Sold To The Billionaire Alpha
Chapter 55

Orchid

Like the calm before the storm, there was one moment of perfect peaceful alignment when my heart rate synchronised with the pulse of the plants. I took a deep breath and then I unleashed chaos.

Brambles shot forth from every hedge twisting and turning as they formed a barricade across the street. Dagger-like thorns burst from every branch of my new living barricade. Instead of deterring the wolf hunters, the thorns in their path seemed to serve as a challenge. The gauntlet had been thrown down. Hunters with axes and some with knives hacked through the brambles, others began climbing over them while some crawled beneath the thicket of thorns.

I was acutely aware of every single leaf, thorn, branch and stalk. Every time they slashed through one branch, I sensed it, and grew several more in its place like a hydra regenerating every tissue and replacing every head and limb. A few of the hunters ended up walled off, trapped in a tangle of thorny branches wrapped around their torsos, tightening every time they struggled.

One of the younger hunters made it to the top of my now fifteen foot tall wall of thorns. He dove from the highest point, meaning to tackle me. He came so close I felt his breath on my forehead just as one of my thorny branches wrapped around his waist from behind and flung him back over the wall. He fell onto a parked car, shattering the windshield, denting the body and setting off the alarm. No one else tried to jump from the top of the thorny barricade after that.

The people who were crawling underneath the barricade were seemingly unscathed except for a scratch or two. One man broke through to the other side. I jumped, startled, as he c****d his gun. He came hurtling towards me, meaning to shoot at close range with a silver bullet. My heart almost dropped into my stomach.

Bees! My she-wolf reminded me.

I sent vines to fetch the hive. I dropped the buzzing hive right onto the head the of the hunter just before he was about to shoot. Even I stepped back when the bees began to attack. I watched him struggle amidst hundreds of them. He fired some shots at random which seemed to anger the bees more. Eventually, he lay still and swollen, covered in stings. Meanwhile, I coated the barricade in stinging nettle and poison ivy as I continued to weave a basket of sorts, encasing as many hunters inside of it as I could. As they cut and hacked and tore their way out, I grew more and more vines and brambles, buying myself some time. I did not intend to stand and fight indefinitely nor did I wish to ransack the whole neighbourhood. I wanted to get out of here and get back to Orion. When my barricade seemed thick and deadly enough, I made a run for it.

I heard a voice ring out among the g****s and screams and shrieks.

“SHE’S GETTING AWAY!” Bellowed Jaack.

I dashed down the street, putting as much distance between me and the would-be mob, most of its members still trapped within the botanical barricade. A few had retreated. There had been several hunters who had stood on their lawns, serving as undecided bystanders. The screams of their comrades had made the decision for them. I watched a few them scrambling back inside their homes and shutting and barring their doors and windows as I made my escape.

The further I got from the barricade, the more the g****s of anguish faded into the background. It was reasonably quiet now. Thus, a loud bang made me flinch and stumble. I caught myself and kept on running as a bullet whizzed by my ear. I glanced behind me. Just as I had expected, Jaack was pursuing me alone.

“GIVE IT UP!” I yelled over my shoulder at him without stopping. “IT’S OVER!” I screamed, feeling a bit panicked as he continued to fire silver bullets.

Thankfully, he missed but a few of them came frightfully close. My heart was pounding in my chest as I ran. I had exited the suburban area with its green lawns and quaint houses. I was now in a more rural part of the settlement. The houses were few and far between. I spotted a barn and some crop fields in the distance. I hoped the change in scenery meant I was getting close to the end of their territory. I was glad there were less houses in this part. Lower population density in this case meant less hunters trying to kill me so I would take my mercies where I could get them. No one else was was around. Not that I expected them to be in the dead of night.

Suddenly, pain exploded through my calf. I had been shot. I screamed and stumbled. The road here was running slightly downhill so when I hit the ground, I rolled over several times before I stopped, exhausted and panting and bleeding. I struggled to my feet, limping away as quickly as I could. I could hear Jaack’s cold laughter.

“Give it up! It’s over!” He repeated, mocking me.

My leg was about to give out. I looked around me. There was nothing but darkness, grass, a barn and Jaack. Jaack remained about thirty feet away from me, still pointing his gun at me. I looked at the long road behind me. Had I been going the wrong way? Was anyone coming like Ellie had said or had that been a lie?

“You don’t want to kill me,” I said to Jaack.

He laughed like the maniac he was.

“I don’t?” He said.

“No, you don’t,” I answered. “If you wanted to kill me, you would have done it by now. You just want to toy with me for as long as possible.”

This was all a sick game to him.

“Maybe,” said Jaack. “But you’re not worth much you see. It’s your Alpha I want. He’s worth the big bounty! Killing you in front of him would be ideal! I wanna shoot you the moment he gets here! The moment he’s within sight of this place!”

“Romantic,” I said with a flourish of my hand. “And then how do you plan to kill all of the wolves after you’ve shot me in front of them, Jaack?” I asked breathlessly.

My calf was throbbing. The place where the bullet was lodged seemed to be on fire, making it difficult to concentrate on anything else.

“Do you think they’ll burst into tears or something and stand in alphabetical order in a line for you to shoot them one by one? They’re real wolves!” I said, irritated with his idiocy. “Not like me. They’ll shift.”

“Then, why don’t you shift?” He asked snidely.

“You must know by now that I can’t,” I said, tears brimming in my eyes.

I did not know if I was crying from frustration or physical pain or despair.

“You really can’t, can you?” He said. “It’s a damn shame. I’m disappointed!” He said with a shrug. “I expected a lot more from you than Ellie!”

“Excuse me,” I said, confused.

Ellie? What did she have to do with this?

“If Ellie could figure out a way to shift after all the wolfsbane I gave her, then why couldn’t you?” Said Jaack, laughing and shaking his head.

A chill passed through me.

“Ellie thinks she’s human,” I said. “She’s not. She’s a stray like me,” I surmised, putting the fragments together.

“B-I-N-G-O! Bingo!” He said, spelling it out at first.

He burst into raucous laughter. I recalled Ellie’s blind hatred of werewolves and her belief that wolves had taken her sister. I remembered Jaack fighting with Ellie before he shot her. He had said she didn’t have a sister. I gasped, covering my mouth with my hands. Jaack was beside himself now, laughing at the top of his lungs.

“You were always a smart one, huh, Orchid! I’m not so disappointed anymore! You get it, don’t you?” Said Jaack.

“Ellie doesn’t have a sister…she…she is her sister,” I said.

“Ding ding ding!” Squealed Jaack. “Tell her what she’s won, ladies and gentlemen!”

The tears were flowing freely down my cheeks now. Ellie had created two different personalities to deal with her struggle to shift and her confusion about her identity. “Human” Ellie and her “sister” who was “taken by wolves” represented her own suppressed identity as a she-wolf.

“Why did you kill her then? Huh? You had her so well-controlled she didn’t even identify as a wolf anymore! She seriously thought she was human! She thought her wolf self was a whole different person! A missing person at that!” I screamed at him. “You’re sick, Jaack! You’re f*****g sick!”

“I had to kill her,” he said coldly. “She was out of control. Whenever her so-called sister came to the forefront and gained control, she was a wild animal. Her other personality was totally feral whether in human or she-wolf form. Sure, her other personality was able to shift easily but she was rabid. I had to do whatever it took to keep her in Ellie mode just to get by. I couldn’t control her alter-ego. Besides, that’s always the plan with stray she-wolves anyway. Adopt them and then kill them. If I can get them to lead me to other wolves then great. If not, then bang!” He said, brandishing his gun like a cowboy.

“You’re the most subhuman person I’ve ever met,” I said to him, meaning every word. “I can’t believe I didn’t see it the moment I met you!”

“What the f**k is wrong with you wolf chicks? Do you think you’re special or something? Did you think Ellie was special? Do you think you and Ellie are the first stray she-wolves I’ve poached!” He asked incredulously.

I was horrified. How many of us had he killed?

“You’re a f*****g serial killer, Jaack!” I shrieked at him.

“NO!” He thundered. “NO! You’re animals! Serial killers kill humans. You’re ANIMALS! I’m a hunter. A HUNTER!” He screamed, trembling slightly.

He was totally deranged.

“Do you wanna know your number?” He asked, a sick smile sliding onto his face.

I actually did. I wanted to hate him the right amount. I needed to know just how evil he really was.

“Yeah, tell me my number,” I said coldly.

At least, I was keeping him talking. I could feel the flesh of my calf filling in, repairing itself and slowly pushing the silver bullet out. The silver burned all the way as it moved slowly towards the exit. If he heard the clink of the bullet hitting the ground it would signal to him that I was healing. I had to keep him distracted.

“Tell me,” I said, sniffling. “What’s the holdup?”

“I’m older than you think you know! I look good for my age. Well, for a human anyway. Not like you immortal pricks!” He said, gesturing towards me with the gun.

He actually had the nerve to pull a blunt out of his pocket while I waited for him to tell me what number I was in his kill-count of young, bright, beautiful women who should have had their whole lives Hess.

“Got a light?” He chuckled, holding out the blunt.

“There should be one for you in hell. Plenty fire down there for you to light your blunts and cigarettes,” I said giving him a wry smile.

He snickered.

“You were the funniest!” He said. “And one of the smartest! Maybe the smartest!”

He was already talking about me in past tense.

“I want you to guess,” he said. “Guess what number you are? You were supposed to be before Ellie mind you but now you’re after her cause s**t got all crazy and she wanted to deviate from the plan. It’s not her fault! She didn’t know she wasn’t gonna live to see the money either way!”

“Five,” I guessed, not really caring if I got it right.

My stomach was churning just thinking about the girls who had come before

Clearly no one had rescued them. They must have been scared and lonely and confused.

“Second time you disappointed me in one day,” he said, lighting his blunt with his own lighter.

He had to do it one handed so he could keep the gun pointed at me with the other hand.

“Best of three guesses?” He offered. “I’m feeling generous today.”

I bet he toyed with all of them like this before he killed them.

“Four,” I said, knowing it was higher but dropping the number just to piss him off.

He took his gun and fired a warning shot into the air, making me jump. My calf was almost totally healed. The silver had slowed the healing down a little but being only half wolf seemed to be working in my favour right now. He marched towards me and closed the distance between us. He put the gun right against my temple.

“If you guess this last one right here, spot on, I won’t blow your brains out, how ‘bout that?” He said, feigning an accent like he was in a western.

I had not been expecting him to come this close. Was I really going to die like this?

“GUESS!” He screamed at the top of his lungs, making me flinch.

“Thirteen,” I forced out.

He froze. He pulled the gun away from my head and backed up a bit.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” he laughed, his eyes wide as saucers. “You really are my favourite! Lucky number thirteen!”

I was actually thanking my lucky stars though I wasn’t one to gamble. I hadn’t had a choice here. Perhaps, if I lived, I should take up gambling.

“I’d shake your hand but I got the Mary Jane in one hand and the gun in the other, you know how it is,” mumbled Jaack. “Yes, my little Orchid, you are number thirteen. You were supposed to be twelve but Ellie took that honour away from you. I guess she didn’t wanna be lucky number thirteen. No matter. I might retire after you, Orchid!”

“Really?” I asked.

“f**k no!” He said, laughing. “I already have three more girls lined up. The greatest thing ever happened. This human s***m bank unwittingly gave out wolf s***m about two decades ago. Lotta strays to collect! It was one of my past girls that led me to the mishap actually. Lucky number seven. A real beauty! Shame, really!”

“And you only collect she-wolves right?” I asked.

“There’s a girl who rounds up the boys, don’t worry?” He said.

“What’s her name?” I asked quickly.

If I got out of this, I was gonna replace her and kill her, after I killed Jaack if I could best him.

“Now, I think you’re overstaying your welcome,” whispered Jaack conspiratorially. “Time’s up!”

The bullet fell onto the pitch as my wound closed completely.

“Yeah, but not for me,” I said, rushing closer to him so that the gun faced behind me and using that same recovered leg to knee him in balls.

He g*****d. I pushed him down onto the ground and pressed my knee into his groin as hard as I possibly could as I grabbed the hand holding the gun, trying to wrestle it away from him. Several shots were fired into the air during the scuffle. He was strong. I shifted the hand without the silver bangle on and used my wolf paw to grapple with him for the gun.

Somehow, the gun went flying several feet away. As I rushed for it, a searing pain in my temple made me see stars. I fell over. I clutched my throbbing temple and felt something wet. I looked at my fingers. B***d. I looked at Jaack who was still holding the large rock he had picked up to bludgeon me with. I could see a splatter of b***d on the rock.

“Maybe I should have gone old school with his kill,” he said, gesturing with the rock while my head span though it was healing already. “You’d think I would have been done by now. An experienced hunter like me with twelve dead and buried already from Kelly to Ellie!” He said as I scrambled to my feet, standing between him and the gun but not daring to turn my back to him again to get the gun.

“You didn’t bury me,” said a familiar voice.