I don't know whether it's because she asked me to or simply because I want to myself...but the change begins.
Again, there's no pain. There's a little discomfort, but I feel like that's to be expected when your entire body changes around you...
It's bound to feel a little weird.
It doesn't take long. Soon I'm panting on my hands and knees again. I stare down at my fingers spread on the concrete.
I take a deep breath, let it out...
I look up at my great-aunt.
She examines my face, then nods slowly. “Good. Good,” she repeats, then pats my head again, even though I'm very much human now. She gives me a little grin. “You'll get even better at that as you go along. Soon, it'll be as easy as a sneeze.”
“Well,” Silver amends quickly, then chuckles, too. “Not that easy.”
“Get as old as me, kiddo, it'll definitely come that easy.” Fanny chuckles wryly, then gives another wink before rising, dusting her palms off on her bare thighs.
Her smile becomes a little grimmer as she sighs. “Well...gotta take out the trash.”
There's no mistaking what the phrase means.
I swallow as I glance at my grandmother. She's still face down on the concrete, but now she's groaning just a little louder, and her fingers are squirming.
My heart hitches inside of me.
I think about my mother.
Now I know. Now I know why my mother died. Because of Marie.
But the true why of it...it's still something I can't wrap my head around.
I sit back on my heels gingerly, my heart aching inside of me. I gesture to my grandmother, say: “But...I just...I need to understand...”
But Fanny holds up a cautioning hand.
“Sweetheart, there are things in this world that you just can't understand,” she tells me sadly.
There's an apology in her words...and a certain degree of firmness.
She spreads her hands. “I think you know this already, but I need to be clear: I didn't know that your grandmother was in league with the vampires... Things that have been...well, off for a while. But now that I know what was going on...they kind of make sense. Marie's been saying plenty of things that I don't take a fancy to, and for a while now. And there have been people hanging around the compound that I didn't think should be there. Not that every vampire is bad, obviously,” she amends hastily, “but there have been a lot of vampires through here lately, and that's bothered me. While vampires aren't all bad, they sure as hell aren't all good, either.”
“Fanny...Marie said...Marie said she had my mother killed. God, it sounds so awful...” I whisper. I close my eyes tightly.
I think of Ma...
Fanny sighs for a long moment.
And then she says, voice quiet: “your mother left here because she saw through your grandmother, kiddo. She knew that your grandmother was starting down a dark path and she wanted no part of it. I did, too. But your mother was more vocal. Didn't mind rocking the boat. She left because she knew it'd keep you safe. And it did, for a time. But your grandmother wanted your mother back, your grandmother wanted what your mother could do...and when Anna refused to come back, Marie thought she didn't have a choice anymore. So, yes, she had your mother killed.”
“But I don't understand—”
“Sometimes, you can't.” Fanny sighs again, working her jaw. “I don't think any of us start out bad. Hell, she's my own sister. It took a long time, a lot of wind and water moving over that stone to change the shape of it. But it happened.” She turns her gaze to me, her gray eyes soft. “Bad people don't just suddenly appear, kiddo. But they do exist. They do harm. And they've got to be stopped.”
Silver places her arm around me and draws me close to her. I'm heartbroken as I stare at my grandmother, lying in a pool of her own blood.
But I'm also angry.
“She said that she was more powerful than humans...but that's just...that's just horrible. What does it matter who's more powerful? It doesn't. It doesn't matter. All that matters is that...that you have enough. That you're happy. I don't understand why she couldn't see that.” My hands are balled into fists. My anger rises in me, sharp, unyielding.
But the softness of Silver against me...
Her warmth.
It moves into me slowly, by degrees, as she embraces me.
“I'm here,” Silver murmurs. I turn toward her, nestling against her.
I close my eyes.
I feel her warmth.
“You'd better get her out of here, now,” says Fanny. And there's sadness in her voice as she stands again. “I've got to take care of things.”
My breath hitches in my throat as I gaze at my great-aunt.
“Does it mean what I think it means?” I whisper.
Fanny shrugs, clearly uncomfortable. “Don't you worry about it. Silver, kindly take her out of here.”
But I'm standing, too.
“'Take care of things.' Are you going to kill her?” I ask plainly.
I gesture to my grandmother on the floor.
My grandmother who's starting to stir a little more.
Fanny shakes her head, shrugs again. “What choice do I have? If I don't, she'll set out with the pack members, again, and—in no time—she'll have started up the pack again someplace else. She'll grow it, make it bigger, more powerful... Hell, who knows? Maybe she'll even come for you again someday. You're not safe until she's dead. I'm sorry”
I gaze sadly at the crumpled body of my grandmother.
I feel my heart rising into my throat.
And an idea floats up inside of me..
“What if...”
I swallow, lick my lips.
“What if I could put the lock on Marie?”
Fanny blinks. “The what?”
“The heart lock. What if I could put a heart lock on Marie? That would prevent her from transforming...wouldn't it?”
Silver and Fanny both stare at me.
After a long moment, Fanny clears her throat, says, gently: “Ella...your mother could put locks on folks. That's...not what you can do. Your power is different...”
“I feel things that others feel, I know. I guess I can make them feel what I'm feeling, too.” I gesture around at the groaning people, still on the ground, still clutching their stomachs. “I'm assuming that's what's happening to them.”
“That makes sense,” says Silver, pursing her lips. She's not stopped looking at me. Her brow is furrowed.
“But you...you said I was as powerful as my mother.” I curl my hands into fists, look at Fanny. “What if I can do this, too?”
Fanny shakes her head. “No wolf has ever possessed more than one gift...”
But when Silver gazes at me, there's something there in her expression.
Curiosity.
Possibility.
I breathe out.
And then I say: “I don't want anyone else to die because of me.”
Quiet permeates the air.
Everything becomes silent.
A long, uncomfortable moment passes where Fanny works her jaw. And then she looks back at the prone body behind us. Marie's groans are getting louder, her head moving from side to side.
Fanny nods. “All right, give it a shot. But, if you can manage to do this...I think it'd be better if Marie was stuck a wolf.”
I nod once, twice.
I don't trust my voice not to shake.
So I don't say anything at all.
Fanny pads across the cold concrete to Marie. Marie's body is splayed onto the concrete, and as Fanny crouches down beside her, Marie's head turns toward her sister, letting out a hiss of breath.
Fanny gazes down at her in distaste.
She reaches out, presses a hand on the back of Marie's head.
“Do it,” growls Fanny. “Become the wolf. Now.”
I'm not sure whether it's from the suggestion or because Marie is too powerless to do anything but obey...
But Marie begins to change.
Her nose begins to grow, her neck in a spasm as it arches, a growl emanating from deep inside of her.
“Okay, kiddo,” yells Fanny over her shoulder, taking a step back. “If you're gonna do it, best do it now.”
Marie gnashes her suddenly lengthening teeth together.
I step forward, my heart thundering inside of me.
I have no idea what I'm doing.
I just...
Remember what the lock felt like on my own heart.
I don't want anyone else to die.
I just want to live a small life. A good life.
I want to live it with Silver.
And I don't want to feel like I have to look over my shoulder ever again.
This is for me.
For us.
And for Ma.
I reach out, and I close my eyes. I think about the lock on my heart. I think about what it felt like, how the wildness still twisted deep in my belly, but how I could never truly touch it.
I think about the pain I felt in my gut, how I pushed it out of myself, away from me and Silver...
I think of Silver.
I think of what life could be with her...
My breathing starts to come quicker. I can feel something, can feel something surging inside of me, but I'm not quite sure what it is. It's this...this heady feeling.
This...rising.
Silver crouches down beside me, and she reaches out her hand.
She places a warm palm on my arm.
And, even though my eyes are closed...
I can see her light.
There's a snarl in front of us. A low groan...
And then a whimper.
I open my eyes with a gasp as Silver's fingers tighten quickly on my arm.
A strange sight stands before us.
For Fanny's found a worn rope from somewhere and knotted it into a muzzle, of sorts. She's looped it around Marie's head and wolfen jaws, tightening it.
Marie snaps her head from side to side, and she's growling fiercely. Blood's matted in her fur, and she's on unsteady feet...she does not want to be contained by this muzzle, clearly...
But she's not changing out of her wolf form.
As I stare at her, I can feel the frustration rising off of her in waves.
Frustration and rising fury.
But she remains a wolf.
After a long moment of Marie gnashing her teeth together and growling at the end of the rope tether, I look at Fanny, speechless.
And Fanny says, voice low, breathless: “I think...I think it's actually worked.” Then she shakes her head. “Let's make sure.”
Fanny crouches down beside her sister.
She cocks a brow, then says: “become human, right now. Do it. Do it.”
But Marie backs up, to the farthest length of the rope.
She stares at Fanny with wide, wild eyes.
And the wolf remains.
Fanny rises, keeping tight hold on the rope.
And when she looks back at me, she's grinning.
“It's done. I'll watch her for a while to make sure. Maybe a month or so. Won't that be fun?” she asks, and there's sarcasm in her tone as she tightens the rope on Marie's face. Marie gives a little groan out, and scrabbles her claws on the concrete as Fanny drags her forward. She seems lightheaded on her paws, but the blood is drying on her fur, and the wound on the back of her head seems to be mending.
She'll be as good as new in a little while.
Well.
Mostly good...
“Hey, you,” Fanny snarls, gazing around at the other people, vampires and werewolves, who are still on the ground. Their groaning has stopped—they're no longer holding their stomachs. They're crouching there, watching the proceedings and wondering what, exactly, they should do.
So Fanny tells them, her voice warning: “you assholes had better skedaddle. And now.”
One of the men rises a little, and when Fanny sets him in her sights, he physically winces, his entire body bending away from her.
“You're just going to...to let us go?” he asks quietly.
Fanny shrugs, looking back over her shoulder at me. “It's what the little lady wants. But, I know all you wolves' names, and you can bet your asses I'm going to put out the word through the packs that you betrayed your own kind. And you vampire bastards,” she snarls, “better get out of my sight by the time I count to ten or I'm about to go full wolf on your asses. One...two...”
She doesn't get to the number “three.”
Everyone fades away almost instantly into the darkness, scrabbling backward, disappearing into the shadows.
In a minute, the scent in the warehouse lifts, and I know:
They've all gone.
Fanny tugs Marie backward. “Well, looks like it's gonna be me and Marie for a little while. Gotta make sure this takes for absolute sure—I'm not taking any chances—and then I'll set her free somewhere. Somewhere there's wolf hunting.” Her smile is a little wider than I'd like.
I sigh and raise my brows, and Fanny winks at me before she turns to Silver. “I'll be in touch, all right? We'll meet up after this.”
Silver gives her a small salute and a grin. “Sounds good,” she says, and as Fanny tugs Marie away, she clears her throat. “And Fanny...?”
Fanny turns back.
“Thank you,” we both say, in unison.
“My pleasure, sweetheart.” And she winks at me again. “You know what? When we all get back together, I'm gonna let you be Alpha.”
I blink. “Wait...like...a pack?”
She gestures among me, Silver and herself. “What the hell do you think this is?”
“I guess...I guess I hadn't thought of it yet,” I whisper.
But I'm grinning.
Fanny shrugs. “Doesn't take much to make a pack that means something. Two or more, and then you've got something special brewing. So...if you'll have me.” She gives a little grin. “I mean, I sure don't want to disturb the lovebirds...”
I'm laughing then.
“No...that sounds absolutely perfect, the three of us. A pack. I love it.” I shrug. “I...don't have a very big apartment, but—”
“Oh, hell no. We've got a huge house. It's nice,” says Fanny, adamant. “We can even redecorate.”
“I'll call you soon,” she tells Silver, and then she's tugging Marie out through the opening in the sliding door, out into the storm.
We're alone, then.
Me and her.
I turn to gaze at Silver. I reach out, uncomprehending, full of awe and wonder as I lift up the edge of her flannel shirt.
Her belly is completely healed.
Though there, in the center, next to her belly button is a raised white crescent shape.
A scar from the knife's blade.
Silver looks down at it and smiles, running a fingertip lightly over the pale white scar.
“Like mother...like daughter,” she growls.
I look up at her, not understanding, and her eyes are bright as she gives me a little smile.
“Just like your Ma...you saved my life, too,” she explains, her head to the side.
Her eyes are soft.
Her smile: warm.
I reach out slowly.
I savor the sensation of the flannel against my wrists, the warmth of her pulsing into me as I wrap my arms around her tightly...
So tightly.
I press myself to her and I whisper:
“I love you.”
I say it again, louder. I don't care that my voice shakes:
“I love you.”
And Silver puts her hands at my waist, fingers curling over curves, fitting perfectly into place.
She leans down, brushes her warm mouth against my own.
She kisses me.
Her glow surrounds us, pulsing, rising.
Just for a moment, there's not a bit of darkness.
There is only light.
The End
~ More from Bridget Essex ~<
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- A Knight to Remember: Holly, a librarian, is starting to believe that love is impossible to find...until, during an unusually vicious storm, magic and romance appear in her backyard in the form of that mysterious, gorgeous knight...
- Date Knight: The sequel to the much-loved novel A Knight to Remember, Holly and Virago are on another adventure—this time, in another world.
- Forever and a Knight: Follow along on the adventures of Josie, a shock jock DJ from Boston, as she falls through a portal into another world...and on top of the woman of her dreams...who just happens to be wielding a sword.
- A Dark and Stormy Knight: Mara is a painter who has always felt alone...Charaxus is a lady knight who's always felt alone, too. Together the women meet, one magical night, and a love story begins to unfold that will change them both forever.
- Just One Knight: Cinda and Talis both need a night out on the town. Cinda’s been a baker for as long as she can remember, and Talis just got some bad news about her lifelong dream. Together, these two women are about to have an adventure that will change their lives forever…
- Thief of Hearts: A rollicking, romantic fairy tale for grown ups, set in Bridget's beloved knight world. Envy is a lucky lady, but her luck runs out, and she's banished to a tower. What follows next is a magical love story that will sweep you off your feet!
- Under Her Spell: A comforting, romantic fairy tale for grown ups, set in Bridget's beloved knight world. Isabella isn't a very good witch, but when she founds herself in the town of Benevolence, she hopes her luck is changing. But then she meets outcast shapeshifter Emily, and love begins to grow...
- Memory: Piper once believed she'd found her happily ever after in Estella. Until Estella left. Years have passed, and they're both grown women living opposite lives on opposite sides of the country. All they have between them are the memories of a young love that was so beautiful and profound that it changed their lives forever... But a chance encounter pulls the two women together once more. A poignant, passionate love story of second chances.
Wild Hearts Page 22
