Authors: Tammy Blackwell
Just outside of Winnipeg I stopped at a
Mac’s Convenient store. Liam filled a bag with trail mix and
bottled water while I marveled at the way their Reese’s came in
packages of three instead of two. An hour later, Liam directed me
off the main road and into the wilderness, which is saying
something when you’re talking about Canada.
We were only about 482 kilometers (or 300
miles) north of Fargo, but the air was much more frigid and a good
inch of snow covered the ground. Liam, who was only wearing a
lumberjack-worthy flannel, didn’t seem to notice as he began
untying the tarp from the bed of the truck.
“
Are all Shifters
impervious to the cold, or are you just so badass the cold avoids
you out of fear of being Chuck Norrised?” I asked, grabbing the
tie-down closest to me.
Liam pulled back half the tarp to reveal
part of a canoe and a sled of some sort. “All Shifters are more
tolerant of colder temperatures because of our metabolism, but gray
wolves are native to northern climates. We tend to carry some of
our animal’s preferences for things like that in our human form.”
Without taking off the rest of the tarp, he started sliding the
canoe out. “Like you. You’re not cold, are you?”
“
One, I can’t believe you
completely ignored my awesome Chuck Norris reference, and two, I’m
actually a little chilly, so nah!” I said, sticking my tongue
out.
“
I was kind enough to not
point out that ‘Chuck Norris’ isn’t a verb and shouldn’t be used as
one.” The act of dragging the canoe to the side of the truck
closest to the water placed him just a few feet from me. He closed
the distance by reaching out and grabbing the arm of the jacket I
was wearing. “You’re standing around in temperatures hovering right
around zero degrees Celsius in nothing more than some jeans, a
t-shirt, and a thin cotton jacket without shivering or turning
blue. You’re handling the cold just fine, Snowflake.” And then he
stuck out his tongue and repeated my “Nah!”
I giggled and knew I wasn’t imagining the
wolf-like cadence to the sound.
It didn’t take long to load the canoe with
the sled and our few bags. I stayed at the water’s edge while Liam
went to dispose of the truck, which I assumed meant just leaving it
hidden somewhere, but revised my theory when I saw flames lick up
towards the afternoon sky. Since there seemed to be more water than
land in this part of Canada, I decided to only be mildly concerned
he was going to burn down the entire country.
Jase, Talley and I got carted off to 4-H
camp the summer we were ten, so I had a basic understanding of
canoeing, but Liam was clearly the expert. He easily fell back into
his role of Always in Charge Man, giving me an obnoxious amount of
instruction as we made our way through the waters.
“
This is beautiful,” I said
once we finally settled on a rhythm. “It looks so different from
home.”
A look of contentment settled onto Liam’s
features, and I realized this was home for him. After years of
being away, roaming all over the United States, he finally returned
to the familiar land of his childhood.
“
It’s really cool in the
summer, but there are always tourists around then. It’s better now.
I like the quiet.”
Later, as the sun began to slink towards the
earth, I decided I wasn’t quite so sold on the whole silence thing.
Not that there weren’t any noises - the water lapped at the boat
and our paddles, birds screeched in the sky, and animals went about
their normal, everyday lives in the woods - but it was nothing like
the world I knew. No car engines. No music or TV or other
background noise. Since I became a Shifter I had gotten used to all
the various sounds and smells associated with humans, from the
shuffling of their feet to the beating of their hearts. All that
was absent, and I missed it. I felt isolated in a post-apocalyptic,
dystopian future kind of way. It made me tense, as if I was going
to have to fight to the death at any given moment.
I consider myself a fairly competent person
- I can change the oil in my car, hook up pretty much any
electrical piece of gadgetry I come across, and have decent skills
when it comes to reading a road map, even without the aid of Google
- but navigating water ways was completely unfamiliar to me. It
wasn’t shocking, however, to discover Liam excelled at it. Just
when I was about to mention how sundown was coming soon and I
wasn’t really looking forward to Changing on a boat, he muttered,
“There it is,” to himself and began steering us towards the
shore.
We worked quickly and without conversation
as we unloaded our supplies. Several of the bags were ones we found
in the back of the truck. I tried to peek inside one to see what
they contained, but Liam barked at me about how we were running out
of time and could take inventory later. Once the boat was empty,
Liam pushed it back into the water and let it float away.
“
What? No fire this time?”
I asked in an attempt to tamp down the panic I felt at being
stranded in God only knows where.
“
No time.” He quit
arranging the various bags onto the sled and began to secure them
as quickly as possible. Once everything was to his satisfaction, he
unzipped one of the bags on top and withdrew a series of nylon
straps. “This part goes over my head,” he said, opening up a hole
in the middle. “Put that on first, and then slide my front two legs
in here,” he opened another hole, “and here.”
“
I’m sorry,
what?”
“
We don’t have time for
this. I have to Change, and you have to get me harnessed and
attached to the sled before your Change starts.”
Whoa. Wait a minute. “You could have
explained this all to me while we were floating up the river, you
know.”
He moved fast and was towering over me
before I could back away. “Just do what you're told.”
“
Screw you!” I yelled,
although in my fury I may have used a harsher word. “I thought we
were past this. I thought we were going to work together, that this
not telling me anything routine was over.”
Liam looked ready to explode, and I braced
myself for an attack, but it never came. Instead, he took a deep
breath and rubbed the back of his head. “Sorry. I screwed up.
Again. But please, Scout. We can only get to the cabin in our wolf
forms, and we need these supplies. Work with me here.”
I was still angry, and I knew this
discussion wasn’t over, but I’m not so selfish or stupid to not
realize the importance of what he was saying. “Let’s make sure I
get it right,” I said, taking the harness from his hands. “Show me
one more time what goes where. And you’ll have to tell me how to
hook it to the sled.”
We barely made it in time. Liam Changed in
record time and was very agreeable with the whole harness
situation, even in wolf form, but I was clumsy and uncertain, and
by the end I was shaking from the effort of holding back the
Change. Once I was sure everything was hooked up the way it was
supposed to be, I barely got hidden and my clothes removed before I
fell to the ground. Even without someone there to time me, I knew
it was my fastest transformation yet, but it was also my most
painful. When I was finally able to lift my head I found myself
looking into a pair of familiar grey eyes.
Hey you,
Wolf Scout thought at her friend. Liam’s ears
perked up and he tilted his head, as if he had caught a whisper of
what I said and was straining to hear more.
Can you hear me?
I asked, hopeful,
but when he continued to twitch his ears around, I realized it
wasn’t going to happen.
Since Liam had a sled attached to his back,
I took on the responsibility of procuring us some dinner. The first
track I found didn’t smell like anything familiar, but I followed
it all the same. Maybe if I had recognized the scent as a beaver I
would have found something else knowing a dip in the freezing
waters might be in my future. As it was, I was still shaking water
off my fur when I returned to Liam. When he laughed at me, or the
closest a wolf can get to laughing, I considered not sharing my
kill with him.
The path Liam led me down was narrow and
winding, and involved a whole lot of climbing up and over things.
Wolf Scout loved it and wanted to run it as fast as she could to
show off her strength and cunning. Fortunately, the beaver had been
enough to let Human Scout have a say in the matter. Following Liam
was frustrating, but when the sled started to topple or needed an
extra hand (or nose), I was there. The trek took most of the night.
It was nearing dawn when the trees began to thin and a small
cottage appeared nestled at the base of a small hill.
Once we were close, Liam collapsed onto the
ground, exhausted from having to haul a load over such rough
terrain. There wasn’t much moonlight left, but I went off in search
of food anyway. Luckily, I was able to snag a small bunny rather
quickly. It wasn’t enough for the two of us, and Wolf Scout really
thought she should have it since she caught it, but I gave it to
Liam, who inhaled it with gratitude in his eyes.
When the sun’s first rays started turning
the snow into a field of diamonds, I trotted off to the far side of
the cabin to Change. Somewhere around halfway through the
transformation Human Scout took charge. Her first thought wasn’t of
pain or exhaustion, but the realization that she had no idea where
her clothes were.
Chapter 17
Being outside in the snow completely naked
is not something I would recommend to anyone, even if you’re a
Shifter who happens to Change into an arctic wolf. Even if the air
temperature on your exposed flesh and the wet snow crunching
beneath your bare feet doesn’t bother you - which, by the way, it
will - the frigid breeze whipping across your exposed naughty bits
will have you shivering as if your life depends on it. Which, I
suppose it might. My understanding of hypothermia is basic at
best.
I stood hidden behind the corner of the
cabin contemplating if shivering was a good thing or bad and at
what point I should become concerned about losing appendages when a
sad, frustrated whine reached my ears.
Liam was still in wolf form.
Of course he
is
, the part of my brain that was
completely human and not obsessed with how cold I was said.
How can he Change when you’ve got him wrapped up
in that harness?
If I didn’t have my hands
shoved up in my underarms for warmth, I might have done a face
palm. Liam was going to be trapped in wolf form until I could free
him from the harness. Sure, he could
try
to Change back in that thing, but
it would hurt, and if he couldn’t break through it as he Changed…
Well, I didn’t really know what would happen. Would he be trapped
in between forms? Would he just revert back to being a
wolf?
There was no way I was going to make him
find out, which left me with the whole conundrum of what to do
about the naked situation.
“
You’re going to have to
close your eyes,” I called out. “I’m going to come out and find me
some clothes, and then I’ll let you out of that thing, but only if
you promise to keep your eyes closed until I tell you to open
them.”
Liam yipped.
“
Was that a yes or a
no?”
His low growl told me I was being
ridiculous. And, once I thought about it, a little presumptuous.
Like Liam Cole wanted to see my boobs.
I darted the distance to the sled, horrified
to realize the cabin had been blocking most of the wind. I couldn’t
locate my bag anywhere, but Liam’s was on top. I found a
long-sleeved t-shirt and threw it on. Luckily, it came nearly to my
knees, since there was no way I could keep his pants on. If it had
been Jase’s or Charlie’s clothes I was stealing I would have
grabbed a pair of boxer shorts, but my many visits to laundromats
had taught me Liam was a tighty-whitey kind of guy, and I was so
not going there.
Liam had neglected to mention how to remove
a harness from a wolf, but after a few mishaps, one of which had my
favorite wolf snapping at me, I managed to break him free.
“
Your clothes are there,” I
said pointing to where I piled an outfit on the ground next to him.
“I know you’re tired, so I’m going to wait on the other side of the
cabin”
where the wind won’t cut straight
through my flesh and embed itself in my bones
.
He growled at me and gave me a look which
obviously was supposed to mean something. Unfortunately, I
misplaced my Wolf Liam to Human Scout dictionary, but took a stab
as to the meaning. “Okay, okay,” I called over my shoulder as I
walked away. “I promise to not look.”
As I waited for Liam to finish Changing, I
tested various methods for staying warm. I rubbed each of my limbs
vigorously. Did jumping jacks. I even attempted to Mr. Myagi some
heat back into my flesh. I was trying to fold my body in as small
of a ball as possible when a furious wolf in human skin barreled
around the corner.
“
Idiot,” Liam muttered,
lifting me off the ground as if I was an unruly pre-schooler. One
arm was braced under my knees while the other secured my shoulders.
I tried really hard not to think about how close either of those
arms were to my bare bottom.
The door to the cabin gave with three hard
pushes from Liam’s shoulder. I tried to get a look at the inside,
but Liam whipped me around so fast everything was a blur. He
practically threw me in a wooden chair before dropping down in
front of me and taking my foot in his hands.
“
What the hell were you
thinking?” He growled at me. “Is it so damn hard to grab some socks
and shoes? And a t-shirt?
Just
a t-shirt? You think because you’re a wolf you’re
invincible? Think again, Snowflake. Even you can lose a toe to
frostbite. And it’s not exactly like we’ve got a doctor out here to
amputate it. You’ll die from blood infection, and then what in the
hell am I supposed to do?”