by Jory Strong
A glance showed the same thing happening in the five adults, regardless of their form. Something toxic, she thought, something affecting their nervous system.
She was grateful for Aryck’s presence next to her, for the heat radiating off his body as she lifted her hands, removing the amulet and handing it to him for safekeeping. Even braced for the frigid iciness, its blast was so intense she gasped.
This was plague. Virulent. Infectious. And despite the depth of their unconsciousness, the Wolves stirred, as if they would come to her, as if the virus itself knew her.
Horror and dread and gut-knotting guilt nearly overwhelmed her. The taste of disease filled her mouth.
She remembered the urchin’s breath. His ice-cold lips against hers. I’ve given you a piece of myself.
Rebekka forced herself to touch the pup’s torso. There was a sense of invasion, of hunger. It pulsed, built, grew more intense as she slid her hand upward, stopping when her palm rested on his forehead.
This was where the disease struck, attacking the brain, shutting down bodily functions. It was encephalitis, or something like it.
She slid her hand down, along the muzzle. The sense of being connected to the virus intensified, as if it was concentrated there in the saliva, pooled to spread to other entities instead of throughout the body.
Rebekka closed her eyes. Gathered her will and gave herself over to her gift.
She was spared the pain that had accompanied healing the Jaguar cubs and Aryck because the Wolf pup felt no pain. But she experienced the same sensation of being a tool, a conduit. Heat poured through her unchecked and uncontrolled, filling her chest and eradicating the numbing cold before traveling down her arm and through her hand.
This time the rush of power came with a greater awareness. She heard the shaman’s drums, and in the distance an echo of them that made her think of the Were ancestors, of the eternal soul Aryck claimed lived among them. She felt as though a part of her slid into the pup, her gift and will only names she’d used to define a piece of her own soul.
Infection burned away in its path. Damaged tissue was repaired and restored.
The pup roused, fully healed. Jumped away from Rebekka and barked in alarm at finding her there.
The break in physical contact was like a dousing in frigid water. She turned her attention to the pup’s twin, healing him then moving on to their adult siblings and parents.
If not for Jael’s presence, the roused Wolves would have attacked. That was always the risk when healing the unconscious. A command from their enforcer and they took a human form.
Worry and guilt made Rebekka feel like vomiting. She shook, not just in the aftermath of using her gift, but with knowledge that there was sickness nearby. It stretched like an ethereal string across the distance. She could tell its direction by the cold spear lodged in her chest like a pointer set in a compass, the density of it warning there had to be a number of those infected by the virus.
Desperate, not wanting to believe she’d brought plague with her, Rebekka latched onto the hope this was just a random pocket of infectious disease, as the guardsman in the Barrens claimed happened from time to time. The diseased were east and north, instead of west, where Oakland was.
Tremors wracked her as she turned to Aryck. Her fingers clumsy in her haste to take the necklace from him.
Once it was in her possession the chill dissipated and the sense of disease disappeared. But their absence granted only a small measure of relief.
“What was wrong with them?” Jael asked.
“A virus attacked the brain. It was concentrated in their saliva. That’s how it spreads.”
In wolf form pups licked their parents’ lips to elicit attention or food. Submissives did the same to more dominant animals.
They greeted and groomed one another. Shared prey and water. All of it having the potential to spread the virus.
If instead of going directly to their home, this family had stopped and interacted with others when they returned to their village, the entire pack would have died.
Rebekka’s stomach cramped with nausea. She couldn’t admit to knowing there were others who were sick, didn’t dare risk letting them know there was a connection—even a tenuous one—between her and a plague. And yet she couldn’t ignore it, letting it spread.
As much as she wished it was otherwise, there were no cures for this contained in the journal. Her mouth went dry as she scrambled to find the right words and the best way to convey the danger. She was spared by the Wolf healer, who also realized a risk to the pack remained.
The healer spoke to the oldest of the family members, a man with silver streaked through his hair. “Did you return because you felt the beginnings of illness, Gaetan?”
“No.” Gaetan indicated one of the twin boys. “Until Jakob began convulsing, there was no warning anything was wrong.”
“Your family became ill within minutes of each other. It makes me think you were exposed at the same time. And also that the incubation period doesn’t vary, despite differences in weight or age.”
The Wolf healer met Rebekka’s eyes as if seeking her agreement. When Rebekka nodded, the healer asked Gaetan where the family had been.
“We hunted to the east, in the meadow near Bear lands,” Gaetan said, naming the direction Rebekka felt the sickness coming from. “We ate rabbits as we caught them. At dawn yesterday we took down an elk cow while wearing our fur.”
Gaetan frowned. “She was easy prey. Not something a Wolf questions. We fed and slept and fed, none of us changing forms. When little of the carcass remained, I decided to return home, thinking it had been a good outing for the pups.”
Rebekka’s throat grew tight with the remembered scene from the Barrens. “In the city, those in power burn the bodies of anyone or anything they believe might carry an infectious disease.”
“A wise precaution,” Jael said. “How many were in the elk herd, Gaetan?”
“Ten.”
“It’s likely they are all infected. If there’s a chance they carry something that might wipe out the pack, then we have no choice but to kill them all and burn the bodies.”
“Let me try to heal them first,” Rebekka said.
Jael turned toward her. “You and Aryck may accompany us, but I make no promises. I won’t put the pack or its members at risk.”
THERE was little left of the elk carcass Gaetan and his family had feasted on. Jael ordered it burned where it lay at the edge of the meadow, leaving two Wolves behind to carry out the task.
None of the Wolves was in animal form. Like Jael, each carried knives at their thighs. The blades were augmented by other weapons: crossbows, regular bows, wrist-braced slingshots, long spears with barbed steel points, and several rifles.
An hour after leaving the kill carcass, they found another dead elk. Scavengers were already busy at work.
Meat bees and flies buzzed around and on it. Two turkey buzzards hopped away, not taking flight until the Wolves were close enough to make them prey.
It was impossible to tell how the animal died, but there was a single set of wolf tracks leading away from it. Jael’s eyes met those of a man who looked several years younger than him and shared a family resemblance.
Brother, Rebekka thought, seeing something pass between the two of them. She turned her head and caught Aryck watching the exchange with interest, guessed, like he and his father, the Wolves communicated telepathically.
A signal from Jael resumed the hunt. They moved steadily upward, toward a ridge.
Away from the meadow the land grew increasingly dry and hot. Unlike the dense pockets of forest surrounding the Jaguar and Wolf homes, the soil beneath Rebekka’s feet was fragile, supporting the growth of scrub and manzanita and very little else.
As they crested the ridge she saw a copse of trees in the canyon below, its location indicating a spring. They climbed downward, traveling on narrow, well-worn paths.
Rebekka was fairly certain they were moving
east and north. She felt sick with the knowledge that if she removed the amulet, they wouldn’t need to travel at all; the elk would come.
Guilt tried to work its way into her consciousness. She beat it back. I’m doing what I can, she told herself. Nothing good would come of revealing her secret.
Her memories circled repeatedly. From urchin visits to the encounter with her father, to the things the Wainwright witches had told her and given in payment, to what her mother had revealed. Her father might be demon, but the urchin was clearly his enemy, and an enemy to the Weres as well.
The journal in her pocket was a weight against her thigh, making her think of the Jaguar cubs, who would have died without the knowledge contained in it. Just as her father had once saved her from rape and sent her to the Were brothels, he’d been responsible for the protection offered by the amulet and the deepening of her gift because of it. He was allied with the Wainwright witches. He had to be. Was it such a stretch to believe he meant for her to be here now?
A glance at Aryck and a flutter went through Rebekka’s chest. Or was she only looking for a reason to give in to the feelings she’d experienced since the first time she truly saw him as a man?
He turned his head then, meeting her eyes. Heat came. Instantly. Flushing through her with memories of waking beneath him, of the promise in his eyes when he’d pinned her against the tree.
She dropped her gaze. His hand stroked down the length of her spine in a silent message. Later.
Prints in the mud around a spring indicated the herd had been there. No one drank.
They kept going, coming to what was little more than a watering hole. There were additional tracks, including those made by a heavy vehicle.
Aryck knelt down to study a partial human shoeprint at the edge of the water, glanced up to the spot where dirt and crushed scrub told a tale of vehicles stopping and turning around. “The humans from the encampment were here.”
“Several times,” Jael said. “They’ve explored other areas as well. This is the deepest they’ve come into our lands.”
Aryck considered his father’s suspicions when it came to the Wolves and the human interlopers. There had long been distrust between the various predatory groups. Some of it was rooted in history, and in the case of the Lions and Hyenas, by genetics, but much of the pressure came from territorial disputes.
Pure animals were held in check naturally. Their numbers rose and fell according to what the land could sustain.
They starved when there was not enough food. Females didn’t go into heat, or the offspring they gave birth to were so weak they didn’t survive into adulthood.
It was not the same for Weres, especially those belonging to the dominant groups. Having the ability to reason put them at an advantage. Being able to shift form gave them an edge. It also meant their numbers could increase radically, and often did when females got pregnant while in their animal forms.
Wolves could give birth to upward of fourteen pups. It was perhaps one reason werewolves had starred in so many human stories well before the supernaturals made their presence known.
The predatory Weres controlled the size of their packs by splitting and taking over new territory, driving away those in possession of the land they wanted or—if necessary—fighting, reducing their numbers in the way humans had always done, through warfare.
For the same reasons predatory Weres did not associate with those who became prey in their animal forms, they did not intermingle much with other predators. Doing so increased the risk of interbreeding and, with it, of family alliances being formed that would lead to divisiveness in the pack should the two groups go to war. It was easier to kill a stranger than someone you’d shared food with or seen with their children and mate. And with prey, better not to realize after the fact that you’d eaten a friend.
Aryck glanced at Rebekka. He could still feel the imprint of her body against his, could still taste the kiss they’d shared. It took only the thought of her to make his cock start to harden.
Days ago he would not have believed such a thing was possible. Days ago he’d recoiled when the Jaguar called her mate.
A question slid into his consciousness, similar to the one that had risen as he ran to intercept the trespassing Wolves. Had the ancestors revealed Rebekka’s existence and sent him to her for a greater reason than just the healing of the cubs?
The Wolves had let her pass through their lands. Such a thing would only happen if the alpha allowed it.
Their alpha might have given permission on the off chance there were old weapons on Wolf land. But considering it now, Aryck realized it was far more likely the alpha had allowed them to cross because the shaman advised it.
Without Rebekka’s presence the Wolf pack would have been eradicated. And because of her, he was here, among them, sharing a hunt with their enforcer and contemplating alliance.
Not just alliance, Aryck admitted to himself, but claiming Rebekka as his mate. He was rapidly coming to believe the ancestors favored it. Or maybe the fear of being made outcast stood no chance against his desire to couple with her.
He rose from where he was crouched at the edge of the waterhole. Coming on the heels of what had happened to the Jaguar cubs, and the way the virus acted, striking all the members of Gaetan’s family without regard to age or body mass, it was hard not to be suspicious of the humans in the encampment, who’d suddenly gone quiet after making their presence known by filling the night with the sound of gunfire.
“So far the only sick or dead have been Wolves and elk,” Aryck said. “I would have expected to find deer carcasses as well, possibly coyote and fox.”
Jael caressed the knife hilt against his thigh. “I’ve been thinking the same.”
With a minute wave of his hand, Aryck indicated the footprint at the edge of the water. “There’s no proof the humans in the encampment are behind this but it seems foolish to ignore the possibility. This incursion into Were lands might just be the beginning of their plans for our territory.
“Without knowing who is behind the foray and what kind of power they wield in the human world, all of us are at a disadvantage. Not sharing what we learn or uniting against the threat adds to our disadvantage. What we do, or don’t do, will ultimately affect all of us. One group of us attacking might well be answered by declaring open season on all of us. Yet if the humans are somehow behind this virus …”
“Your analysis is a good one.” Jael glanced at Rebekka. “The healer could be sent to Coyote lands. She could visit with the humans and gather information. They’d allow her into the encampment.”
Aryck bared his teeth. “No.”
Jael’s lips quirked up in a small smile but then he stilled, eyes growing distant for an instant before saying, “My brother has found a dead Wolf.”
The mental communication confirmed Aryck’s suspicions about Jael. Like him, the Wolf was an enforcer of the alpha’s line.
“A pack member?” Rebekka asked.
“Once,” Jael said, his voice not inviting further questioning, though it was unneeded between Wolf and Jaguar.
Jael pulled one of the knives from its sheath and leaned over, using the blade to sever a thin manzanita branch. He stripped it and carved something on it in several places before stepping closer to Aryck and allowing him to see the symbols. “These warn against drinking the water here.”
The gesture spoke louder than words. Rarely did different groups share what counted as their written language.
Jael tossed the marker to one of the other Wolves. “Make several more and place them around the watering hole, then catch up to us.” To Aryck he said, “Let’s continue on. After the elk herd is located and dealt with I will speak to the alpha about the possibility of a formal alliance. In the past I wouldn’t have considered approaching him with such a suggestion, but I think perhaps he will be more receptive now, especially given he has let both a human and a Jaguar come among us.”
Miles later they found the remains of tw
o Elk. Aryck’s hand curled around Rebekka’s arm at the sight of them.
The bodies were fresh. Their tracks and faces pointed in the direction of the Wolf village, as if they were retracing their earlier route. There was no obvious cause of death, but the urine-soaked ground and scattered feces hinted at convulsions.
He’d known from the outset they were tracking a mixed herd, a small family of Were traveling with pure animals for added safety. He hadn’t wanted to upset Rebekka by talking about it, not when there was every possibility the Wolves would be forced to kill all those in the herd rather than let any of them escape to spread the virus. He’d hoped they carried the virus without being affected by it in the same way as the Wolves. The dead in front of him said otherwise.
Jael left men to burn the bodies. And though no one spoke openly about them being Were, the Wolves bristled with emotion. Fear and rage and worry.
Aryck allowed another mile of steep climb to pass before he left Rebekka’s side and moved alongside Jael’s. Keeping his voice low, he asked, “How far until we reach the Elk village?”
“Close, I think”—there was a brief hesitation—“given the smell.”
Aryck nodded. The breeze carried the scent of death.
They approached a place where the trail forked. Left went toward Bear territory. Right toward Jaguar, passing through Coyote lands to get there.
Protectiveness rose in Aryck, the desire to shield Rebekka from what most likely lay ahead of them, not just the dead but the disposal of them. The Wolves would have to burn the bodies of entire families, including children, some of them in human form, all of them infected when those traveling with the herd of animals returned home.
Steps away from the branching trail, Aryck said, “Rebekka and I will wait here.”
“I’ll send someone to tell you what we find.”
Aryck stopped as the Wolves continued on. He took Rebekka’s wrist as she reached him, forcing her to a halt. “Jael will let us know if you’re needed. We’ll wait here.”