Chimera Awakened

Chapter Fourteen

Scar man jumped into action and lunged toward the wolf. It sprang off the bloodied lifeless blonde man and jumped to the side and faced scar man. It's lips curled up to display bloody teeth, flesh dripping from its mouth. It snarled and scar man took a step back as his eyes widened in horror.

This is how I would die, I realized. This wolf was about to free me from my captors only to send me to my death. I could feel the drugged water taking effect. I couldn't fight this wolf. With any luck though, I would be unconscious before it tore out my throat.

I watched, mesmerized as the wolf prowled toward scar man, growling and snapping its jaws. Scar man raised his sword and it trembled slightly. I wanted to stay conscious to watch his demise before I succumbed to darkness.

The wolf lunged and scar man struck out with his sword, swinging it high. But the wolf clamped it's jaws over scar man's arm and the sword fell to the ground. Blood spurted from his shredded arm and he screamed in pain. I smiled and was happy that at least I got to watch this asshole die before I died too.

Suddenly, a black shadow enveloped the wolf. It swirled around it like black mist. My eyes widened and I wondered if the drugged water could make me hallucinate.

The mist faded and Broderick stood where the wolf had been. He was naked, covered in mud and blood and he was magnificent. I watched as he strode to scar man who was now clutching at his nearly severed arm. Broderick pushed a dirt covered hand against the man's chest and seemed to be saying something to him but I couldn't hear.

My limbs were unbearably heavy and my eyelids drooped. Scar man was as good as dead and that would have to be enough. I let myself fall into the darkness, happy that the last thing I would see was Broderick, fierce blazing blue eyes looking at me from across the fire. Yes, this was enough. His face, it was enough, even if it was a hallucination. I smiled, ignoring the blood that oozed from a cut on my lip, as I closed my eyes. The image of Broderick, reassuring and clear, followed me into the darkness.

********

I awoke to sunlight that filtered through pine trees overhead. I could see it shining through the needles and wondered if this was the astral plane. Spirits walked there, or so we thought. I smiled as a chickadee ruffled its feathers on a branch above me and was happy I could still see and listen to them after death.

Wincing with pain, I rose to a sitting position. Why was I feeling pain on the astral plane? I shouldn't feel pain. Or hunger.

"Evelyn," Broderick's voice whispered as he crouched in front of me.

He was wearing clothes now but he still had mud and blood on his neck. Not dead, I realized. I blinked at him a few times, taking him in. Was my hallucination of a black wolf turning into Broderick not a hallucination?

"You were a wolf," I croaked. My throat was so dry and it burned.

"Drink this." He held out his canteen and I took it.

The memory of the drugged water washed over me and I shuddered. I drank deeply, tasting blood as the damned cut on my lip reopened.

"Did I hallucinate that?" I asked.

My left eye was nearly swollen shut so I relied on my right eye to search his face. He had a couple days of stubble and I longed to reach out and touch it.

"No. It wasn't a hallucination," he said and settled himself more comfortably in front of me.

"How..." I trailed off, at a complete loss for words.

"I can shape-shift," he said, blue eyes sparkling like sapphires in the bright sun. "But I can only shift into something I've killed."

I blinked, absolutely dumbstruck. Maybe it was drugged water two nights in a row, the blow to my face, or simply my slow brain, but I could not comprehend this.