Wolfen (52 page)

Aiden didn’t know what to say. Tessa and Spencer had three
pups to worry about, one of them barely old enough to walk, and if anything
happened to her mate, she’d be on her own.

Tessa smiled and touched Aiden’s arm with infinite
affection. “I’ll see you at the gates. There are some hellions I need to say
goodbye to.”

Aiden shook his head. “Tessa, no. You can’t.”

“I need to,” she said. “For them.”

“No, you’re staying.”

Tessa chuckled and looked back at Spencer. “That man knows
better than to leave me behind. And you should, too.” She stood on tiptoe to
kiss his cheek. “Chin up, Alpha. We’ve been fighting all our lives. Now, we
finally have something worth fighting for.”

As she walked out, Aiden grasped for something to say that
might change her mind. He had nothing. Tessa was a protector with a family to
keep safe. She wouldn’t be left behind. In her place, Aiden wouldn’t, either.
By the time he’d faced the dogs again, they were all on their feet, and Aiden
couldn’t breathe past the lump in his throat. “Get your affairs in order,” he
rasped out, then cleared his throat to get his voice back. “We’ll ride out
first thing tomorrow.”

It took every ounce of Aiden’s strength to stay standing as
his pack members filed out past him, nodding or thumping his shoulder, letting
him know they stood together, no matter what.

Graham was the last to go. “I’ll make sure all of our
arrangements are made.”

“You’re staying,” Aiden said.

“The hell I am—”

“I’m not asking. When I’m gone, you’re in charge.”

“You can’t just—”

“That’s an order.” One life. He had to spare at least one.
The pack trusted Graham. He had good instincts and a good heart, and he’d take
care of them the way they should be taken care of. “If things go wrong, I’ll
send a runner. You’ll need to take it from there. Batten down the hatches, cut
and run, I don’t know. Just keep everyone safe.”

Graham shook his head. “Why are you doing this?”

“Bryce and his girl are on the other side of that mess. You
didn’t really expect me to leave them there, did you?”

Graham swore. “That’s suicide!”

Yeah. Pretty much. But, “He’d do the same for me.” Graham
wanted to argue more; Aiden could see it. “Go get the mules ready,” he told
him, “and make sure everyone has what they need for the trip. Pack them light; we’ll
need to be fast. Oh, and tell everyone not to bother with silver.”

“What are you going to do?”

Aiden sighed. “Go, we’re wasting time we don’t have.”

~

Penny was still in the lab when Aiden returned. She’d
cleaned up most of the mess, and had put a glass of water and some flatbread
next to Desiree’s bed in case she woke up hungry or thirsty.

Without turning away from her patient, she said, “In all my
life, I’ve never seen you get so worked up over anyone except Bryce. She’s the
one, isn’t she?”

Aiden snorted. “Hardly.”

Penny looked over her shoulder. “You don’t have to lie. I’m
not going to judge you.”

“There’s nothing to judge,” he insisted. “We were in the
middle of a war zone; both of us had open wounds. Blood got transferred. Wasn’t
exactly my idea.”

“Uh-huh. But you do have feelings for her.”

“She’s a vicious, heartless little bitch who’d go Donner
Party on her own young to keep herself alive.”

Penny snorted. “That’s a ‘yes’ if I ever heard one.”

Aiden gaped. “Are you high?”

She turned to face him, hands on her hips. “Look, I know
you, okay? You wouldn’t have wasted time on a human, unless she meant something
to you.”

“Casey’s got asthma. She would have died if I hadn’t taken
this one along.”

Penny grinned. “She got one over on you! No wonder.”

Aiden huffed, shifting his weight. “I don’t know what you’re
talking about.”

“Yes, you do.”

Aiden huffed again, shifting the other way. “She’s
human
.
Believe me, if I could, I’d wring her neck myself.”
Right, genius, that’s
why you’re having Penny fix her up, is it? Because you want to wring her neck?

Penny gave him a dubious look; she didn’t believe him any
more than he did.

He hiked his shoulders up. “Blood bond,” he said
desperately. “You know how it works. Wanna kill her. Can’t.”
And when did we
start believing in all of that superstitious bullshit?

Penny shook her head, smiling in that dangerous way only
women could. “You really thought you would settle down with a sweet, gentle
Wolfen, didn’t you?” she said in a surprised sort of wonder. “As if you could
ever stomach that. You spent a month with me, and you couldn’t get out on the
road fast enough. Lie to yourself all you want, but we both know being mated to
one of us would have bored you to tears. You need someone who’ll keep you on
your toes, who won’t take any of your shit, or bend over backwards just because
you’re the alpha.”

“And you reckon that’s Desiree?”

“You tell me. A woman threatens your little girl’s life, and
instead of tearing her head off, you bring her to me? You might as well have
put a ring on her finger.”

“Yep, you’re definitely high.”

Penny stared him down as calm as you please, and beneath her
steady gaze, heat rose up Aiden’s neck. “I don’t know how else to explain this
to you. Blood. Bond. Not my choice.”

Penny shrugged, pushed the trash can underneath the sink,
and wiped down the counter as she spoke. “Suit yourself. The patient’s
status—since I assume that’s why you came back—is stable for the moment. Her
fever’s eased a little, and she’s calmed down a lot. Her odds are improving.”
With everything back in its place, Penny turned off all but one light and
headed for the door, patting him on the chest as she passed. “Bet that’s not
why you came, though.”

Halfway down the corridor, when Aiden was almost certain he’d
finally be rid of her, Penny turned and tossed back, “And by the way, that
blood bond thing you keep talking about? Turns out it really has no effects
besides changing the recipient’s scent. So whatever’s got you all twisted up
inside and stammering like a schoolboy, that’s all on you, babe.”

Aiden stared at her retreating form, fumbling for some
sarcastic last words to throw back at her. All he managed was “Brat!” before
Penny wriggled her fingers at him and sashayed through the courtyard door.

Great. By morning, everyone would be talking about his
having mated a human. He’d never live that one down.

Aiden sighed, tired, but too anxious to sleep. Unlike some
others who could just snooze right through an apocalypse. “Don’t think this
changes anything,” he warned Desiree. “Just because Penny said it, doesn’t make
it true. I mean, what does she know? Hopeless romantic, just like the rest of
‘em.” He snorted. “Can you believe it? She thinks I have feelings for you.”

The glare he attempted didn’t last very long.

“You look better.” Maybe
better
was an exaggeration.
She was definitely calmer, more serene. Asleep, Desiree looked so small and
vulnerable, as if all of her vicious will to live at any cost had been
momentarily silenced and all that was left was her. Fragile, scarred, haunted
Desiree. For some reason, that silence pissed him off. This wasn’t the Desire
he knew; this was a facsimile, an empty shell.

Aiden came around her bedside to check her bandages. Nothing
had soaked through, but he could hear the maggots munching away at the diseased
flesh of her thigh, and his skin crawled at the sound. “Yeesh.” Those things
had better be helping her. He didn’t want to imagine what it felt like to be
eaten alive like that. “You’ll get better here,” he declared. “They’ll take
care of you.”

If she were awake, she’d probably say something droll in
retort. Aiden was intimately familiar with that tone of voice and the face
she’d make, and his mouth twitched in a quick grin.

Desiree’s breathing had evened out, but she still radiated
too much heat.

“I’m leaving,” he told her. “That should make you happy.
I’ll bet you’ll perk right up now. You’ll want to smother me with your caustic
charm before I go.” He waited. “Take your time.”

Her hand twitched, and he imagined it was her way of
sarcastically wriggling her fingers good bye.

“Atta girl!” His smile didn’t linger, and watching her brows
twitch with bad dreams sapped away his good humor. “I guess that’s it, then. I
probably won’t see you again so…yeah.” With a nod farewell, Aiden stuffed his
hands into his pockets, turned on his heels, and headed for the door. His feet
stopped at the threshold and stuck there. His jaw muscles tightened.

This wasn’t right. They weren’t finished. After all of the
shit they’d been through, there was supposed to be some kind of closure. How
the hell was he supposed to get that, when she refused to wake up and give him
the time of day?

Say something that matters. Anything.

“Don’t…” He sighed. “Don’t die.”

“No, leave that, it’s too heavy.”

“They’ll need the basics!”

“Aiden said essentials only. Take the adrenaline, the
tourniquets, and morphine. Now go!”

Desiree waded through the thick black fog in her brain,
clawing her way to the surface. Everything hurt—her head pounded, her joints
ached, her dry skin was too tight over her body, and breathing was a chore.
Trying to open her eyes? Almost impossible. They were swollen shut, and each
time she managed to crack one open, shafts of bright light stabbed straight
into her cranium.

The voices grew distant, arguing about supplies and
rationing. They echoed down long corridors until there was nothing left but
silence.

Desiree pried her lips apart and winced at the sting of a
bloody tear. She’d have moaned, but her raw throat wouldn’t allow anything more
than a feeble wheeze. Then her upper body lifted, and the cool rim of a glass
pressed to her mouth. At first she choked, but the moment water touched her
tongue, she became greedy for it, gulping down so much so quickly, her stomach cramped.

The glass was removed, and someone
tsk
ed.

Desiree sighed, feeling so much better from so small a
thing. She opened her eyes again, more slowly this time, and when the world
came into focus, a giant hovered right in front of her nose. His head was huge,
like he used it to crush rocks in his spare time. He had dark hair cut short
and spiky, and eyes that bore into hers in a terrifying glower.

Desiree almost swallowed her tongue.

But then the glower shifted into a bright smile and, in a
voice so deep it couldn’t be real, the giant said, “Hello.”

“Am I dead?”

The giant frowned. “I don’t think so. Penny fixed you up
real nice. She’s good at that.” He moved aside to pour more water, and Desiree glimpsed
her surroundings. Solid walls, clean floors, shiny cabinets, old-agey medicine
bottles neatly lined up on the polished counter, and a metal sink—with running
water! She lay on a functional gurney, a pillow behind her head, a pale blue
blanket draped over her lap.

“I’m dead.” It was the only logical explanation. Places like
this didn’t exist in real life anymore. There was nothing left of the world
that used to be except dust, and grime, and monsters.

“You’re not dead,” the giant insisted, offering a sixteen
ounce glass utterly dwarfed in his hand.

Desiree took it in both of hers, but it was too heavy to
raise up to her mouth. With one finger, the giant pushed on the bottom of the
glass and held it steady for her to drink.

“Take it easy on that. Penny said to add five drop of
morphine, but those tiny dropper things are a pain in the ass. So there might
be six or seven. Or, you know, half a bottle.”

Desiree choked, spilling all over herself.

“Oh, hey, are you okay?” He leaned her across his forearm
and pounded her back. Desiree’s teeth rattled with each blow. “I was kidding, I
swear!”

She patted his arm to stop the assault. “I’m fine,” she
wheezed. “Really.”

“Oh, good.
Whew.
Penny would kill me if something
happened to you.” Again that sweet, innocent smile…with blunt teeth big enough
to grind her bones to dust.

“Who are you? Where am I?”

“Name’s Bear,” he said, thrusting his hand at her to shake.
“And you’re Dez, and you’re in our den. Well, in the infirmary, anyway.”

Against her better judgment, Desiree put her palm to his.
Bear’s fingers curled around the whole of her hand and wrist, but he was so
gentle, Desiree found herself smiling.

Then his words sank in.

“Wait, I’m where?”

“Home,” he said simply. “It’s really nice. We have a meadow,
and forests, and these really pretty waterfalls, and there’s deer to hunt, too.
Do you like deer? Because if not, we have other stuff. Are you hungry? I’m such
an idiot! Penny said you’d wake up hungry. Here.”

And before she could say anything, her hands were full of bread
and cheese, and Bear was lifting both up to help her eat. Desiree was famished,
but the thought of putting dry bread in her mouth and chewing made her wish for
another nap. “Um, maybe later,” she said.

“You have to eat.” Bear frowned. “You’re too tiny. A
ten-year-old could snap you like a twig. You can’t walk around like that;
someone could trip over you.”

Desiree struggled to make sense of his words, but they all
passed through her mind without sticking. “I can’t walk,” she said.

“Maybe not
yet
. But as soon as Penny clears you out
of here, we’ll have you back on your feet.”

“You mean foot?”

Bear reached behind him and pulled out a…

No, it couldn’t be. It was too bizarre to believe.

An electronic tablet?
Oh Dez, you’re dreaming.

He tapped the screen a few times, then turned it around for
her to see. “I mean
feet.
”

Yep. She was definitely dreaming.

How else could there be a functional piece of electronic
equipment almost two decades after all of the grids went down? Not only that, it
showed a whole bunch of numbers and measurements, and a digital 3D sketch of a
prosthetic limb.

“The measurements for the socket will have to be adjusted
once the swelling goes down, but the lower half is pretty much set.”

Bear looked so earnest, she didn’t have the heart to tell
him none of this was real. He probably didn’t even know he was a figment of her
fevered imagination. Figuring he wouldn’t take the idea very well, she grasped
for something nice to say. “That’s so sweet. Maybe once my leg heals, I’ll look
for someone who can whittle it for me. You said there was a forest close by,
right?” If there were giants, then why not a Geppetto? With a wooden leg carved
by him, she’d only need to wish upon a star and she’d be a real live girl
again!

Bear’s happy face drooped with disappointment. “Yeah, I
guess you can do that. If you really want. It’s just that I already told the
techs to get the 3D printer warmed up. It’s been sitting in storage for months
‘cuz we don’t have anything to use it for. And they said next time I could push
the button.”

The morphine was starting to make her woozy. “A 3D printer.”
Why didn’t I think of that?

Bear nodded eagerly. “I really, really wanted to push the
button. It gets the whole thing going.”

This was too ridiculous. “Okay, well, thank you. It’s been
fun, but I think I need to wake up now.”

He cocked his head. “What do you mean?”

Desiree closed her eyes. “Wake up. Wake up. Wake up.”

“Uh, should I go get someone?”

He sounded so sincere and worried, chills raced down her
spine. The lab, the bed, the morphine, a 3D printer, for God’s sake—it was too
much.
Am I that far gone?
The pain was fading, all of it. Her thoughts
grew sluggish. She vaguely remembered the pleasant void she’d floated in
before, and her heart gave an extra quivering thump that sent the world into a
tailspin. “Wake up,” she told herself, fingers clutching the pretty blue
blanket.
I don’t want to die! It’s too soon!
“Wake up.”

“Dez?”

Her eyes stung with the need to cry, but the water she’d had
wasn’t enough to produce tears. Her breath hitched, throat squeezing tight.
“Wakeupwakeup
wakeup!
”

“Hey, easy there.” The giant’s hand pressed down on her
shoulder. “Calm down.” His other settled on her forehead, almost cupping her
entire crown. “Still warm, but the fever’s broken. What’s wrong? Are you
hurting? You want more morphine?”

Desiree moaned, trembling, too scared to move. She lay as
tense as a board, huffing short, quick breaths.

“You need to calm down, or you’re gonna pass out again.
Aiden said to take care of you—”

Aiden!
Her eyes snapped open. “Get him.” He would fix
this. She’d see him and remember what happened and where she was, and she’d
wake up and everything would be okay. “I need to see Aiden.”

“What’s going on?” A woman’s voice.

“Get Aiden,” Bear said.

“It’s too late, they’re already at the gates.”

“Get him back, she’s freaking out.”

“I’m not splitting his focus when he’s going off to war.”
The woman approached, and pushed Bear’s hands away. “Dez? Look at me.”

The sheer authority of her voice made Desiree obey and she
peered up at the young woman standing over her, long brown hair in a thick
queue hanging over one shoulder. She had flawless skin and a stern gaze that
pinned Desiree in place. Light shone into her eyes and Desiree tried to close them,
but the woman pried them open again.

“No—stop.” Desiree batted her away. “I need to wake up…”

The woman cursed. “What happened?”

“I don’t know,” Bear said. “We were talking, and I showed
her the leg, I thought she’d be happy. And then—”

“Please,” Desiree said. “Please, I need to wake up. I don’t
want to die.”

“That.”

“Damn it, Bear. I told you to take it easy on her.”

“I thought I was! I’m sorry.”

The woman tossed the light away to cup Desiree’s face. “Hey,
hey, look at me. You’re not going to die, okay?”

“W-where’s Aiden?”

“He’s gone.”

Desiree’s stomach dropped, and the fight leeched out of her.
“Wha…?”

“No one is going to hurt you, but you need to calm down.”

“Y-you’re…”

The woman smiled. “I’m Penny. That big lug over there is my mate,
Bear. We’re taking care of you.”

“…Wolfen?”

She drew back. “That’s right.”

From the other side of the bed, Bear smiled sheepishly.
“Hi.”

Desiree couldn’t process this.

Penny sighed. “Bear, can you get the door?”

“Are you sure she should be going outside?”

Penny wheeled the gurney out into the hallway. “I don’t
think she’s ever been inside a place like this. At least not since the fall.
Imagine if you woke up on an alien spaceship one morning.”

“That would suck.”

“She needs to see the sky.”

Bear’s face appeared before her again. “I’m really sorry,
Dez. I didn’t mean to scare you, honest.” Then he was gone, and a bright light
blinded Desiree. She squeezed her eyes shut, dreading what she’d see next, but
a gentle breeze teased her with the smell of clean water and fresh-cut grass.
She heard voices talking all around as if it were an ordinary day in an
ordinary life. The gurney dipped and rolled down an incline, then rattled on
tiny wheels across uneven ground. Dust. Desiree smelled dust. Not dry desert sand,
but still familiar.

Slowly, she opened her eyes.

Off to her right, a double gate slammed shut. The
surrounding enclosure was massive, filled with buildings painted bright white,
and smaller houses connected in an almost unbroken serpentine. People milled
around her—men, women, children of all shapes and sizes, both young and old.
Some stared, others didn’t seem to notice she was even there. A pack of dogs
raced past, chased by children dressed in black T-shirts and camo pants.

“Feel better?” Penny asked.

“Where am I?”

Penny and Bear exchanged a look. “It’s the shock,” Penny
told him, then said to Desiree, “You’re inside a facility built years ago to
contain us. Wolfen, I mean. We took it over and made it our home.”

“Converts…”

“Not here,” Bear said.

“Not yet, anyway,” Penny added. “That’s why Aiden had to
leave. Something’s brewing, and he went to make sure it wouldn’t spill over on
us.”

Like it had in Haven. Desiree flinched at that particular
memory. “How long was I out?”

“A couple of days. You were very lucky. If you hadn’t found
that pharmacy, and if Aiden hadn’t gotten here as fast as he did, you could
very well be dead now.”

The adrenaline was wearing off, and Desiree’s limbs became
heavy, but she fought to stay awake. Because this was real. This place existed,
which meant she was still alive, and she still had a chance. “There was…
Casey…”

“She’s fine,” Penny assured her, but her words echoed in
Desiree’s mind. “Some of the other kids took her out fishing. Is she yours?”

She’s Aiden’s,
Desiree wanted to say. He’d adopted
her; that made her his. But now Aiden was gone. He’d saved Casey, and then
Desiree, and he’d left them both behind.

He could have killed me.
Klaus would have. He’d have
left her on the side of the road somewhere to die, disposed of her like so much
trash and never looked back.

I tortured him. I threatened Casey to make him do what I
wanted.

And in return, Aiden had saved her life. She owed him, and
the weight of that debt threatened to crush her into oblivion. How was she ever
supposed to repay it?

“Dez? Is Casey your daughter?”

That’s how.
“She is now.”