“Katrin is half Malta werewolf, which scares the crap out of all of you,” Jarvis accused, glaring at the old male, then at Toubec. “But she is also half Cariboo,” he seethed, finally ignoring the annoying old male and turning his attention to Toubec. “And that was exactly how she behaved when four males charged after her in a meadow. She turned and defended herself. No, she didn’t smell of rape. She attacked a male and the other three ran with their tails between their legs like crying pups wailing for their mother.”
“That little female moved so fast. No female turns and attacks like that,” he charged, apparently forgetting a moment ago he reeked from the lie of claiming not to have intended to do anything to her. “And have you seen her? You can see that something’s not right about that female. Her color is all wrong.”
Jarvis turned, as did the other werewolves, when a rustling in the trees grabbed all their attention. A moment later the smell of two more Cariboo ransacked his senses. Apparently this litter, which by appearances he guessed them to be, didn’t believe in showering too often. Along with the body odor, all of them smelled pissed as hell.
“So this is the Malta werewolf bitch’s mate,” a male, possibly five or ten years older than Jarvis, snarled as he walked toward them. “Do you really think it’s a smart way to run, Toubec, allowing the lover of an insane killer to roam your ranch?”
“We’ll see who runs off with their fucking tails between their legs,” the younger of the two announced. He was barely a grown male and walked the fastest toward them. He was larger than Jarvis but immediately showed no indication of fighting skills or honor.
“What’s smart is knowing I make the rules, and howl how it will be on my ranch,” Toubec roared. “If your litter thinks you’ll still have a job here—“
It was all he had time to say. Jarvis didn’t need to sniff the air to know these two hadn’t joined their littermate to argue which breeds of werewolf would be allowed on the ranch. They stalked toward Jarvis and Jaeger, their claws already bared. The older male hunched over and seemed to run on all fours in his flesh toward his littermates, seeking their protection and safe distance from the fight.
The youngest stood easily a couple inches taller than Jarvis. His shoulder span was wider than any Cariboo Jarvis had ever seen. And the male had arms as thick as young tree trunks. All of which didn’t mean shit. The werewolf didn’t smell too intelligent. A smart Cariboo werewolf knew the art of winning a fight came from a hell of a lot of strength, and the smarts to know what to do with it.
Jaeger had apparently been thinking the same thing. He roared fiercely, accepting the challenge before it was officially made, and bulldozed into the large male.
“Smart is about the only thing I don’t smell on these mutts,” Jarvis yelled toward Toubec.
The two of them rammed into the two males who had yet to decide which one of them would attack whom. Jarvis took the cockier male who’d insulted Katrin, hitting him hard enough across the jaw that the male’s head snapped. For a moment he thought he had broken the male’s neck with his first blow, but the Cariboo was obviously too stupid to die that fast.
Which suited Jarvis just fine. Too much adrenaline burned him alive inside, not to mention the smoldering rage over the pack’s attitude toward Katrin. His second punch hit the male square in the nose, and sent him sprawling legs over head away from Jarvis.
“Doing okay over there?” He shot a side glance at Jaeger. This wasn’t the first litter he and his littermate had fought. Jarvis wouldn’t allow Jaeger to be seriously hurt, though, while defending Katrin’s honor.
“Think I can’t handle this oversized Cariboo on my own?” Jaeger panted after almost sliding over the flattened grass underfoot when he dodged a blow to his gut.
“I have no problem with wiping your litter out and making that monster of a mate you have into a widow,” the older Cariboo bellowed, his voice deep and sounding more like a roar than articulated words.
“Unfortunately, I do,” Jarvis informed him and aimed low.
They took advantage of their howling at each other to distract their opponents. Jaeger roared as he leapt at the older male, knocking him off balance and landing on top of him.
The younger littermate doubled over from Jarvis’ low blow but recovered with the speed of youth. Unfortunately, his brain hadn’t caught up with his body. Jarvis rushed into him just as the stupid punk stood and filleted him with his extended claws. The change was like fire in his veins, demanding to come forth.
Jarvis tumbled to the side from the impact, but immediately jumped to his feet and growled fiercely. He controlled the change, although barely, and knew the low, menacing sound that escaped his throat proved that. The idiot pup he fought might not have been trained how to fight with honor. His face was a bulging mass of how someone might look if they were stuck between human and werewolf. Jarvis fought in the form of his opponent, which was the way of his kind. The oversized pup remained on the ground, not moving.
Jarvis glanced over just as Toubec lifted the third male into the air and sent him flying. Toubec roared with fierce anger, as if he were doing his best to throw incredibly rotten carcasses off his land. The smell of outrage on the male was stronger than the fear Jarvis smelled on all three males combined.
Toubec had smelled the truth through the lies. The battle-worn Cariboo spit out enough of the facts. Toubec was an honorable Cariboo. Jarvis would rather have him as a friend than enemy. It was becoming apparent that Toubec believed now that Katrin had fought as a fierce Cariboo female and not some possessed Malta werewolf female.
As Toubec’s roar faded, Jarvis heard a strange sound. He glanced in the male’s direction in time to see Toubec’s expression change. The sound he heard grew louder and the smell in the air changed.
Jarvis sniffed the air hard, searching for the source of what he smelled. He knew that scent. Knew it very well. But why would he smell Katrin? Had she dared run back into this pack’s territory and sniffed him out?
Before he figured out that truth, the sound grew louder. A cracking, splitting of wood, stilled their fighting.
“Jaeger!” Jarvis yelled, grabbing his littermate.
“What the fuck?” Jaeger stumbled over his own feet just when he would have leapt at the large Cariboo he was fighting.
Jarvis didn’t allow the fight to continue but instead almost hurled his littermate to the side and ran out of the way just in time. A large tree cracked down its trunk, split in two, then crashed toward them. The three Cariboo werewolves didn’t move in time to prevent being crushed by the large tree as it fell to the ground.
“Fucking tail!” Toubec yelled, leaping to safety with amazing agility for a Cariboo his size and age.
Jaeger stood stunned, his scent smelling as bewildered as the expression on his face looked. But Jarvis was already walking around him, hurrying around the huge tree that had crushed the werewolves they’d been fighting to their deaths.
“Jarvis!” Toubec yelled.
Jarvis heard him but followed the scent. He leapt over leaf-covered branches and into the woods, following the smell of his mate.
“Katrin,” he said, keeping his voice low. “I know you’re here.”
He slowed when he spotted her, crouched on the ground in her fur, her expression fierce and guarded.
Toubec caught up to him and stopped by Jarvis’ side.
“Leave with your mate now and get off my land. And Jarvis,” he said. “Good hunting.”
Jarvis nodded at Toubec then left him. He walked up to Katrin and stared into her almond-shaped eyes. I had already convinced him that you were good, he wanted to tell her.
“Everything will be all right,” he whispered instead, and prayed it was true.
Chapter Twelve
Katrin’s hands shook as she tried untwisting her clothes that she’d formed into a rope of sorts and tied around her waist. She’d bound them there while still at the lake and now they seemed molded together. They grew damp from the pers
piration that beaded on her human flesh. The sweat seemed to aid in cementing her clothes so they wouldn’t untwist.
She wanted to scream. Her knees threatened to go out from underneath her. Her legs were wobbly, worse than a newborn cub trying to stand for the first time.
Fucking tail! What was wrong with her?
Jarvis had stared at her with a look she doubted she’d ever forget when he’d first spotted her among the trees. He hadn’t looked happy.
No—that was wrong. She’d smelled his confusion, then his determination once he’d picked up on her scent. She’d heard him jump over the fallen tree and run past the Cariboo who’d stunk worse than their despicable natures. They had been the remaining three of the four who’d tried to chase her down in the meadow. They had deserved a worse death than they’d received. It wasn’t clear if Jarvis had figured that out. But he had figured out she’d sent the tree toppling.
When she’d first seen him, only moments before he’d seen her, the look on his face—he’d looked almost panicked. With such a mixture of emotions running through him, it had been hard to sniff out how he really felt. Maybe it had been wrong of her to believe he’d simply be excited she was there. There were so many things they needed to talk about, possibly fight about, and hopefully finally agree upon.
Katrin shot a wearied glance toward where Jarvis and Jaeger stood, not far from her, their backs turned. They were staring at the tree lying on its side and at the dead Cariboo werewolves smashed underneath its weight.
Would the pack charge her with murder?
This wasn’t the world she’d come from. The pack in Prince George, which mingled with humans, and this ranch of Cariboo, closely aligned with the lunewulf pack, seemed a bit too sophisticated for her blood. In her world if someone wanted a mate, they went out and got that mate. There might be fighting or howling for a while, but in the end it was a private matter. If a werewolf had a certain issue, that was a matter for their litter. Granted, she’d just learned about her Malta werewolf gifts. And yes, they were gifts. She had finally smelled the truth about it. They were gifts from her sire and she would always run with pride knowing he’d given them to her. It was a matter she and Jarvis would howl about. It wasn’t anyone else’s business.
She hadn’t used her gift to harm anyone—well, only that litter of mutts who had tried to chase her down in the meadow. Even while running from them, she’d been able to smell what they’d had on their minds. When she’d killed the male in the meadow, she’d done that out of pure outrage. They had thought her helpless. They had believed because she ran alone she would belly-up and raise her tail for each of them. She had been running alone because her litter was gone. And the reason why they were gone had been none of their damn business.
Her fingers were near useless. She had half a mind to bend over, pull her twisted pants and shirt to her mouth, and bite them off her. That would help matters. Already she smelled the uneasiness from Jarvis and his littermate. Jarvis hadn’t said a word to her since she’d changed into her flesh. And after being in her fur over twenty-four hours, her animal senses were still in overdrive.
She heard them murmuring. Something about being worried and what they should do now.
God damn it! How had she fucked things up?
“Argh!” she cried out, putting some force into trying to peel her clothes out of the permanent ring they’d formed around her waist.
Jarvis and Jaeger turned around. Katrin watched Jarvis’ littermate take in her naked body. She smelled his curiosity and interest. And at the moment, she didn’t give a rat’s ass who saw her naked. She was getting pissed.
The two males mumbled something to each other, then Jarvis walked to her. His littermate headed over toward the fallen tree.
“It’s going to be okay,” Jarvis whispered, taking her twisted clothes and tugging her closer to him.
“Saying that suggests that it isn’t okay right now.”
He chuckled but she didn’t smell amusement.
“I hate smelling you so worried,” he mumbled. Jarvis pulled on her clothes but didn’t loosen them. Instead he made sure they were secure around her waist.
Her attention shot to his face. “What?” she murmured. “What are you doing?”
“Change,” Jarvis ordered.
“No.” She shook her head. “Jarvis…” she began. It would kill her if he told her to leave him a second time. She’d run back here to get him and she wasn’t leaving without him.
His hands were warm when he put them on her shoulders. He ran his fingers over her moist flesh and cupped her breasts.
“You’re running with me,” she informed him, her breath tight.
He didn’t hesitate. “Yes,” he said.
Her heart swelled, then began beating so fast she barely managed to wrap her head around his answer. Even when she gulped in air, his scent still smelled upset and pinched with a hell of a lot of determination.
“I wish there was more time,” he grumbled, gripping her waist then cupping her ass.
“There’s a lot to say…” she whispered, but let her words trail when he lowered his mouth to hers.
In the next instant, all the howling that had seemed so important dissipated in a cloud of desire. Jarvis kissed her hard, savagely. His need for her smelled so strong it drowned out all other aromas that had been hanging heavily around them a moment ago.
Jarvis ended the kiss. “Change.”
She was panting. Her brain fogged over. He wasn’t making sense.
“But—”
Jarvis put his finger on her lips. He tasted salty and she pressed her tongue between her lips to taste him. His eyes glazed over and the corner of his mouth twitched.
“Soon, my adorable little Cariboo, I will taste you too,” he grumbled. “For now,” he continued, whispering, “turn and run toward the mountains. I’m stripping down and following you; Jaeger will run with us too. But I want you off Toubec land…now!”
He finished with such urgency, Katrin nodded, backing away. He pulled his shirt off and reached down to unlace his boots.
“Go,” he whispered. “I will catch up with you. No one will hurt you, I’ll only be a minute behind you.”
Katrin backed away, then turned and started running farther into the trees. She looked over her shoulder in time to see Jarvis shove his jeans down his legs. She got an eyeful of his muscular legs right before he shoved his boxers to his knees. He was bent over but the sight of him almost nude damn near had her tripping over a branch.
The heat hit her veins just as sparks shot up her spine. Katrin snarled, happy and fighting the urge to roar in victory. Jarvis was going to follow her. She embraced the change, her spirits higher than they’d been since he’d told her to run to the lake the day before yesterday.
Katrin’s bones altered and muscles took new form. Her smooth, damp skin hardened into dry hide. As her body thickened, toughened, and her coat grew, providing warmth, her mind, her thinking process, altered too. The many emotions that had tortured her while standing naked in the trees and trying to loosen her clothes dissipated until they were a fraction of what they’d been just a few minutes ago. Instead, instinct took over. Happiness, sadness, fear and pride didn’t preoccupy her thought process the way those emotions so often did in her human form.
Yet as she dropped to all fours and immediately sniffed her surroundings with senses that were so much more powerful than they had been, a thought hit her. They weren’t running in the direction McAllister had said was the safe direction to run.
Instinct commanded she put some speed into it once the change completed. Katrin didn’t hesitate. Jarvis would be able to follow her scent. And being a much larger Cariboo, he’d be able to not only track her, but catch up with her quickly.
That was, if he wasn’t stopped before getting off Toubec land. Jarvis would find a way to follow her. She had smelled the sincerity in his words. She’d smelled something else too. Was it love?
He had promised she would
be safe. Jarvis promised to protect her. If she could smile right now, she would. Katrin panted, coming as close to grinning in her fur as was possible. It was more likely the case that she would protect him. If only she could thank her sire for the wonderful gift he’d bestowed on her. Knowing her Malta werewolf half, the half of her that she’d always ignored, disowned, and done her best to keep a secret, was now the part of her that would keep her alive, powerful and even more proud.
Although her thoughts flooded through her mind, her focus on Jarvis as much as her newfound knowledge of the gift, she kept a watchful eye on her surroundings. The luxury of being in her fur was being able to think about so many things without emotions berating her as well. She remained attentive to all smells, was aware of the slightest movement from any creature she passed, and listened as well for the sound of any potential enemy.
Katrin wasn’t exactly sure when Rock Toubec’s land ended and the next property owner’s land began, but she ran hard, putting all of her muscle into it, until the ground grew rockier and the trees weren’t as clustered together. At the first mountain spring that had managed to trickle its way down until it rushed over and around small rocks and the uneven ground, she stopped and drank greedily.
Water foamed over her face as she lapped. Fresh mountain spring water tasted better than water she’d drank from anywhere else. After drinking her fill, she straightened, lapped droplets of water from fur around her mouth and sniffed the air. Jarvis and Jaeger would be catching up with her anytime now. Granted, she’d run hard, but her male wouldn’t waste time reaching her.
Images of his concerned face, remembering his touch and how he’d yanked her clothes tied around her waist, brought her pause. She remained still, allowing him to fill her thoughts. Katrin didn’t have a problem with Jarvis’ littermate but she wished Jarvis was running alone. Just the thought of him sniffing her out until he found her, then stalking her until he leapt from behind, made her legs weak. Lust might be an emotion stronger in her flesh, but need swept through her nonetheless. If Jarvis were anywhere near he would definitely smell the musky change in her scent.
WithHerCraving Page 13