by Mac Flynn
I felt a breeze brush against my side, and it wasn't from Ashton's terrible breath. Ashton screamed and dropped me. I fell to the ground and gasped for air as Ashton stumbled backward. He clutched at something in his side, and I realized it was my staff jabbed into his ribcage. Doc knelt beside me and tucked his arms beneath my armpits. He dragged me away as Ashton tripped and fell to the floor close where I had lain. His furry hands grasped the silver staff and tried to pull it free, but they couldn't loosen Doc's desperate jab.
The staff did its job as the flesh around the stab wound changed from blistered to black. The silver ate away his skin and his fur erupted into flames. He screamed and writhed on the floor, and Doc and I could only watch the horrifyingly pitiful sight. In a few moments his body was completely black and then it changed to a silver color like that of the staff. Ashton opened his mouth in one final, mournful howl before his voice was silenced forever and his body crumbled to dust.
Chapter 13
I stared dumbly at the ash werewolf outline before I heard a groan. It came from Adam, and reminded me he wasn't in that great a shape. "Adam!" I yelled. I pulled myself from Doc's grasp and rushed over to kneel by his side. He pushed himself to a half-raised position and his head turned to face me. His lips turned up in a snarl and his dark eyes told me he didn't recognize me. I frowned at him. "Adam, sit!" I growled. He blinked and sat his rear down. I snorted, but jumped when Doc knelt down beside me.
"Are you hurt?" he asked Adam.
Adam's voice was deep and gravely, but understandable. "Not very," he told us. He rubbed his head and cringed when his hand came in contact with the poker wound.
Doc smiled. "In my profession that's code-word for 'very.' Let me get a look at you." He reached out his hands, but Adam brushed them away.
"Give me a moment." He closed his eyes and in a moment his body resumed its human shape with only the remains of his pants to cover himself.
Doc's eyes widened and he leaned backward to get a full look at Adam. "My god. . ." he whispered.
Adam smiled. "That is a matter of opinion." He shifted and winced as one of his hands went to his side. It was then I saw a large gash from the back of his shoulder curving forward down to the front of his waist. There was also the leaking blood aside his head, and his life fluid dripped to the floor.
Doc frowned. "Those are nasty wounds. Let me get my supplies, if I have any left." He stood and hurried over to his wrecked table to salvage.
Adam turned his eyes to me and looked me over. "He didn't bite or scratch you, did he?"
I shook my head. "No, but he might have made Doc and me into lawn-mower chicken if you hadn't stuffed silver into that staff. How'd you manage to do that without hurting yourself?"
He chuckled and winced when the movement jiggled his side. "Thick gloves and determination."
"So you suspected I would have future trouble with a werewolf?" I guessed.
"Yes, but I assumed the werewolf would be me. It was a failsafe in case I should get-well, unruly," he admitted.
I cringed. "I don't think I could use it on you like Doc used it on Scott."
Speaking of the kind-hearted devil brought him once more to my side. In his hands were a few bottles of chemicals, and he dipped a rag in one of the bottles. "This may sting a little," he warned Adam.
"It can't hurt-ouch!" Doc had placed the rag over Adam's wound.
Doc chuckled. "You were saying?"
Adam ground his teeth so his words came out in a hiss. "I was saying I've been through worse."
"Remind me not to be around if that worst ever comes back," Doc mused. He kept the cloth against Adam's side and glanced between us. "You two do realize, though, that you owe me an explanation."
I sheepishly smiled and shrugged. "It's a long story."
"I'm listening," Doc replied. Adam related, in brief detail, the story of his coming to be a werewolf, and I gave the real details on the bear attack that wrecked my leg. By the time our tales were done Doc had bandaged Adam's side and head, and he stood over us. "I would say you two were both mad if I didn't have a transformed werewolf and an ash silhouette of a werewolf on my living room floor, or what remains of my living room floor," he commented.
Adam chuckled. "Sorry about the mess. I promise to come back tomorrow and help clean up."
The doctor raised an eyebrow and his eyes swept over the bandages. "I'd say you're in no condition to do anything for a while."
"Maybe not that long," Adam countered. He partially unwrapped his head bandage to show the wound was already half closed.
Doc's jaw dropped open. "You're werewolf ability?" he guessed.
Adam nodded and wrapped the wound. "Yes, and your caring hand. It's less painful to clean the wound before my skin closes over it."
Doc leaned closer and scrutinized Adam. "You wouldn't mind performing some experiments for me, would you?"
Adam smiled. "Only if they don't involve self-inflicted wounds."
Doc grinned at him. "I could always inflict them for you, and it would be for science."
"I'm afraid science will have to remain unsatisfied," Adam told him.
"But you must let me do some tests," Doc insisted.
"You can poke and prod him after he's gotten some rest," I spoke up. I helped Adam stand and cringed when he leaned his heavy weight against me. "You need to lay off the doggy biscuits," I scolded him.
Doc moved away from us and pulled the staff from Ashton's remains. Only the end that hadn't penetrated Ashton was unscathed. The rest was burnt and brittle. He held it out to us. "Did you want this?" he asked us.
Adam shook his head. "I can make another. You keep that as a memento."
Doc tossed the stick in the air and caught it in the palm of both hands. "I'll keep it above the fireplace." He glanced down at the pile of ashes. "He may have been a terrible person, but I think his ashes will make a good compost."
"And on that weird note I think we'll leave," I told him.
Doc followed us outside to our car, and I helped Adam into the passenger side. "I expect to see you two bright and early tomorrow for the cleanup," he ordered us.
"We'll try," I replied as I slipped into my seat. I pulled out and we crept along the driveway back to the main road. Adam sat quietly in his seat, and my eyes flickered over to him. He looked out the window and his eyes drooped along with the rest of him. "You okay?" I wondered.
"It was reckless of me to leave you in the car," he mused.
I shrugged. "But it worked out, and a miss is as good as a mile."
"Perhaps," he returned.
I snorted. "'Perhaps' nothing. I'm unscathed, Doc's unscathed, and you're-well, you'll get better really soon."
"But it was too close. Ashton almost got you," he insisted.
"But you came to the rescue and got him," I reminded him. I paused and furrowed my brow. "Speaking of that, how'd you find us? Used your sniffer?"
"Yes. I followed his trail to Doc's house," Adam explained.
"And he didn't smell you because why?"
"Too distracted with his blood lust. It can blind even the most competent werewolf."
"And how exactly did he think he was going to get away with it? I mean, he said something about you having to deal with the police and not him," I wondered.
Adam sighed. "One reason werewolves don't stay close to each other is because we have the same blood," he revealed.
I turned to him and blinked. "Like the same blood type?"
"No, the exact same blood. A human can't transform into a werewolf without that blood in their system, and the curse creates that blood from a scratch or teeth contamination," he explained.
I cringed. "No wonder you don't trust other werewolves. That would make it pretty easy to frame somebody else."
"Yes." Adam shifted in his seat and winced. He clutched at his side.
An idea came to me and a smile slipped onto my lips. "You know, you're going to take a while to heal," I mused.
He shook his h
ead. "No, only about-"
"You're going to take a while to heal, so you should probably stay at my place until you're okay," I interrupted. He turned to me with a raised eyebrow, and I rolled my eyes. "I'm trying to invite you to stay with me for a while longer. You know, boyfriends do that with girlfriends."
His eyes widened for a moment before a mischievous grin appeared on his face. "Is that where we're at?" he mused.
I shrugged. "You did save my life, and I suppose you are kind of cute when you're not covered in fur."
He leaned toward me and his eyes flashed with yellow. "Perhaps you could learn to appreciate that part of me," he teased.
I leaned away and nearly drove us into a ditch. "Don't go pushing your luck, mister, or out comes the silver heirloom fork," I warned him.
He chuckled and slipped back into his seat. "I promise to behave. For now."
I sighed, but my smile remained on my lips. It wasn't every day a human fell for a werewolf, and I was pretty sure I was falling for one now. Now I just needed to survive his crazy world long enough to last the courtship.
Falling For A Wolf #3
Chapter 1
"A little to the left! No, you're other left!" I shouted.
My yells were to my neighbor and all-around handyman, Adam Smith. He stood atop the peak of the roof on my ancient cabin-house. In his hands, and attached to the peak, was a large dish with a thick neck. That was my satellite internet dish, and after almost two weeks of the dark ages I was about to re-enter the digital age. That is, if Adam got the dish pointed at the right spot in the cloudy sky before he slipped off the slick roof.
"Is that it?" he called back.
I stepped back a further ten feet from the house and shook my head. Little puffs of air spilled from my mouth as I tried not to shiver in the early fall-morning air. All around me was a white world of frost and fog. Autumn had slunk into the mountains and clung stubbornly to the frost ground and air. I wrapped my arms around myself and rubbed my hands over my arms.
"No, a little farther!" I instructed him. He moved it a half inch. I raised my arms with my fingers outstretched and my palms pointed toward him. "Stop! "That's it!" The rural internet company had given me the exact direction to point the dish, and by god I was going to get my internet.
"Then can I come down? It looks like a thunderstorm is coming," he told me.
I grinned evilly. "I guess, but it'd be interesting to see if a lightning x-ray of you would show anything not human," I teased.
Adam slid down the metal roof and jumped over the edge. He landed a few feet from where I stood. A perfect landing. Did I forget to mention Adam was a werewolf? "It would only show human bones, but I must warn you that the smell of singed werewolf fur is most unpleasant."
I wrinkled my nose. "Don't remind me. I still haven't gotten the smell of Ashton out of my nose." Ashton was a former werewolf of the neighborhood, and bad news until we stabbed him in the chest with a staff embedded with specks of silver. Now he was pretty good fertilizer.
Adam scrutinized my face and pursed his lips. "Have you experienced any nightmares from that episode?"
I shook my head. "Nope, though I did dream I wore bunny pajamas at my workplace and everyone saw me. Speaking of workplace, I really do need to check my email before everyone in the outside world thinks I'm dead." I strode into the house with Adam close behind. My laptop sat on the coffee table in front of the couch. I tossed my coat onto the chair, plopped myself down on a cushion and took control. In a minute the computer was up and running, and I could see it received a signal from the dish. "Looks like we have connection." I glanced up at Adam who stood beside the arm of the couch. "Want to look for doggy porn?" I teased.
He snorted. "I have been on this internet and seen what it has to offer, and am not impressed."
"You're just mad that it has more pictures of cats then dogs," I returned. I clicked to my inbox and cringed when page after page of spam popped up. "Damn those companies selling my info," I muttered.
Adam leaned over the back of the couch just behind my shoulder. "You seem in great need of housecleaning for your inbox." He pointed at a Viagra ad. "Is there something you need to tell me before our relationship deepens?"
I sent the junk to the spam folder and glared at him. "Yeah, you need to stop reading over my shoulder."
He leaned away and shrugged, but there was a smile on his face. "I only wanted to make sure my senses hadn't deceived me."
"I'm just fine with my sexuality, thank you very much, and don't need you asking me about what I'm taking to stimulate my sex life, if I had a sex life." I returned my attention to the screen and scrolled through the emails. "Uh-oh."
"Uh-oh what?" he wondered.
"My boss sent me half a dozen messages," I told him. I opened the last one in the email thread and the color drained from my face.
Adam leaned toward me and frowned. "Is something wrong?"
"Very. My boss is wanting to do a house evaluation with me, and he's going to be here tomorrow." I slapped my hand over my face and ran it down my nose. "Why is he doing it this soon? And why does he have to bring along Bunny?"
"Bunny? He has a pet rabbit?" Adam guessed.
I sighed and shook my head. "No, worse. At least a rabbit's edible, though I suppose a human's edible for you."
"So it's a human?" he continued.
"Yeah, and 'it' is the right word for Mrs. Bunny Whinier. She's both his wife and his secretary, just to make sure he doesn't get any ideas about leading a double love life," I explained.
"So she's very loyal to her husband?" he wondered.
I snorted. "That's the irony. She doesn't mind advertising her assets to anything that breathes and has a penis. I've heard some juicy stories involving her, some of my male coworkers, and the supply closet."
"Sounds like an-ahem, interesting individual. And both your employer and his Bunny will be arriving tomorrow?" Adam mused.
I glared at him. "You might think this is funny, but this is a job evaluation. If he thinks I'm not working hard enough he might dock me some income and I won't be able to afford this place."
That got his attention, and Adam frowned. "What do you need to do to gain a perfect score?"
I shrugged. "Show him some work, show that my home practically revolves around that work, and show that I can be a reliable contact." I nodded at the screen. "I've got one point down for not getting back to him about his coming up here, so I've got to show him I'm at least working."
"Have you written anything since you arrived?" he wondered.
I snorted. "How could I have time when I'm running around with a werewolf, being pestered by my neighbors, and almost getting eaten by a werewolf?" I pointed out.
"Point taken. What must you do to write and show that your home revolves around your work?" he asked me.
My eyes swept over the cabin. The roughly-hewn walls were still covered in cobwebs and there was no organization to the kitchen. "Well, it might be a good idea to clean this place up and get the bed ready for my guests. They can't both fit on the couch, especially not with those pair of assets Bunny bought for her chest. As for writing, I just need somebody to take care of everything and I might be able to get some done. Some of these emails are requests for articles." Adam grabbed his coat from the chair and tossed mine at me. I caught it with my face and tore it off to glare at him. "What's the big idea?"
"Your employer arrives tomorrow, correct?" he asked me as he slipped into his coat.
"Yeah, but-"
"Then you will remain at my cabin while I work on yours," he explained. Or, rather, kind of explained.
I narrowed my eyes at him and tossed my coat back on the chair.. "If this is some way to get me into your bed then I'm not going."
He grabbed my coat and tossed it back, but at least this time I caught it with one hand. "No, this is some way of ensuring we remain neighbors so I may one day get you willingly into my bed," he corrected me. I continued to glare at him, but I set the co
mputer on the table and put on my coat. "Bring your computer. You can work while you're at my cabin," he suggested.
"Knowing you're down here causing mayhem and destruction to my first and possibly only home isn't going to help me write anything," I countered, but I grabbed the computer just the same. If anything, I could save that from whatever he planned.
He smiled and guided me to the front door. "I assure you I won't do anything quite as destructive as you imagine."
"Uh-huh, so you'll leave the foundation in place?" I mused.
"Something like that, but let's get you home," he insisted.
"You mean your home," I corrected him.
"For now," he returned. I would have argued but he opened the door and my breath was taken away by the blast of cool air that invaded my cabin. Adam swept his hand in front of me and bowed. "After you."
Chapter 2
I sighed, but pulled on my coat and tucked my laptop under one arm. "Your place has electricity, right?" I asked him.
"And even running water," he assured me.
"Good, I didn't want to go all primitive and have to type my articles out on needle-point," I teased.
I stepped onto the porch and Adam followed. He glanced up at the sky and frowned. "It looks like more rain," he commented.
I sniffed the air. "It smells like rain." The air held a hint of an aqua scent.
Adam smiled. "Good nose. Almost as good as mine."
I snorted. "I doubt it. You can track people and arrive in the knick of time to save them."
His smile faltered a little. "The episode with Ashton will not be repeated. I swear it."
I waved off his promise. "Don't go thinking you can protect me forever. A girl has to learn how to protect herself out in these woods, especially if she lives alone." I paused and my eyes flickered to him. "Well, sort of alone."
"I will take that as doing my job as a kindly neighbor and lead you to my abode for the evening," he offered.
"And about that, why the secrecy? What exactly are you going to do to my home that I can't watch?" I leaned toward him and narrowed my eyes. "You're not going to be tearing down any walls, are you?"
