The other wolf had come back in with clothes, and now Jack and the rest of his crew were pulling on pants and shirts. Jack paused with his shirt still in hand and dropped onto the other couch with a sigh. It was only then that I noticed that he was not just covered in Jonas’ blood, but also some of his own. He had long claw marks on his arms and chest as well. Not one of his crew was totally unscathed, in fact.
“Damn thing came outta nowhere, hoss. Didn’t see nor smell anything out of the ordinary til it was already on us.” Jack nodded toward Jonas. “Tore Jonas up right quick, an’ of course we turned on it. Thing looked like some sorta, I dunno… Bear-like thing at first, but it was all wrong. I can’t say even exactly what, just too big an’ shaped wrong somehow. An’ it’s aura was all wrong. All dark an’ twisted in on itself.”
Ralof frowned as Jack spoke. “Must have been strong to take a piece out of the four of you like that.”
Jack nodded. “You got that right, hoss. That thing’s aura…” He whistled and shook his head, then fixed Ralof with a meaningful stare. “That ain’t even the craziest part. Damn thing did its damage then backed off, and while I was decidin’ on what to do, it started… shifting… as we watched.”
“Shifting? Into what?” Ralof demanded urgently.
“Not like you or me would shift, hoss. Not from a’ animal form into a person form. Just as we watched it for a minute, suddenly we realized we were lookin’ at somethin’ else. Some big, black panther-lookin’ thing but there was somethin’ all wrong about it too. Somethin’ in the shape, an’ it was blurred around the edges. Like ya couldn’t look at it straight.”
Ralof’s brows shot up in surprise and he raised his hand to tug thoughtfully at his braided beard.
Jack eyed him hopefully. “Got any idea what that’d be, hoss?”
Ralof frowned, shook his head and grunted firmly. “Other than trouble? And trespassing in our territory? No. I fear not.”
I pulled my phone from my pocket and typed out a text. “Have you ever heard of a big bear thing that turns into a black panther thing that blurs around the edges and is hard to look at straight. Something that could take on several werewolves.” I started to send the text to Amorie, then considered and decided to copy it over to Nita as well.
“Whatever it was, hoss, we did our best to harry it an’ run it off. Tryin’ to protect Jonas, but I’ll be damned if I don’t have the feelin’ it just left because it wanted to.” Jack dropped his head into his hands and ran his fingers through his hair. I felt bad for him despite our differences. He was obviously remorseful about his friend getting injured on his watch and that at least told me he wasn’t all bad, even if he was a chauvinistic jerk.
Jonas hissed at the pain of whatever Elisa was doing as she struggled to bring his mangled arm back together, and Jack gave him a furtive look that spoke volumes of his concern for his companions. I realized they were probably “his wolves” in the way that Raelya was “my wolf”, all things considered. “We rushed him back here, but that thing’d have to be blind to not be able to track us.”
Ralof nodded firmly and thumped his fist into his hand, growling, a deep rumbling sound in his chest that resonated through the air and caught the attention of every wolf present. “Good. Saves us the trouble of hunting it down.” He glanced around at the other wolves in the room, commanding their attention and drawing my eyes from my phone as he swept his gaze over me. “We are the Lower Appalachian Pack. And nothing comes into our territory and hunts us.” He grunted as he stood. “I just wish I knew what it was.”
Jack glanced back up at Ralof. “I scented it right as it come in, hoss, and it was definitely the thing that left them tracks we found the other night.”
Ralof frowned. “Then it is no coincidence that it attacked.” He seemed to consider for a few seconds then growled deep in his chest. “It was waiting for an opportunity to ambush us.”
“Seems like.” Jack looked over toward Jonas again with a fretful expression. “And damn sure if we didn’t walk right into its trap.”
My phone vibrated, a ridiculously loud sound to my wolf-enhanced hearing, and apparently to everyone else’s as well, as the room suddenly focused on me. I read the text as quickly as I could manage, then looked up at Ralof. “Here, boss.” I gestured to the phone. “My friend, Nita, says she might know what it is.”
Ralof gestured to my phone. “What is it then?”
I shook my head idly as I typed out his question. “She didn’t say yet—.” The phone started playing the Swahili opening from The Lion King as Nita called me. I glanced around at the befuddled expressions on my packmate’s faces and shrugged as I answered the call. “Hey, so what—”
“Where are you? Are you safe?” Nita sounded urgent despite her hushed and anxious tone.
“Yeah. I’m at home, surrounded by werewolves.”
Nita let out a relieved breath. “Oh. Good. The wards there are strong, right?”
I blinked. “I think so. Also surrounded by werewolves.”
“That might not be enough if it’s what I think it is.” Nita’s voice was subdued. Knowing her as I did, that meant she was scared. And if Nita was scared of something and didn’t think a room full of werewolves were enough to counter it, that seemed like bad news to me.
I glanced up at Ralof and started to repeat what Nita had said but he nodded to me indicatively and I realized he could hear my phone call perfectly well from where he stood halfway across the room. The other wolves standing near me seemed intent on my call as well and I had to wonder just how many of the wolves in the room could hear Nita on their own without my relating the call.
“So what is it?” My phone made a noise in my ear as a text came in, but I ignored it for the moment, fixated on finding out what Nita could tell me.
Nita hesitated for a moment. I could hear her breath through the line and I could picture her taking a breath to speak, then deciding against it several times before she finally whispered, “It’s called a Skinwalker.”
“A what?”
“I’m not going to say it over and over, Dakota. I don’t want to draw its attention to me.”
I frowned. “You can do that just by saying what it’s called?”
“I’m not taking any chances. This thing is bad news in the worst way. It’s ancient, incredibly powerful, and has a hunger for power: power that it takes from others by devouring them and absorbing their skins.”
“That sounds bad.” I grimaced at Ralof who frowned in reply. “How sure are you?”
“I know of nothing else that can do what you described. Those shapes you described, they’re creatures from Arcadia.”
“Fairyland?”
“Right. And none of those creatures can change their shape like you described, however what I’m talking about can take the shape of anything whose skin it has taken.”
“That sounds bad.” I repeated.
I heard a truck pull up in the driveway and the engine shut off. Ralof crossed to the front window quickly and peeked out cautiously. “Andrei. Good.” Ralof glanced at Jack. “Round everyone up. Make sure no one is outside and gather them all here.” He glanced at me as he moved over to the door. “Find out everything you can while we gather the pack.” He opened the door and disappeared outside. Jack glanced at one of his crew and nodded toward Jonas; The other wolf nodded back and settled down next to the injured wolf. Jack stepped out the back door, presumably to make sure no one was still outside.
I turned my attention back to the call. “Okay, so how do we kill it?”
Nita laughed humorlessly. “Much easier said than done, Dakota. In Navajo legends, the Skinwalker is unkillable.”
“Crap.” My phone notified me of another incoming text and I glanced around at the other wolves near me. Kenneth was standing right behind me and Steph stood to my other side, still clutching an empty water bottle. “Either of you have a phone?”
Kenneth nodded and started patting his pockets but Steph whipped her pink rhinestone-covered phone f
rom her pocket first. “What do you need?” Her hand was trembling as she held it out to me. It made my wolf so uncomfortable to see her so scared; I wanted to take the pressure off her and comfort her if I could.
I took her phone from her and typed in Amorie’s number. “Call this number. Tell Amorie I’m on the line with Nita. Tell her there’s a Skinwalker in our territory and it hurt some of our wolves. Ask her if she knows anything about it or how to kill it.” I handed the phone to Kenneth who met my eyes for an instant before nodding sharply. He hit the call button and stepped aside. I glanced back at Steph. “Get Jonas some more water. Looks like Elisa’s almost done.” Steph nodded to me and ran off to the kitchen.
“Nita?”
“Hold on, I’m checking the SII database.” I paced as I waited for Nita to continue. “I’m not finding anything here, Dakota. They’re not something that’s commonly encountered and according to Navajo lore, the only way to kill one is to somehow strip it of the spirit that empowers it, or to destroy all of its forms. All of them.”
I frowned at that. “How many forms can it have?”
“However many it can take.”
I took a deep breath. “Okay. If you find anything else, call me back soonest. I’m going to relate what you’ve told me and see what Amorie knows about it.”
“Okay. Dakota, be careful. This thing is big league and I know you’re surrounded by werewolves, but this is no everyday threat. Don’t take any chances.”
“Thanks Nita.” I hung up and paced over to Kenneth. I could hear Amorie’s voice on the line, so I reached for the phone which he readily handed over. “Amorie.”
“Dakota. I am on my way.”
“Uh… You are?”
“Yes. I am making arrangements right now. I will be there in an hour or less. Please stay somewhere safe until I arrive.” Amorie’s tone and inflection told me she was still in business-mode. I could hear a lot of vague background noise that told me little to nothing about where she was, but it was familiar enough that I knew she was at one of her offices.
“I’ll do my best. Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Mm. Yes. See if you can find out which airport is nearest to the pack’s house.”
“That’d be Knoxville right?”
“No. There is sure to be one closer than that. Probably some smaller local strip. If there is not one in Gatlinburg, check the emergency landing locations for a stretch of road that is suitable.”
I blinked. “Okay…” I turned to see who was near me and spotted Kenneth still standing nearby. “Grab a phone or a computer and find out—”
“I heard.” Kenneth replied, ducking his head to avoid my eyes. “I’m on it. Give me just a minute.” He turned and jogged up the stairs.
I turned my attention back to Amorie. “Okay. Did Kenneth get you up to date?”
“Mostly, ma chérie. A Skinwalker is hunting you?”
“Yup. Well, the pack. There’s a couple of injured wolves in here and Ralof’s rounding us up to defend against it or hunt it down or something.”
“How sure are you that it is a Skinwalker? Those things are quite rare and not native to this area.”
“I’m not sure personally, but my intel suggests that it is a Skinwalker.”
“Tell me what you know.”
I started relating Jack’s account, closing my eyes and digging into the vivid mental images I had formed from his story in order to recall the details as best as I could. Dyslexia has its advantages, and strong imaging capacity is one of them. I was in the middle of describing the latter form Jack had mentioned when my phone rang again.
“Hold on a sec, Am.” I shifted the other phone to my ear and answered the call. “Yeah?”
“I checked everything I could in short order.” I could hear the clacking of keys in the background as Nita spoke. “The best I can find is a small amount of corroboration to the idea that you can kill it by destroying all of its forms, then killing it in its human form.”
“It has a human form?”
“These things are human to begin with.” Nita took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “They are pure evil, Dakota. They attract evil spirits to themselves by killing people they are close to, like family members, children… When they’ve killed enough to taint their own spirit, a spirit will bond with them that makes them what they are. Then… they never stop.”
“Killing?”
“Devouring, taking skins of other creatures, and yes, killing.”
“Okay. If there’s anything else you can find out or do, call me back. I’m checking with other contacts and Ralof’s gathering the pack to face it, I think.”
Nita clacked a bit more on her end. “The only other thing I can say that might be useful at the moment is this. They can only take one skin from each type of creature.”
“Meaning?”
“If he took a werewolf’s skin already, he would have to shed it in order to devour another werewolf. So if he turns into a werewolf, he can’t take another werewolf’s skin unless he sheds or loses that skin.”
“Gotcha. Meaning he’s not here to eat us.”
“Not remotely true. He could be there because he wants to shed his current werewolf skin and devour a more powerful werewolf, such as your Alpha.”
My wolf surged readily to the surface, eliciting a growl. “We won’t let that happen.”
“Considering that you’re all werewolves there, honestly, I’m not sure what else he could be there for. Be careful, Dakota.”
“It’s okay, Nita. I’m taking it very seriously and I’m not alone. Call me back if you come up with anything else that could help okay? I’ve got Amorie on the other line.”
“Right. Dakota?”
“Yeah?”
“Please don’t get yourself killed. I just found a nice place today and I don’t want to lose my reason for moving out here.”
I smiled because I knew it was Nita’s way of telling me she cared about me. “Wouldn’t dream of it, Nita.” I hung up her line and dropped the phone into my pocket.
Kenneth appeared beside me and handed me a sticky note with some numbers scribbled on it. I nodded to him appreciatively then went back to Amorie. “Sorry, Nita gave me some intel, but it pretty much amounts to ‘Don’t let it eat you.’ And ‘Kill it till it stays dead.’”
“I heard most of it, ma chérie. Something that crossed my mind regarding its motives… Have you considered that it could be after you?”
I blinked. “What? Why would it want me? Ralof’s definitely the strongest werewolf—”
“Not because you are a werewolf, ma chérie. Because of something else that you possess that one who seeks to collect powers from others might desire.”
It slowly dawned on me what Amorie meant and I took a deep breath as the idea that the Skinwalker could be after me in particular sunk in. “You mean it could be after the Hellfire…”
“Indeed, ma chérie.” She sounded worried. Amorie being worried made me worried. That couldn’t be good.
“Oh, Kenneth found the airport. It’s a set of coordinates so I’ll text it to you?”
“Very well.”
Ralof stepped back in with Andrei in tow. Jack and a couple of other wolves trailed in behind him. The room suddenly felt rather crowded. Ralof glanced around the room at the gathered pack members. “Everyone, listen up.” He strode to the center of the room.
I could hear Amorie moving on the other side of the line. That she hadn’t continued talking let me know she could hear Ralof as well. I absently wondered how well vampires heard in comparison to werewolves.
Ralof turned to face the pack. “There is an intruder in our territory. It is a dangerous creature that can shift its form and if we have guessed it right, it can steal the forms of its kills and use them as its own.”
Raelya appeared out of nowhere beside me and curled her arm around mine. I met her eyes briefly; she was not afraid, not really. She was determined, and more than anything, she believed in Ra
lof. I was inclined to agree with her. I turned my eyes back to the Alpha as he went on with his speech, lifting the phone briefly to whisper. “I’ll call you back in a sec.” I hung up to listen to my Alpha without distraction, though I started texting the coordinates to Amorie so as not to leave her hanging. The first time I realized I’d mixed up a number, I wised up and snapped a photo of the note and just sent her that instead.
“I will take the strongest of us for my hunting party, and we will go out there and track it down.” He glanced around the room. “Those who are less experienced will stay here and protect the house. I will not risk the younger ones with such a foe. Not when it could take down a far more experienced wolf so readily.” He gestured toward Jonas. Steph squeaked quietly. I glanced over her way and noticed she was clinging to Elliot’s arm and she looked scared. Elliot looked calm and ready, pretty much like always.
Ralof glanced around the room. “Andrei.”
“Yeah, boss.” Andrei stepped over to stand near the Alpha.
Ralof glanced at Jack. “Are you up for round two, Jack?”
Jack nodded. “You bet I am, hoss.” There was a quiet promise of revenge in his voice. It echoed in his eyes as they drifted past Ralof toward Jonas.
“Will? Amos?” Ralof looked over at the other two wolves who typically followed Jack around. Will was tall and lanky if definitely toned, with short, shaggy brown hair, dark eyes, and lightly tanned skin. He barely looked old enough to drink, though his accent resembled Jack’s too much for that to be true.
Amos was a bit older-looking, though I figured the mustache was mostly responsible for that. He had sandy blond hair and hazel eyes, a farmer’s tan on otherwise fair skin, and a deal more muscle than Will, though he was average height at best. Being that they both typically hung out with Jack, I hadn’t really spent much time with either of them. Both of them nodded, then Amos glanced over at the couch and added, “We’ll give ‘em hell for ya, Jonas.”
“Toni?” Ralof glanced at a woman I didn’t know yet. She’d come in for a weekend once since I’d moved in, but I hadn’t had the chance to get to know her yet. She was tall, athletic, and generously curved in the hip region. Her skin was darker due to what I presumed to be Italian heritage, and she had the dark brown hair and brown eyes to match that.
Hunted (Auralight Codex: Dakota Shepherd Book 2) Page 19