by Susan Bliler
Chapter 11
After two days of traveling, Cersi sat shotgun in her jeep. The trip had been uncomfortable because her arm still hurt like a motherfucker and on top of that she’d started her period the day before they’d left. Menstrual cramps and an aching shoulder had Tyson trying to double up on her pain meds, but she was trying to wean herself off because they kept putting her to sleep and she was too curious and nervous about where they were heading to want to be out. The whole previous day she and Tyson had argued about her escalated pain, but her period wasn’t something she’d wanted to discuss with Tyson. She had no plans of telling him she was menstruating, but he’d known. He told her he could scent the change in her body and that had her cringing as she wondered what that smelled like. Bad, she’d decided, it could only smell bad, but Tyson denied it. He said that a woman’s cycle called to shifter males because directly following her period she’d be fertile. He’d said that the time of a woman’s fertility and subsequent ovulation was like waving a red flag in front of a bull. He’d admitted that his animal was going to have a hard time controlling himself around her, but that they’d be to BlackLodge by then.
Now, casting furtive glances at Tyson, Cersi knew something was bothering him. Over the last two days, she’d exhausted every single question she could regarding his…ability. Listening to his story had been fascinating and terrifying all in one, but instead of getting more comfortable the more she learned, the more anxious she grew, and it was because something was churning in the air. The cab of the truck felt almost electrified right now, and Tyson was acting strange. Something was wrong. The longer they drove, the less he said, and while his silence was typical, his head twitches, jaw ticks, and occasional snarls weren’t. He only got worse once they passed a sign that welcomed them to the ‘great state of Montana’.
Looking at his hands, she saw they were in a white-knuckle stranglehold on her poor little steering wheel. He was riled up, and it was rubbing off on her. She had the urge to check her weapons, but he’d taken them all from her and hadn’t given them back. She’d nonchalantly checked the glove box when he’d finally led her to where her jeep had been parked in the hotel garage, but the knives she kept there were missing. She hated feeling so vulnerable, and unable to hold back the question any longer she demanded, “What’s wrong?”
Tyson cast her a fiery-eyed glare and then gave his attention back to the road.
“It feels like something’s wrong. You’re getting all worked up. Are we headed for trouble?” She waited and when he didn’t affirm or deny she growled, “If you’re taking me into trouble, you need to warn me!” She rubbed both palms down her jean-clad thighs. “You could give me my weapons back, or at least give me a weapon.”
“No one’s gonna hurt you. I got you.”
But she didn’t want him to have her. Hell, she didn’t even know what that even meant.
“So we are heading for trouble then?”
Tyson drew in an agitated breath and shrugged up his shoulders, bouncing his head back and forth while his neck cracked loudly. “Something feels off.”
She looked at the road ahead of them. “Is it because you're taking me to BlackLodge? Do they not like outsiders there? I mean, I understand it…”
“No,” he cut her off. “It ain’t that. Something just feels…off.”
Staring out the windshield, it was overcast and looked like it was getting late when it was really only just past noon. Cersi remembered that Montana winters were like that. There were more hours of night than day in these parts most of the year. Leaning forward, she glanced up at the sky but couldn’t tell one way or the other if something was brewing.
“Off like a storm’s coming or off like I’m gonna need to be ready to defend myself?” she asked.
“I told you, no one’s gonna touch you.”
He kept saying that, but the way he was acting had her worried.
“Just my knife. Can I at least have that?”
He gave his head one jerk, denying her request.
Frustration boiling over, she fisted her hands, “Will you please tell me what in the actual hell is going on?”
Tyson clenched the steering wheel, released it, and then clenched it again.
“Dunno,” he said glancing at his side mirror. “Something just feels…off.”
“Yeah,” she griped, “You keep saying that. Off! Like how? Should I be worried about Vesa?”
When he didn’t answer, her stomach knotted with worry. “Something’s wrong at your home?”
Still no answer and now Cersi was getting all worked up. Thoughts of Vesa in trouble had her sitting up straighter in her seat. “How far?”
“Not long,” he clipped out jerking his chin toward the windshield. Even though it was freezing, Tyson rolled down his window and leaned out a little ways. Inhaling deeply, a rolling growl rattled its way up his chest and filled the cab of the truck. When he spoke again, his voice was so animalistic that she barely registered his words. “The roads there.”
She saw what she hoped he wasn’t referencing. A thin line that could barely pass for a road wound its way up the mountainside and looked dangerous as hell.
“When we get to the base of the mountain, I’m gonna let you take the truck. You go straight up that road. Don’t stop, you hear me?”
Nervous now, she jerked her head around to look at him. “Why? What’s happening?”
“You just need to do as I say. Don’t have time to explain. Just,” he shot her a pleading look. “Just trust me.”
Nodding, she slowly stripped out of the jacket she’d been wearing. “What do I do once I get to the end of the road?”
“I’ll be up there.”
What? How? She didn’t ask, just shot him a disbelieving stare.
“I’ll be there,” he vowed. “Your weapons are under the seat, but you won’t need ‘em.” Turning, he gave her a hard look. “You hear me?”
“Yeah,” she muttered but was already bent over rifling around under the seat. “What…what do I do when I get there. Stay in the truck? Get out?”
“I’ll be there waiting, don’t worry.”
She frowned at him as she tucked her butterfly knife into her back pocket and checked her tasers. Tasers! Lot of good they were going to do if Tyson’s stories about shapeshifters were true. She was heading into unknown territory, into a place of shapeshifters, into a place where her sister was waiting. The last was what had her sucking back her fear. “How,” she asked to distract herself. “If I leave you at the base of the mountain, how you gonna meet me at the top?”
“I’m fast.”
She thought he was joking, but the look on his face told her he wasn’t.
“I gotta check the forest, make sure no one’s hanging back. I can’t let them overwhelm the pack.”
“They?”
He jerked his chin toward the mountain. “Enemies. I sensed something was off, but now I can smell ‘em. RedFangs.” He turned his face toward the window and inhaled slowly, a snarl ticking up his lip as he thundered, “And Aftermath.”
“Other wolf packs?”
He dipped his head in a nod.
“And who's gonna make sure they don’t overwhelm you?” Fear was tearing through her now because they were practically to the base of the mountain.
“Me.” Tyson looked at her, and his eyes were different. His pupils had dilated fully. That jungle green color she liked so much was now just an infinitesimal ring that was barely noticeable. “Don’t fight. No matter what. You wait for me, you hear?”
She nodded.
“Say it,” he demanded.
“Don’t fight. Wait for you.” She had no idea what she was promising, but he should have known better than that. Cersi was a fighter, always had been, and if someone up on this intimidating mountain was threatening or hurting Vesa then hell yeah she was fighting. She was gonna shoot everyone in their privates with her wimpy ass tasers, and if that didn’t work, she had no qualms about painting her butterfl
y knife red.
“Straight up!” Tyson commanded. “It’s important, Cersi. You need to get to BlackLodge. No stopping, no excuses. Get to camp, okay?”
“Okay!”
“Hands on the wheel!”
Cersi’s eyes rounded when he threw open his door. She realized at the last moment that he had no intentions of stopping to get out.
“Tyson!”
“Hands on the wheel, Badass.” He flashed her a smile, but this one didn’t crinkle the corners of his eyes like his real smiles did. No, this one was feral with the promise of death to those dumbass enemies that had dared come to Tyson’s mountain looking for trouble.
Grabbing the wheel, Cersi slid her ass across the bench seat. Before she could even say anything, Tyson gave her a wink, was sucked out the door, and then she was alone.
Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuuuuuuuck! Her jeep fishtailed on the snowy road as she slid into the driver’s seat. Palms sweating, she eyed the rearview mirror, but all she saw was snow kicked up in a blinding tornado. With no sign of Tyson, she sent up a quick prayer that he was okay and just doing that had tears filling her eyes and practically blinding her. She didn’t talk to God, hadn’t done so in longer than she could remember. The realization that for Tyson’s sake she was willing to suck up her pride had her heart constricting painfully. He shouldn’t mean that much to her, not this quickly. Not ever! She wasn’t going to ever let anyone in, no one besides Vesa anyway. She’d made herself a vow, so how in the hell had Tyson gotten past her walls? She had to blink rapidly to clear her vision and she sucked back her emotion because going into battle wasn’t the time or place for a woman’s tears. Jaw set, she concentrated on the road and drove as fast as she safely could to get her little Cherokee up the narrow mountain road.
Chapter 12
Palms so damn slick it was hard to keep control of the steering wheel, Cersi forced herself to stay calm as her heart thundered in her chest. Up, up, up she drove and all the while she half expected a massive wolf like Tyson’s to plant itself in front of her jeep. It never happened. Cersi kept on the road and had to slow several times to make it around some particularly hairy turns, but finally, she hit a crest that looked down on a massive encampment. It looked like a giant KOA campground nestled high up in the mountains. Several cabins dotted the property that centered around one massive looking cabin and an area right next to it that held a covered pool and what looked like a water park. Snow covered everything, but there was smoke coming from the chimney on the big main cabin.
As she started to slowly descend the hill down toward the property, she saw…something. People! It was people and… She squinted. No, it wasn’t people. It was wolves! Wolves fighting wolves and there! Her eyes locked on where Vesa was tackled to the ground by a large wolf.
Motherfucker!
Throwing all caution to the wind, Cersi took her foot off the break she’d been pressing to control her descent. Anger snapping the fear right out of her, Cersi jammed her foot onto the gas and headed straight for Vesa. She tried to plow her jeep through a bank of snow, but it slammed to a halt. She’d hit something in the snow and whatever it was rocked her jeep to a jarring halt that had her nearly smacking her face off her steering wheel.
Without hesitation, she threw her door open and was out of the jeep and halfway to the fight when a massive black wolf shot out of the forest. It tackled the wolf on top of Vesa. Paying too much attention to what was happening and not where she was walking, Cersi went down hard. The impact jarred all the way up her frame and landed in her bad shoulder. Gritting her teeth, she groaned and shoved to her feet realizing she’d left her tasers in the jeep. She couldn’t go back, it was too far. Besides, she was almost to Vesa.
She watched Vesa scramble to her feet and race for a shotgun that lay in the snow. Vesa’s arm looked broken, and that pissed her off so damn bad. A wolf blocked Vesa from the gun and that it was it. Cersi had enough.
“HEY!” she screamed. Breaking through a stand of trees, Cersi yelled, eyes thinned to vicious slits, “Get the fuck away from my sister!” She could feel Vesa’s eyes on her, but she didn’t break eye contact with the wolf that was looking right at her. Get the fuck away from her, she repeated in her head.
Stalking toward the wolf that she had intentions of going to war with, Cersi didn’t even glance at the others around her. Eyes locked on her target, she walked with determination straight for the fucker when grunts and popping filled the clearing. Casting a glance to the side, she saw several of the wolves drop to the ground and shift back to their human form. It wasn’t how Tyson did it though. These shifts looked painful, forced!
One man staggered to his feet and pointed at another that looked somewhat similar to Tyson. She assumed this man was Haddix, the Alpha of the BloodMoons that Tyson had told her so much about.
“This changes nothing,” the staggering man sneered. “You’re still outnumbered.”
Haddix spit blood from his mouth and rose to his impressive full height. “It changes everything.” He turned and looked toward the forest where the trees shook. Snow rained down from branches as a familiar white wolf with bright green eyes stepped out of the trees.
Cersi knew that wolf. Swallowing down the emotion that threatened to blind her, she felt an immense surge of pride and possessiveness for the hulking beast that was easily twice the size of any of the wolves she’d seen before they’d changed back to their human form. This time she really got to look at Tyson in his animal form and he was…well, he was breathtaking. He had snow-white fur, and his ears were pinned back. Hackles up, he snarled wickedly at his enemies. Even the dozen or so deep scars that marred his snout and sides looked beautiful on him.
“The Monster isn’t affected by the cycle of life,” Haddix declared. “He isn’t affected by anything. Now get the fuck out of my territory before I let him kill you all.”
Tearing her eyes from Tyson’s monster wolf, Cersi took advantage of everyone’s distraction to take a few steps toward Vesa.
Some of the men the BloodMoons had been fighting began to shrink back into the woods. Haddix was demanding to know whose idea the attack was, but Cersi had little concern for their pack politics. Nope, she just wanted to get to her sister.
One of the men nearest her started talking. He was claiming not to be a coward and blamed someone else for the attack. His words only served to piss Haddix off because he declared that things weren’t over and that he’d kill the men now if his mate wasn’t… But then his words died off, and Cersi turned to see what had stopped him. His eyes were locked on Vesa, and the rage Cersi held bottled up inside of her reflected in Haddix’s expression when he saw that Vesa was injured. Her arm looked bad. It was clearly broken because there’s no way it should be bent at the odd angle that it was. Haddix growled one word. “Tyson!”
Cersi’s gaze slid to Monster. He was so mesmerizing to watch that she didn’t see the man rush her. One second she was watching Monster and the next something plowed into her so hard she was sent sailing through the air. A scream left her lips as she sailed fast and high. This was gonna hurt, she knew it was. Her body was hurtling straight for a tree and good arm flailing, there was no hope of catching herself or breaking her fall. Pinching her eyes shut, Cersi steeled herself and braced for the painful impact. It never came. Her body jarred against something warm and hard, but it caught her weight and then they both went down. Eyes snapping open, she caught a flash of white fur before they hit the ground. Monster hit the ground first and took the brunt of the impact as his big body cushioned her.
In an instant, Tyson shifted, and unlike the others, he’d regenerated clothing when he changed back to his human skin. His eyes were concerned as he studied Cersi’s body, his hands roving over her as he panted, “You alright? Are you hurt?”
She shook her head. “N-no. I’m not hurt.”
He helped her to her feet and then scanned the area. She knew he was looking for the man who’d plowed into her, but he was long gone.
Haddix had his hands on Vesa’s shoulders and was barking for someone to get a truck.
“Are you alright?”
Vesa turned at Cersi’s question. They stared each other a moment before Vesa’s eyes flooded with tears, and her lips started trembling. She reached for Cersi with her good arm. Cersi was careful when she hugged her sister back.
After that, everything happened in a blur. Haddix lifted Vesa into the truck that roared up to them. Then they were gone, Cersi assumed to town to find a doctor. She’d wanted to go too, but didn’t get the chance to express as much before the truck was already pulling away.
“She’s gonna be okay.”
Turning, she found Tyson standing behind her. He was staring at her curiously.
“You sure you are?” he asked.
“Yeah.” She looked down the length of her body. “Thank you for catching me.” She thought he’d say something smart-ass or quirky or funny. But he looked almost drained when he blew out an exhausted breath.
“Well,” he held his hands out to the sides. “This isn’t how I envisioned it happening, but welcome to BlackLodge.”
Chapter 13
Monster was pacing. There, just beneath the surface, he refused to retreat. Sulking in silence, Monster was waiting for Tyson to unleash him. He wanted to hunt. He wanted to track that fuck Kylon who’d dared put his hands on Cersi. He’d thrown her like she was insignificant, a mere distraction. But she was more than that. So much more. Kylon was fucking dead, and he didn’t even know it yet. Monster would take his vengeance, and he’d bring Cersi Kylon’s heart as an offering. A prize.
Cersi was watching him. Eyes worried, she muttered quietly as he paced the length of the den in the main cabin, “Let it go.”
But fuck that. He didn’t let shit go. Ever. He didn’t do forgive and forget. Monster was all brutal violence. There wasn’t an ounce of nice guy in him. Hell, there wasn’t even an ounce of semi-non-violent guy in him. He was death, and he was good at it. Proud of it too.
