Rosemary leapt up as if she had awoken from a nightmare. I grabbed her shoulders firmly, pushing her down against the floor as she struggled against me. She snarled and thrashed, tufts of her tangled hair escaping the glue of the sweat covering her face.
No one moved.
What the hell?
I screamed, “Did anyone call for an amb—”
“No,” Rikki replied shrilly.
“She was shot!” I was nearing to the point of hysteria. Rosemary continued to fight my grip.
Tato cursed and wiped his hand across his mouth. “I should have gone alone.”
“If you had, it would be you injured instead. Except, you would be in the forest bleeding out alone,” Rikki reprimanded angrily.
Tato grumbled and stormed out of the room.
Rosemary freed herself from my arms and sprinted through the open door and out into the blackness. I stood ready to follow her, but Rikki grabbed my arm, preventing me from leaving.
I yanked my arm away and shoved her with as much strength as I could muster. “Don’t touch me!”
“You can’t take her to the hospital,” she said matter-of-factly.
“Rosemary is my friend! Colleague. Whatever! I won’t let her die because of whatever twisted shit is going on here!”
“How can she want you?” Rikki snarled, moving closer to my face. She looked conflicted.
What the hell is she talking about?”
I didn’t care. I cared about Rosemary and I had to get to her before she bled to death. “I’m taking Rosemary out—”
Rikki flung my body against the wall as effortlessly as if I were a doll made of cotton.
“She is my wolf!” An inhuman voice growled. It came from Rikki.
As I turned to face her, I watched as Rikki’s eyes transformed from hazel to a milky amber. I inhaled sharply, a million thoughts racing through my mind. That couldn’t…I must be seeing things. But they were still there. I knew I had to get out of the house. There was a pen on the end table beside us. I grabbed it and jammed it into her outer thigh. Rikki howled and freed me to rid her thigh of the intrusive item.
I scampered outside of the house in the direction I had seen Rosemary disappear. A small group was standing in a circle in the backyard, their eyes focused on something on the ground in the center. I couldn’t see what they were looking at, but something inside me urged me to get to the middle of the circle. I moved quickly, shoving immobile bodies aside as I made my way forward. The thudding of my heart was so loud I was certain that everyone else could hear it.
It was Rosemary. She was crouched on the ground, thick hair sprouting from her body in dense patches. Her slender frame writhed, bending in grotesque fashion. Bones cracked and reformed. Sinew bubbled and burst, and virgin tendon sprang forth, enveloping Rosemary’s form underneath the multiplying fur. I couldn’t move.
No. No. No. Fuck no. No. No.
Vomit gurgled in the pit of my abdomen and threatened to rise. This cannot be happening. This is impossible. There’s no way. I tried willing my body to move, to run, to scream, to do anything at all, but I was frozen in place as this feral metamorphosis neared its end.
I staggered, relieved to have movement returned to me. Something wet and hot slid across my face. I turned and found myself facing Rikki once again.
She held out Rosemary’s car keys in the space between us. “Do not run.”
*
It was early the next morning when someone knocked on my bedroom door. I grabbed my phone to check the time. It was barely eight in the morning.
“Yeah?” I groaned in resistance as I stretched.
“You have a visitor.”
Damn it.
“Um, okay.”
I grappled with myself for a minute or two about what to do. I knew I would have to come out of the bedroom, but I had no idea who was waiting for me. It could be Rosemary. If it was, she certainly wasn’t here in the form of a giant wolf. I could easily imagine my roommates’ reaction to seeing a wolf at the door, but I doubted that a wolf would simply ring a doorbell, though. If I was gambler however, I’d put all my money on it being Rikki. She was too much of a control freak to let this whole thing slide without talking to me about it.
I put on my pajama pants, feeling nervous as hell. I was still mad at her. But not quite as much as before. It made sense now why Rikki didn’t want to take Rosemary to the hospital. I’d been thinking hard on what this all meant. Did a little research. I surprised myself in not thinking I was crazy. Apparently, it would take much more than that to force me into a psychiatrist’s office.
Rikki was standing in my doorway with a container of food. She held it out to me. “Please.”
I made no attempt to conceal my displeasure at finding her at my front door. I raised my index finger in the air. “You say one thing I don’t like, just one, and you are out.”
“I understand.” She bit her lip and dropped her gaze but kept her offering out in the space between us.
My roommates smiled and passed the two of us in the doorway. They had to work.
Rikki followed me into the living room, and I gestured for her to sit. She chose the couch, lowering herself with the mesmerizing grace of a practiced geisha. I proceeded to plunk myself down in the chair across from her. I wanted as much distance between us as possible. I’d spent the last few days wrestling with everything that I witnessed while in this otherworldly creature’s company. That’s what she was – what all of them were. A group of werewolves. I felt the urge to retch for the umpteenth time since I saw Rosemary change.
The pop of aluminum packaging reminded me that I wasn’t alone. Rikki was creating dents in the bottom half of the container with her perfectly-polished fingernails.
I cleared my throat. Let’s get this over with. “What do you want?”
“I am sorry for last night. It wasn’t the way you deserved to find out.”
How exactly is the right way to find out that things that are supposed to be fairytales are real?
Her coffee-colored hair rushed forward as she lowered her head. “I am also sorry for my actions last night.”
I wondered if she practiced that line in the mirror. It seemed rehearsed. “Can you specify?”
Pop. “The comments I made.”
“The comments you made?” I repeated, trying to dissect her words as if they concealed some deeper meaning. “Screw your comments. How about apologizing for slamming me against the freaking wall?” I flung my arm out toward the wall behind me for emphasis.
Rikki frowned. “You were threatening to take my wolf.”
“Excuse me? Rosemary is not your wolf. She is a…person. I think.” I didn’t sound too confident, but I was not going to recant my statement. “And if you would have explained yourself—”
“I don’t owe you any explanation,” she snarled, her body stiffened. “I am her Alpha. It is my duty to protect her from any who could cause her harm.”
It was nearly impossible to ignore her implication that I was somehow a threat to Rosemary. “Why are you even here? Clearly, you have no intention of making amends.”
With an exaggerated huff, Rikki rolled her eyes. “You forced your way into our business and then didn’t like it when things didn’t go your way.”
“Oh, my freaking goodness. She was shot!” I shouted.
After a few deep breaths, I discovered that Rikki was staring at me. Her body was no longer stiff. Maybe she was trying to calm herself as well.
“You put me in that position. I helped her. Don’t treat me like an inconvenience. Like someone who didn’t care.”
I was stressed and scared. I didn’t know what any of this meant. I feared the worse. I only wanted answers, even if those answers were going to make me crazy. I squeezed my eyes shut against the onset of tears, not wanting to cry in front of this woman. I rubbed my eyes.
Rikki set the container on the coffee table with an audible thud. “Look, I know that you care about Rosemary, but there ar
e things you haven’t learned yet about the dynamics of a pack. I am her Alpha, and it is my duty to protect her and all of those who belong to our family.”
Pack. Alpha. The words hovered like storm clouds between the two of us. The more I heard, the more I experienced…all of it was working overtime to ensure that I couldn’t dismiss any of it. It was real. Too real. Nevertheless, I wasn’t ready to concede to Rikki when it came to Rosemary.
“Well, you don’t know anything about the dynamics of my friendship with Rosemary. She was shot. Bleeding out! I wasn’t going to stand there gawking at her. I am a trained professional and I could help her, so I did.”
There was a sharp pain in my chest. I realized I had forgotten to breathe for a few moments. I inhaled deeply, but I couldn’t calm myself. There were too many conflicting emotions swirling around under my skin. Rikki sat unmoving. Her stoic demeanor left no morsels for interpretation. I shifted in the chair. She watched. This is infuriating.
“Are you ever going to tell me if Rosemary is all right?”
A smile threatened to form at the corners of her lips, but she subdued it. “She is fine.”
I scratched at the skin above my ear impatiently. “I’m having trouble dealing with all of this. I mean, any normal person would have trouble with this. Wolves. Werewolves. I’m not crazy. And the wolf that attacked me…was it…did it belong—”
“Whoever attacked you did not belong to me.”
I nodded, not sure how I felt about that constant, possessive tone of hers.
“So, Rosemary isn’t the only one who can turn into a wolf? Cecilia too?” I asked.
Rikki nodded.
Great. Cecilia could literally rip me apart. Here I was provoking a wolf in woman’s clothing. I laced my fingers together on top of my lap and stared at my fingernails.
“Ask it.”
Am I that obvious?
“Are you a wolf too?”
She nodded again.
“God.” I covered my face with my hands. “Wolf. It’s not every day you meet people who can turn into wolves.” I laughed at the absurdity of this whole situation.
Rikki kept her eyes on me. She sat in silence, as if she knew I wasn’t finished.
“I mean, in movies or books. This is where this kind of stuff belongs. Wolves. People turning into wolves.” I laughed so hard I started to cry.
Rikki’s soft smile stared back at me.
“Gosh.” I pinched the skin of my bottom lip between two fingers. “Wolf. Werewolf.”
Rikki was motionless. A statue peering back at me. I wondered if she understood how I was feeling.
“Okay,” I rubbed my thighs nervously, “so, is it like the movies…or…?”
She chuckled and her coffee-colored tresses bounced against her shoulders. “The movies get some things right, but a lot of it is pure fantasy.”
She had my attention.
“What is the truth?”
“Well, the basic things you’re probably familiar with are true, like the pack hierarchy, the involuntary shift under the full moon, and enhanced skills and tempers.” She stopped and thought for a moment, chewing on the inside of her lip. She then added, “There is one thing that people assume about werewolves that is entirely wrong: we don’t have a human lifespan. We actually live for a very long time.”
I leaned forward in my seat, my fingers gripping the edge of the chair. “How long are we talking?”
Rikki’s grin spread wide across her cheeks. “Centuries.”
Centuries. I gulped. “How old are you?”
Her expression didn’t change. It’s possible that she expected my question. “I was born in 1610 in Jamestown, Virginia.”
Oh my God. She was born in the first settlement! My world was changing too fast and I wasn’t sure that I keep up. “Do you have any Native American ancestry?”
Those wide, steep cheekbones of hers couldn’t have come from Europe.
“Half,” she replied coolly.
“You aren’t related to Pocahontas, by any chance?” I couldn’t help myself.
Rikki snickered playfully. “Not at all. But I did meet her once. Maybe twice.”
I hadn’t expected that. “What—”
“I need you to understand something right now – this is not an easy life. I have seen many perish in my own lifetime. It is especially difficult for those who are turned.”
“Turned? So, you weren’t born?”
“No. Werewolf births are rare these days. Our numbers have been dwindling since the English first came to this country. They slaughtered so many.”
Her grief was evident in the slight trembling of her chin. She shook her head and the tremble vanished. I thought of the years that Rikki had lived – the things she must have seen. It was both extraordinary and terrifying. No wonder she seemed so unflappable.
Rikki’s expression altered instantly. Sympathy. “Listen, if I have been a bit severe, it was not my intention. I did not have a mentor to guide me – I was alone. As a child who had mixed ancestry, I wasn’t accepted by anyone already. Add to that a supernatural aspect…well…I’m sure you can imagine what that must have been like.”
“What are you trying to say to me?”
“Perhaps this is enough for today.” Rikki reached for the container on the table.
I was not ready to stop. “Please, keep going. I want…I need to know everything.”
Rikki’s hands returned to her lap in defeat. “All right. Well, you should know that as a pack we follow certain laws that are meant for our protection. Some laws vary from pack to pack, but most are the same. The wolf who attacked you was not part of any pack. It was a rogue.”
My brows furrowed. “Rogue?”
“Yes. From what we can tell, this wolf has been attacking others, attempting to create some sort of loyal army.”
“An army. But why?”
Rikki shrugged. “We don’t know yet. Control of territory, maybe.”
I nodded in understanding. “The night I was attacked. There was a man. I was trying to help him.”
“A classic trap. A good Samaritan…” Rikki paused and looked me straight in the eyes.
“Dumb enough to stop, right?” I knew I had been foolish that night. Hearing her say it would not make a difference.
“You are who you are.”
“And who is that?” I asked, curious to know what she thought of me.
“Sympathetic. Intuitive to others needs. That is a strength,” Rikki averred. For some reason, it meant a lot to hear her say that. “I am sorry that you were hurt. That all of this happened to you.”
“I almost died.” My fingernails dug into the fabric of my pajama bottoms.
Suddenly, I realized what this revelation meant for me. I was supposed to become a drone in a rogue’s army. My life was turned upside-down without my consent. Tears flooded my eyes. Maybe to someone else it would be a privilege, but I had no choice. I made no decision. Someone made it for me for their own selfish gain.
I blew air between my lips forcefully and stared intensely at the carpet, as if it had all the answers I needed. “W-will I…turn?”
Her hand found mine and squeezed. “Friday night when the moon reaches its peak, you will turn.”
It was not a matter of if but when. And that when was in a day and a half. Hot tears left their trails on my cheeks. I was scared and unsure of my future, the events of this past week, and how Rosemary, Rikki, and her entourage were acting. It made sense but that didn’t make it easy to accept. Only a few minutes ago, I was resisting her protective and possessive arms. Now, I cried into them. This is not what I wanted.
“What about my life?” I sniffled. I pressed my face into her shoulder. Her arms were tight around me.
“You can still have a life,” Rikki whispered. “It will only take time to adjust.”
I started to worry about my job, my family, my friends. Could things continue with any of it? Could things possibly find a comfortable normality? Could I endure th
e sight of blood without becoming crazed?
“I-we will all teach you how to control your wolf,” Rikki said.
Is that what Rosemary does in the emergency room? Control her wolf?
“I don’t do…big groups.” I distanced myself from her embrace.
She did not try to keep me in her arms. “It is difficult being this way, and the pack is the best support system you could have, especially right now. It is rare for a woman werewolf to be a rogue. You’d have to be twice as strong to survive and to live well.”
“Are you saying I can’t be alone?” The thought of her telling me I had no choice was infuriating. I wanted control in my life, especially after the attack.
“In this instance, yes. I was once a rogue. But I had no other option. It’s an impossible path to walk. Each time I encountered another werewolf, I had to fight for my life. You will always be expected to be part of a pack or someone’s mate. Women werewolves must work twice as hard to survive by themselves. Your world isn’t the only one that is patriarchal.”
“But you are an Alpha and a woman!”
“True. But in order for that to happen I had to kill the last Alpha. I have been challenged since then, but I have remained Alpha for 20 years. As far as I know, I am the only female Alpha of this era. I’ve only ever met one other female Alpha. I was much younger then. And she no longer lives.” I started to say something, but Rikki wasn’t finished. “My pack. Well, most of my pack, respects me. But I know, secretly, some are waiting for me to show a weakness. A few others don’t believe I will last long. Some like Cecilia. She is proud to have a woman as an Alpha but fears I won’t last. That is why she is threatened by you.”
“How come?”
“Because of your presence, I have now shown weakness. You. I am drawn to you as a mate and I feel the need to protect you.”
A Night Claimed Page 5