Once Bitten

by Trina M. Lee

  Everyone else immediately looked at Arys; we expected him to launch that power ball at the arrogant werewolf, but Zoey and Raoul had eyes only for each other, though they wore extremely differing expressions.

  I felt rather than saw Arys bristle because he never moved a muscle. An absolutely wicked smile tugged at his lips, warming my insides against my will. He gave me a quick wink as he sensed my reaction to him. I wanted to glare, but my furry eyebrows wouldn’t form the expression. Cocky vampire.

  “Zoey please, you have to listen to me.” Raoul begged; his tone was both pleading and placating. “I can help you through this. But, you have to trust me.”

  I scoffed mentally to myself. This was ludicrous. The man had truly lost his mind.

  “You can’t do a damn thing, and you know it. She’s not ever getting back into a human body.” Jez feigned casual with her crossed arms and relaxed stance against the fridge. She was in a good position to keep everyone trapped within the kitchen with just one step. The double paned glass sliding doors were an unlikely exit for those of us without fingers.

  “Shut up!” Raoul snapped; he glanced at the leopard who clearly wanted another shot at clawing his eyeballs out. “None of you have any right to be here.”

  “We were invited. And now, we’re not leaving until somebody’s dead, or Lex decides you’re not worth all this trouble.” Jez nodded in my direction.

  A sliver of guilt nagged me. I shouldn’t have dragged my friends into this personal drama.

  ‘You know she didn’t mean it that way.’ Arys’ voice was soothing in my mind.

  ‘We’re all going to call in our favors down the line.’

  ‘Stop that.’ It felt like a mental fly that I wanted to swat. ‘I don’t even want to hear your favor.’

  Arys chuckled aloud, and everyone but Zoey turned and looked at him. She took advantage of the moment to lunge her newly gained weight into Raoul; the fool never saw it coming. She hit him hard in the chest and took out his legs easily. They slid in a heap across the tiled floor. With a snarling wolf in his lap, Raoul did the only thing he could with less than a second to react. He threw his arms up to protect his face and throat;

  all four of Zoey’s fangs sank in the tender underside of his forearm. Dissatisfied, she released her hold and struck again.

  I winced at Raoul’s blood and crossed the twenty feet separating us in a leap. I threw all of my weight into Zoey and took her down in a frenzy of snapping jaws. She twisted beneath me in a struggle to get to her feet. When I got a mouthful of thick flesh at the back of her neck, I held tight.

  Shaz dragged Raoul to his feet. The bigger man was bleeding from both arms, long red rivulets that fell to stain the white tile.

  When I felt Arys’ reaction to the fresh blood, I was glad that he’d sated the worst of the bloodlust. I wasn’t sure that I could have maintained control otherwise. I resisted the urge to look at Shaz, my stronghold of control.

  Powerful jaws closed around my front right leg as Zoey scrambled to get a hold on any part of me. I gave a small yelp of pain, certain this would result in a broken wrist.

  A scuffle broke out behind us, and I worried. I could only see the top of Zoey’s head from my angle. I let her go so that she would let me go, and we sprang apart. My leg ached. Even the minor bite left my ash colored fur with bloodstains.

  I wasn’t expecting Shaz and Raoul to be throwing punches like they were in a bar fight. Raoul had a heavier fist, but Shaz had actual brawling experience. I could only assume Shaz had been watching my back while I fought with Zoey.

  Raoul let loose with a fist that knocked Shaz back on his heels. Shaz’ instant reaction was an elbow to Raoul’s jaw, followed by a head butt that sat the large man down on his ass.

  Arys stepped between them before I could ask. Jez stood her ground in the doorway, but her watchful gaze never missed a thing.

  Despite my attack on her, Zoey really didn’t want me. She was all about her father.

  Seeing him down, she rushed me but veered to the side as I moved to meet her. I fell for her fake out, and she had no problem clearing my reach. With fangs bared, she covered the space between her and Raoul.

  Arys released his energy straight at Zoey. At point blank range, the blast hit her square in the chest with enough force to move an elephant. I never had time to react before her body struck me and knocked my feet out from under me.

  We were airborne, a tangle of fur that snarled and growled. The sound of shattering glass screamed through my sensitive ears. The world rolled before my eyes, and I identified the sound of shattering glass as the patio doors. I did my best to tuck and roll as shards left a hot burning sensation everywhere they touched.

  Upon clearing the doors, Zoey and I were thrown apart; each of us hit the wooden deck hard. I landed in a heap against the massive barbeque; my legs splayed, and my body ached.

  Jez called my name as she fumbled to get to me without cutting herself. I lifted my head to indicate that I was ok, but the red blotches staining my fur said otherwise. I caught sight of the particularly large chunk of glass protruding from my side and panic set in.

  As I scrambled to my feet, I noticed the growing pool of blood beneath Zoey’s still body. I began turning circles in a desperate attempt to dislodge the glass shard from my side.

  The entire frame of glass had shattered out of the side that we’d gone through. Shaz and Jez had ducked through but stepped carefully as the broken glass crunched beneath their weight. Shaz peeled off his shirt and began tearing it into strips while Jez approached me with her hands held up in caution.

  I whimpered softly to let her know I was alright, not wound up enough to attack.

  With a gentle hand against the side of my face, she turned my head away from my body so that I couldn’t see them picking the glass out of me.

  A fresh commotion erupted inside. The unmistakable sound of bodies colliding carried through the broken door.

  “I’m going to watch the light fade from your eyes as I drain every last drop from you, wolf.” Arys’ voice shook with a menace that I’d never heard from him before. “If Alexa’s hurt, consider yourself a walking dead man, Raoul.” Another series of smacks and bangs were followed by a grunt of pain.

  Please God, I thought. Just let this end.

  I yelped when Jez withdrew the largest shard from my side. Shaz came to hold my muzzle lightly in his hands; one finger stroked the side of my nose. When she pressed a piece of his torn shirt to my side, I whimpered and tried to pull away.

  “It’s ok, Lex,” he whispered, but his voice betrayed the worry that he tried to hide.

  The stink of fear on him tantalized my senses as it chilled me to the core. “Just hang in there.”

  The sound of more glass crunching reached me as Raoul stumbled through the hole where his patio door had been. His eyes went to Zoey, and he fell to his knees beside her, unaware of the glass digging into his legs.

  With the faintest twitch of her tail, I knew Zoey wasn’t dead. I watched Raoul bend down to bury his face in her silky fur, and I held my breath in anticipation.

  Arys appeared in the shattered doorway; his shoulders sagged when he saw me. “My beautiful wolf…”

  He never moved closer; he merely stared at me with a sadness that looked so wrong in his blue eyes. With my face in Shaz’ hands, I could only look up at my dark vampire as the pain began to set in on a deeper level.

  “I think that’s all of it,” Jez said, tossing a chunk of glass aside. “You have some nasty cuts, Lex; you need stitches.”

  Hell no, I thought. I don’t do needles.

  I took a tentative step, and the pain slashed through me. I think I had a broken rib or two. My leg was numb, and fatigue was setting in from the blood loss.

  I sensed Zoey’s movement before she even twitched a muscle. I made as if to lunge, but I wasn’t close enough.

  She opened her eyes and leaned into Raoul’s exposed throat with fangs bared. My eyes widened in horror and d
isbelief. Blood, warm and lupine spattered my face as I cleared most of the glass debris in a jump.

  I stopped short of an attack when I saw clearly that all four of her fangs were buried to the gum, a gruesome, mortal wound. He’d bleed out in a matter of minutes at best.

  Raoul stared at me even as the blood gurgled in his windpipe. I recognized the challenge in those coal black eyes even as the light ebbed out of them. He was willing to fight me away from his daughter even as she killed him.

  My heart constricted with emotion and blood loss. I took a respectful step back as guilt washed through me. I’d known she wasn’t dead.

  ‘No, my love,’ Arys’ honey sweet voice came from the shadows of my mind. ‘He chose this death. He doesn’t even struggle.’

  Arys was right; he didn’t. Raoul clung to that stupid wolf as if he were a boy and his dog, stroking her black fur, so like his own.

  I whimpered and growled, unable to watch this without being able to act. A key player in my life, no matter how positive or negative, was dying before my eyes. I couldn’t do this. Zoey had to die.

  “Alexa, don’t.” Shaz’ command was softly spoken but a command nonetheless.

  Shaz stood behind me as if he’d grab my tail to hold me back. I didn’t give that wolf enough credit for how well he knew me. “It’s not your fight anymore. It’s over now.”

  How could it be over? The bitch was lying in a pool of blood and still wasn’t dead.

  In seconds, Raoul’s body went limp; his hands relaxed in Zoey’s fur.

  My continuous growl became a snarl when she struggled to her feet, leaving Raoul face down in the broken glass. She stank of blood and death. My every instinct demanded that I finish her off.

  “She’s not going to make it far,” Jez came to stand next to me, and I longed for my human voice. “Let her go.”

  Were they all completely mad? This was insanity. I looked to Arys for support; he would confirm that my idea was better. He gave no indication as to what he thought was best.

  ‘I can’t let her walk off this property alive,’ I conveyed.

  ‘That’s your decision to make, but she’ll be dead before she reaches the edge of town.’

  The rural country roads ran just a few miles from this side of town. I couldn’t stop the snarling and snapping at the air. I was infused with this hate that filled me to capacity.

  My very nature demanded that I kill her after everything she’d done.

  Zoey met my eyes with a look of clear understanding. She was running on borrowed time, and she knew it. Even if she survived the coming day, I would come for her.

  Her muzzle was matted with Raoul’s blood. One leg dragged awkwardly behind her, and she was a mass of cuts. The few steps down to the grass below the deck proved to be an obstacle, and she stumbled a few times while looking back at us, expecting an attack.

  The battle between wolf and human raged inside me as it had so many times before. I wrestled with conflicting urges and emotions; I hated myself when she disappeared from sight.

  I padded up beside Raoul, and with my muzzle in his hair, I sniffed for any sign of life. Nothing. I felt physically ill; something broke inside of me, deep down, in a place that I hadn’t acknowledged in so long.

  If this all had nothing to do with me, why did I feel like it was my fault? I should have killed her the moment I stepped in the house. I’m sorry, Raoul, I thought, Sorry it all had to end this way. If only you’d told me sooner. If Arys was aware of my thoughts, he gave no indication.

  As the adrenaline began to subside, the pain reached intolerable. My side continued to trickle blood, and a wave of dizziness led the blackness to close in on me.

  “Shaz,” Jez’ voice sounded so very far away. “She’s blacking out.”

  I went down on my face in a slick puddle of blood and crushed glass.

  Chapter Twenty

  In my incoherent dreams, I saw the black wolf, the one that I so admired in my wistful youth. Images sputtered and jumped from one to another. The past flashed by, in all of its horridly disappointing glory.

  I’m still not sure if it was my guilty subconscious or really Raoul, but the scent of him was so real. I wanted to reach out and touch him, to sink my fingers into his soft fur.

  I’d curled up against that fur when the change was still so new and surreal. I couldn’t touch it, though; my fingers went right through him when I tried.

  The pain of my broken heart far surpassed that of my battered body. In my unconscious state, I mourned the loss of the black wolf as surely as if it were the loss of some great part of me. How would I go on without him?

  At some point, I had the vague sensation that I was held tight in loving arms. The scent of my white wolf soothed and lulled me into deeper sleep.

  I’d shifted back to my human form. I had a moment of worry as I wondered where my clothing was, but soft material wrapped around me, and the thought vanished. I allowed the scent of Shaz to comfort me as I accepted the returning darkness.

  When I finally awoke, with a blinding headache, I was safe in my own bed. Shaz held my arms pinned above my head so that I couldn’t lash out at Fox as he went about cleaning and stitching my wounds. Sheets covered my breasts and pelvic region, but the rest of my lacerated body remained exposed.

  The faint light of the approaching dawn cast a pretty, pink glow on Kylarai who sat at the foot of my bed. Her encouraging smile was a welcome sight.

  I resisted the urge to fight off the two men that insisted on poking and prodding me.

  Fox was just doing what we paid him well to do, and Shaz was ensuring his safety as he did so. I let out a low moan as pain stabbed through my side. A white bandage was wound tightly around my ribs just below my breasts. I hurt when I breathed.

  Ky was injured but clearly ok, which made the agony more bearable.

  “You may have a concussion; take note of any extreme headaches, vomiting or dizziness over the next day or so.” Fox’ touch was as gentle as his soft, brown eyes. This wasn’t the first time he’d tended my wounds and, likely, not the last.

  “Where’s Arys?” I coughed as the words stuck in my dry throat.

  When Shaz was sure I’d behave, he released my arms and handed me a glass of water from the night table. He frowned in response to my words, but I wanted to know.

  “It’s sunrise,” Kylarai spoke; her gentle voice was soothing. “He spent the last few hours cleaning up at Raoul’s. He said he’d take care of everything. No worries.” Though she directed a smile at me, her grey eyes went to Shaz in apology.

  “There we go.” Fox gave a tug on the final stitch, and my stomach turned at the sensation. “No shifting for three days. You should be well enough by then.”

  “Thank you, Fox,” I whispered, reaching out to accept the fuzzy blanket that Shaz drew up over me.

  Fox rose to leave but paused on the threshold to the hallway. His cheeks flushed, and his eyes were downcast. “I’m sorry about Raoul. This is all very unfortunate. Call me if you need anything else at all.” Before we could reply, he ducked out of the room; his feet scuffed down the hall in his hurry to leave.

  Ky made as if to follow him, but Shaz motioned for her to stay seated as he followed Fox to the front door.

  “How do you feel?” I asked when we were alone. “I was worried.”

  She laughed softly then winced in pain. “You were worried? This is just a flesh wound. I hear you challenged the patio door.”

  “It challenged me.” I fussed with the pillow at my back, careful not to move too fast.

  The thought of ripped stitches was creepier than stitches in general.

  “Lex,” she touched my ankle through the blanket. “What happened with Raoul … it’s not your fault.” Was my self-blame so common that it was now expected?

  If I closed my eyes, I could see the ebony wolf running to take down my attacker before he could steal my innocence away. I saw him as the hero that he’d been to me as a teenage girl, a blossoming woman.


  The truth was, I had indeed given myself to him, my reward to the prince who’d rescued me. It was my own youthful naïveté that led to my first heartbreak. I had expected a fairytale romance, and he’d been a werewolf; he acted on instinct and accepted my gift.

  I confessed none of this. I accused him of manipulating and taking advantage of me because I’d never been able to deal with being nothing more than a bedmate to him. My childish picket fence dream had gone up in smoke. It wasn’t meant to be, or at least, not for me.

  But ultimately, that hadn’t been Raoul’s fault. He was the most selfish man that I knew, but he had died willingly. The paradox made my brain throb.

  I accepted the hand that she extended to me. “I just wish we’d cleared the air.”

  She nodded; she understood the absence of closure. “Arys said he’ll be by after sunset.” She hesitated and looked at the doorway as if expecting Shaz to appear. “They got into it pretty bad. Playing the blame game. You know.”

  I sighed. There was nobody to really blame for the drama and tension between Shaz and Arys but me. How did I get myself into these situations?

  “Did Kale take care of you? He better have.” I grinned when a full-fledged blush accompanied her reluctant smile.

  “He was a perfect gentleman. I didn’t once get the impression that he was wondering what I taste like.”

  “Oh, he was. He’s just had a few centuries to practice hiding it.”

  We laughed lightly together but not carefree. I could tell that Kylarai had cried upon learning of Raoul’s death. Her eyes were bloodshot, and the tangy scent of salt lingered on her skin.

  When Shaz returned, she gave my hand a warm pat before excusing herself despite my insistence that she stay. As soon as we were alone and those green eyes met mine, I started to come undone.

  On the bed with me, he took my hand so that it lay clasped within his. “Are you ok, Lex?”

  “Yeah, I’ll live. I promise. Don’t blame Arys. It was all circumstance.”

  “That’s not what I mean.” He shook his head; platinum hair fell into his eyes just the way I loved it. “Are you ok? Do you want to talk about what happened with Raoul?”