Page 26 of Fated Protector

“He’s a Rougarou?” I shout, turning to Will in disbelief. Will shrugs, gives me an apologetic look–and transforms into a Rougarou himself.

“There are two of them?!” I curse and back myself into the wall, nearly tripping over a piece of chipped drywall. Lord, this store better have good insurance.

Will and Jack circle the swamp monster, who roars and swipes at Will. Will ducks and bites into the creature’s thick arm. Blood drips from Will’s fangs and the beast howls, but as it does, it pulls the injured arm back. Great claws rake across Will’s torso, and he howls in agony. In tandem with his earlier injuries, it’s too much, and he staggers backward. The monster takes the opening and leaps at him. Will falls, and his head hits the wooden floor with a sickening crunch. His body stills, and the creature rears back, ready to go in for the kill.

Jack jumps forward, tearing at the creature with his muzzle. The swamp monster steps away from Will and focuses on Jack. They swipe at each other, back and forth. Claws and teeth clash, and I can’t tell who is winning.

Suddenly, a loud whine echoes through the store. Jack is hurt. Blood coats the fur along his back leg, dripping on the floor, slick and dark. He’s weakening, and without Will, I don’t know if he can beat this creature.

There’s only one thing I know how to do in this new world. I hold out my palm and try to imagine a flame, but it is impossible to tune out the screeches and roars from the fight. At last, I feel the heat curling across my palm, and a small ball of fire rests above it like a miniature sun. Jean-Pierre told me not to move, so I do the exact opposite. I fling my hand toward the creature and let the fireball loose.

The first fireball slams into the side of the brick fireplace and immediately goes out. With a growl of frustration, I conjure another, and this one strikes the monster on its scaly shoulder. It screams and spins toward me. I stagger backward, and the tiny flame in my hand is snuffed out. Saliva and blood ooze from its open mouth, but as it lunges for me, a line of red bursts along its neck. It gurgles once and then falls to the floor, a mess of scales and blood. Jack–the Rougarou version–stands in its place, blood dripping from his outstretched claws.

I freeze where I’m huddled against the wall. I know this is Jack, and yet, I can’t make myself go to him. He takes a step closer, and when I flinch, he makes a pitiful whining sound. With a crack of bone, he shifts back to his human form, naked and covered in wounds.

“It’s still me, princess,” he whispers. “Still me.” He tries to step toward me once again, but this time, his eyes roll back in his head, and he crumples to the floor.

CHAPTER15

The murmur of voices breaks through the haze of burning pain that has consumed me for hours. When I blink my eyes awake, my own face is staring back at me. This version, of course, has more gray around the temples and thin lines around the eyes that add additional sophistication.

“Hey, Pa,” I murmur at the sight of my father. My voice comes out raspy and hoarse, and my body feels like I’ve been hit by a freight train.

“Jack,” Pa says in his gruff voice, making every word sound more like a grunt than actual communication. When you’ve grown up around him, you know that single word says so much. It says, “I was worried,” and “I’m so angry at you,” and, “I thought you were going to die,” and “young man, wait till your mother hears about this,” all in one deep sound.

I smile at him. I can’t wait to introduce Anna to my parents. At that, I jolt to a sitting position, every inch of my body protesting the overt motion.

“I’m right here,” she says, coming into view. She gently pushes my chest until I lay back down on the makeshift pallet. “Just lay back. We’re taking care of you.”

“Are you hurt? Are you bleeding?” I fling out my arm to pull her down so I can do a quick inventory of her body, but every joint in the appendage protests the motion with stiff, screaming pain.

“I’m fine,” she assures me, though I still want to check her entire body to be sure. “You, however, deserve a nap for at least a week. I wasn’t sure–” her voice catches, and she swallows before continuing. “I wasn’t sure if you were going to make it.”

I wasn’t sure either. Swamp monsters are terrible creatures, larger than anything else we’d faced this week, with the strength and stamina to outfight a dozen men. If it hadn’t been for Will, neither Anna nor I would have survived.

“Will!” I try to pull myself up to a sitting position. Where is he? Where is my brother? Anna clicks her tongue in irritation and pushes me back down. This time, she keeps her hand over my racing heart. Her fingers tremble against my chest, and I place my hand over them to still her.

“Stubborn as a mule, isn’t he?” says a familiar voice just outside my peripheral vision. “He’s always been like that.”

I sigh. “Mama?”

“Yes, I’m here too,” she says. Her warm voice is filled with the joy and mischief that Will inherited. She pokes her smiling face into my frame of sight. “Will is going to be fine. He’s in the other room. He lost a lot of blood, but he’s going to be fine. You’re lucky he called your father before he went completely unconscious.” She sends a tender look toward Anna. “Although, I think Anna here would have had everything under control.”

“Yes, she would have,” I agree, and Anna beams down at me. She looks exhausted, her eyes shadowed and her hair in messy tendrils around her face. She’s still beautiful, though, and most importantly, she’s alive. It was a close one, and if she had died, I probably would have too, if not from the swamp monster, then from heartache.

“I take it you’ve met each other,” I say, eyes darting between Anna and Mama. If this were any other circumstance, Mama would have already been sharing embarrassing pictures of me as a kid. “And I’m sure my father grunted at you.”

“Don’t be silly,” Anna says. “He said at least five words to me.” She flashes a brilliant grin at Pa, who has a hint of pink around his cheeks. The man may not say much, but he puts more heart into a few words than many people do in an entire speech.

“So,” says Pa, his face becoming serious. “A swamp monster?”

“A swamp monster,” I agree. I automatically nod, and it feels like the tendons in my neck catch on fire. “It seems like all the monsters in New Orleans have decided to show up in the past week. First, there was the Grunch that chased us the other night. Last night, a Cauchemar attacked Anna. It broke through the store wards, and Jean-Pierre was attacked at the same time.”

I make a quick mental note to check in on him as soon as I feel at least 50% back to my usual self. “I wasn’t here because–” I stop, my eyes flicking to Anna. “Because it was the full moon, and I needed to shift. But I was nearby. I could hear her screaming.” That was a sound I never wanted to hear again in my entire life. I’d never known I could feel such terror.

“Oh, Lord,” says Anna, rolling her eyes. “You realize all this awkwardness would’ve been avoided if you had just told me you were a werewolf?”

She has no idea. There’s so much I haven’t told her yet. Instead, I simply say, “Rougarou. It’s a subtype of werewolf. And it sounds cooler.”

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