Imminence (16 page)

Gunward would have wanted to name Gavin or Daniel as beta, but they all knew my reckless brothers didn’t have what it took to lead a pack. Therefore the choice fell upon Tiamhaidh. I sensed how terrified the other shape shifters were. The only greater shame than demotion by the alpha was banishment from the pack. Usually the beta took the alpha’s place if something happened to the alpha or if the beta challenged the alpha, but no one had ever dared question Gunward’s leadership. Adam would die, though only in theory since it was impossible in practice. The rest of the pack was in chaos. Marie was afraid Gunward would kill Adam first and then go on killing until there would be nothing left of the pack. Her greatest worry was that Gunward would go mad with rage and kill Tiam, but I was utterly calm. I sensed no hint of madness in Gunward's mind and as I knew exactly what to look for, I was also able to convince Marie. I noticed the others giving each other nervous glances and I lightly swept through their minds. Unable to believe I had interpreted them correctly, I swept through them again. Unbelievable! They were worried for Gunward. David looked at me with amazement and at that I couldn’t help laughing out loud.

“Gunward is the most wily and ruthless shape shifter wolf who ever lived. He never fights fairly and Adam is a mere cub,” I said out loud, my voice bubbling with laughter.

“Adam is only about forty and Gunward has the advantage of having seen nearly two centuries. Adam has no chance of winning. He may be bold and he may be an excellent hunter, but Gunward is still invincible. No one has ever bested him.”

I looked at Gunward with shining eyes and felt my mind fill with an enormous pride. My words seemed to gain their full significance only when uttered aloud, and I knew how proud I should be of the fact that this magnificent he-wolf wanted me by his side.

“But mother, how can Gunward win if Adam can’t die?” Marie asked, scrunching her forehead anxiously.

“Oh love, there are many other ways to beat an immortal shape shifter besides killing him and I’m sure Gunward knows all these ways.”

Marie felt sorrow for Adam, but even she understood that Adam had left Gunward no other choice. This time she didn't challenge Gunward. Clarissa was much more important to her than any single member of the pack, especially when that pack member posed a threat to Clarissa's safety. Even though she couldn’t touch Gunward’s mind, she, too, sensed the deep sadness beneath his rage. The greatest treason of all is treason committed by a good friend.

I felt the rest of the pack relax. They felt sorrow for Adam’s upcoming death, but they also felt relief. The hierarchy hadn’t changed except for the position of beta. Gunward would still be the alpha. Adam was one of the pack, but by defying Gunward he had stepped over his bounds and after that the pack would no longer support him. He would be on his own.

Once the decision had been made, Gunward wanted to waste no more time. The rest of the pack stayed to protect my family, for Gunward would take no one with him. He was used to hunting alone and this was a prey he didn’t want to let slip away. I was the only one he might have agreed to take along, but I didn’t want to leave my family. If worst came to worst, I knew I could take on and beat Adam and we couldn’t be certain he wouldn’t come back here the moment he found out Gunward had left.

A wolf’s sense of smell never fails and therefore Gunward decided to travel in the shape of the wolf. A wolf may for a short while follow a trail in the wrong direction, but after a moment he will turn to the right direction and find his prey. Always. David watched in shock as Gunward changed in mere seconds from man to wolf and I realized he had never seen a full transformation. Verbal explanations had never been enough to make him understand. Perhaps I should have ditched the explanations in the first place and simply shifted shape in front of his eyes. Perhaps then he would have understood me better and more quickly. I buried my face for a moment in Gunward’s dark fur and sent him on his way. We all stood in silence and stared into the spot between the trees into which Gunward had disappeared. I lightly touched his mind and sensed how far he already was. I knew it would be useless to explain to David why Gunward had chosen to hunt on foot as a wolf rather than take the car as a man, but the pack understood and they also sensed Gunward’s speed as he moved farther away from us.

I knew exactly where Gunward was heading. I knew Marie also knew, but I believed she would also want to protect David and Clarissa and keep quiet. In my mind I ran beside Gunward and I knew that at this speed he would reach his destination in a matter of hours. He was a very strong and tenacious runner and I don’t believe he ever had to fear for his strength waning too much, even though he was now running at least sixty kilometers per hour. He traveled with long, sinuous movements, staying under the wind so that Adam wouldn’t catch his scent until the last minute. I still heard Gunward’s howl in my mind; his terrifying, inhuman howl when he set out after Adam, and I noticed myself shivering unwittingly. David came to me and wrapped his arms around me. I leaned my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes for a moment. Tiamhaidh had already taken the reins and the pack had withdrawn indoors to confer. Marie was soothing Clarissa and I heard them whispering on the garden swing. I could only stay with Gunward’s mind and wait.

Gunward surveyed the terrain spreading in front of him. He knew this place well, for this was one of Sofia’s favorite haunts and Gunward had lately been so often inside Sofia’s mind that he couldn’t mistake this. Adam was on his way to David’s parents. The young male had probably reasoned that David would be so scared again that he would take Clarissa to his parents for her safety. But Adam had underestimated the love between Sofia and David, for he had never been in love and couldn’t know that humans, like most animals, would perform incredible deeds and sacrifices for their offspring and loved ones. David and Sofia had decided to defend themselves together.

Gunward stood still, listening and sniffing at the air. There was no sign of either danger or Adam, though, so he started traversing the thicket. The thicket effectively concealed a small forest pool where Sofia often came. The surface of the pond was utterly still and only the low cries of forest birds broke the silence. Gunward started slowly circling the pool. The surface of the water reflected a wolf, curled up in sleep. Gunward’s muscles tensed in preparation for a leap, but as he came closer he noticed the lupine shape was only a pile of stones by which Adam had taken shelter to rest. Gunward let himself relax and travelled on. Only a few more kilometers and he would arrive at the house of David’s parents. Gunward slowed down. Adam’s scent was everywhere. He had also chosen the shape of the wolf and Gunward knew he would sense another wolf’s presence nearby. He lifted his muzzle. He flattened his ears backwards and narrowed his eyes to yellow slits, then began to howl. Caution served no purpose now. It was time for Adam to hear who was hunting him.

The howl of a wolf sounded over the plain, full-throated and powerful. It held no hesitation at all. It was the howl of a hunter. Adam felt a frisson of fear. Gunward was closer than he had thought. He prepared to flee on, but suddenly decided to stop and turn around. Brashly he readied himself to confront Gunward. He was fully convinced that Gunward would be no match for him and that he could make short work of the other wolf. Gunward was old and it had been a long time since his latest fight. Adam permitted himself to revel in the feel of prospective victory and imagine how the rest of the pack would have to submit to his leadership. He would finally become the alpha and he would have Clarissa by his side, though reluctantly at first. The other shape shifters wouldn’t dare oppose him, except possibly Sofia, but Adam was ready to destroy her as well. He would banish her back to Sarek with Gunward and order the pack to forswear them.

Adam yowled in pain. He felt someone invading his mind and causing him stabbing pain. He felt Sofia’s rage. So Sofia could penetrate his shield even from a longer distance. Interesting. Why had she not done it before? She could have located him at any time. Perhaps he would keep her in the pack after all, and exploit her talents. Adam gorged on thoughts of what he would do as the alpha and, above all, what he would do to Clarissa. He would bind the girl to himself for all her life. Seduce and charm her. She would probably be easily charmed and he could be charming if he wanted to. He yelped again. Damn Sofia! She tore cruelly at his mind and disrupted his concentration so that he didn’t notice Gunward silently appearing in front of him.

Gunward bared his teeth and growled menacingly. His intelligent eyes penetrated Adam with their glare. The two wolves circled each other, emitting low growls of challenge, and as if by unspoken accord they shifted into men. Adam prepared to attack but Gunward only laughed scornfully and took a step back. He stared sternly into Adam’s eyes, his body appearing relaxed. Adam didn’t avert his gaze; he returned it, challenging the other. For a short moment Gunward allowed Adam to see into his very core and Adam trembled. He saw how easily Gunward could annihilate him. How swift the fight - if it could be called a fight - would be. Adam knew now that Sofia was all that prevented Gunward from becoming a killer. A shape shifter couldn’t be killed, but there were worse fates than death.

An alpha could force a shape shifter to transform into a spirit. A spirit might live in the wind, water or air and wait to be released. It could only be set free by the alpha, not by any other means. Being a spirit was like being in a state of dreamlike hibernation where it was possible to drown for thousands of years. The right word or the right moment might never come. A shape shifter was also at its most vulnerable in hibernation. Its capacity to transform would keep weakening, and each moment, each year, each millennium would weaken it so that it may eventually not be able to shift even should the alpha set it free, but forced to live the rest of its days as a spirit. Sometimes a shape shifter might ask its alpha for leave to take the form of a spirit, but that was extremely rare. Now, however, Adam sensed that Gunward was waiting for the tiniest sign that would justify his sentencing Adam to transform into a spirit. Adam allowed himself to sink a little deeper still into Gunward’s mind. He now encountered a darkness, an evil kept shackled by Sofia’s love. Without Sofia, Gunward would no doubt have become one of the most feared killers in the world and that knowledge scared even Gunward himself. A growl rose from deep in his throat and he kept himself in check with obvious difficulty. Adam quickly withdrew from his mind. He felt his strength wane and his courage crumble. Gunward forced Adam to obey him with a mere look and Adam fell onto his knees in front of Gunward. He held his aching head and howled out his pent-up rage.

Gunward kicked Adam down to the ground and viciously attacked his mind. He investigated all Adam’s thoughts and some of them made his skin crawl. Adam shrieked in pain but Gunward paid no heed. Layer by layer he penetrated deeper into Adam’s mind until it was completely open to his assault. Sofia let out a yelp of pain in Adam’s mind and at the same time Gunward withdrew in shock.

“You love her!” Gunward accused.

“You want to bind her to you because you can’t bear the idea of someone else having her and her rejecting you. Why? She’s a mere mortal and you have no connection with her.”

Adam lay silently on the ground, staring angrily at Gunward.

“Answer me!” Gunward raged. “Why? Why won’t you just give up? What makes that girl so special?”

Adam’s glare darkened and he furiously tried to get up, but Gunward kicked him back down. Adam still held his silence. Sofia was shouting within his mind. Somehow she had managed to penetrate into his innermost. The very core of him that Gunward hadn’t known to look for. Sofia had seen why Adam had fallen in love with Clarissa. Just as Sofia was Gunward's soul mate and Marie was Tiamhaidh's, Clarissa was Adam's. Only Clarissa didn't know that yet. She would have no choice in the matter. Adam had already bound her to himself with such ties that she would give in to him even against her volition. Sofia would never permit it, though. Gunward swept through Adam’s mind with ferocity. He experienced Adam’s thoughts of Clarissa and was taken by surprise. Adam’s mind was full of images of a sleeping girl burrowed deep under her duvets. Clarissa walking in the woods, the wind fluffing her hair so that her lovely scent spread through the entire forest. Clarissa shouting at him and touching him. Adam’s mind was haunted with thoughts of Clarissa. Gunward yowled, pained.

“You can never have her. Do you understand? She is not for you,” Gunward growled menacingly and threw his fist on Adam's chest with ferocity.

“Why not?” Adam shouted, “How is my choice different from Tiamhaidh’s? Where is your famous sense of justice? Doesn’t Clarissa have a say in this?”

“That’s exactly the point. Clarissa is half dead with fear of you. Don’t you see? She has not chosen you. She is terrified. You have to leave her alone.”

“I don’t believe you,” Adam said quietly. “Clarissa cares for me.”

“Clarissa is incapable of deciding her future right now. You will have to forget her and give her a chance to live a normal human life.”

“Is her life really normal if her mother is a shape shifter and her sister has bound herself to one? Why should she be allowed to choose? Isn’t it enough that I’ve chosen her?” Adam roared.

“That’s not the way it works and you know that very well. You sound like a child begging for a toy. Stop it and drop the matter already. You won’t touch Clarissa,” Gunward glared angrily at Adam and shook his head with incredulity.