Wolf

by D. M. Turner

  “Come.” He put authority into his voice and backed toward the door. “Time for you and I to leave.”

  “I’m not going anywhere with you.” She forced away fear, straightened her shoulders, and lifted her chin. “Nothing you say will change my mind.” Let him try to order her around. If Colin was right, she was more dominant than this scumbag, and she could ignore any order he gave.

  “I said, come!”

  “No.” She glared at him, refusing to flinch and give him the satisfaction. “I don’t belong to you.”

  “I made you mine, darling. I took you for myself. No one can change that.”

  “I can.” Colin’s deep voice gave relief full flight.

  Her antagonist backed further into the hallway and turned to face a man Tanya couldn’t yet see. “Who are you?”

  “Her mate. She’s mine.”

  “I had her first.” He snorted and laughed. “Literally.”

  “Not by her choosing. That makes you less than nothing in her eyes as well as mine.”

  A nasty sneer appeared. “She’s mine.”

  Tanya gasped when he raised a gun. Before he could take aim, a gunshot ripped through the air, echoing off the walls. Ears ringing, she watched the man fall to his knees then straight back. His feet and lower legs remained in her range of sight, but they were still.

  Colin appeared in the doorway, his gaze instantly going to her. He said something, but she couldn’t make out the words.

  She shook her head, trying to clear the ringing in her ears. To no avail. She cupped her hands over them and yawned to pop them. That didn’t help either. She’d have to wait for it to pass on its own.

  Brett appeared in the hallway behind Colin, gun in hand, his gaze on the man on the floor. He must’ve been the one who shot him. Colin was unarmed as far as she knew. She’d have to thank Brett for protecting them.

  She accepted clothes from Colin then knelt to face the woman under the bench. She shoved clothes against knees and elbows. If she couldn’t hear, neither could Donna probably.

  The woman flinched when touched then lifted her head. After a moment, she scooted partway out from under the bench. Bloody, dirty fingers wrapped around the offered clothes. She pulled the shirt over her head easily enough, exposing wounds across her chest and belly that made Tanya wince with sympathy.

  Tanya had to help her stand to pull on the sweatpants.

  Donna plopped onto the bench, wincing with a hand across her stomach.

  Tanya turned to deal with the other woman and saw Colin’s shoulders and head drop forward. He glanced up at Tanya and shook his head, his eyes filled with sorrow. She touched the prostrate woman. Dead. No heartbeat. No more shallow breaths.

  “Let’s get the last one out of here.” Colin’s voice came from far away.

  She glanced at him and tried again to clear her ears. The ringing decreased but didn’t subside.

  Colin pointed at Donna, probably assuming she still couldn’t hear him.

  She nodded and turned to the woman sitting on the bench behind her. “Donna? Can you walk?” Hopefully she wasn’t yelling.

  Donna’s gaze rose to hers, and she nodded. She got to her feet then faltered.

  Tanya rushed to her side to help her stay upright.

  Colin stepped closer, but Donna flinched away.

  “I have her.” Tanya smiled and waved him back.

  He nodded and returned to the hallway to wait.

  The walk to the van was painstaking, but they finally made it.

  Brett held the door. “There’s meat in the cooler. Get her to eat. It’ll improve her chances.”

  She glanced at it then grimaced. Great. Probably raw, but beggars couldn’t be choosy. The more healed Donna was, the more likely she’d survive the Shift.

  They climbed into the back of the van. Thankfully, Brett had thought to lay thick blankets on the hard, ridged surface of the van’s floor. The door slammed behind them.

  Tanya pulled the cooler closer and opened it. Ian’s pot roast. She smiled. I should’ve known. She offered a large chunk of it to Donna. “Eat this. It’ll help you heal.”

  “I’m dying.” Tears streamed down the other woman’s face. “Thank you for making sure I don’t die in that horrible place.”

  “Whether you die or not is up to you now.”

  Donna shook her head. “These wounds are really bad.”

  “I know. I had similar ones.” She shoved the meat into the woman’s hand. “Eat it. We’ve got a half-hour ride ahead of us and a lot to talk about. You need to eat and heal.” How had she gone from student to teacher? “I know what you’ve been through, and you can survive this. If you can’t do it for yourself, do it for Tommy.”

  More tears came. “Tommy’s dead.” A sob erupted.

  “No. We found him, and he’s perfectly fine. He’s safe with a friend at the place we’re headed. He’ll be so happy to see you.”

  “But… I saw what they did to him. The way they threw him in that dumpster like so much garbage.”

  “He climbed out, and he’s doing great.” She wrapped a hand around one of Donna’s. “He needs you though. You have to survive this for him.”

  No more argument came. Donna ate the food Tanya handed her, piece by piece. Her breathing eased into normal patterns, losing the pained edge. Physical strain disappeared from around her mouth and eyes. When she shook her head, refusing more food, Tanya closed the cooler.

  “I need to look at your wounds.”

  At a nod, Tanya lifted the edge of the t-shirt, relieved to find rapidly healing skin.

  Donna grabbed the t-shirt and looked for herself. “How is this possible?”

  “You’re not quite human anymore.” She smiled. No easy way to deliver the news, but she doubted Tommy’s sister would be as thrilled as he’d been.

  “I don’t understand.”

  “You’re a werewolf now.”

  “What?” She half-laughed, half-choked. “Impossible. Werewolves aren’t real.”

  “Yeah, I thought the same thing, until that jerk Turned me into one.” She turned to their driver. “Brett, what time is it?”

  “Uh… going on six.”

  “Thanks.” An hour to moonrise, if she remembered correctly. She turned her attention back to Donna. “Alright. We’ve got time for me to walk you through this. If you wait until the moon forces your first Shift, you’ll probably die.”

  “What? But my wounds are healing like you said.”

  “I know. The first Shift from human to wolf is very traumatic. Women don’t tend to survive.”

  Fear danced through the other woman’s gaze, and the scent of it filled the van.

  “I have a theory, though. One that already helped your brother. If the first Shift comes before the full moon instead of being forced by it, it’s not as hard. I think it’ll increase your chance of survival.”

  Donna shook her head.

  “Do it for Tommy. He needs you more than ever. Do you think your mom could handle her son being a werewolf?”

  “She can’t handle anything, even everyday life. Something like this….” She shook her head. “No way.”

  “If you die, what happens to Tommy?” Low blow, and she hated to manipulate the other woman so blatantly, but time was short.

  Donna lifted her head. “What do I do?”

  “This is gonna sound stupid, but it works. Close your eyes and picture a wolf. See yourself as that wolf. There’ll be pain. When it comes, don’t fight it. Let it roll over and through you.”

  After a brief hesitation, Donna closed her eyes. Moments later, she groaned, and her breath caught. Then she fell over and stopped breathing as pain racked her.

  Tanya scooted away and resisted the urge to offer comfort through touch. That would only make the pain worse. “You’re doing fine. Let the pain go. Relax into it. Let it come. Let it leave of its own accord. It’ll pass soon.”

  By the time Brett stopped the van and got out, Tanya sat in the back of the van
with a dark brown wolf with yellow eyes. The wolf cowered when Brett opened the back doors.

  “He won’t hurt you. Let’s go,” Tanya told her softly and led her past Brett, who raised a brow but said nothing.

  Donna clung close as they walked toward the house.

  Tanya remembered doing that to Colin the day he’d rescued her. Remembered the fear of the unknown, being so sure he could be the only one who would keep her safe.

  The sound of a car door and footsteps made her turn. He smiled as he trotted toward them.

  The front door opened.

  Ian stepped onto the deck.

  Tommy’s gangly wolf-form half-tumbled down the stairs and ran toward Donna.

  She froze, rearing back as she watched him.

  He nuzzled her, his body wiggling so hard he almost lost his footing.

  She seemed to realize who it was and enclosed him in a wolf version of a hug.

  The sweetness of their reunion brought tears to Tanya’s eyes.

  “I see you saved another one.” Ian looked… proud?

  “I think I know how to help Imelda, if the pack decides she should be Turned. I can’t make any promises, but at least we can improve her chances.”

  “We’ll discuss it after everyone gets here.” He glanced at his watch. “They shouldn’t be too far behind you.”

  “Will Donna be a problem for the pack tonight?” She didn’t want the frightened woman harangued or attacked as she herself had been on her first full moon with the pack.

  “They had a good fight today. That’ll keep them in line. The next full moon will be a different story.”

  She nodded and led two newly Turned wolves into the house. There was much to do. Police to talk to again probably. Helping Donna sort out things for her and Tommy, and how they’d deal with their mother. Donna and Tommy had to learn the ways of the wolves. Donna needed to choose a mate if she wished to be part of the pack. But all of that would wait until after the full moon set and they’d rested.

  More change. More upheaval for the whole pack. She was no longer the only female.

  A hand touched her shoulder.

  She glanced back and smiled. Come what may, she had Colin. She could face anything with him at her side. They’d proven that in a dim, dank sub-basement.

  The full moon’s call grew, and Tanya welcomed it.

  “Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? And yet not one of them is forgotten before God. Indeed, the very hairs on your head are all numbered. Do not fear, you are of more value than many sparrows.” - Luke 12:6-7

  Campbell Wildlife Preserve

  Sunday, August 30, 2015

  SEATED on the edge of the deck, Donna stared at the sunlit forest a hundred yards away. She’d been up all night, so she should be too exhausted to keep her eyes open, but her mind raced, preventing sleep. Tommy slept soundly in the house, still in wolf form. He’d been too tired by the time they’d returned as the full moon set to Shift back to human. She’d been concerned, but Ian had smiled and assured her that was common with youngsters.

  Too many thoughts. Too many emotions. She was a werewolf. Her brother, too. How did a person even begin to process such a tremendous paradigm shift? It had never crossed her mind that such things actually existed, and the way it had come about….

  Waking up naked in a concrete cell, believing her little brother dead, killed right before her eyes and thrown away like garbage. Grieved over the loss, then terrified when she heard other women crying. Lights shut off. Screaming. Screaming. His soft laughter as she’d tried to escape when he’d come for her. Seeking a place to hide where there was none.

  Eyes closed, Donna shuddered, once again feeling clawed hands grasping, bruising, rending flesh. The press of his body. Helplessness. The pain of his invasion. Abandonment. Hopelessness. Certain she would die in that dark, vile place, and there was nothing she could do about it. No one would come.

  “Donna?”

  She jumped up, eyes wide, and turned to face the man who’d sneaked up on her.

  Ian’s gaze remained direct, unapologetic, even as his nostrils flared. “I’d apologize for scaring you, but you were already doing a more than adequate job of it all by yourself. You reek of fear, even in the open air.”

  She lowered her gaze. “I can’t wrap my head and heart around all that’s happened.”

  “I understand better than you think. It’s been a long time, but I’ve never forgotten the night of my Turning. The helplessness. The certainty of impending death. The hope it would come quickly because the pain was so great.”

  “How did you accept it? What you had become?” She met his gaze again, but only briefly before she shifted her line of sight to his chin, which was above her head. The man had to be close to six and a half feet tall, and broad-shouldered like a football lineman. Only, his breadth wasn’t due to any sort of padding. Big men had never frightened her before. Now….

  He chuckled. His half-grin bared a double canine on the right side of his mouth. “I ran and kept running for decades. Never staying in one place long. Learning about my… condition… through trial and error. Mostly error. I don’t advise you to follow my example. If you have questions, ask them. If I know the answers, I’ll give you the truth, even if I don’t think you’ll like it. If I don’t, we can all put our heads together to figure it out. That’s what a pack does.”

  Donna considered him for a moment. He seemed sincere, and she had no reason to think he would lie. “It feels… unreal. Like… none of it happened. Yet, I know it did. I’m living with the result. Even if I could pretend I’m not, the full moon would bear out the lie. Am I wrong?”

  “No. The full moon always finds us out, no matter where we go or how we try to hide. It reveals who and what we are. There’s no escaping that.”

  Tears pricked her eyes, and her chest tightened. “How do I process something that’s left no visible marks? What does all of this mean for my life from here on out? I can’t go back to my normal life. I’m not so stupid as to convince myself otherwise. But what exactly does this mean for me? And for my brother?”

  “Tommy is blessed in this. The wolf will cure whatever issue he was born with. He’ll be healthy. Truly healthy, not the human version. No more illness. No more infections. If he gets injured, he’ll heal quickly. He’ll grow as he should into the adult he’s capable of being. In fact, if I don’t miss my guess, he’ll catch up to his peers now in growth and bone development. I don’t know how quickly that will occur, but you’ll see significant changes.”

  Donna smiled and nodded. “Then if nothing else good comes of this, that’s what I’ll focus on. I’d go through Hell and back for him. God knows that.” She closed her eyes and sighed. “But what do I do about our mother? What do I tell her?” She met his gaze again.

  “That’s up to you. You know your mother, and whether she can handle this reality or not.”

  “No. Definitely not.” She shook her head, disgust and anger crawling through her despite the fact she wanted to push it down. “She’s never even been able to cope with basic stuff like getting me or Tommy up and fed to go to school. There’s no way she could handle the fact we’re werewolves. If she even believed it.”

  “One of the newspaper articles I read claimed she was a drug addict. Is that true?”

  She nodded. “All of my life, and then some. I started taking care of her when I was about four or five, I think. Tommy came along when I was seven, so I took care of him, too. I’ve always wanted better for him than what I had.”

  “Admirable.”

  Donna turned and flopped into an Adirondack chair. “How did Tanya deal with this?” She glanced up at him over her shoulder.

  “She talked to the police and led them to where she’d been held. Then she had a nasty confrontation with her parents, so Colin brought her here. After that, she spent a couple of weeks as a wolf, running the forest and refusing to come into the house while Colin watched over her.” That half-smile appeared again. “I don’t
advise following that example either, by the way.”

  “Well, I can’t really do that anyway. I have Tommy to think about.”

  “It’s good to focus on that. It’ll prevent the grief from destroying you.” The depth of understanding in his eyes didn’t elude her. The man knew what he was talking about.

  “Grief?”

  “Your life has been forever changed, and through an act of such extreme violence and evil that most people, even most wolves, can’t fully grasp what you endured. Most members of this pack were Turned by violence that nearly brought death, but none of us were imprisoned or raped. You have much loss to grieve. Only Tanya would understand, I suspect. She’s still struggling to sort it all out and prevent it from coloring everything in her life. Perhaps the two of you can help each other in that regard.”

  “Maybe.” She nodded. “It’d be good to have someone to talk to, I think.” First, something else must be done. “I need to talk to the police, don’t I?”

  “You’ll have to deal with them in some way. The two of you were reported missing. You need to let them know you’re safe.”

  “How do I explain what happened without a single mark on me as evidence?” She lowered her head, staring at the deck boards. “They’d have no reason to believe me.”

  “Perhaps you should discuss that with Tanya since she’s already been in that position. Only, this time, we’ll make sure you know the location of the building where you were held, so you don’t need to take the police to it like Tanya did.”

  The thought of going back sent bile into Donna’s throat. “I appreciate that. I don’t want to go near that place ever again. I don’t know how Tanya did it.”

  “With a little help from a friend.” Tanya’s soft voice slipped into the still air.

  Donna glanced around as Tanya stepped onto the deck, crossed to a nearby chair and collapsed into it. Blond hair draped shoulders that were too bony. Was that an effect of the grief Ian had talked about? “What do you mean?”

  “Colin went with me to the police station. While I spoke to the detective, he never left my side. That gave me the strength and courage to do what needed to be done.”