A Werewolf's Moon (The Council) (19 page)

“Hey, sorry to interrupt.”
Venna said from the doorway. “Can you come with me, Quinn?”

I headed for the door, knowing
Henry
would have everything under control without me. “What’s wrong?”

“
Pepper
’s burning up. It’s like she has a fever.” Venna lead me up to the second floor. She opened the door to one of the guestrooms off the landing past a suit of armor. The Langley’s had a thing for suits of armor and medieval weapons.

“It’s freezing.”
Pepper
was huddled in the center of the bed, bundled up in the blankets. I could barely see her nose peeking out from under them.

Venna ran across the room, feeling her forehead. “But you were hot. You were burning up.”

“She’s going to flash hot and cold.” I told the witch, hoping we got through this night quickly. “Maybe we can find a heating pad or electric blanket.”

Venna shook her head, red curls flying. The smell of ginger cookies lingered on her. “Sorry, we don’t have any of those. I could get Zane to run to the store though.”

“Yeah,” I said when
Pepper
nodded under the blankets.

“I was wondering…” Venna turned her back to
Pepper
and looked up at me, blue eyes glowing softly. “What if we knocked her out?”

“Physically?”

“No, put her to sleep. Flora could give her some herbs. I’ve seen her do things like that before.” She said. “What if we put
Pepper
to sleep for the worst part of the turning?”

I’d never thought of that. “It’s worth a shot.”

Pepper
groaned. “Give me the drugs, Venna.”

The witch laughed on her way out the door, “Let me call Flora and see what she says.”

While
Venna was gone I sat on the bed with
Pepper
. She was miserable, but surprisingly chatty, and crawled right into my lap. I was warm, but holding her was like trying to hug a Popsicle. “You think my dad’s going through the same thing as me?”

I shrugged, rubbing her arms to warm her up. “Probably, it’s a little different for everyone.”

“I feel like I have the flu.” She kicked off the covers and slid away from me. I tried to put them back around her, thinking she didn’t know what she was doing. “No, it’s too hot.”

I put my hand on her arm and hissed. “You’re on fire.”

“I’m thirsty too. My mouth feels like the Sahara.”

I told her to sit tight and phased to the kitchen for a glass of ice water. There I found Venna talking to Zane. He shot out of the kitchen without a word. Shortly after the room filled with a
gray
light, and Flora
was dropped off by one of her relatives
. She had a large brown box under one arm and went straight to the sink.

“What can you do?” I asked the raven haired witch.

“It’s not going to be easy. I spoke to Aunt Irena before I left. She said sedating someone in the middle of a turning is tough, but with the rig
ht mix of herbs, it can be done
.” She sighed, sifting through the brown box. It was full of little glass bottles and jars. They contained things that looked like dried mushrooms and fuzzy plants and leaves. I had no clue what any of it was. “I have a tincture I’ve altered. When I increase the dose, it should make her sleepy. Actually, considering she’s mostly human, she may pass right out.”

“But can it hurt her?” I didn’t want to drug
Pepper
and risk doing harm…like her not waking up.

“Oh, no.
We may even have to give her several doses, considering the way her fever will burn. Aunt Irena said the high fever will decrease the amount of time between doses.”

Glass of water in hand, I went back up with Flora and Venna.
Pepper
was shivering under the covers, so I tossed the water in the bathroom sink and climbed back into bed with her. She locked her arms around me and buried her face in the c
r
ook of my neck.
H
er nose was so cold
I yelped
.

Flora gave
Pepper
a shot glass full of the herb mixture. Judging by the disgusted look on
Pepper
s face as she tossed the amber liquid back, it didn’t taste good.

“Now we wait,” Flora smiled and sat on the edge of the bed. She pulled a bundle of dried leaves from her pocket and a lighter. “Just breathe deep, and close your eyes.”

My nostrils tickled and I sniffed the air, “What is that?”

Flora set the leaves in a dish and placed it on the bedside table.
“White sage and lavender.
Clean the air and calm the spirit.”

Right.
“Whatever
works.
”

After a few minutes
Pepper
was breathing evenly and relaxed. She w
ent completely limp against me.

“Why didn’t your Aunt Sarah suggest this?” Flora twirled the long braid of her black hair around her fingers.

“She does things the old way. Once she told me that going through the pain
is
every human’s rite of passage.”

“Poor Captain Peterson.”

I agreed. He was probably having a hell of a time.

“I think we should go,” Venna backed for the door, motioning for Flora to follow. “We’ll be downstairs if you need us.”

“In two hours she can have half of a glass.” Flora set a blue bottle and the shot glass on the bedside table too. “If it doesn’t work, come get me, and we can up the amount.”

An hour passed.
Pepper
mumbled and groaned a few times. I could tell when she got cold, so I’d turn up the heat on the electric blanket Zane dropped off and hold her, or I’d peel off most of the covers when she started to sweat, and pace beside the bed.

Flora came back at the two hour mark.
Pepper
was in and out of it. After a second dose of the tincture, another two hours passed. She started to toss fitfully, going from hot to cold so fast I couldn’t keep up. I just paced around the room, watching the clock on my phone, thinking time had slowed to a snail’s pace.

Just a couple more hours and we’d be in the clear.

I only hoped it went just as smoothly.

Chapter 19

Pepper

Not much of a dreamer. That was me. I pretty much forgot everything as soon as my eyes opened. But the dream about the wolf with the red eyes would be burned into my mind forever.

God, when did it get so cold?

I felt like I was on a block of ice.

I cracked my eyes open when the bed dipped. Quinn sat next to me. His heat, plus the electric blanket really helped. I tried to reach out and touch his scar, but my arm felt as if it was weighed down with bricks. I hoped this passed soon. I couldn’t stand being so cold…

Holy mother of—my skin flashed on fire!

Forget ice. I was in Hades. I felt like marshmallow being held over a campfire, or an egg on a sidewalk in mid-July. I wanted to inspect my limbs to see if they were smoking…nope. They were normal.

I looked up at Quinn, my eyes wide now. He said something and pulled off the blanket, leaving the bed. Flora suddenly was floating around me. The colors were all swirling together, and I had another shot of that damn drink. It was so bitter and nasty. But things started to dull, thank god, and I closed my eyes again.

I woke up what felt like seconds later, thinking I was getting close to being done, when the pain started.

It was kind of like cramps.
But all over.
All the way to my fingertips.
I went hot and cold so fast I didn’t have a reprieve. It was agony. But Quinn was right by my side. He was a good werewolf. I had no complaints.
Until he disappeared.

I wasn’t awake, but I could feel he’d gone. I wanted to scream.

“Get back he
re you mangy wolf. I’m scared!”

I thought I heard someone laugh, but I didn’t care who it was, because I could feel his presence again. It was like a soothing balm over my skin when his hand picked up mine. I was doing okay now, and I started to wake up again, but when I opened my eyes, I didn’t see him. I looked at the window across the room.

The moon was full and white and bright. My gazed locked on it. I felt mesmerized.
Just enthralled.
So many things raced through my mind. I know I should feel scared, shaking from head to toe with a fear that rivaled any I’d ever felt before—but I wasn’t.

I should want to run, put miles between me and the werewolf who claimed I was now like him—but I couldn’t.

I could only lock my blurred gaze with his golden eyes and wait for the moon to rise, for the pain to end, and for my new life to begin.

I turned back to look at the moon. Fire and ice flashed through me again. The room spun. I closed my eyes, and my breath left me.

Chapter 20

“Are you going to answer that?” I asked, shoving my head under the pillow. A phone rang somewhere in the room, and it was going to drive me nuts.

“Nope,” Quinn said slowly.

It kept ringing.
And ringing.
And ringing…

“Quinn, answer your phone.” I opened my eyes and met his. They were bright gold, and in the dim morning light, shed an eerie glow.

He
smiled,
standing and stretching from the arm chair he’d sat in by my bed for most of the night. “That’s not my phone.”

“But,” I nearly screamed when I heard someone answer it, saying hello. “Was that the
Henry
’s phone?”

He smiled, “Yup. Welcome to my world.”

I bolted up, knocking the covers off and ran to look in the mirror. No fangs. No fur. And no tail! “Ha, wow. I look the same, and it smells so weird. Like, me, like you…and you smell good by the way. Have I told you? Oh, and I can smell my shampoo. It smells good too, but a little metallic now.”

Quinn watched me prowl the room, literally following my nose. “You get used to it, I’m told. But I was born this way, so I don’t know any different.”

I didn’t know what to do first. So I ran to Venna and
Henry
’s room to borrow some of Venna’s clothes. Then I bounded down the stairs and ran into Venna in the kitchen. She was smiling and happy this morning and hugged me.

“How do you feel?” she asked.

“Uh,” I really thought about it. I just felt like me, only my senses were heightened. “I’m not sure. More alert?”

I went to the fridge and helped her get everything we needed to make bacon and eggs. It was awesome. I could smell the frying pan heating up.
The shell of the eggs.
The plastic the bacon was wrapped in. “Muffins?”

Venna pointed at the pantry and I followed my newly improved sniffer until I located a tub of orange cranberry, light and fluffy muffins, courtesy of Venna’s foster mother, Mara. She was always making something, and I knew her muffins. I grew up on her lovely muffins.

Lord, I had to get used to my new nose fast or I’d make a fool out of myself.

“Those were in a sealed container,” Venna laughed as I opened them on the island counter.

“I feel like a superhero,”

Quinn came up behind me and snagged a muffin. “I could smell these upstairs.”

“Duh, Mara makes the best muffins.” I bit into one and sighed.

After breakfast, I went out into the yard, breathing in fresh air and the roses. Mold, mushrooms, Bruno…ugh. Not sure I wanted to smell some of his particular creations.

I walked around the house, just taking in all the sounds and smells. Quinn trailed behind me, amused.

I even smelled a rabbit.

It was like furry animal and dirt…and carrots.

“Can I see my dad?” I asked after we’d been walking for a few minutes.

Quinn frowned, pulling out his phone. “Hang on.”

He sent a text, and a few minutes later there was a reply. “Yeah, you can.”

“So he’s okay?” I bounced on my toes, so excited and relieved my dad was alive. I’d been too terrified to even think about what had happened to him. “He’s like us now too?”

Quinn leaned down and kissed me, “Yeah, but there is something you should know before we go to my aunt’s house.”

My exploring had taken us pretty far into a field behind the
house. It was full of wild flower
s and rolling green grass. I sat on a soft spot and Quinn thumped down next to me. What he began telling me was the last thing I ever thought I’d hear.

“She thinks my dad is her dead husband?” this was crazy, but so was me being a werewolf.

He shrugged. “She wouldn’t have thought that if he only resembled him in looks.”