once he ran out of road and could go no further, he got out of the car. He looked around an indistinct shape obscured by some bushes. He went over to it and saw it was a blue sedan. Closing his eyes, he sniffed the air around the car and picked the distinct scent of his father and Simone. A growl escaped his throat, and he took a steadying breath to calm himself. He would do Simone no good if he wasn’t in control of his anger. He needed to make sure she was safe before he did anything. God help his father, though, because once Lee got his hands on him he didn’t think he could stop himself from killing him.
Lee followed the scent until he came to a dilapidated cabin in the middle of the woods. He approached cautiously, careful to remain obscured by shadows. He went around the back of the cabin and slowly walked toward it. There looked to be only a dim light coming from one window, and he went up to it and peered inside. There looked to be no one inside.
He jumped when Simone suddenly appeared on the other side of the glass. Relief poured through him at the sight of her, whole and alive. He knew she wouldn’t be able to hear him, so he kissed the palm of his hand and pressed it to the glass. She did the same, and pressed her hand on his, with only a thin piece of glass separating them.
Her eyes widened, and she shook her head frantically and pointed to something behind Lee. Before he could turn to look, he heard his father’s voice growl behind him.
“I expected more of you boy,” his father said seconds before the prongs from a stun gun struck the side of Lee’s neck, burying themselves deep in his flesh. Electricity coursed through him and his body fell to the ground, jerking and convulsing. The jolts completely immobilized him and he was now at his father’s mercy. Too bad his father didn’t have any.
Chapter 15
“Lee,” Simone screamed as she watched his father stun him and send his body to the ground in one convulsive heap. She needed to help him.
She went over to the door of the bedroom she was locked inside and pressed her ear against the door. The muffled sounds of something being dragged around the cabin came to her, and she assumed it was Lee’s body being brought into the cabin. She stood listening, her mind racing, as she thought about what she was going to do. Dany had proven to be more than she could handle on her own, and with Lee put out of action, she didn’t know if she was strong enough to save him.
She continued to listen until a door slammed. If Lee was here, then the Order couldn’t be far behind, and Dany would know that. Perhaps he’d left the cabin to see if there were any Order agents around. It didn’t matter why he’d left, she needed to get out of this room and help Lee before he came back.
She jerked and twisted the door knob, but it held fast against her. Turning, she pulled the bed a little closer to the door, so she’d have something to brace her upper body on. Once she got herself into position, she lifted her legs up and slammed her booted feet against the door. The door remained closed, but she didn’t let it deter her. She raised her legs again and rammed her boots against the door. The sound of wood splintering told her that she was one good kick away from getting out of this room.
She delivered one last kick to the door, putting all her power behind it. The door split where the wood met the metal of the door knob, and it swung open. She hurried out of the room, and her heart sank when she saw Lee. He was in a chair in the middle of the room, and she could see that his arms were securely fastened to it with silver cuffs. She walked closer to him and saw that silver cuffs also fastened his ankles securely to the legs of the chair.
“Lee,” she cried as she raced over to him. He looked up at her and shook his head.
“Get out of here before he comes back,” he said as he looked directly into her eyes.
“No,” she said. “I’m not leaving you here.”
She went around behind him and tugged at the silver cuffs that held him. Pain lanced through the palms of her hands when her skin came in contact with the silver, but she ignored it. She had to free him somehow. She cried out in pain and frustration when she couldn’t break the chain holding the cuffs.
“Simone, please stop hurting yourself. It’s no use, you won’t be able to break them. Get out of here. I need you to be safe,” he said as he turned his head toward her.
She came around to stand in front of him.
“I’m not leaving you. I’ll fight your father myself if I have to, but I'm not leaving you here. Either we both get out of here together, or we both stay,” she said as he shook his head in denial, and she reached up and held his face between her palms. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. There was no way she was going to leave, to be killed by his father, when it was her fault he was here. She pulled back and held his gaze. “You better come up with a different plan, because your father will be back soon and I’m not leaving.”
Lee sighed and his shoulders sagged and she knew that she’d won this argument.
“Maybe he has the key to the cuffs somewhere,” she suggested as she looked around the cabin.
“He’ll have kept the key with him. There is one way we might get out of this, but it will require something from you that I don’t know if you're ready for,” he said. She reached out and touched the side of his face. Surely he knew she would gi
ve anything she had to free him.
“What is it?” she asked as she kept her gaze steady on his.
“Cadric is sending a team, and I hope they will be here soon. We need to buy time for them to arrive. If my father comes back, you must engage him and keep him busy.”
“You want me to fight him?” she asked in disbelief. “I thought you said your father was too powerful for me to take on.”
“In your current form he is, but my father cannot change into wolf form anymore but you can,” Lee said and Simone’s heart sank when she realized what he was asking of her. He wanted her to transition into a wolf.
“How could I do that,” she asked. “It isn’t the full moon.”
“You don’t need the full moon to do it. It will require more focus from you to push the change, but I think your body is more than ready to transition since you’ve held it back for so long.”
Simone’s body turned cold and she shook. The bottom dropped out of her stomach, and her mouth went dry. Surely he wasn’t suggesting that she do the one thing that terrified her more than anything else.
“Are you sure this is the only way?” she whispered. She desperately wanted to save Lee and herself, but she didn’t know if she could actually change without the extra push the full moon gave. What if she got stuck like last time? What if she failed him? If she failed, she and Lee would be completely fucked. “I’m scared Lee.”
“I know, baby, I know. I wouldn’t ask this of you if I didn’t think you could do it. I’ll be here, and I will talk you through the whole thing. Please trust me,” he said, his eyes pleading with her.
Simone took a deep breath and forced herself to stop shaking. The thing was, she trusted Lee wholeheartedly and if he thought she could do it than she had to try. This may be the only thing that could save them both.
“What do I need to do?”
“First you need to undress, quickly and hide your clothes so my father doesn’t see them. We want to have the element of surprise.”
Simone quickly did as he asked and stripped the clothes from her body and threw them into the bedroom and tried her best to make the door appear like it hadn’t been destroyed.
“Don’t worry about the door. I don’t know how much time we have left, and it will take a minute or two for you to complete the transition.”
Simone walked back over to him, and looked steadily at him, awaiting further instruction.
“I want you to close your eyes and focus all your attention on becoming a wolf. See your limbs shortening, your snout getting longer, your mouth filling with teeth. See the fur covering your body,” he instructed.
“That’s it?” she asked, thinking that there must be something more to it.
“Focus, Simone. We don’t have a lot of time,” Lee said, his voice impatient.
She closed her eyes and did what he said. She imagined her arms turning into a wolf’s paws, her legs turning into a wolf’s legs. At first nothing happened, and she was tempted to tell him that it wouldn’t work. The first wave of pain that crashed through her sent her to her knees, and she panicked.
“Just relax with the pain, Simone. You can do this, you’re doing so good already,” Lee said to her, and his soothing voice helped her focus on what she needed to do. She rode through the pain as she kept the mental picture of her turning into a wolf in her head. She vaguely registered his words of encouragement as her limbs twisted, snapped and shortened. Her head tilted back and her mouth elongated, and her lupine teeth coming in felt like bees crawling inside her mouth. One last wave over pain shot through her, and she screamed, which came out sounding distinctly like a howl and she collapsed on the floor, her sides heaving.
“You did it, sweetheart,” Lee said, and she turned her head toward him. He was smiling at her as he looked down at her. She stood and padded over to him and rested her head against his leg. “Okay, I need you to go over by the door and wait for my father to arrive. Make sure he doesn’t see you.”
Simone walked over toward the door, her claws making a clicking sound on the hardwood floor. She had the strongest urge to run as excess energy pulsed through her, but she forced herself to override that instinct as she made it to her destination and hid in the shadows. There she stood, her lupine eyes glued to the door, as she waited for her prey to arrive.
* * *
Simone’s head shot up and the muscles under her fur vibrated when she caught Dany’s sent. He was so close and getting closer by the second.
“Steady,” Lee said in a low tone of voice, and she forced herself to calm down. She didn’t want to fuck this up. Dany couldn’t know she was a wolf until it was much too late. For him.
The front door eased opened, and Dany strolled into the cabin. His eyes were focused on his son, still bound to the chair. Simone had to fight the urge to growl. Her eyes remained glued on Dany. She watched him sniff the air and then shake his head as if to clear it.
“So no sign of your Order friends, but I’ve laid a few traps for them. Now the question is what should I do with you? Your disloyalty to me should be punished, and since I no longer need the woman to lure you here, how about you watch me kill her? Do you think that will sufficiently punish you, boy, to watch me gut the woman you gave up being a Cavanaugh for?”
“If being a Cavanaugh means being like you, then I’m glad I gave it up,” Lee said, sneering at his father.
Dany walked over to him and backhanded him across the face, and Simone couldn’t hold back the growl the erupted from her throat when she saw what her enemy had done to her lover. She stalked out of the shadows and moved into the light so Dany could see her.
He turned around to face her, and his eyes travelled over her, and laughter burst from him. “Oh, this is priceless. You think you can take me on little girl? You think that a bitten mutt like you can defeat me, the product of many generations of werewolves?”
Dany reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver stiletto. Simone kept her eyes trained on the silver blade, glinting in the light and knew she should avoid it all costs. Her hackles raised as she circled Dany, looking for a weak spot to attack.
Dany made the first move, charging at her and slashing his blade. She darted to the side, surprised at how fast she could move in this form. The blade whispered by her, not touching her, but she knew she had to be careful to avoid it, and keep her focus on him. All she needed to do was tire him out and then he would be hers.
They danced for several minutes, with Dany charging and slashing and Simone darting away from the blade. He lunged at her, making a huge slash with his knife, and the blade sliced and burned through her shoulder. She let out a yip as she darted away, her sides heaving from the pain and exertion.
“Simone,” Lee shouted, but she didn’t turn toward him. Her focus remained on Dany, and she could see the sweat glistening on his face as his chest rose and fell with his labored breathing. She could smell his frustration and hoped that meant he was getting sloppy.
“Come on, you little bitch,” he snarled as he lunged at her.
Instead of darting away, she turned her body to avoid the blade and opened her jaws and clamped them around the wrist that held the knife. She buried her teeth deep in his flesh and he screamed in agony. She shook her head, tightening her grip as his blood ran, salty and metallic, into her mouth. The taste of his blood further strengthened her resolve to end him. The blade clattered to the floor as his fist came up and slammed into the side of her head. She hardly felt it, but let go of his wrist to move behind him to attack the back of his legs.
She bit his calf, hard enough to rip through his flesh and tear a scream from him. She jerked her head, further damaging the muscle. Dany lost his balance and hit the floor with a hard thud. Within moments, Simone was on top of him, her jaws opened and poised to rip through his jugular. Her teeth rested against his flesh, and she was surprised that Dany had ceased his struggles.
“Do it,” he whispered, urging her on. “Kill me.”
She growled
low in her throat, longing to end it right now.
“Simone,” Lee said, his calm voice piercing the violent emotions swirling through her. “The Order is here. You can let him go. They’ll handle it.”
She stayed where she was, reluctant to let her adversary go when she’d done so much to get to this moment.
“Do it,” Dany urged. “Sink your teeth in my jugular.”
“Simone, please. Let the Order handle it. Please, for me. Come back to me,” Lee said, and she eased her jaws away from Dany’s neck.
“No,” Dany shouted, but she ignored him as she moved off him and went toward the man she loved. She heard a scuffle behind her, but didn't turn to look. Her eyes remained focused solely on Lee. She went to him and rested her head against his leg.
“Go in the other room, and change back,” he said. “I’ll be in as soon as I get out of these cuffs. It works exactly the same, only this time you focus on turning back to your human form.”
Simone looked up at him, nodded her lupine head and made her way to the other room. Her tail hung low, and exhaustion hit her now that the adrenaline from the fight had left her. All that needed to be done now was turn back into a human and move on. Now that his father no longer stood in the way, she and Lee could rebuild their lives. She hoped that it could be together.
She closed her eyes and focused on her front legs turning back into arms, her back legs changing into human legs. The pain lanced through her, but it wasn’t as frightening as it had been the first time she’d gone through this. She knew what to expect and knew that she could make it.
Her body collapsed onto the hardwood floor of the bedroom, and she could feel the cool wood against her bare skin. She got shakily to her feet and put her hand around to the back of her right shoulder and tried to touch the wound Dany had inflicted. It burned and stung, and there was blood all over but she couldn’t tell how deep it was. She could hear the low rumble of voices in the other room, and she figured she needed to get dressed before someone came looking for her. She’d pulled on her underwear and jeans when someone loomed in the doorway.
