Mave had centuries of experience on her side. She had observed countless challenges between wolves and had been in a few fights for various reasons, usually because she was unable to read signals from other wolves. Rain, on the other hand, had become an adult wolf only that morning and had never come close to fighting herself, which is why she didn’t know she had inherited her parents’ alpha traits.
Both Rain’s mother and father were alphas, but her mother led the pack. In a contest of wills between alphas, victory does not typically go to the one who is biggest and strongest. It most often goes to the one who wants it most and is willing to commit everything to winning.
Until Mave verbally challenged her acceptance of Liulf, Rain had never before felt aggression rise like a beast with its own mind. But the idea of a rival for Liulf sent her into a feverish fury.
Adrenalin pulsed through her body, tensing every muscle, bringing her to a state of readiness that only crisis or calamity can bring forth. Yet alongside that rage was a strange, oddly paired, sense of inner peace and calm telling her that she could win. That she would win. That no other outcome was possible. She was the essence of triumph in creature form. She was victory. She was conquest. She was alpha.
And though her body was prepared to move faster than the eye could track, it seemed to Rain that everything had slowed. She allowed the instincts of her ancestors to flow through her, taking control of her mind and body in an ancient ritual of claiming. She was focused on every change in her opponent’s stance, expression, and behavior – no matter how small. She was aware of the tiniest flick of an ear, the barest hint of tail going up or down, the suggestion that a shoulder was leaning one way or the other. It was almost as if she could see the breath Mave inhaled and exhaled.
Again and again Mave ran in, but each time Rain protected her vital areas while repelling Mave with a slash to withers or flank.
The werewolves who had formed a circle around the battling females were so excited by the spectacle, that many of them had involuntarily shifted and were howling or barking. The two females charged each other and clashed, both standing on their back legs, jaws snapping toward each other’s necks. Rain pulled a paw free and slashed at Mave’s face, slicing through her left eye with rigid black claws. With tail drawn so far between her legs it clung to her belly, Mave gave an ear-splitting shriek then ducked away a few yards and repeatedly rubbed her paw over her torn and bleeding eye.
When she raised her head again, Rain saw such hatred that she knew the fight would likely end in the death of one of them. And it wasn’t going to be her.
Mave snarled and ran at Rain, clearly intending to end the fight once and for all. Rain ducked away at the last minute, then turned and knocked Mave off her feet. Before Mave could scramble up, Rain had sunk her jaws into Mave’s hind quarters, then shook her head back and forth violently, severing one of the other’s wolf’s hamstrings. Mave howled long and hard before stumbling and falling into a series of whines and whimpers.
If Rain was a wild wolf, she might have killed Mave, but even in wolf form she carried another side to her nature – a side that was satisfied with half-blinding and crippling. Rain grew completely calm as she stared at Mave on the ground. She sneezed once like it was a statement of disgust and trotted off toward Liulf’s temporary quarters with her tail high as a flag at full mast.
Grey and Silver Ruff encouraged the onlookers to disperse, while Luna told some of the New Scotia wolves to bring Mave to her tent.
When Luna was finished patching Mave up as best she could, she returned to finish giving Rain instructions on how to care for Liulf. When she arrived she found another female sitting by Liulf, one Luna had not met.
“Hello.”
The girl stood. “I’m Rain’s friend. I brought her some things from her house that her mother gave me. She went to the stream to get clean before she put on clothes.” Luna nodded, which was all the encouragement the girl needed. She stepped forward excitedly. “Wasn’t she magnificent? Who would have guessed that Rain is such a fighter? I don’t know what started it, but it must have been important because Rain doesn’t get mad easily. Or even ever.”
“Yes,” Luna began, “I imagine it was about something very important to Rain. I’m Luna. From New Elk Mountain.”
“I know,” she said. “Everybody knows who you are. Well, first you’re, um, human of course and, second, you make people better when they’re not well. Rain asked me to sit with Liulf while she was gone and be sure that, well, you know, that nobody bothers him.”
Luna smiled. “What’s your name?”
“I forgot! I’m Littleberry. Rain and my other friends call me Berry.”
“Nice to meet you. Any idea how long Rain will be?”
The girl raised her head, looked toward the door, sniffed and gave Luna a big smile. “She’s here now.”
Luna looked toward the door. “Where?”
“Just outside.”
Luna stepped to the door and saw that Rain was walking toward the temporary infirmary amid nods of affirmation. It seemed she had raised her profile to celebrity status. It also seemed that she was still a good twenty-five yards away. Luna shook her head, marveling at the werewolves’ miraculous sense of smell. As Rain drew closer, Luna could see that there were scratches on her face, neck and chest – some deep, still welling blood, and that one of her own eyes was swelling.
She stopped in front of Luna, who moved her head from side to side so that she could see better. “What happened to your eye?”
Rain smirked. “Some bitch tried to claim Liulf. I said no. I think she slammed her head into my eye. Hard.”
“That would have been my guess.” Luna stepped inside the cabin. “If we were in another place, I’d have you put ice on it.”
“What’s ice?”
“Exactly. I would like to put something on those scratches though.” Luna looked at Berry. “Would you mind going down to the medical tent and asking my assistant to send the jar of Doggie Salve?”
“Doggie Salve?”
“That’s right.”
Berry shrugged and went to fetch the prescription. When she returned, Luna cleaned the scratches with antiseptic then applied some of the salve she’d made from alien Shea Butter and tea tree oil added to local beeswax, chickweed, lavender, and rosemary. She was musing that someday there might be interdimensional black market trade.
“That smells good,” Berry said.
“It does,” said Luna, “but it’s not perfume. It’s herbs that will help Rain’s scratches get better quicker.”
“Huh.”
The attention of the three women riveted to Liulf when he suddenly convulsed. He cried out because of the pain of contracting his stomach muscles suddenly, but the sound was interrupted by gagging. That was quickly followed by heaving.
Rain glanced from Liulf to Luna and she didn’t like what she read on Luna’s face.
“Get him by the shoulders and sit him up so that he doesn’t choke.” Rain and Berry struggled to raise him from behind and keep him propped up while Luna stuffed clean rags and a shallow bowl under his jaw to try and keep bile from escaping and running into the wounds on his stomach, as the toxins would be sure to create infection.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw someone enter the cabin. Without looking at them she said, “Find Liulf’s brothers! Quick!”
Fortunately, it was Conn and Ken, who had returned to stay with Liulf. They helped maneuver his body while the females changed the bedding. Luna cleaned his abdominal wounds again and applied more antiseptic, but she was worried and knew that her worry was affecting Rain.
She needed to get fluids into Liulf more than ever. Between the blood loss and the heaving, he was badly dehydrated and, in his unconscious state, there was no way to force fluid intake.
As the day wore on there was more convulsing and a fever began to spike. Luna was beside herself, not being able to diagnose what might be causing the convulsions. Her eyes ran over Liulf’
s body for the hundredth time as she went through a mental checklist of possible causes and struck them off one by one. She talked to herself at length while Conn, Ken, and Rain exchanged worried glances. Then her gaze fell on the abrasion peeking out from beneath his shoulder.
She looked up at Rain, who seemed to have visibly aged because of the stress. “I have to go. I’ll be back shortly. If he wakes, sit him up gently and make him drink water, as much as you can get him to drink.”
All four nodded, the brothers, Liulf’s mate and her friend.
Stalkson Grey was told that Luna had been seen running from camp. After what had happened with Rain Falling, everyone was more anxious about venturing away alone. Except, to Grey’s chagrin, Luna. He caught up with her quickly.
“Where are we going?” he asked.
“To where Liulf fell.”
“Where he fell?”
“Yes,” Luna said with effort since she was out of breath. A part of her was a little irritated with Grey for being able to sprint without being winded at all.
Luna slowed to a trot when they were still a good forty yards from the tree and then came to a stop.
“What?” Grey said.
“Hemlock. It’s a hemlock tree.” Grey looked at the tree. “When he impacted the tree and slid down, it cut abrasions into his skin. The hemlock bark got into his bloodstream.” She looked at Grey. “That’s what’s causing the vomiting.”
“Do you have something for that?”
“Yes. Or I can make something pretty fast. Just need to get back to my tent.”
Luna made a mixture of asafetida and bison milk, but she couldn’t get it into Liulf’s body unless he woke up. In less than an hour from the time she’d left, she returned to Liulf’s private clinic with a jar of white liquid.
“Did he wake?” They all shook their heads no. “Well, we’re going to have to try to wake him.”
“How?” Conn looked at Liulf. “He seems very committed to sleepin’ it off.”
“I don’t know. Let’s start with cold water. Ken?”
“Aye?”
“Will you take that big pot out to the middle of the stream where it’s deepest and fill it with cold water?”
“Aye. What are you…?”
“Just do it.”
He grabbed the jar giving everyone in the room a look, and left.
“When he gets back, we’re going to pour the cold water on his head.”
Conn’s eyebrows went up. “That does no’ seem very nurturin’ of ye,” Conn said.
“Let’s get him awake. If we can keep him alive, there’ll be plenty of time for nurturing later.”
Conn had been instructed to sit Liulf up quickly if he woke from the shock of cold water. Ken’s job was to try to force him to ingest some of the hemlock antidote. Rain’s job was to encourage Liulf to drink the medicine, then, hopefully, to stay awake and drink water as well.
Fortunately for Liulf, for Rain, for his brothers and for all the people of New Scotia, he not only woke when he was drenched in a pot of cold spring water, he woke with a string of curses for the Cu Ahlee boys that the females had never heard before. His reaction was a mixture of panic, pain, and confusion, especially about the fact that Rain Falling was dabbing cold water from his head while speaking soothing words of encouragement.
He drank enough of the asafetida and bison’s milk to neutralize the toxic effects of the hemlock and, at Rain’s urging, drank water. Not as much as Luna would have liked, but she was pleased that he took in some fluids to begin replenishing what had been lost.
They replaced the bed with one that was dry, cleaned Liulf again and Luna supervised while Rain applied a yarrow salve to Liulf’s wounds. Liulf bravely suffered through the mechanics of trying to keep him clean and germ free.
Luna made him a rosemary tea with enough primrose and sweet woodruff to help him sleep more comfortably, then gave Rain careful instructions about how to prepare the tea and how often he could have it.
Grey insisted that Luna leave long enough to get some sleep. She went over the details of Liulf’s care with Conn, Ken and Rain twice more, then allowed her mate to lead her away.
Luna had left Mave in her tent in the care of her assistant, Harry.
“Ye’re Irish,” Mave told him, looking at his very red hair, face and beard.
“And you’re a mess,” Harry replied.
Mave cast her one remaining eye downward and said, “I do no’ like Irish.”
“’Tis because you’ve never been away from the land of lochs and fairy plaid skirts.”
“If ye’re Irish, what are ye doin’ with the New Elk Mountain pack?”
“’Tis a long story. The short of it is, they adopted me and I came here with them.” He put some tools aside and looked at her. “’Tis no point tryin’ to make it sound better than it is. You’re ne’er goin’ to run again and you’re always goin’ to walk with a limp.”
She shrugged like she didn’t care, then whispered, “I do no’ want to go back.”
“Back where?”
“New Scotia.”
“Oh.” Harry looked away for a few beats of his heart, then said, “You could come with us. We have plenty of room. Maybe you and I could be outsiders together.”
She looked at Harry with her one good eye and decided perhaps Irish weren’t so bad.
Conn and Ken brought two more beds and two more chairs to Liulf’s cabin. The three agreed that one would watch Liulf while two of them slept. Luna had said he could have more tea for pain when he agreed to eat something. He slept through the night, but woke when the sun was up the next day.
Rain was sitting beside him, but rose when she saw his eyes flicker open. She put her hand on his face to see if he felt hot. He didn’t. And his color was a little better.
“Conn. Ken. He’s awake.”
Liulf’s brothers were there in an instant. “Ye look a fright, Liulf,” Ken said.
Liulf managed a grimace. “Thank ye kindly.” He couldn’t take his eyes off Rain and didn’t know what had happened to cause such a dramatic change in her attitude. He also couldn’t help but notice the black eye, the scratches on her face, and the bandages on her neck and chest.
“I’m going to get him something to eat,” Rain said. She started away, but turned at the door looking back at Liulf, who was watching her intently. “Back in two shakes of a lamb’s tail.”
“What happened to Rain?” Liulf asked Conn.
Conn chuckled, pulled the stool closer, sat and said, “I’m truly sorry you missed it, brother. ‘Twas somethin’ to see. Rain fought Mave for the right to tend ye and sent her runnin’ with her tail between her legs. Well, she was no’ runnin’ exactly, because Rain left her crippled. Rain looked as much an alpha as any wolf we’ve e’er seen fight.”
Liulf turned to Ken for confirmation. If it was one of Conn’s jokes, it was in poor taste.
At length Liulf spoke, trying to separate the mental cobwebs from the pain and make sense of it all.
“I do no’ know what sounds more strange, that ye say Rain is set on matin’ with me or that she showed ye alpha. I did no’ take her for it.”
“I told ye she was young. Some wolves do no’ brin’ out their alpha until they mature. So ye’re bringin’ a wolf home by the paw with Silver Ruff’s bloodline strong in her. I’m seein’ a future between the two of ye with lots of fur flyin’.” Conn laughed. “How do ye plan to keep that sorted?”
Liulf still thought that was a lot to happen in a short amount of time, but he was not going to question pots of treasure left anonymously on the doorstep. “I plan to stay between her legs, hold her to two legged form, and mate her until she’s too happy to argue overly much.”
Conn laughed harder.
“What’s so funny?” Rain returned with chips of warm elk meat wrapped in corn meal flats. Liulf thought it smelled mildly appetizing.
“Liulf was tellin’ us his hopes and dreams for the future.”
“Oh. Well, s
it him up,” she said, like she was accustomed to ordering his brothers around. A lot had happened while he’d been asleep. She unwrapped an elk roll and held it up to his mouth, smiling.
He took a nibble and she smiled more. “I like you eating out of my hand, Liulf.”
Conn snorted and turned away, laughing silently, but so Liulf could see him.
Everyone had left the Gathering campgrounds except for the people caring for Liulf. Silver Ruff sent food regularly and Liulf ate his share. He stayed awake longer each time he woke and, when he was awake, he never took his eyes off Rain. Rather than making her feel uncomfortable as she once had, she seemed to blossom and almost preen under his constant attention.
Luna was glad to see that the wounds were healing so much faster than they would on a human. Instead of ten days, she was able to remove the stitches in five.
She told Liulf that he could remove the splint from his arm when it was time to attend the next Council meeting on the new moon. He was clearly not pleased and complained.
“The wool is itchy. Makes me want to howl.”
“You’ll manage,” Luna said. Turning to Rain as if she was in charge, she said, “He cannot remove it before the new moon.”
Liulf huffed and pouted. “Perhaps some of Cairn’s recipe to take my mind off it then?”
“No. You cannot have some of Cairn’s recipe until you’re completely well and back on your feet.” Luna looked at Rain and back again. Her lips twitched. “But there are other things you can do to take your mind off the sheep’s wool.”
Liulf’s eyes went to Rain and he saw the shadow of a flush cross her face, which was completely healed, leaving no sign that she’d ever been in a fight.
Luna said her goodbyes along with Conn and Ken, leaving Rain to nurse Liulf by herself. Luna suspected that he would feel good enough to make the trip to New Scotia within another week.
Liulf: Alpha of the Mahdrah Ahlee, New Scotia Highlander Werewolves: A Paranormal Romance (The Brothers Cu Ahlee Book 1) Page 7
