“Hildegard, bring me the wolfsbane.”
Polina huddled over the cauldron, stirring with two hands. She had to. The potion within was thick with molten silver and twenty-five other rare ingredients from her stores. The heavy mixture had taken her hours to create. Long hours she spent weeping over her work.
Logan was gone. The only good thing about her broken heart was it drove her to try harder, and it had paid off. This was the most potent wolf repellent she’d ever made. She’d surround the human campsite with it, then warn the campers of a wolf attack in the area. She’d tell them they shouldn’t venture out at night. With any luck, the humans would stay on their side of the line, and the wolves would avoid the campsite altogether.
Hand to the back of her nose, Polina breathed through her mouth as the repellent neared completion. It smelled of a cross between raw sewage and a chemical treatment plant. Hildegard coasted over the pot and dropped a talonful of wolfsbane into the mix. Bubbles formed like a rich head on a freshly poured draught beer. Polina stopped stirring.
Copper-orange fumes rose from the potion. “It’s ready.” Polina pulled a glass decanter from a rack in her kitchen and ladled in the syrupy brew. She filled another and another.
“Not a moment too soon. The sun is setting,” Hildegard said. “I am worried about you, crying all day over the human. Will you be strong enough to do this?”
“I’ll have to be. What good is being immortal if you can’t push the boundaries of existence every now and then?”
“Hmm.” Hildegard flapped her wings disapprovingly.
“Let’s get on with it. Help carry these out front.” Polina grabbed her wand and charged out into the front yard. She cast her eyes up to the three gargoyles who guarded her home, perched on the Tudor’s gables. The sun hadn’t fully set yet. It would require magic to wake her three guardians early.
“Excitae,” she commanded, raising her wand. The green-stained copper above her twitched and then the metal-on-metal sound of colliding swords rang out with the stretch of gargoyle wings. “Nicodemus, come.”
With his great curled horns and demon-like face, Nicodemus was a frightening sight to behold but a loyal and faithful guardian. He soared down from the eastern gable and bowed to her. “What is your command, mistress?”
“Take your brethren and distribute this potion evenly around the human camp. There are twelve of these.” She handed him the decanter. “Be discreet. It won’t do to frighten the humans.”
“Yes, my lady.”
Skogal coasted from the center gable and landed on her left.
“Good evening, Skogal.” The gargoyle’s tongue lolled from the corner of his mouth. “Follow Nicodemus and do as he does.”
The gargoyle bowed low enough for his snout to touch the dirt. He grasped the decanter Hildegard brought from the house and focused on Nicodemus with the intensity of a trained dog.
Rohilda yawned as she landed and waited while Polina brought her another decanter.
“Do you understand what you must do?” Polina asked her.
The female gargoyle nodded her metal head, her keen eyes shifting toward the human camp.
“Very well. I will leave the rest here on the stoop for you. I will check your progress at sundown.”
Polina watched as the three took to the air and glided south toward the campground. She ran into the house and grabbed the other containers, placing them outside her door.
Hildegard landed on her shoulder. “You’d better have the gargoyles keep watch on the border tonight.”
“Oh, I plan to. But you and I are going to do better than that. We are going to spy on the wolves and go where they go.”
The owl ruffled her feathers. “I don’t like this. Wolves eat owls, you know. Couldn’t we just use the mirror?”
“We’ll be careful. I don’t trust them, Hildie. My mirror will show us any acts of harm the wolves might attempt tonight, but I want to know more. I want to see the shift. It might hold a clue to the pack’s intentions. If the alpha, Alex, is after the dragon fae amulet as Silas fears, following him will be our best chance to intercept it.”
“As you wish,” Hildegard said, her tone reluctant and longsuffering. “Don’t listen to the wise old owl. Force us both to death’s door.”
Polina grimaced. “It’s our responsibility. It’s why we’re here.” Squaring her shoulders, she led the way into the woods.
Renegade Caverns came into view just as long purple clouds chased the sun from the sky like the fingers of a closing fist. Following Polina’s command, Hildegard took to the trees as Polina morphed into the reflective metallic form that made her virtually invisible. She silently navigated her woods, stopping behind the broad trunk of a pine tree near the clearing to spy on the gathering wolves. Not that she was surprised, but Alex hadn’t kept his promise about taking the pack farther up the mountain, and there was not a chicken carcass in sight.
Alex stood on a massive stump at the center of the pack, naked, as were all the other wolves. Polina supposed if your body would shift, it didn’t make sense to rip your clothes. The stump serving as alpha’s stage hadn’t been there yesterday. Around the bottom, faces of wolves, claw marks, and harvest moons were carved into the wood. A totem pole of sorts… and a pulpit.
“Our time is coming,” he said to them. “For some of you, this will be your first shift. It will be painful. Don’t fight it. If you fight the change, chances are you’ll lose your mind as well as your body. The pack needs your mind.” Alex removed a square of fabric from his pocket and handed it to a man on his left. The man sniffed it and passed it to the woman next to him. “When the shift comes, I want you nine to head up the mountain.” He pointed to a group of men and women beginning to stretch and groan in front of him. “You eight go east. You eight, west. And the rest of you, come with me.”
Polina eyed Alex and the remaining four. There was only one direction left to go, toward the humans. What were his intentions? If Silas was right, they were looking for the amulet. She’d have to keep her eyes open and intervene if they found it. If she was capable of intervening. She was already exhausted, and her first priority was the humans at the border.
Above her, the darkness finally took hold, the full moon shining like a beacon from the night sky. Human screams mixed with beastly howls, a horrible din that made Polina want to cover her ears. The snap of breaking bones echoed around her. Her jaw clenched as Alex’s ears extended up the sides of his head. He pitched forward, hands landing on the stump in front of his feet like a game of Twister gone wrong. Fluid oozed from the alpha’s temples, glinting in the light of the moon, while his jaw popped and extended, teeth protruding past the lips, face lengthening. Claws ejected from his knuckles and hair sprouted along his spine.
By the time a dark red tail sprung from Alex’s backside, she thought she might be sick. The shift wasn’t quick and certainly wasn’t painless. And then the unthinkable. Alex turned to face her. He sniffed the air, looked directly at her, and growled.
Could he see her? No. But he could smell her. The two leathery bellows of his wolf nose collapsed and expanded with his sniff. Fuck. Polina retreated into the woods as quietly as she could. It wasn’t quiet enough. Alex, now in the form of the huge red wolf, stalked toward her, his golden eyes narrowing.
She broke into a run. So did he. And he was faster.