by Kathy Lyons
“God, it’s good to see you guys,” Nero said, his voice choking up. He wanted to hug every one of them. He had so much he wanted to say to them, about how he’d missed them and that they were more important to him than he’d ever realized. All of those words crowded into his throat, but they didn’t have the time.
“Are you okay?” Mother asked, her gaze still trained on the shields. Cream and Coffee had come closer as well, their noses working overtime as they sniffed the things.
Focus! Nero ordered himself. Reunions could happen later. “Look, I don’t have time to explain. This is a fairy mulligan, and I’m trying to save all your lives.”
All of their heads snapped up at that, but it was Paul who asked the question. “We die? From the demon?”
Mother had a different reaction. “We don’t make fairy deals! You know that!”
“This is different. This is your lives.” And before Mother could voice her next objection, he answered Pauly’s question. “The demon has a fire blast that takes all of you out. You need to carry the shields and drop them in a defensive place. You’ll have about twenty seconds to get behind them when the blast starts building.”
“Sticky eggs?” Mother said as she pointed to Bitterroot’s addition. “How is that going to help?”
“I have no idea. But you can carry the shield in your wolf form. It’s got a harness I can strap onto you. Over the hoodies.” He picked one up and shook it out. “Just before the blast, you flatten out behind the shields and under one of these.”
Pauly shook his head. “We can’t attack wearing one of those.”
“Yes, you can.” He hoped. “We’ve run simulations.”
“Simulations!” Mother snapped. “You mean these haven’t been tested?”
Nero ground his teeth. “No! Because there wasn’t time! Now stop arguing. Coffee, you first. Pauly, you help Cream. Mother, get furry.”
Everyone moved into place, working in a coordinated fashion even with the unfamiliar equipment. That’s what happened in a good pack. When the time came for action, they all worked seamlessly even with the unpredictable. And hell, these shields were unpredictable. The hoodies were obvious enough. They worked like a wolf sweater vest with a long back to cover the tail. But the straps to attach and release the shield were confusing, and worse, Josh’s compound smelled awful.
“What are these supposed to do?” Pauly asked as he was closing the buckles across Cream’s chest.
“Channel the plasma fire that turns all of you to ash. It’s a one-time deal, so if he looks like he’s going explosive again, run away from the blast area as fast as possible.” He jerked his chin to a tall oak tree. “That’s the edge there. The van stayed whole.”
There was a pause as everyone turned to stare at him, at the tree, then at the van, and back to him. They were processing, calculating distances, and probably dealing with a massive “holy shit” factor. But to their credit, no one said a word. They just returned to work.
Mother was full wolf now, so Nero started putting on her harness. Coffee and Cream started moving around in the things, testing how easily they could run, pivot, and strike. It wasn’t easy, but they were professionals. They adjusted, and the shields wouldn’t be carried into the battle itself.
Pauly was the last to strip before going wolf, but then he paused as he looked at the remaining two shields.
“How are you going to get yours on?”
He’d… hell, he hadn’t thought about that. God, that was something they’d have figured out if they’d been able to test the things. “I don’t need it,” he said. “I survived the first time.” He didn’t explain that it had only been sheer luck that he’d managed to live. The timing had to be perfect, and since he didn’t intend for Coffee to get shot, he wasn’t sure he could be in a full energy state when the blast went off.
“Nero…,” Pauly said, obviously guessing at the problem.
“If I don’t make it, finish off the damned demon. And don’t mourn me. Believe me, my dying today might be the more pleasant of outcomes.”
All of them stilled at that. If they hadn’t understood the gravity of the situation before, they did now. But Pauly was the only one still able to talk. “Nero…,” he said, his voice choked.
“No time,” Nero barked out. “Get furry.”
Then suddenly a familiar voice sounded from right behind him. “Huh. No tinglies. Somehow I always thought transporting would be tingly.” Nero spun around as Josh shrugged and dropped his backpack on the ground. “I kind of miss the sound effects too. But this was just, bam, I’m here.” Then he grinned at Nero’s shocked face. “What, did you think I’d let you face this alone?”
“Josh,” Nero breathed, and then he bellowed. “What the fuck did you do?”
Josh’s expression softened. “Not everyone leaves when you tell them to. Some of us choose to stick around.” Then he looked around at the wolves, identifying them one by one. “Cream, Coffee, you’re both a lot prettier than in Nero’s pictures. Pauly, stop bristling. I’m here to help. And Mother, please don’t pee on me. Trust me when I say I’ve already endured the Nero initiation. I don’t need any more hazing, thank you very much.”
Nero’s gaze shifted to Mother. It did indeed look like she wanted to piss on the newcomer. They all did. “He’s….” What? His lover, his best friend? “He’s one of us. I trust him with my life. More important, I trust him with all of your lives.” And that was the best endorsement he could give for anyone.
“All right, everyone,” Josh called, “let me check your harnesses. When it’s time, they’re quick release. Tug here.”
While Nero got Pauly into his shield harness, Josh did a thorough job adjusting straps and checking… he had no idea what. Then it was time for Nero go to wolf, but he couldn’t change without saying something to Josh, though he had no idea exactly what.
And when Josh looked up to see him staring, his expression turned surprisingly stubborn, as if he was fighting as much emotion as Nero was and was also refusing to let it out. “I made my own choice,” he said. “It wasn’t a noble sacrifice or a lovesick act of desperation. I’ve found my passion, and I’m not willing to let it all be erased. No matter what happens now”—his eyes glittered sharp with unshed tears—“or between us, this is what I want.”
Nero couldn’t argue with that, especially since he was suddenly struck by the difference between the Josh he’d first met and the one who stood before him now. The Josh from before had been drifting and was a bit of a whiner. The most important thing in his life was putting on a show at a convention in the hopes that he’d get laid that evening. The man before him now vibrated with conviction. He had a strength that was impressive and a determination to walk his path as he saved not only the lives of Nero’s team, but a whole section of Wisconsin too. He was focused and stronger than he’d ever been.
“I’m so proud to know you,” Nero said. “And I’m so grateful for everything, Josh. If it ends today—”
“Shut up. It doesn’t. Get furry so we can get on with it.” Then he took a breath. “Wait! I need a gun first.”
“What? Why?”
“Trust me on this, okay? Do you have a .45 anywhere?”
“Mother’s Glock.” Nero pulled it out of a lockbox and handed it over. Josh checked it over with quick efficiency, then shoved it in the back of his pants. “Thanks. Now get furry.”
Damn, the guy was even issuing orders now. Good for him. So Nero complied. He shifted quickly and stood calmly while Josh strapped a bad-smelling shield onto his wolf body. And if there were extra caresses as Josh worked, moments when Josh burrowed his fingers deep into Nero’s fur and squeezed, then it was only because they’d always communicated better with their bodies than they had with words. And that was why, when all was in place, Nero tilted his head up and licked Josh’s face—a big wet swipe right over his lips.
“Ew!” Josh wiped the slobber off with his hand. “That’s disgusting.” But he was smiling as he said it. An
d then he reached into his backpack and pulled out his computer plus a headset. He slipped on the headset first. “Okay, everyone, bark if you can hear me.”
Nero jerked sideways at the sudden sound next to his ear. Apparently Josh had put in a tiny speaker, but wolf ears didn’t need anything so loud. He barked loud and sharp at Josh, as did everyone else on the team. And then, when Josh didn’t seem to understand, Nero went right up beside his ear and barked as loud as he could.
“Hey!” Josh exclaimed, and then his eyes widened in surprise. “Oh. Too loud?”
Nero nodded.
Josh quickly tapped on his keyboard. “Better?”
Five wolves yipped in unison.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Then he pointed to his laptop screen. “Okay, I put cameras in your hoodies too, and some sensors, so I can see what’s happening on levels you can’t.” He glanced at Nero. “You can thank Stratos for the programming. I didn’t have a clue.” Then he turned back to his screen. “I’m going to stay here and watch everything. I don’t want to interfere with your attack, but if I tell you to move, you’ve got to listen, okay? Bark if you understand.”
Silence. No one answered because they were all looking to Nero for his decision. Fortunately Nero had no doubt. He yipped once, and then he barked louder for good measure.
That was good enough for his team. They all yipped their agreement, and then it was time for them to go. Nero looked one last time at Josh, who gave him a thumbs-up. Everything was set on his end, and so he turned and began to run for the bastard demon.
It was awkward carrying a shield on his back, and he was grateful for the distance to the lake. It gave him time to test out the added weight, to figure out how to leap and how to strike. It would have been better to have more than a few minutes to do this, especially since he also had to mentally prepare for this attack. But he’d replayed this moment in his head so many times that it was a relief to finally be here. That he had Josh in his ear too made it especially sweet, though the guy sure was chatty.
“So it turns out that back in the fifties, a guy wrote a dime novel based on a real-life serial killer that liked to murder ice fishermen. Must be a Wisconsin thing. Anyway, since he was a horror writer—like an early Stephen King—he made it into a paranormal thing, a demon with weirdly colored skin and orange blood who haunted lakes in order to eat random Wisconsinites. The writer never made it famous, but the locals loved it. They retold the story countless times, and now it’s an urban legend here. I think it’s the origin of your lakeside people-eater. It’s a good thing that I’m a fast reader, because I had like ten seconds to read the ending before I got zapped here. It told me everything we need to know to kill the demon. Bitter—you know who—gave it to me. The writing’s not bad, but—”
Nero did a hard, sharp bark. They were nearing the attack area and needed to focus.
“What? Am I talking too much?”
Another bark, this time lower and more growly.
“Got it. Okay. Go on and take ’em out. Take ’em down. Do your… do your stuff.”
Nero snorted. He doubted anyone else got the reference to Independence Day, but Nero recognized it from their last movie night. And then there was no more time for memories because he was starting the first attack run.
Chapter 27
JOSH STARED at his split screen and tried to calm his racing heart. It helped to focus on the five tiny images of the wolves as they ran through the woods, but he still had equal parts excitement and terror zipping through his mind. He couldn’t believe he was actually doing this. He was the tech geek helping to take out a Big Bad. Lives depended on him and his tech, which was terrifying given how many failed attempts there were in any science. And yet he couldn’t deny the thrill. This was him, nerdy Josh Collier, as part of the team.
Or more accurately, part of the pack.
That’s what Nero had said. He’s one of us. And from Nero, that was like being handed the key to his heart. But Josh couldn’t bask in the glow of that because he had to do his job. He grinned. This was his job, and he loved it.
He focused in on the action, piecing it together from what he’d learned reading the mission file and watching the recording of Nero’s report to the review board. From what he could tell, right now everything was going exactly as before. They were running in formation, headed toward the demon.
“Get as close as you can,” he said into the microphone. “And space the shields as evenly as possible. You want to be able to get to one within twenty seconds.”
There was no response, but then he didn’t expect one. They didn’t want to tip off the demon that they were coming, but then again, how could the bastard miss five shields plunking down into the snow? Even as light as they were—which honestly wasn’t that light—they would still make a thud when they hit dirt.
It didn’t matter. The wolves needed the protection. He watched from five different vantage points as one by one, they dropped the shields into the dirt and then veered around them, going for the attack run. Nero’s team didn’t waste time.
Josh focused on Nero’s camera view, cursing the black-and-white image. If he’d thought for two seconds, he would have realized that he could put color cameras in and damn the extra expense. He wanted to see what a “weirdly colored demon” looked like, but all he got was a gray image of a humanoid crouching behind a bush. Not exactly Technicolor, but it was getting freaky large in the image because Nero was in attack range.
He switched over to Coffee’s camera because that had the better view. Nero zipped in fast and low, then abruptly jumped aside as the demon twisted and swiped. It was like Nero knew the strike was coming, which he probably did. Then, when the demon was off-balance, Nero did a swipe with his claws and tore a huge chunk out of the thing’s leg.
Pale stuff squirted out—demon blood—and Josh released a cheer. Mother and Pauly went in next. Their cameras dipped and swerved, making Josh a little seasick, but they managed to get the bastard from either side. Mother used some kind of leaping maneuver to get her jaws on the thing’s arm. Pauly did the same thing on the other side, missed, then got a swipe in with his paw that widened the gashes that Nero had made.
Gunshots rang out, the sound shocking in the crisp morning air. Josh already knew it was the demon. The thing was a really good shot, even while being torn apart.
“Watch the gun!” he called into the mic. “Cream, this is where you get shot!”
Cream’s camera abruptly dipped and swerved. Evasive maneuvers, obviously. And suddenly Coffee was leaping up and down in the air. Jumping?
A moment later the reason became clear. The demon hesitated, seemingly flustered for a moment, and shot wildly, missing both Cream and Coffee. Good going! Josh clapped his hands in delight, but even though the demon had missed this time, he still had a gun and was taking aim. What it didn’t realize, though, was that Nero wasn’t going to let it have the chance.
The alpha wolf, followed closely by Mother and Pauly, was already running full tilt at the demon. The demon had three pissed-off werewolves coming straight for it and another two right behind. And it was penned in by the greenery and the lake, which meant it had one last trick up its sleeve.
Josh checked the levels on the simple sensors he’d had put into their hoodies. They likely wouldn’t survive the blast, but that wasn’t the point. Sure enough, the demon’s internal temperature was rising fast.
“It’s about to blow! Get to the shields. If you can’t—” A quick look showed him that Mother was out of range. Damn it! “Shift now!”
He wasn’t sure it would work. Just because Nero had survived the first time didn’t mean any of them could do it again. Worse, Coffee was an old-school werewolf. Lots of bones crunching and excruciating pain and no in-between energy state. That meant they couldn’t get out of this by shifting. They had to crouch behind the shields and hope that the Volcax kept them from being burned alive.
“Please, please, please,” he whispered.
&nb
sp; The demon blew.
Even though Josh knew he was out of range, the blast still terrified him. He felt more than heard the boom as the earth shook beneath his feet. Then the heat wave came at him with a roar. He knew from the pictures that the nearest trees were vaporized, but that did nothing to prepare him for the wave of hot air that flattened trees farther out and set them instantly on fire. The air was sucked out of his lungs, and every cell in his body felt the heat as a living thing. Thank God he’d set up on the far side of the van and the vehicle had shielded him. Not just the van, but the wheels as well, because otherwise his feet and ankles would be blistered raw. And it was also a good thing he’d pocketed Mother’s gun. The metal was now hot where it was tucked in the back of his jeans, and he prayed the bullets didn’t explode and blow his ass off.
Thank God, he was lucky. His ass stayed exactly as it was. The heat was intense but bearable, and though his computer was blank, it didn’t appear dead.
But what about everyone else?
As soon as he could breathe without choking, he took off at a dead run for the others. All the electronics were fried, so he stripped off the headset on the way. Mother’s Glock dug into his ass with every step and his shoes were going to melt soon from the heat, but he kept running. It took forever to get there while his gaze took in the blackened landscape. Sweet heaven, nothing could survive this. Nothing had survived.
“Nero!” he bellowed. “Nero! Anybody!”
He was still running when he heard it. Nero’s human howl. He’d know the sound anywhere, and it carried in the still air like a divine bell. And thank God, there was no mournful note in it. If anything it sounded triumphant, especially when it was repeated by four other voices, all howling with him.
