~ Brendan ~
Despite the fact that I currently felt like a chimney—so flooded with smoke I was pretty sure if I opened my mouth, I would start puffing out neat little circles—I didn’t miss the scent of Leeches floating in the air as we drew nearer to Carter’s house. And from the increased pace of the others, neither had they. For some reason, the parasites’ scent was strong, and although their being here meant we could get their research and kill them, the fact they appeared to be close to the house—to our Alpha—wasn’t good.
We had spent ten minutes sealing back up our emergency exit; half an hour combing the forest near the bunker to find...nothing. The last hour or so, we had been heading back to Carter’s. Despite Heather’s protest that I put her down and allow her to run with us, we all felt strangely anxious and since we could run quicker than she could, I thought it best that I carry her. Especially since her head bled and her ribs were still in the process of healing.
In the last ten minutes, our anxiety had burst into anger. Anger that wasn’t our own. Within that moment, we knew that Carter and the others needed us.
Even though we expected something, well, I wasn’t entirely sure what grabbed our attention first as we ran across the large fields neighbouring Carter’s house. It could have been the sound of roaring fire echoing across the large space, or the fierce glow of flames reaching higher so they could lick the night sky.
Heather shifted in my firm grasp. “Jesus Christ.”
Eve! Joey! Scott roared, sprinting off before us.
Those bastards, Solomon snarled.
Dad!
John, be careful, May shouted as she tried to keep up with him.
I wanted to choke up my guts. I didn’t know if it was the earlier smoke still trying to kill me, or if Carter or one of the others struggled to breathe inside the house. My heart hammered in my chest with every step that I took closer to the manor that had been a home to me for the last sixteen years of my life.
Carter? Owen?
No reply.
Jesus! Dabria gasped as we leapt over the fence into Carter’s flower garden.
The manor house stood locked in a cage of flames which ate their way up the brickwork and danced along the roof. The fire roared like a starved lion. Each flame curled like a claw that reached out in an attempt to snatch anything to feed its hunger, casting its angry orange light onto everything it longed to touch, but couldn’t.
I placed Heather on the ground beside me and stood looking at the house.
May, where’s Scott and John?
Scott threw one of the patio chairs through the veranda doors and followed it through. John was right behind him.
Scott? Can you hear me? Have you found them?
Owen is in the hall, John said. The left front window has been smashed, there is glass everywhere. He has some weird looking dagger embedded in the left side of his neck and one under his left ribcage. He has lost a lot of blood.
Don’t touch the dagger, I warned, jogging round to the front of the house.
He can’t heal if—
Once those daggers are embedded, small prongs eject and latch onto the muscles and veins. You pull that dagger and the prongs will rip open his veins and he will die. I stopped in front of the open doorway. My focus landed on the trail of blood staining the path leading from the door. My gut twisted.
This is ridiculous. We need to get in there, Solomon snarled, pacing backward and forward behind me.
Have you found Carter or your father?
Not yet.
Go find them. We will get Owen out. John ran through the hall. Solomon, Thomas, find a way in and get Owen out.
Solomon and Thomas slipped around the right side of the house. Tension pulled harshly at my muscles. The overwhelming need to break anything and everything consumed me. I wanted to scream and howl and.... I took a deep breath. It was my job, my responsibility, to get everyone out safely.
My focus travelled the length of the blood trail. Al, Chris, I want you to follow that trail of blood.
You think it’s one of ours? Alcander asked.
I gave a stiff nod. Leeches bleed black, which can only mean—
The sound of multiple car engines starting caught all our attention.
They are on the east side of the wall— Heather ran into my line of view. Heather! I roared, forgetting that she couldn’t hear me.
Brendan? Scott’s voice filled my head.
The sound of rubber screaming along concrete sounded in the near distance.
Heather ran up the wall, using one of the trees as a boost.
I suddenly felt like I had been torn in half.
Brendan! Scott screamed in my mind.
Al, Chris, go with her. Don’t lose sight of her.
We won’t, Chris promised as they ran toward the manor gates.
It took every ounce of strength I had not to run after her, to stand still and watch as she chased along the wall, firing arrows at the four vans that rolled past the gates. Alcander and Christopher leapt on to one of them; the sound of breaking metal met my ears.
Brendan!
Scott, where are you? I asked, watching as Heather jumped off the wall and ran after the other vans.
Joey’s room. I’m going to break his window. I have to throw him; I need you to catch—
The whining of wood snapped my attention. My head shot up just in time to see the left side of the roof cave in.
Scott, are you okay?
Hurry, Brendan. I need to find Eve.
I ran around the left side of the house and across the lawn, past the small patio area.
I found my father, John called. He’s on the floor in the study. The window’s also smashed. Those damn daggers are in his chest.
I’m coming around the back. You will have to throw him through the window, John, I said.
I can’t. That half of the damn study is on fire—
We will go and break the back door, May told him. Wet some towels and place them over you and your father’s head and shoulders. If you run straight out, it might stop your fur from catching fire.
Solomon? Concern soaked Dabria’s voice. Are you all right? Have you found a way in?
I’m all right, baby. We’re in. We’ve got Owen. We will follow John out the back.
Dabria and May ran past me, heading to the other end of the house.
Brendan?
I’m under his window, Scott. I stopped beneath Joseph’s broken bedroom window, standing as close as I could get.
He’s out of it. His breathing is steady—
He will be okay, I said.
I’ve wrapped him in his blanket. I have to throw him out, Brendan, like a goddamn dart.
I’m here, Scott. I’m here.
Please catch him. Please catch my son.
I will catch your boy, I swear. Just throw him so you can find your wife.
Here he comes.
The air caught in my throat at the sight of a bundled Joseph flying out of the high window. The flames grabbed hold of his blanket as he fell downward. My heart clenched as I stumbled backward. I held my arms wide, took a deep breath, and caught the burning bundle.
I’ve got him. I gasped as the flames licked my fur.
I ran down the dip in the lawn and fell to my knees, rolling the burning blanket across the grass. A tall, slender, dark-haired boy rolled out onto the grass before me, unconscious. I grabbed the blanket and tossed it to one side, growling as the fire began eating my flesh. The smell of burnt fur and skin filled my nostrils, and I tried my best not to scream as the small flames grew and began heading down south. I fell face forward onto the grass and began rolling like some crazy animal, in the hope of putting my own fire out. I didn’t have time for this, I needed to check Joey. I needed to know he was okay; that everyone was okay.
A foot pushed at my right rib, causing me to roll onto my back.
May threw a soaking towel onto my chest and dropped down beside me. You okay?
I gave her a small nod and tried to ignore the sizzling pain of my blistered skin as she gently patted out the flames.
I have to check Joey, she said after a moment.
I nodded and took the wet towel from her.
The glow of the fire and its thick black smoke filled the sky above me, cancelling out the stars.... Cancelling out the night sky itself.
I sat up slowly, clamping my teeth together as the scream threatened to tear from my throat.
This shouldn’t have happened.
I took quick, shallow, breaths and looked over at the others. Is everyone okay?
Dante and Owen are out cold.
Joey’s breathing, but we need to get Graham. The smoke could have— May stopped as the sound of whining wood echoed around us.
Scott, you need to get out, now, I ordered.
I can’t find Eve. I can’t find her.
Maybe she isn’t in there, May said. Maybe—
If she isn’t here, then they have taken her.
You don’t know that, May said as reassuringly as she possibly could.
The pain that boiled and sliced through my flesh was nothing compared to the shared anxiety and fear of my Pack. Where was our Alpha? Eve, Phil, and Flynn? Someone had been taken. I had seen the blood myself. Scott rummaged hopelessly through a house that could collapse on him at any minute. If I was in his position, I would do the same, but if Scott couldn’t find Eve, then it looked like the blood on the doorstep belonged....
Carter? I found Carter.
Where is he? I stood up, hissing as the movement caused my blistered skin to stretch.
In his room.
Thank God.
I threw the towel on the ground. You need to get out before the rest of the roof caves in.
I need to get him downstairs.
The structure screamed.
Scott, hurry.
We will clear the doorway for you, Thomas said.
Solomon snarled. How exactly are we supposed to do that?
Thomas snarled in return. I suggest we find out.
May, will you stay with Joey?
Sure.
Brendan, Owen is waking up, Dabria said.
I walked across the garden to where Owen lay in the grass. The dagger embedded in the left side of his neck glistened as the reflection of the flames played across its surface. I looked down to see the other dagger lodged under his left ribcage. My chest tightened as I dropped to my knees and laid my left hand gently on Owens’s torso. His eyelids flickered. Metallic eyes gazed at me.
“Looks like we all got a little action tonight,” he said, with a faint smile. “They’ve got Phil and Flynn. We had been playing poker in the dining room. Someone knocked on the door, Phil went to get it.... One, two, three daggers in his chest.”
He coughed again, his hands fisting by his side as his body grew tense. “Flynn and I ran toward him as he fell forward. They grabbed Phil. Flynn went to pull him back in, but he got yanked out with him. Shit,” he growled. “You know, these things really hurt.”
I nodded. I know.
“The window smashed and something sharp got me in the neck. I thought it was glass, I tried to pull it out and it’s these pieces of shit. I got the other in my side,” he coughed. “Is my father okay?”
I nodded. Solomon, Thomas, have you got them?
Fucking door collapsed. We threw the patio set through the window, he’s going to run and jump, Solomon replied.
“Dante okay?”
I cocked my head to the side. Owen looked at his uncle lying nearby.
His eyes widened slightly and he looked back at me. “Shit. Joey? Joey’s in bed.”
May walked up beside me, Joey snug in her arms.
“What about Eve?”
I shook my head.
Owen growled and grabbed hold of my hand. “They’ve got my sister? Brendan, we’ve got to—” His eyes went even wider as his focus slipped to the house. His grip tightened, the bones of his face began to shift, the skin stretching. A growl ripped from his throat as he pushed his body to change. “Fuckers.” His breathing became shallow. “We’ve got to go and get them. Right now. Why the fuck are you all standing here? What the fuck are you doing—”
I punched him in the face. His head rolled to the side.
The daggers stop you from changing. Forcing it to happen, like he’s trying to, would have caused him more pain, I explained, before someone kicked up a fuss about me knocking out our Second.
We need to get them out. I stood up and turned to May. May, as soon as Scott gets out, you give Joey to him, then go to my truck and change. There is a large hoodie and two pairs of jogging pants in a duffle bag under the front seat. Phone Richard and then phone Graham. Let him know what’s happened, don’t mention Flynn just yet—
He needs to know.
I know, but it needs to be Carter who tells him. Just tell him to be ready for when Carter calls.
She nodded.
“Brendan?” Carter wheezed.
I looked past May to see Carter staggering toward me, his left arm flung over Solomon’s shoulder, and the right over Thomas’ as they helped him forward. Scott stood right behind him, his focus distant, eyes watery.
“They’ve taken Eve,” Carter said.
I nodded and looked at the daggers lodged in the centre of his chest.
“We were talking in my room, and she had her back to the window, leaning against the windowsill. They broke the glass and pulled her out. I went to grab her, but they threw these things in my chest. I stumbled back and they couldn’t reach me.” He looked at Owen and Dante on the grass. “They’ve got Flynn and Phil?”
I nodded.
Carter’s jaw tensed. His anger exploded throughout my body.
I clenched my teeth together and took shallow breaths, watching as May handed Joey to Scott, then ran around the side of the building, followed by John.
Scott—a broad black wolf, with mounds of thick fur—sank to his knees cradling his twelve-year-old close to his chest. I felt like I had a fist of iron holding my heart as grief I’d thought was long forgotten hit me in the gut. No man should ever know the agony of having his wife taken from him.
Those Leeches will pay for this. I will damn make sure of it.
Scott’s broad shoulders shook as his head flew back and a blood-curdling howl tore from his throat.
The others joined him. The pain in his voice was so hauntingly familiar that my gut churned. I stood by Carter’s side and watched as the flames continued to taunt the dark sky, casting their orange and red light onto the grass and trees that surrounded us. Black smoke weaved between us, spreading thickly across the lawn, drowning everything that stood before it.
“Grandpa?” Joey’s tired voice sounded.
I looked over to see his tired dark eyes peeping over his father’s shoulder. He coughed.
Scott, May is calling Graham, I told him.
“You’re safe. Go back to sleep, lad,” Carter said gently. “Dream something good for me.”
Joey nodded with another cough and rested his head on his father’s thick fur. His eyes closed and he drifted back to sleep.
Carter’s jaw tensed as he looked back at his house. The sound of breaking wood and metal screamed within the roar of the flames. We stood watching as the rest of the roof caved in. As the old bricks turned black....
“They will pay,” Carter said, his voice as rough as gravel.
Yes, they will. I nodded.
“Brendan?”
I looked at him.
“Did they take—” Carter’s voice cracked. “Did they take Heather again?”
Heather. Shit.
I ran past him, around the house, and straight to my truck.