Winter's Dawn (38 page)

Susie and John both disappeared into the projector’s booth with a loud crash and more colorful exclamations from Susie. With the window clear Max leaped up, catching the edge and then worked on getting himself through the small opening. His shoulders were considerably wider than John’s. There was no way he was going to fit through the opening easily.

Susie pushed John off her. “Stay,” she demanded before she jumped to her feet and went to the window to help Max. “Gods, you really are too big for your own good.”

Max grabbed her hand, letting her pull him as he used his feet to help push him through the small opening. Between the two of them he managed to get through the window. Pain ripped through his shoulders from the final tug that launched him forward. He landed on top of Susie who had to be getting sick of big, heavy males falling on her.

“What was that sound?” Susie asked, her eyes wide as she looked up at him in horror.

Max winced. “I think it was my shoulders dislocating.”

“Ew.” Susie grimaced as she felt his shoulders. Obviously satisfied he had healed she shoved at him. “Let’s get out of here.”

Max didn’t need to be told twice. He hopped up and held out a hand automatically, helping Susie up. He went to the door, putting his palm against it, feeling for heat. The door was cool despite the smoke flowing in from underneath

“Really, what are you?”

Susie and Max both ignored John. The fire was messing with their wolf senses. The smoke left them lost when they couldn’t smell anything else. Max kicked at the door, causing it to rip off its hinges and fly against the wall.

He grabbed Susie’s hand, tugging her out of the room and headed down a hallway he hoped lead to an exit on the roof. He wanted to move faster, but John would have never been able to keep up.

They were all coughing as the smoke singed their lungs. Without the ability to smell, Max knew it was going to take a little bit of exploration to find an exit. He took off the thin jacket he was wearing and tossed it back to John. Then Max ripped at his shirt, sending buttons flying. He tugged it past his large hands impatiently, ripping fabric before he grabbed Susie’s hand and pulled her forward. He tied the shirt around her mouth as Susie looked up at him with watering silver eyes.

He knew there was supposed to be something very alarming about that brilliant, sparkling silver look from Susie but the significance of it escaped him and he didn’t have time to think about it.

“Stay here.” Max leaned down on impulse and pressed a kiss to Susie’s forehead. “I’ll find an exit and be back.”

Susie nodded. “Make quick work.”

Without the anchor of John, Max was able to find the exit quickly. The way was clear of fire, but time was of the essence. The floor felt hot and Max feared the flames would burst through from below at any moment.

He rushed back to Susie, finding her sitting on the floor. Beside her John had the glassy eyed look of being hypnotized as if Susie had used her powers to keep him from fleeing in the face of the fire. Before Susie could complain Max swept her in his arms and made his way to the small stairway that led to the roof. He kicked open the door. The blast of cold felt like a parent’s arms welcoming them back home. He set her on the snow-covered roof.

He turned around, leaving Susie in the cold and went back for John who was crawling on the floor, attempting to keep beneath the smoke. Strangely, he had somehow overcome Susie’s hypnotic suggestion to stay put. Max chalked it up to survival instinct.

“I don’t want to be carried by you,” John snapped when Max pulled to a stop, probably appearing out of thin air to John’s eyes. “I’d rather deal with the fire. It’s the lesser of two evils.”

“I am a wolf,” Max said, not knowing why he was wasting the time to explain this. “But, I’m not evil.”

John kept crawling and Max lost his temper. He grabbed him, ignoring the way he attempted to kick out of his hold. “Be silent and obedient.”

“Fuck you!” John growled in response.

Max’s hypnotism wasn’t working on him either and he didn’t have time to fight with him. He hefted a screaming, kicking John over his shoulder and ran to the exit. When he burst out on the roof and dumped John in the snow he was pale and gasping for breath. The speed Max used left him winded.

“What about Adam?” Susie kneeled at the edge of the roof and looked down to the parking lot. “Adam!”

“He’s okay.” Max hopped he was telling the truth as he reminded her, “He’s a son of summer. They love heat in any form.”

Susie nodded, her gaze still scanning the parking lot before she blinked and leaned against the edge. “I’m dizzy.”

Max reached down, tangling his fingers in her hair and gently tugged her head back to look down at Susie. Her eyes were glazed when the cold and snow should have restored her strength.

Max knew before he saw the blood. He fell to his knees, ripping open her jacket to find a stain of red spreading over her light blue shirt from a wound in the curve in her side. In a flash he remembered the knife thrown at John. She’d taken the blow without realizing it.

“Shit,” Max groaned, knowing if Susie lost consciousness he would to. They could end up passed out on the roof of a burning movie theater with only a human for help. “We’ve got to find a safe haven.”

Susie stared down at the wound herself, lifting her shirt to run her fingers over it. She appeared dazed by the blood and an injury that wouldn’t heal.

“It’s not deep,” she mumbled.

“It’s deep enough.” Max fought to keep the bumbling terror at bay at the knowledge of his mate having a silver wound. “We’ve got to go.”

“She’s bleeding.” John walked over to them, his voice genuinely concerned as he kneeled down on the other side of Susie. “We need to get her to a hospital.”

Max snorted. The last place he wanted Susie to end up if the two of them should fall unconscious was a hospital. “If we do pass out
do not
take her to a hospital. Get her to my father at the palace.”

“Maxwell!”

“Adam!”

Max felt a huge surge of relief as he leaned over the edge to watch Adam run into the parking lot. Adam turned around, his eyes glowing silver in the dying sunlight as he looked up to the roof.

“Catch the queen!”

It spoke of Max’s unfailing trust in Adam that he threw Susie over the edge before Adam had even acknowledged the command. Amazingly fast, Adam was a blur across the parking lot, catching Susie, as Max knew he would. Adam did grunt, his knees buckling but he stayed on his feet. He looked up to Max once more, his eyes wide as he held Susie cradled in his arms. “I smell blood.”

“She’s got a silver wound,” Max called back and just saying it made his heart beat harder. “Take her car. Get her to the Winter Palace.”

Adam turned to leave, Susie still in his arms before he stopped and looked back up at Max in concern. “You’re not driving?”

“I’ve got John with me.”

Adam scowled, but didn’t argue as he took off, disappearing so quickly Max could barely see him get to the other side of the parking lot.

Adam was a deadly wolf, one who took on a huge number of wolves to save them. Max knew on a cellular level that Adam would get Susie back to the palace. The camping trip served them more than he realized. It allowed Max to trust Adam as a packmate. He was now an extension of himself and they acted as one unit. Before this trip it was likely Max would have taken Susie himself and ended up passed out in a car somewhere and unable to help either of them.

“What does silver to do her?”

“She’s allergic to it.” Max wiped at his sweaty forehead as he turned back to John. “Very allergic. Let’s get out of here.”

John gave him a look of revulsion. “You’re going to have to carry me, aren’t you?”

“Unless you feel like you can make the jump yourself.” Max held up his hands as he made the offer. “Humans. You have such stupid rules to protect your male egos. You’d rather die than be touched. I don’t understand you.”

“You were one of us,” John said. “What happened to you? Did you get bitten by one of those things?”

Max rolled his eyes. “Can I explain this in the car?”

He didn’t give John a chance to answer. He grabbed him, tossed him over his shoulder and leaped over the edge. John’s shout of surprise ended with a choked gasp as they landed on the pavement hard enough to rattle Max’s bones and make his teeth clank together painfully.

A low wolf growl caught his attention and he turned around, John still over his shoulder. He found a rogue wolf who had escape the fire inching towards them with his teeth bared in violence.

“Come on!” Max yelled at the rogue, his fear over Susie making him feel violent. “I dare you! Attack your king!”

The wolf stopped, but others came around the corner, dozens of rogues with their fur singed and their teeth bared. Max turned, hearing more growls and saw more coming from the other direction. The fire, the loss of the queen who had escaped with Adam, Max could smell their desperation for a victory. They had regrouped, their pack mentality obvious. They would sacrifice a few for the glory of defeating Max.

Max was angry, but he wasn’t suicidal. He’d have to abandon John for a chance to win. He wasn’t willing to face Susie without him just to flex his dominance.

He turned and ran towards his car. He slammed into the door of his Aston Martin, the metal bending under the force of Max’s weight crashing into it. He tossed John into the car, feeling thankful he had driven with the top down despite Adam’s protests about it on the way there. He leaped over the door and was struggling to get his keys out of his pocket when the wolves rounded the corner.

“They’re coming!” John shouted and scrambled to get himself fully seated in the passenger seat that was pulled forward to accommodate Susie or Adam, both of whom were considerably shorter than John. “You need a gun!”

“Got one. Glove compartment.”

Max put the keys in the ignition. He threw the car into gear and backed up, hitting two wolves behind him with a satisfactory thump. He stepped on the gas, feeling their bodies rolling under his tires and then shifted gears as John pulled Max’s gun out of the glove compartment.

“Don’t shoot me,” he warned, knowing John was nervous. “Those bullets kill anything.”

John turned around, cocking the gun back. “Even werewolves?”

“Especially werewolves.”

Max slammed on the gas, plowing into two more wolves, another of which ended up under his tires as he peeled out of the parking lot, but they were persistent. When one jumped at the passenger side door John didn’t hesitate to shoot him, sending him flying back onto the pavement as Max pulled out onto the road.

Fire trucks and police were pulling into the parking lot and the rogue wolves were still everywhere. A part of Max shuddered at what an odd scene they must make. This was something his people avoided at all costs and covering it up would be extremely difficult, if not impossible.

If he could get to a phone and get their own crews out there to work on adjusting all the humans memories before the news got ahold of it they could possibly avoid speculation. Knowing Susie was already on the way to the palace, Max pulled into a gas station.

“What are you doing?”

“I’ve got to make a phone call.” Max fished in his pocket for a dime. When his fingers closed around a handful of change he opened his door. “Stay here, John. Having to chase you down will just piss me off.”

John stared at him defiantly and pointed the gun still in his hand at Max. “I should kill you.”

“Gods.” Max leaned forward and yanked the gun out of John’s grasp easily as he glared at him. “What’re you going to kill me for? Saving your life?” He got out of the car, shaking his head in annoyance. “Humans.”

His phone call was quick and to the point. He was thankful to leave a message with one of the operators who directed the calls at the Winter Palace. It would have taken a lot longer if he were speaking to Carl or his father. As it was he gave orders to get crews out to the theater and prepare for the queen to arrive with a silver wound. Considering they were over an hour away, even with Adam driving like a mad wolf, which he likely was, they would still have some time to prepare and call the doctors who were on constant call in case Max or Susie needed them.

Max got back into the car. Then he thought better of starting it and turned to John with narrowed eyes. “I need you to drive.”

John folded his muscular arms over his chest. “If I drive, will you explain a few things?”

“Sure.” Max knew he would just brainwash John later when the adrenaline rush had worn off and the drive to survive no longer blocked Max’s ability to control him. “Get me to my queen and I’ll tell you anything you want.”

“Fair enough.” John opened the passenger side door and got out as Max crawled over to the seat he vacated. When John sat, he turned the car on and asked, “First off, tell me what happened to you and Sue? Did you get bitten by one of those things?”

Max rolled his eyes as he fell back against the seat and looked heavenward. Knowing it was bad for the interior of his car, but needing the comfort nonetheless, he made it snow. He held out his hand, staring at the flakes that melted on his palm and thought of Susie. For some reason he knew she’d live, but there was something else he knew he should be upset about aside from a large scale attack of rogue wolves. He just couldn’t put his finger on it.