Chapter Twelve

This past five days had been everything.

It was the end of the day, nearly five o’clock, and almost time for Corey to go home.

She checked her phone between appointments, and saw that Ace had messaged. At the store. Want anything for the house?

Twister orange soda. Send.

A picture came through a few seconds later of a twelve-pack of cans of Twister sitting in a grocery cart. I’ve got you.

That was her favorite phrase from him. You are the perfect man. Send.

Far from it. Did you get them yet?

Huh? Get what? The bell over the door dinged, and a flower-delivery man came in with a huge bouquet, but they weren’t traditional flowers.

The flowers were made of...bacon. Motherfreaking bacon!

“Oh my gosh,” she said, cracking up as she accepted them.

“Corey Gable, I’m guessing?” the delivery man asked.

“That’s me,” she mused, studying the bacon bouquet.

“Have a good day,” he said, and gave a little wave before he left.

There was a card, so she plucked it off the little plastic holder and opened it up.

Dear human,

I think you’re pretty swell.

Thanks for always letting me play with your boobs.

Yours,

Ace

She squealed and tapped her feet really fast onto the carpet beneath her desk. How freaking cute was this?

“Is that from your boyfriend?” her coworker, Daisy the One-Upper, asked.

“Yep!”

“Well, my boyfriend got me two-dozen roses last week. They were delivered to my house, so no one here got to see them.”

“That’s an amazing story, Daisy,” she muttered, speed-typing a text to Ace. AGAIN I SAY, PERFECT MAN. BACON!! Send.

He put four laughing-emoji faces and then, I thought you might like those.

I got you a present too.Send.

Woman. I’ve already explained what presents mean to Hollands. Careful there.

She smiled and glanced over at the paper bag that held the bagel she’d bought on her lunch break. Oh, she knew exactly what presents meant.

They’d settled into a routine of sorts over the last few days. At night they met at Hallie and Gunner’s, hung out for a bit, and then when it was time for the potential Crew to go to bed, Gunner told Ace to, “Fuck off,” and he spent the night at her cabin so they could all avoid the fights that came along with the tension between Ace, Owen, and Gunner. Honestly, she could do this every day with him.

He had already told Gunner no on the Crew, but she’d noticed he still was spending time in Gunner’s territory. She wasn’t broaching the subject about it because he seemed confused in his feelings, and probably needed time to sort things out.

I’m about to leave. Send. I’ll see you at Gunner’s. I’ll bring the bacon flowers!

Paying out now, see you soon. Like you.

She couldn’t help her smile if she tried! He had been dancing around the L-word with saying he liked her. She’d been saying it too, both of them being stubborn on who would say it first. Gah, she had the biggest crush on him. Sure, he completely owned her body in the bedroom, but it was so much more than that. He thought of her. They spent their mornings getting ready together, and checked on each other through the day, and she counted down the moments until she got to hug him the second they saw each other again.

This was what love was supposed to be like. She’d never felt anything like this. She could live the rest of her life just like this.

She finished making appointments for the day, closed down her computer, and said goodbye to her coworkers because she wouldn’t see them for a few days after this. The day after tomorrow was the courthouse wedding for Hallie and Gunner, and she had taken a few days off around it to help Hallie out.

She was low on gas, so she stopped at the gas station and mulled over the thought that if Ace and the seller ever settled their negotiations on the Moosey’s BBQ location, she could be getting gas at his place soon. It was on the way back to her cabin.

When she got back into her car, she checked her phone, and had somehow missed three calls from an unfamiliar number. She frowned. She didn’t usually answer unknown numbers, but there was a text from the same number that said two words that electrified the fine hairs on her body.

Need Ace.

She moved to call the number back, but another call came in and she answered it.

“Corey! I need Ace here now.”

The voice was familiar. “Owen?”

“Yes, it’s fucking Owen. Tell him to use his bat powers. I don’t have his number. I need help!”

“Where are you?”

A roar through the phone nearly deafened her left ear, and static followed. “Owen? Owen!”

“It’s Gunner and Hallie. Corey, just get here. I can’t stop him.”

“Oh my God, I’ll call Ace!”

The call dropped. “You better not be fucking with me, Owen,” she murmured as she frantically connected a call to Ace.

“Hey pretty girl, how—”

“Ace, Owen needs help. Something about Gunner and Hallie. Owen said he needs your bat powers.”

The phone clicked.

“Hello?”

No answer, and the call was disconnected. Shhhit. She turned on her car and threw it into drive, hit the gas, and spun out of the parking lot throwing gravel behind her. She hit the main and was horrified to see the birds lifting from the trees en masse up on the mountain they lived on.

“Oh no,” she murmured. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong!

She didn’t let off the accelerator until she saw Ace’s truck on the side of the road. He hadn’t even bothered to put it into park. It had come to a stop against a tree in the ditch. He wasn’t inside, and the sky was darkening.

Hallie, Hallie, Hallie. Something was wrong!

She skidded onto the turn for Winding Creek Way and sped up the gravel road as fast as her car would go. The sky was nearly night-dark over the trailer, and churning above the mountain.

The clearing was chaos. It was filled with purple smoke, and there were two bears at absolute war, trying to kill each other near the tree line. Owen was on the porch, gesturing her to him.

She threw the car into park, and didn’t even bother to turn it off or close the door before she was sprinting for the door.

“Straight inside, don’t come out here!” Ace roared, but she couldn’t see him. The smoke thickened around her, and she couldn’t see. “Keep going!”

The air thinned just in time for her to see the stairs.

Owen’s blue eyes looked panicked. “She’s hurt bad.”

“Hallie?”

“Yeah.”

“Why is Captain fighting Gunner?” she yelled as she bolted past.

Owen followed her inside. “Captain isn’t here yet. That’s Lucia Novak trying to keep him off Hallie.”

“Keep him off…” She caught sight of Hallie on the floor of the bedroom. “Oh my God.”

She was a mangled mess, laying on her back, panting for breath, empty eyes staring at the ceiling. “What the fuck happened?” she screamed as she slid to her knees beside her cousin.

“I don’t know!” Owen roared, panicked. “I’m fucking bleeding out.”

She pulled her shirt off herself and pressed it to Hallie’s ribs. That seemed to be where she was bleeding from the most. She turned and looked at Owen, and yep, he was painted crimson. “I tried to stop it,” he uttered shakily.

“What do I do?” she yelled.

“You keep her alive and give the bear a chance to take her!” A roar rattled the house, and Owen disappeared from the doorway. The slamming of the front door shook the trailer.

“Hey, Hallie,” she said gently, angling her cousin’s face toward her. “Hey baby, where’s the first aid?”

Her breath came in quick pants. “Kit-kit-kit…”

“Kitchen?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, baby, we gotta give the bear time.” Like she knew what the fuck she was talking about! “I need you to hold this here. Pressure. I’ll be back in fifteen seconds. Want to count with me?”

Hallie nodded. “I’m scared.”

“I’m here. Fifteen. Fourteen. Hold it tight!” She jumped up and bolted for the kitchen.

Her heart shattered when she heard Hallie’s frail, “Thirteen, twe-twe-twelve.”

She was going to kill Gunner!

She opened the cupboards in a rush. Where did they keep the damn first aid?! She had been a Girl Scout up until sophomore year in college. She needed that clotting powder to get the bleeding slowed!

“Ten!” she called. “Hallie, count with me!”

Frantically, she yanked more cupboards open, then knelt and looked under the sink. There. It didn’t look like a normal first-aid kit. It was a huge plastic container that took up most of the underneath of the sink, but she could see the outline of gauze through the clear plastic. Yep.

She pulled it out and bolted for the bedroom, slid it right beside Hallie, and prayed whoever stocked this had packed BleedStop. Yep, there it was. Hell yeah.

“Good girl,” she said to Hallie, ripping into the BleedStop package. She yanked the shirt off her injuries. God, they were so bad. Fuck Gunner. He loved her? Really? Then why had he done this!

Something hit the side of the house hard, and she had to fall forward on locked arms to avoid falling on Hallie. She spilled some of the BleedStop. “It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay,” she chanted, but it was mostly for herself.

She packed the wounds with it. There seemed to be one bad claw mark, and several puncture wounds. Clearly a bear attack.

“I think I need help,” Owen said from behind her.

She was working with speed over Hallie, packing as many of the punctures as she could. She threw another packet of BleedStop at Owen. “Pack it!” she yelled.

He sank down against the wall and poured the packet onto his open stomach. “Beaston will be here soon, Beaston will be here soon,” he chanted. “He won’t let him kill her.”

She didn’t understand his words, and didn’t care. Her focus was on Hallie, whose pupils were getting bigger and bigger. It had to be shock.

“Is she going to make it?” Owen asked.

“Owen, shut the fuck up! Of course she is.” She cupped Hallie’s cheeks. “Look at me. We’re just getting started, do you hear me?” To her horror, her hands were leaving crimson handprints on her cousin’s face.

Hallie nodded. “You’re going to be my maid of honor.”

“Damn right. We got our dresses. You’re going to look so beautiful.” She would shoot her groom dead before he made it to the courthouse, but Hallie didn’t need that stress right now. “Look, the bleeding has already slowed.”

Tears rimmed Hallie’s eyes as she nodded jerkily. “It’s bad.”

“We just need time, baby. Let the bear do her thing.”

“I can’t feel her.”

“She just needs time, and that’s what we’re doing here together, okay?” She held her hand. “We’re buying her time. You’re a badass woman, Hallie. You survived Derek. And now you’re going to be a shifter, and good luck to anyone who fucks with you from here on. That’s your story, do you hear me?”

“Yes.” Hallie nodded. “Yes. I hear you.”

Her eyes were black from her pupils being blown, and her hands were so cold. Fucking Gunner. “Why did he do this to her?” she demanded.

Owen was holding his stomach. “Gunner didn’t do this to her.”

“Who did?”

“Lucia Novak.”

Getting warmer.Chills rippled up her arms as she remembered the spray paint.

She didn’t understand. She didn’t understand!

Hallie’s eyes rolled back in her head. “Nope. Hallie, babe, you have to wake up. You have to keep your eyes open.” She shook her shoulders. “Hallie?” She picked her up and cradled Hallie to her, tears releasing from her eyes to race down her cheeks. “You can’t leave me. Our story isn’t done! Hallie!”

She reared back and slapped her cousin as hard as she could, and a long, low snarl ripped from Hallie as she seized. Her eyes flew open, and she could see the exact moment the bear took her eyes. Her pupils constricted, revealing an unfamiliar, glowing green.

Hallie’s face sank in, and the angles of her face sharpened as she went completely rigid, back arched against the floor.

“You need to go,” Owen said. “Get away from her!”

“Get out,” a woman said from behind Corey.

Corey twisted to find a raven-haired beauty with eyes the color of Hallie’s.

“What have you done?” Owen demanded.

She stepped forward, grabbed Owen, and threw him out of the open door. Corey jerked to her feet. “What are you doing?”

“It has to be this way,” the woman said, tears in her eyes. Lucia? Two other women stood behind her, but Corey didn’t know them.

Lucia told her, “I’m sorry,” and then she shut the door just as something else hit the side of the house and splintered a crack right through the floor.

Another rattling growl escaped Hallie’s body, and Corey started to understand. No. She strode for the door and tried to open it. It wouldn’t budge. No, no, no! She rattled the doorknob and shoved against the door as hard as she could. It didn’t budge.

“Corey?” Hallie whispered in horror. “I think you need to run.”

“What?” Corey whispered in horror as she turned to find Hallie up on her hands and knees. Her face didn’t even look human anymore, and her clothes were stretching and ripping as she grew with each ragged breath she drew into her lungs.

“Let me out!” Corey screamed, pushing on the door as hard as she could.

“Corey?” Hallie said. “I can’t…I can’t…”

“You can’t what?” she asked, turning slowly as Hallie stood up.

Tears streamed out of her glowing green eyes, and she shook her head. “I can’t stop her.”

The next few seconds were the worst of her life. There would be nothing after this that could compare with the betrayal.

A massive silver grizzly exploded from her cousin, and there was nowhere to run. Hallie was on Corey in an instant, and the pain that followed was the worst she could ever imagine. Just a few seconds, and then purple smoke enveloped her, and then she wasn’t in the room anymore.

She had disappeared, just a blink, and then she was outside in the clearing. Ace was holding her, his eyes blazing nearly white. His eyes drifted to where Corey was cradling her arm. It hurt so badly. Her skin was on fire!

She rocked from side to side, crying out in pain like that would help, but it only got worse.

“Why the fuck would you do this!” he roared, standing to face off with a group of strangers.

“I can’t explain why,” the dark-haired woman at the front of the group said softly. “You have to trust me. It had to happen this way.”

Gunner strode up beside Ace. “This is war, and you know it.”

“It doesn’t have to be,” a tall, built man said from beside Lucia.

“Fuck you, Lucas. Fuck all of you.” Gunner’s voice boomed powerfully through the clearing. He jammed a finger at Lucia. “You Turned two humans against their will. You’re fucking dead.”

“Gunner,” a blond man on Lucia’s other side said.

“Landon, shut the fuck up. Is this the revenge? You’ve been waiting to get me back? I was trying to change! I was changing my life! I was minding the rules! I was obeying what Damon wanted, and you nearly killed my mate! You think I wanted a Novak bear in my mate? Huh?” he screamed. “That was my job! I am her mate! It is our choice! You stole that from us.”

Tears were streaming down Lucia’s cheeks. “I had to.”

“You’re just like your father. He Turned Willa against her will. You Turned Hallie. Fuck you.”

“Ace,” she tried to say, but it came out a long snarl, and she could feel something awful and dark growing inside of her.

“You’re all dead,” Ace said softly.

“You don’t understand,” Lucia said, pleading.

Ace pointed to Lucia. “Dead.” He pointed to the others one by one. “Dead. This is war with the Warlanders. You heard Gunner.”

“I’m trying to save them!” Lucia screamed.

“From what?” Ace roared back.

A sob wracked her shoulders, and the tears streamed. “From your people.”

Ace froze. Gunner swung his gaze to Ace, then back to Lucia. “When?”

“I don’t know the timing. I just saw the humans fall.”

“Lucia!” a booming voice sounded from the tree line. “You are not supposed to interfere!”

“I know.”

“You are not supposed to interfere,” the green-eyed man said again, limping from the tree line into the clearing.

“I see two paths!” Lucia yelled. “I see two! Now they have a fighting chance,” she said, pointing to Corey. “She will live now. There is heartbreak or triumph.” She gritted her teeth and swung her glowing gaze back to Gunner. “I just gave you two weapons for your new Crew. I gave them a way to protect themselves from what is coming. I saw you crying, Gunner! Crumpled by a grave. I saw it! But I also saw another way. I don’t give a shit about interfering,” she growled, lifting her chin higher. “Declare war with us if you want, but you should know one thing. I. Regret. Nothing.”

That’s the last of the day that Corey would remember. All that existed now was this growing, gnawing sense of violence and unrest. Now all that existed was pain as her bones broke into something other.

Corey didn’t exist anymore, and from the sounds of the chaos inside the house, neither did Hallie.

Now, there was only Monster.