They looked perfectly normal, in other words. But the waves of agonizing discomfort rolling off Victor proved that my pack mates' previous appearance hadn't been forgotten.
From across the room, my milk brother met my gaze, one eyebrow raised. Need space? he asked without words. I shook my head subtly. Might was well get these introductions over with now rather than later.
"This is Chase and Wade," I offered, pointing at each pack mate in turn. Then, telling the shifters what they already knew, I finished the human-style introductions. "And this is Victor."
"Some of my best friends are gay," the latter blurted out in what could only be termed a Freudian non sequitur. I noticed that the expanding blood vessels in his face had managed to color even the tops of his ears, and I couldn't resist waiting a moment as I pondered how far the blush would extend before my cyber buddy fainted dead away.
Chase rolled his eyes at my subtle form of torture. "None of us are gay," he said, taking pity on the human. "We were just coding really late last night and must have fallen into bed in a strange way. You didn't interrupt anything."
The explanation left something to be desired, but I didn't particularly care what Victor thought of my sexuality. As long as he didn't realize we were werewolves and run screaming into the night, we were good.
Well, that wasn't quite true. I enjoyed our chats via write-message and wanted to make sure Victor didn't bow out of my life in the wake of our first physical meeting. So I offered him a chance to get to know my clan in a situation that wouldn't leave any of us blushing.
"We've still got a few hours left before we have to head home," I spoke up, then paused. Mentally paging through favorite activities that were both shifter and human friendly, I settled at last on the only viable alternative. "Wanna join us in a game of paint ball?"
Victor's face opened into a guileless grin. "Hell yeah!" He punched me on the shoulder and I returned the gesture, being careful not to damage the tender human. Then I led the trio out into the city to track down some colored explosives.
There was nothing like a good hunt to welcome a new pack mate into the clan.
Chapter 8
THE SWEET FLAVOR of Terra filled my nostrils as I hid in plain view behind a display of pineapples. The pack princess was even more appealing than she'd appeared on first sighting, but I noticed now that her wolf was strangely silent. Otherwise, she surely would have smelled me as I tracked her through the supermarket aisles.
My initial urge had been to walk up to the young woman, introduce myself, and invite her to come back with me to our new clan home. Our pack could use more shifters of the female variety, and I could definitely use a heavier dose of Terra in my life.
But something kept my feet firmly planted on the ground.
Perhaps it was the way Chief Wilder's daughter had tensed and scanned her surroundings when my scent first wafted into her nostrils. I was pretty sure the other shifter's conscious mind hadn't understood what she was smelling, but her subconscious appeared to be terrified by the slightest hint of any wolf, including her own.
A potentially problematic situation considering the fact that I was more wolf than man.
Meanwhile, I kept reminding myself that my hands were already quite full without adding another complication to the mix. Wade and I had whipped Bob's site into order in just a few weeks, but the bank manager was so pleased with our efforts that he recommended us to three of his friends. As a result, our work load was now so high that I'd had to take a sick day to slip away on my current jaunt.
Before me, Terra plucked a plastic clamshell of cherry tomatoes then eyed the contents consideringly. Take them or leave them? I could almost see the words flitting through her mind. And as she brought the fruit to her nose, I had to clench my fists around the display counter to prevent myself from springing forward.
She should be taking me.
Ah, yes, jealousy of garden produce. A definite sign my duties weren't the only thing holding me back from making my move. Even my nonlinear wolf brain could see that I wasn't anywhere near ready to speak to this pack princess. Not when I suspected I'd only have one chance to screw things up before she fled the state without a backward glance.
The unfortunate truth was that Terra didn't appear ready to speak with me either. The squeal of a grocery cart's wheels caused the pack princess to flinch and she set the tomatoes back down abruptly, pushing her own cart toward the checkout line with hunched shoulders and a jerky stride.
The girl was scared of her own shadow, let alone a member of the opposite sex. Given the fact that I came with teeth and claws, I might have to accept the fact that Terra would never be ready for me.
I wanted to howl out my frustration at the mere thought, but I instead shook my human head briskly to bring myself back to the present moment. My thoughts derailed onto the additional puzzles waiting for me at home. Specifically, the Chief's grandson. Soon, my pack would have to find a way to insinuate ourselves into that family and win the father's trust.
And, eventually, there would be Chief Wilder himself to contend with.
In other words, I needed to keep my eye on the prize and forget this childish infatuation. Even if the bond between myself and Terra felt like so much more.
So I let the ties to my pack draw me away from the woman who I found so fascinating. Despite my urge to lunge forward, I hung back as the pack princess wheeled her cart out of the store and out of my life. The distant thud of a closing car door felt like the closing of my heart.
Maybe Terra will turn back up in my life someday when we're both a little older and wiser.
Maybe. But, if not, I was content with the territory my clan and I were building on the side of a Virginia mountain. I was content with brotherhood and hacking and long wild runs with the wind brushing out my lupine fur as my pack bumped their shoulders against my own.
So I walked to the nearest trees, shed my clothes, and turned wolf. It was time to grow into my over-size paws and start acting like an alpha.
Feint of Heart
Episode 4
Chapter 1
"THEY’RE NOT EVEN a proper team."
I bared my teeth at the other alpha, daring him to put his money where his mouth was. And, as expected, the opposing shifter averted his eyes immediately, backing down in the face of my stronger alpha dominance.
Of course, Price did have a point. My crew weighed in at the lower limit of allowable manpower since I'd taken only Wade and Fen along with me to All-Pack this year. We were supposed to be playing it safe and keeping a low profile at this first gathering we'd attended since Chief Wilder caught me in a bind two years prior. But the Winter Hunt had been too enticing to pass up.
Plus, I trusted my team. Sure, Fen was just fourteen, all freckled cheeks and gangly limbs while two-legged. She hadn't felt comfortable stripping and turning wolf when the rest of us did, either.
But I wasn't concerned about her foot-dragging. The kid would shift when she was good and ready. Because what the girl lacked in muscles, she more than made up for in sheer spunk. Personally, I thought our trio was unbeatable or I wouldn't have entered the contest in the first place.
Twenty feet away, Chief Wilder turned his cold gaze in our direction, weighing Price's words. I itched to stare the grizzled old pack leader down, but he was both referee and bait in this rough-and-tumble game of skill and power. Oh, yeah, and he also held my personal debt in his iron fist. So I averted my eyes and hoped the overpowering alpha wouldn't call us out on the possible infraction.
"Two boys and a halfie," Crazy Wilder intoned, a faint smirk widening his lips. "You think the three of you can catch me before the moon rises?"
That was the goal, after all. Soon, Wilder would shift and lope away, a twenty-minute head start all that stood between the grizzled alpha and the best every other pack had to offer. If he could elude our pursuit until the tiny sliver of moon rose near the end of this cold, dark night, then Crazy Wilder would win bragging rights for another twel
ve months.
The patriarch seemed confident of his success. And no wonder—Chief Wilder had eluded pursuit for as long as I could remember.
But I was bound and determined to take the old alpha down. Because wouldn't the other pack leaders be forced to take me seriously enough to grant my petition for territorial rights if I trumped the strongest alpha of them all?
In wolf form, I couldn't answer Crazy Wilder in words, of course. But I lifted my nose to the air and spread my nostrils. Beside me, Wade let out a small yip of excitement. Then Fen spoke for all three of us.
"Of course we can catch you," the fourteen-year-old promised. Her voice was steady, but I could hear her fluttering heartbeat speed up as she faced down the meanest pack leader our region had to offer. "Or perhaps you want to disqualify our team because you're scared we'll win?"
The other shifters—most wolf, a few human—had been rustling and whispering restlessly up until this point. But now every inhabitant of the field fell silent. Even the breeze that had been whipping up fallen leaves from beneath nearby trees stilled as Fen spoke.
I tensed my muscles, ready to spring to the girl's defense. Chief Wilder was a volatile and arrogant shifter and my pack mate just might have gone too far this time.
Not that I wouldn't have said the exact same thing had I been two-legged. Good job, Fen.
Wilder glared hard at the halfie, clearly expecting her knees to tremble beneath her. But the girl continued to stand straight and tall, not backing down an inch.
This was the half-breed's secret weapon—her wolf was the weakest on the field. The characteristic doesn't sound like a good deal, does it? But in the hands of someone possessing pure grit, a powerless wolf could be worked to her advantage. In fact, Fen had recently learned to stifle her beast long enough to be untouched by alpha dominance when in human form, a trick that made her appear more powerful than even our region's strongest alpha werewolf.
"Hnnh." The snort could have been laughter or anger—it was hard to tell the difference with Crazy Wilder. But then he whistled shrilly, the high-pitched sound grating against my lupine ears.
Once again, the field descended into restlessness as we waited to see what would happen next. It was hard to get two alphas from different packs moving in the same direction at the best of times. And now we were all hyped up on adrenaline, itching for the hunt to begin. Eight alphas plus Crazy Wilder—the combination was akin to a keg of dynamite standing on a hilltop during a thunderstorm.
But still we waited, shuffling feet and murmuring questions. Wilder hadn't said the word either way, so the jury was still out on my team's participation in the game. And no alpha could initiate the hunt until our prey shifted and took the lead anyway.
So fifty shifters watched impatiently as a newcomer appeared, running flat out over the hill that separated our encampment from the main Wilder village. I could smell her scent before she came fully into view. Bitter at first, then almost unbearably sweet. Like biting into an unripe persimmon, but in reverse. First your mouth puckers, then the rich orange flesh explodes into a fruity delicacy.
I shook my head, trying to clear away the cobwebs that seemed to have formed out of nowhere as soon as the aroma entered my nose.
Then the female was before me, her warm brown eyes meeting mine and holding. My chest seemed to swell with an emotion I'd never felt before as I dove into the dark depths of her soul.
Is this what they mean by love at first sight?
Beside me, Wade whined and leaned forward. Fen responded by grabbing the older teenager's ruff, pulling him back onto his haunches.
But I took in my pack mates' actions only through changes in air currents, not because I flicked my eyes to the side to check on my companions. Instead, my gaze remained riveted on the newcomer.
"Alexis will join Wolf Young's pack to even the odds," Wilder intoned, his voice beginning to deepen as his body settled into the shift. "May the hunt begin!"
Chapter 2
WE’D LEFT THE other packs behind hours ago. Alexis knew the terrain much better than the rest of us did—no surprise there since I assumed she'd lived on this mountain her entire life. So I allowed the female to lead us up hillsides and down deep draws, running flat out until our hot breath steamed in the cold air.
As my paws pounded across wet earth, a tiny voice at the back of my mind told me that I should be bothered by the fact that the Chief's scent had disappeared nearly at once. Plus, the occasional howls from other crews now seemed to be emanating from an entirely different part of the property than the one we were currently combing through.
But I trusted Alexis to give us the home-court advantage. She likely knew all the Wilder hidey holes and was taking our team on a grand tour of possible locations where the Chief might choose to go to ground.
The strategy made perfect sense. If I were Chief Wilder, I'd definitely hole up somewhere isolated and difficult to access, then laugh up my sleeve while the region's top shifters stumbled over each other trying to find my lair.
Smart wolf, I thought, glancing toward Alexis with approval. Her white fur glowed like a star in the near pitch darkness. Then she glanced over her shoulder, and I once again fell into those dark, alluring eyes.
An image of an entirely different pack princess drifted through my mind. Terra. There and gone in an instant. I hadn't hunted down Crazy Wilder's younger daughter a third time, but I still thought of her often. She was the one who got away. The one I mooned over in human form when my wolf brain wasn't quite as fully engaged, when I forgot that the only shifters who mattered were those within my pack.
Now, though, I couldn't seem to make Terra's image stick on the insides of my retinas. Instead, when I closed my eyelids, all I saw was Alexis's molten brown irises. And the flavor of persimmons rose up to coat the inside of my mouth until I had to swallow the spittle that appeared out of nowhere to digest the feast.
"Fuck! This is stupid!"
It took longer than it should have for me to realize the screech came from my usually calm and collected pack mate. Fen had turned human and planted her feet, but none of the rest of us noticed her absence until we'd loped another fifty feet up the trail.
We'll never catch him if we don't keep running. With that thought, I turned away from the girl and back into Alexis's rich presence, gathering myself to bound onward. Fen could take care of herself. If she was sick and tired of our hunt, then she could straggle back to camp and we'd meet her there later when we came home victorious.
"Boss." Now it was Wade's human form that seemed planted to the earth. He'd materialized out of nowhere, making my nose bump painfully against his bare leg and forcibly halting my forward progress. "Didn't you hear Fen?" the seventeen-year-old asked, crouching down to grab my furred cheeks in both hands. "Shift, dude. She wants to talk."
My head felt foggy as my gaze met his, and I could sense Alexis drifting closer. Her shoulder bumped mine, and I had a sudden urge to bowl my pack mate over and run off into the night with this beautiful female, consequences be damned.
Then the underlying bitterness of the pack princess's scent reemerged, and I used the astringency to yank myself up onto two legs. I knew I owed it to Fen to listen to what she had to say. Still, my tone was much more curt than usual when I turned back around to face the teenager.
"What?" I barked.
The girl narrowed her eyes at me, an expression I'd seen her use on Wade dozens of times. It drove Fen crazy that her friend was always bigger, stronger, and faster than her, his three additional years giving the other teenager a boundless advantage. But she usually eyed me with an almost embarrassing level of hero worship rather than with this annoyed astuteness that made me want to shift back into lupine form and hide behind Wade's legs.
"You really have no clue, do you?" the kid asked now. She stepped forward until her nose was mere inches away from my sternum. Then, poking a finger into my bare chest, she knocked me back half a step. "You can't see that this stool pigeon is leading us in t
he entirely wrong direction?"
"Come on, Fen." Wade's calm voice said what my frozen lips were unable to communicate. "Sure, she's part of Chief Wilder's pack. But the Winter Hunt is just a game, and she's part of our team. Right, Alexis?"
I held my breath, hoping I'd hear the pack princess's voice. Would her words be as honeyed as her gaze? Would her human form be as earth-shatteringly enticing as her lupine one?
I angled my body toward our crew's fourth member in anticipation of the sight. But Alexis merely trotted forward on lupine paws and sank into a sit at my feet. Her burnt sienna eyes met mine and her ears turned backwards in a puppyish plea to run further, run faster. Hurry, hurry, her body language seemed to say.
"Do we really have to discuss this now?" I ground out, my words aimed at Fen even though I couldn't quite make myself turn away from the pack princess in order to meet the former's eyes. "The other teams are gaining on the prize while we're piddling around. This win is important to the pack, Fen."
I could feel the girl's agitation eddying in the air currents all around me. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught the motion as she lurched backwards as if struck. So despite the attraction of the pack princess at my feet, I turned back toward my young pack mate. Sorry....
The word hadn't made it all the way to my lips, though, when Alexis whined. The thinnest thread of sound, like a wounded pup lost down a deep, dark hole. Forgetting Fen, I knelt beside the female shifter, stroking my palm across her silky fur. "Shh," I calmed her. "It's going to be alright."
To my delight, Alexis's muzzle drifted upwards. Then she was licking beneath my chin in the universal sign of submissive bonding. "I know, I know," I whispered. "We won't spend much longer here."
"Wade, at least you can see it, right?" Fen persisted. "That wolf is some kind of parasite. She looks at you and you go all gooey eyed and brain dead. Pay attention."
Paranormal After Dark: 20 Paranormal Tales of Demons, Shifters, Werewolves, Vampires, Fae, Witches, Magics, Ghosts and More Page 201