Hounded

my pecs and I gasped, remembering when they were talons.
    » I wanted him to summon Death, « she said, » so that when you killed him, I would never have to see him again. I knew he would do it when I told him of our agreement, and he did. Thus I am eternally revenged for millennia of petty annoyances. He is now in a hell he never imagined for himself, denied his rest in Tír na nÓg. Am I not a fearsome enemy? «
    » You frighten me primally. «
    The Morrigan sighed and ground her pelvis against my leg. What do you know? She liked to be told she was scary. Kinky.
    » Why did he want Fragarach so badly? « I wondered. » I never got to ask him. «
    » There is a faction in Faerie—a rather large one—that thinks you should not wield it, since you are neither Fae nor of the Tuatha Dé Danann. They think Brighid has let too many of the old ways go, and allowing you to keep Fragarach is something they point to as evidence of their claims. «
    » So I’m a political football in Tír na nÓg. «
    » I don’t know what a football is, « she breathed in my ear. » But I know you are aroused. « Her left hand caressed the flat of my stomach and started to trail south to my jeans. » You cannot hide this from me. «
    She abruptly whipped her head to the northeast, and fun time was over. » Flidais approaches. We will speak later. You have some power to return to me. Spend the night regenerating your own, and I will return in the morning. « The Morrigan turned back into a crow and flew off to the southwest even as Flidais entered the meadow from the opposite direction.
    The goddess of the hunt gave me a cursory wave and ran over to Dr. Snorri Jodursson, who looked like a silver pincushion. Of the three other wolves who had fallen, two were turned back to human form, which meant they were dead. No wonder Hal and the Pack were so eager to catch up with Emily.
    › I don’t know what to think about that red-haired lady, ‹ Oberon said, as I ran to help the other surviving werewolf. He loped easily alongside me, happy to stretch his legs. › She seemed so nice at first, but then she made me kill that guy and helped kidnap us—and now she’s trying to heal that poor wolf. Do you think maybe she has a split personality? ‹
    In a sense. She serves two masters .
    › Really? Who? ‹
    Herself and Brighid .
    › So the nice half of her personality must be when she serves Brighid! I liked Brighid. She called me impressive, which showed great judgment, and she also gave me a belly rub. If you see her again, remember she likes milk and honey in her tea. ‹
    I smiled. I missed you, Oberon. Let’s see what we can do for this werewolf .
    It was a female I didn’t recognize. She growled and snarled when she first saw us come into view, but she subsided abruptly after she recalled we had been with the Pack. She had been stabbed under the left front leg and had a gash across the tendons of her right. They didn’t look life-threatening, but she couldn’t walk and the wounds wouldn’t heal because of the silver traces in them.
    My magic wouldn’t work on her—werewolf immunity—but if I could get her wounds cleaned up she would heal herself. Easier said than done.
    » Oberon, do you smell water anywhere nearby? «
    He raised his snout to the air and took a few good long snuffles—he sneezed a couple of times—but he sounded sorry when he replied, › I can’t smell anything over the blood and demon stench. Why don’t you just bring some up from the earth? I’ve seen you do it before. ‹
    » Aenghus Óg killed the land here. It won’t obey me now. «
    » Do not trouble yourself, Druid, « Flidais said from twenty yards and closing, running over to help. » I can clean the wounds without water and get her healing started. «
    » You can? You’re already finished with Snorri? « I looked over at Snorri, who was still lying on the ground as before but without all the needles in him.
    » I am. He is healing now. And soon this one will do the same, « she said, kneeling down on her haunches and placing her tattooed hand on the werewolf’s cut leg. » Her name is Greta. «
    » Why are you doing this? «
    » I told you I would come back to heal the Pack. «
    » But you were the one who kidnapped Hal and Oberon and put them in a position to be harmed. «
    Flidais hissed with impatience. » I did so only at the instruction of Brighid. «
    I felt the blood drain from my face. » What? «
    » Do not pretend you cannot follow me,