It explains so much, especially Tawna’s inability to heal her mental state with turning. It explains Carmen’s sometimes loner personality; while wolves, even me, long to be part of the pack and crave close connections, she always avoids it. Flaws from hybrids can devastate the abilities most wolves are born with. Any discrepancy or mutation can affect us, like how I can override Colton’s alpha tone even before I was his Luna. Sierra and the Doc found out a lot about this in the years they studied and researched hybrids, and it’s amazing a human was even able to carry a half-wolf to term.
“You’re none of those things. We don’t choose what we are, Carmen. We live with it and learn to use it to our advantage. Meds wouldn’t have vouched for you as our backup if you were weak or inferior. So, pull yourself together, grab whatever you need for a few days, and meet me out front. We need to go, and as much as I know I should give you time, empathy, and compassion, I don’t have the time right now. Come or stay, we leave in about fifteen minutes, and I expect to see you there.”
I know I’m being harsh, but I don’t have the energy for this. If I let her wallow in pity, she will spiral, which won’t help. We need to leave, go before people wake, and be out of here at the break of dawn as the sun peeks to ensure we have maximum time to get where we are going. Safe from vamps, and early enough that maybe the wolves out there will be asleep wherever they are. I know that even enchanted that they do rest, we saw them trail off as the sun went down to go wherever they were beckoned, and we can only assume it was to sleep. I don’t doubt that even enchanted they need to do self-care basics, like eat, rest, and use the bathroom. Here’s hoping they all don’t wake at the same hour as Colton with an energy akin to the sun at that hour.
I don’t wait for an answer, feeling antsy and knowing I need to stay pulled together and strong, or else I’ll break, and I’m already emotionally exhausted. I walk off, leaving her to decide what she’s doing and make light work of getting outside at hyper speed. I’m in no mood for more interactions with other wolves right now.
Meadow is outside with a very familiar truck pulled into the center of the drive, and it’s covered all over with symbols spray-painted on everything I can see. They are only a shade or two darker than the green military paint, so they're not overly showy, but I know they’re what I saw in the spell book yesterday. I guess Sierra figured this was the best way to cast a protection spell on our vehicle. To keep the fog out and maybe our pack, much like the rune border.
It’s the medical truck from the lab that the Doc and I arrived in so many months ago, and that sense of Deja Vue and full circle claw at the back of my mind again. Making my skin bristle and wonder why this feels like it has more importance than it should. Maybe the fates are coercing something once again, but I can’t imagine how this circles back to all that’s come before. I push the feeling away and set my eyes on the truck in all its glory.
It’s large and roomy, with space in the back for supplies and for us to lie down and sleep should we need it. And when I wander around to the open back doors, I’m not shocked to see two beds clipped into place, one on each side and another folded flat and pushed into a corner. I guess Meds figured should we need to stop and spend a night somewhere, then a truck with a protection spell is the best place to sleep. If the runes keep Vamps out here, it should be the same on this vehicle, so inside, we wouldn’t be sitting targets at all. A bunch of crates are piled and strapped into one corner, holding dried and fresh foods, a small camping stove, and packs of water beside it. She has thought ahead, bringing a veil of peace over my fraught nerves for a moment. Reminding me of Colton’s capable command and attention to detail reminds me why Meadow is his beta.
“Is she coming?” Meadow slightly pushes me over while she closes the back doors and locks them tight, showing more runic symbols painted on them. I run my fingertips over the surface of them with interest.
“Were these successful?” I ask, not answering her question when I don’t know myself. Carmen never told me if she would follow me, even if she said she was coming.
“She thinks so, but we won’t know until we test it. She put them everywhere, even underneath and on the roof, thinking it would create a bubble. So, the fog can’t get in, and neither will anyone who’s enchanted.” Meadow stands beside me and admires Sierra’s handiwork with a silent stiff posture. I can feel her tension ebbing my way, her mind caught in plans and the road ahead.
“How do we test it? I ask curiously, and Meadow glares at the sentinel helping her, one I recognize as being called Tom. Someone Colton trusts and speaks highly of who’s been on sentinel patrol many times. I guess he is sworn to secrecy. He wouldn’t have been part of the search due to his mate's labor yesterday and the twin puppies' arrival last night, so we’re lucky we have at least one capable wolf to assist Sierra.
“I volunteered.” he points out, but Meadow shakes her head, giving off that aura of attitude, and I know I probably missed an argument.
“No, Tom. I told you. She needs you here, not some mindless whatever, out there with them if it doesn’t work. Those puppies need their Papi; the first days are important for the bond.” Meadow pats him on his shoulder, and while I completely agree with her, I see no possible way to test it if no one is going to drive it into the fog. Maybe we should rely on me keeping the fog out until we reach its perimeter because I don’t want to take any chances.
“I’ll do it!” The voice startles me from behind us, and we both turn in unison, surprised by the invasive statement, to see Carmen standing on the gravel in front of the main stairways. She’s watching us with interest and no hint of hesitation on her face at all now she’s fully dressed and out in the sunlight to start a new day. “I can drive out there to the main entrance, and if the fog gets me and I end up like them, you don’t lose anything except a burden. If it works, then you’ll know.” She has a Deadpan, emotionless tone as she shrugs nonchalantly, and I can sense she does not care if it puts her in danger.
I open my mouth to argue with her but Meadow cuts in instead and silences me.
“Sacrifice isn’t admirable, nor smart. And we don’t take burdens along for the ride. If I didn’t think you were worth coming along, you wouldn’t be. Don’t flatter yourself.” It’s harsh even for her, but given how they always used to snap at each other, I think it’s the closest to niceness I think she’ll get verbally. Meadow and Carmen had issues long before I came along, and looking at how Carmen stiffens up and that fire of anger shows instantly, I wonder if maybe Meadow knows how to deal with her better than I do.
“Look, it needs to be tested. You said so! I’ll drive only enough to get the hood into the fog. If it starts leaching in, I’ll reverse. It can’t cross the runes, so it won’t be something that gets to me if I pay attention and keep the wheel behind the runes.” Again, with that shrug of indifference, I squint at her, trying to get a read on her emotional state, and still find nothing but emptiness. She isn’t afraid of what’s out there and doesn’t care about dying. That’s never good.
“Actually, that’s a pretty smart idea, thanks.” Meadow doesn’t wait. Much to my despair, she turns and hops into the truck and revs up the engine intending to do it herself before we can protest. Carmen blanches, and I call out in utter panic, fear gripping my soul as my voice rasps in my throat painfully.
“Meadow, NO! What if it doesn’t work, or you can’t reverse in time?” I raise my hands to use my gifts to haul the truck back or lift its wheels so it can’t progress, but Carmen catches me and tugs them to her instead. Stopping me from interfering and shakes her head at me vigorously, daring to tell ME how to react. I’m too shocked by this bold maneuver to react initially. She just detained her Luna and stopped her from doing what she felt she had to do.
Who gave her the right?
Meadow isn’t listening; instead, she crunches the stick shift gears and moves off before I can do or say anything about it. Stuck in Carmen’s strong grip, wriggling against her, cursing, and hating on her with fury as I bare down on her face with fire in my eyes. Carmen completely blanks me and looks at the road ahead instead, waiting to see if the truck survives. That crunch of tires on gravel has me spin back to her, and the blood turns cold in my veins as all sense of fight dissolves.
“Meadow!” I start to freak out, panic rising in my throat and bile as terror grips me, and I’m near hysteria as she moves away from me. Dragging my focus back to her departing image. I know fine well that if I lose Meadow, too, I’ll crumble and break. I can’t do this without her. I need her. She’s keeping me sane, my head above water, and a sense of confidence that I can do this in the absence of the Alpha. Without her, we’re doomed.
I lift my hands, yanking them free from Carmen’s looser grip while she was distracted, ready to push the fog back and drag the truck backward, but my wrists are grabbed from the side. I’m yanked away for a second time with an almighty sigh, sending a surge of energy out towards the tree line as they quiver with the force. I round on Carmen, tears biting my eyes as she holds me steady once more and tugs me hard as if shaking sense into me.
“Pull yourself together. Meadow’s not stupid. We need to know the spell works because if it doesn’t, we need another plan.” Carmen’s biting tone, angry scowl, and raspy scold silence me momentarily for a second. I want to punch her in the throat for talking to me like that, yet all I can do is blink at her in stunned, quiet. That she would even dare address me this way, manhandle me, and turn when I hear the crunch of brakes and the truck's skid stopping at the perimeter.
Meadow inches it forward slowly, carefully, edging out to test, and I’m glued to the spot as I watch it at a distance. It seems to crawl onward, more and more, my nails biting into my flesh, cutting skin as I watch in frozen fear. Carmen is still holding my hands taut, and we realize Meadow is not stopping.
“What’s she doing?” I utter shakily as the truck moves out further into the fog with no hint of stalling, being swallowed into the green mist at an alarming rate, and my breath catches in my throat.
“Either… it works, and she’s making sure, or …” she swallows loudly, and I stare at the red lights of the rear hazards as they dull out mistily, and the worst-case scenario floods my mind.
“She’s been taken and isn’t stopping!” I verbalize the fear but sigh with relief as the truck halts noisily, brakes, making the wheels whine, and she thrusts it into reverse at speed, comes all the way back without hesitation, and moves right to the spot she left us with precise speed.
“Pretty sure she wouldn’t have got back in if she had been.” Carmen points out factually, raising a brow with a somehow know-it-all expression, and I still hold my breath until I hear the driver's door open, and Meds yells out.
“Are you two coming or what? We ain’t got all day, Chicas. Move, move!”