Chapter 21
Music Soothes the Savage Beast
Dodger
“Maybe I should get a whistle or something,” I mutter as I ready my guitar. It’s great for opening a passage but all I’m trying to do now is harmonize with Melody and the instrument feels a little silly out in the field. Well, the forest.
Mel and I are practicing and squaring off against Harper. Gotta train if we’re taking on Rowan. We’re in a little clearing behind the cabin, scanning the nearby trees for any sign of a cranky wolf.
“Here doggie! Come to Dodger. Here boy.” Not sure how likely it is I can annoy him into pouncing but it’s better than standing out here and feeling like I’m about to serenade the trees.
Melody growls a second before there’s a rustle from the underbrush ahead. Crap! He’s here. My fingers hover over the strings, barely plucking a single note before a thunderous bark explodes behind me. Damn it. He tricked us!
I whirl around, catching only a glimpse of tawny fur before Harper slams into my knees with enough force that my feet actually leave the ground. I crash down hard, my tailbone connecting with a protruding tree root, sending a jolt of pain shooting up my spine.
Ouch. At least he made sure I didn’t fall forward onto my instrument, but it’s hard to feel too grateful after my encounter with the hard ground.
“Yeah, you better run,” I mutter, pushing myself up and brushing pine needles and twigs from my jeans.
Harper skids to a stop at the edge of the treeline, golden eyes gleaming with unmistakable amusement when he turns his head to gloat.
He looks less like he’s fleeing with his tail between his legs and more like a majestic predator playing with his food.
Bastard… Maybe I deserve this for the doggie crack.
Then he’s gone, swallowed by the shadows between the trees.
Okay, he got me. But I’m not going to let him win.
The wolf may be big but he’s too smart to give himself away before he attacks. We need to be ready for him.
I position my fingers on the strings, no longer scanning the treeline for golden eyes. Soft music fills the clearing. Something slow and gentle that I composed late one night when I couldn’t sleep. The gentle lullaby feels at home here among the whispering pines and fading daylight.
As I play, I visualize energy flowing from my core, through my arms, and into the vibrating strings. I picture that energy arcing from the guitar to Melody. A shimmering purple aura blooms around her translucent form, pulsing in rhythm with my song before melting into her spectral essence.
“Whoa,” I whisper, not breaking the melody.
With the final note still hanging in the air, I pivot on my heel, the pine needles crunching beneath my boots. Melody and I position ourselves back-to-back so we can cover watching more ground.
A twig snaps behind me. I resist the urge to turn. Melody’s got that side covered.
I keep my focus forward, squinting at the deepening shadows between the trees.
Would Harper try the same fake-out trick twice?
Possibly, if he thinks I didn’t learn my lesson the first time…
that’s fair. It took me forever to come clean after I was caught during the ‘cheese’ debacle. Wait, what’s that?
There! A flash of tawny fur between two pines about twenty feet ahead.
I tap Melody on the shoulder, and she whips around just in time to blast a bark at the charging Harper. Purple soundwaves ripple visibly through the air and find their target, stopping the wolf in his tracks.
“Oh my god. It worked!” I pump my fist. But the wolf isn’t going down like I expected. He’s still on his feet, swaying but upright. “It worked, right?”
Marlow thought my music could influence Melody’s barks. That’s why I tried a lullaby.
Harper takes an unsteady step forward, his massive paw dragging through the fallen leaves. He blinks, golden eyes struggle to focus, and his eyelids droop then snap back open with visible effort. He shakes his head violently as if trying to dislodge the supernatural drowsiness from his brain.
The wolf gives me a distinctly unimpressed look that has me biting back a laugh. His lips curl back in response, revealing gleaming white canines in what starts as an intimidating snarl but transforms mid-threat into a jaw-cracking yawn. His head drops, snout nearly brushing the mossy ground.
My lullaby did work! The stubborn Alpha is just fighting it with everything he’s got.
“Okay, rise and shine.” I play a peppy tune and power Melody up again and she uses her bark to wake him up.
Harper finds his footing, shaking off the fatigue like a dog shakes off water after a bath. It’s only when his eyes cut to me for a single second and flick away again that I know he’s back and plotting his next move. Wily wolf doesn’t waste a second.
I whistle a sharp note.
Mel responds instantly, barking and sending soundwaves slamming into Harper mid-leap, catching him suspended three feet off the ground. A massive tawny wolf frozen in perfect stillness. Even his fur seems locked in place, unaffected by the breeze.
I grin at the frozen wolf. “Melody and I worked out some signals, notes that stand for the abilities she already has and can do on her own like paralysis.” I pat a very proud Mel on the head. “This won’t last long, but I could always play something and extend the effect.”
He can’t move, but I can still see it in his eyes, don’t you dare.
I incline my head to Melody and she trots after me, both of us getting out of the way without much time to spare.
Harper unfreezes and lands in the spot we were standing seconds ago.
The wolf raises his noble head and glares at me with a low growl.
Maybe I have a death wish because I grin and wave.
He rolls his eyes and bounds off into the trees.
“Give us a challenge this time!” I call out after him.
As fun as it is to tease Harper, that’s not where the confidence comes from.
My pup and I are working well together. I’m not even afraid.
Sure, I know Harper won’t really bring his teeth or claws near anywhere sensitive.
I’m not in any danger. Yet it’s more than that.
My powers flow through the music easily. Melody and I are in tune.
We can do this.
But Harper’s next attack takes me completely by surprise.
“Ah!” The guitar tumbles from my grip as I wave my arms and flail around like a lunatic, trying to ward off the invader that came from above. “Wolves can freaking fly now?”
“I improvised.” Harper’s muscular arms encircle my shoulders from behind and hold me firmly in place. His chest presses against my back, and I can feel the rumble of his voice through my spine. “Looks like I can still climb trees. How many geriatrics do you know who can do that?”
“You cheated!” I holler.
“Figured this was the best move I had left,” he admits. “You two are doing great.”
The praise makes me feel warm all over. Hearing that low, pleased voice in my ear is a nice bonus.
“Are you going to help?” I ask my canine companion.
Melody tilts her head like she doesn’t understand the strange maneuver the silly humans are doing.
If I were in real danger, I have no doubt she’d defend me.
This doesn’t rise to the occasion. After a moment’s consideration, she sniffs the air, nose twitching, then drops her snout to the ground.
With a soft woof, she trots off, following some invisible trail into the underbrush, her tail swishing through fallen leaves.
“Let the record show that I totally won,” I announce, trying to salvage my dignity despite being thoroughly trapped. “This doesn’t count. There’s no way I can get out of this hold. Well, it has crossed my mind to try kneeing you in the junk, but I’d rather not. I might want to use it later.”
“Is that so?” His voice has that honeyed quality that makes my stomach flip.
It started as a flippant comment to save face, but it hits me that there’s nothing standing in our way. With everything cleared up between us, we really could pick up where we left off. The thought sends heat pooling low in my belly, and I become hyper-aware of every point where our bodies connect.
“Are you naked?” The words come out breathier than intended.
“Is that a problem?” His voice is silky and teasing, fully aware of the effect he’s having on me.
I find myself leaning back, deliberately pressing into the solid wall of muscle behind me.
His arm responds instantly, sliding around my waist and pulling me flush against him.
The forest air suddenly feels ten degrees warmer.
I can’t see him, but my mind paints the picture vividly—golden skin stretched over well-defined muscle, breathing hard and maybe still carrying the wild energy of his shift, triumphant and hungry as he holds on tightly to the prize in his arms, the fading forest light playing across his body.
“Mmm, Dodger.” His head dips, lips brushing the sensitive juncture where my shoulder meets my neck. His hot breath raises goosebumps along my skin. “Your scent just went all spicy. What are you thinking about?”
My pulse jumps at the contact. “You know.”
His lips curve into a smile against my skin. “Still want you to tell me.”
I turn in his arms, finally facing him, and my breath catches at the hunger in his golden eyes. “What if I just show you?”
Despite having no werewolf speed and being incapable of running a mile, I almost beat him getting inside the cabin.
My feet barely touch the forest floor as I sprint, hearing Harper’s deep laugh behind me and the sound of his bare feet pounding on the earth.
We crash through the cabin door together, his arm already reaching for me as it slams shut behind us.