"What did you give him?" she asked shakily.
Her captor stood, wearing a satisfied smile. "Nothing you would know. It's a concoction of mine that I have been working on and finally perfected. It'll stop Garrick from shifting back to his human form."
Not thinking clearly enough to realize it would be better to keep her mouth shut, she asked, "Why? Wouldn't he be weaker in his human form?"
Luckily, her captor didn't seem annoyed with her questions. "Normally, yes he would be, but not now. With his wounds, he's at his weakest if he stays like he is. If he were able to, the shift would instantly heal them. What I gave him will buy me some time to decide what I want to do to your mate before I end his existence."
With a sinister laugh, her captor motioned for the other three men to follow him as he walked away. A few seconds later, the building's door slammed shut.
Nika was at least thankful they left the lights on so she wouldn't have to sit in the dark. She turned to look at Garrick. In his werewolf form, he was even larger—height and muscle mass—than when he was in his human one. Light brown fur that matched the color of his normal, human hair completely covered his body. He even had a tail.
Sharp claws tipped his fingers. Seeing them shoot out the ends of them while he was still human had been disconcerting, but actually watching him shift—his body blurring as it took on another form—had been even worse.
She shifted her gaze to Garrick's lupine head. Gone were the lips she loved to kiss so much, that had given her so much pleasure. In their place was a wolf's muzzle.
Even his ears had changed. They were pointed like a wolf's and on top his head. She looked down the rest of him again. His hands and feet, though furred and tipped with sharp-looking claws, were still human in shape. His body showed where the other werewolves had clawed and bitten him. There was a particularly nasty bite in his throat, as if one of them had tried to rip it out. Blood glistened in his fur.
Garrick made a low, rumbling groan and blinked open his eyes. Even they had changed. The brown of his eyes had almost taken up the white. They were a true wolf's eyes. He slowly pushed himself into a sitting position, and Nika skittered away from him as far as her secured and bound wrists would allow.
Her breath sawed in and out of her lungs, her fear increasing now that Garrick was awake. "Don't come any closer," she said.
"Relax, Nika. It's still me."
His voice sounded different, deeper, and more gravelly. "You sure as hell don't look the same."
He gave her a sad look. "I'll shift and see about getting us out of here."
She shook her head. "He said he injected you with something that is supposed to stop you from being able to shift."
"Who?"
"The one who bit me."
"That's not possible. There isn't anything I know of that is capable of doing that."
Garrick's body blurred slightly, but he remained in his werewolf form. Nika watched him try twice more before he gave up.
"I told you," she said. "He said it was something he had been working on, and that he'd finally gotten it right."
"Mother fucker," Garrick said with a loud growl. He yanked on his hands that were bound and shackled in chains to the metal bar. "I guess Nathan thought of everything. These chains are too strong for me to break, and my wounds will keep me from regaining my strength."
"So we're stuck here until they come back and do who knows what to us," Nika said with a shiver. She didn't want to think about what horrors the other werewolves would inflict on her. Being bitten was bad enough. At that thought, she stiffened. "He—
Nathan—bit me. Does that mean I'm going to turn into a werewolf too?"
"I need to look at your back, Nika," Garrick said.
She shook her head. "No."
"Nika," he said in a calm tone. "I'm not going to hurt you. I may look different on the outside, but I'm the same on the inside. I'm not some kind of beast that will try to rip out your throat the moment you come near. That would be Nathan and his kind of werewolves. They are more beast than man. In their werewolf forms, they don't have the ability of speech as I do."
She still wasn't ready to put her fears aside and snuggle up to Garrick when he looked like he did. "I take it this is your big secret. Were you going to tell me tonight?"
"Yes, and yes again. I had wanted to wait until you got to know me a bit better, but you forced my hand. I don't want to lose you, Nika. You mean a great deal to me."
"As in, I'm your mate. I didn't miss you and Nathan both referring to me in that way."
Garrick's wolf-eyed gaze met hers. "You are my mate."
"How can you know that? We hardly know each other. Or is it some kind of animal thing only you can sense?" Her last question came out tinged with the revulsion she felt.
"Even though it won't do anything to make you think of me as less than an animal, I'll tell you the truth. You stirred my wolf the first time I met you. With women I've been attracted to in the past, my wolf half never came into play. I've never touched a woman and had my eyes go wolf and my claws come out. And what happens when we make love . . . that is only supposed to happen with my mate, only with you."
Nika closed her eyes and took a deep, steadying breath before she looked at him again. "So you going more animal than man told you I'm your mate?"
"Yes, it does, but I'm more man than animal. I was born mortal, the same as you.
I had a human mother and a father."
"So it's true? You're immortal?"
"I see Nathan told you lots of things about me when I wasn't awake. I would have never guessed him to be such a gossip." At her frown, he said, "Fine, I can see you aren't any closer to loosening up around me. Yes, I'm immortal. I was born in the late 500s A.D. here in the area of Norwich. I was a warrior in my king's court, King Raedwald of East Anglia. He, along with me and four other of his warriors, were chosen by the Anglo-Saxon god, Tiw, to protect mortals from those werewolves sired by Fenris the wolf, the son of Loki, another god. In return, we were gifted with immortality and the ability to shift into what we hunt each night to give us better odds.
Tiw also placed his mark on us, what you think is my tattoo."
Nika felt all the blood drain out of her face. Garrick was over a thousand years old. An ancient warrior from old. No wonder he'd taken offense when she'd berated him for acting as if he was from the Dark Ages. He'd lived through them.
"So Nathan and his werewolves are those sired by Fenris the wolf? And it's your job to help—along with your warrior buddies—to protect mortals from them. Just how many of those types of werewolves are around?"
"More than you can imagine," Garrick said, voice grim. "All it takes to turn a mortal is a single bite from one of Fenris' get. And there isn't any cure."
She felt suddenly light-headed. "Nathan bit me," she said weakly. "I'm going to be one of those monsters."
"No, no you won't. That's why I asked to see your back. As my mate, you will be marked by Tiw as well. It should have already started to appear."
"What does the mark look like?"
"It will be exactly the same as what I have on the cap of my left shoulder. Yours will be high up on your back on the right side. In the beginning, when it starts to appear, it will look like a hand-sized, blackish bruise."
"And if I have that kind of mark?" Nika kept very still while she waited for Garrick's answer.
"Besides being marked as my mate, you'd be immune to a bite from one of Fenris' werewolves."
Nika sagged with relief. "I'm safe. I have the beginnings of the mark you described on my back."
"You do?"
"Yes, I found it today. I thought it was exactly what it looks like—a bruise."
Garrick's wolf's eyes grew serious. "I need to see it, Nika. Please."
She pulled at her bound hands. "How? Neither one of us has the use of our hands."
"Slide your hands down the bar until they're next to mine. If you sit with your back toward me, I should be able to us
e my teeth to pull back the collar of your T-shirt."
Nika's gaze fell to Garrick's sharp teeth. They were capable of ripping her to pieces, but now that she'd been talking to him, she felt less fearful of him. She recognized the man inside the body of the werewolf.
Garrick didn't say anything while he let her sit and make the decision as to whether or not she'd move to be next to him. In the end, remembering how strongly she had felt for him before finding out what he was, and not being able to deny those feelings now that she knew the truth, Nika slowly shifted her hands down the bar toward him.
When she reached Garrick's side, he turned his body, twisting his arms over his head. The chains attached to the bar and his wrists rattled. "It's okay, babe. I would never hurt you."
Not a hundred percent comfortable with Garrick in this form, Nika slowly turned her back toward him. He shifted closer and made a sound that was between a groan and a growl. "Garrick?" she asked nervously.
"It's just my wounds. It hurts to move around like this. Some of them have started to bleed again."
"Maybe we shouldn't do this."
"I'm all right. I can handle the pain, and it isn't as if my wounds will kill me.
Being immortal, I'd have to lose my head to have that happen."
A picture of Nathan using an axe to chop off Garrick's head flashed through her head. "Please, no more talk about death, especially when that could be something looming in our near future."
Garrick moved even closer, so she sat between his furred legs with his chest pressed to her back. He then rested his lupine head on the top of her shoulder. Nika turned her head to look at him.
"We're going to get free, Nika," he said. "I'm going to try a couple of things once I've seen the mark on your back."
She nodded to keep herself from saying anything negative. She had no idea what Garrick planned. Tied the way they were, they had nothing with them that would get the chains off him. Her bonds were only thick rope. Obviously, Nathan figured chains weren't necessary in her case.
Garrick lifted his head from her shoulder and gently took the back of her shirt in his jaws, and Nika held still. He pulled back the material and held it there for a few seconds before he released it. Silence stretched between them.
"What?" she asked. "It's still there, right?"
"Yes, it is," Garrick replied, his gravelly voice even huskier. "I can see the faint outline of the wolves and Tiw." He rubbed his furred cheek against hers. "If I could shift, I would be kissing you right now. You have no idea what seeing that mark makes me feel. I've been alone for so long. I honestly didn't think I'd care one way or the other about finding my mate. Now that I've found you, I realize how lonely my life has been.
You complete me, Nika. I'll do everything in my power to protect you, and to keep you happy."
She swallowed the sudden lump that formed in her throat. Hearing Garrick say how he felt about her choked her up, but she wasn't in any state to reciprocate. "I don't mean to take away from anything you just said, but I'd really like to get out of here before Nathan and his werewolf thugs come back."
Chapter Eleven
Garrick rubbed his cheek against Nika's again. "It's all right. I know this isn't the time or place to be professing my feelings for you." He painfully inched back from her.
"Turn and face me, but not so close that I don't have room to work. I'm going to try to bite through the ropes on your wrists."
"If it works, watch the skin. All right?" She did as he said.
"I'll be careful. The only skin nibbling I want to do is when I'm in human form and we're both naked."
"Garrick," Nika said with a stern look on her face.
"Fine. I'll get to work on these ropes and won't say anything more about what I'll do to you the next time I get you into bed."
Feeling the pain of each of his wounds, Garrick went up on his knees to reach Nika's wrists. He bent his head, sank his sharp teeth into the thick rope, and pulled to snap the fibers. Over and over he repeated the process, and little by little, the rope frayed. The time-consuming work took its toll on his weakened body, but he refused to stop until Nika was free.
Once the rope was frayed enough, Nika yanked on her wrists until what remained intact snapped. She quickly untangled her hands from the rope as Garrick sat back on the floor, panting a little.
"What about your chains?" Nika asked once she'd moved to his side. "You can't bite through those."
"Not unless I want to break my teeth," he said, trying for some humor. He dragged himself up straighter. "I don't know if I'll be able to do it since my shifting ability has been affected, but I'm going to try to will my sword into my hands. Then I want you to take it and use it to break the chain."
Nika swallowed. "Your sword? You have some kind of magical sword that you can make appear and disappear?"
"Something like that. We'll just have to see if I can do it, since I draw on the same power inside me to shift as I do to will my sword to my hand."
Concentrating, Garrick drew on his power. Same as when he'd first tried to shift, he didn't meet with success. He only managed to will a ghost of his sword into his bound hands. One after another attempts failed until he felt even weaker, but he wasn't ready to call it quits. Gathering his powers, he focused them harder than he'd ever had to, willing the sword to take on solid form. A split second before he was about to lose the hold on his ability, his sword appeared, and he closed his hands around the pommel.
Panting heavily, his head hanging to his chest, Garrick tightly clutched his prize.
Once he'd caught most of his breath, he lifted his head and looked at Nika. "Take the sword, and use it to chop through the length of chain between my wrists and the bar."
Nika took her bottom lip between her teeth while she wrapped her hands around the pommel just above where he held onto it. He let go, and she pulled away. The point of his sword slammed down onto the cement, causing a spark to fly.
"I can't do this, Garrick," she wailed. "It's too heavy, and there isn't much space between your wrists and the bar. I'm liable to chop your hands off rather than hit the chain."
"At least I'd be free," he said with deadpan humor.
"I'm serious, Garrick."
He met her worried gaze. "You can do this, Nika. I'm putting my trust in you.
Lift the sword over your head, and then bring it down on the chain. It's sharp and tough enough so it should cut through the links, which luckily aren't that thick. It should only take a couple of hits."
Garrick pulled on the chain, stretching it tight. He gave Nika a nod. She bettered her grip on the sword and took a deep breath as she struggled to lift it over her head.
She then brought the edge of the blade down on the chain, right in the middle of it. The sound of it hitting rang through the empty building.
Sparks flew when Nika struck at the chain again and again. After the third time, she lowered the point of the sword to the floor while she puffed for air. "I don't know if I can do this too many more times."
He gave the chain a hard tug and felt it start to give. "One more time should do it, Nika." At a sound from outside, Garrick cocked his head toward the front of the building. "Hurry, they're coming back."
"I don't hear anything."
"Werewolf hearing, babe, is a lot more sensitive than a mortal's. Get me free before they come in."
Nika lifted the sword again. It shook in her hands as she strained to keep it held above her head, and then quickly let it fall. This time, the blade grazed the knuckles on his clenched hands, but it hit true, and one of the links broke. With a mighty tug, he pulled the chain free of the bar. He pushed the weakness he felt aside and surged to his feet to protect his mate just as Nathan and his three thugs returned.
All four of them rushed him and Nika. The three he'd fought earlier shifted to their werewolf forms while Nathan tried to reach Nika. Garrick fought back the werewolves, swinging the short length of chain that hung from his wrists. He tried to keep Nika at his
back, but the three werewolves worked to draw him away, giving Nathan a chance to get around him.
With a howl of fury, and drawing on some reserved strength he hadn't known he was still capable of, Garrick beat back his attackers. He used his teeth, claws, and the chain until he had them subdued enough for him to focus on Nathan.
Spinning around, he saw Nika holding his sword out in front of her to hold Nathan back. Her arms shook, and the blade wavered. Just as he launched himself at the pack leader, Nathan moved to bat the sword out of Nika's hands. To avoid Nathan, she pulled it away, then thrust it forward at the same time Garrick rammed into the pack leader's back. His momentum was enough to push Nathan onto the sword, the blade piercing his chest.
Everyone froze and stared at the sword. It couldn't have hit Nathan's heart, because he was still breathing, but it must have come close. A gush of blood welled out of the pack leader's sizzling chest when Nika pulled the sword free.
Nathan staggered back, clutching his wound. His face turned a sickly grey. Being one of Fenris' get, he'd suffer from the silver in the sword just as any other of his kind.
He looked at his werewolf thugs and pointed at two of them. "Kill them," he said in a pained voice.
Garrick grabbed his sword out of Nika's hands and shoved behind him. The two werewolves moved to attack. The third werewolf—now in human form—helped Nathan toward the entrance of the building.
With the need to protect his mate at all costs beating at him, Garrick viciously swung his sword two handed, necessary because of the chains still binding his wrists.
The weapon gave him the needed advantage he hadn't had earlier. Neither of the two werewolves could get close enough to sink their claws and teeth into him without feeling the bite of his blade.
One of his opponents suddenly changed tactics and reached for Nika. She whimpered, and Garrick turned his back on the second werewolf and moved to intercept the other. He lunged between the beast and Nika, jabbing his sword into the werewolf's stomach. The beast howled in pain, but Garrick quickly put it out of its misery by stabbing it through the heart. The werewolf dropped to the floor dead.
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