Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

Piper

I come back into the room and go right to the bed, holding up my booty…a paperclip, and a letter opener. Both women look at me with questions in their eyes. Annie steps out of the way and I get busy. I wiggle the mechanism loose and then click it forward. One side of the cuffs pops loose and then the other. It takes me longer the second time because it's on Kyra's wrist, but I still get it done.

"Wow, Piper. How do you know how to do that?". The look on Annie's face says she's impressed rather than judgy.

"Misspent childhood and a sketchy mother."

"Uh, I had both of those and I don't know how to unlock fucking handcuffs, girl." Kyra rubs her wrists as she gives me a little more about her. Knowing she grew up kind of similar to me makes me like her even more.

The sound of something hitting the front door has all three of us running to the window.

"What the hell was that?" Annie might have asked the question, but it doesn't mean I want to know any less, especially not when whatever the hell it was shakes the whole damned house every time it hits the door.

"Whatever the hell it is, we can't just stay here and wait for it to get in."

Annie looks over at me when I speak and picks up her lamp again, signaling she has my back.

We look over at Kyra and she gives a small nod. "But I'm not going anywhere without a real fucking weapon. Let's stop in the kitchen first."

"Good idea."

We head down the hallway together and I take a moment to touch above the…bite mark. In my head, I'm screaming for Merrik but on the outside, I try to remain as calm as I can for Annie and Kyra.

"Oh shit, wait!" Kyra disappears back into the room as another impact shakes the house. She comes out with the handcuffs.

"Just in case."

We nod and I take a moment to really respect how this girl thinks ahead. I don't know how I'm going to feel about Merrik's brother, but his choice of a mate is chef's kiss. When we hit the kitchen, I hear it…the splitting of wood. One more good hit and that door is gone. When I look over at Kyra and Annie both of them have big, fearful round eyes.

"Let's go girls."

Merrik, he's here! Please come!

Just in case, by some miracle, manifesting it into the universe might make it come true I reach out and shout the words.

"Stay together. When the door fails, we all make a run for the back door." I look at the two women with me and don't finish the rest. If we go down, we'll go down together, as sisters, which is kind of weird since I've never had that kind of relationship with anyone in my life before. I guess the fear of dying will bond a group quickly.

Just as we are backing towards the kitchen door, the glass shatters, and something not entirely human reaches inside.

"Shit!" I think it but Kyra says it.

We all run for the front door. I'm almost certain there aren't two of them. We make it out on the lawn before I see the creature out of the corner of my eye. Bastard is fast.

"Annie!" I shove her out of the way as Kyra screams and the monster rises in front of us.

"No!" Kyra tries to stab the thing, but he swats her away like she's nothing more than a fly. Still, it gives me and Annie time to gain our footing. His inhuman eyes land on each one of us in turn.

"I only want you."

That's something I never ever want to hear from anyone but Merrik, especially not in the creepy as fuck voice he uses.

"You'll have to go through us, buddy. That's how this works. I don't know how I know that, but I do, and it does." Kyra sounds about as confused as I was about the office location.

"As you wish."

The girls fall behind me with their knives at the ready. I know what they plan to do. Just like Kyra, I'm not sure how I know, but I do. They're planning to push me behind them when this guy attacks giving me time to run.

And I can't let them do that.

I step up in line with them stare the…thing in the eyes. If he plans to do this, he isn't going to leave without some serious wounds.

Piper!

When did my inner voice suddenly start sounding like Merrik?

Move the girls to the side.

I look over at Kyra and then at Annie. "Ladies…"

I cross one foot over the other and shift, Kyra shifting with me and Annie following. None of us take our eyes off the monster. As soon as my foot hits the spot I need to be in my mind, a large body flies through the air and hits the monster from the side. Both go rolling but the big, black wolf - my big, black wolf - gets to his feet first.

Another wolf comes through the air and lands on the creature biting and growling.

"That one's mine."

I hear the unmistakable pride in her voice as she looks at her wolf. I'm pretty fucking proud too. Even though the creature flings the wolves off him, they just keep coming back and Merrik is vicious. He goes for the throat several times. The creature is covered in bites and the brothers work in tandem to keep it busy so it doesn't think about us. I look to Kyra and silently tell her to run back to the house as quietly as she can.

She actually looks at me with surprise on her face before she starts walking backwards slowly. When she gets a good distance away, she breaks and takes off running. Two more wolves come out of nowhere also attacking the creature. They're smaller than Merrik but about the same size as his brother. All four wolves work together to do as much damage as they can to the monster. But they are going to need help.

When Kyra comes back, I start sweating. This is so important and what if I fuck it up? What if my aim is off? I have sucky aim to start with. What makes me think I can even pull this off? But what if I don't even try? Because if something happens to Merrik while I'm self-doubting and wasting chances…I would never forgive myself. I move to the side and send a silent message to Merrik. I'm not sure if he can hear me or not but he and his brother do back off slightly.

"Hey, asshole!"

The creature turns to look at me. As soon as I called out his name, I raised my arm, pulled back…, and let the statue I carried downstairs and had Kyra run to grab for me fly. I throw it with all my might. It doesn't do anything to the creature…but it allows Merrik time to be precise and go for his throat. It gives the other three time to jump on him in such a way that Merrik doesn't get hurt. And it just makes me feel better like I'm useful in some small way.

Merrik rips at the thing's throat, just like he did to Doyle when he was in wolf form and tried to kill me. When Merrik gets thrown off, his brother attacks and makes a gash in the other side of its neck. The creature is bleeding so much that he starts to stagger, and his powerful swings become less focused and the two smaller wolves grab onto the flailing arms, teeth sinking into the arms. The wolves eventually pull the thing down and Merrik and his brother take turns biting his throat.

The monster lets out an unearthly howl as its dark blood soaks into the ground around it. After a while, the wolves back up and the thing stops moving. Everyone seems to be holding their breath, waiting to find out if the thing is really dead or if this is going to be a true horror movie. After a long pause, the monster starts to shrink and turn into a man…only the hair on the creature doesn't recede. It takes me a moment to realize in the dim twilight what I'm actually looking at. The body is wrapped in...a fur pelt.

"What the hell am I staring at right now?"

I jump at the voice by my side.

"Kenny?"

He winces and looks over at Kyra but answers me. "Yeah. I guess I'm Kenny. You must be Piper. I've heard almost nothing about you but if you bother my brother this much then I can't wait to get to know you."

He gives me an easy smile as he reaches for Kyra.

"Is he...? He…he's not one of our wolves." Annie says with certainty.

"I don't think he's a wolf at all." Merrik comes up behind me wrapping his arms around me, only after he does do I realize how cold it is out here.

"Merrik, my man, did you go and find yourself a mate, buddy?"

My eyes slide over to the man standing in nothing but a pair of loose shorts. His mirror image comes up right beside him.

"Man, I hate changing back in the winter. Your balls get all…"

"Hey!" Merrik's voice whips through the air like a physical snap, "Dare! I would suggest you don't talk about your balls or anything else of the sort in front of my mate or else I will be forced to end you."

"Shit! The rumors are true! Merrik found his mate!" The other man all but shouts it out wearing a big, goofy grin.

"Damn, that moon is making everyone crazy! Let's wrap this shit up and get the hell out of here, brother!"

The smiley one replies with a single word, "Agreed!"