Chapter 63 Once Bitten
“He’s like a statue,” Eventine said.
“The witch fed him a potion,” Harlan said, his voice tight.
They’d been tossing out ideas of what could be going on during the entire drive. Conri didn’t answer his phone or his radio. They hadn’t tried to pull him over. They all wanted to see what he was up to, and if the witch was controlling him, how was she doing it? What were the limits of her power?
Ahead, Conri’s blinker went on for the first Serenity exit.
“First exit,” Eventine radioed to her team.
They followed Conri down the exit and stopped at the stop sign, where Conri turned toward town.
Conri pulled into Fox Valley Apartments and parked.
Harlan pulled into a nearby spot. Eventine craned her neck to keep eyes on Conri.
He chugged from a water bottle, then got out of his truck.
Harlan pointed at the door he was heading for. “Sage Greene’s place.”
“Sage White,” Eventine corrected him, with a glance at his face. He raised his lip and growled at the name, his eyes on Conri. He despised Abigail White and he didn’t like that a One True Mate might be related to her.
“Fox Valley apartments,” Eventine told her team. “We’re staying clear for now. Crew, you and Dahlia park on Hackle Street near the exit. Sergeant Rockford, you and Officer Adin park on Nocturnal Drive near the entrance.
“10-4.”
“10-4.”
Conri got out of his truck, moving stiffly to Unit 112. He pounded heavily but slowly on it, not stopping.
“Think she’s Conri’s mate?” Harlan asked.
Eventine shook her head. She didn’t know what to think. The KSRT and patrol officers had been to this apartment several times over the last week, looking for Sage White. No one had ever answered the door, and they couldn’t find her anywhere.
“Sage!” Conri shouted, pounding. “Sage! Open up!”
Conri kept pounding. A door on the floor above opened and a beefy man called out, “Hey, you shut the fuck up down there!”
Conri kept pounding. The beefy guy looked over the railing, then pointed at Conri.
“You! Hey you!” Conri ignored him. The guy went inside his door, then came back out and whipped a sloshing beer can over the railing at Conri.
It hit him in the back of the leg, making him stop pounding on the door.
He stood there with his head down, arm raised, fist poised to knock.
Harlan opened the door, his eyes on the man on the second floor, who was already gearing up to throw something else. “This fuckin’ guy,” he muttered, heading for the stairs.
“I’ll bring patrol in,” Eventine said, getting out of the vehicle with the mic in her hand. “Sergeant Rockford and Officer Adin move in for civilian interference on the second-floor balcony.”
“10-4”
Harlan found stairs and ran up them. Eventine dropped the mic on the passenger seat and stayed near the vehicle, her eyes on Conri.
Far down the corridor, from the building’s fitness center, a door opened and a woman came out, wearing leggings and a sports bra, sweat glistening on her bare shoulders and arms. Eventine kept an eye on her, intending to head her off if she got too close to Conri, but Conri had already noticed her.
He lurched that way, filling all the space in the corridor, his head down and his posture aggressive.
The woman saw him coming and she faltered, then backed the way she had come.
Eventine sprinted that way, telling Harlan in ruhi, but shouts reached her from the second floor—he was fighting up there.
She looked up to see he had the civilian in a headlock.
Crew, Dahlia, Eventine called in ruhi. Move in for a situation. Conri’s heading toward a civilian female at the west end of the building. I’m after him. Crew, I need you with me. Dahlia, stay close but don’t let him see you.
10-4, Crew said.
Got it, Dahlia said.
Conri shuffled into a run. Eventine sprinted after Conri, calling his name.
“Conri, Conri, stop!”
He lumbered along, picking up speed.
“Conri, it’s Eventine, do you hear me?” she shouted at him, closing the gap.
He’d almost reached the woman. In her panic, she hadn’t gotten the door to the fitness center open.
“Sage?” he said, his voice thick.
Eventine reached out and grabbed Conri by the arm.
He was three times her size and she didn’t slow him—he just jerked her along with him, his eyes on the petrified woman trapped in the doorway alcove.
Eventine pushed around him and got between him and the human.
Conri growled and knocked Eventine to the side, advancing on the woman.
Eventine bounced off the wall, and grabbed Conri in a tactical hold, applying pressure to the nerves in his neck.
“Conri, hello, are you in there?” Eventine grunted when he didn’t seem to notice the tactical hold. He shoved at her again, but she jumped on his back and shoved her thumb under his collarbone until he bellowed and swung around.
Eventine dropped off his back and waved her hands until he locked eyes with her. “Conri, chill, chill, what’s going on, man?” she said, backing out of the alcove, leading him away from the woman he’d cornered.
Conri lowered his head and rushed Eventine.
He snatched her around the middle, and tried to body slam her to the ground, but she grabbed his arm and leg-locked onto his torso.
He fell on her instead, muttering and swearing and driving her breath from her lungs.
He pinned her down, growling in her ear, pawing at her back, ripping at her shirt.
“Sage,” he growled. “Bite Sage.”
Too late, Eventine realized what he was trying to do.
She twisted away but his teeth locked around the meaty part of her shoulder and she cried out, arching her back away from him, elbowing him in the solar plexus and headbutting him with all the strength she had.
His teeth scraped her mate mark and she twisted and headbutted again, crying out for her mate both in ruhi and out loud.
“Harlan!” Harlan!
Coming, he responded immediately.
Conri’s weight lifted off her and she rolled defensively into the corner right onto her feet.
Crew was there, with one elbow around Conri’s throat, and the other arm hooked around Conri’s leg.
He’d yanked Conri off her and now he twisted and flung Conri into the wall where he bounced onto the floor.
Harlan arrived at a run. He grabbed Conri by the throat, hauling him to his feet, then slamming him into a wall and held him there.
“What the hell’s going on here?” he shouted, his fingers digging into Conri’s neck. Harlan swung around till he could see Eventine. She reached a hand over her shoulder, and it came back bloody.
Harlan saw the blood and his face tightened with murderous anger. He dragged Conri down the corridor by his throat. Conri shuffled his feet, his face beet-red, his hands on Harlan’s fingers, trying to peel them off.
With a mighty growl and heave, Harlan slammed Conri straight at the door to Apartment 112. It splintered and Conri disappeared inside the apartment. Harlan marched after him, his fists clenched, his face murderous.
Eventine went after them, shouting to her mate in ruhi. Don’t kill him!
She reached the doorway and peered inside the apartment. Harlan had Conri by the throat and was slamming him around the room, swearing. Conri was in bad shape, his face swelling, blood spraying from his scalp.
Harlan slammed him into the wall. “Motherfucker.” A large Conri-shaped dent appeared.
Into the TV. It crashed to the floor. “Dead fucking bear.”
Wall. “Fucking kill you.”
Table. “Touch my mate.”
Conri’s eyes shut and his body spasmed in unconsciousness, unable to shift because of the humans nearby.
Babe, babe, he’s passed out, Eventine called to her mate, her hands up.
Harlan didn’t notice. He heaved Conri into a large picture of a carousel horse. The glass shattered and the picture fell to the floor.
Eventine got in close to Harlan, pleading with him in ruhi. The witch wants you to kill him—you’ll make her happy if you kill him!
Harlan’s eyes cleared a little. He dropped Conri to the floor and stood over him.
Good, good Harlan, Babe, Soldier, Harlan, it’s okay, I’m okay. She gently touched his arm. He covered her small hand with his big one, but he didn’t look away from Conri, broken and battered on the floor.
Eventine dared to snuggle him and he seemed to respond to her. She looked over her shoulder to see Crew, poised to help. Behind him, Sergeant Rockford stood in the open doorway, his back to them, blocking the view inside the room from the humans gathering outside.
“Handcuff him,” Harlan snarled. Crew moved in and snapped handcuffs on Conri, who was curled semi-fetally in an archway between a dining room and a living room.
Crew stood and Harlan stepped back, finally able to tear his eyes off Conri. His eyes were stormy. “What the hell happened, Evie?”
She shook her head. “I’m not even sure, it was so fast. He went after a woman and I got in his way… He’s drugged for sure, or potioned, like you said. The witch made him do this.”
Harlan growled. He motioned to Crew that he wanted Crew’s portable radio, then he called Trevor. “KSRT-3 calling KSRT-1.”
“Standing by.”
“Bloom’s in custody, heading for the cellblock.”
“10-4.”
A new voice called on the radio. “In custody for what?”
“Who’s that?” Crew asked.
“Bruin,” Harlan and Eventine said at the same time, looking at each other.
“Shit,” Crew said.
“Fire Chief Bruin?” Sergeant Rockford asked from the doorway. “Finally back from Japan or wherever the fuck.”
Crew pointed at Conri on the floor. “They’re twins.”
“Shit,” Sergeant Rockford said.
Crew nodded. “Troy and Reed drove out to Chicago to pick Bruin up from the airport a few hours ago. We called him to come home when Conri went missing a few days back.”
Harlan keyed up the radio, saying, “It’s complicated—meet us at the cellblock.”
There was no response, but several of their phones started to ring. “Ignore them,” Harlan growled. “We don’t talk to anyone about shit until we’re at the station.”
He hugged Eventine. She laid her head on his shoulder and he pulled her in close, burying his face in her hair. He stiffened strangely, then stopped and took a big sniff of her hair. His posture tightened and he scented his way to her face and down her neck.
“You’re with young,” he growled.
Eventine took his hand and kissed it, then smiled at him. She’d hoped he wouldn’t realize until the mission was over. “Yes, Har, we’re finally going to have a pup or two running around, after all these years.”
Harlan turned slowly away, a vicious growl building in his throat, his eyes going to Conri, seeming to hulk out, looking more wolf than man. The growling filled the room.
Harlan, no, Eventine said in ruhi. I’m fine. The young is fine. We’re perfectly fine.
Harlan pounced. Eventine followed, shouting Harlan, no, he’s handcuffed!
But Crew was there. He grabbed Harlan the same way he’d grabbed Conri earlier, and they both went tumbling into the far corner.
Harlan fought Crew and they growled and swore and punched at each other.
Sergeant Rockford turned around to see what was up.
He hooked a thumb at Evie to take his spot at the doorway and ran across the room to pounce on Harlan and Crew, laughing like a loon.
“Are we wrestling, Harlan?!” he shouted.
Harlan dug and clawed his way to Conri a little at a time, throwing punches at the males restraining him, his growling filling the room.
Jaggar, Evie called in ruhi, knowing he was nearby at the station. We need help at Fox Valley Apartments and we need it now.
His response was distant, but clear. Coming. I’ll be three minutes, but my wolf says Tabias can get there faster.
Tabias could get… what? Jaggar had once been the beast, but when he’d claimed Leilani, his cougar-half and his-wolf half had separated, and his cougar-half, Tabias, had gone to live in the Meadow.
A familiar presence loomed large in the room, something Eventine could almost see, but mostly sense.
Eventine’s legs went rubbery. She let herself tip against the wall behind her and slide to the floor, sitting with her knees up.
The trio fighting in the corner all jerked as one, then relaxed into a pile of males.
Conri’s injuries healed without a shift.
Somehow, Tabias had returned, but only for a visit. The presence withdrew, and in the resulting calm, Harlan found his right mind again.
“Get off me,” he grunted. “I’m not gonna kill him—not while he’s handcuffed anyway.”
Eventine pushed to her feet on shaky legs, watching carefully until she was sure everything was calm.
She called Jaggar in ruhi. Jaggar, you can stand down. Tabias fixed everything.
Good to know, Jaggar said, I’m still coming. His mental voice was clearer. He was close.
Eventine ran to the doorway and found Dahlia outside, dressed in a stagehand uniform.
She was pushing stage props in front of the door and Evie didn’t have to wonder where she’d found them—or if they were something she’d made with illusions.
Dahlia waved a group of people across the street, yelling, “If you want to be an extra, go stand in that line.” They ran in the direction excitedly.
Eventine gave her a grin and a thumbs-up, then she went back inside. “Dahlia has it under control in the parking lot,” she said.
Eventine gestured to her mate. “Let’s go, Soldier—they can clean up. Me and you will strategize.”
“Strategize,” he muttered, and struggled to his feet. The other males did also and they all held their breath as Harlan stepped over Conri. Harlan didn’t slow, or spare Conri a glance. He kept walking, straight to Eventine. She smiled at him and kissed him.
“I’m hungry,” she said.
He reached down and picked her up in a bridal carry, surprising her. She put her arms around his neck.
He nodded. “We’ll discuss strategy over food, then we’ll head to the cellblock.”
“Can I walk?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Ok Harlan. You can carry me from here to the truck, and then if you try again, shit’s gonna get spicy.”
“We’ll see.”
Eventine gave up. She lay her head on her mate’s chest and rested. With Bruin back, Conri in custody, and Harlan’s overprotectiveness, she was in for a long night.