The Contrary Mate

Jack

We were boxed in with no escape. Spotting a gap behind us, and trusting Aura’s wings, I threw her from the vehicle mere moments before the car behind us slammed into mine, shoving it forward. I swerved hard to avoid the car ahead by switching lanes, but that barely saved me, because the vehicle now just in front of me was already stopped having already collided with another car, and the car now behind me was still hurtling forward. I slammed on the brakes, and then braced myself for an impact I had no room to avoid. Aura called for me in my mind, but I couldn’t spare the attention to respond.

Metal crunched and scraped as the car slammed into the car in front of me. The airbag stopped me from slamming into the dashboard, but my head still felt disjointed from the impact and my body shaken. Somewhere far away I felt fear, and pain, and tasted blood in my mouth, but none of that mattered. Some instinct, maybe my wolf, pushed me to undo my seatbelt and attempt to open the door to get out and go find Aura, just as another car rear ended the vehicles behind, another sick crunch of metal upon metal. I was still able to move, so I tried both doors, and neither of them would open.

Instead of fighting with them, I kicked out the windshield and pulled myself out. I was injured and dazed, maybe with internal bleeding, but it wasn’t going to kill me. My wolf would heal me in time. I wasn’t so sure about the stunned humans around me as I scanned the area for my mate. The moon was still nearly full and it gave enough light in the shadow of the building for me to see that I couldn’t spot her nearby. But I could feel that she was alive. “Aura?”

“Jack?” She was clearly shaken up.

“Where are you?” I asked.

“I’m on something sticking out on a building.”

“Can you see the engine fire from where you are?” I asked, scanning the chaos. All the vehicles had come to a stop, but there was an accident in the dark intersection involving a couple dozen cars. Humans were everywhere, injured or panicking, and there were a few I was sure were beyond help. One was lighting a makeshift torch on fire in the burning engine, and past him I spotted my mate huddling on an awning above the door to a bistro.

Relief flooded me. I had known she was alive, but seeing her alive and well was still a comfort. “I have to try to help who I can, and then we’ll go.”

“Be careful,” she said, her voice tremulous, but at least she was safe. I fumbled around in my pockets and to my surprise I still had my cell phone. I tried turning it on to call emergency services, but it stayed blank and dead. I cursed and wondered what had happened. This wasn’t just the electric grid going down, this was affecting everything. An electromagnetic pulse? But even something like that wouldn’t probably hit everything this hard.

But I didn’t have time to figure that now. I went from car to car, and I ripped open the doors for a couple of people who were trapped. They wouldn’t know who had done it. There were a couple of cars that smelled strongly of blood and other fluids, but there was no sound of life from inside them so I didn’t waste my time.

Another person was still in their vehicle, but another human was talking to them and they couldn’t feel their legs. I wasn’t sure if intervening would cause more harm than good. The vehicle on fire was away from most of the others, having been pushed onto the sidewalk into a light pole, but the humans had already vacated it, and everyone around was mobile.

I wasn’t sure there was much else I could do. I tried restarting my phone again, but there was no response. Again the idea of an EMP wandered through my mind, but if it were just a pulse surely some of the tech would manage to be rebooted. I went over to my mate. ”Aura, I’m below you.”

She slipped down and I caught her, although she didn’t need it because her wings were still out. She let them fade as her feet hit the ground, and I could feel her shaking. She was freezing. “Let me carry you,” I said, landing on one knee so she could grab onto my back.

“Are you hurt? I heard loud sounds.”

“Nothing my wolf can’t handle. This is the fastest way right now. And you’ve lost your shoes, what if you hurt yourself on debris?”

She hesitated, but did as I asked. I got to my feet and began to jog through the streets. A few humans had lighters out and groups of them were clustering around the people who had light, or crafting more impromptu torches from whatever. I didn’t blame them, it must have been terrible to be lost in near darkness. Could they see anything?

“What happened, Jack?”

“I don’t know yet. I’m going to get us to Meteor and then we’ll figure out what to do from there. A few of my pack are working tonight and there’s safety in numbers.” Who knew what people would do if the shock wore off and they started panicking? Riots, looting, I wanted my mate safely away from potential anarchy.

She was quiet for a long moment. “What happened after you threw me out of your car?”

“Car crashed. It’s totaled.”

“Jack!”

“I promise I’m fine. I’m a werewolf.”

“Being a werewolf doesn’t make you immortal.”

It didn’t. My sister had died in a similar situation, a head on collision on the highway. Higher speeds, but so much similarity. A sudden chill ran through me. Was that what she had felt in her final moments? Or something worse? Pure terror? Helpless resignation? Darlene. I hoped she didn’t suffer, that it was fast.

Aura’s arms tightened around my neck. It hurt, but I didn’t complain. “I don’t want to lose you.”

“I’ll do everything I can to avoid that.” I didn’t want her to ever have to suffer the fracturing of a mate bond.

I breathed a sigh of relief as we reached the right street. As I ran up to the building, I reached out to Lenora.

“Oh my God, Jack, are you alright?” she asked with the closest emotion to panic I’d ever heard in her voice.

“Got caught in a pileup when the lights went out, everything’s fine—as far as Aura and me. We’ll be up soon.”

I met the eyes of the vampire guard on duty. The other guard was a pack member and she nodded at me as I went by, Aura still clutching my back. Walking past the elevator, I made my way to the stairs and started up them. Although I could easily carry Aura for hours on a normal day, by the time we got up to my office, I was feeling tired after everything that had happened. I still didn’t want to put her down though, I wanted the real touch of her against me, because she was probably the only thing that was keeping me calm at this point.

Lenora hurried over to us as I let Aura down from my back. She looked us over carefully before she seemed satisfied that we were both unscathed. A few other pack members were there, looking as stressed as Lenora. It had been an exhausting night.

“You barely even have a scratch,” she said, inspecting my mate.

“Jack tossed me from the vehicle before it hit and I flew away.” She grabbed onto my arm.

“You might have saved her life.” Lenora gave me one more hard look. “But if you’re well enough, we’ve got problems.”