Chapter Thirty Nine - The Great Escape Continues

Jake cried out with everyone else on shore when he saw the giant fireball. He’d told him no. Killian had either defied a direct order or accidentally crashed. Defied the order was more likely.

“If he survives, he’s a dead man,” Jake growled.

“Even if he brings them back?” Dylan asked.

“I said no.”

“He didn’t ask though, did he? His message was that he was ditching the plane, hopefully onto the ship, and jumping in as close as possible to the three life jackets. He was probably out of the plane before he got your command.” Jake growled again, but not with as much force. He hated to admit that Dylan was right, and he hated even more that he was hoping Killian would succeed.

“Any word?” David asked.

“We’re not asking,” Dylan said, “he’s got enough to worry about right now. He hit the water alive, I don’t know beyond that. We'll just wait to hear.”

“Jasper tells me the raft is open, but only a little over half inflated. It will hold Selene and Lia, but the men will have to ride the tide in from the outside of the raft. He’s worried they’ll all be frozen before they get here. We’ve got people waiting on their boats to head out as soon as the water rises enough to float their boats. Blankets and hot water on board all of them.”

“Who do you figure the third life jacket was?” Dylan asked.

“We don’t have any other pack members missing,” Jake said.

“No lone wolves either,” David added.

“Could be human. Or from another pack.”

“She iz ours,” Said a voice with a French accent. “Her name iz Marguerite. She and her mother left a week ago. Zhe mother was found dead in the city. We had no word from Marguerite and zought her dead too, until today. She sent me a picture of zee cliffs with snow falling, so I knew she was here today. We have ships combing zee bay all day but zey found nothing. My men saw you arrive and reported back with what iz going on. Who iz zis Bane?”

Jake felt his hackles go up that some of his pack had spoken to warriors from the Lune Rose de l’Acadie pack without consulting him. He was even more irked that they hadn’t told him the other pack was here, or that their leader, Alpha LeGrand was nearby!

“He is a banished Lycan,” Jake said, “he took my mate and her mother. And apparently your...Marguerite. The Lycan want him back so they can punish him themselves, but I’m rather hoping he died in that fireball out there.”

“Fire caused by human things can not kill Lycan.”

“Maybe a banished one,” Jake growled. “I’m attempting to be optimistic. The raft will stay afloat. They’ll ride the tide all the way here. They will all survive, except the Bane. We don’t want to have to deal with him right now too.”

“Iz zere a locator on zis raft?”

“Of course,” Jake snapped, “how else would the people in the water find it?”

“I meant one with a signal zat can be tracked by one of our ships. Zey tell me zey see zee explosion and go towards it. Maybe zey can find ze girls and zee brave rescue party.”

“David?” Jake asked.

“Jasper says he’ll turn it on now. He doesn’t see any ship lights though.”

“Zee lights are off. It iz hard to sneak up on a boat with zee lights on.”

Jake grinned at the old Alpha and was about to say something about their opposite approaches (sneaking up vs crashing into) when he suddenly grabbed his shin and dropped to the ground in agony.

Lia screamed and let go of the girl. Something had ripped into her leg and was pulling her under.

“I smell blood!” Yelled the girl with terror in her voice. “Iz shark?”

Lia was splashing around, frantically trying to keep her head above water. The Young girl started to swim away as fast as he could, but Selene grabbed onto Lia’s arms and started trying to help her swim away. Killian was nowhere to be seen, but she didn’t know if that was because of the dark, or because he had kept swimming.

Whatever had latched onto her let go for a moment, then clamped on again, a bit more firmly. She cried out, kicking as hard as she could at the spot where her leg was being pierced and crushed. Every time she made contact with whatever it was the pain increased. Kicking it down tore more of her flesh away. Lia wrenched her hand out of her mother’s grasp and plunged it below the surface. Eyes. Any beast would have eyes. She had to find the eyes. Something squished under her finger so she pushed harder with her hand while moving her leg up towards herself. The pain intensified, and she screamed into the darkness, salt water pouring into her mouth and stinging her throat, but she kept pushing.

Just as suddenly as the pain had started, she was set free. Salt stung the wounds on her leg, but she was too relieved to care.

“Swim!” She yelled to Selene, “It let me go! Swim!”

Killian came up in the water just in front of them, his wolf head shaking itself free of water as it transformed back into human. For a brief moment Lia worried that it had been him who bit her, but then she noticed the hand falling out of his fangs.

“Werewolf!” He gasped, grabbing hold of the women and pulling them through the water. “Dead now.” Jasper joined them then, and each man grabbed one of the women to pull them towards the raft that was just coming into view through the darkness. The young girl was already on board.

Lia tried to help until Jasper said, “Keep that leg still. Hold the wound if you can reach it. Let me do the swimming.” Effortlessly he spun her in the water so she was lying on her back. She pulled the leg up against her chest and tried to find the wounds, but she couldn’t. The whole bottom half of her leg was throbbing. Wrapping both arms tightly around it she relaxed against Jasper and let him pull her through the water.

On the cliff overlooking the little cove, tension filled the air. Jake was on the ground, breathing heavily as he tried to think through the pain in his leg. Obviously, Lia was sharing something with him. He had no idea what it was though.

“The girl is in the raft!” David exclaimed. All eyes turned to him, but the rest of the news wasn’t as uplifting. “She keeps saying un requin, doesn’t that mean shark?”

“It does,” said the old French Alpha, “but it can not be. It iz too cold for sharks here in zee winter. I will try to talk to her. Perhaps if I calm her we can find out what it really iz.”

“Jasper’s going in,” David said, “he can see the women, but not Killian.”

A tense silence filled the air as they waited for news.

“Marguerite says something was pulling Lia underwater. She could smell blood on the water so thinks it iz a shark.”

“He did it!” exclaimed Dylan. “It let go of her.”

“What let go of her?”

“A werewolf.”

“Werewolf or Lycan?” Demanded Jake as he struggled to his feet. His leg still hurt, but it was tolerable now. His heart rate was slowing and he realized that it hadn’t been just his fear he was dealing with, but Lia’s as well. It wasn’t that their link was weak, it was just different than anything he’d ever felt or heard of before.

“Must have been a werewolf,” Dylan answered, “Killian ripped its arm off.”

“Let us hope was a werewolf,” said Alpha LeGrand, “zee punishment for attacking a Lycan is death, zee reason does not matter.”

“He’s a banished Lycan,” Jack said, clinging to that slim margin of difference, “and the Lycan council themselves sent us to track him down. They didn’t say to kill him, but I don’t know how else they expect us to force him to go with us. Hopefully, if we have to attack him the regular laws do not apply.”

“One of our boats is now close enough to see the raft. They are going to put in a small boat to get Marguerite and another to look for your pack members.”

“Is it taking forever or is that just my leg… I mean Lia’s leg, making it feel that way?”

“They’re swimming, not running,” David said. “And against the tide, I believe. It would be difficult.”

“Did they get turned around?” Jake asked.

“Impossible,” David assured him. “Jasper has worked with military Search and Rescue for almost two decades. He knows what he’s doing. It’s slow going though. Lia can’t swim on her own so they’re dragging her. Selene won’t let Killian move ahead of them either, she’s sticking by her pup.”

Jake scowled, “I know she’s conscious. I can feel her leg throbbing and she’s really cold.”

All eyes turned back to the water as a flare went up.

“Not ours,” David said.

“Not ours either,” added Alpha LeGrand.

As the red light arced over the ocean the pack members could see everything. And so could Bane. He was standing on the deck of his sinking vessel, flare gun in one hand and a pistol in the other. The Lune Rose fishing boat was in view, and another fishing boat was coming up fast behind them. The raft, now with two people on board, was clearly visible. Three small boats were between the fishing boat and the raft. Faint glimmers in the water showed them the most likely location of the four who were still swimming. The Bane took aim and fired. And again. Suddenly a shot rang out from the other direction. It hit its mark. The Bane’s arm flew back and he dropped the flare gun. He raised his other arm for a shot, but the sound came from the opposite direction. He stumbled back. Another shot, and another, and another. Finally, he fell into the ocean.

“Zat,” said Alpha LeGrand, “Was definitely a Lycan. Five landed shots before it fell!”

“Former Lycan. Hopefully capable of drowning.” Jake said. “We need to get down to the shore.”

“No,” said the other alpha, “we need to get to an outflow. Zee tide is not yet returning. Our boats can not come in here. Come. I will lead the fastest way is on back roads through our lands.”

“They’ve got her on board!” Dylan called out as the vehicles took off down the dirt road, “Lia, Selene, Killian and Jasper are on a rowboat!” Instead of slowing down, the vehicles ahead of them moved faster.