Wolfsbane, A Paranormal/Urban Fantasy (The Maurin Kincaide Series) (5 page)

With shaking hands Olwyn released her grip on my face. She watched in shock as her pack knelt to recognize their new Alpha. Their new Alpha! Her husband was dead. Tre
mors racked her body and I felt her shift before I saw it. There was shouting. People yelling grab her, stop her. She was airborne and headed straight for Cash, snarling ferociously. She was all beast, the woman in her died with her mate. Anticipating this would happen Cash was ready for her. Just before she landed on him he connected a backhand that sent her soaring across the room. The blow would have killed a mortal woman but Olwyn didn't stay down for long. After collapsing on her first attempt to stand, she found her second wind. Fueled by the insanity losing one's mate obviously caused she lunged again. Cash thwarted her attack just as easily the second time.

Before I had the chance to wonder why no one was making a serious effort to stop her I was crushed beneath the massive weight of her wolf. I was struggling to
push her off me, trying desperately to keep her from clamping down with her long canines and puncturing my flesh. I didn't know if I could be turned but I had no desire to find out. When I was attacked by the Afrit I hadn't been able to stop poison from spreading through my body alone. Would I have the same kind of reaction to a wolf bite? Aidan wasn't back from Iceland yet and I was pretty sure I wouldn't be getting any Alicorn from the Coven. I needed to keep her teeth away from my body but I could feel her cold, wet nose press against mine. Damn, she weighed more as a wolf than I would have imagined. I screamed her name in an effort to call the woman I knew forward but there was no recognition in the wild eyes of her wolf. I called for Conry. Where was he? I hammered fist after fist into her ribs with my right hand all the while keeping my left forearm crushed against her throat. She yelped and I knew my guardian had a hold of her. Hot, stank wolf breath assaulted me. She was still too close. Conry's teeth dug into her hind leg. He managed to drag her off of me enough for me to jam my fingers into her eye. She finally reared back. Without the combined weight of Olwyn and Conry pressing me into the concrete I was finally able to buck her off. Conry never let go of her hind quarter, dragging her further away. I scrambled to my feet, instinctively reaching for my sword. I knew I would have to kill her to stop her. She was too far gone for there to be any other outcome.

My fingers closed around air instead of the hilt of my sword. Shit. In my haste to talk to Arawn I had left more than just Conry at home. If Arawn had noticed he'd failed to bring the Retaliator through the between with Conry. I could have done without the lesson he was apparently trying to teach me. I honestly hadn't given my sword much thought before seeing as how I was supposed to be among friends. A mistake I wouldn't make again.

"Cash, a little help would be nice!" I yelled. A grunt was his only response. I decided it was worth the risk to take my eyes off Olwyn long enough to see what was happening with Cash. While I had been busy fighting off Olwyn, Cash had gotten caught up in a fight of his own. It seemed some of the pack refused to acknowledge him as their Alpha and remained loyal to Roul.

Unlike the perfectly choreographed fight scenes in mo
vies, they didn't jump him one at a time. He went down swinging under the weight of all four wolves. A Timber wolf erupted from beneath the mass of fur and deadly teeth that had been attacking him. He had already evened the odds to two against one when I brought my attention back to Olwyn.

Conry still had her trapped in his jaws. She rolled onto her side and clamped down the side of his head.
Olwyn's wolf was stronger without the woman to keep her in check. She managed to bite down hard enough to cause Conry to loosen his grip for a second. A second was all she needed. She rocketed up from beneath him. Her paws found purchase and she barreled into my shins. My back made contact with the hard concrete floor a half second before my head did. She was on top of me again. I couldn't breathe, from having the wind knocked out of me and Olwyn standing on my chest. Conry had a hold of her again and proceeded to drag her off me. Her claws dug in, shredding my clothes and stomach. My flesh felt like it was on fire where her sharp nails had torn threw it and I screamed. The searing pain spread across my stomach and up my chest. My heart rate picked up until I thought it was going to explode. I couldn't keep the screams in as the pain racked my body.

Conry managed to get on top of her. She fought beneath him as he tore through her dense coat, ripping meat from bone. I forced myself to get up. My body was barely coope
rating but somehow I had to finish this. Conry finally released her. Olwyn lay whimpering in a bloody heap at my feet.

"Put the bitch out of her misery." Cash placed a gun in my hand.

"You're the alpha, why don't..." The look Cash gave me stopped me from finishing the question. He was alpha now and I was not going to give him shit in front of the pack.

My arms trembled from the effort it took to stay stan
ding and hold the brushed steel .50 cal ae Desert Eagle out in front of me. I didn't know if I could handle the recoil in my current state. I took a deep breath to find my center and steady my hands.

"She could be like this for days before she died. Her m
ate is dead, she let her wolf consume her. She'll never be the same again." Cash had mistaken the shakes caused by the fever burning me up from the inside out as hesitation to kill Olwyn. I couldn't afford to waste any energy in correcting him.

My palms, like every other part of my body had broken out in a cold sweat. I alternated rubbing my hands down the front of my jeans then returned to a stance perfected over three years of required range time while working for SPTF. I wasn't holding the Retaliator but the result would be the same. This gun could take down a bear shifter with no pro
blem. Just like my sword, there was no healing from the mess the .50 cal would make. I looked down the sight. It shouldn't have been so hard to focus on the unusually large target. I could make this shot with my eyes closed from across the room but I couldn't seem to keep it lined up. I wasn't going to be able to stay upright much longer. Fuck it. With a bullet this big there was a little room for error, right? I didn't have to hit her forehead dead center. I took another deep breath, exhaled and pulled the trigger. The bullet hit Olwyn and then I hit the floor.

I didn't have control of my body any more. I succumbed to the seizures that had threatened to take hold before I pulled the trigger. Cash was shouting orders to his new pack as he dropped to his knees beside me. Waiting until the seizing subsided, he rolled me onto my back and tore off what was left of my shirt exposing the inflamed gouges that ran the length of my stomach from rib cage to the waistline of my low rise jeans. Cash gave a hard tug, forcing the bu
tton and zipper to give way. I was teetering on the edge of unconsciousness but I still managed to grab his wrist.

"If you don't let me heal you you'll turn." Cash growled.

"Don't. Know. That. For. Sure." I ground out.

"You want to take that chance? You couldn't stop the
Afrit's poison from spreading. Now move your fucking hand or I'll have Tybalt restrain you. Will somebody get her dog out of here for fucks sake! I can't do anything with him hovering over her." Cash took a small jar from one of his wolves, while two more attempted to drag Conry away - only managing to move him back enough for Cash to work and only because he let them.

I tried to focus on how interesting it was that Tybalt wasn't one of the wolves fighting Cash after he won the challenge and the pack instead of the pain. Tybalt had been
Roulss second. If anyone was going to avenge the fallen alpha my money would have been on Tybalt. I lost my train of thought and damn near my mind as Cash spread some sort of salve over my wounds.

"Careful, too much of that shit and she'll die from the Wolfsbane." Tybalt warned.

"I'm not trying to kill her, just the possibility of her becoming a wolf." Cash snarled.

"Alpha, I'm not challenging, " Cash roared but Tybalt persisted. "She's not a were. You can't just kill her wolf with an over dose of Aconite like some rogue. You don't know for sure if she'll even change. Wolfsbane is deadly to humans. We could call in the Coven."

"Don't you think I know that? And we are not calling the Coven. Half of them tried to kill her last month. They'd probably give her Belladonna instead of Alicorn. I've used Wolfsbane before. It was my job to deal with the rogues and their victims in Boston. I've used it to separate wolf from man more times than I care to remember. I've done this before on a human. A small dose, applied immediately to the wound will kill the infection before it has a chance to take hold, like an antidote." Cash said, trying to calm his wolf and focus on me.

There were a million questions swirling around in my head. What did they mean separate a rogue from its wolf? They could do that? Kill someone's wolf? He'd done this to a human? But I'm not human. Before I had a chance to ask any of them I was
overcome with pain. If I thought I was on fire before I was mistaken. That was just smoldering embers compared to this. My blood was suddenly molten lava. I pulled my knees up to my chest, rolled onto my side in the fetal position and instantly regretted it. Pain shot through my mid section, like someone was scrambling my intestines with red hot pokers. I kicked my legs back out and rolled over. My back arched as the pain racked through my stomach and my blood felt like it was boiling again. I was being cooked from the inside out. Something was wrong. The Wolfsbane wasn't working. I needed to tell Cash before the fever or whatever the hell this was fried my brain. The only thing that came out of my mouth when I tried to talk was a scream so I clamped my jaws shut.

"Hold her legs Tybalt. It'll pass Maurin. The burning will stop. You're doing great, you're going to be fine." Cash was holding my shoulders down, whispering encouragements in my ear like we were in a
Lamaze class instead of laying on the concrete floor with hell fire burning my insides. Despite his best efforts to conceal it, I caught the faintest hint of uncertainty in his voice.

"Damn, she heals fast. You think enough of the Wolfsbane got into her blood stream before she knit back together?" Tybalt was just shaking his head, still in disbelief over how fast I had healed. He moved a hand off one of my legs to trace the freshly closed skin.

I knew it was scab free and the light pink fleshy color of new scar tissue. I may be able to heal fast but I still hadn't mastered it yet. Injuries this bad obviously weren't outside my abilities but what I had just done was the equivalent of a field dressing compared to what I should have been capable of. I was collecting scars like some people collected coins.

Thankfully Cash was right and the pain was sub siding. It no longer felt like my body was the same temperature as magma. It was easier to think now that I seemed to only suffer from severe flu like symptoms. I managed to talk through the nausea. "Don't touch me." My need to not have anyone touch my all too sensitive skin came out sounding more like repulsion at having
Tybalt's hand on my stomach. I saw the flash of anger and hurt in his eyes. He had tried to help me, even after the only pack leaders he had ever known were killed. He immediately recognized Cash as alpha and followed his orders knowing full well as second in command to Roul the other wolves would look to him to follow or fight. I wanted to smooth things over but didn't have the energy for more than "Sorry, still hurts like a son of a bitch."

I forced myself up onto my elbows, grimacing as I felt the new scar tissue stretch. I looked down the length of my body sizing up the Freddie Krueger like slash marks on my
otherwise flawless stomach. "Damn, there goes bikini season." I tried to make light of the situation.

"There's the Maurin Kincaide I know." Cash chuckled.

Tybalt yanked his tee shirt over his head and tossed it to me. I thanked him and pulled it on. He was easily a foot and a half taller than me and twice as wide so I was swimming in dark blue cotton but it sure beat sitting there in jeans and a bra.

Cash extended his hand and I took it, allowing him to pull me to my feet. Sensing the worst of my healing process was over Conry shook off the two wolves holding onto him and settled himself at my feet. I bent down, trying not to wince as the scars stretched again, and wrapped my arms around
Conry's neck. I even let him lick my face a couple of times. Cash cleared his throat, breaking up our little reunion.

I gave him a sideways glance as I untangled myself from my dog. He gave a short, tight nod to his left. Evidence of the challenge that took place for the right to lead the Salem pack still littered the ground. Remnants of clothes shredded from shifting, tufts of fur and blood where
everywhere. Just beyond Cash lay the bodies of Roul and Olwyn. If I hadn't been here for the whole brutal and bloody battle I doubt I wouldn't have recognized them as the former alpha and his mate. Roul's body was covered with bruises and claw marks. His eyes frozen in shock, reflecting the exact moment he realized he was about to die. His bottom jaw barely attached by a strap of skin on his neck rested on his chest. I swallowed hard, trying not to throw up. Olwyn was stretched out next to him. A hole the size of a Kennedy half dollar in her face where the apple of her right cheek would have been was the only evidence that I had shot her. Never having fired a Desert Eagle before I half expected to see her head blown clear off. Something told me the exit wound would be larger but I wasn't rolling her over to find out. Looking at their lifeless bodies I was surprised, or maybe it was disappointment, at how little I felt.