Annie And The Cowboy (Western Night Series 3) (49 page)

              “So can you only change on the full moon?”

              Neil shook his head. “Not always. I can change whenever I’d like to, but when the full moon comes I
have
to make the change.”

              “Whenever you want?”

              “Yes, whenever I want.”

              “That’s amazing,” she breathed, before shooting a look at him in embarrassment. “I’m sorry, I know it’s a curse.”

              “I don’t think it is,” he replied. Marnie looked surprised, and he laughed at her look. “Why would I? It’s freedom, you know?”

              “I don’t.”

              “Of course…”

              “But I wish I did.”

              Neil raised an eyebrow. “Do you?”

              Marnie laughed nervously, suddenly flustered by his attention. “I do. I don’t understand what my ancestors were thinking cursing you with that. Imagine all the stuff you could do as a wolf?”

              “I don’t need to imagine it,” he replied. “I live it.”

              “Do you still have the same thoughts as a wolf?”

Neil shook his head.

              “Not exactly,” he replied. “I’m still me, but the thoughts are different. They’re simpler. I have instincts as a wolf I don’t have as a human.”

              “That’s fascinating,” Marnie said, and she meant it. Neil looked at her again with his large blue eyes, confused at her sudden attention. Marnie had never liked him, and he had never liked Marnie, but here they were strolling to some cave in the north, chatting about his wolf side, and she wasn’t afraid of him. She wasn’t disgusted, and in fact it seemed as though she wished that it could happen to her sometime.

              He didn’t know if he would wish that on her, but she wanted it so badly that part of him wanted to.

              “Do you know where we’re going?” he asked after a long pause. Marnie looked around her and shrugged.

              “I’m going off of instinct,” she admitted. “We know of a witch in the north caves but we don’t often go there. Something is drawing me in this direction though.”

              “Maybe it’s some residual power from your ancestors.”

              Marnie laughed. “Don’t tease me, I would not be able to handle the disappointment.”

They jested and jibed at each for until the sun grew low in the sky, and Marnie was surprised to realize that they had already walked for a day.

“Let’s stop here by this cave,” she told him, grabbing his hand without thinking about the implications of it and pulled him over.

“I’m not sure…” he said softly. “I think there might be….get behind me!”

Before it fully hit Marnie, Neil grabbed her by the wrist and tugged him behind her, moving to pull off his shirt. Her eyes grew wide.

“What are you doing!?” she cried, but he shushed her and shrugged out of it. It was only then did she realize that deep within the caves she heard a long keening wail.

A wolf’s howl.

“Are they people you know?!” She cried at him, moving as far away from them mouth of the cave as possible. Distantly she could see the shadows of the creatures, and it chilled her to think of what would happen if she were not in the presence of a man who could shift into something to protect her. They had not even brought weapons.

Neil cried out under the sound of contorting bones a gingery brown fur sweeping over him. It wasn’t as grotesque as Marnie was expecting, but it still wasn’t very pretty to behold, she watched with a horrid fascination, before the bundle of bones, fur, and claws jumped to its feet and bared its teeth at the wolves who had just come to the mouth of the cave.

They seemed to know that he was different, for they sniffed at the air and whined and circled each other before the strongest of them attacked. Marnie gasped as Neil grabbed one by the jaws and threw him aside, and as exciting as it was, it terrified her all the same. Could she do such a thing?

She also could not help but be touched. He was protecting her.

It wasn’t precisely a fair fight given the fact that Neil had the intellect of a human man inside of the powerful body of a wolf, but in spite of that Marnie watched in horror as blood was drawn, the panicked “yip!” of pain when one of the stronger wolves swiped at him.

Neil accidentally threw one Marnie’s way, and she cried out in surprise as it rolled onto his side and shook itself off in front of her. For a moment it stared up at her, something like anger in its eyes, but it did not attack. At first Marnie did not know for sure, but once she looked into the amber eyes of the creature she knew not to be afraid. She reached out as though she were going to touch the snout of the wolf in front of her, only to call out to the others. Two stopped immediately, although one was still grappling with Neil. Marnie took a step forward before she stopped herself, what could she do exactly? The wolf that Marnie assumed was the leader called out to the others. They all looked up.

They all looked at Marnie.

They all began to back away.

Neil turned his shaggy head to look at her, his wolf eyes way too human. She looked at him helplessly, completely unsure of why all of a sudden she seemed to be able to talk to wolves. He made a little huffing sound with his snout and moved back to his clothing. Marnie turned her back dutifully , struggling desperately with her own curiosity and desire to peek at what he looked like turning back.

“What was that!?” he asked once he had a mouth that could speak properly. Marnie shook her head.

“I don’t know, I mean, I just knew that it wouldn’t hurt me. Maybe it’s my magical side coming out.” She laughed self-consciously, but he did not join her in the laughter.

“Maybe,” he said seriously. “Maybe the magic isn’t so dead in the Mackenzies after all.”

Marnie shook her head, but didn’t say anything. Yes there was a change going in on her, but she didn’t want to admit it. It would be too disappointing if she ended up being wrong.”

“I suppose here is as good as anyway,” Neil said. “Especially since I don’t think those wolves will come back.”

Freed from her reverie,  she looked over at Neil who was beginning to collect some kindling for a fire, the wound on his arm had already healed, but maybe it only belonged to the wolf part of him. Suddenly she became terribly aware that she was going to be spending the night next to a boy. In spite of all that had happened with the wolves, it struck Marnie as almost comical for that to be her concern.

              “You better be a gentleman,” she said suddenly. Neil laughed.

              “Lay with a Mackenzie? Please,” he replied, but there was a pause in his voice that made Marnie give him a second look.

              They sat side by side at the fire, eating some bread and cheese that Marnie had packed for the journey. Neil chewed slowly, as though he were cautious about the food. Marnie swallowed the bread in her mouth and continued the questioning.

              “Do you prefer the taste of meat?”

              “Always, but not because I can turn into a wolf,” he said with a laugh. “Don’t you like the taste of meat.”

              Marnie shrugged. “Of course I do, but maybe it’s different when you’re a wolf.”

              “You’re awfully interested in becoming a wolf.”

              “I’m interested in interesting things, don’t you think it’s interesting?”

              It was Neil’s turn to shrug, and he did it with a rare grace. “We are raised with this knowledge, so when it comes you’re half dreading it half expecting. I was terrified on my sixteenth birthday. I thought I was going to become a demon.”

              Marnie wrinkled her nose. “Hadn’t you seen other people in your family transform?”

              Neil shook his head. “It’s not that way, we don’t like doing it, the scariest time in the village is around the full moon. My mother doesn’t change, she’s from a different clan, you see, and she tells me that all she can hear at night is the howling when we all go away.”

              Marnie could remember the howling too, the first night she had spied on Bridget. They usually kept to the valley on the other side of the village so they wouldn’t attract the attention of the Mackenzies, not like the Mackenzies would think anything other than the fact that the Campbells were a bunch of nutters. Then again, maybe more Mackenzies could be like her.

              She watched the fire play across Neil’s face, suddenly realizing how close she was to him. He radiated a heat that she had never felt in another human being, and she supposed it was mostly because of the mysterious change. His eyes were still a strange shade of golden, she wondered how long it would take for them to turn back to blue. It didn’t matter to her, the gold suited him. There was a look on his face, a confused look, as though he was just seeing her for the first time.

              “Marnie...I…”

              She silenced him with a kiss.

              It was a gamble, because up until then she could have sworn that he hated her, and she would swear even more that she hated him, but he threw his arms around her and deepened the kiss, and Marnie was terrified that her heart would burst out of her chest and fly.

              She had never kissed a boy before, and if kissing anyone else was like kissing Neil, she was planning on making a habit of it. He held her close as though never wanting to let her go, and her heart beat in a crazy rhythm as she began to untie her blouse.

              Neil’s eyes grew wide as she began to shed her clothing. “What are you doing!?” he asked.

              “Shut up,” she replied. “Shut up and take your clothes off before I change my mind.”

              “Yes ma’am.”

              “Just like a Campbell,” she said with a bit of a grin. “To look a gift horse in the mouth.”

              “Now is not  the best time to be talking about horses, don’t you think?”

              He didn’t think twice, which was to his credit. Naked in the firelight, Neil looked up at Marnie as though he were looking at her for the first time. Perhaps in this context it was true. Marnie felt like she was dreaming, here she was about to give up her virtue to a Campbell of all people, but as he took her hand and lay her down gently on the blanket he had laid out to sleep, she knew that her frustration had had nothing to do with hatred. She had hated him because she had wanted him.

              He was gentle when he entered her, still looking surprised to find himself where he was, she merely laughed and pulled him close, kissing him as he rocked inside of her, and when he brought her to a terrific crescendo she cried out and didn’t care if the entire highlands could here it.

              They lay together afterwards in a stunned silence, staring up at the stars.

              “I felt good about that,” Marnie said finally. “I felt like it was supposed to happen.”

              Neil said nothing, but he didn’t have to. He put his arm around her and held her close, burying his face in her hair in order to memorize her scent. Even if the curse couldn’t be broken, Marnie at least had this, this wonderful secret. She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep listening to the soft breathing of Neil beside her.

Chapter 4

              The cave was old and covered in moss, but Neil didn’t understand how Marnie could differentiate between that and any other cave they had found in the countryside. But  there she stood, her beautifully freckled face determined, as she nodded to Neil and gave a grand, sweeping gesture.

              “This is it,” she said.

              “Is it?” he didn’t feel very convinced by this, but something told him that he would follow Marnie anywhere.

              How could he not have seen? How could he have confused what he felt for her as anything but what it was? She was incredible, and he wanted to keep fighting with her until the end of time. It had been terrifically awkward in the beginning, full of a little too much strangeness for his taste. What should he do? This was his sister’s best friend, but the more he thought about it the more he loved the idea of it. A Mackenzie. His father would be furious.

              Or would he? He eyed the cave warily, a little afraid to enter, but knowing that he had to. They had walked for two days in order to get here, even though this cave had looked like any other cave one would find. He studied Marnie’s face again. So sure of herself, and he decided to trust.

              “Hello!” Marnie called, and Neil wasn’t fully sure that this was any proper way to greet a witch.

              Once again he was proven wrong as a small, hobbling figure limped out to the cave’s entrance. She seemed impossibly old, that sort of old that strips a person of the gender they once had, disappearing in a wave of wrinkles, sunken eyes, and long tangled hair. She dressed in rags, but the sort of rags that were layered enough to look outrageously comfortable. Leaning heavily on a stick, she blinked her deep eyes at the two of them.

              “About time,” she said.

              Marnie looked stricken, as though she was unsure of whether or not she should curtsey or not. Neil watched her as she clenched her hands to her skirt and gave a small bob. He figured it was a better idea than doing nothing at all, given the fact that they were facing down a potentially incredibly magical person. Neil could feel something, a nagging feeling, an awareness that he had first felt around Marnie. It didn’t affect him as much as Marnie did, but the flavor was distinctly the same. It was a little shocking to realize that the nagging feeling he had felt around Marnie all this time was magic.