by Cox, Suzanne
He stepped towards a shiny red convertible with the top down. The black interior gleamed and when he held open the door I was almost afraid to sit in the thing in case I had dirt on my shoes.
“When did you get this?”
He slid behind the steering wheel and laughed. “It belongs to my uncle.”
“Nice uncle.”
“Yep, he is. Which way to your mom’s office?”
I leaned against the headrest and pointed the way. Hopefully, no danger lurked around the next turn. If I could make it until Aunt Louise got here I’d feel better. What if someone came after me? Could I protect myself and Eric too? I prayed to the ancient werewolf gods, surely there were some, that I wouldn’t have to find out.
Three hours later we pulled into the front drive of my house, the red sports car a bit conspicuous next to my mother’s four year old Maxima and Aaron’s dusty truck. We’d made it home thirty minutes ago, only to be sent back out by Aaron to pick up a pizza he ordered. Eric balanced the huge box as I opened the door for him to follow me in.
“Great, I’m starved.” Aaron flipped back the lid, grabbing a slice and starting to eat without waiting for a plate. Across the kitchen my mother sighed and opened the cabinet, but before she could get the plates, Eric grinned and started on his own piece.
My mother set the plates on the table. “When you two take a breath, here’s a plate.”
“It’s best this way, straight out of the box. Right, Eric?”
Eric could only nod, his mouth full of pizza. I laughed as my mother arched an eye brow and smiled. It was the same arched eyebrow I’d seen when Eric and I had left her office earlier today. To her credit, she hadn’t looked thoroughly shocked when I walked through the door with Eric in tow. I had no idea how she had managed that, since it was the first guy I’d ever brought to her office, or home for that matter.
Opening a cabinet to get glasses for soda, I glanced through the window over the sink into the backyard. My fingers tightened around the glass. Suddenly, I couldn’t move my arm and the glass remained in the cabinet. Was that movement I saw? I blinked once, twice, then stared. Letting go of the glass my fingers grasped the edge of the sink for support. Definitely movement in my back yard. The werewolf gods had failed me.
From behind, warmth washed over me as Eric’s body brushed against me.
“What do you see?” Eric’s whispered question helped me focus. I forced myself to breath.
“Umm nothing, just looking into the yard.”
His hand closed over mine and tightened. “Don’t lie. What do you see?”
My throat constricted. Before I could think or even monitor my words I answered, “Movement.”
“Lock that door.” He nodded toward the door in the kitchen that opened onto the back yard. Then, I was cold. Eric was gone. I turned, running to the door as he grabbed my mother and Aaron by the arm. “Do you have a bedroom closet?”
Aaron nodded as my mother pointed down the hall.
“Go, now!” He propelled them down the hallway and into the bedroom closet. I raced after him.
“What are you doing?”
I saw the stunned shock on my mom and Aaron’s face as Eric slammed the closet shut and grabbed a huge dresser with one hand, sliding it in front of the door. I couldn’t move now, only stare at him. From behind me there was a banging at the kitchen door. The entire house vibrated on its foundation with every thud.
Eric stepped in front of me, grabbed my shoulders, bent and quickly kissed my mouth. “I don’t have time to explain. I need you to listen to me and do what I tell you.”
I shook my head. “Eric, wait. You don’t understand. You have to let me handle this. You could get hurt. I’m the one trained to deal with this.”
He gave a half-hearted smile and shook his head. “You are not trained for anything, Alexis, especially not this.”
Pushing me aside he raced back to the kitchen, leaping to hit the door in full stride. The door burst off its hinges and fell. Before Eric’s feet hit the ground, he had transformed into a huge golden wolf. How could I not have known?
A dark brown wolf struggled beneath the broken door. Further in the yard I spotted the second yellow wolf and prayed there weren’t more. I ran forward and in my mind willed myself to transform, but it didn’t happen. I didn’t have time to wonder why before the yellow colored wolf hit me full force. I went to the ground taking the animal with me, trying to avoid the snapping teeth. We rolled in the damp grass. I struggled to get hold of the wolf with no idea what would happen if I did. It wasn’t like I could kill it. The wolf’s sharp teeth closed on my shoulder. Its muscles bunched under skin and fur then it tossed me across the yard. In mid air I concentrated and suddenly transformed just before my body slammed into the brick wall of the house. My head thumped against the stone momentarily stunning me. The two wolves closed in on Eric. I scrambled to my feet and caught the yellow wolf dragging it backward. The larger brown wolf rolled across the grass locked together with Eric. Then the wolf was on top of him, teeth closing on Eric’s throat. Even if he couldn’t kill him that way he could make him unable to fight until he healed. I was fairly certain a ripped open throat would take more than two seconds to heal. In the meantime I’d be facing these two alone.
Struggling loose from the wolf that had clamped onto my leg I pushed off with my hind legs hard and hit the brown wolf knocking him off balance. He loosened his grip but was quickly on top of Eric, again. The yellow wolf jumped in front of me as I tried again to get the other wolf off Eric. A frustrated cry rushed from my throat. I caught the yellow wolf by the scruff of the neck and flung it with all the angry force I could muster from the very bottom of the pads of my feet. The animal flew midway up the tree, crashing through huge branches until it hit the tree trunk and hung there limp.
I turned to help Eric but he lay motionless in a pool of blood. Already I could see the jagged, torn skin trying to heal, but for now I was on my own. Then from the doorway of the kitchen I saw another wolf and my heart sank. Not two of them at one time. I didn’t know how long before the wolf in the tree would awaken and come down, then there’d be three. As if on cue the ground shook as the yellow wolf landed next to the huge brown one facing me. I couldn’t fight three of them. The wolf in the kitchen gave a shake then leapt across the grass. In the moonlight I saw his eyes and I knew. Relief swept over me. Myles.
We each took a wolf and the fight resumed. I quickly got the yellow wolf on its back. From the corner of my eye I saw Myles in wolf form battling the other wolf with Eric beside him. Even as I tried to hold my own I saw Myles and Eric tear apart the other wolf before coming to help me.
When the yellow wolf lay in pieces on our neatly mown lawn I raced into the house. In the laundry room I grabbed some clothes and transformed. When I returned to the yard Eric was gone but Myles stood there waiting, in his human form, wearing shorts and a T-shirt.
“Where’s Eric?”
“He went to his car for clothes.”
“Myles, he’s a werewolf, too.”
“Obviously.”
“Why didn’t you know already? You guys were friends? Why didn’t he tell us? Why didn’t he tell me?”
“He’s Fenryrian,” Myles said flatly.
I stopped reminding myself to breath. “But… well, it’s not really that big of a deal is it?”
Myles shook his head. “You know good and well it’s a big deal, Alexis.”
Eric came through the kitchen door in jeans pulling a T-shirt over his head. I ran toward him and threw my arms around him. He wrapped me up holding my body close to his.
“You alright?” he asked.
I nodded against his chest.
“Good, I was afraid you’d be hurt, but you held your own.”
I leaned back from him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I just couldn’t.”
He stepped away from me, his hand sliding down my arm to interlock with my fingers as he walked toward Myles pulling me
along with him.
“Sorry, I couldn’t tell you before, Myles.”
“I understand.” Myles paused and glanced toward the werewolves we’d just fought. “What now?”
Eric pulled a small can from his back pocket. “They have to be burned.”
I grabbed the can. “Wait, if we put the parts near each other they could grow back together. We beat them. We won. Can’t we just let them go? I mean won’t they see we’ve won this fight and leave?”
Eric frowned. “They won’t stop. It’s Channing’s parents, Alexis.”
“But I thought they’d been talked to about what Channing was doing. I thought they were angry but understood.”
“I guess not.” Myles said.
Eric stared at the ground then shook his head and squeezed my hand. “There’s more to it than you know.”
“Then tell me.”
I couldn’t describe what I saw on his features, agony maybe. It was a look that made a feeling of dread start to unfurl in my stomach.
“You don’t understand what it means for you to be Lycernian and me Fenryrian. You don’t understand that Channing’s parents wouldn’t stop coming after you, EVER. This is the only way. It’s what they would have done to you… and to me. It’s why I came here.”
“I thought you came to visit, to check on me.”
Eric’s breath left him in a rush making a swishing sound as it passed his lips. “Alexis, I did come to check on you, to try and protect you. I knew they were coming. The council had forbidden them, but they were coming anyway. If they had killed you the council would likely have had them killed too.”
“For killing me,” I whispered.
He shook his head. “For going against the council.”
“But they came anyway. Even though they knew they’d die in the end,” I said softly. “Why were they focused on me when Channing brought this on herself by trying to kill me?”
“They had a lot at stake.”
“What? What did they have at stake?”
From his pocket Eric drew out a blue stoned necklace. I looked from the necklace to him.
“That’s Channing’s.”
“No, this one is mine.”
I could hardly get the words out. “What do you mean? You said you didn’t date her, didn’t want to. But, you had matching necklaces. Why?”
“We were matched. We were supposed to be mated, later. I still had training, but it was planned. I never agreed to it, never wanted it.”
From behind me I heard Myles mutter, “shit.” But I couldn’t turn to look at him because I couldn’t take my eyes off Eric.
“So she had every reason to want to kill me. You were promised to her.”
“I didn’t promise her anything,” he said sharply. “I didn’t want to be with her, be mated to her, ever. I told our parents that, but they’d never listen.”
“You know it doesn’t work like that,” Myles said.
I glanced back at him then at Eric. “You lied about it to me.”
“What was I going to tell you? I’m a werewolf and I’m promised to this other girl but everyday I want it to be you instead of her. I know I’m ultimately to blame for what happened to Channing.”
“Why can’t it be me?” I whispered.
“Alexis!” Myles voice was sharp.
Eric shook his head. “My council, my parents, aren’t going to promise me to a Lycernian, Alexis.”
I stared at the ground.
“I have to go,” Eric said. “Channing’s father was an important man, a local state senator in Louisiana. This is going to be a huge mess. No one can know I was here.”
My eyes burned and a knot swelled from my chest into my stomach. “It’s not fair.”
“It’s the way it is.”
Eric took the can from my hand and passed it to Myles. “I have to leave. I’m hoping they’re alone but if anybody finds out I was part of this I’ll be in a lot of trouble.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
Eric turned and pulled me against his chest.
“I wish it could be different,” he whispered in my ear. He kissed my cheek, the side of my neck, and he was gone. Behind me there was a whooshing sound as Myles lit the accelerant and flames leapt across the two bodies.
“Wait.”
Eric turned back briefly to look at me from the kitchen door. Then he disappeared. I took a step after him, but Myles hand closed over my upper arm.
“Stop, Alexis.”
“No.” I shook him off and started to run. Myles caught me from behind, nearly tackling me, while wrapping both arms around me. He spun me around until I faced him.
“I’m going with him, Myles. I don’t care. I’ll become Fenryrian.”
“You don’t know what you’re saying, Alexis. You don’t know what it means to be Fenryrian. You don’t even know what it means to be Lycernian. The pack you were born to.”
“I don’t care except that it means I get to be with Eric.”
“Does it? Do you think his pack will automatically accept you and let you be with him?”
The tears I’d been battling spilled over and my shoulders shook with sobs. “This is wrong, Myles. Why does it have to be this way?”
“We’re two different packs and we have different ways. You don’t know the ways of either one so how can you possibly choose.”
“I choose Eric.”
Myles sighed and pulled me against his chest. “Alexis, he didn’t choose you.”
The truth made me sob even harder.
Chapter Thirty-Six
I sat on my bed staring past the pictures on the wall. Myles had been visiting a family friend a few hours away when Louise had called and sent him to check on me, knowing she wouldn’t make it until the next day. I didn’t know if Eric and I would have been able to fight off or kill the two werewolves that had attacked us and I was glad we hadn’t had to find out. Every time I closed my eyes the flames of the burning werewolves danced in the blackness. Then the image of Eric’s back disappearing through the door came racing into the picture out of the yellow and orange fingers of heat that had destroyed my enemies.
Myles sat beside me on the bed now that the tears had stopped. He’d left me alone in my room long enough to let my parents out of the closet, but otherwise he’d stayed close. I knew it wasn’t because he was worried that I’d be upset. He was afraid I’d bolt, that I’d take off in search of Eric. Maybe I would have if he hadn’t been there. But in the end, Myles was right. Eric hadn’t asked me to go with him.
“You have gifts, talents that the Fenryrians want. They may try and get you to join them, but it doesn’t mean things will be what you want.” Myles said at last, obviously tired of the silence.
I twisted to glare at him. “Maybe I want to join them.”
“You’re not a killer.”
“Neither is Eric.”
Myles stood next to the dresser in my tiny room and seemed larger than I remembered. “You don’t know that.”
“I know I don’t want to lose him.”
“You need to think about this. If you go there, you leave all of us behind. Me, Louise, even your parents. Your aunt could be on the council in a few years. She’s an important member of the pack. She loses that when you go with them.
“They wouldn’t do that to her because of me.”
“Yes they would. They couldn’t trust her with you on the other side.”
“You don’t know that.” I grabbed a pillow and hugged it to me.
“My dad was removed from the council when my mom left us. He lost respect among the pack. He’ll never be allowed to be the leader he might have been. They won‘t risk him having a weakness for her that could later hurt our pack.” He paused before continuing. “If you go, you won’t get to be with Eric.”
“Even now that the mate they picked for him is gone? They won’t let him choose a mate? You’re saying they’ll pick someone else and it can’t be me. Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?”
“Maybe Eric and I can get them to match us. You already said I have talents, that I’m strong.”
“You’re Lycernian.”
“I could choose to be one of them.”
“And you’re willing to help them hunt humans, infect them, kill them?”
“I helped kill tonight.”
Myles grabbed my shoulders. “In a battle for your life you helped kill. That’s completely different than killing innocent humans in a lust for blood and flesh. Besides, you still wouldn’t be Fenryrian blood line.”
I shook his hands away. “Get out. I’ve had enough of this.”
He stepped back and glanced toward the window. “Don’t try and leave.”
I ignored him and curled up on the bed closing my eyes. The door opened and shut. Myles was gone. I lay there for hours running every possible scenario through my mind that ended with me and Eric together. In the end I realized that one thing Myles had said was right. I didn’t know enough to make decisions. I didn’t know enough to come up with much of a plan. I bounced my head against the pillow in frustration. Inside I was empty with no hope, no plan. There had to be a way to bring the packs together, or at least get them to let me be with Eric, without my having to kill people. But I wouldn’t find that way here, in Chicago. I’d have to become part of the pack, in every sense of the word. I’d have to become strong, develop the skills everyone seemed so certain I had and show them that it could work. It was the only way.
Getting to my feet I went to the door and paused with my hand on the knob. In the living room I could hear Louise’s voice mixed with my mother’s. Occasionally, they were interrupted by Aaron. No one was happy and Myles was right about one more thing. Only I could make the decision that had to be made. I twisted the knob resolutely.
The talking stopped when I entered the room. I didn’t see Myles. He must have gone. My mother’s eyes were red rimmed and damp. I hated the thought that I was going to make her cry again. Louise simply sat there, expectantly, waiting for me to make a decision bigger than myself.