Windham Werewolves

by Shawntelle Madison

  “Apparently, he didn’t listen.”

  “No, he didn’t. He has a history of causing problems.” Time to settle the matter. Immediately.

  He left the snow cabs and marched straight to the cabin where his brother stayed. Cynthia walked beside him without speaking.

  He didn’t bother knocking and walked right in. No one was home. The whole situation was going downhill fast.

  Cyn touched his back. “I’m sorry, Kaden.”

  At least he could tell her about his past history with Bastian. “None of this should surprise me.” He had to keep his voice down but found the volume of his voice rising again. Just thinking about what he might have to do to fix this mess further angered him. “After my parents died, Bastian kept making messes for me to clean up. Namely, falling for women who were nothing but trouble.”

  He’d have to make a choice now whether to search for Micah or find his trouble-making brother. He’d decide after he spoke to Sinister. Maybe during the night, Sinister had seen something he’d missed.

  On the way, Kaden continued, “Back in Toronto, Bastian fell hard for a wealthy businessman’s daughter. Turns out, that man was a gangster and he had no interest in letting his little girl associate with vermin like my kind. Long story short, he put out a kill contract on Bastian, and my brother lied for months that everything was fine!” He snorted. “I had to negotiate for his life in blood. I had to kill another piece of shit criminal to save his life.” He briefly glanced at her, hoping she wouldn’t think of him differently. He’d taken the Hippocratic Oath to “never do harm to anyone” as a doctor, yet he killed to protect his sibling.

  After he had spoken, they walked in silence for a bit until Cynthia intertwined their fingers together like she did not long ago. Just the warmth of her hand eased him.

  They ran into Rhys again before they reached Sinister’s cabin. At least Kaden could question him on the latest developments.

  “The body’s gone, Rhys. Is there something you need to tell me?” Kaden stepped up to his brother.

  “No!” Rhys immediately tilted his chin toward the ground and averted his gaze. “Bastian took care of everything! I don’t know what’s going on. I wasn’t even there when the pack was attacked. The only people who saw what happened were Bastian, Micah, and one of the younger females. That’s it.” Rhys spoke what he thought was the truth, and, unfortunately, he revealed what Kaden suspected: Bastian was trying to take over the pack as alpha.

  “So what do we do?” Cyn asked.

  Now that was the million-dollar question. “First, I’ll have to track Bastian.” He turned to his brother. “Rhys, you should continue to look for your son. I’ll join you once I see where Bastian’s trail leads.”

  With a nod, Rhys headed north as Cyn spoke up. “See where Bastian’s trail leads? He could be halfway to Prince George by midday.”

  “It doesn’t matter. He has to get rid of the body first, and he can’t burn it, or we’ll see where he is.”

  Naomi emerged from the woods and walked up to them. Seeing his sister filled him with unease. Did she know anything about Bastian’s treachery? He had yet to question his sister. He cursed inwardly.

  “Where’s Rhys going?” she asked.

  “Micah is missing and he’s gone out after him.”

  Naomi shrugged. “It’s Micah’s first run. He’ll be gone for a long time.” She didn’t appear concerned at all.

  “A wolf never hunts alone during their first time,” Kaden said.

  “You did it.” Naomi had a hint of an amused smile.

  “My situation was different. I didn’t have anyone, and I made mistakes I regret.”

  Naomi still crossed her arms and stood there as if there were nothing to be worried about. “If you’re concerned, then we should send out a few search parties to check on him, although I believe you have nothing to worry about. For all we know, his nose is stuck inside a hibernating beaver’s hiding spot and he’s spent the night trying to dig them out. We might be worrying about nothing.”

  “I’m serious, Naomi. Worry first. Laugh later. Search to the west for me.”

  She slowly nodded. “Understood. I’ll do what I can.” Her playful tone was gone, and, for once, he saw the mature woman he’d respected before she left for Los Angeles.

  They didn’t encounter anyone else on the way to Sinister’s cabin. After Kaden knocked once, Sinister opened the door.

  “Have you seen Bastian?” Kaden asked.

  The hunter shook his head. “The last time I saw him was early this morning. He was heading southeast out of the camp.” Sinister’s gaze flicked from Kaden to Cyn. “Is there a problem I need to know about?”

  “We got problems.” Kaden tried to hide his building anger but failed. “Big ones. Cyn and I are heading out to track him.”

  “Wait a sec.” Sinister disappeared into the cabin and returned with a rifle. Instead of tossing the weapon at Kaden, he handed it to Cyn. She didn’t hesitate to use the strap to place the rifle over her shoulder.

  “Fully loaded and ready,” he said evenly.

  She placed the cartridge he gave her in her pocket.

  “You know what to do if I don’t come back, right?” Kaden asked Sinister. Every time he left during a dire situation like this, he asked the same question.

  “You’ll be back.” Sinister gave him a hard look and shut the door.

  So his friend still believed in him. Even after everything that went down between them before Sinister arrived on his doorstep.

  Chapter 7

  Clad in a warm coat and armed with a single rifle from Sinister, Cynthia joined Kaden to find Bastian. After a short ride in a snow cab, she followed him into the forest, heading southeast.

  Light snow began to fall, and, no more than ten minutes later, the cloud cover from snow reduced visibility. In wolf form, Kaden’s pace was relentless, even in such weather.

  The trees and snow obscured most things, but hunting in these conditions wasn’t so bad. Countless times, she’d chased her prey into buildings with dark nooks and crannies. The open forest was the easiest place to track and seek your target. She glanced up to see the dark gray wolf was farther ahead. She needed to stop getting lost in her own thoughts and focus on what needed to be done. Find Bastian.

  With the snow falling, tracking any wolves by their tracks wasn’t an ideal choice. Based on the path Kaden took, he was leading them by scent. If she were hunting prey, she’d guess that any werewolf trying to run away would head south toward Prince George.

  Eventually, once they cleared the forest at the edge of the mountain, the path to the south was clear. As far as she could see, there was nothing but snow-covered hills, rocky outcroppings, and more forest.

  The endless fields were tranquil in a way. Before she knew it, she began to speak. Maybe for her own benefit. “I could never imagine living out here. It’s way too easy to get lost in your own thoughts and lose yourself.”

  Kaden paused for a moment. Even though he couldn’t use words, she found him to be quite expressive. One of his ears twitched. He had the same green eyes, although the shade was darker.

  “I bet you’ve gone hunting out here and asked yourself, why do I go back to being a human when I can just keep going?” She touched one of the trees. “I’ll be honest; I’ve thought of that, too. I’ve wondered what it’s like to be a wolf. To see the world out here through your eyes.”

  They kept going.

  “Since my dad died, I regret not asking him if we killed werewolves because we envy them. Do we hunt them because they possess the immortality we’ll never have?”

  Kaden huffed, but he didn’t stop moving.

  “Ty and Zach never asked those kinds of things. They just did their job, cleaned up the rogues, and collected their money…”

  Soon, they reached the next forest, far denser than the first one they crossed.

  “Now that I have a terminal disease, I think about my mortality every day. Even more so now that I’
m surrounded by beings who won’t age like humans do—”

  A twig snapped in the distance and the sound echoed. They both froze.

  Kaden veered to the left, but Cyn suspected the sound came from directly ahead. They walked a bit, still within sight of each other, until Cyn saw a dark spot in front of them. The form was close to the ground and couldn’t be mistaken for an elk or moose.

  Cyn slowed down, her boots going into deep snow as she took a path near trees for cover. Each step was taken with caution.

  The closer she got, the more she could make out her target: a single midnight-black wolf with his nose along the ground. Was that Bastian? The wolf’s coat was quite similar to the unruly mop of hair Kaden’s brother had.

  To not spook him, she slowly approached until a strange feeling clenched her stomach. The chill from outside slithered down her bones and a hunter’s intuition slammed into her.

  She stopped again, her finger resting on the rifle’s safety. From behind her, she caught a faint sound, so faint anyone else would’ve called it the wind or the sound of snowfall. Another crunch in the snow was closer, a tentative step from her right.

  She squeezed her eyes shut and bit her tongue. She was a fool to separate herself from Kaden. A trap had been set and she’d strolled right into it.

  Chapter 8

  The black wolf Kaden and Cyn had been tracking edged his way farther to the south. Kaden crept toward his target, trying not to frighten Micah. Instead of finding Bastian first, they’d run into Rhys’s son.

  Micah’s ears stood up so Kaden waited. The key would be to trail after him, reestablish himself as the alpha, and then force Micah to return with him.

  All-out chasing him wasn’t wise.

  He remembered his first night well. The experience had been intoxicating. During the full moon, the need to give into the wolf was undeniable, but it was also the deep end of the ocean where the weak-minded could get lost.

  He should’ve been the one to keep an eye on Micah and not Rhys. He’d caved in so that as Micah’s sire, Rhys could be a guide to keep Micah in check, but apparently Micah had eluded his father during the long night.

  Kaden had left his siblings on his first night. He’d had no choice. At the time, Uncle Damien was traveling through Europe and they had no close relatives. Kaden’s error had dire consequences. He didn’t return home for a month, and it was Bastian who finally found him wandering in the wild.

  Cyn better be keeping up with his pace. He refused to let Micah have the same fate.

  ***

  Cyn sucked in a deep breath. Relax, you’ve played this game before. Now is not any different than before. She’d lost count of how many times she’d been ambushed. The key wasn’t speed. It was to anticipate and to feel. Experience was her advantage.

  The first attack didn’t come from the front or the back but from the side. Amateur.

  She twisted hard to the right, rifle turned to the side. She was ready. The sheer force of her attacker sent her sprawling onto her back, but Sinister’s rifle didn’t break. The gun shook hard in the wolf’s mouth. The beast tried to force her to let go, but she’d wrapped the leather strap around her torso, which meant whoever was attacking her was up close and personal.

  “C’mon, you bastard!” she screamed. The wolf snarled and hissed, fighting hard to bite through the rifle. Pain from scratches blossomed along her sides, but she ignored the pain.

  Time to get out of this mess. She tucked her legs toward her chest and kicked hard in the wolf’s gut. She had to move fast. Wolves never hunted alone. When another kick didn’t work, she rammed the hard edge of the rifle into the side of the wolf’s head. While it was stunned, she pulled a switchblade from her leg, swiped hard against the side of the wolf’s snout, and then drove the blade deep into its shoulder.

  For her, it was all about muscle memory at this point, striking while she had the advantage.

  She yanked out the blade and aimed to come down again, but something rammed her hard in the back, sucking the air out of her lungs. Well, hello wolf number 2.

  She hit the ground face first, but staying down would be fatal, so she immediately rose, nose bleeding and all, to aim the gun.

  Suddenly, Kaden jumped on the second wolf and the tawny beast ran away. The one she stabbed lay still on the ground.

  She prepared to fire at the retreating one, but with one glance from Kaden, she stopped.

  In moments, all her pain came in a flash: the burning sensation along her sides, the ache in her arms from the jolts while holding the gun.

  All the while, Kaden continued to approach her first attacker, who lay unmoving on the ground.

  Had she killed him? She couldn’t have. She didn’t make a single killing blow. Yet, the wolf’s chest moved at a snail’s crawl.

  Had she done the one thing Eva said she’d do?

  “You talk a good game,” Eva had said, “but if the moment came and you had to strike, you’d do it because that’s what you’re trained to do.”

  Instead of examining the fallen wolf, Kaden ran after the wolf that was escaping.

  Cyn began to follow after Kaden, but her legs wobbled and she collapsed as she gasped for breath. I didn’t kill him. I didn’t kill him.

  But what if it’s one of the females. Eva or even Naomi?

  She looked back at the injured wolf. Her vision jostled for a moment and she took in a few cleansing breaths. When everything cleared, it wasn’t a wolf that lay on the ground anymore.

  It was a naked man who stared her down with a malevolent smile that doused her with cold water.

  “Bastian,” she gasped.

  “The little hunter is all alone again.” He made a tsk tsk sound. “For once in my life, I gave someone else an out, but they didn’t take it.”

  “How lucky for them...” Cyn said.

  Seeing a naked, bleeding man walking through the snow was rather disturbing, even more so was the way he spoke with a mouth filled with sharp teeth. The wolf was still in control. He took a wide berth as he approached her, but every step was just as menacing. All the while, she was amazed to see how quickly his wounds began to close. How the hell was he doing that?

  “Just like my brother, I’ve changed into a healer.” He glanced at the wound she took in. “While he was searching for a new home for the pack, I was taking my proper role as the alpha. Not in name naturally; the hierarchy was there. The control was there. As a true alpha, I grew stronger and my healing abilities began to show. I’m no doctor, but I have to admit, my handiwork is rather good, isn’t it?” He was closing in now. Her fingers had gone numb from the cold, but she had enough feeling to reach for the gun’s trigger. All she had to do was aim and fire. A few bullets should shut him up.

  “You should’ve left when I gave you the chance, Cynthia.”

  She was still breathless, but she managed a half-smile. “I’m stubborn like that.”

  He chuckled. “You would’ve made a fine alpha female. It’s unfortunate you were born as a hunter, and you’ll have to die like one.”

  He was right in front of her now. She’d almost killed Kaden’s brother. Could she do it for real to defend herself? She had killed many times before without hesitation, but, this time, she paused.

  In a flash, Bastian’s right hand was around her throat, his other hand locked on her wrist that held the gun. He lifted her with ease off the ground until her legs dangled like a rag doll. Her body shook. Her free hand grasped and clawed at him desperately. Her chest burned as dark spots began to pepper her peripheral vision. She’d been a fool to hesitate.

  “Put her down! Now!” a voice thundered from behind them.

  The moment her body hit the ground, everything went black.

  Chapter 9

  If Bastian weren’t his brother, Kaden would’ve struck him dead where he stood. His brother didn’t say a word during their march back to the cabins. Bastian merely stayed a few feet ahead of him as he carried Cyn back in human form.

  She w
as alive. He’d been foolish to chase after the other werewolf who’d attacked Cyn, but he was furious that anyone would dare to ignore his orders.

  While he was away, Bastian had tricked him again. Thankfully, he returned just in time to save her. But that also meant he had to stop chasing Micah.

  Whatever relationship he had with Bastian was torn and scattered across the mountainside.

  His brother stood there while he did mouth-to-mouth to help her start breathing again. He was too angry, too unfocused to heal her the proper way.

  Cyn made a strangled sound, and he released his tightening hold on her.

  He’d settle things soon enough with his brother.

  Once they reached the cabin, he placed Cyn in their bed and returned to find his fuming brother where he’d left him. Bastian had put on the clothes he’d given him.

  “How do we move forward from this point?” Kaden asked. He knew the answer, but he might as well ask.

  “We don’t. The moment you left the pack behind to find a new place, you surrendered control.” Bastian slowly turned his face to him, smug as usual. His parents hated Bastian’s attitude, and so did Kaden.

  “An alpha is the leader of his pack no matter where he lives. All I did was allow Rhys to make decisions in my absence!” He took a step across the room, but stopped himself.

  Bastian grimaced. “Rhys is weak. He has always been weak. I made the hard decisions! Not him.” Bastian decreased the space between them. “He’s a family man now, not a killer. When the pack got into trouble, it was me who stepped up to the plate.”

  “So you’re saying you’re the alpha now?”

  “Pretty much.” His brother smiled and Kaden’s heart sunk. “You’re weak now. That bitch has made you weak.” Bastian tried to advance again, but Kaden’s words stopped him cold.

  “Call her a bitch again, and I’ll end you, B.”

  Bastian motioned him forward. “Let’s go at it then. I’m tired of you making me feel guilty. For once, I was the one to take control, and I believe I should be pack alpha.”