WINIFRED…
Emmitt drove so I could focus on communicating with all the wolves I’d called to our aid. They were coming from far and wide. Several of those who’d fled Europe just before I’d exposed our existence to the world while in New York had already arrived and had reported the park was quiet.
I was just about to communicate that to Sam when Jim interrupted my thoughts.
Winifred, Olivia thinks that Blake will try to kill us all to force the Judgement in his favor.
He’s been trying to kill us all for years and has failed. He will fail again today, I sent.
I know. But humor me for a minute. You know our people. Have any gone missing?
I opened my mind, touching the familiar links. Some new. Some old. I frowned when I reached for one and found it missing. The first of many. Too many. How had this happened? I’d known Blake had quietly hunted Mated pairs in the past and killed families for the female cubs. Why had I assumed that genocidal brutality had ended since revealing ourselves to the world? How had I failed my people yet again? A fist of pain struck me in the chest. I gasped and leaned forward.
Winifred, what is it? Sam sent, more attuned to me than he should be. Yet, at the moment, I grasped his connection like a lifeline. He needed to know. They all did.
Over one hundred werewolves are gone, I sent them. How did we not notice?
If they don’t reach out to us, we wouldn’t know, Grey sent. It’s not your fault or theirs. We under estimated Blake. Warn the rest.
He was right. My failing was in not being vigilant enough. It wouldn’t happen again.
Blake’s men are out there, human and Urbat, silencing our people in hopes of winning. If you see anything suspicious, reach out to us. Go nowhere alone. His attempt to decimate our race ends now.
GREY…
I reached out and touched Gregory’s faint link. He was as much of a brother to me as Thomas. I mourned for him and for all the others I, now too, felt missing. So many links lost but not his. Not yet. Likely soon, though. Just like many more before the sun would set.
“Grey, if you don’t tone it down, I’m going to have to hit someone in the face pretty soon,” Isabelle said from her place in back.
Carlos glanced at me.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Blake’s men have been quietly thinning our numbers. Families. Cubs. More than a hundred gone since we left New York.”
“Bloody hell,” Luke swore from the back.
“It won’t end there. With the call for help we made, many more will die today.” I turned to look back at Bethi.
She leaned against Luke. Because of her high emotions, we’d already had to stop once for Isabelle and Carlos to spar. I knew this news wouldn’t help calm her, but they all needed to know.
“You can’t let them win,” I said.
Bethi snorted and sat up straight. “To save the world, yes we can. We don’t want to. We want to stop him. But, if he tries to wipe out all werewolves, there’s no chance for balance; and the world will burn.”
Isabelle reached over and grabbed Bethi’s hand.
“We’ll just need to make the Judgement before the Urbat get there. You keep visualizing your emotions trapped in a small steel box, and I’ll keep visualizing all the ways I’m going to kick Luke’s ass when we stop next.”
Luke made an annoyed sound.
“Sounds good to me,” Bethi said. She snuggled into Luke’s side and closed her eyes. The scent of her worry immediately faded.
ISABELLE…
I itched to hit something. Bethi tried, but she sucked at holding back everything just as much as I sucked at not soaking everything up like a sponge. Deep breathing didn’t help. Focusing on Carlos in my head like a cute creeper didn’t help.
“Do you think the trunk’s air tight?” I asked after Bethi fell into one of her twitchy sleeps.
“You are not putting my Mate in the trunk,” Luke said crisply.
“Well, I’m trying to think of something because I need to stop again and at this rate, we’ll get there tomorrow.”
The car immediately started to slow.
“You should have said something,” Carlos said.
“Babe, I’m not going to whine every time I get the itch.”
“Your nose is bleeding. It’s not an itch.”
I swiped at my nose and rolled my eyes at the blood there. As soon as the car came to a stop, I got out and started walking.
“Be back in a minute,” I called over my shoulder. Disappearing into the trees, I kept going until I thought I had walked far enough. Then I looked up into the branches.
“If there’s any critters up there, you better run now.”
A horn echoed faintly in the distance.
“Yeah, yeah. I know. We’re on a schedule.”
I closed my eyes and tried to stop worrying about the squirrels.
“Funny. We’re on a schedule, too,” a male voice said.
I opened my eyes and found myself surrounded by twelve grinning idiots.
“Looks like you ran into a door,” one said.
I didn’t mess around. I exhaled what I had, inhaled what they tried to keep and pushed it all out again in less than a second. The effect was like a mini nuclear explosion. The first wave started the Urbat falling to their knees, the second wave knocked them backward off their feet. They all lay in a circle around me, their sightless eyes staring up at the sun speckled canopy.
Branches broke behind me, and I spun around, ready to fight. Carlos looked at the bodies, then me.
“No hitting?” he said.
“None. I promised.”
“Good.”
He came toward me and hugged me gently, careful of the bruises covering my body.
“Are you empty?”
“Completely.”
“We need to hurry back, now.”
Without another word, he picked me up and ran back to the car.
JIM…
The silence in the car continued as we drove. The land stretched out flat in all directions around us. Sand, rock, and some occasional low-growing shrub like plants dotted the expanse. There wasn’t much to see on our way toward Green River, just distant hazy mountains blended in with the light horizon.
The closer we drew, the more the distant mountains clarified into views of multicolored plateaus. I could see beauty in it, though. While I drove, I kept the rest of the group appraised of our location. They did the same for me.
Before long, I started seeing signs for the park.
“It’s almost time,” Olivia said. “It’s not easy to have courage knowing what we face.”
I opened my mouth to assure her that I would keep her safe, but she continued.
“Yes, I know I won’t be alone. That still doesn’t make this easier.”
“The Lady?” I asked, understanding she wasn’t talking to me.
“Yes.”
“Does she have anything useful to say about us not dying?”
The scent of Olivia’s fear and guilt filled the car. I inhaled deeply and glanced at her, unsure why she’d feel guilt.
“Want to talk about it?”
“No.”
I hesitated. My gut said to keep quiet and wait it out. But, I thought back to Emmitt and Michelle’s crazy courtship. He hadn’t held back. He’d laid it all out for her and things had worked out fine. Yet, Michelle’s initial terror…I would never forget the look in her eyes when she realized I was like Emmitt. Sure, this was a little different. Olivia knew what I was, just like I knew what she was.
I decided to go for it.
“I think I’ve figured it out already,” I said. “My purpose.”
“Oh?” Her voice was faint.
“I’ve been asking myself, ‘why me,’ since the moment I saw you. Not because I regret our connection, but because the timing and the likelihood felt too set up. Mom’s a Judgement. Michelle’s a Judgement. What are the chances of me feeling the pull for the last one? And why after I became an Elder? You’ve said the Lady influences things. I think she influenced this. And why else pair a Judgement with an Elder of the werewolves but because I need to decide something on behalf of my people? The question that remains is what decision is it that she wants me to make?”
Her black gaze swept over my face.
“No, Jim. The question that remains is how much do you love your people?”
I didn’t answer, sensing it was rhetorical.
“You saw my back and understand what happened. I bargained with the Others. For their help, I paid with my flesh. That is my gift. I see what waits beyond the veil. I know what will come if the Judgement is not complete. And only I can complete it.”
My grip on the wheel tightened as I listened. I had to be misunderstanding.
“What are you saying?”
“I am Courage. I know my purpose. I am the sacrifice. The payment to complete the Judgement.”
I shook with rage. The road blurred as I fought the change. Hair sprouted on my arms. Olivia said nothing as I braked and pulled over.
Olivia would die? No. She was mine. The Lady gave her to me. I didn’t care if that meant an unfinished Judgement.
Pain shot through my chest. Gasping and struggling to breathe, I broke the steering wheel.
“Jim.” Olivia’s hands settled on my back and smoothed over my shoulders, leaving a chill under my shirt.
“I am yours. She chose you because only you have the strength and foresight to see what needs to be done. Do you love your people, your world, enough to help me fulfill my purpose? Because I can’t do this without you.”
In my mind, I railed at the Lady, hating her for placing Olivia in my care, for letting me touch her, taste her, love her. Why give her to me just to take her away? My throat closed with the increased pain. Grey crept in from the peripheral of my vision. None of that mattered as much as the possible absence of Olivia in my life after the Judgement. None of the pain hurt as much as that thought.
“Think of your mom. Of Emmitt and Michelle. Think of the two little boys you’ve left behind. Think of them, Jim,” she said, reminding me of my responsibility.
I realized in that pain-filled moment, either way, I would lose Olivia. If I tried to prevent the Judgement, we would all die. The pain began to ease as I understood.
After a few moments, I drew an unsteady breath. A few more slow breaths removed the grey from my sight. Sitting up, I looked at Olivia. Tears wet her cheeks.
“I’m so sorry, Jim.”
She was going to die, and she was trying to comfort me?
I pulled her into my arms and kissed her like there would be no tomorrow because there wouldn’t. When we finally broke apart, she was gasping for air just as much as I had. I set my forehead against hers and let her scent wash over me.
“Tell me what I need to do to help.”
“For now, just stay close. And don’t tell the rest. I’m afraid they might try to stop it.”