123. Chapter 123

As the door slammed shut under a hefty shove from Nicole’s hand that threatened to bring the whole house down around his ears, Bobo slowly walked across the room, his head darted from side to side as he tried to keep track of what was really there to walk around and what was an echo from before.

Finally, he stood in front of the obsidian mirror hanging on the wall. He spared a glance out of the window, making sure the Alpha bitch was out of sight before taking a blade out of his pocket and slashing the palm of his hand open. Cold spread up his arm, making his jaw clench and headache as he pressed his bleeding hand to the surface of the black mirror.

His reflection shimmered, distorting his face until he couldn’t even tell which side was actually ruined by the heavy scarring left by the heat from the fire and the silver ammunition. At least that was the lie he told himself. He’d never thought of himself as a terribly vain man but… well, there was nothing quite like having to stare at what he’d been left with to change an opinion on what mattered.

“Robert, is the plan working?”

He sneered as his twisted reflection was replaced by that of that of the demon, Jack of Knives with his slicked back greasy hair and his poor attempt of a fancy suit that hung off his too thin frame. “My name is Bobo, Jack…”

“That name does not belong in this existence! You need to remember that, Robert. Every time you use that ridiculous name or fight against Bulshar’s heir it creates another ripple in the thin veil of Marzaniok’s illusion that threatens to shatter it! Controlling so many minds, bending them into a new reality, especially when those minds are strong, is difficult at best and it is only a matter of time before the illusion falls away.”

“Yeah, I know! You’ve told me already what we’re supposed to do! I don’t know why we couldn’t just kill them all and just find Bulshar’s ring ourselves without all the magic bullshit hanging over us all Tick-Tock!”

“That’s because you are a simple-minded idiot that could never see the worth in family like our Lord Bulshar does!”

Bobo rolled his eyes, already bored with the conversation and Jack’s ways as Jack looked off to the side with a thin smile on his face, obviously checking to see if anyone had heard them.

“Bulshar wants her back in the fold, Robert,” Jack hissed as he turned his attention back on the werewolf, “with power like that at his side, the ring could heal him and feed him forever.”

“If we can even find it…”

“Another reason we need her!” Jack pointed out like he was speaking to a simple child. “The Marzaniok’s spell couldn’t break through and make her reveal where it has been hidden so we need to break the pup. And what better way than to break her, than to have her kill her love? She tried to kill you and destroyed the Widows and Constance all for her mate. Break that bond and it will break her mind and she will fall back into Bulshar’s fold where she should have been all along.”

“Then we should cut out the middleman bullshit, save time and just kill Waverly Earp ourselves…”

“Think Robert! I know you have never loved anyone other than yourself but for god’s sake just think! If we killed her mate… yes, it might ultimately break her, but not before she’d ripped us apart and scattered our remains to the wind!” Straightening up, Jack smoothed a hand down his jacket and tapped the silver head of his cane against his palm. Robert was just too unstable for Jack’s liking and he wished he could have been working with Lou but, unfortunately, Lou was… indisposed. Around Bulshar, that equated to being bound in silver chains so heavy they’d nearly cut him in half. “Just, try to keep your head in the game, Robert. Let the Marzaniok’s spell work for us. As long as the pup believes this new reality in which she never left Bulshar then we are fine! DO NOT RUIN THIS! Now,” he whispered, clearing his throat and willing the blaze of hellfire out of his eyes as he adjusted his jacket again. “I will remain at my old mansion with the Perley witches… Maybe I will amuse them with some of my old toys in the basement and encourage them to work on keeping the Yiska at bay and reveal what they hid from us!”

Bobo quickly removed his hand from the mirror, leaving behind a sizable layer of flesh in his haste to cut off the pitiful screams that had started up at Jack’s words. He hated the demon. Jack liked to act all fancy with his clothes and manners but when it came down to it he was just a sick butchering bastard.

Waverly paced around the Homestead living room. She adjusted the shotgun, stretching out fingers that felt seized from holding it for so long. God but she missed her flamethrower… Wait, when had she ever had a flamethrower? She mused.

Her fingers drifted to her neck, her brow furrowing deeply as the tips of them touched upon the bite mark dug into her flesh. Old and yet new. Familiar to her touch even though she couldn’t remember ever feeling it before. It was deep and fresh enough to still hold an ache but… she couldn’t remember who it was that had loved her enough to claim her even though she could almost remember the feel and taste of their flesh between her own teeth and their cry of pleasure bursting across her skin as they had bit together again. “Who was she?”

Her feet stuttered at the thought of it being a woman. Not that there was anything wrong with that. Only… She had never had a girlfriend so why did her mind leap to the conclusion that her mate was a woman? Especially given what was hidden upstairs. How had she managed to be mated to one person, according to her mind a female, and have had kids with a man and not know who either of them was?

“I shouldn’t be here.”

“None of us should be here, Baby Girl,” Wynonna growled as she looked out of the window. “We should be out having a good time, drinking and having a good time…”

“It’s only lunchtime ‘Nonna.”

Wynonna snorted at her sister’s interruption. “I stand by what I say… But okay, drinking, having a good time and eating bacon…”

“With sprinkles on?”

Gun lowering, Wynonna frowned as she glanced back over her shoulder at her sister. “Why in the blue hell would anyone put sprinkles on Canadian bacon, God's greatest creation?”

“I-” Waverly frowned in confusion. “I- I’m just tired. Going a little crazy,” she chuckled and pulled a face at herself.

“Yeah, we’re all tired, Baby Girl.” Wynonna sighed. “The whole damn world is tired of Bulshar’s bullshit,” a weak laugh snorted out at the almost pun and almost turned into a sob as she thought about all the people they had lost. People whose bodies still lay in the gutters of Purgatory as there were no longer enough people alive to move them, and nowhere to move them too… There was nowhere left to move themselves too either. In the distance she could see the smoke and flames licking up over the Pine Barrens, blocking their escape deeper into the mountains and beyond. And everywhere else there were demons and Bulshar wolves roaming around picking off anyone they came across.

The crack of gunfire drew Wynonna’s eyes back to the edge of their property. She couldn’t see who was shooting or at what. But if she didn’t already know things were bad… the sight of Xavier being tossed aside sure gave it away. Sighting down the barrel of her gun, Wynonna tried to get a bead on whoever had tossed Xavier but all she caught was a flash of red streaking out of view around the edge of the house. “Shit!”

“Was that Bulshar?” Waverly asked nervously as she moved around to a better window to get a view and hopefully a shot from.

“Bulshar hasn’t been seen for years,” Wynonna growled. “That’s worse, it’s his goddamn pup!”

Waverly nearly threw herself through the window in her eagerness to get a look at the mysterious wolf. All anyone really knew of her was that she was a redhead. Redhead? The thought had her moaning as an image flashed through her mind of red hair playing through her fingers… tousled and falling about her as soft brown eyes filled her vision and dimples brightened her world.

“Waverly!” Wynonna pushed her sister aside, clearing a path to the window as the massive red wolf moved closer. She tried to get a shot off but Xavier and Doc jumped on her back, tackling her to the ground and she quickly pulled her finger away from the trigger. “Damn it!”

Wynonna’s sigh of relief that they had managed to take down the wolf was cut short as she struggled to take in the sight through the window of Doc and Xavier being held aloft, their throats caught in the massive clawed hands of the red wolfs full form. “How in the hell?!” Instinctively Wynonna looked to the sky, searching for the moon that allowed them to change even though she knew there was a week left before it would rise for them.

“That’s…” Waverly wanted to say ‘impossible’ and yet, looking at her wasn’t new.

“Waverly!” Wynonna grabbed her sister by the shoulders. “I’m going to draw her off them and away from the house! Lay low and then when it’s clear get those babies and get the hell out of here!”

“Wynonna…”

“No Baby Girl! We haven’t got time to argue… my scent should draw her away and give you a chance. Get to Gus and Curtis’, see if they’ve still got a working vehicle and head north.” Cupping Waverly’s face in her hands, Wynonna pressed a kiss to her forehead and desperately tried to bite back the tears and the overwhelming fear that she would never see her sister again. “Ready?”

“No!”

“You have to be Waves. For them,” she nodded towards the bedroom above them. “Keep safe.”

Waverly sobbed as Wynonna dropped her hands, stepped away and burst out through the door with her gun blazing. A shot caught the wolf in the shoulder and had her head turning in anger but not pain. Her eyes blazed with red and even through the choking fear, Waverly couldn’t seem to stop the stray thought that they looked prettier when they were brown.

Wynonna’s heart froze as the wolf tossed aside her mates as though they were worse than garbage to her. Their heads lifted but before they could join the fray again, Wynonna bellowed at them… “Run!!!” With the size of the red, she knew she needed all the help she could get to draw her away. Tossing her empty gun at the wolf she smirked with satisfaction as it bounced off her head. “You want us dead?! Come get us!”

Waverly clutched her shotgun closer as her sister changed form and darted in to nip at the wolf before running away from the house, drawing the massive… and beautiful… red wolf after her.

Cautiously, her heart pounding in her chest, Waverly crept out through the door and glanced around the edge of the house. In the distance, she could see the forms of her sister flanked by Xavier and Doc heading into the woods. What she couldn’t see however was the red wolf!

A shadow fell across her, massive, intimidating in her beauty. Her body bristling with intent as her claws scraped across the wooden slats of the Homestead as she looked down at her with teeth bared and eyes blazing with red fury.

“Ohhh, poop!”

The fine head lowered, red within red filling Waverly’s sight as she stalked closer. A purr rumbled up through her chest, growing into a growl that swept past parted lips as a single word.

“Run.”

Waverly turned on her heels and ran, not for the house but rather for the barn in the hopes of drawing the wolf away from her daughters. If she delayed her long enough, maybe it would give Wynonna and the others the chance to get back in time.

Her heart was pounding too loudly to hear anything but its frantic beat as she backed up through the barn. She held her shotgun as steadily as she could. Not that she thought it would do any good. Waverly had seen how ineffective guns were against her and… the thought of actually pulling the trigger on the red wolf made her feel sick.

A creak came from behind her, sending Waverly spinning on her heel and nearly tripping her over a pile of junk in the middle of the floor. She turned back as a heavy breath puffed across the back of her neck, the heat of it stirring the hair at her nape had gooseflesh marching up her spine while the red eyes so very close to her open had ice dripping down it.

The shotgun trembled in Waverly’s hands as her lips curled back and revealed sharp white teeth that looked like they could take her apart in seconds.

But…

The red wolf stood there.

A quizzical expression crossing her face as she stared into her eyes. An expression Waverly was sure was a reflection of her own as she looked at the fearsome beast before her and just had the urge to wrap her arms around her like being in her arms was the safest place in the world and Waverly just wanted to lose herself in them.

Waverly reached out slowly, the tips of her fingers brushing across the thick softness of her red coat across broad shoulders. She could feel the heat rising from her body and it felt so familiar.

A hand big enough to easily crush her skull whipped out, clawed fingers wrapping around her wrist with a grip that was surprisingly gentle and softened further. The sight of her hand wrapped around her wrist seemed to confuse the wolf and she shook her head as though trying to shake something loose.

Waverly opened her mouth to ask what was wrong but suddenly the wolf whipped her head around and cocked her head to one side and raced out of the barn. Waverly’s confusion as to why she was still alive settled into pure unadulterated fear as she heard what the wolf had… the soft barely perceptible sounds of a baby crying.

“No! No! No!”

Waverly raced from the barn and saw the red wolf shift back, her body shrinking into that of her wolf as she pushed through the open door of the Homestead. Every step flew beneath Waverly’s feet but it felt like a thousand miles and a million years before she made the distance between the barn and her bedroom.

Bursting through the door she watched as the wolf lowered her head into the crib.