Caged (27 page)

“It’s over, Ruby. There’s no way out of this now,” Cooper reported to me with dejection and resignation in his tone. I wondered what had taken him so long to get there.

Sean was getting impatient with me. He inched forward with his arm outstretched, still offering my ring. It was in that moment that I realized Cooper was wrong. He was so wrong. There was a way out. Its outcome may have ultimately been the same, but I wouldn’t be a victim, nor would I wait for death on someone else’s terms.

With my new-found realization releasing the tension from my body, creating an eerie calm, I turned and winked at Cooper. He looked distraught as though he had an inkling of what I was about to do. I then shifted my full gaze to Sean and smiled. He gave me a confused smile in return.

I didn’t know for certain, but I was pretty sure that smile faded quickly when I turned and ran full speed towards the pack who was spilling out into the clearing. Their “weapon” was about to take as many of them down as she could, and it was the most comforting thought I’d had in years. With that, the calm enveloped me, and I Changed.

36

I heard the shouting as I ran, but it came across like voices do when you’re underwater - you know what they are but have no idea what they’re saying. That’s when I realized that I was fully aware and cognizant of what was going on around me while in wolf form. Pleased with my apparent gain in control, I smiled a very strange and unfamiliar smile as I bulldozed into the pack.

It was an odd feeling to be inside a body you weren’t at all familiar with, like trying someone else on for size. Literally. Though I felt perfectly coordinated, something about my movement was awkward. My senses were heightened, yet foreign. It reminded me of when I first gained my vision. I decided to not think, but just act, and take a back seat to my instincts.

I ran like a bull charging the red cape, the cape being the Alpha that I had a bone to pick with.
That arrogant son of a bitch is gonna bleed.
I took out anything that moved around me. Pack members were desperate to get in between us, to save their master.
Cannon fodder
. I don’t even remember breaking stride while tearing them limb from limb. It was like chewing gum and walking; it couldn’t have been simpler. I saw no faces, knew no names, and had no remorse. I was nothing like the human me; somebody else was at the helm.

My fur felt matted and heavy, congealing with blood and other unmentionables, and still I broke through the pack like a shark through a school of fish, only they weren’t scattering intentionally. I took the liberty of doing that for them.

I could discern screaming, even as a wolf. It was crystal clear and drove my blood-lust further. It thrilled me when it should have horrified. There were cries of sheer terror, then pain. Most were very short-lived.

There was also distinct howling. I was aware that some of my victims were fighting as wolves, the ones who lived long enough to Change. It seemed to have little effect, though. Nothing could stop me or my reign of terror, and I was starting to think that my plan wasn’t such a kamikaze move after all. I enjoyed every moment.

My vision was tunneled in an inhuman way. All I could see was the target ahead of me, and I was homing in on it. I heard the shouting again getting nearer. The clarity improved with its closing distance, but was still unintelligible. The voice, however, was familiar. It got louder and louder as I neared the Alpha. His followers seemed to have abandoned him to his fate.
Smart little doggies.

I pinned him back against a rocky outcropping at the edge of the forest. His face burned with rage and his body coiled with the will to fight, but he knew there was no point and I could smell it. Defeat stung my nostrils, a glorious odor when it came from someone else. I growled and stalked towards him, drawing it out as long as I could will myself to, wanting him to suffer as I had suffered.

The voice was upon me again. He said something into my ear. I turned to see a man reaching a hand toward me. With cat-like reflexes, he lunged and I saw the flash of light reflect off of the object in his hand. I didn’t have time to react.

Everything went dark.

37

I slowly awoke to a light and low thrumming sound. My eyelids felt impossibly heavy and my throat was perilously dry, with a strange metallic taste in my mouth. My body was slightly reclined with something restraining me, holding me to the seat I was in. A strong pine scent permeated the air with a hint of something I recognized.
Cooper.
I tried to call his name but instead an incoherent grumble came out. I tried to sit up but I felt so heavy, weighed down by something I could neither see nor feel.

I struggled again with my eyelids, trying to will them open to take in my surroundings. Just as they started to make some progress, a cool hand rested across them accompanied by a light hushing sound.

“Rest, Ruby. I need you to rest,” he whispered so faintly, like he was speaking to an infant. His sensitivity at first was reassuring, but quickly became disconcerting. I didn’t know why he sounded so concerned. Why did I need rest so badly? I fought against my restraint with eyes closed, furiously tugging and thrashing around.

It took about a minute before I realized that this was familiar; I knew the shape and texture of the strap holding me down. I fumbled with my left hand by my waist until I found what I was looking for: the release mechanism. I was in a car. It clicked open and I inelegantly sat up.

“Water” I rasped. “I need some water.” A plastic bottle was placed firmly in my hands and I drank the entire thing. “More.”

I heard the crackle of plastic then the snapping sound of a twist off cap. Again a bottle was placed in my hands, though I drank only part of it. I had plans for the rest. In my more alert state, I realized that my eyes were actually caked shut with something, making it difficult for them to open. I poured water into my left hand and cupped it to my lids in an attempt to flush it out. I repeated it over and over again on both sides. Finally, the crust let go and I was able to carefully but painfully open my eyes. The dash lights flooded in and my retinas burned. I snapped them shut immediately. It was as if they’d never been exposed to light before, as though my rods and cones had no idea how to process such a stress. It took a few minutes of gradually peeking them open and closed to make it tolerable to expose them to the dim lighting of the car.

I did a quick survey of the interior. I was engulfed by a sea of tan: all plastic, no frills. There was a CD player that lay dormant in the dash and a narrow backseat. There was also a very conflicted driver staring at me with a look of both relief and concern. He was assessing something, seeking something from me.

“What?” I squeaked. My voice was coming back, but it wasn’t a pretty process.

“I’m checking to be sure you’re OK. I’ve been really worried. What the fuck was that stunt you pulled back there?” he asked, trying to stare at me and watch the road simultaneously.

The decibel level was increasing with his soliloquy. He really had been freaked out by something.

“I decided that if I was going down, I would kill those who hurt me in the process. It seemed the most rational and effective plan.”

Ever the pragmatist.

I very conveniently left out the part about not being able to stand the thought of Sean betraying me, and that my death would be at his hands. That thought reminded me of something.

“How did I get out of there alive? Wait, scratch that. First, how long have I been out?” I asked, trying to wiggle myself into a more comfortable position. My body ached and I was glad the light wasn’t brighter to show me why.

“You haven’t woken up for twenty-four hours, Ruby. I was starting to worry. He said it shouldn’t take more than twelve.”

“Are you shitting me? Why? Why couldn’t I wake up? What the hell is going on here?” I tried to shout, with gravel in my voice. ”You said it only took a couple of minutes for me to come out of it when I Changed!”

I was getting concerned too.

“Sean said that you should…” Cooper started.

“
Sean
said? What do you mean Sean said?” I yelled, grabbing his arm to get his attention back on me.

He sighed.

“Sean said that bringing you out of it would alter your normal recovery time. He tried to factor in some healing time too. You took a few bad hits, Rubes,” he said, getting that concerned, furrowed brow again. I was normally pretty quick on the uptake, but at that moment, I was seriously lost. I was trying to keep track of all the things I needed clarification on and in what order I wanted them.

Why is there never pen and paper when you need it?

“Wait, wait…waaaait. You’re telling me that you and Sean had a little tete a tete while I was…well, whatever I was doing?” I asked with a great deal of disbelief shining through.

He sighed again.

“Let me start from the beginning, or, well, more like the end for you, at least as far as your cognition goes.”

“Fine, but I’m interrupting at will,” I informed him, letting go of his sleeve. “There’s a lot of stuff not making a whole lot of sense to me right now, and it had better start to
soon
,” I threatened.

“Fine,” he returned. “But don’t think you’re getting off scot free here, missy. You’ve got some ‘splainin to do,” he said with the faintest of smiles curling the corner of his mouth.

“Fine. Start,” I demanded.

He took a long dramatic pause before he started in.

“When you turned and winked at me I saw two things that frightened me: hopelessness and acceptance. There was a little crazy sprinkled in there too. I knew what you were about to do, but had no way to stop you. Sean could have, but he didn’t seem to realize what you were up to. Quite frankly, he looked downright dumbfounded when you busted out a sprint in the opposite direction.”

A smile of satisfaction slowly spread over his face as he said his last statement.

“You were half way through the pack, amassing a body count when we figured out a plan. The rest of the PC joined us from the woods and decided they were going to distribute some justice of their own to take some of the burden off of you. I was to join them. Sean was to deal with you.”

“What do you mean exactly when you say ‘deal with’?” I asked.

“I had to clarify that myself before I’d let him go. I wasn’t sure why he was there in the first place and I wasn’t just going to hand you over to him on a platter. He swore on the brotherhood that he would not harm you in efforts to get you to stop. I believed him.”

“You believed a man whose sole purpose in life is to eradicate those like me? Wow, little lack of judgment there, don’t you think? Were you running low on blood sugar?” I asked, laying on the sarcasm.

He pressed his lips together firmly, making them turn white around the edges.

“You’re alive, aren’t you? My judgment can’t possibly be that poor,” he snipped.

“About that, how did we manage that?”

“We? We didn’t do anything. Sean and I saved your ass. You may be the most lethal thing I’ve ever seen on four legs, Rubes, but I’ve got a little news flash for you…you’re not invincible. I’ve seen less damage in a ten car pile-up!” he recounted very snidely.

“I couldn’t have been that hurt. I don’t heal like you do in human form. I’d be dead!”

“Ah, again why you have Sean and me to thank. I don’t know exactly what he did, but he must’ve worked some voodoo on you after he turned you back because your flesh started reknitting as I ran you out of there in my arms.”

It was a lot to take in at once - the proverbial mind-fuck.

“Why didn’t Sean just kill me and get it over with? Why go to all the trouble of finding me only to let me go with you? Is there supposed to be some ceremony to killing the RB?”

He scoffed, which quickly became laughter. It was good to know that I could amuse him with so little effort.

“God, you’re thick. You still don’t get it, do you? You really don’t know why he was there?”

“No, Coop, my list of ideas is pretty short. Care to share what you’ve got on yours?” He just hung his head and shook it slowly back and forth in an act of pure frustration. When he raised it up, his neutral expression had returned.

“The Alpha is dead,” he told me, risking a look across the center console.

“How?” I asked, forgetting the importance of my previous question.

“Let’s just say that his justice was neither swift, nor painless.”

“Were you there?” I asked.

“Yes.”

My voice lowered and softened with every question asked.

“Did you do it?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

His brow furrowed again, and I realized that in the short time I’d known him that he seemed to do that frequently.

“Some things are better left alone, Rubes. Just know that I had my reasons,” he said.

Even I knew to take that cue. He was on terra firma as far as that was concerned. The truth was that his manner of death wasn’t really important to me, just the outcome.