Un.Wavering (Claimed Series Book 3) (3 page)

His words froze her. “Then what’s the purpose?” she asked. “What is it all about?”

The Alpha flashed his teeth in a wicked smile. “This is about surviving.”

“Surviving,” Hayden repeated numbly.

“Yes.” Nicolas replaced the rifle on the rack and grabbed a long sword. “Things will never be as they
were
.”

Hayden placed a hand on her chest, feeling the comfortable weight of her throwing knives underneath her coat. “So it’s pointless? Going after Celeste?”

“To what? Kill her?” The man chuckled. “Quite the contrary, pup. It would be wise to cut off the head of the beast. She alone controls the Carriers, and in turn, the Carriers control the beasts they’ve Sired; a mindless, resilient army.
Puppets.
”

She perked up at his admission. “So we can still win. It—”

“Killing Celeste will certainly bring with it some incentives.” Nicolas unsheathed the long sword, its silver blade catching the light. “However, while the traditional wolves had their backs turned, oblivious, Celeste was working diligently behind the scenes. There is no way to reverse the damage she’s done. ”

Nicolas brought back his arm and swung the sword powerfully. The blade cut straight through the neck of a dead man at the table, instantly decapitating the corpse.

Hayden pressed herself against the wall, immediately drawing the conclusion that Nicolas had lost his sanity. Before she could reprimand him, she heard the slow, uneven heartbeats.

She turned cold.

They were alive and turning into beasts, not unlike the one that bit them.

It was similar to the time Cole had to exterminate the survivors of the small town on their way to the cabin. But unlike Cole, who had struggled to veil his regret upon killing the mass of innocents, Nicolas possessed no shadow of remorse as he continued beheading the Hunters.

Then again, the two situations couldn’t have been more different. The Hunters were not innocents. They’d chosen this lifestyle. They’d known the consequences. Oblivious humans, on the other hand, never knew what hit them.

Hayden turned away as Nicolas severed the remaining bunch. The smell of blood made her gums itch and her canines elongate, yet she remained firmly by the door.

“Is this too gruesome for you to stomach, Hayden?” Nicolas taunted, always observant, always watchful. “And here I thought you were striving to be one of the fiercest women—”

“Who bit them?” Hayden interrupted, hardly perturbed by his mocking. “Did a Carrier do this? Why?”

“So many questions…” he trailed off, taking care of the Hunter who was halfway in the fireplace. “It is difficult to tell. Celeste has finally perfected the Carriers’ chemical makeup. They do not have a scent and neither do their spawn.”

A good length of time and silence passed before Hayden repeated her last question.

“Why? Why do
this
?”

Nicolas whirled around, cleaning the blood ceremoniously from the blade. His eyes glittered as he gazed at her steadfastly. “Cole has held your hand for far too long. You are capable of deducing your own answers. You are a smart girl.”

Her nostrils flared at the insult. Cole never
coddled
her. He was, in all actuality, very similar to Nicolas in terms of challenging her. Though it was tempting to defend herself, Hayden remained silent and analyzed the situation.

It didn’t seem like Celeste was hesitant in ordering her three Carriers to infect as many humans as possible. In fact, it was disconcerting how public she was making these slaughters.

“She wants the whole world to know.” Behind her back, Hayden pressed her palm against the doorframe, giving herself strength at the sudden rationale. “She’s trying to infect as many people as possible. So when humans do find out, werewolves will ultimately be the superior and majority race.”

“Yes,” Nicolas agreed. “Who knows how many of Celeste’s werewolves are out there. Their altered composition gives them an advantage over traditional werewolves.” The Alpha male hung the sword back in its rightful place. “But
why
kill these people in particular, Hayden?”

The answer came to her immediately. “She’s exterminating all the Hunters.”

“Yes and no.” Nicolas wiped his hands together, smearing the blood between his palms and turning it dry. “By turning the Hunters against all werewolves, she’s preventing any possible alliance between them and the traditional wolves. And as you already know, Hunters carry grudges.”

His words hardly had a chance to sink in before the sound of diesel engines roared outside. Hayden jerked away from the door, listening as several pairs of feet rushed towards the cabin.

Instantly, she knew they were human and that they were Hunters.

Nicolas grabbed Hayden’s bicep and all but hauled her off her feet. He dragged her towards the back of the cabin, hardly concerned with stepping on the carnage at his feet.

“I hope you excel at dodging as much as you excel at asking questions.”

After traveling through the rear foyer, he pushed her towards the back door. Only, as soon as Hayden’s hand grabbed the door handle, she heard a crowd of bodies hastily close in from outside. She retracted her hand quickly, as if burned.

As she reached for the knives under her coat, Nicolas grabbed her wrist and tugged her away. Under his dominant guidance, she was nothing but his marionette.

“Your knives will not help you here. We must escape as quickly as possible.”

If Hayden didn’t know any better, she would say Nicolas was frightened. But why shouldn’t he be? She was. The last time Hayden was on the other end of a Hunter’s rifle, they’d been scarily good at aiming and quickness. And that was when Hayden had a wide-open forest to her advantage.

This time, their enemies surrounded them on
their
terrain.

A resonating
bang
sounded as the cabin doors slammed open. Distant swearing sounded from the men, most likely a reaction to seeing the carnage, but they abruptly turned silent. After all, Hunters did not give away their position, even if their prey could smell them coming.

Nicolas forced Hayden down a tight hallway towards one of the bedrooms. She knew the Hunters wouldn’t lower their guards until they searched and cleared the entire cabin. Their best chance was through a window and making a run for it.

Only, as soon as they entered a bedroom, a Hunter was already climbing inside.

The lethal human barely had time to raise his rifle. Nicolas lunged across the room with a single bound and grabbed the barrel of the rifle. Using brute strength alone, he bent the long barrel as if it were plastic before ripping it cleanly from the Hunter’s hands.

The Alpha male then used the end of the rifle and jammed it into the Hunter’s skull, right between his eyes.

Hayden grimaced, but abruptly stiffened. The hairs on the back of her neck stood. She whirled around, her eyes desperately seeking the malevolent source. Standing outside the bedroom and across the hall, another Hunter stood, his rifle ready and aiming true.

She quickly closed the door to the bedroom and lunged away, shouting something incoherent to Nicolas in warning. The rifle fired and the bullet tore through the door as if it were mere paper.

Hayden never had the chance to land before a sharp pain erupted in her shoulder.

Nicolas grabbed her before she hit the ground and forced her to exit through the window. As soon as their feet hit the ground, he tossed her forward, growling something about
moving
and
quickly
.

Hayden stumbled, her shoulder searing, but she obliged. She sprinted as fast as she could, aware of the Hunters in close proximity. Gunfire rained after them and tree bark exploded from stray bullets. All too close for comfort. 

She didn’t even know if Nicolas was following, leading, or matching her speed. She just ran, having the blind instinct of surviving and leaving the cabin behind. If she didn’t get out alive, who would be there for Cole?

“Hayden.”

The sound of her racing heart made her nearly deaf, but she couldn’t ignore the heavy hand on her shoulder, the same shoulder that burned and ached horribly. A strangled growl escaped past her lips and she reared away from the touch.

When her vision cleared, she observed Nicolas standing opposite of her, his hand still outstretched. His eyes were cold, unconcerned, if not possessing a sliver of frustration.

Fortunately, the sound of gunfire seemed distant and unthreatening.

“What did I tell you about dodging?” He waved his palm, revealing the crimson stain of fresh blood on his skin. “
Foolish
girl.”

Her teeth were on edge as he peeled back the lapel of her coat, bringing with it skin tissue and other things that might have been bullet or bone fragments. The smell of silver and gunpowder was almost overwhelming.

She watched his face darken and his frustration heighten. Whatever he saw, he didn’t think it was favorable. It didn’t
feel
favorable. Something akin to desperation flashed in his normally impassive eyes, but it was gone a second later.

Hayden laughed breathlessly, trying to push away the anxiety. “It’s a good thing I possess Celeste’s altered venom. I’m sure I’ll heal up quickly.” It was the first time she admitted it aloud, much less make light of it.

Nicolas wasn’t amused.

“You were a test subject, nothing more.” He put her coat back in place. “You possess some heightened ability; immunity to silver is not one of those abilities. Even her prized Carriers are not
entirely
immune to silver.”

Hayden had known that, she was just trying to lighten the mood. However, judging from Nicolas’ face, she realized there was nothing to take so lightly. She remembered when Evan had carved his initial into her chest and the silver poisoning that followed. It wasn’t something she wanted to live through again.

“I’ve survived it before. Twice before. Once with the tonic and once without—”

“Not. Like.
This
.”

Taken aback at his ferocity, Hayden watched in silence as Nicolas scrutinized their surroundings. His normally focused eyes were far away, mere proof his mind wasn’t present. She could almost see his thoughts racing with possibilities and reluctances.

Without any warning, the Alpha male leaped into action. He grabbed Hayden’s coat, pulling it open to reveal the knives underneath.

“We will have to carve out the infected wound as much as possible. We should amputate your arm if you want to see morning.”

“
What
? No! The blade is silver!”

Nicolas reached for her shoulder. Acting on instinct alone, she curled her fist and punched him in the face, effectively taking him by surprise. Before she could make a quick escape, he tackled her from behind.

The large male wrapped his arms and legs around her, locking her limbs together. Startled at the action, and unable to support his weight, Hayden collapsed to the ground.

“We have no time for arguing or for experimenting,” he instructed calmly. “A silver blade will have to do. You have a better chance at surviving a clean cut from a silver blade as opposed to a fragmented, silver bullet. We will cauterize the open tissue.”

He spooned her from behind, keeping her knees locked and her arms bound with ridiculous ease. As the cold knife touched her gaping flesh wound, her body quivered and she issued a piercing scream.

“
Hush.
”

Hayden desperately tried to morph into her wolf, hoping her canine form would succeed in escaping from Nicolas’ domineering hold. But every time she tried to reach for her other half, an overbearing and authoritative influence suppressed her.

Cole controlled the same influence as her Alpha. He had the ability to force or oppress her canine transformation. Nicolas possessed the same power, either because he was a more dominant force, or because they were ‘claimed’ mates.

Nicolas forcibly placed his forearm into Hayden’s mouth, stifling her screams.

“Bite on my arm.”

She happily obliged as he dug the knife into her bullet wound, scraping out the torn flesh and the bullet fragments. The silver stung, searing her skin and almost cauterizing it closed. Between the silver in her system, and the unbearable pain, her world clouded. 

Facing death this time around was far more terrifying. She’d been scared before, but this was different. She had things left to accomplish. Cole was alone and in the hands of Celeste. Hayden’s pack was relying on her to bring their Alpha back.

She couldn’t go now…

Blood filled her mouth as she gnawed on Nicolas’ arm. Subconsciously, she lapped at the liquid, foolishly hoping it would give her a sliver of his strength. Cole’s brother never uttered a complaint at her treatment, nor did he pull his arm away.

Hayden felt the knife hover over her skin, as if Nicolas debated about whether to cut above the wound or further up her arm. But he wasn’t hesitant, she realized a moment later, he was vigilant.