Dawn (The Dire Wolves Chronicles Book 3) (14 page)

“Yeah.”

“She looked pretty generic to me, although she did kind of remind me of the woman who made the omelets at school. She wore her gray hair the same way.”

“Maybe that’s it,” I agreed even though I really didn’t think I recognized her from school.

“Should we find the boys?”

“Sure.” It was funny to hear her refer to them as the boys. It was so informal and normal like we were a bunch of regular college kids on a road trip. Unfortunately we weren’t.

“
I
know that woman
.”

Denny spun around from his spot on the other side of the SUV. "What woman?"

“The one with the gray hair.” I turned back to point to where she had been, but she was gone.

“Imagining old women now, man? I guess Mary Anne isn't enough for you.” Denny laughed.

“Shut up.” I removed the gas nozzle from the tank and put it back in its spot on the pump.

He laughed again. "You are losing it."

“Maybe I am.” I twisted on the gas cap. “Is that normal?”

“Is what normal?”

“Losing my mind or thinking I saw something.” I scanned the parking lot for the woman again. It was going to bother me until I could place her.

“Because of the change?”

“Yes.”

“I wouldn't know. I've never been through it, and I haven't exactly seen too many people go through it.” He walked around to the other side of the car.

“It's a great feeling. Being the weird one.”

“You'll adapt. It will help when Hunter finishes it. Maybe.” He rested his hand on the hood of the car. “Once again I don't actually know.”

“Great. Real helpful.”

“If you were looking for helpful you wouldn't be talking to me.”

“I don’t have any other authorities on Dire life to go to.” It’s not like you got an instruction book when you were changed.

“You'll figure it all out. It should come naturally.”

“Says the guy with no experience with this whatsoever.”

“Hey, you guys ready?” Genevieve called as she and Mary Anne walked over from the store.

Mary Anne looked a little pale.

“Are you okay?”

She nodded. “I'm fine.”

“You promise?” I didn’t want to push her too hard, but something was definitely up.

“Absolutely.”

“I'll drive.” Denny came around to my side and pulled the keys from my hand.

“Shot gun!” Genevieve ran around to the passenger side.

I gladly slipped into the back seat next to Mary Anne. We wouldn't exactly be alone, but at least we'd have time together when neither of us were required to watch the road. I laughed thinking of how upset she’d gotten when I took my eyes off the road for a second.

She buckled up next to me. “What?”

“Nothing.” How could I tell her that looking at her was one of my greatest pleasures, after touching her of course.

“Ok.” She dropped it, but I knew she didn't want to.

“We’re getting close. No more stops until we get there,” Denny instructed.

“I can handle that.” Genevieve replied excitedly. She appeared much happier being in the front seat. She was taking this all so well. I hadn't known her well at school or anything, but I wouldn't have expected her to be so calm. She seemed to even be having fun. It was more than escaping boredom, she was actually enjoying herself.

Mary Anne was buckled in the middle seat next to me, and I couldn't have been happier about her seating choice. I needed her close.

“I never had any eggnog this year.” Mary Anne leaned into my side.

“You like that stuff?”

“Yes. You don’t?”

“Not really.” I told her the truth. We didn’t have to like all the same things.

“Great, that means if we get it I don’t have to share.”

I laughed. “Good thinking.” I put an arm around her.

In front of us Denny and Genevieve were n some sort of argument about the best ways to deep fry. Why Denny would ever need to know about that was beyond me, but their conversation brought some much needed normalcy to the car. We needed normalcy even though it was the farthest thing from our current situation.

I tuned out the conversation in front, and instead focused in on Mary Anne's light breathing. I was able to hear every small sound. Listening to her steady and rhythmic breathing relaxed me.

“We need a plan." She rested her head on my shoulder.

“We always need a plan.”

“We do.” She lifted her head up. “I have a feeling if he's there we aren't going to have to search.”

“Because he'll find us.”

“Do you think he really knows about us?” She glanced toward the front.

“He does.” Denny broke from his conversation with Genevieve. “He’s going to find us right away. He’s not an Alpha, but Fielding thinks like one. He has never accepted Hunter was in charge. It didn't help that he completely disagreed with him about everything.”

“Or that he is a psychopath.” Genevieve turned toward Denny. "Sorry, but isn't he?”

“That depends on how you define psychopath.” Denny sped up and passed a car.

“I wasn’t aware there were multiple definitions.” Genevieve pulled her leg up under her on the seat.

“It’s more whether you are being literal or not.”

“He’s crazy and kills everyone who gets in his way.”

“Then yes, that describes him.”

I went back to Denny’s earlier comment. “What do you mean he thinks like an Alpha? Does he run his people like a pack?”

“Yes and no. He lacks the ability to truly order them, so he controls them with fear.”

“Fear of himself or others?”

Denny changed lanes. “Both.”

“Did a lot of your friends stay with him?” Genevieve asked carefully.

“I didn’t have a lot of friends to begin with.”

“There are almost no Dires left.” Mary Anne cared about the Dires in her own way, and it was one of the great parts about her. She could empathize with people everyone else would run away from in fear. She understood them even if they didn’t want to be understood. She understood me.

“I’m trying to understand the dynamic here. How the group functions.” Genevieve remained all business. “Why were they willing or even able to defy the Alpha?”

“Hunter let them go.”

“What do you mean?”

“He let them go. He said he only wanted loyal members in his pack.” Denny glanced at her and then back at the road. “Not everyone was loyal.”

“How many left?”

“About six, which is a lot for us.”

“Are they all still with him?” I asked.

“I wouldn’t know.”

“Would you still recognize them?”

“Yes.” Denny looked straight out in front of him.

“We’ll get Marni back.” Mary Anne leaned forward toward the front seat. “She’s strong. I’m sure she’s holding up fine.”

“I know she’s strong, but she’s still female.”

Genevieve let out a sharp breath. “You didn’t just say that.”

Denny shook his head. “You don’t understand.”

“I do understand. You think being a female makes you weak.” She waved her hand around.

“No.” He captured her hand. “But for humans, the genders are almost balanced. There are as many men as women. It’s not like that in the paranormal world. Women are targets. Strong or not, she’s at a greater risk then the men.”

“You think they’ll touch her?” Genevieve asked quietly.

“She’d probably kill anyone who tried, but I don’t like that she’s in that prison.”

“Levi said she’s being watched by a female guard, and it’s not the main prison.” Mary Anne sat up again.

“I don’t care what he says. I need to see her with my own eyes.”

“The sooner we find Fielding, the sooner you’ll see her.” I wasn’t looking forward to facing him, but we had no choice.

“I need you three to promise me something.” Denny watched us in the rearview mirror.

“Okay.” Genevieve nodded.

He let out a deep breath. “If something happens to me, you’ll make sure Marni gets out okay?”

“Why would something happen to you?” Mary Anne asked with concern.

“Fielding hates me. He’ll go after me first.”

“Why does he hate you?” I asked.

“Marni. He’s always had a thing for her.”

“Ah, she picked Chet.” Mary Anne played with a piece of her hair. “That makes sense.”

“Why does your sister’s love life reflect on you? Is that part of pack culture too?” Genevieve’s questions made it seem as though she should have been taking notes.

“It’s not pack culture. It’s life.”

“Weird.”

“Not really. Guys do that sort of thing.”

“Really? I thought it was only girls who were catty.” Genevieve looked back at Mary Anne.

“It’s not catty as much as it’s macho-ness, right?” Mary Anne crossed her legs.

“Macho-ness?” I raised an eyebrow.

“I’m saying it’s for a different reason.”

“That’s true.” I nodded. “I would probably call it ego.”

“Does it really matter the how or why, or what we call it?” Denny sighed. “Let’s focus.”

“What’s gotten into you?” Genevieve touched his arm.

“I don’t want to deal with Fielding.”

“But we have to.”

“One has nothing to do with the other.” He shrugged off her hand.

“Do you know how we find him if he’s not where Jocelyn said he would be?”

“Mary Anne and Gage were right, he’ll come to us.”

“You think he’ll find us easily?”

“We’ll make it easy.” Denny gripped the wheel.

“Wait.” Genevieve sat up straight. “We’re not back to the bait thing, are we? I assumed you weren’t really going to have Mary Anne do that.”

“Who said anything about her being the only bait? We’re doing this together.”

“Meaning we’re all going to be luring him in?”

“We don’t have time to play detective. We need to find him.”

“And what do we do when we do find him?” Mary Anne asked. “I mean he’s not going to come with us easily.”

“That’s what the smart girls are for. One of you come up with a plan.”

“I’d love to come up with one, but I need more details.” Genevieve tapped her temple.

“What more information do you need?”

“How about what makes Fielding tick for one.”

“You said it yourself, he’s a psychopath.” Denny slowed down and changed lanes. We were getting close.

“But why is he one? Just brother issues? Tired of the hunt?”

“Tired of feeling like a second class citizen both in and outside of the pack.”

“Sounds like the perfect guest for daytime TV.” Genevieve smiled lightly.

“Unfortunately that’s not an option.”

“No because he’d probably kill the host.”

“He’s not like that.”

“You admitted he kills anyone who gets in his way.” Genevieve put her foot back down on the floor.

“Yes. People who get in his way. He doesn’t go around eating people for the fun of it. My guess is most people who deal with him think he’s a nice guy.”

“I’m sure.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm.

“That doesn’t mean you’re going to like him.”

“Great, can’t wait to meet him.”

“It won’t be long.” Denny turned off at the next exit.

M
ichelle led
the way through the twisted tunnels I’d have struggled to navigate myself. I would have eventually found my way out, but the magic holding them together would have affected my senses and made it difficult. It would have taken more time, and time wasn’t something I had to lose. I argued to myself that this was the reason I hadn’t overtaken her and left her to wait at the prison. That would have been better for her. If they didn’t buy the story that she’d chased after me, she was going to be in a lot of trouble if we didn’t bring my brother in. We both would be, so it was going to happen.

“If you ditch me, you'll never get out of here.” She seemed to read my thoughts.

“Why’s that?”

“Because you need my eyes to get out.”

“You think I can’t take out retina sensors?”

“Not these. They have another enchantment.”

“How much are you paying the witches?”

“I don’t like the reliance on magic either, but there’s no other choice. There are some non-magical security features built in as well.”

“I bet.”

“I can’t believe I’m doing this.” She glanced at me over her shoulder.

“Yes, you can. You can completely believe it.” I wasn’t going to let her pretend otherwise.

We continued down the dark corridors. I didn't mind being underground, but I was anxious to get outside. We could move faster that way, and I’d know I was closer to our destination.

“I’m curious about the girl.” Michelle pushed aside a large boulder. I wondered if that was part of the jail break deterrent system as well.

“What about her?”

“Who is she? Why did you dream about her?”

“I can’t answer the second question aside from the fact that I thought she was meant for me.”

“You thought, but you don’t believe it now?”

I sighed. “Not something I want to go into.”

“I think it’s worth going into considering we’re on our way to find her now.”

“We’re on our way to find my brother.” The brother I never wanted to see again in my life.

“And her. It was worry for her that motivated you.”

“I’m wondering if I misinterpreted things. She seemed so unhappy with me.” There were moments when I thought she had feelings, but they paled in comparison to how much she cared about Gage.

“Meaning she ran away from you.”

“Multiple times.” Realty was setting in. Having too much time to think tended to have that effect on you.

“Why did you think she was meant to be yours?” She turned and led us down yet another tunnel. They were far more extensive than I could have imagined.

“My dreams. I already told you.” I didn’t want to rehash any of it again.

“‘Yeah, but what about the dreams?” She stopped and turned to look at me.

I wasn’t happy about having to face her when giving the response. “They were
those
type of dreams.”

She smiled. “Oh. I see. And you are completely sure it was her?”

“Looked just like her.” I sounded more pathetic by the minute.

“Sometimes the mind has the ability to make us see things that aren’t really there.”

“I didn’t imagine Mary Anne.” I was sure of that.

“I know you didn’t, but maybe you imagined it was her exactly.” She continued walking further down the tunnel. “Did you really see her face clearly in your dreams?”

“It was her.”

“Other than her looking like the girl from your dreams, why are you so sure it was her?”

“She liked for me to call her Firefly.” I still remembered my excitement when I realized she liked the endearment.

“That’s a nice nickname.”

“It’s her.” I gritted my teeth. I had enough to worry about without Michelle trying to convince me I was wrong about Mary Anne.

“Ok, let’s say for a second you did dream about MA.”

“MA?”

“What? You guys don’t do nicknames?”

“Fine, what were you going to say?”

“I’m saying I’ll humor you and assume it was the same girl from your dreams, but maybe the sex was just your subconscious way of getting the message. Men like sex. It’s like giving a dog a pill in a piece of meat.”

“Are you comparing a man’s sex drive to a dog’s inability to realize he’s being tricked?”

She shrugged. “I’m just saying.”

“I suppose you could be right.” I hated to admit it, but there was some logic to what she was saying. I pictured Mary Anne’s face. She cared about me. I know she did, but was there anything real there?

“Do you love her?”

“Why would you ask that?”

“Because whether you love her or not tells me a lot.”

“I’d be happy to take her as my mate. I’d never want for anything else. I’d care for her and give her everything she could ever desire.”

She turned to look at me again. “Save the ‘what you offer’ spiel. I’m not buying any, but that isn’t love.”

“What is love anyway?”

She groaned. “Ok, let’s find your brother.”

“You can’t truly believe in it?”

“I don’t know what I believe.” She turned back around. Michelle didn’t appear to be the sentimental type, so I was surprised she hadn’t admitted her disbelief. It had to be because she did believe.

“You’ve felt it.”

“We’re not talking about me.”

“Why not?”

She always shut down when I asked about her. “Because my life isn’t the issue.”

“Of course it is. You are risking everything to get a job. That means your life is the issue here.”

“I’m allowed to want a better position. I wasn’t born into one like you were.”

“You were born into a powerful family.” That was obvious from the way she handled herself. I still didn’t understand how she wound up working at the prison.

“How would you know?”

“Because you know far more than someone in your position should know. You’re hyper aware of the elite. You are trusted beyond your pay grade.”

“That doesn’t have anything to do with my family.”

“It doesn’t?” I was pushing her, but it was helping pass the time. Besides, understanding her could help me better understand The Society. Who was I kidding? I was also asking out of curiosity and because thinking about her helped me take my mind off the revelations I’d had about my own life. About Mary Anne.

“Clearly your family life isn’t perfect either, but mine sucks. They left me hung out to dry.”

“Why?” There had to be a reason.

“It’s a long story.”

“We seem to have time, but you’re the one leading us, so I don’t know.” I was hoping we’d get out soon though. I didn’t mind the dark tunnels, but I’d feel better once we were off Society property.

“We do.”

“Then I’m all ears.”

“I made a mistake a few years ago, and they’ve never forgiven me.”

“What kind of mistake?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” She pursed her lips and straightened her shoulders.

“Why not?” I touched her shoulder. “You think I’m going to judge you?”

She spun around. “Why would I care about that?”

“Then tell me. What did you do?”

She turned around again and fell into silence. I didn’t push her. I had a feeling that some patience would pay off.

“I fell in love with the wrong person.” Her voice was soft, barely more than a whisper. It was nothing like her hissed whispers from earlier. This one spoke of hurt and betrayal.

“Who was it?”

“Someone I shouldn’t have loved.”

“An enemy of your family?”

“He wasn’t at the time. He was the son of a powerful member of The Society. He was supposed to do great things.”

“What happened?” I needed her to continue. I hated to hear the hurt in her voice, but I wanted to know the rest of the story. It would help her. Sometimes having one person listen was all you needed.

“He was sent away when his dad found out about us. He came back a different person.”

“A broken one.” I guessed.

“More than broken. He’s the biggest traitor The Society has ever seen. Well, aside from his father.”

“He may have hardened anyway.” I followed her as she made another turn.

“What do you mean?” She glanced at me over her shoulder.

“I mean you don’t know for sure it’s all from being sent away. A true man would have stayed and defied his father if he truly loved you.”

“Defying a father like his wouldn’t have been easy.”

“Who said anything about it being easy? Nothing that’s worth doing is ever easy.”

“I understood why he made the decision he made.”

“Did you?” I don’t know why I pressed her so hard, but I did.

“To do anything else would mean giving up his future.”

“His future? As in a job in The Society?”

“His father was the head of security.”

“It’s a job.”

“Being Alpha is a job.”

“Not in the same way, but let’s say it is. I’d have given it up if it were the only way to be with the one I loved.”

“Maybe he didn’t love me.” Unshed tears welled in her eyes, but she blinked them back.

“Maybe he didn’t, or maybe he did but not enough.”

“It doesn’t matter. Out of sight, out of mind.”

“That saying is wrong.”

“I know.” She sighed. “Enough of that conversation. We’re almost out.”

“Great.” I dropped the conversation. Pushing her any harder wasn’t fair. The guy who hurt her was an idiot. I barely knew the girl, but I could tell she was someone worth giving up a job for. The worst of it was he’d scarred her. They weren’t the physical scars I wore, but they were painful just the same.

“We’re almost there.” She rushed down the dark tunnel. “We need to hurry.”

She didn’t need to tell me twice. I hurried after her. We had no time to waste.