hopes that his buddy wouldn't shoot me lest he hit him instead.
There was the pop of a gun and the crack of wood. In my instant of distraction the Were shoved me off. 'Crazy wolf!' he shouted, turning the barrel of his weapon at me. Behind him, Jenks stood frozen in panic. The first man was slumped at his feet, but Jenks was too far away to help me.
A boom of thunder echoed, and the man pointing his weapon at me jumped. My heart pounded and I frantically waited for the pain.
But the Were spun, leaving me to stare in surprise at the hole in his back. My attention flicked behind him to Nick, propped up against the building with a shotgun.
'Nick, no!' I barked, but he took aim again, and with his face white and his hands shaking, he shot him a second time. The Were's gun went off as the slug hit him, but it was a death pull. Nick's second shot had gone straight into his neck. I sprang away and the Were fell, choking as his lungs filled, drowning him in his own blood. He clawed at his throat, gasping.
God help me. Nick had killed him.
'You sons of bitches!' Nick cried from the dirt, having fallen from the recoil this time. 'I'll kill you all, you fucking dog-face bastards! I'll kill you—' He took a shuddering breath. 'I'll kill you all….' He sobbed, crying now.
Frightened, I looked at Jenks. The pixy stood under the tree, white-faced and scared.
'I'll kill you….' Nick said, hunched on all fours.
I slowly skulked over to him. I was a wolf, not a Were. He wouldn't shoot me. Right?
'Good girl,' he said when I nudged him. He wiped his face and patted my head, a broken man. He even let me pull the shotgun from him, and my tongue worked at the bitter taste of gunpowder. 'Good girl,' he murmured, standing up and wobbling forward.
Though clearly not wanting to touch him, Jenks helped him into the back of the Jeep, where Nick collapsed. Jenks unceremoniously dumped the unconscious men in the front out of the vehicle, and I scrambled into the passenger side, trying to ignore that the man Nick shot had finally stopped making noises. Jenks started the Jeep, and after a few jerks while he learned the practical aspect of how to drive a stick, we started down the road. I touched the radio with my nose, and he turned it up so we could hear.
Jenks looked at me, the wind brushing his bangs back. 'He can't swim,' he whispered. 'And we only have one warmth amulet.'
'I can swim.' Nick had his head in his hands, his elbows on his knees against the jostling of the rough road.
'They must have a dock somewhere,' Jenks continued, not paying him any mind but for a nervous glance. 'They probably already have people waiting for us, though.'
'I'll kill myself before I let them take me back there,' Nick said, thinking Jenks was talking to him. 'Thank you. Thank you for getting me out of that hell.'
Jenks's lips pressed together and his grip clenched the wheel as he shifted to a lower gear and took a tight turn. 'I can smell an oil and gas mix to the south, almost exactly where we came in. It's probably the marina.'
Nick pulled his head up, the wind shifting his lank hair from his eyes. 'You're talking to the dog?'
Sparing him a glance from under his new cap, Jenks turned away. 'She's a wolf. Get it right, crap for brains. Tink's knickers, you have got to be the stupidest lunker I've ever lit on.'
Nick's eyes went wide and he clutched the side of the Jeep. 'Jenks!' he stammered, going whiter. 'What happened to you?'
Jenks's jaw clenched but he stayed silent.
Nick looked at me. 'You're a person,' he said, looking gaunt. 'Jenks, who is she?'
I trembled, unable to say a thing. Jenks gripped the wheel tighter, and the engine nearly stalled when he slowed to go around a turn and didn't downshift. 'No one cares little green turds about you,' he said. 'Who do you think she is?'
Nick took a gasping breath, leaning forward to slip to the floor of the Jeep. 'Rachel?' he said, and I watched his pupils dilate just before he passed out and his head hit the seat.
Jenks took a quick look over his shoulder. 'Great. Just freaking great. Now I'm going to have to carry him.'
Sixteen
I had scrambled back to sit with Nick, worried at the stink of infection and that he hadn't regained consciousness yet. The wind from our passage as Jenks jostled us down the road to the supposed marina lifted the hair about my ears, giving me a fuzzy 'view' of the sounds around me but an expanded picture of the smells. The chatter from the radio was loud and heavy, bringing Jenks up to speed on Pam's death and the breakup of the round. That we might have stolen a Jeep and were listening apparently hadn't crossed anyone's mind. The survivalists had divided their forces to maintain dominance of the island as well as search for us. It could only help.
Jenks adjusted his new Were cap, slowing when Brett's twang filtered out. I swiveled my ears forward, glad for the easier pace. 'All teams keep a three-to-one ratio of fur to feet,' the man was saying. 'The cell is empty. They're armed, two dead, so watch your tail. No sign of their boat, so they're probably headed for the dock. I want a five-to-one-ratio there.'
Jenks slowed to pull off into the short grass eking out a living by the packed dirt. I lifted my head in question, meeting his worried eyes with mine. Why was he stopping?
'They know we're coming,' he said, awkwardly twisting to make a three-point turn and head back the way we'd come. 'I can't fight that many Weres. We're going to have to swim.'
My heart pounded and a whine slipped from me. Angular face tight, Jenks accelerated. 'I won't let you drown,' he said. 'Or maybe we can find somewhere to hide until things settle,' he added, knowing as well as I that the longer we remained, the more likely it was that we'd be caught. But Nick was unconscious, and the idea of me dog-paddling all the way was daunting even if I would have a break traversing Round Island in between. I couldn't swim it as a person. What would being a wolf do for me? The entire situation was crap, but we had to get off the island.
'Shut up! Everyone shut up!' came a frantic voice through the radio, and I leaned over Nick, my ears swiveling. 'This is the lighthouse. We have a problem. Unknown incoming force! Six boats from the Mackinac ferry dock. Mixed Weres!' the high-pitched, young voice said. 'Uniformed. They know she's in trouble, and they're coming for her!'
Really? Somehow I didn't think it was an unexpected rescue, but a second Were faction taking advantage of the chaos. Damn it, that would make Mackinac Island tricky!
Brett's voice crackled out, chilling me. 'Radio silence. Search leaders check in by cell phone. The rest of you, find them! Fire on them if you have to, but they can't have Sparagmos!'
The radio turned to a grating hiss.
Jenks pulled the Jeep to the side of the road. 'Wake him up,' he said tightly, undoing his belt and getting out. 'This is where we came in.'
My nose wrinkled when I scented the faint taste of decay on the breeze as the heat of the sun hit that deer carcass. Muscles tense, I hesitated, then licked the side of Nick's nose, not knowing what else to do. Hell, it worked in the movies.
Feet spread wide, Jenks looked up and down the road, squinting from under his borrowed cap. My tongue had made a long wet mark on Nick, but otherwise there was no change. Leaning into the Jeep, Jenks jerked Nick's head up by the hair and slapped him.
Nick exploded into motion. Screaming obscenities, he lashed out, arms flung blindly. Frightened, I jumped from the Jeep. My nails dug into the dirt and I stared at him.
Wild-eyed, Nick took a shuddering breath upon realizing where he was. His haunted look turned into a glare, and he stared at Jenks standing belligerently with his hands on his hips and that pack hat on his head. The jays yelled back at him, and I wished they would shut up.
