Force of the Dark Wolf (Force of Nature Series) (30 page)

“Gordon, I’d stay back if I were you.
She’s a tad touchy about being in here and you’re making her hackles rise.”

He glanced at Alexis then back at the girl.
“She will learn her place or leave.”

Stacy started to turn away when Alexis grabbed her arm.
It happened so quickly that Gordon had very little time to get back
,
but it was Alexis who caught the worst of it.

Stacy’s claws were suddenly at Alexis before he could move her.
The blood splattered on his face and body as they tore into her flesh.
All Gordon could do was grab onto Alexis as she started to slide to the floor.
As he set her down as gently as he could and tried to stop the blood he heard the fight behind him.
It wasn’t until someone shouted that all noise stopped.

Chapter 16

“Gordon, let her go.
You have to let her go so that she can heal.”

Gordon looked up at him and Phil was sure he wasn’t half hearing him. “Let Alexis go.
The healing will begin as soon as you stop touching her.
She won’t die.
I promise you, she won’t die.”

“She cut her.
She killed her…Phil, I can’t lose her.
I love her very much.”
Gordon looked down at her again before Phil could get him away.
“I can’t. I love her.”

“Her body needs to heal. Just don’t touch her and she’ll heal.”
Phil glanced at the wound.
“Look
,
Gordon.
See, her wound is closing and she’s stopped bleeding. If you let her go, she’ll heal faster.”

Phil wasn’t sure if Gordon staggered back or simply let her go
,
but Alexis was suddenly healing much faster.
They all stood and watched as her skin healed over and became flawless.
When she suddenly took in a deep breath it was at that moment that he realized she’d not been breathing.
Her eyes opening startled him as well.

“They’re silver,” someone breathed.
“Clear silver.
Oh God, her wolf must be beautiful.”

Gordon helped her to sit up and then he picked her up and put her on the couch.
Before anyone could say anything Alexis put her hand out for the female wolf that had cut her open.

“Come here
,
Stacy.
Come on, no one will harm you here or I’ll be doing some ass kicking myself.”
Phil looked over at the girl. “Can someone get the first aid kit?
She’s got a few cuts here.”

Phil smiled.
The girl had given as good as she’d gotten
,
it seemed.
Dallas had a swollen eye and a busted lip, Austin was holding a napkin over his nose
,
and one of the pack was limping away.
Phil nearly laughed out loud when CJ snickered loudly.

“Oh grow up
,
you oversized dog.
She told you to leave her be
,
that she didn’t want to come in here in the first place.”
CJ huffed at her mate and Phil laughed.
He should have known she’d be on him fast.
“Don’t think I didn’t notice that you were going to hit her yourself
,
you big mosquito.
All of you go and find a place to sit or so help me
,
I’ll find one for you.”

Stacy refused treatment and stood near the door as the rest of them settled.
She was skittish and afraid
. H
e was sure everyone in the room could smell it.
But she was also strong and very capable of taking them all on. She probably wouldn’t win
,
but she’d hurt a few of them for their trouble.

“Phil, you have a book you wanted to share.”
He looked over at Nancy as she spoke.
“The pretty book, didn’t you want to share it with us?
If you tell us about it maybe by then a few more furs will be less ruffled.”

“Of course.
Let me get it.”
He reached to the table
,
pulled it toward him
,
and bobbled it slightly.
A small picture, a drawing really
,
slid out and he nearly fell over when he looked at it.
It took him several seconds to realize that he’d lost the conversation.

“Phil, what is it?
What have you found?”
CJ took the picture from him when he handed it toward her.
“Oh my God, it’s her.
It’s Alexis.”

And it was too
,
for the most part.
The hair was different
.
Alexis
’
was short and sassy while the woman in the picture
had
long and curly
hair
.
The mouths were nearly the same, full and lush. But it was the eyes that made the two women the same, the same clear silvery shade that made him think of starless nights and bright summer days at the same time.
CJ handed the picture to Alexis.

“My mother gave me this book.
She said it’s been in our family for generations after generations.
The picture, while I’ve never seen it before
,
explains a lot.
It tells me that you were meant to get this book.”
Phil handed the leather bound tome to her as he continued.
“I’ve read this over.
Not in its entirety
,
but most of it.
It’s you.
You’re the shifter that it speaks of.”

“I don’t…what is that exactly?
You make it sound as though I’m some sort of, well hell
,
I don’t know, weird species.”
Alexis flushed.
“I know there is something odd about me. I’ve known that I could heal and that I could turn into anything I want.
I’d also been aware that I could heal myself, but only in very small things.
But today, today was the first time I’ve been hurt so badly that—
”

“You weren’t breathing.
She cut you badly and you stopped breathing.
According to this book you’re going to be the one who brings back the shifter.”
Phil looked over at Gordon before he spoke again. “And you
,
as her mate
,
are going to help her.”

“Okay.
For now I’ll believe you.
But if you think I’m going to become some sort of breeding machine you can rethink that right fucking now.
I’m not convinced about anything
,
but I’m willing to listen.
What is a shifter and why are we…according to you, all gone?”
Alexis sounded panicky and Gordon went to sit beside her.

“A shifter is just what it sounds like.
They’re
a
group of men or women of whom
,
at one time
,
could shift into any race and become one with them.
It is said that when a shifter joined a mate
,
the mate could not tell and that every babe born to them would be as the counterpart.
The only way for a shifter to be born of a pair was if they both were shifters.”

“Are you saying that they bred themselves out?
How ignorant is that?”
Alexis handed him back the book while shaking her head. “I don’t think so.
I can’t believe that anyone would be so stupid as to willingly become extinct.
Were they so ashamed of what they were that they’d be willing to do that?”

Phil nodded and looked her right in the eye.
“Yes
.
”

~~~

Alexis stared at Phil without moving.
Yes?
They didn’t want to be around so they’d done the unspeakable.
She looked down at the book he’d given her again. The pictures there, ones of animals being slaughtered by men with pitchforks and sticks
,
were detailed and horrid.
Some of the dead were half
-
huma
n, shifting she supposed
,
as they lay dying. She was horrified even more by what she saw
,
knowing that they had done this themselves
.

There were several people standing around cages on another page.
These animals were set in a large room with tables with the dead still bleeding upon them.
She
knew
what this was
. T
hey were cutting into them, seeing what made them so different, trying to figure out what they were.
She turned to the next page and saw the woman in the picture looking up at her.

She had a crown on, her body covered in silks.
Her cape
,
long and dark
,
flowed down her body to the steps below.
At her feet where others, people crying, their tears staining the guards
’
boots, puddl
ing
on the floor.
Dead as well as the living huddled around her.
She looked so…sad
,
Alexis thought.
She looked at the words beneath the picture and suddenly knew what they meant.
The language
was
as familiar to her as her own.

“I beseech thee to save us.
I beg you to bring us home.
Child of mine, you are our only hope.”

“She is speaking to me,” Alexis said softly.
“She is asking me to save them.
Why?
How does she think one person can bring an entire race back from what they’ve done?”

“No, she is begging you and your mate to do so.
According to our lege
n
d
,
there is one who can do this and only one.
The note from when you were found
,
it said that you’d be hunted and that the one who found you, loved you
,
would be richly rewarded.
You have been.
Both of you have
,
”
Phil said
,
his voice as low as hers had been.
“Do you know what that reward is?”