Lupi 08 - Death Magic

snapping, surging clangor of wolves on the kitchen floor.
    No weapons. “Scott, we’re going to head for the back door along the rear wall. Try to—”
    Deborah jerked out of Lily’s hold and grabbed her shoulders. “Change him back ! Whatever you did, you have to undo it!” She shook Lily’s shoulders. “Undo it!”
    Lily brought both hands up and spread them quickly to break Deborah’s hold. “I didn’t—” But she had. Or rather, she’d agreed to it. She knew that much, even if she couldn’t quite remember what she’d known when she said okay . “I can’t change him back. He’ll have to do that himself, but he won’t be able to for a while. He’s a new wolf, Deborah. That means that for now he’s all wolf.”
    A crash had her spinning back to face the two struggling wolves. They’d knocked into the wheeled island in the center of the kitchen, sending it smashing into the cabinets. In three quick seconds the tangle of fur resolved into two wolves once more . . . with the black wolf looming over the gray one, looking down with teeth bared, that ominous growl rumbling up his throat.
    The gray wolf lay still. Breathing, not visibly harmed, but motionless.
    He was submitting. Scott was submitting to Ruben. It made no sense. Mature wolves simply did not submit to new wolves. Scott was a canny and experienced fighter. Better on two feet than four, according to Rule, but good in either form. He should have been easily able to subdue a wolf so new to four legs that he’d had to relearn walking.
    But the black wolf held a mantle.
    A new wolf with a mantle. Dear God. A terrified, confused, and no doubt hungry new wolf with a mantle.
    “Deborah,” she whispered. Both wolves would hear her, but maybe a whisper was less threatening. “Do you have meat? Something defrosted. It needs to smell like meat.”
    Deborah shook her head, staring at the wolves in her kitchen. “Some chicken. We were going to have chicken and dumplings for supper. I think . . . he didn’t hurt him. See? Ruben isn’t hurting the—the other wolf. He’s not as dangerous as you—”
    The black wolf’s head shot forward. In an eye-blink he’d seized Scott’s foreleg in his jaws. Lily heard the crack of bone clearly in spite of Scott’s single, high yelp.
    Deborah made a small, choked sound. Scott was utterly silent. Utterly still.
    The black wolf moved slowly, turning to face them, head down, eyes intent.
    “Okay,” Lily said, thinking fast. “I’m going to head for your refrigerator. He’ll track me because I’m moving. See if you can make it to the back door. Scott will do what he can.” Even three-legged, Scott could fight. Surely whatever mantle mojo Ruben had pulled wouldn’t hold Scott frozen if Ruben attacked one of them. It was the wrong mantle, wasn’t it? Scott was Leidolf, not Wythe. Ruben might be able to force Scott to submit, but he shouldn’t be able to truly control him.
    She thought. She hoped. “He needs to eat. I’ll feed him. Scott, I know you heard me. Wag your tail or something to confirm.”
    Scott’s tail twitched once.
    “I will not.”
    Lily looked at the stupid, stubborn woman beside her. “You will do this.”
    “I’m not running away.”
    Lily took a deep breath. “He broke Scott’s leg because he’s a threat. We aren’t. We’re food.”
    “Then we’d better feed him something else. And fast.”
    “Then—” Lily’s shoulders tensed as she sensed something. Thank God. Oh, thank God. They only had to hold Ruben off a little longer. “Better take a chair.”
    “What?”
    The black wolf settled back slightly on his haunches.
    Lily shoved Deborah hard, reached behind her for the chair she’d backed up against—and swung it with all her strength. It connected squarely with the leaping wolf.
    He fell, skidded, then staggered to his feet. Scott had gotten himself erect and once more placed himself between the other wolf and the women. “Rule!” Lily yelled. “Hurry!”
    Something smashed at the front of the house. The black wolf shook his head once . . . and came in low. And fast, faster than he’d moved before. He was learning this form way too quickly. He knocked into Scott, shoving him aside. Lily held him off with the chair—but he seized one of the legs in his jaws and pulled.
    The chair went flying.
    Rule raced into the room—leaped—and Changed—and was wolf by the time he collided with the black wolf.
    “It’s Ruben!” Lily called out. “I don’t know