Chapter 4: Erick

 

 

 

Rowan said, "You can stay here for now," and gestured at the metal-sided vehicle. She called it an R.V.

I followed her inside. To my surprise, the R.V. was outfitted with all the necessities of human living. There was a kitchen and an eating area, a very narrow bathroom, and a bed, which was located in a small, rear room. The back wall had a single, square window that faced the night-shrouded forest.

"This will do nicely," I said, patting the soft blanket covering the mattress. "How long until you send me back to the Wood?"

"A few days, hopefully," Rowan said. "I just need to figure out how to do it. Don't worry, though. The moment I do, you'll be out of here." She pointed her thumb over her shoulder at nothing in particular.

"Is there anything you'd like me to do in the meantime?"

Rowan turned with a flourish and sat down on the end of the bed. "Do whatever you want. Just stay out of sight."

I sat beside her. The jeans and tee shirt she'd lent me were slightly too small, and they strained around the parts of my body that bent with my sitting. "Are you sure you have no tasks for me? I'm probably the last dragon shifter on earth, and I'm quite—"

Rowan's pocket suddenly began playing music.

"Hold that thought," Rowan said, lifting a finger, and she pulled a flat object out of her pocket. Earlier, she'd called it a phone. "Hello?"

I heard the tiny voice say urgently into her ear, "We need your help."

Rowan's eyes flicked at my face. She wore an expression of slight panic. "What happened?"

"Remember that cured shifter Josh told us about? Well, Caleb bit him. And…I'm pretty sure it's not working."

"What do you mean it's not working?" Rowan said.

"He's not changing."

Rowan paled. "Fuck. Well, I have no idea—"

"Can we bring him to you?"

Rowan looked at me again, her eyes much wider this time. Sensing her unease, I gave her a single nod.

"I…I guess. I'm in the R.V. You remember where it is, right?"

"Yeah."

"And I have a friend with me. Don't worry, he's trustworthy." She gave me a pointed look. After ending her call, she sighed. "How old did you say you were?" she said with her eyes closed.

"Over a thousand."

"Right." She opened her eyes again and turned her knees slightly so that she was facing me. Her eyebrows rose hopefully. "And how much do you know about wolf shifters?"

 

* * *

 

Rowan and I waited inside the R.V. for over an hour, which I spent answering a seemingly endless stream of questions about magic, the Wood, and what I'd witnessed of human history during the course of my long life.

Then, as the stars shifted high in the sky, my ears pricked with the sound of wolves closing in on us from a distance.

"They're a mile away," I said. Then, I added, "There's also a car."

"You shifters and your hearing," Rowan muttered.

We got up and waited outside for her friends.

The car appeared as two far away spots of light bouncing through the trees. Eventually, it rumbled into our little clearing. It had the words River County Sheriff's Department written on the side, and it was followed by four wolves. By the time they finished transforming into four naked men, a dark-haired man was stepping out from behind the wheel of the car. He held the door open just wide enough for us to hear a feeble moan from inside.

Somewhere, a breeze began to blow, and I caught a few scents in the air. There was the fragrance of raw wood, soil, animal and something…absolutely intoxicating.

It lasted for an instant. "My god," I murmured, turning my head to follow the scent. What was that?

Promptly, I lost its trail.

I sniffed desperately at the air, trying to catch another trace of it. Meanwhile, Rowan was making her way towards the car.

"Is this the guy?" she said.

"Yup. This is the guy," the driver said.

"Who's he?" one of the naked men asked. This one had a shorn head, like a monk, with strange, dark symbols marked on his skin.

Rowan stared at me. Something in her expression told me not to answer.

"He's an old friend. A shifter—er, a panther shifter," she said. "Erick Ironside, these are my friends Kaden, Caleb, Logan, Jimmy, and Josh."

Josh, the driver, gave me a nod.

I bowed so deeply that my hair swung forward to shield my vision. "At your service."

My greeting was met with silence. When I stood back up, all five men were giving me odd looks. Jimmy looked especially skeptical.

Rowan coughed loudly. "Right. Okay. Let's have a look," she said, and she pulled open one of the car's back doors.

Instantly, that same intoxicating scent, swept over me like a wave from the ocean. At the same time, I spotted yet another man sprawled out in the backseat.

Suddenly, I knew what that smell was, and it made me feel incredibly sick.

Mate…

I felt it down in the pit of my stomach, in the core of my bones, in the center of every cell.

Mate…

My heart was speaking to me with each breath, with each beat. It was the truth, and my heart knew it.

I was smelling the scent of my mate.

The dragon inside of me was jolted to life. My skin felt prickly and loose, and I could feel my scales just beneath, tempted to rise. I had to bite the inside of my cheek to force my dragon back into submission.

Meanwhile, Rowan and Josh reached into the car and dragged out the moaning man—my mate.

Horrified, I turned away just before I could see his face.

No! It can't be! I thought fiercely. Rowan had said so herself, that this was all a mistake. I was never meant to wake. This world was loud and chaotic, and mankind had evolved beyond comprehension. I yearned to return to the enchanted Wood, to continue to sleep as a dragon for eternity. I had no mate.

Not anymore.

I have no mate, I continued to chant in my mind. Yet, I couldn't deny it. His scent ensnared me, and I couldn't tear myself away from it.

Slowly, I turned my head to look at him for the first time.

He was curled against the side of the car, golden-haired and golden-skinned under his loose black clothes. Gingerly, Rowan pulled at his left arm to reveal what was clearly a wolf's bite. As she turned the bleeding wound towards the light spilling out from the R.V.'s windows, his irresistibly sweet scent intensified.

My blood surged, and I nearly collapsed. Oh, god!

"Who bit him?" Rowan said.

Caleb raised his fingers.

"Why?" she said.

"We need him to be under our control—" Caleb began.

"Eliza cured him. We couldn't just let that go," Kaden added.

Rowan sighed and shook her head, impatient. "Erick, can you come look at this?" she said.

Smoothing back my hair, I tried to be as dignified as possible as I approached. The other shifters closed in as well, still unabashedly naked.

"This is a shifter's bite. Will he turn?" she asked.

I glanced quickly at my mate's damp face, his wound, and at a mulberry shrub in the distance. "He will not," I said plainly. I tried to ignore the assault of his scent, like thick scarves wrapped around my head.

"Then he'll die," Josh said, his mouth in a grim, straight line. Besides my mate, he was the only other man who was clothed, dressed in the carefully pressed and polished garb of a guard. A hard, flat rectangle at his breast said Camp.

Suddenly, my mate howled. "You can't do this to me!" he cried out. He lunged at the four naked shifters and was promptly caught by Josh, who seized him from behind. "Take me to Eliza!"

"He's been bitten before," Caleb said. "Bitten and turned. And cured."

Cured?

Rowan swung her head around, nearly whipping my mate in the face with her hair. We both took immediate interest.

"Caleb," she said, "What do you mean by cured?"

"That cure that Eliza's coven is working on? It works," Caleb said. He nodded at my mate. "Explain it to them, Aiden."

Aiden. He had a name like a song.

Oblivious to how enraptured I was at his scent, Aiden glared daggers back at Caleb. His mouth twisted to the side with hate. "I already did."

Logan, the one with the shorn head, spat on the ground near Aiden's feet. "You're disgusting."

I tried to steel myself and remain as cold as my cold-blooded nature.

"It was my choice!" Aiden bellowed with another lunge, prompting Rowan to grab him this time. He turned to look into her eyes. "You have to take me back to Eliza. Please. She can heal me."

"We can't." Kaden was now stepping forward. His face was identical to Caleb's, though his black hair was slightly shorter, and his shoulders were wider set. He also had strange markings on his skin, like Logan and Jimmy. "He's been inside the coven's operations. We need his information."

"I'll die," Aiden wailed.

Rowan looked pained.

"I," I began, and everybody's eyes were suddenly fixed on me. Even Aiden's. His were the soft, rich brown of chocolate. Tightness formed at my throat. I coughed. "I can heal him. But I must do it privately."

Kaden and Josh looked at each other. The rest of them were simply staring at me. Rowan was the only one who wasn't dumbfounded.

Her eyes rolled sideways to Caleb. "Is that okay with you guys?"

Jimmy crossed his bulging arms. "You trust this guy?"

Rowan nodded, her eyes flicking at me in the barest of glances.

"He's more useful alive than dead," Caleb said.

"Okay. Do it," Kaden said.

Rowan turned her attention back to me. She released Aiden's arms. "If you want something to do, keep an eye on Aiden." She was speaking very slowly, so I could catch every word. "Don't let him die, and don't let him get away. Can you do that for me?"

My thoughts drifted back to the R.V.'s cramped interior. How was I supposed to survive in that tiny space with just me and him?

Nevertheless, I answered with another deep, sweeping bow. "Yes," I said, with a gulp. "I can do that.