Wolf's Wager (Northbane Shifters)

by Isabella Hunt

  Nor was there a safe place to make camp, never mind a nearby water source. All of us were parched and exhausted, the kids drooping toward the earth like plants that hadn’t seen the sun in weeks, and the adults struggling not to do the same. Baby Collette fussed against her mother’s shoulder, Drue was on the verge of tears, and my father was dozing on a rock.

  I met Gabriel’s eyes, and he looked too young and too old at once.

  What if there’s nothing there?

  I swallowed and shoved that down. The wolves and the markers hadn’t led us wrong so far. Even still, I suddenly wished I could scout ahead. I’d be ten times faster on my own.

  What if I couldn’t find my way back to my family, though? Or worse, what if something went after them while I wasn’t here? Anxiety clawed up my spine.

  “I need a break.” Cassidy’s voice cut through my thoughts and sliced across my brain.

  I was about to retort when my father spoke up softly. “I think we all do.”

  Whipping around, I almost shook my head at him. He’d never said that before. All these weeks in the wilderness, Dad had always been the one to rally us when I couldn’t. But now he leaned heavily on his walking stick, unkempt and exhausted.

  “Maybe tomorrow, Rea,” Mom added and rubbed her eyes.

  No, I wanted to scream. Whatever danger stalked us was getting too close. Winfyre was our only hope at this point. The only reason we’d made it was a combination of luck, the wolves, and this hidden power rising in my blood.

  A power I didn’t understand, didn’t particularly like, and could barely control. Most of the time, I tried not to think about it. Until the wolves came, I’d outright denied it, although I couldn’t deny that their watchful presence had allowed me to sleep more easily at night.

  “All right, you guys rest,” I said reluctantly. “But I’m going to go ahead.”

  At once, there was a chorus of protest, with Drue, Bix, and Gabriel clamoring to come.

  I shook my head. “I’m not going far.”

  “You shouldn’t go off on your own, Rea,” my mother said tiredly.

  “Exactly.” Linh stood up. She was a compact, petite Vietnamese woman with glossy golden skin and dark hair. “One of us is going with you, Rea. You do too much as it is.”

  Sitting next to her, my cousin Shelby nodded as Drue moved in closer, squeezing her mother. Both Bix and Drue had been adopted, but you'd never know it. Drue shared Shelby's worried eyes and her thick, lovely hair, while Bix shared Linh’s wide grins and vibrancy.

  And if I’d learned anything these last few weeks, it was how a family could emerge in the most unlikely of circumstances. Family was not always your blood. No, sometimes it was those with whom you bonded so tightly, it was like your souls were fused together. People you’d do anything for.

  My eyes went to Jemma and Risa. The latter straightened and pulled out a long hunting knife, casually resting it across her lap. The sisters shared a grin before looking at me and nodding.

  Of all the people I trusted to take care of our little family, I trusted Risa and Jemma the most. Only because they’d been on their own for weeks before they’d run into us. They met every problem with a ruthless fearlessness. However, Jemma had Collette, and Risa had taken a bad fall a few weeks ago, spraining her wrist. It was still acting up, and I’d been avoiding a situation so as to not reinjure it.

  Even still, Risa was the oldest, wisest, and fittest amongst us. She was also the only one who had an inkling about my abilities. She knew I’d be okay.

  “I’d feel better if you were all together, here,” I said pointedly to Linh and glanced at her kids.

  Linh and Shelby exchanged a look. While Bix and Drue had been resilient, the two women had both had recurring nightmares of losing them. Finally, Linh reluctantly nodded.

  “I’ll be back before you know it,” I said. “And maybe I’ll have good news.”

  Everyone nodded and smiled, but I could see the fatigue in their faces. We were running on nothing but hope at this point. Blowing out a breath, I shrugged out of my pack, glad to be relieved of its weight, and set off.

  Walking along the barest hint of a path, I turned in a circle more than once, eyes flashing from the ground to the sky and back down again. Looking for any sign that there was a secret and safe place hidden just over the next hill. Or down in the next valley.

  As I walked, the forest deepened into the quiet of evening. Even though the sun still lingered, the shadows became thicker and deeper. I knew I should be looking for camp. Instead, I was looking for hope.

  But I found nothing, and anxiety grew into quiet, desperate fear.

  I was about to turn back when a soft hum of warning stopped me in my tracks.

  Turning slowly, poised for an attack, I reached for my knife. I sensed eyes on me, and adrenaline surged through my veins. A branch snapped behind me, and I bit back a scream.

  I whirled with a harsh breath. “I know you’re there. Get lost, or I’ll gut you.”

  I saw a blur of movement out of the corner of my eye, and I raised the knife, ready to fight. A large lynx landed in front of me. Before I could even blink, she’d shifted into a tall, blue-eyed, blonde-haired woman. An Amazon with cat-like grace and raised eyebrows.

  “You’re lucky I remember you,” she said coolly. “I don’t take well to threats in our territory.” I stared at her, and then she grinned, tossing back her cropped hair. “You made it.”

  “Fallon,” I breathed, and my knees went weak with relief. She caught me before I hit the ground. “Oh my God, I was starting to think I’d imagined you.”

  “No such luck,” Fallon said and squeezed my arms as she helped me back up.

  Fallon Deacon was dressed in camo pants and a black tank, every inch the badass female superhero. Knives were strapped to her back and waist. She’d found me months before, wandering the edge of a small town outside of Vancouver, panicking and trying to make plans. She’d told me about Winfyre Ridge, as well as how to find it, and how we could start over. How it was safe for shifters and stasis alike. In the months after, I’d sometimes wondered if I’d dreamed her.

  But she was here, grasping my arms and holding me upright. Always coming to my aid when I needed her, like a guardian angel of the wilderness. She was tanner and more muscled than when I’d seen her last, with a harder glint in her eye.

  “Expected you weeks ago,” Fallon said and looked me over. “I was starting to get nervous. But you’re almost to the Ridge.”

  “Really?” My voice broke a little. “Because I’m not sure I can make it much farther.”

  “Yes.” Fallon beamed at me. “Where are the others?”

  “Not far behind,” I said and glanced down the darkening path. “Oh God, the kids will be so happy. Even they were starting to lose hope.”

  “It is oddly provident,” Fallon said dryly, and she patted my back, looking me over. “My brother, cousin, and I happened to be over this way. We were heading back, and I caught your scent.” Her nose wrinkled in amusement. “There’s an outpost not too far from here. You’ll stay there with us tonight.”

  I nodded, not trusting myself to speak, and jumped when two huge forms crashed out of the underbrush. For a moment, my vision blurred, and I saw two giant bears, one black and one white.

  When it cleared, I saw two giant men, towering over us with broad shoulders and thick arms. Both were dressed in fatigue pants and dark shirts. One was dark, with Fallon’s piercing blue eyes, a scruffy face, and a clenched jaw. The other was a pale blond with dark gray eyes and faint stubble, his face impassive.

  Fallon glanced back at them. “Meet Reagan Grace,” she said. “Came all the way from Seattle.” The dark-haired man’s face softened, and he nodded. The blond man merely gave me a passing glance and went back to studying the woods. Fallon made an irritated sound. “She’s one of mine.”

  “Hello,” I said in an uncertain voice. While I’d had an immediate kinship with Fallon, I couldn’t suppress the uneasin
ess I felt around unknown shifters. It was hard to forget—

  “You’re safe,” the blond man said, and his gaze returned to mine so fast that I started. “Northbane territory is a refuge.”

  “Nice greeting. My cousin Kallen, or Kal,” Fallon said, jerking a thumb at him and rolling her eyes. “We were born within a month of each other, and our family thought it would be cute to name us like we were twins.”

  A faint smile flitted over Kal’s face. “And dress us alike.”

  Right, because shifters are not monsters—they’re people. They lost just as much in the Rift.

  The Rift.

  Looking into the silver-sharp eyes of a shifter, it all came back.

  A cataclysmic event that had occurred over a year ago, a split-second of light bursting free from a seam of the universe. Not earthquakes, tsunamis, or volcanic explosions, but energy itself.

  Once that vein had been ripped open, powers previously lost to time took over. They twisted the word, rewriting names, destinies, and DNA alike. Whatever had been locked away came pouring through, and powers were reborn, humans changed, and monsters freed.

  The latter were the Riftborn; the former were the Excris.

  As the days passed after the Rift, colors deepened, and electricity dwindled away. Within weeks, the world became this strange amalgamation of old and new, where the wilderness was a refuge, and the cities were war zones.

  Overnight, it seemed, the Stasis Bureau appeared and started registering people. At first, it seemed logical. Stasis became the term for anyone who hadn’t gained abilities in the Rift.

  But all too soon, the horror stories started.

  Shifters were being rounded up because the SB wanted to discover more about the Rift. People were vanishing, bounty hunters appeared, and fighting broke out.

  All the while, no one knew what was going on. Over a year out, and we still knew so little. It didn’t help that the crumbling powers that be tried to mask it and threw more power behind the SB.

  Rumors started that the SB wanted to use shifters as weapons, in order to replace the ones lost. There’d been stories that mechanized weapons stopped working or acted up around shifters.

  Linh, who’d been a prominent physicist, had put forth a theory a week or so ago, that maybe there was a higher concentration of Rift energy in shifters. That could explain the interference. But, then, we’d seen our four shifters use flashlights.

  We’d all had plenty of time to think about the Rift, even though I tried not to. However, I’d privately started to believe stasis status was a lie, a false comfort for us to cling to. The real question was when and how Riftborn energy manifested. I mean, I’d thought I was a stasis until I entered the woods and encountered the wolves.

  Still, I planned on pretending to be a stasis until I could figure it out. Too many horror stories to risk doing otherwise, no matter how safe Winfyre claimed it was. Besides, we’d come all this way for the kids and Cassidy. They were the ones in danger.

  “Drue and Bix would sympathize,” I said out loud. “My cousin likes to color-coordinate them.” Or liked, rather.

  "Kids?" the other man asked and broke into a smile. It made him look more like Fallon.

  “Yes, don’t you listen? Garrett, or Rett, my baby brother.” Fallon waved a hand at the dark-haired man. “Looks like a big and gruff, scary warrior bear, but he’s basically Winnie-the-Pooh.”

  Rett hunched his shoulders. “Sorry, I can’t keep track of all your recruits and refugees. And I love kids. I used to coach…” His throat worked, and he looked away.

  The Rift had happened over a year ago, and yet it was like it was yesterday.

  “Anyway,” Fallon said and cleared her throat loudly. “Let’s go get ’em.”

  I hope I know what I’m doing, I thought to myself as I followed the three shifters.

  The jubilation of my family when I returned was a sight to behold. Risa danced around with Gabriel, while Jemma held back tears, as did Shelby, Linh, and Drue, who ran around and hugged everyone. Bix followed the shifters around with open-mouthed admiration. My own parents were dazzled, especially when Rett and Kal picked up our bags without hesitation.

  Only Cassidy was sullen, clearly not wanting to talk anymore and muttering in an undertone. When I dropped back to check on her, she gave me a scathing look.

  “That’s Fallon?” she asked in a tone of contempt. “I don’t know, sis, how can we trust these people?” Her last word was filled with barely contained rage. “I mean, what’s in it for them?”

  I looked at Kal, gravely answering my parents’ questions, then Rett, beaming at the kids, and Fallon, who now had Collette strapped to her. That flash of unease I’d gotten earlier was long gone, and my instincts were quiet. Content.

  As I’d trusted my gut with Fallon, I did with Rett and Kal, too. We were safe.

  “Nothing, they’re just good people,” I said. “And yes, I trust them.” I reached out to squeeze her arms. “Please, relax. Things are going to work out.”

  "How?" Cassidy asked, and she whipped her head to the south. "Sometimes I think we should've never left Seattle. We don’t know what would have happened.”

  “Yes, we do.” My chest rose and fell. You would be dead. Along with Bix and Drue. “We barely made it out—” I stopped and took a deep breath. “Cassidy, please, I’m exhausted, and we’re finally here. Be polite and respectful. After some rest and good food, we can discuss this like adults.”

  “Don’t patronize me,” Cassidy said coldly and flounced ahead, arms folded.

  That was the last thing she said to me that day.

  Chapter Three

  Reagan

  The Northbane shifters put us up in a large cabin with cots, running water, and a stove. Where they’d found generators or how they’d gotten this place working, I didn’t care. Rett and Kal made dinner, while Fallon helped my family settle. I took a shower and luxuriated in the smell of soap, laughing and crying as the dirt of weeks swirled down the drain.

  For dinner, we had real food. A delicious and hearty vegetable soup prepared by Rett. After, the Deacons would not allow any of us to help clean up. Later, Kal procured a chocolate bar for the kids to split, and they shared it with the rest of us. The rare smile on Kal’s face made his cousins laugh and tease him mercilessly, while Drue shyly swooned.

  I thought my heart would break from the intensity of my gratitude, joy, and relief.

  The kids and Rett had already struck up a lively friendship. Even baby Collette was drawn to the big bear. After he was done with cleaning up, Rett held her in one arm with ease and joyously agreed to babysit when Jemma laughingly asked. Then Fallon and her brother swapped off telling hilarious stories in front of the fire.

  Yet I noticed all three of them were somewhat reticent about Winfyre.

  While they’d assuaged our fears about living and food, they wouldn’t say much else. More than once, I saw Kal’s eyes flick up and around the room, as though afraid unfriendly ears might be listening. When he caught me looking, he’d put a finger to his lips, and I’d nodded.

  Either way, with a roof and a real blanket, I slept deeply and happily on the floor that night.

  I awoke out of a dream of Lazu, with his two-colored eyes, one blue and one gold. They’d blazed in his dark face. He’d been running through the woods, looking for someone, and finally stopped on a cliff, lifting his muzzle to the moon. His howl had been long and demanding.

  It wasn’t the first time I’d dreamt of the wolf, but it had never been so clear before.

  I found Fallon outside, inhaling the clean morning air and frowning to herself. She brightened when she saw me and waved me over. Rett and Kal were long gone by the looks of it.

  “They had to leave early this morning,” Fallon explained, and stretched. “I’m sure you’ll see them again soon in any case. Rett already loves those kids.”

  I nodded and glanced back at the cabin. Almost everyone was up, although it was a later start for us than usual.
With a jolt, I realized we wouldn’t be doing this again tomorrow.

  As long as… “You’re sure there’s room?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Fallon said, and this time I saw her eyes sweep above us. She caught my eye and gave me a warning look. Something twisted in my stomach. “Not many have made it as far as you.”

  “Do you know why?” I asked in an undertone.

  She shook her head, and we both jumped as Cassidy screeched at the kids about something. I rolled my eyes, and Fallon’s lips pursed. “Is your sister going to be able to pull her weight?”

  “Yes…” I said. Although the answer sounded more like a question than a statement.

  “I told you before there was a predator’s price to live here, Reagan.” The lynx shifter folded her arms and sighed. “It’s not a joke—it’s the way it has to be. Otherwise, we’ll descend into the same kind of anarchy as out there.” She nodded to the south. “Our Laws are strict but fair. We take care of our ailing, elderly, and children, of course.

  “However, everyone else, especially young and healthy people, need to be useful. Otherwise, Winfyre won’t survive. We won’t survive.” I nodded and swallowed, looking down. Fallon sighed. “Listen, I’ll do what I can, though.”

  “What?” I asked and looked up at Fallon.

  “I’ll try to find a job that suits your sister,” she explained. “Ease her into Winfyre.” Clapping her hands, Fallon entered the cabin and said, “Pack up, and let’s get to the gate.”

  Walking alongside Fallon that morning, I found out that we were on the very edge of the Northbane shifter territory. Winfyre Ridge was directly east of us, stretching both north and south along the coast. As we walked along, I spotted no dwellings or change in the wilderness, but a weight lifted off my shoulders. The closer we got to the gate, the safer I felt.

  “Here we are,” Fallon said.

  I raised an eyebrow, and Cassidy made a rude sound. My first look at Winfyre was not what I was expecting. Then again, I wasn’t sure what I had pictured—giant gates and a bohemian camp stretching behind?