Exodus (8 page)

Valen agreed, but since there was no proof of anything, he couldn’t see adding to Aaron’s worries. “Nature’s unpredictable. Things like this storm have happened before, and our ancestors had to deal with it. We’ll do the same. The storm will pass, eventually.”
Please let it be soon.
“I need to go back and check on the river. If it’s much higher than it was, we’re going to get everyone out of here. It’ll be too dangerous to stay.”

“Has it ever flooded here?” Aaron asked, easing back from him.

“Not that I’m aware of. Guess it might be time for it.” Valen kissed Aaron quickly. “Pack up whatever things are necessary, just in case. Store what you can. A small sack is manageable, but we don’t have enough horses or people for everyone to carry everything.”

Wariness showed in Aaron’s eyes. “You sound like you think evacuating is going to happen.”

Valen wouldn’t lie to his mate. “I think it will. I’m going to get Rivvie and a few others to tell everyone else to get prepared for it.” He kissed Aaron again. “I’ll be back.”

“Be safe. I hate having to stay behind…” Aaron muttered something about not having a fur coat.

Valen left their den, shifting before he did so. His fur coat was great against the elements, but he was beginning to think it’d grow mold from being constantly wet over the past few days.

His paws sunk deep into the mud with every step he took. Valen loped and tried to keep his weight evenly distributed. The rain was coming down so hard he couldn’t see well. It was odd how quickly he’d gotten used to a wet, gray world. After he’d finally found Rivvie at Matt’s and sent him, Jan and Verl on the mission to alert everyone to evacuate, Valen ran for the river.

Sometimes the wind’s gusts were hard enough to make him stumble, and once he even ended up falling over. The lightning and thunder could disorient him if he wasn’t careful. Valen was soaked through and through by the time he saw the river—which wasn’t nearly as far away as it should have been. The roar of it outdid the sound of the rain coming down. Even the wind couldn’t compete with the rushing river.

Valen blinked and shook his head, then the rest of his body. The river was rising too fast. He could make out debris being carried away in it. Movement that wasn’t as stiff as a log caught his attention in that deadly estuary.
Debris, deer and gods only know what else. We’re going to be taken out by that damned river unless we leave, now.

He’d never been in a flood before, but every instinct in his being was telling him to run, run,
run
as a thunderous sound put the other noises to shame.

Valen turned and ran, his heart pounding, fear riding his tail and catching him, climbing up his spine like Death’s fingertip.

Lightning blinded him more than once, and the wind grew fiercer, battering him about.

And still that great, quaking noise increased.

Valen reached the pack center and howled as loud as he could. Rivvie and the other two shifters had done their job, and many people were already clamoring about, leading horses, carrying bags or kids or both.

Valen nipped at the heels of anyone who wasn’t fast enough to suit him. He found Aaron and barked at Rivvie to bring up the rear. Valen hated to put his brother in danger, but the pack wouldn’t follow the beta, not when fear led the wolf nature to take over. A weaker wolf leading the pack could cause fights and death, many deaths if they didn’t get out of the way of the impending flood.

As Valen ran, the ground shook almost constantly, and the skies turned a dark shade of green-gray that set off more alarms in his wolf.
Death! Death. The skies are bringing the deadly twisters.
Valen had heard of them before, old tales used to terrify pups and keep them from running off.
Don’t get too far away or a twister will drop from the sky and whisk you away.
He remembered the threats, and when he was older, asking his father about them. Based on fact but no longer relevant, Varex had said.

It appeared he’d been very wrong, and Valen knew now what the sound like that of a thousand hooves was.

Death on the wind. Death in the water. Death in the lightning, the skies, the earth
— The way it shook under him wasn’t just from the thunder. It was as if the ground were erupting from the inside out.

Valen wondered if the world was about to explode, so volatile was everything around them. He nudged Aaron in front of him. “Run!” he growled. Surely Aaron understood what that snarl meant.

The pack would accept the alpha putting his mate first. If they didn’t, Valen would take on whoever thought his life held more value than Aaron’s.

Valen kept close to Aaron for several minutes as the world went crazy—scents, sounds and sights so frightening he couldn’t deal with them. He focused on his mate, on leading his pack.

Then Aaron yelled and stumbled. The ground rose up violently and Aaron fell.

Valen didn’t know what was happening—an earthquake, twisters, a flood—it was the end of the world, and if not, it would be if Aaron was killed. He lunged after his mate, even before Aaron hit the ground. He had visions of Aaron falling into a crevice and being swallowed up by the ground, by the hungry, angry Earth itself as payment for some unnamed sins.

No!
He leaped and caught Aaron by the heel, biting hard, pulling his mate back. Now that he was close enough, Valen could see that there was indeed a tremendous, gaping hole and the ground was definitely uneven, like a layer of it had been knocked up out of place.

The shock of seeing such a thing was quickly stamped out by a flavor in his mouth. Valen tasted Aaron’s blood and knew he’d hurt his mate. He hated that, causing harm in such a manner, but he’d have hated losing Aaron more. Valen let go of Aaron’s heel and shifted. “I’m sorry, Aaron. Are you hurt anywhere else?” He had to shout to be heard over the noise surrounding them.

“My h-h-head.” Aaron shook so hard it looked like he was an earthquake himself. His eyes rolled back in his head, then his lids slid shut.

“Aaron!” Valen found his pulse, and spotted a nasty cut on the side of Aaron’s head. “Shit! Shit!” He scooped Aaron up while the pack slowed down.

“Go!” Valen shouted at them. “Run! Don’t stop until you’re safe!” He hoisted Aaron up on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, mate. I’m sorry I hurt you.” Damn it, he should have gone first. By sending Aaron ahead, he’d thrust him right into harm’s way.

All the hells he’d ever heard of were coming after them.
Why is the Earth so angry with us?
Maybe he was being melodramatic. Even so, Valen didn’t know what he’d done to bring on such an all-out assault. It felt personal. He took it as such. Valen threw back his head and shouted at the vicious sky. “Fuck you! You can
not
have me or mine!”

Lightning struck not a dozen feet away.

Valen stopped challenging Fate or Nature, whatever hateful thing that was driving this evil force. He wanted to live, and he wanted Aaron, as well as the rest of the pack, to live, too. That wouldn’t happen if they didn’t get out of the unnatural, brutal storm. Valen dug his toes into the mud and ran.

Running as a man was more tiring than doing so as a wolf. He was more vulnerable to the elements, but Valen wouldn’t put Aaron down for anything. Despite the deluge and wind, the trembling ground and roaring skies, Valen stopped periodically to check on his pack.

The horses were too scared to be ridden, and in fact, Valen was on the verge of telling the people trying to lead the horses just to let the creatures go before someone ended up dead.

In the end, he decided to leave that decision to each horse handler. Valen had little experience with horses and couldn’t predict how the things would behave.

He had Aaron to worry about anyway. Aaron was still shaking, and his skin was cold as ice. Valen saw the blood running down Aaron’s foot, a stream of watery pink flowing off his toes. He maneuvered Aaron into his arms instead of over his shoulder.

Valen tried to rub some warmth into Aaron’s body but he was lacking in heat himself. He tucked his head down and plowed on, only to turn with a vicious snarl when someone tugged at Aaron, as if to pull him from Valen’s shoulder.

“Let me help,” Rivvie shouted, swiping at the rain dripping into his eyes. “Come on, shift and let me carry him.”

Matt stood beside Rivvie, glancing around nervously.

Valen’s pride insisted that he keep a hold of his mate, but common sense and concern for Aaron came first. He helped Rivvie get Aaron settled, then checked Aaron’s wounds and pulse.

Aaron groaned and pushed himself up, hands braced on Rivvie’s back. “What—?”

Valen kissed him, despite the rain and storm and hell on earth around them. “Don’t do that again. Don’t scare me like that, Aaron.”

Aaron blinked rapidly, then gave him a wan smile. “’Kay.”

“Rivvie’s going to carry you for a little while,” Matt explained. “Give Valen a break.”

Aaron murmured something lost in the wind then lowered himself down, until he was hanging limply over Rivvie’s shoulder.

“Not too long like that,” Valen warned. “The blood all flows down. It will hurt his brain.”

Rivvie nodded. “I know. I’m just waiting for you to shift then I’ll put him like you were carrying him in a few minutes.”

Valen shifted. He turned back on the incline where he now stood and looked back toward the pack lands—and knew all was lost there. Water covered the entire dwellings area. Even as far away as he was, he could see it because it appeared that an entire ocean had flowed inland.

How, or why, he didn’t know. Twisters raged over the landscape, and it wasn’t only lightning in the sky, but hellacious orange fireballs chased with green flames on the ends.

What has happened to our world? All I wanted was to take care of my pack, the pack I grew up with, the pack I love, in the place we all called home, and now, it’s gone.
It hurt, like losing a part of himself physically. Valen told himself to toughen up. He was an alpha, with many people counting on him.

With one last look, Valen let himself feel regret and loss, then he locked both emotions up.

Running up the slick wet rocks, he resumed his place in front of the pack, and they continued their trek in the storm.

Rivvie altered his hold on Aaron as he’d said he would. Matt offered to help and he too took a turn carrying Aaron.

After another hour or so, the storm began to ease up. Or, if not ease up, they at least began to escape from its grip. It was still horrendous, but the ground had ceased shaking and the wind wasn’t as chilly. Debris no longer whipped through the air, and that awful, thundering sound had died away. The skies were merely a dark gray, the tint of green gone.

Valen shifted again and took Aaron into his arms.

Aaron watched him, and Valen saw that there was an almost distant look in Aaron’s eyes.

Then he noticed the heat bleeding from Aaron into him. “You have a fever,” Valen said, fear ticking up inside him like a living thing. He glared at Matt. “You didn’t tell me he’s feverish.”

Matt’s lips were tinted blue from the cold, as were Rivvie’s. Rivvie put an arm around Matt’s shoulders. “We’re both fucking frozen, Val. I don’t think we’ll be able to feel warmth for days.”

Valen’s anger didn’t vanish. It did become manageable. The fear didn’t recede at all. “Where’s Lanaka at? She’s our shaman. She’s supposed to be here in our time of need!”

Rivvie patted his back. “That’s what I wonder. How could she abandon us at a time like this? She’s supposed to know when this kind of freaky shit is going to happen.”

With no answer readily coming to mind, Valen fumed over the shaman’s desertion. There might be a logical explanation for her being gone. The storm that had come upon them days ago was so freakish, he supposed even Lanaka might not have been able to foretell its coming.

He still felt abandoned by her, and worried about Aaron.

“How far should we go?” Matt asked him sometime later.

Valen had long since lost track of time. “I don’t know,” he said tiredly. The sky was still against them, still angry, still pelting them with rain. It didn’t matter that it wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been. Valen was exhausted nonetheless, just as everyone else was. He needed somewhere dry and out of the wind to tend to Aaron.

“We have to keep on until we come to decent shelter for all of us.” It was the only answer.

And it was how Valen and his pack ended up walking for hours, until the sun was about to rise in an almost clear sky, and they came upon a land he’d never seen before.

Chapter Nine

At least they were out of the storm. Valen curled up behind Aaron, briskly rubbing over one of Aaron’s arms, trying to warm him up. The fever had broken after Anita had administered some rank-smelling liquid to Aaron shortly after Valen had found the pack shelter in a series of cliffs and caves.

The red rocks and boulders were unlike any kind of land Valen had ever seen before. There was no grass anywhere to be seen, only sand and dirt, rocks and mountains.

And water, lots of water. It stood in puddles and streams, in rivulets and lakes, even rivers. He’d spotted two waterfalls cascading down red mountainsides before taking shelter.

“A barren land about to be barren no longer,” he mused, whispering the words into Aaron’s ear. “You’ll be blown away by it when you wake up, love.”

“M’awake,” Aaron mumbled. “Feel like shit.”

Valen chuckled at that. “I imagine you do. You had a fever, and I bit you. The bite isn’t infected, though. Anita thinks you had a fever because of something else.”

“Sick.” Aaron shivered and pushed back against Valen. “Hate being sick. My bones ache.”

“Ah, mate, I’m sorry. I wish it were me instead.” Valen kissed Aaron’s temple, below the cut he’d cleaned. “You also hit your head. The swelling’s all but gone already.”

“Hn.” Aaron groaned. He licked his lips then cleared his through. “Head hurts.” Aaron wiggled. “You could make me forget I hurt.”

Valen’s dick twitched. “No, you’re in no shape to— Oomph!” He gasped, trying to catch a breath. Aaron had knocked it right out of him with one bony elbow.