The two wolves closed on each other, growling and jaws snapping. They were both obviously going for the neck, but both failed to get anywhere close as they danced apart again. They circled and closed twice more without really touching.
Then Hywel did a clever spring in the air just as Fletch lifted his body to come down on him, and Fletch ended up being flung back. He jumped to his feet in an instant, but Hywel seemed to gain confidence and laughed flexing his claws. He jumped on Fletch and they rolled over, though this time it was Fletch who seemed to come out on top. He pinned Hywel down but Hywel swiped a massive paw across Fletch’s throat and Fletch rolled away with a pained snarl. Hywel was quick to follow up and hit Fletch again across his face, blood spurting around his eyes. Fletch shook his head to clear his vision but Hywel, so clearly the more experienced fighter, butted him sideways before he could see him coming. For a second Fletch exposed his underside and Hywel took full advantage, using both sets of claws to rake deep grooves down Fletch’s belly.
There was a gasp from our side of the circle as his whole stomach seemed to burst open, and Hywel backed away to see the damage. But then something strange happened. Even as we watched, the gashes simply sewed themselves back together, and Fletch jumped once more to his feet.
Hywel howled in rage.
“Is that normal?” I asked Brian.
Brian gave me a cheerful grin. “Nope. Werewolves heal really fast, but not that fast.”
Hywel sprang on Fletch, once again rolling him. This time his jaws made contact with Fletch’s neck and he ripped his throat out.
The breath went out of my body, and I nearly threw up, but even as Hywel was spitting out huge chunks of Fletch’s throat that he’d torn off, Fletch healed, just like that.
“What’s going on?” Hywel roared.
Then suddenly he worked it out. He rounded on me so fast I didn’t see him coming, and I was on my back with a huge werewolf on top of me before I could take another breath.
“You did this. You bonded with him, didn’t you? And now he’s invulnerable.”
He sank his teeth into my shoulder and I screamed. Fletch barrelled into him and tossed him off me, but not before Hywel had managed to embed all ten claws deep in my chest.
I choked like a fish out of water for a few seconds then miraculously felt fine. I looked down. Not a scratch. I was invulnerable too!
I scrambled to my feet as Fletch stalked Hywel with deadly intent.
Hywel backed slowly away from him, round and around the circle. “This is not a fair fight,” he shouted, “the witch wasn’t allowed to bond with you. You can’t be killed now. I demand she be put to death so that we can fight on even terms. It is my right!”
“Can he do that?” I asked Brian, suddenly wondering if we had broken werewolf law and I was going to pay the price.
“No. He’s making it up. I think he must be feeling a bit desperate. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t have bonded with Fletch, and he knows that. Demanding your death is the only thing he can think of to even the odds. He clearly hasn’t noticed that you can’t be hurt either.”
“So Fletch and I are completely unkillable?” I said.
“Yup! Nice, isn’t it? There’s no way for Hywel to win. Eventually he will run out of energy attacking Fletch and then Fletch will simply kill him.”
“No, he won’t!” I said, knowing that it would cause Fletch mental anguish even without physical pain.
I stepped into the circle. When Fletch ignored me and continued to advance on Hywel, I spoke to him as if to a bad dog. “That’s enough now. Fletch, come here.”
He shot me an annoyed look. But eventually he walked to my side.
“Kill her!” Hywel shrieked at his own followers. But they ignored him; instead they all bowed down to Fletch.
I put my hand on his back and felt our power surge.
“Up,” I said, using my free hand to indicate, and Fletch and I rose off the ground as if standing on a platform, then landed cleanly on top of the largest horizontal stone. I looked down at the circle of wolves; keeping one hand firmly on Fletch I said, “Anyone else want to try to kill either of us?”
The whole circle sank down, their noses to the ground.
Only Hywel remained standing, shouting about us cheating.
Deri stood up. “Hywel, you are defeated. No laws have been broken and Fletch may kill you if he chooses.”
Hywel looked around and realised he was on his own. He shifted back into human form and shook his fist at us. “I will have my revenge, Fletcher. You can’t watch your back or that of your witch forever. A hundred years from now you will still be looking over your shoulder.”
Fletcher growled. “Hywel Jones. I banish you from The Black Mountain Pack and all pack territory. If you set foot on my territory I will rip you to pieces, do you understand?”
I twisted my fingers into Fletch’s fur. I didn’t think that was going to be enough to keep us safe. So I held out my free hand and directed my palm at Hywel.
“I bind you to your human form, you are no longer an Alpha or free to shift at will. You are once more human.”
There were more gasps of horror and all the wolves seemed to be looking at me with fear.
“What?” I asked Fletch, having personally thought it was a rather brilliant solution.
“Well,” Fletch said, “you can’t separate man from wolf, as you well know after what we went through when we first met. So binding him in human form will drive his wolf mad inside him. He will eventually go insane.”
I shrugged. “That seems fitting to me. And it’s better than you killing him. I don’t want you to have blood on your hands—or your paws,” I added as an afterthought.
“Hear, hear,” I heard Bob muttering in the air above me in agreement.
“That’s not like you, Emily. Don’t let the power go to your head, okay?”
“Oh, alright then,” I grumbled and addressed Hywel again. “If you show remorse in the future you may come before us again to discuss your curse.”
Hywel let fly a string of expletives, most of them directed at me, and Fletch’s hackles rose.
“Enough,” he snapped. “Emily has been more than lenient. It’s time for you to leave. Deri, please escort Hywel back to his home. All present here tonight shall witness his banishment. Hywel, you have one week to pack and leave my territory.”
Hywel looked around wildly, then stormed away in the direction of the cars.
Deri asked, “You sure it’s a good idea just to let him leave, boss? He could be trouble.”
Fletch sighed. “Yes, I’m sure he will be. But I think Emily and I can handle it.” He leaned into me and I stroked his hackles back down.
“Okay, it’s your call.” Deri shrugged, then followed after Hywel, presumably to make sure he went home and nowhere else.
“So,” I said looking down at the remaining wolves, “it looks like you’ve inherited your very own pack.”
“We have. You’re my mate; they’re your pack too now.”
“I am not your mate, you’re my Familiar, nothing more,” I bickered good-naturedly.
“’Fraid not,” he said. “You took the oath, you agreed to me putting my mark on you.”
I touched my forehead, remembering the magic I had felt when he licked it.
“There’s no actual mark, is there?” I asked, rubbing my hand over it.
“It’s invisible. It’s in your skin. I can smell it.”
“You can smell it? Eww!” I rubbed harder.
“Every wolf can smell it, Emily, you belong to me now.”
“Humph. Well, it’s just as well I didn’t agree to it when I thought you were going to die or something!” I grumbled.
“Too late to take it back.” He grinned. “Now, didn’t you promise me a little one-on-one time? Let’s start with a kiss.”
“I’ve told you before! I’m not kissing some smelly dog! You’ll just have to wait.”
“No, I won’t.” Fletch went all shimmery and purple, and in a few seconds he had transformed back into a human.
The wolves below all gasped yet again.
“Now what? I thought they knew you were an Alpha?”
“It usually takes a few years even for an Alpha to master the change that fast.” Fletch said smugly.
That was when I noticed that he was completely naked. I clapped my hands over my eyes.
“Oh, holy hemlock. You’ve got no clothes on,” I squealed. I’d caught a glimpse of his magnificent bare chest, but thankfully nothing lower.
“It’s not a big deal, Em. None of the wolves mind; they’re all used to it. You’ll have to get used to it too.”
“Not in public!” I kept my hands firmly over my eyes. “Change back right now.”
“Not even one kiss first?”
“Absolutely not. Change back right now.”
He huffed and I felt the magical shimmer.
“Alright, you can take your hands off your eyes again.” He was back in wolf form.
“So what happens now?” I asked.
“At this moment I'm afraid we have to deal with something much more scary than Hywel.” Fletch tipped his nose in the direction of the road.
“What is it?” I asked, wondering what new horror could possibly be coming for us.
“It’s your aunt and a bus full of witches, all baying for blood by the sounds of it!”
It didn’t take long before I could also hear Iris on her way. She must have brought her entire Coven to rescue me, and they were certainly not being stealthy about it.
In fact, amongst them they must have had a pretty hefty amount of firepower; there were bolts of lightening going up into the sky, the wind was whipping towards us and I could see Iris shooting pillars of fire either side of the path to light the way up the hill.
They were singing in a very threatening way and Iris was at the front leading the chant. They all stopped when they reached the stone circle and some of the witches said “Ooh!” as though very impressed by the place.
“Emily? Where are you? What have you done with her?” Iris actually grabbed a large wolf by the scruff of his neck and shook him, which was pretty brave if not pretty stupid. But the wolves were cowering away from her; whether it was her obvious anger or whether they were scared of her fire powers, I wasn’t sure.
“Iris. Up here.” I waved at her from on top of the standing stones where I still stood with my hand on Fletch’s back.
She dropped the wolf, who scurried behind a tall stone. “Are you alright? What’s going on?” she shouted.
I raised my hand in a palm-up motion, and Fletch and I once more rose into the air and then came neatly down in front of her.
“Oh my goddess, you can fly?” She clutched her hand to her chest. “You bonded with him, didn’t you.” It wasn’t a question but more of a statement.
“I’m sorry, I had to. It was him or being forced to bond with a different wolf anyway.” I hung my head but I felt defensive. In spite of everything she had told me, I had taken the decision upon myself.
“So, did anything, uh, bad happen?” She sounded really worried.
“No. It would appear that neither Fletch nor I can be harmed by anything. We both got injured by an Alpha wolf but healed straight away.”
“And now you can fly?” She looked absolutely amazed by this.
“Actually, I’m pretty sure I can do almost anything at all. But only when Fletch and I are touching. I seem completely normal, apart from invulnerability and all that, when we are not touching.”
“Really? I’ve never heard of anything like it. Oh, Emily. So if the two of you are together you are the most powerful witch I’ve ever known of.”
“And Fletcher is now the most powerful werewolf ever known of too.” Brian came forward and spoke to Iris. “He turned Alpha as soon as they bonded, and now they are leaders of this pack.”
One of the witches came forward. She was old, probably in her late seventies, and judging from Iris’ look of deference I guessed that she was probably head of their Coven.
“I am Sylvia,” she told me grandly, shaking my hand.
“Hello, I’m Emily,” I said, unsure if I was supposed to curtsy or something.
“Emily, would you mind if I asked you to submit to a few tests?”
“What kind of tests?” I said suspiciously.
She waved her hand airily. “Just a few little spells, you can take some time to prepare if you wish.”
“No, if you don’t mind Fletch staying with me then I’m quite happy to perform anything you like right now.” I didn’t see where this was going, but I guessed they were all curious to see how far my new powers could go.
“Very well.” She nodded. “Is that okay with you, Iris dear?” My aunt inclined her head in agreement, but there was definite worry in her eyes.
“Good.” Sylvia turned back to me. “Can you call forth any of the four elements?”
“I expect so,” I answered and nodded.
I held my hand out palm up. “Fire,” I said, and a fire lit in my hand. “Water,” I said, and a stream spurted up from the ground. “Air,” I said with a slightly smug smile, and the wind blew my hair around my head. “Earth,” I said finally, closing my palm and pointing at one of the smaller stones. The earth below it opened up and the stone sank down into it. “Undo,” I said, and the earth pushed the stone back into position.
“Stop showing off,” Fletch said, with a grin, and I could tell he was really proud of me.
“Oh, Emily,” Iris said again, “what have you done?” She shook her head as though it was a bad thing, but actually I could see that she was really proud of me too.
“One final test, dear.” Sylvia was looking at me with wide eyes. “Blood from a stone. Can you do that?”
“I think so.” I walked over to one of the standing stones, and Fletch came with me to maintain the physical contact that was now necessary for my spells to work.
I put my palm flat against the stone. “Blood,” I said. For a moment I didn’t think it was working, and I wondered if it was impossible to do and that was where the expression came from. But then I felt it; it poured out of the stone and dripped between my fingers.
As though of one mind, all the witches dropped to their knees, bowing down to me just as the wolves had done to Fletch.
Sylvia lifted a laurel wreath off her own head and placed it on mine. “Priestess, we honour thee,” she said, and also dropped low.
I looked at Iris with confusion. But she merely shrugged and knelt as well.
“So hang on. I’m like a witch Priestess as well as joint leader of a wolf pack?” I asked in amazement, wondering if this night could get any more bizarre.
“You and Fletch together are a super power couple,” Brian confirmed happily. “Better get used to it; you might find yourselves some kind of official leaders of all paranormals everywhere before long!”
“Bloody hell,” I said with feeling. “And how do you feel about all this?” I asked Fletch, who had been very quiet and thoughtful.
“I’m okay with it, as long as we can be together now.”
I tutted. “You just want to get some kissing action.” I gave him a friendly cuff around his wolfy ear.
“I love you, Emily. But yeah, that too.” He winked at me.
“And I love you,” I said, coming over all serious, “but I’m really not sure I’m ready for all this.” I swept my hand wide, to indicate the witches and the wolves who all seemed to have made us their leaders.
“It will be okay, we’ll work it out together,” Fletch reassured me.
I rubbed my hand down his back and addressed the crowd. “It’s the Summer Solstice and I know that the witches want to worship and the wolves want to go on a hunt. So basically, go and do it. Fletch and I have to, um, discuss our future, but thank you all for coming tonight.”
I couldn’t think of anything more impressive to add to that, so I raised my eyebrows at Fletch to see if he wanted to contribute anything.
“Emily and I will be at Brian’s farm in the morning for those of you who wish to discuss anything. We will then be returning to Dremouth, where I imagine the witches would like to have a meeting, and we will see those of you who wish to stay with the pack back here next full moon. Happy Solstice!” He covered all the practical stuff I had missed. Which just made me realise even more what a great team we were going to be.
We then exchanged some words with Iris and Brian, agreeing that Fletch and I would stay the night with Brian, and that Iris would return home with her Coven later after they had celebrated at the stone circle, and that Fletch would drive me home in the morning when he returned to human form. (I deliberately didn’t tell Iris that Fletch could now turn whenever he wished, as it would only make her worry.)
“Now what, love?” he asked me quietly, when we had finally answered all their questions and been left alone. I took hold of his fur and wiggled my nose in a bewitched way, and the next second we were back in Brian’s kitchen.
“Now you become human again and I fulfil my promise to you,” I said, my voice laced with meaning, “and we just have to hope we don’t set the bed on fire!”
Blessed Be!
If you enjoy YA paranormal romance, try a short seasonal story: All Hallows EVE by Stella Wilkinson
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