"It's no use..."

"Elicia. Trust me, we're safe."

"It's no use...because I'm in here with you." Elicia's voice had dropped an octave and rasped harshly in the quiet.

Amy stilled. Slowly, she turned to look at Elicia. Or what used to be Elicia.

"You've got to be kidding me."

Amy stared at the convulsing woman before her. Elicia was doubled over on the bed in pain. Amy recognized her facial twitching and twisting as the same process she had witnessed with Virgil's change.

"Elicia. Please don't be a werewolf. Please."

"I'm trying so hard not to be tonight," Elicia answered with a sickly smile, her face bathed in sweat. "It's the moon. It's hard-"

She broke off with a deep moan.

"Can I do anything to help? Will the cubs be okay?" They were incredibly stupid questions, but Amy felt compelled to ask. Elicia's reply was to curl up tighter in a cramped ball.

"Okay. Okay. Elicia? If you can't control this...will I be safe in here with you?" Another stupid question, but it was clear to her Elicia was not managing to subdue her mutation. Her fingers had truncated to painful hooks, the nails had coarsened to thick, yellow flakes. Nasty and needlelike. The veins on the back of her hands bulged out like a corded roadmap. Her face was turned to the wall and Amy knew this was deliberate. Elicia was ashamed of what her body was doing. She guessed Elicia probably had no clan but was another one of the rogues Paulie had talked about.

Amy had no idea how this might go. Virgil was malicious; he'd hated her and wanted to attack. Elicia did not have the same malevolence, but did that mean Amy was safe? Would Elicia strike through fear and instinct alone? Did it work like that? How did any of it work?

"Go, Amy. Go." Elicia's whisper was hoarse and filled with * 194 *

pain. Amy stood for a moment considering this. But it was not really an option.

"I can't. If I leave, he'll come in here after you and the cubs. I can't lock you in safely, the outside padlock is missing."

Anyway, where could she run? Out the door and straight into- what? She couldn't leave Elicia behind, alone and defenseless. Not with Virgil prowling in the trees.

"Please, Amy. Go. I don't know what I'll do. I've only been like this for less than a year. I don't know how to..." Elicia's words trailed away in another grunt of pain. She gulped for air. Then she slowly relaxed, her body uncoiling from its tight muscular contraction. It reminded Amy of a woman in labor, the little bouts of relief between the shuddering, cramping pain.

Uncertain, Amy reached over and smoothed Elicia's forearm.

Maybe she could help just by talking calmly. Leone had sat beside her in a small truck and hadn't been a ravening beast. Perhaps a werewolf didn't need to be dangerous, unless it wanted to. Maybe if she simply talked to Elicia she could ease her through the pain, and help her retain control.

"Less than a year?" she said, deciding to try her theory out.

"I parked too close to the Dumpsters one night. I was lucky to survive," Elicia explained bitterly. "The papers called it a 'savage dog attack on local woman.'A month later I knew what it was." Her voice was a little stronger now. More like her natural voice. More confident she was helping, Amy perched on the edge of the small cot and continued asking questions.

"You're doing fine. Stay with me. Tell me more, Elicia. What did you do when you found out what was happening to you? It must have been terrifying."

Elicia laughed dryly. She rolled onto her back so Amy could see her fully. She had the same flattened muzzle with sharp, vicious teeth under a curled black lip that Amy had seen on Leone. Her dark skin had become leathery, covered with a soft black fur, thin around her face but thickening over her head and down her throat. That was the extent of her change as far as Amy could see. Elicia plucked ineffectually at her blouse, her hands misshapen and knotted.

* 195 *

"Do you want me to help you undress?" Amy asked softly.

The clothes looked tight and restricting. Elicia nodded a little shyly.

Quickly Amy helped her disrobe; the skin on her body was dark and burnt looking, and very coarse. The musculature was far more pronounced. Elicia's breast tissue had all but disappeared, flattened onto an expanded rib cage. Distress and anxiety streamed from her, and Amy's heart went out to this woman who had to cope with this terrifying ordeal all on her own.

A deep moan ripped from her throat and she doubled up, cradling her stomach as if protecting her cubs.

"Breathe, Elicia. Breathe through the pain." Amy tried to remember every hammy medical television show with a birth coaching scene. It worked. Minutes elapsed with no sound other than the breeze in the trees outside, and Elicia's deep panting. Her body did not mutate any further.

"There are others like me." She finally relaxed, her trust in Amy established. "Virgil collects us. He's set himself up as an Alpha with his own rogue pack. He wants what the Garouls have."

Amy's jaw dropped at this. Elicia was aligned with Virgil?

Well, initially. It seemed she had changed sides somewhere along the line. Clans, and packs, and rogues, and loners. There was an entire society of these beings out there. Amy's precise, logical world shattered even further. The supernatural didn't feel so super anymore.

Not when it was incredibly real and sitting on her doorstep.

"Is that why you started seeing Jori? To infiltrate the Garouls and the valley?"

Elicia grunted. She was more comfortable now, but still hurting.

Small convulsions ran forcefully through her body, caught in its half stasis. Amy watched it all carefully, praying she had made the right choice not to run away and abandon her.

"But we fell in love, and now I'm pregnant, and I've betrayed Jori." Elicia's upset quivered across her face, and her eyes slowly caramelized into a lighter, golden color.

"Hold on there, Elicia. Good thoughts only." Amy placed a calming hand on her shoulder. "Remember, I told you no one comes * 196 *

here unless they're already accepted. Jori and you have to talk. But he'll be delighted you're carrying his babies. Trust me."

"I don't deserve your kindness, Amy. I tricked you to go to the library so he could meet you. Marie didn't have any books to return.

I did as he asked and never questioned it."

Marie had denied knowing Virgil Bloomsy; now Amy knew it was true. Virgil had flushed her out of the woods that day straight into the path of Elicia. Not that it mattered anymore. "Hush, Elicia.

It's okay. It was all Virgil's doing."

She was answered with a sad little whimper and continued to stroke the furred shoulder, conscious it had been flesh only moments before. In the end, if Elicia couldn't hold back the tide, Amy needed a plan B. It was obvious Elicia couldn't control this. Her face was almost fully wolven now and Amy could see it distressed her. Elicia had not come to terms with her survival as a werewolf.

She wore it with shame. Amy hadn't thought of it that way. Leone was so statuesque and majestic; Paulie spoke with such pride in his heritage. Even Virgil was drunk with the vicious power of it. Elicia was frightened and unschooled. She feared it.

"You know, you're sort of pretty...for a werewolf." Amy felt terribly for her. Elicia's eyes flitted suspiciously at her. "Okay, handsome is the better word. Like Leone."

"You've seen Leone? As wolven?"

Amy nodded. "She kicked Virgil's ass and saved me."

"I'd loved to have seen that."

"You don't like him, do you?"

Elicia shook her head. "Never. But what did I know then? He made me feel even dirtier. Then as I got closer to Jori and his family, I saw a different way. They were so close-knit and warm. They were a real family, and I began to understand the pack mentality was not about power and hierarchy, but togetherness and bonding. They have such control over their wolven side," she said in awe, before another wave of pain rolled over her. They sat quietly until it freed her.

"You were the one who helped me, weren't you? You left the langue d'oc book on the porch. And you tried to lead me here, to * 197 *

Connie, when I first found this cabin. Why?" Amy said, realizing it had been Elicia all along, and not Virgil as she had assumed.

"I stole his book. I wanted you to know. I hated the way you were kept in the dark, opened to the same threat as Connie. I liked Connie so much. She was always kind to me when she came to the city to see Jori. Please, can I have some water?"

Amy helped her sip from the bottle sitting by the bed. Elicia licked her dry lips. "I knew Leone was trying to protect you, but Virgil always managed to get close-" She gasped, more pain. The spasms were coming closer together, and though Amy could see no more outer signs, she was unsure what happened to the human physiology on the inside. Would Elicia being pregnant complicate her change?

With a powerful gulp Elicia continued. "I took you to the trees because I wanted you to realize you were in danger and make the Garouls tell you the truth. You and Connie are more important than the stupid code. But when I saw them, what he had done to those trees, I knew he was out of control."

"Thank you," Amy said simply. Elicia had given her a lot and placed herself at risk in her rejection of Virgil and his plans. Amy was glad she had decided to stay in the cabin and comfort her.

"Amy?" Elicia whispered into the dark.

"Yes?" She leaned in closer to the quiet voice.

"You smell like food."

"Oh." She pulled back.

"You need to go. Tell Jori I'm sorry, and I love him."

"No." Amy stood and spoke forcefully at the creature curled up on the narrow cot. "You can do your own goddamn dirty work.

When you're ready I'm going to open that door and we both run for it. Once we get out, we go our own ways. Don't you dare come after me! Find some other food. Just go and hide until morning."

Elicia blinked at her, eyes shining likes twin moons in a dark, muzzled face. Her teeth glinted, her mouth swimming with saliva.

Amy knew she smelled like supper, but this was their only chance.

"Elicia. Listen to me, concentrate. You have to do this for your cubs. You have to protect Jori's cubs. These are Garoul babies, and * 198 *

you are in the Garoul valley. This is home. This is your home, and your cubs' home."

The cot creaked as Elicia rose. She towered over Amy, but was not as tall as either Virgil or Leone had been. It struck Amy that a lot of the pain must be in bone, muscle, and ligament mutation. Amy moved to the door and lifted the wooden bar. She held on to it; this was her only weapon. It might well prove useless as a weapon, but she felt marginally safer armed.

"On the count of three, we run." With a nod at Elicia, she lifted the latch and pushed at the door. Her body tensed ready to spring out and run like hell.

"One." The door swung slowly open.

"Two-" On the porch before her, side by side, were two massive wolven. Silent and sentinel. Amy realized with a sickening lurch that all this time they had simply stood and waited for the stupid human to open the door.

* 199 *

* 200 *

chapteR twenty-one.

Both beasts looked in surprise at Amy's wolven companion.

Behind her Elicia whimpered and pulled back into the depths of the cabin. Amy raised her plank; she'd be lucky if she landed one blow.

With an irritated growl one of the beasts reached over and, taking the tip of her weapon in its claws, simply shook it loose from her grasp and casually tossed it aside. Amy frowned. It was all so reminiscent of her fire extinguisher incident with- "Leone?"

The other wolven brushed past her, intent on reaching a cowering Elicia. Amy turned protectively toward Elicia, confused at this new wolf's intentions. But it merely greeted Elicia with muted growls, and was answered by her sad whimpers. It had to be Jori.

A massive brute, taller, with more densely packed muscle than his sleeker sister.

Leone retreated, and Amy followed her out to the porch and into the moonlight. She was relieved to be out of the stifling confines of the cabin, leaving Jori and Elicia to deal with their own lives.

She had a life of her own to deal with, and it was in shreds at the moment.

Exhausted, she partially collapsed to sit on the porch steps. Her hulking companion stood nearby, watching her intently with those eerie amber eyes.

"I could sleep for a thousand years and still wake up to this friggin' nightmare," Amy told no one in particular.

* 201 *

It was too much for her system. Her brain was beginning to shut down.

"You wouldn't believe the day I've had," she told the werewolf she now knew was Leone. "Is he still out there?"

It raised its nose to the air, nostrils quivering as it inhaled. The lip curled and a low growl rumbled deep in a broad furred chest.

Amy had no idea what that meant, but assumed there was no danger present. From afar a distant howl echoed into the night.

"Which cousin is that?" Amy said bitterly. The beast squinted at her, quiet and curious. Then it moved away, down to the river, and waited, looking back at her. Amy guessed she was to follow.

Slowly, she pushed herself to her feet. Her body felt leaden and her head groggy. She had reached her limit a long time ago and had been running on empty ever since.

When she reached the bank she stooped to unlace her boots.

She'd have to wade across, and despite the fact she'd spent the night being attacked by werewolves, holing up with werewolves, and finding out her entire adoptive family were werewolves, it seemed important to not get her feet wet and catch a chill.

With a snort the beast reached for her and scooped her up. She found herself carefully cradled in its arms, feeling like a small child.

It was ridiculous. She clung on as it waded into the water, uncaring of the cold. Amy was stunned. She couldn't remember ever being held like this by her parents.

I never get my families right. I never fit. Her head sank onto a dense, matted shoulder and she found herself crying. A furry cheek briefly rubbed across the crown of her head, and the creature kept on walking.

It didn't cross to the other bank; instead it waded upstream, thigh deep, using the river as another trail through this part of the forest. When the current got too fast or too deep it plowed out of the water and along the bank. It carried Amy back to their rock. Their teenage rock, their lover's rock.