Pack Possessed, page 6
part #4 of Thrown to the Wolves Series
Kaige coughs before grimacing and covering his mouth. “Toss in a few hundred rotten eggs and a bottle of old-lady perfume, and you nailed it.”
There are several long lines of tables stretched out on the other side of the warehouse with various crates, one of which I catch a brief glimpse of being loaded with a final few syringes before a lid is placed on top. Meeting a set of narrowed eyes, the guy holds my gaze as he nails the lid shut. Surprised at the hostility being thrown my way instead of the guys’, I watch him for another few seconds, but he breaks our stare off first. Taking the crate, he walks away to add it to the small stack in the corner.
Taking it all in again, along with the various machines that I couldn’t identify to save my soul, I look at the dozens of men around me in a new light. For all intents and purposes, it appears that everything is lacking out here; resources, empathy, and education. The fact that they’re able to actually engineer and experiment with this drug is... strange, to put it kindly. Not that I’m calling anyone out here dumb, but it’s not like they have the freedom to take college courses to train them in this sort of thing, or even internet to study at home. It’s possible that it’s a benefit of having a better rapport with the evil dictator running this place, but something about it still feels... off.
As the nearest man demands, “What the hell is going on?” it sets off a chain reaction so anyone that hadn’t noticed our arrival yet certainly does so now.
Plastering a smile on my face, I hitch a thumb over my shoulder to indicate the bag on my back. “Came to drop off breakfast for my dads.” A pang of sadness lances through me, but a selfish part of me needed to say it one final time before I lost that, too.
The muffled sound of shouting outside as the brawl escalates draws their attention to the closed door, and a few men jog past us to investigate while another few start sizing up Kaige and Boden, completely dismissing me as a potential threat. Sure, a small part of me is worried about the guys outside; always will be. But after the sort of things we’ve been through, a fistfight with a handful of men might actually be what they need to take the edge off as we hurry up and wait for things to come to a head.
A necessary evil to keep the peace, ironically enough.
Because even if Ash isn’t lying and he has a way to exorcise our demons without killing us... they’re going to be sticking around. I claimed them as much as their human counterparts, and when we made our game plan before stepping foot outside of the cabin, they got a vote, too. No matter the outcome with Ash, so long as we’re still breathing in the end, we’ll need to figure out how to live with our demons one way or another.
It’s easier from the outside looking in, to help the guys come to terms with theirs, but this is one thing I really have to do on my own. When this is done, I want you to show me what happened. No twisting truths for sympathy, no secrets or games; give me this one thing, okay? You owe me that much, at least.
Beneath the surface of my skin, she stills, her voice taking on a lamenting edge as she whispers, “Deal, but I need you to understand something before I show you.”
And what’s that?
“I would do it again in a heartbeat, even knowing now how things went awry.”
Though her confession makes my nerves settle in my stomach uncomfortably, I’m grateful for it. Painful truths are uncomfortable, so it adds validity to her claim.
“If you’d be so kind as to point me in the right direction,” I trail off questioningly.
He scowls. “They’re busy, and don’t want you here.”
By some miracle I manage not to flinch, but damn; that one stung.
Kaige’s voice is deadly calm. “Who the fuck do you-” but I set a hand on his arm to stop him.
With a bitter smile that fractures more with every passing second, I shrug it off. “To be fair, I don’t want to be here either. But-” My eye twitches and I give up the pretense of civility as it becomes abundantly clear that he isn’t listening to a damn word coming out of my mouth. After his curt dismissal, his gaze has turned to lobbying between the guys, the door, and my chest.
Before Bo can cave his face in, I consider it a perfect opportunity to test it out and pull the taser out of my back pocket, finding a complete lack of empathy as I fire. The barbs latch onto his stomach and he drops, convulsing from the shock, and I turn to Kaige with a massive fucking grin.
“Well, this is going to become alarmingly addictive.”
With a snort, he says, “Stop being so attractive in public.”
Pressing the trigger again to send another jolt of electricity into the guy, I hold his stare. His laughter mingles with Bo’s as the latter steals it from me and takes point on yanking the barbs out of the guy. Ignoring the various shouts and curses, I hone in on Merrick immediately as he storms out of a makeshift office on the non-exploded half of the warehouse.
“What the hell is all of the-” he cuts off mid-sentence at the sight of me, quickly taking in my bedraggled form and shooting condemning glares at Bo and Kaige, but it’s Tony that he addresses, zeroing in on his place instantly despite the way the poor guy is trying to fly under the radar. “Explain. Now.”
Wide-eyed beneath his safety glasses, Tony lifts his hands in front of himself innocently, steam partially obscuring his features from the stainless-steel pot in front of him at his station. “She waltzed in here, asked for you guys, and tased Jericho when he was staring at her chest and ignoring her. I wasn’t about to be stupid enough to interrupt when he deserved it.”
With a nod, Merrick dismisses him, and Tony wastes no time in fading back into the background.
“He’s one of the good ones. I hope he survives.”
He’s good at hiding in plain sight, just like Adrian.
“Cynical. See, that’s why we’re a good match; you’re more like me than you want to admit.” She slithers around beneath my skin like smoke attempting to poison my thoughts, and I have to physically shake my head to dislodge the imagery. “It’s practically impossible to tell where one of us ends and the other begins.”
Pointedly not responding to her comments, I force the last smile in my reserves onto my face. It’s not completely fake; I’m genuinely happy to see Merrick, but I’m terrified just the same. I don’t want to see the look on his face, on any of their faces, when I give them the news that I’m not actually their daughter, but their sister-in-law. I don’t want to see the disappointment or put them through any more pain than they’ve already been through thanks to my sister-mom, but I respect them enough to give them the truth before Ash decides to throw it in their faces later when it better suits his agenda to fuck with their heads and throw them off guard.
“Are you okay?” he demands, looking me over with a more critical eye.
Half-heartedly, I slip the bag from my shoulders and offer it to him. “You guys didn’t come home last night, so I figured you might be getting axe murdered or mutinied on. And if not, you might appreciate something to eat.”
With a pinched expression, he holds my eye for a minute before looking to where Jericho is beginning to get to his feet. “What the fuck is wrong with you? You have a death wish?”
Rather than cower, Jericho glares right back at him, and I don’t have to be well-versed in pack drama to understand that he sealed his fate with that move. Even knowing it was coming, I jump a bit at the sharp sound of bones snapping when Merrick takes his head between his hands and sharply twists. One second Jericho’s eyes were filled with violence and disdain, and the next, they’re staring blankly at the warehouse ceiling.
The brutality barely even registers on my radar anymore, and I’m not quite sure what that says about me and how disconnected I’ve become from the humanity I’d managed to passably emulate all of these years. Before, I could at least pretend to be an arguably decent person. Now?
I have to admit that it’s never been about actually being better than anyone. It’s been a matter of me subconsciously trying to prove that even terrible people can put in the effort if they have the proper motivation, even if it isn’t a good one.
Wetting my suddenly dry lips, I shift between feet. “I have something I wanted to talk to you about.”
Beckoning us to follow him towards his office, he shoots me no less than three wary looks along the way. By the time Bo is closing the door behind us, Merrick’s a nervous mess and blurts, “You’re not leaving, are you? Because I know we’ve been busy, but I promise, it’s only temporary. We fell behind, and-”
While Sebastian hastily clears off their desk, Leo gestures to one of the metal folding chairs in front of it. “What’s going on?”
Setting the bag on the desk, I untie it. “It’s nothing like that, don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere.” My stomach flips as I face the harsh reality of those words. Taking out the three plastic containers, I lay them out in front of me along with three forks, sliding them their way. “I’m not sure how warm it still is, so why don’t you start eating while we talk?”
Leo’s emerald gaze locks onto me, scrutinizing my face. “We’re not eating anything until you do.”
Tugging off the lid, I take a bite of chicken stir fry and slide it back his way. “See? Not poisoned.”
He rolls his eyes, but it helps take a bit of the edge off and he takes it from me. Sebastian praises, “You didn’t have to go through all of this effort, but I’m glad you did.” Taking a hearty bite, he mumbles, “Haven’t eaten something this delicious in ages.”
I hitch a thumb over my shoulder. “I can’t take any of the credit, this was all Kaige.”
For once, they don’t send dirty looks in his direction simply for existing. Sebastian diplomatically states, “Good way to stretch things.”
Merrick can’t take it anymore and demands, “What was so important to talk to us about that it couldn’t wait until we got home? Did something happen?”
Fisting the hem of my borrowed shirt, I stare at a point on the sparse wall behind them. “Yeah, actually. Ash paid us a visit while we were at Damian’s parents’ house.”
They all become stock-still, Merrick’s fork frozen halfway to his mouth. “Did he hurt you?”
Swallowing, I start to shake my head, but think better of it and nod. “Not physically, but... yeah. The things he said hurt to hear, whether they were true or not. And sadly, I think they were for the most part.”
And I lay it all out there. The demons and betrayals, the method to his madness and where Annika and I fall into the grand scheme of things. Their silence after I finish is harder to endure than anything I experienced yesterday, and my nerves are shot, having reached their limit for the day already.
“Say something please,” I whisper, murdering the hem of Cinjin’s shirt I stole in my clenched fists.
It snaps them out of their pensive states and Merrick is the first to snap, “Are we seriously so fucking awful to be around that every woman in your family comes up with an excuse to sever ties with us?” Slamming his fork down on the desk, he glares at me. “Someone took you away from us once, Sabrina. I’ll be damned if I sit by and let it happen again.”
Leo picks up where he left off. “We don’t give a shit about technicalities, I thought we made that clear when you first got here. Fuck Ash, and fuck Annika.” My eyes widen, and I’m pretty sure I forget how to breathe. “You’re our daughter, and that’s the end of it.”
Bo’s hand settles on my shoulder, squeezing gently, and I reach up to latch onto his wrist as Sebastian declares, “We didn’t need a paternity test to tell us whether or not we were going to take care of you as if you were our own. We’re here because we want to be, not because we have to. That doesn’t change because of what other people have done. You’re not collateral damage.”
Voice thick with emotion, I rasp, "Yeah, I think I am. But you don’t have to be."
The sad, resigned smile Sebastian gives me obliterates what remains of my heart into dust. "But I’m happy to be if it means taking the bastard that made all of our lives hell to the grave with me. He gave us Annika to keep us in check all those years ago when we pushed back about what he was doing. It’s about time we stop letting the two of them hold us back."
Chapter 5
Aurelia
10,000 Years Ago
Pulling my cloak tighter around my shoulders to combat the spring chill as the sun finishes setting, I push open the flap of my tent, only to stop dead in my tracks. The constant knot in my stomach has become a daily part of my life, but it tightens painfully as I gaze down at the dead wolf laid out waiting for me.
I’d almost prefer it to be a warning that someone was coming for my head rather than the morbid gift it was intended as.
Glancing up, I find a familiar figure leaning against a nearby tree with his arms crossed, his satisfied smirk morphing into condescending disapproval the moment he meets my eye. The waning light dances through the sparse trees across his features, making his already dark irises flicker like the living shadows currently rising to life along my limbs, obscuring the faint glow of the markings beneath my skin. Dark brown hair is tied back at the base of his neck, and a matching cloak is draped over his shoulders, carefully parted to show the spray of dried blood across his clothes like it’s some badge of honor to flaunt.
Discreetly, I palm the dagger strapped to my hip, not that it would matter beyond the satisfaction of stabbing him a few dozen times. I swear, the apocalypse could arrive tomorrow, and still Acheron Wilder would find a way to survive it like the cockroach that he is.
“Don’t mind me, simply watching over you while you sleep to ensure that you aren't mauled to death.” With a twitch of his lip, he adds, “No need to thank me, it was my pleasure; you had some very vivid dreams that helped pass the time.”
Biting the inside of my blushing cheek, I count to ten. Not feeling any better, I whip my blade forward, yet he catches it with a grin before it can sink into his shoulder. “Don't worry, I wasn't going to.” Striding away, I steal my dagger back from him and clip his shoulder harder than necessary on my way past. “And stay out of my head.”
The perpetual thorn in my side that he is, he doesn’t hesitate to follow, falling into step beside me. “If you’re off to hunt for breakfast, it’s already been handled. If you’d stop this foolishness and return home, it’d make things easier on us both, but as stubborn as you are-” he pulls a small pouch from his hip and offers it my way “- I erred on the assumption you’d stay out here until you starved to death out of spite. Here.”
Ignoring his offering as easily as the gnawing ache in my gut, I keep my voice level simply out of the very spite he accused me of. Nothing annoys the bane of my existence more than a lack of reaction. “If you must know, I’m searching for a good spot to bury the poor creature that paid the price of fueling your insufferable ego.”
With a huff, he argues, “It was creeping around your tent. You remember what happened to Marcos not too long ago; this was the harshest winter we’ve seen in decades and even the wolves have grown hungry enough to attack whatever living thing they come across. You underestimate what desperation will do to a creature, Aurelia. You're always trying to see the best in everyone, and it's going to get you killed one of these days.”
Coming to the small clearing beside the river, I pick a spot not too far away, praying I’ll magically stumble upon a patch of ground that isn’t still partially frozen. Not wanting to dull the only decent blade I have left, I reach into the freezing water to snag one of the larger, smooth stones that will be more comfortable to grip for hours on end. Crouching down, I begin the arduous task of digging, knowing full-well I’m going to be here all day, but stubborn enough not to go back home even to borrow a shovel from someone.
“On the contrary, I don’t expect anything out of anyone.” Striking again, I get through the topsoil far too quickly and the hell begins only an inch beneath the surface. “They’ve all made it perfectly clear that they’re willing to sacrifice their morals and turn the other cheek for the sake of the ‘greater good’.” Scoffing, I carry on digging, already dreading that I’m going to have to drag over a hundred pounds of dead weight over here, too. But like hell if I’m not going to figure out a way.
A low growl slips out of him before he can hide his annoyance, and that alone gives me ample motivation to carry on. “The humans are slaughtering us, Aurelia. How can you not see that I’m trying to protect us? To protect you!” He scrubs a hand over his jaw with a scowl. “And you’re out here tempting fate, a demon alone in the woods; a woman no less. It’s asking for trouble, and I cannot figure out what it is you’re trying to accomplish by being so insufferably stubborn. The caves have been expanded, there's plenty of space now that I can even ensure you have your own, so there's no reason for this. Come home with me where you belong.”
Holding his gaze, I rise to my feet, brushing my hands off on my pants. “That speech might convince the rest of them that you actually care, but then again, they didn’t watch you and Xander burn down that village on the coast, either.”
Stilling, a bit of color drains from his face. “What are you talking about?”
Swallowing, I take a breath to steady myself. “For someone playing such a dangerous game, you’d think you’d be wise enough to remember the golden rule.” Lifting a hand, I release a sliver of energy I really can’t afford to waste, letting the smoky haze dance across my skin and blur my features with the darkness around us to make my point. “Always assume that someone’s watching.”
Letting it fade, I raise an eyebrow in challenge. “Moving under the cover of night isn’t safer because the humans are asleep, but because the peace we find in the darkness stems from the fact that we’re never really alone in it. You may fool the rest of them, but I see you for who you really are, Acheron. Exactly the sort of monster they accuse us of being.”
I hold my ground as he takes a calculated step closer, acutely aware that there’s no one else around for miles; all the more reason to ensure my voice remains completely steady. “I’m not sure why you hate humans so much you’d be willing to let countless demons die in the name of wiping them out, but if you refuse to leave me alone, at least do me the courtesy of not treating me as if I’m as willfully ignorant as the rest of them.”
