Winter's Dawn (6 page)

Max frowned at Susie. “I’m her cousin.”

“Yes, that too,” Susie agreed, before she lifted her cup to him. “Read it in French. It sounds prettier that way.”

“He can’t do that.” Jessica turned around to look at Max. “Can you?”

“Of course he can.” Susie sounded insulted. “Show her, Max.”

Max fought down the urge to growl at her as he picked up the book and sat down next to them, feeling like a giant next to the two girls and the tiny tea table. He started reading
Peter Pan
, translating it from English to French for Susie who was pleased, and Jessica who was confused, but doing a good job at pretending she understood more than just a small collection of phrases.

He was on the second chapter when Mrs. Carver walked in, carrying a tray of cookies and small cakes. Max knew she didn’t usually deliver food, but she was one of those mothers that liked to peek in a lot when Susie and Max visited.

She set the silver tray down in the middle of the small tea table and then turned to frown at Max, who hadn’t stopped reading, because Susie was engrossed in the story.

“That book is in English.”

Max stopped reading and looked up at her. “Yes, I know.”

“You’re translating it while you read?” she asked, her voice awed. “That is extremely difficult for anyone, but especially for a nine year old boy.”

“I’m not doing a very good job.” The hair on the back of his neck stood on end as a result of such blatant dishonesty. “Susie just likes the sound of French.”

“I speak French.” Mrs. Carver arched one dark eyebrow at him. “Fluently. You don’t even have an accent.”

“Our family has a home in France.” Max looked back down at the book. “We go there often.”

“You must.” Mrs. Carver’s voice was still mystified. “Have your parents ever thought of putting you in a higher grade, Maxwell?”

He shook his head as he flipped the page. “I wouldn’t want to be that far away from Susie.”

He glanced up to see Mrs. Carver push a strand of dark hair behind her ear as she glanced from Jessica to Max, her gaze hopeful. “Do you mind if I stay to listen to the story?”

Max wanted to wince, but he was too polite to say anything but, “If you’d like.”

Susie and Jessica ate their treats and drank their water as Max continued to read, all the while feeling Mrs. Carver’s gaze on him from across the room. He read two more chapters before an odd scent caused him to falter over his translation. He lifted his head to stare at Susie.

Susie had smelled it also and she turned to look past the open door, a frown marring her pale forehead. They were both exchanging confused glances when a terrible scream filled the air, that of a man in total agony.

Mrs. Carver jumped up, her hand to her chest. “That was Melvin.” She sounded terrified as she ran to the door.

Max followed after her, dropping the book to run down the hall that lead to the grand staircase. He paused at the top of it, his eyes growing wide as Mrs. Carver let out an ear-piecing scream. Blood was splashed over the entryway and pooling over the white marble from the prone body of the butler, Melvin, who had been so polite to them an hour earlier. Now he was being mauled and eaten by a whole pack of wolves, who fought and growled with each other as they tore at his flesh and ripped at his clothing. They would look like ordinary wolves to Mrs. Carver, but Max knew better. He had smelled his own kind before he saw them.

Mrs. Carver was still screaming, obviously in some state of extreme shock and not considering she was drawing attention to herself. One of the wolves turned to look up at Mrs. Carver and Max standing at the top of the grand staircase. He changed before their eyes, becoming a dirty human with long, blond hair. His clothes, which magically transformed with him like the second skin of a human, were torn and tattered. The fact that he changed forms did not alter the fact that he was still covered in blood.

Mrs. Carver stopped screaming and started to wilt next to Max. He realized she was going to faint and reached out to grab her. “Jessica,” he whispered frantically, knowing all animals, even human ones, had a primal need to protect their young.

“Jessica!” Mrs. Carver turned to run back down the hallway with a speed akin to something Max’s people would have produced.

Max followed her and they both jumped into the room. Mrs. Carver slammed the door with a deafening crack and locked it with shaking hands.

“Rogues.” Max was breathless with fear. “I need something silver!”

Susie was shaking, having figured out the problem before Mrs. Carver and Max returned to the room. “There is none,” she said frantically. “I already asked.”

Max looked at Jessica on instinct. She was sitting at the table with a glassy eyed look of someone deeply hypnotized. He hadn’t realized he and Susie could do that. He never thought to try, but knowing Susie had already used it to pick Jessica’s brain for the location of silver objects in her playroom, Max reached out to Mrs. Carver, who had started shaking in shock.

“Where is your silver?”

“In the kitchen,” she intoned in a strange voice as her face lost it’s look of panic, the tears ceasing their stream down her cheeks, leaving only trails of black makeup in their wake.

Max picked up Susie, leaving Mrs. Carver and Jessica in their stunned state as he ran to the window and kicked at the frame. The whole window broke free under his strength and fell to the grounds below in a shower of glass and splintered wood.

He didn’t even stop to think as he leaped out of the window with Susie in his arms. He landed on his feet in the green grass. “Where are the kitchens?”

“That way.” Susie pointed to the left side of the estate. “We’ve got to call Uncle Doug! We need Uncle Doug!”

He shook his head, having already decided they’d all be dead if they waited around for his father to rescue them. He had the fleeting thought of running with Susie and leaving the Carvers to their fate, but he knew that was wrong. Besides, the rogues were after
them
, not the Carvers. If they ran, the wolves would follow and they could end up trapped without protection. At least they had silver at the Carver Estate.

He took off in the direction Susie had directed, no longer tempering any of his strength or speed. When Susie pointed out one of the kitchen windows, he set her down to jump up and break it with his fist despite the fact that it was high above his head

“Maxwell!” Susie screamed.

He turned around and saw four wolves coming for them, running across the manicured lawns. Their teeth were bared in violence, their muzzles dripping in blood.

“Jump, Sue!”

Susie leaped, catching hold of the broken window frame despite the height of it. Max jumped behind her, hanging next to her for one breath before he swung his feet up and got better leverage. He grabbed Susie’s hands and fell backwards into the kitchen. Susie’s dress ripped on the broken glass and they landed hard on the wooden floor.

“Find the silver!” Max didn’t bother to check if Susie was okay from the fall, knowing that she had the ability to heal almost instantly from any injury.

He started throwing open drawers, dumping neatly folded cloth napkins, cutlery and other odd kitchen objects onto the floor. All the while the wolves were leaping towards the broken window, their paws appearing into view, their growls vicious.

“I found it!” Susie shouted.

Max ran towards her, sliding across the floor in his desperation to get to her and the silver she found. She was sitting next to a large, antique cabinet. The bottom doors to it were open, revealing several wooden trays of silverware.

He narrowed his eyes when the first wolf made it through the window. A large brown wolf with dirty fur and a muzzle that was covered in blood landed on the wooden floor and growled at them. His eyes were glowing silver. He truly was a rogue and Max knew there was no hope for rogue werewolves. Once they had fed on humans for nourishment, they lost their humanity and had to be destroyed.

Even with the confirmation of his silver eyes, something only a rogue would have in a permanent, unflashing state, there was a side of him that was loath to kill one of his own. Max really wasn’t a killer. He always hated hearing his father’s stories of rogue hunting, where he boasted over how many he had killed. Rogues had been nice wolves once, just like he and Susie. Max didn’t want them to die just because they had started hunting humans. It was an easy mistake to make if a werewolf ran wild long enough. Prey became anything they could catch.

“Endanger my mate and you die,” he growled at the wolf in warning.

The wolf transformed, becoming even dirtier and gory as a man than he had been as a wolf. His brown hair was long and greasy, his eyes pulsed eerie silver. “We just wish to speak with you, Your Highness.” His voice was low and inhuman as he lowered his head in obedience.

“About what?” Max asked, his voice still gravely in fear.

“It was predicted the new alpha line would exterminate all those who have fallen into the darkness,” the wolf snarled, his voice making the hair on the back of Max’s neck stand on end. When he raised his head, his silver eyes glowed brighter. “We’re here to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

“Kill him!” Susie growled.

Max grabbed a silver table knife and threw it at the male just as he lunged for them. His mind registered Susie’s command before he had even decided the cause was lost. He realized Susie probably saved their lives as the male stumbled back, looking at his chest in shock. Max and Susie were silent, strangely calm as they watched him fall to the ground with a silver table knife imbedded in the center of his chest. Max only twitched his head when the screams started. The male writhed on the ground, his whole body seizing in pain as he howled in agony. There was no question his death was far more agonizing than the poor butler had endured.

They were so caught up in the scene of such an excruciating death, they forgot about the other three wolves until they jumped into the kitchen. One came in through the window Max had broken. Two others leapt in through other windows in the kitchen, leaving a shower of glass scattered across the wooden floor. They were in their wolf forms and Max realized that would make them harder to kill. He and Susie couldn’t change forms yet. That wouldn’t happen until they were full-grown.

Max studied them as they growled and moved in on him and Susie, cornering them like prey. “I won’t let them hurt you,” Max whispered to Susie. He could smell her fear. “You’ve just got to protect the silver.”

“I’ll protect the silver.” Susie’s pitch was unnaturally low. He had never heard her voice take on that of the wolf in her. “You get the rogues. Kill them all.”

Max nodded, unable to say no to his mate, even if he wanted to, which he didn’t. Hearing Susie so terrified woke up something dark and primal in him. A surge of power washed over him as he picked up two knives, one for each hand. Ignoring the disgusting smell of burning flesh, he lunged at the closest wolf, stabbing him viciously in the throat. The second wolf jumped at Susie and Max threw the other knife, catching him in the side. He stumbled back with a pained howl and then curled up on his side, twitching and whining.

Susie sat in front of the silver, her pale blue eyes glowing unnaturally bright. Her head snapped to the side when the third wolf snarled at her, showing off blood red teeth. Susie growled back, looking oddly vicious for a little girl with white blonde pigtails and a torn yellow summer dress. She showed her teeth that were still rounded with youth rather than long and vicious, but the affect was still terrifying.

Max leaped at the wolf before he could get any closer, wrapping his arms around his neck. He squeezed tight enough to block his air supply, but the will to live was strong in all animals. The wolf growled and fought him, attempting to throw Max off his back. When that didn’t work, the wolf started running, dragging Max with him. Max wished he had worn boots. His shoes were doing little to stop the wolf’s flight for aid as they dragged on the wooden floor. With traction from a good pair of winter boots, Max could have stopped him.

That’s when he realized that at nine, he was stronger than this werewolf.

He was stronger than all of them.

It wasn’t until that moment that he understood what being an alpha wolf really meant and more than that, he knew right then he
was
a killer. He would end worlds to protect Susie. The surge of strength he felt in the face of her being threatened was awe-inspiring.

The wolf broke through the swinging door of the kitchen, into the dining room, transforming as he did. The change startled him and Max’s grip on his neck loosened when he was suddenly lying over a dirty, smelly werewolf in human form.

“Help!” the rogue screamed.

Max growled and grabbed his head, turning it sharply and snapping his neck with a resounding crack. Werewolves were hard to kill, but breaking his neck worked because his airway was cut off before he could heal. The male fell still, dying a much easier death than the other wolves had.

Max jumped to his feet, knowing there were more wolves, but he stumbled back when something hit him. He stared at his shoulder, seeing the wooden handle of a dagger sticking out of it. His thin cotton shirt became soaked with blood as he watched. Max growled. He lifted his head to stare at another werewolf, this one also in human form, his silver eyes swirling as he stood still, waiting for Max to start dying.