Wolf Hunter (13 page)

Change. Come on. Shift now, you little shit.
Westley tensed his neck and clenched his fists.
Come on. All the fighting you’ve been doing to stop me from controlling you. Come on, you fucking monster I’ve got living inside of me. Come on out. I need you to come out. I’m going to die if you don’t. Come on, you asshole, wolf out.

Westley remained resolutely human. Even the urgings to shift he’d felt and fought only moments earlier stayed dormant. Thomas’ growl came from a place of evil that measured him in sharp contrast to the soft spoken man Westley knew. This wasn’t him, not even as a wolf. This was the Alpha’s doing. Westley couldn’t wait for Denton to be gone. However, given his current state, he didn’t hold much hope he’d be alive to see it.

You should have stayed down. You suck at being submissive when it counts. Worst omega ever.

Thomas charged. On the ground, Westley tried not to scream. With his eyes closed, he thought of his father trying to mate him off to that older wolf and his mother turning away from him when he’d returned. Westley had thought she was angry at him, but he’d looked again when she wasn’t aware and he’d seen tears in her eyes. His parents only wanted what was best for him. He knew that now. Maybe if he’d mated with that old wolf, or with Tom, he wouldn’t be two seconds away from having his throat torn out. A breeze blew across his hip where his shirt had come up, and he remembered Jaylen’s hand on him that morning, how he’d awoken with Jaylen curled against him, mouth open and eyelids slack in the careless way of deep sleep.

All he’d wanted to do was protect Jaylen, and Cody, and Tom. He’d failed. He couldn’t even protect himself. Omegas weren’t supposed to die like this. This was a death fitted for an alpha. Rank irony in that—the omega who didn’t know his place would die like someone he wasn’t. Except... except maybe this was exactly who he was. He was a rebel; he didn’t fit in. He’d never wanted to fit in. Always off doing his own thing. Maybe not as independent minded, as bombastic as an alpha, but confident nonetheless and always putting himself first. He hadn’t wanted to be mated off.
This is what independence gets you.
He practically heard his father telling him so. Thomas landed. He flinched against the hot breath on his neck. Instinct made him bare his throat, even as he kept his eyes squeezed shut.

Suddenly, a yip from above and Thomas’s weight was gone, replaced by a greater mass. Then that too disappeared. Westley opened his eyes as the yipping turned to snarls. A black wolf had joined the fight. It put itself between Thomas and Westley, and when Thomas snapped at it and tried to get around, it lunged. Westley backed away, pushing himself on his rear until he was out of range. From this distance, his senses flooded back and time, slowed since he’d thought he was about to die, resumed its normal pace. The black wolf was Tom. He looked to weigh fifty pounds more than his father. Thomas rounded on his son. Westley turned away when they charged. He covered his ears against the screams and the sound of ripped flesh. Finally, it stopped, but he still couldn’t look. He didn’t want to turn and see his best friend dead, nor did he want to draw attention to himself if Thomas remained alive.

“West?”

“
Tom?” Westley looked. Tom stood, naked, next to Thomas’ human body. He looked wrinkled and pale in the dying grass, purple-red blood on his neck the only color on him.

“
Westley?” Tom said. He wobbled. As Westley got up, Tom took a step backwards, away from Thomas, and puked on the grass. Westley caught him before he could fall. Tom clutched Westley’s shirt. He accepted Westley’s help and moved a few steps. Then he collapsed against him and wept.

“
You’re the pack alpha now,” Westley said. “You have to keep it together.” He rubbed Tom’s back.

Tom wiped his eyes without letting go of Westley. “What were you doing out here?”

“Looking for Jaylen.” Westley pulled back. “You didn’t send your dad after me?”

Tom blinked. “We’re hardly speaking.
Were
hardly speaking. I was tracking you because I figured you’d done something stupid. I hadn’t planned on.... Oh Christ.” He started off crying again, but stopped himself at the first hiccup. “He wanted this. This would make him happy. He probably forced me into it—”

“
Tom!” Westley grabbed Tom’s shoulders and shook him. “It’s done. It’s over. You have to step up now. I need you to help me.”

Nodding, Tom wiped his nose. A string of clear mucus stuck to his hand. Westley tried not to let his sensibilities get the better of him as Tom wiped it on Westley’s pants. Now was not the time to lecture about hygiene. “What do you need?”

“I need to find Jaylen.”

Tom shoved him away. “The
hunter
is the reason all of this is fucked up. He killed Austin. He might have killed Cody. And what about Leslie and Ed? And who knows how many others! And you want to help him?”

“
Yes,” Westley said.

“
He’ll kill you.” Tom stared at him. Westley met his gaze. “It’s what he does, Westley. Just like you and I turn into wolv—” He paused and looked Westley up and down. “Actually, why
are
you human right now?”

“
It’s not the full moon yet,” Westley said.

Tom’s eyes became slits. He peered at Westley through them as the howls of other wolves echoed around them from varying distances. “Uh huh. You want to try that again?” He took a step forward. “You want to tell me why you
smell funny
?”

“
I...” Westley swallowed. “I found a way to stop it.”

Tom blinked. “Stop what?”

“The shift, the change, the urges. All of it. I haven’t wolfed out in months.”

“
What?” Tom stared at Westley as if he’d sprouted a new body part. “You’ve been locking yourself up, you said—” He stopped when Westley shook his head. Realization settled on his face. “You lied. You’ve been— That’s why you were sick, isn’t it? You’ve been poisoning yourself!”

“
I can control it,” Westley said. His voice rose with his insistence. “It’s harder now, with the Alpha around. Something about him makes my hormones less susceptible to control.”

“
Tell me about it,” Tom said. He offered up a humorless smile.

“
Yeah, I was, uh, surprised you could switch back.”

Tom shrugged. “Gift of the heir. I could always do cooler stuff than the rest of you.”

“Right. But I didn’t know if that still held.” Westley glanced away. He didn’t like having this conversation with Thomas lying dead a few feet away. “I mean, with all the craziness going on.” He turned back to Tom. “Look, I know I owe you loyalty as pack alpha and—”

“
Oh, don’t start.”

“—
and as your friend, but I need you to help me. Please. Denton is going to kill Jaylen. It won’t make things better. It’ll be one more death in this town. We can stop it. Please, Tom. I know you can help me.”

“
You fell for him.” Westley realized the resignation in Tom’s tone and felt immediately guilty.

“
Yeah. I guess I did.”

“
You know you can’t be with him. Once he finds out what you are...” Tom looked away. “If he hurts you, I’ll kill him.”

Westley waited. Sometimes silence was the best response. After a moment, Tom said, “He’s at the jail. Cody and Mark took him there a few hours ago. He’s being questioned.”

“Thank you.” Westley cupped Tom’s face with one hand and leaned forward to kiss his opposite cheek.

“
Just don’t get killed.” Tom yelled as Westley ran for the motel. He raced around to the front. Jaylen’s car sat there. Westley tugged on the door, but Jaylen had locked it. Fortunately, there was a truck in the parking lot whose owner evidently was more familiar with local customs. Westley hopped in, turned the keys that were in the ignition, and tore out onto the road, heading for town.

THE LA MER-SUR-PLAINES police station was a one-story building that sat alone in the center of a block southeast of the town square, an island in a black-paved parking lot. At this time of evening, the day-shift would be gone. The “night-shift,” such as it was, consisted of Donnie Hudgins, a retired old-timer who still did the safety drills at the elementary school and Marjorie Platt, his second cousin. Neither of them were wolves, but they had a good understanding of the culture and co-existed peaceably with it. Westley parked the truck in a spot that wasn’t marked out for police cruisers. He sat for a moment, gathering himself. Was Denton inside? What would Westley do if he had to fight him? If they were holding Jaylen, it would be in one of two cells at the back, which meant he needed to walk through without being questioned. He glanced down at his shirt.

He wiped futilely at the dirt and green stains embedded in the fabric. A glance at the mirror showed bits of grass in his hair. He picked them out and combed through his tangles with his fingers.
Plan. Make a plan.
He scolded himself.
You can’t just walk in and—
A man and woman walking up to the station door caught his attention. He’d gone to high school with them. He searched his brain for their names. Oliver. Oliver and... Lyddie. Yes! They were omegas. And they were walking through the door.

Of course. Omegas could do that. They had no agenda. Had no desire except to be helpful. Westley grinned.
All right Mother, Dad. You’re about to get what you want. Your little boy is going to be exactly what he was born to be.
He stepped out of the truck, closed the door behind him. And, with the meekest expression he could muster, made his way toward the police station’s glass door.

JAYLEN GAVE UP the first kernel of information when Denton ordered that a propane flame be held to his arm. As it licked along his bare skin, he shouted out the names of the roots that ground down into the powders that formed his drug. His shirt hung on him in tatters, cut thin by Dexter’s practiced strokes with the cane, and each tear provided a window to a matching scratch on his torso.

“
What does it do?” Denton asked.

“
Keeps me hard,” Jaylen said. He forced a bloody smile. Denton had punched a molar loose  earlier. He pushed it with his tongue.

“
Feet,” Denton said.

The blond wolf,
Cody
, pulled Jaylen’s boots off and stuck the flame to the bottom of his foot. He kicked out, but Cody held him fast. Jaylen screamed. He realized only when the flame was pulled away that in the midst of that scream, he’d said Danni’s name.

“
Should have tried fire on you hours ago,” Denton said. He’d seated himself on the metal cot bolted to the opposite wall from where Jaylen was chained. Leaning back, he commanded his wolves in their torture. “Only thing is, we wolves don’t like it much. You see how the one at your feet shakes?”

Jaylen glanced at Cody, who knelt in front of him, clutching the small propane tank. Maybe it was Jaylen’s imagination that he wobbled. When he looked up, his eyes were as blank and hate-filled as they’d been when he’d come to Jaylen’s door.

“Of course this goes to show what I’ve always told you,” Denton continued, heedless that Jaylen’s attention wandered elsewhere. “You’re like us. Practically a wolf yourself.”

“
Horses fear fire too,” Jaylen said. “You going to tell me I’m a horse next?”

Denton grinned. “You’re funny. I’ve always liked that about you.” He addressed Cody. “Burn his other foot. As punishment for distracting me from my business.”

“Got it, boss,” Cody said. He grabbed Jaylen’s ankle.

“
Who’s Danni?” Denton asked. “And what does she have to do with those powders, hmm?”

“
Go to Hell.” He spat out the insult in the final second before the flame touched his sole.

Denton laughed through Jaylen’s screaming. “No, no, you take your time before you tell me. Take all the time you need.”

Jaylen didn’t know how much time passed before Denton got up and signaled Cody to open the door. He only knew his throat felt shredded.

And that he’d told Denton who Danni was and what the powders did. Denton walked to him. Jaylen tried to balance on his tiptoes as Denton slid his fingers through his braids and tugged, hard. He forced Jaylen’s head back at a sharp angle.

“Who else knows what this drug of yours does?”

“
Everyone. It’s on the internet.”
Fuck you.

Denton grinned. “Sure it is.” He took hold of Jaylen’s face, pulled his eyelids open with his thumbs and forefingers, and spat. Jaylen sneezed in response. He flung himself forward as soon as Denton let go, blinking and gasping and trying to get the saliva out of his eyes.

“I’ll be back soon. And you’ll tell me all about where I can find your friend. She sounds like someone I’d like to...” He licked his lips. “...know.”

“
You could let me down,” Jaylen said. “A little recovery time so I’m fresh to be tortured again?” He somehow managed to keep his tone cheerful.

“
Son, don’t tell me that these past few years haven’t taught you how to sleep on your feet.” With that, he turned and walked out the open door.