Another Half

November 2011

The first thing that Blade noticed about the van was that it was stripped down. There was nothing in the van except a closed toolbox and three cases of drinking water next to a large white plastic container that looked like it was full of an orange liquid Blade swore smelled like gasoline.

Blade eyed the two dark-haired men with her in the back of the van. They stared back. Both of them had the same eyes, so she guessed that they were either brothers or cousins. The bulkier of the two of them had a thick moustache. The woman driving had short sandy blonde hair with dark glasses.

Who were these people?

Don’t panic! Don’t panic! Don’t panic!

Talon kept saying this over and over for more than ten minutes.

Shut up, Talon. I can’t think with all your screaming.

Talon finally settled down to a whimper.

Blade ignored the men glaring at her, and she took a deep breath. She let her training and instincts kick. All of them were werewolves. Locals. She gritted her teeth. They were in the middle of the thing she had been avoiding the most, and she regretted letting her guard down. However this ended, she knew it would be messy.

She found it odd that none of her captors had said a word. Meanwhile, from what she saw past the men and into the front, the she-wolf driver had turned from a large highway into a bumpy dirt road. Blade looked toward the window in the back of the van and, despite the clouds of dust the wheels were picking up, no one seemed to be following them. She sighed with relief.

Blade turned toward the men that were still staring at her and sniffed the air again. They were not rogues. The she-wolf driver was mated to one of the men, to the one with the moustache. The other man was unmated, but Blade could smell several she-wolves on him.

“Ewww. He’s one of those wolfy man-whores,” Talon said. “How quaint.”

“Who are you? And why have you taken us?” Blade asked as she moved towards Andy. He had started to cry and she took him out of his car seat. In the process of shifting her weight on her legs, she felt the unyielding hardness of her blades concealed within the leather folds of her black boots.

The man with the moustache snorted. The other one grinned.

“The question, pretty little lady, is who the hell are you?” said the one that grinned. “’Cuz if our intel is right, there’s a twenty thousand bounty for your pretty little head on a nice silver platter. Run away from yer mate, did ya?”

Shit, shit, shit…

Talon’s small voice was incessant, and for once, Blade couldn’t agree with her more.

“What I want to know is why you’d think to run away with yer mate’s only heir,” the moustached man said, crossing his arms. “That was dumb.”

Wait, what?! Talon screamed.

Blade gaped at the burly male who had just accused her of kidnapping Nick’s-–son?!

In the four months since Andy had come to live with them, not once did Nick look at the baby boy with anything short of contempt, if not hatred. He had consistently told Blade that Andy’s bad luck was his own and that she should give him up for adoption since she was in no way capable of taking care of him. And that he sure as hell wasn’t going to claim or adopt him as his own. That meant the Beta title would go to Andy, regardless of any biological sons he would later have.

So why would he claim him as his own now?!

It was probably the only way he would have gotten goons like this to help him find us, Talon said after finally calming down.

“This is not his baby,” Blade said, firmly. Both men laughed. “He’s my–”

“Listen, bitch. If the kid weren’t his, he wouldn’t be so hell-bent on getting him back today. The fuck were ya thinking?” the man with the moustache said, glaring at her.

“What’s going to happen to him? To me?”

“The baby has to go back to its father.” The silence that followed was enough to answer the rest of her questions.

Blade wanted to say that the baby’s father was dead, but it would be useless. She had to think of a way to get them out of this situation. Once these wolves got rid of her, it wouldn’t be long before Nick got rid of Andy, whether by his hand or someone else’s. There was only one way to get out of this mess, and that was by making a bigger mess. She wished her twin Joaquin was there with her. He would have loved what she was planning. Blade glanced down at Andy and smiled sadly.

“The baby needs a bottle,” she said. “You! Hand me that bag over there.” Blade pointed to the diaper bag.

The moustached man frowned but tossed it at her, and she got busy making a bottle.

“What’s your name?” she asked him as she sat further toward the back of the van, away from the men. She needed space.

He glared at her. “That’s none of your damn business, is it?”

“He’s John; I’m Darryl,” the other man said. He met John’s glare with a grin. “His mate over there is Hannah.”

“Quit commiserating with the dead, boys,” Hannah said. “Give some time to come to terms with her tragic fate.”

All three of them laughed, and Blade took in a deep breath. It calmed her nerves, but the fear refused to leave. The ride was getting bumpier, and Blade noticed through the front windshield that wherever they were headed was very isolated.

“How did you find me?” Blade resumed her questioning after burping Andy, changing him, and setting him back into his car seat for what hoped would be a long, uninterrupted nap.

Darryl shrugged. “Word got sent from a pack back east of a woman with your description and a picture of ya and of the car seat. Went to our pack’s email. Hannah over there intercepted it before anyone else went in this morning. It said ya might be around here today and was carrying a Beta’s heir disguised as baby girl.”

Damn. Blade shouldn’t have thrown away that blonde wig and maybe used heavy make-up. She needed to work on her disguises. What’s more, she underestimated how soon Nick would have woken up, and how angry he would be. She really should have killed him.

“How many more people in your pack got his message?” she asked. Blade just needed a bit more information and a cue.

Patience is of saints and angels, Mija. Remembering her grandfather’s words gave her a bit of comfort.

Darryl laughed. “Like I’ve done told ya, that’s the beauty of it all this plan, little lady. We got the email, printed it, and left before anyone else got into the office. We don’t want to share a twenty thousand dollar reward! We even deleted the email and alls!” He laughed.

The van came to a sudden stop at the edge of a cliff.

“We’re here! Git her out!” Hannah yelled from the front of the van. “It’s time!”

And that was Blade’s cue.