Fate Fixed (14 page)

He hopped up beside her and put a casual arm around her shoulder. “Why thanks Lex –That’s why I warned you about your boyfriend, because I don’t want anyone hurting you either.”

She prickled with unease. She had no intention of listening to Alik about him.
I’m so two faced.
“Today at school, I heard someone talking smack about you. I usual y ignore people like that, but I don’t want her harming your reputation either, which she could probably do.” She wanted to cut to the chase and spit it out but the accusation was crude and it was difficult for her to say it out loud.

“Is this a female I know?” he asked playing along, not appearing too concerned.

“It’s your friend Courtney –” Lexie studied him; if he was guilty she would be able to tel by his reaction to her name.

“She was talking about you in the bathroom today.” Lexie nervously clasped her hands in her lap. “She was crying
and when I asked her what happened, she told me that the two of you hooked up and that you kind of hurt her.” Relief fil ed her once the words spil ed out.

Alik was silent, but he didn’t remove his arm from resting on her. Lexie waited for him to process the horrible

accusation. After a while, he shook his head and jumped off the wal . With his back to her, he mumbled, “I should have known she would make up something terrible. She was

pretty pissed at me for not taking her up on her offer to hookup in the band room this morning.” He bent down and picked up a rock and tossed it through the air at a large cedar.

He final y turned so she could meet his gaze. “The truth is – she’s offered me sexual favors every day since we met at the party, but I am not interested in her.” He walked over to where Lexie remained perched on the wal and rested his elbows on her lap so their eyes could meet. He smiled

softly and took her hands in his, “I’m stil trying to get over a girl I can never have.”

Lexie averted her gaze, not wanting Alik to see the blush that settled across her cheeks.

“But with that said, I think I saw her leading Maxim back
there shortly after I turned her down. Maybe she was trying to make me jealous or repair her ego. From what the other guys have said, she has taken quite a few of them back there over the last couple of years.” He took a piece of her hair and tucked it behind her ear. “Maybe she was crying tears of regret.”

“I thought she was lying,” she gave a half smile. “She seems like the type.” Lexie knew Alik had better be careful

though, someone like Courtney could make his last few

years of high school hel .

Alik put his hands on her waist and hoisted her to the ground with ease. “When I think of people like her, I always remember that what comes around eventual y goes around, and their words wil come back to bite them.”

It was close to four a.m. and Torin’s family had been

combing a large chunk of the waterway’s lands since the night before. Because they were the fastest and could

cover the most territory, Donovan and Cian’s father

Seamus headed north to the area around Caucomgomoc Lake and worked their way across the expansive southern side of Chamberlain. Teagan traveled with his father

Patrick from Churchil Lake and traveled down the east side of Eagle Lake.

Torin wasn’t an expert at tracking yet, but he and Cian fol owed Braden as he covered the land north of Al agash, working their way below Eagle Lake along the northern

shore of Chamberlain Lake. It was the first time they joined the elders in such an area wide hunt, but never before had so many local animals been discovered mutilated, both wild and now domestic.

At first it was the woodland animals, but now area pets were being reported missing and discovered later on dead.

The beasts responsible were becoming braver and it was only a matter of time until the kil ers stumbled upon an unsuspecting human.

The elders knew the area like they knew the center of town.

They had searched and hunted in the woods for over a

century. Having always lived off the land before the age of manufactured food, the forests were sacred to them – both for their beauty, history and life sustaining elements.

Braden had been hunting with them for the last few months.

He tore through the heavily wooded area without a sound or disrupting the creatures hunkered down in the brush.

Torin stayed close behind, admiring the way his cousin moved seamlessly and with pure instinct through the

darkness. He had known Braden’s form adapted to the

change – but seeing the purpose and fluidity of his motions were impressive.

Torin and Cian had to push themselves to maintain

Braden’s easy pace. Torin didn’t mind. The smel s, the colors, the physical exertion were al thril ing. Although he had always resented the fact he was more than just human, searching the woods forced him to look deep within and acknowledge that he was built for this. The speed, the strength, the desire – they al meshed together in the midst of the hunt. If he were to become a ful vampire, he would be a kil ing machine.

They had come across an unusual animal scent early on.

The same one Braden had picked up days before.

Although there weren’t a lot of the unusual claw marks embedded into the earth, the scent was an easy trail. After covering miles of the state park

– Torin expected his father and the others were crossing it as wel .

There was definitely more than one of them. It would seem the predators were busy marking their territory for days over a great distance, creating a warning for the other animals in the area. One thing they knew for certain – areas that were heavily marked by bears were avoided, whereas the scent of beavers, moose, and deer were fair game.

They assumed from the tracks it was some form of wolf, which didn’t add up since wolves weren’t indigenous to Maine.

Whatever breed of animal it was – it was pungent and

created a bio-chemical response in Torin’s brain. The urine was rich in testosterone and sulfur which made Torin

increasingly alarmed and agitated. In the areas that were especial y saturated, Torin felt on edge and ready to attack.

Every inch of his body was heightened and his senses

were alert. As he loped through the thickness of the forest and over the fal en trees and rocks, his muscles flexed and his jaw tightened, ready for anything.

The hunting behavior of the breed was most distressing.

Every couple of miles, one of the three would spot a

dismembered corpse. Scavengers were eating wel , because the beasts doing the kil ings seemed to be hunting for sport.

Throughout the search, they discovered the carcasses of numerous animals. Both deer and moose remains were

found in wooded areas around town, but once in the forests – there were also several lynx, coyotes, and foxes. There was too much death.

As they crested a rise that overlooked the ravine only miles from the outskirts of town, Braden crouched onto his knees and froze. Cian and Torin both dropped, placing enough weight on their knuckles to surge forward if necessary.

“Do you smel that?” Braden’s voice so quiet, only another damphyr could hear.

Torin closed his eyes, his sole focus on the scent of the air around him. “The trail continues down into the val ey.”

Cian was also contemplating. He met Braden’s stare,

“More kil s ahead.”

“Look. Listen. Concentrate harder,” Braden’s voice

grumbled.

Torin sat back on his knees, awareness seeping into his
consciousness. “Human – I don’t know why I didn’t smel it first.”

“Because you aren’t focused.” He glared at Torin, then back to Cian. “Both of you are so caught up in trying to hunt that you aren’t listening to what you already know – what your

body is trying to tel you. You can’t tune out your senses like that.”

Cian shrugged. “We haven’t gone through the final phase of the change yet, we don’t have the control or the abilities you have.”

“The change?” Braden ran both hands through his spiked blonde hair. “Both of you are on the brink of the change.”

His influence commanded attention. “Do you think you

could have possibly kept up with me if you weren’t? Why do you think our fathers paired us together? If we come across these kil ers, you need to be able to hold your own.”

Torin nodded, he knew Braden was right. They needed to stop being logical. It was time to give in to their nature.

Instead of imitating Braden’s movements through the

woods or checking areas he thought his father would check – he needed to let go of what others would do or say and become a hunter.

Braden turned back towards the ravine. “Don’t make excuses, just do better.”

Torin crouched and concentrated on the scent molecules floating in the air. Beneath the pungent beast smel , there was another – it was human and familiar. Licking his lips and tasting the air, his body pulsed in response to the presence of blood. He listened past the obvious sounds of the river and the birds above the treetops. He noticed this area of the park didn’t have the

same scurrying of activity that the others had. The creatures that forested for food at this time of day and drank from the river bank were in hiding.

He gazed northeast, feeling the slight breeze coming from that direction. He didn’t wait to fol ow Braden’s lead – he knew where he was heading.

He hurdled along the rocky edge of the ravine, keeping downwind of the open space below. He knew he could

make better time along the river bank, but his instincts kept him concealed within the thicker trees, out of sight. Never had he run so fast, his body staying low to the ground. The fluid motion of his muscles worked together like a wel -oiled machine. He sensed Cian behind him and Braden ten feet to his right. The scent of blood was pul ing him in and he
swal owed back his building saliva.

The sun was beginning to light up the horizon as Torin stumbled upon the gruesome scene. Even before locating the crumpled form, he knew the predators were gone – their scent trailing back into the woods. Missing them by only hours, animals that would normal y scavenge the

remains even feared touching it.

Braden just shook his head while Cian turned away and

gagged. Torin kneeled, inspecting what was left of Officer Barry. One of her arms was twisted at a sickening angle, the

other was missing – even more disturbing was that she had been disemboweled. Her intestines were hanging off the surrounding trees. The creatures had urinated on her

remains and one of them mauled her face and neck.
I hope
her death was quick and
she didn’t suffer.

As Torin examined the woman’s wounds, his blood began

to pound quicker through his veins. His skin tingled and the back of his throat dried. The smel and taste of blood was in the air, tempting him. His hand trembled as he reached for the gash in Catherine’s forehead; her blood was thick

where it ran down behind her ear.

Braden’s hand clamped onto his shoulder. “You don’t want that,” he warned.

Torin stood – brushing off his cousin’s hold. “I know.”

“Wel it’s enticing for me too, I’m just saying.” Braden added.

Torin pointed at the drying entrails hanging from the limbs of the surrounding trees. “No animal would do that. How the hel did they even get them up there?”

Cian frowned, appearing somewhat green. “It doesn’t

appear that she was eaten, just slaughtered.”

Braden walked around the perimeter of the scene, bending to investigate the tracks. “I don’t know what to make of it.

Spiteful y, they urinated al over – even rol ed in her blood.”

He stood and brushed his hands against his jeans. “The elders wil have to see this and do something with her remains.”

Torin’s brows furrowed, “We’l leave it for our fathers?

We won’t cal the police?” He stepped towards an old

stump.

What he only could imagine was her liver was left sitting upon it. What kind of taunting statement were the beasts making?

“This is more than just a pack of wolves that migrated from Canada or someone’s pet lion they released into the wild.

People are in danger.”
Lexie’s in danger.
He thought of how close her home was.

“And what would you recommend we do? Explain that we

found her after a weekend of camping?” Irritated, Braden’s face reddened. “Do you know what the media would do

with this? You would have a dozen TV reporters running through here getting kil ed, maybe even exposing us.”

“Exposing us…” Torin’s disbelief was obvious. “That’s your real concern isn’t it Braden? That someone wil actual y notice our family and make some sort of assumption?”

Braden sneered back, “You’re not concerned enough.”

“That’s bul shit and you know it. But, I can tel you one thing. I am worried about Lexie. She needs to know.”

Braden barreled forward, grabbing Torin’s col ar. “She doesn’t need to know anything.”

Torin met his stare, not backing down. “Wel , that isn’t for you to decide is it?” He pushed Braden’s hands off him. “I have never given you a reason to doubt my judgment – so don’t start now.”

“Yeah, what about Shane? You should have been paying

attention to him.” Braden twisted away, “Besides, you’ve never compromised yourself before by fal ing for a human.”

Cian stepped between them. “It’s different and you know it Braden. It’s not like with me and Brooke.” With reluctance, he added. “He’s dreamed of her, they’re going to be

together.”

Braden refused to make eye contact. He marched into the forest muttering, “He’s not even in control of himself yet, he’s certainly not ready for her.”

Torin headed to the rendezvous location, leaving distance between him and his cousins. He knew that Braden was

trying to do the right thing for the family, but Lexie had become his life. He wasn’t sure if her odd family was