The energy bolt struck him right in the middle of his chest, and he fell with a pathetic whimper, sounding painfully like a wounded dog. Ronnie screamed, grabbing my shoulders and pulling us backward, just as Malachi’s claws flailed through the air right where my face had been a moment ago. Ronnie and I landed on the floor in a tangle of limbs and panic. I struggled to get to my hands and knees, holding out a hand for Joey over Malachi’s twitching body. At least he wasn’t dead.
“Joey, c’mon!” I yelled, waving my hand at her to hurry. She pushed away from the floor, yelping in pain and making her pause for a moment while she caught her breath. “Joey,” I urged. My heart was pounding in my chest, practically cracking my ribs to get free. Malachi was already starting to groan as he came to.
Joey got to her feet, clumsily climbed over Malachi, and took my hands. I gathered her close to me and we started to run for the door. Ronnie screamed behind me and I risked a look over my shoulder. Malachi came barreling through the door, slamming into Ronnie, sending her into the wall in a heap. He was fully shifted now – a massive wolf of fur and teeth and claws that was barreling right for us. I couldn’t help the scream that ripped through me as I threw Joey behind me, summoning all of my power until my entire body was covered with electric flashes of light and power.
Time slowed then. I could see the muscles of his legs, bunching and lengthening as he bounded for me. The hackles of his back were raised, forming a razor line of fur along his spine. His black lips were stretching over that mouthful of teeth and pain. A glob of saliva streamed backward, breaking off and falling to the ground. His claws cut into the carpet, shredding the fibers and splintering the wood underneath. Ronnie was screaming something, but I couldn’t hear her over the ringing in my ears as the power shot out of me, colliding with Malachi as he leapt into the air. I heard a gunshot ring out, cutting through the howls and ringing.
Malachi fell with a ground shaking thud, just inches away from me. My legs gave out and I collapsed to my knees, my body beginning to shake from the extreme expenditure of power and energy. The edges of my vision were starting to go dark, and I had to blink to keep the room clear. The fur on Malachi’s body began to disappear. Like a ripple on the surface of the water, his body shifted, revealing the man within the beast. His limbs contorted with snaps and pops as they reshaped themselves until we were finally looking at Malachi, naked and bleeding on the floor.
“What did you do?” I asked, but my voice sounded far away. The shot must’ve been too close to me, doing something to my hearing. I just prayed it would fix itself with a little time. If it was permanent, that was really going to suck.
“I shot him,” Ronnie said. She was still where Malachi had thrown her, leaning one shoulder against the wall, the pearl-handled pistol gripped in both her hands, held out in front of her. Her arms were starting to shake, and she lowered the gun, taking her finger off of the trigger.
“No!” Joey screamed, scrambling around me, crawling to Malachi’s side. She was still crying, her hands fluttering over him, not quite sure where to place them.
“He’s not dead,” Ronnie said with a deep breath. She clicked something on the gun, the safety I assumed, before tucking it back into the back of her pants. “I shot him in the leg, but the silver bullet and energy bolt knocked him out. He’ll be fine once we get that slug out of him.”
“Get it out of him,” Joey cried, swiveling her head back and forth between me and Ronnie.
“Not yet,” I said. It was much harder than it should have been to get to my feet, but somehow I managed it. “We need to give him the antidote so he goes back to normal. Then we can get that out of his leg, but not before.”
“Agreed,” Ronnie said, walking over to help Joey back to her feet.
“But we can’t leave him like this! He’s bleeding.” Joey gripped the front of Ronnie’s shirt, clinging desperately to her.
“We aren’t going to,” I said.
“Girl, I don’t know about you,” Ronnie said, trying to pry Joey’s fingers off of her shirt. “But I am not equipped to move a two hundred-pound man.”
“No,” I said with a shake of my head. My words were coming slow, like my mouth couldn’t keep up with my train of thought. “Joey, where is his cell?”
“What?” She blinked at me, only one eye clear through all the bruises and puffiness of her face.
“His phone, get it for me,” I said, making sure my voice was firm this time. She looked like she was going to argue with me, but after a moment, she decided to keep her mouth shut and walked over to the pile of shredded clothing where Malachi had shifted. She sorted through the fabric until his phone tumbled to the floor. Joey snatched it up and brought it to me. I sat on the bed, still not trusting my legs since I was having a hard time catching my breath.
Scrolling through the contact list, I found the name I was looking for. Jameson was the Alpha of Los Angeles. My thumb hovered over the name as I tried to find one last shred of courage to dial the number. A lump formed in my stomach when I finally pressed the name.
“Malachi, where the hell have you been?” a voice came over the line after just one ring that was so masculine, so forceful, it made me want to cower and show my throat.
“Jameson, this is Matilda Kavanagh,” I said, thanking the gods that my voice didn’t shake when I spoke. “We’ve met before; I treated your niece for Moon Burn?”
After a pause, he finally replied, “Right, Mattie, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” I said with a sigh of relief as the edge in his voice softened.
“Has something happened to Malachi?”
“Yes,” I said, closing my eyes. In as few words as possible, I explained what had happened, ending with, “So he’s on the floor now, bleeding with a silver bullet in his thigh. I have to give him the antidote. I don’t want to leave him like this, but if I revive him, he’ll kill us all. I don’t have the ability to control him.”
“I understand,” he said. “Go, get the antidote ready, and I’ll be in touch. How long do you need?”
“An hour.”
“You’ll hear from me by then.” Jameson ended the call and I dropped my hand, cradling the phone in my lap.
“They’re going to kill me,” Joey said, her voice so soft I almost couldn’t hear her. She was kneeling by Malachi again, her hand resting on his chest, rising and falling with his breathing.
“No,” I said. I stood and placed his phone on the dresser. “I’ll work something out. Now, go get dressed so we can get the hell out of here.”
With Joey out of the way, I knelt by Malachi’s head and plucked a couple of his hairs, laying them in a tissue from the box on the dresser. Folding it carefully, I slipped it into my jacket pocket.
Once Joey was dressed, I got us out of there as fast as our bruised and beaten bodies could move. I did not want to still be there when the members of Malachi’s pack got there. Joey curled up in the back seat of my car and cried herself to sleep as I drove us back to our building.
“What do you want to do with her?” Ronnie asked as we sat in the dark of the car in the underground parking.
“Can you take her up to your apartment? I don’t think having her around when the Weres get there is a good idea,” I said, glancing over my shoulder at Joey.
“Sure.” Ronnie nodded.
“Do you have any calming draughts?”
“I think so.”
“Give her one. When I’m done with Malachi, I’ll come up with a healing potion to get to work on some of those injuries,” I said, and Ronnie nodded.
“You should take one yourself,” Ronnie said.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “I’ll bring you one too. I’m sure your shoulder is on fire.”
Ronnie rotated her shoulder and winced, “It’s been better.”
***
A while later, I was in my kitchen, a cauldron bubbling on my stove, a handful of pain amulets on the counter and Artemis winding around my feet as I chopped the herbs. I had a timer on
the counter so I wouldn’t lose track of time and have the Weres take me by surprise. When the potion was as clear as water, I added three of Malachi’s hairs. Blue steam billowed up, disappearing as it hit the ceiling.
I watched anxiously as the liquid shifted from clear to blue and finally settled in a pleasing shade of soft pink. The potion was ready. Now I just needed the deranged werewolf and I could put this crappy night to bed.
By my timer, I still had ten minutes before my guests arrived, so I went into the bathroom and splashed some cold water on my face, taking the chance to change clothes and get out of the stretched and bloodied things I’d come home in. I was just wrapping a cardigan around me when the knock at the door came. Artemis bounded to the door before me, but after a quick sniff at the threshold, he hissed, flicked his tail in the air, and took off for the bedroom like a shot.
“Chicken,” I hissed back at him before checking the peephole, even though I knew who it was. Jameson himself stood on the other side of the door with another large man behind him who had Malachi’s limp form draped over his shoulder. Jameson was probably well into his fifties, maybe even his sixties, but with Weres, it was always hard to tell. He was broad shouldered and narrow hipped, with closely cut dark hair that was starting to go silver at the temples. He was tall enough that my peephole was level with his square jaw that was sprinkled with a five o’clock shadow.
“Mattie,” Jameson said with a nod when I opened the door. His voice rumbled low in his chest, commanding and soothing all at the same time. I nodded back and held the door open for them to come in.
“You can just put him on the couch,” I said to the unfamiliar Were. He was one of the biggest men I’d ever seen, well over six feet tall, and his shoulders were almost as broad as any troll’s. He was wearing dark jeans and a black, sleeveless T-shirt, showing off the swirling tattoos on his arms. The black ink against his ebony skin was almost difficult to see. The ink flowed seamlessly with the dip and curve of his muscles so that they looked like he could have been born with them.
When he dumped Malachi on the couch, Malachi’s arms flopping awkwardly to the sides, his tiny, long braids swung forward with Malachi. I rushed forward and helped him pull the braids free so he could stand up.
“Thanks,” he said before walking over to Jameson to stand behind his left shoulder.
“What do we have to do?” Jameson asked.
“We have to wake him up first,” I said. That lump in my stomach rolled.
“You have to get the bullet out then.”
“Right,” I sighed. “Can you…” I waved at Malachi, arching a brow at Jameson.
“Control him once he’s awake?” Jameson finished for me. I nodded. “Wouldn’t be much of an Alpha if I couldn’t, now would I?” Jameson gave me a conspiratorial smile and a wink; it went a long way toward calming my nerves.
“Great,” I said, “then let’s get started.” I went back into the kitchen and ladled out a dose of the potion in a plastic cup. If he somehow managed to knock it out of my hands, I didn’t want to have to clean up shattered glass. I gathered up the other supplies I needed to remove the bullet too: a pair of hemostats from my emergency kit, a long pair of tweezers, a metal dish, and a needle and thread.
“You won’t need to stitch him up,” the bodyguard Were said when he saw my supplies.
“But he hasn’t stopped bleeding,” I said, noting with some disappointment the growing red stain on my couch cushion. That wasn’t going to be fun to clean up later.
“Yes, but once the bullet comes out, he’ll heal,” Jameson said.
“It’s just the silver keeping the wound open,” the other Were said.
“Must be a nice perk,” I said, setting everything down on the coffee table before I knelt in front of Malachi. I swabbed away some of the blood and used the hemostats to spread the wound. Then I was digging for the bullet with the tweezers, trying not to lose whatever was left in my stomach. When I finally had a grip on the damn thing, it came out easier than I expected it to. I plopped it in the dish with a tink of satisfaction. The wound was already starting to seal itself by the time I turned to look at it again.
“Time to get back, Ms. Kavanagh,” the bodyguard said. His hands were on my shoulders, urging me to my feet and pulling me backward.
Jameson was already next to Malachi’s head, watching and waiting for the first signs of him regaining consciousness.
“Mattie is fine,” I said over my shoulder, trying to distract myself from the nerves raging through me like an angry bull.
“Kyle,” he said, smiling at me. It was a bright white smile that made the skin at his brown eyes crinkle, and I noticed the hint of green just around his black pupils. He was a good smiler. It wasn’t a noise that caught my attention, or any kind of movement; it was the sudden building of power snapping along my skin that brought my attention back to the two men at my couch.
Malachi was awake. His eyes flashed open, bright and yellow and glowing. Even as far away as I was, I could see the huge, black, elongated pupils as he looked for his enemy – for me. I was choking on my heart and I couldn’t hear what Jameson was saying over the thundering in my ears. In another moment, I realized Jameson wasn’t speaking, he was singing, soft and low, his magic rippling out of him like water lapping at the shore.
I felt the raging anger of Malachi, his wolf trying to rise, but Jameson drank in the power, the anger, and washed him in cool, calming waters. Malachi’s eyes were dimming by the moment.
Kyle leaned over me, placing his face close to mine. He smelled of peppermint. He whispered, “You’re up, be careful, move slow.” Pressing my lips together, I nodded, forcing myself to breathe as I took that first step forward, pulling my feet out of the blocks of cement holding me down. My hand was shaking as I reached out for the cup with the antidote and I had to hold it with both hands to keep from spilling it. Kyle came around the back of the couch to the other side, behind Malachi’s head. He reached out and slipped his hands under Malachi’s shoulders and lifted him so he was sitting up. I glanced at Kyle and he nodded; it was now or never.
I bent close to Malachi, lifting the cup to his lips. His eyes locked on mine and I saw a mix of confusion and anger, but behind that was something much more upsetting: Malachi was a little bit afraid. Staring into his usually gray eyes, I hated myself a little bit.
I pressed the edge of the cup to his lips and tipped it. A drop rolled over the edge when he didn’t open his mouth right away, but with the urging of his Alpha, Malachi opened his mouth and let me pour the liquid. When he’d swallowed it all, I moved back as quickly as I dared, placing my body behind Jameson’s so Malachi couldn’t keep staring at me. My whole body shook as we waited.
Kyle eased Malachi back on the couch and took a step back. Jameson kept singing in that soft, rumbling voice in a language I didn’t know, but I could feel the power of his voice, soothing all of us, not just Malachi. Almost ten minutes passed before Jameson’s voice faded to silence. I leaned around him to look at Malachi. He was sitting up, holding his head in his hands, his elbows braced on his thighs.
“Malachi,” Jameson said, his rumbling voice adding a new sound to the syllables.
“I am well, Alpha,” he said, his voice rough from all the earlier growling and roaring. “Thank you.”
“J-Jameson,” I stammered and then cleared my throat. “A word?” The Alpha looked down at me for a moment before nodding. I led us into the kitchen, all the way to the back wall to give us some privacy, even if I knew the two Weres in the living room could still here us at this range.
“I am not going to seek the pixie girl’s head over this,” Jameson said, surprising me enough to make me forget what I was about to say.
“How did you know I was going to ask you about her?”
“We, as a people, are not known for forgiving and forgetting,” he said, squinting down at me. I nodded, glancing down the kitchen as if I could see into the living room. Jameson sighed then, closing his eyes be
fore leaning against the wall and crossing his arms over his chest. The cost of the calming magic, controlling Malachi’s wolf was showing on his face. The lines around his steely blue eyes were a little deeper and the corners of his mouth were pulled down.
“Are you all right?” I asked. “Can I give you something? A pick-me-up?”
“No,” he said, shaking his head slowly but not opening his eyes. “I am fine, just a little tired. I told that pup to leave the pixie girl alone, but it seems that just spurred him on.”
“You knew he was dating outside of the pack?”
“A lot of the young ones do,” he said, pushing his shoulders away from the wall and finally looking at me again. “It’s a type of rebellion, but what they don’t understand is that it isn’t forbidden to date outside of the pack because we don’t like to mix with other species. It’s a rule because often we cannot love them in a way they understand.”
“I’ve heard,” I said, glancing away. I knew a couple of girls in school who had dated Weres only to have their hearts broken. Weres, especially young ones, were often fickle, even when they mated with their own kind. It was something about the Wolf; it wanted to run free and wild. Tethers were meant to be snapped. And eventually they always ran and you never saw it coming. Joey hadn’t stood a chance.
“Is the pixie girl all right?” he asked. I glanced up at him. I was pretty sure he knew Joey’s name, but for whatever reason, he was making it a point not to use it. Maybe it helped not to make it personal.
“She’s heartsick, but I think she’s learned her lesson,” I said. “Listen, Jameson, I’m sorry; I brewed the potion. You know, it’s how I pay the bills. I was careless and didn’t tell her the dangers of mixing it with something like whiskey. Anyway,” I said, shaking my head to clear the rambling thoughts that were spilling out of me. “I hope you don’t hold any ill-will toward me. Maybe we can work something out to make things right.”
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