by Bonnie Vanak
Blood poured from her wounds, pooling on the muddy ground. Jenny screamed inside, but in wolfskin, the sound came as a low howl. The trap’s steel jaws sank deep into flesh and bone. Her leg was broken. She’d heard it snap like a twig.
Fighting against the instinct to pull free, shake the trap loose, she forced herself to remain still and use her intellect. She was at least a mile away from any outbuildings in the ranch. Even if she could force herself to shift into Skin, Jenny knew she lacked the strength to set herself free.
She listened instead, panting, trying to assess her surroundings. If only Troy were closer! He could easily spring the trap. But Troy was far from here.
Anguished, she howled in pain and fear. Couldn’t work her extraordinary powers in wolfskin.
Nothing answered, but the rasp of tree branches rustling in the wind, and dry, dead leaves stirring at her head.
No, wait…
In the distance, a low wolf howl answered back.
Hope leapt up, and then died. Probably a real wolf.
Jenny licked the air, her wolf senses kicking into overdrive. Harder to fight them now that she grew weaker.
Leaves and undergrowth crunched. The smell of male Skin rose in her nostrils. Growling, she turned her head and saw a handsome man, about thirty, wearing a plaid shirt and jeans.
He had an air of concern and didn’t carry a rifle. Still…
She growled deeper.
“Easy now,” the Skin soothed. “I know it hurts, girl. Easy. I’m here to help.”
Right. And I’m the big, bad wolf. Instinct made her snap her jaws at him.
The Skin stepped back. “I don’t want to muzzle you. You’re in pain and if you move any more, you risk losing that leg. So let’s make a deal. You keep your jaws to yourself and I’ll work down here, on this trap.”
Jenny went still, watching, alert for any sign this Skin wanted to further hurt her. But he knelt down, his big hands working at the trap and released it. Pressure eased.
With extreme gentleness, he lifted her leg from the steel jaws. He sighed. “That looks bad. Broken, most likely. I have materials for a splint and something to stop that bleeding. My Jeep’s not far. Hang in there.”
He picked up the cell phone hanging from his belt and punched some numbers. He frowned. “Aiden, it’s Professor Jeff Chance. I know you’re probably on the range, but call me soon as you get this message. I found a female wolf caught in a trap near the den. She’s injured badly and I may need your help moving her.”
He hung up, eyed her. “Aiden has a way with wolves. I’ll be back.”
This was Professor Chance they mentioned, the one studying the Timberline pack.
A friend. A rescuer, not the one who set the trap.
Don’t leave me.
Every cell in her body knew something worse than the wolf trap was coming for her.
But her mind was fogged and she couldn’t think straight. Professor Chance stood and ran off through the woods.
She watched him leave, and then pushed aside the wolf instinct. Jenny forced herself to shift to save herself. Pain coursed through her body. Whimpering, she clothed herself.
Jenny crawled away through the dirt, dragging her injured leg behind her. From a short distance away, she heard low laughter. Whoever set that trap was coming for her. She struggled to stand, and bit back a cry of pain as her injured leg buckled beneath her.
Something whooshed through the air and a needle stung her on the neck. Dizziness claimed her. She felt vision grow gray, and then darker.
Chance had left, getting help.
But for her, it would be too late.
Chapter 12
When she woke up, Jenny knew she was in trouble.
Struggling to open her gluey eyelids, she gave up and instead concentrated on smells.
Fir trees, dense undergrowth, the rich decay of leaves, moss.
Stone. A slab of stone, stench of old blood. The surface beneath her felt hard and rough. She rubbed her arms against it. The stone … she was lying on it.
“Awake at last. Good. So much richer and meaningful when the sacrifice is conscious and able to sense. The fear makes it much tastier for the Dark Lord.”
That voice. She forced her eyes open to regard Perry’s smug, nasty expression leering over her. She glanced around, saw about ten others ringing the stone. They wore dark cloaks with hoods, their faces hidden. The same ones she’d seen chanting yesterday in the woods.
Fear skidded down her spine. She was the sacrifice.
He wanted fear. She’d never give him the satisfaction.
“I knew there was something special about you, an extraordinary power, when I met you at the lodge. Aiden Mitchell has many werewolves here, but you, my dear, are more powerful than they are. I kept waiting for you to emerge alone. Yesterday when you showed your true powers and caused me to drop my rifle, I knew all I had to do was wait until you were alone.”
Suddenly she realized how easily he’d trapped her. “You never intended to kill the pups.”
“Not until later. Why kill real wolves when the power lies with werewolves like yourself? It is your power I crave. I set the wolf trap to catch one of you, and I caught the prize werewolf.”
Her heart raced with dread. All this time Aiden and the others were intent on protecting the wolf pack, and Perry used the real wolves to trap one of them.
Trap her.
“Do you have any last words before my followers and I give your life and soul to my master?” Perry leaned closer, his dark, beady gaze filled with triumph.
“Yeah. Your breath stinks. Ever hear of mints?”
One of the acolytes tittered, immediately silenced under Perry’s harsh glare. He turned his attention back to Jenny.
“When I take your life, I will offer up all your magick powers to the Dark Lord and my followers and I will become invincible. Then we will destroy the rest of your werewolf pack and absorb them as well. The day of darkness is approaching, when all OtherWorlders must either embrace the Dark Lord or forfeit their lives.”
He sneered. “But you, my dear, are a special prize with your magick. Much more potent than any Lupine I’ve encountered.”
Jenny pulled at her arms and legs. She was bound to the stone, held fast by thick iron chains.
Faint hope rushed through her. Perry took no chances… or he thought she was a powerful Fae mixed with Lupine blood. Not what she truly was.
He didn’t know. And that would prove his downfall.
Her mangled right leg, though… Getting caught in the wolf trap had drained her energy and some of her magick.
Hopeless.
Troy’s voice echoed in her mind. “You don’t know what you truly are, sweetheart, until you push yourself. Stop holding back and let her rip. Only then can you be free.”
Stop holding back.
Troy, dearest Troy, her friend, her mate, if he would have her. If he hadn’t changed his mind.
If she ever got out of this mess.
Focus on Troy. Remember his smile, his dark eyes, his body moving over yours as you made love. Let your last memory be of him, not this evil.
Even his scent flooded her senses… no, wait.
She turned her head and now terror filled her. In the shadows among the pines, Troy hovered.
All her confidence fled.
He fooled her all along and sought to bring her to Perry. Troy betrayed her. He was a member of Perry’s dark cult. What was the use? Her best friend, the one she planned to mate with for life, desired power more than love.
Jenny sank back onto the stone. Defeated, she stared at the blade one of the cultists brought to Perry. Sunlight winked off the sharp steel.
Maybe it would be quick. No, he wanted to draw it out, make her scream and beg for mercy.
While giving none.
The agony in her injured leg throbbed harder. Crashing from an adrenalin high made her fully aware how weak she was, and vulnerable.
She craned her neck ag
ain for one last look at her betrayer. I love you, even if you never loved me.
Stunned, she watched Troy’s dark gaze meet hers as he put a finger to his lips.
Then he mouthed something. But she didn’t understand.
Troy slipped between the trees, inching closer. Think, Jenny!
If Troy were one of them, he would not skulk about.
He was here to rescue her!
The knowledge fed her strength, and then fear renewed itself. Troy was strong, but eleven against one lone Lupine?
Perry finished sharpening the blade against the stone. He held it up, admiring it.
“The flesh tastes so much better when it is flayed slowly from the victim’s skin.”
Terror rose in her throat. She fought it. She must not fear, for it would cripple her. This evil must be extinguished before others were tortured and killed.
Before the Dark Lord’s forces grew stronger and undefeatable.
Perry’s weakness was ego. Jenny smiled at him, buying Troy time to draw closer. Time to gamble and throw out everything to see if anything would stick.
“You’re such a cliché, Perry. What happened? Academia snubbed you so you formed your own cult of admirers? Or did the desire to follow in daddy’s footsteps falter because no matter what you did, it wasn’t good enough for dear old daddy’s approval?”
Soon as she mentioned his father, Perry’s expression dropped. Ah, gotcha. She pressed harder.
“All those years, trying to please your daddy when you were invisible. He never cared about you. You weren’t good enough for him and then you ruined your life.”
“That’s not true.” The knife slipped to the ground as Perry shouted. “I have more power than my father ever will! The Dark Lord gave it to me when I turned over my soul to him. My father is a puny mortal compared to me!”
Jenny barely heard. Taking advantage of the distraction she’d caused, she focused all her energy on culling her powers. The knife, the sweet song of the blade that delivered justice, not pain. The blade wielded in expert hands, slicing down evil and darkness.
The knife, oh, the knife that itched to be in her palm, free for her to slice this evil down before it created more evil…
Suddenly from her right, a swift blur of movement. Troy! He raced around the ring, tackling the acolytes, throwing them to the ground so fast she saw only a streak of clothing. Now!
Jenny threw all her magick at the chains holding her fast. They snapped as she pulled hard. The knife Perry abandoned flew into her hands as she slid off the stone slab.
Twirling it as she hopped on one foot, she glared at the astonished Perry.
“You look so different with your jaw hanging down like underwear that lost its elastic.”
He lunged forward. Dancing on her uninjured leg, she jabbed at the air, taunting him.
“Who’s afraid now, Perry? I can smell your fear. Or is that the stink of you wetting yourself, little guy?”
Perry didn’t respond. He whirled, and as the streak of movement moved by him, slashed with another, smaller blade he pulled from inside his cloak.
The blur collapsed, howling, holding his stomach. Troy doubled over, bright red blood leaking from between his hands.
Perry had gutted him.
Her heart dropped as she howled, acting without thought, lunging at Perry with the confiscated knife. She sank it straight into his stomach.
Grinning, he pulled it out, flinging it aside. Not a drop of blood.
“What are you?” she whispered, her pulse throbbing, her instinct raging to run far away from this thing.
“I am darkness.” He started for her. “And death.”
Now she knew her instincts were right and Perry was a demon, a being of tremendous power who had been invited onto the land by a pack member. She must destroy him.
But was she powerful enough?
Let her rip. Troy’s anguished gaze met hers. He mouthed words. This time she understood.
Jenny dove for the knife, reaching it before Perry. She called on all her powers, and sent them into the knife. She flung it at Perry.
Right into his heart, or where his heart should exist, had he one.
This time, no laughter. Perry screamed as the light from the glowing blade enveloped him in a net, squeezing tight. Like a lemon, she thought in stunned fascination.
Squeezing harder and harder, until he exploded. Black goo sprayed everywhere, over her, Troy, the altar and the prone acolytes lying close to their master. And then it evaporated, as if it were never there.
From the woods, dozens of wolves emerged, barking and snarling. They raced forward, tearing into the cult as a large, majestic wolf howled orders.
Aiden.
Soon it was over and Perry’s followers were all dead. Aiden and the other Lupines shifted back to Skin, clothed themselves by magick.
Ignoring them all, she scurried over to Troy and knelt on the ground beside him. He smiled weakly.
“I’m afraid you’ll have to hit the road on your own, sweetheart. Can’t be there for you this time.” He gasped for breath. “Made… up my mind. Was coming with you. We’re a team. Never leave you behind. Not like… your family did.”
So pale. Dying.
With all her powers, she could do nothing to save him. “Please don’t leave me,” she whispered. “You’re all I care about. More than my own life. Please Troy.”
He seemed to struggle to smile. Troy wheezed, breath sounds growing fainter. Damnit, she knew these signs. Knew what was happening, and was helpless to prevent it.
Don’t fall in love with me. I’ll break your heart.
Never imagined he would be the one breaking hers. Tears rolled down her cheeks and dripped onto his. Troy stared up at her, struggled to lift his hand. He wiped away a tear from her eye. Breath sounds grew more and more ragged, and the wheezing increased.
“Don’t cry over me, sweetheart. Death’s just another part of living. You’ll be fine. You always will. I regret… we never had the chance to be together for long, but those days I had with you were the best part of life. Thanks.”
Tears blurred her vision. Only one being could resolve this. Forget pride and her personal fear of the wizards.
Jenny flung back her head and screamed to the heavens. “Tristan! I call on you, Silver Wizard. Help him!”
“Hurry up,” Aiden barked. “He doesn’t have long.”
A flash of white light and the wizard appeared, his expression somber. He knelt by Troy’s side.
The wizard put a hand over the terrible wound on Troy’s stomach. Troy flinched and moaned, but to her shock, white light poured out of Tristan’s hands and the wound was sealed.
White light, like the kind of light that came from her hands at times… Jenny’s heart skipped a beat as she stared at the wizard.
Could it be?
She turned her attention to Troy, whose breathing evened out. Blue no longer tinged his mouth. She helped him to sit up.
Troy put a hand to his healed stomach. “Thanks wizard.”
Tristan shrugged. “No worries. I hate a mess, especially one created by darkness. Sticky and the stench…”
He wrinkled his nose.
“You’re so eloquent,” Aiden said dryly. “But thanks for healing him.”
“I’m selfish. We need every good Lupine in this battle against darkness,” Tristan said, standing up and helping Troy to his feet.
Aiden barked out an order for his Lupines to leave, but before they did, she thanked them for their help.
One shuffled his feet, looking ashamed. “I’m sorry we said those things and chased you away, Jenny. You freaked us out and life here has been freaky enough lately, with the dead cattle and this feeling something is wrong.”
Another nodded. “We thought it was you. Now we know it isn’t you. So if you want, you can have a home here with us.”
“Thanks,” she said softly.
The cowhands headed out.
She hooked a hand around Troy�
��s waist as he leaned on her, but already she felt a change in him. A new resolve.
“Good Lupine? Since when have you changed your mind about me, Tristan?” Troy asked, his voice growing stronger.
The wizard smiled. “Never did change my mind, Troy. I waited for you to change yours about life, and your direction in it. You’ve been wandering a long time and using the stars to navigate, but kept searching for your north star to guide you home.”
Tristan glanced at Jenny. “You finally found it… with Jenny.”
Her heart felt full of joy until she gazed around and realized Tristan was not alone. Four other beings stood nearby. One with blond hair, strands tipped in crimson, who dressed in all red. Another had dark hair tipped with tiny crystals and he wore what looked like an Elvis jumpsuit, sequins sparkling in the sunlight. The third wore cobalt blue and had an intense look.
Instinct warned these were the wizards of the Brehon she’d heard about, the powerful beings who judged and guarded all OtherWorlders.
But it was the fourth that drew her attention the most.
He looked, and seemed familiar.
Tall, broad-shouldered, he was bare chested and wore black leather pants. Two leather straps crossed his muscled chest and were held together with a brass ring. Twin swords were sheathed in leather scabbards upon his back. His eyes seemed dark as pitch, flickering with gray shadows like mist. Long, dark blond hair swirling with many colors spilled down his back. An intricate tattoo of ancient Celtic runes covered his right shoulder and right bicep.
He took her breath away, and not for a good reason.
Tristan made a sweeping motion. “I asked my fellow wizards to join me.”
Going through the motions, he introduced all the beings. Gideon in the red ruled over the Fae. The Elvis jumpsuit was Xavier, who ruled over nymphs, ogres, trolls and mages. The wizard in cobalt was Drust, who judged and guarded dragon shifters.
As he turned to the bare-chested wizard, Tristan paused. A sly grin lit his face.
“I’ll let him introduce himself.”
The tall, muscled wizard turned to her. “I am Caderyn, the Shadow Wizard… my daughter.”
Troy blinked. “Somehow I get the idea that is not merely a term of endearment.”