Through the Woods

by Cassandra Johnson

  “What did you think I used it…” Elle stopped entirely before her cheeks turned bright red and yanked the tube out of Marik’s hands.

  “I think it’s starting to work,” Donnie mumbled again, his face still pinched in pain, but she could see him slowly beginning to relax. “I think I’ll grab Travis and have him carry me over to the Dentist while this is taking the edge off.”

  “I’m so sorry, Donnie,” Elle said grimacing as she watched him stand. “I really didn’t mean to hurt you.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Donnie said. “You did well …that tooth was gonna come out soon anyway.” Tipping his head towards Molly and Marik, Donnie walked out the back door again, though none of the wolves seemed as concerned for him as the humans did. Elle supposed that in the grander scheme of things, when you were a werewolf, losing a tooth wasn’t very high on their list of problems not that it didn’t still hurt them.

  “Well, I feel terrible,” Elle told Marik after Molly went back outside, the rest of the wolves were still hanging around, many of them talking about how Elle had put Donnie down, which was purely all luck she was sure.

  “You shouldn’t,” Marik said once they were alone and he smiled. “You did what you were supposed to do. You didn’t hold back, and that is what is going to keep you safe.”

  Even though she knew he was right, it didn’t make her feel any better about Donnie. She’d have to do something nice for him. Usually, she’d bake but considering that she had taken out a tooth she thought that might be more like pouring salt on the wounds. Frowning somewhat Elle folded her arms over her chest looking at Marik for a moment before her eyes narrowed.

  “You should be ashamed of yourself thinking I was using that Anal Ez for its intended purposes. Ya nasty!” Elle laughed teasing him but at the expression on his face as he took a step back from her.

  “Easy their killer, don’t make me your next victim.” Marik raised his hands in defense before he leaned in fast and pressed his lips into her cheek. “Don’t be afraid of what you can do. I’m gonna go back out and see if I can’t pick a fight with my brother.” Because honestly, seeing Elle beat the snot out of Donnie had gotten his blood pumping.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Over the next five days, they were all training, and it seemed like their numbers continued to grow every day until Elle’s backyard started looking like the night Lucas had called the meeting. So much so, that Elle began to worry about people noticing how many people were showing up at her house every day. It reminded her of when her grandmother passed away, and she was sure that everyone in Crittenden county had shown up to pay their respects, in fact, Elle recognized a lot of the people now that she was seeing them again in the light of day.

  It was surprising as well as shocking to her that so many of the people who had come in and out of her life were all werewolves.

  “Hey, guys?” Elle stepped out onto the back porch as the sun was starting to get a little lower in the sky. “I have an idea.” She was wiping her hands off on an apron, having given up her training for the day a few hours ago, in favor of a hot shower and cooking supper. As their training sessions usually started early in the morning and lasted throughout the day, she could see new muscles beginning to form and ripple not just her own, but on the wolves as well. It was difficult not to notice the wolves considering that their body temperatures ran a lot hotter than humans and the men, nine times out of ten usually came out of their jackets or shirts when they really started to sweat despite the cold temperature outside.

  “What’s that, darlin’?” Lucas halted, Shaye’s head stuck under his sweaty bare armpit, flailing to get herself out of her big brother’s grip, but all Lucas did was give her a noogy before releasing her.

  “Well we’re fighting werewolves, right?” Elle’s brows arched up. “But, aren’t the other wolves going to like, you know, wolf-out?”

  Elle had been thinking about this since the day they began training, what would have happened if Donnie had wolfed-out on her when she knocked his tooth lose? Would anyone have been able to stop him if he got angry and really went after her? She felt like it was a legitimate question.

  “You mean shift and train?” Shaye was wiping the sweat off her face with the neck hole of her shirt.

  “Yeah. I mean, ya’ll are all going to be shifting because you’re strongest in your wolf forms, and it’s a huge advantage you have over us humans, but do we really know everything that we need to for when you guys are in your second form?” She asked tilting her head slightly.

  “It’s not a bad idea.” Lucas thought aloud.

  “It’s a dangerous idea,” Gaerik said stepping up onto the porch grabbing his shirt from the railing and pulling it back over his head.

  “What if one of us took a bite out of you?” Marik suggested, placing his hands on his hips looking at her speculatively.

  “What if one of the other wolves tries to take a bite out of me and I don’t know how to get away because I don’t know a wolfs weak spot.” Elle countered placing her palm on her hip.

  “We don’t have weak spots,” Gaerik growled down at her.

  “That’s a lie as plain as the nose on your face Gaerik Chaliceman and don’t you dare take that tone with me. I'm serious. I’m not just some stupid human ok. I was stalked not just by you, but a killer who raped me and plunged a fireplace poker through my gut and I lived through it for whatever mysterious reason. I’m as much a part of this as you are and when I bring something to the table that no one else has thought of, I think I should be taken seriously.” Elle snapped back at him, having turned so that she was jabbing her finger into his chest.

  “She’s right.” Lucas intoned trying to sooth the hackles that had risen on Elle’s back, metaphorically speaking. “Tomorrow night, we will all head out to the peak and start from there.”

  “Good. I’m glad it’s all settled then. Supper’s ready if ya’ll are hungry.” Turning back to head into the house it didn’t stop the death glare that Gaerik received as she walked away slamming the screen door shut behind her.

  “Ya’ll go ahead and start dinner without me,” Elle told Molly and Gallen as they were setting the big table up in the living room so that there was enough space for everyone as she palmed her cigarettes off the coffee table and went straight upstairs to her bedroom. Elle wasn’t sure why she snapped at Gaerik like that, but she did know she was tired of being underestimated, especially by him. He of all people, someone who had been watching her for months should have known that she was capable of a lot more than sitting on her butt behind a computer screen. Every day she was getting stronger, she was learning how to protect herself, and there he was every time, making her feel like this weak little woman who needed to sit down on the sidelines and watch the men do their duty.

  Lighting a cigarette, Elle flopped down on the side of her bed as Gregory swatted the door open with his paw and came inside, jumping up on the bed to lay his head on her leg.

  “Hey, buddy.” She exhaled a lung full of smoke as she rubbed his head. “I don’t know what got into me.” She told him, scratching behind his ears gently while he grumbled against her leg. Closing her eyes, she brought the cigarette to her lips again, inhaling as she tried to let the tension in her muscles evaporate before going back downstairs. She wasn’t sure if her grandmother would be proud or ashamed of her for being, well literally a bitch.

  “Can I come in?” Peeling her eyes open she didn’t need to see him, Elle knew who it was.

  “Only if you came to apologize,” Elle told him turning to look at him over her shoulder.

  Gaerik nodded as he stepped inside and closed the door behind him. “Listen, I think it’s a good idea, training while shifting. I didn’t mean to make you feel like it was a stupid idea, that’s not it at all.” He began moving towards a chair she had in the corner of her bedroom. “I’m not like my brother, Marik is good with words. I’m a lot better with actions and my instincts.” He reached over taking the pack of cigaret
tes and lit one of his own. “I started watching you months ago because as you already know, I knew there was something special about you, and I was right, but I never imagined that our meeting and you being in my life would be anything like this.” Gaerik inhaled deeply letting the smoke swirl and halo his head for several minutes before the smoke was released from his nostrils. “But I know that when we shift, we’re more animal than we are human and sometimes instincts can’t be stopped so easily.”

  “You don’t want me to get hurt. I know, that’s what everyone keeps telling me, but guess what, I don’t want to see anyone else get hurt either. But if doing this is what’s going to help us, then I’m doing it and there isn’t anything that you can say or do that is going to stop me.”

  Gaerik let out a little bit of a laugh. “Yeah, I know that Elle, you’re a stubborn pain in the ass. I just wanted to say that I’m sorry.”

  “I’ll accept your apology, but I need you to trust me too,” Elle told Gaerik stubbing her cigarette out in the ashtray on the nightstand.

  “I’ll try.” Gaerik nodded pinching the filter of the cigarette between his lips as he stood up. “I better go shower before we eat.” Sniffing slightly, he glanced at her for a moment before he put his cigarette out too. “No chance you’ll want to join me, right?”

  “Get out of here.” Elle rolled her eyes as Gregory lifted his head up from Elle’s lap and gave him a warning growl.

  “Ok-ok. I’m going.” Gaerik said looking at the guardian lying next to Elle.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Of all the stupid things, Elle had done in her life, Elle didn’t understand why she couldn’t leave well enough alone. She had to go and open her mouth, and now she was seated in the passenger seat of the SUV followed by the entire crew on their way to the meeting place where all the wolves congregated for a shifter training party. Was she nervous? No, what Elle was feeling went far beyond nerves. Elle was ready to sprout wings and fly away.

  Whether Elle liked it or not she was here, and she was trying to get her nerves under control before the SUV went bumping into the clearing but everything that Gaerik said to her the night before was playing mind games in her head tonight.

  Sucking in a deep breath, she looked out the window although there was very little that she could see. Now it was plainly known to her that werewolves did not need a full moon to shift, they could do it at any time, especially if they lost their temper and now she was considering what would happen if one of them lost their temper while they were in their wolf form. Elle swallowed as Marik pulled the truck up next to Lucas’. It was now or never. Climbing out of the passenger side Gallen was right behind her, and she felt the warmth of his presence as they moved around the vehicles.

  “Elle, may we speak for a moment?” Gallen’s soft deep voice broke through her thoughts. Following him to the back of the SUV she paused wondering what he had to say.

  “Are you afraid?” Gallen looked at her, though she couldn’t see his face, Elle could hear the concern in his voice.

  “I am,” Elle told him honestly. Gallen was a good man and despite some of their questionable choices, namely Gaerik’s he had good sons too. It was effortless to see that Molly and Gallen were quickly falling for each other. They were always finding a quiet corner to sit and talking amongst themselves. Elle thought it was sweet that two people, whose partners had already passed on, had begun to find someone that they could share their lives with even if they weren’t bonded to one another. It felt good to have someone to talk to, and Elle realized that Marik was filling that space in her life.

  “You don’t have to do this,” Gallen assured her reaching out to place his hands on her shoulders to center her directly in front of him.

  “Yes, I do. Everyone else is putting themselves in harm’s way --it would be so cowardly for me to back out. Especially since I am the one who suggested this, maybe it’s terrible, but I wish that I was one of you, at least then I would have something more to contribute.” Elle told him, allowing her thoughts to be confessed. He felt so much like a father figure to her now. Elle wondered if it hadn’t been for the uprising would have stayed in Connecticut. Maybe she would have grown up with the twins and known all about this fantastic world that she always believed was merely one of her grandma’s fairy tales constructed to help her sleep at night when she was afraid of the dark.

  “Elle, how much do you remember of the night when we found you?” Gallen questioned.

  “Not very much, I remember Jamal and …what he did. But I can barely remember when ya'll found me. It’s all very confusing.” She told him, pulling the jacket she had on tighter around herself.

  “Elle, when we found you, you were as good as dead and then Gregory bit you. Now, I’ve heard stories and legends about what a guardian’s bite can do, but I think that there is something special in you that his bite woke up.”

  “I really hope that you’re right.” Elle sighed scrubbing her hands through her hair for a moment before tying the blonde locks back into a low ponytail, she didn’t want another one of Molly’s lectures about, ‘And this is how you get killed. Trust me, you don’t want to get your wig snatched by a werewolf, they will take the whole scalp.’

  “I know that I am right. You’re standing here.” Gallen told her before wrapping his arm around her and toeing her along with him as more cars and trucks started pulling into the clearing where they were going to be fighting.

  People were milling around everywhere waiting for their latest training session to begin, some people still weren’t there which she knew would be a bit of an issue. Elle didn’t expect everyone to show up, but she certainly didn’t think Lucas would like wolves coming in mid-fray and doing something that they weren’t supposed to like biting or scratching someone. They were not here to kill, they were here to train the humans on how to handle an attack from a blood-thirsty werewolf.

  Thus far, Gallen’s pep-talk hadn’t done very much to soothe her nerves, but she placed her back against the grill of the SUV and watched as those who knew each other fell into clusters and started talking. Some of the younger wolves were already getting into play fights with each other, most of them were boys. Elle crossed her arms watching them, imagining what Marik and Gaerik must have been like as boys, probably a lot like all the young men here. It must have been difficult to keep such a secret, especially one that put your very life in danger, but you were in a world where she assumed that the human population dominated. Elle glanced towards Lucas standing next to his grandmother and younger sister, people that Elle had known all her life, literally except for a few years in the beginning, it must have been so hard for them. Elle wasn’t sure she would have been able to keep that secret. Elle couldn’t even keep birthday presents a mystery, she was always too excited to see the look on the receiver’s face when they opened the package and found something they had wanted so badly, it was the same story when Christmas rolled around. How many times had Elle given her grandmother presents early because she couldn’t wait for Christmas morning and seeing the joy light up Grace’s face? Too many times.

  Three more vehicles pulled up then, and she turned to see but Marik’s backside blocked her view. He did have a heavenly rear-end. But that was not the point, at least she tried to remind herself as she walked over seeing that the three cars were packed to the brim with werewolves, Donnie being one of them. Elle was a little surprised to see him and still more than just a little embarrassed. Donnie to have a root canal and the tooth rebuilt, the one she had so skillfully knocked out days before. Timidly Elle lifted her hand issuing a small wave towards Donnie.

  “Hey, girl!” was Donnie’s reply seeming non-the-worse for wear as he sauntered over. “How’s the little slugger?”

  Elle shook her head as she glanced at her feet.

  “I’m fine, how is your mouth?” She lifted her head then to take a squeamish look at the werewolf and found that his face seemed to be a shade darker than it had been a moment ago.

  “Were
wolf, darlin’. I heal quick.” Donnie nodded before laughing at Elle’s embarrassment. “I told ya’ not to worry about it, Elle.”

  Donnie had told her not to worry, but she would have been one cold-hearted bitch not to feel bad.

  “You ready for tonight?” Donnie asked, his speech slightly muffled.

  Narrowing her eyes, without much help from the moon Elle could barely see in the dark which she was sensing was going to be problematic once they kicked this pig. Elle was sure that there was at least an inch of new hair growth on Donnie’s face and his teeth looked quite a bit deadlier than they had the last time she’d seen him.

  Just then someone turned the lights of their vehicle to spotlight most of the valley and Elle turned around, noticing that much like the first time she had been to this place. The illumination was coming from the floodlights of Lucas’ truck, and he was standing on the hood looking around at everyone as they gathered closer and talk came to a hush.

  “Alpha sure does love a show,” Donnie whispered standing up straighter.

  Lucas must have taken the queue that no one else was coming, although there was a gathering of thirty or so people standing in the clearing as Lucas cleared his throat.

  “We all know why we are here tonight, no biting, scratching or otherwise maiming and killing one of our own or one of our humans. We came to train, treat this like any other session, only we get to wear our coats and tails.” Lucas laughed under his breath at his joke to which others took appreciation of by shedding their jackets and tossing them on top of cars or even on the ground, very few people, Elle noticed, placed them in their vehicles. She guessed when you were a werewolf you wanted as much of the scent of earth on you as possible. Maybe it was one of those wolf things?