A loud crash announced the arrival of Mal in his beast form. He burst forth from the hall by the containment cells. Caden, in human form, along with Xany rushed behind him.
“Nee!” Xany shouted and ran over to me.
Mal’s snarls and growls drowned out the screams of Reynolds and the hisses of Vanessa as the lights suddenly went out and a fire alarm sounded. Red and white strobe lights began flashing viciously, blinding not only Xany and I, but the Changers as well. The intensity of the light messed with their acute vision. A sudden, piercing tone screamed into the area. Xany and I flinched, but the Changers roared. Caden dropped to his knees and crawled toward us. He kept trying to cover his ears, which was slowing him down. The shadow of Mal’s beast form flashing in the strobe light was roaring and thrashing at the ground beneath him, shaking his head painfully, tortured by the audio and visual violations. Xany and I both struggled against my bindings futility until Caden eventually made his way to us. He forced himself to stand. His eyes were closed when he reached up and grasped the silver chains around my wrists, crushing them in his hands.
Xany caught me as I slumped to the floor. My whole body trembled, and my shoulders screamed in flaring pain. With her help, I stood up and gathered my last bit of energy. When I attempted to race toward Mal and Vanessa, she grabbed me and kept me near. I struggled against her until I skidded to a halt as a gush of fresh, hot blood splashed across my torso. All I could see in the flashing light was Mal’s frenzied form continuing to bash, lash, and tear at something on the floor.
Caden was on the floor again, struggling to transform, and Xany was shouting at me, though I could barely make out what she was saying. I was worried that the silver Caden had touched was interfering with this change. I’d never seen a wolf who could tolerate touching and crushing silver with their bare hands. She pulled me close to her, her hot breath against my ear as she shouted.
“We need to turn it off! It’s hurting them!”
I nodded, grabbing her hand, and we ran toward the hall with the containment cells. Together we jumped over the bloody stump that was once a leg connected to Doctor Reynolds. I shrieked, but Xany kept pulling me forward. I looked back to see that Caden was half changed, and Mal was still thrashing, I couldn’t see Vanessa. Xany jerked me forward, and we huddled together on the floor. She leaned close to my ear again to shout.
“Shawnee! Focus! Where is the shut off for the alarm system?”
I gripped her harder; the chaos of the sounds and lights made it hard to think.
“Shawnee!”
I blinked a few times and shouted back, suddenly remembering the panel that Bailey had showed me. “Panel! There’s a panel in the wall somewhere here!” I shouted and pointed at the wall adjacent to the cells.
Xany and I began feeling our way down the wall. The wafting scent of bleach began leaking into the room. An additional phase of assault on the senses began. She grabbed me suddenly, banging her free hand on the wall.
“Here!”
We pried open the camouflaged panel and began slammed on the buttons. The cells began opening and closing randomly, lights flickered faster, and my throat burned because of the bleach. Suddenly, Xany rammed her fist into the panel, and everything came to a dead halt.
Mal’s growling ceased, and Xany looked around, dumbfounded while Caden stood up again in human form. Without looking at us, he bolted down the hall in the direction of Mal and Vanessa.
“Shawnee, hurry.” His voice echoed in the now silent underground.
Xany and I rushed toward the others. Mal’s oversized beast was blocking Caden and Vanessa from sight. He had scraps of Doctor Reynolds’s lab coat tangled in his teeth, dripping with blood. He looked around with flared nostrils and dropped to all fours, letting out a long, drawn howl. Xany and I moved around him to where Caden was kneeling on the floor beside whatever was left of Reynolds. Lying in a pool of blood next to Caden was Vanessa, who had Doctor Reynolds’s silver dagger protruding from her stomach.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Mal snapped his jaws at the dagger to try and grab it with his teeth but kept howling at the repulsive silver. Caden lifted Vanessa off the floor and held her in his arms. I dropped down beside her and cupped her face. Xany stood above us with hands pressed over her mouth.
Vanessa met my gaze and tears streamed down her cheeks, washing away some of the blood on her face. Trembling, she reached for me. When her hand connected with my cheek, I could feel her weakening pulse against my skin. I gripped the hilt of the dagger, knowing full well that removing it could kill her, but the poison of the silver was acting faster. The dagger had been in her too long for her to shift and lick to heal herself. The silver’s poison prevented her change.
“It’s okay, Vanessa, I’m here,” I whispered to her. She shivered when I spoke, as if she’d been waiting to hear my voice. Oh god, please don’t die. Please.
“Shawnee, we have to—” Caden began, but I cut him off.
“I know! I know.” I cleared my throat, and a burst of energy shot me into action. “Xany, go in the room back there and get the cart with the tools and paddles and as many towels as you can. Caden, hold her tight.”
Both of them jumped into action. In my head, I spoke to Mal. Be human, I need you.
From above, I heard the snapping and popping of Mal’s transformation. Slowly, I leaned in and pressed my lips to Vanessa’s forehead, tasting her blood on my lips. Please, Gaia, give me this, just this.
Vanessa’s lips trembled as she tried to speak to me. She wheezed out my name as her breath rattled. I kept my lips close to hers and spoke softly, gripping the dagger at the same time. “I’m here, stay with me, please stay with me.”
I pressed my lips to hers at the same time that I ripped the dagger from her stomach. She cried out into my mouth as I tossed the dagger aside. I moved back and placed both hands over her gaping wound, pressing hard as blood gushed through my fingers.
Xany returned and tossed towels on top of my hands so that I could press them against her wound. Vanessa’s emerald gaze caught mine. The life drained from her as the poison and blood loss took their toll. Her eyes became hazy, and I shouted. “Please! Vanessa, no, look at me. Look at me!”
She blinked slowly and tried to mouth something to me through shallow breaths, her blood seeping through the towels. Everyone was silent as they watched her die. Mal placed his hand on my shoulder. Caden held Vanessa, and Xany knelt beside me, helping me hold the towels to Vanessa’s stomach. Her grip on my arm began to loosen.
“No! Gaia, please don’t, please. You can’t take her,” I cried. “Mom, please help her. Please,” I begged. For some reason, at that moment, I truly believed that calling for Gaia and my mother to somehow intervene would work.
Mal squeezed my shoulder. Vanessa’s breathing grew erratic. I leaned down again and breathed her breath as she gasped for mine. I whispered to her, telling her I loved her. Her lips mimicked mine. I closed my eyes, my hands still covering her wound. I didn’t want to lose my best friend.
Please, Gaia, give me strength. I’ll give anything. Anything! Please don’t take her. Please don’t take her from me. Take me instead, take me. She deserves life; she deserves happiness. I pleaded silently. I cried for Vanessa and thought about my mother, begging her again to somehow intercede.
Then suddenly, from somewhere inside me, I heard an unfamiliar voice say, “So do you.”
My eyes shot open at the intrusion, and I gasped as an unexpected heat ignited in the middle of my chest. It rolled over my shoulders, down my arms, and settled in my hands. My gasp caught the attention of the others whose tearstained faces were hidden in lament. My hands began to burn as if I had just placed them in an open fire. Suddenly the image of my mother’s face hovered in front of eyes. She was smiling with hands outstretched and immediately the memory struck me…
“It’s okay, Dodi,” my mother’s voice says. I lay on the ground beside a jagged rock, holding my scrapped knee. My mother nudges my
hands away and then cups my wound in her own hands. Warmth surrounds my knee and a blue-purple glow bursts from her palms, weaving and winding through the gash, mending it neatly. Her lips seal it with a kiss.
Instinctively, I tossed the towels away from Vanessa’s stomach and pressed my hands against her exposed flesh. I cried out when the palms of my hands burst as if they had caught fire. The others watched in confusion and awe. A soft, indigo glow radiated from the palms of my hands, wavering and weaving over Vanessa’s torn flesh. My hands ached like they were about to char and fall off. Just as the pain grew intolerable, Vanessa gasped. The squishy wet flesh beneath my fingertips began to mend together and flatten into a perfectly intact abdomen.
When my hands cooled, Vanessa sat up and nearly knocked Caden over. She gaped at me, wide-eyed in obvious shock. I returned her stare and immediately began crying. She plucked me up off the ground in her usual effortless manner. Embracing her, I kissed every part of her that I could reach. She was trembling and obviously confused.
“What…the hell…just happened?” Xany asked, drawing the words out. Caden stared at me in a way that made me feel nervous, but Mal was beaming.
“Are you okay?” Vanessa whispered in my ear. I nodded, reached down, and touched her stomach to make sure her wound stayed gone. “What happened?” Her eyes searched my face as if awaiting some sort of explanation in my expression alone.
“Dude, you died… Kinda,” Caden said in a shocked, juvenile manner. His usual calm, cool demeanor had turned into the essence of pure bewilderment.
“Shawnee healed you,” Mal said.
“What?” She stared at me.
“She healed you.” Mal reached forward and ran his fingers through my hair. “Apparently, our Shawnee is a healer.”
I leaned into his touch and placed my hand on Vanessa’s cheek. She kissed my wrist and smiled. “My hero.”
“Just returning the favor, I guess.” I was weak and happy at the same time. Suddenly everything felt like a dream. Vanessa laughed, and her purring returned. Xany giggled happily while both Mal and Caden tossed their heads back and howled out a wolven victory song.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
“So let me get this straight,” Caden began before stuffing a dip-covered chip into his mouth. “You accidentally created a vaccine to prevent a Changer from shifting while unknowingly working for an Andrus-infested hospital under the control of a corrupt human doctor who was using your genius to benefit himself and taking all the credit for your work, and his assistant was a double-agent working for the Alliance.”
“Precisely.” I smiled sheepishly.
Vanessa snickered into my shoulder while I sat in her lap. Xany giggled, and Mal grinned quietly as he listened to us.
“And then you accidentally found out that you have one of the rarest Breeder gifts on the planet when you’re best friend, said weretiger, was nearly killed by a silver dagger wielded by the aforementioned evil human doctor, “ Caden continued in a mock-serious tone.
“Correct.” I laughed at his antics.
“That all sounds logical to me.” He shrugged. “Who’s up for pizza?”
Vanessa laughed and playfully nipped my shoulder. I leaned into her and smiled.
“Only you, Nee, could come up with a story like that.” Xany giggled, reaching over to give my arm a squeeze. I grinned.
“He wasn’t exactly wielding the dagger though. I sort of accidentally dived into it,” Vanessa corrected.
Everyone laughed.
“I thought you were supposed to be a graceful cat,” Xany said. “You barely make a sound when you move and yet you manage to fall onto a dagger and nearly die?”
Vanessa hissed at her, but everyone else erupted with laughter again. Mal seemed to be enjoying the jovialness the most. I couldn’t help myself from watching him.
Caden smiled at me with a sudden, radiating pride that he made sure I felt. “Did you know you could heal?”
“No, my mom could though. I remembered as it was happening. She could heal others but not herself. She could heal all wounds and battle scars. Even wounds caused by silver. Maybe I can too…” I trailed off, thinking about the memory of when Mother healed my childhood injury. “Healing Vanessa was the first time I’ve ever done it. I think.”
“You think?” Xany asked.
“Hey, you never know with me. I might have blocked it out.”
“I’ve never met someone with such a terrible and incredible memory at the same time.” Xany smiled. I returned her smile and held out my arms to her, and she hugged me. “What would we do without you, Nee?”
“Probably live a much quieter life,” I said. Xany swatted me, and I laughed. “The real question is, what would I do without all of you?”
Vanessa squeezed me happily, and Mal gave me an approving nod.
***
“You know I would have let him kill me if it wasn’t for you,” I told Mal as he approached.
I had taken a short hike through the woods to help clear my head and assemble the events that had taken place the night before. I followed the trail up the mountain. It stopped at a cliff that overlooked the river flowing between the mountains. The air was crisp and breezy. Mal followed without me having to call his wolf.
“I know.” He moved up behind me, wrapping his arms around my shoulders and resting his chin on my head. “I guess we both have useful gifts.” He smiled.
I leaned into his embrace and breathed in his scent. “Yeah, we do.” I smiled before growing quiet for a moment. “I tried not to think about any of you so that you couldn’t sense me…so that I could protect you.” I hugged his arms, the familiar fear bubbling up in my chest.
“I sensed you anyway. I knew when you left that something was wrong, that you needed us. I followed you.” He closed his eyes when a breeze caressed our skin.
“I know.” I turned around to face him, his hands falling naturally to my waist. “Xany says it’s possible to love two people at the same time, especially if someone has a lot of emptiness to fill. Do you think that’s true?” I looked up at him.
The cascade of the darkening sky dangling over the mountains reflected in his eyes. He looked to me after pondering the notion for a moment. “I think it can be true.”
“Even if one of them is a cat and the other a dog?” I lifted a brow.
“If said cat and dog can play nicely.” He grinned.
“I think they can… At least most of the time.” I draped my arms over his shoulders.
“You know, only a mate can call the wolf.”
“I know…”
“Does that mean you’ve accepted?” He tried not to sound too hopeful.
“If it means you’ve accepted. Not only me but my baggage too.” I looked away from him. What about Vanessa? What if he couldn’t tolerate being around a cat so much? It’s not in the nature of a wolf to share.
He guided my gaze back to him with a finger under my chin. “I accept you and your duffle bag as well.” He grinned. “And your cat.”
“Then I accept you and your wolf.”
“Good, because my wolf likes you.” He moved closer to me. I bit my lip when he closed the distance between us, pressing his temperate, firm lips against mine. The truth was that I had no idea where things with Vanessa would lead. But I knew exactly where I was going with Mal.
Engaged in his kiss, I was warm and safe. Just as Mal slipped his tongue between my lips, the cry of an eagle echoed over the mountaintops. I broke the kiss abruptly and turned to look out over the canyon. An eagle soared with wings outstretched, diving low toward the water before changing course and climbing toward the clouds. Mal followed my distraction until our gazes met again.
“Now you remind me of eagles.” He smiled.
I grinned and laced my fingers behind his neck, guiding him back into an undying kiss.
Biography
Max grew up just outside of New York City, spending most of her formative years outdoors creating wild ghost hunts with n
eighborhood kids, setting booby-traps to capture unwitting family members, and building clubhouses on top of ten-foot walls. Max wrote her first story at the age of twelve and titled it Circles of Friendship. Through the years, Max has written several short-stories and poems, all of which met the wrath of the “Not Good Enough” monster and ended in fiery demise.
Max regained her confidence when she began writing scholarly articles and research theses on her first trip through graduate school. It took several years for her to break the habit of the formal writing that marred her creativity. An additional Master of Arts degree in Writing was Max’s biggest support in this. She is currently pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing while working on the Legacy Series from which her first book, Glyph, is derived. Max writes primarily sci-fi/fantasy, paranormal romance, and Young Adult stories.
To learn more about Max, visit her website at .
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