Chapter Twelve #2
“Cool observation, is there a reason you are here?” Bridger asked.
A blur of violence pushed her backward, and her back slammed against the porch railing.
There was a second of blinding pain, and when she looked up, Delta was gone.
A light gray wolf stood in front of her, and around her shoulder, Nory could see two of Aro’s men pinning Bridger against the side of the house.
Bridger didn’t look scared. He looked angry and his eyes were almost white.
Delta’s shredded clothes littered the ground, and Nory realized something awful. They were going to kill Bridger. She could see it on their faces. Aro curled his lips back, and his teeth were too sharp. He looked like a monster.
“Fuck you,” Bridger spat, eyes locked on Aro.
Aro nodded to his people, and she knew this was it. They were going to kill him!
“Stop!” she shrieked. Nory stepped around the gray wolf—Delta—and held her hands out. “Please stop. I am human. I am nothing. I am nothing special. You are right! I was trying to leave, and I will never come back. I’m sorry! I didn’t understand the rules, but I can leave.”
“You,” Aro snarled, striding for her. He grabbed the back of her neck.
“Do you realize the Arrangement was my daughter? Do you realize she cared for him? Do you know Liam was the only one she would consider an Arrangement with?” His grip was so painful, and his nails dug into her neck.
His nails were turning to claws, and she whimpered.
No. Don’t make a noise. If this is it, go strong.
He leaned down and gritted out, “Your time to leave has passed. I’ve traveled all the way out here to tell Liam what he has done.”
“Say it,” Bridger said, pinning against the wall. “Say it and be done. No one here cares about the theatrics.”
Aro stood to his full height, and shoved her downward, until she was hunched against his grip on her neck. Warmth trickled down the side of her neck, and she could see spots at the edges of her blurry vision. It hurt so bad!
Delta’s wolf was snarling constantly, and she was squaring up to Aro.
He could kill them all in seconds. She knew he and his men could do that. He was toying with them, and God, Nory had never been so terrified in her entire life.
“Where is Liam?” Aro gritted out.
“Your guess is as good as ours,” Bridger choked out.
Aro shoved Nory toward Bridger with such force, she was dizzy with it. She landed on her hands and knees with a yelp.
The others let Bridger go, and he told her immediately to, “Get in the house.”
“Nah. I want her to stay. The three of you will be the punishment,” Aro said solemnly. “You will bring Liam and the others back in line.”
“He will kill you,” Bridger said. “They’ve bonded. He won’t learn whatever fucked up lesson you are trying to teach him. You will turn him into a grenade. He will never stop hunting you.”
Aro laughed and looked to his men, who chuckled too. “Change.”
“There’s a gun above the front door,” Bridger told her, his eyes white and his bones snapping. “Go!” An enormous wolf exploded from him, and she turned to run. Time slowed as she took a step toward the porch, and then another, pushing her body.
Something slammed into her from the side, and she hit the porch stairs hard, a wolf had a hold of the leg of her jeans and dragged her into the yard as she flailed and kicked.
Bridger and Delta’s wolves were battling for their lives, and never in her life had she seen something so horrific.
Something so violent. Something so deadly, and bloody.
She screamed and kicked the wolf in the face, but he wasn’t trying to kill her yet. She could tell.
And it hit her. They wanted her to watch her friends die.
They wanted her to see it before they ended hers.
“Liam!” she screamed. She didn’t know why she cried out his name. He wasn’t here. He couldn’t save them.
She’d made so many mistakes. So many. She shouldn’t be here. Bridger and Delta were going to die because of her. She was going to die!
A sob escaped her as she dug her fingers into the earth and tried to stop the wolf from dragging her toward the SUVs. Tears ran down her cheeks as she saw the wolves fighting near the house, and the five more that were running to join them.
It wasn’t fair. “Delta! Bridger! Run!” she shrieked.
A howl pierced the air, and that sound did something strange to the wolves. They froze, and the ones fighting Bridger and Delta backed off. Two of them lay still on the ground. She could see one of them clearly, and his eyes were staring at nothing.
Another howl lifted in the air, and this time it was closer. Another one joined it, the tone lower.
Bridger had matted, wet blood all over his muzzle as he led Delta slowly toward the uncertain wolves. They were rushing this way and that, being herded by Bridger, and Aro was yelling at them to, “Finish it!”
The wolf released her jeans and backed away, tail lowered and ears alert on the woods as a third wolf howled a high-pitched yipping sound.
“What are you doing here?” an inhuman voice asked, and when she looked up, Liam was standing leaned against the corner of Nate’s house. Only, he didn’t look like Liam anymore.
His face was much too sharp, and his eyes lighter than she’d ever seen them. They were glowing unnaturally. Cruelty was etched into every line of his face, and he glared unblinking at Aro.
“You know what I’m doing here,” Aro barked out, jamming a finger toward Nory.
Liam’s arms were crossed over his chest, but that didn’t hide the blood stains on his shirt. He slid a glance to Nory, and back to Aro. “Is she bleeding because of you?”
“The punishment will be three.”
“The punishment will be three of yours if you are setting rules.” Liam twitched his head toward the dead wolves. “There’s two.” He pushed off the house and strode for Aro. “One left.”
Aro looked furious. “How dare you defy an Elder.”
“You’re just a werewolf on a power-trip to me,” Liam growled, as he came to a stop between Aro and Nory. “Elder is just a title. It’s not a free pass to trespass into another Pack’s territory and kill members.”
A trio of wolves trotted from the woods as Liam offered Nory his hand. “Can you stand?”
Her throat was closing, and her breathing sounded like she was wheezing. She was trying so hard not to go into full-blown panic. It would make everything worse. Unable to speak, she nodded jerkily and slid her hand into his.
He lifted her easily, and she gasped as she put pressure onto her right ankle. The wolf had torn up her skin there, and the ankle of her jeans was turning red.
“Aro, I think we should go,” one of the men said from behind him.
“Yes, Aro. Listen to your fellow Elders. You should go.”
Aro’s face was caught between man and wolf, and his teeth were all razor sharp as he smiled.
“Your Pack is disbanded. You have no title anymore. There is nothing to be Alpha of. The Coeur d’Alene Lake Pack will be given to another.
From this moment forward, you and every one of your misfits will be registered as Rogues.
None of you will be allowed into a new Pack without approval of the Elders.
You are all in violation of our laws, and have one week to vacate your homes in this territory—”
“Absolutely not—”
“You will or it will be your second strike violating our laws. If the Elders strip you of your Pack, you are not allowed to dwell in the main housing in this territory.” Aro stepped forward and jammed his finger at the ground.
“This is Coeur d’Alene Lake Pack territory, and you are no longer Coeur d’Alene Lake wolves.
You are Rogues, and thus you may stay in temporary rooms in government funded territories only! ”
“These are our homes!”
“Your temporary home is in ashes—”
“I’m not talking about me! I’m talking about my people!” Liam roared. “They haven’t done anything wrong.”
“But you—”
“Haven’t done anything wrong either,” Nate growled as he walked right through the middle of the Elders and their guards.
“The hell he hasn’t. He’s bonded to a human!”
“You wouldn’t give a shit about any of this if it wasn’t your daughter that was rejected!” Nate yelled.
“I can step down as Alpha and leave the territory,” Liam negotiated. “Nate is Second. He can take over—”
“They stood by and supported this. You are throwaway wolves. All of you are listed as Rogue as of now. You will have no protection from us, and no protection from other nearby Packs.”
“But they didn’t do anything wrong,” Liam snarled.
“An Alpha’s failures fall on his Pack,” Aro said through a cruel smile.
“My daughter will choose the new Alpha for this territory, and they can build it up together. I gave you a chance to build this Pack, and you refused. Don’t worry.
It will be well defended.” Aro turned to leave.
“One week. Disobey me and we will eradicate every last one of you.”
“Declaring war on a Pack?” Liam barked. “Sounds an awful lot like what you pulled in Wyoming.”
The others had been leaving, but a few of them stopped and looked at each other.
“You know that feels right,” Liam said.
“Enough!” Aro barked.
“Kill whatever you can’t control, right?” Liam yelled.
“Enough!” Aro screamed, the veins in his neck protruding. “You have no idea what happened in Wyoming. No one does.”
“Because you killed the witnesses,” Liam gritted out. He looked at the others. “You know I’m right.” He stepped forward and pointed at the wolves on the ground. “Take your dead!”
Shock vibrated through Nory’s shaking body as she watched the living wolves turn back into men, and pick up the dead, and leave with the others. The SUV’s pulled out of the yard, one by one.
Her leg and neck hurt so badly, and she clung desperately to Liam’s arm.
The yard was littered with scraps of clothing, and Liam smelled different. He smelled like an animal.
The second the SUV’s were out of sight, he turned and bent slightly, scooped her up and strode inside with her. She clung to his shirt and winced as the movement jostled her ankle.
“Is it enough to turn her?” Nate asked low as he followed them in.
“No.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Because I’m sure!” Liam snapped, setting her onto the couch. He knelt and ripped her jeans up to her knee and pushed the fabric out of the way. “Fuck.”
Nory didn’t want to look. “Is it bad?”
“It’ll be fine. I need a first aid kit,” he said to Nate, who disappeared into the other room.
Tears were burning her eyes, but she didn’t know why. It was all too much. Jackson, meeting the Pack, being with Liam last night, him leaving, the uncertainty that had consumed her all morning, the Elders, and the blood stains on Liam’s shirt.
“What happened last night?” she asked softly.
He stood and made his way into the kitchen without answering and ran water as if waiting for it to warm up. He stared out the window over the sink.
“Liam?” she asked.
No answer.
Nate returned with a first aid kit and had to wipe dust off the lid. “We don’t use these much,” he explained. “Don’t need to.”
“Is it bad?” she repeated. Maybe Nate would tell her.
“You’ll be rocking some scars, but you’ll be fine.” He cast Liam a glance before he went to work doctoring her.
Delta came in a minute later, stark naked, and went directly to the bedroom, and returned a few moments later pulling on an oversized T-shirt. “Let me,” she growled out, and replaced Nate on first aid duty.
Liam returned with a bowl of warm water, but he’d shut down. She could tell.
His eyes didn’t meet hers anymore, and his words were clipped, but only for the others—his Pack.
Bridger burst in, and Dodger and Tabian were behind him. “I know what she is.”
“She’s human,” Liam said immediately.
“I didn’t know humans could be—”
“She’s just a human!” Liam barked, glaring at Bridger.
Bridger took a step back, frowning at his Alpha. “Aro gave that wolf an order to kill her. I heard him. He gave him an order, and the wolf couldn’t do it.” He gestured to her ankle. “That’s all he could do. He was dragging her away from the fights.”
“Stop,” Liam said, warning in his voice.
“What’s going on?” Nory whispered.
But no one answered. The Pack was all looking at some kind of warning in Liam’s eyes.
Bridger huffed a breath and shook his head. He looked disgusted and turned to leave.
“Where are you going?” Liam asked.
“To pack my house up.”
“I want to call a meeting first—”
“You aren’t our Alpha anymore,” Dodger said, his facial expression emotionless. “You can call meetings all you want to. We don’t have to go to them though.”
Liam got quiet and looked at the ground as the others filed out one by one, until it was only him and Nate and Delta left with her.
Liam turned and Delta moved out of the way as he knelt down in front of Nory. He pulled her by the backs of the knees to the edge of the couch cushion and rested his forehead against her stomach. Arms around her back, he hugged her close.
She was shocked at the movement and sudden affection, but when she slipped her hands to his shoulders, his body was humming strangely. He was hurting.
It gutted her. He’d lost everything. He’d lost his home, and then the apartment, and now his Pack, and his territory.
This was her fault.
“Everything I touch turns to rot,” she whispered raggedly.
“No.” His voice was more growl than anything.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
He looked up at her, and the look in his eyes was so raw, so vulnerable. So agonized. “Are you okay?”
She was a little banged up, but she would heal. He seemed to need to hear that she was okay, and she understood. Nory nodded. She wasn’t really okay, and she’d learned all about lying and werewolves, so she didn’t say it aloud. A nod would have to be enough.
“I have to Change,” he gritted out, and stood. “I’m sorry. I’m the one who is sorry. You should’ve never been here.”
And there it was. There it was.
As she watched him turn from her and leave the house, she knew that was the end.
He did have regrets. If she had never come here, she would’ve never met his Pack, never had that perfect night. He would’ve never touched her body and reached her soul. She would’ve never been here for the Elders to see.
He would’ve been able to keep his Pack.
The door closed firmly, and she flinched, closing her eyes as two tears streaked to her cheeks.
She’d felt pain before, but never the kind that consumed her chest like wildfire.
Delta knelt back down to her ankle and began cleaning up the bite marks. She looked up and whispered, “It’s going to be okay.”
And while Nory in her banal human existence couldn’t herself tell a lie, she could see it there in Delta’s moisture-rimmed eyes.
Nothing was going to be okay for any of them.