Legend (A Wolf Lake Novella)

by Jennifer Kohout

  Shaking off the sudden sense that she was trespassing, Sam slipped into her tent and into climbed her sleeping bag. The night was already cold, and the ground beneath her hard, but she didn't think it would matter. She was beyond exhausted, her eyes already growing heavy as she reached to turn off the light. Tomorrow, she planned to explore around the lake. Not that I'll find anything, she thought, before sleep took her under.

  * * *

  Shrouded in the shadows at the edge of the forest, Roland watched the woman zip herself into her tent. A moment later, the light went out and the campsite grew quiet and still. Foreigner, he thought. Prey, his wolf corrected. Roland agreed.

  He lingered, his eyes never straying from the tent and the woman that slept inside, unsuspecting. In the dark, his eyes began to glow gold, the low light illuminating his face and revealing a jagged scar running from temple to chin.

  Turning, he loped off into the forest.

  * * *

  When she woke, Sam's first thought was that she hoped someone had gotten the license plate number of the truck that had run her over. Groaning, stiff and sore muscles protesting violently, she slowly crawled out of her tent.

  "Oh, wow." The sun was just starting to rise up from behind the ridge line to the east, its early morning rays reflecting off a low level of fog that blanketed the lake. As she watched, the fog slowly receded, leaving the lake to sparkle in the sun. It was an amazing transformation, one that had happened countless times before with no one there to bear witness.

  Boiling some water, Sam made herself a cup of instant coffee. Choking back the bitter brew and wishing for her espresso machine, she listened to the sounds of the forest waking up. There were bird calls and insects buzzing that she couldn't identify and somewhere a chipmunk chattered noisily. She was out here alone, she thought, but for the first time in years, she wasn't lonely.

  There was too much life for the place to be quiet, but it was peaceful. She felt relaxed, in harmony with her surroundings. In harmony, she thought, mentally snorting at the thought. Sam had never been in harmony with anything, not even when she sang in her car. It wasn't something she strived for. She existed in her world, moving from one place to the next. Still, sitting cross-legged on the ground outside of her tent, Sam had to admit that she felt...content. It was a unfamiliar feeling.

  Tossing out the last of her coffee, Sam brushed her teeth, pulled her hair back into a pony tail and grabbed her day pack. She wanted to take a look around, see some of the area surrounding the lake. She didn't expect to find anything. That wasn't why she was here. There would be no answers to her questions, no information to explain how the legend surrounding Wolf Lake had gotten started. Her journey out here had been a fuck you to Andrew and the others. A way to prove to herself and to them there was value to her research.

  Setting out, she circled the lake, following a path that veered away from the water, taking her deep into the forest before curving back to the water's edge. The going was slow. She was careful to watch her footing, stepping over exposed roots that threatened to trip and trap her. A fall out here could be fatal. Something as simple as a broken leg could leave her unable to move and exposed. There was no cell phone reception and no one knew she was out here. She could die a slow, painful death waiting for rescue.

  Taking a break, Sam sat on a fallen log, sucking down a gel pack and making notes in her journal. The book had been a gift from her foster mom when she'd aged out of the system, the old leather book a mishmash of research, notes, to-do lists, phone numbers and scribbles. It held bits and pieces from her life, most of them important only to her.

  Flipping to the end of the book, she read through her notes on Wolf Lake. Compared to many of the other legends she'd researched there were precious few notes on the lake. She'd first come across mention of it while researching another legend. The lake and its alleged close proximity had caught her attention while the scarcity of stories had driven her to uncover its secrets.

  Earlier in the year, she'd made a trip out to the small town of Roslyn. A three hour drive from where Sam had left her car, Roslyn had its history in coal mining. She had spent the day walking streets lined with boarded up windows and "for lease" signs. The town had definitely seen better days, but it had a rural charm that let you know the locals still cared for their town.

  Settling in at Roslyn's last remaining diner, she dug into a piece of pecan pie and tried to get the locals talking about the legend of Wolf Lake. Instead, she got cold stares and a clear message to leave. It was the first time she'd ever encountered a local population that didn't boast about their local lore. In fact, the patrons at the diner had grown politely hostile, their agitated whispers following her out the door as she quickly paid her bill and left.

  Thinking back, Sam wondered what the locals would think if they knew she'd found the lake. Something told her they wouldn't invite her back for more pie.

  CHAPTER THREE

  LEGENDS...

  ROLAND LED NAFARIUS back to the campsite. His alpha's anger at learning about the human had been satisfyingly swift. Cold fury had swept down the pack bond, causing a ripple of unease among the pack.

  "Show me," Nafarius ordered quietly.

  Following his beta, Nafarius fought the urge to shift. His wolf was restless, ready to hunt down and kill the trespasser. But he needed the relative calm that came with being in his human form.

  They reached the campsite, finding it empty and the woman gone.

  "She couldn't have gone far." Nafarius circled the tent, scanned the area surrounding the lake. "Find her," he ordered and watched his beta slip off into the trees.

  Roland tracked the woman north, her scent marking a clear path through the forest. Fucking foreigner, he thought, the stink of the city desecrating the pack's hunting ground. Hunting her down was exactly what he should be doing. Not this search and observe bullshit.

  Roland stepped off the scent, stopped. Turning, he lifted his nose to the wind. At the lake, he thought and found her sitting in the sun reading. Keeping to the shadows, he watched and waited.

  A few minutes later, Nafarius joined him, silently stepping from the trees. "You're growling," he said in response to the steady vibration emanating from his beta.

  "She doesn't belong here," Roland snarled.

  "Doesn't matter," Nafarius said, watching the woman. "She's here. We'll deal with her."

  "How?" Roland demanded.

  Nafarius' head swiveled around slowly, blue eyes locking with brown. The moment stretched, grew thin. Nafarius' hackles rising at the challenge, his wolf eager for violence. As beta, Roland could get away with much but there was a limit when it came to questioning Nafarius, and he'd just stepped on it.

  Roland darted a glance past Nafarius, his lip curling at the sight of the woman before returning to his alpha. He had no wish to rumble with Nafarius but everything about this was wrong.

  * * *

  Sam felt a prick of unease. Lifting her head, she scanned the edge of the forest. There's nothing there, she thought, but some long forgotten instinct warned her that there was a predator nearby and she qualified as prey.

  Nafarius saw the woman lift her head, watched as her eyes slipped over their hiding place.

  "She knows we're here," Roland growled, shifting anxiously.

  "No, she doesn't." Reaching out, Nafarius rested a reassuring hand on his beta's arm.

  Roland nodded, his wolf calming under the light touch of his alpha.

  The hair on the back of her neck refused to settle. She tried shaking off the sensation, reminded herself that there was nothing to be afraid of. It didn't work. The quiet had turned from peaceful to anxious, the world around her waiting with a kind of dark anticipation.

  Looking around, she realized how open and exposed she was, the lake blocking any retreat behind her, the forest too far away to offer any sort of quick camouflage. Suddenly understanding how a rabbit felt caught out in the open with a hawk circling above, Sam tossed the gel wrapper in
to her pack along with her journal, slung it over her shoulder and hurried back to her campsite.

  Nafarius and Roland followed the woman, careful to stay out of sight, little more than shadows blending with the shade.

  Back at camp, Sam tried to shake the feeling of being watched. She desperately needed a bath but didn't like the idea of being naked, vulnerable. This is ridiculous, she thought. There is nothing out there! The only one likely to get a show was Jack the rabbit and she doubted he would be interested.

  Telling herself how ridiculous she was being, repeating it over and over again, Sam unzipped her tent and pulled out a fresh pair of clothes.

  Nafarius could see the woman muttering to herself, her voice carried away on the wind. He wondered what she would sound like. Would her voice be light and feminine or dark and sultry? She fascinated him, out here alone. It was rare that anyone came this far and never a woman. He watched as she pulled a bag out of her tent and headed to the lake. Realizing that she planned to bathe, Nafarius stood immobile, watching as she stripped out of her clothes.

  Sam stopped at the water's edge, glanced back over her shoulder to her campsite. Maybe just a sponge bath, she thought, in the privacy of my own tent. There had been little water between her car and Wolf Lake, personal hygene reduced to a sponge bath using travel wipes. She was too many days without a shower and desperately wanted to feel clean. Casting one last look around, she quickly pulled her shirt over her head, unsnapped the front clasp of her bra and shimmied out of her jeans. Dropping everything to the ground, leaving it to deal with later, she walked the last few feet to the water.

  Nafarius watched the woman step into the water, noted the way her nipples hardened in the cold, felt his cock and his wolf stir with curiosity.

  "Son of a...," Sam gasped, her breath catching in her chest as she stepped into the frigid water. She'd forgotten about the snowrun off. The crystal blue water had deceptively appeared warm. Shivering, her teeth chattering, she forced herself forward and quickly dipped under the water. Rubbing vigorously, she washed off a layer of grime and rinsed her hair before heading back to shore.

  * * *

  "She doesn't belong here," Roland snarled.

  Nafarius stood silently watching as the woman emerged from the lake. Cold water ran down from her body in rivulets, dripped from full breasts, accenting generous curves.

  "We can't just..." Roland started.

  "Bring her," Nafarius ordered. Beside him, Roland dropped to his hands and knees, started to shift. "And Roland," Nafarius said, staring down into the angry eyes of his second. "Don't eat her. I want to know who she is, where she comes from."

  Roland grunted, his face already starting to elongate.

  Nafarius didn't say anything, just held the man's gaze until Roland finally gave an almost imperceptible nod.

  * * *

  Still cold from her bath, Sam sat before a small fire warming her hands and drying her hair. The night was quiet, the unsettling peace from earlier having morphed into something that calmed, soothed. She still wasn't sure what had set her nerves of edge.

  Come on, after everything you've read about this place, is it any wonder you got spooked?

  Damn, the Andrew sound-a-like was back.

  Ignoring him, Sam dug out another MRE, eating and staring up at the sky. She was surprised by how many stars were out. Had she ever seen so many stars? Back home, she'd never had much use for star gazing. Foster kids weren't generally encouraged to look at the stars, let alone reach for them. Keep your head down, your nose clean. Those were the words of wisdom her social works had passed on, reiterating them with each new foster home.

  She had done just that, remaining invisible until she'd turned eighteen and graduated high school. Aging out of the system had been anti-climatic, moving from ward of the state to adult between one breath and the next. In reality, nothing had changed. She was just as alone as an adult as she had been as a child. The only difference was now nobody was paid to pretend to care.

  Jesus, she thought, pity party for one! Maybe it was time to go home. She certainly didn't want to sit out here and wallow. Not without a bottle of beer or that hand-crank blender. More and more, she was starting to see the benefits of such a gadget. Smiling to herself, Sam turned back to the fire.

  "Holy shit," she whispered. Standing on the other side of the fire was the biggest fucking wolf she had ever seen. Not that she'd seen that many. The zoo had a small pack in captivity, the largest among them similar in size to a large dog. This...this looked like a small horse...or like it could eat a small horse.

  Slowly, Sam rose to her feet stopping when the wolf let out a low growl of warning. "Hey there," Sam said, pitching her voice low. "Easy boy. Boy? Yeah, you look like a boy." Realizing she was babbling (and at a wolf no less!) she frantically searched her brain for what little she knew about wolves.

  Don't run, face the animal and back away slowly. Heart pounding, her fight or flight response screaming for her to run, she forced herself to put one foot behind the other in an effort to increase the space between her and the wolf.

  "It's okay," she cooed softly, not sure if she was reassuring the wolf or herself. In response, the wolf pulled back its lips revealing sharp canines that gleamed in the firelight. The growl, which had been nothing more than a low rumble in the animal's chest, turned into a vicious snarl freezing Sam in her tracks.

  Roland lifted his head and howled. A moment later the sweet scent of the woman's fear exploded in the night air. She was talking to him, her voice pitched low, the tone calm. Roland ignored her, uncaring of her fear, concerned only with the safety of his pack and the elimination of a threat. The need to destroy burning in his gut, Roland launched himself at the woman, the heat from the fire singeing the downy fur of his belly as he sailed over the flames.

  Sam turned and fled. Heart pounding, legs pumping, she dove for the forest, the darkness swallowing her whole. Branches slapped at her face and snagged in her hair. Behind her came the unmistakeable sound of a large animal in pursuit.

  Roland reveled in the chase. Muscles straining, his heart pounding, he felt the crush of leaves beneath his paws, the scent of dirt and debris rising up in the air. Ahead of him, he could see the woman running, hear her heart beating and the blood rushing beneath her skin.

  Her fear was intoxicating, the scent like a beacon drawing him to her even as she tried to escape. He was surprised how fast she was, keeping her feet and even jumping fallen logs in her mad dash.

  Sam forced herself to keep moving. Already her legs were tiring, her muscles straining for oxygen as she pushed them to their limits. The forest floor was uneven, the underbrush thick, forcing her to take an erratic path. Trees passed by in a blur, their limbs reaching out, grabbing at her clothes, cutting her face. Sam stumbled, chocked back a sob.

  Roland watched the woman stumble, surprised when she managed to catch herself and stay on her feet. A second later she turned towards the lake, headed for easier terrain. Smart woman, he grudgingly allowed. Issuing a series of short barks, Roland watched as two more wolves joined the chase.

  Sam gave a cry and swerved to the right as another wolf darted out from the trees coming between her and the lake. Behind her, she felt the the brush of a large body passing behind her legs as a third wolf nipped at her heels. Belatedly, she recalled that wolves hunt in packs...

  Roland watched Marcus and Jeff herd the woman away from the water. He felt pride as they worked together, anticipating each other's movements and driving the woman further into pack territory. They had covered more than a mile, most of it over rough, uneven forest floor. It wouldn't be long now before the woman gave up, surrendering the chase.

  Sam knew it was over. She couldn't keep running. They had driven her away from the lake, taking away the one landmark she could have used to get her back to camp and from there, home. Her thighs were on fire, her legs growing heavy with exhaustion and she was lost in the woods. It was just a matter of time before she gave out comple
tely.

  Roland saw the woman stagger and his wolf responded, launching himself into the air and slamming into the woman's back.

  Sam felt herself go down hard, her body connecting with the ground with bone jarring force. The breath was knocked from her body, her eyes and mouth filling with dirt and dead leaves as she skidded to a stop. She struggled to roll over, staring up at the stars littering the night sky.

  Next thing she knew, the wolf was there, his head blocking out the sky and filling her vision.

  Sam started to scramble back, her heels frantically digging into the ground as she propelled herself backwards.

  Roland leapt onto the woman's chest, pinning her to the ground. Lips curled back, teeth bared, he snarled and snapped at her, watching as she turned her head and exposed her neck.

  Sam turned away from the attack, closed her eyes. "Please," she pleaded.

  Roland recognized the gesture, his wolf immediately responding to the surrender of one weaker to him and backed off.

  It took a minute for Sam to realize that the attack wasn't coming. Slowly, she turned her head and found the wolf watching her.

  Tipping his head back, Roland howled the end of the chase. Almost immediately, his voice was joined by the rest of the pack still moving through the forest until the night rung with a hauntingly beautiful chorus.

  Shaking as the last of the adrenaline left her body, Sam pushed herself back until she bumped against a tree. Hands trembling, she brushed the hair back from her face and watched in fear and fascination as two more wolves broke from the forest and headed for her. Frantically searching the ground around her, Sam hoped for a large branch or a stick - anything to help her fight off the danger.