Dawn Unleashed

Marianne balanced on the porch rail, swinging her legs back and forth. Tristen paced the length of the porch behind her. They were waiting for their grandfather to pull into the drive, bringing their father and their brother back home, for good. Waiting sucked. Impatiently, she swung her legs faster and higher.

Tristen patted the diapered rump in his arms. He regretted that he couldn't go with his father to find Daniel. He should have been there. But, his dad had forced him to stay behind with Kacie. He couldn't be in two places at once. So, here he stayed while his father risked the danger.

Kacie was still confined to bed under Nana's strict orders. She and Claire, as her nurse, had delivered his daughter, Huntress. Watching Claire fight with Nana over how to deliver his daughter and care for her mother had been entertaining. Nana was pouring herbal tea down Kacie's throat and praying while Claire was timing contractions and swabbing her forehead with a sponge.

"Finally!" Marianne bounced off the railing, bounding over the gravel toward the SUV.

Nash had barely had time to shove the gearshift into park before Mouse barreled down on them. Tristen stood on the porch with the baby in his arms. Looking like the proud papa he was. Life, no matter how crazy it got just kept marching forward.

Mouse tugged open the backdoor of the SUV and threw herself into her dad's arms. He groaned and weakly wrapped his arms around her. "Easy Mouse," he gritted through his teeth at the pain from his daughter's overly enthusiastic embrace. Gina, swollen with their unborn child stood on the porch, waiting for him. Tristen with a bundle in his arms grinned toward the SUV.

"I see Tristen has a surprise for me," Daniel muttered.

"Yeah," Marianne nodded. "Her name is Huntress." She felt the bulk of bandages under her dad's shirt and released her grip. Gingerly, she gave him a hand to climb down out of the high SUV.

"Huntress?" Daniel said.

Marianne shot her brother a scowl. Behind the haunted look in his eyes and all the bruises and scrapes on his body, she saw her brother peeking out. Daniel was in there somewhere hidden beneath the mask of pain. "Huntress Danielle."

Daniel gently nudged Mouse out of the way and wrapped his dad's arm around his neck. He didn't know necessarily who was helping who up the walk. They were leaning on each other for support. The trip up the walk was slow and painful. He unwound himself from his dad's weight as Tristen plopped the baby in his arms and moved to help their father.

Daniel stared down into that little round face. Lashes framed a set of dark brown eyes widened in wonder by the newness of life. The baby kicked her feet and wiggled in his arms and let out a sigh, settling against the warmth of his chest. He felt the weight of his mistakes begin to lighten. Life had gone on and would continue to go on with or without him. Where he wanted to be in life's great game was up to him. Every possibility was up to him to choose. He felt her little, chubby, hand close around his finger. Life didn't care about who won or who lost or what the cost was, only that the game was played. "Hello, Danni."

Tristen clapped his brother on the back and chuckled. "Danni. I like it." He kept his arm draped over his brother's shoulders and walked in between his dad and his brother. Marianne held their dad's hand in a tight grip. The four, no five of them, walked up the stone walkway, slowly, but getting there, step by step. "It's good to have you home, Daniel."

Daniel nodded, "It's good to be back. Home." Silently he added overwhelmed by the sense of rightness and peace that flowed from his family, the woods, and the sprawling house ahead of him. "Where I belong."

Chapter 105

After spending the morning reviewing the highlights of his past with his mom and dad, Cole needed a minute or two for himself. The city bustled around him in obliviousness. To them he was just another life, a small spark, in the blazing pulse of energy that made up her heart and soul. He turned down his dad's invitation for a ride home. There was one last thing he had to do before he left. See Rachael again.

The cemetery was quiet, looking dignified in her decoration of leafy green foliage and neatly organized beds bursting with spring blossoms. The last time he'd been here snow covered the ground and the sky was drab and gray. The cemetery was a fury of life. Birds found shelter in the trees and twittered back and forth with one another. A fat squirrel, its cheeks swollen with bounty, bristled its tail and barked at him from its hiding place at the gnarled base of a aged oak tree. He was the only predator in the graveyard. The things that shared their homes with the wildlife here were already dead.

Rachael's tombstone sat under the shade of a tall, wide, maple. Sunlight dappled shadows through the leaves and cast patterns on the gray marble of the stone. Cole pressed his wraparound sunglasses tighter against his face and crouched at the head of her grave. "Hi Rachael."

Cole settled back against her headstone and idly plucked at the tender shoots of grass beneath his fingertips. Sitting here, resting his head against the hard marble and etched lettering of her monument, the cool stone was comforting as the embrace of a dear friend. He closed his eyes and breathed in the essence of all the life, great and small, around him. "I wonder, from where you are, can you see me? Are you watching over me? Keeping me honest, Rachael?"

He took a deep breath and held it. The aroma of the city was thick on his tongue. Humanity teased at his cravings like a spoiled child with a lollipop, teasing and taunting. "Life is hard, Rachael. Harder than what I ever imagined. The bad guy got away. I made you a promise. I thought I was about to make good on it, but I didn't. People died last night and there wasn't a damned thing I could have done to stop it. Sometimes, I just want to give up.

"I don't, Rachael, because of you, I don't. You listen to my ranting and raving, oh so quietly. You never judge me. You never condemn. I use you as the mirror of my soul. Sometimes, Rachael, I don't like what I see. These fangs, this body, and I'm still so human. Maybe more human than I was when I was a human. I ask myself was it worth it? Did it really take death, your death and the death of my human body to finally be human? I guess it did. Didn't it."

Cole smiled bitterly and ran his hands down the cool stone. "I'm doing my best, Rachael, with what I've been given. Maybe that's what being human truly means. For you to do your best and fall, get up, brush yourself off, and try again, and again, and again. I fight the beast inside of me. I used to think I did it for you. But, I realize I do it for myself and for the part of me that still lives and breathes and is still human."

He leaned on Rachael's tombstone and rested his head on the tops of his folded arms. "I miss you, Rachael. God, I miss you so much."

John Mark gave his pupil a few moments alone with his thoughts in the quiet of the cemetery. Their job was done. The rubble sifted through and the remains of their dead gathered and accounted for. Escorted home for a warrior's funeral on the bluffs this night. Cole had learned so much in just twenty-four hours. He'd harnessed that part of himself that was bent on revenge. He'd mastered his pride through service and obedience. He was still a long way from the warrior he'd one day become. But, he was a little closer than he was before. Gently, but firmly, John Mark rested a hand on Cole's shoulder. "It's time to go home."

Cole lifted his head and took a deep breath. Guys didn't show emotion, especially to other guys. This was a universal rule, no matter what the species, males did not even acknowledge their feminine side existed let alone bawl like a sissy in front of another male. He pressed his fingers to his lips and then ran them over the carved stone, over her name. "Love you," he whispered.

Chapter 106

Maggie awoke with a splitting headache. Her mouth was as parched and dry as the Sahara Desert. Sunlight streamed in through lace sheers. The couch was hard, lumpy and uncomfortable against her back. She was home, not at her apartment, but in her parent's living room. From the kitchen, her mother lectured. Even though she'd been asleep and had missed most of it, thankfully. Her mom lectured her unconscious body anyway. A spoon loudly banged on the rim of a mug and noisily clanked against the countertop.

Ginger stirred a little sugar into the strong, bitter, mix of herbs and boiling water. Maggie looked so small in the warrior's arms, dwarfed and pale surrounded by all that black leather and weaponry. Ginger had been ceremoniously thanked for her daughter's sacrifice and then left alone to tend to her little girl. Maggie slept like the dead. When she woke she'd be in no mood and no shape to hear the lecture forming on her mother's worried lips. Ginger had lectured her anyway. Perhaps on some subliminal plane the message would get through. "Oh, you're awake." Ginger thrust the steaming mug of tea into her daughter's hands. "Drink this, it'll help."

Maggie held back a sharp, choking cough as she swallowed the first sip of the tea. The tea was the stuff of nightmares and all a little girl's fears. Whenever she was sick, her mom went to the cabinet above the stove to fetch the tea. Maggie learned soon to never be sick enough to earn a mug of the putrid stuff.

With a little motherly coaxing and a few motherly threats, Ginger watched Maggie force down the tea. She flopped into the recliner next to the couch and put her feet up. Tending the wounded as they trickled in throughout the night left her feeling a little rundown herself. She knew how bad the tea was and even though she could use a hit of it herself, she procrastinated. "You know, the old saying give all you've got doesn't apply to blood donors. Right?"

Maggie sagged deeper into the couch and pulled the covers up around her shoulders. "I know, mom. I know."

Ginger slid forward on the seat of the recliner and stroked Maggie's hair. "You did a very brave, maybe a little stupid, but brave thing last night. I'm very proud of you. Next time don't be so brave. Ok."

"I won't, mom." Maggie sighed and closed her eyes. There was so much need. So many injured that needed her help last night. She couldn't refuse to help them. But, she shouldn't have given as much as she did. It wouldn't have been anyone's fault if an accident had happened. They could have drained her to the last drop and she would have let them. Just so she wouldn't have to see them suffer so much. Maggie fell back to sleep with the soft whisper of her mother's fingers stroking her hair.

Ginger stroked Maggie's hair till she fell asleep. "I love you," she whispered and slipped away to get ready for her shift at the hospital.

Chapter 107

Eric lounged in the backseat behind the thick, black tint of darkened windows. He had more devout followers than Carter knew about. Just a kiss and a promise, one he'd never fulfill, and they'd follow him around like lost sheep in search of a master. The human driver sold himself for far much cheaper than a promise. Cold hard cash kept the driver loyal. Eric could almost respect that. Almost.

The driver had pulled into some nameless backwater town to relieve himself. Such messy business, being human, Eric thought. He personally could not remember what the urge even felt like. His body used every bit of nutrition he pumped into it. Nothing went to waste.

He pushed a button on the door panel and cracked the window, looking out disinterestedly at the town. The burg was just like every other burg he'd ever seen. A small cluster of fast foot restaurants and gas stations bordered a narrow two-lane highway. People didn't live here. They merely just existed in the mundaneness of their short little lives.

The gas station was a dirty, dingy little hole in the wall. The fumes of gasoline and humanity were thick in the air. People hurriedly shuffled to and from their cars, pumping gas, weathered hands clutching coffee cups and bags of donuts, puffing on cigarettes, whatever they needed to usher them into the start of another day they came in droves to purchase.

Impatiently, Eric drummed his fingers on the empty leather seat beside him. How long did it take to take a piss? He was anxious to be away from this place. Eager to regroup and reform a new plan to get what he wanted. He should have drained the boy when he had a chance. But, Daniel's power was nearly a whisper of his father's and the father's an intelligible utterance of the pack master's. He wanted it all. His plotting had cost him dearly.

He actually liked the stately Victorian manor. The Victorian era had been one of his favorites and he'd seen more than one age rise into popularity and fall into the oblivion of what the humans called history. If they only had any idea how recent their pasts were compared to what he called the past. His past had been almost eight hundred years ago, a time when humans huddled around campfires and were truly and rightfully terrified of the dark. How he missed those days.

When he stumbled along Carter, he'd been bored out of his wits and questioning whether his, even back then, long existence was worth the living. Carter had been a bright spark of light among and endless sea of nothing. Eric had taken that spark and breathed it new life and Carter hated him for it.

Yessette was a mistake. Eric saw Carter's love for the scrap of a human girl as a challenge. Carter's devotion to her drove him to the point of madness. The son should love the father above all others. If Yessette could have truly loved Eric as a woman was meant to love a man, they could have been one big happy family. Despite all his gifts and endless patience with her, she had not. The night Carter left her for dead and Eric happened upon her. He brought her over, for Carter. She was to be the ultimate gift to him. Instead, she'd become the ultimate curse to the both of them.

Eric could feel the tickling presence of Yessette and Carter lingering in his mind. A good father always knew where his children were. They were far from him, in a remote, desolate place. In his mind, he could reach out and touch them. Roll Yessette's fear and Carter's grim determination around in his mind like a piece of sweet candy in his mouth. For now, he'd leave them be. But, in time, he'd go to collect his wayward offspring and bring them home.

Eric withdrew from lingering thoughts about Yessette and Carter and pushed his attention to the early morning bustle around him. The smell of humans reminded him of his own hungers and his need to slake them soon. Not in this little town, though. Small towns had meant a death sentence for his kind more than once. People tended to notice it when their neighbors went missing and they had a nasty habit of relating for the insult to their kin. Soon, in the next city with a decent population, he'd feed.

He lifted an eyebrow at his driver. The man looked as ordinary as any other average citizen. Medium built, sturdy but not too strong, nondescript in face and coloring, nothing about him stood out from the herd. The driver simply blended in. One hand held a cup of coffee, a small bag containing some confectionary breakfast treat clutched between two fingers. With his free hand he politely held the entry door wide for a woman and the bleary eyed set of tweens she had in tow.

"What took so long?" Eric huffed at the man as he slid behind the wheel and placed his coffee cup in the holder and the bag on the empty seat beside him.

"I apologize for my delay, master," the driver answered blandly. "I have not eaten in many hours and my concentration isn't what it should be."

"Very well," Eric grumbled. A cool morning breeze wafted though the open window. He snuffled at the breeze out of reflex. He learned more about the world around him through his nose than humans could ever hope to see with their eyes. The car pulled to the edge of the lot. The turn signal blinked and the driver inched his foot off the brake to edge out into traffic. "Wait a minute." Eric took a deep breath and held it. Beneath the scent of fresh air, farm animals, and the pulse of life from this little burg in the middle of nowhere he smelled something else. Something musky and wild tickled his senses. Werewolves. "Find a place to keep us out of sight. I think I might be sticking around for a while."

Eric glanced through the back glass as the driver pushed into traffic. The two girls disappeared inside the store with the woman. One of the girls had hair, brilliantly crimson as a sailor's setting sun and the other a curtain of silk, dark as a raven's wing. There was no mistaking the scent of wolf on their skin or the power held at bay in their fragile developing bodies. Wolves. Could the answer really be this simple? Was the wolf's den right under his nose? Eagerly, he spun in the seat and pulled out his cell phone. Time to set up housekeeping a casual distance away, but close enough that this time when opportunity chose to knock. He'd answer.

Chapter 108

Hunter felt better. His body was healing. He'd wanted to push the trifling aches and pains to the side and make love to his wife. Her body blossomed with the swell of their unborn child. The promise of new life gave him hope and filled him with dread. The enemy was still out there. Waiting for the chance to sink its teeth into them again. Gently, he pressed his palm to the swollen bulge of Gina's stomach and sighed.

Gina stretched out into the warmth of her husband's arms. His fingers were light and tickling across her stomach. She could think of a thousand ways to make him forget all about his aches and pains. This time was too close. She'd come closer than ever to losing him for good. His battered, broken body was a welcome sight. "Young man, you're grounded," she said in her sternest voice.

"Grounded?" Hunter chuckled. He could think of nothing better than being forced to stay in his room with her in his bed.

"I almost lost you. Almost lost the both of you. Daniel is like a son to me. I don't know what I would have done if either of you hadn't come home. I made Daniel promise me he'd never do something so stupid again."

Hunter lifted his head up from Gina's shoulder and looked her in the eyes. "And did he?"

"No. Neither will you. When danger comes you'll go out to meet it won't you."

Hunter looked away from those green eyes so desperately seeking out the truth on his face. He wanted to lie. Tell her that he'd never put himself in danger again. But, like his son, he couldn't. "I won't make a promise I can't keep, Gina. I protect the pack. It is what I do."

Gina ran her hands through the soft, black stubble of Hunter's hair and sighed a heavy, weighty sigh of resignation. "I know." The future was never a certainty. Tomorrow was a fluid ever changing world of possibilities. What those possibilities could be and where they could lead a person, she didn't know. As much as she wanted her family home and safe, there wasn't anything she could do to guarantee it. She loved the man and she knew what he was. He was a wolf, a warrior, and her husband. He'd brought out her wolf and she knew her place beside him. Even if it meant she stayed up more nights than not worrying about him. She couldn't' change him and she wouldn't change a thing. She would hang on for what was certain to be a very bumpy ride.

Daniel locked himself in his old room and burrowed under the covers. He looked over the stacks of CDs and piles of computer equipment. When he'd left this room. All this stuff seemed so important. Now, it didn't mean a damned thing; it was just a collection of junk squirreled away by a boy. He'd left with the boyish dreams of adventure and excitement filling his head, thinking he was a man and hell bent to prove it. In those few short months, the boy had shed his soft outer skin and grew up into a man. The boy he had been, he knew well. The man he'd grown into, he didn't know, at all.