Rack or Ruin (The Desecrated Pack Book 3)

by Jude Marquez

  “You don’t know any of it? The stories?” I asked.

  My mother was just as deprived of our history as I was. She couldn’t give us the same legends and stories that her grandmother and great grandmother knew. It hurt her, and I knew that if I ever had kids, I would understand that kind of hurt.

  “No. I was a soldier. We weren’t given a lot of things to study, other than maps and your vulnerabilities. We weren’t supposed to think.”

  I pressed my lips together. I hated that. Especially that Savannah was raised that way.

  “Can I ask you something?” I asked slowly.

  Savannah nodded and turned to me.

  “What happened to your parents?”

  Savannah opened her mouth and then closed it. She turned away and hunched over, like the question caused her physical pain.

  “They told me they were captured. That they were left in a forest and they were the test of the next in line. We were told that there is a tradition where the alpha is chosen that way, if there is more than one to choose from. Hunters are captured and left in the middle of nowhere. The potential alphas are let loose. Whoever makes the first kill is the next in line for the alpha.”

  “What line?” Gerri asked, leaning forward.

  Savannah swallowed. “The Ortega line. Celia killed them.”

  “I did what?!” I shouted.

  Gerri and Savannah jumped.

  “I did not. That’s not even how the alpha power is given- that’s not- there isn’t a choice. If there was a fucking choice, I would have chosen to give this to Eli. Do you know how much better he would have done?!” I demanded, my voice cracking.

  “I know you didn’t. I figured it out before I even met you. It was... It wasn’t right. Something about the story felt too... Like it all fit too perfectly together. Like it gave us the perfect motivation to come here and destroy your town. But it was too smooth. That’s just what I was told. I don’t know for sure what happened to them,” Savannah said.

  I could feel my heart beating against my chest and I was gripping the steering wheel so tight that it was creaking beneath my hands.

  “You would give the alpha power to Eli?” Gerri whispered.

  Officer Nichols fell over against her and she shoved him off without giving him a second glance. He fell against the door with a soft thump.

  “You don’t know what happened to your family?” I asked, Savannah’s words sinking in as my heart slowed. I didn’t want to acknowledge what I had blurted out.

  “No. I was young. Too young to remember. One day they were there and then the next they were gone,” Savannah said.

  I felt a lump rise in my throat. At least we knew what had happened to our parents. Spending my entire life wondering if they were dead or alive would have killed me.

  There was only the sound of the rain on the roof of the truck.

  “There,” I said and pointed at a new truck. It was parked by a bar, the only thing that seemed to be open. “Savannah, you get behind the wheel. Wait until I have it going. Bring as many bags with you as you can. Leave the cop. I’ll come back for him.”

  They nodded, and I parked as close to the new truck as I could. Savannah slid across the seat and got behind the wheel. She looked towards the bar as I picked the door open and got underneath the steering wheel to hot wire it.

  A moment later it roared to life and then Savannah and Gerri were transferring all the bags. I went to the back of the SUV we were driving and pulled Officer Nichols out. He groaned as I threw him over my shoulder and muttered something before he fell silent.

  Then we were driving once more, leaving the small town behind.

  “That was easy,” Gerri remarked and I couldn’t help but hear a note of disappointment in her voice.

  “I’ll make sure we cause a ruckus next time,” I promised.

  “What are we going to do with the cop?” Savannah asked and leaned against her door.

  “Once we are far enough away, I’ll drop him off somewhere public,” I said.

  She nodded.

  Once more, we all fell silent.

  An hour later, the rain started coming down harder.

  Thirty minutes after that, I couldn’t see anything else and the sound of the rain pounding on the roof of the car was overwhelming my senses.

  Ten minutes later, a windshield wiper broke.

  “Was that important?” Gerri asked.

  We would have to stop and replace it. We didn’t have a choice.

  But Officer Nichols was putting a huge kink in that plan.

  I looked over at Savannah and saw that she was staring at Nichols. “We could scare him into staying quiet.”

  I was thinking the same thing. We couldn’t leave him here. We weren’t far enough away yet.

  I pulled over and directed Gerri to the front seat. Savannah and I climbed in the backseat. She propped him up, so he was facing me and wrapped her arms around his waist. They could have been a cute couple.

  I raised my hand to his head and swept his hair out of his face. Light brown, just like his eyes.

  He jolted awake.

  He swung at my face but Savannah caught his hand, and soon he was immobile between her legs and her arms pinning him back.

  “I need you to listen,” I said.

  “Fuck you! Assaulting a police officer is a federal offense!” He spat.

  “I’m sure it is. But we have bigger concerns,” I said.

  Nichols struggled, and I glanced at Savannah. She tightened her hold on him imperceptibly and he gasped.

  “We aren’t normal young women,” I told Nichols.

  “No shit,” he gasped.

  I jerked my head at Savannah and she loosened her hold on him. He sucked in a huge breath and I could smell the fear on him.

  “You’re scaring him,” Gerri chided.

  “He hasn’t seen anything yet,” Savannah promised.

  “We have a mission. And I know you will think we are kidnapping you for our cult or something like that, but it’s nothing like you could imagine,” I said.

  “I’ve seen a lot,” Nichols promised and swore when he tried to wiggle out of Savannah’s grip and she cut off his air again.

  “Don’t kill him,” I said.

  “Sorry,” she muttered.

  “We need to go find a book. It’s the only chance of survival me and my family and my pack have. And I won’t let anyone stop me, not even the police. We don’t want to harm you, but I need your cooperation,” I said.

  “And if I don’t?” He challenged.

  I looked up at Savannah.

  “He asked,” she said.

  I frowned at him. “Remember that. You asked.”

  He glared at me.

  I let my wolf come forward a bit. Enough for my eyes to go alpha-black and my fangs to sharpen and grow. I held my hand up to him and he saw the claws slowly descending.

  Nichols screamed.

  He screamed, and he fought against Savannah and I sat back as the two struggled for a few moments.

  Then he went limp in her arms. His eyes were wide and wild as he stared at me. Gerri unwrapped a piece of gum in the front seat.

  “Are you a monster?” He asked.

  “Some would say so. But wouldn’t a monster have killed you and left you back at your car for your fellow officers to find?” I asked.

  I was human looking again, and he slumped in Savannah’s arms.

  “Unless you were taking me back to a monster gathering where you could all eat me,” he said.

  “Humans don’t taste great,” I said and frowned.

  “You’ve tasted humans?” Savannah asked, aghast.

  “Eh,” I shrugged.

  I didn’t know who looked more worried; Savannah or Nichols.

  “My friends and I have a job to do. I don’t want to hurt you, but if you delay us or otherwise try to put us at risk, I will. My friend here is strong but I’m stronger. She doesn’t have the weapons I was born with. Please keep that in mind.
Do as we ask and I will let you go at a later time,” I said.

  “I shot you,” Nichols sputtered.

  I nodded.

  “In the leg. I should have nicked an artery.”

  “Your bullets won’t do as much harm to me as they would to a human,” I said.

  “What are you?” He asked.

  “You called me a monster,” I reminded him.

  “Yeah but what kind?”

  “A werewolf.”

  “An alpha werewolf,” Savannah added, a note of pride mixed into her voice.

  “What’s that? Is that different from a regular werewolf? Did I just say regular werewolf?” Nichols asked.

  “I’m the leader. I’m bigger, faster, harder to kill, harder to keep contained. I have a scent memory that helps me trace and remember scents from years ago. So if you betrayed us, hurt us, I could track you down a decade from now when you were least expecting it,” I said.

  “Is that a threat?”

  “No. It’s a fact. You asked how I was different,” I pointed out.

  “Do we have your cooperation?” Savannah asked.

  “What is she?” Nichols asked and rolled his eyes back, trying to get a glimpse of Savannah. “What are you?”

  “I’m fae royalty. A princess, actually. If he betrays us, might I take him back to the court, Celia? I would love to play with him,” Gerri said.

  “Fae? Fairy?” Nichols snorted, and even though he was trapped in Savannah’s hold, he looked insolent. “You’re a fairy princess?”

  “I’m not like your Tinkerbell imaging, human. Our kind tortures your kind for amusement. It is only by my word that the practice has stopped, but you would make an excellent treat for my siblings. Do not tempt me. I know how to keep you alive for millennia,” Gerri growled.

  “Jesus,” I whispered.

  “I’m half of what she is,” Savannah said.

  I could see another question forming on Nichols’s lips but I stopped him. “Enough. You have my promise that you won’t be harmed as long as you agree to our conditions. Is that fair?”

  Nichols studied me for a moment and I saw his eyes flick down to the hole in my jeans where he had shot me and the blood that soaked it.

  Mostly, the smooth skin under it.

  “Fine,” he muttered.

  I didn’t trust him, but I didn’t have a choice.

  Savannah stayed in the backseat and I clambered forward again. I used her GPS to find a nearby supermarket.

  When I parked, I pulled out a band of hundreds from a bag at Gerri’s feet. “Get me some jeans. Get Nichols some regular clothes. Please, please, get Gerri some shoes.”

  “Got him?” Savannah asked.

  “Yeah.”

  Gerri left with Savannah and I got in the backseat with Nichols.

  “How long will this take?”

  “Why? Got a hot date?” I asked.

  “I have dinner with my parents every Sunday. They are old. I don’t want to worry them,” he said.

  “It’s Tuesday. You’ll be home long before then,” I said and drummed my fingers against my thigh. I kept my eyes on the rain-smeared window, willing Savannah and Gerri to hurry back.

  “Did it hurt?” He asked.

  “It didn’t tickle,” I said when I looked over to see him studying the bullet hole in my jeans.

  “How did you get the bullet out?”

  “With my fingers.”

  He stared at me.

  I showed him my claws again, and he paled.

  “Why are you doing this?” He asked.

  “Why do you talk so much?”

  “My first kidnapping. I guess I’m nervous. Why are you doing this?”

  “I don’t have a choice.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “Okay, it’s this or I let my brothers die, my hometown razed to the ground, and a genocide of my kind begins.”

  “That’s a lot of responsibility for a twenty-five-year-old.”

  “I’m twenty eight and an alpha. It comes with the territory.”

  “Where is your territory?”

  “Somewhere else.”

  “Why are you out this way?”

  “Looking for a book. I told you that. Pay attention.”

  “Would you kill me?”

  “If you tried to stop us or put one of mine in danger, yes.”

  Nichols fell silent. He thought the last question would throw me for a loop. He was looking for a lie in my story. When I didn’t hesitate, and he heard the truth in my words, it gave him a reason to pause.

  “Do you hate humans?” He asked softly.

  I thought of Marcus and how he had assumed the answer to that question.

  “No,” I murmured.

  “Who is after you?”

  “A group called the Ascendancy. They’ve been after my family for a long time. It’s a grudge that’s been brewing for the past couple of generations.”

  “You said family. Earlier you said pack. Which is it?”

  “My family. My parents, my brothers, me. My pack. My brothers, Savannah, my brother’s boyfriend and his stepbrother, and the stepbrother’s brother. Gerri, probably.”

  Nichols took a moment to figure out the relations before he plowed on. “Not your parents?”

  “Someone murdered them. Crucified in front of me and my brother Eli. Tortured to death. They gave me a choice. Give up my youngest brother or my parents die. We knew it was coming. We knew we couldn’t give my youngest brother up. Our parents got us ready for that choice. Eli and I watched them die.”

  “Jesus- What the-” Nichols leaned forward and put his head on the seat in front of him. “Why can’t you call the police? Someone? The FBI?”

  I smiled. “They are the police and the FBI. In our world anyway. There is no way to rise against them. It takes...”

  My voice trailed off and sighed. I wish I knew.

  “What? It takes what?”

  “I don’t know. We don’t know what it takes to bring them down. We hope that those books can tell us.”

  “But you are stronger, faster. You said so. Can’t you and your kind fight back?” He asked. His eyes were darting back and forth, trying to figure out a solution. I wondered how much longer he would be a police officer. His career wasn’t conducive to being the type of person who wanted to see justice served.

  “They’ve decimated us. They’ve cut our numbers down so much that we can’t. If we do, it gives them the excuse to finish us.”

  “You said that regular bullets-”

  “They have taken plenty of us to experiment and learn what kills us. How to slow us down. How to torture us and eventually kill us.”

  Nichols stared at me.

  I drummed my fingers against my knee again. “Questions?”

  “Have you killed any of them?”

  I smirked. “Are you asking as a police officer?”

  “More like a horrified and curious citizen.”

  “I’ve killed my fair share. We all have. Except Gerri, as far as I know. She has tortured her own sister, so don’t think she’s soft.”

  Nichols fell silent until Savannah and Gerri returned. Gerri was wearing a hoodie and walking strangely with new running shoes on. Savannah also had a hoodie on and carried a few bags. She handed them back to us.

  “Find an auto parts store. We aren’t getting far without a new wiper,” I said.

  Savannah gunned the engine and we left the parking lot.

  It took us longer than I was comfortable with to find a place that sold wipers. By that point, we had all changed our clothes.

  “Come on,” I said to Nichols. He was wearing a plain blue hoodie and jeans and his work boots. He looked inconspicuous enough.

  “What? Why? Why can’t we stay out here?”

  “Let’s call it a test of loyalty,” I said.

  Nichols’s shoulders slumped, and he got out of the truck with the rest of us. He pulled the hood up and over his head.

  We were at another supermarket
, but this one was a nationwide chain where we could buy a little bit of everything.

  “Get some food,” I told Savannah.

  She nodded and her and Gerri left.

  “Have you known her long? You trust her a lot,” Nichols said.

  “She was part of the Ascendancy and two months ago she showed up in my territory to kill me and my brothers,” I said.

  Nichols stared at me.

  I stared back.

  I don’t know how long we would have stood there in silence, but a cheerful looking young woman interrupted us. “Hey there folks! Wet out, huh? What can I do ya for?”

  I felt overwhelmed by her presence.

  “We need windshield wipers for our truck,” Nichols said, when he saw me pause for a moment too long.

  “Oh, man! What a time for yours to go, huh? Make and model?” She had bright blonde hair and light brown eyes. She didn’t even look like Billie, not really, but the combination of those features made my heart thump strangely.

  Nichols gave the young lady all of our information and soon she was buzzing through the aisles, coming back with the selection.

  “You all on a vacation? What a time for the weather! Wow!” She said and laid out the selection in front of us.

  I looked at them and tapped the ones on the right. “These will be great.”

  “I’m sure you get this all the time, but you are awful pretty. Are you a model?” She asked.

  I opened my mouth and totally blanked. I knew that people found me attractive, I could smell it pouring off of them in waves sometimes, but very few people told me flat out to my face.

  “No, my girlfriend here is too camera shy. Doesn’t like the whole influencer game either. Isn’t that right, sweetie?” Nichols said and grinned at me. He took my hand and pressed it to his cheek in a sign of affection. He probably thought he could throw me off my game, but a guy claiming to date me wasn’t a novelty either.

  “Yeah,” I cleared my throat and offered the girl a shy smile. I let Nichols hang onto my hand. “I don’t know, the whole idea seems invasive.”

  She nodded, her eyes widening. “I get that. A lot of guys slide into my DMs and it’s just-” she shuddered.

  We rang up quickly and then as we were about to step out into the rain, I cleared my throat. I hoped this worked. I put a hand over my mouth and said, “Guys, we are out in the truck.”