Luke was alive.
As a human I hadn’t heard his heart beat, but as a Wendiga I could smell he was still alive, and hear his blood pulsing through his body. He was strong, my Luke, and held on. A drop of blood that was not his own would revive hm. He would shift and heal. There was a chance we could still be together, but I had to play it safe. If I moved him would he bleed out and die? I cursed inwardly. When I had stormed into the camp I had been ready to tear every living thing in a mile radius apart, but then the squelching sound of his heartbeat had stopped me cold. That and I fought my Wendiga for body control. She pounded on the inside of my skull, demanding to be set free so she could show these men what pain and terror truly felt like. She railed at me for bringing us this close to the heat and stomped around when I ignored her animalistic tirade. I did not wish to set her free entirely, but I knew I could not do this alone. I needed to be remorseless, and I didn’t have the level of violence in me. But my Wendiga did. Together, we could so this, we could save our mate.
Opening myself up I reached out with mental fingers and clasped them around the beast that dominated half my psyche. She rumbled but gave into me, seeing that this was the way it had to be, the way it always should have been. The moment we melded together it was done. A link had been forged, two pieces joined together. Click. Everything snapped into place and I felt a sense of wonder and contentment I’d never dreamed I could experience outside Luke’s arms.
Reaching out as far as possible with my senses, I called on the weather, and pulled it towards us in this little camp.
Bobby’s eyes darted up to the rapidly growing clouds overhead and his mouth opened … then closed as an oddly defiant expression passed across his face. He turned to watch his father, blathering on about what a gift to science I would be. “But we did what we came for,” he blurted. “We punished the one responsible for Hayley’s death. We can let her go now, go home and get on with real life. I want to go home.”
His dad scoffed. “Real life? Nothing will ever be the same, son. This is our life now and I won’t be happy until I’ve hunted every one of these animals down.”
I scoffed inwardly. Holding up my palm out in front of me, long fingers extended, I used the motion to help me channel my influence. I curled my fingers inward slowly, imagining it was the cloud cover above.
Cartwright’s tamed falcon took off into the sky in a frantic flapping of feathers.
The wind picked up and the cooking fire died out in a whirl of smoke that spiraled upward. Darkness fell over the camp and there was a frightened manly cry. Torches flickered on and trained on me, still standing still in the centre of the tents. Snow started to fall – a gentle dusting that gave way to thicker flakes until it became difficult to see. The temperature plummeted and I squirmed on the spot as my skin adjusted.
Bobby wrapped his arms around himself and knelt down, the only one beside me in the camp knowing that the end was coming. I took note of where he knelt and eased the storm back, so that when the wind blew and the snow whirled down it glided past him, like water in a river parting in the wake of a boulder, flowing around it. My Wendiga grumbled at my choice to spare him, but was otherwise quiet.
There was a general fearful shouting and wailing around the camp. A few guns went off, a few of the men mindless with panic and aiming blind. The bullets whistled past, but were nowhere near close enough to worry me. The only immediate danger to me was the springs at the far end of the camp where Luke lay.
I closed my fist tighter and the blizzard intensified.
Moving slowly, careful to scent where the men stood so I could avoid them, I walked through the whiteout over to Luke. Falling to my knees, covering his body with mine, I reached out to take hold of his hand. There was a bolt of energy up my arm and his sooty lashes, speckled with snow fluttered open. We locked eyes and the sky went quiet. The snow died down to a gentle dusting.
The men rallied together and spoke in confused shouts, demanding to know where I was. One of them yelled that I was over with Luke’s body, not that I was worried, it was the end for them now.
A streak of lightning flashed across the sky and thunder followed an instant behind. Another bolt hit the ground a split second later in the middle of the camp where I had stood, boiling the snow and leaving a bubbling puddle.
I lifted my gaze from Luke’s long enough to meet Bobby’s eyes and shook my head, telling him not to move. He curled up on himself and put his hands over his ears, tucking his head into his shoulder.
Cartwright caught this exchange and paced toward him, gun now in hand. My Wendiga howled, I howled, a long and low sound that reverberated through the night. I was furious Cartwright was still alive, still walking, and my Wendiga demanded blood. For once I agreed with her completely.
The sky exploded and a dozen forks of lightning smashed down around us, catching Cartwright’s men unaware, scorching them into nothing. Still my anger swelled and grew. It broiled beneath my skin and exploded in a potent wave of elemental force. The clouds swept down, twisted to become a coiling rush of wind that touched the ground and sucked up everything in its path. Three more slender fingers of wind snaked through the camp. Lightning struck again and again, the wind howled, and hail began to pelt down.
Even as he ran toward his son for safety, Cartwright was struck in the back by a pulsating bolt of electricity. His body lurched forward and was momentarily suspended in the air, convulsing wildly before the lighting gave out with a sharp crack, and he crumpled to the ground.
The heart before me stuttered and the energy shooting up my arm waned.
I straddled Luke, still clutching his hand in mine. My other claw gripped the silver knife that had been embedded in his chest. The fools had even failed to disable him properly; the blade had missed his heart. He jerked beneath me when I tugged on it gently, his body trembled and his eyes pressed closed. With a care and delicacy I never knew I possessed in this form I pulled. With gut-wrenching shudders the dagger slowly lifted, and slid from its sheath in his body. The pointed tip came free and with it a spurt of blood that caught me by surprise. A few drops landed on my mouth and slid across my tongue, exploding in my taste buds. I stiffened and my Wendiga quivered in pleasure. The smell of him, of his blood, was wondrous. Leaning over my tongue flicked out and lapped up the rivulets of crimson that ran from his chest and stained the snow in a bright splash of colour. The salty taste set my senses tingling and I moaned, my own blood pumping hard and fast. Settling myself more heavily over him I sank my teeth into his neck ignoring his feeble jerks.
There was a slight pressure at my back, a hand rhythmically rubbing up and down. I realized with confusion and horror he was stroking me. Comforting me. The shock of it was enough for me to pull back and gaze at him. His lips were red with blood, my blood. Faintly, the side of my neck throbbed. Recoiling, I pushed my Wendiga away and almost immediately I started to shift human, just as he started to turn beast. There was a split second were we both writhed in pain, but being together like this our bodies synchronized and spoke to each other on a primordial level to this day I do not understand. His shift halted, far gone enough so that his wounds healed. His fangs were descended and his claws dug into my hips as he reverted back, and started to become human once more.
There was more screaming in the camp and a fork of white lightning hit the earth nearby. The springs bubbled and popped, sending hot water splashing to the ground beside us, and the heat had me breaking out in a cold sweat. Luke cursed and rolled us away, once, twice then I was on top again, my arms tight around him. Just as we were clear a huge evergreen tree groaned and snapped at the base. It loomed forward before the colossal trunk crashed down over the springs, heavy branches slamming to the ground where we had lain.
My body trembled in relief and from the aftershocks of my shift. Needing to be reassured he was okay, that he was safe beneath me, I lifted my head and gasped. His eyes glowed with a feral yearning.
Without breaking eye contact and without s
aying a single word he dead lifted my hips shifted me back and impaled me on his rigid length. At the sudden and sweet invasion my entire body clenched. I hissed head flying back as he thrust into me. His fingers dug harder into my hips and I screamed into the storm. He thrust into hard and deep once more before he bucked, neck muscles straining, eyes scrunched tight. He roared the sound primal and fierce and I came again, riding the crest of his pleasure and smashing it with my own.
The storm intensified, fed more power and aggression from our quivering bodies than anything I’d ever managed to conjure and channel alone before.
The world around us was a pure white screaming chaos. Suddenly the wind stilled and the twisters dissipated into nothing. Thunder rumbled long and loud but the lightning ceased. The snow stopped completely and the land became still and silent.
Breathing hard, Luke and I clung onto each other in the midst of the devastation.
“You came for me,” he mumbled sounding awed and nuzzled my neck. “Stubborn woman.”
I chuckled and crushed my mouth to his before pulling away and flushing at the joy on his face. Then I drew back my fist and slammed it as hard as I could into his jaw. His head snapped back and his eyes crossed. Arms slipping off me they thumped to the ground either side of him before he fell back, out cold.
“How dare you,” I yelled at his unconscious form. “Nearly strangling me then tying me up and making me watch you get shot. My whole world came crumbling down around me! I thought you were dead.” I thumped him on the chest. “What part of never leave me don’t you have a handle on, you dumbass!”
Chapter 12
EPILOGUE
Of course I went I back to say goodbye. I had to. Despite what had passed between us my father had cared for me in his own way. I wouldn’t see him again – that I knew for certain – and I wanted to say goodbye.
He opened the door before I could knock and his body blocked the doorway, barring me entry. We took each other in slowly, not sure what to say or do.
Dressed only in stained sweats, he clutched a whiskey bottle in his hand and immediately I went to pry it from his grip. I stopped, my fingers curling around the air. Frowning, I dropped my hand. My entreaties had never worked before so why would they now? Some habits just died hard I guess.
He took a swig from the lip of the bottle and some of the liquor trickled down his chin to stain his threadbare jumper. The smell of it was so strong it made my eyes water. His attention moved past me to fall on the truck that came trundling to a stop in the snow a few paces away. I sighed heavily even as I felt bolstered by this silent and bold display of support.
I’d asked the boys to wait back at my cabin so the sight of Luke didn’t put my Da’s back up. What did they think? That I’d come here for a farewell whipping?
Turning, I flicked my hand at my mate crossly. His eyes sparked angrily before he looked away, expression supremely pissed.
Bobby kind of bobbed his head at me then slammed closed the door he’d opened to get out and leaned forward to talk to Luke, still shooting concerned glances my way. They one thing they seemed in complete agreement on was that my father was an ass who deserved a beat down.
Overprotective fools. Just who had saved whom last night?
“Do you love him?” My Da asked in a gruff voice bordering on sarcasm.
I hesitated then offered him a small smile, my mind nastily borrowing some of Luke’s language, “Oh, Da. You don’t have to love someone to enjoy fucking them.” The moment the words were out of my mouth I regretted them. This parting should not be done in anger, or spite, and my childish behavior would only aggravate him. I looked away, shrugging. “Does it really matter to you that I would give everything to ensure his safety? That I would walk into flames to keep him from harm? I know little of love, but I know what I feel for Luke can’t be wrapped up into a tidy four letter word. My feelings for him transcend this world.” My eyes drifted closed. “Physically, emotional and spiritually I am bound to him and will battle storms with him.” My eyes opened and I turned to face the man who had never really tried to be my father. I was ever so ready for his abuse to be over, ready for my future with my new family.
He trembled, wrinkled and cold-burnt skin wobbling about his throat as he did. “Away with you Satan worshiping she-Devil.” His head turned from me, scraggly grey hair flying about his weathered face in the wind. “You will burn in the pits of hell and your man-whore will burn with you. Praise be to God and his angels.”
I sucked in a breath and released it in hollow chuckle. Really, what had I expected? His blessing? I wrapped my arms around his stiff body and clutched him tightly; fighting the tears I swore to myself I would never cry over him again. He smelled like stale sweat and I sighed.
“I’ll miss you, Da. Take care, alright?”
He said nothing. Rheumy eyes filled with bitterness stared beyond me, pious and defiant. His arms remained stiff at his sides. He didn’t want to say goodbye, and it was sad, but it didn’t bother me. Not anymore. I left him there, on his doorstep and silently wished him long life.
Opening the door of the truck waiting for me, I jumped in, eased myself into the worn fabric and breathed in the smell of rubber and smoke. I sniffed. Whoever had owned this boat-like vehicle before us was a slob. I guessed one of Cartwright’s knuckle-headed goons. I kicked empty and crushed coke cans, crisp packets, and old food wrappers under my chair before giving up, sighing again, and resting my feet up on the dash.
Half turning, I smiled at Bobby. The car was more for his benefit since Luke and I could run as Wendigo’s in the cold for hours quite happily, but the young boy would freeze to death. All things considered he seemed to be holding up okay. You’d never think he’d watched his father’s skin burnt and blistered off by a spike of lightning, or that he’d be riding in a car with the man who’d killed his sister. He had a story to tell, and when we had time we would hear it and help him through it, just like a real family.
We’d all had a long and revealing talk throughout the remaining night, and Luke gradually came to accept that I would be taking Bobby with us. He didn’t oppose me, simply crushed my lips beneath his and gave me an exasperated look before glaring at the boy and warning him that if he ever laid a hand on me he’d rip it off. Bobby had countered that if ever he hurt me Luke would be digging silver out his skull. Then he’d thrown clothes at us and demanded we get dressed and stop walking around naked. Considering how badly it could have gone between the two males, I think the forming of our odd little Clan was a success.
I can’t say why Bobby appealed to me so much. I don’t think it was the Hunger – it was something much more real and alluring than that. Hope, perhaps? Hope that I can have a human who will like me for me? Bobby had seen the worst of me and he’d not run screaming or tried to kill me. He’d accepted me in a heartbeat, and so I, and the Wendiga, had accepted him into our Clan.
He gave me a tentative smile back, and his eyes twitched to the back of Luke’s head. He sneered slightly, but when I scowled at him he rolled his eyes and settled back to pull his woolly hat down his face. Crossing his hands over his chest he let his chin fall forward and smacked his lips, preparing for sleep.
I chuckled at my concern for him. Who knew I could feel anything for one not of my blood? Who knew the monster in me could care? Well, one person had known.
I slanted a look at the darkly handsome and primal man beside me. His hand, the one that should be hugging the tarnished chrome shift, wandered over my thigh, lust already burning through him.
“Ready, sweetheart?” he asked in that lazy drawl, eyes twinkling. He looked good in the jeans and jumper Bobby had found for him. I preferred the kilt though.
Another man would have touched my cheek or stroked my hair. Another man would have held me and told me my Da loved me. But this was no other man, and he knew I was stronger than that. We were moving into a new future together and demons of the past had no business following us there.
Leaving did
n’t hurt, not as much as I thought it would. I was growing, you see. Becoming something new. Reborn as a being I should have embraced from birth. I was a monster and I had come to accept it.
Luke was a monster too. My monster with hair the colour of spilt ink and a face of shadows.
My stomach rumbled loudly and I sighed. Never did it let me rest. It was the last day of the shifting cycle and some of Cartwright’s men had escaped the electrical storm, and the blizzard. It was time to hunt, time to feed with my chosen mate by my side.
Luke leaned over and pressed his lips to mine. “Ready?” he repeated.
I smiled, even as my canines lengthened to sharp points and pierced my bottom lip. “I’m ready.”
*
NOTE FROM PENELOPE
Thank you for reading this novella!
I hope you enjoyed the speedy read, and that it made a journey to work or slow moving afternoon pass a little quicker. The Wendigo is most definitely a difficult monster to feel amorous about, but if I’ve done my job right you’ll see how even a true monster can be complicated and beautiful in its own way.
The Beautiful Damned is a collection of Novella’s that feature strong heroines and fierce heroes. The stories have pace and explore the lesser known supernaturals.
Please do leave a review as feedback is always welcome. Or come and have a chat with me on Facebook, Twitter or my blog Fiction Fierce.
SILVER LANCE
The next Beautiful Damned Novella….
Archangel Celeste ripped out her Grace to be with the one she loved, but must now take on the host of heaven and minions of hell to save her damned lover from the clutches of mortality.
She must find a blessed human soul that will be reborn after Armageddon, and gift it to the King of the Seventh Circle if she wants her beloved to survive.
Lunar Light Page 12