Wolf Six's Salvation

The three soldiers began howling, their voices neither human nor wolf, but full of terror and pain. Blake fell to his knees, Joel and Evan writhing on the ground as though they were being burned alive. They pawed at their faces, scratching and tearing at the skin as fur started to appear. The older wolves stood in a protective circle. She could see Arthur kneel, whispering words of encouragement. Whatever he said seemed to help, as they stilled their hands, but their howling continued.

Troy the Giant rubbed his meaty hand across the back of his neck and let out a howl. It was different than the whines and howls of the soldiers: it was colder, and less about pain and more about power.

The five brothers seemed to shift in unison. Their huge muscles twisting and turning as though they were diving through moonlit water. It was graceful, almost beautiful, to watch them change.

Chloe's eyes darted to Jackson, both afraid and curious. Jackson's shoulders rolled as though he were taking off a heavy jacket. He dove into the moonlight like the brother's had, his form shifting before her eyes. He wasn't quite as graceful as the Kozlov brothers, but then again, he hadn't shifted as many times as they had.

Jackson was beautiful. His coat was white with cream and silver accents that caught the moonlight. She could barely take her eyes off of him as he moved in the moonlight, his coat shimmering like the snow, to flank the still changing soldiers.

Arthur and Quent were already in their wolf form by the time Chloe's eyes came to them. They were both gray with Arthur's ears tipped in white while Quent had black accents in his coat. The two of them trotted smoothly to the soldiers.

One white wolf, two gray, and five big brown ones surrounded the soldiers. Chloe couldn't see them clearly with the wolves guarding them, but she could still see them struggling on the ground. What had taken the older wolves seconds to do was taking them minutes. Their whines filled the air as they struggled. Strange combinations of wolf and human legs and arms jutted up into the sky, fur and skin merging and mixing. A head reared up, the face no longer human but not quite wolf yet and Chloe understood why Quent thought she might get sick.

It seemed to take forever, but Chloe's watch claimed it less than two and a half minutes, the howling stopped. Three wolves lay on the snow. Two were silver gray and the third was coal black. Their breaths came in short pants, frosting the air like trains. Slowly, the black one struggled to his feet and let out a howl.

Chloe shivered. She knew the voice was Blake's, but it was wolf, not human. The two silver wolves pulled themselves to sitting and echoed Blake's call. Now that they were upright, Chloe could see that they were bigger than even the brothers.

Arthur nudged Blake with his nose, pointing him toward the woods away from the camp. Blake turned to look at the window where Chloe sat watching, his mouth opening in what Chloe could only call a grin, before loping off. The two silver wolves followed, yipping and jumping through the snow like happy puppies. Five brown wolves merged into the darkness behind them, carefully watching and shepherding the newly changed shifters.

Quent and Arthur trotted behind the boys, Jackson turned from them, instead walking slowly toward the cabin. Chloe held her breath as he approached, lost in his wolfish beauty. He padded up the porch on silent paws, giving her time to turn from the window if she wished.

There was no way Chloe would have run from him. She was even considering unlocking the front door so she could bury her fingers in Jackson's coat, but she knew that she shouldn't. She wasn't afraid of him at all, instead feeling nothing but happy calm.

Jackson put his two front paws up on the outside of the windowsill, peering into the window. His eyes were wolf- golden, but flecked with the brown that Chloe loved in Jackson's eyes. She smiled at him, putting her hand to the glass. She wanted him to know that she wasn't afraid of him.

Jackson whined softly, pressing his black, wet nose against her hand. His breath fogged the glass until a wolf howl called to him. He jumped down, turning to follow the pack. Chloe couldn't pull her eyes from him. He loped easily across the snowy yard, his paws barely touching the ground. Just before he disappeared into the trees, he turned and looked back at Chloe and howled. She knew it was for her, and she kept her hand pressed to the glass.

With a graceful leap, Jackson's white form ghosted into the darkness of the trees and he was gone. Chloe sat at the window, watching the silver shadows in the yard shift as the moon rose higher into the night sky, listening to the howl of the wolves in the distance for a long time.

Chapter 29

Jackson sat in the warm sunshine on the front porch of the councilor's cabin. The snow was beginning to melt, though there were reports that it would snow again in a day or two. He ran his hands through his hair for the hundredth time, telling himself he needed to get it cut. He also needed to shave, but his razor was back on the base.

He checked his watch again, as he had every thirty seconds or so for the past ten minutes. Quent was supposed to come and take him back to Fort Baskerville so he could pick up his truck, but Jackson was half-hoping Chloe would wake up and come out of the cabin before Quent arrived.

He wanted her to come out because he wanted to see her. Wanted to see her reaction to him shifting last night. She had pressed her hand to the glass and smiled, but he needed to see her in his human form to be sure she was okay with him. He wasn't sure that in her situation if he would be okay with seeing the person he was sleeping with turn into a wolf.

He hoped she wasn't avoiding him and just pretending to sleep while he waited on the porch. He couldn't blame her if she was, though. He had gotten up to walk away at least three times, but each time he came back to sit on her porch and wait. It was the waiting that was the hard part.

The night before had been his best transformation yet. It wasn't just that he was getting better at it and gaining control, it was the fact that he was with other wolves. When he was with them, running through the woods, it was as if they could hear his thoughts. He didn't need words or emotions. He felt free for the first time in months of the demons that haunted him. The only time he had felt better was when he had been with Chloe.

The heavy wooden door creaked as it opened and Jackson sprang to his feet. He stepped off the porch, ready to give her room if

she needed it. Chloe stepped out into the warm sunshine and smiled, wrapping her arms around her as the cold air hit her. She closed the door behind her and went to the steps, standing on the top one so that she was just slightly taller than Jackson. He looked up with her with big, hopeful, brown eyes.

"Good morning," he said, his voice sounding strange in his own ears. "You sleep okay?"

She smiled. "Yup. You?"

Jackson shrugged. "Not really. Too much to do last night." He paused, looking down at his feet in the melting snow before coming back up to meet her green ones. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Chloe laughed, the light sound lifting his heart like a song. Her green eyes sparkled in the morning sun and she put her hands on his shoulders. "Why wouldn't I be? I wasn't the one out having adventures last night."

"So, it didn't freak you out?" Jackson held his breath, waiting for her answer.

"No. Well, maybe a little." She smiled. "Seeing Blake as a wolf was a little weird, but it was okay. It was actually kind of cool."

Jackson let out his breath, feeling almost light-headed. She wasn't scared of him. She didn't hate him.