I’m still not sure how he came out of his pants in time for the wolf, but he didn’t bother with the shirt, so I ran beside and behind a wolf in a shirt, but there wasn’t time to see the humor in it because we were literally running for our lives. I knew we’d have to go over the cliff to get away, but I had no idea where, or how. I later found out Dare always has an escape plan, and he’d not only found a place, but had walked it the first week I’d been here. He knew exactly where to take us, and even had a small motorcycle hidden in the woods below the cliff, camouflaged by a fallen tree.
I changed to human when he did, though it took a few seconds longer. He tossed me a dress as he stepped into sweatpants, and I knew to climb on behind him as he started the engine. The vampires and the tiger after us weren’t far behind, and without the motorcycle there’s no way we’d have made it to safety.
* * *
Ghost
This part of the side of Signal Mountain is known as Falling Water. There are back roads at the top and the bottom, but there’s only one road down the steepest part. However, there are bike trails, and we were on a street-legal dirt bike. Hailey clung to me without breaking my ribs, which is a testament to the trust she has for my skill on a bike. We careened down rough trails — in some cases missing trees by inches — and the speedometer stayed over a hundred miles an hour except the few seconds I slowed for a few of the steepest curves. This needed not only skill, but strength, and I’m pretty sure I tapped into some Lugat strength, and not just what I was accustomed to gaining from my wolf.
We stopped at the bottom long enough to don helmets and shoes from the bag I’d strapped to the back. We didn’t need them to stay safe, but I didn’t want to draw the attention of LEO, so we needed helmets before we transitioned to paved roads. I hit Highway Twenty-Seven, went south until I hit the interstate, and then north to Cleveland, Tennessee before I headed cross-country to Highway Four-Eleven and I headed south again. I’d obtained permission from Bud months ago to use one of the Atlanta MC’s safe houses. It’s near the little town of Redbud, and no one would expect us to go there.
Once we made it outside of Cleveland, I breathed easier. We stopped at a fast food restaurant and bought two dozen hamburgers, and I ran in a corner market for a couple of bottled waters — everything purchased with cash I’d hidden on the bike along with our clothes, shoes, and helmets. We went off road again ten miles south of civilization, and stopped to eat our fill. We’d changed to wolf and back to human during our escape, and we both needed food.
“What are we doing, Dare?”
“No one’s putting me in a cage, and you’re done with them, too. I know the kind of control you have.”
We ate in silence, going through burger after burger until they were gone. I pulled the burner cellphone from the back of the bike, removed it from the cell-blocking bag, turned it on, and used our encrypted app to text Brain.
Please let Apollonius know we’ll contact him once we’ve reached safety, eaten, and are ready for a visit. We’re both ready to pass whatever test the Concilio deems necessary, but neither of us are interested in being caged again.
“Are you sure?” Hailey asked as she watched me type.
“I won’t send it unless you feel the same, but it’s what I was banking on when we left. I know you have control, Hailey. I’ve seen it and felt it.”
She took two deep breaths before answering, “Yeah. Okay. I’m done with cages.”
I hit send, turned the phone off, put it back into the signal-blocking bag, stowed it away, and put my helmet on. She followed suit and we were on our way once again.
We rode for another hour and a half before we reached the remote cabin, and I shook my head when I saw Apollonius and someone I didn’t recognize waiting for us.
He sat still as we took our helmets off, and stood to greet us as we approached the concrete bench he’d been relaxing on.
“It’s good you sent the message, or this initial meeting wouldn’t have begun with a handshake.”
I nodded. “I don’t suppose you’ll tell me how you knew where we were going?”
“When the Concilio is paying attention, there are no secrets from us.” He sighed. “And this means I know what the two of you have done, but I also know you aren’t a danger. We’ll need to perform the official tests, of course, but I can sense your control, and hers.” He looked to Hailey. “Yours was good before, but I saw some shaky areas. I no longer see them.”
“How pissed is Bran?” I asked.
“Livid.”
“I expected as much, but I can only deal with one thing at a time.”
With no warning, the man at his side turned into a huge wolverine and attacked, and I had to make a split second decision of how to fight him. I chose the snake, and Hailey vamped out beside me.
The wolverine took my arm off as I changed, but that wasn’t a problem because the snake doesn’t have arms. I struck and bit as Hailey punched and fought for her life beside me, but it was soon clear we needed more. I took a lethal strike across my back and changed to the wolf’s half-form, but we were no match for the wolverine and soon found ourselves in two small cages in the back of an SUV.
I could sit comfortably, but barely. I calmed the wolf and snake, took a breath to center, and met Apollonius’s gaze. “You’ve made your point. We’re no match for your friend.”
“No. My point was to see how the two of you reacted to an unprovoked attack. You both did so with thought and control, even when you were losing. Neither turned into the animal without the human helping to steer your course.”
“So why are we in cages?”
“I’ve found the post-fight debriefing to be best handled thusly.”
“But this is temporary? We’ll be let out and won’t be caged long-term?” Hailey asked. I could sense her control through our bond, and took another breath to make sure I stayed in control, too. I was keeping the claustrophobia at bay by a single thread — I knew things would go to shit if I lost it.
“I believe you’re in the clear, but Darius has at least one more test in front of him.”
“You’re going to see how many Lugat characteristics I have.”
I didn’t ask it as a question, so he didn’t bothering answering, but merely let me know a little of what I could expect. “I smell Lugat, but I don’t sense your bloodlust. You’ve undergone a number of changes — human to snake to wolf to human — and I can sense your physical hunger. Why is the bloodlust not coming forward?”
“I have no desire for human blood. I just want half a bison at the moment.”
“Fair enough. You’ll remain in the cage until you begin to look emaciated. If you want to change to speed the process, I’m sure we’ll all appreciate it.”
I wasn’t sure I could change again, and then there’d be the matter of getting back to human, but I focused on the wolf and he oh-so-slowly came out. It hurt, and I screamed from unhuman vocal chords, and finally collapsed when the change was complete.
I knew I needed to make it back to human, knew the wolf would go crazy in the cage, but I wanted to sleep. I was so tired, and so weak, but I closed my eyes and imagined fingers and toes, and gasped as the change started.
There was a real danger of getting stuck in the middle, and I think the snake helped us get back to human. I’m not certain exactly how I managed — I only know I finally did.
The cage was taken into a room with a human male and female, both nude, and I was finally released.
I was literally starving, but I had no interest in anything these humans could offer. I stretched out on a sofa and closed my eyes, and the woman knelt in front of me with her neck at my mouth.
“Take your fill. I crave it. You won’t hurt me.”
Vampire junkies. I knew what they were, and could smell Lugat on them. I sensed the heartbeat and the pulse, knew what Hailey would want to do, but I had no interest.
“Bison,” I told her. “I need steak. Cow will be fine, too. Hell, I might even eat
one of your thighs if it’s marinated and cooked just right. Not interested in your blood, though.”
She looked at the door and practically whined, “I thought he was vampire?”
“We’ll see how he responds when he awakens.”
* * *
Hailey
They let me watch, but I’d have known what he was going through even if they hadn’t. He was starving — and I was pissed at Apollonius, but there was nothing I could do.
I’d been injured badly, probably fatally if I’d still been human, but I’d changed to snake and back, and was whole once again.
Apollonius sent the wolverine shifter away, thank goodness, and it was just the two of us watching the monitor. I felt guilty, eating when Dare was starving, but I ate anyway. One of us needed our strength, and I hoped I could somehow pass some of it to him.
Dare awoke and went back to sleep several times, and Apollonius kept him in the locked room for eighteen hours before he finally let him eat his fill. I have no idea how Dare kept from losing his mind, and I sent as much calming energy to him as I could. I felt him on the edge of freaking out more than once, but he held it together.
As we ate together, Apollonius told us, “Randall would like you to come to his place as you arrive back in town, and I suggest you both do so without detour. I’ll let the supernatural leaders in Chattanooga know you’ve passed Concilio tests and are deemed safe to be in society. However, we won’t interfere if wolf, snake, or Lugat takes issue with your presence. We try not to interfere in how individual species police themselves, so long as they don’t do anything to risk exposure to humans.”
“I’d like to invite Bud, Randall, and a half-dozen of the Chattanooga MC here while you’re present, if you’ll agree to it.”
Apollonius gave Dare a questioning look, and he shrugged. “You came to our picnic. They’re going to expect to hear from you. If they hadn’t met you it’d be different, but you created the personal connection and now they’ll want a face-to-face with you. I know we can’t demand anything, but you have to understand what I’m saying.”
“The Concilio has concerns about the power your motorcycle group is amassing. You have two power couples already, and I believe the two of you qualify as a third. Duke and Randall’s connection is another unknown, and now that the Pack is treating you as another supernatural group and not just as a group of lone wolves being allowed to exist in a territory…” He met Dare’s gaze a few seconds before continuing. “If the aforementioned connections didn’t exist between the most powerful groups, there’s a good chance we’d have stepped in before now.”
“You haven’t mentioned the Cherokee angle. Are you still of the opinion the Concilio isn’t obligated to insist we make ourselves known to the Cherokee Elders?” I asked.
“Viper will do the insisting — he’ll look at this as him turning you, and then you turning Darius. He’ll feel as if it’s gone too far.” Apollonius looked to Dare and back to me. “You’ve both faced the prejudices inherent in Cherokee culture. Many will believe only Cherokee blood is supposed to nourish and support the snake. If you draw on familial energies as the reason, you’ll enrage them because you’re a couple.”
“Before the government stepped in and started their blood quantum crap,” I told him, “being a Cherokee was about culture, and respect and understanding of nature and the world around us. Dare is just as comfortable in the woods — just as respectful of nature — as any Cherokee. I’ll make sure we go to an Elder who’ll see him for his soul and not the color of his skin.”
“Very well. I have other things to attend to, but if you can have your people here in two hours, I’ll be here when they arrive.”
He disappeared again and I jumped in alarm, but Dare pulled me into the safety of his arms and assured me, “It’s going to be okay. Just a few more hurdles and we’ll be home for good.”
“No, this is too easy. I was two things before and it was a huge deal. How is it I’m three things now, and you’re two things with the senses of another… and suddenly it’s okay?”
“Because they weren’t sure of you before. I sensed the same shakiness Apollonius mentioned, but it’s gone now. You had control but you weren’t confident with it. Now you are. His test with the wolverine was brutal, but also genius. We both took some serious damage, enough we were worried for our lives. He stressed us about as much as possible and we both maintained control. We shifted with purpose, which was what he was looking for. We passed. We’re good.”
* * *
Ghost
I retrieved the burner phone and called Brain through our encrypted app this time.
“Brother, tell me you’re okay?”
“We’re good. Apollonius just left but he’ll be back in two hours. I’d really like to have you, Randall, Bud, Duke, and Bash here at a minimum. If Duke feels anyone else should hear our status straight from Apollonius’s mouth, please bring them as well. We’re an hour south of you, and it’d be good if you could be here in two hours. I’ll text you our location in an hour.”
“You have to know I wrote the app and I have a way to find out your location, right?”
I sighed. “Please don’t show up until Apollonius returns.”
“Why?”
Did I prepare him for what he’d smell when he arrived? Or wait and let Apollonius help explain? As soon as I asked the question of myself, I knew the answer. This was my brother.
“Hailey and I did a relationship ceremony. There were unforeseen circumstances, but we’re fine. I kind of kicked Bran’s ass and then escaped with Hailey, so I’ll have to figure out how to smooth things over with him.”
“Fuck, Ghost. Okay, I’ll gather people and we’ll leave in an hour.”
Chapter 28
Hailey
Everyone arrived in the middle of the night, so we met them outside. We had quite a crowd — Aaron Drake, Nathan Pierce, Randall, The Abbott, Bran, three members of the Atlanta MC, and then Duke, Brain, Bash, Horse, Bobcat, Dozer, and of course Viper.
As promised, Apollonius arrived moments before our guests from Atlanta thundered up the driveway, which let us have a small crowd already when everyone from Chattanooga pulled in — the MC on their bikes, the others in an SUV.
Apollonius didn’t waste any time telling everyone our status, how we’d managed to get here, and then the fact he’d tested us and found us to be in control.
“They have the strengths of each supernatural, without having to deal with every inherent weakness. The snake can come forward and help out when the wolf is in trouble, and the wolf helps the snake. Hailey makes use of her vampire strengths without being plagued with bloodlust because she can rely on the hunger of the snake and wolf to offset it.”
He looked to both of us, then back to Bran. “If you want to do the final Lugat test on her to make yourself feel better, feel free, but the Concilio won’t require it. If you send her into a store when she’s starved, she’ll buy herself some food before gathering the things on her list.”
“I made her, she’s my responsibility.”
Dare and I had talked about this, and he faced Bran to respond, “I appreciate all you’ve done for us, but we’ve negotiated payment. The Concilio says she’s safe on her own, so she’s no longer yours. She’s mine, now. I’ve claimed her in every way, and you’ll put her in another cage over my dead body.”
Bran tilted his head, much like a bird deciding whether to attack, and calmly said, “That can be arranged.”
“You forget,” Duke said as he stepped forward, “Ghost has brothers. You hurt one of us, you deal with all of us.”
Every man wearing a leather jacket stepped forward, and their body posture went from casual to menacing.
Bran looked around, took everything in, and nodded to Dare. “You still owe me twenty minutes, but you smell of Lugat and will no longer be desirable.”
“Our alternate arrangement was for me to pay the five thousand dollars. I’ll get you the cash in the next forty
-eight hours.”
“You’ll supply a wolf or you’ll be forsworn.”
Dare looked to the ground a few moments before nodding. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Bran looked to me, his eyes hard. “I gave you life. I took you into my home and cared for you.”
“And I love and respect you for it, but it’s time for me to spread my wings.” I needed to say more, but wasn’t sure where to start. “I appreciate Dare negotiating so I don’t owe you anything, but it feels wrong. I wish there was still something for me to do, so I could thank you personally.” I patted Dare’s unhappy wolf through our bond as I told Bran, “We’re even, though, and I’m not sure Dare would be happy with me spending time at your place without him. I hope you consider us on good terms. I’m sorry about the way we had to leave. I wish it could’ve been handled differently — but it wasn’t, so can we move forward?”
“I will call you between ten and eleven o’clock every Monday evening for at least the next three months, and you will give me at least fifteen minutes. You will also have dinner with me once a month for the next year, at a restaurant of your choosing. Just the two of us. Do you agree to these things?”
He was being so formal, it felt as if he was keeping me at arm’s length. I wanted to accept but I wasn’t sure if Dare would approve, but my wolf sent positive vibes down our new relationship bond, and I smiled and told Bran, “Yes. If we have something going on so I can’t speak to you on Monday, we’ll make alternate arrangements.”
“Do we understand the mechanics of why they can be two animals?” This from Abbott.
“Our scientists were already aware of the possibility of being snake and Lugat,” Apollonius answered, “and have researched the specific mechanism that allowed it under obviously rare circumstances. We’ve now ascertained the combination of the magic of the ceremony and the mixing of their blood gave them the feel of each other’s animal. It all worked together to create something we don’t believe to be easily repeatable. Darius is not Lugat. He didn’t have enough blood to turn him — he doesn’t have bloodlust and doesn’t have the teeth. However, he gained some of the senses of the Lugat. Since he’s living with someone who smells Lugat, it’s believed people who didn’t know how he smelled before will think they smell it on him because Hailey is feeding from him.” He looked to us, back to the Abbott. “At times, he smells more snake than wolf. This may be harder for him to explain.”
Ghost: The Rolling Thunder Motorcycle Club, Book 8 Page 18
