Winter Wolf

by RJ Blain

  Alex still fought, but in his weakened state, he wouldn’t last much longer.

  “What is it?” The Fenerec sound very tired.

  “Can I trust you with her?” Richard asked softly. “Someone needs to control Desmond before he kills someone.”

  Alex’s gaze met mine and his eyes widened. “Nicole? She’s Nicole? I mean, she smells like Nicole, but…” A shudder rippled through the younger Murphy brother.

  “She smells like Lisa too.”

  I stiffened in alarm. Lisa? How could they tell I, Nicole, smelled different from Lisa? How did they know what Lisa smelled like?

  My sister wasn’t here.

  Or was she? I shuddered, my eyes widening. Was my twin the one in my body?

  Impossible. I shook my head in denial. There was no way my sister could know Dominic. Last I had known, she still lived in San Francisco with our father, not in Los Angeles with me.

  “Well, they are sisters,” Alex whispered, kneeling in front of me. He reached out and ran his hands down my neck. Fur clung to his hands. “Her coat’s coming in really pale. Lisa’s is dark, almost black.”

  “If you’ll excuse me,” Richard said, straightening and turning towards Dominic’s house. His breaths came fast and heavy. His cinnamon scent surged. A pale, golden light shone in his eyes. “I’m going to kill whoever did this to her.”

  “Richard, let me come with you,” Alex whispered. I smelled something the wolf identified as anxiety. It strengthened when Richard didn’t reply.

  I remembered Scott’s anxiety before his death and feared for Alex. The cure wasn’t within my grasp yet. If I didn’t stop him, he’d transform as Scott had done when under stress.

  And like Scott, Alex would die.

  “No.” The firmness in Richard’s reply made his brother flinch. “I only trust you to stay with her.”

  “But, Richard—”

  “No, Alex. You can’t. Stay here, calm yourself down, and wait with her. You can’t. You’re too sick.”

  I smelled Richard’s fear and I thought Alex did too, because he shut his mouth and stayed with me as his brother stormed towards Dominic’s house.

  Richard was right. Alex was sick—too sick. The wolf within me despaired, the strength of her growing with each passing moment. Even the moonstone grieved, as if it too had bowed to the inevitable.

  Nothing Richard could do would save Alex. Only I could do something.

  But what?

  I shoved my nose against Alex’s neck, cringing at the heat radiating from him. I breathed deep, closing my eyes so I could sense the illness. Underneath the hungering virus, I could feel Alex’s body, like the Fenerec within Dominic’s house, struggling to heal the damage being done to it.

  Bit by bit, he was failing.

  I thought about it. When the fever had been raging through me, I had cooled it with ice. I couldn’t tell if it had died, but I’d felt relief. Maybe I couldn’t cure the plague completely, but could I summon the cold again and buy him time that way?

  The wolf within feared for Alex and her desperation clawed at me. I feared for Alex, too—and not just for Richard’s sake.

  All I could do was try. I drew electricity from the street lights, tapping into the main power lines. Static crackled over my fur. I shivered at the chill of ice spreading from my paws. I heard it crackle, sweeping up my chest until my breath froze in my lungs. Alex’s heat burned my frigid nose. He tried to pull away, but I opened my mouth and touched my fangs to his throat.

  “W-what are you d-doing?” Alex’s teeth chattered.

  The wolf within panicked and I silenced both her and Alex with a low rumbling growl.

  Alex’s skin writhed and shifted beneath my teeth. I bit harder, tasting blood on my tongue. He froze, but I could feel him struggling not to join with the wolf hidden inside of him. If Alex transformed, he would die. I couldn’t let him.

  Richard had left him with me. Richard couldn’t protect his brother. The task of protecting Alex belonged to me.

  I focused on the fever. If I could lower his temperature and restrain the plague, maybe he had a chance. Maybe I could chill the virus enough for him to transform without dying. I needed to buy him enough time for me to discover a real cure for the plague.

  Heat burned through me, entering my mouth and searing down into my stomach. I shuddered from the pain, drawing more of the cold to me. I meant to shift my weight, but I couldn’t move. Ice encased me and its chill reached out to embrace Alex as well.

  I stole more of the fever-heat from Alex. As I absorbed the energy, the temperature dropped around me. Someone cried out in alarm. It wasn’t Alex; while he trembled against me, he didn’t make a sound.

  It felt like an eternity, but Alex’s temperature lowered. While the plague was still within him, it fell into torpor. I could sense the other illnesses within him, but the plague no longer controlled them.

  The wolf within observed through me and her relief became my own.

  I opened my eyes to the falling of glittering snow. It swirled down, melting as it struck the ground. Ice clung to my fur; what hadn’t fallen out bleached to a bluish white. I flexed my paws and a shower of frost broke away fell to the ground. I released Alex’s neck, sat back, and stared up at him. With wide eyes, he lifted a hand to his throat, touching where I had bitten him. The puncture marks closed, leaving behind a few bloodied smears.

  “What have you done?” he whispered, reaching out to touch my neck. I leaned away from him. Along my shoulder, a coat of white fur replaced the patches mange and abuse had rubbed away.

  I turned my ears back, annoyed with my inability to communicate with him. When Alex didn’t move, I lifted my paw and pointed at Dominic’s house.

  “I can’t. I’ve been given my orders,” was his bitter reply.

  I shook myself off, sending another cascade of snow and ice flying off my coat. Snow continued to fall, although I wasn’t trying to influence the temperature any longer. The street lights dimmed and flickered. I lurched towards the front gate, turning to stare at Alex.

  “You’re going to get me in trouble.”

  That didn’t stop him from following me. A cop car with its lights flashing screeched to a halt at the gate. With a shocked start, I recognized Detective Harding as he got out of the car..

  “Who’s in charge?” Harding bellowed.

  Alex muttered a few curses, checked the street for other cars, and ran over to the police car. I followed, wondering why the detective had come. Was Dominic’s house even in his jurisdiction?

  Harding caught sight of me and his eyes widened.

  “I guess that’s me,” Alex said as he came to a halt in front of Detective Harding. He held out his hand. “I’m Alex Murphy.”

  “You’re a Fenerec,” Harding said, though his eyes never left me and his stance remained tensed.

  “I’m the Second of the Yellowknife Pack, sir. Who might you be?”

  “Detective Harding. An Inquisitor called me about some bodies?”

  I gawked at the detective in shock. Harding knew about the Inquisition? Did that mean Harding was an Inquisitor? I shuddered. How close had I come to capture when Scott had died? Had the man suspected me of being anything other than a Normal?

  Alex made a thoughtful noise. “From my understanding, there are at least two dead from gunshot wounds and one other.”

  “One other?” Harding’s gaze flickered from me to Alex. “More Fenerec business?”

  “I’m sorry, Detective Harding. I haven’t been to the scene yet.” Alex pulled out his phone and dialed a number. “Richard? What’s going on? There’s a cop out here asking questions.”

  While faint, the wolf’s keen hearing could make out Richard’s voice on the other end of the line. “One of the Inquisition’s?”

  “I believe so.” Alex covered the cell’s microphone with his hand. “Which division are you with?”

  “Police or Inquisition?” Harding asked.

  “Inquisition.”


  “Los Angeles’s Main Headquarters.”

  Alex dutifully informed his brother of Harding’s affiliation.

  “Send him in. Warn him it’s bad,” Richard snarled, and I heard more wolf than man in the Fenerec’s voice. Alex relayed Richard’s message.

  “Who was that?”

  Hanging up , Alex gestured towards the opened gate. “Richard Murphy is the Alpha of my pack, Detective Harding. He is with Mr. Desmond and Ms. Arlington, an Inquisition witch. I better come with you. He says I should warn you that it’s pretty bad in there.” Alex smelled of fear. He looked down at me. “You better come too. If Richard finds out I let you out of my sight for even a minute…”

  At a loss of how to tell Alex I wasn’t amused by his submission to Richard or the idea of going back to Dominic’s house, I settled on a glower. The snow fell harder.

  “I know who Amber is. She’s the one who called me. What are you doing here, anyway? I wasn’t aware we had Canadians in our territory.”

  “I’m not sure how much I can tell you,” Alex admitted, heading towards the gate. “Mr. Desmond’s daughter was here when her Inquisition phone was broken.”

  Harding hissed, “Wait, Mr. Desmond? The Fenerec?”

  I put my ears back. Did everyone know who my father was? What was so special about my father? Richard respected him, but I hadn’t gotten the feeling he was a well-known person.

  “Yes, that Mr. Desmond. Richard’s with him, so hopefully more heads won’t roll.” Alex nudged me with his knee, shaking his head a little. Puzzled, I sat next to him and tried to figure out what the Fenerec was trying to tell me.

  “So the emergency signal triggered?”

  “Yes. The phone registered two different blows, so whoever broke it did intentionally. The phone continued transmitting a signal for a while. It hadn’t changed positions up until the point the signal was lost.” Alex hesitated, sighed, and shrugged. “Miss Desmond was aware of the phone’s properties and how to trigger them. She was supposed to be picked up from here at six, but when Mr. Desmond arrived, no one was answering the gate and the house looked quiet. Without a warrant or permission, we couldn’t enter private property of a Normal. It stayed that way until we heard gunfire.”

  “And Miss Desmond was not one of the victims?”

  “No.”

  “So there’s several bodies and a missing woman. Is there anything else I should know?”

  “From my understanding, the Normal wasn’t supposed to have any known relationships with any paranormals or the Fenerec.” Alex led the way to the gate. I considered hiding, but sighed and thought better of it. I had no way of knowing how long I had suppressed the plague for. If I wanted to protect him, I had to stay near him. “When the gate opened, we took that to be an invitation to enter.”

  “Gunfire gave you just cause to go in,” Harding assured Alex.

  I listened to their conversation apprehensively. It’d only be a matter of time before my guilt was made known. I had killed two men. They deserved it. With chilling horror, I realized I would do it again if necessary.

  Guilt smothered me; not only had I killed two men, I didn’t want to face what I had done.

  I felt the wolf’s approval and couldn’t sense anything from the moonstone.

  When Alex and Detective Harding passed through the gates, I followed in their wake.

  ~~*~~

  Someone I didn’t know met us halfway down the driveway. He reeked of fear. As far as I could tell, he wasn’t a Fenerec. He cleared his throat. “Which one of you is the cop?”

  Detective Harding looked down at his uniform and then glared at the man. “That would be me.”

  “They’re inside, sir.” The man hiccuped, covered his mouth, and headed for the gate. He only made it a few feet before he bent over retching.

  “Another one of those,” Detective Harding muttered. “Let’s get this over with.”

  The double doors leading into Dominic’s house were open. Every light in the house was on. Someone had set up several spotlights in the front yard, not far from where I had shot Dominic and Patrick. Amber met us as we drew closer to the house, and she stared at Alex with her mouth gaping open. “You came?”

  “Richard sounded like he might need me.”

  “That’s an understatement,” Amber muttered. “I left before the fur started flying. You’re our LAPD chap? I’m Amber.” She held out her hand to Detective Harding.

  “Pleased to meet you, ma’am,” Harding replied, shaking Amber’s hand. “What’s the situation?”

  “One Fenerec is dead from plague, the owner of the house is dead from a gunshot wound, along with one other. Judging from his personal effects and the statement of a witness, he was an unregistered sorcerer.”

  “There’s a witness?”

  “Three of them, though I’m afraid two of them aren’t fit to talk right now.” Shuddering, Amber pointed over her shoulder with her thumb. “It’s complicated, but two men were thrown through windows when they got a little too aggressive with a Fenerec. I think they’ll live, but they’ll need an ambulance.”

  “I’ll call Headquarters for a dispatch. Who is the owner of the house?”

  “Dominic Calveno. He was an—”

  “Agent for movie stars,” Detective Harding interrupted, crossing his arms over his chest. “We’ve met. We’ve spoken several times regarding one of his clients, one Nicole Thomas.”

  Amber coughed, glancing over her shoulder. “Mr. Desmond is Miss Thomas’s father, Detective Harding.”

  Detective Harding made a strangled noise. “Pardon?”

  I put my ears back. Alex reached down and tugged at my fur. I wondered what he was trying to tell me.

  “I’m Nicole’s witch and she’s Mr. Desmond’s daughter.” Amber straightened, hands on her hips in a defiant posture.

  Amber was my witch? What did she mean by that? I knew she was a witch, but I hadn’t put any sort of claim on her. I hadn’t hired her, either—that had been Richard’s doing.

  Clearing his throat, Alex caught Amber by the shoulders, spun her around, and gave her a gentle push. “Why don’t you take us to my brother, Amber.”

  “What are you doing here? Richard told you—”

  “Just take us to my brother. Please.”

  “He’s going to kill you first. When he’s done, he’s going to kill me. I hope this makes you happy, Alex.” Amber stomped down the hall. I waited for Detective Harding and Alex to follow her before trailing behind them. As we drew closer, the metallic stench of blood froze me in my tracks. I shook at the memory of pulling the trigger.

  I halted, ducking my head low.

  Alex noticed my hesitation first, and he joined me, kneeling at my side. He ran his fingers through the new fur around my neck, pulling out a few dark tufts.

  “What’s wrong with the Fenerec?” Detective Harding asked warily.

  “It’s probably the smell,” Alex replied, scratching at the scruff of my neck. “Between the blood and the disease, it’s enough to turn any Fenerec’s stomach.”

  “I can smell the blood,” Detective Harding admitted in a low voice.

  “It’s much stronger for us. Much, much stronger. Come on, Lady. Let’s get this over with.” Alex rose, bowing and gesturing for me to continue down the hall.

  I shuddered again but forced myself into motion. The wolf helped a little. While she didn’t blame me for my reaction, I got the feeling she thought I was being foolish.

  Amber hurried ahead. “Mr. Desmond, the detective is here.”

  “Alex?” Richard appeared at the end of the hallway, sounding alarmed. “You—”

  Instead of replying, Alex hid behind me. I twisted around, bared my teeth, and growled a little that he used me as a shield. The fur on the back of my neck went up. Snarling and snapping my teeth, I stood between the two Murphy brothers, back arched while I stood as tall as I could.

  Amber broke the standoff by clearing her throat and nudging me with her shoe. “You’re not
a cat.”

  “I think she can be whatever she wants,” Alex muttered. “Sorry, Richard. I thought it was wisest if I came just in case.”

  Richard closed the distance between us and his nostrils flared. I realized he was trying to catch his brother’s scent. Lines creased his brow. “Stay human,” he ordered.

  “I will. What’s the situation?”

  “Two pit vipers are having a spitting contest,” the Alpha grumbled.

  “Do pit vipers spit? I thought that was cobras,” Amber replied, tilting her head as she considered Richard. “Mr. Desmond and who? Not you?”

  “You’re going to have to see this to believe it. Now, as for you,” Richard said, turning to me. He knelt, lowering himself to my eye level. “Hanging in there?”

  “Be careful, Richard. You’re asking to get bit.” Alex slid his leg between me and Richard. “Let her take the lead, please. I’ve already been bitten once.”

  “She bit you?” was the incredulous reply.

  “I was losing control,” Alex admitted in a whisper, soft enough I doubted anyone other than Richard or I could hear.

  “So she bit you. I’ll have to thank her later, then. You’re fine now?” The concern in Richard’s voice was painful.

  “I’m feeling much better now.”

  “You’re looking better too,” Amber said. “You’re not nearly as pale now. But, anyway, Mr. Desmond is waiting. You two can help resolve this issue once and for all.”

  “Me? Who else? What issue? What’s going on?”

  Richard coughed. “Let’s just say it’s a very good thing that Mr. Calveno is already among the deceased.”

  “Will someone please tell me what exactly is going on?” Detective Harding pleaded in a strained voice.

  “Richard?” my father called from down the hall.

  The Alpha winced. “We’re coming.”

  Amber led the way and neither Alex nor Richard moved until I followed after the witch. I eyed my holster and gun, which Richard wore looped through his belt.

  “Not for you,” Alex chided, giving me a light kick as we walked down the hall.

  “What’s not for her?” Detective Harding asked.