Wolf Creek Ghosts (Texas Pack 3) (Wolf Creek Werewolf Shifters) (8 page)

Carrying her inside, he stretched her out on the bed and clamped heavy chains around her wrist. He then took a towel and wrapped it around her mouth to keep her quiet before shocking her again.

He laughed as he watched her muscles twitch in agony. “Sorry baby, but I’ve gotta go to a rodeo. I’ve already paid my entrance fee, and I can’t disappoint the fans. But don’t fret, sweetheart, I’ll be back to ride you later. By the way, those chains are connected to steel poles I drilled into the ground. But go ahead and tear those dainty little wrists apart and try to get loose. What’s a little blood between friends?” Willie winked as he walked off. He felt a shiver go down his spine hearing her animal like scream behind the gag.

Willie became aware he was still standing in the pond and made his way back to dry land. Not that it mattered, he didn’t get wet, just rejuvenated.

Going back to that night left him frustrated. He’d missed his opportunity to get the girl he’d been watching at the rodeo and arrived back at the camper pissed off. At least he had the college kid to work over.

He remembered climbing out of his truck and noticing a stillness in the woods. No crickets were chirping, and no animals were rustling in the underbrush. He spun around, feeling like prey caught in a hunter’s sight. Spinning back around he was amazed to see a huge, blonde, nude man standing before him.

What had the guy said? Something about revenge for his victims? Then his college girl stepped out from behind the big guy. Willie shook his head, how did she get loose? A moment later two cougars leapt at him, claws reaching for his head. The last thing he remembered was covering his face and screaming.

“I’m hungry.” Devlin pulled Olivia up and herded her to the kitchen where Rafe and Lisa were eating.

Rafe gave Devlin a nod, seeing his brother had relaxed and no longer looked stressed out.

Small talk ruled the lunch until Olivia sat her sandwich down and cleared her throat.

“I’m going to have to go back to the bar.” She held her hand up to stop Devlin before he could break in. “I have to do this, moving spirits along is what I am driven to do.”

“No, I will not allow you to go back to Charlie’s,” Devlin stated adamantly.

Olivia did not get angry at his use of the word allow, she knew it was worry driving him. “Devlin, there’s something going on I don’t understand, and it’s hard to explain. There’s this light, flame, I don’t know what to call it. It’s in my head, calling to me, but I’m afraid to answer. I know, somehow, this has something to do with Willie.”

They were all silent as they stared at Olivia, not knowing what they were waiting on.

Lisa cleared her throat. “I could take a peek. If you allow me to, I can get into your head and see just what this is.”

“Really? How?” Olivia asked.

“It’s what my little witch does, one of her many talents.” Rafe picked up his mates hand and kissed her knuckles.

“Okay, umm, what do I need to do?” Olivia looked to Devlin for help.

“Come on love, will go into the great room where everyone can relax.” Devlin pulled her to her feet and moved her to the couch.

Jack appeared leaning against the mantel.
“I’ve been searching, but I haven’t found Willie. Sorry, I was hoping I could help more.”

“Don’t worry about it man, I’m sure you’ll help when the time comes,” Devlin said.

Lisa explained to Olivia how she would take a stroll through her head. “You’ll be able to see and hear me once I’m inside. Think of it as a virtual world.”

Olivia closed her eyes and followed Lisa’s instructions to quiet her mind. Opening her senses, she could see Lisa standing in front of her in a flowing, white Greek Goddess dress with her auburn hair piled on top of her head.

“Lisa?” Olivia was surprised her mind had conjured Lisa up this way.

“Oh, you didn’t fabricate this, I did. Awesome isn’t it? We can look or be whatever we want to be in our imaginations,” Lisa said.

Great, Olivia thought, a witch with visions of grandeur.

“I heard that, you know. I am in your head.”

“Okay, sorry about that, I’m not used to having a witch know my thoughts.” Olivia shrugged apologetically.

“Come on, I can see that flame you were talking about. You think it’s like the flame of knowledge or something?” Lisa asked.

“I doubt it, I’m not an oracle, just look at my old report cards.”

As they got closer to the flame, it burned brighter before flashing into a soft glow outlining five women.

Lisa halted behind Olivia, hiding behind her taller friend. “Hey, you’re bigger than me and everyone knows I like to cower behind the bigger target.”

They waited as one of the women stepped forward. She was beautiful, athletic and young. Olivia knew this was one of Willie’s victims. How horrible it must be to be cut down in the prime of her life.

“Hello Olivia, welcome. My name is Karen,”
the woman said solemnly as she walked forward.

“Man, she’s freaking me out,” Lisa whispered.

Suddenly Karen’s voice and manner changed, becoming much friendlier.
“Chill Lisa. I like messing with the living, they’re so easy to freak out.”

“Stop it Karen, you’re scaring her,”
Marie, the one Olivia thought of as motherly spoke up.
“We called you here to help you understand your power. You were given a gift at birth. This gift makes it possible for you to move spirits along to the next step in their soul’s growth.”

“But I’ve already been doing that,” Olivia said.

“We know, but moving Willie along is going to be much harder. His soul is evil, and he does not want to move on to the next tier.”

“Wait a minute. Does he get to move along? What about Hell? Doesn’t he have to pay for his crimes?” Olivia was getting a little freaked out, trying to understand what Marie was telling her.

Karen moved to stand next to Marie.
“Your soul is on a journey to learn to love and help mankind, the earth, whatever. Basically, becoming a Liberal does it.”

“Hush Karen,”
Marie told her and turned back to Olivia.
“We are not his judge, Willie has his own spirit guide who will help to decide what to do with his soul. Whether it’s a Hell of his own making or something else, it’s not up to us. But know he will be dealt with once you enter the death realm and bring him here.”

“I wish it were up to us,”
Karen said
. “I’m not as evolved as the rest of them. I can think up some truly evil punishments for that degenerate asshole.”

Marie simply sighed.

“Let me get this straight. I have to go into this death realm and haul Willie out? How do I do that?” Olivia asked.

Karen stuttered,
“Uh, we don’t really know that part,”
she said guiltily.
“We were told you had the power to get him here but not how.”

“Great, I’m flying blind.” Olivia muttered.

Marie took hold of her hand.
“Use the magical waters and your wolf spirit.”
The women started fading away.

“Wait! I don’t have a wolf spirit,” Olivia shouted.

“You will, after tonight.”
Karen grinned.

“Shit, what are you, a voyeuristic ghost?” Olivia mumbled.

Olivia felt Lisa tug on her arm. “I think we’re done here, time to wakey wakey.”

Olivia opened her eyes to find everyone staring at her. She saw Lisa stretching as she yawned.

“That Karen is a trip. I expect ghost to be all, I dunno, all depressed or something,” Lisa said.

“You don’t change who you are just because you died. The personality you have alive doesn’t change when you die,” Olivia said.

“That makes sense, although I’ve never thought about it before,” Lisa said.

Olivia explained to the men what they had learned, with Lisa’s input about her needing her wolf spirit.

Olivia found herself blushing with Devlin’s slow smile and wink. This is ridiculous, it wasn’t like she was some sixteen-year-old virgin.

“We need more information about the death realm. We cannot expect Olivia to go after Willie on her own without any backup,” Rafe said.

Lisa looked thoughtful. “Maybe she won’t have to. What if she could handle him from this realm?”

Devlin leaned down and kissed Olivia’s forehead. “I’m going to do some research. Maybe you, Lisa, and Melanie can figure something out. Between a witch, druid and psychic, that’s some pretty powerful magic. I’ll be in my office if you need me.”

“Ian and I will go and patrol the pond, I don’t like the thought of that little fucker hanging around. Niall, come with us. Maybe you’ll be able to pick up on anything we may not see. Jack, you’re probably our best bet if he’s there,” Rafe said.

Arriving at the waters’ edge, Rafe called one of his enforcers over to ask if anything unusual had occurred.

“He’s not here now, but he’s been here recently.”
Jack appeared on the other side of the water before popping back to where they waited.

Rafe’s deep growl rose the hair on everyone there with it’s ominous warning. “Jack, I need you to patrol this area. My pack hasn’t picked up on anything strange.”

Jack nodded.

“I felt the evil when I was at Charlie’s so I’ll help Jack cover the area as well,” Niall said.

Rafe and Ian stripped and shifted to see if they could pick up any trace in their wolf forms.

* * *

“Druid huh? What do you do, go around hugging trees?” Olivia asked dryly.

“Only if they need it.” Melanie laughed, not the least bit insulted. She was starting to get a handle on Olivia. The woman had a very dry sense of humor, which Melanie could appreciate.

“Since you’ll soon be mated to Devlin, I’ll give you the condensed version. I rescue people who get lost in time by accidentally going through a Faery gate, or they get sucked up into a vortex that deposits them somewhere in the past.” She waited patiently for Olivia’s response.

Olivia dropped her head back against the couch, muttering. “Of course you do. I expect next you’ll tell me you fly off to Never Never Land for a visit.”

Lisa reached over to pat her arm in sympathy. “You’ll get used to us. We’re all quite normal. We work, pay our taxes, love our families.”

Olivia shook her head. “Change into dogs, cast spells, travel through time. Yeah, normal.”

Lisa cast a look at Melanie and shrugged. “Okay then Olivia, this will be your new normal. Let’s get down to work and see what the three of us can do when we work together.”

Olivia wanted to pull her hair in frustration as she listened to the women. To them it was all so easy; simply use your mind and find the path. Next she’d find herself in Nepal on a spiritual quest like some Hindi guru.

Olivia watched as Melanie opened a small vortex in front of the huge fireplace. “See? Where as I would use this to move through time, you would be using your mind to open a door into another realm.”

She’d give it one more shot. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on that small part of her she used to help spirits cross. She imagined a doorway opening and opened her eyes to see a form in the same place Melanie’s vortex had been. The wavering image was dark, expanding into a rectangle the size of a small door before it collapsed in front of her.

“You did it!” Lisa exclaimed while Melanie clapped.

Olivia grinned, empowered by her small accomplishment. “I felt it grow out from me before I lost my concentration but,” her smile fell, “I couldn’t hold on to it.”

“It’s okay Olivia, I can open a vortex or maybe help hold yours open,” Melanie said.

Devlin came back into the room holding some papers. “I may have some good information here that can help us. Hold on while I get the guys.” He left them staring as he opened the front door and let out a loud whistle before sitting next to Olivia on the sofa.

Once Ian and Rafe arrived, Devlin handed the papers to Rafe to look over.

“Olivia managed to get a doorway open, but she’ll probably need our help to keep it open,” Lisa informed them.

Rafe put the papers down. “Oh, hell no. You’re not going, there is no reason in the world that will convince me to allow you to go into the death realm.”

“You either babe, so don’t even ask.” Ian pointedly watched Melanie with steely eyes.

Melanie huffed as she crossed her arms. “I won’t be going in, I’ll only be opening the door, Buddy.”

Ian figured she could call him every dog name in the book as long as she stayed on the other side of the doorway.

“Me too,” Lisa snapped, with her arms crossed. “I’m going along in case Olivia needs my help, and I promise to stay in the bar and not go in after you guys.”

Ian moved his gaze to Rafe. “I’m going with Devlin and Olivia. I’m your enforcer, this is my job.”

Rafe nodded, “I agree, but I’m going too. This is my pack, and he was on our land, besides, he was also in our bar.”

“Rafe, as alpha, you need to stay here to protect the pack. Devlin and I will handle him. This is what I do, you know this,” Ian said.

The ladies watched as the testosterone level rose between brothers.

Rafe paced before coming to a stop in front of Ian. “I have strong pack mates that I know I can count on. I’m going with you. Staying behind to wait for news of the outcome isn’t my style and you know it.” Grabbing the papers again, he told Devlin to explain what he’d found out.

Devlin cleared his throat. “There’s a lot of crap out there which I had to weed through, and I’ve made several assumptions about the death realm from what I read. What it boils down to is this; almost anything is possible there. What you think will happen, happens. My best advice would be to watch your thoughts. Thoughts become reality.”

“So if I believe real hard, my wishes come true,” Olivia said, mocking. In truth, she was scared. Afraid she wouldn’t be able to control her thoughts and would accidentally harm Devlin or Ian.

Devlin knew she was reacting out of fear and gripped her hand as he sat down. “Love, it’s simply a matter of discipline. I’ll make sure you’re concentrating on me if you get distracted.”

“If thoughts become realty, why hasn’t Willie done more damage?” Rafe asked.