To Run With the Rising Sun

Chapter 9

Raging Fire

A/N: Inspiration: Raging Fire by Phillip Phillips. Please listen to it.

There was static in the background. Faint creaking echoed around the area along with the sound of faint chatter. A young woman sat tied to a chair with ropes. Part of her shirt had been torn open, her shoulder wrapped up tightly in what was now a bloody bandage.

"What is with this stupid radio?"

The sound of metal and plastic being thrown against the wall was heard next, pieces flying around and landing here and there without the slightest amount of discrimination.

"This is why we can't have nice things," another spoke, shaking his head at his companion.

He had just recently gotten out of prison, so a radio was a luxury for him. Now, it lay in pieces on the ground.

"Oh shut up Griswald," the other growled.

"Well, at least I'm not dumb enough to throw something when all it likely needed was a change of batteries," Griswald said smugly.

T

It had been several hours since the attack when Nicki finally managed to peel open his eyes, his head feeling worse than it did after a hangover. Reaching up, he could feel the bandage wrapped around his head. A faint growl left him as he began to remember what had happened, pissed that someone had tried to crack open his skull.

Stepping into view, Antonio came forward, cupping his son's face in his hands.

"Nicki, mio figlio. Grazie al cielo, stai bene," he said, lightly kissing his forehead.

"Nice to see you too Dad," Nicki groaned, before turning toward the stairs as Jeremy approached.

Nicki could tell right off the bat that something was bothering Jeremy. By the look on the older man's face, it was all too obvious. Two of his pack members had been attacked, one taken, and he was boiling on the inside.

"Nick," Jeremy nodded, stepping forward as he drew in a breath to calm his nerves. "It's good to see you awake my friend."

"Ditto," Nicki said, before letting out a groan.

"Nicki, we tracked you to the graveyard," Jeremy stated. "We also found a three day old body rotting away," he informed him.

"What he's trying to ask is, what happened before we found you?" Antonio asked, placing a hand on his son's shoulder.

"Celine," he groaned. "I went to go find Celine like we agreed," he started, scratching the side of his head as he pushed himself to sit up a bit more. "It couldn't have been very long after I tracked her scent to the cemetery. There was another scent there, a mutt," he told them, trying to put things back together.

"Take your time Nicki," his father told him.

"I heard her scream and went running," he told them. "The mutt had bit her, but it wasn't one that I had smelled before," he explained. "There must have been another there because the next thing I know, she's yelling at me and then there's this searing pain going through my head."

"How is it that you failed to catch wind of the other one?" Jeremy asked, standing there with his arms crossed over his chest.

"I don't know," Nicki said honestly. "He must have masked his scent somehow."

Nicki could hear the breath that Jeremy drew in, watching as the Alpha walked toward the window. As Jeremy stood there, thoughts continued to plague his mind. He shouldn't have let her leave the property. If he hadn't, then none of this would have happened. Had he been the one to go after her, Celine would still be there. Instead, a couple of rouge mutts had taken her from him them. Being a female werewolf, he wasn't sure what the mutts would do. What he did know though, was that when they got a hold of them, they were dead.

T

With a faint groan, Celine began to open her eyes. She could hear the sound of two males arguing with one another senselessly. At the same time, she could still feel the pounding in her skull, something stiff and dry sticking to the side of her face.

Carefully, she peeled open her eyes, blinking as few times. She looked around her, brows furrowing painfully. More than likely, the bastard had given her a hairline fracture. She shook that off though as she stared at the metal environment around her. It was something that wouldn't really pick up a scent on its own, unlike wood or other materials. If she had to take a guess, she was at and old steel mill of sorts.

"Well, look who's awake," she heard one of the men chuckle, wincing at the sound of his voice.

It was the man that had knocked her out, a glare forming on her face as she spat at his feet. Unfortunately, this led to a slap to the face, her head flying to the side painfully. It left her gasping in pain as the area around her temple pulsated causing her to let out a whimper.

"You hurt Nicki," she managed to growl out.

"Oh, you mean the scrawny piece of shit that came running?" the man asked, laughing in her face.

She felt the spittle on her face, a look of disgust forming.

"Hopefully, it was enough to leave him knocked out for a few days if he knows what's good for him."

Growling, Celine narrowed her eyes. Her wolf was practically in a frenzy. This man was laughing at the pain that he'd caused her pack mate.

"I have to say, she's definitely feisty," she heard another chuckle.

Looking up, she found another man approaching. This one was tall and obviously not as muscular as his current counterpart. He was blond, hair reaching down to his ears. He was clean shaven though, wearing a nice button up shirt. The other guy was also tall. He had no shirt on though, only wearing a pair of loose fitted sweat pants.

"Untie me and I'll show you just how feisty I really am!" she growled.

At the moment, her anger was greater than her fear, pushing her nerves even further. In fact, the ropes were the only thing keeping her from pushing the transformation and tearing them apart. With the way that she was tied up, she'd end up doing more damage to herself than anything.

"Actually, I think I rather like things how they are," the blond grinned, stepping forward and gripping her injured shoulder tightly.

It caused a cry of pain to escape her as he dug his fingers into the wound, tears falling from her eyes.

"Now now, no need to cry," he purred. "We haven't even started yet."

T

"Clay, have you found anything?" Jeremy asked.

Clay had just stepped back into the house. He had searched the entire property and a bit further, tracking it up and down to determine how many and possibly who were involved. He had counted three in total, but he wasn't entirely sure what to make of it. One of the scents smelled familiar though, the scent having come from a soak spot of urine by one of the crypts. The mutt had marked its territory, leaving a stronger scent behind than the other two. That had been his second mistake. The first being involved with the taking of his pack mate.

"There's three of them that I know of," Clay answered, closing the door behind him. "I think that one of them was the mutt that bit Celine when we found her."

This small piece of information caught Jeremy's attention. The corners of his eyes crinkling along with a faint twitch at the side of his mouth.

"So, he isn't as gone as we would have hoped then," Jeremy surmised.

"He's obviously not that smart if he's been walking around on the property still," Clay voiced. "He marked a spot by the graveyard. His scent was the strongest."

Nodding, Jeremy slowly began pacing the living room.

"How's Nicki?" Clay asked, watching as his adoptive "father" paced, hands behind his back.

"He's awake upstairs with Tonio," Jeremy answered, trying to piece his thoughts together.

The Alpha still couldn't believe that this mutt had the audacity to come into his territory, his property, his home of all places, and take one of his own. Celine belonged to the pack, not the mutts. Especially, not a mutt for which had bitten and left her to die during an ill placed change. Had they not found her when they did, she likely would not have survived the night. Being alone with the change in the cold of night would have certainly killed her. Instead, Jeremy had found her and called for Clay.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Jeremy thought back to the very moment when he had found her. Her scent had been sweet, a hint of vanilla mixed in due to having showered recently. Part of it had been washed away with the rain, mud covering her body and masking part of her natural scent. Her grey blue eyes had stared back at him like silver, completely unafraid of him as he had approached her. She'd even reached out to touch him as pain ran rampant through her body, tormenting her. He remembered cleaning her face, the metallic taste of her blood staining his tongue. It had left behind claw marks that had later healed without leaving a scar. She had been lucky in that aspect, but her shoulder and leg hadn't faired so lucky. There had been faint scaring on her shoulder blade, same with her leg. All of it had been caused by the mutt, yet she still never feared him. She had trusted him when most wouldn't.

"Jeremy?" Clay called, pulling his Alpha from his thoughts.

Turning, Jeremy stared back at his 'son', giving him his attention for a moment.

"We'll find her," Clay assured him, nodding his head slightly, before heading upstairs to speak with Nicki and Antonio for a bit.

That left Jeremy to his own devices as the man went back to pacing.

T

An ear splitting scream tore through the air as tears left Celine's eyes, a choking sob leaving her at the feeling of burning flesh. They'd been kind enough to try and cauterize the wound, the evil bastards taking a red hot fire poker to the wound little by little merely to hear her scream in agony.

"Sweet music to my ears," Griswald laughed, his hand reaching forward to stroke her cheek. "You know, if you survive this, I might just take you for myself," he grinned, coming close to her face, only to have her spit in his eye.

Growling, he pressed the poker harder against her skin as he wiped away the spit, another scream erupting from her already raw throat.

"Now, I'm going to ask you again, where are the archives," Griswald asked, coming closer as he pulled the poker back from her shoulder.

She merely glared at him as she shook, anger and pain merging into one. This mutt was asking her to betray those that she considered family. He was asking her to betray Jeremy, the man that had practically saved her life.

"Well?" he asked, moving the poker among the fiery coals in the pit that they'd made.

Lifting her head, Celine glared at him. She growled, drawing her strength forward as much as she could.

"Go. To. Hell!"

Griswald merely tsked as he shook his head, realizing that he wasn't getting anywhere. Tapping his chin, he pulled the poker forward, this time bringing it toward her face.

"Hold her still."

T

Jeremy could almost feel something tugging at the back of his mind. The feeling was like pin pricks, something that he couldn't explain. For a moment, his thoughts went back to Celine, hoping that she was holding up alright. He couldn't be sure of this though as he stood up in his studio, letting Antonio do his job as he spoke on the phone with various contacts. They'd already been through the archives in the downstairs, unable to come up with a lead. It was obvious that the mutts were new, meaning that they had no previous scent documentation to go by like the rest of them.

Nicki had suggested having someone trace her phone, but that would only work if it were still turned on. That and it wasn't for sure on whether or not she'd still have it with her. If it were turned off, someone would have to hack into it. If it were dead, then they'd have nothing to go for.

With a sigh, Jeremy ran a hand through his hair, pushing the long strands from his face. He found himself looking around the room, his eyes catching sight of what would be her I-Pod, the little black device staring back at him. She would normally listen to it while painting, something to push her forward and set the mood. It was something that Jeremy wasn't used to doing too often, normally basing his work straight from the photos that he took from his surroundings. Celine on the other hand did a bit of everything when it came to her art work.

T

Downstairs, Nicki sat with his father, his eyes drooping as he stared into the fireplace. The flames reflected in his eyes, glistening against the reflective orbs as they danced in front of him. It reminded him of the clubs that he went to, the graceful swaying of hips taunting him as he looked on. The images subdued him, almost lulling him to sleeping as his eyes closed for a moment, before he jerked himself awake. He blinked as he tried shaking his head, a yawn escaping him.

"Nicki, why don't you lay down and get some rest son," Antonio said, coming up beside his son and patting him on the shoulder. "You're tired and need sleep."

Nicki shook his head. He couldn't sleep. How could he when Celine was still out there in the hands of their enemy. For all he knew, they could be torturing her for information or worse and there was nothing that they could do about it.

"Nicholas, hai bisogno di dormire," Antonio said softly.

"But father," Nicki started, blinking back the sleep from his eyes.

"Sleep my son," Antonio said soft, lightly pressing his lips to Nicki's forehead.

The sentiment wasn't lost on the boy as he slowly nodded his head, the footrest of the armchair slipping out from its spot with ease. Antonio smiled at this as he grabbed a throw from one of the couches and tossing it over his son. It would do them no good if he couldn't stay awake the following day when they went back out to find and search for Celine. If things went according to plan, she'd be back in their arms by noon time tomorrow or slightly later depending on when he got the call. Until then, everyone would just have to try and get some sleep as they waited for the morning to come. At the same time, their thoughts would be with Celine as they prayed. Although, for Jeremy's sake, Antonio prayed that she wouldn't be too harmed. After all, Jeremy may be cool and centered on a normal basis, but when pushed passed when he couldn't control things could get ruthless. Granted, he was nowhere near as monstrous as his father, but as Alpha Jeremy still carried a darkness of his own.

Alright everyone, that was chapter 9 of TRWTRS. I'm having a lot of fun writing this and hope you all keep sending REVIEWS my way. They have been VERY helpful. Let me know what your favorite parts have been and what you would like to see next!