“Sort of, yes. Calan growled and snapped his teeth at her while in his wolf form when she told him about the lies she’d said to me. He was a little ticked off.”
Austin shook his head. “I’d be too if Becca spread lies about me. She’s going to make up one too many stories, and it’ll come back on her.”
Jerrica snorted. “I doubt she cares about that. I don’t think she’ll ever change. As long as she gets the attention she wants, there’ll be no need.”
“That’s why I like you.” Austin went to shift closer, but Jerrica stood. He stared up at her with a questioning look. “Is something the matter?”
“Calan and I… We did more than work through the misunderstanding Becca had caused.” She paused. “I made my decision about becoming your girlfriend.”
“And?”
“I have to say no. I-I decided to become Calan’s girlfriend. I had feelings for him before you asked me. After what Becca had told me yesterday, I’d thought he didn’t feel the same.”
“You said you liked me.”
“I do, but not the same way I like Calan.”
“What are you going to do when he leaves? You have to know he will. He’s the Werewolf Defender. He even said so himself—that he doesn’t stay in one settlement for very long. Everyone knows that.”
“We haven’t really talked about that yet. Right now, we’re going to take it one day at a time.”
Austin stood so he was in front of Jerrica. “Obviously I’m not going to be able to change your mind.”
“No, you won’t.”
“Then let me tell you that when the day comes—and it will—and he leaves you behind, I’ll be waiting for you.”
“Austin—”
He cut her off by placing a finger across her lips. “Let me finish. I’ll wait for you. I’ve already decided you’re the one for me. I’m not going to lie and say it doesn’t hurt that you’ve picked Calan over me, but I can get over it because I know it can’t last. What kind of life can he offer you? I’m willing to wait for you to figure out that I’m the better choice.” Austin leaned down and kissed her cheek. “I’ll be around if you ever need me.”
With that said, Austin walked off the porch then headed across the yard to the road. Jerrica remained where she was and watched him disappear. She turned her gaze on Calan as he came out of the trees. He shifted to human form as he walked toward her.
Once he stood in front of her, he pulled her into his arms and held her close. He kissed the top of her head. “Austin really is a good guy. You let him down easy.”
Jerrica hugged Calan back. “I did my best, though it was hard doing it.”
“He had to be told. It would have been rougher on him if he’d found out from someone else.”
She nodded against his chest. She may have let Austin down easy, but he was still holding on to the chance that she’d be his once Calan left. Hopefully he didn’t take it too hard when that didn’t end up happening.
Chapter Eight
The next day at the fields, Jerrica told Mathias she’d go back on patrol duty with Calan again. He’d only shaken his head and agreed, saying he was glad she and Calan had worked out their differences. He’d also informed her that Calan had already told him that she wouldn’t be working on the land.
Unlike the past days, Calan didn’t take on his wolf form right away after they were beyond the gates. “Aren’t you going to shift?” Jerrica asked.
“I will, but not right now,” Calan answered with a smile. “After I left your cabin last night, I visited Mathias at his. Word spread about how we took out those zombies at the gates yesterday. He, along with me, thinks we should work on improving your skill at shooting while riding on my back in wolf form. Between patrolling the fields and the orchard, you and I are going to work on that. Mathias is providing us with the supplies we need to make some targets in the small section at the bottom of one of the fields that’s fallow. The workers are done harvesting the vegetables close to it, so they won’t be in the way.”
“Then I guess we’d better get started.”
Jerrica helped lug the supplies with Callan from the wagon all the way down to the bottom of the field. Everything was there that they’d need—lumber, bales of straw and pieces of leather to mark the center of the targets. They decided to go with the same design as the ones at the back of her cabin that her father had put up. Since she’d helped him build those, she already basically knew how to go about it. Calan did most of the work while she directed.
They’d completed two of the six targets that Calan wanted when they had to stop and go on patrol. While they worked, they’d taken the time to scan the landscape, always on the lookout for zombies. After having so many of the undead right at the settlement’s gates the evening before, they had to be aware of their surroundings at all times.
The work day was half over by the time Jerrica and Calan finished putting together the last of the targets and positioning them where they wanted them. Each one was set at different distances and angles. It wasn’t as if the zombies would line up in a straight row and wait for her to put an arrow through their heads.
“Are you ready to take the first run at them?” Calan asked, as they stood a short distance away from the targets, looking them over to make sure they sat in a good spot.
Jerrica nodded. “I guess so. I think they’re where they need to be.”
“So do I. We’ll take a couple passes at them, then do another patrol to the orchard.”
There was a bright flash of light, and Calan became the wolf. Jerrica was used to him shifting now, so it no longer took her by surprise when he did it. Before he could go down on his belly, she grabbed a handful of fur at his neck and jumped up onto his back. He turned his head to look at her.
“I have to get used to getting up here by myself. There’s not always going to be time for you to lower to the ground for me to climb on.”
“Very true,” Calan said telepathically. “I guess once you’ve mastered the shooting part, we should practice you getting onto my back on the fly.”
“Sounds good. Let’s go,” Jerrica said as she unshouldered her bow, then reached for an arrow from the quiver that she wore strapped to her back.
Calan turned his head around to face front. “Here we go.”
Jerrica gripped Calan’s sides with her thighs as he took off in a loping run. Same as the first time they’d done this, it didn’t take her very long to find her balance. Once they were within range of the first target, she nocked the arrow and lifted the bow at the same time. She pulled the string back until it was at her ear, then she released it. She didn’t have enough time to see if it struck the center or not before she had to nock the next one.
At the last target, Calan ran past it, then looped around. “Try to hit them on the way back. You’ll have to fire behind us rather than in front, as if zombies were chasing us.”
“Okay.”
Jerrica adjusted her position and balance, compensating for the different angle. It was a little harder than shooting at an oncoming target. Same as the first pass, she really didn’t have time to see where each arrow hit as she moved past the targets.
Once they were back where they’d started, Calan came to a stop and turned around. “Looks as if we have an audience,” he said with a laugh.
Sure enough, when Jerrica turned her gaze toward the others in the fields, she saw most—if not all—of them had stopped working and stood watching. Even Mathias was there. He gave her the thumbs-up sign. Austin stood with him, but he was too far away for her to see his expression.
Jerrica slid off Calan’s back. “Time to see how well I did.”
Remaining in wolf form, Calan walked beside her as she headed toward the first target. She studied the arrows once she reached it. One of them had hit the leather, but not in the center where she’d aimed. The second, which she presumed was the last arrow she’d shot on the way back to the start, was in the very bottom corner of the bale of straw. It was way o
ff and wouldn’t have come even close to ending a zombie.
The other targets showed the same thing. She wasn’t too bad at the oncoming targets, but she needed a lot more practice on shooting behind her. She’d collected her arrows as they went and now replaced them in her quiver.
“I’m going to have to work on it,” she said.
“Hey, that wasn’t bad for your first time practicing, especially since I sprang getting you to shoot on the way back as well. At least you didn’t fall off.” Calan chuckled inside her mind.
“Gee, thanks. Now that would have been really bad if I’d missed the targets and fallen off.”
Calan stepped closer and licked her cheek. “Well, you didn’t, so don’t worry about it.”
Jerrica rubbed the kiss off her face. “Ugh. No more doggie kisses.”
“I’m no dog. That was a wolfy kiss.”
She laughed. “I stand corrected. Still, that’s enough of those. I prefer the ones you give while you’re in your human form.”
“That will have to wait until later. Let’s do that patrol run. The lunch wagon should be here soon. We don’t want to miss out on that.”
“You’re going to eat this time?”
“Yes, but you’re going to have to feed me. I should stay in wolf form until we go behind the walls. My sense of smell and hearing are better like this.”
Jerrica once more hopped onto Calan’s back. “I can do that. Just don’t bite me.”
Calan’s chuckle filled her mind. “You never know. You might like it.”
Even though he couldn’t see it, she rolled her eyes. “Get a move on, or we’ll miss lunch.”
* * * *
It was pretty late at night by the time Calan arrived at his cabin. After patrolling the field and doing target practice with Jerrica, he’d spent the evening with her and her family. Her mother had invited him to stay for dinner again. Since it was likely he’d be eating there a lot, he’d made a mental note to do some hunting of a different variety. While beyond the walls, he’d try to bring down a deer. Tonight he hadn’t had much luck in finding either kind of prey. No zombies wasn’t a bad thing, though.
Calan stifled a yawn with his hand. The late nights and early mornings were starting to catch up with him, but he didn’t mind. At least the four hours of sleep he managed to get were solid and restful.
He yawned again, then shifted to his wolf form. He padded to the poor excuse for a bed. There were still no sheets on it, not that he cared. Since he couldn’t sleep as a human anyway, it really just didn’t matter.
Calan jumped up onto the old mattress and lay down. He put his lupine head on his outstretched front paws, then closed his eyes. It didn’t take very long for him to slip into a deep slumber.
He was in wolf form, running through the tall trees of an ancient forest. He wasn’t hunting zombies. He was just enjoying the freedom of the run.
The chanting started the same as when the spirits in the cave had turned him into the Werewolf Defender. Calan hadn’t heard it since that time. He stopped running, and the landscape changed around him. The trees disappeared and were replaced by a land of mist. Four figures stepped out of it and approached him where he stood. He shifted to human form.
The men were Native American. Each one wore traditional buckskin pants and moccasins. Their bared, tanned chests had symbols painted on them in red and black. They all had feathers in their long black hair, which was loose around their broad shoulders. They were young in appearance, with the build of a warrior. Deep inside, Calan knew these were the spirits who’d chosen him to be what he was today.
“Calan,” one of them said as he stepped closer. “We’ve been watching you and are proud of what you have done.” Though he spoke perfect English, his voice carried the accent of his first language.
“I’ve tried to use the gifts you gave me to protect those I can.”
“We knew you would. That’s why we chose you all those years ago. Your heart was pure. You wouldn’t turn your back on those who needed your help.”
“Will the war against the zombies ever end?”
“That we don’t know. What we do know is that without you, mankind would have perished long ago. Only you have kept the undead’s numbers in check. You are as much a warrior as we were when we walked the Earth as men. And as shamans as well, we were able to see what was to come of the world and who we needed to choose to stand strong against the tide.”
Another spirit came to stand at the side of the first. “We’ve also seen how lonely a life you live. A hundred years is a long time to have no family. Yours was taken from you in your eighteenth year. It’s time to end your solitude. It’s time for a mate to take her place at your side.”
“A mate?” Calan asked.
“Yes. And you’ve already chosen her.”
“Jerrica? How will it work? She’s mortal, whereas I’ll live forever.”
The third spirit stepped forward and smiled. “You will make her like you. A single bite from you in your wolf form where the shoulder and neck meet, and she’ll turn.”
“I’ve accidentally bitten a human before, and they’ve never turned.”
The last spirit joined the others to stand in front of Calan. “That’s because you weren’t given the gift. We give it to you now to use when the time is right.”
“How will I know that?”
“You’ll know.”
The fourth spirit stepped even closer and put his hand on the center of Calan’s chest. He chanted and the other three joined in, all their voices saying the singsong words in unison.
Calan sucked in a sharp breath as a surge of heat went through him where the spirit’s hand rested. It seemed to sink into every cell of his body. It lasted only a minute, then one by one, the spirits disappeared, and he found himself alone in his dream world inside the ancient forest.
He woke up with a start. Calan blinked his eyes, trying to get his bearings. Much to his surprise, the interior of the cabin was just beginning to lighten with the coming dawn. He’d slept for hours, even though it’d felt as if it’d been only a few minutes. It didn’t seem possible that that amount of time could have passed as he’d talked with the four spirits in his dreams.
Calan jumped off the bed and shifted to his human form. There was a warm feeling in the center of his chest. He lifted his T-shirt and saw a glowing handprint in the exact spot where the fourth spirit had touched him. It slowly faded while he watched.
Seeing it brought to mind what he’d been told. He could have a mate, and Jerrica was her. It wasn’t something he could simply go up to her and tell her. If he were to bite her and turn her, it’d irrevocably change her life—forever. He hadn’t been given a choice, but he’d give that to her. And when the time was right, she wouldn’t have to go through it alone as he had.
The more Calan thought about Jerrica becoming just like him and being able to stay with him for all time and be as immortal as he, the more he wanted to see it happen. The spirits were right. Up until now his life had been a lonely one. Jerrica had shown him how much had been missing in it. Now she was the one who could give him all that. He’d have to convince her of it first, though.
* * * *
Two weeks had gone by since Calan had first arrived at the settlement. And during that time, Jerrica had become more proficient at shooting her bow while riding on his back when he was in wolf form. Her arrows hit the center of the targets they’d built pretty much every time. She’d even mastered firing from behind them. They now moved in perfect synchrony. The only thing they hadn’t done was put it to the test on actual zombies.
Jerrica and Calan had also grown closer over the long days they’d spent patrolling the fields and orchard. They’d talked a lot. She now knew so much more about the time before the undead had thrown everything into chaos. He remembered things even her grandparents hadn’t, since Calan had been a lot older than they’d been when the world as they’d known it had collapsed.
He told her stories about
going to high school and how he’d hoped to go to college on a football scholarship to become a games designer. It’s taken Calan a while to get Jerrica to understand what he’d meant by that. It was such a foreign concept to her. In the settlement, it was a big deal to own books. And as for schooling, there was a large cabin that had been built as a school where one teacher taught all the different age groups. The lessons were mostly reading, writing, math and how to survive in their environment or to protect themselves if they were ever alone and ran across the undead. That lasted until the children turned thirteen. Then they were deemed old enough to work.
It was mid-afternoon and Calan and Jerrica had just started to head to the orchard when he suddenly froze and turned in the direction of the fields. He lifted his lupine head and sniffed the air.
“What’s the matter?” Jerrica asked.
“I can smell the decayed scent of a zombie.” He sniffed again. “More than one and they’re too close for comfort. Get your bow ready. We’re going back to the fields.”
Jerrica kept her seat by squeezing Calan’s sides with her inner thighs, and she unslung her bow as he took off at a run. They were at the opposite edge of the field when the first undead lumbered out of the trees.
Calan put on another burst of speed, closing the distance between them and the zombie. Once they were within range, Jerrica took her first shot. The arrow hit the undead between the eyes, the sharp arrowhead sinking deep into its brain. It dropped like a stone to the ground, never to get up again.
Screams erupted as more zombies appeared from the trees. Their eerie howls and creepy screeches filled the air as they ran toward the living. Jerrica took out the ones that were too close to the workers, who were running toward the gates.
Still more zombies came. Most of the others were well on their way to safety, except for one. It was Becca. She seemed frozen in place with fear. She screamed over and over again. Jerrica took out any undead that turned in the other girl’s direction.
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