by Lisa Emme
“My family, my entire family - my wife, my child, ripped from me, ripped to pieces by a dirty animal.” A look of profound grief flashed over his face only to be replaced once again with rage.
“Nash wouldn’t….he didn’t…” I shook my head, confused.
“No, not your precious Nash, but one of his kind, one of his kin.”
“Yes, an ancestor so far in my past that my family has no history of it.” Nash’s eyes met mine. “He’s talking about something that happened over six hundred years ago. One rogue werewolf.” He shook his head.
Talk about holding a grudge. “All this? You killed who knows how many innocent people over the years and Nash’s dad for something that happened six hundred years ago?” I looked at Navarre incredulously.
“A mere blink of an eye,” he said. “I feel their loss like it was yesterday and only once I have spilled the blood of every mangy cur on this plane will my vengeance be assuaged.” He made a fist and shook it in front of his chest. Wow, the guy was completely off his rocker.
Navarre pointed at Nash. “We will meet on the battlefield you and I, and you will be nothing more than the filthy animal you truly are.” He held up his hand, his thumb and first two fingers pointing up, his ring finger and pinky folded over. He flicked his wrist and Nash doubled over with a grunt of pain. “But I don’t want to be too hasty. There is still plenty of time to have some fun.” He turned to look at me, his hand still held aloft. Nash groaned again, clutching his stomach. “And your little mate has yet to reveal all her secrets. It must be time for another challenge.” He flicked his wrist again and Nash stumbled forward. I grabbed his shoulders, holding him up. “Let us see what your mate thinks of your true nature.” He closed his hand in a fist pulling it down to his chest. Nash let out a roar of pain and fell to the ground. Navarre stepped back into the treeline, leaving Nash and me alone in the clearing. “You had better start running, my lovely. I hear the red brigade is loose in the woods.” He winked out of existence, leaving me standing there in shock.
Another groan from Nash caused me to turn back and kneel at his side. “What’s happening?” I grabbed him by the arms. “Cian, what’s wrong with you?”
“He’s forcing the change.” Nash gritted his teeth. “I can’t…can’t stop it.”
“Then don’t. Don’t fight it. Your wolf would never hurt me.” I reached out and pushed the hair out of his eyes. “Whatever you’re going to do, do it fast. I need you on your feet, even if that means there are four of them.”
“What did he mean about the red brigade?” Nash pushed himself to his knees with a groan.
“Redcaps. There are redcaps coming for us.”
With a growl, Nash tore off his shirt, splitting it right down the middle. He staggered to his feet and kicked off his boots. He was panting and obviously trying to hold back the change with a lot of effort. Next off were his pants. Despite the severity of the situation, I couldn’t help the flush of pure lust that washed over me. Nash huffed out a breath and growled. “Hold that thought for later, Harry.” I blushed from my head to my toes and he managed a little snort of a laugh. “You might want to turn around. This isn’t going to be pretty. Navarre is making sure of that.”
“I’m fine.”
“Turn around, Harry.” Without a thought, my body instantly obeyed the command in his voice. Damn. Is that what it was like for Tess when an alpha gave her an order? I stood with my back to Nash for a few moments, my arms wrapped around my chest. Now that we had stopped moving, my damp clothes were chilling me to the bone.
Nash groaned and growled, but I resisted the urge to turn around. When I began to hear his joints pop, the sound reminded me so much of what happened to Bellemare, I was glad I wasn’t watching. It went on for an agonizing amount of time. So different from the last time I saw Nash change, when it happened in an instant, in a shimmer of magic. That bastard Navarre, if Nash didn’t kill him, I would. I finally had to crouch down and cover my ears to drown out the sickening crunch of bones and sinew.
After what seemed like an eternity, but was probably more like five minutes, a cold wet nose wedged itself between my side and my bare arm. The head of a large, black wolf butted into me, knocking me to the ground. The wolf was panting, clearly still getting over the transition. He plopped down on his ass and looked at me. The gold collar was still around his neck. Nash was right, it had morphed to fit the wolf, just like it had the man. I reached a tentative hand out to the wolf. He leaned into it, butting it with his head.
“Hey,” I said. The wolf hopped to his feet and danced around me, licking my face. I laughed and ran my fingers through his coarse fur. “Are you in there Nash? Do you understand me?”
Nash stepped back and sneezed at me, wrinkling up his nose. He let out a yip and then turned to the south, clearly ready to leave.
“Okay, okay. I’ll take that as a yes.”
With another yip, the wolf broke into a trot and disappeared into the trees, tugging me along after him. If there had been anyone around to see us, I imagine we would have looked like a rather large dog taking a bedraggled girl for a run. Although I don’t know anyone that uses a gold chain for a leash.
Chapter Twenty-One
The redcaps came at us from all sides. They had been herding us for the last several minutes towards another small lake. There was no way we would ever out run them, they were too fast. We had managed to make it to the shoreline, putting the lake at our backs. I could only hope that there was nothing in the lake that we had to worry about.
Redcaps were vicious killers. Although only three or four feet in height, their red eyes, pointed teeth and sharp talons were enough to frighten anyone. Add the fact that they wore a wool cap that had been soaked in the blood of their last kill so that it continually dripped blood down their faces in gory red streaks and you had a rather horrifying sight. They wore iron clad boots and several carried a heavy iron pike, but neither of these slowed them down. They were known to be extremely fast and their talons could be lethal.
The redcaps approached our position on the shore, a murderous gleam in their red, glowing eyes. The wolf charged in front of me, his hackles raised, snarling and snapping, as if daring them to step any closer. I turned to face our attackers and drew my katana. The moment it cleared the sheath, the redcaps charged.
The first wave hit the wolf and he quickly tore through them, sending them flying backwards. The next redcap to draw close ended up being shaken like a rag doll between the wolf’s jaws. I cut through several of them as they tried to flank the wolf, my katana slicing through their small bodies with ease. Blood sprayed everywhere and soon the water lapping at my feet was red with it.
The restricted movement I had because of the chain tethering me to the wolf added an extra element of difficulty and I found myself having to rely on other means of protection. Instinctively, I had taken to batting away their attempts to spear the wolf with their pikes with a wave of my hand, the telekinesis coming to me with ease. At one point, several redcaps rushed us and I held up my hand and with a flick of my wrist sent them flying backwards across the clearing.
After that, they began to approach a bit more cautiously, but still they continued to harass us, in waves of two or three at a time. Never enough to totally overwhelm us, instead, they seemed intent on wearing us down. Both the wolf and I had taken several mild hits, flesh wounds only, but enough to draw blood and further weaken us.
As the night wore on, there seemed to be no end in sight. I didn’t know how much longer we could keep them at bay. I could barely feel my arm, my katana swinging almost of its own accord as instinct and training kicked in. The wolf suddenly lunged, pulling the chain between us taut and throwing me off balance. I stumbled, quickly regaining my feet but not before a nasty, little redcap managed to lash out with his claws, gouging four deep furrows across my abdomen. I hissed in pain,
turning to slice him through with a sweep of my blade. The wolf snarled, snapping his jaws and spun to face my attackers.
“Nash! Look out!” I turned to see the redcaps advance on the wolf’s unprotected flank. A pike sailed out crashing into his side before I could even think to try and swat it away. The wolf yelped, his back end collapsing. “Noooooo!” I spun back and holding my katana two-handed, sliced the heads off my attackers, turning to face the redcaps advancing on Nash. I threw out my hand, putting everything I had behind it and pushed. The redcaps flew backwards through the air. One of them landed impaled on a jagged tree stump. The others crumpled like broken dolls on the ground. I looked around, but there were no more enemy attackers in sight. I rushed to the wolf’s side. He was snarling and struggling to get up, but the weight of the heavy iron pike was holding him down. “No, Nash.” Tears streamed down my face. I looked at the pike sticking out of his left flank. It was embedded deeply in the flesh. My hands hovered over it, unsure what I should do. I reached out to run my hand through his fur, pushing him back down. He lay panting, his sides heaving. “Stay still. I’ll have to pull this out.” He lifted his head and looked at me as if to say he agreed and then flopped back down. Unlike the crossbow bolt, the pike wasn’t barbed so it slid out easier than I expected. Blood immediately began to flow and I quickly clamped my hands over the wound. The wolf whined and I whispered a quiet “sorry”. I had nothing to staunch the flow other than the clothes I was wearing. I pulled off my t-shirt, the cold air biting my bare skin leaving me thankful for the coverage my sports bra offered and wadded it up in the wolf’s wound. It wasn’t as bad as I initially feared. Luckily it was in the meaty part of his flank rather than closer to his abdomen where many of his vital organs could have been hit. The wolf turned and stared at the wounds on my side with a growl. He lifted his head and licked across them and I batted his head away. “Stop it. That hurts, you silly wolf.”
A sudden movement caught the corner of my eye and I turned, grabbing my katana and holding it on guard. The wolf growled, but more because of my actions rather than because he had sensed anything. I peered out across the clearing. Flickering movements drew my eye. Unsure what I was seeing, I watched closely, worried about what we would have to face next.
As I watched, several more flickers joined the first two. They drew closer, becoming more distinct and I sighed in relief. It was a pack of wolves. They ghosted out of the trees and moved across the clearing. At first I thought that it was Nash’s pack, come to our aid, but as they drew nearer, I recognized the front two wolves. It was Daniel and the big grey. My impression of the wolf pack materializing out of the trees like ghosts was too accurate. These were ghosts. I looked around the clearing in shock. There were over twenty of them. Where had they all come from? Were they all victims of Navarre? And speaking of Navarre, where was he?
I looked down at Nash. His breathing had become more regular. He butted my hands away from his flank with his nose and I reluctantly pulled my shirt away. The bleeding had slowed to a trickle, the wound already healing. Luckily wolves didn’t have a problem with iron like they did silver. Despite the rather bloody wet splotch in the middle of my shirt, I pulled it back on over my head. Even wet and bloody, it was better than being bare-skinned in the cold night air.
I looked back at the wolf. “We should get moving. I don’t know where Navarre is, but I imagine he’s on his way. Can you stand?” The wolf huffed out a breath and then scrambled to his feet. Show off. He was practically healed; meanwhile the gouges on my side stung like a bitch.
I turned to look at Daniel. “Well, you got me into this mess, do you have any idea what way I should go to get out of it?”
Daniel yipped and trotted off to the west, skirting around the lakeshore. I turned to look at Nash. “Come on old wolf, let’s go.” Although he had a pronounced limp, Nash managed to trot along at a decent pace. The rest of the ghost wolf entourage followed behind us.
We followed Daniel for several minutes, continuing to skirt around the west side of the lake, catching glimpses of it through the trees. Finally, we came to a break in the cover, at what appeared to be a service road. Daniel and the other wolves turned toward the lake and sprinted to the water. Almost as one, they began to howl mournfully. I followed close behind, Nash taking up the rear. As I got closer to the lake, a feeling of unease began to overtake me. The grey wolf waded into the lake, standing chest deep. With a glance over his shoulder at me, he threw his head up in the air and let out several yips followed by a long howl.
I approached the shoreline with trepidation, already knowing what I would find. The moment I had entered the clearing I had felt their bodies, an overwhelming dread descending on me. We had stumbled upon, or rather had been led to, Navarre’s dumping grounds. The shallow water of the lake was littered with the discarded bodies of the murdered werewolves.
Nash padded up beside me, his side fully healed. He growled at the water then turned and cocked his head. Suddenly, a crossbow bolt raced through the air. I threw up my hand, giving the bolt a telekinetic push, managing to alter its course enough that instead of embedding itself deep into Nash’s side, it scraped along his abdomen leaving a bloody furrow in its wake. The wolf yipped in pain and then lunged towards the approaching Navarre who was striding across the open clearing, a look of satisfaction on his face.
“Well, my lovely, you are indeed a surprise.” He stopped about fifty yards away from us and cocked his head at me. “Can you do that again?”
Faster than I could blink, he raised his crossbow and had a bolt sailing towards me. I waved my hand, flicking it away like you would wave off a fly. The bolt veered off course, embedding itself harmlessly into the ground. Another soon followed and then another, in rapid succession. I flicked them all aside with seemingly little effort, but it was beginning to take its toll. I wouldn’t be able to last much longer.
“Marvelous! You truly are a gem. I have totally changed my mind about you.” Navarre lowered his crossbow and smiled at me.
“Oh yeah? How’s that?” I didn’t really want to know, but I was stalling for time. As I spoke, I began to walk a tight circle around Nash, dragging my toe through the coarse sand.
“Well, instead of killing you in front of your mate, I think I would much rather fuck you.” Gee, so glad I asked. “I think I’ll take you Underhill when I go and let you ride my cock for the next decade or so.” He looked at me like he thought he was offering me a rare privilege.
“You’re one sick bastard, you know that, right?” My circle was complete. I pulled out the lighter I had acquired from the guard’s pocket earlier in the evening and prayed it would still work. My plan had begun to form the moment I felt the death lingering in the clearing. When I noticed the sage grass growing near the lakeshore, I had made up my mind. We only needed to outlast Navarre until dawn. With a little magical protection, I figured we could make it. I muttered some quick instructions to Nash telling him not to cross the circle then flicked the lighter, setting fire to the sage I had already gathered.
“Hold your tongue girl,” Navarre’s smile was gone. “Or I’ll put that mouth of yours to better use.” He began to stride towards us again.
I blew out the sage, letting the smoke drift across my circle.
“What are you doing?” Navarre’s voice took on a worried tone. His pace increased and he raised the crossbow menacingly. “Stop that. Stop what you are doing or the next bolt goes straight through the dirty animal’s heart.”
Ignoring Navarre, I intoned a cleansing spell, setting a protective circle around Nash and myself.
“Sacred guardians bless this circle.
In this space your protection grant,
that no harm shall enter, no evil shall pass.”
As the last word passed my lips, I felt my magic flow out. It sang with a resonance that vibrated through my entire body. I felt a mom
ent of overwhelming peace and I breathed a sigh of relief. The wolf lay down beside me, no longer concerned with Navarre’s approach.
A bolt flew across the sky and bounced harmlessly off the circle of protection I had created. Ironically, it mimicked the shape of the dome Navarre had constructed to trap us, only in smaller scale.
“You bitch! What have you done?” Navarre ran towards us, his eyes glowing with fury.
“I think this might be what you call a stalemate because last time I checked, dawn is quickly approaching and you can’t do squat to us, you crazy-assed elf.”
“Noooo! You bitch, you filthy, animal loving bitch.” Navarre paced around the circle, avoiding coming in contact with it. “You can’t do this to me. I shall have my vengeance.”
“Not today you won’t, asshat. Go back Underhill. Hopefully there will be no one left to call you forth and you’ll be stuck there for the rest of eternity.”
Navarre roared incoherently, stalking back and forth in front of my circle. “No! This cannot be. I will have my revenge.” I was enjoying his rage, feeling the particular need to gloat when suddenly he stopped, his face becoming calm. “But this cur is not the only remaining Nash,” he said, a smile creeping across his face. “I still have time. I’ll find them all and wipe them off this Earth.”
“No!” I don’t know who was I was yelling at, Navarre for his suggested annihilation of Nash’s family or the wolf who jumped to his feet, lunging for Navarre. I grabbed the golden chain joining us together and yanked him back before he could cross the circle. “Stop Nash! Don’t break the circle.” The wolf snarled and then began to pace, staying meticulously away from the line I had drawn.
Navarre, sensing that he might be able to egg Nash on, began reciting all the nasty things he planned to do to Nash’s mom and sisters. The wolf snapped and snarled as Navarre’s words became more and more sickening.