“I got lucky,” she said.
“I’d say.”
“What’s the Werewolf Defender like?” Faith asked.
Jerrica ended up telling Hunter and Faith exactly how Calan had saved her, how large he was in wolf form and how he looked like a teenager, even though he was supposed to be immortal. They asked her more questions, and it wasn’t until her mother called for them to come inside to eat that the conversation finally came to a close.
Her whole family managed to sit around their table. Jerrica’s stomach growled as the food was passed around. The roasted venison was delicious, along with potatoes and peas. Her mother was a wonderful cook. She’d tried to teach Jerrica how, but she didn’t really have the talent for it. She could make food that was edible, and that was about all she could say for her cooking.
“So what did the midwife say?” her mom asked Faith.
Her sister-in-law smiled as she ran her hand across her distended belly. “She figures in four weeks the baby will come.”
“It won’t be long now.”
“I can’t wait. It feels as if I’ve been pregnant forever.”
Jerrica’s mom laughed. “I felt the same way when I was carrying Hunter and Jerrica.”
As they ate, her mom and Faith continued their conversation about babies while Hunter and her dad talked about livestock and how much work they figured they’d have to put in to finish the second room they were adding on to Hunter’s cabin for the new baby.
Jerrica silently focused on the food in front of her. She had no interest in taking part in either conversation. Even though Faith was nineteen and had been ready for motherhood, Jerrica wasn’t. Unlike her sister-in-law, she didn’t want to move out of her parents’ home and right into her husband’s without having a life of her own.
At age eighteen, Hunter had cleared some of the extra land on their family’s plot and had built his own cabin with the help of their father. Most boys around that age were expected to do that. And when they married, their wives moved in with them.
Jerrica didn’t understand why daughters weren’t given the same right. The girls had to work in the fields and orchard alongside the boys, but when it came to living on their own, it wasn’t done. She thought it wasn’t fair, considering her grandmother had told her stories about the world pre-zombies, so she knew it hadn’t been that way then.
She had no idea what it was like in other settlements, mostly because it was a rare thing for anyone to travel between them. With the zombie population greater than the living’s and the creatures moving about during the day and night, not many people took the risk of traveling unless they were forced into it.
At the beginning of the outbreak, attacks had happened quite a bit until the settlements were able to erect tall and strong walls around them. In the early days, more than one settlement had been overrun by zombies, the inhabitants bitten and turned, with only the rare few managing to escape with their lives.
Jerrica longed to go beyond the walls and see the world. She wanted to explore an abandoned city to find the history buried there. It was part of the reason she’d strived so hard to be an accomplished archer. If the chance ever came, she’d be able to defend herself. She doubted that chance would ever come to be, though. There was no way she’d do anything like that on her own. It remained too dangerous. And she’d never risk her life to that degree.
* * * *
Calan hadn’t expected dinner at John’s cabin to be anything more than a meal with his immediate family. It turned out that the leader of the settlement had also invited all his relatives, as well as close friends. And each person there had to come up to talk to him. Calan was polite, but all he wanted to do was leave. They didn’t treat him like everyone else. They all looked at him with awe, as if he couldn’t be as normal on the inside as they were. And the whispered conversations that they didn’t realize he could hear? That was when they said what they truly thought of him. It wasn’t anything bad, but they spoke of him being more wolf than a human. Most of them even refused to use his name, preferring to call him Werewolf Defender.
Then there was Becca. She seemed to hover around him constantly, while using every opportunity she could to touch him. It didn’t take a genius to realize she was hitting on him. Calan had met plenty of girls like her over the years. They were the ones who had a high opinion of themselves and usually expected everything to be handed to them. Given what he was, they’d always wanted him. He didn’t know if it was from true attraction or from the fact that it’d give them greater status if they became his girlfriend—not that he’d ever taken up with any of them.
“Would you like more to eat?” Becca asked, after she’d come to stand in front of Calan.
Everyone was outside in the yard, since John’s cabin wasn’t nearly large enough to hold all his guests. Calan sat on a stump off to the side, while the others sat either on chairs or blankets on the ground.
“I’m good. Thanks.”
She took his plate from him. “I’ll take care of this for you.” She smiled. It seemed on the phony side.
“Thanks again.”
“If you want, I can come back and keep you company.”
“I appreciate the offer, but I’m going to have to leave shortly. I plan to do some hunting tonight.”
“Really? I thought after what happened earlier—and you did take out some zombies—you’d want to stay for a bit.” She gave him a smile Calan was sure was supposed to look shy, but it didn’t come across that way. “I’d like to get to know you better.”
Calan stood. It was time to nip it in the bud, as his grandmother used to say. In the past he’d tried to be nice and hoped the girl would eventually give up on her own, but a lot of the time that didn’t end up being the case. He’d have to be blunt and tell her he wasn’t interested. He found he had better results if he did that right from the start of a girl showing too much interest in him.
“Sorry, Becca. I’m here to do a job, not to look for a potential girlfriend. I don’t stay in any one place for very long. I could be here for a few months, then leave to go on to the next settlement.”
Becca’s smile slipped away. She frowned, but as if she caught herself doing it, her expression changed to one of lack of interest. “Oh. Then I guess I’d better not hold you up.” With that said, she turned to walk away.
From the way she held herself stiffly and practically stomped, he figured he’d pissed her off. Calan blew out a breath. That had gone well—not. He wouldn’t be surprised if Becca went around saying nasty things about him. Wouldn’t be the first time. Girls like her usually didn’t take well to being rejected by the boy they’d set their sights on. She probably already had most, if not all, the boys her age in the settlement wrapped around her little finger. She was pretty, but even if he weren’t what he was, he still wouldn’t want much to do with her.
The few girls he’d dated while in high school had been more like Jerrica. They’d been pretty, but they’d acted as if they didn’t know it. They’d had friends—true friends—not the kind who hung out with them only because they were popular.
He shook his head then went in search of John to say his goodbyes and thank him for the meal. Calan had to get out of there. He was used to being alone. Spending time with people tended to get to him after a while. They overstimulated his senses until he felt as if he were drowning in them.
Calan found John and his wife, thanked them, then left their cabin. Once he was on the road, he shifted to his wolf form. He took off in a loping run, heading for the gates. He didn’t have to go hunting tonight, but he wanted to clear out as many zombies as he could find to make it safe for the workers in the fields the next day. John had been right when he’d said there had been quite a few undead lingering near the settlement. Calan had taken out five of them in the trees before he’d closed in on the ones who’d been about to attack Jerrica. He hoped he wouldn’t find many more of them still around, but zombies came and went all the time, always on the lookout
for their next victim.
At the gates, the men on watch opened them for him, and he slipped through as soon as they were wide enough. Calan headed for the orchard that was a short distance from the fields. The smell of ripening peaches hit his nose. There were also apple and pear trees. He didn’t detect the scent of rotted flesh that the zombies carried with them.
He changed course then ran to the fields. The bodies of the zombies no longer littered the ground. When he’d returned to collect Jerrica’s buck, he’d disposed of them by gathering the bodies into a pile then setting them on fire. Only he hadn’t done it the normal way. Along with being able to shift into a wolf, he had the ability to burn the undead to ash in a matter of seconds with only a wave of his hand.
Before he’d done that, he’d recovered the arrows that had been used to end their existence. The fletching on them had matched the one used to kill the buck. Jerrica’s aim had stayed true, hitting each zombie where she’d needed to in order to end them. If the undead hadn’t been in such large numbers, she would have been able to save herself.
He’d taken the arrows to his cabin before he’d delivered the buck to Jerrica and her family. He could have taken them with him then, but he’d been reluctant to part with them. He’d decided to wait until he’d had a chance to clean them, but if he were honest with himself, he had to admit they gave him another excuse to see Jerrica.
Calan slowed as he entered the trees. The sky had darkened, edging closer to night, but he had no trouble seeing. His sight in the dark was just as good as if it were daylight. The gentle breeze switched direction and blew into his face. He curled his upper lip into a snarl as the scent of decaying flesh hit his nostrils. There were zombies lurking about, and there were definitely more than a couple.
He followed the smell deeper into the forest. Calan didn’t bother trying to be quiet as he drew closer to his prey. Zombies had no interest in him. He could shift to his human form right in front of one, and it’d ignore his presence. If it’d been someone else, the undead would have gone on the attack, hungering for human flesh.
A group of fifteen zombies milled about in a small clearing. Calan watched them, not seeing any signs of awareness on their faces. He didn’t know why he bothered to check. There never was. Their eyes were dead-looking, staring at nothing, and their mouths hung open, a moan coming out of them every once in a while. It was a terrible existence, and a fate he wouldn’t wish on anyone.
With a growl, Calan entered the clearing to do what he’d been made for. He took out each one, biting off heads or using his claws to rip the bodies to pieces. It was an instinctive thing for him. The urge wasn’t one he could ignore. In the beginning, it’d sickened him afterward, but now it didn’t bother him at all. There was no cure, and if left alone, the zombies would completely take over. It was a battle he thought he might not ever see the end of, but it wasn’t one he’d give up. He’d protect the living.
After the last zombie succumbed to Calan’s sharp teeth and claws, he gathered the remains into a big pile. He shifted to his human form, then, with a wave of his hand, they caught fire. The flames didn’t burn orange like normal ones. Instead, they were an eerie blue-green that gave off no heat. The bodies turned to ash, the only mark left behind.
Calan shifted to wolf form once more and sniffed the air. He didn’t pick up the scent of any more undead. He turned then left the clearing, heading back the way he’d come. Before returning to his cabin, he gave the fields and orchard one last look, then ran the entire perimeter of the settlement’s walls.
Inside his temporary home, no longer in his wolf form, Calan picked up one of Jerrica’s arrows. He brought it to his nose and sniffed. The scent of decayed blood was strong, but he detected another smell as well—and it belonged to the girl who’d shot it. He separated her aroma from the others that permeated the wood, then burned it into his memory.
He gave himself a mental shake. If he wasn’t careful, he’d have feelings for Jerrica that he shouldn’t. He’d just be torturing himself. His future didn’t include a girlfriend or a family. Why this girl out of all the thousands he’d crossed paths with over the last eighty years had to affect him so, he hadn’t a clue.
Chapter Three
For once, Jerrica woke up earlier than she had to. It was barely still dark as she slipped out of bed, then washed her face and cleaned her teeth before getting dressed. Her mom’s head appeared at the top of the loft’s ladder as Jerrica pulled her hair back into a ponytail.
“Oh, you’re awake already,” her mom said.
“Yeah, I couldn’t sleep anymore.”
“Was it because of what happened in the field yesterday?”
It was, but not because of what her mother thought. The zombie attack wasn’t behind her wakefulness. Calan was. Over and over again, Jerrica had replayed his coming to her rescue and getting her away from the undead by allowing her to ride on his back while in his wolf form. Then there was when he’d brought the buck to her home…
Jerrica shook her head. “No, it wasn’t because of that. And I’m fine with returning to the fields to work today.”
Her mom smiled. “Maybe it’s because a certain someone will be there too.”
She felt her cheeks warm. “Mom.” She hadn’t thought she’d given anything away to make her mother realize Jerrica couldn’t stop thinking about Calan.
“It’s all right,” her mom said with a chuckle. “That happens when the boy you like shows you some attention. Your dad told me how Austin spoke to you yesterday.”
“Oh.”
Jerrica wasn’t going to correct her mom. She’d forgotten she’d told her dad about Austin noticing her. Of course, they wouldn’t think Calan was a boy she might like. He was the Werewolf Defender and, therefore, too special to be thought of as a person like everyone else.
“Well, come downstairs. I have your breakfast ready.” Her mom climbed down the ladder.
She followed her then sat at the table to eat. Once Jerrica had finished, she collected her bow and quiver of arrows before she headed to the gates as she did every morning. The sun had risen high enough by that time to chase away the darkness. She walked down the road, wondering what it’d be like having Calan around.
She’d just passed Austin’s family’s cabin when she heard someone call, “Hey, Jerrica. Wait up.”
Jerrica stopped and turned to find Austin running to catch up to her. “Hi, Austin,” she said, once he reached her.
“You don’t mind if I walk with you to the gates, do you?”
“No.” She turned back around and continued walking.
Austin fell into step beside her. “Good. So are you ready for another hard day in the fields?”
“Yeah, but I hope it isn’t quite as exciting as yesterday. That was too close a call for me with the zombies.”
“With the Werewolf Defender standing guard, I doubt that will be a problem. My dad said Calan went beyond the gates last night, found another fifteen zombies in the woods and ended them.”
“He did? Then I guess we don’t have anything to worry about. Makes me wonder why so many zombies are hanging around all of a sudden. I’ve never heard numbers like that being so near before.”
“I know. Lots of people are talking about it.”
As they walked in silence, Jerrica snuck glances at Austin. She still found him good-looking, but she didn’t know how she felt about him anymore. An image of a boy with black hair and ice-blue eyes made her heart beat a little faster. Austin’s hair was brown, and his eyes were as well.
They were just entering the center of the settlement closest to the gates when Austin said, “The Werewolf Defender is already here.”
Jerrica looked where Austin was and saw he was right. Calan, already in wolf form, stood by the gates. He was off to one side, but stepped out more into the open as she came closer. His gaze landed on her and seemed to stay.
Mathias clapped his hands, drawing everyone’s attention. “All right, same tasks as yesterday
. We’ll leave shortly.” He looked at Jerrica and motioned her to him. “Jerrica, come here for a minute.” Once she stood in front of him, he said, “I’m taking you off work detail today.”
“Why? Is it because of what happened yesterday? I’m fine. I can work.”
He smiled. “I figured you’d be okay. I’ve never taken you for a weak girl, mentally or physically. That’s not why I’m doing it. Watching you shoot those zombies, I’ve come to realize you’ve gotten even better with that bow of yours. And you didn’t lose your cool. I think you’d be better off standing guard with the Werewolf Defender. Another set of eyes and ears will help. The both of you can rotate together between the fields and orchard. I’ll feel better knowing that if a zombie manages to slip past the Werewolf Defender, you’ll be there to take it out.”
Jerrica glanced at Calan to see him watching her before she turned her attention back on to Mathias. “Did you ask if he was okay with it?”
“Yes, though it felt a bit strange talking to a gigantic wolf. He nodded his approval.”
“And what about the others? I’m sure some of them will complain because I’m not working in the fields.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of them if it comes up. You might not be doing manual labor, but you’ll be doing a job. You’ll be protecting their butts.”
“Okay, I’ll do it.”
“Good girl. I knew you wouldn’t mind.” Mathias left Jerrica and headed for the horse and wagon.
“What did Mathias want?” Austin asked, as he came to stand beside her.
Jerrica turned her gaze on Calan. “He pulled me from working in the fields. Instead he wants me to stand guard with the Werewolf Defender. He thinks, between the two of us, we’ll be able to take care of any zombies that might be around.”
“Well, I know I’ll feel safer with you watching over me.”
She pulled her gaze off Calan and turned to look at Austin. He smiled, which she returned with a smile of her own. “If it comes down to it, I think Calan will be doing a better job of ending the undead than I will. Compared to him, I’m slow moving.”
Werewolf Defender Page 3