Chapter Ten
Tru saw it coming. She could see it in Bay’s demeanor.
He hadn’t had control over the animal at all on the way over here, and she didn’t understand.
She’d asked him to turn around and take them home a couple of times, but she’d made the mistake of letting him drive.
He had the address on his maps function on his phone, and he wasn’t going to be deterred.
And now they were here, with Bay getting angrier and angrier for no reason. Tabian was surprised but had seemed like he was trying to stay calm. He’d even turned his chin to the side just slightly, signaling that he meant no harm to Bay, but her stepson was riled up for reasons she couldn’t fathom.
This behavior was between him and his wolf.
Tabian had snapped about the way Bayen was talking to her, and she’d seen the buildup. She’d seen Bay stalking toward him and then trying to back his wolf off unsuccessfully.
It was the grit to his voice when Bay yelled, “Fuck you,” at Tabian, and everything happened so fast.
A blur of motion startled her from behind Tabian, and an enormous wolf hit the roof of his truck with a deafening boom and then leapt straight for Bay. It was a dark wolf, stark white teeth bared, eyes glowing an unnatural red.
“Bridger, no!” Tabian yelled.
Bay Changed in a moment and took the brunt of that charge from Bridger’s wolf.
Tru screamed as she rushed forward.
“Get in the car!” Tabian yelled in a demon’s voice.
“Bay!” she screamed in horror. Bridger’s wolf was so much bigger than his. He was going to kill her boy!
Tabian’s body broke and in the moment before his wolf exploded from him, he yelled, “Stay back! I’ve got him!”
For a moment, Tru thought he was talking to her, but he was looking toward the clearing. The movement there wasn’t the waving of the long grass. Wolves were charging toward them.
The Rogue Pack.
Shit.
I’ve got him. She had to trust Tabian, right?
But Bay was her boy. Her responsibility, and right now, he was in a wolf fight with a full-grown male werewolf.
Tabian’s wolf was terrifying. He was so fast, he blurred to the fight and yanked the big dark wolf off of Bay. He engaged with Bridger and they fought like they were trying to kill each other.
Tears stung her eyes as she watched Bay’s wolf stand up and back toward the car as he was herded by the other wolves of the Pack.
“He’s my son. Please!” she pleaded. “Don’t hurt him. He doesn’t have control! He’s only sixteen!”
The huge black wolf in the front lifted his eyes to hers and stopped advancing. The others stopped too.
“Bay!” she screamed. “Change back! Now! Please Change back!” She’d only seen his wolf twice before now, and never angry.
Tabian and Bridger had disengaged, and were circling each other loosely, hatred in their eyes. Tabian backed toward Bay’s wolf, placing himself between the Rogue Pack and the young wolf.
The adrenaline was pumping through her right now, and Tru was shaking so badly, she had to clench her fists to rid herself of the tingling sensation zinging through her body. She’d never been this scared in her life.
She’d never been around this many werewolves! She’d never met any of Zane’s Pack other than Bay.
Bay seemed to be trying to Change back, but it wasn’t working. He was lying on the ground struggling. She could see matted red patches on his gray fur.
He was hurt.
The big black wolf in front twitched his head, and the wolves behind him started retreating, giving them more space. Bridger’s dark wolf stayed pacing, eyes on Tabian, but the Black wolf…maybe the Alpha?...he charged at Bridger and stood over him snarling.
Bridger gave one more furious glance at Tabian and then trotted off toward the woods.
When Tabian turned to look at her, she gasped. The side of his face was matted with red and dripping.
He twitched his head toward his house, and she understood. He needed space for he and Tabian to Change.
In shock, she looked at the tattered clothes that littered the ground. Bay’s outfit was ripped to shreds.
“Can I get clothes?” she asked in a shaky voice. She needed to do something. Tru needed to be of some sort of service.
Tabian nodded, and she bolted for his house.
Inside, it looked exactly like the last time she’d been here.
Everything was still new, and unused. The couch still had some of the plastic wrap on it, and so did one of the chairs.
She bolted past them to the loft and took the stairs two at a time and tried to gain her bearings at the top of the landing.
There was a dresser on the wall to the right, and she scrambled for it and pulled a drawer open.
Shorts. Great. She grabbed a pair and then a pair of T-shirts from another drawer.
She grabbed a pair of jeans from the edge of the bed and then scrambled down the stairs, her heart racing out of her chest.
She could hear talking, but she didn’t want to see the guys right after a Change. It felt messed up. “Tabian?” she called.
“Leave the clothes there. We’ll be a minute.”
“Is he okay?”
“I’m fine,” came Bay’s hoarse voice.
His tone sounded pained though. Pinched even.
She jogged down the porch stairs and set the clothes in the yard and then gave them her back and made her way inside, where she paced for the next five minutes. She knew it was five minutes because she checked the clock on the microwave a dozen times.
When the door opened at last, she rounded on them. Tabian held open the door and Bay sauntered in, head hung. Tabian’s blue eyes were the color of ice right now, and his expression was somber.
Tru wrung her hands. “I’m sorry,” she said.
“Not your fault,” Tabian clipped out. But he wasn’t meeting her eyes, and he went directly past her and into the bathroom.
Bay was leaning against the door, holding the sleeve of his right arm.
“Are you okay?”
Bay flashed her an angry glance and then back to the floor.
“I just can’t get it right with you, can I?” she asked. He always burned her. Always stung her.
“Not your fault,” Tabian said as he passed her. He tossed a first aid kit at Bay, and he caught it. “You want to come into a Pack territory and go on the attack, you can doctor yourself. Lesson one.”
Tabian’s right side of his face was covered in blood, and he stayed for a few moments more glaring at Bay before he disappeared back into the bathroom. The water started running.
“Here, I can help,” she said softly.
“No,” Tabian called from the bathroom. “Don’t help him. He wants to act like he’s grown in a fight, he can act grown after.”
Bay lifted the sleeve of the black T-shirt, and Tru gasped. There were two huge gashes across his shoulder and they were deep.
“But they will scar,” she called to Tabian.
“Good. Maybe he will learn his lesson. Start pointless fights, get pointless scars.”
“That is way too harsh,” she griped striding for Bay.
“For humans. It’s fair for us,” Tabian said, and something in his voice stopped her in her tracks.
He was standing in the open doorway of the bathroom. He’s rinsed his face, but the injury to his face was dripping already again.
Tabian looked to Bay, and back. “He’s a young man. You can’t coddle him. He did good in that fight. Let him have it.”
Confused, Tru looked at Bay, and he was staring at Tabian with shock in his expression. “I don’t understand,” she said softly.
“He fought Bridger and he survived it.”
“For ten seconds,” Bay muttered.
“Do you know who Bridger is?” Tabian asked him.
Bay shook his head slightly.
“Ten seconds is good. Trust me.”
“Why did he come at me like that?” Bay asked.
“Because we’ve been at war. We’ve been taking hits to establish a Pack.
Some bad stuff has happened to some of our members, and it’s fresh.
Bridger is protective of this Pack. Stranger werewolf in our territory toying with the idea of fighting me or anyone here?
You’re lucky you got to Change before he was on you.
No more Changing here ever unless I say. Do you understand?”
Bay shrugged and dropped his gaze. “Whatever.”
“No whatever. You understand or you don’t. You can play by the rules, or you can stay out of this territory. You stressed your mom out tonight—”
“I told you, she’s not my mom.”
“Yeah, yeah, she’s not your mom, but she’s the one over there going crazy because she can’t stitch you up, worried over you scarring, standing in the middle of a Pack of werewolves pleading for them to spare you.
” Tabian made a click sound behind his teeth and shook his head, then turned back for the bathroom.
“Tru, you want to doctor someone, come here. Leave that one alone.”
“But…” She got stuck, wanting to follow Tabian, but unable to leave Bay while he was hurt.
“Mmm,” Tabian said, appearing in the doorway again.
“That looks like momma instincts to me,” he said pointedly to Bay.
“It’s a lucky thing,” he said disappearing back into the bathroom.
“Lots of kids don’t have moms who give a shit about them, but I’ve heard how Tru talks about you.
To you, you’re her kid. You can keep throwing that ‘you’re not my mom’ bullshit at her to hurt her, but it’s going to get old fast. Probably just tell her thank you for giving a shit instead. ”
“Can we go home now?” Bay asked, his eyes flashing bright gold again.
Defeated, Tru sighed. “You don’t want to stay a little longer?”
“And do what? Get more lectures from that guy? I don’t even know him.”
Tru wanted to cry. Tonight had gone so wrong. She’d known Bay would be difficult, but she hadn’t been prepared for the trauma.
Tru’s shoulders slumped. “I’ll drive.”
“Hold up for a minute,” Tabian said.
“I’m ready to go,” Bay said.
“Then go,” Tabian snapped, standing in the doorway. “I haven’t seen Tru in days, I finally get to see her, you tornadoed that meeting completely, the least you can do is give her a minute to say hi to me. Go wait in the car. No one is stopping you.”
“But…” Bay said, hesitating.
“But what?”
“But there are other wolves out there.”