Dirty Blood by Heather Hildenbrand
They started on the back of my neck and traveled down my arms and legs. My head jerked back and forth, searching into the shadows of the trees. In the distance, behind me, a car horn honked and I jumped. My head jerked toward the sound. I kicked myself for letting my guard down, even for a second, and turned back. Out of the corner of my eye, something moved.
The tingling heightened to an unpleasant humming inside my skin. My muscles strained against the itch it created and my mind went blank of all thoughts but this: find the source and make it stop.
A low growl emanated from somewhere nearby, but the sound echoed, thrown off by the open space at my back. A blur of gray flew by, and I glanced up just in time to roll out of the chair, barely getting clear of the sharp teeth dropping at me from above. I rolled to my knees and then my feet, dodging the teeth as they came at me again.
“Leo,” I said, through a mixture of fear and anger. A small, rational voice in the back of my mind was whispering that I never should’ve ditched school and come out here alone. But the Hunter side, the part of me whose muscles strained and raged for a fight—this fight—ignored it.
Instead of immediately attacking, Leo stepped back and began slowly circling me. “I see your sidekick isn’t with you today.”
I felt a small pang at the mention of Wes, but I brushed it aside and kept my tone light. “He should be here anytime,” I lied, continuing to circle and looking for an opening. I wasn’t overconfident like I’d been the last time we met, but I was more sure of my moves, and I had two goals: to kill Leo and stay away from those teeth. And if Leo thought help was on its way, so much the better.
“Well, then, I’d better be quick,” he murmured.
We lunged at the same time. I angled my shoulders and neck so that I was out of biting range and landed a hard blow to his ribs. He stumbled back but landed firmly on his feet. I wasted no time in a second swing. This one missed, and it threw me off balance so that I had to twist my upper body hard to avoid his teeth. My muscles protested against that particular maneuver, but as soon as I straightened, the discomfort disappeared.
Leo lunged at me again and I sidestepped him at the last second. I could see he was in more of a hurry this time, unwilling to prolong the fight any more than necessary. I wondered briefly where Wes might be right now and then dismissed it. I had to stay focused. This might be my only chance to end this.
I glanced around for anything I could use as a weapon. There wasn’t much out here; dead leaves littered the ground, along with a few small branches, none of them big enough or thick enough to penetrate Were flesh, and the lawn chairs. I let Leo maneuver me closer and, keeping my eyes on him, I grabbed a chair and brought it down hard over my knee. There was a sharp crack as the cheap plastic gave way and snapped in two. Leo lunged again and I used the piece in my right hand to block him while shoving the other piece into his open mouth. He backed off, thrashing around to loosen the plastic that had wedged into his left fang. With Leo distracted, I pulled at the chair’s legs, separating them from the seat. When I’d freed them, I held one in each hand and rushed at Leo, arms raised.
The plastic was still lodged in his teeth but at my attack, he stopped pushing at it with his paws and brought one up to swipe at me, claws extended. I hit it aside with one hand and brought the jagged end of the chair leg down with the other. I hit him behind his shoulder and realized quickly that my weapon was too thick to penetrate. Instead, I ripped it across his back and then danced out of the way. A second later a thin red line appeared.
At the sight of his blood, the humming under my skin intensified and my muscles tensed in anticipation. Unable to control my need to fight, I leapt forward, forgetting to keep clear of the claws that reached up to meet me. They swiped across my arm from elbow to wrist and left two thin red lines that burned where the skin broke. I cursed myself for being careless and fell back.
I circled, cautious but determined. Leo finished pulling the plastic free from his fang and tossed it aside with his mouth. His eyes closed to slits and his lips pulled back over his teeth. He crouched low and I could feel him about to spring when, behind me, a familiar voice called out.
“Hello, Leo. Starting the party without me?”
Despite the fact that I was in full-blown Hunter mode, and despite the fact that all my conscious brain wanted was to kill this Werewolf, my heart sped at the sound of that voice. I forced myself not to turn.
“Took you longer than I thought,” Leo said.
Wes came up next to me and pressed his palm lightly against my back. That surprised me. I assumed he’d be in wolf form already. “Tara, go back inside,” he said quietly.
“No way, we can take him down together. Now’s our chance,” I hissed.
“Tara, go inside,” he repeated, an edge in his voice.
Temper boiled up inside me. I kept my feet firmly planted. I’d been miserable without him the past couple of days, wanting nothing more than to see his face, feel his touch. Now that I could, it was more of the same. He was still ordering me around and deciding what was best for me, without consulting me. “No,” I said.
“Tara—” he started to argue.
“If you’re here, then it must be to watch. This is my fight, and I’m not going inside. There’s a seat over there,” I said, nodding to the remaining lawn chair.
Beside me, Wes’s jaw clenched hard enough for me to hear him grinding his teeth. I knew he probably wanted to snatch me up and carry me back to the school, but we both knew better than to take our attention off Leo.
Leo watched our exchange with amusement. “Give the girl what she wants, Wes. We were just starting to have fun.”
Movement behind Leo caught my eye. A wolf was moving steadily toward us through the trees. I didn’t recognize it but that didn’t mean anything. Then, another came into view, several yards away from the first. Then, another. Leo didn’t turn, but his ears were flicking, taking in the soft crunch of leaves as they moved closer. When I looked up again, there were a total of six wolves facing us.
Wes’s hand on my back pressed harder, and I felt the rest of him stiffen. I knew then, that these wolves were not friendly and that Wes was seriously debating how to handle things. I sensed the change in Leo before Wes did, though, and I shifted, letting Wes’s hand on my back fall away.
“All this indecision. Maybe I can help,” Leo said. And with that, he lunged, aiming straight for me. Behind him, the wolves rushed at us.
I braced myself, but Leo never made it that far. Wes took a running leap and in midair, he transformed. Torn pieces of fabric that used to be his clothes rained down around me. A growl tore from his throat, a menacing, spine-chilling sound that seemed to rip through me and out the other side.
The other wolves were on me then. They came in, two at a time. I managed to smack them away with the pieces of jagged plastic in my hands, but that’s about it. I couldn’t get enough of an opening to do any damage. And I could feel two of them circling around behind me. I knew I didn’t have much time.
Off to my left, a keening howl cut through the growling and snarling of the fight. Before it had died away, two more wolves broke through the heavy brush and hurled themselves at the two closing in behind me. One of them sailed straight over my head, and the other whipped around me, its thick tail brushing my hip as it passed. I recognized him, based on sheer size. Jack.
The two wolves in front of me rushed forward, probably knowing they had minimal time remaining to make their kill. I batted them away again, managing to draw blood on one of their noses with my plastic weapon. It yelped and jumped away but the other came again. Its claws raked over the same spot on my arm that Leo had scratched, and I jumped back, cradling my arm and wincing.
The wolf crouched and I knew it was coming again, but then a figure—a human one—appeared beside us. Cord didn’t even look at me. She stared at the wolf with an expression of concentration and determination and swung up with her stake, sinking it in
I searched for Wes and found him circling a snarling Leo. I saw a thin line of red just above Wes’s eye and then he was moving again, too quickly for me to actually see him clearly. The two growls blurred into one as they rolled and snapped at each other. A second later, I heard a yelp and then Leo was pinned underneath Wes’s massive paws. Wes snarled and snapped his teeth at Leo’s throat but Leo was quick and used his back paws to rake his claws across Wes’s underside. Wes flinched and that was all the time Leo needed to wriggle free. When he rolled to the side I saw a small red wound on his throat covering a longer, more jagged scar—the remains of his last fight with Wes.
I sensed movement beside me and whirled, ready to defend against an attacker, but it was Jack. He was breathing heavily but looked unharmed.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yeah. Just scratched but I’ll be fine. Thanks.”
He dipped his head in a nod, his eyes on Wes and Leo.
“How’d you find me?” I asked.
“We patrol the grounds while you’re at school,” he said. “I don’t know how he got through.”
I remembered my mother saying something about working with Jack. “Is that Fee I saw? Is she okay?”
“She’s fine. Stole all my action. I’d love to jump in and help Wes, but Leo’s quick, and I don’t want to get in the way,” he said.
Fee came up beside me, her tail swishing along my arm. “You should get back inside,” she said.
“Not yet.” I shook my head. “Not until …”
Neither of them argued. They stayed next to me, though, while we watched.
Leo pressed his claws into Wes’s side, making him release his hold. They separated and circled again and Leo finally noticed that his band of followers were no longer providing backup. I knew he was getting ready to run.
“Another time,” said Leo.
“No time like the present,” said Wes, stalking toward Leo. I could see he wasn’t going to let him go so easily this time.
“You don’t deserve your strength. There’s only one who does,” he said, a harsh growl lacing his words. And then he was running, heading for the trees.
As soon as he took off, Jack and Fee raced after him. The tingling under my skin receded and then disappeared.
I spotted Cord, standing over the dead wolves and talking on her phone. She saw me watching her and turned her back. I watched the trees until Leo was gone and then I turned to Wes, surprised he’d stayed behind. He was still in his wolf form and he was standing rigidly still, staring at the trees where Leo, Jack, and Fee had gone.
I watched him, a little curious. The only other time I’d seen him as a wolf was a little foggy to me. It was strange to see him like this but not in a bad way. And it was nice to be able to look at him, in this form, without the disgusting crawly feeling under my skin. I remembered I was still holding the plastic pieces and dropped them on the ground. He didn’t turn at the noise.
“Wes,” I finally called.
Reluctantly, it seemed, he turned to face me. I took a step toward him, still staring. Even like this, there was something commanding about him.
“He’s gone,” I said.
“I know.”
“You can change back if you want,” I added.
“I’m going to help Cord clean up. You should get to class.”
“Right.” His words brought me back to reality and I realized I’d almost forgotten that I was at school. I tried to think of something to say; the silence suddenly felt awkward. “I called you.”
“I know.”
“Why didn’t you call me back?”
“There was nothing else to say.”
“There’s plenty to say.”
“Like what?”
“Like, how could you just walk away like that?”
“I’m not walking away. It’s just a break, Tara.” He sounded tired.
“You’re being ridiculous.”
He didn’t answer and I felt myself panicking. “What about Vera’s visions? About the future, and me and you being leaders together? You’re giving up on that, too? Or it wasn’t true to begin with?”
“It’s as true as it can be for something that hasn’t happened yet. For now, being apart is what’s best for you.”
“Really? After what happened today, with Leo attacking me, you really think so?” I felt kind of low about using Leo as a reason for Wes not to leave me, but I was desperate.
“I’m not going to be far, at least not until Leo’s dealt with. But we can’t be together. It’ll just create more problems and it’s not fair to you.”
“Right, none of it’s fair or safe or right. Heaven forbid I should have a say in my own life,” I snapped.
He looked away. “Goodbye, Tara,” he said, his voice strained.
I opened my mouth to argue but he turned and sprinted away before I could.
I stood there for a while, hollow and numb. Cord still had her back to me, even though I knew she’d heard everything. Finally, I turned back to the school.
~ 29 ~