Page 40 of Wolf's Bane
The beast crouched, snarling.
Aleksandar
Boxon Hill
The Stone Circle
The moon alignedwith the tallest stone, casting a long shadow. Energy poured through the nexus, the thin veil that separated the planes nothing more than a suggestion of division. The wayward energy hummed through the air, searching for a vessel.
With his eyes half-closed, Luis spread his fingers wide, like he could feel the current of energy in the air.
Alek could sense it, but only because of the combination of the summer solstice and the proximity to the nexus. The standing stone circle amplified the sensation.
At any other time, any other place, it was noise in the background. If he focused, he could feel it. Barely. Luis’ gesticulation was a learning tool. As his skill grew, he’d lean less on the hand-waving and stumbling with his eye closed.
Godwin required no crutch to track the flow of the nexus energies and, by extension, any mutated beasts. The energies wanted to flow to the beasts, like a river rushing downwards. The full moon was a deluge. Finding a trail in all the noise would be difficult, even for one as skilled as Godwin.
A useful mutation, Amalie had called it. Those who lived near nexus points had higher rates of mutation, mostly benign and unnoticeable. Tolerance for pollens that were not, strictly speaking, of this world. Natural pheromones that repelled insects. Very useful.
Violet blood.
This phenomenon had fascinated Amalie. In her crumbling, ancient texts, she found mention of a disease caused by a parasite born through an insect bite. Populations with this endemic disease developed a mutation in the blood cell that granted resistance to the parasite. This same trait could also affect the body’s ability to deliver oxygen, often leaving the person fatigued, and the cells died early, leaving the person with a low blood count.
A useful mutation that had a price.
Luis pressed a palm to the largest of the stones, as if that grounding could amplify his senses. Perhaps it could.
Alek did not have to wonder what price Luis’ useful mutation took. The cost was a lifetime in servitude to guard against the monster that prowled the night. A long-ago ancestor had shown an aptitude for the task, and it passed down through the generations.
As for what Alek sensed, it was a jumble of information. The nexus energy flitted about him, humming happily in his ears like bees in a summer field. He sensed nothing beyond his own nose.
Not true.
He felt a tug, the thinnest of connections between him to Solenne. It whisperedhomeandmate. His beast agreed.
Alek tugged at his ear in a futile attempt to dispel the high-pitched noise. Every part of him itched. The silver on his neck, the bands on his arms, and the silver-inked tattoo over his heart burned. He wanted…
He couldn’t form the instinct into words. To shift, to let the beast out in a burst of energy, but that would not only soothe his discomfort momentarily.
Home. Mate.
The connection back to Solenne anchored him, made the itching and the humming tolerable.
Godwin watched Alek with his one eye. “Anything?”
Alek scanned the ground, hoping to point to some trampled bit of grass or conveniently placed pawprint in the mud.
Luis and Godwin gasped at the same moment. The cord connecting him to Solenne vibrated, the tone of it black and red, ringing inside his head like a bell.
Wasting no time, he ran toward the house. The full moon cast a pale imitation of daylight over the ground. His boot heel skidded on the grass as he descended Boxon Hill.
“You’ll break your neck!” Godwin shouted.
“The house,” Luis said. “I can feel it.”
Alek wasted no time. The house was under attack. The nexus energy parted around him like an eddy, surging toward something furious and hungry. Solenne needed him. Her fear…
He did not understand the connection, but he welcomed it. If Solenne was afraid, then she was alive.
