Rane's Mate (18 page)

He had growled out the last bit so loud that everyone was
now looking at them. An elbow to his stomach made him look down into furious
brown eyes and a face set in an angry frown. Kirby’s cheeks were bright red and
her hands were on her hips.

“Do you want me to show you how good I have become, again?” she
said through clenched teeth. He went to put his hands around her, when she
yelled, “Change now.”

He and all the werewolves in the room changed

She looked down at him in wolf form. “How’s that?”

She walked toward the exit only to be stopped by Arden, as
he looked around the room, then at Kirby. “Holy shit! Faith and Rane weren’t
kidding.”

Eve came in beside Arden and burst out laughing. He watched
in wolf form as Eve pulled Kirby in for a hug, saying, “I’m going to love you.
You are so perfect for Rane. Welcome to the family.”

* * * *

Kirby stood at one of the five entrances they had made for
the tunnels. Rane was behind her, still furious. Jack and Della were in front
of her, Logan was on one side, Faith on the other with Kane, Cullen, David, and
forty-five other werewolves, and her youngest brother Hayden was at the back.

She took one last deep breath as they walked into the start
of the tunnels. They were the group heading to the large room with eight rooms
off it. Lexie had told them that they would walk down for about ten to fifteen
minutes without coming onto anything else, and then three tunnels would come
into view. They were told to go straight if they were going to the large room.
Ten werewolves broke off, five for each of the other tunnels.

Jack kicked down the door and before her were easily over
one hundred demons of all shapes and sizes. The thing that had her even more
terrified was there were over one thousand, she thought, minions. The minions
charged them, and Kirby prayed that Logan and everyone could kill a lot before
they got to her.

She yelled, using everything she had. “Stop, freeze.”

The minions closest to them froze, which gave the werewolves
a chance to move forward, killing as many as they could to get to the demons,
who were now joining the werewolves.

The second wave of minions came and Kirby screamed again and
again repeating, “Stop, freeze, stop.” She didn’t even stop as she put her
hands to her head as it started to ache. It got harder to concentrate on
freezing the minions and not the werewolves.

Kirby then heard the command that had her fighting for her
life. A large demon yelled, “Kill the small redhead, kill her, kill her.”

Eight smaller demons came for her. Rane and Faith swore. Logan
grabbed her hand, and she felt a jolt as he started yelling with her. “Stop,
freeze. Stop, freeze.”

Her headache eased and it became easier to focus, especially
when she felt Hayden grab her other hand and join in the yelling, and almost
all the minions froze. The demons roared as the minions were now easy pickings.
More demons came after her, and Rane yelled at her brothers not to let go of
her hands until all of the demons were dead and to guard Kirby with their
lives.

Kane, David, and Rane stepped in front of them as the first
eight demons attacked. Zombies came up behind them and grabbed her as a demon
came at her. Hayden jumped in front of her only to get a horn in his shoulder.
She screamed, lifting her long blades and bringing them down, trying not to
cringe at the sound of her slicing the horn off.

Hayden amazingly kept going, even using the arm that had the
horn sticking out of it. Logan was killing zombies, and Hayden was fighting
with the demon. She knew Rane was going to be pissed already, so she might as
well help. Feeling the demon tail come around her waist, she screamed as she
chopped the tail off, and another scratched her face.

Kirby knew from watching Faith the head had to be cut off,
and their heart had to be pulled out and stabbed with the ice knife. With
another yell for courage, she climbed the demon’s back, which wasn’t easy as
another demon was trying to rip her off. The demon got distracted by a furious
Rane, and slowly she reached his shoulders, and without thinking it through,
she cut the head off.

Blood was everywhere, it hurt her fingers and anything not
covered. She thanked Faith for the leather outfit and the cut off finger
gloves. Falling to the floor, sharp claws grabbed her by the throat as another
tail came around to slash her legs. As she flailed and struggled to get away,
the demon tried to reach for her knife, but his hand was chopped off by the
scariest sight she had ever seen. Rane was roaring, flipping, spinning,
slashing, and got the heart of the demon, which caused the demon to drop her.

She crawled slowly, and stood only to be pulled the rest of
the way by her hair as a smaller demon threw her against the wall. Getting up,
she slipped in blood and kicked a dead minion. Looking up, she saw a small
seven and a half foot demon, the smallest she had ever seen. She gripped the
long knife tighter, and the demon grinned, showing long, sharp teeth. Kirby
took a hesitant step forward just as it lunged. She dodged and screamed as the
horn ripped down her arm. The demon’s head came up and his hand came out, she
screamed as she cut it off and tripped over a dead demon. The demon she was
fighting laughed then wrapped his tail around her waist, pulling her up. She
clenched her teeth, determined not to scream again and satisfy him with her
pain. Using what strength she had, she chopped off the tail around her waist
and backed into a wolf fighting.

The werewolf turned and placed another knife in her hand and
then ran for a demon’s head. The small demon was still stalking her and she
chanced a quick look around for help, but everyone was fighting a demon.

Faith and Kane had three circling them. Rane and her
brothers had five and they weren’t doing so good. Jack and Della were currently
surrounded by eight demons.

She groaned, straightening her shoulders and telling herself
to suck it up because she had to help the others. She could do this. She took
another glance around then roared, attacking the small demon, slashing and
twirling. Her height actually came in handy as she could sneak under things.
She jumped on his body and stabbed his chest, moving the knife around until she
found his heart. He clawed at her back until she heard the pop, then his heart
froze, and she shattered it into a million pieces.

Two minions came out of a room, and she ordered them to
“Kill demons, kill demons, take off their heads. Help me take off their heads.”

They attacked the demons. Kirby could hear the demons were
trying to change her orders, but it was too late. She finished the demon and
turned to help the wolf who had given her the new knife. She then turned her
focus on Rane and her brothers. Hayden was barely standing, and both Rane and
Logan were covered in blood and cuts.

Kirby ran, jumping over bodies, and continued to tell the
minions to kill the demons. She pointed to the ones she wanted, ordering them
to “Kill them, get their heads, kill them.”

Kirby reached her brothers just as Hayden fell to the floor.
She screamed as the demon was about the rip Hayden’s head off. Kirby barreled
onto Hayden, and he helped her gain her balance as she was slashed across the
back by the demon’s sharp claws. Rane heard her scream, which only seemed to make
him angrier and give him a second wind.

Kirby ran under hands and climbed up the front of the demon
while two minions were being killed. She stabbed the demon’s heart as his tail
stabbed her in the leg. It was still embedded as she turned, but Hayden cut if
off. Hayden was white and barely alive.

Calling to any leftover minions, Kirby told them, “Come now,
kill the demons.”

Six flew in and went straight for the demons surrounding
her.

She repeated her orders again and again. “Chop off their
heads, kill them.”

Kirby went for one of the two demons going for Logan, who
didn’t look in much better condition than Hayden. She turned as a werewolf woman
came in the door with fifteen other werewolves and roared. The female werewolf
went straight to Hayden, finishing off the demon that was about to pick Hayden
up.

Kirby was so shocked she lost her concentration and the
minions changed directions, going for them again. She shook her head as Logan
of all people yelled, “Focus, Kirby, focus.”

She turned back and chanted, “Kill the demons, go for their
heads.”

Running for her brother, she swerved around one demon’s tail,
chopping it off as it tried to wrap around her leg. Another demon’s tail came
around her arm, embedding into her. She moaned as she cut it off, pulling the
arrow head out and climbing on the closest demon’s back, all the time still
chanting to the minions.

Kirby knew she was tiring because she started to feel the
demons’ thoughts through the mind link she had with the minions. The demons
were whispering in her head, telling her to kill the werewolves and other nasty
things that they wanted to do to her.

Finally reaching the top of the demon’s back, she hugged his
neck and pulled the knife toward her, screaming as she fell to the floor.
Crawling over to the other demon, she went through the whole process again of
climbing up his back. She was exhausted and it was slippery now as blood
covered her body. Kirby slipped and was dangling off the demon’s back. Rane
roared as he came up to her, which helped give her renewed strength, and she climbed
the last bit up, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling her arms with
the knives in them toward her.

Kirby fell to the floor onto the dead bodies of thousands of
minions and demons. She crawled over to Logan who was now leaning against the
wall. No, it wasn’t a wall, it was a door. Her brother groaned and slowly,
together, they opened it and stared in shock at a small room where four
children were huddled together, hiding in the furthest corner—two boys and two
girls, ranging she guessed from the ages of three to eight. Four bowls sat on
the opposite side of the room that smelled of feces and urine. Kirby choked on
a sob as she took a deep breath, stood up straight, which was extremely painful,
and dropped the knives that were in her hands.

Kirby held her hands up in the universal sign of surrender. She
knew her voice was rough from yelling and she must look like feral. Sighing in
relief as a big, beautiful tree bark wolf who she knew was Rane came up next to
her, she rested her hand on him, using him to hold her up, as she said, “Hi
there. I won’t hurt you, I promise. All of the monsters are dead, they’re gone
now. They can’t hurt you again. My name is Kirby. My friends and I came here to
help you. We’re going to take you somewhere safe where there is plenty of water
and food.” One of the kids perked up so she continued on. “There is sunshine up
there. I’m going to take you out of here. I promise I won’t hurt you.”

The oldest of the group who seemed to be the leader spoke up
very quietly. “What’s that with you? It is really big.”

She forced a smile. “What do you think it is?”

The little boy looked at Rane and took a hesitant step
forward. “It looks like a really big dog. I haven’t seen a big dog in a long
time because I’ve been down here a long time.”

Kirby knew that there were tears rolling down her face as
she asked, “Would you like to come with me and get out of here?”

The boy looked behind himself at the other children, then he
turned back and took a really good look at her. He seemed to concentrate as he
asked, “Will you hurt us?”

Kirby forced another smile. “No. I’m here to save you.”

The boy looked back at the three other kids, nodded, and
then turned back to Kirby. He raised an eyebrow as he asked, “Are they dogs
that you brought?”

Kirby thought about the answer, because something didn’t
feel right. Out of all the questions she thought he might ask that wasn’t one
of them. Knowing she needed to tread carefully to gain the children’s trust,
she said, “They are very special, and they would never hurt you.”

The boy took a small step forward. “You’re telling the
truth. What are they?”

She frowned at the odd phrasing. “Well, they’re special.
What would you do if I told you Rane here is a wolf?”

The little boy’s eyes widened, and one of the children
gasped. The little boy who was speaking smiled. “Is he a friendly wolf?” The
boy looked behind her. “You have lots of them.”

Kirby slowly turned to see red, gray, dark brown, white, and
brown wolves. Della also stood with Eve and a few other people that she didn’t know.
She turned back to the children. “All these people came to help save everyone
down here and bring you all to the surface so you can see the sun and the
water.”

The little boy went over to the three other children and
picked up the youngest boy, who couldn’t have been more than three. He was a
tiny thing. “Come on, she was telling the truth the whole time.”

Kirby mentally kicked herself. She should have realized that
he was a truth detector. The four children slowly walked toward her. Her
brother Logan took a step toward them, but she put her arm out to stop him and
said, “They need to come by themselves, it would help build trust.”

The little boy turned to her and pointed to the oldest girl
who she guessed to be around seven. “This is Renee.” He then moved down to the
little girl holding Renee’s hand. “This here is Brat.”

Kirby gasped, looking at the boy as she said, “Did I just
hear you right? What did you call her?”

“Brat, that’s what they called her, and she was too little
to know her name when they brought her in here.”

Kirby shook her head as tears rolled down her checks. Della
came in and got down to eye level with the little girl that they called Brat.
Tears were rolling down Della’s cheeks as she said, “Hi, sweetheart. Would you like
us to give you a new name?”