Brothers - Dexter's Pack - George (Book Five)
M.L Briers
CHAPTER ONE
~
George raced across the mountain. His wolf felt fevered. The faster that he ran the worse it became.
It felt to him as if he was trying to outrun his own skin. His beast.
The darkness within him that was growing.
His brother was dead. He’d done that.
He’d killed his twin – his twin – his blood. His kin.
He’d killed a part of him. The one that had always been with him. Had grown in the same womb.
He ran as faster, faster, as fast as he could.
His claws dug into the earth and churned it up behind him. But he couldn’t outrun his fate.
It was coming.
Something dark from within and without.
He could feel it closing in on him. Like a shadow of darkness that fell across the land, across his heart, and his soul.
It was coming.
No matter how fast he ran – he couldn’t outrun his fate.
He’d triggered the curse. It wasn’t his fault. It had needed to be one of them.
One of them needed to die.
His brother would never have left it alone.
It was coming.
Hard on his heels. He could feel it in the air all around him…
He could feel it in his very soul.
It was coming.
The faster that he ran the more the fever grew. It touched his soul, burned…
He’d awakened the curse. It would rise up to strike them all dead.
It was coming for them all.
He couldn’t outrun it.
He couldn’t outrun fate.
His heart was pounding within his ears. His beast was done…
George’s wolf pulled up panting and gasping for air…
The beast craned its head back on his neck and looked up to the moon above. The red hazy ring that surrounded it … it looked like an eye…
George’s wolf padded towards the stream and dipped his head for a taste of the water. He noted the reflection of the moon in the fast running water, hanging above his head like a bad omen – that red rim seemed to be glowing – taunting him.
His eyes moved down to look back at his own reflection and his heart stopped within his chest at the sight of it –
His eyes shone red.
He’d killed his twin.
It had begun.
~
~
~
“Blood on the moon – that’s a bad sign…” Zana muttered to herself as she took the bend a little too fast and felt the back end of the bike kick out a little in protest.
Tough. She needed to make good time.
The curse had been triggered. The watchers had sent her on her way, and now she was climbing White Wolf Mountain on her way to slay the beast.
Zana didn’t much care who it was. They pointed the way and she took care of it – by whatever means necessary.
And this was necessary.
If the curse was to be believed, and she’d known a few to come true in her time, then the shit was about to hit the fan and Wolf Mountain was its kick off point.
She was in the hot zone.
Ground zero.
That was just how she liked it. Whether she was hunting rogues or saving the world, one shit demon at a time, she wasn’t the kind of person to sit on the sidelines and cheer.
Talk was cheap. Word had it that she might not walk away from this one. That was always the risk, and she was good with that.
There would be someone else to take her place. There always was.
Zana was expendable. She was a means to an end, but if her end came then she’d get a notary in some book somewhere – hell, she might even get a plaque on a wall, depending if they thought that she was worth the time and effort to create one.
She was good with that too.
There was no family, no picket fence, and no happily ever after waiting for her in the future, because she didn’t have a future. She had a right now.
She lived one mission at a time – she lived for the moment that she was inside, because the next moment might never come.
She was ready to die.
Dying was a part of life and everyone was heading that way in a long queue – it was just a matter of time as to when you reached the front of it.
Some were eager to jump the queue. That she considered a waste. She wasn’t in a rush to die, but she wasn’t going to hide from it either.
In her book – death was just a really good sleep. When the time came she might welcome it, but for then, she had a job to do.
~
~
~
Vicky turned to leave the archives. She was done for the day.
She knew to give up when her eyes started shooting across the page of their own accord and the words made less sense than they normally did. It was about that time…
The others had already left, gone home to their mates, and she needed a hot bath and food … and maybe a little time with Connor to get her blood pumping through her veins again.
She reached up and hit the lights off – the sound of a heavy thud behind her made her spin in place. She snapped out at the lights with her magic and illuminated the vast room…
Vicky scanned the area for signs of trouble. Perhaps a witch had gotten in without her noticing.
The only other supernatural being that could enter through the wards that the witches had placed around the room was Connor, and if he was playing some stupid, childish game with her – she’d present him with his crown jewels on a platter – smiling as she did it…