Wolves and Roses

by Christina Bauer

  Knox frowns. “But this is about your safety.” Our eyes lock, and that warm sensation happens again; it’s like my veins heat up from the inside. Tendrils of connection wind between us. It feels beyond awesome.

  Then it all goes to crap. The lines of connection start prodding at the lockbox inside my soul. I freeze. What is THAT all about? It’s more overwhelming stuff, and my inner toddler is having none of it. With every cell in my body, I push back against whatever is happening.

  Knox blinks and looks away. “I’m sorry.” Instantly, the sensation of warmth and connection ends. I miss that part. But the prodding at my inner lockbox has stopped. That’s the good news. It raises a question, though.

  I focus on Knox. “What were you doing just then, exactly?”

  Elle steps forward. “Did he hurt you?”

  Alec sets his hand on Elle’s wrist. “No, he was testing to see if she was ready to talk. Werewolves are sensitive like that. Isn’t that right, Knox?”

  “That’s it.” Knox rubs his neck. “And you’re right, Bry. Now is not the time for all of this.” He meets my gaze again. “I was wrong to push you. How about I stop by Elle’s place in a few hours? Bring you something to eat, yeah?”

  I nod hesitantly. “Sure.”

  “But we need to talk then. Do you think you can do that?”

  I hug my elbows. “I’ll try.”

  “Enough is enough.” Elle drags me toward the door. “Bry is going on a break. See you later, guys!” Once we’re out of earshot, she lowers her voice. “What have you two been up to?”

  A ton of things. But nothing that I want to discuss within earshot of the guys. “I don’t know,” I say, careful to use my full sassy voice. “What have you two been up to?”

  “Let’s get some ice cream and greasy food first. After that, I’ll explain everything.”

  And with those two little sentences, the world seems a lot more right. Elle and I are going to eat bad-for-us foods at her condo, where we’ll rehash everything that happened. There’s no better way to deal with a bad day. Or even, after what happened to me this morning, a crazy day.

  Whatever this is, Elle and I can figure it out. I remember Knox’s saying that he needed to explain something else to me. Something worse than all the other nasty revelations that have come before.

  All of a sudden, I’m not feeling so confident that ice cream and girl talk will do the trick. I need some supernatural advice. Maybe it’s time for me to call on Colonel Mallory the Magnificent. It’s a long shot—after all, I’m pretty sure I imagined him—but it might be worth a try.

  As Elle and I head toward the subway, I cup my hand by my mouth and speak in a loud voice. “I summon you, Colonel Mallory the Magnificent.”

  “What?” Elle’s huge blue eyes almost bug out of her head. “That’s the guy who cursed you.”

  “About that.” Since we’re New Yorkers, we can weave through a packed sidewalk of bodies while having this conversation. “He visited me before. I was hoping it was a combination of sleep deprivation and nerves. In fact, I’m pretty sure it was, but he offered to help and give advice. It’s crazy to try to summon him, but my life has gotten so strange so quickly. At this point, I’ll try anything.” I scan the sidewalk. No one appears, outside the ordinary stream of New Yorkers.

  “I don’t see anyone supernatural, hon. Are you sure you saw him?”

  “In the interest of full disclosure, I could just be having a breakdown of some kind.”

  “Look, I know my Bryar Rose. Drop this Colonel Mallory stuff. You need some food and ice cream. In that order. Then we can talk about everything and make it right, okay?”

  “Sure, let’s go.” For some reason, a weight of disappointment settles into my bones. I knew that Colonel Mallory thing was a total bust. Still, the fact that he didn’t show bums me out for some reason.

  It’s just that kind of day, I guess.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Knox

  I stare at the front door of the LeCharme building. Bry just took off through there. My hands ball into fists. Was I wrong to let her go? She needs to know the truth, and soon. Unless Bry shifts at least once, her wolf could die by sundown tomorrow.

  Trouble is, she needs to be willing to shift.

  When we looked into each other’s eyes, I reached out with my alpha power and probed into her soul, testing to see if her animal could come out. If Bry had seemed in the least bit ready, I’d have insisted we talk right then and there.

  That’s not what happened, though.

  Bry pushed back on my powers in a big way. In fact, she shoved my alpha consciousness out of her head with so much energy, it felt like a fist to my chest. I’ve sensed stuff like that before, but it always came from Alec. And that makes zero sense. Bry is a werewolf, not a wizard. I set that aside for later, when I’m not losing my mind because Bry just left.

  I speak to my wolf in my head. “We should follow her.”

  “Her wolf not ready. You stay here.”

  I can’t believe my wolf isn’t with me on this one. “She needs me now. I’m going.”

  “No scare mate.”

  Alec sets his hand on my shoulder. “You having a fight with your inner wolf?” Over the years, Alec’s seen enough of my mental wolf battles to know when one is happening.

  I growl out a single word. “Yeah.”

  “Tell him to back off. Bryar will be fine.”

  “He’s not the one that wants to go after her.” I keep glaring at the door.

  Alec eyes me for a long time before speaking. “Why don’t we go to my office and chill? I rigged up a PlayStation to my work computer. It’s sweet.”

  Normally, that kind of an idea is a slam-dunk. “No.”

  “Dude, you can’t just stand here and glare at a door. Your eyes are gold and everything. You’ll frighten away the customers.”

  “You already cleared out the sales floor. And humans would love to see me going wolfy. Would make their damn day on Facebook.”

  “Well, you’re scaring the crap out of me. Let’s go to my office. I’ll order up some raw meat and a chew toy for you.”

  I round on him. Chew toy, my ass. I have six inches on Alec, which means I can easily loom over him. Not that he cares, but the chew toy comment is out of line. “I am not a dog.”

  “That’s my grumpy buddy.” He tugs on the shoulder of my T-shirt. “Now, let’s go hang out in my office because, sooner or later, we are going to reopen our front doors, and I can’t handle you looking this way to customers. They’re here to buy jewelry, not take selfies with a werewolf.”

  Mentioning customers triggers a memory. “People had their cell phones out before. They took video of Bry.”

  “Please. I’m not some greenback wizard from the corner of nowhere. I wiped all their electronics before I brainwashed them all to leave quietly.” He opens his right hand to show a bunch of blackened diamonds.

  My brows lift. “Nice work.”

  “What else do you expect?” He tugs on my shoulder again. “Let’s start with some basics here. Walking is a simple movement. You raise your right foot and then your left.”

  “You’re a dick.”

  Alec wags his eyebrows. “Bigger than yours.”

  “Dream on, douche.” Even so, I finally step toward the elevator bank. Alec grins like he won the lottery.

  Within a few minutes, we’re doing exactly what Alec wants. In this case, it means hanging out in his palatial office with the door locked and snacks on the way. Part of being a werewolf is that I’m perpetually hungry. In fact, I can’t help but notice the lunch spread that Alec has on his desk, which is now totally eaten over. No doubt he ordered in for him and Elle. And that gets me thinking. Why did the guard have to come after Bryar Rose and me when Philpot showed up? How come he couldn’t find Alec, anyway?

  I plunk down onto one of Alec’s funky couches. “Where were you earlier today? No one could find you.”

  Alec takes the chair across from mine. “When?�
� He asks the question innocently enough, but the acidic scent of guilt oozes all over him.

  “You know what I mean. Why couldn’t anyone find you when Philpot the Douchebag showed up?”

  “Oh, that. Elle and I had some lunch in my office. After that, we went for a walk. Elle wanted a coffee, and our machine here is junk, so we went to this little café I know. And along the way, you know.” He gets a dreamy look on his face. That part in itself is a stunner. Alec does not go gooey over women.

  “No, I don’t know.”

  “I kept getting texts, and Elle was teasing me about it, so we both decided to shut off our phones for a while.”

  “Your phone. Off.” This is unprecedented. If Alec could get his phone surgically implanted in his cranium, I think he would in a heartbeat.

  “Yeah, sure. Why not?”

  I sniff. “You’ve got it bad.”

  “What?” Alec rolls his eyes. “She’s a friend. I like her. That’s it.” After that, he starts going off on how much he isn’t into Elle, and honestly? I start to tune him out. Normally, I’d give him crap about all the lying he’s doing. The man reeks of a rotten garbage scent that means he’s telling untruths left and right. Normally, I’d call him on this, but I’m just not in the zone today.

  Instead, I’m still thinking about how Bryar Rose is a werewolf. How is that possible? Why would her aunties try to hide something like that from her? And most importantly, how can I get her comfortable enough to tell her the truth and get her to shift before it’s too late? I picture that fool, Philpot. Somehow, he feels like a bigger part of this whole thing. Only I can’t imagine how. Still, sometimes it’s the dumb-looking ones who are the most dangerous.

  I don’t like this. At all.

  Alec keeps blabbing for a while, and then he snaps his fingers. “Hey, Knox.”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’ve been talking to you. Have you heard a word I said?”

  I lean back on the couch. “No.”

  “Let me get this straight. You’re not going to ask me a million questions about anything I’ve been saying? Nothing about Elle?”

  “Nah. It’s obvious that you’re crazy about this girl. Why ask questions about that? You’ll just get all misty on me, and I’d rather keep whatever manly image I have of you intact.”

  “You’re a true humanitarian.”

  “That’s just how I roll. And another thing. Don’t think I didn’t notice how you’re holding back about Elle in general. She told you something important.”

  Alec gives me one of his patented I can’t believe you squints. “What?”

  “Give it up.” I tap my nose. “I can smell a lie, you know. And right now, you reek.”

  “I’m not lying.”

  “Well, you’re withholding truth, and that smells the same.”

  Alec leans forward, braces his elbows on his knees, and stares at the floor. “It’s not my secret to tell, Knox.”

  This is another situation where I’d usually press Alec for answers. Not that he’d ever say anything. The man is like a rock when he wants to stay quiet. Even so, I’ve got enough to worry about without trying to crack that block of granite. “Fine. Keep your secrets.”

  “What?” Alec looks up. “You’re letting me off the hook?”

  “You catch on quickly.”

  “You’d only do that if something big was going on.” His blue eyes widen with concern. “What happened?”

  “Something bigger than you can imagine.” I speak really slowly so Alec won’t miss a word. “Bryar Rose is a werewolf.”

  Alec leans back in his chrome chair and laughs. “Come on, man. You scared the crap out of me there. Stop playing around.”

  “I’m not playing you. She is a werewolf.”

  “Knox.” Alec shakes his head. “She’s a Sleeping Beauty life template, not Little Red Riding Hood.”

  “I saw her eyes, Alec. Golden. And that medicine she has in her bag? Predator’s Bane.”

  All the blood seems to drain from Alec’s face. “Predator’s Bane? Are you sure?”

  “I’m sure. Remember that fight back in Mexico City? I got stuck as a human and couldn’t shift.”

  “They hit you with Predator’s Bane. I remember. So why would anyone give that to Bryar Rose?”

  “I think they’re doing it because she’s under a Slumber Beast curse.”

  “Slumber Beast? No one’s cast that in a hundred years. I don’t think there are any fairies left who are strong enough to do it.”

  “Colonel Mallory the Magnificent might.” I lean forward. “Think about it. If Bry is under a Slumber Beast curse, then whenever she tries to shift, the spell would freeze her up. She takes a few whiffs of Predator’s Bane, transforms back to all human, and the sleeping spell stops.”

  “Predator’s Bane.” Alec scrubs his hands over his face. “I mean, Elle told me about Bryar Rose taking medicine, but I thought it was for her Sleeping Beauty sickness.”

  “It was.”

  “And you really saw eyes turn golden?”

  “Oh yeah. Her eyes turned golden, and then she started to fall asleep.”

  Alec frowns. “Has she shifted before?”

  “No, I reached out to her wolf, and it’s never been set loose.” I shake my head. “And her eighteenth birthday is tomorrow.”

  “That’s terrible, Knox.” Alec doesn’t seem too upset, though.

  “But?”

  “Honestly, what can you do about it? She’s got a spell on her that knocks her out before she can shift. You know how powerful magic like that is?”

  “I don’t, actually. I was hoping you could tell me.” Alec loves to study all kinds of magic, including fairy stuff.

  “Maybe if you had a dozen wizards or fairies working at it for a year, you could break a Slumber Beast spell. But that’s a long shot.”

  “Come on, how can you know it’s unbreakable?”

  “Please. How often have I wanted to knock out your werewolf ass, even for a second?”

  How I hate to say this. “You’ve tried that a ton.” When we were kids, Alec used to try to stop me all the time. And the spell he wanted to cast was the same general kind of thing that happens to Bryar Rose, too. He wanted to freeze me in place like a statue. It never happened, though. Eventually, he gave up.

  Alec grins. “Exactly. And you know how strong I am. That’s how I know that there’s no way to fix this in the next twenty-four hours.”

  “Thanks for giving up like a pussy.”

  “I’m a man of magical science.” Alec rolls his eyes. “There’s a difference.”

  “Maybe if she stops taking that damn Predator’s Bane…” I leave the thought to hang out there.

  “No.”

  “Right.” Alec never gives up this fast. There’s something else at work here. “Talk to me. The truth now.”

  Alec sighs. “Fine. We can’t lose her skills. Did you see how much of that papyri she translated? She downloaded her stuff to the mainframe, and I took a look. That girl is a machine.”

  “I knew it.” Anger tightens up my spine. “You selfish bastard. You just want her to keep translating for us.”

  “Come on. Our people have been looking at those papyri fragments for two thousand years. Everyone’s been trying to translate them. We got some of the easy bits done, but no one’s come anywhere as close as Bryar Rose. Whether or not she has a wolf, she can always work on papyri.”

  I rise to stand. It takes everything I have not to punch Alec in the face. “You haven’t met people who’ve lost their animals.”

  “I’ve seen them. Sure, they aren’t chatty, but they can still work. And if we give Bryar Rose enough time, I know that she’ll decode the full papyri. That means she’ll find out how to stop the Denarii. If you scare her off with wolf talk, then that may never happen. It’s too much of a risk, man.”

  “This is her wolf we’re talking about. Have you seen what happens to shifters who lose their animals? They lose all their personality. It’s
like turning a human being into a robot.”

  Alec taps his chiseled chin. “And what happened back there on the sales floor, huh?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Now who’s lying? You tried to use your alpha mojo to see if she wanted to shift… And she didn’t. The girl doesn’t want this. And if we keep shoving werewolf stuff at her, she could bolt. Like I said, we can’t take that chance. She’s here and working on the papyri. We need to leave Bryar Rose right where she is.”

  My voice comes out a low growl. “That’s not an option.”

  “This is bigger than one person. You know the Denarii master plan. They’re taking down all of the Magicorum because we’re all that can stop them from turning human beings into a never-ending buffet. We need to stop them, and that means translating every hieroglyph in the Book of Magic. It will tell us how to end the Denarii. Hell, it may even give us the keys to finding Jules. Can we really put that at risk?”

  “Not at the expense of her wolf.”

  “Come on. Our people are being wiped out.”

  “And what about you? What if this meant stripping a witch or wizard of their power?”

  Alec folds his arms over his chest. “You’re not going to like this. If the question is whether to sacrifice one wizard to save all of the Magicorum? Hell yes, I’d do it. Your feelings for Bryar Rose are getting in the way of your judgment.”

  “No, my feelings are based on judgment. Bryar Rose is smart and strong. She’ll keep working on those papyri because that’s who she is. And what if she finds out we let her wolf die because we wanted her as our papyri bitch? No way. Then she’ll really disappear on us.”

  “On us?” Alec has his future CEO face on. I hate it when he does that. “Or on you?”

  “Fine, I do have feelings for this girl. I believe in her, Alec. Nothing you say can change that.” I stalk toward the door.

  Alec moves to stand in my way. “Don’t leave. You convinced me.”

  I glare at him. “I’m still going.”

  “Look, there’s a lot at stake. I had to know how serious you were.”

  My wolf is tearing it up inside me. It takes all my self-control not to howl with rage. “Right now, I want to go wolf on you and rip out your throat. But I won’t. Instead, I’m going for a run in the woods so I can calm the hell down. After that, I will see Bry and tell her the truth.” Alec opens his mouth, but I cut him right off. “And you’re going to shut up and let me do that. Got it?”