The Wolf in His Arms (The Runes Trilogy) (33 page)

Both of
their faces pale and mouths slightly parted, Nadia and Maxwell watched the door
to Lucy’s room shake. Her screams had ended just moments before, and now
snarling, bloodthirsty cries filled the air. Maxwell stood nervously and paced
toward Alec’s cell. He leaned his head close to the door, listening.

“Don’t
do that,” Nadia snapped, making him jump. “Sorry,” she added with a wry smile.
She hugged her arms to her chest. “Jared’s room is quiet too.”

“I’m
fine so far,” Jared announced from within the room. He raised his voice.
“Alec?”

“Good
so far,” Alec called back. The sound of their voices sent the werewolf into a
mania, slamming against the door.

“Please
don’t do that. The voices seem to make Lucy, um, well, they rile her up,”
Maxwell ended diplomatically.

“Let’s
go outside,” Nadia suggested. They followed the short hall to the main hall and
through the filthy lobby into the night. Nadia looked around at the woods.
“You’d never know we’re in downtown Detroit.”

“I
know.” Distant sirens made Maxwell smile. “Except for that.” He walked a few
steps away, examining the empty cages, when a thought hit him. “How good are
your ears?”

“Good,”
Nadia said.

“Can you
hear off the island, like in downtown?”

Nadia
stood still. “Let me see. Be silent.” She closed her eyes, and Maxwell could
imagine her act in Las Vegas. She had a certain showmanship. She had the poise
of a swami, her eyes closed. Maxwell watched her face tighten in concentration.
He fought the urge to speak to break the uncomfortable silence. She finally
spoke, “I hear screams.”

“What?”

“Shhh.”
She cocked her head. “Oh, God, people are screaming everywhere.”

Maxwell
grabbed her arm—and an image flashed through his mind like a bolt of lightning.
He saw Haley in the alley. He saw her backing away from the werewolf.
 
“Haley,” he whispered.

“What
is it?” Nadia demanded, shaking his hand off her wrist.

“Haley’s
in danger.”

“What
about my mother?”

“I
didn’t see her!” Maxwell trained his ear on the night; more sirens erupted
throughout the city. “What are people saying?”

“Monsters.
Werewolves. Beasts. Bears.” She echoed people’s cries. She turned her gaze on
Maxwell. “Werewolves are everywhere.” And then she let out a cry, as she
noticed the green eyes peering through the mist and trees. “Maxwell?” She
whispered.

And he
saw them too. “We need to go back inside.” He tugged her hand as he backed away
from the eyes. A powerful warning shot through him, and he imagined it was what
it felt like to be electrocuted. Maxwell turned to see a werewolf rushing
toward them from behind. He knocked Nadia to the ground as the beast sailed
over them. They scrambled to their feet, darting for the building. Maxwell
slammed the door shut as they entered, but werewolves launched through the
broken windows.

Maxwell
slipped on a clump of fetid leaves as he rushed back to Alec and Jared, just
behind Nadia. He launched to his feet, and he could feel the werewolf’s
snorting breath at his back as he ran. Nadia stood in the central hallway,
poised to slam the metal door shut.

“Run!”
She urged him. In a burst of adrenaline, Maxwell pulled ahead of the werewolf
and dived through the door. Nadia slammed it shut and slid the bolt lock into
place.

The
short hall rang like the inside of a bell as one werewolf, followed by others,
pounded on the metal door. The door shook with the pounding, and Maxwell could
see the bolts of the lock twisting loose.

“What’s
going on?” Jared called from inside his room.

“Werewolves
are everywhere,” Maxwell shouted over the pounding and growling. The noise was
maddening.

“Let me
out!” Jared yelled.

Maxwell
hesitated only a moment before opening Jared’s door. Jared rushed out, paused
just a moment to look at the failing outside door. He hurried to Alec’s door.
“Alec?”

“Yeah?
I hear. Let me out.” Jared unlocked Alec’s door, and Alec slid into his arms,
planting a kiss on his mouth. “I love you.”

“I love
you too.” He turned and pointed at Nadia and Maxwell. “We have to protect
them.”

“I
know.”

Jared
looked back at the room he came from. “Get in there. We’ll lock you in.”

“No, we
can fight,” Maxwell said. The howling grew more distinct as the door bent
inward.

“There’s
no time to argue,” Alec exclaimed over the clamor.

Maxwell
threw his arms around first Alec and then Jared. “Be safe.” He looked at Nadia
waiting in the room, and before he entered, he snagged the lithium flashlight
from the floor. “I hate the dark.”

Alec
slammed the door closed. And the lock clicked from the outside, echoing in the
darkness. Maxwell took deep breaths, his thumb anxiously dancing on the
flashlight switch. “Nadia, can you hear what’s going on?” She did not reply,
but her breathing seemed labored. “Nadia?”

Maxwell
flipped the flashlight on. The beam cut across the small room. Maxwell angled
the light into a back corner, illuminating Nadia’s discarded clothes. His hand
shook as he focused the light on the next corner.

In the
wavering beam of his flashlight, Nadia stood naked. A smile parted her mouth,
revealing dagger teeth.

A small
cry escaped his lips as she shifted in an instant to a werewolf.

*
         
*
         
*
         
*

Mitch
drove across the bridge toward Belle Isle, looking again at the stationary blip
on his GPS. The tracking device he had placed in Lucy’s gym bag seemed to be
paying off. Following the drive around the perimeter of the island, he zoomed
in his map to see that he needed to drive a narrow road that cut deeper into
the island. Mitch turned onto the road. He grew tense as the woods closed
around him. His mind toyed with the idea that Lucy was on to him and that she
had been set him up.

Better
safe than sorry, Mitch thought as he placed his Glock 17 on his lap. If
anything rushed him, he’d be ready. His headlights cut a lonely swath through
the woods, the trees glowing white as he passed them. Just outside the wash of
his headlights, a figure sprinted across the road. Mitch hit his brake. He
peered into the woods on either side of the car and then checked his rearview
mirror. When he returned his eyes to the road before him, a werewolf stood
erect, approaching slowly, with its mouth agape.

Mitch
scanned the road before opening the door. He fired two quick shots centered in
the werewolf’s head. The shots echoed through the woods like cannon blasts. The
werewolf jerked back with the force, and crumbled to the ground with a snarl.
Mitch watched as the beast transformed, slowly, back to its human form, a young
man, no older than 17. “Shit,” he muttered.

He
heard breathing behind him.

Mitch
spun and ducked as a paw ripped through the car window, spraying glass across
the car seat. He fired two shots at close range into the werewolf’s head. The
force tossed the werewolf back as blood and fur splattered on Mitch’s chest.
The crumpled body twisted and bubbled as the werewolf transformed to a human.
Mitch recoiled at the site of another dead teen, and his mind stumbled over the
revelation that neither was from the group he had trained with Lucy.

Growls
in the distance drew his attention. Mitch grabbed his bag from his car and
slung it over his shoulder. With his gun raised, he trudged through the woods
toward the sounds. He stopped as he entered a clearing filled with abandoned
zoo cages. A cinderblock building stood in the center. The growling was coming
from inside.

*
         
*
         
*
         
*

The
door to the central hall buckled, and three werewolves tumbled in. Alec and Jared
looked at each other bleakly and then turned to face the approaching beasts.
With what seemed like a shiver, or a god casting off water, Jared shifted into
a werewolf. He was surprised to find that his mind was still his own. He looked
out of the corner of his eyes to see Alec change in a blink. Side-by-side, they
faced the approaching werewolves.

Two
werewolves launched onto Jared, as the third charged Alec. Anger pumped through
Alec as he swiped at the werewolf tackling him; he needed to help Jared who was
under the other two. Alec snapped his jaw around the werewolf’s neck and pulled
back viciously. The werewolf howled as blood poured from the wound, splattering
on the floor and walls. The taste of the blood repulsed Alec, but he bit
deeper, not noticing the claws tearing into his own flesh as the werewolf
struggled. As Alec bit deeper, the struggling stop, and the werewolf fell limp
to the floor. He tossed it aside and stood with a roar.

*
         
*
         
*
         
*

His
vision had come true.

Maxwell
was trapped in a small room with a werewolf. And the werewolf was Nadia.

“Nadia?”
Maxwell whispered into the darkness, matching the gaze of the beast snarling in
the corner. “Nadia, you don’t have to do this.” He spoke evenly, hoping to
conceal the fear he was sure she could smell.

“How?”
Maxwell whispered. He recoiled just a step as the door behind him shook from
the battle waging outside.

In less
than a blink, the werewolf was Nadia again. “Haven’t you guessed?”

Maxwell
shook his head.

“I’m
the Alpha, you moron,” she sneered.

“This
was your plan, all along,” he quavered. “You were never on our side.” His tried
to stall for time. “And Helena?”

“Feasting
on Haley’s flesh!” She cackled.

Maxwell
shuddered at the image. She took a step toward him, and Maxwell held his
ground, keeping the light aimed at the ground. He twisted the knob on the
light, dulling the beam. “But, I don’t, how are you...”

“One
experiment leads to another leads to—me,” she boasted. “Griffin and Vincent are
just as expendable as the rest of you.” She smiled. “Nigel Rathborne is my
father. And together we’ve overcome the one thing that might stop us.”

“And
that is?”

Nadia
laughed, the sound harsh and carefree. “Not you, little boy.”

“So is
this where I die?” His eyes trailed around the room. Cinderblock walls and a bolted
metal door trapped him.

“You
could have joined us.” Nadia took a step toward him.

“What’s
been the point of this?” Maxwell stepped back, and noticed for the first time
that the animal door to the outside door was open just a few inches. It looked
like he could fit, but he knew he’d never get past Nadia and squeeze through in
time. He needed a plan.

“Genetic
superiority.”

“So I’m
a failed experiment?”

“Not at
all. You have the human qualities we sought. We learned how to manipulate DNA
and to isolate traits. You are a successful—yet terminated—experiment.” As she
smiled, her teeth protruded from her mouth, and her transformation burgeoned
like a time-lapse flower bloom. She lunged forward. Maxwell twisted the focus
on the flashlight, heightening the beam, and directed it directly into the
werewolf’s eyes. It closed its eyes, and shook its head, only momentarily
stunned.

Maxwell
charged the werewolf and shoved the flashlight sideways into its mouth. As the
werewolf bit down, the lithium battery exploded in its mouth in a cloud of
smoke and fire. The beast howled, the angry cry reverberating off the walls, as
it tried to spit the flaming flashlight from its mouth, but it was stuck to its
canines. The werewolf shook its head in a maddened state.

Maxwell
used her confusion to run for the animal door. He dived across the floor and
dived under the door. His belt caught on the lip of the door. He felt like a
turtle on its back as he pulled at the slippery cage floor to unhook himself
from the door. His belt unhitched from the door and his legs slid through.
Suddenly, the fist of the werewolf reached under the door just inches from him.
Yelping, Maxwell rolled outside her reach.

The
werewolf grabbed the cage door and thrust. The door inched up. He could see the
werewolf’s scarred muzzle pushing under the door and snapping at his feet.

*
         
*
         
*
         
*

Growls
and muffled screams reverberated through the wall from the room where Maxwell
and Nadia were locked. The werewolf Alec turned his head toward the door to the
room. He turned his attention back to the werewolves pinning werewolf Jared and
lunged, digging his claws and teeth into the creature’s back.

Outside
the hallway, Mitch kept his gun level as he crept toward the howls and growling
crackling through the night air.
 
He
approached a door ripped from its hinges, gouged with claw marks. In the dim
light of a flashlight, he could see the silhouette of wrestling figures.