Her Pact

Part 7

Chapter 7

Blood ran down the man’s face, one of his eyes were sealed shut, but he still had enough strength to smile at Zeke.  “Not the person I would want to see.”

“Same, old man,” Zeke told him in a clear voice while taking a step towards him. 

“I wouldn’t do that,” Marcus said before turning to the side and spitting out a mouthful of blood.  “There are some things going on here that you don’t know about, boy.  I suggest you stay out of it before something bad happens.”

Zeke took another step forward, and as he did, he saw pain flash in Marcus’s eyes.  Freezing, he really studied the man.  With his face beaten the way it was, it was hard to tell what had happened to him, but as Zeke looked at the rest of the man’s body, it looked as if Marcus had been tortured.  “What happened to you?”

Marcus held a hand out, and all the shifters around him halted.  “Meet my people, the ones Alexandria once belonged too.”

“You shouldn’t have told me that,” he growled.  His hand snapped out to the closest shifter, and he snapped their neck.  His anger diminished slightly as he watched the man’s body fall to the ground, but he was still pissed off.  These were the people who treated Ally so horribly.  These were the people who had tried to kill her because she was different.  They would get no mercy from him.

A hand touched his shoulder.  Glancing over at Charlie, he watched as she shook her head.  “There must be something more going on here than we know of.”

“Charlie, you don’t understand,” he growled.  A shot rang through the crowd just as he mumbled the words, and his anger intensified.  Pulling his arm away from her, he leaned closer towards her.  “What did I say about touching me when we were out here?”

“Not to,” she whispered before horror crossed her face.  “You’ve been shot.  Oh my God, you’ve been shot.”

“It’s a graze, and if you don’t get back to the Jeep, I have a feeling it will be worse than a graze next time.”

Her eyes widened, and he watched tears fill them.  At that moment, he knew she blamed herself, knew that he should do something to reassure her that it wasn’t, but he didn’t have time.  Marcus was still standing up there, his beaten body swaying slightly, but he was Zeke’s immediate problem, not how Charlie felt about his little reprimand.

Taking a step away from him, she turned her head and fled back to the Jeep.  Where the girl from earlier was still standing.  The girl narrowed her eyes at him.  “Jerk.”

A smile crossed his face as he realized that she had actually sent him the thought.  Whoever this girl was, she had some guts.  Turning his attention back to the crowd of leopards, he locked eyes with the one who had shot him earlier.  The woman’s eyes narrowed, as if she was going to say something, but he didn’t give her time.  Sliding the knife from the sheath on his forearm, he flicked it at her.  It sailed through the crowd and stuck into the woman’s head. 

“I am not playing,” he said in a loud voice.  “I did not come here to play games with any of you, and the fact that you are who you are, I’m looking for an excuse to kill you.”

“Zeke,” Marcus called out, “you need to leave.  There is more going on here.”

He shook his head at Marcus.  “I can’t leave.  If they have a plan to harm Ally, I need to do something about them now.”

“And get yourself killed?” Marcus asked with disappointment in his voice.  “I don’t think Ally would want that for you.”

“I would take a great amount of your people along with me,” Zeke promised.

Marcus jumped down from the rock he was standing on to get his attention.  Pushing through the crowd, he walked towards Zeke with a small limp in his step.  As he stopped a foot away from Zeke, the man stared him in his eyes.  “You should not be here, Zeke.”

“Marcus,” he started, but when Marcus reached out and grabbed Zeke’s wrist, whatever he was about to say was pushed to the back of his mind.

“They’re planning something, something I don’t know about.  You don’t realize what it is like now, Zeke.  They know what I am, they know where my loyalty lies, and they don’t trust me with anything.  I need you to leave, I need you to let me finish what I’ve started, and I need you to keep this from Ally.”

“These are my people,” Marcus said aloud.  “I will stand with them, I will fight with them, and I will kill you if you go against us.”

“Peyton knows everything, ask the boy.”

Zeke jerked his arm away from the man. With a small nod, he began walking backwards towards the Jeep.  “Everyone in the Jeep.”

“But, Zeke,” Charlie started to protest. 

He shook his head.  “We’re outnumbered,” he said honestly, but that wasn’t the reason he was leaving.  He believed Marcus, he believed something more was happening, something he didn’t know about, but Marcus was a fool if he thought Zeke wouldn’t try to figure it out.  Waiting until they all piled into the Jeep, he jumped into the driver’s seat.  The inside of the vehicle was over cramped, giving him barely enough room to move.  Starting the Jeep and putting it into drive, he left the place with one last glance into the side mirror. Marcus winked at him, and Zeke knew he had done the right thing.

Maneuvering to where he could grab his cell phone from his pocket, he dialed Sebastian.

“Hello,” the man answered in a baby voice.

Zeke rolled his eyes.  “Holding one of the babies?”

“Yes I am,” he cooed, “anything you need?”

“Get Ally to get ahold of Blake.  I don’t care what the man is doing, we need a meeting.”

Sebastian’s voice cleared, becoming more serious.  “Is something wrong?”

“Clear more rooms, about three.”

“Zeke,” Sebastian growled, and a smaller growl echoed his.  Zeke chuckled, knowing now that it was Noah that Sebastian was holding.

“I found Marcus,” he said, before snapping the phone shut.  He didn’t trust technology enough to say more. Looking into his rear view mirror, he connected eyes with Peyton.  “You have a lot of explaining to do.”

Peyton nodded.  “You’re not going to like it.”

“When do I ever?” he asked while pushing further down on the gas pedal.  As the Jeep sped along the road, he felt a bit of comfort settle into him.  Chaos was on its way, and Zeke couldn’t be more ready for it.