16. Hettie
Chapter 16
Hettie
G rass rushes out of the nursery, and I react on instinct. “Grass!” This is eerily familiar. Me chasing after Grass, and him ignoring me. I didn’t like how it ended up the last time, and I doubt I’ll like it now.
At first glance, nothing seems strange besides the human woman running after her very loud and poorly trained dog. When Grass comes to an immediate stop, I sigh in relief and finally catch up with him. “You’ve got to stop doing that, boy. What the hell are you on?”
Grass whimpers and doesn’t calm down. He clearly wants me to see something, but I don’t know what I should look for. “I really wish you could talk,” I mumble.
That’s when I hear it. The sound of screams and howls coming from the town's square. Wolves the size of lions attack the unsuspecting shoppers. These wolves aren’t pack—why else would they be attacking us? They have to be rogues. Not just a few, but dozens.
It’s violent. It’s scary. And reminds me of my mortality .
My suspicions are confirmed when Thorne and Rip run my way. Thorne shifts; his body tears itself apart and rebuilds in seconds. A large brown wolf stands where Thorne once stood.
He howls, and Rip sprints past him. “Go!” he tells his second, and Thorne doesn’t hesitate as he rushes into battle.
“Hettie, let’s go.” Rip grabs my arm and pulls me to him.
“What are you doing?” Panic fills me as we move farther away from the battle happening below.
“Getting you to safety. Grass, come.”
Grass listens to the alpha command and follows at my heels.
“No, Rip, you can’t?—”
“Let me do this, Hettie! Don’t argue for once.”
I dig my heels into the ground, trying to stop. “I’m okay, Rip. They need you. Don’t you hear them screaming?”
“Listen—”
“No, you listen!” I shoot back, stunning both Rip and Grass. I take the opportunity to wiggle out of his grasp. “I’m fine. But those people aren’t. Help them, Rip. You’re their King Alpha.”
“And you’re their Luna. You need to be safe,” he grits through his teeth.
“No, I’m their Luna. I need to help my people. This is my pack too, is it not? That’s what you tell me. I will not go hide.”
“You will die if you attempt to join the battle, Hettie. You understand that, don’t you?” Rip looks ready to drag me back, but I’m not letting him. No matter how he feels.
“You fight the battle, then. I’m going back to the nursery. The pups need me.”
I can see him battle with himself. I almost believe he won’t let me go, and I’m prepared to plead my case again until he growls, “Stay here one minute.” Rip doesn’t wait for me to respond. He rushes away, and suddenly I feel exposed out here in the open.
Rip comes back a moment later carrying an…ax? “What the hell is that?” I gesture to the massive sharp tool in his hand.
To my surprise—and horror—Rip hands it over to me. “Protection. You know how to use it?”
“I feel like it’s self-explanatory?” I test the weapon out in my hands. It’s heavy as hell, and I wish I didn’t skip all those arms days at the gym. Still, I can at least raise it.
Rip nods in approval. “Straight back to the nursery. I’ll make sure your path is clear. Don’t leave Tallie.”
“I won’t,” I promise, and this is a promise I intend to keep.
“Be fucking careful,” Rip insists once again before he shifts in front of me; his clothes shred and fall to the floor. His black wolf stares at me, urging me to follow.
So I do.
None of the rogues have made it this far yet, so Rip only passes wolves running into the action. I run the last few feet to the nursery, awkwardly carrying the ax next to me. “Go! I’m fine!” I shout and pry open the nursery door.
“Hettie! Thank goddess you’re okay!” Tallie cries as soon as she sees me. A group of crying kids clings to her legs, scared out of their mind. “Is that an ax?” she asks, looking down at the weapon in my hands.
“Yeah, Rip gave it to me.” I wave it off. “Do we have someplace safe to take the pups?” Being out in the open like this feels too vulnerable, especially with how many windows there are in the other room. If we are lucky, the attack won’t extend this far, but I’m not counting on that.
“Yes, every building here has a safe room. Locks from the inside.” Tallie detaches the crying kids from her legs before moving toward a crib. She pushes it out of the way and tears down a random curtain I believed to be covering a window.
A door hides behind the curtain, and Tallie pulls hard to get it open. “Hurry! We need to get them all inside.”
We start with the most vulnerable, packing all the babies into one crib and pushing it inside. The kids who clung to Tallie moments ago all run inside. Grass goes with them and allows the kids to hold and cry into his fur. He’s keeping a few of the older kids calm, which I’m thankful for.
“Is that all of them?” I ask, frantically looking around the room for another head to pop up.
“Yeah, I think so— Hettie, look out! ” Tallie screams.
Her warning comes too late. The window behind me shatters, raining down hundreds of small shards of glass. The look of absolute fear from Tallie spurns me into action. “Don’t come out until Rip or Thorne comes back.”
“Hettie!” I cut off her cries, shutting the door to the safe room. I hear the audible lock and say a quick prayer of thanks that Tallie didn’t risk the children by opening the door again. An unsettling laugh emits from somewhere behind me, and I grasp the ax tightly in my hands. It suddenly feels so much smaller.
“Hettie…” A low male purr sends shivers down my back. Not how Rip’s voice does. This is mocking and lacks all friendliness. I know who it is before I even turn around.
“Michael.” I try to keep the tremble out of my voice, but my shaking body betrays me. I turn to see a man clad in shadows. Bright yellow wolf eyes stare at me through the darkness. I’ve never claimed to be a brave person, and right now, it takes everything in me not to turn around and bang on the door, begging Tallie to let me in. My chance of hiding is gone.
“Hettie.” Michael’s voice is deeper than I remember. He emerges slowly from the darkness, completely nude. Scars decorate his body from past altercations. Jagged pink marks line his chest and stomach. It only serves to make him more terrifying. “Pleasure to see you again.”
“What do you want?”
Michael steps closer, and I instantly raise my ax. The rogue just chuckles. “Don’t hurt yourself, Red. The tool is bigger than you.” He eyes me, stalking his prey to intimidate me. He uses the same nickname he called me back in the woods when I wore the red coat my mother made for me.
I’ve been around men like Michael before. Scary men. Men who take what they want regardless of who it hurts. Michael is the same. He may be the leader of his little band of rogues, but I bet none of them respect him like our pack respects Rip.
“Why are you here? Why are you attacking my pack?” I press, trying to keep him talking. If he’s talking, he’s not actively trying to hurt me.
“Your pack? That fool has already mated you?” Michael sounds annoyed, like that fact just caused him a lot of inconvenience. “My, how quickly you’ve made yourself at home here, Red. Tell me, has your mate shown you what is happening to his people? How sick they’re getting under his rule?”
Boiling anger overflows, all thoughts of fear forgotten. “His rule? You are the one hiding the wolfsbane from us. You’re the one working with the Nephilim against your own kind. This is your doing, Michael. And for what?”
Something flashes in the rogue’s eye. The smallest glimmer of true anger. It’s there and gone in a blink before Michael puts back on his mask of indifference. His unsettling smile does little to extinguish the mounting panic I feel.
Where’s Rip? Is he okay? Is our pack okay? If Michael kills me, will Tallie and the children be next?
If Michael was going to kill me, he would have done it back in the woods with no one around. No, he needs me for something.
I step forward, mustering up the little courage I have. The ax glistens in the dim light, feeling like a safety net in my hands. “What do you want?”
“The same thing I wanted when I first met you. I want you.”
“Then why don’t you just take me? You don’t have to attack my entire pack. You had the chance to have me in the woods, but you let me get away. If anyone is inept at their job, it’s you, Michael.”
Michael’s face contorts in a sneer. “Careful, Red,” he warns. “Let’s make something very clear. If it was as easy as taking you for myself, I would. Let’s make no mistake there. But that’s not how things work. I need you to come to me freely.”
Now it’s my turn to laugh. “Freely? You must be ten kinds of delusional if you ever think I would ever willingly come with you.”
Faster than my eyes can track, Michael closes the distance between us. His large hand wraps around my throat as he pushes me back against the wall hard. Pain blooms in my head, and my vision goes blurry .
“I’m many things, Red. Delusional is not one of them. But until you agree to come with me, your people will suffer.”
“Rip will beat you,” I gasp through his hold.
“Will he?” His hold on my neck tightens, effectively cutting off my air. I struggle against him, but Michael is strong. Far too strong, and the harder I try to get away from him, the harder his grip becomes. I no longer have the best hold on my ax, and I try to move my hand in a way that doesn’t alert Michael.
“Because he seems far too distracted by his new Luna. Oh, and I hear he’s down many wolves to the curse, yes? Pity. For him, not me, because it was too easy to get past his sloppy defenses, even without the help of our new Nephilim friends,” he says.
This is the first time I’ve heard Michael admit his involvement with the Nephilim. I don’t know what this means for Rip or our pack, but it’s nothing good. I just need to survive long enough to let Rip know.
A howl in the distance momentarily distracts Michael. It’s all I need to grab my ax and bring it down hard upon him. My aim is terrible because the thing is so damn heavy, and I only snag his arm. Blood blooms from the shallow surface wound. “You little bitch,” he growls and stumbles back.
I don’t stop. I bring the ax down again harder, and this time, it slices deep into his side. More blood spurts from the opening, but the fucker won’t go down. I try again, hoping to hit something that will incapacitate him, or worse, but Michael expects my move. He reaches his hand up, stopping my assault before it can cause any more damage.
“You’re going to pay for that, Red,” Michael hisses, throwing my ax across the room. I cry out, but he uses that moment to backhand me across the face. Pain bursts through my cheek, and my vision gets hazy. This isn’t the first time a man has hit me, but it is the hardest.
“This could have been a lot easier, Red.” He shakes his head, like he’s disappointed in me.
“Go to hell,” I growl. He approaches me again, but I spit in his direction, catching him in the eye. I’m not surprised to see red since my mouth tastes of copper.
Michael forces me back against the wall, and my head hits the surface. Not hard, but enough for it to hurt. A cold fear comes over me, and I wonder if he’s going to kill me. Poor Tallie. She’s never going to forgive herself. And Rip…
Then the howling from earlier grows louder, and I wonder if someone is coming. Rip? Thorne?
Michael curses under his breath and stops, as if listening for something, before turning his attention back to me, teeth bared. “We’re done here for now. Enjoy cleaning up the mess my rogues caused. Hope you have extra beds for all those who were bitten today.”
Before I get the chance to ask him why, Michael shifts. His wolf is twice the size of me, and he snaps his canines in my direction. I scream, true fear radiating from me now that I’m without my weapon.
But he doesn’t stay for long. Michael huffs once more before leaping out the broken window and running off into the chaos. More howls sound in the distance, and a few wolves run by, following Michael back into the dark forest.
I give myself a minute to catch my breath. The pain in the back of my skull is throbbing, and I would kill for some pain medication right now. A small pool of blood from Michael’s wound darkens the hardwood floors. My shirt is a mess, but I try to ignore that another person’s blood is on me. I might actually throw up if I think about it too hard .
I make my way across the room on unsteady feet to grab the bloodied ax. As I lean down to pick it up, the door to the nursery bursts off its hinges and falls to the floor with a loud bang. Two large wolves rush in, bloodied and growling.
And despite my best efforts, I scream.