Were in the City

Silvie's father killed her ... and I killed him.

Liam watched Jessie as Jacob talked, wondering what she was thinking. Was she shocked by the tragedy and violence implicit in those last words? He knew Jessie was not prepared for how difficult, how cruel Were life could be. Was she worrying that bonds could form with others who were seriously flawed, even evil. When she knew what he and Jacob has lived through, what they had done over many years, would she want to be with them? It would have been wonderful if all their actions had been honourable but they were not. They had tried to be good men, as much as it was possible to be, but had fallen short many times.

The last thing Liam wanted was for Jessie to be afraid of them again. What he needed, so badly, was to hold her, make love to her, help and protect her for the rest of his life. He had never felt a true mate bond, and he knew deep down that what he felt for Jessie was not that kind of bond, but what he had was as close he was probably ever going to get and it was everything that mattered now. He knew Jessie didn't feel the same, not yet anyway - he hoped to have enough time together to change that. He was glad that she'd come to terms with what had happened when the heat took her - she was able to relax around him again and just be herself.

Just as Jacob was about to continue talking his phone rang. "Hi Helen. You are on speaker. The three of us are here."

"Great, that's good. I need to talk about a couple of things. First, Jessie I need to you keep your current phone turned off. Destroy it. I'll activate a new one Liam will give you today that has additional security features, you'll use it only to talk to the three of us. You can get a second phone to use with human friends and colleagues. Don't mix up which one to use for what, please!

Jessie stuttered "Ok ... this is so weird ..."

Helen sighed. "I know, but it's important. You'll see how important soon I think. You all talking to each other this morning?"

Liam answered. "Yes, we are telling her our story"

"Good. Ok, second thing. Jessie, I don't know what's come over Tom but he has called me at least half a dozen times in the last two days asking if you are all right and what he can do to help. He hasn't talked to me this much in years. What happened with you two?"

Jessie shrugged. "I'm not sure. When I shook his hand, I felt a connection with him. I was aware of some of his feelings and that his leg had been hurt. He reacted like he'd been burned, he pulled away really fast. He felt something too."

"Hum ... that's strange. I'm not sure what that means. I can't seem to calm him down. Can I do a quick conference with him right now, have you speak to him?"

"You can do that? Right now? ... Sure, if you think that's a good idea ..."

"Good, hold on for a second and I'll get him on the line ... Tom, go ahead. Jessie is listening on this call."

"Hi Jessie, are you ok?"

"Yes, Tom. Thank you, I'm fine. Are you ok?

"Yes, I'm feeling great. Can I help you in any way? I would like to help." Tom sounded almost breathless.

Jessie didn't understand what was happening but had a thought. "Tom, you can help me and Helen. Could you please keep an eye on the Western Cedars Pack and report whatever you see? Stay hidden and take no chances, don't get too close, just observe and write a report once a week, send it to Helen. Ok?"

"Yes, I can do that ... I will do that ... I want to be useful ... I'm not dead yet." Tom sounded like he was talking to himself, it was odd.

"Thank you Tom. I have to go now. You take care, ok?"

"I will. I will help you." They heard Tom hang up.

Helen spoke, sounding pleased. "Jessie, I don't know what is going on with him, but you did the right thing. You have good instincts. Tom will respond to your request but he won't take risks. He's been alone a long time. Thank you for being gentle with him."

"I have to go now, we'll talk again soon." Helen hung up.

Jessie looked at Jacob and Liam. "Will I feel something every time I touch a shapeshifter? I've touched regular humans in the past month and felt nothing at all, but when I touch either of you and when I touched Tom, I felt a connection."

They both shrugged. Jacob said "I guess that is just something we'll have to find out about as we go ... hum ... it looks like I've got some messages from clients this morning that I should return. Can we take a break for an hour before we continue to talk?" They all agreed.

Liam watched Jessie as she got up and looked out the window into the back garden. Had she always been so beautiful? The relief after almost a week of overwhelming fear of losing her made everything so dazzling. Jessie looked back at him, "It is such a nice day, I'm going to go out into the garden and plan exactly where I'm going to put the vegetable beds. Call me when Jacob's done."

Liam cleaned up after breakfast and opened a few windows to let in the fresh spring air. He was reviewing the list of materials to purchase for their latest renovation contract when he heard a strange muffled thud come through the windows overlooking the garden. He got up and looked out, just in time to see Jessie being dragged into a panel van by Darren Barron, her former neighbours' gang-affiliated son.

"Jacob, Jessie's been taken! Get to the truck now!!" Liam yelled, grabbing the keys off the counter as he sprinted out the front door. Within seconds, Jacob was behind him. The van sped off down the road as they got in the truck and raced after it. "Liam, just keep it in sight, don't lose them. Drive it off the road if they get to any point where it can be done with few or no witnesses. I'm calling Helen to make sure she's looped into this."

Liam heard Jacob make the call. "Helen, its Jacob. Jessie's been taken, pulled into a panel van with a license plate reading B342AHJ3. We are chasing it now." Liam called out loud enough to be heard by Helen, "It's that Darren Barron guy. I don't know what he wants with Jessie. He's not a shapeshifter, he's human." Jacob continued to talk to Helen, telling her what was happening.

The van made a quick turn and headed down towards an abandoned industrial area, weaving around debris on the road. They lost sight of it as it turned and drove through a gap in the side of a large building. Liam followed through the gap. As their eyes quickly adjusted to the darker conditions they heard several bullets hit their truck, one cracking the windshield. Liam hit the brakes and they both exited the truck as fast as they could to take shelter behind a pile of old pallets.

Jacob shifted, not bothering to strip, and began working his way around in the shadows to get as close as he could to Darren who was leaning out the back doors of the van with a gun in his hand.

Liam called out "Let her go! We know who you are, you can't get away with this."

Darren yelled back, "Stay back or I'll shoot. She'd got a bounty on her, 20 thousand. Couldn't believe it when the notice came through, knew her right off. She's mine to claim. Get the hell out of here."

Liam could see Jacob was close. He pushed at the top of the pile of pallets, tumbling a few noisily to the ground, startling Darren and giving Jacob a few seconds to leap. As he did, Darren reacted, shooting Jacob at least twice before they crashed together. Jacob's body slid along the floor and he struggled to get up. Darren had managed to keep a grip on the gun and was lining up for another shot.

Out of the back of the van came a loud, high-pitched scream and Jessie launched herself at Darren. Both her hands were now large, four-toed talons with long razer-sharp claws. She hit him hard and he tumbled backwards. As he fell, Jessie slashed a talon across his neck almost tearing his head from his body. She didn't give Darren a second glance, rushing immediately to Jacob, sobbing as she tried to figure out how to use her oddly shaped hands to find his wounds.

Liam grabbed the emergency first aid kit from the truck and ran over to Jacob. Gasping in pain, Jacob managed to shift back to his human form. One bullet had gone through his chest just below his right shoulder, the other one had gone shallowly though his right side a few inches above his hip.

"Jessie! ... Jessie ... look at me. Help me help Jacob. Put pressure on this bandage for me, ok?" Liam grabbed her arm, though it looked more like a bird's scaly leg, and placed it on Jacob's chest. The talons had withdrawn quite a bit so the four toes of her hand were able to press down without doing more damage. Liam worked quickly wrapping a pressure bandage around Jacob's waist, then another around his chest, slowing the bleeding.

Together, Jessie and Liam got Jacob to his feet, moving him to where he could lay down in the covered bed of the truck, wrapped in an emergency blanket. Jessie was shaking, breathing hard, her arms still different. Liam got her to sit down on the tailgate in front of Jacob. "Jessie, I want you to close your eyes and try to slow your breathing. I want you to think about your arms being normal human arms, just decide that is what you want them to be. Deep slow breaths ... breathe in ... breathe out ... good, just keep doing that. I've got to go back to the van and figure out what to do there. Just call out if you need me. Keep breathing, keep thinking about your arms being normal."

Liam went over to the van and looked around. There were some papers on the passenger seat, he took those. There was nothing of Jessie's in the van that he could see. He went back to his truck, picking up Jacob's shredded clothes, and got the spare gas can, opened it and spread gas throughout the van, over Darren's body and the surrounding area, covering all the blood from Jacob's injuries. When he went back to the truck, Jessie was calmer and her arms had returned to normal.

"Jessie, I want you to lie down now, next to Jacob. I'm going to light the gas on fire and then drive out of here. Stay down under cover until we get home, ok."

Jessie whispered "Ok ... " and lay down.

Liam drove home quickly but carefully, avoiding traffic and using side streets as much as possible, parking the truck inside the garage when they got back. He and Jessie got Jacob into the house where they spent a couple of hours cleaning, sewing and bandaging his injuries. Once Jacob was sleeping in his bed, Liam got Jessie to strip, put all her clothes in a garbage bag, and got her into the shower. She was an exhausted mess, falling asleep on the couch wrapped in a towel. Liam cleaned up too, then called Helen to update her on everything.

"How bad is it?" Liam asked.

"The whole building in that industrial park is burning, it's a major blaze, so I don't think there will be any evidence left there that will come back at you. We've got to all the traffic cameras but there are probably dash cams and porch cams etc. that caught something. I've altered your truck's license plates already, so pull the old ones and destroy them. Don't drive the truck anywhere for a while. I'll monitor the investigation and see where it's leading, we'll deal with things as we need to.

Liam shuffled through the papers he'd grabbed from Darren's truck. "We've got a big problem with Jessie. I'm looking at printouts of a search request for a woman, offering 20 thousand as a bounty if she's found. There's a picture of her, it's not really clear but if you knew her - and Darren did - you'd recognize her. It's probably from a dash cam, she's walking on the street. There's a contact email ... " Liam read the address out to Helen. "If Darren told anyone he knew how to find her, we are screwed. If he came for her first, we may have a chance."

Helen sighed. "Scan those pages and email them to me. I'll see what I can find out. For now, stay put. She doesn't go to work. She'll have to alter her appearance, and you'll have to as well."

"Helen, there's something else. Jessie changed, just a little, after Jacob was shot. She killed Darren. Her arms and hands ... They looked like a raptor's legs, with talons. Her eyes shifted too, larger pupils, yellow irises. What is she?"

Helen sounded surprised and excited. "She changed? She's not a canine or a feline? Wow! I will have to do some research on this." Her voice got more serious. "Be careful with her, see how much she remembers. It will be hard on her to realize she's killed someone. When you get a calm moment, see if she can change by willing it consciously. Talk her through it. See what happens."

Liam yawned. "Ok. Look, I'm tired and I really need to close my eyes for a bit. Call me as needed. Jacob's going to be out of it for a couple of days probably."

After Helen hung up, Liam digitized the printouts from the truck, emailing the scans to Helen. He covered Jessie with a blanket, then sat down in a comfortable chair beside her and was asleep in less than a minute.

******************

When Liam woke up he was alone. He walked upstairs to check on Jacob and found Jessie, dressed in sweat pants and a hoodie, giving his brother some pain meds and juice.

Jacob grinned at his brother. "I won't lie, lots of things hurt, but I've had worse. I'm pulling ahead of you again ..."

Jessie looked puzzled "Pulling ahead? What does that mean?"

Liam grinned back. "We've got a life-long contest, a

tout juste

[barely] count. When either of us gets into a life-threatening situation and barely lives to tell the tale, we get a point.

Jessie looked at them, astonished. "Really!? You are crazy, both of you! I probably don't want to know but I have to ask, how big is the count right now?"

Liam answered, still grinning. "Well, there are various rules we've added over the years to define just how "life threatening" something has to be and how "barely" we have to survive, its complicated. We've had to stop keeping track of the exact number, now we just track who is ahead and by how much - it's easier. If you had to guess brother, how big a count would it be now do you think?"

Jacob looked at Jessie. "More than 100, less than 1000 would be my guess".

Jessie rolled her eyes. "Great, so helpful ... I do note that it's more than 100 which is bad enough to know, thanks. I only have basic first aid, so I guess I'd better take some advanced courses soon."

"You did fine earlier today Jessie, you were able to focus and have steady hands" Jacob said as he moved around trying to get more comfortable.

Jessie sighed, "As long as my hands are hands, and not whatever they turned into ... they looked like bird feet ... what am I, some kind of were-ostrich or were-emu? I have to be a big bird (OMG, not "Big Bird" please!) don't I? That's rather weird and scary to think about!"

Liam tried to help, "How about one of those giant eagles like in Lord of the Rings? That would be interesting." Jessie looked at him in surprise. "What?! We read and we watch movies too ..."

Jacob interrupted, "I think you are forgetting something. Jessie's arms changed into bird feet. A bird's arms are its wings, its feet have scales, toes, talons."

Jessie looked worried. "Crap! You mean I'm going to be hopping around on my arms if I turn all the way into something? This just gets better and better."

Liam sighed. "Well we can't solve it right now. We need to eat and rest. Jessie, promise me you won't try to change when you are by yourself. You don't know what will happen, one of us needs to be with you if you do that, ok?"

Jessie nodded, "Ok." She suddenly looked like she was going to cry and said softly, "Can I stay here on the couch tonight, I don't want to be alone. I woke up on the couch earlier from a nightmare ... I killed someone today ... I'm a murderer ..."

Liam walked over and hugged her. "It's hard to face, I know, but you were saving yourself and us from someone who was willing to kill. It is a part of who we are. Our actions can be swift and final. If you are a good person you will only go that far in justifiable circumstances." He looked her in the eyes. "You are a good person Jessie, remember that."

******************

The next morning Jacob was feeling strong enough to sit in the kitchen for breakfast with Liam and Jessie. As they ate Jessie asked Jacob to continue with the story he'd been telling the day before.

Jacob nodded. "It was inevitable that someone would catch Silvie and I talking, and that it would be reported to her father. It was one of Richard's betas, his second in command, that spotted us. I didn't see him approaching until the last second, he hit me hard knocking me out. When I came to, I was locked in a windowless cellar and I knew I was a dead man. Richard was an experienced fighter, a huge wolf. He would challenge me and tear me apart, I didn't have a chance. All I could think about was Silvie. I had no idea where she was or what her father would do to her. No one knew we had a mate bond yet, but just being a coywolf rogue who dared to speak to his daughter and a daughter who allowed it was enough for severe punishment for us both. Alpha Richard was away for a few days, and justice was his to serve, so I had only those few days to live.

I'd been working on the property for about 3 months at that point, and had made a few friends. There were two other rogues working on the pack house renovation and we'd gotten to know each other. We were the only three non-pack individuals on pack land and we all knew it was a precarious situation. I'd found out from them that the mason I had replaced had also been a rogue - he had been killed by Alpha Richard for trying to interfere in the beating of a teenage pack member who had accidently broken a new window. I'd seen plenty of evidence that life was very difficult for almost everyone who lived there.

Some of the pack omegas, those with the lowest rank, had enough courage ... or was it foolishness? ... to talk to us rogues. Even though they were under Alpha command they still had ways to exert some independence and show decency towards others. I really admired one of the omegas who worked in the kitchen and brought us our food. She'd been beaten and abused, she was missing an eye and an ear, but she refused to let her situation destroy her spirit. Her name was Helene Lavalle."

Jessie gasped. "Helen? The woman on the phone?"

Jacob nodded. "Yes. Helen might have been ranked omega in that pack, but she's brilliant, strong, and compassionate. I owe her my life, many times over now, as does Liam. The first time she saved me was when she opened that cellar door and let me out. She told me to run, but I couldn't go without Silvie, and I told Helen that, told her what Silvie was to me and why I had to find her. Helen was shocked. I could tell she didn't like Silvie, and truth be told I don't think any pack member did. Silvie, just like her father and both her brothers, used & abused whoever they wished however they wished. Helen told me Silvie was under guard in her room and that there was no way I could get to her without being seen."

Jacob looked sad. "I suppose you are wondering why I would want anything to do with a woman like Silvie, why I hadn't just rejected the bond and walked away from her. If a bond with such a person happened to me today, I would discard it, but I was a young idealistic fool then and had this idiotic belief that I could pull off a miracle, save her and remake her into a good person. I am still astonished at how naive I was then."

Jacob continued with the story. "Before I could go free Silvie, and somehow convince her to come with me, I had to solve a bigger problem - I didn't know how we could escape together. If we changed and ran for it, the pack would hunt us down. Silvie was not a strong wolf, she hadn't been trained to be, we'd never make it. There was no mode of human transportation that would be fast enough to outrun the pack."