The Shepard's Agony (27 page)

The smoke made her nose useless and the screaming fire prevented her from hearing anything, so she called out with her mind, praying that the change didn’t
affect him to the point where he couldn’t respond.

David?

She got no response.

Gwen crawled forward, through the kitchen and into the hall. She yelped when she came to close to a burning chair that singed her hind paw. She kept still and whined. That hurt.

David!
she called out again, louder this time. There was a very good chance that the change had killed him before the fire could touch him, but she didn’t want to believe he could be dead. It couldn’
t
be over just like that.

She forced herself to stop whining and move on, favoring the paw that hadn’t been burned. Dead or
alive
, she would find him and take him out of here.

The closet door in the hall was open, smashed from the inside out. When Gwen saw
it
, her ears perked and heart lifted. He was alive, he had to be!

She crawled faster and poked her nose in
to
see what was inside. Nothing, just the pile of clothes that had been sheltering David during the explosion. She put her nose right into the pile of coats and shoes to see if there was any trace of him
left
. Underneath the smell of
smoke
, she detected a faint trace of David, but the smell wasn’t entirely the same.

Don’t get your hopes up,
she told
herself
. Even though she wanted to howl with joy, he could have easily broken through the door and crawled off somewhere to die in some half
human
-half wolf state.

She heard the cabin groaning under the assault of the fire and knew that her time was almost up. If she didn’t find him
soon
, she would have to leave or have the roof of Bill’s cabin fall on her head.

Gwen pulled herself out of the closet to continue her search when a menacing growl from her left caught her attention.

She turned and felt her heart jump in her chest. David, it had to be him, he stood as a pure black wolf with his head down, growling at her suspiciously.

It’s me,
David
. It’s Gwen,
she said, trotting toward him and completely forgetting about the smoke in her eyes. She found him and he was alive, they could get out of there.

But
, when she was close
enough
, he snapped his jaws at her and backed away, his lip curled in a snarl to show her his fangs.

Then Gwen felt it and a prickly shiver crawled down her spine as she dropped back to her belly.

His head wasn’t lowered to keep it out of the smog, it was bent low because he was ready for a fight, the black hair on his back standing on end.

She was afraid this would happen. He didn’t know who she was. Evey’s potion had apparently been enough for him to withstand the change, but not enough for his mind to take control of the wolf.

She tried reaching out to him.
David, come on, it’s
me
. You know it is. Gwen, remember? I’m going to take you out of here.

She tried approaching him again, but he snapped
his teeth at her and backed into a burning wall, yelping when his fur caught fire.

She jumped and clamped her teeth around the skin of his neck, pulling him away from the fire and jumping up to try and smother out the fire with her own
body
. He seemed to think she was trying to attack
him
, fighting and clawing until he his jaws
were
around her neck and she
was
pinned to the floor.

Gwen’s heart pounded but she didn’t dare
move
. David, the
wolf
, could rip her throat out if she so much as breathed wrong and the fire was scaring him. She could tell he wanted to run but didn’t know where to go, it was the same with all wild animals. They hated fire.

She could feel the breath from his nose and mouth touching her neck and
face
. Slowly, David released her, stepped back, and cocked his head.

Gwen looked up at him curiously, wondering why he was studying her like
that
. She
finally
realized that, of course, his nose was useless in all this
smoke
, too.
But
, up close, he recognized her scent.

Gwen rose to her
feet
and the cabin groaned
again
. David jumped, searching for a hiding place.

Don’t run,
she said gently. Gwen doubted he could understand her, but she knew he could at least hear her thoughts. She just had to coax him out. When she approached this
time
, he didn’t snap at her like
before
. She snuffled his neck, touched his
nose
, and tugged on his ear.

Come with me, this way
,
she said. For a few
seconds
, he didn’t move and Gwen had a genuine fear that they wouldn’t get out before the cabin collapsed on them. The windows were smashing under the heat and there wasn’t a spot that wasn’t bathed in fire, but they could still get out if he would just come with her.

She looked into his wolf eyes.
Please trust me.

Amazingly, David moved forward and followed
her
. She let go of his ear so they could run out the way Gwen came in.

The door Gwen had broken open fell off its hinges and was tilted over their exit. They couldn’t even jump over it. She could see everyone, her father included, standing
outside
, waiting for her.

Gwen’s heart sank and she whined. Now what?

This
time
, David grabbed her by the ear and tugged, but he didn’t wait for her and sprinted off.

Where are you going?
She followed him, praying that David knew another way out.

She found him pushing a bedroom door open with his paws and she quickly followed, careful to stay in the middle of the hall should the burning walls catch hold of her coat.

Then
, she saw what he wanted her to see and her spirits lifted.

Not a door, but a window, one that had smashed with the heat, allowing them a way out
, but also more fresh air to feed the fire. A burning bed was blocking the way, they would have to jump over it.

Gwen knew if she stopped to think about
it
, the wolf would take over and her fear would never let her do
it
.
So
, she ran, leaping onto the bed and out the window so her paws scarcely touched the blankets on fire.

She was outside now, on the porch and finally able to stand without choking, but the porch was on fire and David hadn’t followed her.

David!
she barked and howled, pleading with him to follow. She stood on her hind legs to peer into the window but the black smoke assaulted her face.
We’re almost out! Come on!

She whined. Unsure of where he was or what he was doing until a black mass flew over her head and landed clumsily on the porch, nails scraping the floor until he stumbled and fell.

She wanted to laugh, instead she bit down on the scruff of his neck and pulled him up. They still weren’t in the clear yet.

This way
, she said, leading him down the porch, avoiding the flames until they trekked down the steps. The sight of everyone’s faces when they saw the two of them appear would have made Gwen blush with pleasure if she were a human. She told them David could still be saved, but did they listen?
Noooo.

The earth felt cool against her paws, a nice change from the hot fire she’d just exited, and she decided to lay down and cool off.
Just for a minute
.

David was sniffing around, exploring the new
scents
. He didn’t seem to mind when Jimmy knelt down to pet him, curiously touching his fur and scratching under his chin.

It was probably the first tim
e the former hunter had ever seen a live werewolf up close. One that wasn't in chains or trying to attack him, at least.

Gwen grinned wolfishly. David would probably be embarrassed if he remembered it when he changed back.

Her father knelt down. “Gwen, how do you feel?”

She let out a rumbling noise in her
chest before closing
her eyes. Her daddy would know that for what it
was
; she was fine and his hand was petting her coat in a soothing way that was making her tired.

She could sense that no one had the intentions of hurting David, and it didn’t seem as if he would run off despite barking at a squirrel, so she relaxed and let the darkness take her.

Chapter Seven
teen

This time when Gwen woke up, everyone kept their distance from her in case she flew from the bed and attacked someone.

They were right to do so, but Eric wasn’t quick enough and was backed into a corner.

“
Where is he? Is David okay? I can’t believe I slept so long, what happened?” The sun was up and she was back at the hospital in a similar room
to the
one she’d woken
up
in the last time. David’s scent was in the air but it was faint, it could have been hours since they were in the same room together.

Eric held up his hands, remembering how she’d punched John the last time.

“I—I—”

“What about his brother? Is he still around?”

“Yeah, I think so …”

“
Oh,
never mind
!” Gwen stomped away from him and spotted Larry, who was trying his best to be invisible.

“Daddy!”

“Uh, oh,”

She ran and nearly knocked him over, clutching his shirt. “Where is he? Is he alive? Did he leave?”

“
Stop, stop,
stop
.” Larry put his hands on her shoulders and backed her to an arm’s
length
. He smiled and smoothed out her poufy bed-head.

“Daddy,” Gwen snarled, and he pulled his hands away.

“
Alright, I get it, he went out to talk with Elaine some time
ago
. I think she wanted to be alone with him!” he called after her when she bolted for the door.

Gwen didn’t hear him, she was just so happy that David had
lived
and that her pack hadn’t hurt
him
. She wanted to see David one more time before he left for good.

When she left the elevator on the first floor of the
hospital
, David’s scent wafted to her nostrils and pointed the way. He was sitting outside on a wooden
bench
,
Elaine sitting
next
him
. She was holding his hand and talking about something that kept the both of them from noticing her there.

Now that she saw them together, Gwen didn’t want to disturb
them
. But a nagging feeling told her that if she walked away she would never see David again, so she waited. That
way
, if he got up and tried to
leave
, she could head him off.

She didn’t have to wait long for them to finish. Gwen didn’t know how to expect a mother who’d just found her grown up son to behave, but she had no problem with kissing his cheek and leaving David to his thoughts.

She didn’t have the face of a sad woman who would never see her only child again, but she did seem thoughtful.

Elaine looked up and saw Gwen standing in the
doorway
. Gwen blushed, feeling as if she’d been caught spying, even though she couldn’t hear what they were saying from the distance they were sitting at.

“
I just wanted to talk with him,
” she said.

Elaine smiled. “Well, he’s right there.”

Gwen tried to reach out to determine what Elaine was feeling, but her thoughts were so jumbled she couldn’t concentrate.

“
What were you two talking about?”
she asked as Elaine passed her.

“Just catching up. You’d better hurry, you’re going to lose him.”

“What?” Gwen turned and saw that David had gotten up and was walking away from the hospital.

He was leaving and he wasn’t even going to say good
bye
!

“Hey! Wait!” Gwen raced after him, something she found to be an incredibly bad idea because of all the sleeping she’d done the night before. Her bones felt like clay and she was panting and fighting to keep from falling on him when she caught up to him.

She failed when he put his arms around her and she collapsed against his chest.

“Are you okay? You should be resting,” he said, leading her back to the bench.

“
Me?” She couldn’t believe it. “You
turned
last night! You’re the one who should be in bed.”

In bed and not walking away from me.

“Actually
, it was two nights
ago
. We
think
it was the gas that kept you out of it for so long.”

She blinked at him when he sat her down. “Two nights ago?”

He laughed. “Yeah, you gave us all a scare.”

“And you’re feeling fine? No after effects from the change?”

He shrugged. “Not really, I’m always
starving
, but Elaine says that’s pretty normal for new
Weres
.
And
my neck hurts a bit. Why, were you worried?”