Gerald's Lot Page 19

  He stared up at Lamar. “We had a plan. He wasn’t going to kill you. He was going to claim you for a mate. Said you’d belong to him then and your plans would come to nothing.”

  Lamar stilled, breathing hard, his eyes as blue as the snow was white. “The fuck you say.”

  Gerald closed his eyes. Took a deep breath. He was so tired. “I wouldn’t have let you have him. I would’ve fought you for him.”

  Another deep breath of the lung-clearing air seemed to give him a burst of energy and he reopened his eyes. “You know what else? If he ever touches you like that, I’ll beat the shit out of you for letting him.”

  He was a jealous prick.

  Unreasonable as fuck.

  He’d still do it, just because he couldn’t blame Tanis for what human scent had done to the wolves.

  Tanis might not be able to love him, but by God, Tanis still belonged to him.

  Chapter 24

  Peyton crouched in the snowy forest at Gerald’s head and brushed back a lock of Gerald’s hair. “A worthy sentiment, human, if misguided. Paetaniskeille would mate this one only to save you the pain of seeing him killed.”

  Peyton rose to his feet and advanced on Lamar.

  Surprise flashed across Lamar’s face, before he raised his hands. “Wait. Wait, wait, wait. What’s going on here?”

  “As long as I believed Paetaniskeille’s mate unworthy of him, I saw no reason not to help you return him to your people. But the situation has changed. I can’t let you take him away from my kin. I can’t honor our bargain.”

  “Shit. We had a deal.”

  “And now we don’t. You can continue alone or you can return with us.”

  “You don’t understand. I can’t. He has to come with me.”

  The sense that something wasn’t right washed through Gerald again. He struggled upright, the movement triggering a painful cough. He leaned forward, wheezing to catch his breath. He wasn’t sure the rapid onset of his symptoms made sense, but he didn’t know enough about the genetically modified viruses that had proliferated in the late twenty-first century to fill a shot glass.

  All he knew was that just that morning, he’d had a headache and a runny nose, and now… now he felt like he was dying.

  Goddamn the world, he thought. He didn’t want to die. Didn’t want to leave his family with a broken promise. Didn’t want to leave Tanis before he figured out what the hell it was about him that made Gerald want to do stupid shit and throw away everything he believed for him.

  So while Lamar pleaded with Peyton to keep to their bargain, Gerald struggled to his feet and made himself start walking, his intent nothing more than to retrace their steps.

  And then he realized he wasn’t retracing anything. The footsteps he was following were going in the wrong damn direction.

  Someone had tracked the snow well before they’d started out, and the tracks were human. He’d blame it on Lamar, but… Peyton had been in the lead. He was sure of it.

  He hesitated, ready to turn back.

  Just then, Lamar yelled out, “Sunny, goddammit, where are you going?”

  Then he heard something, deeper in the woods. A hum that was getting louder, a rattle that made no sense. He started coughing again and lost track of the sound but he turned, scouring the woods for anything that looked out of place.

  Trees loomed and snow gleamed bright where the shadows didn’t fall. A sighing crash came from his left, but it was only snow falling from a branch.

  “Sunny.”

  The hand on his shoulder startled him and Gerald turned, surprised to see Lamar at his side.

  “I’ll get you home,” Lamar said. “You have to let me take you home.”

  “Why?” Gerald swiped the back of his glove under his running nose. He winced at the raw burn. “Why is it so important?”

  Lamar’s eyes met his and Gerald couldn’t miss the dark shadows underneath Lamar’s skin standing this close. “Redemption,” Lamar said. “I fucked up a few years ago and I’ve got to make it right.”

  Gerald sighed. “You haven’t been on a mission, have you?”

  Lamar’s hesitation answered for him.

  “You joined them. The renegades. And somehow ended up here.”

  “No, not them. Jay promised me a lot of money. Enough to keep my family fed for a long damn time. He was fighting the renegades from within, same as us. But I didn’t know what kind of man he was at the time, what kind of shit he wanted from me. I was a goddamn fool, but it’s too late to undo any of that. I just need to do this, to get you—”

  The sound of a gunshot reverberated through the air and Lamar’s expression froze for one perfectly clear instant.

  Then he fell, only a few droplets of blood splattering across the snow.

  Gerald dropped.

  Peyton crouched, took a deep sniff of the air, then surged to his left, running into the woods at a breakneck pace.

  The hum in Gerald’s ear returned, this time with voices and yelling.

  Lamar grabbed Gerald’s hand. “I just wanted to take you home.”

  Gerald was afraid to raise his head but he couldn’t leave Lamar to die if there was anything he could do to stop it. He crawled forward, holding tight to Lamar’s hand. “Where’d it get you?”

  Lamar gasped. “Tell Jacob… best friend I ever… had.”

  Gerald patted Lamar down, looking for a hole or blood or anything to tell him where the bullet had gotten him. He found a hole the size of his finger just under the breast pocket. He took a chance and knelt, then flipped Lamar onto his stomach, grunting with the effort, snot freezing as it trailed from his right nostril.

  Lamar didn’t make a sound as his body whumped into the snow.

  Gerald gritted his teeth against the pang in his chest. Blood soaked through Lamar’s coat, too much of it to leave much hope.

  He dropped down over Lamar, his elbows holding him up. He scanned the area.

  There.

  Vehicles meant for tough terrain revved and hummed as they wound through the trees.

  “Goddamn you, Gerald! Stay down!” someone yelled.

  Gerald’s blood rushed and he rolled off Lamar. He plastered himself as flat to the ground as possible.

  He couldn’t believe it. He knew that voice.

  The roar of a wolf drowned out any further sounds, too close. Gerald twisted around, then rolled to his back.

  Or tried to. A stick jabbed him under the ribs and he quickly reversed course, rolling in the opposite direction. A bushy evergreen, barely taller than a man, offered cover only a few feet away and he lunged toward it on his hands and knees.

  Someone grabbed him from behind.

  “I told you to stay down, you goddamned idiot.”

  A choked cry came out of Gerald’s mouth. He swatted hard at Devon’s arm, knocking loose his grip. “Get away from me!”

  “What the fuck, Gerald! I’m trying to get you out of—”

  “I’ve got the flu—the 2060 flu. Get the fuck out of here. Keep everybody away from me.”

  “Okay, shit.” Devon, wearing a coat very similar to Gerald’s, turned toward the rough terrain vehicle he must have driven right up to Gerald. “Tanis said there was a problem, but he didn’t tell us—”

  Gerald scooted back until he was almost inside the thick branches of the short evergreen. “What did he tell you? Is this a trap? Get the fuck out of here before he—”

  A flash in the distance caught Gerald’s attention. Peyton came into view through the trees, running in their direction.

  Gerald sniffed cold air and stumbled to his feet. “Get out of here, Devon, go!”

  Devon looked around, cursed, then threw himself at Gerald. “Okay, fucker, you’re coming with me.”

  “Devon, no!”

  But Devon had meant what he said and he hauled Gerald close with a gloved fist wadded into the front Gerald’s tightly sealed coat.

  The jolting movement caused him to start coughing. He struggled, turning away, but Devo
n just wrapped his arms around Gerald and hauled him backwards.

  Gerald wheezed and looked up just in time to see Peyton lunging at them with an ear-splitting roar.

  Only there was another wolf and Peyton slammed right into him and they grappled with each other, fending off clawed attacks.

  Devon’s harsh breathing filled Gerald’s ear. “Come on, you asshole. Come on. I might even think about letting you ride my piece of meat when we get out of here if you start cooperating.”

  “Won’t work, Dev. You should’ve listened to me. How am I supposed to live with myself if you die because you were helping me?”

  They backed into the open side of the vehicle. He shoved his elbow into Devon’s ribs.

  “God Almighty, stop fighting so goddamn hard!”

  “Then let go!”

  “I’m not letting go!”

  Gerald could have done any number of things to get away that would have incapacitated Devon, but that was the one thing he couldn’t do in the middle of a conflict he didn’t understand.

  Devon turned, slinging Gerald hard into the side of the vehicle.

  Gerald gripped one of the bars of the roll cage and kicked out.

  “I’m going to break your goddamned nose if you don’t get in that seat, Gerald.” He wrestled with Gerald for another moment, then yelled right into Gerald’s ear, “Get in the goddamned seat!”

  Gerald huffed, two seconds from breaking free when Devon jerked him forward and covered his mouth with his in a parody of a kiss before jerking back, breathing hard. “Now it’s too late, fucker, so you can stop fighting. Sit the fuck down.”

  Gerald gasped hard, hands trembling, body exhausted beyond reason. He let himself fall into place inside the vehicle and stared unseeing at the sight of Peyton slashing at the face of a wolf Gerald didn’t recognize.

  Devon skidded around the vehicle to the other side and hauled himself into the drivers’ seat. The whine of the vehicle got lost in the spin of the snow tires, moving fast. They lurched forward with a suddenness that upended Gerald’s stomach.

  He finally looked over at Devon’s tight face. “You fucking son of a bitch.”

  Devon shrugged. “I did what I had to do. Seems like you ought to know how that goes.”

  Gerald stared ahead. Tears burned the back of his eyes.

  They raced past a bloody smear in the snow, and Gerald blinked, trying to focus on the world around him. He’d put so much effort into the fight with Devon, he’d lost track of what was going on elsewhere.

  “Where’s Lamar’s body?”

  “Ian was going to pick him up.”

  Devon swung the vehicle to the left and Gerald grabbed the bar in front of him for balance. His stomach heaved as they crested a hill and came down on the other side too fast.

  “Shit, slow down.”

  “Fuck that. Wolves on our tail.”

  “Tanis?”

  Devon threw him a look. “Why the hell would Tanis be chasing us?”

  “He’s one of them. This is his—”

  “Ah, fuck. He didn’t tell you anything, did he?” Devon smacked one hand on the wheel, then jerked it right when it wanted to veer left.

  Gerald held his breath, his grip on the bar white-knuckled.

  Finally, ahead, he could see the faint outline of vehicles that matched the one Devon was driving. “How many of you are here?”

  “Not as many as wanted to come, but too damn many as far as Kem was concerned. The wolves are trying to stay upwind. Apparently the cold is helping.”

  “The season’s almost over.”

  “Not long now. Worst time for a shit-storm like this, though.”

  “What’s this about? Where’s Tanis?” Why hadn’t he come for Gerald himself? “You can’t hurt him. It’s his alpha—she’s—”

  “Shut up, Gerald. Nothing’s what you’re probably thinking. Just let me get us out of here.”

  Another hard right as a number of wolves spilled out of the trees, too close.

  Gerald started to feel distinctly like they were being hunted. Maybe Tanis—but no, Devon had said to stop—

  Three wolves cut them off from the others, herding them to an uphill left turn Devon took with a wince and a muttered, “Shit. Kem’s gonna kill me for this.”

  “You’re doing fine.”

  It was a lie. Gerald was sure he should’ve been driving, but the pounding in his head was starting to affect his vision. The fucking snow was blinding him and the sun seemed determined to burn holes through his retinas.

  Then Devon hissed and said, “Son of a—oh fuck.”

  A wolf jumped from the tree hanging over them and landed on the top of the vehicle right over the humming engine. Devon slung them sideways in an obvious effort to throw the wolf off, but the vehicle glanced off the side of a tree, jerking Gerald so hard he lost his grip on the bar and slammed into Devon’s shoulder.

  Devon lost his grip on the wheel.

  The wolf slashed through the front opening between the bars, missing Devon’s face by a hairsbreadth and catching Gerald’s hood. Claws pierced skin and warmth flowed over his ear.

  The vehicle pitched over.

  His own grunt of pain and the crack of something hard into the bars were the only sounds he heard, until—

  “Kem! We ne—ahhh… goddamn.” A long, low groan followed, and panic sent adrenaline flashing through Gerald.

  Something was wrong with Devon.

  He turned, trying to move but he was on his side and something heavy was weighing him down. All he could see was the backside of Devon’s coat. He started coughing, and then he couldn’t seem to quit.

  Somebody grabbed his legs, yanking him right out of the cage. He skidded along the snow-covered ground as he made a last ditch effort to grab the only bar still in reach.

  He missed.

  His assailant flipped him over and it took Gerald only an instant to recognize the wolf looming over him.

  “Leif!” he wheezed out. “Oh my God.”

  A bang came from behind him and Devon cried out.

  “No!” Gerald started to roll, but Leif yanked him farther from the vehicle.

  “Eris will get to your friend.”

  Then Raleigh hunkered down beside Gerald, one side of his face clawed from temple to jaw, and the relief Gerald felt was so powerful it nearly overwhelmed him.

  Raleigh was alive. He hadn’t known whether to believe.

  “Take care of him,” Leif said, just before surging toward the vehicle.

  Gerald thrust himself upright, the adrenaline in his system giving him back some of the energy the deadly flu had stolen from him. His entire body felt wired, despite the pressure in his head thudding in time to his rapid heartbeat.

  Raleigh stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. “Stay here.”

  “I have to see—” He twisted with the intent to push himself to his feet, but a thwap nearby caught his attention. He looked over to see Raleigh had turned his attention to the area of the forest to the left, up the tree-scattered hill that filled Gerald’s line of sight.

  He didn’t know what was on the other side of that hill, but it was probably trouble.

  What it was he found out almost immediately was a distraction.

  Two wolves swept out from behind a clump of trees to the right, coming right for them.

  “Raleigh,” Gerald said, voice tight, body tense.

  But Raleigh had caught on to the wolves’ plan and he moved quickly to put himself between them and Gerald.

  The wolves spread apart and started to come at Raleigh from both sides.

  Shit.

  Raleigh was too young for this. He was going to get hurt, and Gerald knew it the way he knew Royce would kick his ass if he ever found out Gerald had smoked crack that one time when he was seventeen for the promise of a blow job.

  Chapter 25

  The wolves attacked at the same time, stealth pushed aside for the element of brute force. Gerald had only seconds to get to his feet befo
re the wolves were on Raleigh, two to one. Vertigo hit him as hard as wolf number one—a dark, lean fellow with blade sharp claws and prominent eyeteeth—slammed Raleigh’s head to the side.

  Raleigh was tougher than Gerald gave him credit for because the blow just made him growl and lash out with mind-boggling speed, claws digging deep into the wolf’s neck. Wolf number two—with even sharper, longer claws and a vicious roar—took the opportunity to slash at Raleigh’s spine.

  Gerald threw himself at wolf number two, seeing an opening he wasn’t going to miss. Wolf two thought he could shove Gerald aside, but he was mistaken. Gerald feinted then punched him in the throat.

  It didn’t take him down, but even a wolf could be stunned by a hard enough blow.

  Gerald tried another quick punch but his opportunity was gone and wolf two slammed the outside of his hard-as-steel forearm into the side of Gerald’s head and knocked him on his ass.

  He groaned, stunned, staring up at the outline of snow-covered evergreen against the brilliant blue sky.

  Raleigh yelled, his harsh gasp enough to make Gerald come alive again. He rolled to his side then staggered to his feet, only to have the gut wrenching realization that the wolves were working together with deadly precision.

  Gerald threw himself into the fight again, knowing as he did that another blow to the head like the one he’d gotten would probably put him out. His temples throbbed and he was already seeing a wavering double outline of all three wolves. He weaved to the side, fell to his knees, and grabbed.

  Wolf one roared, taking a slash at his head.

  He felt the cut of one claw bone deep through the hood of his coat as he clung with one arm to the wolf’s leg and squeezed his other hand with everything in him, yanking hard on the wolf’s sensitive cock and balls. It was heat season; Gerald had it on good authority a wolf got to the point near the end of the season where he could barely stand to touch himself except in the most mind-altered state of a heat cycle.

  No one could ever say Gerald didn’t know how to exploit a weakness.

  He stared coughing, an uncontrolled spasm of chest and lung and all he could do was channel the tensing of his muscles into the tightness of his grip and hold on as if Raleigh’s life depended on it.