Plague Wolf: Werewolf Romance (Wolf Wars Book 3) Read online

  "I'm not sure. I saw a shore with trees and aimed for it."

  Light footsteps crossed the leaves behind them. Allyson jumped and whirled around, fists clenched. A familiar scent greeted her sinuses and she smiled.

  "Garrett?" she called out.

  "Yeah," Garrett said, between breaths, as he made his way through the trees.

  Garrett held his arms open as Allyson jumped into them. She powdered his face with kisses and he twirled her in the air.

  "Are you okay?" he finally asked when she pulled her lips away from him.

  "Yeah, I'm okay." She smiled and leaned in for another kiss.

  "I brought clothes. The truck is parked over by Duwamish Trail."

  "Duwamish Trail? Where are we?"

  "Kellogg Island. But come on, let's get out of here."

  "What about the others?" August asked. "Where are they?"

  Garrett shook his head.

  "I think the current carried them further downstream." He paused to brush Allyson's stringy, dirty hair away from her face. "I took a gamble that you would have been able to fight the current to get to here. But further down, the current gets a lot weaker as the river narrows."

  "Okay, well, let's go before they catch us with our pants down," August said. "Chances are they're going to try again. We'll need to stop them before they get the chance."

  "The chance to what?" Garrett asked.

  Chapter Ten

  "You wanted to what?" Garrett didn't wait for an answer to his question. He leaned back and launched his fist at August's cheek. "Do you have any idea how ma--."

  "Garrett," Allyson tried to get his attention.

  August ducked as another of Garrett's fists came flying up toward his jaw.

  "Garrett!" Allyson tried again.

  "What?"

  Garrett finally turned to glare at her.

  "I've already been through this with him," she said. "He understands."

  "He understands? Is that what you think I'm after is his understanding?"

  Garrett turned his attention back to August.

  August ducked Garrett's punch, carefully placing the kitchen table between them.

  "Garrett!"

  "What?"

  "This isn't helping."

  "I'm not aiming for helpful right now."

  "Well then fix your aim," Allyson grabbed Garrett's arms and turned him around to face her. "We need to figure out where they are and if they still have the virus. And if they do, we need to figure out what their next step will be."

  Garrett turned back and glared at August. His fist still clenched tight. Allyson's grip calmed his thoughts and he shook his head.

  "Fine," he muttered. "If they didn't climb up onto Kellogg Island with you two, then they would have gone further downstream. It's all residences down there, unless they followed the river all the way south to where it feeds into the Black River. There's a park and forest near there that they might have been able to hide in. That's where I was going to look for you if I didn't find you on Kellogg Island."

  "Okay. How far is that from here?"

  "Half hour drive, maybe more depending on traffic."

  Allyson nodded and pulled out one of the maps.

  "August, get online and start checking the news sites."

  August nodded, without taking his eyes off Garrett, and walked over to the computer.

  "What am I looking for?" he asked.

  "Murders. Deaths. Unexplained animal attacks," Allyson said. August's eyes darted past Garrett and over to Allyson in the front room. After a few moments of silence, she turned to see why he hadn't responded to her yet. "Okay?"

  "Ye-yeah," he said. "Yes. I'll start checking."

  "I'll check through the news channels," Garrett added and swiped the television remote from the counter separating the kitchen from the front room. For several minutes, the only sounds echoing between the walls were the crinkling of maps and the clacking of the keys on the keyboard.

  "So, let me get this straight," Garrett said. "You were going to try to release the virus at a bank because you thought it would spread faster?"

  "Yeah. With the way money changes hands so fast, it seemed perfect."

  "But why bother? I mean if the virus is airborne, why bother putting it on the money?"

  "I figured it was like any other virus, you know? Like the cold or bronchitis or something. The germs are airborne but they don't last all that long in the air. They still travel by touch. People spending money, talking on the phone, drinking water out of the same glass."

  "What?" Garrett turned away from the television.

  "I said that I planned to contaminate the money because I figur--."

  "No, after that. About how viruses are caught?"

  "He said the water," Allyson mumbled as she stared at her map. "Water. That's probably where they're going to do it."

  "What you think they're just going to spray it into the river or something? Then we don't have to worry about it, right? The salt in the water will kill the virus before--."

  "Not if they dump it into the fresh water supply," Allyson said as she pointed to the map. "Right here, the water treatment facility. It's about half an hour north of here. It takes in water and cleans it for distribution."

  "That's where they'll go," Garrett agreed. "If they're smart. That's where I would go. No people around. If something goes wrong you can always turn right here in the woods that surrounds the plant."

  "Okay, so let's go."

  Allyson grabbed Garrett's keys from the table and headed toward the door.

  Garrett turned to August.

  "Thanks for your help. But Allyson and I have it from here. I suggest you get very, very far from Seattle as fast as you can before nightfall."

  "Or what?"

  "There is no or. Just go. Get out of here."

  "Why? I want to help."

  "You've done enough. Between these crazy experiments, creating the new version of the virus, and recruiting people to help you release it. You've already done plenty."

  "You don't trust me."

  "I have no confidence in you. There's a difference."

  "No confidence in me? Who the hell do you think you are? You don't know what it's like for us. For people like Allyson and me. You don't have any idea about what those hunters do. Maybe if you did then--."

  "I was a hunter," Garrett bit off the end of August's argument. "I was a hunter for years. I know exactly what they are capable of. And I know there are some bad ones out there. There are some truly evil hunters out there. But I also know you chose to fight against the hunters by throwing the rest of humankind into the mix. You tried to sacrifice humankind all for the sake of getting at a few hunters, because you couldn't think of another way. So no. I don't want you there."

  "Y-you."

  August's confused eyes wandered over toward Allyson. She stood with her arms crossed over her chest. Garrett's keys still dangled from her fingertips.

  "So this is what happens, huh?" he said. "You get out of high school and you fall into bed with a hunter? With the fucking bully?"

  "Don't turn this on me," Allyson said. "This isn't about whether or not Garrett is a bully. He might be a bit harsh but he's not wrong. And he's not a bully. You're mad because your plan didn't work and he's calling you out on it. That doesn't make him a bully."

  August gritted his teeth and glanced between the two of them.

  After a long, awkward moment, he finally shook his head and walked toward the door.

  "Fine," he said. "I'll leave."

  Garrett watched August leave and paused a moment before walking up closer to Allyson.

  "All right. Keys?"

  Allyson held Garrett's keys out to him.

  "That was pretty harsh, you know. You didn't have to do that. We could have used his help."

  Garrett blinked.

  "You just agreed with me."

  "I didn't undermine you in front of him. But come on. Being turned into a werewolf gave him the lif
e he always wanted. To be strong, and brave and to have people respect him. And hunters took everything away from him. Everything. All these new recruits, they were all him trying to replace his pack. Bruce Wayne went through less shit before he decided to go after everyone with a mental illness."

  "Are you calling August Parry Batman?"

  "No. Of course not. He doesn't even have a cape," Allyson smirked. "I'm just saying that his reaction to everything is understandable. You didn't have to be that harsh with him."

  Garrett cupped her face in his hands and leaned in for a kiss.

  "We still don't know what this new form of the virus actually does. Or how it can affect you. What if it mutates? I may have been harsh, but he needed harsh to make sure it sank in."

  The ride out to the water treatment facility passed with surprisingly few words. Allyson filled the quiet with the clacks and clicks of loading ammunition into the guns while Garrett drove.

  *****

  Despite being located so far from town, the water treatment plant was surprisingly busy.

  Dozens of cars lined the parking lots and people roamed the street surrounding the building. Garrett slowed the truck down and drove up the hill around to the back of the building.

  "What time do you think they're going to get here?" Garrett asked.

  Allyson shook her head and stared at the people below.

  "If they aren't already here and hiding, probably after all these people go home."

  "Do we know what time that is?"

  Allyson rolled her eyes at Garrett and leaned over to pull her smartphone out of her back pocket.

  "Okay, according to their website, it looks like they run 24 hours a day."

  "So, what does that mean? Normal shift changes?"

  "I guess."

  "Okay, so it's coming up on two o'clock right now. Keep an eye out for the shift change and look for anything suspicious."

  "How are we going to monitor this entire place? There are cars on all sides, Garrett."

  Garrett stared through his binoculars.

  "This side has the fewest security cameras," he said. "If they're going to pull something, they'll pull it over here. Then we can catch them before they do anything."

  Allyson nodded and leaned back in her seat. Her eyes darted up and down the parking lot, half hoping they would see the four wolves right away, and half hoping they were wrong and that the wolves had drowned in the river overnight.

  Could werewolves drown?

  She didn't even realize that her fingers had been interlaced with Garrett's until he squeezed her hand. He smiled and tugged at her arm to pull her in closer to him. She curled up under his arm and continued to watch the people outside.

  Almost an hour passed before Allyson moved again.

  *****

  "Hey, look at that."

  Allyson pointed out across the building at a small group of people clenching their noses shut between their fingers and trotting up toward one of the doors.

  "I can't tell if that's them or not," said Garrett.

  "It's them. Just look at them. No one else is holding his or her nose like that. They're probably more sensitive to the smell of the sewer water being recycled here," Allyson reasoned.

  "Where are they going?"

  "I don't know. But look, everyone else is going into that big building there, and they don't look like they have any interest in going there at all."

  "Come on," Garrett said. "We'll follow them first. Try to see which one of them is carrying the virus. Then jump."

  Garrett tucked his handgun into his waistband and waited for Allyson to finish tucking another one into her waistband."

  Allyson's stomach churned as soon as she stepped out of the car. The smell of methane and sewage water attacked her sense of smell and activated her gag reflex. Garrett scrunched his nose and walked around the truck to Allyson.

  "Come on, there's a trail over this way," he said. "Hopefully this smell will mask our scent from them until it's too late."

  Allyson nodded and followed Garrett's outstretched arm down the trail and into the trees.

  Kate, Samantha, and Luke all stood at the base of one of the large, cylindrical tanks. Grant climbed the few steps and stepped over onto the platform.

  The metal bridge that spanned the top of the tanks reminded Allyson of a fire truck's ladder lying flat. Grant stopped at the center of the tank and studied the levers and controls sitting there. He trotted back down the length of the bridge and leaned over the side to shake his head.

  Samantha smirked and ran over to the group of smaller black tanks several yards away while Grant returned to the control panels at the center of the tank.

  "What do you think they're doing?"

  Garrett put his binoculars away.

  "Probably trying to figure out where the last stage of purification is."

  "What?"

  Garrett pointed at the tanks.

  "That's how these places work. Filter out the garbage, then you have to kill the bacteria."

  "And how do they do that?"

  "Bleach," Garrett whispered. "These tanks probably get filled with bleach and then pumped clean."

  "So, they have to be careful where they dump the virus. It won't do them any good if they dump the virus into a tank that's too early in the process. The virus will just get cleaned out and destroyed before it even has a chance to get released." Allyson glanced around the length of the lot between them and the main buildings. "Every one else is already inside. We should go now."

  Garrett grabbed Allyson's arm to stop her from jumping out of the trees and surprising the group below.

  "Wait," he said.

  "What? What's wrong?"

  "Nothing," Garrett said with a smile. He leaned in for a kiss, pressing his lips up against hers. "I just wanted you to know that this is the life I want. You and me. Together. That's all I ever want."

  Allyson smiled and took in a deep breath.

  "So, you wouldn't say that to me in the truck while my leg was bleeding, but you'll say it now with a lung full of sewage and bleach?"

  "Yes, well. Mock me now, but years from now you're going to reminisce about how fucking romantic this is."

  Garrett chuckled.

  Allyson giggled and leaned over for another kiss.

  "I love you," she whispered. "But I expect a real proposal with fresh air, and maybe even some flowers, when all this is over."

  Before Garrett could say anything, Allyson was hopping down from their perch and sneaking up on Kate and Luke from behind.

  Chapter Eleven

  The smell from the plant and the sound of the engines turning the filtering paddles within the tanks helped Allyson stay undetected until she was just a few feet away from Kate and Luke. She pulled her gun and shot Luke in the center of the back. When Luke stumbled to turn around, she shot again, lodging another bullet filled with colloidal silver deep into his chest. Luke growled and screamed as he fell to his knees. Seconds after falling, his body crumbled, leaving almost nothing behind, just a pile of clothes. Kate looked down at Luke's remains, twisting her eyebrows in confusion. She whirled around in time to see Allyson's gun aimed at her chest. Allyson pulled the trigger. Kate's remains fell into a small pile next to Luke's. Allyson grinned and tucked her gun back into her waistband. She quickly rummaged through their pockets, looking for anything that might have been housing the virus.

  "Come on," she urged herself on. "Syringe, vial, tube. Anything. Come on."

  She found nothing useful. Some bullets, another gun, and a few sticks of gum littered their pockets.

  Frustrated, Allyson jumped to her feet and looked around for Garrett.

  *****

  Even from just the few feet away it took to reach the top of the tank, Garrett could barely hear the three shots Allyson fired below. Good, he thought. That means he probably didn't hear it either.

  Winds swept over the top of the tank, forcing Garrett to lean as he walked across the bridge toward the cen
ter. Grant was still facing the control panel, unaware of his visitor.

  Down below, Allyson trotted over to follow Samantha to the cluster of smaller tanks. Samantha cleared the small ladder with one bound and stood on the platform leading to the tanks.

  "Shit," Allyson whispered as she sprinted over.

  Samantha grabbed the railings of the metal ladder and snapped her leg up, catching Allyson in the side of the head.

  Allyson fell backwards, landing on the concrete below. The wind rushed out of her lungs, shooting pains through her body. Her lungs refused to let any more air in, choosing instead to rob Allyson of the ability to move. The ends of her fingers tingled and her vision blurred.

  Garrett ducked in low and tackled Grant from behind, knocking Grant's chest into the control panel. The wind rushed out of Grant's lungs, leaving him heaving in painful gasps to find a new breath.

  Garrett backed up and threw a punch. Grant fell back against the metal railing, using it as support to regain his balance.

  The large metal paddles continued to stir the bubbling water inside the tank. Mist sprayed over Grant, making his palms wet and slick as he tried to hang on to the bridge.

  Samantha took advantage of Allyson's brief paralysis and scrambled to pull her gun from its holster under her arm. She glanced around. Grant and Garrett were still throwing punches at each other on top of the other tank. She took aim and fired, scowling as the bullets ricocheted harmlessly off the metal bridge.

  Allyson slowly regained control of her breathing and rolled over just as a Samantha's bullet sparked against the concrete near her. She clambered over to the stairs as another shot whizzed over her head. After the two shots missed, Samantha grew frustrated and gave up. She holstered the gun again and ran over to the lock wheel at the center of the tank.

  Grant pulled himself up and uppercut Garrett, sending Garrett onto his back on the bridge. Garrett's gun slipped through his fingers and over the edge of the bridge into the churning water below. Grant lunged at Garrett, landing on his chest and readying his fist. Garrett kicked up and knocked Grant into the metal bars of the bridge before the punch could land.

  Samantha sprinted around between the tanks, searching for the controls. Grant and Garrett continued to wrestle along the length of the metal bridge.