by Lisa Toppin
flame.
“Come out; come out before I blow your house in.” Roxanne said.
Melissa crawled to the kitchen to stay below the smoke and grabbed the fire extinguisher from the bracket beside the stove. If she could get the fires out she might have a chance to think. With shaking hands she pulled the pin out of the fire extinguisher. She’d never used one before she relied on what she remembered of a middle school fire safety presentation.
She went to the couch first it blazed away. The extinguisher sputtered once then let out a short stream of foam. The fire retreated slightly. She kept moving the extinguisher nozzle back and forth; trying to spread the foam out, but there just wasn’t enough of the stuff. The curtains were already on fire. Smoke filled the space.
Coughing, Melissa retreated to the kitchen she thought for a second that she’d be able to slip out the back door, but a pair of armed shifters waited for her. They were probably all around the house. Melissa crouched in the corner furthest from the fire. She concentrated gathering mana to cast a glamour it was magic 101, but she didn’t have time to try anything more complicated at the moment.
When she was ready she opened the door and ran out. Smoke poured out the door along with Melissa and her six duplicates. The wolves were confused for a moment. She couldn’t slow down to admire her handy work. The duplicates scattered running in every direction. Melissa avoided the main group of wolves running around her house trying to catch the duplicates that disappeared like soap bubbles as the wolves tried to grab them.
Melissa ran flat out for the trees the road was too exposed. She tried to focus on breathing in and out getting as much air in as possible. She hadn’t run like this since―ever. The relief that swept through her when she passed under the first tree was like nothing she’d ever felt before.
White hot pain knocked her to the ground. A steel arrow tipped with silver tore through her thigh. The silvery tip glinted in the sun wet with her blood. Tiny chunks of muscle and flesh stuck to the barbs that stuck out from the sides of the arrow head. Melissa screamed in pain and frustration there was no way she could run or even walk any further. Pack enforcers grabbed her and dragged her back to the burning house. Every movement sent a shock of pain through her body.
Predatory pleasure at finishing off wounded prey showed clearly in the Lupa’s eyes. She licked her muzzle and the enforcers stepped back giving her room to walk a wide circle around the immobile human curled protectively over her wounded leg. Melissa covered her head with her arms as Roxanne tensed to pounce on her. She knew it was futile, but she instinctively tried to protect herself.
Roxanne leapt. Her shadow enveloped the bleeding human like death’s cloak. Two things happened at once a huge black wolf barreled into the Lupa knocking her clear of Melissa and the two enforcers nearest Melissa fell to the ground writhing in pain. The toxic reaction to silver poisoning was immediate.
The two wolves rolled and came up snarling heedless of the chaos that erupted around them. Melissa watched horrified as the two men gurgled and choked. Their throats swelled hugely as they fought to breathe. Their eyes and noses bled. Melissa covered her ears in an effort to block out the horrible gurgling that seemed like it would never stop.
All around shifters started to change. They wanted to meet this threat with tooth and claw. Melissa tried to pull herself out of the way. The battle between the Lupa and the black wolf raged on.
Each sought the advantage, feinting, trying to position herself to deliver the killing bite. Roxanne never bargained for this. She didn’t know who this wolf was. She wasn’t part of her pack, yet she wasn’t a ravening wolf driven mad by the lack of a pack bond. This wasn’t supposed to go this way she if she yielded this wolf would be Lupa.
Melissa struggled to drag herself away from the fight. Many of the wolves had run into the woods looking for the assassin. More arrows came. Melissa watched helpless as Roxanne suddenly broke away from the fight and ran toward her. The black wolf was right behind her.
Desperate, she grabbed the arrow in her thigh and pulled. Her scream echoed through the trees. It seemed to take forever to pull the length of the arrow through all the layers of flesh and muscle in her thigh. Melissa barely got the bolt out of her leg when Roxanne lunged for her throat. Melissa struck blindly embedding the silver tipped arrow in Roxanne’s eye.
The ruined eye started to smoke. Roxanne made choked pain sounds deep in her throat. She rolled trying to dislodge the arrow. Her movements slowed. The wolf struggled for every breath her throat and tongue had swollen hugely. Finally, her legs twitched as her nerves fired their last random impulses.
The pack bond seemed to blossom in Melissa’s mind, sudden awareness of every wolf on the island was so jarring, she felt a little nauseated. The thoughts of the shifters running through the woods around her, the fear, they already knew that their Lupa was dead. They felt the shift in the bond. The bond was different now.
Melissa struggled to get up. She didn’t want to look like bleeding prey on the ground when they returned. Greg came from behind her. He’d been circling around trying to get to her. He slung the cross bow over his back and pulled her into his arms.
He held her tight not trusting his voice yet. He ripped a length of his shirt and bandaged her leg tightly.
Greg quickly knelt before the black wolf and bared his throat acknowledging her as Lupa. He waited. She would either accept him in to the pack or tear out his throat. Instead, the black wolf moved closer to Melissa, rubbed her flank against Melissa’s leg and disappeared. Melissa welcomed the wolf she it was a part of her now. Her the pain in her wounded leg flared then eased to nothing.
“What the hell was that?” Greg said.
Melissa didn’t know what to say he looked at her like she was a stranger. She didn’t understand what just happened either. Naked men, women, and several wolves emerged from the woods drawn irresistibly to the clearing. Greg unslung his cross bow and loaded a bolt. He stepped in front of Melissa and pointed the silver tipped arrow at the closest enforcer.
“Who shot Roxanne?” Greg looked down at the shriveled corpse of his former Lupa.
“Nobody, I kinda stabbed her with the arrow from my leg.”
A ripple of movement went through the small crowd. They looked from the wound on Melissa's leg to what was left of their Lupa.
“Do you understand what this means?” Greg said.
A large, black and tan wolf trotted forward. Greg aimed a bolt at it, but Melissa said, “No, let her come.” Somehow she knew that this wolf meant no harm. Melissa knew it down to her bones.
The wolf rolled over and bared its throat and belly to Melissa. Melissa ached to touch the wolf. Kneeling she stroked its belly and flank then laid a kiss on its neck. The wolf licked her face and ran back to the others nudging them forward with her nose.
One by one the wolves of offered her their submission. They didn’t understand how she could be their Lupa, but they trusted the pack bond. Greg watched the ritual. His grip on the crossbow was so tight that the stock began to buckle. He’d left the island years before to make his own way. He’d even chosen a human mate. None of that mattered now; the pack had finally won, all he had left was the bitterness of a murdered dream. He released the pieces of the crushed crossbow.
Melissa waited for Greg to offer himself as both man and wolf. He took a step forward. She smiled and held out her hand. He opened his mouth as if to say something, instead he turned and walked away. Melissa let her hand drop as he disappeared among the trees. Suddenly, the weight of the engagement ring on her third finger was too heavy to bear. The wolves howled voicing the pain that their Lupa bore in silence.
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Coming Soon:
If you enjoyed discovering the Shapeshifters of Lowell Island the novel Ravening Wolf will be available January 2012
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