by Tara Shuler
“I will meet Logan outside,” Alexi said to me. “You stay here until I know for sure what is happening.”
He kissed my cheek and then flew down the stairs. Jamie glanced at me, and I nodded. Ready or not, it was time to get weapons loaded with her Wolf’s Bane potion.
We rushed to Jamie’s bathroom where she had stored the potion and antidote. She’d already portioned the antidote into individual syringes so we could deliver it to members of Logan’s pack in the event that one of them accidentally got hit with the Wolf’s Bane.
I gathered a quiver and as many hollow-tipped bolts as I could find and raced back to Jamie. There, we loaded the tips each with a significant dose of the Wolf’s Bane potion. Kai used a cotton ball to wipe his sword with the potion and then dried it with Jamie’s hairdryer. Then we filled some hollow bullets with the potion for Kai to use in his handguns.
I heard Alexi calling from downstairs, and I called to him, beckoning him upstairs. He found me by following my voice, and he was surprised to see us loading the ammunition with the potion.
“Are you still planning to use the crossbow?” he asked.
I nodded and said, “What choice do I have? I may not have had enough practice, but it’s all I’ve got, and I have to try.”
“Just try not to hit one of us,” Kai said.
“I won’t fire unless I have a clean shot,” I promised.
“It is time,” Alexi said.
I filled my quiver with the bolts and slung it across my back. Kai holstered his guns and sheathed his sword, which hung by his side. Jamie had an army of antidote-filled syringes in a pack, which she attached to her waist.
“Let’s go,” I said.
Logan, in wolf form, was waiting for us outside. His ears pricked, listening carefully into the distance. He whined anxiously. I glanced at Max, and noticed he was alone.
“Where is Denise?” I whispered.
“She was afraid, and I didn’t want anything to happen to her, so she’s staying behind,” Max answered.
I nodded. The outside air was chilly, and I could see my breath in white clouds. I shivered, but the anxiety of the impending battle soon warmed me. Either that, or I simply no longer noticed the cold.
As soon as everyone had entered the yard, Alexi nodded to Logan, who took off like a shot, sprinting across the yard toward the forest. We followed him, the crowd surging forward. When we reached the wall, we noticed Logan had already dug a gaping hole underneath it, and we followed him, crawling on our bellies to make it through.
Through the woods we raced, jumping over fallen logs and ducking to avoid errant branches. Logan was blazingly fast, and even the vampires struggled to keep up. Jamie was getting left far in the distance, and I slowed to allow her time to catch up.
She stopped for a moment, her hands resting on her knees as she doubled over, trying desperately to catch her breath. Will had also slowed down, and he jogged back over to us.
“Do you want to go back?” Will asked her, putting his hand on her back.
She shook her head emphatically and said, “No! You… all… need me!”
“Jamie, if you need to go back, it’s fine,” I said. “No one will judge you.”
“No!” she shouted. “Just… need a minute.”
She took several deep gulps of breath and then nodded, and we took off at a brisk jog, slowing down occasionally to let her catch her breath. I could tell she was in a lot of discomfort, but she gritted her teeth and kept right on going, no matter how poorly she felt.
By the time we caught up with them, a circle had formed in a clearing. I nudged my way to the front so I could see what was happening, and Logan in wolf form, along with another wolf I assumed to be Carson, were pacing slowly in circles as though sizing each other up, baring their teeth and growling viciously.
Alexi stood beside me, his hand instinctively shooting out in front of me as though protecting me from whatever might happen. Carson snarled again, and Alexi twitched. The whole crowd was on edge.
It was Carson who acted first. The moment I saw him move, I was ready to spring into action. My body lurched involuntarily, but he only shifted. Logan quickly followed, and I diverted my eyes away from the to nude males.
“What is this?” Carson demanded, waving his hand toward our group. “Are you too weak to stand up to me without involving bloodsuckers?”
“I tried to reason with you, Carson,” Logan said. “But you refused to listen. You insisted it had to mean war. You wouldn’t stand for a peaceful resolution!”
“There can be no peaceful resolution!” Carson snarled. “The Thicket must belong to your pack, or to mine. And my pack can rightfully beat yours in a fair fight, thus giving us the right to claim it!”
“The Thicket is not my pack’s to lose,” Logan said. “You think we own this territory, but we are only using it.”
“No… you lie!” Carson shouted.
“It is true,” Alexi interrupted. “This land belongs to the Council. My father has allowed Logan and his pack to exist here peacefully for years. It it not theirs to lose.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this before?” Carson shouted. “It could have saved us all the trouble!”
“Come on, Carson,” Logan spat. “You don’t expect me to believe your sudden change of heart is over something like this, do you? You just didn’t expect me to bring help to even up the fight. You thought you’d outnumber us and run us off like criminals!”
“I certainly didn’t expect you to take the coward’s way out, no,” Carson said. “But now that you have, I can see it won’t be a fair fight.”
“Like it would have been a fair fight with your pack of twenty against my pack of eleven?” Logan asked.
“Twenty-one,” Carson corrected Logan. “But fair is fair. This is pack vs. Pack, regardless of the numbers.”
“Whatever,” Logan said. “Either tuck your tail between your legs and run, or shut up and fight!”
As I looked back toward them, Logan quickly shifted, jumping over a foot into the air an landing deftly on his feet with a defiant growl that reverberated through the clearing. His entire body twitched as he stood with hair on end, awaiting Carson’s response.
Carson stood there for several minutes, clearly contemplating his options. But then he looked at Alexi and apparently remembered their feud over Hillary, such as it was, and he bared his human teeth and then quickly shifted. He jumped directly over Logan’s head an dashed toward Alexi, fangs bared.
In a flash, I pulled a crossbow bolt from my quiver and loaded it. I aimed as the hulking wolf approached Alexi, and just as he jumped into the air, sailing toward my husband, I fired.
Someone screamed, and my heart began to thrum erratically. It was as if time slowed down, but I knew it couldn’t be me making it happen. I heard a shrill whine, and Carson flew sideways, landing on his side and sliding through the thick carpet of leaves on the ground, slamming against a tree with a thud.
The giant wolf whined pitifully and tried to stand on shaking legs. His face had already begun to swell, and he made some sort of sickening gurgle. I could hear him gasping for air. My bolt had pierced his neck, and the Wolf’s Bane potion was coursing through his veins.
Alexi and I approached the wolf, and I noticed his pack were already backing away at the sight of what had happened to their Alpha. We stood over him as he whimpered, his breathing becoming ever more labored as the seconds ticked by.
“Jamie!” Alexi called, snapping his fingers.
Jamie quickly appeared by his side, and Alexi held out his hand. She understood what he wanted. She unzipped her pack and reached inside, handing him a syringe.
Alexi kneeled beside Carson and held the syringe in front of his face. “We are not like you,” Alexi told him. “I do not wish to see you suffer or die. So I am going to give you the antidote. But in return, you must leave The Thicket and never return. Is that clear?”
The Carson wolf wheezed and his eyes watered and bulged. He blin
ked several times as his eyelids began to swell shut. Finally, he nodded his understanding.
Alexi plunged the syringe into Carson’s shoulder and administered the dose. Carson whimpered at the pain of the injection, and continued struggling for breath. His eyes glazed over, and his tongue hung limply from his partially open mouth. His head flopped to his paws. Only the shallow rise and fall of his ribcage gave us any indication that he was still clinging to life.
Finally Carson gasped. He lifted his head and released a long, eerie howl. His entire pack raised their muzzles to the sky and howled in return. Carson struggled to his feet and stared at Alexi as he struggled to regain his breath. He bowed low to the ground, and then turned to follow his fleeing pack into the forest.
Logan shifted and I quickly turned away. He approached Alexi and extended his hand, which Alexi shook.
“Thank you, my friend,” Logan said. “Without you, we would not have survived this battle.”
“It was our pleasure,” said Alexi. “What are old friends for?”
“And I must thank your lovely wife,” Logan said.
I saw his hand out of the corner of my eye and I reached back over my shoulder and took it, shaking it anxiously, afraid to turn and face him.
“Turn around,” Logan said.
Slowly, carefully, I turned. He was wearing black sweatpants.
“How do you do that so quickly?” I demanded, shaking my head and grinning.
“Ancient wolf secret,” he kidded, grinning back. “Alexi, if you need us, we will be at your service. Anytime, night or day. Just call, and we will be there.”
“Same to you, old friend,” Alexi said. “The Council is always at the ready when you are in need.”
With that, we turned to head back to the compound, hoping to get a little rest before the morning sun.
Chapter Fourteen
There was little sleep to be had for me. Sometime during the wee hours of the morning, just before sunrise, I began to feel a slight sickening inside my stomach. A wave of what I thought might be nausea overtook me, and just as I stood to dash to the bathroom, I realized it was not nausea, but the return of the crystal’s resonance within me.
I could feel the crystal calling to me, but I resisted. It had already stolen my abilities from me. What else could it take? My very life? I wasn’t sure if I could trust it. I decided to wake Alexi.
I crawled beside him on the bed and gently shook his shoulder, whispering, “Alexi? Alexi, wake up.”
He mumbled something and stirred slightly, then he blinked several times and peered up at me. “What is it, darling?” he asked.
“It’s the crystal,” I told him. “I can feel it again, and I don’t know what to do.”
“What do you think you should do?” he asked me.
Alexi rubbed his eyes and sat up. His white hair fell in a long cascade over his bare chest, and I couldn’t help but take a moment to admire the man I’d married. Not only was this man a strong protector, intensely loyal, and incredibly kind to me, but I was ridiculously attracted to him as well.
“You’re beautiful,” I blurted out.
He smiled a genuine smile and leaned forward, pressing his lips softly against mine. He hand cupped my cheek, and his thumb traced the curve of my chin. I shivered at his touch, tiny bumps of pleasure erupting all across my skin.
Something jerked inside me. I groaned and my body lurched forward. I wrapped my arms around my midsection and nearly doubled over. Alexi shot to attention, his violet eyes scanning me anxiously.
“What is it?” he asked.
“The… crystal…” I groaned.
“What is happening?” he demanded.
“Take me… to it…” was all I could manage to say.
He hesitated for a moment. I could tell that he was as reluctant to trust the thing as I was, but I knew he trusted me. And I could feel that I needed to visit the crystal urgently. It felt like I was being ripped apart inside.
He scooped me into his arms and dashed, shirtless, downstairs and into the basement. He stopped outside the crystal room and I weakly reached over and turned the knob. It opened.
He took me inside and slowly lowered my feet to the floor. My knees were wobbly, but he kept his arm about my waist and I hobbled forward. I paused and pushed him away from me, not wanting to risk him getting too close to the crystal. He lingered for a moment to be sure I was steady, and then he stepped back.
As I approached the crystal, the magnetic effect pulled my hand toward it, and I was locked in a trance-like state the moment I touched it.
“Alice,” a voice whispered, echoing. “You must trust me.”
“Are you the crystal?” I asked.
“Yes, in a manner of speaking,” it whispered. “You must take me to your enemies.”
“Take you? But you are far too large to carry,” I said. “What should I do?”
“You must find a way,” the crystal whispered. “Take me to your enemies, and I will show you the way.”
“What do you mean? I need more!”
“Remember this. The one you see as your worst enemy is not your worst enemy. You have far greater enemies that you must be aware of.”
“Stop talking in riddles!” I shouted. “Tell me what to do!”
“Overcome your biggest enemy, and I will help you with the rest,” said the crystal. “Go, now. Find a way!”
The whispery voice seemed to swirl about me like a long, hissing breath that echoed through a tunnel. And then I lurched backward into Alexi’s waiting arms.
“What happened?” Alexi asked.
“Th crystal spoke to me,” I told him. “It said the one I see as my worst enemy is not, and I have far greater enemies. It said if I overcome my biggest enemy, it will help me with the rest. And it wants me to find a way to take it to my enemies. I’m so confused.”
“Sounds a bit like a riddle,” Alexi mused. “I guess it wants you to solve its meaning?”
“What could it mean? If Dmitri isn’t my worst enemy, who is?”
He thought for a moment and said, “You know, they say we are all our own worst enemies. Perhaps that is what the crystal meant.”
“Hmm. That’s not a bad idea, actually. Maybe you’re right. But what does that mean? I have to defeat myself?”
“Perhaps it means you must defeat some element within yourself,” he suggested.
“And how am I supposed to take that massive thing with us? There’s no way.”
“Where there is a will, there is always a way,” he said, leaning his chin on my head and squeezing my shoulders with his arm.
“The sun will up soon,” I said. “Let’s go have breakfast.”
Spirits were bright when we entered the dining hall. It seemed like nearly everyone had gathered there, and Jamie was glowing with joy as she cooked for each individual’s tastes and they praised her food.
I asked Jamie if she would make me a biscuit smothered in sausage gravy — a southern favorite that I never could get enough of, and she was happy to oblige. Alexi asked for pancakes and bacon, and then he excused himself to make a phone call.
I took a seat at the table with Liam, Will, Max, Denise and Kai. We were all talking and laughing, still high on the victory over Carson’s pack and excited about the coming of Christmas in a few weeks. Max and Denise had their own little lovey-dovey thing going. Will kept glancing through the window and watching Jamie cook. Liam was being his normal goofy self. Even Kai was full of mirth.
And then everything changed.
A few people glanced up from their food and their faces fell. Little by little, the noise began to die down, and I turned to see Alexi standing in the doorway, his face stricken even whiter than normal and clearly strained. He was clenching each side of the doorway beside him as if to steady himself.
“Are you alright?” I asked him.
“Alice,” he nearly whispered, shaking his head. “Your mother.”
“Mother? What about her?” I asked, slowly risin
g from my seat. “Is she ok?”
Alexi pushed away from the doorframe, and the door swung shut behind him. He approached me slowly, extending his arms toward me sympathetically.
“Alexi!” I demanded. “What is wrong with Mother?”
He took me in his arms and squeezed me more tightly than I ever remembered him doing, and he said, “Darling, I hate to be the one to tell you, but I have just received word from Dmitri that he has your mother.”
It didn’t sink in. I was sure I hadn’t heard him correctly, or maybe he had misunderstood something somewhere. It wasn’t possible.
“But, I figured Mother was off sailing on a yacht in Europe or lying on some beach in the Caribbean. How could Dmitri have found her?” I asked.
“I don’t know, but we will get her back,” Alexi said. “And you will never guess where he has taken her.”
“Where?”
“Verkhoyansk,” he answered.
So it was true. The dream I had, and the vision the crystal had shown me… they were real. Dmitri had my mother and now he was luring me there in hopes of capturing me. I was nothing more than a pawn in his sick little game.
“Bastard!” I shouted, slamming my fist onto the table. “I’ll kill him. I will KILL HIM!”
“Calm down,” Alexi said, holding me close. “We will get her back.”
“We have to go right now!” I said, starting toward the door.
Alexi grabbed my wrist and said, “Darling, I know you are upset, but we must prepare. We have to make flight reservations. We need to wait for the hunters to arrive. This all takes time.”
“Mother doesn’t have time!” I argued, struggling to free myself from his iron grasp.
“I do not like to restrain you,” Alexi said. “Please calm down so I can release you.”
“Let me go,” I said as calmly as I could.
“Not until you calm down,” he said. “You are not calm, despite this facade you are projecting.”
I took a deep breath and said, “I am fine. Let me go.”
He pulled me by the wrist and brought me into an embrace. I struggled against him for a moment, but soon relented. His arms always could make me feel calmer.
