Willow (Blood Vine Series)

by Amy Richie

  “You were staring down at her house today. I just assumed you knew.”

  “I was?” The only house I had been looking at was that old farm house. Did Carlie live there?

  Jed peered around the side of the cabin. “Is she gone?” he whispered loudly.

  I felt my mouth go slack. I hadn’t even realized Jed had left. “Why are you hiding?”

  “I’m supposed to be dead.”

  “She might have wondered why he was with us,” Tyson snorted.

  Why hadn’t I thought of that? The thought that Jed was supposed to be dead hadn’t even entered my mind. These boys didn’t need me to teach them anything. If anything, I needed them to teach me.

  “I’m going to shower,” I grumbled.

  

  The hot water didn’t do much for my mood. I watched sullenly as the water ran red down my legs and into the drain. I scrubbed furiously at my hair, determined to wash away my sour mood.

  It wasn’t the pack’s fault that they want to protect me. It’s a perfectly natural reaction, I told myself over, and over, and over again. I mean, what had Gage expected?

  With sudden clarity, I realized that was exactly what Gage had expected. That’s why he had attacked me. It wasn’t to hurt me, it was to get a reaction from the boys.

  What had he said before he attacked me? Something about thinking of something important to you. I had morphed faster than ever before when I thought Jed was hurt. That was the key to morphing! That feeling of rage and protectiveness.

  Before I was done with my shower the water started to run cold. I quickly finished rinsing the soap out of my hair and turned the water off. In the sudden silence I heard voices outside.

  “You’re not going anywhere near her,” Colby said hotly.

  “I just want to see if she’s ok,” came the unmistakable raspy sound of Gage’s voice.

  My heart stuttered and then went into double time. Don’t leave, don’t leave I pleaded silently as I wrapped a towel around my body and darted to my room for a fresh pair of clothes.

  My shoulder was almost completely healed but I still winced when my shirt scratched against it. I pulled on the jeans I had discarded on my floor the night before and buttoned them as I was hurrying out the door.

  I slipped on a pair of flip-flops that were by the front door but didn’t bother with my hair. “Gage?” I called as I rounded the cabin.

  “Willow.” He took a step forward but was pushed back by Tyson and Colby. He glared at them briefly but then he turned his attention back to me. “Are you ok?”

  “I’m fine.” I tried to brush his concern off.

  He snorted an ugly sound and shook his head. “Willow, I’m … ”

  I held my hand up to stop his apology. “Come on guys, let him pass.”

  There was a tense moment when I didn’t think they would listen to me, but they stepped back so Gage could get through. I was pretty sure that they wouldn’t have been able to hold him back if he’d really wanted through. “Show me your shoulder,” he demanded gruffly.

  “It’s really nothing,” I said, but I let him turn me around so he could see for himself.

  I tried to stand still as he lifted my shirt up enough to reveal the wound. I hadn’t seen the back of my shoulder very well but by his sharp intake of breath, I was guessing it looked bad. “It wasn’t your fault,” I gushed, “next time I’ll stay out of it. I just acted on impulse.”

  “Next time?” he sneered unattractively. “There will be no next time. I’ll continue to instruct the pack but only if you stay away. You aren’t even allowed to watch.”

  With a final glare and a blur of motion, he loped away from me. His black fur was almost invisible in the black night.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Scent on the Wind

  “I’m not. I can’t.” Jed crossed his arms nervously across his chest.

  “Why not?” I cried.

  “Willow … ” His eyes grew huge at what I had proposed.

  Since Gage refused to teach me anymore, I wanted Jed to do it. I had thought that after Gage slept off his anger and I was healed he would change his mind and at least let me watch, but this morning he was as determined as ever. No matter how much I whined, then begged, and finally commanded - he still wouldn’t budge.

  “Too dangerous,” he had muttered on his way out.

  I had listened to the sounds of their lessons from the safety of the cabin but that just wasn’t enough. I wanted to learn what the boys were learning. Jed could at least teach me what he had been taught.

  “I have to learn to fight, Jed.”

  “We can protect you.”

  “You won’t always be there.” I wanted to fling my arms in the air but that would ruin my whole “calm” approach.

  “I can’t,” he repeated.

  “I could make you,” I threatened.

  He dropped his hands and took a step back. “You could get hurt,” he whispered.

  “I will get hurt if I am left just a defenseless seventeen year old girl. I’m more than that, Jed.”

  “Gage says Mikhaul won’t come here.”

  “I’ve been hearing stories about,” I dropped my voice to mouth the name, “Mikhaul,” I raised my eyebrows, “and his legendary cruelness my entire life. He will come for me one day, I’m sure of it.”

  “I don’t know.”

  I almost had him convinced. “Even if he isn’t the one that comes for me, another female may come to try and take the pack.”

  His eyes narrowed to slits. “I’ll get the others and meet you in the clearing in one hour.”

  I grinned wide. “Where’s Gage?”

  “He said he won’t be back until tonight.”

  My face darkened slightly. “Where is he going?”

  “I don’t know, Willow, I’m not his babysitter.”

  My tongue darted out in the childish gesture before I could stop it. “One hour,” I called before he darted away in a blur of colors.

  I scoffed at the void he had left. He was already so much better at morphing. It wasn’t fair that Gage wouldn’t teach me himself. Worse than that, he had just taken off without a word to me. Didn’t he think I would worry?

  True to his word, Jed had the entire pack at the clearing when I got there an hour later. I had spent most of that hour pacing the length of the cabin, obsessing over where Gage could have gone.

  “Jed says you want us to fight you,” Rueben spoke as soon as he saw me.

  “I do.” I raised both my eyebrows. “Is that a problem?”

  “Gage will kill us.”

  A short noise escaped my throat. “He won’t even know.”

  “He knows everything.”

  Despite Rueben’s pessimism, the others seemed eager to help me. “How did he tell you to morph so fast?” I asked eagerly.

  “It’s like at the clearing,” Jed’s eyes narrowed briefly, “you just have to think of that strong emotion. Something you’d do anything to protect.”

  I remembered when I had morphed so fast so I could protect Jed against Gage and then later in the shower I had come to the same conclusions that Jed was telling me now. I nodded quickly. It sounded easy enough.

  I let my mind wander back to the day before. I closed my eyes and thought of the feelings of rage that coursed like fire through my veins. I tried to feel that way again, harness the fire. I growled low in my throat, this wasn’t working. I needed Gage.

  I snapped my eyes open. “It’s not working!” But I didn’t speak with my mouth, I couldn’t because I had morphed. “I didn’t even feel it,” I whispered in amazement.

  “You did it Willow!” Tyson jumped excitedly in the air.

  On a burst of excitement I was back on my feet just as quickly. “Oh,” I exclaimed as I stumbled forward. Colby grabbed me around my waist to steady me. I flung my arms around his neck and we were both jumping around like fools.

  “Your clothes?” Rodney asked. Colby held me out at arms length so we could all exam
ine my almost unharmed clothes.

  There was a tiny rip along one sleeve and both my knees were ripped out of the jeans but that was so much better. “I could be seen in public like this,” I declared with shining eyes.

  My heart swelled with pride for us. We were all young and inexperienced, but we were learning. Our pack would be strong, unstoppable. Give us a little while Mikhaul, and then we will be ready for you.

  The wind blew my hair across my face. This day could not get any better, I decided with a huge grin. Here we were, my newfound friends, happy. If only Gage were here with us it would have been perfect.

  “He wouldn’t have let us teach you,” Steven pointed out calmly.

  Had I said that out loud or was he now hearing my thoughts? “What?”

  “Why are you shocked?” His dark brows knitted together in more emotion than I usually saw on his face. “You know he wouldn’t have.”

  “You mean Gage?”

  “Yes,” he said slowly. “You just said that you wished … ”

  “No, I didn’t,” I cut him off.

  “You did. I heard you.”

  “I didn’t say that out loud.” I could hear the strain in my voice.

  “I don’t know why you are getting upset, Willow.”

  “You already know we can … you know,” Tyson offered as comfort.

  “Sensing a mood is one thing, but can you actually hear my thoughts? Did you all?”

  “I didn’t hear any words but I knew you wanted Gage here,” Jed answered.

  “And Steven is right,” Rueben added, “it’s a good thing he isn’t here.”

  “But you heard words.” I stared at Steven who shifted uncomfortably.

  “We all can when you’re a wolf,” he said.

  My eyes widened. “I’m turning more wolf than human?”

  “Willow … ”

  I forced a small laugh. “It’s ok, really.” The boys still looked tense over my close call with the hysterics. “Let’s try morphing again,” I gushed. “I wonder if I can do it without tearing anything.”

  “Ten bucks says you can’t.” Rueben sneered.

  I wrinkled my nose at him and pulled the heat into my spine. After only a few blurred seconds I was back on my feet.

  “Good thing you didn’t bet,” Rodney teased me. He pushed two fingers through the long tear along my stomach.

  I laughed lightly along with everyone else. “We should hunt,” I suggested on a whim. It was still daylight - which made hunting dangerous - but we were all so giddy from our morphing success that daylight hunting didn’t seem as forbidden.

  It wasn’t long before we were all racing through the trees, moving so fast that we created our own wind. I felt my fur being lifted and twisted and bouncing back down haphazardly. I cringed at the thought of brushing through my curls later.

  I heard the unmistakable sound of snickering behind me. “Glad you think that’s funny,” I called back.

  Jed came up to join me in the front, nipping playfully at the side of my neck. “You better watch yourself or I’ll make you untangle it.”

  I heard someone growl from behind me and then Jed was rolling head first into the ground along with one of his brothers. I tossed my head a few times in amusement and dug into the earth for more speed. Dirt flew all around me, spraying into the other’s faces.

  In a blur they all swarmed past me. How were they so fast? But, as I had already come to realize, the boys were better at being wolves than I was. What I had struggled with my entire life came so easily to them. That was why Noreen had chosen them. She knew what they could be, what they would be.

  The wind picked up very suddenly. The boys are too far ahead of me, I thought with just a slight hint of panic. There was a scent on the new breeze, a scent I recognized at once. Maybe the boys wouldn’t smell it. It was a useless hope.

  Deep in my conscious, the wolf part, I could barely resist this new smell. The smell of human blood. The boys had good self-control, maybe …

  Colby threw his head high in the air and inhaled deeply. I saw the others doing the same. They changed their path so quickly that I almost tripped over my own legs in an effort to follow them.

  NO! NO! NO!

  “Guys stop. Stop right now.” But they couldn’t hear me. Their own primal instincts were too deep. No matter how good they were, they couldn’t deny what they were.

  With determined steps, they ate the earth more quickly and the distance between us grew alarmingly. I couldn’t lose them; I couldn’t let them get away from me. Oh, where was Gage when I needed him? “Stop!” I screamed with all the female genes I could muster.

  There was hesitation, I could feel it, but it wasn’t enough. It just wasn’t going to be enough. My lungs felt like they were on fire but I couldn’t stop; couldn’t even slow down.

  If I was in my human form I would be crying, now I could only run behind my pack helplessly as they chased down the scent of human blood. Why was the human bleeding? And if they came upon him in broad daylight as huge angry wolves …

  I let the morbid thoughts fade away as quick as they could form. Panic would not be a good thing right now. It would only make me slower if my lungs burst apart. They already felt tight just from trying to keep up with the boys.

  I found them so suddenly stopped that I ran directly into the back of Colby. “What are you doing?” I gasped. He whined low in his throat and danced excitedly. “Colby?”

  I followed his line of sight, to where they were all staring so intently. Leaning against a tree, barely five feet from all of us, was Carlie. There was a long gash along her right arm and it was bleeding. The blood fell in quick little drops onto the dirt floor.

  Oh no! “Come on guys, we have to get out of here.” But no one was listening to me. Every one of their thoughts was focused on Carlie.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Carlie’s Trap

  My heart thudded dangerously fast, making my chest ache. It felt like all the air had been sucked from my lungs and I had forgotten how to gasp for air. Everything was moving in slow motion.

  I saw Rueben crouch low to the ground and heard the growl come from his throat. I watched in horror as he lunged forward, prepared to attack. I couldn’t move to stop him. I was paralyzed by fear and an absolute horror that I had never known. I waited in shocked silence; waited for the screams that I knew were coming.

  “One, one thousand; two, one thousand; three, one thousand,” I counted with my breath that somehow still whooshed in and out of my broken lungs, “four, one thousand.”

  All six boys stood in their full glory in a half circle around Carlie. Complete wolves, nothing of the human boys they were. Their instinct had taken over. It was daylight; no hiding what they were. Rueben growled and bent his head low to the ground.

  “Five, one thousand.”

  “I knew you were real.” I heard her voice but the meaning wouldn’t break through the blood rushing in my ears. “Everyone said I was crazy,” she continued, “but I knew. I’ve been coming here most nights.”

  What was she saying?

  “I knew if you smelled blood you would come.” She tilted her chin up in an attempt to be brave.

  She had baited us? But … hadn’t she thought about it? She got them here, what was the next part of her plan? Rueben’s lip curled up to show long, deadly incisors.

  “It doesn’t matter if you kill me,” she declared in a shaking voice. “I had to know.”

  Her voice had made them hesitate. They were snarling ferociously but they weren’t advancing. With a flood of relief and panic that unfroze me, I darted to position myself between Rueben and Carlie.

  My ears flattened to almost lie on my head. “Get back,” I snarled at Rueben. He shook his head wildly from side to side, fighting with his instinct for blood and his instinct to obey his female. “Rueben.” I was only watching Rueben so I didn’t notice when Rodney broke free from the pack and lunged at Carlie.

  I lunged forward to meet his attack h
ead on, sending us both flying backwards. He regained his feet first and all I saw was the animal rage in his eyes. He clamped on hard to my shoulder, the snap of his teeth vibrating off the trees.

  My yelp brought Jed and Tyson to my rescue. Their growls grew more distant as they chased Rodney back the way we’d come. Rueben, Colby, and Steven still stood undecided but then Steven bellied down and crawled to where I still lay. Blood was coming from my shoulder at an alarming rate but I still tried to stand.

  “Rueben,” I growled weakly. Steven whined and pushed his head under my middle, trying to help me to my feet.

  Carlie still hadn’t moved. Her wide green eyes were fixed on me. Was I still a wolf? I heard the unmistakable sound of a wolf heading our way. Only one. Maybe it was Jed. The world was starting to get fuzzy or maybe that was just me.

  “Are you all right?” My heart leapt with relief at his familiar raspy voice. Gage was here. He’d fix this.

  “I’m ok, but she’s hurt,” Carlie answered him.

  My mind tried with very little success to make sense of what she was saying. She? Was Carlie talking about me? And why did she sound so concerned? Wasn’t she scared?

  “She’s fine.” I heard his words, but there was something wrong with the sound. His voice was so flat, as if he were acting in a play. Very badly acting in a play by just reading from a script.

  “Yes, I’m fine,” I tried to say out loud. I don’t know how effective I was, no one even looked my way except Steven, who was still very close to my side. I heard his tail thumping nervously on the ground. Or maybe that was just my heart.

  “They’re werewolves,” her voice sounded excited. “She must be the leader. Why do you think they attacked her?”

  “Why aren’t you scared?’ Gage demanded roughly.

  “I knew they were here.”

  “You stand here, unafraid, do you not realize that they could so easily kill you?”

  “My father has told me about werewolves since I was a young girl. I wasn’t sure if I believed him or not; but now … ” I heard her breathy laugh. Gage blocked my view of Carlie, but I could still hear her excitement.