Chapter 2 Wandering Beasts

Jake...

I watched impassively as Grandfather Joshua's giant silver-gray Raver backed Paul into a wall. His lip curled back, revealing two rows of yellowed daggers instead of teeth. His white eyes narrowed as one deep feral growl after another tumbled out of his chest. One of the agents pulled his gun, but Greyson took it from him faster than anyone saw him move.

"I wouldn't do that, young wolf. Ravers require a very specific kill shot followed by decapitation; body shots just irritate them. When they are angered, they tend to eat whomever offended them. Your weapon has neither the caliber nor proper munition to kill one." Greyson's voice had the soothing quality he always used around the Monarch Mountain Ravers. "And I do not think you would want to anger of the former and current Monarchs, even if one of them is no longer a werewolf."

Grandfather closed his claws around Paul's throat, choking him, while none of us moved. Richard stalked back and forth behind him like a nightmare of death, drooling and snapping his fangs together in harsh clicking sounds.

Paul gasped out the words, as he struggled to breathe, "Elm Street was supposed to reveal nonhumans as too powerful to be fought against... a few... a very f-few were s-supposed to... c-carry out the r-revelation while... the r-rest of our p-population was t-too sedated t-to stop them. Some... s-something went wrong."

Grandfather shook Paul, snarling, then threw him against the wall. He growled something to Richard, who stalked away among the boards. They had both been in here wandering around, looking at the Revelation Night research. Richard went straight to the one with the pictures Quinn took of the devastation in our home territory. The place John Lance believed was ground zero. He whined slightly as he returned. In his gnarled claws, he gently held a picture. He held it out to Paul, who tried to look away, but Grandfather seized his arm, dragging him to his feet. A giant clawed hand forced Paul's head to look at it. The image was of Julia's mangled body.

Paul glanced at us desperately, "I... I don't understand. What are they saying?"

Saul leveled him with a look, "I think Grandfather and Richard want you to admit you killed her, and our family, just like you killed your mate. This family has hidden your sins long enough. It is time you admit all the harm you caused." Saul took the image from Richard and held it in his brother's face, "Look at her, Paul. Does it look familiar to you? Because it looks familiar to me. Another Alpha-Female of our family dead at your hands, and now Richard must live with what you did to him. Just like I have had to live with it since you did it to me, brother." Saul's words hissed out decades of repressed hatred. "Something is wrong with you, Paul. You tried to destroy our family again, only this time you killed two million!"

Grandfather still had Paul by the arm as Richard slowly leaned toward Paul, teeth bared, saliva dripping and vibrating with the constant rumbling growling in his chest.

"It's not my fault, I was trying to help our kind. We should be the top species on this planet. Something went wrong. That's all Troy told me, they were doing something with Elm Street. He couldn't stop it, and it was going all wrong." Paul's last words came out in a desperate rush, "It's his fault, not mine. Him and that fae -errrrwk!" His voice cut off as our late sister's mate removed his head. Grandpa just dropped the corpse as blood sprayed on the wall.

Richard launched himself on the body, shaking it viciously and snarling, as he dragged it outside. Saul wiped the splattered drops off his cheek in disgust. We could hear the violence with which the Monarch Mountain Alpha dismembered Paul's corpse. Other Ravers howled in victory before another noise echoed through the door into the silent hanger. I swallowed the sickly bile that crept into my throat, I knew they were eating him. Grandfather picked up Paul's head and held it out to Saul.

He shook his head, "No thanks, Grandpa. I've carried him and his sins long enough."

Our Grandfather licked the blood smear from his cheek and rubbed his wolf's head against Saul's forehead, before looking at the kneeling assembled agents. A single rumble from his chest had all of them belly down on the floor. Then the Third Monarch of the Northern American Pack Alliance wandered out into the night, and into the nightmares of those who had never seen a Raver before.

VvvvvV

After we gave the Lupine Intelligence agents an orientation of how to survive the Ravers in the QZ, I was surprised to see Saul talking to Dr. Trinity. She was holding one of Dr. Phillips' blue file folders. From the number, I knew I hadn't read it yet. A scowl marred her perfect features. Saul listened his head down as she animatedly whispered to him. Over the hum of conversation in the hanger, I couldn't hear more than a few words, 'find her', 'need to check,' and 'problems delivering'.

I made my way closer, catching Saul's words. "Are you sure, Nic?"

"Yes, a human gynecologist confirmed it. We need to find her before she goes into labor. I need to do an ultrasound to check the placental placement. If she has placenta previa, she may need a Cesarean. If she develops placental abruption because of the oblation, she may deliver prematurely. Either way, she has risks for both." The young fae's voice was concerned bordering on fearful.

My fists clenched automatically. I walked briskly toward them. Seeing me approach, both turned and hurried away from me. I followed them outside, but Saul's Hummer was already driving away. His need to exclude me from anything that had to do with Quinn was making my wolf and I very angry. I almost dropped into my wolf and followed but the Monarch Ravers were nowhere to be seen and I didn't want to risk an encounter after dark with a Non-Monarch Raver.

I wondered where the Ravers wandered off to after they ate Paul. Nothing remained except his head which had been gnawed and urinated on by several of the survivors of the Monarch Mountain hierarchy. It was unnerving how the giant beasts could vanish into the forest the way they did, even Saul had trouble tracking them.

When we got back to the school where we were all staying, Saul was gone. I had no doubt he wandered off to try to find Quinn's trail again. He went back to the spot she disappeared from every day and searched in a different direction. So, I confronted Dr. Trinity alone. She tried to avoid me, but Greyson made her talk to me.

Will and James listened quietly as Greyson chided her. "He has a right to know, Nic. He is the pup's father."

She snorted in response, giving me her heated side-eye. I needed to handle her cautiously, Fae were dangerous creatures, harder to kill than vampires and more dangerous because they wouldn't just damage your body, they would damage your soul. Not that I thought mine could be damaged any more than it already had been.

"Please, Dr. Trinity. If they are in danger, I would like to know. I know Quinn and I will never be together as mates should be, but he's my son," I pled.

"Nicolea, forgiveness and healing..." Greyson spoke gently. "Or do you choose the path of your parents?"

She swallowed, looking down for a moment, but her gaze was as hard as tiger's eye stone when she looked back up. "I discovered why Mrs. Phillips was on fertility treatments... Her husband had her subjected to a procedure called an oblation without her knowledge, roughly ten years ago."

"What's that?" Will asked but she never took her exotic eyes off me.

"It is a process by which part of her uterine wall was basically seared like a steak so if she was fertilized, the placenta wouldn't attach. No placenta, no baby. I believe she had at least partially healed because of her higher percentage of werewolf DNA, which is why the fertility treatments and your 'enthusiastic mating practices'." She made air quotes as she sneered at me, "Were successful in impregnating her. She was given Fae blood to keep her alive, which increased her emerging wolf's healing rate and allowed embryonic attachment. However, due to the nature of the oblation, there is the very real possibility that her placenta is in the wrong place for a normal delivery or may become detached, resulting in bleeding, loss of nutrients and blood to the fetus, a miscarriage and death. Happy now, Commander? Next time, you can kill her without even being there."

"Enough, Nicolea. This is not our way," Greyson's voice was firm.

Nicolea gave him a pained look and whispered, "He doesn't have her nightmares like I do." She faded away and into the shadows as only cursed and dark fae could.

Will gasped as James grumbled something I didn't catch. I know I deserved her attitude, but my wolf was angry with the accusatory tone in which she presented the truth of the risks to our mate. Nic acted like I wanted Quinn to be harmed. I barely made the door before I shifted. I needed Quinn to live, I needed our pup to live, I needed it like I needed food or water. Work kept me barely sane, knowing she was alive and carrying my pup had given me a new reason to live. She gave me a reason to fight the nightmares, even though I accepted that she may hate me forever. Now that she was missing and may die... I could feel myself breaking again. My wolf wandered the night, howling like a lost soul. I just let him run, the beast was grieving, and I was terrified.

VvvvvV

My wolf found our way to her little cabin. Inside, I fell asleep on her bed. If she died, I didn't want to live and neither did my wolf. Everything I learned about her, taught me that she was an exceptional female, and after what happened, I would never be worthy of her. But that didn't mean I wouldn't try.

I suffered a new nightmare.

I saw Quinn in a beautiful gown, dancing in a ballroom alone. She held her arms and moved like someone was leading her in the dance but all I could see was a shadow. It was whispering lies to her and she smiled like she believed them. I reached for the door, but it wouldn't open. Around her the walls began to ooze blood, werewolf blood. Snow blew around me like that night and I watched the shadow become a dark fae. A true Demonus, a soulless one. I beat on the glass and finally in desperation I shifted to my strongest form and broke into the room. She screamed and hid behind the fae. It held a dark smoldering sword in its talons, great black wings spread out in front of her.

Its voice was a deep purring hiss, "I won't let you take herrrr, Jacob, sssshhe's mine. You've hurrrt herrrr to much, sssshhhe'll nevvverrrr want you to touch herrr again."

I growled, enraged, I needed to get her away from it. Every step leaving a smudge on the blood covered floor. It shoved her away and we fought. I knocked the Demonus' sword away and pinned it ready to rip it apart when I felt its blade pierce my heart. A sobbing Quinn held the hilt, then she clutched her own heart, crying out and collapsing.

It picked her up while laughing at me. Tendrils of shadow drifted across her lips and eyes as she whimpered, "Please. Help me, mon ange."

"See, wolf, sheee belongs to meee." It hissed like a giant reptile. "Yourrrr paainn taste ssssooo sweeet, almost as sweeeet as herssss."

I reached for her with the last of my strength. "Nooo."

In the distance, I heard my grandfather howling.

I sat up in bed, shaken and terrified. Quinn had been missing for weeks. I looked down, realizing I'd clawed her mattress into ribbons. My grandfather crouched at the end of her bed. He was staring at me with his unearthly white eyes. I didn't know how he got into her room or her house. Ravers were so much more than we first assumed, but they were still the deadliest things on the planet. They only seemed to recognize wolves from their own packs or at least that proved true with the Monarch Mountain Ravers. They tolerated the Fae, but twice tried to eat the humans who returned to study the information Greyson, Lance, and Quinn accumulated. It was such complex behavior for creatures I knew to be more than mindless killing machines.

I sat on the edge of her mattress, "I have to find her, Grandpa. A dark Fae took her, and I have to save her because I owe her." I didn't even know if he could understand, but I blurted out all I could remember of what I did that night.

"I hurt her, Grandpa, and she hates me, but I must get her away from him. I have to save her because I need her to forgive me and..."

He tipped his head at me, snorted like he was disgusted, and then cuffed me like he had done many times when I was a pup. It hurt a lot more than it did then. I rolled across the bed onto the floor, landing hard on my ass. He didn't tolerate whining. He buried his nose in her bed and drew several long breaths. When I stood, he pushed me back onto the bed. Pointing to stay, then he was gone. I wondered where he was wandering off to, but I hoped he could find her.

My grandpa had never let me down, I couldn't believe the wolf I knew was gone, not completely. He was just wandering somewhere, just beyond my reach.

VvvvvV

I woke with the sunshine streaming in the window, I closed my eyes to the light. I dreamed my grandfather was carrying Quinn through the woods in a snowstorm. Richard was on his left, as the remaining Monarch Mountain wolves guarded their pregnant Luna. I didn't know where they were taking her, but she was safe until the time came for our pup to be born, then she would need a doctor.

"Who she will need is you." An amused voice caused my eyes to fly back open, "Calm down, wolf. By the Light, you werewolves are a jumpy lot."

A Dark Fae sat in a chair, his biker boots up on the windowsill. He looked like a typical, young Dark Fae but something about it felt wrong. "You're a cursed one." He grinned at my observation.

"Yep," the 'P' popped. "My brother was blessed, and I was cursed by my demon mother and those who wish to start a war. Listen, carefully. Tell Greyson, science only partly had to do with what happened on the Revelation Night."

"Then what did?" I asked.

He smiled, "Find the Elm and you'll find the answers, Alpha. Don't let your guilt destroy what you could have. Her forgiveness will save the world, and not just your world." He stood up. "Nice to meet you, Jacob. Give Saul a message for me, tell him to stop protecting her from his distrust and fears. She needs protected from her own, they are more real and more deadly than all the Ravers on the mountain." He walked out the door of the bedroom and I knew there was no point in following, Fae came and went as they pleased.

I could only shake my head, because of the Revelation Night and Quinn Shalom, I met more Fae in the last several months than I had met in the last several decades. For the rarest species on the planet, they seemed to be everywhere around me, and I couldn't shake the worrisome feeling that, like the cursed fae who just vanished, nothing was what it seemed.