Excerpt #2 of Blood Ties: The Second

Here is the next excerpt for Blood Ties: The Second. I hope everyone enjoys and I am working on finishing it up as fast as I can.  Again, I'm sorry it wasn't out on time.

Blood Ties: The Second

Excerpt #2

 

Kendra sat across from Conor in a tiny Italian restaurant they managed to find, watching him closely. A lot had happened in the six months since she’d realized that her father was a werewolf and had not only turned her into one but tricked her into becoming the Alpha as well. The one good thing from the whole mess (other than her newfound beauty and confidence) was that she’d met Conor Dewar. He was everything she wanted. Caring. Protective. Loving. And hot. Definitely hot.

She smiled to herself and reached out to grasp his hand.

“You’ve taken to this new life remarkably well,” he told her as he squeezed her hand in return.

She felt a wave a warmth flow through her at his touch. It flooded her entire body with pleasure.

“I think that has a lot more to do with you helping me and…” she paused for a second, “and being the Alpha, I suppose. I’ve never felt stronger in my whole life. Everything is just sharper. It’s clearer. But…”

She stopped, her hesitation giving away her fear and she nervously rubbed the red symbol covering her palm. The three-spiraled pattern of the Alpha mark seemed to stare back at her, mocking her weakness.

“But you’re afraid you won’t be a strong enough one to protect the pack?” he guessed, looking at her with his deep green eyes.

“The thought had crossed my mind,” she whispered, almost ashamed to admit it. Before she’d been turned, she was a quiet, awkward, shy girl that never stood up for herself. Fear was

not just a constant in her life, it was the rule. She’d been afraid to speak up. She’d been afraid to come out of a shell she’d spent a lifetime erecting. She’d been afraid to let anyone truly in. More than that, however, she’d been weak. She saw that now and she never wanted to be weak again.

Especially in front of Conor or any other wolf in her pack.

She wanted to be strong. And she knew that she was.

“I’ll say it again, even though I’ve said it a million times to you already,” Conor replied. “You are strong. You defeated a man that had gained control of your brother and even the big bad Defaeco leader, Elijah Bishop. That’s no small feat. Your power washed away his magic, Kendra! Your’s alone.”

He smiled hugely and it made her melt. She loved his smile.

She couldn’t help but squirm a little at his words, however. He’d said she’d done it alone, but he was wrong. She didn’t tell him that her mother had been there too, locked inside Jonah’s mind. Trapped there. He’d tried to use his magic to enslave her, to force her to kill her own child. He’d nearly succeeded too. If it hadn’t been for Kendra’s grandfather, she would’ve died all those years ago.

The act of forcing her mother to do something completely against her nature had a very unintended side effect. Her mind fractured and then dissipated. The magical link that Jonah had created to control her had acted as something like a tether. It captured the broken pieces of her mother’s mind and reformed them inside the twisted Mage’s own. There she’d remained, trapped and helpless, her physical body wasting away in a mental institution.

When Jonah had come for Kendra, trying the same trick, her mother finally managed to break free. Together they were able to bounce Jonah’s magic back onto himself, searing his mind into uselessness. He was the empty shell now.

Her mother, however, was far from recovered.

Kendra had been to see her as often as she could. A full time job at as a graphic designer in a huge and well-respected marketing firm combined with being the Alpha of a pack of monster hunting werewolves didn’t leave her with a lot of free time.

It was insanely frustrating. She’d been alone almost her entire life. After her mother got locked away and her grandfather died, no one had ever been there for her. Her father, Merle, had come close, but he never told her the truth of who he really was until it was too late. The only other one that came close was Jenna and even she had lied to her for their entire relationship.

There was a chance her mother would come back to herself now, and she found herself anxiously waiting for that to happen. She wanted someone that just simply cared about her. No hidden motives. No secrets. No psychotic friend’s that can wield fire and invade people’s minds and take over their bodies.

Was that too much to ask?

“You okay?” Conor asked, concerned. “You seem really lost in thought.”

Kendra jerked somewhat, blushing deeply. She hadn’t realized she’d zoned out so completely.

“Sorry,” she said, lamely.

“You have a lot on your mind. It’s okay,” he replied.

The waiter arrived, carrying two steaming plates. He set her food down and it smelled so good. She’d gotten a three cheese, baked ziti. She looked over at Conor and saw a mound of chicken Alfredo in front of him.

She watched him load on the pepper and then dig in.

She ate with a little more reservation, but barely.

As it turned out, monster hunting was a calorie burner and most times, her stomach was growling out its dissension at constantly being ignored. It was worse when she smelled blood, though. Then the baser instincts of her wolf side threatened to take over and sometimes it was really hard to force it down.

That really scared her, but she kept it to herself.

“Have you heard from Merrick lately?” Conor asked, wiping his mouth with a napkin. He set down his fork and looked forlornly at his plate. It was empty. He grabbed a breadstick and started chewing on it, leaning forward slightly so he could look at her.

“No,” she responded, feeling sad.

So it turned out that she’d gone from an orphan to finally having a father, only she was forced to kill him. Then she found out she had a brother, but he was doing his best to try and kill her and take the Alpha power from her. Come to find out, though, that Jonah had been controlling him too, although a little less overtly. Mostly, the bastard had switched on Merrick’s blood hunger and turned him crazy.

He barely managed to snap out of it before he’d killed her. When he realized what he’d done, he ran.

Kendra managed to talk to him one time, and it was mostly an unending series of apologies from her brother. She could barely get in enough words to tell him she understood and that she didn’t blame him for everything that happened.

He didn’t want to hear it though. He exiled himself. She had no clue where he was or when, if ever, he would be back.

“Do you think he’ll come back?” Conor asked.

“I don’t know,” she replied. She finished up the last of her ziti half-heartedly, suddenly losing her appetite.

“It’s not your fault, you know,” he suddenly said.

She looked up at him curiously.

“What’s not my fault?” she asked.

“What happened to your father. And Merrick. I know you blame yourself,” he responded.

“It’s kind of hard not to. Jonah came after Merrick and used him to kill Merle. He used my mom to try…” she stopped herself suddenly.

Conor’s eyes widened.

“Your mom tried to kill you?” he asked, shocked. “Jonah…” His voice trailed. He looked at her.

She nodded slowly.

“He made your mom try and kill you?”

She nodded again.

“That’ sick. How’d you find out?”

She hesitated for a second and then decided to tell him the truth.

“Her mind was locked inside Jonah’s. It was some kind of side effect of what he did to her. When he came after me, she helped me turn his power back on him. You think it was my power that saved me, but it was her.”

Conor was silent for a long time.

“Does that mean she’s going to get better?” he asked. “Did stopping Jonah free her?”

“I keep hoping it will but when I get the chance to see her, she looks the same. I don’t really know what it means. I’ve never had any real experience with magic before. Sometimes, though, I think I can see her move. It gives me hope.”

He got up suddenly and sat next to her in the booth, hugging her closely.

“I think anyone that can survive in that maniac’s mind for as long as she did has an excellent chance to come back from what he did to her.” He kissed the top of her head, taking in the scent of her hair. It smelled like honeysuckle and jasmine. “Come on. I’ll walk you home.”

“Why thank you, kind sir.” She laughed, thankful that she could still laugh after the craziness her life had become.

She shoved her dark, depressing thoughts aside and got up.

Conor held out his hand and bowed to her like a 19th century gentleman. Which wasn’t far off the mark considering he actually had been alive in the 19th century. That had been a very shocking fact. Apparently, thanks to a werewolf’s regenerative capabilities, they lived for quite a long time. She was still coming to grips with the fact that Merle had been almost four centuries old before he’d been killed.

She took his hand and he kissed the top of it. Then he pulled out his wallet and laid a couple of bills on the table.

They left the restaurant and headed outside. It was still humid and sticky, but some of the heat had been leached away as the night deepened. A bright, silvery crescent moon hung in the air.

She breathed in through her nose. The scents of the city around her filled her nostrils. In the time since she’d become a werewolf, she’d learn to control the overwhelming sensations her heightened senses brought. She found she could tune them up or down at will. She tuned her sense of smell up as well as her hearing. It was a defense mechanism Ian (Conor’s father) had taught her. The senses of a werewolf were so powerful, they were very nearly precognitive. All of the sights, sounds, smells, touches, and even tastes were taken in and processed on a subconscious level and could alert her to potential threats long before they showed up.

Six months later and she was doing it on pure reflex now.

The walk home was uneventful. They talked and joked, even holding hands like love-sick high schoolers. Considering she’d never had a boyfriend in high school, she found she enjoyed the experience immensely.

She enjoyed the walk home but was glad to finally get up to her apartment. With work and her after work activities, she was beat. She unlocked her door and Conor followed her inside.

“Jenna?” Kendra called. Her apartment was dark and no one answered her. She turned to Conor. “Where is she?”

She looked around and spotted the phone on the kitchen counter. There was a tiny red light blinking on it, signaling that they had a voicemail. She pressed the button and Jenna’s voice filled the empty apartment.

“Sorry, girl. I’m exhausted. I’m staying the night at my dad’s. See you in the morning.”

The phone went silent.

Before she could do anything else, Conor grabbed her around the small of her back and pulled her close to him. He kissed her, his soft lips molding against hers. His desire was intense and she reveled in it. She kissed him back, her hand tangling in his thick dark hair.

He growled low in his throat, a deep rumble that sent waves of pleasure running through her. His hands flowed down her back like water and gripped her butt. He hoisted her up and she

wrapped her legs around him. He carried her like that to the bedroom and they collapsed on the soft mattress, both of them breathing hard.

She didn’t so much yank his shirt off as complete shred it while he pulled hers up over her head, revealing her lacy black push up bra. He leaned in and planted a line of kisses on her neckline while his expert hands undid the clasp of her bra.

All the stresses of the day melted away and everything else just disappeared.

For those few, wonderful hours, they were the only two people in the world.

 

| | | | |

 

Kendra was sleeping very peacefully, wrapped in a cocoon of bliss. Until a noise woke her up. Her eyes opened, revealing her pitch black room. She concentrated, trying to figure out what woke her up. A second later she heard it again. The doorknob to her apartment was rattling, like someone was trying to break in. She looked over at Conor and found him sound asleep.

The rattling sound became louder and more insistent. Her instincts rose to the surface, putting her on edge.

She quietly got out of bed and quickly slipped into a pair of pajamas. The darkness around her suddenly flared into brilliant hues of amber gold. Seeing in the dark might prove useful if whoever was trying to get in meant to try and hurt her, she reasoned.

She got to her bedroom door and nudged it open slowly, peering through the small crack that had opened up. Her apartment appeared empty, but the rattling noise was getting even louder. Whoever was out there wanted in and they definitely weren’t going away until they did. She wondered briefly if it was Jenna, deciding to come home after all only to realize she’d forgotten her key. She dismissed the idea though. Jenna wouldn’t make such a racket, knowing it might set Kendra’s wolf alter-ego off.

She glided through the living room, her eyes changing to burning yellow orbs. Her teeth lengthened into fangs and claws sprang out on her hands. When she was next to the little bar in the kitchen, she flared her nostrils.

And regretted it immediately.

A thick, disgusting scent pummeled her sense of smell, threatening to make her hurl. She had to fight hard not to gag. It smelled like rotting roses mixed with the metallic-like smell of blood.

Her wolf overrode her rational, human mind. It jumped to the forefront and took control, effortlessly. It was clear that whatever was out there wasn’t stopping by for a cup of sugar or to chat about the latest building gossip. In fact, Kendra was a hundred percent sure that the thing wasn’t even human.

Anger filled her when she realized that.

Her home was her sanctuary. It was her safe-haven. Now, some creature had violated that. In recent months, she’d found out the hard way that Lycaon City was not what she’d though it was. It was home to some amazingly vile, and terrifying, things.

And now one of those things was trying to break into her apartment.

She took a deep breath and without hesitation ran at the front door. Whatever it was, it wasn’t going to live long enough to tell its friends where she was at.

She was about to fling the door open when she felt something pierce the skin of her neck. There was a sharp, biting pain and a couple seconds of confusion. Then her entire body went slack. Her limbs felt heavy and weak. Her legs wouldn’t hold her weight anymore. She collapsed to the ground, unable to move. She tried to call out to Conor but her mouth wouldn’t open.

The rattling on her doorknob quit. She watched as the deadbolt slid open and the lock unlocked itself. Then the door opened on its own and a creature that looked no taller than three or four feet strolled inside.

It was easily the ugliest thing she’d ever seen. Even uglier than the Wendigo, and that was saying something.

It had a giant head which was vastly disproportionate to the rest of its squat, hairy little body. Its feet, also, were five or six times bigger than what they needed to be. Each gnarly hand had three fingers that ended in wicked-looking claws and it peered at Kendra with beady, red eyes.

It tilted its head at her as it came in, a smile full of sharp little teeth cracked its face. It watched her for a minute or two more, rubbing its hands together like a preying mantis.

Kendra struggled to get up, but whatever poison she’d been injected with had apparently paralyzed her.

“Good,” the thing in front of her said. “Good, good, good, good. Wolfie there could’ve been more trouble. More trouble, trouble, trouble, Jarwink.”

“Indeed,” a voice said. It was a distinctly nasally voice. “She will be pleased with us. Pleased. Very much pleased.”

Kendra felt a wash of cold fear spread through her as she realized what had happened. The rattling door had been a diversion. The real threat had already been in her apartment and she’d missed it.

The one called Jarwink bent down until its ridiculously huge head was in front of hers. The smell of rotting roses and blood became even more powerful.

“She will have so much fun with you, Wolfie,” Jarwink exclaimed, rubbing his hands in that weird preying mantis type way.

Without further comment, the two bent down and picked Kendra up.

She struggled, uselessly, as they carried her out of her apartment and to the stairs.

The worst thing was that she was completely powerless. She never thought she would have to feel that way again. It made her angry.

Suddenly, the palm of her hand bearing the Alpha mark started to itch furiously. A sensation of warmth flowed out of it and up her entire body. Within seconds, muscles that had felt dead and lifeless just seconds before sang with life and energy.

She didn’t let on though. Not yet.

She kept her body limp and loose, waiting for the right moment to strike.

It presented itself as the…things…were nearing the fifth floor landing. They broke out into a heated argument over who got to do what to Kendra. They both set her carefully on the stairs and started shouting at each other.

“No,” one said, forcefully. Apparently, its name was Sputnick. Sometime during the trek Kendra had picked up on it.

“No, no, no, no.”

“Yes,” the other one (Kendra was reasonably sure that one was Jarwink, although the two looked so much alike it was hard to tell the difference). “It was my plan. Mine. I get to have the fun. Me!”

“No!” Sputnick cried. Literally too. Greasy, fat tears travelled down the pockmarked skin of its cheeks. “You always get to have the fun. It’s my turn. My turn!”

Kendra waited, trying to be patient. She realized she didn’t have much time, but the last of the paralyzing drug was still wearing off. She could feel the Alpha power inside her pushing the drug’s effects away. It surged down her veins like lava and eradicated her paralysis. A couple more seconds was all she needed.

Thankfully, Jarwink and Sputnick were more than happy to give them to her.

Their altercation progressed from shouts to physical combat.

Jarwink stepped on Sputnick’s huge foot.

Sputnick rammed his enormous head right into Jarwink’s nose.

Jarwink bit down on Sputnick’s shoulder. The wound immediately started to drool a dark, nearly black, blood.

Sputnick grabbed Jarwink’s lopsided ears and yanked as hard as he could.

They continued on like that for a minute or two more before they realized that their prey was no longer lying awkwardly on the stairs. When they did notice, they stopped in their tracks. They looked like the world’s ugliest statues.

Sputnick gulped deeply.

Jarwink let out a pathetic meep sound that apparently meant “I am very scared.”

Kendra stood taller than them even as a human. In her Alpha state, she might as well have been a giant. Her huge, humanoid wolf form regarded the two creatures. Her muzzle wrinkled in on itself as she growled ominously. Her red-auburn fur shone a bright copper in the stairwell’s lights.

“Meep,” Sputnick spluttered.

“Run!” Jarwink shouted.

Kendra shot forward, reaching out with her huge, clawed hands. She almost managed to nab Sputnick by the foot as he bounded off the walls, the railings, the stairs, and pretty much anything else he could jump off of in his efforts to escape the big scary werewolf.

Jarwink avoided a devastating blow from Kendra and jumped straight up into the air. He turned around in mid-air and landed feet first on the underside of the stair case above them. He promptly started running, (still upside down), heading back up the building instead of down.

Sputnick managed to evade Kendra again, this time shooting underneath her legs, and made his way up the stairs too.

Kendra started after them, her clawed feet clacking on the cement stairs. She had to give the little creeps their due. They were incredibly fast.

But she was fast too.

She race after them and five or six minutes later, all three of them burst onto the roof of her building. A thin layer of gravel covered it, making it hard for Kendra to slow down.

Jarwink and Sputnick looked at her with overlarge, wide, and very terrified eyes.

Realizing they had nowhere else to go, they dropped to the ground and started bowing to her.

“Don’t kill us,” they muttered over and over, bowing each time.

Kendra stalked toward them, ready to rip their throats out. She was confident that she could deal with them quickly and still get a little sleep before she had to wake up for work.

“We’re sorry, sorry, sorry,” Sputnick spluttered.

“She made us,” Jarwink added.

That made her pause.

“Who made you?” she growled, her voice thick and rough. The two of them both flinched at the sound of it.

She remembered them mentioning a mysterious she before, but the information hadn’t sunk in. Now that she had them trapped, she figured she might as well get something for her troubles. Info on a mysterious entity out to get her seemed like a good trade to her.

She walked a few steps closer, noticing that the two little creeps were watching her avidly. There were weird looks of anticipation on their faces. They looked almost eager.

She took another step forward and stopped. A blinding flash of light appeared. When it disappeared, she blinked in confusion. Spots danced in front of her eyes for a minute before she was able to see clearly again.

The creeps abruptly quit talking. They stopped bowing too and the fear they’d shown before suddenly vanished. Broad, toothy grins appeared on their hideous faces. They got up, holding out their hands so that their scarred palms were pointing to the sky. Each one was glowing with soft white light.

“We’re lucky,” Sputnick commented. “This Wolfie is stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid.”

“Yes,” Jarwink replied, eerily confident. “Walked right into our trap.”

Kendra tried to back up, but her feet felt glued to the roof. She struggled harder but no matter how much she tried, she couldn’t move.

The creeps approached her again and there was nothing she could do about it.

“You’d better kill me now,” she spat at them, her words more of a growl than anything else. “Or I will kill you both.”

Jarwink walked up to her with no trace of fear. He peered up at Kendra’s massive head.

“She wouldn’t like that,” he laughed. “She wouldn’t like that at all.”

His hand started glowing again and he reached out to touch Kendra. She tried to back away, but she was still glued to the floor.

The creep’s hand touched the fur of her left leg and the minute it did, she felt a deep, pervading weakness. It flowed through her in less than a second, crashing into her head like a tidal wave. Her Alpha state melted off her and she collapsed, naked and unconscious, to the gravel rooftop.

Sputnick joined Jarwink as he regarded the slender, pale wolf-woman.

“This Wolfie was much stronger than she said,” Jarwink noted.

“No matter. No matter at all,” Sputnick declared. “She is ours now. Yes she is, is, is.”

With that, they bent down and picked Kendra up. They took her to the door leading to the stairwell and started climbing down it, arguing again about who got to the have fun with the wolf-woman.