by Lucy Lyons
“You’re still worried about your friend, Clay?” Maria asked, and I nodded. “Did you ever hear about the first of your kind? Has your research taken you that far back yet?” She asked, and the room fell quiet around her as even the others stopped what they were doing to listen.
“No, Master Shedu. I haven’t followed our lineage back, I’m still working on how we are to move forward,” I admitted.
“I know some of it,” Ashlynn offered. “The wee folk guarding the door to Fairy told me one day that the wild magic chose the wolfman form for a human who wanted to run with the night hounds of the hunt.”
“That’s partly true,” Maria agreed. “According to the story, which is even older than I am, three young warriors wanted to prove their worth and become Fae, so they petitioned the Fae who was High King of that age,” she began.
“But even if they found them, the Fae can’t give you magic,” I blurted then snapped my mouth shut. Maria arched an eyebrow but smiled when I raised my hands in silent apology.
“Oh, they found the entrance to the Fairy mound and claimed that it meant they were destined for magic. Instead, the High King sent the three of them on a chase to find the wild hunt that ended in a field not far from their village of Lahntal. There they waited in a field for the High King to bless them, and when the moon rose, the king released the hounds of the wild hunt, intending the warriors to be killed for their insolence.”
“But this is the origin of the werewolves?” Ashlynn asked, and Maria nodded.
“The hunt blew through in a mighty wind, shaking the leaves from the trees of the surrounding forest. The villagers hid in their homes, but the warriors held their ground, intent on receiving the honor they had been promised,” she explained. I glanced toward Jasiri as I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye and saw him leaning forward, his face waxen from the venom but his eyes fixed on Maria.
“We haven’t got much time, Master Shedu,” Nick reminded her gently. “Perhaps the story should wait?”
“No,” Ashlynn and I blurted in unison. I glanced at her and she smiled. “We need to wait for our reinforcements, Nick. We can’t do anything until then anyway,” I countered. He motioned for her to continue and she bowed slightly, moving to Somayo’s side. She placed a hand on his forehead and cleared her throat.
“The wind blew all around them, hiding them from view of any villagers who were brave enough to peek through the cracks in their shutters at the field. Leaves, grass, and living, squirming creatures swirled around them in a twisting cloud,” she whispered. “When the cloud moved on, the young men were gone. In their places were a wolf, a bear, and a stone monolith.”
“One of them was turned to stone? What did he do wrong?” I gasped, and Maria shrugged.
“I don’t know that it was punishment, Clay. The wolf turned back into a man, as did the bear, but forevermore, when the hunt roamed the earth, he turned into a wolf and ran with them. He lived to see three generations of his progeny grow old and die before he finally fell in battle, and his sons and grandsons all carried his mark. The bear-man tried to go back to the mound, but it had disappeared, as Fairy mounds do. He fell into a great despair and spent the remainder of his days trying to find Fairy again, his only thought to have the curse of the bear taken from him.”
“And the guy who got turned into a rock?” Caroline asked.
“The stone still stands in the same field, overlooking the crops and the town. Since that night, there has never been an early frost or a drought to harm their crops. Never has a sickness or plague touched the villagers. The fruits of their fields are more plentiful and more delicious than any of the surrounding areas, and the village though small, has no poverty.”
“So he’s a big chunk of magic stone still protecting his people,” I mused. “That’s heroic and sad. He’s literally the last man standing of the three.”
“As far as we know,” Portia agreed. “I think what my mother is trying to say is that Somayo has received all the power and protection we had to give him, and it’s now up to the wild magic what he will become.”
“I hope he becomes something strong and sane, Portia, and soon. The others will arrive any time, and we will still be woefully short of the kind of power we need to take Vash. Especially if we want to take him alive.”
“Remind me of why we’re doing that, again?” Came a weak voice from the table. Maria jumped and jerked her hand back from where she was smoothing it over Somayo’s forehead. Ashlynn barked a surprised laugh of glee, and Simi gasped and almost fell off her stool in her rush to be by his side.
“Glad to hear your voice, hunter, but how do you feel?” Nick asked. Somayo grinned up at him with a mouth full of sharp, feline teeth and eyes with irises that shone in the lantern light.
“Hungry.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
There were gasps and soft curses from those in the tent that weren’t Fae and one werejaguar sobbing quietly in his chair. Somayo’s head hung over his wounds as he shook with pain and the comedown of the magic that had been riding his body. I reached out, but what my beast confirmed, I’d already seen in Somayo’s new feline aspect.
His great cat snarled at my wolf, the two energies bending away from each other as I rubbed my hands down my arms to press down the vertical hair and gooseflesh his grating voice had raised.
“Does this mean we can’t be friends, Alpha?” he asked me, and his cat seemed to pace behind his eyes in confusion.
“No, it simply means you won’t be joining my pack, Somayo. The magic is in us, but it doesn’t control us. If you can forgive me for the drastic measures we took to save your life, then we’ll be friends for the rest of mine.” I reached out a hand and gasped as his energy swiped at me, claws slicing my arm open and drawing my own beast closer to the surface. Bad kitty, I thought at him, and he inhaled sharply.
Was that you, Alpha? I felt him weakly in my head and was reminded of my own first attempts at such communication.
“That’s pretty good for a first time, Somayo,” I laughed, grabbing his wrist and holding him steady as he swung his legs over the edge of the table and stood. His animal receded, content that he’d shown his dominance over me. “But are you well enough to fight? Not too tired or weak from healing your wounds?”
“I’m ready to fight, but I have no interest in letting that creature live.” His mouth was set in a grim line, and I glanced back at Maria.
“He’s family, Somayo. Like I was, when I was changed and almost killed Caroline. We trap him, and we heal him.” He growled, and it was more beast than man. “But if you can’t, if you don’t have the kind of control we need, there’s no shame in going back to the Venatores and reporting what happened here.”
“And be put in a cage for them to poke and prod? No thank you, Clay. As you pointed out, I remember what they did to you.” He held his arms open wide and turned to face Simi, who was still staring with tears on her cheeks, unable to speak. “Do you want me now, huntress?” Ashlynn and Caroline moved between them, shielding Simi with their bodies. Ashlynn’s claws were out, gleaming darkly in the lamplight, and I could feel the near nuclear power Caroline was building in her core, ready to blast the man who was once among her most trusted friends if made a move toward them.
I jumped between them and held out my hands, fur flowing over me as I shifted, making myself taller, my muscles bunched and ready to lunge in either direction if someone decided to make the mistake of starting a fight.
“I think we have a case of too close quarters, my love,” Nick said, and Caroline nodded once.
“Happy to take this outside, but he comes with us. I want him where I can see him.” Nick smiled at his wife, and I nodded at Somayo, who curled his lip but motioned with one arm toward the door.
“Ladies first,” he purred, and the hair on my neck stood. Simi made a sound of disgust and backed out the door, daggers in her hands, but held at waist level. Caroline followed her, turning her back, but glancing over her shoulder
with sad eyes before she disappeared into the darkness outside.
“Soma, man. You’ve got to try to control your anger. If you hate us for doing this to you, if you want a way out, I’ll slit your throat, and we’ll give you a proper hunter’s funeral pyre,” I told him once the ladies were out of earshot. “But you need to know. Simi loves you. Not the hunter, not the . . .”
“I don’t know what I am, Clay. Why don’t you tell me?” His voice was softer, the growl less pronounced than it had been, and I felt anger and confusion and fear from him.
“I would, if that cat of yours would let me near you,” I laughed. “You’re awfully dominant for a shifter who’s never changed.” He grinned and flexed, making even Nick laugh. “Maria, Portia, please escort Father O’Connell outside to greet our people,” I requested of my master. “I feel the pack getting close.”
Nick nodded. “My clan are outside the protective circle, awaiting an invitation to enter,” he added. Maria managed a shallow bow I returned by bowing at the hip to show my respect, and Nick and Somayo did the same.
“I saw that, old man,” I muttered at him after she left. “I knew you were still in there.”
“She’s more powerful than me. It was easy to show her respect.”
I chuckled at him. “Your cat doesn’t know it, but I’m more powerful than you too.” I clapped him on the shoulder as he scowled at me. “It looks like I’m going to have to prove it to your cat, so he stops trying to distract you from the task at hand to prove himself.”
“Will I have to fight every shifter to find my place?”
“God, no. You don’t have to fight anyone, ever. Not even me. But in this case, I will make a show of power to your animal, either out there or in here,” I explained. “Hopefully when I’m done, you’ll be in control of your shifting, and you can tell us what you are.”
“I know I’m not a jaguar. He felt foreign to me, like an enemy.”
“You’re definitely something feline,” Nick offered. “Maybe you’re a lion, like the Leo Clay adopted into his pack.”
“No. I don’t know. I can’t feel anything but rage and confusion,” he snarled, slamming his fist down on the table.
“Then we’d better do this outside in case I’m wrong and this goes sideways,” I sighed. I led the way and let Nick watch my back, stepping out into the night to a dozen pairs of eyes watching me. The vampires held back, speaking in low tones to Caroline and Simi with Jasiri seated nearby, but my wolves had scented the newcomer and waited to see if he was friend or enemy.
Ashlynn took my hand, and we walked to the clearing past the parked cars, our procession joined by the others until only the pureblood Fae were missing. I was down to my second-to-last pair of ratty and torn shorts already, having lost another shirt when I shifted inside the tent. I quickly prayed that I would hold the fight and be able to shift Somayo before his beast won out over his human logic and he sliced me open. By pack law, if I couldn’t keep him from drawing blood, I had to fight him to the death.
If he’s not pack, do we have to abide by pack law? Came a worried thought from Ashlynn. She wasn’t afraid he could beat me, but like me, she was concerned that I’d be forced to kill him after all we’d done to save him and without Simi getting to say goodbye.
Just keep the humans back and warn them not to interfere, I replied and felt her affirmation in the warmth of a loving touch in my thoughts. Simi was at least a little psychic, and now so was Somayo. I prayed that I could give them what I had and not tear them apart.
I reached the center of the loose ring that the wolves created by standing at intervals with enough space between them to reach out and clasp each other’s wrists if needed to keep us inside. Nick stood behind the circle of wolves with Caroline and Simi, and my packmates parted to let Somayo through then closed ranks behind him. Several growled softly, and I silently warned them not to slip their skin. The freshly changed were unpredictable, and any perceived danger could make him lose control and start attacking the closest warm body, or, worse, the weaker humans right behind them.
Somayo circled me warily, his body bent, hands splayed at the ends of loosely outstretched arms as he waited for me to attack. Instead, I gathered my psychic energy and pushed it deep inside me where my beast waited. Because it was Somayo, part of me wanted to cheat and siphon power from Caroline, who I knew would readily share with me. Instead, I drew from the wolves around me. It was less power, but because the return was greater, I knew they would get the most benefit, and since I was their alpha, it wasn’t cheating to share our power.
The power churned in me and static filled the circle as I connected with each of my wolves, reminding them not to succumb to the desire to shift to their full wolf forms. None could shift until the fight was over or it would become a bloodbath, and we had enough possibility of that to come without losing valuable strength and resources fighting among ourselves.
When he lunged, it was sudden and faster than I thought possible for him, and he managed to push me back and almost topple me. I gripped his arms at the elbows and forced him to let go of me, grateful that he hadn’t figured out how to grow claws yet, and threw him back. The wolves he fell against lifted him upright and pushed him back into the center without incident, and he lunged at me again.
I managed to get my shoulder under him and thrust him back again, still gaining the energy I needed to lure out his animal without drawing blood. He crouched near the edge of the ring, his eyes glowing softly in the moonlight, and I paused. It was unnerving to see so much of the animal so close to the surface, fangs and eyes gone feral like a shifter forced to keep their animal shape too long rather than one who had never made the change at all. My hesitation cost me, and before I knew it, I was on my back, staring past those strangely glowing eyes at the stars that were twinkling to life in the sky above us.
There was a growl from one of the wolves, and I held up a hand to warn them back as Somayo stared down into my face, pinning my shoulders, but holding himself perfectly still as he warred with the beast within, fighting to stay in control of the need to tear my throat out and feel my life ebb away.
I pushed out, not with my hands but with my power, launching him back from me and holding him in place with the weight of all that energy as he gave in to the great cat within and his body began the agonizing first change. I coaxed the cat out of him as fluidly as I could, imagining his bones and muscle reknitting with the ease of water flowing over his body.
The wolves began to howl in empathy for Somayo as he screeched his anguish and fury to the skies, and I felt the cool power of the undead that landed all around the outer rim of the circle. I felt his own power ebb against the push of mine, and like the moon to the tide, I pushed him away and brought forth the largest spotted cat I’d ever seen.
“Well, I guess I should stop being surprised at the multitude of different breeds of shifters, but I’m still shocked,” Ashlynn quipped as she stepped forward, holding out her hand with the fingers curved under like a paw. Behind her back, she’d unsheathed her own claws but held out her hand as a gesture of good faith.
“That is the biggest leopard I’ve ever seen,” blurted a vampire. “If I wasn’t a goddamned creature of the night, I’d be wetting myself right now.”
“I’m trying to decide if he’s scarier as a leopard than he was as a regular Venatores hunter,” added another, and at her voice I chuckled.
“Colette, the only thing that frightens you is a man immune to your charms,” I scoffed, and scattered laughter erupted among those who worked with us.
Somayo the leopard was pacing back and forth in front of Ashlynn, but when he realized we were laughing and talking as though nothing were wrong, he sat and let her approach him, his head tilted quizzically. I couldn’t speak to him in his cat form, but I tried to transmit feelings of loyalty and camaraderie to his feline mind, to remind him that nothing had changed between us but his physical form.
Ashlynn managed to get her hand under his nos
e, and then slid her fingers up between his ears and stroked them. She brought out her other hand, perfectly human and normal and rubbed both ears at once until I felt embarrassment from him and he pulled away.
“OK, so it’s definitely still Somayo in there, and he doesn’t think anyone but Simi should be stroking him,” I announced, and the laughter increased. “His ears, you perverts. He was talking about Ash rubbing his ears.” Relief flowed through both vampires and wolves as the laughter continued with some light teasing aimed at the newest member of our monster family. I felt for my reserve of power, worried that I wouldn’t be able to bring him back, when he arched his back and shuddered, his body bowing and twitching as skin appeared and fur melted away, leaving him curled naked in the fetal position on the ground beside my mate.
“Thanks for trying to help, Clay, but I think I figured it out,” he said, his voice muffled in the crook of his elbow. He stood, and Ashlynn backed away from him as several wolves stepped forward, offering him a shirt and shorts and clapping him on the back in congratulations.
The wolves faded back on my command and made room for Simi to join Somayo in the center of the clearing. His eyes were still alien, a pale green with pupils that swallowed the color as they expanded to see in the dark. I smiled at him and he grinned back, his white, even teeth gleaming in his dark face, and I breathed a sigh of relief. It would be easy to hide his eyes behind contacts, but his teeth would’ve given him away to the Venatores for sure, and I didn’t want them hunting him or my wolves because of his new abilities.
