by Ruby Raine
It happened so fast neither was sure what had just happened.
“Michael,” she exhaled hard.
“Are you okay?” he asked her, completely confounded.
“Can’t say I’d like to do that again, but I’m fine. My God, Michael! You’re shaking something wicked.”
“I was so afraid something was going to happen to you.”
She grabbed his face and looked into his eyes. “It’s all going to be okay, Michael. Melinda told me everything.” She smiled. “It’s going to be better than okay. I mean, do you think I’d go along with such a hair-brained plan if I’d thought I was in any real danger? I just had to get Charlie here. Without an important enough reason, he wouldn’t have come. And everyone else he cared about was already busy.”
Somehow, between all the chaos ensuing around them, Michael could see nothing but truth and confidence in Emily’s eyes. “Would you please tell me what the hell is going on?” he implored. “I am really, really confused.” His heart was about to explode out of his chest.
“Just wait,” Emily replied, stroking his face to calm him. “Melinda should be here any minute now.”
Back at the bonfire, the alpha werewolf and Charlie continued to stare each other down, taking turns running and attacking each other. Neither was making any real progress towards winning the battle.
The alpha egged Charlie, hoping to force him into a full transformation, and therefore becoming Charlie’s master.
Mack looked for her shot, but the alpha seemed to realize that staying in one place was a bad idea, and it continually charged out of her sight. She cautiously worked her way closer, sticking to the edge of the woods.
“Why the crowd?” the alpha’s voice leaked into Charlie’s mind. “Why not come alone since you care about these humans so much?”
“So they can witness me killing you,” Charlie told it, lunging forward.
The alpha lunged to the right and Charlie’s body skidded across the dirt. He got to his hands and knees, preparing to lunge at the alpha again.
“Did you think I would make it that easy for you?” the alpha’s voice raged in Charlie’s mind.
“You’ve done the last damage you’ll ever do on The Demon Isle!” Charlie kept the alpha’s gaze on him, hoping he would not hear the click of the gun behind him. He bared his teeth at the alpha, taunting it to attack.
A gunshot rang out, cracking through the nighttime silence.
Mack wasn’t fast enough.
The alpha heard the click, too, leaning out of the way just as the bullet whizzed through its fur, missing contact with its body.
The alpha turned to Mack, bolting straight at her. With one swoop of its muscular arm, it hit Mack’s body, throwing her ten feet into the air. She came down with a thud, unconscious. The gun flew out of her hands, disappearing in the underbrush.
Charlie took the advantage of the alpha’s distraction and flung his body at the alpha, but he wasn’t strong enough. Not while he was still partially in human form. The alpha pushed Charlie back, and in a split second bounded off the ground and pinned Charlie’s body to a tree. Charlie wanted to give in. It felt inevitable. He could not go on like this.
It was time to make a choice: either surrender to the wolf, losing all freedom to a new master, or get killed trying to protect the ones he loved.
He craved to surrender to the wolf.
And yet, still refused.
The alpha surprised Charlie by stepping back, letting go. “I don’t want to kill you,” it admitted dejectedly. “I want you to join me.”
“Why?” Charlie needed to know. “Why would you think I would want to live under your control? Why would I let you use my power to your advantage?” Charlie spoke as if reminding himself what he was hanging on for, just as much as he wanted to hear the alpha’s response.
“You misunderstand,” the alpha’s thoughts echoed. “You would be my willing partner.”
“I will never be willing.”
“Once you surrender, your will is mine.”
“Never because I want it to.”
The alpha snarled, turned, and jumped into the woods. It stopped a few steps in. Charlie could see its piercing yellow eyes, taunting him to follow.
“I know you won’t give up so easily. Maybe you can’t kill me, but let’s see if you can catch me.” The alpha ran deeper into the woods.
Charlie sensed the alpha truly desired to get him alone, away from the people that he cared about. Away from the anchors of his human life.
It did not matter. Charlie would follow regardless. He had to kill this thing, somehow.
Charlie cast a gaze toward William, Michael, and Emily. They were helping Mack off the ground; she was conscious again and thankfully didn’t look injured, just shaken. He wished Melinda had been standing beside them; he wanted to look at her one last time. It was obvious now that he’d have to break his promise to her. Everything would not be okay.
From behind them, over the ridge, a silhouette emerged.
“Melinda.” Charlie’s wish was granted, but before he could follow the alpha into the woods, Melinda ran past the others heading directly at him. She stopped, out of breath, opening up her palm.
“Put it on.”
He cocked his head, confused. Why did Melinda have Nina’s ring?
Melinda took hold of his wolf-hair-covered hand and slipped the ring onto his finger.
Control jolted through him, spreading through his veins. It calmed the wolf instantly, and Charlie became Charlie again. The wolf disappeared, completely. He stared down at his body in bewilderment. Even his mind was calm and controlled.
However, still confused.
A golden glow emanated from the ring, expanding into the dark silhouette of a woman. She stood in front of Charlie wearing a regal smile.
Melinda stepped back, standing next to William, Michael, Emily, and Mack, all watching in electrified astonishment.
Charlie fell to his knees. “Nina,” he whimpered, wrapping his arms around her waist, surprised he could touch her. She was dead, right? He rested his head on her stomach, exhausted and yet relieved to see her. “I’m so sorry you died because of me.”
Nina beamed a heavenly, inviting smile, pulling Charlie up to his feet.
“Dying for you was the most precious thing I have ever had the privilege to do. Everything that happened today happened exactly as it was supposed to, Charlie.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I didn’t just happen to vacation here. As Guardians, we don’t actually take vacations.” She raised her hand to his face. “Although, working here definitely had its perks.” She let her hand drop. “I’ve been watching you since you were bitten, Charlie.”
“How can I touch you?” He didn’t even know why he asked this. His brain was overloaded, but if she was dead, he didn’t understand how she was still here, talking to him. Ghosts could not do that. Perhaps she wasn’t really dead.
“Guardian’s physical bodies do die,” explained Nina. “However, our spirit forms work differently than human bodies. Think of me as living energy, that sometimes inhabits a physical form.” She smirked. “We’re not exactly what you’d call human,” she revealed. “But that’s a story for another time.”
Nina turned, facing everyone.
“We are not all knowing or all powerful. Being familiar with foresight, you understand that the path forward is not always clear, but sometimes... sometimes it is.” She cast her regal gaze back at Charlie, then again toward the others.
“Our most honored job is to keep the balance of power in the favor of good. We have not always succeeded, but we hope our actions today will ensure this balance remains, as we have foreseen battles on the horizon unlike anything you have ever witnessed before.”
Her body glowed in golden light, and to look upon her felt both empowering and comforting. She turned back to Charlie.
“This ring is yours. It belongs to you now. Never before has any mortal man been giv
en such a gift.”
Charlie stared at the ring. “Why?” he pleaded, looking at Nina. “Why give up this ring, forfeiting your life for mine?”
“Because the wolf should not be a curse, it should be a gift to help you in the battles to come. As long as you wear this ring, the wolf will no longer be a threat to you, Charlie. The wolf will be ruled by you, and you alone. You will be free to transform at will. The moon will have no sway. The alpha will have no sway. You will never fear the wolf again.”
Charlie looked with awed reverence at the ring and back up at Nina. “I still don’t understand why the Guardians would give this to me.”
“Because of who you are Charlie. Not just the wolf or the witch that resides in you, but because of your compassion, your love, and your ability to be selfless and yet lead with a firm hand. These will all be necessary in the battles to come if we are to succeed in keeping the balance of power on the side of good.” She paused, smiling brightly. “You have fought for so many years, never forsaking your responsibilities, never giving into the temptation or greed that the wolf’s power could have so easily given you.”
“Why here? Why now?”
“Because you have sacrificed enough to understand the need for the wolf to be controlled, and yet how the wolf can help you succeed.”
Charlie looked into Nina’s eyes with deep respect, but also apprehension. “What will happen to you?”
Nina smiled majestically. A goddess in Charlie’s eyes. But she always had been. At least physically. Now in a spiritual manner as well.
“I get to be reborn. My soul will get to live a human life, in a new physical body. I’ll experience things as humans do, and when that human life is over, I will be called into Guardianship again.”
She stepped close to him, cupping his head in her hands. As she did, the golden glow engulfed both of their bodies, hiding them from view to the outside world.
“Don’t dwell on my loss, Charlie. Live. Live fully and freely as you did with me.”
Charlie could not speak. The love and gratitude he felt for Nina overwhelmed him beyond words.
“I regret nothing,” she told him, laying her hand on his chest.
He took her hand in his, holding it against his cheek.
“It is time,” she sang encouragingly. Her lips pressed against his for just a moment, and she leaned into his ear. “Just let go, Charlie. Give in, to the wolf.”
A low growl rumbled in Charlie’s chest and with his next blink, his bright blue eyes dazzled her with brilliant silver. His lips swept over Nina’s one last time, the thrill and exhilaration of total surrender passing through his body.
Nina let go of Charlie, her eyes dancing playfully.
“There’s my big bad wolf.” Her voice faded, her golden silhouette dissolving into the darkness. She was gone. Had sacrificed herself for Charlie.
He gazed at the ring and looked into the wide-eyed faces of his friends and family.
A devilish grin spread across his face. “Don’t follow me!” he warned.
He looked up into the sky, his chest heaving in the anticipation of surrender.
He outstretched his arms and bayed at the full moon; it transformed into a chilling howl as Charlie Howard surrendered to the wolf, for the first time completely shedding his human skin.
With an explosive force that took but a second, Charlie Howard’s human body disappeared, morphing into something much larger, and stronger. He gnashed his teeth, peering at the moon, which no longer held any sway over him. It was just a moon. Nothing more.
His skin was dark gray, his arms thick and muscular. His nails jagged and elongated.
Most importantly though, his mind was sharp and his own. All the power without the loss of control.
His head dropped, his piercing silver gaze threatening the woods with its glare. He was going after the alpha. He let out a snarl, preparing to start his hunt. The alpha would not see another sunrise.
He let out a roar, it echoed far and wide across the Isle, warning the alpha he was coming. He sprang on all fours into the woods, in pursuit of his prey. The alpha’s scent caught in his snout, fast. He followed, picking up speed.
Not far in, another scent hit his nostrils. Eva Jordan. At first, he feared this scent might overpower him, but the ring did its job and protected Charlie from this danger. It was still a pleasant smell, but it no longer gave him the urge to kill her. His next thought, however, was Why do I smell Eva?
He skidded to a stop as the woods came to a clearing.
Eva’s house, near Mermaid Point.
He had never been here before, but he could tell she lived here. Her smell was everywhere.
This is also where the alpha’s smell ended. It was here, hiding somewhere nearby. Was this woman a magnet for trouble? It followed her almost like death was stalking her.
He snarled, casting his silver eyes into the darkness, searching for some sign of where the alpha was hiding, surprised it no longer spoke to his mind. Had it given up so easily? Or had the ring blocked this, too? Severing the connection between him and the alpha completely.
He sauntered into Eva’s backyard, one muscular heave at a time.
The alpha flew at Charlie out of nowhere, sinking its teeth into Charlie’s shoulder. The same shoulder it had bitten ten years prior. But this time Charlie fought back, taking a bite of his own. He tore at the alpha’s throat, sinking his knife-like teeth into its thick skin.
Something seemed different. The alpha seemed crazed all of a sudden, as if it had decided to give up on controlling Charlie and just wanted him dead, instead of its partner.
It charged Charlie again.
He lunged at the alpha, their bodies colliding in midair. They fell to the ground with a thunderous crash. Charlie took the alpha into his muscular arms and threw him across the ground, slamming its body into a tree. The trunk cracked, and another crash followed when the tree thudded to the ground.
A light came on at the back of the house. Charlie saw Eva looking through her screen door. Her eyes were wide with bewildered fear and awe upon witnessing the werewolves fighting in her yard.
“Stay inside!” Charlie snapped at her.
The alpha picked itself up, shaking itself off, thrashing its way toward Charlie, again.
Charlie stood his ground this time, waiting until the alpha was just a few feet away, and jumped to the side, using his arm to cut down the alpha. Charlie’s sharp claws caught the skin of the alpha’s shoulder, digging in. It howled murderously as blood spurted from the wound.
Charlie wasted no time, lunging on top of his downed prey. Its eyes looked crazed. Its arms and legs flailed, scratching, hitting, and kicking. Its teeth chomped at Charlie’s body, but missed his skin. The alpha’s mouth opened up wide enough that Charlie could see all of its blood-covered teeth, including the one that was missing. The one it had left behind in Charlie’s shoulder.
Charlie roared viciously and in one swift movement, ripped the alpha’s jaw in two, tearing it completely out of its body. One last final cry erupted and the alpha’s body went limp.
He’d expected the body to revert to its human form once it had died, but it did not. Did he care? Not really. It was done. Finished. Over.
He stood erect, howling into the night sky, basking in victory. Savoring his freedom.
He closed his silver eyes, breathing calmly, reveling in complete elation.
He had succeeded.
There had been a price, the life of the Guardian, Nina.
But he had killed the alpha. It wouldn’t hurt anyone ever again.
And now with the ring, he no longer needed to fear the wolf. He wouldn’t lose his family and they would not lose him.
A cool breeze against his skin gave him a shiver. He opened his eyes remembering he was standing in Eva’s backyard. His eyes snaked down his naked body, human again; his elated fervor cooling as he darted behind a tree.
“Charlie,” a voice called out faintly. “Is that you?”
“Um, Eva, hi.” His head popped out to the side of the tree. “Yes, it’s me.”
She held a flashlight in her hand. It shook a little. “What the hell is going on out here? I was crawling into bed and heard these crazy ass noises and then I saw...”
“You know, Eva, when you hear strange noises, you should never investigate them. You should always run the other way.” He wondered why her instincts seemed to draw her closer to danger.
“Yeah, well, it’s kind of hard to crawl into bed when it sounds like an animal is being tortured outside your frigging window!”
“Okay. Yeah. I can see your point.”
“Charlie, why don’t you come out from behind that tree? So I can see you.”
He let out a flustered grunt. “Um, Eva, you don’t happen to have a coat, or blanket, or clothing of some kind.” He could practically see the grin spreading across her face, even from his hiding spot.
“Charlie,” she said with an air of you are not going anywhere until you tell me what’s going on.
“Look, Eva. I will explain everything. I promise.”
“You’re not going to try to attack me again are you?” Her voice was teasingly distrustful.
He gazed at the ring, shaking his head. “No, Eva. I swear that will never happen again. And if you give me the chance, I really want to make it up to you, but I sort of need some clothes first,” he pleaded.
“Just stay put, I’ll be right back.” She sounded as though she was holding in fits of laughter.
She returned with a tee shirt and sweat shorts, tossing them to Charlie.
“So, you’re a werewolf,” she stated. “I could have guessed as much, but I wasn’t entirely sure.”
“Um, yeah, I guess I am.”
“You guess?”
“It’s a long story, but yes, you’re right. I’m a werewolf.”
After dressing, he stepped out to face her. The intoxicating smell still poured off Eva freely, and though he enjoyed it, the smell no longer held the same mesmerizing effect it had previously. He glanced at the ring, amazed and thankful.
She noticed and questioned him about it. “New? I don’t recall seeing that before.”
