Hand Of Blood Chapter One

Pain.

Pain was the only thing I could feel.

There was a fire raging through my body that I hadn't felt before in my entire life. Internally, I hoped that it was all a mind game, that it was just a dream; but despite my longing, it was all too real. My spirit felt like it was being ripped from my flesh and I didn’t know how much more I could take. Another little part of me said I should give in, that the other life would bring something better than what was going on right now. An even bigger part told me to fight, that I could escape the situation.

That was the choice I decided to make.

To continue fighting for my life.

“I don't think he's going to last much longer at this rate.” A feminine voice said, her tone completely filled with worry.

“The bastard will be fine. He deserves it after everything he's done already.” Another voice, male this time, retorted to her.

Within the next moment, the worst burning sensation I had ever felt spread through my body and I screamed in agony. I thrashed about on top of the surface I was laying on, trying to figure out the source of the shit causing me problems so I could fix it. Even though I knew it would probably wear me out faster, fighting was all I ever knew. It was something that I had grown up with, but when you were the Alfa to a pack, it kicked in with the harshest force imagined. I had to protect the girls, I had to protect my turf… I had to protect my own life.

The male who talked earlier pushed me back down and leaned over my body, muttering, “It would be easier if you just gave in… or even died for that matter.”

I attempted to throw a fist, just to find my wrist cuffed to the table. I spat in his face instead. “Never! I will never back down and let you take my pack!”

“Fine then. I hope you enjoy what time you have left.” He simply replied, wiping my spit away from his cheek.

Another ripping sensation occurred and I let another blood curdling scream out. A sudden wave of exhaustion washed over me after a moment but the tugging and ripping came to a halt and I fell limp on the table. My thoughts rested on all my girls, hoping that they would be okay, that they were safe, that whoever these idiots were wouldn't find them. It'd be just like some rogue pack to swoop in and take them away from me while I was indisposed. I slipped into the unconscious world, my mind resting on my favorite member…

I sat up with a start, panting as sweat dripped down my face while shaking my head in an attempt to gather my wits about me again. It was rare for me to have nightmares but when I did have them, they knocked my world for a loop. I couldn't make sense of what caused the dream since I hadn't done anything out of the ordinary throughout the previous day. Forcing a deep breath in and out, I wiped the sweat off the side of my face and looked to the comforter for a moment or two, raising a brow when I noticed the sheets were contorted in a strange manner besides my being twisted in them. Gazing to my left, I noticed a splay of honey and dark chocolate brown hair across the pillow and groaned at one of the biggest mistakes I must have made being black out drunk.

I moved to get out of bed and instead of getting to my feet, I landed on my ass and cursed aloud. Summoning what dignity I had left to stand, I found myself scrambling for my underwear drawer, yanking the first pair my fingers grasped and slipped into them, worriedly glancing at my bed to make sure I hadn't disturbed Heidi. If there was one thing I was certain about, it was making sure I could escape the room without disturbing her before I could properly kick her out of my room. The last thing I needed this morning was for her to wake up and I'd have to go through the whole routine of explaining what happened between us was nothing more than a one night stand.

Heidi was Heidi Kohlberg, also known as my third in command. She was more annoying than the younger sibling trying to weasel in on your doings with your friends. Wherever I went around our pack territory, she followed, even if she knew where I was mentally through our pack network as I liked to call it. Heidi was still a pup compared to me and I couldn't believe what I had done to myself, or what I assumed I had done.

Maybe you really didn't do anything with her, I thought to myself, looking around the room and groaning when I saw the strewn clothes about the carpet. There goes that hope.

Of everyone in the world I could have done anything stupid with, it had to be Heidi. Not only was she like a pesky little sister, she was also obsessive. I've not only heard the things she had done, I had seen them, having vowed to myself that I was never going to go through the regime she put others through when they tried to break things off with her. I muttered under my breath and pulled my jeans from yesterday off the floor, quietly getting into the closet for a clean shirt. I dove back into my dresser for clean socks, looked back at the sleeping Heidi for another moment then slipping out the bedroom door to escape downstairs like a madman.

“You stupid idiot. What the fuck did you do last night?” I chastised myself, struggling to get my socks on before walking into the kitchen to figure something out to eat.

Even though I didn’t have a clue as to what I did last night besides the one upstairs asleep in my damn bed, it didn't stop my stomach from raging without food. I tugged on the fridge handle and scoured the shelves for anything tempting, grumbling when I found nothing. I shut the door a little harder than necessary, groaning when I heard someone at the front door just before they knocked. Cursing under my breath, I walked over and yanked it open to find my second in command Silvyr Endres standing there, looking the least bit pleased.

Silvyr had waist length coal colored hair that normally she kept up in a complex bun but today she was wearing it down. She was also pretty slender but she made up for it in the swift way she moved in either form she took. The thing I found that stood out the most about her was that her eyes were a pure silver color, which was ironic since silver made us absolutely sick should we touch it. I just gave her a smile despite her expression.

“Good morning Silvyr, what brings you here?” I asked, prying at the connection between the two of us to find she had put a block on it.

“Have you seen Heidi this morning? I haven’t seen her since she left last night.” She questioned, more than likely aware she was upstairs in my bed.

“Why, have plans she's late for or something?”

“No, she's going to be late for work if I can’t find her.” Silvyr replied, folding her arms and repressing a smirk since Heidi's scent started wafting through the door.

“I swear you do anything and I'll come down on you so hard…” I breathed, growling as her shit grin came out.

“It’s so good to watch Mr. High-And-Mighty actually fall on his ass. Keegan, what are you going to do?” She snickered.

“I don't know… I don't know. Damn it Silvyr, stop laughing at me!” I snapped, low enough that no one else would have heard it.

“Sorry, it's just ironic that you swore up and down you'd never do anything and yet here you are sneaking around… you're in so much trouble.”

If I could get away with punching her in the face without repercussions, I would have done it in a heartbeat. “Shut up, I know I am and I'll figure it out later. Right now, I need you to get out of my face so I can get the fuck out of here before she decides to -”

“Keegan, where are you going?” I heard Heidi's voice call from upstairs.

I groaned, looking around for my shoes and hurriedly shoving my feet inside before pushing Silvyr aside to reach my car so I could get to work myself… without Heidi trying to tag along. I ran down the steps on the veranda and through the dust to where I kept my car parked, desperately trying to open the door. It came open and I slammed it shut whilst locking the car just to realize, much to my horror, that I left my keys inside along with my license and wallet. I smacked my head against the top of the steering wheel a few times, cursing everything in the world for my bad luck today.

“God damn it...” I unlocked the door and climbed out, thinking on where I left my belongings.

For the life of me I couldn't figure out where I left my keys and wallet, my memories were too fuzzy last night to even remotely try and recall while thinking, wish I had a mental connection to my belongings.

Taking a deep breath, I prepped myself mentally before darting back in the house, listening to Silvyr laugh as I searched high and low for my keys and wallet on the first level. I was stopped in my tracks when a naked Heidi sauntered down the stairs with both items I was looking for in her hands. There was nothing I wouldn't have paid to avoid the confrontation, but that was never my luck. When I looked into her eyes, there was nothing but hurt and malice towards me.

“Looking for these?” She said in a rather snarky tone.

“Give those to me right now and no one gets hurt.” I breathed, pulling my dominance out of its normal bag in case she tried anything funny.

“And if I don't? What will you -”

I stepped up to her, my nose just centimeters away from hers, using my crushing dominance to get her to crumple to the floor. “You don't challenge your Alfa Heidi unless you're absolutely certain you can take me on.”

I grunted before taking my things from her hands and storming out the door, turning to Silvyr who was still rolling on the veranda laughing and barking, “You get her out of my house and speak of this to no one.”

“What, the rest of the pack already – Damn it Keegan, that hurts!” I threw a look that told her to shut it after crushing her with my superiority.

“Don't even think about it Endres.” I snapped, returning to my car.

Leuan started scratching at the walls I kept him behind; luckily I wasn't completely out of control otherwise I would have shifted and wrecked the interior. I assured him that I would take him out running later, which sated him enough for me to get the car started so I could get to work. After a moment, I turned the engine off, climbing out before walking up to the house next to mine and knocking quietly on the door. Keeping quiet, I could hear someone yawn and walk down the stairs before the door became unlocked and I was greeted with the oh-so-delight-filled face of my daughter, Kaylee Radeke. Kaylee wasn't my biological daughter, but I thought of her as such in every aspect of the word. I rescued her roughly twenty-five years ago and thought back to the day as I looked at her…

I looked at the remote in my hand, frowning softly since nothing good was on and I literally had nothing better to do. I had closed the bike shop up early since nothing needed to be done immediately and I was the only one who worked there. Shaking my head, I turned the TV off before tossing the remote aside, getting up from the couch to see if there was anything that needed to be done in the kitchen. Spotting the pile of my dishes that had managed to stack up, I set my mind to washing those by hand. Just as I started filling the sink up, I heard someone running and smelled the air, furrowing my brow when it was Silvyr's scent. My front door opened with her yelling,

“Keegan, Keegan! You gotta come quickly!”

Hearing the frantic tone she was using, I quickly turned the faucet off and ran to the living room, instantly smelling smoke. “What's happening?!”

“It's the Radeke house Keegan. I don't know what happened but everything went up in smoke and flames. The fire department won't be here for another couple minutes but the family is trapped inside and even with my strength, I can't move anything!” She panted and that was all she needed to say.

I took off towards the smoke, gulping audibly when I noticed how high the flames were getting the closer I got. From the damage done, it had been a couple minutes but I knew I had to try and do something. I kicked the front door in and a burst of smoke assaulted my nostrils, causing me to cough as I listened to screams in fear and the cries of a baby. The flames seemed to originate from the kitchen but as I glanced about there were even more points of origin, just as if someone had purposefully started the fire. I took a deep breath and held it as I ran inside up the stairs towards the family that was more than likely trapped somewhere.

I started making my way down the smoke filled hallway, towards the baby's cry. I knew if I only had enough time to rescue one of them, it would be the baby first since it was too small to fend for itself. There was no trouble getting into the room and I was surprised that it wasn't in shambles; I scooped the pink bundle laying in the crib up in my arms, making my way back outside. Silvyr stared at me in disbelief as I handed the baby to her.

“I'm going back in.” I huffed, coughing a lung up in the process.

“Keegan, you can't damn it! You're going to get killed.” She retorted, looking at the tiny human in her arms and calming her the best she could before I ran back inside against anyone's good judgment.

It took a bit of time to find the baby's parents but I dragged them out as the trucks came up to stoke the flames and medical personnel ran around trying to save the lives of this little family I had rescued. Silvyr walked up to my side and handed the pink bundle to me once again. I furrowed my brow as I took her, unsure what she was thinking since my thoughts were all jumbled.

“She won't settle down in my arms.” Silvyr sighed, looking down at the ground and kicking a stray stone.

I looked down at the child in my arms and saw the most peaceful look on her face and there was something there that I couldn't explain…

I had gone to the hospital with Silvyr to make sure that everything would be okay. Kaylee's father died shortly after from the burns and smoke inhalation and Kaylee's mother held on for a couple days and before she slipped into the coma, she had asked us to take care of her baby. It broke my heart to see them suffer; I remembered when they had first moved in shortly after they were married. I remembered when Emily had come over to announce her pregnancy and asking me to be her godfather.

“Morning Dad. Aren't you supposed to be at work?” Kaylee yawned, shaking her head before rubbing her eyes.

“Yes and I wanted to make sure you were doing okay this fine morning.” I answered, smoothing her hair down from the spiked mess it happened to be in.

“What did you do this time Keegan?” She sighed, giving me a look that said don't bother lying to her because she’d find out about the truth anyway.

“Uhm… I woke up from being black out drunk and freaked out finding Heidi sleeping in my bed.” I combed my fingers through my hair and made a face in disgust the longer I thought about how big of an idiot I was today.

“You didn’t… oh Hell… what’re you going to do about the situation?” Kaylee’s eyes widened as her jaw fell slack in disbelief.

“I figured I’d go to work and see if I can come up with anything in the case something happens. If not, I’ll just deal with it.” I shrugged, taking a step back to let her know I was going to take off finally.

“Well I hope things go well for you Keegan, you’re going to need it. Have fun at work otherwise!” She said, her tone cheerful as she hugged my chest and kissed my cheek before slamming the door behind her to get ready for school.

Cringing the smallest bit from how hard she closed the door, I shoved it away as I started toward my car once more, seriously contemplating what I was going to do about confronting Heidi about our little escapade last night. As much as I wanted to avoid it all, I knew I couldn’t dodge it forever. Aforementioned, Heidi was obsessive and she wouldn’t let anything go without knowing every detail or reason behind something and it didn’t matter who or what got in the way; she would tear them apart. It was partially why Silvyr had her as her second in command.

Once again, I found myself pausing, my hand hesitating above the door handle. Leuan began scratching inside, whimpering softly to be let out of his cage and it took most the control I had to keep him in check. One of the downsides of being a werewolf was how volatile emotions were and never knowing when they’d snap and release the inner wolf waiting to pounce and take over. In a way, it was good when the human side needed to recuperate from something traumatic but in other instances, it led to disaster. With the wolf running around, the human side had no control over what could happen, no control over when to return back to the human guise.

Keegan, please, let me out. I’ll behave, Leuan begged, lightly scratching at the door a second time.

Not gonna happen Leuan, I thought back.

But if you let me out, it’ll give you time to think about how to tear Heidi and Iavora apart, Leuan suggested, a dastard-like grin lacing his rather cheery tone.

Which I can do just fine without you running around rampant, I rolled my eyes.

I climbed into my car a third time and shoved the keys into the ignition, slamming the door closed and taking a breath to try and calm down. Today wasn’t shaping up to be the best…

Parking in front of the mechanic shop, I turned my car off and sat there quietly contemplating what had happened already this morning. I had to wonder if it would get any better as I climbed out and found the front door was already unlocked. My brow furrowed and I was instantly wary while pushing it open. One whiff of the air settled my insides down. The shop had two main employees: myself and Tessa Muhr. Tessa was one of my pack and loved to tinker with vehicles that people dropped off for oil changes or new brakes on top of selling car products. Occasionally I’d bring Kaylee in to help her pay for college and cover the front when we had a vehicle in dire need of help.

She was on the short side and looked like a human toothpick but her small hands could reach things that mine couldn’t quite manage. She kept her brown hair shoulder length and pulled back into a pony tail while working. It never failed that she had a handkerchief in her back pocket to wipe her hands of grease and oil when bent over a hood of a car.

One look around the empty store front told me she was already in the back working on a project. I walked into the shop and passed the door frame that led to the garage. Tessa was standing on a stool bent inside the hood of a 2007 Ford F-150 working on who knew what; I didn’t remember the truck being brought in whatsoever.

“When did this come in?” I asked her, watching her jump and listening to her yelp, my eyes lingering on her butt for a bit longer than should be appropriate.

“Damn it Keegan, don’t startle me like that!” – She stood up straight and pulled her kerchief out, wiping her hands before climbing down and walking up to me – “I came early and someone needed an oil change. I figured it’d be okay.”

“That’s fine… and how the hell did I startle you? You can hear things a mile away.”

“I was too busy concentrating on the engine to notice… that and I closed our connection after the ruckus with – don’t give me that look! I’m not gonna say anything more on that subject!” She answered as I gave her a glare when she was going to mention Heidi.

“Good. Anyway, I’m not going to stay long today. Do you think you can handle it alone or should I ask Kaylee to come when classes are over to cover the store?” I asked.

“It’s your store Keegan. If you want her to come in to cover the front, by all means let her work. I can handle it back here.” She assured me with a smile.

“Okay then Tessa. Call if you need anything, but I’m going to be unavailable for the next hour. I’m going to take Leuan out for a run while figuring out what to do with… well… we both know.” I answered, heading back for the car.

“Gotcha Keegan. You be careful out there and hopefully you don’t die when said person gives you hell over last night.” She tried not to giggle as she climbed back up on the stool and returned to work.

I rolled my eyes and left the garage, walking into the front of the store. I made sure the bell was out on the counter in visible site and the closed sign was flipped over to read that we were open. Once outside I pulled my phone out and shot Kaylee a text asking if she wanted to come in and work before slipping it back into my pocket and thinking on a good place to take Leuan out.

Can I come out now Keegan? Leuan whined, pitifully scratching at the door he was behind.

If you’ll let me think of where to run first, I replied.

Wait, something’s wrong… we need to go home, Leuan said.

As soon as Leuan said something, the hair raised on the back of my neck. Prodding each connection I had with the girls, nothing seemed abnormal but I wasn’t going to risk the gut feeling. I climbed into the car and drove as fast as legally possible, thinking that something happened to Kaylee since she had yet to answer my text back. Dust rose from the ground as I skidded to a stop in front of the house. Climbing out, I looked about the settlement. All the houses were intact and a couple of the girls were on their way to work.

Leuan, I think we were mistaken, I thought.

Leuan shook his head vehemently. How many times have I ever been wrong about something?

Never, I sighed aloud.

Something’s coming through the forest right now, Leuan said, growling softly.

I couldn’t help but growl as well, listening to the footsteps of something that was entirely too big to be an animal. Silvyr’s scent hit first as she came up to my side before the scent of blood hit my nose. A woman came running through the trees, sobbing hysterically. She was covered from head to toe in the crimson liquid. She paused at the edge of the houses, looking down at her stained hands.

“What happened?” She breathed right before passing out.