— Alik —

I was sitting in an expensive SUV with a guy I hadn’t seen in a while.

“It’s hard to believe you finally joined a pack,” I told him.

“You know me. I’m full of surprises,” he said cheekily.

I snorted. “Not always the best surprises,” I said.

We both fell back to silence.

He told me everything he knew about a situation with an Other.

A fucking Other.

Fuck my life.

I did not want to be dragged in Others business, but I trusted the guy. He was a massive asshat, but we face shit together a couple of times. He said it was important. I believed him. Plus I kinda owed him.

I wasn’t sure exactly where we were. It looked pretty isolated.

The kind of place to make you nervous to ride in with a monster.

But again, monster business is often part of my job.

The security on that territory is impressive though.

There was a massive amount of check points and inspections. More than once Mishka had to vouch for me.

Eventually, we drove to a pretty good size town.

Mishka knocked on a door in a hospital. The wing we were in looked pretty deserted, but very well kept and luxurious.

It looked more like a TV show hospital than an actual hospital. The nurse’s desks were not MDF but hard quality wood, the computers less than two years old. Even the chairs in the waiting room we passed by, looked comfortable.

Mishka looked like he was waiting for something, listening, then opened the door. I heard nothing, but then again, there could have well been an answer that I didn’t hear. I don’t have superhuman hearing. This is the downside of being human in a world of preternatural creatures.

Mishka peeked inside.

“I have someone here who can help,” he said to the room.

“How?” asked a deep male voice.

“Wizard,” was his explanation.

Wait, wasn’t I expected? Is he improvising this shit?

Motherfucker, what is he getting me involved in?

The person in the room was silent for a little while.

There are a lot of monsters out there that are really uncomfortable with humans that dabbles in magic. It generally comes down to two things. Either it’s because they see humans as cattle and anything that could change that power dynamic, like magic, is sneered at, at best—it does allow humans to step out of that victim role and deal with the supernatural crowd on a near equal footing, which a lot of monsters don’t like.

The other reason is predominantly that magic is icky to some. It’s devious, hard to predict, and fight against. It’s not infallible tough, and it makes no one invulnerable. It takes a long time to master—at least for humans—and can be unstable and hard to control. But when you face someone prepared, someone experienced, someone with a vast well of energy to tap into, then it can make a lot of scary things want to wet their skivvies.

I mean, I don’t have claws, or superhuman strength, or super hearing, but I can do a lot of incredible things with magic. I can set stuff on fire with my mind, walk through the borders of worlds, bring forth illusions, or communicate across space in an instant—though that last one is less impressive since the arrival of telecommunication. But I still think it’s pretty cool.

I’ve been trained since I was a child in the arts, and I’ve always loved it.

No matter what disaster it could get me involved in, in the end, I still found magic pretty awesome.

But then again, I’m a massive nerd. Magic is just my outlet. Some get into Star Wars, or Anime, or D&D, but I can summon actual demons. So take that common nerds. I don’t just geek out on fantasy, I live it.

Now, today, my nerdiness made me a little uncomfortable, because it got me involved in some shit again. I was sure of it.

“I trust him,” said Mishka to the stranger on the other side. “I think he can deal with this, protect her.”

Protect?

Wasn’t I supposed to look at the aftermath of a battle with an outsider, heal a victim, ward the place from further incursions, and that’s that?

I was never told of protecting anyone.

“I vouch for him,” said Mishka. “If everything works out fine, give the credit to Ylva. If it doesn’t work you can blame me.”

I don’t know if the one inside the room said something as I still heard nothing—maybe he communicated in sign language—but Mishka moved aside to let me in.

The room was bright, but not too bright. It was painted in the pastel version of a dandelion, all yellow and sunshine. There were long white curtains on the window that didn’t block all the light away, but made it easier on the eyes of someone resting. The wind blew through the open windows making the drapes dance gently.

Sitting on the other side of a hospital bed was a man. He was probably the tallest man I’ve seen outside of an NBA match. Even sitting down, I could guess his height at around six-nine. Very muscular, but not enough to lose flexibility and agility. Dark hair, eyes, tanned skin, and he was looking at me very intently.

Mishka closed the door behind us and stood by it, like a soldier.

Oh, I see, he vouches for me, but he’s still standing guard there to kick my ass if I mess up.

I looked at the man again.

Maybe Mishka didn’t do it out of suspicion on me, but to make that man feel better about having me here. Or not. What do I know?

I looked at the source of the worries lying on the bed.

She had a milky complexion, pale hair, and she was sleeping. And she was extremely pretty.

It took me maybe three seconds to realize had stopped breathing. I knitted my brows and looked more carefully at her.

What little sunlight reached her skin, shone with a glow. It made me think how painted lines on asphalt roads reflect the headlights of cars better than regular paint. It wasn’t actually shining, but it reacted to light differently than a normal human’s skin.

I took a few steps in her direction.

The guard dog on the other side of the bed gave me a warning look.

I didn’t let it affect me.

Rule number one with monsters, don’t let them see you sweat.

And yeah, I was pretty sure he was of the monster variety. My guess, given that we were on a werewolf pack, was obviously werewolf, but he gave me a dangerous vibe. I felt light prickling on my skin—his aura of power. I would guess he had rank, or had the strength for it.

She, on the other hand, I wasn’t sure.

Werewolves looks very human until they shift, or at the very least let their wolfish nature come to the surface.

But she looked different.

I showed my hands palms up to him. No weapons, see? And tried to pacify him with what looked like a non-threatening stance, so that I could take a better look. Granted it had limited effect, anyone who knows a little about wizards knows that it’s not empty hands that would stop them from doing some pretty badass magic.

“I can’t say or do anything without a look,” I told him.

“You do anything, it’ll take you years to die,” he said impassively, but his eyes had nothing with impassivity in them, they bore into me like jackhammers.

“You can’t hold me, not for long,” I told him pointedly. Wizards are pretty infamous for being tough prisoners. “And I will have to do things if you want me to help her.”

He looked at Mishka behind me, then back at me.

He let his back connect with the chair’s backrest, but kept looking at me very carefully.

I suppose that was all the support I was going to get.

So I got closer, careful not to make any sudden move so that I wouldn’t trigger anything unpleasant, like attempted disembowelment, and took a better look at her.

With the light, I could have thought her hair was platinum blond, but as I took a better look I realized it was pure white.

“What is she?” I asked him.

“Nothing of your concern,” he told me.

I had a pretty good idea in what region we were, and what packs were around there. I also knew Mishka is not the type to bend down to many people—probably only the toughest motherfucker would get him to behave. There was, in all likelihood, only one pack in the region that would be a plausible option to make him forgo his lone wolf ways.

“What has your Alpha to say about her?” I taunted him.

“I’m the Alpha.”

Oh, fuck me!

I looked down at the young woman lying there.

I saw something that caught my eye.

I extended my hand.

He looked about to rip my face off. I gave him a look. He let me, but kept his eyes on my every move.

I picked up a strand of her hair and raised it up to the light.

It was long, very long. And the tip went from pink darkening all the way to black.

Oh, fuck me sideways and backwards!

What has this fucking asshole werewolf gotten me into?