Wolf Hunter (14 page)

“
I’m going to kill you!” Jaylen shouted. It emerged as a croak. The door swung shut with a metal clang.
 

“
HEY WESTLEY,” MARJORIE said from the receptionist desk. “You been rolling around in the mud?”

He smoothed down his shirt. It wasn’t hard to act self-conscious. “Touch football,” he said. “Do you mind if I check the community board? I want to see if there are any new postings.”

“Not at all.” Waving him toward the corridor behind her, she turned back to her computer where, Westley knew without looking, a game of spider solitaire held her attention.

The community board took up a third of the wall at the center of the hallway. Westley stopped in front of it until he was certain she wasn’t watching. He didn’t see Donnie as he edged toward the bullpen of desks that should have been empty this time of night. Once he was past those, he’d be in the holding area. From there, all he had to do was find Jaylen. If he was lucky, the keys would be hanging on the nail hook between the doors of the two cells. If he wasn’t... he’d cross that road when he came to it.

The captain’s door at the back of the bullpen was shut. When Captain Bogard was inside, he kept it open. Westley heard indistinct murmuring all around him, but he didn’t see anyone. He made his way toward the cells, sidestepping as he went so he could stop and pretend to peruse the announcements of municipal band performances, yard sales, and ice cream socials. He reached the turn and, with a final glance, darted forward. The keys were in place. They were huge, the type used in old westerns, down to the iron circle key ring holding them together. He breathed a sigh of relief.

When Westley was in kindergarten, he’d come here on a class trip. Donnie had opened an empty cell and ushered the kids in, then pulled the door shut when they weren’t looking. If Westley had suspected before that he was different, he’d known it after. Some children, who he’d been told were alphas, cried. The ones labeled omegas had hugged them. The human children ran around like it was a game. Westley had flung himself at the door and pounded it with his small fists until it opened again. Then he’d hit Donnie’s knees until Donnie had knelt down, gathered him up in his arms and whispered an apology for “a bit of fun.”

Now Westley stood between the two doors again, listening. He searched through the scent remnants of prisoners and officers who had passed through those doors for the smell that matched Jaylen’s. Striking on it, he grabbed the knob that would open a two inch by twelve inch slit at eye-level on the second door and peered through. At first, the cell looked empty. Then he heard a moan and a clang, and his eyes adjusted to the darkness. There was someone there, against the wall.

Westley shifted. At this angle he couldn’t see him full on. But he didn’t question the scent as it struck his nose. It was Jaylen. His head was bowed, and he was quiet. Westley smelled blood. He could see splotches on Jaylen’s shirt. He wondered why Jaylen didn’t move. At the same time, his brain slotted in the reason for the clanging.
“These chains are historical, kids. Two hundred years old,” Donnie said. “We don’t use them anymore. They’re for show. Of course—” He leveled a teasing gaze at Cody, the class ringleader. “—we do make exceptions.”

Looked like Denton had made an exception today.

“Jaylen?” His voice cracked.

Jaylen lifted his head. “Westley? What are you doing here?” His speech emerged more as rough scratches than words.

“I’m going to get you out of here.”

“
Hurry.” Jaylen swallowed. “He’s coming back.”

Westley reached for the key. It was gone. He turned, thinking he’d grabbed it already and dropped it.

Cody stood a few feet away, holding it up. “Denton wants to see you.”

“
Cody....” Westley took a step forward. “Please. You have to help me. We have to get him out of here.”

“
Yeah. That’s what Tom said. He called me and told me you were coming. He told me I should help you.”

“
Did he tell you he’s pack alpha now?”

“
He did. And I told him that as long as Denton is here, we don’t have a pack alpha.” Cody stepped up to meet Westley. “I told him that the hunter killed Austin, and I will see him dead.”

“
Cody—”

“
He’s waiting for you in the captain’s office. I wouldn’t keep him if I were you.”

Westley glanced at the cell door. He couldn’t risk it now. But later....
Stay calm. Stay careful
. He’d save Jaylen. “Fine.” Turning around, he started toward the bullpen. Cody shadowed him.

“
I told him everything,” Cody said, “so don’t think pull anything.”

“
What would I pull?” Westley paused at the bullpen’s entryway. “I’m not clever.”

“
I might have believed you before you decided to get involved with a murderer. Now, I don’t know what I think you’re capable of.” Even though Cody was several inches shorter, Westley stumbled forward when Cody shoved him. “Move.”

Westley planted his hands on his knees to stop his fall. As he did, he saw behind the first desk. “What the—” Westley stared down at the colorless face of Austin’s former partner.

“Leave it.” Cody jerked him backward when he tried to crouch beside Mark’s body.

“
What did you do?” Westley tore away from Cody’s grip. “You... did you
kill
him?”

“
He questioned me.” Cody’s voice rose until it landed somewhere between righteous and petulant.

“
He was your friend! You’re upset with me because I’m trying to keep people alive, and, yes, that means Jaylen too, and you’ve gone and
murdered Mark?
Hypocrite, much?” Sure, Mark was always an asshole to him, but that didn’t mean Westley wanted him
dead
.

“
It wasn’t my choice.” Cody grabbed the back of Westley’s arm and squeezed so hard that Westley winced. “The Alpha ordered it. Now get a move on.”

Westley thought better of saying anything else. Keeping his eyes forward, he marched himself—aided by Cody’s steady pressure on his triceps—to the captain’s door. He stopped in front of it, but Cody reached past him and knocked.

“Enter!” At the Alpha’s bark, Cody pushed the door open and nudged Westley inside. Denton sat behind the desk. Westley tried not to let his gaze wander over to the floor, where a pair of black regulation boots, occupied, stuck out from behind the four-drawer vertical filing cabinet. It might be Captain Bogard, but it might be—his stomach hitched with nausea—it could be Donnie. Usually he’d be at the front with Marjorie, but he hadn’t been and—

Denton rose, smiling, to shake Westley’s hand. “Ah. The omega who thinks himself an alpha.”

“I... I don’t think that.” He stared at the floor, the wall, anywhere but the Alpha’s yellow eyes. His gaze kept landing on the boots.

Denton planted his nose in Westley’s neck and sniffed. “You stink.” He pulled back and sat on the edge of the desk between the captain’s pendulum collision balls and his magic magnets pyramid. “I hear you’ve been a naughty boy.”

“Don’t know what you mean.” Westley tried to step back, but Cody had positioned himself behind him, and he crashed into his chest.

“
The Alpha is speaking to you. Show some respect.”

“
Thank you, Cody, but I’m confident Westley will find it within himself to address me properly soon.” The moment Denton’s attention returned to Westley, it was the difference between great lungfuls of air and slow suffocation. “Oh, Westley,” Denton said, clucking his tongue. “I think we’d better keep an eye on you.” He glanced at Cody. “Put him in with the hunter.”

“
Alpha?” Cody asked.

Westley took two steps forward in panic. He folded himself to the floor and pressed his forehead to Denton’s knees. Reaching for Denton’s hands, he gripped him tight. “Please. Alpha. I’ll be good, I promise. Obedient and… and…” He forced himself to look him in the eyes. “Whatever you want of me.”

Denton shook him off with a smile. “Ah. There’s the respect I knew you had in you.
This
is what I want of you.” He snapped his fingers at Cody, and Westley felt himself being pulled up.

“
He’s trying to get to the hunter,” Cody said. “We’re going to put them together?”

“
Yes,” Denton said. “And Cody? When I want my orders questioned, I’ll speak to a wolf of higher caste than you.”

Cody ducked his head. Unlike the chastisements he’d taken when they were kids, which he’d greeted with hidden mischief, this one reddened his ears and made his lips purse. Westley pretended he hadn’t seen. “Yes, Alpha.” Taking Westley by the elbow, Cody pulled him out.

“Cody—”

“
You want to tell me what’s going on? You and Denton have a secret language now?”

“
You don’t get what he’s doing?” Westley shoved Cody’s hand off as Cody herded him toward the holding cells. “Isn’t it obvious to you?”

“
It’s obvious to me that we’re going to interrogate the hunter until he’s spilled his soul in blood and screams, and you’ll be there to see it.” He pushed Westley against the corridor’s yellow wall. The concrete was cool through his shirt.

“
Denton is done with interrogating.” Westley stayed flat, trying to get his breathing under control. “That’s why he’s putting me in with Jaylen.”

“
What?”

“
I’m the end game.” Westley twisted away to stand in the middle of the hall. “Tom told you I’d found a way to stop the shift? And you told Denton.”

“
Because I’m loyal,” Cody snapped. “I don’t go around trying to be something I’m not, protecting
monsters
because I can’t see what they are—”

“
I’m a monster.” Westley shouted over him. “And I’m going to be locked inside that cell with Jaylen when my medicine wears off.
That’s
what Denton wants.
That’s
why he’s doing this! That’s Jaylen’s final punishment and my torture. For me to kill him!” His shouting turned into shrieks that Westley didn’t recognize as his own voice. Snot and tears ran down his face, but he didn’t wipe them away.

Cody stared at him. The wall clock ticked out, loud in the silence. Westley’s stomach rumbled. He wanted to pitch forward and curl over it, to soothe the pain that rose inside him.

“He... he wouldn’t do that,” Cody said. “The Alpha has our best interests in mind.” Westley blinked. He tried to think around the pain that now appeared in his shoulders and concentrate on Cody’s voice. “Even yours.” Cody pulled Westley into a hug. “Come on, now. No one would make an omega kill. We all know you’re not mentally capable of taking a life. I mean, the repercussions you’d feel and... and...”

Westley clamped his jaw shut. He couldn’t stop shaking. Cody held him tight, but everywhere their bodies touched sharp, raw, pain exploded beneath Westley’s skin.

“He wouldn’t do that to you.” Cody sounded more confident, as if he’d made a decision. He let Westley go, but kept an arm around his waist as he guided him toward the cell. Westley’s vision hazed over as Cody pulled down the keys and unlocked the door.

“
N-no.”

“
Come on, West. It’s just orders.” He pushed the door open. Jaylen’s sick, half-dead scent struck Westley’s nose like foul garbage left out on a street corner to rot. His vision went from gray to red to black, shapes blurred into entities marked in heat and movement. Finally, he latched onto his prey and charged.

“
Westley! No!”

He registered the snap of a smooth neck and the slide and thump of a body hitting the ground before he realized what he’d done. Stumbling into the cell, he tripped over Cody’s corpse and landed in a dried pool of blood.

“Westley.” In contrast to Cody’s final words, Jaylen greeted him with a heady mixture of happiness and disbelief. Westley picked up on the change in his scent. Relief poured off Jaylen in waves of vanilla flavoring tinged with the honey of newfound hope. “There’s a lock pick in my shirt,” Jaylen said. “Hurry.”

Westley blinked up at him. He’d killed
Cody. Oh God oh God oh God
. His vision cleared to a cool white. He tried to stand, but his body had other ideas. “I... I’m sorry.” His vocal chords protested, on the verge of declaring speech unnatural. The final vowel rose in a pitiful wolfish whine.

“
Westley, he was a werewolf.” Jaylen stopped to cough. “I know I have a lot to explain to you, but werewolves exist and... don’t be sorry.”

Werewolves exist.
Westley wanted to howl with laughter, but he stopped himself for fear it would sound too real. It should have been the least of his worries when any moment Jaylen would
know
. He looked at Jaylen as long as he could before the shift forced him to all fours, and the crunch-rip of bones breaking and skin tearing in preparation for this hated rebirth became his only focus.

THE WOLF ROSE on trembling legs. He’d stood too long on two feet, trapped inside a human form. He shifted his front paws to better center his weight and arched his back. His fur was sticky with the viscous remnants of his change. He licked his paws, front and back, and snuffled into his genitals for good measure. He’d settled in for a good lick when a whimper grabbed his attention and he bounced up, now certain of his stance.