The Coming Storm (18 page)

Apparently I wasn’t as moral and good as everyone thought I was. Oh well, I didn’t find it all that disappointing.

* * * *

We pushed through to Dayton, Ohio, before stopping for the morning to sleep, wanting to ride out our good fortune of avoiding the authorities. That gave us just over eight hours, plus time stopping tomorrow, to drive left before we hit DC, putting us there just in time for the Paranormal Parliament to convene for the morning.

It was like we actually had timed it all out perfectly or something. At least we all agreed that was what we’d tell people.

We were on the outskirts of town which ended up being good
and
bad.
Bad
because we were right by the Air Force base we hadn’t known was there.
Good
because it ended up some of our own needed our help.

“I smell blood close by,” Seattle whispered that night as we finished loading up our stuff. “And not human.”

“Me too,” Aurelo agreed.

“You guys drive the Hummers over behind us,” Boston said as he and Seattle tossed the vampires the keys. They could keep up with us in dog form, but since we were better off and more mobile if there was trouble in our shifted forms, it was smarter for us to be in them.

We just couldn’t drive then… No matter what
SNL
showed about animals.

Quickly ducking behind the vehicles, we shifted and Seattle took lead as he sniffed out the source of the blood. Julus and Aurelo scooped up our clothes before hopping in the Hummers and pulling out after us. We raced a few miles away and right into a fight. There were at least two dozen men in uniform trading punches and it didn’t look like a trivial brawl.

Six of them were fighting for their lives. The half dozen that were like us. What the fuck was that about?

“Freaks of fucking nature! Goddamn animals.” One human shouted, not caring about being heard on the deserted parking lot this far away from downtown Dayton and at this hour.

“How did you find out?” a shifter asked before he took another shot to the face and two men held him for more blows.

“That’s classified. We were supposed to wait, but since we’re going to kill you all eventually, we decided you fuckers could go now.” He wailed on the guy’s face before a different shifter tackled him to the ground.

“You first,” the guy snarled. “We’ve fought with you all these years! You turn on us now because we’re not like you? What the fuck, man? Who cares?”

“You’re abominations!” They wrestled as the others kept fighting, and it was crystal clear the shifters were losing and would die. I didn’t need two guesses to know what Seattle and Boston would do.

Sure enough the moment we were close enough, they put on a burst of speed and each took a human. The rest of us followed suit, but since I’d never attacked a human before or anything besides a rabbit in malamute form, I made a big mistake when it was time to finish my target after the initial lunge to get him off the shifter he was beating… I hesitated, leaving myself open to be kicked.

I heard the snapping of ribs before I went flying through the air. Landing on my feet, I ignored the pain and jumped right back in, not making the same mistake. I went for his throat and tore it out, throwing up a little—some of it his blood—when he died with a choked gurgling sound.

There was too many of them to watch him struggle for his last breath and honestly I couldn’t, guilt eating me for the life I’d just taken. I was snapping at the next guy, already having torn a chunk out of his thigh when I heard a commotion.

“
No
!” Aurelo screamed from behind me and slightly to my right. I turned to see what was going on… Only to lock eyes with a human who was pointing a gun at me. Shit. I’d never get out of the way in time, and I didn’t have the training for the best way to. That didn’t mean I wasn’t going to try. My instincts kicked in and I went to dive out of the way just as I heard the first shot go off. They came in rapid fire, at least five of them before stopping.

Something slammed into me, and at first I thought it was bullets, but then I realized it was too big for that. I landed hard on the ground since I’d been about to go in a different direction than the hit and a heavy body landed on top of me with a groan. I recognized the scent and freaked out, shifting back.

“Aurelo, what did you do!” I shouted as I moved out from under him. I scrambled on the grass and knelt next to him, my hands locating the wounds even in the dark with my enhanced eyesight.

“Couldn’t let you get hurt,” he choked out, coughing up blood.

“You stupid, stupid man,” I wailed. “Help us! Seattle. Boston.” Then I realized I was an idiot. They were a good option but I had a better one in my brothers. “
Orlando
!”

“Get the bullets out,” Seattle ordered with a grunt. My head swung in his direction, and I saw he’d shifted back to answer me and took a punch to the face before subduing the human who shot at me… By snapping the guy’s neck. Okay then.

“Just hang on, Aurelo,” I whispered as I worked on the first wound. “I’m going to make you better. I’ll get these out and then you can drink from me.”

“No, I can’t,” he muttered and pushed me away so weakly I didn’t even budge. “Not out of pity. It’s for the best. I don’t want to live without you anyways.”

“You don’t meant that.” I got the first one out and moved on to the second one, ignoring how badly my hands were shaking. “You’re not thinking clearly with the amount of pain you’re in.”

“Maybe but I know I never really lived until you came into my life.” He coughed up more blood and I felt my heart speed up as my skin tingled. “If I don’t have you, all I’ll have is a hole inside of me and the misery that comes with knowing what happiness was like. Just let me go, Chicago. You told me to let you go.”

“No, not like this,” I whimpered as I got the second one out. The third one came out easily and I moved on to the fourth one lodge in his chest. “This isn’t what I meant!”

“Let him die, freak,” a deep voice said, and I felt something press against my head. “Help him anymore and you’re dead.”

“You’re going to shoot me anyways,” I whispered, shaking as I met Aurelo’s eyes which were full of fear. He hadn’t seen the guy until it was too late either. “I won’t let the man I love die.”

“Fuck. A fag and a monster. You will rot in hell.” I heard him load a round in the chamber and resigned myself to the inevitable.

I took Aurelo’s hand in mine. “I forgive you and believe you.”

“I’m glad but you’re not dying,” he mumbled. “I won’t ever let that happen for as long as I have breath in my body.” I just blinked at him. He barely had any of that left. What was he going to do to save us?

I got the answer seconds later as mist surrounded us. Then Aurelo wasn’t there and the human screamed. The gun dropped and I grabbed it, glancing around for Aurelo. He reformed and fell to the ground with a heart breaking and painful groan. I put the gun into his hand, leaving him in charge of it, and got back to work.

It took me a few more minutes to get out the three other bullets and then I was done. I guess there had been at least six shots then.

“Drink,” I ordered as I brought my wrist up to his mouth. “Drink
now
!”

“Did you mean what you said?” he whispered as he pushed it away. “Really mean it or did you just say it so I didn’t die with shame and regret? Do you love me?”

“Yes, I meant it. Yes, I love you. Now fucking drink and don’t leave me!”

“Chicago, my love, I want a makeup kiss first.” His voice sounded really weak now.

“You stubborn ass man,” I snarled as I carefully moved over him, knowing that arguing with him would do nothing more than waste time. I pressed my lips to his, and I felt his hand on my hip. He growled and pulled me half on top of him.

“I love you so fucking much,” he hissed before sinking his fangs into my neck. I moaned in pleasure, careful not to move or rub up against him so I didn’t injure him further. He drank more than he normally would but went to pull away too soon.

“Keep drinking or no sex ever again,” I threatened. Surprise, surprise he kept drinking! Aurelo’s hand moved between the cheeks of my ass as if letting me know he was going to collect on sex when he was better. He was making it really hard to be good… And
me
really hard.

He pulled out his fangs and sighed. “Thank you, baby. If I take anymore, I could hurt you. I’m okay now I swear. I’m going to pass out but I’ll wake back up.”

“You promise?”

“I’m not going anywhere now that you forgive me.” He gave me a soft smile as his eyes closed. His breathing evened out, strong and sounding good, and I saw his coloring was better so I relaxed.

“You forgave him then?” Boston asked as he knelt down on the other side of him and checked Aurelo’s pulse.

“He took six bullets to save my life,” I whispered as I looked up from my man to Boston. “I’d say that’s proof he loves me and no one else. I’m not a replacement. It’s me he wants. Wouldn’t you forgive him?”

“Fuck yeah,” Orlando said as he joined us. “Hell, I love him for saving you too.” He did his EMT thing and started checking Aurelo’s vitals.

“Yeah, I’d say he gets a pass,” Milwaukee agreed as he plopped onto the ground. “No more games or sticking his foot in his mouth though.”

“Yes, that’s likely or reasonable,” Seattle drawled from behind me. “No one ever makes mistakes in a relationship except in the beginning. He’s going to screw up, and he’ll make up for it again. He loves Chicago and that’s all that matters.”

“I think he gets at least a dozen more freebies for saving our baby brother,” Phoenix chuckled as he leaned over Boston. “We have a new brother as far as I’m concerned. He’s forgiven.”

He really was.

11

“Thanks for the save,” one of the shifters still conscious said as he knelt on the ground, looking as if he was trying to get the energy to stand. “I don’t understand how they knew about us.”

“The human governments know,” I explained gently, squatting in front of him. Sniffing the air now that I could scent anything but blood and anger, I realized what breed they were. Owls. Snow owls to be exact. I took in his beaten form and reached for his arm to help him, knowing Seattle and Julus were lugging Aurelo to the Hummer already. “Let’s get you home, safe, and medical attention, and I’ll explain.”

“I live on base. We can’t go back there then.” He groaned in pain as he stood, staring at me intently. Right, I was naked. Shifters were normally better at not being so obvious at noticing when we were though, so it was odd that he seemed so shocked by it. Though if he was in the military maybe he wasn’t used to seeing people being comfortable with nudity anymore?

“Well you guys can’t stay here,” Orlando said as he examined the guy with a trained eye. “You’re the best off and you need help. Where can we take you?”

“The flock house. I need to tell our director we’ve been outed.” He turned and spat some blood on the ground as he moved his arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer, leaning on me heavily. “Thank you. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you.”

“No problem. Whatever you need.”

“Whatever?” he chuckled, not looking at me when I glanced at him so I couldn’t see his eyes to gauge the implication. “Be careful in that offer, kid.”

“Um, okay.” Deciding to switch the topic, I went with something I thought easy. “I thought a group of owls was a parliament?”

“We can’t call ourselves that since the PP decided they should be Parliament and the only one.” There was an edge to his tone that told me he wasn’t happy about it. “So we went with flock. Whatever. Posse. Cloister. Colony. Pack. Herd. Group.”

“I got it. I’m Chicago.”

“No, this is Dayton. You’re in Ohio,” he drawled, starting to slur.

“Shit. I think he’s going to pass out too,” Phoenix cursed. We hurried with him to the Hummer and got him sitting down. “Do we know where the flock house is?”

“In my phone.” He handed it over to Phoenix. Then he slapped my ass as I stood on the running board. “I smacked all of Chicago’s asses! Hadley smacked millions of ass.” Before I could even reply, he flopped down onto the bench seat.

“Do I want to know?” Julus asked me as he carried over another owl.

“Blood loss and confusion from several shots to the head.” Phoenix shrugged. “You wouldn’t believe what I’ve heard people say in the ambo sometimes.”

“Oh, we believe it,” Seattle snickered as lugged another one over his shoulder. “We need to beat tracks. We might be on the outskirts of town but someone had to have heard something going on here. It won’t be long until we have company.”

We hauled ass then because it wasn’t just getting arrested for a fight or trying to explain how some of the men had died from dog attacks. We were fugitives now. Once we were dressed and everyone was loaded, we made the tight squeeze into the H2s and I navigated Seattle to the flock house. It took us about twenty minutes before we were way outside Dayton and pulling into a nice estate.

Seattle and I got out first, and I couldn’t help thinking it was odd that how no one was around… Anywhere. There were a few lights on in the house towards the front but besides that it seriously looked like no one was home.