Growl

  Jesse kissed the top of her head, “Please, Lacey. Let me take you to the doctor.”

  “No!” She yelled and walked away from him.

  “Lacey, be reasonable” Jesse pleaded.

  She spun around and glared at him. She was getting frustrated that he wouldn’t drop the issue. “I don’t want to go to the hospital! I don’t want to see a doctor and I don’t want to have this conversation!” she yelled. Seeing the shock on Jesse’s face at her outburst, she closed her eyes and let out an exhausted breath. When she opened her eyes, she pierced him with a heartbreaking look. “Please, promise me that no matter what, you won’t ever take me to a hospital. I’m terrified of those places” she admitted.

  Jesse wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. The true depth of her fear was written all over her face. He had no idea what had been done to her in the hospital that her parents sent her to and he hoped that he never found out, because if he did, he would probably kill everyone who hurt her. “I promise” he whispered in her ear even though his vow went against his better judgement. But he couldn’t stand the thought of her living in fear that he was going to force her to go somewhere she didn’t want to go.

  A knock on the wall by the doorway caught their attention and they both looked to see Devon standing in the hall. “Jaden called...”

  Jesse’s lips set into a grim line. He nodded once as if he knew instantly what those two words meant. “Get everyone ready, I’ll be down in a minute.”

  Devon turned to leave then stopped and smiled at Lacey. “I didn’t believe Scotty when he told me what you did to the door.” He looked around at the pieces. “Is there anything you can’t destroy?”

  She thought about it for a minute. “Maybe steel, I’ve never tried to use my powers on that before.”

  Devon chuckled. “Good to know. I’ll make sure to stand behind something steel the next time you get pissed...or excited” he said and winked at her. She blushed and buried her face in Jesse’s chest.

  After Devon left, Jesse cradled Lacey’s face in his hands and asked, “Are you sure that you’re alright?”

  “Yes, I’m sure.” She didn’t think the headache that was building in the back of her head was worth mentioning.

  “Okay, well I have to go out for a while. I’ll be back soon” Jesse said and went to the closet and pulled a big black bag from the corner. He dropped it on the bed and rummaged through it.

  “Where are you going and who is Jaden?” Lacey asked.

  “He’s my informant. He lets me know when and where Cole has his hunts. And apparently, he’s having one tonight.”

  “I’m going with you” Lacey said without hesitation and slipped her shoes on.

  Jesse stopped what he was doing and stared at her. “Oh no, you’re not. You’re going to stay here with Tonya and Kindal. People die at these hunts and having you there will distract me from helping them. I need to know that you’re safe so that I can do my job. And besides that, you’re in no condition to help anyone. You look exhausted.”

  Lacey started to argue but stopped when Jesse held up his hand and shook his head. “This is not negotiable.”

  Realizing that she wasn’t going to get her way, Lacey flopped down on the bed with her arms crossed over her chest. “How many people do they usually hunt in one night?”

  Jesse could hear the disgust in her voice as she asked the question. He sat down beside her and squeezed her hand. “The numbers vary. It depends on how many people Sasha can round up. But it’s usually no more than five or six.” He sighed before continuing, “And of that number, we might be able to save one or two if we’re lucky” he said sadly.

  Lacey looked at him with sad eyes. “So at least three or four people are going to die tonight?”

  Jesse frowned and nodded. “Unfortunately, yes. But I promise you that I’m going to save as many as I can.”

  Lacey suddenly felt overwhelmed by grief and sadness for the lives of those people she didn’t even know, who were about to die for no other reason than someone’s twisted idea of fun. “Please let me help. I can use my powers, I can save some of those people” she said in a cracked voice that gave hint to the tears she was fighting hard to keep at bay.

  Jesse wrapped her in his arms. He hated seeing her upset but there was no way he could ever sacrifice her to save someone else. Her powers were hurting her whether she wanted to admit it or not, he knew it to be true and he wasn’t going to let her use them. “I know that you want to help, but what do you think would happen if you get hit with another headache like before?” He waited for her to answer and when she didn’t, he continued, “I’ll tell you what would happen. I’ll be so worried about you that I’ll lose focus on what’s going on around us and we could both be killed. You’re powers are amazing, but they do have side effects. And whether you like it or not, those side effects make you a weakness instead of a strength to our rescue attempts.”

  Lacey wiped at a tear as it rolled down her cheek. She didn’t want to admit it, but once again, he was right. “Alright” she whispered. “I’ll stay here.”

  Jesse kissed her on the forehead before leaving the room to join the others. Lacey stayed in the room for a little while to pull herself together before going downstairs to talk with Tonya and Kindal.

  *****

  “You did a good job picking out our prey tonight” Cole said to Sasha as he walked down the line of five men and one woman on their knees in front of him.

  He stopped in front of the woman. She was crying. He lifted her head with his finger and looked at her. “Crying won’t help you human, only your wits will. If you’re smart enough to evade us in our hunt tonight then I’ll give you the most precious gift in the world, I’ll make you one of us. If you’re not, then your troubles will be over and you’ll get to see your maker.”

  The woman busted out in another round of sobs. Cole smiled and stepped away from her. He raised his hands in the air to call everyone’s attention. Forty or so werewolves in human form stood behind the line of humans. They looked to Cole, waiting for him to speak.

  “Tonight, we hunt!” he yelled.

  The crowd cheered and howled. Cole smiled and raised his hands up once more. The crowd silenced. “We have several humans tonight and I do hope that they give us a good hunt. I would love to increase our pack size. However, do not take it easy with them. Only the strongest should survive. And if my brother happens to interfere with our hunt tonight, don’t take it easy on him either. Take him down a notch or two but don’t kill him. If anyone deserves that honor, it’s me. Feel free to take out as many of his pathetic pack as you wish.”

  Again, his pack cheered. Cole approached the humans once more and smiled menacingly. “I’m sure that Sasha has already told you the rules,” he looked to her and she nodded. “Even so, I’ll go over them with you again. The only rule is to survive. We are miles outside of town and the woods behind us are secluded so no one will hear you if you scream for help. You’ll have a thirty minute head start. All you have to do is make it to the road about three miles through the woods. If you get caught then you’ll have the chance to fight, if you win, you can join us. If not, well, it was nice knowing you. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it?”

  A few of the men cussed at Cole and the woman pleaded with him to let her go. Sasha grabbed her hair from behind and jerked her head back. “Stop your pathetic whining or I’ll slit your throat right here and now” she snarled and held her switch blade against the woman’s throat.

  “Let her go, Sasha” Cole said with a chuckle. “She’s only human. You can’t expect her to have pride or dignity. Let her cry her eyes out if that’s what she wants to do. It won’t help her in the end.”

  Sasha released the woman and growled near her ear. “You’re mine!”

  The woman shivered as more tears rolled down her face.

  Cole took a whistle from his pocket and held it to his lips. He blew into it and smiled at the humans. “I suggest you run. Your thi
rty minutes just started.”

  The humans jumped up from the ground and pushed their way through the crowd and ran into the woods. Cole’s laugh echoed in the night behind them. One of the men looked over his shoulder before he stepped into the woods. He saw everyone taking off their clothes. Curiosity got the better of him and instead of following the others, he continued to watch Cole’s pack. When they dropped to the ground and turned into wolves, he gasped and stared at them in shock. It took him a second to pull himself together, then he darted into the woods. There was no way he was going to survive the night and he knew it.

  *****

  Jesse knew he was getting close to the hunting site. He could hear howling and the scent of wolves was everywhere. He motioned for Devon and Tyron to enter the woods in a different direction from him and Trevor. Scotty went further down on his own.

  They all slinked their way through the woods quietly. With Cole’s pack being in wolf form, their hearing would be at its best. Whereas Jesse and his pack had to stay in human form if they were going to succeed in getting the humans to trust them enough to follow them to safety. Not being able to shift put them at a huge disadvantage when it came to protecting themselves.

  Jesse and Trevor walked deeper into the woods. Jesse lifted his nose in the air and sniffed to try and catch the scent of the humans. The stench of fresh blood hit him and he followed it until he found the mutilated body of a man who looked to be in his mid-twenties. His throat had been ripped out. Guilt over not being able to save the man hit Jesse hard and he thought about his promise to Lacey. Already, he was failing her.

  Someone screamed and Jesse’s head snapped in the direction that it came from. He gave the dead man on the ground one last look before running deeper into the woods towards the screams that were echoing through the trees.

  Before he could get to whoever was screaming, the noise stopped and so did Jesse. There was no point in continuing, he knew that he would only find another dead body. Trevor touched his arm from behind and nodded in another direction. Jesse followed him and quickly picked up on what had caught Trevor’s attention. He could hear the rapid beating of a human heart. They followed the faint sound until they found a man hiding in a tree about twenty feet above the ground.

  Jesse stood under the branch that the man was sitting on and motioned for him to come down. The man looked down at him with a terrified expression and shook his head. It was obvious that he was scared out of his mind. He was clinging to the tree like it was his life line.

  “I’m going to have to go up and get him” Jesse whispered.

  Trevor nodded and kept watch around them as Jesse climbed up the tree with ease. Once on the branch with the man, Jesse held his hand out to him. “Come on, we have to get out of here” he whispered.

  The man stared at him in shock. “Who...who are you?” he stuttered.

  “I’m here to help you, now let’s go before they find us.”

  Just then a howl rang out and it sounded close. The man looked in the direction that it came from then back to Jesse. “Okay...get me the hell out of here” he blurted.

  There was no easy way to get him down so Jesse just grabbed his arm and jumped, pulling the man down with him. They both hit the ground at the same time, Jesse on his feet and the man in a crumpled heap. Jesse pulled him to his feet and pushed him toward Trevor. “Get him out of here!”

  A woman screamed and Jesse and Trevor looked at each other.

  “I’ll go, you take him to safety” Trevor said and started in the direction of the woman’s scream.

  “No! You get him out of here and I’ll help the woman” Jesse countered.

  Trevor looked at Jesse for a second. He didn’t like the idea of leaving him alone in the woods with Cole’s pack around. But he had to get the human to safety so he nodded, grabbed the man’s arm and tugged him through the woods back to the Jeep.

  Jesse took off in hopes of saving the woman before it was too late. About two hundred yards from where he left Trevor, he stopped abruptly when he got close enough to see what was going on.

  A small brunette woman was lying on the ground and Sasha was on top of her in wolf form. The woman’s arms were bleeding and she was trying desperately to push Sasha off of her. Sasha caught Jesse’s scent and looked up, leveling a death gaze at him. She growled out loud and snapped her jaws, warning him to back off.

  “Sasha, don’t do this. Just let her go” Jesse pleaded.

  Sasha gave him what amounted to a wolves smile before biting down on the woman’s throat. She shook her head, ripping the flesh open.

  “No!” Jesse screamed as he closed the distance between them. He looked down at the woman as blood poured from her wound. His gut wrenched and he felt nauseous. He quickly looked away, unable to believe the cruelty he had just witnessed.

  Racked with guilt over not saving the poor woman, Jesse let his guard down for a second, but that one second cost him. Out of nowhere, a large brown wolf rammed him in the side, knocking him to the ground. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Sasha running off in the opposite direction. He jumped to his feet and faced the wolf that had attacked him. It wasn’t one that he knew so he figured it must be one of Cole’s newbies.

  The wolf charged at him again and Jesse leapt through the air over his attackers head. He hit the ground with a thud a few feet behind the wolf. He kicked its back legs out from under it and the wolf fell to the ground. Jesse then turned and tried to make a run for it but the wolf jumped up and bit down on his arm, ripping his flesh from the bone. Jesse howled out in pain and punched the wolf in the head. It immediately let go and backed away.

  Unable to hold his human form any longer through the rage boiling inside him, Jesse’s instincts kicked in and he ripped his shirt off and fell to the ground on all fours. His human skin gave way to thick black fur as his body shifted gracefully from one form to the other.

  He threw his head back and howled in anticipation of a fight. Both wolves circled each other, looking for an opening to attack. Jesse saw his first. The brown wolf glanced over his shoulder for the tiniest of seconds when he heard a twig snap and Jesse charged him. He bit down on his opponent’s front shoulder and jumped onto his back, digging his claws into flesh.

  The brown wolf howled in pain and tried to buck Jesse off but he wouldn’t budge. The sound of other howls getting closer caught Jesse’s attention. He released his hold on the brown wolf and sniffed the air. The scent of wolves was getting thicker and thicker in the air and Jesse knew that he was minutes away from being surrounded by his enemies. He looked down at his attacker and gave a low growl before running out of the woods. His only thought all the way home was that none of his pack had been injured or worse, killed.

  Chapter Ten

  Lacey had spent the last couple of hours grilling Tonya and Kindal about what it was like to be a werewolf and they had graciously answered her questions...all but one. After they told her who Sasha was and her connection to Cole, Kindal let it slip that very soon Lacey was going to have the same kind of connection to Jesse that Sasha and Cole shared because of the werewolf law. But when Lacey asked what she was talking about, Tonya interrupted Kindal by giving her a mean look and changing the subject.

  Lacey thought it was strange for Tonya to react that way but she didn’t give it much thought. She liked both women and didn’t want to cause any problems with them. Kindal was quickly becoming someone that she could think of as a friend while Tonya was earning a more unusual place in her life.

  Ever since Lacey was brought to the warehouse, Tonya had been waiting on her hand and foot. She had a gentle motherly aura about her and the fact that her red hair reminded Lacey of Cindy every time that she looked at her, caused conflicting emotions within her. On one hand, being reminded of Cindy made Lacey sad but on the other, the way Tonya tried to take care of and nurture her made her feel good. It also made her wish that her own mother had been as loving.

  Lacey glanced at the door of the warehouse, hop
ing that at any moment Jesse was going to walk in. She was enjoying her time with the women but she was still worried about him. Tonya noticed Lacey looking at the door and tried to divert her attention to something else. She had been doing that most of the night. Every time Lacey looked at the door, Tonya would start a conversation about a new topic and ask her opinion. It was obvious that she was just trying to keep Lacey distracted and she loved her for it.

  A little while later, the door to the warehouse flung open and Scotty and the cousins walked in. Devon had the limp body of a young man in his arms. Tonya and Kindal jumped up and within seconds the whole place was in chaos.

  Tonya was questioning Scotty about what had happened and Kindal was running around trying to find the first aid kit to help stop the bleeding on the man’s neck. And Devon and Tyron were arguing over whether or not they should have just left him in the woods because he was injured so badly.

  Lacey stayed back and watched quietly, not wanting to get in anyone’s way. The door suddenly opened again and Trevor walked in with another young man coming in behind him. Tonya ran over to Trevor and threw her arms around his neck. “Oh, thank god you’re alright” she said.

  Trevor hugged her tightly then looked around the room. “Where is Jesse?”

  Kindal stopped beside him with a first aid kit in her hand on her way to the couch. “We thought he was with you” she said and looked from Trevor to Tonya.

  “He was but we got separated” Trevor said.

  “So you just left him behind!” Kindal yelled and threw the first aid kit across the room to Devon.

  “I didn’t have a choice! I had to get the human to safety” he yelled back at her and pointed to the man huddled in the corner across the room. “Besides, Jesse can take care of himself. I’m sure he’ll be here any minute.”

  At the mention of Jesse’s name, Lacey ran over to Trevor. “Where is he?” she asked in a rushed tone. “Why didn’t he come back with you?”

  Trevor looked at her but didn’t answer. She could tell by the look on his face that he was worried and that was all it took for her to freak out. The fear she’d been trying to keep at bay, erupted inside her. And instantly, she felt the hairs on her arms stand on ends as her powers surged through her body. She pushed past Trevor and darted toward the door, only to be stopped in her tracks when it swung open again.