Crimson (The Silver Series Book 3) (22 page)

He gave a small smile. “I know.” He looked
at the knife one more time, then slipped from the room as quietly
as he had entered.

Chapter 21

The thought of possibly seeing Colleen again
made it hard to rest. I wanted to go to her and make sure she was
safe, to see if she was really alive as Tannin said. I had no
reason to doubt him after what I had been through, but I also
didn’t underestimate how badly he wanted me back at the labs. I
wouldn’t put it past him to make up the story of Colleen to get me
back. The want for her to be alive warred with how much I didn’t
want her to go through everything I had. No matter what happened,
her death and her pain were my fault. I fell into a fitful sleep
with images of her lost and scared as Grace had been.

“
You like Mouse’s
present?”

I opened my eyes to see Jet leaning in his
usual place by the doorway. I held up my arm now encircled by the
unfamiliar weight of the knife. “It’s awesome. I can’t believe he
made it.”

Jet glanced through the door. “That scrawny
werewolf knows more than he lets on.”

“
It’s a good thing he's not
an Alpha,” I said with a chuckle that sent a sharp pain through my
chest. “We don’t want a mutiny.”

Jet gave a small, rare smile. “Follow me.”
He left through the door.

I didn’t want to get up. Exhaustion from the
lack of sleep, the fight, and Mrs. Carso’s wonderful lasagna
weighed my limbs, but Jet wouldn’t wait and whatever he needed to
show me was important. I pushed up slowly from the couch and
followed him through the kitchen to the backyard.

Jet pulled something from his pocket and
twirled it in the air. A butterfly knife spun open, then he flicked
his wrist and closed it again. “Ever use one of these?”

I shook my head.

He slipped it back in his pocket, then bent
down and pulled a knife from a sheath around his ankle that I
hadn’t known he wore. The blade looked sharp and deadly.

“
This is more like the one
Mouse made. Get used to it and it can save your life.” He motioned
for me to take off the wrist band. I unhooked it and compared the
knives. Jet’s was almost as long as the band. Looking closer, I saw
that nearly imperceptible groves fitted together to create the
smooth blade. They made it possible for the knife to flex in order
to bend around my wrist. I shook my head in wonder.

“
It’s only as good as the
man wielding it,” Jet said. His lips twisted into a grimace as
though he had swallowed something horrible and he froze for a
moment. Something dark and shadowed crossed his eyes and at that
instant he didn’t look like the Jet I knew; it was as though a
cold, calculating, wild creature stood there ready to tear out the
throat of whatever demon it faced. He took a steeling breath, then
shook his head, and met my eyes. “Sorry,” he said
quietly.

I shrugged as though I didn’t know what he
was talking about and gripped the knife tight in my right hand. “So
I hold it like this?”

A half smile of gratitude at my tact brushed
his lips and he focused on my hand. “No. Hold it loose so you can
maneuver it.” He adjusted my grip so that my fingers wrapped the
handle closer to the bottom. “This way you can flip it if you need
to.” He flipped his knife backward then forward to show me.

I tried to do the same and dropped the
knife. I picked it up, gritting my teeth at the pressure against my
chest.

Jet bit back a smile. “Okay, nothing fancy
then.” He put the knife back in my right hand and took me across
the yard to a well-worn punching bag hanging from a pecan tree.
“Imagine this is a person.” He took his knife and traced it across
the bag with the back of the knife so that it didn’t cut the
material. “The main kill areas are the throat, stomach, kidneys,
and thighs. If you can, aim for the jugular. That’s the quickest
and easiest way to dispatch an attacker.”

He slashed high across the bag with a quick
efficiency that didn’t waste any movement. He then spun around,
slashed across the stomach region, came back across where the
thighs would be, and flipped his knife like he had shown me and
stabbed the bag in the back where the kidneys were located. A gleam
of humor touched his eyes. “Jaze might not be happy about that.” He
pulled the knife from the bag and crouched to slip it back into his
sheath. “You try it.”

I slashed across the throat area, then tried
the spin he had done and ended up nearly impaling myself. I tripped
and he caught my knife hand. “Nothing fancy.”

I took a steeling breath and nodded. “Right.
Nothing fancy.” I stood square to the bag and bent my knees
slightly like he indicated to improve my balance, then ran through
a series of simple slashes while Jet performed them next to me.

“
Repeat this. Neck,
stomach, then pull him close for a stab to the kidneys. Neck,
stomach, kidneys.”

“
What about the
thighs?”

He shook his head. “Too much to worry about.
We only have a few minutes for you to commit this to muscle memory.
Follow.” He sliced with an imaginary knife high, brought the knife
quickly back and sliced at the middle, then drew his arm back and
toward him as though stabbing an attacker low in the back. I
repeated the chant aloud, then in my head, following his movements
until I had them down.

“
Now step back and do them
with your eyes closed.”

I glanced at him skeptically.

“
You have to see your
attacker. It’s one thing to maim a bag, but a whole different one
to cut through flesh and bone and leave your attacker bleeding to
death on the floor.” His tone turned slightly bitter. “You have to
be ready to kill or you won’t be able to do it when the time
comes.”

“
I don’t think I’ll be
ready,” I said honestly, picturing a man dead at my feet by my own
hands. It had been one thing to defend myself in the heat of
battle, but planning to kill someone made my stomach turn
over.

A wicked gleam came to his eyes. “That’s
where I come in. Just keep yourself out of harm’s way and we’ll be
there to handle the rest.” He gave my grip a skeptical look and
adjusted my fingers on the blade, then said. “Close your eyes and
do it again.”

I bent into a partial crouch and practiced
with my eyes closed. I pictured the men who had attacked Grace at
the motel, then imagined Dr. Tannin in all his smug superiority as
he hurt her. I slashed neck, stomach, and stabbed kidneys over and
over. My chest burned, but I pushed it down, adrenaline pumping
through my veins at the thought of protecting Grace and ending the
terror that had become her life.

“
Kaynan.”

I barely heard the voice and continued
fighting, the knife an extension of my hand and enemies falling
with every slash until blood flowed past my feet.

“
Kaynan!”

I jumped in surprise and turned with a
backslash. Jet caught my arm and disarmed me of the knife faster
than I could blink. I stared at him, my aching chest heaving.
“They’re ready to go.” He slapped the wrist band back on my arm,
then waited for me to lead the way.

“
I thought I wasn’t a
threat,” I joked, walking in front of him.

“
You weren’t.” He let the
words linger as we made our way back into the kitchen where the
others waited.

***

My chest throbbed on the way to Charles’
veterinarian clinic. I rubbed the bandages and stared out the
window.

“
That thing still bugging
you?” Taye asked from the middle row of seats.

I shrugged, then winced. “It’ll go away
eventually.”

“
Only if you give yourself
a chance to rest. Strain slows the healing process, so try to
relax.” Her eyes narrowed with concern.

“
We’re driving him to get
another microchip implanted, then he’s going to the labs like a
wrapped present. I don’t think relaxing is high on his list,” Brock
said with a laugh that sounded forced.

“
It’s not on any of our
lists,” Jaze replied from the front seat. He glanced back at me.
“But Taye’s right. Try to take it easy so you’re in the shape to
fight when it comes to it.”

“
When?” Nikki asked from
the Taye’s other side.

Jaze nodded. “There’s no way they’re going
to let Kaynan go free again with or without his sister. It’ll be a
fight; we just need to be ready for how bad.” He looked back at me
again. “The Hunters and werewolves are assembled and waiting for
our call. As soon as you give the signal, Mouse’ll give them the
coordinates. We’ll arrive at the same time.”

“
How do I give the
signal?”

He held up a small plastic container with a
tiny metal object inside. “Meg got this from the Hunters. It
monitors location as well as sound. Shout loud enough and we’ll
come running.”

“
What if I can’t shout or
they find it and destroy it?”

“
If we lose the signal,
we’ll take that as a signal. Regardless, we’ll track you to
wherever you stop. Hunters will be tailing you from the drop-off
and they have instructions to keep you in sight no matter what.” He
tipped his head to indicate the back window.

Surprised, I looked back to see a dark blue
car and a red truck behind us. I turned around again feeling
slightly better about our odds.

“
The chip is just to give
you the chance to see whether your sister is really there. If you
haven’t found her within an hour, we’re coming in regardless,” Jaze
concluded. I followed his eyes to the box of weapons Roger had
packed in the SUV.

***

“
Nice to meet the man
behind the wolf,” Charles said with an amiable smile. His bright
red hair was still mussed and he wore pajamas as though he had
jumped out of bed the second Jaze called. Taye, Nikki, and Jaze sat
in the room with me while the others waited in the SUV. Charles
held out a hand and I shook it.

“
Thanks for meeting us
after work,” I replied.

He adjusted his glasses. “Just happy to
help.” He peered at the vial on the counter and pursed his lips. “I
normally don’t deal with this type of microchip. Ours is implanted
with a syringe, but this is a bit larger.”

“
Just put it in however you
can that’ll be the least noticeable. I plan to have it removed when
we’re done.”

He nodded, his face clouded with concern. “I
guess I could put it in a small incision. You guys tend to heal
quickly enough that I don’t think anyone could tell.” He glanced at
my chest. “Do you need me to look at that, too?”

I looked down and saw that the bullet wound
had bled through the bandages. There was a dark red circle on my
green shirt.

Taye’s eyebrows lifted in concern. “It might
be a good idea. It shouldn’t be bleeding through bandages at this
point.”

I sighed. “No, it’s just having a hard time
healing. Jet ran me through some knife maneuvers and it kept
reopening.”

“
I could put some glue in
it to help keep it shut,” Charles supplied. “Might help the
reopening problem.”

I wanted to tell him not to worry about it,
but logic said it wouldn’t be a good idea to meet Dr. Tannin
already bleeding. I nodded. “That would be helpful, thanks.”

Charles wiped my arm with cotton covered in
a cold liquid. “I’ll just use a local. It sounds like you’re going
to need your senses about you.” He slid a needle into my shoulder
and I looked away. Pressure pushed against my arm. I looked at the
others to distract myself.

Taye watched the procedure with a
professional, unconcerned manner, but Nikki held Jaze’s arm, her
face slightly pale. She met my eyes and gave me an apologetic
smile.

“
You’d think with my
parents I’d be used to this stuff, but it still makes me nauseous,”
she said.

“
That’s okay. It’s not
exactly my cup of tea, either,” I agreed as the scent of blood
touched my nose. The pressure let up and Charles put some glue over
the small incision followed by a band-aid. He motioned for me to
lift up my shirt, put glue over the bullet wound as well, and
covered it with fresh bandages. I gave him credit for not asking
where I had gotten it.

“
You should live,” he said,
settling his glasses more firmly on his nose.

“
Thanks, Doc. Hopefully
I’ll be back soon to have the tracker removed.”

He nodded, his expression worried. “I’m
expecting it. I wish you guys would let me help.”

Jaze shook his head. “It’s not safe, but we
appreciate your assistance here.”

The veterinarian put a hand on my shoulder.
“Just come back in one piece.”

I smiled, touched. “Thanks.”

I followed the others back to the SUV and
climbed to my customary seat in the back. I stared out the window
while Mouse drove us to Roger’s to pick up Dr. Tannin. My heart
thrummed in my chest and my ribs ached, but my shoulder had stopped
throbbing. I pulled off the bandage and was satisfied to see that
it had healed. At least something was working the way it was
supposed to. The thought made me smile. Somehow in the midst of all
of the chaos, I had learned to think of my werewolf body as
normal.

Mouse pulled into the Valen’s driveway. I
pushed up, but Mouse slipped from the driver’s seat with a
rectangular device in his hand. “Let me check first.” He waved the
object over my tracking device and it beeped. He then touched the
screen and typed something in with a small keypad. After a few
seconds, the object beeped again, revealing a map of our location.
Mouse nodded, his eyes on the monitor. “As long as they don’t find
the chip, we’ll be able to follow you across the entire United
States if we have to.”