Heir To The Pack (The Cursed Pack Book 1) (28 page)

The wolf, Shura, wagged
her tail, beating a rhythm on the ground. Dash spread his hands over the wall
of magic, seeking a chink, a way in.

Shura stood and lowered
her jaws over Annie’s belly, her yellow eyes mocking him. Annie moved her
limbs, sluggishly.
She's bleeding out.

Dash reached for his wolf.
Perhaps he would be strong enough to breach the magic wall.

Stop.
Wait
, said his wolf.
I have an idea
.

*
         
*
         
*

Annie smiled up at Dash. The
color leached from the world, turning to darker and darker shades of grey. She
felt no pain. Why was it that trying to bring her wolf out of the abyss had
hurt so badly, and dying not at all?

Her body was shutting
down, she knew, her brain gradually switching off in reaction to blood loss, pain
and fear. The last thing she would see would be Dash’s face. She would not be
alone.

She lost the energy to
keep her eyes open, and closed them. In the dark, she floated. This was a comfortable
dark place, so unlike the abyss she had visited before. And there was a light
in the distance, glowing, drawing her in.

Wake
up, lunaa
, a voice said.
Wake up, beloved
.

She’d heard that voice
before, but where? She couldn’t quite place it, growly and deep, like Jack
playing at being a monster, only all grown up.

In the dark tunnel of her
mind, she saw light glinting off a pair of pale blue eyes, and knew she was not
alone, even in death.

“You’re Dash’s wolf,” she
said, or rather, thought.

I’m
yours
, the wolf replied
inside her mind.

“That’s nice.” Her mind wasn’t
working right. Hazily, she took a step toward the welcoming light.

No,
not that way.
The wolf
nosed at her leg.
Let me show you the way
out of here.

A light seemed to surround
Dash’s wolf, and she could see a path. She rested one hand on the wolf’s
scruff, and they walked together along the path.

As she walked, she lost
the sensation of fur beneath her hand, could no longer hear the wolf padding
beside her. Where had it gone? She kept walking and realized that her footfalls
were four, instead of two.

Am
I
...

We
are
, the wolf’s voice
said.

Annie opened her eyes. She
was back. And she was a wolf.

She was on her back in the
kitchen again, but strong, not in pain as she had been. She flung herself
upwards, knocking aside a dark furry mass as she did.

Landing on all fours, she
growled. Well, she’d meant to say something, but this body clearly didn’t work
the way she had expected.

Everything she saw in
duplicate through her own mind, and the wolf’s. One view of the world was in full
color, and the other in a thousand subtle shades of grey.

In front of her,
scrambling to her feet, was her enemy. Shura-wolf. Annie noted with surprise
that she looked down at the big, dark wolf. Her own body was bigger. Stronger. Faster.

She meant to laugh, but it
came out as a yip.

Shura’s eyes held a hint
of fear. She hadn’t expected a fight.

They circled each other,
slowly. Annie used the time to get to know her new body. God, it was strong,
nothing but muscle and sinew and bone, two hundred pounds of fighting machine. Now,
she just had to be careful of Shura’s magic.

For the first time, she
thought she might actually have a chance of killing the witch.

They continued to circle. Annie
watched, and waited, and saw the tiny change in Shura’s posture that tipped her
off that the bitch was about to act.

As Shura lunged, Annie
dodged. The witch lost her balance, and Annie fell on her, growling and
snarling. She opened her jaws and ripped at the other wolf’s shoulder. Her
teeth broke skin. She tasted blood.

Instead of disgusting her,
the blood sent a surge of adrenaline rushing through her veins. First blood. She
howled.

Shura tore loose from her
grip, and ran.

Annie gave chase, around
and around the island counter. Her legs being longer, she grew closer with each
stride, until she felt confident to leap.

As she left the ground,
her paws slipped and she fell, hard.

Damn it, she’d slipped in
her own blood. She barely had time to register that when Shura leaped on her.

They rolled over and over,
teeth snapping, paws wrestling.

Shura’s teeth caught in
her ear and ripped it, making her yelp. Her vision filled with red rage.
Enough.

She rolled on top of
Shura, and used her superior weight to hold her still. The dark wolf growled at
her. The scent of her magic began to rise. Annie had to stop her, now.

You
won’t kill my son! And you won’t kill me
!

Annie bit down on Shura’s
neck. Her jaws met with such force that her teeth snicked together. With one
barbaric jerk, she tore out Shura’s throat. Annie spat out the mouthful of
flesh and rolled back off the witch.

The wolf’s eyes widened as
her lifeblood left her body.

Annie expected the body to
turn back into Michael, but the huge furry, bloody mess remained.

She watched, waiting to be
sure the wolf was dead. The blood pool spread across the kitchen floor. She
followed it with her gaze, and saw the moment it touched the magic wall. And the
moment the spell fell. The wolf witch's magic had risen slowly enough to give
Annie a chance. She must have weakened herself building the wall. Lucky for
Annie.

Beyond the pool, Dash, his
face pale, lay stretched out and still.

CHAPTER
TWENTY-FIVE

Annie leapt to his side,
paws splaying out, the grace that had been hers during the fight gone.

As she drew near, her nose
picked up his body heat, and she could see his chest rise and fall. But he was
out cold.

She nosed at his hand and
licked it, gingerly. He did not stir. Whining, she lay down at his side. Shura
was dead. She’d killed the witch. Shouldn’t everything be okay now?

Inside her, Dash’s wolf
whimpered.

Go
back to him
. She thought
to his wolf.
He needs you more than I do.

She didn’t get words, only
an impression of confusion and a sense of being lost. He can’t get back, she
realized. He’s stuck with me.

If she could figure out how
to change back to human form... But she hadn’t the faintest idea how to start,
any more than she knew how to change into a wolf in the first place.

The aunt’s eerie tale
echoed in her mind. When the males of the Lost Pack lost their wolves, they’d
died. And Jack had sickened without his. How long could Dash go without his
wolf, before something awful happened to him?

Behind her, she heard
footsteps, and lifted her head. Gaelan stalked into the room, eyes wild, his
hands in fists. He saw the dead wolf, first, then looked uncomprehendingly from
Dash, to Annie, and back again.

“Dash?” he said
uncertainly. “Where’s Annie?”

She tilted her head to one
side and whined.

“I don’t understand.” He
looked again at the dead wolf. “Michael’s dead. I guess you killed him. Good. But
I don’t understand how you can be in two bodies.” Walking over, he knelt down
by Dash. “Or what’s wrong with this one. And where the hell is Annie?” He
looked back at her. “Elaine and Marjie are coming. Jack and Daisy are fine. She
sprained her ankle.”

Jack had escaped. She’d
killed the witch. She heard her tail thump the ground behind her.

If only Dash was all
right, she’d be a lot happier.

The rest of their various
families spilled into the room, surrounding Dash. Nobody paid Shura more than a
second glance.

Annie guarded Dash. She
didn’t know what else to do. But when her mom came limping in, followed by
Jack, she rose.

“Mama,” Jack cried
happily, running across the room and putting his arms around her neck. “Mama is
a doggie!”

He knew her. Even in this
form, he knew his own mother. She would have cried, if she could.

She longed to wrap him in
her arms, but she settled for licking his face thoroughly and enthusiastically.
A week ago she would have thought it disgusting. She dismissed the thought, and
gave him another lick.

Finally, she curled her
body around Jack, who giggled and patted her roughly on the head. She’d never
been happier to see him in her life, not even on the day he was born.

Gaelan’s mouth dropped
open, and he looked back and forth between Dash’s body and Annie. “Holy shit.”

Was that really the best
he could come up with? Annie yipped.

“Sorry, sorry.” He wiped
his face. “How?”

If only she knew.

Elaine bustled past him,
and knelt down beside Dash. She put a hand on his forehead. “Marjie,” she said,
“You’re better at this than me.”

The grizzled old woman eased
herself onto the floor, her folding joints creaked. She closed her eyes, and
put a hand on Dash’s arm. Minutes passed. No one moved. Some watched Marjie,
and some shuffled their feet. Elaine disappeared and returned with a bed sheet,
which she used to cover Shura’s body, with an apologetic glance in Jack’s
direction.

“Right,” Marjie said,
startling Annie. “So Dash’s wolf is in Annie’s body. I don’t quite know how he
managed that bit of magic, but it’ll keep. The shock to him is similar, I
expect, to other males that have lost their wolves, like the Lost Pack.”

Annie had worked that out.
But what would happen now?

Marjie continued. “We need
to figure out how to get you,” here she pointed at Annie, “half of you, at
least, back in there,” and here she pointed back at Dash. “If you could change
back into human form I think it would be a good deal easier.”

If only it were that
simple. Annie whined.

Marjie turned her piercing
gaze on Annie. “Can’t figure it out, huh? Well, he’s not at death’s door yet,
but you should work on that with some haste.”

How much time did they
have? That was the real question. She found it hard to think logically in this
form.

Gaelan cleared his throat.
“Do you mind if I carry him to the bed?”

Annie stepped back letting
the blond pick up his friend and carry him through to the bedchamber. Dash’s
breathing continued steady, but he was much deeper than mere sleep. Magical
shock, she supposed. A lump wedged in her throat at the sight of him hanging
from Gaelan’s arms like an oversized rag doll.

“I’ll clean up in here,”
Elaine said briskly. “Marjie, check the boy first.”

Marjie put her hand on
Jack’s head. She paused, made eye contact with Annie. “Okay?”

Wearing the Alpha wolf’s
form led to some interesting political changes. She was pretty sure Marjie wouldn’t
have bothered to ask if she was in her own human body.

“Interesting,” the old
woman said. “The shadow is gone.”

Relief sagged through her
muscles. That had to be a good thing. However, Marjie’s voice was quiet and she
didn’t sound as happy as Annie would have expected. What was the catch? Or was
she second-guessing herself? Wanting to be sure what she meant, Annie whined.

“He only has one spirit,” Marjie
said, addressing Annie. “I don’t think he’s going to die. But he may never have
a wolf. I don’t really know what to make of any of this, to be honest with you.”

Annie nosed at Jack,
pleased just to have him here, free of the curse. She wished for certainty, but
he was a damn sight better off than he had been before Shura’s death. She’d
take “I don’t think he’s going to die” over “doomed” any day of the week. It
was hard to not have lingering doubts.

Shoshanna’s vision had
been right, hadn’t it? She had to change to kill the witch. She shivered, and
shook herself off thoroughly.

Marjie got to her feet and
left the room, having said all she was going to say, apparently. Elaine bustled
about, cleaning and tidying up after the fight. Guards picked up Shura’s body.

 
“Put the body in cold storage, for now,” Elaine
instructed them. “Dash will have to break the news to the Mexican pack later.” She
stopped, her face sad. “Or perhaps Gaelan can do it.”

What was Annie supposed to
do now?

Daisy, once she had her
foot up and an icepack supplied by Elaine in place, patted the couch beside
her. Jack made to run to her, but Annie whined. She couldn’t bear to let him
out of her sight yet.

“Jack is fine,” her mother
said. “Go to Dash. He needs you.”

She did as she was told. It
wasn’t as if she could talk back, and the idea had merit. She growled out of
sheer frustration as she padded across the living room floor. How long would
she be stuck in this form?

In the bedroom, Gaelan sat
vigil beside the bed, with Marjie on the other side. When Annie came in, they
both looked up at her. Marjie smiled.

Dash's condition hadn’t
changed. Her heart beat in double-time seeing him so pale and still.

He’d told her many times
there was always a price for magic. Would the price of this magic be his life?

Hopping up on to the bed,
she lay down as close to Dash as she could, resting her head on his chest so
she could hear his heartbeat and breathe in his scent, reassuring herself he
was still alive, still with her. For now.

“Good,” Marjie said. “If
you can’t be in there,” she gestured, “It’s good to be as close as you can.”

Time passed. After a
while, Annie dozed, never moving from her position, and when she opened her
eyes, G still sat beside the bed, but Marjie was gone. The sun angled low through
the windows.

Gaelan met her gaze. “Marjie
says he’s stable, for now. No change, better or worse.” He shrugged. “I don’t
know what we do from here. The gathered packs are going to want their Lycaon. We
need to find a way to get Dash's wolf—I mean you, whatever—back
into Dash.

Annie sat up, thinking. She’d
seen the change several times—fast, slow, easy, hard. Always from the
outside. How could she trigger it?

She focused on the wolf.
Hey
, she thought.
Surely you know how to do this.

Only
my part.
The wolf’s
thoughts were muddy and distressed.
I
need him.

I
need him, too.
She
wished she could somehow call Dash back from wherever he was.

And that gave her an idea.

She threw her head back
and howled as loud as she could. It came out wimpy compared to what she’d heard
in the courtyard. Apparently it took practice, or something else she didn’t
have.

Gaelan nearly fell off his
chair. “What the hell,” he said. “What are you trying to do, wake the dead?” He
shook himself, and his eyes grew round. “You’re trying to call his change.”

Annie wagged her tail. Smart
guy. He’d figured it out. Now if she could make it work.

“I don’t think that’s
going to work,” Gaelan said. “It’s a good idea, and all, but the only one with
enough power to call wolves to change is Dash. And apparently not just his
wolf.” He looked uncomfortable. “Sorry. You’re not alpha enough.”

That was something she
hadn’t considered. Whatever it was that made Dash alpha wasn’t encapsulated in
his wolf spirit and body, but was either part of the man, or a product of the
two spirits together.

If it was the man, who
else would be alpha enough? Dash was the clear leader in that department. The
whole point of him standing up as Lycaon was that he was the most dominant,
like his father before him, and his grandfather before that.

She needed help from the
aunts. Jumping down from the bed, she trotted to the door and whined.

“You want to go out? Where?”

God, this was frustrating.
How did people do this? She supposed it wasn’t so bad if you could change your
form whenever you wanted. She wanted Elaine to see what she was doing and offer
suggestions. The old witch had to have some idea of how to make this work. But
how to communicate that to Gaelan? It wasn’t as though she could play Charades.

She whined again. He shrugged
and got up, reached over her and turned the door handle. “There you go,” he
said, pulling the door open.

Fortunately, her howling,
while not terribly loud, had brought both of Dash’s aunts at the trot.

“What’s wrong?” demanded Marjie.
“Has he gotten worse?”

Annie threw back her head
and howled, again. It came out deeper than the last time, but she still sounded
like a sick goat. And that, she thought grimly, was a sign of how ill Dash was.
If that wouldn’t wake him, nothing would.

“She’s trying the Call to Change,”
Gaelan said. “But she’s not dominant enough. It won’t work.”

Elaine met her eyes, her
face grave. “I’m sorry, my dear,” she said. “It’s a good idea. If I thought one
of the other Alphas could manage to call him back, I would ask them. But it’s
dominance. Only a wolf of equal or greater power can call him to change. And
that’s the whole reason we want him as Lycaon. Because he’s the most powerful
wolf of his generation.”

Annie lay down and put her
head on her paws. The energy drained out of her with the death of her idea. There
was nothing she could do. Nothing. Dash was going to die. She was trapped in
the form of a wolf. Who would raise Jack?

Thank God her current form
was incapable of tears, but a small whimper rose in her throat. Before she
could embarrass herself further, she rose and stalked from the room. The gazes
of Gaelan and the aunts and the unwanted weight of their sympathy and grief bore
into her as she left.

Jack ran around the living
room pretending to be an airplane. “Vroom vroom,” he shouted as Annie entered. It
lifted her spirits to see him running and playing. He would live.

Dash would gladly give his
life for Jack’s. He must have known when he pushed his wolf spirit into Annie
that it would have consequences.

It was consolation of a
sort, but what she wouldn’t give to have both of them. All three of them,
happy, and healthy, and together as a family.

She’d fallen in love with
the father of her son.

Love didn’t buoy her, but
brought her further into despair knowing that she had found him in time to lose
him forever.

“Mama.” Jack charged to
her and flung his arms around her neck. “Where’s Daddy?”

She nosed at him, tugging
at his shirt with her teeth, and leading him down the hallway. It might upset
him to see his father like that, but he had a right to spend time with him.