Betrayed: Days of the Rogue (39 page)

Around another curve in the road.
Now staggering and lightheaded, her vision blurred with tears and
exhaustion. Warm sticky blood seeped between her fingers as they
pressed her ravaged arm close to her body. How much blood had she
lost? The road before her seemed to waver, the trees swaying, the
branches reaching out to claw at her just as the wolf had
done...

Can’t stop. Can’t stop. She
repeated the mantra to herself with each step she took. The chant
filled her head, became her only focus, blocking out everything
else. In fact, when a vehicle appeared before her she almost didn’t
realize her prayers had been answered.

As the large white tow truck came
to a halt in front of her, she blinked at it wearily, weaving back
and forth, hardly able to register its presence.

“Eve? What happened?” A concerned
voice spoke her name, breaking through the fog she’d sunk into.

“Gordie?” It was Mike Privet’s
apprentice. She threw herself against his chest and burst into
tears.

He wrapped his arms around her and
patted her shoulder awkwardly. “Now, there, there, Eve. No need to
cry. Did you hurt yourself trying to change that tire?” He guided
her to the truck, and she allowed him to help her inside. “I’ll
take you to your car—”

“No!” She must have shouted the
words for Gordie looked at her in surprise.

“No? But I thought Mike said—”

“No, Gordie! No! There are wolves
back there; wild, ravenous creatures.” She grabbed at the front of
his coat and shook it, the blood from her hand smearing over the
material. “One attacked me, and now they’re fighting. We need to
escape before they come for us.” Reaction was starting to set in,
and she was beginning to shake from head to toe making it difficult
to talk.

“Wolves? Really? I heard Constable
Duffy talking about them earlier today, but I thought there was
only one.” Gordie pulled off his coat and wrapped it around her,
concern etched on his boyish face. “Here, use this. It will help
you warm up.”

“We need to tell the police. Get
wildlife control out here!” Her hand was shaking too much to manage
the seatbelt so Gordie reached around her to fasten it.

“Don’t you worry. Everything will
be all right.” Gordie patted her hand and then rounded the truck to
climb in on the driver’s side. “First we’ll get you away from here.
Find someplace safe and quiet where you can calm yourself
down.”

She nodded. Getting away to some
place safe sounded like an excellent idea.

“Just put your head back, and close
your eyes. I’ll take care of everything.” Gordie fiddled with the
dash, and soon warm air began to fill the small cab, and gentle
music came from the radio.

“All right.” Eve took a deep breath
and tried to compose herself. She was safe now. Gordie would take
her to the local medical clinic and call the police. Leaning her
head back, she closed her eyes for a moment. Blood loss and terror
were making her feel woozy, and she couldn’t get rid of the cold
sense of evil that had filled her earlier. Rest, that’s what she
needed. Just for a few minutes so she’d have a clear head when
talking to the police.

Chapter 40

Damien had the killer’s throat in
his jaws. The thrill of the fight, the need for revenge pounded
through his veins and filled his mind, narrowing his focus to this
one crucial moment. The bastard struggled weakly, its blood already
dripping into his mouth, tainted and foul with evil.

This time he was completely
victorious in preventing the death of a Fae, unlike those other
occasions. Now the murderer would die instead. He’d done it before;
slain an Anti-Fae. All he had to do was bear down, and another
member of the group would be gone. Yet even as he began to sink his
teeth in, doubts arose, and he paused. Reno wanted a captive,
someone to question...

‘
If you let one go, it could
kill again someday.
’ He could hear Deirdre voice, her
practical, matter of fact explanations had seemed so reasonable at
first. “
They’ll murder other innocent Fae and more unborn
children if you don’t stop them now.”

Once again he braced himself and
prepared to crush the beast’s throat, but this time a hand fell
heavy on his shoulder.

“Let it go, Damien. You don’t want
to do that.” Rafe must have shifted back to human form and was now
kneeling beside him, sweat and blood dripping down his face.

A war waged within him; the need
for revenge battling cool logic, duty and friendship.

“
I know I can count on you to
get the job done, Damien.”
Reno had clapped him on the back
just before they’d parted.

“
Eliminate the witness, and do
your job, Masterson. This is what you wanted, remember?”
Deirdre would an arch a brow, not understanding why he was
hesitating.

In the back of his mind, Beth’s
image wavered in and out of focus. Her final words to him rang in
his ears. The pain of her loss squeezed his chest, yet at the same
time she looked at him with wide, reproachful eyes…

Slowly, reluctantly, Damien
released the wolf, and the animal fell to the ground, its breathing
a noisy wheeze. Backing away, he gave his fur a shake and then
concentrated on transforming. It wasn’t a simple task as of late,
but at the moment his inner animal cooperated perhaps pleased with
the choice he’d just made.

Various wounds had him wincing as
he straightened. Pushing his hair from his eyes he looked down at
Rafe who was now examining the wolf. A sense of deja-vu washed over
him. For a while during the fight it had been like having Reno at
his side again. The doctor handled himself like a man with more
than a little experience when it came to brawls.

“You must have some rowdy
patients.” He wiped his mouth on the back of his hand and stared at
the smear of blood there.

Rafe nodded, a wry smile twisting
his lips. “I do.” He looked at the prone animal. “Injured but not
in any danger of dying. I’ll just ensure it stays docile while we
call Lycan Link to come and get it.” With that he pulled a syringe
seemingly out of nowhere and efficiently injected the beast.

“Er…about calling someone…” Damien
tried to decide on how to answer, but before he came up with a
reply, three wolves appeared on the crest above them.

“Shit.” Rafe cursed and rose to his
feet. “Rogue Retrieval. They’re looking for you.”

Damien stiffened. The next wave had
arrived. He began to calculate the odds. Three against one. Well,
maybe against two, depending on what side Rafe chose.

“Calm down. They’re looking for a
rogue that’s been terrorizing the area. I think we can safely tell
them that the culprit is here given the way he… Eve!” Rafe gave a
start and spun around, scanning the area for her. Damien did the
same, his heart lurching when he realized she was nowhere to be
seen.

Before either of them could even
think of starting to track her down, the Trackers arrived and
encircled them with practiced skill. As one they shifted to human
form.

The man, who was apparently in
charge of the group, took a belligerent stance. “No one is going
anywhere.”

Snorting impatiently, Rafe tried to
push past him. “I’ve more important things to do right now,
Clement, than dealing with you.”

“He said, no one is going
anywhere.” The second Tracker pulled out a gun and pointed it at
Rafe, while his partner did the same to Damien. They cocked the
weapons with deadly efficiency, their faces expressionless.

Damien and Rafe froze in place,
exchanging worried glances with each other. Eve was out there
injured and likely frightened half to death, and they couldn’t do
anything about it.

“Both of you sit over there.”
Clement gestured towards Eve car. Reluctantly, Rafe did as
requested. “Aiden, stand guard. Samson, check on our friend here,
while I call in and try to figure out how to handle this.”

Clement began to pace, a cell phone
pressed to his ear, while the one called Samson checked on the
black wolf. Rafe frowned noting that when the man pushed the
animal’s fur aside, it was grey underneath. Dyed hair on a wolf? He
hissed his observation to Damien who nodded.

“That’s their typical method. The
killer impersonates a local rogue, and the rogue gets blamed—in
this case, I believe it was supposed to be me—and then Rogue
Retrieval appears to do a cover up.”

“Typical method? You mean this has
happened before?”

“You’re in the middle of an
elaborate Anti-Fae scheme.” Damien leaned his head back and shut
his eyes. Lines of tension, starkly revealed by the angle of the
sun, made him appear older than he actually was.

Rafe absorbed what Damien had said.
Anti-Fae. He wasn’t unaware of the movement; it was a sect of the
Purists that was more concerned with eliminating the Fae than
humans. The group took the ancient legends found in the Book of the
Law—that Fae and Lycans were banned from associating—as a divine
truth. In fact, they added an extra piece to the tale. They
believed that the gods regretted having created the Fae and wanted
them eliminated from the face of the earth. That they were doing
the will of the gods justified any and all measures in their
mind.

He’d never come across actual
evidence of their activity, however. Hearsay and small reports on
the Lycan newsfeed had made it seem like something that happened
elsewhere. But here it was, right in his backyard, and affecting
those he loved. Mentally, he chastised himself for his
complacency.

The Tracker named Aiden was either
overly confident or wasn’t interested in his guard duties. He’d
actually wandered a few feet away and was conferring with his
friend about the still unconscious wolf. Deciding it was safe to
talk, Rafe murmured a question at Damien. “What exactly is going on
here?”

“The wolf on the ground is an
assassin. When a Fae is located in the same area as a rogue, an
assassin is sent in. They make sure there are wolf sightings and
stir up the locals enough that a call goes out for wildlife experts
to come in and remove the wolf.”

“And the wildlife experts are
actually our Rogue Retrieval teams, since satellite branches of
Lycan Link monitor the police calls within the area.” Rafe was
aware of how Lycan Link subtly kept itself apprised of human
activity.

“Right. The assassin kills the Fae
and then slips away, leaving the rogue to take the blame.”

“And the rogues can’t defend
themselves because Rogue Retrieval kills them first.” Rafe growled
and shook his head. “I didn’t think Adrian Somerset had it in him
to pull this off.”

“Somerset isn’t in charge. He’s a
dupe who hasn’t a clue about what’s going on. No one’s exactly sure
who
is
in control, but we do know that the Anti-Fae have
infiltrated several departments within Lycan Link.”

Rafe eyed the three Trackers. “Are
all the Trackers in on it? Or only a select few?”

Damien shrugged. “My best guess is
a core group of six. It seems that a combination of that group has
been sent out on each case that involved the murder of a Fae.”

“Why not take the Trackers in for
questioning?”

“Reno and Captain Fielding were
hoping to catch one of the assassins as well; the more different
levels of the group they pull in, the greater the chance of being
able to put enough pieces together to lead them to those pulling
the strings.”

Rafe slid a sideways glance at
Damien. “So, you’re not really a rogue. Reno planted you here.”

Damien gave a brief huff.
“Something like that.”

Rafe digested the information for a
while as he watched the Trackers. Clement was still talking on his
cell phone and the other two were standing with folded arms, likely
awaiting orders. He nudged Damien and jerked his chin towards their
captors.

Damien nodded. “This might be our
only chance. The odds suck though since they have guns.”

“Maybe…or maybe not.” Rafe felt the
two vials of tranquillizer he still had with him and then
surreptitiously showed them to Damien.

“You always carry drugs on you?”
Damien looked at him askance. “Exactly what kind of doctor are
you?”

He ignored the latter question. “I
was going to use them on you.”

“Me?”

“Long story. I’ll tell you later.
If we can administer this, our odds will increase.”

Damien eyes lit with interest. “I
like how you think. Question is, how?”

Rafe frowned. He hadn’t proceeded
that far in his reasoning. A bug flew by, and an idea came to him.
“Do they teach you about bees when you train to be an
Enforcer?”

“Bees? No.” Damien cast him a
questioning look.

“Good. Then they probably don’t
know much about them either.” Rafe handed one vial to Damien and
then carefully slipped the syringe from the container he’d kept.
“This is a completely insane and improbable scheme.”

A grin split Damien’s face. “Sounds
like my kind of plan.”

Rafe chuckled softly, noting how
the lines of weariness disappeared from the man’s face. “I hope
you’re good at acting. Follow my lead.” With that, he gave a loud
cry and jumped to his feet, rubbing one arm and waving his arm
about wildly. “Damn, that hurt!”

Aiden and Samson hurried over,
their guns at the ready. “What’s going on?”

“Bees! We must be sitting near a
hive.” Rafe swatted at the imaginary bugs, and Damien leapt to his
feet doing the same.

“I don’t see any.” Aiden narrowed
his eyes and looked about suspiciously.

“There’s one on your shoulder!”
Damien shouted a warning and moved to brush the non-existent bug
from Aiden’s shoulder. As his hand passed near the man, he quickly
jabbed the syringe into the Tracker and then tossed the empty
casing away in one smooth move.

“And on your neck!” Rafe repeated
the move with Samson.