Wolf's Choice

by Carina Wilder

  I gasped, but Trick shushed me. Apparently whatever Tristan was doing was all part of their grand plan. Still, it seemed reckless and impulsive, at best. “He’s committing suicide,” I whispered, my heart thumping violently. “She’ll kill him.”

  “He’s following the plan,” Trick replied softly. “He knows she won’t be able to resist him. We need to get her out in the open.”

  “So this entire strategy depends on my husband’s ex-lover being so turned on by him that she can’t hold herself back?”

  “Something like that.”

  “Great.”

  After less than a minute, an all too familiar figure emerged from the woods at the other side of the clearing. She was wearing a long, flowing white dress that looked far too much like a wedding gown for my liking. Waves of red hair cascaded down her back, her eyes glowing impossibly bright. She looked like a temperamental angel.

  Either that or the fucking devil.

  With her eyes locked squarely on Tristan’s, she made her way towards the edge of the circle of torches. But my gaze was on the man who stood a few feet away from her, his body rigid, his mind no doubt battling whatever spell she was trying to cast on him.

  “I knew you’d come back,” she said with a smile. I could just barely make out the words. “I knew all along that you’d realize what it is that you really want.”

  Tristan smiled back at her. “Yes, I know exactly what I want. It involves a long life…and you, Elodie.”

  “Good,” she said, taking another step. “I’m so glad to hear it. I hated the thought of ending you. I can’t believe I’m saying it, but I’m so grateful to that mischievous brother of yours for coming to your rescue.”

  “Me too,” he replied. “So glad.”

  “What’s he going to do?” I asked Trick in a hissing whisper.

  “If he gets her close enough, he’ll shift and attack,” he replied. “It’s our best hope—to incapacitate her in human form and keep her from shifting.”

  “What if she doesn’t get close enough?”

  “Then we have no choice but to launch an attack. All of us.”

  I watched as Elodie edged closer to Tristan, but she still wasn’t within his reach. Something about her body language looked off to me. I’d seen her at the Magic Lake, the way she’d reached for him, the way she’d tried to seduce him with her charms and her touch. But now she looked tight, like a person ready to spring into action. Her dragon was alive inside her, and I couldn’t help thinking that Tristan knew it, too.

  “It’s not working,” I whispered. “She’s not going to fall for it. Damn it lover, get out of there.”

  “He can’t,” Trick said with a shake of his head. “He’s got to make a move one way or the other.”

  Elodie stopped just inside the outer rim of the circle of torches. “You really think I’ll come to you,” she said. “You think you can get me that easily, do you?”

  “I think that one way or the other, one or both of us will die today,” Tristan snarled, thrusting his right arm straight up towards the sky. Instantly, what had to be a hundred wolves came barreling out of the woods, charging full tilt at the dragon shifter.

  “There they are,” said Trick with a smile. “Your executioners.”

  The beasts sprinted full-tilt at Elodie, who should have reacted. She should have looked frightened.

  But she didn’t.

  I shook my head. “Something’s wrong,” I said. “She saw this coming—all of it—from a mile away.”

  Sure enough, Elodie threw her head back and laughed until the nearest wolf was mere feet from her, then with another flash of blinding light, she was airborne. Massive golden wings lifted her dragon’s sleek, terrifying body, and she shot upwards before turning in a tight circle in the sky. Immediately two other dragons joined her—I could only assume that they were Nero and Jove’s beasts—and without missing a beat, the three came shooting back down towards the clearing.

  I couldn’t keep quiet anymore. I rose to my feet and screamed, “Tristan! Get out of there!”

  He’d already shifted into his powerful wolf, and was now sprinting back towards the woods. Most of the other wolves followed suit, but some weren’t fast enough to make it to safety. Elodie’s golden beast hit them with darts of flame shooting out from the back of her gaping, fang-filled mouth, sending them howling in agony or crashing to the ground dead, their bodies blackened and smoking.

  I cupped my hand over my mouth as a nauseating feeling of horror overtook me. The plan had been implemented less than a minute ago, and already there were casualties. I’d told myself a million times what we were up against in this war, but it hadn’t sunk in until this moment how gruesome it would be to see it unfold before my eyes. The Seven were literal monsters, all too happy to decimate entire packs of shifters if it served their agenda and helped them maintain their position at the top of the hierarchy.

  “What are we going to do, Trick?” I asked helplessly as I sank down into the ground. But he didn’t answer. The Southern Alpha was standing at full height, his rifle pressed against his chest, aimed towards the sky.

  Without a moment’s hesitation, he took a shot and one of the other dragons—a silvery gray beast—came crashing to the ground, landing hard at the center of the clearing.

  “Jove is down,” Trick breathed as he crouched down next to me. I stared out at the creature lying limp about thirty feet away. His eyes were open, but the brilliant light that had shone from them a few seconds ago had already faded to nothingness.

  “Is he dead?” I asked.

  “I think so,” Trick said.

  We watched as the two remaining dragons made another circle in the sky above the clearing. Once again, Trick positioned himself to shoot.

  “They’re too far away,” he said. “I need the Valks to bring them down.”

  “Where are they?” I asked. “Shouldn’t they be here by now?”

  “Tristan told Kara to give the signal when it was safe,” Trick replied. “If they haven’t moved on the dragons, it’s because there’s a problem.”

  As I stared at the circling dragons high above us, I realized what that problem was.

  “Shit,” I said, “there are more of them now. Four—no, wait—five—six.”

  “Shit,” Trick echoed, pulling his gun up again. “They’re all here. We’re going to have to take them all at once.”

  I looked across the clearing, frantically searching the edge of the woods for Tristan, but he was nowhere to be seen. He was probably tucked away, trying to figure out his next move. Clearly the dragons had come with only one purpose in mind, and they wouldn’t rest until they’d taken down every shifter in the vicinity. Any strategy Tristan had worked out back at the shack was worthless now. He was flying blind.

  I wanted to kick myself for letting my lover start this unwinnable battle. But I knew full well that if he hadn’t, the Seven would have followed him to Manhattan. They would have brought their fire and rage to my home town and wreaked havoc. By taking them on here, we were keeping the fight away from innocent humans.

  Though it wasn’t exactly a comforting thought at the minute.

  High in the sky all six remaining dragons were circling like vultures, their eyes fixed on the ground far below. No doubt they were waiting for their next victims to show themselves.

  “Something has to happen,” I said miserably. “Someone needs to make a move.”

  Trick pointed up at the sky. “Someone did,” he said. “The Valks are here.”

  “What?” I asked, but a second later when the sky filled with darkness, I knew.

  There must have been a thousand powerful women up there, each of them riding their summoned flying mount—so many that it looked like an angry, swirling black cloud had taken over the sky above the dragons.

  “Oh, thank God,” I said, though I wasn’t sure how they’d manage to combat the massive beasts who swooped around below them.

  I learned quickly that the one advantag
e that the Valkyries had was speed.

  Lunging at the much slower dragons, they hurled spears, some of which missed and came crashing down to earth only a few feet from where Trick and I stood. Others hit their marks, occasionally embedding themselves in the dragons’ flesh or tearing through wings. At one point I watched as one of the beasts flew away to escape with its life, its body limping through the air as though it was on the verge of making a crash landing.

  The dragons, overpowered and overwhelmed by the female army’s numbers, finally began to swoop towards the ground. Anticipating their arrival, once again Trick was on his feet taking aim at one, then another. He took down both in quick succession, and I was beginning to think I’d been wrong about needing Krane to win this fight. Our side had definitely taken the advantage.

  There was only one problem.

  Three of the dragons hadn’t yet been crippled.

  I wasn’t sure if she had harder scales than the others, but somehow Elodie’s golden armor gleamed flawless in the daylight, her monster’s body looking whole and unblemished in spite of the aerial assault that had just occurred.

  She came down for a hard landing on the ground, followed obediently by Nero’s beast. The Valkyries’ horses set down all around them even as the army of wolves came prowling out of the woods, leaping at the dragons, tearing at their scales with vicious fangs. Shaking them off easily, Elodie let out a giant blast of explosive blue flame, taking out an entire section of the woods on the other side of the clearing.

  I could only pray that Tristan wasn’t in the path of her fire.

  “Get back, Ariana,” Trick warned me as Elodie spun around to face us. She was still far off, but I had no idea how powerful her ability to shoot flame was, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to find out. “Stay behind me.”

  I nodded, backing up several feet to move clear of any residual firebombs.

  On the ground, the wolves and Valks were dauntless. At one point I saw Kara, dressed in what looked like a dark flak jacket, a massive sword in hand. She was fighting the third dragon, jabbing at it expertly, the weapon piercing the beast’s flesh between its glistening scales.

  The scene was utterly surreal. I’d always associated Kara’s beauty and lithe physique with polished Manhattan skyscrapers and high fashion. She’d always come across as a tightly-wound, anxious business person, first and foremost. But now, for the first time ever, she actually looked…oddly happy.

  “I need to get out there,” Trick said, turning my way and setting his gun down. “I can’t get a clear shot, not while they’re on the ground. Will you be okay?”

  I nodded. “I’ll be fine,” I told him with a withering smile. “Just—do me a favour and keep an eye out for Tristan?”

  “Of course.” Trick threw me a reassuring smile before leaping into his wolf form and tearing off towards the fray.

  With the help of the wolves, the Valkyries managed to take down the dragon that Kara had been fighting who was wounded badly enough that she took off for the sky with a half-broken wing and a deep wound on her neck.

  Now, only two were left: Elodie and Nero. We’d taken out five dragons. Surely we could win this thing.

  But then amid the chaos, Elodie’s dragon lifted herself into the sky once again. With a twist of her neck, she shot a stream of flame that seemed to hit everything at once. The piercing, shattering sound of screams met my ears and I cowered, pressing my forearms against the sides of my head. Without ever having heard it before, I knew it was the agonizing sound of the Valkyries’ horses. My heart shattered for them and for their riders.

  Even though Kara hadn’t fully explained her connection to her mount, I knew it was as much part of her as the wolf inside Tristan was a part of him.

  “Oh God,” I muttered, “No…”

  I pulled my eyes up and stared our at the chaos, my stomach a mess of angry, terrified knots. All I could think was that Tristan was out there somewhere, that our side wasn’t just losing now—we were getting slaughtered. There was no way now that we could beat the dragons, not with so many of our own already taken out of the action.

  Think, Ariana, I told myself. What was it that Madame Lola said to you? What are you supposed to do when the time is right?

  It was in that precise moment that I heard the sound of an awful, rasping voice behind me. A voice that made my heart stop.

  “Hello…Ariana.”

  Chapter 28

  I spun around, only to see the gruesome eyes of the Marquis staring into my own. The grim smile spreading over his lips told me he wasn’t here to play nice.

  Fuck. Trick was gone. His gun was on the ground, but I had no idea how to use the damned thing.

  Tristan was nowhere to be seen.

  I was on my own.

  I reached down and picked up the rifle, fully aware of how stupid the gesture was. At the most it might leave a red welt on his cheek if I hit him with it as hard as I could.

  “Your friend Marcus says hi,” the Marquis told me when I didn’t reply. “He says he’s very happy with his new home.”

  I shook my head, rage flowing hot through my veins. “No,” I snarled. “There’s no way he’s happy with you. You took advantage of him. You knew he was weak and you manipulated him.”

  “It’s what wolves do,” the Marquis said, stepping closer. “We prey on weakness. Didn’t you know that?”

  I swung the rifle at him, but he ducked deftly out of the way, laughing. “You humans are adorable,” he said in a tone so patronizing that I wished I could borrow Kara’s sword and drive it through his head.

  “I wish I could say the same for your ilk,” I told him. “I know what you did to Tristan, you and Demarche. I know what you are, you sick son of a bitch.”

  “You say that like it’s a bad thing,” he replied, jumping at me with a maniacal laugh. I leapt back, too close to the clearing for my comfort. I could feel the heat from the fire raging behind me.

  “What’s it feel like to know you’re about to die?” he asked, pulling back for a second. The bastard was taunting me. Torturing me, just like he’d done to countless others. “I’ve never had the pleasure of the sensation, but I imagine it’s quite…invigorating.”

  “It’s invigorating all right,” I snapped back. “Now why don’t you fuck off? This isn’t your fight.”

  “You know that’s not true,” he said.

  I took another step back, edging closer to the fire. Maybe if I could get close enough, I could draw him into it…

  “Don’t even think about it, Ariana,” he said. “I’m many things, but I’m not stupid.”

  “No, I’m sure you’re not,” I told him, glancing over my shoulder. Surely there was someone close by—a wolf, a Valkyrie, a bear—who could help.

  But all I saw was a massive, terrifying wall of flame. I was literally in hell.

  The Marquis took a long stride towards me and grabbed the gun from my hand, wrenching it away in one violent motion. I was naked, utterly vulnerable all of a sudden, flashes of my stepfather’s attack in my dressing room at the theater surging through my mind.

  I’d nearly died then.

  But now I needed to survive.

  “Tristan!” I cried out, but no sound met my ears except for the crackling of flames behind me. The Marquis chuckled, his dark eyes flashing bright and menacing.

  I stepped back again, but this time I stumbled over a low tree stump and tumbled backwards, my hands hitting the ground behind me.

  The Marquis moved over me now, his eyes burning with the wolf inside him. In a moment I knew he’d shift, and the beast’s teeth would clamp around my neck. He’d take my life from me, just as he’d stolen Tristan’s humanity.

  Only this time, I knew the result would be death.

  “Just fucking do it,” I said. “Kill me if that’s your plan.”

  “I will,” he replied. “But slowly. I like to make my victims suffer.”

  He moved until he was directly over me in a pose that felt utterly like a vi
olation, his hands pinned to the ground on either side of my head. He was still in human form, but somehow all I saw was a beast. A big, awful, evil creature devoid of any human characteristics.

  “Are you ready?” he asked.

  “No. But I know that doesn’t matter to you,” I replied. I closed my eyes again, wishing I had the strength to fight him off.

  Wishing I’d never come.

  Wishing he’d do it quickly.

  “Just do it!” I shouted.

  But when I opened my eyes again, all I saw were the branches high in the treetops overhead.

  A shuffling to my right drew my gaze and I pushed myself up only to see that a very large man had the Marquis pinned to the ground several feet away.

  “Krane,” I gasped. “What the—”

  He looked over at me, pulling himself to his feet, leaving the Marquis lying on the ground. The wolf shifter looked like he was unconscious; whatever blow Krane had landed must have hit hard. “You all right?” he asked “Did he hurt you?”

  I nodded, but a split-second later I yelled out, “Look out!” when I saw what was happening behind him.

  The Marquis had faked us both out and shifted, his massive, brown-gray wolf leaping up and gnashing at Krane with razor teeth. His fangs sank into the dragon shifter’s right arm, drawing a cry of pain from his lips.

  With a flash of scorching light, Krane shifted into his onyx dragon, his massive body bending tree trunks at forty-five degree angles to accommodate his vastness. I pulled myself to my feet and backed away, terrified of what was about to unfold.

  Angry and in pain, the dragon lashed out at the Marquis’ wolf, snatching the animal between his jaws and tossing him ten feet at least before the wolf rose once again to its feet, shook out its head and darted at the dragon, lunging at his neck.

  But at the last second he veered away from Krane, sprinting full throttle in my direction and leaping up to lunge at my face. I cried out and pulled my arms up as the creature flew through the air, its mouth wide open, those awful fangs set to clamp down on my flesh like they’d done to Krane.

  But instead of the crushing impact I was expecting, I was met by the sound of a brief, high-pitched yelp, then…nothing.