Yelps and growls filled the air, a rush of heavy and light steps over the grass and underbrush. A human yell as one of the wolves leapt past us, and in the distance howls rent the air.
“Stop! Stop stop stop!” I didn’t consciously remember my joke about yelling the same word over and over again, but a lot of the noise died as I kept shrieking.
“Shut her up!” Now that was Septimus. He pulled off his goggles and walked out of the thickest part of the armed group to train his gun at my face.
Even a non-lethal weapon could do a lot of damage from the range he was at.
I looked up at Andrew, trying to see if there was anyone in there worth fighting for.
He wasn’t looking at me but rather around us, face still twisted balefully. This momentarily halted the wolves, and the ones closest to us began to whimper and twist in unnatural angles.
“No!” I shook him harder again, though it nearly as difficult as trying to budge a tree. The whimpers stopped, and I stared into his angry face desperately.
A crack exploded right behind him and fiery agony erupted in my shoulder. Luckily it was short-lived, because the sounds around me faded and my vision went black.
Chapter 21
When I opened my eyes the first sight I saw was of the huge moon. It really was so close and so beautiful. Then the terrible heat flared to life in my shoulder.
I struggled to sit up, head aching and lips tingling. There was so much going on, I could hardly focus. Andrew was locked in a grapple with Septimus. The black-clad people were broken up into small clumps, several lying limply on the ground with the goggles splattered with blood.
One wolf was on top of a thrashing black haired Hunter. A familiar slim figure with red hair let out a terrible scream and leapt on the wolf’s back. She wasn’t the only one who threw her gun down, but she was the only one who was ripping handfuls of fur out to save her friend.
Pandorea was being dragged away from the fray, her arms tightly wrapped around the brown wolf’s neck.
I shook my head again, unsteadily climbing to my feet as Septimus threw Andrew on the ground. His glare was venomous as it landed on me. “Bitch! He’s mine, he will always be mine!”
Not the words I’d expected, but I didn’t have time to react as he grabbed a second gun from his belt. I threw myself toward Andrew, though later I wouldn’t understand why I thought he was going to aim for anyone but me.
Before Septimus could lift his arm, he was knocked forward by a very familiar fair-haired human. As they both landed, a huge black wolf darted past us to join in.
I held onto Andrew as he slipped on the bloody grass while trying to crawl forward. “He was going to--please--” I don’t know what I was trying to tell him, really.
Andrew watched in horror as his father screamed, but he didn’t say a word.
Septimus pushed Ry off with one arm, and the gun glinted silver in the moonlight. This shot made the other cracks seemed like children’s firecrackers.
The black wolf lurched off Septimus, limping a few steps away until it slumped over and stopped moving.
All I could hear was a faint ringing, and my injured shoulder was wrenched as Andrew slid forward. “Andrew?” I tried turning him with my other hand, now that one arm was next to useless. His shirt was drenched in blood. I pushed hard until his limp body turned over.
Kurt wasn’t the only one who the bullet hit. He wasn’t moving either, the dark wound steaming as blood gushed from his neck.
I screamed as I tore at my hair, weeping for all I was worth. For everything he was worth.
Then his chest lifted off the ground as he burst into deep coughs, and I grabbed his face. “Open your eyes! Please!”
One eye did open, the right one. He erupted into another set of harsh wet coughs.
Maybe it was a flesh wound? It was so hard to tell in the dark, and everything was covered in blood, even my hands and lap. “Are you well enough to turn a few werewolves? We need to get you to a hospital.”
The look he gave me, even out of one eye, was answer enough.
I looked wildly around for help, spotting Kurt limping toward us. As he came closer, his gait became steadier. I had no idea how, until it came to me in a sweet flash.
A shifter healed faster as an animal.
I stared at Andrew, trying to undo his vest. My fingers were trembling, the zipper was clotted with blood. It took me several tries, but I got it open and felt around his upper body. Blood pulsed out from his neck steadily, and his coughs were slowly turning into gurgling.
I pulled him closer on my lap, shutting my eyes tight. He had the moon in him, but that light was me. And the dark side of the moon in me, that, that was him.
The moon filling the sky above us was all but gone in my mind, because Andrew needed it to be. I was barely aware of the hot tears or the body in my lap that thrashed me. It was either his last moments or our first. The weight grew heavy in my arms, almost impossibly so.
I opened my eyes.
He was beautiful, sleek and covered in black rosettes. I couldn’t wipe my face, so I just sniffled and pressed my face into his heaving side.
Most of the Hunters were either huddled together or lying utterly still in a seemingly endless circle of wolves.
I couldn’t move my legs at all, I wouldn’t be able to feel them soon but the great beast’s breathing was evening out. I sniffed again and ran my palm over the silky fur.
“I hope you become accustomed quickly to sleeping next to a lot of people.”
A chorus of growls made me lift my head. One of the Hunters was slowly crawling toward us. It was Rose.
I wriggled out from under Andrew’s large body, crawling just in front of him.
She remained on her hands and knees, pushing her upper body down to the ground as she peered up at me. “Please, please change Tiberius. He was hurt badly.”
I stared at her. She had a lot of nerve. “Why should I?” It felt so cold saying it, but they had come in with the intent of capturing and slaughtering everyone here.
“I made Tiberius do it. I wanted the leverage of you to make Andrew set me free. Don’t punish him.” She was honest to goodness begging. I’d never heard anyone beg before, not even in a movie.
“I swear fealty to Andrew! As my Doyen, our Doyen!” She shoved her face in the bloody grass, hands digging in the dirt next to her bowed head.
“Where is he?” As it turned out, I was really soft-hearted. So I followed her back to the huddled group cautiously.
Tiberius was several feet away from the others, pale skin covered with blood.
I had learned one new fact tonight; blood did indeed look black in the moonlight. I kneeled next to him, my cold knees immediately soaking up the warm blood. Pulling the image of the huge moon close and hiding all but a hint of silvery reflection was easier this time.
Tiberius and Rose, rather awful people honestly, at least had one person they cared about more than themselves.
Perhaps, like a new moon, there would come a time where they shone.
A choked sound sounded from the body in front of me, the raspy breathing becoming more pronounced as things moved under his skin. I kept the image in my mind as we stripped him of the heavy vest and I let her unclothe him further as dark fur ran over the pallor of his skin.
This was the first time I watched anyone transform all the way. It was easier, because I was not affected strongly by the groans while he was still human. Rose curled up against his animal form, burying her head against his neck.
Looking around, I spotted another person I knew well. Marius had also been shoved apart from the mostly unharmed Hunters, the spill of blond hair untouched by gore of his neck.
I looked around for Ry, who was sitting in the rows of wolves. “Do you want me to Change him?” I don’t know why I asked. I doubted Marius loved anyone but himself, but it wasn’t his love I was thinking about.
“No.” Ry shook his head. “If he lives...he lives.”
I n
odded and made my way back to Andrew, crawling close to him until I could throw my arms around his huge midsection. He still hadn’t gotten up again, but he was breathing.
Suddenly the air was filled with howls, long and hair-raising. A handful of wolves crept close and stayed, but most got to their feet and trotted off. A dozen silver speckled wolves remained next to the Hunters, keeping watchful yellow eyes on them.
I thought I wouldn’t be able to sleep between the adrenaline and the throbbing in my shoulder. I had pulled the shoulder of my shirt down, the bruise was tender, dark red, and as large as my hand. However, I must have drifted off because when I opened my eyes next sunlight filtered through the tall trees on us.
Andrew was human again, only several scraps of ruined cloth covering him. The bullet wound low on his neck was closed, little more than a sunken red scar.
My parents were there, asleep and lying together in the clearing behind us.
A clothed Pandorea was curled up next to naked Heath, and I spotted other people in the Pack still unconscious.
Lyall was awake and dressed, watching me now that I sat up.
“I don’t suppose anyone brought any painkillers?” I patted my hair and winced at the messy tangles. I hope I hadn’t looked like that all night.
“In my car. What are we going to do with them?” He pointed at the only other clothed people, all but two had also fell asleep at some point. Only the close friends, if they were still just friends at this point, were awake with heads pressed close.
“They probably have their own cars.” I deliberately didn’t look just a bit further to the left, where the largest pool of blood hadn’t yet dried entirely. It took thick and tacky.
It didn’t surprise me that Septimus’ body had been dragged off in the night. I only hoped Andrew could move on eventually. I wished he wouldn’t mourn at all, but many people loved even the worst parents.
“You think we should just let them leave?” Lyall asked neutrally, turning to stare at them again.
“We should probably grab their guns, but yes. I can’t say Andrew deserves a second chance without giving them the same.”
“You could.” But he only got to his feet and began to gather the pistols and shotgun looking firearms and carried them off into the woods.
I almost suggested we arm ourselves with them, but in the end, held my tongue. Maybe they would remember the lack of returning violence. Maybe.
I yawned and laid back on a dry spot of grass, closing my eyes. There was going to come a time where a lot of choices had to be made by a lot of people, but that could wait.
The leaves above me were bright in the sunlight, and the warmth seeped through me. The moon had been beautiful last night, but I found myself preferring the day.
Chapter 22
My parents were making up for lost time in pampering Andrew as he coalesced in the Pack house. The wound had closed but it left him weak and unable to get in a deep breath. Andrew clearly hated being doted on, but they gamely brought him food, tea, extra pillows, that sort of thing.
I didn’t interfere, he owed them at least that after leaving full body bruises on them. Plus, it was exceedingly busy outside of that particular room.
People were in and out whose names and faces I couldn’t remember, and a lot of them wanted to talk to me. My little Pack kept most of it away if I wanted, but I did speak to the ones Lyall asked me too.
I resumed classes the next week, woefully behind, but nobody cornered me in the loo again.
When Andrew was better I figured I would insist on checking on the Manor with him. I wouldn’t let him out of my sight easily. Speaking of which, neither of my snog-partners had a chance to be alone with me. That would come in time as well, but I wasn’t in any hurry.
There were serious debates and discussions on the revelation of switching a mundane shifter into a different species of shifter, and what that meant for Pandorea.Nobody wanted the Turning to fail, but in the end it was their choice to make.
Ry hadn’t heard from any of his kind either, and he seemed content to keep it that way. Everybody voted on letting him stay, even a very grudging Kurt.
Right now almost all of us were piled on the communal bed even though it was daytime.
“Do you think you’ll stay, or go back to your flat?” Clover asked, reading a magazine while lying on her back.
“Mm,” I thought, trying to finish the last pages of my long-delayed book. “Heath and Pandy are talking about moving in together. I don’t want to be a third wheel.”
“You might be here, given the way Ry and Kurt keep undressing each other with their eyes.”
“You have a fertile imagination. I like that.” I grinned at her, entertained greatly by the image. “Besides, I would never stand in the way of their Romeo-Juliet love.”
“He hates me.” Ry sighed from the other side of Clover, closer to the bottom of the bed. “I suppose my unrequited love must remain just that.”
“I’m not undressing him with my eyes,” Kurt muttered from the other side of him, face buried in the pillows. “Also, sod off.”
I smiled as I flipped another page. Willie was about to hit on one or both of them, and Clover was going to be a cheeky perv.
When I was right, I laughed and went back to my book. For now I was content with not so much the happy ending, but a better possibility than the story began with.
Look for the next book in the Shifter Series by Hanna Maria Jones titled Bound; The Academy of Shifters
Coming in May 2016!
Chosen: Shifters of London Page 16