The glass cracked when a bird hit the truck with such force that its body burst apart. Covering my mouth, I closed my eyes and crawled into the backseat. The birds weren’t hitting the truck with natural force. The dark one was doing this. Blood and bits of gore covered the windows. Men and beasts fought outside, but I couldn’t see them any longer through the blood-covered windows and darkness. I clutched at my arms, terrified but also desperate to learn what was happening.
Simultaneously, the doors of the truck locked. Fearing things had gotten worse, I assumed Sam had locked them as a silent command for me to stay inside. Bringing my feet up onto the seat, I tried to make myself small by hugging my knees. Outside, the words of men, growls and snarls of bears and wolves, and howls of pain gave me no clear indication of what was happening. All of them were helping Cecil battle the dark one while I did nothing. A fast, sharp slither of sound was my warning as the seatbelts shot out around me and bound me in place. My arms and legs were cinched so tightly to my body that the belts were indenting my flesh.
“Help!” I yelled while struggling to free myself. Pushing with my feet against the seat, I tried to lift myself up and out of the trap, but the belts tightened.
The truck started by itself and started moving forward. The gore on the windows would disguise the fact that I wasn’t the one driving. While yanking hard against the straps, I stared with terrified clarity at the empty driver’s seat. Sam hadn’t been the one to lock the doors. My head hit the back of the seat as the truck accelerated at an unnatural speed. Heavy bodies hit the truck as it plowed forward.
“Help!” I screamed. I knew they could hear me.
They would save me. They would never allow anything to happen to me. Outside, claws scraped against the truck. Clawed hands grabbed at the doors, sides of the truck, and tailgate. The sound made my teeth ache as the truck pulled free with its doors intact and sped forward. A werewolf could rip a door off as easily as I could open a beer. Someone would get me out.
“Help!” The painfully tight bindings prevented me from bouncing around on the seat. “What do you want from me? Leave us alone!”
The truck dipped, went up an incline, and was airborne. For a few seconds, I felt weightless. Branches or limbs scraped against the bottom of the truck. Then, a hard impact knocked the air from me. After a few frightening seconds, I was able to drag air back into my lungs, and I was able to see through the windows. Unfortunately, I was able to do so because the lake the truck had nosedived and was sinking into had splashed the gore from them. Panic and desperation had me screaming, but those emotions would kill me. Water was filling the cab. The front floorboards had filled, and it was inching its way up the seats. In seconds, I’d have no air to breathe.
“Elizabeth!”
Closing my eyes, I welcomed her. Claws ripped free of her hands as I was pushed forward and shoved back into a small corner of my own mind. Sharp teeth erupted from my elongated muzzle. Catching a seatbelt between my teeth, I ripped and shredded it, fully embracing Elizabeth and her instincts. She was an enraged wolf in a trap. Freezing water touched my clawed toes and wet my knees. The belt I had destroyed gave my left hand the freedom I needed to slash through the remainder of my bindings. My legs were released from where they had been crushed to my chest and splashed down into the water that quickly filled the cab. It shocked my system and made Elizabeth flee. I was Rozene once more, weak Rozene.
“No! Come back! I need you!”
I concentrated on Elizabeth while pushing my face high up into the back-right corner of the backseat for air. I willed her forward while my teeth chattered. She wouldn’t come. Cold water had become my ritual for dispelling her, and the dark one knew it. He wanted to kill me so his control of Hunting Wolf and my Wendigoag brothers would be whole once more. He wanted to steal from Hunting Wolf the ability to touch the living, to take from him the peace and happiness I’d seen in his eyes, and the sense of belonging he’d only recently found within the community. I couldn’t allow that to happen.
Papers, maps, and soggy junk floated around in the water surrounding me. The water reached my shoulders, but outside the truck was completely submerged. The front grill hit the bottom of the lake with a thud. Gulping in a deep breath, I held onto the seats and made my way to the front. Bracing my back against the seat, I kicked against the front windshield. They had made kicking out the windshield of my car look so effortless after the Chenoo had attacked. I even had a cracked windshield with which to work. However, it was as though my legs moved in slow motion against the resistance of the water. I tried again and again before I was forced back to my air pocket. It was shrinking. Frantically, I willed Elizabeth forward. I went back to the windshield and tried again. I tried to open the doors, but they refused to budge. Forced to return to the pocket of air, I greedily breathed what of it I could in the small corner only big enough for my mouth and nose.
I was so cold. Coming up with ideas became too much for my lethargic brain. The door nearest me wouldn’t open. Elizabeth wouldn’t come, and I was running out of air. My efforts to break open the back window were just as worthless. The truck continued to make creaking and gurgling noises as it settled on the bottom of the lake. My impending death was illuminated by the emergency light on the ceiling as I gasped for air in the dark, underwater tomb that Sam’s truck had become. Holding my breath, I made my way to the front and turned on the lights, hoping it would help them find me. I hurried back to the vanishing air pocket where I drew in what I feared would be my final breath just as the truck shifted to the side.
The doors were being ripped off. A hairy, clawed hand latched onto my ankle and yanked me from the truck. I could see it, but my skin was too numb with cold to feel it. Holding my breath required all of my concentration. My lungs screamed at me to draw in a breath, but all around was water. I didn’t know how far away the surface was or who held onto me and swam, but we weren’t alone. Someone cleaved through the water behind and to either side of us.
My legs left the water first as I was dragged across the muddy bank. Once my face cleared the lake, the air I had held within my lungs exploded out of me as I greedily gulped at fresh air. A werewolf with glowing blue eyes licked and sniffed me all while whining piteously. Meanwhile, larger animals, a bear, and wolves emerged and shifted.
Sam said, “She’ll freeze like this. Help me.”
Hands removed my clothing until Colby shifted into his werewolf and sliced through them to leave me naked and wet. My skin had turned a light-blue.
A man asked, “Can you shift? Listen to me! Can you shift?”
I concentrated but couldn’t get Elizabeth to come out. “Too cold,” I explained through chattering teeth.
Sam lifted me into his arms and ran. “We need help! Start a fire! Hurry!” he yelled.
I heard Holden ask, “What the hell happened?”
Sam shook me in his arms. “Don’t you fall asleep on me! Do you hear?” His voice was so thick with fear that I tried to force myself to obey.
“Shit,” Holden said.
“Where is Hunting Wolf? He can call forth her Wendigo,” Sam said. He sounded desperate.
Holden said, “They’ve got it trapped. He can’t stop what he’s doing.”
Colby spread out a blanket by a fire that men were quickly rebuilding.
“Give her to me,” Holden demanded.
“Get your fucking hands away from her,” Sam growled.
“Do you want her to live or not? Her pulse is fading. Listen. I know you can hear it. I can get her to shift. I’ve done it before. Let me save her. Please.” I sensed myself being transferred to another set of arms. “It’s okay, sweetheart. I’ve got you. Don’t be scared.” I felt something soft within my shoulder, almost like the brush of a feather. “She’s too weak. She’s hypothermic. You’re not going to like this, but I’ve got no other options.”
“Just do it!” Colby yelled.
“Hang on, sweetheart. This might hurt a little.”
Fire
exploded through my shoulder as sharp fangs pierced my frozen skin. The birds, the seat belts, the icy water, and the quickly shrinking airspace flashed before my eyes. Then, they focused on Holden. I was laying across his bare thighs.
Smiling down at me, he said, “You’re alright, Mrs. Stillwater-Reeves. Everything is gonna be okay.” Part of his beard had been scorched off. It made his face look lopsided.
I was pulled from Holden and into Sam’s arms. Colby crouched at my back and touched whatever parts of me that Sam wasn’t monopolizing. With Elizabeth’s ears, I could hear Cecil’s chanting and turned my head toward it. Hunting Wolf, still in his Wendigo form, held a large, red-eyed crow by its wings while it struggled and clawed at him as it tried to free itself. The crow was larger than its corporeal form and stretched off into the distance as a dark, shadowy figure from nightmares. Hunting Wolf’s muscles were strained with exertion, but then the crow shrieked. With a scream of fury, the dark one fled the bird causing the creature to burst into dust and leaving Hunting Wolf’s hands empty. He stumbled backwards. Cecil dropped to his knees. One of Holden’s men approached and helped the medicine man to his feet. An oppressiveness lifted from us as the dark one’s evil was finally banished. Everyone present looked around as they felt it disperse, the dirty unnaturalness cleansed with the dark one’s exorcism.
“Alright. Let’s move out. Meet at the east camp and set up,” Holden ordered.
“We’re leaving?” Sam asked incredulously.
Glancing around, Holden said, “This area is foul with fowl. Get it?” His pack laughed at his joke. He grinned at us and winked at me. “The local critters will have this shit cleaned up in no time. There’s another good spot about ten miles from here. Let’s go. You need help with her?”
“No, we’ve got her, but thank you for what you did, Holden. I won’t forget it,” Sam said quietly.
Even in Elizabeth’s form, I was too tired to keep my eyes opened. Briefly, I woke when I was carried into Colby’s truck, but my wakefulness was fleeting.
Chapter Six
All was quiet and still but for the soft snores some of the pack made in their sleep. Warmth was beneath my hands, front, and against my back. Opening my eyes, I saw the faint outlines of the tent in which we slept.
“You’re awake,” Sam whispered. “How do you feel?” He stroked my hair with gentle fingers.
I tried to move into a more comfortable position. Even with the sleeping bags and blankets beneath us, the ground was still hard and made me miss our new mattress back home. “Honestly, it feels like I did three hundred sit-ups, a hundred push-ups, and ran a couple of miles.” Turning my head, I saw Hunting Wolf passed out at my back. “They did it. They sent him back to whereever it is he belongs.”
“Yes, they did. Try to be still and rest. You’ve been through a lot. We almost lost you.”
Colby was asleep beside Sam. Resting my head on Sam’s chest, I tried to sleep, but I couldn’t. A need was building inside of me, consuming me like fire burned a twig.
“Rosie?” Sam whispered questioningly.
I slid my hand along his chest and lower until my fingertips touched soft hair. Reaching down, I fondled and stoked him, willing him to harden, but he remained soft. Frustrated, I lifted my head enough to look at his face. “What’s wrong?”
Sam was clearly troubled. “I know you’re you, but you don’t look like you.” He lifted a lock of my black hair, Elizabeth’s hair, for me to see.
A hand latched onto my upper arm and pulled me across Sam’s chest and under Colby. “I know it’s you. I’ll take care of you, baby.” Pushing my thighs apart with his knees, Colby filled me.
Finally understanding my frustration for himself, Sam turned his back on us.
Ignoring him as he had ignored my needs, I lifted my legs and wrapped them around Colby’s hips, giving myself over to him as he rocked in and out of me. A desperate needy desire had me clawing at his back and silencing my moans by clamping my teeth into his shoulder. He pounded himself into me all night. After an hour or so of sleep, I woke up to Colby holding me like a doll. Even with Elizabeth’s healing abilities, my back was sore from the ground. Not wanting to wake him, I remained still, but my mind roamed unbridled across the events of the last few hours and beyond. They took me back to the hotel room where it had all began for me. That night, before I had escaped from Holden’s motel room, he had kissed me, and I had bitten him. He’d laughed about it and left. He’d known what his blood would do to me, but he’d left with his pack anyway. He’d left me either to suffer through the change alone or to die, just like they had all done to Colby. The fever….
I’d been turning into a werewolf when Hunting Wolf had put a stop to it. He had placed his palm to my throat, marking me, and instead had changed me into a Wendigo, but my Wendigo powers were off. They had never been quite right. The fever had still been burning through me the next morning when Sam had found me. Wendigo and werewolf had warred within me. When I had accidentally used my powers to protect myself from Elizabeth, I hadn’t shifted into the gaunt, red-eyed, antlered form of a Wendigo. Apparently, I wasn’t as indestructible as they were either. I did have amplified healing abilities thanks to whatever I had become. However, rather than shifting form into a Wendigo, I had taken the form of my prey, Elizabeth, a female werewolf. Holden and Hunting Wolf had mixed their powers together within me. I was an unintentional supernatural experiment. That was why Kora, the medicine woman from Four Bears, couldn’t figure out whether or not I was cursed or blessed. I was a supernatural mutt. Werewolves were created by an ancient curse. Wendigoag were created by the dark one, so was I twice cursed, or did two negatives make a positive? I looked up at the sound of the tent flap opening.
Long, dark hair and brown eyes that stared searchingly into mine filled my sight. “What’s put that frown on your face? I didn’t mean to hurt you. It just felt like I was being unfaithful. I couldn’t do it.” Sam shook his head. “After giving it some rational thought, I’ve seen the error in my logic.” He entered the tent with cups of coffee in each hand. He handed one of them to me and then sat down at my feet.
“I’m not mad at you, Pooh Bear. It was kind of romantic.” I smiled at his blush. Then, another thought occurred to me. “Oh, no. Your truck.” Closing my eyes, I groaned.
“It’s alright, Honey. Drink your coffee. The truck can be replaced. You can’t.”
“Too bad all of the vehicles between here and home are full of weeds, ants, and things.” I sat up and sipped my coffee.
Sam nodded.
“Where’s my cup, Sugar Lips?” Colby asked groggily. He stretched, sat up, and ran his fingers through his hair.
“I could use some as well, Chief Cub,” Hunting Wolf said.
“Listen here, Pup and Jackalope. Get your hairy asses up and get your own coffee.” Sam scowled at both of them which had me grinning.
“Do I smell food?” Colby asked rhetorically. He pulled on his jeans and boots and left the tent.
“Are you alright?” I asked Hunting Wolf.
“The battle with the dark one took much out of me, but you are safe for now, and that is what matters.” Getting up, he dressed and started to leave.
“Where are you going? I need your help with this.” I moved my hand in a circle above Elizabeth’s head. I hadn’t been able to will her away, and I had tried a few times since waking up.
“I’ll be back. I need to water the bushes.”
Sam snorted at him.
Frowning, I took stock of my own bladder and decided that it wasn’t a bad idea. Reading my facial expression, Sam held out his hand for my cup while I quickly dressed. We took care of our business a short walk away from camp. Then, needing to clean up, even if the water was freezing, we found a clean stream where Sam guarded my hurried efforts. Again, while freezing my twat off with splashes of cold water, I couldn’t get Elizabeth to leave. Maybe, her form was trying to make amends for abandoning me when I had needed her in the truck. I was baffled by my
own subconsciousness. Shaking my head, once again I concentrated on me, Mrs. Rozene Stillwater-Reeves, and willed myself back. Nothing happened.
“Ugh. Am I going to have to dunk myself in this freezing water? I don’t know why willing myself to shift isn’t working. I thought I was getting better at this.”
“You just need time. You’re probably suffering from some form of post-traumatic stress disorder. Give yourself a chance to decompress.” Sam gave me a sympathetic grin. “Once, I stayed in my bear form for weeks. The smells, strength, and excitement got the better of me.”
“When did that happen?” I asked.
“When I was a teenager, but give yourself a break. This is all new to you. I’ve been a bear shifter since the day I was born. You’ve been doing well for yourself. It’s okay.”
“Rozene, let me help you.” Hunting Wolf beckoned me away from the stream.
Shivering, I took Elizabeth’s clothes from Sam and quickly dressed. “Okay. I’m really ready to be me again.” I closed my eyes and felt Hunting Wolf’s touch on my throat where he had marked me. My flesh tingled beneath his palm, but Elizabeth’s nose caught a delicious scent and caused me to pull away. It was intoxicating and thrummed through her leaving an ache deep within her womanly core. All reason fled my brain, and I ran. “Rozene! Come back!”
The scent compelled me to run faster, and the forgotten bite mark on my shoulder sent needy desire pooling between my thighs. I wanted the scent filling my lungs. Then, I saw him. He stood with his shirtless back turned. My eyes feasted upon his strong, wide shoulders, muscular arms, and trim waist. Jeans hugged his firm ass and strong legs. He was in front of a small mirror attached to a tree and was wiping his face with a towel. I ran and pounced just as he turned his head in surprise. He had shaved off his scorched beard. Burying my face against his neck, I inhaled and went mad with desire. Needing to taste him, I licked his neck. My claws sank into his shoulders, trapping him. Stunned eyes, glowing a faint amber, stared up at me in surprise from where I had knocked him to his back. A hard bulge grew in his pants between us, and I growled deep in my chest. Then, I was being lifted off of and away from my mate. Enraged, I fought, but the antlered demon held me at arms-length, saving himself from the wrath of my claws.
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