First Shift (The Wolves of Rock Falls Book 1)

by AJ Skelly

  “Alert then, are we?” A voice like oil came from the right. I hadn’t heard the person approach, and the sensory deprivation left me cold in its wake. Stilling my hands, I looked up.

  Wolf tried to raise his head, recognizing the threat, but was paralyzed.

  The hood was jerked off and the force of it knocked my head back into the rough planks, spangling stars across my vision. My stomach heaved with the impact, my vision blurring again.

  A scent wafted through the air, light, and nearly untraceable, but enough for me to recognize. It was the wolf from the theater.

  “Sorry to make you wait, but we’re not ready for you.” He glanced at my bound state, then turned on his heel and walked back out the door. My swimming vision took in a man a little older than me. Slicked black hair, not overly broad shoulders, and then he disappeared through the door. Chains clinked.

  I blinked and took in my surroundings as I squinted one eye to keep the throbbing at bay. I nearly had enough room to get my left hand out.

  Sam…where… Relief shot through me as Dad’s voice broke through like a radio suddenly finding a signal.

  Dad? I’m in some sort of outbuilding. Concrete floor, old wood planking on the walls. Where are you?

  There was a muffled grunt from the other side of the wall.

  Dad? Are you against a wall? I bumped my elbow behind me against the old wood.

  There was an answering thump.

  You…all right?

  I think they may have drugged me. Senses are dulled but are slowly coming back. Are you okay?

  Drugged…can’t…free?

  Can you get free?

  You…when…I’ll…and then…

  Dad, I can’t hear you. Say again.

  I’ll…you…feet?

  Chains rustled again, farther away and behind me. There was a familiar human snarl. It was Dad on the other side of this rotting plank wall. My ears tingled as I strained to hear what was happening on the other side of the thin wall.

  “Your son is awake.” More muffled words. “…wait and the discomfort.” Shuffling sounds distorted the next words. “…further instructions for you shortly.” Footsteps, then rattling chains again.

  There’s…window…side.

  There’s a tiny window way up, but I can’t reach it human, and I’d be too big as a wolf. Plus, I’m tied. I can’t get to my wolf.

  Megan…waiting…

  Megan. It sent another jolt of adrenaline flooding my body and brought my working senses into sharp relief. The wolf who checked on me had been the wolf at the theater. At the school. What if he was tasked with getting me out of the way so whoever made an attempt on Megan’s life could have access to finish the job? Terror clamped a vice around my windpipe, and I struggled to suck in air.

  Sam? Pull it together…will…must.

  Dad’s voice was starting to come clearer, but before I could formulate a coherent thought back to him, the chains on his side rattled again.

  “He’ll see you now.”

  “Not without my son,” came Dad’s steely reply right behind my head through the planking separating us.

  Heavy footfalls vibrated through the floor. The low voice came again, close to the wall. “Only because he wants to see you both. It has nothing to do with what you want or not, I’m afraid.”

  Even as their exchange was going on, the chains on my door loosened and an unfamiliar man entered. This one was blond. He was all angles, and his face was perfectly blank. I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen a face so devoid of emotion.

  He jerked his head toward the door, and I struggled to get to my feet. It was hard with my hands behind my back, with Wolf MIA, and only half my senses at my disposal. My limbs felt like gelatin and to my disgrace, my legs nearly gave way under my weight once I was upright. The blond man waited, face still impassive, until I limped over to him at the door. He indicated with his thumb that I should go first. I shuffled past him into cold night air that whipped around and bit into my cheeks. The cold brought some clarity with it, and the lingering haze in my brain started to clear, leaving a light mist of grogginess behind.

  As quickly as I could, I scanned the surroundings. Nothing immediate to give me our location. We were in the forest. Deep in the forest by the looks of the underbrush that hadn’t been cleared away from the path that led away from the building.

  I turned as Dad was led up the trail. He was in bad shape. He limped heavily and favored his right side. I wondered if he’d been banged up in the crash. My breathing sped up as his captor nearly dragged him up the track. Dad faltered and stumbled heavily, crashing to the ground.

  “Dad!”

  The blond man grunted and jerked my arm to keep me where I was.

  Sam, go now!

  An Alpha’s command. Without another thought, Wolf nudged my feet and propelled me clumsily into my captor, ploughing into him in my attempts to coordinate myself, but mercifully knocking him off balance enough for me to crash into the underbrush. Shock rippled over my skin as Dad snarled and then the ripping of flesh and the crack of bone sounded in the night. His wolf was out. At least part of his heavy limping had to have been a ruse. I stumbled farther into the woods as there was more ripping flesh, the patter of blood hitting the ground, the tang of its smell waking Wolf more. He pushed for release, and I quickly gave in. Or at least tried to. Not yet. Frustration I’d never known fired through my muscles, pumping them forward as the sounds of the fight rose in my ears. The thud of bodies on the dirt, rolling, crashing against the building, snarling, ripping, blooding, all boiling in my brain.

  I wanted to go back and fight, but I knew that if I didn’t escape, neither of us had a good chance of leaving alive. Not after the welcome we’d received. Plus, my Alpha had commanded that I go. I jerked my hands against the rope, and my left hand came free. I pumped my arms, leaping over a root at the last minute. I was so stupid clumsy in my skin in these woods. Cursing under my breath I shook my head, trying desperately to clear whatever drug they’d injected into me. Terror filled me at the sounds of additional voices and the ripping of skin into fur. I was never going to make it anywhere unless I had my wolf.

  The cracking of dry leaves was the first indication of pursuit. With my enhanced hearing still out of commission, I had only weak, human senses. Fear rose up my throat as my legs stumbled over yet another root.

  A growl sounded close behind me, and my heart tripped double time as I kept going. Into the dark. Into the woods. Hurtling into the underbrush, and finally catching my foot on a patch of dried vines.

  I fell hard on my shoulder, rolled, and looked up into the face of a giant slavering wolf flying through the air. With a grunt, I twisted out of the way, but only just. The big brown wolf landed right where I’d fallen. Scrambling to gain purchase on anything to try to get away, I crab-walked backward. The wolf snarled and gnashed its jaws. The glint went out of its eyes, its face falling strangely slack, then it opened its heavy jaws and clamped them over the calf of my right leg.

  Teeth punctured my soft flesh, ripping into the muscles of my leg. Blood welled up and dripped out of the beast’s mouth. I screamed, the pain and fear coming over me like a smothering blanket of smoke, choking me with its acrid fingers. The wolf growled and shook my leg sending fresh waves of agony rippling through me.

  Purely by chance, my flailing hand landed on a fallen branch. Gripping it with all the strength I could muster, I flung the branch against the side of the creature’s head.

  The wolf howled and let go of my leg. I grunted as the teeth dislodged and a fresh wave of blood soaked into the ground. I struggled backward as the wolf shook his head, his eyes clearing. He whined, then the mask dropped back over its face. Its eyes became vacant once more, his lips curled back in an ugly growl.

  I raised the branch over my head, and before the wolf could move, I smashed it down right between his eyes.

  With a whimper, it slumped to the ground. I didn’t wait to see if it was down or only stunned. I gripped th
e branch and struggled to my feet. I limped as fast as I could, biting down and ignoring the pain throbbing up my leg with each movement. I continued moving as long as I could until I felt the slightest stirrings of rippling beneath my skin.

  Risking it all, I stopped against a tree, bent over, my head between my knees and concentrated. I put my full energy on finding my wolf, my other half, the part of me I’d never been without until tonight.

  With a heave and the most tenuous tethers of mind and body holding us together, I shifted. It was agonizingly slow and painful, pushing past the drugs. I clenched my teeth to keep from crying out as the sweet agony swept over me and left me breathless. With a final shake, I left my skin behind, and Wolf emerged.

  My senses instantly heightened, though still not to their full effect. I glanced around, forcing the panic back.

  Black night seeped around me in a dark oily haze, inky fingers snagging their way into my fur and threatening to choke me. My head pounded, and each breath I took sent an axe to the base of my skull and sent pain throbbing over the top of my head and shooting up my leg. I inhaled anyway, gathering information. I fought to keep from heaving for air after my mad sprint on legs, leaving a horrific bloody trail behind me. I caught scent of the faintest trace of highway asphalt and motor oil. Scooping up my ripped shirt in my mouth and leaving the rest of my tattered clothes, I turned my course accordingly and ran for all I was worth.

  With the change, my leg had begun healing. I knew I was still leaving a blood trail. This was bad. Very bad. I was amazed that no one had caught me yet. The wind was cold and slapped my face. The night pressed in around me, making shadows twist and writhe from their secret hiding places. My wolf had every sense on as high alert as possible, straining to hear anything that might give away a predator—a fellow wolf—one bent on killing me. Wind whistled through the underbrush, gusting against my ruff, blasting information into my nostrils. My brain processed as I moved as quickly and as stealthily as I could. Once I hit the highway, I knew I’d be an easy target for humans, but I hoped that there I’d face less threat from those hunting me. Taking another risk, I shifted back to my skin. Panting and in pain, I knelt for two seconds gasping air like a fish out of water. I picked up my torn shirt where I’d dropped it when I shifted back and made quick work of wrapping it around my punctured leg. I wasn’t sure how well it would hold once I turned back into a wolf, but it would be better than nothing. Wolf came out easier this time, though it was still painful. Most of my shirt had stayed bound around my leg, stanching the worst of things. I hoped it would help at least slow my blood trail.

  The stink of oil, burned rubber, and blacktop slammed into me with the next gust of wind, and I veered east, following my canine senses and letting Wolf have his head. Another ten minutes of snaking my way around bushes and decaying logs brought me to open ground, in clear sight of the highway.

  A howl raised not far from my left. With a jolt of speed that only a burst of panicked adrenaline could produce, I sped across the cleared ground, paralleling the highway. Another howl answered. This one slightly farther behind the first. They were not my wolves. These were the dogs who had my dad. Who had taken me. I clenched my teeth together to keep the feral growl from ripping through my lips. No sense in making any more noise than necessary. I was strong and a good fighter, but right now I didn’t have enough in me to do battle. Not by myself. Not injured and drugged as I was.

  There. The sign for Rock Falls. I was one mile outside town. We’d been approximately ten miles out, and I prayed I’d be able to find the spot again. I should at least be able to follow my own blood trail back. I put on speed that neither Wolf nor I knew I had. I had to get to safety—to make sure Megan was still secure—and to assemble the pack to take back our Alpha.

  Chapter 52

  Megan

  “Something doesn’t feel right.” Nothing was wrong, but something felt off.

  “What doesn’t feel right?” Cade asked as he flipped the TV off where credits of the zombie movie were scrolling up.

  I drew my eyebrows together. “I can’t explain what it is. Something just doesn’t feel right.” My phone was on the coffee table, and I snatched it up, dialing Sam’s number.

  My blood chilled in my veins.

  “What?” Cade pressed.

  “It went straight to voicemail.” I looked at him, fear squeezing its hand around my stomach. “He always picks up if it’s me. He’d never turn his phone off. Not now that our link isn’t working,” I admitted in a whisper.

  Cade’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline.

  “Mary!” He jumped off the couch and headed into the kitchen.

  I took several deep breaths trying to calm myself as I heard Cade, Mary, and Rev speaking in the kitchen. Dread pooled in my gut and looking down, I realized my knuckles were white. I forced myself to unclench my hands and dialed Sam’s number again. Voicemail.

  “Sam, where are you?” I whispered into the room.

  Sam? Can you hear me? I tried our link. Nothing. Just a black hole that swallowed my words and offered nothing.

  “Megan, come with me.” Mary’s voice was stern and offered no room for disagreement. Phone still in hand, I followed her to the stairs. She opened the door to the closet under the staircase. “Do you see that ring there in the wall?” She pointed.

  I nodded as I made out the barely visible outline of a metal ring embedded in the dark closet wall.

  “If you give that a tug, a door will open in the floor. If anything happens and you’re in danger, you go down there. There’s food and water for several days.” She looked hard at me and my eyes went wide as my mouth went dry.

  “What’s going on?”

  “I don’t know. But we’re preparing for all possibilities.” Mary was clearly taking charge.

  “You feel it, too, don’t you?”

  She looked me in the eye, hers sad and uncertain. “Yes.”

  “Dad is assembling the fighters.” Cade’s blue eyes were shining. Both from fear and anticipation.

  “The chain is started. Families are being notified to put their safe measures in place,” Rev said as he joined us in the living room.

  I jumped as my phone rang with an unknown number.

  “Hello?” I nearly shouted as my trembling hand held my phone to my ear.

  He groaned on the other line. “You’re safe. Okay.”

  “Sam! What’s wrong?” I couldn’t get any more out before he cut me off.

  “Megan, are you still at the house?”

  “Of course.”

  “Put me on speaker and get everyone else in the room.”

  “We’re all here,” I told him as we huddled around the phone.

  “We were ambushed. I’m at the phone in the back of Druzy’s Bar at the edge of town. Someone needs to come pick me up. My leg is hurt, and I’ve got wolves on my trail. They drugged me and not all my senses are working. I can’t use the all call. Get Jennifer Kypson and have her meet me at the house. I may need stitches again. Tell her to bring stuff for blood collection, too. Assemble the fighters. They still have Dad, and we have to go after him.”

  “Sam,” Mary started, catching her lip between her teeth as terror slid across her face.

  “I know.” He heaved a breath. “I’m moving toward home. I don’t want to stay in one place. I don’t know if they’ll follow me inside city limits, but they might. I don’t know what they want.”

  There was blood in my mouth as I realized I’d been chewing the inside of my cheek.

  “I’m moving east. I’m going wolf, so whoever comes needs to be looking for fur, not skin.”

  “I’ll come right now,” Rev offered.

  “No. Stay with Megan. Have Jake and his dad come if you can. They’re closest to this side of town. Tell Jake to bring a robe. I want everyone going in pairs. No one should be going anywhere alone.”

  “Calling Jake now,” Cade said and stepped away from the group.

  “Mom, I’m sorry. We’ll ge
t Dad back.”

  “Oh, Sammy, I know! Be careful!” Mary’s chin trembled, but her voice was strong.

  “Megan? Be safe. Okay? Don’t leave the house.”

  “I won’t. Please, please be careful.” My whisper strangled itself from my throat.

  “I will. I’ll be back soon.” And the phone clicked off.

  I was numb. My brain was trying to work through the information it had been given, but the cogs and wheels weren’t turning fast enough. Terror bloomed in my belly and spread like poison to my limbs making them heavy and sluggish.

  “Megan, breathe,” Rev said as he put an arm around my shoulders and led me back to the couch. “He’ll be all right. We’ll get this all sorted, and things will be fine,” he comforted. I wanted Grandpa. What I really wanted was Sam, but in his absence, I wanted my grandfather’s arms around me, his orange tea and spice smell cocooning me. I shivered. I texted Grandpa and Rachel what I knew. And then I waited. There was nothing I could do but wait.

  Wolves began to arrive. Some in animal form, some in skin. The animals blended into the darkness, flashes of green glowing eyes giving away their shadowed forms as they collected. Waiting. Waiting for their Beta to return. Waiting for news of their Alpha.

  I searched for Wolf inside me. She was there, her concern ratcheting my own up higher so that I felt tied in knots. She paced, and though I secretly went into the kitchen by myself to try to let her out, I couldn’t. We were agreed and of the same mind at last, but we could not change.

  Nearly thirty minutes after Sam called, there were tires on pavement that came all the way up the drive. Racing to the window, I jerked the curtains so hard I nearly brought the rod down. Jake’s familiar truck and then Sam’s shaggy head in the front seat had my breath leaving me in a rush.

  “Mary! He’s here!”

  Mary was already dashing to the door, but I beat her through it and ran to Sam, launching myself at him, remembering he said he was hurt only at the last minute.

  It didn’t matter. He leaned his weight against the truck and nearly lifted me from my feet as he buried his head in my neck and my arms locked around his shoulders.