Chapter Thirty Six - The Creeps

"For the love of the moon!" Yelled Mark, "how do they expect us to find what they can not? A Lycan who doesn't want to be found can not be tracked by werewolves just because the council commands it! We sure as cats can’t make him come here just by asking politely."

The words were barely out of his mouth when David, Jake and Zinnia all cried out, "Lia!" Mark spun to look at his Alpha, surprised to see hope radiating from his smiling face.

"She is alive!" He said, "Her wolf is linking with me, though not well. I'm getting a jumble of images and sensations. I can't really figure it out."

"I got the message scared, stuck, and a call for help as clear as air," David said, "but that is the sort of message Selene taught her to send specifically to me, so her wolf has known how to do that for many years. I don't have a location or anything useful. Usually useful information comes with the call for help."

"She in on or near the ocean," Zinnia said, "and I think Selene is with her. I am getting the smell of her mother and the sea. She smells snow too, and it is snowing here, so maybe they aren’t far?"

“I’m not getting anything from Selene,” David said, “but she rarely messages anyone so that might not mean anything.”

“Well that’s not much to go on, but I guess it’s something. More than the whole Lycan council gave us.” Mark said grudgingly.

Jake glanced at Zinnia, whose eyes had grown wide. He nodded imperceptibly, letting her know that he would keep her secret.

David cleared his throat. “I think the bigger question is, if they have lost their ability to trace this Bane, how did they know he was back? How did they know to come looking for him here? The only werewolves who had any idea that a Lycan could be involved in this were at Selene’s house with us.” The group went silent as they began to move into the pack house, their thoughts divided between how to search for their Luna, how they would deal with the Bane, and now the possibility of a trusted werewolf from Cloud Lake informing the Lycan council about the pack’s activities.

Zinnia’s wolf brushed up against Jake again and she said to him, “If Papa LeLoup can sense werewolves who have a majority of lycan DNA, maybe he can link with their wolves too. Maybe Lia’s wolf told him.” Jack looked down at the little wolf as he let her message sink in. Lycan had the ability to search the memories of any werewolf, seeing their actions through the werewolf’s own eyes, but they were not, however, able to read their current thoughts and feelings unless the werewolf opened a link. They could read messages between werewolves, so nobody would have had to inform them if they were listening to specific conversations, but no Lycan had been at the cottage. Lia’s wolf sent out random stuff all the time. The Lycan had even commented on it, chastised her for it actually when they came to help her mother. Maybe it sent links to them without her knowing? Could the smell of the Bane have been a random message Lia sent out that happened to be caught by an attentive Lycan? Or was Lia sharing with Zinnia and Zinnia sharing with the Lycan on purpose?”

“Little wolf,” Jake said, “How is it you know the Lycan who told you to call him Papa LeLoup?”

“You have heard about him before. He is the one who used to talk to me in the cave when my father left me alone, remember? Mother Luna called him my imaginary friend.”

Her imaginary friend had been a Lycan? A real Lycan? Why had a Lycan been linked to a baby werewolf who lived more or less alone on the side of a cliff? Jake remembered when he’d first met the little pup. She had certainly communicated in the same fashion as the Lycan, he’d teased Dylan about it frequently in the early days. Zinnia’s parents were both werewolves though, neither was a Lycan. Her mother had been the daughter of the Ocean Moon Alpha and her father had been born to a human woman. His mother said it had been quite the scandal at the time, an Alpha’s first daughter marrying a new wolf, and then again a few years later when he’d left the pack. Nobody had known why at the time, but apparently, it had been to save a blind pup. This Papa LeLoup might be able to sense werewolves with Lycan fathers, but that didn’t explain how he’d found a nearly abandoned full werewolf pup. Why had this particular Lycan taken such an interest in a lonely, blind, little she-wolf, and how had he found her?

“Do you know why he talks to you?”

“I was lonely, little, and I could barely see. Even the moon goddess helped me, Alpha Jake. How many other pups do you know who got their wolf before they lost their baby teeth?”

“Good point I suppose. You’d better get into the kitchens, the bigger omegas will be getting the hall ready for our planning group, you’ll be needed to help with the noon meal.” She sent him an image of her glasses and she bumped into the wall beside the stairs. Jake shook his head. She’d shifted without putting in her contacts again. Hopefully, she remembered where she’d left her glasses this time. It was a good job there weren’t a whole lot of werewolves with such horrible eyesight, the woods would be filled with lost glasses.

Lia strained against the bars, hoping to get her arm out between them. Moving in certain directions made whatever it was around her neck tighten, and once it tightened it did not loosen off again but it looked as though Selene’s cage might be close enough for her to grab onto, maybe even touch her mother to see if she could wake her up. Careful not to move her shoulders or neck any more than absolutely necessary she eased her arm out through the bars. The gun was digging into her ribs, rubbing back and forth over the bones with each movement and pressing harder with every breath. The cord around her neck tightened enough that Lia stopped moving with just her fingers touching the edge of Selene’s cage. She could still breathe, but swallowing was painful. The smell of blood tinted the air as whatever it was around her neck scratched into her skin with every swallow. A tiny tuft of Selene’s fur brushed Lia’s fingers and she pinched it between her two longest fingers. She bent her fingers quickly and then released them, trying to wake Selene by pulling on her hair. The wolf’s nose twitched. She winced on the next tug. Just as she was certain that her mother was about to open her eyes the sound of heavy boots moving towards her made her still her movements and close her eyes. She sniffed the air, but the wind was blowing in the wrong direction for her to be able to smell who was coming.

“That must be some strong sleep the boss put this girl in. She keeps moving so much that the trap is going to choke her, but even that doesn’t wake her. Look! She’s bleeding and didn’t even open her eyes!” Lia focused all her energy on remaining still, breathing slowly, and keeping herself loose in case they decided to try to rouse her.

“Better cut the wire,” said another voice, “if she chokes herself to death he’ll probably stick one of us in there if he doesn’t just kill us outright.”

“Why d’ya figure he was so mad when he got her here?” Lia’s breath caught when she recognized Albert’s voice and knew it was only a foot or two over her head.

“He said she’d be worth less smelling like a filthy Alpha. We should have nabbed her sooner before she’d mated.”

“It’s definitely the gel he wants though right? Ya figure he’ll pay the amount on the poster even though we was a bit too slow?”

“You’ll get what’s coming to you. He always makes sure everyone gets their due.”

Lia heard a little clicking noise and barely managed not to wince as the cord pulled free of the skin on her neck.

“Good,” said Albert, his voice further away, “’cause I didn’t have ta hand this pair over ta him. I coulda made a fortune selling ‘em as dead werewolves.” The other man laughed as they moved away.

“First you’d have to figure out how to get them to die only half transformed, otherwise they’d be just human or just wolf.”

“Poison,” Albert said, “I’ve been experimenting already. Jus a matter o findin the right one and the dose to do ‘er quick. I got the old wolf to stop half transformed and very nearly dead before someone showed up and drug the lot of them out of the house. The two other gels were all wolf, but this gel here though, she was still all human. I’m not sure she’s a werewolf at all.”

“She is. He wouldn’t want her at all if she weren’t. He doesn’t deal in humans. His clients are particular. Werewolf mother, him for a father. It’s the only way they’ll buy the girls.”

“How can they tell?”

“They smell ‘em, then check their blood. One taste seems to tell them the price the girl is worth.”

“Why him?”

“Beats me. But he must have a way with the lady werewolves! I bet he’s sold more than twenty girls since I came to work for him. One or two a year, and all his! This one is older than most. Normally they’re just wee things. Last year it was twins who were barely started walking. They had the cutest little red curls you’ve ever seen. He got a fortune for them! The old men buying them usually like young and pretty, but that’s the youngest ever by far. Those guys went absolutely berserk when they found out those twin baby girls both needed these really thick glasses. Nerdy turns them on too I guess. I thought they were going to fight to the death over them. I don’t imagine they’ll pay as much for this one, she’s pretty enough, but older than they usually get, and not a virgin.”

“Why do you figure he wants her so bad?”

“She’s his. He doesn’t need another reason. Maybe one of the men asked for a girl with white hair. I wouldn’t know. I don’t ask questions.”

“What if she’s pregnant?”

“We’ll know if she’s pregnant soon enough. He said he’d be able to smell it in a few days if she were, and then he’d beat it out of her. Might be fun to watch.”

“Why doesn’t he just give her a pill to make sure? Those morning-after pills that are on commercials all the time.”

“He’ll stuff a few of those down her throat too. Can’t be too careful. None of his clients would want to raise someone else’s pup.”

“What about the white one?”

“I think he plans to keep her for himself.”

Lia held her breath, trying to hear more as their voices faded away. Were they talking about little girls being sold as sex slaves? She was being sold too? Dozens of little girls were being sold by this man and his crew. Albert knew about it? She knew he was a creep, but this was beyond anything she’d even considered.

Lia swallowed, relieved that it didn’t hurt anymore. She wiggled her shoulders a bit to see if it would tighten up again, hoping that if the men could see her that they wouldn’t notice, or would think it was a movement she might do in her sleep. The cord seemed to be gone.

She waited for a while, listening and smelling the air as hard as she could for any sign of someone watching them. There were no scents of any living thing, besides fish, and the only heartbeats she could hear were hers and her mother’s. Both were faster than they should be for sleep. Maybe the other man with Albert was human too. A werewolf should have been able to guess they were awake, and afraid, just by their smell and the sound of their hearts pounding in their chests. When she was as sure as she could be that they were alone, she tugged on her mother’s fur again.

“Stop.” Her mother said in her head. “I woke with the last tug you gave me, but they can not know.”

“We have to find a way out.”

“They are coming back. Don’t let them know you’re awake.”

Lia forced herself to relax against the bars, shifting slightly so the gun was under her breast and not biting quite so hard into her side. She could hear the footfalls now. Quite a few large men were approaching.

There was a loud thump on the ground behind her cage and Lia smelled something rancid. Her cage shook a bit, lifted off the ground, and dropped again. She kept herself as limp as possible, the only sound she let out was an “ooof”, the air rushing out of her lungs involuntarily when she hit the ground. She watched through her lashes as the same thing happened to her mother’s cage. Men seemed to be forming a circle around them, some sitting down on the crates that were scattered about.

“We’ll stay in the bay as close to this cove as we can until dusk,” growled a deep voice. “They’ll be expecting us to ride the tide out of the bay, so we’ll not. We’ll wait here and head out as soon as it’s dark, just before the tide turns in. Keep the cages hidden in case anyone happens by here. Bring the girl to me below deck if she wakes up. She’s a bit headstrong, like her mother, so it might take a while to teach her her new place in life. It’s easier if I can train ‘em from birth, but she’ll learn. Keep them both in the cages until we’re way out to sea. I want there to be no chance of them running off again.”

“Yes sir,” said a chorus of male voices. A few different sounding boots stomped away, but most of the men stayed seated around the cage. Lia didn’t dare use the link to contact anyone. She wasn’t that good at it yet, and some of these men smelled of wolf. If she messed up they’d know she was awake.