When she stepped out of the thick tree trunks, she found Alfred had led her around the house. The big house stood in the distance, and the truck that brought Cameron and Gabriel stood between it and the shed. The door was cracked and swaying in the breeze. Alfred’s scent was focused there, so Marie turned to the shed.
She didn’t see him immediately. She expected to see Alfred in his wolf form, doing his best to avoid human contact. Marie jumped when the door snapped shut behind her. Alfred pushed her, and her head bounced against the wall. The room swam. “Let me go!” she hissed.
His grip tightened in her hair. “You know why we’re here! You’re not supposed to be slumming it around like you usually do.”
Her face flushed with anger and embarrassment. He’d never shown shame about her love life, and had actively encouraged it in some instances. She’d always given him support when he questioned his sexuality. She took a deep breath and reminded herself that this anger probably stemmed from the information Cameron gave them. “Alfred, it’s not going to happen. Cameron Ross won’t be my mate.”
Alfred growled, but didn’t release her. He pulled her to the workbench, where a laptop was propped open. Marie only had a brief moment to wonder where he’d gotten the computer.
“Look!” he ordered.
Marie tried to read the words on the screen, but Alfred held her too tightly and too high. She stood on her tiptoes. She knew he could be a loose cannon, but he’d never turned against her. “Let me down!” she whined.
Alfred looked at her, and she thought she saw a spark of guilt in his eyes. He shoved her to her knees and pushed her face close to the screen before taking his hands from her hair.
“It’s an email between Cameron and his supposed mate. They’re plotting to get the Nephilim involved,” Alfred said between clenched teeth as Marie scanned the email.
Those weren’t the exact words, but she understood how Alfie would get that impression. Cameron told his mate his fears, many of which he was going to tell the du Lac siblings. He suspected Claude and his offshoot pack were collaborating with werewolf hunters in case his plan with the siblings fell through, but he only had suspicions. Tiana suggested, grudgingly it appeared, to involve the Nephilim and to come home quickly. Marie read quickly, until Alfred snapped the screen closed.
“You see? The Ross pack is just trying to use us to start a war. No one brings in the godlings without wanting to start a fight. We have to tell Claude.”
Marie felt a chill settled in her bones. Alfie was going to get himself and others killed if he kept on like this. She didn’t want more death in her life. He was the last of her family, and she couldn’t sentence him to death.
“Where did you even get this?” she asked, trying to distract him. Maybe if she could work through his thought process, she could get him to calm down.
“The truck. The idiot left all his things there, and didn’t bother locking up. We have to go, Marie. We can take the truck and be well on our way home by the time they get someone out here to pick them up.” The wild glint in his eyes showed no signs of dissipating.
Marie nodded, afraid of what he’d do if she disagreed.
Alfred led her outside. Marie thought of running to the house and warning the others of Alfred’s plan. He was faster than her in a straight sprint, and there was no guarantee she’d be seen from a window before he caught her.
He eased open the driver side door, and urged her up and across the bench seat. The laptop went in after her. Marie thought the plan would fall through once Alfred realized he didn’t have any keys. He was still naked from his wolf run, so Marie knew he couldn’t have lifted and hidden the set inside the house.
Her hopes were dashed when Alfie took his seat and set a drill and screwdriver next to him. She remembered his summers of running with the local werecat population, and knew he’d picked up bad habits from those alley cats. He grinned at her and fired up the drill, driving it into the keyhole. He paused, then let the drill run again. When satisfied, he replaced the drill with a screwdriver, and turned the car over like he would with keys. The truck roared to life just as Cameron, Gabriel, and Isaac rushed outside. Alfred slammed his foot on the gas, and peeled the truck around and away from the pack house.
Chapter Six
The small community was eerily quiet when they arrived. The only faces that poked out of dark, curtained covered windows belonged to the men Claude brought with him. Marie shivered, and wondered where were the familiar faces of her pack.
Alfred pulled up to house they had shared with their parents. It looked like a shack compared to the pack house they just spent a week inhabiting. The siding was discolored from moisture and sticking leaves. The roof sagged. The door wasn’t hung properly, she saw when Claude exited. She felt a little disgusted at how welcome he had made himself in her childhood home.
Another man stepped heavily behind Claude, and she recoiled when she caught a whiff of him. Every instinct in her told her to run, that the man was dangerous. He smelled of hate and insanity, smokey fire and an oily, dirty smell.
“This them?” he slurred.
Claude nodded. He kept a wary eye on the man. “Come inside, children. Alfred, get some clothes on like a civilized man. Then we’ll talk.”
Alfred poked Marie in the back to make her move. The man eyed her up and down as she passed. Her skin crawled and she desperately wanted a shower. Marie wanted to bite into Claude. Her brother was a wolf, not just a man.
The man, however, was just a man. She didn’t feel any tingle of familiarity from him that indicated he was a shapeshifter. He didn’t smell like anything from the otherworld. He smelled strongly of sweat, blood, and booze.
She wondered if he was the reason why Cameron suspected Claude was talking to hunters. She couldn’t imagine why he would stoop so low. He had to know that outcome would be painful. Hunters didn’t see any difference between allied shifters and enemy shifters. In their eyes, all shifters needed to die. She regretted not trying harder to break loose of Alfred.
Claude sat her on a folding chair while they waited for Alfred to return clothed. She folded her hands in her lap and refused to look at either man seated across from her.
“Marie, I have to say, I’m very disappointed. You should be at your new mate’s side,” Claude said.
When she didn’t acknowledge him, he continued, “I know Ross was here. He was asking questions that I’m sure you could have answered. I just don’t understand where your parents went wrong with you. A match made, and you just spat in everyone’s eyes.”
The rib on her parents was too much, and Marie couldn’t hold her tongue. “A match that know one knew about. They looked at us like we were making us a crazy story when we went there. And how did my parents die, Claude? Were you the one that caused the rockslide?”
Claude stood, and squeezed her cheeks in his hands. “Listen, girl. I know your grief has damaged you, but there’s no reason to suggest I had anything to do with that tragic accident.”
“That’s what I was trying to tell her on the way over. She’s been manipulated by them, just like you said could happen,” Alfred said as he rejoined the group. He took the remaining seat staged between her and Claude, and Marie saw it as his fate still undecided.
“You are a generous big brother, Alfred,” Claude said in an even tone. “Now, tell me what happened. Don’t think of this as tattling on your sister. Think of it as helping your pack.”
“She couldn’t catch the Ross man’s eye, but she was fine spreading her legs for one of his security.” Alfred’s crazed look had only grown wilder.
“How many did you see?”
“Four. They kept us at the pack house, and brought in supplies. We were taken directly to Ross when we arrived, so I didn’t get to count how many were at the office. I brought his laptop with us.”
Claude’s lips pulled back in a snarling smile. “Wonderful, Alfie!”
“Don’t do this, Alfred.” Marie pleaded.
�
��Ross and his bitch discussed sending the Nephilim after you. But I think we can catch them all together before that happens. They’re having a big meet up at the pack house. If we time it right, we can catch them off guard.”
Marie hung her head. She had hoped Alfred hadn’t heard that bit of the conversation. Though, she supposed, the information could have just as easily been in Cameron’s emails. She remembered the closed windows, and only seeing Claude’s people. Her heart stilled. “Where is everyone else?” she asked. “What have you done to the rest of the pack, Claude?”
“Marie, I have to say, I’m very disappointed,” Claude said again. He sat back and steepled his fingers. He considered for a moment, but Marie felt the judgment coming. “You had protection before, but now you’re just a traitor. Traitors aren’t pack and don’t get to demand anything.”
“Traitors come to me, honey.” The strange man grinned at her. He approached with rope in his hands, and forced her arms painfully behind her to bind her hands together. Dank breath made her want to heave.
“Alfred, you can’t let them do this. I’m your sister!” she pleaded, trying to ignore Claude and his man. “Alfred, find the others!”
She saw something of her Alfred claw his way to the top, until Claude looked his way. Alfred steeled himself under Claude’s direction. “You were supposed to bring prosperity to the pack, and you failed. Traitors deserve what traitors get.”
“You’re insane.” Marie winced at the backhanded slap she received.
“Alfred, ready the others. We have a wolf pack to hunt.”
Claude stood, and nodded to his man. He forced Marie to stand, and pushed her toward the door to the basement.
“Alfred!” Marie screamed. She struggled in her bonds, but the man held her tight. Alfred looked back once before exiting the house. A sharp jab in her neck made her rear back. The man cursed and brought his hand down roughly above her temple. Marie saw a syringe on the ground when she crumpled and the world went dark.
***
When the sound of trucks faded, Marie sat up. Her hands were still tied, and her captor was drinking himself closer to death in the living room. The TV was turned up loud.
The idiot actually thought he could knock her out with a single blow? She was still dizzy from Alfred, but that had been a werewolf slamming her into a door. She pulled at the ropes around her wrist, and found them surprisingly well knotted. The more she pulled, the tighter the ropes grew. Her wrists burned, and her fingertips tingled. She searched around the small room for something to use.
An empty bucket had been left, though how she was supposed to use it with her hands tied and clothes still on eluded her. She looked down at her clothes and sighed. She really liked the top.
She summoned her wolf from the back of her mind. The creature growled at the captivity she’d been tricked into. They were meant for open spaces, not crowded basement prisons. Marie prepared herself to let the wolf take over, and nothing happened.
She opened her eyes and took a deep breath. Maybe the stress had harmed her ability. She closed her eyes again and cleared the way for her wolf to take over.
Nothing.
Panic thickened in her throat. She’d been able to shift for years. It was her second nature. Her wolf crashed at her mind, as desperate to get out as Marie was to let her out. No matter how much they willed it, Marie stayed in her human form. She felt hot tears come to her eyes.
Creaking floorboards quieted her terror. The man upstairs was pacing, judging by the sounds of his steps. She looked around the basement again with careful eyes. Her mother’s gardening tools were left in a corner, untouched from the last time her mother put them away. Claude and his goon hadn’t been exactly thorough when they decided to use this as her jail cell.
Marie awkwardly sat in front of the upright shovels and hoes. She picked on out that looked the sharpest, and easiest to reach. Not wanting to alert the man upstairs, she hooked a foot around the tool she wanted and dragged it away from the rest. She scoot around to the other side, and rocked the handle forward. It clattered against her when it fell, but the rest of the tools stayed upright and quiet.
Proud of herself, she moved to sit near the sharp edge of the hoe. She placed her bound hands against the metal, and started sawing away. Her back and arms screamed in agony before long, but the rope was coming apart.
Marie hissed when the final strands broke apart. Her arms sagged to her sides. She rolled her head and shoulders to try easing the stiffness in her muscles. Luckily, she found, even if she couldn’t shift into her wolf she still had increased healing. Her muscles were feeling better after a few minutes of rest.
She listened for the man’s steps to carry him the furthest away in his pacing before she eased up the stairs. She didn’t think he’d be able to hear her, and she knew which creaky steps to avoid, but she didn’t want to chance it. The idea of a lengthy imprisonment with that sort of man made her stomach turn.
She cracked opened the basement door and waited. When the man rounded the corner and passed the door, she struck. The door slammed into his back and he stumbled forward. She kneed him in his lower back and rode him to the ground. She might not be able to change her shape, but she kept her strength.
“What did you do to me?” she demanded.
The man turned his head and spat.
Marie wrenched his head back by his sparse hair and slammed him face-first into the floor. “What did you do to me,” she demanded again.
“Fucking bitch.” He turned his head and spat blood this time.
Marie raised his head again, and the coward winced. He wasn’t such a big man without his guns and tied up girls.
“It’s a new compound making the rounds. Jab that into one of you freaks, and you can’t change into a monster. It’s just a temporary cure, though.”
“Cure?” she growled. “Cure? I feel my wolf clawing at my insides, desperate to rip out your throat. This doesn’t make the wolf go away. It only makes it angry.”
“Yeah, but at least you can’t change. It makes you easier to handle. Claude will have an easy time cleaning up you scum with darts loaded with the stuff. The real fun begins when we take you off his hands.” The man tried to sneer through his broken and swollen face.
“I wonder what would happen if I bit you still in this form. It’d be fitting for you to turn wolf and have your people keep your beast locked inside yourself. I bet you’d go mad in weeks.” Marie hated to admit how much she liked toying with the man. She caught sight of his buffet of weaponry on the kitchen table. A bow was laid next to a fierce looking knife, and a rifle was ready for reloading at the top. More rope completed the offerings. Marie reached for the length, and roughly hogtied the man’s legs and hands together.
“Stay, like a good dog. Or you may just get bit.” She chomped her teeth together near his ear. She pat the man down, and pulled a set of keys from his pocket. Standing, she asked, “Did everyone leave with Claude?”
“Fucking werewolf. Like I’d tell you,” the man squeaked between broken breaths.
Marie slammed her foot into his ribs. “Is anyone left?” she asked again.
“They all went with Claude.”
Marie tucked the knife into her belt, and slung the bow across her back. She felt a bit like Rambo, even though she just wanted to deprive the man of any weapons. She hefted the rifle in her hands, and opened the front door.
The small community looked like a ghost town. She could see the homes, but not lights were on in the windows. Most of the vehicles were gone, with the exception of the ones on permanent, cement block display. Alfred must have taken the stolen truck, since it wasn’t anywhere in sight. She clicked the button on the man’s keys, and followed the alarm to his truck.
Stashing the weapons on the seat next to her, Marie started down the mountain and back to Isaac and the Cutthroat City Wolves.
Chapter Seven
The rumbling sound of an army coming down the driveway was the signal to Cameron t
hat he had prepared correctly. Once the du Lac siblings had stolen his truck, he’d called the pack together days earlier than anticipated. What was to be an enjoyable weekend might turn out to be a fight for control.
He stepped out of the pack house with Gabriel and Isaac at his side. Every pack member had come, even his heavily pregnant mate. She clipped his throat with her teeth when he tried to send her back to their home, insisting what happened to him happened to her. She at least agreed to stay inside during the confrontation.
All the vehicles were parked on nearby Inferno Wolves land. The other pack leader had offered his assistance, but Cameron turned him down. He needed to solve the problem of Claude without outside help.
“You have no business here, Claude,” Cameron said casually as Claude’s people unloaded from their vehicles. He hooked his thumbs in his pockets and let a wave of alpha power wash through his ranks. The rest of the pack shifted behind him, gaining confidence from his own show. He was thankful for Tiana’s guidance in marshaling his pack.
“You had no business dismissing me like you did. Now, you’ve gone back on your word with the du Lac girl. You’re no pack leader.” Claude’s voice was thick with hatred.
“Let me be clear,” Cameron raised his voice for everyone at Claude’s back to hear. “There was no prior agreement. Claude has lied to all of you.”
“Don’t you spread your lies, angel-lover! You were planning to have the godlings wipe us out!” Alfred spat.
Isaac shifted nearby and cracked his knuckles. Cameron held out a hand to calm the man. “I don’t see Marie with them,” Isaac said quietly enough so his voice wouldn’t carry.
Cameron gave one nod of his head. He’d noticed her missing from the group as well. He hoped nothing bad had happened to the girl, but there was nothing he could do about it at the moment. He needed to diffuse the army on his doorstep.
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