The white pawed wolf no longer danced and teased. It circled warily, finally understanding that its opponent wasn't there to entertain the crowd. It looked to the Mate as if seeking guidance, and the momentary distraction left enough of an opening for Brad to attack.
Livvy didn't want to watch. It was nothing more than a display of physical prowess between two prime males vying for the attention of a female. It was barbaric, uncivilized, and totally ridiculous. Neither of these wolvers wanted her and she certainly didn't want either of them. Well, not one of them anyway, but she had her pride and she was determined to hang on to what little of it she had left.
She didn't want to watch, but she couldn't turn away.
Whether the cause was the double dose of elixir or the contagious excitement of the pack, her eyes remained glued to the contestants. Her heart was pounding. The rush of her blood throbbed in her ears. Her face was flushed and in spite of the cold air, her skin was moist. Moisture pooled elsewhere, too, and it should have embarrassed her. It didn't. It only increased her growing agitation. Livvy's lips pulled back in a wolfish grin.
Her wolf was close to the surface and it was going wild.
Another bottle of elixir appeared in her hand and she drank it down, hoping to cool the rising heat that engulfed her.
Brad feinted to the right to avoid an attack, lost his footing and fell, exposing his flank to Tony's attack.
Involuntarily, Livvy cried out in a sound half human and half wolf, and totally wolver.
It all happened in an instant; Tony's lunge, Livvy's cry, and Brad's recovery. He flew at his opponent, forcing him back. Twice he brought Tony to the ground and it was only Tony's quickness that saved him from the flash of Brad's teeth. This was no longer a contest. This was a blood battle. Brad lunged, tearing fur from Tony's coat. Tony tried to retreat, but there was no place to go. They were surrounded by cheering wolvers. Rising on hind legs to meet Brad's next leap, Tony toppled back, belly and neck exposed.
The crowd gasped as jaws spread wide, Brad descended on Tony's unprotected neck. At the last second, he diverted his aim. Blood spurted from Tony's ear.
Light surrounded the two wolves, and once again, they were men. Tony bounded to his feet and reached out a hand to help Brad up from the ground.
When Brad accepted the offer, albeit with a growl, the noise of the pack rose to a crescendo of approval. The dueling duo donned their jeans and boots. Brad pulled his tee shirt over his head, while Tony hooked a finger in the neck of his sweater and tossed it nonchalantly over his shoulder. He posed, hip cocked and pecs on display to the delight of the females. The twins rushed in and handed each man a bottle of Mama's elixir. Brad drank his without ever taking his eyes off Livvy.
"It's good for that, too," Edna twittered excitedly.
"Shame on you, sister," Edith admonished, though her eyes were glittering as well.
"Well, it is," her sister argued, "Dear Earnest always said..."
What Dear Earnest always said was drowned out by the laughter of the crowd as both men drained their respective bottles. Tony toasted the crowd with his empty one. He was smiling as if he was the victor.
A ripple of the Alpha's power washed over them. The noise abated, but the excitement remained. The pack vibrated with anticipation as it awaited judgment from its Alpha. All eyes were on him with the exception of Brad's and Livvy's. They stared at each other. Brad looked anything but pleased. His jaws were locked. His upper lip twitched as if he was trying to control a snarl. He looked like he was hungry and she was a fat rabbit, a rabbit that deserved to be eaten.
Livvy's wolf, ignoring the man's look, pranced and danced, and urged her forward. Livvy shook her head, or thought she did. It was hard to tell. Her head was swimming with the effects of the elixir. Her body heated with the effects of her estrus. Her insides quivered with the burning need, yet she couldn't move. She now knew what the rabbit felt like. She was trapped in the snare of Brad's hungry eyes.
The Alpha was speaking, but she heard not a word. She therefore had no warning when she was engulfed in a flash of her own blinding light.
~*~
With the second flash of light, Brad Seaward transformed, too.
Tony waited until the wolf broke past the cheering pack before moving in the opposite direction. Hand pressed against his bloody ear, he stalked over to where the Alpha and Mate stood.
"You owe me," he said to the Mate.
Jazz laughed at his demand. "For what? Pack comes first, and a torn ear is a small price to pay for the good of the pack. Don't be such a baby. It's only a little tear and a few bruises. You'll probably be healed up by tomorrow. In the meantime, there's a half-dozen females in this crowd waiting to offer you comfort in your hour of defeat. Hmmm." She put her index finger to her chin as if contemplating a new idea. "Wouldn't that mean you owe me?" she asked innocently.
The Alpha didn't laugh, but he didn't try to hide the fact that he wanted to. "Word of advice. Never bargain with the Mate, son."
Jazz patted Tony's arm. "You were very convincing, though."
"I didn't have a choice. It started as fun. By the end, I thought he wanted to kill me."
Chapter 14
With the exception of the Hunter's Moon, females couldn't go over the moon without the aid of a pack Alpha. That aid was usually an offer of assistance, and not a command. Just as males could deny the call of the full moon when circumstances demanded, so too could females refuse the offer of an Alpha.
All females were taught how to do this, usually within a few months after their first shift. It wasn't difficult. It was mind over matter. All Olivia had to do was keep the image of her human form in her head.
Or as her Aunt Donna put it, "Just hang on to your boobs and butt. You'll be fine."
Fine, unless the shift came as a surprise and your mind was befuddled by Mama's Elixir.
Too late, Livvy made an awkward attempt at denial. All she got for it was an embarrassingly graceless shift. She staggered and fell on her nose. With a frustrated cry that sounded more like a whimper, she struggled to her feet and concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other, but she was dealing with four legs, not two, and wolf legs moved differently than human. The crowd found the results hilarious.
Her wolf did not. "Me," it snarled.
Apparently, wolves were immune to whatever intoxicating ingredients the twins used in their secret formula. When Livvy gave up and let her wolf take control, they sailed from the circle in a graceful leap and took off. Livvy was so relieved to be away from the raucous noise and laughter, she failed to notice the second flash of light. By the time she realized there was another wolf trailing behind them, it was too late.
She tried to warn her partner, but the animal only snorted in derision. Livvy might have missed the flash, but the she-wolf hadn't. It matched its pace to the one behind it, knowing the longer legs of the larger male would close the distance between them. It had been over a year since her last run and she was going to enjoy it to the fullest.
"He's angry," Livvy warned.
"Wolf, too," the she-wolf happily agreed. The male had finally shown itself to be worthy of her attentions. He'd finally declared her to be worth fighting for. The victory was won, and the chase was on. She was giddy with excitement.
"Mate!" she called as she leapt, spun in the air, and veered off to higher ground where the trees grew close and offered more cover.
The she-wolf wasn't looking for cover, however, only a better place to play. Moving at breakneck speed, she wove through the trees, leaping any obstacle that blocked her path. Leafless limbs of shrubby undergrowth reached out with thorny fingers to comb the scent of civilization from her coat. These woods were home, where the magic of the moon resided.
The moon, though not full, cast its sharp winter's glow over the forest. The dark green gowns of the pines and firs, oft out-gloried by the finery of their deciduous neighbors in other seasons, now stood in stark and splendid grandeur among the naked limbs
of maples, beeches, and hawthorns. A north wind clattered through those naked branches. It rustled the dry brown leaves of the oaks in its determination to cleanse the earth of autumn's remains. What it did not cleanse, it would freeze.
The she-wolf faced that chilling wind head on. It ruffled her long outer coat, but could not penetrate the soft, thick layer of fur beneath. It would have to get much colder than this before she sought refuge from its icy blast. Her tongue tasted it. Her nostril flared with it and welcomed it inside where it cleansed not the scents of autumn, but the more recent, and acrid, odors of places where no wolf should be forced to roam.
Dried grasses and tall trees supplanted the memories of cement paths and towering buildings. The rise and fall of rolling hills replaced the endless and echoing flights of stairs and the tiny rooms that rose of their own accord with the press of a button and the sound of grinding gears. That was the world of humans. This was the world of the wolf.
Bold in a way she never dared to be when she was young, the she-wolf stopped at the crest of a small rise and raised her snout to the night sky. She howled out her thanks and her pleasure... and an invitation for her male to play.
She wanted the wolf that was meant for her. She wanted a male who would strengthen her with his support, but never used his power to keep her caged. So far away from his scent and his touch, for a time she'd thought she'd lost him. And when her human chose another, whose power was that of a spoiled and silly pup, she thought she'd lost him for good. But he was here now, and that other worthless excuse for a wolf was not. This was her chance and she would have her way. Her human, too befuddled to enforce her will, couldn't stop her.
Never let your wolf rule your human. That was the Law, but the she-wolf was right. Livvy was in no condition to enforce it. She was no longer sure she wanted to. Her wolf was fully alive again, and the animal's energy and enthusiasm were contagious. It felt good to be free of all the superficial human trappings she'd acquired in the city. She'd never really been comfortable in Olivia's skin and her wolf hadn't liked it much either. Maybe it was time to embrace what she was, and acknowledge what she wanted in the most basic of terms. Livvy let the animal have its way. Lord knew, the other way hadn't worked out very well.
The magic tingled, just out of reach, but there nonetheless.
When the she-wolf raised her snout to the heavens again, the human Livvy joined in the chorus. With Livvy's admission, the seed of magic that had lain dormant within her began to grow.
~*~
Brad's wolf snorted at the cuss words echoing in the back of its mind. Such garble was wasted. It much preferred to snap and snarl to express its discontent. It had been snapping and snarling at its human for a long time. The animal knew what it was; large in size, strong in body, powerful if challenged. It was an alpha to be admired, and worthy of a fine female to be its mate. Others saw it, too, and yet the human that shared its being continued to deny it.
The man shrank from his wolf's prowess, refused to exert its influence over wolves far less capable, and thought himself unworthy of the admiration he saw in the eyes of his packmates. He believed he carried the same cruel flaw as his littermate, and he feared it. It had always been so, and it was nonsense.
The flaw was in Cho and not himself. The wolf understood this where the man did not. Had they been members of Gilead as pups, the Alpha would have recognized the flaw in Cho as disruptive and dangerous to the pack. The Mate would have seen what was in Cho's heart. Cho would have been corrected, and if he refused to obey, driven off, or put down.
To the wolf, life was simple; obey the Primal Law or be outcast. Pack structure equaled order. Food, shelter, and sex equaled contentment. A true mate equaled happiness. His human had found them a pack, good food, and adequate shelter. Sex had become a rare occurrence since the stupid human let their true mate go. Therefore, the wolf was neither content nor happy.
Since that time, wolf and man had been in constant conflict. The wolf's insistent call to find her and bind her as all true mates should be bound went unaltered. To shelter and protect its destined mate was an instinct more primal than the Law.
His human lost the war before the first battle was fought. He let her go. He did not follow. He allowed another male to move into his territory and did nothing to stop it. He thought he was unworthy of such a prize, and in a way he was right. He was unworthy because he refused to fight for what Nature had decreed to be his.
With his human in control, the wolf could do little but snarl and whine. It had no means to seek out its mate. Then Livvy returned and Brad could no longer suppress the feelings he shared with his wolf, but refused to admit. Jealousy cracked the human's iron will, and the wolf was ready to step into the breach. No male had the right to touch what was his.
The fight that ensued had been the wolf's first attempt at a takeover. It fought its human as fiercely as it fought the rival wolf. Had its rival been more resolute in his quest for the female's favor, they might have lost. Tony's wolf was a powerful male in its own right, but it seemed to treat the battle as a game, a challenge for the sake of challenge and nothing more. That was a good thing, too, since Brad was reluctant to fight even in fun. His wolf, however, was eager. It needed to show the female that he meant business. When the Alpha demanded a wolf to wolf challenge, the animal howled to be released. When his human's anger cracked his will, the wolf was more than happy to step into the breach.
Its chest puffed with pride at the thought of how quickly, once given control, it had won.
Prowess proven and victory attained, the wolf expected its human counterpart to claim the woman, but that didn't happen. The foolish human stood and stared. This angered the wolf, but when the Alpha sent Livvy over the moon, anger was replaced with wild expectation. If the Alpha hadn't sent Brad back over so quickly, the wolf's eagerness to follow might have been enough to do the job alone.
As he followed the female's enticing scent, the wolf continued to chortle at his human's curses that were all the man seemed to be capable of.
"I want. You want. We want. Mate."
Whatever was in those bottles seemed to have taken away some of Brad's power of speech and all of his normally tight control. It had been a long time since the wolf had felt so free.
When the she-wolf's call echoed through the cold night air, the wolf halted its run long enough to sound a reply. Then, with the voice of its human ordering it to 'fucking stop', the wolf happily chose to obey the command – after it caught up with the female destined to be its mate.
Chapter 15
With a joyful exuberance it hadn't felt since it was a cub watching the young female from a distance, the wolf followed the path taken by the female. She'd marked her trail and her scent was strong with need. He raced with the speed of the winter wind, legs stretching out before and behind. He had no need to rest after battle. He was young, healthy, and powerful. He could run like this for miles.
With every thud of his paws against the ground, his excitement grew. He didn't stop until he caught sight of her and then only for a moment, just long enough to take in the splendid creature that was meant to be his mate.
She was standing at the edge of a thick copse of trees. The wind carried her unique essence. Her scent tickled his nose the way no other female's could. It told him she was healthy, eager for his company, and ripe with the need to mate.
He raised his voice to the sky, breathing her in and howling out his victory. He'd waited a long time to find her again, a long time, though he had no count in days, or months, or years. He was still half cub when she left him, but he knew even then, even if his human did not, that she was the one, the only one. Tonight he would prove it. He would wear her down as wolf and wear her out as human.
He caught up with her and ran beside her, so close the hairs of her autumn colored flank blended with his mix of brown and grey. She was small and short of leg, but sturdy and quick. She would not let him leave her behind. She was cunning in her own way, gaining what she
wanted through her sweetness instead of deception. In spite of her size, she was healthy and strong. She would breed fine pups. Her coat was soft and silky. Her ruff was thick with winter growth. Any wolf or wolver would be pleased to have her for a mate and yet none of this mattered to the wolf.
He'd been born wild and driven, restless and wanting without knowing why, or what, or where. The first time she ran beside him, he knew she held the answers that he sought. She was all of it; the why, the what, the where. She was peace. She was comfort. She was joy and laughter. And she was meant to be his.
Without warning, and without breaking stride, she changed direction, and raced away. Seconds passed before he found her in a thick stand of trees. She was hiding behind a trunk as wide as her body, but it provided no disguise. Her pointed nose and shining eyes poked out from one side of the tree. Her wiggling rump and fluffy tail stuck out from the other side.
He pretended to ignore her. He lifted his head and sniffed at the upper branches of the trees as if his prey was concealed above. He heard her huff. He ignored that, too. When he was well past her, she lost patience with him. She yipped, twisted, and pounced. She came so close to him that her paws thwacked his tail. He spun and bowled her over with a toss of his head, and then she was on her back, feet in the air, pawing at his face and neck and showing the full complement of her sharp, white teeth.
He battered her head with his and mouthed her snout with jaws powerful enough to kill her in an instant. She had no fear of him. She snorted and sneezed, wiggled her way out from beneath him, and the game was on again.
This was wolf play and he hadn't played with any other since she went away.
Shifter's Magic (The Wolvers Book 8) Page 15
