Wolf Sirens Night Fall: What Rises Must Fall (Wolf Sirens #3) (27 page)

“I never saw,
but yeah she had weapons. A Browning and a Hammerli in her pants.”
He shook his head. “She wasn’t thinking straight.” He glanced away
guiltily. “In the Jeep I told her I wouldn’t move unless she told
me how to find you. She said she couldn’t let herself know or
they’d torture it out of her.” He swallowed. “She knew they would
catch her.” He reached in his damp pocket and pulled out something
small and held it out to me in his large fingers. My eyes zeroed in
on the little slat roof of the charm shaped like a house that I had
left for her on the windowsill after I saw her on the News listed
as missing.

My muscles
tensed. “We’re gonna get her out Reid,” I said, determined.

He huffed and
met my eyes. “She won’t come out without the boy.” He shook his
head slowly.

“It was
suicide.” I frowned, feeling as tired as he looked.

He sniffed.
“She knew it was.”

Even if she was
alive, it seemed inevitable they’d kill her sooner or later. If she
couldn’t lead them to me, then they would wait for me to come for
her. But she would never leave the boy – and who knew, they had
probably already turned him and perhaps it had killed him. He was
still too young. Maybe she was dead already. It was inevitable they
would turn him. It was the best way to hide him because he would be
a man overnight – if he survived the bite.

Reid and I
exchanged a grave look.

He sipped his
tea with a drawn expression that frightened me.

“Reid, I’ll
fight to get her out,” I assured him quietly knowing as I said it
that my priority was to kill them. I couldn’t help but ask, “You
didn’t have to wait out in the rain?” And I meant it.

His voice was
low. “L, do you know why I waited for you?”

“No,” I
admitted to his serious gaze.

“It’s because
you’re the only one who will fight as hard as me to get her
out.”

I realized then
how much he loved her. And yet, she had held a gun to his head and
he hadn’t been willing to call her bluff, even though she was going
to go and get herself killed. Obviously just the thought of that or
the guilt was killing him, because in less than an hour he was fine
physically and I knew with a twinge that he was suffering from
being emotionally exposed.

A light
flickered inside the room, waking Cres from a deep sleep on the
dark floor of the cage and it blinded her so that she could only
sense her guard. The discomfort of the cement resonated through her
bones. The stench made her want to puke.

“Cresida,” a
lilting female voice urged her awake. “You little bitch,” it
taunted with an authoritarian tone that broke the momentary silence
like a knife.

Another female
voice. “Cres, are you awake?” Cres knew it; she tried to place it,
and her eyelids fluttered, adjusting to the light.

She heard the
tap of an instrument over the bars, yet another attempt to wake
her.

“We know you’re
alive.”

Cres lifted her
head stiffly and blinked some more and two blurred shapes came into
focus beyond the bars. One had long wavy brown hair and as the blur
of her face became clear, it looked at her with such intense
ferocity, she cowered slightly.

“I know you can
hear us,” Narine hissed, grinding her teeth.

They waited for
Cres to answer or to move but she did neither. Cres just lay
staring at them, despondently.

“Cres?” uttered
Sam as her familiar blonde hair glistened. “Until you talk we leave
you here. No food, no water, no light.” She walked over to a
container and tipped it on the floor; the water ran along the
cement.

Narine scowled
at her, through the bars.

“Come on
Narine,” Sam coaxed her, and with that the light was switched off
and the shuffle of their feet was followed by the door squealing
shut with a thump and the latch of the dead lock clicked as it was
secured from the outside.

She awoke later
to a voice.

“I offered you
everything. It was a gift, to never die, to never be frail…
Immortality.”

Her blood shot
eyes fluttered and the light burnt them. “No one lives forever,”
she croaked realizing she had phased at some point into human skin.
When the voice came out of her dry throat, it ached.

“No, evidently
not,” Sam muttered. “Look at me,” she urged, her sharp eyes burning
towards Cres. “Remember I said no food or water until you tell us a
few things?” she hissed with a confidence that was just the other
side of fear.

Cres closed her
puffy eyes as Sam spoke.

“I’m going to
leave in five, four, three, two, one.” Sam stood up. “Fine.”

The door closed
but this time she left on the light. Eventually when Cres opened
her eyes again she saw that it was to illuminate a plate of what
looked to be cold leftovers on a chair in the corner, well out of
reach. She closed her swollen eyes again.

C.J crouched in
a peppercorn tree outside the Cabin, in the lightly falling rain,
growing ever more annoyed. Lila was taking her time. C.J was soaked
through as the wind whipped the light rain in her face
continuously, until she lost all patience and descended the branch
she had waited in for well over an hour.

She landed with
a thud. Something struck her and she was thrown to the ground in
mud and leaves as a heavy creature breathed over her and shook and
lurched into a human woman. C.J’s arrows had fallen out above her
head on the earth and she struggled and reached for the nearest
quills. The attacker grabbed her neck in a vice like grip,
shockingly rigid in its strength, for a girl, and her blue eyes met
C.J’s.

She knew that
she was a match for her strength, and she grabbed her wrist and
they tossed about in the mud, each struggling to get on top. Her
naked breast brushed C.J’s face and she wriggled and then threw the
she wolf down, pulling a knife from her belt as she did and
pressing the blade to her neck.

Angeles eyes
met C.J’s as she winced, frozen.

“Angele?” C.J
asked.

The young woman
looked through her and nodded slowly.

“I’m with
Lila,” She placed the knife back in her belt. “I’m going to let you
up. Promise you won’t fight?”

Angele nodded
the same as before, silently, but this time she looked at Caroline
unsurely. There was mud splattered across her face. She got up and
wiped her brow with her sleeve, which only smeared the wet dirt
across her forehead. Angele was as beautiful as Lila had said. C.J
glanced at the arrows scattered and embedded in the mud but as she
looked back she saw Angele take off into the bush towards the big
wooden house. C.J picked up the arrows and followed her path
through the rain with them bundled in her hand. Lila wasn’t going
to be happy, but at least C.J was now getting out of the wet.

Reid was
describing the wolves to me when Angele appeared at the glass door,
naked and covered in wet dirt. Jackson hurriedly grabbed a towel
from Reid’s lap and met her, covering her naked skin. He guided her
away from the lounge where Reid and I sat drinking tea, but
Angele’s concerned eyes followed me as she passed.

Then I saw why.
I flew up. C.J was standing in the house soaked through with nearly
as much mud on her as Angele, the bundle of arrows clasped in her
pale hand.

I heard a growl
behind me. I glanced at Reid now in wolf form. “No,” I looked her
up and down. There was an uneasy silence. “She’s with me,” I urged.
He glanced at me, disgruntled.

C.J pointed the
arrow at him with her left hand and widened her stance. I couldn’t
say I wasn’t proud, and then I frowned. “You were supposed to stay
outside and back me up,” I said through gritted teeth with an
incredulous look.

“So you can sit
here and have tea?”

I started to
say something. “I-”

“No, I’m wet
through. I need to know what’s going on and anyway, I wouldn’t have
come in if your friend out there hadn’t jumped me.” She squinted
petulantly. “And I lost a contact.” She glared angrily in the
direction of Angele as a tear of brown water ran from her hairline
down the side of her face, collecting the mud smudged on her
temple.

Reid phased
back and modestly covered himself with the towel from the footrest.
C.J just gazed at him.

Noticing her
lingering stare I intervened, “C.J this is Reid.”

“Hi.” She gave
an awkward wave and sideways glance.

He looked at me
and then at her and back towards me. “Did Cres know about her?”

“Yes,” I said,
annoyed, and folded my arms.

“Come in and
close the door,” I added grumpily, and gestured to C.J who remained
rigid near the door, my anger tempered somewhat. “The one goddamned
card I held,” I put my hand to my temple and sat down. “Reid, get
dressed,” I ordered, diverting my gaze.

C.J had only
moved a few paces to close the sliding door and stopped
unsurely.

“Come in.” I
gestured in frustration as Reid headed in the direction of the
bedrooms.

“Right, see you
in a minute, doll face.”

I shot Reid a
look as he exited. My face was stern. I explained to an intrigued
C.J that Cres had been taken by the Cult and we were going to have
to go in and get her and the boy now, and somehow take out the
pack.

Jackson, Angele
and Reid collectively came back into the living area. As they
slowly approached, I introduced them. “J, Angele and Reid. This is
Caroline, the next huntress of Shade.” I knew C.J would be
flattered to have such a title, so I said it like I was bored.

“C.J.,” she
offered, confidently.

I could tell
she was surprised to have such an introduction and she sat a
little

straighter.

They didn’t
move. I glanced at her and noticed she still held the arrows. “Put
down the arrows, these are our friends,” I scolded her.

“Ha,” laughed
Jackson. “She’s smaller than you.”

“She’s strong,”
commented Angele’s meek voice from behind him. She rubbed her
wrists and we all glanced at Caroline.

“So this is
what you’ve been hiding,” Reid exclaimed wide eyed, obviously
feeling better. He appraised her approvingly. “Hi doll-face.”

“Don’t call me
doll-face,” she hissed.

“What are you
gonna do about it?” He leered.

“Break off your
dick.”

He looked
amused and then suddenly he laughed, but halted instantly when she
took an arrow between her hands and it made a snap.

Evidently he
was feeling better. I hid a smirk and ignored their disbelief. We
hadn’t time for adjustment. Cres would be counting on us if she
were still alive. “Get Giny, we’re having another meeting. Reid
what weapons have you got?” I involved all of them. “Angele I need
your Intel, what’s the layout of the house, tell me about the
pack?” We had to attack, but we had lost the element of surprise.
Angele detailed what she knew. Angele agreed with Reid’s
observations at the compound. Sam was there and Bianca. So was
Shelly Bealy, Narine, Paws, Tyler, Genna – the rockabilly nurse and
the new girls - Dahlia the dark brunette and Aylish the curly
haired blonde, wolves from the city. The curly blonde sounded
familiar but I didn’t mention it.

I took the
opportunity to talk more with Angele as the others busied
themselves, organizing the weapons and vehicles out front. I poured
a tea.

“So who were
the males, the ones Reid saw burn the jeep?”

“I don’t know,
but Sam was meant to find some other wolf pack that lives in the
hills. I only heard of them the once and no one was sure they still
existed.”

“What do you
mean another pack?” I asked in disbelief, waiting for the
answer.

“They are the
mountain pack, the oldest ones. They hide in the bush and never
turn human.”

I looked to
Reid as he walked inside. “Reid, did you know about this?”

“No,” he
shrugged wide eyed, though he had overheard. Angele shook her head
in agreement.

“It was never
mentioned?” I insisted toward him.

“No. Even if we
heard them we would have assumed they were Paws’s pack in the
hills.”

“Would anyone
else know about them?” I frowned.

“Maybe, if they
were old enough,” Angele said blankly.

I wondered if
Sky knew of them.

“How many of
them would there be?”

“They never
said. Bianca was supposed to bring them back. She searched for days
and couldn’t find them. Finally Sam had to go with her. This
Mountain Pack were around when Paws was a pup. They were the wolves
that ran the main pack before us. I know about them from the photos
in the hall.” She sipped her tea.

“What are their
names?”

“Well, I know
from pictures that there was Robert, Patrick and Christian and two
girls, the alpha Greta and her omega Agnes – they are the oldest,
there were others but they are dead. Oh, and the girls, the new
ones from the city – Aylish and Dahlia – who aren’t new, if you
know what I mean. They were around at the end of the mountain
pack’s days before they disappeared to the city. The blonde knew
Paws and they spoke like they had history,” she said knowingly.

I wondered if
Tisane’s mother had known about them.

“Which one?” I
frowned, confirming the name.

“The blonde?
Aylish, though she took off the night after you invaded the
house.”

“Do you know
why?” I enquired.

Angele
shrugged. “She didn’t want to come here. Sam was sent to get them -
but they had recently turned a guy and Aylish was upset they had
left him. I don’t think Sam knew about him, he was fresh,” she
guessed.

“What was his
name?”

“I don’t
know.”