His Wolf (Wolf of My Heart) (25 page)

Unseen by
Isak
and Bo, I grabbed my knife off the bed and squeezed myself between them. I lunged at Maverick-wolf, stabbing him in the side. The knife deflected off a rib or something, but he still howled in rage and whirled on me. Bo and
Isak
abruptly came to life, two giants shaken from their shock by my feeble attempts to save Erik. They charged into the fray, and though probably unable to tell one wolf from another, still managed to throw one of the bad guys over the edge of the loft. He crash landed on the second level with a howl of pain.

Leaping from the loft,
Isak
followed. He held up his arms. "Bo! Toss her down to me."

What! No
freakin
' way. Before I could run, Bo scooped me up. The next thing I knew,
Isak
was forcing me down the ladder from the second level to the first.

"B-but Erik--"

"Has Bo to help him. Erik made us swear we'd get you out of here alive no matter what, and that's what I'm doing." My feet had no sooner touched the ground than he rushed me toward the front door.

But there was one
Were
we'd forgotten: Red.

Red lunged at
Isak
from the shadowy hall. They crashed into the wall and then the couch. A table splintered when
Isak
fell across it. With a cry, I jumped on Red's back and tried to pummel his head and face. He easily threw me off. Just then, the front door crashed back.
Greger
and Marten burst into the cabin, bettering the odds.

In no time it was over. Someone flicked on a light.

I saw a prostrate wolf on the second level; two more in the loft. Red lay at my feet, out to the world thanks to the sturdy metal flashlight Marten clutched. Sidestepping my captor, I charged across the living area to the ladder. I got to Erik-wolf in seconds.

His fur was wet to the touch--blood and saliva I guessed--but he seemed to be okay. Dropping to my knees, I hugged him.

"What the hell is going on here?"

I recognized
Greger's
voice, but didn't bother to answer. Bo or
Isak
could explain what had just gone down…or try to. They didn't know that much, themselves. I heard the rumble of male voices and a sharp, "Cut the crap, you two! I want the truth, and I want it now."

"Are you okay?" I softly asked my wolf.

He licked my cheek in reply.

"You'll be stuck like this for hours." I stroked his snout. "I'm so sorry. Wish I could do something for you." The moment I said that, my fingertips began to tingle. I raised one hand to inspect it. They were glowing. My fingers were actually glowing.

Could this mean…?

Instinctively, I smoothed my hands over Erik-wolf, starting at his head and working my way to the tip of his tail. My hands left a sparkly green wake that reminded me of
faery
dust. The furry body I'd just touched began to morph. I jerked my hands back with a soft gasp, watching as Erik-wolf transformed into Erik-boy. With a cry of joy, I jumped up and threw myself at him.

His lips found mine. He hugged me so hard. "You're incredible, you know that?"

With a weak laugh, I blew on my fingernails and buffed them against my T-shirt in reply.

Downstairs Uncle
Greger
apparently had his eye on us and seemed to be losing it. "What just happened up there?
What the
frick
just happened?"

All things considered, Erik's relatives were having one heck of a night.

Chapter Eighteen

I found clothes Erik could wear and quickly dressed in some of my own. Then I threw all my things into my trusty backpack. We'd been through a lot, Erik, that backpack, and I. Wasn't about to leave it behind now. The six of us quickly exited the cabin, but not before the guys tied up Red and piled him and his unconscious
Weres
in the pantry. It was a tight fit. I hoped they were miserable.

The moment we stepped into the night I smelled them.

Werewolves.
As in lots.

"That guard you didn't miss has called in reinforcements," I said.

"Huh?"
Greger
flicked on the flashlight and swept the yard. At least a dozen pairs of eyes glowed from the woods edging it. He turned it off again. "Shit."

He had that right.

"Bronte, get in the Explorer." Erik nodded toward a big, dark Ford in the shadows.

"Not happening." I frantically tried to think what to do. Even if Erik and I both shifted, we'd still be badly outnumbered by vicious werewolves
Greger
and his sons would be no match for.

"Crap. They're coming closer," said Marten.

Erik shrugged out of his jacket.

"No!"
Help me, Mom. Show me what to do.
Closing my eyes, I waited for some kind of sign.

Deep breath, Bronte.

My familiar mantra, but this time I recognized the voice--Mom. So she'd been with me in Houston, after all. Taking her advice literally, I inhaled a lungful of crisp winter air and stepped free of the men protecting me.

Reach for the heavens.

I immediately raised my arms to the star-studded sky. Green sparks shot from my spread fingers, arching into the night. My guys gasped. The wolves cowered and fell back. I heard
Greger
curse a blue streak and glanced back in time to see Erik's eyes begin glowing.  I clearly had back-up, which meant Danu was right.  My mate was very special, indeed.

A frigid wind kicked up from nowhere, whipping my hair around my face. Clouds began rolling in, hiding the Gibbous waning moon and every single star with supernatural speed. The dark of midnight now blanketed humans and wolves alike.

You've got it, my love.

I wiggled my fingers, experimenting with the power surging through them. Sleet began to pelt us. Invisible to our eyes except in the beam of the flashlight, it stung our half-frozen faces.
Greger
swept the light across yard again. I saw that the werewolves had huddled together.

Still experimenting, I clapped my hands. A bolt of lightning shot straight from the sky into the cluster of wolves. Their yelps of pain and shock were drowned by the immediate crash of thunder that shook the ground so badly we actually fought to keep our feet. When the last rumbled faded, I walked straight to the cowering wolf pack, which smelled of singed fur. "Your friends are in the pantry.  You might want to let them out later.  Tell Red that if anyone in The Arm ever bothers my family or anyone I love again, I'm coming for all of you."

In two seconds flat, only six humans remained in that yard. Or maybe that was four humans and two ecstatic sups.

****

"I still think we should call the police," said
Greger
around a bite of pecan waffle.  Maple syrup dribbled onto the front of his shirt. He didn't notice.

Isak
snorted. "And tell them what, Dad? A witch just beat the crap out of a pack of werewolves?" His brothers hooted.

I raised my head from Erik's shoulder. The five of us were crammed into a corner booth at a Branson Waffle House. "I'm not a witch."

"She's actually a goddess." Erik sounded very matter-of-fact.

Marten hooted again, a sound that died to nothing when Erik stared him down. "No shit?"

"No shit," I told him.

We'd told the guys everything we could, which was nowhere near as much as they wanted or even needed to know to make sense of things. But I'd signed a contract with the
Corteggio
, and I meant to honor it, even if I wasn't really under their jurisdiction. Why push my luck?

"Are you sure you didn't inherit that wolf thing?" asked
Isak
, stabbing his fork into a breakfast steak. "That was wicked sweet, man."

"Trust me," Erik said. "There's no gene for it."

"Figures," muttered Bo into his hash browns.

As we ate our breakfasts, I caught more than one cousin's envious stare directed my guy's way. I smiled to myself. It was time he got a little respect from those jokers.

Erik put his mouth to my ear. "They're all hot for you."

Huh?

When we parted ways soon after, I thanked them all for helping Erik save me.
I got four bone-crushing hugs in return, which made me wonder if Erik could actually be right.

The moment he and I hit the road in his Jeep, headed home, I began drilling him. "Who rescued you?"

"No one.
I came to. You were gone. I shifted and trailed Red's SUV all the way to
Tablerock
Lake."

Since I knew wolves could travel as far as fifty miles in a day, I believed him. "What did you do then?"

"I hung around long enough to see that you were okay and then went home. By then it was Monday morning. I got dressed and loaded the rifle, intending to go right to
Tablerock
and rescue you."

"Are you kidding me?" He'd never have survived it.

"I was sick with worry, okay? About halfway there, Uncle
Greger
called,
something he's never done before. He said he'd just talked to my dad, who'd been trying to get me for two days.
Wanted to know if I was okay.
Since I hadn't looked at my phone, I didn't even realize he'd called. Anyway, Uncle
Greger's
concern was so…uncharacteristic, I guess, that he caught me off guard. And before I knew it, I was spilling my guts. Naturally, he and my cousins volunteered to help rescue you."

"Naturally?"

"Okay, so it was
un
naturally."

"No, it was fate."

He shook his head. "Whatever. I couldn't have done it without them. Or maybe I could've with your help.  You're one powerful goddess, you know that?"

I just smiled. "Speaking of phone calls, do you have any idea where my new phone is?"

Erik pointed to the glove box. I flipped it open and took out my cell, checking the battery, which was just below the halfway mark. I saw that Dad had called six times.

I groaned and showed Erik. "Is it too early to call him?"

"He won't think so."

So my dad got a 4:30 a.m. call.

He answered after one ring. "Are you okay?"

"Am now."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Honestly, Dad. It's so complicated we need a face-to-face. What will you and Megan
be
doing around noon?" I figured that would give me and my guy plenty of time to go home, clean up, and, if we were lucky, rest before heading to Lake Village.

"We'll be waiting for you and Erik to get here."

****

Dad met me at the door when we got to his house around 11:30. He took our jackets, which left me in jeans and a sweater. Erik had on jeans, too, and a thermal shirt in a deep shade of green that looked great with his dark hair. That dark hair was minus a bandage since his gunshot wound had already healed. Guess it was just a graze.