Filed to story: The Healer and The Wolf PDF Free
“Now, that’s where you’re wrong. Like I said, he’s lucky. It’s his bread and butter.”
“That doesn’t?-“
She put her hand on my shoulder. “Luck is literally his magic. He has a pact with some spirit or something who deals with probability and chance. He can manipulate the fabric of reality to skew to impossible odds. And that’s on top of all the other natural stuff most witches can do.”
“Luck isn’t a power.”
“Oh, I assure you, it most certainly is.”
I was gobsmacked. The man I’d very much watched die right in front of me was currently sending Leo flying into a table, the decorations that had been so neatly piled on top of scattering in a thousand different directions.
Ricky leaned forward, one of his slender, dirt-caked hands reaching between the front seats to point at the warlock.
“Him,” he growled, voice barely more than a breath. “Chadwicke.”
That somehow seemed more like a warning than an accusation, and I followed his pointer finger to see what looked like a spell circle beginning to glow beneath Leo as he tried to pick himself up from the splinter remains of the table.
No.
Fucking.
Way.
Something unlocked deep inside me, and I hit the gas again. I reacted without thinking, my body making decisions before my mind could catch up, but I was at peace with it as the truck shot forward.
Chadwicke, bastard that he was, barely had time to look over his shoulder before we collided with him at full force, sending him sailing even farther than he’d managed to fling Leo. Never one to miss an opportunity, the alpha jumped on top of Chadwicke before he could recover and tore into him.
This time there was no chance he was surviving. Not with his guts lying scattered in bits around him, and his heart in Leo’s mouth.
Holy shit.
I had just killed someone.
While I may not have struck the final blow, it wouldn’t have happened without me. In fact, I was downright instrumental to the warlock’s demise. Maybe Leo would have accomplished it on his own, maybe not. Who knew what spell Chadwicke had been summoning?
It was like the entire world had gone quiet. I knew there would be a lot of repercussions for what I had just done, but now wasn’t the time to contemplate that.
I rolled down the window. “Leo, get in the truck!”
With no hands to speak of, and probably not enough time to shift, Leo bounded over the truck and jumped into the back. At least this time he probably wouldn’t be able to smell the compost over all the blood coating him.
Finally, with both Ricky and Leo safe, along with our new ally, I peeled off toward the exit.
One brother down. Four more to go.
LEO
The truck slowly came to a stop, and I slithered out the back, my entire body aching and sticky. Once I was on the ground, I slowly shifted back into my human form.
It took far more effort than it should have, and panic surged through my veins. No, no, no. I couldn’t be trapped again.
Breathing deeply, I focused on calming my heartbeat, and after a few more moments of straining, I was me again.
Thank fuck.
Wow.
What a fucking day.
It felt like I was waking up from some sort of fever dream. Was the man who had cursed my pack and stolen Ricky really dead? It was hard to remember everything that happened. All I knew was that I had been waiting patiently, biding my time and looking for the perfect opportunity to take Chadwicke out… but then he’d gotten handsy with Ven, and all thoughts of strategy had flown out the window. Everything was blood and hatred and the desire to kill anyone who might possibly hurt my family again. I was the alpha, and although I had failed to protect them before, that wouldn’t happen again.
Still… it felt so surreal.
At least until one of the truck doors flew open, and a thin, raggedy man stumbled out. I could have been blindfolded, and I would still recognize the scent that hit me square in the face.
“Ricky!” Hundreds of memories rushed through my mind all at once. The both of us betting on whether the tooth fairy was real when my first canine fell out. Us huddled in a gully under a rotten log in the woods, hiding from the man who had killed our parents and taken over our pack. When his first girlfriend had dumped him, and then when I had to break up with mine. Losses, victories, stupid little moments that meant nothing and yet everything all at the same time.
I couldn’t believe it was him.
“Leo,” he croaked.
We ran toward each other. Well,
I ran, crossing the scant distance in a beat, while he staggered forward, but how we got there didn’t matter. What mattered was that I was able to embrace my beta, my righthand man, my ride-or-die, for the first time in who knew how long.
“Ricky, Ricky, Ricky.” I chanted his name over and over again, probably hugging him a bit too hard considering how frail he was. The blood covering me was getting on my beta, but I didn’t care. What was important was that he was safe, he was free. “It is so good to see you again.”
“You found me.” His voice was little more than a grating whisper, but I would listen to that forever because it meant he was safe. Excitement built in my chest. With Ven’s help, we would have him right as rain in no time. Really, I owed her everything. My life, and his. “I can’t believe you found me.”