Feral

by Nicole Luiken

  “I told you, Baba Yaga can impersonate someone else.” Still, Chloe took out her phone and texted Judy. “Still not?” Meaning, still not your mother?

  Chloe’s phone vibrated with a text a minute later. “Not.” Then mere seconds after that, a second text came in. “Save her. Skinning.”

  Chloe stared at the word in horror. Cold prickles broke out on the back of her neck.

  “What is it?” Thomas snatched the phone from her, but frowned, baffled by Judy’s message.

  Chloe found her voice. “Baba Yaga is skinning Olivia alive. She must intend to permanently assume her identity. We have to find her and rescue her.” Chloe tapped her chin. Where would Olivia be? Inside the Fraynes’ house?

  No. Baba Yaga’s hut.

  She turned to Marcus. He had the better nose. “Is Baba Yaga’s hut around here?”

  Before he could reply, Thomas raised his hand. They all fell silent, even his surly Beta.

  “I’ve called you here because of a threat!” Baba Yaga yelled with Olivia’s voice. “Lady Sasquatch has filed papers to prevent the logging deal! We need that contract to protect ourselves and our way of life! She is threatening our survival! We can’t let her get away with endangering the Pack. The hairy beast must submit!” Baba Yaga/Olivia raged.

  Beside Chloe, Lady Sasquatch bared her teeth.

  So. Bad.

  “I smell the hut,” Marcus whispered in her ear. “It is nearby.”

  Baba Yaga was still insulting Lady Sasquatch and harping on her disrespect for the Pack.

  “We’re out of time,” Thomas declared. “We need to act now to protect our ally.” He nodded to Lady Sasquatch, then turned to his Beta. “Take the others and circle around in case anyone gets frisky. You know what to do.”

  Wait, what? This was just an intelligence-gathering mission. They didn’t have a plan yet. Unless Thomas hadn’t shared his plan with Chloe?

  So much for being grateful to have a competent adult take over. Instead, she had to keep biting her tongue to stop herself from correcting him.

  She moved in front of the Quesnel Alpha. “Please wait. We need to act on the information we’ve received. If we free Olivia, it will weaken the witch’s hold.”

  “There’s no time for side missions,” Thomas said brusquely. “Your Pack has to be stopped before they attack Lady Sasquatch. Once I win the Challenge, we’ll get things straightened out.”

  Challenge? She’d never said anything about an Alpha Challenge. God, the whole thing was spinning out of control. If Thomas beat out Coach as Alpha, then he would effectively control Pine Hollow. The Pack could lose a lot more than one-third of the Preserve.

  Worse, Thomas was treating this like an ordinary fight. He didn’t believe in Baba Yaga, not really. His Beta had openly scoffed at the idea of silver chains controlling werewolves. Thomas was counting on stopping everything with an Alpha-to-Alpha challenge, but Baba Yaga might not follow the rules.

  Chloe grabbed his sleeve. “It’s not a good idea to attack Baba Yaga head on. The collars give her complete control. She’ll throw the other werewolves at you.” And Chloe’s parents and her Packmates could get hurt.

  Thomas stubbornly shook his head. “She won’t have a choice. Pack Law is very specific. Challengers must be answered. Quinn, you have three minutes to get into position. Go.”

  The Quesnel Beta cracked his neck. “Let’s do this.” He and his Packmates loped off.

  Thomas turned to Lady Sasquatch, shutting Chloe out.

  Her fists clenched. He was making a mistake. She knew it.

  “We need to rescue Olivia,” Chloe said to Marcus and Kyle. “Now, while Baba Yaga is distracted by the attack. But … ” She bit her lip, torn.

  “But you need to stay here,” Marcus said for her. “We will go.”

  Chloe stifled a protest. Even crippled, Baba Yaga’s hut was likely to be dangerous. But if Kyle and Marcus could free Olivia, she could command the Pack to remove their silver collars. The risk was worth it.

  Except it would be Marcus and Kyle taking the risk, not her. She needed to stay here, and protect the Pack if she could. She hesitated one painful moment more. She’d promised Abby’s spirit to keep Marcus safe. How could she send him into danger?

  Chloe gave him a fast, hard kiss that had Kyle gaping at them. She gripped a handful of his hair to ensure she had his attention. “Promise me you’ll be careful, both of you. No risking your life. Olivia isn’t worth it.” She waited until they’d both nodded. “Go!”

  They vanished into the dark woods.

  Tears stinging her eyes, Chloe turned her attention back to the Pack meeting.

  Baba Yaga had stopped ranting. Coach clapped his hands for attention. “I’m going to lead a punitive raid on old Bigfoot.” He smiled nastily.

  Lady Sasquatch bared her fangs. Sasquatches hated the term Bigfoot and considered it a slur.

  “We won’t kill her,” Coach said, “just destroy some of her things and apply some pressure. Make her understand that she needs to change her vote.”

  The Pack was silent. No cheers—but no protests either. Chloe’s cheeks reddened with embarrassment.

  Coach sneered. “Curtis, you know her best. You can show us where her cabin is.”

  “No. I—” Her dad’s face turned red, and he fell to his knees, choking.

  Bastards. Chloe couldn’t stand it. She dashed into the backyard, ahead of her two allies. “Stop!”

  Marcus trotted on four paws at Kyle’s side. He’d Changed back to wolf as soon as they parted company with the others. He was willing to tolerate boy-form to be with Chloe, but when she wasn’t there he didn’t see the point. Wolf-form was stronger, faster, more deadly. Sneakier too.

  Baba Yaga’s hut crouched malevolently in a grove of dark firs. Its window-eyes were shuttered, as if asleep, but its new location showed that it had healed from its laming. The chicken legs were tucked under the hut’s bulk. The odour of rotting poultry assaulted Marcus’s nose.

  He approached cautiously, staying in the shadows of the trees.

  “How are we going to get in?” Kyle whispered. His friend still walked on two legs and could thus speak. “The door is certain to be locked, maybe booby-trapped … ”

  People always wanted to talk-talk-talk as if they had all the time in the world. Marcus’s wolf knew better.

  Chloe had asked him to do this, to find Olivia. The faster he got this done, the faster he could get back to Chloe.

  He threw his body into a run, moving on silent padded feet, faster and faster. Like a rocket, he launched himself up onto the porch, then through the window.

  Glass shattered around him with a sound that made his ears flatten. Marcus landed hard on the wooden floor, shards spraying everywhere. Cuts stung his nose and one paw, but his fur protected him from most of it. His werewolf healing kicked in, slowing the flow of blood.

  A potpourri of bad smells swirled inside the witch’s hut: sickly-sweet rot, dust, astringent herbs, pungent garlic, pickled things, and, everywhere, the scent of blood, old and new, as if the walls had been painted with the substance.

  Where was Olivia? His grey-shaded vision allowed him to make out minimal furnishings in the dimness: a table and benches lining two walls. Cleavers hung in graduated sizes on the wall. Jars of strange, dead things lined the shelves.

  He sniffed cautiously and picked out the scent of Olivia’s sickness. She was here. Where?

  A fat drop of blood splashed into a wooden bucket. He tipped his head up.

  Hanging from the ceiling, body bound head-to-foot in a sticky web, was the old Alpha. Her arm was red from elbow to wrist—the skin from it dangled down. Olivia’s furious eyes met his, demanding that he take action.

  A furry brown spider the size of a cat crouched on her chest.

  chapter

  24

  Thomas and Lady Sasquatch followed at Chloe’s heels. The Pack turned as one and stared at them.

  Coach focussed on Lady Sasquatch. “Come to negot
iate? Good. We can make sure loggers don’t touch your sector of the forest.”

  Lady Sasquatch hawked and spit on the ground at his feet. “If any loggers try, I will tear them limb from limb.”

  Coach’s face pinkened, making his white-blond eyebrows stand out.

  Before he could respond, Thomas intercepted him and roared, “I am the Quesnel Alpha! I Challenge you!” Without another word, he ripped open his shirt and began to Change.

  The suddenness of it left Coach gaping for a moment, then he began to shuck his clothes, too.

  Chloe grinned—Coach had just lost the advantage of his quick Change.

  Baba Yaga threw her head back and laughed. Her eyes twinkled with amusement. “Why, Chloe, thank you for the unexpected gift. I need more wolves for my army. I intended to seduce the Quesnel Alpha next, but here you’ve brought him straight to me. Once Conrad kills him, I’ll control both Packs.”

  Chloe’s mouth gaped open in horror.

  Thomas glared at Baba Yaga. “You’ll never get my Pack.” Any more words were lost as his mouth turned into a muzzle with vicious sharp teeth.

  Both Alphas completed their Change at the same instant. Thomas was salt-and-pepper grey with a white underbelly. And noticeably bigger than Coach’s white wolf. The animals snarled at each other and met in a ferocious clash of jaws and teeth.

  While they grappled, Baba Yaga studied Lady Sasquatch appraisingly. “They didn’t have your kind in Europe. Hmmm. Powerful as a bear, but able to talk. Do you have true hands?”

  Lady Sasquatch bared her fangs. “Come closer and I’ll show you my claws.”

  “Yes, that looks like a thumb. I could use a form like yours.” The witch turned to the Pack. “Take her! Hold her down, but do not kill her. The skin needs to be taken alive to work.” She idly caressed the white fur belt at her waist. My god, was that Olivia’s pelt? No, Olivia was a grey wolf. The belt must be made from Basia.

  The Pack reluctantly started to advance. Only Chloe’s father resisted the command—and was choked to unconsciousness again.

  Lady Sasquatch bared her teeth and swung her cudgel threateningly.

  “Everybody Change!” Rick yelled. “We’ll need the protection of fur!”

  He was right, but he was also giving Lady Sasquatch an opportunity to flee from their greater numbers.

  “It’s okay,” Chloe said to her ally. “Go.”

  Lady Sasquatch faded back into the woods, cudgel in hand.

  The white wolf and the salt-and-pepper wolf still circled each other. The scent of blood hung in the air. Coach’s ear was bleeding, but neither wolf had the upper hand.

  Chloe bit her lip. How had it all gone so wrong? Even if Thomas defeated Coach, the problem of Baba Yaga would remain. Lady Sasquatch would only have a couple of minutes head start and would be captured. The best Chloe could hope for now was that Marcus and Kyle would free Olivia. If the true Alpha commanded the Pack to throw off their silver chains, then maybe …

  She needed a distraction. “I Challenge you!” she shouted at Baba Yaga, frantically stripping off her T-shirt. The witch was still impersonating Olivia, so Pack Law still applied.

  Baba Yaga sneered. “This again? You can’t Challenge me, little puppy.” They locked gazes. Baba Yaga’s had the full power of Olivia’s Alpha behind it. She tried to Dominate Chloe.

  Chloe’s turn to laugh. “Olivia is not my Alpha.” She touched her shoulder. “See? Her Bite has healed.”

  A murmur of interest from the gathered Pack, who were still dawdling about removing their clothes or Changing, instead of chasing Lady Sasquatch.

  Chloe stripped off her jeans and threw herself into the Change. It was long and painful, but when she finished and stood there proudly as a wolf, Baba Yaga still wore human form.

  “Foolish little puppy,” she crooned. “I don’t need a Bite to control you, for I control your parents. Rachel, come forward.”

  Chloe’s mother slunk forward. The silver collar gleamed amongst her brown fur. A spike of dread impaled Chloe. The witch was right. She could subjugate Chloe by threatening her parents.

  Chloe’s mom growled at her, urging her to run.

  Too late.

  Baba Yaga held out a silver chain, her smile cruel. “Put this on, Chloe, or I’ll skin your mother alive.”

  Marcus whined, uncertain what to do. He could kill the spider, crush it in his jaws, but it might poison him or the Old Alpha. Plus, it would taste really bad.

  “Marcus isn’t it?” the Old Alpha said. “Go get help. The spider will poison me if you get too close.”

  Marcus ignored her. If he Changed into a boy, he could pluck the spider off Olivia and fling it against the wall. But could he do it fast enough, before it stung him? Could he throw it hard enough? He wasn’t sure. He’d be blind for a few seconds while he Changed, blind and vulnerable with all that unprotected bare skin. He shuddered. He wished he could make a hand but keep his fur, but that wasn’t how the Change worked. It was all or nothing. Might as well stay wolf then.

  “Why did they send the useless feral?” Olivia demanded of the ceiling. “Listen, Marcus. You must kill the witch disguised as me, then come back with the others and free me.” She met his eyes and spoke with the authority of an Alpha.

  Marcus growled, shaking off the urge to obey her. Olivia wasn’t his Alpha. Chloe had sent him here—well, him and Kyle, but Kyle was still hesitating outside—to keep the Old Alpha from being skinned. To rescue her if they could.

  But Chloe had commanded him to take care, to not risk his life. She wouldn’t want him to bite the spider and swallow poison. He should report back to Chloe.

  The wolf retreated to the window, picking a path through the glass, then hesitated.

  “What are you waiting for? Get help! Stupid feral,” Olivia cursed. Her face was the wrong colour, purplish-red from being dangled upside down.

  Her hair hung down like Judy’s ponytail. Which made him remember that this was not just the Old Alpha, but Judy’s mother. Over the years Judy and Chloe had visited Abby at his house a hundred times. He’d never paid as much attention to pixie-sized Judy, fascinated as he was by Chloe, but she’d still been there. Abby would have wanted him to spare Judy the same grief he suffered for his dead family.

  Why was he hesitating? The risk was too high—he should leave. The choice was clear to the wolf—but not to the boy.

  He stilled. I am a wolf, not a boy!

  But the words stank of lies, the worst kind of lies, ones to himself.

  Oh, he would never be that unscarred teenage boy again. That Marcus was gone. But no longer was he a solitary wolf, living only in the now.

  After the plane crash, a future without his family had been too painful to contemplate. Thinking of it had hurt too much so he’d shoved it away along with his grief. The future that Marcus had dreamed about, going to university and learning to be an engineer, was no longer appealing. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t have a different future: one with Chloe and Kyle and a new Pack.

  The boy understood what the wolf didn’t: that sometimes you had to risk the Now for the future you wanted.

  Baba Yaga had the rest of the Pack under her control; Chloe needed Olivia to command the Pack to take off their silver collars or Baba Yaga would win.

  He would not fail her.

  Marcus turned away from the window and pretended to pounce. He snapped his jaws inches away from the spider. Olivia screamed as it ran up her body and into the webbed ceiling.

  “What did you do?” Her bound body heaved, but stayed trapped in the web. “I told you to get help!”

  Marcus ignored her. Eight more spiders, all unnaturally large with a freakish number of eyes, hung from the ceiling.

  As one, they all sprang down.

  The brown wolf whined. Chloe’s mother silently urged Chloe to run.

  Her mother skinned, dead, Baba Yaga walking around in her body. No. To protect her mother, Chloe lowered her head for the chain—

  Snap. Sna
rl. The two Alpha males closed again, biting and clawing. They rolled across the lawn, coming between Baba Yaga and Chloe’s mom. The white wolf ended up on top, but the salt-and-grey one had a chokehold on Coach’s neck.

  “Shake him off,” the witch muttered.

  Baba Yaga’s distraction gave Chloe an opportunity. She darted forward and with her teeth grabbed the white belt that allowed the witch to shape-change. She yanked it off, ran over to the fire pit and threw it in.

  A terrible smell filled the air, not just burning fur, but a foul stench of rot and death. For an instant, a ghostly blonde woman appeared in the smoke. Basia. The ghost smiled and vanished.

  Olivia stopped screaming when one of the spiders fell on her head.

  Marcus had his own problems. Three landed in his back and tried to bite through his thick fur.

  He threw himself into a roll, crushing two. The third scampered across his belly. A fourth one landed on his head.

  The door burst open. Kyle came in, took one look at the spiders, then slammed the door shut again. Good. No fool, his friend.

  Marcus kept rolling, twisting his head, biting and snapping at spider legs or abdomens, anything he could reach. He regained his footing and banged the one digging into his scalp into the wall. He killed it, but staggered, suddenly dizzy. Fear clawed at him. At least one of them had injected him with poison.

  If he Changed, it might burn out of his system, but exposing so much skin would lead to more bites. Better to fight through the poison, kill all the spiders, then Change.

  Olivia had fallen unconscious. Two swollen bites marred her cheek and neck. She would not be helping him, and the two spiders who’d been occupied with her were now heading his way.

  Marcus growled and lunged forward. He grabbed one in his jaws and threw the foul-tasting thing to splat against the wall.

  The door to the hut opened again. Kyle barged in, armed with stout branch this time, but still human.

  He was wrong. His best friend was a fool.

  Kyle attacked a charging spider with the stick. He pulped it, but a second one ran nimbly up his arm. Kyle screamed.