20. Vivianna
VIVIANNA
The fury that filled my body made me shake where I stood, watching the tail lights flash in the distance. How could I have failed so terribly that I lost both of my children?
There is no time for a pity party here, we need answers and it just so happens that there is one man left to give them to us.
My wolf was right, Dr. Faulk had been left behind, and chances were he knew where they would take Hope.
Turning, I bolted off back to where I left him out in the field and saw him making his way back to the building.
The SUV was still waiting out front, and it gave me an idea.
Staying here would draw too much attention and might have already caught Jason or even Vadik’s notice.
Knowing I didn’t have much time, I pounced on Faulk’s back and rode him to the ground as I shifted back and slammed his head into the packed dirt as hard as I could, knocking him out cold.
Standing, I grabbed his arm and pulled him into a fireman’s hold and jogged towards the SUV.
More guards poured out of the building as I tossed Faulk into the back.
Pulling the back hatch closed behind me, I leapt over the two rows of seat and slammed my fist on the lock button.
This gave me the seconds I needed to get situated, throw the vehicle into drive, and take off.
Gun shots sounded and the window of the passenger side shattered as it was hit, causing me to duck and press the gas pedal to the floor.
The sound of bullets hitting the metal of the SUV kept me from second guessing anything I was doing as I careened out onto the main road, in the direction of the car that held Hope.
I took a moment to look at my surroundings, trying to figure out where the hell I was, not that I had been to many places other than the east coast, but I knew all fifty states and their capitals.
Soon I saw a highway sign that told me I was in Wyoming and southern Wyoming at that, if towns from Colorado were listed in the mile markers.
Okay, this is good, we finally know where we are. Now, I just need to find a place where we can have a nice chat with the good doctor.
Then we need to find out if what they said about our mates is true. There has to be a way to get word to them if they’re still alive.
Don’t you think it would be too risky to reach out to another pack?
We are going to need help to get Hope back, I know we’re a badass bitch, but storming whatever place they are keeping her is not going to be easy. Look at where they were keeping us.
Since when did you become the reasonable one?
Ah, you’re the one driving a hundred miles per hour buck ass naked, covered in blood, with an incapacitated man in the back. If you get us arrested, I want it to be known I had nothing to do with it.
Are you telling me I’m being too emotional?. They took our child. Those mother fuckers will regret the days they ever laid hands on her.
Viv, I’m a wolf, not human. I don’t function on an emotional level, my default is logic. That man in the back of this SUV is our best hope of finding out who took Hope. Once we have the information, we will act with a solid plan. Us ending up dead helps no one.
I growled as I gripped the steering wheel so tight I felt it start to bend under my strength.
Taking a shaky breath, I eased up on the gas pedal and brought the vehicle to a more reasonable speed.
Now I just needed to find some place that I could have a nice long chat with Dr. Faulk, uninterrupted.
I saw a sign for a forest preserve and couldn’t help but smile, if you’re alone and lost in the woods with no one around— can they hear you scream?
The path into the preserve was well marked and paved, but I saw a side road that was chained off.
I stopped the car and hopped out, snapping the chain so I could drive through, then went back and jerry-rigged it back up.
Back behind the wheel, I drove slowly down the winding gravel and dirt road until I came to a cabin that looked like it was used for a ranger or someone like that to stay in.
Scenting the area, I knew it hadn’t been used in months, so I parked the SUV behind the cabin so you couldn’t see it right away.
Leaving Faulk in the car, I walked around the cabin just to make sure that we were good and alone.
Breaking into the back cabin through the back door, I took a quick look around the simple rustic open concept before I brought the guest of the hour in.
Grabbing him by the throat, I dragged him into the cabin and plopped him in one of the two wooden chairs at the table.
Taking a moment to search the closets and the storage trunk, I found rope that was used for rock climbing, so I tied him nice and tight to the chair.
As a werewolf even one as mutated and fucked at Faulk was, it wouldn’t stop him for long, but I was counting on his naturally submissive nature to help.
Upon further inspection, I found the cabin had water, but more of an old school pump system that took me a moment to figure out.
Once I had a large bowl full of frigid water, I dumped it over Faulk’s head.
Awakening with a spluttering gasp, Faulk froze when he saw me. “Vivianna, what have you done?.”
I snarled at him, getting right up in his face. “What have I DONE?. The better question is what have YOU done. Where did they take Hope?”
Faulk just looked at me with pity in his eyes, shaking his head slowly. “You will never see her again after this, they will hide her away some place that I don’t even know, now that you took me. You don’t understand, these two men are the most powerful werewolves alive right now.”
That sent my simmering anger into all out fury. My alpha power burst out of me, swirling around the cabin as if we were in the middle of a storm, it’s oppressive weight bearing down on him.
“You think they’re scary and powerful? You ain’t seen anything yet,” I growled letting my wolf fill my voice making it deeper and stronger. “You have stolen my child and I will get her back no matter who or what stands in my way.”
Faulk actually seemed to choke on the power that hung in the air. His body started to convulse as if he was trying to shift, but I knew he had butchered his body so badly with his own experiments it would never happen.
“Tell me. Where. She. Is,” I demanded once more, digging my clawed hands into his shoulders.
“Don’t do this, Vivianna,” Faulk grunted. “I can’t let you kill yourself and if you go after them, that’s what will happen.”
Snarling, I dug deeper into his skin. “What gives you the right to demand these things when you are the cause of it all. Why couldn’t you leave well enough alone?.”
“I couldn’t let the world forget me,” he blurted his breathing labored as he tried to fight against my control. “You and your daughter have given me that, now I can die knowing something I created will be forever left on this earth.”
I released my claws from his shoulders and swiped one across his face, cutting into one of his eyes.
Then I lashed out with the other, down the middle of his chest tearing away the button down his shirt.
I could feel the adrenaline rush just like I had with Sarma, the pain and anger of everything that I had gone through this past year purging itself from me onto his skin.
I dragged a nail down to his hand, slicing the skin as I did so, but not too deep that he would bleed out too quickly.
“You need to give me something, Faulk,” I said, grasping one of his fingers and pushing the tip of my claw under his nail.
He let out a scream that dropped off into a sob as his head hung from his neck, blood dripping off his face from his bleeding eyeball. “I told you they won’t go someplace I know about. They are far too smart to make a mistake like that.”
“I need a place to start,” I snapped, moving on to the next nail, digging it in nice and slow until it couldn’t go any further. “I have eight more fingers and ten toes to do this to, and enough rage to come up with more devious ideas.”
When he didn’t seem to take my threat all that seriously, I growled and dropped his hand as I searched the cabin for better tools. I saw a box filled with small sticks and twigs for kindling, grabbing a handful, I stalked back to my soon to be living pin cushion.
“Let’s try this again,” I muttered as I grabbed the other chair and pulled it to sit in front of him.
“Now I see that your eye has healed already. I wonder how your healing would respond to a foreign object blocking that process? I say we start somewhere small first, as with all experiments, we need a controlled reaction to study.”
Then without any warning, I shoved a twig under his fingernail, causing him to scream and try and jerk his hand out of mine, but I was far stronger.
“Hmm, that seemed to have more of a pain response than my sharp claw... could it be that the dullness of the object had something to do with it? Let’s try again and see, shall we,” I mused as I shoved two more under as many fingers.
If there had been anyone in the area, they for sure would have heard him that time. I had to shake my head from the pain his howling was causing this close to my ears. I paused, watching him, but not really seeing a large change in his willingness to give me anything to work with.
“I don’t think you understand the situation, doctor.
With the combination of my medical knowledge and your ability to heal from almost anything given enough time, I could keep this up for days, weeks even if I so choose.
Not saying that’s what I’m going to do, but it’s something for you to think on,” I shared as I stood and grabbed a dull knife out of one of the drawers.