The Siege of Kadenburg (13 page)

“It took us a while to shovel through the snow just to get this far,” Deputy Farris mumbled. “But when we got here we thought you ought to see it too.”

“See what?” Sheriff Holter asked through clenched teeth as he stepped past the deputy to gaze at the security fence that kept intruders from being too close to the high voltage station.

No one had to answer him as he saw the condition of the fence.

“The snow didn’t knock the power out, did it?” Sheriff Holter asked, though his tone was making it more of a statement than anything else.

“No, Sir,” Deputy Farris replied. “Somebody used wire cutters or something to get inside there.”

Sheriff Holter studied the fence as his eyebrows knitted together. He slowly shook his head.

“That wasn’t done by wire cutters, Son.” He replied quietly.

He was gazing at damage caused by wolf claws.

———————————

“S
he what?” Beau asked in an angry voice as he gripped his phone a little tighter. He really needed to keep himself in check right now, or else he’d be buying a new cellphone. He licked his lips, nostrils flaring as he glanced up to see Joy walking by. He tried to pretend everything was okay by giving her a quick smile, but everything was
definitely
not okay.

“I’m so sorry!” Louisa’s trembling voice replied on the other end. “Greg showed up and I left the living room for two seconds. She just left.”

“Louisa!” He damn near shouted into the phone. He needed to calm down, so that’s what he did. He closed his eyes and counted to ten before trying again. “Louisa, I told you to look out for her. I told you there were wolves in the woods last night….if she gets out there and she’s the one they were looking for….” He couldn’t even finish that sentence. For some reason, way beyond his comprehension at the moment, Beau felt physically sick at the thought of something happening to Sammy.

“Nothing will happen, I promise,” Louisa whimpered. “I’m going to go find her right now. Greg and I will find her, okay? I promise!”

She hung up before he could say anything else, and that only infuriated him more.

She’s young.
He reminded himself as he tucked his cellphone into the pocket of his jacket.
She still has a lot of learning to do.

“Is everything all right, Doctor Xiong?” Joy asked as she appeared at his side.

“Yeah,” he frowned. “The waterlines froze at my apartment. It’s a huge mess.” He lied.

“Oh, yikes. That’s a bummer,” Joy smiled. “Well, I hope it gets fixed soon. They should get the power turned back on at any time-or so I’ve heard. I thank God we’ve got the generators here.”

“I agree.” Beau nodded and turned to grab the chart of his next patient.

The double doors at the end of the hall suddenly flew open and Beau didn’t need to look up to know someone was badly injured. The scent of their blood was strong-strong enough to signal they would be in need of immediate medical attention.

Oh, hell.
Beau thought as he turned to see the gurney being rushed down the hallway. His eyes fell upon a middle aged man, covered in blood, with gaping wounds on his throat. It was one of the worst injuries Beau had ever seen in his life-and he’d seen many.

“What happened?” Joy asked as she fell into step alongside the hasty EMTS.

“Animal attack,” the male EMT responded. “His wife called into the sheriff’s department about twenty minutes ago. She was screaming and frantic. When we arrived on the scene, she was gone and he was lying in the middle of the road like this.”

“In the middle of the road?” Beau questioned. “Did they wreck or something?”

“No,” The EMT shook his head, pushing the gurney into an operating room with the guidance of his partner. “He was just there….no vehicle in sight. We couldn’t find any traces of tire tracks-or his wife.”

“So his wife is missing?” Joy gasped. “Oh, how awful! What could’ve done this?”

Beau didn’t need the EMTs to tell him any of their guesses. He already knew what had done this. He’d seen it before. These were the same fatal wounds most of his family had received on the night of his village’s slaughter.

“Get Doctor Bishop on the phone,” Beau stated hoarsely as he fumbled through the nearby cabinet to find a syringe. “Tell him he needs to get down here now.”

“Yes, Sir!” Joy shouted as she disappeared from the room.

Beau had every intention of injecting the man with some pain medicine. He couldn’t imagine the amount of pain he was in-but he wanted to ease it if he could. He was just about to call out to Joy again to retrieve some morphine when fingers locked around his wrist in a death grip.

“I have….a message….” The man struggled to say as blood gargled from between his lips. He stared at Beau with wide blue eyes.

Beau’s eyebrows drew together as he gazed down at him. Did this man not realize he was bleeding profusely from his throat and if Beau didn’t stop it, he would die?

“You…..c-can’t….” He sputtered, spitting a mouthful of blood onto Beau’s white coat as he gasped for air. He was drowning from the blood seeping into his lungs. For the love of Urseth Beau needed to stop it!

“I can’t what, Sir?” Beau asked as he glanced upwards, trying to find Joy. “I’m trying to help you.”

“No,” the man hissed, baring his blood stained teeth as his grip on Beau’s wrist tightened. “Listen….to….me…”

“I’m listening, Sir, but-” Beau was cut off as the man’s fingers gripped the collar of his shirt, pulling him closer to his face. It was then that Beau caught of a sickening whiff of rancid wolf stench.

“They….are…..here….”

Beau searched the man’s face, his lips parting as the air escaped his lungs.

“They….are…here…” The man repeated as blood trickled down his chin. “You….can’t….stop them…”

“What did you say?” Beau asked quietly.

“You…..will……l-lose,” the man whispered, the light beginning to fade from his eyes. “Tell…”

Was this man seriously implying what Beau thought he was implying? He already knew the human’s wounds were inflicted by a wolf, and those words sent undesirable chills down his spine. His stomach twisted into knots as he struggled to hear the man’s nearly inaudible words.

“My…wife,” he gasped. “Took…..her….”

“They took her?” Beau whispered back to him, trying not to let the EMTs hear their conversation. “Who took her, Sir?” Even though he already knew the truth, he had to act like he didn’t. No one could know his connection with the attack. He was an ursithrope and it was his duty to protect humans, but he had to feign ignorance.

“You….know….” Tears leaked from the man’s eyes as his grip began to relax on Beau’s collar. He gasped for air, his chest heaving up and down as he desperately tried to hold on for a moment longer. “Save….her….”

And then he was gone.

Beau stood there, completely and utterly dumbfounded at what had just happened. It was almost as if this man was sent to the ER just to deliver that message. But why? Was Breslin Connor really clever enough to orchestrate such a plan?

As Beau stared at the lifeless form of the human being on the gurney, he already knew his answer.

Yes. Breslin was definitely clever enough to orchestrate a plan like that. Beau needed to find out what other ‘plans’ he was about to follow through on, before it was too late.

——————————-

L
orcan winced every time he heard the gut-wrenching heaves coming from the bathroom. Presley was sick again-she’d been doing that a lot lately. It was to be expected; he understood that. But wasn’t it supposed to ease up as the weeks passed by?

“That poor dear.” Mrs. Bamey sighed as she put away the clean skillet Lorcan had accidentally burnt the eggs in. It wasn’t his fault. As soon as he heard Presley’s screams, she became his only concern. The skillet had been forgotten on the heater, and Mrs. Bamey fought for a full fifteen minutes to scrape the crisp eggs from the bottom. Thank goodness for Mama Bears.

“You were just as bad,” Mr. Bamey mumbled as he re-entered the house with a gallon of kerosene in tow. “I remember how sick you were with Liam.”

“That’s true,” Mrs. Bamey sighed, wiping her hands off on a dish towel before she joined her husband and son in the living room. “She’ll be all right.”

Lorcan nodded in silence, resting his chin against his palm as his eyes wandered over the bare walls of his new home. They needed to hang some pictures eventually. He imagined their cub’s face would be plastered all over the place before long.

Why am I thinking about pictures when I need to be worrying about everything else?

“Did you hear me, Lorcan?”

Lorcan blinked upon hearing his mother’s voice and he looked up at her, “Huh?”

“Oh, Lorcan,” She frowned, placing her hands on her hips. “Sweetie, please try to pay attention right now.”

“Sorry, Mama,” he sighed, pinching at the bridge of his nose. “What were you saying?”

“I was asking if this is the first time she’s had those dreams.”

“As far as I know,” Lorcan scratched the back of his neck. “I mean..she’s had a few nightmares about Breslin, but mostly she just doesn’t dream at all-at least not as far as I can tell.”

“Poor Presley,” Mrs. Bamey said softly, turning her head in the direction of the hallway. “She doesn’t need this stress. It’s not good for the baby.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Lorcan questioned in an annoyed tone. “I don’t want anything to happen to her or our cub. You think this is the life I want for them?”

Mrs. Bamey gazed at him with sadness in her eyes. Lorcan didn’t mean to fly off the handle like that-he really didn’t, but enough was enough. He never imagined chaos making its way back into Kadenburg. The bad things that had happened were meant to be a thing of the past, yet he found himself re-living it and he had to watch Presley suffer through it, too. Kadenburg was supposed to be peaceful; they were supposed to be peaceful people, yet with each passing day he could feel the warrior within demanding to be released.

A firm yet gentle hand rested against his shoulder then, and Lorcan lifted his gaze to see his father standing there. Mr. Bamey stared at him with such understanding in his eyes, and a lot of compassion.

“We’re going to figure this out,” Mr. Bamey promised quietly. “No matter what it takes, Son, we’re going to get through it together. Whatever Urseth has planned….whatever Breslin thinks he’s going to do…we’ll be ready for it.”

“Yeah,” Lorcan nodded, dropping his gaze to the floor. He ran his tongue over his lips, attempting to moisten them as his brows furrowed. “I know that, Dad. I’ve never doubted it. I just don’t want Presley to be dragged through it. I don’t want the life of my cub risked over…this…” He let his hand move in a fast circle, as if trying to sum up the mile long list of problems they needed to deal with.

“Presley is a lot stronger than you give her credit for,” Mrs. Bamey remarked as she made her way into the kitchen. “I think you’re going to see that very soon, Lorcan. She is a delegate. Urseth does not give such an honor to just any random ursithrope. She will do great things. You heard what she said about the dream, right? Liam needed to show her things,” she turned back to face them with tears in her eyes. “If Urseth would send my boy back to tell her such a thing, then I believe whole heartedly we will triumph over the likes of Breslin Connor. That cub
will
be born and he will do wonderful things in the future.”

Lorcan was still trying to let that bit of news sink in. They were going to have a son, according to the dream. Up until this point, he only hoped for a healthy baby-but a boy? They were having a boy!

“And what about the brother?” Lorcan asked after a few beats of silence. “She has a brother. How did no one know about that? He has to be Pierce’s son, right? I mean…did Caroline have another baby that no one knew about?”

“Oh, heaven’s no,” Mrs. Bamey shook her head furiously, returning with a glass of water as she eased down onto the couch. She was silent for a moment, listening to the running faucet in the bathroom. She focused her attention on the conversation at hand once more. “Caroline was a virgin until she coupled with Pierce. I know that for a fact. She was head over heels in love with him. She wouldn’t have given herself to another before then.”

“So Pierce has another kid out there. He was with another woman.” Lorcan mumbled, scratching the scruff on his jawline as he lost himself in thought.

“It appears so,” Mr. Bamey grunted as his eyebrows knitted together. “It’s just a matter of finding out where he is, huh?”

“Didn’t Urseth say he would come to Presley?” Mrs. Bamey asked as she held the glass of water between her hands. She glanced up, watching as Presley re-entered the living room. She was up in an instant, making her way towards the younger female. “Here, sweetheart. Drink this. I put some honey in it so that should help with the nausea.”

“Thank you.” Presley replied tiredly as she accepted the glass and lifted it to her lips for a long drink.

Lorcan’s eyes never left his mate’s face as his mind raced with various thoughts. He knew she had a brother and he understood they needed to find him. He was one of the many missing pieces to this puzzle. But how? Where? How the hell were they supposed to know his name?

“He’ll come to me when the time is right,” Presley said softly as her eyes landed on Lorcan’s. She’d read his mind, without a doubt. “If that’s what Urseth said…then who am I to question it?”

“You have a very valid point, my dear,” Mrs. Bamey nodded, smiling again. “Why don’t we give this conversation a break for a bit and try to find something else to do? We could work on the nursery a bit, hm?”

“That sounds great, Mom, except the power’s still out and I don’t have a battery operated drill to finish putting up the shelves,” Lorcan shook his head.

“You don’t need electricity to paint,” his mother replied as she wrapped an arm around Presley’s shoulders and pulled her in for a careful hug. “We need to do something to keep our minds occupied.”

I can think of plenty of things to do with my mate to keep our minds occupied.
Lorcan thought with a small smile.