The Shepard's Agony (22 page)

“
What?” Gwen asked
. Di bravely turned her head to look at them all when Jimmy and David Shepard explained the nature of her visit and what had happened after she left.

“
That still doesn’t excuse
her
,” Elaine said cautiously, shaking her head. “I’m not sure what Bill will do when he finds out.”

Of cou
rse, Elaine was too new to the pack to
know
,
and
even though David and Jimmy were hunters, nearly experts on the area of werewolves, they wouldn’t know either since every pack had its own set of laws.

“
She’ll be lucky to get banishment
,” Gwen said. Di’s face went a ghostly white.

“
But—but I’ve been with this p
ack my whole life!”

“
Bill’s not going to give you a slap on the wrist for
this
,” Gwen argued, silencing her immediately. She had to steel herself for the next question. “Did you give them the address book?”

Di was already radiating guilt and shame, but the intensity of it when she’d asked the question was answer enough. Gwen clenched her fists and wished there was something around she could dig her claws into.

She turned to David. “Tell me she gave it to
you
,” she begged. If he had it then at least one problem would be solved.

He shook his head. “No, I’m
sorry
, but I never took it.”

“Then …” She pointed her finger at Jimmy hopefully.

“
Our father has it,” h
e said, shifting under his hood. “I don’t even know if he’s alive anymore.”

“
Dear
God
,” Elaine gasped, stepping away from Dianna in shock.

Gwen had to force herself not to feel pity for Jimmy or David just yet, an act that was already made hard by the fact that it was also David’s father they were talking about
. But if he was dead, the pack had nothing to worry about.

Gwen wasn’t sure she wanted to know, but she had have something to say to her father. Any information was useful. “Why would you give them the book?”

Dianna shrugged and sobbed helplessly.

“
Our father tricked
her
,” David said. “He told her he needed it to be sure everyone in your pack was where they were supposed to
be
so that no one could sneak up on us.”

Gwen’s jaw dropped. “That doesn’t make any sense! An address book can’t do that.”

Jimmy crossed his arms. “She fell for it.”

“But he-he promised no one would get hurt!” Di sobbed.

“
Oh, give me a break, how could you believe that? They were obviously going to use th
e book to Hunt everyone in the pack.”

David flinched, Jimmy didn’t. It was true, she knew it was.

Elaine looked stricken. “We have to go back and warn them.”

“But
, they said no one went
home
,” Dianna said.

“
That’s good then.” David looked hopeful. “That means even if my father is
alive
, he can’t Hunt anyone.”

It was a good point and Gwen hated to crush their hopes, b
ut that wasn’t the end of it. “Our pack is too small. Not everyone in that book is a Were or even in our pack,” she said. “A lot are normal people who don’t even know about
Weres
are
in that
book.”

“
What’s Bill’s opinion on death?” David
asked
.
If it were
even possible, Di went whiter. Jimmy went to stand beside her when she swayed, as if about to
faint
. She managed to stay on her own two legs, her hands covering her mouth and eyes wide. It occurred to Gwen that this was the first time Di had stopped to think about the true consequences of her actions.

“
He’s never kil
led a member of our pack before,” Gwen said. “But, nothing like this has ever happened before either.” She shuddered at the thought of Di being put to
death
. Even for all her
anger
, she couldn’t bring herself to believe Di would deserve it after the story she heard.

Then it hit her, if Bill decided to have Di murdered
, what was to say he wouldn’t do the same to David?

She shuddered and tried to remember that Bill wouldn’t do such a thing. It was why she was alwa
ys proud to be a member of her
pack
; it was fair and peaceful. At least, up until recently.

“
Di will most likely
be banished for a few years,” she said, just to have something else to think about. “Not forever, because, like she said, she’s been with the pack for most of her life.”

Di shook her head. “I won’t risk it.”

All heads swung toward her.

Elaine tried to reason with her. “You need to face what you’ve done—”

“Not if there’s a chance he’ll kill me!”

He
r shriek frightened birds out of their nests and no one had anything to say to her. A long howl in the distance was warning that their time was limited. David groaned.

“What happened?” Gwen asked.

Elaine was the one to look guilty this time. “I locked Eric in the basement.”

Gwen’s jaw dropped and she spun her head at David, who grinned and nodded his head quite happily. Something that irked her.

“Tell me you at least didn’t hit him.”

“
Well, no, but we did have to shove him in there to lock the door
before he could get out—what?” he asked at Gwen’s groan.

At least he didn’t
knock out another packmate, Gwen wasn’t sure if defending him would do any good if he was continually acting violent. The howls were getting closer and their time was running out. She could feel Eric among the group, his thoughts especially angry, but nowhere near as furious as John’s, who could
sense
her, Di, and Elaine with the two recently escaped hunters.

She had so much explaining to do, but the difference was that when she gave her explanation, she wouldn’t be put on trial and face a possible death.

Gwen marched towards Di to look her in the eyes. “Are you staying or going?”
she asked. Di shrank back from her stare.

“
I’m
going
,” she whispered.

“
I’ll take her with
me
,” Jimmy offered, moving to stand close.

“
I don’t believe that’s a good
idea
,” Elaine said, curiously worried about having the two of them together.

“
Wait,” Shepard snapped his
fingers
, “actually it is.” He reached into his back pocket, glad to find that his wallet was still there and pulled out the few bills and a credit card before handing them to him.

The relief on his face was as evident as the money in his charred hand.

Gwen didn’t want to appear as if she didn’t trust him, but she was
curious. “What are you doing?”

“
If they’re together
, they have a better chance of getting
away
. Plus, I want someone to help you out during the day.” He was looking at Jimmy now, who pocketed the money and nodded his head.

“
I’ll try not to run your bill too
high
,” he joked, and his brother spared a smirk.

“Don’t worry about it.”

The howling was closer now, hungrier, and Gwen swallowed hard. The entire pack was
searching for them, John and Eric leading the way as wolves

“
Better hurry
.” Shepard squeezed Jimmy’s shoulder before he took Dianna by the hand and ran into the woods, disappearing seconds later amongst the trees.

Gwen grabbed his hand, tense with the pain of watching his brother go. She wished she could comfort him, wrap her arms around him and tell him they would be safe, but the fact was that too much time had been wasted on goodbyes. “They’ll sniff them out before they find a
road
,” she whispered.

Shepard sighed, he could still smell his brother in the woods
and
his first change hadn’t even happened yet. Gwen was right, if he could still pinpoint where they
were
, what chance did Jimmy have against the
Were
s in Gwen’s pack?

“
I know, but I can always distract them.”
He grinned suggestively, trying to lighten the mood and lift the weight in his chest before Elaine yanked on his ear, throwing him off balance.

“
There’
ll be no fighting out of you!” she said. Gwen giggled at the pained face he made.

“
I guess she told you, then?” s
he asked.

Shepard gave her a blank stare and Elaine went white in the face.

“Told me what?”

Before
she
could say anything else
, they were surrounded by angry people and snarling wolves.

John’s grey fur was standing on end, Eric in a similar state, especially angry for being locked
up
. They were slinking closer, heads low to the ground and ready to pounce.

Gwen stepped in the way. She would defend David this time, even if standin
g up against her own packmates scared her out of her wits.

John cocked his
head
, eyed their joined hands,
and
growled,
loudly
. The sound didn’t go unnoticed by the others.

“What’s going on here?” Larry demanded, looking at his daughter and then Elaine as if they’d both gone and lost their minds when no one was watching.

Shepard eyed the teeth on both animals and tried not to picture them ripping him to shreds. “
Hey
, guys, no hard feelings?”

Both took a step closer, showing more teeth, and Shepard quickly raised a hand. “Okay, okay, I get it.” But he didn’t try to remove his hand from Gwen’
s
; she squeezed his hand in
a
silent thanks.

“
Stop
it
, you two,” Larry snapped. “John, go after the other hunter, Eric and
I will
stay here.”

John hesitated and sniffed the air before snarling his agreement.

“
Daddy, don’t,” Gwen
begged
as Shepard ran in the way before John could run off.

“
You sure you want to do that? You don’t want to stay and watch that I don’t steal your girlfriend away?”
He reached out and grabbed Gwen’s hand again, softly kissing it just for good measure.

John snarled and approached
as Gwen flushed miserably, trying to ignore the heat spreading from her hand to her body where David’s lips had made contact. She didn’t like being used like that but held back a scathing comment because she knew he was only doing it to help his brother escape with Di.

“
Take your hands off my
daughter
,” Larry seethed.

“
He doesn’t mean anything by it.” Elaine
moved to
Larry
, trying to calm him. She put her hands on his shoulders and made him look at her. Eric cocked his furry head at them, calmer now and sitting in the twigs.

Gwen’s heart rate sped up as her father’s face melted under Elaine’s determined
gaze
. David suddenly jumped back from John’s bite, holding her in front of himself as a shield, knowing they would never attack her.

Gwen stared in wide
-eyed surprise as John growled and
approached
. She and David slowly backed away.

Gwen didn’t know whether to be angry at the both of them or start laughing, the way they looked really would have been funny if the situation weren’t so serious.

She eventually settled for laughing. “Afraid of the big bad wolf?”
she teased, feeling David’s hands tense on her shoulders.

“
No! I just …” He realized what he was
doing and
immediately released
her
, clearing his throat. She turned her head for a full view of his sheepish face, now red with embarrassment.

“
Stop it, all of you.” Larry had had enough. “John, track the others before it’s too late.
Now
!” he ordered. The grey wolf growled again and slunk off into the woods, tail spiked out angrily behind
him
. Gwen just knew she would be getting an earful from him later.

Whatever they had was officially over.

“
You’re coming with us
,” Larry said, and Eric put a paw
forward
, snarling at Shepard.

Shepard didn’t enjoy the idea of giving up so easily, especially when it was one man and one Were against him. He was sure he could take them, even with the pain of his upcoming change returning, but he had Gwen and that other woman to think about. He didn’t know Elaine, but obviously from Gwen’s comment she had a better reason than the one she gave to help him out of that basement. He couldn’t fight to escape without making her and Gwen choose between
helping him or betraying their pack. He didn’t want to put them in that position.

Then
, there was his brother and the woman he left with. Fighting certainly wouldn’t help them now that John had gone sniffing after them only minutes after they left.

Miserably, he nodded his head. “Alright.”

Larry was stunned and Eric shocked into silence.

“
Just like that?”
he asked.