by E. V. Winter
“Well.” India said.” One of them nicked your jugular vein with his sharp teeth.”
She saw the color drain from his face and realized he did not understand just how serious his injury was. She handed him the remaining water, and he sipped it.
“I owe you everything,” he said to her, reaching out and touching her hand. Again, she felt a strange tingle in her skin. “I owe you my life.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Blaine carried his gun in a holster inside his jacket. He hated anything spoiling the line of his clothes. The others watched him fuss over his appearance before being prepared to face the world. Kyle was in the car at the end of her road. Blaine went to the trouble of printing ad style posters of the yard cleaning work his team undertook, with photos of brand new power washers, pre and post cleaned drives, and the astonishing clean outbuildings that she might achieve with fungal remover and a power washer. Juan was in overalls alongside him (though not parallel, it would spoil the line of his clothes). Blaine wanted to appear convincing in his role. For Juan it was easier, the overalls would show her, he was the help.
India heard the doorbell but she was outside in the yard so shouted for Eve to answer it. Eve was chatting to Rex in the surgery. He looked very fetching in Eve’s ex-girlfriend Casey’s old sweatpants and plaid shirt. He stopped chatting when he heard the knock at the door and sniffed the air. Eve could not hear him sniffing, it was a concentrated effort taking up all of his energy.
“Wolf shifters at the door,” he said. “Quarry Hills. I can smell them. Don’t answer the door.”
He tried to get up to go to India’s safety but his shackled prevented him moving. His frustration made him curse. He was within feet of the men who put him in this state and he could do nothing about it.
“I want to help,” he said.
Eve took her gun out of its holster and placed it in the back of her jeans.
“Stay alert,” she said and headed to the front door, getting there just before India.
“Rex says these guys are wolves,” she whispered.
India shrunk against the wall, filled with a peculiar fear for Rex rather than herself.
“I have my gun.” Eve said. “You see what they want. I’ll wait just back here. I’ll come if you need me. Don’t let them in India, remember, keep them at the door.”
India took a deep breath in to steady her nerves and her shaking hands.
The two men at the door were both tall and good-looking. They both smiled at her and she returned their smiles. Better to at least appear to be hospitable.
“Hi, can I help you?” she asked.
She saw the guy in the overall sniffing the air. The other one, snappily dressed and smelling of Hugo Boss, stepped forward and offered a handshake which she took.
“Hi there, I’m Max Bell, I run a yard cleaning business here in Hale County, we’re a new starter business. I wondered if it might interest you to have this done. We use state-of-the-art equipment and I notice your drive could use some work.”
Blaine smiled at her and she was almost convinced. He had a sweet smile, friendly, approachable and trustworthy, but his friend was fidgeting already, still sniffing the air.
“Could we come in and discuss it?”
“I’m a little busy.” India said. “You can leave a flyer with some prices and I’ll call you back.”
He took another step forward and India shouted “Eve”. Eve stepped forward with her gun in her hand, it was pointed straight at Blaine. He dropped the flyers on the floor and backed out.
Eve grinned. “My sister asked you to leave the flyers, and you did, how very kind.”
“We can smell that son of a bitch.” Juan said, angrily. He was never one for holding his tongue. Eve drew back the trigger. Blaine sighed and stared at him.
“We’re so sorry to have wasted your time,” he said and turned around to leave. He dragged Juan behind him.
India closed the door and bolted it. She stood with her back to it and took another deep breath.
“I like Rex, but I’m scared of what it will mean if we continue to help him.”
Eve placed her gun back in the holster. “This is about more than territory. You need to talk to Rex and sort this out. There’s more to this than what he’s told us so far. Why do they want him dead?”
*******
Rex lay very still as she used the x-ray wand on a variety of areas of his body. He was still very weak so spent a lot of his time, lying down in the blankets she’d provided. He liked to touch her hands when she helped him move. The touches were slight, but she still tingled under every one of them. He already had a hold over her when he was a wolf but that was one she developed with her care and attention of him as a vet. Any vet would feel that empathy but this feeling was different, and she tried her best to ignore it.
She looked at the x-ray films and shook her head.
“You have so many hairline fractures, fractures, breaks and a lot of scars too.”
“All healed, right?” he said.
She nodded. “But your bone density is not great for a twenty-seven-year-old man. That’s what you said, right? Twenty-seven.”
He nodded with a smile.
“How old are you, really?” Eve told her last night about shifter-magic she’d read about in books. Maybe he was magic to have healed with so many fractures.
“Twenty seven, honest. Don’t make this any crazier than it is India. Do you believe in fate?”
“Coincidence?”
He grinned. She was so serious but he liked that. He liked that her blonde hair always looked so perfect even flattened by that damn mask across her ears. Her eyes were so kind that he melted a little when she looked at him. He wondered if it had that effect on other men.
“Fate is real. It was fate that you rescued me. It was fate that you saved me. It is fate that we’ll stay together.”
She frowned. “You don’t even know me.”
“I know you’re kind and smart. You’re pretty and you saved me.”
“You don’t owe me anything Rex. Maybe some vets bills at the end of all this.” She sneaked out a smile at her own humor and saw his smile too.
“But you feel something right?” he asked, reaching out and gently touching her cheek. “Please tell me you do. Like I do?”
She turned away from him, his touch almost too much to bear, a blush rising to her cheeks.
“You need some rest. I have to see to the other animals.”
“Other animals…”
She left the room and looked back in the corridor to see him looking down disappointed at her reaction. She wanted to go back and kiss him, to tell him she felt the same thing as he felt, that as soon as she saw him, she knew he would mean something to her, something special. But she was not a believer in all that crap about love at first sight. This was not love, it was a crush on a patient, and she was disgusted with herself for even wanting to kiss and hold him. She needed to set him free to ensure hers and Eve’s safety, and the sooner that could happen, the better.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Blaine thumped Juan hard in both arms when they got back in the car. Kyle drove them away and let the two of them sort out this nonsense without his interference.
Eventually, after a lot of yelling, Blaine settled down. He looked disheveled and Kyle rather enjoyed it. His linen suit lost some of its smoothness, he smelled of sweat. Juan sat in the back, arms crossed, in a huff.
“He told her we could smell Rex.” Blaine said.
“And could you?” Kyle asked.
“Yes, his scent filled the house. He could be behind her front door for all we know. Well the time for the cautious approach is over. We go back tonight, and transform at the fence. You should have done that the first time, you idiots.”
“We did what you suggested Blaine. There was never any suggestion of transforming at the fence. It would have been the wrong thing to do. Macho got shot, remember. If we’d transformed, it would have been a blood bath
.”
Blaine swept his hair back from his face. “Well, I’ve changed my mind. We transform once we’re in the woods. Juan can go in advance and plant a set of clothes and guns close to the woods and we walk up to the fence and climb over. Maybe we’ll take a rope ladder. And we will be armed. We stay in wolf shape until we get through those woods; it was better underfoot on all fours but when we get within sight of her place, we transform and go in human.”
“That fence is tall.” Juan said.
“It’s within our grasp to destroy the Linney blood line in one fell swoop, and to take all their land.”
“We’ll never be Royal.” Kyle said.
“We don’t need to be royal. He only kept that territory because of history, because he was the son and grandson and great-grandson of a Linney shifter. Well, that will be over soon and there’ll be an alternative history where pack ownership is determined by the strength of the packs themselves, not whether you have royal blood running through your veins.”
“We do it for ourselves but we need to be sure we have the strength to fight off his cronies. He has a lot of respect. He’s admired throughout this state.”
“For what?” Blaine asked.” For being royal?”
“The Linneys were always fair in the pack, fair in the hunt. It’s just a shame they got so much land.” Kyle said.
“Times have changed.” Blaine said. “He failed to exploit the opportunities this new dystopia offered. We’re living in different times now, every man for himself where money matters. This might not last and I want what we deserve. It’s important we take advantage now. Only now can we get what we want.”
“Is it more important than the traditions of the pack?” Juan asked, a little afraid of the answer he might get.
Kyle shook his head. He was only interested in the pack and the land. The humanity beyond the woods did not excite him, he preferred his lupine form.
“We can all be rich and we can be safer knowing there’s only us on the Eastside. We might branch out a little, take in some omegas from his pack. It always was a hard pack to break into. Of course, he’ll leave an empty slot when we kill him.”
“You’ve got to be prepared for a backlash.” Kyle said. “This won’t come to us without a battle. I’m not afraid of the fight, you know that Blaine. He felt my teeth cut into his throat. The taste of his royal blood was the same as any other wolf’s. I almost killed him but I hear things. Other packs are talking and they’re plotting and planning and watching events from afar, some of them need the status quo, that’s the right phrase, yeah? They like the pack tradition, they accept the hierarchy and he is a royal, a king of wolves.”
“Then we waste no time. We stop their chattering now. We go tomorrow, armed if we need to.”
“Not tonight, you seem kind of excited by all this?” Kyle asked.
“Wipe that grin off your face.” Blaine said. “You want to be the underdog until you die? We deserve our break here. We need to push on and take as much territory on the east side as we can. We will be lords of the manor, not the Brunholme Pack.”
Kyle gave up on the talk. Blaine could be a little manic when he got an idea in his head, even if his idea was half-assed, half-thought out and difficult to achieve.
*******
Eve cleaned her gun. She’d already taken India’s rifle out and between the two of them, they were ensuring their firearms were ready for action. Eve was the gunsmith of the family and she could shoot anything in her way if needed. She knew they might use these weapons soon to kill.
“Things are a little scary now,” Eve said to her, a cigarette billowing smoke from her direction. “Shit just got real. I can make a few calls, get us some reinforcements.”
India nodded. “But how will they get here under curfew?”
“Same way as the wolves got here, through the woods. We have to get Rex out of here, you know that, right? He’s the one who’s causing us danger, not your four mutts, chickens and pigs.”
“I know.” India said. Even she could hear the irritation in her own voice. Eve took a long drag off the cigarette and looked at her. “I’m just sayin’’”
“I know but not at any risk to his life. He’s still my patient.”
“What? Even in human form?”
India nodded. She was not ready for an argument with Eve about this. Rex needed her protection until he could take care of himself. He was still too weak for a fight. He might never be as strong as he’d once been.
“I can get another three people here tonight.” Eve said, flicking the cigarette out away from the porch. “Five of us is better than two.”
She stood up and took the gun with her into the house.
“I’ll get some food and then I’m on the lookout for my friends turning up. Any food in the refrigerator?”
“There’s some TV dinner in the freezer and there’s fruit in the fridge.”
“Any beers?”
India nodded. Eve liked a beer when she was thinking things over.
India went back to the surgery to check on Rex. He was sitting on the edge of the steel table, the blankets wrapped around him.
“I’ve come to set you free.” She said. “I’ve made up a bed for you in the office next door.”
“Thanks, it’s kind of uncomfortable on here.”
She got close to him and took the other cuff off his wrist. She removed the neck collar, and he rolled his head a few times. “Wow that feels good.”
She reached up to his throat and checked the dressing on his neck, lifting it gently to see the wound was dry and without inflammation.
“That looks great. I think the extra antibiotics worked their magic.”
He took her hand as she lowered it, but she drew it away from him and stepped back.
“So you want to come with me?” She stood with her hand on the door, beckoning him out.
“Have I lost you India?” he asked. She heard the slight crack in his voice and it caught her unawares. This wasn’t just a crush for him. He really had feelings for her.
She sighed. “Those other wolves have been here twice now, as wolves and as men as well and it’s…”
“I know it’s scary. I may be well enough by tomorrow to leave.”
“I can’t let you go until the stitches are dissolving. Another week yet.”
He looked down at his feet, he needed to cut his toenails, and they were dirty too.
“Can I get a shower? My feet are nasty,” he said.
She looked down and laughed at them. “They sure are. Yes, I’ll take you up to my room. I have an en-suite bath you can use.”
They walked upstairs, her in front, and he enjoyed the shape of her in front of him. She was tall and slender and moved gracefully, her pretty hands slid smoothly up the bannister in front of his own hands. Another inch closer and his hands might touch hers but he dared not take that chance again. Maybe he came on too strong before. He didn’t want her to feel uncomfortable around him. He wanted her to feel the opposite.
She switched on the shower for him and handed him a clean bath towel.
“Take as long as you want,” she said. “I’ll make some dinner. I’ll be in the kitchen when you’re finished.”
She closed the door and left him to undress. She stood with her back against the closed door and listened to him undressing. He climbed into the shower and she opened her eyes, imagining being in there with him, both of them naked, close to one another, kissing. She could almost feel the gentle stroke of his hand across the base of her spine, the hot, steamy water concealing them but then bringing them closer through nothing more than touch. She shook her head. Shook herself out of her reverie. He was a shifter, she was a human.
“He can never be mine,” she whispered to herself.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Kyle went out to hunt alone. The grass was frosty and he could hear his paws cutting through it, the crispness under his claws made him feel alive. He raised his nostrils into the air, his snout as stretched
out as he could get and he sniffed for scents.
It was a tiresome journey at first, crossing the roads in wolf form, when there was still traffic around, but he came to no harm and before he knew it, he was in the forbidden place, Brunholme Woods. This trespassing was with good intent.
He drifted through the trees, tall spruce, pine and birch, water dripping from them all, until his coat was slick with water. Kyle shook it out and continued, his paws making soft prints in the light layer of snow on the ground. He sniffed again until he smelled their scents.
He hurried towards the smell, hearing the howls of the omega pack for the first time. He rarely bothered with omegas. They were there to serve the betas, and especially the alphas. Some of them never came through or got any better, they would always be in service to others. He hated his own omega brotherhood to the Quarry Hills pack, but he came through, the first to be promoted to the pack, red in tooth and claw, a rare fighter.
He stopped when he reached them. At first, he hid in the trees, camouflaged in the darkness. He could see though, they had his scent.
They were circling him, now only feet away, their growling getting fiercer, and their snouts closer by the second. He smelled their breath. They were almost too close.
He lay down flat and went to his core; he let his mind become one with his body and felt his transformation in all its glory, the silent disposal of his lupine self for his human form, now wet and dirty in the grass. He stood up, the omega wolves all around him, barking, growling and baying for his blood.
“You all know me,” he said, his entire body shivered in the freezing cold. “Listen to what I tell you.”
They growled steadily for several seconds. Omegas liked to show off to one another, they were still in competition for beta status. Each was trying to out-growl the other.
