Half Truths (A Helheim Wolf Pack Tale) (25 page)

‘Really? So why
have you knocked back both of my offers to go get some action? You
loved
going out and hooking up with humans.’

That had been
true. In fact, on more than one occasion, he and B had had a threesome with the
girl of his choice. B wasn’t gay, and Rhett was far from it, but he’d seen Brax
naked enough times when they’d shifted back to not be bothered by it. The girl
they’d fucked had loved every minute of it. He shrugged into his seat. ‘I just
don’t feel like it, I guess.’

‘Wrong! You
fucking love her, bro. Just admit it to yourself and to her, and get on with
it.’

‘I can’t,’ he
replied, grinding his molars. ‘Even if it were true.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because I don’t
deserve her!’ he yelled, gripping the steering wheel until it gave under his
palms.

‘And now the
truth comes out. What makes you think you don’t deserve her? You saved her
fucking life, Rhett. You saved it twice if I remember correctly. If she doesn’t
deserve you then I don’t know who the fuck does.’

Rhett glared out
of the windshield, focusing on getting out of the centre of Dayton-Hollis and
into its fringes. ‘Drop it, B.’ Rhett could feel his best friend’s eyes on him,
burning into his skin. ‘Why would she want someone defective anyway?’

B snorted. ‘You
don’t actually believe that shit do you?’ Brax asked. ‘You sound like fucking
Sabel, you do know that, don’t you?’

‘You wouldn’t
understand, B,’ Rhett bristled.

‘Fine.
Don’t
be
happy,’ he eventually said, folding his arms across his broad chest. ‘But you’d
be a fool not to act on it because I’m sure that girl is waiting for you to
make a move, and if you don’t then, someone else will.’

Rhett’s hands
cranked on the wheel again until it groaned in protest. ‘Nobody will touch a
hair on her head,’ he snarled, his wolf coming to the surface so quickly he
felt his head spin. B stared back at him, his lip curled up in the corner, his
eyes a solid yellow. He turned his head back to look through the windshield.
Rhett did the same, running a hand roughly through his hair.

‘Let’s just see
if we can find out where Eaton is being kept.’

Rhett slowed the Jetta on the
country lane they’d been driving on for the last quarter hour, easing off the
road and onto the shoulder. He’d thought about hiding the car, but decided
against it. Marcus’s spies would probably already know they were there, and if
they didn’t, they soon would. Rhett cut the engine and got out; the second
slamming door meant that B had followed even after their argument in the car.
He hated how easily Brax had guessed what had been bothering him, hated how in
tune his best friend was to him.

Squinting into
the weak midday sun, Rhett shucked his clothes. He hadn’t needed to tell Brax
to shift. B always knew what was he was thinking. Rhett calmed himself, closing
his eyes and focusing on flooding his body with calm.

He felt it in
his extremities first—a fine tingling that turned into pins and needles on
steroids. He grunted as his fingers and toes shortened into paws and huge
obsidian claws sliced through the skin. His hands, elbows, feet and calves all
began to change shape, fitting into his lupine form. Muscles stung as they tore
and re-knit back together. Next were his ribs and spine. It was like his bones
were malleable clay, bending to his wolf’s needs. His jaw began to ache; a
precursor to the blinding pain that shot through his frontal lobe as his skull
changed shapes, lengthening to accommodate his muzzle and razor sharp teeth.

A howl ripped
through his new vocal cords as the last of his transformation licked pain over
his body. Black fur sprouted, covering his huge frame completely and insulating
him against the cold. When the last of the pain tapered off, he shook out his
black coat and stretched, enjoying how good it felt to be in this other body he
had to keep restrained most of the time.

Rhett put his
nose to the ground, picking up the scent of Dragos wolves that had been
patrolling recently—nearly five miles from where Marcus’s house was. Brax
appeared from around the other side of the car, his bronze fur a perfect match
for the colour of his hair in human form. His yellow eyes were lowered as he
edged closer to Rhett. Brax kept his body low to the ground, inching closer and
closer until he could lick at Rhett’s chin. Rhett growled and took a step back.
He hated the whole submission shit from B. They were equal in his mind.

Rhett growled at
him again, sending B a message, telling him to keep his nose to the ground and
stay alert. Brax nodded, dropping his face to the ground. A sound caught
Rhett’s attention then, his wolf’s instincts taking over and kicking him into
action. He loped across the road, ducking into the snow-covered underbrush of
the forest. Snow stuck to his nose and in his fur. He moved with a stealth he
could never have when he was on two legs. Smells of the forest filled his nose.
Deer, mouse, rabbit. His wolf inhaled deeply, compartmentalising the scents for
later.

Brax moved just
as soundlessly behind him, covering his left flank. They dodged overhanging
branches that were so laden with snow that they scraped the ground. When fallen
logs blocked their path, they soared over the top of them. His breath smoked
from his nostrils, dragging in the cold sting of air that settled in his lungs.
Rhett’s ears were swivelling all the time—listening—until finally he heard two
people talking.

Abruptly he
stopped, Brax skidding to a halt behind him. B whined and Rhett pointed in the
direction of a clearing just ahead of them with his nose.

‘I don’t know
why he wants to move her. She’s fine where she is,’ one man said. He was
carrying a bunch of firewood in his arms.

‘Marcus knows
that two Helheim wolves came sniffing around the pack house. It’s only a matter
of time before they find this place,’ said another, adding a log to the pile in
the other man’s arms.

‘We outnumber
them anyway. I say we should just wait until they do come across the cabin,
then we can kill them all in one go.’

‘Do you want to
start a war with all the other packs?’ the first guy snarled.

‘I say we do.
Those pureblood Born wolves think they’re so fucking hot just because they were
born into this life,’ the second wolf said. ‘If we get the chance, I think
Marcus would let us rise up against them. We’ll show them that being a Bitten
wolf is a privilege we should share with humans.’

The first guy
looked around the clearing. ‘Come on, we’ve got to get back to the cabin.’

The sound of
their retreating footsteps finally disappeared. Rhett and Brax stalked out from
their hiding spot and sniffed around where the two had been talking. They were
definitely Dragos wolves. Were they the wolves who had snatched his aunt? Rhett
inhaled deeply, committing their scents to memory.

They followed
their trails back to the cabin they’d spoken of. The place was dilapidated.
Shingles fell from the side of the house and there were holes in the roof. Rhett
could see there was a basement under the wooden frame, but couldn’t see any
windows yet.

Staying in the
shadows of the woods, Rhett and Brax watched the two rival wolves mount the
steps to the porch, pushing through the rickety screen door which whined when
it was opened. When the door slammed shut behind them, Rhett gestured to Brax
to run the perimeter one way while he took the other.

Snow crunched
under Rhett’s paws as he ran. He paused to sniff every now and again, but the
knowledge that Eaton might be so close was making his skin twitch. He could
literally be standing ten yards from his aunt, but there was no way of knowing
without getting a little closer.

He ran along the
length of the back of the building, spotting a small window built into the
stone wall of the foundations. He stopped. Lowering his body to the ground, he
left the cover of the forest, inching his way closer and closer to the cabin,
keeping his eyes and ears open. Reckless. He was being so reckless, but he was
so close, so close to seeing Eaton now. Just a little further …

Brax whined
behind him. But it was too late. He’d let himself get so distracted that he
didn’t realise one of the wolves had come out of the building with a shotgun
cocked and aimed straight at his head. Rhett looked up.

‘I’d start
running if I were you,’ the guy drawled casually. Rhett’s lips curled from his
canines. Rhett snapped his teeth at the guy; a threatening growl trickling out
from between his bared teeth.

‘Marcus will
love to hear that you’ve come sniffing around,’ he added, taking aim and firing
the gun. Rhett leaped away just in time, the shot burrowing into the ground
where he’d been standing. Rhett lunged at the guy as he squeezed off another
shot. The acrid smell of gunpowder singed his nostrils. Pain lanced through his
foreleg and he stumbled. Blood melted the snow beneath him, and he landed
heavily; his blood feeling like it was on fire.

‘Seth, call
Marcus. We’ve got R—’ but the guy couldn’t finish his sentence.  A blur of
bronze fur slammed into his back, rolling with his body and landing on top of
him. Brax’s snarl rang through the clearing.

‘Fuck!’ the guy
screamed, trying desperately to get out from under him to reach the shotgun
that had been thrown clear during the tumble.

‘What?!’ Seth—Rhett
guessed—screamed coming out from the cabin with his phone in his hand. His eyes
widened. ‘Fuck,’ he breathed, running back into the building and slamming the
door shut. Rhett heard an electronic noise as buttons were pushed on a phone
and the call went through. ‘Marcus, he’s here. At the cabin … No, Clay’s as
good as dead … two of them … yeah, alright.’

The conversation
ended and Brax lunged for Clay’s neck. He tore out his throat; the gurgling wet
sounds suddenly falling silent after a second. Brax dropped the viscera; blood
dripping from his mouth and matting thickly in the fur on his chest. Rhett
whimpered when he flexed his forepaw. Brax licked Rhett’s leg where the wound
hadn’t yet started to heal. The bastards had silver in those shots. Fuck.

B nuzzled
Rhett’s side, trying to get him to stand up. Rhett tried to get back onto
all-fours again, but slumped back into the snow nearly instantly. Brax’s ears
twitched. He glanced over his shoulder before whining imploringly at Rhett,
begging him to try again. Rhett shook his head. He couldn’t do it. He could
feel the silver running through his veins, poisoning him.

Brax stuck his
nose into Rhett’s side, prodding him. Rhett growled and tried again, finally
rising unsteadily to his feet. He staggered a few steps before he turned back
towards the cabin rather than back to the forest. Brax whined and looked at
him. Rhett shook his head; pain coursing through his body now, his forepaw numb
from silver poisoning.

He couldn’t
leave now they were so close to finding out if Eaton was in there. Ignoring B’s
protests, he limped towards the window in the foundations. Blood spattered onto
the snow beneath him, leaving a trail of bloody bread crumbs for the Dragos
wolves to follow.

There were old
sheets of newspaper stuck to the glass, but in between the small gap, he could
see a cell in the small room. Eaton was curled up on a mattress stained with
blood and God knew what other bodily fluids. Her back was facing the window. To
get her attention, Rhett whined. She didn’t move, and Rhett’s chest
constricted. Was he too late? He whined again. Had she … yes … she’d moved. He
tried again, but just as she was about to look, Brax yipped at him and looked
anxiously back towards the forest.

Rhett heard it
then; the rumble of a car’s engine. Reinforcements had come. Desperately he
looked back through the window. Eaton was lying just as she had before, but
there was someone standing in the doorway at the top of a small staircase; it
was Seth. Brax actually nipped at his hind legs to get him moving. The rumble
of the engine had turned into a roar. They were out of time. Rhett’s heart was
wrenched in two as he was pulled away from that cabin. So close. They’d been so
close to her, and now they were retreating like cowards.

B bit his hind
legs again and Rhett snapped back at his best friend. B lowered his yellow eyes
in apology, but didn’t move. With a growl in his throat, Rhett fought the black
fuzzies that were threatening to take over his brain and loped slowly back into
the woods, favouring his injured leg. A trail of red followed them out of the
woods until they both burst out from the underbrush and hurried towards the
car.

Brax shifted
first, yanking open the back door to the Jetta while his body still shook
violently from the Change.

‘Get in,’ he
commanded. Rhett complied even though he could force the Change in intense
pain. He knew that it was better to stay in his wolf’s body until they removed
the silver buckshot from his leg. B slammed the door shut behind him, jogging
around the front of the car and sliding into the driver’s seat. The rear tyres
spat out gravel and snow as B turned the car around, flooring it back towards Buxton.

Brax’s eyes were
still bright yellow when he looked at Rhett through the rear view mirror. ‘You
almost got yourself killed,’ he spat, still not taking his eyes from the
backseat. Rhett’s lip peeled away from his teeth, telling him
Yeah, but I
didn’t.
He began cleaning his injured leg gingerly; his head spinning as
the silver slowly continued to poison his blood.

‘Did you see
Eaton? Was she there?’ B asked frantically. Rhett nodded, running his tongue
along his muzzle. ‘How did she look? Bad?’ Another nod. ‘Fuck,’ he breathed,
his eyes finally going back to the road. ‘Don’t ever do that to me again,
‘kay?’ B said after about five minutes of absolute silence.