Page 32 of Wild Wolf

Richard grabbed his soiled shirt, scrubbed at the floor until the mess was mostly cleaned up, and eyed my fireplace.

“Remove the food before you toss that into the fire,” I ordered.

Grumbling curses, Richard checked the rabbits and his bread, declared them all to be finished, and transferred everything into the kitchen before consigning his shirt and Amber’s clothes to the flames. “The shift happened pretty fast, Desmond.”

“Amber was old and dying. The wolf would have known that and hurried things along. There’s no blood outside a few drops? Why is Declan bleeding?”

“I told Amber to bite him instead of scream,” Richard replied in a rueful tone. “She sank her teeth in and didn’t let him go until the very end. I am taking that to mean the wolf wanted to stake some claims, as she held on, even after the worst of the shift was over.”

“If it doesn’t stop bleeding in a few minutes, we’ll check it, Declan,” Desmond said. I became aware of several wolves howling in my head before quieting. “There you go, Amber. All done. Try to catch your breath, digest your meal without throwing it up, and remember you’re not actually dying, even though you probably feel like it right now. You’ll feel better soon. As soon as you’ve digested that some, we’ll get you shifted back to human, where you can end up throwing up even more. You’ll have a great time. Richard, do you want to break it to my daughter or do you want to sacrifice me to the cause?”

“However enjoyable sacrificing you to the cause is, let Declan handle it.”

“Me?” I asked. “Why me?”

“You control the brownies, and he who controls the brownies controls all right now. I should be more upset than I am over that, but I’ve tried your brownies, and I’m hoping you’ll share the recipe with me.”

“I will trade the brownie recipe for your best stew recipe.”

“Deal. I’ll even give you two stew recipes, because your brownies are that good.”

Desmond shook his head and handed Amber back to me. “Take Amber outside, tell my daughter, and let the puppy run around a little to stretch her legs. Once she tires herself out, we’ll get her shifted back to human, tuck her into your chair, feed her whenever she’s awake, and hope for the best. She’ll be fine, but I don’t know how hard the next few days will be on her.”

“It depends on the cancer, I take it?”

“It does. It depends on how badly deteriorated the rest of her body was before the ritual, too. Amber has been using a lot of illusions to hide her health problems.”

“She didn’t want anyone to know she was eating a lot and still losing weight.”

“We’d guessed. Nicolina has been in denial. Expect tears. If you can get the tears to stop in a reasonable time frame, I’ll get Wendy’s spaghetti sauce recipe out of her hands for you.”

“You want that recipe,” Richard informed me.

“I want every recipe I can get.” I cradled Amber in my arms, got to my feet, and stared down at my bloodied shirt. “Should I do this while wearing blood?”

“Right. Petra. I’ll come with you and make sure there are no problems on that front. Do you have a leash for her?”

I pointed at Petra’s leash, which Desmond retrieved. “Are we using a cover story?”

“No, we’ll just tell Nicolina the cancer was progressing faster than anticipated. She’s in denial, but she’s not in that much denial. She’s a smart woman.”

I expected problems, but as I had no reason to delay, I took Amber outside, whistled, and said, “Petra, heel.”

My wolf disengaged from where she’d been rolling around on the ground with Nicolina and bolted over, sitting at my side. I crouched, careful to keep a firm grip on Amber with one arm, while taking hold of Petra’s collar with the other one. “Good girl. This is Amber.” As I never could tell how much Petra understood, I said, “Try to be nice.”

The wolf pricked her ears forward and sniffled at the pocket-sized wolf. After a few moments of thought, Petra began to groom Amber, starting with her ears before addressing every hair of visible fur. Desmond observed, and once Petra finished, he nodded his satisfaction and clipped the leash onto her collar.

“I take it that’s what we wanted to happen?”

“Amber smells sick, and since you’re holding her, that means she’s a sick pack member. We want to cultivate that behavior. I think she’ll make an excellent house wolf. I’ve never tried having a mundane wolf so close to Fenerec before, but it looks like it’s working well for you. Hey, Richard? Do you think we should try to turn one of the packs into a wolf rescue? If Petra’s adapting this well to Declan, this might work with the other packs.”

“Declan’s probably an Omega, Desmond.”

I stared at Richard, and while Amber had mentioned her belief, I’d thought Richard had pegged me as an Alpha.

“Why do you say that?” Desmond demanded.

“I just performed the ritual, and his wolf didn’t even think about coming out to play. There was zero evidence of a control battle. I didn’t have to worry about him at all. He did exactly what he was told, his wolf did the same, and while he was curious, that was it. And yes, Declan, I was testing you. Alphas tend to have to control the pack during a ritual, and I’m skilled enough I could have easily controlled you if needed. It wasn’t needed.”