SWNOVELS Chapter 21 Chance Revealed
The next two days were spent caring for the wounded, cleaning up the mess, and ordering new furniture. Quinn was not happy she had to spend so much money on a new fridge. Peyton was almost completely healed, there was a bit of pressure on her to decide where to bury Sawyer. She really didn’t want to bury him here, she said that he didn’t belong here, I was inclined to agree. The trick was to figure out a way to transport his body halfway across the country. I hoped Chance might offer a solution.
Chance’s huge truck rumbled to a stop in our driveway. Peyton was the first out of the front door to meet him. He embraced his daughter, she whimpered that Sawyer was dead. I watched the expression on his face get stone cold. He took his daughter’s face in his hands and whispered that he would make it right. He looked me right in my eyes and said “Reese and I are going to have a little chat, Darlin.” He kissed the top of Peyton’s head and turned to me, “Let’s go for a walk.”
Chance led me a little ways into the forest, “Now, Little Lady, tell me exactly what happened from the time Peyton first arrived to the moment I first arrived.” I wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about this conversation but he deserved to know the truth. I told Chance about Chad and how much of a douchebag he was. I told him how I had rescued several wolves from Chad’s pack and brutally killed him. “Well done,” was Chance’s only comment. I shared how I let the two wolves go if they promised to leave us alone.
“Fast forward till now, the two wolves I let go turned out to be Chad’s kids. They were angry and wanted revenge. They brought a huge pack of ten to fifteen wolves, they tricked us into prematurely going to war. Peyton and Sawyer stayed at the house when we began our assault. Peyton and Sawyer were wounded when the enemy pack trashed our house, Sawyer didn’t survive.” I took a deep breath before I continued, “Chance it’s all my fault. Sawyer is dead because of me. I was the one who bit Peyton that fateful night. She sought me out for answers and what she got in return was heartache. I do not take this lightly. I realize how severe and terrible all this is.”
Chance stood still for a long couple of minutes. His breath was slow and constant. He processed all of this information remarkably quickly. “Daylight is burning. Show me where you lost their trail.” “Let me tell my pack where I am going,” I replied. “Make it fast, the trail is already cold,” he answered. I hurried inside and told Quinn and Casey what the plan was. Quinn refused to let me go alone, I was secretly grateful. Casey said that they would watch the pack and the clan. Quinn and I left the house and joined Chance.
Goliath had shown me the spot where they had lost the intruders. “Try to keep up, Old Man,” Quinn sneered. “Quinn! That’s not nice! He is here to help us,” I exclaimed. Chance chuckled, “Don’t worry about me, Little Ladies, this old fart is more spry than he looks.” Quinn raised an eyebrow, turned and charged off into the woods. Chance motioned to me to go ahead. I shrugged and ran after Quinn and Chance was hot on my heels. The three of us ducked tree limbs and jumped over rocks. True to his word, Chance kept up to us without much trouble.
We raced along for almost an hour before Chance showed signs of fatigue. There was absolutely no way that Chance was completely human, we ran too fast, too hard for too long. We rounded the corner and arrived at the spot where Goliath and the clan lost Tate and his minions. The trees grew dangerously close and the underbrush was incredibly thick. I didn’t blame the gargoyles for their inability to track Tate and his miscreants through the thick tree cover. “All right, Hunter Man, we will follow you now,” Quinn smirked.
Chance approached the tree line, I matched him step for step. “I know,” I said casually. Chance didn’t meet my gaze, “What is this that you know, Little Lady?” I chuckled, “Don’t play coy, Stirling. It is unbecoming.” “Are you going to say something,” Chance scowled, “Or continue to beat around the bush?” I huffed agitatedly, “Chance you are not human, not completely anyway.” Chance finally looked up to me, “I was wondering when you’d catch on.” It was my turn to raise an eyebrow, “Excuse me?” He laughed a deep soulful laugh, “Well, I know your secret, it’s only fair you know mine.”
“I am not an ordinary hunter,” Chance began. Quinn’s ears perked up. “I come from a long lineage of supernatural hunters. My daddy was one before me and my granddaddy before him. We can sense when supernatural creatures are near, it really takes the edge off tracking and hunting critters that go bump in the night. We have increased stamina and physical prowess, although as you saw, my energy has its limits. I have a keen sense of smell too, not as good as yours, naturally but better than any human I’ve come across. Now, if we are done jawing, I have wolves to track.”
Chance sauntered into the woods with Quinn and I close behind. Chance tracked the rogue wolves for a good half an hour before he knelt to the ground and motioned for us to follow suit. I took a deep sniff of the air and strained my ears. If Chance heard or smelled something, I wanted to as well. I smiled victoriously and motioned to Quinn to take a sniff. She returned my smile. We had found Tate and his degenerates. Chance tapped a few times on his cell phone. He turned around and crawled toward us, “Time to go. We have what we need.” I studied him and he jerked his head behind us.
We got out of the heavy woods. “So what now,” I inquired of Chance. “Now, we wait, we watch, we plan and strategize. Gather reinforcements. That’s how I was able to overwhelm you. That’s how these monsters got the jump on you, why you are in this mess in the first place.” The truth of his words stung, Quinn snarled at him. “No, Chance is right. We should have been more careful and vigilant,” I retorted. “Let’s get back to the house and prepare. You clearly lost a battle, but the war is still yours for the taking,” Chance replied. Quinn and I grinned at each other.
The three of us began the long trek back home. We didn’t feel the need to rush. I could tell that Chance was deep in thought, he planned and strategized as we walked. He was our secret weapon, our ace in the hole. My inner wolf barked gleefully as I envisioned how we would inflict pain and suffering on Tate and Dakota. I broke the silence, “Chance, are there any people you know who would be willing to help us?” He was quiet for a few minutes before he replied, “I know one or two people who could be trusted with your secret or I could gather a crew like last time. You would have to let me and the boys handle it, I doubt you will want to though. Wolves like to get their claws bloody.” I pondered what he said. He was right, I did fantasize about Tate and Dakota’s painful slow death, but if it meant none of my pack would be hurt, the idea sounded better and better all the time.