by Harry Nix
As Alex thought about his current small pack he realized he’d already decided they were his, permanently. His human side and wolf side were in agreement – he had to protect them, had an obligation to. It might not have been one he’d planned on but now it was here, it was natural and right to take it on.
His thoughts strayed to the blood golem, the weredogs, the multiple attacks they’d faced. Even from the most cynical cold-hearted human position, having a growing pack could be vital to keeping him and his mates alive.
Alex felt a flush of shame at the thought and pushed it away. From what he’d seen at Julius’, the werewolves who followed their nature got stomped. Yes, it felt natural to grow his pack quickly like this… but he had to decide if it was the right thing to do.
He shifted to his hybrid form and then took the lead down the hill. Alex did a quick count again when he reached the werewolves and saw he’d been correct. There were ten in total, ranging from their early twenties to mid-thirties. All were in their hybrid forms, most of the men easily as tall as Alex was.
The group had been talking as Alex approached, but then had fallen silent.
The turmoil in his mind was raging. To carve a line in the dirt now was to follow a path he couldn’t turn back on. Alex was thinking he should go to the main house, leave them out here so he could have time to make a decision when he saw some of the werewolves were injured. One of the women had a healing wound on her shoulder. Another man had fresh bite marks on his arm.
“What happened there?” Alex asked, pointing at the wounds.
“We left the territory, Alpha, and encountered a small group of werewolves who decided to attack,” one of the men said.
“It’s Alex,” he said automatically.
“Yes, Alex,” the man said.
He felt something shift then, as though the continent itself had jolted into a new position. The pressure had clearly been building up since they’d arrived at Julius’ pack and Alex had seen how the werewolves lived, had read the maps and lists of the missing.
There was something deeply wrong happening to the werewolves and it had clearly been that way for centuries.
Alex might not be able to help Arkovis or any other pack or even stop it, but he could help these werewolves. He could grow a pack like Julius’ where the members weren’t terrified of the Alpha and could call him by name.
Feeling like he'd been thrown off the deep end into a tradition and ceremony that he really had no idea about, Alex scratched a line in the dirt.
Then he pointed to the largest werewolf, a man who was as tall as Alex but looked twice as heavy.
“You first,” he said.
The werewolf approached, walking up to the line. Alex could feel the tension in his body and in the werewolves standing across from him. This felt dangerous, as though at any moment they might break into a fight. Alex realized the werewolf was preparing for exactly that – his claws hung loose and he looked ready to leap away, should things go badly.
The werewolf stomped on the line, letting his foot hang over it.
Alex reached out his hand, and the werewolf took it, allowing Alex to pull him over the line.
Immediately they both relaxed and the werewolf grinned, before coming to stand behind Alex. They hadn't spoken but something had passed between them, a kind of promise. Alex felt as though something had changed in his mind, a key turning in a lock. This werewolf was now part of the Lowe pack. He would defend Alex to the death and Alex would do the same.
Alex pointed to the werewolf that was the man's mate.
“You next,” he said.
21
Alex carefully stepped over the log in his wolf form, Juno squeezing with her legs and hugging the bag of wands and rings they’d collected.
It was the day after he'd surveyed his territory, and while he’d been gone, the others had searched through every cabin, switching off refrigerators and emptying them and collecting any magical rings or wands and any other useful object they found.
April had started cataloging how many homes and beds they had as well as how much food. According to Esme and Lydia they'd only been a few days away from the next scheduled truck deliveries and also possible airdrop, which they assumed wouldn’t happen now. As a result, the food supplies were running somewhat low, but that was for the full size of the old pack. They were twenty in total now and had some breathing space, at least for a little while.
Although Alex wanted to stay out in the wild, they still had the issue of money to handle. It had been hard enough keeping up with feeding just him and Nia and now he had an entire pack to care for.
He could kill two birds with one stone by visiting Bailey, to see what information the old frog had for him and selling off what they’d found. To that end they’d filled a bag with wands and rings to sell.
The binding wand that Eric had claimed had been used to trap them in their cabin was out of charges and so was little more than a fancy stick. Alex wasn’t sure why Eric had shown it to him. As it was out of charges he couldn’t even find traces of the original binding spell on it. Juno had said that sometimes hints remained but it wasn’t so in this case. They’d stored the dead wand anyway, Alex figuring he’d keep studying and maybe discover something in the future.
April and Nia had stayed behind. April was still working on identifying the black gunk on Jasper, saying that if she didn't make progress soon she might have to go home. Analyze just showed questions marks, no matter how charged up it was.
Juno had gone with Alex, ostensibly to help negotiate with Bailey. She was a witch, too, and not a werewolf and Alex knew she was missing civilization a little.
As they walked, Alex was reading spells, tentatively attempting to construct a fireball spell. Juno had one but it was too large for Alex to copy. He figured he’d learned how to summon a small flame away from his body and so how far was he away from making a fireball? It just needed to be larger and he needed to be able to throw it.
“You know what we should do? After we sell all this off to Bailey we go to the Grease Trap for all the food and then back to my house so we can watch Space Buddies, the hit of 2009 and one of the finest in the Air Bud series,” Juno said.
Alex made a chuffing sound that was neither agreement nor disagreement. He felt Juno's hands clench in his fur and her legs tighten on his back.
“Was that a groan?” she asked, a dangerous tone in her voice.
“Nope,” Alex said, hoping she didn't have a butterfly knife up there.
“It better not have been… buddy.”
“So tell me why this movie is so good,?” Alex asked, carefully sounding out the words. The good thing about the wolf form was that it was difficult to put your foot in your mouth.
Juno started talking all things Air Bud and Alex tried to focus on it but he felt his mind drifting. They'd found a satellite phone in the morning. It was fully charged but had no redial function. There hadn’t been any diaries or papers anywhere with phone numbers on them and no one had rung it yet.
Alex was aware that Jasper must've had a way to the call the mages but some part of him expected it was magical and not as mundane as a satellite phone.
They’d debated for a while what they would do if it rang when Alex was gone, finally agreeing that Nia or April would answer it and try to get some details out of whomever was calling.
“…well, I'm not gonna spoil it but obviously it’s called Space Buddies so you can imagine what happens to those dogs,” Juno said.
“I can't wait to watch it,” Alex said, hoping that Juno wouldn't ask him a follow-up question about anything she’d just said.
This seemed to delight little witch who began scratching behind his ear and squeezing his back with her legs.
They continued on through the forest, Alex opening up his spellcasting screen to work on his spell. As usual he checked if a nature mana bar had appeared but there was still nothing there. April had confirmed the green sparks were nature mana but no one knew why
he didn’t have it yet.
Thinking of April, his thoughts strayed to last night. He’d slept in her room, Nia and Juno sleeping elsewhere. It seemed his mates had made some quiet agreement amongst themselves about who he slept with. Alex had been tired from the long run but soon revived when April had pressed herself up against him.
They'd ended up in the same position as their first time, April wrapping her legs around him. They did change it up a little though – April pushing him on to his back and sitting atop him, rocking her hips back and forth, the stolen gold necklace shining in the moonlight coming through the window.
It was still resistant to investigation and so Alex had put it down the bottom of a very long to-do list.
Alex smelled cars long before he saw Boris. After the time in the wilderness far away from the scent of civilization, the smell of rubber, gas and exhaust was strong, and unpleasant. The closer they came to the road, the worse it got. In his wolf form, Alex felt like he wanted to turn tail and walk back to the clean air.
Eventually they came to Boris, the car sitting amongst a few other older ones. Juno made a disappointed noise when she saw that someone had smashed all Boris's windows and two of his tires were flat.
She got off Alex’s back and he shifted back to human form, glad his sense of smell dulled.
“Damn vandals,” Juno said. She held out her hand to Alex so he could help lend some of his magic, as Juno powered up the spell that was stuck permanently to Boris.
Her magic was back in the average range again, so it took most of her power and some of Alex's but soon Boris’ wheels inflated and the glass was growing back. They spent a bit of time brushing glass out of the front seat before Juno used a small gust of wind to clear the last of it.
Soon they were on their way to Baxter.
Even in his human form, Alex could tell his nose was now sensitive. Although Boris smelled warm and comfortable with the enjoyable scent of worn leather seats, he could also detect a plasticky undertone.
The closer they got to Baxter, the stronger the scent of exhaust. Alex felt a throbbing start behind his eyes that quickly grew into a headache. He pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers before remembering purify. He cast upon himself and to his surprise as the headache vanished, a tiny black drop of liquid appeared on the tip of his finger. It dripped on to his pants before he could stop it.
“Dude, flick the pollution out the window not on your clothes. That stain isn’t coming out,” Juno commented.
“Jacob’s right – the city smells bad. It really isn’t air but just the breath of other people.”
“That is a super gross way to think about air,” Juno said.
Alex supposed it wasn’t all bad. He opened the window and caught other scents. Deep fried chicken, pizza, and roasted coffee.
By the time they parked across from Bailey's, Alex's stomach was rumbling. He is looking forward to going to the Grease Trap and eating everything.
Juno told Alex to go ahead and she’d be there in a few minutes. Her phone had a signal again and so she was tapping away at it. Alex gave the little witch a kiss and carried the bag of wands and rings across the road.
The moment he walked into Bailey’s Alex knew something terrible had happened.
The scent of blood was thick and he shifted without thinking about it, which only made it worse.
For a moment he hesitated, thinking he should turn back, wave Juno to come inside. He was sure the blood was Bailey’s and what if he was injured but still alive? Those precious moments could be the difference between life and death.
Alex crept forward, ready to cast Shield, walking past the rows of junk. When he reached the main part of the store he stopped.
There was no point rushing.
Bailey had been hung on a metal cross that had been driven into the floor. He was no longer appearing as the old man, the crossbreeding of a rat and a man but rather looked like Mr. Toad had been stretched up to human proportions and covered in crocodile skin. His long arms had been nailed to the cross but his feet hung loose. At his feet lay a revolting pile of viscera – intestines and organs. His stomach was cut open and hollowed out.
There was blood everywhere.
Alex held an arm over his face as he moved closer.
Bailey hadn’t died easy. There were cuts all over his face and body and multiple burn marks. One of his eyes was a charred ruin. Remembering how Bailey had jumped back when he’d cast Fire Shield in front of him, Alex cringed. The poor old frog, or whatever he truly was, had died horribly.
It’s my fault he thought.
The place had been ransacked too – every wand, ring and piece of magical armor was gone. The displays weren’t smashed though. It had been a quiet calm robbery. Given how long they’d likely tortured him, it was clear they hadn’t been in any rush.
Alex reached out and touched Bailey. He was cold – but that didn’t give any clue as to when he died. For all Alex knew, he may have been cold-blooded.
He stood in place and looked around but nothing screamed clue. There was no scrawled message left behind.
Alex walked away from the horrific scene until he was standing at the door. Even from that far away the blood was the only thing he could smell. He tried to calm himself but his heart was racing. Alongside it the rage was starting to bubble. Before it could boil over, Alex shifted back to his human form and pushed the door open, the rusted bell letting out a pitiful attempt at a jingle.
“How is the old frog?” Juno said when Alex got in the car, smiling at him. Then she saw his face.
“What happened? Did he say something?”
Alex shook his head. Even out here in Boris who smelled of dust, old leather and Juno, the reek of blood seemed to be everywhere.
“He’s dead. Tortured, nailed to a metal cross in the middle of his shop. They gutted him, too,” Alex said.
Juno didn’t answer but instead took off, bolting across the road and nearly getting hit by a car. She was through the door and inside before Alex could even get out of his seat. He crossed the road, steeled himself and followed her in.
He found her as he had been – standing still beside Bailey’s desecrated corpse. She had her hands over her mouth and was shaking.
Juno started when Alex touched her on the shoulder. She whirled around and Alex saw she wasn’t crying but rather gritting her teeth.
“What is it?” he said, stepping closer. His fingers touched her skin and he suddenly felt her magic. It was roaring like a hurricane.
“You need to run!” Juno yelled and shoved at him.
The force of it hurled Alex across the room. He crashed into an empty display case, shattering the glass. By the time he got to his feet, Juno was floating off the ground, dark flames burning at her fingertips.
“Leave Alex, if you value your life,” she said to him in a guttural tone.
Alex wasn’t sure what this is – rage and grief at Bailey’s death or a Chaos Witch problem but he could feel the magic swirling around him like a vortex, Juno sucking it in.
He pulled himself up and ran for the door, hitting it with his shoulder at full sprint.
He was halfway across the road when the magic pulled so sharply it hurt, like it was dragging sandpaper over his skin. There was a moment of stillness before an enormous roar behind him split the air. Alex crashed into Boris, thrown by the force of the explosion and then found himself on the ground with his ears ringing.
Alex got groggily to his feet and turned around. Bailey’s front door was closed and inside a black fire was burning. On the street a few people had looked but then looked away, the Great Barrier pushing at them. The explosion had been only magical, and not physical, apparently.
Alex walked closer and cast Shield in case there was another explosion. There was no heat radiating from Bailey’s front door which was strange given the inferno raging behind it. Alex reached out a hand but then stopped.
Either Juno was in there and okay, in which case he could
wait it out, or she was dead, in which case there was no point going in.
He stood there for five minutes watching the flames before they suddenly extinguished. His Shield had canceled itself long before then. After gingerly touching the door handle to see if it was hot, Alex pushed the door open. There was no dull clunk this time – the corroded bell was gone, presumably consumed by the fire. So was all the junk down the small corridor. There wasn’t even ash left behind. Alex was walking on concrete that had been seared clean.
He emerged from the small corridor to find Juno standing in the middle of the room, her head down. Bailey was gone. The cross was gone. Everything was gone.
“Juno?” he said.
She lifted her head and smiled at him.
“It’s okay now. It’s safe,” she said. She walked over to Alex and hugged him. The moment they touched, he felt her magic again. It was still stirred up, like an angry sea in the aftermath of a storm.
He heard her sigh and then she relaxed against him, resting her head on his chest.
“Who would do something like this?” he said, stroking his hand down her back.
“Corvus. Pain mages always do the most horrific things they can imagine.”
They separated but still kept touching.
“The problem is,” Juno continued, “they don’t have very good imaginations. Certainly not as good as mine.”
She took Alex by the hand and pulled him out of the shop.
Outside the sun was shining and people were wandering up and down the street. It felt wrong to Alex, like there should be panic or fear or something outside Bailey’s door. Not this... normality.
They drove most of the way home in silence. It was only when they were a few blocks away that Juno finally spoke again.
“That was Chaos magic before. Uncontrollable and intense. I’m very glad you decided to run because you wouldn’t have survived that.”
She squeezed his hand as she said it but Alex didn’t find it very reassuring. What if that happened while Juno was in the house? Could it happen while she was asleep?
