Wolf Bargain (Wolfish 3)

The shrill sound of it echoes through the forest, drowning out all other noise.

Kaleb is here, but his body is slouched motionless against the base of a tree. From what I can see, he’s already badly wounded, holding onto his bleeding side and he tries to fend off oncoming attacks from Remus’ pack.

I ignore Lydia’s outstretched hand trying to hold me back and run toward him as I try to balance the rifle on my shoulder and the sudden crushing fatigue of the run here. Adrenaline keeps trying to kick in to override the pain and exhaustion, but there’s a point at which even that trick of the brain and body fails to work.

When I reach Kaleb, I stand protectively next to him and try to lift the rifle onto my shoulder to shoot whoever comes to attack him, but I can barely lift it. The effort of moving my muscles right now is causing my vision to blur and those little starts to sprout back into view.

“Sabrina …” Kaleb’s voice is weak as he tries to plead with me to leave him be. He doesn’t have to finish speaking, I can see what he wants in the look on his face.

More stars spring into my vision as I shake my head, turning back to hold the gun aloft at anyone who dares approach us. Even as I lift the rifle higher, a heady dizziness rushes in, making my knees almost give way beneath me.

No, no, no … I can’t pass out right now.

A shifter prowls closer through the trees, stepping out of the underbrush to circle just out of reach. Its head is bowed, its eyes on me—watching me, reading me, waiting for a moment to strike.

I fight with my body to stay coherent, to look stronger than I am. I know that if I don’t, Kaleb will die.

The shifter stops right ahead of me. It lifts its head, sniffs, then levels me with an intense glare.

Now.

I lift the gun higher, ready to shoot …

But then a pain explodes into my lower abdomen, a pain that resonates in my memory as the same pain that I felt the morning Remus first poisoned me. It’s the same pain I felt just before I lost consciousness. It radiates throughout my entire body until my knees, already unsteady beneath me, give way entirely.

It isn’t the shifter in front of me who lunges forward. Another shape appears from my peripherals, and even in my blinding pain, I recognize it.

I recognize him.

I see Remus himself coming toward me as if in slow motion. He alone of his pack is still in human form, but his jaw is opened wide and his canine teeth visible.

I know what’s going to happen next.

He’s going to kill me and there is absolutely nothing that I can do to stop it. I hear Kaleb cry out in both pain and fear as he sees Remus coming too and knows that he can’t protect me now. Even in his broken state, he tries to reach up, to tug me out of the way, but his muscles have no strength. His fingers can’t even grasp at the fabric of my pants.

I know that if I close my eyes I’ll pass out, and I don’t want to give Remus the satisfaction of making this easy. I keep my eyes wide-open despite my fear and despite the most excruciating pain that I have ever felt in all of my life.

Just as Remus is within arm’s length, ready to sink his teeth into the side of my neck as Kaleb struggles futilely to place his mortally wounded body between us, a sound pierces through the air. Like my scream earlier, it cuts through the sounds of fighting—drowning everything else out.

But this isn’t just a scream.

It’s a shrill howl that hurts my ears and rattles my brain. It’s a sound that appears to have stopped everyone in their tracks, even Remus. When I look to see where the source of the noise is coming from, I’m shocked to see that it’s the wolf girl that hates me who’s making the howl, the one who had been promised to Rory.

Her single, powerful sound has brought all of the shifters on both sides to a frozen and obliging halt. It’s the strangest thing I’ve ever seen. It’s as if someone literally pushed a pause button and the battle has frozen in place.

Everyone stares at her in disbelief, even Romulus and Remus, waiting with bated breath.

“Stop!” the girl screams once her howl has abated and she’s able to use her human voice. Her body has shifted forms again, so swiftly that even she didn’t manage to keep her clothes with her this time. Somehow, she’s an even more frightening creature in the nude—her body smeared with blood and grime.

It’s her face though, that keeps all eyes on her, that stops all breath. “Stop this at once and all of us be damned for what’s happened,” she spits. “Do you know what we’ve done? Do you know what they’ve done?”

The girl glares at Rory, Marlowe, and Kaleb, while everyone stares at her in utter confusion.

“This is blasphemy! This is a curse! Don’t you see? Can’t any of you sense it too?” she wails. Her eyes are rolling wildly now, her head thrown back as she takes in a huge lungful of chest-heaving air.

Although he still looks uneasy, Remus makes a low growl at her, a signal for his subordinate to back down and allow the rest of the packs to resume the battle. But it doesn’t work. She doesn’t back down. Whatever is fueling her outburst is more important that following the directive of her alpha, which I thought was impossible to refuse.

“Look!” she screams as she points in my direction, all eyes following her to rest on me as I still struggle to stay conscious. “Look at her with more than just your eyes, you fools!”