She needed to steel herself against the carnage and help those who could still come through the transition. Her ability to sense an animal’s emotions came in handy with her Lycan pack, it would here as well. Olivia calmed with deep breaths, even with stomach acid coating her throat and tongue. Those women needed her. With Olivia’s ability she would calm them and certainly raise their survival rate.
Another hair-raising screech of pain drew Olivia inside the cave. She moved quickly to the woman in the thralls of shifting. The woman grabbed Olivia’s arm, creating deep gashes from razor-sharp claws. Olivia didn’t waver as she brushed the woman’s forehead with gentle fingers.
“Slow down your breathing and relax into the pain, you’ll come through fine if you focus on relaxing. Stop fighting,” Olivia cooed close to the woman’s ear. “Un-tense your muscles.” She massaged the woman’s arched back. “Think of floating in the breeze like a snowflake, empty your head of pain, think of nothing but the joy of running free.” Olivia’s voice carried as a whisper to all of those still alive and writhing on the floor of the cave. As they relaxed, the racking screams subsided.
She counted twelve women, five lay still with empty staring eyes, each face frozen in a silent scream, each transitioned into a different abomination of gore. The seven left shaking on the floor were close to completing the shift into wolf. Olivia watched each of them stretch and morph into beautifully furred wolves. Once their transition finished, they all stared at her, mouths agape, fangs flashing. She sensed their starving hunger and confusion.
Olivia lowered her voice to an even, serene tone, knowing their sense of hearing, smell, taste, and sight controlled their wants and needs and all would be highly elevated. A desperate move from one and they’d all follow on instinct. “The forest is full of succulent deer and antelope, plenty for all of you. Go now and feed until you’re sated, then come back here to the safety of our cave.” She didn’t truly know if they’d listen, but she assumed their need for the direction of a pack leader and hoped her voice would be enough to motivate them. Her promise to Chance and Jasmine about not shifting during pregnancy for her safety and also that of the offspring pressured her to stay true to it.
The wolves growled and gathered around her, pushing their bodies into her, rubbing their furry sides against her. She realized they shared their scents with her and picked up hers to carry along with them, a way for each of them to recognize her and for her to recognize them. As soon as the instinctual ritual finished, they all ran for the cave opening, ripping the pelted material to the ground in their overzealous need to feed and run.
She watched them from the doorway. They yipped and snarled as they all made their way along the path she’d taken earlier and they moved as one into the wooded area beyond the cliff. She turned back toward the five lost in the shift. Her heart swelled with grief and anger.
“I see you found my little hideaway, Olivia.”
Olivia immediately stiffened, prickles seared over her spine and scalp. Her heart slammed against her ribs as she slowly turned to face the enemy. Smoke. He orchestrated death, like the women lying on the ground behind her, along with her own private list of his evil deeds. She wanted him destroyed before he hurt anyone else.
Her body shook uncontrollably as he stalked closer. The wolf inside her scratched the underside of her skin in an effort to run free and bury its fangs in Smoke’s neck. Olivia’s eyes began to burn, her nostrils flared at his scent which threatened to consume her. It was the first time she’d ever scented him and it shocked her to the core. His scent came close to matching her mate’s, so much so…
“What have you done to Chance? His scent walks in with you.” Olivia positioned to charge him, her bones, muscle, and tissue began their bond with her wolf, beyond her human control.
Smoke stopped only a few yards from her, a look of surprise etched his face, and he chuckled. The sound of it burned a path through her memory of her being tied naked to a couple of posts in a similar cave while he claimed Lindsey. Her body convulsed and the shift took over.
“So, you think I smell like your mate? Well, maybe it’s your mate that stinks like me.” He laughed.
Olivia lost consciousness for moments until the shift completed. Her belly churned and strained with her young, but she couldn’t think of them until she took care of the one thing that stood between her, her younglings, and her pack’s safety. She opened her eyes in wolf form, much closer to the floor and the stench of death all around. Her head automatically lifted and her angry howl reverberated off the cave walls.
Smoke jumped at her as he shifted into wolf through the air. She side-stepped, barely missing his fangs. He was much bulkier than she, but her determination would make up for lack of size. Olivia charged aggressively, missing his neck and clamping her fangs over his shoulder. The force of her charge knocked him off his feet and they both tumbled across the floor. She realized Smoke could easily reach her neck with his snapping jaws, so she let go, moving back to figure her next move.
He sprang to his feet and leaped at her, landing on top of her back and slamming her to the ground. Her legs went out from under her and her underside smashed hard against the dirt. His weight completely stole the air from her lungs and crushed her ribs, leaving her with no strength to react.
“You want to fuck or do you want to come along with me peacefully? You can be my plaything or my bargaining chip, what’s it gonna be, Olivia?”
Smoke’s words exploded inside her head with the reality of what she’d just done by shifting.
Olivia sensed his aroused state, but it wasn’t directed toward her. She read something even greater going on inside him, a state of fear and panic overtaking his anger and lust.
Then a growl from the doorway drew her attention. A beautiful green-eyed, blonde-furred wolf ran toward them. Olivia sensed the female’s passion, but for what? Smoke? Escaping? Saving her? None of it came to Olivia clearly because the female struggled with her own inner feelings and loyalties. The blonde wolf growled again and Smoke bit Olivia’s ear, causing her to jerk. Smoke’s body kept Olivia from doing anything to protect herself, and she continued her endeavor of drawing in a full breath to feed her lungs.
The blonde stepped closer. Olivia heard her jaws snap above and Smoke yipped, growling back at the female wolf. Then Olivia’s body shoved harder into the floor, more air pushed from her lungs as Smoke leapt from her and ran out of the cave opening with the blonde wolf trailing as if in hot pursuit. The green-eyed wolf hesitated at the cave opening enough to look back at Olivia, and then ran off.
Olivia lay still, sucking in air and took a mental check of her body to make sure nothing got broken.
Howls and yips from the outside pulled at her. Her pack of females cried out to Olivia in haunting howls and she heard Jasmine snarling, realizing Jasmine must be surrounded by the seven females. Unable to gather enough breath to howl her own response, Olivia needed to get up, needed to aid Jasmine before all hell broke loose. From a greater distance away, she heard Chance and the others send a responding howl. They wouldn’t make it in time.
Her breath came as pants and her belly cramped with excruciating pain, but her determination to stop an inevitable battle made her move out of the cave and down the path.
Chance
Chance headed off in the direction Bliss pointed out, the full moon lighting their way. He realized she knew the area much better than any of them, having lived most of her life in the Westlyn pack, so he chose the option of surprise she offered. Dir, Damen, and Trevor followed close on his heels as they rounded one mountainous hill or cliff after another. After running at full speed for miles, he stopped, moved off to a thick of firs and shifted. His pack followed his lead, shifting.
“What the hell? Whose side is that female on?” Damen spoke first, expression dark, brows drawn-in as his fists tightened.
“I’m not convinced there’s anything wrong with the direction she gave us, other than it might turn out to also be a stall tactic I never expected from her.” Chance stared back toward the direction they’d just come.
“I’m not feeling so good about leaving Lindsey with her.” Trevor dug his fingers through his hair, lips tightened into a line. “I’m torn, Chance. I want to kick the asshole’s butt who kidnapped and abused Lindsey, yet, now that I’ve mated with her, it doesn’t feel right leaving her with someone who just sent us on a snow safari leading nowhere.” Trevor kicked at the snow with his bare foot. A lump of thick snow shot across and hit Damen in the chest. He turned and grimaced at Trevor.
“I’m getting sick of your shit, kid.” He stomped over and stood chest to chest with Trevor, each slamming pectorals against the other in what looked like a wolf-kind cock fight.
Chance moved swiftly between them to intercede. Dir grabbed Trevor from behind and pulled him back, while Chance planted his fists against Damen’s chest and shoved. “We have way more to deal with here than two pack members posturing for a one-up. Stand down, both of you,” Chance scoffed.
Wolven howls echoed from a distance, calling in an Alpha while prompting a battle. Chance nearly shifted on the spot. Prickles ran rampant over his scalp and down his spine with the need to respond. After the howling subsided a familiar snarl ruffled the air around them, one they’d all heard in the past. Jasmine.
Dir immediately shifted and bolted off.
“Jasmine’s clearly in trouble. Shift and follow, now.” Chance shifted as the last word left his lips, and the others shifted along with him. They followed his lead, running side-by-side, strong and swift, beating a path toward Jasmine’s angry snarling.
To Chance, she sounded worn, maybe already injured, and it didn’t bode well with him on why she was there. If Jasmine was here, where was Olivia?
Suddenly, after at least twenty minutes of angry howls, snarls, and yips, it all stopped.
Chance, Trevor, and Damen rounded a cliff and discovered the sound must have come from above them. Chance looked up at the high cliff and realized the cave ledge they’d discovered earlier was there. The other pack must be on the adjacent cliff. They’d need to find a way up and fast. Dir’s tracks led to a narrow opening. He followed after, trampling up the rocky steep path covered in snow and ice. His paw-footing became challenging on the frozen surface. It required interaction with his razor-sharp claws in order to retain a steady pace.
As soon as Chance reached the precipice, Olivia’s familiar scent blindsided him. Her blood. His first thought instantly went to his vision, how Olivia had shifted to wolf and chased after Smoke. Chance skittered across the snowy ledge toward the cave opening.
Once inside, fear choked him. Smoke’s scent permeated the air along with Olivia’s. The horrific bloody scene on the cave floor about made him puke. He’d witnessed all types of grotesque killing sprees, but when innocents, such as the females strewn across the dirt, became involved for no reason of their own and then ended up like this… He wanted to take the judgment away from the Elder Council and handle it himself.
“Damen took the trail, following after Dir. Olivia’s scent is also on that trail, boss,”
Trevor rushed in beside Chance, blasting into his thoughts, and he didn’t care that Trevor broke protocol with his telecommunication.
“In fact, there are a number of wolf prints through the snow leading into the woods.”
“Olivia was here, and I’m scenting her in wolf-form, also her blood.”
“Yep, I am, too, boss. Let’s go find her before she attempts to shift back.”
Trevor rushed out of the cave, but waited on the ledge for Chance to take the lead.
Chance shot off, back down the path for only a short way until he hit the adjacent cliff. Trevor had given it to him straight, a number of wolf prints laid a path through the snow and Olivia’s scent rode strong there. He’d gotten so focused on that cave, he’d followed her scent up the path instead of down it. Now he had to make up the time for his mistake.
“Sprint, Trevor, we’re late to the party.”
Chance shot off, never looking back to know if Trevor kept up. Olivia filled Chance’s mind, her safety and their younglings. He’d scented her blood in the cave, knew she had some kind of injury, but none of her blood fell onto the path. His tension still kept a tight rein on him, but a part of him relaxed knowing her injury must be healing.
“Slow down, Chance, Trevor, you’re coming in too strong. We’re not sure how long Olivia can hold these females at bay,”
Dir’s voice drew Chance to an immediate stop.
“It appears Jasmine is caught up in one of those wolf-snares.”
“We need to shift to get her free, but these new changelings can turn savage in a heart-beat. It’d be best if all four of us were together for this one, Chance,”
Damen interjected.
“How many?”
Chance shot back.
“Seven, but they seem a bit confused. Treating Olivia like their Alpha, yet they are easily spooked. Two of them have bitten her.”
Dir sounded shaken.
“They are all looking at Jasmine like she’s their last meal.”
Chance moved forward with a slow, steady pace. Jasmine wouldn’t be able to communicate or shift to human-form with silver in her system from the wolf trap, but he wasn’t sure why Olivia chose not to communicate. Maybe she worked at keeping everyone out of her head so Smoke’s pack wasn’t privy to their communication. She’d done it before.
He saw Dir and Damen in human form, tucked back in the trees, thankfully downwind of the rogue females, and Olivia and Jasmine. Chance crept a bit closer and saw Olivia lying like a sphinx, her backside toward Jasmine, and the seven females lay side-by-side facing Olivia. He became mesmerized by her as she yipped and gave off another sound, like cooing toward the females. A couple of them appeared nervous, snapping and slapping their paws on the snow. Each time they did that, they moved an inch or so closer to Olivia. The other females whined, like they were either unsure of what to do or were ravenously hungry and waited for Olivia to give the okay to chomp Jasmine.