Chapter Eighteen
The throbbing, dull ache behind her eyes dragged Destiny from the depths of her slumber.
She moved slightly, trying to touch Dodger’s leg under the covers, but the pain in her arm stilled her.
She eased her eyes open, and everything was blurry out of her right eye, and out of her left, she couldn’t see at all. She blinked a few times, hard, trying to clear her vision. The outline of a person was sitting up in bed near her. Dodger?
No. She frowned as the woman’s profile came into view. She was a stranger. Destiny tensed. Where was she?
The vibration of the tires rotating under her was a soft hum against her side. She was curled in the fetal position, in the third-row seating of some kind of big SUV.
Ahead of her were two captain’s chairs. One was empty, and one had a man slumped over in it, sans shirt. He had his hand pressing to his ribs, and red streamed from him. He looked pale as a sheet.
“What I can’t understand is why you bit her!” A man barked out from front.
“What I can’t understand is that you couldn’t give us a fucking warning that this bitch would be firing silver bullets into the Pack, Aro,” the woman said in a stern, cold tone. “I’m not trying to die like dipshit over here.”
“I hate when you call me Aro, honey. Call me dad.”
Lyric’s eyes narrowed at the back of Aro’s head. “Why did you send me into that fight? Why not Eden?”
“Because you are bottom of the Pack, Lyric. Your sister is paired to the Alpha here. She plays a bigger role than you.”
“She always plays a bigger role than me, Aro.” Lyric’s gaze dropped to her clenched hands in her lap.
The slumped over man growled weakly, “I’m not going to die.”
“You smell like death,” Lyric assured him.
And strangely, Destiny understood what she meant. He did smell strange. Something acidic and sweet filled the air, and she could smell the metallic hint of the silver bullet that was lodged into her.
“Why can’t we just kill her!” he barked.
“Because I play a bigger role than you in this,” the woman deadpanned.
“Not you. I mean the human. She shot me!”
“Technically she was just defending herself and her mate. Don’t you know, Cap? All’s fair in war. Can’t go after a snake and bitch when it bites you.”
“Shut the fuck up!” the injured werewolf yelled at her.
“Hey! Both of you stop!”
“You play a bigger role than me?” the man barked out, twisting to look the female in the eyes. “Really? You’re here for one thing, Lyric. You’re a soldier maker. You are here for your bite, that’s all. Clearly that’s all, you are shit at fighting.”
“I’m not the one who got shot.”
“And you had one order! Don’t bite that bitch, and what did you do!” The werewolf looked sick and was sweating now as his gaze stayed locked on the woman. He looked terrifying, but the woman looked bored.
Destiny couldn’t move. She was so scared. She could hear the hatred in his growl, the pain wafting from him…the rage. God, her arm hurt so badly. It was throbbing and felt completely broken. Her veins were on fire under her skin. Dodger, where are you?
“You can’t even do the bite right. She smells just as sick as I do,” he growled out.
He reached over the seat and slammed his palm against her face, and the woman’s reaction was immediate.
She turned him in his seat and wrapped her arms around his throat, pinning him back against the seat.
He struggled, and she tightened her arms like a boa constrictor as he gasped and choked.
“Lyric,” came a warning tone from the front seat.
“I’ll be putting him out of his misery.”
“Why don’t you take the bullet out of him instead,” the man said blandly.
“Because I don’t like him,” Lyric growled, and released him, shoving him forward so hard that his head slammed into the back of the driver’s seat.
“Enough!” someone roared from the front.
Destiny jumped, and the woman did something that made no sense.
She grabbed her ankle hard and then put her hand up behind the back of the seat, holding her hand out like she wanted Destiny to stay quiet.
Lyric cast her a quick glance, and Destiny’s breath froze in her chest. She had one dark eye, and one that glowed moss green.
She gave her a warning look and shook her head slightly.
Wait…what?
“Why can’t we just kill this bitch?” Lyric asked, her hand out behind the seat. Be still. Be quiet.
“Because she is important.”
“Why?” Lyric pushed.
“Why are you so goddamn interested?” came a clipped answer from the front.
“Because if I’m going to save her, I need to give my wolf a reason. You’ve had me sitting back here smelling her blood for fifteen minutes. Why is she worth any of this?”
“Because her father needs to be brought into line. If we kill her, I can’t get him back.
If I tether her to this Pack, he will be my greatest weapon.
He will be a sentry for the Couer d’Alene Lake Pack as long as she lives.
If I bond her to a high rank, this Pack will have the most dangerous guard dog.
I can go back to my real life knowing you and your sister are safe. She’s my insurance plan.”
Lyric’s eyes narrowed. “You’re going to bond her to who? To Sin? To Lang? This human has a mating bond. She and that wolf filled the whole woods with it.”
“Well, her mate is dead now, isn’t he?”
What? Dodger!
Lyric grabbed her leg hard. Be still!
“I need to work on her soon or your little weapon will die,” Lyric uttered.
Dodger, Dodger, Dodger. She remembered the last words that Elder had said. Kill him.
It was all coming back to her now.
She was bit. She was bit! That was what was wrong with her arm.
She glanced down at her arm without moving her head, but all she could see was the once white sleave of her thermals soaked in dark red.
Her gun was in the snow somewhere back in those woods.
A flash of Dodger’s white wolf lying in those cold woods alone gutted her.
Her breath quickened with her panic.
The injured wolf was sagging against the back of the driver’s chair, and he rolled his head to the side and looked at Destiny. “What’s wrong with her? Is she dying now? I have a thing about being in closed spaces with dying people. I believe in ghosts.”
“You scared?” the driver asked.
“Disturbed. She’s human. How much farther. I need someone to take this damn bullet out of me.”
He had hurt Dodger. He’d been one of the ones attacking him. Outnumbering him.
“Taking the bullet out won’t save you,” she gritted out through the pain that was spreading up her arm. “I packed that silver myself. When that bullet mushroomed in you, it released the metal. You’re poisoned.”
The werewolf turned on her in a blur and threw his fist toward her face, but Lyric caught it and shoved him back into his seat.
“What’s your problem!” he yelled at her.
“I’m following my father’s order, Cap. He wants her alive.”
“What about me?” he yelled.
“Who are you again?” Lyric said blandly.
“I need to get to the healer. Please,” Cap said, gripping onto the driver’s seat. “How much farther.”
“Two minutes,” the driver said softly. Too softly. How could Destiny hear him?
She didn’t feel good. She turned and retched once, twice. Fuck. Dodger. A sob filled her lungs. “I want to go home,” she whispered. But when she said home, she imagined last night, when she’d been in Dodger’s arms.
The SUV turned sharply, pitching her into the window.
She screamed at how bad her arm hurt, and she looked down at it from a better angle now.
Her skin was cut deeply and wide open. No blood was seeping from her though, and her sleeve was drying.
She pulled the shredded fabric up her arm and was horrified at what she saw.
Long black tendrils were stretched up her arm, just under her skin.
“Shhhit,” Lyric growled.
“What is that?” Cap asked.
“Looks like you are both poisoned,” Lyric said, ripping her sleeve up higher. “None of this is right.” Destiny didn’t miss the tinge of panic in her tone.
Lyric climbed over her and pulled a pen from the back pocket of the seat in front of her and drew a line at the top of the black veins midway up Destiny’s bicep.
In horror, Destiny watched the black tendrils creep up past the ink line.
“Fuck,” Lyric gritted out. “Is there a first aid kit in here?” she demanded as she marked the top of the black tendrils again.
“Not in this rig.”
“Oh my God, is no one in this fucking Pack prepared for anything?” she yelled. And now even her dark eye was glowing whiskey brown. “It’s going to be okay,” she told her.
“I can hear lies now,” Destiny whispered. “You just lied.” Her breath hitched as she leaned back onto the window. “I want to go home.”
“I don’t know where your home is,” Lyric said.
“Dodger. Take me to be with Dodger.”
“How can I get the silver out of me?” the werewolf asked.
Destiny allowed a slow smile to take her lips. “You hurt my mate. You think I would tell you?” She sat up slightly. “Suffer.” A long, low snarl scratched up her throat.
Lyric made another mark and cussed again. The SUV had slowed, and before it even stopped, Lyric shoved the door open. Destiny thought she would fall, but Lyric kept her balanced and dragged her out. She put her good arm around her shoulder and dragged Destiny past a gathering crowd of people.
“Where’s Conrad?” one of them asked.
“Finishing an order,” someone answered.
Destiny’s vision was getting blurry. She retched again.
“Is she bit?” someone demanded from behind them.
Lyric was dragging her up a set of porch stairs to an unfamiliar home. She shoved the door open and asked, “What are the real consequences if I can’t save her?”
“You have to save her.”
“What happens if I don’t. I need to know!”
“Her father is Behren Young.”
Lyric stumbled to a stop and turned, staring at the white-haired Elder. Her father?
“You sent us after the daughter of Behren Young?” A mix of shock horror tainted every one of Lyric’s words.
Aro lifted his chin into the air. “Give that to your wolf. Save her.”
“You’re all so fucked,” Destiny said to the crowd that was gathering in the entryway and on the porch of the house. She could feel her phone in her pocket still. If they had been smart, they would’ve checked her for more weapons.
Lyric yelled at someone to bring her boiling water.
Destiny’s legs weren’t working well anymore, and Lyric had to drag her into the room at the end of the hall.
“You need light,” she whispered to herself as she laid Destiny down on the bed. She rushed and opened the two big windows. From here, Destiny could see the front yard, where people were gathered, talking low.
“This is a big Pack,” she whispered.
“This is three Packs. They allied to end the Rogue Pack. It’s a trap.”
“It was my first time seeing his wolf,” she whispered to herself, and now her eyes bleared with tears.
Her face crumpled and she squeezed her eyes tightly closed.
She imagined how safe she’d felt in Dodger’s arms last night.
She didn’t even care if she lived now. If he didn’t exist, she couldn’t imagine existing either.
“I don’t want to be a part of your Pack.
I was happy. Can you just let it happen? ”
Lyric wouldn’t meet her eyes now. She had pulled up a huge storage container on wheels that was filled with first aid supplies.
Someone opened the door. “Hey, this is my stuff—”
“Fuck off!” Lyric yelled, pointing to the door.
“I’m the healer. I can help—”
“Not on bites! This is what I do. Give me the room!”
The door closed with a soft click and Lyric pulled herself forward on a rolling chair and began cleaning the bite. “I can put you to sleep.”
“I want to go home. Just put me by Dodger. Please.”
“I don’t know where Dodger is,” she whispered, her face so close.
Destiny frowned. “I don’t…I don’t understand.”
“Your man ain’t dead. Take stock of your bond. I can sense it. If he was dead, the bond would be sick, or gone completely. You would know if he didn’t exist anymore.”
Destiny stared at Lyric in disbelief. She didn’t know what to feel around for. She could hear better and smell better, but…
“Does it feel like your heart is ripping out?” Lyric said, jamming a needle into her arm. A numbing sensation spread through her skin.
“No.”
Lyric pursed her lips. “I know the wolves my dad left behind to kill your mate. I saw Dodger fighting. He’s big. Do you understand? He’s bigger than they expected. More dominant. He fights like a monster. He’s trained. The wolves that were left behind in that fight don’t stand a chance.”
“If you knew that, why didn’t you warn your Pack?”
“Because we are new, and what they’re doing is fucked up. What my dad is doing is fucked up. I saw you out there. You weren’t afraid at all. You had silver bullets and you had your mate’s back. We shouldn’t have been in those woods.”
“Is that why you bit me?”
Lyric’s bi-colored eyes glanced at her and then back to where she was injecting her with a numbing liquid. She didn’t answer.
A soft knock rapped on the door and in came a man carrying a bowl of steaming water. He set it down and left.
Lyric’s eyes were full of determination as she said, “This is going to hurt.”
Destiny was scared. This wasn’t how she imagined any of this happening. It wasn’t fair. Everything had gone so wrong.
“Listen,” Lyric said. “If you want to go home, you have to live. Are you ready?”
Tears burning Destiny’s eyes, she nodded. “I want to go home.”