Shifter's Moon (Paranormal Shifter Romance) (13 page)

             
He stared back up the hill and time seemed to slow down as the grey wolf lunged at him.  He could make out every detail – the wrinkled skin of its muzzle, the gleaming white fangs, the dark gape of its mouth moving toward his unprotected neck.  He yelled and what happened next became a blur of moments and adrenaline.  Three shots rang out and he felt the wolf collapse on top of him and roll off. 

             
The gun in his hand smoked and he felt his arm quivering with the recoil.  He looked over and heard one last protracted breath leave the wolf’s lips as it closed its eyes. 

             
“Lia,” he whispered, and got to his feet.  He held his side.  There was blood, and he’d definitely broken a rib.  It hurt every time he tried to breathe, but he began to climb back up the hill.  There was a scream, and just as quickly it was cut short.

             
Jake’s heart dropped and he began to run, the gun hanging limply in his hand. 

             
As he pulled himself up the outcrop and stared over it he saw the white wolf bent over another figure.  Tears burned at his eyes as he realized it was Irma.  She had kept her word, and bravely stood against the white wolf, even as it had advanced.  He let out a blood-curdling yell and ran toward the white wolf, who turned at his approach, its muzzle soaked with fresh blood and its eyes lit with an unnatural lust.  He aimed the barrel at the wolf and felt, rather than heard, the last two bullets leave the chamber.  His whole arm shook with the effort and he felt the muscles straining. 

             
There was a sound like someone punching a pillow and the white wolf recoiled, as if being struck by some invisible foe, and growled fiercely at him as it staggered back and finally collapsed on its side.  Jake sprinted toward the black shape that was unconscious against the rock.  He stifled a feeling of nausea as he passed over Irma’s corpse and huddled down beside Lia.  She opened one of her yellow eyes and he heard a painful whimper escape from her mouth.

             
“Lia….I’m so sorry….I’m,” he said, reaching his hand out to touch the black sheen of her head.  She turned her head and sniffed at him.  She tried to shift her body weight but she was too injured.  Jake noticed that she was still bleeding from a wound at her neck and tore his shirt off and pressed it against the fang marks.  The cold night air bit against his bare flesh like a knife and he struggled to wrap the fabric around the wound like a tourniquet.  Her fur was a stiff mat of dried blood and the look in her eye was enough to fill Jake with rage. 

             
I’m too late,
he thought, and bit back on his own failings.  “I should never have left you,” he said, and cradled her head.  She raised her head against his chest and licked at his hand.  Fresh tears poured out of his eyes, which were set like stone.  “I’m so sorry, Lia,” he choked. 

             
There was a mutual understanding in her eyes, and those yellow eyes that he had once feared in his dreams were now familiar to him, and they were not filled with malice but with love.  Above them the shifter’s moon broke from its veil of clouds and he saw her fur light up with its pale glow.  He bent down and kissed the narrow space between her eyes, felt the heat of her body as he had always known it, a kind of desperate energy. 
Everything I’ve done… and I couldn’t save her
, he cursed. 

             
He nearly jumped when a voice called out to him from the darkness.  He swiveled to where the white wolf had fallen when he’d shot it, but it was gone.  There was only a dark patch of blood against the grass. 

             
“I have to give it to you, you’ve made this a lot more difficult than it needed to be,” the voice said, and he heard a sharp painful cough. “You’ve killed my brothers.  That’s not something I can let slide.”

             
“Show yourself!” Jake shouted, and raised th
e gun.  The moon caused it to glint evilly, and he squinted, trying to perceive the location of the voice.

             
“I want you to know,” the voice said, and Jake saw a figure slip out of the shadows from behind a rock.  It was the same biker he’d had a run in with at the convenience store, and he was naked except for the long tattoo down his shoulder.  There were several bleeding wounds on his torso and leg from where he’d shot him in wolf form, but there was a look of adamant revenge on his face. 
He won’t give up without a fight
, Jake realized.

             
“Stay back!”

             
“I want you to know… that I’m going to make sure she suffers.  I’m going to leave you alive… just so you can hear… her screams,” he grinned.  A trickle of blood ran down from his brow and slid past his right eye.  His black hair hung in a sharp mat over his face and as he stumbled toward them Jake’s hand tightened on the pistol.

             
“Don’t make me kill you,” he muttered once.

             
The biker grinned and made another step forward.  Jake frowned and pulled the trigger.  There was an audible
click
of the empty chamber.  The biker let out a cruel laugh.  “Out of bullets already?  In that case, I’ll take care of you the old fashioned way,” he said and dropped to his knees.

             
That wretched sound of bones breaking and reknitting and flesh being torn and reassembled filled the air and Jake groaned as he saw the human shape spasm awkwardly.  White fur grew from the pale flesh and he saw the huge head of a wolf taking form.  The biker screamed as his transformation took hold, and Jake grimaced.  In his lap Lia’s head stirred and he looked down and saw her golden eye locked on him.  He gazed back into it and suddenly understood what he had to do.  He couldn’t localize the emotions that swam into his brain, but he responded to them without a second thought. 
Lia, let me save you.  Give me the power to protect you
.

             
Lia’s black head moved and with the last of her effort he saw her jaws open and the black lips peel back over her gleaming teeth.  He held his arm out and closed his eyes.  There was a snap, like a trap being sprung, and then a sharp pain like ice that flowed into his arm and seemed to reach every nerve of his body at once.  He let out a cry and lifted his head towards the sky.  Lia’s jaws tightened briefly on the strong muscles of his forearm and he looked down and saw blood trickling from between her teeth and running down his fingers.  She let out a small whimper and suddenly her grip loosened and she fell unconscious.

             
Jake gently pried her jaw off his forearm and laid her head down on the grass beside him.  The white wolf in front of him had backed away several paces, baffled by the unexpected development, and suddenly afraid of the cold hatred he saw flash in his enemy’s eyes.

             
“You… stay… away… from… her,” he muttered through his pain, and collapsed to his knees, his bare chest flexing tirelessly and his arms shaking like wiry snakes as he bore witness to his own transformation.  

             
It was an odd sensation, to feel his body shift into something else.  He saw fur growing from his hands and a sudden inexhaustible agony swept through him that blinded his vision.  He could feel his shoulders growing, the talons stretching from his fingers and toes.  In an instant he realized that he was picking up the scents of a hundred different things at once.  The smell of the grass, the cold smell of stone, the remains of smoke and charred wood from the acreage.  And blood, an overwhelming scent of blood that cloaked everything in its red mantle.  He let out a howl and toppled forward.  It was all over in a few moments, and where once Jake had been standing was now a grey-streaked wolf.

             
The white wolf whimpered and then let out a low growl, still seething with hatred but unsure now of his ability to handle this new opponent.  Jake returned the growl and they stood facing each other for long moments.  Finally the white wolf let out a desperate snarl and lunged forward.  Running headlong to meet the challenge Jake bolted at his adversary.  Time seemed to slow down for him again, and he felt a surge of adrenaline course through his body as he was able to perceive every detail and movement.  Mid-jump he turned his body briefly and felt the teeth of the white wolf sink into his shoulder.  There was another sharp slap of pain but he bore it as he kept moving forward, waiting for the perfect opportunity. 

It finally came, and the white wolf, locked onto Jake’s shoulder, left his neck open for attack. 

             
There was no emotion, no thought, only action.  Jake tasted blood, heard a snap, and both animals collapsed in a heap.  Slowly he stood up and looked down.  The white wolf’s hind leg twitched once and then stopped, and he realized he’d broken its neck. 
Over
.  Grunting with the fresh wound of the fang marks in his shoulder Jake hobbled away from the corpse and staggered toward Lia.  He bent down and licked at her face, but there was no movement.  Slowly he lifted his head and a gust of wind churned over the hill, sifting through his fur, and he let out a heart-rending howl that seemed to startle the night and then shatter it into silence. 

             
As he curled up besides the black wolf he saw the glinting outline of a wolf caught in the stars, running forever across the heavens.  Somewhere in the back of his mind he could remember a story of a girl who had become a wolf in order to save her village. 
And what I have become to save a girl
, his lupine thoughts pronounced, and he closed his eyes.

Chapter Twelve

Six Months Later

             
Lorelei hands caused an explosion of flour to lift into the kitchen.  The smell of cinnamon and apples was abundant, and she enjoyed the feel of working the dough under her strong hands.  Her arm still tingled occasionally, but it had healed well, and she cast a wizened look at a small girl in a sun dress that was standing beside her. 

             
“Okay, Samantha, the first step of any good pancake is butter.  Why don’t you measure half a cup here, dear?” she said, and Samantha’s face brightened and she nodded furiously. 

             
Lorelei smiled and wiped her hands on the front of her apron.  Outside the sun was cutting through the clean cold air.  There were still islands of snow on top of the gardens and on the paths, but the spring light had the promise of warmth, and the old woman smiled in spite of herself.  The commune that Father Arrel had arranged for her to become a part of consisted of a several families.  It was a simple life, and she relished the feeling of community and hard work.  The past half year seemed like a sort of dream, one which she hadn’t entirely woken up from.  She wasn’t certain she wanted to.

             
“Is that enough?” the young girl asked, holding up a measuring glass filled with yellow butter.

             
“That’s perfect.  Now we have to add it to the flour and batter,” Lorelei said.

             
When they’d finished and the pancakes were put into the cast iron oven, Lorelei stepped outside for some fresh air.  Samantha ran ahead of her and chased after a squirrel through the brown husks of dead grass.  Lorelei laughed and stepped along the muddy gravel path that led past several outbuildings.  One of the old patrons smiled at her and waved, and she waved back.  Soon it would be time to plant the crops.  It had been a hard winter, but it had only served to draw her closer to these people who had accepted her, and in turn she had done whatever she could to return the favor.  She stepped down past the commune and toward the handmade stairs that led down to the wide black pebbled beach.  The ocean was unusually calm this morning, and she squinted, trying to see if she could make out the breaches of orca or grey whales.

             
She was caught in a sort of reverie and didn’t hear the small footsteps behind her until a skinny hand settled on her shoulder and she whirled.  Lia smiled back.  She had braided her black hair into long whips that she tied back with a strap of leather, and she had on a pair of baggy camouflage pants and a black tank-top and there was a renewed vivaciousness to her.

             
“There’s my pretty girl,” Lorelei said.

             
“I smell something good cooking,” Lia said, smacking her lips.

             
“We’ll have some pancakes ready in just a little while,” Lorelei replied. “Aren’t you cold, you’ve got nothing on?  You’re going to catch a cold.”

             
“Oh, stop worrying about me.  I’ve always burned warmer than most.”

             
“Well, at least you share a hearty temper with the best of them,” the old woman nodded.

“What are you looking for?” Lia said, gazing out over the edge.  She still had to use a cane, as her injuries had not entirely healed, but it wouldn’t be long now before she would be able to join the other younger members of the commune in hunting expeditions.

             
“Oh, nothing,” Lorelei said. “I think I’ve found everything I need, now.  How are you feeling?”