Torrent (Alpha Love - a Paranormal Werewolf Shifter Romance Book 4) (19 page)

“Don’t twist everything I say just to suit you. Sorry, I forgot, you’re running for office, that’s sort of what you politicians do, isn’t it?” Ashton smiles wolfishly at his adversary and a titter of amusement goes up. “We have been living in peace with humans for centuries, we have no desire to stop now.”

“So you will agree to our terms then?” Luke bangs his fist on the podium, venting his frustration that things aren’t going exactly as he had planned.

“I came to talk to you, man to man. I wasn’t expecting a live studio audience.” The look he gives the crowd is nothing short of disappointment and Sofie hears a few uncomfortably shift their feet, embarrassed at being called out for their nosiness and bloodlust. “I came here to protect my people, not to give them away. I won’t send them into cages, they would rather die first. And so would I.”

Ashton’s speech is noble and filled with emotion and love for his people, the press are keeping their cameras trained on him a little longer, perhaps starting to think that there’s a juicier story than the one they’ve been reporting on.

Luke can start to feel the crowd slipping away from him, he needs to show that he’s stronger than Ashton, that he’s smarter than him. He smiles to himself, he’d planned for what’s coming next, he just hadn’t thought that he would have to use it so soon.

Luke quiets the rabble down, gesturing with his hands before focusing back on Ashton. “It’s interesting that you should use that choice of words. I’ve been doing a lot of reading, since you and your kind stepped out of the shadows. You already know all about us humans so you have us at a disadvantage. But one of the particularly fascinating pieces of information I found was that a pack will scatter if the Alpha dies without a successor. Is that true?” Luke’s eyes bore into Ashton’s and Sofie catches sight of movement within the crowd. Men are starting to move forward to the front of the line, as if on cue. Sofie doesn’t have to guess at who they are, she can smell the gunpowder residue on their hands and the scent of something else that leaves a bitter taste in her mouth - silver. They’re hunters and Luke is handing Ashton to them on a plate.

Sofie just has to take a look at the horror on Gus’s usually blank face to see that Luke’s information is reliable. She focuses on Ashton. He looks like he’s been trapped as the realization that he’s in a no-win situation dawns on him.

Ashton lifts up his hand. “I will happily let you do whatever you want to me. But give me a day to name my successor so that the pack can survive. That is my only request.”

“Over my dead body,” Sofie whispers, ignoring Gus’s questioning glance. She reaches out with her mind, like she’s done before, focusing hard on Ashton until she can see him without even opening her eyes.
Ash, it’s me. I’m here. Don’t do this. Help is coming. Just hang on a little longer.

She opens her eyes, searching Ashton’s face for some sign that he’s heard her but there is none. The only thing she can do is to hope. Have a little faith, she repeats to herself, ruefully.

“And why should we trust you? You’ve been lying to the people around you for years, lying about what you are. How are we to know that you won’t just disappear if we let you go now?” Luke almost seems amused at Ashton’s suggestion, as if offering his life for something that he believes in were a foreign concept to Luke. It probably was, most likely there wasn’t anything that he had ever cared about that much.

“You can trust me. I am bound by my word.” Ashton’s voice is calm but his eyes scan the crowd, telling Sofie that he’s seen the hunters advancing towards him too.

“Well, that is comforting!” Luke’s sarcasm drips off of him and he smiles at the crowd to get some laughs going. “But, for argument’s sake, shall we put it to the test? Shall we see if you really can be trusted?” Luke doesn’t wait for Ashton to respond. “I asked you to come here alone as a show of good faith. Did you?”

Ashton swallows hard, not even blinking. “I came here alone.”

Without wasting any time, Luke pulls something out of his pocket. Sofie recognizes it as the wolf caller, but before she can tell Gus to send a message out to the pack to keep back, Luke has already put the whistle to his lips.

Sofie experiences the effect of the caller for the first time. It’s painful, the noise of it pierces her ears and all she wants to do is follow the sound. She covers her ears, trying to block it out but she can’t. Then she remembers Gus’s words, how a sensory overload can make her sick, that she should concentrate on just one thing and tune out everything else.

She reaches out, but the wall of sound coming from the caller is too strong. But you’re stronger, Braun, she tells herself. Get it together! She reaches out with her mind again, focusing on a faraway sound of a bird, she tries to make out what kind of bird it is. Just from the way it flaps its wings she can tell that it’s small, like a swallow. She focuses on every aspect of it that she can gather until all the other sounds around her fade away. She lowers her hands from her ears, she doesn’t even hear the shrill piercing of the whistle anymore.

But it’s not just herself she has to worry about. Gus is already making his way out of the tree-line, hypnotized by the sound of the caller. She grabs hold of his shoulders, pulling him back, shaking him.

“Gus, wake up. Listen to my voice. Wake up!” She shouts in his face but he doesn’t even see her.

She looks around and sees Ashton kneeling down on the ground on all fours, his eyes shut and his teeth gritted against the pain. Gus had told her that Ashton’s senses were more honed than any one else’s in the pack. The sound to him must have been like torture.

But it’s not the sight of her lover on the ground that makes Sofie’s mouth go dry. Slowly, the other members of the pack start walking out of the trees, in human form completely at the mercy of the wolf caller. She sees Rudy stepping forward as if he were in a dream. Lola follows close behind him and the rest of the pack assemble around them, each locked in their own minds. She can’t see Lindsey or Hector, and she allows herself a moment of relief at the thought that they might have gotten away.

Sofie seems to be the only one not affected by the sound. She’s still focusing on the sound of the little bird many miles away, closing her ears against the shrill whistle. But she has no choice, she has no intention of letting them all walk out there alone. Here goes nothing, she says to herself. She doubles over, pretending to be in pain, and follows Gus out of the trees as if she were sleepwalking, keeping to the back of the pack.

She keeps Luke in her line of sight, having to fight the rage that threatens to overtake her as she catches his scent. He seems pleased with himself, looking out at what he’s achieved. He ignores the werewolves standing there like lambs to the slaughter and looks at his followers, pointing an accusing finger at Ashton. “Now do you think that this is a man that we can trust? He has lied to me and he has lied to all of you. He clearly hasn’t come alone, he’s brought his entire army of monsters with him! No doubt he was trying to ambush us and kill us all!” The crowd gasps and shouts abuse at the Lycans as Luke goads them on, whipping them into a frenzy.

Sofie can sense the bloodlust rising in the crowd. Luke has put on a good show and now they’re ready for the money-shot. They came for death and destruction and they don’t want to be disappointed. The crowd starts advancing on the powerless weres, the hunters leading the way.

Sofie squeezes her eyes shut, praying to anyone that’s listening for her plan to come through. But nothing happens. She wonders if this is it, if this is what everything is going to come down to – the weres are going to be killed, picked off one by one and there’s nothing she can do about it. Tears of frustration make her catch her breath in her throat. She blinks them away, and as she does, her new, improved eyes detect movement off to one side of the canyon.

Dust starts to fly up into the air as a crowd start stampeding towards the Humans First Brigade in the canyon. A sound goes up and Sofie realizes that it’s coming from the stampeding mass, they’re howling like wolves. It’s The Howlers, the werewolf supporters that Finn found have come through. They’re barely half the number of the human supremacists but it’s enough to give the more faint-hearted fence sitters of the group pause for thought. They stop advancing and Sofie watches as about a quarter of Luke’s followers drop their placards and run in the opposite direction.

Sofie laughs out loud, covering her mouth quickly, not wanting to draw attention to the fact that she’s the only were that hasn’t been hypnotized by the caller. The swift retreat of some of his followers is not lost on Luke. His face twists in anger, making him look less like an up and coming governor and more like an angry dog.

It’s only the hard core haters and hunters that are now left and they’re being chanted at by The Howlers.

“Freedom for All!”

“Were Together!”

“Lycans Rule!”

The hunters seem to be re-thinking what they’re about to do. The presence of dissenters has clearly thrown them off their game and each of them takes a look at Luke. He takes a look out over the assembled wolves and nods his head in grim satisfaction. It’s the signal they’ve been waiting for. The hunters lift their rifles and as the safety catches click off, Sofie starts to run towards the front of the still-life weres.

Bullets sing through the air and the sound wakes the weres out of their daze. As Sofie sprints through them she sees them slowly come back to reality, suddenly aware of the danger that they’re in.

“Run!” She shouts at them as loudly as she can, pushing them towards the tree-line, trying to get them out of the hunters’ line of sight.

Some of them start to move, turning to run, others stand stock still, fear planting them to the ground. Sofie watches as Lola tries to grab Rudy from behind but he can’t move. It’s like he’s frozen to the floor. Sofie wheels around as a howl splits the sky and she sees Rudy lying on the ground, blood gushing out of his leg where a silver bullet has found its target.

She grabs Lola, almost pulling the woman off of the ground, not realizing her own strength. “Get him out of here!” Lola reacts instantly, lifting Rudy up as if he were a child and running towards the trees as fast as she can.

Sofie rushes to the front of the weres, standing beside Ashton, pushing him away as he tries to push her back. She waves at Luke, making sure that he sees her. After everything that’s happened, it’s a gamble that he’ll even care if she’s shot, but she has to rely on his arrogance, his unnerving belief in himself and the fact that he may, in the end, get what he wants from her.

“Luke! Stop!” She watches as his eyes widen in realization that he’d been firing at her.

“Guns down!” He barks the order loudly, not wanting to run the risk of hitting Sofie.

“What the hell are you doing?” Ashton has hold of her shoulders, like he’s trying to make sure that she’s really here.

“Pretty sure, I’m saving your ass.” She looks at him with a winning smile, trying to make light of the horror that’s unfolding around them. Before Ashton can respond she raises her voice, addressing the crowd. “There’s no need for this. Why are you so desperate to see blood? What do you have to gain from it?”

Shouts go up from the crowd, ‘Wolf Slut’, ‘Lycan Scum’ is no mixed with ‘No More Guns’ and ‘Freedom For All’ from The Howlers.

Luke looks at her blandly, unimpressed with her attempt at persuasion. “And I thought that you’d come here to tell me you’d realized the error of your ways. But you’re just here as a distraction, to come to the rescue of these...monsters.” He says the last word so distastefully he almost spits it out. “Clever girl,” his voice is so quiet only Sofie and the other weres can hear him. She knows that she doesn’t have much time before he calls the hunters to arms again.

“Sofie, get out of here. I’ve lost you once, I won’t lose you again.” Ashton tries to shake some sense into her but she ignores him, using all her strength to push him away and surprising herself as much as him when she succeeds.

“Luke is not a man that you want to follow.” Her voice is loud as she looks out across the crowd, zeroing in on the faces that look most conflicted about what’s happening, the ones that have turned themselves away from the bloodshed. “Not all evil comes in the guise of creatures that we don’t understand, monsters as Luke wants you to call them. Sometimes evil walks on two feet and looks like any other man.” Her gaze focuses on Luke as she says the words, not leaving anyone in any doubt of her meaning. “The Lycans haven’t done anything to deserve this hatred. He’s planted the seed of fear in your minds and now he’s reaping it for his own benefit!”

“The only good Lycan is a dead one!” One of the hunters pipes up from the crowd and there’s a chuckle of appreciation around him.

“Really? Well how many of you have even seen a Lycan other than on television? How many of you have been attacked by a werewolf or know someone that has?” Sofie looks out over the sea of faces as they each look at each other, waiting for someone to pipe up. “No one. And how many of you have been attacked or robbed or hurt by a human?” The murmur among the crowd is enough for them all to draw the same conclusion. “Looks like you have more to fear from other humans than from Lycans, don’t you think?”

“Enough of these games, Ms. Braun.” Luke talks down to her, making it clear just how unimportant she is to him. “You have one last chance to decide which side you’re on. Theirs or mine? Will you die with them or live with me?” Luke smiles, looking at her expectantly as if there’s only one possible answer she could give.

Sofie keeps her eyes locked on Luke, not wanting to miss the expression on his face. “I’ve already made my decision, I’m a Lycan now. So I will die with them if I have to.”

Here goes nothing, she thinks to herself as she does what Gus had taught her. She imagines herself floating away, letting the wolf inside come out. She had expected it to hurt, like it had when her bones were being re-aligned, moved when she was going through the change. But transforming into a wolf is as smooth as slipping into a warm swimming pool.

She hears a gasp go up from the crowd and takes in Ashton’s look of shock. That’s enough to tell her that it’s worked. She looks down at herself, seeing her white muscular shanks and paws where hands and feet should have been. She’s white, white as the driven snow.

She can hear the other weres’ minds as if she were listening to her own.
White wolf. White wolf.
The words are repeated with something close to reverence. There’s a murmur of respect among the pack and, automatically, one by one, they all kneel before her, keeping their eyes on the ground, even Gus, even Ashton.

Sofie is confused, not understanding why the pack has reacted to her like this. It was clearly something that Gus had left out of his Werewolf 101 class. But there was no time to wonder, she would find out later, if she ever lived through this. She looks out over the pack, stretching out with her mind.
Time to get your game faces on, gang. I’m a little tired of getting shot at.

Ashton raises his head, grinning at her mischievously and follows her lead, morphing into a magnificent golden wolf. His beauty takes her breath away and she wonders if she’ll ever get used to it. His transformation is followed by the rest of the pack. They stand together, ready to fight whoever they need to.

Luke raises his hands to the hunters. “Keep the line!” He shoots a look at them as some of them try to take a step back from the snarling wolves in front of them.

One of the hunters, the man Sofie recognizes as Warner, lifts his rifle, aiming it at Sofie but before she has time to react Ashton dives on top of him. Sofie watches as if it’s happening in slow motion. Ashton bats the gun out of Warner’s hand, sending it sailing across the crowd, knocking the wind out of the hunter at the same time.

Ashton gets to his feet, looks up at the sky and howls. But it’s not a sound of pain, it’s more like a battle cry. The rest of the pack lift their head and follow suit, joining his cry and, out of pure instinct, Sofie does the same. Their cry is taken up by The Howlers, living up to their name and showing their solidarity with the werewolves. That’s when all hell breaks loose.

“Kill them!” Luke’s face is a twisted snarl. “Shoot them all, every last one of them!” Anger has overtaken him and he’s clearly not thinking anymore about the press cameras or how he’s coming across to the people at home, watching his performance.

Gunfire fills the air but the weres are too fast and too strong. Sofie joins them as they bat the hunters’ guns away, snarling and snapping their jaws just enough to scare people into turning around and running away. They’re gaining ground every moment, pushing the hunters further and further back until a familiar sound pierces the air. The wolf caller.

Everything stops. The Lycans are powerless against the caller, morphing back into their human forms, writhing on the ground in pain. Sofie is the only one that remains, having found her own personal protection against the caller in the flapping of tiny wings. She looks around her in panic as her friends and the man that she loves lie on the floor, unable to defend themselves, unable to even stand. She’s the only one left, the only one that can stand against Luke and his men. But she won’t be enough, not nearly.

Get up! Get up!
She tries to push the thought into the brains of the pack, but she can’t get past the sound. It’s like it’s creating a barrier that she can’t push through.

She turns to face Luke and his merry band of murderers. There’s no way out, for her. She could try to run and leave her friends behind to die, defenceless. But that doesn’t even cross her mind as an option. She had wanted to be one of them, wanted to stand next to Ashton and face whatever they had to, together. So that’s exactly what she planned to do.

She stands tall, readying herself for the feeling of the bullets that she knows are about to start raining down on them. She looks at Ashton, not wanting to die without telling him one last time that she loves him. That’s when the air moves and she catches a scent, a scent of something familiar.

That’s when she hears the voice loud and clear in her mind.
Sorry we’re a little late to the party, doll
. It’s Lindsey. Sofie lifts her head and sees her friend leading a group of other weres. There looks to be at least three or four packs coming up behind Luke and his men, trapping them between two flanks of Lycans. It’s enough to distract them and give the werewolves a fighting chance.

You always do like to make an entrance.
Sofie almost giggles to herself as she sends the message out, wondering if wolves can even giggle. But as Luke catches sight of the advancing Lycans, he brings the whistle to his lips, ready to inflict the same pain on them as he has on Ashton’s pack. Sofie knows that as soon as they’re in range they’ll be just as affected and just as debilitated by the whistle as her pack is.

She looks over at Ashton, needing some guidance, needing an idea of what she should do. He’s the first one from the pack who’s starting to come round from the caller, he looks straight at her and sends her his thought.
We need to get the whistle away from him. But don’t touch it. Wolfsbane is deadly to us.
Us. The word sounds better to Sofie than she ever thought it could. Now they were one and the same. Now she understood what it meant to be were, what it meant to be like him.

Sofie nods in understanding, but thinking to herself easier said than done. How is she supposed to get the caller away from Luke without touching it? There was no way. There was no other choice. If Luke used the caller against the packs that had come to help them then that would be it for them. There was no-one else coming to save them. She was it. This was why she had become a were after all, to protect her friends and the man that she loves.

She doesn’t give herself the opportunity to come up with another plan. There’s no time. Without thinking twice she launches herself at Luke. She watches as realization of what she’s doing crosses his face and he turns to run away. But he’s too slow. Sofie makes contact with him, knocking him to the floor and landing lightly beside him. The caller spins out of his hand and along the ground. The crowd parts like the sea for Moses as Sofie leaps towards it. She can’t pick it up with her paws so she dips her head, trying to pick it up in her mouth, but a burning sensation rips through her mouth, making her howl in pain. She drops the caller instinctively watching as it skitters away from her again and towards a man that should never hold that kind of power.

Luke laughs at her, mocking her as he picks it up slowly. “Is this what you were after, my little bird?” He looks at her with pity in his eyes, and Sofie wonders if she’d be able to love with herself if she chewed the smile off of his face.

“You really are a wonderful looking creature.” He surveys her as if she were a piece of meat that he’s paying for at the butchers. “You’d make an excellent pet.” He reaches out to touch her and she snarls at him, warning that if he gets any closer then she’ll do more than snarl. He snatches his hand back, his face full of hatred more than fear even.

“Don’t bluff, Sofie. You’re not very good at it. Your precious morals won’t let you hurt me. I’m not afraid of you.” He laughs in her face and Sofie wonders if the craziness in his eyes had always been so obvious or if it’s something that her Lycan senses have opened up to her. He laughs maniacally, like a fanatic, like a madman.

“And as far as taking this away from me,” he holds up the wolf caller between his fingers, taunting her, “well, I think we both know how that goes.” He shakes his head at her giving her that look of pity that makes her wish he weren’t right about her stupid scruples. “Another taste of this little baby would probably kill you. It’s the perfect weapon, almost elegant really when you think about it. It’s something that the enemy can’t take away, can’t destroy, can’t even touch.”

Luke raises the caller to his lips, unhurriedly, keeping his eyes on Sofie the entire time, wanting to watch as her world comes to a crashing end, as she realizes she’s all alone, with no-one to save her. But instead of fear or defeat in her eyes, Luke sees something else, something that gives him pause. He sees a light that can only be described as defiance.
You have no power over me.
You are nothing to me and you never will be.
She sends the thought to him, pushing with all her strength, needing him to know that. The force of Sofie’s thought makes Luke take a step back. He clutches his hands to his head, his brain rocked by the mental strain of Sofie’s words.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Darwin appears to stand next to Luke. Sofie doesn’t have time to nudge him out of the way or to warn him to get away. He’s too close to Luke and Sofie is too far away. Don’t let him get hurt, please don’t let him get hurt, Sofie prays. But she wonders if she’s out of prayers already. All she knows is that she lost one father, one that hadn’t meant all that much to her and she’d found another one, one that she could share her dreams, her hopes, her work, her happiness with, she wasn’t going to lose him too.