*****
She wanted to call him a liar, scream it in his face until hers was red and she was out of breath. It was a lie, it had to be. There was no way her mother or father would have chosen a psychopath like Roman to be their godfather. If they truly had, it meant that they had been close at one time, and it would have taken a true monster to be friends with someone like Roman. What did that say about her parents? Especially her mother, who had denied knowing anyone by the name Roman. She had been so sure that their mother wasn’t lying, but now she couldn’t be sure.
Even though she knew it was a bad idea, she found herself getting out of the car, leaving the door open as Gabe had done. Roman’s eyes found her immediately, and he smiled as he saw her approaching. Before Gabe could yell at her to get back in the car, she was by his side and staring Roman down. “You’re a liar,” she said, the words coming to her without a second of hesitation. “You’re a monster, not our godfather.”
He smiled. “Grant appointed me your godfather when the two of you were born. Grant and I were best friends growing up, more like brothers, really. But you know how that story goes. When I needed him and Geoffrey the most, they deserted me, and because of it, my life was irrevocably destroyed. I could never forgive them for what they’d done—or refused to do, honestly—and I vowed to get revenge. Kind of like a cliché movie villain. But this is real life, and revenge is so much easier to get than in the movies. Ginny is living proof of that.” He laughed. “Well, not living, I suppose.”
Gabe lunged for him, murder in his eyes, and Gwen shoved herself in front of him, ramming her elbow into his stomach. She had never moved so quickly in her life, but her mind was moving faster than it ever had before, and she could see his movement as if everything was happening in slow motion around her. She stayed in front of a wheezing Gabe, even though it brought her closer to Roman than she could stomach.
As he laughed, she could hear rustling all around as wolves flooded the road behind them, cutting off any chance of escape. She glanced quickly over her shoulder and spotted six more wolves behind Ginny’s car, within sprinting distance. If they ran as if their lives depended on it, could they make it back to the car in time? She was grateful they’d left the doors open, which would make their escape much easier, but she wasn’t sure if it would be enough.
Wolves were so fast…
“Now that I have your full attention, there’s a matter I’d like to discuss with you.” Gabe spat at the ground by Roman’s feet, but he didn’t flinch. “I want you two both to join my pack and I won’t stop until I get what I want. I’ll turn you and you’ll be bound to me, just like Ginny was. Then, you’ll be under my command and do as I say. Don’t worry though, I’m an easy man to please, really. As long as you don’t disobey me, I’ll make sure your lives aren’t all that horrible.” He glanced at Gwen. “I’ll give you your very own choice of mate, and you can start increasing our numbers.”
“You’re not gonna lay a hand on my sister,” Gabe said, dragging Gwen behind him and blocking her from Roman’s view. “I won’t let you.”
“Sorry, Kid, but it’s not up to you,” Roman said. There was a glint in his eyes, and Gwen knew what was coming next. Before the words left his mouth, she was already pulling on Gabe’s sleeve, forcing him back to the car at a breakneck speed. “Get them!” Roman commanded.
She could hear nails scraping against the road as the wolves rushed forward, eager to carry out Roman’s orders. Gabe grabbed her by the wrist and yanked her toward the car, nearly wrenching her arm out of her socket. Her feet pounded against the ground as they raced for the car, but she could hear the wolves closing in behind them. Fear caught in the back of her throat, urging her forward faster than she’d ever run in her life.
But the wolves that had blocked off their retreat were much closer and closing the gap. Her heart slammed to a dead halt in her chest as the realization hit. They weren’t going to make it to the car! The wolves were nearly on them, and she closed her eyes as Gabe spurred her forward, not wanting to watch what she knew was coming next. A sharp yelp forced her to open her eyes, and she saw two large wolves that hadn’t been on the road just seconds ago. They were both the same dark color, and one was a little larger than the other, both with the same piercingly fierce gray eyes that screamed defiance and rage as they tore into Roman’s rear guard.
They wasted no time in getting to the car, and Gwen stumbled, scraping her knee against the metal edge of the frame. Gabe hauled her up by the shirt and shoved her into the driver’s side door. She scrambled over to the passenger side door and yanked it closed, just as a wolf slammed into it with a loud thump and a shrill yelp. Before she could even breathe, Gabe shouted, and she turned to look over her shoulder. A sandy colored wolf had its jaws locked around Gabe’s arm, blood welling up around its fangs and spilling onto the fabric of the seat. He cursed as he pounded on its muzzle, trying to force it to let go.
Another wolf appeared in the doorway, trying to force its way around Gabe to get inside the car. With the sandy wolf’s jaws still fastened on Gabe’s arm, he turned his body so that his shoulders were blocking most of the open door, shielding Gwen from any harm as he used his good arm to keep the second wolf at bay. She screamed as the wolf’s jaws snapped dangerously close to Gabe’s face, and she reached around the seat for a weapon of any kind. Her hand closed around a half empty coke bottle that she found under the seat, and she hurled it as hard as she could, half-surprised that it hit the wolf and not the back of Gabe’s head since her hand-eye coordination was zero.
The wolf slid out of the car, and Gabe shoved his feet against the sandy wolf’s chest, pushing with all his might. It went flying out of the car, skidding against the road. With a savage snarl, the two dark mystery wolves were on it, fangs flashing and fur flying as they tore into it. Gwen’s eyes were wide as she stared, unable to force herself to look away from the carnage in front of her. She had never seen anything so brutal in her short life, and Gabe had to physically shove her into the passenger seat.
He yanked the driver’s side door closed and floored it, speeding away from the nightmare behind them. The side mirror clipped a wolf in the face as they drove by, and it shattered, leaving glass fragments all over the road. She turned around in her seat, looking for the largest wolf of all, knowing that he would still be watching them. She was right, locating him in an instant, still in the middle of the road where she’d seen him last. He hadn’t even moved out of the path of Ginny’s car, instead knowing that Gabe would instinctively drive around him rather than risk totaling the vehicle and leaving them stranded.
As she watched, she saw the two mystery wolves slip safely back into the woods. Roman glanced briefly in their direction, but none of his wolves took off in pursuit. His eyes turned back to her, and she felt her blood turn to ice in her veins. She was unable to move as their eyes connected. She could see the anger and madness in them, but there was something else, something far more frightening and sinister. It was a promise of even worse things to come. She shuddered at the thought of it, finally tearing her eyes away from the rear window.
She was trembling from head to toe, and a quick glance over at Gabe told her that he was just as terrified as she was. Finally, she noticed the blood that dripped from the open wound on his left arm, and her eyes widened. The seat beneath Gabe was already drenched in red, and the blood flow didn’t show any signs of slowing. “Gabe, pull over!” she said, gasping. She fumbled with the glove box and pulled out a wad of napkins from some obscure burger joint in Rockford.
“Gabe!” she shouted, since he hadn’t seemed to hear her the first time. “Pull over before you bleed to death!”
She must have gotten through to him, because he eased over onto the side of the road without a word. His knuckles were white as he gripped the steering wheel, and he bowed his head, his chest heaving with each labored breath he took. Gwen could tell it was taking a tremendous effort for him to remain calm, and she was scared that he might freak
out if she touched him yet. But she didn’t know what else to do. His wound was serious and it needed to be tended to before it got worse.
Gingerly, she reached out to him, her fingertips just barely grazing his shoulder. He flinched at her touch and spun away from her, putting his back to the driver’s side door. His breathing quickened and his eyes were wild as he held his arm as far away from her as possible. “Gabe,” she said, her voice soft and pleading. “Let me take a look at your arm, please. I need to stop the bleeding.”
His eyes closed and he leaned his head back against the glass of the window. Gwen could see blood splattered on the pane, but she forced her eyes back to Gabe’s face. He was all that mattered right now; not their revenge, Ginny’s death, or even her own terror. Gabe was going to suffer a great deal because like always he’d put her ahead of himself. In ensuring her safety, he had forfeited his, and knowing their family’s luck, there would be no way to get it back. The thought of their misfortune brought tears to her eyes once again, and she bit her lip to keep from screaming in frustration.
After a few minutes of terribly lonely silence, Gabe slid across the seat, allowing her to examine his arm. She tried not to let her panic show, but the wound was deep and the edges were jagged, as if flesh and muscle had been ripped straight from the bone, leaving a giant cavernous hole right in the center of his forearm. She took a deep breath through her mouth before taking wads of napkins from the glove compartment. She formed a makeshift pad and laid it against his arm.
He hissed in pain and she winced. “Sorry,” she said, not daring to ease up on the pressure in case he bled to death in the seat beside her. One handed and clumsily, she managed to undo her belt and wrap it around his arm. The last hole was still far too loose so she held it there as tightly as she could. She wondered if that was really the right thing to do in a situation like this. She had seen it done in movies and read about it in her stories, but weren’t there risks? She couldn’t worry about it now, though. Even if there were risks, anything would be better than Gabe loosing his life due to blood loss when she could have prevented it.
Gabe eased the car back onto the road, going at a much slower pace than they had before. She could see him squinting over the steering wheel, and she wondered if he was dangerously close to passing out. What would I do if Gabe just slumped over in that seat? I can’t drive a car and take care of a dying brother!
“It’s not as bad as it looks,” he said, his voice quiet and steady, despite the terror he had experienced today and the trauma to his arm. “I can’t explain it, but I know I’m gonna be alright, Gwen. You don’t have to worry about me.” He glanced over at her, taking his eyes off the road for a few quick seconds. “Don’t forget, I’m a werewolf now. We’re a lot harder to kill than normal people.” His voice was full of bitterness and despair.
His eyes went back to the road and the car was filled with a dead silence. Gwen kept her hands on Gabe’s wound, trying to keep calm as she felt blood begin to seep through the napkins, making them tacky and warm. Her eyes flicked to the rear view mirror again, where the two mystery wolves had disappeared and were long gone. “I wonder if that was Dad and Uncle Geoffrey…”
Gabe made a disapproving noise in the back of his throat. “They should have told us about all of this. It’s their fault we’re in this mess, and it’s their fault Ginny is dead.”
She wanted to defend their father and Geoffrey, but it was hard not to agree with him. All of the secrets that had been kept from them were like a trap, one that had drawn them in against their will. The three of them had never stood a real chance of escaping their family’s secrets, that much was clear to Gwen. Whether it was fate or just bad luck, it seemed the universe had conspired against them, and it had no plans of letting up any time soon.
It’s not fair…it’ll never be fair…