Howl And Roar: Wolf and Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (Howl And Growl Series Book 2)

by Cloe Cullen

Remus glanced back at Jorah as if the answer was simple. “We killed them all. When they came back down, we made sure to not let a single one live.”

  “Oh, and Lowell?”

  “He’s up ahead, being treated by some healers we brought along,” Remus said. “His wounds were pretty serious, and still opening up, so we’re trying to get him to rest, though he’s been pretty antsy about Nyssa’s safety.”

  “I don’t blame him for worrying about such a beautiful girl,” Jorah said, winking at Nyssa. Rolling her eyes, she blushed.

  Remus grunted. “Just come on already, let’s go.”

  So, the group traveled into the Oldwood, a forest Jorah had only briefly set foot in the day before. A whole new world laid before him...he just hoped he wouldn’t be the only bear shifter to experience it.

  ***

  Nyx shuddered under the Seers’ gaze as she, Finn and Keanu kneeled in their cave. Because of the morning light streaming in the front of the cave, the sconces upon the walls were rendered useless, her shadow stretching enough to touch the feet of Dallan.

  Red-faced and delirious with anger, Dallan marched forward, tapping his staff against the hard ground with such an intensity the sound echoed off the cave walls endlessly, making her ears ring.

  “You let them escape!” Dallan screamed. “And not only that, but Jorah was taken with them! I will not tolerate this.”

  “I’d say he was the one who broke them out, just like the two guards reported,” another Seer suggested. “If anyone’s to blame, it’s Jorah, your son, is it not?”

  Steam seemed to pour out of Dallan’s ears, but he remained resolute in his stance, making Nyx shake with fright. “No! Jorah might have been enticed by the girl, but he’s not stupid enough to let our enemy escape. That is certain death!”

  “If I may!” Nyx found herself saying, unable to remain silent any longer. She expected the Seers’ to command silence, but it seemed she would be allowed to speak after all.

  “Speak, young one,” Dallan said. “What is it that you’d like to share?”

  “Let us go retrieve Jorah,” she said quickly, her voice and heart quivering. “Us three can get him back. So please, let us go!”

  Dallan stroked his matted, ugly beard, thinking. “Do you truly believe you can bring him back, by any means necessary?”

  “I’d stake it on my life.”

  Nodding, Dallan and the other Seers’ mumbled agreements. “Alright, then I charge you, Nyx, to lead these other two and a group of ten others down the mountain to retrieve Jorah...and to kill anyone who knows about us.”

  Startled by that proclamation, Nyx looked up. “Kill? Are you sure?”

  “Don’t question our judgement, Nyx,” Dallan said. “You will kill all others, especially those two wolves that journeyed to our home. Understood?”

  Composing herself and frowning, Nyx rose, hearing Keanu and Finn rise behind her as well. “As you command.” Swiveling on her feet, Nyx nodded at the unhappy Keanu and Finn and led them out of the cave, ready to venture all the way down the mountain to see Jorah once again.

  Chapter Fifteen: Nyssa

  T he way back to Gray Creek was much less stressful than the trip down from the Northern Mountains, and Nyssa was very grateful for it. Not only were she and Lowell safe, and Jorah, but now they traveled with Remus and the other shifters.

  No Changeling would stalk them through the woodland now, not with some many around. Especially with both Bronwen and Magnolia accompanying them as well.

  The past day had been so frantic and strange that Nyssa found herself wondering why she wasn’t more beside herself at all the new information. In one day, the remnants of the Bear Clan had been revealed, in hiding on top of the Northern Mountains, a tale that remained as tall and long as the fifty years it remained moving from mouth to mouth. Any other shifter would have been at a loss for words, and maybe the version of her two years prior might have. Having Jorah along only eased the transition from their presence being rumors to the clear as day truth.

  Speaking of Jorah, she hadn’t exactly been away from his side for long ever since they first met. From the secret cave of his she woke up in, to the journey to the Seers’ cave, to the break out of the cave prison to the escape down the mountain, he’d been there with her the whole journey. Even Lowell couldn’t have said he’d been there, though she knew she couldn’t blame him for that. As they slowly, methodically traversed the ranging Oldwood, she found herself watching Jorah, who walked just behind her and Remus. His dark eyes were constantly swiveling from one side to the other, his eyelids fluttering at the misty air, his nose wrinkling with the scents of the forest. She wondered what is like to witness the Oldwood for the first time; Nyssa couldn’t recall the first time she ever wandered into the thickets of the Oldwood. Truth was, she was born within arm’s reach of the leaves and branches and wildlife.

  Jorah’s experience must have been more like what she experienced atop the Northern Mountains, in absolute awe that people even lived up there, though there was clearly more to see in the woodland than the mostly empty snow drifts.

  As Remus began to speak to Bronwen and Magnolia, Nyssa dropped her pace, falling in beside Jorah deftly, so as no one would notice besides Jorah himself. Aware of her presence, Jorah turned to grin at her. “This is nothing like what I saw from the edge of the forest. Do you people really live here in this gigantic forest?”

  Finding his sudden enthusiasm charming, Nyssa giggled. “You think this is big? You have a long way to go if you’re to understand this forest. The Pack is still finding new crevices and nooks every other day. We know the sea is off to our west, but a rare few ever venture that far out and actually return.”

  “Maybe one day I’ll be one of those rare few!” Jorah said energetically.

  Raising a brow, Nyssa eyed him. “You plan to stay down here then?”

  Jorah’s expression morphed quickly, but his grin returned moments later, though not as silly this time. “Well, it’s not like I can return to the mountain tops. I doubt the clan would even let me in, you know, unless your leaders find some way to negotiate with the Seers. But they’re stubborn old coots, after all…”

  There was something about the way his head tilted down and his mouth twitched at the thought of never seeing his home again that made Nyssa’s imagination go wild. She knew he was hurting, and her heart went out to him, but right now all she had enough trouble controlling her senses. Not even with Darius did she get all antsy like she was now. “What about Finn, Keanu, and Nyx?” She thought to say. “And Dallan...he’s your father, right?”

  Cracking his neck, Jorah frowned. “The others will be fine without me...I don’t know whether they’ll choose to sneak away to come down with us, though. Nyx probably won’t, and Dallan? Pfft, it’s hard to think of him as a father now, not when he’s so stuck in his ways.”

  “But it’s still something.” Nyssa reached out and touched his arm, causing Jorah to watch her intently. His skin was cold and still adjusting to the temperature of the warm forest, but his defined muscles were nice to feel on her fingertips, the smooth stalk of his arm. “My father’s dead, so is my mother. But my father was just as stubborn as yours, actually to the point where he was killed because of it, but that doesn’t diminish what he’s done for me.”

  His mouth twitching, Jorah leaned in closer to Nyssa. His skin may have been cold, but his breath was hot and steamy, fogging her gaze for a moment. “Then we’re the same. My parents...my real parents vanished just after my birth, left me on Dallan’s doorstep...or cavestep, I should say. Went to travel the continent and never came back. Looks like we’re in the same boat twice over, huh?”

  Like a soothing elixir of cider, Jorah’s voice never failed to tickle the loving side of her. Smiling, Nyssa leaned in, matching his confidence. “Well, clearly Dallan did something well if you turned out like the lady-killer you are now.”

  Jorah chuckled at her response, shaking his head. “Sharp as a needle, aren’t you
? Yeah, fine, maybe Dallan did do something right, at least. Doesn’t change the fact he’s still more of a prick than ever.”

  A lull in the conversation saw Jorah’s attention get grabbed by a stray rabbit that darted from thicket to underbrush. His eyes followed it easily, his carved jaw stretching once again into a fatal, sexy grin.

  Clasping her arms behind her back, and ignoring her brother’s backwards, concerned glance, Nyssa stared after the rabbit as well. “So, why did you save me?”

  “What kind of questions is that?” Jorah said. “Isn’t that obvious?”

  “Not to me, not yet.”

  “For starters, it was because I felt the need the help you,” Jorah said as he continued to gaze out at the forest. “When I saw you and Lowell fighting the Changelings, I found myself fascinated, but unable to take a step forward. But then I saw you collapse, shift back to your human form. You were so beautiful I didn’t even think you were a real shifter at first, more like a forest nymph, the kind that sticks around to help trees and animals grow.” Not expecting such a stark compliment, Nyssa blushed bright red, glancing away, but only enough to where she could still eye Jorah. He turned, noticing her redness, and continued on. “Your flowing blonde hair, those two beautiful blue orbs in your eye sockets, your radiant skin...I couldn’t let you just perish beneath a ring of monsters.”

  “Well, thank you, then,” was all Nyssa could muster.

  “It’s not my fault you caught my eye,” Jorah said. “There aren’t many single females in the Bear Clan that are around my age. There’s very few of us, if you haven’t figured out yet.”

  “Yeah, I got that part.” And she did, but one woman did pop up in her mind at his comment. Nyx. Wasn’t she single, and even closer to his age than she? There was some history between them...something Jorah hadn’t mentioned, and while Nyssa wanted to ask Jorah directly, she was afraid of how he’d react. Before she could decide on how to approach him with that particular topic, a heavy hand gripped her shoulder from behind.

  Startled, Nyssa leapt forward, only to turn to see the hand belonged to none other than Lowell. He clicked his tongue at her reaction, wincing at the fact that he scared her. “Sorry, I’m still regaining my strength, learning how to cope in the meantime. Didn’t mean to scare you, Nyssa.”

  Bandaged with extra cloth all over his body, and shirtless, Lowell still remained an impressive sight, his abs and pecs bulging under the ribbons of cloth. Some green and brown mossy type of herbs seeped out of some of the cloth, and when he caught Nyssa spying it, he pointed at it. “Herbs from the healers Remus brought along. Doing wonders, no matter how icky it looks.”

  “Oh, arnica and goldenrod, right?” Jorah commented, sniffing the air around him. “And yarrow...yeah, that stuff does wonders for closing wounds.”

  Lowell stared at Jorah as it he’d just spit in his face. “So, you know a few things about herbs, do you?”

  Shrugging, Jorah smiled. “Comes with trying to survive the frigid storms up top. It’s easy to misplace a foot and cut it wide open on a sharp rock hiding beneath the snow. Or it’s even easier to take a fall, poke a few holes in your body. Herbal healing has saved me more than once.”

  “You just become more interesting by the minute, don’t you?” Nyssa said, teasing.

  Jorah chuckled, nodding. “I do try my best.”

  Snarling, Lowell got in front of Jorah, blocking Nyssa from his dark eyes. “You two seem to be getting along well enough, aren’t you?”

  Making no attempt to hide his hostility, he stopped the three of them from following the group ahead. Jorah must have noticed the hate radiating from Lowell’s body, because his smile was gone, and replaced with a hard stone-like exterior. Half a head taller than Lowell, Jorah appeared to tower over him, his muscles beginning to strain the thick tunic that clothed his torso. “Yeah, is that a problem? If you haven’t noticed, I’m in need of some new friends.”

  “Maybe you’re getting a little too friendly with Nyssa?” Lowell said, unwilling to back down. “If you don’t remember, you’re the one that brought her up the mountain in the first place.”

  “To save her life, and yeah, I remember. I remember how you couldn’t, though I am grateful you helped me.”

  “I wasn’t trying to help you!” Lowell said, his voice rising. “I was trying to take Nyssa back from you. The Changelings still got in my way.”

  Stunned by the sudden hostility from her friend, Nyssa marched forward, grabbing his arm, making him wince. “Enough, Lowell! What’s gotten into you?”

  “Me? What’s gotten into you!” He retorted, leveling a twisted look at her. “He brought you up there, brought us both straight to those leaders of his to lock us up.”

  “That wasn’t his fault, Lowell,” Nyssa tried again. “Please just stop.”

  Out of the corner of her eye, Nyssa spied Remus jogging back to them. The rest of their group waited up ahead, watching and waiting from a distance. In particular, Magnolia’s shrewd red gaze latched onto Jorah and her, unnerving her more than Lowell’s rant. “What’s going on back here? Why did you three stop?”

  “Lowell here has decided to pick a bone with me,” Jorah said, stepping closer to Lowell. “Apparently he thinks he can take me in that withered state of his.”

  Growling and snapping his teeth together, Lowell leaned forward. “Of course, I can take you, you fuzzy fat bear. You wouldn’t even be able to catch me!”

  “Enough!” Remus shouted. Everyone snapped their attention to him. “I’m losing my patience really quick, so both of you shut up and get moving already.” Lowell, hurt, grunted but shuffled forward at Remus’ command, glancing at Nyssa. Jorah grunted, but made to move forward as well, until Remus stopped him. “You, I get that Lowell might have been antagonizing you, but you need to ignore him, alright? It helps no one if you two get into a scuffle.”

  Sighing, Jorah nodded, and made to move on.

  “One more thing, Jorah,” Remus said, giving them both pause. “If you do anything to put my sister in harm’s way, your life in the Oldwood won’t be as nice as you think.”

  “Remus!” Nyssa said, ready to slap her brother across the cheek.

  Jorah simply chuckled and nodded again. “You have my word, wolf.”

  Grinning, Remus pushed past them both, gesturing for them to catch up. Falling back in line, Nyssa remained by Jorah’s side the rest of the trip.

  Chapter Sixteen: Jorah

  G ray Creek was nothing like Jorah thought it was going to be. In truth he hadn’t a clue as to what he thought would be. At least he didn’t need to speculate anymore.

  The walk from edge of the Oldwood to the main hub of the Pack was much shorter than he expected. Looking just like the wooden shacks up on the Northern Mountains, Gray Creek was littered with houses, ranging from small to large to elongated. There were so many homes his eyes stung after going wide at the sight. And not only that, but hundreds of shifters were continually bounding up steps or down small slopes and walking into and then out of these homes. This much traffic boggled Jorah’s mind; he wanted to watch every single shifter as they want about their day, carrying bushels of herbs and plants, and baskets of fresh fish that still wiggled in the containers. A few shifters even went to work on various game, skinning and cutting up the hunted animals.

  As they moved further in the trees began to vanish, creating an open area where shifters crisscrossed everywhere. A wide, lengthy pond sat dead center, it’s water rippling from a few rocks some little kids were trying to skip across.

  The amount of smells that crossed his nose was overwhelming as well. From burning meat to fresh lilac to the salty scent of fish and the strong sweat of the shifters as they went about their work.

  It was safe to say this was all new to Jorah, the sheer amount of people working and living in the same area. He wanted to stroll around, talk to them all, learn how they felt about living in the Oldwood. Maybe he’d get his wish, as many of the shifters strolling about began to look
his way...no, their way. The whole group was being noticed. At first, he thought some would glare at him, since he wasn’t native, but he realized quickly that everyone was looking not at him, but rather at the two Vampires and Nyssa’s brother. Remus, Bronwen and Magnolia marched along quickly, not even appearing to care about the stares and spit flying from some mouths.

  Well, Jorah supposed that if the Bear Clan and Pack shared any traits, it would be their distrust of Vampires. Apparently after two years, the Vampires still hadn’t been entirely accepted.

  So Jorah followed after Remus, Nyssa at his side, continuing on until Remus had them stop by the pond. There he let the other remaining shifters go on home for a good day off. He ordered Lowell to go to the healers once again, to make sure his wounds were truly closing and that his mind wasn’t muddled by any of the after effects; of course, he argued, glared at Jorah once or twice, but ultimately grunted and left, ignoring Nyssa as she tried to wave him a goodbye.

  Honestly, as much as Lowell had come to put Jorah on edge, he knew the look on his face well. It was the same as Nyx’s when he first parted ways with her years ago; she’d been so angry with him about their ended relationship, and she spit at and ignored him for the better part of a few months. This wasn’t exactly the same, but it was enough to make Jorah feel sorry for the guy.

  “And you two,” Remus continued. “Nyssa, take Jorah back to our house and stay there until I tell you otherwise. I don’t want people to get into a panic if they realize Jorah is a bear shifter. For now, he just smells slightly sweaty, but other than that there’s no indication.” A few female shifters brushed by the group, all eyeing Jorah with grins and giggling gestures. As they walked away, they all looked back over their shoulders at him and winked, making his cheeks burn and Nyssa frown. “Just stay low for a while, that’s all I’m asking,” Remus said. “I’m going to bring this to Darius’ attention for the time being, so I’ll probably bring him back to speak to you, Jorah.”