FRACTURED (25 page)

“So where exactly are we headed?”

“Sean gave me explicit instructions, but I'm not really familiar with the area. Don't worry―you drive, I'll navigate.”

He shot me a dubious look from the driver's seat before firing up the vehicle. He was in a mood of grand proportions. The hour in the car was destined to be unbearable for all if something didn't lighten things up, and quickly.

“What? We got back from Utah just fine.”

“Yeah, because you were unconscious for the better part of the trip!” he exclaimed, pulling onto the on ramp.

“I helped!” I retorted.

“Yes, Ruby,
technically
you did help. You got me from the highway to your house. It was a crucial part of the trip.”

“One of these days I'm just going to punch you right in the face,” I said as I folded my arms over my chest and sunk down into my seat like a petulant child. “You won't even see it coming. Just
BAM
, and you're out for the count.”

He laughed. It was not the response I was looking for.

“I look forward to it, Rubes.”

“Are you two always like this?” Alistair asked meekly from the backseat.

“
Yes
,” we shouted in unison right before the car fell silent.

It stayed silent until we hit Boston.

“So where do I need to go?” Cooper asked, trying to sound less irritated than he actually was.

“Take a right up here, I think,” I called out, pointing to the upcoming intersection as I squinted at the street sign above. “Does that say Massachusetts Ave?”

“Jesus, Ruby,” Cooper lamented. “No, that's not what it says at all.

Not even close. Give the phone to Janner and let him navigate. Have a nap until we get there.”

“Sorry,” I whined, rubbing my eyes. “You try surviving on a couple hours of sleep a night and see how good your visual acuity is.” Frustrated, I tossed the cell to Janner, who was seated directly behind me. “The directions are highlighted on the Google map. Sean assured me they'd get us there easily.”

“Got it,” he chirped before telling Cooper to take a right.

Fifteen minutes went by and we still weren't there. I turned to see Janner eyeing the map with a bewildered expression. It was clear that he'd goofed up somewhere along the way and was trying to find a solution before letting Cooper in on it. Not wanting to rat him out, I gave him a few minutes to sort things out before addressing the issue.

“Cooper,” he said in his strange accent. “Pull in up here for a minute. The phone lost reception for a moment back there, and I think I've missed something in the process. I just need to get my bearings, and then we can proceed.”

“I wondered if I should count on someone used to driving on the wrong side of the road for directions,” Cooper sneered.

As Alistair launched into a rant about American arrogance, Cooper pulled into an abandoned warehouse parking lot. I hadn't been paying attention during the drive, taking Cooper's advice and trying to rest my sleep-deprived eyes, so I hadn't realized just how shady the neighborhood we were driving in was, until we stopped.

My dance studio was in an area that skirted the less refined areas of town, but it was nothing like where we had stopped. The area was destitute, ominous, and filled with a nefarious energy.

I soon found out why.

While the four of them bickered like spoiled housewives, I stared out of the front window to see five formidable men exiting a tank of a vehicle and heading our way.
Men
was a bit of a misnomer.
Werewolves
was far more accurate given the wall of violent, supernatural energy that slammed against me.

The sun shone through a crack in the clouds, casting a blinding golden-orange aura behind them as though they were encased in the fiery glow of hell. I had a feeling that, as far as we were concerned, that's exactly where they were from.

“Cooper,” I called nervously, tugging on his sleeve. “I think we have a situation.”

The four of them snapped to attention immediately, their collective gaze falling on the rapidly approaching group. Cooper turned the car on, preparing to escape, but it was already too late. The five descended on us in a flash, surrounding the SUV. Cooper hammered the gas, but we went nowhere thanks to one of them jacking up the rear bumper with one hand.

“Fucking rear wheel drive,” Cooper muttered, his aggression rising.

The second I knew that there was no way to make a clean getaway, I knew that shit was about to get real.

“Janner,” one of them called tauntingly in a pristine British accent while he tapped lightly on the rear passenger window. “Time to pay the piper.”

“You know them?” Cooper asked, more to confirm his suspicions than anything.

“They are from our former pack,” Janner spat through clenched teeth. “They are the
cleaning
crew.”

A look of understanding flashed through Cooper's face. I did my best not to panic, but my fear polluted the air in the car, sending Cooper's protective instincts into high gear. The yellow of his eyes nearly fluoresced as the growl came low and warning from deep in his chest.

The sound was matched by three others, rattling the interior of the vehicle.

The men outside backed up a step in response.

“Ruby,” Cooper said, pinning his eyes on me. “I want you to get the fuck out of here right now. Do you understand me? As soon as we get out, I want you in this driver's seat and peeling out of here, tired eyes and all.”

“But you're outnumbered―”

“Drive the fucking car, Ruby. It's not a goddamn request!”

“We need her,” Alistair protested. I looked back at him to see a confused and disappointed look on his face. To him, the savior he had been counting on wasn't unavailable; she was deserting.

“Don't like it when the odds are unfavorable, Alice?” Cooper asked in a taunting voice. “Don't question my motives ever again...if you live to see tomorrow. Let's do this.”

The boys turned their attention back to the assailants who awaited them patiently. I was surprised that they hadn't just ripped the doors off the car and started picking us off one by one, but instead, they had backed off slightly, allowing the boys space to exit as if there was a code of ethics to follow in a showdown of this type. An extermination mission with a rule book.

Without further warning, the four of them flew out of the car at inhuman speed, slamming the doors behind them to punctuate their attack. I punched the door lock and hopped over the console to the driver's seat, doing my best to follow Cooper's instructions. Whatever happened, he wanted me safe.

But I couldn't just throw the Navigator in reverse and leave.

I looked out to see a melee. Wolves, men,
blood
―so much blood.

They moved so quickly that I could hardly keep tabs on what was happening and to whom. Cooper and a monster of a man were in a dead-even match. Janner seemed to be winning his battle, but it was hard to tell; the reddish wolf he fought just kept coming back for more. I couldn't see Beckett at all―Alistair either.

Whirling around in the seat, I tried to find them out the rear window, but a howl ripped my attention back to the events unfolding in front of me. Cooper had a grayish-blue mammoth wolf attached to his back, his fangs buried deep. In front of him stood the same man he'd been fighting with earlier, only this time, he held a gun. My mind raced with unwanted memories, and before I knew it, I was no longer thinking, only reacting.

“NO!” I screamed, flying out of the car. “Cooper!”

I sprinted towards him as the devilish man looked over at me and smiled, aiming the weapon at Cooper's head. He was at point-blank range.

Cooper struggled against the hold of the gray wolf, but it was too much. I had to get there.

“An eye for an eye,” the man said with a growl as I ran toward them. “And an alpha for an alpha.”

Then the shot rang out.

I ground to a halt, feeling the blood as it spattered my face. I flinched away from it―I could barely breathe. My eyes eventually opened and drifted up from my bloodstained clothing to the grisly scene before me.

Bodies were everywhere, and I fought desperately against my welling tears to see exactly
whose
they were. The gray wolf lay dead, neck broken and severed behind Cooper, who was slouched over, looking down at something in front of him. Cooper hadn't been shot, which was cause for a combination of elation and fear, but if he hadn't been, who was?

“Ruby,” Alistair whispered from right beside me. I'd never even heard him approach. “Love, we've got to get them out of here.
Now
.”

He was ushering me away from the carnage, but I shrugged him off, headed for whatever Cooper's body shrouded. Janner had joined him, stooping down low to reach the only person who was yet unaccounted for.

Beckett.

“No
,” I mumbled, stumbling toward them. “No, no, no!”

Cooper and Janner had been talking the whole time. In my shock, I hadn't heard them.

“All I can smell is burnt flesh. If it's not silver, he'll have a chance, but we've got to get him out of here,” Cooper told him, scooping Beckett up in his arms gingerly. “Let's go.” He stormed past me, shooting me a venomous look. My insubordination had not been appreciated.

I scampered along behind him, my limbs not fully obeying my commands. Cooper quickly loaded Beckett into the back of the SUV

while Janner and Ali climbed in the backseat. I hadn't noticed that Alistair was naked until that moment. I hadn't been able to find him during the fight because he had turned furry. Cooper had once said that the younger wolves had trouble maintaining human form when their emotions ran too hot. Alistair was raw emotion incarnate.

“Ruby!” Cooper yelled, snapping my attention to him. “Call Sean now. Tell him to get someone down here to deal with this.”

“Okay, but where is here?”

Cooper looked irritated, but realized I had a point. Then suddenly, in a light bulb moment, he snatched Janner's phone out of the car and tossed it on the ground. “Tell him to track Jan's cell. Seems like it worked great for these ass clowns.” He marched me to the passenger seat of the car and stuffed me in, wincing slightly with the motion.

“Coop, your back―”

“I'm
fine,
” he snapped, slamming the door behind him. I watched as he ran in front of the vehicle to the driver's side. Whatever wound he had was closing up at a shocking pace. I knew that the wolf had done some serious damage to have caused him to cry out at the time. He'd never healed like that before, even when I was helping. Something was fueling it and I knew I had nothing to do with it.

That thought brought my attention to the Brit in the back.

“I can help him!” I shouted, crawling towards the rear.

“You can sit the fuck down and do as you're told for once,” Cooper snarled. “You have no self-preservation instincts whatsoever, you know that? You could have been killed. At least Scarlet―” He clipped off his sentence abruptly, remembering the company we were in.

“He saved you, Coop. Let me help him, please. Be mad at me all you want, but don't take it out on him.”

“I'm not mad at you,” he replied, trying to calm down as he tore out of the parking lot.

“Who's Scarlet?” Alistair asked from behind Cooper. “And why didn't you―”

“Not now, Ali!” I scolded, scrolling through Cooper's phone for Sean's number. Once I found it, I hit dial and waited for his rugged voice on the other end.

“Cooper,” he drawled as if already put out by the call.

“It's me. There's a problem,” I blurted out, my breathing still ragged.

“Where are you?”

“Boston.”

“I know that. Where exactly?”

“I have no idea. Some über sketchy part of town. It's all abandoned factories. But listen! You have to get the boys down here. Have Trey trace Janner's phone. There are bodies...”

“Whose?”

“Long story, but none of ours,” I said, casting a wary eye toward the rear of the car. “Not yet, at least.”

“Are you hurt?” he asked, concern leaking into his voice.

“I'm fine. Coop was torn up, but seems to be fine. Janner and Ali seem to be relatively intact too.”

“And Beckett?”

“He's shot up,” I said, choking on the words slightly. “He took a bullet for Cooper.”

“Silver?”

“I don't know.”

“Can you get to him now?”

“Yeah,” I said, looking up at Cooper. He nodded once. “Give me a sec,” I told him as I scurried into the backseat and over to the trunk area.

I didn't know what to expect, but what I saw was grim to say the least.

Beckett lay flat on his back, barely conscious and panting heavily.

His hands were draped elegantly across his chest, but even the combined breadth of them couldn't camouflage the gaping hole that lay beneath. My heart sank instantly. I knew that wolves could heal themselves in their coma-esque states, but Beckett didn't appear to be in one.

He also didn't appear to be doing anything other than bleeding.

“Ruby!” Sean snapped into the receiver. “Can you see the wound?”

“Yes,” I said softly. “Sean, it's huge. He was shot at point blank range.”

“That's inconsequential. You need to figure out if there's silver in it if you want him to live.”

“How?”

“What does the wound look like? Is there a shimmer to the blood?”

“It looks wet, Sean. Like normal blood.”

He exhaled heavily.

“You're going to have to taste it.”

“WHAT? Are you serious?”

“Yes. Do it now. It will taste like metal.”

“But blood
does
taste like metal―”

“No, blood has a metallic undertone to it. This will taste like licking your jewelry.”

Oddly enough, I'd basically done just that before while working on certain pieces. I never knew it would come in handy.

Gently pushing his hands aside, I looked at the pulsating gristle that was once his beautifully tattooed chest. Embedded in the wound was a pair of dog tags attached to a chain around his neck. I had to fish them out for fear that they would be buried inside him when he healed―if he healed at all. With everything out of the way, I took a deep breath before sticking my finger in the wound. Before I had a chance to chicken out, I shoved it in my mouth and sucked.