Chapter 49

"Damn,"I backed up along the chain-link fence which ran down one side of the parking lot. It wasn't the best idea to retreat; everyone knows it's a sign of fear and fear was like candy for werewolves. "Not another one,"I groaned as I forced my legs to stop and stand their ground.
I took a quick look around me. The lot was full of cars but thankfully empty of people. How long had the wolf been watching me from the bushes; waiting for the right moment to strike? A chill went down my spine as I realized how pathetic my senses were compared to those of a true predator. I had completely underestimated my enemy again. This was becoming a habit; the kind of habit that could kill me.
The wolf leapt at me, and I side-stepped, but it had jacked-up, animal reflexes, and twisted mid-air. Pain rocketed through me as its teeth sank into my shoulder, and we both went down. It landed on my chest; straddling me while it worried at my wound like a piece of meat. Even through the agony, I noticed the sharp claws protruding from the massive paws on either side of my face. I was becoming more and more certain that this was the painful, bloody end Jackson had just foretold.
Straddling my body was a vulnerable position for the wolf, but then it probably wasn't expecting a human to be armed with god weaponry. If my claws had been normal steel, they might not have even penetrated his thick hide. They weren't normal, though. So, when I punched both hands up into its underbelly and pulled them down, I gutted the beast horribly. Blood gushed over me, along with the slide of thicker things, before the wolf fell back with a sharp howl to kick uselessly at the air.
I rolled onto my unchewed shoulder and stood up on shaky legs; clutching my wound to try and staunch the blood flow. The bite was deep, ragged, and wide due to the head-thrashing technique my attacker had employed. I tore away my already damaged sleeve and with some awkward maneuvering, I was able to bind my wound. Pain burned through me, threatening to steal my consciousness, but I breathed through it and focused instead on my would-be assassin.
The creature was panting furiously as its eyes rolled up at me in terror. Entrails oozed out of the shredded mess of its belly; blood pooling quickly and matting the beautiful coat. It was enough to turn my stomach, and my automatic reaction was to look away. But I forced myself to stare at it and acknowledge what I'd done. Death should never be easy; not for either party involved.
So, I stared and what I saw was just a wounded animal in horrendous pain. My pain seemed to dull in light of his and when he whimpered, my breath caught on a sob. I was a major animal lover and hurting one was so against the grain for me that it felt as if a part of my soul were shriveling. I told myself that this wasn't just any wolf; this was a werewolf sent to murder me. But my heart wasn't listening. He was just so pitiful and monstrously beautiful that I couldn't end his life. I just didn't have it in me.
Rule number one when fighting Gods and monsters: No sympathy and no mercy. But what had Jackson said? Something about pain to love and love to heal? And Yemanja had said something about being gentle. It was all fuzzy at the moment, but it resonated within me, and I knew that going with my heart was the right thing to do. I'd killed so many gods; giving up a part of my humanity to save humanity. Killing this wolf was a sacrifice I wasn't willing to make. Killing him would kill the only goodness I had left inside me.
"If you shift now, will you be able to heal?"I asked with as steady a voice as I could manage through the radiating pain of my shoulder. The wolf's eyes narrowed, and it nodded in a very human way. "Then go ahead and change. I'll guard you while you do, and we'll call this round a draw."
I was shaking, and I wasn't sure if it was from blood loss or the possibility of having just made a fatal mistake. The wolf shifted immediately, and I glanced around to be certain we were still alone. When I looked back, there was a large, naked man sitting against the chain-link fence. And I mean large. No wonder the wolf was so big, the man was nearly as big as Thor. Short, black, silky hair poked out from his head in clumps; giving him a wild, unkempt, and very sexy look. His eyes were still the color of honey and still tilted in the same manner; more wolf than human. Those unusual eyes stared at me with both animal intensity and an intelligence superior to most humans. I tried hard to focus on them and ignore the fact that he was naked, hot, and a shower, not a grower. Not that I looked. Much.
"Why?"His voice was raspy and his breathing ragged.
For a second I thought he was asking me why I was trying to avoid looking at his genitals. Then my mind snapped back into focus, and I almost slapped myself for being such a perverted werewolf-ogler.
"I guess I'm just a sucker for a wounded wolf."I tried to look casual and yet still be prepared for an attack. He had a distinct advantage over me now. My shoulder wound would make self-defense difficult at best while he was completely healed. "I'll probably regret it later, but it felt like the right thing to do."I shrugged and then hissed from the pain of the movement.
"You're the one who killed Kenny."He swallowed convulsively, and I suddenly realized that he wasn't a threat to me after all. He was still weakened from the effort it had taken him to heal.
"Is that the werewolf who attacked me the other night?"I pulled up the levers that sheathed my claws, and the naked wolf-man nodded.
"You've got to be kidding me. I killed Kenny? Great, my life has just morphed into an episode of South Park,"I huffed. Kenny the Werewolf? Werewolf Ken? Wouldn't you know it; Barbie's Halloween date had tried to assassinate me. "Look, he attacked me first, Fido. I was just defending myself."
"It's just a job."His lips twitched. Was he going to laugh at me? Of all the inappropriate—oh, who the hell am I kidding? I was the Queen of Inappropriate Comments.
"Time to find a new line of work then."I looked around again. "You need to go. Someone could see—"I waved vaguely to include his still very naked, very sexy body and my tied off shoulder.
Did werewolves have extra-strong pheromones or what?
"You're really just going to let me walk away?"His voice caressed me with a lilting measure of both wonder and fascination as his eyes continued their intense scrutiny.
"No, I wanted you to heal so I could stab you all over again; it's more fun that way."I rolled my eyes and grimaced around the throbbing pain of my shoulder. "You may wanna change back to a wolf. I think you'll garner less attention than if you walked around naked. Although, it's a tough call. That's a lot of naked you got going on."
"You're not even going to ask who sent me?"His wolf eyes widened and his brows lifted.
"Would you tell me if I did?"I lifted my brows back at him.
"No,"he grunted with a twisted grin.
"Well, there you go."I searched the parking lot again and saw an elderly couple coming out of the antique store. I could just imagine the headlines; Double Heart Attack: Elderly Couple Shocked to Death by Werewolf Flasher. I focused back on the werewolf anxiously, "And you should go, as in now."
"I'm Trevor."He crawled over to me, and I barely controlled my urge to back away. He sniffed the air around me thoroughly before he grabbed my hand and rubbed his face against it like a cat scent-marking its owner.
"I'm Vervain."I shook my head and laughed a little hysterically. "How very nice to meet you, Trevor."
"Vervain."Trevor stood, and it took all of my willpower to focus on his face. "I'll find you again, but I'll hunt you no more. You're safe from me now, and I'll do everything I can to keep the others away from you as well. I swear it on the life you returned to me."
"Thank you, but really, that's not necessary. Don't come after me again, and we're all square."I didn't want to get him killed by his family for disobedience or something like that right after I saved him. Wouldn't that be ironic?
He blinked as if I'd said something profound and then shifted suddenly. One second he was a hot, naked man, and the next, a giant fur ball. I sucked in a shocked breath as he circled me three times, rubbing against me as he went, and then lowered his head in a bow before he ran off in great, loping strides.
"Well, what the hell was that about?"I mused as I watched him go.
Then I shook my head and stumbled to my car. I had to get home so I could trace over to Bilskinir. Hopefully, I could get to Teharon before I passed out.