Wolf Sirens Night Fall: What Rises Must Fall (Wolf Sirens #3) (26 page)

Cres stood and
they moved to leave, readying to escort her upstairs.

“Cres?” Paws
asked. She stopped and looked at him with a firm face. “Leave the
gun,” he urged with a gentle, pleading expression.

Cres lifted it
from under her shirt and placed on the desk. With a smirk she
pulled another gun and aimed it at him, watching him swallow.

“I see you
dead.” Despite her better judgment, she pulled the trigger and his
brains splattered with a loud bang over the back wall of the
office. In an instant thick blood dripped onto the shelf behind
what was left of his head. Dahlia dove on her, but Cres struggled
and phased, escaping her grasp and knocking into Tyler as she tore
through the glass of the window to the front of the house and ran.
As she neared the drive, sprinting as fast as her legs would take
her, she saw them after her, in the corner of her eye, two or three
closing in. She knew she’d never make it, as she heard their breath
and felt them nip at her heels. They brought her down as her body
tossed over with the momentum and they threw themselves on her,
biting into her hard hairy flesh. She waited for the wound that
would drain her blood and end it, but it didn’t come. She was
pummelled and bloody as they dragged her back towards the
house.

They hauled her
along the gravel as she faded in and out of consciousness. She
awoke to the feeling of her mouth and legs being tied with rope.
She was tipped over and wrapped in a net and kicked about the ribs
by a woman, so hard the cracks were audible. She felt her bruised
body dragged along the carpet and down some cold stairs where the
sounds echoed and a gate squeaked closed and suddenly it was quiet
except for the buzzing in her ears, and all she could see was
darkness. As she came to, she heard the muffled sounds of a
commotion above and she willed herself to sleep in her dog body,
broken and trembling. She was left for a long time unable to tell
if it was day or night. As her bones healed the discomfort became
the cold cement making her hips ache. She wished they had killed
her. She felt the hard cold metal bars and the stench of wolves and
excrement. She wondered what Reid and Lila would do as her purple
eyelids closed tightly.

Lying there
many hours later in the cold dark, a trickle of a tear ran from the
black edge of her deep blue canine eye over the salt and pepper
coat and it trickled onto the cement floor of her cage.

Reid followed
her desperately and he found the building and the property. He hid
behind the wall and his heart sank a little more as he saw the jeep
was parked there with no sign of Cres. Not long after he arrived, a
black car with tinted windows rolled down the driveway and right up
to the house, Sam’s G6. A woman with unmistakable straight blonde
hair slid out of the driver’s seat and walked through the front
door. He watched under the cover of darkness as they took the jeep
out to the edge of the trees behind the compound and torched
it.

When it was
only embers they dragged the remnants of the metal carcass into the
bush with ropes. Another vehicle entered the driveway from the same
direction. It was an old Mazda hatch and a large man emerged
carrying something wrapped in a blanket that had to be a child. A
woman jumped out of the driver’s side. Later a few of the males
came out and pulled some luggage from the boot.

He stayed all
night in the cold, observing the wolves, hoping to see her or some
sign of her or the boy again. In the dim early hours he knew he was
endangering himself and he wouldn’t do that until he found Lila. He
was of more help to her away from the Cult and this was the only
reason he left. In order to pry himself away, he told himself he
was angry, and that if she was trapped she deserved it, for being
so stupid. His face pulled with grief.

It was late
morning by the time he climbed in Cres’s window in Shade. Though he
looked again and again, the charm wasn’t to be found. Everything
was as she had left it, maybe messier – he noted the Aunt had been
through it already.

On closer
inspection, he could smell the cops had been through her drawers.
Ordinarily Tabetha wouldn’t have called the police over Cresida’s
disappearances, which were frequent. But the young boy’s
disappearance was serious.

In the coming
days Bronson’s colour photocopied image was spread over the town,
waving in the breeze against telephone poles on the side of the
road and in local stores. Reid returned home only once to change
before heading to the cabin. While he was making toast, he saw a
note on the fridge that read: ‘Reid, the police are looking for
you. Do you know anything about Cresida James and her brother? -
Dad.’ Reid ignored it, biting the toast. He knew that he too was in
hiding and would probably become a suspect. He phased as soon as he
was out of sight in the bush land. For hours at a time he camped by
Tabetha’s house at night waiting for Lila, until exhausted, he
crawled back to Sam’s cabin.

Jackson was
there. “The police have been,” he mentioned as though it had been
hours instead of days since they had last spoken.

“Did you speak
to them?”

“No.” J shook
his head.

Reid looked
relieved.

“Has she run
with the brother? Are you going to join her?”

Reid moped.
“They have taken the boy. She went to get him,” he breathed, his
honey eyes wide.

“Alone?”

“Yes,” his
voice broke and he swallowed.

“You look
bushed.” J moved to set a stool by him “Sit, talk,” he
gestured.

“I couldn’t
stop her.” He looked at Jackson, his amber eyes full of pain. “Have
you decided to help us?”

Jackson quietly
glanced at Angele who was out back reading on a chair by the
pool.

“Yeah, it’s the
same as at the meeting. I’d rather not, but Angele believes we need
to take the leaders out. You were right, they wanted her to spy,”
he admitted.

“You have to be
with me, J, or you’re against me now.” Reid was asking for more
reassurance. “Is she with us or them?” he asked sternly.

“With us – I
don’t doubt it. But they have a hold on her. We have to protect her
from them.”

“Have you been
keeping an eye on her?”

“Yes.” He said
sternly.

“J, I’ll only
ask you this once – are you with us 100 per cent?”

He looked
indecisive. “Fine, I’m with you.” He motioned to Angele to come
inside. “Just fill us in on what’s happened,” he asked Reid as
Angele slid the glass door open, understanding the urgency in
Jack’s eyes.

Reid sat down
and rubbed his eyebrows, resting his hand over his brow with a
blank stare aimed towards the floor. “They’ve got her there. She
went as soon as she knew Bronson was gone. She took the guns from
the basement and I couldn’t stop her. Fuck, I helped her.” He
breathed out, frustrated.

“What now
then?”

“We wait for
Lila to show. No one, not even Cres, knew where she was.” Lila was
the only one who could have talked Cres down. “Dammit,” he grunted,
flipping his dark hair out of his eyes. He jumped up to pace the
carpet and stopped to face Jackson. “They’ll kill her.” He looked
at Angele and she didn’t disagree. “If they haven’t already,” he
admitted, tearing up.

Jackson piped
up. “We don’t have to fight them?”

“No,” Reid said
vehemently and huffed. Reid turned to him, so angry he could have
punched his younger pack brother.

“She isn’t good
for you.” Jackson was adamant.

“And she is?”
Reid threw an angry gesture to Angele.

Jackson
persisted, “She’s not one of us, Reid.” He referred to Cres.

Coldly he
assessed his brother, “We are all human, somewhere inside. You can
label yourself all you want, and say she’s your kind and we're not
their kind anymore – but we are.” He stopped and ran his eyes over
Angele. “No matter what the excuse is, we are all part of humanity
still. No matter what the Pack says.” With that he went over to the
fridge. For once he felt the adrenaline subside and he had won over
his urges to transform.

On the way back
to Cres’s room to wait for Lila, Reid thought he understood for a
moment what his father had always said about fighting, that it
didn’t solve anything. He knew he would fight to get her out
though, no matter what she said or did to hurt him. He knew he
loved her and hated that he had all too much time to think while he
waited outside the house. And he would do whatever he had to get
her out, which was also why he didn’t hit Jackson. He couldn’t
afford to sever ties.

Reid found the
charm two days later, it glinted at him from the windowsill and he
was relieved to find it. Cres was right. His heart sank as he
thought that they had somehow missed Lila placing it, but now he
just had to wait for her to show and he knew he had to be the one
to catch her, to convince her. Surely she had heard the news or
seen it in the papers.

Jackson had
been helping him keep watch. After much convincing Reid allowed him
to help but he still didn’t trust Angele, so she brought food and
water. Cres was the prime suspect in the disappearance of her
seven-year-old brother. The police had canvassed the entire valley
– next were searches - land walks for their bodies. People had come
out accusing her of murdering the boy and fleeing. Various towns’
people had slandered her and said they always knew there was
something wrong with Cresida James and it was fast becoming
international news.

Reid tried hard
to ignore the slander, even though he himself was now also a major
suspect, as his disappearance from his parents’ home had coincided
with Bronson’s and Cresida’s. Jackson and Angele hid in the forest
now that it was a manhunt. Reporters descended on the valley from
the cities. There were public announcements to heed the curfew. A
couple of the clothes bins were uncovered due to land searches by
the police and volunteer fire service.

He watched
Tabetha Horrel’s house in the rain until it became a distorted
blur. He was on edge when Jackson touched his shoulder. Reid faced
him with an animal look in his eye. A steamy breath escaped
Jackson’s lips. “Reid, she’s at the cabin.” Lila was impatient.

I breathed
unsteadily as the door opened and Reid entered, looking worse for
wear and ashen, dripping wet from head to toe. He had a hard look
in his eye, a five o’clock shadow and the set of his face had
fallen.

I felt a
flutter in my chest that made me forget the rigidity of the mission
I had. I ran to get him a towel from the bathroom cupboard. Jackson
helped him to the couch and took the towels from me, placing them
over Reid.

“He’s got
exposure, I think,” Jackson offered.

Reid was as
white as a sheet and shivering.

“Will he be
okay?” I heard myself say. I knew if I had come sooner he wouldn’t
be this bad, but we were all on edge. Cres missing, and for all I
knew it was a trap.

“Yeah, soon
enough. Do us a favour and hit the kettle?” Jackson asked quietly,
his eyes serious.

As I nodded and
went into the kitchen to switch the kettle on, the irony hadn’t
been lost on me. I’d come to get information on Cres and Bronson
and here I was making the wolves a hot tea. As far as I could see,
Angele was nowhere to be seen, though her scent lingered over
everything in the house and I noted a pair of damp bikini bottoms
on the bar stool. I hoped she was out hunting and not hiding from
me, though Jackson should have been keeping an eye on her. If she
was on our side she needn’t fear me now. We had enough to deal
with.

A light rain
was descending like a mist outside. I saw the back lawn was a
marvelous lush green. They had mowed it recently. Despite
everything culminating around them and the impending battle they
still did some ordinary things. There was even a deck of playing
cards on the coffee table and a vacuum cleaner left out in the
entrance. Angele was a wolf, but I was beginning to see she was a
woman too. Jackson and she had lived here for the past weeks, on
and off, rather like a married couple. I noticed the fridge was
empty though, they hadn’t been stupid enough to go into town
shopping. This meant the other smell here was the tinny odour of
raw meat. I wondered what conditions Cres was now living in as I
dunked the tea bag into the water and took it to the one person who
might know what had happened to my best ally.

“They’ve got
her. She’s at the compound,” he said without me asking. I figured
he had waited three days to say it to me. I handed him the mug of
tea and he cupped it between two large hands.

“What
happened?” I urged softly.

“I’m sorry
Lila.” He appeared devastated.

I shook my
head. “Sorry doesn’t mean anything.” She was most likely dead.

“She wouldn’t
listen to reason, I tried to stop her, but you know what she’s
like. She put the gun to my head. I still followed her, but it was
too late,” he admitted. “By the time I got there…” His eyes looked
moist.

I saw that Cres
was right, he was smitten. “What did they do?” I urged
solemnly.

“I only saw the
Jeep, there was no sign of her. She kicked me out on the road a few
kays from the cabin.” He shook his head. “I begged her not to
go.”

I looked into
his misty eyes. “Is she alive?”

“I don’t know.”
He swallowed. “They burnt the jeep and hid it in the bush behind
the house. I ran to the compound. I stayed all night waiting, but I
only saw the pack members, Sam - men and a woman with dark hair –
that’s all. Then I went to find you.” He sipped the tea. “They had
the boy. A car arrived with some other members and they had
him.”

I thought about
this. “She went in guns blazing?”