Hidden Moon (29 page)

I made it to the top and grasped the edge of the hole. My hands grasped bunches of full, dark grass. I pulled myself up. I sat on solid ground, physically and mentally pulling myself together. I took a deep breath and looked up at my hairy hero, who had backed up a few feet and was keeping a wary eye on me.

“Thank you.” I smiled at him. He grumbled, a low and vibrating sound. Then he looked over the top of my head and started to fidget as if he sensed someone coming toward us. He took one more look at me, as if to make sure I was out of the hole and able to escape, then turned and disappeared into the trees.

She’s too loud. I know I heard her scream that time. I have to go back and finish her off. I hope he didn’t hear her and that I can do this in time. How dare she mess everything up?
Anger seethed out of his mind and into mine, and I knew I had to get up and run, because this was it. There wasn’t going to be any talking him out of anything, he was coming in to kill, not to talk.

My body was aching and stiff as I struggled to my feet. Then, he appeared. I froze, somehow rooted to the spot and unable to move, even though everything in me told me I should be running. A silver mist was shrouding his body, causing it to sparkle and shine. If I hadn’t known he was deadly, he would have looked beautiful. He stalked closer, his dark eyes changing and slanting. His hands flexed into fists at his sides and a low, menacing growl came from his snarled mouth.

Well, this is it. I’m gonna die now,
my mind told me, resigned to the fact that there wasn’t any need to run now. I had waited too long. I wondered if he would throw me back in the hole after he killed me. Of course he would. I shivered. Adam had to know, he would avenge me.

Adam, its Reuben. I wish you could hear me. Please, please, hear me. It’s been Reuben all along
.

So caught up in my little broadcast of information, I never saw the huge black and white wolf jump in front of me until it landed, snarling and growling, and looking totally ticked off as it slammed one huge front paw heavy into the earth, then did the same to the other for good measure as if daring anything more to happen. I had half a second where I was frozen until I looked up and realized that Reuben had stopped where he stood and looked nearly as stupefied as I was. Obviously this wolf was not him, and it did not like what Reuben’s intentions were toward me.

It snarled again, baring its sharp fangs as if daring him to come closer to me. Reuben stared at it, indecision flickering across his face as if he were facing a major dilemma and couldn’t figure out what to do. The enormous wolf turned and nuzzled my hand, whining.

Are you okay?
a worried voice asked.

“Yes,” I said. The wolf looked at me thru sapphire blue eyes that held worry and guilt. He looked more like a Siberian Husky than a wolf, I decided. The black intermingled with the white in his thick fur and his eyes sparkled in contrast.

“Who are you?” I asked, as if he could open his long muzzle full of razor-sharp teeth and answer as any person could.

He winced and put his enormous head against my stomach and gave a gentle, but rather solid push, as if to tell me to go. Then he turned and squared his shoulders to meet the enemy, and a deep, challenging growl seemed to vibrate the very earth I stood on.

“You know you don’t have to do this,” Reuben said. His face had partially changed while we hadn’t watched, and now he was speaking through a pile of sharp teeth. “You don’t need her. We can get rid of her, and no one would know. You’ve needed someone to show you what it is that you are. We always hunt better in packs. You won’t be alone, son.”

Son
?
I gaped at the wolf. Was it Darren? The boy who everyone assumed would be the sixth Keeper? I looked at the wolf again, and then looked over at Reuben. Somehow I didn’t think the little scrawny kid I had seen at the Res was this massive, beautiful—and deadly—wolf in front of me.

I saw Reuben look up at me and snarl, and then a flash blinded me as he projected his memories into my mind.

She was so beautiful, laughing and talking with her friends by the bleachers. She swung her long, chocolate-brown hair back over her shoulders. I wanted to go talk to her, but I was so nervous and afraid. What if she laughed at me? After all, I was one of the guys from the Res. We didn’t exactly fit in. I shifted nervously from foot to foot, wanting to follow her and keep her in my sight. But I didn’t want to confront her. Not yet.

It was getting to where all I thought of was her, and the weird part was that I always knew where she was. I could find her anywhere. I wasn’t sure what to do, especially when I found myself at her bedroom window, hoping to catch a glimpse of her. I only wanted to be near her.

Her friends left her. She waved to them, and then started to walk around the bleachers, on her way home. The wind blew softly, carrying her scent to me on a light breeze. It was intoxicating. I breathed it in deep and watched as the wind blew her skirt tight against her thighs, showing every curve, every detail of her tanned, slender legs. My breath caught, and I knew now was the time for me to gather my courage before she left.

My wolf had stirred at her scent, and I drew upon it for its courage and bravery, since my own had abandoned me. I gave myself over to the animal and let it have its way in return for the strength it gave me to follow her.

She rounded the bleachers and I moved silently behind her, reaching my hand out. It brushed through her warm, silky hair and she turned around, startled. The animal was in complete control now, and there was only thing it wanted to do.

I watched as her beautiful eyes widened, as she realized what was to come, and what I was.

“Brian,” I whispered, knowing now who the wolf was in front of me with the sapphire blue eyes. It was his father who was trying to kill me.

Brian hesitated in mid-growl when he had heard me say his name, and I watched as his tail dropped between his legs in shame. Reuben picked that instant to try to leap over his son to me. As soon as his feet left the ground, he changed into a huge silver wolf. His teeth bared, he was coming for my throat. Brian launched himself off the ground and slung his full weight into the oncoming silver wolf. Teeth snapped mere inches from my skin, and then Brian managed to roll both of them away from me.

The ground shook, as the huge ball of black, white, and silver fur rolled. I backed up. I didn’t know whether to run or to stay. The part of my brain that was in charge of self-preservation was telling me that I was definitely the weakest one here and that I should be running for cover.

But I couldn’t do it.

My feet were frozen to the ground as I watched the two wolves face off and circle before they attacked again. Brian seemed to be stronger and bigger than Reuben, but what he lacked in muscle, Reuben made up for in experience. Brian charged, snapping towards the other wolf’s neck in an obvious attempt to end it once and for all. Reuben leapt to one side and sunk his teeth into Brian’s back hip.

Brian yelped, but turned to snap again, this time to be rewarded with a mouth full of silver fur from Reuben’s side.

You won’t hurt her, I won’t let you. Do what you can to me, it doesn’t matter, but this will end here,
Brian’s voice was calm in my mind, which seemed at odds with the snarling, black and white wolf with bloodstained fangs.

Blood oozed in the coats of each wolf, matting their silky fur. Each seemed oblivious to the pain as they attacked, then squared off and circled again and again. Brian’s goal, it seemed, was to kill Reuben. He snapped each time in a spot that would injure the smaller wolf the most.

Reuben was clever with his attempts. Each movement seemed to have purpose, which was to disable, not kill, his son.

Yips filled the air as fangs sank into flesh, and growls echoed. It seemed I had stood in the same spot for years watching them fight. One was desperate to kill me, while the other wanted to save me.

Nikki, I’m coming. I know where you are. Hold on,
Adam’s relieved voice soared into my brain loud and clear.

I nearly went limp with relief. If Brian could fight just a little longer, help would be here and it would all be over.

Brian seemed to be holding his own, and it almost looked like he was wearing the older wolf down. As if knowing that the others were on the way, Reuben lunged towards Brian’s neck. A split second before it would have been too late, Brian turned and his father ripped out his shoulder. Bone crunched and blood sprayed.

My hero went down.

Reuben backed up, and sat, satisfied, and watched as his son tried again and again to stand. Each time he fell back down, unable to stand and face his attacker. Nothing human remained in the silver wolf’s eyes, as he sat panting and watching. Blood dripped from his fangs. The silver wolf that would have been beautiful, now looked only like a thing made of nightmares.

He got up and padded slowly over to the injured wolf, and circled him slowly, as if taunting him. Only an animal remained, and the prey was lying in front of him helpless.

You are nothing like me. I tried to teach you the way, but you wouldn’t listen. You aren’t worthy of the skin you wear, and so now you must die, and the girl will be next.
His voice snarled in my head.

As if he knew the end was near, Brian turned his head and looked at me with sad blue eyes. He whined softly.

I’m so sorry, Nikki. I failed you. I couldn’t stop him.

“No,” I whispered. I wanted to stop this, but I didn’t know what to do.

Reuben stood over Brian’s head, baring his teeth in a bloody, triumphant smile. He looked as if he were ready to strike. The, he stopped, the wolf leaving him in a quick mist as he straightened and stood human once more.

“No more,” a clear, firm voice said beside me.

The animal was gone from his eyes, as Reuben looked longingly at the woman who stood beside me. The black pistol in her hands was raised and pointed straight at him.

“Anita,” his voice was a hoarse whisper as he took a step closer, and in that instant I felt such a sense of sadness, that it blocked out every other emotion that was inside me.

In the flip of a coin, he had lost his life. At least it felt that way. A bet against fate, if such a thing could be done. Well, he had done it, and rather unknowingly. The only problem was that he didn’t recall wanting to gamble the life that he had. He hadn’t known the price he would pay, that eventually he would lose the very essence that made him who he was. Every time he drew on the animal for its strength and courage, he let every bit of himself go. Each time less and less of himself came back. Finally, there was so little of what made him human that it rarely ever surfaced in his mind. It was just a tiny shred of humanity that hardly ever showed, buried so far inside that sooner or later, it would die just like everything else.

Until now.

Now, all the longing and sorrow was etched in his face as he looked at the woman who was once meant to be his. He took another step toward her, his arm outstretched.

“Stop,” Anita whispered, and a fine tremble ran down the length of her arms, causing the end of the gun to waver the slightest bit.

So transfixed in looking at her, Reuben didn’t seem to realize the moon, full and round, had come from behind the clouds, and the magic that had been his own, was slowly leaving him. The silver mist would have flowed across his body to transform him into his wolf was now seeping out of every pore of his skin and moving up to float above his head like a shining silver cloud.

The cloud hovered above him, shimmering slightly as each drop of silver joined it. As the last of the mist left his outstretched arm, all of the magic that had made him one of the Six left, too. His body looked older, his posture slightly drooped. His eyes, however, still shone bright with unshed tears.

The silver cloud moved over Brian’s head. In his next breath, it went through his mouth and nose. It moved so fast that it looked like a shimmering blur that had pierced him. His eyes flashed a brilliant blue and his back arched as he threw his head back in a soundless howl.

Unaware of what had happened behind him, Reuben shifted, as if to take another step toward Anita.

“Anita, I…” A black and white blur slammed into him and razor-sharp fangs ripped out his throat.

The bundle of fur and man landed a few yards away from us. Then, the wolf jumped up on top of the man’s chest and hurled out a ground-vibrating growl as if daring any more threats to come from him. As he saw the blood bubbling out of his neck, he yelped and skittered backward a few feet and sat down rather abruptly.

Wary, Anita kept her gun pointed at Reuben as she walked slowly over to where he lay. Blood pooled under his head, and wet, sloppy air sounds escaped from his neck as he tried to breathe.

The threat gone, Anita holstered her gun and squatted down next to Reuben’s head. His eyes never left her face as his lips tried to form the words he had tried to say. As his body slowly died, he took a final ragged breath, and forced them out in a ragged whisper, “I’m sorry.”

Anita made her way to where Brian sat, blood soaking his muzzle. His eyes still locked on the dead man.

“Brian,” she said quietly, “it’s alright now.”

Realizing his mother stood near him, Brian changed back from his wolf and looked down, as if ashamed. She brushed back the hair from his forehead, and put her tiny hands on either side of his face and forced him to look up at her.

“Whatever else you may be, you are always my son and nothing will ever change that,” she told him firmly.

He wrapped his arms around her and she crouched, rocking him back and forth as if he were just a small child, murmuring small soothing noises in his ear.

“Nikki!” The shout had me jumping nearly out of my skin as Adam bounded to me and grabbed me up close to him. He squeezed me, and then he sat me down and took me by the shoulders. His amber eyes looked frenzied and worried, “Nikki, how? I couldn’t…” He gave up, shook his head, and scooped me back up into him so tight that it was hard to breathe. He never set me back down as he took in Reuben’s still form, and the woman and boy sitting in the grass a few yards away.