by Ranae Rose
“A bear shifter,” Mandy clarified. “His ancestors have inhabited these mountains for ages.”
“Oh.” Violet continued to stare, a look of confusion on her face.
“Aren’t there bear shifters in Alaska?” Mandy asked. She’d never inquired, but had assumed that if there were bear shifters anywhere, there were bear shifters in Alaska – the state was known for being home to all sorts of bears.
“Yeah, there are,” April said.
Violet remained silent and continued to look confused, though she hadn’t stopped staring in Ronnie’s direction. Mandy decided to move on – obviously, this wasn’t the first time Violet had seen a bear shifter. Maybe she hadn’t realized that they were present in the Smoky Mountains.
“What’s that you’ve got, Ronnie?” Mandy asked, eager to change the subject. The silence was awkward, and when it was quiet, all she could do was worry about Jack.
“A change of old clothes,” Ronnie said, nodding at the bundle he carried beneath one arm. “I came to help Jack with the addition.”
Mandy eyed the tarp that covered the doorway. It fluttered in a light breeze, crackling and admitting a burst of fall air that was scented with the pleasant odor of fallen leaves and a hint of evergreen needles.
“I’m gonna take a look if you don’t mind,” Ronnie said, nodding at the fluttering tarp. “I haven’t seen it since Jack began construction.”
“Sure,” Mandy agreed. “Here, I’ll show you.” She crossed the room, grateful for something to do.
A rush of rich scents whirled around her as she pushed aside the tarp, and she breathed deeply, inhaling the fresh air. The piney aroma she’d detected in the cabin was strong – stronger than even the forest accounted for, and accompanied by a familiar masculine scent. “Jack.” She scanned the tree line for any sign of him as she stepped into the skeleton of the partially-erected nursery, holding the tarp open for Ronnie.
Jack emerged almost soundlessly from the forest, in his human form and as bare as the day he’d been born. For once, there was something to distract Mandy from the sight of his body – a large wolf draped over his shoulders, its dark brown coat flecked with streaks of black and white and … crimson. Blood matted the fur on one side of Daniel’s head and had trickled down to stain his pale muzzle.
“Jack! What happened?” Mandy rushed forward, her heart skipping a beat as she noticed the blood on Jack’s body too – there wasn’t a lot of it, just a few scratches and scrapes, but after all the worrying she’d been doing, it set her nerves on edge. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” he said, meeting her eyes and sinking to one knee, gently lowering his burden to the ground. Daniel’s bloody head lolled and came to rest in the grass. His eyes were shut.
“God, he’s not…” Remembering that the others – including Clarissa – were inside, Mandy lowered her voice. “He’s alive, isn’t he?”
Jack nodded. “Head wound. Looks fairly serious, but he should heal up just fine once the moon comes out.”
Mandy glanced at the sky – the sunlight had begun to fade. It wouldn’t be long until nightfall, and then the moon would work its healing magic on Daniel’s body. “What happened to him?”
“One minute,” Jack said, and shifted into his wolf form. In one quick leap, he disappeared into the house, sending the tarp flying in his wake.
A clatter of footsteps sounded from inside, and the others came pouring out.
Mandy donned a neutral expression and refused to frown down at Daniel’s unconscious body as the others raced to her, exclaiming.
“What happened?” Clarissa dropped to her knees beside Mandy, her usual cheerfulness replaced by something like panic. “Jack, what happened to him?” She looked over her shoulder at the doorway, and Jack emerged, now wearing a pair of jeans.
“Haven’t been able to ask him that myself yet. Found him unconscious a few miles outside of our territory. There were signs of a struggle. Looked like he tumbled down a bank and hit his head on a rock.”
“A struggle with another wolf?” Clarissa asked, staring down at Daniel again, her eyes wide and shining with moisture.
“Yeah,” Jack said, his voice softening a little. “I know it looks bad, but he’ll be good as new before midnight.”
“I know,” Clarissa said, burying a hand in the thick fur behind Daniel’s shoulders. Daniel’s side rose and fell steadily beneath her hand – at least he was breathing normally. Though Mandy knew Daniel would be all right, she sympathized with Clarissa; it was all too easy to remember how it had felt to watch Jack bleed, suffering from a bullet wound and waiting for the moon to rise and heal his body.
“I’ve got a first aid kit,” Ronnie volunteered from where he was still standing in the skeleton of the unfinished room, a few yards from the group. “I can patch him up if you’d like.”
“Thanks,” Clarissa said, burying her hand a little deeper in Daniel’s fur. “Will someone help me move him inside the cabin?”
“I’ll do it.” Ronnie stepped out from beneath a wooden beam and crouched beside Daniel. Even the large wolf looked small in comparison to Ronnie, who scooped him up easily but carefully and carried him inside the cabin, ducking around the tarp.
Inside, Ronnie laid Daniel in the center of the main room, on top of a blanket that Jack fetched. Clarissa waited by Daniel’s side as Ronnie went to his truck to get the first aid kit.
“Ronnie is great at tending injuries,” Mandy said, settling at Clarissa’s side, determined to make her feel just a little bit better, if that was even possible. “He went through medical training as part of his ranger education, and he’s treated all kinds of wounds – even serious bullet wounds.” Mandy left out the fact that it had been her bullet wound Ronnie had treated, and that the shot had nearly killed her – that was a story for another time.
“Really?” Clarissa asked, her voice calmer than it had been outside.
“Really. I’m sure he’ll be able to keep Daniel as comfortable as possible until nightfall.”
Ronnie cleaned the wound above Daniel’s ear. Clarissa helped – Ronnie didn’t need assistance, but refrained from saying so. Meanwhile, Mandy settled on the couch beside Jack while the others lingered, saying little as they all waited for night to descend.
“Any clues as to whether the wolf that did this to him was a shifter or an animal?” Mandy asked. In the background, the sound of Ronnie tearing a piece of medical tape was the only noise.
“Not by the time I got there, but I’m hoping Daniel will be able to shed some light on that once he comes around.”
“Had he been unconscious for long by the time you arrived?”
Jack shook his head. “The blood from his wound had barely begun to dry. I would’ve followed his attacker’s scent trail, but I couldn’t leave him like that.”
Mandy nodded and reached out to trace one of the numerous scratches that marred Jack’s body, shallow but smeared with blood. They were the marks of thorns and jagged branches – he’d walked in his human form, naked and in his bare feet, for miles, carrying Daniel over his shoulders.
Daniel awoke at nightfall, his hazel eyes blinking open as the moon began to shine. Inside the cabin, he was mostly hidden from its light, and the low canine moan that rose from the pit of his chest evidenced his pain. Mandy watched along with the others as he came to, and Clarissa stroked his cheek, her fingers gliding gently over his dark fur.
“We need to get him outside,” Jack said. “It’ll take forever for him to heal in this weak light.”
Ronnie knelt and began to pick Daniel up again, but Daniel snapped his teeth and snarled, pulling himself to his four feet with obvious difficulty.
Only the fact that Daniel was hurting enabled Mandy to forgive him for nearly biting off her friend’s hand.
Ronnie rose, saying nothing.
Daniel took a step, nearly fell, and continued anyway. Nobody tried to stop him as he shuffled toward the door, though everyone watched apprehensively and C
larissa rested a hand on his shoulder, burying it in his fur as if she meant to guide him. After several painstaking moments, he made it through the door – Clarissa held it open for him – and stumbled across the porch and down the steps, collapsing on the front lawn.
The night boasted a half moon – the pack’s namesake. Its glow diffused the early night sky with healing light, silvery and abundant enough that Daniel let out a sigh of relief as he sank into the grass.
Clarissa settled at his side, her fingers still tangled in his fur and her face tilted back so she could gaze at the moon. The bandage Ronnie had wrapped around Daniel’s head stood out against his dark fur, true white in the moonlight, and the nearby tree line had been reduced to a muted riot of red and gold hues. As Mandy leaned against a porch beam, she couldn’t help but think that the sight was romantic in a way. Even the coppery odor of blood leant to the atmosphere – maybe that was because she and Jack had fallen in love in a haze of danger, moonlight and blood.
Jack sighed, interrupting the silence. “I’m gonna kick his ass.”
“Jack…” Mandy admonished, reaching out to grasp one of his hands. “Someone’s already done that for you.”
As Daniel lifted his head and turned his gaze to Clarissa, Jack said something under his breath about him deserving it. “I don’t know what he was thinkin’. Lucky he didn’t get himself killed.”
Jack contented himself with a couple more threats, then waited in silence until Daniel finally shifted back into his human form.
Mandy quickly diverted her gaze, trying not to notice how Daniel’s bare backside glowed in the moonlight. “I’ll get him something to wear,” she said, hurrying past Jack and the others and into the cabin.
Inside, she selected a pair of jeans from Jack’s wardrobe. Daniel was muscular like Jack, though leaner and taller. The jeans might be a little short, but they’d certainly be better than nothing. Folding them hastily and clutching the bundle of denim to her chest, she made her way back outside.
Clarissa had pulled Daniel’s head into her lap and was stroking his hair. As the screen door squeaked faintly on its hinges and Mandy emerged, Daniel lifted his head and sat up, finally turning to look at the others.
“Here, I brought you these,” Mandy said, stepping down the short flight of stairs and offering the jeans she’d fetched from the cabin.
Clarissa rose and took them, quietly thanking Mandy, who promptly headed back toward the porch. “Do you want the rest of us to go inside?” she asked, keeping her voice low as she approached Jack, who was watching Daniel with a stern expression.
“No. We had this fight in private last time. I want all of you to stay.”
Daniel had put on the jeans and risen. The hems fell an inch or two above his ankles, but at least Mandy was able to look at him and Clarissa together without feeling like a voyeur. Daniel faced Jack, a hint of defiance in his eyes as he pulled off the bandage, revealing a scar that extended about an inch past his hairline, forming a stark line across one corner of his forehead. Clarissa stood by his side, her shoulders squared as she held his other hand tightly with one of her own.
Jack descended the stairs and stood in the grass as the others watched from the porch. “You disobeyed two of my explicit orders, which were to not leave Half Moon territory and to return to me immediately if you found any sign of the outsider we’ve been searching for.”
Daniel raised his chin and looked like he wanted to cross his arms, though Clarissa’s grip on his hand prevented him from doing so. “If I’d come back for you, the outsider woulda been long gone by the time we made our way back. I never woulda caught him.”
“A damned lot of good that did you,” Jack said, his voice cold. “You’re lucky you’re not dead. And you’re lucky I came and dragged your ass back into Half Moon territory where you shoulda been the whole time.”
Daniel grimaced. “At least I took action. You’re such a control freak, as if all your rules make you a true alpha.”
Jack’s tone was calm – a little too calm for Daniel’s good, maybe. “I’m the alpha of this pack, whether you like it or not. If you’re unwilling to do anything besides cause problems for yourself and the rest of us, you can pack your bags and head back to Alaska.”
A flash of something strange passed through Daniel’s eyes before his expression hardened, and he said nothing.
“Yeah, I thought not,” Jack said. “Going back to Alaska ain’t an option, is it? You didn’t come back to Tennessee because you missed the scenery, and you sure as hell didn’t return for my sake – there’s somethin’ you’re not telling me. Somethin’ that happened in Alaska.”
Daniel maintained his silence as Clarissa paled beside him, the color draining from her normally light-caramel colored skin.
“I’m not gonna make you tell me what it was. Not now, anyway. You can take your sweet time, because you’re family, and family is always welcome in this pack, as long as they can follow the rules.”
For a moment, Daniel’s gaze flickered toward the ground, but when he looked up again he met Jack’s eyes, his gaze colder than ever. “Like it matters. How can you think you have any right to judge me as a subordinate when you’ve never had a taste of true responsibility? Sometimes I wonder if you’re even a shifter, let alone an alpha. You haven’t even marked your so-called mate.” He shifted his gaze suddenly to Mandy, and he narrowed his golden eyes as he zeroed in on the hand Mandy had placed on the porch railing. “What’s that, an engagement ring?” He snorted. “If I hadn’t seen her shift myself, I wouldn’t believe she’s anything but a human.”
Jack went from man to wolf in the blink of an eye, ruining his jeans in the process. Pieces of torn denim fluttered to the ground like blue confetti, raining around a huge, dark wolf. No sooner had Jack’s paws touched the ground than he leapt, throwing himself at Daniel.
By the time their bodies collided, they were both in their lupine forms. Mandy’s heart jumped into her throat, cutting off her cry of surprise as the two wolves tumbled to the ground in a blur of snapping jaws and guttural growls. Snarling abounded, and they attacked each other with all the viciousness of fighting dogs.
“Jack!” Mandy cried, her voice finally working. “Stop!” Her gut twisted with a sickening sort of horror as Jack and Daniel fought – she’d never seen a werewolf fight before. It was terrifying, like something out of a nature documentary, only one of the struggling animals was someone she loved, and the other was her packmate.
The two wolves stopped fighting just as suddenly as they’d started, freezing with one on top. They looked so similar that it took a few moments for Mandy to realize that Jack was the victor – or at least, that was what it looked like. He’d pinned Daniel to the ground and was leering down at him, a constant, menacing rumble emanating from the pit of his chest.
Daniel lay on his back, his golden eyes narrowed as if he hated every second of it. But as Jack kept him there, Daniel pinned back his ears – a gesture that was easily recognizable as submission, regardless of the fact that Mandy had never seen a fight like theirs before.
Jack stepped back, allowing Daniel room to rise.
Daniel leapt up quickly from the ground, met Jack’s gaze for a moment, and then lowered his eyes.
Mandy had been thrown so badly off-kilter by the fight that she hardly had any feelings of shock left to spare when the two wolves became two naked men – Jack first, and then Daniel. Both of them were covered in scratches and bruises, their bodies marked-up from head to toe.
“I won’t allow you to talk about my mate like that,” Jack said, his voice still half-growl. He looked ready to shift back and launch into combat again if Daniel spoke another word against Mandy.
Daniel must have recognized that fact, because he glowered silently for several moments. “All right, your choice of mate is none of my business, but how you act is. As alpha, you represent the rest of us; it’s not just you and your little family anymore. If you’re not gonna own up to your responsibilities, you
don’t deserve them.” Daniel turned on his heel and started across the lawn, toward the road that was hidden by a screen of pines, apparently indifferent to the fact that he’d left every last stitch of his clothing behind on the ground, torn to shreds.
Clarissa, who hurried to his side, turned to look over her shoulder, her wide eyes brimming with moisture as she eyed the group while Daniel led her away. A tear streaked down her cheek, the trail it left shining in the moonlight. Then she turned, her hair swinging in a dark curtain as she disappeared with her mate, silently slipping beyond the tree line.
The porch’s floorboards creaked as Noah moved.
Jack held up a hand as Noah descended the steps. “Let him go, unless you wanna go with him.”
“What?” For a second, Noah looked as stricken as he had earlier that day, when Jack had berated him. “You know I don’t wanna stomp off in a rage with Daniel; I was only gonna try to talk some sense into him.”
“I reckon that blow to the head knocked out what little sense he had in the first place,” Jack said, still watching the place where Daniel and Clarissa had disappeared. “He’ll come back when he finds it again.”
Noah seemed less sure. “And what if he doesn’t?”
Jack turned back to the rest of the group. “Then he doesn’t.”
“We need the information Daniel has about his attacker. What if he doesn’t return, Jack?” Mandy eyed the tree line where Daniel had disappeared, a sense of unease prickling down her spine.
Jack sighed. “Daniel’s never liked admitting when he’s wrong. He may lick his wounds for a little while, but he’ll come around.”
“Do you want me to tell you what happened in Alaska?” Noah stood beside Jack, his shoulders rigid.
Jack shook his head. “Before you came back alone from the patrol, I started somethin’ I need to finish. Y’all can go home for the night. Just be careful – though I think you’ll be fine this far inside our territory. Whatever’s out there has been avoiding us on purpose.”
Jack turned to Ronnie. “Sorry you came out here for nothin’.”