Wild (32 page)

Nick didn’t waste any time; he jumped up and shot through the crowd, who carved a path for him, confusion, amazement and not a little fear hanging over them all like a fog. Lizzie cringed at the strobing lights, the sea of people looming over her, a claustrophobic nightmare, and went the other way, back outside. The small group in the alley shot out of her way when she limped past snarling at them. The smell of blood was thick in the air, and she knew, just knew, that at least one of these people was waking up soon covered in a stranger’s blood. Hopefully a stranger’s, anyway. Better than a loved one’s, right?

The pain in her leg eased as she hobbled along, onto Seel Street. The air pulsed with crazy riot of smells, all intriguing to the Other but Lizzie dismissed them. She wanted a wolf. Seth, she wanted Seth. Nick could go to hell and Ingrid could follow. All Lizzie wanted was Seth, and an end to this shitty night before it got any worse.

She limped down the street, slinking through the shadows, as if that protected her. People called out, cameras snapped. She growled to herself. Like they’d never seen a big dog before. Alright, so the keen observer might think
wolf
, but really, surely the average drunk wasn’t going to see anything more than a big dog, were they? She hoped not anyway. She didn’t think she’d be part of the Kurtadam club after tonight.

The thought twisted in her chest, but she resolutely pushed it away. Too late to change anything now. Seth’s scent was strong on the pavement, mingled with Ingrid’s, and she followed the trail into a multi-storey car park at the top of Seel Street. Her claws clicked on the exit ramp as she crept in. Eerie place, this time of night. Cars silent and dark, her breathing loud in her ears. Once it might have been a good place to drop a few pills, maybe sit and hot-box her car after a night out, giggling at one of Hannah’s rubbish jokes or fumbling around with Harris. The idea turned her stomach now.

She heard whining up ahead, the sound bouncing off metal and concrete, hard to pinpoint. She thought it was Ingrid and quickened her pace, trusting her nose to lead her to the other wolf.

And there, between a battered Ford and a sleek BMW, Ingrid huddled. Seth, human and naked, sat with her, cradling her head in his hands. Red hot jealousy pulsed through Lizzie, and she couldn’t help the snarl escaping her mouth as she approached them. Seth looked up, relief flooding his face and beating back some of her jealousy.

“Lizzie, can you shift back?” he asked. “I’m going to take her home, but I need a hand moving her.”

Moving her? Right, they’d get far that way. Two naked kids carrying a giant black wolf through the city. Lizzie whined, shifting her weight from paw to paw, not sure this was such a great idea.

On the other hand, what else were they supposed to do? Seth watched her expectantly, one hand gently stroking Ingrid’s ears. It was an absent motion; Lizzie saw that in his eyes, the way all his attention was fixed on her, not Ingrid. But the very casualness of the motion chafed at her.

She shifted back, shivering as cold air hit her sensitive skin. Seth stood, easing Ingrid out of his lap. She whined but stayed where she was, watching with narrowed eyes as Seth greeted Lizzie, hugging her tight. He was warm and strong, smelt good and reassuring. She nuzzled against his chest, sighing.

“Are you okay?” he asked. “Where’s Nick?”

“He ran off.” She shrugged, releasing him reluctantly. “But he hurt people, Seth – he’s probably infected a whole bunch of people outside the Barfly.”

Seth paled, but he straightened his shoulders, resolute. “Alright. We’ll deal with it. We will. But let’s get Ingrid sorted first, okay?”

Lizzie spared Ingrid a glance. She looked spent, beaten. “What happened with you two?”

“Nothing, really. I chased her here and she just sort of collapsed. I don’t think she knows how to shift back.” He frowned as if the idea was outrageous. “I thought we should at least get her back to her parents’ so they can take care of her until she does.”

Poor Ingrid. Couldn’t turn into a wolf for years, and now she couldn’t turn back again. What were the odds? Was she just defective? Missing some vital synapse, some last neurological connection? Lizzie wondered what it was like to want something so bad, have it right there at your fingertips, and be completely unable to grab it. Nick and his coke must have seemed perfect to Ingrid. If it worked for the scummy little Vargulf, it had to work for her, right?

And now here she was, trapped in the shape she’d craved her whole life.

It was impossible not to feel sorry for her.

Lizzie helped Seth lift Ingrid, gritting her teeth and ignoring the soft growls Ingrid gave her. Between the two of them, she and Seth got her out from between the cars. “Where do her parents live?” she asked him. Dragging Ingrid through Liverpool in the nude wasn’t appealing. “Can’t we call them or something?”

Seth brightened. “There’s a pay phone just round the corner. You wait here – don’t want anyone hitting on you or anything.” He leaned over to kiss her cheek, and despite everything she let herself enjoy it. Then he was running off, bare feet slapping on the concrete, and Lizzie was alone with Ingrid.

She stared down at the wolf. Ingrid stared back, red eyes hot, as if she was imagining ripping Lizzie’s throat out. But that air of defeat still lingered around her, like she just couldn’t be bothered. She lay on the car park floor, panting and huffing and glowering, but there was no fight in her. That haughty ice bitch was long gone.

Until she shifts back, Lizzie thought with a grimace. She hugged herself, keeping a safe distance between herself and Ingrid, and hoped Seth hurried back.

****

An hour later Ingrid’s fretting parents were smuggling their still wolf-shaped daughter into their fancy house with a lot of whispers and fraught glances. Lizzie and Seth watched from inside Ingrid’s dad’s car, huddled together for warmth.

“This isn’t the night I planned,” Seth mumbled into Lizzie’s tangled hair, kissing her forehead. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.” Lizzie yawned, all her adrenaline spent. She wanted to crawl into bed, curl up under the covers and sleep for days. Weeks. It was like the worst come down, all aches and shivers, and a ridiculous craving for pizza. “Ingrid will turn back, won’t she?”

“Of course.” He didn’t sound sure though. “I mean, eventually, of course.”

They sat in silence, waiting for Ingrid’s dad to come back and drive them home. Lizzie chewed her lip, thinking of the chaos they’d left behind on Seel Street. Nick and those kids ... how many were going to wake up as wolves? Was there a way to find them before they did?

“So what now?” she asked. “I mean, with everything that’s happened ...” The words stuck in her throat. With everything that’s happened, she was done, right? The Kurtadam would be mad, Nick made more werewolves tonight for sure, and Ingrid might be stuck a wolf forever. And that was before you even got to bloody Harris. So what now?

“Lizzie.” Seth sighed and hugged her right, offering a silent comfort that didn’t really comfort her that much. Sweet of him, though.

twenty six

“
Y
OU TWO ARE
in serious trouble,” Nuala told Lizzie and Seth. There wasn’t a trace of humour in her voice, and her wrinkled face was stern and forbidding.

Lizzie stared at her shoes. She’d polished them especially for Nuala’s party, but under the warm lights of the restaurant they’d booked for Seth’s grandmother’s surprise meal, they still looked scuffed and cheap. “We didn’t –”

“I can’t let this go,” Nuala continued. Lizzie’s head jerked up and she glanced across at Seth. He was sitting next to her at the bar, nursing a pint of cider. They were waiting for the rest of Nuala’s friends and family to arrive; until then Lizzie and Seth were responsible for keeping the old werewolf lady company.

A nice idea, something she’d been pleased about, until Seth quietly and sombrely explained to Nuala what had happened the night before. “Nuala,” Seth said. “Gran, what happened…”

“It will probably be all over the Internet right now,” Nuala cut in. “Wolf Watch and Facebook and Twitter – don’t look so stunned, Lizzie, I do keep up with the outside world. Photos and videos of werewolves scrapping like common mutts in the street. Never mind that thoughtless Vargulf attacking humans. By God.”

“What should we do?” Lizzie asked, tapping her nails on the bar, wishing she could disappear under her stool.

Nuala sipped her wine delicately, drawing out the moment while Lizzie squirmed and Seth stared at the beer mats lining the bar like they might offer some kind of salvation. “I don’t know,” she said finally. “It’s not my decision, I’m afraid. I’d very much like to get my hands on Nick Doyle, that I do know.”

“He’s not going to show his face,” Lizzie said softly. It was the one thing she was sure of. Nick wanted a quiet life where he was free to do whatever drugs he wanted and torment a few ghouls every now and then. He was too savvy to let Nuala sink her claws into him.

“We’ll find him eventually, mark my words,” Nuala said, and Lizzie believed her. There was a deceptively calm anger to Nuala’s voice, one that promised action, swift and decisive. ‘We’ll have to find the humans he attacked too, just in case. And then we’ll decide what to do with you two.”

“Ominous,” Lizzie muttered into her drink.

Nuala frowned at her. “I’m getting too old for this. I’ll do what I can for the pair of you, but you need to accept that there will be repercussions. People will be angry about all this ... chaos. I can’t imagine what your parents will say, Seth.”

He winced. “But we’re not going to be publically flogged tonight?”

“Not tonight, no,” Nuala conceded. “Tomorrow, maybe.” She smiled dryly.

Seth squeezed Lizzie’s knee, his relief palpable. She shared it, but an edge of doubt still haunted her. She tried to ignore it and concentrate on having a good time. A quiet, drama-free good time. Ingrid wasn’t coming; that was one thing to be grateful for. She’d changed back in her sleep apparently, and was feeling pretty damn rough after her first foray into drug use and shapeshifting. Lizzie was amazed at how relieved she’d been to hear it. She felt responsible somehow, certain Nick would never have looked at Ingrid if it wasn’t for Lizzie.

But tonight at least, she didn’t have to worry. Seth was at Lizzie’s side; that was something to enjoy. She leaned into him, watching the restaurant fill up with other werewolves, all there to wish Nuala a happy birthday and all, for now, ignorant of what had happened last night.

Lizzie’s ribs still ached from Nick’s attack; another set of scars to add to the ones he’d given her just a few weeks ago when he first changed her. Changed everything. It was mad, how quickly and completely her life had been turned upside down.

But it was okay, she decided. Yeah, there was bad stuff. There would be fallout. Nuala might be sheltering her and Seth from it now, but Lizzie had that wolf-sense tingling down her spine, telling her that couldn’t last. And there was Harris. Poor Harris, poor, pathetic Harris, probably huddled in a doorway somewhere right now smoking dog ends and swigging White Lightning straight from the bottle. That wasn’t okay. She just didn’t know how to make it right yet, or even if she should. Was she obliged to help him, if there was a way to do it?

She didn’t know. Didn’t know how much she should care.

Seth tapped her shoulder. “Everyone’s here. We’re going to sit down.”

She took his hand and let him lead her to the table. The restaurant was a family-run Italian place near the Docks, promising fine wine and great seafood. She could smell tomato sauce and mozzarella, and decided to indulge herself in the food since she wouldn’t be sampling the wine.

“I’m going to get so fat,” she moaned as she studied the menu.

“We’ll burn it off.” Seth winked at her.

She elbowed him in the ribs, mentally reminding herself to look into re-enrolling at university. If she got back on her sports science course, she wouldn’t need to worry about getting fat.

Tai took the seat next to her, chattering excitedly about cellular microbiology, a subject Lizzie knew nothing about, but it reinforced her desire to get back to studying. She wanted to be able to bore Tai stupid yammering on about physiology and fitness leadership.

She smiled at the menu, getting that feeling again, that despite everything, she’d come home. So everything would be fine. Everything would be great.

****

Later, once the main courses were finished and everyone was waiting for coffee and dessert, Seth whispered in her ear and they slipped outside together. Autumn wind chased dead leaves down the streets. A light rain fell on the city, silvery clouds obscuring the moon. Lizzie was sure she could feel it though, that the Other stretched and flexed within her, waiting for her next change to come out and play.

Seth slid his arms round her, kissing her forehead, her eyelids, down to her lips, her throat, nipping at her skin with rough, sexy little growls that made her head spin. “I like this top,” he murmured against her neck.

“Me too.” She was wearing a navy blue scoop-necked top, inky as the night sky, simple but effective apparently. “Did you just bring me out here to tell me that?”

“Not really.” He pulled back, brushing her hair from her eyes. “I just wanted you to myself for a few minutes.”