Wolf's Soul

Wolf’s Soul

A Midnight Howl Novel

By

Tierney O’Malley

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For Tom.

A big fan of wolves.

Thanks for taking us to Yellowstone

National Park.

Me.

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Wolf’s Soul by Tierney O’Malley

Red Rose™ Publishing

Publishing with a touch of Class! ™

The symbol of the Red Rose and Red Rose is a trademark of Red Rose™ Publishing Red Rose™ Publishing

Copyright© 2010 Tierney O’Malley

ISBN: 978-1-60435-745-5

ISBN: 1-60435-745-2

Cover Artist: Shirley Burnett

Editor: Bernadette Smith

Line Editor: Red Rose™ Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews. Due to copyright laws you cannot trade, sell or give any ebooks away.

This is a work of fiction. All references to real places, people, or events are coincidental, and if not coincidental, are used fictitiously. All trademarks, service marks, registered trademarks, and registered service marks are the property of their respective owners and are used herein for identification purposes only.

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Wolf’s Soul

By

Tierney O’Malley

5

Marrowstone Island, Washington

Present time

Light.

Marisol was home. If he made it to her front door, she would take him in. He knew deep inside his wild beast heart, she would.

Almost there. Ignore the pain. It’s just a nick, Callum. You’ll make it. This isn’t how your
fucking life’s going end.

Callum blinked to clear his vision. The wound on his left shoulder sapped his strength like a greedy leach clamped on a flesh. Exposed to the harsh rain for quite some time now, his fur no longer protected him from the cold. Soaked, tired, and in tremendous pain, he wanted to stay right there in the mud puddle, drown, and end his fight. He pawed the rain off his face with extreme care. Still the simple movement caused him so much pain that he snarled angrily with himself, his weakness. Most of all he hated the beast that cut him—Atos, mean son of a bitch leader of Blood Robbers.

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The thought of Atos had him snarling. No. He wouldn"t die here and let the bastard win. Not going to happen. The hell with his goddamn pain.

His fight with fucking Atos became personal since Alysia"s death. Stupid Atos, as evil-minded as he was, believed that he lured his sister outside the safe haven of Blood Robbers den. He had killed many Blood Robbers and would do so again if necessary. But he would never kill a sweet, down-to-earth, naïve young she-wolf. Yeah, she was Atos"s sister, but not once had he thought about using her to get to Atos. Alysia thought about humans differently. She was against what the Blood Robbers Clan stood for—feeding off humans.

Somewhere, thunder rolled.

Callum"s body shivered from the cold. The need to transform from wolf into human was so strong. A sign that death was near.

To hell with death. He"d fight it with fangs and nails. Dying wasn"t on his list of things to do this year or the next. Not yet. His brothers would kick his ass if they find him like this. They gave him a job and by fucking shit, he would see to it that it was done. Besides, he had made a promise to Doctor Saint James, a friend he missed and wished was still around. Damn his soul if he failed to fulfill that promise. He must stay in his wolf form to live.

As a wolf, his senses were paranormal and his strength and power could sustain his life. He could buy time this way. In human form, and with the amount 7

of blood he"d lost, he would die before he could reach the pottery barn. And that would mean dying for the fifth time. He never feared death, but it would be great if one of his brothers were around when that happened. To finish him off before he turned.

Damn. He couldn"t tell which existence was better. To live as a human, die one time and never come back. Or, born as Midnight Howl with five lives and come back as Cancer after dying for the fifth time.

Who wants to exist as a fucking Cancer, a soulless Shape-shifter with nothing in his mind
but to kill?
Not him. Although the possibility of it from happening had already started. The unbearable pain from his shoulder reminded him of that.

Fucking sword.

If it were an ordinary sword that cut him, his body could heal the wound.

Too bad for him, Atos used the same sword that ended his ancestor"s immortality to sliced him—Valdo"s sword. Once its blade cut anyone"s skin, death would quickly travel to the bloodstream. It was made to kill.

Callum panted. He could definitely feel death touching the back of his neck.

There were only two ancient swords in this world. The one the Midnight Howl wanted to get a hold of and currently hidden in Marisol"s barn, and the other happened to be the one that Atos kept. His clan wanted Atos"s sword too. Not because of its power, but to end its misuse. Trying to take it away from him, 8

though, would mean shedding blood, guts and losing more lives. Atos would never give up his ancestors" sword without a fight. Not while he was still living. And now he wanted the sword"s twin. What a greedy son of a bitch.

Callum shifted his position. His body screamed from staying too long in one position. Damn he felt stiff. Not good. He must make it to Marisol before Atos or the Grim did.

The wind whipped around him slapping the towering trees making them groan. Pine needles, leaves, and old branches began to rain down on him. He must get out of here. Atos and his ugly, slime ball sidekicks might not waste time finding him because of his wound, but they would exert more effort of finding Marisol now that they knew who she was.

He would not be in this situation, so fucking helpless, if it weren"t for the group of loud hikers that hiked up the Olympic Peninsula. He was on his way to Marisol"s when Atos blocked his path, sword in hand. The bastard gave him his evil grin then attacked him. While the other Blood Robbers watched, he dodged Atos"s hard blows. He was doing fine protecting himself from Atos"s sword, when they all heard the chatting and heavy breathing of humans. Atos pointed his sword at him then signaled the other two Blood Robbers to find the hikers. He knew what would happen to the hikers if he didn"t get to them first, but Atos attacked 9

him like a rabid animal. With his mind on the hikers, Callum inadvertently took his eyes off Atos giving him room for an opportunity to score.

The sword landed hard on his shoulder. Trained not to give in on the first cut, he managed to give Atos the taste of his own bite and tore a chunk of flesh off his shoulder deep enough to shock his senses. As Atos staggered backwards, Callum grabbed the opportunity and took off. He ran after the two Blood Robbers. They were already circling the hikers when he found them. Without thinking twice, he jumped on top of the closest one ready to attack the hiker"s leader, bit his neck and was about to snap it into two when blood curling screams from the other hikers rendered in the air. Callum let go of his hold on the Blood Robbers neck. The remaining Blood Robber snarled at him then ran into the woods. Atos, with his sword in a ready position, appeared before his matted cohort"s ass disappeared from his view. Callum knew why Atos remained in human form. He would have to let go of his sword in order to shift. And the bastard also knew that Callum could beat his dirty ass when in wolf form.

One of the hikers was on the phone screaming for help while the others shook miserably like shaved Chihuahuas left out in the cold. Callum wished they would run instead. He couldn"t blame them though. Paralyzing fear could make anyone become rooted on the ground.

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Atos glared at the hikers and then smirked at the wolf lying on the ground.

After desecrating the ground with his spit, he sheathed his sword. He gave Callum a satanic smile that made the hikers whimper in unison. “Have fun living as a Cancer, Midnight fucking Howl. Next time we meet, I"ll stand by your side until I"m positive there"s not a drop of blood left in your filthy veins.” With a contemptuous look, he left the trail to disappear in the thick of the trees and growth abundant in the area.

He was still gazing on the spot where Atos disappeared making sure the bastard wouldn"t come back when he felt a rock hit him on the head. He turned around and found one of the hikers holding a bigger rock ready to throw it at him.

Bleeding like a gutted pig, he growled low and showed his fangs to scare them.

The hikers huddled together and began scooting away from him. Callum hoped they would go back down and leave and forget about hiking. They would most likely tell this story to everyone willing to listen. Hopefully, no one dumb enough would believe them. Convinced that the humans would be safe, he left the trail and run into the thick of the woods until he reach the path that would lead him to Marrowstone Island where the main town Nordland lies.

Now here he was. Bleeding. He was close to Marisol"s barn now.

Callum"s shoulder burn he wanted to howl from the pain. He"d heard about the swords poison quickly spreading the moment its blade cut open anyone"s skin.

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He now knew what it was like to feel the poison spread in his system. He could tell where the tainted blood flowed, which part of him was dying, how close he was to going to fucking hell.

Yeah, close but not there yet. He wouldn"t let death overtake his whole body. Not in this lifetime.

Another flash of lightning lit the wooded property showing black shadows of tall and thick Cedar trees. Like gigantic sentinels in the dark, the trees stood.

One branch touching the other so any animal could easily travel from one tree to the next.

Then darkness descended once again in the woods.

The sweet scent of wet grass, earthy leaves, and foul animal excrements enveloped his sense of smell. Sound of night creatures scampering, rustling leaves, whistling wind, animals rooting underfoot, tree limbs breaking and crashing on the ground were loud in his ears. Callum could see everything as if it was daylight.

But with the intense pain he suffered from, he had a hard time focusing on anything. Trees began to multiply and sway around. Shit.

Only a few yards left. I could do this.
His whole body shuddered as he tried to remain on his feet, but his legs buckled beneath him.
I’m not going to die here. Not like
this
. He took a deep breath and concentrated on living and not dying.

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He defied death many times before. He could do it again. All he had to do was try to make it to Marisol. She alone could help him. She must have saved Mark"s medicine. Gods, he hoped she did; otherwise, he"d say his fucking goodbye to the world tonight.

Curse on you, Atos. You and your fucking clan would pay for this.

Callum summoned his strength and crawled on the dirt. Each time he moved, blades of green grass sliced at his open wound. The pain was so intense he could hardly breathe at all. Growling low, he focused his mind to task and tried to ignore the pain. He"d stayed long enough in the woods. The bastards could be somewhere close.