Wolf Creek Enforcer (18 page)

Rafe stepped back, grinding his teeth.  “I will remove you so fast your head will spin,” he stated adamantly.

Lisa patted his chest, “I know,
don’t worry baby.  I can handle this.”

They all watched as Lisa sat down at the kitchen bar, placing her elbows on the counter. 
She studied the screen for a while, then stood and raised her palms. 

As she muttered under her breath, they all stepped closer with Rafe placing his hands on her
shoulders.  Devlin slid quietly into the room and laid his laptop on the bar, waiting for Lisa to give the go ahead.

Lisa could feel the support of everyone around her, silently sending good karma her way.  She had moved through the first layer of wards easily, knowing they were just simple protection spells.
  Now it was getting more difficult.  She jumped slightly as a small surge of power zapped her fingers.  She quickly sent the arc to the ground where it disappeared seamlessly through the floors.

She contemplated her next step, knowing she’d have to work quickly to save the data without corrupting the
memory.  Smiling, she wove her own protection spell around the file folders and turned to Devlin.

“Hook her up, fast
.  I’ve protected the files but I don’t know how long it will last.  I can tell you that this laptop is going to self destruct soon, so do your thing right now.”

Devlin popped open his laptop, running cords from his port
s to the wizard’s.  He hooked up an external hard drive to another port and plopped down on the chair.  His hands flew across the keyboard, his brow furrowed in concentration. 

Lisa watched
, humming the theme from Mission Impossible in her anxiety.  Rafe stood behind her and rubbed her shoulders to try and get her to relax. 

Melissa watched Devlin work while Ian paced, impatiently growling for him to hurry. 

Suddenly, Lisa threw her hands up, erecting a shield around the laptop as it exploded into a fireball.  They all watched in awe as a blue flame reached out from the screen, shaping itself into a fist and slamming down on the keyboard.  The screen melted like a waterfall, while the keys popped as if in a popcorn popper.  As the flame disappeared, all was silent as they waited to see what would happen next.

“Oh man
, was that cool or what?” Lisa asked, excitedly.  “Boy, that sucker fried like a con in the electric chair.  I’ve lowered the shields now captain, go ahead, do your thing.”

Devlin chuckled as he
hurriedly sat back down and started opening files, quickly sorting through the information.  Everyone gathered around, hoping for a breakthrough.

“Guys, I need maybe an hour, go eat or something and stop breathing down my neck,” Devlin told them. 

“Not hungry,” Ian said, sitting down next to him.

Rafe, Lisa, Melissa and David
went back to the sofa to sit and wait.  No one wanted to leave the room and perhaps miss something.

“
I tried to get a read on Braeden and Melanie but didn’t come up with anything concerning either of them.  Sorry guys, all I could see was gray matter.”   

Lisa hugged her as Rafe spoke
, “My pack can handle this.  I appreciate your trying, Melissa.”

“I know I offered to help but I can’t stay.  My pride needs me.  I don’t know what it is yet, I just know there’s something happening and it’s
calling to me.  If I thought I could help, I would, but I know you have your own pack to help you,” Melissa had tears in her eyes, feeling like she was abandoning them.   

Lisa squeezed her
tight, “Don’t you worry about us, I know how difficult this is for you.  Go help your pride and know that you can come stay here anytime.  That whole dogs and cats not being able to get along is just a load of crap, you know,” Lisa joked, hoping to cheer her up. 

Rafe gr
oaned, “We are not dogs, my love.”

Lisa waved her hand back and forth, “Canine, schmanine, whatever.”  She turned, ignoring Rafe and whispering to Melissa.  “What about Robert?”

“What about him?  He’s just another pretty faerie playing around in our realm.  It’s not like he means anything to me,” Melissa sniffed dismissively and went to watch out the front windows. 

Lisa’s mouth opened but no sound came out as Rafe leaned down and whispered to her.  Grunting, she
went to sit on the couch and watch Devlin work. 

David looked back and forth between them all, watching
the interaction before going to stand by Melissa at the window.  “If I can help you with whatever is going on, you can find me through Melanie.”

“
Thank you, but I’ll be fine.  Chase is here so I’m taking off,” Melissa said.

Lisa gave her a hug as Rafe opened the door at Chase’s knock. 

“Hey, glad your back,” Chase nodded to Melissa and waved to the room at large. 

After hearing the condensed version of their situation, Chase also offered his help.

“Appreciate the offer but we’ll handle it,” Rafe said, walking outside to see them off.  He could hear Melissa asking Chase if there were problems in the pride as she got into his truck.

Seeing
one of his enforcers, he walked over and gave instructions to be passed along to the pack.  “You’ll be staying here, guarding the place once we find this bastard.  Go and gather six men to hunt with me, I want them ready to leave as soon as I give the word.”  Nodding sharply, the enforcer left to do his job as Rafe turned to go back inside.     

Finally Devlin turned away from the computer, drawing eve
ryone’s attention.  “Braeden owns another property just east of Natchitoches Louisiana, near Sibley Lake.  I used Google Earth to check for a building or house and nothing shows up but trees.  I believe he has it spelled.  When you see it from space, there’s a very slight image distortion.  It’s barely a blip on the map, but it’s there.”

Ian stood and grabbed his truck keys from the holder
on the wall.  He was tired of standing around with his thumb up his ass, doing nothing.  As the minutes ticked by, he feared what Braeden would do to her. 

Both Devlin and Rafe
moved to intercept their brother, each grabbing an arm.  “You’re not taking off alone, Ian.  Everyone in the car, I’m driving,” Rafe declared.  Lisa climbed in the passenger side, snuggling up next to Rafe, while Ian quickly climbed in next to her.  Rafe hit the button, opening the back for David and Devlin to pack their guns away alongside the other supplies, which were always in the vehicle.

Raf
e saw his backup taking their places in another car and realized he needed to let them know of their destination.  He knew the men wouldn’t lose him, but wanted to give them personal instructions.  “I’ll be right back.”

Ian waited impatiently for Rafe to get back, drumming his fingers on the dashboard.  Lisa stroked his arm, trying to keep him calm. 

“Our pack will scout the woods when we get close.  I’ll have them park the car off the road where they can shift and get in close to wait for my signal,” Rafe told them as he climbed back into the drivers seat. 

Rafe sped down the driveway, sending small pebbles fl
ying.  “Devlin, when we’re fifteen minutes out, let me know so we can look for a pullout.”

“Will do.  It’s about a three to three and a half hour drive.  Depends on
your speed.  I say floor it once we’re on the interstate.  I already called TJ and he’s cleared the way.  No state troopers will be stopping us, or any small town officers,” Devlin told him. 

He explained to David how they had pack members in several police departments and with the state, stretching from Texas into Louisiana. 

Devlin opened his satellite ready laptop, scrolling through more of the files he’d transferred earlier.

Chapter 12

Melanie rolled her
neck from side to side, trying to remember what she’d been doing to give herself such a bad headache.  Opening her eyes, she focused on the ceiling fan twirling above her.  She watched its rotation in confusion, gasping when she remembered. 

“Aw shit,” she moaned.  That son of a bitch had
tranked her.  She quickly glanced down, thankful to see she still had her clothes on.  A light blanket was twisted around her legs.  Kicking her feet, she threw it to the side and sat up too fast.  Her head was pounding from the drug that was still in her system. 

The room was quite bland, nothing to give it any kind of distinction.  There was
a dresser against one wall, with a generic painting of flowers above it.  

The bedroom door was closed, not surprising, bu
t the bathroom door stood open.  Turning her head to the left, she could see the windows had the blinds up, showing a large tree just beyond the glass panes.  She tried to concentrate and command her brain to function.    

Melanie listened to the house, straining for any noise outside the door.  The house was silent, except for the fan whirring above her. 

Smiling, she closed her eyes, intending to travel back to Ian’s home.  Too bad she wouldn’t be here to see his face when he realized she had escaped. 

Nothing happened.  Melanie opened her eyes to see the
same bland room.  Collecting herself, she tried to call up the vortex to take her away.  Panicking slightly, she raised her hands to the ceiling, beseeching the universes to come to her aid. 

She wasn’t getting through, it felt like some sort of blockage was pressing against the house.  Disheartened, she dropped her he
ad in her hands, wanting to cry. 

Knowing she had no time for a pity party
, she jumped off the bed and ran to the window, hoping there were no guards outside watching for her.  About a foot from the window, she ran into an invisible wall and was thrown to the floor.  Her skin felt like she’d been sunburned where she had run into the barrier.

Furious, Melanie marched to the bedroom door but stopped herself before she did something stupid.  She wanted to bang on the door and scream for Braeden to release her.  She was sure the door was spelled but couldn’t help but make sure.  Getting a pillow off the bed, she tossed it at the door and watched as it flew back and smoldered as it burned. 

Rushing to the bathroom, she dropped it in the bathtub and turned the water on for a short time to smother any remaining sparks.

She sat back on the edge of the bed, thinking.  The window and bedroom door were spelled, but the bathroom wasn’t.  That meant the entire room wasn’t spelled, just the obvious escape routes. 

Hearing the knob turn, she watched as the door opened and Braeden entered, smiling at her.  “Hello Darling, how are you feeling?  I know those tranquilizers c
an leave something of a headache.” 

“Fuck off, asshole,” she had no intentions of being sociable.

Melanie stood as he walked over to her, and readied herself for a fight.  Once he was close enough, she curled her fingers in, planning to use her palm to shove his nose up into his brain.

Braeden
grabbed her hand in his fist before she could land her uppercut and held on, tightening his grip and crushing her fingers.  She felt him ease his grip right before he slapped her hard across her face, bruising her cheek.  Jerking her arm, he pulled her to the bed and shoved her down on the bedspread before pinning her arms to the mattress.  “Don’t mess with me, little druid.  I’ve been in more backstreet fights than you can imagine.”  He settled his weight on her as he whispered his threat in her ear. 

Melanie’s cheek throbbed, while her hand lay useless next to her head.  She was thankful
it wasn’t broken, just painful.  Not moving, she prayed for Ian to find her before Braeden could hurt her further. 

He pushed himself up and
off her body, straightening his clothing as he perched on the edge of her mattress.  He then leaned back over her chest to run his hands through her hair, letting the strands slide through his fingertips.  “You are my beautiful treasure, love.” 

Melanie flinched, anticipating another strike.  When he only stroked her hair, she tried shifting
away from him.  His blue eyes bored into hers and she felt the surge of adrenaline as fear shot through her system.  The thought of him abusing her was debilitating.  She wasn’t sure she could ever get over the trauma of being sexually assaulted.  She had to distract him.  Somehow she had to keep him from hurting her until Ian found her.  She knew he would be searching for her.  She had absolute faith in him.    

“Why am I a prisoner here?  I brought you back, just like you wanted.  It’s not like I can go to the police and tell them a wizard kidnapped me.  You can let me go and know that you’ll never see me again,” she told him, hopefully. 

“But, my darling, I don’t want to let you
go.  You see, you are my very own, private travel agent,” he said, laughing.  “You’re a gold mine, I can travel anywhere in time and take whatever I need, whenever I want.  This will be your new home, here, with me.”

Shocked, Melanie realized she had totally misread him.  She had assumed he wanted her for himself, not to move him through time.  Her muscles went fluid, the tension flowing out in relief when she realized he didn’t want her sexually.  She was almost giddy, until she remembered the slap. 
He had shot Krew with no qualms whatsoever.  Her training seemed useless.