The Revelation (6 page)

             
And for that, they'd pay with their lives.

             
“Looks deserted, Micah.” Andrew had poked his head out of the driver's seat window of an ancient Oldsmobile behind him, his expression confused. Similarly, others of their number had left the cars to stand in the rain and take in the sight of the imposing building before them.

             
Ignoring the younger man's witlessly obvious statement, Micah stepped up to wrap his gloved fingers around the wrought iron bars of the gate, his insides churning in a mixture of loathing and excitement.

             
So they were onto them.

             
The hunt began.

             
“Crowley!” He shouted over the heads of the ten or so assembled men and women behind him. Within seconds, a middle aged, bearded face appeared out a window. “Bring the bolt cutters. And Madeline, get me plenty of gasoline.”

             
“They can't be long gone, Micah.” At his side, a blonde with green eyes as frigid as a frozen lake had crouched in the mud to examine two sets of fading tire tracks. “These are still relatively fresh.”

             
“There's nowhere they can run that we won't follow.” He growled, taking the heavy tool Crowley handed him to dismantle the lock on the gates.  “First, this house. Then, we'll go after them.”

             
He'd heard from an informant in the town that one of the Douglases, a certain Luther, was expecting a wolf child. The woman had cooed stupidly over the notion, totally ignorant of the fact that the child would be a monster from the moment it entered the word, biting, clawing, ripping and killing no less than its own parents.

             
When he caught up with the wolves, he'd kill the pregnant bitch first. It wouldn't do to let another of their kind enter the world.

             
Taking a gasoline can from Madeline, he turned to the blonde at his side. She, above all the others understood his pain; and it was in her eyes that the desire for revenge shone just as brightly as it did in his own. “Shall we, lover?”

             
She smiled, the expression sending a thrill of lust through him.

             
“At your word.”

**

              Yuna had never liked flying. She hated going through security, hated the process of checking her bags, and most of all, she hated the idea of being stuck in a flying tin can, for hours, with no possible hope of escape.

             
Luckily for her, Luther was much calmer about the entire ordeal. Despite the fact that they were a party of eleven with a mountain of luggage, his calm guidance got them through the Spokane airport with few difficulties. While the young woman was sure that Magnus had always used intimidation as his most prevalent tool while he'd been Alpha, Luther seemed to use his charm.

             
They practically floated through security and within a few hours, they were in the air on their way to Edinburgh. From there, as Yuna understood it, there would be a train ride to the small town of Broxburn. No one in the Douglas clan had mentioned where they were going from that point, and the young woman respected their privacy too much to ask Luther. As it was, she was squirming in her seat at the prospect of an eight hour flight. It would be the longest she'd ever taken.

             
“Relax.” Luther murmured in her ear, as the attendant passed by with refreshments. “There's nothing to fear.”

             
Said he.

             
Despite her Yuna’s nervousness, the rest of the Douglases appeared completely comfortable with the chosen method of travel. They took up three rows of first class seats, and an hour into the flight, Nita and her mate were already asleep while Liam was deep in some old text about the Ripening. Viola laid her head against the window and appeared to doze, while Luther's cousins conversed in hushed voices, completely ignoring all around them. 

             
Yuna grabbed Luther's arm tightly as they passed through a pocket of turbulence and he leaned down to brush his lips across her forehead gently. “Yuna, breathe. It's not good for the baby.”

             
Ugh. The baby didn't have to endure this.

             
Still, the thought of her child was enough to comfort the young woman slightly. For the next hour, she forced herself to push aside any fear of what might happened when they reached their destination, any apprehension about the Hunters on their tails, and any terror that might accompany the thought of a birth during the ripening. Instead, she concentrated on what it would be like to have Luther's child in her arms:  a baby with dark russet hair and deep blue eyes, along with a smile that hosted perfect dimples and a gurgling laugh.

             
The vision chased her doubts away.

             
She loved Luther.

             
And she would love his child.

             
Leaning against her mate, she murmured into his shoulder. “I adore you. And I adore that you chose me.”

             
His expression solemn, Luther turned to her to cup her cheek gently, pressing his forehead to hers. “There was never any other option. You are my world, Yuna; and I promise to protect you and our pup, no matter what.”

             
She nodded, closing her eyes against the tears that threatened.

             
Come what may.

              To her immense surprise, the young woman found that she dozed off halfway through the relatively uneventful flight. There was a moment in which Liam almost mauled a child who poked him while he was sleeping, but a fierce look from his mate quickly tempered his behavior.

             
In what seemed like no time at all, they were making an approach to the Edinburgh airport. Besides holding on to Luther's hand rather tightly when they made their landing, Yuna thought she handled it pretty admirably.

             
It was immediately evident that they were in a city thousands of years old. Edinburgh had few skyscrapers, but masses of large, period buildings, along with an immense clock tower and charming cobblestone streets. It was only 5am, so there were few people out; but Yuna didn't mind. Without people around, it was almost possible to imagine that she'd gone back in time- to a place where her worries and the dangers that chased her didn't matter.

             
“It's beautiful.” She murmured to Luther, and her mate only replied with an indulgent smile.

             
“This is nothing.” The slight burr that usually colored his voice seemed to have deepened the moment they'd touched down. Now, it resembled more his father's more prominently accented speech. Yuna decided that she liked the change. “Wait until we leave the city.”

             
He was right.

             
Though Edinburgh was lovely, with its winding streets and buildings frozen in time, it was only once they'd boarded a train and traveled fifty miles beyond the city limits that she truly discovered the beauty of Scotland.

             
The sun rose slowly over misty valleys and craggy mountains carpeted with a lush layer of green that stretched as far as they eye could see. Lakes and rivers cut through the countryside, running deep, strong and pearlescent cerulean, to smudge themselves out on the horizon. Every so often, small clusters of buildings proved habitation, some surrounded by emerald fields inhabited by cows, goats and horses that ran rampant. By midday, the entire affair was blanketed in wispy fog that thinned and condensed alternatively, aided in its undulations by a light, constant rain.

             
“When I was young,” Luther mused from beside her, “my parents told me there was magic here. The idea was planted to strongly that I was devastated when we left. Every time I come back, I feel it's easier to believe that what they said was the truth.”

             
“It must be.” Yuna fixed him with a small smile. “The moonkind originated here, didn't they? Some magic had to have made your people.”

             
“Indeed.” Leaning back in his seat, the tall man closed his eyes as he settled in for a rest. “You might want to get some sleep. It'll be hours before we reach Broxburn.” With that, he fell silent, leaving Yuna to her thoughts.

             
As the young woman pressed her face against the cool glass of the window, she caught sight of Viola's reflection in the row across from them. Even though her image was dim and unclear, Yuna coud see enough to know that the woman was in deep contemplation. She found herself wondering if Viola had decided whether or not to tell about her pregnancy yet. They were going to be in extremely close quarters with the Elders; and Dame Strauss, the most enigmatic of their number, had an eerie way of knowing your innermost secrets.

             
The dark-haired girl found herself hoping that Viola didn't have to face what she did. Her mate's sister-in-law had spent her life following the regulations of a people that forbid her the joy of having her own child. It seemed to Yuna that perhaps Viola was meant to be a mother. For all the woman's tough exterior and cool determination, the girl had caught the way Viola's eyes softened when they took in the roundness of her stomach.

             
She deserved a child.

             
As far Yuna was concerned, no one deserved it more.

             
Control could be taught, couldn't it? That, and love, should be enough to protect any human child.

              It was dark by the time they reached the small cliff-side town of Broxburn. Upon debarking the train, Yuna realized she was sore in places she hadn't even known existed. Luckily, Luther helped her to the waiting car, and let her sit as the rest of their number assembled. As the young woman gazed back in the direction from whence they'd come, it occurred to her that from Spokane to Scotland was a long, long way for Hunters to travel to follow them. Hopefully, Viola had spoken truthfully when she'd said there was little chance of their being pursued.

             
Her baby would be safe.

             
Just as they had loaded all the luggage into the van and everyone had settled in, Yuna realized that they were short a member. She stood slightly out of her seat, glancing around.

             
No, she hadn't been mistaken.

             
Nita's ornery, hateful face was nowhere to be found.

             
She leaned forward between the seats to address her equally ancient- and probably somewhat senile- mate, Ryan. “Ryan, where's Nita?”

             
The elderly man only shot her a look of disdain over a thin shoulder. “She was here a moment ago.”

             
God, she despised that look. But she supposed that's what she got for caring. So she turned to Viola instead. “Viola, have you seen Nita?”

             
The crimson-haired woman frowned slightly. “Wasn't she sitting with Marilyn on the train?”

             
“She was,” Yuna nodded. “But I don't see her now.”

             
Sighing, Viola unbuckled her seat belt and slipped over Liam's lap to exit the car. “Crazy old bat. She probably wandered off to the restroom.”

             
When Viola hadn't returned in ten minutes, however, Yuna's stomach had begun to swim with worry. By now, Luther had gotten out as well and went to go find her, Liam hot on his heels; which left her in the car with Marilyn, Magnus, Ryan, and their kin, none of whose names she remembered. Another ten minutes passed before Yuna got nervous enough to exit the car herself, ignoring Marilyn’s protests.

             
She'd just been thinking that they were beyond harm's way, and now Nita had disappeared? Yuna wasn't especially fond of the wrinkled old wolf woman, especially since Nita had been one of the first to call for her death when Yuna had first encountered them at their den. But despite her personal feelings, the woman was still a Douglas. It was Luther's duty, and by default, her own, to look after their clan.

             
The young woman searched over the length of the train platform and through the guest shop. Nita wasn't in the restroom, and she'd seen neither hide nor hair of the others who'd gone to look for her. Yuna was on the precipice of panic when she finally spotted the group coming up the street that led to town. Groaning in relief, she ran to meet them.

             
Both Liam and Luther's expressions were contorted in long-suffering ire and Viola was trying to snatch a thin, wrapped package from the elderly woman between them. “Nita, you are impossible. Shopping, really?” The dark-eyed woman's scolding echoed down the lane.