Summer’s Wolf

Chapter Twelve

Cullen’s nose twitched. He knew the man was there. He could smell him. For the better part of his life, he had followed that scent like the man was a god. And as Alpha of his pack, he practically had been. But, no more. The aroma that was Kendrick Kane evoked no sense of loyalty in Cullen, just a deep-rooted awareness of betrayal and hatred the likes of which Cullen had not felt since he’d witnessed his family’s murders three centuries ago.

He knew Kendrick knew he was aware of his presence. The fact that the man refused to speak first was some kind of mind game, and petty though it might be, Cullen had no intention of acknowledging Kendrick’s attendance in the room first.

If he took a step back, he would have to acknowledge that in a sick, twisted way the whole thing was sort of amusing. Kendrick had certainly gone out of his way to create an inventive scene. Cullen, now restored to his human form, was strapped to a metal table. His arms above his head as if he might be crucified. A needle poked out of his left hand, currently unattached to an intravenous unit but ready for action should they decide to dose him with any number of horrifying substances.

His feet had been pushed apart and belted down in the same manner as his hands. Two steel bars covered his waist and neck, making it impossible for him to even raise himself up to look around. The lights dimmed just enough that he couldn’t entirely trust his eyesight and meant he was entirely reliant on his wolf senses to see him through whatever events were about to unfold.

When he’d passed out he’d been in his wolf form. Now he was back in his human state. So whatever spell they’d zapped him with they, evidently, could undo if they wanted to. He filed that piece of information away for later.

“You know I’m here, my old friend.”

So, Kendrick caved first. Another piece of this strange puzzle Cullen would eventually work out. His former Alpha would never have let him win even that small victory. He noted Kendrick’s voice sounded gravelly and strained.

“I do know you’re here. But I would never call you my friend, Kendrick.” Cullen’s throat felt dry and he cleared it. “Just the opposite.”

“Oh come now Cullen.” Kendrick took the opportunity to walk out of the shadows. “Is that any way to speak to your Alpha? The man who faithfully led you for years, cared for your welfare, taught you everything you know?”

Cullen strained against the restraint on his neck. “I’ll give you that, Kendrick. You did teach me quite a lot. But everything I know? Not hardly. I still have some tricks up my sleeve.”

Kendrick laughed, the sound a cold, hard noise that filled the room for seconds before it disappeared. Kendrick continued his slow pace towards Cullen. Strangely, Cullen had to hold back his grin. Kendrick had certainly picked up a flair for the dramatic these past thirty-three years.

“You don’t have anything up your sleeves right now, Cullen. You’re completely naked, strapped to my table. I’d say you’re entire existence hangs on my goodwill.”

But that was where Kendrick was wrong. His entire existence was filled with Summer. It didn’t matter what Kendrick did to him. He had Summer’s soul within his. He would always have her and even if Kendrick killed him, he would find her again in the next life. However, there was no way in hell he would bring up Summer to Kendrick right now.

“Okay, Kendrick. What would you have me to do to continue to earn your goodwill?”

Kendrick raised an eyebrow at him. An annoying trait that Cullen realized all of the Kanes did. It had always driven him crazy. “Come now Cullen…are you still going to pretend you came here to join me, then betray me?”

Cullen’s mouth dropped open.

“Yes, Cullen, you have a traitor in your midst. I know the whole plan your mate came up with last night.” Kendrick crossed his arm over his chest, a self-satisfied smile on his face. “Good news travels fast.”

Cullen’s pulse pounded in his neck, he could feel his blood pressure rising and he wanted to scream.

Do you need me? He was glad to hear his wolf’s voice.

Immensely, but I can’t shift on this table.

“Well, Kendrick, you certainly went through a huge amount of trouble to capture me. We were on our way down to you. You could have saved yourself the manpower and waited ‘til Gabriel and I got here.”

Kendrick’s face looked indulgent. Cullen wanted to spit on him. If the man got any closer, he just might let himself give into that impulse.

Kendrick shrugged. “I left Gabriel. Besides, he’ll be dead soon. I have no use for the dead.”

Cullen closed his eyes. “Hell Kendrick, he’s your son, how can you talk about him like that? How can you do the things you’ve done to your family?”

“I don’t have to explain myself to you, Cullen. I am your Alpha.”

“Not anymore. You’re nothing to me.”

Kendrick’s eyes turned wolf, his voice low he stalked to the table. “I am your Alpha.”

“You’re nothing. Your son Tristan is my Alpha. He is a worthy man and someday when you and I are both long dead, his son Braden will be the Alpha of the pack. Your days of having anything to do with Westervelt are over, old man.”

Kendrick still looked like he was thirty but by the way his eyebrows narrowed and he stroked the bottom of his chin Cullen could see the insult stung. His former Alpha’s face tightened in anger before he suppressed it.

“You have made a tactical error, my friend.”

Cullen snorted at Kendrick’s use of that phrase. They were not friends. “What’s that?”

“You assume I wanted you. You were just a bonus. You’re a pawn. You always have been.”

Cullen’s heart slammed against his ribcage as he realized the implication behind Kendrick’s words. “Summer? Why would you want Summer other than to torment me?”

“So full of yourself. So sure of your own worth. Do you think I went to all of this trouble to acquire you? I could have had you any time I wanted you. You’ve spent years stalking me and hiding outside my gates. A snap of my fingers and you are brought inside to me any time I feel like it.”

Cullen strained against his bonds. “I’ll ask it again, Kendrick. What do you want with Summer?”

“So attached already?” Kendrick laughed. “And you’ve only been mated for one day. Wow. I found the whole mating thing to be overrated. But fine, I’ll play nice, since you’re strapped to that table and not going anywhere. The Morrison family was always filled with visionaries. They have the gift of sight. Tristan’s mate’s abilities are impressive, but not on par with her mother’s. That is, until Victoria married that human and wrecked her natural talent. So disgusting what some wolves will do. I thought perhaps my grandchildren had inherited the gift but I worried that Tristan’s weakness would have destroyed it. But then I heard about Summer.”

I’m going to kill him.

Cullen and his wolf were for once in complete agreement. Just hearing the sick bastard say her name made him want to explode.

“I can see how this bothers you, Cullen. Such a pity you’ve grown so weak. But don’t worry, I will fix that.”

“Why do you think Summer is a seer? She doesn’t have the gift.” He could always lie with the best of them. He just hoped he was good enough at it this time.

Kendrick shook his head. His brown eyes, the same as his sons’ but cold and far crueler, glared at Cullen. “She’s had it for years. My sources tell me that even as a child she would say and do weird things. Sometimes she knew things she shouldn’t.”

“You’ve been checking on her? What, did you send people to her hometown to ask questions like some kind of newspaper reporter? Ha. You really have reached new levels of pathetic. Tell me, Kendrick, why do you need the spies and seers? Can’t find the missing women either, can you?”

Kendrick pounded his fists on the table and Cullen felt it vibrate beneath him. “I will find those women first if I have to torture your mate every day for the next sixty years, until she dies from old age. I will leave you strapped to this table for the entirety of the process where you can watch. You’ll feel it every time she screams. I’ll let her heal just enough that the next round of torture causes her more pain and there won’t be anything you can do about it. By the time I’m finished you’ll both be praying for death.”

Cullen could see Kendrick was losing control. “You must be desperate to have called back the Demons. You could never control them and I’m not going to eliminate the problem for you this time.”

“The demons and I have an understanding.”

“An understanding? Have you lost whatever brain cells you have left? You don’t have an understanding with those creatures. They destroy everything. That’s what they do. That’s all they do.” Cullen could hear the frantic edge to his voice. Why was he even bothering to reason with Kendrick? The day the man had turned the pack over to be cursed by a witch Kendrick had proven himself to be completely insane. But Cullen wanted him mad and distracted. Anything that might give him an edge over his former Alpha. Anger would make him careless and flawed. In those circumstances, Cullen might be able to escape. It was a long shot but it went against everything in Cullen to give up. Especially when it came to protecting Summer.

Kendrick shrugged. “Then let the demons destroy the humans. Good riddance to bad rubbish. Like I said before, the dead don’t interest me.”

“I don’t know why I’m surprised. You destroyed your own people.” Now maybe he’d get an answer from Kendrick as to why and how he could have done what he did thirty-three years earlier. How he could have betrayed them all to Claudius, turned them over to the witches’ curse, and betrayed them all in the worst possible way. Maybe he’d finally be able to understand how a man he’d considered his friend, mentor, and leader could have been so completely different than he seemed.

“I tried to give the pack everything. I came to them, I told them of my glorious plans that would finally give us power and allow us to come out of the shadows and the life of hiding ourselves away from human hunters and human judgment. But you all scoffed. As I recall, you objected with the loudest dissenters, my friend.”

Cullen roared. “You wanted to turn us over to be experimented on by some lunatic. I didn’t see you lining up to be poked with his needles and fed his drugs.”

“I offered all of you more power than you could ever imagine.”

Cullen slammed his palms on the top of the table, the only movement his restraints would allow him. He could feel the sweat trickle down his bare flesh. “We never wanted power. Our wolves, our healthy wolves, don’t want those things. For the first time in a century, we had place where no one bothered us. Our island was our sanctuary and your mate had to send the women from it in the middle of the night. They fled and we may never see them again, but I can guarantee you something, Kendrick Kane, your son, the one you tried to keep from finding his strength, is stronger than you ever were or ever could hope to be. Tristan will never allow you to find those women. He’ll burn you down to the ground first.” Cullen pulled on his restraints. “Why do you even want the women?”

“You’ve never had much foresight Cullen, have you? Claudius and I are going to break the mating bond constraints. He already did it once with me. I want the women so they can breed the next generation of my wolves. Perfectly bred, trained wolves who will never disobey and always follow my commands.”

Cullen swallowed hard. “You want to find these women so you can rape them and force them to breed for you?”

Cullen never got to hear what Kendrick would answer because the door flung open causing the whole room to vibrate.

“Kendrick, we have a problem.”

Cullen would know that voice anywhere. Claudius. The man who had come with Kendrick to the island to talk them into the scientific experiments. He was the scientist who felt he could harness the power of the wolf within them to create some sort of genetically altered army. He was the man who Kendrick had betrayed them all for. At the sound of his voice, Cullen wanted to break his shackles and rip off the man’s face.

“I told you I wasn’t to be disturbed for several hours. That’s all I asked for. A few hours to catch up with my right hand man, or wolf as the case may be, Cullen Murphy.” Cullen rolled his eyes. Kendrick was so self-satisfied. He really thought he was amusing. It was pathetic. Why had he ever thought the man was important?

Because he was our Alpha. He wasn’t a sick wolf then. I can smell his derangement. Kendrick was different.

Was Kendrick legitimately sick? Cullen hadn’t considered the possibility and didn’t really want to dwell on it now. Wolves had gotten sick before without destroying their entire pack. If the man had needed help, they would have assisted him. He believed that to his very core.

Next to Kendrick, Claudius panted like he was out of breath. It was kind of a funny image. Cullen had never seen an out of breath pig, but he would imagine that was exactly what one would look like. Although Cullen couldn’t turn his head completely to stare at him, he was suddenly struck by the fact that neither Kendrick nor Claudius had aged a day in thirty-three years. How was that possible? Claudius wasn’t a wolf. He should have aged as normal humans did. The second Kendrick gave up his Alpha status and was ousted from the pack he would have started aging again. Not to mention he had killed his own mate. That would have assured the aging process would continue. But neither man looked a day older than thirty.

Something is very wrong. He knew he didn’t need to tell this to his wolf but if felt good to share his misgivings.

Several things, I suspect.

“We’ve lost the girl.”

“You’ve what?” Cullen knew that tone well. In the past, he would have begged and cowed to not hear that pitch in Kendrick’s voice. Now he reveled in it. They’d lost the girl. That meant Summer had escaped. He tamped down on his joy. He wouldn’t give Kendrick a foothold.

“She got away.”

“How? The demons shot her up with the spell. She couldn’t even speak to her wolf or communicate telepathically. She was as weak as a baby rabbit.”

Cullen swallowed. Summer couldn’t communicate at all? How would she get help? Damn, he wanted off this table. He strained at his bonds, mentally cursing Kendrick.

“I wasn’t there, Kendrick. I gave her to four of my best men. They were just to do what you said and stick in her in the cage. But she bested them. Shawn said she was like a rabid wolf. She attacked them. One of them died and the other may be gone before the night is over.”

“Blah-blah-blah Claudius. I gave you instructions. I wanted you to see to her. Did you think she’d be a puppy? She’s a Westervelt Wolf and the mate of the most lethal wolf-shifter to ever walk the earth. How did she get out of the building?” Kendrick started to pace. “I wanted you to cage her, with as much force as necessary.

Claudius shook his head. “That’s part of the confusing part. We don’t know how she got out of the Institute. She just vanished.”

“Vanished? People do not just vanish.” Kendrick stormed towards the door. As he approached the threshold he called out behind him. “Watch Cullen. We don’t want any more vanishing acts.”

Cullen couldn’t have been more excited. His girl had gotten out. He shouldn’t have been surprised. She was remarkable in every possible way.

Claudius crossed to Cullen. “I’m not worried. She’ll be back for you.” Claudius crossed to the corner of the room and Cullen could hear him fiddling with something. When he returned he had an IV bag in his hand. He attached the bag to the needle reciprocal in Cullen’s arm. As immobile as Cullen currently was he had no means of stopping him. He could only watch as a bag full of blue liquid started to drip into through a tube and head towards his hand.

He had no idea what Cullen had just injected him with but he couldn’t imagine it was a good thing.

Claudius smiled and tilted his head to the left. “She’ll be back for you and when she comes we’ll have both of you again. Kendrick will have his right hand man, who is unable to disobey him, and I’ll have my seer and the first breeder for the group. You’ll both finally live useful lives.”

Cullen shook his head back and forth once. He gritted his teeth against the burn that had started in his hand from the blue liquid. “She’ll never come back. You’ll never catch her.”

“Ah, but you are truly in love. She would never desert you.”

“What have you given me?” It burned like hell. In a second he might scream out loud. He concentrated on his breathing.

“Just something to make you mad.”

Cullen raised an eyebrow. “What? Why would you want to make me mad?”

“You won’t be the same wolf when Summer returns. She’ll never want to look at you again.”

But then Claudius didn’t know Summer. Nothing would stop her. He just had to hope she was somehow stopped from coming back.

“What will I be if I’m not the same wolf?”

Claudius shrugged as he crossed to the other side of the room hidden in the shadows. “One of ours. You will be a puppet. The great Cullen Murphy, the man Kendrick trained to be the best killer in the world, reduced to a drone controlled by me.”

“Claudius, there are so many reasons why you are going to die. You killed Summer’s parents. For that, I will make your death painful. You played a huge role in the destruction of my pack, for that you will die slowly.”

Claudius had the audacity to laugh. “Oh, you are amusing Mr. Murphy. Quite amusing.”

But he wouldn’t always find him amusing. Cullen would guarantee it. Everything he’d said would come true. Cullen always won and always kept his word. Nothing had changed. Now he was just doubly motivated.