A single engine rumbled in the distance.

Everything surrounding me tingled with raindrops. A heavy storm had started during the battle. It was only coincidence, but I wanted to think it was the world’s way of sharing my grief.

"Jay? What's going on? There was gunfire over here." It felt easier to move now, less stiff. Just in time for someone to find us. "Did you get shot?"

If only I could share the healing with Julianne. A brief moment of whatever I was would help her survive. I would plead and happily say here are my freakish abilities, be better.

“Please don't be dead. Please.” There were no better words to say.

"Whose smell is that? It smells like..." The newest visitor said.

"I think Julianne's..." My voice trailed off. I wasn't even sure who I was talking to. Turning my head a little revealed Thomas, Julianne’s brother. Hell. This would be worse on him than it was on me.

"Oh no." He said. Thomas shoved me out of the way in his hurry to get to Julianne. He cradled her to his chest.

Other faces had started showing up in the trees, golden eyes that started out distant and closed in. They were nearby but not intrusive as if allowing Thomas room to grieve.

"Common, sis, you're saposta be pack soon. You can't die before that. We're family. Don't leave me too." Thomas said.

I didn't know what to do. Thomas was blood, the pack would have been her family in a very real sense. Me? I was a drunk who spent way too much time at her bar.

"Don't leave. Hold on, just a little longer." He muttered.

"Is she still alive?" My voice sounded foreign.

Thomas didn't hear me, but someone else did.

"Perhaps. We will try to save her." Their grandfather stood past me, naked again, but I couldn't bring myself to care right now. "Put her down, Thomas." His voice was hard, and even though he was directly related, there wasn't a hint of the emotion he should be feeling.

Thomas' head looked back up at his grandfather for a moment, then tilted and he almost whimpered.

"Yes. I will try." The older Alpha said before sighing heavily as if bracing for what he must say next. "At worst, she'll die pack, we will hold her spirit with us."

Thomas nodded then set Julianne down to the ground reverently. The gathering of wolves padded forward. Most bore wounds of different degrees. One was missing chunks of hair, another had long rivers of skin torn apart. More than a few seemed to be cradling a paw. A fourth no longer had a tail along with patches of heavily matted fur. Julianne's body was lost in a jumble of fur.

"Jay, what happened?" Another voice that barely preceded the scent of peppermint. I looked at Kahina, she glared at the three dead Sector agents. "Who did this to her? Was it them?"

"No." I answered.

"Who did it, Jay? Did you make them pay?" Normally she played it cool or eager, sometimes angry, but this was beyond all those things. Kahina’s face was thirsting for vengeance.

"Not yet." I said.

"Tell me who it was, I'll find them, and we can settle this together." Kahina reached out towards me with one hand. She seemed torn between the desire to be soft towards me and a need to make someone pay.

"Don't think he'll be worth much more tonight." Another voice closed in. Evan’s grandfather and his western drawl had found the rest of us.

"Why? He seems perfectly fine." Kahina’s sounded affronted. My blurring vision could barely make out her turn towards the elf. I felt unsteady and woozy.

"He was hurt worse than looks might say." The silver haired elf responded.

Kahina shifted her focus to me. She got closer and bent at the knees to inspect me. Her hand lightly traced the wound on the side of my head. For a brief moment, I felt the world as she did. The shift of skin under fabric. Air laden with of metallic tastes. A sway to her body as she trembled from the desire for blood.

"These are minor wounds." She stated. I chuckled weakly. How many bullets had Mister Janns shot me with? Seven? Eight?

"That is his blood all over, not some other fool's. Well, most of it is his." Evan’s grandfather sounded so dry when he spoke. The tumbleweed accent was the only thing that gave variance.

"I was shot, a few times." I should be broken. It should be me dying, not Julianne.

"You don't seem surprised, missy." Evan’s grandfather was addressing Kahina over my head.

"I'm not. I've seen this before." The dark skinned woman responded.

"You knew?" I made it through the fuzz in my head and managed to ask a question. Again my brain tried to drudge up hazy memories from years ago. Nothing solid stood out.

"That you healed? Or passed out afterward? Sure I did, Jay." She gave a faint smile. "Why do you think we always ended up in bed after a tough job?"

I nodded slowly. Her words sparked vague memories.

"I'll settle this myself. Who was it, Jay, who hurt her?" Her business face was back, but there was still emotion in the tone. Perhaps she was more distracted by memories than I was.

"Janns."

"Are you certain?" Her voice went cold in an instant.

"Very." I grunted.

Kahina’s face lost all expression for a moment. Her mind retreating in thought. The normal signs of life all paused as her body froze. Then she nodded and was gone in a flurry of motion.

"Come on, boy, we've got things to do." Evan’s grandfather tried to lift me up by one arm. My body was too heavy and worn.

"What?" I mumbled a reply and blinked slowly.

"Stand up, brush yourself off, and walk with me before you pass out. A fella's waiting on you." The silver-haired elf had bent at the knees to stare at me.

I wasn't completely sure I could stand up, but I tried anyway. It was easier than it should have been. The weakness from before wasn't as bad. Not being shot in the last few minutes helped. Things still felt unsteady, but each limb worked.

"Move it." The old elf was grumpier sounding the more he talked.

"Where are we going?" I took a look at Julianne, at the circle of wolves around her. It isn't easy feeling useless. Not when it's a friend whose life hangs in the balance. My career choice should have been a doctor, instead of a street thug.

"Leave them be. They'll try, and it'll work or it won't. We've got more pressing issues." Evan’s grandfather walked off into the distance, and I limped slowly after him.

"The fire?" I asked.

"It'll settle. There's old bindings on these woods." The man dismissed any questions of the fire with typical mumbo jumbo.

I guess that was why it was raining. Though what had caused the fire was still a mystery to me. It felt like it had been going since the start, since the button had been pressed. What exactly had happened? Was it something that I caused, like the blisters on Kahina's Second?

"Put a little hustle in those boots." He said.

"Sorry. I was shot." I dryly responded. My only defense for going slow was the truth. Not to mention the fact that I shouldn't still be walking.

"No excuse for crawling along." He didn’t care at all.

"It's plenty of excuse."

"Take off that skirt and put some man pants on." Evan’s grandfather was making fun of me now. If his face was in view I would know for sure.

"What?" I asked with some confusion. He didn't slow down. If anything the old elf marched even faster. The mental fuzz was weighing heavily and my eyelids drooped slightly, for a moment.

"Not yet, boy. Come on."

"Where are we going?" It sounded more like 'are we ing?' through my sleepy speech. My body jogged itself to waking after stumbling over a tree root of some sort. The near face plant helped a lot and forced me to concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other.

"Not going, gone. We're here." He said.

"What?" I slurred the question while looking around. There was a large armored car, big enough to house an entire platoon. It stood with all the lights on and engine humming. The area surrounding had nearly transformed to daylight.

"Jay, is that you?" Daniel’s voice came from out of a speaker or something. I wasn’t exactly sure what was going on.

"Crummy? My face was easier to control than it had been awhile ago. One eyebrow twitched trying to rise in confusion.

"Thank God, man, I was thinking this whole operation had turned to shit." The back of the large, nearly tank sized vehicle started lowering. Light spilled out of the opening gap.

He was complaining as he stepped out onto the forest floor. Behind him was a handful of armored Sector agents. Each one held their gun at the ready, but none of them were taking an aggressive stance. Three in the front and three in the back.

I hadn't noticed at first because of how demanding the light from the armored personnel carrier was, but there were more than a few dead bodies laying around the area. Arrows sprouted from some, others showed wounds that were clearly teeth marks or claws.

"Woh, man. Calm down. We're surrendering." Daniel put his hands up.

It wasn't until I felt the elf's hand on my shoulder that I realized a growl was coming out. That was getting to be a terrible habit of mine.

"Start explaining, Crummy." I said.

"Sure, first, I want you to know that everything is going according to plan." He emphasized the last few words. "See, our goal was to get Arnold..."

While he started explaining, I watched something else that didn't make sense. The three guards that were in the back slid their guns over, drew knives in unison, and slit the throats of the armed men in front of them. They were so quiet and careful that I almost missed it. Powerful hands kept their respective targets quiet, and for a moment I worried they might march on Daniel next.

"Well, almost according to plan." Daniel amended his earlier statement, but it wasn't aimed at anyone in particular. "Remember Arnold? He was the key to all of it." My confused look must have been answer enough. Or all the blood that was drying on me. Or being shot. "How about what I said about the cult?"

Behind Daniel, all three bodies slumped forward with a gurgle of blood. One man managed to reach a gloved hand up to his neck to try and stop the flow, but moments later he was lifeless. The sound of them falling was loud in comparison to the shocked silence of their murders, and Daniel grinned almost in time with the noise.

"Turns out it's all true." Daniel turned over his shoulder and looked at the others, then down at the three dead guards. "Good, start the next phase."

The three guards all nodded, then reached into pouches at their sides. I tensed up expecting betrayal again. Not that I had enough strength to fight them. Almost as one the guards bent down and ripped off insignias of the Western Sector enforcement officers and replaced them with some other one from their pockets then moved on to other dead guards in the area.

"Start talking." The words were ground out from between my lips.

"Sure. In a moment, man. Hey Rolo, any casualties on your side?" Daniel looked over at Evan’s grandfather.

"A few wolves, but not too many considering." Rolo answered.

"Good. It was a pain in the ass to switch out those clips before things got started." My friend the Western Sector Agent shook his head and frowned.

"What the hell?" I was amazed that Evan’s grandfather responded to Rolo. Plus Daniel had someone switch out the weapon clips and that made no sense.

"Sorry, man. Mind if we walk and talk?" Daniel pointed off to one of the other armored vehicles.

"Uhhh..." I stuttered.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

"Good. Common, we've got to get everything situated right." He stalked off towards a string of bodies that littered the road. Rolo stayed behind to help the three remaining guards with whatever task they were about.

"Crummy!" I limped after him.

"So it goes like this. Arnold Regious, truly in a cult. For real, man." He sounded damned happy. "He turns up on your radar, then on mine, then on my boss', and so on to the right and wrong ears."

"So?" I was starting to get annoyed at him. No, I had been annoyed, then happy, confused, and now back to borderline angry.

"This whole thing was a setup. Would you believe they'd already approached me? I told you I was trying to figure out an angle on my assignment." Daniel waited for me to process the statement. It sounded vaguely familiar but with all that had happened recently I was still lost. He continued with his explanation.

"The cult, well, kind of a militia group, kind of a cult, wanted Sector assets. Easy enough to requisition all the outdated armor. Load them up, figure out who their members are. Had to use a few tricks to get in this deep." Daniel sighed and looked around at the mess outside the other charred wrecks.

He started stomping through to the lead vehicle.

"They would have done anything to recover Arnold. I tell them I can track Arnold, bring you back in, sorry by the way." I barely caught what he was saying in time to be upset. "Results in most of their members in this area being dead. Hurt them good. All because they invested so much in tracking down your cremated body."

"What?" I was confused. Daniel stopped over a nearly dead Sector agent and motioned to Rolo in the distance with an open hand.

"Arrow please." He said.

Rolo walked over. There had to be more to that name. It was too...odd for an elven name. Evan’s grandfather handed over an arrow from his quiver and Daniel sunk it into the man below him. He lurched as the last of his life was stolen.

"Wasn't he one of yours?" I was so lost.

"No. My men are better trained, aren't wearing outdated Sector armor, and don't swear loyalty to a human supremacy group. I did have five guys here all ordered to encourage friendly fire accidents, then retreat when ordered to the last APC.” Daniel sighed and stood back up. ”Only three made it."

"What?" I was still lost. Maybe it was the recent combat, or the bullet wounds that were trying to heal. The drowsiness after using my abilities certainly didn’t help.

"Let me put it this way. My men don't wave guns with bright lights attached. That's just stupid." Daniel said. He was right about one thing, a pack shouldn't have won out against that many agents. Not without quite a few causalities.

"How did so few die?" I said. The explanation did help a little bit. It also made me feel even warier around Daniel. What kind of calculating mind could plan out an entire operation to lure one set of enemies into attacking a full pack in their woods?

"Fake ammunition. The first bullet was real silver, the rest were a weighted polymer and lead mix. And the fact that all the explosives that had been rigged at your house..." He bent near another person to lift a visor and check out who it was. A frown crossed his lightly freckled skin and Daniel settled to his knees.

"Crummy." I needed more information. My mind was still replaying the other words, where he spoke of the explosives left at my apartment.

"Shit, Riley, you were in the wrong truck." Daniel’s eyes closed for a moment and I could make out his lips moving. His face blanked out for a moment.

“Crummy?” I asked.

"Sorry. Riley wanted last rites, hope that's good enough, man." His fingers brushed the fallen agent's eyes closed. Daniel stood up and dusted off his knees. Darkness and rain were slowly swallowing up the dying embers.

“Sorry.”

"No plan is perfect.” He sighed and shook his head. “Anyway, that little button was tied to the explosives that had been at your house." My eyebrow raised. I still felt emotionally dead about that, almost like an arm was cut off and the wound already cauterized. "Had. I moved all of the explosives into the rest of this caravan here."

His arm gestured out into the rest of the line of cars. You could see charred husks that had once been armored vehicles with guns mounted on the top. Bodies hung out of some of them that I couldn't make out well enough.

Honestly, I was thankful that it was difficult to see the carnage. Other parts were all too graphic due to the backlight of flames. It cast some of the bodies in an eerie glow. What should bother me was how comfortable the scene felt. Instead, all that came to mind was my stuff.

"Crummy?" I questioned again.

"Yeah, man. Your stuff is all okay. Or it should be. Just get home, relax, everything turned out almost perfectly." Not once did he turn around to see Riley but I could tell that was part of what he meant.

"How?"

"How did I find you? When you were in the woods out here? That part was easy." Daniel walked over from where he was with a shit eating grin on his face. He fumbled a hand under the collar of my jacket, one that was battered and torn from all the gunfire. A moment later he fished out some small round device no bigger than a fingernail.

There was enough in me to be slightly upset.

"I’ve been tracking you. Figured it was easier than bothering you every few days and pretending to be grumpy. I had it placed when we knocked you out back at Julianne's. Besides," he crushed the item between his fingers. "we're friends, I had to look out for you."

I had forgotten how scary Daniel could be to anyone not on his side. The grogginess made it difficult to completely digest everything he said, though. My lights were on, but no one was answering the door. His description sounded like I had been played as part of some larger scheme. It gave me some hope that something would come out alright, something, but not everything.

"Julianne was shot." I said.

"What?" Daniel's tone turned startled quickly.

"Yeah. Pack's trying a joining."

Daniel looked up at the sky, the moon was no where near full.

"Terrible night for it. Worse if she's unconscious. Well, let's go see how she's doing." His voice was back under control, almost resigned. It was painfully obvious that he was prepared for her to die.

It had only been twenty minutes since Rolo and I left the gathering of wolves. Daniel turned and yelled at his other agents and made a twirling motion with one hand in the air. We started off towards the pack, with Evan’s grandfather leading the way.

"Nice job by the way." Daniel commented.

"What what?" I was almost asleep.

"With that asshole's head. It landed in the middle of his little band of cronies, those alive after the explosion. It was so perfect they about shit themselves. I assume you left the body somewhere?" Daniel kept talking as we passed by yet another series of trees. I was so sick of these woods, they were nothing but trouble for me.

"Threw it too." I informed him. He looked thoughtful for a moment then shrugged.

"Workable, if anyone comes sniffing they'll think the pack savaged his body. Hopefully, no one will figure out I was on another team." Daniel moved fairly quickly. Being in a suit hadn’t slowed him down at all. Part of me wondered why Daniel wasn’t in full gear like the rest of his men.

I was too confused, tired and worried about Julianne to question why Daniel cared about the pack savaging anyway. Julianne was more important than me. My personal issues could wait for the year and a day.

"Seriously, man, once we leave these woods you don't tell anyone. As far as the Order is concerned I've come out a hero against the nonhumans. I return with Arnold’s body and bam!" He clapped his hands. "Things keep going."

"The Order?" The question slipped out before I could control myself.

"Order of Merlin. That's who started this nonsense. Given their choice, every nonhuman in the world would be wiped out. Racism at its finest. Stopping that nonsense is part of the job." Daniel was talking and I could barely pay attention. We were almost where the wolves were gathered and I was more interested in finding out about Julianne.

"That's..." My forehead wrinkled while trying to figure out what to say. I vaguely felt Evan nearby. Kahina was miles away charging through the woods.

"Look, we can't talk about it. Not my involvement, not the Order. Agreed, man?" Daniel refused to go anywhere until I gave a quick agreement. His words were rapidly slipping out of my mind anyway. Something about them seemed hard to comprehend. Almost foggy.

“Okay.” I said.

We stalked to the small gathering. A sea of grieving browns intermingled with shrubs and tree trunks. In the distance, we could see ears swiveling from the wolves' heads but none of them actually turned around. They would have smelled us before we got close anyway. If their noses could get past the lingering smoke and gunpowder.

Thomas stood off to the side, fully human.

"How's it going?" Daniel asked.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Thomas snarled at my friend.

"My job." Daniel used the same vocal quality that Thomas’ grandfather had, a tone that brooked no argument. Julianne's brother wasn't in the mood to obey.

"You shouldn't have come here!" He was yelling, and I could see more heads turning this way, both human shifted ones and wolves. They spared a moment then turned back. Thomas clutched at his head for a moment, frustration raging against some sort of internal conflict.

I blinked slowly and almost fell forward.

"What? No!" The angry yell wasn't directed at Daniel or myself. Thomas' fist clenched tight. "Fine. You get a pass, just keep quiet."

"And? What are her chances?" Daniel asked.

"I don't know. Gramps connected long enough to give orders then blocked me off." Thomas sounded angry but resigned. I thought something seemed odd about the huddle of wolves. There were more of them in between Thomas and Julianne’s body than any other direction in the woods.

"Smart. Her best chance relies on the change being attempted as calmly as possible." Daniel had already figured out why Thomas was kicked out while I struggled to keep up.

Thomas nodded, looking even more ragged.

"You can tell your pack that transition approval has already been filed. Not that it was ever in doubt." Daniel stared off into the sea of wolves with one cheek tucked back.

"Thanks." Thomas sounded exhausted and his expression barely changed.

"It's the least I could do. Even though we were on other ends of each other in business, Julianne’s a good girl." The Agent drew his other cheek back which turned his lips into a thin line.

There was a pause in Thomas' response followed by a look of anguish as he turned to another figure. One definitely female, and certainly not Julianne.

"She was." Stacy's voice reached across the way as she broke from the others. Her naked form looked tear worn.

"What?" I asked with my chest clenching.

"Was a good girl." Stacy hung her head.

"Then...?" I couldn't bring myself to say it, to admit it out loud. Not after Thomas had given me a shred of hope.

"She died as pack." Thomas tried to find a silver lining in the situation.

A howl started up from more than a few places. I felt my senses slowly unravel and travel upward. Their cries for a lost family member vibrated through the air. The ripples echoed far across the landscape from each throat. I wasn't pack, but anyone with an ounce of sense would understand. Their message was simple. Goodbye, Julianne.

Goodbye.