by Kim Faulks
“I see you, wolf. Come near her again and I’ll do more than spill blood. I’ll incinerate your fucking soul.”
The bushes rustled. Leaves crunched. I traced the passage until the trees swallowed the sound. “I won’t let them hurt you.” I gripped her tighter, reveling in the way she curled her body around mine.
They’d come for her, just as I knew they would. The second he wrenched the broken stone from his pocket I’d known what I had to do. Follow them. Hunt them. Just as they hunted her.
To see her hurt and desperate made even the dragon feel weak.
I want to make a new deal.
Her words lingered as I headed for the Jeep. I clutched her body with one hand, laying her head against my shoulder while I opened the back door. But my back wouldn’t bend and my hands refused let her go—even my body betrayed me when it came to her.
What deal did she want to make? What deal would drive her to her knees?
“Tell me your secrets, little wolf.” I leaned close, stepping into the back of the car. Her legs hit the seat. She looked so peaceful, no more pain, no more hunger. No more running—not right now.
I pressed my face against her temple, inhaling the scent of pine in her hair as I lowered her head against the leather. Her skin was so warm. One kiss, my dragon whispered, take it. I flinched at the thought. No, not like this.
Her hair fanned out against the tan leather, like a river of blood. She jerked in my arms as I eased her head against the seat and stepped backwards. Not blood. Not her blood. The slow thump inside my chest quickened.
Under the interior lights, her pale skin turned yellow and blue. The left side of her face was already starting to swell, pouting the corner of her mouth. Cuts and grazes marred her once perfect skin. I couldn't find part of her that wasn't scratched or bruised.
I won’t let them touch you again. My finger trembled as I traced the line of her jaw. I’ll take care of you. An ache echoed through the hollow of my chest as I stepped out of the car and closed the door.
Barren—that word had no meaning before, yet I felt the word now as I yanked open the driver’s door and slid inside. I smacked the rear view mirror, angling the reflection down.
The engine started with a throb, still I missed the low growl of my Chrysler. I shoved the car into gear and hit the accelerator. The car lunged forward, spitting gravel across the road as I pulled back onto the asphalt.
The trees and road signs blurred into one as I pushed the Jeep harder. Take her home, take care of her. The loop ran through my mind. I pushed the car through blind corners as I worked my way home.
My eyes stung, blurring as I glared into the rear view. Did her chest rise? Did she make a sound? I felt the front of the car lift as I hit the base of the mountain. A growl slipped from my lips as I wound higher and higher. I rode the brake, swinging wide as I found the driveway.
Overgrowth hung from the pine trees forming a canopy of ivy. I eased the Jeep beneath the heavy foliage and hit the remote for the gate. She whispered and thrashed against the seat. I edged the car forward as the old gate rattled, sliding open.
My foot slipped as I rode the pedals, slamming her against the back of the seat. The leather around the wheel softened under the heat of my grip. Easy. The car crept forward before I punched the button and the gate jerked close.
I rolled the Jeep around the curve to where the stone mansion waited. White slate peeked out from the thick ivy growth. Stay away. The building growled. Or I’ll bite. The blinking green light waited. I pressed the button and watched the garage door lift.
The car idled while I searched the darkened garage. For the first time I felt something other than anger and hate. Fear crept over me like a silent predator, stealing the steel from my spine.
How would my family react?
A murmur resounded, followed by a whimper from the back of the car. I lifted my gaze to the mirror. Whatever they thought would have to wait.
Dead inside. All of you, dead.
The shaman’s words snatched away the bite of fear. I took my foot off the brake and the Jeep crawled forward. This wolf needed me… Abrial. I plucked her name from a darkened corner of my mind. That’s what her attacker called her.
Abrial.
I yanked the brake and switched off the engine. Soft ticking followed as I stepped out of the car. Careful, my dragon warned. My damn hands shook more now than they did laying her against the seat. I snagged the handle and opened the door.
Her chest shuddered with the effort, rattling something deep inside. I punched the seat and inched my hands under her body. My muscles strained, trembling as I lifted her against me and crawled out of the car.
The garage was a blur as I strode through. I hit the handle of the door with my elbow and the door swung inward. Soft hallway lights beckoned as I climbed the stairs. Her breaths were jagged and harsh. I moved faster, taking two steps at a time. She’s in pain.
“Marcus.”
White overhead lights bathed her face in their glow. I jerked my head up at the soft sound of bare feet. Lucas raked his long curls back and stifled a yawn. “Marcus, what are you….”
One look at her in my arms and he was racing toward me as I climbed the last stair. Abrial looked worse in the harsh white light. The side of her face was darkening. Dried blood stuck her hair against her face. But it was the sound in her chest which drew my younger brother closer. “Goddess above, what happened to her?”
My throat thickened. I tried to open my mouth to speak, but there was nothing but a hiss. Doors opened as I passed. One by one, my family crowded the hallway. I couldn’t look at them, couldn’t see the fear and the anger in their gaze. Not yet. Not now.
Not when I had Abrial in my arms. I carried her along the hallway until I reached my bedroom and shoved the door aside. Don’t let her go, snarled my dragon as I strode through the room. I shoved the top cover aside, and lowered her onto my black sheets.
“Is that?” Victor snapped behind me. I blinked as he hit the bedroom light. “Is that the wolf from the hospital?”
I could only nod. She looked so tiny, swallowed by the size of my bed—and so fragile. Her blood soaked my shirt. My pulse thundered at the back of my head. Sour acid rose in my throat. No, not her blood.
Victor came closer, placing his hand on my arm as I straightened. “What do we do?”
“You get out. That’s what you do.”
My lip curled at the witch’s harsh words and spun. The shaman parted my family with her cane and shuffled into my room. Her eyes never wavered from the fragile figure in the middle of my bed.
The need to protect her coiled like a serpent. I crossed the floor toward the witch as she neared. “You’re not welcome here, old woman.”
“Welcome? No, but needed just the same. So, out. All of you. Especially you.” The butt of her cane punched me in the middle of my chest.
My grip tightened. I shook my head. “No.”
“No?” The old woman snarled, wrenching her gaze from mine to the wolf and her hard brown eyes softened.
The chokehold on my throat tightened. “I need to be with her.”
I lifted my gaze to see the defiance in her eyes soften as she lowered the cane. “I’ll take care of her, dragon. Believe me, I’ll take care of her. Go now. You don’t want to see this.”
I shook my head, holding the shaman’s gaze. Life, death… wasn’t it all the same to a woman who existed between the deceased and the living?
“I’m not gonna kill the one I sent you to save, dragon.” The old woman hissed.
A hand reached for my arm, dragging me away. Victor’s calm words seemed to filter through. “Come on, Marcus. Let the witch do her work. Come on.”
The slow ebb and flow of a tide swelled, rocking… lulling me. I yanked my hand away from his grasp. “Enough, Victor.”
Abrial whimpered, blood frothed from her mouth… the sight unhinged me. “Let me stay… let me stay for her.”
The old woman pierced me with a
look of dread. “As you wish.”
“We’ll be waiting outside.” Victor muttered and headed for the door.
My brother’s steps echoed, until the click of the door left Abrial’s harsh breaths to fill the void.
Stark crimson smudges dragged my focus to the bed. The wolf looked so small and so damn fragile. The old woman shuffled to the other side of the bed, yanking sticks and stones from a purse around her waist, then finally a bloodstone, bigger than any I’d ever seen.
Abrial whimpered, bubbles filled with blood burst on her lips to splatter her face.
“When I start there’s no stopping dragon, not even when she begs… and she will beg. You hear what I’m saying, son?”
Son. The word resonated, dragging to the surface, fear, loss and regret like a long forgotten stone. I met the shaman’s gaze.
“I’m using dark power to separate her human side from the wolf’s. I need to drag the beast to the surface for her to shift and heal.”
I shuddered at the thought, separating one from the other would be like cutting someone in two. How could you separate molecules and DNA? What kind of damage would that do to slice your soul in two? My breath caught and for a second I couldn’t breathe.
“The wolf won’t like it and it’ll fight the entire way. One small mistake and either side could be damaged… for good.”
I flinched and turned back to Abrial. Damaged? What did that mean? Images crowded my head. Could Abrial be left with as a wolf and no human, or a human and no wolf? I exhaled on a shudder and whispered. “No stopping—got it.”
“Then, let’s get started.”
The witch clutched the bloodstone and held it high over the bed. Her old body swayed as whispers filled the room, one chant mumbled over and over until I found no end and no beginning. I dropped to my knees, grasping the crumbled comforter, staring at her swollen face. A deep red mark across her cheek was turning purple.
My damn fingers trembled as I crept them toward her. I’d heard her cry of pain. I brushed a strand of crimson hair. I didn’t know it was her… how could I’ve known? Some force inside me pulled me to the corner of the street.
I want to make a new deal. Those words tugged at my thoughts.
Abrial whimpered while the old woman muttered in a tongue I didn’t know. I needed answers. I needed to understand, but most of all I needed the wolf whole.
Abrial gripped the sheet and turned her head, as though she heard my breath, or the thunder of my heart. She opened her eyes. A flash of silver held my gaze. The tiny shake of her head spilled blood from the corner of her mouth as she whimpered. “No… can’t shift… don’t do this.”
I swallowed hard and lifted my gaze to the old woman. Her eyes were closed, her lips barely moving. A spark in her hand dragged my gaze. The bloodstone glowed, filling the room with a pulsing light.
Abrial snarled. Her lip pulled back, revealing long canine’s. “Please, Marcus… no more. I can’t do this.”
I clenched my fist, then reached for her face, brushing my finger along her cheek. “You have to, Abrial. It’s the only way.”
Abrial’s eyes snapped open. The silver eyes of her wolf found me. Her wolf sniffed the air, whimpered then bared her teeth. I flinched as the sheet tore under her grip. Abrial’s voice turned husky, filled with fear and hate. “Don’t make me shift. I will kill her, dragon. I will shred her mind.”
I took her anger like a punch to my balls. “You kill her and you’ll die too.”
Her voice turned deep and feral, nothing like the woman I knew. For a second I saw something in the sheen of silver as the wolf answered. “There’s worse things out there than dying.”
I want to make a new deal.
Those words haunted me. But this time, the mutant bastard’s reply came to life as well. The time for deals is over. You’ve had your fun. Chains or the knife—you choose.
The crystal’s light pulsed, growing brighter with each second. I glanced up to see the stone hovering mid-air.
Chains or the knife… Pack business.
Her back curved, lifting her shoulders from the bed. The snap of bone hit me like a blow, followed by another. Her whimpers turned into a howl, tearing through the room as the bloodstone glowed. Claws replaced her nails, ripping the balled up sheet into two.
I did this. I did this to her. Her bones bowed and her skin turned transparent. Fur sprouted along her arms. The Guardians were created to keep the balance, to protect the weak. And yet I’d hid in this place, ignoring those who needed me the most… those like Abrial.
This woman fought, she bargained… all because she had no choice. I left her with no choice… I’d left her with no one to turn too.
Dead inside… all of you dead.
My pent up breath escaped. The hard ball of guilt was wedged tight inside my throat as Abrial slumped against the bed. “That’s it, shift Abrial. I know it hurts, but you have to finish it now.”
The snap of a stick broke something inside the wolf. The witch’s chants changed tempo, slowing to wield each word like a blade. Abrial kicked the blanket from the bed, lifting her upper body to glare at me. “My damn clothes!”
“Let me help you.”
Her fingers skimmed the button of her jeans, claws raked the denim.
The pained expression in her eyes urged me on. “Stop, it’s okay. Let me do this.”
Her hands fell against the bed. I grasped the waistband of her jeans, trying not to hurt her. Her bones shattered under the garment, poking hard edges under my hands as I shoved the zipper down. I eased the waistband over her hips as they bowed unnaturally, then scurried toward the end of the bed.
“Hurry, Marcus.” The old woman broke the chant to whisper.
I jerked the bottom of her jeans, tugging them over her thighs, then her legs until they were free. Russet colored hair spread along her shins, racing to cover her body and the room was filled with the thick scent of wolf.
Half-woman, half-wolf Abrial snarled and cried. “She’s killing me. Stop… stop.”
I jerked my head toward the witch as movement on the bed blurred. Abrial threw herself over the other side of the mattress, and hit the floor with a thump. Her howl tore through the room, filled with pain and torment and there was nothing I could do to help her.
My dragon rose to the surface, forcing the air deep into my lungs and with the wolf’s scent. I shoved myself up from the end of the bed and rounded the corner. The dimmed light glinted off her amber colored fur revealing hard edges and a thin frame. She turned her face against the wall, leaving a bloody smear in her wake.
“I can’t force the shift. She’s fighting me too hard.” The shaman croaked.
I flinched at her words. “You have to. You don’t have a choice.”
The old woman’s face paled under the lights. The bloodstone that hovered in the air dropped lower, coming face to face with the witch. With each slow pulse the light dimmed from the crystal.
“No more.” The sound that came from Abrial was guttural and strange, not beast, not woman. “Please, no more.”
I scurried toward her, dropping to my knees and tried to keep the panic from my voice. “You gotta stop fighting her, Abrial. You have to complete the shift. It’s the only way now.”
A mewl slipped from her lips to ravage the inside of my chest. Shift, my dragon growled. Shift or I’ll make you shift myself. A blaze filled my mind, burning the panic away like wildfire and leaving only one thing—need.
My body was not my own—the dragon forced a step toward her. Shift, my beast demanded. Red hair bounced under the shake of her head. Weak… wolf.
Her head stilled, the tremors slowed. Like a puppet I moved closer.
Weak, wolf.
Abrial’s head snapped up. Silver eyes pierced me like a blade. “I’m not weak.
Weak, wolf. Only the strong survive.
She flinched, dragging in each breath to crackle and pop inside her chest. Her claws raked the smooth tiled floor as she leaned forward. Her li
p lifted, revealing long canines. “I. Am. Strong.”
Her body shuddered as behind me the old woman cried out. The heavy thump that followed left me with nowhere else to turn. I opened myself up to my dragon, praying he knew what Abrial needed.
Shift, or I’ll make you.
White, hot pain tore from my nails as talons sprouted. Blood ran down the insides of my fingers as I raised my hand. Shift, or I’ll make you.
The dragon raked my nails through the air. Sweat broke out on the back of my neck at the thought of hurting her.
Shift, weak wolf.
Her body bowed, bending unnaturally. Cloth ripped as Abrial shed the last of her clothes. The half-beast slowly morphed into a wolf, rising to stand on all fours. The hair along her shoulders rose as she turned to face me and inside me the dragon smiled.
Wolf… he dragged in the heavy scent to fill the empty space inside me.
The bristle of her hackles softened, falling soft against her shoulders.
Wolf.
I flinched as she took a step, her top lip curled… a warning, don’t hurt me. My dragon urged me forward. I reached out to skim the coarse fur with my fingers. The connection tore through me like a live wire—my heart stopped—shocked—then the tore through my chest as my heart raced to catch up.
The Bloodletter let out hiss that sounded far too much like a sigh, then dragged my hand away. The wolf dropped to the ground and closed her eyes. Red fur drew back revealing pink skin, fresh from a shift.
Her legs stretched out, revealing long, powerful legs. I’d never seen a wolf shift. I’d never wanted to—until now. My gaze lingered on the soft curve of her ass as she drew her knees toward her chest.
“Enough, dragon. Let her have some privacy.”
I jerked my head up to the old woman who stared at me.
“She’s safe now… she’s healed. Let her come to without the overpowering stench of lust suffocating her.”
My face burned as I turned back to Abrial’s hunched form. I’d never felt such a need to touch another, to hold and comfort. But right now she needed none of that. “I’ll be outside the door.”