Wolf Mountain Peak Complete Series, page 37
part #1 of Wolf Mountain Peak Series
“Protect you!” He exclaimed, as his eyes narrowed in confusion. “I don’t even know you!”
“It’s never too late for that,” her voice lowered to a deep, husky tone, as she leaned in towards him. Helena swept the tip of her tongue across her upper lip, as he scanned her body, from top to bottom. “I would gladly give myself to my protector. Would you take what I have to give you, Dominic?”
“Hell, yeah,” he grunted, stopping his gaze on her face, as he took a short step closer to her.
“Then come with me,” Helena whispered, her eyes glinting with mischief, as she beckoned him to her. Tremors of fear sliced through Ray, as the Alpha snatched her hand in midair. Dominic even pulled her close, his light-brown eyes filled with desire and lust. But, Helena was undeterred. She kept her composure, and remained focused on him.
“Go away.” The Alpha commanded, casting a fierce glance down at his two guards.
“Actually....” Helena’s voice picked up volume, as her irises flashed the bright, familiar red. “I changed my mind,” she went on, jerking back out of his hold. Dominic’s lieutenants lunged forward, as she spun around. Assuming her regular form, she hurtled across the forest, her gaze locked on the brush pile. Ray knew there was no point in hiding anymore. Gripping the top end of her staff, he jumped up, as his brothers’ ferocious snarls tore through the atmosphere.
“Now!” Helena cried out, her face stiff with tension. Ray tossed the staff over to her, as their two rivals galloped towards them. A fierce growl rolled through his chest, as the beast within sensed the danger. In an instant, silver fur sprung from the pores in his skin, as his jaw stretched and grew. His legs thinned and shortened, as his hips reshaped. The wolf’s pointed ears sprouted from his head, as the witch turned and slowed down behind him. Sitting back on his haunches, he waited, as the sound of the galloping became louder by the second. He jumped up in the air, as the orange wolf leaped towards Helena. A painful yip escaped his rival, as Ray’s paws pushed him violently back. Don’s body landed with a loud thump, and then rolled over, as the silver wolf began making his way towards him. Ravenous rage was burning deep within him. He would not stop, until the wretched creatures that threatened to take over their land, had stopped drawing breath. But Don’s wolf was fast and agile. He bounced back up, exposing fangs and teeth, as he curled his lips. The orange lupine lowered his head, and then leapt onto Ray’s wolf, as his eyes flashed gold in the darkness. Closing his jaws around his front left paw in a blur, he snapped it with a hard bite. The silver wolf’s yelp of pain echoed through the woods, but, along with it, an even more overwhelming desire to rip Don apart arose. The skin on his paw was slashed, as Ray yanked it out of his opponent’s mouth. In a swift move, he moved around him, his eyes on his neck. A hair-raising howl filled his ears, as he thrust his snout down. Warmth sprayed into his mouth, as he sank his teeth into Don’s throat. The orange wolf thrashed and twisted beneath him, infuriating him even further. Guttural snarls were escaping him, as he dug his teeth deeper and deeper. Ray could hear his rival’s slowing heart rate, as Don’s movement weakened with each passing second. He would not leave him, until he was sure that Dominic’s lieutenant was dead.
But then, an agonizing cry for help forced him to reconsider. He recognized that voice. And, as he whirled his head to the left, his worst fears came true. It was Julia. Victoria was driving a massive dagger into her stomach. He felt like his heart had been ripped out of his chest, releasing Don’s dying wolf, as his mate’s body swayed backwards. Ray shuffled off towards Julia, dragging his battered paw across the forest floor, catching a glimpse of Dean, standing over his victim, out of the corner of his eye. Having pinned down Dominic, Raul jerked his powerful neck, and snuffed the life out of him, as Helena turned to face Victoria.
“She-wolf whore!” The witch gave a furious grunt, clutching her staff, as her red eyes darkened with rage. Thrusting it to the right, she sent the blonde shifter flying in the air. The distinctive sound of a neck snapping was heard, as her body was thrown up against the trunk of a tree. Shifting back into human form, Ray limped towards Julia, staring at the gushing wound on her belly.
“Julia?” He said, his voice a choked, pain-ridden whisper, as he dropped to his knees beside her. “Talk to me, baby.”
“Pretty boy,” she whispered, her voice coming out drowsy, as a small smile formed on her face. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t you close your eyes,” he urged, slipping his arm under her back, feeling tears pooling in his eyes.
“I…” Julia swallowed hard, blinking slowly, as a tear streamed down her cheek, “I would have stayed with you. I’d never leave you.”
“Shhh…” Ray hissed, cradling her in his arms, lifting her so that he could hold her closer. “I know, mess.”
“Oh, my God…” Helena sighed, stopping over him. “We need to take you out of here. Hold h…”
She didn’t have time to finish her suggestion. The ground began to vibrate beneath their feet. Despair settled over his heart, as he realized that Dominic’s pack was approaching. It didn’t resemble the sound of galloping wolves. On the contrary, it felt more like the rumble of a stampede.
“No time for that,” Helena groaned, turning around to face them. “Raul, Dean, get behind me,” she commanded, gazing out at the forest, as she eased her staff down onto the ground. The two wolves obliged, tails swishing out behind them, as they sped past her. “Ok, you bastards. Let’s see if you can handle this.” She grumbled, her face stiffening, as she banged the lower end of the stick onto the forest floor. A tremendous shockwave shot upwards and forwards, carrying dust, rocks, leaves and twigs. Trees started to bend in the wind, as it shot past them, picking up speed. Whistling resounded through the forest, as the wave neared Dominic’s pack. One by one, the rival wolves flipped around, and began to run back in the direction they had come from. Helena sighed in relief, before rejoining Ray and Julia.
“Hang in there, Wolfborn,” she whispered, closing her eyes, as she reached down to put her free hand on Ray’s shoulder. “I’m taking you to your friend.”
Chapter Twenty Four
Ray found himself in a familiar environment, as the red smoke cleared. They were in Raul’s living room. Monica and Kate were there, with glasses in their hands. As soon as the doctor laid her eyes on her wounded friend, her glass slipped through her fingers, and dropped to the floor.
“Oh, my God…” she whispered, raising her hands to cover her mouth. “What happened?”
“Stab wound,” Ray spoke, his voice riddled with panic and fear. “Please, help her.”
Monica bent her knees, and sat down on her feet, scanning her torso from bottom to top, not uttering a word. The pool of blood had spread upward and had almost reached her chest, and it had also soaked her jeans, down to the pockets. Reaching a trembling hand towards Julia, she lifted her top.
“Oh, no…” Monica whispered once more, shaking her head lightly, as her lips quivered.
“What?” Ray’s voice cracked, as he jerked his head in a spasm of despair.
“There’s nothing I can do for her,” the doctor said as a tear spilled from her eye, and her gaze shot up to meet his. “That wound is too deep. She’s lost too much blood. I doubt she’ll make it to the hospital.
“Stop the bleeding,” Helena urged, her voice stiff, as she stared down at Monica. “Kate, get me pen and paper. I need your help.”
“Wake up, Helena!” Kate yelled, leaning over her, her eyes smoldering with unmasked anger. “She’s beyond our help!”
“The prophecy was crystal-clear,” Helena pitched her voice louder, her face as hard as stone. “Three days prior to the full buck moon, Wolfborn Fire will embrace the Wolf. I should have figured it out earlier. We need to put the wolf in her. It’s the only way.”
“You said it’s too dangerous for a witch to even try that.” Ray uttered in a wobbly voice as he looked up at her.
“It is for one witch,” Helena emphasized. “That’s why I need that pen and paper. Kate and I are going to say that incantation together. Monica, help him put her on the couch.”
“Ok,” replied Monica nodding and rising from the floor. Ray got up, as the doctor bent down. He put his hands under her armpits, as Monica grabbed her by the ankles.
“Here,” Kate sighed, handing over a small notebook and a pen to Helena.
“Thank you,” the witch gave an appreciative nod, before sliding her gaze to Monica. “Before you try and stop the bleeding, I need to inject a single drop of Ray’s blood into the wound.”
“Let me get my first aid kit,” the doctor requested, starting towards her kitchen, as Helena wrote down the spell.
“Are you sure this is going to work?” Ray asked, his voice thick with emotion, as he scanned the lines of Julia’s face.
“I cannot be sure. I have never done it. We don’t have a choice, though,” Helena responded, ripping the page from the notebook, as Monica returned with a brown bag in her hands. Ray rolled up his pants leg, exposing his shin, as the doctor pulled a syringe out of her first aid kit. The scene of the stabbing replayed in his mind, as she drew his blood. If only he had killed Don earlier. If only he had finished this battle just a few seconds sooner…
“Done,” Monica announced, as a drop of Ray’s blood dripped into Kate’s wound.
“Read this with me,” Helena told Kate, holding out the piece of paper in front of her.
“Hail the moonlight – Hail the power
Bring them forth in this dark hour
Man and beast shall be one
Human weakness will be gone”
The living room light flickered once, as they completed the incantation. Julia’s body arched upward, just before the light went out. A silver glow shot up from her feet, engulfing her, as Ray waited with bated breath for the result. Helena pulled her staff out of her cloak, and pointed it down at Julia. Her eyes popped open, as she parted her lips. Ray sat down on the floor beside her, and reached his arm up to her stomach. His heart leapt for joy as he pulled her top up gently. Her wound was much narrower, a clear sign that it had started to heal.
“She’s fine,” Monica said on an exhale, her chest heaving, as she looked up at Kate. “It worked. I can’t believe it worked.”
“What worked?” Julia asked, her voice weak, as the doctor jumped from the floor. Monica rushed off towards Helena and Kate, and thrust her arms around them, as two tears of bliss rolled off Ray’s face.
“Let’s give them the room,” Helena suggested, as the light came back on.
“Welcome back,” Ray whispered, leaning over her, his mouth less than an inch away from hers. “God, I was so scared. I thought I’d lost you.”
“I remember now,” Julia breathed, gazing deep into his eyes. “Why am I here? Why didn’t you take me to the hospital?”
“There was no time,” He muttered under his breath. “Remember the last part of the prophecy?”
“Embrace the wolf?” She squinted up at him.
“Well, you did,” Ray nodded, as a happy smile spread across his face. “I gave you my essence. The witches did the rest. You’re like me now.”
“I’m a shifter?” Julia squeaked, as a look of disbelief washed over her face.
“I’m sorry,” he heaved a deep, heavy sigh. “It was the only way to keep you alive.”
“Don’t be,” She whispered, snaking her arm around his shoulder. “I don’t mind. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to have all those powers. I can’t wait to see for myself what it’s like to be like you.”
Ray chose silence over coming up with a response. He laid a quick kiss on her lips, and put his arm around her back, drowning in her scent, as he held her close. Unable to believe his luck, he squeezed her in his embrace, as she caressed the back of his head. The redhead who had turned his world upside down had stayed true, even in the face of death. She had proved what Ray had been suspecting all along: that she was different than her friends. Julia would not run from her mate for any reason whatsoever. She would never break his heart. He would always remember the day that he found her in that bar. He would always reflect on the moment that she sent all of his fears away, when they kissed by the Hudson River. Julia Stinson was the brash girl who destroyed his uncertainty. She was his love: his mess; his mate.
*** The End ***
Book 4: A Wolf’s Embrace
Sarah J. Stone
Chapter One
“My brothers’ mates; my friends…”
Monica, Kate and Julia had been bonding with Melissa, ever since they stormed into her world. After their adventures with Raul, Dean and Ray, they had also been spending time with her, providing their valuable input with issues, or simply having fun. Melissa appreciated them all for who they were. Kate and Julia’s sense of humor often lifted her spirits; and, even though Monica could bring her frustration to a whole new level by overanalyzing the tiniest of details, she couldn’t deny that the doctor from New York was a good friend, wiser and more patient than her other “sisters”, as she used to call them. Now she considered them all very close friends, people in her life because of her choice, not the choice of someone else.
On a warm, early-August afternoon, Melissa and Monica decided to accompany Kate to Mount Neboh Cemetery in Glendale. She hadn’t visited her parents’ grave in a while, and meant to pay homage to them. The youngest of the Bradford’s hoped that Julia would join them as well, but, unfortunately for her, Ray’s significant other was dealing with a major change, and was still exploring her new nature, along with her mate.
Of course, Melissa objected to Kate’s idea. Marianne and Michael had been responsible for the evil that threatened to consume her birthplace. Still, Kate was adamant, claiming that she had to respect the memory of the mother and father she had lost at the tender age of sixteen. In her mind, they had died in that horrible fire in her house. The two people that had come back to reclaim her were complete strangers to her. She could not recognize either of them.
Upon turning onto Cypress Hills Street, the trio realized that getting to the cemetery would be much more challenging that they initially believed. There was traffic, and cars parked on either side of the road. For some reason none of them could fathom, Kate had chosen the wrong day to pay her respects to her parents. Unable to find a parking spot close to the cemetery, she left the car more than a quarter mile away from the premises, as Monica and Melissa began guessing about the occasion that had brought all those people there.
“Maybe it’s a government official, or a congressman,” Monica said, as they headed towards the entrance.
“I doubt it,” Kate disagreed, clutching a bouquet of white roses, as a young child sped past them. “I don’t see any men in black groping people. I didn’t read anything online, either. Plus, there are a lot of kids around. It’s weird.”
“I’ve always wondered why so many people attend politicians’ funerals,” Melissa confessed, casting a quick glance down at Kate. “I mean, they’re not what you’d call ‘popular’, are they?”
“There’s a lot of fakery in the world of humans, Hun,” Kate claimed, as her lips curled into a sad smile. “That’s just one example. Most attendees are politicians themselves, competing against each other on who’s going to give the best fake eulogy. They pose for the cameras, wear their saddest expressions, and then, they all go home happy.”
Craning her neck, Melissa stared at the large crowd a few dozen yards to the right, as she and Kate strolled through the entrance. Children’s voices filled her ears as she noticed a tall, young man, standing before a grave, his fingers interlocked over his stomach. His dark-brown hair shone under the sun, as he tipped his head down.
“Girls, this is no politician’s funeral.” The urgency in Monica’s tone was enough to distract Melissa. She whipped her head around, only to discover that the doctor was staring down at a photograph, on the left side of the entrance. “It’s not even a funeral. It’s a memorial service. And I knew the deceased.”
“You did?” Melissa squinted at her.
“Yes,” Monica replied, clenching her jaw. “Laura Stanton, wife of Joe Stanton, twenty-nine years old, kindergarten teacher. I treated her a year ago.” She added, lifting her gaze up to meet Melissa’s.
“Oh, my God…” Kate sighed, rubbing her hand against her forehead. “I remember that.”
Her friend’s reaction and the sorrow on Monica’s face piqued Melissa’s curiosity.
“What happened to her?” She inquired, taking a hesitant step closer to her.
“It all happened a year ago. I was an ER doctor back then,” Monica explained, her voice faint, as she ran her hand through her hair. “Laura and Joe were involved in a freak accident. A truck rammed their car. They were both severely injured, but I was able to save him. His wife was not so lucky. She was bleeding internally when they were brought in by the paramedics. We couldn’t stop the bleeding. I told Joe what was happening. He asked if he could say ‘goodbye’ to her. I said ‘sure.’ We took him to her. He held her hand, and whispered something like: ‘Take me with you. Don’t leave me here alone.’ God, it really broke my heart.”
“Terrible story,” Melissa commented, shaking her head sideways.
“I couldn’t sleep for weeks,” Monica put a little force in her voice. “Whenever I closed my eyes, I saw him holding her, shedding tears onto her face. I kept asking myself if there was anything more I could have done for her, but I always received the same negative answer. What a shame.”
“Guys, can we please get this over with?” Kate requested with a hint of frustration in her tone. Monica’s quick nod served as her answer.
A massive lawn, along with large, old oak trees spread out before Melissa, as they strode off towards their destination. However, she couldn’t care less about an empty grave. Monica’s story had gripped her, perhaps more than it should have. Joe Stanton, a young, handsome man, loved his wife so much that he wanted to depart from this world, just to be with her. He desired to forsake all earthly delights, along with every other bond, in order to be with his other half. This level of commitment to his wife moved Melissa. Up until then, she thought most humans were too self-centered to make this kind of sacrifice. Her brothers’ mates were a mere exception to that rule. Now though, she was close to one more of those special creatures. She was able to steal a few glances at him, and could even hear his occasional sob. Surrounded by hundreds of people, Joe was not afraid to show that he was still grieving for the loss of his beloved Laura.
