Wayward Son Read Free

“Get off me, you son of a bitch!”
    The beast roared one long loud scream in his face, blood and spittle flying into his eyes and nose before it dragged a clawed hand across his torso from neck to navel.
    Mark’s eyes shot wide as the most intense pain he had ever felt exploded through his body. He swore he felt the bastard’s fingers shred through his intestines as it dragged across his body, and his throat tightened to the point he couldn’t suck in air. He lost all strength in his upper body and couldn’t push back against the beast as it pressed against him.
    He didn’t hear the pointblank gunshot that splattered the wolf’s brains across the floor next to him.
    He didn’t even notice as his troops pushed the beast to the side then circled him.
    He heard somebody scream for a medic.
    He suddenly felt very tired.
    So sleepy.
    God, it was cold on that floor…
     
    *****
     
    A loud wailing sound echoed across the ruined courtyard of Rufus’ island home. The attacking wolves suddenly broke away and began rushing toward the eastern edge of the island.
    Azrael landed next to Jack, his arm outstretched and pointing at the retreating attackers. “They’re escaping.”
    “Let them,” Jack heaved as he sucked in air. The battle had been draining and he saw no benefit in chasing after the attackers in the darkness. “I doubt they’ll be back.”
    “We have decimated their forces. We should finish them while the advantage is ours,” Grimlock added, his large body settling next to his brothers.
    Jack patted the large gargoyle’s shoulder. “Leave them. We need to assess the damage and treat our wounded.”
    “Something tells me we shall face these opponents again.” Azrael watched as the dark figures quickly faded into the night.
    “Not if they know what’s good for them.” Jack tugged at the reluctant warrior. “Come on. It will be daylight soon, and we need to see what we’re dealing with.”
    Mueller stumbled up to the trio covered in blood. He nearly collapsed at Jack’s feet. “I need to find Barbara and Bobby,” he panted, his voice hoarse.
    “Bob!” Jack collected the man and helped him to the side of the building. “Where are you hurt?”
    Bob shook his head. “It’s not my blood.” He pointed to a body near the collapsed veranda. “He got the jump on me. I shifted and ripped his throat out.” Pointing to his body he added, “Tends to get messy.”
    Jack sighed and settled in next to the man. “I’ll find somebody to help you search for them.” Jack glanced at this watch then turned to the gargoyles. “Fellas, you won’t have much time before sunup. If you want to call it a night, I understand.”
    “We’ll assist where we can.” Azrael turned to Mueller. “Your female? She would have your scent?”
    Bob gave the gargoyle a quizzical nod. “She would, I think. She’s not a wolf, though.”
    “I shall begin the search.” He stepped aside and lifted into the air.
    Bob pulled himself to a standing position. “I thought this whole werewolf superpower thing gave us more endurance.”
    “It does. But we were fighting werewolves.” Jack got to his feet, and the two worked their way to the front of the castle entrance.
    Pedro trotted up from out of the smoke. “Jack! We need to talk.”
    “Hey, buddy.” Jack waved him over. “Sorry about all this. I know you didn’t sign up for any of—”
    “Jack,” Popo interrupted, “this is important.”
    Jack paused then motioned for Bob to go on. “Okay, bud, you have my attention.”
    Pedro sighed then pointed to the collapsed veranda. “We had a secondary mission. We weren’t supposed to mention it to you unless we came up empty.”
    Jack gave his friend a confused stare. “Secondary mission?”
    “Some of Doc’s notebooks came up missing. There was some scary, nasty shit in there that had Mitchell and Tufo’s panties in a twist.” Pedro glanced to the side out of habit to ensure nobody else was listening. “The only