I saw both sides. I could commiserate with the true wolves feeling they’d gotten a raw deal. In my still a bit naive mind, I wondered why the true wolves just didn’t ask for magical help. Maybe they had, maybe they hadn’t. Guess it didn’t matter now. For whatever reason, they suffered from a curse while watching others prosper with a gift, with the same end result. I got jealousy. As a bigger woman, I know that all of us suffer from the vanity of asking why some other woman can eat a burger and large fries and still wear teenage-size clothing as an adult. The grass was always greener on the other side. I’d been guilty of being petty myself, so add to that the pain of their transition from man to animal, and it could create some misplaced hatred.
Hatred. Yes, I got that. The animals had taken my Lex and hurt him, kept him in pain, and I wanted them to pay for it. I waffled back and forth between my need to fight for the underdog, my compassion for all, and my all too human need for revenge. A girl could lose her mind in the transition from mere human with a boring job and a dream to magical being put in bloody battles running and from deranged kidnappers.
Pull it together! I yelled in my own mind. This line of thinking is not helping anyone.
Regardless of how this came to be, this was the situation we were in. We stood out here on the verge of a probably violent and grisly rescue, with the outlook more than iffy. I grew fully aware that even if this ended in our favor this time, there would be a next time. What worried me, as well as the possible loss of life, was that there just seemed to be no end to this cycle of violence.
Not knowing the horror that lay ahead, just moments away, I couldn’t handle my emotions any longer. My magic raged inside, swirling in my upset stomach and whizzing through my veins, ready and willing to be unleashed on the right bad guy, if we could call them that. The little girl in me, the one that just wanted to cuddle with her wolf in dream land, screamed out, why can’t we just all get along?
I’d been the one as a child that came home all upset about a kid being bullied, even when it had no effect on my life. In a way, that fight for the underdog always felt mine, even if I stayed silent. Still, I battled it out in emotions, raw and real. I grew sick of my own thoughts as the voices murmured on around me. I wanted to accuse them of stalling rather than being safe. I just wanted this over. I wanted to be in Lex’s arms again, where everything in the world felt whole and right.
You must trust in them. You much stay quiet and follow their lead, I coached myself.
Chapter Two
“We are ready to move out,” Nira said. “Having better vision at night, I see no movement in there save for the flickers of a small fire or something; that one light from time to time on the top floor. We head to it.”
“Being the one having the better hearing,” Alex added, “I don’t hear anyone either. Our enhanced sense of smell usually gives us information on our prey, but I can only smell the fires, the poor homeless, and the scent of decay, which includes a lot of moldy paper probably. In a way, that worries me that we are walking into a trap. We have force and numbers, though. This isn’t just wolf against wolf this time. They should be the ones worried.”
“Exactly,” Nira added, her voice all brass, solid, stable, not at all like I assumed mine would sound if I attempted to use it right now.
“Let’s do this then,” Alex said, ending the last bit of actual pep talk in our huddle. “Move in to your designated spots slowly and quietly. Watch for the light signals.”
At that point, those who were naked in the group transformed back into wolves. The smell of fur, dog like, though more musty, like wet dog, hit me first. The scent of nature they brought with them, the smell of trees and leaves, earth, brought the bite of tears to my eyes, reminding me of Lex, making me ache for him, for my wolf. My sense of him, born of our connection, since arriving here had been so faint, barely existent. It worried me that I couldn’t hold onto it for any amount of time.
I knew without a shadow of a doubt he was here, but I’d thought our connection would get stronger rather than weaker once we got this close. It could be a result of their sorcerer’s magic. I had to believe that, other than the alternative of him being on the brink of death.
Moving with the pack, if you will, each sense grew heightened. As adrenaline surged through my body, just the sound of feet against the gravel seemed too loud, as if it would be an alarm for those who awaited us. With each surge of my power that shot through me, the need to take someone out rose, blurring my vison at times. I blinked and tried not to stumble as we moved along at a crawl. Luckily, I had a vampire and a wolf on either side of me. Guessed I was as safe as I could be, especially with the ticking time bomb of power waiting to go off inside me.