by Michelle Fox
“This is the power you fight,” Nick said, his voice dangerously soft. “Watch that you don’t look the same when this is all over.” He shifted back into his wolf form, his humanity seamlessly melting into his beast.
Oh my god, werewolves are really real. Her mind reeled with what she’d just witnessed. She’d never seen Tao shift. Only heard him talk about it, but Nick had just provided incontrovertible proof that werewolves were real.
Holy shit.
Audrey gaped at him as her mind raced. What to do? Her gun was gone and Nick’s command meant she wouldn’t be able to point one at him anytime soon.
She considered tackling him, but while she was big, he was stronger. Her only other weapon was a utility knife she always kept in her pocket. Remembering how Tao couldn’t shift when he was injured, she wondered if she could hurt Nick enough to trap him in his wolf form. Not only would it slow him down, it might make him easier to find and he couldn’t tell her what to do. If she could pull it off, they would have an advantage.
Slipping her hand into her pocket, she brought out the knife, holding it against her leg in the hope that Nick wouldn’t spot it. Flipping the knife open, she called out to Nick. “I’m sorry. I was confused. Scared. I get it now. I’m yours and I won’t fight you anymore. I swear.” She held up one hand as if taking an oath.
He looked at her over his shoulder, but kept walking.
“Let me make it up to you.” She licked her lips, trying to think of what to say. “Please. I-I can bring people to you. They’ll trust me and you won’t have to hunt like this.”
Nick turned around and sat back on his haunches, his gaze interested.
She moved toward him, careful to keep the knife from view. “The entire park service is looking for you and the cops will be joining them soon. They’ve shut down the beaches. You said you wanted to bite more people?”
The wolf gave a curt nod.
“Well, I can help you with that.” She was in front of him now and kneeled down so they were eye-to-eye. Reaching out with one hand, she pet him, hoping psychotic werewolves liked being touched as much as the average mutt.
When he allowed her to stroke his fur without protest, she moved even closer. “You need strong people. Beautiful people. That’s who you want in your pack, right?”
He nodded again.
“I’ll bring them to you. I’ll help you build your pack. It’ll be safer for you, for us.” She leaned in as if to kiss his snout. Nick rumbled with what she took as self-satisfaction. Whipping the knife around and to the side, she slammed it into his flank.
Nick immediately yelped and tried to jump back but she held onto him with her free hand. She lacked the strength to keep him from dragging her with him, but she didn’t want to keep him in one place so much as stay close enough to wound him with the knife.
She rammed her shoulder under his throat, which kept his mouth pointed over her shoulder, and kept him from biting her. Grasping the knife, she jerked the blade up and down in a rough motion.
Nick bucked, trying to shake her loose and she finally let go, satisfied she’d given him a wound deeper and more severe than the one that had confined Tao to wolf form.
The blond wolf snarled at her, revealing canines as long as her thumb, but he didn’t attack. He paced around her in a wide circle as if debating his next move. He walked with a limp now, favoring the front leg near his wound.
Audrey flipped him off as all the adrenaline of the moment fueled her temper “Fuck with me and I fuck with you, asshole.”
He didn’t like that and lunged for her. Audrey, moving faster than she’d ever dreamed possible, grabbed the knife handle protruding out of his side and yanked on it again, widening the wound further. If Nick made the mistake of getting to close, she would make sure he paid the price.
He yelped and moved away, although he didn’t turn tail and run like she’d expected. Instead, he hovered just out of reach, his gaze locked on her.
“Leave me alone,” she screamed at him. Her breath came in short gasps and sweat soaked her body making her cold in the late summer air. She’d won right? She’d hurt him. Then why wasn’t he running away?
Nick came for her again, deftly keeping his injured side out of her reach. As soon as she lifted her hand, thinking to grab the knife again, he turned his head and snapped his mouth over her fingers.
There was a crunch, followed by a pop and then searing pain.
She pushed against his head with her free hand. “Let me go!”
When he drew back a moment later, Audrey looked at her hand, her jaw dropping.
Nick had bitten off her pinkie. Blood dripped in a steady stream from the spot where her finger used to be.
She looked at Nick with horror. “What did you do?” Audrey scanned the pavement, hoping to spot her finger. It could be reattached if she got medical care fast enough, but she couldn’t find it, which meant...
“You ate my finger!” She pushed herself to her feet and ran at the wolf who sat on his haunches, completely relaxed, his mouth open in a wide grin that let his pink tongue loll out the side.
“Give it back.” She almost reached for his mouth, but stopped short, realizing it wasn’t the smartest thing to do.
The wolf turned his back on her and limped off into the dunes. Even injured, he moved too fast for her to follow. Between his speed and the fact blood poured from her hand like a small geyser, she had no choice but to let him go. Audrey sank back down to the pavement, pain and weakness hitting her in waves. All she could do was hope she’d hindered him enough to keep him from shifting and made it easier for Tao to track him down.
She was dizzy and hot and cold all at the same time. Scrapes on her knees burned while a wet, bloody pulse throbbed in her hand soaking her up to the elbow. Knowing she had to stop the bleeding, she wrapped her hand up in the bottom of her shirt. Just as she reached for her radio to call Jay for help, she passed out.
***
Tao heard a scream, a voice he recognized: Audrey. She was in trouble. He started running, making a beeline for the sound. The forest streamed past him, giving way to rolling hills of sand and then the asphalt of a parking lot.
He found Audrey unconscious and bloody on the ground, her limbs at odd angles. Whining, he nosed her cheek, but she didn’t respond. She was breathing though, deep, even breaths with a strong heart beat.
Somewhat reassured, Tao took the risk and shifted into his human form. With the parks closed, he felt the odds of someone seeing him were acceptable given the circumstances.
Crouching over her, he gently shook her by the shoulders. That’s when her arm flopped off her stomach to the ground. The smell of fresh blood hit his nose first, followed by the scent of hurt and injury. Not quite the same stench as illness, but an ‘offness’ that told his nose something was wrong. Something serious.
Gingerly, he lifted her hand up so he could study it better. It took him a moment to realize what he was seeing. The blood had completely discolored her skin and it caked her knuckles.
But then he saw what was wrong. Her pinkie wasn’t there. From the jagged nature of the wound, he knew it was teeth, animal teeth, that had done this to Audrey. Throwing back his head, he howled in rage.
An equally angry howl answered him, causing him to freeze.
Sniffing the air, Tao caught the minute traces of Nick’s musk. The bastard had been there and he’d attacked Audrey, but why?
Tao frowned as he scanned his surroundings, nervous that his brother would come bounding out of nowhere even though his howl had sounded a good mile off. Nick wanted Audrey alive or else he wouldn’t have bit her. Yet, he’d also just lopped off a finger and left her passed out cold. What was going on?
Catching sight of the mangled gun, and knowing Audrey wasn’t the type to back down from a fight, Tao wondered if she’d just become too much trouble. Except Nick hadn’t killed her, he’d left her alive, which meant his intent had been to punish, to teach Audrey her place.
Smoo
thing her hair off her forehead, Tao fought the rage pounding through his bloodstream. He wanted Nick to suffer, wanted to make him pay for what he’d done to Audrey. His heart ached to see her lying there like that, completely helpless, her strawberry scent muddied by violence she’d never asked for.
With a growl, he picked up the radio lying next to her and hit the call button. Audrey needed to get to a hospital. “Hello?”
“Audrey? Is that you?” came a man’s voice, crackling over the airwaves.
“No. She’s been hurt and needs medical care.”
“Where are you?” The man’s voice instantly became concerned.
Tao looked over his shoulder to the parking lot entrance. Luckily there was a national park sign there naming the location. “She’s at the Glen Vine beach parking lot. She needs an ambulance.”
“Let me talk to her,” the man ordered.
“She’s not conscious.”
“I’ll be right there. I’ve got a med kit. Just hang on.” The man broke their connection and Tao caught the faint sound of a motor revving at maximum capacity. A human wouldn’t have heard it at all, but his wolf heightened senses could pick up big sounds from miles away. The guy on the other end of the radio wasn’t that far away, maybe a couple miles out, which meant, Tao needed to go before anyone saw him.
He placed a gentle kiss on Audrey’s forehead. “Stay strong. You’ve got the blood of the wolf now. This can’t stop you.”
Tao stood then, and with a shake of his shoulders shimmied out of his human form and into that of his wolf. With one last look at Audrey, he loped off into the dunes, tracing the quickly fading scent of his brother. At least one good thing had come out of Audrey’s injury, he’d finally caught his brother’s trail. From the smell of it, he was wounded too. That meant he would be unable to shift, trapped in his wolf and very easy to corner.
Tao smiled. He’d bet anything that Audrey had been the one to blood his brother. Why that made him so happy, he couldn’t say, but he’d liked her spunk from day one. She might be weaker, might not even have become a full wolf yet, but she wasn’t one to back down.
He wondered if, for once, Nick might have bitten off more than even he could chew.
Chapter Eleven
Audrey woke in a different time, a different place, but with the memories of Nick fresh in her mind. She couldn’t keep from screaming at first, unaware that she was safe, that it was over for now.
The noise brought in a crowd of medical personnel, and through their presence, she began to understand what had happened. They swarmed around her bed, brows furrowed with concern.
“Miss Levine, you’re okay. You’re safe,” soothed a young nurse with a round, kind face. Her scrub top had kittens on it, which Audrey found immensely reassuring. People who loved animals could be trusted.
Audrey nodded dumbly and took in her surroundings. She was in a hospital. A white gauze bandage encased her hand, isolating and cushioning it. She felt no pain, which she attributed to the IV dripping into her arm.
After clearing her throat, she asked, “How long have I been out?”
“A few hours.” The nurse waved the rest of the medical personnel loitering by her bed out of the room. “She’s fine. I’ll take it from here.” Everyone filed out, leaving just Audrey and the nurse. She wore a name tag that read Jenene.
“My pinkie did you find it? Did you reattach it?” Audrey asked. She closed her eyes. She knew it was gone, but she had to ask on the off chance a miracle had happened while she’d been unconscious.
Jenene shook her head. “We couldn’t find it.”
Audrey rubbed her head with her good hand. She pictured her pinkie in Nick’s stomach. Animals weren’t much different from humans, at least not when it came to basic biology. The acid in his stomach would eat away at her flesh until only bone remained, and even that would soften into a gel. The whole thing gave her the heebie-jeebies. The wolf had eaten a piece of her, like she was food. Soon her finger would be wolf poop, which...ugh.
I’m not food, she thought fiercely. I’m not poop and I’m going to kill that wolf if it’s the last thing I do.
Audrey smiled, remembering the knife she’d shoved into his side. She hoped it hurt like a son-of-a-bitch. Hoped he was out there bleeding and suffering under some bush. Better yet, she hoped Tao was closing in and would put an end to his brother’s madness.
Before she’d been sorry about what Tao had to do, but now she had no mercy for the blond wolf. He was psychotic and a threat to everyone, including his own family.
“Can I get you something to drink?” The nurse’s sweet voice intruded on Audrey’s thoughts.
“Do you have apple juice?”
“Yep. Nice and cold, too.” Jenene rearranged the blankets covering Audrey, tucking her in nice and tight. “Your boss is here. Are you up to seeing him? He waited while you were in surgery.”
Audrey’s eyes went wide. “I had surgery?” She looked with wonder at her bandaged hand. What horrors lay hidden beneath the gauze?
“We put some pins in your hand, the bones were shattered in a few places. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much we could do for your pinkie other than stitch it up.”
“Oh,” was all Audrey could say. It was too much to process. She hadn’t even realized she was hurt beyond missing her pinkie.
Jenene headed for the door, stopping at the threshold to ask, “So your boss, yes or no?”
Audrey shrugged. “Send him in.” No point in keeping him waiting.
The nurse left and returned a minute later with a can of apple juice. Jay trailed behind her, his thin face tight with worry.
“Are you okay?” He rushed to stand on her good side.
Audrey popped the tab on the can of apple juice and downed half of it in one gulp. Then she said, “I think so. It’s a lot to process.”
“I thought you were dead. You were covered in blood and I couldn’t wake you up.”
Jay sounded so upset, she laid a reassuring hand on his arm. “I’m okay, just missing a small part.”
He grimaced. “Yeah, how did that happen?”
“The wolf came at me.” She paused recalling the sequence of events and quickly editing them into something believable. “I was telling a family to leave. They didn’t like that the beach was closed and the wolf just came out of nowhere.” She paused again, working out what to say next. “He was going after the family, so I told them to get out of there and I got between them and the wolf.”
Jay whistled. “Wow, that was brave. I’ll have to let the big bosses know what you did. I bet you’ll get a commendation.”
Audrey just shrugged. Being the director of the park service in Glen Vine, Jay would think of things like that, but she preferred to have her pinkie back.
He pulled her crumpled gun out of his pocket, it was so compact now it fit. “I found this next to you.”
Audrey took the gun and examined it while she concocted a believable lie. “I shot at the wolf and missed. He jumped on me, knocked me over and ripped the gun out of my hand. He must’ve crunched it with his jaws.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah, wow,” she agreed. “That’s probably how I lost my pinkie. It’s all kind of a blur.” She put her good hand to her head again.
“I’m just glad you’re okay.” He smiled at her.
“Me too.” She handed her gun back to him. “I don’t need this anymore.”
“Not even as a souvenir?”
She shook her head. “Losing my finger is more than enough.” Looking up at Jay, she asked, “Did they find the wolf yet?”
“No, not yet. We’re still looking. The police gave us a dozen officers and we’ll probably get more because he’s attacked more people.”
Audrey’s heart sped up. “He got more people?” She bit back a swear word. Damn it. She’d failed. Nick had sunk his teeth into more victims anyway.
Jay nodded. “The good news is, if we don’t spot him in the next twenty-four hours, we’ll assume he’s d
ead. It’s been eight days since he bit you. If he’s not dead now, he will be soon.”
She gave a wan smile. “Yeah, the rabies timeline is pretty reliable.” Most animals died within seven days of infection. Too bad they weren’t really dealing with a rabid wolf.
“Thank God for small favors.” He took her good hand in his and gave it a squeeze. “Get better. Once you get out of here, it’ll be over and you won’t have to worry about wolves anymore.”
Audrey gave a weak laugh. If only he knew. Wolves weren’t leaving her life anytime soon.
***
After Jay left, Audrey had a light dinner of gelatin and broth and then fell asleep. Some time later, a light touch on her shoulder woke her.
She blinked and rubbed her eyes. “Tao? Is that you?” She recognized his smell she realized with a start. He had a scent like sweet grass mixed with fresh earth. She went still, letting the change in her reality sink in.
Tao immediately became concerned. “What is it?”
Audrey tapped her nose. “I can smell you.”
He relaxed. “The closer you get to your change, the more sensitive your senses will become.” Pulling a chair up to the side of her bed, he settled into it. “How are you feeling?”
“Okay, I guess. Nick...” She trailed off and just held up her bandaged hand.
He covered her good hand with his. “I know. I’m sorry.”
“I stabbed him. He can’t change now.” Satisfaction throbbed in her voice.
“I saw the wound.” He gave a low whistle. “Remind me not to make you angry. You did some damage.”
“So you found him?” She couldn’t keep the anxious excitement from her voice at the thought this whole nightmare might be over.
Tao nodded. “I know where he’s hiding.”
“You didn’t kill him?” She frowned at him, deflated.
“He’s not a threat right now.” He squeezed her hand. “I needed to know if you were okay.”
She shook her head. “You shouldn’t have left him. Jay said he bit more people.” Her voice went up with panic.
“That was before he attacked you.”
Audrey blinked as she rearranged the timeline in her head. “Oh.”