Chapter 53: 54: The Silver Soldier

ANGEL

~The Silver Soldier.~

The man who stole my memories—the most precious thing you can steal from a person—is standing right in front of me.

~I’ll fucking kill him.~

~I need to watch him die.~

I take a step toward him.

“Hello, Marius. Remember me?” he says.

I snarl and stare him dead in the eyes. “Marius? Is that my name? I wouldn’t remember because you fucking wiped my mind.”

“You’re late,” he says nonchalantly. “I was expecting you last night.”

“Seems like you don’t have as much control over me as you thought,” I spit at him.

“Well, I knew you’d be coming back. I just didn’t think you’d be foolish enough to bring company.”

He looks toward Alex and Ariel for the first time. “But if I’m being honest,” he continues, “I’m glad you brought the girl to me. I’ve wanted to take care of her for a while.”

“You’re not gonna touch her,” Alex growls.

“Fine, have it your way,” the Silver Soldier replies. “I don’t need to touch her to kill her.”

ARIEL

The Silver Soldier pulls out a large, shiny handgun, which I can only imagine is loaded with heavy silver bullets.

A wound from that would mean excruciating agony and possible death.

I back away, hands at my sides.

“What’s your problem with me?” I ask him in the boldest tone I can muster. I definitely didn’t think that he’d have it out for ~me~ specifically.

I look at him closely, trying to remember if I’ve ever met him outside of Angel’s visions.

~Was he one of my captors?~

~Couldn’t be…~ He has such specific features, I wouldn’t have forgotten him.

But he does look…oddly familiar.

“Well, first of all, you’re intruding on my property. I don’t take kindly to that. For the second time, I might add. Although your visit last night in the meadow was more…pleasing to me.”

~Oh Goddess. He saw us last night?~

Just imagining that creep watching us make love completely ruins the sanctity of that perfect moment.

But that’s the least of my concerns right now.

He mirrors my thoughts when he says, “But trespassing is the least of your crimes.”

“What else did I do?”

“Oh Ariel…”

I hate the sound of my name on his lips.

“Ariel... you’re the reason why I have to run the whole project out of this little shack. You blew up the headquarters. ~And~ the leader of this whole operation.”

Suddenly, I realize why he looks so familiar...

“Curt... You look like him... Was he—?”

“He was my brother! And you tore his body to bits.”

“Serves him right,” Alex calls out. “He held Ariel captive. He treated her like a dog.”

“She is a dog, isn’t she? You all are! Filthy mutts!”

“Curt would talk about you sometimes. I remember now... Your name is—”

“Sawyer.”

“Sawyer. That’s right!”

~The Silver Soldier has a name... and a preppy one at that.~

“You took my brother from me, but now I’ll finish what he started.”

“And what is that exactly?” I ask him. “What’s the master plan behind torturing and experimenting on innocent werewolves?”

I plant my feet firmly on the ground, trying to continue the conversation for as long as I possibly can.

I know that the moment the talking ends, the bloodshed will begin.

Lucky for me, ~Sawyer~ seems to like a good monologue.

“We are only trying to help your kind. To use your strength to its full potential. To give you purpose in this world other than to mate and reproduce like the mindless animals you are,” he says.

“In that regard, I don’t think we’re all that different from humans,” snarls Alex.

“We are civilized thinkers. You’re just a bunch of jacked-up dogs.”

“Yeah...,” Angel replies, “nothing more civilized than kidnapping and torture…”

“I prefer to call it experimentation. It was for your own good,” the Silver Soldier says to Angel.

“You stole my life! You wiped my mind!”

“Well... I ~tried~ to,” the Silver Soldier says with a nasty laugh. “But apparently I didn’t do a good enough job.”

“Is that so?” Angel sneers.

“Fully grown werewolves are tricky beasts. Your brains are fully formed. Your past self was too deeply ingrained.”

“I couldn’t even remember my own name!”

“Your name was one of the first things you forgot. But no matter how many sessions of shock therapy I gave you, there were always traces of your personality that would emerge.”

I scan the room for objects that can be used as weapons as he continues talking...

“At least it kept you from trying to escape back to your pack.”

“M-my pack?” Angel stammers. “What pack do I belong to?”

“You came from the Scripture Pack, but you’ve become a much more instrumental tool as my experiment than you ever were as an alpha.”

~Alpha?!~

I’ve heard about the Scripture Pack a few times in my life.

For centuries, the pack leaders have refused to be under the jurisdiction of the Werewolf King.

They believe that the Moon Goddess is the only leader who should be praised.

So it makes perfect sense that the palace wouldn’t have been alerted when their alpha went missing.

“So...” I have one more question before the violence is sure to begin. “That’s why you’re taking babies? Because they’re easier to program?”

“Blank slate,” the Silver Soldier says. “If you raise them from birth, then you can have an army of beasts at your disposal. There are even some among your kind that agree.”

~What is he talking about?~

~Who could possibly agree with that?~

But then I hear something that pulls my attention away.

A cry coming from below.

And I know Xavi is down there.

~It’s time to attack.~

We all turn to face the noise.

Everyone except for the Silver Soldier, who’s standing in the way.

I make a false dart toward the sound.

When the Silver Soldier comes at me, I leap backward and grab a rake that’s leaning against the wall.

I swing it at him, but he dodges it.

I lift the rake over my head and send it crashing down on his shoulder, then I drag him to the ground.

I keep him pinned down while Alex makes a run for the trapdoor.

But the Silver Soldier grabs at his leg, and Alex flies to the ground too.

I try to wrestle the Silver Soldier, but every time my flesh touches one of his silver body ornaments, it burns.

I recoil in pain, and he crawls away from me.

He reaches into his pocket while I scramble toward him.

That’s when I see him switch off his pistol’s safety.

I duck down behind a couch for cover.

Alex charges toward the Silver Soldier and tries to knock the gun out of his hand.

I immediately leap from my cover and lunge at him from the other side, my face inches away from the barrel of the gun.

I land on his elbow.

He cries out in pain and fires the gun blindly.

And then I hear a scream so filled with agony that I can feel it in my bones.

It’s Angel.

He’s been hit.

I don’t know where, but it sounds unbearable.

~Oh, hell no…~

I drive my free hand as hard as I can into the side of the Silver Soldier’s head.

I continue to punch his skull over and over again until I feel his body start to slacken underneath me, the fight in him slowly draining away.

“I’ve got this. Check on Angel!” I call out to Alex.

But from Angel’s howls, I know that might be an even more dangerous task.

~Oh no.~

~Are they really…howls?~

I whip my head around and see Angel’s claws emerging from the tips of his fingers.

I stand up, replacing the hand on Sawyer’s neck with my foot as he struggles underneath it.

I face Angel, who’s become a big, screaming mass of fur and muscle.

I try to find his eyes, then freeze when I find them.

~They’re blood red.~

“Alex,” I say as gently as I can. “Get behind me.”

Alex takes slow steps away from Angel, who is writhing hysterically.

“Angel,” I say, “just stay calm. You’re going to be okay.”

“No, Marius,” Sawyer manages to rasp from underneath my boot. “You’re mine, remember? Do what I say. ~Kill them~.”

Angel’s bloodshot eyes meet mine.

Then they flicker to Sawyer.

And then to me again.

I thought I had done it.

Healed him.

Purged the Silver Soldier’s influence from his mind completely.

But right now, I have ~no idea~ who he’s about to attack.

I stand frozen as I stare into the crimson eyes of Angel’s wolf.

“Now!” the Silver Soldier screams. “Kill them now!”

“Angel,” I say in the most soothing voice I can muster. “I’m not here to hurt you.”

I take a step toward him as Alex restrains Sawyer in my place.

Angel bears his fangs and lets out a growl.

I don’t dare move closer.

“Ariel…,” Alex says from behind me. “Be careful.”

Alex is seconds away from shifting, but I put up my hand. That will only escalate things.

“Angel, I know you’re in there,” I say. “I know you don’t want to hurt me.”

Suddenly, I hear a grunt from behind me as Alex cries out. “Ariel!”

I whip around to see Sawyer, with a silver wire wrapped around Alex’s neck.

~Oh Goddess!~

“Stupid fucking mutt!” says the Silver Soldier, aiming his gun again. “Attack!”

I’m stuck between two monsters and I can see the life draining out of Alex’s face as the wire digs into his neck. As I make my move toward Sawyer, praying that I’m not too late, a massive beast whizzes past me.

Angel beat me to his master.

He bares his teeth, growls, and lurches up, tackling him to the ground. I catch Alex in my arms as he gasps for air, holding his bruised throat.

Angel bites at the Silver Soldier’s neck, and blood spews from his jugular.

Angel keeps gnawing at him until the Silver Soldier’s body goes completely limp.

~He’s dead.~

There’s no question of it.

Angel turns back to face us, dark blood dripping from his fangs, anguish on his face.

I’m so shocked by the carnage that I can’t even move.

But then I hear cries again.

Louder this time.

I jump over the Silver Soldier’s corpse and run for the trapdoor.

~Xavi.~