Once we were on the road, Raelya smiled over at me. “So, it is official?”
I grinned. “It is. I’m an SII agent in training.”
Raelya reached over and squeezed my hand softly. “Congratulations, Agent Dakota.”
I laughed. “I don’t think we get a title.”
Raelya grinned at me then turned her attention back to the road.
I smiled to myself as I settled in for the ride. A lifelong dream had finally come true. I was going home to my pack, to a place that felt like home again. And my girlfriend and I had termed out our relationship in a way that didn’t exclude Raelya from the picture. I was happy and at peace. And not even grumpy Mr. Michaelangelo could take that away.
23
Territorial Disputes
Things were quiet for a couple of weeks after that. Raelya and I talked things out and as it turned out, she was perfectly fine with the situation that Amorie and I had come to. The realization did not change much about our relationship except that I didn’t have to worry so much about the time we spent cuddling, or fret about the division between what I wanted and what my wolf pulled me to do.
It’s not like I wasn’t interested in Raelya at all. I loved spending time with her, and now that I knew Amorie was okay with it, snuggling up with her, whether as wolves or girls, was always enjoyable. I still struggled with accepting that monogamy wasn’t a requirement for a solid relationship, but Amorie reassured me every time I expressed my concerns to her, and pointed out to me that I was mostly just afraid of betrayal. Amorie was not Rhi, and I had to accept that our relationship dynamic was what we’d chosen to make it. It was alternative, sure, but that didn’t mean it was bad.
For several days, I mostly laid on my bed reading my training materials with either a fluffy tan wolf or a golden-haired Raelya for company. Amorie called or texted most nights and we spent as much time as we could together despite the distance via the magic of video calls. After overstaying her intended visit with me before, she had unfortunately had to double down on her work to repair some unfortunate damage that her absence had done to… whatever it was she was working on at the time.
She’d informed me sadly that her mistress was displeased with her for showing such irresponsibility and that she would need to spend more time working for a while to make up for it. As a result, no date nights for a couple of weeks, and we had to take our face-time edgewise. I missed her, but I didn’t want to cause her any more trouble.
Missing Amorie was hard, but I was hardly lonely for once. Living in the pack house was just as wonderful as I’d hoped it would be. Interacting with Ralof and Elisa on a daily basis made my heart happy, there were usually at least a couple of other wolves around beyond them, and Raelya was a constant source of comfort. I fell into the routine of the house with ease and happily accepted my share of the chores, bills, and responsibilities required to make the household work.
It was nice having a real family.
Most nights, if Raelya did not snuggle up to me in my bed, I ended up crawling into hers. Sometimes she was a wolf on the end of my bed keeping my feet warm, and sometimes she was a girl by my side, but always, she was a welcome addition to my life.
As I settled into the house, I learned the natural rhythms of the pack’s regulars. While Ralof, Elisa, Raelya, Steph, Kenneth, and Elliot all lived at the pack house, there were a dozen other wolves who made at least weekly visits, sometimes staying over the weekend. At least a dozen more than that were always present when the pack gathered for holidays, meetings, or the full moon hunt. Andrei was more like that friend who hangs out at your house so much he may as well move in, but he had a house of his own somewhere in Pigeon Forge.
Nita made several trips out to Knoxville in search of a house and Raelya was happy to drive me out to meet her so we could help show her around; I was happy to help her out, also to keep her company and get to know her better. Additionally, we used the time to discuss my training and magical control, and sometimes to practice my command of Hellfire. By now, I was pretty sure we were becoming friends.
The first stage of SII training involved me catching up on my understanding of the supernatural world, which was mostly what I’d been doing for the past weeks. I’d been reading what felt like an endless stream of materials meant to act as a primer to the “real” training I’d be starting as soon as I finished the “basic education” stage. Nita had stayed in touch throughout her house-hunting endeavors, checking in on my progress and updating me on hers. As soon as she settled in, we’d start meeting at the Knoxville SII office for further training exercises and more Hellfire control practice.
All in all, life was going well and I had plenty to keep me busy between training and being part of a large, social household, and stealing time with my girlfriend in Nashville whenever I could.
For a couple of weeks, things were peaceful and quiet.
The last Friday of July rolled around and half the pack had come in for the full moon hunt. I was excited because this was the second time I’d get to go out hunting, and now that I knew what to expect, I couldn’t wait to get out there in my four-legged form and run down a deer with my pack.
The memory of the first hunt was still fresh and exciting and while I kept expecting the fact that I’d eaten raw deer meat and savored the blood in my mouth to bother me at some point, it never did. It had felt incredible and I’d enjoyed every moment, every sight, sound, smell, and taste. I’d savored the feeling of the hunt and I was ready to feel it again.
The hunt was scheduled for Saturday night, right on the full moon, but most of the wolves who would join us for Saturday’s hunt were already present that Friday night. Jack and his crew came in late that afternoon and I’d had to leave the room to avoid a confrontation. I wandered out back and stared off into the woods for a while, cooling my heels, but trouble didn’t let me off that easily. Jack came out back and sauntered right over.
I glared up at the man beside me, dressed once again in the same sort of clothing I’d expect to see in an old Western film with that ancient Stetson on his head. Jack took the opportunity to meet my eyes and our wills began the battle for dominance once again.
Jack was older than me, stronger and tougher, and doubtlessly more experienced. The human part of my mind knew full and well that he was the more dominant between us, but my wolf had decided to side with my feelings about Jack; she didn’t like him one bit, and she was just as stubborn as I was about giving into him. My wolf side and my human side alike battled it out with the old werewolf against all reason, against all odds.
I turned to face him directly, a snarl escaping my lips which sounded way more pathetic coming from my human mouth than it would have from my wolfy mouth. Jack growled and it resonated in his chest, a deep, rumbling sound that I could feel as much as hear. I felt him pressuring me to give in. I felt his wolf’s insistence and the drive to give into that was stronger than I’d imagined.
But I was as stubborn as the day was long, and I absolutely refused to give in to a man who didn’t respect women.
I fought him as hard as I could, and when I realized his wolf was starting to pressure mine back I laughed and turned away, starting to walk back toward the house. “Aren’t you a little old for a staring contest?”
Jack grabbed my shoulder and spun me back to face him. “You keep tryin’ to slip outta this and someone’s gonna get hurt.”
I held up my hands and wiggled my fingers in an immature gesture. “Oooo. I’m shakin’ in my boots.” I mimicked his accent as best I could. Jack’s nose wrinkled and I reminded myself that the last fight with him hadn’t gone so well. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Look, I don’t like you. I don’t like your attitude toward Raelya, and I will never submit to the authority of a man who disregards a woman’s choices.”
Jack narrowed his eyes at me. “You don’t have to like it, but we do have to settle this one way or another. As for Miss Raelya, I got nothing but respect for her—”
> I scoffed. “Right, if by ‘respect’ you mean you’d pay at least three cows and a goat for her hand.”
Jack growled again quietly then took a deep breath and turned back to face the woods. “Listen here, kid. You’d do yourself a favor if you didn’t go around stickin’ your nose in other people’s business.”
I smiled a humorless smile. “You made it my business when you deigned to threaten me over her. Disrespecting my friend aside—”
Jack wheeled around to face me and growled loudly. I took a step back out of instinct, but I growled in return. Jack tensed as if he were ready to take our confrontation a step further, but then suddenly relaxed and turned away again. He took a deep breath and let it out then shook his head as if something disgusted him. “Heard you’re seein’ that vampire. So what are you doin’ messin’ around with Miss Raelya anyway?”
I took a deep breath of my own and did my best to calm down. “Frankly, it’s none of your business what me and my girlfriend decide to do with our relationship, and Raelya has made it clear that her love life isn’t your business either, so why are we still having this discussion?”
Jack stuck his hands in his pockets. “Just seems to me it ain’t fittin’ for you to go draggin’ her around if you’re otherwise engaged.”
“Well, since you’re not part of the relationship in question, you don’t get a vote.” I turned on my heel and started back for the house.
Jack all but yelled after me, “Hey!”
I turned to face him with a glare. “What?”
“I mean what I said, little sister. You watch yourself. Or there’ll be hell to pay.” He glared daggers behind his words.
I suppressed the urge to shiver and rolled my eyes instead. “Whatever, Jack.” I turned and crossed the rest of the yard to the back door and strolled inside as if nothing was wrong.
To my credit, I made it to my room without breaking the facade, but as soon as I closed my door, I growled in frustration at the exchange. Jack had hit a nerve with me when he’d kept trying to dictate Raelya’s relationships for her, but more than that, he’d managed to press on the issue I’d been struggling with on my own. What was I doing with Raelya if I was seeing Amorie?
I reminded myself that Amorie and I had decided to try this polyamory thing, and we were all adults and had every right to decide on such things for ourselves. It was none of Jack’s big dumb business and everything would be fine if he’d just butt out.
Raelya must have heard me fuming because she stuck her head in a moment later. “Dakota? Are you all right?”
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Yeah. I’m fine.” I turned and smiled at her as brightly as I could manage. “What have you been up to?”
Raelya stepped in, smiling. “Just reading and listening to Die Walküre. It is lovely.”
I smiled more honestly. I’d bought her a copy of Wagner’s famous album earlier in the week when she’d expressed interest in classical music. I didn’t know much classical myself, but Wagner was classic enough to overrule my lack of musical education. “Awesome. Glad you like it.”
Raelya could obviously sense my frustration. I knew because she came over and hugged me without saying anything more about it. I hugged her back and sighed. Being with pack made everything better, but being with Raelya, my friend, my wolf, the one who I’d claimed… Being with her was just that much better than being with pack. I sighed out my anger and relaxed against her for a moment. Raelya bumped her head against my head lightly and I pushed back against her.
After a moment, I felt better. “You hungry?”
Raelya nodded. “Mmhmm. I was going down to see what is for dinner.”
“Let’s go then.” I took her hand in mine, and as I did, Jack’s criticisms resurfaced. I didn’t give a damn what he thought of us, but his words had echoed my own insecurities on the strange, new kind of relationship I now shared with my girlfriend and our respective… uh, well with Raelya and Miralina.
For the moment, I was content with that. I wasn’t sure I was ready to expand our relationship to more than cuddling, but knowing that Amorie wouldn’t be hurt if we did certainly made life a lot less stressful. Still, I didn’t want to lead Raelya on, and I knew I didn’t have all the answers yet. Fortunately, Raelya hadn’t seemed to need any more than I’d been capable of offering. In fact, she seemed to be handling everything far better than I was. Actually, she seemed perfectly fine with the whole thing.
I wasn’t going to hurt her.
Unfounded as Jack’s concerns might have been, I still enjoyed rubbing my closeness with Raelya in his face. He was standing out at the fire pit with his crew, a handful of wolves, all male, who never seemed to leave his side, when we came down the stairs and crossed to the kitchen, hand in hand. Jack narrowed his eyes at me in passing and gave me a glorious scowl. I grinned and slapped an arm around Raelya as we disappeared into the kitchen. If he was going to be a chauvinistic ass, I was going to make him pay for it.
24
Tresspasser
We found stew in the slow cookers and fresh homemade bread on the counter. Bowls in hand, we returned to the living room where Ralof and Elisa were sitting with Elliot, Steph, and a handful of other wolves who were in early for the weekend. Jack and his crew were no longer in sight, and that suited me just fine. I settled into the couch with Raelya and we joined the others in listening to Steph explain the new anime she was currently obsessing over.
Most of an hour later, the conversation came to a halt when Ralof suddenly stood, raised a hand, and crossed to the mostly-glass back wall which overlooked the back yard. Elisa looked up at him as he glanced back to her. “Something is wrong,” she said resignedly.
Ralof nodded once then stripped off his shirt. “Someone is hurt.” He jerked open the door and started to unbutton his jeans, but paused and straightened, his posture screaming alertness. He glanced back at Elisa and spoke a couple of words in a language I didn’t know, then darted out the back door. He ran across the yard in human form and disappeared into the woods. Elisa stood and hurried into the kitchen.
I came to my feet and took half a step toward the door when Raelya caught my wrist. “If he needed us, he would have called us with him.”
I glanced back at her tensely but nodded acquiescence. My instincts were screaming at me to go help, but I trusted Raelya, and Ralof too.
“Help me clear the couch,” she urged me gently.
I nodded once and resigned myself to helping prepare a place for an injured wolf to rest. We cleared throw pillows from the couch and pushed the other furniture out of the way to give Ralof a clear path. Raelya ran upstairs and came back with a handful of towels which we layered over the couch for the sake of easy cleanup in case there was blood. It didn’t take long and then we were left standing with nothing to do. Elisa came back from the kitchen with a big first aid kit, a bowl of stew, and a bottle of water tucked under her arm.
We watched the treeline anxiously for a moment until Ralof emerged from the woods with a blood-soaked man in his arms. Three wolves trailed along with him as he crossed the yard, and a naked, human-shaped Jack brought up the rear. They came in quickly and Ralof settled the injured man, one of Jack’s crew, on the couch. His arm was a mess. The flesh was mangled, shards of bone were sticking out in more than a couple of places, and his chest was streaked with broad claw marks.
Ralof spoke to Elisa without looking up at her as he gently arranged the injured man on the couch. “He’s lost a lot of blood. Too hurt to shift.”
Elisa opened the first aid kit and started picking through it. “Set bones. I will sew him up to help him along.”
Ralof grunted once as he took the man’s arm in his hands. “Jonas, stay with me. This is going to hurt, but it will be better soon.” Jonas nodded weakly, surprising me because I hadn’t thought him conscious. I hadn’t thought it possible for him to be conscious.
Jack jerked his head toward the door and one of his wolves ran back outside to fetch thei
r clothes. Jack picked up a thicker kindling stick from the basket beside the fireplace and came over to the couch. Raelya and I moved wordlessly out of the way to give him room to stand at the end of the couch at Jonas’s head. “Ain’t as good as a belt, but…”
I whipped the thin leather belt from around my waist as quickly as I could. “Jack!” I tossed the belt to him as he glanced up at me. He caught it with ease, dropped the stick and wound my belt around his hands before placing the strip of leather in between Jonas’ teeth.
“Hang in there, hoss.” Jack said quietly.
Ralof’s voice was a low rumble. “Here we go.” He started setting the bones in Jonas’ arm. Jonas cried out and Jack held the belt tightly to stop him from sitting up as much as to give him something to bite down on. Jonas squeezed his eyes shut and panted against the pain between each movement, but Ralof worked quickly and soon finished.
When Ralof had finished setting bones, Jonas practically melted back onto the couch and Jack let the belt out of his mouth. He glanced up at me, tossed my belt back to me, and nodded to me once in thanks.
Ralof stood and moved out of the way. Elisa settled down in his place and started sewing Jonas’ arm shut. The claw marks on his chest were not bleeding despite being rather deep. His regeneration was probably struggling to keep him from bleeding out. He wouldn’t start healing until she finished, and probably then, not until he had eaten and rested.
Elisa jerked her head toward the water bottle and Ralof picked it up, opened it and handed it to Steph who had squished herself flat against the wall to stay out of the way. “Give him some water, slowly.” Ralof spoke soothingly but poor, wide-eyed Steph still seemed somewhat shocked. She nodded and took the bottle as asked then settled in next to the couch and did as Ralof had commanded.
Ralof stepped aside, plucking one of the extra towels we’d left on the coffee table and started drying his bloody hands. He fixed Jack with a serious expression. “Tell me what happened.”
Hunted (Auralight Codex: Dakota Shepherd Book 2) Page 18