We went over a few things as we walked into the woods. I was going to turn into a wolf, not a vampire hybrid. Love Amber and Jake to death, but I wasn’t ready to take the jump into the undead after watching what it did to Amber. Cool eyes were not worth that.
We stopped back at that epic clearing, of course. When we got Kari back, I would have to tell her to be careful about doing a spell here. There was something cosmically important about this spot. Every drawing I had done was regarding this very spot in the woods. Power seemed to gravitate here, good and bad. Hopefully the good karma was with us over the next few hours.
“Okay, girl. Get naked.” Amber was enjoying this far too much.
“We had this discussion a couple years ago. It only turns me on when boys say that.”
She rolled her eyes at me as I undressed. Before she could give me any more crap, I pulled off the shoes, sweatshirt and long pants I had thrown on and revealed Craig’s jumpsuit. “No naked for me. Did you guys know these suits were made to allow the hair to sprout through in a shift, and stretch to accommodate the body changes? Cool, huh? And as a bonus I don’t have to get naked.”
Craig frowned. “I was looking forward to the naked part. The rest of this isn’t all that fun.”
Yeah. Bleeding out enough of my human blood to let the werewolf blood take hold wasn’t going to be a party for me, either.
“You both know it is extremely rare for a wolf to turn immediately after being infected. Let the girl wear her clothing,” Jake said as he set up a few things we brought with us. Food, water, beer and wine. We were prepared for everything that involved drinking in the woods.
I don’t know why, but part of me had expected something more. Where was the drawn circle? Where was the bonfire we danced around? I was waiting for chanting or prayer, or at least a wolf howl or two.
“Well, bite her, Craig. Let’s get this party started.” Amber’s words were not part of my expectations.
“That’s it? No beautiful speech? ‘Bite her’ is all I get?”
The trees started to shift in a breeze that began to pick up. The animals around us scattered. Magic was building. Even without ceremony, the power of what was happening was affecting everything around us. I dug my toes into the ground. The connection I had to this world wouldn’t change as I did. There’s no way to forget knowledge like this. I would still be me after transition. I could do this.
“I told you how I was turned into a werewolf, didn’t I?” Amber eyed the trees blowing around us, but when I didn’t react she went on. “Attacked and left dying until Doc found me. If you want, we can reenact that fun little party.” Her eyes began to glow. Her nails lengthened, and I realized I was very okay without that.
“Point taken.” I wiggled my toes free of the dirt and turned to Craig. He stared at me, holding his large frame as still as our vampiric Clan members. “Bite me.”
He was on me in an instant, but didn’t sink his teeth in. He hauled me up into his arms. My legs wrapped around his waist, and my hands met behind his neck. He just held me tight and looked into my eyes. For once, even Amber was quiet. The red clouds began to flow around us. As the trees started to fade from my vision, Craig leaned in closer.
Our foreheads touched before he spoke. “I love you as you are, but I want to give you my power too. I’m not strong enough to go on without you. Can you accept the part of me wants to turn you so you are by my side for my entire life? It’s selfish, but I don’t want to think about not being with you ever again.”
“That’s all I needed to hear. Thank you.” I tightened my grip. “But this doesn’t mean I don’t want a proper wedding once vampires and werewolves aren’t trying to kill us.”
He smiled back. “Deal.”
“I love you, Craig. I want forever, and I want it with you.” I closed my eyes as our lips met in the softest kiss I had ever shared with him. Were his lips trembling, or mine?
“I love you too.” His words were quiet and only for me.
His eyes changed color and his fangs began to extend, but I wasn’t scared. He was going to make me the strongest I had ever been, and I was becoming even more a part of the family I never had but always wanted. When life deals you a crap hand in the parent department, the best way to thumb your nose at fate was to end up with an even better family, one you created yourself.
I turned my head, never losing my grip on Craig, and our aura clouds parted enough for me to see Amber and Jake. They were holding hands. The skin around their knuckles was white. I don’t know who was squeezing whose hand harder. Craig licked the spot on my neck where my own matemark would be. I held out my arms. We had agreed they would feed from my wrists at first and move on to other veins if necessary.
I could have allowed myself to bleed out rather than have them feed on me. But when you were going up against an ancient vampire with a god-complex, why waste something that could help give my Clan a leg up? Once they drained me to the point of death, the knife I could feel against Craig’s belt would cut his skin, and I would have to drink his blood. Jake assured me I would probably be pretty out of it from the blood loss, so the part that really worried me I might not even remember. I hoped so.
“I love you, guys. All of you. Do it.”
Amber and Jake slid up my sleeves and sank teeth into both my arms. Craig bit me at my neck. He didn’t drink my blood like Amber and Jake did, but he kept the wound open and flowing. Every head was bowed to my body. So no one had any comfort to give. The blood was being pulled from me and it burned. I started to get thirsty almost immediately. Dehydrated. It felt like my veins were collapsing. My heart pumped harder, trying to find the blood I was losing.
My eyes closed, and I fell into a trance. Talk about a useful tool. There was no pain on this plane. I found Kari there, but her spirit looked weak.
“Are you still alive?”
She nodded.
“You’re weak.”
Again a nod. She couldn’t communicate. I must have dragged her here.
“You know we’re coming for you. We’ll save you. You just have to hang on.”
A sad smile crossed her face. I watched her form slide down a dimmer light beam than I had ever seen on her. I could see her physical body still on the table. Someone came through the door and put an IV in her arm. They were re-hydrating her. They were farming her for her blood. They were keeping her alive for food.
This was just another reason my transformation had to work. I would find these sickos. I would sink my teeth into their necks and rip their heads off.
Whoa. Where had that thought come from? I was being pulled from the trance. I watched the image of Kari’s body fade. Before I had time to hope we wouldn’t be too late, the pain began.
Blood roared through my ears, and my heart felt like it would explode from my chest.
Thumpity, Thumpity, Thumpity.
I had never heard my heart beat like that. It was fast and fierce, and suddenly the pain was gone. My arms didn’t burn anymore. My body felt stronger.
I could smell the air around me. It wasn’t just something to breathe, but carried the knowledge that there were squirrels in the trees. The hawk that floated above looking for the mouse a few hundred feet away was easy to track. I could hear everything. See everything. Smell everything. And then nothing mattered but finding the deer bounding away.
I was hungry. Deer was food. I would get it. Now.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Craig
So much for the not changing part. I watched Mary turn from a convulsing form on the ground into a beautiful white wolf. She was smaller than any other werewolf I’d seen, and I’ll be damned if she didn’t have curls on the end of her long coat. She was small and feisty and bounding off to find something that caught her new nose. I’d bet good money she would be grossed out by what she’d eaten when she changed back.
I called out to her, and she turned back for a moment. My heart stopped as brilliant sky blue eyes shone back at me through the curls of mane around her face. She dropped her jaw and licked her lips. A tingle hit my brain. Suddenly the forest was eclipsed by an image of Mary. Human Mary…naked and…
“Hey! That’s not fair.” I shouted to get her out of my brain. Those images we would get to later, and often. She laughed inside my head before she pulled back and took off.
I turned to Amber and Jake with a grin. Now was as good a time as any to go for our first run as a Clan. We stripped our clothes and followed our little witch into the woods.
Epilogue
Mary
The witches took over the care and repair of Kari’s home. I felt a little better leaving, knowing that when my mentor returned, she wouldn’t have to deal with all the werewolf damage. All those women living in the house killed the bed and breakfast business. Luckily, the witches took the local craft fair by storm with their homeopathic remedies. I had a feeling Kari had a whole houseful of roommates when she got back.
Our Clan was on the way back to Indiana. We had to deal with Matheo Meyers. Kari was in my dreams, but she was so weak. When I reached her last night I only got out that we were coming before our connection failed.
I left most of Kari’s supplies with the witches, but her latest journal traveled with me. The blue velvet sat next to my sketch pads. I couldn’t write in it. I was taking it back to Kari. She had a million more little spellbooks to fill and I was making damn sure she got the chance to do it.
I had hoped the witches would be able to take care of the crazy white streaks I suddenly had in my hair, but the dye slid right off. Amber told me to rock them as highlights, but I was still getting used to how being a werewolf had changed my body.
The two of us were crowded in a tiny hotel bathroom that modern décor had forgot. The avocado green toilet and matching pedestal sink were set off nicely by the southwest inspired striped shower curtain. Whoever did this must have been colorblind.
I looked into the small seashell mirror above the sink, and pulled the ponytail holder from my hair. I could put up with the changes. I needed to shave a bit more, but at least the hair on my head was thick and soft and lush. I didn’t get Amber’s cool starburst eyes. My blue eyes didn’t even change when I shifted.
Amber said I was the first wolf she’d seen with blue eyes. She also said I was tiny. When she tried to exert too much Alpha authority, I reminded her that I didn’t just keep my eyes. I could still crawl into minds, and I wasn’t lost to my wolf like the others seemed to be at times. My wolf let me lead. Amber said it could be like that if the wolf was more of an Omega than an Alpha. All I know is this Clan seemed to be a first class ticket to abnormality, and I fit right in.
I stretched my neck and tilted my head towards the mirror. My matemark wasn’t abnormal. It was beautiful. Red flames like the pulsing aura I’d drawn blazed across my skin. Although it looked a lot like Amber’s, thanks to my enhanced senses I could see tiny differences. I could stare for hours and find a new little twist. Did matemarks change over time?
“Stop ogling your matemark and pay attention.” Amber growled and I felt the pull to obey her. Some parts of this Clan deal weren’t the best.
A tiny strip of plastic had us both cocking our heads.
“Will that even work for you?”
“I was human once. Surely pee doesn’t change that much. The fact that werewolf urine is stronger might give us a more accurate response. The pH is a lot lower, but the hormones are still primarily human.”
We stood around the edge of the sink staring at a pregnancy test I’d bought at the last rest stop. Amber sent our mates out to plan for a run. We had a few moments while the guys were searching for a wooded area and procuring copious amounts of food. I refused to chase down bunnies again and told them they had to feed Amber. The digital read out swirled around with an hourglass and mocked our impatience.
“It’s going to be an inconclusive result. You know I found those Relaxin Hormone test kits we could try too.”
Amber smacked me against the back of the head. “That’s what they use for dogs. I’m not having a puppy.”
“It wouldn’t be born shifted. I know that doesn’t happen until puberty, but are vampire babies born with their fangs? Because…ouch.”
We both crossed our legs a little tighter at the thought.
Then we saw it.
PREGNANT. PREGNANT. PREGNANT.
The word flashed across the screen again and again.
“Oh my goddess.” Amber whispered.
Our squealing was both obnoxious and fabulous. We hugged and jumped up and down. We were normal excited women, until the funky smell filled the room. Amber covered her mouth around her puffed-out cheeks and ran out of the room to vomit in a nearby garbage can.
I watched as the pregnancy test melted and oozed over the sink to sizzle on the cheap brown linoleum floor. Huh. Guess hybrid pee really was stronger than human.
At least this was Amber and Jake’s room. I wasn’t taking the blame for getting us kicked out this time. It wasn’t my pee that caused a nuclear meltdown of feminine technology. If anyone asks…it was the baby.
About the Author
Roxy Mews wrote her first story at age six on an electric typewriter. It was about a cat and a haunted house. Thankfully, her stories and technology have matured since then. Roxy spends her days fighting the evil day job in hopes of conquering the stories that run rampant in her head.