Werewolves and Wranglers

by Kristen Banet

  “What are you doing?” she screamed. “He’ll kill you! I had it!”

  “I’m reaching for his human half, asking it to come back!” Tobias answered, yelling over his shoulder. “Remington, you are not beholden to the curse! Fight it!”

  Remy was shaking his massive head as if he was trying to clear a daze or double vision. Adalyn knew what she could do. She outstretched her hands again and used the same spell she had done on the humans. This time she put more power behind it, making more chains. They manifested and wrapped around her lover, pulling him down into the dirt as he tried to stand.

  Tobias just kept talking to him, holding Remy. There was old magic involved now, one she didn’t understand. She wanted to help, though. She pushed off the dirt, ignoring the pain in her ribs, and went in front of Remy.

  “Remy, come back to me so we can go home. Please. Listen to Tobias. He just wants you to come home with us. He just wants us to all leave tonight. That’s all. We want to help you.”

  Remy snapped and growled for a long time, and she kept telling him all the wonderful things they did together. How he cleaned her stables. She had loved that. The mysterious flowers he and Easton had been leaving her.

  “We’re all going to be together, remember? Tobias, me, you, Easton. Even Valen. We’ll make a family, Remy, just come back to me.” She reached out and touched his muzzle. This time, instead of snapping at her, he whimpered.

  A sad thing. A whimper.

  “Come back, Remington,” Tobias ordered. “Overcome it. You are not human and you are not a cursed monster. You are a man with an extraordinary form that deserves respect. You are in control here.”

  She heard the first bone break and move. It made her stomach lurch even as her heart soared. As another moved, and another, she knew he wasn’t shifting back into his human form. He shifted into his normal hellhound form. His orange eyes closed and his head sagged and fell into the dirt.

  Immediately, her mind started trying to work out how to never see this again. “He can still be a hellhound, but that form might come back.”

  “It could. Maybe it’s a control thing? He was feeling bad from the fever, and the first shift is hard on real werewolves and werecats. This could have also been a one off.”

  She shook her head. “No, I think this is going to haunt us for a long time. We need to develop a potion for him. Maybe even a spell.”

  “Easton is bonded to him to help his control…” Tobias swallowed. “Do you think…others could be?”

  “What?” She looked up from her downed hellhound.

  “I would take the mark too. If it’s the best way to help him.” Tobias squared his shoulders, getting off his knees. “I’ll ask Easton.”

  “Tobias…I’ll take the mark if it’s an option.” She didn’t think Tobias would want to tie himself to Remy like that.

  “Then we both will. I know animals, Adalyn. If there’s one way I could help, it might be this. Maybe it would help me call to him if we need to do this again. I’m not sure which of us just did that, or both.”

  “Why?” She couldn’t fathom it. They had just met.

  “He stopped himself from hurting you at his worst. I think I can trust him with you, and you deserve to be as happy as he obviously makes you. I heard everything you said, Addy. That’s precious.”

  She threw herself at him, hugging tightly. “You and I still need to talk.”

  “We do, but later.”

  She pulled away and sighed. “We need to get him back to the humans. Do you think he’ll wake up soon?”

  “I honestly hope he doesn’t. If it’s like other were curses, this might only happen under the moon, though which phase it might be tied to, I don’t know.” Tobias also sighed. Now they were both looking down at the sleeping hellhound. “He’s big.”

  “He is,” she agreed. “We’ll do this together.”

  They did. They each grabbed two of his paws, the best they could manage. She felt guilty but halfway back to camp, they had to start dragging him.

  “He’s really heavy. Damned extra bones he has.” She was panting. By the time they were back at the human’s camp, she wanted to fall down. She took a quick stock.

  “Valen!” she gasped. “How’re you? Easton?”

  Valen was sitting on a log and pointed to the dirt. “I’m fine and he should be. He’s asleep.”

  “How?” she asked, incredulous.

  “I choked him out.” Valen smiled, but it was weary. It wasn’t the normal happy-go-lucky sort of smile she got from him. “In the interest of transparency, I know who his father is now. I guessed. No, I won’t tell you.”

  “Good to know,” she said softly, not really caring at that moment. She knelt and touched Easton’s serene face. “I’m just glad you’re both okay.”

  “What about us, you crazy bitch!” a human demanded. “Are any more fucking monsters going to come for us?”

  “Dear gods,” she muttered. “How long have they been like this?” she asked Valen as other humans joined in. There weren’t that many. “I should have sealed all their mouths.”

  “Maybe you should do that right now,” Valen suggested, looking annoyed too.

  She did. With a simple wave of her hand, the problem was solved. Too bad the rest of her night couldn’t have gone that way. Looking around, she took stock of their trip.

  “Well, at least that’s all over. Now we just need to get back to town.”

  “What’s next?” Tobias asked her.

  “For me? Since both my deputies are down?” She wanted to blow up something. She resisted the humans as targets and aimed for a tree. She blew its branches off, leaving a bare tree. “Paperwork, most likely.”

  Tobias had the audacity to chuckle at her.

  Easton was awake by the time they had everyone but him and Remy loaded on horses. The humans didn’t even try to get away, and there were a couple of reasons for that. For one, she told them that no one else would be able to remove her spells on their mouths and tongues. If they ever wanted to speak again, they would be good.

  Two, they had just gotten introduced to some terrifying monsters that most humans didn’t know about. A Nephilim and a were-hellhound? They were safer with the witch and sheriff than they were on their own, and they knew it.

  “Hey, Easton,” she said softly, leaning over him as his sapphire eyes opened.

  “Is Remy okay?”

  She couldn’t resist a big smile. Of course that was his first question. “Yes. He should be. He’s back in his normal hellhound form and sleeping. We tied him to his mare and Tobias put him under a deeper sleeping spell. It should last until the afternoon.”

  “That’s good,” he said, sighing heavily. “What happened to me?”

  “I choked you out,” Valen answered. “Cut off your air until you went to sleep. Good night, little Nephilim.”

  “Oh.” Now he seemed very confused. “I was asleep?”

  “You were.” She touched his cheek as he sat up. “Did you dream?”

  “I…” He met her gaze. “Yes.”

  “About?” She was dying to know.

  “I can show you later,” he promised, a small smile forming. A very Easton smile. It was perfect for him.

  “I’ll hold you to that. Now get up. We need to get moving, and I want to ask you about something.”

  It was Tobias who held out the hand Easton grabbed. She got out of the way as her shaman pulled the Nephilim up, even helping to brush dirt off his back. Valen held out his coat, which Easton took graciously and swung back on.

  She could only remain silent as she witnessed how one very strange night had built bonds of friendship between them. Tobias quickly told Easton everything he wanted to know about Remy’s situation. Her Nephilim threw her a glance as Tobias got to the part how they convinced Remy to shift into his normal form.

  They were on their horses and moving out, leading the humans on their horses when Tobias got to the most important part.

  “The bond y
ou made with him. Is there any way to share it?”

  “What?” Easton frowned. “No. No, I won’t do that.”

  “Why not?” Adalyn asked. “What’s wrong with it? It had backlash, but Tobias and I have nothing to lose control of. We would be great for it.”

  “It has backlash, but that’s not all. I have the…master’s mark, I guess. That’s the best way of putting it. If I had enough strength last night, I would have been able to order Remy into submission. Sadly, the backlash of him losing control hit me so hard, it wasn’t on my mind. I just needed to get myself under control and was failing at that. Tobias, you did me and Remy a great service last night, but I won’t give you control over him.”

  “Oh. Of course…” Tobias looked away. “No, I wouldn’t want that, not without his consent.”

  “However…” Easton turned on her again. “Adalyn, it’s dangerous.”

  “You would give it to me?” She looked between Easton and Remy. It was an idea, but could she own a man like that?

  “To help supplement my own strength. He wouldn’t mind you. I don’t.”

  She was willing to help with control, but she wasn’t sure how she felt having control. That was a different thing entirely. “We’ll talk to him about it.”

  “It’s not something that is easily abusable. When you have the bond, you’ll know the difference between a causal order and one using the magic of these marks.”

  “Could you bind others like Remy?” Valen asked.

  “Yes. And someone could bind me and have control over him and I. It’s a chain.”

  “Why would you know something like that?” That was some fucked-up magic. She felt like it must lean towards more dark arts than anything.

  “It’s an angel thing? We literally conscript armies to our side,” Easton answered. “I already knew how to do it, but never used it before. Will probably never use it again.”

  “We’ll find other options,” Valen declared. “We’re not tying Adalyn or anyone to someone using angel magic.”

  “I get to decide that,” she said, shutting him down. Then she had to admit the worst thing. “But I agree. It’s not my type of magic, and I’m not part angel. There’s no way of knowing what it’ll do to Tobias or me. Or anyone but you, Easton.”

  “Which is why I’m pretty against the idea myself,” he reminded her. “But the option exists.”

  “We’ll find another way. He might not need anything.” Tobias seemed confident. “We’ll work on it together.”

  “Agreed.” Valen nodded.

  “Of course,” she said, reaching out to grab Easton’s hand. “You and Remy aren’t alone now. We’re behind you.”

  “I know,” he whispered, leaning to kiss her.

  And with that, they rode home, mission successful.

  With extra problems coming home because of it. Because protecting Redstone and getting laid can never be easy. Really, karma, is this for the black magic? Give me a break.

  29

  Adalyn

  After dropping Easton and Remy off at home, Adalyn went straight for her office with Tobias, Valen, and the humans. She was nearly through the door when she changed her mind. She let Tobias and Valen take the humans in and then turned for the bank, leaving them in her jail.

  “Felicity!” she called as she walked in. “I need to borrow a couple of werecats!”

  “Really? Why?” Felicity stuck her head out of the back office.

  “I want one to run a message along to Lawrence. We picked up the remainder of the humans last night. The cattle will be around there and his werewolves can find them.” She wasn’t going to tell anyone about Remy. Not yet. The humans could have their memory erased, but she didn’t bother with that either. No one would ever believe they saw a were-hellhound. “I need another to go to Fort Lackey to get someone to pick up these humans. I’ve got like half a dozen of them or something.”

  “You haven’t counted?”

  “No. I don’t really care. And this way, if one or two go missing before their retrieval by their own kind, I have plausible deniability.” Adalyn grinned at the werecat Alpha, who laughed in return.

  “Smart woman. I’ll send both. Do you have actual directions for Lawrence or is it a verbal message?”

  “Give me a pen and paper,” she said, holding out a hand.

  One of the other werecats handled getting her what she needed. She scribbled down the instructions and added a personal note that if this ever came up again, she was going to toss him around just for fun. She signed, folded it, and used Felicity’s wax to seal it.

  “Take that now,” Felicity ordered the man Adalyn handed the note to. He ran out the door. “And another to Fort Lackey. Not too hard. You, Fort Lackey. Get the Marshal’s Office involved. They’ll bring some of the army, thanks to the size of this group.” The Alpha werecat eyed Adalyn. “You could always hang them here in town. It’s your right.”

  “No. I don’t want Redstone living under the hanging bodies of humans. Sends a bad message.” She had already considered that. Let the humans decide to hang the humans. She would shoot them when they attacked her, but she wasn’t going to have visitors come to town only to see bodies hanging from the trees.

  “At least it wasn’t demons this time.”

  “This time—and honestly, I would rather have demons. Less to worry about.” She snorted. “All right, with that, I’m leaving. I’m tired. I have…man things to handle.”

  “Hm. What are you going to do with that? The deputies or the friends?”

  “Have ‘em all,” Adalyn answered, turning and walking out. She didn’t even stick around long enough to hear a response. She went over to the jail again and stepped in. “Are they secure?” she asked loudly.

  “Yes!” Valen called back. A moment later, he walked out front with Tobias. “Are we just leaving them?”

  “You’re in charge of feeding them,” she told the Russian. “Since food is just so easy for you. Three meals a day, please.”

  “I can do that.” Valen didn’t argue with her.

  “Tobias, you’re with me. Come on. We’re going back to my place.” She nearly left and stopped. “Valen, you don’t need to stay here.”

  “Oh, I wasn’t planning on it,” he replied, laughing. She pushed the door open so he could get out, leaving her alone with Tobias.

  “Your place?” he asked softly.

  “Yes. I’m going to check in with Easton, then we’re going to talk.”

  “Right now? Even after last night?”

  “That’s right.” She wasn’t waiting around for it. It was pointless to wait. Was she tired? Absolutely. Her sleep schedule was wrecked. But she wasn’t going to put Tobias off. She couldn’t do that to either of them.

  “Um. Okay.” Tobias was suddenly nervous, but she thought it was cute. The poor man was one of her closest friends and still had really no idea what he was getting himself into.

  Maybe because he doesn’t think I’m going to have sex with him in the next hour. He’ll learn.

  I mean, they did say I could have all of them. Time to test that out.

  She held the door for him and glanced down at that oh-so-perfect ass she knew well. Sex was the perfect reward for a finished mission. She had every intention of ending another bad night on a good note.

  Sex is just good, and while Remy is asleep, there’s nothing we can do for him.

  They walked home, having already left their horses to Easton’s care as well. The moment they walked into her door, Easton was walking downstairs.

  “Remy is stirring, and I was coming to ask if someone wanted to make him drop again.” He looked between them. “I can also move him into one of the guest bedrooms.”

  “No, you shouldn’t move him any more,” Tobias answered. She smirked. She wasn’t going to stop anything.

  “I’ll come up and see him,” she said, jumping up the steps and around Easton. She blew into her bedroom, seeing her sleepy hellhound. She was worried about his new condition
, but they were already settled on a plan for it. She sat on the edge of the bed and pushed hair out of his face. “Hey, Remy.”

  “Addy…” he murmured. He tried to move more and sit up, but she pushed him back down.

  “No, you need rest, darling. You were supposed to stay down until later today.”

  “But…the humans.”

  “We handled all of it.”

  “And me?” He sounded like he wanted to be taken out back.

  “You are showing no were fever symptoms right now. We didn’t think that was a possibility, but that’s what was wrong. Something about how unique you are had a strange reaction to the curse of their bites.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “We’re going to give you a dose of our were suppressant when you feel feverish. Do you think you can try a shift right now?” If he had the energy, she wanted to know what form he went into. He was so tired and probably feeling very weak thanks to the spell Tobias had put on him. He wasn’t much of a threat.

  He shifted under the blankets and she could only see a nose sticking out. Lifting the blankets, there was a regular old hellhound.

  Regular and hellhound. Not two words I ever thought I would use together.

  “Good. You can shift back now, if you want.” He did, not saying anything. “So, Tobias and I have a theory that the curse will only affect you at night, but we could be wrong. You just helped prove that you still can control your shift. Remy, all we can do is wait and see. But we’ll help you, no matter what.”

  “Thank you…and thank Tobias.”

  “I plan to. Though…” She leaned down and kissed Remy’s ear, nipping it softly. “I plan on having sex with him. Is that okay?”

  “Good,” he mumbled. “Deserves it.”

  “He does?”

  “Both.”

  Her heart swelled. “Do you remember last night?”

  “All of it. ’S why you two deserve it.” He gave her a tired crooked smile. “Staying here.”

  “You are.”

  “Might watch.”