by Marilu Mann
He took a slow, even breath as he looked at this angel of mercy. Not much bigger than many human teenagers, he guessed her to be a little over five feet tall. Most would call her petite if not just plain tiny. But that would have meant they missed her shape. Slade drank in his fill. Her figure looked full, soft and round—lush sprang to his mind. Add long, curly auburn hair to the package and he thought she could make good money on Bourbon Street. She met his eyes with a soft intake of breath.
Her moss-green eyes enveloped him with warmth, compassion. It took him a moment to note that they had tears in them. He didn’t know if she cried for herself or for him. He blinked at the thought. No one had ever cried for him. He took it back. No way would she make it on Bourbon Street with such a soft heart.
“So, you’re awake.” Joie stared into eyes of amber. His eyes were an almost liquid gold that seemed to bore into her. If she didn’t know better, she’d swear this animal understood what was happening. She blinked that thought away.
Certainly intelligence lurked deep in those eyes. She thought that she’d never seen this kind of comprehension in any other injured animal. Joie laughed at herself. What a preposterous thought. As if! Still, she looked at him when she said, “I would like to take the muzzle off, but I’m afraid you’ll bite me.”
The wolf’s amber eyes stayed on hers as he slowly lifted his uninjured paw and rubbed it over the cloth binding his mouth. A soft noise accompanied the gesture.
“Take it off, girl.” The other voice he’d heard sounded loud in the silence. Slade turned his head slightly to stare at the wizened old woman standing on the porch. Slade growled softly as she moved closer.
Stop that, Loup Garou. Yes, I know what you are. Don’t scare the child. She’s trying to help you.
Chapter Two
Slade’s mind whirled. The old woman had spoken straight to his mind. How had she done that? How had he heard her? What are you? He thought the words hard at her, hoping she could hear him as well.
Her answer told him that she had. You know what I am, boy. The question is, who are you? Why are you in my bayou?
Slade broke eye contact with the older woman and looked at the younger one again. Tell her to take the cloth off. I won’t hurt her.
I know you won’t. The older woman pulled a large handgun out from behind her back. The barrel pointed straight at his head. “Untie his mouth, cher. He’s not going to do anything stupid.”
Slade could smell the silver. She knew what he was and she wasn’t afraid of him. Well, she was afraid of him, but she wasn’t so fearful that she would hesitate to pull the trigger and unload the gun in his head.
What are you, old woman? He kept his eyes on the younger woman as she approached him. He could smell other animals nearby, but no humans other than the two women. It would be easy to overpower them except for the weapon in the older woman’s hands.
Slade was sure she would use it to protect the younger woman. He had no intention of hurting them. He only wanted to get away before the others found him. Take the cloth off.
He felt his mental voice become more urgent and damned himself for it. He had to get away. She stared at him for a long moment. You know I’ll shoot you if you try to hurt her. You know what I got in dis gun, for sure.
I know. Slade rubbed his uninjured paw over his nose again. He had to get the binding off before he lost his mind. Claustrophobia closed its fist in on him with every passing second. How much longer could he fight off the panic? Then he felt her hands on him. A shiver went down his spine.
Who were these women, and why did this one affect him this way? As the binding came off his muzzle, he licked the place where it had rubbed. His tongue brushed her hand. Her taste matched her scent. He resisted the urge to do it again. The quick gasp from her had his ears flicking toward her. What an amazing sound!
Getting gingerly to his feet, Slade shook from his head to his tail, then immediately wished he hadn’t. Pain hit him, intense and immediate. Slade let his head fall as he panted softly.
The younger woman immediately moved closer to him. He couldn’t help it, he growled again deep in his throat. He wasn’t going to hurt her, but he just didn’t want her to touch him right then. The older woman snorted through her nose and shook her head at him.
You stop that noise, boy. My Joie, she’s a good girl.
Joie? Slade let her name slide across his mind. First the old woman had called her a little wild kitten, though she wasn’t a shifter. Slade would bet his life on that. Hell, he already had, hadn’t he? If either of these women betrayed him, his life would mean nothing. His gut feeling told him they wouldn’t hurt him. That had to be wrong. They were human—he was shifter. They were the chickens to his fox, but they’d brought him into their home.
He considered the last time a human had ever treated him with anything other than curses or fists. Nearly every interaction he’d had with humans had turned out badly, from the time he’d been a child to the recent past. Humans meant trouble. Surely these two couldn’t be different.
One way or another, he’d been hurt or betrayed by every human he’d ever known. His hatred of their kind ran deep. Who did these women think they were? A few bandages and stitches wouldn’t make him any less cautious around them. Besides, they had already proven they were fools. Who in their right mind would drag an injured wolf onto their front porch?
He wanted to leap up, shift form, show them how dangerous that could be. Did they just pick up hitchhikers on the highway as well? Then he laughed at himself. Apparently Granny and her pistol gave them some sense of security. Besides, what did he care about the trouble they might get into? They were human, not Pack, he didn’t give a damn about them.
He lifted his head slowly to take a careful, deep breath. His side didn’t send the same shooting pain like before. The bandage the women had wrapped around him seemed to be helping. His paw throbbed, though. There would be no running on it until he could take care of it. And he needed to do that soon, before someone came looking for him. If Maggie had survived, she’d be looking for him if for no other reason than to finish what she’d started.
You have any water around here, old woman? Slade let his eyes slide to the older woman. She chuckled softly as she put the gun away. He had no idea where she hid it. He couldn’t see any pockets in the voluminous robe she wore.
“Joie, get that creature some water.”
Slade stared at the old woman. In another time, another place he might have found something to admire about her stance, her entire attitude. The girl smiled at the older woman as she slipped past her into their living space. He saw the old woman’s eyes light up as she watched the girl go by. Slade shifted slightly and the old woman tensed. Her hand went back to wherever she’d hidden the gun.
Easy, old woman. I’m not going to hurt you. The last thing he needed was for her to shoot him. Why in the hell did she have her gun loaded with silver bullets anyway? You’ve dealt with my kind before.
It came out as a statement, not a question.
She simply smiled at him. You don’t have to see the devil to know he exists, Loup Garou. How do they call you?
Slade. Why he told her anything, he didn’t know. She had no right to be asking him these questions. Who the hell did she think she was?
The ones hunting you, they’ll know that name. You got another name, boy?
Slade shook his head at her. Impossible. How did she know? The old woman laughed, cackled, really. Her bright green eyes bored into him. Slade blinked a few times under that relentless gaze. What in the hell was she? She wasn’t a shifter, just something he had never come across before.
She didn’t read like any of the other psychics he’d met. They’d known his kind right away. Other sensitive people knew something rang strange about him even before he told them. He hated sharing any part of himself. Malcolm. I’m Malcolm Slade.
The old woman sat back on a porch swing he hadn’t paid any attention to and chuckled merrily. Slade felt his ruff
rising. Make fun of me, will she? Doesn’t she know that I could be up and across the porch before she could take aim with that stupid pistol? His head dropped, though he maintained eye contact with the old woman.
He gathered himself to jump. Muscles tensed as his shoulders followed the line of his neck.
He could kill her in a heartbeat and… Slade stopped. I don’t want to kill her. His body flowed out of attack posture back to a more relaxed state. Until now there’d never been a pressing reason not to attack humans first and ask questions later.
He looked at this strange old bird sitting on the swing with her feet just grazing the floor. She watched him as carefully as he watched her, but he didn’t feel her in his head now. Still, she had to know what had almost happened.
What was it about her and the young woman? Something drew him in, but he couldn’t figure it out. All he knew was that the animal side of him didn’t want their blood. Yet. Surely this was just an anomaly.
The floor creaking and the soft sound of a footfall on the porch had his full attention turning to the door. Not because of the noise, but because she stood there. Lilac woman, Joie. Ignoring the pain in his side, Slade drew himself upright. As unreasonable as it might be, he didn’t want to appear weak in her eyes. Not that he had anything to worry about. And why did he care if this he impressed this human female, anyway?
She was so damn short he knew that in his present form his head would come nearly to her chest. Her breasts looked like soft, inviting pillows, calling him to bury his face and breathe in her scent. He let his mind wander in that direction for a moment before jerking it back on track.
Instant attraction wasn’t something he was used to. He’d certainly never felt it for any shifter female and never expected to feel it for a human, but there it was.
No, not for a human, Slade, humans are nothing but trouble. It has to be because I hurt so much. She’s being nice to me now, but sure as shit, the other shoe’s going to drop soon and she’ll be like every other human I’ve known. She’ll betray me, or she’ll hurt me in some other way. He dropped his head slightly, keeping both women in sight.
Joie stopped. Not staring at this creature would have been impossible. She tried to control her breathing, but knew her pulse ran ragged. He fascinated her. Intense came to mind as she studied him. She’d never seen such a large wolf before. Now she knew how a deer must feel when it faced a predator like him.
From gray to black with some tan thrown in, his coat fell across his body in dense waves. She knew that if he were in the woods, she’d never see him with his camouflage. And those eyes! I could fall into those beautiful eyes. Intelligence shone there and something else, something more. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but it made her think a human looked back at her. What nonsense!
His nose twitched and she realized she hadn’t put the water down. He waited for the bowl and until she had backed up to stand beside Tante Kay before he took a careful step forward.
Slade sniffed. Nothing but well water tainted with natural minerals, but caution never hurt anyone and he’d survived more than a few poisoning attempts that way. Except the one bitch who’d gotten past him by making him forget to be careful for just that one moment.
It had cost him everything, including his honor. He lapped the water up as though he’d been in the desert for months. The combination of the silver poisoning and his injuries had sapped his strength. Besides water and food, he needed to find a place to hide and he needed to do it quickly. His life depended on it.
He drank all the water in the bowl, and then licked it a few times for good measure. Movement brought his head up. The younger woman stepped forward carefully, but he didn’t want her near him. Those damn lilacs were making him insane. Baring his teeth stopped her for the moment.
She began making soothing noises as she edged away. He barely contained his growl as he backed away from the bowl. Lying down, he placed his head between his front paws to watch what she would do next.
The old woman gave that witch’s laugh. His ears flicked backward as he raised his head. If I hear that again, I might just bite her on principle. It made him edgy and he didn’t need to be edgy right now. Didn’t that old dried-up piece of leather know how much was at stake? Not just his life, but their lives as well rode on his being able to get out of here.
She paid him no mind as she spoke to the younger woman. “Joie, go get that creature the leftover stew. I can hear his stomach growling from here.” She cackled as she sent to him, That better be your stomach, boy. I don’t wanna hear no growling from you no more, you hear?
Joie stared hard at him, then nodded and moved toward the cabin again. Slade backed up so he could see both the doorway and the old woman. He didn’t deign to answer Granny. Does this old broad think she has me under control? Why am I even hanging around here? It would be so easy to just leap off the porch and disappear into the swamp again.
Yeah, it would hurt, but once he changed a few times, that pain could be dealt with. When Joie came back out carrying a cast-iron pot in one hand and a big hunk of cornbread in the other, he realized that he didn’t want to leave just yet. He needed to figure out why this tiny human captivated him so much.
“Are you sure this won’t be too spicy for him? He’s been pretty badly hurt and I’d hate to upset his stomach on top of that.” She addressed the old woman, though she stared at him. Slade dropped his lower jaw while stretching back his lips to give her the equivalent of a wolf grin even as the old woman replied.
“No, cher, it won’t be too spicy. Something tells me he’s really gonna like it. Just put the pot down and watch him.”
Joie slid the pot and the cornbread onto the ground, then backed up to stand next to Tante Kay again. She watched the wolf. He tracked her movements, sending a shiver up her arms. When he seemed convinced of her holding her position, he took one step forward, then another. His movements were cautious, but controlled. Even with the limp caused by his injured front paw, she found herself mesmerized by the fluidity of his walk.
The wolf sniffed at the stew. His ears flicked forward as he raised his head to look at her godmother, almost as if he were speaking to her. Joie wouldn’t doubt it. Just as she always knew when an injured animal came into the area, Tante always seemed to be able to communicate on more than one level with the wild things.
He lowered his head to the food and didn’t look up again until the pot gleamed clean. The cornbread followed in three quick bites. Tossing his head back to catch the last piece, he sat down. His never-wavering gaze had Joie wondering if he might still be hungry.
She took a step forward. He levered his rear legs to stand. She stepped back and he sat down. With an impish grin, she eased forward, but the wolf held his ground. He didn’t growl or bare his teeth. He simply watched her the last time as if he knew she would stop.
Joie hunkered down in front of the beast to study him. So unlike other animals she’d treated, he didn’t seem threatened by her holding his eyes. In fact, his eyes held hers until she looked away. He stood up again to turn a complete circle, almost as though showing himself to her.
She’d noticed some strange markings in his fur when he’d been on his side and now that he stood facing her, the one around his left front leg almost looked like it formed a pattern of sorts. If she concentrated hard enough, she’d be able to discern the pattern.
Something tickled her brain again. She thought back to that moment in the moonlight when a man had been where a wolf was. Joie Sue! Get your mind out of your fantasy books! Next thing you know, you’ll be carrying knives for the feu follets! The old stories about sticking a knife into the ground to distract the fairy lights ran quickly through her mind as she reached out to the wolf.
“Careful there, child.” The seldom-heard sharpness in Tante Kay’s voice caused her to jerk back.
The wolf hadn’t taken his eyes off her face. Joie smiled slowly, then dropped her gaze. He took a step forward, which had her stumbling back quickly. The w
olf looked at Tante Kay, then at her. His tongue lolled out of his mouth a bit. He sneezed once and shook his head. Joie thought she saw a grimace of pain in his expression, but knew that couldn’t be true. She watched him move to the edge of the porch.
“I’m goin’ to bed. You watch that creature for a bit longer, Joie, then you go on to bed too. You sleep in a bit. I think you gonna need it.” Tante Kay stared at the wolf. Joie could almost hear her message, but she didn't understand why Tante would be warning the wolf in any way. Still, her message came through loud and clear, You mess with my girl and I'll mess you.
Joie picked up the pot. The inside shone back at her, but he didn’t indicate in any way that he might still be hungry, so she set it on the porch, then sat on the step next to it. The sky had started to lighten, easing deep purples and blues into the sky.
A great blue heron glided down the bayou on its way to a fish breakfast somewhere. The wind picked up just enough to set the Spanish moss swaying like bearded ballerinas.
“You’re so beautiful, but what are you doing here and what on earth happened to you?” She couldn’t help it, talking to the beast seemed so natural.
She held her hand out to him in the vain hope that he would sniff her hand like a dog might. Her one bane in life would always be her need to connect with her patients. And she wanted to bury her hands in his coat again, wanted to feel that lush thickness tickling her palms. But the wolf looked at her, then lay down at the bottom of the steps, well out of her reach. He put his head on his forepaws, his eyes never leaving hers.
“I wish you could tell me what happened. I’m pretty sure you were in a fight.” She paused with a finger to her lips. “And it looks like you lost, poor thing.” At those words, he lifted his head. One ear flicked backward followed by the other and she could swear he rolled his eyes. “Okay, so maybe you didn’t lose, but if that’s the case, I’d hate to see the other wolf.”
