Collected (6 page)

At the end of the hall, we spotted some
shoes.

“This isn’t good,” Alex muttered.

“Are you sure about that?” I pointed farther
down the hall. A trail of clothing had been left on the floor. It
was a pair of superman underwear and Miles’ jeans.

Superman underwear, huh? Superman usually
left his undies on.

My nose drew me to the floor. “I smell
humans. A guard maybe.”

Alex gathered his friend’s clothes, and we
continued down the hallway at a faster pace.

The strong scent of wolf pulled me forward.
How far had he gotten in wolf-form?

At the end of the hallway, we came to a set
of doors with an eye-level window. Alex peered inside, then shrank
back against the wall. I did the same and thought I’d pass out
right then and there.

The snapshot in my mind was crystal clear.
Two leprechauns, dressed lumber mill workwear, held Miles, in human
form, by the arms while a single human guard stood there cowering.
A third leprechaun, wearing a business suit, interrogated Miles. He
snapped at our friend, his curse-laden shouts reaching the hallway.
With a thick cane, the leprechaun struck Miles’ in the face.

Those bastards. This wasn’t good. At all.

Alex paced for a moment, and then the back of
his hand grew hairy. A grumble rose in his throat, soft, yet
menacing. He looked over his shoulder at me.

It was do-or-die time. Was I ready to play
with the big kids now?

I nodded and removed my shirt. When it came
to being a werewolf, there was no room for modesty. You stripped in
front of your werewolf neighbors or even the local supermarket
clerk. It was a part of my life, and I accepted it despite the
hang-ups I otherwise had.

Naked, I succumbed to the change. Alex wasn’t
far behind me. This was a quick one, and it was painful. My knee
cracked, and my spine snapped to accommodate my new body. The wolf
writhed under my skin, joyous to burst forth. Finally, my hair grew
along my body and my snout extended. I collapsed on the ground,
momentarily exhausted for pushing the transformation so
quickly.

Alex nudged me with his nose. My claws
scraped against the floors as I tried to find my footing. It was
time to fight.

He stormed through the double doors, and I
was right by his side. All of them looked at us—except for the
human. A lovely welcome wagon for their guests.

Shit
.

Alex twitched, and then he surged forward. I
raced behind him, already hungry for the hunt. They released Miles,
and he dropped to the floor with a thud. My targets blossomed in
front of me like beacons. Two leprechauns to the left. They held
bats. Their positions shifted like scattering dice.

The leprechaun to the right, who hit Miles
came at us as well, mouth contorted in a sneer. His magic filled
the air with an acrid stench. “C’mon, little doggies. Come for your
supper.”

Alex crossed the floor. He leapt through the
air, tackling the two leprechauns. They tumbled into a heap of
boxes and tossed-over equipment. The third leprechaun with the iron
cane goaded me on, and I ran faster. My mouth opened, ready and
eager to snap at him.

There was no aiming for me. No thinking. Only
the driving need to take him down. If I let my human side intercede
in any way, I’d be in a heap of trouble.

The leprechaun appeared to be as tall as a
man, yet the form I hit was short and wide. But my trajectory was
true. I slammed into him, and he barreled over me into a long
table. The flesh, which was covered in wool, filled my mouth.

My momentum was too fast, too forceful. We
stumbled over the table, his meaty hands clutching fistfuls of my
fur, and my mouth locked on his pudgy gut. As we tumbled over the
other side and fell to the floor, I took the brunt of it, landing
on my back. The leprechaun landed on top of me, his eyes
blazing.

“You little bitch!” His fist hit my side, and
with it, came a spark of heat. Leprechaun magic singed my skin. I
yelped, but refused to let go of him. For good measure, I bit
deeper, shaking my head until I found skin and cut through.

Take that, you little bastard. Let’s see how
you like pain.

His screech of pain sliced through my
eardrums. We rolled again, this time with me on top. In situations
like these, there was only instinct. This leprechaun would kill me
if he had the chance. I surged forward, switching from his gut to
his neck. He’d pay for what he did to Miles, but then something
grabbed me at the scruff of my neck and yanked hard.

“Back down!” Miles barked.

Alex, in human form, pulled at me when I
didn’t budge.

“That’s enough,” he snapped at me, driving me
back.

I scampered backward, hitting a support pole
in the middle of the room.

The leprechaun laid in front of me, bleeding,
but his chest moved nonetheless.

“We didn’t come here to kill,” Alex said.

The other leprechauns lay crumpled on the
floor. The guard was long gone.

Inwardly, I cursed at my lack of control.
There was a reason why I hunted alone. Moments like these were
reminders of such.

Alex and Miles left the room, with me racing
behind them. At least my brother picked up my clothes and bag as he
ran back the way we came. Even with the darkened hallways, our path
by scent was clear.

The parking lot was a welcome sight, along
with Alex’s truck. I darted ahead of them and jumped into the back.
Good ole’ Stan greeted me with a snort and offered me an opened can
of beer.

Uh, no thanks.

“You smell like blood.” His words were smooth
and soft. Almost hungry. His hand reached out to touch me, but he
backed away when he heard the others coming.

Alex caught up with us and got into the
truck. Miles limped after him. An angry bruise marred the side of
his face, but he stilled grinned like the whole thing had been a
wonderful adventure.

The truck’s wheels screeched as we raced out
of the lot and onto the road. I found a safe spot at the corner of
the truck bed, opposite Stan. I wanted to run away. To jump out of
the truck and not think about what I’d done and the blood that
covered me.

“Nat, you want to change by the side of the
road?” Alex asked.

I curled into a ball and turned my head away.
My body slowly shook. This wasn’t how I wanted the night to end.
Even if I did transform back, I was absolutely disgusting. What the
hell clung to my fur? I sniffed my side. The hair had been burned,
and my flesh stank of leprechaun magic.

All of this was my price for wanting the
nutcracker and the papier-mâché boy. A price that I realized wasn’t
worth it.

We made it back to Stan’s house. He jumped
out—with his pack of beer—and stumbled into his house. No matter
how lonely his life had looked, I was glad to be away from him.
He’d probably sleep late into the morning and not have an
afterthought of what transpired.

Alex should’ve pulled away, but the shadows
around the house seemed to deepen. Become more ominous. The single
light from a lamppost barely lit the lot. The willow tree nearby
rustled as if a breeze moved through it, but nothing else stirred.
A swampy scent flowed through my nostrils, ever so faint. The truck
moved to turn around, but I stood and then leapt out the back.

“Nat, what are you doing?” Alex called
out.

Fear coursed through me, but the wolf didn’t
dwell on such things. I slowly crept toward the thick brush. When I
got close enough, I noticed the soil was dry, except for a darkened
patch near the tree.

So it was finally time to settle the
unfinished business regarding my deal.

I returned to the truck. Alex peered out the
open window, his gaze set on the swaying tree.

“I’d hoped we wouldn’t have to take care of
this,” he said.

When he didn’t move, I whined. Didn’t he
realize I wanted this over with as well? His hands moved inside the
truck and I heard familiar clicks. The sounds of a camera’s memory
compartment opening and closing. Alex tossed the memory card, safe
in a plastic case, into the air and I caught it with my mouth.

“Make it quick,” he murmured. “At least, you
won’t talk back as a wolf.”

Dry grass became wet as I approached the tree
line. The
vodyanoy
emerged from the bushes, taking form from
a murky pool of water. Its gelatinous body swayed in time with the
willow.

“Do you have what I want, Wolf?”

I spat out the memory card on the ground. As
to how it would wipe off my slobber and open the case, that was
none of my concern. Black water bubbled up from the ground around
the plastic case and then swallowed the card with an audible
slurp.

“Our business is finished, Wolf.” The water
spirit laughed with a sneer. “I suggest you be mindful of what you
want to collect in the future.”

* * *

I expected us to head back to the bar, so
Alex could scope out those girls, but he drove to Miles’ apartment
on Main Street. The two men talked, but I couldn’t hear them over
the roar of the radio’s rock music. Miles walked a few feet away,
then he turned around and came to the back of the truck. He leaned
against the side and stared at me. Seconds stretched out, and then
I almost saw Thorn looking at me. Their eyes were different, but I
had the same fleeting feeling that sucked me in once in a while:
longing. A longing for someone I didn’t have anymore.

“Damn, it’s been a long night.” He touched
the side of his face and winced. “I think they broke my cheekbone.
Well, good looks like these come back every time.”

I snorted—or at least what could be called
one from a wolf.

“So you are paying attention to me.”

I turned away, but my pointed ears were still
up.

“I haven’t told Alex I’m leaving town next
week. I kind of hoped he would take the other job my boss offered
him over the phone, but he declined. He said he didn’t want to
leave his family. Especially you. Even for the big bucks.”

I sucked in a breath. It was easy to feel
alone without my pack. Without my family. There were only so many
people who still spoke to me. Who still believed in me.

“You gonna stay like that all night?” Miles
asked softly.

He extended his hand toward me.

The gesture was universal. I slowly slinked
from the corner and approached him. In his human form, he appeared
so vulnerable. In a way, it was beautiful. Germs lurked all over
him, but my wolf was in place now and pushed me forward to receive
affection.

His fingers slipped through the fur on my
flank before they settled on the top of my head. I cringed a bit
when he brushed against the bruised skin on my side. How long had
it been since someone touched me—like they
cared
?

“What happened to you?” He reached for my
burned skin, and I angled my side away from him.

“I want to say goodbye to Natalya the human,
please.”

The change back to human form was a bit
easier than the one to wolf.

“You happy now?” I asked with fists clenched.
I couldn’t look at him. I couldn’t look at anything and not think
about how disgusting I was. My heart raced and everything in me
screamed for release. A cool breeze brushed against my exposed
skin, so I moved to cover myself.

Miles offered me my clothes. “You were a lot
braver than I’d expected. I wish I would’ve tried harder to make
things work between us.”

I managed a nod and tried to focus on his
chin. That would be far more manageable. He could’ve turned me away
like everyone else, but this time, I was allowed a moment.

Miles hadn’t been much of a gentleman
earlier, but this time he at least tried not to stare at my boobs
as I put on my shirt. “I’ve always watched you from afar, but I
suspected any attempts I made as your brother’s friend would’ve
come off as weird.”

You got that right.
I laughed, and the
movement hurt my side like hell.

“I didn’t expect you to laugh at that one.”
Miles smiled, but then his demeanor became serious again. “Do you
remember when we used to play football in your backyard?”

“Yeah.” Those kinds of memories made me feel
good inside. Before we’d attended Toms River High School, Miles had
come over every day during the summer.

“For the life of me, I still haven’t figured
out how you could throw that particular ball and Alex
couldn’t.”

I snorted. “He seemed to throw everything
else just fine. He even made junior varsity football that
fall.”

“Yeah, he had.” He sighed wistfully. “You
might find it weird, but during that summer, I saw you as more than
my best friend’s sister. You usually kept to yourself, but for once
you actually played with us. I’d never noticed it before, but you
had the cutest freckles across your nose. And you had an arm like a
quarterback bent on the destruction of mankind. Did you really
break Harvey’s nose right before school started?”

My face heated with his kind words. I tried
to laugh it off. “Harvey? I haven’t heard that name for years. I
think I did break his nose. That poor human boy refused to play
with us after that.”

Silence lingered between us for a bit. The
“what could’ve happened” question would never apply in our
regard.

“I’ve been on the market for the longest time
now. Why not man up and make your move on me?” I asked.

“I thought about making my move after high
school, but you moved away to go to college. Then you were with
Thorn
, so I suspected I’d never get a chance.”

“I’ll ask again. Why not
now
?”

“Well, when you went rogue a few years ago, I
got the impression you didn’t want to be with anyone.”

So there it was. Misunderstandings and
assumptions about me really were rampant in this small town.

“You should go inside, Miles.” Keeping the
bitterness out of my voice was difficult.