Big Bad Wolf Chapter 3

Big Bad Wolf Chapter 3

What We're Fighting

Javier

Luke’s eyes widened, and he took a step back. Facing down an intent direwolf wasn’t a position any man wanted to find himself in, and that included even Luke. Javier dipped his head, laid his ears back, and whined.

The entire event was way off and wrong, but Javier continued to defend Isabell, even as he displayed his desire to submit to his pack leader.

Why are you protecting her? Luke’s words leaked into his mind.

Why are you growling at a weak, hurt, and frightened woman?

Javier shot the challenge back at Luke because he wasn’t sure why he’d jumped to protect her. They stared at one another. No one else moved.

She’s literally on fire! Luke pointed out.

Javier looked back at the phoenix behind him and stared at her again. Javier grinned a doglike grin, shook his head, and faced his alpha again.

Honestly, you can’t see her shaking?

Fine, if you want it so much, she’s your problem until we get this straightened out.

Luke ordered Javier to protect the pack and Isabell all at the same time. Javier was fine with that. It was exactly what he wanted, anyway.

Fox cleared his throat as the silence stretched out. Everyone was waiting to see what would happen next in the standoff.

“Both of you go shift back. Joggers are in the top left drawer of my bureau. Shirts are on the right.”

Luke waved Javier and Isabell away. Eli picked up Javier’s ruined jeans and t-shirt and dropped them into the kitchen trash.

Shifters ruined clothes. It was an ordinary occurrence. They didn’t get attached to their clothes much because of it. Javier understood what Luke had meant by that statement.

Eli grinned. “He likes her.”

She whispered it. The four of them laughed. Javier still heard it.

Did he like Isabell Drakos? He didn’t dislike her. He barely knew her. Eli was crazy. Yet her words mattered as they had always mattered. That made him even more confused.

“What was all the silence about?” Fox asked, and Artie’s eyebrows quirked up in interest.

“It’s complicated. Eli and I bonded. After the attack, I gave her my blood. I fought its call for two days before I surrendered. I increased in strength just as you said, but Eli did, too. She’s stronger mentally, and she dream-walks.”

Luke looked at Eli. “Maybe you better explain this.”

Javier walked barefoot back into the dining room, wearing Luke’s clothes as he listened to the conversation. He knew about the dream talking.

He leaned his shoulder against the door frame again with his right ankle crossed over his left. Isabell came into the room dressed as she’d been before in a long-sleeve button-down grey blouse and black jeans with sandals.

Javier’s gaze tracked her as she took her seat. She sat with her hands in her lap and her head bowed. That she seemed despondent bothered him.

She’d been a little more alive in the car during the trip home. Was she tired? Maybe, but he thought something else weighed on her mind.

“I didn’t mean to create a problem,” Isabell spoke softly.

She was shaking from nervousness. Javier stepped up behind her chair. He rested his hands on the back of it, but didn’t touch her. She calmed, and he smiled inside at her reaction to his proximity. He could make her feel safe.

“You’re not a problem. It was a minor miscommunication between Javier and me. We’re sorry if we frightened you. Your flames just shocked me. I’m a direwolf. It’s in my nature to protect the pack from anything dangerous. Javier decided you’re not a threat. He had to convince me. That’s all,” Luke explained.

“Please, if you don’t mind, continue with your story, Isabell.” Luke smiled, and Isabell brightened a bit. Luke put Fox’s questions on hold.

“I’m a phoenix. There aren’t many of my kind left in the dream that I know of. I met Fox and Artie about seventy-five years ago while I was researching my kind. I first learned what I was when I turned twenty-five, and I began researching to learn not long after I first shifted. It’s scary when you can accidentally breathe fire on things if you get startled.” Isabell acknowledged Luke had been justified in his fear of her icy fire.

“At first, I was looking for a cure. I thought it was a curse or a sickness.”

Eli was nodding. Had she felt the same when she first traced into a tiger?

“I came across Fox and Artie, who helped me understand what was going on with me better. I got a lot of good shifter information, but nothing specific about a phoenix. We became good friends, and they kept my secret. We began trading information.” Isabell began her story at the beginning.

“I started researching phoenix legends as well after we met, and Isabell agreed to share anything she learned about herself or other shifters, so we became good research partners.”

Artie chimed in, and Fox nodded so they all understood how Fox and Artie had become friends and then remained connected with Isabell.

“I’ve been living in San Bernardino for the last ten years. I’m an artist, and I’ve been working in digital media and painting for some time now. My work had been selling moderately well. At my last art show last month, I sold a piece to a man named Peter Elliot. We met twice after that because he wanted to commission a work. He requested I create a phoenix rising from the ashes. It was a unique request, but I suspected nothing. I’d never met the man before. He didn’t, couldn’t, know my secret.” Isabell shuddered.

Javier dropped into the empty chair next to her as she spoke. His proximity seemed to settle her nerves, and she continued her story.

She’d met with Elliot. That was interesting. What could she tell them about him?

“Last week, I woke up in a cage in an abandoned warehouse. There were other people in cages, too. It was dark, but I could make out the others by their breathing. I don’t know how I wound up there. I’d fallen asleep in my art studio.” Isabell frowned, trying to sort through her memories.

“I guess she was drugged and taken,” Fox supplied.

Isabell nodded. It was the only reasonable explanation. Javier guessed whatever they’d used to drug her caused gaps in her memories, which caused her continued confusion.

“It’s the only thing that makes sense,” Isabell agreed.

“They left us there for two days without food or water. I was so weak. By the time someone came to take me out of the cage, I couldn’t even make my fire.”

She trembled with anger at the memory. Javier covered one of her hands with his, quietly offering her his strength. Her small hand disappeared completely under his. She smiled up at him, and her tremors faded along with her anxiety.

“They took me out to a small empty room, chained me by the ankle to a steel pole bolted to the floor and ceiling, and left me alone with two water bottles. I sipped them. I was so thirsty. After about an hour, a big man came. I don’t know his name. He…” she trailed off as a tear rolled down her cheek.

Javier reached out his hand and stroked her hair. She turned into him, and he held her while she struggled to regain control of her emotions.

Seeing her crying wrenched his heart. The desire to destroy whatever had hurt her rose back to the surface, but there was no physical enemy to maim.

He stroked her hair and spoke calmly to her. She felt good to him. He wanted to comfort her, to make her feel safe, to ease her pain.

“It’s okay. You’re among my friends. Luke and Eli have offered you refuge. I’ll protect you. You can tell us. We have to know what we’re fighting against.”

Thank you for your support! Welcome to the dream… Sincerely, -OK

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