Chapter 12
Palms so damn slick it was hard to keep control of the steering wheel, Cersi forced herself to stay calm as her heart thundered in her chest. Up, up, up she drove and all the while she half expected a massive wolf like Tyson’s to plant itself in front of her jeep. It never happened. Cersi kept on the road and had to slow several times to make it around some particularly hairy turns, but finally, she hit a crest that looked down on a massive encampment. It looked like a giant KOA campground nestled high up in the mountains. Several cabins dotted the property that centered around one massive looking cabin and an area right next to it that held a covered pool and what looked like a water park. Snow covered everything, but there was smoke coming from the chimney on the big main cabin.
As she started to slowly descend the hill down toward the property, she saw…something. People! It was people and… She squinted. No, it wasn’t people. It was wolves! Wolves fighting wolves and there! Her eyes locked on where Vesa was tackled to the ground by a large wolf.
Motherfucker!
Throwing all caution to the wind, Cersi took her foot off the break she’d been pressing to control her descent. Anger snapping the fear right out of her, Cersi jammed her foot onto the gas and headed straight for Vesa. She tried to plow her jeep through a bank of snow, but it slammed to a halt. She’d hit something in the snow and whatever it was rocked her jeep to a jarring halt that had her nearly smacking her face off her steering wheel.
Without hesitation, she threw her door open and was out of the jeep and halfway to the fight when a massive black wolf shot out of the forest. It tackled the wolf on top of Vesa. Paying too much attention to what was happening and not where she was walking, Cersi went down hard. The impact jarred all the way up her frame and landed in her bad shoulder. Gritting her teeth, she groaned and shoved to her feet realizing she’d left her tasers in the jeep. She couldn’t go back, it was too far. Besides, she was almost to Vesa.
She watched Vesa scramble to her feet and race for a shotgun that lay in the snow. Vesa’s arm looked broken, and that pissed her off so damn bad. A wolf blocked Vesa from the gun and that it was it. Cersi had enough.
“HEY!” she screamed. Breaking through a stand of trees, Cersi yelled, eyes thinned to vicious slits, “Get the fuck away from my sister!” She could feel Vesa’s eyes on her, but she didn’t break eye contact with the wolf that was looking right at her. Get the fuck away from her, she repeated in her head.
Stalking toward the wolf that she had intentions of going to war with, Cersi didn’t even glance at the others around her. Eyes locked on her target, she walked with determination straight for the fucker when grunts and popping filled the clearing. Casting a glance to the side, she saw several of the wolves drop to the ground and shift back to their human form. It wasn’t how Tyson did it though. These shifts looked painful, forced!
One man staggered to his feet and pointed at another that looked somewhat similar to Tyson. She assumed this man was Haddix, the Alpha of the BloodMoons that Tyson had told her so much about.
“This changes nothing,” the staggering man sneered. “You’re still outnumbered.”
Haddix spit blood from his mouth and rose to his impressive full height. “It changes everything.” He turned and looked toward the forest where the trees shook. Snow rained down from branches as a familiar white wolf with bright green eyes stepped out of the trees.
Cersi knew that wolf. Swallowing down the emotion that threatened to blind her, she felt an immense surge of pride and possessiveness for the hulking beast that was easily twice the size of any of the wolves she’d seen before they’d changed back to their human form. This time she really got to look at Tyson in his animal form and he was…well, he was breathtaking. He had snow-white fur, and his ears were pinned back. Hackles up, he snarled wickedly at his enemies. Even the dozen or so deep scars that marred his snout and sides looked beautiful on him.
“The Monster isn’t affected by the cycle of life,” Haddix declared. “He isn’t affected by anything. Now get the fuck out of my territory before I let him kill you all.”
Tearing her eyes from Tyson’s monster wolf, Cersi took advantage of everyone’s distraction to take a few steps toward Vesa.
Some of the men the BloodMoons had been fighting began to shrink back into the woods. Haddix was demanding to know whose idea the attack was, but Cersi had little concern for their pack politics. Nope, she just wanted to get to her sister.
One of the men nearest her started talking. He was claiming not to be a coward and blamed someone else for the attack. His words only served to piss Haddix off because he declared that things weren’t over and that he’d kill the men now if his mate wasn’t… But then his words died off, and Cersi turned to see what had stopped him. His eyes were locked on Vesa, and the rage Cersi held bottled up inside of her reflected in Haddix’s expression when he saw that Vesa was injured. Her arm looked bad. It was clearly broken because there’s no way it should be bent at the odd angle that it was. Haddix growled one word. “Tyson!”
Cersi’s gaze slid to Monster. He was so mesmerizing to watch that she didn’t see the man rush her. One second she was watching Monster and the next something plowed into her so hard she was sent sailing through the air. A scream left her lips as she sailed fast and high. This was gonna hurt, she knew it was. Her body was hurtling straight for a tree and good arm flailing, there was no hope of catching herself or breaking her fall. Pinching her eyes shut, Cersi steeled herself and braced for the painful impact. It never came. Her body jarred against something warm and hard, but it caught her weight and then they both went down. Eyes snapping open, she caught a flash of white fur before they hit the ground. Monster hit the ground first and took the brunt of the impact as his big body cushioned her.
In an instant, Tyson shifted, and unlike the others, he’d regenerated clothing when he changed back to his human skin. His eyes were concerned as he studied Cersi’s body, his hands roving over her as he panted, “You alright? Are you hurt?”
She shook her head. “N-no. I’m not hurt.”
He helped her to her feet and then scanned the area. She knew he was looking for the man who’d plowed into her, but he was long gone.
“Vesa!” she breathed, and when she headed for her sister, Tyson let her.
Haddix had his hands on Vesa’s shoulders and was barking for someone to get a truck.
“Are you alright?”
Vesa turned at Cersi’s question. They stared each other a moment before Vesa’s eyes flooded with tears, and her lips started trembling. She reached for Cersi with her good arm. Cersi was careful when she hugged her sister back.
After that, everything happened in a blur. Haddix lifted Vesa into the truck that roared up to them. Then they were gone, Cersi assumed to town to find a doctor. She’d wanted to go too, but didn’t get the chance to express as much before the truck was already pulling away.
“She’s gonna be okay.”
Turning, she found Tyson standing behind her. He was staring at her curiously.
“You sure you are?” he asked.
“Yeah.” She looked down the length of her body. “Thank you for catching me.” She thought he’d say something smart-ass or quirky or funny. But he looked almost drained when he blew out an exhausted breath.
“Well,” he held his hands out to the sides. “This isn’t how I envisioned it happening, but welcome to BlackLodge.”