When the Dead Have It Easy

by B. L. Brunnemer

  My pulse pounded in my ears, making the world dark then light again. My wolf took shape in front of me, like a ghost running toward me in the dark. Enormous. Most of his fur was white, turning grayer as it rose over his ribs. Blazing blue and silver streaked eyes met mine. My eyes watered, the bones in my face fractured. My jaw elongated as my blood filled my mouth. Still he ran toward me. Guys… Ally… Jess…

  “Accept him, Asher or you’ll never have control.” Astrid ordered. The torture went on and on. More bones snapped, more tendons tore. My vision grew darker. My wolf kept coming closer.

  “Accept him!”

  Ally… I let go. Anything to make it stop… I fell through the agony as the wolf hit the surface. Everything I was exploded.

  Chapter 23

  Lexie

  A howl echoed across the lake. Another responded. I let out the breath I’d been holding. The night fell silent again as I watched the light of the full moon bounce off the water.

  I wrapped my arms around my knees and held them to my chest. It had been hours since they walked down the trail.

  After his back disappeared, I had gone straight to the guys’ tent and pulled on Asher’s blue Daffy duck pajama bottoms. When I came back out, no one said anything. I had sat down in the sand without a word. The others had come over and joined me. No one had said a word.

  “He must have finished shifting,” Miles said in a quiet voice.

  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Guilt hit me like a semi truck. “We never should have gone to New Orleans.”

  “We can’t change the past,” Zeke muttered under his breath.

  “I know.” I took another deep breath as we fell back into silence. Eventually, Miles brought me a blanket from their tent. I wrapped it around me and refused to move from the shore.

  It was a long, endless night. Sitting. Waiting. Worrying.

  After an eternity, the sky lightened and the sun began to rise, everyone could breathe easier. It was another hour before Astrid and Ranulf walked up the trail.

  I bolted to my feet and ran to them. “Where is he?”

  Astrid’s eyes were tired when she looked over my head as the others reached us. “Actually, he’s going to be pretty out of it and on the defensive. I think Lexie will be fine but only her. I’ll come back and bring one of you out with me when he’s going to wake up.”

  I held my blanket closed and followed Astrid down the trail.

  When we were out of earshot I had to ask. “How’d it go?”

  “He did pretty well, it only took him forty minutes to shift.” She looked down at me. “Which is good. The first time is hell.”

  “How’d he’d do on the run?” My stomach was in knots as we moved through the woods.

  “Not bad, he had some control issues which is expected. But he wasn’t easy to guide away from the camp.”

  “What does that mean?” Was it good? Bad?

  “It means his wolf kept trying to get to your camp.” She stopped walking and met my eyes. “All night, we got maybe three miles away from camp. He wouldn’t go any further than that.”

  “Is that normal?” Shouldn’t he be running into the woods? “That’s where we were, we’re his family.”

  “His human family. His wolf hasn’t met you guys yet.” She eyed me. “Under some circumstances, it’s normal. But I’ll need to talk with him and see what he remembers to know for sure.” She started walking again. “We’ll need to leave this afternoon.”

  “Today was our last day anyway,” I muttered, my heart aching.

  She led me off the trail and deeper into the trees. Eventually, Asher came into sight. He was lying face down next to a log in the long grass. Naked. Those hard muscular lines of his body were covered in dried blood and dirt. Scrapes were everywhere, and packed with grime. Long stings of… I don’t know what, were pasted to his skin in the muck. I pulled off my blanket and covered him to his shoulders. Worried, I moved to his head and sat down. His face was pale, the bags under his eyes were dark.

  Carefully, I ran my fingers through his hair. “Is he okay?”

  “Yeah, he’s just exhausted from shifting.”

  “Why’s he covered in blood?” I looked up at her, my heart clenching.

  “It’s part of shifting. Your body basically breaks and heals repeatedly.” She met my eyes. “Don’t worry, it’s all his.”

  “Yeah, ‘cause that’s not worrying,” I muttered.

  I leaned back against the log and continued to run my fingers through his hair. He made a quiet barely there groan. Still out cold, he reached over and touched my thigh with the back of his fingers.

  “He’ll be in pain when he wakes up. He’ll feel like he got the shit kicked out of him, but he’ll be okay.” Astrid tilted her head to the side and eyed us. “I’ll bring one of the others out around the time he’ll wake up.”

  “Thanks, Astrid.” I couldn’t take my eyes off him.

  “You’re welcome.” She walked back into the trees.

  The sun rose slowly, showing the scrapes on his face. Birds started chirping. A breeze ran through the grass. It was probably pretty, but I refused to take my eyes off Asher.

  His hand shifted in the grass. He whimpered in pain, the sound like a dagger to my heart. “Ally…” he croaked.

  I ran my fingers through his hair again. “I’m here.”

  His fingers moved, searching for mine.

  I took his hand in mine and held on tight. “It’s morning. Astrid says you’re going to be okay.” My throat tightened as my eyes burned. Not now. You can freak later, right now it’s about him.

  “Hurts.” His voice was a dry, barely audible rasp.

  “She said you’d be hurting.” I kept my voice soft and soothing. My chest grew tight.

  He groaned, his fingers tightening on mine. “Ally…”

  “Yeah?”

  “Stay with me…”

  “I’m not going anywhere.” I moved my fingers through his hair again.

  Time moved slowly. Asher groaned once in a while. He whimpered if he moved.

  “How bad was it?” I couldn’t stop myself. I had to know.

  “Bad,” he groaned. “I pissed myself…”’

  I squeezed his hand again. “That’ll be our little secret.” He squeezed my fingers back.

  When at last he opened his eyes, I could finally breathe normally. “Shit…”

  “What do you need?”

  “It feels like I was dropped off a mountain,” he groaned.

  “I should have brought painkillers or something.” Why didn’t I think of that? Would it even work on him?

  That feeling of being watched washed over me. I lifted my eyes and searched the area. Nothing. There was nothing…

  Astrid and Zeke came through the trees.

  His gaze focused solely on Asher. Astrid disappeared back into the trees as he came toward us.

  Asher growled deep in his chest as his hand tightened on mine. Zeke stopped where he was and simply waited.

  Eventually, Asher relaxed. “Sorry…”

  “You good?” Zeke asked as if Asher hadn’t just threatened him.

  “Yeah. Just… move slow.”

  Zeke moved toward us slowly. “We have to get you back and cleaned up before someone sees you.”

  Asher barely nodded. “You might have to carry me.”

  Zeke shrugged. “Why do you think I came?”

  My heart warmed as Zeke knelt down beside him. Asher groaned, let go of my hand and tried to push himself up. Asher cursed. Without a word, Zeke knelt down, put Asher’s arm around his shoulders and helped him to stand up. Asher cried out as his face grew pale. Keeping my eyes on his upper body, I reached out and closed his blanket to cover him.

  Asher reached down and held it closed so I could let go.

  “You just flashed her, didn’t you?” Zeke growled.

  “Next time, we’ll bring him shorts.” I stepped back.

  We started back through the trees and toward the trai
l. Zeke practically carried Asher, but let him keeping moving his feet through the grass.

  “Next time you’ll stay home.” Zeke turned us onto the trail.

  “Don’t start.” I shot him a look over Asher’s head.

  He sent me one back. “We’ll talk about it later.”

  We were halfway back when Asher spoke up. “Whose blood?”

  “Astrid said it was yours.” I hated to tell him that but he had to know he didn’t hurt anyone.

  Asher nodded and seemed to become more alert.

  “We’ll get you cleaned up,” Zeke promised.

  The guys were waiting at the trail head when we turned the bend.

  Isaac jogged toward us and took Asher’s other side. “What happened?”

  I moved out of the way. “He’s okay, we just need to get him cleaned up before someone sees him covered in blood.”

  Miles and Ethan shared a look.

  “It’s his blood.” I kept my voice light and matter of fact. As if one of our best friends didn’t look like he’d been slaughtering innocents all night.

  The others relaxed as we made our way to camp.

  “Get him to the shower, I’ll get him some clothes.” Miles ran up the trail.

  “He still can’t stand,” Zeke grunted.

  “Then he’ll need help,” Isaac said as they picked up the pace.

  “I’ll take care of it,” Ethan said as he fell back with me as the guys hustled Asher across our campsite.

  “I’ll make him breakfast, I guess?” I looked up at Ethan at a loss.

  Ethan wrapped his arm around me. “He’ll be okay.”

  “I’ll make him something mushy.” My voice was quiet.

  Ethan kissed the top of my hair. “I’ve got him, Beautiful.” Ethan headed off toward the shower. I went and made myself busy. Oatmeal. Oatmeal is good and easy on the stomach.

  Asher

  Everything fucking hurt. It was like I’d been hit by a semi and rolled over a hundred times. Ethan went into the shower as Zeke and Isaac helped me into the tarped off section of the shower. Ethan turned on the water and tested it.

  “You’re going to have to sit on the ground.” Zeke moved me inside. “Or we can get a cooler?”

  I shook my head. “Blood. The ground works.”

  Zeke and Isaac carefully set me down on the tarp covered ground. Ethan took the shower head off the mount and came over.

  “We need to take off the blanket to get you clean, man.” Isaac’s hand squeezed my shoulder.

  I nodded and let go.

  Ethan moved the water over me, warming my chilled skin. “Have Miles grab his soap.”

  “Already did.” Miles’ voice came from behind me. “Do you need anything else?”

  “Clothes?” Ethan asked.

  “Yeah, sweats, a shirt and shoes.” Miles shifted.

  “Okay, I’ve got him from here.” Ethan reached over, grabbed my bottle of soap and a wash cloth. “Asher? Can you hold the soap bottle?”

  I blinked several times before I nodded.

  He slipped the bottle into my hand. The plastic helped ground me in reality, helped bring me back to the present.

  While Ethan wet my hair, I tried to remember what happened last night. Pain, lots of pain. And then… nothing. “I can’t remember.”

  “That’s alright, you don’t have to.” Ethan squatted down and started soaping up my hair. “Astrid told us you didn’t hurt anyone.”

  I nodded. Good. That was good. I looked down at my hands. Blood and dirt were caked into my nails.

  “Head back, man.”

  I tilted my head back. The morning light was shining through the trees. Birds twittered here and there. The world was fuzzy and out of focus. Ethan rinsed me off then began to soap up a wash cloth.

  Ethan soaped up my hands and arms, rinsing every once in a while, to make sure the muck was coming off. I hissed as the end of my fingertips burned. What the hell? The sting brought everything back into sharper focus. Ethan finished washing my back.

  He rinsed me off, cleaning scrapes I didn’t know I had. “I’m… I’m better.”

  Ethan stopped. “You’re sure?”

  I nodded. “I… I think I was in shock.”

  “I can’t imagine why.” Ethan rinsed more soap off my back. “You just turned into a wolf, ran through the woods all night, then shifted back. You know, just a normal summer night.”

  I chuckled. Pain shot through me, making me groan. “Oh, don’t make me laugh.”

  “Sorry.” He handed me the wash cloth and kept the water running down my back. “Wash your chest and your junk ‘cause I love you, man, but even I won’t clean your front.”

  I cracked a smile as I took the stained pink soaped cloth from him. “What was your original plan?”

  “I was going to spray a lot of water, squirt the soap bottle at ya, cover your junk with it and spray more water.” He moved the water over my shoulder and chest then back to run down my back. I picked up my soap bottle and added more soap to the cloth.

  “I’m glad you had a plan.” I started washing, needing to get the nastiness off me. When I reached my legs, I pulled a long string of… tissue off my leg. Please, let it be tissue… I took several deep breaths and continued washing. When I was done, Ethan handed me the shower head. I rinsed the rest of the gunk off me. When I finally felt clean I got to my feet. I stumbled. Ethan grabbed my arm to hold me up. I hung up the shower head and shut off the water.

  Ethan put a towel over my shoulder. “I’ll be outside. Call if you need help.”

  “Thanks, Ethan.”

  “That’s what family is for.” He left me alone.

  I closed my eyes and forced myself to move. Ally had been the first thing I remembered… She had been worried. I needed to see her, make sure she was okay. My wolf woke up a little inside. I could see him in my head. Lying down, lifting his head to sniff the air… He half growled… Somehow, I knew he was all for seeing Ally. He lowered his head sleepily.

  What the hell? I’d have to ask Astrid about it… I dried off, careful of all the sore muscles. It took a while but I managed to get my jeans and shirt on. When I went to pick up my shoes my body protested loudly. Fuck that. I left my shoes in the shower and started hobbling out.

  “Lexie’s got breakfast for you.” Ethan went back into the shower. I made my way slowly to the campsite. The others were standing around the hammock, everyone but Ally…

  They turned to me as I painfully stepped around the tree.

  “How’re you feeling?” Miles pushed up his glasses. My legs turned to rubber. I sat down on the hammock before I fell down.

  “I think I just ran out of energy.” I groaned as my body protested.

  “Well, don’t pass out yet.” Zeke looked over the heads of the others.

  Ally slipped between Miles and Isaac with a mug in her hand. My heart gave a hard thump. My wolf woke up enough to lift his head and pay attention. She smiled as she handed me the mug. “I don’t think you’ll be able to stay awake long so I only made a bit of oatmeal and added your protein powder to it.” Those sweet eyes met mine.

  I took the mug and smiled. She’d made it with chopped walnuts, raisins, vanilla and cinnamon. My favorite. “Thanks, Ally.”

  “We’re going to let you get some sleep while we pack up camp.” Miles put his hands in his pockets.

  “I can help.” I tried to get up but Ally simply pushed me a little and I fell back into the hammock groaning in pain.

  “Nope, nap time for you.” Ally decided, she turned to the others. “Leave my tent for last. I still have to put my stuff away.”

  The guys agreed and started back to camp.

  Ally looked down at me. “Please eat?”

  It took everything I had to finish half the mug before exhaustion set in.

  She saw, took the mug from me and set it down on the ground. “Lie down.”

  I grabbed her hand and tugged her closer. “Only if you go with me.”

  She
smiled. “Get in.” I did as she said and leaned to provide counter balance. She got in next to me and sent us swinging. She rested her head on my shoulder and pressed against me just like the other night. A satisfied rumble vibrated my chest.

  She looked up at me. “What was that?”

  I thought about it. I hadn’t meant to do that… Oh… my wolf had rolled over on his back and practically vibrated with happiness. “Just my wolf. He’s happy.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

  I nodded.

  She snuggled against me. “That’ll take some getting used to.”

  “Yeah, it will.” Rosemary filled my lungs as peace settled through me. “Stay.”

  “Until you fall asleep,” she promised.

  Darkness washed over me, and pulled me under.

  Lexie

  Asher went limp beside me. His breathing was deep and even. He was so exhausted. I stayed for a while, needing to feel that he was there and okay.

  When I was sure he was asleep, I carefully climbed out of the hammock and headed toward camp to start getting my stuff packed. Louis was waiting for me at the fire ring. My chest grew tight as I met his gaze. There was nothing but peace in his eyes.

  “Are you sure about this?” Please change your mind...

  “Yeah. It’s time,” he said. “Uma has everything she needs to teach Juan, and when the time comes…”

  “I’ll fly out to help him learn how to raise and control the dead.” I finished for him.

  He gave me a grateful smile. “Thank you.”

  “Ready?” There was no point in drawing it out.

  He looked around the group and at the trees.

  “It was a pleasure, Louis,” Miles said.

  “It was fun.” Isaac shrugged.

  “We’ll make sure to keep Juan out of trouble.” Ethan thought about it. “Mostly.”

  “Thanks.” Zeke met Louis’ gaze. “For being there.”

  Louis gave all of them a smile. “I’m ready.”

  I summoned my will, wrapped that gold ribbon around his wrist and dropped.