Chapter 145

Kadeem glares at Bob. “Cooperate?" he spats. "You should know me better than that."

Kadeem is on the ground, his weight supported by a tree. Exhaustion is etched into his sweat-covered face and the blood from his shoulder has seeped into the fabric of his shirt, staining it bright red.

Nearby, Jack's sole focus is on the medical emergency in front of him. He's been working quickly to keep Kadeem's beta alive, turning her onto her side, holding pressure against her stab wound and checking her pulse.

Increasingly drowsy, the sound of Bob chuckling in response to Kadeem is faint in my ears. Susan yanks me by my wrists and begins to drag me along the damp ground, limping as she goes. Before my eyes grow too heavy, I glimpse the deep bites around her right shin and calf.

"If you hurt her-"

I'm too weak to take advantage of her injury and I don't resist. I simply wonder what the point is. Why expend her energy to put more distance between me and the others?

In this current state of affairs, no one is coming to my rescue.

"Or you'll do what, exactly? Talk me to death? You're right Kadeem. I do know you. I know you're extraordinarily stupid."

My mind is drifting.

I slide over wet leaves, with some small twigs and thorns catching my clothing and scratching my skin. Shostakovich's "Waltz No. 2" plays in my head.

Perhaps it would be easier to just sleep...

“Ardal!"

Kadeem's voice snaps me back to reality. My eyes flicker open and find him.

At the same time, Susan stumbles and yelps in pain, dropping her hold on me, and reaching out for a tree to keep from falling. She pauses to catch her breath. If I was able to at all, I'd make a jab about how she's not cut out for this line of work.

"Stay awake," Kadeem urges me. Beneath the sheen of sweat, his skin is taking on an ashen tone. He leans his head over and wretches, vomit spilling from his mouth.

Bob sneers in disgust before shaking his head mockingly at Kadeem. “Nasty stuff, wolfsbane. Combined with the silver, it really packs a punch, don’t you think?”

Susan grabs my wrists again. My arms tingle with the pain of opposing forces - the dead weight of my body against her labored, determined pull.

"Cut the bullshit already!"

Heads swivel to Jack. His face is bright with anger while he fumbles for the phone in his pocket. Next to him, Riley is dying.

"She needs medical attention. Now. We have to get her to the road to meet the ambulance."

"I wouldn't make that call if I were you, Doc." There's a snarl to Bob's voice as he takes two halting steps toward Jack. He's badly wounded and, I think, growing even more dangerously desperate.

Susan lets my limp body spill at Bob's feet. There's instant relief at the feel of the blood flow returning again to my hands and arms.

Jack freezes with his hand on his phone, calculating. Then he takes a breath.

I'm drained to my very core... and against my will, I find my eyes closing again.

"Go ahead and stop me."

I start to catch just glimmers of the tragedy around me. My world is swept away by C minor.

Red curtains. Gold spirals. Vibrating sound waves.

"We both know I own you."

Chandelier lights. Woodwind reeds. Rosined bows pulled across strings. The lights are fairies! I just know it.

"Ardal!"

Kadeem is staring straight at me. His face is washed over with panic. For a moment, I don't understand why. Then things begin to shift back into focus.

“You should have told me I'm a great uncle,” Bob says, beaming down at Kadeem in the darkness. His boot is on Jack's neck.

"I only heard the kids were yours through the rumor mill." He shakes his head in feigned disappointment, but the manic grin is still on his face.

Kadeem's watchful eyes remain trained on me. His arms are tied behind his back now, and as I begin to survey everything around me, I see Jack and Riley are also bound.

She's still alive for now, but the sight of her rapid, shallow breaths is chilling. Jack is motionless, his eyes closed. Alarm hits me and my stomach gives a sickening lurch. I can't tell if he's breathing.

Kadeem holds me in his gaze and finally relents to Bob's upper hand. "Tell me what you want," he says. His voice is dull.

My own hands are free, but I'm otherwise, chemically restrained. Nevertheless, I start to push the leaden muscles of my body off the ground, sweat breaking with the effort.

"For you to take the fall," Bob says coldly.

Kadeem's forehead creases. "You want... to pin a crime on me?"

"And you're going to let me bring you to justice."

"Of all the hairbrained schemes." Kadeem lets out a tired laugh. "Really? But I guess you did fail in trying to kill me - twice."

"Figured that out, huh? Third time could be the charm, Kadeem. It really could."

Bob leans closer to him, flashing the knife. Somehow, I make it into a semi-sitting position, then collapse against the trunk of a tree.

With a smug smile, Bob steps back, crushing his foot harder against Jack in the process. Jack shows no response.

"But I needed something to seal my position as the rightful alpha," Bob says.

I try not to cry out, but a worried sob escapes my lips.

Susan does a double-take, finally noticing that I've managed to get up on my own. She glowers at me and kicks me with her good leg.

"You got one thing right," Kadeem says. "Just because I'm out of the way, doesn't mean you're next in line. I have a dozen gammas stronger than you." His voice darkens. "Better liked."

Bob's eyes narrow. His one asset is his political savvy - making deals like a salesman, worming his way to the rich and powerful, Winning Friends and Influencing People, like a very twisted Dale Carnegie.

"Listen up," Bob snaps. "Your favor with the pack is crumbling as we speak." He takes on a dramatic tone, like he's a damsel in distress. "There's a vampire attack on the Weres and our fearless leader, Kadeem, is nowhere to be found!"

He laughs and draws back to join Susan. His shoulders are slouched and he takes a tired breath. Pale and bloody, he somehow manages to look both ragged and wired. The wildness about him makes my skin crawl.

"And soon, they'll discover the truth about the attack- that it was all because of you." Bob reaches out to Susan. "Such a shame," he murmurs, caressing her hair, "That my lover was caught in the alpha's crosshairs."

In one swift motion, he snaps her neck. She falls to the ground next to me - eyes still open in frozen shock.

"I've been waiting a really long time for that!" He spits at her lifeless body. His face is lit up like a Christmas tree.

Kadeem is speechless. I'm close to vomiting. Bob turns to me and winks. "No one liked her anyway."

I nearly choke on the terror rising in me. The hairs on the back of my neck are standing up. Any delusion I had that we're getting out of this alive, is gone.

Bob crosses back over to Kadeem. "I think that will only garner more empathy for me anyway, don't you think? It will show I've sacrificed. If anything cinches my place as alpha, that takes it to the finish line." His voice is elated, his gestures, frenzied.

"I'll turn you - the traitor - into the Council, revealing everything. I'll stop the vampires and I'll emerge victorious, as the true alpha."

He pauses, but Kadeem stays silent.

"The real kicker is," Bob says, triumphant, "You don't have a choice, son. If you don't go along with things, your mate and your children will die. So, I win. I'll be holding them hostage for as long as it takes, you see, to make sure you play your part- that you'll see it through... all the way."

A lump forms in my throat. I want to cry or to yell, but nothing comes out. I want to move, but my body is ever unyielding. I'm rooted in place, like the cypress at my back.

And Kadeem? He looks from the dead and dying bodies around us... to me. A pang of grief finally registers on his face. We search each other for a moment and he gives me a small smile.

Then he swallows back his sorrow. He does it so well. That's when I feel my heart shattering.

"Hey," Bob says, voice softening, "It works out okay for you in the end, if you think about it the right way. Yes, you'll be made the villain of the official story. Yes, you'll be put to death... But your family will be safe, and even though no one else will ever know it, you will finally get to become what you've always wanted to be, Kadeem Hadid. A hero."