Summer’s Wolf

Chapter Six

Cullen ran hard towards the burning building. What the hell just happened? He turned around abruptly, checking to see that Summer was still behind him. Her white fur shone in the darkness like a beacon, and he would gladly follow it home if he could.

Keep going. I’m fine.

He loved that she could communicate telepathically now. Her voice in his head was like a caress of satin on his senses. It felt so intimate to communicate with her that way. Of course, it would probably be the only way they were ever going to be intimate, so he would take what he could get.

Cullen turned his attention back to the problem at hand as he rounded the corner and surveyed the scene in front of him. Flames tore through the Institute. It had only been rebuilt for two years ago and flawlessly done at that. Windows smashed open with the heat of fire reaching extraordinary levels. Black, thick smoke pooled from the open doorways and bright orange flames were visible through the destroyed windows.

Cullen could only hope everyone had gotten out.

He shifted into his human form and spun around. Summer had reached the clearing, still as a wolf. She sat, head raised, eyes wide as she stared at the blaze. She was safe. He would have preferred her to stayed back at his cabin, but he’d known it was a fruitless argument and had not brought it up

He hoped he didn’t live to regret not making her stay behind.

He quickly did a headcount. Cullen knew he was the only member of the pack who didn’t live in the newly built Institute. Twenty-seven others stood in the clearing staring at the blazing inferno, their mouth open in various states of horror.

Since the addition of Ashlee to their midst three years earlier there were a total of thirty-one shifters living on the island. Four were still missing. Cullen’s heart fell into his stomach as he realized the Alpha and his wife were among the missing. Who else? He whirled around again as Summer, who had shifted back to her human form, grabbed onto his arm. He made himself stare at her face but god did he want to have the time to admire her naked form. He swallowed and pushed his eyebrows down as he concentrated.

“Ashlee, Tristan and their children, plus Rex and Theo.” She’d somehow read his mind and known what information he needed. He rushed towards the front door, Summer at his heels.

He turned to face her as the approached the building, the heat almost unbearable from the outside of the building. It had to be nearly fatal in the interior.

“Stay here.” He hoped she would listen to orders.

She snorted. “Like hell.” So much for his brief inkling of hope.

He opened his mouth to retort as Rex and Ashlee stumbled through the front door. Rex held Ashlee up by her arm and Ashlee held her newest child, the baby Virginia, close to her chest. The child wailed and Cullen sighed with relief. If she could scream, she hadn’t inhaled too much of the deadly black smoke.

“Summer,” Ashlee gasped as Summer reached out to embrace her older sister. Rex let go of Ashlee’s arm and the two women almost fell over. Rex collapsed on the ground, Michael and Gabriel surrounded him.

Cullen rushed to Summer and her sister. “Ashlee are you hurt? What happened? Where is Tristan?” He watched as Summer reached out and took Virginia from Ashlee. She held the baby close up against her chest.

“They came for the children.” Ashlee gasped between words, struggled for air. She was going to need help and he was relieved to see Azriel approach with an oxygen tank.

“Who came for the children?” He needed information before he could let her rest.

“These creatures, I’ve never seen anything like them. I can’t describe it. Dark, creatures with wings. They broke through the windows of our suite.”

Flying demons. He’d not seen them in two hundred years. There was more to the death of his parents than he’d let Summer know. Looked like it was time to break his promise to Kendrick of secrecy. It didn’t make any sense that he’d kept quiet this long. Truth was, he just didn’t want to talk about it. These were stories he’d hoped to take to his grave. He was the only one left alive who knew them. Damn.

Ashlee continued to try to talk. “Tristan and Theo, they went after the creatures. One of them has Braden. Oh god,” Ashlee sobbed but her cries were subdued due to her lack of oxygen. She gripped onto her sister harder. “They took my baby, Summer. Those creatures took Braden. Tristan and Theo are still in there battling one of those things in the flames.”

Cullen’s eyes bore into Summer’s, he could see questions in hers. His mate was too intuitive by far. “Stay here.” Maybe this time she’d listen. “Take care of your sister.”

Before he could change his mind, he ran through the flames into the front door. He felt Gabriel behind him and he whirled around. The wall behind them wasn’t yet engulfed and Cullen pushed Gabriel into it. The acrid smell of the fire singed the inside of his nose.

“What do you think you’re doing, Prince Gabriel?” He knew the titles infuriated them but he needed to remind the man who he was and what his station in life required.

“My brothers are fighting and those creatures took my nephew, what the hell else do you think I’m doing? I wasn’t even in the building when it happened. I need to help.”

The flames around them made crackling noises and he could hear a groan from the steel which, Cullen suspected, started to melt from the heat. Cullen coughed once into his hand and restrained Gabriel again.

“They’re fine. If they’re fighting those creatures, they are protected from the flames. Don’t ask me to explain it to you right now. But you are part of the Royal Six and Tristan is your Alpha. You, Rex, Michael, and Azriel have to live through this. If Tristan and Rex perish it will be a great tragedy but one of you will have to be Alpha. The child is fine, for now. The creatures won’t kill him, at least not yet.” He yanked Gabriel from the wall and pushed him towards the front door. “Stay outside. I’m the only one who can fight them and win right now. If it is earthly possible, I will bring Tristan and Rex back alive.”

Gabriel nodded although Cullen could see defiance in his eyes. He waited a moment until he was certain Gabriel had followed orders before he turned and ran. He’d made it a few feet before he had to stop. The further he got into the building, the thicker the black smoke became. He needed to get low which made his decision to call the shift onto himself an easy one. For a moment white light engulfed him as his body took on his wolf shape.

Move fast. He hoped his wolf listened to him.

These are the creatures you and Kendrick eliminated two hundred years ago. How are they back?

If I had to guess, I would have to say Kendrick has brought them back.

His wolf made a harrumph noise. Bad wolf.

He is indeed.

The black smoke above their heads did nothing to improve Cullen’s sense of direction but at least he could smell the way. Tristan always smelled of the woods, most of the wolves on the island did, but he was Cullen’s Alpha, and Cullen felt as though he’d been genetically predesigned to always locate his Alpha, wherever the man was.

Cullen’s nose told him he was close. He rounded a corner into Rex’s part of the Institute. The doors were gone from their hinges and a bright blue light illuminated Rex’s bedroom. The blue light was one of the signature trademarks of the flying demons. If Tristan and Theo were still alive they’d be in there trying to get Braden back

As he entered the blue-lit room he saw that two of the flying demons floated in the room and one of them held Braden in his arms. The toddler wailed which brought relief to Cullen’s mind. He recalled suddenly that those held captive in the creatures’ arms were protected from the flames by whatever magic the demons possessed. Tristan and Theo each held onto the legs of the creatures. Cullen realized it was sheer force of will alone that allowed the two shifters to keep the hell-dimensioned entities from taking off into the sky.

He hadn’t seen flying demons in two centuries but they looked exactly the same. Black, scaled wings were the largest part of the creatures’ bodies spanning the length of the ceiling to the floor, almost eight feet. The un-winged part of the beast held a total height of no more than three feet from head to toe. Although it looked tiny, the creatures were as strong as anything Cullen had ever encountered. They could lift a dump truck. Not to mention its body was the most grotesque sight Cullen had ever seen in his entire lifetime.

Colored like a russet potato, the black scales on its wings were brown and slimy. He knew from personal experience that its face, a mixture between a lizard and a fish, melted every four minutes only to be re-grown moments later. The only time you could kill it was that very second before re-growth. That was the only moment it was vulnerable. But you still had to be careful, because one touch from a gland on the top of its hand and you would be permanently scarred by the acid it secreted. Not even a shifter could heal from that substance. He needed to make sure it didn’t end up on Braden’s skin.

Cullen leapt into the air, all four of his paws coming down on the demon who didn’t hold Braden.

Cullen! Tristan’s voice in his head.

Both of you on the other one. I’ll hold this one off until I can kill it. Just keep yours here. I can’t attack it the same way, it might harm Braden.

You know these creatures? Theo’s voice.

Cullen growled and tore at the neck portion of the spawn. He knew it wouldn’t kill it, but he needed to incapacitate it until its face disappeared then he could destroy it.

Working here. He snapped at Theo. He’d apologize to the royal later.

He tore, bit, and clobbered the creature. The demon swatted at Cullen but didn’t manage to touch him with his acid coated hands.

He needed to hang on long enough until the creature was forced to shed its face. From the twitching and grunting sounds he heard it start to make, he knew the face would be gone in a moment. Then he could tear it to pieces.

I want to destroy it. I want to see it die

Yes, so did Cullen. His wolf, usually the less blood thirsty of the two of them, craved the demon’s death as much as he did.

The creature let out a wail and Cullen attacked its head. He tore it into small pieces. When it stopped squirming beneath him, he knew he’d succeeded in eliminating it. He jumped off the carcass and spun around.

In the hallway behind them, he could hear the groans of the metal and the sounds of the fire that still raged in the rest of the building. As soon as he killed the second demon, and the creature’s magic disappeared from the room, they’d have to run like hell to escape the flames.

Cullen!

Tristan’s voice sounded desperate in his head. He whirled around. The demon had gained momentum and was up further in the air. Tristan and Theo screamed as they started to lose their grips on its legs.

Tristan, Theo—don’t let it touch you or Braden with the top side of its hands. They have an acid-secreting gland and it can burn in a way you’ll never recover from.

He’s getting away, Cullen, and he’s taking my son with him.

Tristan sounded desperate, not at all the calm, steadfast Alpha he’d come to know over the last three years. This was a father’s despair.

The creature lunged upwards one more time, pounding a hole in the ceiling and Tristan lost his grip. He fell to the floor with a thud. Theo grabbed harder onto the monster, getting his hands onto Braden as Cullen leaped onto the creature’s chest.

Braden threw his arms around his uncle and held on as Theo tugged on the creature. Cullen bit down on its leg to free the boy from his captor. The creature swung trying to get either of its attackers with his acid coated hand. Cullen whirled his wolf-head to the left when it came at him from the right. He was lucky. But, Cullen was horrified to see that Theo was not.

Theo let out a yell of pure agony and fell to the floor. He gripped the side of his face and rolled back and forth on the ground. The creature still had a grip on Braden but fortunately it held him with its palms. It would just take one slash with the topside of the hand and Braden was done for. A sudden thought struck him: those creatures wanted Braden alive, they’d been sent with instructions not to kill him. They were being far too careful for it to be anything else.

Cullen shifted out of his wolf form and grabbed Braden as Cullen let himself fall to the floor. It was a desperate move, but Cullen was not surprised it worked. The creature was already weakened so gravity and Cullen’s body weight succeeded in removing Braden from his grip.

He hit the floorboards hard, deliberately taking the fall on his back so he could keep Braden upright and unhurt. The wind knocked out of him, he was stunned for a moment, but conscious enough to see the flying demon take off to the sky.

Damn. They only had seconds to get out before the flames reached them. He had to get up. Braden screamed, now in the type of rage Cullen had only seen in young children

Finally free of the burden of the child on his chest, his lung capacity returned to him. He leapt up. Theo lay on the ground, unconscious, and Cullen could see the side of his face was blood red with layers of skin peeling away. They needed to get him out.

Cullen picked Theo up and swung him over his shoulder. He wouldn’t be crawling through the hallway as a wolf this time. He’d have to get through the fire on two legs.

He shot a glance over his shoulder and was relieved to find the Alpha right behind him. “Follow me.” He turned and ran towards the smoke.

Can you help me? He wasn’t used to asking his wolf for help but he didn’t want to die being a stubborn mule.

Let me in your eyes, I’ll direct you.

Cullen blinked and felt his wolf take over his sight. He sniffed the air. It was the best arrangement he could come up with. He had to stay in his two-legged form to carry Theo but he could see and smell as his wolf now.

He ran forward toward the black smoke and tried not to breathe. Several metal beams fell in front of him and he leaped into the air, barely making it over without burning himself.

Watch your step, my Alpha. It’s dangerous in here.

Cullen started to cough uncontrollably. His lungs burned but he didn’t have time to worry about that. He needed to get the prince out of the building, had to make sure his Alpha and the baby made it to safety, and even more importantly he had to get back to Summer.

He needed to see her look at him with kindness one more time before he told the pack the story behind how he knew about these creatures. Once he told his tale, he might never see anything but disgust in her eyes.