Wolf of Choice (The Shifters and Sorceresses Trilogy Book 1)

by Shay Laurent

  I peeked at Dom between blows and was reassured that he at least seemed to be holding his own against the other Shifter, both of them still in human form. I suppose they thought the close quarters would be worse as wolves.

  The Shifter from the rear was almost on top of me when I caught sight of another person in the mouth of the cave. A girl. I deflected another swing, this one making my arm shake. The sheer aggression of his hits were getting harder to take.

  The girl had moved in.

  We were done for.

  There was no way we’d get out of here with both of us fighting two against one. I needed to move more quickly.

  I ducked under the next blow and moved to the side, my back now to the wall. One sword faced each of my opponents. I’d trained for this once but it didn’t make it any easier. I inhaled, ready to engage when I heard a massive thud and crash. My eyes flicked to Dom. It wasn’t him. The girl had knocked out the other Shifter with a blow to the head. Relieved, I faced my attackers again, but one of them chose that moment to abandon me and attack Dom and the girl.

  That left me with the injured guy. Piece of cake, right? Probably not. He swung his sword at me from the side, right at neck height. I managed to duck in time, but only just. I swung my leg out and tripped him. Before I could make another move, I heard another thud and then the girl was standing beside the injured Shifter in front of me, her sword poking into his neck, drawing blood. Clearly she wasn’t afraid to slice him up. When he dropped the sword, I stepped back and leaned on the cave wall.

  Suspicious, I turned my gaze to her. She looked maybe a year or two older than me and had light, straw-coloured hair—almost white. She wore leathers and a warm jacket, and chose that moment to raise her eyes to me. Hazel.

  ‘Why are you looking at me like that?’ she asked. ‘I just saved your butts.’

  I considered her for a moment. She had helped, and I had been sure we were done for before she’d arrived. I looked over at Dom and he shrugged. ‘You did, thanks. But who are you exactly, and why are you here?’

  She looked at the Shifters on the ground, two unconscious and one listening in to the conversation. ‘Maybe we should take care of this and then talk about it later?’

  Embarrassment flooded me at the realisation she was right. Determined to save face, I said, ‘Yeah, fine. But take care of them how?’

  She shrugged, flipped her sword, and before I had a chance to protest, she brought the pommel down on the side of the Shifter’s head, knocking him unconscious too. His head slumped and when she released him he thudded unceremoniously to the ground.

  Oookay, crazy. Well, I guess that takes care of that.

  The girl’s eyes flashed. ‘Quit being so judgy. What were you gonna do about it?’

  Lips tight, I shrugged. ‘Let’s just get out of here.’

  She shook her head. ‘Not until we tie them up. I don’t want them waking up in five minutes and chasing after us. Not that they’d have an easy time following us in the snowstorm, but there are only so many caves to hide in around here.’

  I looked at Dom, who was getting more amused by the minute. When he saw my grimace, his grin swelled. ‘Well, do you wanna see if they have some ropes? I don’t want to use ours,’ I barked.

  He seemed to be trying to rein in his mirth as he walked deeper into the cave to search. After a few moments, he called out that he’d found some.

  I looked back at the girl and she waved a hand at the men on the floor. ‘Give me a hand with them?’

  I gritted my teeth at being given instructions from some random girl I didn’t even know, but moved to help anyway. Dom joined us too.

  They were dead weight, and heavy enough to have us all breathing faster by the time we’d dragged them to the centre of the cave to be tied together.

  ‘Either of you two any good with knots?’

  I shrugged at the same time Dom did. She rolled her eyes and I bit my teeth together so hard I was surprised they didn’t crack.

  Who the hell does she think she is?

  ‘Just pass me the ropes,’ she said to Dom.

  ‘Sure thing.’ He fetched them from the ground and handed them over.

  She gave Dom a double take as she took the ropes. I felt a flush of annoyance and jealousy run through my body.

  Jealous? About Dom?

  He gave me one of his goofy grins then turned to watch the girl. She expertly tied the ropes around each of the Shifter’s hands behind their backs and pulled them tight. She finished by tying the ropes together. It looked like a pretty big mess of knots, though definitely the kind that would be hard to get out of.

  Satisfied, she stood up and looked at us. ‘Well? Let’s get out of here. I spotted another couple caves further in the distance when I was scouting around earlier in the day.’

  How long has she been following us?

  Refusing to look like a fool again, I kept my questions to myself and indicated with a lavish gesture that she should exit first. There was no way we’d be walking in front of her when she seemed to have a thing for knocking people out with her damn sword. The giant smirk on her face irritated me as she turned and led the way.

  Dom attempted to wipe the amusement from his face when I shot him a glare. Taking some things seriously would be a bonus, though he’d obviously decided that she wasn’t a threat.

  She exited the cave in front of us and picked up her own pack from the ground. It looked full to the brim with stuff, but she pulled it on like it weighed nothing. I bent down, picked mine up and slung it over my back. I watched Dom do the same from the corner of my eye while I kept a close watch on her.

  Once she saw we were ready, she turned and took off without another word. It was like she was trying to make us rush on purpose. I rolled my eyes and continued on behind her.

  We trekked for what felt like half an hour or so, and passed a couple of caves as we walked. The sky was a deep shade of blue by the time she found the one she wanted. She must have stayed in it before.

  I sniffed the air. Water. Hot water. My eyebrows shot up in surprise and I looked hopefully at Dom.

  ‘Hey, is there a hot spring in here?’ he asked.

  She gave a smug smile. ‘Sure is. Worth the extra trek through the mountains, huh?’

  I watched as she dumped her bag on the ground and took off her thick jacket to reveal a tight-fitting woollen shirt. Then she sat and pulled off her shoes, as though she were perfectly at home in some random cave. I tilted my head, wondering if she was from the Trevini Pack.

  ‘Well, go on,’ she said. ‘I know you’re barely containing the thousand questions you want to ask.’

  I made a small scoffing noise and moved closer, then sat against the wall opposite her.

  ‘Who are you?’

  She looked right at me. ‘Alessia.’

  I waited impatiently for her to add some other useful piece of information, but it appeared that she was going to remain stubborn.

  ‘And where are you from?’

  She started rifling through her bag, no longer looking at me. ‘Trevini Pack.’

  I exhaled loudly and wondered if my dad had sent her somehow. ‘Why were you following us?’

  She snorted. ‘Who said I was following you? Not that you weren’t easy to spot, walking along the mountain in the middle of the day like you were.’

  I gave her a hard stare and waited in silence until she spotted it, then she sighed.

  ‘Fine. I was following you because I’m insane. Or I may as well be anyway. Our Pack Medicine Woman told me she’d had a vision of me needing to help two other Shifters in a cave in the Mortis Mountains. She practically pushed me out of the camp to go and find you two. Not really sure why she chose me but her instincts are usually right.’

  ‘Right. Seems ridiculous.’

  She shrugged.

  ‘It seems as if you’re telling the truth. Not sure why else you’d be on this snowy death trap in the winter storms. In saying that, it seems a bit of a stretch that y
ou’d leave just because your Medicine Woman said so. Also, why aren’t you at the Academy? You don’t look much older than us.’

  ‘Mum didn’t want me to go. Don’t really know why. But there are a few from my Pack who just get trained by our Alpha and the Medicine Woman, plus a few others with experience. Besides,’ she laughed, ‘seems like I’m not missing out on much. You guys were getting your asses handed to you.’

  Dom piped in for what seemed like the first time since Alessia had showed up. ‘Hey, that’s not true. I was handling my guy just fine.’

  ‘Yeah, you weren’t doing too bad, but I don’t think your mad fighting skills would have been quick enough to beat your opponent and save your girlfriend from being annihilated.’

  Dom’s cheeks turned an outrageous-looking scarlet. ‘We’re just friends!’

  ‘Why does everyone keep saying stuff like that?’ I muttered.

  She gave me a look like I was some kind of idiot, which only fuelled my anger. I opened my mouth to say something else, but she started talking again.

  ‘Anyway. Doesn’t matter. So. My turn. What are you two doing out here in the dead of winter that is so important that I had to leave my cosy Pack fire and come and save you both?’

  I pursed my lips, not convinced that I was interested in telling her anything, especially if she was just about to leave anyway. I didn’t need my secrets being spilled. I looked over to Dom.

  He shrugged. ‘Your call.’

  This conversation sucked. ‘Are you even sticking around or are you just leaving at first light to go back to your Pack?’

  Alessia looked like she was deliberating what she wanted to say. Eventually she answered. ‘The Medicine Woman said that I’d need to stick around for a while. She said something about some crazy mission that would probably get us all killed, but that I had to be here, or you guys really would end up chopped liver.’

  I bristled then looked her dead in the eyes, determined to see just how tough she really was. ‘We’re breaking into Crone Keep and freeing a prisoner.’

  Alessia snorted. ‘Crazy mission, all right. Understatement of the damn millennium. You guys even have a plan for that?’

  Dom cut in, obviously put out by her lack of confidence in our abilities and forethought. ‘Yes, of course we have a plan. We even have a set of internal drawings and a couple of maps of the surrounding area. We’re not idiots or anything.’

  ‘Huh. Well, that’s something. A nice surprise, at least. I guess the few potions that my Medicine Woman gave me make more sense, now I know where I’m going.’ At the questioning look I gave her, she continued. ‘She gave me some kinds of magical sleeping draughts. A couple to put on a cloth and hold over their mouths and noses, and a couple more that you smash at their feet from the glass vials .’

  I opened my eyes wide. I’d heard of such draughts but hadn’t ever seen them in action. As I was pondering how we could make use of them, Alessia interrupted.

  ‘Well, what’s the plan?’

  I pursed my lips. She was so abrupt and pushy! Unsure how much we should tell her this soon, I looked at Dom. He shrugged. I turned and stared back at her, eyebrows raised.

  She stood suddenly. ‘Ugh, fine. I’ll go enjoy the hot spring while you guys get your story straight.’

  Chapter 17

  Alessia turned and strolled right out of the cavern through a passage at the back. After a minute, I walked over and stuck my head in to be sure she wasn’t eavesdropping.

  Before I could say anything, Dom blurted out, ‘Wow, she is all kinds of hot and crazy!’

  I stared hard at him, not sure why I felt a little stab in the chest at his comment. It seemed more and more like I was jealous, which was ridiculous. I decided to ignore his comment.

  ‘So do we trust her enough to share?’

  He shrugged. ‘Yep, I guess so. I mean, she did kind of save our butts back there and she told us why she’s here. She even told us about the draughts she has. What do you think?’

  I sighed. ‘Yeah, I suppose you’re right. I can’t really see any other reason why she’d be here. Do we tell her everything though? Like who we’re going to rescue?’

  Dom thought for a moment before he answered me. ‘Nah, I don’t think she needs to know that right now, especially if you’re worried about how it might affect you. Let’s just stick to saying that she’s a prisoner.’

  Grateful, I nodded. ‘Thanks. I don’t think I’m ready to share all of that stuff, but I’ll probably have to say I can’t Shift at this point. I fight well enough without Shifting. Though I did wonder, why don’t you guys just Shift when you’re fighting?’

  ‘Oh, sorry. I forgot you haven’t had to worry about it yet. When we Shift, we keep our clothes but not what we’re holding. So if we have weapons in our hands, we’re as good as passing them to our enemies to use against us since they’d just fall on the ground. If I’d had time, I would have left my weapons in my pack and just entered in my wolf form.’

  ‘Huh. That makes sense. It never really came up with Dad in training because we were always doing specific drills and he was either in wolf form or we were doing weapons training, never really both.’

  ‘Yep, sounds right. We never did both. It wasn’t really until I Shifted and started taking intermediate weapons lessons that I really had to worry about it.’

  I filed the knowledge away for later, along with the thought to try and see what would happen with my weapons when I Shifted since I didn’t actually change that much, though it would be a waste of claws if I was trying to hold a weapon.

  Maybe I could actually use a weapon in one hand and the claws with the other. I’m sure it would shock anyone I was fighting.

  Apparently, I’d been off in my own little world for too long, because Dom suddenly coughed to get my attention. When I shook my head and focused, I realised he was waving his hand in front of my face.

  ‘Oh, sorry. I was just thinking. Shall we go tell her the plan then?’

  ‘Yep. Let’s go!’

  Someone’s eager!

  I followed behind Dom as he sped off down the path, following the steam that was making the air thicker and heavier. After a little while, I heard the water flowing from the hot springs and picked up my pace a little, excited to warm up my core.

  I rounded the corner and nearly ran straight into Dom. He’d stopped dead in his tracks when he walked into the cavern. I gave him a little shove and he stepped to the side.

  ‘Woah,’ I muttered.

  The cavern was huge and had stalactites hanging like giant icicles from every inch of the roof. The ground we were standing on dropped off just a few metres ahead of the entrance. So much steam rose from it that a haze covered the room. It was incredible. I turned to Dom and realised that it wasn’t actually the space he was staring at, but Alessia. And her clothes, or rather lack of them. I looked around beside us and saw what appeared to be most of her outfit sitting on the floor.

  ‘Seriously?’ I called out to her. ‘No clothes?’

  ‘Gee, prude much? I still have my camisole on. Relax.’ She raised her eyebrows at me, almost like she was waiting for me to make a fool of myself again. ‘Are you going to wear all your layers in here?’

  ‘Obviously not.’ I turned to Dom and waved my hand in front of his face this time. ‘Hey, Dom. You alive in there?’

  I ignored her laugh and grabbed his arm and gave it a little shake. I raised both of my own eyebrows at him as he looked at me. He turned bright red. I just shook my head and started undressing.

  ‘What are you doing?!’ he yelped.

  ‘Taking some of my layers off. We can’t get in with all our warm clothes on.’

  ‘Oh, right. Uh no, of course not. Yep, okay. Clothes off.’

  He looked like he was concentrating really hard on the wall as he got ready. I turned back around and made short work of most of my outfit. I ignored Dom muttering to himself and went to climb in.

  ‘There’s a sort of step over near that wall,�
�� Alessia called, pointing.

  ‘Thanks.’

  I walked along, looking over the edge until I could see the step-like piece of rock that jutted out under the water, and used it to get in. My body almost melted in relaxation as I slid into the softly bubbling, almost white water. I groaned and swam out towards the middle of the spring, feeling each of my sore muscles begin to relax.

  When I made it to Alessia, I just floated about and waited for Dom. I looked over to see he’d gotten down to just under shorts and turned away. Noticing Alessia staring at me, amusement lighting her face, I said, ‘What?’.

  ‘Nothing,’ she said, sucking her lips in to stop her smile.

  We both turned away and waited for Dom to join us. When he made it over, I gestured that he could do the explaining. He nodded, a thoughtful look on his face.

  ‘So. The plan. Basically, we need to break into the base level of Crone Keep, through the waterfall entrance, since it’s the least obvious and doesn’t have a constant guard, just patrols. Then we need to work our way up a few levels, free the prisoner then leave using the water system to head towards the Cladden Pack territory. Going that way means we might get some protection if we need it.’

  She looked at us both deadpan. ‘You’re serious?’

  Dom glanced at me and I looked back at her. ‘That’s definitely the short version, but yeah.’

  She sighed. ‘Well, since everyone seems to be enjoying the soak, how about you enlighten me with the longer version?’

  I pursed my lips, irritated by her continual demands, but knew I needed to share the details if we actually wanted the help that she seemed willing enough to offer. Half of me was so eager to accept some help but the other half of me just couldn't wait to get rid of her.