Chapter 4: Everett

Chapter 4: Everett

A wildfire raged on the fringe of my awareness, flickering flames lapping at the images burning behind my eyes. The fire was so vivid it blinded me, and I felt it singeing my skin before I had fallen completely unconscious. Sweltering heat smothered me, and in the nightmare I couldn’t breathe, and I didn’t know why until I found her. She was an embodiment of the wildfire itself—out of control, staggering, impossible to touch, until she looked at me. I had to do something, or else this gluttonous nightmare would destroy us. She would have forced us both to burn if she hadn’t let me help.

Slumped over my desk, I woke gasping. Fire gnawed at my spine and shocked me into sitting upright. Beads of sweat rolled down my temple as I frantically searched the room, only to find everything still and silent like before the dream took me. No smoke was packed against the ceiling, no fire scorched the walls, just my empty white office, the soft whirring of the central air, my world untouched. This wasn’t just any dream, though, I knew that from the pain sitting deep in my chest like a blade. The tightness in my throat. Discomforts that had come not from some bad decision I made, but somebody else whose body I had become inextricably linked. I’d been dreading this day.

Coughing harshly into my arm, I stood and looked out the window, as though I could see the very person whose afflictions I shared. The crushing intensity of pain in my lungs was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. It made me realize then just how sheltered I was from the harshness of a wild life. I’d never sustained an injury so bad it made me feel like I couldn’t breathe. The person who experienced this Moondream with me was out there, somewhere, struggling just to fill her lungs.

I knew who it was, but part of me didn’t want to accept it. Because that meant venturing right into territory I didn’t want to be in—where I knew I wasn’t welcome. And because that meant entangling myself with somebody who only ever had been a thorn in my side, with her penchant for mischief and stubborn determination.

The Moon Goddess couldn’t seriously think she was my fated mate. Of all people…?

Yet still, uncertainty roiled inside me—was she dying?

With a deep breath in, I leaned over my desk and withdrew my smartphone, scrolling through my contacts. The Mundys. No, maybe Gavin. Maybe I should just call her directly. I had her cell number.

The phone on my desk rang instead. Taylor’s number appeared on the caller ID and I answered it out of reflex. “Hey,” I greeted, clearing my throat.

“Hey—are you okay? You sound rough,” he said.

“I’m fine,” I grunted. “What is it?”

“Guy from Rooster Alarms just finished in Hexen Manor. The mic is piggybacking off the signal booster in the manor, but even then, it only reaches about a quarter of a mile.”

That was unfortunate. We’d been banking on getting a half mile’s distance from the manor where we could safely sit in Taylor’s van, in the parking lot of a gas station, to monitor and record whatever audio the mic picked up and transmitted.

“I’ll have to park on Hedge Road if we want to get that audio,” continued Taylor.

“Do it then. Monitor for an hour to start, then let me know what you get.”

“Sure.”

It was going to endanger our operation to have Taylor sitting in the middle of a forested road like that. I couldn’t head out to join him, either, because he’d be right in the middle of Dalesbloom territory, but it was the best we could do. After hanging up, I braced myself above my desk and reconsidered if I even wanted to expose the contents of my Moondream to the Mundys. Why did this happen now, when the relationship between our packs had become so complicated and treacherous?

I called Aislin Mundy on my smartphone. She didn’t answer, and I didn’t have the words to leave her a voicemail.

Maybe it was better I didn’t get involved in whatever was wrong with her. I had a meeting with a new supplier over lunch and I needed to have my head on straight if I was going to secure this deal for a much cheaper supply of maple than what we were sourcing now. I couldn’t be fretting over what that spitfire was getting up to, even if I could suddenly feel every second of suffering she endured. The more I thought about it, the more obvious it became that such a connection between us was unsustainable. Assuming she was still alive the next time I saw her, I would have to make it clear our fated bond wasn’t meant to be.

But it wouldn’t be that much of a tragedy if she died, would it?

Was I being callous…?

No, I was only acting in defense of my pack and my business. She would understand, and if she didn’t, it was no loss of mine. Besides, I was already sticking my neck out more than I was comfortable with, helping Grandbay survive. If anything, she should be grateful I was here.

And yet, even as I busied myself for the rest of the morning, visions of the wildfire in our shared Moondream haunted me. My forest was crumbling. My world alighted. She would be the one to set it all ablaze, of this I was certain.

After meeting with the supplier, still unaccustomed to the discomfort in my chest and trying not to be bothered by the lack of follow-up from Aislin, I called Taylor, curious about what he might have overheard. But there was no answer from him either. That didn’t bode well. Knowing where he had parked, I drove the ten minutes from Eastpeak to the outskirts of Dalesbloom, toward the heart of the forest where the manor sat. Driving through Dalesbloom wasn’t the dangerous part. It was stopping, setting foot on the asphalt that they laid claim to, that could get me in trouble. It didn’t used to be this way. Years ago, David would have welcomed me into his territory, but I understood the decision I made had placed me on bad terms with the Hexen Alpha. I couldn’t help but wonder if he would have made an enemy of me regardless, if he’d dominated Grandbay and then found himself greedy for more.

Up the road, I spied Taylor’s dark blue van pulled onto the shoulder. The driver’s door was wide open. My heart stuttered, but I rationalized that maybe Taylor was just sitting inside, grabbing something from the passenger seat. As I pulled up behind the van, I expected him to pop his head out, but there was still no movement even after I parked. The moment I stepped outside, the omen in my chest worsened. Blood scent saturated the air, and so did traces of the Hexens. “Taylor?” I called, but received only silence.

My hair stood on end as I followed the scent off the shoulder, venturing through the ditch and into the forest on the other side. I wasn’t the type of person to leap to the worst conclusion. There could have been a perfectly reasonable explanation for this. Then I spotted a body among the broad ferns at the base of a tree, assuring me that it was as bad as I feared it was. Taylor lay among the foliage, breathing hard and bleeding out.

“Shit. Taylor!” I called to him, stepping quickly through the bushes until I reached his side. My friend was curled up, khaki shorts and grey t-shirt tattered and stained red. Deep gashes crossed his neck and arm, and the jaw-shaped arcs of bite marks were torn out of his abdomen. I knelt beside him, shaking his shoulder. “Wake up. It’s me, I’m here,” I urged him.

Taylor rattled to life, turning his head to look up at me. The steely grey clouds above began spitting rain, small drops dotting his cheek as he moved his hands underneath himself and tried to sit up. “Fuck, man,” he said hoarsely. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to worry you. Was just taking a rest before heading back.”

Had I not known Taylor my entire life, it would have astounded me that he could be so mellow about having the shit beaten out of him. “What happened? I smell Hexens. Dragons, too.”

“Yeah, they caught me hanging out in the van,” said Taylor, accepting my hand as I helped him to his feet.

A growl brewed in my throat. “How?”

“I saw David drive past in his truck. He must have recognized me in the driver seat because he drove past a second time, then about twenty minutes later, he showed up with Colt and a few dragons,” Taylor explained. “They pulled me out of the van, dragged me out here, and kicked my ass.”

Guilt was next to follow as I wrapped my arm around Taylor’s back to support him. “Do they know about the bug?”

“Not as far as I know,” said Taylor, limping along beside me. “They didn’t go into my van, I don’t think. When they asked me what I was doing, I just said I had a flat and was waiting for someone to bring me a spare tire.”

“And they believed it?”

“They were more concerned with sending a message, I think.”

“And what message was that?”

Taylor laughed dryly. “That Eastpeak has made an enemy out of Dalesbloom for siding with Grandbay.”

“Of course.” David was ever the opportunist. After hearing about how he’d slain his own packmate, Joseph Nym, I was surprised—and relieved—he hadn’t gone so far as to do the same to Taylor. “He’s threatening us,” I said.

“Did it work?”

I caught Taylor’s eye, but we both knew that it would take more than David lashing out to ward us off. Taylor was far too loyal to let David’s intimidation tactics dissuade him from our plan. “Show me what you’ve got from the bug so far. Then we’ll take you back to my place and get you cleaned up.”

Taylor nodded.

Returning to the van, we found Taylor’s phone and earbuds tossed onto the passenger seat. He had accessed the data from the mic on his phone and was listening in to the live feed while analyzing the audio levels from what the mic had recorded up until then. Where the levels were flat indicated no noise; a higher volume suggested the mic had picked something up, and we listened to about ten minutes of audio—predominantly footsteps, David on his way from his office to the front door—before a car driving past caught our attention. We both recognized the person driving as another one of David’s packmates, most likely sent to check Taylor’s van.

“We should get out of here,” I decided. It wouldn’t look good for David to find me here in the heart of his territory, but at least I had an alibi, if they believed Taylor was merely waiting for a spare tire.

“Wait,” said Taylor. He climbed into the back of his van, wavering from the dense injuries across his body, then returned to his seat with another phone and a dark green plastic bag. “We can record at least a few more hours with this. I’d been planning to set it up before I left. Hopefully the rain doesn’t damage it.”

“Here, I’ll set it up.” I took the phone, opening an app and starting the recording on the audio feed from the mic. “Will you be okay to drive?”

Taylor leaned his head back and sighed. “Yeah. I’ll make it.”

“Okay. Meet back at my place.”

I shut his door for him, waiting until he’d turned the van back onto the road before wrapping up the phone in the plastic bag and nestling it among the reeds in the ditch. It was a long shot that we’d get anything useful in the few hours of battery life that the phone had while recording, but it was worth trying anyway. If we could get any kind of insight on how, where, or when Dalesbloom intended to attack Grandbay, we could use it to our advantage.

The wet wind brought the sickly-sweet scents of Dalesbloom to me as I returned to my car. I paused to look into the trees but saw nobody. If they came back here to investigate, there was a good chance they’d find the phone, so I could only hope that I hid it well enough.

A lot weighed on my mind as I drove back to Eastpeak. Once I pulled into my driveway, I checked my phone again, spying a text from Aislin.

‘I don’t suppose that was a butt dial,’ the text read.

We both knew what I had meant to call her about. I didn’t answer the text.

Helping Taylor to my front door, I brought him inside and then fired off a text to his girlfriend, Bree. ‘Taylor’s been injured. Need you to come take him home. I’m cleaning him up now.’

‘You shouldn’t have set him up five minutes from the Hexen Manor. Of course they were going to find him,’ she replied, and I envisioned her speaking with judgment and disappointment as the only force strong enough to oppose his loyalty to me. Guilt struck me again.

‘Just hurry,’ I said.

Taylor sat on the edge of the white acrylic bathtub in the bathroom on my first floor. I had him strip out of his clothes until he sat in his boxer briefs, skin rubbed with dark, dry blood and eyelids hanging heavy while his brown hair sat in tufted disarray. With a warm cloth, I wiped blood and dirt away, cleaning wounds like I was used to doing. Throughout our childhood, he had always been the risk taker. Taking care of him was my job, and gradually, it had become my job to take care of everyone else too.

The doorbell rang from my living room, advising me of Bree’s arrival. I had left my front door unlocked and she came blustering in like a hurricane, grousing about Taylor’s injuries and how foolish we were. “I can’t believe you thought it was a good idea to just sit on Hedge Road like nobody would notice you were there,” she admonished.

I was unmoved by her criticism. “We have a plan, Bree. It’s important that we try to get some insight into David’s thought process.”

Bree scowled and took the cloth from me, rinsing Taylor’s injuries. Pale pink-tinged water trickled down the drain. “Taylor isn’t just your pawn you can send to do whatever you want him to.”

“It’s fine, Bree,” said Taylor. “I’m his Beta. This is my job.”

“Your job is to serve your pack, and you do that better alive than dead,” she argued.

“His job is whatever I determine it to be,” I said calmly.

Bree inhaled sharply and leered over her shoulder. “This could have turned out so much worse. Be thankful it didn’t.”

A frown tugged at my lips, and tempted though I was to remind her who was in charge, I had a feeling she wouldn’t particularly care. Instead, I left her to tend to Taylor while worries hot as wildfire ignited in the volatile kindling of my mind. Of course I was concerned about what could have happened to Taylor had David decided to take more drastic measures. I feared what was going to become of Grandbay if I didn’t make the right choice. I feared what would happen to my own pack if David gained enough power. I feared all the death and destruction that would ensue if he got a hold of the unicorn. Nothing I did was done recklessly, but all the same, even I couldn’t foresee every possible outcome.

Especially the call I received from David on my office phone.

Instantly recognizing the number, I answered. “David.”

“Hello, Everett,” he greeted with smooth, foreboding undertones.

“You jumped my Beta today while he was stranded on the roadside. He wasn’t doing any harm; he was waiting for assistance.”

David hummed. “What reason did he have to be on Hedge Road in the first place?”

Taylor and I had already gone over this. “He was on his way to a dentist appointment; as you’ll recall, the closest dentist is in Dalesbloom.”

“I’m not so sure I believe that.”

“And what do you think the reason was?”

“It doesn’t matter, the fact that he lied about having a flat tire is evidence enough that he was up to something.”

So it seemed David had taken the time to validate Taylor’s excuse. I felt even luckier that he hadn’t harmed Taylor worse after realizing he’d been lying.

“Maybe he read the pressure gauge wrong,” I said. “It still gives you no right to assault him.”

“All’s fair in love and war, Everett.”

I sighed. “This is getting out of hand. There must be some compromise we can reach.”

“It’s too late for that.”

“I want to speak face-to-face.”

David went quiet, considering this, but something told me he was only trying to make an opportunity out of my demands. “Very well. Tomorrow night, I invite you to the Hexen Manor proper.”

“No. I want to meet on neutral ground.”

Agitation deepened his voice. “Fine. We’ll meet in the buffer zone between our borders.”

“Nine PM tomorrow night,” I said. “Just you.”

“I expect it to be just you, too, then.”

“I’m a man of my word.”

The smirk on his end was nearly audible. “As always.”

The call ended quickly after that, amazing me that I had finally gotten into contact with David. And he was even willing to speak to me. He sounded calm, level-headed, even if I could hear anger scratching away at him. Was it possible we could discuss the conflict as allies? This was the first chance I had since our friendship had fractured. I had to go into it with diplomacy and grace, or else risk deteriorating our relationship further. As promised, I would go alone. I would prove to David that I was serious about preserving our alliance.

This was the first step in putting out the dozen little fires that had popped up in the Gunnison area. I had to have faith that I could keep them under control before they coalesced into something worse.