Prue dropped to her knees beside the man she loved and gently turned him over. She brushed his long, brown bangs out of his handsome face and asked softly in deep concern, "Are you all right?" Her fingers trailed over his bruised and bleeding lips. Somewhere during the fight, he'd started shifting back into his human form, and the face she was now gazing down into would have been a nightmare to almost any other woman alive. Part of his face was still covered with thick, brown fur and contorted with the Werewolf's features while the other half remained the man she knew and loved. She cupped his smiling face in her hands and stroked his fur and skin alike.
He was smiling in awe of what she had done, but as he heard the other Werewolves beginning to growl and snarl again as they crept closer, he caught her wrists in his gentle hands and met her eyes with his own fearful orbs. "I'll be fine," he promised her, "but you'd better go. You got lucky that time, love, but it won't happen again. They'll eat you!"
She could feel his trembling but barely heard his words after he called her his love. "I love you too!" she told him and stole a quick kiss from his quivering lips before releasing him and standing. "And I won't let them have you! You're safe now, Brendan. You're with me, and together we're going to beat this! They won't have you ever again!" She tossed him a teasing grin and winked down at him. "You're mine, and I'm selfish." She shrugged her lithe shoulders. "I love you, and I'm not going to share you with your family."
She turned her back to him then as she felt the pounding of the Werewolves' feet against the floor. She threw up her hands, lifted her gaze, and tossed them back as though they weighed nothing. Others of their number kept coming, and Prue steadily continued tossing the pack away. She knew she should be feeling tired by now, but she wasn't. Brendan loved her; he'd finally told her so, even though she now knew his secrets! She loved him, and she had never felt more alive than she did in this very moment, basking in their endless love! She'd take these Werewolves down and whatever else Fate threw at them! They'd beat it all together, and in the end, they'd stand together and love each other forever! Savage howls lifted into the air as the Werewolves continued to charge her, but Prue just kept smiling and slamming them back again and again . . .
Brendan gave a soft grunt from where he lay on the floor behind her. This beautiful, exciting, and charming woman enthralled and amazed him. He'd never known any one like her, but yet he feared for her safety as his tail tucked between his legs. She couldn't just keep pushing his family back. They'd take her eventually, and when they did, he'd be powerless to stop them. "Please, Prue," he whimpered, "run while you still can!" but either she didn't hear him or she just chose to ignore him. She wasn't going anywhere, he knew, and whereas her loyalty touched him and her love gave his frightened heart wings, he feared for her with every inch of his being.
He thought only once of turning back to his Werewolf form so that he could help her fight, but then he pushed the thought away. Blood was rising in the air, and eventually, should he wolf, the rich, sweet scent would get the better of him. His monster would unleash, and then his beloved, wonderful Prue would not only be endangered by his family but himself as well. He'd rather stay helpless, unable to fight, than ever risk harming the woman he loved.
He rose to his feet behind her but stood uncertain, unsure, and fearful. He didn't know how to help her; he didn't think he could. And yet he'd never run again from the woman he loved when she needed him. "Please, Prue," he tried again, touching her shoulder. "Please run while you can. They'll overpower you." Tears sparkled in his worried, brown eyes. "They'll eat you!"
"No, they won't," Prue declared strongly, "and they'll never take you again or make you eat any one else!"
"I never - " Brendan whimpered in surprised self defense. Had he still been in possession of them, his ears and tail would have drooped, but for now, at least, he was in his completed human form. "I did eat my goldfish," he said sadly, his face downcast. "I never should have tried to have a pet. But I've never eaten a human, and I'm not about to start!"
"Good," Prue said proudly. "Now tell them that." She threw out her hands and knocked the howling Wolves back. She'd never felt more alive. She'd never been more in love than she was with this incredible, amazing man who stood, naked and fearful for her life, beside her. But she was slowly beginning to tire and realized now that they needed a stronger force than her telepathy but had none to offer.
{Leo,} she screamed inwardly, {where are you?} She needed help, and she needed it fast! Yet this was one fight that she would absolutely not back down from, no matter what happened. If the monsters that called themselves his family wanted Brendan, they'd have to go through her to get to him, and the only way that was going to happen was if they killed her!
"Prue, please!" Brendan whimpered, seeing the toll that the battle was starting to take on the woman he loved. "Please run while you still can! I love you, and I don't want anything to hurt you or - or - or - " His voice rose off and then fell into a tiny squeak. He couldn't bare to say the words, but the tears running down his face made his thoughts plain.
"They're not going to win, Brendan. They're not going to take either of us, and they're never going to hurt you again! I promise. I love you!" She walked forward, throwing out her hands again. This time, a few of the Werewolves who hit the wall did not rise again, and Prue's smile grew, her eyes sparkling. She could do this. She had to do this! She would save the man she loved, or she wasn't a Charmed One!
"For Brendan!" she cried defiantly. "You'll never hurt him again!" The Werewolves howled as she tossed them back together into the wall. With each new toss, more fell. Prue's love surged, filling her heart and soul and giving her more strength than she'd ever felt before. They would win this fight! They would win the war, and they would be together! "I love you, Brendan!" she called, but then his howling, vicious mother slipped through her grasp as she pushed the others back again.
Brendan howled, seeing his mother charging the woman he loved, her teeth gnashing at air that would soon be his beloved Prue's beautiful, sweet face. He leapt into the air and dove at her, changing swiftly as he did so. He knocked her down and slashed her face as Prue continued to keep the rest of his family back. "YOU'LL NOT HURT HER!" he howled. And then, where all his family could hear him, Brendan made the greatest admission of his life. "I LOVE HER!"
Prue smiled, her eyes dancing with delighted pride, as she watched the man she loved tear into his own bitch of a mother. They'd win this together, she knew, and then nothing would ever again stand in their way of being together! "AND I LOVE HIM," she yelled, "AND I'M NOT GOING TO LET YOU HAVE HIM EVER AGAIN!" She threw the angrily howling Werewolves back into the wall again, this time with even more force than before, but though many of them stayed unconscious this time, others still kept coming.
Prue's telekinesis met them immediately. She was tired, but her exhaustion didn't matter. These monsters were the last things standing between her beloved Brendan and her being together, and they would defeat them and, once freed by them, love each other forever. Prue smiled despite her tiredness. She'd never been more sure of an outcome before in all of her life.
They would defeat these Werewolves for they had the power of Love on their side, and once they were gone out of Brendan's life forever, he'd be free to be with her! They'd be together! They loved each other! And that, Prue thought, her eyes and face shining joyously with the all-encompassing love that filled her, was all that mattered! They would beat Brendan's pack into submission, chase away his Demons, and then they would be free to love one another forever!
To Be Continued . . .