Kin Bound Page 14
"The restaurant," I shout. She'll know where Alex is.
I sniff the air, hoping for any trace of Abigail, but her stale scent mixes with the other Wolves at the border of the Colling territory. It's impossible to tell where she is or even if she's close, there's so much scent here. But Cayden drives the quad right past Earl's tree stand and stops.
I smell the other Wolves in the area, but not Abigail. I get off the quad, right there under Earl's tree stand, and look around. From here I can see Lawrence's house and smell his recent presence. But I hear no one there, either.
"We haven't told anyone where we are," Cayden says, pulling out his phone.
"If you can do that, great. I need to talk to Callie."
"Go. Nobody's around here right now. I'm a minute away if you need me."
I have to leave Cayden there to text people, and I run down the trail through the now-familiar empty lot. The restaurant, Maggie's, waits across the road, and two cars are parked there. I see a pair of old couples at a booth, but no one else inside. Despite her adventure, Callie's still working her boring small town job.
The bell jingles as I enter, and food smells—plus Callie's—overtakes me. "Callie!" I shout, drawing the attention of the couples. I sniff. They're very ordinary humans.
She emerges from the swinging doors, dressed in her pink dress and apron. It's a shock to see her like this. In the kitchen, Earl cooks away, but I hear him turn on his feet. He's heard me and knows something's up.
Callie's jaw drops and she waves me into the kitchen. I follow her to find Earl standing over a grill. Both eye me.
"Where's Alex?" I ask.
She pales. "A...Alex? Does he know about my—"
"He's going to know about me if Abigail finds him." I sniff, but Callie gives off no Savage scent. Yet. "Where is he staying?"
"In the motel. Just down the road. I don't know if he's there right now. He's been out patrolling the woods around here." Callie looks to Earl with terror. "Abigail found out about Brie's parents. She's going to tell Alex and hire him to attack her. To put it nicely."
She and Alex know how dangerous and forbidden I am. Callie's just confirmed my fear.
Earl gulps. "I'll get these customers out as soon as I can. Go find him. I'll call for help." He flips the piece of meat and mashes it down to the grill, drawing steam.
Even in an emergency, he has to tend to his business. “Come on,” I say, hoping the look on my face shows Callie how much danger she's in, too. If we can't protect each other, we're both done.
“Let me grab my gear,” she says.
Cayden steps into the restaurant. “Texted people,” he says. “Hunters are hard to smell and I don't know if he's nearby.”
“Check the motel,” I say.
We find Callie in the back of the restaurant. Apparently, she now keeps weapons and her leather coat in the storage room, because we find her putting her gear over her pink waitress dress in the back. Callie's dressed in no time, like she's practiced for years.
But she looks at me with wide eyes. “I hope my uncle isn't willing to hurt you.” Her tone tells me she doesn't believe the better scenario to be true.
Because he's hurt his own family before.
The three of us run to the motel, which Callie says is the last building on the main road. It's tucked into the woods, surrounded by tall trees and with barrels on the wooden deck. “Which room?” I ask.
“One B.”
I run up to the door and listen, sniffing, but I hear no one inside. Heart racing, I pull the door open with all my strength, snapping the lock.
No one's inside. The bed has sheets pulled back and the mattress has an indent that tells me someone was sleeping here before. So does the pillow. Cayden picks it up and sniffs. “Smells like pine."
“Then he's out and about,” I say. “He might meet Abigail in the woods. Callie, do you know where he meets?” This is technically my territory—my main territory—and I don't even know it well yet.
“The woods have lots of clearings. He might meet on my husband's property,” Callie says. “Come on. I heard the quad, so maybe we can take that. We'll circle town.”
I don't question if three of us will fit. We'll make it work. Cayden hops on first, and then Callie, and then me. I balance on the edge of the seat, holding Callie to protect her from falling off, and we're off again. Callie shouts directions down trails and away from Lawrence's property, though I smell that we stay within Colling's borders. The trails turn narrower and the old quad tracks disappear, leaving us to crunch through weeds. And our gas gauge is flirting with empty again.
And then I smell Abigail.
"Turn right!" I shout.
Cayden does and we plow through pure woods. Sniffing tells me nothing. The Wolfs' scents are strong like they're meant to be confusing. It's a defense against Savages, but it's backfiring on us.
So I have to rely on my hearing. Which I can't when the quad is revving.
“Stop!” I shout as strength fills my limbs.
Cayden does. Silence falls, and even the birds have scattered, scared off by the quad. I hold up a finger, releasing Callie and Cayden, and cup my ear, listening. Callie's shaking, waiting for the verdict.
Nothing, at first, but then I hear faint footsteps coming from far in the distance, from the east. The air still smells of pine, but traces of dry grass, flowers, and fresh bark follow. Unlike the Wolf scents on everything around here, this scent is fresh, like it's coming off one of our kind. And the pine scent could be Alex and that spray. Another sniff tells me they're still apart, but approaching each other. And I have no doubt they've heard the quad. With luck, they'll think it's someone else out having fun.
“I smell them,” I say. “Maybe a quarter mile away. They haven't met yet, but they're closing in on each other.”
“Should we go on foot?” Callie asks. “The quad noise would tell Uncle Alex where to shoot.”
She has a point. “On foot,” I agree.
Callie can't mask her footsteps much, but her boots have soles that keep things quieter than they would be otherwise. Cayden and I jog lightly, taking care to avoid all the twigs that litter the ground, and at last, I spot a sharp dip in the land ahead.
“What is this?” I whisper to Callie.
She leans close to me. “There's a pond down there, though it's probably still frozen. Don't tell me that's where Uncle Alex and Abigail are meeting.”
“Sorry to bust your bubble.” I creep forward with Cayden, heart pounding in my throat. Someone paces on ice down below, and the ice is threatening to crack with each step. It's thawing and the person isn't aware. So it's Alex, then. Any Wolf would hear it. That might work to our advantage.
The ground does dip, like a worn-down crater, and below, Alex paces on a large, frozen pond that looks like an arena. He's decked out in Hunter gear, and he also wears his crossbow on his back. I hear silver daggers clinking on his belt as he walks, too, and his leather hat is silver-studded. Alex expects a fight.
A bad taste rises in my mouth. I was supposed to be trained in this art. Now I'll be at the receiving side of it.
My vision tells me there are plenty of thinning spots where dark water's showing, but a human probably can't see them. Alex looks up at the other side of the pond crater like he's waiting for someone. He expects his friend to meet him from the opposite direction.
Alex scrolls through a smart phone, reading a message. From here, I see the bubbles of a conversation, but I can't read what it says. He's still fifty feet away. He must already know what I am: a danger to everyone. I'm forbidden. Tainted.
And Abigail approaches from the opposite side of the pond. I hear her limp now. There are no more surprises. Looking right at Cayden, I nod and wave him around the pond.
Alex doesn't hear us. I'm guessing Abigail is a still a few hundred feet away. If we can stop her quietly, and then Alex, no one will have to know. No one—except for Lawrence. And then I see her in the trees, covered in a dark brown robe wi
th a hood over her head.
And she's holding my box of mementos.
Rage pumps through me, pushing away the terror, and I march through the trees and well away from the pond. Abigail doesn't have her phone out. But I hear it beep within her robe as she reaches for it.
“Abigail.” I square off with her. We stand fifty feet apart.
Her senses must be dulling in her old age, because she stops and faces me with shock. We're a few hundred feet from the pond where Alex waits. He shouldn't hear this conversation.
“What are you doing with my stuff?" I ask in a mock polite voice.
"You violated her space," Cayden says. "She has the right to kill you."
"Abigail. I can't believe this," Callie says.
Abigail looks to the trees as if they can save her. Her diversion failed. So she never believed Aunt May's story about my mother. Fine. But now I know there might be a chance we can all survive this.
“It's not nice to go through other peoples' things,” Callie adds. “Or to plot to kill them.”
Abigail glares at her like she's stupid. “You don't know anything about the world, do you?"
“She knows that people can suck,” I say. “And I know people can be cowards. Using your grandson to mask the fact that you entered my house. That's awesome. And stupid.”
Abigail turns her hatred on me. Her pupils dilate. “You and Callie revealed the truth while I was lying on the Lowes' couch, pretending to be asleep. Both of you need to work on your planning."
Callie and I eye each other. Her jaw drops. When she came to get Cayden's phone, Abigail was on the couch, and she blurted something that would have outed me.
Abigail continues. "Your aunt could hide it all she wants, but I knew of the rumors that your Wolf father married a Hunter. That ended the Noble Royals, not the Savages.”
“But I'm a Noble Royal,” I say. But as I speak, no power flows through me. Abigail's bucking it off. She doesn't even flinch when I stare her down. She's found a hole in my authority.
“You are not a Royal,” Abigail says. “You're dirty. Something that shouldn't exist. A threat to us all. Hunters and Noble Wolves were forbidden to be together for a reason, and your reckless parents broke the law. Lawrence doesn't realize the truth, but I do. And as a Guardian Wolf, it's my sacred duty to end that threat before—”
“Leave her alone!” Cayden leaps in front of me, fists balled.
I can barely breathe. Cayden stands his ground as darkness swirls just beyond the edges of my sight, trying to squeeze in on my mate. My heart races with terror, not just from Abigail spying on me, but from the fear that she might be right.
Please, I think to the protective spirits. They have to extend to Cayden and I both in this situation.
Abigail marches forward and seizes Cayden by the front of his coat. With a scowl, she lifts him off his feet so that his sneakers dangle over the muddy ground. She drops the box—my secret—to the ground, where it opens and spews my mother's dagger, her book, and her vials of wolfsbane to the ground.
“Cayden!” I shout, raising my fist and charging Abigail.
But he grunts in pain as the darkness tries closing in. I sense light pushing back, but our protectors aren't strong enough to fight both Abigail and the spirits. That's up to me.
I deck Abigail across the face. Her head turns and her brown hood falls back, revealing her snowy hair. But she doesn't cry out and instead throws Cayden back with a single shove. He lands on his back, grunting.
She's much, much stronger than I thought.
“Don't touch him!” I shout, swinging my fists and charging her. I strike flesh. A cheekbone. Abigail backpedals and raises her hands in defense. “Alex!” she shouts.
Her cry echoes off the trees. And far back, ice crunches and cracks.
He's coming.
Cayden swears as Callie dives at the fallen box. She seizes a silver dagger even though she already has her own. The pained look on her face tells me what she's going to do.
But Abigail is still part of my pack. The protective drive sweeps over me again. It's my job to protect her.
“No!” I shout at Callie.
She stares at me, silver dagger in hand, confused. What am I doing? She wants to kill me.
Cayden recovers and tackles Abigail from the side. Both go down, leaving me and Callie standing there. Cayden's body snaps and pops. He's shifting.
And so is Abigail. Her form twists and contorts as white fur sprouts over dark skin. She growls, snapping at Cayden with her elongating snout. They roll around each other, hands turning to paws as clothes fall away. He's still protecting me. The whole world turns to battling light and darkness. The dark spirits are trying to crush Cayden. All they have to do is punch through our protectors and he's done.
Callie hovers the two of them, now full Wolves. Fur flies. Claws draw droplets of blood. Cayden growls with more ferocity than I've ever heard. Callie trembles as she holds the silver dagger over the Wolves, waiting for a good strike. Tears gather at the corner of her eyes. She didn't imagine things turning out this way.
Neither did I.
“Get back!” I wrap my arms around Callie, leaving Cayden to hold his own. Pulling her into the trees, I prepare to shift and join the fight. The protection on Cayden won't last forever. Dark pulses race under my skin as Mr. Hayde's spirits try to strike. Warmth battles for space.
And then air zips as it parts. Before I realize what the sound is, I yank Callie back even farther. We fall back as a bolt impales the tree where I stood a second before. Alex. He's seen us.
And then, human footfalls follow, cutting over the growling and snapping. Neither Wolf is coming out on top.
If I shift now, I'll spend valuable seconds in pain. Alex will shoot me. And then it's all over.
He already knows what I am.
“What's—” Callie starts, but then she looks at the tree. “Uncle Alex!”
He could have hit her.
And as I rise, I see him running towards us, crossbow loaded and ready. And with a hardened scowl, he raises the weapon to point at my heart.
Chapter Nineteen
I dodge behind the tree as the crossbow clicks, sending another dagger of death straight towards me. At the same time, Abigail yelps as Cayden bites into her.
The bolt thunks into the tree.
“Brie!” Callie shouts, running behind me.
“You asshole!” I shout at Alex, even as Cayden and Abigail continue to fight. Alex can't hit my mate. He might hit Abigail. He won't shoot at Cayden. I hope.
Cayden yelps in pain. The dark spirits. They're dealing punches through the protective spirits now. But he keeps fighting, pinning Abigail to the ground and tearing into the back of her neck. She bucks him off. Cayden takes a breath of relief as the darkness backs off. I beg Alex not to shoot him.
His target is me.
Me, and Callie.
I can't see Alex past the tree we stand behind. Callie, panting in terror, fishes inside her Hunter coat for another weapon. A silver dagger isn't likely to take down a human.
Cayden and Abigail bolt into the trees, Abigail snapping at Cayden. The sounds of their fight continue, farther away, as they collide again.
“You can't shoot us!” I shout. “I'm the last Noble Royal.”
“You are not,” Alex shouts. “Your aunt remains. She will carry on the Nobles.” He steps closer. Alex doesn't fear his niece, but I hear regret in his steps. He doesn't want to shoot us, but the strong, determined tone of his steps tells me he will. "Callie. I know about your injury, and you know the Hunter law."
My chest fills with hollow terror. He figured it out anyway?
And with his words, Callie seizes my arm.
“Let Callie leave,” I demand. I won't step out from behind the tree. The creaking of his crossbow tells me he already has it aimed at my location. He'll shoot, and he's not likely to miss. “You can't kill a human. It's wrong.”
“She won't be human much longer.”
“I'm fine!” Callie shouts, drawing her own crossbow from her coat. “It was just a scratch! Not a bite!”
“You know the rules, Callie. We can't take the risk.” Alex's voice drops to the center of the earth. “I'll make it fast.”
To the left, Abigail bolts deeper into the woods. In her desperation, her limp vanishes. And Cayden, bloody around the ear, gives chase. And as he does, I sense the warring light and dark go with him.
The protective spirits are leaving me here with Alex. It's me and her against this lunatic.
I eye Callie.
She nods.
We have to kill him. I have to help kill a human. Already, I feel the curtain of night descending again. Romulus is back. He didn't leave forever, and now he's salivating at his near victory.
I smell my own metallic adrenaline.
“We have to run,” I rasp at Callie.
She nods, chin quivering.
We dart away from Alex.
A click follows and another bolt flies, splitting the air. I tilt my head to the side, and the bolt flies between me and Callie. It sails through quivering pine needles and vanishes.
Alex gives chase.
In the distance, Cayden continues to pursue Abigail. He'll kill her for me. And he might suffer or even die for it.
“I'm delivering a mercy,” Alex forces. “Either one of you could kill. We can't allow that. You know the code—”
Callie pants as she runs, bogged down by her leather jacket. She's not gaining distance on Alex and I have to slow down so she can keep pace. “Let me carry you,” I hiss.
I let her cut in front of me and I pick her up, throwing her over my shoulder so she's facing behind us. “Go!” she screams.
Even without looking, I can tell Alex is readying the crossbow. Bolts slither against each other as he loads them. I hear at least five, no, ten. He's going to shoot and then he's going to kill. And it won't be an easy death for either of us.
But if I kill him, Romulus returns. He takes over. And Callie still dies. I run, but I can't move at top speed while carrying her. Alex gives chase. The trees are thin here, separated by boulders and expanses of rocky ground.