Sam couldn’t see the woman clearly. He’d
already turned off the headlights on his mom’s van.
“Mom?” He
wondered.
“No, Sam… get
back in the car.”
He heard his
mother’s voice, but it was coming from further in the yard.
“Mom, what’s
going on?” Sam came closer and saw Walter’s body on the driveway. “What the—”
“SAM! I said to
get in the car,” his mom choked out—she was crying.
Her son. Her baby.
But he wasn’t
calling for her. He was calling to that bitch—that weak bitch.
Hannah moved to
the shadows.
“Mom, what happened? Oh, God. Mom!” Sam
knelt at my side, taken aback by all the blood—most of it was Walter’s. “What
happened?”
My head hurt.
Blood dripped from a cut above my eye and my nose. I think my arm was broken. I
was having trouble breathing, and I was afraid I may have broken some ribs when
Hannah threw me into the tables.
“I was right…
She’s back.” Pain coursed through my body when I spoke. I struggled to get up.
“Mom, what is
going on?” Sam was scared now. “Who—“
“NO!” I tried
to shoo them away.
Sam turned
around and saw the kids unloading from the van. Karie had gotten out of the
car, and Maggie had run up to her side. Carey was standing by the car, but had
stopped Jessie, Jimmy, and Ant from getting out.
“Mommy?” Maggie
called to me, and Karie pulled Maggie to her side, trying to shield her from
seeing me.
“Sam.” I
grabbed his shirt. “Your mother’s here. Hannah—she’s here. You need to go. Take
Karie and the kids and go. Now!”
Sam looked
confused, and then it sank in. “Hannah? She’s here?”
He was close. Hannah’s scent was
overwhelming. He growled and pushed himself faster.
He had to
hurry.
Sam stood and stepped over me, as if he
could protect me with his own body. I choked on a cry.
“Sam?” A voice
called from the dark, by the lake.
He whirled
around, crouching down to shield me. “Who are you? What do you want?”
Hannah came
into the light, and Sam paled.
“Sam. My son.”
She moved toward him with her arms out, as if to embrace him.
He recoiled and
stepped behind me. Sam knelt beside me and slipped his arms under my knees and
my lower back and lifted me with ease. He backed toward the van.
“You get the
hell away from us,” he told her.
She actually
looked hurt, as Sam continued to back away from her. Karie picked up Maggie and
ran back to the van. I saw her hand Maggie to Carey and push them both up into
the van. She shut the door, but didn’t get in. She stood there for a moment,
looking around, before going over to Ethan Jeffries. She helped him stand, and
he winced in pain.
“Sam,” Hannah
tried again. “You’re my son. It’s time to come home… With me.”
Sam still held
me to him.
I struggled to
stay conscious. “Sam, put me down and go. Please get your little brothers and
sisters out of here.”
“SHUT UP!”
Hannah screeched, and we all flinched. “
You
shut UP!”
Sam stared at
her, and I saw his head raise. “I am home. And
this
is my mother!”
He spoke with a strength I didn’t
know he had.
“No, NO!” She
looked rabid. “You don’t understand. You don’t know what you are, what you
could be. You need to come with me so I can show you… so I can help you.”
“What are you
talking about?” Sam finally put me down, and I sank to the ground.
“Sam, your
time’s coming. You won’t understand what’s going to happen to you. You
need
me.”
“I don’t need
shit from you!” Sam glared at Hannah.
“Oh, but you
do.”
What happened next was like something
from a horror movie. Hannah jerked and sick popping noises filled the air. She
fell to the ground and jerked. For a second, Sam thought she was having a
seizure, and then Ethan spoke up.
“Son, you need
to listen to your mother. Get in the car and go.” Ethan had stepped away from
Karie and limped over to Sam and Julie.
Sam wasn’t
sure, but he thought his mother was unconscious. He knew she needed to get to
the hospital.
Sam wiped at
the tears sliding down his cheeks. “No, I can’t leave her.” He gestured to his
mother lying on the grass, and then he heard a low growl behind him.
Ethan stopped
and stared. Sam slowly started to turn around, and Karie covered her mouth so
she didn’t scream.
“Son, don’t
turn around,” Ethan tried to warn Sam.
But Sam didn’t
listen. He turned.
I fought against the darkness that I
wanted to slide into.
Sam. Sam
needs me.
I heard a
growl, and it snapped me back.
“Shit,” Ethan
said.
A wolf, a very
large
wolf, was standing in front of her son. The wolf’s fur was light. Hannah’s
hair color and her eyes were familiar—demented.
See. He’s
mine! This is what he will become, and you… you’re too weak to help him become
what he’s meant to be. He’s MY SON!
Nothing was
spoken, but I heard it in my head as if it was. What was happening? I struggled
to get to my knees.
“NO! He’s my
son,” I screamed at the horror that was advancing on my son. “
You
left
him.
You
disappeared. He’s my son, and YOU. CAN’T. HAVE. HIM!”
I’d read that
in times of great fear, an almost inhuman strength filled you, and they were
right. I flew to my feet and pushed Sam out of the way, just as Hannah lunged
forward. Sam landed on the ground just a few feet from us. I stood, battered
and broken, in front of Sam’s biological mother, or whatever she was.
I was
determined to fight for my son.
They watched in awe as Hannah changed
back into the beautiful woman she was, but insanity had gripped her tightly,
and it wasn’t letting go.
She ran at
Julie and threw her to the ground. “You’re wrong! You’ve had him long enough.”
“Get away from
her.” Ethan had found the gun Walter gave Julie and had it pointed at Hannah,
who was standing over Julie.
“Fine!” Hannah
said and ran to the detective.
She knocked the
gun from his shaking hand and threw him into the air. She didn’t even stop to
see where he landed. She just calmly turned and strode back to Julie.
“You… left him.” I was struggling. My
babies were going to die. I was crying, and I started to beg. “Kill me, okay?
Take me. Just, just leave Sam alone. Leave my babies a… alone.”
“I don’t want
you!” She hit me again.
I clawed my way
out of the darkness again, but I didn’t think I could take much more.
I grabbed her
leg and tried to pull myself up. “Please, just leave… just leave them alone.
Just go. We won’t say anything. Just leave us alone.”
Hannah took me
by the throat and jerked me up. I was getting too weak to even struggle.
“Listen to me
very
closely,” Hannah said. “My son is a pure blood. He is a true wolf, and I am
taking him with me…
After
I kill you.”
A deep growl
filled the darkness. Sam stopped moving toward us, and Karie stood still.
Hannah jerked her head to the side, as if she heard something else in that
noise and just dropped me to the ground. She stepped away.
Karie rushed to
my side and tried to help me stand. She was struggling when I felt another pair
of arms lift me up. Carey smiled shakily at me, and together, they pulled me to
my feet.
Sam was standing with his back to the
tree line, Hannah in front of him. I was the first to see it.
“Sam… Move!” I
said as loudly as I could, and then everyone saw it.
A wolf, larger
than Hannah had crept out of the trees. Hannah had light, almost white fur, but
this wolf had a much darker coat. This wolf moved with a familiarity, and I
inhaled sharply.
The air was
still.
No one said a
word, and the large wolf just moved in front of Sam and faced Hannah.
And then it
roared. It threw back its head and roared. The roar was loud and piercing. Sam
covered his ears, but couldn’t move.
Hannah looked
scared. For the first time that night, she looked like she was truly scared.
“No…” The word
came out of her mouth and carried over to me.
If wolves could
smile, then that’s what this one did. It came forward, moving toward Hannah
with a grace that was mesmerizing, and I watched her shrink away.
“You’re… you’re
dead! That’s why I came back. He’s
our
son. He needed to know what he
was.”
My head flew
up, the pain forgotten. I’d heard what she said.
Our son?
“He needed to
understand. But you’re back, and we can go… together! We can be the family we
should’ve been. We will rule—the three of us.”
The large wolf
growled, and though it wasn’t a loud sound, it was chilling. It took another
step toward Hannah, and I motioned for Sam to move. He took one last look at
the scene in front of him and ran to me.
“You threw me
aside!” Hannah was getting angry again. “You chose her… over me? Look at what I
gave you! Look at the gift I gave you!”
The wolf just
stared at the shaking woman.
“Do you forgive
me?” Hannah reached out to stroke the wolf’s face. “I’m better now. Forgive me,
and we can be a family.”
The wolf shook
her hand off, and Hannah cowered, but desperation filled her voice, and she
reached for the wolf again. “I promise. I’m better. Let me kill her. Let me
kill them, and we can take Sam and go. We can have a new life—the life we were
supposed to have. Let me kill her!”
Something shifted
in the wolf’s eyes—a new dawning, a clarity. And I felt the shift. I looked
around, and I think everyone felt it. The night was still. The only thing I
heard was my own labored breathing.
Suddenly, the
wolf lifted one paw and brought it down on the trembling woman. She sank to the
ground. Her ruined body still. The wolf looked down, and it almost seemed as if
he was inspecting what he’d done. Blood seeped into the grass at its feet.
I gently shook
off Carey, who was still holding me, and walked toward the creature. He stood
still, watching me. I stopped about five feet from where it stood and looked at
it. It looked back at me. I felt something pass between us. Memories flashed in
my mind.
The first time
I met Brian, how he had been holding Sam in a carrier strapped to his chest.
Brian proposing to me. Walking down the aisle, alone only to have him run to
meet me halfway and escort me up to the justice of the peace. Telling him I was
pregnant with Carey.
Memories, our
memories.
“Mom, what are
you doing?” Sam hissed at me.
I shook my head
and waved the kids back. “Quiet.”
I backed slowly
away, motioning for the wolf to come to me.
“Mom!” Sam’s
whisper was frantic, and I could see him struggle. He wanted to come to me, to
shield me from what he thought was certain death.
“I’ve felt you.
You’ve been here all along, haven’t you?” I asked the wolf, and I knew it
understood me. I sensed it.
I caught the
slight nod it gave me. I was having a conversation with a wolf, large enough to
be confused for a horse. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. Hannah was
struggling to sit up.
“She’s
moving...” I tried to point, only to find my arm wouldn’t cooperate. The pain
was too much.
I know. Let
her go.
I heard a voice
in my head. I recognized this voice. I’d heard it so many times. I’d yearned
for it. I’d longed to hear it just one more time.
Min
älskling!
“Brian?”
TO BE CONTINUED
It goes without saying that I have to
thank my husband. He believed in me from day one. He pushed me to follow my
dream and encouraged me every step of the way. He is not a reader, and yet he
sat there night after night going over the words I wrote. He offered
suggestions and laughed when appropriate and understood while I cried for my
characters. He’s the love of my life, and he held my hand every step of the
way.
I want to thank
our oldest, Corey. At 19, he is a young man, and we are enjoying seeing him
become the type of man any parent would be proud of. There are bits and pieces
of him in all five of the children in my book. The good parts are here, and
even some of the not so good parts. He has inspired me with his strength of
character, and his easy going ways. And like his father, he encouraged me every
step of the way. He gently pushed me to keep going when I expressed doubt in
myself. This book is dedicated to him and his efforts to make his mark on this
world.
And just as
important as our oldest, thank you to each of our four younger boys: Joe, Roy
Addison, Hayden, and Dean. They all encouraged me in their own way to follow my
dreams. Without their love and patience, this book would not be possible.
Thank you to
all my guys for your encouragement, your understanding, and your smiles. You
mean the world to me.