I'm Not Afraid of Wolves (The Cotton Candy Quintet Book 4) (9 page)

Still though, the text warmed me up inside. Everything would be well. I was going to make sure of it.

I put the phone away and looked out the window.

“That yours?” Colton asked, breaking into my thoughts.

It took me a moment to realize that he meant the baby. He must have seen the picture when I was responding.

I chuckled in answer. “No, just a friend of mine. She had her baby not too long ago. Miracle baby.”

“Miracle, eh?” he asked.

“Yeah. She had a difficult pregnancy.” Why was I telling him this? He probably didn’t care, but he didn’t say anything, as if he waited for me to keep talking. So I did. “But the baby is healthy and everything is all right now—just goes to show you not to give up hope.”

He nodded and looked at me. “Yes. Don’t give up hope.”

I learned later that Old Plow Company was in Atlanta’s Midtown, straddling one of the major arteries into Downtown. While I didn’t know much about the city, it felt oddly strange for a big, secret werewolf initiation to take place in such an urbanized area. Like a constant reminder that we were never too far from nature’s wild ways.

I also learned, when we pulled up to the address, that it was a massive complex of old buildings in the middle of renovations. Finding where it would happen wasn’t going to be an easy task.

Colton drove the Jeep around the block once and I stuck my head out of the window, trying to see if there was any hint of cars pulling in or a grouping of them parked somewhere. We couldn’t exactly come up and knock on the door to find out which building it was in.

The sun hung heavily on the horizon, like it was threatening me with sunset. I mentally begged it to hold on for a little bit longer. If we didn’t find them before nighttime, then we’d be too late. A quick glance at the clock said it was almost 7pm. An hour away from when it was supposed to happen. But I wasn’t about to hang around waiting.

“I don’t see anything,” I said, feeling disappointed as I slipped back into my seat. I fought back the rising panic. They were here. They had to be.

“I’m going to have to park down the street anyways,” Colton said. He flicked his eyes to me. “It’s going to be fine, Christine.”

I was about to puke, my nerves getting the best of me.

He parked on a street about a half mile away from Old Plow Company. I jumped out, antsy as all hell. I couldn’t think about anything other than fighting them. I mentally paced inside the cage of my mind, ready to leap out and tear out the throat of anyone who came near me.

I had to find them.

“We’ll find them,” Colton promised again, echoing my thoughts.

“What if they aren’t here?” I asked for what seemed like the hundredth time.

“They’ll be here,” he answered grimly. “Because they
have
to be here.”

So that was our plan? Hope for the best, that Connie Sue wasn’t playing us as fools?

All the questions didn’t make me feel better, but I grabbed the tote out of the backseat and Colton raised an eyebrow.

“You’re a bit of a prude, aren’t you?” he asked.

“I spend about four hours a day in a mermaid tail and a bikini in front of children.”  I put the bag over my shoulder. “I’m like the kindergarten teacher of the aquarium—I’m highly conscious of being naked, so I am bringing some clothes.”

At his confused frown, I sighed. “I’ll tell you later.” I hadn’t told him what I did for a living on the drive over, and now wasn’t the time. I dug in the tote bag and produced the Febreze bottle. “Let me spray you.”

He smirked. “I thought that was a male thing?”

“Shut up,” I said, laughing even though I should be worrying about so many other things. At least he took my mind off this. I could live with that.

We both sprayed each other with the Febreze, which may not have been environmentally or health friendly, but at least we didn’t smell like ourselves. It masked our scents enough for the werewolf pack to be noseblind to us.

It also hindered our own sense of smell, but we’d have to live with that.

We also couldn’t exactly shift and head over there. We were still in a very heavily populated area, and people wouldn’t be too keen on seeing a wolf and a mountain lion roaming Atlanta. I’d prefer not to draw attention to ourselves.

Colton and I hurried down the sidewalk, a block away from the entrance to Old Plow Company. Colton led the way, frowning as he tried looking over the fence that lined the property, his nose gently sniffing the air. I tried that too, but there were too many unfamiliar smells in the area, and the Febreze ruined any scent that I got. So I just kept an eye on the horizon, watching that sun dip ever lower and lower.

“We’re out of time,” I whispered.

“No,” Colton said, almost desperate. “We’re not too late.”

He looked up at the fence in front of us, sniffed once, and then looked at me. I watched him, perplexed as to what he was thinking, when he up and jumped the fence. He didn’t climb it; he simply crouched and then sprang, executing a backflip before landing on his feet.

“Are you trying to impress me?” I hissed, feeling the blush in my cheeks. Because it totally did impress me. I guess he had more athletic prowess than his huge bulk suggested.

He chuckled. “Are you coming or not?”

I looked at the fence and the barbed wire. I could make it, but not as a human.

“Yeah,” I grumbled, not looking forward to transforming again. I was making a habit of it now. “But that means that I’m going to be a werecat for the rest of the night.” Especially since we didn’t have time for me to undress and redress.

I hefted the tote bag over the barbed wire, glad when Colton caught it easily. I paced once, transforming as I walked. When I fell on all fours, I picked up the pace, going once more counter clockwise before I launched myself, narrowly avoiding the razor sharp barbed wire before landing on the other side. The impact jarred my joints and my aches protested as a reminder of the night before.

At least I didn’t embarrass myself.

Colton grinned at me lopsidedly. “A cat always lands on her feet.”

I bared my teeth at him in response, which made him chuckle and shake his head.

As a werecat, I sniffed the air, hoping that my sense of smell was better in my animal state. Smells were stronger, more vivid. And I picked up the barest hint of…

Sara.

I growled softly, hoping that Colton knew what I meant, and started running towards the scent. He followed behind me, slower since he was on two legs. We moved in the shadows of the buildings, avoiding the incandescent lights from the windows as twilight descended upon us. Old Plow Company was a combination of both fully renovated loft-like offices and empty warehouses. It was both a trendy place to work and a place in the middle of its transition.

There.

I smelled Sara in the big building, furthest from the road. The doors were boarded up, and construction equipment scattered around the site along with different building materials. This must have been one of the buildings that was not very far in its renovations. Making it the perfect place for a werewolf initiation.

But, seriously, how stereotypical was this? It felt like something out of a movie. It seemed like the most obvious place for this sort of thing.

I wasn’t about to let my guard down though. I bristled, walking up closer to the building. It was nestled next to a hill, so climbing up the hill gave us the advantage of being able to look through one of the high windows.

Hopefully the shadows and the Febreze would conceal us.

At first, I didn’t see much, just one guy in a motorcycle jacket in the middle of the room as he inspected the area, setting up a pair of black chairs. A buddy of his came into view and he told the other guy off, pointing towards the door.

Colton pulled himself up beside me and my ear twitched at his close proximity. The Febreze masked most of his scent, but being this close to me, he was almost intoxicating. I tried focusing on the task at hand, but it felt so nice having a big gentleman right next to me.

I could get used to being around Smokey Bear.

I blocked that very thought from my mind as I watched a pair of men drag a woman to the chairs in the middle of the warehouse. They had put a black bag on her head, effectively blindfolding her and making it harder for me to identify who it was. I was about 90% sure it was Emily based on the way she walked and the prevalence of her scent—but I also smelled Sara.

Where is she?

Then I saw the pack emerge, completing a semicircle around the chairs. I glanced at the other windows, seeing that their circle filled up most of the warehouse. I guesstimated that there were about fifty.
Fifty werewolves
! There was no way I’d be able to fight them off to get to Sara and Emily.

But when I watched one of them pull off the sack, revealing a terrified Emily, I found that, yes I did have the drive to fight. Because no one should be as scared as she was at that moment. I still didn’t know where Sara was, which scared me.

Movement in the corner caught my eye and I let out a small gasp. Andrea was among the wolves here. She looked smug and crossed her arms.

I was going to pay her back for what she did to Sara.

I felt, rather than saw, the sun set, twilight transforming into night quickly. Too quickly. With the sun gone, the moon seemed to shine even brighter, as if enhancing its purpose tonight. It threw the entire complex into a silvery glow. I blinked, trying to shake the glare from my eyes.

But the werewolves sensed it too, and unlike me, they reveled in the full moon’s glow.

As a collective group of humans, they threw back their heads and began howling, a high-pitched shriek that set my teeth on edge. This was completely unlike a were mountain lion’s initiation, which seemed like less of a cult-ring and more of an intimate gesture.

This was something unearthly.

Colton sucked in a deep breath and grabbed my fur, like I was his lifeline to remaining human. I found myself wondering if he too felt the pull of the full moon. Was he going to start howling too?

The pack transformed as they howled, each at different speeds. Clothes shredded, teeth elongated, fur erupted along their skin. With this many wolves transforming all at once, I saw so many shapes and variations. The fur ranged from black to white, different patterns, different ways of wearing their skins. Some seemed more comfortable than others. But the thing that struck me the most was the difference in their sizes. Some were the size of household dogs while some looked like massive grey wolves.

There was a definite pecking order to the wolves, and I bet size had a lot to do with it. I hoped Andrea was the runt of the entire pack.

Emily was crying, and even though I could barely hear it over the howls, I watched her scream at the top of her lungs, shaking her head against the onslaught.

I’m going to save you.

My nose twitched. There was another wolf that I recognized here. I didn’t know exactly who it belonged to, but this werewolf was present last night at the cabin and in the woods.

I held my breath as I saw a big wolf step into view. Emily froze, her gaze falling on the wolf. She shook her head, using her feet to propel herself backwards, away from the wolf, but one of them held the chair in place, forcing her to face this big wolf.

I guessed that was Chad, a guess that was later confirmed when he turned back our way, beckoning with his head to bring someone else into view.

Sara.

The members of the pack that held her fast were mostly human still, pushing her forward into place. She struggled, kicking and screaming as Emily started crying even harder.

Why couldn’t any of the other wolves see that neither of them wanted this?

I realized what was happening: Emily was a sacrifice to make Sara transform for the first time. Sara’s first kill. Chad just had to draw her blood, and as terrified as Emily was at the moment, Sara’s predatory instincts would kick in and she’d transform completely to wolf.

I saw it all clearly. And we needed to do something
now
.

I turned to Colton, pleading at him with my eyes. We had to save them. I wasn’t about to let either of them be sacrificed like this.

He nodded and before I knew what was happening, he rushed towards the window, transforming as he did so. He was a complete wolf as he hit the glass at full speed, the window shattering around him as he leapt through it, making a grand entrance.

I didn’t have time to wait and see what happened. A split second after he landed in the throng of wolves, I charged through the window myself, nicking my shoulder on a shard of glass, but I landed on my feet, snarling and hissing.

My injury burned, but I’d live. Because I needed to stop this insanity right now.

We caught the wolves off guard, which was a blessing, because they all stared at us, open-mouthed, wolves and humans alike. I bet they didn’t expect us to have been able to track them all the way from the mountains to here. They weren’t ready for another Alpha werewolf and a huge mountain lion to land in their midst.

We used that to our advantage. Colton ran straight for Chad, tackling him from the side. The two wolves clashed in a flurry of fur, spittle, and yelps, bristling at each other.

I used that moment to step between Sara and Emily, but I didn’t know how to proceed from there. Should I knock away the human wolves that held Sara?

The two of them answered for me; they transformed into wolves and attacked me. I could tell by their size and height that they weren’t too high within the society of werewolves, which explained why they were no better than henchmen, but two against one was unfair, even for a big mountain lion like me.

Still though, I showed them that I couldn’t be messed with. I felt the fur along the ridge of my back stand up straight as I faced them. I snarled, and in the moment of their flinch, I attacked.