“He revealed to me that a week had passed. Then he tossed a bit of cloth on the floor. It stank of something familiar—the same scent had been all over my body. It belonged to the creature that had tried to kill me.
“‘You can either lie there and wait for your body to starve to death, or you can seek out the Bäcker pack. They are the ones who have soiled your doorstep.’ Tobias Windham was an imposing figure back then as he was before he died.”
“Father,” Naomi said, her voice soft.
“I snatched the cloth from the floor. My pale fingers had claws along the tips. The need to spring on that werewolf, the same creature who had cursed an already cursed man, was strong. So strong the new feral beast within me stirred like nothing I’d ever experienced before. But the sweet smell of revenge was far stronger.
“I ran out of the house into the cold afternoon sun. No coat. No boots. Only the scent to guide me, but I didn’t make it far. A few minutes in daylight and my skin began to burn. My eyesight began to blur. For some reason, unlike other werewolves, I had a sensitivity to sunlight due to my albinism. My ailment forced me to take cover for the day. The night came soon enough, though, and once I tracked them down, I killed them all. Four males and two females.” His voice rose and the melody of remembering his revenge sang in his soul. He made them pay. He made them suffer for taking away the only person who accepted him for what he was.
“Tobias didn’t create another werewolf, though; he created a monster of monsters. Running with another pack was impossible. Every time I saw those creatures—just smelling them made me recall the past. Made me relive the pain I’d suffered. All this time, I thought the wolf had made the man mad, but I questioned if I was mad before that point.
“Time passed. Many years. When the werewolf hunters came, I ran into the wilderness. It was there that Tobias came for me again, but he wasn’t alone this time. He had others with him. His mate. He forced me out of the hole in the ground where I lived. He said something to me I’ll always cherish: ‘There will always be a place for you, no matter who you are and what you’ve done in the past. Remember that, Damek.’
“I answered to the name Damien after that point. Wherever Tobias Windham went, I followed. Across Germany. Into the British Isles. In a rat-invested boat sailing across the Atlantic. My journeys have taken me to many places, and I’ve seen many things. I even found a mate again. Her name was Becca, and we were happy for a brief period of time. Whenever I ventured away, Tobias always made me return. He made me return home, the place where I was always welcomed—”
The beeper on Sinister’s hip chirped and everyone looked at the hunter. During Damien’s stay at the man’s cabin, the tiny device had never gone off. Which meant something was wrong.
Sinister stood and Cyn did the same shortly after. The human didn’t say a word as he donned his coat, but to Damien, the man’s heartbeat had sped up, his breath quickened.
“Did someone trip one of the perimeter alarms?” Peter asked.
“Yep.” Sinister finished putting on his coat. “We got ten minutes before they reach the edge of camp.”
The lights went out. Only the dim light from the fireplace cast a glow on their faces.
“Oh, shit,” Cyn said.
“What’s wrong?” Peter asked quietly.
“If the power is out, that means they took out the generator shed. They’re already in the camp,” Cyn whispered.
The glass in the back bedroom broke and a crash followed after.
Cyn exchanged glances with Sinister.
“Get the kid out of here,” he said.
Chapter 6
By the time Kaden reached the snow cab he’d parked five miles northeast of the camp, his heart jumped into his throat. Not much could be heard through the storm’s howls and the snow made visibility damn near impossible, but he was certain of one thing: There shouldn’t be bright lights in the direction of where the camp should be.
And those lights shouldn’t look like fire.
Cyn.
At his side, Micah whined.
A gust of wind blew into Kaden’s eyes and he squinted.
He looked to the snow cab and then to Micah. He’d just gotten the boy back. Would he follow him into danger?
He’d promised Zach he’d keep her safe.
There was only one way to find out if he could keep that promise. He sprinted southwest.
***
The snowstorm continued to rage as Cyn left the cabin with Peter. Naomi followed them in wolf form.
Cyn checked around each corner as she got off the porch, looking for anyone hiding in the shadows. The darkness seemed to swallow up everything. Visibility was no more than a hundred yards at the most. By the time they circled to the back of the cabin, to head toward camp, she noticed that they were alone. Sinister and Damien hadn’t followed them.
Gunfire sounded from within the camp. Not good.
Where had the men gone? Maybe to help the others secure the power generator shed.
Hundreds of thoughts circled her mind as she tried to trudge through the knee-deep snow: Was it the Cerulean clan who had come? If they’d reached the camp, how many pack members had been taken—or even killed?
By the fifth step, the muscles in her legs ached. Her breaths came out as gasps. Instead of pulling Peter along, he was slightly ahead of her now.
At her side, Naomi even looked at her with slit eyes. Was Kaden’s sister able to smell the return of her illness?
“C’mon, Cyn,” Peter called softly.
Get your shit together, Cynthia, she reminded herself.
Through the storm and the trees, bright orange bled into the sky, lighting up the camp. Something was on fire. More shots rang out as they closed in on the back of Peter’s cabin. Shadows moved ahead. Two of them.
Naomi slowed down and her head dipped.
Cyn’s grip on Peter’s hand tightened. The boy crouched and his body trembled with a growl.
“Quiet,” she commanded. She took aim with her .45, careful to consider the wind speed, and shot the first man down before he reached the cabin. The recoil was hard, but she was ready for it. Her other target took cover.
Return gunfire came fast in Naomi’s direction, forcing her to take cover among the trees. She yelped as she ran away.
Did she get hit?
Suddenly, Peter twisted to look behind them. A man tackled her hard from behind. Cyn slammed face-first into the snow.
Damn it, McGinnis you’re getting sloppy. She should’ve stayed alert, and now, she’d left Peter vulnerable.
Arms flying about for control, Cyn wrestled with the piece of shit who hit her from behind. He threw a hard left, which she managed to dodge, but he still connected with her shoulder. The hit forced her to drop her weapon and it fell deep into the snow.
From the corner of her eye, she saw Naomi rush the cabin to attack the gunman who continued to shoot at them.
“Stop fighting me!” the man on top of her spat. He tried to hit her again with a fast right hook, but he missed and she took advantage.
She grabbed his extended arm tightly and rolled hard to the left, taking him with her. He wasn’t too big; a guy any larger couldn’t be twisted in such a manner. He rolled under her and she pinned his arm nicely into an armbar submission.
“Damn b—!” he grunted.
With a sharp jerk, she broke his arm and he howled.
She punched him hard across the chin, silencing him. One down. Too many to go.
Cyn searched him and grabbed his weapon, a .9 mm, and his flashlight. He wouldn’t be needing them anymore.
The gunfire had ended, and Naomi plodded up to her. She’d found her target.
But then, the werewolf’s head jerked to the right.
“Cyn…” Peter warned.
“Don’t move, wolf!” A voice yelled from a few yards away. “Before I put a silver bullet in you.” A flashlight shined into Cyn’s face from a thatch of trees close by. They all didn’t so much as twitch.<
br />
So they thought she was a werewolf too, huh?
She shoved Peter behind her. “Get ready to move,” she whispered between clenched teeth. “Don’t look back.”
Naomi growled and bared her sharp teeth. Her sleek body trembled. If she pounced, they were done for.
“What a nice evening for an excursion? Huh, boys?” Cyn called out.
“Shut up.” The man closed in, his rifle aimed at them. With the snowfall, it was hard to make out his features, but like the hunter she’d subdued, he wore a thick, white coat and gear for the outdoors. These hunters had money to burn.
“Let the boy go. I’m sure you just want adults,” Cyn said. The light shined into her face and forced her to look elsewhere. She’d used the same tactic countless times to blind her cornered prey. If these guys were as good as she suspected, she was about to be shot. Peter would be next.
Time for a diversion. And she was prepared for what was about to happen. She was going to die, but she was taking some of these bastards with her.
“I’m not one of them; I’m a hunter.”
“Like we’re gonna believe you,” the second man said.
“Shut up!” the first hunter said to his cohort. “We have orders to secure the camp and question the ones we capture.”
“Screw our orders. She hurt Frank,” the second man snapped. “I say we ice this wolf bitch. Or at least break her arms, too.”
The first man chuckled and fear raced down her spine. In three seconds, she could have her switchblade from her hip and take out the first hunter, but was that enough time? Naomi still wouldn’t make it. A spray of gunfire from their rifles would slice her in half. A different plan came to mind.
“Who’s in command for the Ceruleans?” she asked. “Garrison? Donaldson?”
The second one twitched. Hunting clans never revealed the chain of command to werewolves to protect themselves. The men hesitated.
Gotcha. She shifted to move left and pushed Peter toward Naomi. Their guns went up.
“Run,” she breathed.
The click of the hammer on their guns seemed audible to her, even with the wind. She waited for the pain. For the burst of color in her chest as they blew her away. But the hit never came as she dived in front of Peter and Naomi.
Instead, she heard the men scream. She twisted in the snow and glanced up. The hunter’s flashlights danced about.
The second hunter shot in the other man’s direction. “What the hell!”
A dark form came behind the first hunter. The man arched his back and screamed again, his cry turning to a wet gasp as he collapsed on the ground.
She couldn’t see. She couldn’t make out what happened in the darkness. Only hear begging and screaming.
“Please don’t… Please…” the second man groaned. Only once in her life had she heard such sounds. They came when a hunter arrived too late to save his or her comrade.
They weren’t alone. Someone else was there. Was it Kaden? Naomi still hovered over Peter.
When only the wind was left howling, Cyn dragged herself to stand. Her limbs had gone numb, maybe from the cold, maybe from what had just gone down. Her hands trembled as she reached for the flashlight she dropped.
I have to see, she told herself.
No, you don’t. You’ve seen this before. There were no mysteries in death. It is what it is.
I have to know who did this.
If it’s Kaden, do you want to see him after he’s killed someone?
Slowly, she aimed the flashlight toward the fallen men. Their bodies lay in pieces in the crimson snow. A single man stood near them. She brought the beam up and gasped.
It was Damien.
Covered in blood and snow. With wide eyes and a strange smile, he brought his bloody index finger up to his mouth. Bright red drops fell from the digit on the snow below.
“Shh,” he seemed to whisper. He ran away from the beam of light into the darkness.
“All this time, I thought the wolf had made the man mad,” he’d said, “but I questioned if I was mad before that point…”
She shuffled backward, the smell of blood growing stronger. “We gotta move, guys.”
The boy didn’t question her and followed her toward his parents’ cabin. Naomi plodded after them.
***
I’ve come too late. The thought was hard to shake as he raced toward camp. As much as Kaden tried to think about what had to be done and what he could do to save the others, Cyn’s safety plagued his thoughts.
Micah ran hard and somehow kept up with his breakneck pace. They raced over the ridge and by the time they reached the line of snow cabs, fear was replaced with rage, an all-consuming fury that he allowed to blossom into something more.
Invaders spilled into camp along the edges, so he went after those targets. One hunter he crept up behind never saw the attack coming. The man screamed as Kaden took him out. Each target that followed got the same treatment. Sneak and kill. Swarm and attack.
But along with the victorious moments, a bitter one came as well. Two werewolves lay dead in the snow: Ash and Clyde. They were rogues who had become his friends and found a place within the pack.
Micah whimpered when he saw the lifeless bodies while Kaden’s rage soared even higher. Now wasn’t the time to mourn his friends. He’d take the time to memorialize them after the camp was secure.
Then he spied three werewolves running west out of the camp. One with a dark coat he recognized as Rhys. His brother was leading them toward the designated safe point west of camp.
The best thing to do now would be to sweep every corner and eliminate the vermin. Watch for the others and destroy anyone who dared to cross his path.
***
Flames licked the thick wall of wood in front of Rhys and Eva’s cabin. Peter released her hand, and she had to rush to catch up with him as he snuck into the dark house.
Smoke billowed from one of the windows. The inside of the house was blanketed with noxious smoke.
Naomi waited outside while Cyn raced inside.
“Peter!” she hissed, her eyes watering.
He was nimble, going from room to room looking for his family. “Mom!” he called out.
But even Cyn suspected they weren’t here. The house was deathly quiet. She checked the last room when Peter went into the boys’ bedroom. The master bedroom was empty—except for a dead hunter next to the bed. A woman hunter.
This could have been me.
Coughing hard from the smoke, she tried to process everything and failed. Even if this woman, who had to be no more twenty, was a hunter, she was still just a girl who was following orders.
Cyn had been born a hunter, and now she was sleeping with the enemy. The game had changed.
With just a brief glance, Cyn’s heart got kicked when she saw Eva’s things.
“We had to leave everything behind,” Eva had said. “All our belongings. The kids’ toys.”
Two sides. No solution but to kill each other.
She spied a small photo album on a nearby dresser. For good measure, she snatched it and tucked it in her coat pocket. Something should be saved today.
“They’ve left, Peter,” Cyn said as she returned to the living room. “We need to wait—”
She stopped short to see Eva waiting at the front door, gun in hand. The blonde woman’s eyes were wild, her hair disheveled about her shoulders. Blood was splattered across her torn shirt. Peter moved behind his mother with his gaze fixed on the worn porch floor. Naomi hovered not far from them.
“I was prepared to seal you inside this house to burn with that bitch hunter who tried to attack my family,” she said simply. “But you protected my child.”
Eva turned to leave, pausing to check for danger, before running away. Peter and Naomi followed.
Cyn caught faint words from the boy. “What about Cyn?” he asked.
His mother didn’t reply. Or maybe Cyn missed it.
She spotted a dark wolf running toward them
and sighed. She recognized that wolf well. A few days ago, she’d hunted with Kaden to find the boy.
He’d made it home, but did Kaden return as well?
The Windhams headed off into the woods. She was alone now. Even after what she did to protect Eva’s son, Eva had left her behind. In her weakening condition, she could never make it to the rendezvous point without help. The outsider left to die with her own kind.
***
Kaden’s hunt continued with seemingly no end, but every inch of the small camp had to be covered. Every room to every nook and cranny. No invading hunter would be missed.
He still had two more cabins to check when he heard a voice whispering near the edge of the woods, not far from the burning generator shed. Whoever hid there had been elusive so far, but with less noise from gunfire, he caught the sounds this time.
“I told you to take prisoners, Atkins,” a man’s voice grunted from behind a thicket of fallen pines and bristly branches. “I can’t get answers unless I have someone with a heartbeat.”
Kaden closed in, going wide to attack the man from the rear. Once in position, he darted from tree to tree until his target was loud and clear.
He heard the crackle of a radio. “Copy that,” another voice said. “I’ll see if this guy who’s shooting at me will stop for a sec to chat.”
“Switch targets then!”
“I almost got him. He’s holed up in one of the cabins.”
Who was it? Kaden wondered. And why wasn’t he at the rendezvous point?
“I don’t care!”
Fury surged within Kaden. He’d heard enough. He crept up and slammed hard into the hunter, but instead of killing the man, he loomed over his target.
This one, he decided, would live to be questioned.
Chapter 7
Not long after dragging the man to his cabin and tying him up in human form, Kaden shifted back into a wolf to finish checking the camp.
The whole process had left him exhausted but still determined. He had yet to find Cyn. He finally caught her scent outside of Rhys’s cabin. From there, he followed the trail to Sinister’s cabin. Cyn was on the porch, trying to break her way inside. The windows had been boarded up, so she sagged against the wall.
Windham Werewolves Page 13
