Walker's Run (26 page)

She saw the expression on Elan’s face when he realized Braedyn was distracted. Harlan was rounding on Amber, so his attention was split. Stepping in, Elan sliced his sword across Braedyn’s chest. The cut wasn’t deep and with a grunt, Braedyn swung back, knocking Elan to the ground.

Wiping blood from the corner of his mouth, Elan’s eyes flashed gold, and he glared up at his brother. “You’d never do it. You’d never kill your own blood.”

“You’d have killed me, Mother, and Tala during this coupe, Elan,” Braedyn said taking a double handed grip on his sword. “May God and our parents take mercy on the both of us for what I’m about to do. May your soul rest in peace rather than in hell.” Baring his teeth in a grimace, Braedyn swung.

Elan closed his eyes, waiting for the death blow. Casey held her breath, cringing.

Twisting his wrist at the last moment, Braedyn slammed the butt of his sword against the side of his brother’s head. Rather than kill him, he gave him one hell of a blow he wouldn’t awaken from for quite some time. Casey’s breath of relief was short lived as her attention was brought to Amber and Harlan’s fight, her heart pounding at the ferocity of both fights she’d witnessed..

A weapon materialized in Harlan's hand when he turned and whirled with amazing speed toward Amber. He had taken her off guard, she barely had time to turn her sword in defense. She grunted, Harlan pressed her back and swung again. Losing her balance, Amber staggered back from another fierce blow, dropping her guard just enough. His sword sliced into her shoulder and down through her chest. Releasing her blade, she stumbled backward, blood puddling onto the snow at her feet while she struggled to breathe.

Braedyn was on Harlan a moment later. He knocked the sword from Harlan's hand and drove his fist into his uncle’s face with quick pounding strikes. Harlan growled and grabbed Braedyn's arm, forcing the punch to go into the ground near his head and headbutted his nephew.

Blood poured from Braedyn's nose, Harlan drew his legs up between them, kicking him backwards. Casey never saw Harlan regain his feet before he had leaped on Braedyn. The gleam of Harlan's blade caught her eye when he swung. Calling on his own sword, Braedyn blocked the blow and shoved his uncle back onto the snow with a fierce kick.

Braedyn leveled his sword when Harlan regained his feet.

“You've matured some from our last fight,” Harlan said sounding impressed and hefted his weapon again.

“I'm no longer a boy,” Braedyn grunted. Harlan stepped in again and swung his sword. Turning with the blow, he drove his elbow into Braedyn's ribs, and then the butt of the sword into the same area. Braedyn staggered back, gritting his teeth as the air was forced from his lungs.

Harlan growled and swung again. A long slice across Braedyn's chest split the leather coat and clothing he wore just near where Elan had made a gash prior. But Harlan's blow was far deeper and far deadlier.

Casey found herself soaring down the stairs the moment Braedyn was flung back, his chest slick with blood, Harlan's sword held at his throat. She slammed into Harlan from the side, knocking the weapon away from Braedyn.

When the blade turned on her, she put up her arm to block, a useless tactic for the force he was swinging with, but all she could do. A cold tingling was all Casey felt just before the pressure of the blow was absorbed on the armaments adorning both of her arms.

She felt a weight around her head and upper body, the armor of chain mail that the necklace provided. Not affording herself a look, she pushed the sword away and swung her right fist with all her might. The punch connected with Harlan's throat, crushing his larynx. He fell back onto the mound of snow clutching his throat.

Since the silver had not pierced his skin, he would heal fast. Casey stalked her way over to him. He rose to a crouch, one hand still clutching his throat. The two people in Walker's Run who meant the most to her were bleeding out in the snow nearby. An anger unlike anything she had ever known filled her. All she could see was red.

A growl of rage escaped her. She rushed to Harlan. Her movements were a blur. She pounded and clawed at him. Casey was sure she'd even bit him. When she regained some of her senses, she drew back and looked in horror at the damage she'd caused.

Harlan gurgled, covered in his own blood. He tried to roll over onto his chest and push himself up. His throat was slashed, and his shirt shredded, hanging from his body.

She felt herself rushing forward and tried to struggle against it, but once more her vision was completely red. Her hands raised and a sword appeared in them. Unable to prevent what was happening, feeling detached from herself, Casey watched the blade come down on the back of Harlan's neck. Hearing the sickening crunch of bone and the vibration of the blade slicing through the other side nearly made her sick. Dropping the weapon, Casey staggered back, revulsed by what she'd done.

Choking back a sob, she rushed over to Braedyn. He had a hand clutched to his chest and his breathing was labored. She saw her hands and arms covered in the silver armor while dropping to her knees at his side. Once she reached for him, they changed back into the simple jewelry prior to her violent outburst. Quickly, plucking the claw tips from her fingers, Casey laid her hands on his shoulders.

“What can I do?” she pleaded looking in his eyes.

Howls rose in the air from all corners of the area. The sound was mournful and sad, Harlan's pack feeling the loss of their Alpha. The strength they had once drawn from him was now depleted.

“Harlan's blade was treated with silver,” Braedyn groaned.

“Who can I call? What can I do?” Casey felt tears running down her cheeks. She leaned forward to kiss him, so afraid it would be their last. An electric current seemed to flow from her lips to his, it spread warmth through her. He stiffened, gasping against her mouth. She pulled back in fear of having caused him more pain.

“You're a healer,” he whispered. His breathing eased with each breath. The color was slowly coming back to his face.

“The Tigress,”
the wolf said.

She whirled away from him, rushed to Amber, and dropped to her knees. The tiny woman’s breath came in shallow gasps. The sword had punctured both of her lungs. With Harlan's blade having been treated with silver, her blood couldn't clot to start the healing process needed to heal. The brunette would bleed out and die like a human in just a few more moments.

“Amber?” Casey said touching her cheek.

She struggled to open her eyes. A faint smile came to her lips, blood trickled from the corners. Her mouth moved, nothing but a gurgling, whooshing sound came out.

“Don't try to talk.” The pain her friend was in made Casey’s heart ache. She had tried to step in and kill Harlan, but had already been battered in her fight with the twins. Casey could see the bruise on the side of her face where Harlan had punched her, and the partially healed bruises from her rumble with the twins.

“Kiss her.”

Casey stroked her friend’s curly, black hair away from her face and did the only thing she could. Leaning forward, she sealed her lips to Amber's just like she had to Braedyn's. Once again, the electric current rippled through her. She felt the brunette stiffen a moment...then her body went limp.

Casey sighed and laid her head on Braedyn's shoulder. The bitter breeze had slowed, though the air was frigid; she needed some fresh air. The days after everything had gone to hell had been difficult. He’d had her at his side ever since. She was exhausted from having met mostly everyone in Walker's Run, and some of the new members of the pack he had allowed in from Harlan's.

He didn't demand they all join his pack, but gave them the option to join his or move on. The same promise he'd extended to everyone who lived in Walker's Run, sanctuary and protection in return for their faith and allegiance to the Pack.

His grip tightened around her waist. She took another deep breath. “How are you feeling?”

“Drained,” she admitted.

He stroked a few strands of hair behind her ear. “It will get better, I promise.”

She nodded. “Things have just happened so fast. My head is still spinning from the fact I am a werewolf, and now all of these new things. I'm not only a werewolf, but the Silver Wolf. A healer—”

“A warrior,” Braedyn said with a grin.

She smiled and looked away from his eyes. “I visited your mother this morning briefly in the few moments I had to myself.”

“How is she today? I meant to go in earlier, but with so much on my mind I didn't get the chance.”

“Better. Her fever is gone. She's moving around more and seems to be feeling better with each passing moment. She asked about Elan.”

He nodded. “I still have a few things to sort through with him. He's begging me to let him leave and take over what is left of Harlan's pack.”

“How do you feel about that?” She saw the worry in his eyes.

“I don't know. He was right, I couldn't kill him. Without my uncle behind him, I don't believe Elan will have the courage or the strength to try and form another coupe against me.”

She shook her head. “I don't know your brother, Braedyn, but I can assume it will only be a matter of time before he attempts something again.”

“I know.” He cleared his throat and looked in her eyes, stroking her cheek.

She kissed him, feeling his firm but soft lips against hers, making her forget for a moment the near total exhaustion that consumed her.

“Are you cold?” he asked when she shivered.

“A little.”

“I'll go in and start a fire.”

Casey smiled. “I just want to sit out here for a little while longer. I want to watch the sun set.”

Braedyn kissed her again. “Okay then, I'll go and start the fire and have some coffee waiting for you.” He stood and went into the cabin, leaving her on the porch.

She sighed, looking out over the front yard. Her gaze picked out the places where Braedyn, Amber, Elan, and Harlan had fallen. A fresh layer of snow had covered all traces of the horrible events that had taken place.

“I sat in a two thousand year stasis before I decided to come back,”
the Silver Wolf’s voice whispered through Casey’s mind.
“I exacted the revenge I sought. Harlan Walker was an evil man, and in all the time after my death, he still managed to step no further than his brother’s shadow. I was the very first of our kind. I’d learned early on about life’s unexpected qualities. My life took a drastic turn two hundred thousand years ago, simply because I’d taken pity on an old man and saved him from starvation and hypothermia.”

Casey knew him to be the same man at the airport she’d given her blanket and twenty dollars to. She leaned back on the stairs and closed her eyes, listening to the Wolf. The Silver Wolf hadn’t talked to her much, and Casey knew what she had to say was important.

“My life drastically changed, but do I regret it? Do I regret that I showed compassion to a strange man, where before the only thing I’d learned about humans was how cruel they could be, to their own and to everything else? With all I’ve discovered, could I possibly go back to the blissful innocence of just being a wolf?

“As I look through your eyes, Casey, I realize I don’t bemoan it one bit. No matter the pain and torment I went through in my first incarnation, this is where I am meant to be.

“I enjoy sharing you as a host and revel in the awareness that our souls are so similar, and your views, pure as my own. I can’t wait to show you the things I’ve seen and the knowledge I’ve gained. Have no doubt, we will have a wonderously long and fulfilled life together with Braedyn. He and his wolf are the ones we are meant to be with. In our heart, I know they love us beyond reason and would never do to us what Harlan did to me.”

Casey blinked back the tears that came to her eyes.

“Elan is another worry, and will need to be dealt with soon,”
the Silver Wolf warned. “
Trust our sister in souls, she’ll never lead you astray.”

Her nose picked up a familiar scent and smiled when the white Siberian Tigress made her way to the side of the porch and climbed up gracefully.

“Glad to see you're out and about,” Casey said rubbing her hands together to warm them.

The tigress shifted into human form. It was the first time Casey had watched the change in full light. The transformation was beautiful. Fully clothed in black jeans and a long black leather trench coat, Amber sat down on the stairs next to Casey.

“I haven't had the chance to thank you,” the brunette said while they watched the sun begin it’s descent in the sky.

Casey shook her head. “You don't have to thank me. I did what was needed for purely selfish reasons. I couldn't lose you anymore than I could've lost Braedyn. I can't explain it. To not have you in my life... would feel like I'd lost a vital part of myself.”

Amber smiled and resituated herself on the stair. “I feel a connection with you I’ve never felt with anyone before.” She laughed and looked over at Casey. “I guess we're soul-sisters or something.”

Casey couldn't help but agree, it made sense to her too. The Silver Wolf had just called her her ‘sister in souls.’ “Maybe so. Would you like to come in for a cup of coffee?”

She shook her head. “No, I think Braedyn has other plans for you two this evening. I just wanted to come over and thank you while you had a moment to yourself.”

“How is Aquene?”

“Good. When I left, she was sitting in her rocking chair working on another dream catcher.” Amber shrugged. “Hard to keep her down, I swear.”

She laughed and turned to look at Amber; then with a more serious note to her voice, “There is something I need to ask of you. Something I never thought I would ever ask of anyone.”