Wolf's Soul (22 page)

Not a very good idea,” Marisol was saying.

The soldier nodded with a smile. If Callum was right, the man was besotted.

He was blushing and couldn"t take his eyes off Marisol.

“Mari?”

“Hey, Callum. I"m helping the wounded.”

Yousney, the African American best doctor Midnight Howl ever had, grinned. “Yes, Callum. She"s a good help.” He threw a rag on the dirty basket and walked toward him. “She makes the men feel appreciated. Our women know that we could heal cuts and slices on our own—unless inflicted by
the sword
—so they don"t fuss over the men. Which is what Marisol is doing right now.”

“Fussing over men.”

“Yes. A little TLC goes way deep into the heart, Callum.”

Callum watched Marisol move from one man to the next. He wasn"t a doctor, but he could tell Marisol had no clue what to do with the wounds except clean and wrapped it with a bandage, which by the way wouldn"t stay on. Yousney was right. He"d never seen any wounded soldiers look happy the way they looked now.

233

“She"s turning them into puppies. Look at them pretend they"re in horrible pain. Asses.” Carl shook his head. “And not one of them mentioned that their wound would heal in no time.”

“What happened?”

“A few Blood Robbers dared go down near a preschool. Our soldiers stopped them. They"re getting bolder each day.”

We’ll put a stop to that.

Marisol"s face was beaming when she came to him. She looked so lovely, like a ripe peach he wanted to take a bite of. Without a doubt the soldiers felt the same way.

“Hi Callum. Sorry I didn"t wait for you. I got lonely so I went for a walk.

Glad I did because the soldiers just arrived and needed help. They had a fight with the Blood Robbers. I didn"t know there are fights going on all the time.”

“Marisol, Shape-shifters" wounds heal ten times faster than humans unless the ancient sword cuts them remember?”

“I know that. Doctor Yousney told me the pain takes time to go away. So I thought I should help. Oh and I gave him some of the poultice. In case someone needs it.”

“Are you done helping?”

234

“She"s done. Come back anytime, Marisol. I"m sure I could find something for you to do. That way you don"t have to stay in Callum"s apartment all the time.”

“Thank you.” To Callum, she asked, “Are we going somewhere?”

“Not a tour. A show. Wanna see the Midnight Howl fighters practice?”

“You betcha.”

Practice? If this is practice, I can’t imagine what a battle looks like. Good god.

The arena must be half the size of a football field. Whoever built this place must have had the Colloseo, the Roman stadium in Rome, in mind. Smaller, yes but definitely looked like it. Racks loaded with weapons of all kinds lined the far end of the arena. Shape-shifters waiting for their turn stood on the sidelines twirling, lifting, and swinging their weapons. If the weapons were impressive, the men"s bodies could make any woman sigh in appreciation.

Who would have thought sweat could make a man looked yummier. Lordy, just look at the rows of abs and muscles on those men. They all possessed an athlete"s build. Interestingly, with all the lifting that they were doing, none of them look anything like the men in Mister Universe. No, those guys resembled rocks. These, the Midnight Howl, could be mistaken for Hollister or 21 models with rock-star hair.

“Like what you see?”

235

“Oh yes. I"ve never seen so many beautiful men in my life.”

“I"m sure they"ll say the same thing about you.”

“Enough with the flatters, Callum. You already use your first box of Trojans.”

“We have five more to go.”

“Stop it. Uhm, Callum. We"re just going to watch, right?”

“You are.”

“You"re going to practice?”

“Worried about me?”

“Of course. How are you going to wash my back if you lost your hands?”

His eyes twinkled with understanding. “Don"t worry, love. As long as my heart and head is covered, I will be fine.”

“Seriously, Callum. Can we just sit here together? I don"t want you to get hurt.”

“You wound my pride, baby.”

“Sorry. I didn"t mean to say that you can"t fight. Of course you can but they all looked so good and strong. Yes, you"re strong too—”

“Mari,”

“Okay, call if you need help.”

236

Callum stared at her then burst out laughing. “I will. Now, stay here and watch. Don"t touch the weapons. Don"t even get near the rack.”

“Why?”

“If you do, that means you want to practice.”

“Well, you don"t have to worry about that. The view is better from here.

Take care will you?”

Light smoldered in his dark blue eyes. “Marisol, I—” he cupped her face with his calloused hands. “I will.”

“Callum!”

Both Callum and Marisol turned. Three drool-worthy men with swaggers that surely would make women sigh approached them. Yup. Without a doubt they all came from the same womb except for the tallest one with blonde hair, Marisol thought.

“Bros. Come to challenge me?”

“I came to knock some sense out of you.” Ty punched Callum on the shoulder. “That the scar from Atos.”

“Yeah. Ty, this is Marisol.”

“Beautiful. Are you worth my brother"s life?”

“Excuse me?”

“I asked if—”

237

“Ty, shut the fuck up. If you want to release your anger, fight me.”

“Cool. Let"s do that.”

Both men took their shirts off. Ty threw his shirt on the floor. Callum handed his white Nike t-shirt to Marisol then gave her a handsome wink.

Ty"s words bothered Marisol. She didn"t have time to reflect on his question because as soon as Callum and Ty picked their swords, everyone including those who were already practicing quieted. The floor cleared.

The arena maybe quiet, but not Marisol"s heart. “Better not get hurt, Callum, or I swear you"ll face my wrath. What kind of practice is this anyway?”

“To improve our skills.”

Marisol turned to look at the man standing beside her. “I know that,” she said.

“I thought you were asking about why we"re doing this.”

“Oh, I"m talking to myself. It"s a habit, you know.”

Zambro grinned. “Callum forgot to introduce us. I"m Zambro. And these are Victor and Rodolf. We are Callum"s brother"s.”

“I figured as much.”

“You did?”

“It"s the swagger and the height. Plus the hair. Nice to meet you all.”

“It"s our pleasure to meet you.” Victor said.

238

Rodolf nodded and grinned at her as if he knew something she didn"t.

“Same here. So they"re not going to kill each other are they? Callum has only one life left. He shouldn"t be doing this.”

“They"re just sparring, Marisol. Callum will teach his brother to keep his mouth shut. And Ty, he"ll show Callum how much he cares. This is a brotherly love show.”

Marisol doubted it. The way Ty swung his sword one would think he wanted to chop Callum in bits and pieces. Both men were equal in strength. They danced around each other, measuring, calculating.

Ty attacked, Callum blocked his blows swiftly and effortlessly. The fight was amazing to watch. And heart stopping, too. Both men broke a sweat.

Watching their body language, it seemed they could do this all night.

“Excuse me, Marisol. I badly needed this practice as well.”

Zambro left her side and quickly got in the middle of the fight. Victor and Rodolf joined.

The crowd"s chanting turned into a roar. They cheered and urged the brothers to keep fighting. Without a doubt, the brothers" were skilled but her eyes focused on one man alone. Callum.

Muscles, talent, skill, beauty, and tenderness (she knew that side of him now) packed in one body. He was a living god. And god help her—she loved him.

239

“They"re magnificent, aren"t they?”

Marisol was so engrossed watching the brothers" she didn"t even realize someone stood beside her. How Viola managed to sneak beside her, she had no idea. She supposed being a shifter, she could move stealthily. Still, it kind of freaked her out.

“They are.”

“I heard you are good with your sword.”

“I can swing it. If you could call it good. Then I am.”

“Prove it."

“What?”

“Practice with me. We all need it. Especially if we are to fight the Blood Robbers to protect you and Youven"s sword.” Viola smiled so sweetly, Marisol could smell poison coming out of the woman"s nostril. Fear enveloped her body.

This woman hated her.

“Who says you need to fight Atos for me?”

“Unlike you, human. A member"s fight is the clans fight. We help each other.

Callum may have broken the code because of you—although for the love of me, I couldn"t understand why—but he"s still one of us. He"s a Shape-shifter, a
pure
blood. We are not going to turn our backs on him because he"s so foolish to give a promise. It"s hard enough to patrol your world every night, but to add the 240

unnecessary baggage of watching you…well, it kind of makes life hard to live. Don"t you think? So, if I were you. I"d hone my skills. At least you could do something more than watch the men fight for you. Despite what you humans believe, we are not immortals. We do get hurt, we bleed, we die. Our lives are limited to five. So practice with me. You don"t want to look like a useless princess all your life, right?”

“No.” What was Viola talking about the Midnight Howls fighting Atos for her? Why would they do that? Callum had only one life left. What if he dies fighting? Marisol shook her head to stop her mind from forming a morbid thought.

“Hello? Still there? What, did I scare you? Afraid?”

Marisol met Viola"s stare. She would love to practice, but she doubted it was what Viola really wanted. Marisol suspected that if Viola got her chance, she"d kill her on the spot. “I"m not afraid to face you or anyone.”

“Good. Pick your sword.” Viola inclined her head toward the rack where the swords lined up.

Marisol never held another sword other than Youven"s. She wasn"t quite sure if she could wield another the way she did hers. She glanced at Callum still sparring with his brothers. Callum said not to go near the weapon stand, but she couldn"t and wouldn"t ignore Viola"s challenge. Callum would understand.

241

Marisol walked toward the rack.
Ini, mini, miny mo. Lordy, give me a sign.
In the end, she picked the one with a yellowish handle. Its blade was so shiny she could see her reflection on it. The sword was light and nimble. Designed for stabbing and faster stroke. She liked this one. The moment she lifted the sword, the crowd"s loud cheering died down and turned into murmur.

“Good choice. Now let"s see what you could do with it.”

“We shall see.” Why hadn"t she just stayed in Callum"s apartment and watched cartoons.

Callum noticed the moment the mood changed in the room. Through his peripheral view, he tried to spot a pink tank top. He didn"t see it. Marisol wasn"t where she should be. He blocked Ty"s blow and took a step back buying more time to find Marisol among the crowd. He spotted her standing by the rack holding a sword. What the hell. He made way toward Marisol. Zambro stopped him with repeated blows.

Callum pivoted to avoid the tip of Zambro"s sword then walked away from the fight. Didn"t Marisol hear what he said? Once she pulled a weapon out of its rack that meant she would fight. God damn it! What was she doing holding a sword? He met Viola"s gaze. And then he understood.

Fuck.

242

Zambro delivered another blow. His blade came close to slicing Callum"s neck. “Stop.”

“What"s going on?” Zambro lowered his sword and walked fast beside him.