by Tisha Wilson
* * *
Braden blasted the animal just after it bit the innocent. He cursed viciously. It was not like them to attack a moving vehicle. He supposed they hadn’t intended to. They had been coming to him and the innocents got in their way. He watched as the woman and the animal fell to the ground beside the vehicle. The animal was flaming from the silver plated bullets that had passed through its head.
He looked at the small woman lying next to a pastel pink wheel chair. She was so tiny that if it weren’t for the lines around her eyes and mouth she would appear no more than a child. Something stirred inside of him without provocation. He touched his chest and looked at it. His heart was beating fast. He couldn’t recall the last time something had caused his heart to speed so. He shrugged. It didn’t matter. She would turn now that she had been bitten. He would shoot her.
He took aim and waited. When nothing happened he kicked her leg with his boot. Her legs were so small and puny. The wheel chair had to be hers. She was probably paralyzed. That wouldn’t matter in a moment. When she turned into a wolf, her legs would work again. He kept the gun trained on her as he moved up to her arm. His senses were still tuned to the woods, listening for any other sounds to indicate more creatures approaching. He kicked her arm and her eyes fluttered for a moment. He watched her as her eyes finally opened.
She grabbed her bleeding arm and clutched it to her chest as tears flooded her big midnight blue eyes. “Please. Please don’t hurt me.”
He felt the unfamiliar flutter in his heart again. This wasn’t right. She should be turning already. The disease invaded the blood stream quickly and completely. A thought came to him but he pushed it aside. He quickly put his gun away and knelt to her side.
“The creature bite you?” he asked. He had thought he’d seen it bite her, but perhaps he was mistaken.
She wailed as she looked around them. “Where is my sister?” she cried as she sat up holding her arm.
“They took her off before I could get to her.”
“What! You have to do something, call someone! Those dog things will bite her! I don’t hear her screaming. What if they…. What if they…” She began hyperventilating. He reached out and grabbed the back of her neck to push her head between her knees. What he ended up doing, however, was pushing her face in the dirt. She cried even harder as she fell to her side and he took his hands from her.
She lay there crying and blubbering in a way he hadn’t heard in some years. He didn’t know what to do. Usually by now he had either determined that the bitten innocent was going to turn and had shot them, or they turned out to be only injured and not bitten, at which point Braden would leave them to go after the remaining creatures. This was something new.
“Listen… You must stop your blubbering,” he said as gently as he could.
“Then why don’t you do something! Open up my chair and put me in it and call the police! My arm is broken and I have to find my sister,” she shouted hysterically through her tears.
She was really beginning to bother him with all her incessant crying. He eyed the folded up chair and approached it. He drug it over closer to her without even attempting to open it. He had never had cause to operate them though he had seen a few innocents with them. He was fairly certain they hadn’t had them when he was still human, and if they had he wouldn’t recall it any way.
She took initiative then and grabbed the chair. Despite her continuing to wail like a hurt animal, she opened the chair and pulled herself up with her one good arm. He made to help her but she snapped him a sharp look through her tear streaked face.
“If you want to help me then pull out your cell phone and call the police, or if you don’t have a phone climb up in the van, get my phone, and I’ll call them,” she yelled before she continued crying out loud.
“Katie!” she called out to the tree line again.
Hadn’t he just told her that she was gone?
He pulled the phone from his pocket and strode off a distance from her so that he couldn’t hear her wails and desperate pleas any longer. He hit the speed dial for Bateman’s line. A female answered.
“Where is Bateman?” he asked gruffly.
“He is out of the country,” the woman replied in a clipped efficient tone that told him it was probably someone at the compound that had answered Bateman’s line.
“Listen. There is something weird going on here. I have an innocent who…” he stopped as he looked over at the woman who was weeping openly into her hands. “I just need him to come right away. I’m not sure exactly what is going on here. I also need a cleanup team.”
“We will have someone out within the hour. Please be out of the area for their safety,” she said before she hung up.
He would have to wait for Bateman’s call but in the meantime… He had to go with what he knew for a certainty. She had been bitten and hadn’t turned so that only left one alternative. He strode back to the woman and went around behind her chair. He picked up the chair and dumped her out unceremoniously.
*
Miranda fell to the cold wet ground with a thud and it took her a moment to realize what happened. She flipped over to her back and glared up at him as pain shot through her arm.
“What is your problem?! You think it’s funny to abuse a cripple?” she screamed up at him as tears continued to fall from her eyes.
She pulled her arm closer to her body just barely holding herself together. The pain was hot and searing and she wanted to pass out again, but she needed to stay awake for Katie. She used her sleeve to quickly wipe the run off from her nose. Her beautiful suit was already ruined, why not.
“You were bitten,” he said in that deep monosyllabic way that was beginning to work her nerves. It was creepy to have this mountain of a man looming over her and she wanted to run and scream. She couldn’t do that so she would use her words instead.
“Thank you Captain Obvious. What in the world has that got to do with you shoving a handicap woman out of her wheel chair?”
He continued to stand over her, his fists balled as if he expected her to jump up and begin fighting him or something. She would have told him to be at ease, she couldn’t attack him if she wanted to, but he seemed to be having some sort of internal debate. She waited to hear what reason he could possibly have for pushing her out of her chair after having brought it over to her in the first place. When he continued on with his creepy silence she screamed at him again.
“Well?!”
He knelt down to get in her face so swiftly it nearly stole her breath away. His crystal blue eyes were icy and cold. He looked like a Viking with his strong features and blond hair. His broad shoulders and powerful build further added to that impression. He could probably do curls with her on one of those massive arms of his. It was intimidating and impressive at the same time.
“Listen to me well,” he began. “There are things in this world that you have never had to encounter in your sheltered little life. Things that stalk the night, and when one of those things bites you one of two things happen. You become one of them, or you become one of me. The chances of you becoming one of me are one in eight billion and if you were turning in to one of me I would be ready to rip your head off. Outside of annoyance with your silly wailing I have no other feeling towards you what so ever.”
She blinked up at him and shook her head. Where had this guy come from? Had he stepped out of the past to ruin her sanity? Was she dreaming? Was she stuck inside the van, hanging upside down, waiting for someone to come and save her? This man who had appeared to be a savior just a few minutes ago was suddenly seeming more like a lunatic.
“I just want my sister back,” she croaked.
“Your sister is dead,” he replied without any emotion in his voice.
Miranda wailed out loud as she turned to begin pulling herself towards the woods. This man was not here to help her. Katie was not dead. She was out there and she would come racing back soon with her commando knife clenched between her teeth and a b
ear head for a hat. No one knew out doors and hunting better than her sister. Miranda’s progress towards the trees was stopped as the man put a booted foot in the center of her back. She cried out to feel the weight of his boot pushing her down into the mud. Her ruined arm was pinned beneath her and it felt like someone was stabbing her hard.
What could she do against him? He was bigger and certainly stronger than her. Most people respected her status as a handicapped person and never did things like this to her. Her only defense was to cry out. She laid her face in the mud and cried gut wrenching sobs. She wanted her sister here with her.
“Katie,” she wailed. Katie would kick this guys ass!
“Fight me,” the man growled at her.
“What?” she squeaked.
“Stop acting so weak and fight me. Curse me. Do something. Don’t you have any sense of self preservation?” he asked and she heard anger in his voice.
“I… I don’t know how,” she said as she did her best to stifle her sobs. She was loosing it a bit, but she couldn’t help it. She wanted to wake up from this nightmare right away. “My sister…”
“Fight for her then,” he replied.
She shook her head. Her sister was the one to do the fighting. Her sister was the one that could do the get down in the mud and fight thing, not her. “I don’t know how. Please… don’t hurt me any more,” she cried.
*
Braden lifted his boot off the tiny woman. He was perplexed. She was bitten but… she wasn’t turning. If she was becoming a hunter, he would have the urge to rip her little blond head off her delicate shoulders. Hunters could only be in close proximity to each other so long before it turned into a death match. He felt no anger. He felt no animosity. He felt nothing.
Well… there was this strange twinge that kept eating at his insides. It was a foreign sensation to him. How did one make this feeling go away? He thought about it for a moment before he went back to retrieve her chair. He reached down and picked her up, setting her down in the chair again. She was now covered in mud and the feeling persisted. She was shivering and tears left tracks in her dirty face. He had done something wrong. What did people do when they did something wrong?
“I’m… sorry. I just had to make sure,” he explained at last.
She sniffled a few times as she looked at him with injured eyes that were still swimming in tears. “Whatever. Did you call the police?” she asked watching him warily.
He nodded before he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and held it out to her. It was a paltry offering in the face of the amount of mud covering her. She looked at it like it was an unfamiliar object before she snatched it away from him and wiped her face. They stood there looking at each other for a moment. She was small for a grown woman. He had seen small women before but… and she was so lite. To pick her up in his arms had been like lifting air.
He clenched his jaw. She had to be the tiniest woman he had come across. The women in his country where usually tall and full of curves. Supermodels came from the women of his country. Women that could be gorgeous and still get out there and chop wood with the best of them. This teacup sized woman seemed entirely too fragile to be real.
*
Miranda looked up at him. She looked up and up and up at him. Even had she not been sitting in the chair he would have been tall, intimidating, and so damn handsome she could nearly drool. If her nerves weren’t so frayed she could have possibly been doing that very thing at this moment.
He had long blond hair tied back in a ponytail and his crystal blue eyes were clear and sharp. They were dazzling to look at, yet… his clothes looked so grungy. He wore a white and gray fur coat like a trapper might and his boots were of the quality that miners might wear. Where had he come from that they dressed like that?
He looked like he had grown out of the side of the mountain, or perhaps walked out of the pages of a history book on Vikings. Was he prepared for a blizzard or what? These were questions that she might ask if she planned on spending any time with him beyond waiting for an ambulance, but she did not. It was a shame to waste such extreme hotness on such an extreme asshole. Her main concern was not his attitude though. Her main concern was Katie and where she had gone to.
*
Nearly an hour later after she had had several near meltdowns, attempting futilely to run from him into the woods after her sister three more times, a few cars pulled up and began to set up tape in the area. The little woman looked visibly relieved to see them. He shook his head. What it would be like to be that innocent again, he would never know.
A few men approached shot guns in hand. Saul Munoz stepped forward with a smile and extended a hand. Braden did not return the smile but gripped his friends hand and gave it a good squeeze. Saul was okay, for a human. They had met officially at the most recent hunter training and hit it off instantly, one warrior recognizing another. Braden grabbed the shirt of a nearby agent and whispered something in his ear. The man scurried off quickly to obey his command.
“I thought you were told to clear the area,” Saul said brusquely. He was feisty… for a human.
“I don’t need you to tell me my job human… The woman needs medical attention.”
Saul looked to the woman in the chair who was holding her bloody arm cradled to her chest. “An innocent? Why didn’t you just leave her here?” he asked in an irritated voice.
Braden gave him a deadly stare. Saul took a step away. “Okay…”
“Where the hell is Bateman?” Braden asked.
“He had an important mission overseas. I’m not sure when he’ll be back.”
“Well you are going to have to take her back to the compound with you then.”
“Excuse me. Is someone going to go out and find my sister?” the woman asked as she looked around at the men with guns. Saul turned a genial inviting smile on the woman and began to approach. Braden grabbed his arm. He stopped and looked at the restraining hand. He then turned a megawatt smile on the tiny woman.
“We have men out searching for her already ma’am. I will be with you in just a moment. The ambulance should be here shortly. If you will wait but one more moment, I am going to talk with this gentleman here,” Saul said before Braden drug him back again.
“What! You called us in for a cleanup,” Saul hissed in a whisper. “I’ll give her the shot to wipe her memory and we’ll plant another story with the local police. All you had to do was-”
“She has been bitten,” Braden interrupted.
“Bitten?” Saul said a little louder than he should.
Every agent there cocked their guns and pointed them at Miranda. She put up her good hand and made a frightened whimpering noise in her throat. Braden strode over to stand in front of her and faced the men.
“Stand down,” he growled. They complied almost immediately. Saul came to stand before him.
“She is going to go through the change and you think I can take her back to our compound. Not even Bateman would do something that stupid. She would rip the place apart.”
“Well I can’t keep her. Once she turns we are going to rip each other apart.” Braden didn’t know why but as soon as he said those words a shock of excitement went straight through him.
“You are going to have to control yourself muchacho because I don’t grow back limbs after a hunter has ripped it off. She cannot come with us.”
“What about that new mentor… that Stone woman?”
“She is on another assignment for a time to be undetermined as well.”
“What is the point of having Mentors if they are not around when you need them?”
“Ahh… Hello. What is going on? Who is going through what change and what is a mentor?” They both turned to see the wheel chair bound woman looking up at them with round deep blue eyes. Saul knelt before her and took her un-injured hand.
“I am sorry, mija. Your whole life is about to change.” He stood up and faced Braden. “Get her out of here before she harms anyone.”
; Braden sighed heavily. He bent down and hoisted the woman out of her chair and over his shoulder. He turned and began to walk away from the crash site as she cried and beat at his back with her good arm.
“No! I have to see my sister! I can’t leave my chair! What about my van! Where are you taking me! I don’t want to go with you. Help! Help! I want my sister, I want my sister, I want my sister…” The mantra went on and on but he ignored her. She stopped for a moment to sob a little more before she pleaded again.
“You can’t do this. I need to see a doctor. My arm hurts, and you can’t leave my chair,” she murmured in a wounded whisper. She was shaking like a leaf now. He stopped as the unfamiliar sensation came into his chest again.
Reluctantly he turned and strode back across the distance quickly. He snatched the chair up with a growl. He sent a look to Saul that dared him to say anything. The bronzed man threw his strong hands up in the air and backed away slowly.
“You are going to have to learn to stop wailing like a wounded creature to get your way! I won’t put up with it,” he commanded her before he strode off once again through the woods.
He got to his truck and dumped her in on the driver’s side, following her up, pushing her across the couch seat and snapping her into her seatbelt. She finally pummeled his face and arms and he was glad for it. He could handle a fight. It was the wailing and hopeless despair that he couldn’t take.
Chapter Two
Miranda clung to the door handle as they bounced over uneven earth in a truck that had wheels four times her size. He sat calmly and drove as if they were on a normal paved road instead of speeding up the side of a mountain. They had been on a smooth road for about three hours before he turned off suddenly onto this unpaved road. If this could be called a road. She could do little but hold on with her uninjured arm. She wasn’t sure of much at the moment, except that this man was with those other men that had shown up claiming to look for her sister, and none of them were policeman.
