Wendigo Conjuring

by Wendie Nordgren

  Turning, I shifted my weight to the side just as she lurched forward. Hurling herself at me, she shoved into me, and we crashed into a cabinet. Jagged pieces of broken glass stabbed into my back through my brand-new jacket and dress which pissed me off even more than being jumped by some bat-shit-crazy bitch. Her rigid fingers clawed at me. Grabbing her wrists, I kept her from ripping out my hair or clawing at my eyes as we tumbled to the floor. Her knee smashed into my ribs. Grunting, I gave her a hard shove and got out from under her. Striking out, she hit me hard in the jaw and knocked the side of my head into a cabinet. Porcelain figurines tumbled from the shattered shelves and crunched under our shoes. So much for buying the little baker for my new mother-in-law. More glass shattered, and I felt the sharp sting where my head had cracked the curio door. Lifting my hand to my bloody temple, my rage boiled over, and I launched myself at her.

  “You, fucking bitch!”

  I’d never even seen the crazy heifer. What the hell reason did she have for attacking me? From past occurrences, I could only assume it was because of romantic jealousy and attacked. Was this about Colby or Holden? Her head snapped back with the right hook I delivered. I heard the heavy sounds of running feet. Suddenly, huge males blocked my view of my attacker as they pulled us apart. I stared at the rabid stranger who was held off the ground by one of Colby’s burly bikers. His thickly muscled arms were wrapped around her beneath her breasts. With a desperation in her eyes, she withdrew something from the pocket of her jacket and started to chant in an odd mixture of what sounded to me like Latin and Spanish. Before she could throw whatever it was that she held in her hand, a dark hand grabbed her wrist in a punishing grip. I looked from the fingers digging into her skin to the man who was becoming visible from behind the biker who still did his best to hold her still, and he was furious.

  “Silence, witch!” Hunting Wolf yelled. He pulled her hand out and away from her body, preventing her from throwing it at me.

  She screamed and struggled against both men. Wisps of black hair had come free of her messy ponytail. Looking to be about five years my junior, she didn’t have the appearance of a stereotypical witch or seem to be related to Sophia, but it didn’t mean they hadn’t been connected. Whoever she was, I intended to get to the bottom of it.

  I had to scream to be heard over the struggling girl and tried to get a good kick in while I was at it but was thwarted by a hulking beast of a biker. “What the ever-loving fuck do you think you’re doing, twat muffin?”

  If looks could maim or kill, I’d have been reduced to a wet blob of entrails on the showroom floor. Hunting Wolf shook her arm until she dropped what she held. Furious with Hunting Wolf, she took it out on me and tried to spit on me, but the male who was holding me took a step back. Her glob of spit landed on top of shards of broken figurines, glass, and wood. Yanking my arm free, I punched her in the nose before the wolf who was holding her could jerk her to safety. Her eyes widened, and her mouth opened in shock as blood poured from her nostrils, and her eyes teared. With her free hand, she covered her gushing nose, but panic took precedence over her pain and anger as her eyes followed drops of her blood down to the small, cloth-wrapped bundle she had tried to throw at me.

  “No! No!” Her terrified screams echoed around the antique shop.

  Taking her from the werewolf, Hunting Wolf secured her hands behind her back. “Start talking,” he demanded.

  By this time, we had drawn a small crowd consisting of the store owner and every wolf who had been helping her. Squatting, I examined the bundle.

  “Don’t touch it,” Hunting Wolf ordered. “It’s a black curse, a dangerous one. Can you feel it?”

  “No, how am I supposed to feel it if I can’t even touch it?”

  “Think about the place between before you shift. When you’re there, you can feel where good and evil lie. Use it to feel what that is.”

  Closing my eyes, I gave myself over to the push and pull between our world and the next. Sure enough, I could feel a wrongness on the floor coming from the bundle, but I couldn’t feel the same evil coming from the witch who had thrown it. I felt more of a wrongness coming from Hunting Wolf, the werewolves, and even myself than I did from her. Letting my hold of the other realm go, I slowly stood.

  From her counter, the shop owner grabbed one of the bags in which most people were given their purchases. Curled red and green ribbons adorned its handles. “Here. Put it in this,” she said as she handed it and a yardstick to me.

  The man who had pulled me from the fight took the bag and stick from me while another one wedged himself between me and the curse, herding me away from it. With the stick, he pushed the evil spell into the bag.

  “What were you trying to do?” Hunting Wolf questioned her.

  She refused to answer.

  “We should take this to Cecil,” I suggested.

  Angrily, Hunting Wolf said, “What you did counts as an assault. Depending on what kind of spell it is, it might be attempted murder. I’m placing you under arrest.” To the werewolves, he said, “Thank you. We’ve got this under control.”

  “We’re still coming with you.”

  I said, “It’s fine. We can take care of it.”

  “With all due respect, ma’am, that’s not how things work. That,” he pointed at the girl, “threatened you. Her life was forfeited the moment she did it.” Looking at Hunting Wolf, he said, “You’re not the law out here. We are.”

  “Don’t try me, pup,” Hunting Wolf said. He gave the girl a push to get her moving toward the door.

  Out on the sidewalk, the guys from the pack surrounded me and kept me several feet behind Hunting Wolf and his prisoner. “This is preposterous. You all are overreacting. By your own admission, as Colby’s wife, I share his status as one of your alphas. With that acknowledgement, go back to the store and help the nice lady pack. For good measure, I’ll make it an order.”

  One of the guys snorted with laughter. I glared at him and tried not to scratch at my scalp where I was certain a few chunks of glass were embedded. From where we were, the hotel was visible, as were Colby and Sam. “It don’t work like that. We’re gonna protect you whether you like it or not.”

  I threw my hands up in the air. “Oh, and who the fuck are you? You know I can poof you out of existence, take your form, and slip into your life with the ease of pulling on a sock, right? I’m a Wendigo, a soul eater, a skinwalker. Tell him, babe!” I called out to Hunting Wolf.

  “She speaks the truth,” he answered.

  “Who the hell are you, anyway? You can’t force me to accept this bodyguard shit.”

  Smiling stupidly at me, as if he didn’t truly realize how pissed off I was at him, he said, “I’m Cooper. Oh, we know what you can do when threatened, but you’ve got a reputation.”

  “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” My cheeks were hot with anger.

  “Well, you’re a sweet, good-natured little female. Talk is that when you unmade the bitch who was aiming to kill you, you cried about it.” He gave me another stupid grin.

  “So, you’re telling me that Colby’s pack consists of a bunch of gossips?”

  Another guy said, “Your pack does, Mrs. Rozene. Furthermore, it was from Holden’s pack from whom we learned of it. While it is undeniable that you possess the Wendigo curse, it is also true that werewolf magics fill your blood. I can smell it. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Marcello, and I shall forever be at your service.” He managed an elegant half-bow while walking. His black hair gleamed in the sunlight, and he had a faint accent. I wasn’t certain but thought it sounded French. “How we treat our alphas is a direct reflection upon us. To treat you as anything less than royalty would be dastardly.”

  Before I could suggest to Marcello that he was behaving like an archaic idiot, Colby and Sam were demanding answers. Moving out from amidst the testosterone, I called out, “Cecil, we’ve got something for you!”

  With a pleased smile, the ancient shaman shifter approached us with hi
s eyes on the gift bag. “For me? How thoughtful.”

  Embarrassed at the misunderstanding, I quickly said, “I’m sorry. It’s not what you think,” and added him to my mental list of people for whom to get presents.

  The old man raised an eyebrow at me. “Oh, but I think it is. It appears to me that Sophia tricked us, faked her death, and sent this dupe to curse you.” My obvious surprise caused him to shake his head. The wind caught the feathers he had braided into it, causing them to flutter as if with dreams of phantom flights.

  “How did you figure out all of that?”

  Cecil said, “I’ve lived a long time and seen many things. Look around. Notice anything?”

  Scanning our surroundings, I shook my head, oblivious to whatever it was he was trying to get me to notice.

  Colby said, “Take her inside and guard her.”

  I gaped at him not only because he had in that moment sounded exactly like his father, Cy Reeves, but also because he was speaking to his men about me and not the little twat who had attacked me. Turning to Sam for help, I realized I wouldn’t be getting it when I finally realized what Cecil had been trying to point out. The crows were back.

  “She’s not dead. What the hell did she do?” Holden asked Cecil.

  “This one should know something,” Hunting Wolf said as he gave the girl a shake. He led her over to a stone bench and pushed down on her shoulders until she sat.

  When she made a move as if to run, Holden shifted into his tawny wolf and leapt at her, growling and snarling with his sharp incisors inches from her face. It was enough to have me stumbling back in fear. The girl cried out, closed her eyes, and trembled in terror. Marcello took my arm and led me away. A wall of male bodies hid the scene from my view.

  “I want to know what’s going on!” I said while attempting to pull away. However, like them, I felt a strong compulsion to obey Colby. I wasn’t sure if I was more annoyed by it or turned on. The harder I struggled against the compulsion, the more unsettled I felt until I gave into it.

  They walked with me into the hotel’s restaurant where we sat and had coffee as if we were all civilized. With a small smile, Marcello said, “There. Can you see?” He pointed.

  Looking where he indicated, one of the windows gave us an obscured view of the girl’s questioning taking place outside. Craning my neck to see over the shrubbery, I could see my husbands’ faces and parts of Holden’s pacing wolf. Cecil walked away with the bag, holding it at a distance from himself with a stick through the handles. The red and green ribbons festively blew in the breeze. Another man was with him, but he carried a shovel. Marcello had a waitress bring over a basin of warm water and a washcloth. Carefully, he got to work on my scalp. I tried not to flinch or look at the bits of glass forming a small pile on a saucer.

  “Now, then. This is your first lesson, mistress. I know this is all rather new to you. Our alpha must always be obeyed, but as you can see, compromises can sometimes be reached.”

  “Can you hear what they’re saying?” I asked.

  Marcello said, “Andros?”

  A man with red hair and freckles got up from our table and moved to sit closer to the windows. Quietly, we sipped coffee and waited. It looked as if the terrified girl had given up and had started talking. Even I could hear Holden’s growls, but what truly alarmed me was the expression on Sam’s face. I’d never seen him so furious. I half expected for him to shift into his bear and bite the girl’s head off. After a few more minutes, Andros walked back to our table.

  “Well?” I asked.

  “Sophia isn’t dead.”

  His announcement alarmed all of us. How could she possibly have survived?

  Marcello stated, “She was set aflame and buried.”

  Andros said, “Her body was burned and buried, but she wasn’t the one who was in it. That girl’s aunt was. Sophia possessed the woman with some sort of spell right before she was burned. Now, she’s holding the girl’s family hostage and forcing them to do her bidding. She’s controlling them the way she did us. Fuck. The bitch had us weeding her fucking lawn. We’re werewolves. How do you think humans are holding up against her? Another thing, no more night hunters have attacked because she summoned the dark one back to this realm. They know exactly where we are. It’s how they knew where to send the kid.”

  “I feel badly about punching her in the nose.”

  “Don’t,” Andros said. “Whatever that curse was, it was bad. Sophia used a dead scorpion, crows’ feet with your and Holden’s blood on them, and some other dark shit to make it.”

  “Language, Andros,” Marcello scolded.

  “Don’t listen to him. You can speak freely around me in private, but don’t let Deputy Wolf or Sheriff Avonaco hear you. He wrote me a ticket once.”

  “For cussing?” Cooper asked.

  “Yes, shocking isn’t it? If you and the others come home to Silver Springs with us, you’ll need to watch your tongues around the local law enforcement.”

  Scratching his head, Cooper looked confused. “Don’t you live together with them?”

  “Yes.”

  “Damn. Don’t that mean no bad words?”

  I shrugged. “You can cuss if you can afford the tickets.”

  “How much?” Cooper asked.

  “I think it was twenty-five dollars a word.”

  Cooper’s brow creased in thought. Obviously, mathematics wasn’t his forte.

  Playfully, Andros asked, “How much did it cost you?”

  “Almost my entire paycheck.”

  One of the guys, Sinclair, made a distasteful expression. “You are expected to work?”

  “I earn my own living.” The sound of several men entering the hotel distracted me from the angry tirade into which I had been preparing to launch about archaic, sexist males.

  Sam came to my side. “We need to talk.” He pulled out my chair and offered me his hand.

  “Okay,” I said as I walked with him out to a more secluded sitting area to the left of the concierge. Hunting Wolf, Colby, Cecil, and Holden were already there and waiting for us.

  Cecil said, “The witch wants more than simple revenge. She wants to kill you and Holden. Unfortunately, she has the knowledge and power to accomplish it. She knew there was a chance we would capture the girl, but we can only speculate as to what her contingency plans might be.”

  Colby was watching Holden, who had his back turned and his hands braced against the sides of a window. Even I could tell that he was struggling to maintain his form, and he had dressed so quickly after shifting back from his wolf that he hadn’t even bothered to pull on a pair of boots. The girl wasn’t in the room. I assumed she was under guard somewhere else. I fought the urge to go to Holden and comfort him. It wasn’t my mind telling me to do it but some deep instinct which I refused to give into. Sam and Hunting Wolf were watching me as if they knew what I was feeling, but I hoped they didn’t know. I loved them. I didn’t love Holden. I forced my frustrated distraction to abate.

  “What are we going to do?” I asked.

  “That’s what we are here to decide. I want to send you home but worry you could be attacked along the way,” Hunting Wolf said.

  “Wouldn’t you be with me?”

  Soberly, he stared into my eyes. “We have a duty to free the child’s family from the witch.”

  Cecil said, “She needs to be put down. Her soul is beyond salvation. No person with a shred of decency would be able to make a curse so dark as the one she meant to cast against Rozene and Holden. Our mission is the same now as the one which brought us here. Nothing has changed.”

  “Then, we go and find her together. We’re a team,” I stated.

  “No.” Hunting Wolf’s eyes glowed red with the word, and I felt his next words resonating within my bones. “You will remain here, in this hotel, guarded by Holden and his pack, and you will not leave here until I return for you. You will obey me.” The force of his compulsion made me tremble.

  Sam said, “I agree. We’
re going after her. You, Holden, and his pack are staying here.” He took a lock of my hair and let it slide through his fingers.

  In a panicked whisper, I said, “I can’t stay here with him. You know why.” Even now, being in such close proximity to the werewolf was making my shoulder and other parts of my anatomy tingle. “Why can’t our pack stay and guard me?” I asked Colby.

  “Baby, you and Holden are her targets. She has samples of both of your blood. Anyway, our pack knows this land. They can help us find her and have their own score to settle.”

  I glanced at Holden’s back. The achy need induced by the urge to mate was becoming unbearable. Taking a deep breath, I used my force of will to try and push it aside.

  Holden said, “Whether you like it or not, we’re connected. If she manages to cast one of her damn spells on either one of us, she’ll take control of our pack. They’re stronger than Colby’s pack. They wouldn’t stand a chance against us. They’d be annihilated.”

  Sam cupped my face in his hands. “It all boils down to one thing. Do you trust us?”

  I wasn’t staring into the eyes of Chief Sam Stillwater-Reeves. I was staring into the eyes of my Honey Bear. “Sam, I trust you, but I can’t stay here not being able to trust myself. Please.” He became blurry as my eyes filled. They couldn’t leave me here, trapped alone with Holden. Being anywhere near him was torture and becoming harder each day.

  Holden turned from the window and strode from the room, calling out, “John, Moses, and Tim, get your asses over here,” as he went.

  I closed my eyes and held my breath. The Wendigo and werewolf powers within me felt almost as if they were teaming up against me, trying to push themselves into me rather than remaining separate and somewhat controllable. I didn’t want them to change me. I didn’t want what the two powers were doing to my senses, bolstering them and bringing Holden’s clean, warm scent to my nose as he strode past.