Past Enemies
I couldn't breathe inside the cab of the truck, it felt like two hands just curled around my lungs forcing the air out. I threw open the truck door and ran drunkenly in to the forest. The trees wobbled back and forth and the edges of my vision blurred.
I noted dimly that I was having a panic attack and it was best that I stopped running. I stopped and rolled into a ball on the forest floor. I placed my head between my knees and tried to even my breath. In for three seconds. Out for three seconds. Rinse and repeat.
It wasn't working very well. It didn't help that I could feel the mental nudge of someone trying to get through my mental barrier. I did my best to ignore the person. My chest felt heavy. Despite my words to Jason I don't think I could really leave my old family again, let alone my new one.
I squeezed my eyes shut. "Focus Kate," I gasped to myself. "Breathe. In and out. In and out."
I tried rocking back and forth, which actually helped a little. Once I could breathe regularly again my head cleared. My words to Jason were mostly empty. I was just hurt and betrayed. I erected myself and let out a deep breath. I needed a few days away from Jason and everyone else here. I'll go the West Sun pack and handle the situation there. I'd use the time to clear my head and reevaluate everything before I saw Jason again.
I looked around. I was in the forest, that much I knew, but where was a mystery. I must have ran much farther than I thought because I could no longer even hear the cars on the road. I was fairly certain that I hadn't yet left Silver Moon territory though. That's-
The wind shifted blowing locks of hair into my face. It carried on it very distinctive smell, or rather the absence of a smell. Every pack wolf has a slight scent about them that marks them as a member of their pack. Every pack's smell is varied from that of other packs.
I've talked to pack wolves who'd never met a Rogue in their life. They always think that a Rogue is marked by the scent of decay. That a Rogue's scent is so vile, so repulsive that it actually burns when it hits your nose.
None of that is anything more than pack prejudice against Rogues. The thing that marks them isn't a scent, it's the lack of a scent, the lack of a pack marker on their scent. It was the smell of a wolf that wasn't complete.
I instinctively reach back for my bow and arrows, or even my swords but I'd left them in the truck after I tore them off to try to get rid of anything restricted the air in my chest. "Shit," I hissed under my breath. I patted my hip. And I don't have my holster because I left it on the bed next to the second suitcase. I was going to put it on when I brought that down.
Double shit.
I let out a deep breath and straightened my posture. Don't appear weak. "I know you're there," I called out.
"You're good," a man said walking out from behind a tree about a dozen yards of what was downwind just a few seconds earlier. "Most don't know a Rogue's scent so readily."
"It's my job," I replied. "Just as I know there are more wolves here. Shame I didn't notice earlier."
He tipped his head. "You seemed upset. Give yourself a break."
"You're right," I told him. "I am upset, but I'll give you a piece of solid advice. You do not want to be the wolf that crosses me when I'm upset."
He smiled. I just know this is going to be one of those crazy Rogues. "You see I'd like to listen to that advice. I'd sure enjoy leaving you be. You ain't done anything to my people that wasn't provoke. But unfortunately for you I have a job to job."
"Let me guess, kill me." I know I probably shouldn't give him ideas but I was trying to see what this guy was playing at. He seemed pretty old and well tamed for a violent Rogue. The violent ones tend to be younger, rarely older than thirty. They typically were killed before then rather by packs or by other Rogues. This guy, no this guy was older. He had to be in his late thirties, maybe even forty.
"No," he said smiling again. "I told you, I have nothing against you. But I want the Alpha's mate."
"What do you want with her?" I demanded. "What does Lily have to do with any of this?"
He laughed. I gritted my teeth in irritation. I wanted answers. "I don't want the Fire Light Alpha's mate. I've no beef with your current Alpha nor his adorable little Mexican girl."
"She's Latino," I corrected. Damn racists. "And if you don't want her who are you talking about? The only other mate of an Alpha is..." That's when everything clicked in my mind. The Rogues I interrogated never said they were after Lily. They never told me her name of mentioned Fire Light in anyway. All they said is that they were after the Alpha's mate. I assumed they meant Lily because she and Jason had accepted each other and long since completed the mating process. But you don't need to accept each other to be mates.
In fact you're still mates even if you reject each other. Grant and I were still mates even though he rejected me. They were after the Alpha's mate. This man said he wasn't after Lily. The only other Alpha's mate is- "Me," I said aloud. "You don't want the Fire Light Alpha's mate, you want the mate of Silver Moon's Alpha. Grant Adams is Silver Moon's Alpha and his mate is-"
"A lovely woman who was perhaps the youngest Beta since the life expectancy exceed fifty," the man said.
"You did your research," I said. "I'm flattered." And slightly creeped out. "You must know that you can't take me."
He smirked. "Confident."
"Truthful," I corrected.
He shrugged. "Perhaps. I supposed we'll just have to see."
As if his words were a cue wolves leaped out from the trees. Four, no five of them all in wolf form. The smallest, female, she reached me first. I turned her momentum against her and threw her past me into a tree. She hit it hard, the poor tree almost broke with the blow. I didn't have more than a second before the next one came. I barely ducked his searching claws. I knew what I had to do if I were to get out of here.
I shifted my nails in a split second and there were the deadly sharp claws of a wolf. I sliced opened the wolf's underside as he flew over me. Blood spurted out and rained down on me. I quickly wiped my eyes clean of it just as another wolf attacked and clipped my shoulder. I winced and forced my teeth to elongate into fangs. It was hard and trying. Partial shifting is one of the hardest skills to master, it's nearly impossible to hold off shifting the rest of the way. It was fighting off your basis instincts.
It took my years and even now I still struggle. But in that moment I managed and I used my fangs to bite the arm of the wolf. I fought them. I noticed the man who spoke stayed out of the fight. A leader of some sort. He'd be very disappointed when I proved to be right. My combat skills far outweigh theirs. I didn't focus again on the man. If he were going to say out of the fight then he is not a worry.
That was my mistake. I shouldn't have focus on the man especially. My fighting skills outweigh theirs. But when Wolf's Bane comes into play it doesn't matter how well you fight. I felt a sharp pain in my side and looked. A needle was in the side of my midsection, it connected to a near empty syringe. I recognized the burn.
Damn, I thought, my hand had just healed from this crap.
I managed to fight for three, four, five more seconds before I started to lose feeling to my middle. It spread. I stumbled and got knocked down. Ten seconds for the poison to reach my limbs. Twenty seconds, thirty tops, before I lose consciousness.
I tried sloppily to open a mental link of any kind. I'm not sure what all got through before everything fell into the black abyss.
When I finally came too I was no longer in the forest. I opened my eyes and had to immediately shut them against the light. It took a moment for them to adjust to the light but when they did I looked around. I was shackled. Metal wrapped around my wrist, the same metal went into a concrete wall. As if that were not enough I was in a cage. I yanked the chains. Sturdy. They forced me up, I couldn't go any lower than on my knees.
I looked at the floor, concrete like the walls. I searched the room. Round room, one door that looked like wood, one small window. I could maybe squeeze through it. And of course the jackass who poisoned me.
"You're awake," he said. "Good. You put up a respectable fight."
"You cheated," I spat. "I hate when people cheat."
"I consider it payback," he replied. "You used the same stuff on some of my men. Though you recovered mighty quick."
"I'm special like that," I replied sarcastically.
He stood from his seat. "Now that you've graced me with your words I have a few questions for you."
I glared at him. "What make you think I will tell you anything?"
"Because I'm a good person," he answered.
"You just drugged and kidnapped me," I countered.
He smiled, "I really need my answers. And you my dear are the perfect person from which to get them. I want information after your mate."
"I don't have any for you," I replied.
He smiled. Why is he always smiling? "You'll answer me. I can be quite persuasive."
"Who are you?" I asked.
He frowned, "I haven't introduced myself? Dear me. I am Jace."
I snickered and he looked at me quizzically. "Jace? You parent's mustn't have liked you too much. Jacie is a terrible nickname for a boy."
"Careful of your words," he said threateningly. "I might decide to rip that mouthy little tongue of yours out."
"You won't," I said. "Unless you changed your mind about getting any answers out of me."
"You're a smart one," he said. "It's so nice to see a woman who doesn't get by on her looks alone." He paused for a moment as he walked to the bars of the cage. "Now I need some answers. We are going to start with why you've made your return to Silver Moon."
"Food," I answered. He tilted his head for me to continue. "I came back for the food. Ever try the food here. They've got elk so fat that one could feed a family of four. I like to eat them with spicy mustard." I kissed my fingers with a little struggle. "Delicious."
He growled. "Fine." He went to a little panel in the wall across from me and tapped it a few times. Water flooded down on me unannounced. I sputtered and choked on it until it stopped and I did my best to cough it out of my lungs.
"It that all you've got?" I asked. "Tired waterboarding techniques? You'll have to try harder than that if you want to torture me."
He gave me a cold grin. "Then let's get started."
He flipped the switch next to the panel. The lights flickered or maybe it was the electricity burning through me. The chains and the water had their purposes. They were the perfect conductors for electricity. I could smell my skin burn. It was sickening. I gritted my teeth and forced myself to keep silent. Compartmentalize the pain.
The electricity shut off and after a moment I could see again. "Why have you returned to Silver Moon?" Jace asked.
I glared into his eyes. "I already told you. The food."
"I see this is going to take away," he replied with clear irritation.
I smiled. "You better take a seat."
Do not scream. Do not scream. Do not scream. I chanted the three words over and over in my head. Do not scream, do not scream, do not scream. Do not let the pain in, Kate. Do not let him get to you.
The electricity stopped. Jace kneeled in front of the bars so his eyes were leveled with mine as I slumped against the shackles. "I'm impressed," he said, "and I rarely find myself saying that, I've never said that of someone who hailed from Silver Moon. But you my dear are the diamond among useless dirt covered rocks."
I tried to say "I'm flattered," but I'm not too sure of how it came out.
He smiled anyways. "How you've managed to kept silent is amazing. Not a single peep, though I expect this isn't the worse you've endured silently."
Not even close. "Who are you?" I asked much clearly than the last time I spoke. "Really?"
His smile fell away. "You and I we've got a lot in common. I was born in Silver Moon same as you. I got kicked out same as you too."
"I wasn't kicked out," I growled leaning forward to spit blood at the ground in front of him.
"No," he said, "you weren't because the Alpha's kid begged and begged on your behalf." I didn't like that he knew that. It didn't sit well. "Not everyone had someone that high up to protect them from the mighty Alpha Holden."
That peaked my interest, the way he said that. "What does Holden have to do with any of this?"
He reached through the bars to grasp my chin. "Holden is the cause of it all." He released me and stepped back from the cage. "Let me tell you a story."
"Is it nap time already?" I commented sarcastically.
He growled. Guess he didn't like my interrupting. "I was barely able to drink a beer. It wasn't but a couple years after Holden found Ivanna and took over the pack. A lot had changed in those years. I found my mate, prettiest wolf I'd ever did see." He got this thoughtful and sad look on his face.
The sorrow in his eyes, I'd seen it before. More times than I can count. It was the sorrow of a man who lost his mate. I saw on Tristan's face every time the topic came up. "What happened?" I asked softly.
He looked at me as if he were suddenly realizing I was still here. "She was taken from me. Taken by Alpha Holden after he fucked her."
I couldn't wrap my mind around it. "But his mate, Ivanna?"
He let out an angry humorless laugh. "Ivanna? I'll let you in on a little secret: Ivanna is not Holden's mate. She never was and she never will be." He was definitely angry but not in his usually anger. He sounded a little like... like Grant.
"Ivanna is your mate," I whispered. "By the time you met her she and Holden had already taken over and claimed to be mates. If you went public...well Holden couldn't let that happen."
Jace nodded. "He banished me from the pack, wrote me off as a Rogue attack victim. He seems like using that excuse to make his problem members disappear."
"Why didn't she go with you?" I asked him curiously. "Ivanna? Why didn't she follow you?"
"She couldn't," he answered. "She was already carrying your mate in her womb." He paused again but this time it seemed to be a thought filled pause. "I would have stuck by her. I would have stayed and raised the boy as my own. But Holden wouldn't let it be. Tried to kill me. I barely escaped. I've been waiting years to make the bastard pay."
I was left confused. "How does taking me make Holden pay?" I asked. "He hates me as much as you hate him."
He smiled once more. "The son will pay for the father's sins. Holden Adams took my mate from me. So now I'm taking his son's mate from him. Grant Adams will know the pain I feel and he will know that his father caused it all."
He flipped the switch and I fell back into the pain.
~*~*~*~
"Dammit!" The sound of a fist going through drywall echoed throughout the office. Alpha Grant Adams was furious. "I want my Goddamn mate!"
"She won't like you calling her that," Alpha Jason Greyson said calmly.
Alpha Adams looked at him. "She is my mate," he said possessively.
"That is not what I meant," he replied, "thought she'll have issue with that as well. I was speaking of the word Goddamn. Kate won't like you addressing her with anything in relation to God."
Alpha Adams sighed heavily and transformed into the man Kate Greyson knew, Grant. "I want her back."
Alpha Greyson melted into Jason. "I know."
"How do you do it?" Grant asked.
"Do what?" he asked.
"Stay so calm!" Grant answered pulling on his hair violently. "How can you be so calm when Rogue's have her. You and Katrina both claim that she's your little sister so how can you not care?"
Jason stood from his seat and said in a dangerous and low voice. "Do not mistake my calm for not caring. Kate may be your mate but she is my family. I would die for her. Do you think that I'm not worried?"
"Are you?" Grant asked still angry.
"Of course I am!" Jason snapped. "I loved her, she is my baby sister and it's my job to protect her. But going around half out of your mind and destroying the building won't help bring her back! So shut up, sit down, and focus."
Grant did as he was told. "Have you heard anything?" he asked desperately. "Has she sent you anything at all?"
"No," Jason answered. "Not since her distress signal and that was days ago."
"Four," Grant whispered.
"What?"
"Four days, seven hours and twenty two minutes," Grant said. "That's how long it's been since the signal. I've counted."
"You really do love her," a new voice said from the doorway. Trina Greenfield looked at Grant. "You really do love Kate." Grant opened his mouth, but she wasn't done speaking. "No need to answer. It's plain as day. It's the way you look at her. It's the same way Jason looks at Lily. It's love." He nodded. "She'll be okay. Kate will come home okay. She always does."