Or at least it did until Shelly skidded across the floor, still in wolf form, and crashed into them. Becca went to her knees while Erin stumbled and swayed. Lizzie yelled something that might have been a warning and there was a giant flash, like a flame in the center of the pattern. Becca glanced toward the cave entrance and saw Anderson and several of the other Nesters coming up the path. “Run for the center!” Erin yelled pulling Becca up and steadying Shelly as she scrambled up on all fours.
And they did. It was like running up a mountain in the snow. Shelly was changing back as she ran when Becca looked back. Anderson had a rifle in his hands, aiming at them all. There were two Nesters holding Lizzie against the wall and Oya was standing now, blood running down her chin. “Look out!” Becca yelled, ducking as much as she could while still moving.
Something whizzed past her. Erin gave a groan and staggered and Becca caught her, “Erin, no!” Her foot slipped and she was horrified to see blood beginning to obscure the pattern. Not again.
Shelly grabbed her shoulders with newly human hands. “Keep her going. We’re almost there.” She pointed forward: they had the last and shortest loop in front of them. Then the center and whatever happened next.
Becca strained to lift Erin. Anderson and his men were still firing. Unless they kept moving, they were all dead. She reached down deep inside herself and heaved Erin through the last few steps. She felt a sharp pain as something hit her shoulder hard. It burned with a white-hot agony, but the three of them kept staggering forward. The cave spun around Becca now, the torchlight dimming. This is it, then, she thought, taking a ragged breath.
Shelly growled softly in her ear. “We are not dying here or now. Move!” The word was like a verbal shove, the full weight of an alpha command behind it. Something in Becca responded and even Erin seemed to rouse herself and scrambled the last few steps.
The center of the pattern was nearly all that remained; the rest of it was obscured with blood or wiped out by their efforts to get through it. Erin went limp and Becca placed her gently down. Then, on impulse, she reached out and grabbed Erin’s hand, holding it as she stood up. Shelly gave her a quick look before Becca took her hand as well.
“Now, howl as loud as you can. Turn the wolf inside loose. We’re out of time,” Shelly’s voice was distant, as if it was coming from much farther away than the tiny semicircle they now formed.
Sure, easy for you to say, Becca thought. She squinted out into the cave and tried to see if Lizzie was okay. Then Shelly howled and the human thoughts began to dribble out of her mind. She threw back her head and howled with her alpha. The sound seemed to rouse Erin as well, and with a weak croak, she joined them.
The current that Becca had felt in the pattern came to life, crackling around them like a force field. Shelly said something that Becca didn’t quite catch, and then there was a moment where everything was completely still: Nesters, wolves, Lizzie, even the magic.
Then it exploded back to life. Shelly’s head arched back and she braced her feet far apart. For a moment, a wolf’s head flickered around her like old film, at least to Becca’s eyes. Then it hit her too and she staggered, held upright by Shelly’s support. It was like being on fire or like changing partway and being suspended between wolf and woman. Erin’s hand twitched in hers as the power, whatever it was, tossed her from the floor to stand unsteadily next to them.
The cave was glowing now and it seemed to Becca that all the paintings were in motion, racing around the walls as fast as they could go. At first, they stayed on the walls, circling the cave and disappearing at one side of the entrance, reappearing on the other. They began moving faster and faster until finally the first one leapt free, followed by another. A surge of painted wolf-women in various stages of transformation moved toward the Nesters at the entrance.
One man broke and ran, but Anderson and Oya and one or two others held their ground and fired their guns. Then the paintings struck back. Becca could barely see what was happening now. The cave was full of smoke and shots being fired and the cave’s magic was controlling her movements. She could feel the urge to change move from Shelly to take over her own body and she screamed in agony. It felt like the Nesters’ cure was getting burned out of her veins.
It twisted its way through her for a few moments, then the pain vanished to be replaced with a full change and she dropped to all fours. Shelly was human now, she noticed as she glanced at her alpha, so that just left Erin. The magic seemed to strike at Erin just as Becca thought she would be next and Erin yowled as it ran through her. The Nester’s bullets broke free of all of them and dropped to the floor.
Then, with a howl like Becca had never heard before, Erin dropped to her knees, then scrambled as they turned into paws. For a horrible moment, her face was human while her body changed as if the magic had forgotten a part of her. Becca closed her eyes for a moment and prayed to any deity that might be listening that the legend wasn’t going to come true.
A scream near the entrance made her jerk her eyes open and her head around. Anderson had fallen under the weight of the paintings, but Oya…Oya was still standing and surrounded by them. They were circling her like they’d done on the walls before they got free. Becca couldn’t help but think that they looked like paper dolls at the same time that her wolf nose was telling her that they were Pack.
Apparently, they looked a lot scarier up close. Oya had her face in her hands. One of the wolf-women, the one Kira had painted of Shelly, reached out and touched her head. Oya glowed for a moment, then she changed. Two of the paintings circled and blocked Becca’s view. Then she was preoccupied with her own change as she was wrenched back to human.
A quick glance at Erin showed her that her friend was human once more, though still covered in blood and clearly in pain. She looked at Shelly too, just to make sure. The alpha was standing with her arms, not paws, stretched above her head, like she was giving thanks for something or calling on a power that Becca couldn’t see.
Whatever that power was, it seemed to move in a wave from the three of them and the pattern toward the cave entrance and the painted women. Becca could see Anderson lying very limp and still but that was nothing compared to what happened when the paintings stopped circling Oya.
She had changed. Her eyes were still human above her fur-covered muzzle and she didn’t have full wolf form yet. Instead, she swayed on her huge hind legs with forearms that were part claw, part hand. It was like something out of a bad horror movie.
She looked down, then back up at Shelly. She tried to say something but all that emerged from her muzzle was a snarling growl, followed by a doglike bark. At that moment, Becca almost felt sorry for her. Oya, still growling, broke through the circle of paintings and vanished outside. Becca could hear her crashing through the underbrush, running away from the cave and Wolf’s Point.
Shelly sang a word, then two, in that language that Becca didn’t understand and the paintings began to circle once more. The circle got wider and wider this time until each painting merged back with the cave wall. A moment later, they were all back on the walls and perfectly still, as if nothing had happened.
Erin passed out, her body collapsing limply against Becca’s shoulder. Lizzie stood up slowly. “Holy shit, coz. That was…amazing.” She ran a hand through sweat-soaked hair. Her sunglasses seemed to be missing. “Oh crap. Erin. She’s still breathing, isn’t she?”
Becca nodded. Her heart raced frantically as she checked Erin’s pulse. But the wound in her shoulder still gushed blood and the sight filled Becca with terror. Lizzie began to cross the pattern but it was Shelly who reached down and touched Erin’s shoulder. There was a spark and a smell like burning herbs and the blood slowed, then stopped.
Erin’s breathing grew less frantic and Becca grinned up at Shelly. Shelly grinned back though she looked drawn and exhausted. Together they maneuvered the barely conscious Erin to her feet and moved her out of the remains of the pattern.
A sound outside made everyone ex
cept Erin flinch and look up. Lizzie dove for one of the Nester guns and spun around to face the entrance as Molly, Mrs. Hui, Gladys and the rest of the Pack scrambled up the path. “Dammit.” Molly’s voice echoed a little in the cave. “I told you we were going to miss all the fun.”
Chapter 29
~
In the end, they had to build a stretcher to carry Erin down the mountain. That was after they changed into the clothes that Mrs. Hui and Gladys thought to bring. Then they all filed down the trail, taking turns with the stretcher. It felt like a triumphal procession, except for Becca’s fears for Erin.
But Pete and Kira and the twins were waiting for them at the bottom of the trail. Dr. Green was with them, along with some other familiar faces.
Becca let Pete enfold her in a big, fierce hug. She had never seen him look so happy before. The feeling was contagious, especially when she heard Erin’s voice from behind her.
She was sitting up, her arm back in the now familiar sling as Dr. Green wrapped her shoulder, and they were talking in low voices. Becca walked over and sat down next to them. “I’ll be helping Erin out with her arm this time, Doc. What do I need to do?”
Erin gave her a surprised glance followed by that slow cowboy smile that Becca realized she hadn’t seen in ages. She hadn’t realized how much she missed it until now. She smiled back.
She was still smiling when they got back to Wolf’s Point. Molly dropped them off at Erin’s place, since she’d need help getting to bed even with werewolf recuperative powers. Between them, they got her cleaned up and into bed and the couch pulled out for Becca. She didn’t think she was ready for anything closer than that yet, and Erin was already asleep. She and Molly exchanged a few whispers about getting groceries the next day and fetching Becca’s car back from the Nester camp, then the other woman took off, leaving her in the quiet dimness of Erin’s living room.
Becca thought she would never fall asleep after all the excitement, right up until the moment when she did.
The sun was high in the sky when she woke up. There wasn’t any noise from overhead yet, which meant Erin was still sleeping. She got up very quietly and took a shower in the basement bathroom. After that, there was coffee to be made and breakfast to be scavenged up. She didn’t want to leave Erin alone just yet so when she was done, she moved quietly up the stairs to check on her.
Erin’s eyes flickered open as she came in, her body tensing for an instant, then relaxing as she recognized Becca. That just left Becca looking for something clever to say. “How are you doing? I made coffee.” The last comment made Becca feel silly; after all, Erin could smell the coffee from here. But she grinned at Becca anyway and it was like a second sunrise.
Then Erin held out her good hand. “Help me up?”
It took a while, but eventually Becca got her dressed and downstairs for breakfast. Erin was already steadier on her feet and some of the scrapes and smaller wounds were well on their way to healing. They ate the breakfast that Becca threw together quietly, occasionally watching each other sidelong and smiling. It gave Becca the weirdest, most wonderful feeling.
Which disappeared when Molly showed up with two bags of groceries, then joined them for the rest of breakfast. Couldn’t she eat with Carlos and….the other guy? The thought made Becca momentarily resentful until she realized that she was being childish. Erin wasn’t hers, after all.
Finally, Molly leaned back in her chair. “Okay, we all ready to face the real world now?” Becca was baffled; hadn’t they just done that? “Erin, have you told Becca yet?”
Erin clutched at her face with her good hand and groaned. “Shit. No. I forgot, what with everything else going on. Becca, first let me tell you we’ll make this right. This is my fault—I dropped the ball on the problem when the Nesters got Shelly”
“Dropped what ball? What are you talking about?” Becca looked from Molly to Erin and back again. What else could there be? Then it struck her and she got up slowly and started for the front door. Erin and Molly scrambled to follow her as she flung the door open and looked across the street.
Her house was still standing so that was one worry down. But the “For Sale” sign on the lawn was new. “What the hell are they doing to my house?”
“Your husband came by with a realtor and that lawyer cousin of his right after the Nesters took you. Look, Becca, I’ve got some savings. And the Pack still has money in the emergency fund. We’ll make this right.” Erin’s voice sounded anguished and guilty.
Becca felt numb. That house was the last of her old life. It meant security and a certain degree of comfort. It had been her refuge after Ed left. “I’m going to see what he took.”
She walked across the street, the other two trailing after her. She felt like she was having a bad dream, one that she couldn’t wake up from. What was she supposed to do now? Molly and Erin were whispering behind her, the noise adding to her irritation. When she got up to the front door, she turned around. “I think I need to do this by myself. Give me a few minutes.” She let herself in and closed them out.
It didn’t feel right, shutting them out, but she ignored that feeling, buried it deep. Instead, she walked through the house looking at her books and her photos. Her furniture. She couldn’t help but notice that it was a lot cleaner and that everything had been straightened up.
Then she began to notice that things were missing: a keepsake here, some extra throw pillows there. She ran through the house in a panic until she got to the basement. Someone had begun to carefully pack things up. Each box was labeled for a different room and had a list of the contents on the side. She tore one open to check and sure enough, everything was there.
In a way that hurt more than the rest of it. There was nothing that Ed wanted of their old life that he hadn’t taken away already. She rubbed away an angry tear before venturing back up stairs. Then she sat down at the kitchen table with the big pile of mail that had come in since she’d been gone.
Buried in with the catalogues she didn’t like and the ones she did, the bills she still needed to pay and the advertising circulars, was the official letter telling her that the house was going up for sale. There was a Post-it on it from Pamela that mentioned several attempts to contact her. It also mentioned that there was some serious interest from a buyer. There would also be some contractors stopping by to make repairs and get everything up to code.
Becca sat there and stared at the letter like it was on fire. How had this happened? Oh yeah, crazy werewolf hunters, jackass ex-husband. It’s coming back to me. Despite everything, the thought made her laugh a little. With all she’d survived and done in the last few months, how did this compare?
There was a noise from the porch and she got up to check it out. Erin and Molly were hanging around outside, just in case she needed them. She took one more look around, then took a deep breath and went to open the door. “Looks like there’s going to be some changes around here. How about you come in and help me decide what to pack?”
It was broad daylight the next time Becca Thornton studied her face in the mirror. She looked haggard and worn but the wolf wasn’t staring back out of her eyes. Not yet. That would come tonight, along with the scent of trees and the wind in her fur. And the company of others just like her, all of them running free through the woods. Their woods.
The “For Sale” sign was still up on the lawn but it looked like she had a few days to finish packing and think about where she wanted to live. And about what to do about Erin.
Everyone, including Pete and Shelly, thought that she should take Erin up on her invitation to move into Erin’s house. She wasn’t sure that she was ready for that yet, but then she hadn’t been sure that she could ever handle turning into a wolf on a regular basis either.
Maybe there would be a lot of new beginnings, rather than the finish she thought she was headed for. She picked up the phone and made a reservation for two on an upcoming whitewater-rafting trip.
About the author
Cather
ine Lundoff is the two-time Goldie Award-winning author of Night’s Kiss (Lethe Press, 2009) and Crave: Tales of Lust, Love and Longing (Lethe Press, 2007), as well as A Day at the Inn, A Night at the Palace and Other Stories (Lethe Press, 2011) and Silver Moon: A Women of Wolf’s Point Novel (Lethe Press, 2012). She is the editor of Haunted Hearths and Sapphic Shades: Lesbian Ghost Stories (Lethe Press, 2008), a 2010 Gaylactic Spectrum Award Best Other Work. She is also the co-editor, with JoSelle Vanderhooft, of Hellebore and Rue: Tales of Queer Women and Magic (Lethe Press 2011). In her other lives, she’s a professional computer geek and periodically teaches writing classes at The Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis and elsewhere. She is owned by two cats and is the proud spouse of her fabulous wife.
Website: www.catherinelundoff.com
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