I woke up as the bed jostled. My eyes flew open and I gasped.
“Deacon, what are you doing?”
He rolled over onto his side. “My tent is cold.”
I shoved at his shoulder. “You can’t come and get in bed with me because you’re cold.”
I’d only been asleep for maybe two hours. My head hurt and I was in no mood to deal with this.
“I heard you earlier. I get it. You’re with the Wolf. I will keep my hands to myself.” He paused. “I don’t want to be alone, okay?”
“Fine.” I pushed him over a few more inches. “But you stay over there.”
He smiled and rolled over onto his side. I listened to him breath, waiting for him to fall asleep. After a few minutes, when I was sure he was still awake, I decided we might as well speak since neither of us was going to sleep.
“Why don’t you want to be alone?”
“Seeing Chad like that last night….”
I shuddered and forced myself to stop. “Yeah, that was pretty awful.”
“I used to see stuff like that all that time. One minute you had a friend, the next you had a Vampire. But up here, it’s different. I guess I thought when I didn’t get eaten, that part of my life was over. Turns out I’m just as much a prisoner here as I was down there.” He rolled over onto his back. The morning light showed his blue eyes red and bloodshot. “I mean if it can happen to Chad Lyons….”
“It’s not going to happen again.” After my conversation with Micah Lyons last night, I was surer than ever that this was the path I needed to be on.
“Are you a prophet now?”
I elbowed him hard in the side and he groaned. “No, I’ve made a decision that will make things better.”
He rolled over to look at me. “What’s that?”
“I’m going to take the fight to the Vampires and Icahn. I’m going to start blowing things up. I’m tired of always defending. It’s time to wage war.”
He raised a blond eyebrow. “And you’re going to do this alone?”
“No.” I turned to regard him face to face. “Micah is going to help me.”
“You talked about this with Micah before you discussed it with me?”
I chose to ignore the hurt in his voice; I didn’t have time for it. “He was with me when I made the decision. I’m hoping for your support. Truth is, I’m not sure we can do it without you.”
He reached out to trace my face, and I pulled back. He sighed. “You know you’ll always have my help, whenever you need it.” He grinned, showing off a dimple. “I really like the idea.”
“Good.” I closed my eyes and turned over so my back faced him. “Now go to sleep or I’m kicking you out of here.”
He was silent and I hoped he’d listened to instructions. After a moment, he spoke. “Get some good rest, Rachel.”
I guess I must have actually slept because the next thing I heard was the Wolf alarm blazing through the tents. I darted out of bed before my eyes had opened completely. I scrambled through the room looking for my machete. I’d thrown it down on the ground in my utter exhaustion the night before and I nearly stumbled on the weapon as I looked.
Deacon cursed as he shoved one of his feet in a boot. I blinked as I regarded him, my cheeks suddenly getting hot.
“Why are you shirtless?”
He looked up at me. “I got a little hot a couple of hours ago.”
“You came in here because you were cold.”
If I sounded accusatory, I had good reason. I would freak out if Jason had been with a half naked girl in his bed. It was bad enough Deacon had slept with me at all.
“What can I say, Rachel? You warm my soul.”
I stomped my feet, charging out of the room ahead of him. I always slept basically dressed for a fight. You never knew when you had to jump up. I swung the machete over my back as I rushed out the door.
“Wait up, Rachel.”
I ignored him. He took off his shirt? That crossed some kind of line I didn’t know I had.
As I stepped out of the tent, my Wolf senses went haywire. Wow, there were a lot of Wolves out here somewhere. I pulled the machete off my back. A non-Warrior ran up to me. She looked to be about twelve years old. Tears ran down her face.
She grabbed my arm. “My Mom and Dad….” She sobbed her words.
My stomach fell. “Did the Wolves get them?”
“Dragged them off into the woods.”
As I watched, her face became a red, snotty mess of tears. I had never been that young. I’d never stood in the middle of a clearing and sobbed, expecting anyone to help me. I wish I had been able to.
“They dragged them into the woods. Can you save them?”
If they’d been dragged off, it was too late. I’d seen bodies strewn about in the woods after a successful Wolf attack. The canines didn’t take people there to play with them. But as I stood there watching the brown-haired adolescent cry for her parents, I found myself nodding my head.
“I’ll see what I can do.”
Because if I didn’t, then her tears would become something else. They’d become tears for destroyed dreams, ended hope, and an altogether complete lack of innocence.
Deacon skidded up next to me. “What are we doing?”
“We’re going into the woods to find her parents.”
“Um…” Deacon stared at the little girl. “Okay.”
I patted Deacon on the arm. He hadn’t said it was a fruitless, impossible task. That earned him forgiveness for the shirtless sleeping thing.
“You, what’s your name?” I bent over to the regard the girl who now drooled over Deacon like he was some kind of perfect picture she just wanted to stare at all day.
Her head whipped around to gaze at me. “I’m Liia James.”
“Okay, Liia. I need for you to go get in that tent.” I pointed to the one in the middle of the compound. It’s where her family should have run the second the Wolf alarms went off. “The coast is pretty clear right now. You can make it.”
I watched for a second as she ran off with one glance back at Deacon.
“You stud, Deacon. You’re apparently so good looking you can distract adolescents about the impending doom of their friends and loved ones.”
He grinned, showing off his dimples. “Now, if only you saw me that way, Rachel.”
I rolled my eyes so he could see the gesture. “You’re so one track minded.”
“Admittedly.”
I took off at a fast pace toward the woods hoping, even as I knew it was next to impossible, that somehow, some way, the James family would not be dead in the woods.
I hated fighting the Wolves. Maybe it was a subconscious thing that had to do with Jason, but every time I had to chop off the head of some raving Werewolf I had the feeling that I’d killed someone who could, potentially, be brought back from whatever spell the Wolves were under.
But what was I supposed to do? I couldn’t let them attack us while I figured out what to do about my personal conundrum.
I moved fast, avoiding most pitfalls of rocks and holes in the ground by memory alone. It was amazing what my feet could remember from having done the run a thousand times.
I paused as I stopped at the edge of the woods. Even during the day, the woods were dark. That both protected us and left us vulnerable. Frequently, we debated trying to knock down the trees. But in the end we had no idea how to do that. For the most part, we’re pretty lost when it comes to doing things outside.
That wasn’t, however, my problem right now. At the moment, I had to be more concerned with using my hearing to tell what I was about to step into. My Wolf senses couldn’t be counted on—they’d already alerted me that there were wolves— that was about all it was going to do.
The rest was going to have to come from my ability to find them myself. And the Wolves liked to hide and then tear us to pieces.
Following my gut, I moved left. Behind me, I heard Deacon follow. He wouldn’t utter a word unless he had to. Fighting with someone long enough meant you came to learn how he or she handled things.
In the distance, I heard a strangled noise. It was a man and he yelled loudly before someone, or in this case, I suspected something made him stop. It was possible it was Liia’s father or maybe it was someone else’s dad. Either way I was going in.
Deacon grabbed my arm and pointed to the left. I nodded. That sounded good to me. He’d go left. I’d go right. We’d hit the Wolves, assuming there was more than one, from both sides.
I walked as silently as possible, knowing they could probably already hear me. Or smell me. Jason had certainly taught me enough about scent.
I stopped moving. This was part of the problem we had with these monsters. We tried to play by their rules—or to skirt them. Instead of doing that, I needed to make the Wolf play by mine.
My memory flared to life and a vision of Payne stalking me through the mines shook me. I pushed it back down where it belonged. I had to be here and now if I wanted to be at all effective.
I gripped my machete so tightly my knuckles hurt.
“All right, Wolfs, I know you’re there. You know I’m here. This is how it’s going to work—I’m going to come forward and you’re going to try to attack me.” I couldn’t see Deacon, but I could imagine his mouth hung open in shock at my announcement. “In case you don’t know me, my name is Rachel Clancy.”
I heard a growl up ahead of me.
I kept speaking. “That’s right. You know my name because Icahn hates me. I might be one of his least favorite people in the world. I will be worth much more as a kill or a hostage than anyone who you have out there in the woods with you.”
Branches crunched as two Wolves stepped out of the shadows to take me up on my challenge. I swallowed as my throat went dry. They were huge, probably the biggest Wolves I had ever encountered. That was saying something, considering both Jason and Payne were huge.
They snarled as they stalked toward me.
“Tell me something, gentlemen, what was it you did before you took to killing? What did you do before the world ended and you started doing this?”
I didn’t expect them to answer, so I wasn’t disappointed when one of them leapt at me. I ducked and rolled to the left to avoid being struck by its sharp claws or bit by sharp teeth.
It was a determined Wolf because it barely paused before it came at me again. My machete was ready so I had no choice but to be as well. I struck and tried not to think about what I’d just done.
The second Wolf attacked. I whirled around to face and heard other growls approaching in the distance. Deacon shouted my name but I didn’t have time to see what he needed.
I ducked, narrowly avoiding a collision with the Wolf who wanted to kill me. Growls sounded through the air as the Wolf in front of me practically smiled through his drool-infested teeth.
I looked behind him and knew immediately what had caused his sudden joy—he had back up. At least six—and I couldn’t be sure it was exactly six since most of my attention had to go to not getting killed—other Wolves arrived at the scene surrounding my current nemesis.
“Damn.” There was no way I could take six Wolves on my own. “Deacon!” I yelled, hoping for a little bit of help.
“I’m stuck here, Rachel. I’ve got some non-Warriors and we’re surrounded as well.”
A voice called from behind me. “I’m here, Rachel.”
It was Micah. Still, Deacon, Micah and I were not going to be enough power to overtake these Wolves.
“There are more of us coming.” Micah tried to sound reassuring but I knew that tone, it was the one he used on Warriors who were about to fight their last battle. I wished he hadn’t used it on me. It did nothing to fuel my confidence.
I looked back at the Wolf rapidly approaching where I stood. The battle had gone impossibly still. It was like everything hinged on what happened next.
I raised my machete. I knew I could take off his head. It was what would happen afterwards that would be the problem. Like time slowing down, I could remember watching Patrick Lyons play chess with Chad. He’d explained about sacrificing a piece called a pawn. The pawn would take out the other player’s knight, a much more dangerous character in the game. But the pawn would be taken out immediately afterwards. Patrick called the move a needed sacrifice. Was that what I was?
I would take out the Wolf and be taken down myself, leaving room for the others to take down the rest of the pack attacking us. My body ached and I felt ancient.
I supposed it was time to meet my destiny.
From behind me in the distance, I heard more growling. Loud, furious sounds.
Great, more of them.
I stepped forward but never made it to my Wolf. No, instead another Wolf leapt out of the woods onto the one that attacked. I had a moment to see its blue eyes—which I had once called frightening—before it was lost in a Wolf fight the likes of which I had never seen before.
Jason.
The woods came alive as Wolf attacked Wolf. Jason must have brought his whole pack back with him. I backed into the tree. I wanted to help but I couldn’t be sure exactly which Wolves were on our side.
I could easily tell Jason and his sisters. The others I wasn’t as sure about. I didn’t want to accidently take the head off one of Jason’s pack mates.
Deacon rushed over grabbing my arm. “Can I assume these Wolves are with you?”
“They are,” I shouted over the growling.
“I never thought I’d be happy to see a Wolf pack.” He pointed at the fight. “Any idea who is who?”
“I can tell three of them apart. That’s all.”
Deacon may have said something else. I’m not sure. All of my attention was completely focused on Jason. He growled and tore at the Wolf who’d wanted to attack me. Where had he come from? He wasn’t supposed to be here for days.
Not that I was complaining. He was strong and clearly more capable than I would have given him credit for. Anxiety threatened to overtake me and I danced from one foot to the next. I really didn’t want him hurt. My worry was for naught, as fast as it started it ceased. Moments later, the Wolf he’d fought was no more.
I blinked as I watched Jason step over the carnage. He shook his head, blood flying off his snout as he regarded me. He looked like a Wolf but in that second, his blue eyes were all human and filled with questions. I nodded at him hoping he’d know that I wasn’t at all disgusted by what he’d done. Grateful would be the right word.
He turned and watched the battle, which seemed to be ending rapidly. Jason’s pack was either much stronger than the other Wolves, or they’d had the advantage of surprise. I’d have to ask him later.
Micah shouted from across the clearing. “Are these ones with you?”
I looked up at Micah. He stood surrounded by other Warriors, his father and mother flanking him on both sides. It jarred me to see Carol with the other Warriors. In all of the time that I had been alive, she hadn’t been fighting. Perhaps losing your oldest child to the Vampires gives you the right to get back in the field.
Jason shifted and stepped in front of me. His eyes hid his emotions, not a look I was used to seeing from him. I wondered if it was because he was uncomfortable.
I took a step forward, taking his hand. “Thank you for showing up when you did.”
“I had a feeling you might need me.”
Deacon cleared his throat and I turned to regard him. Like Jason, he masked his emotions.
I sighed. There was no point putting off the inevitable. “Jason this is Deacon, Deacon this is Jason.”
They nodded at each other. I knew why Deacon disliked Jason but I wasn’t sure what the instant anger I felt steaming off Jason towards Deacon was about. Maybe he could smell that Deacon liked me.
I heard movement and looked over Jason’s shoulder. His pack had shifted and they stood in the woods silently regarding the Warriors around them. I suddenly felt awkward and out of place, like two worlds had come together that had both belonged to me but had never belonged to each other.
“Um.” I let go of Jason’s hand and stepped forward into what amounted as the center of both groups. That was when I saw him. It was Jason’s father, Andon Kenwood, and it was the first time I’d seen him since he’d abandoned me in a Vampire cavern. Anger filled my veins and I had to swallow it back down into the pit of my stomach.
I looked over my shoulder at Jason. “You brought him?”
“He wanted a chance to apologize to you.”
I looked at Andon but didn’t speak to him. I wasn’t sure I’d ever be ready to accept an apology from Andon Kenwood and I didn’t want to listen to it here. Not while I was this exposed.
“Okay, everyone.” I cleared my throat. I’m not used to speaking publically. “These Wolves are with me. They just saved our lives.”
I hoped they got my meaning. It would be really, really bad if my fellow Warriors decided to attack them after the Wolves had rescued us.
Patrick Lyons stepped forward. He spoke to Jason directly. “Are you responsible for bringing Rachel back to us?”
Tears sprung to my eyes. Jason had brought me back but hadn’t been able to help Chad.
Jason nodded. “I am.”
Patrick extended his hand and I gasped. I had wanted there to be no more killing, I hadn’t expected Patrick to extend that large of an olive branch.
“Then we all owe you a debt of gratitude.”
Jason took his hand. For a moment there was silence until Andon spoke.
“I hate to interrupt this, but I can hear better than almost anyone else here and right now someone up at your camp seems to be in a tremendous amount of pain and dying.” He sniffed the air. “Childbirth?”
I ran forward. “Tiffani.”
It must be happening. Keith’s wife would be dead soon.
“I can help her, Rachel.”
I turned around to regard Andon.
“You know I can.”
I nodded. Before Armageddon, Andon had been a doctor. Maybe he could save Tiffani’s life. Of course if he couldn’t, and he made things worse, Keith would kill him. Either way, I was willing to let him try.