He turned to see the large silver wolf with the golden eyes emerge from the side of the lodge. “I heard you’d arrived. You always did have a nose for trouble, Cousin. Let’s go.”
He quickly undressed, then took a deep breath and pulled the magick from the core of his being. He felt a shimmering, popping sensation as the world blended and swirled around him.
A moment later, he felt a strange calm come over him as he embraced his true nature, beast. He let out a howl, and they raced to catch up with Jake.
JILLIAN
She was going to die; she knew it.
She skirted the edge of the cliff until she couldn’t go any further. Backed against the large, smooth stone face of a mountain with a cliff on her other side, a pack of snarling wolves circled her. She was trapped, and they all knew it. She called out for help, knowing it would do no good, but it was all she could do. She picked up a large stick, feeling a strange déjà vu over the situation.
There were eight of them, advancing slowly with their teeth bared, their dirty coats matted as they growled and crept forward. She stifled the sob in her throat and swung the stick in the air, shouting at them to go away. It almost seemed like they were laughing, playing with her.
The leader of the group stalked toward the front, a mere ten feet from her, cocked his head, and narrowed his eyes. If she wasn’t going completely crazy, it almost seemed it recognized her. Surely these weren’t the same wolves from their earlier journey?
He leaned down on his rear haunches and tensed to leap, and she knew her time was over. She prepared her body for the impact, kneeling down and instinctively covering her head with her hands as he leapt through the air. But her attacker was stopped mid-soar, a few feet from where she huddled, as a larger wolf came out of nowhere and took him to the ground. As they snarled and fought and rolled and bit at each other, she saw the others come into view out of the corner of her blurry eyes.
Another large wolf, this one silver, landed between her and her attackers and quickly took on several of them. The other wolves were taken on by a small human, dressed in red Lycra, moving with a sword, slashing and cutting so fast her eyes could barely keep up. It was a woman. She could tell by the small frame, curves, and long ponytail.
“Redd?” she choked, confused and terrified by the battle around her.
The petite woman turned to her and grinned as she slashed behind her to kill one of her opponents. It lay on its side, bleeding and choking for air, and she put it out of its misery with a quick stab through the heart. Jillian grimaced and tried not to vomit.
“Jillian!”
She recognized that voice and rushed into her brother’sembrace. He pulled her away from the fight. “I’m so glad to see you!” she quavered.
He scanned her quickly, checking for wounds. “Are you okay?” His gaze was worried.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m okay. But what’s going—” Her question was interrupted by the howl of a wolf as it soared through the air directly toward them. Jake shoved her to the ground and impaled it with his sword as the wolf landed in a heavy thud on top of him.
“Jake!” she screamed and rushed to his side.
He looked a little dazed but otherwise unharmed as he tried to roll the dead wolf off him.
“God, these things are heavy,” he muttered as he finally got out from underneath. “I swear to God, if I get another head injury, it’s your ass.”
She smiled through her tears and flung herself onto his prone form. “I’m so glad you are okay. I’m sorry.”
He lifted them both to standing positions, just as the fight around them seemed to be ending.
Five wolves lay dead or bleeding heavily on the snow covered ground, and two more had yelped and run away with their tails between their legs, leaving one remaining wolf, the leader of the pack.
The two “friendly” wolves paired up, their long white fangs bared, their shiny silver coats reflecting off the snow, growling at the lead wolf, daring him to challenge them. They planted themselves between Jake and Redd, who were standing on each side of her, with their swords drawn. She watched the smaller, dirty grey wolf snarl, bare his fangs, then turn and race out of the trees.
It was over. She didn’t know how or why, but she felt safe. Redd cleaned off her sword, and Jake whistled for the horses. But she couldn’t take her eyes off the larger of the two silver wolves. He looked so familiar, like she should know him. Hewalked toward her slowly and lifted his head, meeting her eyes. The dark brown eyes with flecks of amber that met her were familiar.
She stumbled and felt her breath hitch as she reached out toward him tentatively. “Bertram?”
He nodded and nudged his head under her hand and she felt his coarse silver, grey hairs and saw the specks of pepper and the line of dark fur along his left ear. It really was him! She threw her arms around him and sobbed as she stroked his soft wet fur. He had come for her.
Redd pulled her sword out of the back of one of the dead wolves and met her gaze. A look of wistful understanding came across the other woman’s face, and she nodded her acceptance.
She was still holding him tightly when he gave a sudden growl and turned his head, tensing immediately. She watched as if in slow motion as the dark wolf leapt toward them, teeth bared, claws reaching. Her silver wolf rolled her under him, shielding her as the claws struck him across the back. He howled in rage, but kept his body sheltering her. She pounded him with her fists. “Protect yourself, you big lug!”
She screamed, as the dark wolf opened its mouth, fangs gleaming, preparing to rip into Bertram’s neck. She watched it lunge and snarl, and then its eyes widened and it faltered. It stumbled to the side, and she saw Jake’s sword buried deep into its shoulder blades.
Jake strode into view, cursing. His eyes dark and angry. “That’s my future brother-in-law, dickwad!”
