by Jaide Fox
“Whoa! Mali! Not so fast. It will go to your head before you know it,” Kimber said, sipping her own. “Mmmm. That is so good. I’ve never had wine that tasted like this before. It’s different. Strange.”
Mali nodded, feeling the drums of the musicians’ beat in her blood. Her head spun, but she liked it. She asked for another goblet of wine and moved away from the table as others came to drink greedily. “I’m going to find Jaxon,” she said, waving good-bye to Kimber.
Fire surged in her blood, making her cheeks hot despite the crisp night air. She peered through the crowd, wondering where her ornery wolf could be. Sipping her drink and swaying to the music, she was surprised when a hand grabbed her elbow. She gasped, spinning unsteadily on her feet and falling against a broad, hard chest.
Jaxon stood in a brocaded doublet and fine leather pants. A short cloak covered one shoulder, secured by a gold braid across the other. A black mask covered the scarred half of his face leaving the unmarred side free to view.
She slapped at him playfully, giggling. “That is some disguise, lover.”
“I didn’t want you to be in any doubt this night.” He grinned and took her drink from her, taking a mouthful before suddenly spitting the contents out. He froze. He sniffed the goblet. “How much of this have you had, Mali?” he asked, concern in his voice.
She laughed and gave a twirl. “Enough.”
He grabbed her arms and gave her a shake. “One glass? Two?”
She smiled up at him. “That is my second. Everyone is having some. You should have some more.”
“Come with me,” he said, frowning as he pulled her through the crowd to the cauldron of simmering wine. The boy stirred the pot, wiping sweat from his brow with his shoulder.
“Boy. Who made this wine? Who plucked the herbs?”
The boy stared at him, gaping.
An elderly woman walked up. “Is something amiss, sir?”
“Stop serving this wine immediately,” Jaxon said over the roar of the crowd. Around them, the sounds of the gathering increased.
Mali’s head began to pound. She rubbed her temples trying to understand why Jaxon was so upset. Someone bumped into her knocking her forward against Jaxon. He turned and scowled at a fellow sprawled on the ground, struggling to stand.
“I taste wolf’s bane in the wine. Where did you get these herbs, boy?” Jaxon said.
The woman looked aghast. She tasted the wine herself and spat it out. “He’s right. Ralph, my list. Why did you bring these herbs?”
Ralph swallowed, his throat bobbing visibly. “I couldn’t find them all. A girl in the woods led me to what I was looking for. They all looked the same to me.”
“You fool! Don’t you know if we were attacked right now we would be defenseless? Wolf’s bane inhibits shifting,” Jaxon hissed through his clenched jaw.
The old woman slapped the back of Ralph’s head. “I’ll have your hide for this—“
Before she could begin berating the boy, a boom cracked above the festival. The sudden strange, ominous noise should have silenced the gathering. Instead, it seemed to fuel the crowd’s boisterous nature. They talked over the echoing sound, getting louder and drunker by the moment.
Mali swayed on her feet, feeling sick to her stomach. Jaxon grabbed her, pushing through the bodies as another loud, booming crack thundered through the air.
“Stay close, Mali. Don’t lose me.”
She nodded, ripping her mask away and dropping it as she tried not to trip over her own feet. She realized he was leading her to his home. The night was darker here, colder. Beyond the row of houses, she could see the perimeter fence and the watchtower at the corner. Torches flickered as panicked men raised longbows and shot over the fence.
“What’s going on?” she asked with a slur.
“We’re being attacked. Someone got wolf’s bane into the wine. No one who drank it will be able to come to our defense.” He stopped. She bumped into him and turned to see what he was looking at so hard. The fence stood perhaps seven feet high. Above that, the huge round head of a bear stood. No, more than one. Firelight glinted off fur.
The bears reacted in unison, ignoring the arrows like mosquitoes. They raised their paws and hit the fence. Mali watched as the strapping holding the timbers started to snap just as the sound of splintered timber reached her ears. An enormous paw grasped the opening and ripped. Poles shifted, disintegrating beneath the onslaught.
Mali choked back a scream. Jaxon ripped his doublet and cape off, leaving her behind as he raced across the opening, his limp all but gone as adrenaline surged through his veins. His shirt flew off like a sail, followed by his breeches. He stopped only long enough to drop into a crouch and allow his beast to flow through his pores. The change was fluid, mesmerizing, as skin begat fur; human became wolf. A shiver welled inside her as she stood and watched Jaxon join the fight.
Chapter Ten
“Hold the wall!” Ranger shouted, raining arrows at the bear.
Jaxon reached the opening torn through the timbers. Leaping over the thick fallen log which jutted into his path, he stood on his hind legs and snapped his jaws around the enormous paw gripping the thick post. The bear howled in pain as Jaxon shook his head, tearing chunks of flesh free with his sharp teeth. Yanking its paw free from his mouth, it batted at Jaxon’s head. He crouched before connection. Claws skittered over the tops of his ears.
Jaxon couldn’t tell how many were on the other side of the wall, attempting to breach the town. The pounding continued, making his eardrums vibrate. Growling and snapping at anything that pushed through the opening could only hold them off so long. The arrows Ranger and the others fired seemed ineffectual, serving only to anger the shifters on the other side. Lifting his head, he howled a long, mournful cry to rally the others.
When he received no response, the blood chilled in his veins.
Townspeople staggered from the festival, coming to their aid but barely able to stand without swaying. A quick look back told him Mali was gone, for which he was grateful. He didn’t want her to get hurt.
Unable to shift, his brethren leaned their bodies against the hewn wood as the wall shuddered from the onslaught. He could feel the pounding hits in his bones and prayed they wouldn’t come through.
A horn blasted from the front entrance, startling them all.
Ranger whirled toward the sound. “There are more at the gate. This is a diversion!”
Jaxon realized their mistake too late. Fools. Why had they thought the bear clan wanted peace? Lunging off the fallen timber, he raced to the front gate, ignoring the pain that remained in his leg even with the change. He used the ache to fuel his rage.
Ursine poured through the breach. Broad of back, shoulders as high as a grown man standing, the bear shifters could easily overpower five wolves and retain the energy to fight more. The wolves were outmanned and the ursine knew it. Trickery and subterfuge had given them the upper hand in this fight.
Wolves lay on the ground, trampled beneath the feet of the bears. Alive and injured, or dead, they were out of the battle. He couldn’t see how many enemies were there—their huge bodies crowded the gap. Blood matted their muzzles and grotesquely huge paws, filling the air with a putrid, metallic scent. Hopeless desperation swelled in his chest, but he refused to relinquish the fight. Jaxon tore through the bodies, leaping onto a bear’s back and locking his jaws around the back of its neck. A satisfying, pain-filled roar erupted from its throat. The bear stood easily ten feet high, forcing him to release his hold and find another target. Around him, his brethren attacked, lending each other strength despite overwhelming odds. Bloodlust gripped him, making his pulse pound with frenzied excitement.
A chorus of growls flared from beyond their walls. Dozens of ursine charged, growling in fury. He saw them coming. Jaxon refused to give up. He bayed to his clan, beckoning for reinforcements that he knew couldn’t come, not with the wolf’s bane flowing through their veins.
The new ursine reached
their kindred, but instead of pushing past to tear through the wolves, they attacked their own kind. Jaxon stared, frozen for a moment as the realization that they were there to help them sank in. They pushed the attackers back, forcing them through the gates and back to the mountainside.
A huge brown bear lumbered forward, his sides heaving as his breath puffed in the air. Slowly, he made the change back to human, holding his hands up for peace. Jaxon and the others also shifted to human form. Nicodemus stepped up to greet the bear clansmen.
“We’ve come to your aid, Nicodemus. For peace,” the man spoke. He stood a head taller than Nicodemus. Behind him, his clan shifted with him and bowed to their knees, showing their lack of aggression toward the wolves.
Jaxon and his men stood down, uneasy, but willing to listen.
“Ah thank ya for your help, Elias of the Brown Bear Clan. Who were these that attacked?” Nicodemus said.
“Rogues. Former clansmen that chose to part with us after they learned our intention to draw a truce. When the horn sounded, we knew they’d made good on their plan to attack your people despite being ordered to stand down and relent. With your permission, we’ll enter your lands and chase them off for good. Will you allow this?”
“Aye. And tomorrow you will join us on the final night of our festival, for drink and food, and to celebrate a new friendship between the clans,” Nicodemus announced for all to hear. Elias clapped arms with their alpha leader.
Jaxon breathed a sigh of relief and slipped away to find Mali and assure himself she hadn’t been hurt.
***
Mali stood by the window in the inn, chest aching as she waited for news. Kimber hugged her from behind, lending her strength.
“I’m sorry, Mali. I shouldn’t have made you come back with me, but I was scared. I didn’t want to be alone,” Kimber said, brushing Mali’s hair over one shoulder.
Mali glanced at her from the corner of her eye. “It’s okay. I didn’t want to distract Jaxon by being in the way—”
The door burst open, slamming against the wall. Both women jumped and yelped.
Mali glared toward the doorway. “You scared the life out of us,” she yelled, rushing across the room.
Jaxon took her in his arms, holding her tight. He’d redressed in a shirt and breeches, for which she was thankful. If he’d come to her naked, something might have happened, and she couldn’t have Kimber see how weak she was for him.
She breathed in the scent of his chest, reassured by the beating of his heart. “Are you hurt?”
“No. The rogue bears fled. There are injuries, but in a few hours they will be all right. I’m no worse for wear than I was before the battle. I just had to come and make sure you were safe. When I went home and didn’t find you there, I came here.”
Mali looked up at him, hoping for him to say something else, but he just looked at her with relief in his eyes. She pulled free, hating the knowledge that she needed to distance herself from him. She was a liability and she knew it. Better to do this now. Tomorrow, after the festival ended, she would return to her home and he would remain here.
“You should go,” she said, choking on the words, feeling misery sicken her stomach.
He stared at her in silence. “Is that your final decision? We’ve come to an end?”
Mali turned from him. She saw Kimber pretending to look out the window as if she couldn’t hear the exchange. “Yes.”
“So be it,” he said.
Mali listened to his footsteps as he walked out of the room and shut the door with force.
Kimber rushed to her immediately. Mali allowed herself to be led to her bed. They both sat, and Kimber hugged an arm around her shoulders. She covered her face with her hands. Tears wouldn’t come. Bitter anguish strangled her emotions and made her feel numb and cold.
“Why can’t you be with him?” Kimber asked softly when Mali dropped her hands and stared blankly across the room.
She had to share the truth with someone. It hurt too much to keep it inside any longer. If she couldn’t trust Kimber as a true friend, she couldn’t trust anyone. She needed advice. “My blood is tainted. I…cannot shift into a full wolf. If he knew, he would never agree to the match.”
Kimber absorbed her words in silence. She sighed. “You won’t even try to tell him?”
“No clansman wants a woman who cannot run the wolf way. I can’t bear the rejection.”
Kimber stood and looked down at Mali. “You make me want to throttle you! It’s so obvious he wants more and you won’t do a damned thing about it. You go and stand up for yourself tomorrow night. Tell the clan, do what you must. I will be there with you. You can do this, and you must. If the altercation with the ursine hasn’t taught us that our way of life could disappear at any moment, then nothing will.”
Mali shuddered, hugging herself. “No more secrets. This one has tainted my whole life. I’m afraid, but it will be a relief to finally have it out in the air. I’ve been ashamed of myself for so long, it’s destroying me.” She looked at Kimber, smiling a little. “Thank you for being my friend.”
Kimber smiled. “You are welcome.”
Chapter Eleven
Strange how the dreams didn’t come when she needed them the most. Almost as if the strain of finally breaking her truth before the clan had obliterated all sense of forewarning. The future was dark and clouded. Mali wasn’t sure if that portended good or ill. In her gut, she felt the latter.
The bear clan came as guests of the wolves to partake in the festivities. They were enormous and easy to spot with their broad shoulders and tall builds towering over the wolf clan. One look told her why she’d been taught to fear the ursine for so long.
The night sky roiled with dark grey clouds swirling around a gold hued moon. Bathed in its brilliance as well as the flames from an immense bonfire and dozens of torches, there was no place to hide in the dark should she want to run. She knew there would be no running at any rate. The danger inside would go with her everywhere. If death be her sentence, so be it.
A solemnness held sway over what should have been a night of raucous joy. The penetration of the rogue bears and poisoning of the wine had taken some of the enjoyment of the festival from them. There was an edge to the men, in the slanting of their eyes and the set of their jaws. The unmated females were equally subdued knowing tonight was the night for choosing a mate. Minstrels played slow tunes, adding to the unease.
Maybe she read too much into it. Maybe it was her own inward feelings projecting on the others. Beside her, Kimber squeezed her hand and ducked her head against Mali’s shoulder in support. Mali squeezed her hand back, turning her attention toward their leader as he stood from the head table and addressed the crowd.
At the head table, she could see Jaxon sitting, staring across the distance towards her. Nicodemus, with his red beard and hair brushed and braided, looked fierce as he raised his arms for silence. “Friends and guests, the pinnacle of our festival has come. Tonight, under the golden moon, we have our run as wolves. Maidens, rise and come forth. Undress and shift, for ‘tis time for you to choose yer mates.”
Mali’s heart pounded. Her mind screamed to run, to bolt from the town through the gate before anyone could stop her. Kimber pulled her to her feet, nudging her forward.
“Nicodemus!” Mali called, standing on unsteady feet.
He turned toward her. “Yes, gel?”
She swallowed, practically choking on her heart. “I…I have an admission I need to make before the clan.”
Nicodemus frowned. “Come forward and speak.” He held his hand out for her.
Mali noted Jaxon sitting on the edge of his seat, attentive with his face drawn. She walked slowly to her leader, her feet feeling heavy as lead. An eternity seemed to pass until she was standing before the crowd, all eyes upon her.
“Speak. What is your admission?” Nicodemus boomed.
“I…I cannot partake of the run.”
“Why not?”
She suc
ked a sharp cold breath through her flared nostrils, steadying herself for judgment. “I cannot shift into a full wolf. Only a partial change.”
Shocked gasps rebounded through the crowd—murmurs of disapproval.
“Abomination!”
“Tainted!”
“Disgrace!”
She kept her eyes on Nicodemus, hearing the words in the background, feeling them like slashes across her soul. The words were nothing that she hadn’t used against herself many times. She’d expected it, and still it stung.
“Quiet! Everyone, hold your tongues!” he yelled. To her he said, “This is serious, gel. Serious indeed. You must choose your outcome. You can be outcast from the clan, or you can take your chances and run the gauntlet and we will accept you as you are. So which is it, gel?”
“I choose the gauntlet,” she said for one and all to hear.
***
The women formed a narrow tunnel for Mali’s gauntlet. She stood at one end and faced twenty females, ten on each side and each holding a long cut off branch culled hastily from the forest. Most of the branches still had rough knots and sprigs of needles on them.
Jaxon’s gut clenched as he watched the proceeding. Beside him, Nicodemus, Ranger, and Torolf stood. Sandwiched between Ranger and Torolf, he knew his brethren kept close to offer support in more ways than one. When the beating began, he wasn’t sure he wouldn’t run out there to stop it. And that couldn’t happen.
Mali didn’t look at him, only straight ahead.
So much made sense now: why she wouldn’t commit to him, why she’d only given in to her body’s demands. She hadn’t trusted him enough with her secret out of fear. Had she feared he would reject her or feared that he’d turn her in himself? He’d bound himself to her, and she hadn’t realized it. She hadn’t been affected the same because she was not full blood. Somewhere in her line a trace of human lay.
The drummers beat the drums, signaling the start of the run. The women tapped sticks, cracking in time to the rhythm. Nicodemus raised his hand and dropped it. Mali ducked her head, covering it with her hands as she began the gauntlet and the beatings commenced. The first strike hit her arm, then her shoulder. She plunged forward, taking hit after hit.
