Hot Blooded (Jessica McClain)

chapter 8

It took us all day and several failed attempts to find the mysterious dirt road that dead-ended into the lake. It’d been easy to find the lake, which was a gigantic crater fed by a few small glaciers surrounding the area. But every single road leading toward the west side of the lake was impenetrable.

We finally zeroed in on the least treacherous, most passable road we could find, the one gaining the most altitude according to our state-of-the-art GPS, and followed it to the end.

It was damn lucky there was no snow on the ground. Even in the gargantuan Humvee, chains wouldn’t have been enough. The ruts we had to maneuver around were five feet deep in places, and a few times we had to move trees out of the road to get by.

Strength came in handy.

The road had stopped abruptly at the end of what appeared to be a solid wall of old growth pine forest. The trees towered above us, swaying and rocking in the high altitude. The sun edged toward the horizon, the sky changing to a pale orange above the treetops as we pulled to a stop.

I was absolutely starving. I’d been a long day with little breaks. “Well, it appears we’ve finally reached the mysterious end of the road.” I killed the ignition. We’d volleyed driving during the day, but I’d taken the wheel when the boys had gotten out to remove obstacles. “I hope this the right road, or we’re pretty much screwed. Getting out of here and recharting our course will take too much time and we’d lose nighttime tracking hours with the vamps.”

“It has to be the right one.” Tyler opened his door. “This was the only logical choice.”

“I’m glad you’re so very confident,” I said. “The fourth time must be the charm. Let’s get out and stock the packs with food and water before the vamps arrive; then we can try to check in with Dad on the sat phone.” We were out of range from our minds. Neither of us knew how the brain thing actually worked, but apparently it had a range if we weren’t in our wolf form. The connection to our Alpha in our true form was instant, but neither of us had time to change right now. If the sat phone didn’t work, we’d have to reevaluate.

I jumped off the running board, went around to the back, and popped open the hatch—meaning I manhandled the heavy door open.

Tyler strode up beside me. “Packs and supplies are in the green bins.” He reached over and hoisted a huge container out of the back like it weighed nothing and set it on the ground.

My stomach growled. I slid the cooler into the empty space he’d just created. It was huge and metal, likely industrial-strength U.S. military grade, capable of keeping things cold for a year. I opened the top and glanced inside. It was full of specialized high-protein meals and shakes made especially for our high metabolisms. The meals were settled on a thick bed of dry ice. They spoiled quickly once they were opened, so the ice was necessary, but the food was nasty as hell at any temperature. Through the clear packaging, they resembled lumps of canned dog food and unfortunately smelled just as bad. I’d sampled them for fun growing up, but back then I hadn’t needed to eat them in order to survive. Now was another story. And since my hunger was insatiable, I had to suck it up. The meals were designed to break down very slowly and curb hunger for a substantial amount of time, but I fished around for a protein shake instead, which was nice and cold because of the dry ice. I’d work my way into the meals.

I plucked out a shake and popped the lid.

Danny walked over. “If you don’t fancy the protein mush, I’ve brought along some other samplings.” He reached in and grabbed a large navy duffel, slid it closer, and unzipped the top.

Inside, filled to the absolute brim, were packages of beef jerky, candy bars, and sunflower seeds.

“You’ve always been my favorite wolf.” I grabbed a few candy bars and tossed one to Ray, who was rounding the side. “Eat up, Ray. You’re going to need to keep up your strength. We’ve got a lot of hiking to do and some of it will be extremely difficult.”

He snatched it out of the air. “What kind of a meal is a Milky Way?” He looked down at the candy bar in his hand with confusion. “Aren’t we going to make camp?”

“This is not a camping trip, Ray,” I said. “We keep moving until we find our destination. As far as the candy bar is concerned, consider yourself lucky I didn’t offer you a dead rabbit to eat raw. The boys can’t shift to hunt, so our meals have to be strategic. A wolf, even in human form, burns up to ten times as many calories as you do just breathing.” I pointed to the cooler. “You’re welcome to eat the mush, but I doubt you’ll be able to keep it down. It’s dense and meant to sit like a rock in your belly. But consider yourself lucky that Danny was thinking like a champ and brought a bagful of goodies, and there are protein shakes in the cooler. You’re not going to starve.”

Without meeting my eye Ray tore off the candy bar wrapper and took a bite. He chewed for a second and then glanced at me. “You guys turning into animals doesn’t make sense to me,” he grumbled. “If you’ve been running around for eons, why isn’t there any evidence? I’ve been a police officer for eighteen years and there has never been so much as a whisper of a supernatural being. Now that I know, you guys seem to be all over the place. How in the hell do you keep it quiet?”

“There’s evidence if you look in the right places, mate. Most humans just don’t want to see what’s right smack in front of them. Didn’t you read any fairy tales when you were a lad?” Danny asked. “Back in the day, those same fairy tales were considered oral recountings, not myth and legend. Populations were sparse and people lived in small villages. If you had a troll living under your bridge, everyone in the community knew about it—and stayed away from the bloody bridge if they didn’t want to get eaten. But when the villages grew by leaps and bounds, and the humans began to outnumber us a hundred to one, many supernaturals were forced to go to ground. It takes only a few well-placed pitchforks and one angry mob to get the point well across. Eventually we were all officially ordered underground. It was the only option left shy of an all-out war with the humans. That was hundreds of years ago. Now the only ones who remember the old days are us, and the only thing marking history are in your children’s books. But if you’re still on the fence about our existence, I’d be happy to show you a thing or two.” Danny grinned. “I’m pretty good at regulated fur growth.”

Ray grimaced. “I’m going to take a leak.” He turned abruptly toward the trees and wandered away without looking back.

I bent over and opened the bin on the ground. “Let’s get this stuff packed,” I said. “The vamps should be here soon.”

Tyler, Danny, and I stuffed our backpacks with as much as they would hold: food, water, clothes, and essentials. The truck would be home base if it took longer to find Selene. If we wanted to, we could simply strap a mini fridge on our backs. Weight wasn’t an issue, but you can’t defend against an attack with a fridge strapped to your back.

The sky darkened around us, the sun dipping below the horizon. Tyler went into the woods to sample the air and scout the path. Ray perched on a dead log wrapped in his own thoughts. I stood from where I’d been sitting on the edge of the bumper as the last of the daylight flooded from the sky, expecting the vamps’ imminent arrival. “Danny, are you—”

The pack I’d been holding in my hands slid from my grasp.

I collapsed to my knees in the next breath.

My wolf snarled, barking fiercely in my mind.

It’s… another spell attack, I said to her. Like the one we had last night. But she already knew. The red lines amassed themselves quickly in my mind as my wolf snapped and ripped at them as fast as she could.

My body began to lock up, and I watched in horror as my hands and fingers became engulfed in red. The spell spread like scarlet vines up my arms. This time it was happening much quicker. F*ckity, f*ck, f*ck. I couldn’t breathe. My lungs were shutting down. Danny’s shocked face hovered above mine.

Was I lying on my back?

“What the bloody hell is going on?” Danny yelled, but it sounded like he was under water.

I closed my eyes.

Someone shook me. “Hannon, wake the f*ck up. You’re turning red.”

“Hold on to her arms,” Tyler barked, but he sounded muffled and far away.

I convulsed. I felt it, but I was only vaguely aware. My wolf howled. I tried to hold on to consciousness, but I was losing focus fast. My wolf ripped at more of the lines, snarling wildly. We have to share power and attack it together, or we can’t win. Without coupling our strength, we wouldn’t make it. She growled at me, still attacking the sea of red in front of her with single-minded intent.

The entire spell meshed together like a honeycomb of lines, and I knew once it coated my mind completely there would be no way out. I pried open my eyes, but my field of vision was completely red. We have to combine our strength now. My wolf stopped biting and focused on me. A slow pulse tingled through my fingertips. No, you have to blast me! Like when we shift to Lycan form. She peered at me through the haze of my mind, tilting her head like she was trying to understand. Her eyes were unfocused and she faltered slightly. That’s why I hadn’t gotten any power from her. This time the spell had affected her, as well as my physical body. It was adapting, getting stronger. If we don’t snap out of it, we die here.

In a single moment, I made a decision.

With the last strength I had left, I blew open the opaque barrier between us. In an instant my wolf and I snapped together as one. My fingernails shot to sharp points and my canines dropped within the span of a heartbeat. Power shot through my senses like a lightning bolt as my muscles coalesced and fur sprang to the surface.

“What is she doing?” Ray yelled, dropping one of my arms.

“She’s fighting it; that’s what she’s doing,” Danny said. “Stand back. This could get ugly before it gets any better.”

On a thread of consciousness I put my wolf in control. As the energy shifted to her completely, she let out a fierce snarl, and as she did it, my mouth opened and I could hear the sound reverberate in my eardrums. It was terrifying.

“Holy shit.” I barely heard Tyler’s voice over the rushing in my ears.

Instead of snapping at the lines, my wolf closed her eyes, gathering as much power as she could to her. I understood what she was doing and, as my muscles pulsed and grew, I threaded all the energy to her as fast as I could. You have to hurry. I can’t keep it up. It’s too much. Her eyes snapped open and she lifted her muzzle to let out another grating howl. The power streamed out of her mouth in one huge mass of energy and exploded through my senses like a fireball. My body jumped like it’d been defibrillated. The power manifested itself in a shock of white and annihilated the red lines like a nuclear blast, racing through my veins, wiping everything clean in a single sweep. As the energy wound its way through every cell in my body, I felt exhilarated.

My eyes flashed open.

It was dark and I was on my back.

The red haze was completely gone. I sat up in my Lycan form, half wolf, half human.

“Jesus Christ, Hannon,” Ray breathed. His voice held both awe and revulsion. “What are you?”

“I’m a Lycan, Ray.” My voice sounded like rocks bouncing around a garbage disposal as air grated over my distorted throat.

Danny stepped forward first. “You turned completely red this time. That was too close for comfort.”

There was movement in the tree line. My head shot to the noise, my senses still on high alert.

My wolf growled and it came out of my throat, loud and scratchy. We were still connected, like two eyes peering out of the same body.

Naomi stepped out of the woods first. She stood in a weak pool of moonlight. I must have been out for longer than it’d felt, because it had gone from twilight to full night. Her steps were tentative as she came near. Eamon approached behind her. From their expressions, it was clear they had both witnessed my episode from the forest. They must have landed right as the spell took me over.

“You were fighting Selene’s death spell. I could tell by the red lines. It’s highly potent,” Eamon said with slight accusation in his voice. “By all rights you should be dead.”

I glanced down at my hands, no longer red but full of claws and smoky gray fur. “I’m clearly not dead.” I stood to my full height, which was considerable. Beating Selene felt fantastic. “And, just so you know, the spell won’t be coming back.”

“She is the strongest of her kind, possibly in the world. You should not be able to rebuff her mastery so easily.” Eamon glanced around, seeming confused. “That spell is made out of her essence, not just conjured. There is no cure.”

“Eamon,” I said patiently. “It’s very apparent you know a lot about this Goddess, but you just witnessed firsthand what happened. It doesn’t matter if it was her ‘essence’ or not. It’s clearly not impossible to ‘cure’ the spell, because I just did it.” I knew without a doubt the spell was gone. My blood hummed with clarity.

“What my brother is trying to say,” Naomi cut in, “is that if one of us was hit with the same spell, we would surely die. It does not make sense to us why you still live. It should not be so.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I have no idea why I’m alive,” I ground out, my vocal cords straining to be precise. “But I’m not going to argue with the results.” It was time to let this conversation go and regroup. I turned away, taking in deep breaths, trying to ease myself out of my half form and calm down my stressed wolf. Okay. The crisis has been averted. Let’s get back to normal. My wolf growled, hesitating. We can’t stay in Lycan form and hike up a cliff; plus our clothes are falling off. It’s time to shift back and change. My Lycan form did not support skinny jeans. They were still on, but completely split up both legs. From here it looked like I’d survived the zombie apocalypse, but just barely. My shirt had fared a little better, because it was stretchy, but it had still split up the seams. It was time to switch to spandex.

As we both calmed, I realized my wolf and I were still sharing a common space in my mind. The barrier had been completely obliterated. I checked my mind further, but there was nothing opaque for her to stay behind. If she didn’t listen to me, it would be a fight to erect a new blockade and I was tired. We should stay merged, because it feels stronger when we’re united. But you have to agree on the parameters or it won’t work. I make the human decisions and you take the dicey fights. It’s an easy choice if you think about it. I felt a moment of hesitation, but then she eased back willingly. Our features shifted back. Perfect.

Once I was fully in my human form, I had to hold on to my jeans so they wouldn’t drop to my ankles. I looked up to see everyone staring at me. “What?” I asked. “What’s the problem?”

My brother tried to contain himself, but worry leaked around the edges. “It’s just… it’s a little strange to see you like that. I’ve never witnessed anything like it before. Being part wolf is sort of… incredible. Does it hurt?”

“It doesn’t hurt at all. In fact, it’s exhilarating. But it’s nothing I can help,” I reminded him. “Thank goodness I can do it, since I’m pretty sure it just saved my life.”

Danny swung a full pack onto his back as he came forward. “The power strumming from your body as you fought the spell was off the charts. When you ripped out that howl, every hair in my body jumped to attention. I had to hug myself not to change. Whatever you are, the Goddess will have her hands full trying to best you. It’s the first time I’ve felt like we might have a bloody shot of winning this.” He grinned. “Let’s get on with it then, shall we?” He directed his gaze to Naomi, who was still openly assessing me, her shrewd eyes missing nothing. No detail of my form or my fight with the spell had escaped her.

It was clear the vamps hadn’t known I was a Lycan. Or even what a Lycan was.

Their Queen likely didn’t even know for sure.

But they did now.

I had no idea how educated the vamps were about werewolves, but as sharp and as old as Naomi was, it was likely she knew enough to piece together what I was from what she just witnessed.

A buzzing noise echoed loudly in the air.

It sounded like an annoying car honk and was coming from the pack Tyler had just picked up.

He glanced at me with his head cocked. “You know who it is. He’s going to want a detailed report of what just happened, so feel free to explain it in full this time.”

I walked toward him, reaching down to grab my own pack, which was still by the bumper of the truck, slinging it over my shoulder. Tyler held his backpack out to me and I unzipped the main compartment with one hand to grab the sat phone, which was sitting on top.

As I plucked it out, it honked in my grasp.

I depressed the large red on button and maneuvered the long antenna away from my ear as I paced into the forest. I needed to talk and change in relative privacy. “Hi, Dad, I’m here.”

“Jessica? What’s going on?” My father’s voice was full of concern. “Your wolf called to mine briefly, and then, once again, the line snapped. I need to be able to communicate with you when you’re in danger. I’m getting tired of this,” he growled.

“I know,” I said as I entered the cover of the trees and found a downed tree. I set my pack down and sat. Everyone could hear me, but it gave me the illusion of privacy. “I never hear or feel anything from you when I’m in my Lycan form. I have no explanation. But I’m fine. I was fighting”—I paused for a moment, because I hadn’t told him about the spell, which was why Tyler was perturbed with me—“a residual spell from Selene. But it’s gone now.” I held my breath. I’d kept this information from him on purpose, fearing he would never have let me go had he known I was harboring a death spell. It was hard to admit, and I knew he was going to be angry.

Tyler grunted, yanking the side door of the truck open loudly in the distance. I’d made him swear not to tell our father what had happened the night before, and it’d taken everything I had to convince him I had it under control. After what everyone just witnessed, “control” had been an illusion on my part. I’d put Tyler in a precarious position with his Alpha.

“What you talking about? What spell?” The phone crackled and broke across the line, but his anger came through loud and clear. “Answer me.”

“Selene hit me with more than one spell when she took me down in the clearing.”

“And you knew about this other spell before you left?”

“Yes.”

“And how exactly were you planning on getting rid of it?”

“I was hoping I could reach her and kill her before it struck again.” The theory with witches and spells was that if you killed the witch, the spell died. No fuel, no fire. Before Selene achieved her “goddess” status, she’d been a witch. Most goddesses started that way.

“I’m assuming that didn’t happen, because you’ve barely been gone twenty-four hours and you’ve already been forced into your Lycan from.” The phone buzzed in my ear, the connection worsening.

I sighed. “I was hit again with the spell without warning when you felt the change. We’re right outside her boundary and it might have been triggered by the proximity, but I have no real clue. It could also be time release. But the good news is I handled it and it’s gone. I know you’re not happy with me, but nothing was going to keep me home. We both knew that. It would’ve been too much to tell you in the short time we had left and it was better to go without a fight.”

“Jessica, I can’t keep you safe if I don’t know what’s going on,” he ground out. “We could’ve had another witch examine you. There could’ve been some sort of counterattack. Going off on your own is not going to work. This is Pack. It’s not a one-man operation. It infuriates me that you have the ability to block me. Keeping things from me in the future will not be tolerated.”

“I hear you. I won’t let it happen again and I promise to tell you everything from now on. But, in my defense, I couldn’t risk Rourke’s life like that. If you had ordered me to stay home, it would’ve been worse. We could’ve had a fracture between us. You would’ve forced me to leave Pack.”

He was quiet for a few beats. “Jessica, I understand why you did it, but it stops now. I need to know everything, and from there we make the decisions… together. Your life is going to change very quickly from now on. I get it. But I’m still your Alpha.” A fierce growl spread across the line. “I don’t give a goddamn if my commands don’t stick. You will follow my rules or you will find yourself on the outside. Are we clear?” His voice was stony and a few faint ripples of his emotion flowed through me, our blood connection barely triggering this far away. But it was there.

“Clear.”

“I just arrived in Redman’s territory. We meet with him first thing in the morning. I want you to check in with me again as soon as you can. If I feel any more issues from you, I’ll call. If I can’t get a hold of you or Tyler, I will drop what I’m doing and come after you.” I knew he would.

“Got it.”

“Jessica.” My father’s voice dipped low. “Please stay safe.”

“I’m doing my best.”

I clicked off the phone and reached down to grab a pair of pants out of my pack. Once I was dressed, I rejoined the group, strapping my pack on my back. Naomi stood silently next to the truck. She hadn’t moved since I’d taken the call. Eamon paced off to the side.

“You are strong,” she said firmly as I stopped. “Stronger than most.”

Was I strong or was I different? “I’m not going to argue with you, Naomi. But now’s not the time to talk about my genetic makeup. We’ve lost enough time. Which way are we headed? Lead the way.”

“We are one pass away from the correct entrance,” Naomi said; her voice rang with tension. “We will have to climb to the top of this peak and down to the next gorge. Once we cross the river at the bottom, we will pass into Selene’s territory. It will take longer than if you had found the correct entrance, but we have no choice now. Follow us.” Eamon was already moving through the trees.

“How did we miss it?” I asked, falling in step behind her. “This was the only road that made any sense on the GPS.” Danny trailed behind me, followed by Tyler, who had just locked the truck. Ray took up the rear. “Can Selene mess with GPS signals?” I guessed a goddess could do what she wanted if she was clever enough.

“Whether she can or cannot is not our concern,” Naomi said. “We do not need GPS. The road you were looking for had flood damage and the entrance has since been wiped away.” She arched an eyebrow over her shoulder at me like a pro. “You are a supernatural, are you not? I will be more precise in the future. I told you the road you wanted dead-ended into the lake. This”—she gestured around her—“does not.”

Touché. Another demerit for the hillbillies.

Tyler came up next to me, grumbling, “We can’t shift, so it makes it a little harder to find the right coordinates. Especially if they’re not on any map.”

“Yes, but direction isn’t our strong suit, is it?” Danny interjected. “Remember that time in the Everglades, tracking those alligators? It took us a week to get out of that bloody hellhole.” Danny chuckled to himself.

“You’re not helping,” Tyler growled.