Authors: Nicole Taft
His eyes opened and for a second
they flashed red before returning to their normal hazel color. My little
daydream faded. He looked down on me and grinned rakishly.
“Good morning, my sweet.”
“Morning. Are you feeling a little
better?”
He lifted his head and inhaled
deeply. “Much better.” His hands squeezed me where they rested. He sighed,
rumbling deep in his chest. “So plump and juicy and delicious. I’ll bet your
heart is sweet and tender. I’m so hungry…”
I pushed myself off him
immediately. “Okay then, time for breakfast. Alex!”
Alex bolted upright, his eyes still
half closed. “What?”
“We need to eat.”
We kept breakfast short since I
wanted to spend as much of the day as possible looking for Marianne. I focused
on putting together a large meal for Wolf though. The last thing I wanted was
for him to get too hungry while we were away and start wandering the fields
looking for sheep.
“We’re going to the village now,” I
told him while Alex peered outside. “Are you going to be good by yourself?”
He was mellower than yesterday, but
mellow in a different way. He kept his head a little lower, his smile darker,
more dangerous. His eyes, though they weren’t gold or red, still held an
unpleasant element, as though he craved everything. I shuddered.
“Yes,” he said, his voice low and
smooth as silk. He slipped his hands around my waist. “I’ll be very, very good.
So good, I wouldn’t hurt a wood mouse.”
He grinned, his canines sharp in
the sunlight. I wondered if the Wolf I knew was even in there somewhere. I
nodded absentmindedly and patted him on the chest.
“Good. That’s…good. We’ll be back
if we find anything.”
He dipped his head and inhaled
again, licking my neck and then grazing his teeth over my skin. The sharp
points of his fangs scraped lightly over my flesh.
I pushed him away, breathing hard,
frightened and yet aroused all at once. He stared back, unblinking, running his
tongue over his lips. His intensity was almost too much to bear. That it
excited me was a bit disturbing.
“Be good,” I breathed. It was all I
could say. Then I retreated out of the barn, sliding the lock home behind me.
For the entire day Alex and I
scoured the town. We asked people about strange occurrences, anything at all
that seemed out of the ordinary. No one had anything to say. We looked for
tracks. We looked for strange houses, horses, or people. We’d circled the town
three times by afternoon, but the town was as cozy and normal as any small town
could be. The occasional sensation tugged at me, but every time I tried to
focus on it, it faded away.
Alex sighed, annoyed. “There’s
nothing here, Care. Are you sure she’s still in the town?”
“Wolf would have told me if she
moved.” Except it seemed Wolf was no longer in full control of his senses. The
full moon was tonight, though at the very least he wasn’t quite as violent as
the night before. At least, so far.
Alex folded his arms, glaring at a
nearby field. “Well this is just peachy. Our families don’t have any idea of
where we are, we can’t find this mystery kid you’re looking for, and the crazy
guy in the barn can’t be trusted.”
“He’s not crazy,” I muttered.
“Right. Sorry.
Half-wolf
,”
Alex said, as if being a half-wolf was any better.
I stared down an alleyway. Maybe
the thing had left with Marianne during the night and Wolf just wasn’t aware
enough to pick up on it. Maybe the moon had affected his mind and he lied to
us. Maybe…
I stomped my foot as if to
physically stop myself from thinking. I was sick of doubts, doubting myself,
doubting Wolf. I wanted answers; I didn’t want to run around in circles
anymore.
“Marianne is here. We just aren’t
looking hard enough.”
A couple started down the alleyway,
slowed, circled around for a few moments before turning and walking back the
way they came.
Strange
, I thought. The weird pull started again.
“Yeah, but I don’t think we can
afford to not find her for much longer. What if this thing wakes up and takes
her off again in the meantime?”
Another person, a woman, walked
into the alleyway.
“We’ll just have to keep tracking
her until we get her,” I said absentmindedly.
The woman turned around a few
times, lost, until she walked out again.
“Real reassuring, Caroline.”
I straightened. “There’s something
wrong with that alley.”
“What?”
“I just saw three people walk in
there and then walk right back out again.”
“So? Alleys are dangerous.”
I wrinkled my nose at him. “In this
place? During the day? And only six feet long?”
I strode toward the alley. This
time an old man started to hobble through it, only to get confused and wander
out again. I stopped Alex once we reached it.
“You stay here. Keep an eye on me
and see what happens.”
“What kind of plan is that?”
“It just looks like it makes people
decide not to go that way. If that’s true, I’ll just come back out and you can
snap me out of it.”
He sighed, shifting uncomfortably.
I walked down the alleyway slowly, taking
in as much detail as possible before whatever magic was at work hit me. There
were two doors on the small walkway, one set into the left house and one in the
right. The door on the right had a black square over it. As I drew closer, I
realized the square actually had a symbol on it. White—in the shape of a shield
or family crest—with a black bird spreading its wings on top of it, and
something coiling around it. A snake. Finally I stopped right in front of the
door and looked around confused, though not for the reason I expected.
I beckoned to Alex. “Hey, come on
down here.”
He came to stand next to me and
stared up at the crest. “I don’t get it.”
I shook my head slightly. “I don’t
know. Maybe it’s because we’re not from here.”
Alex grunted. As I stared at the
emblem, an image of bluebells flashed through my mind. I tentatively reached
out to touch the wall beside the door.
“Caroline, don’t. You don’t want to
wake anything up.”
“I don’t think it will,” I said. “I
think it’s still resting.”
Alex took his crossbow from his
shoulder and pointed it at the door. My fingers met the whitewashed wood. There
she was, Marianne. In my mind I could see her, laying on a bale of hay, asleep,
her hand clutching at the prickly grass. I gasped and backed off, letting my
hand drop.
“What?” Alex glanced at me out of
the corner of his eye.
“She’s in there. Marianne. She’s
asleep.”
“How do you know that?”
“I saw her. I don’t think this
house is real. Or something about it…” I shivered. Everything felt strange in
that place. “I don’t think we can open the door. I think we have to kill it.”
“Where the hell are you getting all
these deductions?”
“I don’t know,” I snapped. “I don’t
know. I just…. I just am.”
I could relate to Marianne in her
lost state. I knew what it was like to be alone and afraid. But the old witch’s
words nagged at me.
“You are the Guardian.”
What was going on here that
I didn’t know about? Whatever the case, I still didn’t know how to open the
door or deal with magic. We needed Wolf.
“All right. You stay here and keep
an eye on it. I’m going to go get Wolf. He might know how to deal with this.”
“Look, I don’t exactly know what’s
going on with him or between the two of you, but are you sure he’s functional
enough to come out here?”
“If not then I can just ask him and
come back.”
We retreated out of the alley.
“All right,” Alex said. “Go get
your wolf buddy. I’ll hang out right here. Too bad the radios don’t work.”
I gave his shoulder a squeeze and
ran off to the barn.
“Wolf?”
I peered inside the barn, my heart
thumping in my chest, a mixture of worry and running all the way there. I
slipped inside.
“Wolf?”
“I’m here.”
His voice was strained, as if it
took effort to get the words out properly. I looked around, walking slowly. I
still didn’t see him.
“How are you feeling?”
He sucked in a breath. “Bad. Very
bad. There’s something wrong with this moon. Something’s been done to it. To
us. I want to eat
everything.
”
Then I spotted him, lurking in the
shadows on the top of hay bales stacked high. The light caught in his eyes. They
gleamed reflectively.
“I might even be interested in
eating you.”
“You fought it off last night,” I
said. “You’re strong. You can do it again.”
He jumped down from the haystack. He
stared at me, smirking like he’d just shaken hands with the devil. I didn’t back
down. If I turned and ran it might entice him to chase me. If I cowered I would
look weak. No. I had to present myself as his equal just like last night. Just
like in a wolf pack.
“We need your help,” I said.
“Oh? And just what do you need my
help with, sweet Caroline?” He sauntered closer.
“Wolf, please snap out of it. Please
focus.”
He paused, but only for a moment. “I
saw you, smelled you, and knew you were different. Wolves all over would fight
for you if they knew what I know. Bound I may be, but only in certain things. A
wolf knows, oh yes, he knows.”
He slipped his hands around me,
locking his fingers together and resting them against my lower back. I let him.
Having his mate near him had helped last night; it might balance him out again.
He lowered his head to mine. His eyes flashed gold.
“And now I’m
hungry.
”
“You already ate,” I said
desperately. “Maybe—”
“Maybe you should tie me up,” he
whispered. He kissed me softly.
“Maybe I should,” I said, vaguely
wondering if there was rope around.
His entire body burned; heat
radiating against my body through his clothes.
He pressed his mouth down on mine,
rumbling deep in his chest. I kissed him back, bringing my arms up around his
neck. His hands knotted up in my shirt.
This wasn’t healthy. I’d seduced him
under the influence of magic, now he wanted me under the influence of the full
moon. Not the basis of a stable relationship. But I couldn’t ignore the
intensity of his desire, the wild passion he exuded. But still…
“Wait,” I said, pulling away. “Wait.
We need to save Marianne.”
Wolf growled low. His eyes had gone
yellow. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. He wasn’t hungry for food. Not
this time. He dipped his head and kissed me more forcefully this time. I didn’t
push away. A mad part of my brain suggested that I go with it. That maybe it
would help calm him down; feed the hunger as it were. Males always got crazy
when they wanted to mate, this might be my ticket to a saner Wolf. And besides,
his hands felt
so
good on my skin and he was such a good kisser and no
one had ever wanted me this much even if it was a case of moon thralldom.
Before I knew it I was on my back,
naked, with Wolf poised over me. His yellow eyes blazed, and in another moment
he was inside of me, kissing me, running his hands all over my body. It was
almost too much, to be loved this fiercely. He was everywhere, and I wanted
more. I pulled him to me, arched up against him, losing myself to each and
every movement. His skin felt like fire against mine, his teeth grazing my neck
as he grunted and thrust deeper. Moon or no moon, I dug my nails in and clung
to him, reveling in his animal fervor. It would be all right; he would exhaust
himself (and me) and come back down and we could save Marianne and it was so
good,
so good
…
Then it changed. And it hurt. He
was being too rough. Too violent. I struggled beneath him.
“Wolf, stop.”
He didn’t listen.
“Wolf, stop!”
He looked up at me and growled, a
low menacing one this time, and his eyes had changed. They were red again. The
red of blood and melted rubies. He bared his teeth.
Panic swept over me. This wasn’t
love. It wasn’t even animal lust. This was rape.
I struck out at him, but he caught
my hands and pinned them above my head. He used his other hand to hold my hips
to the floor while he drove into me. I twisted and screamed, straining against
him. He brought his head down and sank his fangs into my shoulder. I screamed
again, tears building in my eyes. My shoulder grew wet with blood. I’d made the
mistake of convincing myself that I could handle him like any other wolf, like
he could be studied and understood. This was not a wolf from my world. They
were wrong, sick, ruled by the moon. He was keeping me here until he was done,
biting me like a lion biting a lioness. I did not matter.
I squirmed, shouting and trying to
kick at him. He growled again at my shoulder. I managed to work one hand free
and punched him in the ear. He let go of my shoulder and snarled in my face,
but I swung my elbow around and struck him right above the eye. He yelped and
recoiled backward, giving me enough time to scramble out from beneath him. I
kicked him in the shoulder as I went. I managed to crawl around a stack of hay
bales, wishing that I had a knife or at least my bear mace.
Wolf rocked back and forth, a hand
to his face. He whined as blood trickled down his cheek. I’d opened a spot over
his eye. Then he groaned and took his hand away, staring at the red liquid as
if trying to remember why it was there. He licked his lips, which were still
wet with my blood. His eyes went wide and he looked frantically around the
barn.
“Caroline? Caroline!”
“I’m here,” I said quietly. I
peered at him over the hay, too drained to move again.
“Oh,” he choked out. “Are you all
right? How badly did I hurt you?” He reached out to me, but I recoiled behind
the hay.