Werewolf Nights (The Pack Trilogy Book 2) (2 page)

“Why wouldn’t I be able to get you there?” Raya asked, puzzled.

The old man grinned.

“It’s not exactly next door. You might not make it either. Few do, for that matter.”

They’d been making their way through heavy bushes with merciless thorns for more than a week when Raya had finally begun to comprehend what the man had meant. The way was a misery.

And it had only grown worse. A flat bushy area gave way to a steep climb, the bushes even more dense. There was no path and Raya had no idea how the old guy knew where he was going.

After three weeks, the air had begun to smell different to his sensitive wolven nose: very dry, lacking in any other scent.
Odd
, Raya thought until they finally broke through and saw what faced them; an arid desert-like expanse of sand that stretched to the horizon.

Christos, this trip would never end
, he thought.

But they traveled for only two days when the scenery suddenly changed and he had found that there was a major drop off ahead. It hadn’t been visible at all before. The plateau had looked like the desert stretched unbroken for miles across it.

What a great way to hide,
Raya had thought.
But it’s not as though the old man’s tribe had done it on purpose, though. Right?

At the cliff’s edge, Raya saw steps leading down to a narrow chasm. More arid nothingness, to his disappointment. As they got halfway down, he noticed a couple of trees. That had been something different. At the bottom, he got the shock of a lifetime as the old man walked to a tree, and pulled down on a branch. It swung smoothly aside, revealing a carved wooden handle attached to a vine. He gave it a tug, a distant bong sounded. Another tug, another bong. And finally a third. He winked at Raya and walked around the tree. Then he sat and whistled.

Confused, Raya sat next to him and waited, unsure what was going on. But a few minutes later, a large trapdoor swung smoothly up. Carved wooden stairs descended, lit by lanterns. At the time, Raya couldn’t believe his eyes as he’d trotted down the steps after the old man. At the bottom, a low-lit corridor stretched as far as the eye could see.

It took almost an hour and a half to reach the end, where there was a simple door.

Beyond the door, a pretty meadow with birds chirping, greenery everywhere, a ridge of trees in the distance and a small village stretched out before them.

Two young men appeared from beyond a stand of trees, took one look at the older man and let out yells as they raced to him. The three chattered in an incomprehensible language as they turned and walked back toward the tiny village that was comprised of twelve small, square dwellings. None of it, as he remembered it, had been anything that Raya had expected. What else could have been said about the matter?

The three men had led him into the center hut, very simple but very clean with a hard-packed dirt floor, a small table, and two logs for seats. The younger man turned and gave the table a sharp pull. Somehow Raya wasn’t surprised when it swung up as the trap door had, but this time there were no stairs.

A long room below them extended far beyond the hut’s walls; a ladder led the way down.

The three men were standing in the midst of a lovely room with several couches, thick rugs, a fireplace. At the far left of the room, heavy black curtains hung.

“Raya, we’re being rude,” one of the younger men said in perfect English. “You’ve met Schmuel? I’m Matthias, and this is Luke.”

He shook hands with the man, speechless.

“Come this way,” Luke said, and led him toward the curtains. More curious than anything, Raya followed.

It was quite the surprise when Luke pushed the curtains open and revealed an altar with fresh flowers on it and different crystals everywhere, including two large balls.

“Who the hell are you people?” Raya burst out.

They all smiled.

“You probably haven’t heard of us before. We call ourselves the Illuminated Ones,” Luke said with pride. “We illuminate all of life’s questions. As you saved Schmuel’s life, we owe you. One day you’ll need something answered. Even though your kind outlives our own by centuries, we’ll be here for you. Someone will.”

Christos, how much did they know of his kind? And how did they find out? If there were humans who knew of the wolven’s existence, Raya knew that he had to get back and warn the local packs. But, after the hellish trek back and once he had finally gotten out of the mountains, he never told a soul; hadn’t even thought of it in too many years.

Yet there he was, entering the forest again and he was ready to break through rock if need be to find the Illuminated and get his answer.

Chapter Two

Melina was growing more worried by the second. Petra was pacing back and forth, visibly disturbed. Something wasn’t right. Melina could feel it and it was getting increasingly worse by the second, too.

“I can’t stand it,” Petra almost shouted as she burst through the door into the night air. It was a relief, but only for seconds. Immediately, she began pacing around trees, to the tops of hills.

“You look like a dog lookin’ for a spot to lay down,” Melina remarked, right behind Petra at every step.

As though she’d been waiting for Melina to say those words, Petra suddenly headed to a low rise. At the top she sat, then rolled onto her side facing away from Melina.

“Petra? Don’t you want to come back and lay down on the...” Melina’s words stopped. She’d lived more than forty years and never had she seen or even heard of anything like this, outside of a movie, of course.

Right in front of her eyes, Petra’s form shimmered as if it were rolled in light. Once the nauseating visual stopped, Petra was gone. In her place lay a long silver wolf, who slowly gained her feet and walked toward Melina.

Melina backed away slowly and the wolf stopped; it only stared at her. Melina began to walk, the wolf advanced. Stopped. So did the wolf. Then the animal stood still and lowered its head almost to the ground. It closed its eyes and bared its teeth. Melina’s hand went to cover her mouth as she watched for any signs that the wolf was going to attack. That was when she saw it. The hole. Just like the bullet wound Petra had, was right there in the center of the wolf’s face, but it seemed to be steaming now in the cold night air. The animal gritted its teeth harder and snarled with the effort of it.

Suddenly a metallic object appeared at the opening of the wound. It eased its way through the flesh and fell unceremoniously to the ground before the flesh sealed itself and the skin and fur covered the hole and the wound was no longer visible.

“This ain’t happenin’. This ain’t happenin’,” Melina told herself as she stopped and abruptly sat, the energy finally having left her legs completely. Thunder sounded in the distance and lighting arced across the sky as drops of icy cold rain began to fall.

The wolf stood shivering, ears pricked. Thunder sounded a bit more loudly, and the wolf dropped her head. A massive crack of thunder accompanied by several bolts of lightning rent the sky in two and the wolf whined deeply in her throat, dropped to her belly before advancing toward Melina. Once she reached the woman, she climbed partway into her lap, laid her long silver head on the woman’s thigh and exhaled at length.

They remained like that for quite some time, thunder booming from time to time and the wolf quivering after each instance.

“No, Doc, I didn’t bring home nothin’ weird. Just your basic werewolf who’s afraid of storms,” Melina mused to herself.

***

After two weeks of solid trudging through thick growth, Raya knew he was far more out of shape than he’d thought. Either that or he didn’t give a shit enough to eat, as he’d dropped some twenty pounds and was now rail-thin.

It was true that food held no allure, he thought, as he shoved his way through a thorn bush. Rivulets of red ran from his arms, his face, wherever naked skin showed, yet he felt no pain. No physical pain, that is.

His entire being was centered around the mental agony of his unbelievable loss. It shouldn’t have happened, yet the hollow space where the Alpha link had been was proof positive.

He’d lay down right there and just give up if he wasn’t worried about the price his pack, and maybe all wolves, might have to pay. The ideas streaming through his mind were so dreadful that he got up and began walking again.

So distracted was Raya by those thoughts that he became oblivious to his surroundings and suddenly found himself in a frightful situation that he could have otherwise easily avoided.

He’d heedlessly walked within five feet of a bear’s den, and she was presently at home with her young cub. She growled loudly in response to Raya’s unwanted presence; ears pinned, body crouched and ready to leap by the time Raya became aware of her existence. He reached back in one smooth movement and pulled his rifle from his backpack. He cocked the gun loudly even as the bear leaped.

The weapon was aimed right at those furious eyes; no way he could have missed, but it was like slow motion. As she drew closer, he just uncocked the weapon and dropped it. He could have sworn that the expression in her eyes changed to confusion. She twisted in mid air and Raya felt the wind go by even as she flew so close to him that he could smell her fur. She landed right behind him, shook herself, then strolled around back to her cub and sat, ignoring him as if he didn’t exist.

Raya stood for a moment, staring at the two creatures. Then he turned and once more began pushing his way through the bushes.

That tribe had best still be there, he told himself wearily as he came up on the ruins of a rock shelter he knew well; he’d built it himself centuries before.

He located what had been the fireplace, then the
second
tile from the left. Under it was what he needed; a perfectly-carved spear head and an object he’d completely forgotten about until that moment. A token the strange villagers had given him, just in case he did need to find them again and would need to prove his identity to the later generation of Illuminated. A beautifully-carved bear, standing on its hind legs.

Just in case,
he thought.

Surprisingly, several days later, he found himself no longer caring if he found the tribe. It had been days since he’d found fresh water and his system was beginning to completely shut down. Every pore in his body cried out for water, but there was none to be had.

His only option was to push ahead and that’s exactly what he did until the third day without so much as a whiff of moisture. A small glow of gladness lit his soul as he allowed himself to collapse unconscious into the bushes. He had his answer, just not how he’d expected it to come to him.

And certainly not any more than he’d expected what happened next. He hadn’t expected the loud, irritated growl just before he was bodily lifted off the forest floor. Neither did he expect to be dragged through bushes, thorns, and everything on the forest floor before suddenly feeling icy water as he was dragged into a mountain creek.

He opened his eyes when the cold water hit his face and looked up to see a large bear vanishing into the bushes.

In disbelief, he closed his eyes again and rolled his head to the side and drank. And drank. He got up and ran over to a nearby bush to retch painfully before returning to the water to drink more.

For an entire day he lay where he was, soaking up the water into his dry pores.

Chapter Three

The next morning, Melina pelted Petra with questions. How old was she? Did any other such creatures exist? How many creatures like her existed?

Petra only responded with shrugs, and finally the questions stopped.

“Don’t know shit, do ya?” Melina asked.

Petra shook her head.

“Fine state of affairs.” Melina hefted her bulk to her feet and headed for the bathroom.

Within moments, Petra heard the shower running. She leaned back on the couch and closed her eyes, still exhausted whether it was physically or mentally.

“Can I ask you a big favor?” a small voice said.

Petra opened her eyes to see Riana, Melina’s eight year old daughter, standing next to the couch and staring at her through red-rimmed black eyes. The girl was a beautiful brown caramel shade herself, far more so than Melina, who was more
café au lait
colored.
Father must have been black too then
, Petra thought.
God, what a beautiful kid.

She jerked, as that kid was waiting for a response.

“Ask away, but I can’t really say if I’ll be able to answer a thing.”

“You can answer this,” the small voice said with confidence.

“Go ahead then.”

There was a moment of silence, and Petra could feel the tension building as the child tried to get enough courage to ask her question. Finally, when Petra couldn’t tolerate it for another second, the girl exploded.

“Will you bite my mommy?” she all but yelled.

Petra’s eyes shot wide open. She hadn’t known what to expect, but this?