by Chanel Smith
She was being idiotic. It was impossible.
“… coming for you now...” Joseph muttered in his sleep, and his whole body was shivering in fear. He thrashed around, moved onto his back, eyes still closed. “For you, Petra. Coming.”
In horror, she looked down at him. Thought about Melina and the kids. Joseph was right; instinctively she could feel it. Something was coming for her! She couldn’t be here when it arrived, or Melina and Riana could be hurt. There was no way that she was going to let anything bad happen to such good people. No, there was only one recourse open to her.
She stood, looked around one last time, and headed for the door. She had nothing but the clothes on her back, but it didn’t matter. Nothing did except getting as far away and as fast as possible.
She took off at a run behind the house directly into the bayou. Whatever it was would never find her there, she’d make damn sure of that!
***
“That’s impossible,” Raya said when he was finally capable of speech. “Not only did you whisk us home, you even brought the damn salmon! How? How did you do this? Who are you, Cilla? What are you?”
She frowned.
“I’m just me. Just Cilla. Can’t anyone else travel like this?”
“No! Hell no. Everyone else either walks, goes by a land vehicle, a boat, or flies. Nobody just instantly appears somewhere. How did you do it? How did you learn?”
“I’d hoped you wouldn’t ask,” she admitted. “It was sort of a mistake. I was walking back to camp and I saw this gorgeous bird – really big with bright colors and a huge beak. Never saw one before. I kept going, and suddenly there he was again, ahead of me on a branch! He’d done it himself. Poofed and appeared right in front of me. I figured if he could, I probably should know how. I tried, it worked – but then the first bird flew up and landed next to the other one!”
Raya sucked in a large breath preparatory to bursting into laughter. Instead, he froze just as Heureuse’s door opened and people came rushing out.
“Raya! Raya! Welcome home!”
“Where have you been?”
“Who is this one with you?”
“Why does she smell so strange?”
“Where did she come from?”
The questions rained down on him like a hailstorm and it was all he could do to raise his hands in silent protest, suggesting that everyone back down and allow him to properly greet Itchiko before he answer their inquisitions.
The samurai stepped forward through the crowd that the pack members had formed and grasped Raya’s arm firmly.
“Welcome home, brother!” he said, pulling Raya in for a huge bear hug.
At that moment both men paused. They gave each other a querying look and raised their faces simultaneously to the wind, sniffing… almost tasting the air that encircled them.
“Stop! Stop! Can’t you smell that?” Itchiko bellowed to the pack.
They all halted where they were and sniffed the air as well. One by one their eyebrows rose. Itchiko broke into an enormous grin.
“I just knew that she’d make it! She’s alive, Raya. And she’s close by too.”
“She is alive. Christos, Petra lives!” Raya whispered with tears flowing unheeded down his cheeks. Quickly, he handed off his charge. “Itchiko, this is Cilla. She’s special. See to her until I get back.”
Within seconds, he’d transformed into his wolf form and darted into the forest, heading directly toward that so familiar scent.
She was alive!
***
She was alive, surely, but completely miserable and terrified as she flat out ran in wolven form into the depths of the bayou. She didn’t know where she was going. Her only intent was that it be far away, that was all.
She settled into a steady run, her powerful haunches propelling her deeply into the humid swampland. For hours, her pace never changed, but then she smelled something inviting and had to stop.
All of the energy that she expended making her way through the underbrush at such high speed, was draining her slowly and steadily. She needed to replenish the lost calories. The fat rabbit she caught was a help; she could hardly keep a straight thought as she fed.
Absolutely delicious, and–
What was that?
Suddenly, Petra felt as though she wasn’t alone, but it was worse than that. There was a menacing darkness around her that hadn’t been there even a second before.
An evil presence–
In the distance, an enraged howl jerked Petra into motion and she let instinct take over. She fled with a speed that only a werewolf could be capable of, and only very frightened ones at that. Petra’s speed was extraordinary as normally nothing could frighten a werewolf.
It didn’t matter. Whatever it was stayed on her tail at the exact same distance, no matter how fast she went. She risked a glance over her shoulder and wished she hadn’t; what she saw there was impossible.
A cloud of dark mist was floating right behind her.
That terrified her even more, if such a thing was even conceivable. Petra felt a whine building in her throat; a sound she hadn’t made since she was a pup. And as if it sensed that whine, she felt a dark glee emanate from whatever it was behind her.
With that eerie incentive, Petra managed to increase her speed even more until the trees of the woods were only a blur: she dodged them on sheer instinct. There was hardly a way to even see them until she was right on top of one. But even at her blinding rate of speed, something was moving faster than she was, she discovered. A hell of a lot faster, too. That was when she realized she wasn’t any longer running alone. Another wolf had unbelievably caught up to her and ran at her shoulder, ears flat back with rage, eyes gleaming with fury. Petra knew instantly that her new companion’s wrath wasn’t directed at her, and she felt a slight relief at having some back up in the situation that faced her. Again she peeked over her shoulder only to see that whatever it was had grown! The cloud was distinctly larger, and remarkably thicker; more like a blob now. This time she noticed the dead fish, dead birds and other deceased forest animals whose carcasses were being left lifeless in the thing’s trail.
Whatever-It-Was wasn’t pleased at the lessening of her fear, and it sped up as well. No longer was it at a precise distance behind Petra. Now it was virtually on her heels, and she couldn’t see anything at all in her peripheral vision, but that mist and a faint outline of the other wolf that was nearly flying next to her.
That dark was there, malevolent and evil. It was dark; something wicked and that something, even though it didn’t seem to have a solid physical form, was grinning at the two fleeing wolves.
Petra’s fear was ramped up one more time and she made an attempt to move even faster, lowering herself nearly to her belly, ears flat, tail flagging behind her in a straight line. But then she was hit hard. The blow came from the left and at that speed, she went sailing off to the right, scrambling with all four legs in the air until she slammed into a huge cypress tree.
The other wolf! He’d done this.
Her own fury overshadowed both her fear and her pain, and she leaped to her feet to speed back the way she’d come. There he was, the enormous male wolf, standing spread-legged, facing nothing but mist, the long hair on his back standing straight upright with his own rage and fury.
Ears pinned against his head, the wolf was growling continuously; a deep, menacing sound that would have normally scared the life out of anything he faced.
Except that this wasn’t alive, Petra abruptly thought.
Even though it made no sense at all, it was the truth. She knew that, and knew she had to move rapidly or that other brave wolf – who was actually facing down a horror like this – would lose his life.
She had to get his attention, distract him long enough for him to understand what she now knew to be the truth. But distracting an alpha male, which she suddenly understood that this wolf was, wouldn’t be easy. She had to do it right now or the consequences of her inaction would be un
thinkable. So, she did the last thing either of them would have ever expected. She ran directly in front of him and shoved her rear end right into his nose and squirted with all her might. Petra was mortified; she’d never felt less attractive in her life. A thin stream emerged all the same and hit the wolf directly in his incredibly sensitive nostrils.
The growling instantly turned to a yelp of surprise.
Petra emphasized her point by smacking his long snout with her tail, then taking several painfully slow steps off toward the east. The closest way out of the woods.
She cocked her head over her shoulder, looked the male right in the eyes and gave a short, commanding bark of her own. Her memory may have been gone, but the instincts of an alpha’s mate were deeply ingrained in her. She took off at a leisurely run, those same instincts holding her back from the unreasoning flight of before.
She felt a sharp nip on her butt, and to her complete relief, the male was once more at her shoulder, running easily towards the east.
The Whatever-It-Was was gone. In the wake of their confrontation, it had dissipated almost as rapidly as it had seemed to form initially. Gone, as though it had never existed, but Petra wasn’t about to take any chances and maintained her steady pace until she and the male emerged from the underbrush, some fifty feet from a busy interstate.
There was an overpass just to their left, and across the interstate, she could see a small shopping center, the parking lot nearly full. She and the male moved as one, dodging oncoming traffic as they crossed all six lanes.
Once they were on the other side, they slowed to a trot and circled the stores until they were near a large Dumpster in the rear. Behind it, they found a storage shed of some kind. The male transformed back into his human form, broke the lock on the door and motioned to Petra to join him.
She trotted in without a second thought, and the male shut the door behind her.
“Petra. For the love of God, Petra – tell me you’re alright. Tell me where you’ve been!” the human said in a deep, husky voice.
He was glorious in his nudity: wide shouldered, heavily muscled shoulders tapering to washboard abs and a small waist. Powerful legs spread in a commanding stance, deep blue eyes staring into her own green ones with a plea so intense she would have had tears if she’d been human.
She didn’t have a clue as to his identity, and knew somehow that he’d be terribly hurt if he learned that. And that moment wasn’t the time for him to be distracted from whatever had chased them.
She’d remain in wolf form, she thought. She had no other ideas whatsoever.
The shack was full of boxes: she spied a few within leaping distance. With an easy jump, she landed on top of them and laid on her side, panting heavily, not affording the male so much as a glance.
“Petra? What the hell?” he said, then fell silent.
How to get through to him with no human voice?
She sat up, looked him directly in the eyes, then leaned over and puked on the floor. Again she stared into his eyes, then sat on her rump and waited.
“You’re sick, aren’t you,” he said slowly. “But what could be wrong with… Christos. You don’t know who I am, do you?”
Petra transformed and whispered her reply.
“No, I don’t.”
“I am Raya, Alpha of Pack Lupein and Trans-Alpha of all wolves,” he said. “And you, Petra… you are my mate!”
She’s alive!
“Sorry, but I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Petra said. “For now, I don’t think it matters who I am. We have a bigger problem.”
Raya opened his mouth as if to protest, then closed it and turned toward the door, facing away from her.
“You’re right. That thing out there. That was clearly the worst threat I’ve had to face in seven hundred years. What in hell could it have been?”
“I don’t know, but I suddenly had the impression it was alive. I know how that sounds, but it’s true.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. One thing, though. Whatever it was, it’s going to come back and we need to know how to defeat it when it does.”
“It hasn’t done anything yet,” Petra said.
“It will. Oh, it will,” Raya said.
“How do you fight and defeat something when you don’t know what the hell it is or what it’s capable of doing?” Petra wondered.
“Now, there is a good question,” Raya said with a half grin. “Nobody can say it isn’t. I need to take a trip back to Eastern Europe in a hurry. Let’s get you home to Heureuse.” At the confused look on her face, he explained, “We’ve lived there for more than 120 years. It’s been your favorite of all our homes.”
She’d give anything to remember any home, Petra thought in misery. This was hell for her not knowing anything about who she was. Whom she loved, had loved. Nothing at all. It was like she’d never existed prior to two days ago at that hotel. What had happened there? One way to find out. “We have to stop by my home first. I have a question too.”
Chapter Six
Melina was out front weeding her flowers. Saying that she was surprised at the sight of a naked couple strolling up her driveway was an understatement, Petra thought, as she choked back laughter.
But Melina was Melina.
“Little on the hot side for y’all today? There’s a thing called air conditioning, you know.”
“We’re getting plenty of air right as we are,” Raya deadpanned. Then grinned and introduced himself.
“Dang. Petra’s mate, eh? And she still doesn’t remember? That must really suck,” Melina said with sympathy.
“It’s not great,” Petra admitted. “Not a thing I can do about it though. We really do need to fix another set of problems now. I’ll just run in and –” The door opened behind Melina, and Reina stepped out.
She looked at Petra and Raya, quickly turned her head.
“Get back in the house!” Melina snapped at her.
“In a second. First, Petra… my favor?”
Her small face was miserable. Her eyes welling up with tears. Shit. What could she do?
Petra transformed, trotted to Melina, and looked up at her for a long moment. The woman looked back down, puzzlement written all over her round, brown face.
In one lightning fast movement, Petra reached out and bit her on the leg. Then sat down and transformed again, panting from the effort.
“What in the hell did you just do!” Melina sputtered with rage. “You bit my leg! Bitch!”
“I don’t believe she did that myself,” Raya said, his face motionless. “Petra, that goes against every rule in the Codec. What were you thinking?”
“You mean other than… what Codec? And like I’d give a shit if I did remember? This is life or death, and this is a fine woman. Be damned if she’ll croak if I can help it!” Petra shot out.
“What’s done is done, but don’t do it again. I won’t be able to protect you if the pack learns of your actions,” Raya said.
“I don’t need protecting,” Petra said, mouth thinned to a slit. “I can take care of myself.”
“Yeah. Remember that when eight wolves are ripping your goddamn arms off,” Raya muttered.
Petra turned pale, but still tried to hide it.
“Good God, what drama!”
“Excuse me,” Melina said with her own barely suppressed anger. “Would someone tell me what the fuck just happened?”
“Allow me,” Raya said before Petra could utter a word. “Next full moon, you’re going to have a problem. A big, hairy problem with long fangs.”
Now Melina went pale beneath her dark skin. She turned and looked at her daughter.
“How could you? This was your favor, wasn’t it?”
The child’s lower lip trembled and she bit it to stop the involuntary movement which would only trigger the tears in her eyes to spill over and roll down her cheeks. “Yes, Mama. I – I want you to be around for a long time is all. Don’t be mad at Petra. I asked her to.”
M
elina’s face softened, then her brows lowered.
“Honey, I didn’t want you to know.”
“I knew, Mama. I’ve known all along.”
Melina grabbed her into a tight hug, then eyed Petra over the child’s head.
“I’m really going to turn furry?”
“You better believe it.”
“On the full moon, then?”
“Actually, that’s not right. You can change any time. Full moon makes it a lot easier, you expend less effort,” Petra explained.
Melina’s face grew bright.
“You mean, like right...” Instantly there was a slightly overweight tawny wolf standing, then falling in front of Petra. She and Raya both doubled over laughing. Reina watched with huge eyes. The wolf managed to get to her feet and stood for a few moments. Then she trotted a step or two before bolting like a streak into the woods. She returned, transformed and stood, naked herself, with an enormous grin.
“Oh my goodness, I never!” The grin faded. “Do I go crazy and attack folks?”
“You tell us. Did you?” Petra said.
“I reckon not.” Her brows lowered again briefly as she reached a hand to her full breasts. Then she went pale again. “God. Petra, God! I have two tits again.” Tears filled her eyes.
“I’m so glad for you,” Petra said, trying not to cry herself. She hadn’t known Melina was missing a breast. Looking on the ground now, though, she spotted the prosthesis. “I never even knew.”
“I feel different,” Melina said. “Can’t really describe it, but I feel sort of new. Alert, healthy, energetic!”
Suddenly Raya stopped mid-laugh and cocked his head to the side.
“Shhhhh!” he said to the two women, raising an index finger to silence Melina’s question to Petra of what was happening.
He sniffed the air and then shifted his head to the other side. Turning slowly, he walked over to the bushes which marked the forest’s edge, listened briefly for a moment, and then raced back. “Quickly! Melina, your television?”