by Sonja Bair
“Sorry, Freya, the spare sword is still bloody from hacking up the children we accidentally accused of national espionage, but Drew was sharpening up his Machete of Senseless Vengeance yesterday.” Elin and I both bit back a very similar-looking smirk. I was glad I’d moved out here.
Drew gave Alrik a knowing look and a pat on the back. He had been on the receiving end of the Holm girls’ sarcasm in the past. “It’s okay, Alrik. We won’t do anything until we get the all clear. Besides, I don’t think they are going to attack tonight.” He shot a worried look at David. “Right?”
David smiled. “No. Pack energy isn’t like GPS for finding me, but the Internet can do that job for them.” But then the smile disappeared. “As they get physically closer, they will be able to push energy on me. Depending on their strength, they may be able to weaken me or cause mental pain.” He stopped and took a breath. “I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.”
“Why don’t you spend the night, David? Just in case. And you can be on hand in the morning when we deal with the Jia situation again,” Elin offered.
“I want to stay too, Elin,” I said. “I don’t want to go back to my lonely rental yet. It’s been a hard day.” Last week, I had wheedled my way into getting my own room at the ranch house.
“I guess it’s a party then,” Drew sighed. “Alrik, I’ll invite you too before you try to come up with some excuse.”
***
The moon was rising over the low mountains in the distance. The shine from the quarter moon was enough to light up the surroundings. The blue of the pool shimmered like an inviting oasis though the temperatures had rapidly dropped with the setting of the sun. The leaves from the lone sycamore in the back of Drew and Elin’s house rustled together on the light breeze. The rustling became louder, and the wind increased manyfold. I turned my head and confirmed my guess. Alrik had joined me on the roof.
“How did you know I was going to be up here?” I asked as I patted the shingles beside me in welcome.
“It’s always been your retreat. Chicago, Sweden, and so it seems, here, too.” He settled down beside me and tucked his wings in behind him. He wasn’t wearing a shirt but didn’t seem to be bothered by the cold. I wrapped my sweater closer.
“It’s beautiful here,” he said in a hushed voice.
“It is.”
There was a few seconds’ silence before he added, “I was being bossy because I deal with conflict all the time. You can’t trust someone just because you like him.” I thought that was as close to an apology as I was going to get. Besides, he was right.
“I know. You were right; I always jump first and look second.”
Alrik’s body language told me he was surprised with my clear and quick concession. “Alright, maybe I’ll save all the rest of my speech for later.”
I laughed. “I’m sure you will have plenty of opportunities to use it at some other point.”
“I also wanted to say sorry for what I said at the restaurant today. That was way out of line.”
“Was that really today? It seems like ages ago. Oh, and thank you for the daisies. Did you know that they were my favorite?”
“No, but daisies remind me of you. Direct and sunny.”
“Why, Alrik, I never knew you were so poetic.”
“When I’m with you, Freya, unexpected sides of my personality come out. Maybe even the bossy side comes out more.”
He nudged me with his shoulder in a friendly enough manner. Out of nowhere, a completely unrelated question popped into my mind. “Alrik, why were you so cruel to me when we were kids in Sweden?”
He made a sound somewhere in between a laugh and a sigh. “Trying to turn this into an Alrik Apology Night?”
“No, but it seems that you have opened up a bit today.”
He paused and then almost blurted out, “Why did I, as a teenage boy, torment you, as a teenage girl? Isn’t the question a little cliché?”
“No, I don’t believe that. Our relationship was never like that,” I said.
Alrik looked out into the night for a few seconds and then replied, “Because I was too intimidated by you at first, so I acted like a jerk. Then you wouldn’t give me the time of day after I behaved like a jerk. Listen, look at it from my perspective. You were this kid that I used to play hopscotch with when I was in America. And then, all of a sudden, you turn up in my home country and you aren’t just some kid, you were this cute American girl with a confidence and lightness that was so different than all the other girls I knew. You were as intimidating as hell. And then the other boys started to notice you as well.” He stopped abruptly and looked off into the distance.
“And? You don’t get to leave it there.”
“Are you that obtuse, Freya? I liked you. And damn it, I still like you.”
No, I wasn’t being purposefully obtuse. Before today, I had mentally put Alrik in a very convenient box labeled Pain in the Rear and left him on a shelf. By ignoring him, I could ignore some difficult times in my life, both in Sweden and in Florida. But Florida wasn’t his fault and Sweden was a long time ago. So what if I took Alrik out of the Pain in the Rear box? What would our relationship be like?
“No, I honestly didn’t know, Alrik. I haven’t thought of you like that before.”
“Well, think of it now. I admire you and have liked you for years. And all of the sudden, I show up in town and there is a lone werewolf on your trail. Yes, I have an issue with that.”
He was doing so well until that comment. “Hold up. Don’t drag me into some manly man competition you and David seem to be having. That’s your problem.”
“I met David before and had no issue with him. But now, he is clearly interested in you, and you seem to be interested back. You hardly know him and by his very definition, he’s trouble. Please, Freya, stay away.”
“You were showing a different, nicer side a few minutes ago, but now you are back to your old bossiness. Do you think that because you are Arbitrator, two years older, or male, or whatever it is, you can tell me how to live my life?”
There was a chill in the air that wasn’t there only a few minutes ago. And then, unexpectedly, Alrik stood up and pulled me up with him. He put his arm around me and turned me so I faced him.
“Let me try this again. Freya, I like you. Please consider trying to like me back.” He kissed me. His arms circled my back and one hand went up my neck and sunk into my hair. There was an intensity to the kiss that I had never felt before. My stomach simultaneously dropped to my feet and soared to the sky. My hands, seeming to have a mind of their own, were on Alrik’s back, and our two bodies were pressed against each other. And then my brain switched back on. I pulled away so fast, I almost tripped. Alrik caught me by the wrist and placed both hands on my shoulder.
There was enough of a height difference that I had to tilt my head back quite a bit to look in his eyes. Their dark blue seemed to shine in the moonlight.
“Think about it, okay?” Alrik broke into his hundred-watt smile and looked down the roof’s edge. “How did you get up here? You can’t fly in this sweater.”
“I brought it with me because of the cold night. It’s called planning; you should try it.”
“Oh, I planned. I noticed you checking out my fabulous body earlier today. Thought you might want a second look.”
I hoped the dark hid the fact that my cheeks felt like they instantly caught on fire.
“And I bet I can still fly circles around you. Race you to the end of the driveway.” Alrik swept his wings down and he rose about a foot off the roof, taunting me in, to be honest, a very childlike manner. I hadn’t flown with another Alva in too long. There was something exhilarating about sharing the experience with another of my kind.
But of course, I would have to take off my sweater to join him. I wondered how much devious planning Alrik had done. On the other hand, I keep a spare of my specially designed halter top at the ranch and had changed into it before coming to the roof. He wasn’t going to get mu
ch of a view. And since I was kind of a sucker when it came to races, I whipped off my sweater, released my wings, and tried to beat him off the starting line. I managed a few seconds’ head start, but Alrik had the advantage of a bigger wingspan and won by a decent margin. I would have to be trickier next time.
Chapter 9
“The sheriff’s office is sending some heavy earthmoving equipment and an officer out to retrieve Qiang’s body. Probably sometime this afternoon.” Drew hung up the phone and turned to the rest of us, sitting again at the kitchen table, this time with Drew’s precious French roast coffee in our mugs. He doesn’t even try to hide his grimaces of pain whenever I load my usual sugar and milk into mine.
“Any questions or update about Jia?” Elin asked as she was breaking eggs into a bowl.
“Nope, no sign of her. They did suggest we file a missing persons report and when search and rescue resources become available, they will send them over. Currently, everyone is tied up with a collapsed apartment.”
Elin thought for a second and then replied, “We will probably be just as effective of a search and rescue team. Freya and Alrik can scope things out in the air, David can search out scents, and Drew and I can take some horses. I’d say our chances are pretty good.” The metal bowl clanged as the eggs got whisked. “That is, if she wants to be found.”
I turned to Alrik, who was doing an Internet search of Jia and Qiang’s background. He appeared to be accessing sites and information that were on the hazy side of legal. His company focused on protecting computer security, but it appeared he was as skilled operating on the other side of the law. “Any helpful insights?”
“Not much. China’s Great Internet Wall has blocked most of my search. The only thing I can add is that they were here in the US for a conference on Early European Literature. Jia is an associate professor of Western Literature at a university in her province. And either Jia or Qiang is a big Hardee’s fan.”
“Not very helpful, but a smallish amount of insight. Perhaps we can leave a trail of burgers back to the house?” I asked and turned to David, who was returning from Drew’s office after making some phone calls. “How about your situation? Any helpful insights there?”
“I was able to contact some naturals in the pack. They are being kept in the dark about all pack business and were shocked to hear that I was alive. They were understandably skittish about talking with me. The most I could get was that Robert and Maria are still in Santa Fe as of this morning. Whatever they are planning to do, if they are even planning something, won’t happen today. Elin, what can I do to help with breakfast?”
Elin pointed with her chin at the platter of uncooked ranch-raised sausage, and David promptly manned the stove. “So Alrik,” she said, “can we trust David yet?”
“No. But should you believe his story? Yes. According to my sources, the New Mexico alphas have become unstable and violent. The other American packs are concerned but not willing to step in.”
David said nothing, although by the tilt of his head and smirk on his face, he appeared amused to be the topic of conversation.
“Why not? The Alphas are escalating the violence. Don’t they realize that it’s a time bomb waiting to explode?”
David decided to join in the conversation. “Packs aren’t like the Alva, Freya. There has always been a long history of isolationism between packs. And other packs aren’t free of problems, either. Packs are dictatorships by Alphas, and we seem to be in a time of weak moral leadership. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the other packs were as bad as mine.” He shrugged as if he accepted the current situation as inevitable. That was a load of crap; this was the Twenty First century. Time for some change.
Elin started to laugh. “Look at Freya’s face. She’s about to go out and kick some werewolf butt. You quit the USN way too early, Freya.”
“Nope. Teenagers are all the monsters I can usually handle. Hey, did I tell you what my new school’s colors are?” A room of blank looks prompted me to continue. “Keep in mind this is a private school specializing in the arts and is pretty nontraditional. So they let the kids vote for the school colors. The winners? Plaid and clear.”
Groans erupted around the table. Alrik made some comment about “kids these days”. I merely smiled—I liked the irrelevant nature of their choice. This was my kind of school.
***
David, Alrik, and I took the old farm truck out to the mine site. Elin and Drew would join us on horseback. Horses were more useful on the rocky and hilly terrain than any four wheelers. I had hoped to see Jia waiting for us by the pile of supplies when we arrived, but there was no sight of her. The supplies, however, were gone.
“Was it her? Does this mean she took the food and is still around?” I hopped out of the truck excitedly. Perhaps this problem would have an easy solution. I scanned the hillside and shouted out Jia’s name. No reply. I tried again. Nothing. Not the easy solution, then.
Alrik snapped his fingers as he realized something. “She took the two-way. We can call her on it.”
I ran back the truck and grabbed the two-way that we brought with us.
“Jia! It’s Freya. We are at the mine site. Are you okay? Are you hurt? Where are you? We’ll come get you.”
We all held our breath and stared at the two-way as if by our determination alone, it would produce Jia’s voice. Silence.
“Jia, please. Answer us.”
There was a buzzing noise and then, “Do you know the last time I was truly alone was when I was eight years old?” The voice was thin, but clear. The accent made it obvious who we were talking to.
I shot the guys a puzzled look. This was not the reply I expected.
“He was my other half, but now he’s gone. Does that mean I’m half a person now, or does that mean I am finally a whole person?”
“Jia, I don’t know. I’m sure you are hurt and confused and in a lot of pain. Please let us help.”
“No. That isn’t possible. There is no straight path. You have already set a wolf on me. Probably a lion and a leopard are lying in wait.” Jia trailed off at the end, and then there was silence. Lion and leopard? There were mountains lions not too far away, but no leopards. I had no idea what she meant, but she clearly wasn’t in a cheery mood.
I called her again. “Jia, tell us where you are and we will get you.”
Nothing. I tried several times more, but with no success. I turned to the others. “What was that about?” Alrik shrugged and David seemed lost in thought but then shrugged.
Alrik spoke up. “It means that she clearly is in need of help. David, since she came back for the supplies, her scent trail must be pretty clear. Let’s find her and bring her in.”
David was already changing into a wolf. Alrik stripped off his shirt and was in the air in one motion. I picked up both piles of clothes and put them in a backpack. Really, did they not think about being naked later? I stayed on the ground, first to contact Elin and Drew with an update and then to follow David, who had started where we had left the pile of supplies. It was odd to think that even though David looked so completely wolflike at the moment, he was the same person with the same thoughts and emotions. Actually, I didn’t know if that was the case. I would have to ask him later if there were mental changes as well as physical. But for now, I watched as his shoulder and hips slowly and very purposefully articulated forward. Even though the thick fur covered his body, the muscles beneath were broad and strong. The word majestic came to mind.
It was only a few paces before David found the scent and proceeded to follow it. I wondered how he knew to follow the outgoing as opposed to the incoming trail. He stopped, cocked his head, and looked at me in a way that must have meant something, but I couldn’t guess what. I shrugged and put out my heads in the universal “sorry, I don’t know” motion. He gave me a doggy smile and put his nose back on the trail and started to pick up the pace. Within a few steps, his walk became a trot, then he stretched out into a lope. His front paws stretched way
out in front of his torso, his spine moving almost in a wave. The ground was too rocky and uneven for me to keep pace, so I stopped, switched the backpack to my front, and changed into airborne mode. I met Alrik in the air, and we watched David cover the distance quickly and efficiently. Jia had followed the wash for a ways and then crossed over a low saddle between two hills. I looked ahead to see if there was any clear destination where she was headed, but the answer was no. We must have crossed about two miles of terrain when we came to the county road that passed closest to Drew’s family’s ranch. The road was fairly desolate, but there was a small clump of trees on the side of the road. It seemed Jia had headed there. David stopped in the clump of trees and started to sniff around the ground in a more meaningful way. Alrik and I landed and waited for some sort of signal.
It appeared David needed to communicate something substantial because he started to change into human form. I scrambled to take off the backpack, drop it near him, and turn around before he bared it all to the world. With all the men shedding clothes around me, I felt like I needed to invest in some single dollar bills soon.
David talked as he dressed. “Jia’s trail was clear up to this point. She met up with a man who was probably camping in this grove. They...” he paused for a moment, “...interacted this morning. But her trail disappears on the road and his continues down the road.”
At this point, I was trying to suppress some annoyance with Jia. Yes, she did have a good excuse for going crazy, but she could have at least checked in with us. I felt like she was leading us on a wild goose chase on purpose. But, I chided myself, the woman had lost a husband and partner less than twenty-four hours ago. Give her a little break.
I shook off the irritation and refocused. “Do you think she is walking on the road or hitchhiked?”
“Her scent disappears so abruptly that hitchhiking is my guess.”
Alrik sighed, bent down, grabbed a rock, and threw it side-handed into the distance; he was a bit frustrated, too. “Let’s try to find the man she talked to this morning. Maybe he can provide some insight.”