by Helen Harper
“We did used to do that, Mack. It’s just that nowadays that sort of thinking is considered a bit old-fashioned.” It was Lucy, back in naked human form and speaking more softly than her were-tiger brother.
“It doesn’t mean that we can’t resurrect the old ways,” snarled the were-tiger.
“Logan,” sighed Lucy, “just leave it for now. She helped us alright? In Cornwall. I would have died if it wasn’t for her.”
“From what the evidence suggests, you wouldn’t have been in danger in the first place if it wasn’t for her.”
I tried to move but Staines held me in place. “Look, I’m sorry, okay. Just take the plants. If you decide not to use them, then that’s up to you. But I’m telling you,” I added with a desperate note in my voice, “that they’ll help you. They’ll help Corrigan.”
“Well then I suppose I’ll have to try them, won’t I?” Corrigan’s voice boomed down from the landing of a grand staircase in the front of the hall.
I swallowed and tried to shift over to see him. He still looked good. A bit pale around the edges and there was the hint of a red flush rising from under his collar. But he wasn’t bedridden just yet. I felt a wave of relief flood through me. Thank God.
Staines finally moved off of me so I was able to scramble to my feet. I ignored the large circle of shifters that was around me, many of them still in were form and staring at me with wary malevolence.
I stuck out my hand and shook the herbs in the air. “It’s called blisterwort. Someone once told me that it was good for something called blushing disease or red fever. It sounds like what you’ve got. I really do think that this will help.” And, I thought silently to myself, I can always get you to suck my blood as a last resort, as Solus had suggested.
“Fetch the Cornish woman,” Corrigan instructed one of the shifters near him who took off at a dash. He surveyed the whole scene before him and made a dismissive wave with one elegant tanned hand. The shifters in the hall almost immediately melted away. Jeez, it didn’t matter how often I saw his control over the Brethren, it always astonished me.
Staines made an odd guttural noise, still in bear form. Corrigan looked at him and some sort of unspoken communication passed between them. I tried to see if I could make use of my own meagre Voice powers to listen in but it was to no avail. Staines lifted his large body up into the air for a moment and then slunk away.
Corrigan gazed down at me, his green gold eyes entirely expressionless. My knees felt slightly weak. “Uh, thanks,” I muttered.
“I spend months searching for you and then once I find you and let you go, you don’t seem to want to leave, kitten.”
My insides squirmed. “I’ll leave, my Lord,” I said quietly, “but, please, first take this.” Yet again, I stuck out the blisterwort and waved it around. “I really do think it’ll work.”
“Why?”
“Why? Because Mrs Alcoon, the woman that I need to go back to the mages for, told me about it. Honestly, it sounds like it cures exactly what you’ve got.”
“No,” he murmured. “Why did you come back with that? Why are you helping us?”
Nonplussed, I stared up at him. “The pack is my family. Of course I’d do whatever I could.”
“I’m not your family.”
“No,” I said softly, “you’re not. But, I…” I took a deep breath. “I don’t want you to be hurt. I think you’re alright, Corrigan.”
My cheeks were burning and I looked away, sure that he could see right through me. He gave a short bark of laughter and started moving unsteadily down the stairs. Alarmed, I ran up beside him and put an arm around his very broad shoulders to support his weight, telling myself that it was only because I didn’t want to see him topple forward and down the stairs because if he did Staines would probably have my head. Heat was emanating off his skin and betraying the strength of his illness but he smelled so very good, a mixture of citrus spicy goodness. I inhaled deeply.
“My Lord, I think you should sit down.”
“I prefer it when you call me Corrigan,” he said gruffly. “And before I sit down I want you to explain to me what you mean by saying that I’m ‘alright’.”
He turned his emerald green eyes towards me with the flecks of gold flickering within their depths. I licked my lips.
“Mackenzie, dear, you’ve come back! What’s this about a herb?”
“Good timing, Julia,” I muttered under my breath.
Corrigan’s eyes turned sharp but he didn’t comment.
“Pardon, dear?”
“Nothing.” I carefully extracted myself from under Corrigan’s arm, making sure that he wasn’t about to fall over, and trotted back down the stairs to where Julia was waiting. I stuck out the cluster of herbs. “Here. I think this will cure the red fever. It’s…”
“Blisterwort, yes, goodness. I haven’t seen it in years.” Julia peered up at me. “What makes you think it’ll provide a cure?”
“A little bird told me. I’m sure it’ll do the trick, Julia. And if it doesn’t…,” my voice trailed off, not wanting to put into words the idea that the Pack could bleed me dry and then they all might quite possibly be completely cured. Fortunately she didn’t really seem to notice.
“Yes, yes!” Julia’s eyes were gleaming in sudden excitement. “This might work. If I brewed it up with some lemon to make it palatable. Mackenzie, you may have just saved us all.”
Before I could be embarrassed at her words, Corrigan interrupted. “Aren’t you being just a little premature?” The skepticism in his voice was slightly galling.
“Perhaps not, my Lord. Blisterwort is an ancient remedy and something that I simply hadn’t thought of. I suddenly feel really quite optimistic.” She beamed at me and patted my hand. “I’ll go and try it out now.”
She wheeled round and sped her way out of the hall. I watched her go and then turned towards the door.
Where do you think you’re going?
I didn’t look back. I’ve done what I came here to do. The blisterwort will work, I’m sure of it.
You seemed to have another suggestion if it didn’t.
Damn him, he didn’t miss a trick. It will work.
“You should stay in case it doesn’t, Mack.”
It occurred to me that his words were the first time in what seemed like forever that someone had used the name I actually liked to be addressed by. I gave him credit for the thought and finally turned. “Thank you.”
He looked surprised. “For what?”
“Calling me by my name.”
His eyes gleamed at that. “What? You don’t like kitten?”
I scowled at him, but he just grinned. “You know, Mack, I’m feeling a bit shaky up here. Perhaps you should come up and steady me again.”
“A few hours ago you couldn’t wait to push me out of the door.”
He shrugged. “That was before you told me that I was alright. So, I’ll ask you again, what did you mean by that?”
He was looking at me much like I imagined a cat looked at a mouse before it chomped its head off. I was tempted for a moment to tell him that it turned out I thought he was more than alright. That it took all of my willpower not to start drooling whenever I was in his presence and that his scent made me weak at the knees. And despite his illness, his flirting left me in little doubt that he’d be happy to oblige my fantasies. I thought about the pictures on the Othernet of him with other women that I’d seen and wondered if I was prepared to be nothing more than a notch on the Lord Alpha’s bedpost. Probably.
“I suppose I meant that I like you.” I took a deep breath and watched his reaction.
“You are the most infuriatingly unfathomable woman I think I’ve ever come across.”
My bloodfire stirred in nervous irritation. “What the hell do you mean by that?”
“Just that, kitten. One minute you are purring and begging to be stroked and the next you’re hissing and spitting at me. Is it that you’re just high maintenance?”
&nbs
p; “High maintenance?” I sputtered. “How dare you!”
I stomped up the staircase to look him directly in the eye. When I reached his level I opened my mouth to show him exactly just how much spitting and hissing I could really do, but he grabbed me instead with both hands.
“Got you.” He said it lazily, in a very self-satisfied manner, but I caught a shaky inflection in his voice. I looked at him closely and realised in alarm that the whites of his eyes were turning red. Oh shit.
“Julia!” I shouted down the stairs. “Julia! It’s Corrigan, you need to come quickly!”
“You need an old woman in a wheelchair to come and rescue you from the big bad Lord Alpha?” He wobbled slightly, only just managing to steady himself.
“For fuck’s sake, Corrigan.” I extricated myself from his grip and began to lead him down the stairs. His skin was starting to feel clammy. I swallowed and tried not to panic. He leaned on me, making me realise that if he was prepared to show me that amount of weakness, then he must be feeling very bad indeed. There was still no sign of Julia so I tried a different tack.
“Staines!” There was a high pitched note to my voice that I didn’t like. I was starting to feel uncomfortably heat flaring inside, but my bloodfire wouldn’t help Corrigan this time. Fortunately, the bear appeared, transformed back into a human – and clothed, thank goodness. He took in the scene at a glance and bounded up the stairs to take hold of the other side of Corrigan. Between us we got him down the stairs and onto a nearby wooden bench that was elaborately carved with different animals.
“We need to get Julia. The blisterwort will help him,” I gasped.
Staines stared at me with mistrust in his eyes.
“Staines, please. She can help. You might not be able to trust me but you know you can trust her.”
He grunted in grudging acquiescence. “She’s on her way.”
The words were barely out of his mouth when Julia came bustling in with Betsy right behind her carrying a cup of something steaming. The smell of the brewed blisterwort immediately reminded me of Mrs Alcoon and the debt I still owed her. I watched anxiously as Staines knelt down and put the cup to Corrigan’s lips. I was running out of time to get back to the mages and work on getting her released so this had better work. Corrigan drank down the tea, unfocused eyes on me the whole time. Once he was done he closed his eyelids.
“I’m going to need to get him upstairs to his rooms,” said Staines to no-one in particular. “The last thing the rest of the Pack needs is to see him like this.” He turned to me and fixed me with a steely gaze. “You do realise that if this doesn’t work, and that it hurts him instead, I will rip you from limb to limb, Way Directives be damned.”
I barely acknowledged him, instead keeping my own eyes trained on Corrigan. I had no idea how long the blisterwort could take to act. I’d been so sure that it would work, but if it didn’t…
“I need a knife,” I said, softly.
“A knife? Do you really think that we would give you a weapon?”
I turned to Staines with baleful eyes and pointed at my arm. “Then cut me.”
“What?”
“Make me bleed, Staines.”
“You’re fucking crazy.”
“Staines…”
Will you two shut up?
We both turned and stared at Corrigan on the bench. His eyes were open and, I noted, his eyeballs were back to their normal shade of brilliant white. Julia was by his side, checking his pulse.
“Still a bit fast,” she said calmly, “but the blisterwort already seems to be doing its job. It works unbelievably fast.”
“Get it to the others, Julia,” said Corrigan, sitting up a little more.
“Yes, my Lord.” She was unable to keep the smile of relief out of her voice but as she turned to go out she shot me a look that I knew well: one that said she wanted words with me. Oops. I probably shouldn’t have been so quick to bring up the whole blood thing. Despite the fact that the plant I had brought was going save the whole Pack from the red fever, wanting to open up my veins would still look more than a little odd.
Staines turned to me. Here we go, I thought. ‘Thank you,” he said gruffly.
I almost fell over. “What was that? Can you speak up a bit? I didn’t quite catch it the first time.” I waggled a finger in my ear to emphasise my point.
“Fuck off.” His gratitude was clearly short lived. He went back to ignoring me and turned to Corrigan. “My Lord, we should get you to bed.”
“No. I need to check on the others.” He stood up and shook himself slightly. Staines moved away to give him space while I watched him warily. Pulling his shoulders back in an unmistakably feline manner, he blinked slowly and looked over at me. “I suppose I owe you a thank you.”
I waved a hand dismissively in the air and sketched a dramatic bow. “I am here but to serve you, oh Lord and Master.”
He snorted loudly, and then abruptly stumbled against me, the weight and warmth of his body suddenly heavy against my shoulder. I staggered a bit, but Staines was there immediately, hooking one of Corrigan’s arms round his hefty shoulders to take the weight. “You are going to bed to rest, my Lord Alpha.”
“Staines, I said I would check on the others and that is what I am damn well going to do,” Corrigan growled.
“And what good is it going to do them if you keel over on top of them?”
“It is my duty.”
“Shut up, my Lord.”
I was watching the two of them with my mouth slightly agape. This was a side to Lord Shifty and his minions that I had most definitely not experienced before.
Staines clucked like a mother hen and continued. “A few hours’ rest and you will be raring to go and fighting fit.”
I hadn’t taken Staines to be a cliché man up till now and I just couldn’t resist throwing in one of my own. “As right as rain.”
The pair of them turned to state at me as if they’d forgotten that I was even there. Good God, they were like an old married couple. Staines bowed stiffly to me, which was no mean feat given that Corrigan’s weight was still slung round his shoulder. “As the Lord Alpha stated, again, thank you.”
I couldn’t help myself from grinning cheekily back at him and winking. He rolled his eyes and turned to move away but Corrigan resisted. “Mack?” He spoke softly but there was a persistent question to his voice. “Will you stay?”
I held his gaze for a moment, before shaking my head regretfully. “I have to go, my Lord. I have a prior appointment that I must keep. I’m sorry.” I realised that it was true. I wanted like nothing more than to stay there, with him, with the other weres, where I felt as if I belonged, even if only slightly.
“Don’t call me that.”
“Err…what?”
“My Lord. Don’t call me my Lord. You aren’t one of us.”
I felt a stab of pain and hurt through my chest. I swallowed, trying to ignore the pricking of tears behind my eyes. “Of course.”
He sighed. “The two of us seem to live in a world of constant misunderstanding. What I mean, Mack, is that you aren’t one of my subjects. In fact, after having saved my life and quite potentially that of the entire Pack’s, you are most definitely my equal.”
Staines sucked in his breath at that but it barely registered.
Corrigan leaned forward slightly. “Whatever manner of creature or mage you might be.” He grimaced for a moment and then reached out with his free hand to clasp mine. His skin was cool to the touch, but his grip was strong and reassuring. “I don’t just owe you a thank you. We all owe you a true debt of gratitude. I would like you to keep in touch, Mack. And, know this, if you ever need help of any shape or form, then the Pack will be at your side. Do you need intervention with the mages?”
“I…” Lost for words, I swallowed and tried to regain my composure. “No. Thank you. I gave them my word that I would return to them. They won’t hurt me, they just want to help me.” Well, by making me spend five stupid years in thei
r stupid school, I thought ungratefully. I looked regretfully up at Corrigan and reached out to brush his cheek with my hand. Then I thought better of it and let my hand drop to my side. Something in his eyes flickered a moment and then disappeared.
Staines coughed. “I can have someone drop you back at the Ministry.”
I was about to retort that I didn’t need his damn help before remembering that I was still completely penniless. “Okay. Thanks. Can you say goodbye to the others for me? Julia and Betsy and Tom?”
“You don’t want to say goodbye to them yourself?”
“I, uh, no. It’s best this way. I’m going to be gone for a long time.”
Corrigan stared at me unfathomably for a moment, before pulling shakily out from under Staines’ arm. He leaned forward until his face was scant centimetres away, then pressed his lips to mine with such a feather light touch that I wasn’t even sure whether it had really happened or not. “Then I’ll be seeing you, kitten.” He turned back to Staines, who gave me a brief stiff nod, and then they both left.
I stared after them for a moment, drinking in the lingering male scent that Corrigan had left behind him. There was a knot in my chest that didn’t seem to be going away and that had nothing to do with my blood fire. I clenched my fists and glanced down. A tinge of green light surrounded my hands, reminding me that time was short.
*
The pack’s limousine pulled up outside the Ministry’s imposing metal gates. Unlike the last time I’d been here, there was now a rather scary looking guard posted at the front. I allowed myself a small smirk at the mages’ renewed energy for security. The window in the front rolled smoothly down and the driver murmured something inaudibly to the guard, who nodded briskly and gestured with one hand. The ornate gates opened and the car slowly drove in and up the short drive.
Once we came to a complete halt outside the front door, I moved to get out, not waiting for the driver to come round and open the car door. This didn’t seem to make him very happy because he rushed out and almost sprinted round the car. A weredog, I thought. It figures. He bowed deeply to me and doffed his cap. What a difference a day makes. I smiled at him absentmindedly and made my way up to the front door. Before I had a chance to knock, however, it swung open with a dramatic motion.