Reluctantly His

Chapter Eleven

Garrick rubbed his cheek against Nika's again. "It's all right. I know this isn't the time or place to be professing my feelings for you." He painfully inched back from her.

"Turn and face me, but not so close that I don't have room to work. I'm going to try to bite through the ropes on your wrists."

"If it works, watch the skin. All right?" She did as he said.

"I'll be careful. The only skin nibbling I want to do is when I'm in human form and we're both naked."

"Garrick," Nika said with a stern look on her face.

"Fine. I'll get to work on these ropes and won't say anything more about what I'll do to you the next time I get you into bed."

Feeling the pain of each of his wounds, Garrick went up on his knees to reach Nika's wrists. He bent his head, sank his sharp teeth into the thick rope, and pulled to snap the fibers. Over and over he repeated the process, and little by little, the rope frayed. The time-consuming work took its toll on his weakened body, but he refused to stop until Nika was free.

Once the rope was frayed enough, Nika yanked on her wrists until what remained intact snapped. She quickly untangled her hands from the rope as Garrick sat back on the floor, panting a little.

"What about your chains?" Nika asked once she'd moved to his side. "You can't bite through those."

"Not unless I want to break my teeth," he said, trying for some humor. He dragged himself up straighter. "I don't know if I'll be able to do it since my shifting ability has been affected, but I'm going to try to will my sword into my hands. Then I want you to take it and use it to break the chain."

Nika swallowed. "Your sword? You have some kind of magical sword that you can make appear and disappear?"

"Something like that. We'll just have to see if I can do it, since I draw on the same power inside me to shift as I do to will my sword to my hand."

Concentrating, Garrick drew on his power. Same as when he'd first tried to shift, he didn't meet with success. He only managed to will a ghost of his sword into his bound hands. One after another attempts failed until he felt even weaker, but he wasn't ready to call it quits. Gathering his powers, he focused them harder than he'd ever had to, willing the sword to take on solid form. A split second before he was about to lose the hold on his ability, his sword appeared, and he closed his hands around the pommel.

Panting heavily, his head hanging to his chest, Garrick tightly clutched his prize.

Once he'd caught most of his breath, he lifted his head and looked at Nika. "Take the sword, and use it to chop through the length of chain between my wrists and the bar."

Nika took her bottom lip between her teeth while she wrapped her hands around the pommel just above where he held onto it. He let go, and she pulled away. The point of his sword slammed down onto the cement, causing a spark to fly.

"I can't do this, Garrick," she wailed. "It's too heavy, and there isn't much space between your wrists and the bar. I'm liable to chop your hands off rather than hit the chain."

"At least I'd be free," he said with deadpan humor.

"I'm serious, Garrick."

He met her worried gaze. "You can do this, Nika. I'm putting my trust in you.

Lift the sword over your head, and then bring it down on the chain. It's sharp and tough enough so it should cut through the links, which luckily aren't that thick. It should only take a couple of hits."

Garrick pulled on the chain, stretching it tight. He gave Nika a nod. She bettered her grip on the sword and took a deep breath as she struggled to lift it over her head.

She then brought the edge of the blade down on the chain, right in the middle of it. The sound of it hitting rang through the empty building.

Sparks flew when Nika struck at the chain again and again. After the third time, she lowered the point of the sword to the floor while she puffed for air. "I don't know if I can do this too many more times."

He gave the chain a hard tug and felt it start to give. "One more time should do it, Nika." At a sound from outside, Garrick cocked his head toward the front of the building. "Hurry, they're coming back."

"I don't hear anything."

"Werewolf hearing, babe, is a lot more sensitive than a mortal's. Get me free before they come in."

Nika lifted the sword again. It shook in her hands as she strained to keep it held above her head, and then quickly let it fall. This time, the blade grazed the knuckles on his clenched hands, but it hit true, and one of the links broke. With a mighty tug, he pulled the chain free of the bar. He pushed the weakness he felt aside and surged to his feet to protect his mate just as Nathan and his three thugs returned.

All four of them rushed him and Nika. The three he'd fought earlier shifted to their werewolf forms while Nathan tried to reach Nika. Garrick fought back the werewolves, swinging the short length of chain that hung from his wrists. He tried to keep Nika at his back, but the three werewolves worked to draw him away, giving Nathan a chance to get around him.

With a howl of fury, and drawing on some reserved strength he hadn't known he was still capable of, Garrick beat back his attackers. He used his teeth, claws, and the chain until he had them subdued enough for him to focus on Nathan.

Spinning around, he saw Nika holding his sword out in front of her to hold Nathan back. Her arms shook, and the blade wavered. Just as he launched himself at the pack leader, Nathan moved to bat the sword out of Nika's hands. To avoid Nathan, she pulled it away, then thrust it forward at the same time Garrick rammed into the pack leader's back. His momentum was enough to push Nathan onto the sword, the blade piercing his chest.

Everyone froze and stared at the sword. It couldn't have hit Nathan's heart, because he was still breathing, but it must have come close. A gush of blood welled out of the pack leader's sizzling chest when Nika pulled the sword free.

Nathan staggered back, clutching his wound. His face turned a sickly grey. Being one of Fenris' get, he'd suffer from the silver in the sword just as any other of his kind.

He looked at his werewolf thugs and pointed at two of them. "Kill them," he said in a pained voice.

Garrick grabbed his sword out of Nika's hands and shoved behind him. The two werewolves moved to attack. The third werewolf—now in human form—helped Nathan toward the entrance of the building.

With the need to protect his mate at all costs beating at him, Garrick viciously swung his sword two handed, necessary because of the chains still binding his wrists.

The weapon gave him the needed advantage he hadn't had earlier. Neither of the two werewolves could get close enough to sink their claws and teeth into him without feeling the bite of his blade.

One of his opponents suddenly changed tactics and reached for Nika. She whimpered, and Garrick turned his back on the second werewolf and moved to intercept the other. He lunged between the beast and Nika, jabbing his sword into the werewolf's stomach. The beast howled in pain, but Garrick quickly put it out of its misery by stabbing it through the heart. The werewolf dropped to the floor dead.

Nika shrilly screaming his name was all the warning he had before the second werewolf was on him. The beast dug its claws into his sides and tried to take the back of his neck in its jaws. Garrick howled, unable to jab his elbows into the stomach of the creature because of his bound hands. He threw back his head and slammed it into the werewolf's forehead. The move gave Garrick enough time to break free of the beast's grasp and to bring up his sword. He rammed the blade into the werewolf's chest.

Letting the beast drop to the floor, Garrick sank to his knees, unable to hold himself up on his feet any longer. Blood dripped down his sides and into his fur, adding to what was already there from his previous wounds. He tried to shift to his human form to heal himself, but he was still unable to.

"Garrick!" Nika shouted as she came to kneel in front of him.

He lifted his head to meet her concerned gaze. "I still can't shift."

"There's too much blood. We have to get you some help."

"We need to get in contact with my brothers-in-arms, but first I have to take care of the bodies. I need you to help me drag them outside."

"Why?"

"I need to call Tiw's fire to get rid of them so no mortal will come across them.

Tiw is the sky father, so his powers are much stronger outside."

Garrick painful pushed himself to his feet. Nika quickly moved to his side and put an arm around his waist to help steady him. Knowing Nathan would be long gone, Garrick managed to will his sword away after the second try. Calling on what little strength he had left, he hooked the first dead werewolf under the arms and dragged him toward the building's door. Nika grasped an arm and pulled along with him.

Between the two of them, they managed to get both of the dead beasts out into the night.

Looking up at the night sky, Garrick called, "Tiw, I have need of your fire."

Blue god-fire engulfed the bodies of the werewolves, and Nika jumped. As it burned hotter and brighter, he pushed her farther back. Once the fire had turned the bodies to ash, an unnatural wind blew it away, leaving no evidence behind.

"We have to call your friends, Garrick," Nika said softly as she once again put her arm around his waist to help him stay upright.

Garrick looked down at her. His blood had stained her T-shirt. She looked shaken, but he was pleased she didn't seem to mind touching him now, even though he remained in his werewolf form. It wasn't as if there was anything he could do about it anyway. He lifted his gaze and did a quick scan of the property. The building they had been in was a barn. The farmhouse sat a short distance away.

"Let's try the house and see if there is a working phone inside," he said.

"The barn looked as if it hadn't been used for a while. Don't you think the house would be abandoned as well?"

"Maybe, but I have a feeling the werewolves might have just killed the owners."

As he hobbled along with Nika under his arm, Garrick kept his senses open for any sign of Nathan and the other werewolf. He sniffed the air, scanning from side to side, but he didn't see or smell anything out of the ordinary.

At the house, they walked up onto the porch. He noticed the door had been boarded up, along with the window next to it. The house was abandoned, after all.

"Now what?" Nika asked.

"You leave me here and see if you can flag down a car on the road. Get the driver to take you to the closest phone. I'll give you the number to reach the others."

Nika shook her head. "No. I'm not leaving you here alone. Nathan could come back and bring more werewolves."

"I doubt that. He's in no condition to try to finish me off. There's silver mixed into the steel of my sword. Silver is deadly to his kind. Even though his wound wasn't to the heart, which would have killed him instantly, the silver is poisoning him. Nathan won't be in any shape to do anything but hide to lick his wounds."

"I'm still not going to leave you," Nika said adamantly.

"It's the only way," he said. "I can't let any mortals see me like this."

I've told Raed and the others what has happened and where to find you. Tiw's voice filled Garrick's head.

"Did a voice just speak in your head?" Nika squeaked.

Garrick let out a raspy chuckle. "Yes. That was Tiw."

"So I'm not all of a sudden becoming schizophrenic?"

No, you are not, Nika, Tiw said with a laugh. Three of the other warriors are on their way.

"Then we'll stay put," Garrick said. "I can't shift, Tiw. Nathan injected me with something to prevent it."

It's only temporary. Come morning, your body will have burned the drug away without leaving any permanent damage.

"Good to know."

You and your mate are safe now. The others will arrive shortly. I'll talk to you both tomorrow.

Garrick felt Tiw's presence fade away. He looked at Nika. "So help is on its way.

And I guess you'll have to put up with my arse being furry for a while longer." Much to his surprise, Nika dropped her hand from his waist to his tail and gave it a yank.

"I have to admit I like your tail," she said lightheartedly.

He turned them away from the door of the house and walked down the porch stairs. "For someone who was terrified of me not too long ago, you seem to have adjusted quite well and quickly."

"It's either that or scream my head off. Tonight, I've had more shocks than I think I can handle. It'll probably really hit me later. All I'm worried about is staying out of Nathan's clutches. He and his werewolves are scarier than you are."

Garrick turned to face her and put his other arm around Nika, holding her tight against his chest. "Tomorrow will be soon enough for you to face everything else."

He just hoped Nika would still be as accepting once the strain of the night wore off. After seeing the faint outline of Tiw's mark on her back, he wouldn't be able to let her go.

Nathan felt the acidic silver slowly poison his organs as it pumped through his bloodstream. The wound to his chest continued to bleed profusely. He couldn't shift to his werewolf form, mostly because it wouldn't remove the silver from his system. The shift would heal him, but he was better off bleeding some of the silver out of his veins.

He needed to get back to the den where he had the antidote for silver poisoning, something else he'd perfected over the years.

Lost in agony, he at first didn't realize Stephen—the werewolf who now supported him—wasn't taking him across the large field that separated this farm from the one where their den was located. They were headed into the woods that ran parallel to both properties.

"You're going the wrong way," Nathan snapped. "I have to get to the den before the silver has a chance to spread any farther than it already has."

With a growl, Stephen grabbed Nathan's head and slammed it into the nearest tree. Lying stunned on the ground with blood dripping into his eyes, he snapped his teeth at Stephen.

"Remember who I am," he said angrily. "I'm your pack leader. I turned you."

"Well, mate," Stephen said, "that's about to change." He dragged Nathan to his feet by his throat. "I've never much liked being ordered around. I prefer to be the big man on top."

"You dare to challenge me for pack leader?"

"I more than dare. I intend to take it away from you."

"To get the others to follow you, you'll have to challenge me at the den while I'm in fit condition."

"That's another thing about me—I don't follow anybody else's rules but my own.

As for getting the rest of the pack to accept me as their leader, I think when I bring them your severed head they'll be more than ready to declare me leader."

The last thing Nathan saw was Stephen shifting to his werewolf form and his jaws clamping around his throat to rip it out.