Lone Wolf Rising (Paranormal Romantic Thriller) (The Winters Series) (39 page)

He spun her around and moved in close.
  His eyes wild and dangerous, it was in these moments she saw the predator in him.  "You can't do that Rebecca." 

She tried to pull away from him
, but he was stronger than she was, even with her enhancements.  "Like hell, I can't."  Her angry eyes locked on his.

He shook his head, sadness filling the space in his eyes.
  "It’s too dangerous, Becca."  He released his grip, but did not move away from her, his body so close it was painfully blissful.  After all the angry looks and jaded comments she still wanted to melt into his arms, get lost in his scent and find comfort that only he could understand and give.

"No matter what I do, this is dangerous."  She said, sadly.

He cupped her face in his hands, eyes pleading that she reconsider.  "Please, Becca, this... some
of these people won’t think twice about killing you.  I can only protect you so far.
"

She nodded,
agreeing 
w
ith him.  "Dear, sweet Gabe, you really do only care for
m
y safety.  I get that, I really do."  She reached a hand up to his cheek and smiled.  The touch was
intoxicating and dangerous
.  Then she changed gears, tapping playfully on his cheek.  "Haven't you ever
heard of the saying
, 
'
keep your friends close and your enemies
closer'
?"

'That doesn't apply in this situation
, Becca!"  He turned away from her, running a shaking hand through his dark hair.  "You have to trust me on this."

“
So what would you have me do?  Go out and make three-hundred new werewolves?  I don’t think I can do that.”  The truth burned as it left her lips.  She didn’t think she could make even one. 

He turned back to her, head tilted, confusion in his eyes.  “What do you mean?  This is a gift.”

“A gift that can either kill you or leave you wishing you were dead every full moon.”  Rebecca couldn’t believe the words coming out of her mouth.  “I don’t think I can do that to someone.”

“Then choose your pack among the homeless or the sick.  Think of the loyalty you will get when a man who lost use of his legs can walk again with your help, or a person with no home or family gets both by swearing allegiance to you.”  He shook his head as his eyes watered up.
  “The bite is not just a curse. For some, it’s a blessing.”

“The wolf heals?”

“Of course it does.  You know this.  Look at how fast you heal after training.  Or the cut on your hand.”  Gabriel pointed out.

“Yes, but I assumed that it only healed injuries after the bite.”  Rebecca’s voice was soft as her mind tried to grasp the possibilities.  She could help people get their lives back.  She could make a difference.  But the cost was too great.  Not everyone survived the bite.  She would have to kill some people in the process.  “It’s to
o high a price.”

“Trust me
, Becca.  If someone was given the choice of dying in a hospital bed or getting a chance to save their life with a bite that could kill them, they would most likely choose the latter.”

"And you need to trust me
.  I’m the alpha now.  I have to make tough decisions, and I really believe this is the right choice."

“So you choose to surround yourself with enemies?  And if it isn't the right choice?"
  His eyes pleaded with her to understand him. 
'Please, listen.  Your plan will get both of us killed.
'  His voice rich, raspy in her head.

"I’ve made up my mind."
  She turned to get in her car and left before he could make anymore protests. 

‘
You need to think about what he said Rebecca
.’  The wolf added quietly in her mind.  Now she had protests internally as well as externally. 

‘
I just don’t think I can risk it.  I’m sorry
.’

‘
Necessity will change your mind
.’  It was the last thing the wolf said to her all night.

Rebecca was certain nothing would change her mind, but she had to admit, her wolf was rarely wrong.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

~”Learn from the past, set vivid, detailed goals for the future, and live in the only moment of time over which you have any control: now.”

~
Denis Waitley

Rebecca

School went by painfully
slow
on
Friday.  Everyone was involved in the decorations and set up; everyone but Lucky, Gabriel, and Rebecca it seemed.  They were the ones that opted to stay in class and get caught up.  Despite all the changes in her life, Rebecca knew; deep down she knew, school was necessary and she’d already missed so much this past week.

It also helped to take her mind off the secret part of her new life; the death of her pack and parents, being an alpha, rebuilding the pack, telling her siblings the truth of their family, the vengeance she needed to deliver to those that killed the people important in her life,
her ‘pretend’ boyfriend, and Gabriel who believed he was her mate.  Then there was Celestia, the Authority, the Convent, the stalker, the pack interviews... and anything else that she was forgetting which was quite possible since she had so many balls in the air that she couldn’t even count them, let alone juggle them.  The only real constant was Gabriel, always watching, protecting.  He was the perfect enforcer and nothing like the irritating nuisance she first thought he was. 

"Learning history is about learning strategy.
  Learning from past mistakes of others is supposed to teach you to take a different route."  Rebecca heard Miss Johansen lecture.  As her voice droned on, Rebecca tried to listen.  She loved history.  She enjoyed strategy and the romantic idea of the historical world.  “And that is why choosing allies is so important.  They can make or break your advantage in wartime.”  Johansen’s voice broke through Rebecca’s musings.

Oddly
, what she was saying made sense and while it was about the past, it was very much also about the future.  They were talking about war and it appeared Rebecca was in the middle of a war herself.  She really hoped she could learn some sort of strategy to help her.  Celestia had offered to be an ally and Rebecca had snubbed her offer, which will only have negative consequences, no doubt.  Rebecca wanted information, not an ally at the time.  If Celestia had shared information about her parents’ demise she may have been more likely to play nice.  Miss Johansen called that leverage.  Some would call it stupidity.  Rebecca called it her only move.

Still she worried.  Vampires were not the nicest supernatural species out there.  Many prided themselves on creating mayhem. 

‘
Let’s not forget they’re your enemies.
’  The alpha reminded her.   

But Rebecca couldn’t understand why.  No one really knew why they were genetically trained to hate each other, but it was expected that they do.  Rebecca’s mind went back to the day she found the young vampire in the woods.  Even then, seeing the injured girl in front of her, she wanted to finish the job.  If it wasn’t for her humanity she would’ve. 

‘
I’d feel better about blindly hurting vampires if I understood why
.’  Rebecca responded to the wolf.

‘
Are you sure you want to know?
’  The wolf’s voice held warning.

‘
Yes
.’  No.  She wasn’t sure of anything anymore.  Her old friend, logic, had long since abandoned her, leaving her spinning in the Arizona quicksand.

‘
Very well.
’

The gruesome pictures that played out in her mind like a collage of movie scenes made her sick.  The vampires forcing the wolves into slavery.  Beating them, killing them for sport. 

‘
The vampires found werewolves a threat.  They tried to repress them, but you can’t keep a good wolf down.
’  The alpha chuckled at her reference to pop culture.  But Rebecca couldn’t laugh; she saw no humor in the terrible pictures that were playing out in her mind.  All she saw was sadness.  The wolf hurried on.  ‘
The brutality created the alphas.  Then came the evolutionary advantage that made your blood deadly to the undead creatures  The alphas brought the wolves together, organized them and created powerful armies  They bided their time and when they were ready, the alphas and their packs attacked back.
’

More pictures of bloody battlefields.  Wolves and vampires, alike, were massacred.  There was no discrimination in the death toll.  Rebecca closed her eyes to the vision and pushed back the tears that threatened to fall.  ‘
Such loss, such pointless loss
.’

‘
There was nothing pointless about it.  If we’d rolled over, we would still be held captive by the vampires, forced to do unspeakable things
.’ 

‘
You were there?
’

‘
Yes
. 
I will never forget the horrific things they did to us
.’

Rebecca swallowed hard.  ‘
I’m sorry.
’

‘
I don’t want your pity.  I want you to stay alive and rebuild.  There will come a time when we need to be at full force and if we aren’t we will lose the battle.
’

Rebecca didn’t know what to say to her veiled threat.  The wolf had centuries of experience on her, but those experiences may be more of a negative than a positive.  Maybe a truce with vampires wasn’t such a ridiculous notion?

‘
Foolish girl.
’

‘
What you’ve been doing for centuries hasn’t work so far has it?  Perhaps we need to learn from the past tragedies.
 
I have to try.’

‘You won’t be able to build an army of wolves that will side with vampires.  We made sure that would never happen.  You can barely stand to be in the same room.’
Her wolf stated as a matter of fact.

‘We
’ll see.’

Rebecca didn't understand all the rules and nuances of this world,
which was what Lucky and Gabriel were there for, but even they weren't leaders among their people.  She was.  She didn’t want it.  She was thrown into it.  Given no choice.  And while the alpha in her was helpful, it was Rebecca’s life.  Her choice.  The wolf wasn’t her, simply a part of something else that resided within her body and shared her mind. 

The wolf
 didn't trust Celestia, and Rebecca couldn’t blame her.  Neither did she.  But everything in the past was not working.  Her very existence was proof of this.  The only person in her life that understood what she was facing was Gabriel, but they weren’t talking at the moment
.  
They created a silent stalemate since her announcement last night.  He was upset with her decision about the rogues and she was upset with the fact that he did not trust her judgment.   

"So
, Miss Winters, if a former enemy of yours offered you an olive branch in the guise of a truce, would you have accepted?"  Johansen asked, clearing the thoughts from her mind.

“I think
I would.”  The few classmates in her class gasped at her surprising answer.  Gabriel and Lucky raised questioning eyebrows, but no one spoke in protest.  “I’m not saying I’d trust my new ally completely.  There would be a lot of work to do before the dirty water under the bridge was clean.  What I’m saying is that if the truce meant lives saved and a chance at peace, I believe I would.”  The room was still silent.  Johansen waited with a pleasant smile on her face for Rebecca to finish.  “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  Sometimes change, though uncomfortable, is the right choice.”  That last part was for her alpha’s sake more than anyone else’s’. 

‘
And do you feel the same about your parents’ deaths?  Can you turn away from taking revenge on their demise?
’