Blood for Wolves (27 page)

What the hell is this?
I
struggled to catch my breath.
What has this place done to me?

Alex trumpeted and reared around to
stand over me, threatening the alphas with his sharp antlers. The wolves didn’t
move. Instead they merely watched as I recovered. I managed to get to my knees,
sucking in deep breaths of air as the pain subsided. The alpha male moved
forward. Alex snorted and pawed at the ground.

“No,” I gasped, putting a hand on
his chest, “it’s okay.”

He backed off a little, still
grunting and kicking up a few leaves. The alpha touched his head to mine.

You are different. I am sorry. You
have been hurt.
He licked my cheek, then gave my forehead a light bump with
his.
You taste delicious.

I wanted to smile, but couldn’t. I
settled for rubbing one of his ears, and fell into silent speech.
Were you
hurt in the fight?

We had three packs to their one.
I was not, but lost two, the others one each. They fled soon after.

I’m glad you didn’t lose too
many.
The light of the day was fading, and with it the temperature. I
shivered.
I’m cold.
I wasn’t nearing hypothermia yet, but if the
temperature dipped too low and the rain kept up, I would.

He looked up at the dark clouds, heavy raindrops
striking his muzzle. He faced the other alpha. I couldn’t quite understand what
he said since he wasn’t talking directly with me, but I thought I caught the
word “den.” After a few more moments he had his answer. He pushed at me with
his nose.

Come. She has a place for you.

I stood and beckoned to Alex. “They
have somewhere we can stay.”

We followed the two packs west for
about a mile until we came to a spot where the foliage grew thicker,
overlapping on itself to create a surprisingly large hollow. I ducked inside. It
was still wet, but not as much as sleeping outside would be. The two alphas
trotted in.

Your brother is too large to
come in. He will be fine outside as that.

I sat down in the leaves,
rearranging the coat around me in a feeble attempt to cover up as much as
possible. I glanced around as several more wolves came in.

The alpha sat down close beside me.
We will stay with you tonight.
He lay down.
But tomorrow we must
leave.

“In that case,” I said, and took
off the coat. I wrung it out as best I could near the edge of the hollow and
then folded it in half. I placed it on the ground beside him and then lay on
top of it. It was still damp, but it would be better than the cold ground. I
rested a hand on the alpha’s neck.
Why leave?

Not our territory. Not every
pack knows about you.

I nodded and curled up next to him, draping one arm
over his big form. The other alpha took up a spot behind me with the other
wolves huddling around us and each other. Though they were damp themselves,
their coats had great waterproof abilities. I quickly grew warmer, sandwiched
between two fur coats. I buried my face into the alpha’s shoulder and sighed. He
didn’t smell like my Wolf, just the familiar scent of regular wolves. Pain
tweaked in my chest for a moment. I groaned faintly. The alpha male nuzzled his
head against the top of mine.

“Do you have a name?” I said, not knowing how to ask
since I couldn’t do any more body language.

He shifted ever so slightly.
No.

Of course not
, I thought, and drifted off to
sleep surrounded by wolves.

I awoke still tired, in a strange place between cold
and warm. Areas of exposed skin were damp and clammy, the rest of my body cozy
from the wolves’ body heat and fur. On the whole, I felt rather like the thing
the cat dragged in. A soft snort outside the hollow alerted me to Alex’s
wakefulness. I pushed myself up with one arm, groaning. Amazing how just a few
days ago I’d felt clean and delicious and loved. Now I was soggy, gross, and
wanting to kill something, preferably in the near future.

The male alpha was already awake and watching me. My
movements caused a domino effect, letting all the other wolves know they could
now get up and leave. The rain had stopped sometime during the night, but the
clouds remained, bringing in a dreary spring day. Yuck. I’d hoped for the sun
so I could warm up and dry Wolf’s jacket while we walked. No such luck. I ran
my fingers through my hair in an attempt to loosen some of the snarls.

The alpha licked my cheek. The action was so abrupt,
I was too surprised to do much more than give him a blank stare. He cocked his
head.

He is lucky he got to you first.

“Hardly,” I muttered with a scowl.

We must leave now.
He touched his nose to
mine.
I am sorry your mate hurt you.

I swept a hand down his side. It might be the last
time I touched a wild wolf.
I’ll live. Take care.

I crawled out of the thicket with them, and within
moments they disappeared into the forest, running silently through the trees. Just
before the alpha vanished, a thought struck me.

“Wait!”

He stopped atop a ridge, standing between two trees,
strong and proud. No matter what this place had done to me and its wolves, he
was still beautiful; a powerful, intelligent creature, one that had saved our
lives at the risk of his own and his pack.

“What direction is the castle?” I called.

He shifted his stance a little, facing slightly away
from me.

Go straight this way.
He glanced back.
I
hope you succeed.

Then he was gone.

I rubbed my eyes until Alex nudged
me with his nose.

“Yeah,” I said wearily and slung
Wolf’s damp coat over my shoulder. I checked to make sure that Marianne was
still around my neck. Then we started walking.

The day was another long one of
nothing but hiking. I kept praying to the sun, asking it to burn through the
clouds and wash us in its light, but it refused. The day remained dull and
tired. Funny. Just like me.

Sometimes Alex insisted upon
carrying me, much stronger and faster in his stag form than his human one. Not
being on my feet was a massive reprieve. My boots weren’t prone to giving me
blisters, but any more time in them and they threatened to. At least my feet
were still dry. I ate the last little sad bit of jerky I found in one of the
coat pockets. Thoughts of carrots and steamed veggies and bread danced through
my mind. We passed through the forest in silence. No birds sang. Small animals
huddled away in their burrows. Alex smelled nothing to startle him.

I remembered at one time I used to
like hiking. How long had it been? A week? Two weeks? It felt like a month. Were
mom and dad and my stepmother freaking out? Had they called the police? Were my
sisters talking to newscasters about the disappearance of their stepbrother and
sister in the woods? Had the weather held up long enough for them to find our
prints at the pond? Not like it would do any good. They’d never find us. And
they’d certainly never believe Alex was no longer human.

As we traveled, an increasing sense
of foreboding gnawed at me. I gazed at the trees around us, looking through the
gloom of the day for anything amiss. Nothing. But the feeling continued to
grow.

It peaked when we saw a darker
shade of gray ahead of us, overtaking the expanse of trees. A wall. The wall
that surrounded a castle.

“Wait,” I said, putting my hand on
Alex’s neck. “Stop.”

I slipped the key from around my
neck and wrapped it around my ankle instead, the same way I’d hidden the winged
necklace from Wolf. I slipped my thick hiking sock over it. The key was bulky
and awkward, but I’d deal with it.

“Okay,” I said. Alex snorted, and I
put on Wolf’s coat, yanking at the lapels. “Let’s do this.”

Together we moved forward. The
trees ended, leaving an open expanse around the castle. A wall around thirty
feet high of gray stone circled it, and I guessed the castle took up the space
of an entire city block. It soared into the sky in a startlingly violent way,
with pointed spires and numerous towers. I got the impression that on a good
day, it would look impressive and even pretty. At the moment though, it gave
off a depressing air, as though it were lamenting that it wasn’t being used to
its true purpose. A shiver ran through me.

I shook off the sensation and
strode forward, Alex at my side. We stopped at the massive gate of a mahogany
colored wood. Metal ran across the boards for reinforcement. I gazed up at it. We
were here. We’d found it. This place had to have someone in it that knew magic.
Someone that could fix Alex and Marianne. There had to be people here I could
trust, despite all my feelings. This whole trip I’d hardly encountered anyone
trustworthy. Wolf not counted among them. I ditched the thought. I didn’t need
to think of him now.

What with all the heavy-duty
fortifications, I expected for at least someone to be on the wall. Not that I
was any expert on castle duties, but there certainly wasn’t anyone looking out
for visitors. What happened to the Sentry? Were they all out hunting wolves? I
scanned the ground. Fine. If no one was going to welcome us in, I’d just have
to make my presence known. I picked up a hand-sized rock, stepped up to the
gate, and pounded hard.

“I demand entrance to this bastion
by the name of the House of Red and the House of Hood!”

For several long minutes, nothing
happened. Alex huffed and gave his head a little toss. I didn’t have the same
communication skills with him as I did with the alpha wolf, but his statement
was clear enough. This was bullshit.

“Yeah,” I muttered. I banged on the
gate again, harder this time, making my hand hurt in the process.

“I demand an audience with the
Steward! Open these doors!”

Finally the head of a Sentry popped
over the top of the wall, a black silhouette against the drab sky.

“Who calls?” he yelled.

“My name is Caroline McKenna,” I
paused for a brief second. “I am a sorceress that brings important news to the
Steward of Hood House. Let me in.”

“What is that beast with you?”

Another shadow appeared over the
wall beside the first.

I tentatively reached out with my
senses. The palace had magic in it, but I couldn’t pinpoint it. Perhaps it was
latent magic? Protecting? Whatever the case, I wasn’t going to trust anyone or
anything with my information until I could be sure.

“He is my beast. Now let us in!” I
shouted back.

The two Sentries spoke to each
other, the soft tones of their words floating down to me. What the hell was
their problem? Why didn’t they want to let me in? Was it because I was standing
next to a huge buck? I growled to myself and fished my matches out of the coat.
I dumped three out of the waterproof container, aiming for a bigger flare-up
for them to get the idea.

“If you don’t let us in this
instant,” I struck the matches and they blazed to life, “then I will burn down
this gate myself!”

As if to emphasize my point, Alex
trumpeted and swung his antlers menacingly.

“Hold! Hold!” yelled the Sentry.

The two of them disappeared, and
within a few minutes the gates slowly ground open. I tossed the matches into
the wet leaves and smashed them down with my boot.

At least six Sentries greeted us,
crossbows drawn. Big surprise there.

“Relinquish your weapons,” one of
the Sentries said.

I again tried to figure out where
the magic originated from, but couldn’t. I wished my skills were honed better.

“No.”

Now they were surprised. A few of
them glanced at one another, not exactly sure what to do in the face of an
outright refusal.

“You cannot enter and see the
Steward Dunstan so armed.”

“Too bad,” I said. “I’m not giving
them to you.”

The tension vibrated between us. Someone
cleared his throat.

“If you are a sorceress, then why
do you carry such items?”

I grinned at the Sentry who’d
asked. “Always be prepared.”

After a few more minutes into our
little standoff, one of the Sentries lowered his crossbow and stepped forward.

“Miss, we’ll let you into the
palace with your arms, but I’m sorry, you cannot see the Steward this way.”

I grumbled to myself. This guy
seemed to be the leader. Or at least, more leader-like than the others. I realized
I didn’t even know how Sentries functioned. Were they like cops? Soldiers? Was
there some kind of chain of command aside from just answering to the Steward?

I stared around at the men in their
black coats and wide-brimmed hats. I needed to talk to the Steward about the
werewoman, and at this rate I wouldn’t ever see him. I sighed and shrugged off
the crossbow.

“Fine,” I said, handing the bow,
bolts, and then the sword to the Sentry. “But I’m not happy about this.”

A few of the men around us still
hadn’t lowered their own crossbows, and some of them were looking at Alex in a
dangerously admiring way. I pointed at them.

“He stays with me. If any of you so
much as
think
of shooting him, I’ll fucking kill you.”

I didn’t think they knew what the
word “fuck” meant, but I’d put enough emphasis on it that I felt certain they
got the point. They put down their bows, shifting uncomfortably.

The head Sentry handed off my
things to one of the other men.

“Now,” he said, “what is it you
have to tell the Steward about?”

I debated in my brain how much to
tell them. “It involves werewolves and a prophecy.”

That got them going. The Sentries
murmured to each other, growing more uneasy by the second. Apparently those
were the magic words, because the head Sentry tipped his hat and gestured ahead
of him.

“Follow me.”