Free Corrigan Magic (Corrigan: Blood Destiny Book 2) by Helen Harper

Alpha.  “Nothing to do with me, I promise,” he said.
    “A distant ancestor?”
    “My father likes to think so.  It’s a nice idea that it’s named after a group of wily werefoxes.  I think it’s more to do with the humans in the area than us though.  It is pretty steep.  You have to be quite nimble to reach to the top.”  He cleared his throat.  “I mean, my Lord, obviously you are nimble.  But the humans…”
    “I understand what you meant,” I said, putting him out of his misery.  “And you say that as far as you’re aware the last time one of us climbed to the summit was eight weeks ago?”
    He nodded.  “An older shifter from Somerset.  He was very friendly.”  He chewed on his lip.  “I heard he died.”
    My mouth tightened.  “He did.”
    “It would be my honour to accompany you, my Lord.”
    “No, thank you.”  My tone was firm.  If the disease did originate here, I wasn’t going to let anyone else endanger their health.  It was only because the others seemed to be recovering that Staines hadn’t put up too much of a fight about me coming here.  He’d still grumbled about it but I’d pointed out that I was young and healthy.  Looking after the Pack was my job and if that meant a bit of a fever and few days feeling off-colour, then it was a small price to pay.  At least whatever medicine Doctor Higgins had been experimenting with was working.
    I said my farewells to the nervy werefox and began tramping upwards.  The path was well kept and initially fairly easy to traverse.  Despite my enhanced physical skills, I knew it would only get tougher, however, so I’d elected to bring nothing with me other than some empty sample bags.  I had no idea what I’d find.  It was a disease after all, not something I could simply fight.  I might not even find anything to put in the bags.  Knowing how the disease started by investigating its source would help us in the future though.  I had to do what I could.
    Thanks to the cold at this time of year, there were few other souls around.  On the lower reaches of the mountain, I spotted one or two small groups.  Fortunately, it was clear they weren’t planning to make their way to the summit.  The poor weather worked in my favour because I knew I’d require time to check every aspect of the path.  It would be important not to miss anything crucial.  Darkness would fall soon enough.  My werepanther eyesight was often more reliable at night than during the day.  Of course, it was even better when I actually shifted - and I couldn’t do that if there was a danger of humans being around.
    The mountain slopes were definitely pretty.  There was an absence of any flowers but the different shades of green, along with the crisp fresh air, definitely lightened my spirits.  I started to whistle to myself, almost enjoying the walk.  When the sun began to dip, and the sky became streaked with orange and red and purple before finally dimming into dark, I paused to turn and take it all in.  It reminded me of Cornwall in a way.  The area was rural enough that the stars were bright beacons gleaming their own path across the heavens.  I’d spent most of my life in the city but the more often I came out to the countryside, the more I was learning to appreciate it.  The moment I caught the whiff of rotting flesh, however, my mood changed. 
    I estimated I wasn’t far away from the mountain-top.  The smell was faint and leading away from the path itself.  I twisted my head round quickly, double checking there were definitely no humans around, then followed my nose.  From time to time, the smell would dissipate away.  Then a slight breeze would bring it back, causing the hackles on my skin to rise up.  When I rounded a rocky bluff, however, it became considerably stronger.  I knew from the depth and scale of the rot that whatever I was being led towards wasn’t recent.  The first corpse also confirmed it.

Chapter Eight
     
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