Spirit Wolf

LISA TOPPIN

Copyright © 2011 Lisa Toppin
Published by Triskelion Enterprises at Smashwords

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidence either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locals is entirely coincidental.

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Lowell’s Island was a lush, private haven off the northern tip of Long Island. The community was so exclusive, that with few exceptions, you had to have been born there to be allowed to set foot on the island. The short hike along the trail behind Greg’s house cleared Melissa head and helped her relax after being cooped up in the house for the last three days. 
Walking through the forest of pine and oak trees hearing nothing but the wind and the distant Atlantic, Melissa could almost imagine that she and her fiancee were on vacation. The stark truth was that Greg had to return to the island once a year to reaffirm his allegiance to the pack and pay pack dues in exchange for his freedom. 
Melissa felt the wolf in the yard before she saw it. The approaching wolf’s energy flowed over her like of horde of biting ants each sharp, stinging sensation seemed calculated to remind her who had the upper hand. She wondered when the Lupa would make an appearance.
Melissa started moving toward the house. She hoped that the wards she’d set and the shot gun hidden under the bench on the porch would be enough to keep her alive. 
The wolf, a large, silvery gray female with delicate black markings stared at her with open contempt. Melissa didn’t recognize her in wolf form, but she was sure it was Roxanne; Lupa of the Lowell Island pack, her energy signature was unmistakable. The wolf stood five feet high at the shoulder, but Melissa couldn’t take her eyes off the black claws that looked strong enough to carve through stone.
She side-stepped angling toward the safety of the porch once more, the movement drew a growl from the Lupa who flattened her ears and flashed her teeth in warning. The message was clear “don’t you move human.” 
Melissa froze. She breathed slowly willing herself to relax. The Lupa could smell her fear. In spite of the sweaty palms and queasy stomach Melissa straightened, standing tall claiming the area as her territory. She contemplated the comforting thought that if Roxanne was here to kill her she would already have been reduced to a cooling pile of meat strewn around the yard.
“What do you want Roxanne?” Melissa said mustering as much of the dog whisperer’s calm assertiveness as possible wishing all the while that she’d set wards around the whole property. Roxanne growled again her hackles rising. Clearly, she expected Melissa to use her pack title. 
The Lupa had the power to sever any shifter from the pack bond which was a virtual death sentence. A lone shifter eventually lost control. When the wolf took over the bodies piled up fast. The only choice to protect the pack was to kill the lone wolf. Melissa edged back a few more feet.
She was close enough now that, at a dead run, she might make it before Roxanne was on her. She was already turning to run when the shifter’s energy surged and the change was on her. Melissa watched the fur retract into the woman’s skin. Even after seeing Greg shift many times, she wasn’t immune to the wonder of the Change. The sound of Roxanne’s bones cracking as they shifted position got Melissa moving.
When she stood in her human form the Lupa was covered with a light sheen of sweat. At five foot seven Melissa was above average height. Roxanne stood at least six inches taller. Being up on the porch gave Melissa the advantage of not having to crane her neck to look up at the naked, pissed off, Amazon standing in the yard.
Roxanne’s wide shoulders balanced her hips and accentuated her narrow waist. The Lupa’s café au lait skin and red hair reminded Melissa of an exotic flower that while it was beautiful it was also toxic. The Lupa stalked over to the landing. Melissa focused on strengthening the ward she saw it, in her mind, as a shining wall surrounding the house. Roxanne looked as though she would have climbed the stairs, but she couldn’t seem to move past the first one.
She smiled a tight, nasty smile. “I heard you were a witch. I wanted to see for myself.”
Melissa sagged a little relieved that the ward held. She wanted to correct the witch to Mage. She wasn’t surprised; most people got it wrong. Witches invoked gods and while Mages worked directly with Mana, the energy field that encompassed all existence. She decided that now wasn’t really the time for that discussion.
“You’re going to have to leave your little house sometime you know.” Roxanne said finger combing her hair into place.
“We would have left two days ago if...” Melissa stilled feeling the increasing pressure on her ward. The air seemed to thicken. Roxanne was trying to break through using the pack’s energy. 
Melissa gave a mental shove; the ward bulged and pushed Roxanne back hard. She fell on her ass in what should have been an undignified heap. Furious, the Lupa leapt at the porch and was knocked back again with an audible crack. Her eyes shifted to the ice blue of her wolf and when she bared her teeth she flashed a mouthful of fangs.
“Get off my island.” Her voice took on gravelly tones.
Melissa reached under the bench and pulled out the sawed off shotgun Greg had hidden there just in case. The gun in her hands was heavy, cold and very reassuring.
“Accept the dues and we’re out of here.” Melissa said.
Roxanne growled her fury the diamond engagement ring on the other’s finger was another act of defiance she’d tolerated for too long. She took a swipe at Melissa claws extended from partially shifted hands. Melissa flinched back pumping the shotgun prepared to fire at least once before the shifter killed her. Melissa released the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. 
“You can never be his mate.” Roxanne said suddenly changing tactics “Have some pride and walk away while you can.” 
That vicious little barb hit its mark. Blood rushed to Melissa’s face, her dark chocolate coloring would have hidden the blush from anyone but Roxanne. Melissa fired the gun over Roxanne’s head. She had a moment of satisfaction as Roxanne ducked startled by the shot. Roxanne wouldn’t forget showing fear to a lowly human.
“The next one will be in the gut Roxy.” She said. “I know it won’t kill you, but healing it would be really inconvenient.”
The shifter turned her back on Melissa and slowly walked out of the yard. She’d be back. Next time Melissa knew there wouldn’t be any conversation. She watched Roxanne until she disappeared into the trees. Still clutching the shotgun she went inside and collapsed on the couch. 
“Why didn’t you call me?” Greg yelled when he returned about an hour later. Frustrated, he’d wasted much of the day attempting to complete his business with the pack. “Her scent is all over the yard.” The door slammed followed by the sound of dishes crashing to the floor.
“Damn.” Melissa said. She’d had a dozen plates spinning in mid air before she lost focus. She started picking up the porcelain collecting the largest pieces first.
“Males can’t interfere in female dominance fights.” She tried to focus on cleaning up the broken dishes.
“That doesn’t apply to you. You’re not Pack.” Greg said, hating the hurt in her eyes. He wished he could cut ties with the pack. Living in New York was just the illusion of freedom, he was tied to the pack as tightly as ever. He reached out to caress her cheek. 
“I survived.” She wanted to refuse the touch, but her body wouldn’t obey. She leaned into him savoring his his warmth.
“This time.” The only reason he’d brought her to the island was that Roxanne demanded it as a condition of accepting his pack dues.
“If I was your mate she would have to back off.” She got the broom and started sweeping up the smaller pieces of crockery. She could see the tension in his long lean frame. He paced restlessly back and forth making his waist length dread locks move like they had a life of their own.
“You wouldn’t survive a mating.” He looked around like the walls were closing in on him. Something dark stirred in side him licking it’s chops at the possibility. Greg quickly stifled the notion. He would rather let her go than subject her to his wolf.
“Sooner or later Roxanne’s going to come after me.” She said, looking into his eyes.
Greg looked away and took several deep breaths clamping down on his wolf that raged at the thought of anyone hurting his mate.
“I talked to Mama Donna before we left the city. It might be possible here.”
Melissa knew she was stretching the truth a bit, but Donna had gone off on a very convoluted metaphysical tangent involving multiple planes of existence and mythology . The upshot was that she if could take the skin of the avatar of the pack, an energy being that existed outside of normal space/time, she could become a shapeshifter. 
“I would never want this life for you.” Greg said squeezing his temples hard in a vain attempt to crush out the incipient headache brewing behind his eyes.
They were no closer to resolving this than they ever had been. Melissa knew what she’d have to do. She waited until Greg had been asleep for a couple of hours. Then she slipped away into the forest.
Melissa walked the island feeling rather than seeing following the lines of subtle energy seeking the heart of the island. Not necessarily the geographical center of the island but its spiritual heart where the energy of the place and people was strongest. That is where the avatar of the pack would be.
As she moved closer to the heart of the place the lines of energy that crisscrossed the landscape glowed brightly leading her deeper in to the forest at the center of the island. This was the furthest she’d been from the shore since she’d arrived. Melissa looked back, but she couldn’t see the lights of the Hamptons across Long Island Sound anymore.
At the edges of her vision figures shifted flickering in and out of existence. They were possibilities, might-have-beens, the anima of a place might spin off paths, but we choose to walk them or make our own.
She opened a door in her mind. That was how she always imagined it a door covered with intricately carved symbols opening. She could see the heart of the island now shining like a jewel. Drawing a deep breath, tried to contain her excitement, this was what Mages did she was walking between worlds. She stepped into the light and was gone.
A wave of nausea passed through her quickly as she moved between worlds. Existing in one world or another wasn't a problem, it was passing through the space in between that briefly sickened most Mages. She looked around, in her world, the island was largely undeveloped and the trees were old growth and healthy looking. Here she could see the true condition of the place. The rot that had slowly crept into the pack was everywhere. The trees were gnarled,was the air tainted with the smell of decay, even the sky seemed smudged with a grayish grime. 
A few yards away, a machete inscribed with silvery symbols lay as if waiting for her on a large hunk of granite. Not exactly the sword in the stone, but it would do. She was worried that the pack’s avatar might not acknowledge her because she wasn’t a shape shifter. According to her research, there would be a test or challenge of some kind, but she had no idea what form it would take. There was nothing to do but wait. 
She waited for what felt like hours. Eventually, she decided to move deeper into the woods. The forest was dense here blocking both warmth and sunlight.  Throaty growls of anger and pain grew louder as she continued, cutting through the tangled under growth with the machete.
She wanted to run away, but she forced herself forward if she could be accepted into the pack as Greg’s mate they would both be safe from the worst of Roxanne’s spite. A few yards away, a black wolf lay on its side, its eyes half closed curled in on itself with pain.  
Melissa glanced at it and looked away quickly being sure not to stare at the injured wolf. It wouldn’t be wise to issue a challenge by looking it too long. Pain could enrage the wolf and if it had any strength left at all it would attack a challenger. If she died here she would be just as dead in the upper world.  
The wolf’s gaze was fixed on the silvery machete. Melissa looked down at the knife in her hand she closed her fingers around the hilt more tightly. Steeling herself for what she knew had to be done if she was going to survive. The wolf’s eyes flicked to hers it was resigned to its fate. Melissa took a step forward. She raised the machete. The wolf didn’t move. 
“I’ll make it quick.” She said to the panting wolf. She tried to imagine slipping the wolf’s skin over her shoulders and transforming into a wolf herself, but all she could see is the grisly business of killing and skinning a being that was already suffering. She put the knife down. 
The wolf allowed her to approach. Slowly, making sure it could see her every move, Melissa lowered herself to her knees next to the injured beast. The wound in its side was festering. Pus ran from the swollen flesh. Its fur dull and matted, Melissa tentatively touched the wound the wolf growled and snapped at her in warning.
“I want to help.” She said slowly stroking its flank. The great beast relaxed slightly under her touch.
Melissa closed her eyes and poured mana into the wolf. In the “real” world this was usually just a magical metaphor, but in the causal plane she became a conduit for healing power. She drew mana, life energy, the forest, the earth and herself and poured it into the dying wolf. The wolf yelped in surprise as the white light filled it burning out the infection. For a moment, the wound blazed bright and the pus flowed thickly in a hot, sticky stream over her hands.
 Melissa watched as the wound filled in from the inside. New flesh grew followed by new skin and hair. The enormous beast let loose a howl of relief and joy. Melissa fell back when the wolf rose to its feet. She scooted back even more when it was joined by two other huge wolves. The three looked at each other intently. Melissa sensed that there was communication between them, but she couldn’t penetrate their link.
“Are you certain, Sister?” The grey wolf said.
“She will heal the pack as she healed me.”
“This is not our way.” The Red Wolf objected. 
“Our way is to survive.” The black wolf said. Her eyes were calm now evaluating the human who chose to heal rather than kill.
“Human,” the Grey wolf said he looked directly into her eyes as if measuring her. “Do you accept our gift?”
She felt power gathering without a mind to give it purpose, the wave would peak then dissipate into nothing.
“Yes, I accept.” The sound of her voice rang through the forest of dying trees sending reverberations through the multiverse. In the world above, there was a rumble like thunder. Greg woke from a restless sleep to find that he was alone.
The black wolf ran toward Melissa. She stood, her arms out, ready to embrace the beast. The wolf and the Mage merged in a cataclysm of magic that burned the dead and dying trees and shook the earth. Melissa rode the tsunami of power for what seemed like forever before everything went black.
Melissa opened her eyes and met a worried pair of amber eyes hovering over her. She managed to croak out “Water?” Greg gave her a sip of water. He slumped in relief.
“What were you doing out there?” Greg said. “You’ve been out of it for about nine hours.” “
“It doesn’t matter. We’re leaving--today.” He said cutting her off.
“What about your dues?”
“I’ll come back when she’s willing to see me.” 
Melissa was too tired to argue. She didn’t feel any different she wasn’t sure what to tell him. She closed her eyes and tried to change. Greg once said that the change started as a tingling started in his hands then spread to his whole body. She didn’t feel so much as an itch.
“Let’s get you something to eat.”
As soon as he got the words out she was starving. “I need some more water too.” 
While Melissa showered, Greg made a breakfast feast a couple of stacks of pancakes, sausages, bacon, toast, eggs, and his special baked apples stuffed with brown sugar and cinnamon. Melissa felt better once she’d showered and the food restored her strength faster than she’d expected. She was eyeing the last survivors of the stack of pancakes when Greg’s phone trilled.
He listened intently. “Okay, I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
He looked tense when he turned to face her. She waited knowing that she wasn’t going to like this. 
“She’ll accept my dues today. We’ll have to leave immediately following the ceremony” He said. 
“I’ll have everything packed by the time you get back.” Melissa said. She would talk to him about the ritual she’d attempted when they got home. 
“Stay inside.” He bent to kiss her before grabbing his jacket and hurried out the kitchen door.
She smiled trying not to look worried. They’d been on the island a week and Roxanne and wasn’t willing to let them leave until now. Was it too much to hope that Roxanne given up after their last run in? Melissa wondered.
Melissa busied herself packing the last of their things and double checking that they weren’t going to be leaving anything behind. She wouldn’t want to have anything connected with her left behind in this place. Mages tended to be cautious in that respect as a rule, but in this place among the changing kind she felt the need to be extra vigilant. She even poured drain cleaner down the drain to dissolve any hair that got trapped down there.
She was still in the bathroom when the first window exploded in the living room. Melissa ran toward the sound. The couch was on fire. Melissa couldn’t wrap her brain around it for a second. The window was broken and the couch was on fire. Something came crashing through the other window. Melissa saw the bottle and the flaming rag stuffed in the top.
“I don’t believe this shit.” Melissa threw herself back toward the bathroom to avoid being burned.
The second Molotov cocktail exploded in a shower of glass and flame. 
“Come out; come out before I blow your house in.” Roxanne said.
Melissa crawled to the kitchen to stay below the smoke and grabbed the fire extinguisher from the bracket beside the stove. If she could get the fires out she might have a chance to think. With shaking hands she pulled the pin out of the fire extinguisher. She’d never used one before she relied on what she remembered of a middle school fire safety presentation. 
She went to the couch first it blazed away. The extinguisher sputtered once then let out a short stream of foam. The fire retreated slightly. She kept moving the extinguisher nozzle back and forth; trying to spread the foam out, but there just wasn’t enough of the stuff. The curtains were already on fire. Smoke filled the space. 
Coughing, Melissa retreated to the kitchen she thought for a second that she’d be able to slip out the back door, but a pair of armed shifters waited for her. They were probably all around the house. Melissa crouched in the corner furthest from the fire. She concentrated gathering mana to cast a glamour it was magic 101, but she didn’t have time to try anything more complicated at the moment.
When she was ready she opened the door and ran out. Smoke poured out the door along with Melissa and her six duplicates. The wolves were confused for a moment. She couldn’t slow down to admire her handy work. The duplicates scattered running in every direction. Melissa avoided the main group of wolves running around her house trying to catch the duplicates that disappeared like soap bubbles as the wolves tried to grab them. 
Melissa ran flat out for the trees the road was too exposed. She tried to focus on breathing in and out getting as much air in as possible. She hadn’t run like this since―ever. The relief that swept through her when she passed under the first tree was like nothing she’d ever felt before. 
White hot pain knocked her to the ground. A steel arrow tipped with silver tore through her thigh. The silvery tip glinted in the sun wet with her blood. Tiny chunks of muscle and flesh stuck to the barbs that stuck out from the sides of the arrow head. Melissa screamed in pain and frustration there was no way she could run or even walk any further. Pack enforcers grabbed her and dragged her back to the burning house. Every movement sent a shock of pain through her body.
Predatory pleasure at finishing off wounded prey showed clearly in the Lupa’s eyes. She licked her muzzle and the enforcers stepped back giving her room to walk a wide circle around the immobile human curled protectively over her wounded leg. Melissa covered her head with her arms as Roxanne tensed to pounce on her. She knew it was futile, but she instinctively tried to protect herself.
Roxanne leapt. Her shadow enveloped the bleeding human like death’s cloak. Two things happened at once a huge black wolf barreled into the Lupa knocking her clear of Melissa and the two enforcers nearest Melissa fell to the ground writhing in pain. The toxic reaction to silver poisoning was immediate.
The two wolves rolled and came up snarling heedless of the chaos that erupted around them. Melissa watched horrified as the two men gurgled and choked. Their throats swelled hugely as they fought to breathe. Their eyes and noses bled. Melissa covered her ears in an effort to block out the horrible gurgling that seemed like it would never stop.
All around shifters started to change. They wanted to meet this threat with tooth and claw. Melissa tried to pull herself out of the way. The battle between the Lupa and the black wolf raged on.
Each sought the advantage, feinting, trying to position herself to deliver the killing bite. Roxanne never bargained for this. She didn’t know who this wolf was. She wasn’t part of her pack, yet she wasn’t a ravening wolf driven mad by the lack of a pack bond. This wasn’t supposed to go this way she if she yielded this wolf would be Lupa.
Melissa struggled to drag herself away from the fight. Many of the wolves had run into the woods looking for the assassin. More arrows came. Melissa watched helpless as Roxanne suddenly broke away from the fight and ran toward her. The black wolf was right behind her. 
Desperate, she grabbed the arrow in her thigh and pulled. Her scream echoed through the trees. It seemed to take forever to pull the length of the arrow through all the layers of flesh and muscle in her thigh. Melissa barely got the bolt out of her leg when Roxanne lunged for her throat. Melissa struck blindly embedding the silver tipped arrow in Roxanne’s eye.
The ruined eye started to smoke. Roxanne made choked pain sounds deep in her throat. She rolled trying to dislodge the arrow. Her movements slowed. The wolf struggled for every breath her throat and tongue had swollen hugely. Finally,  her legs twitched as her nerves fired their last random impulses.
The pack bond seemed to blossom in Melissa’s mind, sudden awareness of every wolf on the island was so jarring, she felt a little nauseated. The thoughts of the shifters running through the woods around her, the fear, they already knew that their Lupa was dead. They felt the shift in the bond. The bond was different now.
Melissa struggled to get up. She didn’t want to look like bleeding prey on the ground when they returned. Greg came from behind her. He’d been circling around trying to get to her. He slung the cross bow over his back and pulled her into his arms.
He held her tight not trusting his voice yet. He ripped a length of his shirt and bandaged her leg tightly.
Greg quickly knelt before the black wolf and bared his throat acknowledging her as Lupa. He waited. She would either accept him in to the pack or tear out his throat. Instead, the black wolf moved closer to Melissa, rubbed her flank against Melissa’s leg and disappeared. Melissa welcomed the wolf she it was a part of her now. Her the pain in her wounded leg flared then eased to nothing. 
“What the hell was that?” Greg said.
Melissa didn’t know what to say he looked at her like she was a stranger. She didn’t understand what just happened either. Naked men, women, and several wolves emerged from the woods drawn irresistibly to the clearing. Greg unslung his cross bow and loaded a bolt. He stepped in front of Melissa and pointed the silver tipped arrow at the closest enforcer.
“Who shot Roxanne?” Greg looked down at the shriveled corpse of his former Lupa.
“Nobody, I kinda stabbed her with the arrow from my leg.”
A ripple of movement went through the small crowd. They looked from the wound on Melissa's leg to what was left of their Lupa. 
“Do you understand what this means?” Greg said.
A large, black and tan wolf trotted forward. Greg aimed a bolt at it, but Melissa said, “No, let her come.” Somehow she knew that this wolf meant no harm. Melissa knew it down to her bones. 
The wolf rolled over and bared its throat and belly to Melissa. Melissa ached to touch the wolf. Kneeling she stroked its belly and flank then laid a kiss on its neck. The wolf licked her face and ran back to the others nudging them forward with her nose.
One by one the wolves of offered her their submission. They didn’t understand how she could be their Lupa, but they trusted the pack bond. Greg watched the ritual. His grip on the crossbow was so tight that the stock began to buckle. He’d left the island years before to make his own way. He’d even chosen a human mate. None of that mattered now; the pack had finally won, all he had left was the bitterness of a murdered dream. He released the pieces of the crushed crossbow.
Melissa waited for Greg to offer himself as both man and wolf. He took a step forward. She smiled and held out her hand. He opened his mouth as if to say something, instead he turned and walked away. Melissa let her hand drop as he disappeared among the trees. Suddenly, the weight of the engagement ring on her third finger was too heavy to bear. The wolves howled voicing the pain that their Lupa bore in silence.
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Coming Soon:
If you enjoyed discovering the Shapeshifters of Lowell Island the novel Ravening Wolf will be available January 2012 
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