Chapter 31

The pavement hummed under the truck’s tires. Jaze drove us through the city and into the sparsely inhabited countryside. Lighted windows dotted the otherwise dark fields that lined the street. Jaze slowed to a stop by a dirt road, checked the paper Nikki had given him, then turned onto it. We passed fields of harvested corn, the stalks of which stood empty and dry like weary sentinels.

“This is where they said to meet them,” he said, stopping next to a field that looked like all of the others except for a black pickup truck with gasoline cans in the back.

We climbed warily out of the truck and started walking through the field; others had trampled down the corn stalks before us.

“Gasoline,” Jaze said, a hint of alarm in his voice.

I nodded. Someone had dosed the dry stalks with fuel. I had no doubt who it was for.

I smelled the werewolves before the stalks parted to reveal a trampled area between two fields, split down the middle by an irrigation canal. At least twenty werewolves stood waiting for us. “Glad you could make it,” a man wearing a black shirt and torn jeans said.

“Jet, Jaze!” Taye shouted from beside him. Her hands were tied together and when she tried to run, the man grabbed the rope and pulled her back. She elbowed him in the stomach, but he merely smiled at her as though she hadn’t done anything.

“Our agreement?” the man said pleasantly as if we exchanged goods instead of a life for a life. He held up a set of handcuffs that glinted in the moonlight.

“Let her go and I’ll stay,” I replied. Taye’s eyes widened in shock and she shook her head.

“Matt, do the honors,” the first man said. He gave the handcuffs to a shorter, brawny werewolf who took them gingerly by the cloth the first wolf used to hand them over.

“Taye first,” Jaze said from behind me.

The man’s eyes narrowed. “You brought company?” he asked.

“Just to make sure Taye gets home safe. He’s the only one,” I replied, eyeing the cuffs Matt brought over.

The leader sighed. “Okay then, I’ll let her go the same time Matt handcuffs you. Deal?”

I met his eyes with Alpha challenge and he fought to hold my gaze. “Only if you promise that Taye and Jaze’s family will be safe and never bothered by any of your wolves ever again.”

The leader lifted an eyebrow, but he nodded. “Deal. We have no quarrel with them.”

I held out my wrists and Matt fastened the handcuffs using the cloth so he didn’t touch the metal. My wrist still bled from where I bit it and Jaze’s bandaging job did little to slow the loss of blood. Matt’s lips lifted back in a sneer of disgust as he carefully fastened a handcuff around it. He then dragged the wrist behind my back and fastened the other one to it.

“Too bad you didn’t finish the job,” Matt growled in my ear with a low chuckle. The cuffs burned into my skin and I flexed compulsively. They were a lot stronger than they looked. Matt gave a small, triumphant smile before backing away.

Taye ran past Matt and threw her arms around me. Her body shook like a leaf and I wanted more than anything to carry her away from all of this, but I had given my word and she read the resolve in my eyes. She shook her head and looked from me to Jaze. “No, you can’t do this. You can’t stay here by yourself. They’ll kill you!”

“It’ll be okay,” I tried to reassure her.

She shook her head and looked pleadingly at Jaze. “Don’t leave him here,” she begged. “He can’t do this.”

“He made me promise,” Jaze replied, not meeting her eyes.

I leaned close and kissed Taye on the cheek. “I can break these cuffs,” I whispered the first lie I had ever told her.

But she heard the truth. “No, Jet. You can’t do this. I won’t let you do this!” Jaze picked her up and hauled her backward kicking and screaming. “Let me go! Jet, you can’t stay! You don’t have to do this!”

“I love you, Taye,” I said, my heart suddenly so full it felt like it would burst.

Tears filled her eyes and she struggled against Jaze again. “No!” The pain in her voice cut through my heart as Jaze carried her back through the corn stalks until they were out of sight.

“Now that was just sweet,” the leader said. His eyes narrowed and he kicked out, shoving me onto my back. I brought the handcuffs underneath me as I rolled back to my feet so that when I stood, my wrists were fastened in front of me instead of behind.

“I assume you know why you’re here,” he said. His werewolves formed a loose circle around me and silver flashed in the moonlight as they pulled out knives.

“I killed members of your pack.”

“Killed members of our pack,” he repeated. His eyes flashed. “You killed our Alpha! You killed his next in command, and you killed his father.” He waved his hand at the wolves around me. A few of them had already phased into wolf form. “Not to mention the werewolves you killed from other packs.” His eyes glinted. “How many werewolves is that, by the way?”

“Ninety-nine,” I said evenly, “And four humans.”

Gasps of shock sounded from around the circle; I ignored everyone but the werewolf who led them. They wouldn’t attack until he gave the command. The surprise in his eyes turned to outrage. “Too bad you don’t have an even hundred werewolf kills, right? That’d be quite the record.”

The fact that it wasn’t one hundred meant more to me than he knew. All of the fights I had been through since leaving the Rumble flashed through my mind. I had refrained from killing anyone but Marci’s men who held Jaze’s family hostage. Ninety-nine werewolf kills had been done in the arena and the Rumble, under supervision of the Woman and for the profit of those who watched. I had never killed anyone for myself, and I wasn’t going to start.

The leader’s eyes glittered darkly. “We paid Marci more than you’re worth to have you killed. You managed to ruin that deal as well, so we’ve decided to exact our own form of revenge.” The werewolves around him laughed in cruel, hate-filled tones.

The hair stood on the back of my neck and adrenaline surged through my veins. I didn’t know if the cuffs would stay if I phased, but I heard Bull’s voice in the back of my mind. “A werewolf should die human; dying wolf isn’t honorable.” It wasn’t honor that drove me. It was the fact that most of my good memories had been as a human. I wouldn’t die a wolf because I felt the best part of me was in my human form.

The leader pulled out a knife. “I guess there’s no need to draw this out anymore.” He threw the knife and I turned to the side in time for it to barely nick my shirt before driving deep into the stomach of a werewolf behind me. The leader’s eyes widened when the werewolf fell to the ground clutching the blade. He looked back at me and the anger on his face was unmistakable.

He jumped at me, hands outstretched to dig out my eyes. I dove to the side, then turned on my knees and hit him in the head with my handcuffed wrists. He staggered back, clutching his forehead. Red ran between his fingers to drip on the ground. He stared at it a moment, then turned to the other werewolves. “Get him!”

The werewolves advanced with blades raised and teeth bared. I blocked two with the handcuffs, let a third slide through the opening between my arms, then ducked and threw the attacker over my shoulder and into three other wolves. A knife stabbed the back of my thigh and I yelled in pain. I turned and kicked the werewolf in the head, then my leg gave out and I fell to my knees.

A knife bit into the top of my left shoulder while another sliced across my back. I growled and spun, catching the knee of one attacker and bending it sideways with the force of my fists. I ducked a kick and jumped forward, barreling into the werewolf’s chest and bowling him backward over two other wolves. Another knife sliced down my back while one of the werewolves in wolf form bit into my calf. I stumbled to the side and felt the flesh tear.

I rolled, knocking him free, and kicked out as another wolf dove for my throat. He slammed into two human werewolves behind him and they fell to the ground. Another werewolf drove a knife into my stomach and I doubled over. Fists and feet beat on my unprotected back. I gasped when a well-placed kick broke ribs, driving the air from my lungs. I fell to my side and curled up; pain flared from the blows.

It was then that I finally realized I was going to die. Up to that point, I had foolishly held onto the thought that I would make it out somehow, that the luck, providence, or whatever it was that had saved me in countless fights would step in and see me through; but it seemed that had also fled. Taye’s face flashed through my mind, her eyes wide and filled with tears as Jaze carried her away. Dying was worth it to me if it would protect Taye, Jaze, Mrs. Carso, my family and my friends. I was ready to give in and take what I deserved despite the Alpha instinct that screamed at the back of my mind for me to defend myself.

“Hey,” someone said through the fray. “Do you smell that?”

“Fire,” someone else said.

The leader growled nearby. “Who started it early?”

“I don’t know,” Matt replied, his voice taut.

Several werewolves around me paused as fire snaked through the field around us. Then a familiar voice called out, “Leave him alone.”

I looked up to see Jaze, Taye, Mouse, Chet, Mom, Dad, Meg, Roger, and Chet’s pack step out of the dried stalks of corn. Fire raced behind them, lighting the field around us and sending sparks to float up into the sky rivaling the stars until their dancing orange forms winked out of existence. I stared at Mom and Dad, and tears filled my eyes at the concern and anger on their faces that someone would hurt their son.

“This isn’t your fight,” the leader growled, blood streaming down the gash in his forehead from my handcuffs.

In answer, Jaze phased into wolf form. My parents, Taye, and the other werewolves phased to join him. They stalked slowly around the circle just inside the ring of fire, teeth showing and deep growls rumbling from their throats. I stared at my parents. It was the first time I had seen them phase and their Alpha forms looked regal and deadly, Dad’s pitch black next to Mom’s pure white, their eyes on mine, filled with compassion and understanding, and reflecting back the firelight that tangled around us.

The leader turned and caught me with a knife across my cheek. I grabbed his wrist and snapped it with a quick jerk, then stumbled from the blood loss and silver still flowing through my veins. Two werewolves tackled me from behind. I rolled, then grabbed one by his shirt and threw him into another werewolf. Two more werewolves came after me, but the midnight black wolf forms of Jaze and Chet blurred through the air as they took them down, then turned and attacked three more.

Everywhere I looked, my friends and family fought werewolves to protect me. Mom and Dad grappled with two grays and it was a relief to see how easily they handled the pair. Mouse held his own against another gray. I searched for Taye, and saw her white wolf form in the midst of Chet’s pack, protected and helping where she could. The fact that everyone was around me fighting and taking pain for me was more than I could bear. I took two halting steps backward and someone grabbed my foot. I kicked free and looked down to see the leader groping for a knife. I grabbed him by the back of his neck and dragged him to his feet. I held the knife to his throat and he stopped struggling.

“Stop,” I shouted with the force of a thunderclap. Everyone turned to look at me in the midst of their struggles, blood streaking faces and teeth, anger and battle rage glinting in eyes that usually reflected only kindness, and pain and fear permeating the air around us. The flames worked their way slowly into the circle, lapping at ankles and causing the werewolves around us to close in tighter.

“Enough fighting,” I growled. I shoved the leader to his knees on the ground in front of me. The air filled with tension when I stepped forward to draw my knife across his throat, to end the violence, the threat to the lives of those I cared about, and to finally find some semblance of peace.

I met Taye’s eyes across the burning, flattened stalks. Smoke colored the air and tangled with her scent, the one scent I could pick out above any other, the scent that would stay with me for the rest of my life. She watched me with her soft, caring eyes and I knew she would understand if I killed the werewolf in front of me, if I had to do it to make sure those I loved were safe, if I did it for her.

I gritted my teeth and crouched behind the werewolf. I pointed to Taye with my knife. “Do you see that girl? The one you held hostage to get to me?”

When he didn’t answer, I touched the knife to his neck again and he flinched. “I see her,” he said tightly.

I dropped my hand and blood trickled down the wound at my wrist and dripped from the end of the knife. “You’re alive because of her.”

I rose and stepped back. “Go home,” I told the werewolves. “I can’t change the past, and my death won’t bring your loved ones back, but you’ll all die here if you choose to keep up this fight because I’ll kill every last one of you to defend those I care about.” There was no hesitation in my voice and there was no doubt on the faces of those listening that I would do just that.

I turned back to where their leader struggled to his feet. “Do you have loved ones worth returning to?”

He dropped his eyes at my fierce glare, unable to meet the Alpha intensity that clenched my jaw and made me want to tear him apart. He nodded mutely. I held the knife up and he looked from the blade back to my eyes. “I killed your Alpha to survive, and I’ll kill again if it’ll protect those I love, but I don’t want to.” Unmistakable threat filled my voice. “I’ll give you your life back and call it even. Promise me we’re done here, and you can go. But if I see you again, everyone you care about will be killed by this knife. Do you understand?”

He nodded, but when I didn’t move, he finally said, “I understand. We won’t bother you again, you have my word.”

I lowered the knife and he backed away. His followers joined him and several had to be helped up. They limped slowly along the canal where the fire had burned down. Sparks floated up with their steps until the shadowed forms faded in a haze of smoke, ash, and floating orange specks that vanished as briefly as they had appeared. Taye slipped under my arm just as Mom and Dad came over. They hugged me tight, relief showing in their eyes.

“Jaze told us what happened,” Dad explained. “We came right away.”

I met Jaze’s eyes across Dad’s shoulder. He shrugged, a slightly abashed smile on his face. “I said you could go fight, I didn’t say I wouldn’t join you with some additional help.” His eyes tightened slightly. “And from the looks of things, you needed it.”

“It was under control,” I replied, though we both knew the truth. My legs wavered from the shock of everything that had happened, from blood loss, and from the remnants of silver in my veins.

“Let’s get you to the car,” Jaze said as if he knew how I felt even though I tried not to show it.

Dad and Jaze half-carried me through the remains of the burned field to Dad’s car. Taye climbed in first and they helped me onto the back seat. Dizziness made my head spin and I leaned my forehead against the seat in front of me. The events of the past few days rushed through my mind. I turned my head and blinked at my reflection in the window. Marci was gone and Taye and Jaze’s family were safe. I was no longer hunted, and didn’t have to fight anymore. I glanced at Dad who drove the car, his right hand holding Mom’s who kept looking back at us from the front seat. I had my family back.

More than that, I had the opportunity to start my life over with the strength of a family and friends around me. I was far stronger with them than trying to fight by myself. They gave me purpose, motivation, and the want to be something everyone could be proud of and love instead of fear. I no longer lived just for myself. For the rest of my life, I had something worth fighting for, and loved ones around me who would never let me fight alone.

Something fell on my cheek and I put up a hand and wiped away a tear. I stared at it. “Are you alright?” Taye asked softly.

I looked at her beautiful face, her kind eyes, and the smile that played about her lips. I could barely believe that she was sitting next to me, let alone cared so much as to call herself my girlfriend. “More than alright,” I answered.

“You look exhausted,” she said. She eased me down until my head rested in her lap, then smoothed my hair from my forehead. “You should sleep.”

“I don’t want to miss anything,” I said, even though my eyelids drooped shut.

“Everything will be alright when you wake up,” she promised. She smoothed the hair back from my forehead again and again and I fell asleep to the soft, soothing touch of her fingers on my skin.