Days passed slowly as Melissa waited for Aster’s reply. She did not want to go after Mackenzie and
Gordon with Aster in Feral. She did not want her daughter harmed in the crossfire. She waited three
days for Aster to leave town and join her in LA. Melissa was not in LA, but no one knew that. By the
time Aster got to Melissa’s place in California, the pack would be dead, and Malissa could fly back to
LA and deal with Aster.
She had been staying in a hotel in Aspen with her new accomplices, but she had checked in under an
alias so Gordon would not know she was back. She had convinced Donald to wait a few days, but he
was getting anxious to carry out their plan. They had located an abandoned farmhouse in the country
where they were going to take Mackenzie and torture her to death. Melissa wanted to be there to watch
the torture.
After day three, it was clear Aster was not going to leave Feral. She had chosen sides, and that pissed
Melissa off. Her daughter, her own flesh and blood, had betrayed her. Fine, Aster wanted to side with
Gordon, then she could die with the others. It was time to put their plans into action. They would wait
until the middle of the workday. Most of the pack would be spread out. She could get in and out of Feral
unseen.
Melissa looked down at the bullet in her hand. It had taken time to make up enough special bullets to
deal with the pack. She now had a number of bullets with Wolfsbane hollow tips. Lycanthropes were
very hard to kill. While a regular bullet, if well placed, could kill a Lycanthrope, there was still a good
chance that the one-shot would just dig the bullet out and regenerate. However, with the wolfsbane,
they could dig the bullet out, but the wolfsbane would be released into the bloodstream upon impact,
and they could not dig that out.
Wolfsbane was like poison to Lycanthropes. It on its own could not kill a Lycanthrope, but it made them
weak, and as long as it was in the bloodstream, a Lycanthrope could not regenerate. If wounded with
Wolfsbane in their system, the Lycanthrope was almost guaranteed to die from their wounds. It took
days for a Lycanthrope to metabolize wolfsbane out of its system. By that time said Lycanthrope was
99% certain to die.
A few well-placed bullets and Gordon would not get up. This time he was not going to survive.
As for the pack, Melissa had Donald and his men backing her. Only Donald and his close bodyguards
knew what she was. Once his men had killed off the pack for her, Melissa would turn on her co-
conspirators and kill them herself. Covering her tracks and insuring her secrets. By the end of today,
Colorado would be flooded with blood, and Melissa would be in the wind once more. Perhaps she
would move to Paris. She had always wanted to see the Eiffel Tower.
Deciding to it was time to put her plan into action, she took out a burner phone and paid a prostitute to
call Mackenzie’s cell phone, pretending to be a bride who had gotten her number from a friend of hers
who was just dying to have Mackenzie plan her dream wedding. The prostitute set up an appointment
to meet at a house. The neighbourhood was in a new development that was closed for the winter. The
built homes were unoccupied, and the rest of the sites were tented to protect them from the harsh
winter snow.
By the time Mackenzie realized it was a trap, it would already be too late.
***
“I’ll go with you,” Gordon said, putting away his tools. He did not have another appointment for a few
hours, and he could close the shop for a short time.
“I don’t need you to go with me to work,” she said, leaning on the counter. “I love you, but if I show up
with you on my heels, you will make the couple uncomfortable.”
“Why?”
“Do you ever look at yourself? I personally love your bad boy look, but this business is all about
impressions, and the one you make is intimidating.”
“Intimidating?”
“You look like an ex-convict,” she said, wincing. “I’m sorry, I don’t know how else to explain that to you.
In tattooing, that gruffness is good, but not in my business. People expect someone classy and
sophisticated. I’ll only be gone a few hours.”
“But…”
“Gordon, I know you mean well, but you can’t be with me every hour of every day for the rest of our
lives. At some point, you have to let me venture out alone.”
“I don’t feel comfortable….”
“Gordon,” Mackenzie said with finality. “I’m going alone. I’ll call you, ok.”
“You promise?”
“I promise.”
“Just be careful… please.”
She came around the counter and kissed him. “I’ll be fine,” she had to go home and change for the
meeting. “I’ll be back in three hours,” she said goodbye, and Gordon frowned. He did not like this one
bit. He considered tailing her, but he knew if she found out he had followed her, Mackenzie would be
outraged that he had not trusted her.
He was conflicted.
While Mackenzie went home, he contemplated his options. If he was careful, he could follow her, and
she would never know he was there.
Fuck it.
He was closing the shop. Gordon had made up his mind.
He was following Mackenzie.
***
Mackenzie was excited to get back to work. Sure, spending her days with Gordon was great, and she
loved being with him, but she was starting to feel like a prisoner. She wanted to get out and resume her
own life. She had changed into a lovely blue dress and a pair of heels, then she hopped into her car
and drove into Aspin to meet her bride.
She had the address written down on a scrap of paper. Using the GPS in her car, she pulled into a new
residential development. There were only a few houses built, a few tented frames, and many empty lots
with nothing but clay. It did not look like this place had anyone living in any of the finished houses.
Because of the snow and ice, this place was deserted.
Confused, Mackenzie got out of her car and walked toward the house that had the address that
matched the one on the paper lying on the seat next to her. Reaching the house, she walked up to the
icy window and framing her eyes with her hands. As she leaned into the glass, she looked inside. The
house was empty — void of any furniture. Mackenzie was getting a very bad feeling. Now she wished
she had allowed Gordon to come with her.
Deciding she needed to get out of there and quickly, Mackenzie turned to leave and stopped short
when she came face to face with Melissa. Melissa offered Mackenzie a cruel grin, then she jammed a
taser against Mackenzie’s belly and shocked her. Fifty-thousand volts coursed through Mackenzie’s
body.
It happened so fast Mackenzie did not even have the chance to scream. Her knees failed her, and
Mackenzie collapsed on the ground. She lay on her side, twitching and unable to speak. There was so
much pain she could not move. She feared the electric shock had hurt the baby, but she was utterly
helpless.
Mackenzie’s eyes drifted past Melissa as she saw Gordon coming up behind Melissa. She was happy
to see he had refused to listen to her and had followed her. Melissa saw Mackenzie’s gaze drift, and
she turned quickly, a gun in her hand. She turned it on Gordon and shot him twice in the chest. It
stopped Gordon cold in his tracks. He looked down at the bullet holes in his chest and then collapsed
to his knees. He sat there on his knees, struggling to get back up but could not find the strength.
Mackenzie watched as the veins in his neck and face became visible and dark as if spreading across
his body. It was like he could not move. “What…?” He barely managed. “What…?”
“What…? What…?” Melissa mocked as she stood over him. She waved the gun in his face. “Hollow
tips filled with Wolfsbane. It’s spreading through your circulatory system,” he fell over now, lying on the
ground. “Now you are going to bleed out. Just know I’m going to take everything you love. I’m going to
Kill Mackenzie and the baby. I’m going to kill our traitorous daughter, and I’m going to massacre the
whole pack. By the end of the day, everything you spent your life building will be nothing more than
flames and ash,” she then placed her foot on Gordon’s shoulder and pushed him over onto his back.
“Now, have the decency to die quickly.”
It was at this point that Mackenzie saw four men come out of the house next door with guns in their
hands. They all stood over Mackenzie. She recognized two of them right off. One was the man she had
seen on the news as Donald Falcone, the mob boss who had been looking for her for the last ten
years. Whereas the other was a face that to this day haunted her dreams: his son and her parents’
murder Gorge Falcone.
Gorge squatted down next to Mackenzie as he looked her over. “It’s about time we caught up to you,”
he snarled. “My, how you have changed. So pretty. Time to put you out of my misery,” he stood up and
stepped back.
“Pick this bitch up and put her in my car,” ordered Donald. “Let’s get out of here before someone
stumbles across us, and we end up with a whole new problem.”
Too weak to fight them off, Gorge grabbed Mackenzie and lifted her off the ground, throwing her over
his shoulder and tossing her in the truck. She tried to call out for help as Donald slammed the truck
closed on her. Not long after, the car launched forward, and Mackenzie began to cry. They had
succeeded in killing Gordon, and now she was going to die.
They drove for what felt like forever. As they drove the shock, her body was in had passed, and she
regained minimal movement. She had developed some cramping in her belly, which concerned her.
She was losing the baby. She had to get away. She needed medical attention. When the car came to a
stop, Mackenzie searched the dark trunk until she found a tire iron. Getting a good grip, she waited.
The trunk opened, and Mackenzie shot up. She swung and clobbered Gorge in the head with the tire
iron. As he went down, she painfully dragged herself out of the trunk. As soon as her feet hit the grown,
she tried to run. She got thirty feet when a wave of pain washed over her. She clutched at her belly and
dropped to her knees in too much pain to stand. Donald’s goons were on Mackenzie in a flash,
dragging her into a farmhouse. They were in the middle of nowhere. No one was going to find her.
They took her inside the house and forced Mackenzie onto a wooden chair, then proceed to tie her up.
One man stepped back and looked down at his hands. “Gross, she’s already bleeding,” he complained.
Mackenzie looked down to see blood trickling down her legs. Oh Lord, the baby was dying.
***
Gordon lay in the clay-filled yard. His body wracked with pain. He could feel the wolfsbane coursing
through his veins like his blood was on fire. He could not move. He watched as Melissa and the men
she was with carried Mackenzie off and threw her into the trunk of a car that had just pulled up. Gordon
had tried to get up, but his body would not obey him. He watched in horror as they drove off with
Mackenzie leaving him for dead.
He had to help her.
He could not let them kill her.
He had to get up.
GET UP! His mind screamed. GET UP NOW!
Summoning all his strength, Gordon fought the wolfsbane in his system. He struggled to move. His
fingers twitched at first. He tried again, and with great effort, he moved his arms. Gordon rolled over
and placed his hands on the ground. Every muscle ached, and his limbs trembled as he pushed
himself up and staggered to his feet. He stumbled four or five yards before falling to his knees once
more. He was so weak.
He had to get this wolfsbane out of his system. Getting to his feet once more, he walked over to one of
the completed houses and picked up a rock. He smashed one of the windows as he fell to his knees
once more. Gordon picked up one of the broken shards of glass. He was not sure about this plan he
had. It could very well kill him, but if he did not try, he might still die, and Mackenzie and his baby
would, without a doubt, never survive to see them tomorrow.
Laying on the ground, Gordon began to cut himself all over his arms, chest, face and neck everywhere
the pain was. He did not believe it had spread to the lower extremities just yet, but if this worked, he
would head it off. He must have cut himself over forty times all over. In pain, he dropped the glass, and
he lay on the ground. Summoning his powers one last time, Gordon’s eyes began to glow, and he
groaned loudly, which quickly became a growl, and then a loud war cry as his powers pushed the
infected blood out of each and every one of all the small cuts he made. He was hoping the poison
would seep out with the blood, and much to his surprise, the bullets too. He could feel it working, but
the strain became too much for him, and Gordon lost consciousness from lack of blood.
He felt like he had been out of it for only moments, but when he opened his eyes again, it was pitch
blackout. Night had fallen. The pain was gone, and Gordon sat up, he looked down at himself, and all
the small cuts he had made had healed while he was asleep. Nothing was left but his blood-stained
clothes. Gordon heaved himself up on his feet, completely shocked that it had worked.
He did not have time to deal with this surprise. He had to find Mackenzie. He rushed back to his car
and got in, driving himself back to Feral. He was going to need help. He drove to Darrell’s house. He
got out of his car and ran up to the door pounding on it relentlessly. Katelyn answered the door, and
Gordon barged in. He was happy to see Darrell had been having a dinner party with his friends.
Stanton, Lewis, Aurora, Aster, and Charlotte were all in attendance, and they all stood up in horror
when they saw him covered in blood.
“Gordon, why are you covered in blood?” Darrell asked.
“Melissa is back. She lured Mackenzie into a trap. She’s working with humans. They know what we
are. They are going to kill Mackenzie and then attack Feral. She’s shown them how to kill us. We need
to find them, or they are going to kill us all,” he looked around at all of them. Please. I need help. I need
help to get Mackenzie back,” he begged. He could not do this alone.
Stanton stood up. “Let’s go kill that traitorous bitch.”
“I never liked her, anyway,” Aurora said, standing up.
“I’ll watch Dayton,” Katelyn offered. “You guys go finish this.”
Darrell looked around at everyone. “Let’s do it.”
Gordon looked at Aster. “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to. I’ll understand.”
“I’m coming. She betrayed me too.”
“I’m going to kill her.”
Aster nodded. “I’m ok with that.”
“They all hoped into Darrell’s truck, some having to ride in the bed. Gordon had Darrell drive back to
where Mackenzie had been abducted. They parked the truck, so it was hidden from sight, and no one
was likely to find it. Getting out, they walked back to the house and looked around. Everyone one of
them sniffing the area, trying to pick up the scent of Melissa, Mackenzie, and the men that took her.
Once, they had a verified scent. They all stripped down and let the transformation take them.
Oh, what a sight they would have been a pack of giant wolves in a city neighbourhood. Gordon took off
after Mackenzie’s scent, and the others followed him. The scent took them out of town, which did not
surprise Gordon. They would have taken Mackenzie someplace deserted. That was fine with Gordon. It
would make the massacre less messy, with no collateral damage.
When Gordon got his hands on Melissa, he was going to make her pay with her life.
62fb1bb41dcb31934bd49bda