Unnaturals (30 page)

Ralph's anger rode across Mason's senses thick and fast.

`Listen, you idiot!' Renee moved fast to face Ralph. Mason stood up. The room was hot. He could see Ralph's Wolf shift under his skin. `You knew we could never be a couple! You know what would have happened if we had tried anything.'

Mason went to her. Ralph tensed.

`Enough.' Mason had not wanted it to sound like a command but it did.

Ralph yelled in his face. `You. Don't. Tell me what to do.'

All control vanished. Mason drove Ralph into the wall, hand around his throat. `Shut up.' Scales covered him. `Stop it!'

Ralph drove his fist into Mason's side and bones shattered in his hand. Ralph howled in agony.

Ricco appeared beside him, eyes wide and hands up, palms out. `I thought we came here to talk, not fight.'

`Wasn't much of a fight last time,' Mason growled, holding Ralph tight. `The boy needs to calm down.'

`Screw this.' Ralph began to change. Wolf hair bristled across him. Claws raked against scaled arms.

`No Wolf.' Mason let his gift come. The Wolf must not come. Not here not now.

Ricco froze as Ralph's Wolf retreated and his life was held in one hand. Mason's.

`Easy,' Renee said, touching his arm. `He needs to breathe.'

`How did you do that?' Ricco's face was pale.

`No idea,' Mason said, not sure whether he should discuss it just yet. He did know that Ralph needed to listen and that there was something that felt slightly off about him. `But since Ralph will not be reasonable, you can answer some questions for him.'

`I don't take orders from you.' Ricco's tone sharpened and Mason caught his aggressive change in stance.

`Loyal and stubborn.' Mason shook his head and lifted Ralph off the floor by the throat. Ralph thrashed as oxygen leached out of his body but Mason did not flinch. `Your choice, Ricco.'

Renee's hand tightened on his arm but he did not look at her.

`Renee, please?' Ricco begged.

Mason did not stop. The more he held Ralph, the more he felt something was off about him.

`Mason,' she said, panic edging her tone. `He's suffocating.'

`It's up to Ricco,' Mason said. `All he has to do is talk.'

Ralph was going purple. `Okay, okay.' Ricco held up his hands. `Treaty it is. Let him go.'

Mason eased Ralph down so he could stand and relaxed the pressure on his throat, but did not let go. Air whistled as Ralph gasped and spluttered. `Just so you understand, boy, if Renee didn't care for you, a lot, you would not be here. Understand?'

`Yes,' he rasped.

`Good.' Mason turned back to Ricco. `I know your name. Who are the others?'

`Jon and Justin,' Ricco said, still tight-lipped and tense.

In the darkness within, Mason felt the other part of him awaken, uncoil. `You're all here because of Ralph,' Mason said, trying to understand the whispers in his mind. `Jon and you are brothers. That's easy to see and the kid, Justin, needs a family.'

A sense of wrongness persisted. `How is it you all come to be here, with Ralph?'

`Punishment.' Ricco almost spat the word and Mason could feel the anger. `The other Wolf packs didn't want us.'

He focused on Ricco. The boy was strong, proud. He could see nothing that would cause him to be set aside. Jon's face changed and Mason understood. `You're here with your brother. Misplaced loyalty is your problem.'

`I'm seen as weak,' Jon said, moving closer.

He was taller and broader than his brother and Mason wondered how that equated to weak.

`I freeze in fight. The Wolves tried to kill me because of it. Ricco killed two of them. He saved me.'

`So we were both cast out,' Ricco growled, bitter. `Ralph found us and took us in.'

`And the boy?' Mason asked, aware of Justin fidgeting behind them. `He's younger but faster. I saw that last night.'

`Justin was abandoned.' Ricco straightened, protective. `His father was a Wolf but his mother didn't have the gene. A wolfling half-blood is not always accepted. His mother died at birth and his father didn't want him.'

`Wolfling?'

`Not all of us are born into the Wolf. Some find our Wolf late in life. A wolfling can be any age. Some are adults when they find their Wolf.'

`You happy now?' Ralph grated under his hand. `You know we're all screw-ups.'

`What about you?' Mason focused on him, Renee close beside him. `You're big, strong, a bit rash and a dick, but capable.'

Renee moved closer to Ralph. `He was cast out because of me. I met him when he was still a child. We clicked. It was like we knew each other. Ever since we've been friends. The elders do not approve of me and our relationship.'

Ralph's aura flared. Images flooded Mason's mind. The darkness in him whispered,
`See him.'

`You saw her down by the beach,' Mason said, voice changing under knowledge and the power it built. `On her old green push bike. You were with the Irish girl, eating ice cream.'

He blinked. Scales crept across his body. He began to see differently. Ralph's face went white.

`You followed her.' Someone else's memories settled in him. `Everywhere she went you did.'

`Mason?' Renee joined him. `How can you know this?'

`You could not stop thinking about her, could you?'

Ralph leant against the wall, trying to force a space between them.

`Every moment you could slip away, you did. You'd find her, stay close by. In case she needed you.' Mason heard his voice continue to deepen as understanding grew. Energy around Ralph revealed itself, flaring to resonate with his own internal energy, his Song. It seemed impossible, but Ralph was connected to
him
.

`What are you doing?' Renee whispered.

Mason's body hummed with energy. He willed Ralph towards his own energy field. Behind him came the sound of Ralph's pack brothers shuffling closer.

`You've needed to be with her since you were a child. Drawn to her, compelled.' His voice had deepened so far he no longer recognised it.

Ralph stared back at him, eyes white with shock.

`Save him,'
whispered the darkness filling Mason.
`Free the Wolf.'

Long-dormant instincts awoke. He drove his hand into Ralph's chest, impaling him, raising him, turning to the pack.

`Are you true to your alpha?' The voice Mason didn't recognise filled the room with the question. Wolves buckled under its weight. Blood seeped from their noses.

`Answer,' the voice lashed them. But they were prepared. Ricco struggled to stand. Mason saw the colours each carried, the colours of their alpha, red and purple. Anger. And passion.

`Our bond to the alpha is true. Any who would call it into question shall suffer retribution of the pack, four-strong.'

Mason recognised the words deep inside. Ricco's response carried an ancient call to battle. Imbued with the boy's passion the words found their own substance, filling the silence. Mason smiled.

`Well spoken, lad.' It was Mason's voice again, but the energy persisted. Ralph was gasping against the pain of his impalement, gripping his black-scaled arm, but wearing only defiance on his face. He was strong. `Brace yourself,' Mason said, making sure Ralph saw his eyes. `Anything to do with this stuff always hurts, a lot. I know this.'

He made eye contact with each member of the pack. `Close in. Touch him. This needs to be done.'

Static raced across his skin and into Ralph. Renee moved in behind him, hands on his arms. The boys circled around Ralph, their hands on his shoulders. Fear filled the air. Ralph's grip tightened.

`What's happening?' Renee whispered.

`A correction.' Mason looked into Ralph's eyes. `You've dark energy all through you, but it's not in synch with whatever makes a Wolf tick.' Mason didn't know what he drew the truth from, but it felt as if he'd known it forever.

`Not possible,' Ralph managed. `Wolves are Earthbound. Not magic.' Bloody foam dribbled down his chin.

`Guess you're different from other wolves then.' Dark energy raced towards his fingers, his hand twisted in Ralph's chest and the Wolf screamed like no man should.

Ralph tried to scream.

White hot pain tore through him as his Wolf howled within, trapped. His nails tore away as he clawed at Mason's arm, hard like steel.

Screams filled his mind, the pack link wide open as they shared his agony. Through the noise and blood he glimpsed Ricco twisting in pain.

Energy uncoiled in his chest, rippling outward, flickers of it racing across and through him, converting the pain into exhilaration as it unlocked a part buried deep in him, silencing the pain. He understood then. He wasn't being punished.

The pack shared his realisation. Screams of pain fell silent.

`You feel that?'
Slivers of dark energy danced across Ricco.

Ralph's Wolf roared, stopping any reply. Muscle rippled up his arms and across his chest. His hands, still gripping Mason's arm, changed, bones creaking, strengthening.

Ricco grabbed him.
`What the hell?'

He stared at Ricco's hand, changed. He barely felt Mason's fingers slip out of his chest.

`Awesome.' Justin stepped close to peer at the healing wound in his chest. `What just happened to us?'

Ralph swallowed. How could he explain what he saw? His pack brothers were no longer awkward wolflings but lethal weapons of tooth and claw barely contained in human form. They were more than mere Wolf.

`Just unlocked your cage,' Mason said in his voice. `Things will be very different from now on.'

Jon held out a towel. Ralph took it, wondering if he wanted to know what Mason meant. `How so?'

`You're stronger.' Renee said, struggling to sound normal. The vibe shifted. Danger screamed at Ralph as Huntress pushed into her. A wildness he had never felt seeped out of her.

`Your connection with Renee—' Mason stopped. Hunter seeped into his face. `Your connection with Huntress has been forged. Your desire for Renee had been built on her unlocked energies and your unlocked Wolf, both fighting within you.'

`I do feel differently.' Ralph tried to sound controlled but his Wolf fought to be free. Then Huntress stood before him and his control faded.

`We will hunt together, my alpha.' She touched his face and released the Wolf. He howled with new-found delight as his coat formed.

`Suit up,'
he ordered, testing how much bigger and stronger he felt, liking the way his thick claws gouged the concrete floor when he moved.
`Watch them closely. We can't let them…'

The air shimmered with a deep ultrasonic vibration from Hunter, a wild call that almost made him sing his Wolf Song.

`The Song builds in both. The Hunt is calling. Be ready. We cannot let them lose control here.'

`Look at her.'
Ricco flexed his Wolf.
`It's the bloodlust we can smell. She reeks of it.'

Hunter held his hand out to Huntress. `Yes. Hunt.' The room seemed to shrink as he began to grow.

`Stop them,'
Ralph called to the pack, aware of what he had to do.
`If they call the Song to Hunt here, now in Bondi, all hell will break loose and we won't be able to resist. We have to stop them.'

He felt it come as Hunter's deep ultrasonic call reached for the Huntress.

The alpha leapt forward, crunching his jaws down on Mason's outstretched arm and sending sparks flying across the room.

His new bulk gave him enough momentum to spin Hunter away from Huntress. Ricco leapt onto Hunter. Ralph twisted to stay on his paws, as Hunter went down with Ricco, trying to pin his other arm. Scales tore through his teeth.

Huntress howled in rage. Blood sprayed across the room. Ricco screamed as he was tossed clear.

Chaos erupted. Justin flashed by, lunging at her.

Fur flew and wolf blood splattered on the floor. Justin howled as Huntress tore strips off his flank, but he did not let her go.

`Hold her!'
Ralph yelled as he sought a better hold on Hunter.

Justin threw himself down and rolled, pulling Huntress with him. She fell, claws slashing as she twisted.

`I got this!'
Jon pounced. Head-butting Huntress, he drove his bulk down onto her. She punched him hard, shattering ribs. Jon cannoned across the room. Ralph's ears rang from the force of her blow.

Justin dug huge claws into the concrete floor beside Ralph, her steely arm trapped in his jaws, fear in his yellow eyes.

`Ralph!'
Justin screamed, as Huntress turned, snarling, eyes black with rage.
`There's no way I can hold her. She's going to kill us!'

An unnatural and savage cold cut into Ralph's mouth as Hunter's arm went limp, shrinking.

Hunter wasn't moving.

Ralph let his Wolf go and stood up.

The black faded from Renee's eyes.

`Let her go, Justin,' Ralph said, stepping aside.

Renee gasped, trembling when Justin let her go. Ricco staggered across to his injured brother. Renee brushed past.

`Sweet Jesus,' Justin cursed. `What did you do?'

`Nothing,' Ralph shook himself. Real fear crept into his mind.
They could have killed us
.

`Ralph!' Renee spat, kneeling beside Mason. Tears formed in her green eyes. `What did you do?' Her red hair fanned into a defensive shield.

Cold gripped his heart. The hurt in her voice cut at him. `Renee,' he began, `I had to do something—' He stopped. `But I didn't do that.'

He touched her shoulder carefully. `That's not normal, is it?'

She looked at him, eyes wet. `No, it isn't.' She began to shake.

Ralph swallowed as he stared at the black sheen covering Mason. `What do you think it is?'

`It's her.' She ran her hands over Mason.

`Her?'

`Our goddess.' She began digging with her nails at the ice covering Mason. `He is with Darla.'

Ralph stood up, shaken. Mason's eyes stared up at him, unafraid. The man has balls
,
he thought, and is bloody dangerous
.
`I sure hope Darla knows what she's doing.'

 

Pine needles.

Mason recognised them, their scent sweet in the cool air around him. Darkness shifted as stars appeared above him. Cool, sandy soil greeted his bare feet as his vision cleared. He stood naked in a clearing, surrounded by huge black trees.