Werewolf Rage Book #2 in the Taming The Wolf Series (14 page)

“Cole, my best friend,” Braxton said silkily.

Cole spit at Braxton’s feet. “Those days are long gone. You shouldn’t have touched Ava,” he warned and turned into a wolf in a shimmer of light and movement.

Ava stood on shaky feet and wiped Braxton’s saliva and her blood off her mouth, wiping her shirt with her hands. She watched as Cole growled, circling Braxton who just stared at him with a big smile on his face.
He lifted his hands in the air as if he were conducting music and ten large hybrids immediately materialized from the park, moving toward them so stealthily it looked like they were floating.

She turned to run back for the house, but stopped short when she saw two hybrids walking down the stairs from the house toward her.
Ava closed her eyes as she realized they were surrounded. Exactly as Braxton had planned it. She closed her eyes and stretched up as she turned into her wolf form, landing on paws. It was her only hope of getting away now. She raced away from Cole, Braxton and the hybrids.

“Get her.
She’s mine,” Braxton yelled, his voice filled with excitement.

She raced down the sidewalk, ignoring the pounding of hybrid feet behind her. All she had to do was make it a few blocks, she tho
ught, stretching her body to its limits and running faster than she’d ever run before. Just as she reached the edge of the park a hybrid jumped on her back, sending her spiraling into a hard metal bench. People were now coming out of the stores and houses to see what all the commotion was, but as they saw the hybrids circling her, they screamed and ran back into the safety of the buildings. All of her attention was now focused on the three hybrids growling in her face. In the back ground, she could hear the whimpering sounds of Cole as he fought off the other hybrids.

Braxton pushed the hybrids aside and looked down at her, smiling faintly. “You’re just as beautiful in your wolf form as you are in your human body.
I always knew I was a lucky man,” he said, laughing just before he reared back his foot and kicked her in the head, sending her spiraling into darkness.

Ava came to and kept her eyes closed. She wanted badly to groan as the pain in her head felt overwhelming but controlled the urge. She was in a moving vehicle and from the smell of it, she was very close to a hybrid. She focused her senses on the animal and tried to ignore all other sounds. From the even breathing of the animal she could tell it was sleeping. She swallowed slowly and cracked an eye open. It was dark, but she could make out faint shadows. She was in the back of a van and there was a hybrid just two feet away from her.

She moved her head to the side and saw that there was a man driving the van but no passenger.
It was just her, the hybrid and the man. She took a deep breath and relaxed slightly when she realized it wasn’t Braxton. Braxton smelled of anger, pride and cruelty. This man smelled like bad cologne. She reached up slowly and touched the side of her head and felt the stickiness of blood. Her mouth felt puffy where he’d slapped her too, but other than a migraine headache and the constant pounding, those were her only injuries.
So far
.

She concentrated on keeping her breathing even and slow and felt her wrists and ankles.
Nothing.
They hadn’t bothered to tie her up. She glanced at the sleeping hybrid again and knew there was no need to. She glanced at the back of the van and the door. If she could open the van door, she could jump to safety, but she’d immediately have the hybrid on her. If by chance, she made it to a tree, she’d be hunted until Braxton found her. She licked her dry lips and wished desperately for water.

She closed her eyes and thought of Cyrus. Her heart hurt at the thought, but she realized immediately she wasn’t going through withdrawals.
In her heart, she knew he was coming for her. He wouldn’t sacrifice her for anything. Her father would have the whole town coming to find her. It was only a matter of time. Unless, they couldn’t find her or their trail. Canada was immense and some areas were barely populated. She couldn’t wait around for someone to save her, she’d have to save herself.

She flexed her hands and stared in the dark at the sleeping hybrid.
He was sleeping on a large blanket. Her eyes narrowed and she moved slowly to sit up. She crawled around the beast and slowly and very gently picked up one edge of the blanket and pulled it over the creature. She tried not to look at its human like hands and razor sharp claws. If this didn’t work, she would know exactly what it felt like to be ripped open by those unholy hands.

She crawled further around the animal and pulled the other side of the blanket so the animal was covered and the two ends met.
She bit her lip knowing the creature weighed at least a hundred and fifty pounds if not more. Could she really open the back door of the van and push it out? Her muscles bunched and she felt the now familiar feeling of adrenaline pouring through her. She could do anything if it meant living to see Cyrus and her father again. She glanced back at the driver, but he had the radio on to a talk show and was laughing inanely at a comment and wasn’t paying them any attention.

Now, her only problem
was, how to open the van door and then get behind the creature to push it out? She lowered her head for a moment, tired, in pain and desperate. She glanced out the front window and saw by the light of the headlights that they were on a small one lane road in the middle of a forest. If she could just get free and change into her wolf form she had a chance. She had to do this. If she could get rid of the hybrid, she could take out the driver easily. She sensed a passivity about him that made him a good underling. He wouldn’t know what hit him, she thought viciously.

She looked behind her and around the van for anything that would help her as a weapon or as a tool and saw the shovel.
Her eyes grew big as she wondered why they’d brought a shovel and felt her heart speed up even more. Maybe Braxton could care less about taking her. Maybe he just wanted to kill her out in the woods and bury her body so Cyrus and her father would never see her again or know what happened to her. The worst revenge possible.

She felt her headache intensify but ignored it.
She had to move now. She picked up the shovel carefully but it still made a small noise as the tip of the shovel scratched against the floor of the van. She paused and stared at the hybrid as it twitched. The foul smell of the animal made her want to move back as far away as possible but for this to work, she’d have to be up close. And all he’d have to do was swipe her with one of its claws and everything would be over.

She reached across the animal with the shovel, and used all her muscles to slowly and quietly move the lever to the back door down.
She carefully levered the shovel down until she heard the unmistakable click of the door opening. The sudden rush of wind and the slam of the door against the outside of the van awakened the beast lying underneath her immediately. As it reared up, growling furiously, she used its momentum to propel it toward the open door, shoving it with all her might. The blanket tangled in the animal’s limbs and she was able to get it out the door, but the hybrid snaked an arm out of the blanket, grabbing on to the door with its human like hand.

The driver was now yelling and swerving the van.
He’d have to stop driving to get to her though. She picked up the shovel and brought it down as hard as she could on the fur covered arm and hand holding on to the van. The animal shrieked in pain and let go, making a sickening sound as it hit the ground. She wasn’t sure how fast they were going, but it was fast enough that the animal hadn’t been able to land on its feet.

She turned around to face the driver with the shovel in her hand to find him talking into a phone frantically.
She didn’t hesitate and swung the shovel at the man’s head. She hit him hard enough to knock him out, but not hard enough to kill him hopefully. She threw the shovel down and grabbed the wheel as they started to head off the road. With one hand she held the wheel, while pushing the man to the side. His body slumped in the space between the two front seats and she took his spot at the wheel, putting her foot on the gas and steering to the middle of the road. She glanced back in the rear view mirror trying to get a glimpse of the hybrid, but it was too dark and they were too far away now.

She stared ahead of her and behind her, but she couldn’t see another car anywhere.
She heard a faint sound and reached down between the seats to pick up the phone the man had dropped. She heard cursing and yelling but kept the phone plastered to her ear.

She saw a small dirt path ahead and pulled off the main road and brought the car to a stop behind a grouping of trees.
She thought seriously about just turning the van around and heading back in the direction she’d come but immediately threw the idea out. Braxton would be able to find her easily that way.

She jumped out of the van and threw the keys into the forest as she continued to listen to the phone.
She needed to change into her wolf form quickly but if she could find out where Braxton was or what his plans were she’d be better prepared for what lay ahead. Being a wolf would give her a much needed sense of direction so she knew where to go. She’d also be able to heal faster from her head injury. But more than that, she’d be able to get back to Cyrus faster.

She ran quickly away from the van but then paused to listen closely to the phone.
She heard faint murmurs. “
Kill . . . . . . she’s too little to do much . . . . . . . .rip her . . . . . . . . .circle back . . . . .
.”

Ava knew she wouldn’t be able to keep the phone as a wolf but she needed to call Cyrus to let him know she was alive and okay.
She winced as lights sliced through the darkness. Braxton hadn’t been too far ahead. It was time to run. She dropped the phone and ran through the dark, away from the danger and back the way they had been coming. She’d never changed on the fly but there was no time to practice now. It was do or die. She pictured the wolf inside her desperate to come out and jumped forward as if she were diving into the lake, transforming seamlessly into the wolf she was now becoming more familiar with.

She raced through the woods, leaving the lights and the van in the far distance.
She circled far around where she’d last seen the hybrid she’d pushed out of the van and moved faster. She knew that within a few short minutes though that whatever hybrids Braxton traveled with would be hunting her. And like Cole had said, hybrids were the best trackers in the world.

It was the middle of the night now.
When Braxton had taken her, it had only been mid-morning. She faintly remembered someone mentioning that Tanner’s Landing was north of Paskell. She’d just have to head south until she found something familiar or found a town and people and safety. Not that a town of regular people could protect her from hybrids or even Braxton Mayhew.

She whined softly in her throat as the memories of him hurting her and worse,
kissing
her swept through her mind. Part of her wanted to cry and huddle in a corner but the other part of her wanted to rip him to shreds for daring to touch her so cruelly. No wonder Perry and Cole had run from their home. She would have too. And then she was remembering her last image of Cole. So many hybrids, biting and clawing him. How could anyone survive that? She pushed the thought away and focused on one thing.  Survival.

She ran for an hour straight but had eventually had to stop.
She needed water and she needed to rest. She hadn’t sensed anyone chasing her as she’d run, but that could change any second. She sniffed the air for water and sensed there was stream a mile or so to her left. She headed tiredly in that direction, her body aching from the exertion of sprinting through the dark for so long.

She came to the stream, and saw an owl staring at her from a tree.
There were other animals moving through the forest, but no predators. She hurried to the water and drank thirstily, panting so loudly, the sound seemed like small explosions. She lifted her nose to the wind and closed her eyes, concentrating on smells and sounds. For the moment, she was safe.

She lowered her head and breathed out as she slowly changed back into her human form.
She glanced up at the trees lining the stream and knew she should climb. It was the safest place to be and she’d be able to see anyone or anything that tried to sneak up on her. It was still a couple hours until daylight, but her eyes were so attuned to the dark she could see clearly enough.

Ava walked tiredly to the nearest tree and jumped up to the lowest branch, catching it easily in her hands. She swung up and began climbing quickly.
She’d have to jump a few trees to put off anything that might have tracked her this far though.

The trees were close together and her muscles were fluid from all of her running and she was able to fly easily from tree to tree.
She settled on a tree four away and then leaned back against the trunk of the Aspen tree. She sighed tiredly and glanced down at her tank top and pajama shorts and wished heartily that Braxton had kidnapped her when she’d been wearing jeans and sneakers. She was barefoot and more vulnerable than she’d ever been. She didn’t have a choice but to travel as a wolf. Just walking from the stream to the tree had hurt the soft soles of her feet.

She leaned her head against the tree trunk and closed her eyes. She knew she’d fall out of the tree if she fell asleep, but she had to rest her body.
She brought her knees up to her chest on the large branch and leaned her forehead against her arms. As she closed her eyes, she thought of Cyrus. She wondered where he was and if he was going through withdrawals.

Her body was so tired and empty she went into a gray zone somewhere between consciousness and sleep.
Images of her father and Cyrus swam through her mind interspersed with the memory of Braxton’s arms around her body and the feel of his teeth on her neck.

Time passed and she turned her head to the side, opening her eyes as she felt the lightening of the sky caress her face.
It was almost morning and she’d have to run again. The thought made her want to cry. She started with her toes and her fingers and tightened and released every muscle group she had before moving her head up and stretching her legs out, letting them swing over the side of the branch she was resting on.

She slowly turned and reached her leg down to the next tree branch.
She made her way down the tree and jumped lightly to the ground. She stretched her sore body up, reaching her hands high before leaning over and touching the ground letting all of the pressure out of her lower back. As she stood up, sighing, she hoped that she’d come across a town soon and a phone. She lowered her arms and prepared to make the change when she sensed movement before she heard the sound of pounding heading toward her.

Her whole body tensed and she knew that it was over.
She was too exhausted to fight any longer. She was too tired to sprint for another hour. She turned and looked up at the tree she’d just come down from and jumped up to reach the lowest limb. She gasped in horror when she fell back down. She hadn’t jumped high enough. Her body was too tired. She glanced over her shoulder and let out a horrified shriek as the pounding grew louder and the howl of an angry wolf filled the cool morning air.

She jumped again, a spark of adrenaline urging her muscles to cooperate.
She grasped the limb with both hands and pulled her body up slowly, no longer able to move quickly. She felt the rushing of bodies underneath her and the howls became so loud and frantic, tears seeped out of her eyes. Braxton had found her. She stood up on the branch and turned to face death.