“Sheriff Mac Tyre, allow me to introduce Princess Loupe of Sanguennay.” Kirill gestured at Loupe. “Loupe, this is Sheriff Mac Tyre.”
“I know who he is, Kirill,” Loupe muttered. “We discussed this before he arrived.” She stood from her spot by the wolves and faced Kirill with her arms crossed. “Had I known before I agreed to this bargain how he treated his charges, I might have made a different decision.”
“You made the right decision,” Kirill assured her smoothly. “And fifty of your wolves will thank you for it. As agreed, you may begin relocating them to the dark forest at your convenience. Do try to keep them within the allotted area we discussed, as I cannot speak for their safety if they should wander too close to the mountains.”
The conversation didn’t seem to require his participation, so Mac concentrated on his arm and the pain…
He paused, frowned. But there was no pain. He lifted the handkerchief and studied the bite mark. The edges of the wound were already a shiny pink, and the bleeding had stopped. Moonlight shone through the window, and Mac stepped closer to the silver light without thinking.
His headache was gone. He felt…stronger.
“How do you feel, sheriff?” Kirill asked. His voice was even, just an edge of curiosity.
“Better,” Mac breathed. He looked away from his wound, looked at the woman he was now certain was the brown wolf that had bitten him.
Loupe dropped her arms to her sides and took a step closer to him. “Kirill says you were a wolf before. You remember the change?”
“I remember.”
“I can help you through it if you like,” she offered gently.
Mac closed his eyes, already reaching inside himself, searching. There. “No,” he whispered. “I am…all right.”
“Loupe is a loup garou,” Kirill told him, coming to stand next to Loupe. “A type of werewolf who can pass on the change through her bite. You are not what you once were, you will not change permanently to a wolf for a set period of time. You will be able to go back and forth between forms, but you must use caution.”
“Biting someone alone is not enough to infect them,” Loupe added. “You must intend to infect them. Loup garous are more magic than lycanthropes. There is much even I don’t understand yet.”#p#分页标题#e#
Mac laughed softly. The sound started out small, a chuckle that rose from somewhere inside him, caressed his insides as it rose to spill out his lips. Something came with that laugh, a spirit or form that hadn’t been there before. Mac welcomed it, embraced it. The spirit washed over him and as it rose, his muscles melted into something soft and malleable, his bones turned to liquid, flowed in different directions before they hardened and became stronger.
“Astounding,” Kirill said, a trace of awe in his tone.
Mac blinked, momentarily disoriented by the change in his perspective. He was no longer standing before Kirill as a man, but rather on all fours as a wolf. Black-furred legs met his eyes, his own body a strange sight. He raised his head, sniffed the air. The scents of the world exploded around him in a palette that put what he’d been used to in his human form to shame. The vampire before him was a mixture of stone, blood, and the crisp scent of snow. The fire crackled with the smoky tones of burning pine, a flicker of a heavier scent—the oak leaves and twigs he’d cast off his clothes. The wolves…
Mac padded over to where they lay in a pile. He could smell their wounds now, smell the faint traces of infection beneath the healing paste of the herbs. Shame weighed his body down and he lowered his body to the floor and curled up against Sienna’s side, offering warmth to the side of her that faced away from the fire.
“They’ll be fine.”
Loupe knelt beside him, and her voice was gentler now. Mac didn’t know if it was the fact that he was now a wolf, and thus qualified to be on her good side, or if she’d somehow sensed the change in him, sensed his regret. He rested his head on his paws, letting his thoughts settle.
Loupe stood and faced the vampire. “He doesn’t seem to require my help. If our business is concluded, I’ll be going home to my husband now.”
“The gargoyle will see you home,” Kirill responded politely. He cleared his throat. “It may behoove us both if you would bathe before seeing your husband to avoid carrying the scent of our meeting. I do not think he will be as pleased with our bargain as we were.”
“I will not,” Loupe snapped. “I have no intention of hiding this from him. We needed that land for the wolves, and I fail to see what harm could come from having another loup garou around.”