Circle of Wolves

by Jacqueline Roth

  The pain in his head began to ease almost instantly. He looked at Alexi, who hadn’t moved. He knew he should say something but wasn’t sure what it was. He was curious about the woman, more than curious. He settled on something he hoped was fairly innocuous. “Where are your friends?”

  A faint smile twitched at the full lips. “Ivan is still in bed and I have no idea where Stephan went. Could still be curled up in the barn. Little twit decided to hunt last night.” Evan felt himself shudder.

  Alexi looked at Evan appraisingly. “I’ll give you this, Forester, you kept pace with us. You almost out drank Ivan, which I wasn’t sure was possible and you’re on your feet before either of my compatriots. I’m fairly impressed. You may be the most interesting of your sort I’ve ever met.”

  “My sort?”

  “Come now, Evan,” he replied, the dark eyes sparkling. “I know that potion of yours was wearing off… What did you call it? Anyway, surely you retained some of the conversation from last night.” Alexi dropped into a chair in the corner of the room.

  Evan struggled to remember. Flashes came to him from a very hazy memory. “Curse wolves and blood wolves. I remember something about curse wolves and blood wolves.”

  Alexi nodded. “We’re blood Wolves. You’re a curse wolf.” His grin was irritatingly superior.

  “Because I was bitten and you were born to it.”

  “Yes. But it’s so much more than that. There are greater differences.” Alexi was watching him closely.

  “Pup-eater, you called me a pup-eater.”

  “That’s what you are.” Alexi raised one eyebrow.

  Evan remembered the explanation. Those who were curse wolves were called pup-eaters because on the night of the full moon if they came across their own young they would kill them. No human life was safe and they did not control what was happening to them. The implication of this resurfaced. “You retain awareness during your transformations.”

  Alexi sighed. “Once more, then.” This was not a patient man. “Please get it this time, little friend, or I shall begin to doubt you are any brighter than the rest of your kind.” The voice was not angry but patronizing. The term “little friend” sounded as if he were speaking to a child he was humoring. Evan lowered his head to hide the roll of his eyes he couldn’t stop.

  “You—curse wolf, pup-eater. Me—blood Wolf. You—little “w” wolfie. Me—big “W” Wolfie, like the “a” in Asian or the “b” in British. It’s our nationality, our race. With me so far?” Alexi’s wicked grin was back.

  “Astonishing though it may seem to you, yes I am,” Evan muttered.

  “Good. You don’t control your transformations, they control you. You retain no awareness of yourself as yourself. Our little Evan Forester is lost when you transform. I control my transformations and I retain myself. I am Alexi even when I pad about on four feet.” As if to illustrate his point he stood up and began to remove his shirt.

  Evan’s eyes widened as the man removed his clothing and stood before him nude. Alexi closed his eyes and lifted his chin. Evan watched transfixed as the body transformed before him much the way his own did on the full moon. Only Alexi didn’t seem to experience pain. In fact he seemed to be enjoying the transformation exceedingly.

  When it was over Evan was staring into the eyes of a sable-furred wolf. Evan spun and slid off the other side of the narrow bed, putting it between him and the wolf. Its dark eyes had lightened slightly and it sat on its haunches regarding him mildly. Suddenly it grinned at him, jaws open, teeth bared and tongue lolling out the side of the muzzle. He opened his mouth to say something but no words came out. The eyes of the two watched each other carefully. Just as Evan thought he would be able to speak the door burst open and a very young man with white blond hair and deep blue eyes stepped into the room. He looked from Evan to the Wolf and began to grin.

  “Thank God someone in this family’s come to their senses. Don’t let me stop you, brother. The sooner we are rid of his kind the better.” The boy closed the door and leaned against it. His smile faded quickly as Alexi’s body began its return to human form. When he stood before them, again fully a man, Evan found his tongue.

  He ignored the boy and spoke to Alexi. His voice was thick and hoarse. “You can do that whenever you want?”

  “Yes. We have to transform on the full moon, just as you do but we can choose to transform whenever we like.” Alexi was redressing casually, ignoring his younger brother’s presence.

  “And you still knew who I was? Who you were?” Evan felt a surge of jealousy fire in him. To be able to control the transformations…to be able to retain a sense of himself beyond the primal existence of his soul would make this horror bearable.

  “Yes, otherwise you’d have been dead. Go ahead. Ask the last question, Evan.” Alexi seemed to know exactly the question that was forming in his mind.

  He swallowed hard and glanced at the boy. He was standing against the door staring sullenly at this brother. “Does it hurt? Your transformation. It didn’t seem as if it pained you.”

  Alexi’s smile widened and Evan thought he saw a trace of pity in the face. “No. It doesn’t hurt. It is a feeling beyond pain, beyond pleasure. It is a feeling I could never explain.”

  Evan sat down hard on the bed, his back now to the room. It was unfair. The child inside his soul cried out at the injustice. This man could control what happened to him. He didn’t suffer the agonizing loss of self as his wolf form took over. He didn’t suffer the indescribable pain as his body mutated into another form, as everything shifted inside him. No pain when his bones shortened and his muzzle pulled out from his flat face. No pain when his spine and pelvis shifted to the quadruped state. He didn’t feel the horrific scrambling of tissue, bone and cartilage. He didn’t know the terror of feeling himself slip away into darkness, trapped inside his own mind, unaware until the memories flooded him with regret and shame the next morning.

  “What the hell are you doing, Alexi?” The boy’s voice was filled with fury. “What are you? Some circus freak to put yourself on display for his kind? Come and see the wolf-man. Watch him transform before your eyes.”

  Evan turned to see Alexi’s face devoid of all humor. “Pup, you don’t yet deserve or command the position you are assuming. Until you do, you will not speak to me that way.” The boy’s eyes tried to hold his older brother’s but dropped. His face still scowled.

  “Why are you here?” Alexi addressed this question to the boy.

  “I came…” The boy stopped short and his jaw fixed in a defiant pose. “I came because I wanted to.”

  Alexi actually chuckled. “You came, pup, because you thought you were being shut out of the fun. I’m here. Father sent Kira this morning, so you thought you were missing something.”

  “He had no right to send her with the message,” the boy grumbled, suddenly seeming much younger to Evan.

  Alexi crossed the floor to his brother with astonishing speed and stunned Evan by grabbing the boy by the throat and pinning him against the door. “If I ever hear you challenge our father again, Nico, I will deal with you myself. He is your father and your Alpha. He has the right to do exactly as he pleases and you have no right even to question him.” He shook the boy once for effect and then released him, stepping back. “You will never command respect and obedience if you don’t understand how to give respect and obedience.”

  “How dare you!” The boy was livid. He was glaring at Evan and not at Alexi. “How dare you correct me in front of that!”

  Alexi glanced casually at Evan then back at the boy, “That has shown more respect and dignity than I’ve seen from you in weeks. You’d do well to remember that.”

  The boy was literally vibrating in rage and humiliation. The fury seemed to be focused on Evan for having seen his shaming. He turned and slammed out of the room.

  Alexi didn’t apologize for the boy or seem concerned at all. In fact, he was smiling indulgently at the closed door. He turned his gaze to Evan. “He
’s going to be an incredible force when he manages to grow up. If he doesn’t get himself killed in the process.” Alexi shook his head. “Let’s just hope he doesn’t make Father cull him.”

  “Cull?”

  “Drive him out of the Family.” At Evan’s shocked expression he lifted an amused eyebrow. “Come on Evan, don’t give me that look. A pack can’t survive if the Alpha is repeatedly challenged. Don’t worry. He’s not in any danger. His mutterings about Father are kept between his siblings. He’s not that stupid. Nico will grow up to take his place in our family one day.”

  Shrugging as if this ended the matter altogether he rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. “Well, let’s get this exercise in futility underway shall we?” Alexi looked critically at the heap of discarded clothing on the floor. “Best you not try to salvage that, I think. You’ll never get the smell out.” He looked up at a still unmoving Evan. “Come on now, little friend. Get cleaned up and dressed. You’re about to make history.”

  As Evan washed in the ancient sink attached to one wall Alexi explained. “I don’t pretend to understand it but you’re about to be allowed through the gate. No curse wolf has been allowed to pass through that portal as long as I can remember. Kira says there are no records of this ever happening before.”

  “Who is Kira?” Evan tried to keep his voice light. He already knew the answer. Based on what Alexi had already said she was his sister and the woman he had only glimpsed earlier.

  Alexi’s face lost its smile. “You know who she is. Careful Evan, there are some things I won’t tolerate from even you. She is not to be addressed familiarly by any of your kind, are we clear?” His face seemed to soften slightly. “Not until she permits it anyway.”

  Evan met his eyes in the cracked and spotted mirror over the sink. Turning around he looked directly into the brown eyes. “I meant no disrespect, Alexi. I was simply curious.” He held the brown gaze a moment longer to ensure the man knew he was choosing to back down then turned away. He let the silence linger as he selected a shirt and repacked his bag. “I used the name with you because she is not here. Believe me, had she been I’d have addressed her as Miss Gregoravitch until she gave me leave to do otherwise. I do understand gentlemanly behavior if not wolf behavior.”

  Alexi eyed him closely. This man was turning out to be quite promising. He had so far done nothing to make Alexi distrust him. He had done nothing to make Alexi trust him. He simply seemed to be who he was. His brotherly posturing eased away. Kira could handle this wet-behind-the-ears pup. Maybe there is salvation in this for all of us. The thought surprised him but it was there nonetheless.

  Evan was buttoning the white shirt over his chest when Alexi spoke. “We should be off.”

  * * * * *

  Evan sat in the Jeep before the gate, his bag resting in his lap, staring at the small scattering of houses just the other side. There even seemed to be a market, a library and a few other small shops. “How many people live here?” he asked in wonder.

  “You’d have to ask my sister,” Alexi replied as he climbed out of the Jeep and advanced on the gate. Evan noticed he avoided using her name. “I’d guess about a hundred.”

  “How do you hide such a place?”

  “We don’t hide. The local people have kept our secret for centuries. Anyone else is dispatched. Either with a healthy bribe, a threat or more permanently.” Alexi tapped a code into the digital lock on the gate.

  “And that has kept your secret?”

  Alexi looked at him as if he had suddenly but not unexpectedly, gone stupid. “Pup, you amaze me. Sometimes you seem quite bright but then you say something completely idiotic. If our secret had been kept, completely kept, you wouldn’t be here. Your arrival in Europe looking for us has caused quite the shit-storm I can tell you. Father’s had more emails and phone calls than I can count asking what he’s going to do about you and the rest of your kind.” Climbing back into the driver’s seat he glanced quickly at Evan. “Mages, I mean.” The gate was swinging open and Alexi drove slowly through. “Let’s go, little friend, before these fine folks have the chance to form an angry mob.”

  Evan looked around him and saw several passersby staring at him in horror and amazement as Alexi paused to wait for the gate to close behind them. A woman off to his left gasped loudly. He saw Alexi turn and smile pleasantly at her. “Calm down, my dear. He’s perfectly housebroken. No need to worry. I have a leash and muzzle in my pocket if he gets out of hand.”

  Evan groaned inwardly but kept his countenance calm as Alexi steered the Jeep up the paved road toward an obscenely large house that bore more resemblance to an ancient fortress than to a home.

  Circle of Wolves

  Chapter Four

  Out of the Shadows

  The welcome he received from the staff had been even worse than the welcome he’d received at the inn. The butler had refused to speak or to recognize his existence. He was left in an entry chamber to cool his heels while Alexi went to talk to his father. He’d realized quickly he was being watched. He looked around for the source but was unable to find it. There were so many different smells here that he had to concentrate to sort them out.

  He was sorting through them, almost cataloging them, when the blond boy appeared. “Come.”

  Evan raised his eyebrow at the boy and smiled. He was a haughty little thing, smaller than Alexi and more delicately built. He followed him down the hall and entered a small room that was very dark despite the hour of the day. Heavy curtains were drawn and the corners of the room were bathed in dark shadows. Alexi was sitting stiffly in an armchair staring at one of the corners. Evan followed his eyes and could make out the shadowy shape of a person seated there. The figure was slight and wrapped in a long dark cloak. He was certain it was the same cloak he had seen earlier on the woman. Her scent hung in the air stronger and more pervasive than it had been. This creature he couldn’t quite see was Alexi’s sister Kira.

  Alexi looked up at him and frowned. “Sit, Evan.”

  Evan heard a sharp intake of breath from the corner. He walked around, putting his back to the woman in the shadows and sat facing Alexi. So far he had seemed in control of things and Evan saw no evidence that had changed. Nico stood behind his brother scowling. “Sit, Evan, stay, Evan, roll over, Evan, what is this? Have you taken this thing as a pet?”

  Alexi’s eyes didn’t leave Evan’s though he spoke to the boy. “This man has been invited into this house by our father, Nico. None of us has to like it but I won’t tolerate bad manners. It is beneath you. You are behaving like the pup-eater, not him. Your actions, not his presence, are what bring shame to us.”

  The boy colored a deep red. His eyes poured out an unmistakable hatred for the stranger. He had twice been humiliated in front of this nothing. It was not to be borne. One day things would change and Alexi would be sorry for this.

  He turned to leave but was halted by a voice from the shadows. “Nico, it is our duty to obey Father. He has asked this important thing of us, he has given us this task and we cannot fail him.” The voice was low and soft. It carried a huskiness that made a shiver run down Evan’s spine. Her scent was filling his head. He’d not even seen her but the play of her voice and her fragrance drifting on his senses were causing his body to sit up and take serious notice. “We need you here to help with this, Nico. You know what is at stake.”

  The boy stopped and turned to stare into the darkness. A softer look passed over his face and he nearly smiled at her. He turned away from the door and took a seat at a small table that stood in front of an empty fireplace. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the men before him.

  Evan waited for Alexi to talk but the man seemed in no hurry to do so and a small quiet filled the room until the large man finally sighed. “Our father has condescended to hear your petition. You will tell us, his children, what you have to say and from there we will decide what is to be done.”

  “I can’t do that Alexi, my message is for your father
only.” Evan was conscious of how much closer he was to his goal than he had believed he would be able to come. Obviously closer than anyone else in this room believed possible as well.

  The voice that spoke came from the corner behind him. “Mr. Forester, I’m afraid you do not understand the situation here.”

  He turned to look into the shadows. The figure no longer wore the hood but the cloak was pulled tight around her. Her face wasn’t visible in the shadows, only the outline of a cloud of hair of indeterminable color. It was like seeing a shade, a shadow.

  “In your world your… well, your being what you are, may not be of importance but here in our world it is inescapable. That you are here now at all is a monumental risk.” Her voice dropped and was tinged with a bit of fear.

  “Risk? I understood that risk when I came.” Evan tried to see deeper into the recesses of the room but improved vision was not a gift he had. The clarity of day vision in a wolf and the vision of a human were not dissimilar and he carried no enhancement of this trait into his human state.

  An impatient snort came from the boy and he turned in time to see Alexi roll his eyes at him. “This isn’t about you. No one here would raise an eyebrow at any risk to you.”

  The woman spoke again. “The risk is to us, to our family and to our father. He is the Alpha of the Family,” she emphasized the words oddly and explained. “By that we mean the extended group of related and connected Wolves who extend their allegiance to him. We do not call ourselves packs but families. Our father is also our Alpha, beyond ties of our immediate family. He is our Alpha in the formal sense. He leads the Family—all the Wolves—but he must deal with others. There are other smaller groups, small families, with more tenuous ties to us. They obey out of respect for Father. If he loses that respect…”