Guardian Of The Grove (14 page)

“I know this is hard for you, Max, but when you go out there, I need you to appear confident and strong. So take whatever you are feeling now and bury it until this is over.”

“My father has been challenged thirty-seven times as alpha and has never lost a battle. As much as I believe in your cause, I fear that I made the wrong choice when I backed your challenge for the pack.”

“Your father has never faced anyone like me.” Max nodded, but I could tell he didn’t believe it. “I want you to know that after I win, I have no interest in becoming this pack’s alpha.” He looked at me, stunned, as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “That responsibility is going to fall on you.”

“Why would you challenge for alpha just to abandon the pack to another?”

“I am part of something greater than this, Max, something that requires all of me. It wouldn’t be fair to be alpha and never be around. I need you to look strong standing by my side. Go, and when you come back, look every inch of the alpha that I know you are.”

His eyes finally showed a glimmer of hope. He turned and left the room, giving me time to prepare. I had no doubt the fight would take place in the ceremonial pit. If the entire pack had been called in, then it would take place in the traditional manner. We would walk naked to the pit, and then shift once we were inside of it. At that point, anything goes until one of us submitted or was dead. A submission didn’t have to be accepted, but oftentimes it was. I had no illusions that Michael would accept anything short of my death in the battle tonight. This was going to be bloody, and the outcome wasn’t a sure thing.

I stripped off my clothes, folding them and setting them to the side. I held my head high when the door opened, and Max came in. He looked different now. He had showered and shaved. His hair was combed, and he had on a fresh suit. His shoulders were back, and his chin was held at just the right angle to make him look every inch of the arrogant bastard that his father was.

I smiled and went to stand beside him. “Thank you, Max.”

“Just do me a favor and win.” He tried to make it sound light, but the words came grinding out of his mouth. He was still nervous, and that wouldn’t do.

I turned his head and looked him in the eye. “Don’t worry about the fight; I’ve got this. Your father is strong and powerful, but he is young compared to me and his abilities haven’t been challenged in a long while. I have spent the last thirty years training with the alpha of alphas and his personal guard.”

His eyes widened as I namedropped the head of the Lycans on the West Coast. A true smile reached his lips for the first time. He finally believed that I had a chance. I knew his father’s reputation as a merciless fighter. This would be no easy fight to win, but I did have years of experience, and I was determined not to lose.

Max led me through the doors to the back patio. Torches had been lit, leading from the house to the fighting pit. The pit itself had torches surrounding it in a circle. The light flickered and swayed in the mountain breeze. People lined the pit, and more looked down from seating that had been erected. The sun was setting behind us, bathing us in the pink light of an Arizona sunset.

Max moved away from my side as I climbed onto the platform above the pit. His father climbed onto a similar platform on the other side. We stared at each other for a moment. These human forms meant so little and gave away no indication of what our beasts looked like. He was old enough that he should have known what I was capable of, but like most alphas, he would have to be on the receiving end of it to believe it.

As was his right, he dropped into the pit first. A voice called out as I jumped into the pit. “Tonight we have an outsider challenging for the alpha of our pack.” Cheering and a wild chorus of boos rained down on us. “This outsider has been seconded by the alpha’s son, Max.” The crowd grew quiet, and every head turned to look at him. He did well; he kept a look on his face that said he was certain of the outcome. It wasn’t an easy thing to do under the stares of over a hundred Lycans. He nodded back to the man who had been speaking. “In accordance with our laws, this will be a fight to the death. You may begin.”

I was out of shape when it came to shifting. The last month or so I had been on the road, visiting different packs. The opportunity to shift and run hadn’t presented itself too often. I felt my bones snap and lock back into place. When I was finished, Michael was still only halfway transformed. I could have rushed forward and ended it there, but that wouldn’t earn me the kind of respect I needed. The pack should have already been in awe at the speed of my shift, but they hadn’t seen anything yet.

I lifted my head high and howled into the growing darkness. My voice carried into the night. Every eye turned to me as I waited for his shift to complete. Finally, he was done, and we could start this fight. He gave me a moment to take in his form. His coat was solid black; he was taller than me, probably somewhere around eight and a half feet. That one glance was all I was given before he charged forward.

Rushing forward to meet his charge, I ducked under the first swipe of his claws and struck out with my own. I ripped huge gashes across his stomach and chest. By the time he turned around to face me again, the wounds had already closed. He was a damn fast healer, either that or he had some help.

He dashed forward again. I was able to dodge one swing, but the tips of his claws caught me on his second swing. Huge rents appeared in the flesh on my arm. They burned and wouldn’t seem to heal all the way. The bastard had laced his claws with something. I had expected a hell of a fight, but I had expected it to be fair. This was anything but fair.

Two could play at that game, though. I had been holding back in the hopes of gaining more favor with a drawn-out fight. That was over now. I caught his wrist when he lashed out, and broke it. Before his howl of rage ended, I darted behind him and ripped my claws across his Achilles, sending him to the ground. I stepped forward to break his neck so I could deliver the death blow, and he surprised me by flipping me over his head as he stood.

There was no way he could heal that fast. My eyes found Max’s, and I growled out, “He has magical help.” I flipped back to my feet, turning and snapping my jaws closed on his arm as he reached for me. I slapped his next strike away before he planted a foot into my stomach, sending me flying backward. My teeth left a huge gash along his arm, and I spit out a chunk of his flesh that I had taken with me.

His arm healed almost instantly. I was going to have to rely on Max to find whoever was helping him. I could keep doing this for a while, but eventually, he would land a few shots that disabled me. Whatever he had coated his claws with hurt me, but it had to be hurting him as well. The magical healing he was receiving probably had more to do with the silver toxin than trying to close the wounds I had dealt him. He needed to end the fight quickly for another reason altogether; already the pack was starting to notice that something wasn’t right. The blows I had dealt to him should have crippled him for minutes.

We circled each other around the floor of the pit. He stomped forward slowly and with murderous purpose. I managed to deflect the first two strikes, but the third ripped across my abdomen. The pain flared from the wounds. They wouldn’t heal, and the burning sensation was distracting me. He tried the same tactic again, but this time, I was ready for it. He came in high, but I went higher. It wasn’t conventional, but I threw myself over the top of him, lashing out with my claws at his eyes. I felt something pop as I landed on my feet behind him.

Michael howled in fury as he rubbed at where his eye used to be, and then he stumbled forward a step. I met his retreat and dropped low again, slashing at his knees and up the length of his back as I stepped around him. When he turned to face me, his eye had already healed. That should have been impossible. It should have taken weeks to repair that kind of damage.

“You bitch,” he managed to snarl at me.

He charged forward again, but for now, I was just content to play keep away. While his wounds continued to heal with superhuman quickness, my own weren’t healing at all. I scanned the crowd around the pit, looking for Max, but I didn’t see him. I managed to dodge Michael’s next attack, and this time, I connected a kick to his knee. When the bone snapped, it sounded like a gunshot. He howled his anger at the night, but as he turned, the knee was already back into place. Whoever this healer was, they were good.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” I mumbled under my breath. I was starting to think I might not come out of this alive when I saw a hand waving at the edge of the pit.

Max pushed through the crowd. “He’s dead!” he shouted down at me.

Now we would see how just how quickly I could end this. Without hesitation, I charged forward. I barreled straight into the chest of the larger beast. I felt his claws rake down my back as I sank my jaws into his throat. I pulled back, taking a piece of his throat with me. He writhed on the ground before me, the blood already clotting in his wound. Before he could turn to face me, I reached down and snapped his neck.

With one foot, I flipped him onto his back. Michael’s eyes blinked up at me. For the first time, I saw the fear in them that should have been there all along. I had no doubt that if he could have spoken or moved that he would have been begging for his life right now. A man like this was unfit to lead and deserved no pity.

A smile broke across my muzzle as I smashed my claws down into his chest. His sternum broke under the viciousness of the blow. My finger reached past the shattered bone and closed around his heart. I pulled Michael’s heart from his chest and tossed it onto the ground. I kept my gaze on him until finally his eyes turned glossy. There would be no healing for him now. He had been given the true death.

The cheers broke over the crowd around me. Cries of alpha rained down from the stands. Jumping out of the pit, I walked toward the center platform, shifting back to my human form as I went. The man who had announced the fight handed me the microphone and stepped to the side. Max came up next to me, and I motioned him forward. I wrapped my arms around him before turning back toward the crowd.

“Tonight we mourn the death of a true warrior, but we gain the wisdom and guidance of another. Tonight I name in my stead a new alpha. Maxwell Glass!”

Wild cheers broke out that one of their own would actually be receiving the honor. Things were going to be tough for Max over the coming months. He would have more than one pack member step forward to challenge his role as alpha. I just hoped that he was up for the challenge. That was something that I could help him with, but first, I needed to head back into town and find out what was happening with Jackson.

Max took the microphone when I handed it to him, and stepped forward. “First, we run, and then we feast.”

People started to shuffle away from the arena and back to the lodge. There they would take off their clothes and then gather outside again. They would run in celebration of their new alpha, and howl at the loss of their old one. Part of me wanted to stay and be a part of the festivities, but a stronger voice cried out that it was time for me to go.

I slapped Max on the back. “Can I meet with you tomorrow back in town?”

“Of course. I owe you a lot, Sarah. Thank you for this.”

I waved off his compliment. He was going to be a better leader than his father had ever dreamed of being. He turned and walked toward his pack, giving me the perfect opportunity to slip out of that party unnoticed.

I headed back to the lodge. I needed a quick shower to wash out whatever was holding these wounds open, and then it was time to get back on the road. I checked my phone before jumping into the shower. I didn’t have any messages. I didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. I let the warm water wash away my doubts and prepared myself for whatever was coming next.

T
he first couple
of hours waiting around the house had gone relatively well. We went for a run and then got some training done. After grabbing a shower and some food, time seemed to slow to a crawl. The minutes languished into hours, and the sun moved slowly to the west. Just as the first rays of the sun started to turn the clouds pink, signaling the end of the day, my phone rang.

I had almost given up hope that Detective Velasquez was going to call back. “Hello?”

“Jackson, I think I confirmed what you are looking for. Whatever happened definitely moved through town toward the rolling hills cemetery. You need to tell me what is going to happen there.”

“I can’t tell you exactly what will happen, but if you could keep people out of the cemetery, it would probably be a good idea.”

“If I’m going to put my ass on the line like that, then I need to be there.”

“Listen, Detective, that’s not a good idea. Please just let us handle the situation.”

“I can’t do it; I’ll meet you there.”

“Fine, but whatever you do, don’t go into the cemetery without us.”

The phone clicked, and I swore under my breath. She was going to get herself killed, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. We were going to have to sneak into the cemetery and hope that the detective’s sense of self-preservation kicked in at some point. Three sets of eyes were focused on me when I looked up. “We have a location. Get your gear and let’s go.” Alby waited in the room when Marcus and April left. “What’s up, Alby? Do you need a weapon, or want to stay behind?”

“No, I had my uncle load something into my car when we visited Shalana. He might seem like an uptight prick most of the time, but he means well.” She shrugged. “I just wanted to thank you for doing this, Jackson. You didn’t have to, especially after the way I treated you. It means a lot.”

“After what you did for my folks, I couldn’t repay you enough. Go grab your gear and get ready.”

“Some of my stuff is a little bit flashy.”

“That’s ok; Marcus will get us into the cemetery unseen. We should get there just as it’s getting dark if we hurry.”

She walked out of the room and through the front door. I waited for her to come back in before heading upstairs to get ready. Once my gear was on and my swords sheathed, the door to my room opened, and April walked in. She closed the door behind her and walked toward me. My heart started to beat faster. There was a look in her eye I had seen before. It was passion mixed with a driving hunger. It was probably the same look she noticed in my eyes when she caught me staring at her.

She wrapped her arms around me. “I just wanted to hold you one more time just in case anything happens.”

I smiled down at her. “Nothing is going to happen to us.”

She tucked her head into my chest and held me tighter. I pulled away and tilted her head up with a finger under her chin. I searched her eyes and found what I needed there. Lowering my lips to hers felt natural, almost as if it was meant to be. We kissed until a banging at my door told me we had been gone for far too long. We broke apart, laughing, and walked out of my room.

Marcus was waiting for us with a smirk on his face. “There will be plenty of time for that later, guys. We’ve got a job to do.”

I couldn’t help but laugh again as we ran down the stairs. Alby was already in the car, and as soon as our doors closed, she was moving. The cemetery was close to the house; we would be there in ten minutes. The sun was setting rapidly, and we needed to get into position before it had a chance to dip below the horizon completely. There was no way I was going to let this thing continue on its path of destruction through my city.

Two squad cars cut off the main entrance to the cemetery. I had Alby pull over, and we all got out of the car. I felt Marcus’s invisibility field wash over me and knew that we were good to go. I stepped toward the wrought iron fence and started to move my finger against the bars, superheating them. When I completed the circle, I yanked the bars away. Everyone slipped through my newly made entrance. I pulled the bars back in place and then froze the hot metal. The fence wouldn’t look perfect, but at least to the casual passerby, it wouldn’t stand out.

Marcus dropped the spell he had been using to cloak us, and we walked further into the cemetery. “Keep an eye out for anything. If this thing was sleeping here, there might be a tomb or mausoleum that we need to find.” I didn’t check to see if they had heard me. I knew they had and that my instructions were being followed. Alby called out to my left. When I turned, she was pointing toward a large building that had tape across the door. Apparently it was undergoing some type of construction and was closed to the public. It seemed as good as any other place to start looking for the wendigo. I motioned to April and Marcus, and they fell in stride with me as we ran toward the building.

The last rays of sunshine disappeared from the sky, bathing the cemetery in darkness. If this had been a scary movie, one of us would have died already. Fortunately, we should be the scariest things in this cemetery right now. We ducked around the side of the building as headlights moved down the road inside of the cemetery. If that was Detective Velasquez, she had just made herself a target. All we had to do now was wait. It was cold to use her as bait, but she had ignored my instructions. Now I made the tough call to wait and see what happened.

Something inside of me niggled at me until I realized that I was making the wrong choice. Using a human as bait went against everything that we stood for. I motioned to April and Marcus and started jogging across the plots toward the detective’s car.

The car stopped moving, and I was sure that the detective had seen us heading in her direction. I would make it to the car in about twenty more seconds, and then I needed to make her leave. She didn’t understand what was going to happen here, and she didn’t need to. We couldn’t fight and look out for her at the same time. It wasn’t safe for a human here, and it hampered our ability to deal with the threat. Technically speaking, we weren’t allowed to use our abilities in front of humans, and no magic in this situation might mean we all ended up dead.

I slowed down as we neared her car, and an ear-splitting shriek ripped through the night. I was ten steps away from the car when I saw something move on the other side of it. Detective Velasquez must have seen it too because her tires started to screech as she tried to back up. The car had moved about three feet before it was flipped through the air, landing on its roof ten feet away.

“Marcus, see what you can do for the detective. Everyone else with me!”

The creature in front of us roared as I charged toward it. It was worse than I had imagined from Marcus’s description. The thing was skinny to the point of starvation. Its ribs, collar bones, and hip bones stuck out through the creature’s pale gray skin. The wendigo’s skin was pulled so tight over its frame that I thought it might split open at any moment. Most of the creature’s hair had fallen out. The long wisps of what was left clung fiercely to its head and fluttered slightly in the breeze. I couldn’t believe how long its arms were. It was almost like looking at a tall, skinny gorilla; the two arms hung low, well past the creature's knees. The extra-long arms gave it a reach none of us could hope to match.

The wind shifted as I drew closer, and the smell of it hit me for the first time. The rancid odor washed over me. I heard April gag to my right, but she never broke stride. The wendigo roared again, but this time, it charged.

Before I even registered its move toward me, I was flying through the air. The thing was fast, scary fast. I slowed down before I could hit the ground. My magic made the air around me dense enough that I could turn and land on my feet. April was to one side of the monster, both swords out slashing at the creature’s arms. Alby moved to the other side, using her spear to keep the thing away from her.

Marcus was helping the detective from the shattered car. I hoped that she was unconscious because she shouldn’t see what I was going to do next. I called on my gift, focusing on the heat in the ground underneath me. Fire formed on my hands, and I pooled it in front of me, fanning the flames with pure oxygen pulled straight from the air. The fire grew white hot in intensity, but I wasn’t ready to let the flames go yet. I waited and watched for the right opportunity.

The wendigo grabbed April and tossed her to the side as if she was a stuffed animal. Alby screamed and slammed her spear into the creature’s side. It stumbled for a moment before yanking the spear free and sending Alby crashing to the ground fifteen feet away. I had seen enough. I let the fire pour from my hands. The stream hit the creature in the center of the chest. That was all I saw before the flames engulfed its entire body. I kept the flames going as long as I could before stopping the magic.

Nothing could have lived through that. The flames would have been hot enough to melt through a building. There shouldn’t even be ashes left. They would have been consumed by the continued blasts of flame. To my growing horror, the wendigo was still there. The tatters of the clothing it had been wearing had burned away from my assault, but that was the only damage that my magic seemed to have caused. Great, so far it had flipped a car over and sent all of us flying in different directions, and all I managed to do was burn its clothes and piss it off even more.

Again the wendigo cried out into the night, its shrill scream threatening to bring me to my knees. The creature’s body jerked as I heard the sound of a gun. Detective Velasquez was walking toward it, unloading her clip. Every bullet found its mark in the thing’s chest. I had to give her credit. Most people would have run away after something picked up their car and threw it like a kid tossing a Hot Wheel in the sandbox. Black blood poured from the wounds, but the wendigo showed no signs of slowing down. It ran straight at the detective; I knew that if it reached her that this would be her last day on this earth.

A wall of earth rose up in front of her, and then Marcus was by her side, leading her away. Alby threw her spear, and it pierced the creature’s thick hide for the second time. It roared and spun, charging back toward us, ripping the spear from its side. I had seen enough. April’s swords didn’t seem to do any damage, but my blades had been passed down from my father. They had been crafted by a religious order called the brotherhood. The twin swords glowed faintly gold as I rushed forward to meet the wendigo’s charge.

Alby had the good sense not to engage the beast without her spear. She ran past me in search of it so she could rejoin the fight. The wendigo continued to howl as it went after April. She backed away, using her swords to deflect its claw-like fingers as they lashed out at her. She continued to move back slowly, dodging out of the way when she had to. The beast’s entire focus was on her as I approached it from behind. Right before I leaped into the air, it grabbed her, and I could see it holding her off the ground with one arm, its bony fingers wrapped tightly around her throat. Her face was turning red as it choked her to death. My feet left the ground, and I silently prayed that I would get there in time.

Both blades moved above my head, and I brought them down in a vicious arc as I slammed into the wendigo. Both of my swords buried themselves to the hilt in the creature’s back. It dropped April and started to paw at its back. Alby showed up just in time to stand guard over April’s limp body. The creature screamed and bucked below me, trying to throw me off of its back. I wrapped my legs around its waist and clung to my swords for dear life. If I let go now, it was over for all of us.

The wendigo took off at a sprint, heading toward the building under repair. It jumped into the air and turned its back to the wall at the last second. Only my hardened shield of air saved my life as we crashed into the wall at full speed. Even then it was a close call. There was no way I could continue to take this kind of abuse. The wendigo roared again as it crawled to its feet. It took me a few moments to realize that I was no longer on the monster’s back. Another few seconds ticked by before I noticed that we were inside the building.

The thing had just thrown us through the wall of a building. I could hear my friends running closer, shouting my name. It must have looked horrific to them, but I was ok, and I still had both of my swords. The wendigo crawled back toward the opening, and if it made it there first, we might never see it again. The wounds my swords had caused were already starting to heal. The wendigo knew it was losing and would flee into the night. Once it was gone, we would have to follow a trail of bodies to locate it again. The creature getting loose in the city was the worst outcome I could imagine.

I rushed forward, my vision blurring slightly. When I reached the wendigo, I slammed one of my swords through its leg, pinning it to the ground. Something about pinning your enemies to the ground with a sword was oddly satisfying. As it turned to reach for the blade, I jammed my other sword into its throat. Black blood sprayed through the air as I ripped the sword free.

Marcus was the first one through the hole in the building. “We don’t have much time. Cut out its heart.”

I dropped to the ground, one knee on either side of the wendigo’s chest. I lifted my sword above my head and brought it down with both hands. The blade cut through the bone and into the monster’s chest. I pulled the sword free and plunged my hand inside of the cavity it created. I could already feel the tissue trying to knit back together around my hand. Finally, my fingers closed around something cold, and I ripped my arm back out of the wendigo’s chest. The heart continued to beat in my hand. I dropped it to the ground as it burned through my glove, scorching my hand. The heart was blue, and I realized that it hadn’t burned me. The thing was so cold that the frost had eaten through my glove and burned my hand. Holding it was like picking up dry ice without protection.

Marcus darted forward and slipped the wendigo’s heart into a little steel container. Once he placed the lid on it, the air around us seemed cleaner. Almost as if a dense fog of misery and self-loathing had pulled away from us.