Chapter 30
The pack left nothing to timing and chance. They didn’t wait to see if there was anyone in the coven when they got there or how many there was. Cal didn’t care if there were a hundred. He would figure out a way. He had to.
When they got to the second hideout, it was smaller than the first, but he knew that there were tunnels underneath it that went into a maze. These nightwalkers decided it was safer underground. That would be true when it came to sunlight and humans, but Cal’s pack wasn’t going to be dissuaded because of a couple of vampires and dark tunnels.
There was a mess when they got inside, and Cal could smell something that he had smelled at the last place. He’d pushed it off that it was one of his own, and it was, but this smell was there when they got there. Someone was there before them.
Cal raced in, and the rest followed. He went straight down, following the bodies that were torn apart around him. It was about five before he saw what was causing the chaos.
“Caleb?”
The elder vampire was in the room, caught unawares and Cal’s thunderous voice made him turn. It must have been quite a sight: eight shifter bears in the room with him and the man turned even whiter than he was before.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“I’m here for the elder.”
Cal knew that Caleb wasn’t there for that. He knew that there was something else going on. He was Abott’s favorite, and it finally occurred to him. He was trying to kill off the elder vampires so that the baby would die or be weak. Calum couldn’t believe the treachery, but it was almost par for the course now. He should have known that there was going to be blowback for his brother’s death.
Baring his teeth, Cal told his brother to get away from the vampire. The nightwalker was his. He needed the blood for his baby, and there was nothing that was going to stand in his way, not even one of his own. Especially not one of his own. Not again.
Caleb knew that he had lost. He had this look in his eyes that was hard to fathom, and Cal saw him lean towards him a moment before he lunged. Never had he wanted to hurt his brothers, but Caleb would be the second one that he had to take out. with his own hand.
The two brothers scuffled, and the fight was to the death. Cal couldn’t go on letting another one live that would do such things. He’d learned his lesson with Abott, and he was one brother short as he killed the vampire and took the blood that he needed.
There wasn’t a lot of talking on the way back home. The seven brothers had seen a lot during their night, and the baby still had to be saved. Cal hadn’t even gotten a chance to meet him yet, but he was already willing to give up everything for him.
* * *
“He will be herein time, Ali, don’t worry about that. Cal won’t let anything happen to him. I promise. I’ve seen the way this all goes down.”
Ali wanted to feel better about it, and she wanted to believe Michael’s words, but she couldn’t. There wasn’t anything that she could do but worry. Her son wasn’t as strong as he should have been, and Michael explained to her because he needed blood. She hated the idea of it, but whatever it was that her son needed, she wanted it to be there. Knowing that Cal was trying to get it made her feel a little better, but she wanted to be out there finding it herself.
Michael told her goodbye, and he said it in a strange way, like they were never going to see each other again. The look he gave her and the expression on his face made her wonder what that was all about. She had no idea, and Ali held the baby closer to her as a wave of dread came over her. She thought it was for Shane, but maybe it was for the old man that had just left. Something bad was going to happen, and Ali was afraid that she wasn’t going to be able to stop it.
The old man moved out of the tent and took a deep breath. The time had come, and no matter how hard he tried to tell himself that it was going to be okay, he knew that it wasn’t going to be okay for him. If he tried to change the vision, it would change in ways that he knew wouldn’t be good. He knew that the last thing that he needed to do was go back in the tent and endanger Ali and the baby. She had a big enough fight ahead of her. Michael wouldn’t do it. He was sure that this was how it was supposed to be.
“I see you in the darkness, nightwalker. Come for your revenge?”
“I came for Calum. He’s killed everyone. We won’t let it stand.”
Michael smiled into the darkness where he knew his fate was and shook his head. “You won’t find Calum here. You’ll kill me and then one of his brothers will dispatch of you minutes later. If you were smart, you would leave now and save us both from death.”
He heard movement before he saw it, and once he did, the nightwalker was upon him, and he knew that there was nothing that he could do about it. He felt the teeth going into his neck and there was no time to do anything. Michael couldn’t shift, and he couldn’t overpower the nightwalker. It wasn’t a yearling. He was older and stronger, but true to his word, Michael hadn’t lied.
The intruder was promptly killed as the brother came upon the mayhem. Michael lay dying, and he knew that the visions had come true, so the one about the new world that was starting now was real too. He could finally rest, knowing that he’d had a hand in it.
Cal and the rest of the pack came back to the scene of mourning. He hadn’t even told them about the death of Caleb, but he could hear the howls as he was coming up. Of all the people he expected it to be about, he was not thinking that it would be Michael. The old man lay on the ground.
“What happened?”
He was told in a broken voice by Vince and Cal decided it wasn’t the time to bring up Caleb. The pack was going to have a lot to mourn very soon.
“I have to get this to the baby. I don’t know what to do with it.”
Another elder came up and helped him with it. “Michael told me what to do. I asked him why I needed to know, and he told me that he wouldn’t be around for it. I thought that he was going to leave for a rest by the river like he does sometimes, but I guess he knew otherwise.”
Cal was amazed and shook his head. “Michael always knew.”
