Rogue Wolf

by J. C. Diem

  I loved being a soldier, even if I was now just teaching my sniper skills to my fellow soldiers. Reece had quit the army to become a security consultant for a private firm. He was glad to be a civilian. He’d seen one too many horrors while deployed overseas.

  He’d never told me what he’d seen. He sometimes spoke in his sleep and had mentioned monsters more than once. I hoped he was talking about the human atrocities that he’d witnessed. Everyone knew that monsters weren’t real.

  Easing down onto the couch, I rubbed my bulging belly and put my feet up. My mother was watching the twins to give me a much needed break. I was as content as I could be. Switching on the TV, I frowned when I saw a horror movie playing.

  Switching to a different station, my frown deepened when the same image was displayed. It was on every channel I tried. If someone was playing a trick on me, it wasn’t a very nice one.

  Giving up on trying to change the picture, I studied it intently. The image was so clear that I almost felt as if I was there. Seven people were dangling from hooks by ropes tied around their wrists. Two were female and the rest were male. Their heads were slumped too far forward for me to be able to see their faces or to determine their ages.

  I couldn’t tell whether they were merely unconscious or if they were dead. The ceiling and walls were made of rock and the floor was covered in dirt. It looked like they were in a cave.

  Another figure moved into view. Delicately beautiful, the slender blond woman moved from person to person. It looked as if she was trying to decide which one she was going to save. Stopping at one of the men, she lifted his head by the hair.

  I struggled to sit upright when I saw that it was Reece. His eyelids fluttered and my heart leaped when I realized that he was alive. He was smiling and seemed to be happy, but his face was gaunt and weary. His eyes remained closed and I had the sense that he was dreaming.

  My attention was drawn back to the woman when her beauty began to fade. Her skin grew withered and wrinkled and her hair turned gray and stringy. Bright light flared in her eyes, bathing my husband in a sickly yellow glow. Her mouth grew larger and her teeth turned long and sharp. Pulling Reece’s shirt aside, she latched onto the back of his neck and began to feed.

  “No!” I screamed. Surging to my feet, I watched in horror as the creature sucked the life force from my husband. Was this the monster he’d talked about in his sleep so long ago? Did she have him right now and was somehow projecting the picture to our TV?

  Confused and frightened, I reached for my phone then stared at it helplessly. Who could I possibly call for help? My father loved me dearly, but not even he would believe this crazy story.

  Looking at the TV again, the picture zoomed in on Reece. My panic receded a little when I saw how young he was. He was barely twenty years old. Obviously, this had happened at least ten years ago.

  More confused than ever, I sat back down. I rubbed my stomach as my daughter kicked me in retaliation for jostling her. I watched in horrified fascination as the camera panned around the circle of hanging bodies.

  One of the girls was tall and slender and had long black hair. I realized I was looking at myself and put a hand to my head when I was hit with double vision. For a moment or two, I was looking at two separate images. In one, I was pregnant and sitting on a couch watching the weirdest horror movie of all time. In the other, I was starring in the horror movie.

  The two images merged until only one was remaining. The couch faded and only the cave was left. Then that image faded as well and I floated in a soundless void. Now that there was nothing to distract me, I could feel someone or something trying to reach me. I wasn’t sure what had happened to me or even who I was, but I knew I was in terrible danger.

  Joy battered me when the presence realized I was aware of them. Whatever it was, it didn’t think like a human. It gave a mental bark and I was more confused than ever when I understood that it was a dog.

  That sparked my memory and it all came rushing back. Zeus? My thought was groggy and he gave a bark of affirmation. He sent me a barrage of images. I saw Bruce being snatched by something both hideous and terrifying. Then I saw Reece fall to the same creature.

  With their disappearances, Zeus had been left all alone. He’d searched for me for days and had finally picked up my scent. He’d followed it to the succubus’ lair and he was now somewhere close by. He knew his pack was in the cave and that it was dangerous for him to enter.

  Concentrating on his thoughts helped to clear my mind. The last lingering traces of the dream world disappeared and I woke up. My wrists, arms and shoulders were burning from taking my full weight for several days, but I gave no sign of my discomfort.

  With my head hanging forward, I could only see my feet and the dirt floor of the cave. Without moving my head, I glanced to both sides. Kala was on my left and Mark was on my right. That corresponded with the images that I’d seen on the TV in my dream. That meant Reece was directly across from me.

  My ears felt like they were stuffed with cotton, but I heard a sucking sound that made me want to shudder. The succubus was standing only a few feet away and she was feeding on Reece right now.

  Tentatively touching his mind, I was sucked into his idea of paradise.

  Reece bent to pick up his son when he toddled towards him on unsteady legs. Squealing with laughter, Galen wrapped his pudgy arms around his neck and smacked a kiss on his cheek. His hair was white blond and his eyes were the exact same shade of brown as Reece’s.

  “Are you ready to go, honey?” a female voice asked.

  He turned and my stomach lurched at the flare of love that he felt when he saw her. A petite blond woman with a chest that was far more impressive than mine smiled up at him. “I’m ready,” he replied.

  “I can’t believe your brother is finally getting married,” she said and linked her arm through his. Their house was small, cozy and had knickknacks everywhere. Most were of wolves. “I hope this rehearsal dinner goes well.”

  “Gareth is my second as well as my brother. It’s his duty to procreate and increase the pack,” Reece said.

  “I am a true born werewolf, you know, Garrett,” she reminded him tartly. “You don’t need to explain our laws to me.”

  Laughing, he hugged her to his side. “You’re the wife of an alpha. You should be used to me laying down the law by now.”

  Backing away from Reece’s mind, I blinked away the tears that welled up. I’d always known that he didn’t feel the same way about me as I did about him. Now I had undeniable proof. While he’d resigned himself to being tied to me, his ultimate dream was to be a pack leader and to have a pure born wife.

  Having me as his mate and being part of our mixed pack was a pathetic substitute for the life that he craved. That life had been stolen from him when he’d been a toddler for reasons neither of us were yet aware of.

  Feeling my pain, Zeus whined inside my head, breaking me out of my misery. I told myself to wallow later. I didn’t know how I’d managed to escape from the dream, but I couldn’t waste this chance to try to escape.

  Lifting my head slightly, I waited to see if the succubus would react to the movement. The sucking sounds continued, so I lifted my head higher. Little by little, I straightened up until the pressure was gone from my numb wrists and aching shoulders. The succubus had closed her eyes after she’d latched onto Reece. She was so deeply entranced in feeding that she wasn’t even aware that one of her meals was awake.

  A quick examination of the cave backed up my hunch that we’d been here for several days. All four of the other shifters were showing the early signs of gauntness in the glimpses I caught of their faces. Mark was unconscious as well, but he looked untouched so far. The succubus had ignored him in favor of us.

  A human that I didn’t recognize was in far worse shape. Much too thin, his bones showed clearly in his arms. He had to be the hiker who’d gone missing. He wasn’t dead yet, but he soon would be if I couldn’t get us out of this dilemma.

/>   Examining the rope that was tied to my wrists, I saw that it was looped through a metal hook that hung from the cave ceiling a few feet above me. Standing on my tippy toes, I tried to flick the rope free, but failed to dislodge it. There wasn’t enough length for it to clear the hook.

  Checking to make sure the succubus was still preoccupied, I bent my knees as much as I could and jumped. The rope slipped free and I landed as quietly as I could. I used my teeth to loosen the knot then worked my hands free.

  I could feel my gun still in the pocket of my cargo pants, but I was too unsteady to try to shoot the succubus. Tearing her apart with my bare hands held far more appeal. I skirted around her and came at her from behind.

  The moment my hands closed around her throat, she released Reece and shrieked in alarm. I winced at the shrill, high pitched screech and clamped down harder on her neck. I’d forgotten how strong she was and she came close to twisting out of my grip. Lunging from side to side, she tripped and went down, taking me with her.

  Pressing her face into the dirt, I knelt on either side of her and squeezed as hard as I could. Her struggles began to weaken as my fingers sank deeply into her flesh. I didn’t release my grip until her body jittered then went still. Watching her for a full minute, I made sure she wasn’t breathing before I finally stood and staggered away a few steps.

  Zeus’ bark from outside was my only warning that I wasn’t alone. Spinning towards the cave entrance, I was caught in the spell of a second succubus.

  “You killed my daughter,” she hissed. “I’ll make you pay for that with your blood!” Her beautiful face began to change. Her flesh almost seemed to melt as she rapidly transformed into a hideous crone. Savage barking made her glance away, inadvertently releasing me from her spell.

  My guardian stood in the mouth of the cave. He growled and snapped at the creature that was planning to dismember me. Determining that the animal wasn’t a threat, the succubus turned to me again. She tried to snare me with her eyes, but I wasn’t falling for that trick again. With a shriek of rage, she leaped at me.

  Still woozy from being in a coma, I put an arm up in defense when her nails slashed at my face. Blood flowed from the shallow slices, but the wounds healed in seconds. Wishing I was more skilled at hand to hand fighting, I fended off her blows then surprised her by leaping towards her.

  My elbow connected with her jaw hard enough to stun her for a few seconds. Sliding my arm around her throat, I stepped behind her and sat down, taking her with me. Just as I’d been trained, I wrapped my legs around her waist to hold her steady. She regained her senses as I grabbed my wrist and started pulling my arm towards me. It helped to tighten my hold on her, but I wasn’t sure how long I’d be able to restrain her.

  Gasping for air, the succubus thrashed and clawed at my arms. Older and stronger than her daughter, she slowly started to push my arm up over her chin. Exhausted, I held on, but my arms were shaking with the effort.

  Using both hands, the hag forced my arm up and screeched in triumph when my grip slipped. Her screech turned into a pained gargle when Zeus lunged forward and clamped his teeth around her throat.

  Holding the succubus by her stringy hair, I urged Zeus to make the kill. With a crunch and a wet tearing sound, he tore her throat out. Sitting back on his haunches, he spat out the wad of flesh and watched me push the body away. He’d never killed a creature that was so humanlike before and he was unsure whether he was in trouble or not.

  Shuffling over to him on my hands and knees, I hugged him tightly. “You did the right thing,” I reassured him. If he hadn’t risked his life to save me, she’d have killed us all. “Kala’s going to hate being rescued by a dog,” I croaked. His tongue lolled in a canine equivalent of a laugh.

  ₪₪₪

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Knowing so little about succubae, I wanted to be very sure that they were dead. I’d seen too many horror movies where the monsters came back to life to be willing to leave anything to chance.

  Shooting my gun inside the cave would be painfully loud for both Zeus and me. I didn’t have any earplugs handy, so I’d have to improvise.

  A lone body lay discarded on the ground. A withered husk, Reggie was now barely recognizable as a human. His essence had been sucked out, leaving only his skeleton, hair and dried skin behind. Dental records would be the only way he could possibly be identified now.

  Figuring he wouldn’t need it anymore, I stripped his flannel over shirt off then wadded it into a ball. Pressing my gun against it tightly, I used it as a makeshift silencer to blast the succubae’s heads apart. The gruesome sight of blood, brains and bone didn’t distress me. Seeing my team helplessly trussed up had been far more upsetting. It was galling that the tables had been turned against us so easily. If I hadn’t woken from my dream, we’d have died in this cave. There was a good chance that no one would have ever found our bodies.

  Our backpacks had been carried inside and had been stacked in a pile. They’d been ransacked for food and water to sustain us for as long as possible. I felt almost faint with relief when I saw that my sniper rifle was still inside my backpack. My father had had it custom made for me several years ago. It was my most prized possession.

  Taking a knife from an outer pocket of my backpack, I cut everyone free and lay them down on the cave floor. I couldn’t decide whether I should try to take them to safety or if I should just wait for them to wake up.

  I had no idea where we were and Zeus couldn’t tell me how far away we were from our SUV. Mark had told me that we’d wake on our own after a few hours once the succubae’s venom wore off, so in the end I decided to wait.

  Zeus was just as starving as I was so I fed him first. The succubae had brought his food into the cave as well. Realizing it wasn’t suitable for human consumption, they’d tossed the backpack aside. He ate two whole cans and guzzled down some biscuits before he was satisfied.

  Longing for a steak and a gigantic mug of coffee, I chewed a few energy bars instead and washed them down with water. I poured some water into the food bowl for Zeus since he’d licked it completely clean. He drank it down then sat beside me when I took a seat on the dirt floor and put my back to the rock wall. Slinging my arm around him, I settled down to wait. I’d give them two hours to begin coming around and then I’d have to start carrying them out one by one.

  Flynn was the first to stir nearly an hour later. He opened his eyes, looked around blankly then closed them again. A few minutes later, he groaned and tried to sit up. I hurried over to him and handed him a bottle of water.

  “Where are we? What happened?” His voice was scratchy from disuse. He guzzled half of the water as I answered him.

  “We’re in a cave,” I explained. “We were captured by two succubae.”

  He stared at me with a complete lack of understanding. The venom had muddled his wits. His bruises and bite marks had faded, as had mine. Only Mark and the other surviving human bore signs that they’d been bitten.

  “Are you hungry?” I asked him.

  “I don’t know. Am I?”

  “Yes,” I replied and his brow cleared slightly. His confusion was almost enough to make me smile. I hadn’t been this muddled when I’d woken from my dream. I wondered if they would all be like this.

  As I handed Flynn an energy bar, Bruce began to come around. One by one, the others woke from their dream states. Woozy and disoriented, they weren’t able to really grasp where they were or what had happened at first.

  The last to have been bitten, Reece finally began to come around. I knelt beside him and took his hand when he opened his eyes. He stared right through me without any signs of recognition. That sent another stab of pain through my already wounded heart.

  I played nursemaid to everyone, feeding and watering my patients in turns. They struggled into a sitting position and I helped them over to the wall so they had something to lean against. Kala sat between Flynn and Reece. They looked like three tired children who desperately needed a
nap. Bruce sat with his long legs outstretched and his head hanging down. He’d lost his hat and I saw that his hair was cut short enough for his scalp to show through.

  Mark remained deeply asleep. I dribbled water into his mouth and he swallowed automatically, which was encouraging. I did the same for the missing hiker, but with less success. He needed urgent medical attention and I wasn’t equipped to give it to him.

  It took around three hours before Flynn’s wits returned completely. I knew he was back when he turned a sharp look on me. “Where is the succubus?” he asked in alarm. I pointed at the two nearly headless bodies that I’d dumped at the back of the cave. “There were two of them?”

  “Yep. They were a mother and daughter.” It was disturbing that their relationship had been less dysfunctional than mine was with my own mother. I doubted anyone could have a weirder relationship with their parent than I did.

  “No wonder they managed to pick us off so easily,” he muttered. Checking his pockets, he determined that his weapon was still there. “My cell phone is missing.”

  “It’s over there with the rest of them.” I nodded towards a small pile of equipment. The succubae had been clever enough to switch off all of our electronic devices. I’d found my cell phone and had switched it on to see that the battery was dead.

  “How is everyone?” he asked, noting their vacant stares. Spying Mark, he shuffled over on unsteady legs to kneel beside him.

  “They’re slowly coming around. Mark will probably be out for another few days. If we don’t get the hiker out of here soon, I’m pretty sure he’s going to die.”

  “Who is going to die?” Ranger Delgado asked. His expression cleared and he looked around alertly.

  “How much do you remember?” I asked.

  “Everything,” he said and shuddered. “Is that the missing hiker?” At my nod, he carefully stood and moved to the prone man to check his vital signs. “I have to get him to a hospital.”