Hidden in Sheridan (Tainted Series: Book 1)

Moon: FULL MOON

Sterling - My mind cannot comprehend what I was seeing. Perhaps I hit my head too hard and was hallucinating. Or maybe we were all about to die.

My gut bubbles with strength. I know Ity's strong. I know I should run. Yet, I am also filled with a strong desire to protect my pack by attacking her. Shaking my head I look around me. Every wolf in the clearing was feeling the push of their instincts as I do.

However, Levi somehow knew better. He steps in front of me and yells, “Get in the van!” I order.

I see Rhydian's Werewolf lung over me for Ity but Levi ignore him and repeats, “Your family is in danger!” With another head shake I throw my head back and release the most powerful howl I can.

A long drag into the sky. From my left Alpha-Wolfe howls in return. With Levi at my side I run for the drivers seat and faze back into his human form. Levi scoops up Sebastian and jumps in closing the door. Hank pours Mrs. Wolfe into the arms of Maggie before he secures the opposite door.

I don't question my brothers choice to stay behind. I throw the car into drive and floor it.

With eyes locked on the road ahead, my hands grip the wheel so tight I feel leather between my fingers. My mind spins with details of what I’d seen but none of it makes sense.

The one hundred and ten pound girl, had faced off with Rhydian, an omega, who was well versed in shifting on a dime. Moving as if she’d been fighting her entire life with a piece of a tree as a weapon. Then the first time she touched him with her hands, her grip changed, and suddenly Rhydian was screaming.

“She snapped it like a toothpick, right?” I say.

“It was his left arm.” The sarcastic comment came from two separate voices, simultaneously. One I recognized as Levi, the other I recognized but had to look at her to be sure.

There, in the passenger seat, sat Cassidy, a girl I'd known since birth. Her long ponytail, the cascading color of a sunset, with curtain bangs brushing across her pinked brown cheeks. Her hazel eyes flicked from Levi to myself but eventually her serious expression was directed out the front window, where I was supposed to be looking.

“Tree,” She says calmly.

My eyes zip back to the windshield confirming I was about to hit a tree. I yank the wheel just enough and, with a few squeals from the backseat, we return to the center of the road.

“What are you doing here?” I snap.

“I was ordered into the van. The same as you.” She says.

“Are you the fiancé?” Levi asks with zero tact. His head blocking my view of the passenger.

“My name’s Cassidy.” She answers, “And it’s nice to meet your human face.”

“When did that happen?” Levi laughs feeling his cheeks.

“Are you two flirting?” I ask. Levi instantly snaps 'no', but Cassidy shrugs.

"Might as well, you went all wolf over that other girl." Cassidy rolled her eyes. "What was she anyway?"

“She was bit, like Levi.” I say but Levi's human face flushes red and he scratches the back of his neck the way I do when I'm uncomfortable.

“It wasn’t the bite.” Levi says instantly, using a tone that is much more convincing than my own.

“The stone," Misty says, her weary voice comes from the seat beside Levi, “It gave power to the Omega. It must have had the ability to turn her into that thing.”

I glance in the review mirror and get a full view of Levi’s searching eyes. They danced back and forth across the space in front of him.

I pull my fingers through my hair, feeling the mud streak across my scalp. “What do you know, Levi?”

“RUN.” He repeats. “She said RUN.”

“We all heard that …” I say.

“NO.” Levi shakes his head and leans closer to me, putting his head between me and Cassidy. “Ity said those words back when we were driving in Wendy. Before the battle began. She also said, ’Don’t think you can save me. Just Run.’”

“You think she knew this was going to happen to her?” I ask him.

Levi sat back, his eyes searching the nothingness in front of him again. "She didn't expect the stone to do it, but yes."

That’s when I heard my mother stir.

She breathes heavily as her body twists on the seat. Misty is at her side helping her adjust into a better sitting position. “She's like you, Levi. But the other half of her, it's not a wolf.”

"You know what she is Mama Wolfe?" Cassidy asks turning around in her seat. I fight the urge to look back at my mother’s defeated face, and settle for the view of her in the review mirror. Her hair wild and more out of place than any of us had ever seen. Her body slowly healing but so broken that it will surely take more time to do so.

My chest aches to see her so weakened.

Mom continues, “No. Never. But she held a bloodlust. She’s thirsty for it and if the Alpha's don't stop her, I don't think it will ever end.”

We round the corner where the valley opens. On a normal day, the view of the hills connecting with the flat land with the town of Sheridan tucked inside, is a beautiful sight. Today however, it brings a horrible revelation.

Levi’s face pales as his head shakes and he mutters, “She’s too close to town.”

In two heartbeats, Levi opens the side door and leaps from the moving vehicle. He rolls to his feet the instant he hits the ground. I slam on the breaks. Looking at Misty through the review mirror she seems to understand. I unbuckle my seatbelt and open my own door. Misty’s hands are on the wheel seconds before I too jump from the van.

My mother protests, but in her condition she has no strength to order me to stop. Nor Misty. Who closes the door without question and drives away.

I find Levi as he stares down the vacant moonlit road into the trees. We can no longer see where the massacre but I can smell it.

Blood, fear, and dominance, all carried by the wind.

“If she doesn't stop, she’ll continue the bloodshed right into town. That's what your thinking, right?” I ask, my voice shaking slightly.

“She told me to run and not look back.” Levi points out. Looking over his shoulder at me his eyes flicker with fear. “It’s my fault she became this. And if anyone is going to survive her, she’ll have to BE stopped.”

“How are we supposed to stop something that strong?” Cassidy asks as she appears on the other side of me, her voice making us jump for the second time.

“Yeah, there’s that.” Levi returns his gaze to the road.

“Get back in the car,” I order Cassidy but she doesn’t glance at me.

“My Alpha told me to leave,” She swallows hard, “But I don’t feel him anymore.”

My heart skips for a moment, because I realize I don’t feel the command from mine either. I look back at the road and the oxygen rushes back into my lungs.

“We’re out of reach. That’s all, no one is dead…” I say hopefully.

“Exactly why I’m going back to help my mom and dad.” She says. This time looking right at me. Her brown eyes send a chill down my spine and I step back. “You two can come if you want.”

She peels her cold stare off of me and starts forward, when Levi jumps in front of her. His hands up in surrender mode, he tries to look as nonthreatening as possible.

“Don't tell me, she's your girlfriend too.” She says. I want to start at her myself but Levi's usual foot in mouth did it for me.

“Oh no. I mean, I was hoping one day she would be, but that's not it. I saw how you handled that Werewolf boy and I definitely want you to come with us.” Levi smiles, and the tension appears to leave Cassidy’s body. “But without a plan, Ity will rip all of us apart.”

"So what do we do?" She asks us both.

I shrug, “Rhydian’s stone did set her off...”

Levi nods, “So - take the stone and she might regain her mind?”

“How do we take a small object from a Being that is fearlessly challenging two packs of wolves?” I ask.

“Three packs,” Cassidy corrects me.

“Right.” Levi snaps his fingers. “Sterling’s In-Laws.”

My eyes roll, but Cassidy's not distracted. “Go for the arm?” she suggests.

“What?” Levi asks

Cassidy shrugs, the idea isn’t that difficult but maybe it doesn’t have to be. “We don’t have to take her on, we just have to get her to let go. So - “

“…Go for the arm.” Levi repeats. “That’s not much but it’s something.”

Before I can question how these two are on the same wavelength, Levi’s feet begin running down the road. Cassidy and I follow. As his speed increases Cassidy and I have to shift to all fours. And the three of us run towards the breaking dawn.

CHAPTER END