by Kamryn Hart
They tumbled through the dry brush. Gwen’s vision was still spinning when they stopped. She bit back a scream of pain and inspected Tommy instead. He was stunned, but he looked okay. He clung to her, the only person that could protect him. She tried to stand back up, but her leg gave out on her again, sending them back down into dry foliage, discarded leaves, and pine needles. Gwen’s breaths came in labored. Her eyes were moist in response to the nearly unbearable pain in her leg. But she couldn’t stop fighting now.
She looked all around, trying to locate the poacher who was just on her tail. Based on what she saw, she and Tommy tumbled out of the guy’s view. She pulled Tommy closer to her, gently placing a hand over his mouth to urge him to be quiet as she scooted her back against a tree. She quieted her own breathing through sheer willpower and waited.
Like she expected, she heard the unmistakable crunch of the poacher’s hiking boots as he came toward them. He was taking his damn sweet time about it, probably enjoying hunting the two of them like the many animals he had killed. Gwen hoped he hadn’t seen exactly where she and Tommy had stopped rolling. It might be her last chance to gain the advantage.
“Where’d you go, little rats?” the man muttered. “This is becoming way more trouble than it’s worth.”
He was getting closer. Gwen was going to trip him and scramble for his gun. That was her plan. Then Tommy cried. Loudly. Gwen shushed him, but she knew it was too late. Hovering behind them was the poacher.
“Found you.”
He held up Gwen’s pistol, his finger ready to pull the trigger. The next sound Gwen expected to hear was her gun firing, not a feral bark as Nick came tearing through the woods as a big blue-gray wolf.
“The fuck?!” The poacher shouted, losing all interest in Gwen as the whites of his eyes grew exponentially and he turned the gun on Nick.
Fear gripped Gwen’s throat, and she was about to scream. She couldn’t watch Nick get shot, but she had nothing to worry about. He moved fast and somehow seemed to know exactly where that bullet was going. The poacher fired and missed him completely. Nick tackled the man and his jaws were around the poacher’s throat in the next instant. The poacher had tried to bring his arms and hands up to protect himself, but he did it too late. Gwen encompassed Tommy as well as she could, shielding him from the brutal scene as he sobbed against her. She knew it was over when the forest went dead silent.
She took in deep breaths to try and ease the pain ripping through her leg. Those breaths turned into gasps. She cursed herself for not being stronger. She should be able to deal with a little pain. She did need to look at the wound though, and radio in dispatch. She was in the process of sitting up again while Tommy clung to her chest when she saw Nick walking over to her. His muzzle was covered in blood, but all she could see was a hero. He saved hers and Tommy’s life.
“Thanks,” Gwen said weakly.
She winced when she tried to move her leg. Nick nudged her arm with his nose as if to ask her if she was all right.
“I’ll be okay,” Gwen tried to reassure. “Can you get my radio?”
A howl sounded not far off, and the blond wolf came into view a moment later: Willow. She had blood on her face as well. Gwen realized she must have taken care of the other poacher. She also held Gwen’s radio carefully in her teeth. She came over and dropped the radio in Gwen’s hand. Then she turned her attention to the little boy. He was still shaking and afraid, but he must have liked dogs because suddenly the alligator tears pouring from his eyes stopped.
“Doggie!” he said enthusiastically, reaching for Willow.
Gwen let the boy out of her arms, trusting Willow with him. Willow wagged her tail and licked the boy, fussing over him like a worried mother.
Nick nosed Gwen’s leg. She gasped at the pain, and he looked up at her, intense yellow eyes filled with concern.
Gwen held out her radio and said, “I found Tommy. We’re north of my cabin. A couple miles out. Need medical attention. The poachers came back and shot me in the leg.”
“Are you safe?” dispatch asked.
“Yeah, the poachers got what was coming. A couple of wolves saved the day. Tommy and I are alone now. Please hurry.”
“Sending rangers out to you now. Should take no more than fifteen minutes. Over”
Gwen set the radio down at her side. Nick was still at her leg, worrying over the wound. He moved back and tensed. She knew he was about to change.
“Stop,” Gwen ordered. “I’m fine. Don’t do that.” She glanced at Tommy who was occupied with Willow. He was young, but she was pretty sure he’d remember something like a wolf morphing into a man, and she didn’t want to cause Nick or the other wolves any trouble.
Nick eased somewhat, but the tension didn’t go. It wasn’t like he could do anything more for her wound than she could at the moment. Other rangers would be there to help soon enough.
Nick insisted on staying right at her side as she reached over and felt around the wound. The bullet was definitely lodged in there, and judging by the purple and red showing on her shin, it had indeed struck bone. The entry wound was on the back of her leg. It was bleeding more than Gwen felt comfortable with. There was nothing she could think of doing right now. She just needed to wait. Her hands were shaking badly and the heat was making her delirious. Her right hand started buzzing again, that familiar buzz whenever Nick was around. She felt his cold nose on her leg near her wound and she flinched.
“I’ll be okay,” she said. “You and Willow need to go back to Moonwatch before the other rangers get here.”
Nick growled, but Gwen somehow knew it wasn’t meant for her. He was frustrated about something. Her wound perhaps. He said he had been healing because of the mark they shared, sapping Gwen’s strength to do it. Maybe he was angry she wasn’t healing the same way.
Gwen closed her eyes, her skin sticky with sweat. She knew she needed to stay awake, but she was in so much pain; it was becoming a chore. Then her hand started itching more incessantly. Her bullet wound seemed to react to the itching. At first, the pain was more intense. This time she did cry, allowing a couple tears to roll down her cheeks. Nick’s warmth at her side as he pressed against her side with his strong body soothed her, and then the pain began to fade away.
She slung an arm around his big furry neck, holding him closer as she willed herself to open her eyes again. She looked at her leg. She wasn’t bleeding anymore, and the wound was changing shape with every passing second. The purple and red swell was fading. As gross as it was, she could even feel the bullet fragments inside of her flesh moving. She watched in awe as the fragments were pushed out of her wound. When the fragments were all out, the hole in her leg started sealing up with smooth new skin. The magic stopped when her injury looked like nothing more than an inconsequential scratch. This was even more powerful magic than what Gwen had seen with Nick and his bullet wound. She was almost perfectly healed in mere seconds.
Holding her breath and grasping Nick’s fur, she gently probed her leg with her marked hand. She was almost as good as new. It hardly hurt at all anymore. She turned to Nick, wrapping both arms around him and urging his big head to her chest as she hugged him tightly. Somehow she knew what would happen next. She watched her right hand while she held Nick close and emotion began to rise in her chest. The itching in her hand stopped and the pearly skin faded. It was as if the Moon Mark was never there to begin with. She glanced at Nick’s left paw and saw that the fur had changed too. The moon shape disappeared.
Gwen cried. She felt stupid for doing it, and she couldn’t explain it. It seemed like this was the end. This was what Nick wanted, and now any hope at connection, at being part of his world and getting to know him, was shattered. He had absolutely no reason to ever see her again now.
“Looks like you fulfilled that contract,” she struggled to say. She hated how weak and vulnerable she must have looked in this moment. She tried to ignore the looks Willow and Tommy were giving her, and she refused to pull away from N
ick. She didn’t want to know what kind of look he would give her. She felt his tongue at her neck. Maybe he would have licked away her tears, but she had no intention of letting go of him, and he didn’t force his way out of her arms.
Gwen lost track of time. She couldn’t let go of Nick, and he didn’t make her, so she stayed like that and cried for as long as she needed to. She was glad he stayed because she couldn’t seem to pull herself together even though she told herself again and again that she needed to. It was a good thing Willow was there to take care of Tommy. Gwen was not in the right state of mind to. All she could think about was how the mark was gone. She felt like she had lost a part of herself. And it was a worse pain than taking a bullet.
When Gwen heard her fellow rangers calling her name, she snapped back to her senses.
“You have to go,” she said quickly as she pushed away from Nick and wiped her eyes. “Both of you.” She got off the ground and picked Tommy up.
Willow blinked slowly and bowed her head. Then she dashed off in the direction that would take her to Moonwatch. Nick stayed standing in place, staring at Gwen with his yellow eyes. Even though they were undeniably wolf, she could see the human side of him in those eyes. Perhaps it was the soft way he was looking at her. She couldn’t say for sure.
“Go,” she said as forcefully as she could. She meant it too. There was no way she could have him hanging around like a trained dog and explain it to the other rangers. She didn’t want to explain it. He was her wolf, and she didn’t want to share him with anyone, even if it was just his memory and the short time she was allowed a glimpse into his world.
For a moment, she thought Nick wouldn’t leave. She was about to tell him how stupid and unreasonable he was being for that, but she didn’t have to. He disappeared into the forest a second before the other rangers arrived. One had a first aid kit out and ready.
“Where were you shot?” the ranger asked.
“I was just grazed,” Gwen replied. She handed Tommy off to one of the rangers as the one with the first aid kit looked at her leg wound.
“You sure this is a bullet wound? It looks like you got whacked by a bush or something.”
Gwen didn’t have an answer for that. Her mind was on a certain wolf she’d never see again. She was glad when the rangers decided not to fuss over her. There was no reason to. A few of them looked and found the poachers’ corpses nearby and verified that their wounds were caused by wolves. They said something about Gwen and Tommy being lucky the wolves didn’t come after them too if they were acting so aggressive. Gwen may have said something about the wolves knowing the difference between her and Tommy and the poachers, but she couldn’t remember. The whole thing was a blur, and she just wanted to get back to her cabin.
The other rangers noticed her state of mind. One walked her back to her cabin and told her to take it easy for a while. Which she agreed to. When they got there, she said goodbye to Tommy. She watched the rangers leave before looking back out into the blue spruces. She imagined seeing Nick there. Then she imagined him never coming back, a ghost image she would never forget. She would have to accept she wasn’t a part of that world. She never really was, and she never would be. She would never see Nick again because even if they did have some kind of mutual attraction, he never wanted to acknowledge it. The only reason he had to see and interact with her was because of her Lunas Sigil, and now it was gone. So was Nick.
Chapter 13
GWEN TOOK THE REST of the day easy as recommended by the ranger who escorted her back to her cabin. She got confirmation that Tommy was reunited with his parents—which she was glad for. But she couldn’t stop thinking about Nick. She couldn’t bring herself to get off the couch. She couldn’t remember ever feeling so low in her life. She wanted to blame it on all that magic madness, but she wasn’t left fatigued this time. Physically she was in top shape aside from the scrape on her leg. Nick must have been ten times stronger than her because he didn’t even look faint after her bullet wound healed like that, or maybe it was because of the moon.
“Stop thinking about him,” she told herself miserably as she covered her eyes with her arm. She smelled terrible after all the sweating she had done today. If she could convince herself to get up and take a shower, she knew she would feel at least a little better. The problem was actually doing it.
A knock at the door made her groan. She didn’t want to answer it, but she was technically on the job. If it was a visitor lost out this far or hiking deep into the forest, she needed to be hospitable. That was what the cabin was for after all.
She slid off the couch and walked to the door, opening it without hesitation now that the poachers were gone. She was expecting a guest or another ranger, but the one on the other side of the door was Nick, fully clothed and human.
“N-Nick?” she managed to choke out his name. Another tear rolled down her cheek. She couldn’t stop it.
Nick reached out his hand and gently wiped the tear away. The look on his face was so warm Gwen could feel it in her heart. Then he hugged her. She was so surprised it stopped her from reacting. Slowly, she wrapped her arms around him, afraid that if she moved too fast he’d disappear. She felt like she needed to be cautious about this being real. She needed to be cautious with all the happiness she was feeling. What was it about Nick that suddenly turned her into a hopeless romantic?
“Are you in pain?” he asked her, his deep voice resonating from his chest and into hers.
She didn’t answer him right away. She was too busy thinking about how hugging him like this felt as warm as when she hugged him as a wolf. It made sense since both were Nick, but he had been so gruff with her as a human. This was different. Pleasantly different.
“Not anymore,” she whispered.
“Then why are you crying?” he remarked.
Gwen squeezed him tighter, afraid that what she’d say next would be the thing to break this moment. “I didn’t think I’d see you again.”
“Why would that make you cry? I’ve been an asshole.” He pushed her away, but not to remove her from his space. It was so he could see her face. He placed a hand under her chin and urged her to look up at him. “I never thanked you for saving my life before.” He gazed into her eyes as if trying to convey the weight of that statement. “Thank you, Gwen. With the way I’ve treated you, Moon knows I didn’t deserve it.”
“I’d do it again. Deserving or not,” she replied. And she meant it. That was the kind of person she was. She was a protector. “I didn’t understand what was going on at the time or how you survived, but I’m glad whatever I did was able to help you. I’m glad the ‘Moon’ decided to step in or whatever. I couldn’t have saved you on my own.”
Clearing her throat, she stepped back inside of the cabin. She held out her hand. “Why don’t you come inside so we aren’t hanging half in and half out of the cabin. Unless you’d rather stay outside?”
Nick stepped inside and shut the door behind him. Whatever his reason for coming here was, it seemed he intended on spending at least a few more minutes with Gwen. That sent a little trickle of hope through her body. This wasn’t a dream. She hadn’t lost Nick like she thought. She hadn’t lost her wolf.
“I’m glad, too,” Nick said.
“I’d say you owe me one, but you already returned the favor,” Gwen said, “but then I have to wonder why you’re here…” She needed to know. The sinking feeling wouldn’t leave until she knew.
Nick touched the back of his neck, something he seemed to do when feeling uncomfortable or when his alphaness had been called into question. “I came to check on you. Make sure you were really okay.”
For some reason, Gwen’s heart sank. Nick caught her eye, stopping her heart from sinking and making her anticipate what the look meant. He said, “And I also just wanted to see you.”
“See me? I got the feeling you and your pack don’t like humans much. By extension, me.” She folded her arms while she and Nick stood even though they could have sat on the cou
ch. She was feeling too uneasy to sit right now. There was this little ball of anxiety winding its way in her chest. She was hearing the things she dreamed she’d hear Nick say, romantic notions that fit her crazy feelings for him, but she wasn’t ready to believe any of it yet.
“Yes and no,” Nick replied. “It’s kind of complicated.”
Gwen was afraid that “it’s kind of complicated” meant Nick had no interest in sharing. She turned away from him, hugging herself. He placed his warm and large hand on her arm, coaxing her to turn back around.
“Things haven’t been going so great for us wolf shifters,” He said.
“Wolf shifters,” Gwen repeated. “That’s specific. Does that mean there are other kinds of ‘shifters’ out there?”
“I think so, but I can’t tell you much because I’ve never seen any other shifters. My pack, and most other wolf packs, stick to wolves only.”
“Why’s that?”
“It’s easier I guess.”
Gwen wasn’t feeling as anxious now. It seemed like a long conversation was in order, so she decided to sit down on the couch. She invited Nick over and he did the same. He sat close to her, but not close enough to touch her. She scooted over a little so that their arms were touching. She wanted him to know that she was perfectly fine with him touching her. He was acting extremely apologetic and careful around her, probably because of everything that happened before, but she was quickly getting over her hurt feelings. Talking to him, being close to him, it all felt right. It was like the first day she had seen him. Despite how abrasive he was before, her feelings for him never changed.
“Wolves work differently than other animals,” Nick continued. “We’re wolf shifters, so we have human and wolf aspects. We naturally wouldn’t get along with a bunny shifter.”
“Bunny?” Gwen almost laughed. “There are people that shift into bunnies?”
