Hood's Obsession (14 page)

Lilith ripped up the turf in her wake. Her human side barely able to comprehend that she had seven minutes, maybe less, before the sun was gone and her final tether of rationality slipped away.

In the distance she spotted the brown pointed roof of the shack. The wood was weathered and old, stained a grayish pallor from exposure to the sun. It wasn’t large—it could comfortably hold two humans inside, or one she wolf in bloom.

Grass sprayed through the air like tiny missiles as she dug her claws in harder so that she could better shove off. Her muscles flexed and bunched and her breathing had grown labored.

The sky was a pinkish blue streaked with shades of orange.

A tingling rush of the wild began to pump through her veins as she finally reached the entrance. The hinged wooden door looked barely useable.

It took every ounce of will she owned to shift to her female form one last time before she’d black out and remember nothing other than the call.

Grasping onto the edge of the dilapidated doorway, she yanked the brass keys hanging from a large rusted nail on the wall and quickly unlocked the heavy black padlock.

“No matter what you hear, knight, do not open the door. No matter what.” The weakening rays of the sun burned like fire on her sensitized skin.

He’d shifted back himself and was looking at her with a mix of wariness and confusion. “This does not look safe or well maintained.”

Shaking her head, she ripped the door open and stepped one foot inside then turned to gaze back at him. This was not at all what she’d wanted, to be caught out in the woods during her bloom.

Lilith would have much rather hidden below ground, caged in by forged iron—it was the safest way. But beggars could hardly afford to be picky.

“It’ll hold. It’s been sealed with pack magic. The outward appearance is merely a mirage to keep squatters away.”

She had less than a minute before the sun set but there was a gleam, a strange look in his eyes that made her desperate to stay and discover what it was.

“What?” she asked quietly, her voice already shifting, becoming deeper and more guttural.

His eyes traveled up and down her still-altered body. She liked her latest incarnation and wished to stay as she was a little while longer.

“You look very different.”

Not pretty. Not lovely. But different.

Hiding her disappointment, she gave him a weak grin. “I am a chameleon, knight, this is what I do. Remember, do not open the door, no matter what I might do or say. Not until sunrise.”

Red eyes narrowed, staring at her intensely, but she felt the seconds slipping by and knew she had no more time.

“Here.” She handed him the brass ring. “Secure it quickly. And…”

“Yes?” he asked as he reached for the key.

Reaching out a hand that was more wolf than woman at this point, she lightly caressed the side of his jaw. “I’m sorry for what will happen tonight. If you leave I will be safe. Not even an alpha would dare intrude on me as I will be. But they will come, I can’t help it,” she whispered softly. “If you stay here, this night will be hell for you.”

And just as the sun slipped beneath the horizon she slammed the door closed, trembling as her body shifted. Becoming neither human nor beast, but something in between. Something dark and wicked and full of claws and fury.

The heavy chains jingled against the door and then she tipped her head back and howled as the madness claimed her.

Giles slammed his back against the door as it bulged outward. Lilith had been crashing into it for the past hour, snarling and roaring and sounding unlike any creature he’d ever heard before.

There was a legend on Earth of a monster that shifted during a full moon, known as werewolves, he’d assumed—as he was sure many others did, as well—that they were nothing more than a myth. Little more than an exaggeration of what a shifter could do, but he could almost believe the legend with her as she was.

Her claws dug into the door and then she rammed into it again, almost tossing him on his ass from the impact. Kicking the door with his boot, he yelled, “Stop it, Lilith. If you’re aware at all, you have to stop. The door will splinter if you keep at it.”

Immediately the scratching stopped and a dog-like whining sound took its place. He could hear the
click click click
of her claws, as though she were pacing back and forth.

He frowned wondering if she’d really stopped because he’d asked her to.

But then the banging started back up again, although this time on the left wall. Taking a deep breath he hung his head, wiping at his brow.

His body ached from taking her blows, but there was no way he’d let her out, nor would he leave. Jogging over to the wall she was now tossing herself into, he noticed it held much better than the door had.

Whoever had built this shelter had let it fall into ruin, she’d said it was spelled, and that could be true, but there still needed to be some level of upkeep involved to keep it in functioning order.

A few heavy deadbolts on a ramshackle door would do little to hold someone with her strength inside.

Realizing he had a quick moment to gather whatever twigs he could from off the ground so that he could light a fire, he kept his attention always on the shack but picked up whatever he could find within a ten-yard radius.

Giles had prided himself on knowing all that Kingdom had to offer because he was the man in charge of Rumpel’s games. In order to make an applicant believe that they were in reality and not in some hidden keep of the castle, he’d had to learn all the little nuances of not just this world, but Earth, as well.

He designed each trial and he knew that to fully involve each sense and make the brain believe what it was seeing was fact was to make even the tiniest little details as accurate as possible.

It’s why he knew of the werewolf legend. What he hadn’t realized was that the legend obviously seemed to stem from a female’s blooming.

Picking up several fat dried twigs and a couple of brittle leaves, he tucked them against his body, wondering all the while how Lilith was faring.

Her howls echoed through the night, haunting and horribly lonely sounding. He closed his eyes for a moment as another one sounded. This one almost like a melody, a cry of heartache and yearning. And it was crazy that he should think it, that he wanted to attribute meaning to her howls, but when she did it, it was what he felt deep in his soul.

Turning back toward the shack, he couldn’t understand his sudden desire to throw open the door and let her out, because his intellect understood she’d given him the warning for a reason.

Shaking his head, telling himself it had to be her call and nothing more, he ignored his anxious need to return to her side. If there would be other wolves coming for her, then it would be well to have fire.

Wolves were generally skittish of flame and would keep their distance, but then again, how powerful was a bloom’s call?

“Bloody hell,” he groused, marching back to the shack and breathing a sigh of relief when he could once again see the bulging of the wood from her ramming herself against its door.

Tossing his sticks down, he kneeled and then snapped his fingers. Giles had been born of flame, fire raced through his blood, he could manifest its glow with nothing more than his will to do so.

Touching the tip of his flaming finger to the twigs he caught them on fire. Vanquishing the flame, he tossed a few more sticks into it until it burned nice and bright.

It was a trick he’d not shown her, preferring to build the fire the old-fashioned way while in her presence. Not that he’d made a conscience decision to keep his skill from her, more that he was a naturally private man and rarely took the time to divulge any information about himself willingly.

Hopping to his feet, he walked back to the door and slid down it until his back was pressed firmly against it, determined to guard her.

So far he’d spotted nothing moving through the woods. Maybe there was nothing close enough to be affected by her bloom, but then again the night had only just begun.

Giles wasn’t sure how much later it was. Lilith’s crying had gone on unabated since the moment she’d locked herself in there, and after a while the sound of it had almost lulled him to sleep.

But he’d been born a warrior, taught to listen to his natural instincts, and something was definitely wrong.

His fire had nearly extinguished itself. The sky was a royal blue interspersed with ghostly white clouds. Waiting on bated breath, he stared through the thick black night, looking for anything that would dart or move between the trees.

Suddenly Lilith’s cries grew stronger and louder and then she was again ramming her body into the door, clawing and whining. Giles jumped to his feet, ready to ask her to stop, when not one, not two, but three wolves suddenly materialized as though from thin air.

They were monstrously big and most definitely alphas with the way they held their long, bushy tails straight out like banners. Their muzzles were back to expose thick, long canines and they moved in unison steadily forward.

But there was one that was in the lead—a large red wolf with a streak of black that ran straight as an arrow down his back. The other two wolves walked slightly behind their leader, but the glares of all three were easy enough to decipher.

They were here for Lilith and they aimed to kill anything that stood in their way.

Heart beating wildly in his throat, Giles held his hand out. He had no idea if these were true wolves or shifters. He’d always assumed that there was only one alpha per pack with the true animals, and if that was the case, than these were shifters, which could make them twice as dangerous.

The doorframe shuddered violently as splinters of wood showered down on his shoulder from Lilith’s constant beating. It was holding, but for how long?

“You don’t want to do this.” Giles said it softly, attempting to soothe their beasts first.

The red wolf gave him what appeared to be a leer as it continued its predatory advance.

Lilith howled, causing the three to come up short and join in her chorus.

The red’s howl was longer and higher in frequency than the other two. Almost as though he were telling her he was a true male.

Giles clenched his fists. “You won’t get to her.”

Yellow eyes turned on him and a rumble that hinted at violence tore from the lead’s throat.

When Lilith cried again, it sounded nothing like it had a moment ago. Crazy as it might sound, it almost seemed to him as though it were full of fear.

He wasn’t sure how he understood that sound, but he was certain of it and he knew why. She’d nearly been raped by a pack just days ago; she was probably terrified of the same, of being bound to a male she’d not chosen for herself.

Giles knew nothing of shifter hierarchy and rules, but he would do whatever he must, even if it meant dying, to help her honor her choice.

They were nearly upon him now. Their hackles were raised and the air reeked of the stench of musk. They were lacing the breeze with their scent.

Her scratching picked up in intensity, the door would be shredded to ribbons soon. Needing to get her away from it, he slowly moved to the other side of the wall, knowing she would follow him around because the other wolves were following him around.

“Get away from her,” he warned one final time.

The lead wolf gave a barely perceptible flick of its head, and then it was utter chaos as all three wolves pounced on him, knocking the air from his lungs as they shoved him violently against the wall.

Lilith cried out.

If he’d not already been close to the wall they would have knocked him to the ground, negating any kind of advantage on his part.

Kicking out, Giles connected his right boot with the eye socket of the black wolf. It whimpered, sneezing and using its paw to swipe at its face. But the gray and red wolves were still on him and they were shredding into his thigh.

Roaring out in fury and pain, he hammer-fisted the gray’s head just enough to knock it back a few steps, and it shook its head as if to regain equilibrium.

The red wolf had his other fist in its mouth and was gnawing down. Giles smelled his blood, felt the shredding of his skin beneath its mandible.

He could become shadow and easily take one down, but then that would leave two others easy access to the entry, and there was no way he’d do that. No matter what she’d said, the shack was coming apart at the seams—one mighty blow or three desperate wolves would bring it down and put her directly at their mercy. He wouldn’t take that chance.

“You don’t want to do this!” he barked, knowing the wolves were leaving him no choice.

But the other two wolves were back and they latched on to the toes of his boots. Breathing heavy, Giles twisted his body in such a way as to use the red wolf’s momentum against itself and tossed it to the ground.

The moment he did the other two wolves immediately backed off. Kneeling on the red’s soft belly, he shoved his uninjured palm into the red’s throat. “Leave now, or I’ll kill him.”

Giles swallowed the bile on the back of his tongue. His injuries were beginning to throb mercilessly, his head was dizzy, and his body trembling from adrenaline and shock. Deep down he understood the wolves were slave to her siren’s call as she was to the moon. He didn’t want to kill them. But he would if it came down to it.