Nia watched her go, her face screwed up like she’d tasted something bad. She turned to face Cass.
“She annoys me. Pretends it is the Alphas and then
her
and she is above everyone else. She is not above me. She is a salad vegetable.”
She walked toward Cass with her arms out to hug, oblivious to the blood droplets all over her. Cass backed away and put up her hand.
“Woah, you’re kinda…”
Nia looked down and laughed.
“We need food and a bath. I have blood on me and you smell of Rey’s seed inside you. Shall we go to the spring after we eat? It is safe outside now.”
Smell of his seed… oh boy.
“Um… sure. Okay. Let’s do that.”
Cass let Nia lead her out and down through the den. As she left the room she noticed it could be barred from the outside too. For those times a werewolf needed to be locked away, whatever that meant. Cass didn’t spend much time thinking about it. She felt like she’d used up all her emotions for the month in a day and now would have to face the rest of the time with only dull contemplation as her go-to expression. But no matter the emotional exhaustion, she was
so not
going to have any other werewolves sniffing her and commenting on the smell of Rey’s seed inside her.
She especially didn’t want to meet Edon before she’d cleaned herself.
Although she wondered if some scents went deeper than she could wash off with water.
*
Rey moved across the landscape like a ghost, relishing the pursuit.
The two surviving werewolves ran through the territory, leaving a path clear enough for even a human to follow. One was injured badly, his blood a pitter-patter trail glistening off leaves and splattered on rocks. The other was injured also but far less severely. He was dripping only occasionally. By the time Rey was finished with them they’d be unrecognizable bloody meat.
Rey could still feel the echoing trance of battle in his bones. It had seemed an eternity since he and Edon had fought together, acting as one. Perhaps it had been that long. They had expanded rapidly once they started their pack, coming under attack from neighboring packs and easily defeating them. Years ago Turo and Utson were the larger packs and there had been at least five smaller ones. Some of them had foolishly attacked Arctos, thinking them to be weak. Others had been crushed by Turo or Utson. It hadn’t taken long for Turo, Utson and Arctos to divide the territory between the three of them and then an unspoken agreement had prevailed. No pack was strong enough to destroy another without the third coming in to wipe out the weakened victor. The only battles now were small border skirmishes, werewolves testing each other to see if anyone had faltered.
Rey concluded it had been at least two years since they’d had fought side-by-side. And that particular battle had been a disappointing one. It was against humans carrying guns. They had defeated them with almost no effort at all.
Rey glanced toward Hinton. The small plane that had flown low over their den was now only a faint dot, disappearing into the blue sky. He’d little time or regard for human laws but knew they weren’t allowed within ten miles of a werewolf den, including by foot or air. No doubt Edon would send Kita back to town with a formal complaint which would result in exactly nothing. It would be as useless as the cabin he’d built on their land in the vain attempt to comply with the human laws that would allegedly grant werewolves formal title over their territories. Rey had seen a yappy dog jump through a hoop once. The human laws were the hoop and they were the yappy dogs, except they would never make it through.
Rey didn’t need a formal title to know what land was his. His land was his land. He knew all the trees and the rocks, the best fishing spots and hunting grounds. He’d roamed these territories since he was a cub and no distant humans could give him something that was his by right.
Sniffing the air, Rey caught the scent of fuel. He stopped and breathed in, closing his eyes to absorb it fully. Wood, burned. Set alight by petrol. Humans too lazy to build a proper fire taking shortcuts.
He opened his eyes and saw the werewolves track across some rocks that led to a steep ravine. It would be the ideal place to ambush them from above. He turned and ceased following them for the time being. They wouldn’t be able to emerge without him seeing them. Moving behind the trees, Rey crept higher, almost at a right angle to his former path. He soon found the cave he was looking for. It was hidden by rocks and overgrowth and he had to push past thorns to enter. Some caught on his coat but he managed to make it through without too much problem. He shifted to his human form and felt the cool cave air on his skin. It smelt of wet dirt. Above was a thin sliver of light where the cave exited, high up on the hill.
Rey climbed up, using his fingers to grip small protrusions in the rock. Although he often told Edon wolf form was far superior to human, there were things it couldn’t do. Rock-climbing was one. Opening jars of pickles another.
He soon reached the top of the cave and squeezed out the narrow opening. He shifted and crept along the ground through the grass, toward the edge that overlooked the ravine.
When he reached the edge he expected to see two werewolves stuck in a dead end wondering how to get out. He saw them, one leaning against the cool rock holding his side, nearly dead, the other looking up.
Up at the men with guns ringed around the ravine.
It had been a trap - probably for him or Edon and his pack. They would follow the werewolves into this ravine and then the men would shoot them. The only reason he’d avoided it was because he’d traveled via the underground cave.
Had the attack been intended to draw them out to be ambushed? It seemed a lot to risk pack members on the chance they’d be pursued. And how were the humans connected?
Rey watched, settling in for the long haul but he soon got his answer. A bald man dressed in army fatigues emerged from the hill behind the ravine. Accompanying him was a great hulking monster of a werewolf, black with gray streaked down his sides.
He shifted, turning into a man almost the same size as he was in wolf form and together he and the bald man walked to overlook the injured werewolves in the ravine.
Rey saw the werewolf lift and drop his hand, signaling the shooters. One of the werewolves howled a challenge but it meant nothing in the face of a hail of bullets. It was no loss to kill such pathetic creatures but Rey still regarded it as dishonorable. Face your enemy and fight him with tooth and claw.
The bald man signaled the shooters who stood up and left their positions. A moment later the werewolf shifted again and loped away, disappearing over the hill.
Rey crept away from the edge and made his way back to the cave. He had a lot to ponder - the human at the den who was now his mate, the attack, the human/werewolf collaboration - but foremost in his mind was the giant werewolf he’d seen give the order to kill its brethren.
It looked like the Turo pack had a new Alpha.
Carcer.
*
Nia took Cass back to her room and then disappeared to fetch food for her so she could eat before they went to the hot spring. Cass had all of half a minute to herself (which she spent wondering if anything in her bag was salvageable at all) before the door pelt drew aside and a werewolf entered.
“Why are you here?” she asked without preamble.
Cass was tired and hungry and although it seemed her adrenaline gland had blown itself out during the attack she found spark of annoyance that flared into very useful anger.
So sick of being treated badly!
She looked the werewolf up and down, giving her the best death stare she had. This wolf was different. She was dressed for starters, wearing a simple pale blue cotton shirt and loose Arabian pants.
“I am Kita. Human werewolf liaison for the pack.”
She put out her hand and Cass shook it, despite feeling annoyed at the werewolf’s presumption.
“So, again, why are you here?”
“Who are you to ask me that?” she shot back.
“What, you read
Get That Werewolf
and decided you’d head out to bag yourself an Alpha?”
Kita used air quotes to indicate her derision for the book.
“No, I…”
But she wasn’t far from the truth. It had taken a long time for Cass to acknowledge the disconnected feeling she had in herself, let alone recognize it was connected to the werewolves who’d rescued her. After growing up with her parents who had the emotional IQ of table salt she’d learned to ignore questions such as why am I sad, why do I feel this way? Their approach was that sadness was fixed with alcohol or violence. So it had taken her many years to realize all her desires featured werewolves in lead or co-starring roles.
But she wasn’t ready to tell this nosy intrusive werewolf that.
“I met them when I was younger and wanted to meet them again,” Cass said, dramatically abridging the story.
“Hmm,” Kita said, clearly not believing her.
“I can smell Rey’s seed in you. You’re not part of some weird sex group thing are you? Lycan Lickers or anything like that?”
“What? No. Gross. What is that anyway?”
“It’s pretty obvious don’t you think? Werewolf, tongue, put it together.”
Cass was very aware there were groups online that were obsessed with werewolves and took it to the most extreme degree. People claiming they were werewolves, who happened to spend all their time online and refused to video chat. Uh huh, an Alpha werewolf spent all day online. After meeting Edon and Rey the idea of an Alpha werewolf hunched over a keyboard was ridiculous.
But Kita was looking at her now like she was a deviant… a brainless nympho who came walking out into the territory because, frankly, she couldn’t get enough cock from human men.
“There are a lot of humans who say they want to help us. They
like
werewolves they say. But they don’t want to help us and they don’t like us. They’re organized and getting worse over time. I’ve been wondering when they’d send a spy.”
Kita looked at her with cool disdain and Cass felt she might actually leap across at the werewolf to punch her in the face.
“I’m not a spy,” Cass said, her face expressionless and voice flat.
“We’re under attack by humans and werewolves and the day after a human arrives here, the den is attacked. Something that hasn’t happened in years. How coincidental. Do you have a phone with you?”
“It fell in a puddle on the way here. It’s dead now.”
Cass put emphasis on
dead
and glared at Kita.
“I guess we’ll see,” Kita answered and walked out, Cass glaring daggers at her back.
*
After Rey departed, Edon found himself wanting to see Cass but resisted the urge. He could still feel the battle twitching in his body and given the fury that had come over him when he’d smelt Cass on Rey, he wasn’t sure what would happen if he saw her now. Would he want to mate with her or attack her?
He yawned and looked across the rough wood table at Vara who was giving him a very stern look in return.
She tried to hold it but then the yawn caught her too.
“Everything is out of order,” Edon commented, looking down at the mess spread on the table.
Wolves were nocturnal but between finding Cass yesterday, the hunt last night and now the attack today, half the pack didn’t know which way was up now. Edon felt like sleeping but knew there was much to handle before he could rest. He wished for coffee, a human affectation requiring things they didn’t have on hand, namely: coffee, milk, kettle.
“Will you and Rey be resuming your fight when he returns?” Vara asked.
“I don’t think so.”
Edon largely blamed himself for what happened. He’d underestimated the power of the thrall Cass held over Rey and himself. If it had been Rey’s turn to lead the hunt it could have very easily been the other way around with him returning to find Edon had mated with her.
Their conversation of personal matters was cut short by Kita entering the room. Edon caught Cass’ scent on her.
“I went to talk to her,” Kita said, raising her hands up, seeing the look on his face.
“Why?”
“In case she was a spy.”
Edon stopped himself from growling. No one outside Rey, himself and Vara knew their history. As far as Kita and the pack knew, Cass was only some random girl they’d met.
“And what did you find?” he asked, once he was sure he could keep the annoyance out of his voice.
“She’s not a spy. I think she’s… in love.”
Vara and Edon shared a glance and then Vara looked away. Kita was sharp - by far one of the cleverest werewolves in the pack and extremely unusual in that she found it easy to live amongst the humans. Unlike most werewolves she had no struggle balancing her wild and domesticated sides.
But Vara hadn’t been quick enough. Kita caught the look and understanding bloomed on her face.
“Ah, so you and Rey are enthralled which is why you were fighting for her this morning. But if you fight then Utson or Turo will waltz right in and kill the victor and destroy the pack.”