Predator (22 page)

Relief washed so hard and heavy through Bree that it took all her strength to keep from collapsing.
He’s okay,
she thought.
Liam’s okay.

Liam stepped forward but stayed close to the tree. His eyes met Bree’s, and she wondered what he thought. What if he didn’t want anything to do with her anymore? What if he thought she was a freak? Why would he want to stay with her now, knowing what she had become? She couldn’t bear the idea of losing him too, but the possibility was real.

“We’re not going to hurt you,” Isabella said. “I promise.”

“Is she all right?” Liam said to Isabella with his eyes fixed on Bree.

“She’s fine,” Isabella said. “In fact, she’s stronger and faster than she’s ever been, more powerful than all of us.”

“But she’s a…”

Isabella smiled. “You can say it—she’s a lycanthrope.”

Liam didn’t seem to know what to say, so he said nothing, just looked at Bree with his eyes wide.

“She can hear you, you know,” Isabella said. “And she understands every word you’re saying. When we transform, we don’t lose that part of ourselves. Lycanthropes understand language. We think, we reason, and we make decisions. It’s the best of both worlds really. Strength and power mixed with human intelligence. But it’s something we have to keep hidden except in extreme circumstances, as you’ve seen here. I’m sure Bree told you what happened to the Benandanti, how our ancestors were murdered because of who they were…who we are. Although our DNA is different, we’re just like you. We want to live our lives in peace, spend time with our families, go to school, work, play.”

Liam nodded. “What about Bree?”

“She’ll be fine,” Isabella said as she untied Liam’s hands. “We just need to teach her how to transform back into human form.”

Liam took a tentative step toward Bree and then stopped.

“It’s okay,” Isabella said. “She won’t hurt you. Lycanthropes don’t turn on those who support them or those they love.”

“But Bree obviously injected herself with DNA. And you saw those beasts. How do you know what it did to her?”

“I don’t, not for sure. But if she wanted to hurt you, she already would have.”

Liam looked at Bree and then nodded. When he reached her side, he stroked her fur. She turned her head and nuzzled his leg. Liam dropped to one knee, wrapped his arms around Bree’s neck, and buried his face in her fur. “I’m so glad you’re alright.”

Bree leaned into Liam and let him hold her. They stood together in silence until Isabella said, “Give us a few minutes alone, Liam. Wait over by the tree. Then you two can have all the time together you want.”

Liam hesitated and then released Bree. With faltering steps, he moved toward the tree, but he kept his gaze fixed over his shoulder and on Bree.

Isabella and the two Benandanti formed a tight circle around Bree, dropped to their knees, and held hands. Isabella gave Bree a smile. “We will teach you the ways of the Benandanti, the Goodwalkers. I swear this to you.”

Bree felt a sense of warmth and knew she’d never be alone again. The Benandanti were her family now, and they would look after her and protect her.

Following Isabella’s instructions carefully, Bree transformed back into human form. She put on the shorts and t-shirt Isabella gave her and folded over the elastic waistband on the shorts so they didn’t fall down. At first Bree’s limbs jerked when she moved them and felt strange. The physical power she’d had as a lycanthrope was gone, but now she possessed an emotional strength greater than any she had ever felt.

The Benandanti rose, and Bree stepped out of the circle. She had a million questions to ask Isabella, but they would have to wait.

“The flash drive,” Bree said. “It was in my pants. Did they get it?”

“You ripped right through your clothes when you turned into a lycanthrope,” Liam said.

“Look,” Bree said. “I know you’re in shock, but we’ve got to find the flash drive.”

“No, that’s not what I’m saying. You destroyed your clothes, but maybe the flash drive’s still in your pocket.”

Bree bolted across the clearing to where she eyed pieces of her jeans. She tossed through the material, but the flash drive wasn’t there. Ten feet away she spotted a piece of her shirt and what was left of her sneakers; the leather was ripped apart at the seams. She made for another piece of her pants. Still nothing. Ahead ten feet was a piece of shirt—but no flash drive.

The Benandanti and Liam had fanned out across the clearing, but they were having no better luck. “It’s gotta be here somewhere,” Bree called out, although she realized it was quite possible the flash drive was long gone. “Keep looking. I have to find it.”

With her eyes locked on the ground, Bree rushed from one spot to the next, back and forth across the open space. She spied something blue near a tree. She ran to it and grazed the rough tree trunk with her right arm as she stopped her momentum.

Bree swiped the material from the ground. The piece was attached to a front pocket, but the pocket was empty. She threw the material against the tree and yelled across the clearing. “Where’s the other pocket? Find the other pocket.”

The search continued for another few minutes, and then Isabella said, “It’s not here. Between us we checked the whole clearing, and parts of it twice.”

Bree’s fingernails bit into her palms. “Check again. Maybe we missed it.”

“Or one of those lycanthropes took off with it,” Liam said as he came up behind her.

Bree sank to her knees and covered her face with her hands and tears filled her eyes. “Not after all we’ve been through. What am I going to do now?”

Liam knelt before her and gripped her arms firmly. “We’ll get it back. I promise.”

Bree looked up at him, eyes devoid of hope. “How? There’s too many of them, and they’ll use the research on the flash drive to create more lycanthropes, except the new ones will be as strong as me, maybe even stronger.” Her words caught in her throat, and she struggled to keep from crying.

“I don’t know how,” Liam said. “But we will. Look what you already did on your own. You saved me, didn’t you?”

Bree’s lower lip trembled. “But I didn’t save my dad or Conor.”

“It’s not your fault. You hear me? You didn’t do this. Those men or whatever they are did it. You can’t blame yourself.”

“But—”

“We’re going to find those guys and take them down and get back your da’s research before it’s too late.”

Isabella’s voice burst across the clearing. “I found it.”

Bree jumped to her feet. “Where?”

“Come over here and look,” Isabella said from the other side of the clearing.

Bree raced across the clearing with Liam right behind her. “Thank God you found it,” Bree said. Then she saw Isabella’s empty hands. “Where is it?”

Isabella looked up. Stuck between two small branches was a piece of Bree’s pants, the outline of the flash drive visible in the pocket.

“How’d it get up there?” Bree said.

Isabella chuckled. “I don’t know. Someone must have kicked it during the fight without knowing it.”

Liam walked past the tree. “I’ll grab a stick so we can get it down.” He returned in a minute and swung the stick at the tree but came up short.

Liam gave Bree a leg up. She clamped her fingers around the flash drive and dislodged it. “I got it, but it feels weird, like someone stepped on it or something.” Although the flash drive was banged up, Bree knew the information could probably be recovered from it. But did she really want to do that? She considered smashing the flash drive with a rock but stuffed it into her pocket instead. It was all she had left of her dad.

Isabella and the other Benandanti disappeared into the woods without explanation.

Bree started to say something to Liam, but before she could he turned and wrapped his arms around her neck, kissing her with such passion it nearly left her breathless.

Something wet seeped through Bree’s t-shirt. She broke off the kiss and looked down. “Liam, you’re bleeding. What happened to your side?”

Liam covered the wound protectively. “I got bit by one of the lycanthropes. It’s not too bad”—he grimaced—“but still.”

It felt like someone had sucker-punched Bree. What if Liam became a lycanthrope too? Or was that just something that happened in movies? But then another thought hit her, a thought so powerful and so awful it almost brought Bree to her knees: What if Liam became a savage monster like the soldiers? What then? What if the Benandanti couldn’t help him? She sighed, wishing the Benandanti were still there so she could ask them.

“What is it?” Liam said. “I told you I’m okay.” He lifted his shirt and revealed the wound.

Bree touched her shaking fingers next to the skin beside the bite mark, careful not to hurt him. “I’m not sure what this means. Or what will happen to you.”

Liam reached for Bree’s hand and then raised it to his lips. “It doesn’t matter. We’ve been through a lot and we survived it, so whatever happens, we’re in this together.”

Bree managed to smile. “Together,” she said and nodded.

Garby Grove, Virginia

From inside Isabella’s living room, Bree stared out the window at the asters lining the walkway.

How could the flowers still bloom so bright when so much in her life had gone dark?

A familiar heaviness overcame Bree, but then Liam came to her and took her hand; and the warmth from his touch reached deep inside her. She leaned into him. He wrapped his arm around her and drew her tightly against his chest.

He said, “You can’t think like that.”

Bree kept her eyes fixed out the window. “Like what?”

“Like everything is over. Your da wouldn’t want that for you. You know that.”

“It’s just so hard.”

Liam sighed. “I know. It’s like a piece of me died too. I can’t even begin to imagine what it’s like for you, but we have to trust that it’ll get easier.”

Bree nodded and then spied a black Chevy Suburban driving slowly down the street. The driver parked the SUV next to the curb outside Isabella’s house. Tinted windows prevented Bree from seeing inside.

A broad, uniformed man climbed out. Bree’s thoughts ran to the lycanthrope soldiers—was he one of them? And how had he found her?

The man tugged the bottom of his green jacket and then smoothed the front with both hands while looking at the house as if considering something. Then he walked to the door, posture stiff, steps measured.

Bree pulled back from the window, bringing Liam with her. “Go get Isabella,” she said. “Hurry.”

Liam raced from the room and into the kitchen and returned a moment later with Isabella. “What is it?” she asked, concern etching her voice.

“Someone’s coming,” Bree said. “And he’s wearing an Army uniform.”

The doorbell rang.

“I’ll take care of this,” Isabella said. “Stay out of sight.”

Bree and Liam ducked into a small room off the entranceway. Tense and alert, Bree listened carefully for any signs of trouble.

“Who is it?” Isabella asked through the closed door.

“It’s General Maberry. I need to talk to Bree Sunderland.”

Bree heard a click and then the door opening.

Why was Isabella letting him in?

Steeling herself, Bree disregarded Isabella’s earlier instructions and stepped out from around the corner. “What else do you want? Thanks to you my dad’s dead.” The weight of her words felt so overwhelming.

“That’s why I’m here. What happened to your dad wasn’t my doing, but I assume Isabella knows that by now or she wouldn’t have opened the door.”

“That doesn’t mean I trust you,” Bree said. “You wouldn’t listen to him. He told you that creating lycanthrope soldiers was too dangerous.”

General Maberry nodded. “I know, and I’m truly sorry. He was right.” General Maberry looked over his shoulder. “Can I please come in so we can talk about this?”

“How do we know you’re not one of the lycanthrope soldiers?” Liam asked.

“You don’t,” General Maberry said. “And I have no way of proving it to you. All you have is my word.”

The simplicity of General Maberry’s statement and the sincerity in his eyes convinced Bree he could be trusted, at least enough to talk. She gestured to a nearby sofa.

General Maberry sat as stiffly as he stood despite the soft furniture. “I’m still putting all the pieces together, but those men who killed your father…I can confirm they were soldiers.”

“And you made monsters of them,” Bree said with a calm she did not feel.

“I had nothing to do with it. I swear. A handful of my men have gone AWOL, including two who I thought were my best officers. Men I trusted. I assume they’re in this together. I hope I’m wrong. I wish none of this had ever happened. But it has. And now I need to deal with it.”

“And how do you propose to do that?” Isabella asked.

“I’m not sure yet,” General Maberry said. “But I
am
sure that Bree’s in danger after what happened to her dad.” He turned toward Bree. “The research is safe, isn’t it?”

Bree crossed her arms. So that was why he was here. He wanted the research. Well, she wasn’t going to give it to him. “They can’t get to it. And neither can you,” she said smugly.

“How did you know what happened and where to find us?” Isabella asked.

“The police notified me they’d discovered military grade equipment at the warehouse after Bree and Liam reported what happened there. When I put that together with the break-in at Dr. Sunderland’s lab, and his death, and my missing soldiers, I knew they were all connected. That’s when I realized I had to talk to Bree.” He turned toward Bree. “You’re the only one who knows what your father was doing in the lab, the only one who can help me figure out a way to stop these men. I have no idea what they’re up to, but it can’t be good.”

“They already used his formula,” Bree said. “You know that, right? They’re super soldiers now, but they’re nothing like he thought they would be. They’re mean and nasty…and powerful beyond anything you could imagine.”

General Maberry nodded gravely. “That was obvious from the marks on your father’s body. But how did you get away from them? How did you survive?”