by B. L. Dawn
A smooth, cold patch of land was on the ground, and she passed a collapsed chimney as she ran. Her hair stood on end. She stopped running and turned around, trying to follow her instincts. The stone floor of an old coal mine house still decked the ground.
Coal mine houses would be near old coal mines. Scoping out the area, she tried to find any clue to indicate where the coal mine would be. Tatum sighted something; it was barely visible, but there was a small void of tall trees against the sky. Perhaps it was the old coal mining road that many males traveled on long ago? She turned left and ran in the direction where the void had been. Looking around again, hoping for another sign, she listened for a female’s whimper or pleading, but she couldn’t hear anything.
Loud screeches and slapping wings sounded in the distance. Winged creatures took flight, and Tatum took off again. She came upon the abandoned coal mine from her dreams, except now, the wooden boards had been ripped off and littered the ground.
Tatum got a whiff of iron mixed with the sweet tea. It was the smell of Jenny. Bile rose in her throat; Jenny’s fresh blood was nearby.
Sawing noises sounded in the cave. Against a glowing light, she padded forward, fully alert.
“Come on!” A male voice grumbled.
The sawing became more frantic.
Tatum turned the corner. A dull blade cut away faded red hair. Jenny was tied with her arms behind the long wooden-back chair. Her head slammed forward, freed from hair that now was in Cade’s hand. She was unconscious. Red bruises were on her swollen cheeks. Cade held up a handful of hair with a smile on his face.
A threatening growl echoed through the tunnels. Gnashing teeth clinked and ground together.
It was Tatum. The noise was coming from her own throat.
Cade’s eyes shot up. He dropped Jenny’s hair and sauntered around the chair. “There you are. I’m shocked you found me first.” Cade chuckled, tapping Jenny on the head with the flat end of the blade.
“See what the fuck you’ve done? You convinced Enoch to give you a status that is rightfully a male’s, my ranking.” He growled. “And you turned him against everything shifters stand for when it comes to these humans.” He tsk-tsked her as his blade went back and forth. “It didn’t have to be this way. If you would have learned your fucking place.”
Tatum stood frozen, her hair bristling as she shifted.
Tatum narrowed her eyes. “Cade, don’t do this. It isn’t right. Luke loves you. This will break him.” And she didn’t only mean it was going to hurt Luke because Cade was hurting Jenny, but it would hurt Luke because Tatum was going to kill Cade.
Cade closed his eyes and shook his head. A small sniffle escaped him before his narrowed eyes opened. “You know what?” He chuckled mockingly, and the hair on the back of her neck stood up. “I had planned to change the pack’s mind by causing havoc on the farm. I wanted them to come back with me, but you got Enoch to kick me out. And my own fucking brother decided to stay with you instead of me.” Cade looked at the blade, spinning the end on his fingertip. “I’m going to stop you from ruining this pack. I’m going to stop all of you.”
Tatum shifted into her wolf form. Sadness for Luke briefly flashed through her mind, but her eyes were trained on Jenny. Her blood began to boil.
She accepted what had to be done, and for the first time, she understood that although Luke was in her heart, she would pick the pack over his feelings. As beta, those shifters belonged to her. Jenny belonged to her, and she would protect them from all danger.
Her heart pounded in her chest. She leaped into the air, teeth bared. Cade countered, swatting her away. The blade fell to the ground, making a metallic tinkling sound. She crashed into the stone wall with a large crunch, causing her to shift back into human form. A heel connected with her arms and thighs, over and over.
Pain spiked with each blow. Hands gripped Tatum’s neck, jerking her up. Her throat burned as she struggled to breathe. She brought up her knee, connecting with his groin. He bashed his head into hers, and white sparks exploded in her vision. Blood gushed down from her crushed nose, filling her mouth.
Her world spun. Cade dropped her. Shaking her head to try to clear it, she heard shuffling and grunting echoing around her. Looking in the direction of the noise, her worse nightmare started to play out in front of her eyes. Three shifters were struggling through the entrance, carrying a thrashing Luke inside the mine.
Oh no. Not Luke.
Cade turned and yelled at the others, “Where’s Enoch?”
She searched around and palmed a jagged rock while the four shifters argued. Blood ran over her lips, and her nose throbbed.
A male yelped, waving his hand in the air. Luke slipped from his grasp. He started to regain his footing. Tatum got to her feet and saw Cade kick Luke’s head. It snapped back with a loud crack. Luke slumped to the floor, motionless.
Rage snapped something inside her. The pain in her body faded. Tatum’s feet moved before giving them the order. She held the rock in her hand and slammed it into Cade’s skull. He crashed to the ground. She hit him again and again, until his skull caved in. Blood sprayed the upper half of her body. Tears stung her eyes.
A female yanked Tatum off Cade. She screamed in her face. Tatum shifted into her wolf form; so did the female. Then they jumped for each other, grappling around, teeth clashing together.
Weariness threatened to take over her body. Tatum searched for an opening to the female’s throat. How much longer was she going to last? Her body was growing tired.
Enoch roared through the entrance. Running, he barreled into the gawking males. The female’s head turned. Tatum clamped down, finding bone, and blood poured into her mouth. Her gag reflex revolted, but she tightened her hold more. The female clawed at her, sputtering saliva and blood into Tatum’s mouth. All movement stopped. Tatum rolled her off and unlatched her teeth.
Enoch growled as one wolf crashed on the wall. Tatum looked up. The wolf lay still on the ground. Enoch had the other by the throat. With a jerk of Enoch’s head, the male’s throat was ripped away.
Tatum shifted onto shaking legs. The scene was gruesome, even though the outcome was what had to happen. Blood sprayed every surface, and mangled bodies were all over the ground. Luke and Jenny lay still. The coppery taste of blood lingered in her mouth. Her stomach pitched, but she was able to hold onto her last meal.
The reality of what she just did hit her. She had lost control, letting her dominant side take over. Giving the other half of herself the freedom to be what it was.
Enoch ran over to Jenny, untying her with shaking fingers. Once Jenny was in his arms, he nodded at Tatum. She nodded back, wiping the blood from her mouth.
Tatum went over to Luke. She flipped him over gently, and lowered her face to his mouth. His warm breath blew against the surface of her cheek. Relief swept over her.
Mason and Owen scampered around the entrance of the mine. Their wolves stared at the carnage. When Tatum straightened to her full height, Mason shifted. His face went pale, and he grabbed for his stomach.
“Hey, you two. Go ahead and get them to the golf cart. Dean and Leo are turning it around right now,” Mason said.
Enoch nodded and walked to the entrance of the mine, holding Jenny like a rag doll. Her hair hung in weird angles over his arms. Bloody cuts were embedded in her scalp, and she still wasn’t moving.
Tatum lugged Luke in her arms with a grunt. She followed Enoch out of the mine. This was all going to be bad, really fucking bad. There was blood everywhere, tracks from the golf cart, Jenny needed a hospital, and the police would be investigating. Things were going to look shady regardless of the circumstances, but let’s just add the fact that there had been a fire on the farm as well not too long ago.
Following Enoch, they moved with one foot in front of the other. Enoch’s feet looked like ten-pound weights carrying all the burden of the world on them.
They came upon the golf cart where Leo and Dean were standing. T
hey arranged themselves inside and headed to the farmhouse with the brother duo flanking them.
As Tatum carried Luke into the house, she barked out orders. “Natalie, watch over your mom and call 911. Oliver, get a group together, clean off the golf cart, and put it back where it goes as fast as you can. Sam and Jim, clean and dress Enoch. Eli, Dean, Leo, follow me.”
Tatum carried Luke upstairs. “Dean and Leo, please clean Luke.” Leo ran the bathwater, and Dean took Luke out of her shaking arms, lowering him into the tub.
Tatum stared into the mirror of the bathroom. She clenched her teeth and knew what she had to do. With shaking hands, she grabbed her nose and clicked it back into place. A scream escaped her mouth, and tears flooded her eyes. Pain caused her knees to buckle. Blood poured from her nose as she gripped the sink until the porcelain whined.
Luke jerked awake inside the tub, surrounded by Dean and Leo. He flung his fist out and clocked Dean before he had time to register what had happened.
Leo held him down. “Hey, calm down; you’re safe. You’re back home.”
“Tatum. Where’s Tatum.” Luke looked around Dean and Leo.
“I’m right here. I’m fine.” But was she? Was she fine? There was nothing fine about any of this. Yes, they had survived Cade, but would they survive the damage this was going to cause later? Tatum needed to tell Luke what had happened and rip the Band-Aid off. The outcome was going to be what it was; she couldn’t lie to him, and she couldn’t change the fact that she had mutilated his brother.
Eli stood outside the door, his face pale, watching the blood drip from Tatum’s nose. “What happened?”
She watched as the blood slowed into drips in the sink. “Listen, I can tell you everything later. But right now, just listen. The police are going to come. They’re going to search for Jenny’s attackers, and most likely, they’re going to ask everyone a bunch of questions. They can’t see Luke or me until our bruises heal. Enoch’s body heals quickly, and most of his damage can hide behind clothes.”
Eli ran his hands through his hair. “Oh, shit. What do we do?”
“The pack members need to tell the police that we were here visiting Jenny for a family reunion. Make sure everyone stays dressed and no one talks about shifting.”
“Okay, but what’s the story?”
Tatum closed her eyes and paused for a moment, swaying while she held onto the sink. “Say we all went on a hike. Jenny wasn’t feeling well and stayed home. It started piss pouring rain, and we got lost. When we got home, Jenny was missing, and everyone left to search for her. Enoch found her lying in the brook, and he brought her back to the farmhouse. Make sure to tell everyone. Enoch too.”
“Who did this?” Eli shook his head, and his brows pinched together.
Glancing over at Dean and Leo cleaning Luke, Tatum sighed. She didn’t want to divulge that his brother was behind this brutal attack or the burning silo, or broken tractors. But she would have to do it. They would want answers, and Enoch couldn’t give them the answers they needed.
“I’ll tell everyone later. Get the pack ready.”
Eli nodded and headed downstairs.
Luke told the brother duo to take a fucking hike. They left chuckling as if he were back to normal. Didn’t they get it? Nothing would ever be the same after today. Luke’s brother was gone, and Tatum was the one who had killed him. Jenny had been attacked and would be in the hospital, and the police were coming. The fucking police were coming.
Tatum grabbed a towel and wrapped herself in it. She sat on the floor beside the tub, staring at the ground. When she had looked in the mirror earlier, her nose had been like a premature eggplant. It was swollen, painful, and a purplish hue, with a headache just behind it. Blood had been sprayed all over her face, hair, and chest, making her look like a Jackson Pollock painting in the middle of a horror film.
Luke sat up, grabbed the soap, and rubbed it on his rag roughly. He threw the soap at the wall, and it bounced across the bathroom. Tatum jerked as she felt tears fall down her face. The lump in her throat was back. He scoured his body with the rag, making his skin turn red. Then he paused for a moment, staring at the front of the bathtub. “Is he dead?”
Tatum nodded, trying not to make eye contact. “I did it.”
Luke nodded and scrubbed harder. He stood up and drained the water, refusing to look her way. But she couldn’t blame him. One of his feet landed beside her legs outside the tub, then the other. He grabbed a towel, wrapping it around his hips. Bending over, he started more bathwater and pushed the plug down.
He stood over her in silence for what seemed like an eternity, then he lifted her chin, a growl vibrating low in the room. “He fucking hurt you. He hurt you bad.”
Tatum shrugged, staring into his eyes. The side of his face was swollen and yellowish green. Luke grabbed her under the arms and ushered her into the tub, closing the curtain behind her.
Taking the towel off, she tossed it over the shower curtain. She sat down in the water. The calmer she got, the more pain she felt. Her arm and leg were starting to feel the blows that Cade had given her. It hurt like hell. Everything everywhere hurt like hell. She turned off the water and shifted into wolf form, lying back down. The pain felt a little better, so she stayed like that for a long time. She put her muzzle outside the curtain. Luke was gone.
Shifting back, she cleaned herself the best she could. Would Luke ever forgive her? Did he hate her now? It wasn’t fair that they were in this position. She needed Luke to be friends with her, but how would that happen now?
Wrapped in a towel, Tatum walked down the hall and looked out the window. Emergency lights were fading in the distance. Turning, she walked to Luke’s bedroom. His door was shut but she could hear him moving around inside.
She made her way downstairs. Shifters lined the steps, and the living room was full of her pack. Silence filled the room when they saw her. Tatum made her way down the steps. When she reached the bottom step, she looked over each one of them. “Tonight was a hard night. A great many things have been revealed. For one, we know now who caused the silo to explode and who was behind the tractor incident. It was Cade. He wanted to put doubts in your minds about this new way of life. He recruited the three shifters that had been banished at Green Lagoon. They took Jenny and had plans to kill the four of us. It didn’t work out in their favor.”
Tatum didn’t break eye contact with the members of her pack. “I’m here to tell you that we as a pack are going to be fine. I’ll make sure that we stay safe and that the farm runs smoothly. This was the right decision, and I’m honored to have a pack like you. As your beta, I swear this to you, my pack, my family.
Members of the pack stood up and bowed to her. She bowed back low. When she rose, she asked, “Is there anyone that can patrol the territory for the next four hours.”
The whole pack nodded, even Sissy. It melted Tatum’s heart.
Tatum looked around and put the shifters into groups, and set times for them. “We’ll make more rotations later. Everyone else, get some sleep. We’re going to need our strength to get through the next few days.”
Everyone left, returning to their sleeping areas. Tatum helped pull the couch out for Ben and Susan and blew up the air mattress for Lincoln as they took a shower. The ache in her nose, the hole in her heart for Luke, and the panic over Jenny’s well being was almost more than Tatum could take.
Walking to Natalie’s room, Tatum got dressed and lay awake as loneliness surrounded her. Was loneliness affecting Luke as well? She was begging herself for trouble, but she wanted to be with him—needed to be with him. Not for sex. For comfort. Would he slam the door in her face? It couldn’t do much more damage.
Sneaking out of her room, she tiptoed up the stairs and knocked on Luke’s door. She heard Luke moving, and a second later, he was standing in front of her. Tatum walked inside. The door latched behind her.
“Hey, I know this sounds messed up, and don’t be afraid t
o tell me no, but can you hold me tonight? I just feel so—”
Luke took her hands without saying a word, pulling her to bed. He tucked her into his stomach and wrapped his arms around her waist. He slid one of his legs between hers as his hot breath played in her hair. They entangled themselves together.
“Luke, will you talk to me? Tell me what’s going through your mind.”
Luke’s body shuddered, and then he buried his face into her back. Tears wettened her shirt.
“I’m sorry, Luke. I’m sorry I was the one who—”
Luke shook his head. “Don’t. It’s not your fault. You did your job.”
Tatum turned around, pulling him into her. Entangling their limbs once more, she put her mouth to his ear and covered his face with hers. “I’m sorry he put you through that. I know you loved him. And it’s okay to love him still. He was your brother.”
Luke sobbed and shook his head. “I hate him. He ruined everything. Everything.”
“Not everything. You still have this pack. And me. I’ll be here for you. No one is going to treat you any different or love you less because of what happened. Everyone loves you, Luke.”
“I want to be strong for you. I feel so stupid and weak. I hate it.” Luke sniffed and took a deep breath. “I guess that’s why Destiny didn’t find me suitable for you. I’m too submissive, and I’m a fucking pussy who can’t protect the female he loves. What was Cade planning to do, Tatum? Was he setting a trap to kill us all? Was he going to kill me, his own fucking brother?”
Tatum didn’t know what to say. A lot was going through her mind at the moment. In truth, that was what Cade had planned, but it would break Luke’s heart to know that information. Did he just say he loves me?
“Luke, three shifters had a hard time holding you down, and a fourth had to knock you out so they could follow through with the rest of their plans. That doesn’t make you a pussy. And your brother was wrong for doing what he did, but I think he really believed he was doing it for a good reason.”
Luke nodded.
“And Luke?”
