The truck rocked, and above the side of the bed appeared the sleepy faces of Rick and Steve. Their eyes turned upward at the she-wolf perched above them, and Emily turned to them and snarled. Rick grabbed the top of Steve’s head and plunged them beneath the side of the bed just as she swiped her claws at the empty air where their heads had been.
Stevens raced over to the bed and tried to grab her legs, but she jumped off and over his head to land between the pickup and me. She glanced between Stevens and me, and grinned. “This isn’t much fun. I thought you would be more of a challenge, but I find you’re just inexperienced fighters and cowards.
I wasn’t going to take that insult lying down, and neither were the others. Rick stood from the bed with his shotgun in hand, but he couldn’t take aim with me in the line of sight. I tried to dodge out of the way, but Emily matched my movements and raced toward me. She grabbed my arms, pinned them behind my back, and pinned my back against her chest. Then she faced us towards the pickup.
“Our orders were to bring her alive, but if you don’t put down the weapon I may ignore my orders,” Emily warned them.
Oh hell no. She was not going to be using me as the damsel in distress to get them to surrender. Not while I had my strength and hard-headed stubbornness. Speaking of hard head, that gave me an idea. I growled and jerked my head back so it collided with her nose. There was a sickening crunch as skull met soft nose bone. Emily howled and let go of me to stagger back. I swung around and my fist collided with the side of her face.
The force sent her crashing into the forest and thick brush ten yards off. Stevens, Rick and Steve hurried to my side, one half-transformed and the other two packing heat. There was a howl of frustration and Emily burst from the brush with fangs bared and claws out. Rick and Steve each got a shot off before we dove out of the way. Stevens jumped at her and the pair collided in a flurry of fur and fists. It was terrible watching a cat fight between two dogs, and even worse when Emily emerged the victor. When the dust cleared around them Emily held Stevens like she held me, but with her bleeding nose safely away from the back of his head.
Emily glared at us and tugged on Stevens’ arms. There was a terrible crack of bone and he winced. “Give up the guns or I break his arms,” she threatened us.
“I would recommend you not do that,” Luke spoke up. He stepped into our little standoff holding Ian much as Emily held Stevens. Blood dribbled down Ian’s forehead from a horrible gash and he glared at all of us.
A grin slipped onto Emily’s face. “It seems we have a standoff. You have my mate, and I have your friend,” she commented.
Luke sneered and tossed Ian toward Emily. Stevens mouth opened in horror the same as Emily’s mouth opened in surprise. “What the hell are you doing?” Stevens shouted at Luke.
Luke shook his head. “I won’t take hostages,” he refused.
Emily raised an eyebrow. “Not even to save your friend?” she wondered.
“That is Lance’s style, not mine,” Luke affirmed.
Ian struggled to his feet and stumbled over to stand beside his mate. “We merely follow Lance because Cranston follows him, we don’t mimic him,” Ian insisted.
“Prove your word by releasing your hostage,” Luke challenged him.
“We don’t-”
“Quiet, Ian,” Emily spoke up. She shoved Stevens toward us and the humans caught him. Emily turned to Luke and crossed her arms over her chest. “You shouldn’t be so kind to your enemies,” she scolded him.
“I didn’t make you our enemy. Our goal is to stop Lance, not kill others,” Luke argued.
Emily snorted. “You can’t kill your own brother. You can’t even kill us,” she pointed out.
Luke narrowed his eyes and a flash of something angry slipped through them. “You’re not my brother,” he reminded her.
“So what do you expect us to say to that? Thank you for giving us kindness and we’ll help you?” Ian mocked Luke.
“I don’t care what you say, but you two don’t appear to be as foolish as Mullen or the others who follow Lance. He will find out you helped us in the maze, or he knows now, and he is biding his time to show you how unforgiving he is,” Luke told them.
Ian laughed. “Help you? Why would we help you?” he returned.
Luke nodded to Emily who sullenly looked away. “Ask her why, but do it elsewhere. We need sleep,” he commanded them.
Ian scowled and took a step toward us. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Rick called as he shoved Stevens away form him and lifted his shotgun. He had both barrels pointed at the pair. “I don’t have any qualms about killing either of you, but just do as he says and I won’t have to waste any buckshot on you.”
Emily smirked at us, but grabbed Ian’s arm and tugged him into the woods. He reluctantly followed her, showing who wore the pants in that relationship, and in a few moments they were gone. Steve and I breathed loud sighs of relief, and Rick lowered his gun.
Luke walked over and picked up our blanket, and shook the dirt from the cloth. “We had better be on our way. They may return with others,” he commented.
Stevens swung around and glared at Luke. “What’s the point? They know we’re here and they must know we’re coming, and all because you let them get away,” he argued.
“What other choice do we have?” Luke pointed out.
“You could have killed them! You have the skill to-”
“I will not kill unless they try to kill us, and those two won’t kill us,” Luke refused.
“How can you be so sure of that? They follow your brother in his insane attempt to control our world,” Stevens countered.
“Yes, but those two Captains have more than an ideal to live for, they have each other,” Luke pointed out. “They won’t risk one another for something as single-minded and selfish as power.”
“That’s a flimsy assumption to endanger us,” Stevens persisted.
“It saved your hide, so quick whining,” Rick spoke up.
Stevens sullenly quieted, but the glare on his face showed he was still upset. We piled into the truck and continued on our journey to the facility.
5
Our group was quiet as we slowly bumped along the dark road onward to our destination. Day replaced night and at mid-afternoon our long, boring, tense journey finally came to an end.
“Stop here,” Stevens commanded Rick.
The truck was stopped and we all stepped out. The trees still surrounded us on all sides, but far off, beyond the forest, our werewolf ears picked up on the sounds of voices and machinery. “The facility?” I guessed.
“The facility,” Luke affirmed.
“We should wait until night to make our way into the compound,” Stevens suggested.
Luke shook his head. “No, Rick can’t drive the truck fast in the dark, and since we all know this to be a trap it won’t matter what time of day we infiltrate the area. They will know we are there.”
“Then why bother going inside at all if we are only to die?” Stevens growled.
“Because Lance is oftentimes blinded by his overconfidence. We must depend on that to get us inside and out of there,” Luke replied.
Stevens sneered at him. “What a reckless plan,” he mumbled.
Luke glared back at the elder werewolf. “If you have a better plan than I am sure we would all like to hear it,” he returned. Stevens glanced away and didn’t reply. “Then we will move to the perimeter and find a weakness in the patrols. Rick and Steve, you will both remain here should we need a quick escape.”
“You mean when you need a quick escape because this sounds like a suicide mission,” Rick quipped.
“It may be, but our souls can rest in peace knowing we tried our best,” Luke argued. He pulled out an envelope from his pocket and handed it to Rick. “But should we fail, please try to deliver this to a Mr. Burnbaum. He is the owner of one of the inn’s around Sanctuary, but he may be hiding in the Wildlands region.”
Rick solemnly took the envelope and stuffed it into his pocket. “I’ll try, but I still don’t like your plan,” he replied.
Luke smiled. “If you think of a better one then let me know. For now let’s not waste any more time here,” Luke commanded us.
Luke led the way through the woods. We were human, but our bodies were tense and prepared to transform at the slightest crack of a stick none of us stepped on or a fart none of us made. The forest swamp dried to an ordinary forest and we found trails created by countless patrols over the area. Luke stopped and sniffed the first trail, one that led from our left to our right.
“There hasn’t been a patrol by here in several hours,” he mused.
Stevens frowned. “That is no accident,” he mused.
“No, and it tells us we are on the path we are meant to be on for the trap,” Luke agreed.
“So do we find a new one?” I suggested.
Luke shook his head. “No, we continue on this trap until we are in the facility. Then we will see what we can do to escape being captured,” he replied.
My mate’s plan was starting to look bleak even to me as we continued on our way. The trap trail led us southward for a mile before the trees thinned and the end of the forest lay ahead. Luke led us off the trail and we crouched down behind the last wall of brush. Ahead of us the trees opened to reveal a sloped hill that led down into a large plain with a compound of warehouses and research buildings in the middle of the open area. Around the compound was a ten-foot tall chain-link fence complete with two feet of barbed wire on the top. There was only one entrance, on the north side, and through that was a steady stream of trucks and patrols.